> My Little Pony: The Next Generation
>  by Song Thought
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Prologue
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

BOOM! BAM!

That's all everyone in Canterlot could hear, followed by the screaming of fellow citizens. The blue skies morphed into a black, red color from the fire and explosions. Some buildings started to crumble as the floor below them started to shake. The beloved city was being destroyed.

Ponies tried to run, but something seemed to hold them down, like, they were losing energy while they were running for cover. It was very suspicious. For the past month or so, ponies looked like they were being less active and more easily tired each passing day. It happened so subtlety, that it took weeks for ponies to notice the abrupt change in each other's energy. But today, everyone became tired in mere minutes. No one seemed to know why, until the attack.

The only ponies that were not harmed by the sudden draining of power were those found in the Canterlot castle, but that doesn't mean that it wasn't chaos in there.

While everyone was screaming, there was one earth pony mare who only stood at a balcony and stared at the city she grew up in fall apart. Her purple and blue mane was blowing in the wind this was all creating while her blue fur rustled along as well. Her dark purple eyes were deep in thought. She thought that this was somehow her fault. Not only her’s but her sisters and her friends. Just then, she saw something approach her.

A unicorn stallion around her age came out of the smoke. He had dark magenta fur and a long, silky, black mane. His eyes were a bright red and had a look of pride. There was one thing that stood out. Tied around his neck was a bottle containing a black substance. The earth pony noticed it was the same thing she was wearing, but her's was teal.

Just then, the earth pony spoke, "Who are you and why have you come destroying my city?"

The unicorn scoffed, "Your city? I thought there were three of you. My name is Dark Magic, and my crew and I have come here to get that" he pointed at the alicorn's necklace. "And wait, where are my manners?" he bowed down in a very sassy mannerism, "It is an honor to be in your presence, Dark Jewel," he let those last two words sink in, "or do ponies call you that? I've been told that everyone calls you D.J, but I think that's just confusing. Considering you share names with the daughter of Queen Chrysalis and killed her mother," he paused for effect. "Oh wait, that is you!"

D.J was indeed very angry now, "Please leave now or there would be further consequences."

Dark Magic smirked, "Wait a minute, what? I'm sorry, am I talking to Rainblossom? Because you sure sound a lot like her. Where's that spunk? Where did that rebellion go? Or did you throw that away, along with your chances of becoming a good queen?"

D.J was pushed over the edge. She summoned the royal guard along with her sisters. Dark Magic also called for the rest of her team: six other ponies about his age with the same necklace but with a different colored substance for each of them.

"You wanna fight? Fine let's fight," muttered Dark Magic to himself.

While the others were fighting, there was something else going on around the castle. An adult unicorn mare was running through the castle with one pegasus colt and two fillies, one being a unicorn and the other being an alicorn, following closely.

"What's going on? Where are we going?" asked the colt to the mare. The other two looked up for an answer as well.

The mare hesitated for a moment before giving the best, and most logical, answer she could while still running, "I'll tell you later! Getting somewhere safe is our priority right now!"

Soon enough, the mare found a trap door in the kitchen. One by one, the young ponies went in, the mare being the last to enter. They all huddled into a corner and hoped that this will all be over soon. The mare looked at the foals only to find them looking at her, still waiting for an answer to their previous question.

“Listen, there’s no better way to put this but we’re in danger. It seems like someponies have come to take over and rule Equestria,” she noticed the looks on the foals changed into frightened expressions. She wanted to calm them down a bit.

“It will all be over soon, I promise,” she turned to the colt, “How’s your eye doing?” she asked.

The colt had a bandage around his head, covering his left eye. “It’s okay. It doesn’t hurt as much as it used to,” he responded. None of the others decided to focus on most of the left side of his body, which had missing fur and burns everywhere. Instead, the eldest mare wrapped up the wounds with more bandages.

Just then, the youngest filly perked up, as if she seemed to just realize something important. “Where’s my mommy? She should be here with us! Where is she?” she asked everyone.

The unicorn mare looked down at her with a look of reassurance, “She’s fine. She went to go hide too. We’ll see her when this is over.” She lied. She didn’t know her mother was. Last she saw her was when she was ordered to take her child, along with the other two foals, somewhere safe.

It was about another half hour of pure chaos until everything went silent. Was the battle over? More importantly, who won? They could be hiding from the opposite force right now. The children seemed excited and were about to open the trap door but were quickly stopped.

“Come back here! Don’t open that door until we know it’s safe!” she whispered with the impression of yelling. The children backed away; a bit hesitant at first.

They waited in silence for a bit until, “Hello! Is anyone there!” someone called out. All four ponies recognized the voice. The mare stepped forward a bit, “Yes! We’re right here!” she yelled back, hoping this wasn’t an imposter.

They all heard hoofsteps approach their hiding spot. With magic, the door was opened. They were all relieved to find the queen on the other side of the door. The small alicorn filly was especially excited.

“Mommy!” she yelled as she quickly made her way out of the hiding place. She greeted her mother with a hug. Her mother was also excited and thankful that no harm was brought to her daughter.

The rest of the ponies made their way out of the hiding spot to be rejoined with the others. The queen looked at the unicorn who kept her child safe, “Thank you. You have no idea how happy you made me and my sisters,” she said.

“It was no problem, your majesty. Excuse me for asking, but aren’t you already happy? You saved Equestria... again!” the unicorn said. Disappointment seemed to cloud the queen’s eyes. She looked down for a moment then looked back at the unicorn.

“Yes, Equestria is safe, for now.”

“What do you mean ‘for now?’ What happened?”

“The battle didn’t end the way we expected. Yes, Equestria seems like it survived another attack, but we never caught the threat. They’re still out there doing Celestia knows what.”

“But you will catch them, won’t you?”

“Yes, but until then, I have to worry about the safety of Equestria. My sister already sent out medical help for the ponies who were injured throughout Canterlot. How do I know these ponies won’t go attacking the rest of Equestria? They did mention something about the Elements of Harmony.”

“I mean, they want to take over. So, the elements are surely involved in this plan of theirs.”

“I agree. I need to inform the other element bearers about the matter. I also need to work out a way the elements can stay out of the wrong hooves.”

“What you need is rest, your majesty. We all do. It’s been a hectic day, to say the least.”

The queen looked at the scenery around them, “That I can surely agree on.”





It was the next day, and Ponyville was recovering from an attack made from the same force that threatened Canterlot. They also seemed to end in a draw. No one seemed drastically harmed while these villains got to escape. The elements went untouched also.

It soon became dark, and Princess Twilight Sparkle was still awake. She sat at a table in her crystal castle and was reading a letter she was given earlier that day.

Dear Element Bearers,

I am writing this to you because Equestria is in grave danger. There have been findings of loss of energy spreading around Canterlot since my child turned four. The mystery to this loss of energy was solved just yesterday when a group of ponies attacked Canterlot. We can only assume they want to rule over Equestria. They also mentioned the Elements of Harmony and how much they wanted them. It pains me to do this, but for your and your family's safety, you must stay inside your area of land from now on. Members from this group of ponies can be anywhere, and now one should be fully trusted, so we also recommend that you don’t talk to anyone that you don’t personally know. My sisters or I will contact you when we start to take action on defeating them once and for all.

With all due respect,

Queen Dark Jewel

Twilight cringed when she saw how the letter was signed. She was so used to referring to her friend as D.J instead of Dark Jewel. She even thought it was her real name for about a year. Twilight was also surprised that D.J referred to herself as queen. She didn’t even like to be called a princess when she first got the title.

Times have surely changed since they last saw. Her child was now four. The last time Twilight got to see the little bundle of joy; she was only a month old. Now she was old enough to attend a school, but that won’t be happening any time soon, a public one at least.

She then thought of her children. A six-year-old alicorn filly and a two-year-old pegasus colt. How was she going to break the news to them? She thought about how she was as she started to make her way towards the top of the castle. Her husband would be around a lot longer to help take care of the kids.

She had to be quiet when walking because it was already very late, and her kids were already asleep. She finally made it to a room at the top of the castle. The door to the room was white and not crystalized. Above the door was a sign with the cutie marks of the element bearers. Twilight concentrated hard and, with a magic spell, the door was opened.

The inside of the room was very similar to the door. White and lifeless. But, like the door, there was something that stood out. At the end of the small room, there was a tapestry of Twilight and her eight friends. They were so different, but they appreciated each other. The elements were also sewn into the tapestry.

Twilight went closer to the elements to get a good look at them, what she found was shocking. The elements were cracked, rusted, and their colors were faded. They looked like they barely contained any power. This was because Twilight and her friends barely spent time together anymore. They had their own lives and families to focus on and slowly drifted apart. Who knew a split could put all of Equestria in such danger.

“This is why those ponies were so eager to get the elements,” Twilight thought to herself, “they’re so weak, anypony could get their hooves on them.”

She made her way back down the castle to the table she was previously sitting at. She then looked over the letter once more and got a paper, ink, and quill. She wrote to D.J about her discovery and agreed to contact her once they take action.

They didn’t take action until that day.

That day, ten years later.
> The Start of a New Story Part 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Canterlot. The royal city of Equestria. It was quite a beautiful sight when you looked at it in the morning. You can hear all the birds singing their morning song as they fly to get their breakfast. The ponies were up and about getting to where they needed to be.

Of course, every building in Canterlot was planned, constructed, and decorated to be beautiful. The colors of their paint seemed to give some sort of shine as the light of the sun bounced off them. Making it look like they were made of jewels and topped off with floral touches.

The most beautiful building was no other than the Canterlot castle. It was quite a ways away from the main part of Canterlot, but you can still see it hanging off the side of the mountain. It looked like something out of a fairytale with it having ten times the tender love and care put into your average Canterlot building. I wish I could stop here and say that it was nothing but an amazing castle, but I have to add one thing: the only thing that ruined the sight of the castle was the fact that the entire thing was closed off from the rest of the city by a magical barrier.

It's been like this for ten years. Ever since the attack on Equestria, the element bearers closed themselves off from the world, afraid of the evil that waits for them to come outside.

The only ponies you saw come in and out of the castle were workers who lived somewhere else. Most ponies were fine with this eyesore of a barrier, but others felt trapped.

The day started like any other at the castle. The royal guards attended to their posts around the castle. The cooks made breakfast for everyone that stayed there. The three queens were up and already discussing ways they can improve their kingdom.

They were sisters, not biologically. They were all adopted by Princess Celestia for when she eventually needed to step down from the throne. Everyone was a bit hesitant about that choice. They all thought that day would never come because Princess Celestia was immortal. She kept saying that she wasn’t and it’s just that her job in Equestria wasn’t completed yet. Only then will she disappear from existence.

She was right. Not long after the three sisters had their children, both Celestia and Luna seemed to just disappear all of the sudden. Everyone says that they now live on the sun and moon, still moving them up and down to create day and night.

In their place is now the three mares they adopted. Rainblossom, the oldest and most gentle and caring out of the three. She helped with agricultural and medical problems around Equestria because she knows so much on the subject. She’s a beautiful mare and ponies say that flowers bloom in her presence.

Sugarhearts, the youngest, the fun, and most lighthearted of the three. She handles foreign affairs with other kingdoms because of her very likable personality, almost everyone wants to befriend her. She is also said to find perfect matches. Like, she could see who everyone’s soulmate is with one glance.

Lastly, there’s Dark Jewel or D.J for short. She’s the middle child, the bravest, and the most aware. She is in charge of Equestria’s army forces, like the royal guard, because she seems to know a lot about enemy forces and their way of thinking. She was once raised to be one of those enemies, but rejected the opportunity and ran away from the home she lived in. She still uses those lessons on villains to her advantage when someone tries to threaten Equestria.

They have been in charge of Equestria ever since the disappearance of Celestia and Luna. Aside from one major battle, Equestria is safe under their rule.

But safe doesn’t always mean happy. Because of this battle, they had; they now need to be on constant watch for any signs of trouble. This means they can’t be distracted from their jobs. Any possible distractions were commanded to stay away from them throughout the day. This was not their idea, but rather the kingdom. This was the effect of them being so paranoid about these runaway villains who put them through so much trouble ten years ago.

These distractions included their children. They tried to see them at night before they went to bed, but soon enough ruling Equestria became extremely tiring and they were told to go to sleep right after their job was done for the day.

Today, they were right on schedule. Picking up breakfast straight from the kitchen then going into the throne room where they discuss everything that has been going on and what they can do about it.

Outside in the garden, animals were frolicking around and enjoying life. There were two other ponies there.

One was sitting under a tree and reading a book. He was a pegasus stallion. His fur was a grayish-blue color, and his cutie mark was a paintbrush and a lollipop crossing over each other to make an “x.” His messy hair was purple fading to pink and was long enough to go over his left eye, making its appearance a mystery. His other eye was a big and bright yellow color. He looked up from his book and up at the tree he was sitting at.

“How’s it going Sweet Tune?” he asked it.

Well, he didn’t ask the tree. Rather, someone inside it. There was an alicorn mare on the tree branch closest to the barrier.

She looked somewhat like a pony. Her fur was a light blue, and her wild mane was silvery white. Now, I could stop there and say she looked perfectly normal, but that’s not the case here. She had two legs that were of a changeling (her front right leg and her back left leg), her horn was also changeling like, and fragments of her hair were the web-like teal hair that royal changelings had. Her front left leg had dragon claws on it, her tail resembled that of a dragon’s, and her left-wing was scaly and webbed. Her head, body, most of her hair, and back right leg all were pony-like. Even her right-wing which was brown. She had fangs in her grin and her eyes were two different colors. The right one is green and her left one being purple. She looked like the product of some freakish science experiment, but that was all genetic. Freakish genetics.

Lastly, there was a bottle tied around her neck with a black string. Inside the bottle was a teal substance. To be honest, she doesn’t know much about it except that she was given her necklace when she was four and she never took it off since then. It was almost sacred to her because it was given to her by her mother.

She was staring intensely at the barrier until the stallion who sat under the tree asked her the question.

“It’s going great Sour Patch! I figured out that the way to make the barrier open is to have an intense staring contest with it,” she responded sarcastically, her voice containing a Spanish accent.

Sour Patch gave the young mare a sympathetic smile, “How does it look out there?”

“There’s a market going on right now. Lemme get a good look at it. You can get fresh fruits and vegetables, home decor, accessories for yourself. Anything else you would like to know?”

“What types of fruits are they selling?”

“All kinds of them. Bananas, peaches, nectarines, oranges, apples,”

“That does sound good. Speaking of fruit, it’s about time breakfast is served. We should probably get Orchard Drop and head over to the dining room.”

Sweet Tune nodded and looked around at the tree, “Searchlight! It’s time to go!” she yelled at it. It was about two seconds before a white ferret popped its head out of the tree. It made its way up to Sweet Tune’s head and laid down to rest.

Sweet Tune then made her way down the tree and rejoined Sour Patch. They started walking into the castle and through one of the many hallways in there. They stopped in front of three doors. Sweet Tune opened the door at the very right to drop off Searchlight, and Sour Patch opened the door at the very left to drop off his book.

They rejoined in front of the door in the middle. Sour Patch then lightly knocked on the door and they both waited. The door eventually opened a crack and a face appeared on the other side. The face belonged to a unicorn mare.

You could tell by her face that her eyes were a dark green color, and her fur was magenta. A bit of her mane showed it was a light turquoise color. There was also a crystal-like effect exclusively on her fur. This was because she was half crystal pony. She was the second crystal pony to be found out of the Crystal Empire. Her father was the first, but we don’t speak of him.

“Yes?” she asked with a stern tone in her voice.

“Hey, Orchard Drop. Would you mind stepping out of your room for once and enjoy a nice breakfast with your cousins?” Sweet Tune asked the unicorn.

Orchard Drop was not much for socializing. She normally spent her time cooped up in her bedroom or lab where she conducted science experiments. Her cousins figured that if food and sleep weren’t a crucial part of life, she would be in there 24/7.

She gave an annoyed look, “Yes, I very much do mind, but food does sound rather delightful.”

She fully stepped out of her room. Now you could see that her long mane was tied into a loose ponytail with a dark blue hair tie, topped off with a magenta star. Her cutie mark was an atom, and her long tail dragged behind her as she walked towards the dining room. Sweet Tune and Sour Patch followed behind her.

“She loves food more than us, doesn’t she?” Sweet Tune asked Sour Patch in a quiet voice so Orchard Drop couldn’t eavesdrop.

Sour Patch gave her a small smile, “Hey, at least the food was able to get her out of her room.”

As they reached the dining room, they saw that the food was neatly presented on the table. That was all. There was no other pony there to join the three. As sad as it sounds, they were used to that. That’s been the case for almost ten years.

With breakfast eaten and the time passing, the three ponies were trying to get past their day, Sweet Tune trying the hardest. She hated being cooped up in that castle more than anything. She knew every room, every worker, every decoration, even every secret passageway. She felt like there was nothing left to do at that castle except reading. Read every book in the Canterlot library.

She’s been making progress, not as much as her cousins, but progress. For the rest of the day, she read a book about ancient magic and relics that were lost through time. She wondered if they would ever come back. She read chapters on many things, including an amulet that could change the weather (That could be pretty helpful during Winter Wrap-up, Sweet Tune thought), a magic that could be wielded by earth ponies (Say what now?), little caped creatures that worked as minions or servants to a certain master (I wonder what they look like under those capes, and how do they stand on two legs?), and a glittery substance called essence. Sweet Tune recognized this substance. Whenever she read books on Equestrian history, they would refer to this.

It was theorized as an important weapon the group of misfits used the day they attacked Canterlot.

The day they attacked her mother.

The day they gave her cousin a blind eye and a half a body covered in burn marks.

The day Equestrians lost their trust in everything.

The day that made her life the way it is.

She shook the thought out of her head and went to turn the page, but the page. That was the last one. It cut off, she could even see that the last pages were torn out, almost like someone didn’t want her to see what was next. Sweet Tune slammed the book shut in frustration and turned to yet another history book.

This one was different. Instead of being about your average events in history, it was about some of the most dangerous beings in Equestrian history. Sweet Tune was curious, so she opened the book and began to read.

She saw some of the usuals, Nightmare Moon, King Sombra, Tirek, Discord, even some that we’re threats in a different dimension. Names like The Sirens, Gaya Everfree, Midnight Sparkle, and a weird red demon that had the name Sunset Shimmer appeared. Sweet Tune wasn’t surprised to find pages about her grandmother, Queen Chrysalis. There was even a small section dedicated to her mother. She’s heard that story many times before, mainly from people who were scared that she too would turn into a changeling and cause more trouble. She never listened to them because she knew it would never happen, she could barely even activate her changeling magic.

She turned pages to find new faces and new names. A serial killer with a huge body count that used to belong to a wealthy and upper-class family; she killed herself before the city could. A famous performer who would lie to others out of the spotlight until she eventually murdered someone because of it but was caught and treated terribly for the rest of her life; she was murdered in the same way she murdered, poison. A young scientist who was said to have gone mad due to exposure to certain chemicals. What he did was so morbid, Sweet Tune could barely stomach it and skipped a bit; she did catch that he was executed before she moved on. A news reporter who was said to have been possessed and was killed during the exorcism that was meant to free him. A restaurant owner who secretly poisoned his customers’ food for the fun of it; died from an illness. A supposed magician who drew in his audience with his handsome looks and likable personality. Ponies who went to his shows never came back; he died from an animal attack. Last was a pirate captain who sailed the seven seas to pillage cities and steal the lives of innocent ponies; she was killed from drowning due to an attack from the two sisters to stop her.

Sweet Tune kept on reading until the librarian told her to leave because she had to close for the night. Sweet Tune barely realized that the sun had gone down and the moon took its place. She left the books and retreated to her room to sleep.

“Another day wasted doing nothing,” she said to her ferret as she climbed into bed. Searchlight responded with a tired squeak before drifting off to sleep. Sweet Tune followed by turning off her lamp and sinking into the soft bed.





The light.

It was bright.

It was hard to sleep.

What’s going on?

Sweet Tune was suddenly awoken by a bright light in her room. She looked around tiredly to see where it was coming from. She looked down. Her necklace. The bottle. The magic inside the bottle was glowing. It got brighter, and brighter, and brighter. Sweet Tune didn’t know why. She frantically looked around her room to see if there was anything that can help, but the more time she wasted, the brighter the light was.

She then got an idea. She didn’t know if it would work, but it was worth a try. She ran out of her room and through the halls of the castle. She looked everywhere, then stopped. There in front of her was the entrance to a room. She stopped for a second, then opened the doors. It was a bedroom. It belonged to the only pony who she thought could help. She approached the bed. The pony who gave her this necklace must know what’s happening. It was the best possible idea she had. They just had to know. Would they listen to her? The last time they talked was about 10 years ago. She stood next to the pony in the bed. Here goes nothing.

“Mom!”

The pony in bed sat straight up and looked around frantically, “Whatisit?” she said half asleep. She looked at the pony standing next to her, but a bright light was making it hard to figure out who it was. She eventually made out who it was.

“Sweet Tune? I-is that you? What are you doing up so late?”

Sweet Tune said nothing. She just took off the bottle tied to her neck and held it out to her mother, D.J. “Why is this happening?” the younger mare asked.

Suddenly, D.J’s eyes widened, and had the most terrified expression on her face, almost as she had some unwanted realization. This only made Sweet Tune more scared and confused

Her mother took the necklace and bolted out of the room.
> The Start of a New Story Part 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The whirl of emotions that Sweet Tune was going through was a lot to keep up with. Fear, curiosity, even a bit of excitement, but the one that kept coming back was confusion.

“Why is this happening?” was the main question that went through her head as she ran after her mother through the castle. She eventually stopped when she found D.J in the throne room, frantically writing letters.

She’s never seen her mother in such a panic. From what she could remember, her mother was very calm and cool, almost laid back. Many ponies told her the same thing when they were describing the queen. Now Sweet Tune knew something was wrong. Big time.

All she could do was stare at her mother until she looked up and they made eye contact. Both of them shared the same look of fear. It was then that both of them made a silent agreement on something.

Sweet Tune had questions.

D.J had answers.

D. J finished the last of her letters and stacked them in a neat pile before putting them off to the side. She looked at her daughter who was standing across the room.

“I never really expected our reunion to be like this. Then again, if this never happened, we might’ve never even had a reunion,” she said.

Sweet Tune was tired of not knowing anything. She’s put up with it for ten years. Well not anymore.

“What’s going on?” she finally asked.

“They’ve returned,” D.J responded.

“What?! Who?!” Sweet Tune didn’t know who her mother was referring to, but it didn’t seem all the less frightening.

“The essence in this bottle can sense when there are others like it more nearby than usual and it glows like this to alert its host.”

“Wait, others like it?” Sweet Tune paused for a bit, then came to a sudden realization, “You mean the others who have access to the other essence? You mean-“

“Yes, I mean the ponies who attacked us all of those years ago,” D.J finished.

Sweet Tune couldn’t believe it. The ones who were responsible for all of this. They’re back and Sweet Tune already knew why. They wanted to finish the job they started ten years ago.

“What do we do then?” Sweet Tune asked, “How do we stop them?”

“As far as I’m concerned, you play no part in this,” D.J responded.

“What?”

“I’m sorry. It’s just too dangerous and you’ve never even been outside-“

“Yeah, and whose fault is that? Sure, I might not have been outside for a while but that doesn’t mean I don’t know about it. I’ve read almost every book and studied every map on Equestria. I know about the dangers out there. Plus, this essence is calling out to me. I should be the one handling it, shouldn’t I?”

D.J looked at her daughter in shock. They’ve only started talking again for a little over five minutes and Sweet Tune’s already talking back. It reminded her that her daughter wasn’t a little filly anymore and that she’s gained knowledge about things over the years that she’s been inside the castle. She was right. The essence was calling out to her specifically. While the idea was dangerous if they didn’t do anything about it soon, who knows what trouble they could find themselves in.

“Fine.”

Sweet Tune looked back at her mother. A small smile slowly crept up on her lips. She tried to hide it, but she was extremely happy about this. She’s dreamed of going outside for so many years, but she never expected that day being the result of her home being in danger.

“Really?” she responded.

“Yes, but go it’ll have to wait for a few hours. You’re not the only one going and it’s best if you get some more sleep before you do this. Meanwhile, I have to deliver some letters. Go get some rest and we’ll talk about it more in the morning,” D.J said while grabbing the letters.

Sweet Tune nodded and turned to go back to her room. Sure, she would rather go now, but it was better than not going at all. She didn’t realize how tired she was until she laid her head on her pillow and went to sleep in almost an instant.





“Explain to me why we’re going to the throne room? I thought we weren’t allowed there,” Orchard Drop said as she and her cousins walked towards the big doors that opened to reveal the said room.

“I already told you. We’re needed for something special,” Sweet Tune started, “I feel like today is the start of a completely new chapter in our lives!”

“Don’t say that. New can be frightening,” Sour Patch chimed in with a worried expression on his face.

Sweet Tune's facial expression softened, "All I'm saying is that we've been laying around this castle for 10 years now without doing anything about it. Now we have a chance to finally do something with our lives. We can see new places, meet new ponies, feel new feelings. There is no way we're missing out on that."

As she said that, she pushed the doors behind her wide open. They opened to reveal the three queens- D.J, Rainblossom, and Sugarhearts. They were sitting on their thrones and seemed to be in the middle of a conversation before they were interrupted by Sweet Tune opening the door. The room fell silent.

“Um... hi?” was all that Sweet Tune could get out. Orchard Drop couldn’t help but chuckle a bit. Sour Patch tried to smile, but it came out a bit wobbly.

Sugarhearts waved happily, and Rainblossom formed a small smile on her face. D.J’s serious expression remained.

“I assume Sweet Tune informed you both about the task at hoof,” the queen said. Both Orchard Drop and Sour Patch nodded.

D.J stepped down from her throne and joined the younger ponies, her sisters followed.

“Good,” she started, “follow us.”

The six of them exited the throne room and roamed through the halls of the castle. While D.J was leading them, the other two explained more about the situation.

“Your journey will begin in Ponyville, where you will meet the other six children of the Element Bearers. Their mothers recommended which one to take, as some of them have more than one child. You will be provided with a list of their names and addresses,” Rainblossom began. The three cousins listened attentively.

“From there, you will head to the Everfree Forest. We have received information that the enemy set up there. We’ll give you a map with the coordinates of their hideout,” Sugarhearts continued.

“You forgot an important detail,” D.J added, “the map will also contain directions to a camp in the Everfree. The ponies who lost their homes in the attack decided to band together and create a new civilization in the Everfree. They’ve done nothing wrong and aren’t a real threat, so we’ve let them be. We’ve agreed that that will be a good place for you and the others to rest because this trip will take at least two days. The camp’s leader will also be of great help if you want to learn more about the essence and where it comes from, she knows more about ancient magic than anyone in Equestria. Her name’s Fortune Teller and I’ve already informed her about everything that’s been going on.”

The group eventually got to the entrance of the castle where a flying carriage was waiting. Inside the carriage were three bags. The three cousins realized what was going on.

“Wait! We’re leaving now?!” Sour Patch exclaimed.

“We’re sorry, but you must know that a threat like this has to be taken care of right away. We would go ourselves, but with the word spreading that Equestria is in danger, ponies will need us to explain. They wouldn’t trust anyone else,” Sugarhearts said.

“Well, what are we waiting for then? Let’s go!” Sweet Tune said as she boarded the carriage, the other two followed.

As the door to the vehicle closed, D.J approached Sweet Tune, “This is your last chance to back out if you think this is too much for you. Don’t think you have to do this because there are no other choices. After all, trust me, there are.”

“We’ll be fine. I’ve been waiting and preparing for this day for ten years. I’m pretty sure the others have too. We’ve got this under control. Don’t worry about us,” Sweet Tune responded.

“I’m a mother. Worrying about my child is what I do.”

With that, the older mare turned away and signaled for the barrier to open. The dome around the castle fell away in one swift motion. It was like a breath of fresh air surrounding everyone.

The carriage started to move as the pegasi who drove it started to run forward. It wasn’t much time before the vehicle started to lift off the ground. Soon, they were airborne and leaving the castle.

Sweet Tune looked back at the queens to find them staring back at her. D.J’s face started to show fear. To try and help, Sweet Tune smiled, hoping it would calm her down. D.J must’ve seen it because she did something Sweet Tune hadn’t seen in the longest time.

She smiled back.





The carriage was just leaving Canterlot as Sweet Tune decided to break the silence between the three ponies on board.

“So, who’s on the list?” she asked.

Orchard Drop got up and opened her bag. She found a piece of paper. On that paper was a list with seven names and she assumed they belonged to the ponies who would join them.

“Look for yourself,” she said as she handed the paper to Sweet Tune. Sweet Tune held it as the two other ponies approached behind her to look as well. They all read the words on the paper in silence.

North Star

Apple Crisp

Aviator/Hurricane

Diamond Glow

Jupiter

Cream Cheese

“Have you ever heard of these guys?” Sweet Tune asked.

Sour Patch shrugged, “No. If someone did mention them, it happened so long ago that I can’t remember.”

“Neither have I,” Orchard Drop added, “I just hope they’re able to work with us.”

“More like you have to be able to work with them,” Sweet Tune said.

“And what do you mean by that?” Orchard Drop asked.

“Let’s face it, Droplet, you can be pretty stubborn when it comes to working with other ponies... and strict... and a little rude-“

“Alright, I get it! I’ll try to be a little nicer for the next few days, but only because I have to. If we don’t get along, I highly predict that this entire mission will fail. Also, don’t call me ‘Droplet’ you know how much I dislike nicknames.”

Sour Patch, slightly anxious at the thought of them failing, said, “Way to sugarcoat things, Orchard Drop,” rather sarcastically.

He looked at Sweet Tune, “Do you think we’ll fail?” he asked.

Sweet Tune smiled, “Of course not. They’ll definitely like you. You just need to open up a bit and not hide in the corner.”

Sweet Tune knew how Sour Patch got. He’s been very anxious since the attack, and it’s incredibly difficult for him to talk to new ponies, let alone become friends with them. She grew close to him because of his constant need for comfort and relaxation. He can almost get too worked up at the drop of a hat. He returned these favors by helping her with some anger issues she had.

Then there was Orchard Drop. Everyone thought of her as rude, strange, and very unlikeable. To be honest, she can be that way sometimes, but there’s another side to her that she can show if she likes you enough.

She did have some interesting habits as well. She couldn’t turn off the lamp in her room before pulling on the string a couple of times (Sweet Tune counted and learned that it was seven times, every time). She had to sit at the same chair every time she was at the dinner table (she didn’t care if anypony was already sitting there, she’s going to sit there whether you like it or not). She also can’t leave her lab without putting every single little test tube, pencil, and pipet back to where she found them. It’s almost like she thinks the world will end if she breaks this routine she’s in.

Sweet Tune folded the list and gently placed it in her bag. She then looked down and saw that they were approaching a new town. According to the maps she read, it was their destination: Ponyville.

“We’re here!” she said happily as the carriage started to lower itself.

The three of them gathered their things while the vehicle landed and came to a halt. They stepped out onto new land. One they’ve never been in before.

There were new buildings, new ponies, and a completely new atmosphere. This place seemed a little smaller and quieter than Canterlot. It was quiet. It was different.

The big pro about living in a small town is that you know everyone. There are so little ponies there that you’ve run into every one of them more than once. Everyone’s your friend.

The big con about living in a small town is everyone notices when something changes, no matter how small that change is. Everyone stares at this change, almost like it’s not welcome here. Everyone thinks you’re weird.

Certainly, everyone noticed the three newcomers in town. It didn’t help that one was an alicorn, it didn’t help that one had crystal-like fur, and it certainly didn’t help that one was a freakish hybrid. They were the change, so everyone was looking at them.

Though Sour Patch knew he was the one who people looked at the least, he couldn’t help but feel unnerved by the attention. Both Sweet Tune and Orchard Drop grew more annoyed by the second, but they tried not to.

They’ve been stared at all their lives. They’ve learned to get used to it. They might’ve just forgotten that everyone at the castle knew them, so they’ve grown used to them. This is a new territory.

Sweet Tune couldn’t take it anymore, she wanted to last out. Both of her cousins saw that and gave her a look that meant to say, “I know what you’re thinking, and stop before you do anything stupid.”

Instead, she chose to distract herself. She spun on the other two.

“So! Who’s first on the list?”
> The Start of a New Story: Part 3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

North Star

Sweet Tune read that as the first name when she quickly glanced over at the paper Orchard Drop was carrying. The first pony they were going to see. She’s heard the name before. To be honest, she’s heard all of these ponies’ names before. She’s pretty sure someone in the castle mentioned them one time or another. She asked Orchard Drop if she had any background information on the pony.

“North Star is a sixteen-year-old mare that lives in that crystal castle at the end of town,” Orchard Drop started. She pointed towards the said castle, despite it being hard to ignore.

“She’s the only other pony beside us who is considered royalty. She lives with her mother, father, and her little brother.”

“That’s it? Nothing about how she’s like?” Sweet Tune asked.

“Nothing on that. Our mothers have probably not seen this mare since she was a small child. It wouldn’t surprise me if they knew every detail about her,” Orchard Drop responded.

“But hey, we’ll probably know by the end of this... hopefully,” Sour Patch added.

The three of them approached the front doors of the castle. It took Sweet Tune a moment before she slowly knocked on the door.

“Why so hesitant? Are you nervous after all?” Orchard Drop said. Sweet Tune scowled at her.

Before she could give a response, the door slowly opened. The three of them noticed that there was no one on the other side. Sweet Tune looked back at her cousins for a signal, but the two of them looked just as confused. Slowly, she stepped inside, the other two followed her shortly after.

When the three of them entered the castle, the door loudly shut behind them. They jumped and turned around to face an alicorn mare at the door. Her dark blue eyes monitored them.

"Ah, it's you. I was expecting you," she said.

She had dark purple fur and her mane was a similar color to her eyes, accompanied by purple and magenta streaks. She had messy bangs hovering over her eyes. Her cutie marks were three yellow stars. As the mare made her way over to the three, Sweet Tune noticed how tall she was. She towered over the hybrid.

"You must be North Star," Orchard Drop said.

The mare silently nodded, "That I am. My mom got a letter from the queens and informed me about everything immediately. I know what's going on, so no need to explain." She gestured for the others to follow her down the hall.

"You see, when I found out about this, I decided to learn the most I could about where these guys could be, both our enemies and allies."

She opened a door to reveal a table with a map surrounded by ten chairs, one being smaller than the rest. The four ponies surrounded the map that was covered by various small papers with pictures drawn on them.

The pictures varied from an apple on fire, to a diamond, to some sort of trophy. The biggest paper had a bottle like the one around Sweet Tune’s neck. She could tell that the paper represented the enemy.

“The papers here in Ponyville represent the others on that list of yours. After a bit of research, I could easily find where they all live,” North Star started, “but I also found out where the camp and villains’ hideout are: The Everfree Forest.”

She pointed to the dark part of the map. It was an area covered in trees and gloomy clouds. She put a paper midway into it with a witch’s hat drawn on it, this was the camp. There was a mountain deeper into the forest where the paper with the bottle was placed on.

“So... to complete this mission, we have to go into that big, scary forest where there is a high chance of mild to severe injury and... I don’t know... death?!” Sour Patch said.

“Yeah,” North Star responded, “but c’mon, that’s what makes this whole thing fun. I mean, everybody’s gotta risk their lives once in a while.”

“I think I can get through life pretty smoothly without having to do that.”

Orchard Drop turned back to the map, “This is some great thinking on your part. It saves so much time. I don’t say this much, but good job.”

“I don’t know how honored I should be, but thank you,” North Star said, “So! Know that you guys are here, where to next?”

“You want to come with us?” Sweet Tune asked.

“Of course! I want to meet these guys just as much as you do.”

Sweet Tune picked up the list and a pencil. She crossed off North Star’s name and looked at the one under it.

Apple Crisp

“Hey, do you know any information on them?” she asked Orchard Drop.

The unicorn picked up a different paper with the needed information and scanned it, “Mare...14 years old...lives in the town farm, Sweet Apple Acres...well that’s rather interesting.”

Sour Patch looked at her, “What is it?”

“It says here that she is an earth pony, but a hybrid as well... a dragon one.”

“Wait!” Sweet Tune said as she took the paper from Orchard Drop. She read through it herself to see if her cousin was pulling her leg, even if she rarely told a lie.

Her face lit up, “She is! I’m not the only one! Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s go get her!”

She bolted out of the room but came back soon after, “Yeah, I don’t know my way around here. Can you help?”





“Well, here it is. Sweet Apple Acres,” North Star said as the four of them approached the apple farm.

It was big. Fields upon fields of nothing but apple trees. In the center was a large red barn where one could assume the resident ponies lived. There was still room for pens where they held other animals.

"The barn isn't too far from the castle, so it's pretty easy to find."

"Alright, let's get on with it. The more you spend time here, the more time you waste," Orchard Drop said as she made her way towards the barn.

"All work, no play, isn't she?" North Star asked Sweet Tune.

"Don't even get me started."

The four of them roamed the fields for a sign that someone was around before going to the barn. While they were walking, Sour Patch heard the sound of hoofsteps trudging through the grass. He hesitated for a moment before following the noise. It didn't take him too long before approaching another pony.

"Howdy there! How can I help ya?"

The voice belonged to a purple mare. She had emerald eyes and freckles on her cheeks and nose. Her mane was a straw-like yellow mixed with green. Her hair was topped with a lime flower. Not only that, but she also had claws at the end of her hooves and a snake-like tail. Her cutie mark was a red apple with green fire. She had a friendly smile on her freckled face.

Sour Patch took a good look at her before realizing who she was, "Guys! I think I found her!"

The other three emerged from the trees and joined the other two ponies.

"Hi. My name's Sweet Tune. These are my cousins, Orchard Drop and Sour Patch, and this is North Star. You must be Apple Crisp."

Apple Crisp stared at them and was about to speak before pausing. Her smile disappeared and she looked around before facing the ponies in front of her again. Her smile returned.

"Howdy there! How can I help y'all?"

Sweet Tune was immediately confused, "I'm sorry, what?"

"Yeah, um, you- you already said that" Sour Patch added.

"I did? Oh, I guess maybe I did," Apple Crisp said as Orchard Drop looked back at the paper with her background information.

"Ah, I missed this when I first looked at this. Apple Crisp here was badly injured in the head during the original attack. This messed with her brain and resulted in some short-term memory loss."

"How could you miss that?" North Star asked.

"Anyways, hi," Sour Patch said, "I'm Sour Patch. Is there anything you do to remind yourself of things you need to remember?"

Apple Crisp thought to herself for a moment. Her face lit up, "Follow me!"

She led the ponies into the barn and up the stairs. She opened a door and walked inside. It didn't take long before she came out with a camera and a tape recorder.

"Oh, that's smart. Alright, start the recording. We have a lot to cover."

When Sweet Tune explained the entire thing, Apple Crisp stopped the recording. Sour Patch wrote something on a piece of paper and stuck it on the tape recorder. Confused? Just play this and get caught up.

"That should come in handy. Now let's get on with this. Who's next?" North Star asked.

Orchard Drop crossed out Apple Crisp's name and looked at the one below it.

Aviator/Hurricane

"There are two names here. I guess both meet the requirements to be a part of this. Aviator, a seventeen-year-old mare, and Hurricane, a sixteen-year-old stallion. Both are pegasi. There are nine elements, so I recommend we take the one that would be more of help," she explained.

"Oh yes, that doesn't sound even the slightest bit messed up," Sweet Tune said sarcastically, "let's just go."

"Oh right, about that they live up in the sky," Orchard Drop said.

"Really? I wonder if they've seen my old hamster. Momma says that he went up there too," Apple Crisp added.

All of them realized what it meant, "Oh hun..." North Star started, then paused, "you know what? Yes, they have."





Sweet Tune, Orchard Drop, and Apple Crisp followed on the ground while North Star and Sour Patch searched the skies for either one of the pegasus siblings. It was then that Sweet Tune realized how much it sucked to have two different types of wings.

North Star searched through the clouds to see if she could find anything. She looked at Sour Patch, "Have you found anything?"

Sour Patch looked over and shook his head. North Star sighed and kept looking. She then caught a glance at something different. It was not a rainbow. Well... yes, it had the colors, but it wasn't a rainbow. She stopped and looked back; it was a stallion. He was laying down on a cloud.

She flew over to the cloud and landed in front of him. He looked up with a look of confusion in his magenta eyes.

"Uh... hello?" he asked.

"Hi there. If you are who I think you are, what are you doing out here?" North Star responded.

"Why would you know who I am? No one's seen me since I was six."

"That confirms my suspicions. You're Hurricane, aren't you?"

The stallion's eyes widened, and he stood up at the mention of the name. His fur was a light blue color, and he moved his rainbow main away from his eyes. His cutie mark was a theatre mask in front of a trophy, both being surrounded by a blue ribbon.

"I can neither confirm nor deny that," he said.

"Just the fact that you said that confirmed it."

"Well, aren't you just Ms. Detective. What's next, finding out a way to get out of this prison that does not allow me to talk to others?"

He looked away for dramatic effect. North Star mouthed a silent, "Wow." She could tell the type of pony he was.

"You can help me with that. Well, not just me, you can help us."

Hurricane looked back at the alicorn, "Who's 'us?'"

North Star smirked and looked down from the cloud, "Guys! I found one!"

The two flew down and joined the others. Hurricane looked around and he had a realization.

"Wait, I know you guys. I remember my brother reading a letter about some of the children of the nine element bearers going and stopping these guys who attacked Equestria ten years ago... or something like that."

Sour Patch blinked, "Yeah, something like that."

"So yeah, I'm Sweet Tune, and these guys are Orchard Drop, Sour Patch, and Apple Crisp, and I'm guessing you've already met North Star."

"Ah yes, Ms. Detective," Hurricane remarked, "I'm Hurricane, a pleasure to meet you."

Orchard Drop crossed off both names on the list, "I think we're going to have to take you and leave your sister behind if that's okay with her."

"Brother actually, and I'm sure he'll be fine. He doesn't go out much anyway. Also, don't bother going on some long monologue about what's going on, I know everything."

"We figured," Sweet Tune said while taking the list from Orchard Drop.

Diamond Glow

The next name.

"Any information on them?" Sweet Tune asked Orchard Drop while pointing to the name.

"Let's see, fifteen-year-old unicorn mare who lives at the Carousel Boutique with her mother and younger sister. She also has a record of sneaking out and causing a bit of trouble in town. Mostly theft."

"Oh wow, a criminal. How exciting," Hurricane said.

"Or worrying," Sour Patch added.

"Well, I think that maybe she uses this rebel persona as a way to cope. Maybe she's just misunderstood and is struggling with herself. Maybe this is the only way she can control an overflow of a certain emotion," Apple Crisp said. Everyone looked at her with confused faces.

Apple Crisp shook her head, "But you know, she could just be a jerk and steal things for no other reason than to be mean. Maybe we'll never know."

Sweet Tune was about to say something when she heard some commotion coming from a distance. She started to walk over but was stopped by North Star.

"I think we have to let them figure out their problem. We are on a bit of a time limit."

Sweet Tune sighed, "Alright."

The six of them turned around to make their way to the boutique. Hurricane took one glance at the main part of town. He heard voices.

"Get out of here! You already cause enough trouble as it is!"

"Someone get her! She stole from my stand!"

"She's over there! Grab her!"

He then saw a small pony run out of the crowd wearing a cloak. They bumped into the stallion and looked up him. They had deep blue eyes.

"Watch it, will ya!" they said before continuing to run past him.

His eyes followed them until he heard more voiced behind him, "She went over there!"

Hurricane then quickly began to follow the pony, using his wings to get a bit more speed. He had a sneaking suspicion as to who they might be.

"Hey! Stop!"

He managed to chase them into an alley and backed them up into a dead end. He started to approach them a bit slower and gentler.

"Listen, I'm not trying to hurt you. I think I know who are. If you trust me, I'll get you out of this situation without being caught. You just have to hear me out," he said as he approached the cloaked figure.

There was a little silence between the two before the other pony pulled out something and pointed it at him. Their hood came down to reveal a white unicorn mare with the longest light blue mane. Hurricane looked down at the object she pointed at him.

"That- that's a knife. Where were you storing that?"

The mare ignored the question, "What makes you think I'm just going to trust a stranger who chased me down and acted like they know everything about me?"

"I don't know, that's what I did, like, ten minutes ago!" he yelled back.

The mare dropped the knife and clasped a hoof over his mouth, "Why don't you say it a little louder. I don't think all of Equestria heard you."

She dropped her hoof and backed away a bit. She took off the cloak, revealing a cutie mark of a shining diamond covered in dirt and bandages running up and down her front legs.

“Alright, then smart guy. If you know who I am, then who am I?” she asked.

Hurricane instantly recognized her, “You’re Diamond Glow. The daughter of Rarity, the element of generosity. You’re known for stealing things in the town market. Is it safe to assume that that’s what you were doing before you bumped into me?”

She looked a bit surprised, “I thought at first you were an idiot, but now you’re more on the creepy side... and yeah, but the jerks made me trip and drop everything I had.”

“That’s a shame,” Hurricane said with a hint of sarcasm, “Anyways, did your mother receive a letter talking about this group of ponies planning on taking over Equestria and her having to send you to stop them?”

“That’s... oddly specific, but yeah.”

“What a coincidence! Mine did too! I’m Hurricane, son of Rainbow Dash.”

“Diamond Glow, but you already know that.”

Hurricane smiled at her and stood up, noticing how tiny she was, “Let’s get you out of here and meet up with the others.”

Diamond Glow raised an eyebrow, “What others?”





“What do you mean you lost him?!” Orchard Drop looked at the others in disbelief. They were about to knock at the door of the boutique when she noticed Hurricane’s disappearance.

“I mean that he was right here, next to me, and now he’s not anymore. It’s not that hard to understand,” North Star said back.

“Who’s not here anymore?” Apple Crisp asked. Everyone ignored her.

“Well, maybe we should just recruit Diamond Glow and then split up and look for him again. It’ll be easier to do with another pair of eyes,” Sour Patch suggested.

Orchard Drop took a deep breath, “Glad to know that at least SOMEONE’s thinking with their brain.” The other three were slightly offended.

It was then that Sweet Tune saw two ponies approach them in the distance. She instantly recognized the stallion, but she hadn’t seen the mare before. She got the others’ attention.

“Hey, I think I found him.”

Hurricane noticed all of them look at him and nervously waved back. He realized he never told the others that he stayed behind.

“I bet you were wondering where I was.”

“As a matter of fact, yes we were. Now, where were you?!” Orchard Drop yelled.

“Funny story. I looked at what was happening in the marketplace and ran into the pony that was causing all that mess,” he started. No one was laughing.

“Well, I chased them down and backed them up into a corner. Turns out that it was the pony we were looking for in the first place. Isn’t that crazy? I know it is,” he noticed that he wasn’t helping the situation.

“Anyways, here’s Diamond Glow.”

The others turned their attention to the mare next to him. She looked around awkwardly.

“Hey.”

“So, these guys are Sweet Tune, Orchard Drop, Sour Patch, North Star, and Apple Crisp,” Hurricane explained.





“I am assuming that you got the letter or that at least Hurricane explained what was going on,” Orchard Drop said. Diamond Glow nodded.

“Well good, that saves time,” Orchard Drop said as she pulled out the list.

“What’s up with her and time?” North Star asked Sweet Tune.

“It’s just her thing. She runs on a tight mental schedule and will give you a hard time if you throw it off. She’s already been in a bad mood all day because this whole thing completely killed her daily routine.”

“Alright, let’s see who’s up next,” Orchard Drop started, “Fifteen-year-old pegasus.

Lives in a residence on the outskirts of town with their mother, father, younger brother, and baby sister. Also... half draconequus. Interesting.”

Hurricane’s face lit up, “Wait! I know who it is! I’ll lead the way.”

He began to walk, and the others reluctantly followed. Sweet Tune looked over her cousin’s shoulder to catch a glimpse at the name.

Jupiter





“Jupiter was a great childhood friend of mine. They still keep in touch with my brother through letters. I haven’t seen them since the day before the attack, I hope they still remember me,” Hurricane said as they made their way to the cottage.

“How do you still remember them?” Diamond Glow asked.

“Well, they’re pretty unforgettable. It’s not every day you meet a pony with chaotic magic.”

“And they’re another hybrid. That’s an automatic win to me,” Sweet Tune added.

“Hey! Look at the pretty cottage!” Apple Crisp pointed out. Everyone looked to where she was referring to.

“We’re here,” Hurricane said.

The cottage looked quaint, it looked welcoming and homey. It was also surrounded by grass and a river. It was something straight out of a storybook.

“Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s go,” North Star said.

It was quiet as the ponies walked towards the door. Too quiet. Sour Patch looked around, he felt the presence of another pony, or maybe he was just paranoid. He shrugged it off and kept going.

Diamond Glow heard rustling in the bushes. She stopped, “Did anyone else hear that?”

“I did,” Apple Crisp said.

“This place is known for being an animal sanctuary. I’m pretty sure it was just a small rodent,” Hurricane said.

Diamond Glow shook off the feeling and kept going. She paid closer attention to things.

It was Sweet Tune’s turn to hear something. It was the sound of someone laughing. It sent a chill down her spine.

It wasn’t only her that heard it. Everyone else heard it as well and stopped. That didn’t sound like it came from an animal.

“Just drop the act! I know it’s you!” Hurricane said, breaking the silence.

Just then, a pony crawled out from the bushes, “C’mon! I was just about to get to the good part! Geez, ten years, and the one-time ponies come up to my door, I can’t scare them.”

The ponies looked at the creature. They had a light-yellow coat, except for the gray tuft that went around their neck. Their back right leg was a zebra and their front left leg ended with a paw. Their wings ended with blue feathers and their eyes were a piercing red. Their short mane was a light pink mixed in with some gray and was topped off with a deer antler and a goat horn. They had a snake-like tail and their cutie mark was several rings laid out to look like an optical illusion. Everyone immediately knew that this was Jupiter.

“Yo, Hurricane! Long time, no see! How have you been?” they asked while approaching the stallion.

“Not too shabby, Jupiter. Although, I do miss this place,” Hurricane started, but remembered why he was there, “Oh, right! Jupiter, these guys are Diamond Glow, North Star, Sour Patch, Orchard Drop, Apple Crisp, and Sweet Tune. Guys, this is Jupiter.”

“My mom mentioned you guys. I reckon you’re here to start this whole ‘saving Equestria’ thing?” Jupiter said.

“Yeah. Is true that you can do chaotic magic?” Sweet Tune asked.

“If I could, I would. These buzzkills put me in these-,” they held out their front hood and paw which had some sort of hoof cuffs on them, “-when we first had to go into hiding. Scared I’ll use my magic to escape or cause chaos in Ponyville.”

“Oh yeah, about that,” Orchard Drop began. She walked over to them and her horn started to glow. She aimed it at the cuffs, and they came apart, falling to the ground.

“I think that your magic could come in handy during this mission, so there you go. You’re welcome,” she said.

Jupiter stared at what was previously their only obstacle to use their magic. They looked up at the ponies with a smile on their face. It didn’t look friendly; the others were scared.

With a snap of their fingers, they disappeared. They reappeared just a few feet away.

“Look what I can do!”

With another snap, they teleported somewhere else.

“I’m here!”

Snap.

“Now I’m here!”

Snap.

“Now you see me!”

Snap.

“Now you see me... again... but this time over here!”

With one final snap, they were back to where they started. They looked so excited, it looked like their head would explode.

“Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” they yelled. They were now using their magic to float around instead of flying with their wings.

“Here’s a thought,” Diamond Glow started, “Can’t you just snap your fingers and poof some power back into the elements?”

“I mean, maybe, but being half draconequus gives me only half the power. I’m not nearly as strong as my dad. Doing something that requires that level of energy would really take a toll on me,” Jupiter responded.

“Fascinating. I need to take notes on these types of things,” North Star said. Orchard Drop silently agreed.

“Aww. Why, thank you,” Jupiter gushed, being a bit overdramatic.

Orchard Drop crossed off their name and showed Sweet Tune the last one.

Cream Cheese

“Fifteen-year-old earth pony earth mare. She lives in the town bakery, Sugarcube Corner, with her parents, twelve-year-old brother, and six-year-old twin siblings,” Orchard Drop said, “She is also the last one on our list.”

“Good. I’m getting tired of this,” Diamond Glow stated.

North Star looked at her quizzically, “You haven’t even been with us for that long.”

“Well, let’s go. Cream Cheese, here we come!” Jupiter said as they floated away.

“Sugarcube Corner is that way,” Diamond Glow pointed in the opposite direction.

Jupiter turned around and floated the other way, “I knew that!”





Sugarcube Corner was busy when the ponies got there. It was the only bakery in town, so they weren’t surprised.

The bell hanging on the doorframe jingled as they stepped in, heads turned to the big group. It didn’t help that there were three hybrids, an alicorn, and a crystal pony in the mix. Diamond Glow even got ponies moving out of the way due to fear.

They approached the unicorn at the counter. She had an orange wavy mane, an orange cream coat, and a light blue bow in her mane matching the color of her eyes.

“Hello, how may I help you?” she asked.

“Hello. We’re here in search of a pony named Cream Cheese. Don’t say anything, but we require her for an urgent mission,” Sour Patch informed.

The pony blinked a couple of times, “Oh of-of course. She’s upstairs, first room the left,” she said as she pointed to the stairs on the other side of the room.

The ponies thanked her and made their way upstairs. As they approached the door, they heard many noises. Clinks and clanks of every sort.

“What is going on in there?” Hurricane asked a bit irritated.

Apple Crisp put an ear to the door, “Sounds like... construction?”

“Well, I guess the only way to know is if we go in ourselves,” Sweet Tune said. She then knocked on the door. The noises stopped, and the ponies could hear hoofsteps approaching.

The door opened to reveal an earth pony. She had a peach-pink colored coat and a pink and brown, poofy mane. Her eyes were a light green-blue color, and they showed a look of confusion. Her mane was topped off with a light pink bow. Her cutie mark was a wrench and hammer tied together with the same bow. She overall gave off a pure and innocent effect.

The one thing that threw it off was that she was covered in oil and grease. The noises were definitely from construction.

“Hi? Who are you?” she asked.

“Hi there. My name is Sweet Tune. These are my cousins,” she gestured to Orchard Drop and Sour Patch, “and they are North Star, Apple Crisp, Hurricane, Diamond Glow, and Jupiter.”

“Hi, I’m Cream Cheese,” she said back with a little wave, “Not to sound rude, but what are you doing here?”

Sour Patch looked through the room and couldn’t help but spot a letter on the mare’s desk. He pointed it out, “Have you read that letter yet?”

She looked back at it, “Yeah, I think I have.”

“Then you know why we’re here.”

She thought for a moment, then gasped, “Oh, you mean that was real!?”

They looked confused, “Of course it would be. Why wouldn’t it?” Orchard Drop asked.

Cream Cheese’s face showed a look of embarrassment, “I thought that letter was made up by some local ponies trying to scare me,” she chuckled nervously.

Diamond Glow raised an eyebrow, “Does that happen a lot?”

“Well, it happened once or twice, both a while ago. I just thought they were back at it again and I didn’t trust it. Now I know it’s real, and Equestria,” she paused, “Equestria is actually in danger?”

“Yeah. That’s why we need you. You’re the daughter of Pinkie Pie, Element of Laughter,” Sweet Tune said, “Your mother, along with ours’, saved Equestria multiple times. Now it’s time for us to take their place and become the new protectors of Equestria.”

Jupiter leaned in, “How long have you been practicing that for?”

Sweet Tune glared at them turned back to Cream Cheese, “So, what do you say?”

Cream Cheese thought for a moment, “Can you excuse me for just one second as I think about it?” She closed the door on them.

There was about a second of silence until they heard squeals coming from inside the room. “YES! YES! YES! FINALLY!”

The door opened once more, Cream Cheese looking a lot calmer and not knowing that the others heard her, “Let’s do this.”

“Okay then. Clean yourself up, I say we should all go out to lunch, pack up, and leave first thing in the morning,” Sweet Tune said. They all agreed.

They had the team together. Sweet Tune thought that everything would be so much easier now that they had help. Those villains don’t know what’s coming for them.

But what she didn’t know, is that they exactly knew what was coming for them, for they had eyes everywhere. A shadow that was in Cream Cheese’s room moved all on its own. It traveled through the town and into the Everfree. At the end of the forest was a mountain that the shadow traveled upon. It entered a cave and turned into a pony.

She was a unicorn mare. Her coat was gray and was covered in seaweed and barnacles. She had red tentacles for hair and her ears were fins with multiple earrings. Gills ran down her neck which had a necklace with a purple substance tied around it. Her eyes were green with a purple flame-like light glowing around them. She wore a torn pirate hat on her head. Her cutie mark was tentacles wrapping around a sword and a pirate flag.

She approached a unicorn stallion. He had a dark magenta coat, black mane, and red eyes. His face and limbs looked torn and mauled, exposing some flesh and bone. He wore a top hat. His cutie mark was the same hat with bloodstains, one being the outline of a paw. He had the same necklace, but with a black substance.

He noticed the mare walk in without even looking up from the map on the table he was sitting at.

“What do you have to report, Shadow?” he asked.

“I just came back from that incredibly annoying bakery. I saw that the children of the Element bearers have officially met each other and are planning on heading over here tomorrow morning,” the mare replied.

He looked up at her, “Well, that’s great news,” he paused. He suddenly slammed his hooves on the table, “If you planned to fail! We can’t have them coming this soon! We need to create a distraction, something to keep them there for just a little longer.”

He thought for a moment then came up with an idea, “POISON IVY! BUD!” he yelled.

Two ponies walked into the room. They were younger than the other two.

One was an earth pony mare. She had brown fur and her mane was teal and was tied up into a bun by some thorned vines. The vines went down and wrapped around her eyes. She did have an eye in her hair which she used to see. Her teeth were sharp, and her cutie mark was an eye surrounded by some vines. Her bottle had a dark purple substance.

The pony next to her was a pegasus stallion. His coat was a light blue, and his hair was black. His eyes were dark blue, and a protective armor of the same color ran down the back of his neck. His cutie mark was a mask. His bottle was dark blue.

“Yes, Dark Magic?” they both said.

“I don’t know if you’ve heard, but our little pony friends have already teamed up. As you can see, we are not ready. So, as you two being our rookies, I’ve decided to let you figure out a way to distract them. Buy us some extra time. Do whatever you like, just don’t hurt them,” he said.

“I’m honored to have been given this mission, sir,” Poison Ivy said. Dark Magic smiled at her. He looked at Bud and waited for a response.

Bud looked up and noticed Dark Magic’s gaze resting on him, “Uh, yeah. They teamed up, buy some time, do whatever we want, don’t hurt them. Got it!”

Although not being pleased with the response, Dark Magic let them go. Once they were gone, Shadow spoke up.

“Dark Magic, if you want us to succeed so much, then why don’t you have those two get rid of them?”

“You see, Shadow,” Dark Magic started, “the only way they could restore the elements is by coming here to where Tree of Harmony planted one more seed before it was destroyed. We can’t have the power they possess until they are restored. So, we are having them bring the elements to us. They think they’re just going to restore them and save the day, but in reality, they are just walking straight into our trap.”

Shadow thought about it, then smiled.

“Isn’t it brilliant? No one will ever see it coming! Now go rally the others. We have to make sure we’re ready for our visitors," Dark Magic ordered.

Shadow turned and walked out of the room, “You’re right,” she said quietly, “No one will see it coming.”

 
> The Start of a New Story: Part 4
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The plan was to go have lunch to get to know each other, go their separate ways to get ready for the journey to come, then leave for the said journey the next morning. It was as simple as that.

While walking through the town, Sweet Tune noticed that something was off. She wasn’t even here for that long, but it already felt different. Was it the fact that she was there with more ponies? Was it the time of day? Was it just the overall atmosphere? Something was off.

She looked over to Orchard Drop, “Does something seem... different to you?” she asked. If anyone noticed a change in the atmosphere, it was Orchard Drop. The unicorn looked around to see what her cousin was referring to.

“You mean the foliage that now looks a bit shriveled and... dead?” Orchard Drop pointed out. Sweet Tune looked around and noticed what Orchard Drop was talking about. All of the trees and flowers looked nice and lively when they first got here. Now they look like the complete opposite. They looked dead and discolored. They’ve only been here for a few hours, so this seems completely impossible. It was strange... and suspicious.

Before she had the chance to talk to the rest of them about the issue, North Star appeared next to her. Her face was serious, and she started walking a bit faster. This made Sweet Tune start walking a bit faster.

“I think we need to take a quick detour,” Sweet Tune whispered.

“Agreed,” North Star responded, “Just keep walking towards the castle, the others have already noticed the situation.”

Now Sweet Tune was scared. On the way to the castle, she could hear the citizens noticing the trees and plants, which have started to die at a quicker pace. There was fear in their voices.

Turns out the plan wasn’t so simple.





“So, explain to me again why this will stall these ponies from heading over here,” Bud asked Poison Ivy. The two were hiding in the Everfree Forest to avoid being seen by any Ponyville citizens.

“Well, what else are we supposed to do? You’re pretty much useless in this situation. My essence could easily manipulate all of these trees to attack the ponies and the job would be done. What are you going to do? Play dress up?”

“Hey! It’s not dress up. I can change my appearance at will, it’s that simple. Also, you can’t do something at that level with your essence. We all know that much power would be too much on you since you’re still alive.”

Poison Ivy blinked at the pegasus, “Why, thank you, Bud. I almost forgot,” she said in a monotone voice. Both of them climbed onto a nearby tree to see if they can get a view of their targets. Bud noticed something else in the distance.

“Hey, look. It’s that camp that the others talk about so much. That camp that...” he stopped himself before he said her name. The name of the pony that betrayed them. Her name isn’t said much anymore, and he didn’t want to get in trouble with anyone for even uttering it.

“Don’t act like that. I know what you were going to say,” Poison Ivy said.

The two of them stayed quiet for a while before spotting the nine ponies who they were sent to stall. A few of them exchanged worried glances as they started to spot the dying trees. A few of them even exchanged a couple of words about the situation. They started to walk a bit faster until they got to the castle at the end of the town. Poison Ivy got down from the tree and Bud followed right after.

"So, what do you think will happen now?" he asked.

"I assume this will stall them in a way. The ponies of this town will be frightened, and they will need some words of reassurance. That's when our little ponies play the hero card and calm them down, buying us more time."

"And if it backfires?"

"That's where you come in," Poison Ivy started; Bud got rather excited, "You will stay back and let the rest of us know if the plan doesn't go as expected."

Bud's face fell, "That's it? I just get to clean up your possible mess?" he paused, "Wait, what do you mean 'stay back'?"

Poison Ivy smirked, "Oh, yeah. I'm going to head back and tell the others what's happening. You get to stay here and watch our 'friends'."

"Do you have to go? I've never been this far from the hideout, and you know how much I'm scared of this forest!" Bud said as Poison Ivy started to head back to their hideout.

"Don't worry you crybaby! It'll build character!" Poison Ivy called back. All Bud could hear were her distant laughs as she got farther and farther away.

"It'll build character," Bud mocked, "Yeah right, that's the reason for anything that happens apparently."

He flew off to a nearer tree to, once again, spy on the nine ponies, "At this point, I don't think there's any more character to build."





"So... the trees are dying at an impossibly fast rate on the same day the children of the bearers of the Elements of Harmony meet each other for the first time. Either it's the weirdest coincidence to ever happen in pony history, or something much more sinister is going on," Cream Cheese said while staring out a window in the castle.

Sour Patch joined her to look out the window, "It also looks like everypony's gone to their houses to stay safe from any other weird things that could happen, so that's good."

"So, what do we do now? This obviously means that Dark Magic and the others know that we're together and are starting to strike back," North Star asked.

"Isn't it obvious? We go," Orchard Drop started, "The food we eat is from the plants. If we don't fix this soon, Ponyville will starve. Or worse, all of Equestria."

"She's right. If we lie around, who knows what else could happen? It could even get worse," Diamond Glow said.

"I mean, they're a team of ponies possessed by all of Equestria's past threats," Jupiter pointed out.

They all paused and thought about that for a moment, "Ya know, I didn't need to be reminded of the reasons I should be scared of all of this. That would've been nice," Hurricane said.

"Anyways, I agree with all of this. So, here's the plan," Sweet Tune started. She looked at Apple Crisp, "Do you still have that voice recorder?"

"What voice recorder?" Apple Crisp asked.

Orchard Drop lifted the voice recorder out of Apple Crisp's bag with her magic and gave it to her, "Oh, that voice recorder. Yeah!"

"Okay, you might want to get this," Sweet Tune carried on.

The new plan was to part ways now and pack their things at their homes. They would meet back at the castle in exactly an hour to head to the Everfree forest. Sure, they couldn't eat lunch, but they were able to give up not eating for a while to save their home.

"Wait! What about the ponies in town? I'm pretty sure they're going to want an explanation on everything that's going on," Cream Cheese asked.

"I'm sure I can handle that," a new voice came.

All of the ponies turned their heads towards the entrance of the room, "Oh. Hey, Mom," North Star said.

Princess Twilight Sparkle smiled at all of the ponies in front of her, "Hello everypony. You all look so grown up. Well, of course, you do. The last time I saw any of you, you were all only babies."

"Mom, do you know what's going on?" North Star asked as she approached her mother.

"Yeah, I heard everything. I'll even get your father to help," Twilight responded.

"If you need any more help, I'm sure my parents will be able to help," Hurricane said.

"Mine too," Cream Cheese added.

"Alright then, I got it covered here. You guys go out and save the day!" Twilight said.

"You heard her! Go pack, we'll meet back here in an hour!" Sweet Tune said.

As everyone left, Sour Patch approached his cousins, "Are you nervous about this, like, at all?"

Sweet Tune scoffed, "Nervous? Please... I'm absolutely terrified."

"But, then again," Orchard Drop started, "there would be something wrong with you if you weren't."





"So, it begins."

A young mare with a brown coat and a wild dark teal mane looked up at the older mare across the room. She was looking down at a cauldron with a strange substance inside.

"Did you say something, Fortune Teller?" the younger mare asked. She got up and walked towards the cauldron to see what the older mare was talking about.

"It has begun, the next bearers are on their way. Tell Ceres and the others to get ready for their arrival. They should be here by tonight," Fortune Teller informed.

"Okay, I'll make sure we’re ready by then," the mare said as she exited the hut, they were in.

Fortune Teller smiled but noticed something else appeared in the cauldron, "What's this?" she said.

A light blue pegasus with a black mane approached a gang of adult ponies and a mare his age. He looked frightened, poor soul.

“Bud, why are you back so soon? I thought this little plan of yours was supposed to work?” a mare asked.

She had a light brown-red coat and a light pink short mane that was perfectly curled. Her head was topped off with a large red hat, decorated with pink and red flowers and feathers. Her eyes were pink, and they stared into the young pegasus with a look of dissatisfaction. Her cutie mark was a microphone with a green liquid spilling out the end, a skull accompanied it. Streams of the same green liquid flowed out of the mare’s mouth and down the front end of her body, falling at her hooves.

“It wasn’t my plan, Dolly. My only job was to come back and warn you if Poison Ivy’s plan backfired,” the young stallion responded.

“And? Is that what happened?” Poison Ivy asked with an angry tone in her voice.

“They’re coming anyway. Your plan didn’t work.”

“Don’t go blaming this on me! At least I did something that intimidated them! You could barely intimidate a rabbit!”

“There’s no way they were intimidated! They would’ve stayed back if they were! Maybe YOU S-“

“BE QUIET!! THE BOTH OF YOU!!” another mare chimed in. It was Shadow, “You two give me endless headaches with your yelling!”

The two young ponies got quiet. Shadow motioned for them to leave the room. As they walked out, the mare said something to the pegasus that caused him to lower his head.

“So, there’s only one thing left to do,” Dark Magic said to break the silence, “We get ready for their arrival.”

Shadow whispered something in his ear, a smile spread across his face, “That’s an excellent idea.”

He turned to the other ponies in the room, “Maybe our little Bud could be of good use to us. Bring him back in.”

Once the pegasus was brought in, he looked up at Dark Magic with a scared look on his face, “Yes?” he said.

“I want you to do something for us. Since you have the changeling essence, you can put magical barriers on the Everfree Forest, except for our hideout. Got it?”

“Are you sure I can handle that? I mean that would require a lot of energy, and I’m still alive,” Bud said with a bit of fear in his voice.

“We’ll find out,” was all that Dark Magic said before he motioned Bud to go out by himself.

Fortune Teller looked up from the cauldron and looked outside. Hopefully, he hasn’t cast the barrier yet.

She went back inside the hut and got to work, grabbing different ingredients from various cabinets and drawers. She mushed them, mixed them all in a bowl until it looked like dust, and took the bowl outside.

She looked up, “Let’s hope this works.” She blew the dust out of the bowl and into the sky, making sure to stay concentrated.

The dust swirled around like it was picked up by a gust of wind. Once it reached a certain height, it exploded like a firework and rained on the camp below it. A new barrier was formed around the camp, protecting them from outside magic.

“That should do it,” Fortune Teller said, “Now, where was I? Ah, yes. The preparations. Our expected guests need to feel welcomed.”





Sweet Tune looked at the forest in front of them. It was dark, eerie, and unsettling. Everyone was right when they said that the place was feared, and they were heading right towards it. At least she won’t be alone.

Diamond Glow walked up to her, “I think I should lead the way. I’ve been here plenty of times and know my way around some areas. I even have a treehouse we can visit for extra supplies.”

Sweet Tune didn’t say it, but she was very impressed. For a pony that was supposed to stay indoors, she sure explored a lot. She just nodded and let her take the lead.

She looked at Sour Patch, “Are you ready?”

“What made you think I was?” he responded. Sweet Tune laughed; it was reassuring knowing she wasn’t the only scared one.

Orchard Drop approached the two, “Alright, I think everyone’s ready to go. It’s your word now.”

Sweet Tune turned around to face the other 8 ponies, “This is it. It’s time to go in there and save Equestria. I mean, it shouldn’t be so bad. Our moms have done it a thousand times already.”

She took one step into the Everfree, and something felt different. She assumed it was just the overall atmosphere of the forest and went on. The others followed.

Jupiter, who was previously floating, randomly fell upon entering the forest. They came down with a loud thud, alarming the rest.

“Don’t worry, I’m fine. Just a bit scratched up,” they said in return.

“But why did that happen?” North Star said, helping Jupiter.

“You don’t think they did something to the forest, do you?” Cream Cheese said, a little frightened.

Orchard Drop faced a nearby twig on the ground and focused on it. Nothing happened.

She turned back to the others, “I can’t pick it up. Not with my magic at least.”

Diamond Glow tried to do the same, nothing happened for her as well. She shook her head.

Jupiter snapped their paw. Nothing.

“Oh great! I just got my powers back! Couldn’t you have waited a little longer before taking them away!?” they yelled at the sky.

Sweet Tune sighed.

This was going to be a lot harder than they thought.
> The Start of a New Story: Part 5
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

There was no doubt that this journey was going to be difficult. The ponies thought they were going to be fine for the most part since a good load of them could use magic. Now it seemed like luck wasn't on their side.

The ones with magic now looked weaker than the ones who didn’t have any to begin with. This unfortunate event took a toll on them.

The loss of magic seemed to be the cherry on top of their anxieties, and now all of them were going to have to deal with it.

"Well... no. There's nothing I could say to make this scene look any better," Jupiter said. No one could find the right words to say to cheer up everyone else. They felt a bit helpless. They felt weird.

"This isn't the time to lose hope. If we do that now, imagine how the rest of the trip is going to go," North Star said, "We'll just have to go magic-less for now, and hope for the best."

Most of the group seemed to agree, but what else could they do? Word was already spreading that they went out to save everyone. There was no going back now.

"Yeah. In fact, some of us managed to make it through life without any magical assistance. So, this should be a piece of cake," Hurricane said.

Diamond Glow scoffed, “The problem there is you guys were also isolated for most of your lives. The biggest 'threat' you might've had to face was boredom.”

“Boredom!?” Hurricane said, rather repulsed.

“I mean, it was pretty deadly,” Sweet Tune said under her breath.

“And who’s to say,” Hurricane started, “bored kids could be a threat too.”

“You’re kidding. You? A threat? You don’t even compare to the things I’ve seen out here- “

“Settle down, alright?” North Star said, getting the two ponies’ attention. “If we fight like this, we’ll all be dead by sunset. Can you two at least try to not start any more arguments?”

Hurricane and Diamond Glow were quiet for a moment, “Fine,” they both said.

Sweet Tune sighed, "Diamond Glow. You said that you had a treehouse around here that we can go visit for extra supplies. Can you take us there, please?"

Diamond Glow smirked and turned towards the darkness of the forest, "Fine, but try to keep quiet while you’re at it. I don't want anyone wining about how 'scary' the forest is," she said as she began to lead the others into the unknown.

Apple Crisp approached Cream Cheese, "How scary do think this forest is? Should I be scared?" she asked her.

Cream Cheese gave the hybrid a sincere smile, "I don't think there's anything to worry about. You should be fine. Diamond Glow’s just teasing," Apple Crisp seemed happy with that answer. She smiled brightly and continued at a faster pace, leaving the pink pony behind.

"Oh, that poor mare," she said under her breath.





The treehouse looked to be a lot higher quality than what they were all expecting. It was a bit small, but it looked sturdy. There were also planks nailed into the tree trunk that acted as stairs leading to the entrance of the house. They wondered if Diamond Glow found it abandoned or if she built it herself. It didn't look too rundown, so the latter seemed like the most reasonable explanation.

"This is a quick stop to collect some supplies. If any of you want weapons, I guess you can come inside to get some," Diamond Glow said as she started to climb up the planks. The majority went inside. Apple Crisp, Sour Patch, Orchard Drop, and Cream Cheese stayed behind. The realization of what Diamond Glow said finally hit Sour Patch. He turned towards his cousin.

"We're going to need weapons?"

Diamond Glow was already gathering her things when the rest of them stepped inside the house. It looked bigger on the inside, and it was fairly normal. There was a vanity, a bookshelf, a dresser, even a bed in the corner. Diamond Glow was getting a couple of things from her vanity, mostly bandages.

"Wow. This place actually looks pretty neat, and normal. I would expect something more... dark or dangerous. I'm impressed," Hurricane said as he looked around. Diamond Glow headed to the dresser and opened it. Hurricane's eyes widened as he saw what was inside.

Diamond Glow was a collector, but not of rocks, toys, or insects. She collected knives. There was a very wide collection of them. There were many different sizes and many different types. Cutting knives, throwing knives, daggers, even your average kitchen knife.

“Never mind, I take everything back.”

Diamond Glow smirked to herself upon hearing that. Jupiter approached her.

“You seem happy. Are you glad you scared the pants off of my friend there?” they asked.

“Hurricane doesn’t wear pants,” Diamond Glow pointed out, “and yeah. It always puts a smile on my face when big, tall stallions like him find out I’m not one to be messed with.”

Jupiter smiled too, “I like you. You have that whole ‘edgy, tough-girl’ thing going on,” they paused and looked at the stallion as he cautiously looked around, “Hurricane doesn’t want to mess with you, trust me. He just wants to get to know you better. I guess he learned that if he wants to be friends with the tough girl, he’ll need to be tougher himself.”

Diamond Glow let out a small laugh as she closed the dresser’s doors, “Well, let him know that he’s going to have to try a lot harder if he wants to be my friend.”

“Hey, let me ask you something,” Jupiter started, “If you knew you were going to run into those dangerous threats you mentioned earlier, why did keep coming to the Everfree?”

“Well, this place taught me a lot growing up. I come back hoping I can learn more.”

“What stuff did you learn?”

“Oh, you know how to survive, how to make a second home out of some wood and a tree you found, and, of course,” she pulled out the throwing knife she got from the dresser, “you don’t want to start a fight with the pony holding the knife.”

“Nice. You know what I learned being cooped up in my little home where my biggest threat was boredom?”

Before Diamond Glow could answer, Jupiter’s smiling expression morphed to a more serious one and their tone got quieter and firmer. They got closer to the unicorn, making sure she could hear them.

“The ‘tough’ girl is always the one with the most problems boiling up inside.”

Diamond Glow froze. Her expression was stunned yet fearful. She tried to hide it but wasn’t very good at it.

Jupiter backed up. Their smile quickly returned, “Or ya know, you’re just a tough girl with nothing going on. I could always be wrong... I mostly am wrong.”

Diamond Glow laughed while Jupiter started to walk away, “Anyways, nice talk! Bye-bye!” they said. Diamond Glow’s smile disappeared as soon as Jupiter turned around.

It didn’t take much longer for everyone else to be done collecting things, so they all headed back down shortly after. Sweet Tune pulled out a map to track down their next stop.

The camp.

“If we get a move on now, we should be able to get to the camp at around sunset,” Sweet Tune informed the others, “We can sleep there and continue towards the mountain in the morning.”

Let’s hope we’re all in one piece by sunset. she thought to herself.





As they began walking, things were quiet. No one was talking to each other. It could’ve been the weight of the entire journey making them nervous or it could’ve been the fact that they all just met each other earlier that day. Either way, things were awkward.

Them being quiet also meant that they could hear every rustle in the trees in bushes, every twig that was snapped, and every noise an animal made. Most ponies would be used to those noises coming from a forest, but it made someone like Cream Cheese extremely paranoid.

Every noise made her twitch a bit. She scrunched up and ducked her head to avoid touching anything. The thing she didn’t do was make noise. If there was anything scarier than what could potentially be in the Everfree, it was dragging attention towards herself.

“Are you okay? You look kinda tense,” said a voice.

Cream Cheese looked in the direction the voice came from to find North Star looking at her. Looks like not making noise didn’t do anything.

“Oh, me? I’m fine,” she said, followed by a nervous laugh. She was not fine.

“I mean, it’s okay if you’re scared. This forest can be pretty scary,” North Star said.

“Yeah, you never know what you could find here,” came a third voice. Both ponies saw that it belonged to Jupiter, who was steadily approaching them. They had a mischievous smirk on their face.

“I’ve heard that there have been sightings of manticores, cockatrices, timberwolves, even these weird lookin’ things called parasprites,” they continued. Every time they named a creature, Cream Cheese got more and more anxious, leaving her frozen in her spot.

“On second thought, maybe you guys don’t need me for this mission,” she said. North Star shot a mean glare towards Jupiter before heading towards Cream Cheese.

“We kind of do. I don’t know if you know this, but nine ponies are needed to power the nine elements.”

“But we’re not the ones powering the elements. We’re just buying time for our moms to power them up themselves. Unless....” she was struck with a sudden realization, “Are you saying we’re the next element bearers?!”

North Star put a hoof up to the earth pony's mouth to quiet her, “Not too loud,” she said, “It’s not official, but it’s a strong theory I have. If everything lines up, we should be able to power up the elements ourselves.”

“That’s why you didn’t want Hurricane and Diamond Glow to fight. True friendship is the only thing that can power the elements. You want us all to be friends.”

“Yeah, that and the fact that their bickering was extremely annoying. So, you have to tag along and help us. No matter what problems we face, we have to persevere and meet our goal.”

“But why are you so focused on us being the next bearers and not having our moms take care of it? The elements will most likely power up that way because they’re already friends. Why do you want all of Equestria to depend on a bond that might not even form?”

“So that I can prove a point, okay? My family has already planned my entire life. ‘North Star: Scholar and Princess.’ I don’t want that. I want to protect Equestria. Not as a princess, but a royal guard. I figured that if I’m an element bearer, my family would get the hint that I’m much more than their little ‘plan’ for me.”

North Star expected Cream Cheese to be intrigued, even excited, about the idea of them possibly being element bearers. Instead, there was a frown on her face, and she looked mad. She started to walk away, leaving the alicorn incredibly confused.

“You know, I was actually considering not going on this mission. The thing that made me go is that, after all these years, I could meet some ponies who would actually want to be my friend. To you, I’m just a steppingstone. We all are,” North Star was stunned. Did her plan sound that awful?

“I’m gonna go. Hopefully, there’s someone here that wants to be friends,” Cream Cheese said before she caught up to the others, leaving North Star behind.

“North Star, you’re an idiot,” she told herself, “Maybe you should stop being selfish and try to make some actual connections with these guys.” She ran to the rest of the group.

“I’m guessing things didn’t go well?” North Star looked at Jupiter who said that after noticing how upset Cream Cheese was. She felt terrible.

“Look on the bright side. At least she forgot all about the forest.”

It was true. Cream Cheese wasn’t twitching, and she wasn’t tense, but her head still hung low. North Star didn’t feel better.





Bud was on the floor of his room, exhausted. He was convinced that the anti-magic shield he made had killed him. He put a hoof up to his chest. There’s still a heartbeat.

His head raised slightly as the door to his room opened. It was Dolly with a bowl of food in her hoof. She made her way to the young stallion and sat down next to him.

“Eat this,” she said while handing him the food, “You need to recharge before they get here. We’ll need everyone if we want to protect the elements."

Bud started to eat the food rather quickly, "I don't know if I'll be ready to fight when they get here. Are you sure you'll need me?"

"Yes, we do. If you're not there, Shadow will kill me, and that would not be fun for me."

"But wait, aren't you already-"

"Bud, don't chew with your mouth full. You're going to choke on your food, also it's disgusting to look at," Dolly interrupted. Bud swallowed the rest of his food.

"Dolly, why do you guys want these elements so bad. I mean, you're willing to hurt kids for them. Sounds kind of brutal if you ask me."

Dolly gave him a cold stare, "Listen, ponies like us, ponies like you could never be accepted out there. I know I wasn't. Ponies like them ridiculed me, hated me, and hunted me down because I was something that they weren't used to. They did that to all of us, and they would surely do that to you. Why do you think your parents abandoned you? They can't respect us unless we have power. That power comes from the elements, and we aren't going to let some measly teenagers take it away from us!"

Bud distanced himself from the mare and looked at her with wide eyes, "Dolly, you're scaring me."

Dolly got up, picked up the bowl, and made her way towards the door, "Good. Fear is how we get ponies to listen to you. You'll learn that someday." She opened the door and left the room, slamming the door on the way out.

Bud got up and his stomach growled, "I wasn't finished with my food," he told himself, "but after that, I don't think I have much of an appetite."





As time went on, the ponies were getting a bit tired from walking and their legs were hurting. Above it all, they were hungry. Sour Patch had a small breakfast that morning and hadn't eaten anything since then. His stomach growled rather loudly, loud enough to catch the attention of his cousin.

"I'm guessing you're hungry," Sweet Tune said. Sour Patch silently nodded. Sweet Tune looked around to see if anyone was looking at them, then she opened her bag and let Sour Patch look inside.

"Here, take this." Inside the bag was a single apple. It was a bright red and looked delicious, tempting Sour Patch to take it. Something stopped him.

"Wait, did you steal this from the apple orchard?"

"Don't worry, it was already on the ground. I took it in case I needed it on the trip, but you look like you need it more than I do. Don't eat it right now, or else everyone would want some."

It was against Sour Patch's morals to steal something or to take something that was stolen, but his hunger was taking over. He couldn't help it, he needed to eat something. He quickly took the apple and put it in his bag.

"Thanks."

Before Sweet Tune could respond, she quickly stopped in her tracks. Sour Patch stopped and looked in front of him. If he had taken one more step, he would've fallen into a river. The others caught up to them and stared down at the body of water in front of them.

"Well, let's just makeshift a bridge and walk across," Hurricane said.

"We should do no such thing," Orchard Drop said, "The path changes here. We have to go down the river if we want to get to the camp by sunset."

"So, we build a boat. How long will that take?" Diamond Glow asked.

"Yeah, and where do we get started?" Sweet Tune asked.

"It's simple," everyone turned around to find Cream Cheese standing at the back of the group, "There are a bunch of dead trees around here that we can use for the actual boat, we can disassemble one of our bags or even use Diamond Glow's bandages for a sail, and we can tie everything together with the vines around this area."

Everyone stared at her, not knowing what to say, "We could just, ya know," she pulled a small cube out of her bag, "use this."

"I'm sorry, what is that?" Orchard Drop asked.

"Whatever it is, it's really cute," Apple Crisp said.

"It's an invention I've been working on for a while. It's meant to turn into any transportation vehicle you might need, including a boat," Cream Cheese said as she pushed a few buttons on the cube, "Let's hope this works."

She placed the cube down on the edge of the river and stepped back. The cube shook around a bit before opening up and... through some sort of magic, it morphed into a boat. Cream Cheese was the first one to get on the boat.

"Come on aboard! There's plenty of room for everyone!" she said.

Once everyone was on, Cream Cheese raised the sail, and they were off. Orchard Drop approached her with a map in hoof.

"Cream Cheese?" she started, "I wanted to let you know where our stop is. You'll see two tall-standing trees crossing over each other. That's when you know when to land."

"Alright, I'll keep an eye out," the earth pony responded. While Orchard Drop walked away, Cream Cheese spotted Hurricane flying off.

"Hey, where are you off to," she asked him.

"I'll fly on ahead and see if there's anything that could potentially be dangerous. If there is, I'll come back and warn you if there is anything," he said. Cream Cheese happily nodded, and he flew off.

Everything seemed peaceful, and the boat looked like it was moving steadily. Cream Cheese left it to be and walked to the edge of the boat.

"How long did it take you to work on this?" Cream Cheese looked over to find Sour Patch right next to her.

"I don't know. A few years? It was definitely one of my more ambitious inventions. I'm just glad it worked," she responded.

"I guess that explains your cutie mark. A talent in engineering? How did you even figure it out?"

"Huh, I never thought about it. I guess that I was very bored during the isolation. I wanted to make contraptions that made life a bit easier around the house. I quickly learned how to build new things in new ways, and I figured out how much I liked doing it. It was when I built a machine that helped my family get groceries that got me my cutie mark. It's something about inventing and building machines that makes me feel like I can finally do something with my life. It gives me this sort of peace when doing it," she realized how much she was talking, "I'm sorry if I'm being annoying. I didn't mean to talk so much-"

"No- no, it's fine," Sour Patch said, "It just means your passionate. That's good, it says that you have enough room in your heart to have a lot of love for things like that."

Cream Cheese smiled. She felt like she was talking too much and wanted to let Sour Patch have a turn talking, but before she could say anything, a deep growling sound interrupted her. It came from her stomach. It looked like Sour Patch noticed as well. She awkwardly blushed.

"Are you hungry?" he asked. He picked up his bag, opened it, and pulled out an apple.

"Oh, it's fine. If it's your only one, you probably need it more than I do. There's also no other way you can-" Cream Cheese was interrupted when Sour Patch threw half of the fruit towards her, she barely caught it.

"Thanks. That was very generous of you."

"Hey, anything for a friend."

Cream Cheese focused on that last sentence he said, "Wait, we're friends?"

Sour Patch smiled sincerely, "Well, I think we are. Are you okay with that?"

Cream Cheese smiled back, "Yeah- Yeah, I am."

Sour Patch turned back to the edge of the boat before taking a bite of his half of the apple. Cream Cheese did the same. It was nice to know that, after all these years, she finally made a friend. A friend who she knew nothing about. She turned to ask him the question she was going to ask earlier.

"GUYS! GUYS!" a voice yelled out, cutting her off. Everyone on the boat saw Hurricane flying towards the boat at the speed of light.

"What's wrong?" North Star asked while the stallion landed on the boat. He was very out of breath and panicked, so his answer has made up of a few words.

"... river... rapids... ahead..." he said before he lied down.

"There are rapids up ahead! Someone, take care of the sails and steering! Everyone else, take cover! We're going to have to ride this thing out!" North Star yelled out.

Cream Cheese headed towards the steering wheel and grabbed hold. Diamond Glow looked up ahead, "We're getting close! Everyone brace for impact!"

It didn't take long for everyone on the boat to feel the vehicle start to shake. It was tossing and turning. Everyone ducked down and waited for everything to end, hoping that Cream Cheese could get them out of this. The waves got bigger, and the boat started to slightly fill with water. The wind started to grow very strong, ripping the sail.

Cream Cheese spotted something up ahead. Two large trees making an x-shape. Their stop. She had to steer them there, and she had to do it fast. She knew that would end up in a crash, possibly injuring a couple of them and surely damaging the machine. She couldn't think about that right now. All that mattered was getting everyone out of the river.

She steered the boat to make a sharp right turn, "Hold on tight! It's going to be a rough landing!" she yelled out. The boat made its way onto the shore, tossing everyone overboard.

Everyone was dizzy for a minute, and it took them a while to get back on their hooves. Some were wet from the water, and some had scrapes and bruises from the crash. No one was terribly injured, thank Celestia.

Cream Cheese looked up to find her invention completely wrecked. It was her greatest accomplishment as an inventor, and now it was nothing but rubbish on the ground before her. She couldn’t help but shed a few tears.

She felt a hoof on her shoulder. She looked up to find Sour Patch comforting her.

“How are you feeling?” he asked, “I know how much that machine meant to you.”

She wiped up her tears with her hoof, “Honestly, a little sad, but that’s beside the point. What matters is that you’re all safe.”

“Are you sure?”

“...yes. I’m sure.”

“I’m impressed that you were able to pull through with getting us to our stop,” Orchard Drop said, “Thank you for that.”

Cream Cheese smiled, “No problem. Sorry if anyone got hurt.”

“Well, the sun’s starting to go down, and we’re not at our destination yet. I recommend that we start moving again,” Sweet Tune said.

“This camp better be less than an hour away, because I need a break!” Hurricane yelled. A few of them laughed as they began walking again. He looked over at Diamond Glow who was staring at the water.

“What’s up?” he asked.

“Oh, nothing. It’s just, that river has never had rapids in, like, ever.”

“Huh, seems suspicious. Do you know what happened?”

“No, but whatever it is, it’s not good.”





Dark Magic turned the corner to find Shadow locking a metal door at the end of a dimly lit hallway. Everyone knew that door must never be open unless of an emergency.

“What are you doing?!” he asked the mare as he ran up to her. She turned around with an annoyed look on her face.

“Don’t worry, you big baby. I was just locking it up.”

“Yeah, but why was it unlocked in the first place?”

“I needed our friend to make a bit of roadblock in those ponies' trip.”

“And you did it without consulting me first? Why did you even use HER? You could’ve used yourself or anyone else here.”

“The moment called for it. They were approaching a river and I needed someone who could manipulate it.”

Dark Magic looked into the window on the door, “How is she doing after that?”

“She’s never felt more alive. That’s good because we’ll need all the help we can get to fight those ponies.”

“But she’s not a fighter, she’s a mass murderer. Once she’s done with them, she’ll go after us. That mare is never satisfied.”

Before Shadow could respond, someone started banging their hoof on the metal door. It came from the inside. A face appeared at the window. It belonged to a mare. Her coat was dark blue, and her messy mane was a lighter tone of the same color. Her eyes were a dark purple and showed the expression of a pony who had snapped years ago. She waited at the window, staring at the two ponies on the other side of it.

“Hello, Night Gaze. How are you doing today?” Dark Magic said nervously. The mare didn’t answer, she just left the window and went to the middle of the room to lie down.

You could now see that she was a pegasus. Her wings were long and messed up. Mane was short and choppy at the ends. You could see a large deep scar making its way around her entire neck. Her cutie mark, at first glance, was a starry night. You look closer, and the “night” is more of a dark red color.

“Don’t worry. Night Gaze has been chipping away at one of them for quite some time now, so she has been rather useful in the past years. She’ll mostly take out all of her energy on that one pony. Leaving us to take care of the rest. She’ll be back in her room in no time,” Shadow said, making her way out of the hallway.

“Alright, I’m trusting you on this, but if she kills more than one of them, I’m running,” Dark Magic followed her.

“Of course, you are. I never expected anything more from you.”

Dark Magic scowled at her. They made their way out of the hallway, but they could still hear the sound of someone hitting the door at the other end of it.





It was almost sunset, and the camp was nowhere in sight. Everyone was starting to get tired, but no one felt safe setting up camp just anywhere. They had to stick it out until they reached their destination. More and more of them were starting to go hungry as well. Sour Patch and Cream Cheese knew that one apple wouldn't satisfy their hunger.

North Star felt something creeping up on her. She heard the faint sound of growling and felt something breathing against her, but she wasn't scared.

"Jupiter, you can try to scare me all you want. I'm not falling for it," she told that something. The growling and breathing stopped suddenly. Jupiter appeared next to her, they groaned.

"Sorry, I just want to do something to distract myself from how hungry I am," they said. They were frustrated; North Star understood why.

"We should be getting to the camp soon. I'm sure they'll have something to eat there," North Star reassured.

"Everything is starting to look edible. Those trees are," they pointed at some nearby dead trees, "the dirt is," they pointed at the ground in front of them, "and..." their finger moved up and towards North Star, pointing at her.

North Star then realized what they meant, "No!" she smacked their paw down, "You can't eat any of us."

Jupiter smirked, "It was worth a shot. I still want to eat something." The two of them continued to walk in silence. It didn't take long for Jupiter to hear a rustling in the bushes. They looked around to see where it could've come from. They heard it again. That's when they spotted something in the corner of their eye.

It was a shadow of an animal. It was kind of looked like a pony, but they had longer and thinner legs. Atop of their head were some... branches? No, antlers. It was a deer, and it was just standing there.

They tapped North Star's shoulder, "What now?" she asked.

"There's a deer over there. Do you think they'll know where the camp is?"

"I don't know since deer don't normally talk. Wait, is this just so you can- " she looked over, but Jupiter wasn't there anymore. She spotted them flying away, most likely towards the other creature.

"Jupiter!" she cried. Everyone else turned towards her.

"Where are they?" Hurricane asked.

"They spotted some deer over there and went after it,"

"Why would they want to do that?" Diamond Glow asked.

"I don't know, but I feel it's best if it remains that way."

"Well, someone's gonna have to go after them." Sweet Tune said.

"That would be all of us. There's no way we're splitting up out here." Sour Patch said.

"Well then, what are we waiting for?" North Star started to make her way into the bushes, "Let's go!"

Meanwhile, Jupiter found themselves chasing after this deer. It was really fast and agile, making it hard for them to catch up to them. It was also hard trying to dodge various trees and branches as they zipped through the darkness. They started to hear hoofsteps behind them. They figured that some of the others started to run after them. They were going to stop, but they spotted an opening up ahead. They could stop there.

The others saw Jupiter run into a lit-up opening and land there. At least they stopped. The area they landed in was a circle in the middle of the tall trees. It was almost ominous. They all saw Jupiter, but no deer.

"Jupiter!" Orchard Drop yelled, "How did you think that running off into the forest and away from us was a good idea!?"

"I'm sorry. There was just something that made me go. I think it's because of everything that's been going on, I don't know," Jupiter responded, "Anyways, the deer disappeared. So now I just dragged you guys out here for nothing."

"Not for nothing," Sweet Tune said, "Look up there." She pointed to a small ledge at the edge of the circle. A small pony was standing on it, but they were covered by the shadows of the trees.

"Uh, hi?" Jupiter said.

Diamond Glow stepped closer, "Who are you? Step into the light and show yourself."

"Ceres, are you sure these are the guys?" the shadow said as they stepped into the light.

The pony was an earth pony mare. Her coat was a dark brown with markings all over it. Her wild mane was a dark teal. Her eyes were a dark magenta. Lastly, her mane was decorated with a feather. Her face sported an annoyed look. She wasn't happy to see them.

"Yeah, I bet my life on it. Why? What's wrong?" said a new voice coming from the other side of the circle. Everyone turned around to find the deer who Jupiter chased.

Their fur was a light green and had markings similar to the mare. They had light pink eyes and flowers of the same color placed on their head and antlers. A couple of leaves grew on the antlers. There was also a gem on a piece of cloth tied to the antlers. The gem was divided into four colors: blue, yellow, orange, and green.

"They're supposed to stop Dark Magic and the others, and these guys don't look that intimidating. The little white one almost made me laugh," the mare said, stepping off the ledge.

Diamond Glow's face turned red with anger, "WHY YOU LITTLE- " she started before being interrupted by Hurricane putting a hoof over her mouth.

"I wouldn't start a fight if I were you," he whispered to her. Diamond Glow rolled her eyes and sighed.

"You didn't answer her question, who are you?" Sweet Tune asked the two.

"Oh, right. We know you, but you don't know us," the deer said while walking up to the mare, "I'm Ceres, and this is Fangs. We were sent by Fortune Teller to come get you."

"You know Fortune Teller? That means you came from the camp," Sour Patch said, "Can you take us there?"

"That's what we were going to do," Fangs started, "That map of yours is wrong. We don't want anyone knowing our location. Ceres did a good job leading you guys most of the way." Ceres flashed a proud smile.

"Okay, so where's the rest of the way?" Orchard Drop asked.

"It's right over here," Ceres said walking to the ledge. The majority of the ponies were confused.

"That- that's a ledge," North Star said.

"Why yes, but it's also a secret entrance," Ceres said. Fangs moved the grass out of the way, revealing a small circle etched into the side of the ledge. She put a hoof up to it. The circle lit up and the side of the ledge opened up like a door, revealing a tunnel.

"The first lesson you'll learn around these parts is that there's more to everything than what meets the eye," she said. The two went in first, Ceres having to duck down to fit. The nine other ponies followed in after.

At the end of the tunnel was the camp. There were rows and rows of huts that inhabited many types of ponies, each with different types of marks on their coats. Small foals were running around and playing. The ponies seemed to have tamed the nearby Everfree creatures, having them help run their camp in return for an endless amount of food and shelter. It looked like the most peaceful place in Equestria.

As the ponies walked down the camp, they received stares from everyone. With all of the changes that have been happening that day, they were used to it. They just tried to pretend like they didn't notice it.

Apple Crisp didn't. She was waving at everyone who made eye contact with her. If it weren't for Cream Cheese keeping an eye on her, she would've already wandered off to explore this new place. She did approach Ceres and Fangs towards the front of the group.

"This place is amazing! How did you two end up here?" she asked them.

"For me," Ceres started, "Before the attack, some members of my species lived here. When the attack hit, they left to move somewhere more peaceful. They left me behind. I lived about a week by myself before Fortune Teller found me. She took me in and raised me like I was her own. I was there when this place was built and I learned to call it home, but I was 5, so I don't remember much of it. It was another 5 years later when Fangs moved in-"

"And we're not going to talk about why I moved in," Fangs interrupted. She looked at Apple Crisp, "No offense, but we just met, and I don't trust just anyone with that information."

Apple Crisp stared at her for a moment before shaking her head, "Yeah, it's fine. You can tell me whatever you want whenever you want... you."

Fangs was confused for a moment before realizing who she was talking to, "Oh, you're Apple Crisp. The one with short-term memory loss. You don't have to worry about anything I just said."

"Oh, okay," Apple Crisp said, "I'll just be on my way then." She backed away, confused.

"Poor thing," Ceres said, "Do you think there's anything we can do about that?"

"I don't know, I'm not a doctor," Fangs responded. Ceres just shrugged it off and continued to walk ahead.

"Note to self: read up on how memory works. Maybe the library has a book or two on that," she said to herself, quietly.

At the end of the camp, there was a bigger hut that closed off the pathway. Ceres and Fangs stopped right in front of it, looking back at the others.

"This is your stop. Fortune Teller should be inside," Ceres said, "She'll fill you in on any other information you might need to know." The two of them opened the entrance to the hut, signaling the nine ponies to step inside.

The inside of the hut looked like a completely different atmosphere. It was a bit messy. Different plants and herbs were on the floor or hung on the ceiling. Books were scattered everywhere. There were papers and scrolls with messy handwriting scribbled on them. A cauldron stood in the middle of the hut. There were also little creatures scattering around the ground. They stopped when the ponies stepped in. They stood on two skinny legs and were mostly covered up by hooded capes. The most ponies could see were their eyes in the shadow of their hoods.

"I remember these guys," Sweet Tune said, "I read about them in a book. What were they called?"

"Bertuleco's!" a new voice said, "Hooded midgets that dedicate their whole lives to help their master, but only if they're treated fairly in return," the ponies followed the voices to find a pony balancing on the beams above them. They dropped down and landed in front of them, "They are thought to be extinct, but, in reality, they're slowly but surely populating again."

The pony turned to the creatures, "Would you all be so kind as to vacate the room for a little while. Some urgent matters need to be discussed. Thank you." The little creatures listened to her and left the room.

The pony turned back to face the visitors, "Did you, by any chance, read Ancient Equestrian Magic and Monsters? They’re not many books out there that mention them, but it is a great read."

She was an earth pony with a light cream coat and the marks that everyone else in the camp had. Her dirty blonde mane was tied into two low, loose pigtails. Her eyes were olive and full of knowledge. She wore an old orange witch hat that was topped off with various types of flowers. Her cutie mark was an orange flower inside a clear sphere.

"Uh, yeah. I did," Sweet Tune said, "You must be-"

"Fortune Teller. That's my name, don't wear it out," she said, "How are you, Sweet Tune? I'm thinking well. This is your first time outside Canterlot."

Before Sweet Tune could respond, Orchard Drop broke in, "I'm sorry, how do you know this information about her?"

"Well, Orchard Drop, it's my job to know everything. For example, I know that you're 15, you're a Capricorn, and that you smile so rarely, a rumor was started about you around the castle stating that you didn't have emotions at all."

Orchard Drop was stunned while Sweet Tune tried to hold in a laugh. The unicorn quickly composed herself, "I'm sorry for asking. Although, you still sound a bit creepy."

"No, I completely understand. I normally come across that way when ponies first meet me but trust me, you're completely safe," Fortune Teller spotted Fangs and Ceres in the back, "I trust that my greeting committee treated you fairly?"

The ponies nodded, but Diamond Glow had a different opinion.

"Yeah, if 'fairly' means insulting your guests," she said to herself.

"I heard that, Diamond Glow," Fortune Teller said. Diamond Glow looked up and was about to protest but decided that there was no point in doing so.

"Thank you for your help, you two, but I can take it from here," the older mare told them. Ceres turned around to leave, but Fangs stayed where she was.

"I hope you don't mind, Fortune Teller, but I want to stay and hear what you have to tell them," she said. Fortune Teller gave her a sympathetic smile.

"Alright, but only if you don't say a word about this to anyone. You can stay if you want to, Ceres." Both of them walked up to a corner of the hut and sat down. Fortune Teller walked up to the cauldron and signaled the ponies to follow. They all approached the object and stood around it.

“I am aware you all know the basic goal of this journey, but I am here to fill you in on some more important information, mostly regarding the enemy,” Fortune Teller started. She dipped her hoof into the liquid in the cauldron. The liquid swirled around until everyone could see a clear image of a necklace very similar to Sweet Tune’s.

“If you didn’t know, essence is a villain’s evil desires, motives, and powers. It’s the key factor that made them so strong and powerful.

“Once a villain was defeated, either killed or reformed, their essence would leave their being, but it wouldn’t disappear. It would roam the land until it reconnected with its old host.”

“Well, if it reconnects with hosts, then why does Sweet Tune have some?” Sour Patch asked.

“Thank you for asking, Sour Patch. That leads us to the next topic,” Fortune Teller said, “While some villains were educated on essence, many didn’t even know it existed. The ones who did know chose someone who could carry on their legacy if they were ever defeated. Those ponies could inhabit the essence without it having a single effect on them, other than a power boost.

“And Sweet Tune here was given this essence as a gift from her mother. Little did she know that essence once belonged to her mother and grandmother. When her grandmother, Queen Chrysalis, inhabited it, she chose a suitable replacement.”

“But Sweet Tune didn’t even exist then,” Diamond Glow said.

“Exactly, and that’s why she was chosen in the first place. You see, Queen Chrysalis didn’t want there to be a pony that could carry on her essence, but she still wanted to choose someone. Not choosing someone would make the essence disappear with the villain. Since changelings can’t love, at least most can’t, many don’t have families. So, Queen Chrysalis wanted to choose someone she thought would never exist.”

“A grandchild,” Sweet Tune said.

“Yep, but boy was she wrong. That’s why your mother was so confident in giving you that necklace. You’re the only pony in Equestria who could inhabit it.”

“But wait, where’s my power boost?”

“Oh, it’s there, but you haven’t exactly discovered it yet. That’s a topic for another day."

"What would happen if someone who wasn't chosen got a hold of some essence?" North Star asked.

"They would get the power, but it would slowly corrupt them over time. That someone wouldn't have a say in their actions. It is way too much power for them to handle. That's where your target comes in. You see, back when your mother first obtained that essence that you have now, the princesses wanted to conduct experiments to learn just how powerful it was. Towards the end of their research, they tested the magic on a dead body. It was proven to bring the body back to life. Someone used that information to bring back Shadow-"

"Wait, why Shadow?" Sweet Tune asked, "She was known for being one of the most dangerous ponies of her time."

"Yes, Shadow was a pirate captain who craved world dominance. She would travel in her ship to massacre anywhere and everywhere, taking the lives of many innocent ponies. She was killed from drowning after an attack sent by the two sisters. No one knows who brought her back, but what we do know is that their body was found in their lab a day after the experiment was conducted. Shadow herself was nowhere to be found. After some speculating, they discovered that pony somehow found and captured King Sombra's essence. That's the magic that was used on Shadow.

"Shadow then proceeded to hunt for more villains' essence and more potential teammates. She did find 6 others to revive using various types of essence. Dark Magic: A popular travel magician who was killed in an animal attack. His essence: Tirek. Dolly: A very famous singer and actress in her time. She was killed from poisoning. Her essence: Sirens. Night Gaze: She belonged to an upper-class family but was disowned and shunned by society. She hung herself. Her essence: Nightmare Moon. Lunar Eclipse: A professor and a news reporter who was mysteriously possessed. He died during the exorcism. His essence: Midnight Sparkle. Solar Disk: A restaurant owner whose reputation got worse over time. He died due to a disease. His essence: Sunset Shimmer. And Dr. Plasma Globe: A scientist with plenty of failed experiments. He was killed by his town. His essence: Discord. Anyone know what they all had in common?"

"You didn't mention that. They all murdered ponies at some point, like Shadow," Diamond Glow started, "Night Gaze didn't hang herself because of mental issues. She did it because she wanted to die before Equestria could execute her. Solar Disk's reputation went down because he poisoned the food. He was also thought to be a cannibal, although that's still a theory. Dolly killed any competition who tried to take her spotlight. She was poisoned by an unknown pony because they just wanted to get rid of her. Dark Magic used his magic show to bring in his next victims. Tales were stating that if you went to his show, you wouldn't come back. Plasma Globe's machines always failed because he was so messed up in the head, he couldn't build any of them correctly. He used his machines to get rid of anypony who he didn't like. The only real innocent one is Lunar Eclipse, but that doesn't mean he didn't do anything messed up while possessed," she paused for a moment, "How do I know that?"

"How do you know that Diamond Glow?" Fortune Teller followed, "It's almost like someone placed that information in your brain while you weren't looking, but you are correct. The fact that they had that reputation is what drove Shadow to choose them. They're now working together to take over Equestria. They did attempt to 10 years ago, but, of course, you all know that. They did get something out of that attack. While passing by Equestria, they found 3 foals to take with them. Bud, a small colt from Manehattan, and 2 twin fillies from the outskirts of Las Pegasus, Poison Ivy and..." she paused for a moment and eyed Fangs. The small mare sighed and signaled her to go on, "and Fangs."

Everyone glanced at her, but Fortune Teller decided not to focus on that too long, "Bud and Poison Ivy were given their own essence, but they were told not to use it so often since the power would be too much on them. Bud was given the essence of a normal changeling while Poison Ivy was given the essence of Gaya Everfree. Fangs was given one too, but she got rid of it at some point. I don't blame her, having something like that in your possession really takes a lot out of you.

"Your main goal now is to stall, or even defeat, this threat before they could get their hooves on the elements. Normally, the element bearers could easily get rid of them with the power of the elements, but now they're drained of magic and don't work. Anyone could take them. With the elements, they could easily take over Equestria, and no one will be able to stop them. You got it?" Everyone nodded.

"Well then, you guys must be hungry. There's food set up for you in your hut. You will also be sleeping there," Fortune Teller turned to Fangs and Ceres, "Can you two take them there please?" The two obeyed and left the hut.

On their way out, Fortune Teller remembered something she was supposed to say, "Also! The magical barrier wasn't put over their hideout. You guys will be able to use your magic there. I thought I should let you know because you haven't realized that you have your magic here."

The group stared at her in disbelief. Jupiter then rose from the ground and started to float around, "Ha-ha! I missed this! It feels nice." The others looked at them and smiled

"Come on, you guys," Ceres said, "Before the food gets cold."





Dinner was great. Most didn't know whether it was the actual food or the fact that they just ate something that made it so great. Either way, they were satisfied.

As they were getting ready for bed, Diamond Glow was deep in thought. Cream Cheese noticed this and grew a bit worried, "What's wrong, Diamond Glow?"

"Oh, nothing," Diamond Glow said, "It's just... I legitimately don't know how I knew that information about those guys. I never read a book on them or never talked to somepony who knew about them. I'm still thrown off about that."

"Are you sure?" Cream Cheese asked, "Maybe you did, and you just don't remember."

Diamond Glow thought for a moment, then realized, "Now that I think about it, something seemed familiar. I looked at a picture of Night Gaze, and it felt like I've seen her before. Not like a picture or anything like that, but I feel like I've met her."

"In a dream, maybe?" Sour Patch said, "Or I think a nightmare would be a better word. She does have Nightmare Moon's essence. She could have used nightmares to try to talk to you."

"Yeah, that's it. She didn't try to reach me to be nice. Those nightmares were something else," Diamond Glow said, "I'm going to get ready for bed. Hopefully, that'll distract me." She walked out of the hut.

"How much do you want to bet that she's going to run away?" Sour Patch asked the mare.

"Don't start with that. I trust that she's a lot more loyal than most give her credit for."

North Star walked in the hut with a slight smile on her face, "You guys just missed it. Diamond Glow almost killed Jupiter. I don't blame her; Jupiter was being annoying."

Her smile disappeared when she saw Cream Cheese. She felt a bit more awkward than anything, "Hey, Cream Cheese. Can we talk?"

"Yeah, I've been wanting to talk to you." The two of them turned to Sour Patch without saying anything.

The stallion covered his mouth from the two of them, "'Sour Patch, can you come outside please?'" he said quietly with a high-pitched voice. He removed his hoof and started walking towards the entrance, "Yeah, totally. Sorry, I can't be a part of your guys' conversation, but I'm needed somewhere else. See ya!"

Cream Cheese stifled a small laugh, "Well, he's certainly a... character," North Star said.

"I think you should get to know him a bit more before you make that kind of judgment," Cream Cheese responded.

"Anyways," North Star started, "I wanted to apologize for what happened earlier, about me forcing all of you to be friends. It sounds a lot more terrible now that I think about it. I know that being isolated without any friends is hard, I should know that."

"I'm sorry too," Cream Cheese said, "I overreacted back there. I see now where you were coming from. I'm not saying that there weren’t flaws, but I see that you just want to make something of yourself. I support you with that, but maybe you should try to do that without forcing anyone to do anything."

"Yeah, I agree," North Star said, "Friends?"

Cream Cheese smiled at her, "Friends."

The two turned their heads two the entrance to find Orchard Drop dragging in Jupiter and Diamond Glow by the ear, "I swear, you two are going to be the death of all of us," she turned to the other two mares, "If you haven't gotten ready to go to sleep, I recommend that do now. We have a big day ahead of us." Cream Cheese smiled and nodded at the both of them before grabbing something out of her bag then stepping out of the hut.

Meanwhile, everyone was already back inside. Quiet conversations were going on and the chirp of crickets could be heard in the distance. Although no one said it, everyone was feeling anxious. The biggest day of their lives is tomorrow, and no one knew if they would live to tell the tale. The one thing they did know is that Equestria depended on them.

Cream Cheese walked back in with some large round glasses resting on her muzzle. She made her way to a nearby bed and hopped on.

"You wear glasses?" Hurricane asked her.

"I needed them for almost my entire life. Though, I mostly wear contacts. After a while, these things got in the way and grew annoying."

Diamond Glow approached her, "Can I wear them please?" she asked her.

"Oh, yeah," Cream Cheese answered. She handed the glasses to the unicorn.

While getting them close to her face, Diamond Glow quickly held them out and looked away in surprise, "Geez, CC! How blind are you?" she quickly handed them back.

"As a bat," the earth pony replied.

"You hear that, Patches?" Sweet Tune called out, "She's blind too! You two can be Blind Buddies!"

Everyone looked at Sour Patch, "Do you wear glasses too?" Jupiter asked.

"No," Sour Patch replied, "I just... lost the ability to see through my left eye. Nothing too bad." The whole room went silent. Sour Patch pretended to yawn, "Is anyone else tired? 'Cuz I am. Alrighty, goodnight!"

"Aw come on!" North Star said, "You can't say something like that and just brush it off. How did it happen?"

Sour Patch took a deep breath, "It happened during the attack. I don't remember much from it because I was in so much shock. Well, one thing led to another, and I got mixed up with some fire. It scarred most of the left side of my body, but most of my coat has grown back since then. The thing that was permanently damaged was my eye," he lifted the part of his hair that covered up the left side of his face. No hair has regrown on the area surrounding his eye. The eye itself looked gray and faded, "Not only did it make my eye look weird, but it took away the ability to see from it. My right one's perfectly fine, so at least I got that." He put on an awkward smile to put a bit of levity on the situation. It wasn't working.

"Sour Patch, that's the saddest story I've ever heard," Apple Crisp said, "I think."

"Don't be sad, I'm fine with it. I learned to manage, and it doesn't even bug me. Trust me, I'm fine," Sour Patch reassured, "Now go to sleep before we all start sharing stories, okay?"

No one argued with him. They were all tired and knew that staying up any longer wouldn't help them the next day. Before they knew it, the lights were out, and everyone was drifting off to sleep.

Sweet Tune laid in her bed in silence for a bit. She listened to the outside noises of crickets, a breeze, even the quiet noises of the others sleeping. She thought about all of the changes that day. It was less than 24 hours ago when her necklace started glowing, and this whole thing first began.

"Let's just hope it ends well," she whispered, then began dozing off to sleep.
> The Start of a New Story: Part 6
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The sun crept in through the thin layers of the hut, hitting Apple Crisp's eyes. She stirred for a moment before opening them. She sat up from her sleeping bag to find eight other ponies spread across the floor, still sleeping. It was no surprise that she would be the first one up; she was always a morning pony.

She was instantly hit with a wave of confusion. Who were these ponies? Where was she? There were too many questions coming to her head too quickly. She looked to the side of her sleeping bag to find another bag full of various items. While looking inside, she found a tape recorder with a piece of paper taped to it. Confused? Just play this and get caught up.

She decided to step out and play it to not wake anyone up.

Once outside, she spotted other ponies up and about. She wanted to say hi, but she didn't want to get any more confused than she already was, so she hit play on the tape recorder. She walked along the paths of the strange place she was in while listening to the different voices reminding her of where she was, how she got there, and why she was there.

While walking, something caught her eye. There was a tree up ahead that grew some fruit that Apple Crisp had never seen before. She assumed it was edible, and she was hungry. She walked up to the tree, placed the tape recorder down, and started to climb. Climbing trees was something she got the hang of doing since she was very young. Having claws seemed to give her a bit of an advantage. Once she got to the top, she reached out for a piece of fruit that hung off the very end of a thin branch. It was just out of her reach, but she wasn't ready to give up just yet.

"Listen, Fortune Teller knows a lot of things. Maybe she knew that telling those guys about you and your sister wouldn't have much effect on them. Plus, you did give her permission to tell them," a nearby voice said.

"Yeah, I get that, but- I don't know. I don't feel that comfortable with them knowing that stuff about me right away," a second voice said.

Ceres and Fangs were walking down towards the hut that Apple Crisp walked out of. She would normally greet the two, but she was focusing on the fruit. She decided to get closer by walking onto the branch ahead of her, which was also kind of thin. As the two came closer to the tree, they were too caught up in their conversation to notice the pony above them.

"It's just," Fangs continued, "I may have gotten used to it, but I'm sick of everyone here treating me like a bomb that could explode at any moment. They don't trust me. They don't want anyone to trust me. Why do you think everyone insisted on me having this?" she gestured towards a mark on the center of her chest. It was two symbols that came together to form an abstract picture of a bottle.

When Fangs first arrived at the camp and word quickly spread that she came from the ponies that attacked them, everyone grew scared of her. She was only ten at the time, but the ponies thought that she would terrorize them and turn their camp to ruin. Once they learned that she would be staying permanently, they all came together to give her that first mark on her chest. Fortune Teller was opposed to the idea, but it didn't seem to stop them. Now, the sign that she was once the bad guy was forever displayed on her chest for everyone to see.

"Don't talk like that," Ceres said, trying to cheer up the mare, "Who knows? These ponies might be different. Some of them know what it's like to be labeled as something bad because of something they couldn't control."

"I doubt it. Being labeled as something dangerous without having a chance to explain yourself? In this seemingly perfect world? Ponies like that don't just fall out of the sky," Fangs gestured upwards while a snap could be heard above them. Just then, both of them saw Apple Crisp fall straight to the ground, landing with a loud thud.

"Oh gosh! Are you okay?!" Ceres asked the mare on the ground while helping her up. Fangs looked up to see where she came from. She saw that there was a broken branch on the tree above them, then looked down to see the rest of it laying on the ground.

"Were you on the tree?" she asked the hybrid.

Apple Crisp rubbed the back of her head, "Um... maybe?" she looked at the two of them, "Who are you?"

Ceres was reminded of Apple Crisp’s condition and quickly responded, “Oh. I’m Ceres, and that’s Fangs.” Fangs did a small wave when Ceres introduced her; she realized something.

“Wait. You have short term memory loss, right?” she asked as she put her hooves on the hybrids shoulders.

“Yeah! Ever since I was four,” Apple Crisp paused for a moment, “I think.”

“So, you remember nothing about yesterday!” Fangs said, getting a bit excited. She realized she was being loud, so she quickly composed herself.

“Hi, I’m Fangs. I’m a totally normal pony and I have nothing going on with me.”

Ceres looked at her disapprovingly, but Apple Crisp smiled, “Hi Fangs. I’m Apple Crisp. I can’t say I’m completely normal, but I also have nothin’ goin’ on with me. Also, your eyes are a really pretty shade of purple... or is it pink?”

Fangs fell silent at the sudden compliment while Apple Crisp looked around cluelessly, “Oh what’s this?” she said while approaching the tape recorder she left on the ground. She picked it up and pressed play.

The other two joined her while she listened to the voices talk about everything that’s been going on. There was a sudden cut, and a new voice was heard. It was Fortune Teller’s. It was the conversation from the previous night.

Fangs' heart started to speed up as she heard Fortune Teller say that she was picked up by the group of villains all those years ago. Lying about herself to Apple Crisp was useless at this point. Maybe she shouldn't have in the first place. She was a villain in the past, yes, but now there was no use in trying to explain that she wasn't like that anymore because she lied straight to her face.

"That was some nice catchin’ up," Apple Crisp said, "Do ya’ll know where I can get breakfast?" Fangs was surprised that she didn't focus on the fact that she lied. She might've forgotten about it.

"Now that you mention it, we were supposed to be going to your hut for that. Hopefully, we didn't keep them waiting," Ceres said as they started to walk down the trail. Apple Crisp and Fangs followed right after.

"So, do you remember anything before you started listening to that tape recorder?" Fangs asked.

"Yeah, I think so. I remember you two introducin’ yourselves. Hopefully, it'll take me a while to forget. I don't wanna annoy you two and have you keep introducin’ yourselves."

"So, you know that I lied to you?" Fangs asked nervously.

"Well, it depends on how you look at it," Apple Crisp thought to herself for a moment, "You said you were a normal pony and that nothin's going on with you, right? I just assumed that you left all that stuff about your past behind you and that you consider yourself 'normal' now. If that's not the case, then I understand why you did that."

"You do?"

"You wish to start over and want to make somethin’ new with your life, but your past affects both you and the ponies around you. You wish to make friends, so you start with the ones who know nothin’ about you, right?"

Fangs was honestly a bit surprised. Was she that easy to read, or was Apple Crisp more intelligent than she thought?

"Yeah, actually. How did you know that?"

"It's simple. Think of the hypothetical situation that you were born with an irregularity of some sort. Because of that, ponies find you weird and scary, all because you’re different than them. Of course, you don't have much experience talking to others because you haven't been out much. Still, every time you interact with someone new, they get scared and runoff. Sometimes, you wish that you were like them so that you can have new friends, but there's no possible way you can do that. So, you just sit there, in all your weirdness, and just wait for a friend who looks past that. Someone who sees you for you," Apple Crisp seemed to zone out and get caught up in her words. It's like she forgot that the other two were there as well.

Fangs snapped her out of her thoughts, "Like the fact that you're a part dragon?"

"What?" Apple Crisp was quickly reminded that she was there, "Oh, right. I guess it's not that hypothetical after all." She shook her head and sped up a bit, leaving the other mare behind.

As they approached the hut, things were silent. All that can be heard was the rustling of the trees and bushes. Apple Crisp was at the front of the group and was looking around her with extreme curiosity.

"Apple Crisp!" someone yelled as they jumped out at the hybrid, making her yelp while she jumped back in fear. She covered her eyes and ears while the pony who scared her laughed to themself.

"Jupiter! What did you do?" Cream Cheese said as she walked out of the hut. She found Apple Crisp huddled on the ground and approached her, "You scared her half to death. Why would you do that?"

"In my defense, I didn't know she would react that way. I just wanted to play a harmless prank, that's all," Jupiter responded, smile not leaving their face.

Cream Cheese comforted Apple Crisp until she uncovered her eyes. Apple Crisp looked at the pink pony above her. She pointed at her, her face deep in concentration like she was trying to remember something.

"Cream Cheese, right?" she asked. The mentioned pony smiled brightly and nodded her head. It was like a parent who just witnessed their baby say their first word.

"Hey, look at that. Looks like our little Dory is starting to remember us," Jupiter said.

"Who?" Ceres said, giving them a confused look.

"Never mind."

"Jupiter, Cream Cheese, you two just walked out without finishing your packing. Why are you two out here?" Orchard Drop stuck her head out of the hut. She spotted the other three, "Why hello there, Fangs, Ceres. What are you doing out here, Apple Crisp?"

"I don't remember. I just know that I might've woken up before the rest of y’all," Apple Crisp responded while getting up.

"Well now that you're here, I recommend that you pack up your things. We still have a bit of traveling to do and in not a lot of time. We need to get moving as soon as possible."

"Just make sure to stop by for breakfast before you leave," Ceres told the unicorn, "You know, with the lack of food out there, we don't want you guys to starve like yesterday."

Orchard Drop's face remained expressionless, "Thank you for the offer. I am sure the others will appreciate it." She went back inside without saying another word. The other three said goodbye to the camp residents and followed her.

The energy among the group of nine ponies was different than the rest of the journey. It seemed like the realization that only later that day would they have to confront these dangerous ponies finally hit them. Some looked at it as their final day, thinking they would die in only a few hours.

Only time will tell if their dreaded end will come.





The ponies ate breakfast in both a hurry and slowly. They had to be quick because they had to get back to walking, but none of them had an appetite. They also knew that they couldn't just skip the meal because there was no food outside. It was mostly just a lot of taking small bites and trying to keep it down.

Once they were ready to leave, they decided to check in with Fortune Teller to see if she had any more information for them. They stepped into her hut to find her talking to Fangs and Ceres while some bertulecos scampered on the ground.

"Hello there. Did you sleep well?" she asked.

There wasn't a worded answer. Only slight noises coming from some of their mouths, saying that their nights could've been better, but at least they got some sleep.

"Well, that doesn't sound reassuring, but I assume that it could've been worse. You all came to know if I had anything else to say, didn't you?" everyone nodded.

"I know you're all nervous, and I don't blame you. It’s not every day something like this happens. So, I’ll leave you with this last bit of advice: Work as a team. I know it's not much, but you all have your own strengths that work in different ways. The best way to fight these guys is if you put all of your strengths together and become unstoppable. Work together and you are surely able to come out on top."

While it wasn't the advice most of them were hoping for, they had no choice but to accept it. They all exchanged their final good-bye’s and Fangs escorted them out of the camp. They found themselves back at the vacant circle in the middle of the forest.

"Hey, Fangs," Sweet Tune called, "Do you mind saying anything about these guys? I mean, you did kinda live with them for a while."

Fangs thought to herself for a moment, then took a deep breath, "Just... prepare for the worst. These guys can be pretty ruthless. I mean, you already know that. They won't care that you're young, they will do anything to get rid of you guys. These guys have survived death. Just keep that in mind.”

Sweet Tune’s heartbeat sped up a bit, but she nodded and thanked the other mare. She kind of regretted asking because the answer only made her more anxious.

Fangs said goodbye and went back into the opening in the ledge, leaving the other ponies alone. After the entrance closed, everyone was reminded of how quiet and eerie the Everfree was.

“C’mon guys,” North Star started, “There’s not much left in terms of the distance to the mountain. We should get there in an hour or two. Let’s not waste time.” She started walking out of the circle and back onto the main path, others followed. Many questioned how she could say that so nonchalantly. Wasn’t she aware that meant they could die in an hour or two? Still, they had no choice but to keep walking to the mountain.

While North Star walked upfront, she kept her head held high. She just hoped that no one heard the slight shakiness in her voice as she talked.





Bud woke up the way he usually did. He was shaking because his room was always too cold, and his blanket was always too thin. He heard the noise of yelling coming from outside. If it wasn’t the sudden cold that woke him up in the morning, it was the yelling of the ponies that he lived with.

The conversation was always different. Shadow and Dark Magic arguing as to who was a better fit leader for the rest of them, Dolly whining to Solar Disk about when she was alive and how she was unfairly treated the entire time with the stallion occasionally giving noises of agreement to make her think he was listening, Poison Ivy yelling at Plasma Globe to leave her alone, or maybe even Lunar Eclipse talking to himself.

He waited for the noise to die down before he went to go get breakfast. He mastered the skill of opening his door as slow as he could to not make any noise. As he walked to the room where they kept their food, he spotted someone sitting there. When he saw who it was, he sighed a little in relief. It was Lunar Eclipse.

Of all the ponies he lived with, Lunar Eclipse would be the one he didn’t mind as much. Their relationship wasn’t great, but it was better than all of the relationships he had with everyone else. It was almost like a breath of fresh air for the young pegasus.

Lunar Eclipse sat on the ground and stared at it while saying nothing. At least, that’s what Bud assumed. The older unicorn’s long gray hair was always covering his eyes. Bud realized that he’s actually never seen them. The unicorn was as small as the younger stallion, which meant that they were both tiny. His fur was a very dark violet and it was always shaggy. He had his bottle tied around his neck filled with light blue essence. The thing Bud always found the strangest about him is that he had no cutie mark. He always theorized as to why he didn’t. The simplest answer was that he never had it in the first place, but it wasn’t accurate. Lunar Eclipse was a professor when he was alive, and Bud heard that he loved his job. He assumed that something happened to it while he was possessed. Well, he still is, but when he was alive.

Bud went to find food and kept out of the unicorn’s way, not wanting to bother him. They were low on food, but he managed to find a banana that didn’t look too beat up.

As he turned to head back out, he came face to face with Lunar Eclipse. He yelped and jumped back in surprise. The older stallion stared at him for a while without saying anything. He normally didn’t speak, so it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. Bud assumed that he wasn’t going to move so he simply walked around him and tried to get out of the room.

“You’re sick of this place, aren’t you?” a voice spoke. Bud turned around to find Lunar Eclipse still at the other side of the room, but he was staring right at him.

Bud didn’t know what to do. Lunar Eclipse has never talked to him before. For all he knows, he could be talking to himself again, but he was quiet again, almost like he was waiting for an answer.

Bud took a deep breath, “I mean, I don’t know, maybe.”

Lunar Eclipse waited a moment, “I had a dream last night. You were in it. I had a dream that you were approached by a one-eyed snake. He came and took you away. I don’t know why, but you never came back.”

Bud waited for him to continue, but he didn’t, “Uh... thank you?” he said before leaving the room.

“A one-eyed snake?” Bud said to himself, “Probably just another weird dream he had.”

While he was in the hall, he bumped into someone and fell back. He looked up to find Dolly staring down at him with a slight smile on her face. He didn’t find it reassuring.

“I assume you’re ready for the encounter with those ponies that will be happening later today,” she said, never dropping her smile.

Bud looked at her face and saw that her hair was covering one of her eyes, like always. Although, something seemed different this time. Maybe what Lunar Eclipse said just got in his head.

She bent down so that they were face to face, “Well, are you?” she asked again.

Bud snapped out of his thoughts, “Y-Yeah. I am,” he responded.

She stood back up and made her way around him and out of the hall, “Good.”

Bud hesitated a bit before he did the same. He went into his room and sat down on the floor to think things over.

If Dolly was the one-eyed snake that Lunar Eclipse told him about, what did she want to take him away for? More importantly, why would he never come back?

That was something Bud didn’t want to know the answer to.





It didn’t take long for Sweet Tune and the others to make it to the foot of the mountain, but that wasn’t the hardest part. They still had to climb.

There was a small and jagged path that could take them up to the entrance at the top of the mountain. That was where the enemy resided.

“Alright. This is the final stretch,” Sweet Tune started, “Everyone make sure that you’re a good ways away from the ledge while we climb.”

“And can we please not waste any time? I plan to be up there in half an hour, and I don’t like to be late!” Orchard Drop said as she started to make her way up the mountain, not noticing the others’ annoyed looks.

As the others followed, Hurricane approached Sweet Tune, “Hey. How ya doin’?” he asked. He kept going before Sweet Tune could answer, “Do you possibly know what’s the deal with Orchard Drop?”

“Yeah,” Jupiter said as they joined the other two, “Don’t you think she’s a little, what’s the word, annoying?”

“Oh, she’s just extra snappy today,” Sweet Tune paused, “And she was yesterday. It’s just that this whole thing kinda threw her off her schedule.”

“Schedule?” Hurricane asked.

“Yeah. She has these sort of habits she does every day, which I boiled down to a schedule. Since this whole thing kind of threw that off, it affected her.”

“Habits like what?”

“You know, obsessively cleaning every utensil she uses for her meals, turning her lamp on and off before she goes to sleep, just the fact that she hasn’t taken a shower today took a toll on her. She hates being dirty for long periods.”

“You say that like it’s a completely normal thing that everyone does,” Jupiter said.

“Well, that’s what happens. She’s just anxious and annoyed that nothing’s going her way.”

While it wasn’t the explanation the other two ponies were expecting, it was the one they had to work with to get to know Orchard Drop a little better. The best they could do now was to give her space and do what she tells them to do.

As Sweet Tune walked on, the other two stayed behind and walked towards the back of the group. Jupiter turned towards the stallion next to them, "So, we finally reunite after ten years. You would think we would have a whole scene for us to catch up by now."

Hurricane raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Never mind that," Jupiter continued, "How have you been?"

"I mean as good as you can be being isolated for ten years. The most company I had was Aviator and even sometimes we could both be too much for each other to handle."

Jupiter gave out a small laugh, "He may have mentioned you being a complete idiot once or twice in his letters."

"Well, that's fine. I guess he kind of got used to it since he had you as a friend." Jupiter gave him a playful punch in the arm.

"Hey! That's rude."

"Well, it's true," Hurricane said, rubbing his arm. "Speaking of siblings, I heard you got a new one recently. Hydrangea, was it?"

"Oh yeah, she hasn't shown any sign of having powers yet. I think she might turn out powerless, like Wind Chime. Then again, Hydra might just be a late bloomer."

"Hydra? That's her nickname?"

"Yeah. Well, I guess only my dad and I call her that. Mom and Wind Chime would rather keep her named after a flower than a monster."

"Well, I think it would be better for a literal baby to stick to the flower thing."

"You're the one who got named after a natural disaster. You have no right to give your opinion on the matter."

The two stared at each other for a moment in silence before breaking out into quiet laughter.

"That felt nice. It's been a while since I've had a conversation like that," Hurricane said once his laughter died down. Jupiter nodded in agreement.

"Well, you two better enjoy it before things get bad." The two looked up to find Diamond Glow staring at them. They wondered if she heard their entire conversation.

"How can you two be this calm when we're basically on our way to fight a battle?" she asked. For the first time in the entire trip, they could see a spark of fear in her blue eyes.

"I mean, I know distraction and humor isn't a healthy way to cope with the weight of everything going on right now," Jupiter started.

"But what else can we do?" Hurricane finished, "If I focus too much on it, I just get more scared. I also don't want to chicken out right before it."

"Does it work?" Diamond Glow asked. Hurricane and Jupiter definitely didn't expect her to say that. She looked a bit worried, maybe even desperate.

"I'm sorry, what?" Jupiter asked.

"Does the whole humor thing actually help you guys cope with everything?"

"Uh, yeah. It works on us," Hurricane answered. He paused for a moment and thought to himself, "Hey Jupiter, remember that time when we tried to bake pies?"

Jupiter was confused for a moment, "Yeah? Why?"

Hurricane looked at them and glanced at Diamond Glow. Jupiter looked at her to find her still looking at them, interested in what they had to say.

"Oh," Jupiter realized what Hurricane's trying to do, "Yeah, totally."

"What happened?" Diamond Glow asked.

Both Jupiter and Hurricane went on to tell the story of the time Hurricane and his older brother, Aviator, stayed the night at Jupiter's house. They were all a lot younger at the time, and Jupiter was still getting a hang of their chaotic powers.

Late at night, they made the wise decision to bake pies to pass the time. Baking them was hard enough, seeing that they were all young and could barely understand how to bake things. It was also hard because the eldest was Aviator, and he had the reading comprehension of a first-grader, making the recipe almost completely useless.

It was not long before Jupiter’s little brother, Wind Chime, woke up and found them dumping random ingredients in a bowl. Jupiter said that he could join them if he didn’t tell their parents about it.

The idea of doing something like this in the middle of the night got to Jupiter’s head. They felt like a real daredevil at the time. They got cocky and said they could turn the batter in front of them into the finished product. The others didn’t believe them, but they were absolutely determined to prove them wrong.

One snap later, and the batter exploded. Fluttershy, Jupiter and Wind Chime’s mother, woke up from the loud noise it made. She made her way to the kitchen and turned on the light, only to find four young foals covered batter, along with the kitchen.

They were all forced to clean the kitchen and were grounded for three weeks. Although the bowl they used was shattered from the explosion, Jupiter still kept the broken pieces in their room as a bit of a reminder of what happened. They can still recall their mother’s surprised yet horrified face when she found them that night.

“Some of it got in my mouth when that happened,” Hurricane said, “I can still remember the taste. Let me tell you, it was not good.”

“Well, I’m sorry. It’s not my fault that the only one of us who could read full sentences was seven,” Jupiter responded.

The two of them looked at Diamond Glow to find her with a small smile on her face. It wasn’t sarcastic or mischievous. It was just a genuine smile from the little bit of joy she had at the moment.

"Look at that," Jupiter said to Hurricane quietly, "Looks like you didn't have to act tougher to have to be friends with her."

Hurricane smiled a bit to himself.

"But then again, maybe trying to cheer others up in a situation like this really is a tough thing to do," he said, "I'm surprised you didn't try that sooner."

"I was, but I was trying to find the right moment. I guess this was it."

"Better late than never," Hurricane said as he gestured above them.

The entrance into the target's hideout was visible from where they were walking. Reality hit both of them like a wave. It was so close.

Too close.





Poison Ivy walked to the end of the corridor she and Bud were never allowed to enter. She had been ordered to meet Dark Magic there. This felt new to her but thrilling. It could be a sign that the others are starting to take her more seriously and are starting to give her more responsibilities.

"It's about time," she whispered under her breath.

"What was that?" Poison Ivy looked up to find Dark Magic looking at her. He stood in front of a pair of large doors with a carving of a tree on them.

"Nothing," Poison Ivy said in a monotone voice, "Why'd you call me?"

Dark Magic perked up at the question, "Ah, right. I want to show you something."

He turned around to face the two doors. With his magic, he took the cork out of the bottle tied around his neck. The essence slowly started to make its way out of the bottle, swirling around when it did. Once it was completely out, it approached the doors and collided with them, disappearing as it did. It was then that the carving of the tree was being lined with the black substance. A clicking sound was heard when the carving was completely filled out, signaling that the doors were opening.

On the other side of the doors, Poison Ivy could see a crystal-like tree with eight branches sticking out of it. On the branches were carvings of different shapes with one being in the middle of the trunk of the tree.

They weren't alone. Two other stallions were already in the room before they entered. They were looking down at a sack on the ground.

"Solar Disk! Plasma Globe!" Dark Magic called out. The two stallions looked up at the sound of their names.

The one named Solar Disk was an earth pony with a dark, faded red coat and a dirty orange mane with black streaks in it. His eyes were a piercing yellow and had a dark ring around the edges due to exhaustion. The very bottom of his hooves had red stains, as well as his mouth. His essence was yellow, and his cutie mark was a burning sun. He was easily the biggest and the strongest built pony they had, but he was always hunched and carried himself rather tiredly. It was almost as he had never slept a day in his life, or afterlife.

The other stallion, Plasma Globe, was a gray pegasus with a big brown mane that stood up on his head with the help of static. He had red, bloodshot eyes that had a look of insanity. He had tear stains running down his face and ending at his chin. He wore a torn up and dirty lab coat that was accompanied by the bottle with red essence he had tied around his neck. the bottoms of his hooves were black and burnt. His cutie mark was a skull with sparks of electricity surrounding it. Unlike Solar Disk, this stallion was never tired. He would always fidget and twitch, so much so that the others are annoyed by it.

"Dark Magic, hello there," Plasma Globe said, his eye twitching like crazy, “I see you brought Poison Ivy with you. What’s the occasion?”

“Yeah, you still haven’t answered my question,” Poison Ivy said.

“Alright,” Dark Magic gestured towards the tree in the middle of the room, “You see that? That is only half of our ticket to world domination: The Tree of Harmony. This puppy is basically the charging port for the elements.”

“Okay? Why do I need to know this now?” Poison Ivy asked.

“Oh yeah, I almost forgot to mention,” Dark Magic turned towards the other two stallions, “Bring me the bag.”

Solar Disk picked up the sack and brought it over to the unicorn, gently placing it on the floor. Dark Magic untied the rope that sealed it and let Poison Ivy look inside. Her jaw almost dropped.

“The elements!” she exclaimed, “How-? When-? Who-?”

“I sent these two on a mission last night to steal the elements from Princess Twilight’s castle last night as sort of a last chance plan for when these ponies arrive. How they managed to do it? Frankly, I don’t wanna know,” Dark Magic answered, “We need to place the elements into the slots in the tree and wait for them to arrive to use them to power up the elements.”

“Alright, so where do I come in?” Poison Ivy asked eagerly.

“You, my dear, will guard the tree so that no one steals the elements.”

Poison Ivy’s excitement left and was replaced with disappointment, “So, you don’t want me to fight? You want me to just stand here instead? You would rather have Bud fight than me?”

“Well, that’s the thing. If we were to put Bud here and someone attempted to take the element, there is no way he would be able to put up a fight. I would rather have him be destroyed out there than have the elements stolen. You, on the other hoof, can send them running back home with their tails between their legs.”

“Alright, you’ve convinced me,” Poison Ivy said, her facial expression not changing.

“Good, because they should be getting here soon. So, we should probably put the elements in their places now,” Dark Magic said while picking up the elements with his magic.

While he was placing the elements in the tree, the heard distant hoof steps approaching. Bud then came barging in with a terrified look on his face.

“They’re here!” he said.

“That was a lot sooner than expected,” Dark Magic replied, “Solar Disk! Plasma Ball! Get out there and wait for them to come in!” The two stallions followed his orders.

Dark Magic turned towards Bud, “Does everyone else know?” Bud nodded.

“Alright, then what are you still doing here?! Get out!”

Bud quickly but worriedly ran out of the room, too scared to question the tree or the elements.

Lastly, Dark Magic looked at Poison Ivy, “You stay in here and be prepared in case anyone comes in.”

Poison Ivy nodded. Dark Magic started to walk out while the essence that opened the door started to exit the doors and make its way back into the bottle. He barely got out of the room before the doors completely shut, leaving Poison Ivy inside.

The unicorn walked towards the entrance of the cave and saw the rest also there. He approached Shadow.

“Hello there, Shadow. You have any ideas on what to do once they enter?”

Shadow furrowed her brows and a smile spread across her face, “I may have one.”

Dark Magic watched as Shadow turned herself into a silhouette and hid in the darkness of the walls. The others who were there must’ve seen because they also proceeded to hide.

“Ah, ambush. I like it,” Dark Magic said. He felt a rock hit him. He turned towards Dolly who hid behind a wall. She put a hoof up to her lips to tell him to be quiet.

He was going to respond, but before he could, he heard the voices of children approaching. He turned towards the entrance and saw nine ponies walk into the cave.

They were all so different from each other. Some were tall, some short. Some normal, some freaks. One had a bottle like his tied around her neck.

Hold on, if they got that necklace away from her, they could make up for that one missing spot that opened up 5 years ago. A new objective seemed to appear in Dark Magic’s head: Get the necklace.

Something landed in front of him which caused him to snap out of his thoughts. He looked down and saw a knife stuck on the floor in front of him.

He looked up and had only one thought on his mind:

The enemy was right in front of them.





The enemy was right in front of them.

Sure, Diamond Glow throwing the knife was a bit of a stupid idea on her end, but what else could she have done? The guy in front of them was zoning out when this was supposed to be the fight that either saved Equestria or destroyed it. She did not travel for two days in an unknown part of the Everfree for him to not care about it. It seemed to get his attention, so it wasn't a completely bad idea.

As he looked up, the others could see that his face was torn and mauled. An animal attack is what killed him, so that was no surprise, but the idea that he was some sort of zombie was still extremely new to them. He had a necklace like Sweet Tune's tied around his neck. That must be the essence. Dark Magic: the magician, Sweet Tune thought.

"Hello there," he said in a quiet voice, "Welcome to our humble home. Although, I reckon it's almost too humble, with it being a cave and all."

"And yet, it's still better than what you deserve," North Star spoke up, catching the older stallion's attention.

"Oh, look at that. A strong young lady who speaks her mind," he said in return, "I didn't see many of those in my day. It's kind of refreshing."

North Star kept her serious expression and remained standing tall, "This is your last chance surrender. Refuse, and there will be serious consequences."

"Surrender?!" they all saw a shadow approach them. It turned into an earth pony mare, "You really expect us to surrender when even death couldn't stop us." Shadow: the pirate

The mare was so tall, she looked down at North Star like she was some sort of insect, "Look at all of you. So young and fragile," she said as she examined the group. She stopped at Cream Cheese, "I bet it wouldn't take more than ten hits to break those skinny legs of yours." The earth pony shook at the thought of that happening to her.

"Stop that!" Sweet Tune yelled, "We gave you one more chance and you refused. We will have no choice but to get rid of you."

Shadow chuckled a bit, "I'd like to see you try."

Before anyone could get another word in, the entrance behind them was closed with a boulder, trapping them inside. The one who pushed it was Dolly the performer, she sported the same devilish smile as the other two. 4 other stallions jumped out of their hiding spots as well, the smallest being a bit hesitant at first.

The group analyzed them and remembered who they were from the night before. Lunar Eclipse: the professor, Solar Disk: the cook, Dr. Plasma Globe: the mad scientist, and Bud: the colt from Manehattan. It all seemed too real now. They did outnumber them by a few ponies, but that still didn't feel like enough. There's only one way to find out if it was.

Sweet Tune took a deep breath, "What are you waiting for?! Attack!"

Then everything was chaos.





Diamond Glow has been through this type of situation before. She's fought, she's attacked, she's hurt. She knew exactly what to do. And she wanted a challenge. She picked up her knife from the ground and ran.

As she was running into the fight, she felt something call her. It was a familiar voice in her head, telling her to come over. She tried to ignore it, but it only got louder. When someone attacked her, she dodged quickly, but they only looked like a blur to her. Everything was blurry and she heard nothing but the voice. She kept walking, hoping everything would just stop.

Then it did.

Her sight came back, and she could hear the noises going on all around her, but she was separated from everything. She found herself in an empty hallway leading towards a white door, slight whispers were still heard coming from it. When she tried to turn around and rejoin everyone, the voice got louder, and her sight got worse. Whatever this thing was, it wanted her to walk towards the door. When she did, the whispers became clearer.

"Come here."

"This way."

"The white door."

"Diamond Glow..."

They repeated over and over again as she walked through the hallway. They stopped when she was right in front of the door. It was metal and didn't have a knob, but it did have a keyhole. It was slightly opened like it was waiting for her. She held on to her knife in preparation as she opened it all the way.

She wanted a challenge, there was no doubt there, but nothing could have ever prepared her for this.

On the other side of the door was a big, but mostly empty, room. The only things in there were a mattress on the ground and a small candle next to it, but no matches to light it.

She wasn't alone. In the farthest corner from where she was standing, there was a pegasus sitting down and watching her as she looked around the room. Diamond Glow instantly recognized those dark purple eyes.

"You!" she yelled in anger. The other pony got up and smiled a bit too widely.

"Diamond Glow, dearie. Long time, no see!" she said in return, "Did you get my message?"

"Yes. If you could even call it that. What do you want with me, Night Gaze?"

"I simply want to retrieve what I gave to you 5 years ago."

It was then that Diamond Glow felt the most excruciating pain in her head she’s ever experienced. She couldn’t see, she couldn’t hear. She thought she had just died. But before she knew it, it vanished. She looked up and saw a dark purple substance make its way towards Night Gaze before entering the bottle tied around her neck.

“Wait, was that thing inside me?!” Diamond Glow said as she came to the realization.

“Well yeah, of course, how else am I supposed to enter your head?”

“You’re the reason I-!” Diamond Glow was so enraged that she couldn’t even finish her thought.

Diamond Glow grew up not knowing how to deal with overwhelming emotions very well, especially anger. Taking it out on other things was always her strategy. Whether it be a pillow, the wall, or in this case, an undead pegasus lady known for being a mass murderer.

Night Gaze was snapped out of her thoughts when she heard Diamond Glow screaming. She was met with the younger mare running towards her at full speed, carrying a knife with her magic. She quickly dodged the attack and let Diamond Glow run into the wall.

“And I thought we were going to have a nice time catching up,” Night Gaze said. Diamond Glow turned around and wiped some blood off her nose. There was no sign of her backing down.

“Alright then,” Night Gaze said as she formed a scythe out of the essence, “I guess we’re gonna have to do this the hard way.”





Bud couldn’t run into the fight. He just couldn’t. Yes, he’s had fighting experience before, but that was just combat training against Poison Ivy, and he always lost. The idea of grown adults beating the life out of seemingly innocent teenagers was already too much for him but seeing that the other side also had some good and ruthless fighters did not sit well with him.

He quickly backed into the hallway nearest to him, but not quick enough. One of the ponies from the other group spotted him and they made eye contact. Before he knew it, he was running down the hallway and into his room. He hid behind his bed, hoping no one else saw him, or that the one that did, didn’t follow him.

It was quiet for about a minute, then Bud heard his door open. Right, his door didn’t have a lock. Was it the pony that saw him? Did they really follow him?

Bud looked to his right and spotted a large branch that he picked up from the Everfree. It was supposed to be used to chase out rats that would sometimes come into his room, but a good enough weapon to use against someone could also work. He quickly picked it up and held it tight.

“I have a weapon!” he yelled, “I will use it if you come any closer!”

“Don’t!” the intruder yelled back, “Please don’t. I don’t want to hurt you,” they said in a softer tone.

Not want to hurt him? Since when did someone not want to hurt him? He remained in his hiding spot and didn’t let go of the branch.

“I saw you run. You don’t want to be a part of this, do you?” they continued, “Don’t worry, I don’t either.”

“W-Who are you?” Bud finally spoke up.

“Oh, yeah. I’m Sour Patch,” they said, “I don’t know if anyone around here’s mentioned me before.”

Bud didn’t let go of his weapon, but he leaned over to see who this intruder was. He didn’t know what he was expecting. Maybe some large guy who wouldn’t hesitate to beat him up if he showed any sign of vulnerability. Instead, he just saw a normal pegasus stallion.

“You’re Bud, right?” Sour Patch asked, “You were mentioned maybe once or twice last night. You’re one of the ones who are still alive.”

Bud slowly nodded, “Yeah,” he said quietly. Sour Patch took a step forward but quickly stepped back when Bud noticeably flinched.

“No, I get it. Personal space,” he said.

“You said you didn’t want to be in this fight. Why?” Bud asked.

“Well, ya know, I’m not really the fighting type. I don’t know how to throw punches and I’m not athletically inclined, like, at all.”

“But you still followed me here. How did you know I wasn’t going to attack you?”

“I didn’t. You just looked scared, and I wanted to see if I could help in any way,” there was a small moment of silence, “So, is there anything I could do to help?”

“Oh, no. Just don’t tell anyone about this conversation. The others would kill me if they knew I didn’t take this opportunity to possibly kill you.”

“Alright? Should I be worried?”

“Oh, not of me, but the others? Extremely. Hey, what happened to your eye?”

“This thing?” Sour Patch paused for a moment, “I was being stupid and ran into some fire when I was little.”

“So, can you see out of it?”

“Nope. It’s pretty much useless.”

The was another awkward moment of silence before they heard a loud crash outside.

“Hey, there’s a fight going on out there and I should probably help before my cousin gets killed,” Sour Patch said as he started to make his way to the door, “Are you going to be fine in here?”

“Yeah, don’t worry about me,” Bud replied.

Sour Patch gave him a quick smile before exiting the room, leaving Bud alone once again.

He thought about the experience he just underwent. Someone was nice to him. Not only that, but it was also someone from the opposite side.

Did this Sour Patch guy want to help him? Or did he just want to get information out of him?

Either way, a conversation that didn’t involve much yelling did feel like a breath of fresh air.





Cream Cheese was not much for fighting. She felt that her skinny body could easily be broken in any type of rough impact. Also, she’s never tried to hurt anyone before. Even if these guys did deserve it, there’s no way she would be able to give a good fight. She didn't know what to do but hide behind a large boulder and wait for everything to die down.

It wasn't long before she felt the presence of another pony next to her. She looked over to see North Star with her chosen weapon, a spear, that she picked up at Diamond Glow's treehouse. Cream Cheese could also feel the impact of someone shooting something at the rock. North Star was behind it for protection from whoever was attacking her.

"Cream Cheese? What are you doing just sitting here?" North Star asked.

"Hiding. I can't fight. I don't know how to. I can't go out there," the earth pony responded.

North Star looked behind her to see if anyone was directly attacking them; everyone seemed to be distracted by them at the moment. She let her guard down a little and turned back towards Cream Cheese.

"Look, I get that you've never fought before, but you don't have to know how to traditionally fight to take some of these guys out. Just look at our guys. Do you think all of them learned how to throw a decent punch before this? I highly doubt it. But just look at how they use their own specific strengths and unique qualities to their advantage."

Cream Cheese looked at the fight and saw that North Star was right. Apple Crisp mainly used her claws to cause damage and her snake-like tail to bind ponies' legs together and keep them still as someone else came in to strike them. Hurricane was a fast and agile flyer, so he was dodging almost every blow. He even managed to lead some of them into punching or running into a wall or rock. Orchard Drop and Jupiter were able to use magic in this area and that was their main source for attacking.

She turned back to North Star with an idea in her head, "I can do something, but you're gonna have to cover me until I can get it set up."

North Star nodded and flew up, looking to see if anyone would approach them. Cream Cheese reached for her bag and dumped some things out. She knew she would need her tools for this. She picked up a small metal sphere and used a screwdriver to open up what looked to be the power source. Nothing but wires and switches could be seen. She grabbed some scissors and a roll of tape. Some rearranging needed to be done.

Meanwhile, North Star was met with a sudden hit to the head, causing her to fall to the ground. She quickly got up and looked around to see who hit her. She spotted a sort of creature running towards her at full speed. It wasn't anyone she has seen yet; she wasn't even sure if it was a pony. Still, she quickly used her spear to stab it as it came closer to her. She took the spear out of its chest and took a good look at it.

It wasn't a pony, but it also wasn't like any beast she's ever seen. It almost looked like a large cat, but it was like it had little to no flesh and appeared very, bone-like. It was pitch black and didn't have any eyes. It also had large sharp teeth and claws. Where did it come from, and are there more?

The latter was quickly answered as North Star looked up to find about five more of the same creature running towards her. Behind them was Plasma Globe who was using his essence to make more appear. Right, the essence of Discord. He could basically make anything happen, North Star thought.

She started to fight them off, mostly using her spear to take them down and stab them. She also occasionally used her magic to blast them if she was fighting too many at once. One came up from behind and scratched her back, causing her to yell out in pain. She used her back leg to kick the creature away as she spun to stab it. She felt herself breathing heavily, but only more creatures came. If only there was a way to take out Plasma Globe or distract him, but she couldn't go to him because then the creatures would attack Cream Cheese. North Star caught a yellow blur in the corner of her eye. Jupiter.

"Jupiter!" she yelled, grabbing the other pony's attention. Before Jupiter could say anything, the alicorn pointed towards the stallion sending the creatures. Jupiter got the message and quickly floated towards where North Star was pointing.

"Excuse me, sir, but your demonic monsters are hurting my friend. Do you mind not sending them to attack her anymore?" they asked Plasma Globe.

The stallion laughed in their face, "You think that will get me to stop? You might want to stay out of this, getting involved might get you severely hurt."

"Yeah, but here's the thing: You may have the essence of The Lord of Chaos, but I have the powers through genetics. So-" Jupiter snapped their fingers and sent a giant cupcake down on Plasma Globe, crushing him when it landed. Jupiter approached the cupcake, took some of the frosting with their paw, and tasted it.

"Geez, old ponies can be so rude sometimes."

North Star managed to take out a few of the last creatures, but one managed to come out of nowhere. North Star was barely able to block herself with her spear, but it managed to break the sharp end clean off, sending it sliding away from them. North Star had no time to think, as the creature went in for another attack. She took the remaining part of her weapon and blocked herself again. She used the rock behind her to lean on as she used her remaining strength to try to force the creature off of her.

There was a split second where she thought that this would be the end for her. That she would be killed by this monstrous thing. As she felt herself about to collapse, she heard a loud bang, followed by a shrill screech coming from the beast. It went limp and she managed to push it off of her. As it fell, North Star spotted a large hole in its chest.

"Wait, did I kill it?!" North Star turned around and saw Cream Cheese peering over the rock with a metal sphere in her hooves. The sphere had a hole that appeared to be red but was slowly getting darker. It must’ve been what created that hole.

North Star looked back at the creature on the ground, “Yeah, looks like it.”

“Oh my! What happened to your back?!” Cream Cheese worriedly asked. North Star turned her head to find the wound she got earlier. It suddenly started to hurt again when she remembered she had it.

"Oh, this old thing? Yeah, it's gonna end up being an epic battle scar one day. If I don't die from an infection," she responded.

"Oh yeah, I think I may have something that will fix that."

"Do it quick. This battle's not quite over yet."





Hurricane quickly dodged another attack by Solar Disk, sending him into the wall. He's already taken so many hits to the head that he fell straight to the ground from being knocked out. Hurricane stood over him.

"You know, you're a lot denser than I thought you would be. Don't get me wrong, I'm not that smart either, but I thought anyone would be able to catch on to the fact that their opponent would try to dodge every attack and change up their strategy. But I guess all those hits to the head don’t do too well on the ol' brain."

He stood up and turned around but was quickly stopped by Lunar Eclipse standing in front of him. Hurricane jumped back in surprise.

"Hey there, creepy old dude. Are you going to try to hit me, or are you just going to stand there and stare at me?" Hurricane asked him, "You should know that I like attention very much, and I haven't received much this whole time. This feels kind of nice."

"The little mare with the knife. She is your friend, is she not?" Lunar Eclipse said after a short silence.

Hurricane realized who he was talking about, "Diamond Glow? I guess you can say we're friends. Why are you mentioning her?"

"Andromeda informed me that she is in grave danger. If she is not helped, her estimated death will be in about ten minutes."

"What?!" Hurricane was too worried about Diamond Glow to question anything else that the other stallion said, "Where is she?!

"They said to look for the white door," Lunar Eclipse answered. He didn't say anything else. Instead, he just walked away.

Hurricane wanted to go see if she was alright, but what if it was a trap? But if he didn't go, there was a chance that she could die. He looked around the room and saw that she wasn't anywhere to be seen. If he went, there was a chance that he could get hurt, but if he didn't, Diamond Glow would for sure die.

He flew as fast as he could around the cave until he spotted a dark hallway with a slightly open white door at the end of it. He heard various noises coming from it: thuds, grunting, laughing? He walked towards the door to see what was going on. On the other side of it, Diamond Glow was being thrown around like a rag doll by Night Gaze.

It looked like Diamond Glow did manage to get a few hits in because Night Gaze looked a bit bruised here and there. Meanwhile, Diamond Glow looked absolutely terrible. She had bruises, she was bleeding everywhere, and she had a black eye. When she was thrown down, she could barely even stand up. When she did, she avoided using her upper left hoof; it was broken. And still, she tried to run towards the other mare, but she wasn't so successful. Her knife was on the other side of the room, so she had no weapon to fight with.

"It's adorably pathetic how hard you try! Just give up and let me kill you already!" Night Gaze yelled at Diamond Glow who could barely keep herself upright. Hurricane had to think quickly about what he could do to intervene. She was a ruthless fighter and killer who gave no one mercy. It looked like the only reason she hasn't killed Diamond Glow yet was so she could get a couple of laughs in.

"Then again, you wouldn't survive no matter what you did," Night Gaze continued, "But maybe putting you out of your misery now would help us both."

She charged at the unicorn, fully set on killing her. Hurricane quickly grabbed her knife, flew in between the two, and used it to stab Night Gaze's arm. Night Gaze gave out a yell from the sudden pain and stepped back. She looked up and made eye contact with Hurricane.

"Oh look, another one," she said under her breath as she held on to her arm, "No, it's fine. I can just kill both of you. Yeah, I can do that."

"Hurricane?" Diamond Glow whispered. Hurricane turned around and ran up to her. She was on the ground and tried to keep her head up.

"Hey, why did you think you can take her on alone?" Hurricane asked. He used the bandages that Diamond Glow kept in her bag to cover up some of her more critical wounds.

"I had to, okay? I couldn't bring any of you guys into this. She's the one who's been giving me all those nightmares. It was my responsibility to handle her," Diamond Glow responded.

"It's not your responsibility to almost get yourself killed. You could've at least asked for some help."

As Hurricane was helping Diamond Glow, the unicorn spotted something behind him. It was Night Gaze with her scythe running towards them.

“Hurricane! Watch out!” was all Diamond Glow could scream at the moment as Night Gaze launched herself at them.

But something stopped her suddenly. She was being held in place by magic. She tried to move but there was no success. Hurricane looked back at Diamond Glow, but she just looked back with the same look of confusion on her face.

“Hello? What are you two doing distracted in a room with one of them? Do you have any idea how stupid that is?!”

Everyone turned to the door and saw Orchard Drop using her magic. She was the one keeping Night Gaze still.

“Well, don’t just stand there! Get out of there!” she yelled. The two did what she asked, Hurricane having to help Diamond Glow walk out of the room and behind the other unicorn.

Orchard Drop returned her focus onto Night Gaze, who gave her a nervous smile. Orchard Drop ignored it and started to effortlessly throw the older mare around the room with her magic as the two behind her eagerly watched.

“Couldn’t you have just done that from the get-go?” Hurricane asked Diamond Glow.

“No, I’m actually terrible at magic,” Diamond Glow answered, “The biggest thing I could pick up was the spear that North Star borrowed. That was a rare find, so if she ruined it in some way, I would actually kill her.”

Night Gaze hit the ground with a loud thud for about the dozenth time. Now she looked as bad as Diamond Glow.

“Please, don’t hurt me!” she yelled out, “I surrender! Just please stop!”

Orchard Drop let her go but still kept her full attention on Night Gaze, “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t throw you off of this mountain right now.”

“I admit, there isn’t a good reason. Just hear me out.”

Orchard Drop picked up her scythe with her magic, broke in half, and threw it across the room just to be sure that she wouldn’t try to hurt any of them. She gave the older mare a nod to signal her to go on.

“Alright, here it goes,” Night Gaze paused for a moment, “For a smart mare like yourself, you really are stupid.”

The three ponies looked at each other confusedly while Night Gaze started to chuckle a bit, “What do you think throwing me around a bit and having me fall off the mountain is going to do to me?! Absolutely nothing! I’m already dead, genius! You can’t just kill me again! You’re just going to have to come to terms that you just can’t get rid of us!”

They noticed the broken scythe turned into essence that went back into Night Gaze’s bottle. They saw that she even started to turn into a similar-looking substance as well. Night Gaze’s chuckles turned into uncontrollable laughter.

“No matter what, you’re always going to end up losing! Face it, friends, we’re going to be around until YOU die!”

Those were the last words she said before she turned completely into a cloud of magic and left the room. Her roars of laughter could still be heard where she stood.





Sweet Tune had her target locked as she went in for the final blow on Dolly, who was being held still by Apple Crisp. She had to admit, they made a great team.

Sweet Tune managed to catch something in the corner of her eye as Apple Crisp made sure that Dolly had really fainted. It was two doors with a tree carved into them.

“Sweet Tune? What’s wrong? You’re zonin’ out,” Apple Crisp said as she waved an arm in front of the other pony’s face, “Well, I’m not really one to talk. I do that all the time.”

Sweet Tune was snapped out of her thoughts, “Oh, it’s nothing. I’m just a little tired from all of this, that’s all.”

“Well, that’s understandable. This has been a very tirin’ day for all of us, I think, but it looks like everything is finally startin’ to die down.”

Sweet Tune looked around. Apple Crisp was right. There wasn’t another pony from the other team in sight, besides the ones who were knocked out. Could the battle finally be over?

“Finally,” didn’t seem like the right word; more like, “already.” Everything happened so fast. Too fast. When she thought about it. She hasn’t seen Dark Magic or Shadow since the start of it. Where can they be?

“Sweet Tune! Look at your necklace!” Apple Crisp yelled. Sweet Tune looked down and saw that not only was the essence glowing again, but it was floating.

“Do you know what it means?” Cream Cheese asked as she approached the two ponies. Sweet Tune shook her head. The glowing seemed to catch the attention of everyone in the room.

What no one did expect was that the necklace started heading into a certain direction, as if it were trying to lead Sweet Tune somewhere.

“What’s it doing?” Sour Patch asked.

“I don’t know, but I think I should follow it,” Sweet Tune answered as she started walking to where the essence was leading her. The others followed her to find out as well.

They all walked into a hall and stopped in front of the two large doors that Sweet Tune saw earlier. Why would it take them here? Sweet Tune saw that the essence was trying to get out of the bottle. She was about to uncork it before Orchard Drop stopped her.

“Sweet Tune. Are you seriously going to let that out after we learned how dangerous it can be?”

“I think I have to. There could be something we need behind these doors and I don’t know how to open it, but maybe this does,” Orchard Drop gave her an unsure look, “Droplet, this is what alerted us and caused us to do this whole thing in the first place which didn’t end up necessarily bad. Don’t you think that maybe this could end up the same way?”

The two stared at each other for a moment in silence. Orchard Drop then sighed and nodded, letting Sweet Tune carry on.

She uncorked the bottle, and the essence quickly got out and slammed into the doors. The carving of the tree turned into the same teal color that the essence was. There was a clicking sound, and the doors opened.

Everyone was in awe of what they found inside, but also extremely worried. The Tree of Harmony they found amazing and beautiful, but the elements?

“How did they get a hold of the elements?” North Star asked, “I made sure they were in their place yesterday before we left. How did they get here?”

“Can’t you see? They stole it last night while we were gone,” Jupiter answered as they floated closer to get a better look at them.

“Well, we have to grab them and get them out of here before these guys try to do anything with them,” Diamond Glow started, “So I recommend that we get on that.”

Apple Crisp made her way to the tree and reached for The Element of Magic. As she did, a vine came out from behind the tree and grabbed on to her arm, yanking her behind it.

“Apple Crisp!” the ponies yelled. They heard laughter coming from the other side of the room. A silhouette emerged from the shadow the tree was making.

“Poor, naive little ponies. You really thought we were going to let you get away that easy?!” the silhouette turned into Shadow as she walked towards them.

“You should’ve seen their faces when it happened. They were absolutely priceless.” Everyone turned around and saw Dark Magic standing at the door with a conniving grin on his face.

“And lookie here,” everyone turned back towards the tree to see Poison Ivy emerge from behind it, using vines to lift her, “We even managed to catch one. Not the one I wanted, but she will do.” She revealed Apple Crisp struggling to escape from a vine she was tied up in.

Sweet Tune tried to run towards her but was quickly stopped when Poison Ivy put her hoof out.

“I wouldn’t recommend doing that if I were you. Take one step and the freak gets it,” Poison Ivy said as sharp thorns came out of all vines except the one that was holding Apple Crisp. Apple Crisp winced at the thought of her being stabbed by those.

The others didn’t know what to do. For the first time, they were actually stuck with no way out.

“So, what you’re saying is that if we give up the elements and give you all complete control of Equestria, you’ll give her back to us.” Everyone looked at Hurricane who was looking at Poison Ivy with a somewhat confused face.

“Hurricane, what are you doing?” Diamond Glow whispered. Hurricane just covered her mouth and waited for a response.

“D-Did you not just hear the entire conversation we just had,” Dark Magic asked.

“Yes, but I just wanted to restate it for our good friend, Apple Crisp, because, if you didn’t know, she has short-term memory loss.”

“Okay?” Poison Ivy said in confusion.

“Don’t ‘okay’ me. It’s a serious condition that she has been struggling with for ten years. You don’t want her constantly asking you what’s happening while we work things out, because it’ll get pretty annoying. It takes a few explanations to get it through her head. So, if you don’t mind, the plan is that if we give up the elements and-“

“Silence!” Shadow interrupted, causing Hurricane to jump a bit, “Why are you doing this!”

“Because you see, Shadow, while humor and distraction are a somewhat okay way to cope with heavy amounts of stress,” Hurricane started. It was then that Jupiter appeared behind Poison Ivy with a giant hammer and hit her over the head with it, knocking her out cold.

“It also works as a great fighting strategy,” Jupiter finished as Poison Ivy hit the ground. Apple Crisp also started to fall, but Jupiter managed to catch her.

“Get the elements!” North Star and Dark Magic said at the same time. Everyone in the room went for the tree to retrieve them.

North Star spun on Dark Magic before he had the chance to get there, “Oh no you don’t,” she picked up her broken spear, which was more like a large stick that this point.

Dark Magic looked at it and laughed to himself, “That’s your weapon? What are you gonna do? Poke me?”

North Star used the weapon to swiftly knock over the stallion. When he was caught off guard, North Star used her magic to throw him out of the room.

“No, but I hope that suffices,” she said under her breath as she turned around to join the others.

Meanwhile, behind the tree, Jupiter was unraveling Apple Crisp, trying to avoid the thorns on the ground. They both heard a quiet moan coming from Poison Ivy. They looked over to see her stirring. They backed away a bit as they saw her open her eyes and get up. The vines moved around and retracted back towards her.

Apple Crisp looked at her face in deep concentration. Her face then lit up as if she had just remembered something.

"That's it!" she yelled out, "You look like Fangs!" Poison Ivy used one of the vines to violently push her down.

"Don't you ever mention that traitor here!" she said. She tried to run towards the hybrid but was stopped by Jupiter blocking her way.

"I wouldn't advise you to keep going. I've had my limit with putting up with merciless serial killers for today." Their eyes turned red as they bared their teeth and growled.

Both of them heard a shot sound and Poison Ivy hissed as one of her vines was shot clean off. She held the stump as she quickly retreated out of the room. Jupiter and Apple Crisp turned around and saw Cream Cheese with her weapon.

"Sorry. Did I interrupt?" she asked.

"No, no, you're fine," Jupiter responded, not knowing what else to say.

"Okay, then come on. The others are almost done getting the elements and we need to get out of here asap!"

As the three of them came out from behind the tree, the others were putting the elements in a sack they found on the ground while fighting off Shadow and Dark Magic. Orchard Drop grabbed the last one with her magic and tied up the sack with rope to keep them inside.

Sour Patch was starting to head out once he saw that they had all of the elements. As he got closer to the door, he felt a hoof grab onto his arm and pull him out of the room. He ended up face to face with Bud, who was slightly panicking.

"Listen, there's no time to waste, so I'm only saying this once: even if you manage to make it out of this cave, they'll still follow you. I know this area at the end of the hallway where my room is that is holding up this huge boulder. I'm going to destroy it. The boulder will cause so much of an impact that it will cause the cave to close up, trapping these guys inside. You have to get your friends out of here before that. Got it?" Bud said a little too quickly. Still, Sour Patch understood and nodded.

"Alright, get out, quick!" Bud said as he ran away. Sour Patch ran back in to tell the others, but as he did, he was almost trampled by the others running out of the room. Once everyone ran out, the essence got out and went back into Sweet Tune's necklace, closing the doors while doing so.

As Orchard Drop held the sack, she was attacked by Dark Magic pinning her to the ground. She struggled to look up and saw Hurricane flying above her.

"Hurricane!" she yelled out, catching his attention, "Catch!"

She threw the sack at him. Hurricane caught it and the attention of both Shadow and Dark Magic was turned on him. He started to fly away as they shot at him. He accidentally dropped it when he had to quickly stop to not get hit by the blast of magic that was all too close. As the sack fell, it was caught by Diamond Glow struggling to use her magic to bring it over to her. She let go of it and caught it with her mouth as she started to run as fast as she could with a broken leg. She tripped over a crack in the ground and let go of the sack, which disappeared before touched the ground. It reappeared in Jupiter's arms.

As the sack kept getting passed around, Sweet Tune saw that the opening to the outside was still blocked by the large boulder. She went up to it and used all of her strength to push it and create an opening. It wasn't open all the way, but it was big enough to go through it.

"Sweet Tune!" she looked over and saw North Star throw the sack towards her. She barely caught it before running out of the cave. When she got out, she looked around to see what she could do.

"Stop right there!" Sweet Tune felt a chill down her spine as Shadow approached her, "Don't take another step!"

Sweet Tune turned around. She started to back up as Shadow slowly walked towards her. She had to stop at some point because she felt herself get closer to the edge of the path. One more step backward and she was dead meat. Shadow laughed to herself.

"Looks like none of your friends are here to save you now. The freak show's all alone. And don't even think about using magic against me, it won't work out here."

Sweet Tune looked down and saw that she never corked her bottle, yet the essence stayed inside. Maybe it can help once more.

"Here's the thing, Shadow," Sweet Tune started, "Turns out you don't know everything about me. Because this?" she tapped her changeling horn, "I never learned how to use, but this?" the essence floated out of the bottle and went in between the two mares, "I guess I can say we've gotten pretty well acquainted over these past few days."

The essence hit Shadow back and she went flying back into the cave. Before she could stand up again, the mountain started to shake. Sweet Tune had to keep her balance and walked forwards to keep from falling over the edge.

"The cave is collapsing! Everyone out!" Sweet Tune heard Sour Patch say from the inside. She saw everyone run out of the cave, trampling Shadow while doing so. They all bunched up together as the cave started to get filled up with various large boulders.

Shadow looked around in horror as her hideout was being destroyed. She was so focused on everything around her; she didn't notice the boulder heading right down towards her. With a thud, she was gone. Dust covered the air, and it was hard for everyone to see.

Everything soon calmed down and the ponies waved the dust away from their faces. They saw the entrance being completely blocked by various rocks and boulders. Everyone looked around to see if everyone was alright, other than the injuries they got before the cave collapsed.

"Wait, Sweet Tune," Orchard Drop said, "You still have the elements, right?"

Sweet Tune held up the sack, "They're right here."

"So, we won?" Cream Cheese asked. Sour Patch smiled and nodded.

"This part is over, but we still need to get back home and get these injuries treated," North Star said, "As triumphant as this moment is, I don't want to die of an infection from a scratch wound and I'm pretty sure Diamond Glow is sick of having a broken leg."

"You can say that again," Diamond Glow responded semi-jokingly, it did get a few chuckles out of the others.





The walk back was a lot easier than the one they took the day before. Who knew that having fewer obstacles and being able to use magic can make a journey less difficult? Still, they had to help each other with their various injuries. Everyone used Diamond Glow's bandages to stop some of the bleedings, and Hurricane and North Star took turns carrying Diamond Glow on their backs to keep her from injuring her leg anymore.

They passed by where the camp was. They saw Fangs, Ceres, and Fortune Teller come out of the bushes. They were concerned about their injuries but were still aware that they succeeded. Fortune Teller mentioned that she got a message saying that they were able to complete their mission. They told the three that they were alright and that they were going back to Ponyville. They asked if they would like to come with, but they politely refused, saying that they had to spread the word that Equestria was safe.

Coming across Cream Cheese's broken boat signaled that they were back that the river, and this time it was a lot calmer. Jupiter was able to snap their fingers and create a boat for them to get on safely. The voyage was smooth and, before they knew it, they were at their stop.

About half an hour later, and they were already passing by Diamond Glow's treehouse. They were already almost back to where they started, and they couldn't be more excited.

Ponyville was still pretty empty when they got back. Granted, no one knew they were back yet. They made it to the castle at the end of the town and knocked on the door.

A small orange pegasus colt with a dark blue mane opened the door with a surprised look on his face, "North Star? Who are these guys? Why do you look so bad?"

"Geez, Orion, could you at least treat our guests with a little bit of respect?" North Star replied entering the castle. The others followed, exchanging a few smiles and waves with the young colt, who they all assumed was North Star's younger brother.

In the hallway, they ran into Twilight, who was over the moon to know that they were alright. She ran up to her daughter and hugged her.

"I'm so glad you're all okay. I was so worried; I couldn't get any sleep last night. I was almost too tired to have guests over," she said. She let go of North Star when she saw that she was making muffled sounds, signaling that she couldn't breathe.

"But you look okay now. I think guests over isn't the worst thing right now," North Star said after she caught her breath.

"Oh, not you guys. I'm glad you're all here, don't get me wrong, but I was also expecting some other company," Twilight said as she led everyone towards the library.

As they rounded the corner, everyone saw the three queens sitting at the table in the middle of it.

“Mom?” Sweet Tune said. D.J looked up at the sound of her name and made eye contact with her daughter. A smile slowly spread across her face.

“You’re safe! Oh, thank Celestia you’re safe!” she said as she ran up to Sweet Tune, taking her into a hug.

Sweet Tune didn’t know what to do. This was the first hug they shared since she was four. It took her a while, but she hugged back and smiled.

“Not too tight,” Sweet Tune complained, “You’ll break the elements.”

D.J let go and saw that Sweet Tune was carrying a sack. Twilight grabbed them with her magic.

“So that’s where they went,” she said, “I’ll have to keep them safe until we find out a way to restore their power.”

As Twilight left to put the elements away, the others walked into the room, “What’s going on? Why are you guys here?” Orchard Drop asked.

“You see, Twilight called us over to discuss everything when she found out that the elements were stolen,” Rainblossom answered.

“While that was our main priority, we also had a lot of time to talk about other things,” Sugarhearts added.

“What does she mean?” Sweet Tune asked her mother.

“We started talking about how things could change for us once you got back. How this event could make Equestria safer and how we could take advantage of that. We also realized that the only way to bring power back into the elements is through a strong bond between friends, and we can’t keep a strong bond if we hardly see each other,” D.J answered. The others were intrigued.

“So, what are you saying?” Sour Patch asked.

“From this day on, we don’t need to live in fear anymore. We’ve decided to get rid of the isolation law. You guys can go out and explore to your heart’s content,” D.J said with a big smile on her face.

Sweet Tune couldn’t believe what she was hearing, “Are you serious?”

“I haven’t been more serious in my life.”

“You hear that? We can go outside now! No more stupid barrier!” Sweet Tune told her cousins. She hopped around excitedly while the others watched.

“We’re never going to let her live this moment down, are we?” Orchard Drop told Sour Patch quietly.

Sour Patch smiled, “I say we just let her have her fun. Like she said, ‘I feel like today is the start of a completely new chapter in our lives.'

… But yeah, never."
> Reconnecting and Readjusting
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sweet Tune woke up that morning with a smile on her face. How could she not? She was free.

She looked out her window. No barrier, as it should be. So, everything that happened the past few days wasn’t a big dream. Good.

When Sweet Tune heard that she would be allowed to go outside of the castle more often and had her little celebration, she had to leave soon after with her family to check on everyone’s wounds and make sure they all rested. That’s what the day after mostly consisted of. That and Sweet Tune explaining to her father that she was going to be okay from her wounds and that she wasn’t going to die.

Her father, Apollo, knew that she was going to make it out of this alive, but he couldn’t help but feel worried 90% of the time. It’s what he does best, and Sweet Tune was well aware of it. Although, it didn’t stop her from trying to explain the journey in full detail to him once she got back, much to his dismay.

“Míja, as much as I love hearing you this excited about anything, you are going to give me a heart attack if you keep going,” he said as Sweet Tune was getting to the part when they approached the cave.

“Aw, come on, dad. I was just getting to the good part,” Sweet Tune complained.

Sweet Tune tried to tell him again the next morning, but he cut her off again without making it much further than the day before. Sweet Tune groaned and slouched in her chair at the dining room table.

“Are you ever going to let me make it to the end of the story?” she asked, looking up at him.

“Well, of course, but not while I’m still in shock at the fact that it happened. Now, eat your food before it gets cold.”

Sweet Tune grumbled as she aggressively scooped up her breakfast and shoved it into her mouth.

“Geez, you two are so different. How did you raise her on your own and manage to make her turn out so... not you?” the other two looked up and saw D.J listening intently to their conversation from a few chairs away, awkwardly spacing herself from the other two, who were sitting just across from each other.

They thought to themselves for a moment. While Apollo passed on the white hair, brown wing, and accent to his daughter, the two were drastically different personality-wise. But then again, he didn’t raise her all on his own.

“Wow D.J. I knew you were emotionally distanced from your child, but you don’t always have to be physically distanced from her,” said a new voice. A lavender earth pony mare entered the room with a smug smile on her face. D.J rolled her eyes at her remark. She had a short dark brown mane that was tied back into a messy half ponytail. She had brown eyes and her cutie mark was three tree saplings tied together in a messy knot.

“Good morning to you too, aunt Willow,” Sweet Tune said in response.

Willow was the main influence Apollo blamed for Sweet Tune’s reckless behavior. The best word he could use to describe her was “unpredictable.” She was so unpredictable, that she managed to squeeze herself into the royal family despite not being married or related to anyone, and no one questioned it. But hey, Rainblossom needed someone to raise Orchard Drop while she was absent, and there was no one else she could give the job to but her good friend, Willow, for some reason.

"I would watch my mouth if I were you, Willow. D.J isn't the only one in this situation," Rainblossom said as she entered the room with Orchard Drop by her side. Willow nervously stumbled a bit by their sudden appearance and stepped back.

"Rainblossom, darling, of course, I didn't mean you. I mean, it looks like you and Droplet have gotten off to a good start when it comes to reconnecting."

Rainblossom and Orchard Drop glanced at each other before the younger mare started to walk away, "My mother and I haven't started to reconnect. I don't know what gives off the impression that we did." She went over to the table and sat in her seat without saying another word. Rainblossom sighed and turned towards Willow.

"That's what I want to talk to you about," she started, "I want to try to talk to her again, but it's hard to. You can't exactly just start up a normal conversation with your daughter after not seeing her for ten years. Do you know where I can start?"

"Maybe, I don't know, catch up with her on all you've missed?" Willow said half-matter of factly and half-jokingly. Rainblossom gave her an annoyed expression and walked on, leaving Willow confused as to why she did.

Sugarhearts walked into the room a little while after, looking around with a confused expression on her face. She saw everyone at the table and waved before looking around again.

“Everything okay, Sugarhearts?” D.J asked.

“Yeah, I’m just looking for Sour Patch. I assumed he was here with you guys, but I guess I’m wrong,” Sugarhearts responded.

“He’s probably still sleeping,” Sweet Tune said, “He doesn’t go to sleep at night until late, so he doesn’t wake up until late.”

“His sleep schedule is abysmal,” Orchard Drop added.

Sugarhearts’ face dawned a slightly worried expression before turning around, “Thank you, you two,” she said before leaving while mumbling something to herself.

Sweet Tune was able to finish her breakfast soon after and got up from the table while carrying her dishes in her dragon claw, “Well, I’m off. I want to try to explore the rest of Canterlot today,” she said.

“Oh no, you don’t,” Apollo called out, stopping Sweet Tune in her tracks. He got up from the table and walked up to her.

“I want you to spend time with your mother today,” he said in a quiet voice so that no one else could hear.

Sweet Tune slumped a bit, “Do I have to?” she complained, “I’m finally free to do what I want. I don’t want to waste a single moment of it.”

“Trying to reform a bond with your mother is not wasting time. You’re doing it. End of discussion.”

“But-“

“No buts.”

Sweet Tune stared at her father intensely before rolling her eyes, “Fine,” she gave in.

“Thank you, Míja,” Apollo said before walking back to the table.

Sweet Tune stomped out of the room. On her way out she bumped into a tired-looking Sour Patch.

“Aww, did your mom wake you up?” she asked him tauntingly.

Sour Patch grumbled, “Shut up,” he said as he headed towards the table.

Sweet Tune chuckled as she walked on.





It's been a couple of days since the journey the ponies took, and their lives have already changed dramatically. Not only were they very well known around Ponyville for saving them, but some more personal things happened. For example, Diamond Glow having to have her broken arm fixed on top of all her wounds and not being able to go anywhere due to not being able to walk. Cream Cheese talked to her parents, and she was able to start working as a waitress at Sugarcube Corner along with the Cake Twins. Both Jupiter and Hurricane were able to catch up and hang out as friends again. It was helpful because Hurricane was able to stop Jupiter from using their chaotic magic to put Ponyville in danger... on multiple occasions.

Cream Cheese was working her shift at the bakery on her first day when she noticed North Star, Hurricane, and Jupiter walk in, she flashed a warm smile at them and directed them to sit at the counter to talk to them. She noticed they had small bandages here and there from wounds they got, the most noticeable being the long strip of gauze wrapped around North Star's back.

"Is this a normal thing now? Us talking to each other?" Cream Cheese asked the three of them.

"I would hope so," Hurricane answered, "Why would we not talk to each other? We only went on a two-day journey and fought some scary bad guys side by side."

"I also have no one else to talk to," North Star added. Jupiter slightly chuckled at that.

"Anyways," Cream Cheese said to change the subject, "would you guys like anything to eat?" Before anyone could answer, the earth pony spoke up again, "Actually, I have this apple pie that I made this morning, but no one wants." She turned around and grabbed an apple pie from the shelf behind her.

"Now what makes you think I want this pie when there are so many desserts to choose from," Jupiter asked.

"You guys can have it for free," Cream Cheese said.

Jupiter immediately took the pie from her, "Would you look at that, my choices all of the sudden narrowed down drastically." Cream Cheese smiled as she gave the three of them plates and utensils.

"Hey, speaking of apples," Hurricane started, "have any of you guys heard from Apple Crisp since we last saw her?"

Everyone else thought for a moment then shook their heads, "To be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if she forgot about all of us by now," North Star said. Everyone couldn't help but silently agree with her.

"Howdy!" a voice said. Everyone jumped and turned around to find Apple Crisp behind where the three ponies were sitting, dawning the same bright smile she was known for having by now.

"Hi Apple Crisp," Cream Cheese greeted, "What brings you here?"

"I don't... know," Apple Crisp responded while thinking to herself, "I just know I walked over here by myself. I might have wanted to go somewhere else but got lost."

"Well, you're here now," Jupiter said, "Pull up a chair. We have apple pie." Apple Crisp excitedly did what Jupiter said. No one questioned if she even knew them. She seemed comfortable around them, so that was a start.

The four ponies sitting talked among themselves while Cream Cheese continued to take orders and deliver food to other patrons. It wasn't until she was done with her shift that she went back to talk to the others.

"What're we talking about?" she asked the group.

"Hurricane mentioned that he bumped into Diamond Glow's mom yesterday," North Star answered.

"Really? Did she say anything about Diamond Glow?" she asked Hurricane.

"Not much," Hurricane started, "Just that she broke her leg pretty bad. She said that she's gonna stay at the hospital for a few more days."

"It must suck. She was the one who constantly escaped her house over these past ten years," North Star mentioned, "Now she can't even stand on her four hooves."

"She must have no one to talk to besides her family," Apple Crisp said.

Cream Cheese realized, "That's it!" she exclaimed.

Jupiter jumped back, "What's it?" they asked.

"Why don't we go visit Diamond Glow? Sure, she wasn't the nicest when we saw her, but she at least deserves to have some visitors while she's at the hospital," Cream Cheese said, "I can even make something sweet to bring to her."

"I wanna help!" Apple Crisp said happily. Cream Cheese smiled at her and looked towards the others to await their answers.

"Jupiter and I would love to help too," Hurricane said. Jupiter put their finger up in protest and was about to say something but decided not to.

"So, North Star," Cream Cheese said, "Are you in or out?"

North Star thought to herself for a moment, "I'm in, but I'm not helping you guys bake. I have something else I need to do."

Cream Cheese looked at the alicorn disapprovingly, but went along with it, "Alright, how about we all meet up in front of the hospital in three hours." Everyone nodded their heads in agreement. While North Star left, Cream Cheese opened a drawer behind her filled with paper cards. Each had a recipe on them.

"Hey, I have an idea for what we can bake," Hurricane said. Cream Cheese approached him, and he whispered the dessert in her ear.

"I think we might have that recipe," Cream Cheese said while looking in the drawer. She then picked a card up with her mouth and put it on the counter the other three were sitting at so that they could see what they're making.

"You'll think she'll like it?" Jupiter asked.

"One can only hope," Cream Cheese answered, "Now let's get to work."





Once breakfast was over, Sugarhearts was looking out a window and towards the Canterlot gardens, but specifically towards one tree. It was a simple one, not much grew on it. It was close to the edge of the gardens and had a few branches extending outwards in different directions. What she really focused on was the fact that Sour Patch was lying down under it with a pencil in his mouth and a sketch pad on the ground in front of him.

"You know, normally ponies would consider spying on others creepy and disturbing. What's your excuse?"

Sugarhearts squeaked and jumped back when she heard the voice, only to see who it belonged to, "Thunderclap! Don't scare me like that," she said while playfully hitting the pony's arm.

Thunderclap was a unicorn stallion with a dark blue coat and black dreads that were being held back in a bun for a mane. He had gray eyes and a cloud of smoke for a cutie mark. He was also tall and seemed to loom over the mare with a slightly confused look on his face.

"Besides, if you were the one who couldn't talk to our son for ten years, wouldn't you try to observe him for as much as you can?" Sugarhearts paused for a second, "That still sounded creepy, but you know where I'm coming from."

Thunderclap grinned a bit, "I do, but you're not exactly forbidden from talking to him anymore. So why are you still spying on him?"

"I don't really know how to approach him. I woke him up this morning like he was a small child, and it wasn't a good first impression. How does a sixteen-year-old act these days?"

"Maybe you would know if you interacted with our sixteen-year-old." Sugarhearts got up and stayed silent for a second. She then walked around the stallion and towards the door that led to the gardens, but she stopped and turned around in slight panic.

"Did you change your mind?" Thunderclap asked as Sugarhearts walked back towards him.

"No, he's coming back," the mare responded. The door opened and Sour Patch walked in the room with the pencil behind his ear and the sketch pad in his hoof. He noticed his parents and looked at them a bit confusedly.

"Hey guys," he said, "What are you doing?"

"Oh nothing, just enjoying the scenery," Sugarhearts answered.

Thunderclap ignored her answer, "I was just talking to your mother about how you two should spend time together. What are you doing now, Patches?"

"Nothing, just going to my room."

"Ah, then maybe you should join him, Sugarhearts" Thunderclap said before leaving the two of them alone. Sour Patch started walking and his mother had no choice but to follow.

"So," Sugarhearts said to start a conversation, "I... don't know what to say to you. Are you as bad at conversations as I am?"

"I guess it runs in the family," Sour Patch answered.

It didn't take long before they got to the stallion's room. He opened the door, and both walked inside. The room was normal. There was a bed, nightstand, closet, nothing stood out right away. Sugarhearts spotted a desk in the farthest corner from where the door was with a large tank on it. She walked up to it and spotted a snake inside it.

"How long have you had this... snake?" she asked her son. Sour Patch turned around from where he was putting away his things.

"Oh, you mean Basil? I've had him for a few years now. Wanna hold him?" Sugarhearts glanced at the snake again. It was pretty large and was as black as the night sky. It probably wasn't venomous, but the thought of holding it still scared her a little.

"Oh, no thank you," she said while backing away from the tank. She turned around and saw various art supplies in the other corner of the room. There were a few canvases, an easel, some paints on a palette, and brushes of various sizes. She walked toward the easel with a canvas placed on it. She saw that it was a painting that Sour Patch was still in the middle of working on. It was of some birds you would find in the garden perched on a birdbath.

"Sour Patch, you painted this?" she asked. Sour Patch walked over to her.

"Uh, yeah. It's simple, but I just wanted to do something yesterday that wasn't just lying around and waiting for my wounds to heal."

"Simple? It's beautiful," Sugarhearts said in awe, "No wonder you got your cutie mark in art."

"Thanks. I never really got feedback from anyone that wasn't Dad or Sweet Tune. It feels nice to have someone else look at it for a change."

"Hey," Sugarhearts started, "Why don't you teach me how to draw something? That can be what we can do together! It shouldn't be that hard to do, right?"

Sour Patch raised an eyebrow, "Are you sure you want to do that?"

"Absolutely!"

Sour Patch sighed and grabbed some papers and pencils, "Alright, let's get started."





"They own a bakery. How can they be low on this stuff?" Jupiter asked Hurricane as they walked down the aisles of the grocery store.

"Just be glad CC gave us money to buy them," Hurricane said. He looked at the foods around them, "What did she say we needed to get again?"

"Milk and eggs," Jupiter also caught a glance at where they were at, "What are we doing wandering in the produce section?" The two of them quickly walked away from the fruits and vegetables, but accidentally bumped into someone in the process.

"Hey! Watch it, will ya'!" said the pony they ran into. Both Hurricane and Jupiter looked down and saw a tiny unicorn filly with white fur and a short, curly indigo mane. If the rude remark wasn't reminiscent of a certain pony, then her overall appearance might've rung a bell.

"Oh, sorry," Hurricane started, "I wasn't looking and you're just so tiny-"

"Who are you calling 'tiny'?!" the filly interrupted, her white face growing a red splotch out of anger.

"Sorry... again. We're-" Hurricane started again but was cut off once more.

"-just going to be on our way now," Jupiter continued, pushing the pegasus as a signal to start walking, "Bye-bye."

The two of them walked out of the produce section, leaving the angered filly to stomp off in the other direction. The two were silent until they made it to the dairy section, which wasn't too far away from where they previously were.

"Geez, that was the most easily angered filly I've ever met," Jupiter remarked as they opened the cooler and reached for the milk they needed.

"How many fillies have you met exactly?" Hurricane shot back. Jupiter rolled their eyes and kept looking for the eggs.

"But also, a small white unicorn with anger issues? Maybe she knows Diamond Glow?" they said with a smirk on their face, "I'm gonna call her 'Mini Glow'."

"I'm more concerned as to why she was alone," Hurricane said as Jupiter grabbed the eggs, using their paw, hoof, and levitation to carry both items.

"Based on our encounter with her, I trust that Mini Glow knows what she's doing," Jupiter said, "You have the money, right? 'Cuz I think we got what we need." Hurricane raised his front right leg which had a small pouch full of bits that Cream Cheese gave to them tied to it.

"Alright, let's go," Jupiter said as they turned around, "I've already gotten enough strange looks from strangers as it is."





D.J gently knocked on the door to Sweet Tune's room. She waited a bit before hearing a voice coming from inside.

"Who is it?"

"It's me," D.J responded. There was a second of silence before she could hear shuffling coming from the other side. Suddenly, the door opened, and the two mares were face to face with each other.

"Did Dad send you?" Sweet Tune asked.

"What? No," D.J responded a bit taken aback, "I just wanted to see if we can talk."

Sweet Tune was still for a moment, then she opened the door wider and signaled for the older mare to go inside. When D.J did, she was immediately greeted by Searchlight the ferret scurrying up to her hooves and sniffing them. D.J picked her up and let her move to her back where she lied down.

"Searchlight knows you?" Sweet Tune asked, "I got her last year. Dad gave her to me for my birthday."

"I hope she does know me since it was my idea to get her," D.J said.

Sweet Tune took a bit of a step back in surprise, "Wait, really?"

"Of course. Your dad didn't think it was time for you to have a pet, but I wouldn't shut up about it until he gave in. Now that I think about it, that's really the main strategy for getting him to agree with me. I had to make sure Searchlight was the best ferret for you. So, I observed and took care of her for a week. There isn't a pet better suited for you than her."

"Wow," Sweet Tune said in surprise, "I had no idea."

"No, it's fine," D.J then remembered what she wanted to talk to her daughter about. She sat down on the younger mare's bed while Searchlight jumped off her and laid down on it as well, "Anyways, I came here to check on you. You seemed pretty upset before you left during breakfast. Is everything alright?"

"Oh, that," Sweet Tune laughed awkwardly while sitting down beside her. How was she supposed to tell her mother that the reason she was upset was that her dad forced her to spend time with her? "I was just a bit bummed out because I wanted to spend time exploring Canterlot today."

"And your dad didn't let you?" D.J guessed. Sweet Tune slowly nodded.

"I don't blame him exactly," the older mare continued, "You just came back from a two-day journey that involved a serious battle. He and I agreed that you needed to rest for at least a couple of days before you go out and explore."

"Yeah, I know, but I can't really sit still now that I know the barrier's down and that I can go out there. I waited so long for something like this to happen and I don't want to waste a single moment."

D.J laughed to herself like she just thought of something, "I don't know where you were able to adapt to this big change so quickly, because I was pretty much the opposite when I was your age."

"Really? How?"

"When your Aunt Rainblossom, Sugarhearts, and I were first adopted, I absolutely hated it. The three of us, or at least I, grew up with a specific plan in our heads on what to do when we became too old to stay in the orphanage. This adoption kind of threw a wrench in it. That, plus some other personal stuff, made it almost impossible for me to adapt to this change that came out of nowhere."

"'Almost,'" Sweet Tune exaggerated.

"Right, 'almost.' It took some time, but after coming to terms with everything going on and meeting some new friends, including your dad, I managed to get used to everything. And thank Celestia I did, because if I never was comfortable enough to stay here and take on the responsibilities that the princesses left me, I would've never had you," D.J's smile faded, "I can't tell you how terrible I felt putting that barrier up for the first time. I reached this point in my life because of all the friends I made and the lessons I was able to learn from them. I took away your opportunity to do the same."

"But you didn't," Sweet Tune pointed out, "Yeah, you put the opportunity to do that on hold for ten years, but I was still able to make friends and save Equestria while I was at it."

"I guess that's right," D.J said, "I just think that you could've done all that way sooner, minus the saving Equestria part. I think the thing I regretted most was letting everyone get into my head about keeping Equestria safe and having everyone here on permanent lockdown. It caused me to spend less time with my family and friends. So much so, that the lack of a bond I grew to with my friends is what ultimately caused you and your cousins to put your lives at risk."

"Well, here we are now, and life seems so much better than how it was, like, five days ago. So, I've decided to stop focusing on the past where I was stuck in here and look towards the future where I can do everything I've ever wanted to do. Maybe you should too."

"Okay, Sugarhearts," D.J said quietly, but not quiet enough for Sweet Tune to not hear it.

"What?" the younger mare asked.

"You sound like your Aunt Sugarhearts."

"Really? Well, I haven't talked to the mare in ten years, so how should I know?"

D.J thought to herself for a moment, then lit up, "I have an idea. Why don't we spend the whole day tomorrow in the city? It's what you wanted to do today and to be honest, I could use the day off."

Sweet Tune grew excited at the idea, "Okay! Sounds fun!"

The both of them got up from the bed and walked towards the door, "Alright, then I guess I'll get out of your mane," D.J said, "This was a nice chat. I hope we have more of these in the future... if that's alright with you."

D.J got out of the room and turned back to her daughter, "Also, see you for dinner. I can say that now."

"How does it feel," Sweet Tune asked.

"Really good, actually." Both of them laughed before saying bye. Sweet Tune went up to her bed and collapsed on it. Searchlight crawled up to her and licked her cheek.

"I didn't get to go out today, but I think it'll be worth spending more time with Mom," Sweet Tune told her.





"Where is she?" Cream Cheese asked herself. It's been three hours since they got started on the dessert for Diamond Glow and the four ponies who worked on it were waiting outside the hospital. There was still no sign of North Star, who agreed to join them around this time.

"Where's who?" Apple Crisp asked innocently while balancing the dessert tray on her back.

"North Star," Hurricane answered, "Maybe she's just fashionably late. If she doesn't show up in a few minutes, we can just go up without her."

"Good, because I haven't had lunch and I'm really hungry," Jupiter said as they carried a bag filled with plates and forks.

The four of them waited in silence before hearing a, "I'm here! Wait up!" from distance. They all saw North Star flying towards them while carrying a large package with her magic. Cream Cheese sighed in relief.

"Hey North Star," Jupiter started. They pointed at the package, "What's that?"

"Oh, this? It's a gift for Diamond Glow," she responded while landing on the ground.

"Okay, let's go. Visiting hours can only last so long," Cream Cheese pointed out. The rest of them agreed and they all entered the building.

While inside, they managed to get a few looks from ponies. They couldn't tell if it was because of their sudden growth in popularity or if it was because ponies weren't used to seeing hybrids yet. They were able to get directions to the room their friend was in and were on their way to go see her.

When they were at her door, Cream Cheese lightly knocked on it. It took a couple of moments before someone opened it. Hurricane tensed up at who was on the other side: the filly they ran into at the grocery store. Why was she here? Who even is she?

“Mini Glow?” Jupiter instinctively said before quickly covering their mouth. The filly grew furious at the name.

“You two?!” she said.

“Listen, we can explain-“ Hurricane started, but was stopped by the filly closing the door in his face, “You know, if ponies let me finish my sentences, then maybe things would turn out better.”

“What was that about?” North Star asked. Cream Cheese and Apple Crisp also looked at them like they were waiting for an answer.

“It’s a long story,” Hurricane answered.

Before anyone could ask any more questions, the door opened once more. This time, Rarity, Diamond Glow’s mother, was the one on the other side of it. She gave them a friendly smile.

“I’m so sorry about that. This is Pure Heart’s first day meeting anypony new,” she said, “Please, come in.” She motioned for them to enter the room.

As they did, they saw Diamond Glow on the bed with bandages all around her head and upper body and a cast on her left hoof. The rest of her was covered with a blanket, but everyone assumed that it was also covered in bandages. Her long mane was pulled back into a tight braid, assumedly to keep it out of the way when the hospital staff was working on her.

She turned her head towards them when she saw them enter, revealing her black eye, “Hey guys, what are you doing here?” she asked quietly.

“Can’t friends pay each other visits?” Cream Cheese asked jokingly. Diamond Glow mouthed the word “friends” to herself.

Diamond Glow looked around and saw the packages some of them were carrying, "What's that?" she asked.

"Oh," Cream Cheese said like she just remembered why they were there, "We made you a little something to try and help feel better." She grabbed the dessert tray from Apple Crisp and set it down on the bed in front of the unicorn. A sweet aroma quickly filled the room as she took the lid off to reveal a neatly made pie.

"It's cherry, by the way," Hurricane pointed out, "It's what Jupiter and I were trying to make in that story we told you. The one where Jupiter blew everything up."

"Don't worry, I had nothing to do with the baking process this time," Jupiter added, causing a few of them to chuckle.

"Oh, cool. Thanks, you guys," Diamond Glow said with a hint of disbelief in her voice. She also spotted what North Star was carrying, "And what's that?"

"Right, this," North Star started, "I don't know if you should unwrap it in case someone sees it, but it's a new spear to make up for the one I broke."

"Sweet! Where'd you get it?" Diamond Glow asked curiously, "I found the old one in some abandoned ruins in the Everfree."

"My dad used to be part of the royal guard. I have good access to a lot of weapons... if I get his permission," North Star said the last part under her breath. She went over and placed the package against the wall.

"We just wanted to come and visit you to see if you were holding up okay. I like to think that we’re friends now, so I hope you're fine with it," Cream Cheese said.

Diamond Glow's face morphed into a rare small smile, "I'm totally fine with it. I guess I'm not used to having friends, that's all. It feels... different."

"Well, now you have ponies to talk to about that," Apple Crisp said happily.

"She's right. We all feel different, but we have each other to get through it," Hurricane added.

"Stop it," Diamond Glow said sarcastically, "You'll have me feeling emotions that I'm not used to feeling. Let's eat so I can get away from them."

The pie was cut, and a slice was given to everyone in the room. It wasn't long before a couple of small conversations started filling the room. As Jupiter was eating their slice, they noticed the little filly sitting on a chair a good distance away from the group. They approached her and sat in the chair next to her.

"Hey... you," they said, not recalling her name.

"My name's Pure Heart," the filly pointed out in a slight annoyance.

"Right. Listen, Pure Heart," Jupiter started, "I'm sorry for calling you 'Mini Glow' earlier. You just reminded me of Diamond Glow when we saw you at the grocery store, that's all. The name was stupid, and I said it without thinking. I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm kind of an idiot."

"It's fine. I wasn't thinking either."

"Hurricane will kill me if I don't ask this, but why were you by yourself at the grocery store?"

"I ran away. I wanted to go somewhere that didn't have my mom or sister."

"Okay, but why?"

"I don’t know! My sister was always running away, and my mom would always worry so much about her. Maybe I thought that if I ran away once-“

“Your mom would worry about you?” Pure Heart slowly nodded and looked at the ground.

“Haven’t you ever considered that the reason your mom never worried about you is that you’re a good kid?” Jupiter started, “You make her life less stressful when it comes to dealing with her kids. Sure, she might give her attention to your sister because she goes out and breaks the rules, but she trusts you to make the right decisions. Or maybe not. Again, I’m an idiot, so I get a lot of stuff wrong.”

Pure Heart let out a small giggle, “No, I think you’re right this time.”

“How about this: You talk to your mom about how you’ve been feeling and you two can work things out from there. Can you do that?” Pure Heart nodded and Jupiter got up from the chair they were sitting in, “Alright, now, if you don’t mind me, I gotta find out if I can get seconds on that pie.”

They left the small filly alone to think things over. Eventually, she joined the rest of the group and started to engage in conversation. Everyone talked and laughed until visiting hours were over, and they were practically dragged out of the building.

Everyone agreed that the day couldn’t have gone better.





Dinner back at the castle was more comforting and relaxed than breakfast. Everyone seemed like an actual family. Well, almost everyone.

Orchard Drop remained silent during the meal and never made eye contact with anyone. It bothered Rainblossom, who was trying to get her attention the entire day. Her daughter was practically isolated in her lab downstairs for the entire day, and everyone warned the queen to not distract her from her work. They passed by the hall a couple of times since they came back from Ponyville, and whenever Rainblossom tried to strike up a conversation, Orchard Drop would ignore her and keep walking.

Soon enough, everyone was finishing their meals and their dishes were being taken to the kitchen to get cleaned, except for Orchard Drop’s. Once everyone started getting up from the table, the unicorn got up and took her dishes to the kitchen herself. Rainblossom grew curious and started to follow her. She was stopped by someone walking in front of her.

“Willow, what are you doing?” Rainblossom asked the earth pony.

“If you’re thinking about helping her wash her dishes or at least talking to her as she does them, you’re only going to make her dislike you more,” Willow warned. Rainblossom stepped back in confusion.

“Why? Why does she have all these rules that everyone knows but me?”

“She just started doing them and we all went along with it. She started acting like this a few years after the attack. And if someone breaks them, she won’t be happy about it, I’ll tell you that.”

“But why does she do this?”

“None of us know. We tried to get her a therapist, but they said that she didn’t say a single thing during their session. It could be some sort of trauma thing. She went through a lot around the time of the attack.”

“Don’t remind me,” Rainblossom as memories kept flooding back to her, “It can’t be because of her father, can it?”

“I know you don’t like to admit that he wasn’t the best dude, but you already know how I feel about him. I don’t think it would be the best idea to have me express my opinion.”

Rainblossom agreed with Willow’s warning this time. Willow wasn’t too fond of Orchard Drop’s birth father when he lived in the castle. No one was. Rainblossom felt that it was the right decision to kick him out, but she still had trouble admitting that he was a bad guy. She wondered if Orchard Drop felt the same way.

Before their conversation could continue, Orchard Drop came back from the kitchen. She walked past the two of them without giving them a second glance.

“Orchard Drop, remember to not stay in your lab too long! Sleep is crucial!” Willow called out before the younger mare left the room.

“Alright!” Orchard Drop replied.

Rainblossom looked back at the earth pony, “Hey, I feel that if I don’t say that, she will actually forget to go to bed.”

The unicorn turned back to where her daughter left the room and decided to follow her. Willow followed after her.

“What are you doing?” she asked the queen.

“I want to talk to my daughter today. I’ve waited ten years, and I don’t want another day to go by where I don’t talk to her.”

The two of them spotted Orchard Drop in the distance and walked a little faster to catch up to her. Once they did, the younger mare looked up at them with a strange look on her face.

“So, how’s it going, Orchard Drop?” Rainblossom said, trying to start a conversation. Orchard Drop ignored her.

“Alright, then. I see you’re thinking about it. I’ll just say that I’m doing pretty okay,” Rainblossom said, still not receiving a response. She waited a couple of moments before trying to move on to a new topic.

“How about that dinner? I’d say it was pretty good. What do you think, Willow?” Rainblossom turned her attention towards the other mare, who just raised an eyebrow instead of answering, “Willow thought it was good. What do you think!” The youngest remained silent.

Rainblossom didn’t know what else to say at this point. She decided to ditch the small talk and go for a different angle.

“Hey, is everything alrig-“ but before she could finish her question, Orchard Drop spun on her.

“Can you just stop?!” she said angrily, “What are you trying to accomplish here?!”

Both of the older mares stepped back and didn’t know what to say. Rainblossom that straightened up her posture.

“I’m trying to have a conversation with you,” she said, raising her voice a bit.

“Well, can’t you understand that I don’t want to talk to you?!”

“Well, I do. We haven’t talked in a decade, and I just want to see how you’re doing.”

“Like you would care!”

“I do. Please, I need you to calm down.”

“Calm down?! Are you really expecting me to just calm down?! After all these years, you want to come in and expect me to treat you like you were never gone?! Well, I’m sorry I’m not cooperating with you! I’m sorry I didn’t forget! I’m sorry for not expecting that when one parent left, I would lose the other one too!” Orchard Drop had tears streaming down her face before she ran off and left the other two. Both mares were speechless and had to process what she told them. They heard a door slam in the distance.

“I’m a terrible mother,” Rainblossom admitted, “She’s right. I shouldn’t have expected her to forgive me right away. What do I do now?”

Willow thought to herself for a moment, “I’ll go talk to her and try to get her to cool down. You can try to talk to her then if you want.” Rainblossom nodded and let her lead the way to Orchard Drop’s room.

They waited a few more minutes outside her door before Willow knocked and went inside. Rainblossom tried putting her ear to the door but couldn’t make out what they were saying. All she could hear were muffled voices. At least, there wasn’t any yelling. About ten minutes went by before Willow opened the door to let her in.

“Orchard Drop asked me to stay. I hope you don’t mind that,” the earth pony whispered. Rainblossom nodded and calmly approached her daughter who was sitting on her bed. Her eyes were still red and puffy, and her cheeks were tear-stained. Rainblossom just wanted to hug her and make her feel better, but she knew that keeping her distance was the better option.

She sat down next to her and took a deep breath, “Listen, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have just assumed that you were going to be okay with me right away. If anything, I find it fine that you feel like you can’t talk to me right now. I deserve that. I know that after everything that happened with your father, leaving you was the worst possible thing that I could’ve done. I let my anxieties about running this kingdom and what everypony thought of me as a leader get in the way of what the important ponies in my life needed," she noticed that Orchard Drop was looking at the floor as she was talking, "I completely understand if you don't want to forgive me. I know you missed your father and what I did was unacceptable. Just please come to me when you have a response. I would really like to hear what I can do to make our relationship better."

Rainblossom started to get up from the bed but was stopped when she felt a hoof rest on her arm. She turned her head and saw Orchard Drop making eye contact with her for the first time. She sat back down and waited for Orchard Drop to say something.

"I didn't miss my father, not one bit," Orchard Drop started, her voice slightly shaky, "I just missed you. I felt almost abandoned, and because of that, it was hard for me to get attached to others, emotionally, that is. I guess something threw me off about how nonchalant you were when I got back from that mission like you wanted me to forget about how you left me with almost no one," Orchard Drop looked down for a moment again, "No offense, Willow."

"None taken. I just raised you for ten years, but ya know..." Willow said quietly. Rainblossom jokingly rolled her eyes at her then turned back to the younger mare.

"I accept your apology, but I won't let you off the hook completely," Orchard Drop continued, "Just please don't leave again."

Rainblossom pulled her in for a hug, "Oh Droplet, I would never do that again. I missed you so much too. I think the day I was able to see you again was one of the best days of my life, but today has passed it."

They heard a fake yawn coming from Willow and turned towards her, "Geez, this got really sappy, really quick. How did I manage to live with you guys for this long?"

"Shut up," Rainblossom said, "You love us."

"Maybe I did, but I'm not so sure anymore."

"Do want to join the hug or not?" Orchard Drop asked with a small smile on her face.

"Can I please?" Willow quickly said before running up to them and wrapping her arms around them.

Rainblossom smiled contently. There was a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction with a touch of happiness that bloomed inside her, and she wouldn't trade this feeling for the world.
> Dear Diary, It's Been Ten Years Since I've Seen My Half-Draconequus Friend
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear... diary?

Today's an off day. I mean, why wouldn't it be? We've been stuck inside all day. Mom said it was "a necessary precaution," or something like that. I get that, we were just attacked a few days ago for Celestia's sake. But today's the first day after the queen sent us a letter telling us to stay inside. "We'll notify you until we decide to take further action," I think is what it said. We just have to wait until then. Mom gave me this diary because she thought I wanted to document our time inside the house, but I think she just wants me to do something that'll take my mind off of everything. It's fine; I like to document things. My teacher said I was the best writer and had the neatest writing in the whole class before I was pulled out. I was supposed to teach Hurricane to fly today; I just don't know if I'm allowed to anymore. He's been looking forward to it for a whole week now. Maybe I'll just not bring it up and we can both read a story or listen to music instead, like a good sister. Hopefully, he's forgotten about it by now. I can hear him coming. I think it's time to wrap this up. I guess we can talk later.

- Aviator  





Dear diary the eleventh,

Today's an... off day. I mean, more so than usual. Hurricane seemed to have run off yesterday. I asked Mom about it. "It's for something important," she said. She was scared, I knew she was. He was sixteen now and almost a head taller than her, but she still sees him as this little colt that could break at any moment. I can't blame her; I see him the same way. I remember him coming home before running off in a slight panic. I asked him what was wrong, and he answered in broken sentences I could barely understand through his heavy breathing. He packed some things and left after a shaky goodbye. 

I found a letter on the countertop this morning. After reading it over, I soon realized what was happening. Whatever attacked us ten years ago was back, and Hurricane wanted to stop it for some reason. I talked to my parents about it this morning. Apparently, it was like he was recruited to go, being the child of an element bearer and all. I asked why I didn't go. It couldn't have been an age thing; I'm a year older than him. They said that the ponies planning the mission only needed one of us and they ran into him first. So, in a different set of circumstances, I would've been the one packing my bags. 

I was going to ask why they couldn't just take both of us, but I didn't feel the need to. The more I think about it, the more I'm sure that Hurricane was the better choice. I'm not sure how the others would've dealt with me. I think I just would've made the mission harder. Maybe I shouldn't focus on that. Instead, I should focus on the good thing that happened today, and what I was originally going to write about. 

Hurricane came back today. He was scratched up and had bruises, but I think he was more exhausted than anything else.  It was a little bit after 4 pm. He only had a bit of food and had his wounds tended to before he went to sleep, and I think he's not waking up until tomorrow morning. I get that; he went through a lot in the past couple of days. I think I'll just make breakfast tomorrow morning and let him explain what happened. You know, like a good brother. 

It's starting to get late, and I'm feeling a bit tired myself. I'll write again when I have some information.

- Aviator





Aviator woke up that morning feeling refreshed, for once. It's been a week since his last diary entry, and he still can't find a reason as to why he won't write another with the new information his brother gave him. He thought he just needed time to process what he was told. It was new and scary. He mostly held on to the fact that they didn't catch these guys in the end; they're still out there. 

He decided to do what Hurricane did and just try to move past that unnerving thought by focusing on the bright side of the situation-- they're not required to stay inside anymore. The weirdest thing is, he hasn't gone outside since Hurricane came back. He just didn't feel comfortable being in an environment where he's exposed to strangers. The week went by with him alternating between reading and mentally preparing himself for when the inevitable time comes to get out of his house, and he managed to throw in meals and sleep in the mix. 

He got up from his bed and looked at himself in the mirror in the corner of his room. Despite feeling more well-rested than usual, there were still dark circles under his emerald eyes. His curly dark blue mane was terribly messy. He tried to fix it as best he could, but it still looked choppy around the ends. That's what he got for letting Hurricane cut it, but what else could he do? Grow it out? That was definitely out of the question. He made sure that his sky blue coat was scruffy to top it all off. He decided that was enough of judging himself through a mirror and decided to start his day off.

After eating a small breakfast, he looked around the house and noticed his brother was nowhere to be found. He was probably out with his new friends; he usually is nowadays. His friends... what were their names? Aviator had to admit that whenever Hurricane talked about those two days, he would be so caught up in the idea of the threat still being out there,  he would mentally check out of the conversation when Hurricane started talking about the ponies he traveled with. He should probably listen to the entire conversation next time they have it. 

About an hour went by that mostly consisted of Aviator cleaning his not-so-messy room, reorganizing every shelf in the house, and rereading a book for the fourth time now. He would do new things, but most of those new things can be found outside. The book wasn't the best, but it was entertaining enough to keep his mind off of things. It's better than just laying on his bed and doing nothing. The house was the perfect amount of quiet and calm that Aviator loved when spending an afternoon alone. Well, at least it was before he heard the front door quickly open in close in the loudest way possible. Anyone else might've jumped at the sound and grow a little nervous at the thought of what someone might do if they were in the mood to open and close a door like that, but Aviator didn't flinch. He knew exactly one pony who always had the amount of energy it would take to enter every room like that. 

"Aviator!" the pony said as they excitedly entered the room.

"Hey there, Hurricane. How are ya doing?" Aviator responded without looking up from his book. He looked up and saw two magenta eyes staring back at him. They had a little shine in them; he had exciting news. It probably had to do with the box he had with him. Aviator put his book down and scooted up to the edge of his bed to get a closer book at what might be inside. Hurricane set the box down with a loud thud. Inside there were different types of garments that were most likely costumes. 

"Good, mostly," Hurricane started, "Did you make breakfast?"

Aviator was confused, "Yeah, for me. Did you not have any? I assumed you did because you were already out of the house when I woke up."

"Yeah, it was kind of urgent. I had to leave as soon as possible; no time for breakfast."

"What happened? What's so urgent that it required a box of costumes?"

"That's exactly it," Hurricane said with a big smile on his face, "The box of costumes was the urgent thing." Aviator couldn't help but have more questions lined up in his head.

"Okay... why?"

"You see, there's this quaint little theatre near the center of town that had some costumes that haven't been used for a production in a long while. I heard they were hosting some sort of yard sale this morning, and I just couldn't miss that. I woke up later than expected and had to rush out to make it before everything was gone." Hurricane took the few costumes that he was able to get out of the box and displayed them like sacred trophies. 

"What're you going to do with these? I don't even think any of them fit you."

"I don't know. I'm pretty sure I can find a use for them in the future. I guess I just really wanted to buy something with the leftover money I had since the beginning of the isolation. The costumes were just in my price range, and I might've saved them from the trash or being potential food for moths."

"You've been doing a lot of that lately. Doing things you couldn't do the past ten years, I mean, not impulsively buying costumes."

"Yeah, I guess. It's not even big, significant things that I'm doing, but I still feel super accomplished by it. Maybe you should try it too."

Aviator knew this ploy. Hurricane's been trying to get him to go outside for the past week. He started by asking directly, but after Aviator turned down the offer multiple times, he took to more low-key ways of getting his brother to go into town. It was normally bragging about the exciting and new things he has been able to experience, and Aviator would be lying if he said he was completely uninterested in Hurricane's new adventures in Ponyville. But Aviator's fear of the public was just large enough to overtake his curiosity.

"Maybe someday, I don't know," Aviator responded, not trying to be too harsh. Hurricane's smile turned into a look of disappointment as he turned to leave the room. Aviator, catching the hint that this was the end of the conversation, grabbed his book again and opened it back up to the page he was on. 

He might've been too distracted to notice Hurricane turning around again at the door, and that's what the younger stallion was hoping for. Aviator was known for being almost too immersed in the books he reads, that the entire world around him becomes irrelevant. Hurricane took this as a chance to do something without him noticing. 

Aviator was snapped out of the current state he was in when his younger brother snatched the book from his hooves. He was confused for about a second before looking up and finding Hurricane quickly darting out of the room with the book. This has happened before, but the last time was when Hurricane was eight and really wanted to get Aviator's attention and play with him. Aviator always found that tactic to be childish and desperate, but he always thought Hurricane had since grown from that. Turns out he was wrong.

"Not this again," Aviator said to himself as he got up from his bed, "Hurricane, give that back!"

He was able to leave his room in time to see Hurricane close the front door. He went outside. Aviator didn't think much before following him out. Once outside, he saw his brother flying in place just a few yards away. The only two ways he can get him are if he can convince him to fly back or if he flies to his brother himself. Hurricane didn't look like he was going to be persuaded, so it seemed like it was going to be the latter. The one flaw with that plan: Aviator has not used his wings to fly in the longest time. Does he even remember how to fly? He's going to have to learn someway or another. 

He hesitated a bit before stepping off the cloud he was on. He fell a few feet before eventually catching himself by flapping his wings rather aggressively. Slowly, but surely, he made himself to his brother with his flawed flying technique. It felt weird to use his wings like this after a long time of inactivity. He probably should have stretched them first. Once he got to Hurricane, he was a bit out of breath but managed to fly in place next to him. 

"You're overthinking and panicking. Try calming down and slow down your flapping. It's easier to fly like that," Hurricane said, noticing how his brother was struggling.

"You know, I probably wouldn't be like this if you didn't fly away with my book," Aviator said back in an annoyed tone. He tried to reach out for the book, but Hurricane held it back, taking it out of his reach. 

"I'm not letting you have it until you fly steadily."

Aviator rolled his eyes and gave out an exasperated sigh. He closed his eyes and thought to himself, most likely thinking of ways to calm himself down. He started to take deep breaths and tried to slow down the flapping of his wings. He felt himself struggle less and his wings weren't hurting as much. Before he knew it, it almost felt like when he was still flying all those years ago. He just needed to relearn a bit. Aviator opened his eyes to find an almost proud looking Hurricane.

"There, happy?" he asked. Hurricane silently nodded and handed him the book. Aviator accepted it and was about to head back to their house when Hurricane called out to him.

"You know, now that we're out here, going to town wouldn't be a terrible thing to do."

Aviator turned to face his brother, "Nice try. You know you can't make me do something like that."

"I mean, maybe, but I made you fly. You haven't done that in a long time, but here you are. I promise that if we go, I'll do all the talking if needed. I'll also make sure that we don't have much attention drawn to ourselves if it makes you more comfortable."

Aviator stopped and thought to himself for a moment. He turned around a flew back to Hurricane with an unsure look on his face, "Do you really promise?" Hurricane nodded. Aviator sighed and looked defeated.

"Fine, but if anything gets out-of-hoof, I'm leaving. Let me just put this back real quick," Aviator flew back to the house while Hurricane waited. The younger stallion couldn't help but feel a little excited.





As Diamond Glow made her way down the center of Ponyville, she couldn't help but notice the sympathetic glances from strangers walking by her. She honestly hated it. She's always hated being pitied. She couldn't do anything about it. Unless her leg heals miraculously quick, she's going to have that cast and sling for another month or so. Her other wounds were doing just fine, with the only real visible one left being her black eye. It's really the cast that she's so frustrated with. That and having to walk around with only three legs.

She walked with her head up, but her eyes were looking down. It's what she thought was a good compromise between not making eye contact with anyone but also not looking small or weak. Her eyes caught two shadows of flying ponies on the ground and looked up to see who they were. She made eye contact with the one flying in front, but quickly looked back down and walked faster when she realized who it was.

"Diamond Glow! Wait up!"

Diamond Glow groaned and stopped in her tracks. He never really did notice social cues, did he? She turned around and saw Hurricane starting to fly down. The pony behind him stopped with a worried look and told him something that Diamond Glow couldn't quite make out. She saw Hurricane turn back around and said something back to the other. There was a small nod in response and they both proceeded to land on the ground in front of the unicorn, the unknown pony still looking unsure. 

"What do you want Hurricane, and... other?" Diamond Glow asked as she scanned the both of them.

"Nothing. I just saw you and felt the urge to talk. I thought we could do that now," there was a small, awkward pause, "Anyways, I thought you guys could meet each other. Diamond Glow, this is my brother, Aviator. Aviator, this is Diamond Glow, my... fr-"

"Acquaintance," Diamond Glow finished.

"Acquaintance," Hurricane reiterated. He paused for a moment, "What does 'acquaintance' mean?"

"It just means you know each other, but aren't that close," Aviator answered quietly. Hurricane turned back to Diamond Glow with a dejected look on his face.

"What were you expecting? We've known each other for a week," Diamond Glow said as she began to walk away from the two of them. Hurricane kept walking to keep up with her, and Aviator hesitantly followed along. 

"Where are you headed, anyway?" Hurricane asked. 

"Sugarcube Corner. I need to talk to CC." 

"Sugarcube Corner! That's a great idea!" Hurricane turned towards Aviator, “That’s a great place to stop. Cream Cheese makes some of the best sweets!”

“And Cream Cheese is also this ‘CC’ Diamond Glow’s talking about?” Aviator asked. The other two nodded. 

Aviator refrained from making eye contact with both of them. At least he would only be meeting one new pony instead of two.

“Okay, that’s fine. Lead the way.”





There was a looming sweet aroma that quickly entered Aviator's nose as the door to the bakery opened. He couldn't tell if he liked it or not; he was never big on overly sweet smells and tastes. The door hit a small bell on the ceiling, signaling their entrance, but no one inside seemed to pay much attention. It was a lot quieter than what Aviator had expected. He wondered if that was the normal environment or if it was just a slower day. It didn't matter, he was fine with it either way. 

He was led to a counter by the other two and was invited to sit on one of the chairs in front of it. Diamond Glow lifted her head and narrowed her eyes as if she was trying to look into the kitchen through the small window ahead of them. Her ears slightly perked up as she picked up something from the ground and threw it with her magic. A pink earth pony jumped and turned to face them through the window while rubbing the back of her head. She seemed a bit upset at first, but her frown quickly turned into a small smile when she saw who she was looking at.

The pony excitedly exited the kitchen and joined the other three; Aviator guessed that this was the “CC” Hurricane and Diamond Glow were referring to. 

“Hi. What brings you guys here?” she asked nicely. Her eyes stopped on Aviator, who quickly looked down at the counter to avoid eye contact, “And who’s this?” she continued.

“Oh right,” Hurricane perked up, “CC, this is my older brother Aviator. Aviator, this is Cream Cheese or ‘CC.’ Today’s Aviator’s first day out, so I’ve decided to show him around town.”

“Well, nice to meet you, Aviator. I hope you and I could be friends.” 

Aviator looked back up to find Cream Cheese giving him a warm smile. He smiled back, to be polite, and because there was a radiant friendliness that bounced off of her. It reminded him of Hurricane.

“As for me, I have something to talk to you about,” Diamond Glow said, getting everyone’s attention.

“Oh, what is it? Is something wrong?” Cream Cheese asked worriedly.

“Oh no. It’s nothing bad. It’s just, with the whole isolation thing out of the way. My mom wants to start up her dress business again, but she predicts things are going to be pretty slow at first. 

“We also heard that the town is putting up higher security around the shops to prevent thievery done by, mostly, yours truly. So that’s going to start getting more and more out of the question.

“What I’m trying to say is I need a job in a faster business than my mom’s, and this is the first place that came to mind.”

Cream Cheese looked a bit stunned by the statement and looked around like she was trying to find something to say. She eventually faced the unicorn again and stuttered a bit before finding her composure. 

"Diamond Glow, you kind of have- you kind of have a broken leg... and a bad eye... and-"

"I'm aware of my current state," Diamond Glow interrupted, "I have magic that I could use to carry stuff, and I can still see out of this," she gestured towards her black eye, "Trust me. I can at least wait on tables or take orders at the register."

Cream Cheese thought to herself for a minute, "I'll talk about it with my parents later. I should have the answer by tomorrow, so maybe you should stop by then. Are you only interested in waitressing and working the counter, or can you work in the kitchen as well when you're out of the cast?"

"You see, I can't work in the kitchen on the account that I have no idea how to bake anything."

"Okay then, let's just hope you have good pony skills."

Cream Cheese turned her attention to the two stallions who were listening attentively, "Oh, I'm sorry, can I get you guys anything? I actually just got done making some chocolate cupcakes before starting my shift. You guys can have the first ones."

"Alright then, we'll take two of those," Hurricane said, looking at Aviator to see any noticeable objections.

"And, I guess, I'll take one too. I didn't have breakfast," Diamond Glow added on. Cream Cheese politely nodded and went back into the kitchen.

"So, 'good pony skills,'" Hurricane started, "You sure you have those?"

Diamond Glow rolled her eyes, "Please, I can be delightful... when I want to."

"Didn't you start a fight with Jupiter during the mission?"

"Hey, you would've too. They were really pissing me off back there. I'm sure no one here could get me that riled up."

Hurricane felt a tap on his shoulder and turned to find Aviator with a small spark of curiosity on his face. 

"Hey, what's up? Do you want to leave or something?" he asked the older stallion.

"No, it's just," Aviator leaned over and made eye contact with Diamond Glow for the first time, "you mentioned Jupiter. Were they there? I didn't hear anything from them about the mission."

"Yeah, they were. It was hard to ignore them. Trust me, I tried," Diamond Glow responded.

"Shouldn't you know? I swear I mentioned them once or twice when I told you about the mission," Hurricane said.

"Well, to be honest, I wasn't listening," Aviator said before turning to Diamond Glow to ask for more information, but was interrupted by Cream Cheese putting cupcakes on the counter.

"Here they are. Three chocolate cupcakes," she said. Before anyone could exchange any more words, Cream Cheese heard a customer call her over. She left the others behind to enjoy their newly acquired treats. 

Aviator had a hard time trying to eat. Aside from his general distaste in sweet foods, the conversation topic, before they were cut off, left him a bit antsy. He would ask the other two to elaborate, but he felt like he's already bothered Diamond Glow enough and he could always talk to Hurricane back home. So, he dropped it for now.

He also wondered why visiting an old friend hadn't crossed his mind until now.





It didn't take long before Hurricane and Diamond Glow finished their cupcakes and engaged in some small talk before the unicorn left. Aviator looked at his barely touched baked good before Hurricane got his attention. 

"So, you don't listen to me when I talk?" he asked with a touch of sass, "It was only one of the most important things that happened in my life. No, I would get why you wouldn't wanna listen."

Aviator rolled his eyes, "Don't act like that. My mind wanders when I get anxious, that's all. I know about everything else, it's just the ponies you traveled with that I'm blank on. But hey, I know about Diamond Glow and Cream Cheese now... and I know that Jupiter was there. What's that? Three out of... eight?

"No, it's fine. I can always just tell you the whole thing again. You know how much I love talking."

"Yeah, I know, and I promise I'll listen to the whole thing this time."

The two chuckled a bit before hearing the bell ring again, signaling someone entering or exiting. They've been hearing it frequently throughout their visit, but this one was different. 

"Oh, hey Jupiter! How are ya?" Cream Cheese said from the door that led to the kitchen. Hurricane and Aviator quickly turned towards the front of the bakery. 

"Heya CC. I'm fine, but really need a sugar fix." 

Aviator watched as Jupiter floated up to the counter and sat in the chair that was previously occupied by Diamond Glow. Cream Cheese walked up to the three of them, most likely to find out what Jupiter wanted.

The hybrid looked over at Hurricane to say, “Hi,” but trailed off before they could even get a word out. They looked surprised, baffled even. Their eyes widened like they just realized something.

“Avi? Avi, is that you?” they asked. Aviator looked up at them. They gave a small, silent nod.

“Oh wow- I-“ Jupiter stuttered on for another second out shock, “You look so different. I barely recognized you.”

Jupiter quickly got out of their seat and floated over to Aviator to get a closer look at him. They looked at him up and down before slowly showing a wide smile.

“Oh my Celestia! It’s really you! I haven’t seen you in ten years! You look amazing! I guess I shouldn’t be this surprised to see you! We have been writing to each other this whole time! But, to be honest, I’ve always hated that stuff!” Jupiter rambled on while all Aviator did was silently nod at the words they were spewing. He noticed they were taking rather loudly and shrank in his seat when he noticed other patrons in the bakery staring.

He couldn’t tell Jupiter to be quiet or straight up stop talking. They looked so happy to see him again, but he kind of wished he wasn’t there.  

“So, how have you been?” Jupiter asked, snapping Aviator out of his thoughts.

“Oh me?” He fumbled in his chair and sat up straight, “I’ve been okay. Nothing’s been going on lately. This is actually my first day outside the house.”

“Well it must be, or else I would’ve noticed you a lot earlier,” Jupiter replied in a calmer tone. Aviator assumed they already burned through their initial excitement.

“And hello to you too, Jupiter,” Hurricane said, getting the hybrid’s attention for a split second.

“Yeah shut up, Hurricane,” Jupiter said jokingly. Hurricane scoffed and looked away.

Aviator didn’t know what to feel. Yeah, he’s happy to see his first friend after all these years, but he was still conflicted. He just wanted everyone to stop looking at him. He wanted to get out of there.

“Hey, I have a great idea,” Jupiter said, once again pulling Aviator out of his thoughts, “Why don’t we hang out today? As a way to catch up. After I have something to eat, of course.”

“That sounds good to me,” Hurricane chimed in, “How about you Avi?”

Aviator looked at the two of them nervously. He just wanted to go home and pick up where he left off on his book.

“Yeah, totally. I’m down.”





Aviator didn’t want to spend more time outside, but he felt like he didn’t have a choice. Both Jupiter and Hurricane seemed so excited about the idea, and he didn’t want to bum them out. 

Jupiter ate something from the bakery very quickly. They even invited Cream Cheese to come along, but she had to politely decline, saying that her shift had begun not too long ago. They still exchanged goodbyes before leaving the bakery, Aviator still noticing a couple of eyes on them. And with that, they were off. 

“So, what do we do now?” Aviator asked as the door closed behind them. The entirety of Ponyville mostly consisted of shops and homes. He didn’t have the money to buy anything, and he sure didn’t want to intrude on other ponies’ homes. 

Hurricane thought to himself for a moment, “We have other friends. We can stop by their   places and you can introduce yourself.”

“No thanks. I’ve already done enough socializing with new ponies as it is.”

“Alright, that’s fine,” Hurricane looked at Jupiter who seemed to be caught up in their own thoughts as well, “What do you think Jupiter?”

“There’s a cool marketplace around here. I’m sure there are some good finds. Also, my mom sent me out to buy groceries,” they pulled out a small pouch filled with bits. Hurricane was quick to comply. Aviator took a moment before nodding.

“Alright then, let’s go,” Jupiter said as they started to float towards the center of town, “It shouldn’t be too far from here.” The two stallions followed after.

Once they got there, Jupiter quickly approached different stands selling produce. They picked up a tomato and scan it thoroughly.

“How do you know if a tomato’s good to buy?” they asked Hurricane. He shrugged in response.

Jupiter let out a frustrated sigh, “Why did Mom send me? Wind Chime’s the one who knows all this,” they muttered to themselves, “But it’s fine, ‘cuz if I hadn’t gone out today, I wouldn’t have run into Avi here.”

They gave Aviator a smile who gave a weak smile back. Jupiter eventually found some tomatoes that they deemed fit enough to buy and placed them on the table in front of the pony selling them- an elderly earth pony mare.

The salespony noticeably shuddered when Jupiter placed down the fruit. They sat in silence for a moment before Jupiter spoke up.

“Um, how much for these?” they asked. The mare jumped and nervously looked down at the tomatoes. 

“That’ll b-be f-four bits,” she finally said. Anyone could notice that she was scared, anyone except Jupiter. 

Jupiter slammed down four bits on the table, making the salespony yelp. Her shaky hoof extended out to take them. 

“And don’t worry. I have a bag,” Jupiter said before snapping their fingers. A large bag appeared beside them. 

Aviator looked around as Jupiter started putting the fruit in the bag. Everyone was looking at them. He quickly looked back down at the ground before anyone could notice him. 

“Alright, that’s it for here. What’s next?” Jupiter said as they started to leave the stand. The other two followed after. 

As Aviator left he heard the salespony mutter something to herself. She must’ve thought they were too far away to hear her.

“What a freakish thing.”





"Is that it?" Aviator asked, trying to hide his frustration. Jupiter was finishing gathering cucumbers and putting them into their bag. 

The sequence of events that happened at the tomato stand repeated every time Jupiter went to buy something new, including the mass amount of ponies staring at the three of them. Aviator was starting to get sick of it and wanted to leave right then and there, but he didn't want to upset the other two.

"Almost, I just need some lemons. Why? Are you in a rush or something?" Jupiter asked as they started to leave the stand.

"No," Aviator said softly, "Hurricane, can I talk to you real quick? Over there?" he pointed to the outskirts of the marketplace. 

Hurricane nodded, "Hey Jupiter, you can go on without us. We'll meet up with you in a bit." Jupiter gave them a small thumbs up with their paw and floated away as the two stallions walked to where Aviator wanted to meet.

When they got there, Aviator quickly spun on his younger brother.

"We need to get out of here," he said. Hurricane looked at him with a confused look.

"What? Why? I thought we were having a good time."

"Haven't you noticed that ponies have been kinda staring?"

"I mean, I have noticed a bit of that. I just kinda thought it was because we saved them last week and they were maybe... starstruck?"

"Those didn't look like looks of awe to me. I think they were judging us."

"Judging us? Why would they be-- oh. You're not talking about Jupiter, are you?"

"I mean, it seems like the most logical answer."

"Avi, are you even listening to yourself right now? This is our childhood friend your talking about. Are you embarrassed to be seen by them?"

"Not embarrassed. It's just," Aviator paused to find the right words, "Things were different back then. Didn't you notice that we always went to Jupiter's house to hang out? They never really went out that much either. I'm just saying that they might not be as aware of social cues as us, and we're not even that familiar with them."

"So? They look a little different, and that's fine. If other ponies have a problem with that, it's their problem, and I'm sure Jupiter's fully aware of that."

"It's not just that. Back at the bakery, they were loud and all over the place. I know I haven't seen them in a while, and their behavior changed over the course of ten years, but this isn't how I remember them being. I don't know if that's gonna cause any future problems in our friendship, but what I do know is that I wasn't feeling good, like, at all in that situation."

Hurricane took a step back and thought to himself for a second, "If you weren't feeling good, why didn't you say anything?"

"You guys started making plans to hang out today and I didn't want to upset you guys. Jupiter seemed so excited to see me too, and then everything got worse here."

"And you think that's Jupiter's fault?"

"Yes- no... maybe? I don't know. They're just too much right now."

"'Too much?'" a new voice said. Hurricane and Aviator turned their heads to find Jupiter standing about ten feet away. It looked like they've been there for a little while. Their face was almost expressionless. It took a moment before the corners of their mouth curved down and their eyebrows creased.

"I'm 'too much' to you?" they asked again, almost out of disbelief.

"Jupiter, no," Aviator took a step towards them, "I didn't mean that."

"Well, it sounds a whole lot like you did,” Jupiter responded in a much more upset tone. They reached into their bag and pulled out a messy notebook stuffed with papers.

“I was gonna give you this because I thought it was something thoughtful or sentimental, but I guess it might just be ‘too much’ for you.” They threw the notebook down on the ground between the two of them.

“Jupiter, wait-“ Aviator started, but they snapped and disappeared before he could get another word out. Aviator didn't know what to do now. He just did the one thing he was trying to avoid all day: upset his friend. He looked down at the notebook they threw down and went to pick it up.

The notebook was quite large in size, but Aviator noticed that it was heavy and extremely thick when he picked it up. The cover sported a large "J" in the middle of it. It couldn't have stood for anything other than "Jupiter." When Aviator opened it, he couldn't help but feel bewildered at what was inside.

"What's in there?" Hurricane asked as he approached his older brother and peered over his shoulder.

"Letters," Aviator responded quietly. Each page contained around ten letters addressed to Jupiter, stacked together. The earliest one being sent almost ten years ago. Each one was sent by himself. He skipped to the last page and pulled out the last letter. It was the one he sent two weeks ago.

"They kept every single one."

"I mean, didn't you keep all of their letters?" Hurricane asked. It was true. The bottom drawer of Aviator's dresser was filled with nothing but the letters the hybrid had sent to him. Whenever he felt upset, he would reread them to remind himself that he always had someone that had stuck by his side all these years, other than his family. He never knew they felt the same way.

"I was such a jerk," Aviator said under his breath.

"I'm not disagreeing," Hurricane added. Aviator gave him a dirty look.

"Now's not the time for snarky comments."

"Fine. Well, what are you gonna do now? They looked pretty upset. Plus, we don't know where they disappeared to."

"Well, what I'm going to do is apologize to them, and I think I have a pretty good idea of where they might be."





"Are you sure they're here?" Hurricane asked.

"Of course I am. They always hid here when they were upset, but they were five and didn't think anyone could find them," Aviator responded.

Aviator led his brother to Jupiter's home. He would knock on the door and greet their family, but the situation was too urgent to get sidetracked. He looked around the yard until he found a small creek with a bridge that went over it. He flew over to it and didn’t waste a second to look under the bridge. There he found Jupiter huddled under it. Hurricane joined him and also looked under the bridge.

“Huh, you were right,” the younger stallion said, getting Jupiter’s attention. They rolled their eyes upon seeing Aviator and turned their head in the other direction.

“Hey,” Aviator said quietly. Jupiter didn’t respond and just kept looking away.

“Look, I’m sorry. I was just overwhelmed and wasn’t thinking about what I was saying. I don’t mean the words I said. You’re not ‘too much.’ You’re just you, and I’m the one who has to get used to that. I will, I guess not seeing you in a while kind of made me think there was no way you could’ve changed over the years.”

Aviator got off from the bridge and joined the hybrid by sitting under it. They sat with an awkward space in between them, but Aviator felt it was needed.

“You think I don’t notice everyone staring at me everywhere I go?” Jupiter finally said, “I know my friends try to make me feel better by distracting me from it, but it doesn’t work, and it just makes me feel worse. No offense, Hurricane.”

“I thought I was doing a good thing,” Hurricane said.

“You are, just not well,” Jupiter fired back. They directed their attention back towards Aviator, “I’m aware of what ponies think of me because of appearance and... louder personality, but I didn’t care about that because at least I knew that my friends, the actually important ones, didn’t think of me like that. I guess I was wrong.”

“No, you’re not. I was just being a jerk and thinking about myself. I guess I care too much about what other ponies think of me.”

“But they weren’t judging you. They were judging me.”

“So what? Someone once told me that if ponies have a problem with how you look or act, then that’s their problem.”

“Hey, that was me,” Hurricane said.

“Yeah shut up, Hurricane,” Aviator said dismissively, “I admit, I was embarrassed, and I thought that maybe our personalities clashed too much now, but you helped me remember that we’ve been able to stay friends despite not being able to see each other for over ten years. If we can make it through that, we can make it through anything.”

“How did I help you with that?”

“With this,” Aviator pulled out Jupiter’s notebook, “I didn’t know you kept all of my letters.”

“Well, of course, I did, I always thought you forgot about me and got excited when you sent a new letter. I kept them to remind myself that I still had friends.”

“That’s why I kept all of the letters you sent me. Jupiter, please know that you’ve helped me get through some really tough times with those letters. I shouldn’t have let what other ponies thought get in the way of all of that. I can’t believe I’m so insecure to forget all of that history between us just because some ponies aren’t used to you.”

“Avi, don’t talk like that,” Jupiter moved closer to the stallion, “It’s also your first day outside and you’ve always been the nervous type. I should’ve thought about that before screaming and yelling at the bakery and dragging you to my grocery shopping. I guess I was just so excited that I also only thought about myself.”

They both made eye contact for the first time and gave each other small smiles, “I guess we both screwed up,” Aviator said.

Jupiter put their arms around their friend and held him close, “So much for a reunion.”

“No, I like this. Just promise me next time, we just hang out here.”

“If you promise me that you won’t let what other ponies think influence how you think of me... and that you don’t tell anypony about this.”

Aviator leaned back in confusion, “Why not?”

“Oh, I just think that the others and I haven’t been friends long enough for them to know that I have... real feelings.”

“Okay, I guess.”

“Hey this is great and all,” Hurricane interrupted, “but we only have so much time before Jupiter’s family finds out that we’ve trespassed on their property and have been hanging out under this bridge. So how about we actually, I don’t know, say hi to them.”

Jupiter and Aviator smiled, “That sounds good,” Aviator said.

He wasn’t lying this time.





After spending some time with Jupiter and their family. The brothers made their way back home before it got too late. Hurricane got pretty tired due to having woken up earlier and retreated to his room to go to sleep.

Aviator did the same, but, before he went to bed, he pulled out his diary and pencil. He opened to a blank page and started writing.

Dear diary the eleventh,
It’s been ten years since I’ve seen my half-draconequus friend. Their name is Jupiter, and I’ve known them since we were diapers. 

I did a stupid thing today and let other ponies’ weird looks and awful opinions get in the way of my friendship with them. Here’s a note-to-self to never do that again.

I’m really grateful to have a friend like them to give me a second chance. I guess I finally have something to motivate me to go outside: to reestablish the few friendships I had before the isolation, starting with Jupiter.

I’ll wake up tomorrow and spend the whole day catching up with them, ya know, like a good friend.  

It’s getting late, and this whole day has made me pretty tired. I’ll write again tomorrow.

- Aviator