Along the way, the Elements of Harmony will fight a battle they cannot win over time.
The Elements of Harmony will find a battle they cannot win over time. But what if that battle is between themselves? Will they be able to find what they need and work together correctly? Will even Twilight's leadership not be enough for what they need to do?
I do not own My Little Pony: That right goes to Hasbro.
I regret to inform you of what you probably already know, but me and the other Elements are having really bad fights as of late, and I don't mean normal fights. They have been yelling and screaming at each other for a while now, and even now, I hear them downstairs, driving me insane.
I don't know what to do. I heard something crashing downstairs.. I hope none of them are hurt.
Your Faithful Student, Twilight Sparkle.
Twilight gives the message to Spike, and he sends it to the Princess while Twilight gallops downstairs. She sees that not only have they been screaming and yelling, but it's gotten worse lately.
"GIRLS! What are you all doing?! You are WRECKING my HOUSE!"
Rarity stepped back and retorted. "She started it!"
"Don't say that Rarity!" Dash violently responded. "You know EXACTLY what you did!"
"Rainbow DASH! How DARE you accuse me of doing such a thing!"
"It's not only her," Applejack started. "But all of us that are tryin' ta get to the truth o' things." It was when Applejack said that, that all the ponies started calming down again, the realization finally hitting the two of them about what they just did. A few minutes passed before anyone spoke again.
Rarity sighed. "Maybe I should tell you what I did. After all, we're friends. We shouldn't need to hide things from each other like this."
"You're tellin' me!" Applejack burst out. "I'm just want'n ta know exactly what it is that made y'all fight like this."
It was then that Pinkie spoke. "But wait, I thought we already knew what all of this was about?"
"And on top of what you guys are doing to my house, I would like to finally find out why you all are doing this!"
The spur and excitement between Rarity and Dash finally done, they started to all sit around the table again, this time willing to discuss what happened over the past few days.
Rarity decided to speak first. "I cannot describe how sorry I am for knocking you down to the ground like that Dash my dear." Her thoughts and emotions have been killing her lately, and the mix of all that has happened as of late, she finally snapped.
"It's fine Rarity." Dash chimed in, trying to help now. "I've somehow mixed in with all of our bad behaviors. Maybe we can all still work this out somehow, and still be the friends we used to be."
Dash had a point. Twilight thought to herself. They had been fighting pretty bad over the last few days over a few things in question. I never really thought much about how bad things have gotten, I knew that all of their emotions have been mixing in one another's heads, driving them all crazy.
Rarity and Dash started telling the story of what happened to start it all.
*Four days earlier..*
"Maybe a day at the spa will cheer you up Fluttershy. It's the least I can do after causing such.. Unwanted panic with all of your animals." Rarity tried her best, doing what she knew would at least relax herself, and hopefully release some tension between Fluttershy and Rarity about the animals at her house.
"Who knows," Dash started. "maybe their all out there waiting for your return, as a relaxed, unworried pony Fluttershy! If it helps, I can go to check on them." Rainbow had also been doing what she could to stop Fluttershy from going into the forest to try to find her animal friends.
"But what if they get hurt? I can't let them go out there all by themselves!" Fluttershy, after the Discord incident, she never really got a hold of herself.
In fact, none of them really got back to their true old selves, but they knew they had to pull it together during the Canterlot wedding attack. All of the Elements of Harmony, excluding Twilight, had all been working out of order. They couldn't work together very much, which was more worrying than most.
Most worrying however, is the recent clashes between Dash, Rarity and Applejack. Fluttershy didn't really mix too much into it, hiding in her house more than usual, not even coming out to fully enjoy nature as she used to. Twilight knew then that they needed help, and help from a friend alone wouldn't do. She needed the help of the Princess, as well as herself. Her mind had never really been too focused on very many things, using her magic for only the usual; picking up books, and turning pages.
"We need to find out more about what's wrong with all of us first, it could be Discord's magic flowing into us again, and we just don't know it. We need to think more about what we're doing to each other, and need to focus more on helping one another, instead of hurting!"
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Twilight's words had apparently done very little, if nothing at all. "Maybe we just need some time with ourselves. Maybe we just need to remember that we need one another for many other reasons."
"We already tried that, remember Rarity? See what happened between you and Dash just earlier?"
"Aeuh... Good point." Rarity let out a disappointed sigh, followed with an apologetic look at Rainbow Dash.
"Not my fault you were greedy."
"DASH!" Rarity stomped her front hooves on the desk angrily. "What are you suggesting I did?! I did not-"
"GIRLS! We need to STOP this kind of thing from happening in the first place! Can we all just calm down for a minute here, and let our thoughts try and figure out WHAT is wrong with us?" Twilight had finally had enough, and just spurted out by accident.
"Twi's right." Applejack stated. "Ah just can't decide what ta do with y'all, if ya just keep arguin' over little things like that!"
Little things like that. A thought popped up in Twilight's mind. Little things.. Little things... Ah!
"I know what it could be! I know a possible reason that we might be acting like this! Can't you all see yourselves?"
Twilight sees them all look down, eyes widening in horror.
"Now what in tarnation is 'his Twi? What does'is mean? Is it some kinda nasty spell?"
"That's what I thought!" She replied. "I know I have the book about this somewhere in here! Unless it's in the Canterlot library, then we should be able to quickly deduce what it is causing all of this to happen!" Twilight began rummaging through books with her magic, until she finally found the book she was looking for. "AHA! I knew you were around here somewhere! Thank you, Pinkie for your information regarding book locations."
When she finally got to the point she was looking for in the book, it described a certain spell, and how to cure it. She didn't know if the last two of the ingredients even EXISTED at this point, yet she told her friends the information. "It says here that we need one Everfree Forest tree sapling for each of us, so that would mean five, considering I'm somehow immune. She looked around the table, looking at each of them one by one.
"Then we need one.. One... Oh dear goodness.. One wing for a pegasus, one horn for a unicorn and.. Pinkie, Applejack.. You might not like this.. It says here that you need one eye or one tongue to mix into the potion, for it to begin to work."
Applejack didn't like the idea of hearing about a potion. "A potion Twi? Not some kinda counter-spell er anythan'?"
"And just what," Rarity started. "do you mean by that?"
Twilight sighed. "I mean that for Dash and Fluttershy, you're going to have to forcefully remove a wing from another Pegasus." She then looked at Applejack. "And for Earth Ponies, you'll need to forcefully take an eye or a tongue directly from another Earth Pony."
"And lastly, Rarity, you and I will need to either break or saw off another unicorn's horn." Rarity drew back, discouraged and shocked.
"Applejack, to answer your question, it has to be this potion, or the spell won't go away. It is after all a very old spell, so old it's almost like a spell only Starswirl himself could cast. And I would doubt Trixie would be able to do this."
"Maybe this is some sort of version of the flower we encountered in the forest." Fluttershy quickly added in her thoughts.
"No, this is a spell. Now! The last two ingredients are very rare, and we will NOT find them in Ponyville. We need to travel as a group across Equestria, and search for these last two. Even in our current state."
Applejack had something to ask. "How are we supposed to work out how we're plannin' ta exactly work tagether in ahr current state? It's not like we can all say somethin' to one another, and then trust each other fer the rest of ahr lives, just 'cause of a few words!"
"Applejack, we do need to find a way we can work this out." Twilight replied proudly. "Thank you for pointing that out. However, working on that is going to be a bit of a problem, considering we don't trust each other enough to even look at what we've been doing to each other."
"Well.." Rarity chimed in. "It's mainly just me and Dash getting under each others skin."
"Alright Twi," Applejack interrupted. "we need to know the last ingredients, that way we know what to look for. We can spread out, an'-"
"No! We can't spread out, no matter what happens! If we do, the spell worsens. Just like what you all saw with Rarity and Dash, they were the farthest apart. The best thing we can do right now, and from now on, is to stick together. I know some of you might not like it, but it HAS to be done, otherwise the Elements of Harmony will never get together again!"
Twilight let what she just said set in. Then she announced the last two ingredients. "We need these two last things to get the potion to take effect the way we want it to. One of these, I fear may not even exist, and there might not even be enough of it to effect us all. That is Mooncloud Dust. Rumored to be one of the rarest clouds that only Nightmare Moon can produce, it's apparently never made by anything else."
"MOONCLOUD DUST?!" Rainbow shouts. "Mooncloud dust? Are you sure you aren't reading that wrong? DO YOU KNOW HOW RARE THAT IS?" Dash continued, nearly shouting at all of them. "Mooncloud dust can only appear after the rain of the Moon's Clouds themselves. First off, we would need either Luna, or Nightmare Moon to even bring it here. Then, we would have to find out the way to make it rain out. Then moments after, the dust should appear."
"Tha moon has clouds of it's own Twi? You sure you aint makin' that up?"
"It's a real thing Applejack. I can't really see it happening either, but the thing is, your never supposed to see it. It's rumored in the book to be on the dark side of the moon, the side the sun never sees, and the side we never see."
The side the sun never sees... That got Twilight thinking again as her friends conversed.
"Dash, remember when Twi said that you wer' the Element of Loyalty? I don't reckon ya've been very loyal to many of us lately."
"Applejack, stop. The worst thing you guys could do is argue at each other, when that just entices the spell to work better."
The words had apparently never really reached the others though, as they kept arguing. Twilight's thoughts however pushed back nearly all of the noise around her.
Maybe this has something to do with Nightmare Moon's side of the moon.. I think.. Oh no.
"Well maybe you can stop being such A FILLY about it!" She heard Rarity suddenly burst out. She then turned to see what her friends had gotten themselves into this time, but what she saw was much worse than she thought. Apparently, her thoughts drown out a whole lot of sound.
She turned just in time to have Rarity get thrown into her, knocking the book down from Twilight's magic grasp, and nearly knocking her out in the process from the force.
"Sorry Twilight! I didn't mean to land on you like that."
Twilight tries her best to get up, but is greeted with a sharp pain on her left shoulder, the one she had landed on. Apparently, it had broken on impact, but she just couldn't feel it. The pain came shortly after, sending a blood-wrenching scream through the library.
Applejack was the first to rush towards her. "Twi, you alright?! It's my fault, I pushed Dash an' she'd flown towards me, I didn't know I'd moved in-front a' Rarity, and she went off flying your direction after I ducked to avoid Dash."
"Apple... We need to go see Zecora... Bring the book." After saying that, she had passed out from the hit, and the pain of the broken shoulder.
Applejack had read off the last ingredient for the potion to Zecora and the others after Twilight woke up. "Alright, it says here that we need one.. Da hay iszis? One Spirit Tree leaf? What in the hay is 'at?"
"The Spirit Tree leaf.. It is said to bring grief. For the one who bears it, must have their life end. An Element of Harmony however, may entice the tree forever. Maybe one Element will indeed, be all you really need."
"Wait here Zecora, your sayin' one of uhs gotta give up ahr Element? How in the orchid ahr we supposed to do that?"
"It means that one of us has to do the opposite of what our Element represents..." Twilight wearily started, having trouble talking.
"But the only ones who could really do that are... Applejack, Fluttershy and Dash. Applejack, if you did it, you would have to lie to all of us about something important. Fluttershy, you would have to scream at us, and do many other things against kindness. Dash.. You would have to betray us all."
"But what's worse," Twilight continued, "is the fact that giving up your Element of Harmony would destroy the others.. it would end the friendship between us all, wouldn't it? The Elements never would be used again.. they would never be needed again." Somehow, that calmed them.
"But would it be better or worse if one of us simply just died instead of giving up an element?"
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Prologue End.
Authors note: This was done pretty late at night, so I was slightly rushing to get it done, so I could get it out of my head, so I could finally sleep. Share with me your thoughts about the story as well. Don't leave me hanging! Also, some of you might be wondering about the tags. Don't worry, the story WILL get into those categories. Just give me time to write it out.
Any information regarding my story, my work so far, anything at all would be appreciated. This is my first story to actually fully publish, even if it's just a small part of the story that I have planned.
P.S. Edited to fix some mistakes, and clear things up. Considering I've been wanting to edit this for a long time. Those of you who read this before the update will more than likely notice that it's less confusing to read. Thank you for staying, and I hope you find the other chapters easier to read, more flowing, and more fun.
All better: Goodbye Ponyville! ((Edited slightly))
The ingredients for the potion to help heal Twilight's shoulder were pretty easy to find.
A few hours went by in Twilight's library as she was alone. Left to read, think and heal. She had been thinking about what had happened between Applejack, Rarity, and Dash. It seemed that they were the prime targets. But for what cause? Why would the three of them be- Wait.. Maybe it has something to do with all of their Elements.. The reason they need them to turn is because they need to break us apart from each other as much as possible!
Twilight had then figured another part of it out! Whoever cast this spell mainly needed those three to act against their Elements, meaning Applejack to be dis-honest to us, Dash to start turning her back to us, and not doing anything we ask, not like she does most of them anyways.. Then again Rarity, to act greedy and start going against what we suggest!
Pinkie, Fluttershy and I have been the least affected! That means that whoever this is, they are making it as hard as possible on us to try and drag us down..But what good would it do to leave us out? Targeting Flutter would have more than likely been a REALLY bad thing for us all, considering she'd go from nice, to a big powerful bully, capable of doing anything. Just thinking about what Pinkie could do.. She could drag all of our spirits down further by not trying to cheer us up as much as she had. That would truly be a thing to fear, so why only three of us, and mainly why.. Why only Applejack, Dash and Rarity?
Twilight had been thinking about this so much, she didn't even hear Spike talking to her recently.
"Twilight? Wouldn't it be better if you tried to sleep for once?" Spike had been trying his best to try to help her in any way he could. However, she was too lost in thought as she barely even heard his question the first time.
"Maybe you are right about something Spike.." She gave Spike a sheepish grin, raising an apologetic eyebrow as she tried her best to get into bed herself. The pain from her shoulder stinging a little more as she laid down, breathing in sharply.
"Spike, have you ever thought about what I said yesterday? About one of us giving up our Element of Harmony? I was thinking about it, and I forgot to mention that not only Applejack, Rarity and Dash could do the opposite, Fluttershy and Pinkie could too in a way."
"What do you mean by that?" Spike was curious to hear what she had to say.
"Applejack is the Element of Honesty right? She could end up also being the Element of Lies. Dash could be the Element of Betrayal. Rarity could be the Element of Greed. Fluttershy could be the Element of Anger. Pinkie could be the Element of Sorrow. I'm not even sure if the Element of Magic could have a polar opposite, other than Strength."
The words seem to have gained a hint of sorrow near the end of the statement.
"But would it really be better if one of us died?"
Twilight couldn't imagine what would happen to the Elements if either one happened. They would be shattered either way.
But who would do it? Probably not Applejack, especially Rarity or Dash.. Pinkie would be too sad to go.. Flutter wouldn't, because you know her.. Maybe I should go? There isn't anyone else unless Dash is loyal enough in the end, or Rarity is generous enough to her friends to sacrifice either of their own lives, just to help all of us from now on..
Spike broke the silence of Twilight's thinking. "Maybe you just need some rest. It'll do good for both your mind and your shoulder. And about the Elements, I'm sure they'll think of something! No need to worry."
"Thank you Spike. I'll try to get some sleep now." And with that, Spike left the room after nodding.
Twilight however was locked in her thoughts, unable to sleep for a long time. Meanwhile, the other Elements were all waiting downstairs, and when Spike got there, he was surprised that they were all still trying to get together as well as they could. Happy, but surprised.
"I don't suppose you all have any reason to actually search for something that doesn't have a chance to exist?"
"Of course we do Spike, Twi asked us to. Besides, if she believes it's going to work and be where we can find it, ah believe in her." Applejack looked at everyone else in the room. "Anyways, we all caused a lot of problems to her about her shoulder and her house, so it's the least we could do for her!"
"Applejack is right, we can't just leave everypony else and decide to not talk to each other after just one spell, just one small problem." Dash looked at Rarity when she said that. "Oh.. On second thought, maybe it was a bigger problem."
And here Spike thought that they were going to head off to their homes and get some rest, so he could be left alone to think about what Twilight is going through.
"But, since we're all here, we might as well take Twi's advice, and stick tageth'r. Probably gonna mean sleepin' all in the same house too." Applejack had said the one thing Spike feared, but somehow saw coming.
"Talking about Twilight, um.. Is she still.. Awake? Would it be any trouble if I went and talked to her?" Fluttershy was finally confident enough to ask Spike about Twilight. "I wouldn't right now-"
"It's fine Spike, I can't sleep anyway, hearing you all talking and having too much to think about. By the way, thank you Fluttershy, for still caring about me. I thought the spell had tried to turn you too."
Fluttershy heard the compliment, and quickly replied. "Oh, thank you Twilight, that means a lot to me. It does seem that I am unaffected slightly by the spell, but I fear it's taking a few other tolls."
Twilight and the others seem to have noticed those 'Tolls' she was speaking about. "You mean the fact that yer talkin' ta us differently, and not bein' embarrassed 'bout respondin' so quickly like ya usually are?"
"Yeah, I seem to have noticed that too.." Twilight started. "The spell seems to be focusing more on pushing on our emotions one by one. I just hope we never get anything too... confusing or odd. Like Fluttershy being agressive, and Dash being shy instead. Or angry at each other again, or..."
All the other ponies were looking at her, including the dragon, Spike.
"Or what Twi?" Twilight lowered her head and softly said "Or we get really close to each other.. Uncomfortably close."
Everypony suddenly looked at each other raising an eyebrow. "Ya sure that would ever likely happen Twi? I'm not sure, but even if it's spreadin' around, it probably isn't gonna just decide ta attack ahr.. Love emotion like 'at. 'Sides, who would it push tageth'r if it can only hit one of us at a time?
"It can spread quickly, leaving enough pressure there to leave it there for a short while. It's entirely possible that it could get one, then another. And I'm pretty sure it won't be picky on who they effect."
That time, they looked around with more worried looks.
Maybe it can't effect all of us at once though, where we all hate each other and decide to stay away from each other. And there's no telling when it will strike, or how long one emotion, or several, it can leave heightened.
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The next day, after they were done discussing what to do tomorrow, Twilight's shoulder had healed to near perfect again, thanks to that potion. It was fairly easy for Twilight to tell the Princess that all 6 of them had to leave, she understood why.
But for Applejack and the rest, it wasn't very easy. At least not for Applejack, Rarity and Fluttershy. Dash didn't really have anyone to talk to, other than a few people she knew up at Cloudsdale, and Pinkie just said that she had to leave for a while to go help her friends find something, and she didn't know when she'd come back to the Cakes.
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"I really hate ta say it Big Mac, Granny, Applebloom.. But I gotta go with my friends to help find a cure to whatever is knockin' all of ahr emotions around. Don't worry, I'll be fine. Got all ma friends with me after all!"
"Eeyup."
Applebloom didn't like the idea. "But sis! What if ya don't come back? The farm won't be as productive withoutchya around!"
"Ah can't promise I'll come back. But ah gotta go help 'em get that cure! Even if ah don't come ba-..."
"Applejack? I thought ya said-" Applejack quickly cut off her brother. "Ah said ah can't promise ah'll be back! Ya heard what I said 'bout the ingredients, and what it took fer the last one. Ah've been thinkin' 'bout givin' up either myself, or ma Element ta help ma friends."
She started to shake visibly now. She was holding back tears from having to leave her family, and the farm. Leaving the family was hard enough as is, but as always, it meant leaving the Sweet Apple Acres to fend for itself, and the remaining people left there working at it.
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Rarity's story wouldn't be as bad, just saying good-bye to Sweetie Belle.. But the fact that her parents had stopped by made her start to cry already. Ok Rarity, get it together, you barely see you're parents anyway! What's so bad about having to tell them that they may never see you ag-...
She had just started to tell Sweetie Belle when her parents arrived for a visit. She opened the door and saw them both standing there. She invited them in, sat them at the table, and tried her best to make it seem like nothing was wrong, until they were having tea, and Sweetie Belle asked her what she was going to say.
"Sweetie Belle... I have to leave Ponyville for a while, and I can't promise I'll come back."
Sweetie had barely given Rarity any time to complete her sentence when she burst out "What?! Leaving for how long? Will I hear from you? Who'll take care of me here? I can't cook very well!"
"Sweetie, not such a burst of questions all the sudden like that! I can't answer them all! I don't know how long, but I will send you whatever I can when I get the chance. I haven't planned anything for who to take care of you.. Other than them." She looked apologetically at her parents, who were holding in tears of their own.
"I had thought about the Cakes, but I wasn't sure if you would like that or not."
"Rarity," Her dad started speaking, his voice slightly wavering. "Wherever you are, remember your fashion. Remember your style. Most of all.. Remember us. We'll be here to help you whenever you send a mail. We will take care of Sweetie Belle for you."
Rarity, now crying, hugged her parents and Sweetie Belle, saying good-byes.
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For Fluttershy, leaving all of the animals was like a nightmare. Angel had not taken it too well either.
"I'm sorry little animals, but I have to go for a while, and I can't promise I'll be back, at least not for a few months. I really hate having to leave you like this, it crushes me, but I've talked to people that will help you while I'm gone, so you wont be alone!"
Angel just stared at her.
All of the other animals however, wanted to follow her, and help her in any way they could. But she just had to reject them, tears starting to well in all of their eyes. Fluttershy didn't want to leave her animals in a rush like this.
"It won't be too bad for you all, or me! I'll be making a lot of new friends, and seeing many more wonderful places while I'm gone. But as I said.. I can't promise I'll be back." Tears started to flow down her cheeks now, making all of the animals in there, mainly Angel, realize she was serious. They all gathered around her and helped her move along, but only after a few moments of crying.
As she was leaving, she looked back with her head raised high, looked at all the teary-eyed little animals, and saw Angel in that group of animals. She never expected Angel to cry when she left somewhere, unable to tell if she would come back or not.
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It was very early in the morning, where they all sleepily gathered out on the path leading to the Everfree Forest.
It was also still fairly dark outside, giving Luna a chance to talk to Twilight for a few moments. Considering she was the first one to arrive, she only had to write a letter to her brother and Cadence, and tell them to deliver the same letter to Princess Celestia.
"Princess Luna! Why are you here? Did Princess Celestia tell you?"
"Yes, she told me to come ask you a question that your brother had."
My brother has a question for me about why I'm leaving? Probably about the letter, instead of an open conversation. She had remembered when she got the marriage letter.
"What was the question?"
"He simply wants to know if he can ever hear from you again. He wasn't sure about the letter. You hadn't detailed if you were going to come back or not."
"That's because I'm not sure if I will. I never told him about my broken shoulder, because if he knew that I had broken something somepony else was responsible for hurting his little sister, and he didn't really like that. Just let him know that I can't promise I'll be back, but I will try my best to."
"Alright Twilight. I will. Oh, and I have something to give you. A grain of Mooncloud Dust. Put your hoof out." She leaned her head down, and from her mane came out one single grain of Mooncloud Dust.
"A single grain? Won't a single grain only hold the cure to one of us?" Luna replied quickly. "Only one grain has a small chance of falling from a cloud recently. The moon is losing power after all. I will now be off. Zecora lies not too far from this path in the forest. Give her the grain, and she'll be able to keep it."
And with that, Luna set off. And the Elements of Harmony started forming one by one. First Rainbow Dash. Pinkie then arrived. Next on the path was Applejack, bringing along with her a few bags of apples. Then came Rarity, wearing an amazing looking outfit, as always. Fluttershy was the last to arrive.
They looked at one another, conversed about bringing the grain of dust to Zecora, turned to look at Ponyville, saying their good-byes to the town.
We all looked back at Ponyville, and said our final good-byes. Applejack was the first to speak.
"Ya know, Ponyville... You were a nice place ta stay. An' now.. I'm gonna miss bein' here. All the folks, how nice they were to a stranger like me, when ah arrived all those years ago. Now, fer as long as ah can remember, ah've been the most honest, hard worker ya'd ever get at the farm." Her eyes had begun to water. "Ah can't really see ma'self in a happier place than where ah turned out, at this town. Sweet Apple Acres and ma friends here, they all made this town one to be proud ta live in. And ah couldn't be happier in any other place."
Next was Rarity.
"And this town had better be even more fabulous when we come back." Rarity said that, looked around, and tried to give her friends a reassuring smile as she continued. "Even though one or two of us might not come back, this will still be one of the grandest towns I've ever lived in. I will continue to love this town and the hard working people, along with the fashion I created in it with all of my heart."
Rainbow Dash spoke up next.
"And who knows, there might be a flyer in here that's almost as good as me! So hopefully you won't be lacking too much awesomeness to spread around. I mean, I am pretty good, but try not to completely replace me. I might not come back, but I will at least say good-bye to the town I loved flying through."
Dash looked around, and nodded to Fluttershy to go next.
"I.. uhm.. don't have much.. to say. It's just that... well.. All the animals here in this town are going to miss me so much. I hope they can be happy with who they have instead. The only thing I can do, is hope that this town stays as beautiful and amazing as it always has been. The sights have just been all so pretty, and I can only hope to return to this town, and have it be more beautiful than when I left it. And the animals.. To be happier."
She was shaking by the time she finished her short speech. Next was Pinkie Pie.
"Ooh! Ooh! My turn!" She went up smiling as she always had. "I really hope that the Cakes don't have too much trouble with anything they have to do, without my help, they might not be as productive or cheerful as usual without me there. I also hope that if I come back, I can have the best party EVER! Talking about parties, this town had better be cheerful while I'm gone! If it isn't, and I come back to a dreadful town, I'm gonna make everypony happy again!"
She had left with a smile, as she always does with everything. Last but not least, there was Twilight Sparkle.
"Dear Ponyville. I won't be around for a while, but you were the best town anypony could dream of living in. Everything that went on in that town always mixed together so well. Sweet Apple Acres, the Cakes place, Pinkie's Party House, Rarity's Boutique, Fluttershy's house with all the animals, My tree-library in the middle. Can't forget Dash's cloud work. With everything that went on, I don't think I could have wished for a better town to experience the happiness of friendship with. I'm not sure about coming back myself, this journey is going to be dangerous, searching for something that might not exist. That's part of the reason we can't promise to come back."
Twilight looked back at the rest of the group. "And I couldn't have wished for better friends to share those experiences with. Even though I'm not saying good-bye to them, I'm saying good-bye to the town I lived in. The town we lived in. The memories of this town have just been so wonderful to look back on, and we can only hope for more things to happen in the future if we come back."
With all of their speeches done, Twilight and the group headed off. First stop was Zecora, and giving her the grain.
"I see that Luna has indeed, given a gift to need. I shall care for this grain in place of you, so you can set off on your journey anew." Zecora placed the grain inside of a small container, built for preserving the life of such grains of dust.
After staying with Zecora for a few moments, the group headed off down the path, away from Ponyville. It was hard for them to leave, but they knew they had to do it.
The forest had lead to an open field, one dirt strip leading from the forest to another place. They didn't know how long that road would last. They had small talk from time to time, but nothing too serious until Applejack asked "Haven't y'all wondered what would happen if one of us lost ahr Element? And what would happen ta the others?"
"I was thinking the same thing the past few days Applejack. I had often thought about the worst things that could happen, much like turning into the opposite of our Elements. What our new Elements of Insanity or Chaos would be. I've come to the conclusion that if we turned into what our opposites would be." Twilight continued.
"Applejack: The Element of Lies. Fluttershy: The Element of Anger. Rainbow Dash: The Element of Betrayal. Pinkie Pie: The Element of Sorrow. Rarity: The Element of Greed. And me, I don't know what the polar opposite of Magic could be, other than maybe Strength."
They shot each other worried looks as she was mentioning the list of opposites.
"I can't see myself being so down, I mean look at me! We could party right now!" Pinkie, still as cheerful as ever.
"True pinkie, but that doesn't make you immune to the spell."
"She's right, and the worst that could happen is us turning into the opposite of what we are, like Twilight said. I can't see myself betraying you guys, but with the spell knocking around our emotions, I have a feeling that the worst is yet to come."
Rarity spoke up to add to what Dash had just said. "And me being greedy? I could never take something from my friends out of greed for me wanting it more!"
"No, but the spell could. The spell alters our emotions AND feelings. It makes us feel whatever it wants."
"But Twi, could it really get powerful 'nuff ta make us hurt each other? Well.. Now that ah think 'bout it, it did turn Rarity against Dash. But could it effect all of us with all the same feelin's or emotions?"
"We have no way of knowing, we just have to wait and see. We can't really tell what the spell is capable of, or if it will grow in power over time. Only time will tell, and I sure hope it doesn't get too powerful."
"I just hope it doesn't turn me against you all."
Fluttershy had finally spoken up.
"Flutter... ah don't think it'll get bad 'nuff ta do that. Ah've seen what it done ta them, but ah don't think-"
"Applejack, think about it. The spell goes for the weakest, nicest ones of the group." Twilight had shot an apologetic look at Dash. "Not saying Dash is weak, but.." Then continued. "We have no way of knowing if it will effect just one of us, or all of us. Or who it strikes harder."
The group had stopped for a moment, looked up, and saw that it was beginning to get dark again. They have been walking for a while now, and they could use some rest. They were still on the dirt road, but in more of an open area. Twilight decided to rest here for the night, so they set up what they had, so that they could sleep as comfortably as possible.
Applejack and Fluttershy had stayed up for maybe an hour talking to each other, looking at stars, laying in the field of grass, beside the big dirt road created by the carts going back and forth between towns and villages.
"Applejack, what do you think... about.. Me having the chance to be.. changed... Different, or even opposite of what I've been? I'm.. scared."
"Well, ah don't reckon that anythang'll change fer us bein' what we have been. It's been pretty easy ta keep it away from the others, considerin' the way we've been actin 'round 'em. And ah don't think you changin' like 'at'll really keep me, or the rest of us from tryin' ta help ya."
Applejack smiled at Fluttershy, and tried to give more confidence to her, as they were laying in the field, slightly snuggled, trying to keep warm during the night, looking at the beauty of the stars together.
In the moonlight and starlight, Applejack looked so beautiful to Fluttershy, and was rather jealous of her natural beauty. Applejack pointed to a shooting star, but saw that Fluttershy still had her eyes fixated on Applejack's body, admiring every delicate detail. She had begun to gently smile, close her eyes further, and touched her mane with her hoof, slowly going down to the ribbon keeping it from flowing everywhere.
Fluttershy then repeated the process, stroking Applejack's mane, and admiring the soft natural beauty of her colors, and how well they mixed together, to create such a beautiful figure. Applejack then started doing the same to Fluttershy, causing her to fully close her eyes, her hoof still going up and down her mane.
Applejack snuggled even closer to her friends body, feeling more natural warmth emanating from her skin. "Flutter..." She opened her eyes just in time for Applejack to kiss her gently on the cheek. "..Applejack.. Thank you."
She broke her soft, delicate lips off of her skin, and simply said "Yer welcome, sugarcube."
They laid there for a few more minutes, just admiring each others beauty. Fluttershy's mane had fallen across her body gently falling on the ground infront of her belly, colors mixing so well in the moonlight. Applejack had never seen such beauty before. They laid there for several minutes, in the middle of the grass field.
Fluttershy had gotten comfortable enough to lean towards Applejack, making both of their eyes close completely. Their lips touched for the first time, as they kissed each other gently. After a few moments of sharing their thoughts about that, they returned to camp, and slept in their separate make-shift tents.
The next morning, they had simply looked at each other as they were being woken up by Twilight, telling them all that breakfast was done. Twilight of course, being an early riser, had gone ahead and woken up Pinkie to help her cook.
They had begun walking like they usually did, making small talk about several things while walking, taking occasional breaks. They had begun to wonder if they were even on the path to any town or village of any sort.
The talks that the others had as they were walking through the dirt trail, unaware of Fluttershy and Applejack talking to each other softly, taking a chance of being seen walking very closely by one another, they talked for a few moments, then went back to their positions.
They had seen a few people every now and then, walking on the same dirt road towards them, heading for Ponyville on cart to drop off and pick up supplies. Another rest, and they decided that a few more moments of walking to a wider area would call it a day. After setting up camp, walking all day had tired many of them out, including Fluttershy, Twilight and Rarity.
They had set up another camp, this time again, they had been walking for a while now, and had begun to see what looked like a tower way off in the distance. That had given Twilight and the others a little hope, knowing they were close to civilization. The night before they had arrived, they were all tired, so they didn't pay any special attention to their surroundings, which gave Applejack and Fluttershy another night to be together.
"That was pretty good, wasn't it Flutter? Goin' behind 'em like 'at and talkin ta each other."
"Good idea to walk behind just a little, as they were talking. I feel more comfortable with everything, now that you've given me more courage."
"Shucks, I didn't do much ta help ya, I just helped ya.. last night."
She had moved closer to Fluttershy, both laying in the grass, just like the night before, and kissed her once again. "Like that." She smiled at her, giving her even more comfort and hope to look forward to for the travels ahead. They had been snuggling more this night, beginning to feel love for each other for the first time.
They had kissed a few more times, lying next to one another, keeping themselves warm because of their body heat.
Laying in the grass, stroking each others manes, and kissing each other.. It was like a dream come true for Fluttershy to finally experience love like this, and she had begun to think about all the other ponies that she could have done this with, and it had been Applejack out of them all.
Applejack had been thinking the same thing. Fluttershy, of all ponies.
This time around, the group had traveled far enough to be seen as they were setting up camp. Luckily enough for them, the village people waited until day to come up to them and talk. They didn't pay much attention during the night either, considering the people on the road would drive off any dangers.
The next morning, the village people walked up to them to figure out who they were, and why they were here, with no cart.
"I see that you all are just waking up from the slumber of night." The mysterious stallion scout had made his way here very early, and got here right before Twilight had begun to set up breakfast with Pinkie.
Pinkie gasped in excitement as she went to see the village scout.
"Oh my gosh, somepony NEW! How are you? My name is Pinkie Pie, but you can just call me Pinkie, like everyone else does! Do you have much fun in this village? I'd bet there are a lot of parties, are they-"
"Pinkie, BREATHE!"
She gasped for air, trying to catch up to herself so she could keep talking to the strange pony in front of her. "-FUN?! You must be a scout for the village, coming to see who we are, and why we're here! We came this way to-"
"Pinkie! Let me explain." She was cut off by Twilight, trying to give the scout more room to breathe himself, and have someone calmer to talk to. "Sorry, she can be a little... Energetic, and overwhelming at times with new ponies to talk to.
"Anyway. I can only guess why you are here, so do you mind to tell me exactly?"
The village scout was still slightly stunned with Pinkie's greeting. "... Uh, yeah... Yes. My people sent me to discover what your groups motives were, moving to our village without word of your coming."
"Oh, Celestia must not have given out word that we were traveling, so I guess... I didn't send a letter to this village, because we weren't sure if we would even get to any village or town of any kind soon. Sorry for that." She tried giving the slightly disturbed scout an apologetic look, for Pinkie still hopping up and down, wanting to say so many things, and have a party. Also, for not sending a letter saying they were coming.
The rest had woken up when Pinkie started jumping up and down, and by the time Twilight was done with her look, she turned to see all of her friends standing there, looking at her and the scout. Pinkie, still hopping uncontrollably.
"I see your friends have awoken now. If you will follow me, we will have our cooks prepare a meal for the village, and you travelers."
The group looked at each other, nodded, and followed the scout back to the village after clearing up camp.
As they were following the scout to the village, Twilight had noticed the odd mix of colors that the mysterious stallion. He had a similar coat to Applejack, but with more red mixed in, like Big Mac. His mane had a dark brown center, but on the sides and edges, they were coated with a bright grey, almost white color. His tail had nearly the same colors, but not exact, which sparked curiosity in Twilight even more. His tail had a darker, almost redder shade of brown, and the grey had a little blue mixed into it to make it less dull. She wanted to ask him so many questions.
"My name is Twilight Sparkle. What's yours?" She looked at him, hoping for an answer.
"My name is Sorin. To answer any other questions you may have, I must be inside the village. I will answer them after we have our meal."
The rest of the small trip was somewhat silent, other than the hoofsteps. "Open the gate! These travelers seek refuge in this village, so they may gather together, and set forth another plan of travel beyond!"
The tower guard simply nodded, and set off to tell the others to open the gate. Moments passed as the group waited in anticipation, wondering what would happen next. The gate slowly opened, which brought out gasps of wonder among the group, mainly Pinkie. She would ask all of them so many questions and be so cheerful it would be scary.
The moment the gate fully opened, Sorin started to walk forward. They were all nervous about entering the village at first, but Pinkie Pie seemed to have been bouncing out of her skin, while having the widest smile Twilight's ever seen. The thrill she gets when seeing a big group of ponies.. She will never understand it.
Pinkie being Pinkie, she rushed in, and yelled at the top of her lungs at everypony in the village, saying "HOWABOUT WE HAVE A PAARRRTTAAYYYYY?!"
Without a moment of delay, Pinkie started bouncing around, nearly singing to everypony in the village.
"Pinkie, how about we DON'T have a party, these people have never even seen such a cheerful pony before."
"That's whats making it BETTER!" She was nearly shouting now, uncontrollably shaking and shivering with excitement meeting all these new ponies, getting to know every single one. Everyone in the village had just stared at her, mouth agape. Some had taken a few steps backwards, fearing that the party pony would come to them.
She hadn't noticed Sorin, standing behind her, nearly falling over from laughter.
She was practically singing, but Twilight and the others managed to hold her down until she calmed down a little, so that they could talk normally.
"Sorry for Pinkie, she's a little.. energetic." Twilight gave Sorin an apologetic look, raising her eyebrows and smiling. That made the scout even more curious as to what would happen next, how all the other outsiders would act. Although his face didn't really show that much curiosity, it still showed that he was wanting to know things about them. "Yes, you've already told me. After we have our meal, we will talk more."
"O-of course. We have to apologize about Pinkie. She-"
"Oh, we don't mind, it's quite fun having such a cheerful mare around. It's honestly been a while since we've had anyone make me laugh like that. Come, let's go eat."
Everypony gathered around a big table, and they all shared breakfast with smiles all across the dinner table. Many fillies and colts were at the table, all giving Pinkie a cheerful look. Expecting Pinkie to be.. Well, Pinkie, we all thought she would try to jump everywhere and try to make everypony smile, like she would everywhere else.
She didn't this time, because she had known that breakfast was a time for not too much silly stuff.
After the breakfast, and whatever party Pinkie could make, they got a chance to get used to everyone in the village, and they also got used to the outsiders. "So Sorin.. What is it about this village?"
"What do you mean? There are many things about this village's history I could tell you about, but maybe that could wait. There are the few more recent things that have come and gone, and there's the information about the town past our village, linking two towns together."
"So this is in the middle, between two towns? Then that must mean we have two days of travel again before we see any more people?" Rarity asked.
"Well, you could always rest here until tomorrow, and get on the supply cart going to the next town."
"What is the next town called?" Twilight needed to know, so she could send a letter over there, saying they were arriving.
"The town your group is going to see next has many names, but the most used one is Ritran. Odd name for a town, but it is the one everyone uses most. The other names seem to have died off well enough, so that is the only name you really need to know."
"Thank you, I'll send a letter stating our arrival right away." Twilight said in a serious tone, as she always did about letters.
"Oh, you mustn't worry," Sorin looked at Twilight with a slightly worried look. "Whenever we sent out our next cart, we always tell the town it's coming, so no need to do so. We've also already told the town that the cart may take a little longer than the normal. Mainly because of the group of seven travelers."
"Seven? Now last time ah counted, there were six of us." Applejack was slightly confused.
"Well yes, there are six of you. But then you count me in. I've been wanting to go to the next town myself." He said with a goofy smile. "ADVENTCHAH!" He said, goofing around with his voice.
"He's HAPPY!" Shouted Pinkie.
"Indeed I am Pinkie Pie! We shall set off tomorrow, on the cart!" He said, bouncing around with Pinkie. She was glad to see somepony else that could bounce around like her.
The group had a chance to rest for a while, that they were thankful for. But Applejack and Fluttershy were unable to do anything much that night. They all got separate small houses, so that helped Applejack and Fluttershy get together while they could. Fluttershy had simply told everyone that asked her what she was doing that she was just walking around and getting fresh air before bed. She then got closer to Applejack's little hut-like house.
When she got inside, she was laying on her side and looking at the entrance, waiting for Flutter to come in. She had promised her that she would try to get to her. "Applejack I got in, just like I promised. It was a little scary to do during the night though."
"Ah'm proud of ya Flutter. Wanna come lay with me?" She had done just so, lying next to her, wing over her body, trying to get her warmer. She had looked into those amazing eyes of hers all while doing so. Applejack's eyes to Fluttershy were like crystals of green, in a sea of all of her other beautifully mixing colors.
Even though Fluttershy couldn't see her own wing over Applejack's body, she was sure it was there, by the way she had responded. This magic made it impossible to see oneself.
"Applejack..." She leaned in to kiss her, then continued. "Do you want to... Go a little further this time?"
Applejack was slightly stunned by her question, but wasn't sure about the answer. "Ah... Ah don't know, Flutter. Ah have a feelin' that we should wait fer a few days, where we have more.. Space. And time. Ah'm sorry Flutter, Ah really want to, but we can't just yet."
Fluttershy had started to reply, but was stopped by Applejack kissing her. A more emotionally deep kiss than usual, she had thought. The kiss lingered for a moment, then broke away. Fluttershy had quickly moved her head forward to kiss her again, and she obliged. They stayed there, kissing for a while, Fluttershy's wing petting her friend, without her realizing it, until they had broken away again, to catch their breath.
Applejack had then started to lean over her close friend, and they had begun kissing again. After a few moments of the last lingering, passionate kiss, Fluttershy had returned to her house, and they had slept through the night.
Twilight on the other hand, while Applejack and Fluttershy were busy, she was talking to Sorin in private, and asking him many questions.
"So, is there anything else about you and your friends I should be aware of, other than the fact that half of them are insane beyond reason?" She giggled a little at that statement.
"Well, there is one thing. Even though nearly all of them are insane, I'd have to say out of all of them, I'm the most wacky one on the plate. Everything I do is completely random, from random things. Although I do have a favorite person to act like," His voice changed a little again, to a different accent that Twilight had never heard before. "There is always one person that I love to imitate the most, and that is someone you can't know about, else you would be lost in wonder for days, knowing you."
"Who is it?" Twilight was beyond curiosity.
"Well, that would spoil the surprise about our journey to the next town! That is, if you do decide to take me along with you."
Twilight had never thought about it very much, too lost in the conversation she was having to really think about the trip ahead of her, to the next town. She had begun to wonder what time it was. "I didn't say no, did I?" She replied, smiling at the stallion in front of her.
"Thank you." He bowed his head in thanks, and Twilight was unsure of what to do. "I'll help with the cart, your group should stay inside. Trust me, even if it's just me, I can push the cart to the next town." He looked proud of himself.
"We'll see about that. There are six of us, and supplies in the cart, right?" She had told him, in a nearly taunting tone to him.
That sparked something in him that Twilight never expected. "It doesn't matter what task I have ahead of me, I'll do it. And I'll do it no matter what it takes, even if I die trying. That's always been my motto."
Twilight was unsure of what to say yet again. She then told him that she was going to get some rest, and he should too. "Thank you. I will." He replied, laying down.
After the breakfast next morning, they had all said goodbye to the little village they had gotten a chance to rest in. Twilight was still unsure of what to expect with Sorin, wasn't he the scout of this place?
"Sorin, don't you think you should stay here? I had never thought about it, but aren't you the village's scout?"
He looked at her nervously, and whispered to her, "That.. That was a lie. I was just traveling here as you were. I had came from another path. That's why the gaurd took so long with the gate, because he was worried about trusting me."
The unexpected news hit her finally, and clicked into her brain that he was a traveler, and had gotten enough luck to get the gate open. So that's what it was. He's a traveler, and he managed to cross paths with us.
Applejack and Fluttershy gave each other a quick glance, fearing that he may have seen them.. Together.
They didn't want to risk asking him, so they just set off for the next town in cart. A few strong stallions, including Sorin pushing the supply cart, with the group inside it.
"Well, the next town waits for us." Twilight was happy to know that this village was so kind to strangers like her and her group of friends.
Maybe this trip won't be so bad afterall. Twilight had thought. Then again, this could be the only nice place we go to, and we might have to stay away from everywhere else. Let's hope not. She turned to the rest.
"Well, we all in a group here? Show of hooves!"
They all gathered hooves into a circle, and cheerfully raised them, nearly shouting: "Let's go!"
As they were on the road to the town they were planning to visit, the cart had stopped. Twilight and the others were aware of the time now. Because they were all talking to one another in the cart the entire time, they hadn't noticed how dark it had gotten. When it stopped, they stepped outside and saw that it was getting night time again.
"Alright, I may be fairly strong, but having to push this through the night is going to cause some damage later." Sorin admitted.
"Well, there's no stopping you from resting, is there?" Twilight had teased him for a while, and he was beginning to show signs of anger. "Indeed," He let out a sigh, stretching out his tired limbs. "Yet I grow tired of your near constant teasing of my strength and stamina."
"Well, it's just not that often that I find someone so willing and capable of helping his friends in such a way." Twilight was beginning to think that maybe it was time, before he grew too bitter. She walked over to him, and leaned in, towards his face. He had just begun to turn his head to reply, and that forced their lips to meet by accident. Sorin's eyes went wide as the kiss was returned by Twilight.
She broke away, deciding that was enough. Sorin was still lying there, unable to move, eyes still wide, blushing a little. He had started to look at twilight and smile unwillingly.
"... That was only.. supposed to be a kiss to the cheek.. but you turned your head." Twilight at first was unsure if that was an accident, or if he turned his head only to kiss her. She then pulled back and saw the stunned look on the stallions face, and decided that it was indeed an accident.
He was still speechless as he stared at her, and she was beginning to get a little uncomfortable in this awkward situation.
"I know that was an accident.. But that was good. I-i mean, uh... Well.. It was... Good. Wasn't it?" The stallion was confused for what to say.
Twilight had let out a giggle. "Yes, it was, wasn't it?" She had admitted.
They had laughed for a short while, then Twilight spoke up. "Well, I should get back to the cart.. You should get some rest while you can."
"I will. Thank you. For.. Everything. These past couple days." The stallion then nodded, and she walked out. He laid there, unable to sleep for a while, because of the recent events.
Later that day, Sorin had come out to help with the cart, because his pride wouldn't allow him not pushing the cart for at least a short while every day. It had started to get dark, and today was a long day, because of the cart. Twilight can only imagine pulling this all day.
As Sorin went out to gather extra supplies for a fire that night, Twilight had been outside with him, trying to ask him questions, and he said he would answer them in the cart later that night. She had been thinking about it long enough, and needed to get some rest herself.
As Twilight made her way to the cart, she had picked up a noise coming from inside it, and noticed nopony else was around. She quietly made it up to the entrance, hiding behind the curtain on the back of the cart. She was hearing Applejack and Fluttershy talking, laying very close to each other.
"Flutter, ah don't wanna risk gettin' caught tagether like 'is."
"I'm sure it'll be fine if we just snuggle a little, with my wing over you. If anyone comes in, I'm sure we can just say we got cold." Fluttershy was trying to comfort Applejack as much as she could. Applejack smiled. "Thank ya, sugarcube."
It was then that Twilight stepped in, trying her best to act normal. They immediately looked at her at the same time, shooting a quick worried glance. "What's wrong? Did I scare you?" She was still thinking about what she should do about the situation between AJ and Fluttershy.
"O-oh.. It's um.. Just fine. We didn't expect you to.. come in so early, and.. um.. She got cold." She said with a smile, trying her best to make it seem like it was only that.
Twilight wanted to tell them the gig was up. She wanted to rat them out, and get the truth. Mainly, from Applejack. But she wanted to see more, she needed to see just how far into a relationship they were. So she instead said, "Oh, alright. I'm going to go get the rest, so we can come get some sleep." She nodded to AJ and Fluttershy as she left.
They then decided to just lay there together until the others came in, and Twilight had kept the new information she had found out to herself for now. She still needed more information about the two.
Late that night, as they were all sound asleep, Twilight was the first to wake up to the exhausted stallion standing at the entrance to the cart, trying to wake all of them up because of a sudden emergency.
"Everyone, wake up! Something's happened! I need y-AGH" At that moment he was knocked in the head by a fairly decently sized rock, making him stumble. Twilight rushed to her feet, making her way to the stallion. "What's happened?!"
"We're.. Being raided." Bandits. Great, bandits in the middle of the night. Exactly what we need. Twilight had thought. As the others were waking up, they saw a few stallions walk in, and try to pounce onto Twilight all at the same time. Sorin turned, made a stance, and took the brunt of the force in place of her.
"Sorin!" She shouted. Her eyes shot wider in worry as they all slammed onto the stallion with great force. Enough to knock a normal one out cold, but he simply stood there. He was nearly demonic with his next moves and words.
"Did you.. Just try to all... Attack a lady... That is innocent.. to what is GOING ON?!" He shouted with great, nearly blind rage and a burning desire to protect in his eyes. Running towards all the other stallions, looking at him with fear in their eyes. That fear turned to rage in some, but others simply ran away from the strong, nearly demonically strong stallion galloping towards them. As short a distance as it was, he was already at full speed when he dealt the first hit to the one in the middle.
He then turned to the group, requesting aid from all the others. Nearly all of the bandits rushed him at the same time, but he turned and tensed, making the hit from all of them seem like it did nothing but move him, feet dragging the ground with force. He didn't allow any time for the main one in-front of him to do anything, as he raised a hoof, bringing it down hard on the other stallions shoulder.
The hit only being enough to knock him unconscious, Sorin pushed the stallion away, so he wouldn't get hit anymore. The others surrounding them now, as the rest of the group had come out, ready to fight. The rest of the bandits, looking at the bleeding stallion defending his cart and his friends in fear. Some had already ran away from him.
At this moment, they were nearly surrounded by bandits, their numbers nearly double their own. The bandits had numbers, but they had Sorin, Applejack, Pinkie, Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy and Twilight all ready for combat, even if they did just get woken up.
The bandits had started to run off again, still fearing the stallion they were against. Twilight and the others didn't look like they could put up a fight to the bandits, but they still didn't want to risk it. They all decided to back away for a moment, pondering the situation, and whether or not they should attack again. They all looked at one another, and nodded.
They stood for a moment, nearly relaxing, making the group relax a little. Until they all pounced from all directions. Twilight got one fighting her, Sorin had gotten three. Applejack got two against her, as well as Dash and Rarity. Fluttershy only one, like Twilight. Pinkie had gotten two against her as well.
They all fought their separate battles, the stallion receiving the brunt of the assault. Twilight had managed to beat her opponent, by using knowledge of momentum, and dodging a lot of the hits to her, while focusing primarily on the head and legs.
Fluttershy simply toughened up, like she had done with a few animals that needed treatment, much like the bear.
Applejack had simply been underestimated, as she easily bucked the bandits one by one into the next apple season with her back legs.
Rarity was surprised at first, but she used her magic to grab a few items to smack them around with. Not a very fashionable or a very effective way of fighting, but she managed.
Pinkie being, well... Pinkie. She had enough energy to bounce around, dodging nearly all of the hits. She then simply hopped and danced on them when she got the chance, and weakened them down, smiling the entire time, creeping out the bandits against her.
Rainbow Dash being the fast mare that she was, gave a few quick jabs between dodges, and simply outmatched the two she was against.
Sorin was.. The best way Twilight and the group could explain it.. Sorin was clearly over the bandits level, taking hits and dealing hits ten-fold. Refusing to go down, he took them out one by one, slowly weakening all of them down, the fear taking it's toll on them, and one ran away in fear that he would be next.
After the big fight, they were all pretty exhausted, and had a few cuts and bruises from the bandits, but they had won the battle. The group still wasn't sure that if they hadn't helped, if the stallion they were with would have been able to win.
Until they saw his bloody and bruised body laying in the middle of the road, breathing very heavily, so exhausted that he couldn't move or talk. He knew what would happen if he pushed himself any further. Twilight and the others carried him into the cart, where he could rest peacefully until morning. The other stallions having been defeated before Sorin had called for help.
After the adrenaline rush of such a big fight, some of them were unable to sleep. Twilight, Applejack and Fluttershy were the only ones awake, and Twilight saw the other two laying together, snuggling in such a way only ponies that were very close to each other would lay.
Aah, enough of this Twi, you need to snap out of those thoughts and try to get some sleep! She thought to herself. Think about it tomorrow. And with time, and with shutting out thoughts with force, she had finally fallen asleep.
The next morning, they had all gotten up early, still staying inside the cart, checking every once and a while outside for anypony else. When Sorin had woken up, and was able to move more, he explained everything about himself to the rest of the group. How he's always had such great strength and endurance. Telling them things about him that he wouldn't tell anypony else.
That was all they needed to know. Telling him to get more rest, Twilight and the others wanted to push the cart in his place, and allow him to heal, while they traveled. He was stubborn at first, but then Twilight had the others start to move the cart a little while Twilight told Sorin some things herself.
She had slightly lied to them about what she was going to do. She walked up to Sorin, and laid next to him. She told him about the Elements of Harmony, and about how they had a lot of previous challenges. Then, she spoke to him about something different, something he didn't expect.
"The reason we're traveling is because we're searching for ingredients for a potion that will cure the spell that was put on us. I know, it sounds silly, but it's the truth. We don't even know if the ingredients exist to this day, but we've been trying to search."
Sorin had been looking at her, confused. "So, you and your friends are searching for a cure to a spell that was put on you... It sounds like some weird movie, but I'll trust you. I suppose you've been slightly curious about my Cutie Mark, haven't you?" When he asked that, Twilight had finally noticed it.
"No, now that you mention it, I don't think I've even noticed it before." She looked at it with a puzzled gesture, showing she was unsure of what it meant. "It describes the instability of my mind, as well as my love for music and speed. I like to think it helps my endurance and strength as well, but I never really thought about that too much." He stated.
"You have a love for music? Here I thought you didn't listen to anything." She said, growing more confused, yet more fond of the stallion she was talking to.
"Oh, yes." Sorin started. "I can't function very well without music most of the time, and when I was pushing the cart, I had been listening to music. You might be wondering how, but I'm pretty much the only pony allowed to listen to anything while on any tasks sent by anyone to me. Why? Because I can't work well without music. I've been around music my entire life." He admitted. "Now I guess you know nearly everything about me."
He looked at Twilight for a few moments, searching her eyes, and noticing the beauty of the mare beside him. He had started to look back at what he was doing. "So, about the spell."
"You're right. Thank you." Twilight started. "The spell affects our emotions and feelings.. But it seems as if it's been slower lately. It seems as though it's waiting for the right moment." She had started to move closer to him.
"By the way.." She started, while looking away and slightly blushing. "This isn't the spell talking, so... Do you mind if I.." She leaned in, and kissed him on the cheek this time. He had simply turned to look at her after the kiss, and slowly leaned towards her, fearing she would back away.
She instead smiled, and also started to lean towards her stallions face. They kissed again, this time, not on accident. As they cherished the moment, Twilight stated that she needed to go help with the cart. Sorin nodded, not taking his eyes off of her. He had begun to wonder if it really was the spell or not, and whether or not he should trust them.
As the cart kept going, they pushed onwards, allowing their new friend to heal. As the new town slowly crept into view, they had all stopped to look at the town from afar.
Not so different from Ponyville, but it's our next stop. Twilight thought.
The others had thoughts of their own.
Ooh! I really hope this next town has a lot of fun! I wonder what all the people will be like! Pinkies thoughts went on and on, imagining how parties and other cheerful things happened.
Oh, this looks like an absolutely lovely town, lots of colors, and they blend so well from a distance! I wonder now how the fashion is in this town. Rarity, still thinking about fashion and other things.
Oh.. That's a pretty big town. I hope.. I hope there are little animals in there that are nice to strangers like us.. Maybe not.. They might not even have any animals in there. I hope everyone is.. friendly. Fluttershy worried about the townsfolk.
Gee, this looks like an awfully busy town, wonder if there are any farm areas Ah can help out at, or somethin' Ah can do. Applejack, still looking for something to remind her of home, and willing to help any way she could.
I wonder who the fastest Pegasus in this town is.. I wonder if they'll be fast enough for me. This town better not be too awesome, because I'm coming in! Dash, being Dash, she had hoped to meet more Pegasus ponies, and see if they can match in speed.
The town now within sight, they decide to take a break, pulling the cart a little more, and putting it on the side of the trail.
Twilight was the first to step inside the cart, signaling the others to be quiet, because it looked as if Sorin was asleep again. The group slowly went to their areas, tired after the fight yesterday, and the cart pull today. It was still fairly bright outside, the sun only now going down. Twilight turned to Sorin, since she had laid down closest to him, she had noticed that he was awake.
She smiled at him and gave him a 'Why did you do that?' look.
He just laid still, simply shrugging at her, and turning to his side, so he could see her easier, still seeming to be asleep to everypony else. His eyes still half-way open, looking into Twilight's.
He had never really noticed the delicate mix of colors in her eyes, as he looked deep into them. Breaking his concentration, Twilight blinked. Looking at each other and blushing, they waited until all the others were asleep, so they could walk out together.
As they were walking into the tall grass, Sorin softly spoke. "So I guess.. We're not going to be seeing each other more after this? I mean.. the next town."
"Unless you want to follow us, and help us throughout our way through the land, and help us find ingredients.. Then I guess not." Twilight admitted. She sighed, laying down on her side, pushing the tall grass down around her, with the stallion helping her clear a wider area.
That's a lot of room for just the two of us... Twilight thought.
"That should do." Sorin had started. "I do hope you'll like this.."
Twilight was curious as to what he meant. Then she remembered what she had witnessed between Applejack and Fluttershy. She had thought that she was about to experience the same thing.
When Sorin laid down in the grass, Twilight joined him. With him lying on his side, facing Twilight, she had laid fully on her back without realizing it. Although she held her tail up, Sorin was trying to not look at her body, as she was laying beside him. His heart had begun to beat a little faster, thinking about what would happen. Without a moment longer to think, she had pulled the stallions neck closer to hers.
He looked her way, being slowly pulled in, as he was allowing the pull. She wanted this. He had thought. His heart was beginning to race as their lips touched yet again, and he had feared that it was the spell taking over suddenly. He didn't notice his hoof going down her body, starting at her neck, and stopping at her flank, where her Cutie Mark is. His heart began beating faster and faster. The kissing intensified as she also started breathing heavier.
This has to be the spell. She can't do this.. Not this suddenly. I'm sorry Twilight.. But I can't let you do this. Sorin had pulled away, leaving Twilight's grasp, and leaving her expecting something to happen, but she looked up and saw him simply sitting there. Still looking with deep emotion in her eyes, trying to find out what he was going to do or say.
"I need to know if this is real, Twilight. I don't want to do anything that you might regret, because of the spell." The words hit her like bricks, until the end, mentioning the spell.
"This..." She started, looking down slightly, noticing that he had failed to hide his now stiff stallion-hood. She blushed upon seeing it, and saw his eyes slowly looking down, fearing that he may have slipped up. He quickly changed positions, looking away from Twilight, blushing more than he ever had before.
Twilight giggled a little, and went over to him. "Don't worry. This isn't the spell. As far as I can tell, the spell works on the basis of what is going on. If this was the spell, it would have affected fear, or maybe even anger, because of the fight."
The words seem to have caught the stallions attention, as he looked her way once more. She looked over his shoulder, and noticed he was still as stiff as he could be.
Tonight is going to be fun. Twilight smiled as she thought about what was going to happen. After a few moments of hesitation, the stallion openly laid onto his back and leaving his stiff stallion-hood in plain sight. As he watched Twilight slowly move closer to him, he had many thoughts racing through his mind. Her hoof made contact with him, and it felt unlike anything he had experienced before.
"I thought you didn't function well without music?" She teased yet again. He didn't respond that time, too taken by what was going on around his stallion-hood as her head got closer to it.
Later that night, they were both breathing very heavily, and they had forgotten about everything else around them as they slept next to each other in the field that night, Twilight laying on the chest of her stallion. They had forgotten to move back to the cart.
The panicking sounds of the rest had woken Twilight up, because Pinkie woke up early like usual to start breakfast, and had noticed that Twilight and Sorin were gone. She woke the rest of the group up with the news, and they had begun searching. Twilight quickly shot up, waking her stallion up in the process, by giving him a quick kiss as she was getting up. They both heard the others searching for them. They gave each other worried looks, as they tried to decide what to say when they were found.
Honestly, if I get enough requests of people wanting what happened between Twilight and Sorin, I might do it.
If.
I get enough requests. It's not something I would really enjoy writing, however I can if you want the more detailed part of what happened between Twilight and Sorin.
Part of me hopes not.
The Next Town: Secrets Revealed - Relations Explained
Twilight and Sorin were away from the cart when they weren't supposed to be. They didn't tell the others! What were they going to think?
What if AJ and Fluttershy see us like this? Twilight was at a loss for what to think to say, other than the truth. Sorin didn't have any idea either, which didn't help their situation.
We had ran away from the cart to come here and look at the stars, but we fell asleep. No, I fell asleep. Yeah. I'll say that. We were looking at stars, and I fell asleep. Twilight had thought.
"Twilight! Sorin!" They heard the others shouting for them louder now. "Alright," She said, speaking softly to her stallion. "Let's just say that I fell asleep while looking at stars, and after what we went through with the bandits, you didn't want to wake me up."
"But that wouldn't explain the giant circle we made for ourselves during what we did last night. As well as the.. remaining... Stuff." He admitted, looking at the ground near where they were laying. It was still slightly wet.
Twilight sighed as she realized there would be no getting away from this. Pinkie Pie found them first, and she yelled for the others, and then started off, as she always did.
"I didn't think I'd find you out here, what were you doing? Is it something secret, is that why you went away from the cart, and away from us?" She had asked in excitement.
"Pinkie, let's go back to the cart.. And I'll explain." Twilight admitted. It didn't take long after that for the others to come over. They all looked at them like they had just stumbled on a birthday surprise, and stared in dis-belief.
The walk to the cart took forever for Twilight, because she knew what was going to happen. How would the others react when I tell them what we did? Will we still be... Aah, enough thinking like this, I need to focus on telling them.
They were walking into the cart, awaiting the sure disaster to come. As they were explaining what they did last night, Twilight accidentally mentioned AJ and Fluttershy. Applejack stopped her when she mentioned the two of them, and asked her what in all she saw.
"I only saw you two snuggling together, like I said earlier. Wait... Does that mean you two went further than that?" She was curious to see what they had to say this time.
"W-what're you talkin' 'bout. A-Ah ain't done nothin like 'at!" She said, obviously lying to herself, and the others. Fluttershy was quick to respond. "Not true AJ... You know that. Why would you lie to them? Why would you lie to yourself?" She asked, eyes starting to water as she looked into her previous lovers eyes.
Applejack then admitted what they had done. "So it's similar ta what y'all did I guess."
"So are all of our secrets revealed here?" Twilight asked.
"... I know a language nearly nopony else does." Sorin admitted. Twilight looked at him in dis-belief, raising an eyebrow.
"If you want me to say a sentence, I will, but I only know the dark ancient words... And the meaning of those words." He admitted yet again. That sparked interest in Twilight and the group, so they asked him if he could. He sighed, as he prepared his voice, smiling nervously.
"How much do you want? Do you want one sentence, or do you want the entire poem that I know?" He wanted specifics. They had asked for everything he knew. He then tried his best to remember, and he spoke the words. They were amazed by the language they had never heard before, and had asked for the origin.
"I only know that the language I just spoke to you is extremely old, so old in fact, it rivals the spell put on you, from what I've heard from Twi." The group noticed what he mentioned Twilight as. "So ah guess that since you two 'ave been together, ya've been callin' each other different?" Applejack stated.
"Don't you call her Twi as well?" He asked. AJ then looked confused, and replied. "Well, yeah, but that don't mean ah've been with 'er. She's a friend, and I call ma mare Flutter." She pointed to Fluttershy, then walked over, hugged her, and brought her over. "She's a good friend, but Flutter is more import'nt ta me." She admitted, with a smile, and a shine in her eyes that only Fluttershy could see, as she smiled back at her, blushing.
As they were all sitting in the cart, Sorin stated that he needed to go outside and push the cart more. Twilight had said she wanted to help, but was quickly denied, as he and the others all said that he didn't need any help. As she was laying in the cart, trying to get some sleep, she noticed the cart stopped every now and then. She decided to walk out, to see what was going on.
She quickly decided she should have came out sooner.
Sorin was laying unconscious on the ground, after having seen what had happened, her eyes shot open in fear, as Twilight herself had nearly fallen to the ground in shock. She ran over to him, screaming for help to carry him inside again, as she went over to him, lying down, nearly dead. All the exhaustion and injuries had gathered up, and while he was pulling at the cart, he was slowly hurting himself, all because of his stupid pride.
The others had just arrived, rushing to help the stallion any way they could, and Twilight had just been laying in the cart, all while he was pushing himself harder than he knew he could handle.
You should have TOLD me, you stupid stallion! If I had known that you would have been pushed this far, just to help us move to our next destination, I would have helped you! I would have stopped you before you pushed yourself too far... Twilight thought, feeling guilt wrap around her heart, and squeeze it like an orange.
The others had gotten him into the cart, and laid him down on his resting area. The area next to Twilight's bed. They also wanted to know why he would push himself this far. His stubborn pride had been enough to blind him to what he was doing. He thought he knew the circumstance, he thought he knew the effect this would have on him... He had underestimated it.
He lays down now, breathing stabilized after all the panic of trying to save their friends new lover. They had wanted to leave him out there at first, because of what he did to Twilight, but after seeing how she had reacted to him laying there, suffering, they had realized that doing such a thing would be wrong. It would not only be cruel to the stallion, it would hurt Twilight more than they could imagine.
So much trouble, just to get to a different town.. First the bandits, then this. What else could possibly go wrong next? Could there be anything more that could happen before we get to this next town? Twilight was unsure whether or not anything would work for them, if they would shatter before even getting to the other town. She had then realized that this would be only one of the many dangers that could endanger them even further. She didn't want to think about it any more, she just wanted her stallion to wake up. She wanted to wake up from this horrible nightmare.
She couldn't wake up. This was real. She couldn't save herself or her stallion, or any of her friends from experiencing this. She needed some sleep. They all needed sleep after what they went through. They had stayed in the cart, tending to Twilight and Sorin, as they waited for him to wake up, and say something.
The next morning, he had finally woken up. Still sore from everything that had went on, he couldn't move much, even if he wanted to. They had wanted to ask him questions, but Twilight had made them wait until later, when the stallion could think properly again.
It was evening, and they hadn't moved much the past few days. A search group from the next town had come, looking for the cart. They were surprised when they found it on the side of the trail, with seemingly no one around. They had a few weapons for dealing with bandits, so they slowly crept to the other side of the cart, and the leader had stepped inside. The group shot worried looks at him when he entered, and he had noticed the group all standing next to Sorin, who they immediately thought was knocked unconscious by the group, and had wanted to ask them questions.
"Why are you lot here, and why is HE laying there like that?" The leader asked. Twilight was the first to respond. "We were attacked by bandits a few nights ago, and the stallion you see laying here-"
"I know who that is!" The leader shouted.
"Let me continue!" She shouted back. "The stallion you see laying here was the most injured, and he pushed himself too far in the fight, and he's been unable to move since pushing the cart after the attack. We need help."
The leader then relaxed a little, as he was beginning to think they were innocent, and they hadn't been the ones who had done this. He cautiously walked towards them, and looked at Sorin, lying on the ground, slightly panting, trying to regain control of his thoughts and body.
"Yeah... I believe you about that. This stallions blinded by his pride most of the time, saying he's strong enough to do anything for any amount of time, and always pushing himself too far. I'm surprised he'd made it as far as he has." The leader admitted.
"You know him?" Dash asked. The leader quickly responded. "Of course I know him, he's one of my traveling friends that I met with a while ago. I had stuck with him for a while, and we had started moving to the village you came from. I was already at the town when you all arrived, so I had been expecting him to arrive. If only I knew he was attacked by bandits. It looks like a lot of them jumped him this time." He continued, surprising everypony in the room. He had town people with him, and he had them push the cart. He needed to talk to Sorin's new friends.
"So, tell me. How long have you known him, and how much has he said about everything?" He was curious as could be.
The entire group asked the same question at the same time. "What's your name?"
"... Right. Sorry. I don't like to give out my name, so right now you can just call me... I don't know. You figure something out. I don't stay in one place for long, so you are awfully lucky you found me with Sorin in such a bad condition."
"How about we just call you Friend for now?" Twilight stated. He nodded, and continued.
"I've known him for a while now, and we've been traveling together every now and then, both of us are allowed music while on our tasks. Mainly because as he might have told you already, he can't function well without it."
"Well," Twilight started. "He didn't have much music yesterday, but I think I made up for it.." She admitted shyly.
"Made up for it.. How? I might ask?" Curiously, he looked at her as if he had just seen a ghost as she told him. He then burst out laughing, taking them all by surprise. Twilight blushed as he was laughing, and stared at him awkwardly. "W-why are you laughing?" She said, irritation clear in her tone.
He responded by holding out a hoof apologetically. "I'm sorry," He started. "It's just that.. I would have never expected him to do something like that so suddenly!" He was giggling the entire time, as he was explaining, laughing again as he finished.
"I'm sorry." He stated again, more seriously. "Do you know his back-story? You know, uh.. What he was like before he was so stubborn with his pride and his strength.
The group looked at him curiously, wanting to know more. He simply sat there, awaiting a response.
"We want to know whatever information about him we can get, but we want it from him. I want it from him." Stated Twilight.
"Alright, I won't give out any information he hasn't said himself."
At that point, Sorin finally woke up.
He looked at his friend as if he was imagining him there, not taking too much care into noticing him. He simply laid there, eyes half open, staring at Twilight, as she looked at him with the most beautiful stare into his eyes, full of curiosity, wonder and hope.
"You've finally woke up." She said, hugging him, then laying next to him, in front of all of the others. She didn't care. She was glad she finally got to look into his eyes again.
They had been looking into each others eyes for long enough to seemingly disturb their new friend. "Uhm.. Should I be going? Do you two need more time alone?" He asked while smiling awkwardly.
"Oh!" Twilight jumped to her feet. "I-I'm sorry. Sorin, do you know him?" She wanted to know more.
"So," He started. "He actually is there. I'm surprised you managed to find me out here. Especially.." He started to look away, slightly blushing. "Especially in this condition. Weak, helpless and beaten."
He had giggled at that. "Well," He started. "I suppose you are beaten, but I wouldn't say weak, or helpless at all. You have.. A very close friend, as well as friends that are with your.. mare-friend." He admitted, smiling and on the verge of giggling again. Sorin was quick to add his thoughts.
"I don't know about you, but I've never felt this way about any other pony I've met before."
"You only say that because you actually got her to do-"
"Would you leave that alone? I'm trying to be serious here." He shot a slightly annoyed look at his friend, and that made him stop giggling. Twilight had noticed that whatever kind of friends they were, they knew each other really well, and more than likely had a lot of things in common. Except for the fact that she now noticed the well-hidden wings on the dark pony.
"You're a Pegasus?" She asked curiously. The dark pegasus looked at his wings, and noticed that they were now slightly visible, and let out a slightly disappointed sigh. "Yes," He started. "I'm a pegasus." It seemed to slightly startle the rest.
Twilight's thoughts were in a haze, trying to figure out what else this slightly shy and secretive pony would do. Rainbow Dash was quick to speak next.
"Hey, if you're a Pegasus, then that would mean you can fly right? Come on, I really need someone to fly with, even race." He was startled by the change of tone with the last word from the cyan Pegasus that was now standing right beside him. His face flustered a little, as he tried to look for words.
The pegasus was shocked by the sudden challenge. The mare had come upon him with such a Request giving him little time to even get a good look at his challenger. He backed away slowly. "I. Um... A race. I'm not so sure..." His wings tense up prepped for if anything happened.
"Come on, why not?" the cyan pegasus chimed. Rainbow Dash had grown tired of being cramped in the cart. With all the things going on with her friends, she needed something to get her mind off of things.
"You sure you got the ri-" the dark pegasus was cut off by the earth pony who had stood quietly up until this point. With a huge grin the earth pony stated tauntingly, "A little mare like you dare challenge my friend to a race?" A silly tone in his voice.
The dark pegasus was startled but not really shocked at his friends prank. Before his friend could say anything else he quietly snapped back, "What do you think your doing? We don't want to bring too much attention to ourselves!"
"A LITTLE MARE?!" Rainbow started, agitated by their boasting. "I'll have you know I'm the fastest flyer in Equestria!" Rainbow knew it wasn't right to boast but she refused to be stood up by another pony.
"No I didn't... He was just... I don-" He was at a loss for words.
"Oh really? My friend here hits speeds you probably have never even gotten close to!" Sorin interrupted.
At that moment, the dark pegasus pounced his friend, tackling him to the ground. The earth ponies eyes shimmered with excitement as the grin on his face grew larger and larger. Eventually he couldn't contain it and burst out laughing, pleased with the prank he pulled that the pegasus could no longer back down from.
"I swear, I will get you back for this if it's the last thing I do." the pegasus promised as he got off the earth pony rolling around laughing at his accomplishment.
"Challenge accepted, Rainbow Dash. Just give me a few moments to prepare."
Rainbows frustration left her, as she now had someone to race with, coupled with the fact she was determined to knock down the earth ponies boasting of his friends speed.
"Oh, we don't have to race right now, do we?" Twilight asked in frustration.
"Well, I'm sure we don't have to at this moment, right Dash?" Sorin admitted, asking for Dash's approval. She simply nodded, happy that she was finally going to have someone that was supposed to be really fast to race against. Sorin walked over to Twilight, to see if everything was still ok.
"Hey," He said quietly to his mare. "Anything wrong?" He added with a slightly apologetic tone. She was late to reply, still thinking about what was going on. "Well," She started. "I'm just startled by your friend being accepted into this group so easily. I mean-"
"He has a habit of getting to be friends with people easily." He interrupted. He then noticed that she had given him a fairly evil stare, and he looked into her eyes, full of confusion and wonder. "I mean.." She started again, trying to resume what she was about to say. "We were supposed to be just the six of us.." She admitted, sounding sad. "There were only supposed to be a few ponies that we talked to, but I.. I just.." She couldn't continue as tears started to fall out of her eyes, looking at the floor, away from the sight of anyone. Except her stallion, who then began to embrace her with a sad look in his eyes.
"I know. But wasn't it... Fun? I mean, you seemed to enjoy it." He admitted quietly, slightly joking around with his tone of voice. She realized the tone, making her laugh a bit. "See? You can still enjoy moments like this." He said, his eyes now full of care, hope and curiosity. He leaned his head closer, one of his hooves still wrapped around the mare he cared for. He kissed her on the cheek. That sparked wonder and hope into her, as she turned her head, and gave an all-out kiss to her stallion. He was slightly surprised by it, but loved the fact that his mare had finally gotten cheerful again.
He closed his eyes, and returned the kiss. A few more later, and they had opened their eyes, realizing that everypony else had seen them like that for a few moments, just staring at them. They both blushed, their faces turning as red as they could get. The cart stopped, and they now realized that they had arrived at the new town.
Pinkie was the first one to jump out of the cart, and she bounced around the entire cart before the others came out. A big smile on the party pony's face indicated she couldn't wait to have an arrival party with everypony else in the town.
The others had a slightly different idea of things, and Twilight was the next one out of the cart. They were now at the edge of town as they realized it was very similar to Ponyville in a lot of ways. Nearly the entire group was out of the nearly cramped cart, finally seeing the town they had so much trouble getting to.
The dark pegasus looked towards Dash as he was the last to step out of the cart. His face started to redden just barely, but he turned away in time to look at his friend staring at him. "So, something you wanna admit?" He teased. He was good at reading expressions, and sometimes he took it a little too far.
"No, nothing for you to be sticking your nose in either, I know your curiosity can get the better of you sometimes." He quietly told the dark orange earth pony in-front of him. He was quick to respond. "Well, at least I openly admitted that I loved th-"
"Shut up." The dark pegasus interrupted. It caught Sorin by surprise as he saw the evil 'if you say one more thing..' look on his friends dark face, half of it shadowed by his mane. He knew his friend was being way too serious about this, as he simply turned, looked at Twilight and the group, and walked slowly away from the dark pegasus. Looking back, his friends head was slightly hanging, as he started to walk towards the cart to look for something.
Just before he turned his head away, he noticed Dash walking into the cart behind him. He didn't want to intrude whatever they did in there, so he simply let it go. He went with the group walking through the town, trying to keep Pinkie under as much control as possible. They had decided to see who the mayor of the town was, so they could get a better idea of what this town did. How everything worked in this town, and to see how the people living in it acted.
Dash and the dark pegasus beside her had finally found them in the middle of town. Sorin looked at his friend and started a mix of taunting and teasing yet again, smiling the entire time. "So, looks like you two have had fun since we've been gone. What did you do out of our sight?"
Dash replied faster than the dark pegasus, because he was simply staring into his friends soul with a slightly annoyed look. "Well, if you really wanna know, I helped him get his gear on. It looked awkward, but I just guessed that it helped him fly. I wanted to give him as much of an advantage as I could. You know, because I wanted as much speed from him as possible." She finished.
"Anyways," The dark pegasus started, while walking towards his friend with an evil grin. "I suppose you can do something for me." He taunted. Without a moment to think, he picked up something from behind him, and quickly put it on the earth pony's back, making him stumble because of the weight.
"What in the hay? Get these off of me!" the struggling pony fumbled trying to adjust to the weight.
"But i thought you wanted to see a race?" the dark pegasus teased.
Realizing his own prank was now turned on him, he accepted the defeat grumbling under his breath.
Amused, the pegasus turned to the contraption connected to his wings, half seen-half hidden under the feathers. After a few clicks, the pegasus' wings shot open with such force and speed that it even shocked the pegasus himself.
Rainbow, though curious about the contraptions attached to the darker pagasus' wings, did not let it deter her from her determination to win the race. She needed to feel the wind sliding through her feathers when she soars across the sky.
"You ready?" the dark pegasus prompted. Rainbow spread her wings with a look of determination upon her face, silently acknowledging the dark pegasus' question. She was ready for this ever since leaving Ponyville.
The earth pony, excited over the tension sprung forward shouting, "READY! SET! GO!"
The dark pegasus' wings shot down with such force it propelled him way up in the air in no time at all.
Rainbow, slightly surprised by the speed of the take off of her opponent, sat shocked for a half-second before realizing she was behind. Without a second's delay she sprung into the air with a speedy take off of her own, catching up to the dark pegasus.
The dark pegasus oriented himself and then shot forward with the combined speed of his wings and the contraptions connected to them. Though the contraption's assistance produced superior difference to his flying speed, it did not come without faults. The sudden force of the contraption kicking in caused a lot of pain, which constricted him to only flapping his wings when adjusting course and keeping his speed up.
The two shot across the sky, gathering the attention of all the townsfolk. The earth pony excitedly followed them on the ground bumping into other ponies and knocking stuff over, still not used to the additional weight put on him by the bags.
The darker pegasus was ahead, while Dash was directly behind him. The darker pegasus turned his head to view his opponent behind him, but as he turned his head back around, he was too late. He flew into the cloud in front of him. He slowed down after exiting the other side to regain composure. At that moment he had enough time to see a rainbow shoot right past him.
"Pay attention." the pegasus said out loud scolding himself for his ignorance as he started up again, slowly catching up to Dash.
As he trailed behind the rainbow maned mare he finally got a good look at his competitor. He was almost immediately caught up, then looked in awe as he watched the glistening spectrum of colors flowing with the wind. The cyan coat worked perfectly with the colorful mane and tail. The male pegasus was so entranced by the beauty of the rainbow mare that he didn't even see the thick raincloud coming up.
As the rainbow shot straight up, the dark pegasus had no time to react and crashed straight into the cloud. Sliding off the cloud he started falling back to the ground.
He fell upon a pile of hay with the earth pony laughing right next to it.
"How did you miss the big... obvious raincloud....that was right in front of you?!" the earth pony spurted out between his laughing fits. "Well, at least i always got your back." motioning toward the pile of hay the pegasus was laying in.
"I.. don't know what came over me." the confused pegasus muttered, with the feeling of defeat sinking in.
"I believe it was the raincloud!" the earth pony fell over laughing again at his newest crack at his friend.
The dark pegasus had just enough time to get of the hay pile and regain his footing, as Dash had just landed beside him gleaming with her newest victory.
"I.. um... I guess you... won the race?" the dark pegasus shyly said struggling to find the right words. He was once again entranced by her.
Realizing that she may have been gloating a bit too much, Dash quickly said "Well, you didn't do so bad your yourself, I haven't met anypony that fast in a while." trying to boost the confidence of the defeating pegasus.
"well.. Thanks. Your pretty fast yourself." the dark pegasus barely managed to find the word again.
The earth pony hit a realization of what was happening and a grin started to from on the ponies face.
Seeing his friends reaction he quickly snapped out of his trance. He then quickly snatched his bags off his friends back throwing off the awkward earth pony's balance causing him to hop slightly, widening the grin on his face.
As he fastened the bags onto himself he quickly stated, "Well, we best be going, see we arent from here, we just came to grab some supplies and then we must continue our traveling again. So, I'll let you get back to you business and we will be off."
He was trying to not look like a fool anymore in front of her, so he turned and started walking off with the now balanced earth pony complaining behind him. He quickly ran back to Dash to tell the rest that he'd be back soon, he just had to follow his friend for a small amount of time.
She was confused at first, but went with it as she stood there, thinking about the expression her competitor had on his face after the race, looking at her after preforming the Sonic Rainboom to burst ahead in the race. She shook her head, and turned back to the town to tell the rest of the group what happened.
New town, new ponies, new race. Dash's day couldn't have gone better, being released from the cramped cart in such a way. "Glad to be able to fly again." She said to herself, flying back to her friends.
As Rainbow Dash flew around the town trying to look for Twilight and the rest of the group, she couldn't help but notice one little thing. She had forgotten where they were supposed to meet up next.
With all the excitement of the race, the streets were filled with wandering ponies, some looking for her and the other pegasus. She was going to be so crowded with people asking her questions that she wouldn't be able to see any of the others. That's what she thought anyway.
Much to her surprise, everypony in the town just started talking about it, and when they saw her they acted like it was just another person in town. She didn't really like it, but she was happy she wasn't getting crowded. Now it was just time to search for the others.
'Where could they have gone?' She asked herself that repeatedly as she was searching through town. Then she remembered about the cart. She flew to the edge of town, still grateful to be able to feel the wind on her wings again, and searched for the cart. When she found it, Twilight was there helping out the townsfolk with moving the supplies from the cart. She hovered in the air for a few moments before deciding to go down.
"Hey Twilight!" She yelled as she was flying down. She caught her attention as she saw her turn and wave.
"Twilight, I have something to tell you and the others, but we need to all be together." Twilight was confused at first, but she just simply nodded. "Where are the others at anyway?" Dash tried to gather information.
"Oh, their all off doing their own things, looking around and seeing what in all they can do." Information at last. Dash finally knew where everypony was. Now she could relax, and walk through town herself.
After several long moments of nothing really happening, Dash had arrived in the middle of town. She didn't have anything to do, so she simply just laid down, trying to get a rest from walking and flying around all day. She went to the side of a building, laid down on her side, and rested her head on a soft object she found. Closing her eyes and relaxing, she felt good to finally be able to get some rest after this eventful day.
She only had a few moments of rest, as Sorin had managed to come back looking for the others. She was easy to spot in the shadowed corridor created by the buildings. She didn't care much about who it was walking towards her, but she still opened her eyes to look.
"Hey, Dash, where are the others?" He asked her, stopping right in-front of her.
"Their all... doing things. Around town." She said sleepily, as she didn't have much strength to talk because she was so close to sleeping.
"Oh, alright, sorry to bother ye." He said awkwardly. "Ah should look fer Applejack." He added, trying to mimic her country accent. Dash laughed slightly, and pointed him towards town, wanting to sleep. He followed after a nod, and went out to town in search. She quickly fell fast asleep.
Sorin walked back to the cart to check if Twilight or any of the others were there. When the cart had gotten into view, he started trotting towards it. Twilight had stepped out of the cart, and saw him walking towards the cart, and had noticed that she looked at him curiously, as if she had just remembered something.
"Twilight!" He hollered as he walked closer. He embraced her neck with his front hoof, giving her a hug. "Twilight, I have-"
"You have something to tell me, right? Well, in reality, to tell all of us?" She cut in. He nodded with a smile, and broke away from the hug. As he pulled back, Twilight walked forward slightly, keeping their necks touching. She pulled back after a moment only to kiss him, and then returned to her previous position.
"I suppose you can't give me a hint about what it is your going to talk about?" She asked innocently. He simply sat back, and shook his head.
"Nope, can't do that without just telling you." He admitted with a slight smile, his eyes narrowing in a teasing motion. "Unless you really want to know... I can tell you a bit in the cart." Twilight's eyes fluttered for a moment in confusion, slowly walking towards the cart.
They both eventually stepped inside, and Sorin started to quietly talk. Only after a few words however, Twilight broke her concentration and rushed her stallion down, knocking him over with the surprise, toppling on top of him with a kiss. She had her eyes closed the entire time, all the way down to the ground, as well as the moments on the floor of the cart. They both slowly increased the speed of their breathing as they started kissing more passionately.
Moments later, Twilight had moaned a warning, saying she was going to break away. They stopped kissing, as Twilight pulled back, looked away and blushed. She started smiling, and she tried to say something, but Sorin couldn't understand it very well.
"I mean," She started again. "I'm not sure if I would... Ah, I don't know what to say.."
"What are you talking about, Twi?" He asked, his eyes narrowing in confusion. "I'm going to be honest here and say that I have no idea what it is you're talking about." The addition of words seem to have struck the purple unicorn enough to look at her stallion with a sad expression, mixed with understanding.
"I'm talking about... Us... Being together more. You know.." She stated, using hoof movements to try to help explain. The stallion simply laid there, slowly beginning to understand.
"So you're talking about... Yeah. Uhm..." He took a deep breath, followed by a sigh, and admitted his feelings directly. "I love you, Twilight. It may seem sudden, considering we only met a few days ago, but everything about you is just... I can't really describe it." He was blushing the entire time, his body was shaking as well as his voice. He turned away from her after admitting that, in fear of her response.
Her eyes went wide with the first sentence, and grew wider with hope and passion as he kept talking. She saw him turn away, so she got up and walked to him. Her neck touched his, and she laid beside him, making their cheeks touch. She was smiling, as to comfort the stallion.
"I love you too, Sorin. Even if it was a few days ago we met, I'll never forget the first time I saw you. But in all honesty, I think we should talk about this at another time, because, well... The others will be coming to the cart soon, and if they see us like this, it would be..."
"Awkward to explain?" He finished. She nodded with a small laugh. She started to get up, as she got her two front hooves in position to stand, but he put a hoof around her body, hugging her again. She smiled and returned the hug gladly.
It was a few moments later that they had started talking about something else while walking out of the cart, and they nearly walked into Applejack. "Oh! Hey, sorry there Applejack." The stallion spoke first.
"Oh, it's fine, I was just wonderin' where y'all were at." She finished with a nervous smile, staring at Twilight.
"Applejack, you want to help me go around and gather the others so we can have a group chat?"
"But Ah wouldn't know what the others are doin', and I don't know where they'd be!" Applejack sneered. She wasn't exactly feeling well after what happened with her search for a bit of work in town.
Twilight had a slight look of surprise and shock, her eyes slightly wider than usual, staring at her friends small outburst.
"Sorry, Twilight. Ah just had a bad day." She admitted, hanging her head and closing her eyes in defeat. Twilight of course was quick to try comforting her friend, along with Sorin. She looked at her stallion that was helping to comfort the saddened friend affectionately. She was glad he was trying to help like this.
Only a few moments later, they had all split up to search for the others. Sorin headed off where he last saw Dash, and when he saw her, she was sound asleep with something covering her. He slowly woke her up, and smiled at the fact that somepony was kind enough to put something over the mare to keep her warm. She woke up in a daze, trying to pry her eyes open to see who it was waking her up. He used his neck to slither his head under her belly, and used his head to pick her up and put her on his back. That way, she could still rest during the trip, and they could still move effectively.
Twilight knew the basics of the kind of place she would find Pinkie and Rarity, so all that was left was for Applejack to find Fluttershy. They were all easy to find luckily enough, mainly due to the fact that this was such a small town.
They all eventually gathered inside the cart, and it was getting night again. They were now all together after the first day in this town, and they were all tired. "Alright girls, my stallion here has a few things to say." She said sinisterly, narrowing her eyes in a teasing fashion. He was taken by surprise with her open announcement.
"Right..." He began nervously. "I haven't told any of you this, even Twilight, but I have fairly important news. And I'll only say that news if everyone wants to hear it." He admitted, looking at Twilight with the same evil grin. This time she backed away, the same look he just had on his face was now hers to wear.
Everyone nodded and agreed that they wanted to hear what he had to say.
"Well, I'll just go into one of my speaking modes here, and tell this in story mode. How about that?" He asked, awkwardly waiting for the response of the others. When they all nodded, he began.
"I had told Rainbow Dash to inform Twilight that I had something to say and that I would be back in a short while." The tone of his voice had changed to be noticeably lower. Twilight smiled at the randomness of her stallion.
"Sorin," The dark pegasus started. "I think it's time you met a friend of mine." He didn't look back to who he was talking to, he just kept walking into the forest. "Trust me, it's nothing for you to be afraid of, it's only a friend of mine that I think you should meet." He continued.
"But wait," Sorin cut in. "Who is it? And why have I never seen him before? I've been friends with you for a while." He gave his friend a look of confusion, trying to get answers in this awkward situation.
"Let's just say that he's a unique one." He answered cryptically with a smile.
Not too many moments later, they arrived in a clearing of grass and flowers in the forest just outside town. "Meeting." The dark pegasus said suddenly. Not allowing the earth pony to think very much, another pony arrived on the opposite side of the clearing.
"Is this the friend you were talking about bringing?" The mysterious stallion asked. Upon receiving a nod, he looked at Sorin curiously. He smiled, and Sorin had noticed that he had been smiling too. The field they were standing in had a small yet beautiful amount of sunlight beaming through the trees. There were a few flowers in the circle of light grass and flowers in the middle of the forest. The setting made it even more confusing for Sorin.
"You can call me Kitran for now. It's best I don't give you my real name for now, much like him." The mysterious stallion stated, glaring at his friend with the last bit. The dazzled earth pony on the other side simply nodded. He quickly shook his head, bringing him back from the setting around him he was feeling.
"What important things should I know about you?" He asked the mysterious stallion.
"Not that I'm sure you need to know, however I need you to tell your friends that you met someone new. You can tell them all that goes on here if you wish." He added. Sorin nodded, and the conversation started.
After a few moments of storytelling, Sorin snapped back to reality and saw the confused look on most of their faces. He looked at Twilight, who seemed to have a face of intense curiosity. She really wanted to know more about this mysterious and sudden arrival. She or any of the others didn't know who he was, or what he really looked like. Only Sorin, the one that told the story to begin with by going out there to meet him.
"So that's it?" Pinkie asked in a disappointed yet curious tone. When receiving a nod, she hung her head slightly. He could only guess that she was sad that she was unable to meet him.
"I KNOW!" She shouted suddenly, hopping back up. "I'll throw him a PARTY when I see him!" She shouted excitedly. Twilight shook her head, smiling at the pink party pony's sudden outburst.
Tomorrow, if things went according to their plans, was going to be... Crazy.
As we all stepped into Pinkie's creation, we saw the cheerful mare with a massive smile on her face. The smile she could only have if she was truly happy about something.
The room that they had decided to use was fairly large, giving plenty of room for decorations and moving. Vibrant, colorful strings were spread across the room, hanging down low enough to be seen, yet you would have to jump really high to grab one. Pinkie runs upstairs as she's practically exploding from happiness. Parties were always her favorite things to do whenever it came to any situation.
"You ready for one of Pinkie's parties, Sorin?" Twilight whispered into his ear.
"Ready?" Pinkie called to all of her friends, gesturing to the string hanging next to her.
"I guess I'll find out soon!" He replied.
Upon receiving cheerful approval, she pulled the string and the party began.
Ponies from all around town had been pouring into the cheerful event. The town-folk had only recently met this strangely cheerful party mare, yet she was throwing an arrival party. Well, more of a mix of reasons for the party, but mainly the arrival of the group.
The party was going as well as it could have ever been. The music was up-beat, the drinks and snacks were plentiful... What more could you ask for other than a bunch of friends to meet and dance with? This party had everything. Sorin had gotten a little drained, so he went to the table of drinks.
"Hey, you're one of the new arrivals in town, right?" A mare behind him asked.
"Yeah." He replied back before even turning to face her. He finished pouring his drink, turning his head to get a look at the mare. She was such a unique pony, that much was obvious. He immediately stumbled in a bit of fright as he took in the size of her. She was really tall, even for an Earth pony.
She had a curvy, flowing mane, with a two similar colors directly beside each other in lines similar to a zebra. Her mane and tail had large stripes of red and orange directly beside each-other. Her coat was bright white, similar to Celestia herself.
"That's nice." She replied back, moving to the table to get herself a drink as well. "What's your name? If you don't mind me asking." She was polite at least.
Sorin smiled as he responded. "Sorin. My name is Sorin."
"Oh! That's like the famous Wonderbolt in Ponyville!" She shouted excitedly. "How come you have no wings, and you look so.. Different?" She asked.
"Oh, no... No, no, no.. I mean.. Dagh.." He stuttered, trying to find the words. "My name is similar to him, but I say it differently. Two different names, they might be similar, however they have a big difference. The main one being that he's a Pegasus while I'm an Earth Pony." He continued explaining.
"S-o-r-i-n, not S-o-a-r-i-n', the Wonderbolt. People confuse me way too easily these days..." He admitted, hanging his head slightly. She looked almost offended at his explanation, yet an apologetic expression quickly followed.
"I'm sorry, I've just always wanted to meet him. Being a Wonderbolt and all." She admitted cheerfully.
Sorin was quick to respond. "Wait..." He paused a few moments trying to work his mind around what he just heard. "You've always wanted to meet a Wonderbolt?" He asked.
"Yeah! Haven't you?!" She nearly shouted. Rainbow Dash and Twilight had both noticed her at this point. Dash had noticed her because she kept yelling about Wonderbolts. Twilight had noticed her because she was practically pushing Sorin back, still attacking with cheerful words.
They both arrived at the scene, and Sorin decided to play a little prank. It had been a while since he's done anything to embarrass Dash, even just a little. "Hey," He spoke suddenly, interrupting the mare leaning over him cheerfully. She pulled back and allowed him to talk.
"Talking about them..." He looked at Dash with an evilly happy glow in his eyes. "Look who's here."
The mare had turned to face Rainbow Dash. She didn't have much of an initial reaction, only really slightly gaping at the vibrant colors of the Pegasus in-front of her.
"She's the newest addition to the Wonderbolts. News hasn't hit yet, so you'd bet-"
"OHMYGOSH, REALLY?!" She interrupted forcefully, nearly pouncing on-top of Dash instantaneously. Dash immediately made a terrified face, widening her eyes and trying desperately to escape the sudden embrace by dodging to the side. Sorin was practically rolling in laughter at this point.
Dash tried to explain to the mare tackling her that he was playing tricks, but to no avail. Twilight helped her by lifting up the overly cheerful mare into the air, allowing Dash to breathe easier.
"Oh! Sorry! I got a little excited! It'sjustsonicetobeabletofinallymeetoneofyou! I'vewaitedforthisforsolong!" She was talking so fast it was a miracle that they were able to understand her properly. A stallion came over to the confusion and the white mare immediately looked at him. She quickly calmed down as she raised her front hooves to her chest. She raised her eyebrows and put a big apologetic smile on.
"I'm sorry, I just.. got a little-"
"Yeah, a little excited." The stallion interrupted, an embarrassed smile creeping onto his face. He was a Pegasus, so he hovered up to meet his friend in height. He didn't need to fly up very far, because he was also extremely tall. Twilight nervously put the cowering mare down, letting them sort things out for themselves.
She hadn't noticed it automatically, but as soon as she turned she saw Dash trying to get revenge on Sorin. Tackling him, calling him funny names and all sorts of wild, random stuff that would normally only be heard by Pinkie. She giggled as she watched the two have an embarrassment contest. So far, Sorin was winning.
The rest of the group had all gathered around the drink table now. They had all witnessed Dash pouncing on-top of Sorin, trying to get revenge for that little prank. She got a good look at the mare that had tackled her, and noticed something odd. She immediately stopped attacking the trickster stallion to get a better look.
The white mare was a pale white, similar to Celestia herself. The sight caught her off guard, as she slightly stumbled backwards.
"You're so tall!" She whispered instead of yelling. She then noticed the massive height of the stallion next to her. He was even taller. Sorin was fairly tall himself, however this stallion easily beat him in height. He was wearing a tuxedo, despite the craziness of this party.
"I apologize for my friends overwhelming happiness, Miss Wonderbolt." He said formally, bowing his head as he finished. Rainbow Dash immediately shook her head.
"Oh, no! No, no, it's not like that. I'm not a Wonderbolt... Yet." She admitted, trying to find the words.
"What?!" The white mare's eyes bolted to the Earth pony that was just now getting up. "You lied to me?" She said, putting on a saddened expression.
"No!" He said quickly. "Well, yeah, kinda. I'm sorry, but I just had to see the reaction of Dash. I didn't expect you to be so... Happy." He admitted, beginning to laugh again.
"Well, I am making a big trip to Ponyville for the main reason being just to see them." She admitted happily. Dash smiled and replied quickly.
"Well, I can only hope that you get an awesome view!" She said, walking closer to the mare to give her a pat on the shoulder. "Besides," She continued. "I'll be there someday later." She finished with a smile.
After a few moments of staying at the table, something was unseen by the door.
The dark Pegasus cautiously enters the party with his clearly excited friend. He looks at his back and checks his bags, satisfied with how well it covered his wings and flank. Nopony should recognize him but he was still cautious.
He was just a little nervous of bigger crowds but Sorin was determined for him to come so he reluctantly obliged. His friend however, couldn't hide his excitement if he tried, but he followed the dark Pegasus' lead with being discreet.
As soon as they were past the door the dark Pegasus quickly found a corner of the room and bolted for it with Kitran not far behind. As they reached the corner Kitran had eyed all the food and other party activities. He just loved pony sweets, and wanted to try everything and since he had never experienced a party was eager to try everything.
He looked over at his friend silently eying everypony in the room nervously. He sympathized with his friend but anticipation of participating in the party was slowly eating at him.
Kitran turned to his friend and spoke playfully. "You should go out there and do something."
The dark Pegasus turned and looked at his friend and returned the challenge. "No. You go out there."
Kitran wasted no time and gleefully said "OK!" as he bolted towards the table of snacks and other party food. Stunned by his friends eagerness to join the party now left him grumbling to himself as he realized he was now alone in a house full of partying ponies who he had never met.
All the sudden he heard a familiar laugh coming from the other side of the room. His eyes quickly located the source and saw as Sorin was laughing over a prank he had just pulled on rainbow dash. He looked around and was grateful that nopony had recognized him from earlier and then a grin widened upon his face as he Realized he still owed Sorin payback for the previous day.
Content with his disguise he started slowly sneaking his way over running through plans in his head. All the sudden Kitran had returned with many dishes in his hands and tried to offer some of it but the dark Pegasus understood none of it since the stallion had a mouth full of food.
"No thanks, I'm fine." the dark Pegasus responded trying to refocus on his plans.
Kitran wasted no time as he surprised other random ponies and awkwardly offering food almost tripping over his own legs in the process.
The dark Pegasus just shook his head to his friends excitement and utter disregard for not attracting to much attention to himself. He then turned back to his target and continued making his way to the unsuspecting stallion.
Dash had just finished telling something to a very tall, white mare when he started executing his plan.
Pinkie bounced up to the table, shouting at everypony to follow her. She cheerfully bounced around the room in a zigzag pattern. Everypony in the room laughed, cheered and smiled. The party was indeed a great success, as always.
After a few embarrassing acts by a few stumbling ponies, the party started to disassemble.
The party was over, and everypony was happy.
The party... Was a success.
After a bit of small talk, the group headed for the cart so that they could get some well-needed sleep. The night cast a fine glow on the road back to the destination.
They had all awoken as the sun came up. Twilight and Pinkie Pie both woke up at nearly the same time. They had begun making breakfast when the rest slowly awoke.
Twilight was the leader of the group, so she decided to set a plan. She also decided to release the idea for the plan at breakfast, after the party. The town was peaceful at morning, unlike Ponyville, much to their surprise. The sun had just peaked itself over the mountain horizon. The glow cast a dim reddish-orange shade across the town. The setting really looked absolutely beautiful for such an early morning.
The sun had risen more as time went by, and as the meal was being prepared. Sorin had just woken up and walked outside to meet Pinkie and Twilight. As he walked over to the cooking breakfast, Twilight greeted him with a sudden, quick kiss. It surprised Pinkie when she had done it, making her gasp in happiness.
Sorin simply sat down next to the cooking meal, staring at the fire. His eyes slowly moved to the vibrant, glowing eyes of Twilight. His gaze was lost in the sea of emotions pouring from her eyes, and into his soul. He felt a strange, indescribable feeling of happiness and contentment.
"So," He started. "I don't suppose you have any plans or ideas you want to share?" He asked, looking away from Twilight and Pinkie, staring at the fire once more. Breakfast was going to be served soon.
"Actually yeah." Twilight answered honestly. "I had been thinking of actually searching for an ingredient. For the potions... To cure our spell." Twilight averted her stare from the stallion so that she could move the meal away from the fire. She set it on the ground, letting it rest and cool.
"It's funny..." She started, staring at the fire, thinking about the past. "We started this not too long ago, not really knowing what to expect. We've gone from houses in Ponyville, a nice, cooled down area... To needing to build fires, or cuddle together during the night." She closed her eyes and sighed. "I just didn't expect our lives to change this much, simply because of a spell. A random spell put on us by Discord... That didn't have a natural, magical cure."
By this time, the others had awoken and stepped outside to greet the new day. Sorin saw the state of Rarity and simply giggled, starting to stand to say something.
"The slumbering bear greets the dawn, huh Rarity?" He couldn't contain his smile any further. She checked the condition of her mane, and swiftly fixed it as well as she could. Giggling slightly, the stallion turned and started walking towards Twilight. They had all awoken at this point, as breakfast was being served.
"Is my hair fixed? Oh, it infuriates me so how I can't even see how I look, whether through a mirror or not. Curse this magic." She stared at the group, one by one, hoping for an answer. Upon receiving a little help from Twilight, she relaxed and started acting naturally, feeling better.
Minutes passed as the group was sitting by the fire, eating breakfast and making small talk. Only moments after all was silent, Twilight spoke of the plan.
"So, I was thinking." She looked around the group of her friends, eyes lingering on those of the stallion. "I was thinking about searching again for a specific ingredient. I've brought a couple of books that detail the most of the rare ingredients. So I basically know where to look for the ingredient I'm hoping for us to find."
They all began looking at one another, deciding if they should or not.
"So? What say you?" Sorin said, surprising the entire group and causing Twilight to give him a confused stare. After only a moment further of thinking, the group decided to agree one by one.
Rarity spoke first. "I believe that the best course of action would be to look specifically for an ingredient."
Then Applejack. "Ah reckon there ain't no harm in lookin' fer one."
Rainbow Dash was next. "Alright, let's go look for another... whatever-it-is."
Fluttershy was the last to speak. "I'll go if you all will."
Once they had all decided what to do, the group put out the fire and set off. It had begun with Twilight listing off the text from the book. The day progressed as the group gathered their strength or walked around town for the last time, before they set off. They had planned on going to an abandoned ruin, somewhere inside the forest.
"Deep in the forest," Twilight started explaining, reading the text from the book. "There lies an old abandoned castle." She stopped reading for a moment to look at the map.
"There it is on the map." She said, sliding the map across the ground and tapping her hoof to the part she was detailing. "We'll need to follow a path in the forest... It says here that there's an old road that's nearly decayed that runs halfway through the forest, leading to the castle. So if we follow the path when we find it, it'll be as easy as following the road to the castle... Because that's basically what we're going to do."
She looked around the group, all assembled now at the edge of town.
"It's just like Ponyville..." Applejack stated. "Leavin' town, goin' through a path in a forest."
"You're right, AJ." Twilight stated. "Except we haven't lived in this town for several years."
"I'm just glad we had time to have a party in this one!" Pinkie said cheerfully. The rest of the group nodded.
They begun their walk, making their way through the forest, towards their destination. Only a few small things distracted them, as they made their way through the many trees and often damp earth. It didn't take long for them to find the path that the book detailed. Once they were on the path, it was as simple as following it.
The gate to the castle was decayed, and slightly swinging back and forth from the wind. It was rusted and had vines attached to it from the nearby swamp trees. They quickly walked past the gate, now gazing upon the great sight of the castle. It was a grand sight, even in its old, stained and overgrown condition.
The entire group marveled at the sight of it. It was quite large, despite the age and decay breaking some parts of the walls. There wasn't a single sound escaping from it, as the age would already tell you.
"We should step inside." Twilight said boldly, already stepping a hoof inside of the castle entrance. The rest of her friends quickly followed, Sorin going first after her.
Minutes of searching had been seemingly wasted, so Twilight thought of another plan. She told the group that they should split into a few groups. She stated that it would be best to send the five of her friends off to the bigger part of the castle, while herself and the stallion stay and search the library.
Only few moments had passed before they all nodded, thinking out the scenario. Twilight had a good mind, that much was sure. The majority of the group went their way, while the stallion and the lead mare turned to the long hallway. The walk was long, and it had doorways dotting the sides of the walls.
Above every doorway, there was a window, letting in the faint light of day seeping through the leaves. Twilight kept walking down the hallway, looking for a specific room. "Do you think," She started, not even looking to her side. "the rest of them will be ok?" She finished, looking to her side, then behind her. Then to her other side.
He wasn't there.
"Sorin?!" She shouted. No response. She trotted back down the hallway, looking for the stallion.
"Twilight!" A response finally came. She could tell that he was in the very first room, on the left. She wasted no time in going to the room he was in. He was laying down, reading what looked to be a scroll. Similar to the scrolls that she would send to Celestia.
"What's that?" She asked.
"I'm not quite sure, but it details something I have a personal look-out for." He stated boldly, continuing his reading. Only few moments passed for him to be able to read before they heard a scream from the other side of the castle. He jolted his head up, looking out the door, then at Twilight.
They both nodded at each other, starting to walk out the room. Once they had walked outside the room, they were forced to stop by a wall. They were both confused, because they both came from that direction. An idea popped into Twilight's mind.
"We're being forced further apart. Somepony put this wall here, using a hidden contraption. This is the way we came through the hallway in the first place. That means somepony else is in the castle with us..." She trailed off, looking behind her, to the other end of the hallway.
"Only one way to find out if I'm right." Twilight stated, trotting down the hallway to the other end. Sorin quickly followed, adding his thoughts.
"While that is completely possible, I have my doubts about that."
They shortly arrived at the other end of the massive hallway. They kept walking through the castle, only stopping every now and then to look in rooms. As they were halfway through another hallway, the passageway in front of them started closing. They both made a gallop for it, but it closed just before they got there.
They turned around in time to be greeted by at least half a dozen darkly dressed ponies.
"Doesn't look very inviting." Twilight said nervously.
"Who are you?" Sorin asked the ponies at the opposite end of the hallway.
"My name," A dark stallion approached from behind the lines of the others. "Is of no value to your knowledge." He finished with a laugh. "Go on, get them. Yet," He said, stopping the group from rushing forwards. "take your sweet time capturing them. Like the others."
They all then just started trotting, their faces hidden behind the darkness of the robes.
"Can you fight?" Sorin asked Twilight.
"I don't know, I've never had to seriously fight like this. I can use my magic!" Twilight stated, as her horn started to glow, picking up a nearby rock. Sorin laughed a little, then got serious.
The ponies were now really close. Not close enough to attack, but close enough to talk. Sorin prepared himself for any attack. Twilight then did the same, yet she also prepared for a magical attack. Neither of them could see any horns, but they didn't want to take a chance.
They all said something to one another quietly, and braced for combat themselves. Then they jumped forwards.
Sorin took the first blow before dealing the next to the same pony that hit him. He was never one to hit before being hit. Twilight however took the trajectory of the pony flying towards her into calculation and dodged to the side. After she stabilized herself, she used her magic and slapped the rock onto the pony's head, knocking him unconscious immediately. They were cornered, but they had knowledge and strength on their side.
It didn't take long for those goons to be defeated, as they were both only panting by the end. They looked towards the leader, who just stood still. "What," He started. "are we going to have a big chase scene of sorts?" He asked comically. "Because we all know that the only direction you can go is towards me." He continued to taunt.
"Here, allow me to do something for you." He stated, moving a hoof to his head. He removed the hood, revealing his face. He was a unicorn, fairly tall, as well as being a darker shade of purple than Twilight.
"Tell me," Twilight started. "I want to know why you are doing this." All she got in response was a deep, genuine laugh. He retreated back into the darkness, hiding himself from view. Twilight rushed forward in search for the enemy. She thought she knew exactly where he was, yet somehow he was gone.
"Gah!" Twilight stomped her hooves to the ground. "He must have teleported."
"We need to find where all the others are." Sorin stated, already starting to move. It wasn't long before Twilight followed him. They walked through the castle for several minutes, until they arrived in the main kings hall. It was a massive room, filled with long tables, old candles and all sorts of decorations.
"Please tell me..." A voice echoed around the grand room, unable to be heard from a certain direction. "There will be a bigger challenge than this." They could tell that it was a mares voice, but they couldn't tell from where.
"Above." Sorin said bluntly. Twilight just froze, locking her eyes in place and blinking a few times.
"Wha..." Twilight was dumbstruck, trying to think about his conclusion. There was nothing going on anymore. Everything was silent.
"D-doesn't mean you're right!" Exclaimed the same voice from before.
"I was right." He whispered into Twilight's ear. She still just stood there, wondering how he did that so quickly. "Let's just say," He started again, louder. "Instinct." He said with a smile.
"L-like I said-"
"Don't start." Said a deeper, more stallion-like voice. "The last thing we need is you giving out our position."
"You just said he was right!" The mare retorted angrily. "You're worse than me!"
The bickering between the two ponies continued for a few moments longer. What stopped them was their plan being put into motion. The first hint was the sound of several hoofsteps, all walking in the same area near the others. Still being out of sight of Twilight and Sorin, they execute the next part of the plan. The suspended walls come crashing down, immediately blocking the exit of the two ponies.
"Great." Twilight exclaimed. Just after she said that, more ponies stepped into view from the darkness. These ponies however didn't wear any dark cloaks or anything. Sorin moved closer to Twilight, whispering into her ear. "Get ready for a big fight. I can sense it."
Not a moment after he said that, one of the ponies launched himself forward. The first attack was extremely swift, not giving a chance for Twilight to dodge, or for Sorin to step in the way. The first strike landed directly on her head, making her step back and stagger while Sorin returned the favor ten-fold to the pony.
The first opponent was dealt with, but there were several more left to go. Before either of them could properly regain control of themselves, another pony launched forwards. This time focusing on Sorin instead. He turned his body, tensing all of his muscles and preparing for impact.
The impact was deadened by his preparations. Pony after pony launched towards them, weakening them down and dealing cuts and bruises on both of them. Twilight had been separated from her stallion, causing her to be in more danger than ever before. She was receiving more hits than ever before, as her body experienced more pain than it had in her entire life. There were cuts all across her body, as she was still forced to fight.
Sorin tried everything to get closer to his mare, but nothing worked. Mainly because of the number of ponies in his way. He had kept himself calm until this point, desiring to get closer to her in order to protect.
Moments passed as ponies dropped to the floor, but the main ones that were standing were the two fighting all the rest. Sorin had finally had enough, as he yelled loudly and dove through all the ponies, blinded by his anger and desire to protect Twilight. He reached her in time to save her from a hit to the head.
Everything stopped as the leader stepped from the shadows. He ordered all of the ponies to stop, as the preparations were done.
The dark stallion and his goons had surrounded them both now. Both Twilight and Sorin were out of breath already, yet they still had a lot to do. Twilight had been slowly weakened by the cuts on her body, leaking blood still. It was hard for her to stand, let alone fight.
Sorin knew he was going to get in a big fight soon. His muscles and all of his nerves had a good amount of time to get accustomed to everything. His body was more ready for a fight now than ever before, even with the bandits all those nights ago.
"Well," The dark stallion leader started. "Are you ready to give in? Are you weakened to the point of desperation?" He asked with a sinister tone. He believed that he had won this battle, but he's never seen the determination, strength and endurance of this Earth Pony.
"I think..." Sorin started. "You should... Try to be more aware... Of WHO YOU HURT!" He finished, catching the falling mare before she hit the ground. She had nearly fallen unconscious due to the blood loss and exhaustion. Sorin quickly set her in the corner and kissed her.
The awkward time for it, as well as the loving length of the kiss... It was one of the random things that he did that she loved about him.
"Twilight... Stay here. I'll take care of them..." He said coldly, his stare into her eyes being soft, yet turning to a murderous, ice-cold, terrifying look of determination as he turned to face the rest of them. He stood proudly, and yelled at all the ponies surrounding him with one simple phrase that belonged to him alone. Ice in his eyes turned to a bright, burning rage as he looked into each of their eyes.
"I HAVE NO FEAR OF EXPRESSING THE EXISTENCE OF MY HATRED FOR YOU!" He stated furiously, his mind was overwhelmed with rage and the desire to protect. Whenever it came to anyone doing anything to Twilight, he always acted protective, but this was another side of him.
"RUN AS FAST AS YOU CAN, OR I WILL MAKE SURE YOU BREAK DOWN IN MORE WAYS THAN ONE!" He yelled as he started to charge towards the entire army he was against. It was him alone against a possible several dozen goons. He knew he would stand no chance, yet he still strives to protect those he loves.
"IF YOU HURT SOMEONE THAT I CARE ABOUT AS MUCH AS HER, I WILL PERSONALLY MAKE SURE YOU SUFFER!" He shouted as he head-butted the first pony he ran into, rage boiling the blood coursing through his body. His blind desire to protect had nearly shattered his mind. The only thing holding him from breaking like this was Twilight. His protection was broken, as was she.
She was still laying in the corner, a small pool of her own blood beginning to show itself. She watched as she could, as she was laying on her side with her head up. She couldn't see or hear very well at this point. Her head fell flat as she heard that he cared about her as much as he did. She closed her eyes fearing that she wouldn't wake up again, yet she had no choice in the matter as she blacked out.
The fight was raging as Sorin was taking more hits than he was dealing. He had multiple small knives imbedded into his skin as he kept fighting. He was given a chance to breathe as all the ponies in the room except for the leader, backed off. Sorin was in such a bad condition right now.
His breathing was quick, as he was nearly hyperventilating. His entire body was shaking as he was struggling just to stand. The leader laughed at his victory over the stallion, however that laugh reached his victims ears.
Sorin suddenly fell still, barely breathing, standing with all of his legs spread wide apart. His head was bleeding, as to cover half of his face with his own blood. He looked up to the leader with a cold determination in his icy stare. His eyes nearly glowed with new-found power, strength beyond a normal stallion.
"That will be the last laugh you'll ever manage." He said loud enough to catch the leaders ears. His surprisingly calm voice, yet dripping with resolve and an insatiable hunger for revenge. His voice alone made the leader cringe in fear and other mixed emotions.
His eyes were nearly glowing with determination and an icy, murderous look. His hair seemed to wave around, as a type of what seemed to be magic flowed from his body. His willpower, determination to protect and endurance all worked together in one moment. His eyes glowed separate colors, his right eye glowed an icy blue, while his left eye burned in a furious, wavy red.
The two colors seemed to have collided in the middle of the air above him. His hair was flying everywhere, and his wounds had stopped bleeding. The stare on the leader continued as Sorin started to walk forwards slowly.
Meanwhile, right when the outburst of energy reached Twilight, she immediately woke up. She rose her head and watched her stallion get enveloped halfway in magic. She couldn't believe her eyes, or what she was feeling. This was stronger than Alicorn magic.
The leader was stricken with such sudden fear. Unimaginable fear. His icy stare mixed with his burning passion to kill the one who hurt his closest friend so badly.
Sorin had somehow moved fast enough to move directly in-front of the leader within a second.
"Don't worry..." He started coldly. "I'll make it quick, yet..." He delayed with the last part, striking curious suspension into the leader's fear, toying with him.
"I'll make you suffer." As soon as he finished talking, he stood upright suddenly and pounded both his fore-hooves into the chest and neck of the leader so quickly and forcefully that he nearly flew backwards.
Sorin looked around to the rest of all the ponies and said three words. Three words that made the entire group run in absolute, unimaginable, overwhelming fear.
"Run or Die."
Immediately after he spoke, they all started running for their lives. The leader's ribcage had a visible dent in the middle of it where Sorin's hoof had struck. He was also still gasping for air whenever he could gather the strength to breathe. The sudden initial shock was dying down, yet the fear was still present.
He was so easily overwhelmed in power, despite the numbers being in his favor.
Sorin's power dissipated as he closed his eyes and fell to the floor, having pushed himself further than ever before. The loud roaring sound of the stone doorway shattering made the leader shoot up in shock. He looked around him as he saw that the stallion was laying on the floor, barely alive. There was more blood surrounding him than ever now. However.. Something odd appeared from one of the holes where a knife was.
A glowing, bright green seed of magic. He looked to the mare that was at the wall. She had been awake and seen everything that happened. She still wore the expression of shock. She never imagined that her stallion was capable of such feats of strength.
The rushing hoofsteps and shouts of the others rushing to aid had gotten louder, and they now burst into the scene. They saw the blood on the ground, the defeated stallion as well as Sorin laying in a pool of his own blood, barely alive. They had Fluttershy, Rarity and Applejack go to help Sorin.
"Twilight!" Rainbow Dash shouted as she flew over to her friend to examine the wounds. Pinke was quick to follow, however they were both too late. Twilight's head fell to the ground as she fell unconscious again.
