Carnival Chaos

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Machines upon machines sparked and beeped around a poorly lit lab, which was only overshadowed by the heavy hoof-steps and deep breathing of a certain cloaked figure. The pony slowly made its way to five metal doors on the far side of the room, going to the one on the far right. It stared at the sign on the door below the hatch, the words 'Trial-H' written upon it. The pony turned back to a nearby table, where the chunk of black rock had been split into five pieces.

Taking one of the rocks along with an extender claw, combining the two before opening the hatch and pushed one end through it. With a single thrust, the claw extended into the darkness of the cell and reached its destination. He opened the claw and retracted it, then twisted it before closing something and then retracting all the way out of the cell. He shut the glass hatch and watched the chamber, a pair of red lights illuminating the room to reveal an earth pony-shaped figure.

The pony let out a heaving laugh before taking out a familiar photograph and stuck it to the glass. "This is your target. Take them down. And make it very slow, and very painful." The creature inside the chamber stared at the picture, seeing an image of an orange pegasus with blue hair. The image became burned into the creature's memory, a hunger beginning to build within its very being.

The Present...

Three weeks had passed since the defeat of Malafear. In that time, things had gotten back to normal in Equestria, the only difference being Spike trying to learn to harness his newly discovered magic. But alas, he had no luck in finding a way to use it. The rest of that time was basically everyday situations, with the only exception being when Flash and the rest of the Mane Seven went to Manehatten for a retreat involving them trying to escape a locked room. Apparently, Starlight had been helping Soul with some magic and accidently teleported the friendship map away. Luckily, they were able to find it before they got back so only Flash was made aware of it thanks to his apprentice happening to blurt it out.

Flash decided to keep this to himself so Starlight wouldn't be embarrassed, instead just pretending he never heard anything. And after this happened, Flash found himself not in Ponyville. Instead, he was currently screaming his head off with his sister, "AAAAAHHHHH!" They both hollered as the cart they were riding went over the edge and shot down instantly.

"YEEEEE-HAAAAA!" Scootaloo cheered, raising her hooves up high.

The two were riding a roller-coaster, one of the many attractions that were at a carnival currently situated several miles outside of a small town between Ponyville and Manehatten. The pair were in the front cart as the train zipped around at top speed, spiraling and looping like crazy.

And as the coaster came to a stop a minute later, the cart's fastening deactivated and let the two out. They stepped out into a busy street of rides and games, Scootaloo cheering, "That was awesome!" Flash chuckled at the sight, seeing his sis hop up and down, "Oh...I wish my scooter could move that fast."

"It is cool to go that fast," Flash replied, "Heck, my Sacred Light's wing boosters can make me go almost twice that speed."

"Of course it can," Scootaloo rolled her eyes before she turned to two other ponies standing near the ride. It was Trail Blazer and Misty Veil, each carrying a pair of saddlebags on their back.

"Have fun?" Trail asked his daughter as Scootaloo nodded back before Misty placed the saddlebag onto her back.

"You should have come too," Scootaloo responded, only for Misty to shake her head.

"Absolutely not! I have to take motion sickness pills to not throw up on boats and trains. Something like that would be torture for me."

Trail laughed at this, his wife shooting him a glare as Flash took his saddlebag as Scootaloo then said, "Well you gotta go on something! What's the point of coming to a funfair if you don't go on any rides?!"

"Spending time with you two if enough for us," Trail giggled while patting Scootaloo's mane, "We're just lucky you two could come."

"Thank Twilight," Flash replied, "She's the one who convinced me. After everything that's happened recently, enjoying some fun with my family is just what I needed."

"It's too bad Twilight and the others couldn't come as well."

Flash sighed at this, "Yeah...she and Starlight are working on something at the castle. Soul had already made plans with her friends this weekend, and Heart...is still grounded." His eyes darted away at this, "I'm just glad Grand was okay watching over him."

They all chuckled at this, Scootaloo then pointing at a ride she thought her mother could enjoy, "Wanna go on the Tea-Cups?" They turned to the ride in question, which was full with younger ponies and their parents.

Misty laughed and shook her head, "Why don't we go play some games or get something to eat instead?" The others nodded and headed down another street.

Meanwhile...

At the entrance of the carnival, ponies were lining up to pay for entry into the funfair.

"Thank you," the mare at the booth replied to the ponies that just paid her some tickets. "I hope you enjoy your stay." The family thanked her and headed inside, allowing the mare to turn to the next customer. "Next."

But as she did this, she raised an eyebrow at the next pony. The pony was completely covered by a cloak, even its hooves seemingly shadowed as it walked up to her.

"Can I help you?" She asked, only for the pony to walk pass the booth. "Hey! Excuse me!" The pony stopped and turned to her, "You need to pay to get it. Seven bits per pony." The pony remained silent for a moment and then moved up to her booth, positioning themselves so the mare was able to see what was under the hood. And when she saw it, her eyes went wide, her face turning pale at the sight, "T-t-tell you what...t-t-the this one's on m-m-me." The pony nodded and turned to walk into the carnival, leaving the pony rooted on the spot.

And when the next customer walked up, the mare in the booth fell over, spirals in her eyes as she fainted.

Back in the carnival...

Flash and his family were all enjoying hay-dogs and milkshakes they got from a vendor, Flash's hay-dog being overloaded with onions and ketchup, Scootaloo and Trail putting mustard on theirs while Misty's was plain. They were all sitting on some benches, glancing around at the many games. There was a ring toss game, hook-a-duck and one that caught Flash's ears as the voice of a pony called out.

"Step right up! Step right up! Come on over and test your strength!" He turned to the voice and saw a unicorn holding up a mallet with a board of different prizes behind him. "Come on! Hit the bell and win a prize. Anypony can do it." An earth pony moved up with a pegasus mare, "You wanna give it a try good sir?"

The earth pony nodded and took the hammer, spitting on his hooves and rubbing them together before gripping it tightly. He then swung it down, slamming the spot that sent the metal straight up. Everypony watched it go high, but then stopped roughly two thirds of the way up before falling back down. "Oh! Too bad! Anypony else?"

The rest of the ponies around them said nothing, only for Flash to stand up and stuff the rest of his hay-dog into his mouth. He wiped his mouth with his wing and began cracking his hooves as he approached the game, catching the pony's attention.

"Ah! Do we have another contestant?"

"Sure. Let's do this." The unicorn passed him the mallet and he got a good feel of it, spinning it in his hoof before lifting it up and staying still for a moment with his eyes closed.

His family moved over to the crowd, Scootaloo hearing a unicorn speak up, "There's no way that guy's gonna be able to hit the bell."

"Of course he'll hit the bell," Scootaloo replied, "That's my brother after all. He's not just any pony. He's Flash Sentry!"

This made the ponies around them go wide-eyed. And in that moment, Flash opened his eyes as a mild golden glow pulsed off them for a moment. He then swung the mallet straight down, striking the board and sending the piece of metal straight up again. Everypony watched it zoom higher and higher, not slowing down before it struck the bell, causing a loud clang to ring out.

"We have a winner!" The unicorn cheered as the ponies around cheered as well. He then pointed to the board of prizes, telling Flash to take whichever one he liked. He stared at it before taking down a purple teddy bear and nodding at the unicorn.

He moved over to his family and held out the bear to his sister, "Here you go squirt." Scootaloo blushed at being given such a foalish toy, but happily took it and held it tightly. But before she could say anything, a pony stepped in front of her.

"Are you really Flash Sentry?!" Flash almost backpedaled at the sudden pony, only to nod back, "Dude, you're awesome! Can I get an autograph?!"

"Err...sure." The pony gave him a piece of paper and pen, which he took and asked who he was writing it to. But no sooner had he written it, another pony came up and asked for one. Then another and another.

"Can I get a photo with you?"

"Sure."

"Can I see your Celestic Gear?"

"Sorry, left it in Ponyville."

"What was it like being turned into a dragon?"

"Uh...scaly."

Scootaloo glared at the large crowd gathering around her brother, now seeing the ponies going gaga about him. "He's not that amazing," she said under her breath while her parents giggled.

After a few minutes, the crowd dissipated and Flash was able to rejoin his family. "Sorry about that."

"No problem," Misty chuckled, "Let's go find another ride to go on."

Nodding back to this, they began to make their way through the carnival again, only to find the atmosphere suddenly change. The truth about who Flash was spread like wildfire, getting to everypony in the whole funfair. Now everypony knew that a Royal Knight was there.

When Scootaloo asked to go on the waltzer, she, Flash and even Trail got in line. But no sooner had they done that, the ponies in front of them stepped aside for them. "Please," one of the ponies commented, "You go first. It's the least we can do after everything you've done for us."

"Errr...thanks?" Flash replied before the three walked up to the ride, only for it to come a stop and the current riders got off, everypony giving Flash's family first choice of which car to get in. Afterwards, the family went looking for another game or ride, passing a cotton candy vendor.

"Sir Sentry!" The vendor exclaimed, making them turn to him as he gave the family a cone of the candy each. "Here. On the house."

"Thanks." Flash responded before the four took them. He and Trail had to fly as they ate it, while Misty held it in her magic. She then noticed Scootaloo having trouble walking with only three hooves and having to balance the teddy Flash got her on her back, so she took the teddy in her magic.

Scootaloo thanked her, only to glare at Flash as flew above them without a care in the world. Her eyes then glanced back at her own tiny wings, but quickly pulled away and focused on eating her snack. When they were all done, they deposited their cones in the trash before spotting a ferris wheel.

They began to head toward it, but when they reached the line, the ponies in front moved aside for Flash again. "No, no," he told them. "I wouldn't feel right. We'll wait." The ponies glanced at each other at this, only for a unicorn mare to run up and put her front hoof around Flash's left wing.

"Flash, please ride with me. I might get scared of such a scary ride."

Flash raised an eyebrow at this, about to reply on how the ferris wheel wouldn't be scary, only for an earth pony mare to grab his other wing, "No, ride with me. It'll be so much fun."

Scootaloo rolled her eyes as the mares glared at one another. "Hey," the unicorn pulled Flash's wing, "I saw him first!"

"No you didn't!" The earth pony pulled Flash's other wing, "I saw him first. Back off!"

"You back off!" The two kept pulling on Flash's wings, the stallion not having the heart to tell them he was with his family and that he had a girlfriend. But before he could think of something, Scootaloo had apparently had enough.

"Both of you...BACK OFF!" Her voice echoed through the carnival, shocking all who heard it as she glared at them. The mares let Flash go, all eyes on Scootaloo as she began to pant. And as she did this, she went wide-eyed before running off.

"Scoots!" Flash yelled, but she disappeared into the crowd. And as he began to fight the crowd, his parents nodded to each other before Misty ran off for Scootaloo while Trail put a wing around Flash and gestured for him to follow.

Meanwhile again...

The cloaked figure continued to trotted around the carnival, barely being noticed as it marched through the crowds, pushing aside anypony that got in their way. That is, till it knocked another to the side, a stallion then exclaiming, "Hey!" The figure came to a stop at this, turning to stare at the stallion. His face went pale as he gulped, "Uh...nevermind. Sorry."

The cloaked one turned back, slowly walking through the crowd again. And as it did this, it arrived at a certain game. "Step right up and test your strength! Ring the bell and win a prize!" The cloaked figure saw the hammer, which was floating in the unicorn's magic. Their eyes zoomed in on the mallet, a red hue covering their eyesight as they saw a golden glow surround the hammer's handle. Their target had held it.

The cloaked figure walked up to the game, catching the unicorn's attention. "Hey there my mysterious friend. Wanna test your strength?" The figure turned to him before staring at the device. Before the unicorn could say anything, they lifted their leg under the cloak and positioned it over the board. They then pushed it down and the metal puck shot straight up, even faster than Flash's. And when it struck the bell, it ripped the device off the board and sent both flying.

Everypony stared at this in shock, then turned to see cloaked pony already walking off. The unicorn was about to tell them they had to pay to repair his game, only for the bell to fall down and conk him on the head. Everypony gasped as he fell over, soon running over to help him as the figure continued to walk away.

Misty had now found her daughter sitting on a bench, cuddling the teddy with a sour look on her face. She trotted over and sat down, "Hey," Scootaloo looked up at her, "So what was that about?" Scootaloo didn't reply, glancing away as Misty let out a sigh, "Scootaloo...I get that Flash probably got a little side-tracked, but that was no reason to explode at him like that." Scootaloo just hid her face into the bear, "Something else is going on here, isn't it? What is it?"

Scootaloo removed her face, only to look away again. Misty shook her head at this, "Scootaloo...I can't help you if you don't tell me anything."

"Why is it always him?"

"Huh?"

"Why is it always Flash that gets everything?" Scootaloo replied, making Misty raise an eyebrow. Scootaloo then looked up at her mother, showing a huge frown, "It's not that I don't love him, but Flash always seems to be the one ponies focus their attention on."

"Well that's not Flash's fault," Misty responded, "He's done a lot of amazing things, so of course he would get a lot of recognition."

"That's my point. Why is it always Flash that gets to do the cool stuff?!" She hugged her teddy harder. "Flash was the one who got to inherit your gene thingy and get the Sacred Light. Flash got chosen to be trained by Grand Hoof and become a Royal Knight. Flash has saved Equestria more times then I can count."

Misty chuckled at this, "And you're jealous because he gets to be the closest thing to a superhero that equinely possible?"

Scootaloo did a small nod as her face turned slightly red. "Yeah...why does he get that?"

"Well...there's a lot to it." Misty replied while crossing her hooves. "Let's start with this: Why are you jealous?"

"Why?" Scootaloo asked, Misty nodding back. The filly then put her hoof to her chin, "Um...well, I don't know. I guess...before I learned Flash was my brother, I never knew what it meant to really have something to live up to. I idolized Rainbow, but it wasn't the same as having a real family to have my back. And when I found out my brother was a Royal Knight of all ponies, it was awesome! I had something that gave me purpose! I could tell ponies something awesome about myself...but then I found out what kind of pony Flash really is." She glanced away at this, "He's so much more than me. He overshadows me in everything."

Misty began to giggle at this, "Look at you. You sound like an adult." She then patted her daughter's head, "Now, you know that Flash doesn't overshadow you."

"Yes he does!" Scootaloo countered, "If we compare everything I've done to everything Flash's done, there's no contest."

"Yes, there's no contest." Scootaloo glared at her, but Misty shook her head again, "Literally. You two aren't competing against one another. Besides, you're still young. You think Flash did anything spectacular when he was your age?"

"He saved a filly from a building that collapsed thanks to Twilight mega-sizing Spike."

Misty blinked at this, surprised at the instant response. "Okay...fair enough. But you've done some pretty amazing things too. After all, you got to be the flag bearer for Ponyville at the Equestria Games."

"I didn't do that on my own though."

"Flash didn't do a lot of the amazing things he's adored for on his own either." Misty leaned down at this, "Trust me on somepony that's watched him for a majority of his life. If Twilight wasn't around, Flash would have never got to where he is. Especially when they were your age."

Scootaloo giggled at this, Misty patting her on the head again before saying, "Why don't we sit here for a bit and then we'll go find the boys, okay?"

"Um...okay." Scootaloo replied before glancing back down at the teddy bear, hiding the small frown she was still wearing.

"You think Scootaloo's jealous?" Flash asked as he and Trail played a game of basketball, "That's ridiculous."

"To you and me," Trail replied as he passed the ball. "But Scootaloo's still young. She doesn't think the same way we do. She doesn't just see you as a brother, she sees you as the pony she's also supposed to be." Flash raised an eyebrow. "You have the same parents, meaning she should be able to do everything you've done."

"That's stupid," Flash threw a ball and it bounced off the net. "There's more to who ponies are than just their family."

"Again, Scootaloo thinks differently. She thinks that if you did something, then she'll need to do something of equal significance or you're the better sibling."

"That's dumb."

"You sure about that?" Trail asked as he threw a ball and got a perfect dunk. "You grew up with Shining Armor, somepony that was aiming for a very similar career to yours. You saying you never felt a little jealous of him when he ranked up in the guard?"

"No," Flash instantly replied, "I was always proud of him and it made me wanna try harder in my training."

"So you could try and surpass him?"

"No." Flash flatly said. "We both knew our goals and went for them."

Trail shook his head at this, "But Scootaloo doesn't know hers. So, she's trying to compare herself to others instead. In her mind, there's no way she'll ever surpass you." This caused Flash to freeze mid throw, the ball not even making it halfway to the net.

Flash put his wing to his chin, "Huh. I never thought of it like that."

But as he said this, a certain cloaked figure stepped out from between two booths behind the pair. It turned to stare at Flash, a pair of glowing red lights appearing under its hood.

"Flash gets a Celestic Gear, he gets the Sacred Light and gets a statue in a museum! And what do I have?" Her eyes turned to her tiny wings.

Misty went wide-eyed at this, "Oh, Scootaloo." She grabbed her child in her magic and pulled her in for a tight hug. "Don't think that way. I know what happened to you isn't fair, but it's also not Flash's fault. And if you let those thoughts in, they'll just get worse."

"I know..." Scootaloo replied, tears now forming in her eyes.

"I know sweetheart. But know that nothing your brother does has any reflection on you." She pulled away at this, staring straight into Scootaloo's eyes. "Yes, Flash can be pretty impressive. But you should never compare yourself to anypony else, not even you brother."

"But why?" Scootaloo asked, "Why does he constantly get all the cool things happening to him?"

"The two of you are on completely different paths. Flash might be a Royal Knight-"

"And it's pretty obvious he's gonna become a prince one day," Scootaloo interrupted.

Misty took a deep breath, "Err...yes. But none of that means you're any less important. You're still young. Who knows what will happen to you in the future." She pulled her daughter into another hug, "Maybe the universe has been a little overly generous to Flash, but that still doesn't make you any less important." Scootaloo remained quiet as she continued, "You still have many years ahead of you to do something amazing. And it doesn't have to be as amazing as the stuff Flash has done. All that matters is when your days are up and it's time to move onto the next life, you can look back at your life and honestly say you lived a life you think was worth living."

Scootaloo blinked at this, a smile trying to form on her lips before hugging Misty back, "Thanks mom."

"No problem sweetheart," Misty responded, "Remember, I'm always here to-"

KABOOM!

The mare and filly's head shot up and turned to the sound, now seeing a pillar of smoke appear as screams could now be heard. "What was that?" Scootaloo asked as Misty stared at the black fog.

"We need to find Flash and your father." She grabbed the filly in her magic and put her onto her back, the unicorn running into the fair at top speed.

Trail let out a long moan, eyes twitching as he tried to push himself up. A surge of pain went through his head, now remembering talking to Flash...then his son pushed him to the side. A moment later, something slammed into Flash, the blow happening so fast that is destroyed the court and made a few fair machines blow up.

It was here he got onto his hooves, "Flash!" He yelled, turning to a now scattered pile of debris. He slowly walked through it, only to find his son being pinned to the ground by a cloaked figure. "What the heck?!"

Flash groaned as he felt a pair of metal hooves gripping his neck, his eyes opening to see a long shadow in the figure's hood. That is, till he saw a pair of glowing red eyes along with a bunch of clicking noises.

"Great," he moaned out, "Another one."

"Flash!" He heard Trail yell, turning to see his dad grab a piece of the broken booth, "Back off!" He slammed the wood into the assailant's body, only for it shatter, doing nothing. "Uh..."

The figure turned to him and part of its cape ripped open. It then revealed a long rubber cord with a metal egg-shaped instrument on the end. It continued to extend before whipping around Trail, backhanding him with a single swipe.

"Gyah!"

"Dad!" Flash yelped as his father was smacked away. And as the cord retracted back, Flash gripped the attacker's hooves and pulled the legs up before thrusting them into the figure's chest. As he did this, he felt something hard and cold, only to push the figure off him at this moment.

The defender flared his wings as he scrambled back onto his hooves before flying over to his father, "Dad! You okay?"

"I'll live," he replied as Flash helped him up. "But who the heck is that?"

"Not a who," Flash sighed before turning to the cloaked figure. "Enough of the cloak and daggers routine. I know who you are, Mecha-Flash."

The figure just stared back at him, Trail then asking, "Mecha-Flash? You mean that thing that attacked you before? I thought you said it was destroyed."

"It was made once," Flash grumbled, "Guess they could make it again. Although I think this one might be a little different from the last one. The other one didn't have that whip thing." He focused on the pony again. "So what's up with you?! You get an upgrade or something?!"

The creature remained silent for a moment, then the cord flew out again. But it wasn't alone. Five other cords ripped out from the back of the cloak, all almost extending to ten feet in length. They curled back at this, ripping the cloak apart to reveal the pony hidden within, only for Flash to go wide-eyed.

"Heather?!"

It wasn't Heather. It might have looked like Heather, but just like the last time, Flash was staring at a fusion of pony and technology. Her fur and mane were more pale, while her mouth and nose had the same triangular vent covering it. The front of her neck and chest were just like Mecha-Flash, with the chest having two doors that looked like they had swung open. However, this cyborg didn't have wings, instead having a back with a metal covering with six holes that the cords were coming out of while its lower-legs and hooves were made entirely of metal, with a seam where the leg and hoof met.

"Oookay..." Flash commented, "Wasn't expecting that." As he said that, metal vines shot out for him, "MOVE!" He and Trail leapt back, both taking to the air as the vines followed them. But after about five meters, they came to a stop. "So that's their limit."

"You said that mecha-thing can steal your Sacred Light, right?"

"Yeah. I gotta be careful."

But as Flash replied to this, Mecha-Heather retracted the six vines back before turning to a nearby dodgem set and raised her hoof. As she did, the metal that made up the appendage began to transform. Parts of it retracted into the leg while others came together and turned her hoof into a cone shaped appendage. They watched as the hoof then shot off the leg, remaining connected by a metal chord as it shot through one of the dodgems.

This caused a power surge and as Mecha-Heather retracted her hoof weapon, another explosion occurring as it sent debris flying everywhere. Mecha-Heather then used her vines to grab onto a roller-coaster and pull herself up, Flash ready to dodge her as she got up high, only for her to glance down at a crowd that was trying to leave.

"NO!" Flash gasped as he saw her swing back and forth before letting go, causing her to go flying toward the ponies. The defender followed and reached her as she used her vines to break her fall, the ponies she had just landed between screaming as she pointed her hooves at them.

But before she could fire, Flash tackled her as he yelled at the crowd, "RUN!" They didn't need to be told twice, all fleeing as he and Mecha-Heather wrestled.

"Flash!" He heard Trail scream, "Get away before it starts sucking the Sacred Light out of you!" Flash was about to do so, only for the cyborg to wrap one of its vines around his body.

"Augh!" He cried, expecting Mecha-Heather to start draining him...only for nothing to happen. Instead, she started squeezing tighter and tighter, making Flash feel his himself go blue. He heard Trail call out his name at this, only for Mecha-Heather to send several of her vines at the stallion.

As this happened, Flash continued to be squeezed, his eyes twitching as he felt his consciousness begin to fade. But as he began to lose it, a blast of magic struck Mecha-Heather's head, making the cyborg stagger back as it loosened her grip on Flash. The pegasus took a deep breath and used this opening to pry the vine off before flying back.

He glanced to where the spell had come from next, now spotting his mother and sister, the defender flying over as Misty asked, "Are you okay?"

"I'll live," Flash replied as Trail flew over to them.

"What is that thing?" Scootaloo asked, hiding behind her mother's leg.

Flash growled as he turned back to the cyborg, "Its something like Mecha-Flash. A magical clone of Heather, equipped with robot parts and powered by a fragment of Corrupted Shadow. Only it's not using me as a template."

"So it's trying to steal your Sacred Light?"

"Not sure. She had me, but she didn't try to siphon my Sacred Light out of me." This made Misty raise an eyebrow, only for Mecha-Heather to raise her hoof and fire it at them. Flash and Trail went to the air again, Misty putting up a shield that barely pushed the spick back as it hit the barrier.

"Maybe it can't take your Sacred Light," Trail chimed in, "Maybe your clone could do it because it was your DNA that made it."

"And cuz it isn't a clone of me, it can't." Flash continued, "Then why is it attacking me? Wouldn't it want the same thing as Mecha-Flash?"

"No idea." Trail replied as they watched Mecha-Heather use her vines to grab some debris and flung them at Flash. Both pegasi zipped around this, only for the cyborg to fire both its front hooves at the defender.

"Maybe it's meant to take your power the more direct way?" Misty asked, the unicorn magically grabbing a barrel before it could hit Flash and throwing it back at the creature. "Perhaps its planning to knock you out and take you away so it can take your power."

"I..guess?" Flash responded, "And I don't have my Celestic Gear." He began to glow at this, "But if it can't steal my power, I got no choice. Armorize!" He was consumed by light at this, which took shape and formed the Shining Guardian armor. Once made, the horn on his head glowed before firing a blast of magic.

The cyborg earth pony raised her vines at this, Flash expecting her to try and grab something to shield herself. But instead, they all flew together and connected at the ends before the light struck them...and the egg-shaped appendages began to absorb the magic before the light flowed down into Mecha-Heather's body. Everypony's eyes went wide at this, Flash cutting the magic at this.

"What the heck?!" He yelped, only for the vines to suddenly shoot out and grab his tail, "WHOA!" The defender was then slammed into the dirt, the vine holding him now sucking the Sacred Light out through the tail.

"Flash!" Misty screamed, "Cut the power! Now!"

The armor exploded off the pegasi, only for Mecha-Heather to raise one of her hooves up and fired a spike at Flash. The defender was then hit in the stomach, the spike turning into a four clawed appendage that pushed Flash into the ground before the others spikes all flew out and transformed into the same type of claw.

His family gasped as they watched the claws were about to get to Flash, Misty and Trail charging at the cyborg. In response, the machine swiped its tendrils around, grabbing and throwing things at them. Pushing them back, Flash felt the claw in his chest continue to slam him into the dirt, feeling the wind get pushed out of him.

"Rrrrrggh. Come on..." he whispered as he tried to push the claw off, only for it apply even more pressure.

And as this happened, Scootaloo's eyes darted between her parents getting hit back from the cyborg's vines and seeing Flash pinned to the ground. As she continued to watch, hers eyes turned to a nearby booth that was doing a water gun games.

Not having any other ideas, she leapt onto the booth and pulled the pistol off the counter before pointing it at Mecha-Heather. A thin stream of water hit the cyborg next, the clone crying out as it hit it in the face. Flash heard this and looked up, seeing Mecha-Heather flinch as the claw began to loosen its grip. And in that moment, the other claw got close and continued to chomp the air.

He smiled as an idea formed in his head, quickly grabbing the cord behind the chomping claw. Mecha-Heather seemed to feel this and turned to see him, only for Flash to thrust the claw into the cable of the claw that was holding him down. The claw snapped shut, slicing right through the cable. The pony robot hybrid let out a cry of pain at this, retracting the remains of the cable back while Flash rolled onto his hooves and pulled the now powerless claw off of him.

"You okay?" Trail asked as he and Misty ran over to him.

"I'm fine," he replied before turning to Scootaloo, "Thanks sis."

She nodded back, about to reply until Misty asked, "Flash...can that thing absorb any magic you use with the Sacred Light?"

"If its like the other one, yes." Flash responded while groaning.

"Great," Trail sighed, "Our best weapon against this thing and you can't use it."

As those words entered Flash's head, making him blink, "Wait...maybe I can." His parents raised an eyebrow at this, only for Mecha-Heather to use her vines to start throwing things again. Scootaloo leapt behind the booth while Flash and Trail took to the air while Misty caught anything thrown at her. "Look at its chest!"

"What about its chest?" Misty asked as she threw the objects back, the cyborg just cutting them down in response.

"Mecha-Flash had the same thing. I bet anything the Corrupted Shadow powering it is behind its chest. If we break that, the thing won't be able to steal my Sacred Light."

"So we have to pry that thing's chest open and smash the rock inside?" Trail asked, Flash nodding back. "Sounds fun."

Mecha-Heather then brought four of its vines down and used them to lift it into the air, acting as its new hooves due to the recent loss of the one hoof. With this, the cyborg leapt up and used a vine to grab onto the nearby ferris wheel. It then began to pull the ride apart, flinging the pieces all around.

One of the larger pieces fell toward Scootaloo, the filly trying to run away, only to trip. Her face hit the dirt before she tried to get up, only for something to yank her away. "Huh?" She felt the teddy she still had now slip from her hooves, making her look up and see her brother carrying her just as the booth she was hiding behind get crushed by a piece of metal.

Flash looked back at Scootaloo, "You okay?" He asked, his sister nodding back. Flash then glared back at the cyborg, "Scootaloo...get out of here."

"But Flash-"

"I can't beat this thing and protect you at the same time. It'll just keep putting you in danger to make me slip up and give it an opening. NOW GO!" Flash spread his wings and shot into the air, Scootaloo frowning as she watched him fly up to the ferris wheel.

Mecha-Heather pulled more parts of the ferris wheel off before throwing them, Flash now going into Theta Mode to dodge the flying debris. He then swooped in and threw a punch at the creature's metal chest, but without his Sacred Light, he wasn't able to break through the steel, making him flinch for a second. The hybrid fired its vines at this, grabbing the defender. But as it did this, Flash flapped his wings, pushing himself back and pulling Mecha-Heather away from the ferris wheel. He then spun around, swinging the cyborg around with him before slamming it into the ground.

But as it hit the dirt, the machine just got up, unflinching at the attempt of damage. And as this happened, Misty tried to grab the metal chest with her magic while Trail charged with a small piece of metal. It turned to the two, now feeling its chest doors straining to stay closed. Trial then got close, thrusting the metal shard into her, but she shifted positions so it hit the door on her chest and shattered. She grabbed the pegasus next, swinging his with a single yank, throwing him into his wife. Both cried out as they began rolling along the ground, Misty's magic cutting out.

Scootaloo flinched at the sight, "No...if only I could help." she whispered, "But I'm not a hero. I'm just a filly everypony else feels like they need to protect." She heard a sawing sound next, now seeing the cyborg lift itself up onto its vines while its remaining three hooves extended and transformed into buzz-saw-like devices. It swung them at Flash, the pegasi flying about to dodge each one as a few hairs were now flying off of him.

Flash then flew down, only to see the test your strength game from earlier just a bit away from him. He swooped down and grabbed the large mallet, Mecha-Heather charging at him with her buzz-saw tentacles at the same time. Flash charged back at her at this, "RAAAAAH!" He roared before knocking the saws away before lifting the hammer up.

"Take this!" He swung the hammer down as hard as he could, smashing it right into the cyborg clone's head. A large gong sound filled the air, part of the mallet striking the mouth covering. But the rest of it collided with Mecha-Heather's forehead, Flash now waiting for a response from her, but the hybrid simply stood there.

Then, the sound of something cracking caught his attention, only to see cracks begin to form around the mallet's head. "What?!" He yelped before the whole thing broke apart, leaving him with just the handle. "That's not good." In that moment, he felt something wrap around one of his hind legs before yanking him. "WHOA!" He was sent hurtling toward the ground, dragging him along the ground before flinging him around.

As this happened, Misty and Trail picked themselves up and saw Flash get flung into a nearby carousel before crashing into another game booth. The cyborg then turned to the parents, the pair standing firm against the creature. And as they began to fight the machine again, Scootaloo watched as Flash begin to pull himself out of the destroyed pieces of the booth. He took to the air just as Misty started firing blast after blast, only for them to be deflected by the ends of Mecha-Heather's whips. The cyborg fired one of its hooves at her, which reshaped into a sphere-shape and slammed her in the chest. She cried out as she was thrown back, Trail catching her before she was flung into the debris around them.

"They can't stop it," Scootaloo whispered as Trail put Misty down before grabbing another a piece of metal, charging at the pony with it, only for it break upon contact. "The only thing strong enough to penetrate it is..." Her eyes went wide as she looked over at the claw Flash had decapitated, remembering how he cut it off, "Itself."

Flash shot down at the cyborg, dodging every vine before tackling the machine. He then pinned it to the ground, grabbing the chest as he tried to pry it open. "RAGH!" He roared with all his might, but the metal wouldn't give.

Mecha-Heather then swung one of her vines around Flash, wrapping it around his neck. He was whipped off the machine, letting him go as Flash was flown into the roller-coaster supports. The section began to crack at this, dropping the pillar onto the defender.

"FLASH!" Misty screamed, her horn flaring as she began to grab the wood that now buried her son. But before she could, the cyborg fired a vine that wrapped around Misty's back hooves. "Eep!" She pulled off her hooves, throwing her back at this. As this happened, Trail flew down and grabbed three of the vines before Mecha-Heather could notice. He then quickly tied them together, only for the vines to pull away and punch him in the face with the newly formed knot. And as he staggered back, the vines almost instantly untangled themselves.

The vines hit Trail again after this, the cyborg firing its vines at a nearby swing ride next. She ripped off the chains before wrapping them around Trial, then thrusting him into the ride and tying him up. "Aaah!" he yelped, squirming at this.

As this happened, a pile of wood flew into the cyborg, making it turn to see Flash ascend from the pile of debris. But as this happened, one of Mecha-Heather's tendrils shot at him and grab his hoof, pulling him as he tried to pull it back. And as it did this, three other vines grabbed his other hooves, the four starting to pull them apart.

"Gyah!" He cried as he felt his legs about to pulled out of his sockets.

"Flash!" Misty gasped as she got up, only for the two remaining vines to grab her. They wrapped themselves completely around her, leaving only her head free, but the end of one of the vines slithered up the back of her head and wrapped around her horn, somehow making her magic vanish.

And as all three tried to move, they found that none could escape. Mecha-Heather raised her three remaining hooves at this, all shifting into their different forms. A buzz-saw, a claw and a spinning spike that formed a drill all came for Flash, threatening to cut him apart if he didn't use his Sacred Light to escape.

He squirmed as he the vines continued to pull on him, the three weapons getting closer as he did this. His mind with to the Sacred Light, making him growl as he prepared to use it. And as he closed his eyes, ready to summon it till-

"HEY!" Mecha-Heather turned to the voice and saw Scootaloo had somehow gotten up close, its decapitated claw in her grasp. "SURPRISE!" She thrust the claw into the creature's chest, piercing it around the doors of its metal front. The cyborg screamed as its metal body was penetrated, causing it to let go of Flash and Misty.

A jolt of power was then sent into the mechanical appendage, causing the claw to snap shut around the doors of its chest. Flash saw this and charged up and grabbed the end of the cable connecting to the claw, pulling it with everything he had. The mechanical doors ripped off at this, revealing the chunk of black rock stuck inside. It was surrounded by a golden light, which exploded free as soon as the doors were pulled off.

Flash threw the claw away as the golden light flew into him, the pegasus feeling a burst of renewed energy flowing through him. He smirked at this before turning to Mecha-Heather, the cyborg now staggering back at this. But before it could do anything, Flash thrust a glowing hoof into the hole in its chest. This shattered the Corrupted Shadow, making it cry out against as the black energy flowed out as Flash pulled away.

Misty had spent this time freeing Trail, the pegasus landing beside her as they watched the cyborg continue to scream as its vines and hoof weapons began to flail around.

"Is that it?" Trail asked, "Is it beaten?"

"Not yet," Flash replied as he tensed up his hooves, "As long as this thing's in one piece, it won't stop even without its power source. But there's one thing that's different now." The others saw him begin to glow, "Now it can't drain away my power. ARMORIZE!" With that, he was consumed by a blinding light that formed the armor around him. When the light faded, the Shining Guardian stood tall as the cyborg turned to him.

Flash shined a grin at this, "What's the matter?! This is what you wanted, right?!" The creature replied by firing its vines at him. But as they tried to whip at him, his form became blurry as the vines began to pass through him. That's what the others saw. Mecha-Heather's robotic eyes allowed it to see the truth, Flash simply moving around the vines before returning to where he was standing before-hoof.

After a few seconds, he started moving toward the hybrid. It might have been their imagination, but the creature looked terrified as he approached. It fired one of its hoof spikes at him, but he easily blocked it with his own before firing a blast from his horn that cut right through the cable.

It cried out in pain again as the gems on Flash's armor began to glow, then unleashed beams of light that sliced down each of the vines. One by one, the lasers teared through the vines until all that was left were six much shorter strands of cable that were barley long enough to scratch the cyborg's back.

The monster's fear seemed to turn to rage at this, firing the last two hoof weapons at Flash, only for the pegasus to grunt as his horn glowed. Seconds before the weapons struck him, he vanished in a flash of light, only for another flash of light to appear above it.

The cyborg stared up at the pegasi, gasping as Flash crossed his front legs over his chest before flinging them apart and unleashing an extra powerful beam of light from his chest gem. The spell hit the cyborg dead-on, causing it to explode and destroy the cables connecting it to its last line of defense. The monster was then sent flying, crashing into a waltzer with a mighty clang.

Flash opened his wings at this, building up power as the gem on his back hoof began to glow. The energy spread into teh rest of the metal boot as Mecha-Heather began to pick itself up, Flash's wings exploding as he propelled himself at the machine. And as the cyborg's failing body tried to stand, a light made it look up and see Flash shooting down like a meteorite, thrusting the glowing boot forward.

"SHINING IMPACT!" He roared seconds before the boot slammed into the cyborg, causing Mecha-Heather's already badly damaged body to overload. Flash then changed his wings directions, propelling himself back seconds before the cyborg reached critical mass.

A final mighty scream filled the air before Mecha-Heather exploded, the force of the explosion causing many of the surrounding rides and games to be ripped apart. Flash's family hid behind Misty's shield, though the force still threatened to throw them back.

And after a minute passed, the force of the attack receded and the smoke started to fade away. Flash flew down at this, his eyes glancing around to see the damage that had been done during the battle. A place of fun and wonder, reduced to a complete wreck.

"Why?" He asked as he turned back to the destroyed waltzer, "Why would somepony do this?"

Signal Lost.

The pony growled at the screen, only to let out a wheezing cough. He put his hoof to his mouth as he continued to choke, getting his breath back after a minute. After this, he pressed a button on the keyboard, the screen changing to show the image of four pony figures.

Trial-T...74%

Trial-R...52%

Trial-G...36%

Trial-C...19%

"You survived this time, but your luck will run out eventually." He hissed, only for another device to start beeping. It was an intercom device, with a speaker that he reached out and touched a button, "Yes?"

"Void," a female voice called out, "The latest batch of weapons is due soon. They better be ready for when I pick them up."

"They're *cough* ready," he grumbled, "Just be patient."

"I think we've been more than patient given the state you were in when we found you."

With that, the device beeped and the pony known as Void let out a growl before he started coughing heavily again. "Just wait until I have the Sacred Light," he told the voice that couldn't hear him. "Then you'll be sorry." With that, he began to walk away, his heavy hoof-steps continuing to fill the room as he moved over to a certain machine, "You'll all be sorry."

Back at the destroyed carnival...

The authorities had arrived to try and figure out what had happened. Luckily, Flash had been there to explain everything that had happened, the guards and police all shocked at this. The knight asked them to inform the Princesses of the situation right away, soon heading back to the city while the others began doing a damage report and making sure nopony had gotten caught in the crossfire during the fight.

Scootaloo was back at the shooting game's remaining, the little pony looking around for something. "Scoots." She turned to see her brother fly down, "What are you doing over here?"

Scootaloo blushed at this before looking away, "Nothing."

"Scoots..." Flash replied, crossing his hooves as Scootaloo tried to walk away. He then grabbed her shoulder, making her turn to him as he said, "Scootaloo, I'm...I'm sorry if I ever made you feel like you weren't as important as me."

"It's okay," she quickly responded, "I'm sorry for getting jealous. It was stupid of me."

"No, it's natural for somepony to feel like they can't live up to those around them. Trust me, I know. I used to feel like I could never live up to Grand and the other Royal Knights."

"You did?"

"Oh yeah."

"How...how'd you get over it?"

"I'm...not sure. I guess as time went on, I just got over it." Scootaloo glared at him at this, Flash then shining a small grin, "But I also realized that one day, I'd find something I'm really good at." Flash sat down in front of her at this, putting both hooves on her shoulders. "Scootaloo, I might get a lot of attention for what I do, but that doesn't make me any better than you. Because what you do is just as important."

"It is?" Scootaloo asked, Flash nodding before he pointed to her cutie mark.

"You help ponies find out what their destinies are. Sure, you might only help a few ponies here and there in Ponyville, but just wait. One day, I know you'll help lots of ponies discover who they truly are. And that's way more important then what I do."

"Really?" Scootaloo gasped, getting a nod back from him.

"Of course. After all, I can't do what I do without you." Scootaloo raised an eyebrow at this. "My destiny is to protect Equestria and make sure the ponies that live here have a future. But you help shape that future. Without you, the Crusaders and all the other ponies that help others find their true calling...well, without that, Equestria wouldn't be worth protecting."

Scootaloo's eyes went wide at this, "You really think that?"

Flash nodded back again, "Sure I do. You're helping build an Equestria worth protecting. Everypony you've helped and will help find their true callings will all help the kingdom. Grand taught me this a long time ago, that all ponies help make Equestria great. Its why I fight, and that's why you do what you do." He then nudged, "And if you think that's unimportant, maybe you'll help Flurry Heart and other future rulers discover what makes them special. You build it, and I'll protect it."

Scootaloo blinked at this, a smile forming before she asked, "Wait...does that mean we're a team now?"

"We've always been a team. I couldn't have done anything I've done without knowing you were cheering me on." Scootaloo's smile doubled at this, tears forming in her eyes before she jumped at Flash and hugged him tightly. Flash hugged her back, the pair holding each other as tight as possible for the longest time.

It was a wonderful little scene, though Scootaloo did decide to ruin it. "By the way, you better stay on my good side unless you want Twilight to hear about those two mares you let be flirty with you."

Flash's eyes went wide at this, the thought of an enraged Twilight staring him down now terrifying him more than the cyborg had. They let go at this, only for Scootaloo to notice something under some rubble. She let out a gasp and went over, Flash raising an eyebrow as she lifted several pieces of wood and metal up.

She pulled something out at this, now seeing the teddy Flash had won her. It was a little dirty, but miraculously hadn't been damaged despite getting buried under the debris. He smiled as he watched her hug the bear tightly, the pair then leaving to find their parents over where Scootaloo had saved them from the monster. Trail lifted up a claw as Misty began to pull it open, the metal doors that had once been on the cyborg's chest eventually falling off.

"What are you doing?" Flash asked as Trail put the claw back down.

"This is all that's left of that thing," Misty replied, "Meaning they're our only clues to figure out who sent it after you."

"Any idea who it could be?" Scootaloo added as Misty picked the metal doors up.

She squinted at them, only to see notice something in the inside of the door, "Look at this." Misty pointed at it as Flash took a closer look, seeing something had been etched into the metal.

"Trial...H?" Flash read, the saw that the same small writing had been etched into the other part of the door, "Trial H? Trial...Heather?"

"You think Trial is what these things are called?" Trail asked, his son showing a big frown.

"Maybe. That means my clone was likely called Trial F."

"So whoever made these things decided to name them?" Scootaloo asked. "You think that means there's more of them?"

"I really hope not...but I'm betting there's going to be plenty more." Flash then patted Scootaloo's head, showing a big grin as he added, "But don't worry. Next time, I'll be ready take them down."

Ones Soul Calling

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A week had passed since the events at the carnival, Flash having quickly informed the princesses of the attack and his theory that there might be more cyborg knight clones on the way. This made Twilight's anxiety sky-rocket, the defender knowing what that meant as she now believed he might do the stupid idea of leaving Ponyville to attempt to fight the monster making these machines. Thankfully, he decided to remain in Ponyville, knowing that he couldn't do it alone and that there were no leads.

This was followed by him saying this, "The only way I was able to stop those two was because somepony else helped me. Whatever this thing is that's after me, the Sacred Light isn't gonna be enough."

The statement was followed with an order that Flash was to keep his Celestic Gear on him at all times. He agreed to this easily, knowing it wouldn't change much as Celestia ordered the knights to start creating a file over these incidents. And as this happened, Flash went back to Ponyville, doing the usual patrols and working to train Fire Heart over his abilities.

As for the colt, he was now in school with his sister and all his friends. Their teacher Ms. Cheerilee had just announced that their lessons came to a close for the day, "Alright children, before we go, I have an assignment for you each over the weekend." This was met that a bunch of groans, Cheerilee rolling her eyes. "Now now, this is something special. As you know, a cutie mark has a specific meaning. So over the weekend, I want you to write a report on your cutie marks. Explain what they mean and what path you intend to take in life that best highlights those marks." She then saw some of the blank flanks staring back at the mark-less rumps, "I understand that many of you don't have cutie marks yet, but I'd still like to see what you write about what kind of cutie mark you think you'll have, and what you'd like to do with it." This made them nod back as the bell rang. "We'll then read them out on Monday. Until then, have a nice weekend."

With that, the students began gather their things and file out of the classroom, all instantly talking about their assignment. "What does your cutie mark mean?" Heart heard somepony ask, turning to see a filly talking to Snails. The pony looked back at his flank with a frown.

"Um...I don't know," he replied.

"You must have some idea what it means," Sweetie replied, "What were you doing when it showed up?"

Snails shrugged at this, "I don't know." Sweetie sighed at this, she and the rest of the crusaders turning to one another and nodding. It appeared they had found their next client.

"Well you three clearly know what you're gonna write about," Silver Spoon told the crusaders before turning to Diamond Tiara. "Wish we knew what we were gonna do with our marks when we grow up."

Diamond shined a grin at this, "I already know what I'm gonna do."

"Really?" Soul asked, "What?"

Diamond turned to her and smirked, "You should know, you're the one who gave me the idea. I'm gonna be mayor of the town!" Soul's eyes went wide as she remembered suggesting that when she and Diamond first met.

"Oh yeah!" Spoon clapped her hooves at this, "And I said I was gonna be your deputy mayor."

The girls laughed at this, as Rumble, Heart and Button walked past them, "Lucky," Rumble grumbled, "I wish I could get my cutie mark already." He turned to Button and Heart, "What are you two gonna do?"

"Play video games," Button instantly responded.

"How is that a career?" Heart asked, Button shrugging as he said he'd find a way. "You might wanna try and find another way of making a living with that cutie mark."

Button rolled his eyes at this, "Easy for you to say. You've been going on and on about becoming a Royal Knight since the day we met."

Rumble nodded as Heart smirked, rubbing under his nose, "I can't help that I'm so awesome. I found my calling before I even knew I wanted to be one." His eyes went wide at this, "Oh yeah, I gotta get to the castle!" He spread his wings, "Flash said he was gonna teach me a new grappling hold today. See ya!" With that, he shot up and rocketed toward the castle.

Soul giggled at her brother, before glancing back at her own cutie mark. The pink lines that made up the flower symbol stared back at her, as the others ponies around her continued to talk about their marks. "Soul?" She turned to Diamond, "You okay?"

"Yeah..." she slowly replied as she took another look at the mark. "I'm just...not sure what I'm gonna write about."

"What do you mean?" Spoon asked, "It's obvious what your destiny is." Soul raised an eyebrow at her, "You're gonna be a princess! You're an alicorn after all."

Soul shook her head at this, "Just because I got turned into an alicorn, doesn't mean I'm gonna be a princess one day." She looked up at her horn, "I can barely use this thing half the time."

"That's just because you're still learning," Sweetie told her, "Just wait. Give it a few years and you'll have that magic thing down."

"Maybe..." Soul sighed, "But I don't even know if I wanna be a princess. I mean, what kind of princess would I be?" The ponies all remained quiet at this, Soul nodding. "Exactly. Now, if you excuse me, I've got a lesson with Twilight as well." With that, she spread her wings and flew off for the castle as well.

And as she disappeared into the distance, her friends all frowned at the sight. As for the filly, she let another sigh as her eyes drifted up to the horn that had been forced upon her, "Why couldn't Faust have turned me back to a pegasus after she was done with me? It couldn't have been that hard." As she said this, memories of when her magic went out of control came to mind, making her shake her head, "Why do I have this?"

It was here that she arrived at the castle, landing as she saw Twilight and Starlight at the front door, the pair glancing back as she walked up, "Hello Soul, did you have a good day at school?"

"It was alright," she replied, "What are you two working on?"

"We're adding a magical doorbell." Soul raised an eyebrow at this, only to notice a bit of rune magic the pair were writing into the wood.

"Why do you need a magical doorbell?" She asked, Twilight replying by holding up a book. "A book?"

"I special ordered it, but then I had to go all the way to the post office to pick it up because I missed the delivery. Turns out, Derpy waited at the front door for five minutes while I was in the kitchen. She knocked, but I couldn't hear her, so that's why I've decided to add a magic doorbell."

Starlight nodded in agreement. "It's simple. Whenever the door gets hit in rapid succession, it sends out a magic signal to runes we've placed in every room of the castle. Those runes then scan the room and if it detects a life sign, it creates a sound. Wanna try?" Soul nodded and flew onto a balcony that lead to a hallway on the second floor. A few moments later, she suddenly heard a ringing sound that was like church bells.

"Cool," she commented before flying back outside, "That's awesome."

Twilight giggled at this, "Now we'll never miss a delivery again. Sure beats hiring a door pow...pow..." Twilight's face scrunched up suddenly, confusing her students until she let out a mighty sneeze.

"Gesundheit," Starlight told Twilight as she rubbed her nose.

"Sorry about that," she replied, "Anyways, we'll need to test all the runes to make sure they're-" She stopped and took several deep breaths before sneezing again.

"Are you alright?" Soul asked, Twilight nodding.

"I'm fine. Must be something out here that I'm having a reaction to."

"Maybe you're coming down with something," Starlight added.

"I'm fine," she responded before they started testing all the rune bells. But as they did this, Twilight kept sneezing all throughout the day. And as night took over the day, she went to bed hoping that she could sleep off whatever was making her sneeze up a storm.

The next morning...

With it being the weekend, most ponies in Ponyville were sleeping in, including Heart, Soul, Scootaloo, Ace and Mira, the five getting another hour of sleep before waking up and getting their breakfast. And as they ate their cereal, Soul was staring at a blank sheet of paper that she was supposed to write on about her future plans involving her cutie mark.

"Still can't think of anything?" Scootaloo asked before shoveling a spoonful of cereal into her mouth. Soul let out a groan as she magically pushed her bowl away and slammed her head into the table. "I know figuring out your destiny can be hard, but-"

"But what if it isn't that?!" Soul interrupted while raising her head. "What if it's the fact that my destiny has already been completed?!" Scootaloo tilted her head at this as Soul continued, "I mean, I got my mark when Faust turned me into an alicorn, and she made me an alicorn to act as her voice during the war. But now that that's done, what if it means my destiny has come to an end?!"

"That's silly," Mira chimed in, "There's no way you can have such a quick destiny."

"She's right," Heart nodded, "Sure, you might have become an alicorn for that reason. But I don't think Faust would have done that if she didn't think you could do something amazing with the power she gave you. You just gotta figure out what it is."

"Yeah!" Ace raised his paw, "Heck, you're really good at art. Maybe you can become an artist." He pointed at her cutie mark, "Maybe make some kind of image made of lines like that."

Soul turned to the mark, only to shake her head, "No. I like art...but I don't think that's it."

The others frowned at this, Mira then patting her on the back, "Don't worry. We'll help you find out what you're meant to do. And I bet it'll be something-"

"ACHOO!" The five jumped and spun around, now seeing Twilight in a dressing gown and carrying a bunch of tissues in her magic. She blew her nose before throwing it into the bin. "Morning..."

"Morning," they all replied as she moved over to the table, the others trying to scoot away as she sat down.

"You okay?" Mira asked next.

"You look even worse then you did yesterday," Ace added before getting flicked in the ear. "Ow!" He turned to glare at Mira.

"I think I've come down with something," Twilight sighed. "I just need...lots of fluids. Flash already sent Spike and Starlight to Zecora. Hopefully she'll have something to help with this." She then let out another sneeze, the group ducking under the table to escape the fire. After this, the others raised their heads before pushing the remains of their food away in case it got hit. "Sorry."

In that moment, the door opened as Flash and Springer appeared, "Morning." Flash commented before noticing Twilight, "Seriously?! I told you to stay in bed!"

"But I've got things to do today," Twilight replied, "I've got a meeting with Mayor Mare today, I'm helping Pinkie with her baking, and Rarity wanted to test out a new style of dress on somepony with my coat color."

"You can't do any of that with the fever you have," Flash sighed before placing his hoof on her forehead. "Geez, you're burning up."

"I'm sure I'll be fine once Spike and Starlight return from Zecora's." As she said that, the doors to the dinning room opened again as the mystic dragon and unicorn appeared.

"We're back," Spike replied as Starlight held a bottle of pink liquid in her magic. "And Zecora said this should fix Twilight right up." The alicorn grabbed the bottle and began to gulp it right down, the group watching her to see if it magically made her cold vanish.

And after a few seconds, she smiled. "Hey, I feel much-ah...ah...ah!"

"Duck and cover!" Ace yelped before everypony jumped down, Twilight now unleashing a supercharged sneeze that even caused her horn to fire a blast of magic. The beam flew around and struck some of the room's potted plants, turning them into a trumpet, jack in the box and a lamp.

Once she was done, she sniffed before rubbing her nose, "Sorry."

The others stood up and Flash pointed to the ceiling with his wing. "Bed. Now." Twilight sighed before doing what she was told, Flash going with her.

"Somepony's gonna have to cancel my appointments."

"I'll go," Soul spoke up, the defender turning to her, "You should probably keep an eye on her. I've got nothing planned today, so I'll tell the mayor and the others Twilight can't make it."

Flash nodded and Soul went to leave, Mira running after her. "I wanna go! Beats staying here and catching whatever Twilight has."

The pair left the room as Flash turned to Spike, "Maybe Zecora's remedy will work with time," the dragon suggested before snapping his claws. "I'll make her some soup."

Flash was about to reply, only to hear another voice cry out, "Achoo!" They turned to see a sniffing pony, Starlight. "Oh, excuse me." She then saw the two raise an eyebrow, "What?" Flash pointed at the ceiling again, Starlight grimacing at this before teleporting away.

"That better had been a normal sneeze." Flash grumbled, "But knowing my luck..."

Soul and Mira soon arrived at town hall, quickly getting an audience with Mayor Mare. "Thank you for coming to tell me girls," the earth pony said before sighing, "Looks like I'll have to put off reorganizing the files until the princess is better."

"What if Mira and I help?" Mira went wide-eyed at this as Mayor Mare raised an eyebrow.

"I don't know. This is a rather...complicated system."

Soul waved her hoof at this, "Oh please, I live with Twilight. I've seen her reorganize the library a hundred times. If I can follow that, I'm pretty sure I can handle helping with this."

The mayor frowned at her, only to do a small nod, "Very well. I guess your magic would make the process easier. Come along."

She trotted off, the two following her as Mira whispered to Soul, "What are you doing?!"

"I'm trying to see if I can do what Twilight does," Soul replied, "If I'm supposed to be a princess someday, then I should see what I'd be expected to do as a princess. Filing and organizing seems to be a big part of the job."

"Here we are," Mayor Mare stated as they walked into the doorway. "I warn you, these files haven't been sorted in a while."

Before Soul could say no problem, she opened the door and the two saw the size of the problem they were dealing with. Piles upon piles of differently colored files were scattered everywhere, each pile having a larger one located behind it. The pair's eyes went wide at this, "Alright girls, let's get to work. First, we need to sort each file into their own colors, then sort them alphabetically before putting the differently colored piles into where they're located on the color spectrum. Then it's just a matter of filing them into the correct cabinets."

The girls gulped before Soul asked, "Anything else?"

"Just be careful not to get a paper-cut." Mira turned to glare at Soul, the filly shrugging before the three got to work. But as they did this, an aid walked by the door before letting out a sneeze.

Back at the castle, Flash was feeding Twilight the soup Spike had made while the dragon was now waiting on Starlight.

"What do you mean she's already as bad as I am?!" Twilight yelped before Flash shoved the spoon in her mouth, the alicorn gulping the soup down before continuing, "I was sneezing for a whole day before it got worse!"

"I don't know. Maybe cuz you're an alicorn?" Flash replied before getting anther spoon full.

"I...guess." Twilight mumbled as she began to get up, "I should try and research what we have on-"

"No." Flash responded while pushing her back down with his wings, "You need rest." As he said that, Twilight let out a sneeze, Flash side-stepping to dodge the also magic beam that came after the sneeze.

"Sorry," she sniffed before letting out a moan and laying back down. "I don't feel good..."

"I know." Flash sighed, putting the soup on the nearby dresser, "I need to talk to Zecora."

Soul and Mira let out a moan as they made their way for Sugarcube Corner, Mira letting out a moan, "So many paper-cuts..." She began to rub her arm, "I can't believe I lost to a filing cabinet." She turned to Soul as they arrived at the building. "You owe me a seriously tasty treat after putting me through that!"

"I'm sorry," Soul replied, "It's over, so let's just put it behind us and agree to never volunteer for something like it again." Mira nodded as they walked in, now seeing Pinkie, Rainbow and Fluttershy.

"Hey girls," Pinkie cheered, "What can I getcha?"

"Whatever it is, put it on Soul's tab." The alicorn filly rolled her eyes as they jumped onto some stools.

"We came to tell you Twilight's not feeling well, so won't be able to help in the kitchen today."

"Oh dear," Fluttershy gasped, "I hope she's alright."

"Maybe I should make her something to help her feel better," Pinkie added as Rainbow raised an eyebrow.

"How could a cake or muffin or whatever make somepony feel better?"

Pinkie giggled as she pulled out a bunch of baking supplies, "It's all about how much love and care you put into the cake." With that, she started mixing the ingredient into the bowl, Soul and Mira glancing at each other before looking at the restaurant's menu.

But before Soul could choose, she suddenly heard something, "Ah..." she turned to see Fluttershy about to sneeze, "Ah...ah...AHHH!" They all braced themselves, "Achoo."

The group turned to her as she sniffed, Pinkie chuckling, "Faust bless you."

She held up a box of tissues, Fluttershy taking it and blowing her nose, "Thank you Pinkie. Oh, I hope I haven't caught what Twilight has."

"You probably shouldn't go big for a while then. That and...ah...ah..." Rainbow added, only to take a deep breath as Pinkie pulled her precious cake batter out of firing range. "ACHOO!" She yelped as she sneezed, knocking her back and hitting the nearby wall, "Ow..." Soul got down as she saw Rainbow had hurt her hoof at this.

Soul quickly ran into the back kitchen and grabbed a wet towel before walking over to wipe the bruise she got from the blow. "Thanks," Rainbow moaned, "You know, you're pretty good at this." Soul smiled back as Pinkie gave her a band-aid, which she easily applied to Rainbow's hoof.

Back at the castle...

Flash had now went into Starlight's room, now seeing she was as bad as Twilight. "She's got a serious fever and her sneezes are only getting worse," Spike told him, "What do we do?"

The defender was about to reply, only for Springer and Ace to appear with grocery bags in paw. "We got the ingredient you need for the soup."

"How much do you plan to make?" Ace added as he dropped the bag on the floor with an extra loud thud, "This looks like it could feed a whole army."

"We need as much as we can to get them back to normal," Spike replied, "Now who wants to help me-ah," he stopped as he started taking large breaths. "Ah...ah...ACHOO!" He sneezed, causing him to unleashed a blast of fire that everyone backpedaled from, "Oh no..."

"BED!" The three yelled, Spike turning to head for his room.

"This isn't good," Flash told the jakhowls. "It looks like any creature can catch it, not just ponies."

"Does that mean we could be infected?" Ace asked while pointing at himself.

"Maybe," Springer responded, "Which means Mira, Soul, Heart and Scootaloo could get it."

"Oh no," Flash gulped. "They all left the castle, meaning they could be infecting other ponies right at this moment." He pointed at Springer, "Connect to them, now!"

Springer nodded and put his paws on his head.

"Thank you for telling me this girls," Rarity told Soul as she put away the material for her new dress. "A shame I'll have to wait another day to try the style out, but Twilight needs to focus on her health."

"Maybe you can use this spare time to come up with some new designs," Lightning suggested from behind the counter while turning a page in a book, "Or maybe Soul could help you."

Rarity and Soul exchanged glances, Soul's ears dropping at this as she saw a shine go off in Rarity's eyes. That is, till she and Mira suddenly felt a voice appear in their heads.

"Soul, Mira, Heart and Scootaloo."

"Springer?" Soul asked, "!hat's up?"

"You all need to get back to the castle. There's a chance you've caught the same cold Twilight has. Spike has it now, so that means Mira could get it. Get back here to be safe."

Soul nodded and told Rarity this, only to go wide-eyed. "Wait..." she turned to Mira, "Didn't Fluttershy and Rainbow start sneezing?"

As she said that, Lightning suddenly let out a sneeze, making them all turn to him as he rubbed his nose, "What?" He asked, now seeing the filly frowning at him.

Springer sent out a message to everypony that came in close contact with the four that had left the castle, then sent out another message to everypony that came in contact with those ponies.

By the end of it, a quarter of the town was summoned to the castle. "I'm sorry everypony," Flash told them as he stood on the steps overlooking the ponies in the castle's entryway. "I'm afraid you might have caught an...illness." This made everypony gasp, about to start screaming before Flash spread his wings and use his Sacred Light to make them glow, making them all stare back at him. "I know. I know. But so far, this illness doesn't seem to be at all dangerous. I just want to isolate it until we're sure."

As he said that, the castle doors opened and a bunch of doctors marched in. "We're here," the lead physician chimed in, Flash now seeing him carrying multiple boxes in his magic, "And we brought the masks."

"Good. Give them to everypony." He turned to the lead doctor, "Can you come take a look at the others and see if you know what this is?" The doctor nodded and the two marched up to Twilight's room while the other doctors started giving masks out.

"Ugh..." Rarity sighed as she stared at the mask, "How dreadfully plain."

"Live with it," Rainbow put her mask on. "It beats getting sick."

"But aren't we already sick?" Pinkie asked, putting her mask on. "We've already started sneezing."

"Achoo," They turned to Fluttershy as she rubbed her nose. "Sorry."

Soul and Mira, both wearing a mask, walked up to them. "I don't get it. I haven't sneezed once." Mira commented as she turned to Soul, "You?" Soul shook her head, "Then how did we have infect the others if we don't got it?"

"Lack of symptoms, you may see." Everypony turned to see a mask wearing Zecora. "But don't allow it to make you carefree. While your body may possess a disease-proof barrier, you may still be acting as an infectious carrier."

"Meaning?" Mira asked as Springer walked up.

"It means that just because you don't look like you have the illness, you might still carry it and could pass it on." As he said that, Flash and the doctor appeared, "How are they?"

"Not good," Flash replied, "Their fevers are still rising and they're starting to cough."

"Did you figure out what they have?" Ace asked the doctor, who shook his head.

"No, I've never seen anything like this. There are a bunch of different things it could be, but none I can think of that could withstand the remedy Zecora gave her." He turned to the zebra, "We should compare notes and figure out what we're dealing with." Zecora nodded and the two headed through the mass of sneezing ponies.

"Maybe we should send a message to Celestia," Springer chimed in, "Let her know we might have a pandemic on our hooves."

"Yeah...we'll have to find a way to send it without using Spike though." Flash replied as they headed inside. As they did this, more and more ponies started sneezing. The doctors and nurses did their best to figure out what they had, but as more time went on, they found themselves running into more dead ends diagnosis wise.

And as the hours passed, two things started happening. Several ponies started getting high fevers and coughing violently while new ponies arrived after they started sneezing heavily. By the end of the day, the castle of friendship was packed with two thirds of the town's population. This included the entire Apple Family, Grand, Iron, Wild Smile, Rogue, the Cakes, Ms. Cheerilee and everypony in her class. They all showed signs of this illness, with even Springer, Heart and Ace coming down with it.

"Here you go," Soul filled a bowl Mira was holding with soup before the jakhowl gave it to Twist.

"Thanks," the filly replied before the pair moved over to the next pony, with was Diamond and Silver Spoon, Soul frowning at the sight of her friends.

"You okay?" She asked the two, who nodded as they accepted their bowls.

"Daddy's looking into hiring more doctors," Diamond moaned before staring at the two. "How come you're not sick?"

Soul shrugged, suggesting she was just naturally immune. "If that's the case, shouldn't he be immune too?" Spoon pointed at Fire Heart and Ace, both sitting back to back and sneezing.

"I don't know," Soul replied, "I'm not a doctor."

As this happened, the lead physician walked up to her with Flash. "Excuse me," he told the pair. "I was wondering if maybe we could talk." Soul and Mira turned to him, "It seems amazing that the pair of you have had unequaled exposure to so many infected ponies and not show any signs of infection yourselves."

"Zecora said we could still be carriers," Soul responded.

"That is possible," the doctor told her while scratching his chin, "But I'd like to test of be sure. It's possible you two have an immunity that we could use to synthesis a vaccine."

"We do? But what about Flash? He's been around them just as long and-"

"ACHOO!" A snapping sound filled the air, making them turn to see Flash's mask fly off as he began rubbing his nose, "Sorry."

Soul sighed and shook her head, "Nevermind. What do you need?"

The doctor grimaced at this, "I need a blood sample. From both of you." Mira's eyes went wide, only for Soul to hold out a hoof.

"Alright. Drain away." The doctor raised an eyebrow at this, wondering why the filly wasn't panicking, but instead moved them to the dinning room. They and Zecora had set up a temporary base of operations there, medical equipment everywhere inside. This included a blood pumping station, which they hooked the two young girls up too. Mira squirmed a bit, not liking the idea of losing blood, but had agreed to help them find a cure. But that didn't stop her from looking away when the liquid was extracted while Soul stared at how it was done, intrigue in her eyes.

And as the blood was taken, the doctor gave them a nod, "Thank you. Now we can compare your blood to the samples we took from the infected to try and figure out what seems to be protecting you."

"Just don't go making it a waste and end up getting sick," Flash joked as the nurse gave both a cookie. The girls nodded and left the dinning room, both now seeing the many ponies laying around the room, all sneezing and hacking every second.

"I hope they find something," Mira muttered.

"Let's help 'em out till then." Soul added as they started to help out again. And over the next few hours, the ponies grew sicker and sicker, with Zecora and the doctors starting to sneezing despite the masks and constantly sanitizing themselves. But that didn't stop them from working late into the night, trying to find a way to combat this unusual disease.

The next morning...

When Soul woke up that morning, she still felt completely fine. But she knew she was alone in this. Heading into Flash and Twilight's room, she and Mira found the pair laying on their bed, both looking absolutely terrible. Flash had a serious fever and Twilight was babbling in her sleep.

"Hold on..." Soul told them before putting wet cloths on their heads. "We'll...we'll find a way to get rid of this." But when they left the bedroom and headed downstairs, Mira asked a simple question.

"How?"

Soul gulped, especially when they arrived at the bottom and found many ponies on the floor looking just as bad as Flash and Twilight. "I...I don't know. But we need to do something." She looked up at the sky, sighing, "Would it be too much to ask for a little help?"

As soon as she said that, the doors of the castle were flung open. Everypony turned to them and now saw Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, the pair marching in while being followed by a horde of ponies dressed as doctors.

Celestia took one glance at the room and frowned, "This is worse then we thought."

"Princess!" Soul gasped, flying over to them. "What are you doing here?!"

"Nopony responded to the letter we sent back," Celestia replied, "I feared things had gotten so bad that you couldn't."

Soul and Mira exchanged glances at this, Mira running off to Spike's room as Soul turned back to he princesses, "You shouldn't be here. If you get sick-"

"Don't worry," Luna interrupted, "We've taken every precaution." Her horn glowed and a blue dome of magic appeared around her, "Magic Heath Bubble. Will keep away any infectious diseases." She gestured to all the ponies they brought, "We all have one, so we shouldn't be infected."

"Now we can focus on curing everypony here," Celestia added, "Luckily, I was able to call upon the services of Equestria's best medical expert to help us."

Soul's eyes went wide at hearing this, "You mean First Aid-"

"Is here!" She turned to the door and saw the Healing Knight, standing there beside Heather Bloom. The pair glanced around, frowning at the sight, "This does appear to be quite a powerful illness." He moved over to the nearest pony, who sneezed right at him. Luckily, his own health bubble protected him as he stared the pony over. "What do we know about is so far?"

Soul put a hoof to her chin, "Um...it starts with the pony sneezing, then they get a fever and they start coughing. Twilight's started babbling in her sleep, but I don't know if that's part of it."

"Anything else we should know?" Heather added.

"Well, Mira and I seem to be the only ones that are immune. The doctor took some of our blood...but they all got sick. I don't know how far they got."

"I should go take a look at their findings." First replied, Soul telling him to go to the dinning room right as Mira showed up holding a very damp piece of scroll with Celestia's seal on it. The alicorn took it in her magic, both grimacing at the sight of the scroll before Celestia burned it with her magic.

They then headed to the dinning room, finding First talking to the very feverish doctors. He said something to the knight and this seemed to make First frown, then moving over to the table. "What did he say?" Celestia asked as they sat down with him.

"He said he was able to isolate the virus. It appears that Soul does have it," the filly's eyes went wide hearing this. "But that is not all he said." He pushed a bunch of petri dishes toward them, the group seeing different names on the top of them. "These are some of the blood samples they took from Soul and several others. A sample of the virus can be found in each one. Now watch." He sparked his horn and the dishes all glowed. "Now this spell is designed to highlight the length of time a sample has been infected by a particular virus. That way, we know who patient zero is and how best to handle the situation. And according to the doctor, they preformed this test and got...interesting results."

"What are you trying to say?" Celestia asked.

"Just watch," First replied before activating the spell. They all stared at the dishes and saw the blood samples beginning to change color. "If a sample turns white, it means it's not infected. But it changes from white to grey to black with time. The darker the sample, the longer a pony's had it."

They all watched as many of the blood samples turned different shades of light grey, indicating the disease was fairly new to the sample. But one or two were darker then the others, Twilight's sample being one of these. However, one particular dish caught all their attentions. This one was a black as night, the blood looking more like oil than anything else, this blood belonging to the pony that started this epidemic.

The group's eyes went down to the name on the dish's lid, with one particular pony's heart stopping at the sight of t. "No..." Soul whispered, falling over as she saw her own name staring back at her. "I'm the one that started this?!"

Mira went over to comfort her as Celestia turned back to First, "How long has she been infected?"

First shrugged his shoulders, "Hard to say. The test only has a limit of a month. Since the sample is at this level of darkness, it's safe to say she has had it longer than that. The doctors believe that the virus has been laying dormant within her a long time, something I am at liberty to agree with. It is likely she has held it for years, with it only growing into activation recently."

Hearing him say this, Soul's ears perked up and she turned to Celestia. "The plague?"

"Plague? What plague?" Mira asked, Celestia and First now going wide-eyed at this.

"The one that wiped out the Lost City of Faust's population all those years ago," Celestia whispered, "The reason the city was quarantined and we were all suspended in time until it died out."

"But it didn't die out," Soul began to cry. "It's been living inside me and now I've brought it to Equestria!" Her mind went back to what Faust had told Flash about the plague and how it had no cure, causing her tears to increase. "I...I killed us all! Everypony's gonna die and it's all my fault!"

This made them all exchange glances before Celestia leaned down and put her hoof on her shoulder, "No." Soul looked back up at her, now seeing a warm smile on Celestia's face as she shook her head, "It is not your fault. You may have carried the disease, but that doesn't mean this is your fault. Would you blame your brother if he was the one that spread it?"

Soul blinked at her, her tears slightly falling out, "I...I guess not."

Celestia nodded, "Remember that. We all know you'd never wish harm on another, whether it be to a friend or a foe. This isn't your fault. It's just an unfortunate event that has occurred. We can't change that. But we can make sure what happened in the lost city doesn't happen now. We know what this plague can do, and we're going to stop it."

"She is right," First added, "And if anything, it is a good thing you are the one that was carrying it." The females turned to him, "If it had been Luna or Celestia that carried it, they might have spread it to their subjects a thousand years ago."

"And there'd have been no way to cure it," Celestia finished, First nodding as he put the petri dishes away. "But wait, I thought this plague only targeted older ponies. How come ponies like Heart and the others have it?"

First stopped at this, closing his eyes as he responded, "Well...the virus has been asleep within Soul for two thousand years. Plenty of time to mutate, even within the stasis spell she was in. Perhaps the disease can now target anypony and anything." He turned back to them as held out a bunch medical equipment, "But that does not mean it can survive against me." He spun one of the instruments around before getting to work, the others leaving him to do his job.

Back in the foyer, Heather, Luna and the doctors were working to make sure the sick ponies were comfortable. As they did this, Celestia headed for the doorway. "Sister? Where are you going?" She didn't reply and instead walked outside, her horn glowing before firing a blast of magic into the air.

Everypony stared at the window and saw the spell shoot into the sky before exploding. The magic spread out and started forming a dome around the entire town, sealing everything and everypony inside. "Quarantine bubble," Celestia replied as she glanced back at the ponies. "If we're to make sure this doesn't spread, we need to lock every infected pony inside until the situation is resolved."

The ponies all nodded, not liking the idea of being locked inside, but understood. That is, except Soul as she stared out at the dome, thinking one thing. History was repeating itself. "Please let this turn out differently..."

And so, the ponies began to get to work, First doing everything he could to find an antidote to the virus while Heather, the princesses and their doctors made the infected feel more comfortable. Several doctors had gone out to check around town, trying to find if anypony else wasn't afflicted. But to everypony's shock and horror, they returned to state that every house was filled with infected ponies, all sneezing, fevers and starting to babble. It turned out the ponies that had stayed home had all woken up with fevers, appearing to have slept through the start of this plague.

"But why?" Soul asked as she and Mira helped Heather make more soup, "Why are we immune?"

"I don't know." Heather replied, "There could be a million reasons." She turned to Soul, "You've been infected with it for so long that you must have built up a resistance."

"And what about Mira?" She asked before lifting the chopped vegetables into the air above the boiling pot. "What makes her immune?"

"Not sure. Genetics. Natural vaccination. There could be a whole bunch of reasons the virus hasn't-"

"ACHOO!" The sound of shattering pottery made them turn to see Mira, who had dropped a bowl after sneezing. She rubbed her nose at this, only to see frowns on their faces, "What?"

"She's starting to show symptoms?!" Celestia asked as they lead Mira into the foyer, the alicorn placing a hoof on her head and feeling it already starting to warm up.

"I guess her immune system could only hold the virus off for a little while longer," First commented before Mira sneezed at them, the health bubble blocking it. "This is not good."

Heather lead the golden jakhowl up to her room, as Soul slumped over, "Now I'm the only one immune to this thing!" She cried, "It's hopeless! Nothing's gonna stop this thing!"

"I have not given up yet," First replied as he walked up and patted her shoulder, "If there is a way to cure this disease, then I will find it."

"Well you'd better hurry," Luna added, "Who knows how much longer we have until ponies start..." She turned back to the ponies around them, "You know."

The others all grimaced at this, knowing what she meant. And when she suggested this, when Celestia brought Flash and Twilight some soup, the princess of friendship started letting out moans of pain. Her entire body was starting to hurt, beginning as simple joint and muscle pain before increasing to full body agony. And she wasn't the only one.

All over the castle, ponies began to fall into agony. It struck at different rates for each pony, some taking several hours to hit horrible levels while others reached it in only a couple of minutes. The young ponies began to cry while the adults did almost the same, while others their best to endure it.

"Here," Heather said as she tried to feed Iron Core a green colored tea. "Hopefully, this should dull the pain."

"What is it?" He asked, staring at the liquid.

"Best left a mystery. Just drink it." Iron shook his head and pushed it away before gesturing to a nearby filly.

"Them first. I can hold on until last." Heather sighed and nodded before moving over to feed it to the filly. The other doctors were giving out this herbal remedy, none knowing if it could actually work against the virus. And as they did this, Soul was standing on the stairs, staring at the ponies she was causing to suffer. Despite what Celestia had said, shame still welled up inside of her at the sight.

At this moment, Celestia and Luna were talking to First, "Please tell me you found something," Celestia said, "Ponies are starting to suffer, and there's no telling when pain will be replaced with something more deadly."

"And even if they don't die," Luna continued, "Suffering through that much constant agony could have a serious affect on their mental states."

"I understand that," First replied as he finished mixing several ingredients into a beaker, now heating it, "Alright. From what I have seen, this should be able to fight against the virus." He took the beaker off the heat and used his magic to lift up a large bubble. The magic began to affect the concoction, turning it from icy blue to a strange green color. He then took out a syringe and stuck it into the bubble before pulling on the plunger and sucking it inside.

"Alright," he turned to the princess, "I am ready for a trial run. All I need is a pony to inject."

The ponies shared a glance, knowing who the best pony for the job was.

"Yes," Twilight croaked, "You can test it on me."

"Are you sure?" First asked, "There is no guarantee it will work. And its side effects-"

"I know," Twilight flinched, "But it makes sense. I'm the pony who's most far along the infection scale. If this works on me, it'll work-" She stopped as she flinched again, "It'll work on everypony else." First nodded and held up the syringe, placing it on her shoulder and injected it.

"Now what?" Luna asked as First wiped the spot he had stabbed with a cotton swab.

"Now...we wait." He headed out of the room, planning to make some more serum for it the test on Twilight was successful. But as he stepped into the hallway and closed the door, he suddenly felt a sensation in his nose before letting out a sneeze. The room was filled with the explosive sound, the pony rubbing his nose before remembering Soul telling him how this all started. "What?" He asked, staring at his hoof. "But...the bubble."

"ACHOO!" He yelped a second later, "Oh no." He ran down to the main foyer, only to be greeted with the sounds of multiple doctors sneezing. This included Heather, the knight almost dropping the pain remedy when she did. After her sneeze, she looked up at First and the pair shared a worried expression.

Over the next few hours, the number of sneezing doctors continued to increase. Eventually, even Celestia and Luna started sneezing, showing the disease could break through their health bubbles. Knowing what this meant, the two alicorns went outside.

"Ready?" She asked Luna, who nodded after letting out a powerful sneeze. The pair's horns glowed before they joined tips, their magic firing up into the air and hitting the bubble. This caused it to grow, changing color as Celestia commented, "There. That should stop anypony else from getting into the town and unknowingly getting infected."

Luna nodded in agreement, "And hopefully, First's cure will have worked and healed us all by the time somepony tries."

But as she said that, First went back to check on Twilight, only to find no change in her. "I do not understand. Something should have happened by now," he sighed as he checked Twilight's vitals.

"But she's not getting better," Soul told him before Twilight let out another cry of pain. "She's getting worse!" Flash then let out his own cry of pain, "Can't you give her another dose?! Maybe it'll work if you give her more!"

"That would likely poison her more than anything," First replied as he walked away from Twilight. "I am sorry. I...I don't know what else to do." As he said that, he suddenly stumbled, staggering over to the wall as he began to lose his balance.

"First!" Soul ran over to him as he wiped his head.

"Do me a favor and open a window." Soul reached up and felt his head, grimacing when she felt how warm he was. "You're burning up."

"I'll be fine." He replied, Soul gulping as she heard him use a contraction.

"You need to rest."

"I'm fine," he contracted again before trying to get up, Soul helping him down the stairs. And as they got to the foyer, they found several of the doctors and Heather had fallen to the floor with their own fevers.

"Oh no," she whispered as she First moved over to check on Heather. And as he did this, they heard some of the ponies babbling nonsensically.

"Pizza delivery!" Fluttershy cried out, "For my brain!"

"Pardon!" Rarity said before coughing. "Which way to the peppermint cabbage patch?"

Soul then turned to Celestia and Luna, both alicorns appearing to have trouble staying upright. "Come on sister," the taller one tried to help Luna stay upright. "We must...endure." But not a second later, the two fell over.

"I'm sorry," Luna whispered. "I just...don't have the strength."

Soul's eyes went wide at this, only to turn to First as he fell to the floor next to Heather. "You know what? I think I'll just take a quick nap. I'm sure I'll feel better then."

With that, he closed his eyes, Soul staggering back at the sight. More moans rang out after this, the filly scooting back into the corner of the room as she saw everypony groan in pain. "No..." she whispered, tears starting to flow out of her eyes. And as she heard another loud moan, she turned around and flew up the nearby stairs. "Please no..."

She reached Twilight and Flash's room, throwing the door open and running to their bedside, "Twilight!" She screamed, "Please help me! I don't know what to do!" Twilight didn't reply, the mare staring at the ceiling as Soul slumped down, "Please...I'm scared. I don't want to be left alone again." Tears now hit the floor, "Please....don't let anypony die because of me."

And as these words hit Twilight's ears, she turned to Soul and opened her eyes, "It's not...your fault," she whispered, reaching out and putting her hoof on the filly's head, "None of this...is your fault." Soul glanced up at her, tears flowing as Twilight added, "It's...okay."

"No, it's not!" Soul screamed, "Ponies are gonna die and there's nothing I can do! Even if it's not my fault, I don't want it to happen!" She kept crying, only to feel Twilight stroke her cheek with her hoof.

"It's okay." Twilight slowly croaked out, "We'll...find a way. I promise you. We'll find a way." As she said that, her eyes began to close, Soul watching the mare mumble out some more words.

"NO!" She grabbed her hoof and hugged it, "Please don't go!" Hatred and self-loathing raged through her body. "This isn't fair! Why is this happening to me?! Why can't I do anything?!" She opened her eyes and glared at her horn, "All this power and I can't use it to safe those I care about?!" She closed her eyes, "What good is this thing!" She hit her horn with her hooves, "No...I don't care about the power or magic! I'd give it all up! All the magic Faust gave me! Even my very life, if I could just save them." She sat on her flank, her eyes now bright red from all the crying. "Please. Somepony...anypony...help."

With that, a single tear escaped her eye. One containing all her hopes and deep desire to help now flowing down her face and over the edge of her cheek. It flew down and landed on her flank, atop her cutie mark. And as it absorbed into her fur, something happened.

The mark that had adorned her flank since the day she became an alicorn suddenly began to glow, making the filly open her eyes, "What?" She asked as she stared at her glowing mark, only to see it spread around the rest of her body, the filly now feeling something flow through her. "What the...what's happening?"

The light then went to her horn, now glowing a mixture of gold and pink, Soul just staring at the light. But as it began to shine, she felt something within her change. It was as if something began to unravel in her mind, making her turn to stare at Twilight and Flash. In that instant, something shined in her brain, instantly telling her how the disease was attacking them....and how to destroy it.

She took a deep breath, letting a stream of magic to flow through her. And as she did this, all the fear and doubt she had ever felt about her magic suddenly vanished. "I might not have wanted it," she told herself as the magic flowed, "But this is my power. It's my ally...and it'll help me however I choose. And I choose, to save you!" With that, she unleashed a bright light, the pink and gold magic flowing throughout the room.

The magic went into Flash and Twilight, surrounding them in the energy. They slowly absorbed it, their bodies starting to feel the pain dull. Their fevers instantly began to cool, their throats' irritation starting to fade. Within a minute, the pair suddenly felt completely fine, both opening their eyes at this.

Soul cut the power at this, her horn still semi-glowing as she stared at the pair. She reached up and felt their heads, smiling as they didn't feel warm anymore. "You're okay..." Soul whispered as new tears appeared.

Twilight turned to the filly, "Soul?" She asked, glancing down at herself before turning to Flash as she saw him come around. "What happened?"

"I...I healed you," Soul replied, only to suddenly fly out of the room, shooting down the hall to Spike's room. Once there, she fired the magic at Spike, the Mystic Dragon getting consumed by the magic.

"Huh?" He sat up, "I feel good." Soul smiled and flew out of the room, heading to Starlight's room, then Springer, Ace, Mira and Heart. After leaving Scootaloo's room and curing the CMC, she headed down to the castle's main foyer and stared out at all the ponies that needed her help.

And after healing eleven ponies, she found herself slowing down. The filly's horn was no longer glowing as much, the alicorn turning to the others in the foyer and seeing the ponies still in pain. As this happened, a bulb went off in her head as she flared her wings.

"Soul?" She glanced back at Diamond, "What are you doing?"

"Hopefully...saving you." With that, she flew out of the castle and into the quarantined town. She looked up to the very tip of the dome before flying up. When she got there, she saw the entire infected town and took a deep breath before closing her eyes.

"Faust, I don't know if you can hear me or not, but I need your help. I can save everypony, but I can't do it on my own. You gave me unlimited power once before. Please, give me the strength I need to stop this plague." She waited, but didn't feel any different. In fact, she could feel her power starting to weaken. "Please...I don't want to lose my new home like how I lost my old one! Please!" Silence filled the air as the magic inside her dropped to zero, the glow now gone. And as tears began to appear in her eyes again, a single spark appeared from the tip of her horn.

That spark exploded into a blast of power that covered her entire body, her eyes opening up, now glowing pure white. All over the town, anypony still able to stand was drawn to a light that flowed in through their windows. Looking outside, they saw the source, the little filly flying near the top of the quarantine dome. That light shot up and struck the magical dome, causing it to charge from blue to a gold and pink mixture.

As soon as the dome was completely transformed, it started radiating the energy throughout the entire town. Every building and inhabitant were bathed in the energy, flowing through them as it began to destroy the virus.

Second after second, they felt the pain vanishing and their strength returning. "What is this?" Rainbow asked as she stared at her hooves, "What's going on?"

First stared down at the energy pulsing off him, "Healing magic," he whispered. "The likes that I have never seen before."

The flowing energy continued for five minutes, causing the entire town to slowly be cured of the virus. And as the last deadly pathogen was consumed, Soul's magic cut. The filly's horn stopped glowing and her eyes returned to normal, making her look down and saw ponies walk out of their houses.

"I...I did it," she whispered, only for her wings to tense up. She barely had the strength to cry out before she felt gravity take her, closing her eyes just as she saw an orange blur fly up to her.

"I gotcha," she heard Flash's voice say as a pair of strong hooves wrapped around her. And then everything went black.

Her dreams were filled with nothing but happiness, Soul and her friends playing joyfully in a field. Laughing, singing, jumping around without a care in the world. It was beautiful.

But all good things must end, and she felt the dream begin to fade away as she felt her eyes start to blink open. "I think she's waking up," she heard Heart say through the darkness.

"Give her some room," Twilight added, "Let her breathe." And as Soul opened her eyes, she found herself surrounded by Twilight, Heart, Flash, Mira, Celestia and First. "Hey sleepyhead," Twilight giggled, "Welcome back to the land of the living."

Soul let out a moan as she sat up, "What...what happened?"

"You passed out," First replied, "You ended up using so much magic your that body could not handle the sudden loss and shut down. It has taken you three days to regain enough energy to wake up."

"Three days?!" Soul yelped with instant wide eyes, "Wait...what about everypony else?! Are they-"

"They're fine," Celestia interrupted, "Thanks to you, they've all made a full recovery."

Soul closed her eyes at this, sighing in relief, "It worked...thank goodness."

"And how you did that is what we'd like to talk about." Soul turned to her, "That magic you used to heal us all...where did it come from?"

"I...I don't know. It just kinda...appeared. One minute I was crying, the next minute I suddenly felt an intense flow of energy. And somehow, I knew that my magic was able to destroy the virus. I don't know why...I just knew." She raised an eyebrow at this, now seeing smiles on all their faces. "What?"

"Soul, that magic was your true magic."

"Huh?"

Celestia put a hoof on Soul's shoulder, "While an alicorn and unicorn can learn any spell with enough time and training, each one has a specific magic they naturally excel at. Usually, it's connected to their special talent. As for my calling, it is to raise and lower the sun. That is my special talent."

Twilight nodded at this, "And it seems your natural magical talent has finally awakened: Healing."

"Healing?" Soul asked before staring down at her hooves. "I'm a healer?"

"Yes," First nodded, "And one of incredible power. Your healing magic is already more powerful than anything I have ever been able to produce, and it will only grow stronger with time and training."

"I'm a healer..." she repeated, "I'm...a healer." As she said that, a sense of joy that she had never felt before in her life began to well up in her, "I'm a healer!"

"And it totally makes sense," Heart chimed in, "You've always been good with that stuff. You're always the first to rush to somepony when they get hurt, and you've never been grossed out when you see blood."

"I...guess so." she responded before turning to Celestia, "So what does this mean? Am I meant to be a doctor or something?"

"That's up to you," Celestia replied, "Your talent is healing, and it's your choice on how to use that talent. If you wish to be a doctor, then become one."

"But you could also be a vet," Twilight pointed out, "And who knows what else."

"It is possible your magic can heal anything," First added, "Pony, animal, even plant. And with how strong the magic is, you could save anything that's on the very brink of perishing."

Celestia giggled at this, "That's actually given me a rather interesting idea."

The others turned to her, "Idea for what?" Flash asked, only to see a certain smile on the alicorn's face. Her eyes then showed something that they all knew as she stared at Soul: Pride.

"I know you're still unsure about your place in Equestria, especially as an alicorn. But I believe Faust knew what she was doing when she entrusted that power within you. She knew you could use your magic for many great things. And I'm sure that as you grow older, your magic and how you decide to use it will mature along with you."

"What are you trying to say?" Soul asked back.

"I'm saying that in a few years, you'll be worthy of the title of princess."

Everypony's eyes went wide at this, with none more so than Soul's, "ME?!" she yelped, "I don't...I mean...I can't be a princess!"

"How can you be sure?" Celestia replied, "It's not like I'm planning to make you one tomorrow. I'm talking about in the future, when you're older, wiser and more confident in yourself."

"But what if I'm not worthy of it?" Soul instantly responded, "What if when I'm older I'm actually the worst choice to be a princess?!"

Celestia just shook her head at this, "Then that's okay. Not being worthy of being a princess isn't a dishonor. Maybe you'll be ready someday, and maybe you won't be. All that matters is you be the best pony you can be. And when you're ready to accept the title of princess, we'll be there to help you."

Twilight and the others all nodded in agreement, Soul grimacing at the idea. But as she did this, she saw the smiles on everypony's faces, making her sigh, "Um...okay. But not until I'm older."

"That's fine," Celestia added, "And if you do decide to become a doctor, we can make you leaving medical school be the time to decide whether or not you're ready to be a princess."

Soul nodded back before moving her body, only for First to put a hoof on her chest, "No. You should rest."

"But I wanna see everypony," she replied, "I...I gotta see if they're alright with my own eyes." The others saw the look in her eyes as she said this, First sighing as he put her on his back and left the room.

The others followed while Twilight and Celestia stayed, Twilight turning to her former mentor, "Do you really think she's gonna be a princess?"

"You're the one who's been teaching her. What do you think?"

Twilight put a hoof to her chin in thought, "Well...I think she still has a lot to learn, but I think she'll make a great princess when she's older."

Celestia nodded back, "I think so too. And I already think I know what title would best fit her."

"Really?"

"Yes. I don't know about you, but the title of...Princess of Life, has a nice ring to it. Wouldn't you agree?"

Twilight smiled as she let the name run through her head. "Shining Soul, the Princess of Life. I like the sound of that." Celestia nodded again before they headed out, both looking forward to seeing how far Soul would be able to go now that she knew what path her life was going to take.

Soul flinched when they stepped outside, the sun blazing into her eyes. But as she blinked before rubbing her eyes, she then saw the town was now back to normal. The quarantine bubble was gone, the ponies now going about their day to day lives without a care in the world.

"It...its like it never happened."

First laughed at this, "Having a disease like that should have taken weeks to bounce back from, but thanks to your magic, everypony was up and about within a day of being healed." He glanced back at her, "You should be proud with what you did here."

As he said that, somepony turned to them and yelled, "HEY LOOK! IT'S SOUL!" The other ponies stopped and turned to them step down the castle's front stairs, only to run up and surround them.

"You...you're all alright." she whispered as she heard them all praise her, Diamond and Spoon pushing through the crowd at this.

"We're better than alright!" Diamond told her. "Your magic did more than just get rid of that illness!"

"My back hasn't felt this good in years," Granny Smith added.

"My video game wrist is completely gone," Button chimed in.

"You even healed the burnt tongue I got from the soup you gave me," Derpy laughed, Soul gasping at the statements. But as heard these things, a frown began to appear on her face.

"Everypony...I'm sorry I put you through all this." This made them all stop praising her, some about to ask what she meant as she continued, "I don't know if anypony told you, but I was the one that started this plague." Their eyes went wide at this, "I've been carrying it inside me for years. So don't thank me. It's the least I could do to make up for putting you all through it."

"Don't be silly," she heard Rainbow say as she hovered over the crowd, "Did you infect us on purpose?" Soul shook her head, "Then don't sweat it."

"She's right," Rarity added, "You didn't hurt us on purpose, but you did save us on purpose. That more than makes up for it." The others ponies all cried out in agreement, Soul gasping at the sight before Pinkie called out that they needed to party to celebrate Soul's recovery. Nopony disagreed and all headed off to enjoy the celebration, Soul smiling the whole time as it began.

The situation might have been a worrisome one, but it had also helped Soul discover what her purpose in life was. She was a healer, and possibly a future princess, who would use her magic to help Equestria no matter what. Her destiny was one she would proudly accept and would spend the rest of her life training to fulfil. The road would be long and arduous, but with all her friends beside her, she knew she could accomplish it.

Rock Solid Friendship

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It was a...stoic day in the town of Rockville, home of the rusting old Pie Family Rock Farm. And near the town was a microscopically known school named the Equestrian Institute of Rockology. Outside this school was the aforementioned Pie Family, along with their guest Wild Smile, who were all sitting on the front row two lines of chairs in front of a large wooden stage. On said stage was the schools best, and only, professor Rusty Tenure.

"So in closing," the teacher stated to the 'crowd', "Earning a rocktorate in rock studies from the Equestrian Institute of Rockology is no easy feat. I'm proud of each and every one of you." He turned to his class, only to remember he only had a single student: Maud Pie. "Uh...each of...no, just you, actually."

In reply, Maud simply blinked her usual cold monotone blink before turning to her family. Her parents had similar expressions to her, while her sisters all had different ones. Marble showed a small smile while Limestone seemed annoyed that she had to be here. As for Pinkie...she was being Pinkie.

"Go, Maud!" Her younger sister cheered with a wave of some cutie mark flags. "Woo-hoo!" She then pulled out a novelty foam finger, which she waved around as well. "Number one! Number one!" Wild was also cheering, his puppets flying above the family with a banner connected between them with Maud's face on either side with words between them.

THE ROCK-TOR IS IN!

"Fillies and gentlecolts-" Rusty continued until he spotted something on the chair to Wild's left. A tiny little chair with the pet rock known as Boulder sitting atop it. "And is that magnesium-rich basalt?" Maud waved at Boulder as the teacher continued, "It is my honor to present our vale-rock-torian, Maud Pie. Excuse me," he shined a small smile, "Doctor Pie." He stepped aside, allowing Maud to move over to the podium.

"Whoo!" Pinkie added, jumping up and landing between Marble and Limestone as she wrapped her hooves around them. "Doctor Pie! Doctor Pie!" She then looked up at the banner and wished she had been the one to come up with the rock-tor idea.

Wild smiled at his girlfriend, only to notice Cloudy Quartz was starting to cry while Igneous patted her on the shoulder. Maud then cleared her throat, causing the microphone to feedback and make them all cover their ears. She took out some index cards and began her speech, "I'm Maud-"

"Yeah, you are!" Pinkie cheered, interrupting her sister. "Brilliant speech! Encore! Encore!"

Wild then put a hoof over her mouth, "I think there's more," he told her with Maud nodding.

"There is," she replied in her deadpan voice. "I'm Maud," she flipped her index card, "Pie. Thank you."

"Huh," Wild commented as Maud walked away the podium. "I guess she's never one to mince words." As he said that, Maud was given a diploma, which was obviously made out of a flap piece of rock, she and her teacher then turning to Igneous as he took a photo using an old fashioned camera.

As soon as the picture was taken, Pinkie responded to the speech, "You are so welcome! Brilliant speech! Encore! Encore! Encore!" Wild laughed at this while Maud stepped off the stage with her rocktorate.

"Congrats Maud," he told her once the family gathered around the newly minted doctor. "I have no idea what it takes to get one of those, but I'm guessing it was hard."

"Very," she flatly replied, "It requires being able to identify over a hundred species of rock and the ability correctly estimate their ages from the lines upon their body." She reached over and picked up Boulder. "That was only to pass year one of three. I'd go on, but I wouldn't want to bore you since I know this kind of thing isn't for everypony."

"No," Wild shook his head, "It's very...interesting."

"Hey now!" Pinkie cheered as she jumped around the family and started putting party hats on their heads. "Let's not waste time talking about how you got it. What matters is you have it, and that means only one thing: PARTY!" The rest of her family rolled her eyes at this, trying to hide their smiles.

"Either way," Igneous responded as Pinkie started dancing, "Now that ye have acquired the torate of rock, ye must now choose how to best use it."

"Yeah," Limestone added, "What are you gonna do now that you've graduated?"

"I already have some ideas," Maud replied, "One such idea is moving to Ponyville." This statement caused Pinkie to freeze in place. "I also might start writing a book on the best places in Equestria to find the best quality rocks of each genus."

"Hold it!" Pinkie teleported over to her, "What did you just say?!"

"I might start writing a book on the best places in Equestria to find the best quality rocks of each genus," she repeated.

"No!" Pinkie shook her head. "Before that."

"I already have some ideas."

"After that."

"I might start writing-"

"BETWEEN THOSE TWO THINGS!" Pinkie screamed, Wild seeing Maud's lips move slightly up, making him chuckle as he realized she was trolling her sister.

"One of those ideas is moving to Ponyville." Pinkie heard this and looked like a filly on Heartswarming.

"You...you're really moving to Ponyville?" Maud reply was to simply shrug.

"There's nothing left to study back home on the rock farm, so I might move to Ponyville." As soon as she said this, Pinkie's entire body started vibrating.

"Uh-oh..." Wild gulped as his puppets repeated that statement. They all stepped back as Pinkie's shaking continued to increase.

"SHE'S GONNA BLOW!" Limestone cried before all but Maud took cover, seconds before Pinkie's entire body inflated and then exploded into confetti. Everypony watched as the confetti flew down on Maud and half buried her, then flew off her and reformed into the pink force of nature.

"YOU'RE MOVING TO PONYVILLE!" Pinkie screamed, the cry of excitement so loud now that it filled the air and made every bird in a twenty mile radius take off. And she didn't stop screaming for a while.

In fact, it wasn't until she, Maud and Wild were on the train heading for Ponyville...and a hour or so into the journey. In that time, the other passengers had got pretty annoyed with the mare, which was also jumping and cartwheeling around. But when she finally stopped and landed on the seat next to Maud, she shined the biggest grin.

"You're moving to Ponyville!" She cheered with her nose touching Maud's, "We'll live together and get bunk beds and I'll make us fuzzy slippers that say 'Best Sister Friends Forever', although I probably can't fit all those words on a slipper, so maybe just B.S.F.F, but we don't have to decide right now because we'll be together all the time since when it comes to Ponyville, the doctor is in!"

Wild laughed at the sight before slinging his hoof around the mare, "You might wanna calm down babe. Besides, are you sure the Cakes would be okay with Maud moving into Sugarcube Corner permanently?"

"Permanently, permanently."

"He's right," Maud nodded, "If I do decide to move to Ponyville, I'll probably want my own place."

"What do you mean 'if you decide?" Wild asked, Pinkie slowly turning her head back to her.

"I'm not definitely moving to Ponyville," Maud replied.

"Of course you are, silly. You said-" her hair and face morphed to look like a pink version of Maud, the mare somehow gaining eye shadow as she did as she imitated her voice, "There's nothing left to study back home on the rock farm, so I might move to Ponyville." Once she was done, she smiled before blowing into her hoof and making herself pop back to normal.

"I'm also considering Ghastly Gorge," Maud added, Wild's eyes going wide while Pinkie just laughed.

"Classic Maud sense of humor!" She then nudged her with her elbow, "You should do stand-up!"

"I do. But that wasn't a joke."

This made Pinkie gasp, "Ghastly Gorge?! That terrible, awful, no-fun, all-alone canyon in the middle of nowhere?"

"And full of deadly pony-eating eels," Wild finished as his puppets repeated his last words.

Maud nodded, "There or Ponyville."

Wild turned to Pinkie, her brain now twitching before she exclaimed, "But Ponyville is so eee-hee-hee-hee-hee!" Her mouth turned into a massive smile before thinking about the other option. "And Ghastly Gorge is so blegh!" She pulled her face down, sticking her tongue out as she looked back at Maud, who continued to just flatly stare.

"It's a rock-based decision," she replied.

"Shouldn't it also be a survival based decision?" Wild asked, "Again, pony-eating eels."

Pinkie didn't seem to notice him, instead jumping onto her back and waving her back hooves into Maud's face, "But what about B.S.F.Fs?

"That's why I'm giving Ponyville a chance," Maud responded.

"Phew!" Pinkie wiped her brow at this, "So all I have to do is prove Ponyville has better rocks than Ghastly Gorge?" She smirked, "Challenge accepted." She pointed at Maud, "We'll drop your stuff off at my place, and then hold onto your world, cause it's about...to...get...rocked!" With each pause, her face had gotten closer to her sister's until it was now touching.

The two simply stared at one another before Maud replied, "Okay." Pinkie's determined stare was then replaced with a smile, the earth pony hugging her sibling. Maud then got up, stating that Boulder needed to use the restroom, and walked off.

Once she was gone, Wild leaned over to Pinkie, "So...what part of Ponyville has the best rocks? Didn't you say one of the reasons you moved to Ponyville was because it was lacking in rocks?" Wild then saw steam slowly begin to come out of Pinkie's ears, "Uh, are you okay-"

"I GOT IT!" She suddenly exclaimed, making the other passengers in the cart all turn to glare at her. "I know exactly where to take her! The place in Ponyville that's absolutely loaded with the best rocks anypony could hope to find!"

"Really?" Wild asked before Pinkie nodded, "Awesome. Where?" Pinkie just tapped her nose just as Maud returned. They continued talking about all the awesome things they had in Ponyville, trying to convince Maud, only for the announcer to call out that their stop was up next.

"Oooh," Pinkie jumped up and somehow stopped the laws of gravity in order to grab their bags from the rack before floating back down. "Just wait Maud. Your amazing new life in Ponyville starts right now!"

Wild took the bags as they walked out, Pinkie now beginning to give a tour despite Maud having already been to the town before. And as they arrived at Sugar Cube Corner, they saw one particular filly walking out while reading a book and enjoying a cupcake.

"Soul!" Pinkie cheered, making the alicorn look up from her book that she had been holding in her magic. "Hiya! I want you to meet my sister, Maud." Soul turned to the earth pony, blinking at the sight of the gray pony before showing a smile.

"Hello. Its nice to meet you."

Maud simply nodded back at that before Pinkie exclaimed, "Guess what, Maud? Soul here wants to be a doctor, just like you."

This made Soul raise an eyebrow, "You're a doctor?"

"I have a rocktorate," Maud replied, "I'm guessing you want to be a normal doctor, which works on ponies instead of rocks." Soul nodded. "Well then, you don't want to be a doctor like me."

Soul just stared at her, her silence broken after a slow blink. "Right...so uh...what did you have to study to be a rock doctor?"

"I majored in Rock Identification and chronology, with a minor in stand-up comedy."

The filly blinked at this while Maud glanced down and saw Soul was reading a first aid book before commenting, "Certain rocks have medicinal qualities."

"They do?" Soul asked, Maud nodding again.

"Limestone is good at healing upset stomachs. It's calcium carbonate and powdered up, the same as what modern doctors use to treat stomach problems."

"Wow..." Soul responded, "That's really cool."

Pinkie smiled at this exchange, only for Wild to return after dropping their bags into her room, "Alright, this has been great." Pinkie slung a hoof around Maud's shoulders, "But it's time for me to show Maud all the awesome rocks of town."

Soul raised an eyebrow again, only to shrug, "Yeah, I've gotta get going to. Nice meeting you," Soul spread her wings and took to the air with her book and cupcake.

"She seemed nice," Maud deadpanned.

"She is," Pinkie added, "And just think, you'll get to talk to her about what other rocks are good for medicine once you move here. Now come on. I know the perfect place to start the tour."

With that, she pulled Maud along with Wild following after them. And it wasn't long till they arrived at the entrance of Pinkie's master plan. "Oh..." Wild whispered as he figured out what Pinkie was planning as the entrance of the cave. The mare smiled before she pulled a trio of lamp fitted hardhats from her mane and placed them on each head before goinog into the opening.

"Pretty cool, huh?" Pinkie asked, stepping back next to Wild as Maud glanced around. "She's interested." Wild turned back to Maud, not really seeing any change in her emotion. They continued down the tunnel, only for Pinkie to grimace as they continued, "Oh no. She's getting bored." Again, Wild didn't see any change in her expression. "Looks like we'll have to take drastic measures."

"How do you-"

"And now for the best part of the cave!" Pinkie yelped, leading Maud down a tunnel into a large chamber that was filled with glistening jewels. "Ghastly Gorge may have rocks," Pinkie commented as they marched through it. "But our gem cave rocks!" Maud then heard a rim shot, making her turn to Wild and saw he had somehow produced a drum-set that his puppets her holding up for him.

"What?" He asked, "You hang around Pinkie long enough, you're bound to pick up a few tricks. Don't tell me you don't have a harp or something stashed around her." Maud slowly turned back to Pinkie and saw she was in the process of pulling a harp out from behind a large rock, the mare letting out a laugh before pushing it back out of sight.

"Oh," she pointed further down the tunnel, "And look! You'll never know who you'll see!" Maud followed her hoof and saw two unicorns and a dragon currently pulling gems free from the wall.

Rarity, Lightning and Spike looked up from their work, "Maud, darling!" Rarity gasped, "It's lovely to see you again! Oh! Congratulations on your rocktorate. What are you doing now?"

"Talking to you," Maud instantly replied.

"Oh...right." Rarity let out a fake laugh before clearing her throat. "Well, if your trained eye happens to see a chartreuse gem, I'm desperate to find one."

"Is this one?" Lightning asked, holding up a green rock. His girlfriend glared back at him, the electric unicorn throwing the rock at Spike who opened his mouth to let it fall in. "What?! I've never seen one of those before. You said it yourself that they're hard to-"

"I found one." They turned back to Maud and saw she was holding up a greenish yellow gem.

"Oh, you're an absolute darling! This will surely make my gown stand out at Countess Coloratura's album release party." She placed it in the basket of gems that Spike was holding, "Do you know how rare this is?"

Pinkie then shot up beside Maud, "Just another day in Ponyville!" She winked before trotting over to look at the gem, only for her sister's reply to make her stop.

"That's actually a really common gem."

"Huh?" The remaining ponies and dragon glanced over at her, Maud taking the moment to kick a wall with her back hoof. The wall broke apart and a large pile of chartreuse gems came flooding out.

The ponies all went wide-eyed as Maud looked up, "These are all really common gems."

"They are?" Pinkie yelped, the mare turning at Rarity and seeing tears begin to appear in her eyes. "Uh, I mean..." She started to laugh, "Heh, come on! Of course they are! That's why I didn't bring you here to impress you!" Wild was now resisting the urge to facehoof at this, "I wanted to make sure you had a chance to, heh, say hello to your old pal..." She reached over and grabbed the nearby dragon, "Spike!"

Maud watched her pull the dragon over to her, the pair staring at one another for a second. "Hello, Spike."

"Way to go, Maud!" Pinkie cried as she threw Spike back over to the others, Lightning barely catching him. "Cross that off the to-do list! Y'know what I'm sayin'?" She suddenly pulled a tick shaped gem out of nowhere, "Check!" After throwing it away, she pushed Maud back to the exit. "Now, let's get moving, 'cause I'm about to show you something that'll make you yell 'all right'!"

"All right," Maud replied with her nervously sweating sister now smiling.

"See? Ha-ha!"

And as they left, Lightning turned to Wild, "I know I really shouldn't ask this, but what the heck is wrong with that mare?"

"Every Pie has her weirdness," he replied with his puppets nodding, "You just uh...gotta learn to get on their wavelength." He then saw Rarity pull the gems they had collected out of the basket and was now muttering under her breath. "You know what," He spun around, "I should probably go see what they're doing next. Bye."

"Bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye!" His puppets repeated as he ran out of the cave.

Thirty minutes later, the three ponies had arrived at Pinkie's second idea to impress Maud into staying in Ponyville. The gray earth pony was now blindfolded, Pinkie pushing to a certain tree-shaped building. "Ta-da!" She exclaimed as she removed the cloth, "It's a castle...made of rocks!" Maud just stared at this, "Whaaaat?!" Pinkie added, "Did I just blow your mind? I think I just blew your mind."

"A lot of structures are made from rocks, Pinkie." Maud replied, "They're a very stable building material."

Pinkie went wide-eyed at this, only to point at the castle again, "But this place grew out of nowhere after a magical key-build gem followed a rainbow and buried itself in the ground! I mean, have you ever seen rocks like this?"

Maud remained silent for a moment, only to slowly answer, "Yes."

"No, you haven't!" Pinkie yelled as Maud pointed back the way they had just come.

"We literally just saw hundreds of them in the gem cave." Pinkie's mouth dropped, Wild face-hoofing before Pinkie's eyes flicked from right to left.

"But...but...oh!" She pointed over at a bush, "Look at those rocks!" She dug through it and pulled out a bunch of very pointy spheres, along with having several stuck to her head, legs and hair. The look on her face could tell whatever they were hurt.

"Those are sting-bush seed pods."

Pinkie's eye twitched, "So they are!" She tried to shake them off, only for Wild to pull them off with his magic.

"Why do Flash and Twilight have these so close to their castle? That's just asking for trouble." He pulled the last one off her as Pinkie then pointed to something else.

"Look at that rock! It's even got four smaller rocks around it like legs!"

Maud tilted her head slightly to the side, "That's a tortoise." Pinkie's eyes went wide before she turned to see the head of a familiar reptile poke out from its shell. He smiled at her while her twitched its last nerve.

"WHOSE SIDE ARE YOU ON TANK!" She screamed, causing the tortoise to be blown away as Wild ran over. He placed a bag around her mouth to get her to calm down, the mare breathing in and out of it as Wild spotted Lyra Heartstrings and Bon Bon trotting by. He signalled them to go away, the mares walking away at this.

A few minutes later, Pinkie pushed the bag away before her entire body started to deflate as she let out a sigh. "I guess you won't be moving to Ponyville after all. Those rocks at Ghastly Gorge don't know how lucky they are to have you."

Maud then leaned down and helped her up. "Actually," she said as Pinkie re-inflated, "Rocks aren't the only reason I'm considering Ponyville."

Pinkie's ears flicked up at this, "But you said it's a rock-based decision."

Maud nodded. "I'm obviously passionate about exotic rocks, but I've always studied them..." She looked away, Pinkie noticing a look of sadness appear on her face that Wild couldn't see, "Alone." Pinkie's eyes went wide at this, "I could handle some less exciting rocks if it meant I'd have somepony to talk to besides Boulder." She held up her pet as Pinkie let out a mild gasp of realization.

"Are you saying you want...a friend?!"

Wild raised an eyebrow at this, only for Maud to reply, "I wouldn't mind one."

Pinkie let out another, longer gasp as her eyes suddenly took up eighty percent of her face. "Maudileena Daisy Pie-" Wild barely stopped himself from laughing at the mare's full name, "This'll be easy!" She reached into her mane and pulled out a clipboard. "What're you looking for in a friend? Gimme six qualities assigning each one a numerical importance rating between one and seven, seven being essential and one being eh." She let out a burp, causing a pencil to appear out of her mouth that she caught with her teeth.

"It isn't hard to meet somepony I like," Maud replied, "It's finding somepony who gets me."

"I get you!" Pinkie exclaimed.

"You're my sister. It's different."

"Maud..." Pinkie moved her face toward hers, both now touching noses, "You are the best! You never know when the lightning of friendship will strike." She turned to the castle and pointed at the exit. "In fact, somepony could come barrellng through that door at this very moment and become your best friend!" They all stared at the door...only for nothing to happen. Wild then brought a puppet down and opened up its chest, where a pocket-watch was sitting. That is, till Pinkie spoke up, "Y'know, I really thought somepony was gonna come barreling through that-" She didn't get to finish as the doors opened.

A pony now walked out with a book floating in front of them, making her run into Maud before Pinkie and Wild could stop them. "Ouch," Wild winced, now seeing the pony was Starlight. "You all okay?" He saw the pair were half buried in books that had spilled out of Starlight's saddlebag, the unicorn quickly recovering.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" She magically grabbed her books and lifted them off of Maud, "That was totally my fault!" She put them away and turned to Maud, "Are you okay? I should've been watching where I was going, and-" She stopped when she stared at Maud, making her raise an eyebrow. "You look really familiar. Have we met before?"

"Yes," Maud slowly replied.

"I knew it!" Starlight exclaimed while Pinkie's eyes went wide.

"WHAAAAAAAT!"

Wild's eyes went wide eyed at this as well, now seeing Starlight stare at Maud, "No, no, don't tell me. Um..." Starlight rubbed her chin at this, Pinkie now vibrating with a smile on her face as she waited for the two to explain how they knew each other. "Yeah..." Starlight slowly replied, "See, I was really hoping you'd tell me while I pretended to remember."

That was too much for Pinkie, who jumped up and wrapped her hooves around the pair. "How is this possible?!" She asked before letting out a scream of excitement, everypony then turning to Maud.

"I travelled Equestria for my rocktorate dissertation..." The mare then went into a vivid explanation about how she had met Starlight back before she had met Twilight and before her village was even finished being built, and asked if she knew about any rocks with the power that could hold cutie marks. It turns out, it had been Maud that had told her all about the wall that had once held the cutie marks of Twilight and the others.

Once the story was over, Starlight seemed to have fully remember the incident while Pinkie did a small gulp. She unleashed a high pitched fake laugh after this as she said, "Hey, I got an idea. Let's not tell anypony that part where you maybe, for sure, accidentally helped Starlight enslave a town!" She started laughing again, then turned back to Maud, "Tell nopony!"

Maud remained quiet for a moment before replying, "It's not like she's enslaved anypony lately." This made Pinkie pull back while Starlight let out a weak chuckle before signing.

"Well, its great seeing you again." She then walked past them, "I gotta run a few errands." She let out another sigh as she headed for town, now showing a huge frown. And once she was far enough away, Pinkie bounced over to Maud and spoke through the side of her mouth.

"Offer to help."

"What?"

"Offer to help!" Pinkie replied a little louder, pointing at Starlight.

But before Maud could do so, Starlight stopped and looked back at them. "You wanna help?"

Maud's head went back and forth between the two, "Do I?"

"Of course you do!" Pinkie smiled while clapping her hooves, "Go!"

"Okay." But Maud remained in place, leading Pinkie to push her toward Starlight. Once that happened, Maud began to walk on her own and the two mares headed off for town, Pinkie squealing and clapping her hooves again.

"They're totally gonna be best friends!" She told Wild before giving him a hug. "And then Maud will choose Ponyville, and we'll get to wear B.S.F.F slippers!"

"Yup," Wild nodded, "All's good in the sisterhood. Now we can just leave them to bond and-" He stopped when one of his puppets patted him on the shoulder, making him turn to see his girlfriend was suddenly gone. "Pinkie?" He continued to circle around, "Pinkie?" He came to a stop and scratched his head, "Where'd you go?"

Back with Starlight and Maud...

The pair were now wandering around the town's market place, both walking in relative silence, Starlight unsure whether or not it could be classed as uncomfortable or not. But as they did this, Maud broke the silence, "Rocks take on different properties when interacting with magic. With the right stone, you could rule all of Equestria if you wanted to."

Starlight stopped in her tracks before slowly turning back to Maud, "You're messing with me."

Maud's reply was to simply stare at her, no changes whatsoever in her expression. "Am I?" Starlight blinked at her for a moment, as if scanning her from top to bottom. As she did this, her brain turned, now seeing that Maud's current blank expression was her version of a smile.

This caused Starlight to start laughing, then let out a content sigh as she asked, "So other than rocks, what else are you into?"

"Minerals. Plate tectonics. Oh, and stand-up comedy of course."

Starlight nodded at this, then glanced around before slowly whispering out, "I like...kites." She blushed at this, her brain now screaming at her for telling such a deep secret, ready to mocked and ridiculed.

"Kites are cool." Starlight went wide-eyed again, only to switch to big smile before the pair began to walk away. But as they did this, a certain pony popped her head out of a nearby barrel with a plant on her head.

"Hey Pinkie!" The mare yelped before turning to see Springer and Ace beside her. "What's up?" Springer then glanced at Starlight and Maud, "I didn't know whose two were friends."

"They're not!" Pinkie exclaimed, "And if I don't do something, they'll never be friends, and Maud'll choose to move away!" She let out a moan and slid back into the barrel, Springer and Ace sharing a glance.

"I know I'm not an expert at this," Ace replied, "But from their auras, it looks like they're having a good time."

"They are," Springer nodded before looking at the barrel and plants that buried Pinkie. "They're definitely on their way to being friends."

Pinkie didn't say anything back, Ace then saying, "Although I wouldn't peg those two as being friends. I mean...they're so different."

"I wouldn't say that." Springer shrugged, "Everypony has a unique way of being friends. I mean, look at me. When Flash and I hang out, we like to listen to music and read comics. And when I wanna play video games, I'd hang out with a pony that really likes video games. Everypony's different."

"Huh," Ace nodded, "I guess that makes sense."

"You're still learning." Springer chuckled as he patted Ace on the head, "Though Starlight is too..." He turned back to the barrel, "See Pinkie? They might not seem to be having a good time, but maybe just calmly talking to one another is there way of enjoying one another's company." But as he said that, silence was her reply, "Pinkie?" He closed his eyes to scan for her aura...only to find nothing. "What the?" He reached into the barrel, only to just pull up some plants, "Where'd she go?" The pair began to scan for her aura trail, only to find nothing to indicate how she escaped the barrel without them noticing.

"How'd she do that?" Ace looked under the barrel, expecting a secret hatch, only to find nothing.

"It's Pinkie Pie, don't question it."

Later...

Flash and Heart were in the park, both wielding wooden swords in their hooves. "Let's make this interesting," Flash chuckled as he put on a blindfold, "If you can hit me, I'll do your chores for a week."

"Oh hoo," Heart smirked before posing with his sword, "Challenge accepted." He slowly walked around Flash, the defender's ears twitching at the sound of his hoof steps and gentle beating of wings. He then tried to hover and charge at Flash, only for the pegasi to spin around and block his sword before pushing the colt back. This was followed by a swing of Flash's sword, making Heart leap back.

"For a pegasi, you're surprisingly heavy-hoofed." Heart huffed at this before leaping, trying to slash at him from above, only for Flash to block him, "And heavy winged." Flash pushed him back again, "Now come on. Stop trying to hit me and hit me."

"Raaah!" Heart charged at this, only for Flash to swing once, knocking Heart's out of his hooves before bonking him with his wooden sword. "Ow!"

Flash sighed as he removed the blindfold, "Still having trouble staying calm."

"I'm getting better!"

Flash shook his head before holding up his hoof and rotated left to right. "Anyways, looks like your sword grip is working, but your still treating it like a weapon. Not like an extension of your body. If you just-"

He didn't get to finish, as something flew into the clearing before landing between them. The pair glanced down and saw it was a pizza box, making them raise an eyebrow. "Hey!" They turned to see Derpy, "That's mine."

"Why are you playing frisbee with a pizza?" Flash asked as she picked the box up.

"I'm not," Derpy replied, "Pinkie threw it at me. When did Pinkie start working for Mr. Domino?"

"I...don't know," Flash replied, "But if she's acting this strange, that's usually a bad sign. Come on Heart." The two walked away, Derpy now watching them leave.

"Hey," she asked before holding up the box, "Don't you want a slice?" She opened it up, only to cringe, "Eww, pineapple."

As Flash headed in the direction Derpy had come from, they found a path leading deeper into the park along with Starlight and Maud. "Sorry about my sister," They heard Maud tell the unicorn, "There's no half-excited with her."

"Oh, I know. But she always calms down...eventually." They then spotted Flash and Heart, "Hey you two, what's up?"

"Apparently, Pinkie delivers pizzas now."

"My apologizes," Maud replied in her normal deadpan voice. "I think she's just worried about me and Starlight not getting along."

Flash and Heart raised an eyebrow as they looked between the pair, "Oookay. So uh, when did you two meet?"

"I'd tell you, but Pinkie told me to tell nopony."

This just made the two pegasi share a glance, only for Flash to freeze up. "Hang on," he told them before holding his head. "I'm here. Whoa Springer, calm down. What's attacking?" He nodded and hummed, "No, I got this." He spread his wings. "Sorry to dash, but I got places to be." He then turned to Heart, glaring at him before pointing his hoof at the colt's chest. "Stay." Heart snarled at this, "Stay." With that, he took to the air.

Heart crossed his hooves at this, "I'm not a dog."

"Well, telling you to stay where you were like a pony didn't seem to work out," Starlight joked as Heart rolled his eyes. "Can you really blame him?"

"What am I supposed to do now?!" Heart exclaimed, Maud and Starlight now sharing a glance.

"Wanna come with us? We were just about to..." Starlight turned to Maud, "What were we gonna do?"

Maud shrugged. "I would like to go see the gem cave again. I didn't get a good enough chance to study the rocks in more detail before Pinkie pushed me out of there."

Starlight nodded and turned to Heart, who shrugged back, "Well...I don't think I've been in that cave before."

"Then let's go," Starlight began to lead them to the cave while summoning lamp helmets.

And as they got there, Heart stared at the winding cave walls, "Huh. I kinda feel like the characters in that book Twilight got me to read. You know, by that Jokey Verne guy."

"Quest to the Center of Equestria?" Starlight asked, the colt nodding. "I guess this is kinda like that book. Though don't expect to see extinct animals down here." They ten reached the entrance to the fabled gem cave, one which was now completely empty apart from the three, "Why do you find rocks so fascinating?" Starlight asked as they stared at the chamber.

"Each one has a different story to tell," Maud responded before she showed Starlight her pet rock. "Like Boulder here." She pointed to a line along it, "This tells me he's over two thousand years old, though Boulder don't look a day over six hundred."

"Wow," Starlight stated as Heart moved over to make funny faces in one of the reflective gems, "You can tell that from a line?"

"I didn't get a rocktorate because I can shred on guitar like nopony else," Maud replied, making Starlight laugh before moving over to Heart, who stopped his stupid faces when he saw her reflection frowning at her. "Another reason I like rocks," Maud continued, "They don't exclude you if you're...different than other ponies."

This made both Heart and Starlight's ears go down, the ex-villain and two thousand year old colt that was still learning the basics of living in a modern world now understanding. No matter how welcoming the ponies of the town were, they knew what she meant by that.

"They're beautiful and strong, but they don't judge you or make you feel less than in any way." Starlight looked away from the gem on the wall and turned to Maud, "I think I'm starting to like rocks, too." She walked off and Maud followed her with her gaze, Heart now seeing a slight smile appear on the earth pony's lips.

But before Heart could say anything, a strange tapping noise filled the air, making them turn to see Starlight knocking on a wall. "It's hollow?" She asked as the pair walked up.

"It's granite," Maud replied, "Hollow granite is highly unusual." Starlight nodded before sparking her horn, causing the wall to glow before it slowly started broke apart...and reveal a new tunnel.

"Wow," Heart whispered, "Now it's really like Quest to the Center of Equestria." He ran inside, Starlight telling him to wait before they followed him in. And when they did, they found it was another cavern, one much larger than the gem cave. It had a lot of ground, but also had a large pool of water being fed by waterfalls that flowed out from other pools higher up. It was illuminated by a large cluster of glowing crystals, which were hanging from the roof and the ground was littered with similar crystals along with mushrooms and a lot of moss and grass.

"Amazing..." Starlight gasped as Heart flew up, "Have you ever seen anything like this?"

"No," Maud replied, "And that's unusual for me."

"THERE YOU ARE!" Starlight and Heart jumped when they heard Pinkie's voice, making them turn to see the party pony had materialized between the two other mares. "I thought you went your separate ways but you can't imagine how happy I am to find you both together and to witness one of your firsts as friends!" And as she said all this, she zipped bacck and before returning with camera equipment and placing a beach backdrop behind them.

"What first?" Heart asked as Pinkie grabbed his tail and pulled him out of the way.

"Their first time discovering an underground cavern!" With that, she pulled a powerful flash camera out of nowhere and took a photo of the now slightly blinded ponies. Once they had mostly recovered their sight, Pinkie gave them the photo she had just taken to them. "I can't wait 'til you're old and eating pistachios together and telling your grand-foals about this!" She then grabbed Heart, "We'll leave you to enjoy this moment."

She pulled him away, the colt crying out, "Hey! I wanted to take a ride on that waterfall." Pinkie stopped his complaints by glaring at him, the pegasus colt gulping, "Um...nevermind. I can come back."

With that, Pinkie zipped out of the cave, only to glance back and saw the two staring at the photo, both sharing a look that Pinkie didn't like. "Oh no! They're not bonding!"

"What are you talking about?" Heart replied, "Those two are getting along-" He stopped as Pinkie suddenly vanishing, the action of her letting go just now registering, "Whoa!"

"Eeep!" He heard Pinkie cry from around the corner, "I'm tripping on a rock at this very moment! And now I'm falling down!" As she said this, a clicking noise filled the colt's ears.

BOOM!

The entire cave shook, filling with dust that almost choked Heart until he used his wings to blow the cloud away. And when the dust settled, he, Maud and Starlight moved around the corner and found Pinkie standing next to a caved in section of the cave. "Oh no," Pinkie cried, "My accidental clumsiness has trapped us here!" She then smirked and ran over to the mares, pushing them together, "Where you'll be forced to bond until we're rescued."

"Oh, we won't have to wait for that." Starlight waved her hoof, "There's gotta be a spell that-"

"Get us out of here, boy." The three turned to Maud, who was talking to Boulder before she flicked him straight up. It struck the ceiling and fell back into her grasp, the ceiling now cracking and breaking apart before giving away. They all watched their prison open up and unleashed a large volume of sand down, which piled up and left a large hole, making Heart turn to Maud.

"Boulder, that was awesome!" Starlight gasped, Heart nodding while Maud put the rock back in her dress.

"No. That was sandstone." The three began to make their way up before looking down at the sand, seeing Pinkie at the bottom.

"More sand than stone, apparently."

"At least now we have another way into that cave," Heart chuckled, "I'm so gonna bring Ace and the others here sometime. It's like an underground water park."

In that moment, Pinkie jumped out of the hole and placed a pair of cowbells around Maud and Starlight's necks. "I'm thinking you wear these around your neck at all times so I don't lose you again, you sillies! That way, I can track your progress as friends!"

She hit the bells before pushing the two, Heart then asking, "Don't you think you're being a little too extreme?"

Pinkie shook her head, "Nope! In fact, tomorrow we can have a friendship brunch! What's your favorite kind of omelette cupcake?!" She then whispered to Maud, "Mine's jalapeño red velvet!"

Maud let out a deadpan groan, even Heart able to sense the frustration in her voice. "Yeah...." Starlight told Pinkie as she pushed Pinkie back, "Um, I-I don't know if I can make it."

But Pinkie just smiled as he placed a hoof on her chest, "You'll change your minds when you smell the yummy food!" With that, she bounced off down the trail, "Come on!" She disappeared down the trail, Starlight looking down at their cowbell.

She then ripped the bells off and threw them away. "Oops," she smirked before they walked off in a different direction.

A little later...

Starlight and Maud had gone their separate ways, much to Pinkie's chagrin, and the unicorn was now back at the castle, enjoying dinner with the rest of its occupants.

"And then we managed to push it back through the portal and close it," Flash finished before taking a forkful of spaghetti into his mouth and sucking it down. "So anyway, how'd everypony else's day go?" He turned to Starlight, "You and Maud have any fun?"

"You met Maud?" Soul asked Starlight, the unicorn nodding. "She was nice...if a little weird. It's kinda hard to believe she and Pinkie are related."

"It takes time," Twilight replied after swallowing a hay-ball. "But over time, you get used to her and realize the pair kinda balance one another out."

"Actually, I didn't have any problem getting along with Maud. She is weird, but in a really good way." Starlight then let out a sigh, "I just wish Pinkie would lighten up. Whenever she was around, I was having a really hard time relaxing around Maud. I kept worrying I'd say something that would make Pinkie think we weren't getting along."

"Pinkie's worrying about Maud not having any friends," Springer added, "And you know Pinkie. She can worry about something worse than Twilight sometimes."

The alicorn glared at the jakhowl before looking back at Starlight, "Maybe you should talk to Pinkie and ask for some space."

"I don't think this'll be that simple."

"It's better then saying nothing and letting her make you nervous," Springer reminded her. "Just tell her you wanna spend some time alone with Maud. And if you're worried she can't help herself, get her to Pinkie Promise."

Twilight nodded at this, "He's right. Everypony's entitled to some one on one time with a friend. Pinkie'll understand this."

"And if not, maybe we can trick her into leaving you two alone." Flash laughed, "I'm sure we can think of something or somepony that needs a party."

"Flash...that's not nice."

"No, I like it." Starlight chimed in, "It beats having to force down jalapeno red velvet omelets." Everypony raised an eyebrow at this, "Don't ask. Trust me."

As it turned out, no insanity would be required from Pinkie as Springer headed back to the castle from morning patrol. And as he made his way through the market place, the jakhowl heard the door of Sugarcube Corner burst open, only to see Pinkie run out. "Wait!" She screamed as she ran for the train station.

The jakhowl followed her, only to notice she had got to the station just as a train began to pull away. "Maud!" Pinkie cried as she tried to follow the train down the tracks, her insane bursts of speeds not enough to stop it. And as she began to trot to a stop, Springer got up to her as tears formed in her eyes. "Maud..." Springer turned between her and the shrinking train in the distance.

"Maud...she left?" Pinkie nodded before turning to walk away.

Springer was about to speak up, only for Wild Smile to appear, "Hey!" he yelled, now seeing the huge frown on Pinkie's face, "Hey, what's wrong?" She didn't reply, walking past him as she went back for the town, making Wild turn to Springer. "What just happened?"

"Maud left."

This made Wild's eyes go wide, "Oh," he said with his puppets repeating, "That's too bad. I thought she and Starlight had become friends." Hearing this, Pinkie's head lifted and turned to the castle before she ran off. "Hey!"

"Pinkie!" The two raced off after her, the three quickly reaching the castle before Pinkie headed up to the bedroom level just as Flash and Heart walked into the hallway.

"Hey there," Flash waved at them. "What are you-" He didn't get to finish as Pinkie ran into them, knocking them both off their hooves as she barged into Starlight's room.

The unicorn was fast asleep in her bed, a light snore escaping her breath before Pinkie onto her bed. "Starlight, WAKE UP!"

"Kites!" Was the first thing out of Starlight's mouth as she jolted up, only to then recoil as she now saw Pinkie's super close face, leading her to accidently fall off her bed. She let out a cry as she hit the floor, now waking up as she replied, "Oh. If this is about brunch, I-I, uh..." She then climbed back into bed. "You know what? Jalapeno red velvet omelets sound gross. I-I just can't."

She tried to get under the covers at this, only then Pinkie yelled, "Maud left in the middle of the night!" This made Starlight turn to her, now seeing Pinkie sniffing.

"Oh. I guess Ghastly Gorge really does have the best rocks.

Pinkie let out a long sigh, "Why couldn't you two just be friends?" She was about to start bawling, only for Starlight to put a hoof on her head.

"Pinkie Pie, I like Maud." This caused Pinkie's tears to instantly stop.

"You do?"

"Yeah," Starlight nodded, "She's weird-"

"HEY!" Starlight suddenly found Pinkie's face right up in front of hers again, causing the unicorn to fall back again.

"No Pinkie, I mean in a good way." Starlight replied just as the males now glanced into the room, "She sees the world in a totally different way than anypony I've ever met. She accepts me for who I am. She taught me that a rock is never just a rock, and she could make anything funny. We never had to say it, but we got each other."

The others smiled at this, Pinkie now asking, "You...you really were becoming friends?!"

"I think so," Starlight responded before twiddling her hooves, "But you uh...kinda sorta...got in the way." This caused Pinkie to let out a deep gasp, the others face-hoofing at this. "Right...too harsh. Um..."

The unicorn gulped as she tried to think up what to say, only for Springer to walk into the room, "What she means is, you being around all the time was making it hard for Starlight to be herself around Maud." Pinkie turned to Starlight, who nodded back at her. "And you were so worried that them not saying anything meant they weren't having a good time, you didn't realize that's just how someponies like to spend time with one another." Again, Starlight nodded.

"So...it's my fault?" Starlight nodded one final time, making Pinkie look like she was about to start crying again. "I'm sorry. I was just...really excited about Maud living in Ponyville and getting to be with her every minute of every day."

Wild stepped up next at this, "Babe, I think that might have been why Maud left." Pinkie turned to him with wide eyes, "You might think you know Maud more than anypony, but there are some things about her that even you don't see because of who you are. You hate being alone, so you automatically think everypony else around you feels the same way. And Maud's not like that."

"Yeah," Starlight added, "I think Maud is a pony that likes to have her alone time. Not constant alone time, but just enough alone time to make her comfortable."

"Oh..." Pinkie replied, now remembering she had told Maud last night. Maud might love Pinkie Pie, but even she has her limits. "I see..."

Starlight then patted the mare's shoulder, "I'm sorry Pinkie. I should have told you Maud and I wanted some space before now. If I had, maybe Maud wouldn't have left."

But as she said this, Pinkie suddenly shot up, "No!" She hopped off the bed, her hooves slamming the floor, "I'm not letting it end this way. I'll bring Maud back and you two can continue your friendship without me butting in." She turned to the boys and her mane unleashed a tendril that wrapped around Springer's arm. "Let's go!"

"Huh?!" Springer asked before Pinkie ran past him, "What do you MEAN?!" He let out a yelp as he was pulled along, the pair disappearing down the hallway.

Starlight, Flash, Heart and Wild all stared as they saw them vanish, the boys all raising an eyebrow at this. "You think they'll be alright?" Heart chimed in.

"Springer should keep her safe," Flash responded.

Starlight sighed and shook her head, "I'm going back to bed. You three, out." She then pushed the boys out with her magic before slamming the door shut.

Getting to Ghastly Gorge wasn't difficult, as it turned out the train Pinkie had chased after earlier hadn't been the one Maud was on, meaning the real train to the place arrived sooner then they had hoped. During the trek, Pinkie had explained to Springer that she needed him to track Maud's aura, the jakhowl agreeing as he explained, "Now...I never really memorized it cuz she's so rarely in Ponyville and well..." Pinkie raised an eyebrow, "No offense, but your sister has a very boring aura."

Pinkie glared at him at this, making the next few minutes awkward before the train came to a stop. Hopping off, they ran for the gorge, "Alright Springer," Pinkie grabbed the jakhowl before straightening him out and pointing his face to the ground. "Get searching!" She started waving him around like a metal detector, Springer rolling his eyes.

"Let me go. Now" Pinkie dropped him, Springer grumbling as he dusted himself off before noticing Pinkie was now wearing a pair of headphones and holding the end of a lead that he really didn't want to guess where she was gonna stick it. "Just let me do my thing." Pinkie nodded and he kneeled down, placing a paw on the ground and closing his eyes. Sending out a pulse of aura, he scanned the entire gorge, only to find the aura of a pony almost instantly.

"Got her!" He shot off at this, Pinkie galloping after him. The pair ran through the rocks, the two racing down a small ravine before finding a recently set up camp.

"Where is she?" Pinkie asked.

"This is where I picked up her aura," Springer replied before putting his paw on the ground again. "She must have left." He was about scan the gorge again, only to hear Pinkie sniffing...and then licking the ground. "Ew."

Pinkie chewed the dirt she had licked up before smiling, "Maud tracks!" Springer raised an eyebrow at this, only to see some pony tracks that lead further into the gorge. As they did, Springer noticed the many holes covering the walls of the gorge.

"Careful Pinkie. Any one of these holes could have an eel in it." In that moment, they turned a corner and came face to face with the creature. "Like that one." Before they could turn to run off, the beast's mouth opened...and inside it was Maud. "Er…"

"Hello, Pinkie Pie." The earth pony held up an orange and green rock. "I found emerald jasper." Springer gasped before leaping into the eel's mouth and making a Bone Breaker to jam the mouth open.

Pinkie then jumped inside, quickly grabbing Maud and pushing her out of the mouth. "Are you okay, Maud?!" She asked, Springer moaning as the beast tried to shatter the bone. "That eel almost ate you!"

"What eel?" Maud asked before looking back as Springer hopped out of the mouth just as the eel shattered his energy staff.

"That eel!" He yelled before the beast let out a roar, unleashing a large amount of spit that drenched the three. "Ew." The eel then stretched out, only for Springer to make an aura guard that blocked it. But as he did this, more eels began to shoot out of the holes. "Run!"

Pinkie made a mad dash as she pulled her sister along, Maud commenting, "You didn't need to come. I'm having a great time on my own." They headed for the camp from earlier, but another eel shot out in front of them, forcing the three to take another path that lead up a ledge covered in more holes. "I even made a new friend."

"Is it a rock?" Pinkie asked, making Maud look away.

"Yes." In that moment, another eel shot out of the wall and slammed into Springer's shield. But as he was hit back, he collided with Pinkie and Maud, making both fall over the edge.

"No!" He yelped as he turned back and saw Pinkie had landed on a smaller ledge and Maud was hanging that one's edge. "GIRLS!" He then saw an eel staring at them, licking its lips. "Oh no you don't!" He roared, leaping onto the beast. "Yippee ki yay!" He yelled before the eel dove into another hole, Springer hanging onto it as it ran through the tunnels like a runaway train.

As it did this, Springer heard Pinkie speaking to Maud, "I thought I knew everything about making friends, but I didn't even know my own sister!" Springer didn't get to hear anymore as the eel once again dived. And the next time it surfaced, it shot straight up.

"WHOA!" Springer yelped as he thrown upwards, the eel about to open his mouth to eat the now falling jakhowl. That is, till Springer looked down at him, "Aura Force!" He fired a laser that struck the creature's face, making it cry out as Springer did several flips and landed on the closest wall. He skid down the side before hopping up the wall, getting back to the ledge.

"Yay!" He heard Pinkie clapping, making him turn to see she and Maud had somehow gotten down off the ledge. A ledge he now noticed was only two feet off the ground.

"You two okay?" The sisters nodded before Maud gestured for them to follow, the group heading back to Maud's campsite.

And when they got there, Pinkie's mane deflated as she said, "Maud, I thought you couldn't make a friend without my help, but it turns out you couldn't make a friend with my help. I underestimated you, and I'm sorry."

Her head slung down at this, but Maud quickly placed a hoof under her chin, "I know you did it out of love." she deadpanned, "You're my best sister friend forever." Pinkie's eyes began to fill with tears before she started bawling her eyes out.

"Oh, Maud!" She hugged her, "I love you bigger than all Equestria!" She continued sobbing while Maud placed a hoof around her back.

"And you melt my heart more easily than sodium-rich plagioclase feldspar."

Pinkie pulled back, letting out a big sniff, "I don't know what that means, but please please please please please give Ponyville another chance! But more importantly, give me another chance..." She looked away from her, "To leave you alone."

Maud thought about this for a moment, then turned to a nearby stump. "What do you think, Boulder?" The others glanced over at it, now spotting the rock next to an axe and had a wool hat on. "Alright. We'll come back." This statement caused Pinkie to smile her biggest smile to date, the pink pony pulling her sister into another hug.

As they did, Springer couldn't help but shed a tear. When the pair turned to him, he quickly wiped it. "Oh...bit of dust got in my eye from riding that eel."

Back in Ponyville, Starlight was again in the park. She was flying her favorite kite, trying to make herself forget about Maud, only to find herself thinking more about the earth pony more.

But before she could think to stop the fun activity, another kite suddenly flew up next to hers. She followed its string, only to go wide-eyed as she saw somepony she feared she wouldn't see again. "You're back!"

Maud nodded back at her, "Mm-hmm."

"For good?" She grinned.

"Mm-hmm," Maud replied again, "This doesn't mean we need to start talking about feelings, does it?"

"Heh," Starlight chuckled. "No way." The two focused back on their kites, enjoying the experience.

Then, Maud asked a simple question, "Maybe after this we could decorate my new place?"

"Totally!" Starlight told her, "Where is it?"

"Well, it's not in Ponyville. More like Ponyville-adjacent."

"What do you mean?"

"Well..."

One transition later...

Starlight now found what she meant, seeing that Maud had chosen to take up residence in the cave they had found. And with Starlight's help, a section of the area near the entrance had a gazebo set up along with some stairs leading down to the pool, where a small dock had been made to allow anypony wanting to go for a swim to enjoy themselves. Maud set up her bed under the gazebo and Starlight hung some lanterns. The two then set up some flowerbeds that could be used to cultivate crystals as the caverns went from a beautiful but barren natural construct to a place Maud could truly call home.

"It's perfect," Starlight told Maud once they were done.

In that moment, Pinkie somehow dropped down from the ceiling, "YES!" She screamed, wrapping her hooves around their necks. "My sister's totally staying in Ponyville! I mean Ponyville-adjacent!" She turned to Starlight, who was giving her a small glare, only to then see Maud doing her version of the same thing. "Sorry, sorry. I'm leaving!" She let them go and took a few steps back. "I promise. I'm not even here." She was about to leave, only to notice what Maud had on her hooves. "Ah! You're wearing the slippers!" She put her hoof in her mouth, "Er...right. Okay, now I'm really leaving. Buh-bye!" She trotted off...only to turn back around and return two seconds later. "Heh-heh...wrong way." With that, she zipped off and left the pair alone.

But the peace and quiet only lasted about five seconds.

"YAHOO!" They turned to the waterfall and saw Heart sliding down it with Ace, Rumble and Button following him. The colts all cheered as they slid over the edge and splashed into the water before surfacing and laughing. That is, till they noticed the mares staring at them. "What?"

Starlight rolled her eyes and turned to smile at Maud, "Welcome to Ponyville." Maud remained stoic for a moment, then a small smile broke on her lips. Life here was gonna be...interesting.

A Flurry of Emotions

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It began within a dark, dreary laboratory, the pony known as Void wheezing as he walked up to a pod. A long hiss came next, the pony now implanting a piece of Corrupted Shadow into his latest creation and shutting the hatch.

"This is your target!" He held a hoof up to the glass, showing a familiar photo of a certain pegasus. The being inside stared at the image and growled, Void letting out a cough as the machine began to open. "Bring him...bring him to me, and destroy anything or anyone that gets in your way."

A couple of days later...

In Ponyville at the Castle of Friendship, Flash, Springer, Heart, Soul, Ace and Mira were sitting around in the entryway of the castle. It was a particularly hot day, so the group were all chilling by the open doorway to get a nice breeze. Flash was polishing Lightbringer, Springer doing some meditation exercises, Soul and Mira were both doing some artwork and Heart and Ace were playing cards.

"Ha!" Heart threw a card down, "Snap!"

"We're playing go fish," Ace deadpanned.

"We are?" The others chuckled at this, only for Twilight, Spike and Nurse Redheart to walk in from the hallway.

"Oh, the poor dears really do need cheering up." The nurse sighed, referring to the pony pox outbreak that had occurred to one of Cheerilee's classes, which had ruined a school picture day.

"We'll do our best," Twilight reassured her, "We'll bring snacks, I'll read to them, and get them gifts!"

Spike walked up between them, carrying a long list with him as he pointed to himself with a quill, "Food and presents always cheer me up."

Redheart walked up to the door next, Springer getting out of her way as she headed out. "We'll see you soon!" Twilight added before closing the door, getting moans from the others, "Oh, grow up."

"Okay," she turned to Spike as he looked over the list. "If we want to be at the hospital by lunch, then we have three hours to buy get-well presents, borrow a book from the schoolhouse..." He let out a sigh, "And pick up treats."

"It's a lot," Twilight continued, "But if we stick to the schedule, I know we can get it all done."

"Yeah, knock on wood."

But as he said that, the door began to unleash its own knocking sound. "Huh?" Flash raised an eyebrow, "You all expecting anypony?" They all shook their heads, causing Twilight to open the door. And when she did, they were greeted to the sight of a very frazzled looking Shining Armor and Cadance.

"Surprise!" The former Royal Guard Captain exclaimed as the pair pushed a baby carriage carrying a giggling Flurry Heart.

Twilight gasped as her eyes went wide. "Oh my gosh!" She immediately rubbed her nose against the baby's, "How's my favorite niece?"

"Isn't she your only niece?" Heart asked, Twilight glaring back at him.

"Flurry's fine," Shining replied, "And she's wondering if her favorite aunt wouldn't mind watching her for a few hours."

"Hope you're not too busy," Cadance added, Spike walking up with the list in response.

"Actually, we kind of are-" the drake tried to say before being muffled by Twilight's hoof.

"Busy?" She scoffed, "Would the best aunt ever be too busy to spend time with this adorable little one?" She pointed at Flurry while her parents smiled, Spike then jumping next to the baby carriage and holding up the schedule. "No!"

"Oh, this is not gonna end well." Flash commented as Twilight picked the baby up in her magic and started kissing her before giving Flurry a raspberry on her bellybutton.

"Flurry, I've got a surprise for you!" She giggled as she put her on her back, walking to a nearby closet before putting her down, the foal running on the spot, her tongue out like an excited dog. "Just a couple of toys that reminded me of Flurry..."

"Err...Twilight," Soul chimed in, "Maybe pull the baby back before-" Twilight opened the door and several wrapped boxes fell out, burying the baby. They all gasped for a moment, Twilight quickly pulling Flurry out, the foal just blinking at her.

"How'd you know that was gonna happen?" Mira asked, Soul rolling her eyes.

"I was the one who helped her cram them all in there."

Twilight turned to her brother and sister-in-law, "I'm excited to show you I've done some shopping for Flurry Heart."

"Oh-ho-ho," Cadance giggled, "You're so sweet. You didn't have to do all that."

"I know," Twilight exclaimed, "But I can't help myself! BEST AUNT EVER!" She then lifted up a box, "Open this one, Flurry." Flurry let out some baby noises before pulling the lid off, revealing a pink and blue pair of teddy bears. She giggled before picking up the blue one and letting out some growling noises.

"Exactly!" Twilight picked the other one up, "They're bears!" She winked, "You're one smart cookie." She then used her magic to make the bear float through the air, then dance upon a bookshelf. Flurry laughed at this and tried to do the same with her bear, though hers didn't look as elegant.

"Wow..." Heart commented, "She's almost as good as Soul." His sister growled at him as he laughed while Shining called out to Twilight.

"We'll just put Flurry's things over here, Twily!"

"Uh-huh," Twilight replied, not glancing back, "Totally."

Flash let out a sigh and moved over to Shining, knowing he would probably need to remember this in place of Twilight. Shining then pulled out several jar of green slime, "Mashed peas, her favourite."

"Good choice," Flash licked his lips.

"And diapers," Cadance floated a bag over to them, "Uh..." she then floated more over, "Extra diapers. Oh," followed by even more, "And backup extra diapers. Heh."

"I thought you were only leaving her here for the afternoon?" Ace asked.

"Oh? Do you think you'll need more?"

"Mashed peas, her favourite. Wait..." Shining commented as he took out another jar, "Did I say that already?" They turned to the pile of diapers and peas, which had formed a fort around Spike that the little dragon pushed a window out for before nodding. "Oops."

"Oh," Cadance then took out a cream colored snail toy with a green shell, "And this is the most important thing of all." She handed it to Flash, "Her Whammy."

"Huh," Flash looked it over, "Cute."

"I take it Flurry named it?" Spike asked, getting a nod from Cadance.

"Yup. If she gets fussy, just give her the Whammy and she'll calm right down."

"You getting all this, Twily?" Shining asked her sister, who was still playing with Flurry.

"Whammy. Got it." She then lifted Flurry onto her back, "Where are you two headed anyways?"

"You remember my friend from the royal guard, Spearhead?" Twilight and Spike raised an eyebrow at this, Flash smirking at this.

"Oh yeah. He had the fastest time in the forest obstacle course." Flash's eyebrows began to hop up and down at this, "Until I beat it, of course."

The others rolled their eyes at this, remembering Flash gloating about that for a week afterwards. "Well..." Shining continued, "He has a pop-up art show at the Ponyville Cafe, and we decided to go at the last minute."

Cadance nodded at this, "We're not exactly art enthusiasts, but we could really use a night out."

"You mean day?" Spike corrected.

"That's what I said!" Cadance replied, "Wait...isn't that what I said?" Twilight nodded while Spike shook his head. "Either way, are you sure you can watch her?" Twilight smiled, especially when Flurry climbed onto her head and started nibbling at her ear. But then Spike made a noise that made her turn to him and see the drake pointing at the list.

Twilight grimaced at this, especially as Flurry gave her a hug, but then Flash spoke up. "Don't worry about it." They all turned to him, "We can handle this. Together, the eight of us will have no problem looking after her."

"Err..." Springer poked him on the shoulder, "Flash." He turned to him, Springer gesturing to where Heart, Soul, Ace and Mira had been...as in, they had all vanished.

"Where'd they go?"

"They booked it," Springer replied while Flash stared at the doorway.

"COWARDS!" He yelled, "Come on Heart! What kind of Royal Knight runs away from looking after a baby?!" He then pointed a hoof at Springer without looking at him, "Wipe that smirk off your face." Springer had been smirking as Flash turned to Shining. "Don't worry. We can still look after her for a couple of hours."

"He's right," Twilight nodded, "Have no fear. The best aunt ever has everything under control." Shining and Cadance both smiled at this before Cadance pulled Flurry over to her, the pair kissing her on the cheek before the baby flew back to her aunt.

"Thanks again, Twily."

With that, the royal couple trotted out the door. Once they were gone, Spike turned to Twilight, "Okay, let's grab that Whammy thing and go." Twilight nodded, only for Flurry to teleport herself in front of her.

"Uh-uh!" She shook her head, then picked her blue bear and growled.

"Oh...you want to pretend we're the bears." Flurry nodded, "I suppose we have time for a quick game." The pair then walked off, leaving Spike to sigh.

"Do we, though?" Flash watched Twilight and Flurry play with one another, then turned to a nearby clock.

"Twilight." The alicorn glanced back at him, "What if we split up?" He took the scroll from Spike, "Springer and I will get everything you need while you stay with Flurry. Then, we'll come back and take over babysitting while you go to the hospital."

Twilight gasped at this and flew over, giving him a hug. "YOU'RE THE BEST!" She kissed him before returning to her game, Flash and Springer running to the door.

"Alright," Flash told his partner, "Let's do this thing. We need toys, a book and treats!"

"Got it," Springer nodded back as they left the castle, both running through the town as the jakhowl asked, "But are you sure you can handle looking after a baby? I mean, remember when the Cakes needed you to babysit?"

"Yes, yes," Flash rolled his eyes. "That was a long time ago. After everything I've come up against, looking after a foal for a few minutes shouldn't be too much of an issue. I mean, it's not like this one can breath fire."

"No, she can just fly, teleport and unleash a blast of magic so strong that it once destroyed a relic that has the power to trap umbrum and push away cataclysmic blizzards."

"We can handle it," Flash replied as they arrived at the toy store. "Just as long as nothing else tries to cause any issues, we'll be fine."

At that exact moment, a cloaked figure was making its way through the Everfree Forest.

The figure simply marched through the area, going straight ahead as a Timberwolf stepped out from the darkness of the trees. The beast's terrible breath polluted the air as it stalked the pony. And as it turned their hooded head to the beast, the wolf pounced with primed claws. But before it could get close, the pony raised its hoof, revealing a faded brown leg with metal on the bottom with a small hole in the very bottom.

From that hole came a blast of water, striking the wood monster with enough force that it completely shattered in one shot. And as the debris hit the dirt, the pony turned back to the path, slowly walking through the forest as it continued to go for its target.

Flash and Springer had managed to get everything Twilight needed for the foals. They had gotten a bunch of toys from the toy store, making sure to get a good balance of ones that colts and fillies would like, then headed to the school house and borrowed a book from Cheerilee. The book they decided on was called Burnferno, Warrior from Within. It was the only book they found that Twilight could possibly read completely in the time she had, and then they headed to Sugarcube Corner to get the treats from Pinkie. Apparently, the pair had just missed Heart and Soul, the two jumping out the window when they spotted Flash and Springer coming, making the pair roll their eyes.

With everything in hoof, they returned to the castle. "Nice. I think that's everything, and we got it all with thirty minutes to spare."

"Now for the hard part," Springer replied as they walked into the castle, "Looking after Flurry until Twilight gets back."

"Oh, come on," they headed for the dinning room. "I'm sure Twilight's already dealt with all the difficult stuff, so we shouldn't have too many problems." Springer glared back at him, making Flash shrug, "If Twilight can handle all the insane situations we've been through, looking after a baby will be easy. I mean...how much trouble could one little pony cause." In that moment, he opened the door, only to get hit in the face by something green. "Gyah!" He staggered back, Springer's eyes going wide.

"You okay?" Flash then used his tongue to scoop the stuff up and pull it into his mouth.

"Mashed peas. Nice." He hummed before seeing the room that was now covered in the green slop, including Twilight and Spike.

"When they said mashed peas were her favorite-" Spike started before getting hit in the face by more, Flurry letting out a giggle as she walked on the chair she was standing on. "...did they mean her favorite thing to decorate a room with?!" Flurry then picked up more peas and threw it at them, the pair barely dodging as it instead struck the wall.

"Aw, come on Spike. That wasn't too bad."

"I guess," Spike sighed before turning to see Flash and Springer. "You're back."

"Yup," Flash nodded. "I'd show you what we got...but you might wanna take a shower first." The pair glanced each other over as Flash and Springer pushed the cart of toys and treats out of the room before they could get struck. Once that was done, they returned to the dinning room and Twilight handed him the baby.

"Here you go," she said before she and Spike teleported to the bathrooms.

Flash and Flurry smiled at one another, the pegasus holding the baby up as she giggled. As this happened, Springer asked, "Do you think maybe we should clean the place up?"

"We could," Flash nodded before turning to the jakhowl with a curled devious grin, "Or we could get Heart and the others to do it when they finally show their faces." Springer mimicked the look, Flurry seeing this and giggling before trying to make the same face.

The pair then began playing with Flurry, using the bears and Whammy to keep her thoroughly entertained until Twilight and Spike returned. "Okay," the princess chimed in before looking over everything Flash and Springer got. "Toys, check. Treats, check. Book..." She saw the book before glaring at the defender, "Really?!"

"What?! It's the perfect length for you, and it looks really good. Trust me. They'll love it."

Twilight rolled her eyes before putting it down. "Well, I guess we don't have much of a choice now." She then turned to Flurry, "Flurry, your favorite aunt has to leave for a bit." Hearing this made the baby tear up, "Don't worry, I'll be back. And until I am, you've got uncle Flash to keep you company."

"Fla?" Flurry looked like she was trying to say Flash's name.

"Alright," Twilight grabbed the cart as Spike picked up the book, "We'll be off." She gave Flash a kiss on the cheek, "Have fun." With that, the two left the castle, only for Flurry to let out a cry as she saw them leave.

Twilight turned back to her, frowning before seeing Springer grab the bears. "Flurry." The baby turned to see him make the pair dance, causing her to laugh as Flash let her go and she flew over to them.

Flash nodded back at Twilight, the alicorn nodding before teleporting herself and Spike away. And as this happened, Flurry was too focused on the bears and Whammy to realize her aunt had vanished, Springer giving her the toys as she made them fly around.

"See?" Flash told Springer, "We got this."

Springer smiled at this, "You're right. After everything we've been through, we've got this. Whatever Flurry throws at us, we can handle it."

But as soon as he said that, the room was filled with a particular popping sound coming from Flurry. This made the pair's eyes go wide before they slowly turned to Flurry, seeing an uncomfortable look on her face.

"Oh no," they said in unison before sniffing the air. When they did this, they were both assaulted by a powerful stench more potent than that one time Springer asked Zecora for a super anti-flea potion. They both grimaced as Springer moaned, "Ahhh! Anything but...that."

"How the heck did she turn mashed peas into that?" Flash asked, Springer quickly disappearing before returning with a peg on his nose. He gave one to Flash and he placed it on his nose, the pair then turning to Flurry and seeing she was still uncomfortable. "What do we do?"

"Well, we can't just leave it," Springer replied, "Which means one of us is gonna have to go and grab the bull by the horns...so to speak."

"You're right," Flash gulped, "Are we not stallions?"

Springer glanced himself over, "Well technically, I'm a jakhowl." He then looked Flash over, "You at least dress like a stallion." Flash nodded, "Apart from Saturday nights."

"Oh, shut up." Flash grumbled, only to hear Flurry begin to tear up, "Anyways....I happen to know exactly what a real stallion would do in this situation."

"And what's that?"

"Get a mare to do it for him."

This caused Springer to burst out laughing, only a mare to walk into the room. It was Starlight, who had returned from Maud's to collect a book she had forgotten. When she arrived, Flash and Springer handed the foal over to her.

"Okay you two," she stated while holding Flurry in her magic. "I know what the problem is here. The baby needs changing."

"Yeah...we kinda figured that part out. So..."

"So," Starlight gave Flurry to him, "Take it back to the store and change if for a new one." Flash and Springer turned to one another, only for her to give Flurry a sniff, "Preferably one that doesn't honk as much. Did you keep the receipt." With that, she grabbed the book she had come for and teleported away, leaving Flash and Springer to fall over in defeat.

"Do we know any sane mares?" Springer asked as Flurry pulled herself out of Flash's grasp and flew into the air.

"No such thing mate," Flash replied.

"Oh well," they both sat up as Springer turned to Flurry. "That means one of us is gonna have to go and...deal with it."

"Oh great," Flash moaned, "It's gonna be me, isn't it? Bound to be."

"Not necessarily," Springer responded as an idea popped into his head. "Let's draw straws for it."

Flash raised an eyebrow at this before nodding, "Okay."

Flash and Springer were in the training room, which had been converted into an art studio. There the pair were each sitting in front of an easel with a canvas, both dressed in painters clothes and holding pencils. They were working on a piece of art before staring at their subjects.

Two large straws that were both of different lengths.

Springer looked at the two before turning to Flash's portrait, seeing the straw he had drawn was the smaller one, "Looks like you've drawn the short one." He laughed while Flash just growled.

"Hilarious...not!" He picked up the portrait and smashed Springer's head through it, the jakhowl's eyes now spiraling as Flash got up to leave.

Back with Flurry, she was still sitting in her own mess, only for some interesting entertainment about to come in. "Psst," Springer whispered as him and Flash re-entered the room wearing hazmat suits. "We are go for removal of diaper one."

Flash lifted up a pair of plastic tongs, using it to undo the straps on Flurry's diaper and pull it from her, making the baby laugh as she was finally freed from the smelly confines. He quickly wiped the area of interest, putting the wipe in the diaper before putting them into a bin bag. "Diaper one successfully detached." He lifted the bag with the tongs as Springer held up a metal bin. "Prepare hazardous waste disposal."

"Ready waste bin," Flash dropped the bag into the bin, both then staring at the tongs for a moment, only to drop them in too. "Waste disposal complete."

Flash nodded and picked up a fresh diaper, "Preparing diaper two." Flash managed to get Flurry's wildly kicking legs into the clean garment and pulled it up, only to find him unable to properly close it. "Prepare alternate sealing method." Springer picked up a roll of duct-tape and pulled off a strip, Flash grabbing it before locking the diaper's sides into place.

The boys stepped back with big grins, "We've changed a diaper," Flash cheered before he and Springer high-fived, only for Flurry's face to scrunch up, a familiar sound filling the air as Flash let out a moan, "Oh, come on!"

"Ready diaper three," Springer added.

Twelve diapers later...

Flash and Springer slumped over, Flurry giggling at the sight. The waste bin beside them were currently overflowing with bin bags full of used diapers, the smell making Flash groan, "I'm gonna need therapy."

But as he said that, Flurry heard a bird as it flew past the window, she giggled before spreading her wings. The alicorn instantly went for the window, Flash and Springer slowly turning to see her leave.

...

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" They screamed at the top of their lungs, both jumping up. "Grab the baby bag!" Flash yelled before shooting out the window, quickly seeing Flurry just a ways off. "Oh, no you don't little lady!"

"Fla!" She yelled as Flash grabbed her, Springer running up with the baby bag in paw and Flash's Celestic Gear in the other. He quickly pulled out her Whammy and started waving it in front of her, calming her down.

"That was close," Flash sighed as Springer handed him his sword. "I don't wanna think what Twilight, Shining or even Cadance would do to us if they found out we let that happen."

"Maybe keeping her locked in the castle all day isn't such a good idea," Springer added, "Why don't we show her around town?"

Flash nodded before looking down at Flurry. "Promise not to run off and we'll explore Ponyville, okay?" Flurry let out a raspberry, making Flash roll his eyes, "I'll take that as a yes." With that, the three began to make their way through town, getting to Sugarcube Corner first. There they found Pinkie still minding the counter while the Pound and Pumpkin were playing in the corner.

"Flash!" Pinkie cheered, "You're back!" She then spotted Flurry, "Hey there! Your auntie Pinkie Pie's happy to see you." Flurry laughed at this while Flash placed her down next to the Cake Twins. The pair turned to her, giving the baby a curious look before holding their toys up to let her play.

"Ha!" Flash cheered, "They're friends already."

"I guess," Springer responded before the pair moved over to the counter. "Pinkie, please tells us you have something that can keep up."

"Tough day, huh?" The pair nodded and Pinkie ran into the kitchen, "Be right back." The boys sighed, feeling like they might fall asleep any second, only for a block to hit the side of Flash's head.

"Hey!" He glared at Flurry, who had thrown it, only to see the baby pointing at the Cake Twins. Pound and Pumpkin were both fighting over a balloon toy, "Come on you two." Flash leaned down and took the toy, "If you can't share, then you can't have it." This only caused the Cake Twins to turn to them, then start tearing up. "Oh no...don't do that."

"Maybe there's another one!" Springer went over to a toy chest, the jakhowl digging through while the twins started to cry.

"Hurry Springer!" Flash cried before covering his ears. As this happened, Flurry turned to him as his horn began to glow. And just as the twins were about to explode into a full on hissy fit, their sobs vanished. "Huh?" Flash commented as he saw the pair were now in a golden bubble, which blocked out their screams. Turning to Flurry, he saw her laughing as she flew up to him. "Nice one." He held up a hoof and Flurry actually responded by bumping it.

"Yes!" Springer pulled another balloon out of a toy chest, "Got one." He then saw the bubble and raised an eyebrow, "Did I miss something?" Flash shrugged and took the balloon from him as Flurry dropped the force-field.

The twin's crying filled the air, only for it stop as Flash gave them both a balloon. "See?" The twins began to play at this, "Isn't it better to share than fight?" The twins didn't respond to him, too focused on their toys as Pinkie came back.

"I heard crying!"

"Relax," Flash assured her, "We got it under control."

"Kinda," Springer replied before sniffing the air and seeing the earth pony carrying a tray. "Are those brownies?"

"Coffee brownies," she corrected. "Perfect for ponies on the go that are lacking energy." She leaned over to whisper into Springer's ear, "Don't worry, there's no sugar."

"You're a genius," Flash told her before he and Springer started munching them down.

Meanwhile...

The cloaked figure had arrived at the edge of the forest, now walking into the town. Its movements were slow, trotting up to a building and glancing around. Its eyes darted around, scanning everypony it saw.

But despite this and going up to another building, it didn't find the pony it was targeting.

Having finished their brownies and the twins now getting sleepy, Flash and Springer picked Flurry up and left the shop. They had hoped she would start to get tired, but it seemed playing with the twins had only got her more excited. "Good thing Pinkie hooked us up with those brownies," Flash sighed as the three walked through the town. "If she didn't, we'd probably be walking zombies at this point."

"How do Shining and Cadance do this every day?" Springer asked as they passed a nearby fountain, Flurry's eyes going wide at it.

"Watt!" She yelled before jumping off Flash's back.

"Flurry!" Flash yelped as she tried to dive into the water, only to be caught by the pegasus. "Oh, no you don't. I don't want your diaper getting wet."

Flurry moaned at this while Springer pulled out a diaper made of rubber. "Here. Water proof diaper." Flash smirked and took it to place over Flurry's own diaper, the rubber one fitting perfectly. Thankfully, the fountain wasn't deep, so he plopped her down, the baby laughing at the cool water soaking into her.

As she splashed around in it, Flash and Springer splashed her back, only for the tiny alicorn to grab the water as it was spurted out of the fountain and redirected it at Flash. "Gyah!" He cried as he staggered back, Springer laughing at this before getting soaked himself.

Flurry laughed as well, clapping her hooves, "Fla...Spree..." She laughed some more, Flash and Springer now shaking themselves off. They continued to play around for a few more minutes before deciding to take her out of the water. Flash then used his sword as a makeshift lamp, lighting it up so the heat dried them all off, Flurry laughing the whole time as the boys discussed what to do next.

"How about the park?" Springer asked.

"Eh, why not?" Flash nodded as he put his sword away. "And hopefully, it'll finally tire her out." The pair grabbed Flurry's bag and headed off for the park, the baby now back on the defender's back.

But as they left, the hooded figure stared at them from between two buildings, only to walk away.

"See? Look at all the pretty flowers," Flash commented as he put her down by a flowerbed. The baby giggled at the sight, only to point at a blue flower with red edgings. "That's...err..." Flash mumbled out, "No idea. This is why I need Twilight here..."

"Fla!" Flurry giggled as she flew back up and landed on his head, then covered his eyes with her wings.

"Hey!" He yelped, staggering back as he was now unable to see. He almost stepped on one of the flowers, but Flurry then grabbed his ears and pulled it back, now steering the pegasus around.

And as she began to direct him around, Springer was sitting on a bench, laughing at their antics. This was followed by a few minutes of wondering around before Flurry directed Flash over to the bench, now letting him see as she flew off his head and landed in Springer's lap. The pair smiled as the jakhowl handed her the Whammy, which she hugged tightly while rubbing her face into his furry stomach.

"You think she's finally starting to fall asleep?" Flash asked.

"I hope so," Springer chuckled, "Cause I'm about to fall nod off soon myself." They kept staring at the baby as Springer took her in his arms and stood up. "She might be a hassle, but she's certainly cute."

"Eeyup," Flash nodded, only to think back at the images of Cadance and Shining's exhausted looks. He then wondered if he could do this whole parenting thing, the image of Twilight and him with their very own bundle of joy appearing in his brain...and the two ponies now exhausted and broken. He felt a shiver down his spine, making him shuffle the thought into the back of his brain.

"Let's get back to the castle," Springer chimed in, Flash nodding again.

But as they turned to go for the building, Flash's eyes went wide as he saw something coming for them, "Look out!" He tackled Springer and Flurry as a blast of high pressure water shot past them, smashing into the bench behind them. Flurry let out a cry of laughter at the sudden movement, only for Flash and Springer to quickly get back up and now see a certain cloaked figure stepping out from behind the trees.

"Oh no..." Flash growled, "So which Trial are you?"

Springer held up his paw, aura surging from it before going wide-eyed, "Tidal?" Flash turned to him with a raised eyebrow, "I'm getting traces of Tidal's aura. But it's just like Mecha-Flash, completely lacking any type of soul."

As if realizing its cover was blown, the figure reached up and pulled the cloak off its body. The being looked like Tidal, only his fur was much paler and he had the same ventilator, neck and chest that the other two had. His front hooves had similar metal coverings like Mecha-Heather, though his back hooves her normal while his back had a pair of large glass containers sticking out of it that were full of water. His flank was also covered in metal and instead of a tail, he had a long hose-like appendage.

"Now that looks weird." Springer commented while Flash covered Flurry's eyes, "Who comes up with these designs?" Before Flash could reply, Trial-T raised its right hoof and revealed a hole in the bottom before a blast of water exploded out of it.

"MOVE!" Flash leapt up while Springer jumped to the side, the water flying past them and hitting a tree with enough force to cut it in half. "Whoa!" He whispered as Flurry saw the tree fall. Flash then flew down and dropped the foal into Springer's grasp. "Get her out of here! I'll lead this thing away!"

"But...you can't beat that thing on your own!" Springer yelped as he saw Flash now charging at Trial-T.

"I don't have to! Just find Twilight or somepony else to give her too and come back!" Flash took out his sword at this, "Flash Cutter!" A light blade flew at the clone, who raised its hose-tail and fired another blast of water that stopped it midair just as Flash glanced back at the two, "GO!"

"Raah!" Springer moaned as he grabbed the baby bag, "Come on Flurry!" He cut into a sprint at this, the baby alicorn squirming in his arms while trying to look over the jakhowl's shoulder.

"Fla!" She cried, "Fla!"

Flash began to fly over to the most remote location of the park, Trial-T chasing him, "Alright you over grown sprinkler system!" He pointed the blade at it, "Come and get me!"

The cyborg's response was to shoot blast after blast of water, firing from either his hooves or tail. Flash quickly zipped around, deflecting the attacks with Lightbringer, "Take this! Flash Force!" He fired the laser from the sword, but Trial-T fired a long stream from its tail, which began to push the laser back.

"Oookay." Flash grumbled, dodging another stream of water as he stared at the cyborg. His eyes glared at the water containers on its back, seeing them slowly drain as Trial-T kept firing water. And as the water disappeared, the defender fired a Flash Force, only for the cyborg to leap away.

"Aw, what's the matter? Running on empty?" Flash smirked as he swung his sword, "Too bad!" A Flash Cutter went for the cyborg, but it raised its hooves and blocked the blade while the horn on his head began to glow. "Huh?"

He raised up his sword to block an attack...only for nothing to happen. Blinking at this and a few seconds passing, Flash lowered his blade, "Uh...okay. Are you sure your creator was finished with you? You seem to be a little-" He didn't get to finish as Trial-T raised its hoof and fired another blast of water, hitting Flash straight in the chest. "GYAH!" He was thrown back into a tree, moaning as he slumped over, "What the heck?!" He forced his eyes open and saw the water containers now both half full and continuing to fill. "How did-" He stopped when he saw the clone's horn now shining, "Are you...getting the water from the air?"

Trial-T didn't reply, only to charge at Flash as it tried to slam its hoof into the defender. "Whoa!" Flash yelped as he leapt away, barely avoiding another water blast. He rolled to the side and held his sword up as Trial-T fired a stream of water. The pegasus swung his sword, cutting the stream in half as the water began to push him back, "Springer..." he moaned, "Hurry up and get here already."

The jakhowl had exited the park, sending out his aura as he kept running. "Springer, calling all defenders!" He yelled as he came to as stop, holding his head. "Grand, Lightning, Iron...anypony?" He then sent the aura further, trying to connect to anypony he could.

"Springer?"

"Twilight!" He yelped, Flurry glancing around for any sign of her aunt. "Great! I need you to meet me outside the park, right now."

A moment later, there was a bright flash of light and the princess of friendship appeared. "What's wrong?" She asked as Flurry flew over to her, "I was just in the middle of a pretty good story with the kids."

"A Trial showed up." Twilight's eyes went wide at this as he continued, "Flash lead it away, but I needed to get Flurry out of there. Can you look after her while I go help him?"

Twilight nodded back, "Just be careful. The last two times those things appeared, they were barely beaten. I'll try and get the others to come help you." Springer nodded before running back into the park, Flurry turning and squirming at the sight.

"Spree!" She cried as Springer disappeared. "Fla!"

"It's okay Flurry," Twilight told her while patting her back, "Uncle Flash and Springer will be fine. And once they're done showing that faker who's boss, they'll come back and start playing again." She then opened the baby bag and took out the whammy, giving it to Flurry as she began to clung to it, Twilight glancing back at the park. "Flash..."

"Flash Driver!" The Royal Knight spun into a light drill, charging at Trial-T. But before it could hit, the clone raised its hooves and the holes unleashed a mist-like vapour that filled the air. The drill shot into the mist, blocking Flash's vision and forcing him to pull out of the spin.

"Seriously?! He can do that?!" He growled before flying straight up, shooting out of the mist just as Trial-T fired a powerful blast of water. "WHOA!" He yelped, blocking it with the side of the blade, only for the water to push him back, sending him flying down. "Ahhh!" He cried, his sword flying out of his grip as he hit the dirt, "Ow."

And once the world stopped spinning, he turned to see the cyborg fire a jet of water into the weapon, sending it flying into the trunk of a tree. He turned to Trial-T as it began to move for him, Flash spreading his wings, but getting blasted with water before he could escape.

"GYAH!" He screamed, now being slammed into a nearby tree as he kept getting bombarded with the high-pressure stream. Trial-T kept blasting him as much as possible, even using his magic to grab the water after it struck Flash and sucking it back into its containers.

But as this happened, a new voice roared out, "Steel Paw!" Springer yelled as he appeared above the clone, only for Trial-T to unleash a blast of water from his hooves that propelled him out of the Steel Paw's way. And as the cyborg hopped back, Flash got up in a coughing rage as Springer asked, "You okay?"

"I'm fine," Flash groaned, "Though I think I might have just been put off showers for life." They both then ducked down to avoid another water blast, Flash rolling over to his sword. "Careful. This thing has an almost unlimited water supply." He pulled the blade out of the tree. "Whenever he gets low, he uses his magic to make more."

"Then we won't give him the chance too," Springer added before his body glowed. "Mega Mode Power!" He charged as light exploded off him to reveal his evolved form while creating a Bone Breaker. But just as he swung it, the Tidal clone fired a jet of water at the ground, causing it to explode and bombard Springer with flying bits of earth. "Ahhh!" He yelped, the mud hitting his eyes.

"Springer! Duck!" Flash yelled, Springer leaning back just in time to avoid the water blast. Flash then fired a laser, which Trial-T side-stepped before standing still. It froze for a moment, as if hearing somepony say something, then spun around to run away, "What the-where's it going? We just got started!"

Springer wiped the mud out of his eyes to see the clone fleeing, only to open his aura sense and go wide-eyed, "He's gonna attack the town!"

"Why that little..." Flash growled as he and Springer cut into a sprint, "It must have realized we can't fight at full strength with other ponies around us."

"Then we gotta stop it now!"

Twilight had ran Flurry as far from the park as she could, the baby alicorn squirming as much as she could. "Come on Flurry," she told her. "I need you to work with me here." As she said that, she turned to see a certain earth pony walked down a street. "Iron!"

The Royal Knight turned to her with a raised eyebrow. "What's up?"

"Flash and Springer are fighting against one of those Trial things!" This made him go wide-eyed, "They need your help!"

"Alright." He took out his Celestic Gear, "Where are they?"

"In the park!" But as soon as she said that, a loud smashing sound rang out, making them turn to see a jet of water explode out of a building several streets away. "Or they could be over there." Iron ran off at this, Twilight taking a deep breath before feeling Flurry squirm again, "No Flurry!"

"Twilight!" said another voice, making her turn to see Soul and Heart running up to her, "What's going on?"

"Flash is in trouble," Twilight replied as Heart's eyes went wide.

"I'm gonna go help!" He responded, flaring his wings. But before he could take off, Twilight's magic grabbed his tail.

"Oh, no you don't!" She pulled him back before placing Flurry's baby bag into his hooves, "You two are gonna take Flurry back to the castle and stay there!" The two grimaced at this, "I'm gonna go help Flash."

"Hey! Babysitting isn't in the Royal Knight job description!"

"But following a princesses orders is," she handed Flurry to Soul. "And I'm ordering you to keep her safe until I get back." With that, she teleported away as the pair turned to the still squirming baby.

"I don't get payed enough for this."

"You don't get payed period," Soul replied before flying off with the baby.

"Oh yeah," Heart added as he began dragging the heavy bag through the air. "I gotta talk to somepony about that."

When Flash and Springer had found the clone, it was blasting everything in sight, screams crying out as it continued. "Get away from them!" Flash yelled, "I'm the one you want!" The clone turned to him and started firing water blasts, the duo ducking under the attacks as Springer threw an Aura Blast.

Trial-T crossed its hooves over its chest, tanking the attack as it pushed it back into the side of a nearby fountain. "Gotcha now!" Springer yelled as he and Flash charged at him.

But as this happened, the cyborg's horn glowed before the ground beneath their hooves began to shake. Flash and Springer skidded to a stop as the fountain exploded, unleashing a massive geyser that then curved down and slamming into the pair.

"WHOA!" They yelped as they were knocked back, crashing into a nearby stall. As they did this, Trial-T began to draw the water from the fountain to refuel itself, only for another voice to ring out.

"Iron Lance Fury!" It turned to see a large number of metal spikes coming for it, the clone using the water from the fountain to wrap around its body, stopping the attack. Once that was done, the clone made the water explode, shooting the metal at Iron, only for Twilight to teleport in and create a forcefield that stopped the water.

"You okay?" She asked Flash as he and Springer picked themselves up.

"Fantastic," Flash replied as Twilight dropped the shield, Iron charging with an Iron Saber, but Trial-T just propelled itself away with water. "Careful. That thing fires water at high speed and can use its magic to control-" He stopped as he turned to Twilight, "Where's Flurry?"

"I gave her to Heart and Soul." Twilight fired a magical blast at the clone, the cyborg leaping back before swinging its hose-tail around. Water flew everywhere, Twilight putting up a shield while Iron stabbed his spear into the ground.

"Iron Spike!" A line of meal shards exploded out of the ground at Trial-T, only for the cyborg to use its hoof jets to propel itself into the air.

"Flash/Aura Force!" The defenders roared as they fired their laser attacks while Twilight did the same with her horn. These blasts all struck the clone at the same time, hitting it in the chest plate, causing an explosion that blasted the clone back into a nearby river.

"We got him!" Twilight cheered as Iron pulled his spear out of the ground. But in that moment, Trial-T pushed itself up, now showing its chest completely undamaged. "No...how is that possible?!"

Flash growled at this, only to notice the clone's tail dip into the river, refilling its containers. "Get it! Can't let it refuel it's ammo!" He charged as the others did the same, only for Trial-T's horn to glow. Before any of them could stop it, the water in the river exploded upward to form a large wall. "Uh-oh."

The wall crashed down, creating a wave that came for the four. Flash managed to fly over it, but the wave took the others, sweeping them all back. "NO!" He yelled as he saw them slam into the sides of nearby buildings. And when the wave washed away, they were all slumped over, Springer no longer in Mega Mode. He turned to Trial-T, growling as he raised his sword, "That's it! You're done!"

He swooped down and slashed at the cyborg, Trial-T backpedaling at this before before thrusting its hose into his chest. Water exploded out next, striking him point blank. "AAAAAHHHHH!" He screamed as he was blasted back, sending him flying over the houses, Trail-T then following after the defender.

Heart and Soul were continuing to make their way through the town, Flurry still squirming in Soul's hooves. "Come on Flurry!" Soul said as the baby pulled herself free of her grasp, only for Soul to grab her by the tail with her magic. "No! We're going this way!"

Flurry let out a cry as she pulled against Soul, Heart then reaching into the bag, "Flurry, wanna play with whammy?" The baby turned to him as he showed the toy to her, "Whammy wants to play at the castle with your new bears." Flurry stared at the toy, only to pull against Soul's magic again. "What's wrong with her?"

"Do I look like a baby expert to you? I have no idea!" Soul barked back before grabbing the baby, pulling her down despite Flurry's protests. "Let's just get her home before-" She didn't get to finish as something suddenly shot down and slammed into the side of a building with a loud crash.

They turned to it and saw a certain pony fall over with a moan, "Fla!" Flurry cried, the others seeing it was the defender. But before they could run over to him, heavy hoof-steps made them turn to see Trial-T running up to them.

"Flash!" Heart gasped before glaring at Trial-T, his body exploding with fire. "Stay away from him!" He charged at the cyborg, but before he could get close, the cyborg pointed its hose-tail at him and unleashed a stream of water. "WHOA!"

"Heart!" Soul gasped as the stream hit her brother, slamming him into a building as his flames went out.

This cry seemed to sway Flash into consciousness, making him lift his head up and see Heart, Soul and- "Flurry," he whispered before pushing himself back to his hooves. He turned to his sword on the ground, reaching for it, only for another water blast to hit him in the chest. "AUGH!"

"Fla!" Flurry cried, her horn then shining as suddenly vanished.

"What the-" Soul gasped, only to see a light appear beside Flash, the baby now appearing by his side, "NO!" She screamed, trying to fly after the baby, only for another blast of water to fly across the street, "AUGH!" Soul screamed as the water hit flying into her brother.

Flurry shook Flash at this, but the defender didn't respond. The sight made the foal tear up, only to her metal hoof-steps, making her turn to the cyborg as it pointed its tail at them.

"Fla...fla...fla..." Her tears continued to well up as the cyborg charged up as much water as possible, only for Flurry to screech, "FLAAAAA!" Her horn glowed as a beam of light shot out, hitting the clone in the chest instantly. The blow made it cry out before getting blasted back, the sounds of metal clanging as it began to grind on the dirt road below.

The golden light from the horn was so bright that it could be seen by anypony over a mile away from the town. Flash's eyes opening up to see what Flurry was doing, "Flurry..." This statement caused the baby to cut her magic, glancing back at him.

"Fla!" She instantly hugged him, the defender embracing her back, only to then hear a new cry of pain. He glanced up to see the Trial clutching its chest, smoke clearing as he now saw the beast's metal chest had been dented and damaged beyond recognition. A large opening could be seen, revealing a bunch of blast dust...and one destroyed Corrupted Shadow rock.

"Good girl," Flash chuckled as he got up, only for a burst of light to appear beside him, revealing Twilight, Springer and Iron.

"Flash!" She exclaimed, "Flurry!" She pulled the baby over to her, "Are you okay?"

"She's fine," Flash replied, "Heck, better than fine. Look what she did to that thing." The others turned to see the damaged cyborg, smiles appearing on their lips. "Now I don't have to worry about using my Sacred Light," his body began to glow at this, "Time to finish this. Armorize!" In a brilliant burst of light, Flash was decked out in his Shining Guardian armor. Using his magic, he grabbed his sword, transforming it as soon as it touched his hoof.

The Trial began to fire water shots at this, but Flash cut right through them before spinning around like a top. With a single swipe, he slammed his hoof into the cyborg's face, making it stagger back before pointing its hose at him. It fired a long stream of water, but Flash's horn sparked and the water stopped in midair.

When Trial-T stopped firing, he dropped the water before vanishing in a flash of light. Another flash made the cyborg glance behind itself as the knight swung its sword down, cutting the hose-tail right near the base. This made it cry out and jump back, firing several blasts of water from its hooves, only for Flash to fire blasts of light from his horn, evaporating every bit of water.

And as this happened, Trial-T suddenly found its water supply depleted. "You're out," Flash laughed as Trial-T's horn started glowing....only for it fizzle out, "Looks like you can't make new water without your power source. Too bad." His sword glowed as he glanced back at Twilight. "Cover Flurry's eyes."

Twilight nodded and did that with her wing, Flash turning back to the clone as his wings opened up before expelling the Sacred Light. This shot him forward as he held his sword back, his weapon now shining, "SHINING SWORD OF THE HEAVENS!" He screeched, the sword slashing through the area, the knight sliding to a stop behind Trial-T with his sword pointed ahead.

The cyborg screamed as the mechanical parts of its body began to spark and fizzle, short-circuiting until it reached critical mass and exploded. And as Flash glanced back at the now destroyed clone, his armor vanished as Flurry pushed Twilight's wing out of her view and laughed at him. Flash smiled back at her, taking the baby from Twilight as the others gathered around them. Flurry continued to giggle as Flash threw her up and down as the rest stared at the destroyed machine, not seeing a thing left were looking at.

"Who is doing this?" Twilight asked as she tapped the few pieces of metal left of the cyborg, "And why?"

Signal Lost...

Void growled as the computer went static. "Again?!" He roared, raising his hoof as he was about to punch the computer, "I lost again?! Why is *cough* *cough*-blaugh!" He leaned over and began to wheeze, only to glare back up at the computer, "All these annoyances...why can't they leave well enough alone and let me take what's rightfully mine?!"

He began to cough again, only to turn away from the machine and stared at the three remaining doors. "Why do they keep losing?! They're made specifically to counter his abilities..." He slumped over in his chair, "Maybe...maybe I'm sending them out too early?" He let out another cough, "Urgh...maybe that's right. Maybe I just need to...make more adjustments...more than enough to actually defeat their opponent." A long wheeze flowed through the room next as he hopped off his chair, "Very well. Enjoy the time whlie you have it, Flash Sentry. My next creation won't be so easily beaten."

Back in Ponyville, the damage done to the town was being repaired, Shining and Cadance now returning from their day out. The pair had been pulled away from the art exhibit when they saw the bright light, both recognizing it as Flurry's magic, and ran to the battlefield as they arrived only minutes after Flash had destroyed the Trial.

"You certainly had an eventful day, didn't you?" Cadance asked her daughter as Soul was busy seeing to Flash's injuries.

"I'm sorry Flurry got put in danger because of me," Flash replied before Shining shook his head.

"No, it wasn't your fault. You were able to fight off this opponent and keep her safe. Trust me, most parents have a hard time doing just one of those things at a time."

Flurry laughed at this, flying over to Flash's head, landing on it as everyone laughed with her. "Honestly," Flash responded, "As fun as today's been, it was exhausting."

Springer nodded in agreement, "And you have to do this every day? How do you guys not keel over every second?"

Cadance let out a giggle, "It might be tough, but it's worth it." Shining nodded, "And if today has taught Shining and me anything, it's that we'd take being this little one's parents over getting to do anything we want any day."

Twilight let out a sigh at this, "I just wish I hadn't been so busy today. I could have spent more time with Flurry and helped when that thing showed up."

"It's not your fault," Flash chimed in.

"Yeah," Shining responded, "We definitely should've given you more of a heads up."

"Yes!" Cadance added, "From now on, we'll give you plenty of notice."

"That would be great." She turned to Flash, "We're just lucky Flash and Springer were here to look after Flurry while I was busy. If they weren't, I might have ended up trying to take care of Flurry and do the hospital visit." She picked Flurry up and smiled at her, "That probably wouldn't have been very fun for you, huh?"

Flurry just giggled back before Springer said, "I guess being the best aunt ever is about more than just spending as much time as possible with your niece."

Twilight nodded, "It's about spending quality time with her." She then rubbed her nose against Flurry's, Cadance and Shining smiling at the sight.

"Hey, what are you doing next Tuesday?" The four all turned to Cadance as she asked this question, some grimacing before she added, "For dinner, not to babysit."

This made Twilight chuckle, "I'll have to check with Spike, but I think we're free."

Flash nodded while Cadance glanced around. "Where is Spike, anyway?" Twilight opened her mouth to respond, only to facehoof.

"Oh no..."

"You left him at the hospital, didn't I?" Flash deadpanned, making Twilight slowly nod back.

"The dashing dragon warrior breathed a scorching flame from his snout," Spike read to the ponies in the hospital. "Then chuckled to himself as he flew into the sunset." He got up and leapt onto a nearby trolley cart, "If you can't stand the heat, don't fight a dragon!"

"Hey," one of the ponies pointed at him, "You kinda look like him!"

"Thank you!" Spike laughed as he closed the book. "Now, who wants more cake?" The foals all cheered as Spike grabbed a knife, the little dragon now wondering how much longer Twilight was gonna be. Not that he wasn't enjoying himself.

"Excuse me," Twilight's horn glowed, "I'll be back...some time."

With that, she vanished just as Ace and Mira returned, the sight making Flash smirk, "Ah, good. Now that the four of you are here, we can discuss you ditching us earlier." The four younglings gulped at this, only to see Flash let out a groan, "Is what I would say...but I'm too tired to give you guys a big long lecture. How about this? Flurry made a small mess of the dinning room earlier. Clean it up and we're square."

The four all sighed in relief before running off, Cadance turning to Flash with a small smile, "That was very mature of you, Flash. I was kinda expecting some kind of petty revenge." She then saw Flash and Springer's smiles begin to curl, making her shake her head, "You have a petty revenge planned, don't you?"

Flash just closed his eyes and opened his ears, the others listening as cries of disgust and moans soon filled the castle. Flash couldn't help but laugh, "I love my life sometimes." He grabbed Flurry and lead everyone to the living room, wanting a rest of the chance to play some more. Despite everything, this day was definitely one worth remembering.

A Dragon's Place

View Online

It began with three certain ponies on the outskirts of Ponyville. The trio were Maud Pie, Starlight Glimmer and Rogue the thestral. Rogue had been asked by Maud to show her to the cave he had once called home, Rogue then telling her that the cave had collapsed, but she was fine with it and Starlight decided to tag along.

"Alright..." Rogue pointed at the entrance to the canyon, "The cave into the tunnels is through here."

"That looks like a tight squeeze," Starlight pointed out.

"Iron was able to squeeze through it," Rogue countered, "Just suck in your gut." Starlight rolled her eyes at this while Maud stared at the flowers surrounding the rocky canyon.

She then walked up to a nearby wall, moving over to wipe her hoof on it. "Maud?" Starlight asked, "You find something?" Maud replied by turning to her while showing her hoof was now covered in some kind of shiny slime. "Oil?"

"These rocks are made of tar shale," Maud replied, "When exposed to an extreme temperature, they excrete an oil known as synthetic crude." She pointed to the wall, "This whole wall has been super heated recently."

"That's strange," Starlight added before seeing more oil on the wall further down. "There sure is a lot of it."

The three followed the oil at this, Maud telling them the sun wasn't enough to cause this. And after a few minutes, they arrived at an area filled with more flowers, the walls having more oil covering them. Rogue then pointed at the wall, "Check that out."

They now saw a cave in the face of the wall, Maud walking up to the side before the oil made her slip, her back hitting the ground. "Ow," she deadpanned, not even flinching as she said that.

"I'll go take a look." Rogue began to hover at this, taking off his glasses as he went to the back of the cave...only to see a bipedal figure standing in the darkness. "Who are you?" He asked, only for the figure to let out a low growl before taking a deep breath.

Outside the cave, the mares were staring at the cave, only for a loud roar to ring out before a large blast of fire that exploded out of the cave. "GYAH!" Rogue screamed as he was sent flying out of the cave, Starlight barely managing to catch him with her magic.

"Are you okay?" She asked, now seeing the soot covered thestral spit out a bunch of smoke before she looked back at the cave. Teleporting over to it next, she yelled, "Hey! Who's there?!" The figure appeared at this, letting out a growl again, "Whoever you are, you better be careful. I'm not against blasting you." But then the growling increased, only for another blast of fire came for her, the unicorn gasping as her horn began to spark.

Meanwhile...

Within the Castle of Friendship's map room, Flash, Springer, Heart, Soul, Ace, Mira, Scootaloo and Pinkie were all rummaging through a bunch of boxes in the room, the only one not doing so being Springer. Instead, the jakhowl was standing at a typewriter surrounded by a bunch of old documents.

In that moment, Twilight and Fluttershy walked in, both carrying more boxes. "Thanks for helping out," the princess told Fluttershy and Pinkie. "It was about time we gave this place a good spring cleaning."

"No kidding," they all turned to see Pinkie polishing a large spring. "Some of these things are super filthy." The others all laughed as Heart opened another box.

"What a bunch of junk," he commented as he pulled out an old Halloween wolf-mask. "Where'd you get all this stuff anyway?"

Twilight shrugged, "Ponies just automatically accumulate things overtime. And if you don't get on top of it every now and again, it'll overtake your entire life."

"And who knows," Soul added, "We might find something that somepony else might like to have instead."

"Like what?" Heart asked, only for a beeping sound to ring out, making him turn and see Ace holding a metal detector.

The jakhowl laughed as he swung it around, only to see the others staring at him. "What?" He put the device down and moved over to another box, only to pull out a toy. "Hey, check it out!" He yanked the ripcord and a helicopter-like disk shot off the end before landing on one of Springer's piles.

"Hey!" He yelped as the papers went flying, the older jakhowl barely managing to catch them all. "Watch it."

Ace apologized as Springer put the papers down, Fluttershy moving over to him. "What are you working on?" She asked, picking up one of the papers and seeing an image of a jakhowl's two forms.

"If you must know, I've decided to write a chronicle detailing the history of the jakhowl race." He turned to the others, "You remember how hard it was to find anything on us when I first showed up. I don't want that to happen again, so I'm compiling everything. Even if our race disappears, we'll never be forgotten again."

"Really?" Flash added as he walked up, "How much you written?" He looked onto the typewriter and chuckled, "One letter?"

He and Heart let out a slight laugh as Springer glared at him, "It's a start." He then turned back to the single letter before leaning over and whispering to Flash, "You got any tippex?"

Flash rolled his eyes as he walked away, Twilight then asking, "Did anypony find anything you might think be worth keeping?"

"Not really," Scootaloo replied as she jumped into one of the boxes. "All I've found is a bunch of old junk."

"Don't be fooled," Pinkie chimed in, "One of these boxes might hold some ancient family heirlooms." Her head popped out of a box, showing a bunch of combs in her mane, "Or maybe some family hair brushes." She giggled as Flash opened another box, the defender then going wide-eyed.

"Wow!" he exclaimed as he pulled out a black coat, "You'll never guess what I just found!"

"The secrets to eternal stupidity?" Springer asked, not looking up from his typewriter.

"No," Flash responded as he held up the coat. "It's my old magic outfit," He put it to his side, now seeing he had greatly outgrown the small outfit, "And here I thought I'd lost it..."

"And I thought I'd hidden it," Twilight whispered to Soul and Scootaloo, the three giggling as Flash looked back inside the box.

"HA! Trixie isn't the only one who knows how to pull off a trick or two. It's all here." He reached in and pulled out the items. "Wand. Cards. Han...handker...chief..." Everypony raised an eyebrow as he took out a green and very damp rag, which he dropped back in. "I seem to have lost my rabbit."

"Have you tried looking in your hat?" Twilight asked, Flash rolling his eyes.

"Now why didn't I think of that?" He pulled out a top hat, then waved his hoof above it.

"This should be good," Heart joked as Flash reached inside...only for Flash to pull out a white baby rabbit. Their eyes went wide at this while Fluttershy looked like she was gonna explode.

"Oh...my...GOODNESS!" She flew over and picked it up, hugging him tightly and rubbing her face into its. "Isn't he sweet?"

"Very," Ace licked his lips, "Especially slowly cooked, with dipping sauce on the side." Fluttershy turned to shoot him the stare, making the joking jakhowl recoil, "Sorry. That was tasty...I mean tasteless."

Flash turned to Fluttershy, "Maybe you should take him in. I'm sure you could find a nice home for him." Fluttershy nodded and continued to pet the rabbit while the others focused on sorting through the boxes and placing everything into one single box.

"Why isn't Spike helping with this?" Mira asked as she and Soul placed an old painting on the floor away from the throw-out pile. "Isn't this kind of thing usually his expertise?"

"Spike's a little busy right now," Twilight replied as she picked up a box.

"Doing what?"

"Well..."

Within his room, Spike was staring at a table with a gemstone on it.

"Alright..." he told himself, "I'm gonna do it this time." He pointed at the gem, "You will be in my belly!" With that, he took a deep breath and thought about everything Twilight told him before breathing onto his claws. In doing so, he shot out some fire that wrapped around his claws, the drake feeling the magic energy flowing through the flames.

He thrust his arms out and tried to mentally visualize the image of the gem lifting off the table...only for nothing to happen. "Augh!" He yelled after a minute or so, dropping his arms and falling to his butt. "Why can't I do this?!"

He let out a long sigh before laying back on the floor, "Couldn't dad have left me with all of his magical knowledge?! I don't wanna just sit around trying to figure out this junk out..."

"Just leave him be," Twilight told the others, "He's frustrated about not being able to figure out his magic."

"I can sure understand that," Soul sighed as she used her magic to lift the items out of another box. Ever since she had discovered her true magic, controlling it had felt an awful lot easier. It was like she had been reading a manual written in another language, only to now have one she was able to read.

Flash nodded, "I guess it's hard to figure something out about yourself when there's literally nopony around to tell you about your kind and little to nothing written down. Same with my Sacred Light..."

"Tch. I know that more than anyone," Springer added, "That's why I'm writing this chronicle." And what he had yet to say was that another reason he was doing it was so is that if another jakhowl one day appeared in Equestria, they wouldn't have to live in the dark about who they were. "Now, if you don't mind, no more distractions. I need to-"

"TWILIGHT!" Starlight's voice echoed through the air, making Springer groan.

"Oh, I give up." He slammed his head down on the typewriter. A moment later, the doors flew open to reveal Starlight, Rogue and Maud, the first two covered in soot and smoking.

"What's wrong?" Twilight asked her student as she now saw what her and Rogue looked like.

"There's some kind of creature located in a cave just outside of Ponyville," Starlight replied, "And by the looks of things, it's not very friendly."

"Yeah," Rogue nodded, "It blasted fire at us before we could try and get close. If Starlight hadn't teleported us out of there, we'd be barbecued right now."

"You got any idea what it is?" Flash asked, Springer hopping off his chair.

"Not really," Starlight responded, "All I know is that it breathes fire and stands on two legs."

This made the ponies all exchange a glance, Springer asking, "It didn't have wings, did it?" The ponies shrugged in response, "Huh. Think it might be a dragon?"

"Only one way to find out," Flash replied as he took out his Celestic Gear. "Let's round up the defenders and go meet our new neighbor."

An hour or so later...

The defenders, Twilight and Spike were now walking up to the area Starlight had mentioned, Heart also there as he stated that him being fireproof made him the best choice to talk to this creature...and Flash agreed if he promised to follow their directions.

"I really hope this isn't a dragon," Iron groaned as they headed into the canyon. "Ponyville's suffered enough dragon related issues recently."

Grand nodded, "Well if it is a dragon, we can handle it."

"And I can send a message to Ember if we need to," Spike finished as they arrived at the cave. "So...who's gonna go in there?"

"Heart and I'll go," Flash told them. "You all stay here and be ready in case this thing flies out of the cave and decides to go desolation of Sluarg on Ponyville."

They flew in as Iron turned to Twilight, "Desolation of Sluarg?"

"It's from a book," she replied as the pair went inside.

"Hello?" Flash called out, "Is any-creature here?" They then noticed movement at the back of the cave, "We just wanna talk...."

"Yeah," Heart added, "So if you could keep from trying to roast us...at least for a little while." But as he said that, the creature began to let out several growls before taking a deep breath. "Uh-oh!"

A mighty roar filled the cave as the creature unleashed a burst of fire. Heart leapt in front of Flash, the flames hitting him but doing no damage. As he did this, Flash pulled out his sword. "Alright," he said as the flames died down, "I didn't wanna do this, but you leave me no choice." He ignited the blade and the light filled the cave, chasing away the darkness...only for Flash and Heart's eyes to go wide. "You?"

At the same time, the rest stared at the cave's entrance, only for the pegasi to fly out. "Are you okay?" Twilight asked, "We heard a roar."

"We're fine," Flash replied, "And we found out who the dragon is." He turned back to the cave. "You can come out now."

They all stared at the cave as the dragon slowly came out, Spike gasping, "Flicker?!" The drake ran up to the dragon, "What are you doing here?!"

"Err..." the intellectual dragon scratched the back of his head. "It's...complicated."

"And why did you attack Starlight and the others?" Grand asked next.

"I didn't attack them," he responded before rubbing his nose. "I've just been..." He stopped and started letting out a bunch of growls, the expression on his face making them see he was preparing to sneeze. He let out a roar at this, Twilight creating a shield to block the flames. "Ugh..." he wiped his nose, "Sorry. Ever since I got here, I've been sneezing non-stop."

Twilight raised an eyebrow before taking one of the plants currently sprinkled around the place. She held it up to Flicker, the dragon taking a quick whiff, only to sneeze and unleash another fire blast. "I think you might be allergic to these things," she dropped the burnt flower. "Why don't we return to the castle and you can explain why you're here." Flicker sighed and nodded.

Twilight quickly teleported the group back to Ponyville, all arriving outside of the castle. They found Starlight and the others waiting inside, Flicker apologizing for what happened earlier before they gathered in the throne-room.

"Alright Flicker," Spike said as he sat down on his throne. "Why are you here? Shouldn't you be back in the dragon lands, researching something or other?"

Flicker let out a sigh, "I'm afraid my days living in the dragon lands are over." This made everypony raise an eyebrow, "As punishment for what I did to my kind, I am to never step foot on dragon held soil."

"Wait....they banished you?" Flash replied, only for Flicker to remain silent, "No way. I can't believe it."

"Why would Ember do this?" Soul asked, but Flicker shook his head.

"No, Ember didn't banish me. My punishment is that of self-exile."

"You banished yourself?" Flicker nodded back. "Why?"

Flicker chuckled, "You ask why? Why else? I almost doomed my people and Equestria to destruction. I unleashed a great evil that almost destroyed everything, attacked Equestria, turned many of you into mindless slaves and almost cost Spike his life."

"But that wasn't your fault!" Spike chimed in, "Malafear was controlling you."

"But I was the one that found the book and released him." He closed his eyes and sighed. "Growing up, I was always interested in history and the world around me. The other dragons always thought I was a fool, telling me that nothing good can happen by digging up the past. And they were right. If I hadn't been so curious about the mural, I never would have discovered the book and Malafear would never have been freed." He turned to the others. "I know you've all forgiven me, but I just can't forgive myself. And my fellow dragons shouldn't forgive me either. That's why I decided to never step foot in the Dragon Lands again."

"Flicker..." Twilight tried to say, only to see Flicker glance away. She knew they weren't gonna talk Flicker out of this. "Alright..." she crossed her hooves at this, "I can see you're serious about this. If that's the case, you can stay here in Ponyville. I'm sure there's something here you can do."

The others nodded, Flicker glancing back at the others, "Are you sure? I wouldn't wanna get in the way."

"We're sure," Spike replied, "You're staying here until you figure out what you wanna do with your life."

Flicker smiled at this, nodding at the young dragon. "Thank you...but how do I find out what I wanna do?"

The others all smirked at one another, Twilight giggling, "I'm sure we can help with that."

The next day...

"Alright Flicker!" Pinkie cheered as she and Flicker stood side by side in Sugarcube Corner's kitchen, "Today we're going to be making a whole batch of cupcakes. Are you ready to get baking?"

"I guess?" Flicker replied, "But uh...I've never baked anything before."

"Oh, don't worry about that. I'll be here to coach you through it. Alright," she took out a mixing bowl, "First we need flour, baking powder and salt."

"Got it," Flicker responded before moving over to a cupboard, taking out a bag of flour that he put on the counter. He then turned to grab the baking powder, only for his tail to flick around and hit the flour, knocking it off the counter. "Oops." He put the baking powder down and turned to clean the flour up, only for his tail to hit the baking powder, knocking it over, "Augh!" He picked the flour bag up, putting the sack back on the counter, only to knock it off again when he turned to pick the baking powder up. "OH, COME ON!"

A small clean up later...

Flicker now had his tail duct-taped to his back, he and Pinkie at the oven as the pink pony finished mixing the ingredients, "Alright, now all we need to do is put them into some baking cups and pop them into the oven." She turned to Flicker, "Can you preheat the oven? I need it at three hundred and fifty degrees."

Flicker saluted and leaned down at the oven, only to raise an eyebrow. Having lived in the Dragon Lands his whole life, using a machine wasn't something he knew. He pressed one of the buttons, only for nothing to happen. "Hmm..." He turned one of the nobs and pressed the button again, causing the flames within to come to life. "Aha!"

He turned to Pinkie as she finished putting the mixture into the cups, walking over with the tray of treats in mouth. He opened the door and she slotted the tray before he shut it, the earth pony thanking him. "Now for clean up." Flicker nodded and the pair started washing up...only to smell a burning scent several minutes later. "You did put it at three-fifty...right?"

"Err...I think so." Pinkie ran over to the oven, only for her eyes to literally extend out of her sockets when she saw that Flicker had turned to nob all the way to maximum. She opened the door at this, only for smoke to fly out. They both started coughing as Pinkie removed the now charcoal cupcakes, Flicker using his wings to blow the smoke away. And as the smoke cleared out, Flicker now saw the burnt treats in the tray.

"Uh...maybe baking isn't for me."

A little later...

Now in the sky above Ponyville, Flicker was hovering beside Rainbow. "Alright, get ready Flicker. It's time to learn how to cloud bust." Flicker nodded back. Clouds weren't really a thing in the Dragon Lands, the closest one got being when volcanoes spew enough smoke to fill the sky, but he was curious how this works.

"So what do we do first?"

"First," Rainbow pointed to a bunch of clouds, "Start by gathering those clouds together into one large cloud."

Flicker nodded and flew over to grab them, only for his claws to go right through the vapor, "Huh?"

"Oh..." Rainbow chimed in, her ears flopping down as she saw the flaw in this plan. "Right. You can't touch clouds, can you? Maybe we should try something else."

Flicker swung his claw through the cloud again, only to hum, "Hmm...wait a minute." He began to beat his wings, unleashing a strong enough gust to blow the cloud into another, forming a bigger cloud.

Rainbow nodded, impressed at his ingenuity as he kept blowing all the clouds together until they formed a single giant cloud. "Not bad. You ready to move onto step two?"

"Just...give me...a minute...hoo!" Flicker gasped as he bent over in midair with his claws on his knees.

"Yeah..." Rainbow added, "I don't think this is your thing bud. If you can't touch the clouds, how you gonna bust 'em?"

Flicker stared at the cloud before snapping a claw, "Hang on. I got an idea." He took a deep breath before unleashing a burst of fire, evaporating the cloud...only for the vapor to spread over the whole town. And as soon as the evaporated water cooled, it began to rain down on the ponies below.

Not being warned of a shower, many ponies caught outside were now soaked, running a day of picnics in the park below. Rainbow then glared at Flicker, the dragon shrugging with a big frown.

Even more time later...

"Alright partner," Applejack stated as she, Rogue and Flicker made their way through the farm. "We got a bunch of chores that anypony could do. Just stick ta dah instructions and ya'll be makin dah perfect crops in no time."

"Nice. So what do you want me to do first?"

"How about ya'lll...gather dah eggs." Applejack handed him a basket and some feed, Flicker nodding as he took them and headed over to the chicken coop.

"Here chicky chicky chicky," he said as he flew over the fence and poured some seed onto the ground. The chickens looked out and saw him, Flicker smiling as he waved at the chickens. But when he did this, the animals all saw his big teeth and giant claws, making them all hide back into the coop.

"Maybe we should try something else," Rogue whispered, Applejack shaking her head.

"Ah like the guy, but ah'm not exactly comfortable letting a fire breather that's proven to have hay-fever near the trees and crops." They then saw him walk up to the chicken coop, only for the birds inside to huddle themselves even further in as he tried to make them come out. The sight made Applejack sigh, "Time for a meeting with the girls..."

When the council of friendship convened, the eight discussed the best possible action to take regarding Flicker. "There has to be something we can do to help him," Spike told the ponies. "I mean, I'm able to live in a pony town without issue."

"Maybe," Twilight sighed, "But you've lived in Equestria since the day you hatched. You understand what needs to be done to properly integrate into pony society." She turned to Spike, "It's nothing against dragons, but he grew up in an environment that's completely different to this one."

"Yeah," Flash nodded. "In the dragon lands, no one cares how clumsy or rogue you are. The only thing they have there are rocks and gems. It's like asking somepony who played buckball the normal way for years to start playing using equipment made out of paper."

"Plus he can't read," Pinkie pointed out.

"Correction," Twilight chimed in, "He can read ancient draconic. But he doesn't know how to read our language."

"Well then maybe that's where we should start," Fluttershy added, "If he was able to read, I'm sure he'd find fitting in much easier."

"I guess," Twilight hummed, "But who should teach him?" The pony's eyes shifted from one pony to another until they all stared at a certain dragon in the room.

Spike's eyes went wide at this, "Me?"

"You are the best one qualified to teach him," Twilight replied, "He'd probably find it easier to learn from a fellow dragon. Besides, maybe he can teach you a thing or two about dragons as well."

"Huh. Okay." Spike stood up at this, "Alright, I'll teach him how to read and write. Shouldn't be too hard. He is pretty smart and will probably be overjoyed to learn something like this." He then glanced around, "But uh...where is Flicker?"

Flicker had chosen to wander around the castle, fighting every urge he had take a bite out of one of the walls. As he kept moving, he thought back to everything that had happened today, "Maybe it would be better if I go find somewhere else to live? Pony life for a dragon just isn't something that can be learned automatically."

But as he said that, he heard a loud clicking noise fill the air at an un-regular rate. Following the sound, he arrived at a door, opening it to find a large library full of books. "Wow..." he whispered as he walked inside. His brain was screaming at him to grab the first book and crack it open, only to be stopped when he realized he couldn't read any of the words. That is, till he turned to the clicking sound and saw a certain canine sitting at a typewriter.

"Oh," the canine looked up at those words, "Sorry. Didn't meant to interrupt."

"It's fine," Springer replied, "I don't think we've really talked to one another, have we?"

"No," Flicker shook his head, "Though you might have talked to me when I was...having issues."

"Yeah," Springer nodded. "Well, it's nice to meet you. Springer's the name."

"Flicker," he replied before looking at the machine, "What are you working on?"

"I'm writing a chronicle of my people," Springer responded, "My wards and I are the last jakhowls known in Equestria, but there might still be more that need to learn about us. And even if there aren't, I wanna leave something behind to make sure Equestria never forgets us."

"I can understand that," Flicker nodded as he sat down opposite of him. "If the dragon race ever went extinct, I'm sure we'd want some way for others to remember us." He sighed, "That's why I started researching our people's history in the first place. For all the good it did me." Springer looked up at him as he added, "Let me guess, you're gonna say I shouldn't blame myself for what happened."

"No, it is your fault that Malafear returned." Flicker sighed again, "But not just yours." He raised an eyebrow at this as Springer continued, "I mean, you only found that book because you were interested in that mural. One I'm guessing Starswirl or the other dragons made as a warning." Flicker nodded. "So it's also their fault. I mean, would it have killed them to write a warning instead of a pretty picture? Magic book holding an evil dragon spirit behind this wall. Do not break. That probably would have kept you away, right?" Flicker laughed at this, "See? So it wasn't just your fault."

"I guess..."

"Eh, I think having your body stolen and used by an evil dragon spirit is enough. But honestly, you wouldn't be the first one to release an ancient evil and not get punished."

"Really?"

"Oh yeah. Spike once gave Rarity an ancient tome that made her go insane with creation magic. Pinkie also unleashed a horde of clones that nearly wiped out the town and don't even get me started on the double rainboom." Springer let out a long groan at this, "Heck, Flash accidently unleashed the last of my race's mortal enemy, who's tried to kill me and the others a bunch of times...and you don't see Flash or those others going into self exile."

"Maybe," Flicker sat back, "But I'm betting none of you caused as much trouble as I caused with my mistake."

"Eh, you're being too hard on yourself. I understand you feel responsible for what happened, but moping ain't gonna help. Instead, why don't you trying doing something to make up for it."

"How?"

"I don't know," Springer replied, "That's for you to decide. How do you think you can make up for what you did?"

"I...I don't think I can," Flicker whispered.

"Then find something to do that'll make up for part of what you did. And when that's done, find something else to do." Springer tapped a few keys on the typewriter, "You know, Flash told me he had to do odd jobs back in Canterlot cuz he used to be a thief and had to make up for everything he did." He glanced back up at the dragon, "Keep doing stuff to make up for what you did and you'll get there."

Flicker hummed at this, "Maybe you're right...but what can I do that'll make up for it? I want to help others, but if today is any indication then I'm gonna have difficulty being of any use."

"There you are," the pair turned to see Spike standing at the door. He walked up and grabbed Flicker's claw, "Come on. We've got a lot of work today."

"What are we doing?" Flicker asked as Spike pulled him to the door.

"I'm gonna teach you to read and write pony," Spike replied as they left the library.

And once they were gone, Springer turned back to the typewriter. "Well now that that's out of the way, I can get back to writing my chronicle in peace." With that, he hit one of the buttons...only for his eyes to twitch as he saw the letter he had made. "More tippex please!"

Spike and Flicker were now in the training room, which had been transformed into a classroom with Flicker in a chair specially made to fit his form and tail. "Alright," Spike whacked a pointing stick on the desk he was standing on. "Today we're gonna be learning some basic A B Cs." He glanced back at Flicker, who was holding a quill and paper-pad, but he was glaring at the pad, "Problem?"

"This paper's a little flimsy," he replied as he flicked one page over. "You don't have any made from Dragon-hide trees, do you?"

"Dragon-hide trees?"

"Oh...Its a special kind of tree that grows in the Dragon Lands, which is completely fireproof. Makes very good paper."

"Well...we don't have any of that, so...don't breathe any fire."

"Understood," Flicker nodded as Spike leapt up and grabbed a rolled up sheet, pulling it down to reveal the alphabet.

"Now, let's start with the alphabet." With that, the two dragons began to go other the pony alphabet, Flicker's studious nature letting him quickly memorize the letters. He was also able to write any letter perfectly after only looking at the images for just a few moments.

Once that was done, they moved onto actual words, Flicker easily adjusting to doing this style of reading. "The dog ran over the hill," he read with Spike giving him a thumbs up. "The bird flew through the...sk...y-eye?"

"Sky." Spike replied. "Y can sound like an I in that context. Like Fluttershy's name isn't spelled with an I on the end."

"Ah," Flicker nodded, "Understood. The bird flew through the sky."

A few hours later...

Flicker's reading skill quickly improved, the end of the day now having him move to simple children's books as Spike had invited the others into the room. "And the great beast roared an earth shattering roar to the heavens!" The young ponies and jakhowl all clapped, as Flicker continued aloud.

At the back of the room, the older occupants of the castle chuckled, "I gotta admit Spike," Starlight turned to the little dragon. "You did a great job teaching him."

"Yeah," Flash nodded, "It took you just a few hours to get him to read as well as I can. And I can barely read."

"Flash....I taught you to read, remember?" Twilight chimed in, "Are you saying I didn't teach you well?!"

Flash shined a grin while turning to Twilight, "Well, Spike didn't make Flicker read giant tomes in the first week."

"I did not make you read giant tomes! They were small!"

Starlight and Spike shook their heads at the two, only for Twilight to turn to Spike, "Well...despite Flash's comments, you did a really good job Spike."

"Thanks Twilight," Spike responded, "Now let's hope we can find something to put those new reading skills to good use." The others nodded, though it would need to wait until tomorrow due to the moon now ascending to the sky.

That night...

Flicker had been resting peacefully in the guest room, only to jerk up out of the bed, soon leaving for the bathroom. He was able to locate it while half asleep and in the dark, but on his way back, he noticed a light creeping into the hallway. Following this, he found it was Spike's room.

He opened it up, now seeing Spike on his bed, growling as held his hands up while fire burned around them. He thrust his hands out, pointing at a table on the other side of the room with a gemstone...only for nothing to happen.

"Spike?" The little dragon gasped as he turned to Flicker as he opened the door, the flames around his claws vanishing. "What are you doing?"

"Oh," Spike blushed, "I'm um...trying to uh....get my magic to work." Flicker raised an eyebrow at this, moving over as Spike brought his legs up to his chest. "My dad Silverbolt said my magic should start growing stronger after what happened...but it's been months since then and I still can't get it to work like how we saw Silverbolt use it."

"Maybe you just need more time," Flicker replied while sitting down, "I doubt something like this will happen over night."

"But....what if Mystic Dragon magic is supposed to be usable at the start? I mean, I've been able to send dragon mail for as long as I can remember!"

"How did you figure out you could do that dragon mail thing?"

"I accidently sneezed when I was younger and sent a rattle I had to Twilight. Celestia realized that happened, figuring out that I was thinking of her when it happened...and figured out how I could send dragon mail to anyone I wanted after that."

"So it was an accident," Spike nodded back, "Then doesn't it make sense that the rest of your magic could start to manifest by accident?"

"But I don't wanna blunder through my magical training! I just...I just wish I had someone or something that could guide me through this."

Flicker sighed at this, only to scratch the back on his head, "I'm sorry Spike. I don't know what to say. I can't really help ya since...I'm just a regular fire dragon."

"It's okay," Spike told him. "I know you wanna help. It's not your fault dragons hate keeping anything other than verbal knowledge."

"Yeah," Flicker nodded. "After everything Malafear did, he could have had the common decency to at least leave behind a copy of all his magical knowledge when he left my body." Spike laughed at this before letting out a yawn. "Maybe you should try and get some rest. You never know. A good night's sleep might be all you need to figure it out."

"Maybe," Spike nodded before laying down. Flicker got up at this, carefully walking out as small snores could soon be heard.

"Mystic Dragon magic..." Flicker hummed as he returned to his room before snapping his claw, "That might work."

The next morning...

"You wanna go to the Canterlot Archives?!" Twilight yelped, Flicker nodding his head as they, Flash and Springer met up in the throne room. "Why?!"

"Spike really wants to master his magic, but he can't without some form of instruction. That's why I wanna try and help him find a book that might help him. But since dragons don't like to keep records, the only place I can think of that'll have some information would be in your kingdom's biggest library, and Spike told me that's the Canterlot Archives."

"Huh. I guess that makes sense," Twilight replied, "And Starswirl was the one who had Spike's egg after Silverbolt. Myabe there would be a book there that could help Spike learn to use his magic."

"But wouldn't Celestia and Luna have known about it and already given it to us?" Flash chimed in.

"But what if they don't know?" Flicker countered, "Don't forget, any words written about Mystic Dragons would be in ancient draconic."

"You've got a point," Twilight nodded. "Alright, I guess we're taking a trip to Canterlot."

With that, Twilight lead them all through the castle to another room, Flicker asking, "I thought we were going to Canterlot? Shouldn't we fly there?"

"Not quite." Twilight replied, "If we wanna get there fast, we need to take the direct route." She pointed at the ground, Flicker now seeing something he had seen once before: The Rune Gate. "Ready?" Twilight asked as she fired a spell at the gate, a pillar of light shooting into the roof and creating a portal that linked it to the one in Canterlot.

"Ready," Flicker nodded before he and Twilight headed inside, Flash and Springer staying behind since it was their day to do patrolling. A few seconds later, the dragon and alicorn found themselves travelling through the veil of light and reappearing at Canterlot's Rune Gate.

There they saw a bunch of guards standing to attention, only to see Twilight and lower their weapons...only to stare at Flicker, "Don't worry, he's with me." They nodded and the pair walked out of the room, now going for the archives as the staff all bowed at the alicorn. And just as they reached the entrance, Princess Celestia stepped around the corner and smiled at her.

"Twilight," she trotted over, "It's so good to see you." The pair hugged before they pulled away, "I wasn't expecting to see you here."

"It was a bit of a last minute decision," Twilight responded before gesturing to Flicker.

"Greetings," Flicker waved, Celestia nodding before they explained why they had come.

"I see," Celestia replied, "Yes, I understand. Honestly, I should have thought about it myself. There are several tomes in the archives that have spent a millennia untouched due to being written in a language that nopony has been able to decipher. But if you can read ancient draconic, they just might be readable."

"Do you have an idea where we should start looking?" Twilight asked, Celestia gesturing them to follow in response.

They headed into the room, passing the giant hourglass and beyond the area of the archives that once held the time travel spell Twilight and Starlight had both used at one time. They then got to a series of bookshelves, full of different books and scrolls, most yet to be translated, all of which were acquired by Starswirl and moved here from the castle of the two sisters. "If what you're searching for exists, it'll be here."

"Great. Then let's get searching." The pair went to investigating while Celestia returned to her royal duties. They started by pulling the scrolls and books down one at a time, Flicker looking them all over before putting them in two piles. Any he could understand went to one while the other was what he couldn't understand...which was a much bigger pile.

By the time they got through the whole section, the pile Flicker could read equalled two books and a scroll.

"That's it," Flicker threw the last book onto the giant tower. "That's everything."

Twilight picked the three pieces of literature up, "So these are all in ancient draconic?"

"It appears so," Flicker nodded. "Now the only question is, what do they actually say." He grabbed the scroll first, unravelling it before frowning at the sight, "Ah."

"What is it?" Twilight asked as Flicker put it down.

"It's a letter to Starswirl...from Silverbolt." Twilight eyes went wide, "Apparently, it's an invitation to come check out the dragon breeding season. I'm guessing he sent this to Starswirl right before the whole Malafear debacle started."

"Does it not say anything else?"

Flicker glanced it over again, "Just talking about how Silverbolt and Fira had their own egg and Silverbolt wants him to come see it. Other then that...nothing."

"Well...I'm sure Spike would like to see something his father wrote." She took the scroll and rolled it up, "What about the books?"

Flicker grabbed the first one, flipping through it, "This is a dragon travel guide. It's just a list of different places in the dragon lands any travelling dragon should check out." He put it down and grabbed the final book, only to sigh, "And this...is a cook book."

"Dragons have cook books?" Twilight asked as Flicker flipped through the pages.

"Well it's more of a who's who book on what gemstones go well together. Though I wouldn't personally put these matches together."

Twilight sighed, "So there's nothing that could help Spike master his magic?"

"I'm afraid so," Flicker stated before picking up the scroll. "At least we've still got this." Twilight nodded as the pair got up and began to head out of the archives, heading to tell Celestia what they had found. As they did this, Twilight turned to Flicker, "I know you really wanted to help Spike, but I'm sure he'll understand."

"Doesn't make me feel any better," Flicker replied, "I owe Spike so much for what he's done for me, and I thought maybe this could be my way of making it up for him. If I found a spellbook and taught Spike how to read it, then at least I would have helped one dragon that cared about me...but I still can't do anything."

Twilight used her wing to pat him on the shoulder. "Just being his friend will help him. And even if you can't teach Spike to control his magic, there's so many other things you can help him with. Honestly, we ponies don't know much about dragons. Heck, Spike's the first dragon I've seen without wings."

"Oh, he'll get wings." Twilight's eyes went wide again, "I was born without wings before I molted."

"Molted?" Twilight asked, but Flicker didn't get the chance to reply as they reached the throne room. They told Celestia what they had found, Celestia sad about not finding anything to help Spike, but thanked Flicker for finally deciphering the books and agreed to let them keep the scroll.

Once that was done, the pair returned to the rune gate and teleported back to Ponyville. When they arrived, they found the castle was empty, Twilight teleporting them outside, only to still not find any sign of their friends. But when they reached Sugarcube Corner, they heard Spike's voice and looked in to see him and the rest of their friends all enjoying milkshakes and talking. As Spike slurped up his drink, he turned and gasped, "Hey, you're back! Where the heck did you go?"

"Sorry Spike," Twilight sighed. "We went to Canterlot to try and find something that might help you control your magic."

"It was my idea," Flicker added, "I thought maybe I could help you read anything we found that was in ancient draconic...but we couldn't find anything of use." He then held up his claw with the scroll, "All I could find was this. It's a letter your dad sent Starswirl."

Spike took the scroll and held it in his claws, opening it up...only to not understand a word. But despite this, he felt something within him at the sight of it. His father, and possibly mother, had held this piece of paper and written upon it. This made him feel like tearing up, the dragon holding it close to his chest as he looked up at Flicker. "Thank you."

Flicker shrugged, "I didn't do that much."

"This means more than you can believe," Spike told him. "And thank you for trying to help me. Even though you couldn't find anything, the fact you tried to help means a lot."

Flicker smiled at this, "Still, I wish I could have helped. I have all this knowledge and it's completely useless. I just wish there was something out there that I could do that could help others."

"I think I can help with that." They all turned to a new voice, all going wide-eyed as they saw Dragon Lord Ember standing at the store's doors, "It's about time I found you," she said as she walked up to Flicker and poked him in the chest. "Do you have any idea how long I've been searching for you?! Any longer and I was just gonna call you to come to me!"

Flicker looked down, then raised an eyebrow. "But...how did you find me?"

"Spike sent me a message," Ember replied, Flicker turning to him and seeing Spike shrug, "He told me you've been having some issues since the...incident."

"Yes," Flicker nodded, "I have."

But before he could say anything else, Ember got right up into his face, "What makes you think you get to decide what punishment is suitable for what you did?! Last I checked, punishments were handed out by the Dragon Lord!"

"I know...but you didn't give me any punishment."

"Well, what was I supposed to do?! You ran off before I could even talk to you about what happened!" Flicker glanced away at this, only to look back at a glaring Ember, "But now that I've found you, it's time we talk about what happened before. What happened can't be ignored!"

"I understand," Flicker nodded as the others glanced between the two.

"Can't we do something?" Spike asked Twilight, the alicorn shaking her head.

"This is dragon law. We can't interfere." Spike turned back to them, only to see Ember fully glaring at Flicker with smoke coming out of her nostrils.

"Flicker. I want you...to be the first Dragon Lands Chronicler." This statement caused all eyes to go wide, the group statement of 'wha' filling the air.

"Chronicler?" Flicker looked back at her, "What are you talking about?"

Ember rubbed the back of her head. "Let's face it, dragons don't usually care for history. And that's our biggest problem. If you had known about Malafear, you wouldn't have released him. But because no dragon bothered to remember him, our entire race was almost wiped out. That's why we need somedragon to start chronicling everything of importance that happens in the Dragon Lands. And I can't think of anydragon better suited for it...than you."

Flicker's eyes were fully wide at this, "You...you're giving me a job?"

"I'm giving you an assignment. One you'll do for the rest of your life. It'll be your job to learn as much about the Dragon Lands and write it down for future generations of dragons. That way, they'll know what to do when something like Malafear shows up again. So what do you say? Don't make me order you to do this."

Flicker stared at her for a second before turning back to the others. They all nodded back, only for to glance back at the dragon, "Alright. I accept."

Everypony cheered at this while Ember smiled, "Then by the power vested in me as Dragon Lord, I hereby dub thee Flicker the Chronicler." Another round of cheers filled the air as Flicker's friends ran over to congratulate him.

"Thank you," Flicker replied, "All of you. I know helping me like this couldn't have been easy, so you have my thanks." Everypony smiled at this, "I just wish I knew how best to start this assignment..."

"I've already got that covered," Ember chuckled as she spread her wings. "There's someplace I wanna show you."

Dragon Lands...

Ember and Flicker were flying above the blazing wasteland that was the perfect place for dragons, Spike sitting on Flicker's back. "Where are we going again?" Spike asked Ember, who just smiled before tapping her nose. And as they continued to fly, Spike couldn't help but feel a sense of familiarity with the place.

"We're almost there," Ember pointed ahead, "There it is." The pair looked up and saw nearby cave in the side of a large rock wall.

"We've been here before..." Flicker commented, Spike nodding as they both remembered this from the Silverbolt's memories.

"You have?" Ember asked as they landed, "When?"

"Well," Flicker whispered, "We haven't actually...been here. But we've seen it before."

Spike hopped off of his back, "When we were trapped in Malafear's book, we were shown a bunch of my dad's memories." Flicker nodded as Spike moved up to the cave. "In them, we saw my mom and dad living in this cave." He placed a claw on the rock, "This is where I was laid."

Ember's eyes went wide at hearing this before turning to Flicker, "Well...this cave is now yours." Flicker raised an eyebrow at this, "I've already given the announcement to all the dragons. None of them are allowed in here unless they have your permission or mine. You can do with it as you wish. Fill it with as much history as possible so that nothing like Malafear can ever happen again."

"Thank you," Flicker nodded before turning back to the cave. "Although, it probably won't be long before this place gets filled up." He looked around, examining the cave's interior design. The curvature of the walls would make putting up book shelves difficult. "I'm sure I can make it work...I hope."

At the same time, Spike continued to walk inside, thinking back to when he had saw the past. Had Malafear not shown up, this might have been where he hatched. The thought made him sigh before a feeling began to wash over him.

"Spike?" Flicker asked, catching his attention. "You okay?"

"I don't know," Spike told him. "Being here...feels weird. Like...there's something here trying to talk to me."

"What's trying to talk to you?" Ember asked, but Spike didn't answer. He closed his eyes and tried to tap into the feeling, making him walk without thinking. And slowly, his claw moved up and reached out until it came in contact with the back wall. He opened his eyes and stared at this section of the wall, then looked straight up and saw a rock sticking out of the wall that was almost as big as him.

"Do you two think you can turn that rock or something?" He pointed at it and both Flicker and Ember raised an eyebrow before flying over and put their claws on the rock. They tried to turn it, but found it wasn't budging...only for it to slowly shift counter clockwise. The older dragons' eyes went wide at this as they kept pushing and eventually managing to get it to spin around one eighty. When it did that, something happened.

The section of the wall began to move. slowly pulling back into the rest of the wall. The three dragons stared at it, all watching as the section disappeared several inches into the rock before splitting in half and pulling apart. Once this was done, what was left was an archway leading into yet another cave. "No way," Ember whispered. "Has this always been here?"

The three walked in, only for it suddenly light up. Crystals that lined the walls illuminated, allowing to see a giant library, filled with bookshelf after bookshelf that was packed to the brim with leather bound books. The three stared at the sight, walking around the room as their eyes darted from one shelf to another.

Flicker reached up and grabbed one of the books, pulling it out and seeing it was a book on different herbal plants. "Incredible..." he whispered before seeing the paper was made from a dragon-hide tree. "To think this has been here, all this time."

"My dad must have been collecting these books for a while," Spike added, "I'm betting Starswirl gave him a good few of them."

"This is great," Ember responded as she took one of the books off the shelf, only to see it was completely blank. "Some of these are completely empty. You can chronicle anything you want here."

"Indeed," Flicker chuckled, "It's perfect."

Spike nodded at this, only to feel something nag him. Closing his eyes again, he tried to pick up what he had sensed before, only to turn to the back of the library. He continued through the construct and reached the very back, only to find a new large book.

It was almost as thick as he was tall, the little dragon drawn to it like a moth to the flame. It was sitting on a stone pedestal, Spike needing to jump up and pull himself onto the three foot tall rock. As he did this, Ember and Flicker both noticed what he was doing.

"What's this?" Ember asked as Spike looked over the book.

"I'm not sure," he told her before using his claw to wipe away the dust that had collected on the cover. When he did, it revealed a bunch of words in a writing that he didn't recognize.

"That's ancient draconic," Flicker chimed in as Spike placed his claw on the cover, which caused something to happen. Before he knew what was happening, his claw began to glow green before the light was sucked into the book and it glowed. He pulled his claw back as the three stared at the book, the words on the cover beginning to change to ones that Spike actually understood. It read:

Draconic Magic

"Magic?!" Spike gasped as he opened the cover and found it was an instruction book...on Mystic Dragon magic, "No way." He flipped to the first spell and found it was one on levitating something. It showed the depiction of a dragon unleashing a stream of magic that formed a hand at the end. "Wow."

"A spellbook for Mystic Dragons," Flicker added, "I wonder if this is how your father learned to control his magic?"

"I don't know," Spike replied as he continued to flip through the book, now seeing all the spells inside, "No way...with this, I can finally grow into a real Mystic Dragon!" He turned back to Flicker, "Is it alright if I take this back to Ponyville with me?!"

"Of course," Flicker instantly responded, "The fact is, anything in this library technically belongs to you since it was your father's."

"Well I know you'll make better use of it then me," Spike replied as he shut the book before holding out a claw. "Good luck...chronicler." Flicker smiled and shook his claw, the pair grinning as they had found the answers they had been seeking.

Off to the side, Ember smiled at the pair. It was true that the Dragon Lands were entering a new stage of existence. And hopefully, it would be a prosperous one for them all.

Several days later...

In the middle of the night, Spike was now in his room of the castle. He was reading through the instructions of the first spell before staring at the gem currently sitting on the nearby table. He took a deep breath before blowing onto his hand, the flames staying in place before he pointed it at the gem.

The flames extended and morphed into a hand, which reached down and grabbed the gemstone before balling up around it. The Mystic Flame Dragon smiled as he tried the next step, recalling the flame and pulling the gem toward him. And as he did this, the gemstone came into his reach, the little dragon cutting the flames, allowing the gem to fall into his claw.

"Yes!" he cheered before biting into the gemstone. And as he did this, he went wide-eyed as he noticed that despite being surrounded by fire, the gem wasn't even warm.

Once the snack was complete, Spike looked down at his book before closing it. He then tried his new spell to lift it off the bed, through it took a lot more effort to lift the heavy tome, but placed it on the ground and pushed it under his bed. Cutting power to the flames, he smiled before laying back. Pulling the covers over him, he knew a whole new world of possibilities had been revealed to him. And no matter what, he was gonna master every single spell within the book and grow into a Mystic Dragon that would make his parents proud. That was a promise he made as he closed his eyes, drifting off as he wondered what he might learn tomorrow.

Fluttershy Leans In

View Online

Ponyville was having another peaceful day, Shining Soul now happily trotting through the town on her way home from spending time at Diamond Tiara's place. "Shake your tail, cause we're gonna have a party tonight," she sang to herself as she marched through the street, only to see Fluttershy trotting along while pulling a cart with Angel Bunny in it. "Hey Fluttershy!" She walked over, only to see Angel was actually hurt. "Aw, did somebody hurt himself?" Angel blew a raspberry at her, making Soul pull back. "Well if you're gonna be like that."

"I'm sorry," Fluttershy responded, "He's just a little cranky because he's hurt."

"You want me to give him a little of the old Shining Soul magic?" She asked, pointing to her now glowing horn.

"Oh no," Fluttershy shook her head. "Don't get me wrong, your magic is amazing. But I think it would be better to have a professional look at it. That's why I'm going to Dr Fauna."

With that, she started pulling the cart to a building with a nice little porch full of different animal feeding stations. When she got there, she tried pushing the door open, only to find it was locked, "Maybe she's out."

"Oh dear..." Fluttershy turned to Soul and Angel, "I was sure she would be here today." Angel let out a whimper at this, making Fluttershy look back at the door. "Hello?" She knocked, "is anypony there?"

In that moment, the peek hole in the door opened up to show an eye. "Fluttershy?" A muffled voice called out. "Oh, am I glad to see you!" Fluttershy responded by pushing at the door again, with still no response.

"I wish I could say the same, but the door's stuck, so I, um...can't see you." Dr Fauna pulled on the door, only to open it...and a bunch of different animals came spilling out. Several ran over to Angel's cart, while others landed of Soul's back.

"Get off," she shook and they jumped while Fauna moved over to Angel.

"Ohhhh," she smiled at him, "Some-bunny hurt his foot. Let's bandage that up so he can get back home." She then turned to Fluttershy, "I'd like to keep him overnight, but as you can see, my place is just bursting with animals!" She almost screamed that last part before letting out a sigh. "I don't think I can take in even one more critter right now!" As she said that, the pair heard the sound of tall hoofsteps and turned to see a giraffe.

"How did we miss that until now?" Soul asked as the creature let out a sneeze.

"Oh, dear." Fluttershy and Fauna stated before they went inside. Since the giraffe couldn't fit into the building, Fauna had to look after her through the window. She put a pillow under its head and gave it a thermometer, then turned to Angel. As she did this, the two visiting mares glanced around and saw all the damage being done by the animals. Birds were making nests all over the place, squirrels were helping themselves to cotton balls and other medical equipment and raccoons were using chairs as go-karts.

Fluttershy gasped as one raccoon rolled past her, "You really have your hooves full here."

Fauna sighed as she finished wrapping up Angel's foot. "This place is like a zoo!" She ducked to avoid a bird from flying into her head, "Then again, it's normally like that, but still...I can't keep up!" As she said that, another bird grabbed the bandages she had used for Angel and pulled a bit off before flying up and using it as a nest decoration.

"Why would you wanna build a nest inside?" Soul asked, "Though I guess it does protect from the rain."

Fauna shrugged before turning back to Angel, passing him some little crutches to use. "Now, does my favowite wittle bunny want a carrot pop?" Angel's response was to blow a raspberry at her, the bunny limping off as Fauna sighed.

"That's okay. I think the goats ate all of them anyway." They turned to a goat as it was busy chewing on something. A moment later, it burped and unleashed a bunch of sticks and a single uneaten lollipop. A moment later, it sucked that lollipop back into its mouth and began chewing away.

"I just can't believe all these poor little animals are hurt." She turned to Fauna, "What happened?"

"I'm flummoxed!" The vet replied, "Every day, there's more and more animals on my doorstep. Most of them just have minor ailments: Hurt wings, stuffy noses, and such. But the trouble is even after they're all healed up, I can't seem to get these comfy critters to leave!" As she said that, a bear wearing a towel and shower cap walked past them.

"Oh dear," Fluttershy whispered as the bear started clipping its toenails.

"Ew..." Soul stuck her tongue out at the sight, ducking under a toenail before using her magic to make a shield for the rest, "Come on. That's just gross."

"They do seem to have made themselves right at home here," Fluttershy sighed as a bird flew down and landed on the vet's head.

"I wonder why they chose to flock to my office. It just doesn't make sense."

Fluttershy smiled at this. "Don't be silly, Dr. Fauna. You're the best vet pony in Equestria. At least that's what I've been telling everypony."

"Uh..." Fluttershy glanced up to see a whole bunch of birds now nesting on Fauna's head, "You did what?" She shook her head, making the avian creatures fly off.

"Oh, no." Fluttershy shrank down to the size of a mouse. "Do you suppose it's my fault?"

"It's looking that way," Soul replied as a squirrel landed in her mane. "Hey!" She cried, trying to get it off.

"I'm so sorry," Fluttershy told Fauna as she returned to her normal size and removed the squirrel. "I didn't mean for this to happen. I just know animals feel safe and happy under your care." As she said that, the chirping of many little ducklings made them look down and see the birds standing under the vet's hooves before waddling off.

"Normally," Fauna moved over to the giraffe, "I don't mind if a snake wants to slither in or a raccoon needs a rest, but now this place is so full that I have no space to treat any injured animals." She checked the creature's temperature and brushed its head.

"That is a big problem," Fluttershy nodded before smiling, "That I'm going to fix for you!" Angel moved over to her, the ducklings waddling around him. "I already have the perfect solution that'll make the critters happy and give you more space. Then you'll have all your ducks in a row!" As she said that, Angel tried to run away, but the ducklings waddled after him in a line.

Fauna smiled at this, only to see the bear towelling itself off. "The sooner you fix it, the better!" The bear then threw the towel onto her, Fluttershy and Soul moving over to help her.

"I'm on it!" Fauna sighed as Fluttershy grabbed Angel and left with Soul, the alicorn filly turning to her.

"So how are you gonna fix this?" Fluttershy just smiled at her and spread her wings.

"I'll explain later. Do you think you can gather everypony and tell them to come to my house?" Soul nodded before the pegasus flew off, going straight for her house. Iron Core glanced up and saw this, trotting down to her home as she zipped into the cottage and began flying around.

He glanced inside and saw the mare drawing something on a canvas. "Fluttershy?" She looked up at him, "What's going on? You seem...strangely focused."

Fluttershy giggled before glancing back at the canvas. "Can you wait a few minutes? Everypony else is coming and I'd prefer to only say this once." Iron nodded and turned to see Angel, the stallion then scratching the rabbit behind the ear.

A few minutes later, Rainbow arrived followed by Pinkie and Applejack. Twilight then teleported herself, Flash, Spike, Springer and Heart outside with Rarity and Lightning arriving soon after with Soul. "I think this is everypony," Soul told Fluttershy. "I couldn't find Grand, but I think he's on patrol."

"This'll do. Thank you Soul." Fluttershy patted the filly on the head before some of her birds flew in and removed the canvas from the room.

"So what's this about?" Flash asked as everypony sat down around the living room. "Soul said it was urgent."

"It is," Fluttershy nodded as she moved around the room before speaking up. "Dr. Fauna needs my help with a serious problem."

"A friendship problem?" Twilight asked, getting a shake of the head from Fluttershy.

"No. Her vet clinic is a bit...maybe, um...overrun with adorable critters in dire need of a safe place to lay their heads, and...they don't have anywhere to go!"

Everypony frowned at this, Rarity speaking up, "Oh, that's just awful."

"I know!" Fluttershy nodded again.

Applejack then spoke up, "Yeah. Dr. Fauna's always fixin' Winona up when she ain't feelin' too fine, so helpin' her out is A-okay by me."

"And she's looked after the cubs and me really well," Springer added, "Even though she didn't have the faintest clue about us, she still gave it her all and did great work. Whatever she needs, I'm happy to help."

The others all nodded in agreement, Fluttershy clapping her hooves, "Oh, that's great news! Because it means you'll all be helping me with something special, too." She then had a starry eyed expression, "Something that's been a dream of mine for a long time."

"Oh, goody!" Pinkie cheered, rushing over to her side. "Is your dream to make a bouncy castle shaped like a gigantic bundt cake?"

"Um...no." Fluttershy turned to walk away, "Not exactly."

"Oh." Pinkie's ears slumped down, "Just me then."

"So?" Rainbow asked as the yellow pegasus walked into the middle of the room. "What is it, Fluttershy? Spill!"

Fluttershy turned to them with a giant smile, "My dream is to build a real animal sanctuary." Everypony's eyes went wide as Fluttershy gestured to the animals around them. "A beautiful habitat where every animal, whether sick or scared or even just lonely. Feathered or furry, scaly or slimy." The ponies all found themselves beginning to tear up, though Rainbow, Iron and Lightning tried to mask it. "Every critter would be welcome. My sanctuary can be the one place in Equestria they call home 'til they feel ready to take on the world." As soon as she said that, the little critters all began to cheer while Harry the bear blew his nose into a handkerchief.

"Wow, Fluttershy!" Twilight stepped up to her. "I've never heard you speak with such conviction."

"Oh!" Rarity was almost in tears, "That was exquisite!"

"Pretty awesome," Rainbow finished, Flash and the others defenders all nodding.

"Oh," Fluttershy blushed, "Thank you, everypony. You all taught me so much about building my confidence over the years. It's because of your friendship that I finally feel able to make my dream project a reality." Her smile began to fade at this, "But I can't build the sanctuary alone. Will you help me?"

"Do you even have to ask?" Flash replied, "Of course we'll help. What kind of friends would we be if we didn't?"

The others all nodded again, Applejack adding, "Ah'm happy to offer my extra hooves to yah," Applejack then put a hoof to her chin, "Huh. Come to think of it, ah actually know a filly who'd be more help than ah would. She's a friend of mine from Winona's sheep-herdin' competitions. Wrangler! Heh. She's an expert in animal enclosures."

"How lovely!" Fluttershy smiled, only for Pinkie to jump up and down while waving her hooves.

"Ooh-ooh-ooh! I know somepony, too! Hard Hat is the best construction pony in Ponyville. He can build anything you could ever, ever, ever want!"

"By any chance, is he the one that built you your Party Cave?" Pinkie just giggled and tapped her nose, "Right..."

It was here that Rarity spoke up, "Hearing you all mention these experts, I am reminded that I too have the perfect pony to help capture the essence of your vision. To give it some style, some flair!"

"Is it you, Rarity?" Fluttershy asked, only to hear a chuckle from the fashionista.

"No! No, um...I was referring to the premiere interior designer of the Canterlot elite, Dandy Grandeur. He helped me when I was setting up my Canterlot boutique. I know that he'd be thrilled to work with you."

"Wow, everypony!" Fluttershy gasped, "Thank you! I can't wait to meet all of them and hear their ideas. We're right on track to building the most wonderful sanctuary in Equestria!"

Everypony cheered at this and the three headed off to contact their friends. As they did this, Futtershy declared she had her own work to do. Over the last few years, she had been saving up many bits in order to purchase the land she would need to build the sanctuary, a piece right next to her house, which was one of the reasons she chose to build it out there, in a section of the forest that no dangerous animals liked the hang around in. And so she took the bits she had saved up to town hall and after talking her plan over with the mayor, was given the deed to the land with just a few signings of her name.

The next day, Pinkie, Applejack and Rarity arrived at her house with three other ponies. One was a grayish blue earth pony with a hardhat and hi-vis vest, the other was a pink earth pony mare wearing a cowboy hat and jacket while the last was a well dressed yellow unicorn with a purple mane.

Her friends stayed outside while the three sat down as a snake friend of Fluttershy's slithered around wearing a bowtie and carrying a plate of sandwiches. He offered them to the ponies, who each took a sandwich while Dandy Grandeur also accepted a cup of tea.

Fluttershy turned to her snake friend, "Thank you, Rupert." The snake gave a very dignified bow before slithering away, Fluttershy looking back at the three. As this happened, Iron stood in the corner ready to jump in if the need arose. "Ahem." The three turned to her as she stepped in front of a pink sheet covering the canvas she had been working on. "It's wonderful that you all could join me to discuss the Ponyville sanctuary project. My friends have so many nice things to say about each of your talents. This is a big project, so I'm happy to have such experienced ponies working on it with me."

Dandy nodded. "Rarity has impeccable taste in design and friends, so I can't wait to work with you, you know?"

"I-I think so."

"Yee-haw!" She turned to Wrangler, who took her hat off to greet her. "I'm just lookin' forward to helpin' ya out, ma'am! And the animals."

"Of course," Fluttershy nodded as Hard Hat spoke up.

"So uh...Pinkie Pie said you drew up some blueprints?"

"Um..." Fluttershy turned to the sheet, "Not exactly. It's more of a dream board." With that, she pulled the sheet off to reveal the canvas. It was far from the most well organised thing imaginable, being covered in sticky notes and pieces of plants, flowers and chunks of wood. At the bottom was a drawn out map that seemed to indicated what it would look like once finished.

The three ponies moved over to the picture, Hard Hat commenting, "Hmmm...that sure doesn't look like an animal hospital."

"Well, that's because it's not." Fluttershy replied, "It's a sanctuary. A place that is safe but not restrictive. Cozy but natural. A place where the animals can come and go as they please." She turned to the others, who stared at the vision board while a mouse appeared out of one of the plants.

Iron sighed and shook his head at this, "You ever been to the zoo?" They turned to him, the three all nodding. "Well think of it like that. A large zoo without the fences. A place that's completely open so the animals can come and go whenever they feel like it."

"That sounds a little dangerous," Dandy replied, "What if somepony accidently upsets a bear or something?"

"We're not gonna be charging admission," Fluttershy pointed out. "Ponies can come and go also, so long as they promise not to upset any of the animals. And I'll make sure there are lots of signs so ponies can't accidently walk in. So," she gave them a semi-smile, "Can you build it?"

The group were about to say that likely couldn't, but Fluttershy gave them the biggest puppy-dog eyes any of them had ever seen. They all shared a glance before giving her a forced chuckle and smile, the three nodding in unison. Fluttershy clapped her hooves at this, Iron frowning at the sight.

Wrangler and Dandy both headed off to Sweet Apple Acres and Rarity's Boutique while Fluttershy, Pinkie and Iron took Hard Hat over to the area that would now become her sanctuary. It was basically an open field, surrounded by trees with a curving river running through it.

"I want the sanctuary to have an open floor plan," she explained while gesturing to the area around them. "No walls. More like an enclosure that melts into the trees. With a gate in the back. That way, the animals can return to the forest right when they feel ready."

"Sneaky!" Pinkie giggled, "I like it!"

Fluttershy nodded, while Hard Hat rubbed his head, "You know uh, I designed the Ponyville Hospital. I could do the exact same thing right here. I still have the blueprints. Though it'll take a while to clear all these trees."

"But I don't want to clear the trees. I want to use them."

"Are you sure?" He asked with a raised eyebrow, "What you're talking about doesn't really seem like a cohesive structure. Or any structure I'm familiar with."

"Again," Iron spoke up, "Think of a zoo. You never see lions and tigers and bears living in a house there, do you?"

"He's right," Fluttershy added before pointing at a nearby hole in the ground. There, a bunch of bunnies hopped out. "Critters don't live the same way ponies do." The bunnies went back into the hole as she continued, "I know this is unconventional, but that's because we're trying to do something that's never been done before. I really believe it'll work."

The chirping of birds made Hard hat turn back to the field, Iron seeing he was clearly having trouble seeing what Fluttershy was imagining. "Hmm," he shrugged, "All right then. I'll see what I can do." With that, he walked off while Pinkie moved over to Fluttershy.

"See Fluttershy? Whatever you want."

"Good," Fluttershy nodded before the pair left to head over to Rarity. As she did, Iron glanced back and saw Hard Hat talking to some more workers he had summoned and pulled out some blueprints.

"I know she thinks she knows what's best," he told them. "But once she sees how much better it works with these plans, she'll thank us."

"Uh-huh, yup," the ponies nodded while Iron walked over.

"Hey! I hope you're not planning anything underhoofed that'll ruin Fluttershy's dream."

"Ruin it?" Hard Hat asked, "I'm gonna save it. When we're done, this animal hospital will be the best building in all of Equestria."

"It's not supposed to be a building," Iron growled, "It's supposed to be an outside enclosure." He pointed at the pony with a snarl, "How hard is it to understand something like this?!"

"Well, I'm sorry," the earth pony barked back, "But I don't see how something like this could work. I mean, what if it rains? How are the animals supposed to enjoy themselves when they're suddenly soaking wet?"

"The same way every other animal enjoys themselves in the rain." Iron sighed, "I'm sorry, but I'm not gonna let you ruin my girlfriend's dream." He pointed to the exit of the forest, "Leave!"

"You can't do that!" Hard Hat yelled, "You're not the boss here!" Iron then hit the ground, making the dirt under them shake as Iron glared at him. Hard Hat and his workers all went wide-eyed, a long gulp going down his throat, "Alright," he and his workers spun around, "We're going. But don't expect us to come back when you start begging for us to come and build your animal hospital."

"It's a sanctuary!" Iron roared as they packed up their stuff and ran off, Iron sighing again. But as this happened, Iron then facehoofed, "Oh no...now we got no workers."

He glanced back at the area, his brain now racing as he now realized what he had just done. "Wait..." he took out his Celestic Gear and transformed the end into a myriad of tools that could be used to build something. "Maybe I can do it myself."

He then ran over back into Ponyville and went to Rarity's boutique, spotting Lightning sitting outside while listening to his music. "Is Fluttershy in there?" He asked, but Lightning didn't respond. That is, till Iron hooked his headsphones with his spear, "BLITZ!" The unicorn yelped as he almost fell over, "Is Fluttershy in there?"

"Yes," Lightning replied as he took his headphones back with a glare, "She and Rarity are talking to the Dandy pony. I couldn't understand anything he was saying, so I left."

Iron rolled his eyes and stepped inside, finding the pegasus he loved sitting on a couch with Rarity. "Drab?" He heard her ask Dandy, "You're calling the colors of beautiful trees drab?!"

"Exactly!" Dandy replied as he held up a swatch of fabric. "The natural look is not in right now. This is better. Trust me." Fluttershy stared at the fabric for a moment before smiling.

"I appreciate your input, but I just know the animals would be happiest with dirt brown pillows and leaf green accents."

Dandy looked almost disgusted at this statement, the unicorn pulling the fabric back. "I'll...look into it." he looked away while Fluttershy just showed a small smile.

"Thank you." She got off the couch and turned to see Iron at the door. "Oh, Iron! I figured you stayed behind the help Hard Hat. Is everything going alright back there?"

"Yes," Iron lied, "Hard Hat...just wanted to take another look at your design. You know...to make sure he captures the full beauty of your vision."

"Oh," Fluttershy replied, "I'll go show him it-"

"NO!" Everypony turned to Iron at this, "I mean...you've got some much to do still. Why not give me the plans to show Hard Hat? That way he'll have something to work off of."

Fluttershy blinked at him, only to nod back, "Alright," she gave him the drawing, "Have fun." Iron nodded and ran out, only for Lightning to follow him at a brisk pace.

"Alright, what's going on?"

"Nothing," he responded, only for Lightning to teleport in front of him. Iron came to a stop, now seeing Lightning glare at him, making Iron sigh, "Fine. I might have...kinda...fired...Hard Hat."

Lightning's eyes went wide at this, "Wha...why?!"

"He was planning to go against Fluttershy's wishes. He would have likely built a giant hospital if I hadn't stopped him."

"And why didn't you tell Fluttershy any of this?!"

"She's finally gotten her confidence up enough to chase her dream! I don't wanna ruin that by telling her!" He then glanced down at the drawing before looking back up at Lightning, "It's fine. All I need to do is build this thing myself. How hard can that be?"

"Famous last words."

Iron's eyes narrowed at this, Lightning then sighing before telling him he would help. The two began to brainstorm what they would need, Lightning teleporting himself over to the canyon and grabbing a bunch of rocks that they could use before sending them back to the field.

"Alright," Iron looked at Fluttershy's design and then at the field the sanctuary would be. "I think we should start piling the rock into the formation she wanted."

"Are you sure this ground is stable enough for support all there rocks?" Lightning asked as he magically picked them up, "They're pretty...hoo...heavy."

"It'll be fine," Iron replied, "This is Fluttershy's design and I'm gonna follow it to the letter." With that, he started stacking the rocks, trying to form the large structure that Fluttershy had envisioned. But as he did this, he soon found the rocks not stabilizing. The higher he went, the more unstable the tower became.

"I don't think this is gonna work!" Lightning told him as he passed another rock up.

"It'll work," Iron responded, "I just need to...be careful."

"How do you expect an animal to live here if they have to tip-toe around the place?" He then picked up Fluttershy's plans and raised an eyebrow, "And how does she expect us to build a working waterfall out of nothing?" He looked up at Iron, as he placed the rock down, only for the pile to wobble again. "Face it, we don't know what we're doing here!"

"Well, we gotta do something!" Iron cried as he slammed his hoof down, causing the tower to wobble again. He then managed to get it to stay still before carefully climbing down, sighing when he saw the multiple towers standing tall side by side. "See? It...worked."

Lightning raised an eyebrow before glancing down, "Err...you might wanna look at the ground." Iron did this and went wide-eyed, now seeing the bottom rocks starting to melt into the ground, the weight being too much for the water lodged ground.

"Oh no," he whispered as the towers began to sway, melting into the ground as it began to tip over. Lightning grabbed Iron and teleported them both away as the rocks began to fell. This made them crash into where they had been standing and into the stream. They reappeared a ways off, flinching at the disaster that had occurred as Lightning quickly pulled the rocks out of the water before the stream stopped.

"Well, that could have gone better."

"Yeah..." Iron sighed before taking out Fluttershy's design. "Maybe I need to start someplace else and do the rocks later."

"Or actually find somepony that knows what they're doing," Lightning added before Iron started pushing all the rocks away.

"Maybe I should start with the pool," Iron replied as he took out Piecemaker and formed a giant shovel, which he stabbed into the ground before pulling out a giant chunk of earth. He kept digging away at the ground until he was a good twelve feet down, forming a pony sized hole.

"You're stuck, aren't you?" Lightning said as he stared down into the hole.

"I'm not stuck," Iron barked back, "I'll just keep digging outwards until its big enough, then I'll fill it with water." He began to do this, Iron extending the pool outward until it was large enough for animals to swim around happily. "See?" he told Lightning before moving over to the area near the stream. A single large clump of earth now stood between the water and its new holding spot. "YAAAH!" He stabbed his shovel into the water and pulled it out, allowing the water in the stream to flow in.

Lightning raised an eyebrow as he watched the water flow into the pool...only for it to start getting soaked up into the soil below. "Wait...what?!" Iron yelped as the water kept vanishing, "Oh, come on!"

"Well well well." Iron turned to see Hard Hat and his workers smiling down at him. "I came to see what was taking you so long to ask for our help, but I didn't expect to see this kind of train wreck."

"Oh, shut up," Iron growled. "At least I'm trying to build what Fluttershy wanted."

"And you can see why I was skeptical to make it. Those rocks'll never stand up to this weak soil, especially with all the weakening yah did diggin out this hole."

Iron let out a hiss, only for two new voices to ring out. "I say!" They all turned to see Dandy and Wrangler, "Where's the sanctuary?" the unicorn asked while showing off a bunch of curtains. "I need to see the size of the windows in order to make the curtains the right length."

"Why would an outside enclosure need curtains?" Lightning replied before noticing Wrangler pulling a cart full of multiple different cages full of cushions.

"Well ah'll just put dah cages over here!" She pointed to an area of the field that had remained untouched.

Hard Hat laughed at this, "And if yah get out of the pit, we'll fill it back up and get to work on the actual building." Iron growled at this, refusing to leave the pit while Lightning filled up the gap between it and the stream. Meanwhile, Dandy began to lay out different materials as Iron and Hard Hat argued.

It was at this point that Fluttershy arrived, eyes shining as she was giddy to see what it would like it...only for a frown to appear when she saw the cages off to the side, Dandy holding up different non-earthy materials, and Iron arguing with Hard Hat.

"What's going on here?" She yelled, making everypony turn to her.

"Fluttershy!" Hard Hat ran over, "I'm sorry we haven't been able to start yet. Your boyfriend's been getting in the way."

Fluttershy's eyes went wide at this, making her glance down at Iron, "I only got in the way because he was trying to ignore your plans and build that hospital idea." Fluttershy turned to Hard Hat, the pony flinching before Iron added, "So I tried to build the sanctuary myself. Though I may have run into...a few issues." As he said that, the edge of the pool collapsed under the weight of the rocks near it, the whole pit was suddenly filling as Lightning pulled Iron out of it.

Fluttershy ran over to make sure he was alright, then turned to the others as Hard Hat pointed to the filled-in pit, "See? This is what happens when yah don't use professionals like me and mah boys." He took out some blueprints and opened them up, "So should we start discussing some proper designs?"

Dandy then jumped in front of Fluttershy, holding up the fabric he had brought. "I had hoped to show you what the curtains looked like inside the building, but we'll had to wait and see. But trust me, this color just pops!"

She turned to Wrangler, who pointed at her cushion filled cage. "Quite roomy inside, really. And very safe."

Iron turned to Fluttershy and saw the upset look on her face, fearing she might start breaking out in tears and shrink down to her mouse size. That is, till her eyes narrowed, her face starting to turn red, "NO!" She stomped her hooves, growing to twice her normal size. "This is not going to work at all!" The three went wide-eyed at her sudden growth, Fluttershy then shrinking back down to normal as she turned to Hard Hat before pointing at the doorway on the blueprints. "A giraffe can't fit through this door!" She turned to Dandy and pointed at his materials. "With these curtains blocking the light, how are the birds gonna sing in the sunshine?" She then stomped over to the cage, "And this is the opposite of a nice hug!" She marched over to the three. "I know you all worked hard, but none of you did anything I asked for!"

Iron's jaw was on the ground, Lightning letting out a whistle, "Damn."

Hard Hat turned away at this, "That's not true! We planned on using the trees, just like you asked!"

"And this curtain fabric is organic!" Dandy held up the material, "It's got natural fibres!"

"And I added pillows inside my cages," Wrangler finished, "That should count as feelin' like a hug!"

Fluttershy took a deep breath, anger washing over her before she pointed at the three, "Now listen here, I may not know much about construction or interior design or wrangling, but I am an expert at one thing: the care of animals! And what animals need is a sanctuary, not this!" She gestured to the cages and fabric and Iron's less than stellar building work.

Iron flinched at the sight, seeing Fluttershy snarl at the trio before one of them spoke up, "Maybe your vision wasn't all that it was cracked up to be, you know?"

"My vision isn't the problem here!" Fluttershy screamed, "I told you all exactly what I wanted, and none of you listened to me! So while I appreciate your efforts, I no longer require your services!" She pointed at the exit, "GET OUT!" The three shared a glance before walking away, Iron watching with a smile before it vanished when Fluttershy turned to him, "And you!" He felt his body stiffen at this, "Why didn't you tell me Hard Hat was doing that?! I had a right to know!"

"I'm sorry," Iron winced, "I guess...I was worried how you'd react. You've been so confident with all this that I was...scared this might knock it and make you stop trying to follow your dream."

Fluttershy sighed and took a long deep breath, "I appreciate that, but you should have trusted me more Iron!" Iron flinched at this, only to see Fluttershy glare at his failure, "Now...what are we gonna do with that?!"

"Good question," Lightning replied, "I hate to say it, but Hard Hat might have been right. This area might not be best suited for your design."

Fluttershy frowned at this, that frown growing bigger when she turned to see Dr. Fauna walking up. "Hello!" They now all saw her, a large group of animals behind her, "Oh, the animals have been so excited for the sanctuary that they couldn't wait any longer!" She let out a laugh as she trotted over, "Can we take a look inside?"

"Inside what?" Lightning asked, gesturing to the open field. Fluttershy blushed at this while the animals rushed over to them, making her gasp as they ran past and began stampeding around Iron's destroyed construct. The giraffe, goat and others went over the the remaining rock pile while the others leapt into the pit...only to not be able to get out. As this happened, Dandy had left his curtain fabric behind, the raccoons finding it and tearing it to pieces while the bear went into one of the cages. But when it did, the door slammed shut and locked it inside, making it panic as it began to thrash around. It then knocked the cage over, ripping the door off, only to cause a basket that had been on top of it to fall off and land on its head, making it roar and charge right at the rock pile.

The ponies all gasped, trying to prevent what was about to happen...but it was too late. The bear ran headfirst into the rock pile, knocking the rest into the pit. Every animal inside gasped at this, trying to escape and barely managing to avoid the bigger rocks, only to get hit by the smaller ones.

The shaking this caused had also knocked the animals along the side of the pit off balance, making them fall in as well. As this happened, the ponies got to the edge of the pit, looking down at all the different animals that were now injured.

"Oh..." Fauna turned to them. "I'm so sorry, Fluttershy."

"No," Fluttershy shook her head. "I'm the one who should be sorry. This didn't go at all like I had imagined." She stared at the ground at this, Iron seeing her eyes almost tear up. The sight made him glance away, unable to respond.

Lightning then began using his magic to lift the animals out of the pit while Fluttershy and Fauna made sure they were all okay. By some miracle, none of the animals had anything worst than a few scrapes and a mild concussion in the bear's case. And once they were done, they began to lead the animals back to Fauna's clinic. Iron thought about going with them, but decided Fluttershy probably wanted to be left alone.

And so, Iron returned to Fluttershy's cottage and waited for her there, Lightning heading home as well. Once there, he spotted Angel in his basket still recovering from his injured foot. Deciding to let Fluttershy off from having to care for him after the disastrous day she had had, he prepared Angel's dinner and placed it down next to him. Angel gave his rabbity thanks as Iron flopped down on the couch. "I really messed up today," he told the bunny, letting out a long sigh, "I should have just trusted her. I'm always telling other ponies not to underestimate her, but there I was underestimating her....its just like when she was reforming Discord." His eyes slowly closed at this, "I'm so horrible..."

As he mumbled this out, he fully closed his eyes as he began to fell asleep. His body leaned into the couch, his back bent in a half angle as his dreams were filled with upset animals that had no place the rest, Dr Fauna's clinic exploding from the animals as a crying Fluttershy stood around the creatures. She kept saying what a failure she was, the sight making Iron squirm, only for the sound of the cottage door slamming open.

WHAM!

"Wha?!" He jerked up, then flinched as his back creaked due to where he was sleeping. Cricking his body, he turned to the door and saw Fluttershy with a sloth around her leg. "Shy." He got up, "I'm really sorry. I should have told you what happened."

Fluttershy closed her eyes for a second, taking a small breath before she showed him her usual smile, "Thank you Iron." She placed a hoof on his. "I know you were just trying to look out for me, but I'm stronger than you think. And if I'm gonna get the sanctuary up and running, I'm gonna need you to be on my side and trust me. Can you do that?"

Iron was about to nod back, only to raise an eyebrow, "Wait...you're not giving up?"

"Of course not," Fluttershy nodded. "I owe it to the animals to keep trying. No matter what, I'm going to get my sanctuary up and running, even if it kills me. But like I said, I can't do it alone." She then glared at her lover, "Will you help me?"

Iron smirked at the sight, nodding back. "Let's do this." Fluttershy smiled back before turning to a nearby notepad, "So what's the plan? I hate to say it, but this whole situation is proving more and more difficult." He watched as Fluttershy scribbled something down, "Especially after all the...damage I caused."

"Don't worry," Fluttershy ripped off the paper before a bird flew in from outside and took it. "I'm not gonna stop, no matter how hard it seems. And as it happens, I know somepony that will be much more helpful than those other ponies."

The next day...

Fluttershy called all her friends back to her house, having used the previous night of taking several animals from the clinic to her place in order to free up space. Although that was now causing her house to be a little crowded, she and Iron having to ask the bear to wait upstairs until the meeting was completed. She had also made tea and coffee for them and while giving them out, the sloth wrapped around her leg. "Thanks for coming everypony. As you know, building the sanctuary didn't go quite as planned."

"I know, right?" Pinkie chimed in, "Who would've guessed that Hard Hat wouldn't build whatever you want?"

Rarity nodded with a frown, "I never would've invited Dandy to help if I thought he'd act in such a manner."

Applejack let out a sigh, "And Wrangler sure made a fool outta me, too. Ah'm sorry, Fluttershy.

"It's okay," Fluttershy assured them, "You were all just trying to help. But I know that letting all the experts go was the right call."

"So what are you gonna do now?" Twilight asked before taking a sip of her tea.

"Do you have to ask?" Flash added, "She's gonna try again. But this time, she's gonna do it her way."

"Flash is right," Fluttershy nodded. "The animals need me, and I won't let this little set back put me down."

Her friends all cheered, Rainbow then flying up to design, "How about putting an awesome flying course for the birds right there?" She pointed to a section of the plan, Fluttershy frowning and stepping back as Pinkie appeared around the back of the stand.

"And a carrot cake stand here?"

"Ooh," Twilight , Flash and Rarity walked up, "A library cave?"

"Maybe a training area!" Flash added, "And maybe-"

"Everypony, STOP!" The ponies all froze, turning to Fluttershy as she glared at them, only to sigh before showing a small smile, "I appreciate you sharing your thoughts, but I need everypony to respect mine. Other ponies may be experts in their fields, but animals are my field of expertise." She boldly strode up to the picture and pointed at it. "And if I say this is what I want, then this is what needs to happen!" She then noticed everypony smiling at her, making her blush. "Oh, um...for the animals of course."

"Wow!" Pinkie laughed, "We should call you Flutter-bold now!"

The others laughed as well, Heart flying up to Fluttershy. "Well you can have my help. I don't know if my fire power will be much use, but if there's anything else you need I'll be ready to rock!"

"Thank you," she replied before a knocking at the door could be heard, "Oh, he's here." The others raised an eyebrow as Fluttershy walked up to the door, "To get things back on track, I called in a favor from an old friend."

"But I thought you said no more experts," Twilight chimed in.

"This is one expert I know I can trust to put the animals first. Plus there's nopony better at building." As she said that, Angel jumped up to grab the handle. The door opened and the ponies were greeted with the sight of a blue earth pony hardly bigger than Heart and Soul. He was dressed in overalls, had a dark blue bushy beard and wore a hat that was taller than him.

The earth pony let out a chuckle as he stepped into the cottage, "Ah heard somepony needs construction help fer them critters!"

"Big Daddy McColt!" Twilight cheered before walking over to hug him, then turned to the others. "We met each other back when the map called me and Fluttershy to the Smokey Mountains!"

"Oh yeah," Flash nodded. "I remember you telling me about that." He turned to McColt, "How that feud of yours is still kaput."

"Don't you worry none," he replied, "Things have been great since ya'll came and helped us put our difference a-seed. Ah'm just happy ah could help ya'll out."

Fluttershy nodded as she marched over to him, "With his help, we'll be able to make a perfect animal sanctuary for every creature great and small. And we can trust he'll put the animal's needs first."

"Well, shucks. Let's not stand around talkin' about it. LET'S BUILD US A SANCTUARY!"

The ponies all cheered, the mane seven, defenders and all their friends soon beginning to work on Fluttershy's dream. And this time, things would go exactly how she wanted them to be. When they arrived at Iron's destroyed attempt at the sanctuary, Big Daddy McColt looked over Fluttershy's design and nodded. Unlike Hard Hat, he could see what Fluttershy was envisioning with this sanctuary. "Ground's to soft too hold the weight, huh?" He asked as the unicorns worked to clean up his mess. "Yeah, that's the trouble yah usually face when yer building' near a river."

"So what do we do?" Fluttershy asked, "If it can't support the weight-"

"Now don't yah go frettin' little lassy," McColt interrupted, "Every new place will have its own challenges. At times like this, yah got two options. Give up and find another place to build, or build for the place that yah are."

"What do you mean?"

McColt pointed at the rocks in her picture. "All yah need is to pick a lighter type of rock. Something that won't weigh as much, but still work as a home for yer little friends."

"Well, we do know a rock expert," Iron smiled before turning to Fluttershy. She nodded back and went to go talk to Pinkie, who cheered before running off to go get her sister.

McColt then kept explaining what they needed, "And maybe instead of multiple small rocks that are struck together, ya'll use one big rock. And if yah bury some of it underground, that'll mean less stress on the top."

The ponies all nodded at this, starting up the work as Maud was soon brought to the place by Pinkie. She surveyed the area and wrote up a list of what rocks the area could hold up and what amount they could pile on before it became too much for the ground. Once they had gathered them along with other building materials, it was time to start work.

The first thing they did was pile-drive multiple wooden stakes into the ground while also working to finish the addition to the pool that Iron had been working on. McColt told them they needed to find a way to solidify the ground, so the water wouldn't just drain away into the soil, and this was where Grand and Heart came in, both using their elemental powers to turn the soil at the bottom of the pool to rock. Heart blasted it with fire to evaporate the water in the soil while Grand filled in the cracks.

They also began digging around the edge of the pool, going only two feet down. Twilight had found an old spell that was perfect for the situation, the group piling rocks into the ditch before Twilight cast the enchantment. This allowed them to melt the rocks into a liquid mass that fused together before hardening into a single solid rock, the base of which they buried to lock it into place. Twilight kept certain areas of it liquefied, Iron digging them out to form holes that the animals could live within.

One hole would be halfway under where the waterline of the pool was, Twilight and Iron working to dig it out in order to create a cave that water dwellers such as ducks and otters could swim inside of when they wanted to stay out of the sun or rain but remain in the water. They also designed a bunch of small holes at the bottom of the cave, which led to a shaft going upwards until it reached the top of the rock where a long hole could be found. The idea was for the water to flow into this shaft and be pushed out of the hole to form a waterfall, which constantly recycled the water around.

Once this was done, they grabbed more smaller rocks and used Twilight's magic to merge them into the main rock in certain areas. This created a bunch of different levels, looking just like something one might find in nature. The group then blocked up the entrance to the underwater cave before Twilight, Starlight, Soul, Lightning and Wild began to fill buckets and use them to fill up the the pool. Spike used a ruler to make sure they filled it enough before giving Iron the signal. When they did, he used Piecemaker to dig out the last bit of dirt that split the stream from the pool. This allowed the water to flow in and join up with the water already there while Twilight removed the rock they had used to block the cave. The water flowed into the cave and a few minutes later, spouting back out the top and forming the waterfall that completed the cycle of constantly flowing water.

This made them smile, happy that the most proliferate fixture of the sanctuary was completed. After that, they started adding multiple different trees to the area surrounding the rocks, a different one for every type of animal that might show up. There were palm trees, fruit trees and large trunked trees that they used to build multiple tiny tree houses out of. They also planted several flowers and added a bridge that the animals could use to cross the stream.

Then it was just a matter of ascetics. Pinkie and Wild added a tire swing, which was tired around a log that they stuck to the top of a rock using a special glue potion Apple Bloom had gotten from Zecora. Rarity had created several hammocks that they tied between trees while the CMC, Soul, Springer and Grand built several wooden platforms on the side of trees that could hold feeding stations. They even made special pillows with strings that could be tied around branches so that animals could rest on them comfortably.

It was a lot of hard work, but together the group managed to build Fluttershy's dream sanctuary exactly the way she wanted it. And when the pegasus saw it, she shined the biggest smile she could, turning to McColt before the pair high-hoofed at their accomplishment. It was perfect.

The next day, Fluttershy and Fauna were walking through the trees in front of the new sanctuary. When they reached the edge, Fluttershy asked the vet to cover her eyes. She did so as the pegasus led her across the field, making sure she didn't trip since she was only on three legs.

"Are you ready?" She asked once they reached their destination.

"Oh," Fauna shivered, "I'm more excited than a beaver in a log pile!"

"Okay," Fluttershy lowered Fauna's leg, "You can open your eyes!" She did just that and was greeted to the most amazing sight imaginable. "Welcome to Sweet Feather Sanctuary, a safe and cozy retreat for everycreature!"

Fauna gasped in amazement at the sight. She saw a bear relaxing in a hammock, ducks and otters enjoying the river and many other animals playing, eating and simply living their best lives. "Oh, Fluttershy! This is amazing!"

Fluttershy smiled back, "Now you should have plenty of room at the clinic. Because once you've treated them, they can recover here! With my help, of course." As she said that, she turned to the sloth from earlier crawling along the ground. "It's okay, Lola." She picked her up and placed her on her back. "We all move at our own pace."

She then trotted over to the tree that Rarity had put a pillow on, allowing Lola to climb up her leg as she pointed it at the branch. The sloth crawled onto the pillow and began to relax on it as Fluttershy said, "Sometimes, all we need to do is believe in our dreams. And when we finally reach our goal, we'll know that it was worth what it took to get there." Fauna stepped up to her, Iron also walking out of the trees to stand beside them. "Because the view will be even better than you imagined!"

They all smiled at the sight of the sanctuary, something that would no doubt become a stable of Ponyville and Equestria in the years to come. No matter what obstacles one found themselves facing, they could overcome them as long as they kept trying and had friends willing to stand beside them. It may be tough, but nothing in this world worth having comes easy. But that just means that having it is even more special.

The Princess's Apprentice

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It was another beautiful day in Ponyville, though not everypony was enjoying it. Flash, Springer and Twilight had left through the Rune Gate that morning, using it to journey to a small town that was currently undergoing a parasprite infestation. The trio would be back later that day, leaving the castle in the care of Starlight and the others. Starlight had also headed out, leaving the kids to do battle with the ultimate enemy of any young pony or jakhowl: Chores.

"Ahhh!" Heart whined as he scrubbed the windows of the throne room, "This is so lame!"

"Oh quit complaining!" Soul responded as she and Mira were busy sweeping. "We all have to do it, and moaning about it is just gonna make it more tedious."

"I guess..." Heart turned to the window and pulled the squeegee down it. "But aren't there supposed to be ponies that get paid to do this kind of thing?" He glanced back at them, "That Zephyr pony shouldn't have been let go."

"Count yourself lucky you don't have Ace's job," Mira replied as she swept some dirt into a dustpan that Soul was carrying.

"What's his job?" Heart asked, only to get an answer when Ace stepped into the room carrying a bucket and cloth while also wearing rubber gloves and a snorkel.

He put the bucket down and sighed before removing the goggles. "Okay, bathroom one is finished. The toilet's all clean, the bathtub's clean, the sink's clean...." He stuck out his tongue, "And can I just say that you ponies are disgusting?!"

The others grimaced at this, Heart then moaning, "I can't believe Flash and Twilight expect us to do this at least once a week. Aren't there laws about making kids work that much?!" The three rolled their eyes as they got back to the work, Heart letting out another sigh before raising an eyebrow, "Hey, where's Scootaloo? What's her chore?"

"YAHOOOOO!" called out a voice, all turning to see Scootaloo shoot into the room on her scooter. Being pulled behind it was a bunch of wet cloths on strings, which wiped the floor as she circled around the room. The three leapt onto one of the thrones as she flew around, making sure their cleaning supplies weren't knocked over.

Scootaloo then pulled her scooter to a stop, "Sup!" She chuckled, "You all still working? I'm almost done."

"What are you doing?!" Soul yelped as she hopped off the throne and pointed at the cloths tied to her scooter. "How is that cleaning?"

"Oh Soul," Scootaloo giggled, "There is so much I have to teach you." She grabbed Ace's bucket and started dipping the cloths inside. "This is no different from using a zamboni." She rang it out and put it back on the ground. "In these situations, you gonna work smarter and not harder. I've been doing chores for a long time, and they're not so hard once you figure out a shortcut."

"Shortcut?" Heart asked with a raised eyebrow, "Tell me more."

"Shouldn't we just clean the right way?" Mira chimed in, "If Flash or Twilight find out we messed around and didn't do a proper job-"

"This is doing a proper job," Scootaloo interrupted, "It's just...streamlining it. Think of it like this. Imagine you need to deliver something to somepony and the faster you get it there, the better. You can either go the normal way, or take a shortcut that gets you there quicker. It doesn't matter how you get there, just that you got there as fast as possible."

"Huh," Ace added, nodding. "She does have a good point."

"She sure does!" Heart exclaimed, "Let's do it! What shortcut can we use to get this cleaning done quicker?!"

"I don't know," Scootaloo shrugged, "They're your chores. You have to figure it out."

The others rolled their eyes at this, only for a smirk to appear on all but one of their lips before turning to a the one that wasn't. "What?" Soul asked, seeing the four staring at her, "What are you looking at me for?" She got her answer when they all pointed at her horn. "Seriously?! You want me to use magic to do our chores?!"

"You have gotten a lot better with it lately," Heart replied, only to get a glare from the filly, making him sigh, "Come on sis. There has to be someway you can magic all our chores away."

"I don't think this is such a good idea," Soul countered, "Twilight always said magic isn't a plaything."

"But this stuff could take ages," Ace added, "Isn't there something else you'd rather be doing right now?!"

Soul blinked at this, then looked down at the dustpan. She let out a sigh before replying, "Well...I have been wanting to do a new painting of the town. And if I don't start soon, it'd be dark before I finished." The others smiled at this, only for her say, "But I don't know what spell I could use."

"Oh come on!" Heart groaned, "Surely there's something!"

"Don't whine!" Soul barked back, "I wanna study healing magic, not 'fix chores' spells! I can't..." The filly came to a stop before putting her hoof to her chin, "Wait...I could use that. Starlight did teach me a new spell she thought might help me one day."

"Really? What is it?" Soul responded by lightning her horn, the golden aura spreading to the rest of her body before shooting off. Everypony watched as the light took shape and formed a copy of Soul made entirely out of the golden light. She looked like a ghost, but had a warmth to her.

"What's that?"

"It's a hard-light cloning spell," Soul replied, "They know everything the original knows and are completely obedient to the caster." She cast the spell again and created clones of Heart, Scootaloo, Ace and Mira. "Now they can do the work while we enjoy ourselves." The others cheered as they ran out the room, leaving the five clones to pick up the cleaning supplies and get to work.

It wasn't long till the rest of the day flew by, Heart and Ace going to play video games at Button Mash's house, Scootaloo going to hang out with the rest of the crusaders and Mira went to play with the animals at Fluttershy's new sanctuary. At the same time, Soul got her painting equipment and started her masterpiece, flying up to a hill overlooking the town and getting to work.

But as the day continued and the five returned home, they were met by four glaring adults at the castle's entrance. "Uh...hi." was all Heart could muster as they continued to glare at them. "Is something wrong?"

"Why don't you tell me?" Flash replied as he held up the squeegee Heart was using earlier.

The younger ponies all gulped, all keeping silent before Soul chimed in while staring down at the ground, "Alright, you caught us. But I don't see what the harm is. So we had some magical clones do our chores. They got it done," the four raised an eyebrow at their wards. "Didn't they?" Twilight and Starlight answered by teleporting them into the throne room. And when they looked up at the windows, they saw that only half of them had been cleaned. Starlight then pointed at the ground and saw a fallen broom next to a dustpan that had been dropped on the floor and its contents spilled everywhere.

"What happened?" Scootaloo asked, turning to Soul.

"I...don't know."

"You forgot, didn't you?" Starlight spoke up.

"Forgot what?" Soul muttered out.

"Forgot that a hard-light clone only last ten minutes unless it's recharged." Soul's eyes went wide as the memory suddenly bolted to the surface, the others turning to frown at her.

"I'm sorry!" She cried while bowing her head up and down, "I completely forgot that part. It's just the others wanted me to use magic to speed up completing our chores and I thought this one would work. I'm sorry!"

The younger ones glared at her as she confessed everything, only for Twilight to let out a sigh, making them turn to her, "Soul...it's not the fact that it went wrong that we're mad about. We'd still be giving you this talk, even if everything had gone well."

"Though I could have done without almost getting a toilet brush up my rear end," Springer added while glaring at Ace, the little jakhowl wincing.

Flash then walked up in front of Twilight, "Listen...we're only mad because you kids completely blew off your chores. We told you to do them, not to pawn 'em off on a magical clone of yourself."

"Why not?" Heart asked, "If the work gets done, who cares how it's done?"

"We care," Twilight replied, "Magic isn't meant to take all the work away from you. It's meant to be used to assist you, not replace you."

Starlight nodded before turning to Soul, "I taught you that cloning spell in case you ever needed help healing and tending to someone while you're on your own. Do I have to worry that you'll make a clone to fix somepony's leg instead of you?" Soul quickly shook her head in response. "Good." She then turned to Twilight, both nodding to each other.

"Magic is an amazing thing," Twilight spoke up, "But you should never let it have free reign."

"She's right. You all got lucky this is the only bad thing that happened," Flash added, "This could have turned out a whole lot worse."

The young ponies and jakhowls shared a glance at this, only for Twilight to point to the table, "Sit down. We'll worry about cleaning later." They all began to take seats, Twilight taking a deep breath before saying, "It's time Flash and I told you about something that happened when we tried to use magic to do work we promised we'd do." She crossed her hooves at this, a stare coming from her eyes that made everypony stiffen as she continued, "This story happened...I'd say about a year after Flash started living with my family. During that time, a bug was going around Canterlot and causing some serious issues. And that lead to us getting in over our heads."

Many years ago, in the city of Canterlot...

Flash and Twilight were both trotting through the streets of the great city, the two looking very small compared to all around them. And as they walked, Twilight was holding a book in her magic and making it hover in front of Flash.

"Alright, read this line."

"It was the best of times, it was the...worst of times?" Twilight nodded back with a small smile.

"Great work," she shut the book and put it away. "You've really come a long way."

"Thanks," Flash replied, "I've been practising...when I'm not testing out my moves." He got into a battle stance and start swinging his legs around, "I've even come up with a new move I can't wait to show Grand today."

Twilight laughed at this. "You're not the only one. I've mastered a new spell I'm gonna show Princess Celestia. When she sees me us it, it'll knock her socks off."

"Has Celestia ever actually worn any socks?"

"Probably. She wears those big heels." Twilight responded as they got to the gate, raising an eyebrow when they spotted only one guard instead of the regular two.

Twilight took their clearance badges out of her saddlebag and showed it to the pony, who nodded back before the duo were allowed inside. But as they walked in...they noticed a lack of sound in the place.

"Is it just me, or is this place strangely lacking in staff?" Flash asked as they passed through a hallway.

"I guess." Twilight replied as they got to the throne room. But as they opened the doors, they found nopony inside. "Princess?"

"Grand?" Flash added, only for both to share a glance, "What's going on? Where is everypony?"

"I'm gonna check the archives. That's usually where me and the Princess start most lessons." Twilight responded as she left the room, Flash following her. As they went through the hallways, the colt glanced out of a few windows, seeing only one or two ponies in the castle garden and nopony at the training ground.

"This...is weird." Flash commented as they turned a corner, only to see yet another empty hallway.

"Yeah..." Twilight whispered, only for some nearby doors to open and two ponies walked out, making her gasp, "Princess!"

"Grand!

The two ran up to the Celestia, the princess and knight turning to them as the princess asked, "Twilight? What are you doing here?"

"What am I doing here?" Twilight repeated back, "I'm your student. Unless..." Twilight's eyes went wide, her pupils shrinking as she muttered out, "W-w-wait...don't tell me I'm not your student anymore! What did I do wrong?!" She began bowing, "I'm sorry! I-"

"Twilight!" Celestia interrupted, putting her hoof on Twilight's shoulder. The filly glanced up at her, seeing a small frown on the princess's face, "You're still my student. I was asking why you're here because I sent a letter to your house to tell you there are no lessons today."

"Oh..." Twilight's ears flopped down, her face slightly blushing, "Sorry for overreacting."

"Its fine." Celestia's frown morphed to a smile, "Though I wish we had some kind of instant messaging service."

"Why are there no lessons today?" Twilight asked.

"Its not just your lessons lass." Grand chimed in, both turning to the knight, "Sorry kiddos, but Celestia and I just don't have time for you all today." Flash and Twilight's eyes went wide, "You've probably noticed this place looking a little empty."

"We were gonna ask about that," Flash replied, "Where is everypony?"

"I'm afraid some kind of bug has been going around Canterlot Castle," Celestia sighed, "It's taken many members of the staff out of commission."

"That explains a lot," Flash added, "So what do we do?"

Grand shook his head, "I'm afraid that with so many ponies out sick, those of us left have to pick up the slack. So I'm on guard duty today."

"And the bug got even the secretary." Celestia continued, "I have to go through the many daily reports and come up with a solution to them instead of simply approving them like I usually do...which is why the two of us won't be able to work with you today...and maybe for the next few days as well. I'm sorry."

"That's okay. We understand."

"You got a lot to worry about right now," Flash responded, "I just wish there's something we could do to help."

This made Celestia put a hoof to her chin, "Well...there might be something." The young ponies raised an eyebrow at this. "Almost the entire cleaning staff caught the bug, so the usual cleaning that takes place right now has to be put on hold. But there's a section of the castle that needs some serious cleaning. I was planning to try and do it myself later, but if you two could get started on it and get it done before I'm ready...I might be able to squeeze in a lesson or two at the end of the day."

Twilight and Flash both gasped at this and nodded, Celestia then leading them down the hallway until they reached a corridor they had never been too before. It was a rather dark corner of the place, a little away from the more walked areas of the castle at the end was a single large door.

"This is the area I want you to to try and clean. I don't think I've used it in over two hundred years. It's mainly been used as an extra storage area until now, so you may find some stuff in there that is a little out of place." The young ponies blinked at this as Celestia magically unlocked the door. The pair walked in and found it was a very dark, Celestia firing a light spell that flew into the room and formed a small sun that floated upward.

The place was choked full of random items. Large wardrobes, multiple bird cages, old chairs and many other things. The sight alone made Twilight and Flash's jaws drop, unable to believe they were expected to clean up so much by the day's end. "Think you can organize all this?" Celestia asked, conjuring a bunch of brooms, mops, buckets and other cleaning supplies for them. "If you can, I'd like you to split the items into different rooms. One room for chairs, one room for cages, and if you find any books, it might be good to place them outside to be collected for the library."

"Why would there be books in here?!" Twilight gasped, "Who would put books in a place like this?!"

"I'm not saying it is," Celestia replied. "But in two hundred years, a lot can happen."

Flash let out a moan, "Can't you just magic all this stuff away? It sounds like it'd be so much easier."

"Now Flash," Grand shook his head, "Magic isn't the answer to everything. If you take the easy way out every time, you'll never learn to do anything that doesn't require magic."

Celestia nodded before the pair turned to walk off, Flash letting out a groan, "This is gonna take forever."

"Well you're the one that volunteered us," Twilight responded before grabbing the broom. "Now come on. The sooner we start, the sooner we get this done and do something we actually enjoy."

Flash sighed as he spread his wings, flying up to the top of the nearest pile. As he did this, Twilight moved through the piles before glancing at the doors lining the walls. Using her magic, she opened them all up and saw they were full of even more junk. Only two rooms were empty, one of which being a bathroom, so she thought about starting there.

"Why don't we start filling this room with chairs?" Twilight told Flash as he picked up one of the chairs, "Then we can focus on the other rooms."

"I guess that could work," Flash told her before throwing the chair at her. She caught it in her magic and placed it in the room.

"Great. One down...a hundred more to go." They started moving around the many piles in the hallway, collecting the chairs and placing them inside the end room until they came up to a certain pile.

"This chair's stuck under a bunch of other stuff," Flash told Twilight as he tried to pull the wooden furniture out of the pile. But when he did, the stuff above began to wobble, "Come on!" He moaned as he gave it one good yank, dislodging the chair...and the pile began to collapse. "Uh-oh." He leapt out of the way, barely managing to escape before the junk crashed down.

"Flash!" Twilight gasped, "Are you okay?"

"I'll live," he moaned before picking himself up. He then turned to the pile, now seeing the chair had been crushed to bits under the junk that fell under it. "Oops..."

"Flash!" Twilight yelped, "You can't pull out a bunch of stuff from the bottom of the pile! You need to work from the top down."

"But I thought we were moving all the chairs into one room?"

Twilight hummed at this in response, "We need a new strategy." Flash raised an eyebrow at this, only to see Twilight smirk, "I got it."

A few hours later...

Celestia had chosen to take a quick break from her work, now going to the kitchen to grab some food. And as she got some grub, she decided to bring some for the kids, knowing the pair would be hungry after all the cleaning they had done. She soon arrived at the doorway, opening it as she heard the sound of clattering, only to look inside and go wide-eyed.

The hallway wasn't a bit cleaner, instead even more full than when she had brought the two before. "Twilight?!" She yelped, "Flash?!"

A moment later, the two's heads poked out from one of the doors. "Princess?" Twilight replied, "What are you doing here?"

"I thought you might be hungry," she responded while showing the plates in her magic.

"It's lunch time already?" Flash asked as Celestia used her magic to pull them both over the junk mountains. "We've barely gotten started."

"I can see that," Celestia nodded. "What have you been doing?"

Twilight smiled as she took the plate. "We decided to empty out all the rooms first, then refill them with selected items. Of course, that means this hallway's gonna get pretty full before we can do that."

"I...see." Celestia replied, "Well keep at it. Remember, doing a difficult task is what makes completing it worth the trouble. I know you can both do it." The two nodded as Celestia trotted off, leaving them to enjoy their lunch. But as they ate, Flash couldn't help but let out a moan.

"It's already noon and we've barely begun. It'll be midnight by the time we finish this."

"Oh, stop it." Twilight said as she took a bite of her sandwich. "If a task is worth doing, it's worth doing right."

"Yeah, yeah..." Flash sighed, "But this would be so much easier if you could just magic all the items out of the rooms instead of us having to move them."

"Celestia said that magic shouldn't be used for such a trivial task," Twilight replied, "Doing it by hoof is what'll make this place being clean something to be proud of."

Flash frowned at this, but knew he probably wouldn't be able to talk Twilight out of it. And after they got done eating, they got back to work, soon emptying their fourth room. But as they did this, the long slog started to weigh on them, another hour passing before they discovered something that made them stop in their tracks.

"A chest?" Flash asked as they stared at the large trunk that wasn't even locked, "Wonder what's inside?"

"I don't know," Twilight replied, "But we should probably leave it closed."

"You sure? It might be something cool." Twilight glared at him, only for Flash to nudge her, "Come on. Just one little peak?"

Twilight let out a sigh, "Alright....just one look." Flash smirked and Twilight opened up the trunk, the two glancing in. And as they did this, Flash showed nothing but disappointment while Twilight's eyes went wide. "Books!" Inside the trunk were a bunch of old tomes that Twilight began to take out, "These must be hundreds of years old..." Her face morphed to one like a filly on Heartswarming. "Imagine what could be hidden beneath these covers." She was practically drooling, as her hoof moved up to open the book. But before she could, Flash pushed the cover shut. "Hey!"

"Focus," Flash told her, "Celestia wanted us to clean this place up. We gotta do that before we can enjoy ourselves." Twilight's eyes began to form tears at this, only to sigh again as she put the books back into the chest. Following Celestia's instructions, they moved the large chest outside and got back to finishing the emptying of the room. All the while, Twilight's eyes continued to shift over to where the books could be.

And when the last room was completely empty, the ponies slumped over, "Now what?" Flash moaned, only for Twilight to pick up the brooms, mops and buckets.

"Before we can fill them up, we gotta make sure the rooms are spotless."

"This is gonna take forever." Flash groaned as they took the buckets into the bathroom. They tried to use the taps, but the two hundred year lack of use had caused the metal to be rusted shut. It took both several hard yanks before being able to spin the facet, unleashing the water before it began filling the buckets up. They then returned to the first room, only to soon find that two hundred years of dirt and dust didn't come off easily. The same was with the floor and ceiling, finding the muck sticking the surfaces like glue.

"Come on!" Flash cried as he rapidly rubbed the mop against the wall.

"Ahhh!" Twilight moaned, "This is impossible!"

This continued for several minutes, the two finally managing to get the spots they were working on clean. But as they did this, they started to pant as Flash commented, "It's gonna take us a week just to clean up one room."

The pair fell onto their flanks at this, Flash now close to tears while Twilight did the same. Celestia had promised to give them a lesson if they managed to get the place cleaned up by the end of the day, and at this rate, that was gonna be impossible. The idea of disappointing her teacher made Twilight's stomach turn, while her mind also fell upon the books they had found.

"There's gotta be a way to get this done by the end of the day," Flash muttered, "Or at least, make it easier to do it." He glanced over at Twilight, "I know Celestia said we couldn't use any magic, but I'm betting if she saw how hard this is, she'd say its okay."

Twilight winced at this, slowly looking away, "Well...I do know a spell that might help. It's the one I wanted to show off to Celestia, but..."

"Aw, come on Twilight!" Flash whined, "If you're not gonna use magic, then what's the point of even learning it?"

"But Princess Celestia said I shouldn't."

"But we're never gonna finish if you don't!"

The two began to stare at each other, Twilight letting out a sigh before her mind went back to the chest full of books from earlier. "Alright, I'll use it. But Celestia can't find out about it."

Flash smiled and nodded as Twilight turned to the mops, her horn sparking. The cleaning equipment began to glow and float at this, all of them turning upright. The pair watched as the mops slowly began to move from side to side, Twilight swinging her horn around in the same way. And after a few seconds, their head split in two and began moving like a pair of legs. They pushed themselves along the ground, rubbing at the ground and beginning to wipe up the dirt.

The pair then turned to the broom, Twilight casting the same spell on them, making one of them come to life. Its bristles split in two before it turned to the other broom and kicked it, making it come to life as the pair began sweeping the floor. She then turned to the buckets, the wash cloths and other cleaning items and cast the spell, and one by one they began to come to life. The buckets and wash cloths flew out the room, heading into the bathroom and using the taps to fill themselves up before returning. The mops and cloths began scrubbing at the floor while the brooms and dustpans swept up any dirt they could find. Even the soap bottles started spraying the ground with their cleaning solutions.

"Wow." Flash gasped, "Where did you learn that spell?"

"It was in an old book I found in the archives," Twilight replied, "They might look like they came to life, but in actuality, it's just my subconscious being channelled into them. Now they'll clean exactly the same way I would." As she said that, the buckets and cloths flew out the room again to rinse themselves out and refill the water. "Now we can relax until this is all done, then start sorting the items apart."

Flash nodded, the pair heading out the room and hallway. Once they were there, Twilight grabbed the chest and pulled out one of the tomes. Flash chose to just lay on the ground and relax while Twilight opened up the tome and began reading the ancient text. All the while, the cleaning equipment continued to do their job and scrub, brush, mop and many other adjectives the room spotless.

But as this happened, they did not see that one of the equipment's trips to the bathroom, the buckets and wash rags floating in as one of the rags turned on the tap. The rag then spiralled itself up and rang the dirty water out of it before floating off, allowing a bucket to empty itself out and refill. But then, when the second cloth attempted to ring itself out, the bucket dropped a bunch of water that pushed the rag down into the sink.

And before it could pull itself free, the bucket landed on top of it as it filled itself. The rag was stuck between the metal and the sink, Twilight's magic slowly being absorbed by the bucket, so that when the metal container lifted itself off the rag, it was completely still. That is, until the water pushed it toward the drain, the cloth balling up and being sucked down it before getting stuck. The running water now had no place to go, causing it to slowly build up and up...and eventually overflow.

The water began to wash out of the basin and started flooding the bathroom floor, then flew out the door into the hallway. Second by second, the rooms and junk that filled them started to get soaked by the water. And as it happened, the cleaning equipment kept cleaning without appearing to notice the water. Not even when it flowed into the room they were working in, the mop-heads drowned in the water that was flowing while the brushes simply swept the water around and the buckets continued to fly back to the bathroom to empty and refill themselves.

Back outside the corridor, Flash and Twilight were still enjoying themselves. Flash had gotten bored relaxing and chose to do some exercise: wing-ups, sit-ups and a few seconds of plank. At the same time, Twilight was looking over the tome, knowing she didn't understand most of the text, but was still fascinated.

And as she read, her mind drifted off to all the possibilities that awaited her in the future. She had only been Celestia's student for a little over a year and she could already bring inanimate items to life. That thought made her think ahead, to ten years in the future. What would she be able to do by then?

She closed her eyes and imagined the countless incredible things she could do, imagining being able to stop and start a volcano with a flick of her horn. To transform anything she wanted into anything else she wanted....and maybe even moving the sun and the moon like Celestia, and fill the night with stars.

But as she kept thinking how her magic could improve, something occurred the broke her from her daydreams. Her hooves and flank suddenly found themselves getting very damp, pulling her out of her delusions as she lifted the book and glanced down...and saw the floor was covered in water.

"What the..." Was all she could say, making Flash turn to her. Now noticing it as well, the pair followed the water and saw it was coming from the door. "Oh no." Flash then flung it open, only for the pair to find a giant wave of water barreling toward them.

Luckily, Twilight was able to put up a waterproof barrier, blocking the water that continued to rise as Flash asked, "Uh...what's happening?"

"I don't know. But we've gotta go in there and find out."

This made Flash's eyes to go wide, "You know, we don't have to find out right away. We could shut the door and see what happens."

Twilight raised an eyebrow, "We can't do that. What, are you afraid or something?"

"Of course not," Flash replied while waving his hoof, "Why should I be afraid of water? I'm great in water. A regular fish, that's me." Twilight narrowed her eyes at him, making him frown, "Alright, fine. I...I can't swim...I never took those lessons at the community pool."

"Flash!" Twilight yelped, "You promised!"

"They wanted to put me in the beginners class with the little kids!" Flash crossed his front hooves, "I can't be swimming around with a bunch of five year-olds!" He then shook, "They can be so cruel when they sense weakness."

"You are such a foal," Twilight sighed before turning back to the blocked water. "We've gotta do something. If Celestia finds out about this, we'll be in so much trouble."

Flash gulped at this, the wrath of an angry princess now appearing in his mind. "Oookay...what do we do?" Twilight responded by creating a little hole at the top of the forcefield, right below the waterline. Flash grabbed her, the pair flying inside as she closed the hole. They now saw the many items floating all over the place, making them grimace.

"I'll switch off the water," Twilight said as he dropped her into the water. She dived down with a might splash, swimming the best she could while Flash went over to the room where he found the cleaning equipment continuing to work despite all the water they were fighting against.

"Stop!" Flash yelled, but none of them listened. Instead, the buckets and a single wash cloth flew back to the bathroom. He flew after them, arriving as Twilight surfaced from out of the water with a rag in hoof.

"I managed to switch it off and unplug it," she announced before the buckets and rags dived into the water. "What are they doing?" She dipped her face into the water and saw the rag turn the tap back on under the water before ringing itself out again, not realizing it wasn't able to do that since it was underwater.

"You've gotta stop them!" Flash cried, Twilight nodding and taping into her magic. But as her horn sparked with the cleaning equipment...nothing happened. "Twilight!"

"I'm trying!" She cried before doing the spell again, only for it to not work again.

"How many times have you used that spell before now?" Flash asked, Twilight glancing back up at him with a frown, "Please tell me you've used it before."

"Not...exactly. But I read the theory closely. I guess the counter-spell is harder than the spell itself." As she said that, the water level grew again as the rag and bucket now remained submerged and went back to the room. Twilight quickly ducked her head under the water, using her magic to switch the water off, allowing the water to get sucked down the drain.

But as this happened, the cleaning supplies continued their routine. "Come on!" Flash flew back in, grabbing one of the brooms and pulling at it. Twilight also tried to grab a few, but there were too many. "WHOA!" She turned to see Flash being pulled through the air, the pegasus trying to keep himself above the water, but getting dangerously close to being pulled under.

And as this happened, the buckets and wash cloth headed back to the bathroom. "Oh no!" She yelped, swimming after them. But it was too late, the rag switching the water back on. Twilight then tried to grab them in her magic and drag them back to the forcefield.

"That's it!" She then heard Flash yell as she looked up and saw the colt was now holding a large fire axe in his hooves.

"Where'd you get that?" She asked as Flash swung it around.

"It just floated up!" Flash replied, "I think it was in one of the piles." With that, he grabbed a broom and yanked it out of the water and threw it upward. Twilight looked away, but Flash's shadow was on the opposite wall, showing him swing the axe right through a broom, cutting it half before cutting it into quarters.

After a few more seconds, his shadow stopped moving and she glanced back to Flash panting while the water was filled with wooden shards. "Did you get them?" She asked, Flash looking at the shards and nodding.

"I think so," he responded before noticing her struggling with the buckets and rag. He flew over and grabbed them both by the handles, using his strength to pull them to the force field. Twilight quickly opened a hole in the field and Flash threw them out, the three hitting the opposite wall with a clatter as Twilight closed the hall. "Now what?"

"We wait for the water to drain away," Twilight moaned as the water-level slowly began to drop. "Once it's below the sink, I'll use my magic to channel it into the drain."

"I really hope Celestia doesn't come by before then," Flash added, Twilight nodding again as the water slowly drifted further down, all the while the sound of the buckets bouncing off her force-field echoed through the air. "How long can you keep that thing up?"

"It's not that strong," Twilight replied, "I think I can hold it up for an hour or two."

The two kept watching as the water dropped, completely unaware of what was happening back in the room. The small shards of the destroyed brooms began to glow the same purple of Twilight's magic, then slowly grew. Within seconds, every shard had somehow regenerated into a full-on broomstick, which all started sweeping up the half-flooded room.

The sound of splashing and scraping caught the young ponies' attention, making them look back into the room. They gasped at the sight of the brooms, "What spell did you use on these things?!" Flash exclaimed, Twilight's eyes twitching at the sight.

"I DON'T KNOW!" She screamed as the brooms turned to them. It appeared they had 'completed' cleaning this room and were planning to start on the next one. The pair gasped as they ran for the door and and managed to push it close, groaning as the water between it and the door-frame sloshed around.

And as they shut it, Flash could feel the brooms hitting the door on his back. With each back, the force behind it increased, Flash's mind envisioning the brooms throwing themselves at the door with more brooms joining in each time. And eventually, the blows were too much, the door flinging open.

"GYAH!" He cried as he was catapulted across the hallway, slamming into the opposite wall, then fell straight into the water.

"FLASH!" Twilight screamed as she was pushed away by a wave of water from the now opened door, the filly barely managing to keep her head above the water as she watched the brooms fly free and head to the next room. A moment later, Flash's head broke out from the water, his hooves flailing around.

"HELP!" Flash exclaimed as he thrashed around, "I CAN'T SWIM! Those five year olds were right! Cruel, but right!"

"Just fly!" Twilight barked, but Flash's wings couldn't get the lift as they kept slapping against the water. She began to swim up to him, only to spot a chair suddenly surface as the water dropped, allowing her to grab it in her magic and push it over to Flash.

The pegasus scampered up onto the floating piece of furniture, managing to keep balance as he began to flick the water off his wings. And as he began to fly again, he panted as he tried to stay above the liquid. At the same time, Twilight glanced down at the many brooms that each went into a different flooded room and started working. And when one went into the bathroom, she gasped and swam after it. She got inside and saw the broom sweeping at the wall and around the sink, Twilight fearing it might try to turn the water back on.

"Come on!" She cried, trying to cut the magic to the broom. But it did nothing, forcing her to grab it in her hooves and try to pull it out of the bathroom, only for the broom the fight back. It was a literal tug of war, Twilight pulling as hard as she could and even managing to swim back to the doorway.

She then hooked her back legs around the frame and use it to gain extra leverage, but the broom continued to fight. And as it did this, the wet wood slipped out of her hooves and the two flew off in different directions. Twilight crashed into a bunch of floating junk while the broom hit something in the bathroom with a bang.

Her heart froze at that sound, making her look back and see the broom...had slammed into the facet. The rusted metal was so weak that it couldn't stand up to the impact, breaking instantly. A jet of water shot into the air, once again filling the room with water.

She swam back over to the sink and tried to force her hoof over the water sprout, but the force simply pushed her hooves away. Flash then flew into the room, going wide-eyed as he saw this. "TWILIGHT!" the filly glanced up at him as another broom came in and brushed the wall, the colt now gulping as he said his next words, "We...we need to tell Princess Celestia! She's the only one who can fix this!"

"NO!" Twilight cried while still getting hit by the water. "I can do this!"

"I'll take the blame for this!" Flash told her, flying higher as his hoof dipped into the raising water. "Come on! If we don't do this, we'll just make things worse."

But Twilight didn't listen, her horn flaring. She then summoned a magic bubble around the sink that quickly began to fill with water. And when it was completely filled, Twilight gulped as she feared it might explode....only for the bubble to remain in tact and the water started draining again.

"You did it...no way." Flash gasped, only to turn to Twilight and see pure exhaustion on her face. But as he noticed this, the water dipped under the sink's basin, Twilight taking a deep breath before calling upon her magic again. Flash watched as the water around her started glowing, the colt now realizing what she was doing.

"Are you sure about this?" He asked, "You've already used a lot of magic. Your really think you can use three spells at once?"

"I have too," Twilight replied as she flinched. As she did this, the water next to her flew into the air, spiraling upward before curving and falling into the sink, going down the drain. Flash watched as the water slowly went down, but the look on Twilight's face told him she couldn't keep this up.

And as the water began to drain, the bubble she placed around the facet began to crack. Cracks that neither noticed only Twilight felt a twitch on her horn. "Huh?" She looked up at the bubble, only to see water suddenly spring free from it before it shattered. "Gyah!" She cried as the water slammed into her, making her drop the water she was levitating into the sink.

The damaged facet began spraying out water again, unleashing a large amount of pressure that made the sink explode a second later. And with that, water erupted from the basin and began to fill the room. Both Flash and Twilight went wide-eyed at this before Flash flew down and grabbed her, "Come on!" He cried as he pulled her through the water, out of the bathroom and to the doorway. However, the pair soon found themselves getting less and less room to breathe as the water raised faster than either of them could move. And eventually, Flash found himself scraping just below the ceiling.

"Flash!" Twilight cried as he found his hooves dipping below the water, followed by his legs and soon enough his wings started slapping against the surface. "Hurry!"

But as she said this, his entire body became submerged apart from his head. Now it was Twilight's turn to save him, telling him to take a deep breath before she dived under the water. She grabbed him by the tail and pulled him under, seconds before the water filled the last remaining empty space.

She did her best to swim to the doorway, but it was still a ways off. She began to swim through a barrage of floating items, pushing a bust of a pony out of the way as she was about to get to the door. And as she did this, one of the still cleaning brooms flew past them, hitting her. She lost her grip on Flash's tail, causing the young pegasus to thrash around.

He tried to do some manner of swimming back to Twilight, but before he could reach her, a bookcase slammed into him, knocking him away. This made him accidently release the breath he was holding, causing his panic to grow. Twilight looked back at him, seeing him start to sink. But as she tried to swim for him, she felt her body begin to demand oxygen. She fought with everything she had, trying to keep herself from involuntarily breathing in. But with each second, her chest felt like it was gonna explode.

Then...it was too late. They were doomed.

Meanwhile...

Celestia had finally completed all her paperwork, now making her way to see how the two were doing. "I wonder if they've managed to find anything interesting," she asked herself as she calmly walked down the hall. But as she did this, her thought process broke itself when a droplet of water flew down and hit her on the head. "Hmm?" She glanced up, now seeing a large damp patch on the ceiling.

Raising an eyebrow, Celestia decided not to delay and teleported up to the hallway. And when she appeared, she was greeted to the most insane sight. The outside of the hallway was empty, apart from four items. A large wooden chest along with two floating buckets and a wash cloth that were constantly slamming into a magical force-field.

She strode over to the door and gasped at the sight of the water being held back by the force-field. "What in the name of-" She stopped before her horn flared, firing a blast of magic that struck the force-field and dispelled it. Forcefield gone, the water came flowing out, but Celestia fired another spell, causing it to completely vanish.

Everything that had been floating suddenly hit the floor, including a pair of young ponies that were now taking deep breaths of air. They began to cough and spit out water, Flash hitting the side of his head to get some water out of his ears. "What...happened?" He moaned before glancing up, only to see a frowning Princess Celestia, "Uh-oh."

Twilight's eyes went wide at the sight of her mentor, about to have a panic attack while Celestia simply looked back up at the many brooms and destroyed sink that began spilling out water again. With a single flash of her horn, the brooms, buckets and cloth stopped moving and the sink was completely repaired.

Celestia said nothing to the pair, simply working to fix up all the damaged they had done. The two simply stood there, unable to respond, knowing they both didn't have the courage to say anything to her. They quickly walked out of the hallway at this, standing in silence as the next hour passed.

And when Celestia came out, their faces were both pale as she turned to them and spoke, "Well, I was able to dry everything out. Luckily, nothing was damaged. Now..." her eyes narrowed at these next words, "Do you want to explain what in Equestria happened in there?"

"I'm sorry!" Twilight exclaimed, bowing as her face hit the floor, "Its my fault! I cast a spell to make the cleaning supplies do the work for us!"

"No!" Flash bowed as well, "I'm the one that made her do it! Punish me instead!"

Celestia sighed and shook her head, "I told you not to use magic."

"I know you did," Twilight cried, tears beginning to appear under her eyes, "B-b-but...the rooms were so dirty that there was no way we were going to finish cleaning even one of them on time. I just...I just didn't want to fail you."

"Twilight..." Celestia put a hoof on the filly's shoulder, "I didn't expect you to clean this whole place in a single day." They slowly looked up at her. "Nopony could clean this up in that much time. It would take hundreds of ponies to do that."

"But with magic-"

"Yes, magic could probably clean this room up in an instant. But that doesn't mean it should be used." The ponies raised an eyebrow at this, only for Celestia to lean down to their level, "Magic is an incredible thing to have, but it should never be the first option you use, especially when you don't know everything about the magic you're using. For instance, why do you think we ponies still use trains despite the fact that teleportation is possible?" The young ones shared a glance, no answer coming to mind, "Its because despite being faster, teleportation is dangerous. One mistake and instead of teleporting to a new city, you could find yourself at the bottom of the ocean or in a volcano."

The pair shivered at this, "Oh..."

Celestia nodded. "You see? Magic is a tool. Something that can be used to improve a pony's way of life. But if you take it for granted and use it without thought, well..." She glanced back at the room, the two following her gaze, "I asked you to clean this place up because I hoped it would be a good experience for you. To accomplish something without magic, which you can have pride in completing. But because you got impatient and tried to find a shortcut, now there's even more work to be done."

"We're sorry," they responded in unison. And as they glanced back down at the floor, Celestia did a small nod.

"Now then," she got back up and picked up one of the brooms. "Shall we do this the correct way?"

The pair nodded and got back to work. Despite how wrong the pair had been to let magic do the cleaning, the brooms, mops and other cleaning equipment had managed to clean the filthy room up pretty good. And since the other rooms all got soaked, the dirt that was glued to the wall was much less difficult to remove. Even so, after hours of hard work, they were still only able to clean up two of the rooms that they had promised to clean by the end of the day.

"The day after that, we went back and cleaned up the rest of the rooms." Twilight smiled while seeing the others all just stare at her with wide eyes, "We didn't use magic, and instead simply cleaned with our grit and determination."

"And even then, we couldn't clean it up by the end of the day," Flash laughed. "It took a whole week to clean that place up. It was so bad that the whole bug that went around went away and all the cleaning crew came to help up and it still took a week. But it was worth it."

Twilight nodded in agreement, "It taught us what we could really do if we put our mind to it, even without magic."

"Though a certain somepony still has trouble remembering that sometimes," Flash chuckled, the Princess of Friendship glaring at him.

"Oh? And who decided to still try and 'forget' swimming lessons for another month after that?"

"Hey! Grand taught me...eventually."

Twilight rolled her eyes at this, "You mean he forced you too."

The others began to laugh, only for Heart to ask, "Did all that really happen?" The pair nodded back. "Wow...it just...it sounds so...insane."

"But it was fun to hear," Soul replied, "And I definitely learned what you were trying to teach us." She jumped off the throne and moved over to the dustpan, grabbing it in her mouth while Mira took the broom. Together, they swept up the dirt their clones had dropped while Heart, Ace and Scootaloo got to work on their own abandoned chores.

Flash, Twilight, Springer and Starlight smiled as they watched. By the time they would be done, it would be time to go to bed, but the five could sleep knowing they had done an honest day's work. Because no matter how appealing the easy way out seemed, nothing beat doing something with your own four hooves...or paws.

Hard to Say Anything

View Online

It was another busy day at Sweet Apple Acres. Applejack hard at work in the fields, Granny Smith was off at the market, selling their products as Big Mac prepared for another far off delivery. At the same time, Apple Bloom was busy repainting part of the house, mainly painting the lower half of the door frame that she could reach. And as she finished it, Rogue the thestral flew down, having just woken up from his daytime rest.

He was eating one of his golden apples as he spotted the filly trying to stretch out to paint above her normal height limit. "Need a hoof?" He asked, getting Apple Bloom's attention. She nodded back and he took the brush, using it to paint the rest of the door-frame.

And as he did this, the voice of Sweetie Belle rang out, "Hey Apple Bloom!" They glanced back to see her and Scootaloo running up, a cardboard box floating above them. "Rarity's reorganizing her shop and look what she found!" She dropped the box and opened it up, "Its our old costumes from the talent show!"

"Oh wow!" Apple Bloom cheered as the three glanced inside, taking some of the clothes.

Rogue raised an eyebrow at this as he now saw Scootaloo laugh as she put on a rainbow afro. "I don't get it."

"We thought they'd come in handy in case we ever help a pony put on a play or need to make a quick escape disguised as clowns."

"Well I clearly missed something before arriving here," Rogue laughed as he now remembered all the stories he had heard about what the three would do before finally getting their cutie marks. His laughter was then broken when he heard a rolling sound, making him turn to see an apple rolling along the ground.

Apple Bloom picked up the fruit, glancing back up to the one that dropped it, "Here ya go, Big Mac." The stallion thanked her at this, Rogue then seeing Mac was pulling a cart full of apple barrels.

"Whoa," Scootaloo commented, "That sure is a lot of apples!"

"Are you makin' another delivery to Starlight's old village?"

"Eeyup," he nodded while putting the apple back in the barrel.

Sweetie Belle tilted her head at this, "That's an awful long way for a pony to go, isn't it?"

"Eeyup," Mac repeated as he shut the cart.

Apple Bloom hummed at this, "You've been goin' there a lot lately. What is this, your fifth trip this week?"

This question got a blush to appear on Mac's face, making him glance away as he let out a tiny laugh, "Eeyup."

"Okay," Apple Bloom replied, "Well, have fun." She then turned to her friends. "So what other costumes did you bring, Sweetie Belle?"

"Are you crazy?!" Scootaloo gasped, "We can't talk about costumes at a time like this!"

"Time like what?" The youngest Apple asked as Big Mac began to leave.

"Your brother is hiding something," Scootaloo whispered as she leaned up to Apple Bloom, "Did you see the way he was acting?"

"Yeah!" Sweetie nodded before grabbing her cheeks, "He totally blushed when you brought up how often he's been going to Starlight's old village."

"Something is definitely going on," Scootaloo finished. "And there can be only be one reason a pony would travel so far, so often."

The three exchanged a glance, all speaking up at the exact same time, Rogue unable to make out what any were saying. Apple Bloom's guess appeared to be the longest, the pony hearing the end of it. "-broccoli, and he wants to get away from the smell."

The other two stared at her while Rogue laughed. "Yeah, I'm with you on the broccoli thing." They turned to him, "I don't know what you do to it, but I can smell it all the way from the barn."

The CMC all stared at him, then turned to one another before bursting out into laughter. And before he could ask why they were asking, the trio told Rogue they were going to follow the earth pony and hid behind a bunch of hay-bales.

That is, till Rogue decided to just fly over to Mac. "Hey!" Mac glance up at him, "What's the real reason you're going to this village?" Mac raised an eyebrow in response, making the thestral fly down to him as he added, "Unless there's some kind of disease going around there that can only be cured by eating apples, I can't think of any reason why the ponies there would need this many apples." Mac was about to tell him that's ridiculous, but considering the thestral actually suffered from that kind of thing, he chose to keep his mouth shut as Rogue then asked, "So what's the real reason you're going there?"

Mac just blushed as this before whispering, "It's...a secret."

Rogue just glared at him, only to see the stallion just glance away. Seeing this, the thestral let out a sigh. "Fine. But you can't hide the fact forever. If I don't figure it out, somepony else will." With that, he flew off while Mac covered the cart with a sheet. He then landed on the top of the farmhouse, staring back at the stallion, "What are you up too?"

After another minute or so, Mac hitched himself to the wagon and began to pull it away. When he did, Rogue spotted three familiar ponies running up to the cart. "Seriously," he sighed as they hopped into the cart, "I better tell him..." Rogue whispered before chuckling, "But where's the fun it that?" He leapt off the roof and flew into the barn, grabbing his saddlebag and then zipped over to the orchard.

As he did this, Applejack was busy bucking apples when she noticed him go to his golden apple trees. She followed him, only to see him fill a saddlebag. The sight made her tilt her head, "Goin' somewhere?"

"Oh," Rogue turned to her, "I'm going with Mac to his delivery."

"Why?" Applejack asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No real reason. Just uh...I haven't really seen much of Equestria outside of Ponyville and the Changeling Kingdom. So I thought I'd go on a little road trip with Mac."

"Right..." Applejack replied while crossing her hooves, "Ain't he goin ta Starlight's old village?" Rogue nodded, "And yah've bin there before."

Rogue shrugged. "I haven't seen the route to the town, so that might be fun."

Applejack continued to stare at him, Rogue trying to keep a straight face. That is, till she did a small nod, "Alrighty." She tipped her hat, "Have fun."

Rogue nodded back before taking to the air, "See you later!" He called back, then came to a stop before saying, "And by the way, you might wanna tell Flash and Rarity that the Crusaders might be late getting home tonight." Applejack raised her eyebrow again, "Just got a feeling they might not be back before sundown." With that, he shot off before Applejack could ask what he meant.

He flew across the town and eventually spotted Mac travelling down a dirt road, the thestral staying high enough in the air to only be considered a bird should Mac look up and see him. And then the journey truly began, the pair making their way across the land. Rogue soon found himself having trouble keeping up, the thestral gaining respect for the earth pony since he didn't seem to be having any issues travelling at the pace he was going despite the multiple terrains he had to go over.

And as he did this, they arrived at the landscape Rogue recognized from the last time he had been here. After another hour of travelling, Rogue needing to take a quick break to eat an apple, they arrived at Starlight's old single street village. The bat pony landed on one of the rocks overlooking the town, spotting Mac as he pulled his cart into the town and came to a stop. Rogue watched as he trotted around the cart, making him realize Apple Bloom and her friends were probably about to be discovered. And sure enough, when Mac pulled the cloth away, it revealed the three fillies covered in apples.

But to his surprise, Mac didn't seem to even notice them. "Huh?" He asked as he watched Mac grab the nearest bucket and pull it off the cart without giving the three a second glance. "Weird. I can see them and my sight's terrible." He watched as the fillies poked their heads out the cart and Sweetie pulled out a pair of binoculars...which Rogue was pretty sure she didn't have on her when they leapt into the cart.

Deciding he had done enough distance recon, he flew down into the village. As he did this, he saw Mac head into one of the houses with a pink unicorn mare with purple hair. "So nothing fishy's going on," he heard Sweetie say as he landed behind them.

"No way!" Scootaloo yelped, "We came here to be spies! And no spy I know has ever solved a case that quick!"

"And how many spies do you know?" Rogue asked, causing the three fillies to freeze up before turning to see him standing there.

"W-w-what are you doing here?!" Apple Bloom gasped.

"I could ask you the same question," Rogue lowered his shades at this, "But we all know it's the same answer." They turned back to the house Mac had headed into, "Let's see what Mac's really up to."

"Oh yeah!" Scootaloo cheered before putting her rainbow wig back on, "Follow my lead!" The other two put on their disguises and nodded, Rogue rolling his eyes as they jumped off the cart.

And as they walked over to the building, which they saw was a bakery, they saw Mac dropping his apples down onto a massive pile of the fruit. As he did this, he was staring at the mare known as Sugar Belle as Apple Bloom commented, "Whoa...she sure likes her apples."

Scootaloo nodded beside her before Sweetie lifted the two onto her back, the filly tower staring into the shop. "What is she doing?" The unicorn asked, "Making the biggest apple pie in Equestria?"

Rogue then competed the tower and lifted the three onto his head, now staring inside as the mare walked up to Big Mac and said, "Thanks for coming all this way, Big Mac." He responded by letting out an unintelligible sound before breaking out in a whinnying laugh.

"What's with the laugh?" Rogue commented, "She didn't say anything funny."

The fillies shrugged as the mare continued, placing a hoof on Mac's chest. "It sure is nice seeing you again so soon." This caused Mac's eyes to shrink, his face becoming pink as he made a shaky smile, "All I used to bake were boring old muffins." She then trotted over to her display case. "But thanks to your apple deliveries, I get to bake all kinds of delicious treats! Apple pies, apple fritters, apple turnovers, caramel apples, caramel apple cakes..." Mac and the others all licked their lips, those treats looking as good as anything Pinkie could make before she let out a sigh, "I just wish I had more room to display it all. My shelves only hold so much."

"I'm tellin' you," Apple Bloom added, "This pony reeeeaaally likes her apples."

"She might like them a bit too much," Rogue continued as he stared at the large pile. "Most of those are gonna go bad before she can use them."

It was then that Sweetie let out a gasp. "It's not the apples she likes. It's Big Mac!" This statement was met with a round of 'huhs' from the other three, "Just look!" They watched as the mare, picked up a pie and turned to Mac, only for her nose to accidently bump into his.

"Ooh!" She pulled back and blushed, "Uh..." She let out a giggle, Mac replying with his own.

Apple Bloom's jaw hit the floor, "Sweetie Belle, I-I think you're right!" She began to shake in excitement, "I think my brother has a crush!" She almost screamed, jumping out of the tower before Sweetie Belle yanked her back down and shushed her.

"Huh," Rogue turned back to the window and saw Mac head for the door, "So old Mac-ster's in love." Having spent most of his life in a cave by himself, Rogue knew he didn't really know social skills and relationships, making him then say, "I wonder if this could be interesting..."

As he said that, the door opened and Mac walked out, Rogue swearing he could see hearts in his eyes.

"Psst!" Apple Bloom whispered, catching Mac's attention. "Big Mac!" The hearts vanished as Mac shook his head, then turned to Rogue and the Crusaders. As he walked over, the apple filly turned to the others. "Now remember, my brother's super shy, so he's probably gonna be embarrassed about his crush. Just try and make him feel comfortable." The others nodded and turned back to the stallion. "Hey Big Mac, it's me!" She took off a pirate hat, "Apple Bloom!"

"Eeyup," Mac slowly replied, Rogue unable to tell if he was confused or not.

"We're here, too!" The other girls added, Mac nodding before turning to Rogue.

"I just came to make sure they didn't get lost," he sighed, knowing it would be a good excuse.

As he said that, Apple Bloom spoke up, "I'm gonna ask you a very personal question, and I want you to answer honestly." She gestured for him to come closer, which he did before she whispered into his ear. "Do you...have a crush on...Sugar Belle?"

To their surprise, the oldest Apple sibling smiled as the hearts showed up again. "Eeyup."

"Well, that was easy," Scootaloo giggled.

"This is so excitin'! My big brother has his very first crush!" She leapt up at this, Scootaloo raising an eyebrow.

"First crush? What about Cheerilee?"

"It doesn't really count when you trick a pony into drinking a love potion, does it?"

Rogue's eyes went wide at hearing this while Mac let out an angry sounding 'nope'. "What did you three get up to before I showed up?" Rogue yelped, only for them to not respond as Apple Bloom started dancing.

"My brother has a crush! My brother has a crush! My brother has a crush!" The ponies all turned to them, staring as they saw her start moon-trotting before she came to a stop. "Wait!" She went back to Mac, "Does Sugar Belle even know you like her?"

"Uh-uh," Mac replied while shaking his head.

Apple Bloom let out a gasp before shaking him, "Then you gotta tell her!" This was met with Mac stumbling over his words, a rare sight considering he usually only said about fifty a day, only to start gulping and shaking his head.

"What's up with you?" Rogue asked, "Just tell her. What's the big deal?"

"It's not that simple Rogue," Sweetie chimed in, "Confessing one's feelings is a difficult things, and it requires a great amount of courage to do so, and there's always the possibility the other pony could reject you."

Rogue raised an eyebrow at the lecture from the pony younger than him. "That sounds...way too complicated."

"But its a great thing!" The filly responded before turning to Mac, "We're pretty sure she likes you! I mean, she keeps ordering apples just so she can see you again."

This made Mac's eyes go wide. "Eeeyou think so?"

"Totally!" Scootaloo nodded, "But you'll never know if you don't try."

Mac frowned at this, only to see Apple Bloom shine a big grin. The sight made him smile before saying, "Okay!" He reached down to a nearby patch of flowers and plucked one into his mouth.

"Go get her, Big Mac!" Scootaloo cheered as they watched him head to the door, Apple Bloom trotting over to Rogue and nudging him in the leg.

"Pay attention. You'll wanna know how to do this for when you confess your feelings for your special somepony." Rogue raised an eyebrow at this as Mac took a deep breath and tried to slick his mane back before knocking on the door.

A moment later, the door opened and Sugar Belle smiled up at Mac. Mac smiled back, his eyes filling with hearts again. But before he could say anything-

WHAM!

A cream colored earth pony with a brown mane and tail appeared, ramming Mac out of the way before blowing his bangs out of his face. "Hey girl," he chuckled while shining a giant grin, "Heh-heh. I was writin' poetry by the pond when I saw these flowers." He held up a bouquet of roses that were arranged in a heart shape. "I thought I'd show them how pretty you are."

"Oh!" Sugar Belle gasped before taking them, "Heh. Thanks, Feather Bangs."

Mac looked up at this and let out a sad snort, getting up as Rogue wrote what was happening in a notepad. "So you knock on the door, smile at the mare, and then get body checked to the ground by somepony else." He hummed, "Wonder who I can get to do that for me." Sweetie Belle glared at him and grabbed his notepad in her magic, ripping off the paper, "Hey!"

"That's not what's supposed to happen!"

But before he could yell at her, Scootaloo spoke up, "Um, is it possible to have two crushes at once? Because it looks like Big Mac may not be the only pony Sugar Belle likes." Rogue shrugged at this, not answering as Apple Bloom ran up to her now retreating brother.

"Hey, Big Mac!" She yelled, "Where ya goin'?!"

"Home!" Mac barked back.

Apple Bloom shook her head at this, "You can't let that Feather fella get in the way of your one true love!"

"You've gotta take him down!" Scootaloo added, making Rogue wonder if battling for the mare's heart was a common thing in the world of love.

"What can he do that you can't?" Apple Bloom asked, Mac stopping before pointing back without even looking.

"That!" They all turned to see Feather Bangs was juggling a trio of balls, Sugar Belle and a few other mares watching all impressed by the sight.

"Heh-heh," he laughed as he continued to juggle them. "These balls are like you. I'll always catch you if you fall." He threw them into the air, as the mares behind him all swooned before he caught them in a perfectly balanced tower.

"Seriously?!" Scootaloo yelped, "That line worked?!"

"Note to self," Rogue wrote, "Learn to juggle."

Mac sighed and shook his head, "She'll never pick me."

"Sure she will," Apple Bloom exclaimed as the other crusaders nodded. "Cause we're gonna help you."

But as she said that, Mac turned to glare at them, "No love potions!"

The fillies came to a stop before bursting into laughter, Rogue raising an eyebrow at this. Apple Bloom then wiped away a tear before saying, "Don't worry, Big Mac. We learned our lesson the hard way."

"Yeah!" Scootaloo nodded. "We're never gonna do that again."

"Besides," Sweetie continued as she pulled a book out of...thin air, "I know exactly what to do! When I was younger, I read all the fairy tales."

Scootaloo gave her a smirk. "When you were 'younger', huh?"

Sweetie blushed before whispering, "Well, I was younger on the way here!" Scootaloo continued to smirk, "It was a long ride!" Rogue blinked at this as the girl continued, "Anyways, as long as we do what the book says, you're pretty much guaranteed a happy ending!"

She opened it up and began flicking through the pages. "Are you sure this'll work?" Rogue asked, "Those stories were written for little ponies. Of course they're gonna have a happy ending. From what I've seen, the real world doesn't make things that easy."

"Relax," Sweetie replied while waving her hoof, "The publicist wouldn't have let it be sold if it lied. There has to be some way to help Mac get Sugar Belle to pick him. Um...how about this one?" She pointed to a picture of a pony fighting a dragon, "Rescuing a damsel-pony-in-distress. Its perfect!" She then shut the book. "Of course, we'll have to improvise without a dragon."

"Huh," Apple Bloom hummed, "too bad Spike isn't here...not that he's very threatening."

The crusaders laughed before Scootaloo added, "So what should we do? Wait around for Sugar Belle to get herself into a scary situation?"

Apple Bloom shined a grin at this, "Or...we bring the danger to her." The others turned to her, grimacing as they saw her smile, "We'll stage an incident that makes it look like Sugar Belle needs help, which Big Mac can put a stop too and win her heart."

"What are you gonna do?" Rogue asked, "Roll a giant boulder at her for Mac to smash with his earth pony strength?"

Apple Bloom put a hoof on her chin, "Not a bad idea." Rogue went wide-eyed, only to see the filly giggle, "I was joking. One mistake and Sugar Belle, plus half the town, will be flatter than Sweetie's singing."

"Hey!" The filly yelped.

Apple Bloom then shined a grin at Rogue, "You know...I think I know how we can make this work without putting Sugar Belle in danger."

The bat pony raised an eyebrow, the others catching on as they saw her stare at him. "What?" He asked, "What's everypony looking at me for?" The four's smiles slowly made Rogue put the pieces together, his eyes going wide. "ME!"

"It's perfect!" Scootaloo cheered, "You pretend to attack Sugar Belle and Mac'll stop you! That make him look like a hero in Sugar Belle and the whole town's eyes!"

"And make me look like a villain." Rogue growled, "No way. Not happening."

"Why not?" Sweetie asked, Mac giving Rogue a pleading look. "It's not like you'll get in trouble for it. Just pretend to attack, get scared off by Mac and then run away."

"Then what? Spend the rest of my life hiding whenever Sugar Belle shows up. You realize if they get together, she'll probably start spending time at Sweet Apple Acres. What, am I supposed to leave whenever she shows up?"

"You can wear a disguise," Scootaloo pointed out while holding up the wig and glasses.

"No way," he crossed his hooves and glanced away. "I might not know much about love, but I've learned enough about honesty from Applejack. Starting a relationship off with a lie is a terrible way to do things." He glanced back at Mac, "What are you gonna do whenever somepony asks how you got together? I'm pretty sure the guilt will eventually become so overwhelming that you'll end up telling Sugar Belle the truth and probably make her hate you."

Mac's eyes went wide at this, only to look down at the ground. The Crusaders frowned at this, Sweetie looking back at the book, "Maybe you're right...maybe staging an accident isn't the best way to do this."

"Well, we gotta do something," Apple Bloom responded, "Come on girls, think! What's a great way to get a pony to like another pony?"

Sweetie kept flipping through the book, but couldn't find anything that would work. The idea of kissing her while she was asleep was quickly shot down by Rogue, who stated in a deadpan voice that that was just asking for a restraining order. That is, till he asked, "Say...I know I don't know anything about romance, but how did the other relationships you know about start? Like Flash and Twilight. How'd they get together?"

The three exchanged glances at this, Scootaloo replying, "Uh...that might be a bad idea. Especially with those two."

"Why?"

The three grimaced at this, Scootaloo twiddling her hooves before saying, "Well, according to Princess Cadance, their relationship is years of mane-pulling, annoying tip-hoofing around one another...followed by almost dying in a blizzard, getting eaten by a yeti, and a raging argument about Flash's purpose in life. Or something like that."

"Huh. Okay..." Rogue responded, rapidly blinking before asking, "Alright, what about Iron and Fluttershy? What brought them together?"

"A revenge plan against the one that killed his parents and saving her, followed by being knighted."

"Alright...what about Pinkie and Wild Smile?"

"They had to fight each other in a battle royale in Canterlot, and then some pony named Cheese Sandwich got involved and both of 'em got jealous of him." Apple Bloom replied.

"Like a love triangle!" Sweetie added, "And it was a musical!"

Rogue sighed at this, "That sounds like them. Rarity and Lightning?"

"Rarity went on a week long exercise diet to win a bet with Lightning, then she forced him to ask her out."

"Seriously?! Even theirs is weird?!" Rogue growled before rubbing his face, "Okay...what about Rainbow Dash? She's in a relationship too, right?"

"Yeah." Scootaloo nodded, "Rainbow saved Soarin with a Sonic Rainboom and they started getting to know one another until they confessed to each other at the Wonderbolt Academy."

"Now that we can work with," Rogue pointed at her.

Sweetie raised an eyebrow at this "You want them to join the Wonderbolt Academy?"

"No."

"Didn't we just rule out saving her?" Apple Bloom added.

"I'm talking about getting to know her," Rogue almost yelled, the others raising an eyebrow, "Doesn't it make sense that Sugar Belle would want to be with somepony who knows her the best?"

"Huh," Sweetie Belle began flipping through the book, "I'm not seeing anything about that in here. Usually they end up falling in love and getting married the same day they met."

"Well that sounds like lazy writing," Rogue grumbled before turning to Mac. "It's your call. Try and win her affection in one big gesture, or get to know her a bit better and make sure she's actually the one for you. What's it gonna be?"

Mac frowned at this, glancing down at this as he didn't reply. The sight made them all sigh, knowing that he was conflicted. That is, till Scootaloo pointed at Rogue, "How about this, you go talk to Sugar Belle and learn as much about her as you can, then come back and tell us. Then we'll use that info to find out how to best make Mac look awesome to her."

"I don't know..." Rogue replied, "Isn't that being dishonest as well?"

"No way!" Apple Bloom countered, "There won't be any dishonesty in it. Just say yer Mac's friend and talk to her. And if she happens to tell you something we can use, there's nothing wrong with that. It's...market research."

Rogue gave her a deadpan stare, only to see all three fillies stare at him, making him sigh, "Alright, fine." They all cheered before he walked over to the bakery, glancing in to see Feather Bangs now gone and Sugar Belle placing a bunch of apple turnovers on a counter. "Here goes nothing." With that, he walked inside and said, "Hello?"

Sugar Belle turned to him, "Oh, hello. You're a new face." She then noticed his wings, "Wait...are you...a bat pony?"

"Last time I checked," he joked as he moved over to the counter. "Name's Rogue. I'm a friend of Big Macintosh and we came together. He said you make great desserts."

"Oh, I'm sure he was overexaggerating." She blushed before gesturing to the treats, "I'm still learning. But feel free to try whatever you want. I need to make some space before I can start baking more stuff."

Rogue nodded and asked for a turnover, taking a bite out of it and nodding. "Hmm...this is really good." He took his saddlebag off and dropped it on the ground, taking more bites out of the dessert. "Like...really good. Pinkie level good."

Sugar Belle smiled before noticing something poking out of his bag, "What's that?" She asked, Rogue then glancing down before taking out an apple, Sugar Belle's eyes going wide at the sight. "Wow. I've never seen a golden apple before."

"Really?" Rogue asked, "Would have thought Mac would have told you about it. Well...I guess he's not the most talkative pony in Equestria."

"Not really," she giggled, "But he's sweet and a really good listener."

"Well, when you don't say much, listening's kind of the only way you can have a conversation." Sugar Belle laughed, "But he's a good guy." She nodded at this while Rogue placed the apple back in with the others. "Tell you what. Next time Mac comes, I'll make sure he has one or two of them for you."

"Oh?" Sugar Belle tilted her head at this, "Are the ones you have important for something?"

"Yeah," Rogue nodded, "My life." She went wide-eyed at this before he told her his particular deformity.

"Oh dear," she whispered, "I'm...sorry."

"It's fine," he replied, "It's not easy, but I'll get over it eventually. Plus, if I didn't have this, I might never have met Mac and the rest of his family."

"I get that," Sugar Belle nodded. "I remember meeting Applejack the last few times she was here. She's a nice pony. I liked her a lot." As she said that, she noticed Rogue nod as a particular smile appeared on his lips. "Oh," she gave him a smirk, "you must like her a real lot."

"Of course I do," Rogue responded, "She was one of my first friends."

"No," Sugar Belle shook her head, "I mean, you must like her more then just a friend."

Rogue tilted his head at this, only for his eyes to slowly go wide, "What?!" He blushed, making her laugh. "No I don't!"

"Your face tells me different," she giggled as he turned away. "There's nothing wrong with that. It's great that you like her. I guess growing up in a cave did little to ruin your male urges." Rogue turned to glare at her and grabbed the rest of his turnover before shoving it in his mouth, Sugar Belle laughing at this, "You should tell her you like her. If you don't, you'll spend the rest of your life wondering what might have been."

"Well, what about you?" Rogue asked after swallowing, "You clearly like Mac." Sugar Belle's eyes went wide at hearing this, "Why don't you tell him? You never know, he might like you too."

Sugar Belle flinched at this, tapping the counter as Rogue lowered his shades to see the indecision on her face. "I know he likes me," she whispered, making Rogue almost go wide-eyed, "It's not that hard to tell. I mean...his eyes literally turn into hearts whenever he looks at me."

"So I'm not crazy," Rogue replied, thinking to himself to ask a doctor on that later, "So what's the problem?"

As soon as he said that, the door of the bakery opened up and a certain earth pony stepped inside. "Hey girl," Feather Bangs smirked as he flicked his hair out of his eyes. "Thought I'd come by and treat myself to some of your delicious treats." Rogue watched him move over to the counter, Sugar Belle now blushing at him. "Got anything as sweet as you? Oh, what am I saying? Nothing could be a sweet as you. Oh well, guess I'll make do with a piece of pie."

"Sure thing," she whispered before cutting up a piece.

Feather Bangs smiled as he accepted the dessert and began chowing down, speaking sweet nothings into her ear and making Sugar Belle giggle like a schoolmare. Eventually, he finished his pie and licked his lips slowly. "Delicious. But as if any you make could be anything but."

"Oh..." Sugar Belle put her hoof in front of her mouth to hide her smile.

"Well, as much as I would happily gaze into your tender eyes all day, I've gotta get back to work. Equestria shattering poetry won't write itself." He flicker his hair out of his eyes and winked before leaving, Sugar Belle blushing as Rogue rolled his eyes.

"Seriously?" he told her once he was gone, "Him?"

Sugar Belle turned to him, "What's wrong with him?"

"Nothing...I guess. But I can't believe you would fall for those sweet words."

Sugar Belle glared back at him, "What's wrong with him complimenting me? I mean...Mac's never done that. He's just stared at me and eaten my desserts. I mean, I know he likes them, but he never says so. If he really liked me, you'd think he'd say something." Rogue opened his mouth at this, only to close it as she continued, "I mean...Feather Bangs is nice. He's always polite to me and...well, he doesn't live halfway across Equestria."

"Oh," Rogue nodded, "Now I get it. You don't want to be in a relationship with Mac because of how far away he lives."

"It's not just that," she replied, "I wouldn't mind dating somepony that lives far enough away as long as I'm sure the relationship will actually go somewhere." Rogue raised an eyebrow at this. "Before I moved here, I had two friends who both had long distance relationships. One of them managed to make it work and eventually married the pony, but my other friend ended up getting her heart broken because the pony she dated was secretly seeing other ponies on the side because of how little they saw each other."

"Oh...ouch," Rogue gulped, "I uh...huh." The stallion picked up one of his golden apples, twiddling it in his hooves as he tried to find words, "Well...I can assure you that Mac would never cheat on you. That's not the kind of pony he is."

"I know that. But until I'm sure a relationship between us can work out, I'm not gonna risk a long distance relationship."

"Then maybe you should tell him that," Rogue finished off his apple. "Because just stringing him along isn't a nice thing to do. You're better than that." Sugar Belle flinched at this, only to glance away as he put his bag back on, "Well, I'd better be off. It was nice meeting you."

Sugar Belle nodded as he walked away, the bat pony glancing around to find Mac and the Crusaders now missing. "Mac? Girls?" He called out, but nopony responded. "Oh no...don't tell me they're gonna do some crazy stunt...oh, who am I kidding?! Of course they are!" He flared his wings, "Let's see what they're doing..."

Five seconds later...

He didn't get a few feet off the ground before finding Scootaloo, following her to an alleyway before he yelped, "What the heck?!" In front of him was Apple Bloom working on painting a large tarp while Mac was busy writing something on a piece of paper and Sweetie was tuning a banjo. "Oookay...I clearly missed something here."

"Rogue!" Sweetie looked up and smiled, "Did you find something out?"

"Well..." Rogue muttered out, only to sigh, "I did find out she's a little worried about a long distance relationship." This made Mac stop his writing and almost break his pencil, the earth pony looking up. "Apparently, she's seen how hard those can be. So unless you're willing to move here, you're gonna have your work cut out for you."

Mac gulped at this, only for Apple Bloom to jump in front of him, "But there's still a chance, right?"

Rogue nodded back, "As long as she sure the relationship's worth it, she's willing to give it a try."

"But how are we supposed to do that?" Scootaloo asked, "That's what you were supposed to find out!"

Rogue glared back at her from behind his shades, "Well sorry, but getting a mare to admit how to make her fall for you isn't exactly something that comes up in polite conversation. Hi, I'm Rogue. I'm interested in hard working ponies that like apples, what about you?" They all sighed as Rogue crossed his hooves before remembering what Sugar Belle had told him. "Well...there was one thing she mentioned that might help." The others raised an eyebrow, "She really likes it when ponies compliment her. And I don't mean just shoveling down her food and making pleased sounds," He stared at Mac at this, "I think she wants to be shown some appreciation."

"So she wants to be wooed?" Sweetie asked, Rogue blinking at her words.

"Um...I think she just wants an occasional compliment."

"But Feather Bangs has been doing that already," Scootaloo replied, "If we wanna catch up, we gotta go big. Luckily, our plan should work for that and get us even with him. Then Mac can start complimenting her."

"What exactly is your plan?" Rogue asked, glancing over at Mac and seeing he had written a bunch of sentences that rhymed. "Are you...writing a song?"

"Exactly," Sweetie chimed in, "All we need is one big romantic gesture to show Sugar Belle he cares, and then we can move onto the compliments."

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Rogue asked, "What if Sugar Belle doesn't like the song?"

"She will," Apple Bloom smirked before leaning against Mac. "My brother's a great singer. You've seen him with the Pony-Tones, right?" Rogue nodded, "So we'll serenade Sugar Belle with a love ballad, then she'll be all Mac's." She laughed, "I'd like to see Feather Bangs outdo that."

The others nodded and continued to get to work, Rogue just sitting there watching. As much as he wanted to help Mac get with Sugar Belle, he didn't want to be seen as part of the group if it went wrong, instead hanging back and telling them he would keep an eye out for Feather Bangs. "Great," Scootaloo nodded, "Don't let him anywhere near the bakery."

With that, they grabbed all the equipment they had prepared and ran off to the bakery. Rogue took to the air at this, landing atop one of the houses, watching as the four snuck inside while Sugar Belle wasn't looking. A minute later, music began to radiate out of the bakery. While Rogue couldn't tell what was happening in there, he hoped that Mac's little display would help him impress Sugar Belle.

However, a hitch soon showed up when he spotted Feather Bangs and his friends trotting down the street. "Uh-oh," he then flew down at this, "Hey! Feather Bangs...right?"

The earth pony laughed with a hair flick, "The one and only." He replied as Rogue landed, "Hey...you're that bat pony I saw at Sugar Belle's place."

"Huh," Rogue whispered, "Surprised you noticed me. You seemed so focused on her that you didn't even give me a glance."

"Oh, I gave you a glance," Bangs flicked his hair again, "I just didn't see any need to talk to you." Rogue rolled his eyes as Feather Bangs made a gesture, making the trio of mares from before swoon off to the side.

"You ever think of getting a mane-cut?" He asked, "It looks like it's getting in the way." The mares growled at him, one even cracking her hooves.

"Naw. I gotta look my best if I wanna impress my lady." As he said that, his ears picked up. "Do you hear that?" Rogue's eyes went wide, now hearing the music Mac was currently playing for Sugar Belle. "I feel like I can hear music."

"I don't hear anything," he replied, but now Feather Bangs' friends seemed to be hearing it as well. "Hey," he held out his wings, "Why don't we go somewhere more private and you read me some of that poetry I heard about. I've been interested in learning about it for a while."

But as he said that, Feather Bangs walked past him and up to the bakery. "What the?!" he yelped as he looked through the window. "So that farm boy things he can steal my girl?!"

"Come on," Rogue responded, "You got a bunch of ponies swanning over you. Can't you let this one go and let them be happy?"

"Not after all the work I put into her!" Feather flicked his hair away. "Boys, we've got a song to set up. Good thing I had one in reserves. Let's ride!" The other ponies nodded and they walked into the bakery, Rogue letting out a groan as he leaned against the wall of the building.

"I can't watch." He grimaced, only listening instead as he heard the two ponies begin to do a battle of the bands for Sugar Belle's heart. The stallion couldn't help but envision the ridiculous things the pair were doing to try and out-stage one another.

But as the songs began to come to a close, they suddenly stopped as a loud crashing sound filled the air. Rogue was jolted out of his attempts to block out the scene, quickly zipping into the bakery to see Mac, Feather Bangs and Sugar Belle piled on top of one another where Sugar Belle's display case once was. A pie then fell down from the ceiling and crashed into Sugar Belle's face.

Mac and Feather Bangs flinched at this while Apple Bloom facehoofed. But before Rogue could ask what happened, Sugar Belle threw the stallions off of her, "What in Equestria has gotten into you two?!" She turned to glare at them. "If you think I'm the kind of pony that likes all this nonsense, then you clearly don't know me at all! I wish everypony would just...LEAVE ME ALONE!"

Everypony in the shop all went wide-eyed before frowning, all turning to leave. First was Feather and his friends, then the CMC and finally Big Mac. But not before he glanced back at Sugar Belle, who turned away to stare at her destroyed display case.

Rogue sighed at this, only to see Mac run past him and the rest. Rogue quickly followed behind, the two disappearing into the alleyway where they had made their music equipment. "You okay?"

"Nope," he instantly replied while moving over to the tree where Sweetie had left the storybook. He sat down and stared at a page a dashing prince and beautiful princess together.

"I'm sorry," Rogue chimed in, "I...I guess I should have tried harder to stop Feather Bangs."

"It ain't yer fault," Mac sighed.

"Big Mac?!" yelled three voices, making Rogue turn to see the CMC step into the alleyway. "Big Mac!" They ran over as Mac shut the story and pushed it away.

"Are you okay?" Sweetie asked, Big Mac shaking his head.

"Nope."

The three flinched at this before Apple Bloom placed a hoof on his back. "Sorry it didn't work out with Sugar Belle."

"We all are," Rogue added as he leaned against the tree.

As he did this, Sweetie moved over to pick up the book. "We don't get it. Big, grand gestures always work in the fairy tales."

"But Sugar Belle's not a fairy tale princess," Mac told them. "She's a real pony. She's kind, and she works hard, and she's sweeter than everything in her bakery."

"There!" Rogue gasped before pointing at him, "That's the kind of thing she wanted to hear! She didn't want you to say something to make yourself sound like something you're not. She wants to hear what you really think of her."

"He's right!" Apple Bloom yelped before running up and kicking the book over the horizon. "We shoulda been thinking about what would mean a lot to Sugar Belle!"

"Didn't I just say that?!" Rogue asked as Mac hummed, then shined a big grin.

"I know just the thing!" He said, "But I'm gonna need ya'll's help!"

"Really?" Apple Bloom replied, "Even after we messed it up?"

"Eeyup," Mac nodded before waving them to follow, "Come on!" With that, he ran off as the the four followed, Max explaining his idea before giving each of an assignment. They all left to gather supplies, all of them soon returning and hiding in an alleyway outside Sugar Belle's bakery. Sweetie used her binoculars to look through the window and saw Sugar Belle had cleaned up the destroyed baked goods and threw the remains of her broken display case out the back.

And as she left, Mac turned to the group, "Alright, you all know what to do?" They nodded as Sugar Belle began to walk off, not bothering the lock the door since she trusted everypony in the town. And once she was out of view, "Go!" He, Apple Bloom, Rogue and Sweetie ran into the bakery with their supplies before anypony else spotted them.

Supplies down on the ground, Rogue flew out the building and took to the roofs to look around. At the same time, Scootaloo was keeping watch disguised in the glasses, nose and moustache. They stared out at the town and kept a close look around to make sure Sugar Belle wasn't coming. And luckily, they managed to go ten minutes before she finally showed up. "Alright," he spread his wings, "Let's do this." He quickly glided down to her, "Sugar Belle."

The unicorn glanced up at him, "Oh..." she gave him a low glare, "It's you. I figured you left with Big Mac."

"Yeah..." he scratched the back of his head, "He's really sorry about what happened. And I'm sorry for not talking him out of it. I'm still new to this whole feelings thing, so I don't know what's a good idea or not."

"Well fighting over me is definitely not a good idea." She growled before glaring at him, "Wait...did you tell him what I told you about wanting a compliment?"

Rogue gulped, her glare increasing. "It...might have popped out." he glanced away for a second, "But I didn't tell him to do that dance thing. He was just...worried that starting now would be too late, so he tried to even the playing field with that musical number."

"Well it worked," Sugar Belle hissed, "Now him and Feather Bangs are both banned from getting anywhere near me for a long time!"

She started striding off again, making Rogue facehoof. As he did this, an orange blur shot past him and jumped in front of the unicorn. "Hello!" Scootaloo stated in a low voice. "My name's Shimmering Spectacles, and I'm a librarian with a mysterious past."

Rogue groaned, but Sugar Belle actually smiled. "Oh, okay." She pointed to herself, "I'm-" She stropped and shot the filly a glare, "Wait a minute. You look familiar."

"I shouldn't," Scootaloo replied before circling around her. "Um, uh, I'm new in town. Mind showing me around?"

"Uh...sure?" Sugar Belle gestured to the area around them, "That's the whole town. It's just the one street." Rogue facehoofed again as Sugar Belle continued walking to her store. Scootaloo ran over to her and spotted a loose thread on the unicorn's saddlebag, the filly grabbing and pull.

Moments later, the stitches of the bag came out and the whole thing fell apart. A bunch of bananas fell out, making Sugar Belle stop. "Oh, no! Clumsy me! Here," she began picking up the fruit, "Let me help you clean it up!" But before she could, Sugar Belle's horn glowed along with the banana and they all floated into the air. "D'oh!"

"Stupid unicorn magic," Rogue groaned as Sugar Belle continued down the street.

"Uh," Scootaloo jumped in front of her, "N-n-now hold on a minute. Are you sure I can't buy you a new bag?"

"I'm good," Sugar Belle assured her. "It's no big deal."

"But...um..." She suddenly felt her back hit something, making her look back to see the door of the bakery, Scootaloo grimacing before slamming her body up against it to try and blockade the door.

"Okay, what's going on?" Sugar Belle glared at her, Scootaloo now sweating before the mare pushed her to the side and opened the door.

"Ahhh!" She screamed, "The cupcake has landed! Repeat, the cupcake has landed!" She then leapt away from the door, rolling as Sugar Belle stepped inside and spotted a certain stallion.

"Big Mac!" She yelled as she dropped her bananas. But before she could yell anything else, Mac stepped aside and she saw what he had been working on. A new counter and display case that was painted green with pink hearts, along with a certain giant display case. The sight made her stare at it in amazement, a loving smile appearing on her lips. "You made me a new display case?!"

"Eeyup," Mac nodded as she walked up to it.

"And you made it bigger!" She gasped, "You remembered!" Mac scratched the back of his head, blushing as she added, "Now I have twice as much room for all my desserts! And that means..." Her eyes suddenly filled with stars, "I can make even more!" She practically hugged the new display case. "I've been dying to try baking cream pies and whoopee pies and icebox cakes and, of course..." She turned to Mac, the loving smile returning, "More apple treats!" She moved over to him. "Oh Big Mac, thank you so much. This is the sweetest thing anypony's ever done for me."

Mac continued to giggle like a schoolgirl, trying to form the words until Sugar Belle placed a hoof to his nose before giggling. "I like you, too." With that, she lowered her hoof and the pair leaned until their noses touched. A new couple had just been born.

Rogue smiled at the door while the bakery was filled with the cries of three fillies. "Awwwww!" They all turned to the Crusaders, Apple Bloom smiling at them. "That was the most romantic thing ever!"

Sugar Belle raised an eyebrow, "Wait a minute," she pointed at them. "I recognise you fillies." She then turned to Mac, "Have they been with you this whole time?"

Big Mac's eyes shrunk at this, only for Apple Bloom to jump up next to him. "I'm Big Mac's little sister, and these are my friends." The girls waved, "We're sorry for everything we put you through today, Sugar Belle. Big Mac never would've gone through with that crazy..."

"Over-the-top," Sweetie continued.

"Downright ridiculous," Scootaloo added.

"Attempt to impress you if we hadn't put him up to it."

"Just be glad I was here," Rogue laughed, "You probably would have suffered through much more if I hadn't talked them out of it."

Sugar Belle giggled as Apple Bloom continued, "But we learned our lesson. Romance isn't about impressin' somepony. It's about doin' somethin' that means somethin' special to that pony you love-" She stopped with a giggle, then cleared her throat, "Like a lot."

"Uh, Apple Bloom," Sweetie pointed behind them as Mac and Sugar Belle touched noses again. "I think they get it."

The pair pulled away and kept smiling at one another while the fillies backed out of the store. Rogue laughed at this, "Why don't I take the cart...and these three, back to Ponyville for you. Give you two some...alone time." Mac nodded back at them as the four walked outside, only to be greeted to the sound of music and a familiar pony's voice.

"Sugar Be-eee-eee-elle!" Feather Bangs sang, carrying a record player above his head. "Yeah!"

The girls all laughed as they trotted past him. "Sorry, Feather. You're a little too late."

"Yeah!" Apple Bloom pointed at the store, "Sugar Belle's already picked her special somepony!"

Feather looked inside and saw it was true, his eyes going wide at seeing Mac and Sugar Belle hugging one another. He frowned as Rogue patted him on the back while Sweetie pointed over at the trio of mares from earlier. "But don't worry. You've got three not-so-secret admirers right behind you!"

He glanced back at them, the three sighing as they stared at him dreamily while Rogue moved over to the cart to get it ready for transport back. He listened as Feather admitted his lack of actual romantic knowledge and laughed when the fillies agreed to help him, hoping this wouldn't take long.

Luckily, it didn't and Rogue was able to leave with the cart and girls as soon as Feather chose his own special somepony and they began the long trek home. It wasn't an easy trip, but Rogue pushed on and got them through the multiple terrains.

And as the sun began to set, the crusaders all drifted off to sleep a few miles away from Ponyville. The moon raised above the horizon as he dropped Scootaloo and Sweetie off at their sibling's houses before heading home, only to see Applejack at the entrance.

"There ya'll are," she yelled as she galloped up to him, only to skid to a stop at the sight of a sleeping Apple Bloom. "Don't tell me she went with yah and..." She glanced around, "Where's Big Mac?"

"Back at the village," Rogue smirked. "I decided to bring the cart and girls home so he could spend some more time with his special somepony." Applejack's eyes went wide at this, Rogue laughing at her expression, "It's a long story."

"Well yah better be ready to tell it," Applejack sighed as she picked up her sleeping sister. "Put the cart back in the barn and ah'll put on a pot of coffee." Rogue nodded and with a salute before pulling the cart off. And as he did this, his eyes glanced back at Applejack as she carried her sister inside. The sight made him remember what Sugar Belle had said earlier and the insane things that could happen when it came to romance. But as those thoughts drifted into his head, he just shrugged before putting the cart away. Only time would tell if the apple family romance would become two for two, or if Mac was the only one who got to enjoy it

Dog Stay Afternoon

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Equestria's weather was like clockwork, mainly because the ponies in the kingdom controlled it. No other place had weather predictions like Equestria, always knowing where and when the weather was going to happen.

But every now and again, accidents happen.

And one such mistake leads to today's daring adventure, a bunch of ponies hiking up a well known mountain before coming face to face with a giant snow cloud. This cloud had escaped from the Cloudsdale Weather Factory, having been made and stored for winter, but was now on the loose and was covering the mountain in a pile of snow compared to its usual thin layer.

"Gyah!" A unicorn yelped as she ran through the snow, a blizzard smacking her face. And as she did this, she didn't see the large pile of snow that formed up the mountain, now about to be too heavy to stay put. It fell down at this, rolling into a large ball. The mare was squinting into the freezing wind, only to see the ball now coming just seconds before it could hit her, the mare flinching before-

"Fire Force!" A burst of fire shot past her, striking the snowball and making it explode. She opened her eyes at this, only turn around and see a certain flying colt named Fire Heart. He was in his fire form, which was burning hot enough to keep the snow from touching him and extinguishing his fire.

He smiled down at her, "Are you okay?" She slowly nodded back, "Then come on. Let's get you out of here." He flew off, the mare following after him, both now heading down the mountain.

A minute or so later, they spotted another light, now finding it belonged to Flash Sentry. The Knight of Friendship was decked out in his Shining Guardian armor, using it to light the way for several ponies that were also escaping the blizzard. The two groups joined one another, the knight and his squire nodding to each other as they headed to a device that made everypony go wide-eyed.

It was a Rune Gate, which was activated and ready to transport everypony someplace safe. "Please step through the portal in an orderly fashion." The ponies exchanged glances and frowns at this, only for a freezing wind to hit them. Feeling this, they quickly ran into the portal, Flash and Heart chuckling at the sight.

And when they reached the other side, they found they were in the Castle of Friendship, in a room with Twilight Sparkle, Starlight, Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy and Pinkie. "Please stay calm," the princess stated, "Follow my friends and they'll show you to the doctors that have come to check on everypony."

They soon followed Applejack and the others, going to the castle's main entryway, where Shining Soul was helping the doctors of Ponyville patch up anypony that was hurt in the blizzard. "Here you go," Scootaloo announced as she rolled into the hallway on the scooter. It was pulling a cart full of fresh towels, helping the ponies dry off and warm themselves.

As this happened, Twilight continued to watched the portal, Spike walking up, "How's it looking?"

"Fine," she replied, "So far, the ponies that have come through haven't been in any serious condition. And hopefully, Rainbow and the others will be finished soon."

Back on the mountain, Flash and Heart stayed by the Rune Gate. They were staring up at the sky, watching the Wonderbolts hard at work busting the snow clouds. Rainbow and Soarin shot past them, ploughing through them like two flying bolts.

As this happened, two more groups of ponies headed down, one group being led by Springer while the other was being led by Ace and Mira. "Found you!" Ace cheered as they got to Flash and Heart.

They then got some more ponies through the portal, the Wonderbolts now finishing up as Flash turned to Springer, "Is there anypony still on the mountain?" The jakhowl closed his eyes and clapped his paws together, sending out a wave of aura around the mountain. And a few moments later, the echo location-like search returned to him.

"I'm not sensing any other ponies," he responded, "I think we're good." They nodded and began to step through the portal.

And as they did this, Twilight, Soul and Scootaloo watched as the five walk through the portal and saw they were covered in snow. As Heart stepped out, a snowball flew through the portal, hitting him in the back of the head. "Hey!" He laughed, turning to see Ace walk through with another snowball in paw. Soul laughed as Heart dodged the next snowball, Twilight walking up to Flash next.

"Welcome back," she said, "You all did great work. A snowy rescue is never easy."

Flash turned to smile at the three youngsters, "You kids did great out there. I'm glad we decided to bring you with." The three nodded, the jakhowls waging their tails as Flash asked Twilight, "Are the hikers all okay?"

"They're fine," Twilight replied, "They're all gonna be taken to the hospital, and when they're given a full bill of health, we can send them back to their homes through the Rune Gate."

"Nice," Flash responded before letting out a shiver. "Geez that place was cold. I need something hot to warm me back up."

"Wanna go to Wasabi and Shichimi's? A hot bowl of ramen's sure to warm you back up." Flash nodded at the idea and the couple walked off, walking side by side as Springer followed after them to go take a warm bath. This left the five youngsters, Scootaloo asking about their adventure in the mountain.

"It was awesome!" Heart told her as the Rune Gate closed. "The snow was so thick you could barely see through it, but my fire powers cut through them like butter!"

"Those hikers must have been shocked when it showed up," Ace commented, "But it's a good thing a bunch of awesome heroes were there to save the day." The others nodded and cheered, Heart, Ace and Mira high-fiving one another. But as they did this, a strange sound filled the air.

"ARF!"

The five stopped as Heart asked, "Who said that?"

"ARF!"

They all spun around, only to go wide-eyed as Mira yelped, "A dog?" The group was now staring at a medium sized dog sitting in front of the Rune Gate. It was mostly brown, with white on its stomach, paws and tail tip while its snout was gray and a gray line ran from his forehead down its back and ending just before the tail. Wrapped around his neck was a white bandanna with red spots.

"Where'd that thing come from?" Ace asked as Soul walked up to the dog.

"He must have followed you through the Rune Gate," Scootaloo replied as Soul held out a hoof.

"Awww...are you lost little fella?" The dog gave her hoof a sniff, then licked it. "Awww..." she cooed before scratching it behind the ear, "Don't worry, we'll take care of you."

"We will?" Mira asked, the others now gathering around the dog. "Are you sure Twilight would let us keep him?"

"Of course she would," Soul told her before picking the dog up in her magic. "I mean...how can you say no to this face." She held the canine up to Mira, the dog and jakhowl staring at each other before the dog licked her.

Mira pulled back and shook the slobber off her face, only to pet the doggie, "Okay, I'm in. He can stay."

The others chuckled at this, Soul now putting the dog back down. But as she did this, the dog ran up to the Rune Gate and let out a bark. Scootaloo giggled at the sight, "Little fella must wanna go back to play in the snow."

A bulb went off in Heart's head, "Oh really? I've got a better idea."

Heart's idea turned out to be the training room, now simulating a snowy field that they could play in without needing to worry about frostbite. He had also summoned a rubber ball, which he sent flying with a flick of his tail. "Go get is Speedy!" The dog rushed after the ball, managing to run past it before catching it.

"Speedy?" Scootaloo asked as the dog came back, "No. We can't call him that."

"Why not?" Heart asked as he took the ball and threw it again, "He is speedy."

"Psst," Ace called out from the door, "Everypony..."

"I think we can come up with a better name," Soul told her brother.

"Everypony!" They turned to Ace as he let out a cough, "Spa-ha-ik."

The other four raised an eyebrow at this, "You feeling okay?" Mira asked while Ace let out another cough.

"Spa-ha-ik!"

"That cough does sound odd," Soul trotted up to him, "Let me have a look." But before she could get close, the door opened to reveal Spike Pyro Dragon. This made their eyes go wide and all jump in front of the dog, blocking it from view.

"Hey there!" He waved.

"Oh," Scootaloo let out a cough, "Spa-ha-ik. Got it..."

Spike glanced around the room before shivering, "Geez...haven't you had enough cold?"

"I thought it would be good training," Heart replied as he pulled the ball out of the dog's mouth and whispered for it to sit. The dog did so and Heart showed Spike the ball. "Help with my hoof-eye coordination in cold temperatures." He threw it and Spike breathed fire onto his claw, then threw it.

The flames shot out into a claw shape and grabbed the ball, pulling it to the little dragon. "This training room can make anything and you didn't think to make a ball that let out heat?" As he said that, the dog tried to move around the four and they shuffled around in response.

"Well..." Heart hummed, "That would...defeat the purpose of training in the snow. I'm trying to keep my reflexes sharp, even when I'm cold."

"Huh...okay." Spike shrugged before turning to leave before throwing the ball back at Heart.

The colt wasn't ready, fumbling the ball that fell into the snow as he reached down and grabbed it. Spike laughed at the sight, "Better keep practicing." With that, he walked away, Ace watching him leave before letting out a long sigh of relief.

Despite all telling themselves the others would allow the dog to stay, they were still worried what might happen if anypony else found out about their new pet. And in that moment, the dog ran out from behind them and out the door, going to a window and let out a bark.

"I think he wants to go outside." Soul commented.

A few minutes later...

That had led him to an area behind the castle, the dog now digging up the yard. Deciding it looked fun, Scootaloo grabbed a nearby shovel and started digging with him. "Wow," Scootaloo smirked when the dog finished his four hole, "You got the digging thing down. Good boy, Scoop."

"Wait..." Soul raised an eyebrow, "Scoop?"

"What's wrong with Scoop?" Scootaloo asked as she stopped digging her hole.

Mira tilted her head at this, "Well...I guess he is pretty good at earth excavation."

"No way!" Heart exclaimed, "Scoop isn't even a name!"

"Actually, I know one or two Scoops." said a voice, making them all jump and turn to see Fluttershy, a big smile on her face.

"Hey...Fluttershy...who's right here. Hi." Heart slowly said, Fluttershy walking past him as the others moved over to hide the dog behind them again.

"Oh my." She commented, "What are all these holes for?"

"Err..." Scootaloo gulped, her eyes darting around as she replied, "We...thought this area around the castle could use some more flora. Help the local wildlife."

"Oh? What a lovely idea! Have you decided what to plant yet?" The others shook their heads, "Well I'd be happy to help you pick them. I'm a little busy right now, but I could come later and help you decide."

They all silently nodded back, the mare then walking off a second later, the youngsters sighing in relief at this. That is, till Mira asked, "Has anypony considered the name close call?"

When he finished his digging, they took the dog to the park and started running around with it. The dog kept barking as he ran around, Soul, Heart, Mira and Ace racing after him. "Wow," Soul panted, "I never thought I'd see something without wings move so fast." As she said that, they spotted a bench right in front of them and the dog leapt over it. "Nice moves Bouncy."

Heart frowned. "Yeah...no. We're not calling him Bouncy."

"I'm with Heart," Mira added as she and Ace hopped over the bench. "We can come up with a way better name."

"Yeah," Ace nodded, "I think Schnoodles agrees."

Soul raised an eyebrow at this, "Schnoodles?"

"NO WAY!" Heart, Soul and Mira cried.

"Ahhh," Ace pouted as they finished their lap and spotted Scootaloo leaning against a tree. "I thought it was cute." They came to a stop at this, Soul giving the dog a pat on the head.

As she did this, Mira's eyes went wide. "I've got it! I know the perfect name." The others turned to her as she pointed at the canine, "Let's call him...Dog." The canine heard this and let out a moan, the others glaring at her, only to see Mira shrug, "Why anything else? He is a dog, so we'd never get it confused. It's perfect." As she said that, the dog started barking at her. "See? I think he's trying to talk to me."

"Yeah," Heart nodded, "To tell you that Dog is a terrible name."

"No its not!" Mira replied, only to hear the dog bark at her again. "Hey!" The two began barking at one another, the others rolled their eyes at this while Scootaloo spotted a pair of ponies walking up.

"Uh...we might have a problem," She turned to the group, "Flash and Twilight are coming!"

Hearing this made the, spin around, all jumping in front of the dog while Flash and Twilight trotted into view. "Hello everypony," Twilight told them, "Having some fun in the sun?" They all nodded at this. "That's good. I just got word that everypony we saved from the mountain has been given a full bill of health and can be returned home."

"That's great," Heart replied before to dog let out a bark. This made Flash and Twilight raise an eyebrow before glancing around.

"What was that?" Flash asked, "Sounded like a dog."

"Oh..." Mira pointed at her fellow jakhowl, "Ace has been making odd noises all day. Perhaps a visit to Dr. Fauna's is in order."

"Uh...woof," Ace faked, the pair then giving them a deadpan stare before shrugging and saying they would let Springer know. With that, the pair headed off to enjoy some more time together while the others sighed in relief. But as they did this, the dog let out a new sound. A low whining that made them turn to him and see him frowning.

"Huh..." Mira raised an eyebrow, "That's a new sound. Wonder what it means?"

"It means he's sad," Soul frowned as she leaned down and patted the doggie on the head.

"Why?" Heart asked, "We've been having so much fun." Soul just shrugged at this, the group soon trying to cheer him up. They showed him a ball and some treats, but he wouldn't react.

"Come on boy," Scootaloo showed him a stick before throwing it, "Go get it!" But the dog just laid there, not reacting. "Aw, what's wrong with you?"

"Maybe we should ask Fluttershy?" Soul chimed in, the others turning to her, "What? We need to help him somehow."

"But what if she tells the others?"

"Well-"

"Heart!" a voice suddenly called out in the colt's head, Ace and Mira also hearing it, "You there?!"

"Flash?" He asked, "Is that you?"

"Yes. We've got an emergency and I want you to help. Get to the castle Rune Gate as quickly as possible!"

"I'm on my way," Heart replied before the connection was cut. "Sorry, but I've gotta get back to the castle." This statement seemed to make the dog's ears perk up, the canine turning to him as he spread his wings. But before Heart could take off, the dog ran off.

"Wait!" Soul cried.

"Schnoodles!" Ace called out, "Come back!" They chased the dog through the park and into the town, their new four-legged friend being way too fast for all of them. The ponies of the town were soon treated to the sight of a dog trying to escape from the five youngsters, Rarity, Pinkie and Rainbow now also seeing it. Soul also tried to grab the dog in her magic, but was unable to get a lock on the fast moving puppy.

Eventually, the dog arrived at castle and ran into the open door. As he did, he shot past Starlight and Fluttershy, the mares hopping back before the kids suddenly came next, "What the-what's going on?!" Starlight called out, but none of them answered.

Instead, the dog ran into the Rune Gate room, where Flash, Twilight and Springer were waiting. "Good timing," Flash commented as he heard the sound of hoofsteps. Twilight had activated the Rune Gate before the three turned to the sound, only to be met by the sight of a cute little dog running through the room. "Huh?" They watched as the dog ran past them and leapt into the portal, vanishing as the youngsters arrived. "What was that?"

The group came to a stop at this, Flash turning to glare at Heart. The colt did a small gulp, "Well..."

"It appeared to be a dog," Twilight pointed out as the adults glared at them. "I assume there is an explanation?"

"Uh...maybe?" Heart squeaked out, making Flash sigh.

"Doesn't matter right now." Springer chimed in, "We got an emergency right now."

Twilight nodded in agreement, "We were helping some of the hiking ponies home, only to learn about an accident. A nearby building was being built when the structure began to break apart due to the weather. Most of the ponies escaped, but one of the workers got stuck. I tried lifting the wreckage up in my magic, but doing so caused the entire thing to shake and almost crushed the worker."

"Heart," Flash pointed at him, "I need your fire power to weld some of the rubble together so it doesn't shift when Twilight moves it."

Heart nodded while the others turned to one another. "Let's go find Bouncy," Soul added before they all leapt through the portal.

"Wait!" Springer yelped, but they were already gone. The jakhowl let out a groan before Flash, Twilight and Heart followed after them. When they stepped out the other side, they were met with the sight of the building site, a massive pile of metal tubes and girders with a pony trapped somewhere inside.

The youngsters started whistling for the dog while Heart and the adults moved over to the pile. When they reached the top, Flash looked into one of the large pipes. "You still okay in there!?"

"I'll be better when you get me out of here!" The pony cried, Heart now trying to weld the pieces together as Twilight began moving them around. But as he did, the pony under the wreckage yelled, "Yow! Why is it suddenly getting so hot in here?!"

Twilight's eyes went wide at this, "Heart, stop!" The colt did so, "You're gonna end up roasting him alive."

"So what do we do?" Heart asked as they turned back to the piping. It lead to an open space, which had several more pipe entrances. It was a complete maze of pipes and tubing, intersecting in random different ways to make a labyrinth. "Can't he just climb out on his own?"

"I'm trapped under a girder," the pony barked back. "It's too heavy for me to lift."

Flash crossed his hooves at this, "I thought about climbing in there, but I have no idea which direction he's in. I'd probably get lost trying to find him myself."

"And a few of the pipes are a lot smaller than this one," Twilight knocked on the metal tube. "If you tried to fit through one of them, you might get stuck."

"I probably won't," Heart replied, "I bet I could locate him and use my fire to melt through the girder."

"But you still can't find him," Springer responded, "It'd take somepony with super hearing to locate where his voice is coming from." As he said that, a bark filled the air, making them turn to see the dog running up to them.

"Boy!" Heart cheered as the dog began to run up the pile. A moment later, the others ran into the site after hearing the dog's barking.

"You found him!" Soul added as they reached the pile.

"More like he found us," Heart replied before hearing a coughing sound coming from Flash. "Right. Right. Finding and saving the pony." As he said that, the dog ran over to an area of the building site that had a massive coil of rope. He grabbed one end and pulled it with his mouth.

"Sorry buddy," Ace replied, "Not really the time to play tug of war."

But before he could grab the rope out of the dog's mouth, Soul stopped him. "I don't think he wants to play." They watched as the dog carried to rope up the pile, "I think he wants to help." The dog then reached the top and looked inside the tubing. When he did, the dog barked back at them.

"I get it," Heart smirked. "He can hear where the pony is, so he's gonna use the rope to help lead him out once he's free."

"He said that?" Mira asked, "My translation was...jellybean, flip-flop, candlewick."

"I'd...keep practicing," Scootaloo chuckled before the dog went inside the tube and turned left at the bottom, a trail of rope following it.

Flash smiled at this and called into the pipe, "Keep crying out. Make sure it can hear you!" The pony called calling out, allowing the dog to follow the sound as Flash turned to the others, "Bring the rest of the rope up here. We need to give him as much of it as we can." They nodded and both Twilight and Soul grabbed the rope, pulling it over and dropping it down while the others began making sure it wasn't tangled up or knotted.

And as the dog got further in, the rope continued to be pulled along with him. He turned left, then right before sliding down another pipe and up one more. When this happened, he came out into a large opening and spotted a blue pegasus whose legs were trapped under a girder. The dog ran up and dropped the rope, panting happily.

"Alright," he picked up the rope, "Now what?"

"Is there something above you that you can loop it around?" Twilight asked, the pony glancing around, seeing the end of another girder that was firmly trapped between two pipes. He threw it up and around the top, Twilight then instructing him to tie the rest around the girder holding him.

"Alright!" He yelled once it was tightly knotted, "It's ready!"

Outside, Flash and the others grabbed hold of the rope. "Everypony ready?" They nodded, "Then pull!" They group gave everything they had, pulling and slowly managing to tighten the slack. Inside the pile, the rope began to be pulled upward, the pulley system devised now causing the girder on the pony to be lifted up.

He sighed in relief as the weight left his legs, allowing the pony to drag himself out. "I'm free!" They then let go of the rope, making the girder fall. As it did this, the surrounding structure shook, the pony crying out, only for Twilight's horn to flash, grabbing all the pipes, tubes and girders in her magic.

The dog barked and ran up the pipe, the pony following him and the rope through the maze of metal until they finally reached the top of the last pipe. When they got there, Flash and Springer pulled him free. "Thank you," he told them. "I was so terrified."

They then heard a barking sound, all turning to see the youngsters gathering around the dog. "Good boy," Heart cheered.

"You're so smart!" Mira added.

"Pony's best friend!" Scootaloo laughed.

Ace chuckled, "I think we all agree that Schnoodles should be an honorary defender of the peace."

The others all stared at him while the dog let out a bark. "Now that I can translate," Mira chimed in before pointing at Ace. "Don't call me Schnoodles!" The dog barked again as the youngsters all laughed. But that laughter quickly vanished when Flash, Springer and Twilight stepped up to them and crossed their arms and fronts hooves.

Back at the castle...

After going through the Rune Gate, Flash, Twilight, Fluttershy and Springer all stood in a line, waiting for an explanation while the other young ponies gathered around the dog.

"We're really sorry we kept Bouncy a secret," Soul told them.

"Scoop just followed you home through the Rune Gate," Scootaloo continued, "He was lost, so we had to keep him."

"And Speedy really helped us out with that rescue," Heart pointed out.

"I'm sure Schnoodles would be a really great defender of the peace." Ace finished.

"Wait," Flash held up a hoof, "Is there one dog or four?" His confusion faded when Mira held up the dog, who let out a bark.

"Just the one." The dog leapt out of her paws and ran over to Fluttershy, who giggled before she started scratching him behind the ear and on the belly.

"Oh, you are adorable." she cooed, the group chuckling at the sight.

All but Twilight, who let out a sigh, "It's clear that you've all bonded with this little one." She commented as she turned to the youngsters, "But he can't stay here." Their faces all fell, all asking why. "I would have thought it was obvious." She replied as she used her magic to move the bandanna around his neck, "He clearly already had an owner. A dog can't dress themselves."

And as she lifted it up, it revealed a collar. This reveal made their hearts sink, some facehoofing as they knew should have done that earlier.

"I know you all care about him," Fluttershy stated as she finished rubbing the dog's stomach. "But I'm sure his real family are worried about him."

The youngsters sighed before Soul stepped up, the dog rolling back to his feet to let her read the collar. Once that was done, she turned to the princess. "Twilight, I know we're probably in trouble for keeping this from you, but do you think our punishment could wait until after we take this little one home?"

Twilight shared a glance with Flash, the stallion nodding back at her. "Alright," she sighed, "The five of you can take him home. But after that, you come right back."

The five nodded as Soul turned to them, "His collar has an address on it. It's for a town not too far from the mountain you went to earlier."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Heart cheered, "Let's get this little guy home!"

The dog barked back, wagging his tail as Flash turned to Twilight. "I'll go with them to make sure they don't get into anymore trouble." Twilight nodded before turning on the Rune Gate. They walked up to the portal, the dog letting out a happy bark before running into the light. The others were surprised at his willingness, but the six soon followed, only to find themselves in a forest.

"Twilight's aim might be a little off," Ace pointed out as they saw that they might have been outside the town, but with no markers except for a ton of trees around them.

Luckily, the dog let out a yip before going up to a tree and marking it, only to jump up and down before running off. "You think he knows which way the town is?" Scootaloo asked, Flash taking to the air and flying over the treeline.

He glanced off in the direction the dog had gone, only to see a bunch of buildings about a mile away. "He's on the money!" He told them as he flew down, grabbing the Rune Gate and rolling it up. The six then followed the canine through the woods, and after a few minutes, managed to arrive at the town.

It was around the same size as Ponyville, though it lacked a farm, Flash and the youngsters spotting the snow covered mountain off in the distance. And as they walked into the town, they spotted many ponies living their lives without a care in the world. The ponies seemed to notice them as they marched in, several eyes flashing to the dog with looks of recognition appearing on their faces. "Hey Flash!" a Pegasus called out, the Knight of Friendship turning to him.

"Looking good Flash," a mare added as she walked past them.

"Hiya Flash!" a filly waved before walking off with her mother.

Scootaloo turned to her brother, "I didn't know you had friends here."

"I...don't," the stallion replied, "I've never been to this town before. And I'm sure I've never met these ponies before."

This made them all glance at each other, all showing nothing but confusion on their faces before Soul chimed in, "Um...maybe we should help the doggie first."

"Right." Flash replied, "Which way to his home?" The others shrugged before the dog let out a bark and ran off. "Never mind."

"He must know this town better than most of the ponies that live here," Heart chuckled as they all chased him. They zigzagged through the streets, barely managing to keep up with the canine until they arrived at a street with a sign stating the same name Soul had read on his collar.

"This is it," the alicorn filly commented, "Number fifteen." They checked the house numbers and found the one they were looking for. "There it is."

"That's his house?" Ace asked, the dog running up to it. "Nice looking place." They walked up to the house and Heart knocked on the door, the group turning to the dog and giving him a long goodbye until the door opened.

"Hello?" An white earth pony mare with blonde hair asked as she looked outside, only to hear a bark that made her look down and see the dog. "Flash!"

"Flash?!" The youngsters yelped while the pony holder of that name went wide-eyed.

"Oh," the mare smiled up at them as she petted the canine. "My husband named him after his favourite Royal Knight."

"Good choice," the pegasus smirked with a chuckle.

"But what's he doing with you?" The mare asked, "My husband took him up to the mountains while he was doing some work."

"Work?"

"He's a geologist," the mare replied as dog Flash let out a sad whine. "But why aren't they together?" She glanced back down at the canine, "In fact, my husband should have been home by now."

This statement caused Flash's smile to vanish, the others turning to the defender, "Wait...we did rescue everypony from that blizzard...right?" Heart asked, only to hear the dog let out another bark, jumping out of his owner's hooves. The look he gave was all the answer they needed.

"That sounds like a no," Mira gulped.

Soul's eyes went wide. "So that's it! He came through the portal because he wanted us to help save his owner!"

"I guess that explains why he was so sad when we didn't do anything to help him," Ace added. "Sorry buddy."

"This is bad," Flash chimed in as he turned to the mountain. "He's been up there a really long time. Who knows what must have happened to him by now."

The mare went wide-eyed at this, only for Heart to speak up, "Don't worry," he pointed to himself. "We'll find your husband and bring him back here, I promise." He then turned to Flash, seeing a frown on his face before he declared, "Let's get going."

Flash nodded and turned to his name sharing friend, "Do you think you can help us find him?" The dog nodded and Flash turned to the mare, "Can we take him with us?"

"Of course," she nodded. "Flash here has a really good sense of smell, so he should be able to track Karst down. But please hurry." They nodded again before running off, only to come to a stop as they realized the quickest way to get to the mountain being going back into the Rune Gate.

Going through the portal with dog Flash, they found a very confused Twilight and Springer waiting for them as they spotted the dog. And after a quick explanation, Twilight reactivated the Rune Gate, resetting it to send them all to the mountain they had been too earlier that day, Springer coming along this time.

But the minute they reached the other side, the group was suddenly assaulted by the chilling cold. "Yaaah!" Scootaloo yelped while Heart flew into the air and ignited his body. "Get down here and keep me warm!"

Flash frowned as he watched the youngsters gather around his apprentice. "Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to bring you alll here."

"Yeah," Springer nodded, "Flash and I can-"

"No way!" Soul interrupted, "We promised Flash...dog Flash, that we'd help him find his owner! And that's what we're gonna do, no matter how cold it is out here!" The others nodded, Flash and Springer staring at the fire appearing in all their eyes.

The sight made them let out sighs as Flash shook his head, "Alright...but no wandering off or doing anything without our permission." They nodded and Flash turned to Springer, "Sense anything?" The jakhowl closed his eyes and unleashed a wave aura, it coming back a few seconds later, "Nothing." The others frowned at this, "He's either somewhere my aura can't reach, or..."

"He's alive!" Heart interrupted, "I know he is! We just need to start looking!"

"I like the determination," Flash chuckled before gesturing up ahead, "But this mountain's pretty big. It'll take forever to find him if we're just blindly searching." As he said that, the dog started sniffing the snowy ground, only to bark and run off.

"Hahaa!" Heart cheered as he flew after the dog. "We won't be searching blindly. She said that little guy had a great sense of smell." The others smiled and followed the pair, Flash grabbing Scootaloo and flying above the snow with Soul while the jakhowls shot across the snowy field with their light feet.

They headed up the mountain, using a trail that hadn't been buried by the blizzard. And when they reached a bunch of large rocks, Dog-Flash leapt up and tried to get over them, only to slip, but Soul grabbed him in her magic, helping him over the boulders.

"Good boy Flash," she giggled as he sniffed the ground again. "Show us where Karst is."

The dog kept following the scent, only to go to an area of the mountain that went straight up, meaning there wasn't any way up. "End of the road," Flash commented as he and Scootaloo landed. "No way up without wings."

"Did she say what kind of pony he was?" Scootaloo asked, getting a shake of the head from Flash. But before they could say anything else, Dog-Flash barked and they turned to see him circling around a large pile of snow.

Ace moved over to it and started digging, soon pulling out a green saddlebag that was soaked through. Dog-Flash let out a bark when he saw it, giving everypony an answer. "This must be Karst's bag."

"He probably dropped it in the blizzard," Flash replied, "That means he was here at one point and probably still close by." He turned to Springer, who reached over and placed his paw on the bag. He scanned it, picking up a slight trace of spiritual energy, the jakhowl opening his eyes as he memorized it.

"Got it." He clapped his paws together and unleashed a wave of aura, "Now that I know what I'm looking for, I might be able to get a better sense of where he is." But after a moment, the aura came back and he sighed. "Still nothing. If he is still on this mountain, he's someplace my aura can't reach him."

"So what do we do?" Soul asked, turning to Dog-Flash. "Can you pick up his trail again?" The dog sniffed around, only to let out a whimper, "Nothing? Oh no..."

But as the dog said this, Mira turned to her mentor, "Springer?" He glanced back at her, "What if the three of us combine our Aura? Maybe Ace and I can boost your power enough to find him."

"Well, I don't know if that'll work..." Springer responded, only to shrug, "Eh, let's try it." The three stood close by each other, placing their paws together and closing their eyes. They formed a circle of aura that flowed together, only for Ace and Mira to flinch. But as this happened, Springer's eyes shot open and pulled away while sucking all the supercharged aura with him. Ace and Mira moaned, Mira falling to one knee as Springer clapped his paws together and unleashed a burst of aura so strong that even the ponies felt it.

It shot out across the mountain, and a minute later, the wave returned and Springer let out a gasp. "I've got something!" He turned to the right and ran off, the others following after him. They kept running for several minutes, only for Dog-Flash's ears to perk up and shoot off ahead of Springer.

"Go find him boy!" Soul cheered as the canine reached a wall with a giant pile of snow laying in front of it, the mutt starting to dig into the tightly packed powder. "Is this it?"

They all reached the snowdrift and Springer placed a paw on it. "I can feel someone behind here. There's a cave of some kind sealed by the snow."

"Is anypony behind there?" Ace called out, the group holding up their ears for a response.

"Help!" A weak, small voice responding back. They turned to one another and nodded, Dog-Flash digging away until Soul pulled him away with her magic.

"Stay back!" Heart yelled, then held out his hooves to unleash a simple burst of fire that struck the snow pile. The liquid began to melt, only for the snow above the cave to come loose. But before it could fall, Ace and Mira started throwing Aura Blasts at the snow, blowing it away. And after a minute or so of melting the snow, the pile fell away from the cave's mouth, revealing a small hole in the mountain, with a brown earth pony with a black mane and tail, wearing an orange jacket and green woollen hat and boots sitting inside.

Dog-Flash let out a bark and ran over to the pony, jumping into his lap and licking at his face. "Flash!" the stallion laughed, "I'm glad to see you too!" He turn turned to the ponies and jakhowls that saved him, his eyes going wide when he saw his dog's namesake smiling back at him.

"Rescue team is here to help," Flash chuckled, "You okay?"

Karst shook his head, "I sprained my ankle, but I feel better now that you're here." He let out a long sigh, "I got all turned around in the blizzard. I lost my saddlebag, and then tripped over this rock." He pointed at a small rock near the entrance of the cave while Dog-Flash snuggled up next to him. "Flash was with me for a while, but then he ran off."

Scootaloo giggled at this, "He came to find us."

"Yeah!" Ace nodded, "To let us know we missed you when we came to rescue everypony else."

Karst smiled and patted his dog, "Good boy Flash." The canine let out a bark as his owner gave him a hug and a scratch, Flash and Springer then helping him out of the cave. Once a safe distance away from the avalanche zone, Soul got to work bandaging up his sprained ankle and applying some healing magic to him.

As she did this, Flash set up the Rune Gate and activated it. Once it was up and running, they helped Karst through, Twilight standing there waiting. The alicorn helped him to the doctor, getting him checked up before readjusting the gate so they could travel to Karst's home.

But of course, this meant that it was finally time to say goodbye to their new furry friend. "Bye much cuter than the other Flash," Heart told him as he scratched the dog behind the ears.

"Be a good boy for your owners," Scootaloo added while Ace patted him on the head.

"Be sure to come and visit."

Soul looked close to crying as she said, "We'll miss you."

"Woof," Mira replied before Dog-Flash gave them all a lick and headed through the portal with Karst, Flash and Springer. And thus, he was gone and the five were once again pet-less. They all let out a sigh as they left the Rune Gate room, all aimlessly wandering around the castle until they reached the thrones room. There they each took a seat, now remembering their fun day with the dog...only for Soul to break the silence.

"I can't believe we didn't realise Flash the dog followed you back here because he needed our help."

"He was one smart pup," Ace added as Soul let out a sigh.

She placed her hooves on her cheeks and leaned against the table. "I miss having a pet." The others nodded in agreement, only for a new voice to speak up.

"You won't have too." They spun around to see Twilight, Flash, Springer and Fluttershy standing at the doorway. Twilight had something behind her back, walking up and putting it on the table.

It was a fish tank with a goldfish inside it. The youngster's eyes went wide at the sight, now seeing the fish swim around. And as they watched it, Scootaloo asked, "Is that fish...for us?" They all turned to the adults, who all nodded back.

"So we get to keep it?" Heart added.

"Are you sure about this?" Mira continued.

"Yup," Twilight replied, "Even though you kept the dog a secret, it was clear you were willing to take responsibility and care for it."

"So we've decided to trust you with this little one," Fluttershy responded, "Take good care of him."

They all nodded before the four left, the excited youngsters looking back at their new pet. The group shared a glance, only for Soul to ask, "So what will we call her?"

"Looks like a Schnoodles to me." Ace chuckled, the others raising an eyebrow at this, Soul humming for a moment.

"Schnoodles?" She replied, only to shine a big smile, "Yeah!"

"I'll buy that," Heart nodded and Scootaloo laughed.

"Sure." She patted Ace on the shoulder, "Why not?"

Mira then knelt down and looked into the tank. "Blub blub." The others turned to her as she glanced back at them, "I'm just confirming with the fish that it likes its new name."

"And?" Ace asked, only to see the fish to let out a glub sound as some air escaped its mouth to form a bubble.

Mira smiled at this, "Most definitely." Everypony laughed and cheered at this, excited to have their very own pet. They were all sure that their lives were gonna be even more exciting with their new fishy pal in tow. Life was good.

Sight as Clear as Crystal

View Online

The story began in a darkened room, a slight bit of water dripping from the ceiling as the only light in the area came from a doorway. Beyond this was a balcony, a single occupant standing on it, the pony known as Void. He was staring down at a pit, the sounds of battle filling the air.

Darkness shielded those that were in the pit from sight, Void able to see thanks to his mask, as a lone pony figure stood within the shadows surrounded by other creatures. The beasts were bulky and stood on two legs, each one carrying a weapon. One charged at behind the pony with the sword, who seemed to just side-step it with ease, only for another sword to appear and float around the pony before charging forward. The creature tried to block it, but their sword was knocked out of their grasp before the opposing weapon then smashed into them, sending them flying.

Two more creatures, one holding a war-hammer and another holding a halberd, charged next, only to be interrupted by mimics of their weapons appearing. Like before, their weapons were knocked out of their hands and they were thrown back with ease. And in that moment, a bunch of creatures holding bows and arrows all fired their projectiles at the creature. But as they came from the pony, a shield appeared, blocking all of them...only for something else to appear from out of the pony's back.

Four octahedron-shaped objects, which flew into the air above the creatures. As the beings reacted to them, a blast of red light shot up from the pony and struck one of the objects and was absorbed by it. A moment later, the object unleashed several blasts of red light, explosions taking the area as the light consumed them.

Some leapt away, dodging the first attack, only for the pony to fire three more blasts. The barrage of lights did even more explosions, knocking them all flying. Smoke filled the air next, soon fading to reveal the hidden pony the only one left standing surrounded by the downed creatures. Up on the balcony, Void smirked behind his mask. "Good," he chuckled as the pony glanced up at him, "You're ready." He took out a picture and threw it at the pony, "Go to this one and capture him. Bring him to me alive. I don't care what condition he's in, as long as he's still breathing."

The picture landed on the ground, the image showing an orange pegasus, and a pair of bright red eyes glowed through the darkness to illuminate the picture. And then the pony crushed the paper under their hoof.

A few weeks later...

The sound of a train whistle filled the air, the locomotive rocketing across the land. Inside, the Mane Seven minus Rainbow along with Starlight, Heart, Soul, Spike and the CMC were onboard. The group were all sharing a carriage, though a certain pony was rather bored.

"Augh!" Heart groaned, "How much longer is it gonna be?"

Trains might have been something that interested him before, but once the wonder wore off, it had lost its appeal to him, just like Flash had warned him. At this, Twilight looked up from her book and saw the formerly green land begin to turn white outside. "It won't be long now," she replied before glancing back down at her book, "Just try and relax. It's your own fault for not bringing something to keep yourself entertained."

Soul nodded in agreement while she worked on a picture she was making of the landscape, using this to also practice her magic precision with levitating the brush.

"Why couldn't we just take the Rune Gate?!" Heart moaned, "We'd be there in a millisecond instead of sitting around for hours!"

"Heart, the Rune Gate was designed to cut the travel time down in an emergency." Flash deadpanned, "If we keep using it willy-nilly, ponies are gonna start asking why they can't use it for everything. We're not gonna put the trains out of business."

Heart huffed back, only for Scootaloo to jab his side, "Don't be such a grump. A few hours in a train is more than worth it to see the Wonderbolts live."

"Plus we get to spend some time in the Crystal Empire," Sweetie added, "And you get to see Ruby."

"Yeah yeah..." Heart sighed as he turned to the window, seeing nothing but white.

While this happened, Spike glanced over at Starlight, "I guess you're looking forward to seeing Sunburst?"

"Of course," Starlight replied, "I really need to convince Sunburst to come visit Ponyville sometime." The others nodded as she then shook his head, "If only he wasn't so busy with Flurry."

"Oh, I'm sure its fine." Twilight chimed in, "And I can't wait to see Flurry."

The group then continued to enjoy the ride, though Heart was still bored as they drew closer to the city of crystals. But as they continued through the snowscape, none saw a certain figure a few miles away in the distance. The being was cloaked, walking through a mild blizzard with their head down. Despite the freezing cold, the figure didn't even flinch as it continued through the snow. It was following a signal, only to see it had begun to move closer compared to that morning, having expected not to get to the signal for at least another week.

And as this happened, the figure turned to face the Crystal Empire. The magically protected city stared back at it, while the signal of its target drew even closer. Following it, the figure saw the train racing through the snowy wilderness until it entered the bubble containing the city...along with its target within.

The train pulled into the station, everypony soon walking onto the platform. As they did, they spotted Ruby already waiting, "Hey Ruby!" Flash called out, "You here to take us to the castle?"

"Somepony had to make sure you didn't get lost," she replied, "And I had to come this way on my patrol anyway." Heart and Soul then ran up to her, the knight hugging both, "Hey you two! How's it been?"

"Great!" they both responded, the rest walking up as Ruby asked how things had been in Ponyville. She got the usual answer, weekly insanity that included Starlight being called by the map to help the Royal Sisters out, Discord having Fluttershy over for tea and almost normalizing himself out of existence, the kids finding a dog they tried to hide and Applejack discovering she and her siblings were half pear.

"What about you Ruby?" Soul asked.

"Yes darling," Rarity nodded. "How are things in this most magnificent of cities?"

"Not bad," Ruby replied, "Ever since the dragon incident, things have been pretty quiet. Thankfully, the repairs weren't bad...so its been silent after that."

"Isn't that a good thing?" Fluttershy asked, Ruby nodding back.

"Of course. It's always good that the empire's safe. But it can get a little boring sometimes. I've barely been able to break a sweat in the last few months. I guess I'm running out of things to challenge myself with."

"Well if you're bored, I'm sure princess Celestia or Luna could find you something to do." Twilight chimed in, "Maybe you could hunt for a criminal like Cold does."

Ruby shook her head, "No, I could never do that. I am the empire's protector. It is what I was born for. Things might be peaceful now, but that could easily change. I'll find something to keep myself entertained...eventually."

As she said that, they reached main street and several ponies headed off. Rarity, Applejack and their siblings went to check out the market, Fluttershy and Pinkie went over to see the lambs they had befriended during their first time in the city, and Starlight left to find Sunburst.

But as the others talked about some of the new architectural changes made to the houses after the dragon attack, Heart noticed something that caught his eye. In one of the alleyways between two crystal buildings, Heart spotted a pair of eyes staring at them. The young colt raised an eyebrow at this and calmly walked back until he reached the edge of the group, then flew off. He floated over to a house, landing on the roof before looking down to see the pony that was spying on them from the shadows.

He glared at the pony, only to see the colt was staring at Flash and Ruby. Thinking about the recent events, Heart stared at the colt as the hidden pony readjusted their standing position. "YAAAH!" Heart yelled as he swooped down and tackled the pony. Both rolled into the street, the others turning to the commotion to see Heart pinning a Crystal Unicorn his age to the ground. His fur was bright green and both his mane and tail were spiky and colored red with black lines running through them.

"Hey!" The colt cried, "Get off of me!"

"Heart!" Flash barked as Twilight used her magic to pull him off the colt. "What are you doing?!"

"He was spying on us," Heart replied as he pointed and glared at the colt, "Why were you doing that?!"

The ponies all turned to the pony as he picked himself up, only for Ruby to ask, "Jaden?"

"You know him?" Heart responded, Ruby nodding.

"Jaden Chalice. He lives around here." Ruby then leaned down at the colt, "Were you spying on us?" Jaden suddenly blushed at this before shaking his head, only to immediately spin around and run off. "Jaden!" But he didn't reply, instead disappearing around a corner.

"That was weird," Soul commented.

"He's a very shy colt," Ruby sighed, "Whenever I run into him, he barely says anything and runs off the first chance he gets."

The others raised an eyebrow at this, then all shrugged before turning to Heart. "Next time, warn us before you go off and try to tackle somepony."

"Sorry."

Flash shook his head before smacking Heart on the side with his wing. "Come on. You're sticking with us because of that." Heart sighed as he followed the group, all soon reaching the castle. There they found the sight of Shining, Cadance, Flurry and all the Wonderbolts.

Rainbow was the first to spot them, flying up with a cheer, "You made it!"

"Sure did," Flash chuckled as Twilight ran over to say hello to her niece. Flash then turned to Soarin, "Looking forward to your first Crystal Empire show?"

"Sure am," Soarin laughed, "This is gonna be awesome."

"Well, we've still gotta lot of practice to do," Spitfire added.

"Does that mean you're gonna be training until then?" Scootaloo asked Rainbow, who nodded while ruffling her mane.

"Yup. Let me guess, you wanna watch, don'cha?" Scootaloo nodded eagerly, Rainbow turning to Flash. "You okay with me stealing this one for a while? I'll keep her out of trouble."

Flash shrugged, "As long as she doesn't wander off from the stadium."

"Oh, we're not practicing in the stadium," Spitfire laughed, "Kinda ruins the show if the ponies see us practicing in the middle of the city. Princess Cadance set us up with a field outside of the city that nopony should be around."

Flash nodded before turning to Scootaloo. "Well, don't wander off and you can go with them. Just stay wherever Rainbow puts you." Scootaloo nodded excitedly before she leapt onto Rainbow's back, the Wonderbolts taking to the air.

Once they were gone, Cadance went up to the remaining members of the group, "So, what should we do first?"

"Whatever you think is good," Twilight replied before picking Flurry up in her magic. "As long as we're together, I don't care what we do." The baby laughed at this and hugged her aunt, the others smiling at this.

Ruby then told them she had to return to her patrol, the others waving her off as she left before Shining made a suggestion, "How about we head to the market? I heard there's an antique store that's newly opened." Twilight's eyes went wide at this, exclaiming they should go. And as they made their way through the city, Twilight gave Flurry as much attention as she could until they arrived at the store. The group soon went inside, all looking around...except for one.

Heart glanced around at the place, only to let out a sigh, "Boring. I'm out of here," he spun around and took off just as Flash looked away. He knew he should probably tell the others, but he also had no idea what he was gonna instead anyways. Instead, he just flew off, hoping to find something interesting in this giant empire.

Meanwhile...

On the edge of the city, the cloaked figure stepped through the portal. The ancient magic of the Crystal Heart had no effect on the visitor despite the malevolence that infected its very soul.

The pony stared at the city, only to hear a round of talking, making it turn to see some guards marching along the border. The figure quickly ran behind a nearby crystal spike, remaining silent and practically stopped breathing as the guards marched past. It remained there for a full minute after they were gone.

And as they left, it walked back out into the city, nopony noticing it was there. But soon the whole city would learn of their arrival and regret it.

Heart had been flying over the city for a while now, the colt letting out a sigh as he went over another crystal house. "Geez," he groaned before landing on a bench, "You'd think this place would have something. I guess when it's not getting attacked, it's as boring as the rest of Equestria." He leaned back and watched the crystal ponies as they...did basically the same thing as regular ponies.

Heart resisted the urge to facehoof before turning to a certain building in the distance: The stadium. He spread his wings, flying over to the large colosseum. "Maybe there's something over here." He flew over the top of the stadium and into the stands, only to raise an eyebrow as he saw somepony down on the field: Jaden Chalice.

"What's he doing here?" Heart whispered to himself as he saw the colt walk onto the archery course, the unicorn standing at the furthest possible distance from the target. He then picked a bow up in his magic before removing an arrow from the quiver standing beside him. He knotted the arrow and pulled it back, Heart watching as he focused on the target. "There's no way he'll hit it from that distance."

But as he released the arrow, Heart's eyes barely managed to follow the projectile as it flew through the air...and into a bullseye. "Wow." He gasped before shaking his head, "Eh, maybe it was a lucky shot."

And as he said that, Jaden knotted another arrow and fired it. Heart was in for a repeat performance as the arrow shot through the air and struck the bullseye again. Jaden then fired a third arrow, also hitting the bullseye before a fourth, fifth and sixth hit. And with a single motion, the final arrow in the quiver struck the bullseye, covering it in seven arrows.

Heart's jaw dropped to the floor, "No way!" Jaden took a deep breath as he put the bow down, only to hear movement behind him. His eyes darted around, only to go wide as he saw Heart. The colt cut into a sprint at this, only for Heart to yell, "Wait!" He zipped down at this, quickly getting ahead of the colt before landing just in front of the exit. "Just hold on!"

"Out of my way!" Jaden exclaimed, "And you better not tell anypony what you just saw!"

"Why?" Heart asked, "That was awesome! You're an amazing shot!"

"Whatever," Jaden growled before glancing away, "You...you weren't supposed to see that!"

"Are you still upset about what happened before? I'm sorry, okay. But you were spying on us." Jaden still looked away as Heart continued, "But I kinda get it. I mean, we are pretty awesome. It's not every day you get to meet Princess Twilight, Flash and the other Elements of Harmony."

"I wasn't looking at them," Jaden grumbled, "I mean...they're all pretty cool but..."

"Then who were you looking at?" Jaden didn't reply, making Heart blink, "Were you looking at me?" he felt a little flattered, only to see Jaden glare back at him, "Alright...it wasn't me. But that just leaves..." His eyes went wide at this, "Ruby!" Jaden glanced away again, making Heart point at him, "I'm right! You're a fan of Ruby!"

Jaden let out a huff at this, "Yeah...I am." He glared back at Heart again, "But don't tell her, okay?!"

"Why not?"

"Because..." the colt glanced down at the ground this time, "Because I'm nopony...and she's awesome."

Heart opened his mouth, ready to tell him how awesome he was at the bow, only for his brain to finally catch up to him. Shaking his head, he realized he needed to take a different approach and asked, "Oh yeah? How so?"

"Are you kidding?!" Jaden barked back at him, "She's the first Crystal Pony to become a Royal Knight. Protector of the Crystal Empire, fought against Sombra, helped defeat countless enemies, fought in the war of the lost city and even got turned into a dragon!"

"Yeah," Heart nodded, grinning as he knew he said the right words. "She is pretty awesome. But you know, I fought in the war of the lost city too."

"Really?" Jaden gasped, now looking back at colt, "Was Ruby as awesome as I heard she was?"

"Probably more so. You should have seen her when she wailed on Sombra." Jaden's eyes went wide at this, "Well, it was more like a...living armor that controlled Sombra. But it was still pretty awesome."

Jaden let out a long sigh, "Oh...I wish I could have been there to see it." His eyes glanced away again, "To be there and help her when she fights her next opponent...the way you help Flash."

"What do you mean?" Heart asked, tilting his head before gasping, "Wait...do you wanna be Ruby's apprentice? That's great!"

Jaden let out a laugh and shook his head, "Like she'd ever pick me for that. The best I can hope for is to join the guard and hope I one day get assigned to work under her."

"Are you kidding?" Heart pointed at the target, "With those skills, Ruby would be amazed. You must have really good eyesight."

Jaden shrugged at that, "It's alright I guess. But it doesn't mean I'll be good at fighting or I'm really talented."

"Oh yeah? Show me."

He then glanced up and pointed at one of the last rows of the stands, "I can see that somepony left a can of soda up there." Heart turned to where he was pointing, squinting his eyes as he tried to see something. He flew up next, only to spot a certain cylindrical object.

"Wow," he picked it up and flew back to Jaden, "You're really good."

"I'm nothing special."

"Are you insane?!" he once again pointed at the target. "Even Ruby can't do something like that. I know how hard it is to use a bow and arrow. The skill you have is something most ponies would take years to learn. You're awesome. You've gotta show Ruby."

"No way," Jaden shook his head again, backpedaling at the same time, "I...I couldn't do that. Just the thought of trying to show Ruby, having her staring at me, judging me, waiting for me to mess up, it makes my throat-" He stopped and started making a gagging sound.

Heart rolled his eyes, "You need to seriously get a bit of confidence. Trust me, if Ruby saw you, she'd be really impressed." Jaden didn't say anything and just turned away. Heart began to move after him, only to find he couldn't. His mind told him one thing, he wouldn't convince him. Not right now.

"Aww..." Heart sighed as he spun around and left the stadium. But as he walked back down the crystal streets, his mind went over how to engineer a way to get Ruby to see Jaden's skills. The idea of simply telling her about him felt kind of like a bad one, though it would probably be the simplest thing to do.

"Heart!" He then glanced up at a sudden voice, only to see Flash, Twilight, Cadance, Shining, Flurry and Soul.

"There you are!" Flash commented with crossed hooves, "Where have you been? I told you to stay with us!"

"Eh, nowhere special," Heart replied, "I mean, I couldn't find anything in that store."

Flash glared at him, only to sigh. "Yeah, I can see why you thought that was boring. Next time, just tell one of us if you leave on your own, got it?"

"Got it." Heart responded before Flash directed him back to the Crystal Market along with the others.

At another part of the city...

In a certain section of the market, the ponies of the empire were enjoying their day. But as this happened, the cloaked figure continued to shift through the crowds, only for a bunch of young ponies to accidentally knock into it. The push made the figure glance back, only to seeing the young ones on the ground. They had all looked up to say sorry, only to freeze up as they saw what was under the hood. "We...we..." They stuttered out before seeing the red lights of its eyes glow, making them all scream. "AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"

The ponies around them all turned to the figure, only to see the young ones running away. They then turned back to the cloak, several guards as well as they walked up to it, "Excuse me," one of the guards said, "We're with the guard. Can you please lower your hood so we can talk better?"

But the pony didn't lower their hood. Instead, a red light shined under it, and before anypony could ask anything, light appeared beside the figure. From that light, a dark red crystal grew until it was the shape of a sword, the guards all reaching for their weapons...but it was too late.

And in that next moment, screams consumed the crowd.

Flash and his friends were now returning to the castle, only to spot Ruby standing by the Crystal Heart. And as they walked up to her, Heart ran ahead and asked her, "Hey Ruby, you ever think of getting an apprentice?"

Ruby's eyes went wide at this, Flash blinking at his apprentice's question as he commented, "That came out of nowhere."

Heart just shrugged, "Well...Ruby's been a Royal Knight longer than anypony else. Isn't it also part of her duties to train the next generation of knights?"

"That's a good point," Cadance nodded before turning to Ruby. "I'm sure you'd be able to train a rather spectacular knight."

"And you did mention you were feeling a little bored lately," Twilight added, "Maybe teaching somepony will give you the challenge you've been looking for."

Ruby blinked at this before rubbing her chin with her hoof, "I guess it wouldn't hurt. I mean," she pointed at Flash, "If this one can train a student, then I guess it can't be that hard."

"What does that mean?!" Flash barked.

"You know what I mean." Ruby chuckled as the rest giggled. She then patted the defender's shoulder, "I'm kidding. But back to the topic, if I wanna take a student, I don't want just anypony as an apprentice. It would need to be somepony with amazing skills and a strong heart." She shook her head, "And those aren't the easiest thing to find in a pony."

"True..." Flash replied, "I mean, me finding Heart was due to a super long journey and war..."

The group began to talk about the idea at this, not noticing Heart smirking as he thought about Ruby and Jaden's words. His brain began to make a plan to make them meet, only for-

KA-BOOOOOM!

Everypony felt the ground shake, making them all spin around as they saw a smoke cloud coming up from behind some houses. "What was that?" Soul asked as the screams of ponies filled the air.

"Come on!" Flash yelled as he spread his wings and shot into the air, Twilight following after him while Shining and Ruby ran down the street.

Heart flared his wings, only to feel a magic aura grab him. Turning around he saw it was Cadance. "Oh, come on! Let me go help!"

The princess of love shook her head, "Heart, you can go, but stay out of the main action. Focus on evacuation." Heart nodded, Cadance's magic vanishing as he flew off. And when he was gone, she turned to Soul, "We need to focus on getting the castle ready for possible injuries. Will you help me?" The filly nodded and she ran into the castle, Cadance turning at her baby, "Looks like today's gonna be more exciting than we thought." Flurry just made a random sound in reply.

Flash and the others were still going to where the attack had come from, Applejack soon arriving with Rainbow and the other Wonderbolts. "What's going on?!" Rainbow asked, "Who's attacking us this time?!"

"No idea!" Flash replied as they got to the street in question, all coming to a stop as they saw a large dust cloud cover the place. Many of the citizens were huddling together, looking to scared to move while many members of the Crystal Guard were laid out on the ground.

"Who did this?" Ruby asked a solider she ran up to.

"It...it was...you." the guard moaned.

"Me?!" Ruby yelped, only for the sounds of the battle to come from within the cloud. They all stared at the fog, squinting eyes as they what they could tell to be three figures in the cloud. But that number soon dwindled to one when another small explosion came, causing two figures to be sent flying out. It was a pair of guards, both skidding across the ground as the group just stared at the cloud.

And as this happened, a figure began to walk out of the fog, "Who are you?" Ruby asked, only to be greeted with the sight of a certain hood, one that made Flash snarl.

"Oh, not again!" the Knight of Friendship growled before raising his sword at the creature. "It's me you're after, so cut the cloak and daggers!" The being stared at them, a pair of red eyes scanning them as if it was judging for threats, only for Flash to yell, "Show yourself!"

The figure glanced back at him, only to grab its cloak and pulled it off. When this happened, the eyes of every crystal pony watching went wide at the sight of their kingdom's greatest hero. The being looked like Ruby and just like the previous Trials, this one had a paler complexion than the original and seemed to completely lack the crystal shine that Ruby so gracefully wielded. It had the same ventilator, neck and metal chest that the others had, and its right eye was replaced by the mechanical one that Mecha-Flash had. It had metal hooves, but these didn't appear to have anything equipped. The monster's back had four metal squares, and in the middle of each square was a crystal pyramid-like object along with a long chord with a spearhead on the end that was made from crystal now replacing its tail.

The crystal ponies gasped at this while Flash and his friends all got into a battle ready pose. Ruby soon joined them, forming a sword in her magic. "So, this is one of those Trial things you told me about?"

"Yeah," Flash nodded, "Trial-R." As he said that, the cyborg's horn glowed before a crystal sword like Ruby's, though this crystal's color was slightly darker, appeared. "And this one can copy your magic. Great..."

With that, Trial-R charged ahead, Ruby doing the same thing as the pair clashed. A loud clang rang out, sparks grinding out as the swords collided. They both pushed against each other, Flash then taking to the air before divebombing with Lightbringer. But before he could reach the clone, its tail lifted itself as the spearhead end glowed. In a flash, it morphed into a shield shape that blocked Flash's attack, the pegasus getting knocked back as the shield rammed into him, only to morph into a sword shape. With this, Trial-R began to fence the pegasi as it continued to stay locked with Ruby.

As this happened, Twilight and the others began helping the ponies get away. "To the castle!" Shining yelled, "You'll be safe there!"

"Hurry!" Applejack barked, "No time to be freezin' up!"

"Go! Go! Go!" Heart exclaimed before looking back at Flash and Ruby. The pair were still in a standstill with the mechanical monster, the cyborg in that moment managing to push both back a few steps. Its tail then returned to normal and glowed, Trial-R suddenly spinning around as the spear tail fired a barrage of crystal spikes off in every direction.

Ruby put up a shield while Flash managed to deflect them with Lightbringer. As this happened, the Wonderbolts swooped down at the monster, "Come on!" Spitfire commanded, "That thing can't fight us all at once!"

The flight team soared down, ready to each deal the clone a high speed punch. But as they did this, Trial-R's horn glowed along with the crystal pyramids on its back, the metal pieces coming off. They began floating, revealing they were all octahedrons, and the clone's horn shined as it fired a beam into each crystal. Those also began to glow, only to then fire a barrage of blasts at the Wonderbolts. This made the flight team scatter, only for the lasers to start hitting the flyers.

"GYAH!" Fleetfoot cried as a beam struck her wing. The same happened to Misty Fly, High Winds and Silver Zoom, the four falling till their teammates caught them.

"Get them out of here!" Twilight ordered as Shining put up a shield to protect the retreating pegasi. At the same time, Flash and Ruby began to attack the monster.

"Aim for the chest!" Flash told Ruby as he attempted to stab the cyborg. But as soon as his blade got near the metal covering that held its power source, Trial-R's eyes glowed before a crystal shield appeared in front of its chest. Lightbringer clanged off it, knocking Flash back before Trial-R's drones turned to him.

"Flash, look out!" Ruby teleported over to him and tackled the pegasus seconds before the drones fired. And as the pair rolled along the ground, Ruby jumped to her hooves and fired a blast from her horn. The beam went for its chest, but Trial-R just side-stepped before creating two crystal blades.

And as both charged at each other again, Heart stared at the battle, "This one's a lot smarter than the last few."

"Heart!" Twilight yelled as they got the last of the citizen away. "Come on!" Heart turned to her and frowned, only to fly down and followed.

Flash saw them escaping and spread his wings. "Come and get me!" He took to the air and flew off, Trial-R then chasing after him. Ruby followed, attempting to shoot it from behind as it followed Flash, but any blast was deflected by its tail without even looking back.

"It's bad enough you copied my look, but you're actually making me look like the weaker copy!" Ruby huffed, "I'm so gonna destroy you!"

Back at the castle, the Crystal Ponies were all filing in. Many had done this after hearing the explosion, not wanting to get caught up in another dragon attack or whatever it was.

"Remain calm," Cadance told her citizens as they entered, "There's plenty of room inside."

"Please enter in an orderly fashion," Rarity added as she, Fluttershy, Pinkie and Starlight helped guide them in.

Inside, Soul was inside with the doctors, looking over the many ponies. And as she made her way through the hallway, she spotted the Jaden Chalice pony she had met earlier, only to see him run away into the crowd. As this happened, Twilight and Shining arrived leading a group.

"We got injured!" Twilight exclaimed while using her magic to carry several of the guards. She put them down as Rainbow and the others helped with the Wonderbolts and a few citizens that had been caught in the original attack. Soul ran up at this, using the first aid skills she had learned coupled with her magic to help.

"What's going on?" Cadance asked as another explosion rocked the city.

"Another one of those Trial things showed up," Twilight sighed as Cadance's eyes went wide. "This one looks just like Ruby and it's really strong."

"But Flash and Ruby can stop it, right?" She asked back.

"They'll be fine. They know where it's weak point is."

"I don't know about that," Heart chimed in, "That thing is a lot smarter than the last one. Whenever Flash or Ruby aimed for its chest, it protected itself."

"Sounds like the best way to stop it is to take it by surprise," Shining added, "Attack in a way that it doesn't see coming."

"But we have to attack its front. That's how they all work." Twilight sighed, "That and these Trials can take a lot of punishment." She rubbed her hoof down her face, "Who is sending these things?! And why do they love so much destruction?"

"And now its in the empire." Cadance muttered, "Do you think Flash and Ruby can get it out of the city?"

"They will." Twilight replied, "I know they will. But, I'm still worried, so I'm going to go back and help them."

"Need any extra help?" Shining asked, Twilight shaking her head.

"No. I think I have an idea. If that thing is blocking its chest, I'll just have to hit it from long distance." She put a hoof to her chin, "Though I'm not sure a spell can do that. Perhaps I can use some kind of projectile..."

As those words hit Heart's ears, he gasped as he went wide-eyed. "I know what we've gotta do!" He suddenly exclaimed, the three turning to him, "Do you have any weapons that can fire arrows in the castle?" Shining and Cadance nodded, "Can you get one?"

"Heart...what are you planning?" Twilight asked as she slightly glared at the colt.

"I gotta find somepony! Meet me on the balcony.!" With that, he flew into the crowd in the castle, making them stare at him before Twilight let out a sigh. With that, the trio began to run through the castle as well.

Flash continued to race through the city, attempting to lead the Trial away. The creature was right on his tail, the cyborg's drones flying ahead and firing blasts. The defender was spinning around at this, dodging each attack as the drones began to run out of gas, only for Trial-R to recharge them with a blast of its horn. But as this happened, the clone got bored of playing cat and mouse and then came to a stop before slamming one of its hooves into the ground. This caused a large wall of crystal to shoot out in front of Flash.

"Whoa!" He yelped, barely able to skid to a stop as his hooves hit the wall. The Trial then fired its drones and several crystal spikes from its tail, the pegasi turning to see the attacks. "Crap!" He growled before spinning around, knocking the crystals away with his blade.

But as this happened, a crystal arrow hit the cyborg's side, making it turn to see a charging Ruby. Both formed a crystal blade at this, the being using the sword to block Ruby's before its drones flew down to her. And as they fired their lasers, Flash appeared, blocking each one with his blade.

"Flash Cutter Barrage!" He spun again, firing a series of light blades everywhere, the drones now zipping around to dodge the attacks.

As this happened, Ruby's and Trial-R's blades remained locked, only for the cyborg's horn to summon a crystal axe over Ruby. She gasped before leaping back, the axe hitting the ground before Ruby created a dagger in her hoof. Trial-R thrust its sword next, Ruby swatting her blade to knock it away before throwing the dagger, only for Trial-R to sidestep, dodging the weapon. Ruby then followed up with another sword swipe, only for the cyborg's tail to swing around, creating a shield that made the blade bounce off it. The shield instantly morphed into a spear at this, thrusting it at Ruby's face.

And as it came for Ruby, she ducked before slinging her hooves around the spearhead. With a single tug, she slammed the tail into the ground before hitting her hoof into the dirt as well. A crystal spike shot straight up, cutting through the tail like butter.

Trial-R screamed at this, staggering back as Ruby now held up the broken tail. "Guess you won't be using this anymore." She chuckled, "Ready to give up?" The cyborg let out a hiss at this before summoning a crystal halberd, Ruby making her own as well. "I thought so. Let's go."

Back at the castle, everypony was now waiting at the entrance for Heart to return. Shining had a crossbow in his hoof, while the rest were all fidgeting. "Come on!" Rainbow exclaimed, "We should be out there helping Flash and Ruby, not staying here waiting for Heart to try some kind of half-baked scheme!"

"Nopony wants to help Flash more than Heart," Soul chimed in, "If he has a plan, I'm sure it's something we should at least consider."

"But-"

"I'm here!" They turned to see Heart fly onto the balcony with another pony trotting behind him.

They all saw it was Jaden, the group raising an eyebrow. As for the colt, his eyes went wide seeing two of the princesses and Equestria's greatest heroes so close. The colt turned to Heart, "What is all this? Why'd you bring me here?"

"We'd like to know too," Twilight replied as Heart walked over to Shining and took the crossbow before turning back to Jaden.

"We need you to shoot this at a target really far away."

Everypony's eyes went wide at this, none more wide than Jaden. "What?!" He yelped as Heart threw him the weapon, Jaden barely managing to catch it, "You're nuts!"

"Heart..." Twilight trotted up to him, "You can't expect him to-"

"This colt's got serious aim," Heart interrupted, "And he's got the eyes of a hawk. If we get that thing in his sights, he can definitely hit it in its weak point." He turned to Jaden, "Ruby need your help. The thing she's fighting won't tire and won't go down until its power source is destroyed. And the only way to destroy it is to take it by surprise. Your arrows could totally do that!"

"Wha...but...I..." Jaden stuttered out before staring down at the crossbow.

"Heart, you can't just-" Twilight tried to tell the knight's apprentice, only for-

KA-BOOM!

Another explosion rocked the city, making them glance back to see a new smoke cloud appear. Heart ran past them at this and yelled, "I'll get Flash to lead it to the main street! Just be ready to fire when you see an opening!" With that, he took to the air, Rainbow, Soarin and Twilight flying after him while Jaden continued to stare down at the crossbow.

"Heart! Wait a-" Jaden heard Twilight exclaim as they flew away, only for her words to drown out in his ears. He blinked at the weapon as Cadance, Soul and Shining Armor all stared at him. They saw the colt just stare at the weapon, his hooves shaking as his eyes did the same.

Glances were exchanged at this, all unsure what to do before they heard Jaden take a deep breath. He looked up at them and said, "I can do it. Just tell me what I need to hit and I'll hit it."

The others went wide-eyed at this, the group blinking before nodding as they all told him to get ready as all but Cadance and Soul left to help those in the castle. Jaden then turned back to the balcony, the words he previously said now ringing out in his nerves.

"I hope I can..."

Flash and Ruby were now panting, glaring at the Trial as it just stared at them both. The only real damage that had been done is the cut tail, the cyborg blocking or dodging everything else. "This is getting us nowhere," Ruby groaned before the pair jumped back to avoid a drone strike. "Crystal Shot!" She swung her halberd, unleashing a barrage of crystal spikes.

The cyborg spun its halberd, deflecting the attacks while Flash charged at the monster, "Flash Driver!" Morphing into a light drill, he attempted to pierce the clone, only to be met with a wall of crystal that was suddenly summoned. The defender dug right through, only to see when he got through, Trial-R was gone.

"Flash, above you!" Breaking out of the drill, Flash looked up to see Trial-R falling down with its halberd. "Crystal Guard!" In a flash of light, Ruby appeared in front of him and held up a shield. The halberd's point shattered upon contact, but the attack pushed Ruby's shield into her and Flash. And as it pinned them, the drones flew down and fired four lasers at the ground below them.

KA-BOOM!

"AAAAAH!" They both screamed as an explosion rocked the street under them, sending both flying back. Ruby crashed into a lamppost while Flash hit a house outside wall, the cyborg turning to the defender. It summoned a pair of swords, clenching both in hooves as it let out a long snarl.

"FIRE FORCE!" yelled a voice, the Trial leaping back at the noise just as a stream of fire flew by. Heart then landed in front of Flash, Rainbow, Soarin and Twilight appearing next.

"Time for some payback!" Rainbow roared as she charged with Soarin. "This is for our team!" She tried to tackle the cyborg, only for it to summon a shield. But as she came to a stop, she began throwing a bunch of jabs at the barrier before zipping around, only for Trial-R to just direct the shield all around its body. At the same time, Soarin entered his Theta Mode and began attacking with even more speed than Rainbow, the two now throwing a storm of punches at the crystal shields.

As this happened, Twilight landed in front of Flash and Ruby, helping them up. "You two okay?"

"We are now that you're here," Flash replied, "We can take this thing down together." However, Twilight shook her head, "What?"

"We have...a plan," the look on her lips told Flash she wasn't sure, yet she continued, "You need to follow Heart." His apprentice flew past him, yelling at him to come on. "We'll hold this thing off as long as possible to let you get to where you need to be."

"And that is?" He didn't get his answer as the cyborg's drones fired two lasers, both hitting Rainbow and Soarin. Both cried out as they were blasted back, hitting the ground as Twilight turned to Trial-R.

"GO!" She fired a beam at the beast, another shield blocking her attack. Flash let out a sigh at this, only to fly off after Heart. But as he did this, Trial-R turned to follow, only for a magical dome to appear around everypony except those fleeing. "I don't think so," Twilight yelled as she spread her wings. "You're not going anywhere!" The cyborg glared back at the alicorn, its red eyes shining before it formed a pair of blades.

It charged as Twilight took to the air and fired several magical blasts, only to for the cyborg to summon another shield, blocking them all. As this happened, Ruby swung a giant crystal axe at the beast, only for the monster to leap back, dodging the attack with ease.

The drones came next, firing lasers at the two, only for Ruby and Twilight to duck under the attacks. And as this happened, Twilight fired a laser that knocked a drone back. This was followed with Trial-R charging at Ruby with the crystal blades, only for Ruby to thrust the crystal axe down at the cyborg. It blocked it with the blades, only to see Ruby pole-vault over the monster. And with a single downward swing of her hooves, she smacked the drone flying away.

Rainbow and Soarin recovered at this, pushing themselves back to their hooves and shooting off the ground. But as they tried to get close, a barrage of crystal spikes appeared, making them fly back, only for the drones to fire at them again. As this happened, Twilight created another shield, blocking the drones' lasers. But as she did this, the two pegasi flew around and slammed their hooves into the drones, only to get zapped by a burst of energy that escaped the crystals.

This made them cry out, the cyborg about to attack them before Ruby threw the crystal axe from earlier, the cyborg blocking it with another magic shield. The pegasi got up at this, the four glaring at the clone as they stood in an X formation around it. "Come on!" Rainbow yelled, "It's four against one! We can win this!"

"But it's not four against one," Twilight pointed out as the drones flew down around Trial-R. "It's five against four." As she said that, the drones began spinning around Trial-R in a circle, moving so fast that it looked like a red crystal ring. "Now what's it doing?!" Trial-R then fired a spell at the ring, causing it to brightly glow. And before any of them could react, it started firing blasts of energy in all outward directions.

They struck the shield around them, only to then hit all four ponies. The blasts shot them into the barrier, Ruby being the last one as she deflected most of the attacks before one laser struck her shoulder, making her cry out and drop her swords. This was followed by another blast that knocked her into the barrier, shattering it like glass.

All four laid out on the ground at this, their bodies screaming in pain. As they laid there, Trial-R simply walked past them. Ruby forced her eyes open and turned to her clone, watching as it disappeared down the street. "I'm..." She forced her body back up, "Not...done...yet."

Up in the castle, Jaden continued to wait with the crossbow. He was standing on the balcony with Cadance and Soul, staring out at main street. And as he did this, Heart and Flash appeared into view, the mentor and squire pair landing as Flash asked, "Alright, what's this plan?"

But before Heart could explain, the crystal drones appeared and started firing at them. The two ducked under the attacks, Trial-R now running onto the scene. "Just get that thing to turn toward the castle!" Heart yelled as the Trial summoned a pair of swords, charging right at Flash as Heart shot fireballs from his tail.

Trial-R's sword swapped to a shield, blocking the attack as the drones fired some more lasers at the two. The colt backflipped away before taking to the air while Flash dashed at the cyborg with his blade. In response, the monster just ducked under the first swipe before summoning a blade and swinging it at the defender. Flash leaned back, dodging the sword before he thrust his blade back, Trial-R side-stepping in response. The two's blades hit each other next, a clang sounding out.

At the same time, Jaden stared at the Trial's chest. Even though his great vision allowed him to get a good look at what he was firing at, Flash and it's rapid movements were making it impossible to lock-on. "Come on..." he hissed, "Stop hopping around!"

Heart spun around another laser attack before glancing back at the castle. He spotted Jaden on the balcony, seeing the crossbow fidget around before glancing back at the fight. The colt saw the cyborg zip left and right as Flash kept blocking every attack, his eyes now showing he was in Theta Mode. He then yelled, "Flash, you got get it to stay still!"

"And how do you expect me to do that?!" Flash barked as he leap back to dodge a crystal spike that shot out of the ground, "Flash Force!" He fired a laser, hitting the crystal and destroying it, only for the Trial to charge at him. But as it was about to hit him, he leapt over the beast and landed on its back. He then hooked his sword around the cyborg's neck, pulling back as it began to squirm. Its chest was thrust out at this, only for the cyborg to summon a pair of swords and tried to stab him, forcing Flash to pull away.

As he hopped off the beast to dodge the blades, Trial-R sent the remains of its tail under Flash's legs, wrapping around it before pulling. "Whoa!" he yelped before he was flung into the dirt, making him wince. And before he could do anything, the clone created five crystal U-shapes and shot them down, striking Flash's neck and legs before embedding themselves into the ground. He choked at this, unable to move as they pushed him into the street.

Trial-R then created a pair of axes and held them over Flash's front legs, the pegasus going wide-eyed at this as he tried to move. He closed his eyes, his body starting to glow until-

"Hang on!" Heart exclaimed, charging at Trial-R as it turned to him with the axes. It used them to block a fireball from the colt, only for the drones to fire at him again, making him barrel-roll, "Whoa!" he gasped as he began to dancing around, only for one to hit the ground, causing an explosion that made pieces of crystal to fly up and hit him, "Augh!"

Seeing the colt hit the floor at this, Trial-R turned back to Flash with the axes. Jaden saw this, the colt pulling back the crossbow, thinking that maybe he should fire at another location. But then he remembered Heart telling him that only hitting the chest would hurt it, and he would only get one shot.

And as the cyborg reached Flash, he closed one of his eyes as he prepared to fire-

"Crystal Saber!" yelled a voice, Ruby appearing to swing a sword at her lookalike's neck, only for the blade to hit a crystal shield. Trial-R then pushed the shield and sword away, then threw a punch at Ruby's face. But as it did this, Ruby caught the jab, both now pushing against each other.

"Ruby!" Flash screamed from the floor, "You need to get it to point its chest towards the castle!" Ruby raised an eyebrow at this, only to nod and form a sword and shield. Trial-R did the same, both clashing in front of Flash. The two began to mimic each others' movements, the clangs from their weapons sounding out across the street.

Up in the castle, Jaden's eyes went wide at the sight of his idol, now realizing Heart's real plan: To have him show off his skills in front of her.

Sweat began to pour down his face at this, his form shaking as he saw Ruby valiantly fight, the knight fighting the clone with a burning passion. He watched as he saw both crystal swords clash again and again...only for both to swing their swords again...and they both shattered on impact.

And as the crystals fell to the ground at the impact, they thrust their shields into each other. They then slammed their hooves into the backs of the shield, pushing as hard as they could. "You're supposed to be a better version of me," Ruby growled, "But I'm starting to doubt it." Her copy's bright red eyes seemed to glow at this, Ruby feeling the force on the shields increasing. And this made her smirk.

In that second, she dropped her magical grip on the shield and leapt back. This caused the cyborg to thrust his weapons off balance, its chest now thrusting out as it tried to regain its footing.

Heart smirked at this, ready to see an arrow to hit the clone...but nothing happened. "What?!" He yelped before turning to Jaden...and saw him just stand there.

"Jaden!" Soul called out.

"Are you okay?" Cadance asked, now seeing the colt just shiver in place.

"SHOOT!" Heart screamed and the colt seemed to hear this. He tried to get the weak spot in his sight again, but it was too late. The Trial regained its balance and cartwheeled around so its chest was no longer in view. He had missed his shot.

"No..." Jaden whispered. "I messed up." He watched as the cyborg lifted a crystal axe above Ruby, the knight trying to roll to her hooves. But before Trial-R could swing it at her, Heart fired several fireballs at the cyborg.

"JADEN!" He screamed, "YOU'VE GOTTA SHOOT IT!" Flash and Ruby blinked at these words, Ruby rolling to her hooves while Flash managed to pull one of his hooves free. "You wanna be a Knight?! Then prove you deserve to be one!" He threw another fireball at the Trial, who used the axe to deflect it before Ruby charged. She used a shield to block the axe while covering her hoof in a crystal spike, which she thrust at the cyborg's chest. But the clone formed a crystal shield and blocked it, forcing Ruby back before a drone flew in and fired a laser at her. She ducked under it before the clone swung the axe down, Ruby barely managing to lift her spike covered hoof up to block it. The axe stopped inches from her head, making her wince as it started to get closer.

Heart fired another fireball at this, but the drones shot the flames down before firing at him again. And as this happened, Ruby grunted as she felt her strength waning, the axe blade getting closer to her neck. "Jaden!" She cried out, catching the colt's attention. "I don't know what you and Heart have planned, but it'll never work if you don't try!"

Jaden went wide-eyed at this, letting out a gulp, "But...what if...I fail?" He muttered out.

"I know failing is something you're afraid of doing." Ruby suddenly yelled despite not hearing his words, "Everypony fears that. I've felt myself feel fear at failing to protect somepony I care about." The axe got closer. "But no matter what, trying something and failing is always better than never trying at all." Jaden felt his heart swell at this, the colt looking down at the crossbow. "Whatever it is you're planning on doing, I promise you it'll work out okay."

With that, the axe was now just a centimetre from her chin. And as it came down, Cadance put a hoof on Jaden's shoulder, "We're here to help you."

"We believe in you," Soul added.

"You can do this!" Heart exclaimed as he dodged another drone blast.

"I can...I can do this," Jaden whispered, "I can do this." He took a deep breath, "I...CAN DO THIS!" His scream echoed throughout the entire city, Ruby hearing this and smiling before giving herself one final blast of strength.

"RAAAAAH!" She screeched, flinging her hoof upward, knocking the axe back. The blow made the Trial stagger, only for Ruby to thrust her back hooves into its chest. The blow pushed it back, its chest now revealed again, "NOW!"

Jaden raised the crossbow up and pointed it at the Trial, getting its chest in his sights. "Gotcha," he whispered before pulling the trigger. The arrow sailed out of the crossbow, ready to hit the Trial as it remained off balance. But then it began to fall over, about to dodge the arrow due to this, only for Ruby to hit her hoof into the ground, causing a crystal wall to appear behind the clone. Trial-R fell against the wall and regained its footing, only for the arrow to appear.

And before it could put up a shield, the projectile reached the clone and sank itself into its chest. Trial-R screamed as it was stabbed, the arrow only getting a few inches in. Within the chamber, the tip struck the rock powering it, causing it to crack. But as the clone reached up to grab the arrow, a voice roared out.

"I don't think so!" Ruby screamed as she appeared and thrust her hoof into the arrow. The blow slammed it into the clone's chest, the tip now going straight through the Corrupted Shadow. The rock shattered at this, Trial-R screaming even louder at this before Ruby pulled the arrow out. This ripped the chest doors open, allowing the energy of the crystal to escape. And as the smoke-like energy vanished into the air, the drones the Trial was controlling suddenly fell to the ground with a loud clang.

Heart smiled at this, turning to give Jaden a smile. The colt was currently in shock, just staring at what he had just done. Cadance and Soul both congratulated him while the Trial finally let out another roar. They all turned to the beast, which had lost its previous calm demeanor and was now stomping its hooves on the ground like an animal.

"Someone isn't happy," Ruby giggled as the clone charged at her. She easily avoided its attempt to stab her with its horn, rolling to the side and turning to Flash. "Don't you think you've lounged around enough?"

Flash smirked as his body glowed, "ARMORIZE!" In a blast of light, the crystals went flying and Flash took to the air in his Shining Guardian form. The clone saw this and tried to steal its power...only for nothing to happen. Instead, it just watched as Flash used his magic to retrieve his weapon before shooting down.

The clone barely managed to duck under Flash's slash at its head, the stallion hitting the ground sliding before spinning around. "Flash Force!" He fired a blast from his horn and struck the monster, sending it flying back and hitting a nearby house.

Ruby stepped up to Flash and they smiled at one another, nodding as the clone picked itself up. With the last remaining sparks of power it had, Trial-R fired a blast at the pair. But Flash simply stepped up and swung his sword, deflecting it with ease. Trial-R growled and fired again, Flash doing the same before the cyborg charged while unleashing a flurry of blasts, only for Flash to lazily swing his sword around, harmlessly deflecting them. And when he deflected the final laser, he threw his sword straight up before unleashing a blast of energy from his chest gem.

Trial-R barely had enough time to make the weakest shield possible and was forced to hold it up with her hooves. The blast struck the shield, pushing it back. It grinded its hooves into the ground, trying to push back, but Flash just poured on the power.

That was when it happened. A bright flash of light appeared behind the Trial and made it glance back, Ruby appearing in it peripheral vision. The unicorn had a pair of swords in her hooves and before Trial-R could react, she swung them down. With speed that could make Rainbow jealous, Ruby slashed every single piece of her clone's body. And as Flash cut the power to his attack, she appeared in front of the clone. A moment later, the clone's living sections became covered in cuts and scratches while its real mechanical parts began to spark and explode.

It cried out in pain, a massive explosion coming next, which rocked the city. And as the cyborg was consumed by a fireball, all that was left was a few spare parts.

Ruby just stared at the remains of her twin and smirked, "Except no substitutes."

"RAAAAAH!" Void screamed as he threw a chair into a static-filled computer, destroying it in an instant. "WHY?!" He screeched before flipping the rest of the table in front of him, clangs of metal now ringing out a he roared, "What do I have to do to defeat you?! What-blaugh!" He fell over, collapsing to the floor as he began to choke, "*cough* *cough* *cough* Urgh...no..." He put a hoof to his chest, his other legs locking up.

He laid there for a second, his ventilator making a loud clicking sound before he let out one more cough. Taking a few slow breaths, he slowly got back up as he wheezed, "This...isn't...over."

Back in the Crystal Empire, the repair efforts were in full swing. At the castle, everypony was in the throne room. Flash, Heart, Twilight, Rainbow, Soarin and Ruby were being healed by Soul and some crystal doctors. "I can't believe your insane plan worked," Soul told her brother as she struck a plaster on his nose. "You're so reckless."

"I wasn't worried," the colt replied through a slightly blocked nose. "Jaden totally killed it." He then glanced around, "Where is he anyway?"

The others shrugged, only for Ruby to walk out of the room. As she did this, she went to the castle courtyard to see Jaden standing in front of the Crystal Heart. The crossbow he had fired earlier was in his hooves, the colt clutching it as a trophy to his amazing shot and incredible act of heroism. The only one he would likely get to enjoy.

"That was quite a shot you pulled off before." Jaden jumped, dropping the crossbow as he spun around to see a smiling Ruby, "Where did you learn to shoot like that?"

"Um...uh..." Jaden gulped while rubbing the back of his neck, "it's just something I...picked up."

Ruby chuckled before picking the crossbow up. "What Heart said before....was it true? Do you want to be a Royal Knight?" Jaden blushed at this, glancing down at this, making Ruby shake her head, "Jaden, you don't have to be embarrassed about it. Wanting to be one is a noble goal."

"Maybe..." He muttered out, "But it's not like it's ever going to happen."

"I wouldn't say that," Jaden glanced back up at her, "You're young, and yet you've already become a master markspony. There's no telling how strong you could become with professional training."

Jaden's eyes went wide at this, his heart beginning to beat a mile a minute, "You...you mean you...want me to be your apprentice?"

Ruby gave him a coy smile. "My friends asked me earlier if I ever planned to take on a squire. And while the thought has never entered my mind until today, I do need somepony to take over for me one day." She leaned down as her grin grew, "And I might have just found him." Jaden's heart stopped, the colt feeling like he was about to pass out, only for her to continue, "But be warned: Training under me will not be easy. It'll be the most gruelling thing you'll ever attempt. If you don't think you're up for it, say so now."

Jaden froze up at this, his body now a statue as he tried to say anything. He knew that if she had offered him earlier, his mind would have told him no. But as she asked this, a certain memory came to mind. Him shooting that arrow that changed the battle, that one moment replaying over and over. As such, he opened his mouth and said, "Please...please let me be your apprentice!"

"Oh? Are you sure you're up for it!"

"I...I...YES!" He exclaimed while closing his eyes, his form now stiff as he continued, "I wanna become the greatest knight the Crystal Empire has ever seen!"

And as soon as he said that, there was a bright flash of light that originated from Jaden's flank. The feeling made his eyes shoot wide open, both glancing back as they saw the light fade...revealing a cutie mark of an eye with an arrow made of crystal flying over it. The pair stared at it, Ruby speaking up, "It appears I made the right choice in choosing you."

Jaden looked back at her, both smiling at one another until a voice called out, "Alright!" They both turned to see Heart run out of the doorway, the colt walking up to punch Jaden in the shoulder. "I guess this means we're rivals now. Just so you know, I'm gonna become a knight first."

"We'll see," Jaden chuckled, "We'll see." Everypony else soon walked up, all smiling at the sight. They knew the two were gonna become good friends and work well together in the future. A new chapter in the Crystal Empire's history had just been written, one that would be remembered for many generations to come. The chapter of Ruby Scarlet and her new apprentice, Jaden Chalice.

Fame and Misfortune

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It was another brilliantly sunny day in Ponyville, and in the Castle of Friendship, Flash, Springer and Heart had just finished an intensive training session and were heading to the kitchen for something to drink and possibly eat. And as they passed the library, they saw Starlight and Soul walking up as well. But before they could say anything, Twilight's voice called out from the library. "No..." They glanced inside and found her pulling books from the shelves, shaking her head at the same time. "No...no..."

"Twilight?" Flash asked his girlfriend as they walked into the room, "You okay?"

"I'm fine," she replied, "Just looking for-aha!" She suddenly pulled a large book off the shelf. A large, dusty, and very weathered book that Flash and Springer felt a sense of familiarity with. "Here it is." She showed the book to them, Heart and Soul raising an eyebrow while Starlight gave a look of disgust.

"What is that?"

"Come on Starlight, don't judge a book by its cover." Twilight responded, the book's cover showing a horseshoe symbol with seven differently colored gems on the shoe along with a familiar star shape inside. It was this image that made Flash and Springer realize what it was. "This is the friendship journal my friends and I used to keep."

"I can't believe that's still here," Springer commented as he pointed at the book, "I thought it got blasted when Tirek destroyed the library."

"Luckily, I'd left it in the castle of the two sisters when that happened. I went back to get it and it was the first book I placed in this library."

"Explains why it got buried since there's already too many books here." Flash chuckled.

"Yeah yeah..." Twilight rolled her eyes before opening it up and flicked through the pages, "This book is filled with all the things we've learned like: Friendship isn't always easy, but there's no doubt, it's worth fighting for."

However, as soon as she turned the book around for her student to read, the page turned to complete dust and clumped down into the floor. They all watched this before Starlight gave Twilight a smirk, "I'll judge a book by its cover just this once."

This resulted in a grumbling Twilight as Flash took the book and stared at it, "What happened to this thing?" He asked as he slowly shifted through the pages, "I've seen thousand year old tomes in better shape than this thing."

Twilight blushed at this, "Next time we make a special journal, remind me to enchant it so it's protected from being destroyed like that." She took the book back and sighed, flipping through the pages and seeing many of them in a barely readable state.

Starlight saw her grimace and then gasped, "I have an idea." She took the book in her magic and then struck it was a blast, which caused it to glow brightly before the light shot off and formed an empty leather cover that looked like the book back when they first started writing it. The original then started firing blasts of paper out from its cover and struck the copy, filling it up until it was as thick as the first one. Once that was done, the two books floated down and landed in the two magic masters' grasps.

"There," Starlight opened the book up and saw that everything was in perfect condition. "Now we can read without having to worry about damaging the original."

"Nice," Flash replied as Heart and Soul flew over to read over Starlight's shoulder. They started looking through the journal and with every page, their interest in the subject grew greater and greater.

"Wow..." Starlight whispered, "This is amazing."

"You all really went through all this?" Heart asked, Flash replying with a nod.

"I could read this for days," Soul added before turning to Twilight, "But I guess you got it out because you wanted to read it."

Twilight nodded back, only for a bulb to go off in her head, "Everypony, I have an idea."

The next day...

All of Ponyville's most famous ponies were gathered in the throne room, the Mane Seven, minus Twilight, but also the defenders, Heart, Soul, Ace, Mira and even Wild.

"Anypony know why Twilight called us here?" Lightning asked after ten minutes of waiting, all turning to Flash as he grinned.

"I do, but Twilight wanted me to keep this a secret until she was ready."

And before anypony could say anything else, the room's door opened to show Twilight and Starlight. "Thanks for coming, everypony. I've got a surprise for you."

"What is it, Twilight?" Fluttershy asked before shrinking a little bit, "Do I need to prepare myself?"

Twilight smiled as her horn lit up, "It's this!" If a flash of light, the diary appeared and landed in the middle of the table. When it did, a bunch of dust escaped it, wafting into the room while carrying the book's smell.

"Ugh," Rarity flinched, "What is that thing? Why is it so smelly?"

"Wait a minute," Pinkie gasped as she leaned her head over the table, "Is this our old friendship journal? I haven't seen this thing in forever!"

"Hoo-wee!" Applejack covered her nose, "It's lookin' a little...overripe."

"I'll say!" Rainbow grabbed the book and flicked through it, eventually stopping on a page. "There's a smushed apple in Applejack's lessons." Applejack blushed as she flipped the page, "And Fluttershy's lessons are so small, you can barely read them."

Now Fluttershy blushed, "I uh...wanted to leave room for all of you."

Rainbow then flipped to another page, where she found what looked like a bunch of squiggly lines. "I don't even know what this is." She flipped it around and showed it to them, Rarity glaring at her at this.

"It is called calligraphy, darling." She sighed, "If you're going to make words, at least make them fabulous."

Applejack took the book next, flipping to Rainbow's section, only to find most of it completely shredded. "Looks like you got a little aggressive with your friendship lessons, Rainbow Dash."

"What can I say?" Rainbow shrugged before taking back the book, "When I learn something, I learn it hard."

"A little too hard," Lightning chuckled before a large popping sound filled the air. They turned to see Rainbow had flipped the page, only to be showered by confetti, rainbow smoke and party favors.

"I found Pinkie's page," she deadpanned while Pinkie let out a giggle.

"Well, I am surprised!" She and Wild high-hoofed as Twilight took the book back.

"That wasn't the only surprise." She turned to Starlight and nodded, Starlight smirking before performing the same spell she used yesterday. In a flash, several new copies of the book appeared, all floating down into everypony's grasp, "Ta-da! Starlight and I decided to make one for each of you!"

"That's amazin'!" Applejack gasped before opening it up, "A perfect copy!"

"Incredible..." Grand chuckled before turning to the mares. "I didn't know a spell like this could exist."

Starlight puffed out chest at this, "I learned the spell years ago when I needed to make copies of a certain..." She nervously cleared her throat, "...manifesto."

Rarity closed the book and sniffed the cover, "Ah! Even better than a perfect copy."

"It's kinda hard to believe we've been through all these events," Lightning commented as he flicked through the book.

"Huh," Iron chuckled, "Here's the one I put in after I was knighted."

"Oh," Fluttershy stopped at one of the pages, "I'd forgotten all about this lesson."

"My time loop experience," Springer laughed as he showed the younger jakhowls. "Now that was a life changing event."

They then heard more laughing, turning to Rainbow as she flipped a page, "Remember this one from when I helped Daring Do?" She read the caption, "Never underestimate the power of friends who always got your back."

"Aww," Pinkie smiled, "Cheese Sandwich! Party cannon! Ah! Birth-iversary!"

"Not to mention the event that got us together," Wild laughed along with his puppets.

Flash smirked as he read the section he had written when he first met his parents, "I can't believe we forgot about such an important item in our lives."

Starlight then pointed to the original. "I have to say, after Twilight remembered the journal, I had so much fun reading all the stuff you've all learned, I just had to have my own copy."

She held up the one she made yesterday, Twilight walking up to her before glancing back at the others, "And that brings me to the second part of the surprise: My idea. How would you all feel about making our journal available for everypony?" The eyes of everypony in the room went wide at this, "If we can get these lessons into other ponies' hooves, maybe they'll benefit from them."

Fluttershy looked up from her book and nodded, "Well, I think that's a great idea."

"Eh, what could go wrong?" Iron added.

"I'm in!" Pinkie cheered, "Yay!"

"We always said we wanted to," Applejack chuckled.

"Sounds fabulous." Rarity continued, only to hear Rainbow laugh again.

"I'm so awesome..." She said as she kept staring at the book, only to glance up at others, "Oh...yeah. Uh...good idea."

They turned to Flash, the last journal contributor, and saw him grin, "I think Equestria just found its next best seller."

Twilight laughed, "I doubt that. Mainly because we're not gonna sell them. Think of it more like a free giveaway." The others laughed at this, all still believing the book was gonna fly off the shelves.

And so, a new book entered Equestria's literary slipstream. After Starlight showed her how to do the spell, Twilight put her alicorn magical reserves to the test. She created so many copies of the book that they completely filled the library, Flash telling her she might be overdoing it, but the princess replied that she wanted to make sure everypony could have a copy.

She then headed to many different book stores and outlets. When she told them what she wanted, they immediately agreed to shelve the book. And no sooner had the books been placed on the shelfs, they flew off, all ponies interested in hearing about the lessons and adventures Equestria's greatest heroes lived through.

Every town and city in Equestria soon had at least one place that was giving away a copy of the book. From Canterlot to Manehatten, Fillydelphia to Applewood, and even Dodge Junction to the Crystal Empire. The book could be found everywhere.

Of course, Ponyville's residents also got their own copies and soon everypony could be seen reading it.

"I'll admit it," Flash told Springer as they were on patrol, "I thought Twilight made too many, but I guess I was wrong. She's actually had to refill the library four times between hoof-outs."

They then walked beside a pair of ponies sitting on a bench, going over something they had read in the book. "Well, I think the section about Pinkie discovering she's related to Applejack was the best," the mare commented, "It's clear their family's far from perfect, but who's is?"

"Well I think the one about when Spike gave Rarity that magical tome was the best. It's a very interesting look into how addiction can come in all forms and the only way to deal with it is for somepony who cares about you to help."

Flash and Springer raised an eyebrow, but smiled all the same since they seemed to at least enjoy the book. But as they walked away, Springer gulped, "I just realised we've opened a serious can of worms. Now ponies are gonna know everything we've been through, including the embarrassing things."

"Oh please," Flash waved a hoof, "It's not like there's anything in there that's all that embarrassing."

"Come on!" said a voice, making them turn to see a young pony pushing another colt and a pair of older ones to the Everfree Forest. "We've gotta go in there since its the best way to help us. Those timberwolves aren't gonna know what hit'em!"

Flash and Springer's eyes went wide before they ran over to the group, "Hey!" Springer leapt in front of them, "Where do you think you're going?!"

"Into the Everfree Forest," the colt replied, "We need to find some timberwolves so I can fix my friendship with my parents."

"What?!" Flash asked, only for the colt to pull out the journal and open it up to a specific page. A sentence was highlighted, Flash reading it out loud. "But thanks to my friends and a couple of Timberwolves, I was finally able to look past my fear and open my heart to my mom and dad."

"Yup," the pony closed the book, "My mom and dad have been on a business trip for a long time. I want to us to be super close and according to this, I need to take them and a friend into the woods and fight off a bunch of timberwolves."

"That's not what you need to do at all!" Flash yelped, "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard!"

"But you did it," he replied.

"Not on purpose!" Flash almost yelled, "My parents and I just happened to get into a timberwolf attack."

"And it helped you all get closer," the colt responded before pushing his very scared parents towards the woods. That is, till Springer put a shield bubble around them so they couldn't get any further. "Hey!"

"Look, you don't need a timberwolf to bond with your parents. All you need is the courage to let your parents be a part of your life. That was the point of that section. I was so scared they'd abandon me again, I refused to let them into my life and it took a timberwolf attack to make me see that. Timberwolves aren't a needed part of bonding with your parents." Flash turned to the older ponies, "Take the kid bowling or something. That'll work just as well." The parents nodded eagerly and Springer dropped the bubble, the defenders watching as the parents ran off with the kids.

"That was nuts," Springer panted, "I can't believe that kid took your section of the journal so literately."

Flash shrugged, "He's a kid. Sometimes kids don't always get the point. I'm sure everypony else got the point of the entry."

But as he said this, he went back onto his patrol, only to find Twilight and Starlight hiding behind a bush by a café. They were listening in on what two ponies were saying, the pair's eyes going wide. And as Flash and Springer got closer, they heard the ponies laugh before a pony behind them dropped their newspaper to reveal Rarity.

The unicorn's eyes were watering and Lightning, who was sitting next to her, looked ready to use a Celestial Law on somepony. She burst out crying and ran off as Lightning turned to the ponies in question.

"Whoa!" Springer dashed over and grabbed the unicorn before he could zap them, Flash running up to the scene and hearing Twilight speak up.

"But that's not what she was saying," she held out a hoof, "Rarity-" But she didn't listen and just kept running and crying while Springer had to put a shield around him and Lightning. The ponies that had been talking looked terrified at the raging unicorn, Twilight sighing at this, "Oh, poor Rarity. She overheard all the mean things those ponies were saying. She must be devastated." Hearing this, Flash saw how angry Lightning was and walked up to him as Twilight added, "I'm going after her."

"Go ahead," Starlight told her before glaring at the ponies in question. "I'm gonna have a chat with these two." Twilight nodded, Flash watching her go before turning to Springer. The jakhowl nodded back and Flash followed Twilight, flying up to her.

"What the heck did those ponies say?"

"I'll explain when we catch her," Twilight replied as Rarity continued to cry and run. "Rarity, wait!"

But as Twilight ran, she was suddenly tackled by a pink blur. She cried out as the two rolled around, eventually ending with Twilight on the ground while Pinkie stood over her. "Twilight! Isn't it amazing?!" She shined a bright grin, "Our journals are everywhere!"

"Pinkie..." Twilight moaned as she tried to get off her, "I've got to-"

"Ponies keep stopping by to tell me my entries are hilarious!" As she said that, a pony marched up with a book and smiled. She seemed to know what this meant and pulled a pencil out of her mane, using it to sign the book as Flash helped Twilight up and brushed her off with his wing. "I even had somepony come all the way from Las Pegasus to say how much he liked my lessons!"

"Las Pegasus?!" Flash yelped, "That sounds...expensive."

"He said it was worth it!" Pinkie cheered.

Twilight shook her head at this, "Well, at least some ponies are being inspired by the journal."

"Hey, look!" They turned to see the Ponyville citizen Cherry Berry, who was pointing at them. "There's Pinkie Pie! The funny one!"

Suddenly, everypony around them started laughing, like the sight of Pinkie was the most hilarious thing in existence. Flash raised an eyebrow at this while Pinkie laughed, "Giggly feedback is the best kind!"

This caused the ponies to laugh again, Flash glaring at the crowd, "That wasn't that funny."

Twilight sighed at this, "Well, at least you're getting a positive reaction. I just saw Rarity, and I'm afraid this whole journal thing really upset her."

"Aww, that's too bad." Once again, Pinkie's statement was met with a mighty roar of laughter. The earth pony raised an eyebrow at this, rubbing her chin as the laughing died down. "Wait. That wasn't funny."

And once again, the crowd around them broke out into laughter. As this happened, Twilight slowly said, "Oookay. Well, I guess I'll catch you later." She glanced around, smiling as she waited for the ponies to start laughing...but nothing happened. Flash's previous theory about these ponies finding anything funny went up in smoke as Cherry Berry unleashed a cough. Twilight groaned at this and trotted off, Flash flying after her.

"Yup," Pinkie waved at them. "Bye you two!" And once again, her statement was met with a huge surge of laughter.

"Those ponies were weird," Flash told the princess. She would have said more, but a sudden bellow from Pinkie stopped her.

"YOU'VE KNOWN ME OF YEARS!" This was met with another explosion of laughter, Flash grimacing at those words before turning a corner. The two continued to search for Rarity, Twilight now telling Flash what had actually happened, explaining everything those two ponies had said about their fashionable friend.

"Yikes," Flash gulped, "No wonder Lightning looked ready to kill. Maybe Springer was right about this being a little too personal."

"I just hope we can find Rarity before she does something she'll regret later," Twilight replied, only for a piece of paper landed on her head, "What the-" She took it off, only for pages to fall down.

"Oh, that's not gonna be good," Flash grimaced, the sight making him remember the one time he saw a book get pages ripped out in front of him...and the rage that came next.

"Maybe it's time to call it a day." They then heard Rainbow's voice, the pair glancing up to see Rainbow standing on a cloud, alongside two fillies holding a book.

"I wipped out all the Twilight Spawkle lessons 'cause they were getting in the way of the good ones," a filly stated with a lisp.

"What do you mean you skipped the lessons?!" Twilight yelped as both flew up to them, "We've all had valuable experiences."

"Hey," Rainbow looked relieved, "Here's a great idea!" She flew behind the fillies and pushed them into the couple, "Why don't you two talk to Flash and Twilight for a while? You know, so I can get back to things like working and napping and...well, pretty much anything else."

"Okay!" The other pony said before turning to Flash, "Tell us about the time to took down a bunch of pirates on a desert island! Or when you beat up those three ponies when you were chasing after that minotaur criminal!"

"Is it twue you helped Wainbow save Dawing Do?" The lisp filly asked, Flash rubbing the back of his head.

"Well...yeah," Flash slowly nodded.

"I wish I was as cool as you," she replied, "Then nopony would bothew me. I'd knock them all out in seconds."

"There's more to me than just beating others up.:

"Really?" The others filly asked before flicking through the book, "I'm not seeing anything that doesn't involve you doing anything else."

Flash glared at this before turning to Rainbow, the pegasi glancing away before saying, "Uh...maybe you should talk to Twilight."

"Aw..." the first filly moaned, "We don't wanna hear her bowing lessons!" Twilight went wide-eyed at this as they turned back to Rainbow, "Come on! Tell us again about when you met Dawing Do!"

Rainbow let out a nervous laugh, "Again? Haven't we already covered that one a...couple dozen times?"

"We can't get enough of it!" Lisp filly exclaimed, "Come on, you don't want to disappoint yaw fans!" She pointed at Flash and when the pegasus glanced back and saw a bunch of young pegasi flying behind him with the journal in hoof, one even wearing a rainbow baseball cap with blue wings on the side.

Flash glancing back at Rainbow and saw her eyes were darting around before pointing at a bunch of dark clouds in the distance. "Uh...It's just that I um...really need to get those storm clouds back in their...pens." Flash raised an eyebrow, he and Rainbow locking eyes as he mentally asked 'really?'

"Oh, cool!" Lisp filly exclaimed as Rainbow flew away, "We'll come along! You can tell us the stowy there!" The ponies all followed after her, each crying out the pegasi's name while leaving Flash and Twilight to watch them vanish.

"This is seriously not going the way I planned it too," Rainbow muttered to herself as she took off.

"At least it can't get any worse," Flash commented, only for the pair to hear a loud commotion under them, "Or not...

"Oh dear, what's going on now?" The two glided down, now seeing a pet store was under them, which was a place Fluttershy liked to get food for her animals. And when they got closer, they found a large group of ponies standing in front of it...along with Iron pointing his spear at the ponies.

"Back!" He yelled, Piecemaker giving a few threatening jabs. "Back you vultures!"

"What is he doing?" Flash asked as they descended, only to see Fluttershy behind him.

"Please!" Fluttershy cried, now being the size of a house cat while shaking in terror. "Just leave me alone!"

"Last warning," Iron barked, "Get lost or lose a body part!"

In that moment, Twilight used her magic to lift two ponies out of the way as she and Flash hovered down. "Stand down Iron," she told the knight before turning to her friend, "Fluttershy, what's wrong?"

"We want answers!" A stallion in glasses yelled.

"Yeah!" A mare with a funky hairdo added, "We're entitled to know!"

"What is it everypony?!" Twilight exclaimed back, only for Iron to speak up.

"They've been asking the most ridiculous questions ever and hounding Fluttershy!" He growled while holding up his spear, Flash needing to grab the Celestic Gear and point it toward the ground.

"We just wanna know why Fluttershy keeps learning the same thing over and over again!" A mare screeched, "Be assertive already!"

"Seriously?!" Flash barked, letting go of the spear and allowing Iron to point it at them.

"Even I've learned more than she has!" A stallion told Twilight, "Why can't I be in the book?!"

"What?" Everypony suddenly heard Starlight's voice, the unicorn stepping into view with Springer. "Really?!" She lifted the stallion into the air with her magic, "Are you attacking my friend because you want to be in a book?!"

"It's that attitude that states why you shouldn't be in the book," Springer added, "Who'd wanna read about somepony as selfish as you?"

The stallion then looked like a dog that had just been chastised, while Fluttershy picked herself up and grew back to normal size. "It's okay. I got this." Her friends stared at her, only to nod before the pegasus inhaled and turned to the crowd. "Listen up! I am more assertive!" She marched up at this, "And yes, it took me a while to get there." She then grew a few extra feet while pointing at the mare in question. "But can you honestly say that you could learn something one time and completely change who you are?!" They waited for an answer, but none responded. "I didn't think so."

"You go girl," Flash laughed as Springer snapped his claws.

"Wow..." the glasses wearing stallion gasped, "You're way different from the Fluttershy in the book." Fluttershy's serious expression morphed into a smile...which lasted about five seconds. "I don't know how I feel about that."

Fluttershy let out a sigh and walked off, Iron going with her and shooting death glares at the ponies. The crowd before gossiping at this, sounding to Flash like they were a bunch of ponies at a book club. As they did this, Twilight turned to the others. "It feels like everypony in Equestria is missing the 'friendship' part of the friendship journals."

Flash turned to Starlight and Springer, "How'd things go with Lightning and those two ponies?"

Springer sighed and shook his head, "Well, we managed to get Lightning to promise not to kill them and the ponies apologized, though I was able to sense that they didn't mean it."

"Lightning took off to find Rarity." Starlight added, "Do you know where she is?"

Flash and Twilight shook their heads, "We lost her thanks to Pinkie...and I think she's starting to have trouble with the journals like Rainbow, Fluttershy and Rarity are." Flash commented, the two then asked what Rainbow's problem was, Twilight explaining what had happened like she was explaining a tragic accident.

"Come on," Flash pointed to the Carousal Boutique. "I'm sure Rarity's probably opening her second tub of ice cream. We gotta stop her before her hips are lost forever."

A moment later, they were inside the store...only to find it to be empty. They then walked upstairs, now hearing commotion as they got to Rarity's door, only for it suddenly get louder. "What is happening in there?" Springer asked before the door opened and Lightning leapt out, slamming the door behind him as he panted.

He saw them all staring at him as he replied, "I tried calming her down, but she just won't stop."

"Won't stop what?" Twilight asked, Lightning saying nothing and stepping aside to let them past. "Rarity, are you alright?" She then yelped as she ducked under a roll of fabric that went sailing over her head. They then saw Rarity leaning over her sawing machine with a bunch of different colored fabrics that anypony would know that they would look terrible together. "What are you doing?"

When Rarity spun around to face them, she gave them a look so terrifying that Springer actually screamed and leapt into Flash's hooves. "Why, I'm creating a gown, darling!" They looked at the gown and saw it was the worst piece of patchwork they had seen since the Cutie Re-Marking incident.

"Whoa..." Flash gulped as he dropped Springer, "And I thought your first fall formal creations were bad."

Starlight elbowed him as Twilight walked up to Rarity, "For what?"

"I don't know!" Rarity screamed as she turned back to her machine, "I'm stress-sewing!"

She made several stressed noises as Twilight raised an eyebrow, "Stress-sewing?"

"Is it any worse then your stress organizing?" Flash asked, only for Rarity to glance away from her work and trot past them.

"When I overheard those two at the cafe, I suddenly understood why I've been getting cancellations for days!" She cried some more, her makeup smearing while the others raised an eyebrow.

"What? Why are ponies cancelling their orders?"

"Because nopony likes me any more!" Rarity screamed as she ran over to a manikin wearing another terribly made dress. "They're boycotting me!"

She went over to her window and threw the curtains open, allowing Twilight and the others to look down into the street. There, a large group of protesters were standing outside the store holding picket boards with Rarity's face and a crossed out logo on them. "How did we mess that?" Flash asked before seeing Lightning going out to tell them to leave, the ponies refusing to do so and booing Rarity. A minute later, Grand showed up after having heard the noise.

"This is getting ridiculous," Springer moaned as Twilight headed for the door.

"I'm sure if I go out there and talk to those ponies, they'll see that they're being unreasonable." But before she could open the door, it swung open and pinned her to the wall as she yelped.

It was Applejack, panting with frazzled hair before pointing at Rarity, "I need a hundred blankets, and I need 'em now!" Flash then pointed at the door, making her see what she had done. "Sorry, Twi." The door slowly opened at this, revealing a now paper thin Twilight, the sight making Flash chuckle before walking over and peeling her off the wall.

"Right away, pony-who-still-likes-me!" Rarity exclaimed while working at her sawing machine and pulling up several pieces of fabric.

"Ah don't need nothin' fancy!" The farm pony yelped as she grabbed some thick fabric and threw it over her back, then trotted to the door.

Twilight, now recovered from her make-out session with the door, turned to the farmer, "What's the matter Applejack?"

"Ah'm popular, Twilight!" Applejack replied, "Ah'm popular, and ah don't like it one bit!"

She ran off, Twilight wanting to ask more questions, but turned to the still insane Rarity.

"You go ahead," Starlight sighed, "Springer and I'll stay here." Springer nodded, Twilight using the breathing technique Cadance had taught he to keep herself under control before thanking them and leaving with Flash.

And as they flew over the crowd, Flash turned to Twilight, "I'm afraid to ask, but what do you think we're gonna be in for when we get to Sweet Apple Acres?"

"I don't know. But it can't be as bad as what we've already seen, right?"

"Right..."

"It's a hundred times worse," Flash corrected himself as they landed on the farm's outskirts. There they saw ponies they had never seen before, lounging around the farm like it was Equestria's next hit vacation destination. Big Mac was struggling to carry multiple pony's luggage while Granny Smith was placing trays of food down, which were all gobbled up instantly while Apple Bloom was constantly filling cider glasses.

None of the Apple family looked happy about it, but none more so then Rogue. "Argh!" The bat pony trotted out of the barn with bags under his eyes, "How's a batpony supposed to get any sleep with all this noise?!?"

The Knight and Princess of Friendship trotted over, Flash now noticing the new ponies all had sticky taped pieces of paper over their cutie marks. The papers all had different apple-themed symbols on them, Flash also noticing some of the ponies were having trouble with the cowboy hats they were all wearing.

"Oh no..."

"Applejack," Twilight asked the pony giving out the blankets, "Who are all these ponies?"

"They call themselves the Sweet Apple Admirers," Applejack responded, "They say they read my journal entries, and they felt like a part of the family. And now they actually wanna become part of the family!" She gave away the last blanket and when she did, the pony she gave it too wrapped her hoof around Applejack and took a selfie of them, the flash dazing the farmer.

"Your journal entries?"

Applejack nodded as she moved over to push a bucket of apples over to a group. "Yeah, you know, all the stuff about how friends are like family and whatnot?"

"So ponies actually wanna be in your family?" Flash asked, Applejack nodding again. "But you're being overrun. This place is like a twenty-four-seven Apple Family Reunion. But the only difference is you five are the only ones helping out." As he said that, another mare came over to take a photo. "GET A JOB!"

The pony flinched before running away, Twilight then saying, "Flash is right. This is too much. Can't you get rid of them?"

"And kick out my own family?!" Applejack asked, pulling two fillies to her like they were Apple Bloom who had just run into a Chimera. Before any of them could say anything else, Granny Smith trotted past them carrying a pile of empty plates and pans. "Granny Smith, hang on!" She trotted after the elder, "Let me help!"

"There she is!" A pony exclaimed as Applejack kept running, all the ponies she passed now letting out unified: "YEE-HAW!"

"This is insane," Flash commented, "How can one little book cause so many problems?"

Twilight let out a sigh. "I wish we'd never released that journal."

Flash was about to say something, but Twilight's horn sparked and she teleported away. "Oh great...that's not good." He let out a sigh before turning to go back to the castle. But when he reached it, he saw a large crowd of ponies running through the town, only to see them start following him. Taking to the air, he saw that whatever street he went too, they were just a few minutes behind, the sight reminding him of the time he had an extra Gala ticket to give away.

"What's going on?" He asked as he came to a stop over the crowd, the pones now screaming things that he could barely pay attention too. "Let me guess, this is about the journal."

"We read about you!" A mare exclaimed, "What's this about you having some kind of super power?!"

"Yeah," a stallion added, "The book ends with you leaving that thing a mystery. You can't just have such an important subplot like that left unanswered!"

"Super power?" Flash asked with a raised eyebrow, "Oh...right. We stopped writing in it before I learned about it."

"About what?" Another mare asked, "Come on, if you're not gonna write a sequel, then you gotta tell us what this weird light tornado is."

Flash's eye twitched, but he went on to explain about the Sacred Light and how he gained it, only for another pony to yell, "So you were just born with this power?! You didn't have to earn it then!" Flash shrugged at this, knowing he probably shouldn't tell them the story about him having to earn the right, only for the pony to add, "That's just terrible story telling."

"Yeah," a mare nodded, "And you only got it because you're the last remaining descendant of the first alicorn. How hokey is that?! Couldn't you come up with a better reason to have these powers?!"

Flash narrowed his eyes at this, "You're talking about this like I made it all up. You realize that Journal is technically an autobiography."

"Oh please," another pony waved their hoof, "Do you really expect us to believe you were granted these incredible powers by some god that's even older than Celestia?"

"Yes."

"And that you were able to gain other powers using a lock box given to you by a magic tree, which then sunk into the ground to form a tree shaped castle."

"Yes! That all happened!" He pointed to the castle in the distance, "What do you think that building over there is?!"

One of the ponies let out a scoff, "Nice try, but nopony could do everything you said happened in this book. You clearly either made it up or exaggerated what really happened. I mean, what makes you so special that you get all these amazing powers and constantly get thrown into these dangerous situations? I bet you just wanna make yourself look like a superhero!"

Flash's jaw dropped at this, only for another to yell, "Do yourself a favor and come up with a better reason for having these powers in the next book! Maybe you got bitten by a radioactive insect or something."

"You ponies are nuts!" Flash barked back as he began to fly over to the castle, the ponies chasing after him.

"Sometimes it feels like you and the others shouldn't even be in the stories written!" A pony cried, "You, Springer, Iron, Lightning, Grand and those other knights! It's like somepony just pushed you into a story that already existed without you in it! What's the big deal?!"

"Yeah! And what about that thing with a-"

The next words didn't hit Flash's ears, the defender just sighing as kept flying. It was here he saw Fluttershy being chased by her own group of ponies along with Pinkie dressed in a hoodie to hide herself, who was also running from a bunch of ponies. A figure in a large cloak was doing the same thing, along with Rainbow and Applejack as they headed to the same place: The castle.

Rainbow reached the building first and knocked on the door three times. The others got up to her and as Flash arrived to open the door, only for Twilight's magic to open it and reveal her, Starlight and Springer. Twilight gasped when she spotted the large crowd behind the six, some cheering, some booing and some asking way too many questions. They all ran inside and the ponies behind them tried to do the same, Starlight closing the door before they could.

"Ah didn't know where else to go!" Applejack exclaimed first as Starlight tried to keep the door closed, "Ah've got so much cookin' and cleanin' and family-in' to do...ah ain't got time for anythin' else!"

Then, from out of a small flower pot located between her and Fluttershy, Pinkie popped her head out. "At least ponies aren't laughing every time you talk! Not even I want to be funny all the time! I'm telling you, my days of hilariosity-ness-ness are OVER!"

She crossed her hooves and ducked back into the pot, Rainbow pointing at her. "You think you've got problems? Look, I know I'm awesome, but I can't even go to the bathroom without somepony trying to tell me how cool I am!" It was then she noticed the pony besides her, the one that had been wearing the cloak, who she removed to see a certain unicorn, "Uh...Rarity? What are you wearing?"

Rarity was dressed in clothing that looked like several different dresses frankenstiened together into one giant mess. She was wearing six different scarfs around her neck and three different hats on her head. "My emotions, darling! Stress couture!" She then took out her measuring tape and moved over to Fluttershy, who looked rather miffed.

"I don't know what I'm gonna do if I have to defend myself one more time!" She said before seeing the measuring tape, causing her shoot Rarity a look they hadn't seen her wear since she got Discorded.

"Hmm?" She pulled the tape back. "Oh uh...sorry darling. Force of habit."

"You all don't have it as bad as me. My life apparently doesn't exist!" Flash yelped, "At least everypony believes what you wrote in your entries. They seem to think I made everything I wrote up and were giving my life story critiques!" He fell onto his back and moaned. "I know we've proven several times that time travel is a bad idea, but do you think maybe...just this once...we can..."

"Go back in time and stop you all from publishing that book?" Springer asked, Flash nodding as Twilight moved over to the window. She pulled the curtain back and got the quickest glimpse of Grand, Iron, Lightning and Wild, who had all arrived and were trying to get the crowd to leave, but was then forced to close the curtain when a group of ponies appeared at it

She turned to her friends, all seeing their different states of exhaustion, frustration and annoyance. Starlight then turned to Twilight, "Okay, so maybe they're having a hard time with it. That doesn't mean you did anything wrong."

"Yes, I did!" Twilight yelled, "Releasing the journal was my idea, and it backfired in ways I could never have imagined!"

"It's not your fault," Starlight replied, "It's everypony else's! They're just focusing on the wrong things, and-" She stopped as a bulb went off in her head, "I got it! Wait here! I've got an idea!"

With that, she vanished in a flash of light while Twilight shook her head, "I can't wait any longer." she turned to the doorway and trotted up, "I've got to fix this." The others followed after her as the princess threw open the doors and looked out at the mass conglomeration of ponies. "Everypony, please stop!"

But the ponies only screamed louder and louder while a yellow unicorn stallion in a tie stepped up to her. "Princess Twilight," he took out a pencil and notepad. "I'm with the Canterlot Chronicle. Quick question: What would you say to ponies who wonder why you moved to Ponyville in the first place?"

"I moved here to learn about friendship," Twilight replied, "That's why the journal even exists." Pinkie placed a hoof on her back as the seven of them stood in a line and looked out at crowd. "It took some time for me to get the hang of it, but it was each of these ponies standing next to me who taught me the lessons in those journals. Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy and, of course, Flash too." Her boyfriend smirked at her while she focused back on the crowd. "Then it was all of you. I've learned so much from-"

"What I mean is, some ponies would argue that it doesn't seem believable that the six of you would be friends." the reporter suddenly interrupted.

"Believable?" Twilight asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Of course it's believable," Flash added, "We wouldn't be here if it wasn't."

"Maybe," the stallion lifted up the journal, "But I read this journal cover to cover, and I have to say your character would have been much more interesting if she'd stayed in Canterlot."

"My character?!" Twilight yelped, "We're real ponies! This journal is a record of things that actually happened to us! We made mistakes, and we learned from them!"

"What about Rarity?" A well dressed stallion chimed in, "Are we really supposed to believe everything she wrote in there?"

Lightning growled at this, only for a filly to speak up, "That's why you wanna be Team Dash!" She showed the T-shirt she was wearing, which had the pegasi's face on it. "She's the only one that didn't weally need to learn anything, because she was alweady so cool."

"Twilight was better before she got wings!" An old mare barked out.

"And why are huge chunks of this journal only about Flash fighting somepony?!" a stallion added, "What kind of message is that sending to young readers?! That violence solves everything?!"

"I know one thing violence would solve right now," Flash hissed.

"And whose bright idea was it to have a group of main characters with only one stallion amongst them?!" A nerdy looking pony yelled, "You seriously sent the wrong message!" He let out a snort and pushed his glasses up his nose, "I got this book because I thought it was something completely different! What else was I supposed to think when I heard it was about a group of ponies with only one stallion?!"

The girls all had to hold back a gag, only for the mare with the funky hairdo from earlier to exclaim, "Fluttershy is just so painfully shy that it's hard to relate!" A pony wearing a Fluttershy t-shirt and hat frowned, slowly moving away from the pony in question. "I mean, come on!"

Twilight sweated as the ponies began arguing with one another, some saying a particular pony was great while others said they were terrible. The sight made Twilight begin to shake as she said, "Wait a minute, everypony!"

Twilight's voice was stopped when Caramel cried out. "Are Pinkie Pie and Applejack related or what?!"

The arguing continued, one of the journals somehow being thrown from the crowd and landing in front of Twilight. The mare saw this and looked back at her friends, all frowning at this. The sight made her eyes narrow before glaring back at the crowd, "Listen to me!" She called out, but the crowd continued to bicker. It was here that she dug deep and unleashed something she had always wondered if she could use: The Canterlot Royal Voice. "LISTEN TO ME!"

The voice echoed out over the crowd, all now stopping and turning to the ponies on the castle doorway. As they did this, the universal music player in everypony's heads began to play a tune.

[Twilight Sparkle]
I never claimed to be perfect
My mistakes are all written in ink
None of us claimed to be perfect
And it's sad if that's what you all think

She walked down the steps to the crowd, her next words radiating with her friends and making them smile.

[Twilight Sparkle]
Our flaws helped to make us special
They bond us and keep us strong
Our flaws are what brought us together
So stop actin' like something's wrong

She teleported the others as they joined her in the song.

[Mane Seven]
We're not flawless
We're a work in progress
We've got dents and we've got quirks
But it's our flaws that make us work

Grand, Iron, Lightning, Wild and Springer all smiled at them, knowing this would be solution they needed.

[Mane Seven]
Yeah, we're not flawless
We're a work in progress
So tell me what flaws you got, too
'Cause I still like what's flawed about you

With that, Rainbow and Rarity ran up in front of them.

[Rainbow Dash]
They say I'm a big shot
That my ego's the size of a whale
My confidence comes off as cocky
But it gives me the courage to fail

Rarity then jumped back onto what she thought was a couch, singing in her overly dramatic voice.

[Rarity]
Sure, I can be a drama queen
A bit stuck-up, it's true

She then heard Applejack's voice, making her look down and see she had accidently used the earth pony as he couch.

[Applejack]
And I can be too eager to please
There's such thing as bein' too honest, too, 'cause

[Mane Seven]
We're not flawless

The seven jumped back together, all singing to their hearts content.

[Mane Seven]
We're a work in progress
We've got dents and we've got quirks
But it's our flaws that make us work

Yeah, we're not flawless
We're a work in progress
So tell me what flaws you got, too
'Cause I still like what's flawed about you

Pinkie and Fluttershy walked up next, both smiling as they spoke up.

[Pinkie Pie]
Ponies think I'm all bubbles and laughter
That I don't seem sincere
I might joke around a little too much
But I'm just so happy you're here

[Fluttershy]
It took me a while to be confident
To really come out of my shell

[Twilight Sparkle]
But nopony has to be perfect
By now, don't you know us so well? Because, yeah

[Mane Seven]
We're a work in progress
We've got dents and we've got quirks
But it's our flaws that make us work

Yeah, we're not flawless
We're a work in progress
So tell me what flaws you got, too
'Cause I still like what's flawed about you

And finally, Flash walked up. He wasn't sure if he would be able to get his point of view across to the crowd, but he took to the air and sang to his heart's content.

[Flash]
I never asked to be a Royal Knight.
I never asked to be a hero seeking praise
Being a hero gets scary.
It mostly gets you hurt in very nasty ways.

But I fight against the evils as such
To protect the ones I love so much.

Twilight then flew up next to him.

[Twilight]
But nopony can do that alone
We work together and now it's known. Because yeah

The pair turned to one another, placing their foreheads together for a moment before Twilight teleported them back to the others.

[Flash and Twilight]
Because yeah

[Mane Seven]
We're not flawless
We're a work in progress
We've got dents and we've got quirks
But it's our flaws that make us work

Yeah, we're not flawless
We're a work in progress
So tell me what flaws you got, too (Pinkie Pie: You got, too)
'Cause I still like what's flawed about you

With that, the music came to a stop as the seven finished singing while standing in a line. Once the music was done, Twilight turned to the crowd. "So you see everypony? None of us ever claimed to be perfect. Without our flaws, there wouldn't be any friendship lessons to learn." She glanced back at her friends, giving a heartwarming smile. "Without our flaws...there probably wouldn't be any friendships at all."

The others nodded back before turning to the crowd, expecting them to understand and begin to dissemble. But...they didn't. The crowd went right back to arguing with one another, the reporter stallion looking displeased as he wrote in his notebook while others held up signs of both positive and negative messages. More yelling and ranting happened, making them all sight before going back in, slamming the doors shut.

"So that just happened," Rainbow growled.

"I can't believe that didn't work," Flash added, "Usually a big musical number fixes anything." He slumped over to the wall, everypony all exchanging glances as they continued to hear the yelling outside. "What do we do?"

"Everypony!" a new voice called out, making them turn to see Starlight walking up, "I found two ponies who have something I think you should hear." She stepped aside and two fillies appeared, Flash recognizing them as Toola Roola and Coconut Cream, a pair of friends that Twilight had helped out over the last few days. In fact, it had been them that had reminded her of the journal in the first place.

"Um..." Toola blushed, "We just wanted to say thank you. To all of you." This statement caused the ponies to all look up, most having only half their attention on the two.

"Yeah," Coconut nodded, "Our friendship?" She smiled with a blush, "Well, we were having trouble until we read your journal. It showed us that friends can go through all sorts of tough times and come through stronger than before."

Toola placed an hoof around Coconut's neck, "It's made us better friends than we've ever been!"

"Really?" Twilight asked with wide-eyes, the fillies nodding back. At the sight of this, all the annoyance, shame and doubt the seven had been feeling suddenly faded away. "Oh," Twilight looked close to tears, "I can't tell you how much it means to hear that. Thank you for telling us." She turned to the others, "We've had a tough couple of days." Then back to them, "But knowing we've helped fillies like you..." She stopped as Applejack walked over to the pair.

"It makes everythin' we've been through worth it."

Rarity nodded, "Absolutely. Fads come and go." She pulled Applejack into a hug, "Friendship is forever."

Rainbow laughed at this, "There are worse things than not being able to do anything without being told I'm awesome."

"And we can't change the way other ponies think about us," Fluttershy chimed in, "But we can change how we let it affect us."

Pinkie then jumped over to her, a pie in her hoof. "Or how we don't let it affect us!" With that, she thrust it into her face. Everypony watched as the desert splatted all over her, the earth pony giggling as she glanced at her friends. "Go ahead! Laugh!" Everypony in the room burst out laughing, Starlight giving the fillies a hug while the Mane Seven dog piled into their own hug.

When the laughter died down, Applejack heard the cries from outside. "Reckon' we still have to deal with them, don't we?" In that moment, the doors opened and Heart, Soul, Ace and Mira leapt inside. They all panted, having had to just wade through the sea of ponies to get inside.

"What the heck is going on out there?" Heart asked as he dusted himself, "Did we...miss something?"

Twilight giggled at this before turning to Applejack and winking, "Stay in the friendship moment, Applejack. They can wait a little longer."

And as the next days passed, the group found they had to suffer through the questions, criticism, ponies telling them how they would have fixed a situation they read about. But they didn't care. Let those who thought they knew everything continue to yell and complain at those who had actually done it. That's all they could do: yell and complain.

Eventually, two weeks later, the hype of the journal died down. Several ponies still spoke about the book, but in time, they all moved onto something else. Now the journal was just another book, sitting on a shelf that would only be read by those having problems with their friendships, and needing help figuring out what to do. It would take longer than expected, but eventually the journals would do what Twilight had envisioned for them. Help spread and strengthen friendship throughout Equestria.

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Webs

View Online

The Equestrian air was warm out in the rugged badlands of the kingdom. There was barely a cloud in the sky as the tumbleweeds rolled through the terrain, along with water or shade in the stinging desert that a certain pony was staring at. It was the alicorn called Soul, huffing as she glared out of a train window.

"Ugh...it's so boring." Her head spun around as she then asked, "Why did we have to come here?"

Beside her was a relaxing orange pegasus, hooves behind his back as he sat back into the train seat, "You know why. There's a friendship problem here and we've been chosen to find and fix it."

Soul let out a long grumble at that, glancing back out the window, her ears going down as she began to remember how this situation happened.

Yesterday...

The ponies that lived in the Castle of Friendship were all gathered in the dining room, all enjoying a spicy curry. Well...most of them, as Flash was eating a spice free version.

"Whooo!" Heart grabbed a large cup full of water and guzzled it down before letting out a long sigh, "Nice." He then turned to his mentor and smirked, "Sure you don't want any?"

"I'm fine," Flash replied as he finished his bowl.

"I can't believe it," Starlight commented, "You've faced multiple monsters and super villains without batting an eye, but you're scared of a tiny bit of spicy food."

"I just don't like spicy food," he deadpanned, "And there's nothing wrong with that."

"He's right," Twilight nodded, only to let out a giggle, "Just don't let anypony know about it. We wouldn't want the villain of the week to find out about your all mighty weakness."

The others laughed as Flash rolled his eyes, opening his mouth, only to suddenly flinch. "Huh?" He felt his body shiver, "What the-" A light shined behind him next, making him glance back and see his cutie mark was glowing. "Oh. Looks like I know what I'm doing today."

"I guess so." Twilight commented as she finished her bowl, "Let's go-"

"Um...everypony?" said a voice, making them turn to Soul...and her cutie mark was also glowing. "Uh...why is that happening to me?"

Everypony was now wide-eyed, gasping at the sight of the filly now being chosen by the map. They had been shocked when Starlight had been chosen a while back, but they knew this was the first time a filly had been chosen. "I don't believe it," Twilight whispered before Flash raised a hoof upward.

"To the map room!" Everypony's dinner was soon forgotten as they ran to the map, now seeing it displaying Equestria. There it showed the light from Flash and Soul's cutie marks flew off and formed copies of the marks, which flew into the badlands of Equestria….and stopping at a certain small town.

"No way," Flash chuckled, "It's sending us there!" The others raised an eyebrow at this, "Wasn't expecting that."

"But why is it sending me?" Soul asked.

Twilight rubbed her chin in thought, "Clearly the map thinks you have a quality that's required to fix whatever problem they have there. But I'm still surprised it chose to send you. Who's gonna be the next ponies this thing choses?! The Cake Twins?!"

"But they don't have cutie marks," Spike chimed in, "Don't you need a cutie mark to be chosen?" As he said those words, he let out a huff, "Meaning I'll never get picked for a friendship mission."

"Well..." Twilight took a deep breath as she turned to Soul, "You've been chosen. That means you and Flash need to go."

Twilight then stared at Flash, the defender raising an eyebrow, "What?! I'll take care of her!"

"And who's gonna take care of you?" She asked, giving him a smirk. "With you leading this quest, it'll be a miracle if you figure out in a week."

"Hey!" Flash yelped, "I'm not an idiot! I might not be as smart as you, but I'm just as cunning."

"Oh really? You think I can't outsmart you?" Flash nodded back, "Say fort." Flash and Springer raised an eyebrow at this, but Flash began to say it.

"Fort."

"Now say it three times."

"Fort, fort, fort."

"Spell it twice."

"F, O, R, T, F, O, R, T."

"Say it two more times."

"Fort, fort."

"Now what do you eat soup with."

Flash smirked, "Ha! FORK!" Twilight grinned at this, Springer slapping his paw into his face.

"Really?" Twilight asked as Flash looked smug, "Cause I use a spoon." Flash's eyes shot open, the pegasus then growling at her before Twilight turned to talk to Soul.

And as Flash let out a groan, Springer spoke up, "you see if you ate soup with a fork, the liquid just-"

"I KNOW!" Flash roared before slamming his head on the table and crushing Applewood.

The Present...

Soul was still staring out at the wilderness as she sighed, "Of all the places the map could have sent me on my first mission, it had to be in the middle of nowhere."

"Don't be like that." Flash chimed in, "I know Twilight hasn't taught you to be cynical. That and the place we're going to is filled with nice friendly ponies."

"Yeah yeah..." Soul huffed as the overhead speakers announced they were arriving at their destination, "If the ponies here are so friendly, why do we need to come and solve a friendship problem?"

"We won't find out with that attitude. Now come on." Flash replied before the walked off the station, "Soul, welcome to New Omniara."

The filly stared at what was in front of her, the alicorn until now thinking no place could be more empty than the Lost City of Faust. "This is a town? It's almost as bad as Starlight's."

"Well, the place hasn't been here that long. It's barely been here longer than you, so the fact they were able to build this much should be impressive."

Soul just frowned at this, the two now making their way down a street. As they did this, Soul saw the waves and smiles Flash was getting from others and commented, "You're popular here."

"I did help rescue them from an oppressive dictator, and discovered a small...pest problem they had." Soul nodded, remembering the story he had told them about the loucarcolh. But before she could say anything, Flash then said, "Hey, cool."

"What?" Soul asked, Flash pointing to a large metal pole with a light on it. "A street lamp?"

"They didn't have that last time," Flash responded before seeing more lamps filling the street. "Looks like they managed to get electricity here. That's good."

Flash then directed her to a certain building at the end of the street, Soul asking, "What's this place?"

"An inn run by some friends. They should be willing to hold us up for a few days and maybe even help us narrow down our search." He then walked inside, Soul following, "Hello?" He asked, only to suddenly flinch. "Gyah!" Soul also flinched as a super bright light blasted into their eyes.

They looked down so they could reopen their eyes before flicking their sight upward to see the light was being caused by overhead lights that were almost as bright as one of Flash's attacks. "When did this place become a tanning bar?" He commented as they walked over the place's bar, "Hello?"

As they hopped onto some of the stools, sompony stepped out from the back room. It was a brown teenage earth pony mare with striped red, white and green hair, and was wearing a pair of sunglasses. She turned to them and gasped, "Flash!" She ran around the bar and hugged the defender, "You didn't tell us you were coming!"

"Surprise!" Flash laughed before they pulled apart, "Say, can you tell us what the heck is going on with the miniature sun you all have?"

Pepper sighed and shook her head, "Our dad's gone nuts. Ever since the town got electricity, he's been like an overexcited kid with it." Soul nodded at that, remembering how amazed she was when she first came to Ponyville and saw the technology it had. "It wasn't so bad at first, but for the last week he's been obsessed. And he's not the only one. Half the town's gone bright light crazy. That's why he reset the lights so it's super bright all the time."

"But it's the middle of the day?" Soul asked, Pepper turning to her, "And you all live in a place that barely has any clouds in the sky. Wouldn't that be enough light."

"That's what I told him," Pepper sighed again, "But dad wouldn't hear anything about it." As she said that, a white earth pony colt with sunglasses appeared from upstairs, only to let out a gasp.

"Salt!" Flash chuckled as the colt ran over and hugged him, Pepper using this time to give Flash and Soul a pair of sunglasses. After this, he glanced back at Pepper. "Thanks. So anyway, we're here because we were sent to find a problem with the town."

The siblings raised an eyebrow at this, only for Soul to add, "A Friendship Problem. Do you two know if anypony's having a hard time with another?"

The pair glanced at each other before shaking their heads, "Sorry, I can't think of anypony."

"Me neither," Salt finished, Flash and Soul sighing as Pepper gave them a drink.

They gulped down the contents before turning to leave. "Thanks. Guess we're gonna have to do this the hard way." Flash commented with crossed hooves, "Say, do you have a spare room we can stay in until we find the problem?"

They nodded and Flash thanked them again before the two set out. "Alright, let's split up and ask around," Flash suggested, Soul nodding as they began walking around. After splitting up, Soul began to ask anypony she could find, only to find shakes of the head. And after a few rejections, she went into one of the stores, only to be blinded by the super bright lights before asking everypony within.

But every single pony had the same answer. They didn't have any clue about a friendship problem. "Geez," she sighed while marching down the street, "I figured a small place like this would make it easy to find a problem to fix."

And as she did this, she saw a flashing light come from a window of a building beside her. She saw it was a newer building, and one she hadn't gone into. The filly walked up to place, glancing inside before slowly trotting in. She saw it was just as bright as the other houses, though this one was due to all the spotlight-like lamps located around the place. The walls were all covered in framed pictures, Soul blinking at the sight before seeing that the photos all had they ponies she had talked to while the back wall had a large white sheet hanging down from the ceiling to the floor.

"Hello?" She asked, "Anypony here?"

There was no answer at first, only for somepony to walk out from behind the sheet. "Hello there," a gray unicorn stallion with black hair said, his flank showing a camera cutie mark. "You're a face I don't remember. New in town?"

"Visiting," Soul replied before glancing around, "Do you run this...photo studio?"

The stallion nodded. "Yup," he then pulled out a camera, "Just opened up two weeks ago. Name's Camera Trap." He closed an eye as he directed the device at her, only for the filly to look away.

"These are all really good. Did you take them?"

"I most certainly did," Trap chuckled, "Taking photos is what I do best."

"Wow." Soul commented as she kept staring at the photos, her eyes squinting at the pictures. She couldn't believe how good they were, the photos having a spark of life to them that she had never seen before. "You're amazing. But why set up shop here?" She glanced over to the building's window, "Can't be many photo opportunities in a place with so few ponies."

"I make do," Trap replied, "But what about you? What brings a filly like you here?"

"Oh," Soul turned to him, "I'm here with a friend. There's a problem here that we need to solve."

"What kind of problem?"

"We don't know. But it's something to do with friendship. Either somepony's having trouble with their friendship, or somepony's using it in a bad way and causing a rift in the friendship...or something else. It's hard to say."

"I see," Trap nodded.

"You know of anything like that? Even the smallest hint could help."

Trap shook his head, "Sorry, I don't know. Everything seems fine to me. Although I haven't been here very long. But all the ponies in this town have been very nice to me."

Soul let out a moan at this, only for a door to open behind her. They turned to see Flash walk in, "There you are," he commented before glancing around, "Nice place."

"Thank you," Trap chuckled before holding up a camera. "May I?"

"Sure." Flash struck a pose, Trap then asking him to position himself so his face and cutie mark were visible in the shot. Soul turned to the photos at that, seeing the same on every picture on the wall.

And as the camera clicked and printed an image, he showed it to the duo, Flash shining a big grin. "Nice. Hello handsome."

Soul nodded, only for her squint her eyes at the sight, "Huh. That's strange."

"What?" Camera asked.

"I...don't know. The picture just feels...off. Like its missing the spark like these other photos."

Trap raised an eyebrow at this, only to shrug, "Eh, don't worry about it. Some photos are just better than others." He help up the camera, "You mind?"

Soul stared at the device for a second, only to glance away, "Sorry, I'm...not really in the mood."

"That's cool," Trap responded, "A lot of ponies don't like to have their pictures taken." He took Flash's picture and placed it inside a frame and hung it on the wall. "Many believe that every time a photo is taken, a piece of their soul is trapped within the picture." He looked back at her, "Fear of losing one's individuality is something everypony has in some capacity."

Soul nodded and apologized again, Trap telling her to not worry about it. She turned back to Flash's photo at this, only to blink as she saw that Flash's cutie mark looked a little blurry in the photo. Her mind told her that that was maybe why she felt it was missing something, but didn't bring it up as she and Flash told him bye and left.

And when they were gone, Trap's smile vanished as he glanced back at the white sheet. "I'm sorry." He said to the wall, "But...I have to be careful. If I force the issue, it'll look suspicious." A cold wind blew in from this, a whisper going to his ear, "Yes, I know. They may discover us. The stallion may be a problem." He turned to the picture he had taken of Flash, "I'll handle it."

The sun began to set as Flash and Soul returned to the inn. The street lamps had began to illuminate, and they were now just as bright as some of the houses. "I can't believe we couldn't find the friendship problem," Soul sighed, "Don't you usually figure this out the first day?"

"Sometimes," Flash shrugged, "But not always. Rainbow and Pinkie's mission to Griffonstone completed before they even realized they had discovered the problem." He placed a wing on her back, "Don't worry. We'll figure it out."

Soul glanced away at this, "But...but...I don't wanna mess this up." She stared down at the ground now, "I'm Twilight student, and she's told me all the things these missions do and how important they are..."

"It'll be fine." Flash replied while patting her with his wing. "We'll figure it out. Heck, it could come to us."

"Really?"

"Eh, you never know." Flash responded as they walked into the inn, only to see a certain somepony behind the bar, "Great Taste! It's good to see you!"

"And you," Great laughed as they shook hooves. "My kids told me you were here and they've set up a room for you." Flash smiled back, only to feel Great's shake...and it felt off. He glanced down at his hoof, only for the kids to walk in with some food.

They sat down next, both chowing down while explaining why they were there and who they had asked about it. "So you've met Camera Trap?" He asked while washing a glass before putting it down, "Nice lad. Great photographer. He took my picture and I'd never looked better." Soul nodded at this, remembering he was one of the ponies on the wall of photos. "Honestly, I think your map might need some tweaking. After everything the ponies of this town have been through, I doubt any of them would have any issues friendship wise."

"I guess," Flash replied, "But the map is never wrong. It sent us here for a reason, and we need to find it."

Great nodded as Salt and Pepper came downstairs. "Your room's ready," the teenage mare told them. "And don't worry, this one has normal lighting."

"Unfortunately," Great sighed.

"Why are you so gung-ho about the lighting?" Flash asked, "I mean, I know you've probably spent your whole life living by candle light, but don't you think you're going overboard?"

"Nonsense," he scoffed, "This light is amazing. Just standing in it makes me feel alive."

The others shared a glance at this, Flash and Soul putting their plates down before following Salt and Pepper upstairs. "He's weird," Soul commented as they got to the top of the stairs.

"Normally I'd be annoyed somepony called him that," Pepper grumbled, "But for the last week, he's been weird. I don't know what it is, but something about him is...off."

"I felt that too," Flash nodded.

"And it's not just him," Salt replied, "Half the town's suddenly started acting goofy. I don't know what it is that got them acting so weird, but it kind of scares me." Flash and Soul shared a glance as they reached a doorway. "This is it." Salt opened it up and the pair looked inside. It was a simple room with two beds and a desk between them. Nothing fancy, but perfect for those just passing through.

"Breakfast is from seven to ten," Pepper added, "Hope you have a good night." The pair nodded as the siblings walked off, Flash and Soul each taking a bed at this.

"Half the town's acting weird," Soul repeated, "You think that's connected to why we were sent?"

"Maybe," Flash leaned his sword against the wall, "We'll look into it tomorrow." He let out a yawn, "Right now, let's get some shut eye. It's been a long day."

"You sure there's nothing else we can do?"

Flash shook his head, "Don't rush this Soul. If something weird is happening, we'll be more prepared to fix it when we're fully rested up." He shined a huge grin for the filly, the sight making her feel a wave of relief.

"Uh...okay." Soul nodded before they both got into bed, Soul using her magic to switch off the light. She also closed the curtains because of how bright it was outside, which almost made it seem like daylight in their room. But eventually, they managed to both drift off to sleep.

And as they did this, a certain pony walked up to the inn. It was Camera Trap, staring up at the window before taking out the photo he had taken earlier that day, showing the smug looking Flash. His horn glowed a transparent white, the picture doing the same. The light then flew off the picture and up to the window, seeping into the room...only for the light to consume a certain bed.

The next morning...

Soul felt the sun's light hit her face, causing her to flinch before opening her eyes. She turned to see the curtains had already been opened, making her wonder how the light of the street lamps hadn't instantly awakened her. She let out a yawn and began to stretch her body, moaning for a second before turning to Flash's bed...which was empty.

She blinked at the sight before hopping off her bed, only to turn to the door and see Lightbringer sitting beside the door. "Huh?" She whispered to herself as she stared at the sword, remembering that Flash hadn't gone anywhere without his trusty weapon since the second Trial attack.

The filly took the sword in her magic and walked out of the room, only to put her sunglasses on when she reached the lobby. "Morning," Pepper groaned, Soul seeing she was flinching at the lights, "What'll it be?"

Soul opened her mouth to reply, only to ask, "Have you seen Flash this morning?"

"Nope," she shook her head, "Haven't seen him all morning."

"Haven't seen who all morning?" They both turned around to see Flash and Great Taste walking in, the duo shining huge grins.

"There you are," Soul commented before giving him his sword. "You left this in the room."

"Oh?" Flash stared at the sword, only to shrug, "Thanks, but I don't think I need it." Soul raised an eyebrow at this, "This place is just so friendly. There's no reason for me to be armed." Great nodded and got behind the bar while Flash sat at it. "The ponies here are so friendly, I'll never get attacked."

"O...K." Soul slowly said, only to see Flash's giant smile.

"We'll probably have to stay here a while, so there's no need to be paranoid."

"What do you mean, a while?! We'll be leaving once we've found the Friendship Problem!"

Flash just waved his hoof, "There's no hurry. I just realized I never really got the chance to take a good look around this place, so...there's no time like the present. The problem's not going anywhere after all."

Soul went wide-eyed at this, only to shake her head. "Flash, what are you-" Her words came to a stop as she stared at the defender, only for her eyes to fall onto his back. Her wide eyes came again, making her gasp.

Flash turned to the noise, "What?" Soul quickly took a deep breath, "You okay?"

"Yup," Soul nodded, "But you know what? I'm...not hungry." She hopped off her chair, "I think I'll...go for a walk."

She trotted for the doorway, only for an orange wing to flare in front of her, "Now come on Soul," Flash chimed in, "You're being rude to these ponies." He then pushed her slightly back with his wing, "Say, why don't you make it up to them by giving Great Taste a picture?" She blinked at these words before spinning around to see Great had a camera, "He's thinking of making a wall of fame for his visitors."

Soul went wide-eyed at this, her hooves locking up as she muttered out, "I uh...don't know. I'm...not a great picture taker."

But as she started to backpedal away, she let out a squeak as Flash grabbed her sides, instantly yanking her up. "Now now. Mind your manners." He held her up, putting her front and center in the camera. Her eyes darted to Pepper, now seeing the pony squirming behind the bar as Flash said, "Say cheese."

"NO!" Soul screamed as her horn flash, grabbing a nearby table and flinging it in front of her. The camera went off just as the table covered her, the filly then pushing the table into Great with her her magic.

"Dad!" Pepper gasped as her father was knocked down.

"Soul! How dare you-"

"Shut up!" Soul interrupted Flash before her magic took Lightbringer and swung it right at the defender. Flash let go of the filly and leapt back, dodging the blade as Soul landed to the floor.

"What are you doing?!" Pepper asked as Soul fired a beam of magic next, Flash side-stepping the attack.

"That's not Flash!" Soul growled before pointing at him, "Look at his cutie mark!" Pepper blinked at her statement, only to go wide-eyed as she stared at Flash's flank. Where the usual shield was gone, instead showing what looked like a blurry version of the shield. This was followed by a third pony walking into the building, blocking the entrance.

Soul then grabbed a chair and flung it at the stallion, the pony batting it away with a swing of his tail. The chair shattered and sent pieces everywhere, including straight up toward the light. "NO!" Soul heard Flash cry, the pegasus leaping up and catching the pieces.

The alicorn was about to ask why he did that, only for all three stallions to suddenly charge at her, Grand having gotten back up. Soul took to the air at this, grabbing everything in the room in her magic and throwing it at the light. But as she did this, Flash zipped around, deflecting everything.

"What's so important about those lights?" Soul asked as the three glared at her. "If you're trying to kill me, the least you can do is tell me what the deal is with them!"

"Doesn't matter," Great replied, "You'll learn the truth soon enough." He held up his camera, closing his right eye.

"Sooner than you think!" The four turned to the voice, now seeing Pepper standing at a particular switch, the three stallion's eyes going wide. "Lights out!"

"NO!" They screamed, but she flipped the switch. The room instantly got darker, though the light of the sun still kept it somewhat bright.

But as the shade fell into the room, the three stallions suddenly began to scream. The two girls watched as Flash and the others all began to glow their mane and coat's colors, the light quickly overtaking their whole forms. They all tried to crawl over to the sunlight, but with one final cry, they all faded into nothing.

The two girls gasped at the sight, only for a door to open and Salt walked inside, "Did I miss anything?" He asked as he stared at the half destroyed room.

Pepper turned to Soul, "What was that? What happened to our dad?"

"I don't think that was your dad," Soul muttered out, "I think...they were fakes."

"Fakes?" Salt asked, "What are you talking about?"

"I...don't know," Soul glanced up at the lights. "Whatever they were, they needed to be in direct light to survive. That's why they had the lights on so bright, to make sure there wasn't an inch of darkness in the inn."

"But ponies all around town are doing that." Pepper replied, "Does that mean anypony with lights that bright are fakes?" Soul grimaced at this, now remembering that at least half of the buildings in town were super bright yesterday. "What do we do?"

"Where's our dad?" Salt added.

"I don't know," Soul gulped. "I just hope wherever they are, they're okay." She turned to a knocked over Lightbringer sitting in the corner, "Flash..."

A smacking of lips came first as Flash slowly leaned his body upward. He let out a groan next, his eyes creaking open. "Urgh...already miss my bed. Nothing beats sleeping with..."

His words came to a stop as he saw a certain sight before him. He was in a white void. The sight made him let out the longest groan he could make, "Oh no...not this again." He sat up at this, doing a quick stretch, "Alright, what is it this time? Some 'lost to time' threat you forgot to tell me about? Or is this a Sacred Light thing?"

He crossed his hooves next, waiting for a response....until a few minutes passed. "Ooookay. Something usually happens now."

The defender glanced around, raising an eyebrow as he found nothing in the white void. He began to trot around at this, staring at the endless nothingness. "I got a bad feeling about this...I sure hope Soul is okay."

Soul flew through the town with Lightbringer strapped to her back towards the only clue she had: Camera Trap. She arrived at his building and it was looking just as bright as before, the filly putting on her shades and staring through the windows. Camera Trap was nowhere in sight, the filly slipping through his front door before glancing around inside. There she found...nothing. Just a regular photography studio.

She walked into the room and turned to a certain photo on the wall: Flash's picture.

It looked different from the last time she had seen it, the photo now having the same spark she had seen from the others. His cutie mark was also different, no longer smudged like it had been yesterday. She remembered the fake Flash's cutie mark as she stared at the photo, her brain going over the facts. The filly crossed her hooves at this, closing her eyes as she whispered, "I don't get it. It's like Flash and his photocopy...swapped places. But if they did, why? And where's the real Flash?"

"My my, you're very perceptive for such a small filly." Soul gasped as this before spinning around, now finding Camera Trap staring at her. "It's amazing you were able to figure it out."

Soul pulled the sword off her back and pointed it at him, "What did you do to Flash?! Where is he?!"

"He's safe," the unicorn replied, "For now."

Flash let out a long groan as he continued to make his way through the white void. "Alright, this is definitely not the usual Sacred Light stuff. It never takes this long." It had like he had been wandering for hours, making him sigh, "I really wish I had brought a snack or something to this...wherever this is."

And as he continued to walk, he glanced around, only to see something shine in the distance. It was a light, a faint flicker just bright enough to catch his eye. "Finally!" He spread his wings and took to the air, shooting to the light as fast as he could. That light got brighter with every flap of his wings, the pegasus soon seeing the small light was just very far away.

But as he got closer, he came to a stop as he saw what it really was. It was a large dome of light, one as large as Twilight's castle, "Okay...that's definitely new for the white voids I've been in. And I've seen some pretty wacky stuff in these voids." he told himself. "Welp, fortune favors the bold. Let's see what's behind door number one."

He dove his body right in, closing his eyes as the light blinded him. And as he went through, he opened his eyes...only to go full wide-eyed. Inside the dome was a mess of strings all over the place. The light that made up the dome looked like endless tangles of string, all that had been tightly wrapped together to form a dome shape. Several strands of light came off the walls and struck the ground while string lines stretched from one side to the other through the air.

And hanging from those lines were a bunch of cocoon-shaped constructs.

"Note to self: Never check behind door number one first. Its...creepy." Flash commented before flying up to the nearest cocoon. When he reached it, he squinted his eyes at the thing, barely able to see through the thin sheet of light. And when he did this, he was greeted to the image of a pony sleeping within it. A pony he had talked to the previous day.

"What the heck?!" He yelped, only to hear a new sound behind him. The defender slowly turned around, now seeing something new walk out of the many strings that made up the dome.

"Bring him back!" Soul cried while waving the sword around. No light came out, the weapon being nothing but a basic blade for her.

Trap leapt back and pulled out a camera. "I can't do that. But if you're really worried about him, I'll send you to meet him." He readied the button to a take a photo, but Soul fired a light from her horn. It unleashed a light so powerful that shined right through the camera, making the picture Trap took nothing but a blurred image. "Ahhhhh!" He yelped, throwing it away when he saw it.

"Nice try," Soul replied, "But I figured out your little trick. You can swap ponies with a picture of them as long as the picture looks close enough to them. That's why you need their faces and cutie marks in the picture!"

"You really are smart," Trap grumbled, "Kudos...but it'll take more than knowing that to stop me."

"I can't believe you," Soul barked back, "These ponies welcomed you into their town, treated you with respect and called you a friend. And what did you do?! Use that friendship to pull of some evil plot just for your own amusement!"

"Oh please. You think I did all this for fun?" Trap asked with a raised eyebrow as he focused his camera on her again, only for her to flash another burst of light. "Stop doing that!"

"Stop trying to take my picture!" Soul countered. "I won't fall for your trick!" Her horn began to glow brighter at this, making him backpedal as he began to feel the magic pouring out of the alicorn, "Now give back Flash."

"I can't."

"Oh yeah?! Why not?!"

"Because...I have no choice." He replied, sighing as he added, "Just let me take your picture. Its the only way I can survive."

"Survive? Why would photos be needed for you to...to..." Her magic lessened its output slowly as she turned to the pictures on the wall. Her eyes went wide as the those words overlapped her thoughts on Flash, making her gasp as she glanced back at Trap, "Wait...if you're making fakes of everypony." She did a slight gulp at her next words, "Are you...feeding on the ponies you kidnapped?"

"You really are clever. To think you would jump to that conclusion so quickly." Trap responded, only to show a long frown, one that made Soul feel a shiver down her spine. It was one of not vengeance or hatred...but fear on his face as he continued, "No, I am not feeding on them. The one who created me is. A being that's centuries old, born during a time of chaos and has managed to survive since then." He held up a blank photo, "All within the being's own space. Its own little pocket world all for itself."

Flash's eyes went wide as he saw the beast now walked into the dome. It was a giant spider, one the size of a bus. It's main body was oddly bright for a monster, and it had eight spindly legs of different colors sprouting out of it. It also had eight crystals on its face that were acting like eyes, and a large black back section while on the tip of its rear where spider thread usually came out, was instead a crystal spike.

"Whoa..." Flash whispered as he flew down. "That's a new one. I don't remember fighting any giant spider monsters." He then saw it begin to reach for one of the cocoons, "Hey! Are you the one that did this?!" The spider just let out a low hiss as it twiddled with the cocoon before glancing back down at Flash, "Can't talk, can ya? And I'm guessing you expect to do what you did to those ponies to me as well?"

The creature let out a hiss and pointed its rear-end at him. Before Flash could respond, a beam of light shot out, the defender ducking under the laser. And as he did this, he instinctively reached for his sword...only to find nothing.

"Oh. Forgot about that. And here I was, trying to not use the Sacred Light so much." Flash sighed before an aura of light shined around him, "Armorize!" Light exploded off him, forming the Shining Guardian Armor as he charged at the monster.

He opened the wing hatches, unleashing the light thrusters as he sped up. But as he got close, the spider suddenly leapt over him, landing on some light strings as Flash came to a stop. The two glared at each, ready to do battle.

Soul's jaw dropped as Trap finished explaining who his master is, making her croak out, "That's the craziest thing I've ever heard. You work for a monster in another dimension that feeds on ponies?! That's insane!"

"Well, it's true," Trap replied, "And if you don't believe me, I don't care. All that matters is that I must keep sending him fresh victims. If I don't, then he'll stop giving me energy."

"So...you're not a real pony?" Soul asked next, "Is that why this place is also so bright? You're a fake like those other copies?"

"I'm no copy," he responded, "There never was a Camera Trap. My master created me to go out into the world and find those I could send to him so that he can feast without drawing to much attention."

"And what do you get out of it?" She asked.

"I get to live. As long as I send him more victims, I survive. And I can tell you, I've lived quite a full life."

As he said that, Soul heard hoofsteps and looked behind her. Multiple ponies were now standing outside the store, a few stepping inside. "Then...why not stop?" She squeaked as she saw the ponies slowly walk behind Camera, the sight making her backpedal into a corner, "Why do more ponies need to suffer so that you get to live?"

But as she said these words, she went wide-eyed at the next sight in front of her. The look on Camera's face was showing that fear again, only to be mixed with something else. It was a pained look, only for it to vanish as he slowly replied, "It wouldn't matter. If I stopped, he would just destroy me and create somepony new to do his dirty work."

The ponies around him began to march forward at this, Soul now feeling her tail touch the corner's wall. She glanced down at the sword in her hooves before she looked back up at him with a long glare, "Then Flash'll slay that creature. He's one of the most powerful ponies in Equestria!"

Camera shook his head at this, "I doubt that. The master hasn't survived this long just because he's careful."

"Flash Force!" The defender yelled as he fired a blast of light from his helmet horn. The beast was struck, flinching before spinning around and unleashing a beam at Flash. And as he tried to dodge it, the beam suddenly wrapped around, sticking his front legs to his sides.

"What the-get off!" He growled as the beam retracted into the crystal and pulled him. But before it could reach him, he sparked his horn and disappeared in a flash of light. He then reappeared right above the spider, his wing boosters igniting as he charged downward.

"Flash Strike!" His front hoof fired out energy from his boot's knee gem, thrusting it into the creature's face. It roared as three of its eyes cracked, Flash quickly flying back before firing several more beam of light. They collided with the creature and ripped off four of its legs, damaging another two eyes as cuts began to appear all over its body.

"Gotcha!" He cheered, only too see the spider fire several beam strings...but not at him. They struck some of the cocoons holding ponies, the lights combining. And when they did, Flash watched as the ponies inside flinched in pain as light the same colors as the ponies flew into the beam strings and was absorbed into the spider's crystal rear. The light spread around its body, its injuries now beginning to heal themselves.

"No freaking way..." he whispered before looking back at the ponies, now seeing them all in pain. He glared back at the monster, "Stop that! You're hurting them-whoa!"

The beast fired another beam at the defender, Flash leaping to the side as the spider began firing threads of string everywhere. Flash began zipping all around, dodging the beams that came next. He fired a Flash Force next, hitting the spider back before flying up to one of the cocoons. "Hang on, I'll free ya."

He pulled at the cocoon, now seeing it felt like silk. "That's sticky...guess I gotta cut it. Figures that I don't have Lightbringer." He pulled out a light sword at this, only for a light thread to hit him in the back. "Gyah!" Flash felt a yank at this, throwing him down into the ground. "Blaugh!"

The spider raced up to him at this, raising its legs to slam them down on the defender. But as the legs came down, a light shined from the armor's helmet, blinding the spider as it staggered back. Flash then hopped onto his hooves, rubbing his back as he glared at the spider.

'Not good. If I hurt him too much, he'll hurt the ponies in here.' He glanced down at his hooves, feeling the armor around him. 'And I can't keep this up forever either.'

"Get back!" Soul cried as she swung Lightbringer, trying to get the fakes to retreat. But no matter what she did, they kept getting closer, "Get back!"

This time, the sword hit one in the chest. The sword sliced through its body like a hot knife through butter, but the photo-pony didn't even flinch. She pulled the sword back, now seeing the wound she had caused...but it didn't bleed. Instead, light trickled out of it.

The pony stepped back and pointed its wound to the light, the wound now glowing before it was sealed up. Soul gasped at the sight, only to smirk as an idea hopped into her head. She grabbed the lights in her magic, now tightening them in her grasp, Camera yelling, "Get her outside!" The ponies leapt at her, the filly forced to stop her magic and try to take to the air, but there wasn't enough room for her to fly up. She managed to jump over three ponies, landing on top of the pile, but then she was tackled by another before being flung through a window.

The sound of shattering glass filled the air as she was pinned to the ground by a fake. Multiple ponies heard this and looked around, raising an eyebrow while Trap and the others walked outside. "No way to turn out the lights out here," he told her before holding up his camera.

"Trap?" He stopped at the voice, making him turn to see a few ponies gathering around, "What's going on here?"

Trap stared at them, now seeing the many staring faces before turning to his army, "Get them. Get them all." With that, the fakes started attacking the real ponies. They all cried out as they were grabbed and forced to the ground, the fakes heading into every house and pulling more townsponies out.

"Stop it!" Soul screamed as young ponies began crying. She squirmed under the fake before staring up at Trap, "Please stop this."

"I don't have a choice," he replied, "If I don't, my master will obliterate me."

"So that gives you the right to hurt others?! They have just as much right to live as you do! Why should they have to die and not you?!"

"Because they have a chance!" He roared, making Soul go wide-eyed along with the ponies around them.

"What...what are you talking about?" She asked, Trap just looking away before taking out his camera. "Please! If you're gonna kill us, the least we deserve is to know why! What did you mean that they have a chance!?"

Trap remained silent at this, not responding as Soul stared at him. She thought back to why she was chosen by the map, thinking back to her ability. Healing. She now knew what she had to do. She had to heal him in some way.

But before she could do anything, Trap spoke up, "What I mean...is that they have a chance to move on."

"Move on?"

"Yeah..." Trap sighed before glancing away, "Think about it. I've been around long enough to hear all those different theories ponies have about what happens when they die. Their spirits going to another place, or getting reborn as somepony else or...whatever. Those stories wouldn't have shown up unless at least one of them was real. When the master's finished with you, you'll move on and be at peace. But if I die...if the master stops giving me power...I'll just be gone. I'll cease to exist. It'll be nothing. Like I was never there to begin with."

As those words hit her ears, she went wide-eyed again before the most honest words she could say instantly came out of her mouth, "Trap...you're scared, aren't you?"

"Of course I'm scared!" He almost yelled at her. "I'm not a real pony. I'm just a shadow of what you are! A mirage! Something that'll never be remembered once I'm gone. So why should I have to die when somepony else can and get the chance to move onto another life?! This is the only one I have!"

Soul blinked at him, only for her horn to spark. A light spread around her body before flying out, knocking the pony holding her down off of her. Trap gasped at this, only for Soul to fly up to him with Lightbringer at his neck. "I'm sorry," she told him, "But I can't let you keep doing this."

"You destroy me and your friend will be trapped forever," he chuckled before feeling the blade press into his skin, forcing him to backpedal into the store.

"Don't let them follow us," Soul commanded, Trap nodding as the fakes remained where they were. And with a single motion, Soul closed the door behind them, leaving them alone in the photography studio. Seeing this, she let out a sigh, "Trap, I know you're scared...but you're making other ponies suffer just because you're worried about what might happen to you."

"Why not?! Don't I deserve to live?!" He yelled back at her, "Why should I have to disappear into nothing just so ponies can continue living a life that's just filler until their true life begins?!"

"Because nopony knows for sure what happens after we die," Soul replied, "I...I'm training to be a doctor. I saw what it meant to heal others...and I wanted to do it more and more. But..." Memories of when the virus took over Ponyville now went through her head, the moment she realized what her magic really was. "I've seen when ponies lives are ending." She then stared directly into his eyes, hers showing nothing but sadness, "But I believe that there's something waiting for us after it, but everypony at some point in their lives worries that there's nothing. That's why we have to make this life as spectacular as any other." She put her hoof on his chest, "And you shouldn't get to take that away from them."

"But they have a chance!" Trap barked, "I don't get to move on! I'm a fake!"

"Who says you won't get to move on?" She asked, "Why are you so sure that you'll just disappear?"

"Because...because...I'm not real. I'm not a real pony," he responded, "I'm just a construct of light, with no soul or spirit. I'm...just a hollow body."

"Maybe that's what you started as," Soul replied, "But you said it yourself, you've been around for a long time. And in that time, you could have evolved into something more than what that creature made." This made Trap go wide-eyed, about to respond until Soul continued, "I can see it in your eyes. You're fear, your guilt, emotions that a hollow creature couldn't possibly feel. You have a soul."

"I...have a soul?"

She nodded, slowly lowering the sword. "But a soul is made up of the choices we make. And you've been corrupting your soul with all the bad deeds you've committed. Everytime you steal somepony away for that monster, a small piece of your soul dies." Trap reached up and touched his chest while Soul pointed to outside the store. "Look at them."

Trap glanced up, now seeing the ponies of the town all trapped by the fakes he had created. Fear was all he could see on their faces, an apt departure from the happy smiling faces he was so used to seeing here.

"Those ponies trusted you, accepted you and treated you as a friend. If you betray them and send them to your master after everything they've done for you...then maybe you really don't have a soul."

Trap gasped at this, backpedaling before glancing down at the camera in his hooves. Soul watched as he appeared to be having a battle in his head as he slowly responded, "I...I don't know what to do."

Soul put a hoof on his chest again, "I don't know if there is another life after this one. But if there is, how can we be sure the ponies that have lost their lives in that dimension managed to get there?" Trap looked up at this. "For all I know, dying in that pocket dimension means your spirit is trapped there. Does that sound good to you?"

Camera shut his eyes at this, and the next sight made Soul gasp again. He was crying. If there was any proof that Trap had a soul, this was it. Suddenly, his horn sparked as a flash of light from outside caught Soul's attention. She turned to see the fake ponies vanish, letting the real ones free. She then turned back to see Trap throw away his camera and wipe his face, "I'll help you."

Flash panted as he stood there, staring at the spider monster as it hung in front of the cocoons.

Their impasse was starting to dissolve as Flash was starting to tire. "Gotta think...gotta be something I can do." He ran through everything he had done to try and free the ponies, pulling at the cocoons, burning them with his horn beams, and even trying to bite through it. But nothing worked. Even the light swords were useless, only nicking the cocoons hard strings due to the swords just being pure magic.

"What else is there?" He asked before hopping away from another beam from the spider. "Grrr...if I only had Lightbringer."

"Alright..." Soul commented, "How do we save them?"

"I've already done the first step," Trap replied, "The fakes act as a blockage, keeping the rift I use to send them into the pictures closed. But without them, all the ponies would need to do is think about coming home and they'll be free."

"Great! So we just need to get a message to them."

"Not exactly," Trap continued, "The master captures ponies and places them in cocoons that put the captives to sleep. As long as they're inside, they won't be able to escape. And the cocoons are made of a powerful light. You need something very powerful to through them."

Soul glanced down at the sword in her hooves, "I know what to do." She picked up Trap's camera, "Send me in there." Trap's eyes went wide as she pulled the sword close to her. "With this, I'll give it to Flash and he can use it to free the ponies. Then I'll tell them how to escape."

"Are you sure? You trust me to do this and not betray you?" Soul nodded back, "Alright..." he held up his camera, "Say cheese." Soul held the sword tightly to her chest as the picture was taken, the photograph being printed a moment later. He took the picture as his horn began to shine, "Good luck."

"Thank you," she replied as Trap began his magic. The light flew off his horn and onto the photo, then off it and onto Soul. The filly felt an odd sensation as her body was consumed by the light, only to be sucked into the picture.

"I hope this works," he whispered.

Flash grunted as he was thrown against the wall of the dome, sliding down with an "Urgh…" as the spider snapped its talons at him. It scuttled up, ready to attack again, only for a flash of light to appear behind the spider. Both it and Flash turned to the light before it faded to reveal a certain with Lightbringer in her hooves.

"Soul?!" He yelped, the filly smiling back at him before hearing a hiss from the spider.

Her eyes went wide as she looked down and saw the monster, "That's what created Camera Trap?!" The spider growled at her before firing a beam, the filly letting out an "Eek!" before flying down, dodging the attack. She then glanced over to Flash as she landed, "Flash!" She threw Lightbringer between the beast's legs, "Catch!" The sword slid along the ground, under the spider before stopping right in front of the pegasus. "Free the ponies!"

"You got it!" Flash laughed as he grabbed the sword, the weapon transforming upon contact. He ignited his thrusters as the spider turned to him, barely having a second to register what happened before Flash zipped past the beast, slicing the monster's rear end. It let out a scream at this, spinning around to strike Flash with its legs...only for the pegasi to suddenly disappear. The monster hissed at this, only to hear Flash say, "Wakey-wakey!" With a single super-powered strike, Flash cut the closest cocoon in half.

The light forming the cocoon faded as soon as it was cut, freeing the pony within. And as the pony fell, Flash shot to the next cocoon and repeated the process. He did this again and again, every pony beginning to wake up before Soul yelled, "Everypony!" They heard her cry, "Think about home! Think about your friends and family! It's the only way to escape this place!"

The ponies raised eyebrows at this, only for the hissing of the spider to catch their attention. The sight made them all scream before running away while wishing they were back home. And sure enough, they all started glowing as their bodies began to turn transparent.

"It's working!" Soul cheered as the spider scuttled after them, only for Flash to fly down between them, his chest gem glowing.

"BACK OFF!" He roared, unleashing a blast of energy that struck the beast in the face. And as the blow knocked it back, the last pony vanished.

"It worked! They're back home!" Soul exclaimed, "At least...I hope."

Trap stared at the pictures of the wall while telling the other ponies of the town asking what the heck had happened. But as this happened, the pictures on the wall suddenly began to glow. The sight made all the ponies gasp, all trotting back until the lights exploded off the picture. Those lights shot out of the store and toward different houses, eventually slamming into the ground and taking pony shape.

The lights faded, revealing the pony that called the building they were in front of home. Great Taste blinked as he opened his eyes, now staring at his inn. "DAD!" He looked down to see his children, the pair running up and tackling him, the three laughing as they hugged as other similar reunions occurred all over town.

Trap chuckled at the sight, only to flinch as he clutched his chest. He fell to the ground and let out a moan, knowing what this meant. "My time's almost up..."

With the ponies gone, Flash smirked as he stared at the monster. The spider began to backpedal, Flash chuckling as he pointed at the beast, "Not so tough without your batteries to protect yourself, huh?" The spider hissed, trying in vain to scare Flash away. "Don't worry," Flash held up his sword. "I'm not cruel. I'll make this as quick and painless as possible."

The spider let out a scream before turning to run off, his web-like light dome vanishing as it tried to scamper. Flash responded by holding his sword up high while the gems on his armor lit up while his wings opened up and unleashed the Sacred Light. The gems unleashed blue lightning, which sparked around his body and then into the blade of his weapon. The Sacred Light spiraled around the sword, creating a tornado of light that spun around the blade.

Flash then swung the sword, the energy of the blade increasing every second. Soul pulled out her shades, putting them on as Flash swung the sword down, "ULTRA FLASH CUTTER!"

An energy blade exploded off his sword, a massive crescent moon-shape with blue lightning sparking around it. It moved faster than the eye could follow as it reached the spider instantly, the beast barely turning to see it coming. And with one final hiss of terror, it was consumed.

Back in New Omniara, the ponies that had just escaped were telling the ponies what had happened. And as the stories continued, they all turned to the photo studio and glared at it. But before they could charge in, twin flashes of light made them freeze before a pair of light orbs flew out and hit the ground in front of the store. Those lights quickly took shape and exploded off the pair, Flash and Soul falling to the ground.

"Wow...now that was nuts!" Flash gasped as he leaned over, Soul nodding in agreement.

"Flash!" Great exclaimed as he ran past the crowd, "You're okay?"

"I'm fine." Flash replied before turning to Soul, "Thanks Soul. I couldn't have done that without you...but how did you get in there? That thing seemed surprised you showed up."

"Well, its-" She let out a gasp at this, "Trap!" She suddenly ran into the store, Flash following after her with a few more ponies. When they did, they spotted Camera Trap on the ground, looking like he hadn't eaten in a month. "Trap...no..." she whispered as she kneeled down next to him.

Flash knelt down as well, looking the pony over. "What happened to him?"

"He was the one working for that spider," she replied, "It created him to send ponies into that dimension to feed it. But now that it's gone-" She did a gulp, tears appearing in her eyes as Trap turned to her.

He smiled as he said, "You...did it. You...beat him."

"Yes," Soul nodded, "I'm sorry. I-"

"It's okay," he interrupted, "You...were right. This was for the best." He looked over at the ponies staring at him through the windows. "I...I was hurting ponies, and that was wrong. Using the friendship they offered me to hurt them, for my own selfish ends. All I can do is hope this makes up for it."

As he said that, Flash and Soul's cutie marks began to glow, the pair going wide-eyed at this, "That's why we were sent here..." Flash gasped, "To help you realize using friendship like this was wrong." Trap nodded as his body began to slowly give off orbs of light.

"Trap!" Soul cried, "Wait! There has to be something I can do!"

"It's okay," Trap replied, "This is for the best." He flinched for a moment before putting his hoof up to her, "Just...do me a favour." Soul nodded, "Remember me. Then, even if there's nothing on the other side, I'll still live on through you."

Soul sniffed and nodded, "I will." She then saw his camera by his side, taking it in her magic. "Here...I have an idea." She brought it over and held it up in front of the two's faces. "Say cheese." She snapped the photo, the pair managing a smile. A moment later, the picture came out and showed the two, "I'll keep this for as long as I live, so I can't forget about you."

Trap did a small nod at this, the fake pony taking a deep breath, "Thank you. I'm ready." With that, the lights start flowing off of him quicker, his body starting to turn transparent. Nopony said anything as he grew more see through, and as he became almost invisible, he whispered one final statement. "Remember me."

And before anypony could say anything, he was gone.

Soul stared at where he had been laying and started crying, Flash pulling her into a hug. The other ponies grimaced at this, now seeing what this meant. He might have put them in danger, but he sacrificed everything to save them in the end. He was a hero, and a true friend.

The next day...

Flash and Soul were waiting at the station, their train about to arrive any moment. As they stood there, Flash stared at the filly, a giant frown on her face. She had spent the whole of the previous day crying, eventually managing to cry herself to sleep by late afternoon.

Flash wanted to help her, thinking about what to say before speaking up, "You know...I can see why the map chose to send you." Soul slowly turned to him as he continued, "I think it knew you were the only pony to help Trap do what was right. And it knew you would care about what happened to him afterwards."

"And now he's gone."

"Maybe physically, but I'm sure he's out there somewhere. You helped him do the right thing and saved his soul, so I have no doubt he's out there somewhere. And even if he's gone, he said it himself. He lives on in your memories. From now on, anything you experience will be experienced by him."

Soul nodded at this as tears began to appear again in her eyes, "I just wish...I just wish I could have saved him."

Flash sighed and shook his head before placing his wing on top of her head, "Soul...I know this sounds mean, but if there's one thing I've learned from my job, its that you can't save everypony. Even Faust wasn't able to save your city, no matter how hard she tried. But she was able to save you, Heart, Ace and Mira. And that's something she can be proud of." He grabbed her shoulders, a hard stare in his eyes, "I know you couldn't save Camera Trap the way you wanted to...and if you wanna be a doctor, you'll have to accept that there'll be somepony you can't save."

Soul sniffed at this, "Its just...its just hard to admit that."

"I know. But if you don't learn to accept it, you'll never be able to carry on. If we let out failures overcome us, then they'll have happened for nothing."

"So what do I do?"

"Learn from your failures. So that you'll never fail like that again." He looked up at the sky, "There might be a spell out there that could have saved Trap. Though if there was, Twilight would have probably known it and the map would have sent her with us. But I'm sure she can find a way to make one."

"Then I'll learn it!" she replied, "If I ever meet another pony like Trap, I will save them."

"There you go!" Flash laughed before patting her side as their train arrived. "Come on, let's go home!"

She nodded back before they climbed aboard and took their seats, ready to head home and tell their friends all about their adventure. And as the train pulled away from New Omniara, Soul pulled out the picture she had taken the previous day. The sight of Trap hurt, but she refused to let herself ignore it. She told herself to put this picture in a frame and place it in her room so that she could remember the pony that sacrificed their life to help her.

And in the years to come, Soul would help many ponies with her magic. And every time she saved one, she would thank Trap. If he had the strength to do what he did, then she would have the strength to help as many ponies as she could.

Triple Threat

View Online

Most days in Ponyville could get pretty wild, though this as due to mostly outside events...or crusaders. But today was different, as it was being planned for a crazy event. The town had been decorated with banners, balloons and streamers, Ponyville's town hall now having a banner being put up by Flash and Twilight while Starlight placed a banner along the side of a bridge. As this was going on, Spike was pacing back and forth with a long checklist in his claws.

"Is the banner even?" He asked, looking up to see Twilight and Flash tie up a banner. "Are the flowers in place?" He turned to an unicorn mare ripping a bunch of flowers out, "By which I mean completely out of view." She added them to a cart of flowers being pulled by Berry Punch. "I'm pretty sure dragons don't like flowers..." He turned to a crystal bowl in front of the hall, "And what about the Ceremonial Dragon Fire Flame of Friendship?" He ran over and looked inside, "Is it still flaming?" He got his answer when a blast of whitish blue fire exploded in his face, knocking him back.

Flash and Twilight flew down at this as Spike sat himself up and brushed off the ash. "Spike..." Twilight spoke up, "Everything looks great! You're getting yourself worked up for no reason."

"Now where could he have learned that from?" Flash chuckled, Twilight glaring at him as Spike stood up.

"I have lots of reasons." Spike pulled out a piece of paper. "In fact, I wrote them down."

This resulted in a sigh from Starlight, "You've been hanging around Twilight for too long."

"Oh Celestia," Flash gulped. "It's spreading." Starlight giggled while Twilight continued to glare at Flash, Spike now beginning to read of his list.

"Reason number one: I invited Dragon Lord Ember to Ponyville today. Reason two: the Dragon Lord is a dragon."

"She is?!" Flash gasped, "That's embarrassing. I've been working under the assumption she was a gopher."

Twilight and Starlight both laughed as Spike rolled his eyes and said, "Reason three: She's coming here to learn more about friendship."

Twilight nodded at this, "That's right. According to Ember's letters, the dragons are trying to be friends, but competing is in their nature, and it's leading to more and more fights."

"Which brings me to to reason number four," Spike chimed in, "The Dragon Lord wants my advice, and as the new official Equestrian friendship ambassador to the dragons, I can't let her down."

Twilight patted his side, "I know you feel a lot of pressure, but you've got this Spike!"

"Yeah," Flash added, "You're the perfect version of a dragon in my opinion. You're both tough and kind, with a little bit of humor thrown into the mix. If more dragons were like you, the species would be in good hooves...claws...whatever."

Spike showed a small smile, only to slump over, "I...I just want things to be perfect." The ponies nodded back, only to go wide-eyed as they saw a certain fusion of insect and pony walk up and tap Spike on the shoulder. The drake spun around at this and gasped, "Thorax?! You're in Ponyville?!"

Thorax chuckled back, "Of course I am, silly!" He gave him a playful punch on the shoulder. "You invited me, remember? And I'm not one to back out of an invitation. Hey Twilight! Hey Starlight! Hey Flash!"

"Hey," the mares replied, Flash keeping his mouth shut as Thorax walked past them.

"Oh! I can't believe you did all this for me!" Thorax cheered as he stared at the decorations, "Great banner! Love the stage!" He then walked up to the fire-filled bowl. "What's this flame thingy?" His eyes went wide as his face slowly moved towards it. "It's pretty!"

"Whoa!" Flash ran over and pulled the changeling king away as Twilight turned to whisper to Spike.

"You invited Thorax over to Ponyville on the same day as Ember?!"

"Apparently..." Spike shrugged.

"That doesn't seem like a good idea," Starlight replied, "How are you gonna entertain them both?"

"I...have no idea," Spike responded before letting out a whimper, his calm facade vanishing as he started sweating buckets.

And as Flash was sure Thorax was far enough away from the fire, the stag pony creature smiling as he held up his hooves to allow the flames to warm them up. "Careful," he told the king, "I've seen enough moths around flames to know how this usually ends."

"Don't worry, I'm smarter then most moths." He then moved over to his dragon friend. "Spike," The little dragon turned to him, "I'm so glad you invited me! You are one of my closest, nicest, most caring, most understanding friends ever!" He wrapped a leg around Spike and pulled him into a hug, only to glance to the side and drop Spike, "Oh! Is that ice in the shape of a dragon?"

He ran off after it, Flash returning to the others as Starlight finished a conversation they had started without him, "Yeah, I see your point. They might not get each other."

"Or worse," Spike gulped, "What if they end up hating each other?! If the leader of the changelings and the Dragon Lord get into a fight..." His eyes shrunk at his next words, "I could be responsible for starting a war that could ruin Equestria as we know it!"

The ponies looked into Spike's eyes and saw he was beginning to imagine that exact event, leading him to hyperventilate as Twilight put a hoof on his shoulder, "I'm sure that won't happen. Now pull it together." Spike glanced up at her, trying to get his breathing under control before she directed him over to Thorax.

"So..." they heard Spike start, "Heh, Thorax uh...everything good with you?"

Thorax turned to Spike, showing a slight frown, "Well honestly...no. Not really. I have indigestion. Not sure if it's the new diet or stress. Or maybe it's both."

"NO!" They then heard Spike cry, making everypony flinch.

"Yeah, it really could be both." Thorax added, only to start ranting. And as he did this, Spike turned to the ponies and gestured as best he could to the sky, the ponies looking up to see a particular shape in the sky.

"Uh-oh!" Twilight gasped, the alicorn running over to Thorax.

"Sounds like you really need to unwind," Spike added, "How about a...uh...trip to the castle?" Spike zipped up to Thorax and pushed him forward, "Heh. You can't miss that view."

Twilight walked up next, "Yes, the castle! I'll give you a personal tour!"

They headed off, but Spike remained where he was. "Uh..." Thorax glanced back at him, "Aren't you coming?"

"Yeah, I'm just gonna...grab some ice cream for us and catch up. Heh-heh." Thorax nodded and went along with Twilight, Flash running up to him.

"So..." he asked the changeling, "How are things with Hiveena?" He noticed a blush appear on Thorax's face, making both him and Twilight laugh. "Come on, don't be shy. We've all been there. I remember how awkward things felt for me and Twilight the first time we got together."

"Yup," Twilight added, "I'm also curious how she's taking being co-rulers of the changelings."

"She's doing okay," he sighed, "She's trying to be as un-Chrysalis as possible, using methods we saw Cadance and Shining use to rule when we were living there, but..."

"But what?"

"Well..there's this renegade group of changelings who still feed off of love. I've been trying to tell them we shouldn't do that anymore, but they refuse to accept that. That's why I came to ask Spike for help."

Flash and Twilight exchanged glances, showing frowns before Twilight asked, "What does Hiveena say about it?"

"She wants me to find a solution," he replied, "But she won't tell me what I should do."

"Oh." Flash's frown disappeared at this, "Then I know what you need to do."

"Really?" Thorax gasped.

Flash nodded back, "Yeah. She probably knows you'd just do whatever she says. That's why she wants you to figure it out."

Twilight chimed in at this, "Flash is right. You'll never be able to flourish as a leader if you just take orders from somepony else. Hiveena wants to you figure out the best way to fix this your way."

"Really?" The two nodded again, making him hum. "Huh. Guess I gotta figure something out then..."

And as they said that, they reached the castle, Thorax glancing inside, "Wow..." the changeling's eyes went wide. "This place is amazing. I didn't get a good look at it the last few times I was here, but now I can't wait to see what secrets it holds."

"Well don't worry," Flash commented, "We'll give you the grand tour. What do you wanna see first? The training room? The map room?"

"How about the dining room," Twilight added, "Spike's said he was getting ice cream, so we can enjoy it in there." Thorax nodded and Twilight pointed in its direction, Thorax heading down the hallway while Flash whispered to Twilight.

"Is Spike really getting ice cream? I thought he was just using that as a cover."

"Hopefully he'll bring some once he's done with Ember," Twilight replied, "And if not...we've got some ice cream in the kitchen." Flash nodded and the pair followed Thorax, catching up to him as he made his way down the hall.

"It's times like this I wish Heart and Soul weren't in school right now. We could seriously use their help keeping him distracted."

They then got to the dinning room, which had been decorated and had a nice set of foods that were meant for Ember. The three took their seats and talked for a minute or so, Twilight soon deciding to get some refreshments, "So what about you Flash?" Thorax asked as he took an apple off the table and ate it. "How's life been for you?"

"Pretty good," Flash responded while leaning back in his chair, "I mean, how is it any different from other lives. I'm surrounded by a bunch of complex characters and constantly thrown into heavily serialized adventures that always end in mind-blowing twists that make me question the basic tenants of my reality. I mean, everypony has a life like that. Right?"

Thorax blinked at him with a blank stare, only for Twilight to slowly walk in, "Uh...you know what?" she slowly said, "I think this isn't the best place to wait for Spike. Let's go...to the library. I'm sure you'll love to see that." Before either could anything, she flew over, grabbed, and teleported them to the room.

"Uh...okay." Thorax commented as they appeared in the room.

Flash turned to his girlfriend, "What's wrong?"

"I saw Spike, Starlight and Ember out the window. They're heading here, and hopefully Ember won't want to look around the library." She turned to Thorax, who was staring intently at all the books. "Here," she trotted over to him, "Let me show you all my...chairs." Flash and Thorax both raised an eyebrow at this, Twilight telling them all about the different chairs in the library and what books they were best for reading in. "So this is my comfy chair for fictional reads..." She moved around in the chair before going to another chair made entirely of crystal, "This is my studying chair because the hard back keeps me awake."

Flash couldn't tell if Thorax was really interested or just being polite, only to brighten up when the doors opened and a certain dragon ran in, "Spike!" He went over to him. "I'm so glad you're here!" He then quietly whispered to him. "This castle visit is getting weird. Twilight really likes chairs." The three turned to the princess, who was levitating three chairs above her before turning back to Spike, "What happened to the ice cream?"

"What?" He asked before his eyes went wide. "Oh, right! Uh...they ran out. Heh. Hey, I'm really sorry, but I gotta borrow Twilight quickly." Before Thorax could reply, Spike grabbed the alicorn before pulling her to the door.

"Aah!" She yelped, dropping the chairs.

"Be right back!" He called out.

"But we didn't get to talk yet!" Thorax cried as the two left. He then turned to Flash, "Is it just me, or does Spike not seem to wanna be around me?"

"Of course not," Flash replied while shaking his head, "Spike's just...really busy. He's an important little dragon, you know." He then flinched when he saw Thorax frown at that, "But not too busy to care about your problems. He just...really wants to get something done so he's not distracted when you talk to him."

"Well, I don't mind Spike being occupied with something else," Thorax responded, "In fact, I'd love to help him out in exchange for all the help he's given me."

"That's so nice." Flash said, only to hear a whistling sound. He spun around to see Springer outside the door. "You know what..." he zipped over and pulled the jakhowl inside.

"WHOA!" Springer yelped as he was dragged over to Thorax, Flash swinging him over to the changeling.

"You and Springer never really got a chance to get to know each other. You can talk while I go see how Spike's doing." He then leaned over to whispered into Springer's ear. "Don't let him leave this room."

Before Springer could ask why, Flash shot out the door. He flew through the halls until he heard Spike's voice, "We need to switch places!" He followed it and found himself inside the map room. "They might be getting suspicious."

Spike appeared to be quivering under Twilight, the alicorn giving him a smile, "All we have to do is make both Thorax and Ember feel special and keep them apart for a few more hours. We can do this."

Flash nodded and Spike was about to reply...only for the spines on his head began to glow, giving off a very familiar sound. "Gah!" He leapt back, looking up at his spines. "What's happening?!"

"Maybe Ember's summoning you?" Flash replied, remembering the last time Spike glowed like this. "Or...maybe this is some kind of Mystic Dragon thing."

But then, a new glow appeared besides them. The three looked down and saw the light now come from the crystal table. "I...think it's the map," Twilight gasped, only for an image of Spike's head to appear. "It's calling...you?" They stared at the map, now seeing Spike's face appearing over their little town. "Apparently, you also have to solve a friendship problem!" Flash could almost here the dramatic sting, Spike looking absolutely horrified.

"The map is calling me?!"

"Oh..." Twilight whispered, "Amazing! The map is really reaching out! I mean, this proves it can call dragons! Perhaps it can-" She came to a stop, now seeing Spike grimace at her, "Not a good time? I get it."

"You did say you wanted a quest," Flash laughed.

"BUT NOT RIGHT NOW!" Spike screamed, only for the room's door to open.

"Spike," They heard Starlight call out, "Are you here?" They turned to see her trot inside. "Ember's eaten all of Twilight's decorations and-oh!" She then saw that the others were in the room, "Hey Twilight, what are you all-" She came to a stop as she saw what was happening. "Glowing map... " She gulped before turning to the dragon, "Glowing spikes. That's not good."

"I KNOW!" Spike screeched, leaping ten feet into the air before pacing back and forth.

Starlight looked over the map, "At least your friendship problem is in Ponyville? Heh."

"Why would the map would tell us this?" Flash asked, "Its just in Ponyville. Wouldn't we find it?"

Twilight shrugged, "No idea. Whatever this problem is, it must be something so important that the map couldn't ignore it."

"Okay..." Spike took a deep breath, "Okay." He turned to them. "To pull this off, I'm gonna need all of you to help. You all need to keep Ember and Thorax separate while I get ice cream."

The ponies raised an eyebrow at this, Twilight speaking up first, "You mean find the friendship problem."

"Yeeeees!" Spike strained, "Go easy on me! I'm under a lot of pressure!"

With that, he ran out of the room, Flash sighing as he pulled his mane down over his eyes. "What are you doing?" Twilight asked when she saw this.

"Checking for grays. I'm getting the feeling this won't be the most stressed I'm gonna get today."

Twilight and Starlight rolled their eyes...then started checking their manes. Once they were sure they weren't gonna need mane-dye, Flash and Twilight headed towards the dining room. And as they walked inside, they heard the sounds of munching. "I'm stuffed..." they heard Ember say before she belched.

"Ember!" Twilight ran over to give her a hug, "There you are!"

Ember flinched at this, "Oh...right. More pony hugs." As Twilight backpedaled next, Flash noticed the pillars of the room now had large bite marks, seeing they were a miracle that they were still standing.

"How's your trip to Ponyville so far?" Twilight asked, not even noticing the walls.

Ember smiled and nodded. "Well, I'm certainly learning a lot about friendship. I had no idea it was polite to decorate your walls in your friends' favorite foods!"

It was here that Twilight realized what had happened, Flash then attempting to speak up. "Actually, it's not a-" But Twilight used her wing to cover his mouth.

"Where'd Spike and Starlight go?" Ember asked, crossing her arms. "I feel like I'm being avoided."

She let out a huff of smoke from her nostrils, Twilight gulping at the sight. "Nooooo, they're just...making sure everything is perfect for your welcome party later." Flash nodded at this, "In the meantime, how about I show you around town?"

"Sounds good," Ember replied, "I can't exactly learn about friendship if I don't make new friends." She headed out the door, Twilight then sighing at the sight.

"This can't get any more complicated...right?" Before she got her answer, a stray piece of a broken pillar broke off and hit Flash on the head.

"I hope not," he rubbed his head before they flew out after Ember. "But you know, we could ask Ember what she thinks of changelings."

"Come again?" Twilight asked, "Why would we do that? Isn't that what Spike doesn't want?"

"Eh, Spike flew to the worst case scenario just like you like to do." Flash commented, Twilight slightly glaring at him before he added, "I say we ask Ember if she would be interested in meeting Thorax."

Twilight blinked at this, "And what do we do if the pair of them don't hit it off?"

"How is it any different from when we befriended the yaks?" Twilight was about to speak up, "I know they declared war, but that didn't happen."

Twilight sighed again, "I guess one of the core aspects of friendship is courage." Flash smirked at this. "And the start of every friendship begins with that first risky attempt. Alright, let's do this. And if it does come to war...we'll just tell them they can't do it in Equestria."

"And do you honestly expect Thorax declare war?" He asked, Twilight shrugging back. "Exactly. Though if Ember does declare war...I guess we could go get Flicker to help calm her down?"

"Hey!" The pair looked ahead and saw Ember near the doorway, "You two coming or what?"

"Actually," Twilight replied while twiddling her hooves, "There's...somepony else we want to introduce to you."

"Who?" Twilight then teleported away, Ember blinking at the sight before turning to Flash. "What was that?"

"Give her a moment. It's a...complicated situation." A moment later, there was another flash of light and Twilight returned with Thorax, Starlight and Springer. Starlight's eyes went wide the minute she saw Ember, while Thorax just blinked.

"What's going on?" He asked before noticing Ember. "Oh, hello. Are you Spike's...sister?"

"Sister?" Ember yelped, "What?! No!" She shook her head, "I'm not his sister!"

"Oh," Thorax gulped, "Uh...sorry. I just assumed since...there's not a lot of dragons in Equestria."

"Huh," she crossed her arms, "I guess that's fair." She looked Thorax up and down, "So...what are you?" She focused on his antlers, "You're not like any pony I've ever seen."

"Oh," Thorax smirked, "I'm not a pony. I'm actually a changeling."

"Change...what?"

"Might be better if you just see the stuff he can do," Flash spoke up before nodding to Thorax. A moment later, Thorax was consumed by flames that quickly faded to reveal an exact copy of Flash.

"No way," she gasped, "How'd you do that?"

"It's a changeling's special power," Twilight replied, "They can shape-shift and change their appearance."

"The name kinda gives it away," Springer added, "Though they're not the only shapeshifters..."

Thorax then morphed into more ponies, Ember staring at him before he turned into her. "Oh wow. That's cool."

He shifted back to his original form as he replied, "Thanks." He began to rub the back of his head, "Though it doesn't really have a lot of uses anymore. Ever since the changelings stopped trying to feed on love, we haven't had a reason to transform anymore."

Ember tilted her head at this, "Well I don't know what you mean by feed on love, but there's gotta be a hundred things you can do with that power. Can you increase your size?" Thorax replied by transforming into the largest thing he could think of: A yeti, then changed back.

"I can only change my size if the creature I'm mimicking is that size. It's weird that way."

"Well I think its cool." Ember responded, "What I wouldn't give to be able to make myself bigger whenever I wanted to." The ponies and Springer all chuckled at this, only for Ember to say, "Well this has been fun, but I really need to find Spike."

This caused Thorax to raise an eyebrow, "You're looking for Spike too?" Now Ember raised an eyebrow, "I've been waiting almost all day to talk to him, but he keeps running off somewhere."

"Huh?" Ember crossed her arms, "He's been doing the same thing with me." The pair blinked at each other before turning to the others. The ponies and Springer began to sweat, mostly at Ember's hard glare that felt like it could burn through their heads faster than her fire breath. Thorax was just frowning, this being the straw that broke the camel's back.

"Spike's been trying to keep you two apart!" Flash yelped, making the pair jump while the others glared at him. "Sorry. They broke me."

"What do you mean he's been trying to keep us apart?" Thorax asked, Ember nodding at the question.

"Alright," Twilight sighed, "Spike kind of...accidently invited you both to Ponyville on the same day. And he was worried that you two might not get along."

"Really?!" Ember replied, "So that's why he's been avoiding me all day?!"

"Uh...kinda. That's one part of it." Flash responded, "He was terrified that the two of you could argue and start a war. Its a thing that happens in Ponyville. Side note, please don't start a war."

"But then why did you all bring us together?" Thorax asked next.

"Well...we realized trying to keep you two apart was ridiculous," Twilight sighed, "And asking for trouble."

Flash nodded at this, "Knowing our luck, one of you would end up snapping at Spike the moment the other one showed up. Then the other one would mistake that for the first attacking Spike and attack back, which probably would have ended in a war."

"Huh," Ember huffed, "Well, that wouldn't have happened if he just told me about the mix up."

"Same here," Thorax added, "So...where is Spike? If he's been rushing between the two of us, shouldn't he be with us right now?"

"Yeah..." Twilight rubbed the back of her leg with another, "About that."

One explanation later...

"And why didn't Spike tell us all this?!" Ember shouted before growling, "You know, I'm getting a little tired of him not telling me things!"

"Same here," Thorax nodded.

"Come on," Ember turned to the exit. "I don't know about you, but I'm gonna give Spike a piece of my mind." Thorax was in agreement and flew off with her, the pair flying out the front doors. Springer and the ponies ran outside at this, now watching them disappear into the sky.

"Well, look on the bright side," Flash commented, "They seem to be getting on really well."

"Yeah...a little too well." Twilight gulped, "I guess mutual anger towards a common friend can be a great bonding experience." She turned to the others, "We should follow them before they kill Spike."

"If they do kill him, can I get popcorn to watch?" Flash asked, only to get a bonk on the head in response.

Spike was now making his way through the streets of Ponyville, Lyra Heartstrings and Bon Bon trotting on either side of him. "And that's why you should never let cupcake flavors get in the way of your friendship," he finished as they arrived at a small café.

"Huh," Lyra nodded, "I guess I never thought of it that way." She and Bon Bon smiled at one another, the argument that had attracted Spike to them now over with. "Thanks, Spike!" Bon Bon nodded and the pair walked off, the dragon then glancing up at his spikes...but they weren't glowing.

"Oh, come on!" He growled, "Glow!" He had been trying for a while now to find and fix the friendship problem, but everything he did resulted in the same thing: Happy ponies and a very annoyed dragon. "What more do I need to do to get these things to glow?!" He glanced around at this, only to find nothing. "Maybe I need to announce what I gotta do?" He imagined himself standing atop town hall with a microphone, announcing to the ponies of the town that he was looking for friendship problems. "Would that work? Seems kinda dumb..."

It was here he noticed Heart and Soul walking side by side home from school. They appeared to be discussing something and Spike's eyes went wide, remembering that Starlight's friendship problem had been between siblings. "Maybe mine is too!" He gasped, "Heart, Soul!"

The pair turned to him. "Hey Spike!" Heart waved with his wing.

"What's up?" Soul added as Spike skidded to a stop in front of them.

"Are you two arguing?! Please tell me you're arguing! Maybe had a disagreement at school that's got you annoyed at one another." The siblings blinked at him, both raising eyebrows before he fell to his knees, Please, you've gotta be the problem I need to fix! I'm begging you!"

"What are you talking about?" Soul asked next, Spike sighing before giving a small explanation.

"The map picked you?!" Heart yelped, "Oh, come on! Why am I the only one that can't get picked?!"

"Hey, my map mission wasn't fun." Soul chimed in, Heart glaring back at her.

"I still wanna do one!"

"Hey," Spike barked, making them both look back at him, "I'd much rather you get picked for this job! I already got more than I can handle on my plate right now!"

"Why?" The siblings asked, Spike then opening his mouth to reply.

"SPIKE!" He froze at the new voice, the drake slowly turning to see Ember and Thorax, both glaring at him, "We wanna have a talk with you," Ember snarled.

"Ember/Thorax!" Heart and Soul exclaimed before running over to them.

"Sup twerps," Ember chuckled while Thorax patted Soul on the head.

"What are you doing here?" Soul asked, "I mean...I know Ember was supposed to be here today-"

"Yeah," Ember interrupted as she glared at Spike, "About that..." Spike took a deep gulp, his ear spikes flattening like a dog's. "Who do you think you are, trying to keep me away from meeting this guy?!" She pointed at Thorax, who had to lean back to avoid getting his eye poked out.

"Well..." Spike began to twiddle his claws, "You see..." It was at that moment that Twilight and the others arrived on the scene, Spike turning to them and giving them all a look that screamed 'what happened?!'

"Hey Spike," Flash waved. "So," he rubbed his hooves, "Don't get mad, but we...kind of decided to introduce the pair of them."

"WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?!" Spike screamed, "What are we gonna do when they start fighting?!"

"Fighting?" Thorax asked back.

"Why would we start fighting?" Ember added.

"Because I accidentally invited you both over to Ponyville on the same day?"

"So what?" They asked as they both glared at Spike, making him backpedal.

"So I...was trying to keep you apart because I didn't think you'd get along." The two continued to glare at him, then turned to glance at one another.

"Oh," Ember broke the silence. "I get it. You thought he wouldn't like me just because I'm a dragon and I'm bad at friendship?"

"No, no," Spike shook his head. "Of course not! But-" He suddenly came to a stop, "Wait. Isn't that why you're here?"

"I can say I'm bad at friendship," Ember sighed before pointing at him. "You can't say it about me!" She crossed her arms. "You know what? I don't wanna talk about it." With that, she spread her wings and took off.

"Wait," he called out, "Please!" But Ember didn't listen, now flying away. Spike let out a sigh before turning to Thorax. "I'm sorry."

"No, no, it's cool." Thorax grumbled with a glare, "You just thought I would be too soft and that Ember would never respect me. Just like my own changelings!" With that, he also flew off.

"No," Spike cried, "That's not it! Thorax, wait!" But Thorax did the same as Ember, making Spike drop to his knees, "Oh...What have I done?"

His friends all shared glances before Flash commented, "Well, the plan wasn't a total disaster. Still wish I had my popcorn."

Twilight smacked him with her tail before adding, "I suppose. All we did was get Spike in trouble with two close friends and ruin the chance to make both the dragons and changelings become friends."

"Why..." Spike growled at them, "Why did you introduce them?!"

Flash turned to the others, the group mentally agreeing with what Flash was about to say. "Still better then what probably would have happened if we kept trying to keep them apart."

They all nodded, Spike letting out a sigh before falling onto his butt. "Sorry Spike, but this is for the best." Twilight added, "Lying to your friends is never a good idea, no matter how well intentioned it was."

"But now I can't help them," Spike replied, "Ember's problem is getting the dragons to cooperate and Thorax's...what was his problem again? Didn't he say something about the changelings not respecting him?" They all nodded and went on to explain Thorax's issue, Spike sighing again, "Oh...why isn't Hiveena helping him?"

"I bet she wants to, but she also knows that if Thorax is ever gonna step up as a leader, he needs to realize that sometimes a leader needs to be harsh with their subjects."

"Huh," Springer scratched his head, "It's kinda funny." The others turned to him as he continued, "Thorax is having problems being forceful, something Ember is great at while Ember is having trouble getting the dragons to open up, which is something Thorax is good out. They have the exact opposite problem that the other one is dealing with."

Starlight blinked at him at this, "You have a point there."

"Not that it matters," Spike chimed in as he picked himself up and began to walk off.

"Where're you going?" Twilight asked, but the dragon just kept moving.

"I'm gonna go clean up the town square. Might as well since there's no point in having all that stuff up." He disappeared around the corner, Twilight and Starlight following after him.

"Poor Spike." Flash commented before turning to Springer, Heart and Soul having also gone with the others, "Any idea where they went? Maybe we can convince them to forgive Spike." Springer closed his eyes and slapped his paws together, sending a burst of aura out.

"Got 'em. They're...both in the park."

"Well that speeds things up," Flash chuckled before they two ran off for the park. There they spotted Grand, trotting out with a confused look on his face.

"Oh," he walked over to the pair, "You two wanna tell me why I just spotted Ember flying overhead a few minutes ago? I also noticed Thorax going the same way. I didn't know we were expecting him as well. I would have suggested extra security if I had known we were housing two nation's leaders."

"Sorry Grand," Flash replied, "There's been a bit of a...mix up."

"We're trying to fix it now," Springer added, "You said you saw them going in the same direction?" Grand nodded.

"I can't be sure where Ember is, but I think Thorax was heading toward the lake."

"Got it. We'll go talk to them. Meanwhile, you might wanna help Twilight and the others clean up the town square." Grand nodded again before the duo headed into the park, Springer sending out another wave of aura to locate Thorax. They ran over a hill that blocked the lake from view, soon spotting the changeling leader standing at the shore. He threw a rock into the water, a loud splashing sound filling the air. They were about to go talk to him, only to hear the sound of wings beating.

They looked up and saw Ember, who flew down next to Thorax. "Why are you still here?" She landed as Thorax let out a sigh, the dragon sitting like a dog would.

"Because I'm having trouble leading my pack, so I don't really wanna go home."

This statement made Ember raise an eyebrow, Flash and Springer quickly hiding behind a bush in response. "Wait..." she asked, "You're in charge?" She let out a series of chuckles. "Oh wow, you need to be more assertive."

Thorax let out a moan, "Well, that's my problem: I don't know how! I tried asking them to please follow my directions, I even offered a prize, and then-" He didn't get to finish as Ember placed a claw to his mouth.

"Shhh!" She got up close to his face and gave her the scariest look she could, "Stop talking." They watched as Thorax suddenly froze in place, doing nothing but blinking. Ember then smirked, "That's how you do it."

"Whoa!" Thorax rubbed his shoulders, "That just gave me chills."

"HA! If you think that, then I know you have it in you," Ember replied, "I mean, you can turn into a yeti. How could you not have any confidence?"

"It's...tricky. I mean, I'm not the strongest changeling around. Hiveena has me beat in that category, and a lot of the rebel changelings are just as strong."

"But being strong doesn't make a great leader," Ember responded, "I should know. We dragons have been using strength to determine leadership for generations. It wasn't until I met Spike that I realized there are other ways to be a good leader. You don't have to be strong to be a good leader, but you do need to be assertive. When you make a decision, no matter how much someone else disagrees with you, you stick with it until you're given a reason to change it." The three watched Thorax as heard this, only to see him just show an unsure frown as Ember continued, "Come on. There must have been some point when you showed how tough you are. I mean, you became the leader for a reason."

"Well...I guess I can be tough when I'm defending my friends. I was able to evolve because if I didn't find a way to stop Chrysalis, she would have hurt everypony I care about. But when I'm just enforcing my rules, I-I-I feel unsure of myself."

Ember just showed a small smile at this, "I don't know much about changelings, but if you were able to take down the previous leader, then you must have the leadership qualities needed. That's the way of nature. The old makes way for the new." She punched her fist into her claw. "Make a decision and let it be known that it's final. And if that doesn't work, just turn into a bear."

"Oh...huh. That's good advice."

"I know it is!" Ember laughed. "That's why I'm a leader!"

"So what's your deal?" The changeling stood up. "Why do you think you're so bad at friendship?"

Ember's smile vanished, the dragon looking down and rubbing her arms. "I...don't want to talk about it."

"Oh, you have to!" Thorax replied, "How else are you gonna solve your problems?"

Ember glanced back at him before turning to a nearby boulder, which she flew over to and lifted up. "Through feats of strength and fire duels, of course!" With a mighty grunt and roar, she threw the boulder into the air. She then unleashed a powerful blast of pink fire, which instantly smashed into the boulder. The boys all watched as the rock exploded, raining pebbles down upon the lake shore.

"Uh..." Thorax gulped, "How does that help?" Ember flew down and hit another rock, cracking the top of it.

"Crushing another dragon in competitions establishes my dominance and makes me feel great." She stood tall, her arms out stretched with a big grin on her lips.

"Right..." Thorax moved up to her, "But uh, how do you think they feel?"

"Humiliated! Ashamed!" She declared, only to fly off the rock and glide over to Thorax. "They'd probably wanna run away and bury themselves under a rock, and...never come out. They're probably sad. Kinda low. Definitely not happy."

Thorax nodded, placing a hoof on her shoulder. "That's because that kind of competition can divide you. And it doesn't get to the heart of the issue. Talking about your feelings does." As he finished, Ember started snorting until she let out a sneeze along with a large burst of fire. The fire hit Thorax in the face, but the changeling didn't even flinch at this.

"Ugh!" Ember wiped her nose, "I think I'm allergic to feelings."

"You know, you don't have to be sappy," Thorax chuckled, only for Ember to notice one of his horn was smoking, the dragon blowing it out. "Or huggy-feely about it! But you should let your friends know how you feel."

"I guess...." Ember glanced away at this, "It's just, I want what Equestria has. I used to think ponies were super weak, but then I saw what they could do. We never would have beaten Malafear if they hadn't helped us. They're so much smaller, but they were able to out think and outsmart him."

"Yeah, I get that. I'd never known what true friendship was until I came to Equestria. Flash could have killed me during our invasion, but he chose to let me go and even offered to share some of his love with me. He even convinced Shining and Cadance to let me and Hiveena stay in the Crystal Empire. Then they helped us overthrow Chrysalis, and now the changelings have a whole new lease on life."

Ember sighed at this, "Yeah, they are kind of cool in their own...weird pony way." She then smirked, "But that doesn't mean I wanna be exactly like the ponies. We dragons still have our pride."

"You're right," Thorax nodded. "There are things about ponies I don't like either. But I definitely wanna take some of the good stuff they have and make the changelings grow into their own kind of special thing." He stomped his hooves, "And I'm gonna start by trying to be more assertive."

Ember nodded back, "And I guess I'm gonna try to be more open about things." She then put a claw to her chin, "And I know where we can start." With that, she took off with a loud whoosh sound while Thorax just stared at her.

"Where?" He asked before his eyes went wide. "Ohhhh. Spike. Hah. I got there."

He flew off after her, leaving Flash and Springer standing behind the bushes. "Huh," Flash commented, "I guess we didn't need to come find them after all. Its like they kinda...convinced themselves."

"Yeah," Springer nodded. "But I gotta say, I had no idea they respected ponies so much."

"Come on!" Flash spread his wings. "I wanna see how their talk with Spike goes."

He flew off and Springer followed at max speed. They eventually arrived back at the town square, which had been mostly cleaned up at this point just as Ember and Thorax arrived. The pair were glaring down at the dragon, who had just taken a big gulp.

"Guess what Spike?!" Ember hissed first.

"I know," Spike breathed into his claws and clapped them together. This caused the flames to form a dome of fire around him, which then vanished. "I'm so sorry."

"Let me talk about this!" Ember almost screamed, then reached down with her claw, but when her finger got to close, it hit an invisible barrier. "Put this down. I'm not gonna eat you...probably." Spike gulped and clapped his hands again, the barrier vanishing. "I...feel..." She let out a strained groan, her face turning red from the effort. "Mad."

She let out a sigh of relief while Thorax smiled and slowly clapped his hooves, "Okaaaay…that was a good first attempt. Now maybe try to be more...specific?"

Ember began to stretch out her body, making it crack while taking a deep breath and waving her hands in front of her face. "I'm..." She sighed, "upset!"

"You have every right to be," Spike replied before Ember got up close.

"I know I do!" She crossed her arms. "And I know I need to tell you how I feel because my friend Thorax said it would make me feel better!" She leapt over him, flying to the ground with arms stretching. "And it does!"

"Yeah!" Thorax nodded, turning to glare at Spike. "And I have no problem telling you what you did was wrong because my friend Ember is helping me be more assertive!" On that last word, he thrust his head forward and Spike reeled back so quickly he fell onto his butt with a thud.

"Whoa," Spike whispered as Thorax turned to Ember.

"Nice," she gave him a thumbs up before they high hoofed/clawed and laughed.

"But...you two should be mad at me," Spike told them. "I was so worried about how it could go wrong, I didn't even think about how it could go right." He sighed before getting down on his stomach and putting his claws together, "Can you forgive me?"

Ember and Thorax glanced at each other before Ember looked back at the drake, "I really do feel better...so yeah, I'm good."

"Hah," Thorax cheered. "Me, too." And before anypony could stop him, he grabbed Spike and Ember and pulled them into a tight hug.

"Again?" Ember groaned while Spike laughed. But then, his laughter stopped when his spikes started glowing like they had earlier that day.

"No way!" He gasped, "It's finally happening!" He pumped his arms, "I solved the friendship problem!"

"Actually," he turned to Starlight, "You created the friendship problem by not trusting your friends."

Flash and Springer shared a glance at this, Flash commenting, "Huh. Didn't think the map would ever make the one that caused the problem to be the one that needed to fix it. Guess outside perspective usually helps."

"And that means the map does even more than I thought it did." Twilight groaned before facehoofing, "I just wish that thing was easier to research..."

"Yeah," Spike shrugged, "But think about it Twilight! I solved the problem by learning my lesson!" He jumped out of Thorax's hold. "I should have told my two friends about each other immediately instead of assuming they wouldn't get along."

"Good job, Spike." The dragon smiled and ran over to hug her while Ember raised an eyebrow.

"Is this another part of pony friendship? Telling each other what you learned all the time?" This got all but Thorax and Ember laughing, Grand even chuckling as he unfastened the banner up on the town hall balcony.

"Yeah," Starlight nodded, "Pretty much."

"Yup," Spike added.

"They used to do letters," Springer chimed in, "But that was replaced by a journal and now, they seemed to have gained the ability to remember a lesson without writing it down. It only took them like...three years to figure it out."

The others laughed at this before glancing around. "I'm guessing we should start un-cleaning all this stuff up," Flash chuckled, the others nodding. And with a few quick spells by Twilight, the place was back to how it was just in time. Ponies began to show up and gather around the town square, both Thorax and Ember looking a little nervous seeing them all there.

When the last pony arrived, Spike stepped up to the loudspeaker. "So, as a show of unity, I present the Dragon Fire Flame of Friendship to both Dragon Lord Ember and Thorax, leader of the changeling pack! May the flame of friendship burn for eternity!"

The ponies all cheered in joy as Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Rainbow began letting confetti loose. And as it rained down upon the group, one hit Ember's nose and began to tickle it. Everypony quickly began to worry as she looked ready to sneeze, soon firing a fireball right at a nearby ice sculpture. Luckily, Heart was able to leap in front of it and absorb the flames before they hit anything.

"Ouf!" He moaned, hitting the ground as smoke began to trail off his body. "I'm okay."

Ember let out a sniff, "You should have more things made of rocks." Everypony remained silent at this statement, then all burst out laughing before the party really got started.

"Here," Flash gave Ember a plastic cup of pink liquid. "Here's a drink you might enjoy. It shares a name with something I assume you enjoy doing."

"Huh," she looked down at it, "What's it called?"

"Punch." Ember took a sip and her eyes went wide, the dragon drinking it down. "I take it you like it?" Ember nodded and finished the whole cup, Flash quickly refilling it.

"I've gotta find a way to get this back in the dragons lands."

"Well, we can find a way to do that," Twilight chuckled as she trotted up with plates of food in her magic. "Now that Equestria, the dragon lands, and the changelings territory are all friends, we might be able to set up a trade system between our nations."

"Trade?" Ember asked, "What's that?"

Thorax smiled at this, remembering what he had learned during his time in the Crystal Empire. "It's where one of our kingdoms shares a portion of a resource they have, and are given a resource another kingdom has in return. That way, both sides get access to something they can't usually get."

"Huh. That sounds good. But what would we trade?"

"I don't know," Twilight replied, "Honestly, I'm not exactly experienced with these kinds of matters. That's something Celestia and Luna would be better at."

Grand, having heard this while walking by, moved over to them, "You should start by doing an official treaty signing, which will make the three territories official allies. There's a lot of world out there, and it's not always friendly. Having friends to help when things get problematic is never a bad idea."

"Yeah," Flash nodded. "I mean, if anypony ever attacks you, then you'll know you can call on us to help."

"And if there's ever an issue between two of the kingdoms, the third can act as a mediator for it." Twilight added, "That's why we should create a trade route between our lands that'll improve the quality of life of all our citizens. It's a win-win all around."

Both Ember and Thorax shared a glance before nodding back. Little did they all know how important this decision would be in the coming weeks, along with the years that would follow. Soon, something important would be born that would help reshape not just Equestria, but many kingdoms that the ponies had and hadn't heard of before. All that was coming...soon.

The Castle Labyrinth

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It was another beautiful day in Ponyville, Flash and Springer now marching through the town. It wasn't their patrol day, which was lucky since they weren't exactly in fighting fit shape. Both had droopy eyes and were letting out loud yawns as they arrived at Sugarcube Corner, soon finding the remaining members of the Mane Seven, minus Twilight, laughing together as they all enjoyed their own chosen beverage. When Pinkie spotted them, she waved her hoof, "Hey you two!" She then saw the looks on their faces. "Wow. You're both looking sleepy. Let me guess, a double large extra caffeinated beverage?"

"Make it a triple," Flash replied as they sat down. Pinkie nodded and ran into the kitchen while the others just stared at them.

"What's wrong with you two?" Rainbow asked before focusing on Flash, "You haven't looked this bad since before we redecorated the castle."

"Or when you discovered where you came from," Rarity added, "And that means only one thing. You haven't been getting any sleep."

"Great deductions Sherclop Pones," Springer moaned as his face hit the table.

"Oh dear," Fluttershy whispered. "Is everything okay?"

Applejack raised an eyebrow, "Ya'll boys haven't been spendin' all night playin video games again, have yah?" They shook their heads, "Then what's dah problem?"

"Twilight..." Flash moaned out.

"And Starlight," Springer added, "Not to mention Trixie."

The mares all raised an eyebrow. They knew Trixie had been spending the last few days visiting the castle, but then Pinkie arrived with their drinks and the pair gulped them down. After this, Flash spoke up, "Every night since Trixie got here, they've been working all night in Twilight's lab. They've been making so much noise that it keeps waking us up."

The mares nodded at this, knowing how loud Twilight's experiments could get when she was too focused on her work to think about the noise. Springer moaned at this as he took another swig of his drink. "We've tried to get them to put up a sound proofing spell, but they keep accidently dropping the spell when they work."

"That's rough," Rainbow grimaced, only to tap her hoof on the table, "Oh...that's why Scootaloo was barely moving when I saw her riding her scooter to school. Her wings were barely beating."

"Yeah," Flash nodded, "I wouldn't be surprised if Ms Cheerilee isn't chewing them out at this moment."

The school house...

"Now," the teacher pointed at the blackboard, "Who wants to try and solve this fraction?" She stared at her class, only to notice three of her students now slumped over on their desks. Heart, Soul and Scootaloo were all asleep, Heart drooling on his desk while Soul looked like she was about to roll off the chair.

Their friends besides them tried to quickly shake them awake, the trio stirring up with a yelp.

"Wha-wha-wha?!" Heart moaned, the three then seeing Cheerilee glaring at them.

"Have a nice nap?" She asked, the trio blushing. "Maybe one of these fractions will wake you up." She turned to the board, only to hear more snoring. She glanced back, only to see the three were still awake. "What the-" She spun around at the noise, following the sounds as she walked up to the room's door. The mare opened it up, only to find a sleeping Ace and Mira outside the school house.

"Ace and Mira needed to find someplace to get a good night...day's sleep away from the castle. Hopefully, they've found it."

"My word," Rarity sighed, "Whatever could those three be working on that would require so much work and so many loud noises?"

Flash and Springer both shrugged, "No idea. I just wish it was done already."

"You think we should go take a look?" Rainbow asked.

"Ooh," Pinkie jumped up and down, "I wanna see! I wanna see!"

"Ah guess it couldn't hurt ta ask 'em," Applejack added, "And who knows, maybe we can get 'em to take a break from whatever they're doin' so you two can get a couple winks."

Flash and Springer nodded before the seven left the bakery. The drinks had helped Flash and Springer to mostly stay awake, soon making their way through town. Flash and Springer appeared almost sleepwalking as they headed for the castle, only to for clouds of familiar looking smoke to appear in front of each of them, which swirled together until they formed small notes. "What's this?" Rainbow asked before they opened the envelopes.

Come to the castle.

"Wonder what this is for?" Springer asked as he threw the note into a nearby trashcan.

"If I know Twilight," Flash spoke up before yawning, "And at the moment, I hate to say I do, then she's probably finished the experiment and wants to show it off to us."

"Then let's go see it!" Rainbow added as they continued their way to the castle, only to spot Iron, Grand and Lightning approaching the building as well.

"Hey," Lightning waved, "You all get a message from Twilight too?"

"Yup," Flash nodded. "Whatever she wants to show us, she must be really excited if she had to summon all of us." He trotted up to the door and threw it open, stepping inside just as Spike came down the stairs.

"Just in time. If Twilight had to wait any longer, she was gonna explode."

"Wait for what?" Iron asked, "What's so great that she had to call use all here?"

"I wish I knew." Spike sighed, "Whatever it is better be worth it. I've lost too much important beauty sleep from all the banging and crashing they've been making." Flash and Springer nodded in agreement just as Twilight, Starlight and Trixie entered the hallway.

"Great!" the alicorn clapped, "You're all here!"

"What's this about?" Grand asked, "You wouldn't call us here if this wasn't important. What's going on?"

Trixie smiled as walked up first, "If you must know, I managed to find an old tome that had some interesting information in it. Information that was the key we needed to finally complete something we've been trying to figure out for quite a while."

"And that is?" Lightning replied before the magic users all sparked their horns, three beams coming out and making a flash of light that connected and summoned something in the center of the room: A crystal.

"That's it?!" Springer yelped, "I've been losing nights of sleep for a crystal?!"

"Twilight! You...wait..." Flash yelled before he squinted at the object and turned to Twilight, "Is this..."

Twilight shinnied big grin at this, "This my dear Flash, is the culmination of months of hard work and research! A fully working and ready to test replica of the training room's control crystal."

This woke Flash and Springer up while getting a shocked gasp from the others in the room. Ever since they first acquired the castle, one of the biggest mysteries was the training room the defenders used. And seeing that it could be replicated by Faust, the mares had become even more determined to do so.

"So...this thing can do what the training room can do?" Iron asked, the mares nodded. "Now that is something to get excited about."

"Just imagine what we can do with a bunch of these things," Grand chuckled, "If we had one at Canterlot, training new recruits would be a hundred times better. We could put them into any kind of environment or situation without running the risk of them getting hurt. Avalanches, rock slides, escaped convicts..."

"The Wonderbolts could use one too," Rainbow added, "We could practise cloud busting without needing to use up a bunch of clouds from the weather factory."

"And I could use one to make my gowns," Rarity whispered, the others turning to her with blinking stares, "Think about it! It's the perfect way to fit a dress! Simply have the customer step up to a mirror, and then use the crystal to create an illusion of the dress. Then I can make any changes and alterations to it and once that's done, all I'd need to do is make the actual dress without worry of the customer hating the final product."

"Huh...guess that's true." Flash commented.

"Yup," Twilight nodded, "This kind of technology has infinite uses. That's why we've been working so hard to complete."

"Well, I'll admit it," Flash sighed, "If this thing's the end product, I don't mind losing a bit of sleep." The others nodded in agreement. "So, you said it was ready to test out?"

"You know it," Starlight cheered, "We were able upload every single magical program the original crystal has ever used. Until we're sure it's working, we thought it best not to tax the crystal so it can't accept new ideas like the original yet."

"Still awesome. And I think I know the perfect training sim to test it with." Flash walked up to the crystal, then to Twilight. "May I?" Twilight nodded and Flash pressed his hoof to the crystal, which began to light up. In that moment, the flash of light occurred and the group found they were all standing atop of ship. They looked around the saw nothing but open ocean while the boat they were on was a fancy looking yacht.

"Pretty cool, right?" Flash asked as he moved over to the edge. "In this rescue sim, the boat's engines have stalled and you have to get it back to dry land."

"Wow," Springer walked over to the boat's wall and tapped it. "Feels like the real thing, just like the original."

"Does the water feel real?" Pinkie asked, "I'd love to go for a virtually simulated swim." She was about to jump over the side, but Flash stopped her.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," he said as Rainbow Dash flew over the edge.

"Why not?" The pegasus added, only for something to suddenly leap out of the water. "WHOA!" She yelped, barely avoiding the shark that tried to take a bite out of her. She took several deep breaths. "Geez," she wiped her head, "that was...AWESOME!"

"Aw..." Fluttershy moved over to the side of the boat, smiling as she saw the shark poke its head out of the water, followed by several other great whites. "Hello there. Who's a nice little shark?" The sharks all growled, making Fluttershy tilt her head, "That's odd," she turned to Twilight. "I can't understand them."

"Probably because they're not real sharks," Twilight replied, only for one of the sharks to leap out of the ocean and fly over the deck of the boat before splashing down on the other side.

"This is nuts," Iron told Flash, "How are we supposed to complete this task if none of us know how to fix an engine or not get eaten by sharks?" He reached over and grabbed the crystal, placing his own hoof onto it. "I know the perfect sim to test this bad boy out. One involving a meteor shower." The crystal glowed and unleashed a flash, soon dying down to show the group now in a desert.

"Huh," Starlight glanced around, "Kind of...empty."

"The real action is much higher," Iron replied, everypony looking upward as they were greeted to the sight of meteors shooting down.

"Fabulous," Rarity whispered, "Absolutely gorgeous." But before she could say anything else, one of the meteors came crashing down and smashed into the ground next to Applejack

"WHOA!" She was thrown back, a large cloud of dust hitting her in the face. "Geez," she got up, "How the hay are we supposed to stop a bunch of meteors?"

"We don't," Iron replied before pointing at a nearby area, which was inhabited by a bunch of scared animals including rabbits, dears and squirrels. Most wanted to know why they were in a desert, but another meteor crashed down beside them. "Our mission is to get the animals safely out of harms way."

The ponies smiled, all thinking Fluttershy had rubbed off on him more than they thought. They began chasing after the animals, only to find anything but cooperation. "Come on little ones," Fluttershy tried to talk to them, but the fake animals weren't listening the way normal ones would.

"I get the point of this," Flash groaned, "But how is this better than the ship?"

Springer leapt at one of the animals, but the rabbit hopped out of the way and he ended up face-planting the ground. "Augh! Do these critters even want saving?!"

"The sailors on the boat did," Flash pointed out.

"Can we forget about the ship?!" Iron growled as he ran past them, only for another meteor to crash down next to Flash and Springer. As the ponies all tried to capture an animal and avoid another giant burning rock, Lightning stepped over to the crystal and placed his hoof on it. A moment later, the desert disappeared and was replaced by a farm.

"Hey!" Iron yelped, "What the heck?!"

"What?!" Lightning barked back, "How many times does saving little critters from meteors happen in every day life?! If we're gonna test this thing, we should use a sim that actually uses realistic events. For example:" He pointed at a part of the farm where they spotted a pony that was just a recolour of Big Mac, sitting besides a broken wheeled cart with what looked like a hurt leg. "This farmer has crashed his cart into a bunch of beehives and needs his leg bandaging before we can take him to hospital."

"Huh," Grand shrugged, "That is something that could actually happen." Lightning used his magic to pick up the first aid kit that had appeared beside them and moved over to the farmer with Rarity and Fluttershy.

"Oh my..." Rarity whispered when she saw the nasty cut on Fake Mac's leg, "That does look painful." She then smelled something, "Amazing. I can actually smell the blood."

"That's not all we can smell," Trixie moaned at the normal farm smells, only for Applejack to shine a big grin.

"Yee...HAA!" She exclaimed, "That doohickey's somethin' else. If ah close mah eyes, ah can almost believe ah'm actually at home!"

"This is all nice, but if this pony's cart hit a bunch of beehives, then where are-" Springer asked before hearing a loud buzzing sound, the group turning to see a large swarm of very angry looking insects.

"THE BEES!" Trixie screamed before they all began to run away, the giant swarm following. And as they did this, Lightning, Rarity and Fluttershy didn't notice as they focused on helping Fake Mac.

Hearing their screaming, Rarity looked up but kept her back to the commotion. "Do you mind keeping it down?!" she pulled a piece of bandage off the roll. "We are trying to work!" Lightning and Fluttershy then glanced up, the pair gasping at what they saw.

Several ponies ran into a nearby barn while others chose to dive into a pig pen, covering themselves in mud. Flash then noticed a nearby outhouse, diving into it seconds before a bee could sting him. But after smelling the place, he suddenly wished he was back with the bees. "Worst...hiding place...ever."

"There." Rarity smiled as she stared the now bandaged farm pony. "For neatness, I think I'd give myself an A."

"Bee," the farmer responded, making Rarity gasp.

"A B?! Please," she growled, "At worst it's an A minus."

"No..." he pointed at something behind her, "Bee." Rarity turned around and blinked as she saw a single buzzing insect float over to her.

"Oh, hello little darling. Planning on pollinating some beautiful flowers are we?" The bee buzzed around her without problem, "Are you all alone?" It was here she heard more buzzing, just in time to see the swarm flying toward her. "I guess that's a noooOOOO!" She began to run off, Lightning and Fluttershy beside her.

And as they distracted the bees, Grand stuck his head out the barn doors and spotted the crystal. He leapt out the building and raced to the gem, leaping at it as the bees prepared to sting his grandson. He managed to slide up to it and placed a hoof on the crystal, which glowed and unleashed a bright light that almost blinded everypony.

When the light faded, everypony opened their eyes and looked around to see they were now in some kind of underground tunnel. "What happened?" Rainbow asked as Grand picked himself up and dusted himself off.

"We're in my favorite sim. It's one I designed based off of something that actually happened to me in my younger days." He pointed to one of the walls and everypony spotted the front of a train sticking out of it.

"Where did that come from?" Twilight asked, Grand chuckling.

"When Equestria's rail network was first created, they never thought to do ground surveyance to make sure the area they placed the tracks was stable. This lead to them accidently placing them atop an area with natural caverns underneath. One day, the train was rolling over a weaken piece of ground and it broke through the surface, rolling into a tunnel and being buried alive. Luckily, a bunch of guards and I were stationed nearby and were able to save them all."

"That does sound interesting," Flash commented as Grand moved over to the train and used his hammer to smash away the rocks.

"We've got thirty minutes before they run out of air." The group got to work, breaking away the rubble and slowly uncovering more and more of the train. After about twenty minutes, the entire thing was freed from the rocks and they started uncovering the carriages. As soon as the door was freed, they opened them and looked inside to find a bunch of scared ponies waiting inside. "You're free now!"

The ponies all cheered and ran out, running as fast as they could before the rocks crashed down onto the train. And when the last pony was freed, there was a loud beeping to signify the sim was completed.

"Perfect," Grand chuckled, "Great work everypony." He glanced around at all the tired ponies, clearly exhausted from all the hard work. "I don't know about you, but I think this was a resounding success."

The others all nodded as Rainbow moved up to the crystal. "This thing is really awesome." She picked it up, "But what other sims does it have." The crystal glowed and the next thing everypony knew, they were on a snowy mountain. "Cool." Another flash and they were in a town made entirely of confectioneries and dessert, "Sweet." Another flash found them in a giant arena that had a bunch of different obstacles filling it. "AWESOME!"

The others were just as amazed, but Twilight ran up to the pegasi, "Rainbow, I don't think this is such a good idea. The crystal's still being tested, and too many quick changes could-" She stopped as the room transformed into a replica of Canterlot City.

Once it did this, the crystal suddenly began to spark and vibrate, making Rainbow gasp and drop it. Everypony went wide-eyed and tried to grab the gem, but it hit the floor before they could. And as it did this, the sparking and vibrating increased....and unleashed a blindingly powerful light.

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" Was the general response as the light filled the room, forcing them to cover their eyes.

After several moments, Flash's vision recovered and he slowly opened his eyes...only to find him, Twilight and Spike were now in a long corridor. "Twilight?" He moved over to them, "Spike. You okay?"

"I've been better," Spike moaned.

The princess shook her head before glancing around, "What is all this? What happened?"

"I don't know," Flash replied, "But I'm more worried about the others." Twilight's eyes shrunk as she now saw they were alone in the hallway, only for Flash to add, "Where do you think they-"

"Everypony!" yelled Springer's voice.

"Springer?" Flash looked around, only to realize they were talking to each other through his aura link. "Where are you? Are the others with you?"

"Not everypony. Just Rainbow and Pinkie. As for where we are..."

Springer stared at the area he, Pinkie and Rainbow were located in. It looked like the Everfree Forest, though it had a few additions such as trees that shot fire out of the holes in the bark and giant bubbles coming out of a nearby pool that exploded with deadly force.

"I think we're in a simulation, but it's not one I recognize."

"You're not the only one," Iron chimed in.

Iron, Grand, and Fluttershy were at some kind of old fashioned fort, standing on a wall while looking down at a large army that was attempting to breech the castle's defenses. "WHOA!" Iron yelped, ducking under a flying rock. "Too close."

"What's going on?" Fluttershy asked, the mare shrinking down to mouse size to avoid getting hit.

"We're not sure," Twilight replied, "But if I had to hazard a guess, the crystal must of glitched out and thrown us all into different sims. It's possible to entire castle has been transformed into different areas."

"Well that would explain our situation," Lightning's voice called out.

Lightning, Rarity, and Applejack were in a corridor like the one Flash and the others were in, but this one was full of doors. Applejack opened one, only to be thrown into the opposite wall by a large wave of water. She cried out as she was plastered against it, Rarity and Lightning running over to push the door closed. When the water vanished, doing so the minute the door closed, Applejack slid down to the floor before spitting out a load of water.

"Ah hate magic sometimes," she grumbled as Rarity opened another door, only to hear Himalayan music before she shutting it.

"Why is this happening?" She asked, Starlight being the one to reply.

"The Crystal malfunctioned. It overloaded and unleashed a burst that filled the entire castle with different illusions."

"Where are you?" Lightning responded back.

Starlight and Trixie were standing in a large cavern, both on a ledge with nowhere to go except forward, where a bridge was located between them and another ledge. The bridge was made out of stone squares and each square had a letter on it.

"I guess we're in some kind of puzzle room," Trixie said as she walked up to the bridge and found a stone platform that had a book on it.

They both stared at the book, then at the ledge on the other side of the chasm. It had a large wall on it that had some kind of door. "I think I've spotted our way out of here."

"Great..." Trixie sighed as she glanced down at the bridge, "And I assume we can't just walk over this bridge randomly."

"Who said anything about walking?" Starlight replied while pointing to her horn. She sparked the instrument and attempted to teleport, but all the spell did was make a bright flash. When it was over, Starlight was still there. "Huh?"

Trixie tried and got the same result. "Uh...I don't think we can teleport."

Twilight attempted as well, but she couldn't use the teleportation spell either. "Not good."

"How come we can't teleport?" Starlight asked.

"I think I might know." Lightning spoke up, the ponies frowning at his tone of voice. "Some of the simulations we designed don't allow teleportation. You know, so that you can't just warp from one end of the course to the other. Maybe when the crystal malfunctioned, it unleashed that same barrier throughout the entire castle."

"Just great," Flash moaned, "Now how the heck are we supposed to get out of here?"

"The crystals gotta be somewhere in here," Springer pointed out. "Maybe we can look around and find it, then switch if off."

Twilight sighed at this, "It's worth a shot. Let's go everypony!"

"Got it!"

Springer began leading Pinkie and Rainbow through the forest and quickly found the door out of there, but it was located on the other side of a large boggy lake. They stared at the wide lake and...they couldn't see the ends. "How big is this thing?" Pinkie asked, "It's like...really, really, really, really, really, really, really big."

"Clearly we're supposed to go over it," Springer grumbled as they glanced down at the lake and saw several rocks sticking out of it with vines hanging down between the rocks. "This could be tricky."

"For you maybe," Rainbow laughed before flying over the bog. But when she was halfway over, the vines suddenly came to life, "Whoa, whoa, WHOA!" Before she could do anything, she was suddenly wrapped up with everything except her head trapped. "Aaaaah! Get me out of here!"

Pinkie and Springer stared at one another before leaping onto the nearest rock, then leaping off the grab some vines to swing their way over to the next step. They kept doing this until they reached Rainbow, Springer managing to swing up and use his Steel Paw to slash through the vines.

"Yeah!" Rainbow cheered when she was free, "Thanks Springer!" She then grabbed a vine, "WAHOOOOO!" She exclaimed, swinging over the bog. "This is just like being Daring Do!" The three kept swinging, slowly increasing their momentum as they kept going before hitting the other side.

Springer was the first to land, doing a perfect gymnast pose as he did. "And he sticks the landing." Rainbow just flew down, the vines attempting to grab her, but she quickly got on land before they could reach. Pinkie just landed on the ground and rolled like a ball along it until she hit the door, laughing as she sprang back up.

"That was fun!"

"Maybe this won't be so bad after all," Rainbow added as Springer opened the door. And as he did this, they found themselves looking at a snowy field biome, the trio walking in before the door slammed shut behind them and vanished. As it did, a chilling wind struck the three, "Forget what I said. This sucks."

Over in the fort, Iron was ducking under another flying rock. "This is so not fair. Don't we have anything to fire at them?"

"Gyah!" Grand smacked a rock away with his hammer, then looked inside the fort. The place was a stone square with a bunch of different wooden pieces on the floor. "Maybe we're supposed to build something with those."

"I thought the four of you came up with all these sims?" The still small Fluttershy asked as a rock hit the wall behind her and made it shake. She cried out, flying away from the wall and to the wooden pieces while returning to normal size.

"We all made hundreds of sims," Grand replied, "And not all were made together."

"Any idea what we're supposed to make with this?" Iron asked, picking up a wooden gear.

"Nope," Grand then spotted another rock flying towards them. "But we've gotta figure it out before this place falls apart."

Back with Flash, Twilight and Spike, the three continued to make their way through the hallway and found a door at the end. "Finally," Spike moaned as he jumped off Twilight's back. "So what's through here?"

"No idea," Flash replied, "The crystal's turned the castle into a giant maze. Anything could be behind there."

But as they got closer, they found themselves hearing something coming from the other side of the door. "What's that?" Twilight asked, the three listening to what sounded like a filly's voice singing something. They glanced at each other before Twilight shrugged, "Only one way to find out." She opened the door and walked in, the three now finding themselves in a square room.

The floor was divided into multiple different colored squares and jumping on those squares was a little filly. She looked like Scootaloo, only she had white fur and brown hair. "Allamaraine, count to four. Allamaraine, then three more. Allamaraine, if you can see. Allamaraine, you'll come with me." She reached the other side of the room, where a door was waiting for them. Once she was at the other side, she spun around and repeated the rhyme as she hopped along.

"Hello," Twilight told the filly, "Who are you?" But the filly didn't respond, instead continuing to do the rhyme and skip pattern until she reached the door. She then spun around and repeated the process.

"Don't bother Twi," Flash chimed in, "She's just an NPC. She's not real."

"Well, this has been fun," Spike muttered as the filly turned around. "But let's get out of here."

"Spike, wait!" Flash yelped as Spike walked over to the door, only to hit something invisible before getting shocked.

"Gyah!" He cried, staggering back until Twilight caught him on her wing.

"What just happened?" Flash asked next.

"Some kind of protective barrier," Twilight responded before turning to the filly and seeing her skip past the spot that the barrier was located. "But she can go right through it."

Flash hummed, then looked down and watched her jump on the floor tiles in a certain order. "Look at where she's skipping. She always jumps on the same panels. Those much be what allows her to pass through the barrier."

Twilight nodded. "Allamaraine. It's old ponish for mirroring. If you see, you'll come with me." Flash moved over to where the filly was heading and waited. She reached him and spun around, then began the skipping sequence. He and the filly only needed two hooves, Flash using his wings to keep on his back legs.

He followed her hoofsteps exactly and eventually arrived in front of the barrier, taking the same pose as she had before leaping forward...and getting shocked for his efforts. "Augh!" He staggered back, Twilight and Spike catching him. "Wah?" He watched the filly jump through the barrier and return the way she had just come. "But...I did everything she did."

"No you didn't." Twilight instantly replied.

"But I followed her hoofsteps."

"But you didn't say the rhyme," she pointed out before moving over to the start. Once the filly turned around, she followed the sequence while singing. "Allamaraine, count to four. Allamaraine, then three more. Allamaraine, if you can see. Allamaraine, you'll come with me." On the last line, she leapt into the barrier and didn't get zapped. Flash and Spike smiled at this before moving over to follow her example, both singing and skipping behind the filly perfectly.

Once Spike was through the barrier, the door opened, the trio glancing inside...and finding another hallway.

"This is gonna take a bit, isn't it?"

Meanwhile...

Lightning, Rarity and Applejack were now in a corridor filled with doors. Aside from the doors they tried at the start, which all led to dead ends, they found these doors were locked. "Come on!" Applejack moaned as she shook a door, "Let us out!"

"There has to be one unlocked door," Rarity sighed, "How else are we supposed to move forward?"

"Who said we're supposed to move forward," Lightning chimed in, "For all we know, there is no way out of here."

"Thanks," Applejack grumbled, "That makes me feel so much better." But then, she pulled on one of the doors and it opened. "Hey!" The others walked over, glancing inside to see an entire universe inside the room. They stepped in, now findin themselves in a giant void. In front of the door was a small red metal ledge that was only a few feet long, which was floating in the void, which was red below the ledge, green at their level and blue above them. In front of them were a bunch of red shapes that were floating in midair, mainly floating rectangle platforms.

"This looks familiar," Lightning told the mares.

"Well I don't like it. The coloring is all wrong." Rarity huffed, "I think we should look for another door." She spun around at this, only for the door to slam shut and disappear. "Hey!" The next thing the three knew, music began to play and something appeared above them. Three white orbs.

"What the hay is going on?" Applejack asked as their ledge suddenly turned into another platform. And before they could do anything else, the platform slowly began to vanish. Within seconds, the rectangle disintegrated from the back.

The three all cried out as they leapt off the edge of the platform, landing on another block. "Why is this happening?" Rarity asked as Lightning's eyes went wide.

"Oh no..." the platform they had been on now completely vanished and the one they were one repeated the process. "I remember this sim, it's one of Springer's! We've entered the world of old school platform games." They began to run towards the end of platform and jumped onto the next one.

"And those games force you to run towards chaos?!" Rarity yelped, Lightning shrugging back.

"Well, it technically side scrolls towards chaos," Lightning replied as they kept running from one platform to the next. "There's rules to these games: Rule one, you can't go backwards." They leapt up to a platform hovering above them. "Rule two, everything speeds up the further you go."

He and Applejack leapt onto a platform below them, but Rarity fell short and almost missed it until the others grabbed her hooves and pulled her up. They then turned to the platform in front of their's, which had a strange looking monster that was a rock with feet who was jumping up and down.

"Three, all of the obstacles are pre-programmed so if you learn the timings you can avoid the danger." The rock jumped up twice before freezing for a moment, Lightning leaping over it with Rarity and Applejack doing the same thing. "But the most important thing to know is that if you die, we have to start over at the beginning."

"Wait," Rarity came to a stop, "What do you mean we start over at the-OUGH!" She screamed as a giant hammer came out of nowhere, knocking her into the void.

"Rarity!" Lightning gasped, only for him, Applejack and Rarity to disappear in a flash of light. And when the light faded, they were all back at the beginning of the course...and one of Rarity's dots vanished.

"Okay..." Rarity gulped, "I see what you mean."

Applejack looked at the obstacle course ahead of them. "We have ta do all that over again?" She asked, Lightning nodding.

"If we pay attention, we won't make the same mistakes twice." The platform vanished and they ran ahead, praying they could get through before they ran out of lives. They didn't want to know what would happen if that happened.

Starlight and Trixie were now staring at a bridge that was the only way to the door. They looked down at the stones that made up the bridge, each one emblazoned with a letter. The stones were arranged four by seven. The first row had a U, T, R and K. The second row had an A, C, H and E. The third row had an F, I, L and U. The fourth row had an O, Y, N and P. The fifth row had an S, I, D and B. The sixth row had a T, E, N and V and the final row had an O, M, R and W.

"It must be a riddle," Starlight commented, "I'm guessing that each row has a letter that makes up the answer."

"But what's the riddle?" Trixie asked, her gaze turning to the book in front of the bridge. She flipped it open, finding the book was actually two pieces of metal hinged together. When she opened it, she was met with the image of a pony's face staring back at her, making her flinch as it began to talk.

"Announced with a flash, but arrive with a boom. I may leave you awash and can sometimes spell doom. What am I?"

"Did you get any of that?" Trixie asked Starlight, the mare shaking her head. "Great...cuz I didn't get it either."

Starlight glanced back at the bridge, "Hmmm...well, I suppose we'll just have to think this one out. Here's hoping everypony else is okay."

Flash, Twilight and Spike were continuing to explore the corridor, looking for any sign of another doorway. However, this corridor had multiple splits and turns, so there were hundreds of directions to go.

"Anything?" Flash asked when they met back up.

"Not one door," Twilight sighed. "You?"

Spike shook his head. "Nothing." He let out a groan, "This is getting exhausting."

"There has to be a way out of here," Flash added before looking down another corridor. "Did you two check this one?" They glanced at each other before shrugging.

"I'm not sure. They all look the same." Flash took that as a cue to head down the hall, Twilight and Spike following. But as soon as they entered the corridor, a wall suddenly came down and blocked the entrance.

"HEY!" Spike yelped, "Why did it do that?!"

"I guess this is the way we go," Flash replied before moving down the corridor. The other two followed until they reached a corner, the three turning to find themselves looking down another hallway. And at the end of it, a door was waiting for them. "There it is." Flash trotted up, only to feel a tingle down his spine. Quickly shifting back, a green beam of light shot out of a hole in the wall. "Whoa!"

Multiple beams came next, soon covering the corridor and forming bars throughout the room. "Looks like something out of a spy comic," Spike commented as Twilight stared at them.

"Do you think they're dangerous?" Flash asked her.

"Well, normally they wouldn't be. But if the crystal's malfunctioning..." She stopped before turning to Flash, her horn glowing. He was about to ask what she was doing, but he got his answer when he felt one of his feathers get pulled out of his wing.

"Ow!" He yelped before Twilight floated the feather over to the first laser, the feather getting cut in half the second it touched it. "Well...that's not good." The others nodded. "But we gotta get through it if we wanna get to the other side."

Twilight nodded and glanced around to see if there were any buttons or anything that she could use to switch the lasers off. "Hmm...maybe I could-"

"Alright," Flash interrupted as he did a quick stretch. "Here goes."

"Wait, Flash-" She tried to say, only for the pegasus to jump over the first beam, then rolled under the second and squeezed between two more. Twilight and Spike watched Flash as he danced around the place, showing impressive gymnastic skills as he cartwheeled, tangoed and hoof-stood around the lasers. And eventually, he reached the last laser and slid under it with no more damage then a few lost mane hairs.

He then came to a stop, pumping his hoof as he did. "YES!" He turned to Twilight, "Now it's your turn. I know it looks hard, but you can do it." It was here he noticed Twilight's frown, "What?" Twilight responded by lifting Spike onto her back and sparking her horn, a magic bubble appearing around her. She stepped forward and the beams were no match for her magic defenses.

"Oh," Flash's ears went down as Twilight and Spike reached the other side with little effort and no injuries whatsoever. "Well...that just takes the fun out of it."

Twilight rolled her eyes and opened the door, stepping through with Flash following her.

Springer, Rainbow and Pinkie were still trudging through the snow, all shivering from the cold. "W-w-where is th-th-that d-d-door?" Rainbow asked through chattering teeth. Springer and Pinkie wanted to reply, but were just too cold to do so. "If-if-if w-w-we don't-t-t f-f-find it s-s-soon-" She stopped as she bit her tongue, making her cry out and cover her mouth.

"This sucks," Springer moaned, only for him and Pinkie to suddenly found themselves walking off the end of a hill hidden by the snow, "GYAH!" They both cried, falling down the slope and morphing into a giant snowball. Rainbow gasped and followed after them, but her wings kept still, the cold freezing her up.

The snowball soon reached the bottom of the slope, exploding on impact. It sent Springer and Pinkie flying, both crying out as they soared a good ten feet before crashing into another pile of snow. When Rainbow got there, she was worried the pair had frozen to death, only for their heads to poke out as they shivered like crazy.

"This is so not fun!" Pinkie cried before letting out a sneeze.

Iron and Fluttershy continued to mess with the wooden object they were constructing. As Grand was back on the fort wall deflecting the rocks, they were slowly putting it together piece by piece. "This would be so much easier with instructions," Fluttershy commented as she shrank down so she could more easily screw a bolt into place.

"Who needs instructions," Iron replied, now seeing they had built some kind some kind of platform with wheels and a few gears that slotted into the spaces. "But any idea what it is yet?"

Fluttershy let out a noise that told him she didn't know while Grand chanced looking back. And when he did, he was met with an image that looked familiar. He glanced back at the battlefield and spotted one of the catapults, realizing its base was the same as what they had built. "It's a catapult!"

Iron and Fluttershy pulled back and looked it over, both going wide-eyed at the image, "You're right!" Iron exclaimed, "Nice. With this, we can fire back."

"Look out!" Grand yelped as they glanced up just in time to see a rock that Grand had missed fly towards them. Seeing this, Fluttershy grew to elephant size and managed to catch it with her tail.

"Assuming it stays in one piece long enough for us to use it," Fluttershy added as she put the rock down. "Oh dear..."

Lightning, Applejack and Rarity were continuing to make their way through the video game challenge, still leaping from one platform to another, Applejack ahead of the pack. The three were now avoiding large red blocks that fell from the sky, Applejack managing to outrun three blocks and leap past three platforms. But when she arrived at another one, a large red wall suddenly appeared in front of her.

"Hey!" She yelped, trying to push through the wall, but it remained still. The platform she was on then started vanishing and she leapt upwards, but the wall was to high and she just ended up slamming into it before falling back down. "Oh-NOOOOOOO!" She cried before vanishing, only for her, Lightning, and Rarity to now be back at the start.

She looked up as one of her dots vanished, she and Lightning now having two while Rarity only had one. "Alright, ah'm getting tired of this." The others nodded and they ran off as the music started. They leapt platform to platform, jumping past the rock monster while avoiding the hammers and falling blocks. They reached a section where the platforms vanished, now showing a bunching of moving blocks. Applejack stopped for a moment and memorized the block's movements, then leapt and hopped from block to block. Rarity and Lightning were close behind, all making it across the platforms again.

The section where the wall appeared came next, the three now making sure to select high up platforms. And sure enough, when the wall appeared, they were able to jump over it before they could get caught. And when all three landed on the other side, the music suddenly stopped and the platform stopped disappearing.

"Huh," Applejack commented, "No more scrollin'." She turned to the others, "Did we beat dah level?" She got her answer when the music suddenly started again, only now it was going faster.

"Uh oh," Lightning gulped. "The music always gets faster when the game's about to get harder."

"How can in possibly get harder?" Rarity almost screamed, only for a bunch more platforms to appear in front of them. But instead of going forward like before, they went upward, and were so high that they couldn't see the top.

"Oh no..." Lightning sighed. "An infinity maze."

"Let's hope not," Rarity added, "Infinity means forever." In that moment, their platform began to dissolve and they ran into the maze. But climbing upwards quickly proved much harder than forward, the multiple different shapes making the climb almost impossible. And it didn't help that when Lightning leapt on one platform and stayed there to wait for the girls, the floor suddenly exploded into flames.

"Gyah!" He cried, feeling himself get burned before he vanished. The next thing everypony knew, they were back at the bottom of the infinity maze and Lightning was down to one life. "Blast it!"

At the same time, Starlight and Trixie were staring at the riddle bridge. "Announced with a flash, but arrive with a boom?" Starlight whispered as she stared at the first four letters. "U, T, R and K. One of these is the first letter. But which one?"

"Why not just guess," Trixie suggested, "I mean, what's the worst that could happen if you get it wrong?"

Starlight then placed a hoof on the R tile and waited...but nothing happened. "Huh. Maybe this is the right letter." She stepped fully onto the stone, the letter beginning to glow. "Now what?" The tile suddenly vanished at this, leaving a large hole where she had been standing. Starlight gasped as she fell, letting out a scream as she tried to grab the sides, only to feel a tug at her tail. "WHOA!" She looked up and saw Trixie had jumped forward and grabbed her tail in her mouth. "Trixie!"

The unicorn groaned as she did her best to pull Starlight back up, Starlight crying out until Trixie managed to get her high enough for the pink unicorn to grab the edge and pull herself up. Once she was back up, they both panted. "Alright," Trixie moaned, "Let's not guess."

"Sounds good to me."

Flash, Twilight and Spike had no idea what they were looking at. Once they had gotten through the laser grid, they walked in the door to find themselves in a room full of laughter. There were ponies in there that looked like they were at the Grand Galloping Gala, all dressed fancy, talking and laughing while taking food and drink off any plate that passed them by. Even the servers were laughing.

"What is this place?" Spike asked.

"Both Rarity and Pinkie's idea of heaven," Flash joked as they walked inside, "Hello?" He tried to get the NPC's attentions, but none would respond. "I guess they're not meant to give us any clues on how to escape."

"So where's the door?" Spike asked as they glanced around, seeing no door as the one they entered through had mysteriously vanished.

Twilight was also confused, but before she could think, her head started feeling light. She suddenly found herself feeling incredibly dizzy, about to fall over, the mare barely catching herself as she glanced around. Flash and Spike were also starting to act the same way, Twilight gasping, "There's some kind of gas filling the room!" She tried to put up a shield, but she found she couldn't focus.

"What do we do?" Spike asked, only to see the ponies that were laughing weren't affected. A part of his brain told him it was because they weren't real, only to see a mare eat a cucumber sandwich, his eyes went wide. "Eat!" He leapt up and grabbed the snack tray, Twilight and Flash realizing what he was doing. They grabbed a snack try as well, all starting to scarfing the food down. But no matter what they ate, they kept feeling dizzy and were inches from unconsciousness.

"There's gonna be something else," Flash added, closing his eyes. And as he tried to think, but all he was able to hear was the laughing. He opened his eyes and looked up at the ponies, who wouldn't stop laughing no matter what. And so, he started laughing. "Hahahahahaha!" He cried out at the top of his lungs, Twilight and Spike staring at him like he had gone insane. But he kept laughing, and as he did this, the dizziness started to go away. "Hahahahahahahahaha!" He picked himself up, eating as he did so, then turned to the others through a big smile. "Laugh! That's the key!"

Twilight and Spike glanced at one another and after a few seconds, they started laughing as well. Soon everypony in the room were laughing their heads off, Spike and Twilight both feeling themselves feeling less and less dizzy. Their cheeks started hurting, but they didn't care as they kept laughing like their lives depended on it.

And as they laughed, a door appeared on the other side of the wall. "Come on!" Flash yelled through his laughs, running to the door and opening it up. Twilight and Spike followed and they all made their way through the door. And once they were safe, they all sighed but couldn't stop themselves from chuckling, only to collapse as they let out sighs of relief.

Springer, Rainbow and Pinkie were still suffering through the snow, all feeling like their hooves/paws were gonna drop off at any moment. "Would it have killed whoever made this sim to put in warm clothing options?!" Rainbow yelped as they trudged through another pile of snow.

It was here that the three arrived at the top of a snowy hill, finding a large rock on top of it. It appeared almost completely hollow, forming a cave-like structure, and at the back of the cave, the door stood proudly. The only problem was getting into the cave.

"Seriously?!" Rainbow asked as they walked up to the cave entrance, which had been blocked off by a bunch of icicles. The ice spikes had grown out from the top and bottom of the cave, giving it an almost mouth-like appearance. The gap between the icicles were only a few inches, not enough to get through.

But that didn't stop Pinkie from trying, the mare blowing into her hoof and expanding herself up like a balloon. She then let go and her entire body shrank back down to normal and then went beyond that. By the end, she looked thin enough to lay on the ground and looked like a rug. She tried to get through the gaps and while her body could fit through, her head was still to big. "Oh...." She pulled herself out and inflated her body again, "Now what do we do?"

The others just blinked at her, only for Springer to glance up and saw something on the very top of the rock. "There!" They looked up and saw what he was staring at. A target. "Maybe if we hit that, the icicles will break."

"Ha!" Rainbow smirked, "I got this." She flew up to press the button, only to suddenly get blown back by a powerful gust of wind. "WHOA!" She yelped as she hit the snow, the wind vanishing as she pulled herself out. "Guess we can't fly."

It was here that Pinkie reached into her mane, pulling out some kind of hairdryer-shaped device with a funnel on the back. "What is that?" Springer asked as Pinkie shoveled some snow into the funnel, then pointed it at the target. She pressed the button and a ball-shaped blast of snow shot out. It flew up to target...but it missed.

"Oh," Pinkie sighed.

"Not a bad idea though," Springer added before he and Rainbow began making their own snowballs. "Let's try this again."

"Done," Iron exclaimed as he and Fluttershy put the final piece into the catapult in place. "At least...I think." he glanced around, "We didn't leave any spare parts lying around, did we?"

"I don't think so," Fluttershy nodded before looking up to see Grand, the stallion leaning on a wall, panting, "Are you okay?"

"I'll...I'll live. Please tell me you've got that thing built." They then showed off their creation, a perfect recreation of the catapults outside. "Alright," he jumped off the wall, "Let's load this thing up." He turned to see that the only ammo they had was the single rock Fluttershy had caught. "Great. We've got one shot."

"We can't take them down with just one shot," Iron replied, "What do we do?"

Fluttershy flew up and stared at the army before noticing something behind them: A large mountain covered in snow. She came back down with a smile on her face, "I think I have a plan."

Applejack ran ahead of the two in the infinity maze, the three feeling more and more exhausted by the second. When the earth pony leapt up onto one of the platforms, having just avoided a fire floor, she almost fell to the floor. But then she heard a clicking noise and looked ahead, just in time to see three spikes appear out of the wall in front of her. They shot at her as she tried to escape, and she wasn't able to get away in time and was impaled.

The next thing the three knew, they were back at the bottom and Applejack's dot vanished. Now, each of them only had one. "Dagnabit!" She yelped, "Ah'm down to mah last life."

"Me too," Rarity gulped.

"Same," Lightning sighed before turning to them. "No more mistakes!" They nodded and began to climb up the maze again, avoiding fire floors, dodging spikes and continuing to run as they kept ahead of the disappearing floor beneath them as they felt themselves getting more and more tired.

"Augh!" Lightning yelled as they reached a long platform with spikes falling to the ground from above before retracting. "I'll never make fun of old games again! This is so hard..."

"We've gotta be close to the top," Rarity added, "Right?"

"What if we're not?" Applejack asked, "What if it's really endless?"

The three sighed, only for Rarity to notice something beyond the spikes. "What's that?" She pointed to it and they turned to see a box on the floor.

"Is that...a loot box?" Lightning replied while raising an eyebrow. They all ran for it, Rarity jumping past the spikes first while Lightning and Applejack remained behind to wait for them to retract. She then reached the box, Lightning yelling, "Smash it!"

Rarity jumped onto the box, which shattered upon impact. And before she could ask what happens next, a light flew out and struck her back. And as Applejack and Lightning reached her, the light formed a pair of familiar looking butterfly wings with sparkles coming off them. "My word!" She exclaimed as she unconsciously took to the air. "I can fly..."

"Great!" Lightning smirked, "But it's only temporary. The sparkles are speeding up every second."

"Yah gotta fly to the top!" Applejack told her.

Rarity glanced down at this, "But what about you two?" Lightning and Applejack shared a glance, both nodding before turning back to Rarity.

"Just go! It's better that one of us make it instead of none of us."

Rarity frowned at this, only to hover down, "I've got a better idea." With that, she grabbed them both by the hoof. "Hold on tight!" She began to pull them upward, Lightning and Applejack wide-eyed at this before they saw Rarity's speed was greatly diminished by the extra weight.

They looked down and saw the platform vanishing behind them, but Rarity remained focused on getting as high as possible. Every second the sparkles on her wings grew more and more rapid, showing they were close to disappearing. But before they did, the three found themselves flying past the final level. The wings exploded and the trio dropped, a beeping noise filling the air and the platforms stopped disappearing. "Huh," Lightning laughed, "I guess it wasn't so infinite after all."

Rarity nodded. "Then they should call it the 'very long and annoying but eventually there's an end to it' maze."

Applejack laughed at this. "Just rolls off the tongue."

They glanced up to see a door appear, Rarity sighing in relief. "Finally free." They opened the door, only to find themselves back in a corridor. "Oh no..." she huffed, "All that work and we end up back here?!"

"Ya'll gotta be kiddin me!" Applejack groaned. But before they could say anything else, they heard voices coming from around a corner. "Yah here that?" They nodded and moved over to the corner, right as a pair of ponies and a dragon walked around it. "Twilight!"

"Spike!" Rarity exclaimed as they ran over to the three, the group soon hugging. "You're alright."

"Yeah," Spike nodded, "You?"

"We had a few close calls," Lightning moaned, "But we made it through."

Twilight sighed in relief, "Here's hoping the others are having just as much luck."

Back at the riddle bridge...

Starlight and Trixie were still staring at the crossing, the riddle rolling around in their heads. Starlight stared at the stones as she did this, only to go wide-eyed, "Wait...I think I might know what it is." She checked the second row, then the third, four fifth and so on. "I've got it!"

"Are you sure?" Trixie asked, "You barely survived last time." Starlight nodded and stepped up to the stone, Trixie using her magic to grab Starlight's tail. And after taking a deep breath, she put her hoof on the T stone. They waited a moment, only for the letter to start glowing.

"Get off it!" Trixie yelped, preparing to pull her back.

"Wait!" Starlight responded, raising her other hoof. They waited...and waited...and waited...but the stone didn't crumble. "I think this is right." She took another deep breath and leapt onto the H stone of the second, the letter glowing but not breaking. She then jumped onto the third row, onto a U, and it too didn't break apart. Slowly, she leapt from one stone to the next, spelling out the answer to the riddle: T, H, U, N, D, E, R.

"Thunder..." Trixie whispered as Starlight leapt off the final stone onto the opposite ledge. "Of course," she bonked herself on the head. "Now it makes sense."

"Get over here," Starlight chuckled, "We still got work to do."

"On it!"

Iron and Grand had loaded the catapult with their only piece of ammo while Fluttershy was staring at the still well armed army. "You ready?"

The two nodded, the rock now in place as they turned the crankshaft that pulled the spoon-like arm back. They spun it as quickly as they could, eventually getting it down. "Locked and loaded!" Iron yelled as Fluttershy flew down. She stared at the catapult, then at the snowy mountain behind the army.

"Turn it a few degrees to the right." The earth ponies used their strength to spin the catapult around, the wheels a big help with this, Fluttershy stopping them when they were in line with the mountain. "Alright...we're ready." The stallions nodded and Iron grabbed the firing lever.

"FIRE IN THE HOLE!" He yelled, pulling the lever back as the other two ducked. The arm released, flinging the rock right out of the spoon. The three rushed up the walls and watched as the rock sailed across the battlefield, over the enemy army until it slammed into the mountain. The entire structure shook, causing the snow to come loose and begin to fall towards the enemy. The ponies didn't seem to even notice as the avalanche came crashing down upon them. And within seconds, the enemy army was buried under ten feet of snow.

"Yeah!" Grand cheered, Iron pumping his hooves while Fluttershy frowned at the sight.

"I hope they're alright."

"They're NPCs," Iron replied, "They're not real." Grand nodded as a sound filled the air, making them all turn to see the catapult begin to shake. And suddenly, the entire thing fell apart and caused a large dust cloud...and when it faded, a door could be seen surrounded by wooden pieces.

"We passed!" Grand cheered, "perfect." He leapt down off the wall, the other two following as he opened the door.

"Raaah!" Rainbow yelled as she threw another snowball, only to miss again. "Oh, come on!" Pinkie fired her snow blaster and missed as well, Rainbow growling at the sight, "How is this possible?! My aim's never this bad!"

Springer nodded in agreement, "I've landed a thousand Aura Blasts at harder to hit targets, but I can't land one snowball. Something's off."

Pinkie hummed as she stopped firing, "Maybe this room is effecting our aim or something." The others turned to her with raised eyebrows, "Maybe we just think we're aiming at the target but actually we're not."

Springer put a paw to his chin, "Huh. I guess it's possible. But then how do we land the snowballs?" Pinkie replied by filling the snow blaster again and aiming at the target, firing three snowballs. But they all seemed to curve to the right and sail past it. She then pulled the gun a few inches to the left and fired, the three watching as the snowballs flew forward and-

Splat!

The snow struck the target with enough force to knock it down, causing the entire rock to shake. They cheered at this as the icicles began to crack and break apart, eventually crumbling to nothing.

"Way to go Pinkie!" Rainbow cheered.

"Great shot!" Springer added.

"Aw, thanks." She blew onto the blaster before spinning it around in her hooves, then shoving it back into her hair. They walked into the door, happy to finally be out of the refrigerator.

"And then Rarity hit this loot box and got herself a pair of wings," Lightning said as the six continued to search through the hallways. "That allowed her to fly us all the way to the top."

"Aw..." Spike sighed. "I wish we could have done that."

"We've barely survived the trials we ran into," Twilight added, "Right now, I just wanna get this whole thing over with."

As she said that, they turned a corner and found themselves in front of another door. "Hold that thought," Flash commented, "For all we know, this might be the toughest trial yet." They all tensed up, Twilight grabbing the handle in her magic. The group let out a roar as they charged through the door, only to find themselves in...a simple round room.

"Is this it?" Applejack asked, glancing around to see that the room's walls were covered in doors. "Oh no...don't tell me we have to find some random door."

"No idea. Maybe-"

"Hooray! Its warm!" exclaimed a voice as a door opened, revealing Pinkie, Springer and Rainbow.

"I think my hooves got frostbite," Rainbow moaned, "I don't wanna see another-"

"Flash!" Springer interrupted as he ran over to the group just as another door opened. This time, Iron, Grand and Fluttershy walked in, only for another door to open with Starlight and Trixie trotting out of it.

"We're all here!" Twilight cheered, the group sharing hugs and hoofshakes before they all grouped together. It was here that Fluttershy asked the one thing on everypony's mind.

"What do we do now?"

"We've got to find the crystal," Twilight replied, "Turning it off is the only way to get out of here."

"But it could be anywhere," Trixie added, only for a sudden bright light to explode above them. They all cried out as they looked away, giving their eyes time to adjust before glancing back up and see the source of the light was the very thing they had been searching for.

"The Crystal!" Twilight gasped.

"We gotta get it!" Flash continued as he, Rainbow and Twilight took to the air. They all charged at the gem, only for the light from the crystal began to take shape.

"What's happening?" Spike asked as the light's shape became something they all recognized, Flash, Trixie and Springer now seeing it change into a trio of quetzalcoatls like the ones Tempera had made during the war.

The winged serpents hissed before flying down at the flying ponies, "The crystal's trying to protect itself!" Twilight yelped as the crystal glowed again, the room starting to change again. The doors vanished, the walls opening up to allow large metal cables to slide out and try to constrict the ponies on the ground.

"Whoa!" Iron yelled as he dodged a tendril and used his Iron Saber to slice it up before it could get close to Fluttershy. Grand crushed another as Lightning zapped one more and Springer used Steel Paw to slice a third. Applejack bucked one next, Trixie and Starlight blasting two others as Spike jumped onto Rarity's back to melt some with his fire.

"This is crazy!" Flash growled as he pulled his tail away from a serpent's mouth, "How are we supposed to stop this thing if we can't even get close to it?!" As he said that, the gem glowed again and created a pony-sized wasp.

Twilight suddenly found herself cornered and tried to teleport, only to then remember she couldn't. "Not good!" The serpent thrust its head forward, opening its mouth to swallow her, only for Twilight to fire a laser into it and destroy the beast. But as soon as she did, the wasp flew down to tried and sting her. "Oh, come on!"

She flew away while Rainbow tried to use her super speed to avoid her snake and get close to the gem. But before she could pick up speed, the room started to change, large blocks of the wall extending to narrow her field of movement. "Whoa!" She yelped as she almost crashed into one, only for a snake to fly up to her with its jaws ready to devour her, "AAAAH! Make it stop!"

"There's gotta be a way to get passed these things!" Flash yelled as he cut down a beast with his sword before two more appeared, "Any ideas?" He then heard a scream and looked down to see Fluttershy had been wrapped up by a cable.

"Shrink!" Rarity told her, Fluttershy quickly shrinking down to mouse size. And before the cables could do anything, she flew out and flew over to grab onto Iron's head.

It was here that Starlight went wide-eyed and turned to Iron, "Fluttershy!" She called out, using her magic to put a shield around the mare. "At your size, you should easily be able to sneak to the crystal without it noticing. It's probably using our body heat to track us, but at your size, it might not notice."

"She's right," Twilight added, "We'll do our best to keep it occupied. You've got to turn off the crystal!"

Fluttershy nodded and turned to Iron. "Can you give me a boost?" Iron grinned as he knocked away another cable, then changed the end of his spear to a spoon-like shape. Fluttershy flew into it as everypony pushed the cables, serpents and wasp out of the way. And using the same motion the catapult used, Iron swung his weapon, launching the tiny pony flying.

Fluttershy shot up with a tiny scream, but a cable got loose and flew wildly at her. However, it bounced off Starlight's barrier, making sure the pony didn't lose any momentum. And by the time Iron's throw had lost its power, Fluttershy was able to keep her speed up with her own flight, only to tackle the gem as she returned to full size.

"TURN OFF!" She screamed, the crystal beginning to glow. And as the monsters and cables prepared to strike again, the crystal unleashed a brilliant light that filled the room and blinded everypony.

When the light faded, they opened their eyes and saw that they were back in the castle's entryway. Everything was back to normal. Fluttershy flew down with the crystal in hoof, everypony instantly falling over, some closing their eyes as they began to pant and wheeze.

As they did this, the doors of the castle opened and Heart, Soul, Mira, Ace and the CMC stepped inside. When they noticed the adults laid out on the ground, they raised an eyebrow at the sight as Heart said, "Uh...did we miss something?"

One hour later...

The ponies were now all in the throne room, Twilight putting the crystal in a case, "Clearly, it still needs some adjustments." She turned to the others, "But at least the illusion function worked. Once we've gotten it to safely handle the pressure needed, we can start mass producing them and handing them out to every place that could use them. Though we may need to limit its functions in terms of how many sims it can hold."

"I can't believe we missed such an awesome adventure," Heart complained, "That video game sounded fun to do."

"Not so much fun when you don't know what'll happen if you run out of lives," Lightning added.

"I'm just glad everypony's okay," Fluttershy sighed, "And I have to admit..." She giggled, "it was kind of fun."

The others chuckled, only for a loud yawn to right out, making them turn to see Flash stretching. "Well, I don't know about any of you, but today and the last few sleepless nights have left me with the need to sleep for the next month." Springer yawned as well as the defender hopped off his seat, "So if you'll excuse me, I'm going to take a nap...so try not to get us into another life or death situation until I wake up."

Everypony laughed at this as Flash and Springer left to go to bed. As they did this, everypony agreed they were all tired, suggesting to go home and get a good sleep. After all, they would need to be in full fighting condition before the next insane event in Ponyville could occur.

Until that time, it was nighty-night for the heroes and sweet dreams.

Reinforcements From the Future PT1

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It was a quiet night in a little town between Manehatten and Canterlot, the ponies living there all sound asleep. But that quiet serenity was soon to be broken as in an alleyway between two of the buildings, a powerful gust of wind started blowing. It swirled around something invisible to the naked eye, growing faster and faster, only for a bit-sized circle of green light to appear. The circle soon grew larger, going from a bit size, to the size of a plate, to the size of a trash can lid and then to the size of a foal's play pool. And once it was that size, the light began to extend upward and curve until it formed a green dome that had lightning sparking off it.

The dome remained like this for several seconds, only for a pony-shaped figure to appear in front of the dome, which quickly reversed in size before completely vanishing. The being hid itself in the darkness of the alleyway, a horn sticking out of their head, though it was curved and had a tail that appeared like an insect wing.

It walked up to a nearby trash can, glancing a paper on the top. It grabbed it and stared it over, seeing the title of Saddleton Daily. "Saddleton?" it yelped before moaning, "This wasn't where I wanted to be!" It then squinted its eyes at the date on the paper, "Wait...I only have until tomorrow?! Stupid Royal Knight!" The figure grabbed the sides and began to rip it in half, only to go wide-eyed, "Now I have to...wait...maybe I can slow them down." The being threw the paper aside, now trotting out of the alleyway, "I will change things for the better! No more stupid U.F.O.C!"

The next day...

The castle of friendship was brimming with activity, Twilight and Spike now busy packing suitcases. "Alright," Twilight started at everything she had packed, "We've got formal wear, my crown, the books on trade and alliance negotiation..."

"And enough snacks to keep us well fed until we get there," Spike finished as he carried a load of plastic bags in his magical hold.

Twilight rolled her eyes, "Be serious Spike. These negotiations are important. This will determine the future of relationships between ponies, changelings and dragons." She then remembered back to the events a few weeks ago, when Ember and Thorax had been accidently invited to the town before eventually agreeing to an alliance between their nations.

"Remind me why we have to hold this meeting in Manehatten?" Spike asked. "Why not in Canterlot, or even here?"

"It's protocol," Twilight replied, "When these kinds of meetings take place, the location is always different from the last three meetings. It's a security measure, to make sure nopony tries to interrupt it."

"Still feels like a lot of extra work for nothing," Spike sighed, "And why do we have to take a train and not use the Rune Gate?"

"Again, its security. If we make a Rune Gate to the location, what's to stop somepony from using the rune gate to send themselves or something dangerous to us? As such, for safety reasons, the rune gates will be shut off until the meeting is complete. Now stop complaining and help me finish packing these bags. You, me and Flash have a train to catch."

"Then why isn't Flash helping with all this packing? Where is he anyway?"

"He'll be here soon," Twilight responded, "He's just getting Heart set up with the training regime he has to complete while we're away."

The training room had been transformed into a baseball pitching cage, Flash and Heart staring at a pitching machine. "So why are we here?" Heart asked, "I mean, I like baseball as much as the next pony, but I thought we were supposed to be training. Besides, there aren't any bats."

"We're not gonna be batting the balls," Flash replied before stepping up to the plate. "This training exercise is designed to help you learn to make out minor details in split seconds. Trust me, being able to do that could make the difference between life and death."

Heart raised an eyebrow, only to see Flash switch the machine on. The pitcher warmed up, then fired a baseball right at Flash. "Six!" Heart opened his mouth to ask why Flash said that, but he saw his mentor caught the ball. He held it up to Heart, who now saw that the ball had the number six with a line under it engraved into it. "These travel at one hundred and fifty kilometers per hour." He threw it and Heart caught the ball, "Being able to read the numbers on them will sharpen your senses and reaction time."

Heart's eyes shined with stars, "That's awesome! Let me try!" Flash nodded and stepped aside, allowing Heart to jump onto the plate as the pitcher began to power up. And after a few seconds, it fired a ball. "Four!" The ball flew past him and hit the net, stopping before it fell to the ground. He spun around to stare at the sphere, only to see a number Seven on it. "Aww..."

Flash chuckled at the sight, "Hey, it's okay. There'd be no point of this training if you could do it right away. Just keep trying and don't get discouraged."

Heart nodded and Flash ruffled his hair as the door opened. "Flash?" Twilight asked, "You ready to go?" Flash nodded and followed her out of the room. And as soon as he closed the door, a cry of pain rang out, a ball now hitting Heart's side.

"Alright," Flash turned to Twilight, "Let's get going. Don't wanna miss the train."

Twilight nodded before she, Flash and Spike headed for the exit, only to hear Heart cry out again. "You sure Heart's gonna be okay by himself?" She asked as they left he castle.

"He'll be fine. Grand promised to check in on him when he can to make sure he's not goofing off. Its just too bad Springer's not here."

"Well, he was excited to take Ace and Mira with the others to Winsome Falls," Twilight replied, "I just hope nothing goes wrong for them." They then walked up to the train station, the train having not arrived yet. "I heard there's been a large outbreak of Fly-ders in that area, but hopefully they'll be okay."

"I'm sure they'll be fine," Flash replied as they walked onto the platform.

"So what have you got Heart doing while we're gone?" Spike asked, the little dragon taking out a page he had copied from his spellbook to read and practice on the way there. Flash quickly explained the exercise, the pair going wide-eyed, "That sounds tough."

"It is. But I think Heart should be able to get it down by the time we get back." But as he said that, both Twilight and Spike could sense something in his voice, a hint of worry. However, the whistle of a train made them all look away, now seeing the locomotive quickly roll into view. The trio grabbed their things and got on, their thoughts now going to the conference.

Back in Saddleton...

In the same alleyway that the first portal had appeared in, another gust of wind came and spiraled around the same spot. Once again, the portal appeared the same way it had the previous night, a figure soon revealing itself as it walked out of the soon shrinking and vanishing portal.

The being remained still for a second, only to rub the side of their head, "Whoa..." they mumbled with a male voice, "Head rush." They shook their head, only to see the same bin from before and saw the paper, "Seriously?" He commented as he stared at the date, "What's he doing here?" The figure threw the paper away, "I need to find him before he does serious damage."

With that, the figure reached back and pulled a hood over their head before opening up a pair of wings.

Meanwhile...

The locomotive had just entered the tunnel of the mountain located in the kingdom's center, Flash now sitting by the window, staring out at the darkness of the cave. He showed a bored expression, but anypony that knew him would be able to tell something was on his mind. And as the train left the tunnel, Twilight and Spike returned from the snack bar.

"Hey," Twilight said as she held out a packet of chips to him, "We got you your favorite."

Flash glanced at the bag, taking it in his hooves, "Thanks." He muttered before throwing a few chips into his mouth, staring back at the window as Twilight and Spike sat opposite him.

"So...what's wrong?" Twilight replied, Flash turning to her, only to see a glare from the alicorn, "And don't go saying nothing's wrong. I've known you long enough to know when something's bothering you, and Spike knows it too." Spike nodded as he bit off a piece of his chocolate bar. "So..."

Flash remained silent for a moment, only to lean back and sigh, "I've just been wondering if...I'm doing enough with Heart?" Twilight and Spike raised an eyebrow, "Am I training him well enough?"

"Of course you are," Twilight instantly responded, "What would make you think that?"

"I don't know," Flash shrugged. "I just get the feeling that Heart should have progressed more. And that I haven't done enough to help him grow as a Royal Knight."

"Flash, he's young and you haven't been training him that long." Twilight pointed her wing at him, "You didn't exactly become a master warrior the first few years Grand was training you. It took a lot of work, I know as I was there. And besides, Heart's improved a lot since he started training with you."

"But it wasn't just me that was teaching him," Flash countered, "I mean...I couldn't help him with his fire powers. Grand did that."

"And Shining taught you how to properly use a sword because Grand uses a hammer, and you had Soarin teach you how to fly." Twilight pointed out, "Grand couldn't teach you everything. Heart is going to school, something you didn't do, and he's being taught there. You shouldn't expect to teach him everything."

Flash opened his mouth at this, only to sigh, "I guess..." He glanced back out the window. "But you can't blame me for being worried. I'm training Heart the best I can, but I have no idea what kind of knight he's gonna turn out to be. I just...when I was training, I felt I figured it out really easily. I knew my way and style. But when I look at him..." Flash looked down at the floor at this, putting a single chip in his mouth. "I just don't know."

Twilight shook her head at this as the overhead announcer stated they were about to stop in a town called Saddleton. "Flash..." she reached out and placed a hoof on his knee, "Heart will find his way. No matter how you train him, you'll help him discover his own way of being a knight. You just have to let Heart be Heart and believe in him...and yourself."

Flash glanced back up at her, seeing the kind gentle smile on her face. Part of him really wanted to just grab and make out with her right there, only to hear Spike finish his snack. That sound clicked him back into reality, knowing he shouldn't do that and looking back at the window. He saw the town of Saddleton, remembering it the times they had passed through it when they went to Manehatten, remembering how peaceful it was.

That is, till the train pulled away from Saddleton's station and began to build up speed, only for the train to suddenly come to a screeching halt. Flash, Twilight and Spike were flung from their seats, the carriage suddenly hopping upward. Screams came out next, the carriage landing as everypony hit the floor. The ponies in the carriage all moaned after this, Flash glancing up and seeing nopony was particularly hurt.

"What just happened?" Spike asked after he moaned, clutching his head.

"I don't know," Twilight replied, quickly grabbing all the ponies in her magic and teleporting them out of the carriage, appearing a safe distance away from the train. They then gasped as they saw the train's engine now driven into a hole in the ground, the dirt under the track having collapsed as the train rolled over it. This caused the entire train and half of the first carriage to fall into the hole, derailing the entire thing.

"What the heck?!" Spike yelped as they ran over to the hole.

"Are you okay in there?!" Flash called out, seeing a bunch of ponies who ran the train stick their heads out of the car.

"We're fine," the driver replied, "But we're trapped."

"Hang on," Twilight grabbed them in her magic and teleported them above ground. "Are you okay?"

"We'll live," the firepony responded, "But what just happened?! I've run this route hundreds of times and the grounds never shown signs of being week."

Flash turned back to the hole, staring down at the structure. It was hard to tell with a train inside it, but the hole didn't look natural. He squinted his eyes at the situation, only to feel the ground begin to shake beneath his hooves. Flash and Twilight glanced to one another before grabbing the others and moving them away, only for the ground to explode as something leapt out. The ponies and dragon were thrown back at this, Flash quickly rolling back onto his hooves and pulling out his sword. And as the dust settled, he got a look at a giant mole-like creature with large claws.

"Maulwurf!" Twilight screamed as the beast let out a roar.

"But what's it doing here?!" The creature then tried to slash at Flash, but the pegasus leapt back. "Flash Cutter!" He fired the light blade, which struck the maulwurf on the head, only for Twilight to fire a magical blast and Spike to breathe several fireballs.

The attacks pushed the creature back, Flash flying back and spinning into a wheel of light, "Flash Grinder!" The monster saw this, quickly digging back down as it kicked up a large cloud of dust, which shielded the beast as the wheel flew into it.

The others heard the sound of grinding, but didn't here the maulwurf's screams. They saw the dust clear next, revealing the creature was gone and had now been replaced with a giant scorpentine, which was using its claws the block the Flash Grinder.

"What?!" Twilight yelped as the scorpentine threw the wheel back, Flash hitting the ground before rolling on the dirt. He let out a moan as he came to a stop, Twilight asking, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." He grumbled, "But where did that thing come from?!"

As he asked this, Spike saw the scorpentine take something out with its claws: A small sack. "Look out!" He yelled as the creature threw it at them. Flash and Twilight tried to move, but the sack hit the ground, its contents spilling out. What came out was a bronze colored dust, the two crying out as they were bathed in the dust, both using their wings to blow most of it away.

"What is this stuff?" Flash asked as the scorpentine raised its tail stinger.

Twilight tried to spark her horn at this...only for nothing to happen. Her horn wouldn't light up. "I...I can't use a spell!" Flash then tackled her out of the way, seconds before the stinger stabbed them. "My magic's gone!" She screamed as she put her hooves to her horn, "What is happening to me?!"

Flash picked himself up and raised his sword, only for it to not respond. "Huh?" He swung the blade, but nothing happened. "What the-Amrorize!" He yelled, ready for the Sacred Light to appear on his body...but nothing happened. "What the heck?!"

Twilight was wide-eyed at the sight of the pegasi now dodging the stinger from the monster, only to glance down at her coat, "That dust...it must be effecting our magic." She tried to brush it off, but she couldn't get it all off of her, only for Flash to tackle her again to dodge the tail.

Flash then flipped back onto his hooves and flew up and slashed at the tail. But the blade wasn't able to even scratch it. "Not good," Flash gulped as the beast thrust its claws, smacking Flash back. "Augh!"

"Flash!" Twilight and Spike cried, Spike breathing out another blast of fire. The flames made the scorpentine backpedal, only for it side-step the fire and try to grab the drake in his claws. "Get out of there!"

"Don't have to tell me twice!" Spike turned to run away, Flash picking up a rock and throwing it at the monster's head.

"Hey! Come and get me!" The beast let out a hiss and raised its claws, Flash and Twilight getting into defensive positions. But as this happened, a fireball shot over the two's heads and struck the scorpentine in the face. The beast cried out in pain, only for three more fireballs to hit it.

Flash and Twilight blinked at the sight, making them spin around and see a pony wearing an orange leather jacket with a red hood that was covering their head. They appeared to be a pegasus, with red wings and a yellow tail with orange tips. Their legs were red up to their knees, where they started turning yellow all the way to their hooves. In their front hooves was a bow-shaped weapon that didn't have any string, and where the arrow would be had a ripcord-like attachment.

"Back off Tragus!" The hooded pony yelled as they held the bow up and pulled on the ripcord, which showed a metal pole connecting it to the weapon. When they let go, the ripcord flew back into the bow before a fireball shot out of a hole in the front. The scorpentine dodged the fireball as the pegasus charged, the bow glowing and suddenly transforming into a small device that looked like a red metal H with two of the legs curved towards one another. The pony ran past Flash and Twilight, the defender going wide-eyed as he caught sight of the pony's cutie mark. It was a blue shield with a heart-shaped flame inside it.

"That's-" He whispered as the figure reached the scorpentine, the pony side-stepping from the monster's claw. The device in its hoof then glowed, changing to a red sword similar to Flash's, only for fire to consume the blade. The sword was stabbed into the beast, flames bursting out before the pegasi pulled back, the sword now transforming into a mace with the head on fire. The pony swung it back at the monster, but the scorpentine backpedaled, only for the mace's head to detach from the handle and showed a long chain. The figure swung the still burning head, the weapon turning into a blazing comet that the scorpentine could barely avoid.

After getting hit by the flames, the monster thrust its tail at the pegasus, but the pony raised the mace, which suddenly transformed into a shield with a line running down it. The stinger hit the shield and bounced off it, the shield then opening up and unleashing a burst of fire that burned the tail.

The scorpentine screamed at this, the pegasus then reaching into their jacket. "Heads up!" He yelled before pulling out a familiar small sack and throwing it, the sack hitting the scorpentine in the chest and bursting. The bronze dust covered the scorpentine, making it cry out. Flash, Twilight and Spike all watched with wide eyes, now seeing the scorpentine suddenly get consumed in green fire. The fireball shrank and then faded to reveal the true culprit.

It was a changeling, its coat being a mixture of yellow, green and orange. His head and legs were yellow, while his neck, wing-covers and tail were green. His body-jacket was orange along with his eyes, while a single crystal could be seen on his chest.

"Ahh!" He cried as he kept backpedaling before yelling at the pegasus. "Curse you!"

The pegasus's weapon turned back into a sword, "It's over Tragus. Surrender and give back the Time Stone."

"Never!" The changeling screamed, "I will do what I came back to do! Mark my words!" He then glanced over at the hole, the train still inside before diving inside.

"Hey!" The four ran over to the hole, the pegasus taking something out of his pocket and pointing it at the changeling. Before anypony could ask, it fired a beam of light that struck the changeling in the back seconds before he flew into the hole.

The insect pony went down to the bottom, slamming a hoof into the train as he passed it. The kick caused the sides of the cave, making it break apart and crumble, forcing the four to leap back as the hole collapsed in on itself. The changeling disappeared into a tunnel at this, rubble soon blocking up the hole. The changeling had gotten away.

"No!" The pegasus yelled, "Get back here you-" The pony came to a stop at this, now feeling three stares. He slowly turned to Flash, Twilight and Spike, the three stares making the pegasi gulp, "Err...hi."

"Who...are you?" Twilight asked, "How did you-"

Flash put his wing in front of her, his stare turning to a slight glare as he said, "I think I already know who he is." He pointed at the pegasus, "Could you show us your face? Please." The pegasus blinked at the defender, only to sigh. His weapon returned to the H-shape and he put it away before reaching up to his hood. When he did, Flash saw a long scar running from one side of his right hoof, around the top of it and up the other side a few inches.

But the scar's existence flew from Flash's mind when the pegasus pulled down his hood, revealing a face of a pony Flash knew all too well...except it also looked slight wrong.

"Hey Flash," the pegasi replied, trying to hide a smile.

"I knew it. Are you...Heart?" Flash asked, Twilight and Spike going wide-eyed.

"Heart?!" Spike yelped.

"How is that-wait...are you...older?" Twilight muttered as she started at the pegasus.

Heart scratched the back of his head, showing a small grimace. "It's...complicated." He cleared his throat at this, "Um...how about I introduce myself first." He put a hoof to his chest, "I am Fire Heart, Royal Knight of Equestria." He raised his hoof and it set on fire, "Also known as the Ig-Knighter. And I'm not the same Fire Heart you all know. I'm...from the future."

Twilight and Spike were fully wide-eyed again as Flash asked, "You're...from the future?" Heart nodded. "I guess that explains why you look...older."

"But what are you doing here?" Twilight added, "And who was that changeling that attacked us."

"That changeling was also from the future," Heart responded, "I know it's hard to believe, but I followed him back in time after he stole a relic that was recently unearthed: The Time Stone. It's what Starswirl original studied in order to create his time travel spell, but was lost until some archaeologists found it. Tragus attacked the sight and stole the Time Stone and I was sent to stop him, but he was able to figure out how to make it work when I arrived. We fought for a bit, but then he managed to get away and use it. He created a portal to the past and I...followed him, but he got ahead of me."

Flash and Twilight shared a glance, Flash shrugging, "Eh, we've both done time travel shenanigans. Seems legit to me."

"That's not reassuring." Twilight deadpanned before turning back to Heart, "Why would a changeling want to travel back in time?"

Heart sighed and shook his head, "In the future, most changelings are absolutely fine with how things are and love being under Thorax's leadership. But every now and then, a renegade shows up thinking life would be better if they went back to their old ways. Tragus is one of those."

"Okay...but why did he come to this time?"

Heart shrugged, "Who knows. Maybe me showing up stopped him from completing the spell, so it couldn't send him back the whole way. Honestly, I have no idea how long he's been here already. He could have arrived yesterday, or two months ago. I don't know."

"I don't think he did go back. I mean, Thorax just became leader just a few months ago."

"Yeah. Why didn't he go back further?" Spike added.

Heart nodded at this, "Oh, the Time Stone can't make more than one trip backwards. If he uses the stone again, the only place it'll take him is back to our time. To the exact time and place that we left, and I've got a squad of guards waiting for him there."

Twilight raised an eyebrow at this, "You seem to know a lot about this stone."

Heart nodded again, "Well, you did debrief me before sending me out to catch him."

"I did?!" Twilight yelped.

"Sure. Who else would-" He stopped himself, "Shoot. Spoilers. Sorry. Probably not a good idea to tell you too much about the future." They nodded back, only for Heart to continue, "Whatever. All that matters is that Tragus has the time stone and can't return to the future without getting captured. So he's obviously planning to do something here that'll change the future."

"But why?" Spike asked, "Why did he attack us and stop our train?"

Heart shrugged back, only for Twilight to speak up, "You don't think he was trying to stop us from getting the Manehatten, do you?"

Heart tilted his head at this, "Why are you going to Manehatten?"

"We're going to discuss a peace and trade treaty with the dragons and changelings." Heart's eyes went wide at this, making Twilight flinch, "What's wrong?"

Heart facehoofed at this, "Of course! He's trying to stop the C.D.P.A!"

"The what?" The three asked in unison, Heart flinching at the question.

He opened his mouth, only to sigh as he replied, "I'm guessing its about to happen, so I'll tell you. This peace treaty is very important. The Changeling, Dragon, Pony Alliance will be signed and formed tomorrow. It's what allows peace between the three nations to exist all the way to my time...and Twilight's a big part of those treaty negotiations." He pointed at the alicorn, "If she's not there, it might cause the talks to go south."

"That's why he attacked us," Twilight gasped, "Even though he couldn't take us down, destroying the train has made it almost impossible to get to Manehatten."

Heart nodded back, "And I'm gonna guess this won't be the only thing he does." He turned back to the hole, "He's got to be heading for Manehatten to try and make things worse."

Several miles from the town, a hole suddenly appeared, Tragus scraping out of the dirt. He shook himself, dusting flying off him as he groaned, "Great...stupid capture dust."

He closed his eyes, focusing as his body was consumed by fire. But when it extinguished, he was still a changeling. "Oh, come on!" He glanced up and saw a large mountain range many miles away. "Great. Now I've gotta get there by myself!" He spread his wings and flew off, soon realizing he wouldn't make it to the mountains before nightfall. "Hopefully, that dust will have worn off when I get there." He smirked, "I will stop those stupid talks and return the changelings to their true state. I swear it!"

Back in Saddleton, Twilight had gotten the group a room at a local inn. Heart had been worried about interacting with others from this time, but Flash edged him on. Now he was sitting in his and Spike's room, waiting for Flash and Twilight to get out of the bathroom, Spike on the opposite bed, reading a page from his book.

The door to the bathroom opened and Flash walked out, Twilight coming next as Flash dried his mane, "Finally managed to get all that dust off me."

"But I still can't use my magic," Twilight growled as she tried to spark her horn.

"Don't worry," Heart replied, "The capture dust's effects will wear off eventually. Probably by tomorrow morning."

"Capture dust?" The three asked as they sat down on the beds.

"Yeah," Heart nodded, "You developed it to temporarily neutralize the magic of anything it covers. Pony, changeling, kirin, they all have their magic rendered useless once they've been covered in that dust."

"I made that?" Twilight asked, getting another nod from Heart. "But then how did that changeling get it?"

"It was...stolen a few years back and sold on the black market. It's not easy to get, but there are ripoffs. Thankfully, your capture dust is way stronger. The stuff I hit Tragus with won't wear off until much later tomorrow, which means we've got a chance to capture him before he can transform and fight back."

They all nodded as Heart shifted his weight on the bed, allowing Flash to see the scar on his hoof. Flash stared at the injury, now seeing that it must be several years old. And before his brain could stop him, he asked, "So...how'd that happen?"

Heart looked down at his scarred hoof, Twilight and Spike turning to the pony as he replied, "It's...complicated. Probably not a good idea to tell you how I got it. Don't wanna alter the timeline and all that."

Flash frowned, "Does it hurt?"

"It did when I first got it," Heart chuckled, "But most days, I forget I even have it. Guess it pays to have the Princess of Life for a sister. Means you can be reckless and not have to worry about getting too badly hurt."

"That's no excuse for acting reckless," Twilight responded, "But I'm more interested in that unusual weapon you used earlier. Was that your Celestic Gear?"

Heart nodded and took out the handle-like device, "It's called Flamemaker. Its power allows me to transform it into any weapon I want, and it can harness my fire powers so I can fight without needing to transform. Most days I only use my fire form the same way Flash uses his Sacred Light, for emergencies."

"Wow," Twilight whispered. "I've...got so many questions I wanna ask, but I know asking them isn't a good idea. I've already seen where that goes with my own time travel adventures."

"Tell me about it." Flash added, Twilight rolling her eyes at him,

"Anyways..." She grumbled before asking, "Just tell me one thing Heart. Is Equestria...safe? I mean, there must be some things in the future that could be better."

"Well...yeah," Heart shrugged, "It's still a great place. In fact, it's even better in my time than it is right now." He turned to look out the window. "I can't tell you anything, but I will say its amazing. And it's thanks to you and the others who helped build it." They smiled at this, only to see Heart shake his head, "But none of it will happen if we let Tragus stay loose. We need to do something to stop him."

"We will," Twilight replied, "I'm gonna write a letter and send it to Celestia, to let her know what's going on."

Heart went wide-eyed at this, "Whoa! Don't do that! What if she decides to cancel the talks?! That could cause the future to change and I might even get blinked out of existence!"

Spike raised an eyebrow, "I think you might be exaggerating a bit."

"I'm not!" Heart yelled, "Don't forget, this is all history to me! It happened and I know these talks went down perfectly. If you cancel them, then the future I return to will be completely different. Don't you remember what happened when Starlight stopped the Sonic Rainboom? You told me about that before you sent me Twilight. Changing one small event in the past have disastrous effects on the future."

Twilight opened her mouth at this, only to let out a sad hum, "You're right. If the talks happened tomorrow in your past, then they can't be cancelled. But I'm still gonna tell Celestia, but make sure she doesn't change the plans." She turned to Flash and Heart, "Which means it'll be up to you two to stop Tragus." The two pegasi nodded back, only for the alicorn to glance over to her assistant, "Spike, get me some paper. I need to make sure this all goes perfectly tomorrow."

"On it."

Tragus panted as he stared up at the mountain range he now stood at the base of. There were around ten mountains standing around one another, the changeling knowing he would have to at least scale three of them. Taking a deep breath, he turned to the sun and saw Celestia begin to lower it. "Scaling this thing in the dark is suicide, especially since I can't transform." He sighed, "Guess I'll have to scale it tomorrow."

His stomach then started moaning at him, making him glance around. After a few minutes, he spotted a bunch of berry bushes. "Perfect." He started picking them, only to see on the ground a large hole that went downward vertically. He stared at it for a moment as he threw a berry into his mouth and crushed it with his tongue, only for his eyes to go wide. "Gyah!" He spat, the foul tasting and now very smelling piece of fruit. The juice hit the ground and continued to smell, Tragus quickly throwing the other berries away.

It was ten minutes before he could no longer smell the horrible scent, the changeling instead finding a nice tree to snuggle up against. "I should have snacked on one of those townsponies," he grumbled, "I need some love."

He remembered back to his childhood, when his parents had first taken him to Equestria on vacation. He had snuck away at the time, running into a filly that was just glowing with love. That had been the first time he had lost control and feasted on love, the memory of the taste making him lick his lips.

"That's what a changeling's supposed to be," he told himself, "And when I return to the future, it'll be a future where changelings realized the truth and stopped trying to be friends with their food." He then pulled out a green rock that had multiple patterns on it that all glowed blue. On the front was an image of an hourglass. "This rock was created the fix mistakes, and I'm gonna fix the greatest mistake ever made." With that, he curled himself up and tried to get some sleep. Tomorrow was gonna be a busy day.

The next morning...

As soon as the sun had risen the next day, Twilight, Flash, Spike and Heart were up and ready, the dust now gone off of Twilight and Flash. "Yes!" Twilight cheered as she used her magic to lifted her saddlebag onto her back. "My magic's back to full strength!"

"Same here," Flash added as his sword lit up. "Now we can go after Tragus and stop him." He put his sword on his back, "So what's the plan? He's heading for Manehatten, so how do we catch up?"

"I have a way to find him," Heart chimed in as he reached into his pocket and pulled out what looked like some kind of silver pocket watch.

"What's that?"

"Another invention from the future. Solid Script designed this one." He opened it up to reveal it was actually a compass. "This thing doesn't point north, instead pointing in the direction of whatever it tagged last."

When he said that, Flash blinked before speaking up, "That's the thing that you fired at him yesterday."

"Yup," Heart nodded. "It's still a work in progress, so it takes time after it tags somepony before it can lock in on them. But now we'll be able to find Tragus, no matter where he is."

"Awesome," Spike cheered, "So let's get after him!"

"Spike, I already told you that you're coming with me." Twilight interrupted, "You and I are heading straight to Manehatten. I'm gonna need all the help I can get with this peace treaty with the dragons and the changelings."

"But how are we gonna get there?"

"Simple. We're gonna teleport. I don't like travelling that far with my teleportation spell unless I absolutely have too, but this is an emergency. The future depends on it." She turned to Flash and Heart, "Are you two gonna be okay going after Tragus? He's got a whole day's head start on you."

"Maybe, but we have a speed advantage." Flash smirked, "Changeling aren't exactly fast flyers, so we should be able to catch him up no problem."

"Especially if we use a turbo booster," Heart added as he lit his hoof aflame. "I've gotten a lot of practice over the years."

"Alright..." Twilight then took something out of her bag, "Here. I was able to get this from one of the travel stores." Flash took it and saw it was a rolled up piece of paper. "It's a map of the area, everything from here to Manehatten. That should help you know what's coming."

Flash nodded and stared at the map, "My best guess is he's going to pass through the Andor Mountain Range. That's the fastest way to get to Manehatten from here on hoof."

"Be careful," Twilight responded, "There's no telling what he'll pull since he's knows you're probably coming." Flash nodded and the two shared a kiss, Spike sticking out a tongue while Heart laughed at the drake. "Let's go Spike," she pulled away from Flash and placed Spike on her back before glancing back at the Royal Knights. "Stay safe, alright?"

"We will." Flash replied before Twilight sparked her horn, both vanishing in a bright flash of light.

Once they were gone, Flash turned to his grown up apprentice. "Let's go."

"This is gonna be awesome!" Heart cheered as they rushed out of the inn, "just you and me on a whirlwind adventure against a great evil! I'm so psyched!"

"Why?" Flash asked as they stepped outside. "The two of us must go on hundreds of missions together. Isn't this just another day at the office for you?" He flared his wings at this, taking to the air as Heart stopped for a second.

"Yeah," Heart said, his teeth almost biting his lip as he spread his wings, "We've been on...hundreds of missions." Both took to the air, Flash glancing back at the knight.

"What's your thing say?"

Heart pulled out the compass, "Looks like its pointing at the mountains, just like you thought."

"Alright. You ready to accelerate?" Flash asked, Heart nodding back, "Nice! Armorize!" A burst of light appeared round Flash's chest and wings, forming the armor just as Heart's hooves ignited. Flash's wings opened up and began to expel the light, shooting him ahead as Heart followed with his flames. The two began moving at speeds even Rainbow would have trouble keeping up with, the town now seeing what looked like two comets flying towards the mountain range.

Tragus had gotten up at the same time as his enemies, now travelling up the mountain. "Ha!" He laughed, "I'll just fly up to the nearest peak and be over it in no time." But as he did this and hit the three mile mark, he suddenly found himself getting bombarded by an extra powerful wind that his wings couldn't fight against. "AHHH!" He yelped as the wind smashed him into the side of the mountain and pinned him down.

After about a minute of this, the changeling was able to start pushing against the gust, soon managing to get himself to stand up against the side of the mountain. But the force of the wind continued to batter against his body, forcing him to hug the side of the wall.

"Great," he moaned before he started pulling himself upward, "Just great." He tried transforming into something that could fight against the winds, a roc or even a griffon, but he still couldn't transform. "Darn it! Stupid knight!"

All he could do was keep pulling himself higher up the side of the mountain, waiting for the strong wind to die down. But no matter what he tried, the winds refused to give up. They made climbing so difficult that it took almost an hour to reach the top. And as he got there, he saw he still had another two mountains to get past before he was out of the range. However, he knew the powerful winds were there, forcing him to climb down the other side.

"I thought the ponies in this land were supposed to be in charge of the weather here..." he grumbled as he slid down the least steepest part he could find. "Who's bright idea was it to have super strong winds spiraling around these mountains?! I gotta get to that stupid conference!"

Flash and Heart continued to fly as fast as they could toward the mountain range, both starting to feel the strain of the many miles they just went past. Soon, they reached the mountain's base and flew down into the forest and as soon as they touched down, Heart killed the flames and Flash dispelled his Sacred Light. Heart checked the compass as Flash pulled out the map.

"He's still ahead of us."

"Okay," Flash told his grown up apprentice, "These mountains are the only way to get to Manehatten from Saddleton. They're too big to fly around and get there in time, so Tragus must be attempting to fly over them."

"Please tell me there's a way we can catch up to him," Heart asked as they started running through the trees.

"There is. Those mountains have some very powerful winds, way to powerful for a changeling to easily fly through. Since he can't transform, he'll be forced to fly slowly and close to the mountain." He came to a stop and lowered the map. "Which means, we can get ahead of him if we cut through the tunnels of...Andor."

He and Heart started ahead, now spotting an opening in the ground leading downward that was surrounded by berry bushes. Heart was about to head in, but he then turned to Flash and saw his face, "Oh no...I know that face. I'm not gonna like this, am I?" He pointed to the hole, "What's in the tunnels?"

Flash cleared his throat as he rolled up the map. "They're...infested with wildren."

"What are wildren?" Heart asked, Flash then holding his front legs as wide as they would go.

"Well, they're like giant-" He stopped when he saw Heart's slight glare before bringing his hooves back together so they were only a few inches apart. "Baby rats."

Heart raised an eyebrow, "Baby rats?" Flash nodded, "They don't sound so bad."

"They've been known to feast on pony flesh."

"Maybe we should go over the mountain," Heart instantly replied, only for Flash to give him the map and walk over to the nearby berry bush. "Uh...what are you doing?"

"Wildren are completely blind. They hunt by sense of smell." He held up a berry, "Gaia berries will put them off the scent. It's probably why somepony planted them here." Flash began to crush them against his cheeks while Heart moved over and picked some more. "So if we smear ourselves with them, we should pass through the tunnels undetected."

Heart took the berries and smeared them onto his face, only to suddenly try to pull back when his nose got a whiff of the fruit. "Augh! That's stinks!"

Flash laughed before pointing to the cave, "Perhaps you'd prefer to be eaten alive?"

Heart stared at him for a second before sighing, "Pass me some more, will ya?" Flash complied, picking up some more berries and smearing them onto Heart's face. "Ack! Hey!" He then grabbed some of his own and smashed them into Flash's forehead, the two suddenly breaking out into a berry fight. And as they did this, the two laughed until they were both completely covered in the smelly juice.

"Alright," Flash turned to the cave, "Let's do this thing." The pair descended into the hole, soon finding it rather dry despite being a tunnel under a forest. The rocks were flat, making no issue with tripping. The only two issues were how small the place was, making flying difficult, along with how dark it was.

"I can handle this," Heart lifted up his hoof and ignited it. The light of the fire filled the cavern, allowing the pair to see what was ahead of them. They walked ahead for a few miles, finding that the tunnel got larger the further in they went, but Flash told them it was best they didn't fly.

"Why not?" Flash pointed at the ceiling, Heart looking up and seeing a lot of jagged rocks above them.

"Those rocks are very loose. If even a slight gust of wind were to touch them, it'll set of a chain reaction that could bring the whole roof down on top of us."

"You seem to know a lot about this place," Heart replied, "Have you been here before?"

"No," Flash shook his head, "But I've heard stories. Grand and some guards chased a criminal through here once when he was younger. The criminal ran into the wildren and...didn't make it out. Grand's group barely managed to escape, but one of them fell behind and was attacked. Grand and a stallion named Doom Chaser saved him, but the pony was seriously hurt and the wildren were hot on their tail. Doom tried to fly them all away, but doing so made the cave collapse. They barely made it out alive."

"Yikes," Heart gulped. "Alright, no flying while we're inside. Got it." They kept traversing the tunnel, going mile after mile with no signs of life. Every now and again they came across the fork in the tunnel and had to pick a way, but there was nothing else. They found they were making mostly right choices, most tunnels being straight with an occasional turn left or right, but after a few miles, the tunnel curved back the other way and put them back on the right path.

"We've been walking for a while now," Heart commented, "But we haven't seen any of these wildren things." He turned to his mentor, "Are you sure they're still in here? They could have left or died out."

"I hope so," Flash replied, "The last thing we need is getting caught up by one of them and slowed down enough to let Tragus escape."

He would have said more, only for a noise to fill the air. The sound of loose rocks being kicked and a loud sniffing sound. Flash and Heart both shared a wide-eyed look as a shadow appeared on the cave wall that was getting bigger by the second. The ponies quickly threw themselves against the wall as the shadow's owner came into view and they were met with the sight of a creature the size of a dog.

It's body shape and skin looked like that of a baby rat, though the skin was gray in color, but it did have a few changes. Its feet had three large clawed toes that had webbing between them while its head was much larger than a baby rat's was in proportion to its body. It had no eyes, and its nose was absolutely massive, taking up the whole front of its snout. It also had rather large teeth, large enough that they didn't fit into its mouth properly.

The wildren lumbered through the tunnel, not seeing the pair as they refused to even breathe. But as it marched past them, it suddenly stopped and sniffed the air. The ponies felt their hearts stop for a moment, neither wanting to risk attacking in case it attracted more or brought the roof down. The wildren moved up to Heart and jumped onto its back feet before leaning forward, its nose inches from his face. It sniffed several times, Heart not sure how long he could hold his breath, then gave a horrified growl and pulled back. It got back down on all fours and continued down the tunnel, disappearing around a bend.

A few seconds after that, both pegasi finally breathed and panted to catch their breaths. "I think I almost had a heart attack," Heart clutched his chest, "I was sure it was about to bite my face off."

"Yeah," Flash nodded, "I guess these gaia berries worked after all."

Heart nodded, his eyes then going wide as Flash walked past him. "Wait...you did know that the berries would mask our scent, right?" Flash turned back to Heart and shrugged, "So you were just guessing?!"

"Pretty much." Flash nodded.

"So what would you have done if that hadn't worked? Oh, what's that in that wildren's mouth. Oh, it's only Fire Heart." Flash snickered at this. "I don't remember you being so reckless when I was younger."

"Well obviously I've gained a lot more reck in the years leading up to your time," Flash replied, Heart glaring at him as the defender continued to make his way through the tunnel. "And for the record, when you have a little kid trying to jump into every fight he sees, you tend to be a lot more careful in certain situations." Heart grumbled as they continued through the underground passageway, not running into any more wildren during this time.

And after a few dead-ends, they found the right path until Flash's nose picked something up. "Do you smell that?"

"All I can smell is gaia berry."

Flash rolled his eyes and continued to sniff, only to go wide-eyed, "Put your flame out." Heart opened his mouth, only for Flash to glare at him, "Put it out!"

"Alright, alright..." Heart replied as they were plunged into darkness. "What's so-" He stopped when he sniffed, "Hey...I do smell something." He sniffed again, "Smells like...rotten eggs." His eyes went wide, "Methane!"

Flash nodded back despite Heart not seeing it, "There must be a natural vent somewhere."

"Great..." Heart sighed. "Now what do we do?"

"We have to keep going," Flash put his head low to the ground. "And try to keep your head as low as possible, since methane floats." Heart nodded and did the same, the two blindly wandering through the dark tunnel for another hour. They were finding it hard to breathe due to the thick methane, but they soldiered on while doing their best to protect their mouths and noses.

But eventually, they found themselves in a rather different environment. After stumbling out of a tunnel, they found themselves in a large chamber roughly the size of Ponyville's town hall. The chamber was full of methane, but it was so big the gas was hardly filling the air. And on the other side of the chamber was a tunnel with light streaming through it.

"The way out," Heart gasped, only for Flash to grab his hoof, "What?" Flash pointed to the ground, Heart glancing down and seeing a lump. A lump that was slowly breathing the way only a sleeping creature could. The wildren rolled over in its sleep, their eyes following it and catching sight of another wildren sleeping on the ground. They then spotted another, then another and another. The whole tunnel was infested with them, all asleep.

"Great," he whispered, "What do we do now?" He looked up at the ceiling at the many spikes barely holding onto it along with the floating methane, "Do we risk it?"

Flash shook his head. "If we're careful and watch our step, we should be fine." Heart nodded and the pair began to slowly make their way through the horde of sleeping carnivores. They tip-hoofed as best they could around the rodents, being careful not to step on their tails or anything else.

Several times they had to pull a hoof back to avoid a tail that swept under them, only for one of the wildren's tails to sweep around and kick up a large cloud of dust. The dust flew over to Heart and he ended up walking right into it, breathing it in and suddenly finding his nose beginning to itch.

"Oh no," he whispered as he felt himself about to sneeze. "Ah...ah...AHHH!" Flash heard this and gasped before reaching up with his hoof and pressing it against Heart's nose. After a few seconds, Heart nodded and Flash pulled his hoof away. "Thanks." Flash nodded back before they turned to back to the chamber and- "ACHOO!" Heart sneezed and unleashed a mighty cry that echoed through the tunnel.

The pegasi stood there, looking terrified as the noise repeated six times. And every time it did, a batch of wildren woke up and glanced around.

"Not good," Heart gulped.

"Just don't make a sound or-" he didn't finish as he suddenly felt himself step on a wildren's tail. The beast roared at this and turned to him as he pulled his hoof away. "Really not good." One by one, the wildren sniffed the air and picked up the horrible smell of gaia berries, only for Flash to see they had now all turned toward them.

Flash and Heart drew their weapons, Heart's turning into a war-hammer, but neither of them used their elemental powers. And as the wildren charged, all they could do was knock them away as best they could in the dim light of the cave. The sounds of rodent screams filled the air, the pegasi fighting their way toward the exit. But no matter how many times they knocked a wildren down, another appeared to get in their way.

"Back off!" Flash yelped as he used his tail to whip one in the face.

"Four!" Heart swung his hammer and knocked a wildren away. The pair then leapt back to the center of the cave, where a large rock was situated as Heart almost hit it. He glanced back and saw the rock had a large opening that lead to a hollow section under the rock that that was quite large. "How many of these things are there?"

"I don't know," Flash jumped back to avoid a claw strike, "But it's clear that if we don't get through them, Tragus is gonna escape."

"So what do we do?"

Flash slashed down another wildren, "I'm open to suggestions!"

Heart tried to hit a wildren in the head, but it somehow leapt back and his hammer smashed into the rock and broke a piece off. He slammed that piece and sent it sailing over the wildren, hitting a wall on the far side and causing it to break apart. The wildren there sniffed the air and hissed before pulling away, Heart realizing he must have opened up another methane vent.

"I think I've got an idea, but it's mad!"

Flash hissed as a wildren nicked him in the leg, "I'll take it!" Heart nodded and grabbed Flash before pulling him to the ground, then rolled them both into the opening in the hole under the rock. Flash saw this and glared at Heart, now seeing they were trapped as the wildren began to gather around it. "This is your plan?!" Heart replied by holding up a hoof and igniting it, Flash going wide-eyed before smirking, "I trained you well."

Heart grinned before glancing over at the wall that was not leaking gas. "Bomb voyage!" With that, he thrust his hoof forward and sent a fireball racing at the wall. The wildren ducked back to avoid getting burned, allowing the flames to slam into the wall and ignite the gas seeping through it.

KABOOOOOOOOOOM!

Fire filled the entire cavern, flying through every tunnel connected to it. Every single wildren was consumed and the flames shot out of every exit within a five mile radius of the cavern. The entire mountain atop the cave shook, the force of the eruption shaking the entire land.

To be continued...

Reinforcements from the Future PT2

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Manehatten was filled with excitement, the whole city abuzz with gossip about the four princesses being there, many hoping that maybe they could see them and get a picture. They knew they were staying at the Grand Hotel, the biggest hotel in Manehatten, which the Princesses along with their guests, would be staying during their treaty talks. The entire building had been booked up, and only those with the highest possible clearance could enter.

Inside the building, many royal guards were patrolling the corridors, including the Royal Knight of Water, Tidal Wave. The unicorn was striding up to the Great Hall, where the peace talks would take place. He walked in and saw two guards stand to attention as he approached. "At ease." They did so, "Make sure nopony without proper clearance makes it past these doors. On what I've heard, it seems things may get...arriesgado." They nodded as he walked past them.

And when he stepped inside, he was greeted to the sight of many important creatures all sitting around a circular table. There was Twilight, Celestia, Luna, Cadance, Dragon Lord Ember and Changeling King Thorax. These leaders all stood along with a few others, all advisers over the next few events. The advisers were Shining Armor, Spike the Dragon, Trixie Lulamoon, Hiveena and Flicker.

As he drew closer to the table, he heard Twilight speak up, "And that's the deal," she told Thorax and Ember. "Tragus won't stop until he tries to ruin this treaty meeting."

Thorax let out a sigh and shook his head, "That's a lot to take in. I mean, I'd heard that time travel was possible...but I never thought one of my future subjects would actually travel to the past. And to cause problems too." He slumped over, "I guess I fail to get my pack to change our ways..."

The ponies opened their mouths to respond, only for Hiveena to put a hoof on his shoulder, "It sounds to me like this Tragus is a rare outlier. Don't feel ashamed because one out of thousands of future changelings chose to turn away from the changes we're making."

"Indeed," Flicker nodded. "The fact that it's only one is a miracle." He turned to Ember, "We're expecting a lot more dragons than that to fight against our new way of life."

"Flicker and Hiveena are right," Celestia chimed in, "It is a sad truth, but one we all have to accept. No matter what, there will always be those that fight against the norm. It's impossible to please everypony. All you can try and do is what you think is right and hope that they'll one day see the truth of the matter."

Thorax glanced back up at this, seeing the firm expression on Celestia's face. The sight made him sigh again before nodding, "I...I guess you're right. But this whole situation still worries me."

"Well, it freaks me out," Ember barked, "Being able to travel through time and change things?! That's just not right! Heck, how do I know right now that I'm not living in an altered timeline! Maybe I'm not even supposed to be Dragon Lord, but it was made that way because some idiot decided to travel back and step on a bug or something."

"I think we've all wondered that," Cadance spoke up, "Honestly, it's enough to drive anypony insane, so its best not to think about it. Whether we got here through our own actions or the actions of another, what matters is we're here now, and we should make the most of what we can do."

Ember frowned at this, only for everypony to turn to a certain hoof tapping the table. It was Twilight, who then gestured to Spike to pull out her notes as she said, "Let's put Tragus out of our minds for now. He's trying to stop this treaty, and if we keep talking about him and what he's doing, we'll never get anything done and he'll have won without even doing anything."

"But how are we supposed to talk about anything when we know there's an insane changeling out to attack us?" Thorax asked next.

"Don't worry about," Twilight waved her hoof, "Flash and Heart are on his tail and hopefully, they'll have captured the changeling by now. They're professionals, and they're not gonna be wasting time having fun during such an important moment."

Meanwhile...

In the forest surrounding the mountain range of Andor, a hole in the ground was currently pouring out smoke. The methane that had previously filled the cave had been ignited and the entire place had gone up in flames, every living thing inside now burnt to a crisp...except two ponies.

From out of the smoky hole, two pegasi dragged themselves out, coughing up a storm and their coats and manes now covered in soot. And as they walked out, they soon fell onto their backs and breathed in the crisp fresh air. They took a few deep breaths before glancing at each other...and bursting out laughing.

"That was awesome!" Flash guffawed.

Heart nodded, "I haven't had a blast like that since Gallus and Silverstream's wedding party."

"Who?" Flash asked, Heart shrugging.

"Spoilers. You'll meet 'em. Trust me on that." They then heard the sound of running water, both turning to it and seeing a nearby stream that was running out of the side of the mountain. The pair took a deep breath and pulled themselves up, trotting over next to take a drink and wash out the soot, dirt and gaia berry juice.

"Well, that was certainly an interesting experience," Flash groaned, "Though it would be pointless if we still missed Tragus." He turned to Heart, "Know where he is?"

Heart took out the compass and opened it up, seeing that the arrow was pointing at the mountain, "Got it. We're ahead, but he can't be to far from reaching the bottom."

Flash nodded and stood up, "Any idea how much longer it'll be until the capture dust you sprayed on him will wear off?"

Heart put his hoof to his chin, humming a tune Flash sometimes hummed when he started thinking, "Hmm...maybe another hour? Or half an hour. Can't be sure."

"Then we've gotta find him before it does," Flash spread his wings. "Ready to capture this jerk once and for all?"

"You know it," Heart flared his own wings and they both took off.

Back in Manehatten...

The delegates were now starting to get down to the nitty gritty of what the treaty would require, Celestia speak up next, "Long story short, should either of your kingdoms find itself under attack by an enemy you feel you can't handle on your own, we would agree to lend you aid should you need it. That can involve sending soldiers, medical aid or even materials required to rebuild anything that was damaged. In return, you'll agree to the same terms."

"Oh, I don't like the idea of something attacking us." Thorax gulped before turning to Hiveena, "Isn't there a way we can solve problems like that without violence?"

"We all wish things could be so simple," Luna chimed in, "And while violence should never be the first answer, it's an answer that needs to be considered and prepared for."

Thorax frowned at this, but saw Hiveena nod back at him. "I...I guess you're right. Even with all the changes that are happening to us, I guess we can't completely escape violence."

They all nodded before turning to Ember, "Is this alright with you as well?" Cadance asked.

"Sure," Ember replied while shrugging, "You ponies sure showed your stuff during the whole Malafear incident." Flicker flinched at that name, "You can sure hold your own out there, so I'd be happy the fight beside you whenever you need help. Just don't be expecting us dragons to ask for help too often. We still have our pride, you know."

They all nodded in agreement as Shining put his hoof on the table and stared at Ember. "I have to ask, have you thought of actually forming a military? I saw the way the dragons fought when they came to the Crystal Empire. You all weren't exactly...organized."

Ember raised an eyebrow at this, "I don't think any dragon lord has thought of a military."

Flicker nodded in agreement, "Honestly, I doubt most dragons would have the attention span needed to do the kind of training I've seen ponies do. They would probably get bored and run off, or disobey whatever orders are given to them."

"We've had those problems before," Celestia sighed, "Plenty of young ponies that try to join the guard, thinking it'll be all fun and games, then get bored when they realize how serious the training is."

"What do you usually do with them?" Hiveena asked, seeing a smirk appear on Celestia's face.

"Oh, the trainers come up with some pretty interesting punishments." She turned to Twilight, "Didn't Grand have Flash scrub the guard's showers with a toothbrush once?"

Twilight nodded, "And threatened to make him use it on himself if he found one speck of dirt after Flash was done."

They all laughed at this, only for Celestia to continue, "If ponies don't shape up after stuff like that, it's obvious they won't last long as guards. But those that do remain become incredibly strong and disciplined. And the best of the best become Royal Knights, which is why you can trust Flash and Heart to deal with our little problem."

The Andor Mountain Range...

Tragus had gotten over the final mountain, now sliding down the side of its base. And when he reached the bottom and entered the forest, he sighed in relief. "That was more work than it should have been," he growled, "But now I can get to Manehatten and end that ridiculous treaty signing."

"You're not going anywhere!" He gasped and leapt back, just in time to avoid a fireball that struck the ground. He looked up and saw two figures appear, Flash and Heart both taking a battle stance with their swords drawn.

"You two?!" He yelped, "Why can't you just leave me alone?!"

"Because we refuse to let you change the future!" Heart barked back, "Just because you hate how our world is doesn't mean you have the right to alter it and ruin every-creature else's lives." He pointed at him, "Now give back the Time Stone!"

"Never!" Tragus yelled, "I'm setting things back the way they should have been before you ponies infected our society! We used to feared throughout the land...but now we're nothing more than a forgettable race! A bunch of weaklings that constantly talk about our feelings! THAT'S NOT WHAT WE'RE SUPPOSED TO BE!"

"Says you." Flash replied, "The changelings are much better now than you were when Chrysalis led you. At least you're not starving any more."

"Enough!" Tragus barked, "I will put things right! This stupid treaty will fall, and the federation will never come to be!"

"Federation?" Flash asked.

"Forget him!" The fire pegasus yelled, "Just take him down."

"Wait!" Flash gasped, but Heart didn't listen as he charged ahead while summoning a sword.

"Fire Cutter!" The sword unleashed a blade of fire, but the changeling leapt to the side. Heart quickly skid to a stop before leaping at him. "Fire Grinder!" He then morphed into a flaming wheel.

The changeling tried to escape, but the flame wheel followed him. "AAAAAHHHHH!" He cried as he was thrown through a tree while the flame wheel exploded and Heart's weapon morphed into its bow form.

"Fire Shot!" He pulled the chord back and let go, the bow launching a blast of fire.

Tragus moaned as he picked himself up, then glanced up to see the attack coming. He rolled to the side, dodging the fireball as it then exploded against the grassy terrain, causing it to set fire. Flash's eyes went wide, but Heart flew down and stomped on the flames before they could spread. Fire out, Heart turned to Tragus and morphed his bow into a naginata, Tragus quickly taking to the air as Heart swung the blade at him. Heart flared his wings at this, following the bug until Tragus suddenly flew down, hitting the ground as Heart spun in the air and dived with the blade pointed at him.

"Gyah!" He leapt back at the blade stuck itself into the ground, only for Heart to pole vault off it and slam a burning hoof into Tragus' chest. "AUGH!" He was thrown back at this, the bug soon skidding along the ground as Heart's Flamemaker morphed back to sword form.

"RAAAAAAHHHHH!" Heart roared as he dove at Tragus, but the bug raised its hooves at the incoming knight.

"HEART!" Flash gasped as the two made contact, and the flames unleashed a cloud of smoke. Flash charged in and used his wings to clear the smoke, only to go wide-eyed, "Oh no..."

Heart's sword had struck Tragus' legs, which had been replaced by a pair of large claws. All three were wide-eyed now, Tragus trying to smile as he cheered, "Oh yeah!" And before Heart could react, Tragus swung the claws and threw Heart away.

"Gyah!" He hit the dirt as Tragus leapt into the air and morphed into a giant Scorpentine. He then swung his tail down, preparing to crush Heart in a single blow.

But before he could, Flash leapt between them and used the flat of his blade to block the tail. "URGH!" He growled as he pushed the tail back, "Not happening!"

Heart picked himself up as Tragus pulled back at this, "Ha! Now that I can transform, you can't beat me."

"I doubt that." Flash responded, "You won't be the first changeling I take down." Heart grabbed his weapon and morphed it into the bow, the pegasus quickly firing fire blasts. But Tragus used his claws to block the attack as Flash leapt up, "Flash Cutter Barrage!" He swung his sword around while spinning, creating multiple blades of light.

But before they could land, the changeling morphed into a mouse that the blades completely missed, only to then shift into a slingtail. He then stuck his tail in the ground and shook it.

"Look out!" Heart yelled as Tragus sent a bunch of dirt and rocks flying. Flash turned on Theta Mode at this, quickly dodging the attacks before landing, only for the slingtail to appear in front of him.

"Surprise!" He roared as he brought large foot down on top of him. Flash cried out as he was crushed underfoot, barely able to move as he held up his sword, the ground beneath him breaking apart.

"Get off of him!" Heart exclaimed as Flamemaker morphed into a hammer with a hole on one side, which fired exploded out of. The hammer sailed through the air at the slingtail, but the beast suddenly vanished in a burst of green fire. "What the-"

Flash moaned as he forced his eyes open, only to see a small fly land on Heart's hammer. "Look out!" Before Heart could react, the fly transformed into a pukwudgie. It was holding onto the end of his hammer and quickly leapt and fired a barrage of spines.

"Gyah!" Heart cried as he was the ground around him was impaled.

"Flash Force!" Flash pointed his blade at the pukwudgie and unleashed a laser, but the creature hopped off the hammer. The creature then landed and rolled around before launching several more spikes at Flash, the defender deflecting them with his sword. 'This guy's good. He doesn't just know how to copy creatures, he can use their abilities perfectly.'

"Fire Crash!" Heart's weapon morphed into an axe and he smashed it into the ground, creating a flaming blade that cut through the ground. In response, the pukwudgie morphed into a bugbear, and fired its stingers as it dodged the flaming blade by taking to the air.

Flash watched the bugbear fly back, the defender squinting at the sight. 'That's gotta be draining his energy. Hiveena had the same problem...so we need to exhaust him.'

"Heart," he turned to the pegasi, "Defensive strategy. Don't try anything big and wait for an opening." Heart raised an eyebrow at the defender, the changeling transforming into a lindworm next as it rolled up to the duo. The pegasi danced around at this, dodging each swing from the creature.

"What are we doing?!" Heart yelped as the lindworm morphed into a giant dragon that unleashed a blast of fire, Heart then blocking the flames before they could hit Flash. "I hate this! Why aren't we attacking?!"

"Didn't I teach you anything?!" Flash yelled as the dragon stopped the flames, "Sometimes the best offense is a strong defense." The dragon transformed into a maulwurf and tried to slash at the pair, but they quickly hopped back as Flash continued, "Why try and weaken him when he's tiring himself out all on his own?"

Heart frowned at hearing this, only for Tragus to transform again. This time he morphed into something that looked like a shaggy dog with the face of a teddy bear, Heart gasping at the sight, "A Whirling Mungtooth!"

"A what?" He asked before the creature started spinning around, soon turning into a large tornado with the teddy head on the top. "Oookay...that's a new one."

The duo then felt the tornado start to pull them, Heart turning to his mentor, "What do we do?"

Flash shined him a grin, "Fire!"

Heart blinked before glancing back at the whirlwind, "Gladly!" His hoof ignited and he unleashed a burst of fire into the vortex. The teddy face turned into one of shock as his tornado morphed into a blazing twister.

"Gyah!" He cried, stopping his hurricane as the flames continued to burn him. "Augh!"

"Now we got him!" Flash roared as he turned on Theta Mode again, allowing him to avoid the flames as he got in close. He began to hit him with some weak but fast attacks, flying past Tragus while hitting him with the blunt end of his sword. The defender then bounced off a tree and flew back into the bug, the knight soon repeating this process several times.

As this happened, Heart just stared at the sight, "Just go in for the kill already," he said, though Flash couldn't hear it.

And after the ten strike, Flash leapt straight up into the air. As he did this, Tragus was in midair and had been reverted back to his true form, Flash soon shooting downward to deal the finishing blow.

"HI-YA!" Heart roared as he shot straight up, his weapon in its mace form.

"HEART!" Flash yelped, the sight causing him to slow down. As this happened, Tragus quickly morphed into a fly, both pegasi gasping as they tried to stop themselves. "GAH!" They grunted as they collided with one another, completely missing the fly before falling to the ground.

They crashed with a loud thud as the fly returned to normal. "Thanks Heart!" Tragus laughed. "With enemies like you, who needs friends?! Now, to end this!" In that moment, his body burst into green flames and Flash and Heart were now greeted by the sight of a giant brown wasp creature with yellow lightning bolts covering its body that had a pair of large brown antenna that ended in a yellow ring.

"What the-" Flash couldn't even finish his sentence as the insect's antenna suddenly extended as the rings on the end opened up into snapping claws. Before either pegasus could react, the claws slammed into them and snapped shut. Both wheezed as they felt the breath get squeezed out of them. And before they could do anything, Tragus's body sparked with electrical energy, surging it into the antenna and going into the pegasi. Both screamed as they were zapped, their hooves going numb as they lost their grips on their weapons. Tragus smiled as he watched them both go limb, finally stopping his electrical assault and dropping the pair.

Tragus laughed as he reverted back to normal. "So I guess that's the best you've got! Pathetic! How did you ever become a legendary hero?!" Flash tried to raise his head, but couldn't. "I'd finish you off here and now, but I've already wasted enough time." He transformed again, this time morphing into Fire Heart. "Gotta fly!" With that, he unleashed a blast of fire and was sent flying toward Manehatten, leaving the two Royal Knight stuck on the ground.

"No..." Flash whispered, "Twilight..."

It'd been roughly three hours since the start of the treaty meeting and everypony was starting to get antsy. At this point in time, Celestia was giving the dragons and changelings a long winded explanation on the way trade works. "So once each kingdom has determined what the others don't have that we do, we can start agreeing upon how much one item is worth for another."

"Wouldn't they all be worth the same?" Ember asked, Celestia shaking her head.

"Not exactly. For example..." She sparked her horn and in a flash, a large watermelon and a bowl of oranges appeared. "This watermelon is much larger than these oranges, which means it can feed a lot more than just one orange. Exchanging a watermelon for an orange wouldn't exactly be a fair trade. But trading one watermelon for ten oranges would be a lot more equal."

"Huh..." Ember tilted her head at this, "I guess that makes sense. So it's all about size?"

"Size, weight, how easy it is to grow. There are many factors to determine something's worth."

"Augh!" Thorax's head slammed into the table, "This is giving me a headache. Changelings never needed this kinda stuff before..."

"We understand, but this is important." Luna chimed in, "These kind of things can be hard to understand at first. I'm still getting used to it, and I've been doing this for a long time."

The two non-pony leaders moaned again, Cadance deciding this was a good time to take a break. "We need to let ourselves de-stress from all this mind-numbing debate. I say we take an hour to relax and then come back to this with fresh eyes." Everyone slowly nodded at this, all getting up from the table as Cadance turned to see a frowning Twilight, "Scared Flash might be in trouble?"

"No. When is he not in trouble?" Twilight replied, "I'm more worried that Heart's future might have already been changed. For all I know, telling Ember and Thorax about Tragus might have done something that changed the future."

"Well, we can't know for sure," Celestia spoke up, "They'll be a billion things that happen between what we do here today and the time that Heart comes from. You more than anypony know how messy trying to control everything in the world can be." Twilight went wide-eyed at this, gulping as she remembered back to her first time travel mishap. "All we can do is what we think is right and hope for the best, just like we do every day."

Twilight let out a sigh at this, "I know...I just hate not knowing if Flash and Heart have caught Tragus or not. I wish I could contact them somehow."

"I think I can help with that." They all turned to Spike, who had a smirk on his lips.

"Thanks Spike, but sending them a message will be pretty pointless since they don't have a way to contract us back." She then saw Spike's smirk increase, "What are you planning?"

Spike turned to Celestia, "Don't suppose you know where I can get a jar, do you?" The alicorns all blinked at this, only for Celestia to summon the item, only to see Spike take it in his claws. "Nice."

Meanwhile...

Flash and Heart were now feeling the numbness wear off, their bodies slowly starting to move again. "Ugh..." Flash moaned as he sat up, "That sucked."

"Yeah," Heart groaned, "Never felt anything like that before."

"What the heck even was that thing he turned into anyway?"

"No idea. Never seen it before. But changelings can only transform into things they've seen before, so whatever it was must really exist. Guess its something Tragus saw when he was young or something."

Flash let out another moan as pushed himself to his hooves. "Well whatever it was, it got us stuck here." He then turned to glare at Heart, "And he wouldn't have gotten the chance to if you hadn't jumped in like that! What were you thinking?!"

"I'm sorry," Heart whispered as he tried to get up, "I...I didn't mean to get in your way."

"How could you not have known what I was planning?!" Flash yelled, "I know my fighting style must have changed a little in the future, but the two of us must fight together enough for you to be able to tell when I'm about to attack." Flash then cricked his neck as Heart just stared at him, only for Flash to turn to him and see his stare, "What? Was it something I said?"

"Uh...well..." Heart tried to say, a growing frown appearing on his face.

But that expression was enough for Flash as he asked, "Heart...we have fought together in the future...haven't we?" Heart remained silent, the quiet now making Flash add, "Heart..."

The knight glanced away at this, "No."

"No what?"

"No." Heart's eyes slowly went down at the ground, "We haven't fought together in...a long time."

"What?!" Flash yelped, "Why?! I've been looking forward to one day fighting besides you as a knight since you first became my apprentice! Why would we not fight together? What, did I...I..." He stopped mid-sentence at this, soon going wide-eyed as he asked, "Oh...oh. Huh."

Heart looked back at his mentor, now seeing the frown appear on Flash's face, "In the future-"

"Don't!" Flash interrupted him, "Don't...tell me. I can't know."

Heart began to glare at him, "But if you know what happens, maybe you can stop it from happening!"

Flash stared back at him with a flat glare, "We're trying to prevent your future from being changed, remember? Don't tell me what happens."

"Yes, but we're trying to prevent it from being changed in a bad way!" Heart barked back, "How is you being alive in the future a bad thing?!"

Flash kept his stare at this, crossing his hooves, "So I am dead." Heart opened his mouth again, but Flash shoved a hoof in front of him, "Don't. I've had enough experience with time travel to know changing anything is never a good idea. Trust me, as my own girlfriend has met an evil version of me because of time travel!"

"Even so, I don't care!" Heart cried, "I've been given this chance to save you, and damn it if I'm not gonna use it!"

"You can't." Flash instantly replied, "If I'm supposed to die in the future, then so be it. We can't let our selfish desires interfere with our duties as knights to uphold what's right."

"Augh!" Heart yelled, putting his hooves into his head, "I can't believe this! Princess Twilight was totally right about you!"

"What was she right about?"

"You!" Heart pointed at Flash, "She told me to not tell you about the future and try and save you! She knew you would...you would act like you don't care! It's like you wanna die or something!"

"Of course I don't wanna die," Flash responded while shaking his head, "But I accepted a long time ago that one day, I might have to give up my life to protect Equestria and all those I care about." Heart grimaced at this, only for Flash to add, "You said the future you come from is amazing. The best place to live."

"Yeah..." Heart slowly replied, "But...it would be better if you were alive in it."

Flash just gave him another flat stare, "Heart...I just told you what time travel can do. I don't want to mess up your amazing future. And since you're acting like this, this means my death was super important." He glared at the pegasi, "Did my death help protect Equestria?"

Heart looked down at the ground at this, "You...you saved everypony. Not just Equestria, but every single kingdom survived because of you."

Flash went wide-eyed for a second, only to nod, "Then it's okay. If giving up my life saved that many lives, it's a price I'm willing to pay."

"But-" Heart tried to say, only to see the firm stare on Flash's face. The sight made him glance away, "You...you shouldn't have to pay it."

"Maybe," Flash nodded, "But a Royal Knight's life is all about making choices and pay prices we shouldn't have to. That's why only the best of the best can become ones." Heart looked back up at him, showing a giant frown. The sight made Flash sigh, "Heart...listen to me. You telling me how to survive in the future could be more dangerous than you think."

Heart went wide-eyed at this, "What makes you say that?"

"If you told me how I died and how to stop it, then I could be alive in the future? If I am, why didn't Twilight send me after Tragus instead of you? If I'm sent, or we're both sent after him, we might catch him before he travels to the past. That means you'd never travel to the past, which means we wouldn't meet and you wouldn't tell me how to save myself and...and..." Heart could see some steam coming off Flash's head as the defender rubbed his forehead, "Ugh...that's making my head hurt! This is Twilight's realm and...and I think we've both read enough time travel comics to know what this'll all mean."

"A paradox," Heart sighed.

"Exactly. I don't know about you, but I don't wanna risk possibly ripping the universe into twenty eight different pieces..." Flash's eyes glanced to the side, "Though I kinda have an idea of how that works...and its not worth it."

Heart sighed again, moving over to a nearby rock and kicking several feet. "It's not fair." Flash's ears dropped at this before walking over and placing a wing on his shoulders. "You did so much for Equestria. It's not fair what happened to you."

"I know," Flash nodded as Heart fell to his flank.

"Twilight...she wasn't the same afterwards. She...it took her a long time to get over what happened, and even then she could never really move on." Flash flinched at this as he continued, "Everypony else started to get on with their lives, knowing you wouldn't want us to waste them mourning you."

"You're right," Flash chuckled, "I wouldn't. Especially over me."

"But it still hurt," Heart whispered, "For the longest time, nopony could even say your name without everypony getting depressed. It was really hard."

Flash closed his eyes at this, patting the knight with his wing before saying, "I'm...sorry I put you through that. Or will put you through that." He sat down beside the pegasus. "You know, it's funny. Before we ran into you, I was worried I wasn't doing enough as a mentor. Now I find out I might not even be around to see you get knighted."

Heart nodded back, "After you...were gone, Grand, Iron and the other knights helped me complete my training. I just...wish you were there to see who I became." Tears were starting to flow from his eyes. "Getting knighted should have been the happiest day of my life, but not having you there..."

Flash patted his side, "I guess my worries about not teaching you enough was for nothing. Sounds like I should just ask the others to just teach you themselves."

Heart's eyes went wide at this, the fire pegasus turning to him, "Are you nuts?! You taught me more than anypony else! The others might have finished my training, but you're the one who started it!" He stood up and stared at Flash, "You were the one that showed me I could be a hero like you! You showed me what it means to be a hero, and not just during our lessons. Every day I was with you, even when we weren't training, I saw the way you acted around others. How you treat ponies that need your help, and the ponies you needed to stop!"

Flash blinked at the stallion, "You...really mean that?"

Heart nodded back, "I am who I am today because you were there to guide me. Even after you...I never forgot those lessons. No matter what Iron, Grand and the others taught me, it was your lessons that always stuck in my head. You taught me that it's okay to feel scared. That showing mercy isn't a weakness. How to stay calm when you're under pressure, and so much more! I am the knight I am because of what I learned from you!"

Flash let this information sink in, only to show a giant smile at the knight. Heart smiled back, the Ig-Knighter holding out a hoof. "Don't ever doubt that you could have done better, because I'm living proof that you were the best mentor any knight could ever ask for." Flash continued to smile at him, then took his hoof and let the pegasus pull him up.

"Thanks Heart. And I am sorry for not being there when you became a knight." He placed a hoof on his shoulder, "I might not want to know how I die, but I promise I'm gonna do everything in my power to survive. Who knows, maybe there is a way to for me to be alive in the future without completely changing it."

"I hope so," Heart nodded back before turning to Manehatten. "But right now, we need to stop Tragus before he destroys the future forever."

"Yeah. But we need to be quick since he's got a major head-start on us." Heart nodded as Flash and he took to the air. "I hate to say this, but if we can't stop him before he gets there, then we might have to cancel the trade meeting."

"We can't do that," Heart replied, "If the C.D.P.A isn't formed today, it could have disastrous consequences to the future. If the alliance can't even survive the signing, the federation could be doomed."

"Federation? What federation?" Heart flinched at this as Flash remembered what Tragus had said earlier, "This is something that he's trying to do, right. Destroy this federation, whatever it is?"

Heart let out a sigh, and then nodded. "The Changeling, Dragon, Pony Alliance is only the start of the amazing future I come from." He turned to Flash, "In time, more creatures will start to admire the beneficial link between the three nations and will want the same thing. Griffons, yaks, kirin and even creatures you haven't met yet. They'll all want to join the alliance. Some are happy to join right away, others will take a little time to come around to the the idea. So many creatures will start to join that the original idea of simply adding more names to the alliance's title is thrown out the window...and the C.D.P.A is renamed and reforged into something new and different. Into a United Federation of Creatures."

Flash's eyes went full wide at this, his brain now completely haywire as he let that information sink in. "This treaty signing is more important then Twilight and I realized." Heart nodded back, "Huh. Then we can't let Tragus ruin it no matter what."

"But how?" Heart asked, "We know where he's going, but how are we supposed to stop him now that he has such a lead?"

It was here that a puff of smoke suddenly appeared in front of Flash, the pegasus stopping as it swirled together and morphed into three objects. A roll of parchment, an inked quill and a jar full of green fire.

"Whoa," Heart gasped as Flash caught them. "Hey...that's Spike's dragon fire!"

Flash nodded back, "He spent all last night learning to jar it up." He opened the parchment, "Twilight's asking how the hunt's going."

"So what do we tell her?"

Flash grimaced at this, "Well...I wanna tell her to get everypony somewhere else now that he has the lead, but that might change history." As he said those words, a bulb went off in his head as he turned to Heart, "Say...you don't remember me ever telling you about a future version of you coming back to stop a time travelling changeling, right?"

Heart shook his head, "No. I think I'd remember you telling me that."

"Not if I don't tell you," Flash replied, "The only ones that know about you and Tragus are me, Twilight and all those at the conference. But if we can stop Tragus and not tell anypony about it, then history won't be altered, right?"

"I...guess? But that still doesn't tell us how we're supposed to stop him."

"Maybe we can. I mean, if I didn't tell you, the version of events you know might not have actually happened like this. What did Twilight say history was like again?" Flash rubbed his chin with his hoof, "Oh yeah. History is written by the winners. So if we do something, but don't let it get recorded or even remembered, then your future won't change." He glanced back at Heart, "Tell me everything you know that is supposed to happen today. Don't leave out a single detail."

Heart nodded back before telling him every detail. He told him how the conference took place in Manehatten's Grand Hotel, and that nopony went in or out of the conference hall. And as Flash heard these things, a big grin appeared on his face as he took the quill and began writing. Once he was done, he opened up the jar of fire and placed the rolled up scroll into it. The flames ate away at the paper and the ashes flew into the air, both waiting to see what Twilight thought. Hopefully, she and the others would accept his idea. If they didn't, the future as Heart knew it may be gone forever.

Tragus had now reached Manehatten, the changeling landing just outside the city before morphing into a less recognizable pegasus. He flew through the town, trying to remember where exactly the Grand Hotel was. "I know it's supposed to be around here somewhere..." he told himself as he flew over a busy crowd. "Where is it?! Where is it?!" He then flew down into the crowd and landed by a news stand, "Excuse me!" A pony popped his head out of the stand, "I'm looking for the Grand Hotel."

"Oh, that's easy." He pointed to the skyscraper that had the giant wooden horse head on it. "Go over to that building and you'll find it on the same street. Yah can't miss it, since it has its name plastered onto it."

"Thank you," the changeling nodded before taking off, soon arriving and spotting a building that was completely surrounded by guards. The changeling smirked at the sight and in a flash of fire, he morphed into a tiny fly that buzzed over the guards. And as one guard stepped out to relieve another, they opened a door that allowed Tragus the fly inside. "History said the treaty took place in the grand hall..." he whispered to himself, "I just have to go in and attack everypony but Thorax and Hiveena. They'll think this was an assassination attempt that they orchestrated. Even if I fail to kill them, those dragons are so hotheaded that they'll never trust the changelings again. The alliance will never be signed. HA!"

He buzzed up to the grand hall, now seeing it had just two guards standing outside. He floated down behind them, flying around one of their noses before going down to the door. He turned into an ant, soon crawling underneath the door and into the grand hall, where he heard Twilight's voice. "We shouldn't let this whole future business distracted us from the present. We came to discuss a treaty, and that's exactly what we're gonna do."

"Why should we?" Ember asked, standing up from her chair. "How do I know this whole future Heart and changeling thing isn't a trap? Who says that Heart you met is really from the future? Maybe he's just another changeling, trying to trick us somehow."

"We wouldn't do that," Thorax replied.

"Yes," Hiveena nodded. "Don't go accusing us of something we didn't do without proof."

"Now, let's try and calm down," Celestia chimed in, "Nopony's accusing anypony of anything. Whatever that changeling is trying to do, they'll fail. We have our best knights on the job."

Tragus smirked at this, remembering what he just did to those knights, only to see Luna stand up, "Now listen here, we can't allow one unhinged member of any of our kingdoms ruin the possible future our races could have."

"Luna's right," Twilight added, "The friendships we have formed are just the first of many that can spread throughout our kingdoms. But if we're to have any kind of future, we have to put our past behind us. Not forgotten, but learned from and forgiven."

'Not if I can help it!' Tragus thought before morphing back into his true form. The group turned to him as he then proclaimed, "Thorax. Hiveena. Our plan is about to be fulfilled!" He suddenly changed into a giant bugbear and unleashed a bunch of stingers at everypony except the changeling leaders. And as he did this, he let out a laugh, knowing that the future was no doubt about to be changed.

But then, to his absolute shock, the stingers shot through the targets like they were ghosts. Instead, they struck the chairs, knocking them all over, but the leaders and their advisers remained where they were despite not having chairs.

"What?!" He morphed back to his true form, "How?!" He landed on the table, now seeing the group begin to flicker in and out of existence. "What is this?!"

He glanced behind him next, only to spot something on the ground. A crystal, which was projecting a light that his leg was blocking. When he moved his leg away, the group all returned to looking perfectly normal despite sitting with no chairs.

"Surprise!" Twilight giggled as Tragus turned to her. "I'm sorry to say, but your attempt failed."

"What is this?!" Tragus asked, "What are you?!"

"They're illusionary projections." Tragus turned to the doorway, which was now open as the two guards stepped inside. "Sorry to tell you this, but the real Twilight and everyone else aren't here."

"But we are," the other guard chuckled as they removed their helmets. When they did, their bodies were covered in light that quickly faded to reveal Flash and Heart standing side by side.

Tragus' eyes were wide. "You! But...but...how?!"

Flash chuckled at this, "Twilight made a two-way Rune Gate and Spike sent it to us. We were able to get here lickity split and start our plan."

"Plan?! What plan?! Where are the treaty signers?!"

"Like we'd tell you," Hiveena chuckled as Tragus turned to glare at her.

"I was trying to help you!"

"I don't believe you were." Twilight chimed in, "I must say, when Flash arrived and told us his plan, I have to admit it was quite brilliant."

"Where are you?!" Tragus screamed, "TELL ME!"

And as Tragus kept asking that question, the answer laid itself in the warehouse-disguised holding pad of the Mighty Leviathan. The ponies/changelings/dragons were all sitting around a table just like the one they had in the Grand Hotel. Trixie was there, her horn unleashing a light that was recording them and also projecting Tragus. Tidal stood behind her, a smirk on his lips as he was glad he could help with the situation.

"Trixie enchanted the gem to act as a receiver for her magic," Luna explained, "Once it was ready, we simply teleported ourselves out of the hotel without our guards knowing about it. Now there's no way the news of us leaving the hotel will leak, meaning history won't be changed."

"You wanted to change the past," Flash told Tragus, "But the fact is, you're a part of the past now. All we have to do is take you down without anypony outside noticing, and it'll be like you never showed up. We keep the timeline on course, and nopony will be any the wiser."

Tragus' eyes went red at this, growling at the two knights, only for a bright flash of light to suddenly envelop the room. "What?! What was that?!"

"Rune magic," Twilight chimed in, "Left it behind so the room is one hundred percent sealed." The image began to flicker, "No way to teleport out, and no way to get through the barrier. You're trapped." She turned to the only two ponies actually in there, "Take him down boys."

"You heard the mare." Flash chuckled as he pulled out Lightbringer. "Game's over Tragus."

"No..." Tragus quickly transformed into a fly and headed to the nearest door, only to slam into an invisible wall. "NO!" He cried, turning back to normal while Flash and Heart walked up to him.

"It's over Tragus," Heart took out his sword and pointed it at the changeling. "Give it up and we won't have to hurt you."

Tragus spun around and let out a roar, "NEVER!" He transformed into the electric wasp again, its antenna sparking. "No matter what, I will find a way to change my species back to what we're supposed to be! And you won't stop me!"

"I beg to differ," Flash smirked at Heart. "Ready partner?" Heart nodded back before the pair got into a battle stance. "Then let's show him what happens when Equestria's best knight and squire team does when we work together!" Flash's body began to glow while Heart's body steamed up. "ARMORIZE/FLAME ON!"

In a flash of light and fire, the two pegasi transformed, Flash taking a second to glance over at Heart and see that his fire form hadn't changes much since his youth. The flames just appeared a little hotter and his eyes weren't whited out like they normally were.

"Let's go!" Heart cheered as he charged, Flash right behind him. "Fire Shot!" He punched the air and unleashed a fireball. The changeling quickly transformed into a dragon and the fireball exploded off of him without injury, only for Flash to slash at his chest. Tragus screamed at this before trying to breathe a stream of fire. But as he did this, Heart appeared in front of Flash and blocked the flames.

Like a dance, Flash slashed at Tragus next, only for the changeling to try and fly back, but Heart then thrusted his body into bug, kicking him in the stomach. This was followed by another slash from Flash, but Tragus leapt back at this, only for his back to hit the wall. Seeing this, the two ponies pulled their hooves back, ready to give him a shining and burning punch.

Tragus panicked and morphed into a fly, the punches missing as he could feel an incredible heat coming off them. He quickly flew past the pair, then changing into a bugbear that fired several stingers at them. But both ponies simply deflected the attacks with their swords.

"No!" Tragus yelled as he transformed again, this time into the wasp creature that had beaten them last time. He thrust his antenna, but Flash summoned the head of his avatar around them. The antenna bounced off the energy shield, only for Heart to fly out of the avatar.

Tragus returned to normal as he saw Heart fly up before diving down to deal him a blazing punch. The bug quickly summoned his scorpentine claws at this, but Heart didn't seem to care and kept flying. Tragus smirked at the sight, raising the scorpentine's tail as he prepared for the knight. But just as Heart was about to reach him, he disappeared in a flash of light. "What?!" He yelped, only to then feel a burning impact collide with his back. "GYAH!" He glanced back to see Heart now unleashing a blast of fire. "AAAAAHHHHH!" He screamed as the flames slammed him into the ground.

Heart smirked as Flash flew up to him, "Thanks for the teleport."

"Any time," Flash replied before they stared down at the now smoking changeling. "Let's finish this!" Heart nodded and the two began to build up energy, Flash's chest gem unleashing the energy into a sphere while Heart brought his hooves together to form a fireball.

Once the two orbs were the size of a buckball, they tossed them both up into the air, the orbs soon merging into a giant orb of light and fire. Flash's back right boot glowed while Heart's back left leg's fire intensified, the two pegasi leaping straight up. Once both were behind the orb, they pulled their legs back before swung them down at the same time, sending even more energy into it as it was sent flying. "SHINING-FLARE IMPACT!" They roared as the ball shot down toward the ground like a meteor.

Tragus glanced up and went wide-eyed, the changeling morphing into a scorpentine to try and block the attack. He crossed his claws as the sphere made contact with them and tried to push it away, only for an explosion to consume him. "RAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" He screamed as the entire room shook, the barrier the only thing keeping it from being completely destroyed as the light from the explosion forced the two pegasi to close their eyes.

After a few moments, the light began to die down and showed their opponent had returned to his true form, unconscious and smoking. The two landed at this, the Royal Knights dispelling their powered up forms.

"That was fun," Flash laughed as Heart walked up to Tragus, patting him down until he found was he was looking for.

"Got it!" He held up the Time Stone, only to tap the tiny object with his hoof, "To think, something so small could cause so many problems."

"You'd be surprised how many problems stuff like that can cause." Flash added as he walked over to the wall where Twilight had placed a rune and wiped his hoof over it, the magical barrier dropping a second later.

When it did, the gem activated again and projected the image of the treaty members. Twilight looked up at him and smiled, "Is it over?"

"Yup." Flash nodded, "One futuristic changeling captured."

"And one legendary time stone recovered," Heart held the relic up for them all to see. Twilight's eyes bugged out at this and she sparked her horn, the other alicorns doing the same, and a moment later the gem cut out before a flash of light filled the room.

Twilight and everypony else that had been hiding in the Mighty Leviathan's bunker appeared in the room, Twilight running up to grab the Time Stone. "Amazing." She rolled the stone over in her hooves, "Imagine the amazing secrets this holds. I can't wait to get it under a microscope and uncover them."

But before she could say anything else, Celestia walked up and let out a chuckle. "Well Twilight, I'm afraid you'll have to wait a while before you can do that." She turned to Heart. "As I understand it, you'll need this relic in order to return to your own time?"

Heart nodded and bowed, "That's right your majesty."

Twilight sighed at this, giving the stone back to Heart. "You better get that stone to me as quickly as possible. That's an order soldier." Heart nodded and turned to Tragus, Thorax and Hiveena now staring down at the bug.

Thorax rolled the treacherous changeling onto his back, a big frown on his face before glancing up at Heart, "What will happen to him when you return to the future?"

"He'll be held by Equestria until word can be sent to your kingdom. Then, it'll be up to you to decide what punishment you want to give him. To take him into your custody, or leave him in Equestria."

Thorax sighed and crossed his hooves, "I guess I'll have to start thinking about it." Heart nodded while Hiveena placed a hoof on his shoulder, the two staring at each other for a second. After this, he looked back at Heart, "Thank you for what you've done. No doubt you've done our kind a great service."

Heart smirked, "Just doing my job."

"Indeed," Luna trotted over to him. "It's reassuring to know that the future of Equestria is in such good hooves." The rest all nodded, "I truly look forward to the day our version of you will be knighted."

Spike moved over and elbowed Flash in the leg, "Bet you're looking forward to seeing that more then anypony."

"Yeah," Flash forced a smile and nodded as well, "Sure am." Heart then stared at Flash, showing a slight frown. But as Flash saw this, he shook his head, Heart nodding back.

"Well," Heart spoke up as he pointed at Tragus, "I guess I'd better get going. You probably all have a lot of talking left to do, and don't need us distracting you anymore."

"Is this treaty meeting really that important?" Ember asked him. "I mean, I know it was important, but would it have really ruined your entire future if he had won?"

"Yeah, it definitely would have." He glanced around at all the creatures there, "What you do here today will forever change your three nations. You're going to build something that'll stand the test of time, no matter what odds. Your nations will stand together against many incredible threats, and the only way you'll survive them is by working together."

"Threats?" Tidal replied with a raised eyebrow.

"What kind of odds?" Shining Armor asked.

"I've probably said too much," Heart looked away. "But I'll just say this." He glanced back with a serious glare on his face, "There's a storm coming, and the only way you'll weather it is by standing together. And while it threatens to rip what you've built apart, if you can survive it, you'll discover new friendship and new paths that'll lead you to a brighter tomorrow."

They all grimaced at this, all wondering what this could mean. But as this information entered their ears, Heart turned away and pointed the Time Stone in front of him. The ancient relic began to glow a brilliant green light, which got brighter by the second before unleashing a bright green beam of light. The light struck the ground and began to form a green spiraling disk on the ground, which quickly grew before the light shot upward and formed a green dome-like structure that started letting out a burst of lightning.

Everyone stared in awe at the sight, Heart moving over to Tragus and trying to pick him up. Shining and Tidal ran over to give him a hoof, all picking the changeling up and on the count of three, tossed him into the portal. He disappeared in a flash of light as soon as he entered the dome, returning to the future where he belonged.

Mission complete, Heart took a deep breath and turned back to the others. "Well, I guess this is it."

Flash nodded and placed a hoof on his shoulder. "I guess so. It was great meeting you. I'm glad to know I don't have to worry about how you'll turn out. You're clearly one of the best Royal Knight Equestria will ever see."

Heart smiled back and nodded. "Only because I had some pretty amazing ponies showing me the way."

"Glad to have helped." He held out a hoof for Heart to shake, "Give my regards to the future."

Heart smiled back and shook with his scarred hoof, "All my love to long ago." They shook before Heart looked back at the portal, taking a deep breath as he walked up to it. But just as he was about to step in, he glanced back at the ponies, "Oh, one more thing." He held up his wing and showed two feathers, "The Trials that have been attacking you. You got two more to face."

Flash and Twilight's eyes went wide hearing this, Heart smirking as he stepped into the portal. "Wait!" Twilight cried, "Who's sending them?" But Heart just made a motion that he couldn't hear them, "WHO'S SENDING THEM?!" And then the dome began to shrink, only to soon vanish out of existence with a comical pop. "NO!"

"Well, at least now we know how many more of those things there are," Flash sighed, "I was kind of worried I'd end up getting attacked by the entire Royal Knight squadron."

"Well then," they turned back to Celestia as she used her magic to quickly fix the damage done to the room. "Shall we get back to business? We still have a lot to discuss."

They all nodded in agreement and began to take their seats. "And remember," Luna told everypony. "Nopony outside this room could know what really happened here. History states that we remained in this room the whole time, and that's what we need to tell everypony. There was no battle, no invaders from the future, no plot to alter history in anyway."

"Got it," Ember nodded. "Don't worry, my lips are sealed. As if any of my dragons are gonna believe me if I said any of that."

"Indeed," Flicker chuckled as he opened up the book he had brought with him. "I admit, I do wish I could write what really happened. But I suppose some stories are better left forgotten."

He then began writing in the book, but only wrote what Luna had said needed to be known. And as the treaty continued to be drawn out and signed, Flash joined Tidal in patrolling the hotel. Twilight had suggested checking every single room for anything that Tragus might have left, though she doubted he would have been able to set anything dangerous up with the time he had. But the Royal Knights knew it was better to be safe than sorry, and spent the rest of the day combing through the hotel to make sure there wasn't a single thing that could cause major issue. But the only dangerous thing they could find was the hotel's terrible spaghetti sauce. To much oregano.

The treaty signing went on until the noon the next day, where compromises were made and agreements were settled. The official document was drawn up and all six leaders agreed to sign it, promising to trade resources that the other nations lacked, and to be there whenever one of them was attacked. And so, the Changeling, Dragon, Pony Alliance was born.

Once that was completed, the leaders and their advisers took a commemorative photo with the signed document before stepping out of the Grand Hotel. There, many other ponies were waiting and taking photos of them for newspapers and other such documentation. To say that this would be an event nopony in the history of Equestria would forget was an understatement.

That evening...

With the train line between Manehatten and Ponyville damaged and yet to be repaired, Celestia had called for a chariot to take Twilight, Spike and Flash home. Though it was a longer trip, the three were able to relax and enjoy the beautiful view of the world beneath them fly by.

"Well, this trip was certainly more eventful than we thought it was gonna be," Twilight laughed as they drew closer to Ponyville while the sun began to set. She turned to her boyfriend, "There were a lot more issues than we thought there would be, but everything worked out in the end."

"Yeah..." Flash nodded. "In the last three days, I've fallen into a hole, been covered in dust and stinky berry juice, zapped, scratched, trampled and almost eaten and blown up." He turned to Twilight, "It was awesome!"

Twilight and Spike rolled their eyes at this as Twilight added, "I guess all your worries about the future are gone? I mean, how can you worry about how Heart turns out when you've now seen the end product? I don't know what you think, but I think you've done a pretty amazing job training him."

"Yeah...he was sure trained well." Flash put his hooves behind his head, staring up at the sky. And as Twilight and Spike began to talk about other things, the defender thought back to what had just happened. Despite everything, a part of him did wish he had let Heart tell him what was gonna happen in the future. All he knew was that some day, possibly very soon, a great threat was going to attack Equestria and many other kingdoms, and the only way to stop it...was to give up his own life.

Flash remembered what Heart had said about Twilight, how much she had suffered because of what happened to him. He couldn't let that happen. "I'll survive," he whispered, "No matter what happens, I'll survive. The future can be changed for the best."

"Flash?" He glanced over at Twilight, "Did you say something?"

"Just...that it's good to be home." Twilight and Spike nodded in agreement as the chariot's pegasi drivers began to descend and land in front of the castle. They got off and thanked their drivers, who whined happily before taking to the air again.

As they walked in, the doors opened and Starlight, Scootaloo, Springer, Ace, Mira and Soul ran out to greet them. "Hey!" Springer cheered as he and Flash bumped fists/hooves, "How'd everything go?"

"Yeah!" Soul nodded, "Was the treaty signing as boring as I guessed it'd be?!" Flash and Twilight shared a look, chuckling at this.

"Actually," Twilight giggled, "It was a lot more fun then you'd think."

"But enough about that," Flash turned to Scootaloo. "How'd the camping trip go?"

"It was great!" Scootaloo cheered, "Though, there were a few issues."

"We ran into a fly-der swarm," Springer chimed in, "Almost ruined the whole trip." They headed into the castle and as they did, Springer explained how they ended up hiding from the fly-ders in a cave. There, they told stories about some of their most favorite heroes: Rockhoof, Mistmane and Flash Magnus. According to Springer, the camping trip had been one to remember.

"That's awesome," Flash replied as they entered the living room, "Say...where's Heart?"

"Oh," Soul giggled. "He's barely been out of the training room since you left."

Starlight nodded, "I had to teleport him out of there and lock the place up until he had something to eat and got a good night's sleep."

Flash laughed at this, "I'd better go check on him," He spread his wings and flew off to the training room. When he got there, he could hear Heart's voice fill the air.

"Eight!" then a few moments later, "Yes!" Flash opened the door and saw Heart staring at the ball shooting machine. It fired a ball and Heart's eyes followed it, "Three!" The ball shot past him and he quickly picked it up, smiling when he saw what was on it. "YEAH!" He jumped up and down at this, only to see Flash standing there. He then showed the ball to him, Flash nodding back as he saw the three engraved on the ball. At that moment he knew he would never have to worry about Heart's future. No matter what happened to him, his apprentice would become a knight he could be proud of. The future...was looking pretty bright.

It Isn't the Mane Thing About You

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Mare's Day, the yearly event where the mares in one's life were celebrated. Be it your mother, grandmother, wife or girlfriend, today was all about showing them just how much you appreciate them. It was a day of joy for the female community...and a day of stress and horror for the males.

Currently, Flash, Iron, Lightning, Soarin, Wild, Mac, Springer and Rogue were all sitting around a large table. Six out of the eight of them were stressing out, Flash groaning as he stared at a long list, "Okay...we've all got the flowers, chocolates and we've made plans to dine at restaurants that suit each of their different tastes."

"At least that last one's easy," Soarin laughed, "Rainbow loves pizza, and most of the places in Cloudsdale will be empty since everypony else is trying to get someplace fancy."

"Tell me about it," Lightning moaned, "I'm gonna have to make a reservation for next year while I'm there. It was a miracle they had a cancellation."

Iron chuckled at this, "Well Fluttershy's not big on going out to fancy places like that. I managed to get her animal friends to agree to help cook a fancy dinner in her own home."

"Augh!" Flash yelled while banging his head into the table. "This is so nuts. It's bad enough we have to do all this on Hearts and Hooves day. Why do mares get their own special holiday? Where's Stallion's Day?!"

Springer let out a guffaw, "Well, since most mares do stuff like this each day every day, I think they're entitled to one day of the year where they get to be the center of attention." The ponies, minus Rogue, all turned to glare at him. "I'm just saying."

"Well see if you say that when you finally get a lady friend," Iron grumbled, Springer now glaring back at him.

"You know that's not gonna happen, right?"

"Serves you right then." Iron replied while sticking his tongue out.

"Why you-"

"Anyways!" Lightning interrupted, "Let's get back on topic. After all, this isn't just going to be a Mares Day dinner Rarity and I are having. It's also a celebration of her getting chosen to be featured in the Best Manes in Equestria article of Vanity Mare that Photo Finish is running. She'll probably end up being the cover mare."

"Is that such a good idea?" Flash asked, "I mean, remember what happened the last time Rarity was in a piece of publication?" They all shuddered, remembering the horrors that had occurred after the Friendship Journal was published.

"This'll be different," Lightning responded while waving his hoof, "This'll just be a bunch of pictures and a small article about her secrets on how she gets her mane looking so good. Nothing personal is going to be part of it."

"If you're sure," Flash mumbled, "Just as long as you're okay with a hundred other ponies leering at your girlfriend." Lightning raised an eyebrow at this, Flash giving him a deadpan stare, "You realize it won't just be mares that'll be looking at this magazine, right?"

Lightning blinked at him, only to go wide-eyed, "Oh..." he slowly whispered. "That's...yeah, I'm gonna need to do something about that, aren't I?"

"Like what?" Springer asked, "Buy every copy in Equestria and keep them hidden so nopony can see?"

They all turned to Lightning at this, only to see him shake his head, "I'll think of something. I gotta go on patrol."

"I'll go with," Wild stood up, "I promised Pinkie I'd give the twins a special show to celebrate their sneeze-aversary." The others wanted to ask what that was, but decided against it a second later.

And as the duo headed into town, they passed by a flower shop and found it buzzing with activity. "For your mane, I'd go with cobalt blue." Rose handed a mare a bouquet of flowers, the mare smiling and walking off while a stallion stepped up and showed them a picture. "Ah. She looks like she would benefit from yellow daisies." She picked up another bouquet of flowers, the stallion taking it and running off. "Next."

The pair continued down the street, passing a nearby fan shop that seemed to have a lot more customers then they usually noticed. Many were hanging out in the front, staring at a window display. The two stopped and saw a manikin with a long mane and tail that was flowing in the wind caused by a fan, the ponies around them all looking amazed at this.

"Huh," Lightning chuckled, "I bet I can guess who came up with that display."

"Who?" Wild asked while his puppets repeated the question several times.

"Who else?" Lightning asked, "Who's the one pony that has such an eye for fashion that she can make even the simplest of stores look eye catching?"

Wild tilted his head at this and replied, "Derpy?" Lightning glared back at him, Wild laughing at the sight, "Oh come on, I'm just yanking your cape. Of course Rarity would come up with that." The puppets all replied with 'of course, of course' as he spun around, "And speak of the mare."

Lightning turned to see Rarity walk out of the quill and sofa store. "Thank you darling," she said to the store owner, Davenport. "I'll be back tomorrow to pick up my order." The owner nodded and went back in as Rarity turned and saw her boyfriend, "Hello boys." She flicked her mane back, "You're both looking like you've been stressing about something." She put a hoof on her chin, "Working on preparations for a certain holiday?" She gave them a knowing look, Lightning more than Wild.

"Oh?" Lightning looked coy, "Is there a holiday coming up? I'd completely forgotten." Rarity mirrored Lightning's coy smile before turning to walk off.

"Well I hope you can come up with something fast, or you might not have a girlfriend to enjoy it with." Lightning knew she was joking, the stallion smirking as they headed to Sugarcube Corner. Rarity took a brush out of...Lightning didn't know where, and started brushing her mane as they arrived at the store. "Pinkie?" She asked once inside. "I need to put Photo Finish in a good mood, and nothing creates a better mood than your confecti-" She stopped as the boys reached the store, "Oh? Am I interrupting something?"

They now saw that the place was covered in streamers and confetti, the Cake Twins sitting on the floor with a pair of cupcakes and a burning candle. Pinkie then appeared with a cheer, "We were just celebrating the anniversary of the twins' first sneezes!" With that, she pulled out an accordion and started playing, Wild's puppets singing it along with her, with the twins obviously enjoying it. "Happy sneeze-versary!" She finished before pulling out a can. "Achoo, achoo, achooooooo!" Every time she said that, she pressed the can's top and unleashed a long yellow string.

Wild and Lightning all pulled their heads out of the store, just in time to avoid getting covered in the sticky stuff. And when the sound of the spray ceased, the two glanced back in and saw the entire room was covered in the silly, sticky string. This included Pinkie, the twins, Wild's puppets, and a very upset Rarity.

"Congratulations..." she hissed at Pinkie. Had the twins not been there, Lightning was sure she wouldn't be acting as calm. She took out a mirror next, now seeing that her mane and tail were the only things covered in the string. She growled and tried to pull it out with her brush, but all that happened was the brush getting struck to her mane. "Ah!" She turned to the culprit. "Pinkie! I can't have Photo Finish shoot my mane like this! And this party string won't come off!"

"Oh, that's because it's not just party string. It's super-sticky celebration string!" Rarity lowered her mirror at this, a low growl escaping her throat, Pinkie doing a slight gulp at this, "Sorry. I guess my sneeze-aversary was a little too sneeze-abratory." She let out a tiny giggle, Wild turning to see the twins playing in the string. They threw their cupcakes around and room and both jumped around one another until Pumpkin jumped on top of Pound.

Rarity let out a shuddering sigh, "It'll be fine, Pinkie. I'll find a way to clean this up before the shoot tomorrow." She let out a whimper before noticing the twins. "Actually, you might consider doing the same." She pointed at the twins and Pinkie ran over to them, seeing they were both stuck to one another and the floor.

"That can't be good," Lightning gulped as Pinkie tried everything she could to un-stick the foals, Wild also trying with his magic.

"I've heard of twins being joined at the hip," he moaned, "But this is ridiculous."

"Ridiculous, ridiculous." The puppets flew around, two of them accidently crashing into one another and sticking together as well.

Pinkie put a hoof to her chin, "If only we had some kind of super-sudsy mane conditioning shampoo for you and a magical cleaning remover potion for me."

She shrugged before taking out a crowbar and jamming it under the twins, while Rarity let out a gasp. "That's it!" Pinkie pushed down one the crowbar, but the twins remained cemented to the ground. "We'll pay a visit to Zecora! She's a wonder with a cauldron." Wild helped push down on the bar, "I'm sure she can mix up a fix for both of us." As she said that, the string finally gave out and the twins were thrown upward, Wild and Lightning quickly catching them in their magic before they could land on Pinkie.

"That's good, because it would take forever to yank all of those baked goods out of the super-sticky celebration string." She pointed to the boxes on the counter, full of cupcakes that were covered in the string. The unicorns all stared at them, then turned to Pinkie.

"I...think you may still have some baking to do."

Pinkie let out a moan, "Alright. Should we get going?"

"I'll stay here," Wild replied, "Keep these two from getting struck again." He took Pumpkin from Lightning's magic and Pinkie gave him a kiss on the cheek while Lightning turned to Rarity.

"Want me to come with? The forests can be dangerous on your own."

"No no," Rarity shook her head, "You still have your rounds to do. Besides, Zecora doesn't live too deep in the Everfree. We'll just head in, get the potions and get out before anything happens."

"Well if you're sure," Lightning responded, Rarity giving him a kiss on the cheek back...only for part of her mane to become plastered to his coat. The pair looked down at it and chuckled before Lightning teleported himself a few feet away, severing the silly string connecting them. Pinkie and Rarity quickly walked out of the bakery next, Lightning heading out as well to finish his rounds while Wild picked up Pinkie's crowbar and tried to separate his two fused puppets. It took about ten minutes, not helped by the twins constantly trying to stick themselves back together, but eventually he managed to pry the two apart without any damage.

"I don't know what Pinkie used to make this stuff, but she seriously needs to patent it. This stuff is better than most industrial adhesives." He spent the next hour doing everything he could to get everything that was stuck down to the ground off. As he did this, he was glad the Cakes were in Canterlot catering a wedding. They wouldn't be back until the day after tomorrow, which should hopefully be long enough for them to get the place looking spick and span.

But as he worked, Sweetie Belle stepped into the bakery. "Hey Pinkie!" She called out, only to stop when she saw that Pinkie wasn't there...and the state that the shop. "Wow...what happened?"

"Minor party mishap," Wild replied as he tried to get the cash register to open despite the string covering it. "Sorry, but the baked goods are a little...contaminated."

"I can see that," Sweetie nodded, "Is Rarity here? Somepony said they saw her come this way."

"She was. But then she went to see Zecora with Pinkie."

"I'm back!" Pinkie suddenly appeared while bouncing into the room seventy minutes later. "And armed with the best remover potion Zecora has to offer!" She showed them all a bottle of blue liquid.

"Great," Wild replied as he put the twins down. "Then let's get this place cleaned up. Is Rarity with you?"

"She already headed home with her shampoo," Pinkie responded, Sweetie nodding at this and leaving as well. And as she left, Pinkie grabbed some cloths and gave one to Wild. "You ready?"

Wild nodded, "Let's do this."

Pinkie nodded and removed the cap covering the bottle, then carefully dripped a few drops onto each of their rags. "Zecora says it would only take a few drops, but I figured we should all chip in. Just in case!" Once they were all loaded with the remover potion, Pinkie turned to the cupcake box Wild had placed on the floor. She started scrubbing the cupcakes, turning back to the twins. "Remember to only focus on the party string. We don't wanna accidentally remove anything else."

The twins turned to one another and started scrubbing their sibling, laughing as bubbles started covering them.

Wild started scrubbing his puppets, also noticing the bubbles that appeared. "Ooh!" He heard Pinkie say, "Sudsy!" She giggled, the three continuing to scrub harder and harder.

"This is wild!" The stallion exclaimed as he scrubbed the red puppet harder, "Didn't think remover potion would be this bubbly." But no matter how hard he scrubbed, the celebration string wouldn't come off. "This stuff isn't very good."

"It probably needs some time to soak into the string," Pinkie replied, "If we keep at it, I'm sure it'll come off eventually." Wild nodded and continued to scrub, though the string still refused to move. Then, he noticed the bubbles the potion was creating was quickly spreading, along with Pinkie's and the twin's. Within minutes, the entire room was full of bubbles.

"If this doesn't get rid of this party string, nothing will."

Sweetie was now happily trotting through the town toward Carousel Boutique, singing a small song to herself, only to be halted by the sound...of utter horror.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

The ground itself shook by the scream, Sweetie's eyes going wide as she ran into the building, "RARITY?!" She called out, throwing the door open, only to see nothing. "Rarity?" She then heard more cries coming from upstairs, quickly running up and finding the sound coming from the bathroom, "Rarity?"

"DON'T COME IN HERE!" Her sister screamed, stopping Sweetie from opening the door.

"What happened?" She asked, "Do I need to go get Lightning?"

"NO!" Rarity screeched, "You can't let him see me like this!"

"Like what? What happened?" Sweetie added, falling onto her flank in front of the door. And after a few seconds, Rarity's grip on the door vanished and it opened, Sweetie gasping at a truly horrible sight.

Rarity was...bald. Well, almost. She still had a few long strands sticking off her head, along with her tail, but it was a far cry from the normally gorgeous locks of hair that her sister was usually seen with. "Wh-wh-what happened?!"

"I don't know!" Rarity burst out into tears, looking back at the mirror to see her destroyed mane. "I was washing my hair with one of Zecora's potions and...this happened!"

"Wow...she's really losing her edge." Sweetie slowly said, only to turn to a nearby room. There she saw a dark cloak that Rarity had started working on the previous day before Photo Finish had contacted her. It was meant to have a bunch of different patterns on it, but Rarity had only finished the base. She quickly grabbed it in her magic and threw it over her sister, fastening the clip before pulling the hood up over her head.

"Better?" Rarity turned to glare at her sister, "I'm just trying to help."

"I...know. Sorry." Rarity slowly replied.

"So...what are you gonna do?"

"I need to get to Zecora!" Rarity exclaimed before running out the room, "She must know what went wrong and how to fix it!" She trotted down the stairs, Sweetie following after her. But as she reached the bottom, she noticed Lightning through the window. "Oh no!" Rarity quickly leapt into one of her changing rooms, Sweetie raising an eyebrow at this before Lighting walked through the door.

"Hey squirt!" Sweetie turned to him, "You seen your sister anywhere?"

Sweetie stared at Lightning for a second, the fact that Rarity was dating Lightning just now entering her brain before she shook her head, "Nope." Sweetie slowly backpedaled into the front of the curtain. "I think we both just missed her. Her shower looks like it was just used, so I think she went out to do something after that."

Lightning showed a glum frown at this, "Huh. Hope she got that silly string off of her," he let out a chuckle, "You should have seen her mane earlier. She looked ready to have a panic attack from the mess it was. Can you imagine?"

"Better...than you think," Sweetie whispered while hearing a whimper from the room behind her.

"She's probably getting things ready for the photo session tomorrow," Lightning spun around and headed for the door, "I'll probably see her on my patrol. Later squirt." With that, he was gone and Sweetie quickly closed the doors and drew the curtains before Rarity came out.

"Thank you Sweetie."

"No problem."

"I cannot, ever, allow Lightning to see me like this." She took a deep breath, "I have to get to Zecora and find a way to fix this." With that, she trotted to the door and carefully cracked it open. Glancing out through the gap, she saw nopony was watching and quickly ran out, leaving a standing Sweetie Belle.

"Good luck. Hope Zecora can help you."

Two hours later...

Flash and Springer were heading back home, the pegasus having been stressing all this time over Mare's Day preparations. Flash had a bouquet and a box of chocolates in hoof, Springer promising to keep them in his room until the day. "Alright, we gotta hurry so Twilight doesn't see them."

"Got it," Springer nodded as they walked up to the castle, only to see something walk up in front of them. It was a cloaked figure at the castle's front door.

"That can't be good." Flash thrust the flowers and chocolate into Springer's arms and took flight while Springer looked back at the figure and tried to connect with their aura. When he did this, his eyes went wide.

"Flash!" He called out, "Wait!"

But it was too late as Flash flew down and the stranger said, "Twilight! I need-AUGH!" The defender collided with her, now recognizing her voice. "FLASH! What are you doing?!"

"Rarity?" Flash asked as he quickly hopped off her. The hooded Rarity picked herself up and dusted herself off as the knight stared at her, "Why are you wearing that and sneaking around?"

In that moment, Twilight, Starlight and Soul ran into the room. "What's going on?!"

"Flash!" Springer added as he ran through the doors, "That's Rarity."

"Yeah...kinda figured that out." He then saw Twilight stare at the gifts in Springer's arms, sighing as he knew the secret was out. "And I mess that up too. Great." Flash groaned before taking them from Springer and turning back to Twilight, "Happy Mare's Day." Twilight raised an eyebrow and took them in her magic.

"Um...thank you Flash." Twilight replied before leaning in and kissing his cheek. She then teleported the gifts away as she turned back to Rarity, "Now...Rarity, why are you dressed like that?"

Rarity let out a sigh, asking if they could go somewhere more comfortable that was less likely to be walked into.

One long explanation later...

"I can't believe how differently ponies treat you when you can't command their attention," Rarity moaned once she had completed her story.

"Are you sure that's what happened?" Twilight asked, Rarity nodding with a sigh as she tried to hide herself by being absorbed by Twilight's library couch.

"It's bad enough I almost ran into Lightning six times while I was doing my errands. How is it the one pony I don't want to notice me keeps showing up?! I had to jump into a barrel at one point to keep him from noticing me!"

"Ouch," Springer gulped, "But is it really so bad if he sees you like this. I mean, should he really care what you look like?"

"YES!" Rarity exclaimed, "Do you not know who I'm dating?! Lightning grew up in Canterlot, surrounded by high noble mares. Of course he's going to want to only be with a mare that looks amazing!"

"I would agree with you if we were talking about the old Lightning," Flash replied, "But he's changed. I don't think he's that conceited anymore...probably." Flash crossed his hooves in thought, "Now that I think about it, I can't remember the last time he talked about Canterlot...unless its about Solid Script."

"Well I can't risk it!" Rarity barked, "At least...until I find a way to fix this," She pointed to her covered head. "I refuse to let Lightning see me. Now I just need to find a way to get ponies to notice me again."

"Wait..." Starlight raised an eyebrow, "You can't command ponies' attention because your mane's messed up?" Flash and Twilight shook their heads, but it was too late. Rarity lifted her head and glared at the unicorn.

"Messed up?!" She pulled the hood back and used a nearby lamp to illuminate behind her, "Does this look messed up to you?!" The five finally got a good look at her destroyed mane and gasped, making Rarity scream, "Honestly! How hard is it to pretend it's not so bad?!"

"Um...really hard?" Starlight slowly responded.

"Maybe you should try and keep yourself from being seen by Lightning," Springer added, Rarity glaring at him next before tearing up. Seeing this, Flash and Soul nudged Springer in the side and gave him a look that said 'shut up.'

Rarity pulled on a piece of her destroyed mane. "If today is any indication of how ponies will treat me from now on, I can't simply wait to see if my mane grows back!" She pulled the hood over her head and curled up so only her cloak was visible on the chair.

Everypony shared a glance, Twilight walking over and placing a hoof on her friend's back. "I'm sorry Rarity. I'm sure nopony means to make you feel worse than you already do."

"Didn't you say Zecora was working on a cure?" Starlight asked, Rarity lifting her head so her eyes could be seen through a small gap of the hood.

"Yes well, even if everypony isn't utterly indifferent to my presence..." She sat up properly and pulled her hood down again, "Zecora might not be able to fix this in time for the shoot." It was here that she sunk to the floor and wrapped her front hooves around Twilight's. "Can't you do a spell to restore some semblance of my mane?!"

Twilight and Starlight shared another glance before responding, "The thing is, it's pretty much like Zecora said. Fixing manes with magic is-"

"TRICKY!" Rarity screamed, the group jumping back at this, "I know! I don't care! Make with the tricks!"

Her eyes twitched at this, Starlight turning to Twilight. "Alright..." the princess sighed as her horn began to glow. A beam of magic struck Rarity, the head being consumed by light before fading to look like a do that belonged to a Crystal Pony. But as this appeared, the rock-like hair began to crack and crumble before completely breaking apart to reveal her destroyed hair.

"Well that didn't work," Springer commented, only to get nudged again.

"Maybe you try something else." Flash turned to Soul, "Your magic is meant to heal stuff, right? Do you think it could heal Rarity's mane?" Rarity quickly spun around to Soul, giving her a pleading look.

The filly twiddled her hooves at this, "Um...I can try. But ever since I first unlocked my magic, it hasn't been as powerful as back then. It was Faust that gave me the power boost I needed to save everypony."

"Well I'm not asking you to heal a hundred manes at once!" Rarity pointed to her head, "Just one little mane. You can do that." Soul gulped, but took a deep breath and sparked her horn. She unleashed a wave of golden light, which struck Rarity's head and caused her mane to glow. Everypony stared at this for a second, only to see the few remaining strands of her mane simply stay where they were.

Soul eventually stopped and sighed. "I'm sorry Rarity. My magic isn't designed for targeting hair. On the bright side, if you had any scratches or bumps, I probably cured those."

Rarity's body shook at this, wanting to retort, but knew she shouldn't yell at the filly. That is, till Starlight fired a blast of magic at her. It struck Rarity and in a flash, she suddenly had a new mane...made entirely of wood. A random woodpecker flew into the room and gave her new do and few eager taps before leaving again, Twilight following to let it out, only to notice an unusual hole in her library's wooden door.

"This won't do!" Rarity cried as she slumped against a table. "I need an actual mane!"

"But it has to come from somewhere," Starlight replied.

"She's right," Twilight trotted over to Rarity, "You can't just make a mane with magic. The results could be disastrous."

Rarity looked up and glared at Twilight, "More disastrous than this?!" She slammed her head on the table, causing the wood mane to fly off and reveal the horrors hidden beneath.

"Well...since it's part of a living thing, magic can't create it out of nothing. Only somepony like Faust has that kind of power, and I doubt she would be willing to help with something as arbitrary as this."

"Arbitrary?!" Rarity screeched.

"It's too bad we can't find a way to magically duplicate her," Flash chimed in, "Then the duplicate could do everything Rarity needs to do until we can fix her mane."

Rarity's eyes sparkled at this. "That's brilliant! I need to find the Mirror Pool!" The others went wide-eyed, only to see Rarity sigh, "No, that won't work." She leaned against the table. "All that'd do is make another horribly maned me."

"What about an illusion?" Soul asked, the others turning to her. "I mean, couldn't we make a glamor for her to wear until her mane comes back? That way she could pretend she still had her normal mane and tail."

Their eyes went wide hearing this, Twilight smiling at her student. "That's it!" She ran over to hug her, "Soul, you're a genius!" She looked back at Rarity and sparked her horn. She fired a beam at the mare, the unicorn gasping as she was consumed by light again before it faded to reveal her formerly beautiful self.

Rarity looked up and saw her mane and tail back to perfect working order, "I'm back!" She looked ready to tear up, only for her mane and tail to start flickering in and out of existence before vanishing completely. "What happened?!"

"I cut power to the spell," Twilight responded, "I can't constantly be casting it until your mane grows back." Rarity frowned at this, only for Twilight to continue, "But we can infuse a gemstone with the illusion and enough energy to keep it going for a good while."

"Great!" Rarity cheered, "How long until you can get it working?"

"Well..." Twilight started doing the calculations in her head. "If Starlight and I start working on it now and don't take any breaks...I think we can have it ready in two-"

"Hours?" Rarity asked with hopeful eyes.

"Days." Rarity's face fell at this.

"Days?! But the photo shoot's tomorrow!"

Twilight showed a frown at this, "I'm sorry Rarity, but enchanting gemstones isn't easy. One mistake and you could look even worse than you do now."

Rarity looked ready to start screaming, only for the door of the library to open up and reveal Zecora. "At last Rarity, I have searched for so long! What I told you before was totally wrong!"

"Zecora!" Twilight clapped her hooves, "You found a cure? That's amazing!"

Rarity let out a sigh of relief. "You mean I'll get my fabulous mane back in time for the shoot?" She gave the zebra a hug, but the face Zecora gave in response was enough to tell the others it wasn't that simple.

"Oh," she pushed her away, "No. I'm afraid I can't fix it before the big shoot." She then squinted her eyes at Rarity's head, "But in time, the hair will grow back from the root." Rarity shrunk at this, pulling her hood back up. "There's no magical cure to hasten us through it, unless you went back in time to undo it."

Hearing this, Rarity gasped and turned to the two ponies best known for travelling through time. "NO!" Starlight instantly cut in, "I'll say for both of us that that is NOT a good idea." Rarity's eye shrunk before curling herself up and crying into the floor, Twilight patting her on the back.

"I'm sorry. But I promise we'll get to work on the glamor gem right away."

"Not that it matters," Rarity sniffed. "By the time it's done, my life will already be ruined."

The others all frowned at her, only for Springer to let out a gasp, "I just sensed Lightning! He's coming up the path!" Rarity gasped at hearing this, turning to Twilight.

"Teleport me back to my shop! PLEASE!" Twilight didn't ask and quickly sparked her horn, the two vanishing in a flash. With them gone, Flash and Springer quickly left the room, arriving at the front door just as Lightning was about to knock.

"Oh hey," Flash slowly said, "What's up? Need something?"

"You seen Rarity around?" Lightning asked, "She's been missing all day."

"Rarity?" Flash pretended to think, "Rarity..." He turned to Springer, "You seen Rarity today?" Springer shook his head, "Nope. Sorry, can't say I have."

"Great..." Lightning groaned, "Why do I get the feeling she's avoiding me?"

"What do you mean?"

"Its just...I can't find her anywhere!" Lightning exclaimed, "Its like she vanished from Ponyville!"

"I doubt it," Flash replied, "Maybe she's...at the spa. You know Rarity, the spa's like a second home to her. And since she has that big shoot tomorrow..."

Lightning put a hoof to his chin, "Hmm...I guess. Can't believe I didn't think to check there myself." He turned to leave, causing Flash and Springer to sigh in relief. But Lightning heard this and spun around, the pair quickly straightening up and giving him a smile. He raised an eyebrow, but they didn't say anything until he walked off.

Flash quickly closed the door and sighed again, "That was too close." There was a flash of light and Twilight appeared behind him, "He's heading to the spa. That should give Rarity...some time to come up with a plan."

"I need to get to work on that illusion gem," Twilight replied, "In the mean time, could you try and get Rainbow, Applejack and Fluttershy? Maybe they can help Rarity."

"Got it." Flash responded before taking off, Springer hopping on his back.

"Good." Twilight closed the doors of the castle before spinning around and shaking her head, "Why do I get the feeling this is gonna get worse?"

Lightning quickly arrived at the spa and talked to Aloe. "I'm sorry," she said in her accented voice. "But we haven't seen Miss Rarity all day."

"Augh," Lightning groaned, "This is getting ridiculous! Are you sure you haven't seen her at all today?" And as Aloe replied, Rainbow, Applejack and Fluttershy walked past the shop, all noticing him and running away before he could see them.

He let out a sigh and trotted out the store, not even paying attention to where he went as he marched through the town. "Lightning?" He looked up to see Grand walking up to him, "Are you okay? You're looking...I wanna say either upset or annoyed."

"A bit of both," the unicorn sighed. "I don't suppose you've seen Rarity around, have you?"

Grand put a hoof to his chin, "I did notice her coming out of the forest, though that's only because I had to do a double take when I noticed how messed up her mane and tail were."

"Yeah," Lightning nodded, "She fell pray to a rather sticky Pinkie incident. But she's probably fixed that by now. I wanted to make sure she was alright after that, but I haven't been able to find her. She wasn't at her house or the spa...and she must have done her errands by now, so where the heck could she be?"

"Sorry kid, can't help ya. Maybe you can ask Springer to locate her." The unicorn blinked at this, only to facehoof. The sight made Grand laugh, "Don't worry lad. I'm sure she'll show up eventually. She's not exactly one to lay low." Lightning let out another sigh, making Grand sling a hoof around his shoulders, "Heh...you remind me of...well me. When your grandmother and I first started courting, that is."

"Courting?" Lightning raised an eyebrow at this, "What, did you two enjoy a good game of tennis every now and then?" Grand rolled his eyes at this as the pair began to walk through town. "Say...what was grandma like? Dad told me stories of her amazing scientific skills and how I inherited my talent for electrical magic from her...but nothing really else."

"That's cause...well, let's just say your mother filled the hole Live left for Doom." Grand replied, only for Lightning to see a blush instantly appear on his grandpa's face, "She was a strong mare. Smart and stubborn. When things got hard for me, she was the one that helped me get back up whenever I fell. She was a truly amazing mare...but she could also be annoying, hard-headed and very snarky. And when she decided something, she would do everything in her power to see it through. I guess you could say it was her fatal flaw. Hubris. She thought she could fix everything."

"Could she?"

Grand shrugged, "It depends. When she saw something that wasn't working right, she couldn't leave it alone. Any damaged piece of machinery she found, she would spend sleepless nights making it work. And when she found something that refused to become as good as new, she would so stress out. Like, go crazy for days."

"Wow." Lightning responded while glancing away, remembering back to his colt days, "You know...pops was like that at times. Think he got it from her?"

"Probably." Grand sighed, "But thankfully, Live learned an important lesson thanks to a grandfather clock."

"A grandfather clock?"

Grand nodded, "She found it at a dump and it had every single part it needed, though most were old and broken. She spent a month trying to get it back to pristine condition, but it just wouldn't work. She got so upset that she almost took an axe to the thing...but then she had an idea."

As he was saying this, Applejack and a cloaked Rarity walked behind them. Seeing the two ahead of them, Rarity grabbed a nearby bush in her magic and ripped it out of the ground to in front of her just as Lightning did a casual glance backward.

"So what did she do?" He asked, looking back at Grand while the bush slowly scuttled away.

"Well, instead of making it the way it was, she decided to work with what she had and made something new. Two weeks later, our house had a new cuckoo clock hanging from our wall. Since then, whenever she couldn't fix something, she would try and save what she could and make something new out of it."

"Huh..." Lightning hummed, "So sometimes it's best to focus on what you can do and not what you want to do, right?" Grand nodded, Lightning smiling as he let this information about his grandmother sink in. Oh, how he wished he could have met her.

"Still gonna look for Rarity?" Grand asked, getting a nod from Lightning. "Well, maybe she went to see Applejack, or Rainbow or Fluttershy."

"Good idea. I'll check Sweet Apple Acres first."

"Alright. See ya later kiddo."

The two separated at this, the defender slowly walking up to the farm. There he saw Big Mac and Sugar Belle, the unicorn waving to them, "Hey! I don't suppose you've seen Rarity anywhere?"

"Oh yes," Sugar Belle nodded as Mac grimaced. "She was with Applejack. They're-ow." She turned to Mac, who had just kicked her shin.

"In the orchard," he pointed to a field in the opposite direction to the farmhouse, "Eeyup." Lightning raised an eyebrow at this, but knew Mac wasn't one to lie. And as he walked away, he could hear Mac and Sugar Belle discussing something but tuned them out, not one for eavesdropping on a couple's conversation.

He marched through the orchard and called out for Rarity, but the mare didn't respond. There he saw three golden apple trees, Rogue was hanging from one of the branches and snacking down on his life saving treat. "Hey!" He called out, "You see Rarity anywhere?"

"I saw her with Applejack earlier," he replied, "They were heading for the farmhouse."

"Huh?" Lightning raised an eyebrow, "Mac said they were heading this way." Rogue raised an eyebrow himself, knowing very well that Applejack and Rarity had headed straight from the entrance to the farmhouse to go see Granny Smith. If Mac had told Lightning something different, it must have been for a very good reason.

"Yeah. I just saw them heading to the farmhouse...from here." Lightning sighed, then sparked his horn and vanished, leaving Rogue to just stare at the spot Lightning had been. "Uh-oh...hope this isn't some kind of headache later for me."

Lightning arrived at the farmhouse in a flash, Granny Smith leaping into the air. "Clan sakes!" She cried, glaring at Lightning. "Wotcha think yer doing, scaring the he-bees outta me?!"

"Sorry," Lightning responded, only to see Granny Smith had a head of golden hair under a bonnet. "Nice hat."

"Heh..." Granny flicked it around, "Yer lady friend seemed ta like it too."

"Where is she?" He asked, "I'm getting really sick of this game of hide and seek."

"Oh?" Granny replied while raising an eyebrow, "Ah don't rightly know. Ah think she's heading to one of her friends, but don't know which one."

Lightning sighed at this, rubbing his face, "Forget it. I'm just gonna go back to her house and wait for her there." Before Granny could say anything, he sparked his horn and teleported away and appeared outside Carousal Boutique. He tried to door, but it was locked, though Rarity had given him a key. Once inside, he went to the kitchen and made himself a cup of coffee, knowing he needed a pick me up after today. He spent a good hour sitting in the kitchen, enjoying his drink as he waited and waited...

But then the doors of the boutique flew open, the sound of crying filling the air as Lightning quickly got up and putting his mug down. "Rarity?" He asked, hearing a gasp before hearing hoofsteps rushing upstairs. He followed, but she was already at the top when he started. And halfway up, he heard her door slam shut. "Rarity!" He reached the door to pulled on its doorknob, but it was locked. "Rarity, let me in."

"Go away!"

"What's wrong?" He asked, "Come on. If you don't tell me what's up, I can't help."

"You can't help even if you knew! Nopony can!" She screamed, only for the sound of more crying to come next, "Please, just leave me alone. I don't want you to see me like this."

"Like what? Did Zecora not have a way to get the silly string out of your mane?" Rarity didn't answer at this, "Come on Rarity...I've been trying to find you all day long cuz I'm been worried." This was responded by more sobs, making him sigh, "Rarity...I just want to help." He slumped down on the side of the door, only to hear another sob. The sound made him spark his horn, "Alright, I'm coming in!"

"NO!" Rarity screamed, but it was too late. In a flash, he teleported to the other side of the door. But as he did this, he found he couldn't see any sign of Rarity, only to notice a black piece of fabric sticking out from under her bed.

"Rarity?" He laid down and pulled the quilt up to reveal the underside, where he spotted a shaking figure covered in a black sheet. "What's going on?"

"Please...don't look at me."

"Just tell me why," he barked back, sitting down with crossed hooves. He waited several seconds, but she didn't respond. "Come on. Is this something about the shoot? Did something happen to it?"

"I cancelled it." she squeaked.

Lightning's eyes went wide at this, "Why? You were so excited about it."

"Because I can't be a part of the most beautiful manes in Equestria...when I don't have a beautiful mane."

Lightning's eyes went wide at this, only to lean down to her level, "What happened?"

"I...I accidently used remover potion instead of shampoo," she whimpered out from under the cloak. "My beautiful mane is gone. It'll regrow, but not for a while. So I had to cancel the shoot."

"I see," Lightning frowned, "I'm sorry." Rarity didn't reply, still keeping her hooves clenching to the cloak, "But why don't you want me to see you? I don't care if you mane is messed up."

"Don't be silly," she whispered, "Of course you do. What stallion would want to date a mare with terrible hair? Admit it, the only reason you liked me was because I was beautiful!"

Lightning blinked at her statement, now remembering when he first met her back in his more obnoxious days. Back then, he was all about a mare's beauty, not caring about anything they did...it was all about the looks in his eyes, including Rarity. He glanced down at this and sighed, "Yeah...you're right. Back then, I was only attracted to your looks."

Rarity's tears came back as she cried into the cloak, "See?! Now please, I don't want you to see me this way! If this is how our relationship ends, I at least want to be remembered as what I was and not this abomination."

"Rarity..." Lightning sighed and shook his head, "I'm not gonna break up with you. Even if your mane is a mess."

"You just said you only liked me for my looks!"

"At the start." Lightning replied, Rarity feeling herself shake for a second. Lightning slumped down as he kept talking, "I'll admit your beauty was all I saw when we first met, but...but that's not why I fell in love with you." Rarity's cries stopped at this, her eyes now going wide, "I...I fell in love with you because of your kindness. Your generosity. You were willing to forget about all the terrible things I did and let me prove I wasn't that stallion anymore. For Celestia's sake, you leapt onto my head and risked getting electrocuted when I was a dragon. What kind of pony would I be if I was willing to throw something like that away just because of how you look?!"

Rarity remained silent for a moment, then pulled herself out from under the bed. Lightning backpedaled at this, allowing her to stand tall. Her hood was still up, but Lightning could finally see her eyes. "You...you love me?" Lightning flinched at this, just now noticing that he had said that. And it was the first time he had actually said it...but he knew he meant it.

Lightning nodded and reached up to the hood, only to stop when Rarity pulled back. "Do you love me enough to trust me?" Lightning asked, Rarity remaining silent, as if contemplating how she felt about Lightning. And after a moment, she leaned her head forward and allowed Lightning to grab the hood and pull it back.

Lightning had been expecting it to be bad, but what he saw still made him react. "I told you," she sighed. "I look terrible. I know you won't want to be seen with me like-" She didn't get to finish as Lightning leaned up and kissed her. She went wide-eyed at this, only to close her eyes as she kissed back.

They stayed like this for several minutes, the kisses getting rather heated until they had to pull back for air. Lightning chuckled at this, "You look beautiful." Rarity's eyes filled with tears again, only to lean up and put her head into Lightning's chest, the pair hugging next.

They stayed like this for a while, unsure how long it was before Lightning asked, "Alright. Be honest. Have you been avoiding me all day?"

Rarity blushed and dug her head into his chest, "Yes. I'm sorry."

"It's okay." He pulled back, "I'm sure this must be hard for you."

Rarity nodded at this, "Today was awful. Zecora couldn't fix it, and when I tried to get everything I needed for the shoot, it was like I was invisible. Nopony would even acknowledge me." He then saw Rarity slump down at this, "I...I lost what made me stand out."

"That's not true," Lightning responded, about to go into another long speech, only for the sound of knocking to ring out in the building. They shared a glance, soon walking down the stairs as the main door opened.

"Rarity?" Flash's voice called out, "you in here?"

"I'm here darling," Rarity told him as the pair reached the bottom. The saw Flash, Twilight, Starlight, Rainbow, Fluttershy, Applejack and Springer, all gasping as they saw Lightning with her.

"Lightning..." Flash said slowly, "You're here...with Rarity." Lightning frowned, "So...what happened?"

Rarity glanced away at this, "It appears I didn't have much faith in Lightning. But..." she wrapped a hoof around his, "He's not upset." Lightning shook his head in agreement. "Though it doesn't exactly help me right now." She trotted over to one of her sofas, "My hopes of being in Vanity Mare are up in smoke."

"Come on Rarity," Applejack groaned, "Ya'll have done just about enough sulkin'! Havin' a fabulous mane is a wonderful thing, but it ain't the only thing!"

"Yeah!" Rainbow nodded, "And we're here to remind you how awesome you are, mane or no mane!"

Rarity sighed and shook her head, "It's lovely of you to say, but it's hard to argue with cold, hard facts." She pushed her head into the pillow.

"What facts are those?" Fluttershy asked, Rarity pointing to her head in response.

"That without my mane, I simply can't shine as I once did, and ponies treat me like the sad, invisible pony I've become."

Flash had a feeling Rarity was ten seconds away from eating an entire tub of ice cream, something he had seen her do before, only for Twilight to walk up to her, "Rarity, you're not invisible. You're our friend. A friend that started a fashion empire."

"A friend who made us all feel beautiful in her lovely creations," Fluttershy added.

"A friend who stuck by us, no matter what!" Rainbow cheered.

"A friend who put the needs of her friends above her own desires," Flash pointed out.

"A friend so generous that she once chopped off her own tail to help a sea serpent." Applejack's final comment made Rarity sit back up, staring at her friends while Twilight leapt onto the sofa next to her.

"I know you lost some confidence when you lost your mane, but unlike your hair, confidence is something you can get back right now."

The alicorn hugged the unicorn at this, Rarity slowly going wide-eyed, "Goodness," she whispered, "You're right! The only pony behaving differently today was me!"

"Besides," Lightning smirked, "I'm sure there's still something you can do to fix your mane." The others turned to him, "It's like gramps told me earlier. Don't worry about what you can't do, focus on what you can right now." He pointed to Rarity's mane. "I've known ponies with less hair than that and they've been able to make themselves look great no problem."

"Yeah," Flash nodded, "And you're Rarity. You could take anypony, even the most ugliest one, and make them the most stunning creature in Equestria. I mean..." he pointed to her head as well. "If somepony came into your store looking like that, you must have an idea how you could make them look awesome."

Rarity blinked at their words, "Yes..." She stood up, "What doesn't shine from the outside in..." She leapt off the sofa and released a neigh-panese scream, her magic activating and pulling several rolls of fabric and mane die behind her.

"Um...Rarity?" Starlight asked as a pair of spiked cuffs flew past her. "What are you doing?"

"I'm preparing to shine from the inside out!" With that, Rarity trotted out and struck a pose. The group gasped at the sight of her. She was dressed in a purple leather jacket with studs, along with a spiked cuff around her left leg and tail. The most amazing thing was her tail and her hair, which had been styled in a punk fashion and died yellow and green along with some of her purple remains. Her friends continued to stare at her, Rainbow smirking as she broke the silence.

"Awesome!"

Rarity smiled and turned to Lightning. "So..." she flicked her newly styled mane, "What do you think?"

"Uh..." was all Lightning could get out of his mouth. The others snickered at this, Flash nudging his side.

"Dude, you're drooling." Lightning quickly wiped his mouth, only to see Rarity trot up to the door. "Where are you going?"

"I'm taking my new look out for a test run." With that, she strode out of the boutique and the others ran after her, only for Twilight to come to a stop.

"I'll be right back." Before they could ask what she was doing, she teleported away. The others raised an eyebrow at this, only for her to reappear again with another mare besides her.

"What is hap-nin?" Photo Finish asked as she appeared, the others wide-eyed, "I assume this is about Rrrrarity?"

Rarity continued to stride through the town, everypony in town gasping at the sight of her. But it wasn't looks of horror they were giving off, but looks of admiration. The confident stride shocked them as she marched up to the flower stand in the market, finding Filthy Rich returning a bunch of flowers that Spoiled hadn't wanted. Luckily, Rarity's cancelled photo shoot meant she had plenty of flowers to share.

After that, she returned to the fan store and had the owner take down the flowing mane display, instead suggesting her place the fan outside to draw in the hoof traffic. After this, she returned to the sofa store and collected the sofa she had ordered. She smiled after giving the owner the bits, then turned around to see her friends were all resting on other sofas. "Photo shoot or no, you can always use a chaise!"

"Well, Rarity," Applejack jumped off the couch. "if yah wanted to shine from the inside out, ah think this afternoon, ya'll became the brightest filly in Equestria!"

"Oh, pshaw," Rarity scoffed, "Applejack. I'm simply making up for all the time I wasted feeling sorry for myself."

"I don't know why you were so upset," Rainbow added, "Your mane looks awesome!"

"Yeah," Lightning nodded, "Though it might make our Mare's Day plans a little awkward. I don't think mares with this fashion show up at that restaurant very often."

Rarity waved her hoof at him, "Oh, I'm sure I can readjust my look again to better fit the ambience. And if not, we can always find someplace else to celebrate it." Lightning smiled at this as she turned to the others, "I'm just glad I have all of you to remind me that even if I accidentally used magical remover potion on my mane, I can look good on the outside as long as I feel good on the inside."

"How'd you end up using remover potion on your head, anyway?" Twilight asked, Rarity about to reply, only to go wide-eyed and let out a loud gasp.

"PINKIE!" She raced out the door, the others quickly following suit and heading to Sugarcube Corner. "If I had the remover potion this whole time, that means Pinkie must have the-" She didn't get to finish as they reached the bakery and were about to open the door. But before she could, the door flew open and an avalanche of bubbles came crashing down upon them.

"Wheeeeeeee!" Pinkie cheered as Twilight used her magic to protect the rest of them. As the tidal wave came to a stop, she giggled while diving into the bubble mountain that remained.

"Shampoo..." Rarity finished before Pinkie's head popped out.

"Shampoo?" She asked before bobbing her head and making her mane bounce with it. "Wow! That explains why our manes are all so bouncy and soft!" In that moment, Pound, Pumpkin and Wild all climbed out of the bubble pile, all their manes shining.

"Nice look," Lightning laughed.

"Thanks," Wild swept his hoof through his mane, "Maybe I'll get that recipe from Zecora." As he said that, Rarity walked into the bakery and saw that the shampoo may have worked wonders for the four's manes, but it had done nothing to remove the silly string lining the walls.

"Um...perhaps I'll fetch the rest of that remover potion."

"Great!" Pinkie cheered as she leapt into the room, then noticed Rarity's new look. "Hey, is there something different about you?" Rarity smiled and struck a pose, though Pinkie just raised an eyebrow, "New hoof polish?" She frowned and rolled her eyes at this.

Two months after the...little mix-up, the group was now striding through the town. Rarity's mane was once again back to its former glory, many actually amazed it had healed so fast, but the mare was still worried.

"So you're sure?" She asked as they headed through the market. "You're sure it's fully recovered?"

Applejack rolled her eyes, "Yes Rarity, It's been months. Yer mane looks fine."

"Better than fine," Flash chimed in, "You know, my mane wasn't as severally damaged and it took longer than yours did to grow back to its former state." He looked up at it, "In fact, it still isn't like that!"

"That's because you keep cutting it to the style Rarity gave you," Twilight added while rolling her eyes as they passed by a news stand.

"Oooh," Pinkie pointed to the stand, "Look!" She picked up a magazine and showed it to Rarity, "It's the Most Beautiful Manes in Equestria issue of Vanity Mare!" She gave her a coy smile, "You should read it."

"Oh honestly, Pinkie?" She glanced away, "After all I went through...I'm not sure it even matters what mane graces the page-"

"READ IT!" Pinkie yelled, shoving the magazine into Rarity's face. The unicorn pulled it away, only to go wide-eyed as she saw what was on it. The cover pony...was her.

"But I...I cancelled the shoot."

The others smiled at her, Applejack winking at the unicorn. "We had a little talk with Photo Finish."

"And explained just how beautiful we thought you were," Fluttershy continued, "Inside and out." Rarity flicked through the pages until she reached her's and went wide-eyed again. It showed her helping Filthy Rich, the fan owner and even Pinkie in cleaning up the cage.

"While you were shining from the inside out, Photo Finish took a few pictures." Rainbow chuckled, as Rarity saw one picture showing the photo pony hiding in a bush with a bush headpiece, camouflage paint and a camera that appeared to be made of wood.

"She sure loved your look," Flash laughed, "She was tempted to make the whole issue about you, but she realized that it wouldn't have been fair.

Rarity seemed to be on the verge of tears as she hugged the magazine to her chest. "I don't know what to say!"

Applejack smirked and nudged, "Luckily, you don't have to say anything." She pointed to the rest of the ponies around them, "Your style speaks for itself." Everypony in town had styled their hair to look like Rarity's punk form, Rarity smiling at this and pulling them all into a hug.

And off to the side, Lightning had watched all this and smiled. He was happy Rarity was happy, learning that looks weren't everything and still got to be in the magazine she wanted to be part of. Life was good.

An Eye for an Eyepatch

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Iron had done a lot of crazy things in his life. He'd fought in a city wide brawl, captured many heinous criminals, and had endured more wacky shenanigans then most ponies could dream of. (Mainly from crusaders, but that was despite the point.) But he never, ever, ever thought he would one day be taking orders from a table. However, he was now in the Castle of Friendship, looking down at his cutie mark as it floated above a large crystal table projecting an image of the entire kingdom.

"Manehatten?" Fluttershy asked as she also saw her mark circle above the city along with Iron's. "Why are we going there?"

"I'm not sure," Twilight replied, "Then again, when are we ever sure about why we need to go anyplace the map sends us? But it's really starting to branch out now. This is the fourth time it's called upon somepony other than the seven of us."

"But why is it sending me?" Iron huffed, "I'd hardly call myself the most friendliest of ponies."

Fluttershy placed a hoof on his shoulder. "Don't say that. You've really grown in that area. I'm sure the map must realize that, or it wouldn't have called you."

"She's right." Flash chimed in, "Besides, you might be just sent in to deal with some kind of threat whilst Fluttershy handles the friendship problem. I was when I went with Soul, as she handled the problem, and I had to take on a creepy giant...spider...thing..." Flash snapped his hooves at this, "Darn it! I just can't do any quips today!" But as he did that, he squinted at the area on the map, "Hey...don't we know this area?"

The rest all leaned in, now seeing that the marks were floating above a section of the harbor. "That's...where Tidal's ship is located," Iron pointed out, only to gulp, "Please tell me we don't have to get on board it. I hate boats."

"You'll find out when you get there," Twilight commented, "Though...you might wanna pay Zecora a visit and ask for a potion to combat seasickness."

Iron sighed, Fluttershy patting him on the shoulder again. It wasn't long till the duo got a potion from Zecora before the two travelled to Manehatten through a Rune Gate. Arriving just outside the city, they rolled up the paper Twilight had teleported to the location that they would use to get back home before heading into Manehatten.

The pair managed to call a cab and get a ride to the harbor, arriving just as the sun was getting ready to set. "Alright," Iron said as they climbed off the cab and paid him, "This is it." They looked up at the giant warehouse, which was completely rusted and looked ready to fall down at any moment.

"This place gives me the heebie-jeebies," Fluttershy shivered as they walked up to it.

"That just shows it's doing its job," Iron replied, "It looks like a dump to keep the tourists away and let Tidal's crew work without needing to worry about being swamped by fans and other ponies wanting to get a look at Equestria's best ship."

Before Fluttershy could say anything else, Iron opened the front door, the two glancing inside and found nothing but darkness. Sharing a glance, they slowly walked inside as Iron called out, "Hello? Anypony in here?"

"Tidal?" Fluttershy asked, "Can you hear us?"

"Huh," Iron hummed as they trotted into the room, "Maybe they're out at sea or something." A look of hope came upon him, "Why don't we come back later? Much later!" But before he could turn around, a bright flash of blue magic filled the dark room, making them see Tidal standing behind them.

"Amigos?" He asked, "What are you doing here?"

"Hello to you too?" Iron replied, only for Fluttershy to walk in front of him.

"It's nice to see you again Tidal." They hugged for a moment.

"And you," he responded before releasing the hug, "Disculpas. Normally, I'd be happy to welcome you and give any help you might have come for. But right now, my crew and I have a lot of work to do and can't stop for anything."

"We didn't come here for help," Fluttershy replied.

"Actually, I think we're meant to be the ones helping you." Iron added, Tidal raising an eyebrow, "We were sent by Twilight's magic table."

"Ah," Tidal nodded, "The table with a map of Equestria that can sense Friendship Problems and sends ponies to try and fix them." The couple nodded, "I see. Well, I see no razón why it sent you here. There are no friendship problems in my crew."

"That's probably why the table sent us," Fluttershy replied, "Sometimes, the only ones able to see a problem are those not directly connected to the problem. Can we look around? I promise we won't get in the way."

"Very well," Tidal responded, "But we'll be shipping off soon. I'm not sure it would ser a good idea for you to be on board when that happens."

Before they could ask about what he was talking about, the unicorn teleported the three out of the warehouse and into the ship's main hanger. There they saw the Mighty Leviathan, the two ponies watching as Tidal walked up the gangplank. Soon following, they saw the ponies on the ship were all hard at work, scrubbing the deck, tying ropes and other sailor-like jobs. Everypony was working in perfect sync, Iron and Fluttershy blinking at the sight.

"See anything Shy?" Iron whispered.

"No...but maybe-"

"What is this?!" Tidal's voice suddenly blared out, making them turn to the knight as he pointed at something. "Who did this halyard cleat?!" His face looked of both anger and disappointment as his eyes flickered from one crewpony to another. After a few moments, one pony stepped up.

"I did sir," he slowly said.

"Remind me sailor, what is the correct way to tie a halyard cleat?" The pony gulped.

"Under, over, under, over, under, under, under, under, under, over, over, under, under, under, under, around and then over before half hitch."

"Exactly," Tidal nodded. "So why is this one done over, under, over, under, over, under, under, over, over, over, over, over, over, over, under. over?" The pony glanced down at this, making Tidal sigh, "Do it again. And this time, do it right!"

The sailor nodded and Tidal strode off, leaving the sailor to redo the knot while the other ponies continued their work. "That...was different." Iron commented, "Never seen Tidal get that mad for no reason."

"I have," Fluttershy responded, Iron raising an eyebrow. She then explained about the time they went after Foggy Dreadbeard, Iron remembering the story they had told him when they got back, also telling him how Tidal's normally cheery personality had all but vanished during that time.

"Makes sense," Iron nodded. "Tidal hates pirates. But that doesn't mean anything to these sailors unless..." His words mumbled out before he walked up to a nearby crewmate, "Hey, are you all about to set sail for a pirate?"

They all glanced back at him, some wide-eyed before nodding. "Yes sir. We're not sure which one, but the captain's very interested in capturing him." He glanced away at this, "Ever since he told us about this pirate we're preparing to go after, his usual cheery self completely vanished."

As he said that, a higher ranking sailor walked up, "He's right. The captain's always been serious when it came to protecting Equestria's seas, especially when it comes to pirates, but never to this degree." Iron and Fluttershy frowned at this, only for the sailor to walk past them, "Please excuse us," the sailor gestured for the other one to get back to work. "We really need to get our jobs finished before Sir Tidal comes back." The couple nodded before walking away, the two going up to the door that Tidal had left through.

"So...just to be sure. You've all told me the stories about these map missions, and they usually sound like half the problem is figuring out who has the problem. My guess is Tidal, but that seems way too obvious."

"I know what you're thinking Iron." Fluttershy replied, "But if the map is going to give us an obvious answer to who has the problem-"

"The problem is gonna be complicated." Iron finished. "I can see that. Still doesn't make sense as to why I have to come along."

"I don't think we're seeing the whole picture here." Fluttershy glanced back at the crew, seeing that they all looked like they had been working for a week straight without any breaks. "There must be a reason why Tidal is pushing his ponies so hard."

"Let's go talk to him and see if we can learn anything more." Iron added as they headed below deck, Iron navigating the corridors before knocking on a certain door, "It's Iron."

"Come in." They opened the door and glanced inside, spotting Tidal sitting at a desk that was covered in papers. He looked up at them, forcing a smile. "What can I do for you, mi amigos?"

"We heard about your mission to capture this pirate," Iron responded, Tidal's forced smile instantly vanishing. "We're coming with you." He raised an eyebrow. "The map sent us for a reason."

Fluttershy nodded. "If the problem's not on your ship, we might end up finding it wherever you're going."

"I doubt that," Tidal replied, "There is no friendship where I am going."

"Don't be so sure." Fluttershy responded, "We've seen this map lead us to helping others who are having to deal with criminals and monsters. Flash has done two of them."

Tidal just narrowed his eyes at her, showing a slight glare before he said, "No, mi amigo."

"Just tell us what you're after Tidal." Iron chimed in. Tidal opened his mouth, but Iron then added, "And don't tell us to leave. We're staying even if you say no."

The two knights began to glare at each other, only for Tidal to sigh as he pointed to a map behind him. "The pirate I'm going after is named Muerojo."

"Muerojo?" Fluttershy asked.

"It's from an old language that my family has wielded." They nodded back, knowing Tidal sometimes filled his sentences with words they didn't understand. "Roughly translated...it means Death Eye." They raised an eyebrow at this, "He's a monster that's caused much pain throughout the seas of Equestria. I intend to capture him once and for all, putting an end to his evil ways." He tapped an area of the map that had a triangle drawn on it. "But the problem is, he's taken up residence in the seas of doom."

"Doom?" Fluttershy shivered, "Please tell me they're called that because Lightning's father discovered them."

"I'm afraid not," Tidal shook his head. "They're called that because of how dangerous they are. There are foggy sections that have jagged rocks within, areas rumored to have whirlpools, and even a few sea creatures that would be happy to snack on us with a side of ensalada." He grit his teeth at this, "It would be suicide for anypony who attempts to head into it. But somehow, Muerojo has discovered how to navigate it safely. He's been using it as a base for years. If it wasn't for one of his crewmates who we captured two weeks ago, we never would have discovered this."

"So the only way to capture him is to go into this sea?" Iron asked, getting a nod from Tidal.

"I have no choice. The area around it's too big to patrol on our own, and the Mighty Leviathan is the only ship we have that stands a chance against him. Our only hope is to find his hideout and take him down."

"That does sound dangerous," Fluttershy shivered.

"Which is why I won't culpar you for not coming," Tidal responded, "This is no place for a civilian or a pony that's known for seasickness."

The ponies shared a glanced before nodding, Fluttershy speaking first, "We're coming."

"We can't leave you to do this on your own," Iron added, "The map sent us here, and we're not gonna leave until we've completed the mission. If that includes sailing into dangerous waters..." He hesitated for a moment before saying, "Then so be it."

Fluttershy nodded as Tidal glared at them, "I'm not gonna talk you two out of this, am I?" They nodded again, making him sigh, "Very well. But don't start crying when you get sick or grow so frightened you pass out."

"We won't," they replied in unison.

Tidal sighed again as he got out of his chair, "Then let's make sure we're in top ship shape before we ship out."

They followed him as he left the room, going to the deck as he told his ponies it was time to launch. The deck was suddenly a flurry of motion, the ponies preparing everything they needed. And soon enough, the ship's waterproof magic activated and raised a bubble around them before the room was filled with water. Once it was, the ship dropped into the underwater tunnel and spun around before being blasted down. Iron and Fluttershy ran to the front, now going wide-eyed as they saw the ship leave the tunnel and went into the sea, the many sea creatures now appearing.

The ship flew under the waves for almost an hour, which was much quicker than attempting to reach the sea of doom by sailing, only for the air supply to begin to run out, making the ship need to surface. "All hooves, preparing to surface!"

"Preparing to surface!" Another pony cried.

"Preparing to surface!" One hollered from up the mast.

Iron pulled out a bottle of anti-seasick potion, quickly gulping it down as the ship began to head upward. It then broke through the water, soon floating on the waves while rocking violently for a few seconds before levelling out. Iron groaned at all the movement, worrying that the potion wasn't working, only for the ship to stabilize...along with Iron's stomach. "I hate sailing..." he moaned, Fluttershy giggling before they turned to see the sailors working their flanks off to keep the ship going.

"Prepare for side maintenance!" Tidal barked, the ponies quickly running over to the mast and grabbing some rope coiled up in piles around it. "Rápida, rápida!" The ponies hurried up, doing their best to tie the ropes around their waists and then to the sides. "Come on!"

Fluttershy grimaced as the ponies finished tying things up and running over to the sides. "They're doing the best they can," she whispered as the ponies leapt over, she and Iron moving out of the way before seeing the crew slowly slid down and stare at the boat's wood and metal side.

"What are they doing?" Iron asked, another pony walking past them hearing this.

"Making sure the ship didn't get any small pieces of damage during the trip. One small scratch could easily evolve into something bigger." They nodded back, only to hear a loud snap. They turned to the mast and saw one of the ropes letting out an impressive twang as the knot undid itself and the rope unfurled. The pony it was tied to let out a cry, only for Iron to leap up and grab the end in his teeth before he hit the water.

The ponies around the rope all began pulling on it, hoisting the pony back over the side of the ship. Once he was on deck, Tidal walked up and yelled, "What happened here?!"

"I don't know sir," the sailor replied as he stood up at attention, "I guess...I mustn't have tied my rope correctly." Tidal glared at him at this, "It won't happen again sir!"

"Be sure that it doesn't!" Tidal barked, "This is no time for goofing around!" He headed back to the wheel. "We're after one of the most evilest beings in all of Equestria. If we mess around and cause easily preventable mistakes, we'll be in trouble and this pirate will get away!" He turned back to them, his face now screaming with anger, "I WON'T LET THAT HAPPEN! Understood?!"

"YES CAPTAIN!" The ponies all cried before continuing their work. Iron and Fluttershy shared a glance, both now showing grimaces on their faces.

"You go first." Iron said, Fluttershy nodding before flying up to the knight.

As she landed beside Tidal, she took a deep breath before speaking, "Tidal, don't you think you're being a little harsh?"

"Of course not," He responded without even glancing at her, just staring ahead as he added, "If he doesn't take his mistake seriously, he'll be doomed to repeat it."

"I understand that, but...don't you think maybe you were also the blame for that?"

He turned to her at this, now seeing the frown on her face, "What are you talking about?!"

"Well...I know if I had somepony yelling at me to do something faster and faster, I might mess up doing it too." Fluttershy tried to show a small smile at this, "Maybe you should...lay off them a little bit. Your usual firm but fair style of leading seems to work just fine normally."

"I can't afford to use my normal style of leading," he barked back, "Like I told you, we're going into the most dangerous seas in Equestria. One slip up could cause us all to end up at the bottom of the ocean." Fluttershy was about to reply, only to see Tidal stiffen. "We're here."

Fluttershy looked ahead at this, now seeing a large dark cloud on the horizon. And as they drew closer, the cloud didn't get any higher. It was as if the cloud was sitting atop the water.

"Wow..." Iron whispered as they stared at the giant gray fog. "It's huge."

"And it covers the entire sea of doom," Tidal growled, "We don't know why, but this area is constant expelling of dark vapor that makes seeing almost impossible."

"And we have to go into it?" Fluttershy asked with a small gulp.

Tidal turned to her. "You can take the Mini Leviathan and returned to Equestria if you want. I can't turn around now." But the two immediately shook their heads, making him sigh, "Alright then." He looked down at this crew, "Prepare to enter the fog!" The sailors nodded and began tying themselves down to the ship, Fluttershy and Iron being given rope to do the same.

The Mighty Leviathan began to sail forward at this, the sea-monster head soon disappearing into the fog. The rest of the ship soon followed, Fluttershy staring down at the deck and seeing the ponies on board vanish as the cloud consumed them. She took one final gulp of fresh air before they entered, nothing but gray now filling their eyes.

The whole ship slowly floated through the cloud, Tidal in total control of it as the sailors all looked around. "This place gives me the creeps," Iron shivered while holding his spear. "Anypony else getting the sensation that something's gonna come flying out at us?"

Many nodded, but Tidal just stared ahead as he said, "Just be ready for if something-WHOA!" He spun the wheel to the left, the ship swerving just in time to avoid a large jagged rock that had appeared out of the fog. It passed only inches form the side, Tidal sighing in relief. "That was a close one."

Fluttershy gulped at this, "This fog is so thick that by the time you see a rock, it's almost too late to avoid it."

"Luckily," Tidal hit a button on a control console, "We have a way around that." A computer screen then appeared from out of the floor. "Sonar scan, fire!" He hit another button and the screen let out a large beep. A minute later, the screen showed several shapes appear around the dot in the center. "There. Now we know where everything is. We should be able to avoid any obstacle that comes our way."

He started sailing to the right as one of the shapes in front of the dot moved to the left, a large rock appearing off that side of the ship. He then did a large left before a claw shaped rock appeared on the right side and threatened to tear a hole in the side. Everypony watched as Tidal continued to zigzag through the rocks, some missing them by meters while others by only inches. It wasn't until almost half an hour later that the fog around them started to thin out, giving them more room to see the oncoming rocks.

"I think we're almost out of it," Fluttershy commented as they dodged another rock.

"Don't be so sure," Tidal replied, "The fog may weaken, but the entire thing is like a gigante dome. We'll never by completely out of the fog until we get out of the sea of doom. However," he looked down at the screen, "I think we just passed the last rock."

"So we're in the clear?" Iron asked, his hoof slightly in his mouth to push back any puke thanks to the zigzags.

"Don't relax yet," Tidal responded, "That was just the first obstacle we'll need to pass."

"Just the first?!" Iron yelped, "How the heck does this Muerojo pony use this place as a hideout if he has to navigate through all this dangerous water?!"

"I do not know." Tidal replied in a deep, uncaring voice, "All I know is that according to the pirate we captured, Muerojo's base is located on an island in the very center of the seas of doom."

"So we just keep heading forward?" Iron asked, getting a nod back.

"Exactly. And we don't stop until we get there. Even if the ship is torn apart by then."

Iron and Fluttershy went wide-eyed at these words, both thinking the same thing: Tidal loved the Mighty Leviathan. What was he thinking saying that?

The ship continued through the dark fog, no longer having problems with rocks. But as it did this, new sounds began to fill the air. Sometimes they heard the sounds of waves crashing while others being the loud squawking of birds. They even heard the sounds of creaking, like the ship was straining, only for them to check the Mighty Leviathan...which seemed to be fine.

"This place is starting to mess with our heads," Iron groaned, only for another squawk to come out from overhead, one of the sailors crying out as he couldn't see it.

"Get it together!" Tidal roared as he saw the pony shiver, "That was nothing!"

"But what if it wasn't?!" The sailor asked, "What if it was a giant bird of prey hiding in the fog?! What if it's gonna swoop down and take us to its nest to feed to its babies?!"

Before he could continue, Tidal teleported over and slapped him with his tail. "Get a hold of yourself! You're an insult to the ship!" He pointed at the other ponies, "We don't need you terrifying the crew with your wild theories!"

"Tidal!" Fluttershy ran over, "That's not helping!" She placed a wing around the pony, "It's okay. I know it's scary out here. We're all scared. But if we all start freaking out about what might happen, we won't be ready for when something does happen."

The pony stared at her at this, only to take a few deep breaths as Fluttershy hugged him with her wing. "Thank you..." he told her a few seconds later, "I'm sorry for freaking out."

"It's okay. Being scared is a natural thing. My friend Flash told me that. It helps us remember that we need to be careful. Just don't let your fear control you."

Tidal rolled his eyes at this, only for the entire ship to suddenly jolt. The ponies all staggered at this, Tidal teleporting back to the wheel as Iron asked, "What was that?"

"I don't know," Tidal yelled, only for the ship to suddenly lurch around so the rear spun clockwise. "Something's beginning to drag us someplace!"

It was here that he heard a loud whirling sound, coming from the direction the ship's back. Iron ran to the edge and went wide-eyed, now seeing a large whirlpool that the ship was on the edge of. "That wasn't there a moment ago."

"It must have just started!" Tidal cried, "Which means it'll probably start getting bigger and bigger!" And as he said that, the swirling vortex of water quickly grew...and started to surround the entire ship. "We gotta get out of here!" He reached for the lever controlling the thruster and pulled it back, the rocket part coming to life and unleashing a powerful burst of air that pushed the ship forward. Everypony could feel the force of the rocket and the whirlpool fighting against each another, the ship creaking at it. And as this happened, the ship reached the top of the whirlpool and managed to drag itself over the edge. The Might Leviathan violently rocked, throwing everypony around as it raced to escape the whirlpool. It kept growing larger behind them, but the ship managed to stay ahead of it...only for something new soon to appear on the edge of the fog's range.

"Look out!" A sailor screamed, Tidal now seeing what he meant. It was another whirlpool right in front of them.

"Oh, you gotta be kidding me." Tidal swung the ship, spinning it seconds before the ship hit the front facing whirlpool. The maelstrom tried to pull them in, but they managed to skirt around the edge as the first whirlpool reached them. The two vortexes spun side by side, with only a small stretch of stable water in the middle that the Mighty Leviathan could sail through. He began to spin the wheel, pushing the ship out of the swirls.

And as he got out, the ship began to rock, "Oh no you don't!" Tidal yelled as they regained course, only for Tidal to go wide-eyed at the next sight in front of him. More whirlpools, more than he could count. The entire area around them was full of the ship crushing spirals.

There was only a small section of water that wasn't being affected by the horrible currents, and when the Mighty Leviathan sailed into it, Tidal could hear the booster begin to make burn. He killed the engine at this, the rocket now letting out a terrible puff of smoke.

"Raaahhh!" He roared, hitting the wheel before turning to a crew member. "Get the booster fixed within the hour!"

The sailor's eyes went wide, only for another to speak up, "Sir, this area is way to dangerous to sail! Going forward and not back is suicide. You always say that the safety of the ship and her crew is the most important thing." The others nodded at this, "Maybe we should let this one go and find another way to capture Muerojo." The sailors nodded again, all letting out murmurs of agreement.

But as they did, Tidal's face twisted as he screeched, "SILENCIO!" Instantly, everypony shut up. "We're going to keep going, and anypony that attempts to say otherwise will be thrown overboard and forced to swim home!" They all went wide-eyed at this, "Now get to work. You just wasted two minutes of your hour's time limit!" With that, he stomped down the stairway before heading below deck.

The ponies remained where they stood, some unable to respond due to how Tidal was acting. But as they all began to move, Iron turned to Fluttershy with the biggest frown she had seen on his face in a long time. "I think I know why I was brought here."

"Why?"

"Cuz I've seen this before." He pointed to the wheel of the ship, "That was a pony that only cares about capturing another no matter what the cost, and getting angry with anypony that tries to reason with him." He pointed to himself, "It's just like when I went after Longhorn."

Fluttershy's eyes went wide, "He's after revenge."

Iron nodded back, "Yeah...and I think I have an idea of what it is."

The ponies headed under deck and made their way to Tidal's quarters, going inside without knocking. There they saw Tidal on his bed, currently sharpening his trident. He looked up from Wavefang, the angry look not having left his face. "What?!"

"There's more to this than just going after a pirate, isn't there?" Tidal didn't respond as the pair shut the door, "This pirate did something to you, didn't he?"

"It's none of you business," Tidal spat before glanced back down at his weapon, "Just...leave me be."

"We can't do that," Fluttershy replied as she sat down beside him. "We know now that we were sent here to help you. You've been pushing your crew away because you're trying to capture this pirate. Putting them in danger when usually, that's the last thing you would do." Tidal twitched at this, not showing them his face as he stared down at Wavefang, only for Fluttershy to add, "And it's because this Muerojo hurt you, isn't it?"

Tidal's face twisted at this, a deep lifeless look appearing in his eyes. And as he stared at Wavefang, Iron let out a sigh, "I've seen that look on your face before. It's the look of somepony willing to take another down, no matter the cost." Tidal said nothing, making Iron walk up and lean down in front of Tidal's face, "Skybreaker once said that you were attacked by a pirate as a colt, and that your father went down with your ship because of it." Tidal slowly looked up at him, the two staring at each other in the eye, "What was that pirate's name?"

Tidal stayed silent, the pair now refusing to blink as they continued their staredown. Fluttershy just watched, her eyes darting between the two, only to see Tidal close his eyes and sigh, "Muerojo...that was his name." He turned his head away, hiding a tear trying to form, "He...was the one who took my father from me. He destroyed everything I loved, all for some metal that ended up at the bottom of the ocean."

Fluttershy gasped at this, putting her hooves to her mouth as Iron sighed again and shook his head. The mare then put her wing of Tidal's shoulder, "I'm so sorry. I know that must be a painful memory for you..."

"I know it is," Iron added, "For the longest time, I couldn't think of my parents without remembering how they died. Its not easy."

"It is not." Tidal growled, "I...I thought I had gotten over it, but when I learned where Muerojo was hiding..."

"It came back, didn't it?" Iron finished, "The anger...the hatred. Its like its the only thing you can think about, isn't it?"

"Aye." Tidal sighed as he turned to them, "I can't let him stay free. Between now and when he sank my padre's ship, he's probably done a thousand terrible things and laughed about every single one of them." His eyes went back down to Wavefang, the pony now seeing his reflection in the metal. "I know he has...and I refuse to allow him to go unpunished."

"We understand," Fluttershy nodded. "But that doesn't mean you should be pushing your crew or putting them in danger. I'm sure if they knew, they would want to help more than ever. But they also don't want you to lose your life trying to stop this pony."

"She's right." Iron chimed in, "This pony took everything you cared about from you once. Don't let him do it again." He turned to walk away, Fluttershy giving him one final hug before following Iron out. And when the door closed, Tidal stared at the door before slumping down in his bed.

"Don't let him do it again..." Tidal repeated in a whisper, only to glance up at a wall to his side. On it was multiple framed pictures, all showing Tidal with different members of the crew. Some who were still around, others that had left to run their own ships, and others that left the service but were still able to use the skills learned from working under him to make a great life.

Tidal smiled at the happy faces in the pictures, memories of everything he and his crew had been through flowing through his mind. The same crew he had been yelling at, and had put in danger to settle his vendetta. He let out a long sigh at this, only for another memory to appear: That night. His father in the distance on a burning ship sinking into the depths...and the little colt that could do nothing.

"Muerojo..." Tidal whispered as he glanced back down at the floor. He then looked at his hooves, seeing them now shake before he stood up. He walked over to the wall, staring at the pictures again as he felt his mind muddle between the memories.

That is, till a knock sounded at his door. "Ingresar." The door opened and a pony stepped inside.

"Captain, the engine's ready. We can't guarantee it'll hold, but it should be enough to get us out of a whirlpool if we're not in one too long."

"Gracias," he nodded before leaving the room. The two ponies walked onto the deck, where everypony else was waiting. The whirlpools were still spiraling away, Tidal wondering how long a cycle they had. He stepped up to the flight deck and took to the wheel, only to slowly take his hooves away.

"Captain?" a sailor asked as he saw the lifelessness in Tidal's face, "Is something wrong?"

Tidal opened his mouth to respond, only to sigh, "Si...there is something wrong."

"What is it captain?"

"Me." Tidal replied before turning to the rest of the crew, "Everypony...I'm sorry." The sailors all went wide-eyed at this, only for Tidal to add, "I know I've put you through a lot recently and...I let my personal feeling impair my judgement."

"Wha-what do you mean sir?"

"The pony we're after...is the one who killed my father." Rounds of gasps and shocked expressions filled the air, his crew now staring at him with wide eyes as he continued, "I allowed my hatred for him to cloud my mind and put you all at risk in a vain attempt to capture him. I'm sorry." He turned back to the field of whirlpools blocking their path before glancing at the two whirlpools they had escaped. It would be easier to go back despite this, knowing there would only be rocks to contend with. He stared back at his crew, "if anypony still wants to turn back, then I'll do so. I won't make you do something you don't want to...not anymore."

The sailor ponies all shared glances, a silent conversation now going throughout the crew. Then, one of Tidal's lowest ranking crew-mates stepped up. It was the one that he had slapped earlier. "We're with you captain! No matter what, we'll stand by you and help bring this murderer to justice!" The rest of the crew all cheered in agreement, not a single pony saying otherwise.

Tidal smiled at this, only to chuckle, "I am blessed." He then glared at them, "Then let's get going! All hooves to stations!" The ponies ran around the deck at this, Fluttershy and Iron joining Tidal at the helm. "Gracias, you two."

"No problem," Iron responded, "Though don't go thanking us just yet. We're not done here, and I am coming with you when you face this monster."

"Me too," Fluttershy added, the two turning to her. She then shrunk down as she said, "I won't fight. But I'll be there, hiding and ready to help if you need it." They chuckled as Tidal pulled the lever and the rocket unleashed the air blast, Tidal going easy so as to not overexert the rocket, the ship beginning to pull towards the closest whirlpool.

Every vortex had a stretch of water between them that the ship could narrowly get through, and Tidal knew it. They reached the first whirlpool and skirted around it, soon sailing between it and another maelstrom. Everypony was on edge, each worrying that the ship would fall into the cyclone, but the Mighty Leviathan managed to stay the course, even at the very tips of the whirlpools where the safest water was at its smallest. They pushed through, soon getting past the many whirlpools around them.

But as they did this, not a soul saw a certain brown pegasus pony flying above them. He had a pair of goggles on that allowed him to see through the mist, only for the pony to fly away at speeds that could rival a Wonderbolt before arriving at the very center of the seas of doom.

The fog was clearest in this area, and sitting in the center of the ocean was a small island that was actually a dormant volcano. Sitting on the side was a beat-up old pirate ship, with tattered sails and broken panels. To an outside, it would be hard to believe such a ship could have sunk many others. On it were multiple ponies carrying their loot to shore. The pegasus flew past them and onto a path from the ship to a hole in the side of the mountain, soon going into a tunnel leading up to a set of wooden doors.

He pushed the doors open and flew into a chamber in the very center of the island. The place was about the size of Canterlot's throne room, though the ceiling wasn't as high. It was well lit, and full of many different forms of treasure, from chests of maps, to barrels of gold and piles upon piles of different gemstones. And at the back of the chamber, a large throne could be seen...complete with the pegasi's captain.

He was a bulky red pegasus with a blue mane and tail, wearing a black overcoat with red trim and a large black hat with a super long red feather coming off the top. His left eye was covered by an eye patch made entirely out of gold, and had an eye shape engraved on the front of it that had a red ruby in the center. Leaning against the throne, a cutlass and crossbow sat patiently.

The pony's right eyes slowly opened as his head lifted up, "Why do you disturb me?"

"Captain Muerojo," the pegasi bowed, "I was out scouting and I spotted a ship. It appears to be...the Mighty Leviathan."

The pirate smirked. "So, the Royal Knights have finally located me. I'm impressed they had the guts to come into a place only I can navigate safely."

"What should we do captain?" He asked, the pony picking himself up.

"Mobilize the ship. Take them down. I will remain here and protect our plunder, should the ponies attempt to use the battle as a distraction. If they try," he picked up his sword as his ruby eye glowed. "They'll see what happens when they cross a pirate that can see all things."

The Mighty Leviathan continued to struggle through the whirlpools, having almost fallen into three while trying to get through. But the ship's crew managed to stay calm even though Tidal could tell their nerves were shot. The engine was also dying, the booster trying to get through the many whirlpools. He was forced to cut them before they exploded, the air blasts fading as the ship began to drift.

"If we get hit by a stray current, we're gonna be in trouble." Tidal sighed as he looked down at several unicorns that were using a wind spell on the sails. "Keep it up. You're doing great." They nodded and kept firing. "We must be nearing the edge of it. If we're not, we'll be in trouble."

"Relax," Iron chimed in, "I'm sure we won't have any more problems." But as he said that, the ship suddenly lurched, a stray current smacking the ship and pushing them close to a whirlpool. "The universe just loves proving me wrong."

"You make it too easy for it," Tidal growled as he pulled against the wheel. "So...heavy." The ship grew closer to the edge at this, threatening to go all the way over. 'I have to do something.' He reached for the lever, preparing to fire the engines. 'This might strand us here for a while, but I need to go full power.'

He was about to pull the lever, only for the boat to surge forward. Everypony cried out as the ship rocked, the sounds of whirlpool's spiraling crashing water began to weaken.

"What's going on?" Fluttershy asked.

Tidal ran over to the side and went wide-eyed as he saw the whirlpool begin to shrink...along with the rest. "We must have reached the end of their cycle," Tidal commented, "These whirlpools must have a natural life span. The currents shift, causing them to appear and disappear at intervals."

Everypony sighed in relief as the waters began to calm and eventually became still. Tidal went back to the wheel, telling the crew they need to get going before the whirlpools return. The unicorns began to push the sails again, the ship drifting through the fog...only for it get thinner. And then something appeared on the shrouded horizon: An island.

"Is that it?"

"I think so," Tidal replied, "Muerojo's hideout." He looked down at his crew, "Be ready. I've no doubt they know we're coming. They'll either flee or use the fog to attack and sink us before we can fight back."

They all nodded as the ship moved closer to the island. The crew armed themselves with shields and swords, soon getting to fifty fifty meters of the island until-

From out of the fog, a large boulder flew at them, "LOOK OUT!" Tidal screamed as he swung his ship around, managing to dodge the rock, hitting on the side of the under-boat. They glanced back at the island, now seeing a ship sailing towards them, a pirate vessel nowhere near as big as the Mighty Leviathan.

"Attack!" They heard someone on the boat cry as it sailed, several pegasi leaping off the boat and flying for the ship.

"Prepare yourselves!" Tidal yelled, the ponies taking out their weapons while Fluttershy shrank down and jumped onto Iron's back.

The pegasi flew down, but the unicorns fired a barrage of magical blasts. Some were knocked down, falling into the water as the rest landed, Tidal and Iron taking out their Celestic Gears. Tidal then had another pony take over the wheel as he leaped onto the deck, smacking two ponies away with a single strike. What followed was a mess of fighting, sailors swinging swords, shields clanging and several kicks to the face.

And as this began, Tidal saw two pegasi fly for the ships wheel, the knight firing a water blast to knock them away. "Get us closer!" He yelled to the one at the wheel, "Their catapults only work at close range."

The crew-pony nodded and swung the boat around, pulling the lever and pushing them towards the other ship. And as they got close, Iron spotted the catapults on the deck. "Iron Lance Fury!" He roared, launching several spikes that shot through the air and embedded themselves into the ship's deck. They then struck the catapults, ripping the ropes tying them together.

Seeing this, Tidal's crew began to push back the pirates on the deck, Tidal grabbing one and slamming him into a ship's wall, "You! Where's Muerojo?!" The pirate cried out at this, only for Tidal to push him into the wall's paint, "Tell me!"

"He's on the island!" The pirate screamed, "He's protecting our loot." Tidal growled at this, only for the pirate to add, "But you'll never be able to beat him. He knows all and sees all." He raised an eyebrow at this, "Nothing surprises him. It's like he can see into the future."

"We'll see about that," Tidal replied before punching the pirate in the face, spirals appearing in the pony's eyes as he slumped down. "You two ready?" He asked Iron and Fluttershy, both nodding before he turned to his second in command, "Take them down and if you can, sink that ship. We can't risk any of them getting away."

"AYE, CAPTAIN!" He and several others roared before Iron and Fluttershy grabbed onto Tidal, his horn glowing as he teleported the three. In a flash, they appeared on the island's bank as the sounds of the ocean fight filled the air. They stared at the mountain and spotted a nearby path, the three running up it till they found the hole leading into the mountain.

"He's in here," Tidal whispered, his trident shaking in his hooves.

But as he reached for the door, Fluttershy placed a hoof on his shoulder. "It'll be alright. We're here."

"And we won't let him get away," Iron added, Tidal showing them a small smile before they headed inside. The three travelled through the tunnel, finding nothing a note before seeing the doors to the main chamber.

"He must be through these doors," Tidal commented, the knight taking a deep breath before pushing them open with his magic, half expecting them to blow up. But when they opened without any issue, they then saw hordes of treasure and other stolen valuables, being reminded of Dreadbeard's throne room back when he captured him. "I guess pirates like the idea of acting like kings."

"No kidding." Iron chuckled as they gripped their weapons. And as they walked in, from atop one of the gem piles, a crossbow bolt shot at them at blinding speed. Iron quickly swing his spear, blocking the bolt from going into Fluttershy's side. They gasped and looked up at where it came from, now getting a look at the pony that had killed Tidal's father.

"Muerojo..." Tidal growled.

Iron turned to Fluttershy, "Go hide." She nodded and shrank down before flying off. Iron then glanced back to Muerojo and pointed his spear at him. "By the laws of Equestria, you are under arrest for the multiple crimes you have committed against its citizens."

The pirate raised an eyebrow and simply laughed. "Is that so?" he spoke in a gravely voice. "No, I don't think I am." He pointed his crossbow at them, the pair now seeing it had somehow been reset and a new bolt was loaded. "In fact, I think I'll be staying free for a good long while."

"Not if we have anything to say about it!" Tidal barked, his eyes narrowed, "I won't let you get away with anything else!" He pointed his trident at him, "Tidal Shot!" The weapon fired the blast of water, only for the gem on Muerojo's eye-patch began to glow.

He leapt into the air before the water even got close, dodging it as Iron pointed his spear at him. "Iron Lance Fury!" He fired several pointed spikes, only for the pirate to just side-step each one. "What?!" He yelped before Muerojo flew straight down and slashed at him, Iron quickly blocking it with his spear.

The two ponies glared at one another, their heads inches away. But before Iron could say anything, Muerojo ducked at Tidal's trident swung overhead. Iron's reaction made him pull back, Muerojo rolling away before Tidal turned to him, "Tidal Wave!" Tidal swung the trident into the ground, the weapon unleashing a burst of water that turned into a wave. The water went right into several piles of gems and chests, but Muerojo simply took to the air, easily avoiding the attack.

Muerojo landed a second later, only for Iron to charge in as he changed his spear into a saber. But as he swung it at the pirate, he blocked before ducking under a second slash. And as he avoided a third attack, Muerojo lifted his crossbow to fire at Iron, only to flare his wing and flew up just as a water blast slammed under the pirate.

"What the heck?! How is he doing that?!" Iron barked as they saw the pirate, chuckling at the duo.

"It's like he can see our attacks coming before we even fire them," Tidal whispered, "It's just like his crewpony said. He can look into the future and foretell any danger that's coming his way."

Fluttershy was watching from a small ledge near the ceiling, staring at Muerojo as she saw his eye-patch glow as Tidal fired another water blast, only for the pirate to side-step it. Blinking at the sight, she took a deep breath and yelled, "It's his eye-patch!"

They all glanced in her direction, Iron and Tidal then looking at the object in question and seeing the glow coming from the crystal. "So that's it." Iron added, "That thing's more than just a nice accessory, I'm guessing?"

Muerojo let out a cackle at this, "You caught me. But it won't do you much good." He charged at this, swinging his sword at Tidal, but the knight caught it in the prongs of his trident. But before he could try to disarm him, Muerojo pulled back and leapt in the air before spinning around and kicking the trident with his back hoof.

Tidal felt his hooves skid on the floor, Iron charging in next as he thrust his spear at Muerojo. But every try was met with the pirate dancing around him, only for Iron to block a kick from the pegasi.

"Grrr....where'd you get that?"

Muerojo pointed to his eyepatch, "In one of my very fist battles in my pirate career." He pulled out his crossbow and fired, Iron leaping back. "I ended up losing my real eye in the process, so I put it on with plans to sell it once I had a less...decorative patch to wear. But imagine my surprise when the very next day, I found myself being attacked and stabbed by another pirate wanting this patch. But before I could cry out, I was suddenly one minute in the past. The pirate attacked just like before...but I knew what was coming. Death...was now avoidable for me, unlike him." He began to rub the patch with his hoof, "I quickly realized what had happened. This relic had to power to allow its wearer to see the future. So I never took if off again. With it, the future was mine for the taking."

"I won't allow that." Tidal yelled as he pointed his trident at the pirate. "You've done far too much damage to the world already. Sank countless ships, harmed Celestia knows how many ponies, ripped apart families..." Upon that last statement, his mind flashed back to his father and he let out a roar, "I'll make you pay for everything!"

Muerojo raised an eyebrow at this, "Oh? I've seen that look before. The look of a pony out for revenge. So...who was it that I took from you? And be specific. I've done so many terrible things it's sometimes tricky to remember them all."

Tidal's eyes went wide at this and his mind went blank, rage coursing through him. "RAAAAAHHHHH!" He charged as Iron yelled out at him to stop. But as he thrust his trident at the pirate, the pegasi easily dodged the blow. This was followed by several more thrusts, Muerojo blocking each with his blade. And when he blocked the tenth blow, Tidal leapt back and screeched, "This is for my father, the stallion you killed in cold blood!" He pointed the trident at him, "Tidal Vortex!"

The spiral of water exploded out of his trident, Muerojo quickly side-stepping away from the attack. But as he did this, he suddenly let out a yelp as his hooves slipped on something: A puddle from Tidal's wave attack. He cried out as he fell over, knocking over one of the nearby gem piles while his weapons slid away from him. Tidal then thrust his spear at him again, but Muerojo just spun around on the floor, dodging the trident. He then wrapped his hoof around the weapon and thrust it back, pushing the unicorn in the chest. "Augh!" Tidal yelped as he knocked back, Iron then slashing at him with Iron Saber. But as this happened, Muerojo used Wavefang to block it, only for both to push against each other.

And as this happened, Iron then switched to only one hoof holding his blade as he tried to punch him, but the pirate caught it and tried to twist his arm. Iron leapt back next, Muerojo quickly running away as well to grab his sword from before.

"Come on!" Tidal yelled as he fired a water blast at the pirate, only for Muerojo to flare his wings and take to the air. He then pulled out his crossbow and fired it, Iron and Tidal leaping back and behind a pile of gems.

"This isn't working." Iron growled.

"We have no choice. We can't let him get away." Tidal replied.

"Well, if you can think of a way to do that while he has that eye-patch on, I'd love to hear it." Tidal bit his lip at this, only for his hooves to shake. His mind only told him one thing, to take down Muerojo at any cost. The thought made him snarl as he tried to respond, only for Iron to say, "I think the first thing we should do is get him to keep firing his crossbow." Tidal turned to him with a raised eyebrow, "He'll run out of bolts eventually."

"No, he won't." The stallions yelped at the voice, only to see a small Fluttershy fly down to them, "I was watching and saw how his crossbow works. A minute or so after firing, the bolt he shot magically returns to his weapon."

"Really?!" Tidal asked, Fluttershy nodding. Wanting to test this theory, Tidal jumped out and fired several water shots at Muerojo. But the pirate easily dodged them before shooting his bolt, Tidal leaping back behind the pile before the bolt flew past him and hit a nearby chest. They watched it for a moment and after about a minute, the bolt faded out of existence.

"So he can only fire that thing every minute or so?" Iron asked before smirking, "We can work with that."

"But we can't get near him with that eye-patch showing him everything that's gonna happen," Tidal growled, "Tan molesto."

"I don't think he can see everything that's gonna happen," Fluttershy chimed in, only for Muerojo to call out to them.

"Get out here and face your end like stallions! Or are the Royal Knights this cowardly?" They heard him chuckling, "I wonder if your father was this much of a coward? I remember many ponies I've killed who spent their final moments groveling in fear and pleading for their lives." Tidal's body began to shake, "I bet he was just as weak and pathetic."

Tidal's hooves began to move, only for Iron to grab him and hold him in place. "Calm down."

"But-"

"Calm. Down." Iron hissed, tensing his grip on Tidal, "You can't beat him if you fight in a rage. He'll predict everything you try."

"He's right," Fluttershy nodded, "We need to get that eye-patch off him. And I know how."

Back at the Mighty Leviathan...

Tidal's crew continued to fend off the pirates, the pirate's simple way of fighting being no match for years of military training. Though a few sailors got hurt, almost all the losing ponies were Muerojo's crew. Many were now knocked out or thrown overboard, while others chose to retreat and regroup back on the pirate ship.

But as Tidal's first mate threw another pony off the side of the ship, he turned to the pirate ship and frowned before remembering Tidal's instructions. "Sink it if you can. Do not give them the opportunity to flee." He went over to the wheel and spun it around, causing the Mighty Leviathan to pull away from the pirate ship.

Once they were a good distance away and the last of the pirates were knocked out or thrown overboard, he spun the ship back around so the sea-monster head was pointing towards its side. "Activate Might Leviathan's Mega Buster!" The figure head's mouth opened up as a large cannon folded out of it and began to let out a whirling sound, the cannon's front beginning to glow. The sailor pointed his sword as the opposing ship, as he called out, "Fire Mighty Leviathan's Mega Buster!"

With that, the cannon unleashed a powerful beam of energy. It struck the pirate ship, ripping through it like it was made out of tissue paper. The ship's old hull was ripped apart and exploded, sending the remaining ponies on board flying into the air before they crashed into the water.

Tidal's crew cheered as they watched the ship sink beneath the waves, then looked over the edge at the ponies trying to swim to their ship. Their weapons had all been lost, sunk to the bottom of the ocean as they did their best to stay floating above it.

The sailors smirked at this, "You may come aboard, but only if you surrender. It's either that...or be forever marooned on that volcano you call a hideout." The pirates all frowned at this, only to sigh and one by one surrender. The sailors smiled as they began to lift their captives up on deck, some also looking back at the island.

"Captain..." Tidal's first mate whispered, "Please be careful."

Muerojo was tapping his hoof, sighing until he saw Tidal step out from around the gems. "It's about time." He then saw Iron walk out from the other direction. "So, finally decided to accept your death like a couple of stallions?"

"No," Tidal replied, "We're taking you down, one way or another." Iron nodded and slammed his spear into the ground.

"Armorize!" In a flash, Iron's Celestic Gear morphed into the armored suit and he charged along with Tidal. "Iron Lance Fury!" The spikes on his shoulders began to fire out projectiles, Muerojo spinning his sword as he deflected every blade. But as the blades fell, Tidal thrust his trident at the pirate.

"Who cares if you can see the future?!" Tidal roared as Muerojo side-stepped him, "There's only so much you can react too!" Iron stabbed his blade-tipped tail into the ground and seconds later, blades shot out of several nearby gem piles. But Muerojo leapt into the air, dodging each one. "Tidal Force!" The unicorn yelled as he launched a blast of water, hitting the ground and dampening it.

Muerojo landed at this, now feeling himself about to trip on the slippery rocks, the pegasus taking to the air again as Iron continued to fire spikes at him. But he easily dodged each one, slowly going higher...just as Fluttershy appeared on a ledge right behind him.

Minutes ago...

"He can only see danger?" Iron asked, his girlfriend nodding.

"Don't you remember? He slipped on the ground before. If he saw that coming, wouldn't he have stopped himself?" They nodded back, "I think the eye-patch only lets him see immanent threats. Things that could hurt him."

"But...we can't just attack him and not intend to hurt him." Iron replied, "If that patch lets him see us even trying to scratch him, it won't do us any good."

"You said you had an idea to win this fight," Tidal added.

"I do," Fluttershy nodded again, "I just need you to distract him. Catch his attention while I get into place behind him, then keep him focused on you without attempting to hurt him. If you do that, he won't be able to see into the future and be too distracted to see me coming."

The stallions both frowned, Iron then saying, "I don't know about this."

"Agreed. You'd be taking a big risk."

"I know," Fluttershy responded before taking a deep breath, "But we've come too far to be stopped now. We have to beat him and stop him from hurting anypony else." The stallions shared a glance, then nodded. "Tidal," he turned back to her, "This won't work if you start attacking him wildly like before."

"She's right," Iron added, "I know you're angry, but you can't let that anger control you. You'll get your revenge, but you can't let your desire for it cloud your mind."

Tidal grimaced at the two, only to sigh, "Alright. I'll...try and stay calm. But...please hurry." He glared at the gem pile, "Just looking at him makes me furious!"

"It's time," Iron told Tidal, "Remember, you gotta stay calm."

"I know," Tidal nodded before pointing his trident at Muerojo and firing several water blasts. But Muerojo simply smiled and stood still, the water blasts shooting past him without even leaving a scratch.

"Seriously?! Were you even aiming that time?" He pointed his crossbow and fired, Iron quickly jumping in front of Tidal and making a shield on his tail that blocked the attack. He then swung the tail, unleashing a spinning disk of metal in the pirate's direction. But the disk fell short and hit the ground in front of Muerojo. "Pathetic!" He laughed, "It's like you're not even trying to hit me!" He pointed his cutlass at Tidal, "No wonder your father died so easily! If this is the best his son could come up with, it's a good thing I squashed him out of existence!"

Tidal's eyes shrunk at this, his hooves shaking as they gripped his weapon. But as this happened, Muerojo let out another laugh, "Don't you realize all your efforts are nothing but a waste of time?!" He fired his crossbow again, the stallions leaping back, "As long as I have this eye-patch...nothing can stop me!"

But as he exclaimed this, he saw the smiles to two were now wearing. "Our thoughts exactly," Iron replied, Muerojo raising an eyebrow at this. And before he could ask what he meant, he suddenly felt something grab the sides of his eye-patch and pull.

To his shock as he tried to glance over at the patch, he saw the yellow pegasus mare from before suddenly grow as she pulled on the eye-patch. "What?!" He tried to slash at her, but she pulled away as the strap of his eye-patch ripped apart, taking the golden artifact away. "NOOOOO!" His left eye was revealed to the whole world, everypony seeing the eye was closed with no fur around it. Instead, there was just a white patch of skin that looked like it had been damaged by a fire long ago.

He lifted his crossbow and prepared to fire, only to suddenly feel something hard slam into the side of his face. "AUGH!" He cried as he was knocked into the wall, only to fall off it and into one of the treasure piles. "BLUGH!" His one working eye rolled as he tried to get up, only to see that it had been Iron that had punched him before he could attack Fluttershy. "How?" He asked, "How is this possible?! I should have seen-"

"Without that eye-patch, you can't see jack!" Iron growled while Tidal walked up to him.

As he moved closer, Tidal could see a look of absolute terror on the pony's face. "Not so confident without your precious fashion statement, are you?" He raised his trident as Muerojo staggered to his hooves. His crossbow had been knocked away, but he still had his sword and pointed it at Tidal.

"Stay away from me!" he whimpered, only for Tidal to thrust his trident, stabbing the pirate's shoulder, "Augh!" He cried before Tidal spun his weapon and knocked the sword flying out of Muerojo's hooves. Tidal spun himself around next, smacking the pirate with the blunt end of his weapon, knocking the pirate flying into a gem pile.

And as Muerojo tried to get out of the pile, Tidal slashed at him with his weapon, creating a trio of scar's in the pegasi's coat, "Aaaah!"

"You're pathetic," Tidal growled, "You act tough when you can see what's coming, but make the future unknown to you and you turn into a crying foal!" Muerojo grabbed a chest of bits and threw it at him, but he fired a blast of water that knocked it away. "To think my father was killed by such a weak pony."

Muerojo's one eye went wide at this, only to let out a yell, "I'm...NOT WEAK!" He pushed himself up and leapt at the knight, only for Tidal to simply fire a blast of water at him. "Gyah!" He gargled as the water drenched him, throwing him into his throne in the back of the room.

He continued to remain pinned to the seat as the water continued to buffet him, bruises covering his entire body as he was relentlessly smashed by the high pressure liquid. And after a full minute, Tidal relented, the water stopping as Muerojo slumped down in his chair.

But before he could attempt to even move, the tip of Tidal's trident was under his chin. He looked up at the knight, barely glaring as he muttered out, "Go on...do it. Just...get it over with." The trident's tip began to push itself in at this, every nerve in Tidal's body telling him to do it. But as he began to push it, a voice called out to him.

"Tidal!" Iron yelled, Tidal not responding as he continued, "Don't do this. Trust me, I know what you're feeling. But if you cross this line, you can't go back."

"You're a Royal Knight," Fluttershy added, "And Royal Knights do the right thing, even if they don't want to." Tidal continued to stare at Muerojo, the knight's hooves now shaking, "Think about your crew." Tidal's head shot up at this, "They look up to you because of who you are. The firm, fair and happy go lucky pony that makes the seas sound fun. If you do this, you'll never be able to look at them the same way again."

Images of all the ponies that had stood by his side race into his mind at this, the ones who had sailed into these treacherous waters for him, who had risked everything to get him this far. "You...you took everything from me once," Tidal pulled the trident away from Muerojo. "You won't do it again. I will see you face justice for what you have done." Muerojo let out a sigh of relief, only to see Tidal pull his hoof back. "But that doesn't mean I can't do this."

And with that, a hoof slammed into his face before everything went black.

The crew of the Mighty Leviathan had just finished tying up the last of the pirates and throwing them in the holding cells. There was room inside for just one more, and while they waited, the crew was busy checking the ship for damages done by either the attack or their insane voyage there. Luckily, the ship had only taken a few scratches from its trouble. And as the first mate continued to watch the shoreline, he smiled as he spotted a flash of light through his telescope.

When it faded, Tidal, Iron and Fluttershy were on the shore with an unconscious pony over Iron's back. When his captain saw the ship's location, another flash occurred. "Captain on deck!" The sailors all stood to attention as the light appeared and the four ponies materialized. Tidal smiled at them and nodded while Iron threw the unconscious pony to the floor.

"Lock him up."

"Aye captain!" The sailors replied before using some rope to tie up the pirate and took him down to the brig.

Once Muerojo disappeared below deck, Tidal turned to his first mate, "Did anypony get hurt during the battle?"

"A few bumps, bruises and a dislocated wing, but nothing permanent." Tidal nodded back, only for the sailor to add, "But we're not out of the woods yet," he gestured to the thicker section of cloud, "We still have to get back out of these seas, and we barely managed to make it through the first time."

"Don't worry. We managed to get our hooves on something that'll make our journey más fácil." He held up the eye-patch Muerojo had been wearing, the crew all raising an eyebrow at this.

As the sun began to set on the horizon, the Mighty Leviathan sailed out of the dense cloud of fog. At the helm, Tidal was wearing the eye-patch, allowing him to easily sail through the Seas of Doom without incident, arriving at the exit in no time at all. And as they cleared the fog, Tidal took it off as his crew cheered.

As he did this, Fluttershy and Iron walked up to him. "Hey...you feeling okay?" Fluttershy asked, Tidal turning to her with a raised eyebrow.

"She means has bringing that monster in finally made you feel better?" Iron added, Fluttershy nodding as Tidal turned back to the open ocean. He stared at the endless sea, only to nod.

"Si. It does feel good not to have that nagging sensation in my heart anymore." He spun the wheel at this, "My entire life since the day he sank my father's ship, I've...I've hated the fact the one responsible was still out there. But now...I can rest peacefully." He looked down at his crew, all showing smiles as they worked before turning to the duo, "And I'm thankful. Thankful that nopony got hurt in my quest to take him down...and thankful to you, who helped me realize I didn't want vengeance. I wanted justice."

The ponies both smiled before hearing a familiar sound, turning to see a light coming from behind them. They saw their cutie marks now glowing, signaling that they had completed their mission. "Awesome," Iron chuckled.

Fluttershy nodded in agreement, "We were right. Our mission was to save Tidal from making a mistake he would have regretted. One which could have ruined his friendship with his crew."

"Well, I'm glad the map sent you." Tidal laughed, "Such a strange thing to say..." He then saw Equestria coming into view. "What's say I treat you both to dinner at the best restaurant in Manehatten when we get back?" Iron and Fluttershy both happily accepted, only for Iron to go to the side and throw up. Zecora's medicine had run out, making Tidal chuckle as Fluttershy walked over and patted Iron's back.

"I still hate boats..." Iron moaned.

"Don't worry Iron. We'll get to Manehatten soon." Fluttershy said as she rubbed his back.

They were glad they had came. Not only were they able to help Tidal make the right choice, they also helped him get closure on a terrible history he had. Now it was homeward bound, where no doubt another incredible adventure was awaiting them. But only time would tell what that adventure was.

Birthday Battle Blitz

View Online

A very familiar darkly lit lab was once again in full use, the scientific mad-pony known as Void now staring at a computer. On it was video footage of Flash, Springer, Twilight and all the other ponies that had done battle against his previous creations. The footage on Flash came to a stop and words appeared on the screen.

Battle Data 91%

It then showed an image of Springer before new words appeared.

Battle Data 84%

This continued, Void staring as more and more files appeared. "It's not enough," he told himself as he leaned back in a curved chair, twiddling his hooves, "My mistake was having my creations go in blind. If they are to capture him, they must know everything. There must be no surprises." He let out several coughs as he spun the chair around, "But am I too late?" He glanced back at the computer again, seeing Flurry Heart appear on the screen, "After all, even a wild card like that has appeared in front of my creations just before I was about to win." He coughed one more time before typing away on the computer.

Uploading battle data

A bar appeared on the screen, Void staring at it before spinning around in his chair. He turned to stare at a capsule as it filled with light and smoke. "Your task is simple. Find the one I'm after and attempt to defeat them and claim what is mine. But along the way, you will also acquire battle data for him and all those that could help him. I want to know everything, even the smallest fighting detail." He coughed again as the bar completely filled and the capsule opened up, unleashing the gas and the figure hidden within it...along with a pair of red lights.

Several weeks later...

In the town of Ponyville, Pinkie was joyfully bouncing around, her saddlebag strapped on tight as the bag was overloaded with equipment needed to complete her task back at Sugarcube Corner. She smiled as she spotted Wild walking out of the post office, a box in his magic. She sneaked up behind him and was ready to leap on his back, but when she did, he jumped to the side. "Hey!" She yelped as she missed before leaping back onto her hooves, Wild laughing in return. "No fair! Your little buddies tipped you off!"

"They sure did," Wild chuckled as his puppets flew down from above.

"Sure did. Sure did."

Pinkie let out a giggle before stretching her head over to the box he was holding, "Oh? Is that for you know who?"

"You know it." Wild replied, "Lightning's gonna love this. Gonna be the best birthday he's ever had." Pinkie nodded before they started making their way back to Sugarcube Corner, the pair arriving and stopping right at the doorway. They both glanced around several times to see nopony was in view, Pinkie then reaching over and sliding a piece of the wall open to reveal a string that she tugged.

Seconds later, the floor beneath them vanished and they both began to fall into a pair of tubes before the floor reappeared. Flying through them, the ponies enjoyed the ride until they were shot out and landed in a pair of chairs inside the Party Cave. Once properly seated, the tubes retracted and the seats rolled along the ground until it reached a section of the cave with a large board on it. The board had multiple things attached to it, including a map in the center with sticky notes surrounding it that had stings going from the notes to the maps. The map itself showed a green area surrounded by trees.

"Alright," Pinkie pulled out a laser pointer and pointed it at the map, "Operation Birthday Blitz is looking to run smoothly. The party will begin at eleven hundred hours." She pointed to a sticky note connected by a string to a spot next to an area without trees, "The guests will arrive here and place any gifts they brought on a table over here." She pointed to another sticky note that had a string connecting it to an area of the map opposite to the first. "The food will be placed there so ponies don't block the entrance and gift table while looking for something to eat."

"Just need to double check the list of food to make sure it's everything Lightning enjoys." Wild grabbed a scroll in his magic and looked it over, "Hmm hm, hmm hm, hmm hm. Yup. Looks like everything we need to make this party awesome has been taken care of."

"Yup," Pinkie giggled as Gummy appeared and crawled up to her lap. "We have Vinyl with a list of all Lightning's favorite songs, a designated dance area for ponies to get their groove on, and even a bouncy castle area for the younger ponies to enjoy."

"Are we sure little ponies are gonna come to this?" Wild asked, "I didn't think Lightning has made many friends with short-stacks."

Pinkie nodded and took out a guest list. "Got a bunch of young pony's names right here. The invite replies said Lightning helped save a really fun party, so they wanna come celebrate with him." Wild nodded before taking the guest list and looking through it, smiling when he saw almost everypony from Ponyville was gonna be there. His smile then increased when he spotted Gorgenia on the list, the mare planning to travel from the Crystal Empire and stay for a few days.

However, this grin vanished when he saw two of the first few names on the list. Had they not been right next to one another, his frown wouldn't have appeared. "Solid Script and Grand Hoof."

"Hmm?" Pinkie tilted her head at this, "What's the problem. Script's his best friend and Grand's his grandpa, of course he'd want them...oh." Her mane started to deflate, "I hope those two don't cause a scene."

"I don't expect Grand to try and cause something, but it's Script I'm worried about." Wild sighed as he said those words, remembering that even though the two had just actually worked together to help save Lightning when he was under evil dragonic control, Script's resentment to Grand over what had happened in their past was still a hot button issue.

"You really think he'd risk ruining Lightning's party because he doesn't like Grand?"

"No way." Wild replied, "Out of all of us, Solid Script respects Lightning the most. He'd do anything for him. I just..."

"Think he might do it by accident?"

"Yeah. If a bad situation just happens to pop up and makes him mad...I just hope he doesn't cause a scene."

"So...do you think we can do anything about it?" Pinkie asked, "I mean, it's not like we can un-invite them. Lightning would be super bummed if they weren't there. And we both know what happened the last time two ponies tried to fix them."

"No kidding." Wild gave the scroll back to Pinkie, "I'll talk to Script when he gets here tomorrow. Try and get him to keep calm...and stay away from Grand."

"Good," Pinkie nodded before turning back to the board. "Alright, let's get back to work on making sure the party goes smoothly." She pointed at the entrance to the area, which had another piece of string connecting it to a sticky note. "Soul promised to do a banner, so that shouldn't be an issue..."

Meanwhile...

At the castle of friendship, Soul was in the main entry way with a large tarp covering the floor, which she was painting on. Flash, Twilight, Heart and Scootaloo trotted into the room, smiling when they saw the filly hard at work. "Hey," Twilight caught her attention, "How's the banner coming along?"

"See for yourself," Soul rubbed her forehead, getting some yellow paint on her fur while the others flew up. Flash was carrying Scootaloo and the group looked down to see the words 'Happy Birthday Lightning Blitz' written in a way that made them look like a bunch of lightning bolts. Happy and half of birthday were colored yellow, the rest still empty. Between the first two words and Lightning's name, the pony's cutie mark had been drawn, and the words and mark had been done so well that they fit on the banner perfectly.

"Awesome," Heart commented as he flew down.

"Still gotta ways to go," she started coloring in an H while Heart turned to Flash and Twilight.

"So what did you two get him for his birthday?" He got his answer when Twilight magicked up a large book, Heart rolling his eyes until he saw it was a book on different fighting styles that involve electrical based powers.

"He probably already knows a few of these, but I'm sure he'll find one new style he'd enjoy learning."

"Cool. Tomorrow's gonna be awesome!" The others nodded as Heart let out a sigh. "Kinda makes me wish it was my birthday." Everypony rolled their eyes at this, though they all knew that would be hard since they didn't know Heart and Soul's birthday. They had all come to the agreement of making the day they arrived in Ponyville count as their birthday, since it was the day they started a new life.

And as Soul continued working on her banner, she glanced up and asked, "Say, I wonder what Rarity's gonna do for Lightning's birthday." They all exchanged glances before shrugging, only knowing that Rarity would probably do something overly fancy.

The hours soon passed and Soul finished the banner, Twilight using magic to dry it before teleporting it over to Pinkie so she would have it ready for tomorrow. And as night came to the town and everypony went to bed, a certain figure appeared. It was on the other side of the Everfree Forest, having just passed by Ghastly Gorge, the cloaked figure now calmly trotting toward the trees. By this time tomorrow, it would be in Ponyville, and its target would be in sight.

However, before they could reach the trees, something shot out of a nearby hole. A giant eel, which seemed to have chosen to make its home outside the gorge. It appeared and glared down at its prey before striking with a loud hiss. But instead of getting to snack on pony meat, it got a mouth full of rock and dirt. The pony was holding up a hoof, which had metal covering it with a hole in the center, dirt having been blasted out of that and into the creature's mouth. The beast roared as it pulled back, trying to cough out the dirt it had swallowed. And as it did, the pony walked off, soon out of the eel's reach before entering the forest. Nothing would distract it from its task.

The next morning...

At Carousal Boutique, Lightning was asleep in Rarity's bed. The unicorn was happily snoring away as the door opened and Sweetie's head popped in to see him in his current state. She smiled before turning to the nearby window and used her magic to slowly open the curtains until the sunlight hit Lightning's face.

The unicorn winced, his eyes slowly opening as Sweetie pulled her head out of the room. He lifted his head at this, letting out a yawn before rolling onto his back and stretching. He was about to get out of bed, but then the door opened again. "Happy birthday!" He heard three voices call out, making him turn to see Rarity, Sweetie and Grand walking into the bedroom. Rarity was carrying a tray in her magic, Grand and Sweetie each carrying a wrapped box.

"Morning," he replied before Rarity placed the tray down on his lap. His nose twitched as he stared at it, seeing a bunch of red pancakes and waffles. "Are those what I think they are?"

"Your mother's secret recipe," Rarity giggled, "Grand told me she used to make it for you on your birthday."

Lightning went wide-eyed at this, only for Grand to speak up. "I gave her your mother's recipe book. Been holding onto it for just the right occasion." Lightning smiled at this and was about to dig in, only for Sweetie to place her box on the bed next to him.

"Here, open it! Apple Bloom and Scootaloo helped make it." Lightning stared at the food for a second before quickly ripping the wrapping paper off, revealing a box. Inside, he found a large picture frame that was divided into sections with a different photo in each one. Lightning and Rarity were in the middle, with Grand and his grandmother Live Wire above it. Below the first one was a picture of Sweetie along with her and Rarity's parents. Then, the center left and right pictures were Lightning's mother, one with her holding him as a foal and the other when he was colt with her. Finally, the remaining slots were mostly of them, minus Live Wire and his mother, together doing different activities.

"Wow...this is great." He turned to see Sweetie smiling.

"I know you don't have the best family history. But...you're kinda like a part of our family now." Rarity patted Sweetie on the head while Grand just chuckled.

"Thank you." Lightning said, Sweetie nodding back as the defender carefully put the frame down on the bedside table.

Grand then placed his present on the bed. "Here kiddo. Thought you might want this. Your grandmother would probably want you to have it too." Lightning raised an eyebrow at this, but opened the box to find a familiar looking clock he remembered seeing when he visited his grandparent's house as a colt.

He remembered back to a story Grand had told him, how his grandmother had built this cuckoo clock out of the remains of a grandfather clock she couldn't fully repair. "Wow..." he whispered before smiling at Grand, "Thanks gramps."

"No problem," Grand chuckled before Rarity took the clock and looked it over. It was made of reddish wood that had several patterns carved into it and when the clock struck the hour, the doors atop it opened and a wooden bird flew out and chirped.

"It's beautiful," she commented before putting the clock down and turning to Lightning. "Happy birthday darling. Don't worry, I have a special present I'm going give you later." Lightning raised an eyebrow at this, but smirked as he had an idea what she was talking about. "Now eat your breakfast before it gets cold."

"Yes ma'am," he replied before pulling the tray towards him and enjoying the red colored foods. Something told him today was gonna be a really good day.

Ponyville Train Station...

The express running from the Crystal Empire to Las Pegasus had just pulled into the station, having already stopped off at Canterlot, and it had now came to a stop. It unleashed a burst of smoke that filled the station, two ponies walking out of the train. Gorgenia and Solid Script both smiled as they stared at the town, happy to be there to celebrate their friend's birthday.

Both were carrying presents in their magic as they pulled their luggage across the platform, only for Wild Smile to appear, "Hey!" He yelled as his puppets repeated the greeting, "What's up!"

"Wild!" Gorgenia pulled him into a hug, "It's so good to see you."

"Same girl!"

She pulled away, "So how's life in this quaint little town?" Her smile turned into a smirk and nudged him, "Are you and miss Pie doing okay?"

"Good and brilliant," he answered, "She's sorry she couldn't be here, but she had to start setting everything up for Lightning's party." They nodded back, "Say, why don't we take your stuff to my place, then we can head over to the park."

"Of course," Script nodded. "That'll give us a chance to catch up with Lightning. I assume he wouldn't be on patrol on his birthday."

"You know it," Wild replied with the puppets repeating. "But he won't be at my place." They started trotting through the town towards his apartment. "Lately he's been spending more and more time over at Rarity's place."

Gorgenia giggled at this. "Who'd have thought Lightning would actually have a stable relationship." She suddenly had a dreamy look on her face, the other two recognizing it as her thinking back to the good old days. "Back in Canterlot, he'd never even bother to remember a mare's face that he had been with, let alone her address. He's certainly come a long way."

"We all have," Script added, "As much as the Battle of Canterlot will be something we're all ashamed of, it also opened the door for us to improve ourselves. And we have." Wild and Gorgenia nodded, Script smiling before continuing. "So why don't we head to Rarity's place and catch up with Lightning? We can always teleport our stuff to Wild's when we get there."

Wild grimaced at this, glancing away, "Uh...it may be best to wait until the party to see him."

"Why?" Script asked with a raised eyebrow, only to see Wild keep looking away, "Wild..."

"Augh!" he groaned before letting out a huff, "Fine. Grand's over there." Script went wide-eyed before glaring at Wild, the unicorn responding with his own glare, "Don't go getting all huffy about it. Lighting's his grandson, so of course he's gonna be over there with him!"

"Then why are you hiding it from me?!" Script barked back.

"You know why!" Wild countered, "I just...don't want your issues with Grand ruin Lightning's day."

"I'm not gonna ruin today!" Script growled, "You know I'd do anything for Lightning, and I would never ruin his day. Heck, if anypony will ruin this day, its-"

"That's enough Script," Gorgenia interrupted, "I don't wanna spend the day hearing you complain about Grand every second." Script turned to glare at her, but she leaned down and narrowed her eyes at his, "Just for today, try and pretend you don't hate him. It'll be a big party with lots of ponies there, so you two should be able to avoid each other."

"I can handle it."

"Script..." Gorgenia started.

Script glanced away and sighed, "I know." He looked back at them, his glare gone, "I'm sorry. I promise to behave."

Wild and Gorgenia shared a glance before nodding. And as they made their way to Wild's place, the cloaked pony was now walking to the edge of the Everfree Forest. It had walked all night through the woods, taking down any dangerous beast that tried to attack it. The red lights under its hood scanned everything within sight, including the castle that it began to walk towards.

Flash, Twilight, Springer, Spike, Scootaloo, Heart, Soul and Starlight had all left home early to help prepare for the party, soon arriving at the park to see Pinkie in one of the trees tying up the banner. "Hey everypony!" She exclaimed before rolling off the branch and falling a good twenty feet before hitting the ground, her body bouncing off the ground like a rubber ball before landing on her hooves. "Great Banner Soul!"

"Thanks! Glad to be of help." Soul replied before they turned to see a long table to their right, an area of the grass that was covered in metal for the ponies to dance on next to the music section, and another long table opposite of them and the bouncy castle.

"This is gonna be awesome!" Heart cheered as Pinkie nodded.

"Wanna help me bring the food over?" They nodded back before the Twilight, Flash and Pinkie teleported away, returning a minute later with several platters of food and multiple bowls of drink. It took three more trips to get everything, but eventually the snack table was all set up. It was here that Iron and the rest of the Mane Seven, minus Rarity, arrived followed by the cakes, Lyra and Bon Bon and so on. The present table slowly filled up as more and more ponies appeared before Flash saw Wild and the others walk up.

"Hey!" he waved, "Glad you two could make it."

"Like we'd miss this," Gorgenia replied before she, Wild and Script placed their presents on the table. "So where's Lightning?"

"Yes," Script nodded, "I'd very much like to be one of the first to wish him a happy birthday."

"I think he'll be the last on to arrive," Flash responded, "Pinkie likes to get all the guests in one place before the pony of honor arrives. She thinks its better to have everypony wish him a happy birthday together."

At the castle, the cloaked figure stood outside the giant building and looked up at it. It slowly went to push the doors open, only to find them to be locked. A whirling noise then filled the air, its vision turning to that of an X-ray and energy scanning mode. And while it could detect trace elements of its target's power, the actual target was nowhere close. Figuring nopony was home, the cloaked pony turned back to the town, only to see it was completely deserted. There wasn't a single pony on the street.

The cloaked figure trotted down to the village, scanning for any life, only to hear voices, "Come on!" It leapt behind a building and poked its head out to see four ponies, three it recognized from its battle data as Lightning, Rarity and Grand. It did not recognize Sweetie Belle, only to see she was the one talking, "How is it that I'm the one with the shortest legs but I'm moving faster than you?"

"Now, now Sweetie," Rarity told her sister, "The party's not going anywhere."

"But the sooner we get there, the more time we get to enjoy it!" The filly raced off and the other ponies all laughed before picking up the pace. The cloaked figure watched them leave and after a few seconds, received orders from the one who had created them.

"Follow them. They may lead you to your target."

Lightning smiled when he saw the banner, the four now walking into the tree surrounded field. As soon as he stepped into it, he was greeted by a rather amazing sound, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" Almost everypony in town yelled, seconds before Vinyl Scratch started playing his favorite song.

"Hope you enjoy your party!" Pinkie added as she appeared next to him and placed a party hat on his head, the others soon getting their own hats. Lightning continued to smile, that smile growing stronger when he saw Script and Gorgenia trotting over to him.

"I think I'll go talk to Flash or something," Grand whispered as he trotted off as Script arrived first.

"Script!" He called out before the two unicorns hugged, "It's good to see you."

"Same here," Script replied while Rarity and Gorgenia hugged and did the usual cheek kiss thing. "Happy birthday my friend."

"Thanks. I get the feeling this is gonna be the best birthday ever." Script nodded, though Lightning had a feeling he would have preferred if it was just them, Wild and Gorgenia, like in the old days. They then moved over to the snack table, grabbing their favorite foods, some of the younger ponies moving over to the bouncy castle while other ponies went to dance.

Everypony began to have a great time, talking, dancing and playing around to their heart's content. And after an hour had passed, Script went over to grab another cup of punch before looking over to Lightning, only to glare as he saw Grand and Springer were standing by him, all laughing.

"Problem?" He turned to the voice, now seeing a certain purple alicorn.

"There's no problem," he muttered before chugging his drink.

"Right...so the fact that Grand is talking to Lightning isn't upsetting you?"

Script let out a growl, "He gets to talk to Lightning every single day. This is one of the few times I can catch up with him, but Grand gets in the way...again."

Twilight shook her head at this, "You know, there's nothing stopping you from going over there." Script's eyes slowly drifted to her, but there was no glare. He knew he would glare at her as she added, "Script...I know what happened here last time, and I'm sorry for what my student did...but Starlight was right. You should get over your issues with Grand."

Script glanced away, "Its not that simple. He bullied me for years and now he expects I'll just get over it."

Twilight raised an eyebrow at this, "Script...if we're able to forgive you and Lightning for almost destroying Canterlot, then you should be able to forgive Grand. He knows he made a mistake, but he can't make up for it unless you let him."

"It wasn't a mistake." Script almost snapped back, his eyes not going back to the alicorn. "He intentionally did it for years. He's just a bully that ruined my best friend's life." He then glared back at Grand, "I know what he really is."

Twilight felt her ears flop down, letting out a sigh, "I think the only pony here who doesn't know the real him is you." She then walked away, Script turning to her fleeing figure before grumbling.

Script turned away a second later, throwing away the cup of punch, "Blast it all...only you could make me guilty Twilight."

"So, any idea what party games Pinkie's gonna have planned?" Springer asked, the others shrugging.

"Whatever they are, I bet they'll be awesome," Flash added.

"Yeah," Lightning nodded. "This has already been one of the best birthdays, so anything else that's even remotely fun is gonna be great."

They all smiled at this, only for Springer's ears to flare up. A new aura that was similar to one already there had appeared, but something was missing. It was a very familiar sensation, causing a shiver to go down his spine and make him turn to see a cloaked figure standing off to the side. "Flash..." he gulped as he pulled on Flash's mane. The pegasus glanced at him, then followed his sight-line to see the cloaked figure. His eyes went wide and he quickly opened his mental connection to Springer.

"Is that what I think it is?"

"It feels like it," Springer replied as the cloaked figure slowly began to walk up, Springer opening the link to the rest of their friends in response, "Heads up ponies." Everypony's ears twitched at this, "We've got a problem. Another Trial's shown up." Their eyes went wide hearing this.

"Are you sure?" Twilight asked, but then she spotted the cloaked figure. "I see it."

"Seriously?!" Lightning mentally yelped, "Couldn't this thing have shown up tomorrow?!"

"What do we do?!" Soul added.

"I'll lead it away," Flash replied, "It's me it's after, so I'll let you all get everypony else to safety." They mentally nodded and let Flash calmly walk off. They continued to keep their eye on the cloaked pony and as Flash opened his wings began to hover, slowly moving to the edge of the clearing.

The others didn't even acknowledge the cloaked pony's existence, fearing it would attack once discovered. And as it got out of range, Twilight frowned at the sight, "I don't like this. Something's different about this situation."

Those closest turned to her, Iron asking, "What do you mean?"

"Normally, when a Trial sees Flash, it instantly goes on the attack. But this time, its just...standing there. Why?"

The others shared a glance, only for Grand to chime in, "We'll worry about that later. Right now, we need to focus on getting everypony here to safety." They nodded, Script rolling his eyes. "Springer, you go with everypony else. If things get out of hoof, you can protect them with your Aura Guard. Iron, Lightning and I will go help Flash." They all nodded, with even Heart not asking to come help.

"I'm coming too," Script spoke up, "I might be able to trap it in a rune barrier. That way we can stop it without needing to destroy it. Studying this thing might give us a clue about where these things are coming from." Lightning turned to Grand, who nodded.

"Fine." Lightning glared at Script, "Keep yourself safe, alright?"

"I'll be fine." Script replied.

"Let's go everypony." Grand added, the four going the direction Flash had gone, all hoping he hadn't done anything stupid.

Flash arrived at an area of the park that was completely abandoned, just barely enough away from everypony else. He came to a stop, the sounds of heavy hoof-steps appearing behind him. "So...who is it this time? Iron? Cold? First? Or did your makers decide to be original for once and not pick a Royal Knight?" He spun around at this, only to see something rip out the back of the figure's cloak. Two robotic arms came out of the back, both made up of three thin metal poles connected by a round metal orb the size of a baseball. On the end of the last pole was another orb, though it looked slightly smaller. The arms whirled around, the pole moving arms around the orbs to give them impressive movement. Flash watched as it reached down and managed to hook the cloak before ripping it off the pony, revealing the form beneath.

It was Grand, but like the others, it was a twisted version of him. With paler fur, mane and tail, along with the cybernetic components covering his mouth, the front of his neck and chest. It had metal hooves and a metal band around its waist, which was where the metal arms we coming from by sliding all the way around the band.

"Ooookay." Flash deadpanned as he took out his sword, "So not original, but I didn't guess Grand. We'll call it even. At least this shouldn't be too hard." He got into a battle stance. "Sorry bud, but you're out of luck. I know Grand's moves as well as he does. There ain't a thing you can do to surprise me." The clone's robotic arms slammed into the ground at this and pulled them back, only for the orbs on the edges to be completely surrounded by rock. "Huh. That's a new one."

The clone charged and swung the boulder-tipped arms, Flash raising his sword and slashing at the first rock. It shattered upon impact, but then the cyborg swung the other rock, only for Flash to enter Theta Mode and dodge the punch. As this happened, Grand and the others arrived on the scene.

"Whoa!" Iron gasped, "It's Grand!"

"Trial-G," Lightning dubbed him.

"Oh, this is gonna be fun." Script added as his horn glowed and fired off a blast of magic that struck the boulder on the tip of Trial-G's arm, runes appearing on it that glowed seconds before exploding. The clone hissed as it was knocked staggering back. Script's horn sparked at this, but Grand held his hammer up in front of him.

"Don't forget what you said. You said you'll catch this thing in one of your rune barriers." Script glared at him at this, only for Grand to continue, "Get to work. We'll hold if off whilst you do so." He charged before Script could argue, Iron and Lightning following after him.

"Don't give me...raugh!" Script hissed before using his magic on the ground, slowly forming the runes. While he did this, the Trial slammed his metal arms into the ground and pulled out two more rocks, these looking like a hammer and a drill shape. The drill covered arm began to spin at this, thrusting at Flash as he ducked under it, the drill hitting and shredding a tree.

"Hang on Flash!" Grand roared as he swung his hammer around and the clone blocked it with his own, though the rock one shattered on impact. But before Grand could attack again, the now rock-less arm pulled back before punching the knight in the chest. "Augh!" He yelped as he was knocked back.

"Iron Saber/Electric Slice!" Lightning and Iron added as they attacked, Trial-G pulling its drill arm in front of both. The blades struck the rock, making it crumble, only for Trial-G to punch them both a second later. "Gyah/Augh!" They cried as they were knocked back as well.

"Flash Force!" The laser exploded out of Flash's crossguard, Trial-G spinning around just in time to see the attack strike the ground and explode. The clone creamed as it was sent flying back, crashing into one of the trees and breaking through it. Flash landed as the tree fell upon the clone, pinning it down, the other three running up, only for Flash to gasp as he saw the clone lift a hoof and show a hole in it. "Look out!" he yelled before high pressure blasts of dirt and sand shot out and struck the four, sending them all flying. "AAAAAAHHHHHH!"

They all soon hit the dirt rolling, allowing the clone to use its mechanical arms to grab push the tree off of it. "Alright..." Grand groaned as he sat up, "So that thing has a few more surprises than I usually got, and its based on me!" He pushed himself back to his hooves, "But we're no slouches either, right boys?" Flash, Iron and Lightning pushed themselves back up and nodded as Grand held up his hammer. "First thing's first, aim for the arms."

"GOT IT!" The three roared as they all charged, Trial-G slamming both arms into the ground before pulling them back to reveal a single large rock it was holding. "Do you have any idea how much work goes into making this park look nice?" Flash asked as he got closer, and before he could attack the clone, it smashed the rock into the ground and made it shatter before holding it up in its hooves and fired out dirt blasts. The rocks were sent flying for the four, who all started taking on a defensive stance while cutting, bashing and blasting them away. Once the last rock was gone, Lightning took every knife he had on him and threw them in all directions.

Trial-G glanced around at all the daggers surrounding it, clearly wondering how a pony's aim could be so bad. But then, Lightning appeared next to the cyborg and slammed an electrified punch into its face before vanishing and reappearing on its other side while launching an electrified kick into its chest. The others watched as Lightning slammed the Trial again and again, warping all around it at teh same time. Then he disappeared and appeared behind them as they pointed their weapons at the clone. "Flash Cutter/Iron Lance Fury/Grand Impact!" They all launched a barrage of rocks, light blades and iron spikes while the cyborg was still off balance from Lightning's barrage.

They all landed and started doing serious damage to the beast, the cyborg now thrashing and rolling into the ground. The four took a stance at this, all readying another attack as the cyborg began to pick itself up, light emanating from its chest and spreading to the rest of it.

"I think it's starting to regenerate itself," Grand commented.

"We gotta keep it on the ropes!" Flash added as he charged, only for Trial-G to slam both hands into the ground. A moment later, the entire park started violently shaking, knocking Grand, Iron and Lightning off balance as Flash leapt. "That won't work on me!" He yelled, only for the cyborg to raise its hooves and fired the dirt blasts again. "WHOA!" He yelped as he spun around to dodge the attack as the others struggled to stay up, allowing the cyborg to completely repair its damaged body.

"Damn it," Iron moaned as the shaking stopped. "If it keeps doing that, taking this thing down will be impossible."

"We're not trying to beat it," Grand chimed in, "We just need to hold it off until Script's finished with his barrier...but getting that thing to stay still could be tricky." He turned to one of Lightning's daggers, his eyes going wide as a bulb went off in his head. "I've got it."

"Got what?" Lightning asked before Grand pulled his dagger out, "What are you doing?"

"Just hold him off for a moment," he replied before running back to where Script was working.

Outside the park, Twilight and her friends were having a tough time safely evacuating the populace. Things had been going well until the sudden earthquake, which had driven them all into a panic. "Please remain calm!" Gorgenia exclaimed before needing to jump aside to avoid getting trampled.

"Everypony make your way to the castle," Twilight added, "It's the most structurally secure building in town, so it won't be effected by any earthquake."

"Why the heck did an earthquake happen anyway?" Spike asked, "Is Ponyville on some kind of fault?"

Twilight shook her head, "This Trial must have done it. Either it or Grand, but I doubt Grand would cause an earthquake to beat it." She turned back to the castle, "That's not our concern right now. What matters is getting everypony back to the castle. Let the others focus on beating that...thing." Spike nodded as they continued to direct everypony toward the crystal structure while Springer glanced back at the park.

"Darn it..." Springer whispered, "Be safe Flash."

Script was now almost done with the runes, having created a circle that was just as long as Trial-G was, meaning it would have little room to move or attempt to escape.

"Alright...that looks good. But if I want it to be fully inescapable, I should probably add a DNA lock into it." He hummed, "But how am I supposed to get that DNA? That thing's hardly gonna hold still long enough for me to get a mane or tail sample. Maybe the others managed to injure it enough to get some blood or skin." He glanced up at this, only to see Grand running up, "What do you want? I'm busy!"

"I know," Grand replied as he reached him. "Is the barrier almost done?"

Script looked back down at his work, "Almost. I'm thinking of adding a DNA lock to make sure that thing can't escape, but I need to...wait a minute-" He glanced back up at Grand with a smirk.

"What?" He asked before feeling something tug on his mane, "OW!" He yelped as several hairs were pulled out, Script chuckling.

"Perfect," he held the hairs in his magic and they quickly glowed, soon turning into an energy form that flew down into the runes and made them glow brighter. "Since that thing has your DNA, using your hairs instead of its will work perfectly. Once this thing is activated, anything with your DNA won't be able to pass through it."

"Huh," Grand responded as he rubbed his mane, "Well, if that's the case, my plan should work perfectly." Script raised an eyebrow at this as Grand took out Lightning's dagger and placed it inside the circle, then ran off. "Activate it now!" He yelled before disappearing through the trees.

"Hey!" Script yelled, only to sigh as Grand disappeared. His horn shined at this, creating a large dome inside the rune circle. "Your plan better work."

"Flash Grinder!" The pegasus knight roared as he spun into an energy wheel. The cyborg thrust its arms into the ground and pulled out a large rock, the wheel slamming into the rock. The boulder was instantly destroyed, but the clone quickly side-stepped the wheel and fired a dirt blast, "GYAH!" Flash yelped as dirt struck his side, knocking him out of the wheel.

"Iron Spikes!" Iron yelled as he thrust his spear into the ground and created a cage of metal around the beast while Lightning teleported to the point where the spikes met.

"Static Strike!" He unleashed bolts of electricity from his horn that surged into the metal and zapped the cyborg, making his grandfather's clone cry out. But despite being electrocuted, Trial-G slammed its arms into the ground and pulled out two rock hammers that it bashed into the spike bars, denting them until there was a large gap that it could jump through.

"Stop it!" Iron exclaimed as Flash charged into the cage, but Trial-G leap out before he could reach it.

"Flash Driver!" He spun into the light drill again, the clone blocking the attack as Lightning leapt from atop the cage.

"Lightning Spear!" He fired the electrical javelin at it, but the clone pushed Flash back before spinning and firing a dirt blast at the spear, dispelling it before leaping to the side, dodging Flash's drill attack.

"Dang it!" Flash growled as he fired a Flash Cutter, only for the cyborg to swat it away with a dirt blast, "Oh, come on!" They saw Trial-G raise its hooves again, ready to begin another earthquake. "We gotta stop him!"

"I got it!" Iron chimed in as his weapon began to shift into trident, "I'll-"

"Everypony, get ready!" yelled a sudden voice, making them turn to see Grand running in with his hammer. "Take this!" With all his strength, he swung the hammer into the ground, a massive fissure beginning to appear between him and the Trial. Then, the clone did exactly what Grand had been hoping for and leapt straight into the air, only for the fissure to explode and send a shockwave into the cyborg.

"Lightning!" Grand yelled as the unicorn teleported. In a flash, he appeared where Trial-G was going to land and grabbed it before teleporting away. "Yes! Come on!" Grand gestured to the others, the group running back to Script.

As they did this, Lightning appeared in the rune circle and leapt back, passing through the barrier without issue. When Trial-G tried to follow, it was blasted back with a painful zapping motion. "Did it work?" Lightning asked, as the others arrived, the group now watching it attempt again and again to escape, but nothing worked. It was finally trapped.

Over at the castle, everypony in town had retreated to the crystal structure and were now barreling through the doors. "Single file," Starlight told them. "We don't want anypony getting trampled."

Soul flew above as she called out, "If anypony's hurt, I'll happily take a look at them."

And as Springer watched as the final pony reach the castle, he turned to the town and sent out a wave of aura. After a few moments, he determined that nopony was left in the town and turned to Twilight. "I'm gonna go help the others. Hopefully, they'll be finished with this thing before I even get there."

Twilight nodded back, "Alright. Good luck!" Springer's body began to spark and glitch in response, only to take off a second later.

"Be safe Flash...those things are no joke!" Springer whispered to himself as he began zooming through town.

Script and the defenders watched as Trial-G now stopped and stared at its prison, then held up a hoof to try and pass through it. But the metal bounced off the force field, giving the cyborg a short zap, making it hiss and pull back.

"Nice," Lightning chuckled, "I don't think he's going anywhere anytime soon." The robotic arms then lifted and the ponies flinched at this, only to see the arms bounce off the barrier as well.

"Interesting," Script hummed, "I designed the barrier to prevent anything touching the captive to not go through either, but it shouldn't have had the shock reaction. Unless...its biotech."

"Bio-what?" Flash asked.

"It's technology using biological components." Script walked up to the barrier, "Hmmm...if its biotech, the mechanical parts of this creature are infused with its Grand's DNA. If that is true, the risk of rejection of runes would be high, though I didn't think this kind of magic or science was even being attempted, let along be mastered." Script shined a big grin, "Oh, the things we'll get to learn from you. This could revolutionize Equestrian technology on an almost country wide scale. Perhaps-"

"That's going to have to wait." Grand interrupted, "Right now, we need to focus on finding a way to permanently contain this thing and transport it someplace safe." Script turned to glare at him for the interruption as Grand continued, "Your runes might be working, but we can't just leave this thing in the park forever."

"And what do you suggest?" Script hissed, only to see Grand just stare at the Trial. Glancing back, he now saw the creature lift its hoof up and the area above the hole in its hoof appeared a swirling vortex of dirt. The sand slowly began clinging onto one another and forming a small rock that grew larger by the second.

"What it doing?" Iron asked as the rock grew to the size of one of Lightning's daggers and looked sharp enough to pierce metal.

"Relax," Script responded, "That rock's not gonna get through the barrier." But as he said that, the Trial pointed its arms toward the ground and slammed them down. And before anypony could realize what it was doing, the ground began to shake as it caused another earthquake.

Everypony gasped, trying their best not to fall over as Script slowly backpedaled from the dome. At that moment, he realized he had forgotten this was against a pony with earth powers, so he should have made an extra rune to block off its connection to the earth. And within seconds, the ground around the Trial began to tear and break apart...including the rune symbols.

Seeing this, the barrier instantly shattered, the sight making Script go wide-eyed. His body froze as Trial-G pointed its hoof and fired the stone bullet. And before he could react, the attack came at speeds he couldn't possibly comprehend. All he could do was blink as the stone came, ready to impale him through the chest.

Bu as he blinked, he suddenly felt a pain in his side. Two hooves had shoved him to the side, the motion just now registering in his brain as a scream rang out, "RAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"

And when the unicorn hit the ground before looking back at what had shoved him...his eyes went even wider.

"GRAND!" Flash screamed as they all saw the stone bullet embed itself into the older pony's chest. Grand staggered back at this, his behind hitting a nearby tree before sliding to his flank as blood began to trickle down from his large wound. Flash and Lightning both stared in horror at the sight, Iron feeling just as terrible before charging at the Trial.

"Raaah!" He roared as his spear turned into a two-pronged pitchfork, stabbing the machine before flinging it away. He then charged at it again, Trial-G landing with ease before using its arms to grab a nearby boulder.

And as Iron leapt at the machine, Script crawled over to Grand with still wide eyes, "Why?!" He asked, "Why did you do that?!" Grand groaned as he forced his eyes open, "You know it won't make me forgive you!"

"I...wasn't trying to earn your forgiveness," he replied, "I did it...because you were in trouble."

"What?! But...you hate me."

"I don't...hate you." Grand slowly said, "I admit, I made a mistake a long time ago. I judged and...I tried to push you away from Lightning unfairly...and I'm sorry." He leaned back so his head rested against the tree, "I've...had a long life, and done a lot of mistakes...and they've hurt me." He let out a cough, the rock bullet shifting in his chest and threatening to fall out. "But...I eventually learned that letting mistakes you or those around you made fester is pointless. All that matters, is what you chose to do to make up for those mistakes." He slowly turned to Script. "I'm...a Royal Knight. My duty is to protect anypony that needs it, even those...that hate me. If it costs me...my life, then so be it."

Script just stared at him, unable to respond. His eyes twitched as he tried to yell at him or do something...but he couldn't. His body wouldn't move. Flash and Lightning also continued to stare at their grandfather figure, fearing that such an injury was one there was no coming back from. That is, till the sound of metal on rock then caught their attention, making Lightning turn to see Trial-G block Iron's weapon turn into a hammer as it smashed a flung boulder before the cyborg fired a rock bullet that smacked Iron back.

Flash turned to the fight as well, then glanced back at Grand before hearing Lightning speak up. "Let's get him!" He growled in absolute rage.

"Right!" Flash roared before the two charged, Flash firing a Flash Cutter as Iron pushed himself back up. The cyborg dodged the light blade before throwing one of its arms forward, the orb on the end hitting Iron in the chest. But as he fell back, Flash got within range and slashed the Trial in the back. The cyborg staggered forward, only for Lightning to slash it in the side with his daggers, but the machine swung both arms at this, knocking both Lightning and Flash back.

"Blaugh!" They both cried before Iron leapt at the beast, his weapon changing into a hammer again as the Trial blocked it with both arms.

As this happened, a certain figure came flying into monster, "Steel Paw!" Springer roared as he spun through the air and slashed into the cyborg's side. It staggered back at this, sparks flying off it before regaining its balance. The creature then slammed its robotic arms into the ground and pulled them back, rock drills now adorning the ends as it charged. Springer quickly made a Bone Breaker and used it to block one of the drills while Iron used a shield to block the other. As they did this, Lightning charged and slashed two electrified daggers into the metal of Trial-G's chest.

The clone fell back and rolled along the ground before getting to its hooves, only for Flash to run past and slash at it. And as he did this, Iron stood between Lightning and Springer, using his Celestic Gear to pole vault while the others fired an electrical and Aura Blast at Trial-G. The attacks battered the cyborg as Iron fell down and slashed the front with an Iron Saber.

The clone staggered back at this, sparks appearing everywhere as Flash landed by his partner. "Let's do this! Mega Mode Power!" Springer yelled as his body shined and changed into his Mega Mode.

"Armorize!" Flash added, being consumed by light that formed his Shining Guardian armor. This made the beast push itself back up and charged, preparing to suck away the Sacred Light. But as it got close, Flash's horn glowed and he disappeared in a flash.

When the flash faded, Springer was standing in his place with an Aura Blast in paw. The clone tried to stop itself, but it couldn't slow down in time. "Aura Force!" He thrust the attack into Trial-G's chest, the orb exploding into a beam that blasted the cyborg back.

The beast roared in agony as its chest exploded in midair, causing the Corrupted Shadow within to be destroyed. It crashed into the ground and rolled for several seconds, its body now letting out puffs of smoke. As it did, Flash pulled his sword back and his wings opened up. Everypony watched as he was propelled himself and slashed his sword the same way he had against Mecha-Flash, appearing behind Trial-G in the blink of an eye with his sword pointed forward.

Trial-G began to scream in pain as its electrical systems began to overload, sparks flying off it until its entire body froze up and it began to fall over. And as it did this, its body was consumed by a massive fireball, which completely vaporized it.

The defenders didn't get the chance to celebrate their victory however, all turning to Grand. Flash and Springer dispelled their power-ups as they ran over to where he and Script were, the four gathering around him. Springer's eyes went wide at seeing this. "What happened?"

"It doesn't matter," Flash replied, "What matters is getting Grand some help."

"But how?" Iron asked, "I don't think moving him is a good idea." The others grimaced before Flash turned to Lightning, telling him to go and get Soul and any doctor that he can find. He nodded and quickly teleported away while the others turned back to Grand.

"It's gonna be okay," Flash told him mentor. "You're way too strong to let something like this take you out. You hear me, you old coot."

Grand smiled at this, the rest saying the same except Script. He just stared at the earth pony, his brain unable to respond as he kept trying to understand what had just happened.

And as this continued, a flash of light signaled the return of Lightning with several doctors, Soul, Twilight and Rarity. "Oh no," Twilight gasped, the doctors quickly moving over and helping Grand onto his back.

Soul kicked in her magic and started firing it at Grand as the doctors worked to slowly extract the rock bullet. Instead of simply yanking it out, they removed it an inch at a time so Soul's magic could heal the new open area made whenever it was moved. But it was a slow, painful, process.

By the time they were almost finished, the rest of the Mane Seven and many members of Ponyville had arrived. Script stared at all the ponies around him, all looking worried for Grand. The sight made his eyes dart around, unbelief on his face.

"He's gonna be alright, isn't he?" Heart asked Flash, who didn't respond and simply pulled the colt close as the medical team continued their work.

Soul was looking exhausted, but nodded when the lead doctor asked if she was ready for him to completely remove the rock. She nodded and after digging deep, she fired her magic at him as they pulled the bullet the last few inches out. Her magic quickly closed up the hole in his chest, which looked like it would leave a terrible scar, but Grand continued to look in pain.

The doctor got up while Soul tried to keep healing him, but her horn soon flickered out of energy and she almost collapsed until Starlight caught her. The medical specialist moved over to Flash and the others, who were all giving him the same look. "Well?" Flash asked, "What's gonna happen now?"

The doctor frowned, "It's in his hooves now. He's lost a lot of blood, and his body took a serious shock from being shot like that. If he can make it at least until tomorrow, he'll be out of the woods, but-" Grand suddenly started coughing, blood now coming out.

Flash, Lightning and Iron quickly knelt beside him. "Come on Grand," Flash said, "You heard him. By this time tomorrow, you won't have to worry about anything."

Grand flinched at this before replying, "It's...okay. I don't intend to go anywhere...but it's okay." He smiled as he looked up at the sky, "I've had a great life. It hasn't been easy, and I have a lot of regrets, but I love it. If it were to end now, I'd be okay with it."

"Well I wouldn't!" Lightning barked, Grand glancing back down at him, seeing tears go down his grandson's face, "Please...I can't lose you yet. Not after all the time we already lost because of me."

Grand reached out and wiped his tears away, "It's okay." His gaze shifted to Rarity for a moment, then to Wild and Gorgenia. "I know it'll be hard, but you've got some amazing friends who'll be there for you." Then, his gaze shifted to Script and the unicorn felt his heart stop. "Truly amazing friends."

He coughed again, more blood flying from his mouth.

"Grand!" Flash yelled, "Please...don't go." He placed a hoof on his shoulder, "We need you." Grand smiled and patted his hoof.

"Maybe, but I can't always be there of you kid. Besides, you've grown so much since I met you that I don't think there's anything more for you to learn from me." Flash shook his head, tears going down his eyes as well. But Grand just patted his hoof again, "It's okay. I'm happy so many of you are here for me. I'm proud to have called this town my home, even if it was only for a short while." His gaze shifted to all the ponies there, "Be strong. Support one another and thank you...for letting me be apart of this...of this...town."

That was his last breath before his hoof fell down, his eyes drifting closed. The ponies around him gasped, Soul running over to try and use her magic but it wouldn't activate. Flash's eyes filled with tears while Lightning looked like he was about to scream. Script's gaze shifted to the rest of the ponies around him, seeing all of them tear up, some already crying.

And with that, something in his brain broke. He quickly got up and ran over, shoving ponies to the side, "Out of my way!" He screeched, everypony flinching as he went over to Grand and flashed his horn.

"What are you doing?!" Flash yelled, only for Script's magic to strike the point of Grand's body over his heart and on his side, then he turned to Lightning.

"Charge up to a hundred and fifty joules of power." Lightning blinked at him, only for Script to scream, "DO IT!" Lightning's horn flashed as Script held up his hooves and added a rune to each, then held them up to Lightning's horn. Everypony watched as the electrical energy flew off the horn and into the rune, Script turning to Grand. "You...are not dying here today!" He exclaimed before thrusting his hooves onto the runes he had placed on Grand's body. Grand's entire body jolted, but did nothing. "Two hundred joules!" Lightning charged it up again and Script transferred the energy to his hooves.

"Script..." Lightning whispered as he saw his friend try again and again.

"Clear!" He blasted him again, but there was no reaction. "Two hundred and fifty...Clear!" The park was filled with Scripts voice, screaming again and again as he continued to jolt Grand's body in an attempt to jump start it. "Clear! Clear! Clear! CLEAR!"

Signal lost.

Void stared at the screen, his body shaking as he took several deep breaths, the sounds of his respirator filling the air. He then pressed another key and brought up the battle data. Everything on Flash, Springer, Iron and Lightning were now at one hundred percent. The sight made him chuckle, "Perfect. Exactly as planned." He began to type away at this, "With this, I have everything I need. Now to begin the counter measures."

But as he said that, another machine began to beep. He pressed a button and growled, "What?!"

A female voice spoke up, "Void, we found something we need you take a look at."

"Oh? Is it the relic you need?"

"No," the pony replied, "Not that one. But this one does seem to have some...interesting capabilities."

Void leaned back in his chair, sighing, "Let me guess: You wish for me to study it and find a way to use if for your plans?"

"Correct. Find out how it works and determine the best way to use it. From what we can tell, it has some kind of spatial and temporal distortion abilities. If we can figure out how it works, it may make things much easier."

Void raised an eyebrow at this before replying, "Very well. I will look it over and unlock its secrets." He pressed the button again before the voice could say anything else, the pony letting out a sigh before coughing. The fit grew harsher a second in, the pony clutching his chest as he struggled to stay up. He took several deep breaths, barely able to stay in his chair before his breathing came back. "Urgh..." he groaned once the coughing ended, "I need to get the Sacred Light." He staggered out of the seat, "If I don't, then I won't last much longer."

He turned to the final capsule in his lab, limping over to it and placing a hoof on the glass. "You're all I have left. If you fail, then I'll need to take much more...extreme measures." He glanced back at the computer, pressing another button as it showed the battle data, new numbers appearing on the screen. "This is a good start. Time to shift through all the data..." The screen changed to a new loading screen as he glanced back at his lab, soon cleaning up as he prepared for whatever his allies were about to bring to him to study.

Silence filled the hospital room as Lightning stared down at Grand, pure despair on his face. He could barely move, only to see something in the corner of his eyes. It was Grand, the old pony's face clenching up in pain...only for his eyes to slowly drift open.

"Uhh...." he moaned before moving his head to see his very happy looking grandson standing over him.

"Gramps!" He cried out, the smile on his being something that filled Grand's heart with joy. "You're awake!"

"Yeah...I am." he muttered out, his body trying to move before Lightning stopped him.

"Don't. You're still nowhere near one hundred percent." He pushed him back into the bed, "You gave us a serious scare back there."

"Sorry," Grand replied, "What happened? The last thing I remember, I was in the park and I could feel myself slipping away and...and..."

"You died," Lightning finished, Grand going wide-eyed at this, "You died. You stopped breathing. Your heart stopped. You were dead."

"Then...how am I...how am I alive?"

"Somepony saved you."

"Soul?" He asked, but got his answer from the doorway.

"Me." He turned to see something that made his eyes grow even wider. It was Script, the unicorn staring at him with a uncomfortable glance. They locked eyes, Script's words sinking into Grand's mind as Lightning got up.

"I'm...gonna go tell the doctors you're awake," he ran past Script, the two then staring and remaining silent for a few moments before Grand broke the silence.

"You saved me?"

Script blushed at this, "I had help, but yeah. It was...mostly me."

"Why? Don't...you hate me?"

"I guess...I guess I saved you for the same reason you saved me. I had to power to do so, and it would have been wrong if I hadn't." Grand blinked at this, only to see Script move over to the window, "And...I couldn't stand seeing Lightning and the others looking so sad. So many ponies here care about you. Almost as if you were a part of their families."

Grand tried to chuckle at this, "In a way, Ponyville is one big family. I don't know what it is about this place, but it has a way of bonding those that live here."

"Either way, the pain I could see in their eyes was too much to bear."

"I don't know how to feel about that," Grand replied as he glanced up at the ceiling, "To know that my death would affect so many ponies is...hard to put into words. It's nice to know how much they care about me, but it also hurts to know I put them through so much pain." He looked back at Script, "Something's clearly troubling you. Upset that I'm still breathing?"

"No," he shook his head, "It's just...I don't know." He turned to Grand and the pony could see both anger and sadness swelling within them. "For so long, I just...I hated you so much. After all those years of you bullying me and threatening me because of what I was and because I was Lightning's friend..." Script took a deep breath at this, "And then I researched your past. Saw what you did to Lightning. Saw what you did to your own son. You drove your family to death and criminal acts! And yet...and yet everypony else sees you as a hero! I just...I just couldn't stand it!" Script sat down in a chair and growled...only to sigh as he added, "And then...you saved me! You almost died saving me! WHY?!"

"Script..."

"I don't get it!" Script yelled, "WHY?! I just...I don't know what to think anymore! Who are you?!"

"I'm Grand Hoof," he replied, "I'm a pony that's made a lot of mistakes and hurt a lot of ponies in doing so, including you. But I learned from those mistakes and swore to never make them again." He let out a long sigh, "So in a way...you're right. The pony you once saw me as did exist. I was...a pony that hurt his family and pushed them away and...was seen as a hero when I had no right to be." Grand bit his lip at his next words, "Tell me, did Lightning ever tell you that I rejected being a Royal Knight at first?"

Script raised an eyebrow at this, "You...did? Why?"

"Because I knew I didn't deserve it. Heck, Princess Celestia had a gear made for me and I rejected it as soon as she gave it to me." Grand glanced down at his hooves, "I still think about that moment and what I should have done...but that's the past." He looked back up at Script, "I understand what I've done...and I'm sorry. I know the pain I caused you and those around me, and I pushed myself to change."

Script just stared at him, feeling his heart twist up, "So what now?"

"I can't change the past Script, and you and I both know I'm not perfect. I've made a ton of mistakes." He sighed, "But the future can be anything we want it to be." He forced himself to sit up, groaning in pain as he held out his hoof, "So please...let me try and make up for what I did, and make a better future for us and those we both care about."

Script stared at his hoof for a few moments, only to get up and shake the hoof, "Okay. I guess...everypony deserves the chance to prove they want to change." Grand smiled at this as the pair continued to shake, Script adding, "So...I guess this means...I forgive you. And sorry for how I've been."

"Its fine kiddo. We'll work it all out."

"Yeah..." Script glanced away at this as they continued to shake hooves, "Thanks for...giving me a chance."

"Of course." Grand replied before they pulled their hooves away, only for the door to open with Lightning returning with a doctor along with Flash, Twilight, Rarity and many others.

"Grand!" Flash cheered, "You're alright!"

"Apparently," Grand chuckled as the doctor began checking him over and pushing him back down, "Sorry I scared you like that."

"You had us all so worried," Rarity added.

"Celestia and Luna are on their way," Twilight continued, "They were very worried about you, and plan to be here as soon as possible." Other ponies came in and Script watched as the revolving circle of ponies came and left after making sure Grand was really okay. Seeing so many ponies happy to see Grand alive made Script not doubt his decision to help at all. And as he watched, he thought about what Grand had said about making a better future for them and those they cared for.

Taking a deep breath, Script closed his eyes and imagined all the hate and resentment he had even felt for Grand. He imagined it swirled into a ball he was holding in his hooves...and after taking one final breath, he let the ball go. Almost instantly, Script felt a pressure that he didn't know he had on his heart lessen. It was like a tight rope he didn't realize he was wearing around his neck had been loosened, allowing him to truly breathe. Lightning's birthday had started off great, and despite ending on a terrible note, a new future had just opened up for Script and Grand. One that would hopefully lack all the mistakes and pitfalls they had made in their past. But only time would tell

Once Upon A Zepplin

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It was another peaceful day in Ponyville now that the last Trial attack had passed. The worst that had happened was Zecora getting Swamp Fever and almost turning into a tree. Luckily, Fluttershy and Twilight had discovered the cure and she was soon back to full health. Grand Hoof was still in the hospital, though he was scheduled to be released in a few days time. Being one Defender down wasn't a big deal, since there were still four more to pick up the slack, and luckily, it didn't bite too much into Flash's training of Heart or Springer's training of Ace and Mira.

Currently, Flash and Springer had just met up and were heading back to the castle. Flash was flapping his wings weakly, not enough to pick himself up, wincing as he did so. "Problem with your wings?"

"Nah," he replied, "Just a little stiff. I guess I've been overdoing it on the flying with the aerial patrols and training Heart. We've been working on aerial hoof to hoof combat so he can learn to divide his focus between his opponent and the area around him."

"Sounds tough," Springer responded.

"Yeah...it was tough for me back when Soarin taught me. What about you?" He asked, "Ace and Mira been doing okay?"

"Well...they can finally form an Aura Blast on their own," Springer replied, "That's good, but its still...smaller versions of Aura Blasts. But I wanna try to have them go for something else...maybe Bone Breaker since that was the first new move I learned."

"Awesome," Flash chuckled as they pushed open the castle's doors. And as they stepped inside, he stretched out his wings and Springer could hear them cricking.

"You know, maybe you should just...not fly on your next day off. Your wings sound hurt."

"Who says I get a day off?" Flash replied, "When I'm not on patrol, I'm training with Heart. And if Heart's at school during my off day, I'm helping Twilight, or Applejack, or anypony else that needs a helping hoof."

Springer blinked at this, his mind now going back to all the time he's been with Flash...and he couldn't remember the last time he had seen Flash inactive. His memory shot back to the early days, not long after Springer and he had met. He remembered the afternoons Flash would spend, on the Golden Oak Library's balcony, happily strumming his guitar. When was the last time Flash even played that thing?

"You need a serious break," Springer commented, "And needs to be someplace that's not here. If you don't get out of Ponyville, you're just gonna find something to stop you from relaxing."

"Oh, sure." Flash laughed, "Like the chance to up and leave for a few days is just gonna walk right through the door."

As he said this, Spike's voice rang out from the library, only to then hear Twilight let out a cry of surprise and the two ran to the door. But when they got there, they saw Spike pushing Twilight out of the room, "You need a vacation!" The little dragon growled, only to notice the duo, "Oh hey. Great timing." He used his fire magic to pick up a scroll that was on the floor. "Check this out." He stuffed it in front of Flash's face and the pony read it over before going wide-eyed.

"Your parents won a cruise?!" He asked, getting a nod from Twilight. "Awesome!"

"And Twilight's going on it," Spike chimed in, "Heck, you can probably go too. Scootaloo as well."

"Great!" Springer nudged Flash in the shoulder. "See? The universe it telling you to take some time off." He turned to Twilight, "You two are definitely going. It's perfect."

"Listen to the jakhowl," Spike added.

"I don't know," Twilight frowned before turning back to the large stack of papers currently on the library desk.

"You're going," Spike said while pointing at her, "I can keep track of the friendship log, boost community morale, and answer fan mail for a few days."

Twilight grimaced at this, "But Spike, you're as much a part of my family as anypony! I can't just leave you here to do all that work!"

"What?!" Spike asked loudly with a smirk, "I can't hear you! You're on vacation!"

Flash and Springer chuckled at this, Twilight sighing before saying, "I guess I could use a little time off from being a princess," She tapped her chin before smiling. "You're the best, Spike!"

"I know," Spike replied.

"I'm gonna go pack everything neatly into one suitcase!" With that, she happily trotted out of the room. Springer was about to speak, but Spike's voice beat him to it.

"Wait for it..." A moment later, Twilight called out again.

"Cruises have activities, right?! I should probably make a schedule?!"

"There it is." They all laughed, Springer then turning to give Flash a knowing look.

The pegasus rolled his eyes, "Fine. If Iron and Lightning agree to cover for me, I'll go. But I'm betting they won't let me off..."

"Sure," Iron said while Lightning nodded. The four defenders had just met up outside Sugarcube Corner, Flash telling them about the cruise and asking if they could cover for him. "We can do that. Won't be any different from when you go off on a friendship quest."

"You sure?" Flash asked, "Because with Grand still in the hospital-"

"You and Springer used to defend this place all on your own, and according to Iron, that's when the crusaders were really crazy." Lightning interrupted while waving his hoof, "The three of us can handle it. Go on, have fun. Just bring me back a souvenir."

"Me too," Iron added.

"I don't say this enough, but you all are awesome." Flash was met with a round of 'we knows' before leaping into the air. "Whelp, better grab the kids and get them back to start packing."

He shot off for the school house, the bell ringing just as he landed. The young ponies ran out, Flash leaning beside a tree and staring at the colts and fillies. There he saw Heart and Soul frowning as they walked out, along with grinning Scootaloo. "Hey there," he said as he walked up to them, his apprentice trying to change to a smile as Flash added, "What's with the frowny faces?"

Heart let out a huff, "This weekend's gonna be super boring." Flash raised an eyebrow at this, "Button's uncle's taking him to a games convention in Fillydelphia, and Rumble's brother's taking him to go see family at Rainbow Falls."

"Diamond and Silver's parents are taking them to Silver Shoals for the weekend," Soul continued, "They said they'd ask if I could come, but they're not hopeful." She then noticed the smile that appeared on Flash's lips, "What?"

"Don't worry, you'll hardly miss them at all. Because we're going on vacation too." Heart, Soul and Scootaloo all gasped at this.

"Really?!"

Flash nodded, causing them to cheer as he spread his wings. "Come on. We've got a lot of packing to do." He took off and the three followed, soon getting to the castle. When they got there, they all started packing as much as possible. Soul originally wanted to take six suitcases worth of stuff, Scootaloo telling her she had been spending way too much time with Rarity, but they eventually managed to convince her to take the bare essentials.

"Are you sure you don't wanna come?" Flash asked Springer as he, Ace and Mira prepared to see them off on their trip to Canterlot.

"Yeah," Twilight nodded, "You all are just as much family as anypony else."

"Thanks," Springer replied, "But somepony needs to keep Ponyville in one peace. If something happens and Iron and Lightning are left the deal with it...those two might start arguing and end up doing more damage than what they're trying to stop." Flash and Twilight nodded. "Besides, this'll give me an excuse to go on my own vacation whenever I want. Luna's been looking into something she said she wants to take us once she's ironed out all the details."

They both raised an eyebrow at this, only for Soul and Heart to walk up to them with their luggage. Twilight and Soul were both carrying a suitcase while Flash, Heart and Scootaloo intended to make do with saddlebags, and then they headed for the train station.

"Do you really need to take that?" Mira asked Flash when she pointed to his Celestic Gear.

"Yup," Flash nodded. "There's still one last Trial out there, and I don't intend to get taken by surprise without my sword again."

"How'd you know there's only one left?" Heart asked, Flash and Twilight flinching at the question, only for Scootaloo to ask another question.

"If we're gonna be in a zeppelin, how would a Trial attack?"

"It could be a clone of Skybreaker," Twilight replied as the train's whistle filled the air. "Or they could attack the zeppelin and shoot it down." The younger ones grimaced at this, but the princess quickly waved her hoof, "I'm not saying it will happen, but Flash is better safe than sorry."

The train soon arrived after this, the group getting on board while Springer, Ace and Mira all waved them off as it left the station. It was a quick trip to Canterlot, made even quicker thanks to the kid's constant questions about what they would be doing on the cruise. Twilight was happy to answer, telling them all about the different activities, mentioning something everypony was interested in as the train pulled into the station. There, Twilight Velvet, Night Light, Shining Armor, Cadance and Flurry Heart were waiting for them eagerly.

"Twilight!" Velvet pulled her daughter into a hug before doing the same to Flash. "Oh, I'm so glad you could all come."

"This is gonna be great," Night hugged Twilight before looking around. "No Spike?"

"No," Twilight shook her head, "He insisted on staying behind and dealing with my workload."

"It was the only way to get her to agree to this," Flash added, the parents giggling before the defender turned to Cadance and Shining. "So, how's my favorite niece doing?" Flurry let out some happy cries from her hover-stroller, Twilight instantly turning on the little alicorn and giving her some much loved attention.

"Well, we'd better get going," Night added, "The ship's not gonna leave for a while, but I'd like to get settled into our cabin before it takes off." They all nodded and began to make their way through the city toward the zeppelin docks. Along the way, Velvet and Night began talking to Heart and Soul exclusively. They had met the pair before, but it was a good while ago and they hadn't really gotten to learn much since the twins were still adjusting to life in a new world.

That all changed now, the older ponies happily asking them about how much they enjoyed their new lives, what hobbies and school subjects they enjoyed and what their plans for the future were. The twins were happy to reply, the four laughing and getting along swimmingly until they arrived the at zeppelin dock, which they were then greeted to a giant ship even larger than the Mighty Leviathan being held in the air by a massive balloon.

"Wow..." Scootaloo gasped as the family got in line before turning to Twilight, "Say, what if the gas inside accidently ignites? Wasn't there another zeppelin that did just that?"

"That was a long time ago," Twilight replied, "Ponies would be silly to give up an excellent means of transport because of just one tragedy. Besides, the gas filling modern balloons is a magically created kind that doesn't ignite."

"Cool..." Scootaloo commented as they reached the gangplank and began to trot on board.

"Oh, gee." Velvet looked more excited than ever, "I am really looking forward to a relaxing vacation."

"Watch out," Night Light told Flash and Twilight. "She won't admit it, but when your mother says relaxing vacation, she means doing something crazy. Last time, she ended up bungee-jumping over Luna Bay!" Flash smirked, hoping he could sign up for something like that.

"What was that, hon?" Velvet asked Night, who instantly glanced away.

"Oh, I was uh...just telling Twilight about my new...bingo strategy book! It's a, heh, real page-turner!" He gave them a wink as they smirked, Velvet just rolling her eyes.

Shining clapped his hooves at this, "Alright! I can't wait to get on this zeppelin and fly like a Pegasus!"

"Really?" Twilight giggled, "I remember you getting airsick on Admiral Fairweather's Wild Ride at Pony Island."

Flash shivered at this memory, since he had been in the same cart as him when that had happened. "I didn't feel clean for a month."

Shining blushed at this, the kids laughing as he grumbled, "Twilight...I grew out of airsickness a long time ago."

"I hope you're right," Flash added as they walked onto the ship. "Because if I see even one hint of green in your face, I'm not coming near you with a twenty foot pole." Everypony, minus Shining, began to laugh their manes off. And before Shining could retort, feedback from the loudspeakers filled the air.

"I hope you ponies feel welcomed aboard, BECAUSE! YOU! ARE!" The Sparkle family all shared a glance, Twilight then saying what they were all thinking.

"Well, that was an...assertive welcome." They all nodded and started to make their way to their cabin. But as they did this, Flash couldn't help but get the feeling he was being watched. He glanced behind him, now seeing a pair of ponies smiling and waving like a pair of eager kids. Flash responded by waving back, though not as enthusiastically, the pair squealing as he did so before running off.

"I got a bad feeling about this..." Flash commented as they went down a corridor, soon being guided by an employee to a deluxe cabin. Once Velvet tipped the pony, they stepped inside and were gasping, seeing the place was as big as a house with four bedrooms, comfy chairs, a piano and shelves of books. It was amazing.

They all began to explore the cabin, Flurry even getting out of her stroller and flying around as Heart ran off to grab one of the rooms. "I call this bed!" He exclaimed as he jumped onto one, Soul and Scootaloo rolling their eyes since they would be sharing the other one.

"Guess this is what it's like to be big-time prize winners," Night Light laughed before turning to Velvet. "I just wish I could remember what contest we won."

Velvet nodded back, only for Twilight to ask, "Wait, you don't know where this prize came from?"

Her mother shrugged back, "When somepony offers you a free vacation, you just sign the paperwork and don't ask questions!"

Night placed a hoof on her back. "Especially when it means we all get to fly off together." Everypony gathered together, smiling at Night's words. "What should we do first?"

"You have to ask?" Flash smirked before turning to Twilight, "Where is it?"

"Where's what?" Twilight replied.

"You know what I mean. Where's the chart or schedule?" Twilight giggled before taking a folded up piece of paper from her saddlebag.

"Well," she unfolded the large piece of paper, "I did categorie the ship's activities and make a schedule organized by each of our interests." She pulled out a pointer and tapped it against the paper. "Dad, you're easy. Bingo competition right here."

"Oh?" Night glanced over at the paper, "I just love how the numbers and letters are organized in their little boxes. It's so satisfying."

Twilight then pointed to another section, "Shining Armor, they've got a tiny boat race in a tiny pool here."

"Aw, sis." He patted Flurry on the head, "Only you would remember I love tiny things."

"And Cadance," she showed her the schedule. "There's a Peewee Princess Playtime here that Flurry's gonna love!"

Flurry laughed at this, clapping her hooves as Cadance smiled. "Oh, wonderful!"

Velvet then grabbed the schedule and looked it over, "Hmm...this barrel jumping at Neighagra Falls sounds interesting."

Heart, Soul and Scootaloo took the paper next, Heart speaking up first, "Oh, nice! There's gonna be a video game tournament. I'm gonna rock that!"

"And there's a skate park," Scootaloo added, clapping her hooves.

"And Flash, there's mini-golf."

Flash's eyes went wide before slinging a hoof around her, "Twilight, you are the best."

"Eh," Twilight shrugged before placing the schedule on the wall and pinning it up. "I just want to see you all have a good time. And this works out perfectly, because we have room for the one thing I wanna do!" She took out a book and opened it up, showing them images of old drawn shooting stars. "Our ship passes the Frozen North at sunset, which is the only time you can see the astrological phenomenon known as the Northern Stars. It's like the stars are shooting out of the setting sun!"

"Well, we definitely don't want to miss that," Cadance chuckled.

"Then it's settled," Twilight put the book away and turned to the schedule. "Though...we don't have anything to do right now." She looked back at them, "Any suggestions?"

Flash was about to say something, but the loudspeaker in the cabin buzzed before he could. "Attention, cruise ponies!" The super masculine voice called out, "Don't let this zeppelin be a bore! Leave your room and see the tour!"

It switched off and Cadance turned to them, "A tour could be fun." They all nodded and headed out of the room, leaving their bags and quickly making their way through the corridors. They got to see the game room, dining area, skate park and so much more.

They then headed up on deck, Shining running to the front of the boat and looking out at the open sky. "I'm flying!" He cheered, "I'm-" He suddenly stopped as his face turned green, the stallion quickly covering his mouth.

"Oh boy," Flash and the kids backpedaled, "Quick, before he starts blowing chunks. Anypony have an umbrella?"

Cadance rolled her eyes and moved over to Shining Armor. "I'm afraid Flurry may be airsick. Since I know that isn't a problem for you, would you mind taking her below?" Shining didn't need to be asked twice and grabbed his daughter before disappearing downstairs, the others laughing until the loud speaker beeped again and the super mescaline voice rang out.

"Far to our right, you can just make out the white tufts of Cloudsdale, where Princess Twilight Sparkle once toured the weather factory." The ponies all moved over to that side of the ship, Twilight turning to her family with a raised eyebrow.

"How'd he know that? And why announce it on a cruise?"

"Maybe Cloudsdale doesn't have many interesting things to announce," Heart replied, the others giving him 'are you crazy?' look, only to then hear a murmured conversation and turned to see the ponies looking at them in awe.

"Why don't we move to the other side of the deck?" Cadance suggested, the group nodding and started to move, only for the voice overhead to speak up again.

"We are now high enough to see all of Canterlot, even the royal tree where Princess Twilight and her brother Shining Armor were born!"

"What?!" Twilight yelped, "That's not right!" But the others ponies didn't seem to hear her, the group running to the side and looking over the edge. Even Velvet and Night did so, despite both being present when their children were born in a hospital. "Um..." Twilight stepped over to them, "You two know that's not where we were born. What are you so excited about?"

Her parents just shrugged. "Well, it is a really nice tree sweetheart," Night told her while Velvet nodded. Flash and Twilight shared a frown, both glancing around to see some ponies staring at them with creepy smiles.

"This is just getting weird," Flash gulped, now getting flashbacks to his first visit to Starlight's Village.

But before Twilight could say anything, one of the ponies ran up and got her face a little too close for comfort. "We just wanted to say how excited we are to be here!" She ended up spitting into Twilight's face, the alicorn looking creeped out as she wiped the slobber off of her.

"Um..." Twilight pulled back, "Yeah. Us...too."

"On our route north," the voice called out, "We will pass the spires of the Crystal Empire, where Princess Cadance rescued her Alicorn baby Spike from a monster made of fire!"

"Now that doesn't even make sense." Cadance commented.

"Where is this guy getting his info?" Heart added before they heard Night Light speak up.

"Well, Royal Grandparents sounds a bit fancy, but of course you can take our picture." He and Velvet smiled as multiple ponies started snapping photos.

"What?!" Twilight yelped as a pony ran over to Soul.

"Look!" she pointed at the alicorn filly, "It's the newest princess."

"I heard she's the same age as Celestia," another one stated.

"What's her secret?" Another asked as Soul raised an eyebrow. Meanwhile, Twilight and Cadance were taking a proper look around the deck at all the ponies on it. Some were wearing T-shirts with Twilight and Cadance's faces, while others were wearing either fake wings and horns, or coverings to go over their real ones. Cadance then felt a tap on her shoulder and looked down to see a filly wearing a horrifying mask of her face, which caused her to cry out and backpedal as the filly asked for an autograph.

"Okay, that's it!" Twilight yelled, "Does anypony know where the cruise announcer is?!" Everypony quickly responded, pointing to the control room. Flash and Twilight both flew up to the zeppelin's control room door and strode inside. "Excuse me, sir." They looked inside and went wide-eyed as they saw a certain bipedal figure.

And before they could say anything, the being spun around. "You can call Iron Will, Iron Will!" He flexed his arms, Flash and Twilight gasping at the sight of him. They had never met this minotaur before, but they had heard all about him. An assertiveness speaker, who had once convinced Fluttershy that the only way to be heard by others was to be mean.

"What are you doing here?" Twilight yelled while pointing at him, "And why do you keep announcing random things about me and my family?!"

"Yeah!" Flash added, "Shouldn't you be in Manehatten or something, tricking insecure ponies into being total jerks?!"

"Iron Will never tricked anypony," the minotaur barked before getting into Twilight's face. "The assertiveness seminar market dried up, so Iron Will started a new career organizing themed vacation packages!"

Twilight glared back at him, only for his words to reach her ears and ask, "Wait...don't tell me the theme of this vacation is..."

Iron Will hit the loudspeaker button and spoke into it. "Everypony, stomp your hooves if you are here for the premiere Cruise of the Princesses Experience!" This was met with the sound of many ponies stomping their hooves on the deck. As they did, banners with Twilight, Cadance and a few of even Soul unfurled.

"This is gonna be good..." was all Flash could say as Twilight spotted her family getting swarmed. She reacted quickly and teleported herself down there and then teleported them away. A moment later, she returned and teleported Flash and Iron Will down to their cabin. Cadance happened to be by the door and when she looked outside, she saw many ponies rushing for the cabin with princess memorabilia. She quickly shut the door as Flash and Heart barricaded it while Twilight glared at the minotaur.

"Iron Will, I'm not sure it was entirely honest of you to offer this cruise to my family without telling us that ponies bought tickets just to see Cadance, Soul and me!"

The minotaur didn't seem at all phased by this, quickly taking out several sheets of paper that Flash noticed had Night Light and Velvet's signatures on. "Iron Will outlined all the details of the cruise in the Prize Acceptance and Consent Form that you signed."

Velvet took the paper in her magic and looked a little sheepish, "Well, when somepony offers you a free vacation, who reads the fine print?"

"You're lucky Iron Will only wanted this," Flash added, "Maybe next time you should read the fine print so you don't accidently sign the deed to your house over!"

Iron Will then spoke up, "Iron Will prides himself on providing a quality vacation experience. But if Twilight Sparkle and her family don't want it, Iron Will can cancel the cruise and break the hearts of every princess-adoring pony on board." He flexed with that last statement, making Twilight groan before a pony leapt onto the glass of their porthole.

"I love you, Princess Twilight!" She screamed before Twilight shut the curtain with her magic.

"I just have one question," Soul raised a wing. "Why am I a part of this? I'm not a princess."

"You're an alicorn, ain't ya'h?" Iron Will asked, pointed at her horn and wings.

"Having a horn and wings doesn't automatically make you a princess. If that were true, most dragons and even Discord would count as a princess."

"Well, don't worry too much," Iron Will replied, "Iron Will's research shows you barely have much of a following. Even if you hadn't show up, Iron Will wouldn't have gotten many complaints."

"Yay me," Soul huffed as Cadance moved over to Twilight.

"As much as I want a family vacation, I don't think I could entertain all these cruise ponies. My hooves are pretty full taking care of Flurry Heart."

"I could help with that," Flash chimed in as Flurry flew over and landed on his head. "I was able to look after her before, even with an evil clone out for my blood."

"No Flash," Cadance shook her head, "I couldn't let you do that. You're supposed to be enjoying this vacation too."

Velvet sighed at this, "I guess we were just so excited by the idea of a family cruise...."

Night Light slumped over before glancing up at Iron Will, the minotaur saying, "All right. I guess we better turn this ship around."

Everypony frowned at this, Twilight seeing the disappointment on their faces. And as Iron Will went to leave, "Wait!" He stopped and spun around, "Iron Will, what if I offered you a deal?" She trotted up to him, "If I agree to do whatever princess activities you want, will you promise that my family gets to do the activities they want?"

"Sis..." Shining walked up to her, "You don't have to do that. We want you to enjoy yourself, too."

Twilight nodded back, "I know. But I don't want the vacation to end now or let down all these ponies who were looking forward to seeing us." She flew up so she and Iron were at eye-level. "So what do you say, Iron Will? Do we have a deal?" She held out her hoof, Iron Will not even needing a moment to think before shaking.

"Princess Twilight has a deal!" He grabbed her hoof so hard her eyes went wide, the princess quickly pulling it out and rubbing the almost broken bone.

"Great!" She turned to the others, "So it looks like we have some time before Dad plays Bingo."

But before she could say anything else, Iron grabbed her and started pushing her toward the door. "Actually, we have just enough to pick the winner of our grand-prize raffle."

"Oh," Twilight tried to keep a calm face, "Well..." She chuckled, "Who doesn't like prizes?"

The others watched her leave the room, Flash commenting with crossed hooves, "I don't like this. Twilight was the one who needed this vacation more than anypony. If she's forced to do anything Iron Will wants her to do, she might end up more stressed than she was before getting on the boat."

"I agree with him," Cadance added, "It isn't right for Twilight to have to do so much when she's supposed to be relaxing."

"Do you honestly think Twilight's gonna back down from this?" Shining asked, "She's a pony that doesn't go back on her word."

They all grimaced at this, the family soon going on deck, where all the excited ponies were waiting to see who would win the grand prize. Iron Will and Twilight were there as the minotaur spoke into to the microphone. "All right, cruise ponies! When the zeppelin flies, it's time for a prize!" The ponies all cheered at this, Iron Will placing the microphone in front of Twilight.

"Thank you all for being so gracious and respectful to me and my family," she gestured to them before turning to a barrel next to her. It was full of papers that Twilight put her hoof in, "And now, without further ado, the winner is..." She randomly grabbed a slip and pulled it out before reading aloud, "Star Tracker!"

They stared at the crowd and saw a dark blue earth pony with yellow hair and a star cutie mark. The pony looked shocked by this as the ponies around him started clapping.

"Congratulations, Star Tracker!" Twilight cheered, "Enjoy your prize!" She then turned to her father and walked away from the stage. "Okay Dad! Bingo time!" But before she could get too far, the pony known as Star Tracker suddenly appeared in front of her. "Uh..." She raised an eyebrow at this before a thought entered her head. "Oh. I'm sorry. I don't have the prize." But before she could say anything else, Iron Will leapt up and yelled into the microphone.

"Congratulations to Star Tracker, who wins the grand prize...spending the day with Twilight as an honorary member of her family!"

Fireworks went off as the ponies cheered, Twilight yelping, "That's the prize?!"

Star Tracker nodded at this, blushing as he muttered out, "Uh-huh..."

"Oookay," Twilight slowly said, "Well...I guess you should come with us, honorary family member."

"Sure!" Night Light laughed as he stepped up next to Tracker. "There's always room at the bingo table!"

But before they could leave, Flash shot over to them, "Hey," he grabbed Tracker with a small smile, "Give me a minute. I just wanna have a friendly chat with our grand prize winner." They all raised an eyebrow at this, but Flash quickly pushed Tracker away before they could ask what he was doing. Once they were out of earshot, Flash tapped the colt's chest, "Listen, I'll make this quick and clear. Try anything with her...and I throw you overboard. Comprende?" Tracker went wide-eyed, only to furiously nod, "Good. Stay at least a leg's width away and we'll be good."

"Okay..." Tracker squeaked before Flash turned to smile at Twilight. "He's all yours." He pushed the earth pony over to her and Twilight took him and Night over to the bingo area.

As they left, Cadance moved over to him. "I hope you didn't scare him too much," she gave him a stern but fair look. "Getting possessive of the pony you're with can be very dangerous for your relationship."

"I was just letting him know that trying anything with her wouldn't be a good idea," he replied, "Would you just let somepony you can tell likes Shining get too close?" Cadance opened her mouth, only to close it, "See? Besides, we both know Twilight's too nice to ask somepony to back off until she's pushed to the limit. Hopefully, this'll stop that from happening." Cadance nodded as Flash turned to Scootaloo, Heart and Soul. "Alright gang, why don't we see what fun stuff we can do while Twilight and Night enjoy the bingo."

"YEAH!" They all cheered before the ponies headed below deck.

The first place they walked into was a room with a giant fan in the floor, which a bunch of unicorns and earth ponies were using to see what it was like to fly. "Awesome!" Scootaloo exclaimed before leaping and getting swept upward in the wind. She cried out happily as she hovered in the air, feeling like she was flying for the first time.

The others smiled at her and decided she would likely stay there for a good while, so they headed off to find another activity. The next thing they found was a room for babies, which they saw Cadance and Flurry were in. The room after that was what looked like a dark warehouse filled of boxes and walls, which ponies were running wearing strange vests and firing laser pistols that made the vest beep when they hit them.

Heart's eyes filled with stars and he instantly ran in, grabbing a vest and gun before charging into the battle. "Try not to blow anything up in excitement!" Flash called out to him before he and Soul left to find their own thing. "What do you wanna try and do?"

Soul hummed for a moment. "I...can't think of anything off the top of my head."

They then arrived at another room, seeing it was an arts and crafts room. Soul instantly let out a sequel and zipped inside, Flash laughing as she joined some other ponies her age as they started cutting things up.

"Princess!" a filly cheered as Soul grabbed some modelling clay.

"I'm not a princess," she grumbled.

"Yet," Flash laughed before leaving. He thought about going to see how the bingo game was going, or to see if Shining had thrown up yet. But then he came across a room with a sign above the door that made his eyes go wide. "Putt putt?" he smirked before heading inside, now seeing a mini golf course...and then he saw the theme. "Dinosaur golf," he cheered at the seeing the many different ancient creatures that made up the course. "Oh yeah..." he chuckled, only to come to a stop and frown, "This game's no fun on your own."

He slumped over at this, Flash remembering when Twilight would play with him back in the day. The pegasi remembered how the two would play differently, Flash just looking at a course and guess the best way to get the ball into the hole, which usually succeeded seven out of ten times, while Twilight would use geometry and physics to win her matches.

But now Flash was on his own. There were several other ponies currently playing a game, but Flash didn't feel like joining them. So, he just grabbed a club and ball and began to play on his own. By hole seven, he was doing pretty well, managing to get his ball sunk in three putts or less every time. But as he was about to start hole eight, placing his ball down and preparing to gently knock it, the doors of the room shot open. "Flash!" The shock made Flash accidently slam the ball and sent it flying. Everypony in the room had to duck and cover to avoid getting hit by the ball, the only one not ducking being a blue and yellow earth pony that the sphere was about to hit.

Luckily, a purple aura appeared around the ball and stopped it inches from his face. "Everypony okay?" Twilight asked as the golfers all stood up, frowning at Flash as he sheepishly laughed.

"Sorry." He turned to Twilight, noticing she had a cowpony hat on. "What's with the get-up? We stopping at Appaloosa?"

"Nope," Twilight replied, "I was just taking some pictures with the cruise ponies. They were Appaloosa themed." Star Tracker smiled at this, though he kept lifting his hoof up to make sure he was a full length away from the mare in question. "So...having fun?"

"Yeah," Flash said halfheartedly, "but it'd be more fun if you were playing with me." He reached over and grabbed a golf club, holding it out to her. "You want a round? I don't mind starting again so I can beat your flank." Twilight smirked and looked ready to grab the club, only for Iron Will to appear through the door.

"Princess Twilight, it's time for the trivia contest."

Twilight glared back at the minotaur, "And let me guess, I'm the one that's gonna be asking the questions?" Iron Will nodded, Flash unsure how to feel about this. On one hoof, Twilight was clearly not having any fun. On the other, Flash was relieved Twilight wasn't the pony playing the trivia considering how competitive she got at it.

"Why don't you give her a break?" Flash told the minotaur. "She's not a machine, and even actual princess work isn't this back-to-back."

"It's okay Flash!" Twilight exclaimed, "I made a deal, and I'm gonna stick to it." She let out a sigh at this, soon following Iron Will out the room. Flash watched them leave and frowned, only to put the golf club down before leaving the room.

He checked the room he had seen Cadance in, but she and Flurry were gone. So, he headed for their cabin and when he stepped inside, he spotted the Princess of Love putting Flurry down in her crib. "Hey Flash," she said before noticing the look on his face. "Problem?"

"Twilight's starting to have some issues. She hasn't gotten a second to enjoy herself since she got on board."

"I know," Cadance sighed, "I tried talking to her, but she's desperate to make sure we all have fun."

"Think you can take over for her for a little bit. I don't mind looking after Flurry until you get back." Cadance blinked at him before nodding, "Thanks. Twilight's doing the trivia contest...someplace."

"I'll find it," she assured him before magically grabbing the diaper bag and passing it to him. "You remember how to do one of these, right?"

"Sure," Flash took the bag, "You know if this cabin has any sticky tape?" Cadance laughed and left the room, Flash raising an eyebrow. "What about that was funny? I really need some sticky tape." A few seconds later, he found that he couldn't find any, and hoped that Flurry wasn't packing heat yet. He sat down on one of the sofas, listening to the happy sounds of the baby's breathing. That is, till he heard Iron Will scream over the loudspeaker.

"We're now docking at Neigh-agra Falls!" Flurry was awakened by this and started crying, Flash running over to comfort her and missing the rest of Iron Will's announcement. He glared up at the speaker once it was done yelling, and when the baby had stopped crying, he grabbed some pillows, towels and cords he had found before and used them to gag the speaker.

As he finished tying the last knot, the doors flew open and Heart, Soul and Scootaloo trotted inside. They let out a laugh at something one of them had said until they heard a loud shushing sound from Flash, seeing him pull the knot tight before pointing to the baby cot.

"Sorry," they all whispered, now seeing Flurry drifting in and out of sleep, but it was clear she wasn't gonna be fully asleep for the rest of the day.

"So..." Flash asked once he was done with the speaker, "You all have fun?"

They all nodded back, Scootaloo asking, "Do you think we could get one of those wind tunnels for the castle? And not let it be a small one."

"Just use the training room," Heart told her, "That's what I'm gonna do to play laser tag."

"That arts and crafts room was great," Soul added, "I got to make a clay model of the ship. I'm so taking it home once it's done drying." She then turned to Flash, "What about you? Find something fun to do?"

"Yeah!" Heart continued, "Why are you here with Flurry Heart?"

"Cadance has gone to take over for Twilight. Hopefully, that'll give her the chance to have some fun." As he said that, the doors opened before Cadance and a still green around the gills Shining trotted inside. "Hey Cadance," he smirked at the sight of Shining. "You okay there?"

"I'm fine," he responded before his cheeks inflated. "Totally fine."

The others laughed as Flash turned to Cadance. "How'd the trivia contest go?"

"Pretty well. I'm glad I took over for Twilight, since that last question was a two parter that probably would have taken a while." She trotted over to Flurry and picked the baby up, the little alicorn happily giggling at the sight of her daddy's face. "I hope Twilight managed to have some fun. She said she was gonna go barrel riding with Velvet."

Flash raised an eyebrow at this, "Over the falls?" She nodded. "That...sounds like something she'd wanna do."

"Aww..." Heart moaned, "I knew I was forgetting something! I wanted to try that too."

"Well, it's not too late," Soul added, "Maybe we can see Twilight and Velvet go over the side." They all then headed up above deck, the group of seven going for the gangplank, only to see Velvet and Night Light. Velvet's mane looked like she had just gotten out of a shower, making them raise an eyebrow as they looked around.

"Hey, where's Twilight?"

The two shrugged back, "No idea. She never showed." Velvet sighed at this, "It's a shame really. I know she would have loved the barrel ride."

Flash frowned and quickly spread his wings, taking to the air and flying as high as he could to see the entire ship without hitting the balloon. And as he did this, he saw Twilight at the back end of the zeppelin with Star Tracker. The pair were sitting behind a table which had a long line of ponies in front, each pony stepping up to the table and putting a book or piece of paper down for Twilight to sign. "Oh, come on!"

He flew down and landed in front of the table before another pony could do so. "Hey!" A pony yelled, "Back of the line." Flash shot him a glare that made him recoil, letting out a whine that sounded like something you'd hear a dog make.

Flash turned back to Twilight, "What are you doing here?! Cadance took over your trivia duty so you could have a break!"

"I know," Twilight sighed, "But Iron Will decided to use the extra time to do a signing." Flash growled at this, only for Twilight to add, "It's fine. He said this was the last thing I had to do today. Once it's done, I'm free to spend time with you all."

Flash looked at the line and seeing how long it was, he glanced back at her, "Twilight, don't let him push you around like that! Didn't you want to see the Northen Stars."

"I won't miss it." she assured him. "Now if you don't mind, the sooner you move, the sooner I can get this done." Flash rolled his eyes and moved aside to allow the next pony in line to step up and get his book signed. Instead of going to join the others, he decided to lean against the side of the zeppelin and watch to make sure Twilight didn't miss her one wanted piece of enjoyment. If this signing went on to long, he would but in and tell the ponies to wait until after sunset to get something sighed.

As so he waited...and waited...and waited. Twilight continued to sign everything and anything she could, her quills breaking one after the other with Star Tracker handing her a new one every time. Flash could tell she was slowly getting more and more bored, the chair she was on growing uncomfortable with how long she had to sit on it.

Eventually, Flash felt himself drifting off and finally fell asleep. One minute he was staring at Twilight work, the next he felt himself getting shaken awake. "Flash!" He jolted up and looked up to see Twilight staring down at her, the pegasus looking around and seeing the sun was close to setting.

"You done?" He asked, Twilight nodding with a smile.

"Just in time." Flash nodded, only to see Twilight's eyes all bloodshot and exhausted. "Come on," she pulled him up, only to accidently bump into Star Tracker behind her. "Oh, sorry."

"It's fine," Tracker replied, only to trot back until he was a leg's width away. The three then headed over to the front of the ship, where many other ponies were sitting, Iron Will and his goat crew-mates being up on the upper deck.

The minotaur smirked at her. "Ah, Princess Twilight. Why don't you and Iron Will go discuss the plans for tomorrow's events while the ponies are all enjoying the show?"

Twilight's eyes went wide at this, but Flash huffed and flew up to Iron Will. "No way," he prodded his chest. "Twilight's been working all day, and I refuse to let her miss out on the one thing she wants to see. You can wait."

"What?! How dare you-"

"You. Can. Wait." Flash hissed, flexing his hoof to show muscle that made Iron Will flinch.

The minotaur let out a snort, "Very well. Iron Will shall allow the princess the chance to see this wondrous spectacle."

"Allow?!" Flash yelled, "She's the princess! She could lock you up and throw away the key if she wanted too. Be thankful she's not that vindictive."

He flew back to Twilight and pushed her over to her family, the other ponies staring at him in shock until he shot them a glare. "Thanks Flash," Twilight said as he joined their family in sitting down.

"No problem," Flash replied, "Now just sit back, relax and let's enjoy this awesome show." Twilight nodded and they all watched as the sun began to dip towards the horizon. Twilight stared intently at it, waiting second by second for the stars to appear.

But as she did, she felt her eyelids beginning to grow heavier. The others didn't seem to notice this, leading Twilight to have to fight a losing battle against her own exhaustion. She wished she had a cup of coffee or something, only to nod off in her sitting position.

It wasn't until a bright flash of light occurred followed by several ponies crying out in amazement that she shot up and her eyes opened. "What?!" She yelped, only for her family to turn to her. It was here that she turned to the horizon...only she was too late. The sunset was over and the northern lights were gone. "NO!" She cried, standing up and looking close to tears.

"Twilight?" Flash got up, "What's wrong?"

"Were the Northern Stars not what you were expecting?" Velvet asked, but then noticed tears begin to fall down her daughter's face, "Oh, honey."

"I fell asleep," she cried, "I fell asleep and missed them." They all flinched at this as Twilight sniffed and wiped her face. "How could this happen?!"

"We're sorry," Heart chimed in, "We should have noticed you were asleep."

The others nodded as Night Light stepped up. "We're really sorry. I know today has been really hard for you." He then gestured to Star Tracker, "But we're sure you're making a whole bunch of cruise ponies happy." He wrapped his arm around the earth pony, who began to tear up.

"I'm so happy I could cry!"

This seemed to be the final straw for Twilight, the mare's sad face vanishing and being replaced by one of indignation. "Oh, yeah," she yelled, "The cruise ponies are happy. My family is happy. Even Iron Will is happy." She pointed up at the minotaur, who simply smiled while his goat crew-mate ate part of the cup he was drinking from. "You know who isn't happy? Me!" With that, she ran off, looking ready to start bawling her eyes out.

"Twilight!" Flash yelped, flaring his wings to chase her, only for Cadance to hold up a wing in his face.

"I think you should let me talk to her. This is something only another princess would understand." Flash nodded and they all watched Cadance walk off before looking back at them. "Why don't you head to our cabin? I'll bring Twilight over once we've had our little chat."

They all nodded as she disappeared around the other side of the zeppelin, while they headed below deck. They soon arrived, nopony saying anything as Heart, Soul and Scootaloo went into their room and laying on their beds while the adults sat on the couch. "I feel awful," Velvet looked ready to cry. "We put Twilight through this. We were so happy about this vacation we let Twilight go through all that and not get to have any fun at all."

"We should have done more to help her," Flash sighed as he leaned against the wall. "She just kept pushing me away..."

"I don't get it," Star Tracker told them, "Why was Twilight so upset? I thought she agreed to do all that stuff?"

"Seriously?!" Flash yelled, making the colt flinch, "You were with her all day! How'd you not know she was upset when she couldn't do any of the things she was looking forward to doing with us?!"

"But...she said she was okay?" Tracker pointed out before Night spoke up.

"When she says everything's okay, she really means 'I'm super upset but don't want to ruin everypony else's fun so I'll buck up for now'." The others nodded, "The only problem is Twilight would refuse to let us help in anyway. We're just lucky her little blow up wasn't as bad as it could have been."

"Be glad you took my advice and kept your distance from her," Flash added, "You could have been the target of her outburst if you hadn't." The colt slowly nodded back as Flash turned to stare out a window. "Everypony thinks princesses are absolutely perfect, but the fact is, they're just as pony as anypony else. I mean, Luna once turned into an evil tyrant because she got upset. Celestia can be a major glutton and Cadance..."

"Snores," Shining decided to speak up and everypony laughed at this.

Flash controlled his chuckles and kept going. "My point it, I get princesses do a lot of amazing things. But one of the things they all hate is being put up on some massive pedestal. Treating them like you would any other pony is one of the best things you can do for them. That includes letting them have time off to enjoy themselves every now and again."

Star Tracker looked down at this, "Oh...gosh, I feel awful. I came on this cruise because I wanted to meet Equestria's greatest ponies, but all I've been doing is making things hard for them." As he said that, the door opened to show Twilight and Cadance. "Uh...I think I should go!" He jumped off the couch and headed for the door, but Twilight flared a wing in front of him.

"No, Star Tracker. You should stay. I have something to tell you." She then turned to the rest of the ponies in the room, "All of you." Everypony now had their undivided attention focused squarely on Twilight. "I'm glad you all got to do the things you wanted, but I should have stood up for myself so that I could do what I wanted, too."

"I'm sorry too," Star Tracker added, "I had no idea this was bothering you so much. I was just so excited to meet the pony I'd idolized for so long it didn't even occur to me that I was making you uncomfortable."

"Don't worry about it," Twilight sighed while shaking her head, "Honestly, you were perfectly fine. If you'd done something weird like get super creepily close to me all the time, I probably would have been annoyed, but you kept your distance so we're all good." Star Tracker smiled, glancing at Flash who gave him an approving nod. Twilight then turned to the rest of her family. "What do you say we do something off the schedule?"

This suggestion was met with gasps from the entire family, unable to believe Twilight was willingly going off schedule.

"Who are you?" Star Tracker asked, clearly seeing he didn't know Twilight as much as the papers, books and stories had him believing.

"Yup! We're gonna do something I want us to do, as a family." She then turned to Tracker, "Honorary members, too." With that, the princess led her family back up on deck. The zeppelin had taken off once again and was now heading back to Canterlot. Up on the deck, a pony was manning an ice cream station.

The family smiled as they picked their favorite scoop and got a cone of it. Twilight gave Star Tracker's to him before moving over to offer another to Shining. They all laughed when Shining looked ready to throw up, Twilight giving the ice cream to Flurry. The ponies all continued to laugh and talk, Star Tracker watching them with a smile on his lips. It was clear just by looking that even though some of them weren't related by blood, this was a strong family. "You and your family have been really kind to include me, but you deserve your own vacation together." She smiled as Twilight trotted over to him, then let out a nervous laugh. "And I'm really glad we met, too!"

Twilight pulled him into a hug, the colt thanking her before pulling away. And as Twilight waved him goodbye as Star Tracker walked away...only to slam face first into Iron Will. He fell to the floor, his ice cream hitting the ground as the minotaur pointed to the ice cream cart. "Attention, cruise ponies!" He screeched into the microphone. "If it's your dream, come to the deck for ice cream!"

He started bench-pressing the cart as Tracker stood up and glared at him. "No! Leave the princess alone!" But his courage quickly faltered when Iron Will turned to hiss at him.

"What did you say to Iron Will?" Tracker shrunk back at this, Flash reaching for his sword until he heard Twilight speak up.

"It's okay, everypony." She then used her magic to grab Iron Will's headset, clearing her throat through it as she took to the air. "First, I want to thank all of you for coming. It means a lot that you're spend your hard-earned bits just to be with us. But I honestly came on this cruise to take some time off from being a princess. I'm just a pony too, after all. And even though I want everypony here to be happy, I'd really like to spend the rest of the cruise relaxing with my family." She stopped and landed, the ponies in the crowd letting this info sink in before a mare spoke up.

"Of course, Princess Twilight."

Another mare then asked what they were all thinking, "But why was this trip advertised as a Cruise of the Princesses if you just wanted to get away?" With that, every eye on the cruise turned to Iron Will. The minotaur calmly whistled as the ponies all glared at him, then pulled out a bunch of papers.

"Iron Will's Cruise of the Princesses makes no guarantees as to the participation of actual princesses!"

"What?!" A pony at the back yelled, the group then beginning to complain.

"But Iron Will learned his lesson before," he slowly trotted back until he reached the edge of the deck. "Satisfaction not guaranteed!" With that, he leapt over the side. "No refuuuuuuunds!" They all gasped and ran to the side, looking over the edge just in time to see Iron Will pull the chord of a backpack he hadn't been wearing when he jumped.

From it, a parachute flew out and opened up, the image of Iron Will surrounded by fire emblazoned on it. "Huh," Shining turned to the others. "He may be pushy and manipulative, but nopony can say that minotaur isn't prepared."

Flash took out his sword and pointed it at the parachute, "I've got a shot."

"Flash!" Twilight yelped, quickly pulling his sword away from him.

"What?! Don't tell me you're not tempted!"

Twilight rolled her eyes at this, deciding not to dignify that claim with a response. After this, the ponies all decided to head back to their cabins. Some even invited Twilight to a trivial pursuit tournament, not as a princess, but as a pony that looked like she needed to have some fun. Twilight happily agreed and trotted off with them, her family watching her go and smiling as they did.

Then, Cadance spoke up, "Everypony, I just got an idea that'll make Twilight happier than she's ever been before." They all raised an eyebrow at this, only to smile as Cadance explained her idea.

When the trivial pursuit tournament ended, with Twilight's victory of course, the alicorn found Cadance waiting for her at the exit. "Hey," she said before taking out her schedule. "So...got any ideas on what we should do for the rest of the trip?" She looked it over as the two got back up on deck. "There's still plenty of activities. We pass Fillydelphia on the way back. I could give Flurry Heart a quick history tour."

"That's very thoughtful," Cadance replied, "But right now, the family and I have something scheduled for you."

Twilight was about to ask what she meant, only for her father's voice to call out, "Behold!" Cadance pulled the schedule down so Twilight could see her dad holding up a paper sun, "The Northern Stars!" With that, Flash, Shining, Velvet, Flurry, Heart, Soul and Scootaloo flew out from behind the sun. Flash, Heart, Soul and Flurry were all flying while Soul and Velvet used their magic to lift the non-fliers into the air. They were all dressed like stars, making Twilight's eyes go wide.

"You did all this for me?" They nodded, Twilight stepping up to them, "This is amazing! Thank you! And Shining Armor, I can't believe you're up there even though you're airsick!"

"I am not air-urk!" His face went green again, making him cover his mouth. "Oh, okay. Maybe I'm not feeling great!" Everyone laughed as Velvet put her son down on a bench, the group gathering around him as Twilight sat next to him.

Twilight looked around at all the ponies that she cared so much about, magically pulling them all into a hug. "Now this is the only activity I need." The rest smiled and hugged her back, happy that she had gotten to enjoy something on this trip. It might not have started off great, but no doubt the rest of the vacation would be amazing. Because nothing was better than spending quality time with one's family.

Bat's the Way Home

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At Sweet Apple Acres, Applejack and Mac were being helped by Rainbow and Twilight as they carried their latest crop of apples to the storage cellar. "Thanks girls," Applejack told them as they arrived at the door leading underground. "With the rain scheduled today, ah wasn't sure ah'd be able to get all this done in time."

"Eeyup," Mac added.

"No problem AJ," Rainbow continued as she put down the basket she was carrying. "Glad to help."

Twilight nodded as she carefully dropped the six baskets she was carrying in her magic. "Always happy to lend a hoof to a friend in need." She glanced around, "But I'm a little surprised Rogue isn't here helping. He's usually happy to help out whenever he's not sleeping."

"Yeah," Applejack sighed, "He does dat sometimes. Just ups and disappears for no reason every now and then."

"Where does he go?" Rainbow asked, the siblings shrugging.

"That's his business. As long as he's here when he's supposed to, I don't mind him goin' off and doin his own thing."

Meanwhile...

Rogue was now at the rocky area that concealed the entrance to his old home. There, the bat pony flew inside and travelled through the tunnels leading to the now sealed off chamber that he had once resided in. Many ponies would probably wonder why he would come back to such a dismal place, especially when he now lived in such a nice environment like Sweet Apple Acres. The fact was that despite loving his new home, Rogue sometimes got a little nostalgic for the old one, the one that he had spent years in.

So every now and then, he would come back and remember the good times...though they were few and far between, mainly due to most of them being him fighting something trying to take his tree. He was just gonna go to the entrance, stare at it for a bit before leaving for home.

But this time...something was different.

As Rogue got closer, his sensitive ears suddenly picked up on an unusual sound: Crying. This made him blink, leaning in and listened in, realizing the sound was coming from the same direction he was heading. Slowly, he trotted down the tunnel until he reached a corner.

He the poked his head out at the pile of rubble that blocked his old cave...only to see somepony in front of it. A pony with wings just like his. "No way."

He had never met another thestral before. He knew Princess Luna used a glamour charm to make the night guards at the castle look like thestrals, but he had never met a real flesh and blood bat pony before. Taking off his shades, he let his eyes pierce the darkness. He stared at the being, only to realize it was female. She mixed into the darkness well, Rogue seeing her coat was a light brown color, though she had white around her mouth and on the tips over her hooves. She had a saddlebag on her back and had a cutie mark that was a bunch of different plants.

Rogue stepped out from behind the corner at this, his body moving without his thought as he drew closer to the crying thestral. But as he did this, his hoof tapped a pebble, the sound echoing through the tunnel. The bat pony gasped and spun around, locking eyes with Rogue. They went wide and she gasped again, Rogue now seeing she was an older mare, but before he could say anything, she bolted. "Wait!" He cried as she flew away, Rogue taking flight as well.

But as he followed, the mare quickly zipped into a nearby small tunnel, Rogue soon finding he couldn't follow her completely. His large wings could not extend, unable to keep full speed as the mare's smaller wings quickly sped away.

"Wait! I just wanna talk to you!" He yelled, but the mare didn't reply and kept flying further away. And as she did this, she turned a corner...and disappeared. Rogue cut the corner, only to see it led into an area with several tunnels. He spotted no sign of her, the bat pony frowning before letting out a sonic blast.

The sound flew through all the tunnels and Rogue closed his eyes, his ears flicking as he waited for the echo location to return. But when it did...it came back with nothing. "No," he sighed, slumping to the floor, "My one chance to learn about my kind."

And as he leaned over, he went wide-eyed as he saw something on the floor: A black hairbrush.

Rogue blinked at the item and picked it up, "Did she drop this?" He stared at it for a moment, only to fly away with a long sigh. And as he left, a part of the wall fell away to reveal itself to be a large rock, which covered a hole in the wall, which the female thestral stepped out of.

She moved over to the tunnel Rogue had flown down, tears appearing her eyes, "My baby."

Back at Sweet Apple Acres..

Twilight, Applejack, Mac and Rainbow had just finished getting the last of the apples into the cellar, only for the weather ponies to get done with the rain clouds. "Well, that's the last of 'em," Applejack told the others before shutting the cellar door, only for Apple Bloom to walk up to them.

"Sis!" She called out, "Granny Smith just finished some apple crumble and wanted to know if your friends want any." Everypony that heard that licked their lips, Big Mac drooling at this.

"Ya'll want some?" She asked, getting eager nods from Twilight and Rainbow. They all quickly headed for the farmhouse, getting in as the rain began to fall. Once inside, they found four bowls of steaming hot crumble with a scoop of ice cream on top.

"Here yah go youngins'," Granny Smith chuckled as the four sat around the table and began to eat. A minute or so into their meal, the door opened and a very wet bat pony stepped inside.

"Rogue!" Applejack yelped, "What are yah doin' out in the rain?"

"I didn't know it was scheduled to rain today," the thestral replied, Granny walking up and giving him a towel. The bat pony thanked her and dried himself off as he put the brush down on a nearby drawer.

Twilight blinked at the item, raising an eyerbow as she noticed the girly flower designs etched into the wood. "What's with the brush?" She turned to him, "You got something to tell us?"

Rogue rolled his eyes as he finished mopping his mane and tail. "It's not mine." He responded, "I...got a very weird story to tell you all."

One explanation later...

"Another thestral?" Twilight asked, Rogue nodding as he pointed to the brush.

"That's probably hers'. She dropped it when she rushed off." He huffed, placing his chin on the ground. As he did, Granny placed an apple crumble in front of him, a special one she made with one of his golden apples. "I can't believe I let her get away." He picked up a spoon and started digging in. "My one chance to find out about my race and I let her get away."

"Are you sure she could tell you anything?" Apple Bloom asked, "She might be like you. A bat pony without a home...you know, until now that is."

"Maybe," Rogue sighed, "But maybe she was from the same tribe I came from...if I even have a tribe." He stared down at his dessert, using his spoon to push it around. "I just wanna know where I come from. Why I was left in that cave and why I was don't remember anything before I woke up there." Everypony frowned at this, only to see him push the crumble away. "I'm not hungry." He mumbled before getting up, "I'm gonna go take a shower and have a nap."

They all nodded as he left the room, Rainbow saying, "Poor guy." once he was out of earshot.

"It must be hard for him," Twilight nodded, "Not knowing anything about who you are and where you came from. I'm sure Flash can understand that more than anypony. I remember how hard it was for him to not know about his past."

Applejack sat back, "Ah wish there was a way ta help him find out where he came from." Twilight nodded, then turned to the hairbrush...only for a bulb to go off in her head.

Three days later...

It was another beautiful day in Ponyville, completely different from the dark cloudy skies that had been over the town for the last few days. And on the road to Twilight's castle, Applejack and Rogue were trotting along the trail. "Why are we going to the castle?" The bat pony asked, yawning as Applejack had just pulled him out of the barn as soon as he had woken up. "Don't tell me Twilight's planning on planting apple trees behind it."

"Nope," Applejack chuckled as they reached the crystal construct. "She's got a special surprise just for you." She knocked on the door and a minute later, it opened to show a smiling Flash.

"Hey there!" he waved, "You're just in time! They're about to start."

"Start what?" Rogue asked, but the ponies didn't reply. They just told him to follow as they made their way through the castle until they reached the library. Pushing the doors open, they found Twilight, Starlight and Soul standing around a table with something on top of it: The hairbrush he had found. "I wondered where that had gotten too."

"You girls ready?" Twilight asked, the pair nodding before lighting their horns. They all closed their eyes and concentrated, Rogue about to ask what they were doing until Flash held his wing to his mouth to make a shushing motion. They watched as the alicorns fired a blast of magic that struck the brush.

The cleaning instrument hovered off the ground and began spinning around and around, moving faster by the second as the alicorns kept blasting it. Then there was a bright flash of light that filled the library and blinded everypony in it. And when the light faded, they glanced back and saw the girls had stopped blasting the brush. It continued to float, but slowly lowered itself until it hovered just above the table. Twilight reached out and pushed the brush so it spun ninety degrees, but when she pulled her hoof back, the brush spun so it was pointing in the same direction as before. "It worked."

"What worked?" Rogue asked, "What did you do?"

"We managed to cast a special spell on the brush," Twilight gestured for him to come closer, "This spell is designed to allow for an object to locate its own. It acts like a compass, pointing in the direction the owner's in."

"Seriously?!" Rogue gasped, getting a nod from her. "How does that work?!"

"It's a concept similar to Springer's aura tracking. If somepony uses something a lot and only them, they form a spiritual attachment to the item. Think of it like a string connecting the two. The spell connects to that string and allows the item to point in its direction." She tapped the brush at this, "Though the spell only has a radius of a mile, but the three of us together were able to supercharge it."

"So as long as I have this, I can find that bat pony from before?" They nodded. "That's great! I can finally find them and maybe even meet more just like me!"

"That's the idea," Flash chimed in. "But you're not going alone."

Rogue raised an eyebrow as Applejack stepped up next to him. "Ah'm gonna go with yah."

"Me too," Twilight added, "This'll be a great way to learn more about bat pony culture."

Flash tapped the blade at his side, "And I'm coming just in case things get dicey."

Rogue went wide-eyed at this before saying, "Wow...thank you so much. I really appreciate this."

"No problem," Flash replied before turning to Twilight, "Though uh...do we need to hurry? I'm guessing even supercharging might not be enough if that bat pony gets too far."

"You're right, but the spell should last." Twilight replied before she gestured to Flash to get his and her's things before they teleported back to Sweet Apple Acres.

As it turned out, the other Apples had already packed their bags. Plenty of golden apples were stored in Rogue's saddlebag, the bat pony thanking them. Once ready, Twilight teleported them six miles in the direction the brush was pointing. Since it didn't change direction on the other side, they knew they hadn't overshot. And so, the four began their journey across the lands, the brush continuing to point them in the same direction, shifting only a few degrees left or right every now and then. They spent the entire day trekking through Equestria, happy that they hadn't run into any serious obstacles.

The biggest was a large lake, but the three fliers were able to carry Applejack over the body of water without issue. It wasn't long after that that the sun began to set, the four travelers setting up a temporary campsite for the night. Later, as the moon shined brightly in the sky, Rogue was haning in a nearby tree, unable to get to sleep. Applejack was snoozing below him while Flash and Twilight slept together on the other side of the fire.

The thestral's wings twitched, uncovering themselves from around him as he let out a sigh and opened his eyes. "Can't sleep?" He looked down and saw Applejack laying on her back, staring up at him.

"Yeah," he sighed, "Being up at night ain't natural for me."

"Yeah. But travellin' around in the dark ain't great either." Rogue nodded back, "This ain't just about it bein' nighttime, is it?"

Rogue glanced away at this, "I...I guess I'm just nervous." He swung himself back and forth until he swung up all the way onto the branch before starting up at the stars. "I mean...what if I find out something that I won't like? Like...what if I was left at that tree for a reason?"

Applejack got out of her sleeping bag and climbed up the tree until she was on the same branch Rogue was on, soon staring at the stars with him, "You were left at that tree because those golden apples were the only thing that could stop you from dying."

"Yeah...but why was I left there? Somepony must have took me there or...something. Why didn't they stay behind? Did I do something bad and they...you konw, banished me to that cave with no memory?"

"No way," Applejack shook her head, "Yer no criminal. Well...yah stole mah apples, but that was understandable. I know yer not a bad pony."

"Maybe now," Rogue replied, "Who knows what I was like before I lost my memory. I could have been a jerk who hurt tons of ponies or did who knows what! What if I find this mare and a lot of other thestrals and discover I'm the worst pony imaginable?!"

Applejack just closed her eyes and put a hoof on his shoulder. "If that's the truth, ya'll do whatever yah can ta make it right. What happened in yer past don't matter. It's what yah do in dah here and now that counts. And yah've shown everypony in Ponyville you can be a kind honest pony that they can rely on."

Rogue smiled at this, looking up at her. The two locked eyes and stared at one another, not looking away for a long while. Applejack then felt herself moving closer to him, her body acting on its own. But as she did this, they both heard something. A creaking sound coming from the branch they were on.

And before they could react, a loud snapping sound filled the air and the pair found themselves falling toward the ground. They cried out as they hit the dirt, the sound waking Flash and Twilight. "Whoa! What's going on?!" Flash yelped as the pair glanced around, then saw Applejack and Rogue sitting up and moaning. "You two okay?"

The two turned to one another and blushed before sliding away, "We're fine!" They said an unison, Flash and Twilight raising an eyebrow at this.

The next morning...

After everypony had gotten a good night's sleep, the four continued their quest. They followed the brush's compass-like lead through a thick forest, finding animals no bigger than a bunny living within. "How much further do you think it is?" Rogue asked, getting antsy as they kept marching through the unknown.

"Who knows," Twilight replied, "For all we know, the mare's still on the move as well. It could be a long time before we catch up with her."

Rogue sighed at this, only for the group to enter a clearing that went to a cliff going up around twenty to thirty meters, the trees forming a semicircle clearing around it. The sound of rushing water filled their ears and they turned to see a waterfall in the center of the cliff, flowing down into a large pool at the bottom. The quartet entered the clearing and moved up to the pool, happy to see it since they were starting to run low on water. They filled up their water-bottles using the waterfall while Twilight stared at the brush as it floated on the ground, then up at the top of the cliff. "Maybe...they're up there?"

"You think so?" Flash asked, Twilight shrugging.

"It's possible. This would be a really good place for a town or village. The forest isn't full of deadly animals, so getting food there wouldn't be hard, and this flowing water would be usual for a settlement."

Rogue smiled at this and shot into the air, "Then let's go!" Flash and Twilight grabbed Applejack and lifted her up, the four making their way to the top. Rogue was first, glancing around until the sight before him made his smile fade. There was nothing on top, no sign sof a town, village or a single shack.

Twilight placed a hoof on Rogue's shoulder, "I'm sorry."

"No," Rogue shook his head, "It's fine. I shouldn't have gotten so eager."

Twilight wanted to reply, only to turn to the brush...and saw it point somewhere new. It was still pointing in the same angle it had before, but this time the tip pointed straight toward the ground. "What?" She blinked, the others seeing this as well.

"Why's it doing that?" Applejack asked. "Did she somehow get under us?"

Flash tilted his head at this, "Huh? Is she underground?"

Twilight's eyes went wide as she heard those words, "Of course," she slammed her hoof into her head, "Stupid! I can't believe I didn't realize that!"

"Realize what?" Rogue asked, Twilight picking up the brush before glancing around.

"Isn't it obvious? She's a bat pony. One of the few things known about bat ponies is that they're cave dwellers. Like how pegasi live mostly in clouds, they live mostly in caves." She patted the ground beneath them, "The owner is somewhere beneath our hooves...which means this cliff must be hollow!"

"So she is underground." Flash added before looking back at the cliff. "Hmm..."

"Well, if she's under us, can't yah just magic us inside?" Applejack asked next, only for Twilight to shake her head.

"No. If I don't know what's waiting for us under there, I can't teleport us in safely. I could end up sticking one of us halfway through a wall or something." Applejack grimaced at this, only to turn and see Flash walk over to the river leading to the waterfall.

Looking over the side, he stared at the pool, "That water's blasting in, but it's not overflowing..."

"Flash?" he looked back at Twilight, "You find something?"

"Maybe." He responded, "Only one way to find out." He jumped onto his back hooves and tipped backwards, the others going wide-eyed as he fell over the edge.

"FLASH!" They yelped, rushing to the edge and looking down to see Flash fall into the pool. And before Twilight could grab him in her magic, he hit the water and disappeared beneath. They waited...and waited...and waited, but Flash didn't resurface.

After a full minute of nothing happening, Twilight went wide-eyed, "Wait...could it be that?" She turned to the others, "Come on." She dove off the edge next, Rogue and Applejack gasping as she hit the water and disappeared as well. Seeing this, they chose to put their faith in their friends and leaped over the edge as well.

Both fell towards the water, fearing they might break something when they crashed through it...only to hit the liquid and find...nothing. No bottom, as the pool was a lot deeper than they thought. They slowed to a stop near the bottom, only to see an underwater cave sucking up the water just as quickly as it was being fed by the waterfall. The current grabbed the pair, and they just had enough time to get a good hold of their bags, hat and shades before they were pulled inside.

They then were yanked into a tunnel that doubled as a water slide, the two ponies wanting to scream but fearing they would drown if they did so. They zipped left, right and down a few times, only to shoot out of a tunnel into midair. But before either of them could begin to fall, they glowed purple and stopped. They looked down and saw the water from the tunnel fell into a small river, which flowed through the cavern they were in. And when they saw the caver, they gasped.

It was almost as large as Ponyville and was around fifty meters high. Large pillars filled the cavern, which had spiraling ramps going from the floor to the roof, and holes every few meters up. But the most amazing thing of note was the stone building that made up a large town. Some were single stories, others had two or three levels, and in the center was a large building that Rogue could only assume was some kind of town hall. Every building, pillar and the roof itself were embedded with strange crystals that let out a gentle glow. One crystal wasn't bright enough to light the cavern, but thousands of crystals together were able to give the cavern enough light for Rogue to see perfectly without his shades.

And flying around this town, many bat ponies of differing shapes, sizes and colors could be seen. Flash and Twilight flew up next to them, Twilight's magic holding the two up. She let Rogue go and he started flying on his own, though he was too focused on the town to really hear on what they were saying. "This is it," he whispered. "This must be where I come from."

"Maybe," Flash chimed in, "But how did you end up getting from here to Ponyville without any memories?" But before they could speculate, they noticed a squadron of bat ponies flying up with weapons. "We got company." He flew to the front of the group as the thestrals arrived and pointed their spears at them.

"Halt!" The lead pony called out, Flash trying to make out his features in the dim light. Flash could almost mistake him for a zebra, having a black coat with peach colored stripes adorning his body. His mouth was entirely peach colored, and he had blood red eyes while also wearing purple armor that Flash would almost mistake for a royal guard's uniform. "You are trespassing on our lands! State your purpose here!"

"Please wait!" Twilight flew up, the thestrals raising an eyebrow until they noticed she was an alicorn. "We're not here to cause trouble. We've come to find somepony and return something."

The lead thestral stared at her for a moment, only to turn to Rogue and glare at the batpony, "Oh? And why is he with you?!" He hissed, making the group go wide-eyed.

"Do you know him?" Twilight asked.

"No, but he's not a part of this cloud. And any thestral from another cloud is considered an enemy."

"That's kind of dumb." Flash chimed in, "For all you know, we could have come to warn you of some kind of attack. Considering us an enemy before even knowing us isn't exactly smart." The thestrals glared at him, their eyes shifting to the sword on his back.

"Foxhelm!" One of the guards turned to the leader, "What do we do with them?" The thestral glared back at the group, Rogue flinching at the stare.

"We'll take them to my father. He'll decide what to do with them." The guards nodded and surrounded the newcomers, pointing their spears at them to get the four to follow Foxhelm as he flew off. They soon flew after the guard over the underground city, soon seeing the many bat ponies staring up at them. And whenever a young bat pony locked eyes with them, they quickly leapt behind a wall or into a house to hide.

Eventually, they reached the town-hall building and Foxhelm gestured for them to land. And as they did this, the ponies saw that the large stone building only had a curtain for a door. "Wait here." Foxhelm told them before heading inside, the four sharing glances before he returned a few minutes later. "My father will see you."

They soon walked inside, now seeing the inside was not much different from the outside. It was the same stony appearance, with very little comfort. Wooden chairs and tables filled the large hall, while a large stone stage could be seen at the back of the room. It looked more like a bar than a town hall. Foxhelm pointed them to a curtain door to the right of the stage, the group heading over there. And when they stepped past the curtain, they found themselves in a smaller room with a single stone table in the middle.

Sitting behind it was a thestral that looked like Foxhelm, though his stripes were gray instead of peach. He eyed the first three ponies with a slow stare, only to gasp when he saw Rogue. "Nightscreech!" He hissed before pointing at him, "Arrest him!" Barely a second after saying that, Foxhelm attempted to grab Rogue.

"Whoa!" The thestral leapt away and Flash jumped in front of him, pulling out his sword.

"Back off!" He yelled, Applejack putting her hoof in front of Rogue at this.

"Hold on!" Twilight called out, putting up a magic barrier around her and her friends. "Let's calm down! We didn't come to fight!"

"You brought that thing here!" The older thestral growled, pointing at Rogue. "You dare dishonor us by returning what should never have existed?!" Rogue grimaced at this, his eyes shrinking at those words, "Who do you think you are, coming in here and bringing him with you?!"

Twilight glared back at him at this, "I am Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship and a ruler of Equestria." She didn't like using her title like this, but the situation definitely called for it as she continued, "And even though this is your land, it's situated inside Equestria, which means you must obey my orders. We are here for answers, as our friend here does not know his origins, and we mean to find out."

The older thestral glared at her, the two staring at each other before he gestured to Foxhelm, the batpony nodding and stepping back. Twilight's sighed in relief before carefully dropping the shield, only to stare at the thestral leader. "Good. Now, maybe we can talk like civilized ponies?"

"There's nothing to talk about," he hissed before pointing at Rogue. "That useless bat shouldn't even be alive right now! I knew banishing you wasn't enough. Of course you'd come back!"

Rogue shrunk back at this, now feeling Applejack pat his shoulder as she glared at the thestral. As this happened, Twilight walked in front of them, "And can I ask why he was banished? Has he committed some kind of crime?"

"I don't need to explain myself to you. I deemed him worthless, and any bat pony deemed so is nothing but a plague on our cloud!" He hissed at Rogue before slamming his hoof on the table, "Mark my words. Once your friends leave, I'll deal with you the way we should have from the start!"

"Ya'll think we're gonna leave him here with you?" Applejack yelled, the thestral now glaring at her. "No way. We came here because we wanted Rogue to learn where he came from. Now ah'm starting to think he was better off without yah."

"You dare?!" He began to yell, only to turn to Twilight, "You are the princess, so I can't do anything to you." He then pointed at Rogue, "But he must leave this place and never return. He was banished, and I will not allow him to stay any longer than he should be."

Twilight glared at him, opening her mouth before-

"Fine," they turned to Rogue as he walked past Applejack, "It's clear I'm not welcome here, so I'll leave as soon as I do what I came here to do." With that, he pushed past Foxhelm and left the room.

"Rogue!" Applejack yelped as she ran after him, Flash soon following. Twilight gave the thestral leader one final glare before turning to leave as well. And as they did this, Foxhelm turned back to his father.

"Was that really necessary?"

The older bat pony leaned back in his chair. "When you take over, you'll need to learn how to make the best decisions for the cloud. What I did and what I must do, I do to protect our race. With so few of us left, we cannot allow ourselves to have any weakness. Especially with something as cursed as him."

Back outside, Rogue ran out of the hall, his eyes clenching as he fought back tears. And as he kept running, a certain pony was sprinting after him, "Rogue!" Applejack called out, Rogue slowly stopping until she reached him and put a hoof on his shoulder, "Ah...ah'm sorry about what happened."

"We all are," Twilight added as she and Flash walked up as well.

"Who does that jerk think he is?!" Flash growled, "Saying Rogue shouldn't even be alive...he should be-"

"Just forget it," Rogue interrupted, "Let's just return that brush and get out of here." He started trotting off, "It's clear I'm not welcome."

The others shared a glance before sighing, Twilight taking out the brush and using it to locate the pony Rogue had seen. They soon found themselves moving closer to the way in, the group wondering how they were supposed to leave since that current only appeared to go one way. And as they travelled through the town, the thestrals all ran away, hiding from the four. They were all different dark colors, making them perfect creatures of the night. Many were black or dark blue, but some were dark green, gray, dark red and many others.

Eventually, they arrived at a two-story house that looked almost rundown. Its walls were covered in cracks, and the curtains that made up the door and window were tattered. The brush pointed right at it, meaning the owner was inside. "Here goes nothing," Rogue sighed before taking the brush, took a deep breath, and knocked on the wall...but had no response. "Hello?" He asked, deciding to open the curtain and look inside. Doing so, his nose was assaulted by many weird smells.

He then slowly walked in, only to find it wasn't a house, but a store. It was full of shelves that had many jars full of different plants and berries, with a wooden counter at the back with another curtain leading into the back room. The others stepped inside, Rogue moving up to the counter and noticing a bell.

He rang it, only for a female voice to call out, "I'll be out in a moment." A few seconds later, somepony walked out from behind the curtain, and when she and Rogue locked eyes, they both gasped.

It was the mare Rogue had seen before, the older thestral with the brown coat. She covered her mouth with her hooves, the others turning to her as she looked Rogue up and down. "You...you're here." She looked ready to start crying as she slowly walked around the counter. "Look at you. You've grown so much." She slowly reached out to place a hoof on his cheek, but stopped halfway. "You...you shouldn't be here. But you are and..." She finally touched his cheek, "You've come back."

Rogue blinked at her, raising an eyebrow as he slowly pulled his head away from her hoof, "Should I...know you?"

This made the mare flinch and glance away, "You should...but you don't because of me." She turned back to him, "But a mother can never forget her child." Hearing those words, Rogue's heart stopped as his friends stared at the mare as if she had just grown a second head. "Oh Nightscreech."

"That's not my name," he instantly replied, "My name is Rogue."

The mare went wide-eyed at this, only to sigh, "Of course you would take another name."

"Another name? What do you mean?"

The question made the mare shake, putting a hoof to her mouth as she responded, "I...well...you see...your name was Nightscreech. You once lived here, in this store, with me. I raised you right here, with love and care."

Rogue went wide-eyed at this, only for Applejack to walk in front of Rogue with a snarl, "Oh yeah?! If ya'll loved him so much, why'd yah leave him in that cave?! Yah said it was because of you that he can't remember, so yah obviously did something ta him that made him forget. Is that somethin yah do ta those yah love around here?!"

She flinched at the mare, only to look away as Rogue continued to stare at her. She took a deep breath and whispered, "Why don't we discuss this in the back room? I can make you all some tea and we can talk properly." She didn't give them time to answer as she zipped into the back room, the others following suit and they found themselves in a little kitchen with a wooden table that was only a few inches high off the ground.

They all sat around it, there being no chairs, while the mare prepared some tea. As it turned out, her name was Echo and she apparently worked as a herbal remedist for the cloud.

"Here," she placed the cups down on the table, "I'm sure you're all tired from your long trip. This tea is made using plants that have a re-energizing effect." They stared at the green liquid, Flash taking a sip first before going wide-eyed.

"Wow," he gasped, "This is great." The others took a sip and realised he was right, all soon drinking and feeling re-energized as they did so. Echo smiled as she sipped her own tea. "So what's the deal?" Flash asked once his tea was half down, "Why did you abandon Rogue?"

"And why don't I remember anything?"

Echo's smile vanished as she sat back. "I'm sorry. I didn't have a choice." The others's eyes narrowed at this, "It's the way of the cloud. If somepony is deemed worthless, they're not welcome here. Our leader Fangpire, is judge, jury and executioner. If he decides a thestral is a strain on the cloud, he gets rid of them."

"That's horrible," Twilight whispered, "And...and illegal. I can't believe something like this is happening in Equestria and the princesses don't know about it!"

Echo shook her head, "Fangpire likes it like that. His family has led this cloud for three generations. Ever since his grandfather came to the cloud from the outside and challenged the leader of the time. He won, and his descendants have been the cloud's leading body ever since. And when they decide something, nopony can refuse."

"So...he just decided to get rid of me?" Rogue asked, Echo nodding.

"I was just a young mare when I had you. Your father..." She let out a dreamy sigh, "He was so...wonderful." She glanced away next, Rogue seeing a frown appear on her face again, "He...he died in an accident when you were just a baby." The others grimaced at this, only for her to continue, "I raised you on my own, and everything...was amazing. Especially when we discovered you had inherited my family's ability." They raised an eyebrow at this. "You have the ability to unleash a high pitched sonic blast, one so powerful it could possibly cause this entire cavern to collapse." Rogue nodded, knowing this. "That's not a trait exclusive to you. I have it. So did my father, and his father and many more."

"So it's genetic," Twilight added.

Echo nodded. "Once, there were many members of this cloud with that ability. It's what allowed us to survive for so long. Centuries ago, our cloud didn't always live in caves. In fact, we were some of the most respected creatures in Equestria. Or...at least ponies feared us enough to show respect." This caused them to raise an eyebrow again, "Our cloud once served a princess of the night. Acting as her guardians and the peacekeepers whenever the sun went down."

"You were night guards?" Flash asked, Echo nodding again. Flash had heard about thestrals once being guards under Celestia and Luna. He also knew that when Nightmare Moon was banished, the thestral guards vanished into thin air and required Celestia and Luna to use a glamour charm on the night guards to keep up the tradition.

"Yes. The story goes that after the night princess vanished, the ponies of Equestria began to turn against us. They believed that any creature that chooses to live at nighttime did not deserve respect. They forced us out and we had to run."

This made them all glance at each other, Applejack saying, "Ponies wouldn't do that."

"Maybe not now," Flash replied, "But things were a lot different a thousand years ago. The ponies lived by the sun and anything that didn't sleep at night probably wanted to eat the things that did."

Twilight grimaced at this, "If this happened right after Nightmare Moon's banishment, Celestia must have been so heartbroken taht she wasn't able to tell it was happening to the thestrals. By the time she recovered...they probably left and she had no idea where they went."

Echo nodded again. "We lived in fear for a long time, but eventually we found this place and made it our home. We used our sonic blasts to carve the cavern you see here and make it our home. But since then, we've hidden away. We leave only at night, where we search the forest for food and supplies. It wasn't easy, but we survive." She let out a sigh at this, "However, as time went on, our cloud found ourselves losing the sonic blast power. Thestrals were being born without the power. First it was one in ten being born without it. Then one in three. Now...I am one of only three bat ponies able to wield this power."

"And I'm one of them?" Rogue asked, Echo nodding.

"Fangpire was so happy when he learned you had this power...but then we discovered something was wrong with you."

"My venom."

"Yes. Ponies with the sonic blast ability don't have as powerful venom, something that developed to become more potent when they lost it, but it's still strong enough to cause serious harm. And when we discovered your venom was somehow being forced into your blood, everything went downhill."

"So...you just abandoned me?" Rogue glared, Echo shaking her head.

"No...not at first. We knew you would eventually become immune to the poison, so I started treating you with a special concoction that nullified poison. And at first, it appeared to work. But the ingredients needed to make it were hard to find, and I could barely keep up with acquiring them. And as you got older, your venom grew stronger and you needed more powerful doses. And eventually...Fangpire decided you were too much of a burden to keep around."

"That's horrible," Twilight whispered, "Because of something Rogue couldn't control, he decided to just get rid of him?!"

"It's...not as simple as that. Night...Rogue on his own wasn't so bad. But if he got older and had a family..." She frowned at her son, "This is a genetic disorder that you have. One you'll likely pass down to your children if you ever have any. Imagine if you had three children with that disorder. And even if they survived to adulthood, they could have children with the same issues. Fangpire believed that if you survived, your genetic disorder would end up...polluting the cloud's bloodline."

"So he tried to get rid of me," Rogue growled.

Echo slowly nodded. "I knew I couldn't let him do anything to you, so I came up with a plan." She got up and moved over to a nearby shelf and pulled out a book, showing it to them that it was a book of legends. "I had grown up hearing stories of the golden apple tree, located in Canterlot, its fruit having the magical power to nullify all toxins. I planned to take you there and leave you in the care of the ponies there. I hoped that the day-walkers would be willing to help...but Fangpire didn't like the idea of trusting them with the knowledge of us existing."

"Not too trusting, is he?" Flash asked with crossed hooves, Echo sighing.

"Yes. I knew he wouldn't allow anypony that knew of us to leave the cloud, so I came up with a plan." She sat back down, "I knew of a potion with the power to completely wipe the drinker's memory. It wasn't easy to make, but I knew it was the only way to save you. Once it was created, I took you out of the cloud and escaped, heading for Canterlot. You thought we were going on a vacation, but the truth was, we were searching for a new home for you."

"So...you tried to take me to Canterlot?" Rogue continued, Echo nodding.

"But Fangpire realized what I was doing and sent soldiers out after us. They caught up to us as we reached the rocky area you know well. I tried to hide from them in the caves, but they found us and I went deeper and deeper. That's when I found the tree. Imagine my surprise when I found one right there."

"What did the others do when they found you?" Applejack asked.

"They were just as amazed as I was. But they didn't forget why they were there and tried to...end your suffering." Rogue flinched at this, "But I...I managed to convince them that my plan would work. I gave you a golden apple, and when you ate it, the pain you were in at the time stopped. I realized this tree could work. I gave you the memory potion and when you blacked out, I left with the others."

"You left him?!" Applejack yelled, "Just like that?!"

"I had no choice," Echo replied, tears pouring down her eyes now, the sight making Applejack flinch, "I...I was the last member of our cloud with the sonic blast. Fangpire would never allow me to stay with him if it meant the cloud lost its greatest weapon." She turned to Rogue, "If I didn't leave you, Fangpire would have dragged me away and made sure I couldn't return to you...by taking you out of the equation." More tears streamed down her face as she said, "I'm sorry...I'm so sorry. Leaving you behind like that was the hardest thing I ever had to do. But I had too."

Rogue stared at her, the other three glancing between the two, not making a sound. As for the bat pony, his mind suddenly went back to when he heard about Flash's story from his parents. From the sounds of it, Echo had more reason to abandon him than Flash's parents and he had forgiven them. "I understand," he nodded before glancing away, "I...I might have a hard time accepting what you did...but I understand."

"We all can," Twilight chimed in, "I know it must have been hard for you to do what you did. I can't imagine leaving your child behind and being all alone for so long."

"Well..." Echo sighed again, "I wouldn't say I've been entirely alone."

They all blinked at this, only to hear another voice call out from the store. "Mom?" They turned to the curtain just as it was pulled aside to reveal a young thestral. His body was entirely black, but he had the same white around his mouth and on his hooves as Echo. His mane and tail were a combo of blue and red, while his cutie mark was a strange sun shape. The thestral lookd up at them and raised an eyebrow. "Mom? Who are they?"

"Banshee," Echo got up and moved over to him. "I'm glad you're home. I have somepony I need to introduce you to." She turned to Rogue, "This is your older brother." The thestrals went wide-eyed as they stared at one another, "Rogue, this is Banshee. My son." The siblings stared at one another for several long seconds, Rogue in utter bewilderment and Banshee, though shocked at first, smiled at him.

"You...had another kid?"

"Not...exactly by choice," Echo replied before hugging her younger child. "But I still love him."

Banshee stepped up to Rogue, "Hi there!" He held up a hoof, "I've always wanted to meet you."

"You...know about me?" Rogue asked, taking the hoof and shaking it.

"Yeah! Mom told me all about you." He frowned at his next words, "And what Fangpire made her do to you." He then smiled again before pulling Rogue into a hug. "I'm so glad you're actually here!" Rogue went stiff at this, barely moving before patting the pony on the head.

"It's...nice to meet you too."

Twilight turned to Echo, "What do you mean you didn't have a choice?" Echo grimaced at this, Twilight flinching at her response before she added, "Wait...were you...forced? Did Fangpire...make you do something you didn't want?"

Echo rubbed her hoof as she slowly replied, "He didn't exactly...force me. More...pressured me. As soon as I returned from leaving Rogue, he told me I needed to pass my power to a real thestral. I'm lucky he even let me pick my partner."

"Partner?" Rogue asked as Banshee stopped hugging him.

"My dad," he explained, "He and mom aren't...together, but they both treat me really good."

Echo slowly nodded as the others grimaced, "Forcing somepony to give birth because of something like this," Twilight whispered, "It's...despicable."

"It's even worse than you think," Echo added, "As a mare, I can only have one child at a time. But as a stallion...Banshee can have several children at once. Once he's old enough, I'm sure Fangpire has intentions for him to pass on his sonic blast to as much of the next generation as possible."

Their eyes went wide at this, Banshee frowning in response. Seeing this, Rogue felt something flow through him. Anger, the likes of which he had never felt before. But before he could say anything, Echo changed the subject. "Enough about us. What about you?" Rogue tilted his head at this, "I know the cave was destroyed and...I couldn't take it anymore. I had to be sure you were okay. I went to check on you, but...then I feared the worst until I saw you."

Rogue turned to Applejack, the mare nodding before he began to tell her everything that had happened since waking up in that cave. The years he spent alone, defending the tree, the drakeladon's attack and Rogue's meeting with his friends. Them helping him get the apple that they then grew into multiple trees and so much more.

"You've...lived such an amazing life," Echo smiled. "I'm so glad you found ponies to call your friends." Rogue turned to smile at the three, Echo noticing his gaze linger on Applejack.

But before anypony could say anything else, the crystals that lit the room began to grow dimmer. "What's going on?" Twilight asked, using her horn to light the place up.

"It just went eleven AM," Banshee replied before letting out a yawn. "Bedtime." The non-nocturnal ponies all blinked at this, only to realize that to bat ponies, eleven in the morning was like eleven at night.

"I'm sorry," Echo added while yawning, "I've been up since dusk. We're gonna have to pick this up tomorrow, if that's okay."

"I...I don't know," Rogue responded, "Fangpire seemed...pretty upset about me being here. If I'm not gone soon-"

"We're staying," Twilight interrupted, "I intend to have a long conversation with that pony, and you deserve to get to know your family better."

"She's right," Applejack added, "Ta heck with what he said. We're stickin' around and puttin' things the way they should be around here!"

Echo frowned at them, only to see the determined stares on their faces, "Be careful. Fangpire doesn't like when others try to go against him. He'll see you staying here as a threat against his rule."

"Good," Rogue replied before telling them to go to bed. Echo stared at him for a bit, only to go off to sleep while the ponies remained in the kitchen. A few minutes later, Rogue decided to get some air and stepped out into the darkness of the cavern. The lights were dim, but not so dim he couldn't see. He flew up and landed on the house's roof, the thestral staring out at the city. He wondered, if things were different, would he feel some kind of familiarity with this place. A sense of being home.

"I thought you said you were leaving." Rogue looked up and spotted Foxhelm, standing on the roof of a higher building.

"Things change," Rogue replied before seeing the thestral glare at him, making Rogue wave his hoof, "Relax, I don't intend to stay forever. I'll need to leave in a few days to get back home restock my apples."

"Apples?" Foxhelm asked, but then shook his head. "It doesn't matter. You are not welcome here."

"Why?"

"Because my father deemed it so, and those are the rules."

"Then some rules are meant to be broken," Rogue responded, "If the rules stated you had to be blindfolded while cooking over a hot stove, would you do it?!" Foxhelm growled at him, only for Rogue to add, "Look. I just found out I have a mom and a brother. I'm not gonna let you or anypony else stop me from getting to know them properly. So just stay out of my way and I promise I won't cause any problems. And if you do try and get in my way, I have an alicorn and a Royal Knight on my team. I know for a fact an entire squadron of bat ponies couldn't stop them."

Foxhelm glared at him, only to jump off the building and fly away. Rogue smirked at this and continued to stare out at the town, wishing he could join his thestral brethren in sleep at that moment.

Foxhelm returned to the town hall and flew inside, finding his father drinking at the bar. "Well?" He grumbled out.

"He's met with Echo and Banshee. He...intends to stay for a while and get to know them better." He would have said more, but Fangpire shattered the glass in his hoof.

"I knew I shouldn't have let him live."

"Father," Foxhelm squeak out, "We need to be careful. The alicorn-"

"To heck with the alicorn! I am the leader of this cloud, and I will not allow this farce to continue! Tomorrow, I'm dealing with that failure once and for all!"

That night...

The crystals lit up and illuminated the cavern, signaling the thestrals in the cave to awaken. This included Rogue, who had ended up falling asleep on the rooftop, while Flash, Twilight and Applejack had also ended up dozing due to the lack of light and things to do. They all let out a yawn and glanced around, only to remember where they were.

A moment later, they heard movement coming from upstairs and turned to a curtained doorway as Echo and Banshee stepped inside. "Evening everypony," Echo told them, the group about to say morning before realizing it wasn't that. "Would anypony like breakfast?" They nodded as the mare moved over to a cupboard and opened it up. Despite the place looking desolate, the food was in abundance. "Fangpire keeps us well fed," she explained when they asked, "He knows that unless we stay healthy, the scream could end up lost."

"But he doesn't chip in to get this place repaired?!" Flash replied.

"This house is all I own. It's all I have that's mine. I can't afford to buy a new one, and the only way I could get a new house is if I..."

"Marry somepony and have their kids?" Twilight asked, Echo nodding. "That's ridiculous!"

"It's not so bad," Echo sighed, "This house might not look like much, but it's gonna stay standing for a good long while. I don't need anything fancy."

"But you deserve it." They turned to the door, Rogue now walking in, "You don't deserve what they've done to you here. Making you give up your child. Forcing you to have another with somepony you didn't love," he threw Banshee an apologetic look. "All of it. It's not right."

"It's for the good of the cloud," she responded.

"Maybe. But if something needs ponies to suffer in order to survive, then it doesn't deserve to survive."

Echo glanced away at this, slowly replying, "And what would you have us do? Leave?" She waited for answer, only for Rogue to go silent, making her look back at him, "Rogue...where would we go? Thestrals aren't welcome in Equestria."

"Not at all." Twilight chimed in while shaking her head, "What happened a thousand years ago was terrible, but like I said: It was a thousand years ago. Ponies nowadays aren't as scared as they used to be of the dark. I guarantee you would be accepted now."

"Yeah," Flash nodded, "There's plenty of places you could live without issue. Heck, go to Manehatten. That city has just as many nocturnal ponies as this place."

Echo just blinked at their words, only to look down at the floor, "But...but this is the only home I've ever known."

"Can you really call it a home if you have no choices here?" Rogue asked before walking up to her, making her glance up and see a pleading look on his face. "I can keep you safe." He turned to Applejack, "We can take 'em to Sweet Apple Acres, right?"

"Heck yeah!" Applejack nodded, "Ya'll be more than welcome there."

Rogue turned back to his mother, only for her to whisper, "I...I have to think about it." She turned to walk out of the room, the breakfast she had been preparing laying half made on the counter.

The others all shared frowns, Banshee's eyes shifting around until he spoke up, "Um...I'm not sure about it either. I mean, this is all I know too. Even if there's some bad..." Rogue frowned at this, but knew he was right. If he had been given the choice, would he have chosen to live in Ponyville as opposed to his cave?

But before he could answer that mental question-

"ROGUE!" Echo's voice made them gasp before they heard her scream, all running out of the house. But as they did this, they then found themselves surrounded by almost every thestral guard in the city, all dressed in armor with weapons ready.

At the front of the group, Foxhelm and Fangpire glared at them, "Nightscreech!" Fangpire roared, "I have shown you mercy before, but you've shown you can't be trusted! Surrender yourself and your friends will not be hurt!"

The others glared at them, Flash reaching for his blade before Rogue walked in front of him. "Relax Fangpire. You'll never see me again after today. I'm leaving." He glanced back at Echo and Banshee, "And I'm taking my family with me." Every thestral's eyes went wide as Rogue turned back to them. "If you try and stop us, you'll be breaking Equestrian law. Right Twilight?"

The princess nodded. "If you attempt to hold them here for no reason, you'll be charged with kidnapping and wrongful imprisonment." She then decided to overplay her hoof, "All I need to do is send a single mental command and the entire army will be sent here. You can't possibly think you stand a chance against those kinds of odds."

"You dare?!" Fangpire growled.

"Oh, I dare," Rogue hissed, "I'm not gonna let you hurt my family anymore! They're free ponies, not your breeding stock." He glanced back at them, "Go get your things." They nodded and ran inside, only for Fangpire fly down and land in front of them.

"You can't do this! They're our future!"

"Oh, but I can. It's a free country, and if they want to leave, you have no right to stop them."

Fangpire's face became a tomato, growling as he prepared to explode...only to suddenly smile as if Hearts Warming had come early. "I'm gonna give you one last chance to retract that statement before I do something you'll regret."

"You don't scare me," Rogue replied as Echo and Banshee returned with saddlebags of their few belongings.

"Maybe not you, but there is something that'll scare them. I challenge you to...a Grand Duel!" Gasps filled the air, only Rogue and his pony friends not doing so.

"A grand what?"

"A fight," Echo gulped, "A fight to the death, with the winner being allowed to take anything they want from the loser. Including family."

"What?! That's barbaric!" Twilight yelled.

"It's an ancient tradition," Fangpire countered while grinning at the alicorn, "It was created long before we thestrals came here. Your Princess Celestia and Luna often oversaw these duels. They're perfectly legal."

Rogue shook his head, "Well, no thanks. I'd rather not-"

"Careful colt. Refusing a duel means the challenger can still take one thing from you." He looked over at Banshee, Rogue going wide-eyed as Fangpire began to reach for the bat pony. "I think I'll take our future."

"And if I win?" Rogue chimed in, making Fangpire come to a stop.

"You'll take everything from me," Fangpire sighed as he glanced back at him, "My leadership. My possession and anything else you can think of that I can get you." He looked back at Banshee, "But if you refuse-"

"Fine," he hissed as the others ran up to him.

"Rogue," Echo said as she put a hoof on his chest, "Don't do this."

"I have to." He pulled a golden apple out of his bag and bit into it. "It's the only way you all can be free. Besides," he smirked, "This guy's so old I'll probably be able to take him down with a single scream."

The others shared a glance at this, Twilight replying, "I doubt he would have just did this. He must be planning something Rogue."

"She's right." Flash added before giving him his Lightbringer, "Here. You might need more than your scream to win this." Rogue finished off his apple and took the sword, "You won't be able to use the light attacks, but it'll still work as a sword."

Rogue nodded and turned back to Fangpire, only to go wide-eyed when he saw Foxhelm step up. "What are you doing?" He asked, "I thought I was fighting Fangpire."

The leader smirked at this, "Under our laws, any contestant in a Grand Duel may be allowed to have a member of their family sub in for them. So long as the leader of the cloud deems it worthy."

Rogue glared at him, "That's not a breach of power, is it?" He turned to Foxhelm, "So how many of these Grand Duels has he had you fight for him?" Foxhelm didn't answer, but the look on Rogue's face told him it had happened at least a few times.

"The rules are the rules," Foxhelm replied, "I must fight for my father." He pointed his spear at Rogue, "Prepare yourself."

Rogue raised his sword as the thestrals form a circle around them. He then slashed at Foxhelm, only for the armored thestral to pull back before thrusting his spear back and forth. The movement of the weapon made Rogue backpedal, now feeling like the spear were multiple weapons thrusting at him. But the blue and brown bat pony was able to avoid every thrust before leaping back to a safe distance.

"You've got skills," Foxhelm commented, "You're untrained, but you've clearly got experience fighting."

"Yeah," Rogue nodded, "I've had to fight every day since I woke up in that cave without my memory. I could never truly relax because every moment, I was worried something would show up and attack me. But then I met my friends, and I learned that trusting others was the only real way to live." He pointed his sword at Foxhelm, "And you can too. You don't have to hide away down here."

"Of course we do," Foxhelm replied, "We aren't accepted in Equestria."

"I was accepted," Rogue countered, "Without even a moment's hesitation, they opened their world up for me. They've accepted loads of different creatures, all that are just as scary as you think they see us. Dragons, yaks, jakhowls, changelings and so many more." He looked around at the thestrals staring at them, "You don't need to be scared. The ponies can help you."

"He's lying to you!" Fangpire screeched, "Those ponies have tricked him! Made him think he's welcome so that he could trick you into exposing ourselves to the world, so that they can hunt us down and destroy us!" He gestured around, "We're safe here without their help."

"Oh sure," Rogue sighed, "Safe, but forced to do things you don't wanna do." He turned around and yelled at the crowd, "I bet my mother's not the only one that's been forced to give up family or do something they would rather not do!" Every time he locked eyes with somepony, the look on their face told him he was right. "It doesn't have to be this way. You just have to trust the ponies."

"The only things we trust are ourselves," Fangpire yelled, "Foxhelm, finish him!" His son charged and thrusted as Rogue, but Rogue leapt back and took a deep breath. His friends covered their ears as Rogue unleashed a sonic blast, which echoed throughout the cavern and made Foxhelm flinch.

"Augh!" He cried, Rogue then charging as and slashing at Foxhelm, who barely managed to leap to the side to avoid Lightbringer.

"You dare use our cloud's ultimate weapon against us?!" Fangpire growled.

"It's more than just a weapon," Rogue said as Foxhelm tried to hit with his spear again, "It's a part of me. A gift from my mother. A gift you want her and Banshee to just give away without any thought for their choices." He blocked Foxhelm's spear as he said his next words, "I'm not gonna let that happen because of your overblown ego!"

"You know nothing," Foxhelm countered, "Sometimes a leader has to make tough decisions for the good of their subjects."

"You're right," Rogue pushed him away. "But a good leader doesn't make one subject suffer for many others." He leapt up and tried to kick Foxhelm, but the bat pony flared his wings beofre flying away, "They find a way for all to be happy, even if it means giving something up."

"We cannot give up the scream," Foxhelm replied, "Its power is the only thing that will keep us alive."

"That's not true," Twilight chimed in as Rogue flew up and the pair started dueling in the skies. "If the scream is something you evolved to protect yourself, the only reason it would go away is because you're not using it." This made the bat ponies turn to him, raising eyebrows as she turned to Echo and Banshee. "You said you're the last thestrals with this ability. How often do you use it?"

Echo opened her mouth to reply, only to pause before saying, "Um...its been a while. I mean, I've never used it that much. I discovered it when I was a child, and my parents taught me to use it so I wouldn't accidently hurt anypony, but other than that, I hardly use it. In fact...I haven't used it in over...three months."

This statement caused the thestrals to whisper, making Fangpire's eye twitch before Twilight exclaimed, "See?! This is evolution at work! Times are changing! You've outgrown the need for such an attack!"

"Yeah," Flash nodded, "You all have been hiding for so long that the scream's pretty much useless. You're probably better at sneak attacks and other stealthy means of fighting." The others continued to whisper at this, only for Fangpire to slam his hooves in the ground.

"Enough!" Fangpire roared, "Don't let them deceive you! The scream is very important, and will return to us full after a few generations of selective breeding. But for that to happen, Foxhelm, finish that fool!" Foxhelm charged again and Rogue barely managed to avoid his spear thrust before attempting to slash at the armored pony, but missed.

He fired a sonic blast next, though Foxhelm quickly ducked under Rogue before yelling, "Raaah!" He tackled Rogue to the ground and pinned him, his spear staff pushing against his back and wings. "Surrender. I don't want to kill you."

Rogue let out a moan, "Not if it means leaving my family here to be slaves."

"It's for-"

"The good of the cloud," Rogue interrupted, "But are you really helping the cloud? You can't see the future."

"I know," Foxhelm responded, "That's why we have to make the most calculated decisions. I don't want Banshee to have to have multiple children with multiple mares, but we may need to power of the scream one day."

"And what about the rejects?" Rogue groaned before swinging his head back and headbutting Foxhelm in the face. He cried out as Rogue managed to roll off his back and jump to his hooves. "What'll happen to them, huh?" He pointed Lightbringer at Foxhelm, "You kicked me out because of something I couldn't control. You gonna do the same to the colts and fillies that don't fit your perfect view?!"

"If that's what it takes to protect the cloud," Foxhelm replied.

"Oh yeah?! Say that again when it's your family member who has to either be killed or banished with no memory just because their eyes are the wrong color. It's wrong, and if you're not gonna stop it..." He charged and pulled his sword back, "THEN I'LL HAVE TO!"

Foxhelm leapt at him and pulled his spear back, the two reaching each other as they swung their weapons. And as they clashed, both flew past each other. The next thing everypony knew, Rogue and Foxhelm stood back to back with Foxhelm holding his spear forward. Rogue was now weaponless, everypony now seeing Lightbringer suddenly shot down and dug itself into the ground in front of Flash.

Fangpire smiled at this while Rogue spun around, unleashing a sonic blast. But as the attack came, Foxhelm leapt straight up into the air and landed behind Rogue before smacking Rogue in the face with the spear. Rogue cried out as he fell, the world around him spinning. And when it stabilized, he looked up to see his opponent standing over him. He pointed the tip of his spear at Rogue's neck, his friends grimacing as Flash and Applejack prepared to run in. But as they did this, Fangpire let out a cackle. "Good my boy, good. Now...kill him." Foxhelm glanced over at his father, "Kill him now."

"No!" Twilight cried, "You've already won!"

"This is a fight to the death," Fangpire yelled, "It doesn't end until only one competitor is left breathing." He turned back to his son, "Do it."

Rogue stared up at Foxhelm, the pair locking eyes as he continued to dig the tip of his spear into his neck. "You're making a mistake. You don't have to do this." Foxhelm stared at him, his hooves shaking as his eyes flicked over to his father, to Echo, and to the ponies all around them. The thestrals watching looked terrified, while Applejack, Flash and Twilight looked ready to jump in at any moment.

"I...I..."

"DO IT!" Fangpire screamed, "it's for the good of the cloud!" Rogue closed his eyes as Foxhelm pulled the spear back, "DO IT!"

"RAAAAH!" Foxhelm roared as he thrust the spear down, Echo screaming being the last thing Rogue thought he would hear. But...he felt no pain.

He opened his eyes at this, only to see the spear now embedded in the ground besides him. "What...what are you doing?!" Fangpire screeched, Foxhelm turning to him.

"The battle was already won. I won't kill somepony that doesn't deserve it." He pulled his spear out and pointed it toward Fangpire. "Rogue is right. Your ways have no more use for us." Fangpire went wide-eyed at this, only for his son to conitnue, "I'll admit, they worked for a while, but times have changed. The cloud can no longer hide away down here." He looked around at the rest of the thestrals, "It's time we stepped out of the darkness! To show Equestria the bat ponies are back and will not be ignored anymore!" His outcry was met with applause, the rest of the thestrals cheering in agreement. Foxhelm then turned to Fangpire. "Your time as leader is through. You can either stay and accept the cloud will no longer hide, or leave and sulk away from the world be yourself."

The thestrals turned to Fangpire, all glaring at the bat pony. Fangpire's eyes darted around, now seeing no help around him. And seeing no option, he flared his wings and leapt at Foxhelm's spear and pulled it out before charging at Rogue, "I'll end you myself!" But before he could strike, Echo and Banshee appeared between them.

Both bat ponies took a deep breath, Fanpire yelping, "NO!" before they unleashed a sonic blast. The attack made everypony cover their ears as the older thestral was blasted back, his hooves trying to cover his ears, but it was too late.

"AAAAAHHHHH!" He cried as he was flung into a wall, falling over a seond later.

"That'll leave a ringing in his ears," Flash joked as the other thestrals laughed. Foxhelm ordered some guards to take his father away, the rest of the thestrals cheering as he left.

Foxhelm then turned to Rogue, offering a hoof to help him up as Rogue said, "Thank you."

"You're right," Foxhelm nodded. "We can't stay hidden forever. Especially when it forces our citizens to suffer." As he said that, Echo ran over and hugged Rogue. She looked close to tears, Banshee stepping up and doing the same thing. "From now on, nopony will have to do anything they don't want too. We'll find a way to survive, even if it means the scream will one day be lost."

Twilight stepped up to him. "Foxhelm, I promise Equestria will help you." She gestured to the place around them, "This is an amazing place. I can understand if you'd want to stay here." She turned to the rest of the cave, "But if anypony wishes to see the outside world, then we can help you find a place that'll welcome you wholeheartedly."

"Princess Luna will probably wanna meet you guys," Flash added, "If anypony wants, she'd be happy to hire you into the night guard." This statement got the thestrals murmuring, many remembering the stories they had heard of their ancestors.

Rogue smiled at how happy everypony was, the bat pony glad that his race would no longer feel the need to hide away anymore. "Rogue," he turned to Foxhelm, "My father was wrong to banish you. But...I'm glad he did." Rogue raised an eyebrow at this. "If he hadn't, you wouldn't have been able to open our eyes and help us see that we don't need to hide away anymore." He held out a hoof. "As the leader of the cloud, I hereby renounce your banishment. You can stay here as long as you like."

Rogue's heart felt like it was about to explode as he took the hoof and shook it. "Thanks." He then turned to his friends, his focus now on a particular farm pony. "But...I already have a place I call home." He looked back at his mother and brother. "Sweet Apple Acres is where I belong." The pair frowned at this, but they nodded back. "But I can come visit. And...you can come visit me."

"Of course," Echo pulled her son into a hug again. "You'll always be welcome here, no matter what." Rogue smiled and embraced back. He had set out to find where he had come from, and he had succeeded. Now, he and his kind could look ahead toward a brighter tomorrow.

Three days later...

Having spent several days learning about his roots and the place he was born, it was time for Rogue and his friends to return home. His apple supply was running low, and Twilight needed to debrief the other princesses on the thestrals' situation.

Rogue, Flash, Twilight, Applejack, Echo, Banshee and Foxhelm were all standing outside the waterfall cave, the sun just about to raise above the horizon. Echo moved up to hug her son one more time, "Be safe."

"I will," he replied before she pulled away. He then hugged Banshee and Echo hugged Applejack and whispered in her ear.

"Watch out for him."

"Promise," Applejack responded before the four began to trot back into the forest. "So?" She asked Rogue while nudging him in the shoulder, "Happy you came?"

"Heck yeah," Rogue nodded, "Even though I can't remember my life here, I know I can call it a place I want to spend time at. With only one place being more so." He turned to smile at Applejack, "Let's go home." Applejack nodded and the pair hurried ahead, Flash and Twilight bringing up the rear and smiling as they watched the two chat and laugh.

"Is that what we used to look like to everypony else?" Flash asked.

"Probably," Twilight nodded, "Though you were more oblivious." Flash rolled his eyes as she laughed, the four continuing their journey home. A journey that many back home would be very curious to hear about.

Uncommon Bond

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It was another peaceful day in Ponyville as Starlight Glimmer eagerly trotted out of the castle like an excited filly on Heartswarming. She could barely contain her excitement, taking every bit of willpower she had not to run all the way to her destination. Though anypony that knew what was happening wouldn't blame her, since it wasn't every day your childhood friend came for a visit.

She had to bite her tongue as she arrived at the train station, it being the only way to stop from squealing. But as she got there, she noticed three individuals waiting on the platform with heavy looking backpacks. "Springer?" She asked as the jakhowl and his two wards turned to her, "What are you three doing here?"

Springer rolled his eyes. "We're waiting for the train, duh."

"I get that," Starlight grumbled, "But why are you getting on a train? Where are you going?"

"Seriously?!" Ace yelped, "We already told you."

"Luna's invited us someplace for a surprise," Mira continued with Starlight raising an eyebrow at this.

"What surprise?"

"No idea," Springer shrugged. "She just said she'll meet up in Dodge Junction, so that's where we're heading."

"Well this is out of the blue. How come I'm only hearing about this right now?" The jakhowls all glared at her in response, "What?"

"We've been talking about it for the last few days," Springer deadpanned.

"No you haven't!" Starlight barked back, "I would have known."

"Starlight..." Springer sighed, "Do you remember anything the past few days that doesn't concern you thinking about Sunburst coming over?"

"Yes!" Stralight declared, only to see Springer to glare at her. "What?!"

"Starlight...is the really the first time we've told you about this trip? Think about it..."

"Um..." Starlight closed her eyes and concentrated.

Five days ago...

Starlight had just received a letter from Derpy and was walking through the castle as she opened it, quickly skimming over it before gasping. As she did, she walked into the living room and smiled seeing their friends. "Guess what everypony!" She exclaimed, her eyes completely missing the scroll in Springer's paws. "Sunburst is coming to visit!" She squealed in excitement while continuing to stare at the letter.

"Nice," Springer added, "And we got a message from Princess Luna. She wants me and the younglings to come to Dodge Junction for some reason."

"That's cool," Starlight replied as she continued to stare at the paper.

Three days ago...

Starlight was busy cleaning the guest room Sunburst would be using as Ace ran into the room. "Starlight, have you seen my backpack? I'm gonna need it for our trip with Princess Luna."

"You put it in the wash after you decided to fill it with sand so you could sneak it into the castle and make your own sandpit without Twilight noticing." Ace ran out of the room, yelling a thank you as he did. Starlight didn't glance back, her mind now going over all the things she and Sunburst would get to enjoy when he finally came.

Two days ago...

Starlight was at the general convenience store, staring at an isle that had camping supplies to board games despite how opposite they were. Starlight was digging through all the boxes of games as Springer stood behind her.

The jakhowl was staring at some tents, looking them over as he found one that would fit him, Ace and Mira. "Perfect," he commented before turning to a nearby shelf that was too high for him to reach. "Hey Starlight, could you magic down that portable cooking stove?" Starlight did so without even looking, the thermos shaped cooking utensil floating down so Springer could grab it. "Thanks."

"No problem," she replied before letting out a gasp. "Yes!" she picked up a box, "Dragon Pit." She squealed before running over to buy it.

Starlight shook her head. "Sorry, first time I've heard of it."

"Oh, I know we told you." Springer deadpanned just as the sound of a train whistle rang out, making Starlight gasp, "Hold your horses missy," Springer told her, "This is our train." Starlight pouted as the train arrived, the jakhowls giving her their goodbyes before getting on board.

The train then pulled away and Starlight was left waiting...and waiting...and waiting. After forty minutes of waiting, she found herself pacing back and forth before staring down at the empty track. "Oooh!" She trotted on the spot in excitement before turning to the ticket master's office. "Excuse me, when does the noon train from the Crystal Empire arrive?"

"Uh...noon?"

"Heh. Right. Sorry. I'm just a little excited because my friend Sunburst is coming." She looked up at the clock and saw she still had twenty minutes before it was set to arrive. Most ponies would get board simply waiting for a train, but Starlight's excitement made the time fly by. Mostly she spent it talking to anypony within earshot about how close she was to Sunburst, how much she was looking forward to seeing him and how the pair probably had the most in common with each other then anypony else in the world.

She had just finished talking to Vinyl, who hadn't heard a word due to her headphones, only to hear the whistle of a train and turn to see it coming down the tracks. Getting off the bench she was on, she trotted to the edge of the platform as the train pulled in. Coming to a stop, it opened up and released the ponies inside. Starlight anxiously waited as they filed out, trying to locate the unicorn...but as the last pony left the carraige, there was no sign of him.

Starlight looked inside, but still found he wasn't there. The train doors closed and it pulled away, leaving Starlight standing there with the biggest frown on her face until-

"Starlight?" She gasped and spun around, spotting her childhood friend. And he wasn't alone.

"Sunburst!" She ran over to him, only to come to a stop at the other pony. "And...Trixie?" Princess Luna's student smiled at her, happily waving as Starlight reached them. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, Princess Luna's off doing...something, so she gave me some time off. I didn't have anything to do in Canterlot, so I decided to come visit Ponyville." She raised an eyebrow, "You happy to see me?"

"Of course," Starlight hugged before turning to Sunburst. "And I'm happy to see you too." They hugged as well, "I'm so glad you made it!"

"Of course!" He picked up one of his suitcases and placed it in a nearby cart, "I've been looking forward to this visit for a long time." Starlight nodded and grabbed another case, only to flinch under its weight.

Letting out a grunt, the magic failed and the case fell to the floor, opening as a bunch of books fell out. "Whoa. How long are you staying?"

"Uh..." Sunburst blushed, "Just a...little reading for the train."

Starlight chuckled and shook her head, "Same old Sunburst." She put the books back in and grunted as she lifted the case onto the cart before turning to Trixie. "So you two were on the train together?"

"I got on in Canterlot," Trixie replied, "I spotted Sunburst and remembered he was a friend of yours."

Sunburst nodded at this, "We got chatting and she started showing me some of her old magic tricks." Starlight raised an eyebrow at this, not knowing that Sunburst liked magic tricks. "I always liked close-up magic because I knew I could do it if I just practiced enough." He pulled out a deck of cards and held them up for Starlight, who took one and saw it was a queen of hearts before putting it back into the deck. Sunburst shuffled the deck and after a few moments, pulled out another card. "Ta-da!"

Starlight saw it was a three of clubs, but decided to humor him. "Yay." She clapped. "Anyway, it's going to be so great spending time together. Just like old times. You and me doing the stuff we like: Games, magic..."

"Antiquing."

Starlight blinked at this, "What?"

"Antiquing," Sunburst replied, "You know I like antiquing."

"You do?"

"Um, of course!" His faced to turned to one of absolute joy. "Historical knickknacks, ancient relics...Oh! You are so lucky! Ponyville is antique central!"

"It...is?"

"Yes! How have we never talked about this?" Sunburst asked before placing a hoof on her shoulder. "We are going antiquing, and you are gonna love it!"

"Okay," Starlight responded, "Let's drop your stuff off at the castle first."

"Sure." Sunburst nodded before he started blushing. "Only..." He turned to look behind him to show a mountain of cases. "We may need to make a few of trips."

Starlight smirked as her horn began to glow. The group was then consumed by a brilliant flash of light, now appearing in a hallway of the castle of friendship. "You were saying?" Starlight giggled.

"Wow," he corrected his glasses, "I wish I could do that. The most I can teleport is myself...ten feet."

"It just takes practice," Trixie added as Starlight opened a door leading to Sunburst's room. "It took me a while to master teleporting too."

Starlight placed his stuff inside the room and shut it closed. "Shall we get going?" She asked, "This antiquing thing is probably gonna take a while."

"I know!" Sunburst exclaimed, "It's gonna be awesome." Starlight quickly sparked her horn and the three disappeared in a flash, appearing just to the side of Ponyville's main street. Sunburst looked around at this, his eyes instantly zeroing in on a small store that Starlight had never noticed. "That place looks promising. Let's go!"

Trixie let out a sigh, "Spending my vacation looking at old things isn't my idea of fun."

"Come on," Starlight added, "It's not that big of a store. We'll let Sunburst have his fun, then go do something really exciting." They then walked inside, only to be greeted to a maze of shelves, tables and chests. "Wow...."

They headed further in, Sunburst getting more by the moment. "This is so great!" He turned to the girls. "Who knew I'd be the one showing you the cool sights of Ponyville?"

"I'm a little surprised myself," Starlight replied as Sunburst picked up two bricks from out of a box.

"Wow!" What a difference between the hoof-molded bricks and the extruded ones, right?" Starlight and Trixie raised an eyebrow at this.

"They look exactly the same."

"What, are you kidding?!" Sunburst yelped, "These two bricks couldn't be more different!" He put them down and pointed to the ceiling, "Check out all these chandeliers! Sometimes, the crystals have magical properties."

"Oh uh...that's cool. How do you-"

"Sunburst!" They spun aroun at another voice, only to see Twilight Sparkle, "And Trixie too. I'm so glad you're here!"

"In the antique store?" Sunburst asked.

"In Ponyville! Starlight's really been looking forward to your visit." Starlight blushed at this, "Though I'm glad you're in the antique store, too. I'm usually the only one."

"That's crazy!" Sunburst gasped, "Who doesn't like antiquing, right?"

"Right..." Starlight whispered.

Twilight giggled at this, "You're lucky you've got such an amazing thing in common with one another. Flash is normally willing to do a lot of things with me that he's not interested in, but he draws the line at antiquing." She turned to Trixie. "So what brings you here?"

Trixie explained and Twilight told her she was welcome at the castle any time, only for the princess to spot something on the wall. "Oooh, look!" She pointed to a stone slab sealed within a glass frame. "An ancient map of Equestria made by the Mighty Helm."

Sunburst's eyes went wide at this, the unicorn looking over at Starlight and Trixie. "Without the help of unicorn magic or Pegasus flight, the Earth ponies of the Mighty Helm were able to map the entire coast of Equestria."

"Coooool..." Starlight slowly replied as he and Twilight walked off to look at something else.

"You don't think that was cool, do you?" Starlight shrugged, admitting it was interesting but not something she wanted to focus on at the moment. She and Trixie followed the other two through the store, Twilight and Sunburst's eyes going eye every five seconds when they saw something that didn't look all that impressive to Starlight.

She tried to look enthusiastic, but Sunburst could tell she wasn't really enjoying herself. "You don't have to pretend to like all this stuff," he told her when Twilight pulled Trixie ahead to look at an antique tea set.

"What?" Starlight asked with a forced smile, "No! I do like it." She let out a short laugh. "I mean, if you like it, I like it. Besides, we've almost looked at everything, right?"

"Oh, wow!" They turned to see Twilight waving at them. "You have got to see this Saddle Arabian vanity!" Sunburst ran off with a giddy kick in his step, Starlight slouching.

"This shop looked a lot smaller from the outside." And so they kept looking around, Twilight and Sunburst having the time of their lives and grabbing several items of worth that they wanted to buy. One such item was a large barrel, something Starlight didn't understand the worth of. But finally, the four ponies reached the limit of things they could get at once and Twilight took the liberty of teleporting them all back to the castle. When they arrived, inside the library, they found they weren't alone as Heart and Soul were working on their homework there.

They turned to the group, their eyes going wide seeing the blue unicorn. "TRIXIE!" They quickly tackled her, all three soon laughing.

"Those three seem close."

Starlight nodded. "Trixie was one of the first ponies they met before coming to Equestria. She tried to help Soul control her magic and did a bit of training with Heart when he first got his fire power. I guess they have a sort of sibling bond."

"Huh."

"I'm so happy to see you two," Trixie said as she ruffled Heart's mane. "How you all been?"

"Great!" They both replied before Soul began to talk to Trixie and Heart turned to Sunburst.

"Hey Sunburst! How's things in the Crystal Empire? Is Jaden doing okay with Ruby?"

"Oh yes," Sunburst nodded, "Everypony there is quite impressed by his skills. Though he is having trouble mastering a weapon other than the bow or crossbow. But his aim with those weapons is incredible. Ruby and I did a little test and he was able to shoot an arrow though a three-inch ring fifty feet away."

Heart whistled at this, only to shine a big grin, "He might have great aim, but Flash has started teaching me basic sword skills. By the time we next meet, I'm gonna be able to slice his arrows in half!"

The others rolled their eyes at this and a few minutes later, Trixie took the kids out of the room to go have some fun. This left Sunburst and Twilight to start going through their antiques, Starlight finding herself getting very bored very quickly as they fawned over rather useless junk.

"Did you see this Palominian letter opener?" Sunburst asked as Twilight picked up a feather.

"Wow! That goes well with this ancient phoenix feather quill! We could write to each other!" They suddenly pulled each other in for a hug as they yelled, "PEN PALS!"

As they said that, the doors opened up and Flash walked in, "Hey," he waved before noticing all the stuff. "Great. You've been antiquing again."

"Come on Flash, some of this stuff is really important. And you never know when you'll find something absolutely amazing or even dangerous in the wrong hands. This isn't just a hobby. It's a service to Equestria."

"Right..." Flash rolled his eyes before turning to Starlight. "You're not actually enjoying this, are you?"

Starlight tried to put on an excited face, but all she got was a grimace, "Well, I don't know. Some of this stuff looks interesting." She turned to a barrel. "Um, I uh...really like this old-timey barrel."

Sunburst smiled at this, "Actually, the stuff I bought is inside the barrel." He practically hugged it while resting his head on top of the wooded container and clapping his hooves together. "But I can't wait to see what it is!"

"Wait..." Starlight raised an eyebrow, "You don't know what you bought?"

"Mm-mmm," Sunburst nodded. "It's a blind buy. Sometimes shops get too busy to go through everything, so they load up a box or barrel and sell it without knowing what's inside."

"Buying one is sort of like a treasure hunt," Twilight added.

"Yeah," Flash sat down. "But instead of treasure you have old books. Dusty and cracked teacups or somepony's old toothbrush."

"Once I found a first edition History of Equestria in the original Olde Ponish." Twilight's eyes went wide and she looked giddy with excitement.

"Hliet foresettan pliht!" The princess stated before she and Sunburst started laughing.

Starlight just blinked at them before Sunburst said, "It's an Olde Ponish saying. Reward prefers risk!" Sunburst turned to Twilight, who didn't seem to find it as funny this time. "Uh, it loses something in the translation."

"Please don't get Twilight speaking in that tongue again," Flash begged him. "One time, she refused to speak to me in nothing but that to try and get me to learn it." But as he said that, he let out a hum, "Actually, the week where I couldn't understand her constant lecture wasn't half bad."

Twilight growled at him, only for Starlight to chime in, "Why don't we look through this stuff later?" She grabbed the items they had bought and moved them off the table, as Sunburst nodded.

"Yeah. What do you want to do, Starlight?" This question caused Starlight's eyes to go wide before she smiled.

"Well, I don't know if you're gonna remember this, but..." There was a flash of light and something appeared in her hooves, which she placed on the table and pushed towards them. As soon as Sunburst saw it, he gasped and pulled the box up to him.

"Is this...?!

"Dragon Pit!" Starlight finished for him, Sunburst looking like he had just been reintroduced to an old friend while Flash and Twilight smiled.

"I remember that game."

"Yeah," Flash nodded, "though we only got to play it a few times. Spike started having nightmares about it, so we put it in the attic. Might still be at Twilight's parent's place."

"Well, we used to play it all the time," Starlight added.

"Pretty much any time we weren't working on magic," Sunburst continued, "I can't believe you found a copy!" Starlight's eyes filled with stars, Twilight suggesting they play it on the floor the way it was normally played by young ponies. They then set the board up and each picked up a colored dragon, Flash picking blue, Twilight picking purple, Starlight picking pink and Sunburst picking red. They started playing and it was a rather fun game, with nopony knowing when the volcano would erupt.

As Twilight rolled the dice, Starlight smiled as she remembered back when the played as children. "Sunburst would get so excited whenever his dragon got trapped, he knocked the whole board over."

"That's adorable," Twilight giggled while Sunburst blushed.

"Uh, well, it's an exciting game. But I have a little more control over my horn now." He threw the dice and moved his piece as Starlight smiled.

"Uh-oh! Somepony's dragon's gonna get trapped!" With that, the volcano started shaking until it shot a ball out from the top. The marble flew up and landed on one of the lava runs, swerving around randomly until it landed on Twilight's road and hit her piece.

"Doesn't seem so exciting to me-" She stopped when the floor beneath her piece vanished and it fell into a pit, her eyes going wide before she burst out laughing. As she did, her horn unleashed a shockwave of light so strong it sent the board flying over. When the light faded, a blushing Twilight saw Flash and Starlight holding back their laughter while Sunburst smirked.

"Huh. I guess it is adorable."

"I'll say," Flash burst out laughing and rolled around on the floor. "Of all...of all the...all the times not to have a camera." Twilight continued to blush as Starlight righted the board and returned everypony's pieces to their proper places. They continued the game and after many pit falls, terrible dice rolls and explosive laughing fits, the game ended with Sunburst winning.

After that, it was time for dinner and Starlight offered to cook. As it turned out, she was planning to make Sunburst's favorite meal: Spaghetti with little hay-dogs cut up into it. The unicorns licked his lips as they enjoyed the meal, all the while talking about things that had happened since the last time they had saw each other.

Fast forward to later that night, Sunburst was now getting all his things sorted in his room. Starlight was helping and as she put his book bag away, she turned to Sunburst who was unpacking his books from a case. "I hope you're enjoying your visit so far."

"Are you kidding?" Sunburst turned to smile at her. "I mean, first antiquing and then spending time with Twilight?"

"Oh. Yeah. She's pretty great."

"Right?" Sunburst grabbed a book. "I mean, I know she's a princess, but I never thought she'd be so fun to just hang out with."

"Well, she is the Princess of Friendship." This made Sunburst chuckle.

"Right. I guess that makes sense." He turned back to his case. "But it's not just her. Trixie is fun too, especially with all those magic tricks she can do. It's amazing to think that even after being taken in by Princess Luna and being taught so much, she still tries to master that craft. One that most unicorns see as an insult to real magic, she sees as a way to boost the effectiveness of her magic. It's amazing."

"Huh. Never thought about it like that."

"And then there's Flash. Hard to believe after everything he's gone through, he can still laugh and joke about the silliest things."

Starlight slowly nodded at this, "So tomorrow I thought-"

"I suppose I'm just surprised at how well we get along," Sunburst interrupted before frowning. "I...I don't have much in common with most ponies."

Starlight nodded again. "You and Twilight are pretty similar. I don't know many ponies who are fluent in Olde Ponish."

"Exactly!" Sunburst cheered, turning to Starlight. "I probably have more in common with Twilight than any pony in Equestria!"

"Right..." Starlight slowly replied, feeling a stabbing pain run through her heart at that.

Sunburst let out a tiny yawn. "Anyway," he patted Starlight on the shoulder, "I better get some sleep." This time his yawn was more powerful. "Ponyville might be small, but there's a lot to do." He started walking her to the door as an idea popped into her head. "Maybe we should ask Twilight what she recommends we see!"

Starlight glanced away for a second, only to barely reply, "Um...sure."

"Great!" Sunburst cheered, "Good night Starlight."

But before the unicorn could say anything back, Sunburst slammed the door in her face. "Good night..." she whispered before slowly walking away. And as she went for her room, she turned a corner and found herself running into somepony. "Augh!" They both moaned as they fell back, Starlight looking up to see Flash, "Sorry. Wasn't looking where I was going."

"It's fine," Flash replied, the unicorn seeing the pegasi holding a glass of milk, only for him to see the upset look on Starlight's face. "You okay? You're looking a little...down."

"What?!" Starlight yelped, "I'm fine! Absolutely fine. Never been better."

"Right...I might not be Springer, but even I can tell you're upset about something. Come on, you can tell me."

Starlight sighed before leaning against the wall. "It's just...this trip was supposed to be about me and Sunburst reconnecting. But he spent most of the day hanging out with Twilight looking at boring stuff."

"Yeah," Flash nodded, "That was great. Twilight probably won't be badgering me to go with her for a while." Starlight turned to glare at him, "What?! It's a good thing that Sunburst and Twilight found something to bond over!"

"But we were supposed to bond," Starlight responded, "Sunburst and I used to have almost everything in common with one another and now...he's into antiquing and who knows what else."

"Well yeah," Flash shrugged, "That was a long time ago. You've both been through so much since then that it'd be impossible for you to be the exact same ponies you where back in your childhood. We get older and discover new things we like to do. I mean, were you always the avid kite lover you are today?"

Starlight blinked at this, only to reply, "I...guess not."

"Exactly. And Sunburst might hate kiting, but that doesn't mean your friendship is broken. No two ponies can be exactly alike."

"I guess you're right," Starlight sighed, "But that just means I need to get him to remember all the things we used to have in common."

"Isn't that what you did earlier?" Flash asked, taking a sip of his milk. "That Dragon Pit game was kinda fun."

"Exactly!" Starlight added, "That's why I've got to up the ante," Starlight clopped her hoof on the ground. "Find more stuff that we used to enjoy and make him remember how fun it was to just be with me."

"Or you could just live in the moment and let the past be in the past," Flash chimed, but Starlight shook her head.

"Nope! I gotta go!" She then ran off, leaving Flash there alone with his milk.

"Oh, this isn't gonna be good." He took a sip of milk, "She's not gonna listen to anything I say, is she? Hmm..." He then downed his milk and walked up to another hallway, "Guess I'll have him try and talk some sense into her."

He then knocked on a door and a minute later, a very sleepy unicorn opened it up. "Flash?" He rubbed his eyes under his glasses, "It's the middle of the night."

"I know, but I need to talk to you about a problem." The defender said as he walked into the room.

"What's up?"

"Starlight," Flash turned to him. "I think she's a little upset that you and Twilight were getting along so well." The unicorn raised an eyebrow at this, "Don't get me wrong, it's great that you and Twilight were able to bond. But I think Starlight's feeling...neglected."

"What?" Sunburst asked, "But I made sure to include her when we went antiquing and when we played Dragon Pit."

"True," Flash nodded. "And Starlight enjoyed the game. But at what point did you two do something completely on your own?" Sunburst raised an eyebrow at this, "It's something I've noticed about Starlight. She enjoys doing things...one on one. She's happy to do group activities every now and again, but when she's with somepony, she likes having their...undivided attention."

"Huh," Sunburst replied, "I...never noticed that about Starlight."

"I think I'm the only pony who's noticed it. It's not something easy to notice. But hey, Knight of Friendship. I'd be pretty bad at my job if I wasn't good at noticing how a pony enjoys themselves."

"So...what do you think I should do?"

"Well that's for you to figure out. If I gave you all the answers, it wouldn't mean much when you did it." He put a hoof on Sunburst's shoulder. "Just...remember to respect Starlight's view. But don't force yourself to solely focus on her." Sunburst raised an eyebrow at this, "If you find somepony you connect with, it's fine to try and make friends with them. But just don't let it make you lose sight of Starlight's feelings."

"Ahh!" Sunburst sighed, "This is really confusing."

"Most friendships are bud," Flash chuckled, "We all enjoy doing things our own way. The trick is finding a good compromise between them." Sunburst nodded before letting out a yawn.

"Okay. Thanks. I'll think about what you said and hopefully, Starlight and I can find a way to have fun that we'll both enjoy." Flash nodded and left the room, Sunburst flopping onto the bed, "A compromise," he said as his eyes flickered open and closed. "A...compromise."

Early next morning...

As it turned out, Starlight had her own idea of a compromise. Waking him up before it was even dawn and taking him out of the castle before everypony else was awake. Sunburst thought about what Flash had said, trying to think of a way for them both to enjoy their time together...only to come up with nothing.

"One genuine Sweet Apple Acres apple tree!" She cheered as she pointed out the tree in question, Sunburst turning to raise an eyebrow, "Because we used to drink so much apple juice as foals?"

"Uh...I don't remember that."

"Really?" Starlight asked, "I mean, it was all we drank. Here. Try an apple. I bet that'll jog your memory." She moved over to the tree and was about to buck it, only for something to appear from out of the branches.

"Back off!" A bat pony hissed as he hung from the tree, the unicorn crying out.

"Rogue?!" Starlight yelped, "What are you doing?!"

"My job," Rogue growled before pointing a wing at them. "What are you doing?! Stealing apples?! Shame on you Starlight."

"I wasn't stealing apples."

"You were about to buck this tree and knock the apples off with the intention of eating one. I don't know about you, but that sounds like stealing to me."

"Er...fine. I'm sorry."

"We both are," Sunburst added before tilting his head, "Doesn't that hurt?"

"What?"

"Hanging upside down like that. All the blood must be rushing be to your head."

"Nah," Rogue shrugged, "I've hung upside down for hours. Never had a problem. Heck, I sleep like this."

"Interesting. I wonder if your heart's valves are upside down like real bats." Rogue looked confused by this. "We have special valves that keep our blood from pool at our hooves. Bats have the same valves only they keep the blood from pooling at the head. I wonder if you have the same thing."

"Huh," Rogue replied, "Never really thought about it. Still don't know a lot about my kind. I only recently met my family and learned about our ways and whatnot."

"Fascinating," Sunburst whispered. A million questioned flowed through his brain, but before he could ask any of them, he remembered Flash's words, "I'd love to learn more, but I'm kinda busy with Starlight right now." The unicorn brightened up at hearing this. "Do you think it would be possible to talk about your biology another time?"

"Sure," Rogue responded, "As long as you're not stealing apples, we're good. And if you find anything on thestrals, let me know."

"Gladly," Sunburst nodded before Rogue swung back and forth before letting go of the tree. He flew off as the sun began to rise, likely getting ready to go to bed while Sunburst turned back to Starlight. "So, shall we go find something else to do? We didn't exactly have time for breakfast before you rushed us out of the castle."

Starlight smiled brightly at this as the pair began to make their way out of the orchard. "Thanks. I know you probably wanted to talk to Rogue about a bunch of different things."

"I sure did," Sunburst nodded. "But...then I remembered something Flash told me."

"Flash?" Starlight raised an eyebrow.

"Yup. Even though he doesn't know it, he was able to determine your love language."

"Love language?" Starlight blushed.

"It was originally developed as a way to understand romantic partners, but they can also be used to describe how somepony best interacts with their friends and family." Sunburst pushed his glasses up his nose. "There's five love languages. Words of Affirmation, Physical Touch, Receiving Gifts, Acts of Service and yours. Quality Time. You connect with ponies on a one to one basis."

"Wow," Starlight whispered, "And Flash realized this?"

"Even though he doesn't know what a love language is," Sunburst nodded as they arrived in town. There was a nearby cafe that was just opening, the pair taking their seats and grabbing a menu. "The guy's pretty perceptive."

Starlight smiled at this, "Wait, so what's your love language? Clearly, it's not the same as mine." She frowned at this, "If they're not the same then how are we supposed to hang out."

Sunburst smiled back, "Lots of ponies with different love languages hang out together. It's like Flash said. The two of us need to find a compromise."

"What kind of compromise?" Starlight asked, as the waiter came over and took their order. Once he was gone, they thought about what it was that Sunburst enjoyed and which of them could work with Starlight's love language. Then, Starlight had an idea. "I've got it." Sunburst raised an eyebrow at this, wondering what it was she was planning.

As it turned out, her plan was to bring Sunburst the edge of the forest where they found a large rock on the ground. "Perfect," Starlight commented before using her magic to roll the rock away from what it was sealing. A hole in the ground. "Come on," she trotted down the hole and Sunburst followed to find it had a path leading down into a cave. "This is a great place for us to hang out. We're alone, so it helps my love language, and it has something you'll find fascinating." She pointed to the bottom of the path, where a large pool of crystal clear water could be seen. "Behold, the Mirror Pool."

"Whoa," Sunburst's eyes went wide as they continued down, "This place is pure pony lore."

"Yup," Starlight smirked. "I mean, it's supposed to be all dangerous, and I guess I shouldn't have broken the seal to get in, but you wanted to see the sights of Ponyville, right?"

Sunburst stared at his own reflection, as he thought about what it would be like to have a pony that looked exactly like him standing with him. "So, Pinkie Pie just dove in and made copies of herself?"

"Mm-hmm," Starlight nodded. "If we made copies of ourselves, we could get a year's worth of hanging out over in one day." She looked almost hopeful, until Sunburst gave her a frown, "Uh, not that we would." She rubbed her leg as a new sound filled the air, making them look up: A tapping sound.

"Do you hear that?" Sunburst asked, looking over at a tunnel leading deeper into the cave. The pair carefully trotted into it, Starlight grimacing at the noise.

"Oh, I hope it's not a leftover Pinkie Pie."

"Not exactly," a deadpan voice stated as the pair reached the end of the tunnel. They turned to the voice and found themselves looking at another breed of pie: Maud Pie.

"Maud!" Starlight gasped, "How did you get in here?"

"This cavern's actually connected to mine," Maud pointed to another tunnel that likely led to her underground home. She then started tapping on the wall.

"Uh," Sunburst raised an eyebrow, "What are you doing?"

"Tapping," was all Maud said back while Starlight giggled.

"Maud isn't super chatty. I mean, you and I could sit around and talk all day, but she looks pretty busy." She turned to Sunburst, but saw he looked amazingly intrigued by what Maud was doing. She then realized that Sunburst must be into geology, making her mind tell her one thing: He was willing to put his enjoyment aside for her, why shouldn't she do the same?

So, despite how much her mind was screaming at her not to, she stepped up to the earth pony, "So, Maud...why are you tapping?" Sunburst, seeing Starlight seemed interested, let his questions loose as he walked over as well.

"Are you taking some kind of core sample?"

"Not exactly," Maud replied between taps. "I'm uncovering this section of strata for closer study." She turned to Sunburst, "You might want to step back." Sunburst did as she hit the wall harder, causing it to start cracking apart before it completely collapsed and unleashed a cloud of dust. Starlight had the unfortunate fate of breathing some in, making her cough as the cloud faded to reveal a massive gem that took up the entire wall. "I'm studying this area's metamorphic-"

"Foliation," Sunburst finished before taking a closer look. "Is this gneiss, phyllite, or slate?" He turned to Maud, "Wow. The pressure above must be pretty uniform to get the planar fabric to be this consistent."

"You know about geology?" Maud asked, Starlight able to see surprise through her deadpan stare.

"Eh, I dabble." Sunburst shrugged before pointing at the wall, "For example, by the speleothems in this cave, I kind of figured there was another way out."

"Because of the calcite deposits," Maud continued before the pair continued through the cave. It would be almost thirty minutes before he realized Starlight wasn't with him anymore. As soon as he did, he rushed back the way he came but found no sign of her.

Starlight was back at the castle, staring at her Dragon Pit game while spinning the figures in the air. Flash and Twilight walked in at this, seeing her head slumped down on the table.

"Starlight? Where's Sunburst?" Twilight asked.

"Oh, I don't know. Doing stage magic with Trixie?" She mumbled, "Maybe studying new rocks with Maud?" She put the figures down. "You're here, so I guess you two aren't off translating some ancient Olde Ponish text."

"What are you talking about?" Twilight replied, "Why would Sunburst be doing any of that? I thought he came to Ponyville to see you."

"Yeah," Flash nodded, "Plus, Trixie went to Sugarcube Corner, so I doubt he's with her there. Did he get distracted or something?"

"Yeah, though it was my fault." The couple raised an eyebrow at this, "Sunburst tried to focus on me after what Flash told him."

Twilight turned to give the pegasus, the defender shrugging, "All I told him was that Starlight likes to spend time with a pony alone when she hangs out."

"Yeah," Starlight nodded, "Apparently, that's my love language." Flash raised an eyebrow while Twilight seemed to understand, "it's something Sunburst told me. Mine's quality time, which means I can only enjoy hanging out with others when it's just the two of us. And that's what we were doing...until we ran into Maud and Sunburst got interested in her work. I didn't feel good letting him hold himself back like that...so I asked Maud what was happening. And just like that, Sunburst forgot all about me."

"Ouch," Flash gulped, "Sorry about that."

"It's not your fault," Starlight sighed as she picked up two dragon pieces. "It's just...when we were foals, we had more in common than any two ponies in Equestria. But now, it seems like he's got more in common with my friends than he does with me." She dropped the pieces, one hitting a trapdoor before falling in.

"Oh..." Twilight looked ready to hug the mare, "Everypony changes, but that doesn't mean there aren't still things you both like. You both love magic, right?"

This made Starlight slightly turn to her, "Magic?"

"Sure," Twilight nodded, "You're really good at it, and Sunburst practically knows every spell that ever was."

Flash could see the wheels in Starlight's mind begin to spin before she gasped. "You're right!" She leapt off the chair and hugged her mentor, "Thanks, Twilight! You're the best!"

She ran off at this, Twilight now showing a smug grin. "Heh. I try." She turned to Flash, "I guess that's that problem solved."

Flash chuckled at her, "Is a problem around here ever solved that easily? Odds are something's gonna happen to mess everything up at the last moment."

"Stop being so pessimistic," Twilight replied while waving a hoof, "Sunburst and Starlight will start talking about magic, they'll laugh, enjoy themselves and everything will be great."

Flash leaned in with a giant smirk, "Wanna bet?"

Twilight smirked back, "Terms?"

"If you're right, we'll spend an afternoon doing whatever you want."

"Including antiq-"

"Including antiquing," Flash interrupted, hiding a slight shiver. "But if you're wrong, I'm exempt from cleaning the castle for a week. No, make it two."

Twilight stared at him before raising her hoof, "You're on," they shook before letting out a slight laugh. They knew they didn't have to wait long to see how their bet would turn out. The pair then decided to hang out in the library, Flash running off to grab his guitar while Twilight pulled out a new book she had just gotten to read while listening to her boyfriend play some calm relaxing music.

Forty minutes later however, they heard a loud echo flow through the castle's corridors, what sounded like a loud yell. "What's that?"

"I don't know," Twilight replied before shutting her book and the pair ran out the library. They heard the yells continue and followed it to the throne room. And as they approached, Trixie came up the opposite corridor.

"Hey," she called out, "I just got back and heard some yells. What's-" She didn't finish as a bright flash of light suddenly flew out from the gaps in the throne room's doors.

Twilight opened the door and glanced inside, "What's going on in here?" The other two looked in, now finding a very upset Starlight and a rather annoyed looking Sunburst in the room with a roll of parchment on the ground.

"Nothing," Starlight growled, "I was trying to have fun doing the one thing I thought we still had in common, but I guess we don't even have that anymore." Tears began to break free of her eyes and she ran out of the room, leaving the others staring at her.

"What the heck just happened?" Trixie asked, turning to Sunburst who let out a sigh. He then explained how Starlight had created a spell that made an illusion of them being back in their childhood home while looking like foals.

"I don't understand," a pacing Sunburst said once he was done. "Starlight and I have known each other since we were foals, but that doesn't mean we have to be foals to hang out."

"Uh..." Twilight picked up the parchment, "Starlight does have a tendency to overdo things."

"Oh really?" Flash asked, "I wonder where she learned that from. Miss want-it-need-it spell. Miss monitor everything. Miss blows her library home into the sky over a test. Miss pot calling the kettle black."

Twilight blushed at this, while Trixie chimed in, "I don't get it. What made her think this was a good idea?"

"Starlight was feeling bad that Sunburst seemed to have more in common with her friends then her," Flash replied, "Though we've tried to tell her she didn't need to worry.

Sunburst nodded back, "I mean, it is surprising how well I get along with all of her friends, but she and I still have tons in common."

"Maybe you just need to remind her what those things are," Twilight sighed.

Those words made Sunburst's eyes brighten up, "That's it! That's exactly what I'll do!" But as he said this, he showed a large frown, "Uh...right after I think of them."

"Uh-oh," Twilight gulped, Flash and Trixie facehoofing.

"Well..." Sunburst continued as he twiddled his hooves, "What is it you all have in common with her? If I have a lot in common with you, maybe what makes you like her is the same for me."

The others shared a glance, Trixie turning back to him, "Well...Starlight and I are both the students of princesses."

"Yeah...we don't have that in common.

"Well, there were other things that drew us to one another," Trixie added, "We both had a chip on our shoulders about something in our past. Me and my trouble impressing my father even after becoming Luna's student and growing as a magician, and Starlight with the mistakes she made. Working to put those problems behind us really helped us bond as friends."

"Huh. Okay...I guess that's something I have in common with her. Me dropping out of magic school and having a hard time afterwards." He turned to Twilight and Flash, "What about you two?"

"Well..." Flash scratched the back of his head, "Starlight and I aren't exactly best buds. We're happy to hang out and have fun, but we're not usually each other's first choice to do so."

"Oh."

"But I still like her okay. She's always helping Heart and Soul with their homework, or with Soul's magic and eager to aid whenever there's a problem in town. She has my respect for that."

"Didn't Starlight say there was somepony else Sunburst had stuff in common with?" Twilight asked him.

"Wasn't it Maud?" Flash asked, Sunburst nodding.

"You're right! I'll go talk to her." With that, Sunburst bolted out of the room, the group staring at the sight.

That is, till Flash shined Twilight a huge grin, "So...is this a bad time to remind you that I won the bet?"

Twilight shot him a glare, Trixie raising an eyebrow at the couple as Twilight growled at him. After this, they went off to try and find Starlight, only to find her nowhere in the castle. They searched for some time, but there was not a hide nor hair of the unicorn.

Heart and Soul eventually returned from school at this, Soul calling out to them as they walked by the front entrance, "Hey, did something happen to Starlight?"

"Yeah," Heart nodded, "We saw her in town, but when we called out to her, she didn't even seem to notice us."

"Let's just say that something...complicated happened to upset her." The pair raised an eyebrow just as Sunburst walked up to the castle, Twilight turning to him, "Hey, did Maud have some good advice?"

"Not really," Sunburst sighed. "All it did was make me realize that Starlight and I barely have anything in common. Maybe we've spent too long apart."

"Don't be ridiculous," Flash replied, "Lot of friends have practically nothing in common. I mean...look at Twilight," he pointed at the alicorn in question, Twilight glaring at him. He gave her a smug grin back, "Oh come on, Twi." He looked back at Sunburst, "You should have seen the mess she was when we first arrived in Ponyville. She had nothing in common with anypony. Heck, even now she barely has anything with her closest friends."

"That can't be true," Sunburst responded.

"Really?" Flash asked. "Take away the fact that they saved Equestria together and try and come up with one thing that she has in common with...Applejack." Sunburst opened his mouth at this...only to close it. "See? Anypony else?"

The others all blinked at the princess, only for Soul to speak up, "They...both have a big brother?"

"Exactly," Flash chuckled, "The two are practically chalk and cheese, but they're still close friends who hang out a lot."

"Flash is right," Twilight nodded, "You don't need to have something in common to be friends with somepony. I mean, Flash and I barely have anything in common and we were best friends for years before we got together."

"But what do you...do?" Sunburst asked, "if you don't have anything in common, how do you spend time together?"

The pair shrugged back, "We just...do. If it's somepony you really care about, it doesn't matter what you do. Heck, just being together is enough if you enjoy being in each other's company."

Twilight nodded at this, "But you and Starlight have one thing in common. You both enjoy Dragon Pit."

"But it's not like that's the only thing we can keep doing every time we see each other."

"Well, it doesn't have to be," Soul added, "Maybe it can just be a start. I mean, I became friends with Diamond and Silver just because we liked being around one another. But over time, we found other things we enjoy. Like Ogres and Oubliettes. We never tried that before, but then we found we really like it."

Twilight nodded again, "I got my friend Rainbow into Daring Do. So why not try and reconnect over something simple like Dragon Pit and then you can learn to have fun doing other stuff too."

Sunburst hummed at this, only for a bulb to go off in his head, "Okay, I think I know what I need to do. But I'm gonna need your help to pull it off." His friends all raised eyebrows at this, only to see a big grin appear on the unicorn's face.

The sun was now about to set as Starlight returned to the castle. When she got there, she found Flash and Twilight waiting outside. "Hey," she moaned with her head down, "If you're gonna give me a lecture about what happened, can it wait until tomorrow? I'm really not in the mood right now." She then glanced up, only to see both smiling, "What?"

"Come with us," the alicorn replied, "We've got something to show you that sure to put that frown upside down."

"But-"

"Just come on." Flash added as they gestured her to follow.

And as the unicorn walked up the steps, she said, "I appreciate you trying to help, but it seems pretty clear that Sunburst and I have grown apart."

"I understand," Twilight responded, "But I feel like that only happens if you both let it. You still want to be friends, right?" Starlight stopped and gave her a deadpan stare.

"I created a spell so we could relive playing a game in our childhood home...and bodies."

"Right..." Twilight slowly replied.

"Not creepy at all," Flash joked before Twilight tugged at his ear.

"I'm just not sure Sunburst wants to stay friends, too."

This got the couple to smile. "I think you might be surprised." With that, she pushed the doors to the library. Starlight looked inside and then saw Maud, Trixie, Heart and Soul standing in front of a large curtain.

"Prepare yourself..." Maud began in her usual tone of voice, Trixie continuing.

"For the new and improved..."

"DRAGON PIT!" The twins cheered before Trixie pulled the curtain apart to reveal a giant version of the Dragon Pit game. In the center of the room was a cardboard volcano with orange fabric coming off it to resemble lava. The floor had a bunch of large books on it were clearly meant to represent the spaces used in the game. Then Sunburst stepped out from behind the volcano dressed in a green dragon-themed costume and was smiling as he walked onto one of the books.

"What do you think?" He asked as Twilight, Maud, Trixie and Flash stepped onto another book as they put one their own dragon costumes. Flash was wearing red, Trixie orange, Maud grayish purple and Twilight pink. Sunburst took a light blue dragon costume out from behind the volcano and placed it in front of Starlight, "We had to take out a few spaces to get it to fit, but you'll hardly miss them." He picked up a large stone cube with holes in the sides. "Maud made the dice." He pushed the dice and it rolled onto a two as he walked the spaces.

"Pumice is the lightest igneous rock," Maud explained as she put her hoof on the stone. "It seemed the best choice." She rolled the stone and got a one, stepping forward one space.

"And I added the special effects," Trixie giggled as her horn glowed along with the volcano's top. It started to fizz and emit smoke, "There's nothing like a little well-placed magic smoke." The volcano then unleashed a puff as a large marble shot out from the top.

"Looks like somepony's dragon is going to get trapped," Twilight chuckled as the marble rolled down one side of the volcano and along a fabric runway.

"I thought you didn't want to play this game?" Starlight asked Sunburst.

"Well, I didn't want to pretend to be a foal, but I know you wanted to play. I thought it'd be fun to play a version big enough for full-grown ponies."

The ball landed next to him as Flash spoke up. "Not that playing board games isn't something adults can do. We just usually call it tabletop gaming."

Sunburst rolled his eyes and turned back to Starlight. "What do you think? Fun, right?" Starlight stared at him, then over at the rest of her friends who had all put so much effort into recreating her beloved game.

After a moment, she smiled, "Actually, it's missing something." Before they could ask what, Starlight's horn sparked and unleashed a beam that hit the ground under the book Sunburst was on. The sound of cracking filled the air, and the next thing Sunburst knew, he was crying out as he fell through the floor and into the room located below the library. Once his head finished spinning, he looked up to see Starlight staring down at him, laughing while in her dragon costume.

"Now it's fun." Everypony else burst out laughing, nopony realizing Starlight had just smashed a hole straight through Twilight house.

And so, the ponies played, with Heart and Soul acting as the board re-setters by putting the marble back in the volcano and handing over the dice whenever somepony was out of reach. After an hour of playing and several holes in Twilight's floor, Maud ended up winning, but everypony had had so much fun that they didn't mind. And as they were cleaning up, Starlight and Sunburst started reminiscing about their foal-hoods. All the awkwardness and fear the two had felt was completely forgotten, leaving room for nothing but fun as they spent the rest of the day reconnecting without even needing to think about what they wanted to do.

The next day...

It was now time for Sunburst to return to the Crystal Empire. He and Starlight were at the platform right as the train was pulling in, and once the last of the passengers got off, they loaded two of his bags before turning to smile at one another. "I don't know why I got so worried about us not having anything in common," Starlight told him.

"Yeah," Sunburst nodded as he put a hoof on Starlight's shoulder, "I kind of think it doesn't matter as long as we enjoy each other's company."

"And that game was certainly enjoyable," Trixie added as she and Twilight carried Sunburst's things in their magic. They placed the objects inside the train as Flash and Maud also walked up to them.

Starlight nodded back, "What made it even better was getting to play it with all my friends." She hugged Sunburst, Twilight and Trixie, Flash and Maud staying back until Twilight and Trixie pulled them into the hug.

"Hey!" Flash yelped, "You're ruining my macho image!" The others, minus Maud, laughed before they pulled away.

Sunburst then got onto the train and turned to Starlight. "See you soon?"

"You bet," Starlight winked. "I want to hear if you find anything interesting in that barrel."

"Trust me Starlight, you'll be the first to know." With that, he moved over to one of the seats and looked out the window at his friends. They all waved him off and he waved back as the train began to pull away. Once the station was out of sight, Sunburst sighed and sat back against his seat. The blind buy barrel was right beside him and he opened it up, finding a book on top that he pulled out to look over.

In doing so, it revealed another book. This one being blue with star on the cover surrounded by swirls. Whatever it was, it appeared ancient and almost...mystical. Only time would tell what would happen with it. And it was sure to shake Equestria for all time.

Web of Memories

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It began in a dense set of woods, one that most call the Everfree Forest. The place was a land of endless roots, darkness and giant dark green plants. And within this set of lumber pillars, a certain dark colored alicorn was walking through the place. Her name is Princess Luna, the pony now trotting over the dirt with her shining hooves...and her face contorted in anger.

"Blasted sister!" she screeched into the forest, "I can't believe her!" Her horn began to light up as she walked over a large root, "How dare she tell me that I need to go be more social and find friends!" The alicorn let out a snarl as she hopped over a few more roots, her horn dying down as she continued through the place, "Stupid sister, stupid sun, stupid...raugh!"

As she let out another scream of frustration, the alicorn came to a stop and sat down on a nearby flat rock. Letting out a deep breath, she grumbled under her breath, "I can't believe her...after all we've done together, she decides that I don't get out enough! Bah! All I wanted is to go ten rounds with the guards! It was just to train them in extreme combat!"

The alicorn leaned back and crossed her hooves, tapping one of them as she gritted her teeth, "One day I'll show her. I'll show her and her sun that I'm-"

THWACK!

This sound echoed across the forest and into her ears, Luna's next rant cutting short. Her head turned to the noise, blinking as she asked herself, "What was that?"

She turned to the noise as another sound rang out, making her walk up to the noise's direction. It was a few minutes of trotting, slowing making her way past the dense forest of roots and logs. And when she walked past a giant set of roots and bushes, she glanced into an outcropping...to find a small blue dog creature punching a tree.

"A jakhowl?" Luna whispered to herself, "Why would a jakhowl be out here? I thought they lived beyond the other side of the Everfree...and they've stayed away from ponykind for some time now..."

"Hi-ya!" The jakhowl roared as he punched and kicked a tree, his paws showing small blue flames around them as he continued to hit the piece of lumber.

"His form is...okay." Luna commented as she saw him try to hit the tree like it was a speed bag. "Though a bit lacking. He needs training and..." her train of thought came to a stop as her sister's words suddenly rang in her head.

"Luna, you need to get out more. Get out of the castle and make some friends."

"Blasted sister..." She growled as she watched the jakhowl do another barrage of punches, only to come to a stop and slump over on the tree. He fell to his knees, gasping for air. "Hmm..."

"Darn it..." she heard the jakhowl say, "Its...not enough. Gotta...get stronger."

She blinked at his words, only to shrug, "Well, she did say to get out and meet someone. She didn't say it had to a be pony." The princess walked over the bush at this, making a small rustling noise.

"Who's there?!" the jakhowl yelped as he spun around at the sound, only to see Luna. "What the-who are you?!"

"Hello there." She replied as she walked up to him, the jakhowl backpedaling and holding up his fists in response. "Don't worry, I won't harm you."

"Who are you?!" He yelled, "Why are you here?! Were you spying on me?! Are you working for Strong Strike?!"

"Who?" Luna responded while raising an eyebrow.

"Strong Strike! Did he set you for this you pon...er..." the jakhowl had just now saw what the pony was, making him stutter out, "Alicorn?!"

"Yes, I am one of those." Luna replied while leaning down, trying to hide a small smile, "My name is Princess Luna. Who are you?"

"I uh...um..." the jakhowl muttered, his eyes darting back and forth before replying, "My name is...Sharp Paw."

"Greetings Sharp Paw." Luna replied before raising an eyebrow, "I must say, its unusual to see a jakhowl out here. Why are you in the Everfree Forest?"

"I um...er..." Sharp stuttered out, his legs shaking as he began to backpedal away, "I was uh...training."

"Training? All the way out here?" Luna leaned in even more, "This is the Everfree. It is not a place for such things."

"Well that's...um..." He did a small gulp as Luna's face got super close to his, "Could you uh...stop getting so...close?"

Luna blinked for a second, only to slowly move her head back. As she did this, she saw the jakhowl was fully trembling in fear, as if he was facing a monster. The sight made her think back to something else her sister had said.

"You need to show off your smile more Luna. You can't frown all the time. Its scares other ponies!"

"Blasted sister..." Luna whispered, "I am not that scary."

"Huh?" Sharp responded as he barely heard what she said.

"Nothing." Luna sighed before adjusting her hooves, "Anyways...my apologies. I didn't mean to scare you. I was just...curious as to why a jakhowl would be out here."

"Oh...that's okay." Sharp replied, his eyes now fully staring at the alicorn. At first, he had seen her as a glaring giant over him, only to see a sad frown on her face now. The sight made him slightly relax, his mind going over what he should say. And as he tried to think up anything, his brain decided to make him blurt out, "I'm training to be chief of the jakhowls!"

As soon as he said that, he put his paws over his mouth. However, it was too late as Luna raised an eyebrow again. "Chief of the jakhowls?" She leaned down again, "No offense, but aren't you too young?"

"I...I..." Sharp's eyes darted away as he rubbed one of his arms, "Um...I have to become chief. Its...my birthright."

"Ah." Luna responded with a small shine in her eyes, "Does that mean your father is chief?'"

"Uh...not exactly."

As Sharp said those words, Luna saw his lip curl. He wasn't going to go any further, the sight making her frown. 'Well...sister told me to go find friends. This little one is obviously hurting...' she thought as she stared at him, something now pulling at her heart, 'I must help him.'

She then walked over to a nearby fallen log, hopping onto it as she said, "Come over here and tell me." He glanced over at her, now seeing her unfurl a wing, "Don't worry, I won't harm you. Allow me to help you."

Sharp blinked at her before slowly walking up, twiddling his paws as he replied, "Um...you won't make fun of me or anything, will you?"

"Not at all. Tell me, why do you need to be chief? You say it is your birthright, but you also say your father is not chief. If that is the case, do that mean he chose you to be chief?"

"Uh...kinda. Its a little more complicated than that."

"How so?"

"I've...been exiled from the clan." Sharp replied, those last words coming out of his mouth making him shiver.

"Exile?!" Luna yelped with wide eyes, "But...you're just a child! Why would you be in exile?!"

"I...am in exile because I lost to chief Strong Strike in a duel." Sharp sighed as he slumped over on the log. "I...can't go back to the jakhowls for another three months."

"That long? Why?"

"Because...I tried to become chief and failed. And you can only challenge every three months." Sharp glanced away at this, "Strong Strike doesn't like weakness...and since he beat me, I'm weak."

Luna let out a snort at this, her eyes glaring over the jakhowl's body. "But you are just a child. It is no shame to be less experienced due to your age."

"I know...I just..." The jakhowl bit his lip at this, "I know I'm a kid, but...I couldn't just let him be chief. Not after what he did."

"What did he do? Why would it make you challenge the chief?"

Sharp looked up at her for a second, only to look away again, "Its nothing a pony should worry about."

"Now now," Luna grumbled as she swung her wing over him, pulling him closer as she added, "I told you I would help you, but I must know what is going on."

"I...I..." Sharp stuttered out as he stared up at her, his eyes slightly tearing up before saying, "Well...you see...my father was chief of the jakhowls until recently."

"Oh? You're the chief's son?"

"Yeah." Sharp nodded. "But a few weeks ago, we were attacked by the Tricksters. They..." Tears began to drip down his face, "They killed my mom and dad. Dad, he...he died trying to push the Tricksters back."

"Oh..." Luna's ears dropped down, now showing a big frown on her face as she saw the despair paint itself on Sharp's face, "I am sorry for your loss."

"Yeah...me too." Sharp sighed, "And cuz of that, my grandpa had to take over as chief again, even though he had retired years ago." The jakhowl then put a paw over his face, "That's when Strong Strike came in." Luna watched as Sharp's tears stopped flowing, only for a look of anger to appear on his face, "He's fought dad time and time again, trying to be chief. He says he wants to be chief because he can make the jakhowls stronger, but everyjakhowl knows its just for his ego. He's just a big jerk, and when dad died...he immediately tried to become chief again. He said dad was weak at his funeral and only he could lead the jakhowls...and then he dueled my grandpa for right of chief."

"Disgusting. He even insulted your father at his deathbed?" Sharp just gave a small nod, "I see...and I suspect your grandfather lost?"

"Of course he did." Sharp scoffed, "Gramps...he can barely fight anymore. He's more of an advisor than anything these days."

"And did you challenge Strong to become a chief over him?"

Sharp glanced back over at her, a mix of anger and sadness in his eyes. However, there was a glint of resolve in there as well as he said, "Of course I did! He had no right to just come in and take the chiefdom away! And now that he has it, he's treating the other jakhowls like slaves! He's having them build some...great thing to honor himself. And since he's chief, he can order them around and..." His eyes softened as he started at Luna, "He said jakhowls can't interact with any other kind, including ponies. That we're supposed to not trust them anymore."

"I see..." Luna sighed, leaning back as she put her hoof on her chin, "If that's the case..." Her mind went back to her sister's words, only to grit her teeth as she let out a huff. "Fine. If my sister wants me to go make friends, I don't have to make friends with ponies."

"Huh?" Sharp asked as she blurted out those words.

Luna then leapt off the log before turning to the jakhowl, a determined glare in her eyes. "Very well. After hearing that, I can't just leave you to train alone in the forest."

"What are you-"

"Do you wish to challenge Strong Strike again and reclaim chiefdom?" Luna asked, making Sharp blink.

"Um...yeah! Of course!" Sharp responded with clenching his paws, "I wanna make him pay for what he's doing to the jakhowls."

"Good. As for myself, I wish to repair the relations between ponies and jakhowls." Luna replied, making Sharp go wide-eyed.

"Huh?! Didn't you just hear me?! Strong-"

"Will soon be replaced." She interrupted while holding out her hoof, "Let's make a deal, young jakhowl. I'll train you to beat Strong Strike, and in return as their new chief, you'll help me repair the relations with ponies and jakhowls."

"But..." Sharp slowly responded as he stared up at her, "But I can't...I'm not even an adult yet!"

"So?"

"No youngling has ever become chief! I can't just beat an adult jakhowl. Heck, I can't even make a proper Bone Breaker!"

"Not with that attitude." Luna replied before tapping his chest with her hoof, "I'll train you to beat him and anypony else that gets in your way. Deal?"

He glanced down at the hoof, blinking before taking it in his paw, "Deal."

And so, Luna began her training of Sharp Paw. It began with Sharp Paw showing her what he could do...which was not much. He revealed he was able to summon an Aura Blast, but that was all. He could not use Steel Paw. Bone Breaker was impossible for the youngling, just able to make it halfway before his aura broke apart.

In response to this, Luna summoned a long blade and began to swing it at the jakhowl, forcing him to try and make the Bone Breaker...only to end up chasing him through the forest.

"Come back here!" Luna exclaimed as she cut a tree in half with a single swing.

"No! You're crazy!" Sharp cried as he hopped over a log.

"I'm not crazy! I'm just going to train you with this!" Luna yelled as she chopped the log. "Just stay still and try to block my attacks!"

"I'm not gonna do that! You'll kill me!"

THWACK!

THOOM!

Her blade was levitated and swung the sword into a tree in front of Sharp, knocking it down in front of the jakhowl. "Aaah!" He yelped, spinning around to see Luna already summon the blade back in front of her.

"Stay still and block my attack!"

"NO!"

One Week Later...

"Put your back into it!" Luna exclaimed as she sat on top of a log...that was on top of Sharp Paw as he tried to lift the log up.

"I'm...trying..." He groaned, his back on the ground as he tried to push the log upward.

"Well obviously you're not!" Luna yelled, "You need to be stronger!"

"I...know!" Sharp moaned as he pushed upward with his paws, the log starting to shake.

"Just a little more..." Luna said as she felt the log began to go up. She then leaned down with her horn shining, "You need to do better, or I'll add more weight."

"I can't do any more weight! I can barely move this!"

"And I say you can move more!" Luna added with crossed hooves, "Come on Sharp, I know you're better than this."

"But-"

"No buts! Now keep trying or I'm adding more weight!"

Two Weeks Later...

"Again!" Luna yelled as Sharp Paw charged at her, leaping up a second before thrusting a kick. The alicorn quickly raised a hoof to block it, only to twist the hoof and snap it to the side, pushing Sharp's leg away.

"Whoa!" Sharp yelped as he stumbled back, falling to the ground as he tried to keep his footing.

"Stop doing that!" Luna roared as Sharp got back on his feet. "You keep charging with the same attacks! You need to improvise!"

"But this is how jakhowls fight!" Sharp barked back, "We do paw to paw combat and then use aura-"

"Forget your traditions!" Luna interrupted as her horn shined, a sword appearing in a flash of light. "Figure out how to best me a different way!" She roared before swinging the blade down, Sharp Paw barely summoning a Bone Breaker in response. The sword clanged against the aura bone, only for the bone to already start cracking. She then began to push down on the jakhowl, squeezing him back as she walked up and thrust her face up into his. "Now figure out how to counter me with any means necessary."

"But-"

"Do it!"

"Grrr...fine!" Sharp yelled as he gave his Bone Breaker a push, Luna's blade now slightly shoved back before he put all his strength into his legs. With a quick downward shove, he pushed his legs into a jump while dismissing Bone Breaker, Luna's blade now thrusting forward just as he leapt up. He hopped straight over the sword before thrusting a kick into Luna's face, only for the alicorn to block it with a hoof. But as she did this, he put both paws together and summoned an Aura Blast. "Take this!" He thrust the orb at her face, only for her horn to shine and disappear right before the sphere hit. "Huh?!"

"Hi-ya!" Luna exclaimed as she reappeared and smacked Sharp in the back with her left wing.

"Blaugh!" Sharp yelped as he was slammed into the dirt, his mouth tasting it before getting back up and yelling, "Hey! That's not fair! Jakhowls can't teleport!"

"So?" Luna replied as she magically pointed the blade at him, "Who said this training is just to fight jakhowls? I am training you to fight anything." The sword swung in a circle before pointing at him again, "Now, let's try again, and actually think on your feet for once."

Sharp let out a huff, only to get in a fighting stance, "Okay."

One Month Later...

"Faster!" Luna yelled as she flew across a mud-covered field, "Catch up to me already!"

"I'm trying!" Sharp barked back as he tried to trudge through the mud, his legs trying to do everything they could to run. But as he did this, his legs continued to get bogged down. "How is this helping?!"

The alicorn glanced back and then flew down to his eye level, "Sharp...you're already fast, so you need to improve your legs through something different."

"By trying to run through mud?!"

"Yes." Luna said as her face got close to his, "If you fight Strong right now and he harms your legs, you need to be able to resist it and keep moving. Every part of your body counts in a fight."

He stared into her eyes, blinking before he did a small nod. "Okay."

Luna showed a small smile at this, "Good. Now, let's continue." Her horn shined as two objects appeared beside her in mid-air. "We'll start by adding some leg weights."

"NO!"

Two Months Later...

"Now...defend yourself!" Luna yelled as she swung her blade down, only for a loud clang to ring out. Below her sword was now a fully formed Bone Breaker, the jakhowl gripping it with both paws.

"Good. Now, parry!" Luna exclaimed as she thrust the blade, Sharp shifting the bone to swat the sword away. This was followed by two more thrusts, Sharp blocking both.

"Good! Now do it faster!" Luna swiped the sword again, Sharp ducking under the first strike before thrusting his Bone Breaker at her. This was followed by her deflecting it back, then spinning the blade in her magic before thrusting it again. The tip struck the aura bone, pushing the jakhowl back.

"Urgh..." Sharp hissed as he felt his feet grind into the ground.

"You're leaving yourself open." Luna responded, "You need to be faster or-"

"Hi-ya!" Sharp roared as he charged at her suddenly, Luna responding with a quick thrust. But as her sword went for him, Sharp suddenly leapt over her blade, spinning in the air before swinging his weapon down.

CLANG!

The alicorn's blade reappeared above the princess, blocking the attack as Sharp leapt away. She turned to face him as he landed, seeing a blue flame consume every part of the aura bone. Luna glanced down at her blade, now seeing a crack in it. "Good...very good."

Sharp Paw stood there with Bone Breaker in paw, panting as he took an offensive stance. However, Luna just shined a big grin as she said, "Alright...you're finally learning." A second blade appeared beside her, this one also consumed in magic. "Now, let's continue."

A few days later...

Within the Everfree Forest, Sharp Paw was kneeling before the Princess of the Night. She had a new blade levitating in her magic, now lowering it to the jakhowl's shoulders. "You have done well Sharp. You have shown with determination and hard work, you can become a true warrior. I am proud of you, and I declare you are worthy of being a proto-knight under me."

"Thank you." Sharp replied as he felt the blade touch his shoulder.

"Yes. And now, there is only test left for you to take." She tapped his shoulder, "You will defeat Strong Strike."

He glanced up at her, both eyes staring within each other as he asked, "And...if I fail?"

"You won't fail." Luna replied as she lifted the blade and leaned up to his face. "Cuz I'll punish you if you don't win."

Sharp did a long gulp, "Okay."

Luna shined a big grin at this, patting him on the back next, "Oh, stop it! You know I wouldn't do anything bad...probably."

"I know." Sharp chuckled as he got up, only to suddenly hug the alicorn. "Thank you."

Luna flinched at the embrace, only to slowly put her hooves around him. "Of course." She then pulled away and gave him a determined glare, "Now, let's go meet this Strong Strike and beat his flank already."

"He doesn't have a flank."

"You know what I mean!" Luna barked as she smacked him with her wing, the jakhowl laughing before the two began to walk through the forest. There was a long silence as they went through the foliage, slowly making their way to the other side of the woods. And as they did this, Luna's eyes slowly began to go wide as they across something new.

At the edge of the Everfree was a fence, one that followed past it a series of tents and teepees. She saw a group of young jakhowls playing at the edge of the fence, an adult chasing after them, telling them to not go far. And as they got close, Sharp directed her to the side, soon going to a small entrance into the fence. There she saw what looked like only a little over two hundred jakhowls, all living in a makeshift camp.

"This...is all of Equestria's jakhowls?" she whispered to Sharp.

"Yeah." He nodded. "The Tricksters did a number on us, but we fought them back."

"I see...I knew your kind had not interacted with us in some time, but...to see it like this." Luna said as they walked into the camp. She saw the many jakhowls now all building a large structure in the back of the camp, their bodies covered in dirt and exhaustion. There was a look of hopeless in their eyes, all robotically building something that Luna could only guess Strong had forced them to do.

And as they went in, several jakhowls turned to them, most adults as they stared at the duo. They all exchanged glances, murmuring with one another before one adult walked up to them. "Sharp!"

"Hey Stream." Sharp replied with a wave, "How's it going?"

"How's it going?! Sharp, what are you doing here?!" Stream exclaimed, "Strong Strike exiled you, remember?!" He then pointed to Luna, "And why are you with a pony?! They're not allowed either!"

"I know." Sharp responded, "And that's why I'm here."

Stream stared at Sharp for a second, seeing a calm look in his eyes before whispering, "Sharp...you're not thinking of..."

"Yeah, I am."

"But...but...he'll kill you!" Stream yelled before getting down to Sharp's level, "Sharp, you can't-"

"I have to do this." Sharp interrupted, glaring at the jakhowl. He then gestured to the jakhowls behind Stream, all of them whispering and crowding around each other. "Strong is making you live in fear. I have to beat him and fix that."

Stream went wide-eyed at this, hearing the strong low tone Sharp had just said that in. He blinked at the jakhowl, unable to respond until Luna spoke up, "Believe in him."

He glanced up at Luna, just now seeing she was an alicorn, "You're-"

"Do not worry about who I am. Sharp Paw is here to right what has been wronged, just as I am." Luna interrupted, "Please allow him to do so."

Stream's eyes shifted between the two, only for Sharp to ask, "Could you ask Strong to come here?"

"Uh...well...that's..."

"And tell him if he doesn't, then he's a coward." Luna added, her last words combining with a hiss. Stream felt his whole body shake at this, shivers chipping at his spine.

Sharp then walked up and grabbed Stream's paw, "Please."

Stream stared into Sharp's eyes again, seeing the calm resolve within. With that, the panic settling over him began to disappear, "Um...okay. I will."

With that, he quickly ran away, zipping up a small hill to a big tent in the distance. As he did this, the others jakhowls all stared at him before looking back at the duo, seeing Sharp stand there with both paws in fists. They began to murmur again, all shaking before the sound of a loud roar filled the air. Everyone turned to the big tent, only to see Stream fly out of the door.

"Stream!" Sharp gasped before running up and catching the jakhowl, flinching under the weight of the adult. He quickly put him down and asked, "You okay?"

"No..." Stream moaned, "Strong-"

"SHARP PAW!" bellowed a growling voice, Sharp looking up to see the tent's cloth to flutter open. As it flapped back, a tall adult jakhowl walked out. It had a long cut down the top right of its left eye and long glare coming out of his eyes. He let out a hiss, "What are you doing here?!"

"Strong..." Sharp replied, standing up and staring at the adult. To everyone there, Strong towered over Sharp, being double his height, but the stare that Sharp gave made it look as if they were equal height. "I'm here to reclaim my birthright."

"Birthright?!" Strong spat before letting out a cackle, "You?!" Strong pointed to behind Sharp, "You're banished, remember?! You no longer belong to the clan, you and the rest of your family. Get out of my sight."

"I'm not going anywhere." Sharp responded, "I hereby challenge you to a duel for the chiefdom."

"I refuse." Strong immediately said, "An exile has no right." He then glanced up, now seeing Luna in the distance, the sight making him scowl, "And you brought a pony here." He looked back down at Sharp, "You're a disgrace to jakhowls." He raised a paw and activated Steel Paw, "And since you think you can just casually break our laws-"

"You mean your laws." Sharp interrupted, "Ponies were accepted before you came along."

"And that is why I am chief now. I won't allow inferior species here." Strong pointed the Steel Paw at Sharp, "You broke the law by coming back here and bringing a pony with you." Strong shined a giant grin at this, "I hereby sentence you to death."

Gasps rang out around them, Luna slightly flinching at the statement. Only Sharp didn't react, just glaring at the adule as Stream yelled, "Strong, you can't! He's just a kid-"

"He's a traitor." Strong interrupted, "And I have every right. I am chief of the jakhowls!"

"And you're a coward." Sharp added, Strong's eyes twitching as he saw the young jakhowl cross his arms. There was no fear in the jakhowl's eyes, making Strong hiss.

"You..."

"I'll say it again. I hereby challenge you to a duel for the chiefdom." Sharp said in a low tone before smirking, "Or are you scared of losing to me?"

"You little..." Strong growled as he leaned down to Sharp's eye level, "I will not-"

"Just fight me already." Sharp cut in, "Or are you such a coward that you'll just banish a kid rather than fight for what's not rightfully yours?"

Strong's face contorted in anger, growling as he yelled, "Grrr...fine!" Strong then shined a big grin at this, "I'll tear you apart! The chiefdom is mine!"

Sharp leaned back up into Strong's face, "Bring. It. On."

The jakhowls around them had watched the exchange in pure shock. Gasps, murmurs and whispers kept going over the crowd as they gathered around a small stage a little aways in the camp. There, a long wooden platform was on some logs, Sharp and Strong soon walking onto of the stage. Luna was watching from a distance, no jakhowls even close around her as she stared at Sharp. She saw the determination in his eyes, glaring at Strong with a look of anger and confidence.

"Sharp was right about him...he has no right to be a leader." Luna whispered to herself. "Be careful my friend. You can do it."

Sharp and Strong stared at each other as they stood on each end of the platform, Stream walking up between them. He raised his paw and spoke up, "All jakhowls are here?" The crowd let out a wave of 'ayes', Stream nodding at this, "Very well. As such, I will now be the judge of this duel. The chief of the jakhowls, Strong Strike, will be duelling to keep his chiefdom from-" He waved his paw to Sharp, "Sharp Paw."

"You will not have it." Strong growled as blue flames covered his paws. "I AM CHIEF!"

Sharp cricked his neck, slowly putting himself in a fighting stance. "I will beat you."

Stream raised his paw upward, "Are both jakhowls ready?!"

"Yes!" They both replied.

"Then...BEGIN!" Stream exclaimed as he swung his paw down.

"DIE!" Strong roared as he instantly formed an Aura Blast and fired it. Sharp quickly leapt to the side, dodging the sphere as he put both paws together.

"Aura Blast!" Sharp yelled as he formed the orb and threw it.

"Pathetic." Strong spat as he just swung his arm, swatting the sphere away. But as he did this, Sharp jumped in front of his face, thrusting a foot. But as it got close, Strong's arm swung back up, grabbing Sharp's leg right before it hit. "You can't beat me." He swung Sharp's body upward, about to fling him down just as Sharp formed a Bone Breaker in his paws.

"Hi-ya!" Sharp roared as he swung the bone down, smacking Strong in the back of his head.

"Ack!" Strong yelped as he let go of Sharp, the jakhowl quickly spinning in midair and landing on both feet. He then swung the aura bone at the adult, only for it to hit something else. Within that split second, Strong had spun around and summoned his own Bone Breaker, blocking Sharp's. "I told you, you can't beat-"

"Shut up!" Sharp yelled as he spun around, swinging the aura bone straight for Strong's legs. However, the adult hopped over the attack as he dispelled his Bone Breaker and fired another Aura Blast. Sharp saw this and tried to leap away, only for the sphere's explosion as it hit the ground to push him back. "Augh!"

"Stupid brat." Strong commented as Sharp skidded across the floor. He summoned a Bone Breaker again, spinning it on one paw, "You may be able to use Bone Breaker now, but its pointless. You'll never beat me. You're just a punk kid."

"I will beat you!" Sharp exclaimed as he hopped back up and swung his aura weapon at Strong, the adult easily blocking it again. Sharp then tried another swing, but Strong thrust his paw forward, grabbing Sharp's Bone Breaker. "Wha-"

"Weak." Strong growled as he thrust a leg next, kicking Sharp in the stomach. The blow knocked him off his feet, Sharp falling onto his back. And as he tried to move, he felt Strong slam his foot into his chest.

"Rgh! Get off me!" Sharp yelled as he tried to move, only for Strong to swing his Bone Breaker into Sharp's face. "GAH!"

"Stupid brat! Know your place!" Strong roared as he pulled back his weapon, only to hit Sharp in the face again. He then did this a third time, then a fourth-

"Stop Strong! You'll kill him!" Stream screamed from the side, only for Strong to turn and glare at him.

"Be silent! This is true way of the jakhowl! I won't let you be swayed by some brat!" Strong hissed before turning back to Sharp, "See this brat?! This is why you fail! Brats like you can't beat adults!" Strong raised his Bone Breaker again, "We're better, stronger-"

"You're...weak..." Sharp moaned out, his whole body fidgeting as he kept trying to move.

"Why you little!" Strong roared as he swung his Bone Breaker down-

THUNK!

"Huh?!" Strong yelped as he stared down at the young jakhowl, only to see he had caught the aura bone in a Steel Paw. "How did you-"

"You lose." Sharp growled as he yanked his Steel Paw, pulling the Bone Breaker with it. The motion caused Strong to stumble as he was still holding the aura bone, his foot coming off Sharp's chest. And as this happened, Sharp swung his leg upward, slamming his foot into Strong's face.

"Blaugh!" Strong cried as he was hit, stumbling back at this. He then formed an Aura Blast in one paw, his aura pouring into the sphere until it doubled in size. "Die brat!" He threw the ball with all his might, but Sharp hopped to his feet with a determined glare on his face.

"No thanks." Sharp replied as he formed a Bone Breaker and swung it like a baseball bat...right into Strong's Aura Blast. The sphere made contact and grinded on the bone for a second, only to go flying back into Strong.

"Wait, no-" was all Strong could say before his own Aura Blast crashed into his face, consuming him in an explosion. "AUGH!"

And as Strong began to stumble back again, Sharp desummoned his Bone Breaker and put his paws together, summoning his own Aura Blast. The jakhowl then leapt into the smoke from the explosion, coming out the other side just as Strong began to recover.

"Take this!" Sharp roared as he slammed his Aura Blast into Strong's stomach, the sphere instantly exploding before sending Strong flying, blood shooting out of his mouth from the blow. He went sailing off the platform, crashing into the mud and dirt.

The crowd all gasped at this, wide-eyed as they saw Sharp land and stand tall. There was a thin layer of intense aura pouring off him, the sight making the jakhowls all murmur in disbelief. And as this happened, Sharp walked off the stage and up to the downed adult jakhowl.

Strong's eyes squinted open, hissing in pain until he felt something touch his neck. He looked up and saw Sharp pointing a Bone Breaker at his neck, "I win Strong. I am the new chief."

"No...that's...impossible.." Strong groaned out, "You...can't...I'm...chief."

"You lost. You will never be chief again." Sharp then desummoned the Bone Breaker, "And as my first act as the new chief of the jakhowls, you are hereby exiled Strong Strike. I won't let you abuse the jakhowls anymore!"

"You...can't...do...that..." Strong moaned out. "You're just...a brat."

"I'm the brat that beat you. I am the new chief!" Sharp responded before turning to the rest of the clan. He took a deep breath before yelling, "Listen all jakhowls! From this forward, I am your chief! I have proven myself worthy through combat, and I will take this title and use it for good. If I ever do evil like Strong Strike has done, I will ask you to strike me down. Until then, I will be chief, and I promise to lead you all into a new age of prosperity!"

The jakhowls all around began to murmur, whispering amongst themselves before Stream spoke up, "Hail Chief Sharp Paw!"

"Hail Chief Sharp Paw!" Another exclaimed.

"HAIL CHIEF SHARP PAW!" More jakhowls began to yell.

"HAIL CHIEF SHARP PAW!"

The sight made Sharp shine the biggest grin, pure happiness on his face. And as the crowd began to roar, he looked off into the distance and saw Luna smiling, nodding back at him. He nodded as well, only to look down at his people, two jakhowls now leading his grandfather through the crowd. Sharp quickly raced down to hug the old timer, his grandfather soon telling him how proud he was of Sharp.

And as this happened, Luna watched the scene with a giant smile, only to feel something. She felt a tug in her heart, a tinge of life surrounding her. She then noticed Sharp feel it too, the young jakhowl flinching after hugging his grandfather before glancing back at Luna. And in that moment, they knew they had a true bond.

"And that my dear jakhowls, is how I met Sharp Paw. It was at that moment he became chief that I realized we were destined partners."

"Wow..." Ace and Mira replied with wide eyes, Springer imitating them with even bigger eyes.

"Huh...my dad was really something." Springer commented before tilting his head, "That all really happened? He was the first chief to be a kid?"

"Oh yes. Youngest jakhowl to ever be chief. And I was so proud of him." Luna giggled before glancing away, a far away look in her eyes, "Oh...those were the days. Especially after he became chief and declared that jakhowls would immediately start mingling with ponies again. That was...quite the mess that happened afterward."

"Really?" Springer responded, "But don't most ponies get along with jakhowls?"

"Err...not in those days." Luna grimaced, "Let's just say...that's a story for another day."

"Great story," Ace added, "But what exactly does it have to do with where we are right now?"

The group were in a sandy desert several days travel from Appaloosa. They had arrived at the cow-pony settlement and almost immediately, they began heading in the direction of Ponyville. They had been travelling for two days, and the jakhowls still didn't know what Luna had called them there.

"It has everything to do with why we're here," Luna replied as she pointed off in the distance, "There it is." The three turned where she was pointing...only to see nothing but trees.

"I don't get it," Mira responded, "What's over there?"

Luna chuckled as they continued walking in that direction, "I know it's hard to understand, but a thousand years ago, this place looked very different. The soil wasn't as...sandy as it is now. In fact, if you travelled back to the time I knew Sharp Paw, you would find yourself surrounded by trees from where you're standing."

The jakhowl's eyes went wide at this, seeing that this place was completely devoid of trees. "In just a thousand years?"

"That's right. And that forest was the very same one that was once connected to the Everfree, where my sister and I lived at the time."

Springer slowly began to put the pieces together, his eyes going even wider as he stuttered out, "Do...do you mean that this area is..."

"The place where Sharp Paw and the rest of the jakhowls once called home. Yes, yes I am." Ace and Mira both gasped at this. "Not long after we defeated Strong and the jakhowls began to integrate with ponies, this area was turned into their home. And it was here that we built the castle that Sharp trained jakhowls in hopes that they could help protect Equestria from the Tricksters and other dangers."

"Castle?" Springer replied before thinking back to what Shade had shown him, only to see nothing like a castle around them. In fact, there were no structures anywhere. "What castle? It can't have completely collapsed in the last thousand years. Your castle was older and it's still standing."

Luna smiled at this and came to a stop as they got close to the trees. "Watch and learn." With that, she fired a blast of magic at the ground. The sandy surface began to light up and spread towards the forest, eventually filling almost a full mile of land. When the light finished spreading, it began to fly off the ground until it reached the sky, only for something to appear where the light had been. It wasn't completely there at first, looking more like a mirage at first, only to slowly become solid.

The first thing one could see was a large wall, which was wrapped around some kind of camp-like town. And in the middle of that town as a large castle, standing proud and strong despite the years it had been left abandoned.

"Wha..." was all Springer could say as he stared at the construct. "What...just happened?"

"That was not here a minute ago!" Ace yelped as Luna laughed, the alicorn heading through the front gate.

"Was it invisible?" Mira asked, Luna shaking her head.

"Not exactly." They entered the gate, Springer now seeing the place looked just like the visions he had seen of it in the past. "When the jakhowls were...lost, and before Faust wiped my mind, I...well, I did destroy part of the castle in my sorrow...but after that, I found Springer's egg and used a powerful spell to put the castle and everything within it out of phase with the rest of the world. I'll admit, I'm surprised it was still in this state, even after I spent a thousand years in the moon and had my magic removed from me."

"So the castle's been hiding here this entire time?" Springer asked as they stepped up to the front and he placed a paw on the doorway. "The home of the jakhowls...if only the Tricksters hadn't done what they did." He sighed and stared at the ground, Ace and Mira frowning at the sight.

Luna then walked up and placed a wing on his shoulder, "We can't focus on what might have been if things were done differently in the past. What matters is our present and future. Things might have been good for you if you were born a thousand years ago, but you would have never gotten to meet Flash and all your other friends. Plus, Ace and Mira might still be trapped in Faust's magic right now if you weren't there to find them."

Springer let out a low breath, "I know." He glanced back up at the door, "Let's do this thing." He pushed the door open and it grinded against the floor. They slowly walked in, seeing nothing but dust and darkness until Luna lit her horn and fired a blast of magic, which struck a nearby torch and lit it up. The magic then bounced off the torch and hit another one, then another and another until it disappeared around a corner to continue lighting the castle.

"This place is kinda creepy," Ace whispered as he tried to walk in, "Gyah!" The others turned see he had walked into a large spider web, the jakhowl struggling the claw the silk off of his face. "Gross."

"Well, this place has been abandoned for years," Mira pointed out, "Of course it'll have a few webs."

"Still gross," Ace threw the web onto the floor. "When I realized we were gonna be finding the old castle of the jakhowls, I was expecting something a little cooler. Doesn't this place have any secrets rooms or hidden passageways, like in the Castle of the Two Sisters?"

"Afraid not," Luna chuckled, "However, the library was pretty well stocked with books. Maybe you can find something interesting in there. I think Sharp was working on a book to better train jakhowls on how to use their powers. Maybe it'll help you two learn to control your attacks." Ace and Mira's eyes went wide at this and nodded, Luna spreading her wings and guiding them through the castle. The others followed after her and they headed through the castle, seeing the place was still in disarray, only for Springer come to a stop.

He turned to one of the doors in the hallway, the jakhowl feeling something coming from it. It was faint, but he was picking up a residual aura coming from behind the door. The others didn't notice he had stopped and all disappeared around the corner as Springer carefully pushed the door open and found himself staring into a large room. It appeared to be a kind of bedroom, though it was covered in a thin layer of dust.

It had a large bed and window, and a framed picture could be seen on the opposite wall. Springer felt himself drawn toward the picture, only to see it was covered in so much dust that he couldn't see the image behind it. He reached out and unleashed a weak pulse of aura, causing a wind strong enough to blow the dust away. Doing so caused the two jakhowls depicted in the painting to be revealed, Springer's parents.

Springer stared at the image of Sharp and Calm Paw, Sharp holding Calm in his arms as they smiled at whoever had done the portrait. Springer stared at them, feeling a tear appear in his eyes. He glanced back at the room...and saw what it was. Their bedroom.

He slowly sat down on the bed, staring at the place as a new thought entered his head. This was where he had been born.

Completely unaware of Springer's discovery, Luna had now directed Ace and Mira to the library. She pushed the door open and fired magic at some torches, which were actually crystals that lit up when the magic touched them. But as they looked in, they saw nothing but dust. So much that Twilight would likely have a panic attack if she saw the library like this. It was covered in multiple cobwebs, which made Ace shiver at the sight while some of the books looked like just touching them would cause them to turn to dust.

"This place is a dump," Ace commented before Mira flicked his ear. "Ow!"

"Show some respect. This place was once really important to our people. It's not their fault it fell into disrepair!"

"Now now Mira, he is right." Luna chimed in as she walked up to a bookshelf, "This place will need a spot of cleaning before we can think of touching anything in it." Ace and Mira sighed at this, only for Luna to add, "Luckily, there are ways to speed the process up."

Her horn lit up, the pair raising an eyebrow. "But we were told that using magic to clean wasn't always a good idea," Mira pointed out.

"True, but this kind of situation will call for it. Attempting to clean this room up by hoof would take a long time, and its possible you could accidently damage the books as you do so. This should fix that." She unleashed the magic and it flew across the room, hitting every shelf and book within. When it did, the dust began to fade away and the books slowly seemed to revert backwards in time to looking brand new.

When the light faded away, the cobwebs were also gone, and the room looked like somepony had cleaned it that very same day. "Whoa..." Ace whispered as he moved over to one of the bookshelves and grabbed a book.

And as they moved through the library, a bunch of eyes stared at them, only to disappear through a crack in the room's wall. But as they did this, Ace pulled a book from the shelf without causing any damage to it. "Awesome." He opened it, only to see it was...in a completely incomprehensible language. "What the heck?"

Luna moved over and raised an eyebrow, "Ah," she sighed. "Of course. I should have remembered that." The ponies turned to her, "It's written in old ponish. I doubt you'll be able to read it at all." The two huffed and he put the book back on the shelf, the three looking at the other books and soon saw that they were all in a language that Ace and Mira couldn't read.

"Don't you know how to read and write it?" Mira asked as she pulled out another book, "You lived in the time these books were written."

"True," Luna nodded. "Though I'd like to see you spend a thousand years locked away without any reading material and try to remember how to spell your name. When I returned, I had to spend months learning the new way that ponies write everything. It felt like I was back in Starswirl's old lessons again." She huffed as the two laughed. "Though if I remember correctly, Twilight has well versed in old ponish. I'm sure she would be willing to translate anything you bring her. She would probably do so without being asked." They laughed again and Mira turned to ask Springer what book they should take with them, only to see he was missing.

"Where'd he go?"

"He did come into the library with us, right?" Ace asked as the females shrugged.

"It's possible he got distracted by something and then got lost," Luna suggested, "Though this castle isn't exactly large enough to get lost in."

"Can't he just follow our aura if he got lost?" Mira added, only to feel her foot land in something slimy and sticky. "Huh?" She looked down and found a strange blob of white liquid struck in the ground, "Ew!" She tried to pull her foot off it, but it wouldn't let go. "Get it off!"

Luna galloped over and fired a blast of magic, melting the webbing. "Strange. That should have vanished when I cleaned the room." She stepped back, only to suddenly find herself landing in something sticky as well. "Huh?" She looked down and saw she was stuck in webbing as well. "Again?" She was about to fire a blast from her horn, only for something to shoot down from the ceiling and strike her head. "Gyah!" She cried at the impact, Ace and Mira gasping when they saw her horn had been completely covered by white slime.

"What's going on?" Ace asked before they looked up and saw what had attacked Luna. A bunch of spiders, the size of the two young jakhowls that were pitch black with red eyes and a large red star on their butts. "What are those things?!"

"Star Spiders," Luna whispered as she tried to heat her horn up and melt the webbing. "But I've never seen ones that big. And the red star they have should be blue."

"I thought you said this castle was out of phase with the rest of the world?" Ace asked, only to leap back when a spider fired at him. "So what are these things doing here?!"

"I'm not sure. If a couple were in the castle when I transported it-" Her wings and horn were then struck by webbing, "Then...they would have been trapped inside. I guess a thousand years trapped in a castle causes a bit of variation."

"We have to get out of here!" Mira cried as she leapt to the side to avoid another blast of webbing. "But how are we supposed to get Luna free?!"

Ace rolled to the side and as he did, he formed an Aura Blast. He fired it at a star spider, which leapt away, causing it to explode against the wall with a loud boom.

Springer had opened a drawer in his parent's room, only for the explosion to jolt him awake. "What's going on?" He asked, sending out his aura to try and connect with the others.

"Springer?!" Luna's voice asked, "Where are you?!"

"I found my parents room," he replied, "What's happening?"

"Star spiders!" Ace and Mira cried together, "A bunch of them started attacking!"

"And they aren't fair fighters!" Mira yelled before crying out. "My foot!" Springer zipped out of the room, following their aura signatures, only to be suddenly struck by another aura.

This made him slide to a stop, glaring at the darkness of the hallway that stood between him and his friends. "Show yourself! I know you're there." After a few seconds, eight large bright red eyes appeared in the darkness and their owner stepped closer. Doing so revealed itself to by a giant star spider, the size of a full grown pony.

"I'm guessing you're the leader of these star spiders?!" The beast's only response was to growl, "Let me guess, we're trespassing on your place, huh?" He slowly took a step forward, "Listen, let me get my friends and we'll leave this place-" He didn't get to finish as the spider fired out a stream of webbing, "Whoa!" He leapt back as the web hit the ground, "Not gonna let us leave, huh?" Springer then felt a great amount of predatory hunger coming from the creature. "I get it. I doubt you've ever seen prey as big as me before. I must look like a four-course meal to you."

The spider hissed and started firing several more web shots, Springer forming a Bone Breaker and spinning it around to deflect the attack. "Alright!" He charged, "Then you leave me no choice!" He leapt to slam his staff into the spider, only to suddenly vanish in a blurry wave of motion. The next thing the spider knew, something landed on its back and leapt off. "Seeya!" Springer disappeared down the hallway and the spider began to give chase.

Back in the library...

Ace was still dancing around the place, avoiding all the webbing he could as Mira continued to pull her trapped foot, but it refused to come off the concrete. The same could be seen with Luna, who was constantly struck by new webbing whenever she got close to destroying the stuff on her horn.

"We have to do something!" Mira cried, turning to Ace. "Hurry!"

"And do what?" He asked before jumping straight into the air, throwing an Aura Blast at a spider that easily dodged it. "There's too many for me to beat on my own!" As he said that, another spider fired a web shot at him. This one hit the midair jakhowl, "Gyah!" He was knocked to the ground, the web sticking his paw into the floor. "No!"

"We're in trouble," Mira gulped as the spiders began to descend, drool pouring off their fangs, "Springer, help!"

"I would if I could!" Springer called back, "But the boss spider's kinda giving me a hard time!"

"But we're all stuck!" Ace cried, "And they're gonna eat us!" A spider hung from a string right above him, its fangs now snapping at him. "What do we do?!"

"You have to blast us out of here," Luna replied.

"But I can't use Aura Blast with one paw!" Ace yelled before turning to Mira. The golden jakhowl nodded and brought her paws together, but before she could form the orb, another spider shot a web blast into the back.

"Gyah!" She yelped, falling over as the spiders webbed her left paw to it. "No!"

"That's it!" Ace whined as the spider got closer, "we're dead!"

"Don't give up!" Luna barked back, "There's always a way out as long as you don't give up! Sharp never gave up, no matter how hard things got! He was able to become such a young chief because he didn't let himself fail when he came up to a difficult opponent."

"But I'm not like Sharp Paw!" Ace countered, "I'm not even like Springer! They were born for this kind of thing! But being the hero and saving the day...that's not me!"

"Who says so?!" Luna yelled, "You decide what you want to be. If you want to be the weak little jakhowl that became spider food, fine. But if you want to get out of here, then you have to find the strength to do what you thought was impossible!"

Ace looked up at the spider as it got closer, its mouth now opening as drool began to drip out. "Ahhhh!" He screamed, trying to pull his paw out. And as the spider got within arm's reach, snapping its fangs together, Ace's paw started glowing beneath the webbing. "RAAAAAAAH!" Suddenly, the webbing around Ace's paw exploded as he thrust it upward. And as he did this, it was revealed to have a trio of energy blades coming out the back of his hand.

"Steel Paw!" Luna gasped as Ace swung his bladed paw into the spider above him.

It hissed as its back was sliced at and it quickly retreated, Ace then staring at his paw, "Whoa..."

"How'd you do that?" Mira asked.

"I just...really wanted to cut those spiders to pieces and it happened." Mira glared at him, only for a spider hiss to ring out in her ears. She glanced up and saw the beast, only to close her eyes and tried to imagine the same claws Ace now wielded while imagining slashing at the spider close to her. And as she did this, the back of one of her paws glowed before the claws extended out of it.

"Yes!" She cheered before swinging it at the spider, the insect pulling back and retreating up to the roof. And as it did this, Mira slashed at the webs around the foot, cutting right through them. "Freedom!" She cheered before she and Ace ran as fast as they could to Luna.

Avoiding the spiders as they fired webbing at them, they slashed at her hooves, slicing the webbing and freeing the alicorn. "Let's get out of here!" She exclaimed as she grabbed both with her wings and put them on her back. Ace and Mira then slashed at Luna's horn, cutting the webbing as Luna galloped to the door. The princess flared her horn and opened the doors before racing out of the room and slamming them shut.

"Thank you, you two." She said before closing her eyes, "Springer, we're free!"

"Really?" He asked, "How?"

"We'll explain later," she replied, "Where are you?"

"On your left!" They heard out loud, making them turn to see Springer running with a massive spider chasing after him. The three screamed at the sight, all running away as the spider then came to a stop in front of the library doors. It used its webbing to grab the doors and pull them off their hinges, freeing the rest of its kind.

The four ran as fast as they could through the corridors, the sound of hundreds of legs scurrying after them filling their ears. "I totally get what Soul was saying about how scary spiders can be now!" Mira cried as Springer turned to Luna.

"Can't you teleport us out?"

"You can't teleport inside of the castle," Luna responded, "It was a defense mechanism Sharp asked for when the place was built, to avoid assassins and others who would wish his jakhowls harm from getting in to easily."

"Great..." Springer sighed as they turned a corner, "Any idea how the heck we get out of here?"

"I'm sorry. If we could find a window or something then I could fly us out right now-"

"I know where to go!" Springer interrupted, "Follow me!" He ran ahead and the others gave chase as the star spiders started getting closer. As they did this, they started firing webs, only for Ace and Mira to still have their new attacks active. Despite only being able to use it on one paw, the slashed away the webbing just as Springer yelled, "Here!"

Springer opened a door, only to then leap over Luna, getting between them and the spiders. "Aura Guard!" he yelled, putting up a shield that filled the entire hallway. "Go!" They ran inside and Luna gasped when she saw the portrait, making her remember this was Sharp and Calm's room.

"Amazing..." she whispered. "Its still here."

Springer continued to hold the barrier as the giant spider got in close, only to just bang on the forcefield. Luna turned to the window and saw it overlooked the courtyard. "Alright," she blasted the windows out and turned to the younglings, "Let's go!"

"Go!" Springer yelled, "I'll catch up!" Luna spread her wings and took flight, gliding down to the courtyard before turning back to the castle.

"SPRINGER!" They all cried.

Springer backpedaled to the door before cutting the barrier and leaping into the room. He ran over to the window and saw it the room was a good fifty feet off the ground. The walls were too smooth to climb down and jumping would at least result in one or two broken bones. He then heard a hiss and looked back to see the spider trying to get into the room, through it was too big to do so. "Maybe you should have kept off the snacks," Springer laughed.

The spider hissed at this and adjusted its hindquarters to fire a web string at him, Springer ducking under it. "Is that really the best you've got?" He jumped up so he stood in the window. "Come on, give me your best shot!" The beast seemed to understand this taunt and fired another web blast, only for the jakhowl to leap up and the web shot under him through the window. It continued flying until it struck something, Springer quickly using his Steel Paw to cut it. "Thanks!" He chuckled before sticking the end to the bottom of the window and grabbing a curtain off the side. He then leapt out the window and used the curtain to slide down the web, his friends gasping when they saw this. "WOOOOHOOOO!" Once he was close enough to the ground, he let go of the curtain and rolled along the floor until he came to a stop.

"Springer!" His friends cheered as he stood back up.

"Let's get out of here before they decide to come out after us!" They nodded and Luna spread his wings as her horn glowed. In a flash of light, the four vanished and disappeared a good ten miles away from the castle. They could still see it in the distance, but there was no way the spiders would find them, Springer sighing as he sat down on a large rock, "That was close."

"Yeah..." Ace nodded before showing him his new paws. "But on the plus side, Mira and I got a new move."

"Nice." Springer chuckled, "Well done."

Luna sighed as she looked back at the castle. "I'm sorry you had to go through that. I wanted to show you your old home, but I ended up almost getting you all eaten."

Springer shrugged at this, "Eh, don't worry about it. How were you to know that would happen?" He turned back to the castle, "And I did get to see some of the castle. That's more than enough."

"Well, at least I was able to get you a souvenir." Springer raised an eyebrow at this, only for Luna to pull something out that made his eyes go wide.

"No way!" It was the portrait, or at least a smaller version of it. Now it was barely the size of a dinner plate.

"I was able to shrink it down before we got out of there," Luna replied, "I thought you might want it, so I took the liberty of taking it with us." She gave the picture to Springer, the jakhowl now staring at his parents' happy faces. He almost felt a tear come to his eye again, but he managed to hold it back as he smiled at Luna.

"Thank you."

"Of course. Though I will want to make a separate picture for myself."

"I understand."

"So, what's gonna happen to it now?" Mira asked.

"It may have once belonged to the jakhowls," Springer responded, "But those spiders have lived in it way longer than we have. It's theirs now."

"Maybe..." Luna nodded. "But I highly doubt they'll stay within it forever. They may chose to venture out of it now that they're back in the world. When that happens, we can return and have another look around."

The jakhowls nodded back. Their adventure hadn't been what they had expected, but it was still worth it nevertheless. They had all taken something away from their trip, and when they returned to Ponyville, they would have one heck of a story to tell.

Shadow Play PT1

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A certain dark laboratory was silent, the suited pony known as Void busy looking over a staff that was made of a black metal that was roughly five foot in height with a green orb on the top that was surrounded by four black claw-like instruments. Etched into the metal were multiple runes, which looked more complicated than anything used by Solid Script or other rune users.

"Alright..." Void whispered as he reached for a section of the staff in the middle that appeared to twist, the pony turning it and causing the claws on the top to open up. The green gem fell out and Void caught it, the pony squinting his eyes to see the image of an hourglass inside. He then turned to another workbench that had two electronic stopwatches on it. Both were in perfect sync, even changing minutes at the exact same time. He picked up one and pressed the gem to the back of it, the crystal letting out a flash. The light hit the watch and became a rune, Void putting the watch back down and turning back to the staff.

He placed the crystal back on the head and twisted the area that caused the claws to close around it, the pony then lifting the staff up and took it over to another bench. There a device appearing like a dome covered in wires with a hole in the top was sitting. Void flicked the many switches on the device and twisted the nobs, the dome beginning to light up and hum. He then lifted the staff and after a quick breath, which was deep and raspy, he shoved the staff's tip into the hole. The runes along the staff began to glow from the base up, reaching the crystal and causing it to glow brightly.

The gem unleashed a bright light that filled the entire room, Void turning to the stopwatches. As he did this, the one with the rune on the back glowed the same color as the staff, and after a few seconds, it suddenly blinked out of existence. "Finally," Void muttered, "It works." He turned back to the staff and a minute after the watch vanished, he pulled it out of the dome. The staff stopped glowing and the light around the room vanished. A few moments later, the watch reappeared where it had previously been. Void moved over to the watch and checked it. It was one minute behind the first watch, both still changing minutes at the exact same time, but were now out of sync. "Just as I thought." He turned back to the staff. "You will definitely be useful..." He glanced back at the dome, "But your range still isn't large enough. You need more power." He let out a cough before putting the staff down. "I'll need time to construct a more powerful unit."

Before he could say anything, a beeping noise made him turn to a computer. Walking over to it, he typed away as a light activated behind a metal door. "It's time." He moved over to the frame and looked through the window. "You're my last chance. If you cannot take what I need, then I'll be forced to get involved myself." He took out a picture and placed it against the window, as a pair of red lights filling the room. "Find, capture and return him to me." The figure inside the chamber let out a growl as a new light appeared on its forehead.

Void backpedaled at this, something now slamming into the door and ripping it off its hinges. It was a large spike of ice that quickly shattered into ice cubes as the figure inside stepped out. The sight made Void, "Excellent. You are my ultimate creation. You have information on everypony that could cause me issue. Now go! Go and claim what is rightfully mine!"

Several weeks later...

Canterlot Castle was brimming with activity as the Rune Gate room began to shine. From out of the light of the gate, Twilight Sparkle, Flash Sentry, the rest of the Mane Seven, Defenders, Starlight and Spike stepped out. The guards stood to attention at the sight of the princess.

"Your majesty," the lead guard announced, "Princess Celestia and Luna are waiting for you in the throne room."

"Thank you," Twilight nodded as the group made their way down the hall. As they did, Twilight couldn't help but frown. "What could Celestia and Luna be worried about? They wouldn't have told us to use the Rune Gate unless it was something important."

"Do you think Tirek escaped from Tartarus again?" Rainbow asked.

"Or maybe Malafear's back," Fluttershy quivered.

Flash turned to them, "Whatever the problem is, we'll handle it." They all nodded in agreement before reaching the throne room, soon seeing Celestia and Luna on their thrones along with somepony else.

"Sunburst?" Starlight asked, seeing her childhood friend standing at the base of the throne with the princesses. "What are you doing here?"

"Sunburst is the reason we called you all here," Celestia responded, "He has found something that will be of great interest to everypony here."

"You have?" Twilight asked, the unicorn nodding.

"Yes," he held up a blue book with a star on the cover surrounded by swirls. "Do you remember the blind buy I got when I came to Ponyville?" Starlight and Twilight nodded, "Well this was inside it."

"An old book?" Iron asked. He was about to ask what was so special, but then he remembered he had been turned into a dragon and brainwashed because of a book. "What's it about?"

"Well, that's the amazing thing. I think this book once belonged...to Starswirl the Bearded." The ponies all gasped hearing this, Twilight looking ready to faint. "It's in old ponish, the same language that was around in his day. And several sections talk about events only Starswirl would know about. But it's the last part of the book that made me decide to bring it to show the princesses."

He turned to the alicorns and began to read. The story in the book talked about how Starswirl had united with five other ponies of legend. Flash Magnus the Brave, Rockhoof the Strong, Meadowbrook the Healing, Somnambula the Hopeful and Mistmane the Beautiful. These ponies had been brought together by another pony, the six of them acting as Equestria's greatest protectors. But then the pony who united them tried to steal their power and was cast out, later returning after gaining the power of darkness and becoming the Pony of Shadows.

The final page talked about how the Pony of Shadows attempted to rob the world of its light and hope, but that the Six Pillars made a sacrifice to stop him and left behind a seed that would hopefully grow into a force that would stand against the darkness for all time.

"...I only hope it will be enough," Sunburst finished reading before looking up at the princesses. "That's the last entry." He turned to the others, "And maybe Starswirl's final words before he vanished."

Everypony gasped at this, Celestia grabbing the book in her magic and floating it over to her and Luna, the pair beginning to flick through the novel. "I've always wondered what happened to Starswirl." She smiled at the unicorn stallion, "This is quite a discovery, Sunburst." Sunburst bowed as Twilight stepped forward, looking more excited than Flash had ever seen her.

"So, it's genuine?" She asked, "You can verify that this journal really belonged to Starswirl the Bearded?!"

"Indeed," Luna nodded, "From the looks of it, its the last thing he wrote before facing the Pony of Shadows."

"Uh..." Rainbow chimed in, "So, the Pony of Shadows was really real?" They had heard stories of this creature, but many believed it was just a story you told foals to get them to bed. If the Pony of Shadows sees you're awake at night, he'll whip you away to the realm of darkness of all time.

"It appears so," Celestia replied.

"We never met the other Pillars," Luna added, "And we were too young to understand the danger they faced."

"So were the Pillars a thing before he found you two in the Lost City of Faust or just...happened after he got back with you?" Flash asked, getting a shrug from the alicorns in question.

"Hold on a second now," Applejack called out, "All those legendary ponies were real, too? And they went off with Starswirl to face the Pony of Shadows, and then none of them were ever heard from again?"

She turned to Sunburst for confirmation, the unicorn nodding as Pinkie leapt up next to her, "Uh, yeah! Weren't you listening?"

"Them disappearing is likely why we thought they were legends," Grand chimed in, "Honestly, the only reason Starswirl was a confirmed historical figure was because he wrote so much down. And since the princesses never met the other Pillars, they couldn't tell the rest of Equestria they existed."

"Makes sense," Lightning nodded, "There's a lot about Equestria nopony knows just because at the time, the ponies of the kingdom had more important things to do than write anything down."

"But what happened to them all?" Fluttershy asked.

"They must have defeated the villain," Rarity guessed, "Since Equestria is still full of light and hope and all..."

"But how?" Starlight asked, "And where did they go?"

"Maybe it was a suicide mission?" Springer added, "Maybe Starswirl and the others were destroyed along with the Pony of Shadows. It does say they were making a sacrifice." Everypony grimaced at this, nopony liking the sound of that, especially Twilight and Flash who wouldn't want such a tragic end to their mythological idols. Twilight had always been a big fan of Starswirl and Flash's father had stated that their family were said to descend from Flash Magnus, which was why they had named their son after him.

"My Olde Ponish is a bit rusty," Celestia muttered as she looked through the book. "But I wonder if the answers can be found somewhere within the pages of this book."

She turned to the two Olde Ponish experts. "Well," Twilight rubbed her hoof to her chest, "I just happen to be an expert in Olde Ponish. I mean, I've practically memorized every ancient text about Starswirl there is!"

She happily jogged on the spot, while Spike facepalmed. "Seriously," he nodded, "All of them."

"We have fond memories of our old teacher," Luna replied with a smile to her sister. "If you could discover what happened to him, we would be most grateful." She floated the book over and Twilight leapt into the air, grabbing it as Sunburst looked excited.

"Solving a thousands-year-old mystery could take forever!" He excalimed before turning to shove his face into Applejack's, "Think of the research! The re-reading! The re-re-reading!"

The others smiled at his child-like excitement, Celestia chuckling behind her hoof. "You might find you need help."

"Luckily," Applejack stepped up, "She's got a whole bushel o' helpers right here."

"Totally!" Rainbow cheered before turning to the others, "Uh...how long will all this research take, exactly?"

"Let's get this back to my library," Twilight replied, "I'm sure we'll figure out what happened in no time." They all cheered in agreement and headed for the doors, leaving the princesses sitting together feeling nostalgic for the old days of their training with their mentor.

"Remember how annoyed Starswirl would get whenever we started arguing?" Luna asked Celestia, who laughed.

"Yes. It was many years later that I realized that's why he started putting bells on his outfit." They both laughed and then sighed, "I do hope they're able to discover what happened to him. If the Pony of Shadows somehow survived and is biding his time, we'll need all the info we can get on how to stop him." Luna nodded in agreement, hoping the same thing.

And so, the group returned to Twilight Castle and began their research, attempting to figure out what each and every word in the book meant. Twilight was generous enough to create a rudimentary Olde to Modern Ponish translator, which the ponies used to decipher the different parts of the journal. But no matter what they managed to translate, the group were no closer to finding what happened to Starswirl and the others pillars.

Then on the morning of the third day of research, Spike entered the library with a fresh candle and a loud yawn. He stepped over to Twilight, who was half-asleep as she leaned against the table staring at the journal. He placed the candle down and let out another yawn. "Figure it out yet, Twilight?" She shook her head as Spike picked up the burnt out candle and tossed it into a nearby bin, which was full of burnt out candles, the sound causing Sunburst to wake up after having spent the night sleeping while buried by scrolls.

"What did you figure out?" He asked, his sleep riddled mind mistaking what Twilight had said. His voice caused the others to wake up, Pinkie gasping as she pulled her face out of the cupcakes she had fallen asleep in.

"You figured something out?" She slurped up the cupcake on her forehead while the others started coming around.

"What is it?" Fluttershy asked, Twilight sighing in response.

"Nothing. I mean, Starswirl was a genius, obviously. But forget Olde Ponish. There's parts where his horn-writing is like another language!" She let out a groan, as Flash stretched out his back.

"Now we see where Celestia and Luna learned to write." He turned to the others, "Have you read their writing? It took me years to figure out some of the stuff Celestia wrote."

"That's because she was writing in cursive," Twilight growled as Applejack pushed a bunch of books out of the way so the princess could see her.

"Twilight, we've been studyin' and referencin' and cross-referencin' for three days straight now."

"Ugh," Rainbow moaned. "I haven't spent this much time reading since the last Daring Do book came out."

"Perhaps it is time to take a break," Rarity suggested as Starlight arrived with a fresh pot of coffee. "This mystery is over a thousand years old, after all. Another day or two won't make a difference."

"Two days?! I don't want to waste two seconds!" She trotted away from the table as Starlight put the coffee down, stepping up to a blackboard covered in little bits of interesting information she was sure was important. But they were missing something. A crucial piece that linked them all together. "I'm close to an answer. I can feel it."

"Maybe the answer can't be found," Flash added, the princess spinning around and glaring at him, "Not that I don't wanna find out what happened, but this happened over a thousand years ago. Everything that explained what happened was probably lost or destroyed centuries ago. There's no way this one book will have all the answers Twi."

"Maybe...but-"

"Hearg sylfum se Ponhenge." Twilight turned to Starlight Glimmer as she saw she was now reading out of the book, Starlight turning to Twilight once she had finished. "What's that?"

Twilight ran over and read it as well, "The Temple of Ponhenge?!" She turned to Starlight. "You can read that?!"

Starlight shrugged, "The horn-writing's pretty sloppy, but it's nowhere near as bad as mine." She stared at the book and started reading the words, most of them being so strange that the others could barely register what she was saying. Luckily, Sunburst was there to translate.

"At the base of Foal Mountain..." Starlight read the next line, Twilight's gasping when she heard it.

"Our last stand." The others shared a glance, only for the tension to be broken when Spike let out a yawn.

"Well," he had piled up several pillows and climbed onto them, "That sure sounds like a clue to me." He blew out the candle and started to go to sleep, the others rolling their eyes as Sunburst grabbed another book and opened it up. Placing it on the table, the others stared at the image drawn onto the page.

The inscription was of a forest, with an open clearing that had several rocks. "That's the place!" Twilight exclaimed, "That's where we'll find the answers we seek!"

"If the place even exists," Rainbow added, "It's been a thousand years. The place could be buried under who knows what."

"Well, there's only one way to find out," Flash told her, "Pack your bags ponies. We're heading to Foal Mountain."

Everypony nodded, and Twilight wanted to head out as soon as possible, but was overruled by the others saying that searching for a missing historical monument was not to be done with next to no sleep. And so, they spent the rest of the day gathering the equipment they would need and getting some much-needed rest.

When Heart and Soul heard about their little quest, they begged to come. Twilight happily agreed, but told the pair they would need to do a report on the site when they got back. The twins weren't exactly thrilled by this, but agreed to the terms. And after much preparation and a good night's sleep, the Mane Seven, Starlight, Sunburst, Spike, Springer and the twins headed off to Foal Mountain.

Taking the train, they arrived in the area not too far from the mountain. Twilight stared at the mountain, then down at the journal and the book Sunburst had shown them. "Now that we know which mountain Ponhenge is located near, it should be easy to determine where it is based on the landmarks." She started checking the book, then looking up at the mountainous area.

Flash glanced in next, seeing the drawing had been made from atop the mountain. He then turned to see more mountains off in the distance, noting the same number as the ones in the background of the book. "I think those might be the mountains in the book."

"Which means..." Twilight pointed to an area to the left of Foal Mountain, "Ponhenge has to be in that area of the woods." The others nodded and began their trek, Flash and Springer using their weapons to cut through the thick foliage. Heart offered to help, but Twilight told him that fire near a historical site was never a good idea.

They pushed their way through the brush and after an hour of moving back and forth, parts of the woods starting to get less dense. "There's something close by," Flash told them as he cut down another branch. "Something that's keeping this part of the forest from growing thicker."

Another five minutes, and the woods started to get thinner until Soul spotted something. "There!" She yelled, pointing at a hole in the brush. The others looked through it and saw a clearing through the trees.

"Come on!" Twilight exclaimed, racing ahead as she took out the journal. They all made their way through the trees, soon seeing a circle of clear stone flooring with several stone pillars sticking out of the ground. Each pillar had a flat rock in front of them and in the center of the circle, a stone basin could be seen. "This is it. Ponhenge. I can't believe it."

They began to look around, Springer holding up a paw. "There's a very strong aura trace here. It's faint, but still visible. Something happened that stained this place with enough spiritual energy that I can still feel it now."

Sunburst walked over to one of the pillars and brushed aside a vine covering several markings. "I've never seen magical runes like these before!" He turned to Twilight, "Have you?"

"No..." Twilight replied with a huge grin.

"I don't think anypony's seen any of this for a long time," Rainbow added as she flew up and grabbed a vine wrapped around the pillar, pulling it in an attempt to break it off. But it stayed strong and Rainbow eventually lost her grip. "Whoa!" She yelped as she fell back and crashed into a bush.

Applejack ran up and dragged her out by the tail, Rainbow grumbling at this. The farm pony then looked around, now seeing that all the foliage had managed to creep into the site. The rock floor had several cracks rushing through it, allowing weeds and other plants to grow into the henge. "It'd take a whole team of ponies to clear away all this brush."

"I can get it done in ten seconds," Heart ignited his hoof until Twilight told him sternly no. He grumbled and put out the flame while Fluttershy tried to brush away some dust from a pillar. But doing so made part of the rock break away, the mare quickly picking it up and trying to put it back.

"Even if we get this cleared, I'm not sure we'd find out what happened here over a thousand years ago."

Twilight, who had been looking inside the basin, sighed as she shut the book. "You're right." She began to march towards one of the pillars. "I suppose it was a long shot."

Spike then patted her shoulder, "Cheer up Twilight. Finding a whole set of ancient ruins is pretty impressive. Maybe you could write a paper on it."

"I know. I guess I just hoped we'd get here and the mystery would just magically be explained." As she said that, she cut the magic holding Starswirl's journal and the book dropped onto the stone in front of the pillar.

But as this happened, the symbol on the book suddenly started to glow. Twilight didn't notice, but Spike did. "Uh...Twilight?" He stepped back as Twilight raised an eyebrow, only to gasp as she saw the book glow.

Flash and Springer jumped in front of her, getting into a battle stance...only for the book to shoot open and the pages began to glow. The light shot up and spiraled around, eventually forming an image.

"Starswirl!?" Twilight whispered. The unicorn magician stood atop the stone platform, looking just like Spike had seen him during his visions of his parents.

"How..." Springer asked before Flash chimed in.

"Maybe he used the same spell he used on Malafear." Flash noticed Starswirl was looking ghostly, like he wasn't truly there. "Maybe he sucked his soul into the book?"

Twilight stepped over to her idol, "I...I've wanted to meet you my whole life!" She started hovering as she clapped her hooves together, "I can't believe you're here!" But as she said that, Sunburst walked over to Starswirl's ghost and waved a hoof through him, only for it to pass through.

"I don't think he's here," he looked back to Twilight, only for his eyes to go wide. "I don't think any of them are." He pointed behind them and they all spun around, gasping when they saw a ghostly figure appearing in front of each of the pillars. One was a pegasus that looked like a redheaded version of Flash, wearing armor and carrying a bronze shield. Another was a giant blue earth pony, even large than Big Mac, with an orange mane, tail and beard carrying a large shovel. Then there was a tall elderly looking pink unicorn mare with flowing green hair carrying a flower. One was a pink pegasus mare wearing egyptian style clothing carrying a cloth, and the last was a blue earth pony mare with a red mane tied into a spiral-shape wearing a green dress and a strange looking bird mask on her face.

"Oookay," Flash said, "I'm lost. What the heck is going on?"

Starswirl then fired a blast of magic from his horn, which shot into the basin and caused a large black blob to appear. It quickly formed into a sphere before a large black leg shot out of it and hit the ground. This was followed by another, then another and another. The sphere then began to melt away, revealing the figure inside: The Pony of Shadows.

In some way, Flash was reminded of Sombra. The creature looked like a unicorn made entirely out of the darkness with a long curved horn. Only instead of being a solid creature that could shift into a shadow form, this being was completely made of shadow with glowing white eyes and a gaseous tail and mane.

The Pony of Shadows let out a mighty laugh that sent a chill down everypony's spine as he turned to Starswirl, "You summon me at your peril, Starswirl!" The modern day ponies stepped out of the circle, some hiding behind the pillars as the shadow monster glanced around. "Once I defeat all of you, this realm will embrace the darkness as I did so long ago!" With that, a pair of bat-like wings shot out of his back, Flash now reminded of Shadow Corrupter's wings when he used his powered-up form.

The Pony of Shadows let out a roar as his body unleashed web-like shadows that struck the pillars and wrapped them up. He laughed again as the area around them seemed to turn darker, Twilight and Sunburst running to Starswirl as the webs pulled him off the platform. "Drawing me here will only make me stronger! You will never defeat me!"

Starswirl glared up at the monster, "We did not come here to defeat you." As he said that, his horn glowed and unleashed a light that destroyed the webs holding him. The Pony of Shadows gasped at this as Starswirl stood up with his journal floating above him.

The book unleashed a bright light that struck Magnus' shield, freeing him before moving to Mistmane's flower, freeing her. It then struck Somnambula's blindfold, Meadowbrooke's mask and Rockhoof's shovel before returning to the book and forming a hexagon of light around the Pony of Shadows.

"What are you doing?!" The Pony of Shadows yelled.

"We came..." Starswirl continued, "...to contain you." With that, the ponies, their adversary and the six items all floated above Ponhenge. The light they gave off grew brighter and brighter, blinding those watching as the Pony of Shadows let out a cry of pain, fear and anger.

And in a flash, the ponies all vanished while the items fell to the ground. When each one struck a platform, the illusion shattered like glass. The fake journal struck the real one and exploded, the real book closing as the light it gave off vanished. Everypony simply stared at the area around them, some wondering if another illusion would appear at any moment. But when it was clear none would, Pinkie turned to smile at Twilight, "Well, you did ask for a magical explanation."

After a minute or so of being in total awe at the situation, Rainbow asked the question they were all thinking. "Uh...what just happened?"

"Yeah," Heart nodded, "Nopony said we'd be dealing with ghosts."

"Those weren't ghosts," Soul chimed in, "They were...um...I don't know what it was, but it wasn't ghosts."

"Then what did happen?" Springer asked as Starlight rubbed her hoof along the basin that the Pony of Shadows had been standing in.

"It looked like Starswirl cast a spell that banished the Pony of Shadows."

"Of course!" Sunburst gasped, "Powerful magic like that would leave an impression on this place." He turned to the book, which Twilighthad just picked back up. "Bringing the book back here let us see what happened."

"Which was what?" Applejack asked, turning to Twilight as she stared at the relic.

She swung her wing around the book, hugging it close to her chest. "Starswirl and the rest of the Pillars sacrificed themselves to save Equestria...that's what happened to them."

Everypony frowned at this, now knowing the truth. Twilight and Sunburst continued studying the place for another two hours, only to find nothing. Seeing no other reason to stay and the sun threatening to go down in the next hour or two, the ponies all returned to the train station and headed back to Ponyville.

And when they got back to town, Twilight ran off to her library. The others went about their daily routine, knowing Twilight would prefer to focus on the newly discovered mystery. Starlight and Sunburst would have joined her, but decided to relax after all the hard work they had put in to uncovering what had happened.

Nopony other than those who lived in the castle saw Twilight for another three days, and by that point the princess had called a large meeting for everypony to come see what she had discovered. And when those that had gone to Ponhenge arrived along with the rest of the defenders, they found themselves in the throne room. It was full of boxes, with the map having been activated as well.

"I know I've finished one of Starswirl's spells before, but this one was on a whole different level!" Twilight leapt up as several books floated towards her. "Was it an explosion of magical feedback? An evocation? A kind of incantation? It's Starswirl, so the possibilities are endless!" When she said that, the books went flying and Iron had to duck so has to not get beamed on the head.

"Twilight," Flash called up to her, "Maybe you wanna calm down for a second and tell us why you called us?"

"I am calm!" Twilight replied, "Starlight set me on the right track with his crazy horn-writing-" She let out a laughing snort, "I mean, he was a genius, so I guess we can forgive a little messiness." She pulled out the book and accidently hit Applejack in the face with it. "I went through the journal again, and it's amazing!"

"How much coffee do you think she's had?" Springer whispered to Flash, the defender shivering at the thought.

"Twilight, darling..." Rarity called out, "We understand you're excited, but that's all we understand."

"What exactly is so amazing?" Rainbow asked, only for Twilight to fly down and get right up into Rainbow's face.

"Only how Starswirl and the other Pillars sent the Pony of Shadows to limbo!"

The ponies all shared a glance, Applejack asking, "They did what now?"

Twilight then flew down to her throne and pulled out a cardboard diorama of Ponhenge. Putting it on the table, sheh made a magic ball appear above it to act like a portal. "They used their magic to open a portal between worlds – to limbo – and pulled the Pony of Shadows inside." The sphere grew larger and larger, eventually consuming the whole diorama before it exploded in a poof of smoke.

"Darling," Rarity gasped, "Your diorama!"

"I made more!" Twilight responded, pointing to a nearby table that was covered in identical copies of the fake Ponhenge.

"Of course you did," Flash deadpanned as Twilight opened the book again.

"Starswirl thought the only way to trap the Pony of Shadows in limbo was for the Pillars to take him there."

"So they got stuck too?" Applejack asked, Twilight nodding.

"So Starswirl's plan to get rid of an evil was to toss it in someplace else and hope it never comes back?" Flash added in a low bored tone, "What a surprise."

"Flash! He sacrificed his life for this!" Twilight barked back.

"Twilight...no offense, but he wasn't exactly original with beating evil. He did the exact same thing to Malafear and the Sirens. I'm just saying that for a supposedly legendary wizard, he has a nasty habit of leaving a mess for future ponies to clean up."

"He's got a point," Springer added, "Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if this Pony of Shadows doesn't show up one day as well."

"I hope not," Fluttershy shivered, "The Pony of Shadows must have been really awful for them to do something like that. I wouldn't want to face him if that happened."

Iron placed a hoof on her shoulder, as Pinkie leapt over to Twilight, "I suppose being trapped for all time with a super-duper bad guy in limbo might be okay if you were doing the limbo, but that's still pushing it."

Twilight then shined a big grin, Flash grimacing as he noticed it was her 'I have a crazy idea that I'm gonna do no matter what you tell me' smile.

"The thing is, I think I can get them out."

The pony's eyes all went wide hearing this, Sunburst then asking, "Twilight, are you serious? You can save the most legendary ponies of all time?"

"Most legendary?!" Flash yelped, "Isn't that pushing it a bit?! Give it a hundred years and we'll probably be considered the most legendary ponies of all time!" The others all glared at him, "What?! I'm just saying."

"I-I don't know," Starlight added, "Opening portals between worlds didn't work out well for me. Are you sure it's safe?"

Twilight began to fly over to her. "First of all, you opened portals through time. And second of all, Starswirl wrote the spell you used to do it. If he'd been here, he could have stopped it." Twilight then shined a look of pure confidence, "Equestria would be safer with him in it. We have to save him."

"But ya'll be savin' all the Pillars, right?" Applejack asked, Twilight nodding in response, "But didn't they disappear ages ago?"

"I agree," Grand added, "I doubt they'd want us to go through so much danger just to rescue a bunch of skeletons."

Twilight shook her head at this, "That's the thing about limbo," She flew back to her throne. "It isn't one place or another. It's in between, so time stands still. If we can pull them out, it'll be like they never left. I actually built another model to demonstrate-" She stopped when Rainbow let out a groan and slammed her head into the table.

Before she or Rainbow could say anything else, Spike spoke up. "What can we do to help?"

"If I'm right, we need to find items that are connected to the Pillars in some way."

Rainbow looked up at this, "You mean, like, stuff that belonged to them?"

"How would we know what to look for? Or where?"

"Luckily," Twilight picked up the book, "Starswirl took a lot of notes." She started reading, "My compatriots are as varied as the realm itself and hail from every corner of our land, bringing with them artifacts and talismans of great power."

As she said that, the table began to shine. Above it, five spheres of light appeared, each showing the image of an item they had seen the other pillars using. Twilight seemed completely oblivious to it as she continued to read, only for Starlight to speak up, "Um, Twilight?" She pointed at the spheres, "What are you doing?" Twilight looked up and gasped at the sight.

"I'm not doing anything!"

"The map must know where to find these items," Flash commented.

"But how?" Heart asked, "How would a map know where a bunch of stuff from a thousand years ago are?"

"The map's connected to the Tree of Harmony," Springer chimed in, "And the Tree's always had some pretty impressive powers. I mean, it helped me survive for centuries."

As he said that, the spheres began to fly down and move over the map. "Rockhoof's shovel!" Applejack cheered at the sight of one of the items.

"Flash Magnus' shield!" Rainbow added, noticing the location was in the Dragon Lands.

"Mistmane's flower!" Rarity whispered.

"Meadowbrook's mask!" Fluttershy continued as she saw the item float over Hayseed Swamp.

"And the blindfold Somnambula wore when she faced that nasty sphinx!" Pinkie cheered, seeing the sphere float over the town that shared her name.

Twilight smiled at her friends, seeing excitement in their eyes. "I guess we don't need to figure out who should get what." The others laughed and nodded, Iron, Lightning, Grand and Spike agreeing to go with them to help out.

"I wanna go too!" Heart told Twilight, who shook his head.

"Nope. You're gonna be helping me with preparing Ponhenge for the spell. Soul, we'll need your help to cast the magic as well." Soul nodded while Heart sighed, Flash ruffling his mane as the ponies got to work.

After another day of preparation, the ponies headed off to their assigned locations. Iron and Fluttershy headed off the Hayseed Swamp while Lightning went with Rarity to the garden that Mistmane had saved in her story. Spike went with Rainbow to the Dragon Lands and Grand decided to accompany Applejack to an archaeological dig that Rockhoof's shovel was likely located in. And when he learned about Pinkie's quest, Wild Smile decided to go with her.

Meanwhile, Twilight and Sunburst worked on the spell they would need to free the pillars. It took three days, enough time for the others to complete their mission, but the pair managed to perfect the magic needed to save the legendary heroes. Once they got word of the others finding their chosen items, she, Flash, Sunburst, Starlight, Springer, the twins and Springer's jakhowl wards all headed back to Ponhenge.

But as they did this, a certain figure walked out of the forest, staring at the group. That is, till a low cackling voice came out of the figure.

"Get on the train. Wait for them to get off and attack when you see an opening."

The figure ran up and jumped onto the end of the last carriage, slowly making its way to the car Flash was in. But as the train disappeared into the mountains, the one controlling the Trial stared at the screen in thought. 'Odd...where are they going? Its not Canterlot or the Crystal Empire... Void thought as he pulled out a map in his lab, 'Strange. Perhaps this is something special they're doing? I need to make sure we have the right opportunity...'

As he thought this, the train pulled up to a new station, one Void glanced down at the map for and found nothing. Blinking at the sight, he directed the Trial to jump off the train, leaping into the woods as the ponies and jakhowls all left the carriage.

"Do not engage just yet. See what they're up to. They've got me curious."

"Augh!" Mira cried as they walked through the forest, "I think I swallowed a bug." Ace started slapping her on the back, while the others just giggled at the two's antiques.

"So...I have a question?" Soul spoke up. "You're bringing back all the ponies that are trapped in limbo, right?" Twilight nodded, "Won't that mean you're also bringing back the Pony of Shadows."

This question caused many of the group to suddenly stop, only for Twilight to shake her head, "Relax, I took that in account. Don't worry, we'll only be bringing back the pillars."

"How can you be so sure?" Soul asked, Twilight glancing back at her.

"Remember that spell we used to track down Rogue's mom?" Soul nodded, "It's a similar principle. The items the others are searching for will all have a spiritual connection to the pillars." She showed Soul the journal, "Like how this book has a connection to Starswirl. We could bring him back right away, but I wanna make sure we use the spell as little as possible." As she said this, they cleared the foliage at Ponhenge, seeing it still looked just as they had left it. "The spell will use the spiritual connection they share with the items as a road map to locate the pillars. Once that happens, it's just a matter of pulling them out of limbo. And since the Pony of Shadows won't have a road map, he'll remained trapped in there."

With that, they started getting to work clearing the place up. They would need Ponhenge almost exactly as it was a thousand years ago if they wanted the spell to work right. And as they did this, Twilight was shaking like a little school filly. "I can't believe I'm gonna meet Starswirl the Bearded!" She turned to Flash, "You know, outside of my dreams."

"I'm excited too," Flash added, "A chance to meet my ancestor. I can't wait."

"You know," Twilight smirked at him, "There's no actual proof you are related to Flash Magnus. Your dad only claims to be his descendant, but that could just be something his father or grandfather told him."

"I don't mess with your delusions, so please don't mess with mine."

Twilight chuckled at this, only for Starlight to speak up, "I can't believe you're actually going through with it." She then pulled a weed off a pillar as they turned to stare at her.

"What do you mean?" Twilight asked, Starlight frowning back at her mentor.

"Twilight, I'm all for pushing the envelope, obviously, but this is pretty out there for you."

"What's out there about saving the most legendary ponies of all time from a thousand-year-old prison?" Sunburst asked, Heart, Soul, Ace and Mira nodding.

"Well...nothing when you say it like that." The two magic scholars nodded and turned back to the journal as Starlight walked past them. "Unless the most legendary ponies of all time knew what they were doing and we shouldn't mess with it."

Sunburst glanced up at her, "I'm sure Starswirl and the Pillars did the best they could back then, but magic has come a long way. Mostly because of the work they did."

"That's true. And you did get your wings from finishing one of Starswirl's spells."

Twilight unfolded her wings as if showing off the proof, "Exactly." She closed them up and turned back to the book.

"But then I messed with one and nearly destroyed the universe, so..."

Twilight dropped the book and took a deep breath before turning to the unicorn. "Starlight, Starswirl the Bearded is the greatest wizard who ever lived. The chance to have him back in Equestria is worth the risk."

Up in the trees, the cloaked figure continued to watch, Void staring at the screen. 'They're going to summon Starswirl? Hmm...interesting.' He thought, only for something to fly down, which turned out to be a pony and a dragon.

"That's good news," Rainbow said as she showed them a metal shield that needed a good coat of polish, "Otherwise, we'd have brought this shield for nothing."

"Awesome!" Heart cheered as Rainbow put it down, "How'd you get it?"

"Oh," Spike looked smug, "I beat Garble in a lava surfing contest. No biggie."

The others all stared at him, only for another voice to call out, "Ah hope ya'll don't think yer the only one to find her artifact," Applejack's voice said as she stepped into the grove with Grand carrying a shovel like the one they had seen Rockhoof carrying. "Because this here shovel says otherwise."

They then heard laughter as Rarity and Lightning stepped into view with Mistmane's flower floating beside them. "Honestly, you two. Not everything is a competition." She put the flower in front of one of the pillars, "But Mistmane's flower is by far the most attractive of the artifacts."

"You're just saying that because you didn't have to scuba dive in a pit of green slime to get yours!" They all turned to the next pillar and saw Pinkie and Wild jump out from behind it, Pinkie holding up a cloth covered in the aforementioned slime.

"Or move a flash beehive," Fluttershy told them as she and Iron stepped into the clearing, Fluttershy now wearing the same mask that they had seen the image of Meadowbrook wear.

"Good work everypony" Twilight picked up the book and placed it on the last remaining pillar. For the first time in a thousand years, the six relics of the Pillars were all in one place. "Let's do this!" Sunburst nodded and summoned his magic, firing it at the book as Soul did the same. Twilight followed suit and after a groan, Starlight did so as well.

The four magics flew into the book, activating the spell and making it glow. After a second, the book shot open and unleashed the same light it had unleashed a thousand years ago, a hexagon of light appearing as the items began to float into the air. Everypony watched in amazement, Starlight frowning at the sight as the hexagon began to spin and form a portal above their heads. And in a brilliant flash of light, six figures and a couple of large rocks appeared. They then fell along with the rocks, Iron, Flash, Grand and Springer destroying the rubble before they could crush the ponies underneath.

The pillars, not looking a day older than when they had disappeared, hit the platforms and looked barely conscious. But after a few moments, they started coming around, "What..." Starswirl asked as he glanced around, "What has happened?"

"It worked!" Twilight cheered as she landed, "We brought you back!"

"To where?" He asked as he pushed himself back to his hooves, Twilight trotting up to him as he held his head.

"You and the others have been trapped in limbo for over a thousand years," Twilight replied, only for Starswirl's eyes to go wide in shock. "But I figured out how to get you ho-"

"WHAT?!" The mage roared, making the alicorn flinch, "No, no, no, no!" He looked back at Twilight, "You must undo what you've done!"

"What?" Twilight asked while tilting her head, "why? I mean...I don't think I can."

"You cannot bring us back!" Starswirl screamed.

"But I did," Twilight responded as Flash leapt between the pair, "I brought all the Pillars back."

"You cannot bring only the Pillars back!" Starswirl yelped, only for a crash of thunder and lightning to fill the air. They turned to the basin as a dark swirling mass of shadows and lightning appeared above it. They all quickly ran to a safe distance, Flash, Springer, Iron, Lightning and Grand stepping forward with their weapons at the ready. Slowly, the sphere melted into a wave of shadows that turned into a putty-like substance which began to reshape itself into a large equine form. A pair of dark shadowy wings ripped their way out the back as a laugh filled the air that was so evil that it sent shivers down the spines of anypony that heard it. The figure stood tall as their eyes opened, the glowing white voids being the only source of light in the clearing. The Pony of Shadows...had returned.

"Oh, no!" Twilight whispered, "But...I thought I only summoned the Pillars!"

Once he had finished laughing, the Pony of Shadows turned to them. "Your pitiful attempt to imprison me has failed, Starswirl!" As he said that, Starswirl's horn lit up...only to fizzle out thanks to what had just happened.

He turned to Twilight, "You must return us to limbo. It's the only way to stop him."

Twilight glanced away at this, "Well...I only figured out how to bring you back."

"Working on it!" Sunburst added as he flicked through the journal, "No table of contents!"

"Allow me to assist," the monster laughed before his wings unleashed several shadow spikes. Flash and the Defenders tried to deflect them, but they either went around or split in half before connecting. The struck every single pillar and the journal, piecing the book and the rocks before ripping them out of the ground. Everypony gasped as the rocks shattered, the journal being torn to shreds along with them. "There!" He cackled, "Without the power of Ponhenge, your banishing spell is useless!"

Everypony gasped at this, Starswirl turning to Twilight with a look of pure anger on his face. "You have studied my writings! Surely you have some other plan!"

"No," Twilight whispered, "I just wanted to save you. I didn't think-"

"Don't fret," the Pony of Shadows laughed, "When I extinguish the light and hope of this miserable-AUGH!" His sentence was cut short when a beam of light struck him, everypony turning to see Flash pointing his sword at the monster.

"Sorry to cut the dramatic speech short, but when you hear one, you pretty much hear them all." He spread his wings and charged, the other Defenders doing the same. "Let's go!"

"Iron Lance Fury!" Iron fired a bunch of iron projectiles at the monster, only for them to simply fly through the shadowy mass.

"Gatling Spark!" Lightning launched several electro bolts, only for them to go through as well.

"Grand/Aura Force!" Grand and Springer yelled, their attacks going through the shadow as well.

"What the heck?! Nothing's working!"

"I'll handle it! Flash Cutter!" Flash fired a light blade at the villain, this attack connecting and burning away the shadows, making the monster roar in pain.

"Impossible!" He yelped, spreading his wings and taking to the air. "No magic should be able to hurt me."

"He's right," Starswirl nodded as Flash flew up with the Pony of Shadows. "Who is that pony?"

"Flash Sentry," Twilight responded, "A Royal Knight and protector of Equestria." She watched as the Pony of Shadows fired a dark blast of magic at Flash, but the pegasus easily cut it in two. "It must be because of his light element. It's burning away the shadows."

"No," Starswirl shook his head, "Light was one of the first weapons we tried against him. They had no effect. The shadows were so dark that they snuffed out any light that touched them." As he said that, the Pony of Shadows morphed into a cloud that appeared behind Flash and solidified.

"Enough!" He unleashed several light tendrils that wrapped around Flash's body, zapping him and making him drop his sword.

"FLASH!" Everypony cried, Rainbow, Magnus and Twilight spreading their wings and taking off.

"Your light may be powerful, but nothing can shine through the power of my shadows once it has been completely enveloped." With that, the Pony of Shadows started pulling Flash toward him. Everypony gasped as they saw this, Twilight and the pegasi flying even faster. But Flash was pulled inside before they could get to him, with only his head managing to stay out.

"Flash!" Twilight yelled, "Use your Sacred Light!"

Flash heard this and as he was pulled inside, he gasped out. "Armorize!" With that, he was completely sucked inside and everypony gasped.

"Let him go!" Rainbow roared, the Pony of Shadows turning to chuckle at her.

"Why would I do that? Now that he's gone-" He stopped when he suddenly felt a great pain rushing through him, "AUGH!" He cried, curling up in the air. "What's...happening?" In that moment, a beam of light exploded out of his neck. "WHAT!" Another beam shot out of his side, then another out of his back. "NOOOOO!" More beams appeared before he completely exploded, unleashing a bright light that blinded everypony. The source of the light was soon revealed to be Flash, wearing his Shining Guardian armor.

"Incredible," Starswirl whispered, "What is this power?"

"The Sacred Light," Starlight replied, "The source of all positive magic in Equestria, granted to him by the goddess who created the universe."

The Pillars stared at Flash in awe as he flew down to Twilight. "You okay?" She asked, Flash looking himself over.

"Yeah," he nodded. "Being inside him didn't seem to do anything to me." He then frowned, "That darkness felt familiar though..."

Before they could ask what he meant, Springer let out a gasp as he then saw a large blob of dark liquid slide along the ground. "Uh...everypony?!" They turned to him and he pointed to the blob, which shot back to the basin. There, more blobs of darkness were coming together and forming a sphere.

Flash and the others flew down, Heart throwing him his sword as they watched the sphere morph back into the Pony of Shadows. "Impressive," he growled at Flash. "Whatever power you have-" He halted as his legs gave out, "It was strong enough to overwhelm even my darkness."

"He's weakened," Starswirl exclaimed before looking up at Flash. "Finish him!" Flash heard this and looked back at the Pony of Shadows, seeing him struggle to stand up. "What are you doing?! Destroy him!"

"He's no threat," Flash told Starswirl, "I can't destroy him while he's hurt like this."

"Don't be a fool!" Starswirl yelled, "Destroy him while he can't defend himself! Hurry!" Flash turned to Twilight, clearly wanting her opinion on the situation. Twilight looked conflicted. The thought of going against the legendary Starswirl wasn't something she ever thought she would do, but they knew they were the good guys. Destroying a living thing when it couldn't fight back wasn't what they did.

But as they hesitated, the Pony of Shadows fired a spike at Flash. The pegasus quickly blocked it with his sword, only for the blow to knock him back until he crashed into a tree.

"AUGH!" He cried, falling to the ground as his armor exploded into light.

"FLASH!" Twilight yelled as the Pony of Shadows pushed himself up. His horn them unleashed a beam of light straight at Flash, Twilight gasping. "NO!" In a flash of light, she teleported in front of Flash and unleashed a magical blast that hit the Pony of Shadow's beam.

The alicorn magic overpowered the dark beam for a second and pushed it back towards him, making him flinch until he caught himself. "Argh! This one is almost as...strong as you, Starswirl." His horn glowed again. "But even in my weakened state, she cannot stop the might of shadows!" He fired another blast and Twilight fired hers, the two connecting and pushing against one another. But after a few seconds, Twilight's magic began to get overpowered.

But before this could happen, another flash of light signaled Starlight appearing beside her while firing her own magic. "Lucky for her, she's not alone!" Twilight smiled and the pair pushed, their combined magics enough to push the Pony of Shadow's attack back towards him.

"AAAAARRRRRGGGGHHHHH!" He roared as he was blasted in the head, his magic dispelled as Starswirl stepped forward.

"Know this, fiend!" The Mane Seven, Defenders and Pillars all grouped up and glared him down. "We will not rest until we find a way to return you to limbo!"

The Pony of Shadows growled, "Never!" His wings flared. "Your days of glory are through, Starswirl! Now my dark power will reign, and you six will bow to me!" With that, the shadows coiled around him. And as they did this, Springer's ears shot up as he felt an aura tingle through his body. But before he could react, his eyes saw something leap out of the trees into the shadows. A moment later, the fog shot straight up through the clouds. The dark blanket that covered the circle vanished, but the Pony of Shadows was nowhere in sight.

"Um," Rainbow turned to the others, "Where'd he go?"

"That is a riddle we must unravel," Somnambula sighed in her foreign accent. "And quickly."

"Flash!" They heard Heart cry, making them turn to see him and Soul around the downed pegasus. He let out a moan as he lifted his head, turning to the others as Soul cast a healing spell on him. "You okay?"

Flash rubbed his head, "Did we win?"

"No," Starswirl growled "He got away," he pointed at Flash. "Because you stupidly chose not to finish the battle when you had the chance! How could you do something so foolish?!"

"Listen here, Flash did the right thing." Grand spoke up, Starswirl turning to glare at him. "I don't know how things were done in your time, but in this Equestria, we don't attack somepony who can't fight back. That's not what heroes do, and it's not what Princess Celestia would deem right."

The mention of Celestia's name caused Starswirl's eyes to go wide as Magnus flew down. "We can't waste time arguing. We have to find the Pony of Shadows and stop him."

"Aye," Rockhoof nodded, "And every mow-mont that tam-o-shanter terror's out dare, thing's just get worse and worse."

Meadowbrook then spoke up, "How long have we been gone?"

"Over a thousand years," Fluttershy replied, looks of shock now on the Pillars faces except Starswirl shined a big grin.

"Then my spell worked," he then glared at Twilight, "Before it was meddled with!" The princess flinched and hid behind her wings, "And the realm has been at peace for a millennia!"

"Weeeeell..." Pinkie spoke up as Wild pulled out a graph-board with pictures of certain creatures. "We did have to save everypony from Nightmare Moon, and Lightning Blitz, and Discord, and Chrysalis, and King Sombra, and Lord Tirek, and Shadow Corrupter, and Malafear, and there was that one time when Starlight travelled through time and almost destroyed life as we know it!" She pulled the unicorn over, Starlight smiling sheepishly until Pinkie pushed her away. "But that's all in the past."

Flash Magnus laughed at this, "If you are truly this accomplished, we will stop the Pony of Shadows twice as fast together."

"We shall see," Starswirl grumbled, "It is an easy thing to say you have saved the world. It is quite another to do it."

As he said that, Rainbow flew down, "Oh, we've saved the world, Beardo."

"In fact," Flash spoke up. "I think we've got a better track record than you. So far only one of our former villains came back to cause us more problems." He turned to Starlight, "I'm talking about Chrysalis, not you."

Starlight nodded at this, only for Starswirl to growl at him, "Be that as it may, the problem of locating the Pony of Shadows remains, and this land is vast."

"It sounds like you need a map," Rarity added, "Luckily, we have just the thing."

"Good," Starswirl nodded. "Then let us make our way there post haste. The longer we wait, the more time the Pony of Shadows has to regain his strength."

"Actually..." they all turned to Springer, only to see a grimace on his face, "I don't think the Pony of Shadows is gonna be our only problem." They all raised eyebrows at this, only for him to add, "It was only for a second, but before that thing vanished, I saw somepony leap inside the shadow cloud."

"Don't be ridiculous!" Starswirl replied, "To do such a thing would be suicide!"

"Well, that's what I saw," Springer responded as he walked over to where the shadow cloud had been. "Give me a second and-"

"Bah! This is a waste of time!" Starswirl spat, "We must hurry or-"

"Not a chance." Flash interrupted as he walked up and tapped the unicorn on the chest, "If Springer saw something, we need to know what it is." Starswirl opened his mouth, only for Flash to add, "And before you whine about it, I trust him a lot more than some ancient nut like you that's done nothing but insult us since we met."

"How dare you-"

"Yeah whatever." Flash sighed while rolling his eyes before turning to Springer. "Find anything bud?"

"There's a slight aura trace," he replied, "It's hard to make out. It almost feels familiar, but also...different. It feels..." His eyes went wide as he turned to the others, "Hollow."

His friends mimicked his reaction, Flash glancing back at where the Pony of Shadows had been. "That's not good."

In a dark area of Equestria surrounded by tall trees and large rocks that blocked out the sunlight, the Pony of Shadow's dark form flew down and struck the ground.

"Gyah!" He groaned as he reformed, "Damn those ponies! They won't get away with this! I will destroy them!"

"I doubt that." The Pony of Shadows spun around at a cracking mechanical-like voice, only to see a certain cloaked figure. "Sorry to interrupt." The voice came out of a hidden speaker, crackling and unfocused. "I was watching your interactions with those accursed do-gooders, and I believe we have...common interests."

"Who are you?" the Pony of Shadows growled as his form finished repairing itself, "I will not-"

"Before you attack, hear me out. You and I have a common enemy. The ponies that you were just fighting, specifically the pony that blasted you into a thousand pieces." This got the monster's eye to slightly shift.

"Go on."

"The creature you are currently looking at has the power to neutralize the Sacred Light he used to beat you. As long as it's around, he can't risk using it. I suggest a team-up. After all, I saw that your power is quite formidable. Allow my creation to deal with Sentry, and you can take out the rest."

"And why, pray tell, do you wish to aid me in this matter?"

"Let's just say I have...personal reasons. I require the Sacred Light, but all my attempts to defeat Flash Sentry and take it have been met with...interference by those around him. If you can take them all down, I can defeat Sentry and finally take what is mine." The Pony of Shadows's eyes slightly narrowed at this, only for the figure to reach up and grab its cloak, "So..."

He threw the cloak off, now showing a clone of Cold Steel with the normal mask, neck and chest armor as the other Trials. His body was covered in metal segments that had two inch long tubes sticking out of them, and his tail was replaced by a hose and his hooves were metallic. And on his forehead was a ten-inch ice spike sticking out of where the horn was supposed to be.

"...do we have a deal?"

The Pony of Shadows's eyes just slightly widened at the sight, only to smile and say, "Yes."

Shadow Play PT2

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In the castle of friendship, a bright light filled one of the rooms as the Rune Gate opened, Twilight walking out of it first. This was followed by Flash, then the rest of her friends. Finally, the six newly returned Pillars of Equestria stepped out of the light. "Blithering bagpipes!" Rockhoof shook his head, "Travelling like that just isn't natural."

"Don't worry," Applejack chuckled, "Yah get used to it."

As she said that, Twilight led them out of the room, Mistmane commenting on the place, "Such a beautiful castle." She placed a hoof on the crystal walls, "I can just feel the love flowing through the structure. This is certainly an amazing home."

"Thanks," Heart responded, "We like it a lot."

Magnus turned to the pony named after him. "So this Trial creature. You say it was created by magic?" Flash nodded as he lifted a hoof and illuminated it.

"It's after my Sacred Light. We don't know who's sending them, but we've managed to beat five of them already and this one should be the last."

"It's a magically created clone that's been enhanced using science and technology." Twilight continued. "They don't seem to have any kind of mind of their own, and they only care about capturing Flash...and causing destruction."

"Then why would it go after the Pony of Shadows?" Soul asked her, Twilight frowning at this.

"It's possible it's hoping to team up with the Pony of Shadows. After all, around a Trial, Flash can't use his Sacred Light to its full extent. It would suck it right out of him."

"Which means we'll need to deal with the Trial before Flash can use his Sacred Light to kick that jerk's butt!" Rainbow exclaimed, Lightning and Iron nodding.

Starswirl hummed disapprovingly. "Considering you refuse to finish the Pony of Shadows off, attempting to use the Sacred Light on the Pony of Shadows is pointless." The others glared to him as they reached the map room, the map activating as soon as they entered. The Pillars went wide-eyed at the sight, soon circling around the crystal device as Starswirl added, "Something about this magic seems familiar..." After another second, he fired a blast of magic from his horn and it struck the map.

Everypony gasped as the map suddenly unleashed a projection of the Tree of Harmony. "Did you know he can do that?" Rarity asked Twilight.

"He's Starswirl! He can do anything!" Flash had to hold back a laugh at this.

"This map..." Starswirl whispered, "And indeed this very castle, are grown from the seed we planted over a thousand years ago."

"Then it did work!" Rockhoof cheered, stomping his hoof happily onto the table.

"What worked?" Sunburst asked next.

"Each of us infused a crystal seed with our magic in hopes that it would grow into a force for good."

Mistmane nodded at this. "We wanted to leave something to protect the realm in our absence, but we never dreamed our gift would become so powerful."

Everypony slowly put the pieces together, Applejack then chiming in, "Y'all mean the Elements came from you?" The Pillars tilted their heads at this, Pinkie then hopping between them.

"You know, the sparkly crystal things that grow from the Tree of Harmony and represent each of us?" She then began listing off the elements and showcasing the pony that was connected to it, embarrassing them slightly while doing so. She then reached Flash. "And the newest addition to the elemental abundance, Courage!" A bunch of confetti exploded and rained down on them.

Somnambula giggled at the sight, "They are reflections of our own elements of hope, strength, beauty, bravery, healing, and sorcery."

Each of the ponies connected to said element smiled, while Heart spoke up. "Excuse me," they turned to him. "Shouldn't bravery be a reflection of Flash's element. How come there isn't a Pillar for him?"

"Flash forged to Element of Courage himself," Twilight reminded Heart. "In a way, he's a Pillar like the others."

"Plus," Grand continued, "Courage and bravery aren't the same thing. Being brave means you simply ignore any and all fear that you feel, which is a powerful trait to have, but also lacking in certain aspects. But being courageous means one allows themselves to feel the fear, to listen to it and still carry on regardless." He gestured to Heart, "You remember the first rule of being a knight, don't you?"

Heart smirked and nodded, "Always be afraid."

"Exactly. Every courageous pony can also be brave, but not every brave pony can be courageous. It's just a fact. The Elements that each Pillar possesses...is an incomplete version of the Elements Twilight and the others have."

The ponies in question blushed as five of their six predecessors smiled at them, Meadowbrook choosing to speak up. "We had no idea our small seed would bloom into the living spirit of the land." She placed a hoof on Fluttershy's wing, "I am glad our mantles have passed to such capable ponies."

Fluttershy smiled as Starswirl spoke up, "More importantly, we no longer need Ponhenge to send our foe back to limbo. We can use the stored magic in this Tree of Harmony."

Twilight grimaced at this, "But doesn't a banishing spell take a lot of power? We'd have to sacrifice the Elements for that."

Starswirl did a confident nod, Fluttershy then asking, "Then...they'd be gone...forever?"

Twilight turned to her idol, "Starswirl, I don't think the Tree can survive without the Elements. If it dies, Equestria will suffer."

Starswirl glared back at her, "If the Pony of Shadows has his way, your land will not exist! So unless you have a better idea..."

The alicorn flinched at this, the sight making Flash growl as he chimed in, "Well maybe if you didn't ride her coat tails every five seconds, she wouldn't feel so bad and actually be able to think."

"Flash!" Twilight yelped, "Don't say something like-"

"No Twilight." Flash interrupted while pointing at Starswirl, "He has no right to talk to you that way. You're a million times better magic user than him."

"What did you just say?!" Starswirl barked back, "Do you have any idea the amount of magic I've discovered?! I have faced evils and monsters the likes of which you can't even imagine-"

"Oh, I can imagine it alright," Flash spat, "We've had to clean up enough of your messes to get a good idea of the villains you've beaten. Though I guess beaten isn't really the right word, since you never did beat any of them. All you ever did was lock them up someplace and not even bother to put any real defenses to make sure they didn't come back." Starswirl looked ready to burst, but Flash's next words made him stop. "Malafear sure comes to mind."

Starswirl's eyes went wide, "What did you say?!"

"Malafear. Didn't you hear Pinkie mention him in the list of villains we've had to stop, mainly because of you. He came back and why? Because you put the book holding his soul behind a pretty picture. That's just begging somepony to hang around it and eventually locate it. Would it have killed you to have added a warning?!" Flash began gesturing with his hooves, "Maybe put a sign: Evil book behind this wall. Stay fifty feet away at all times." Flash's friends laughed at this, even Twilight and a few Pillars snickering. "Heck, we barely managed to beat him, and it took Spike almost sacrificing his life to do it!"

Starswirl turned to the dragon in question, his eyes going wide when he realized the little drake was a mix of two dragons he knew quite well.

That is, till Flash spoke up again, "Then there's the Sirens." This made all the Pillars turn to him, "You sent them into another world, hoping they wouldn't cause any issues, but not putting any thought into what might happen if that world got any kind of magic. For the record, it did, and they almost used it to take complete control of the place. If it hadn't been for Twilight and our friends in that world, they would have conquered the whole place and maybe even come back here to do the same thing!" He pointed at Starswirl again, "So don't go thinking you're anything special! And don't go blaming Twilight for trying to help you! She might have messed up, but it's only because you decided not to explain exactly what you did in your book! If you had, Twilight might have realized she couldn't bring you back without freeing the Pony of Shadows!"

"You little-" Starswirl growled as his horn began to glow.

"Flash is right," Rainbow interrupted, "Don't go thinking you're hot stuff. Twilight's probably got more skill in one hoof than you have in your entire body."

The others nodded, mentioning their own statements in Twilight's defense. And as they did this, Magnus let out a laugh as he pointed at Flash, "You've got a lot of spirit. I like that."

"Thanks."

Starswirl glared at Magnus, only to see the other pillars staring at him. Letting out a long huff, "Very well. Your friend Twilight may attempt to find a way to defeat the Pony of Shadows, but I assure you nothing short of limbo banishment will be able to keep him from returning." He struck the map again and the tree image vanished, the map returning to normal as several dark clouds appeared above it. "Our foe will seek dark places from which to draw power. I will prepare my spell so that we may strike as soon as you find him."

"So what are we waiting for?!" Rainbow asked, Magnus nodding in agreement along with everypony else.

Twilight stared at her friends, feeling relief that they had such faith in her. She smiled, knowing that she would probably be depressed right now if Flash hadn't spoken up. "Let's go Spike," she told her assistant before the pair rushed out of the room.

Grand turned to Flash, "We'll need to come up with a way to stop the Trial. I don't think this is something just the five of us can accomplish."

"No kidding. Maybe we should call in the other Royal Knights? If you all fight against that thing, it won't stand a chance in battle."

They all nodded as Magnus turned to them, "You mentioned these Royal Knights before. How they are the protectors of Equestria?"

"And you also appear to be wielding weapons forged from alicorn magic," Starswirl pointed to their Celestic Gears. "I can assume they were forged from the magic of Celestia and Luna."

"Well..." Flash slowly replied, "Most of them are made from Celestia's magic." He held up his sword, "Mine was first made from just that, but it later got a tune up with Luna and Cadance's magic."

"Yes," Grand nodded. "Let's just say Luna had a few...behavior problems after you left that lead to her going into...exile until rather recently."

"Another thing you can thank Twilight for," Flash added, "Basically, we're the best of the best when it comes to the protectors of Equestria."

Iron tapped his weapon at side, "We might not have saved Equestria as many times as Twilight and her friends, but considering the kingdom's still going after a thousand years, I think we're doing a pretty good job."

Grand, Springer and Lightning all nodded before Grand said, "I'll get in touch with the knights. The rest of you focus on training for the battle that's to come."

The group then spilt up, Twilight and Starswirl both preparing their magic as Twilight tried to find a way to banish the monster without losing the Pillars while Starswirl prepared to do just that. As this happened, the rest of the Mane Seven and the Pillars headed out to search for dark places. During that time, Flash, Springer, Iron, Lightning and Heart all trained as Grand sent out some messages before joining them for the next few days.

And then after three days since the Pony of Shadows returned, the others returned from their search with news about where the Pony of Shadows was hiding: They had no idea. As it happened, Starswirl's suggested locations had undergone some radical shifts in the last ten centuries, and now none of them were a suitable environment for the creature to reside in.

"It seems there are fewer dark corners in the realm these days," Starswirl sighed as he crossed off the last location on his map.

"Isn't that a good thing?" Rainbow asked as she and Magnus were enjoying a pint of apple cider.

"True," the bravery pillar nodded, "The Pony of Shadows will have a hard time regaining power. When he rears his head, we'll be ready!" He and Rainbow lifted their cups and thunked them together.

Fluttershy turned to Meadowbrook, placing a hoof on hers. "Isn't there some way to banish him without losing all of you?"

"Oh, I wish there were." the healer sighed. "But to save our home, we are willin' to leave it." The pillars all nodded, but then the doors shot open and Twilight ran inside.

"I don't think you'll have to!" She trotted up and placed a piece of paper on the table, "My spell isn't finished yet, but I think we can send the Pony of Shadows to limbo without all of you having to go as well!"

"Alright!" Flash cheered, "I knew you'd find a way to pull through!"

The others nodded, only for Starswirl to let out a huff, "Are you really willing to risk everything on a half-baked spell?!"

"How is it any different from what you did a thousand years ago?" Lightning chimed in, "You didn't know if the limbo banishing spell would work, but you still did it!"

"Besides," Applejack added, "Twilight doesn't do anythin' halfway!"

"Especially not magic!" Pinkie responded as she leapt up next to the alicorn.

"Seriously!" Rainbow grabbed her wing, "She got her wings by finishing one of your spells!"

Rarity and Fluttershy trotted over, "I think you'll find her work is worth reading before you dismiss it out of hoof!"

"Mm-hmm!" Fluttershy nodded as Flash flew over.

"I've already made my opinions clear," he told the Pillars. "If Twilight says it'll work, it'll work."

Meadowbrook looked over the parchment. While not a unicorn, the earth pony had a great degree of magical knowledge. "While it is an unconventional approach, I believe it could work."

Starswirl grabbed the parchment and let out a hum, "I suppose there is a chance."

"But we still have no idea where to find the villain," Sunburst chimed in. Twilight crossed her hooves at this, only for an answer to not come not from her brain...but from her flank. The sound of shimmering caught their attention and everypony turned to the Mane Seven's cutie marks, all of them glowing before flying off their flanks and over to the map.

Twilight's cutie mark floated over a section of the map, with the other six circling around it. "Maybe we should try there?"

"The Hollow Shades," Applejack read the name, "Ah think a branch of the Apple family lives there."

"They'd have to be pretty distant," Sunburst replied, "The Hollow Shades was abandoned eons ago."

"Hmm," Rarity rubbed her chin, "That's odd. The only time the map's called all of us to one place was Starlight's village."

"So it's like a super-villain tracker!" Rainbow exclaimed before turning to Starlight. "No offense."

Starlight raised an eyebrow while Twilight turned to Starswirl. "Do you think the map could be trying to tell us where the Pony of Shadows is?"

"Hmm..." he stroked his beard in thought, "The Tree of Harmony acting to protect the light of the realm...Yes. A good thought, Twilight." This caused Twilight to silently squeal, Flash chuckling as Starswirl raised her spell. "I will make my notes on this spell. Ready yourselves for battle."

The others smiled and nodded, only for Starlight to chime in, "Uh...I know I'm not as experienced as all of you, but is banishment really the only option? I mean, it's been a long time. Maybe the Pony of Shadows is ready to talk?"

"I doubt we can save our homeland with a conversation," Starswirl replied.

"But we could try," Starlight countered.

Twilight leaned her head between them, "Starlight, I'm sure Starswirl and the others did try."

"The Pony of Shadows was not interested in reconciliation," Starswirl responded, "Once a villain, always a villain." But as he walked toward the door, Lightning spoke up.

"Well then, I guess I'm still a villain." This made Starswirl stop and turn to him. "I did something pretty villainous once. I threatened to blow up all of Canterlot if I wasn't made king." This made the Pillar's eyes go wide. "I made a mistake and let my anger get the best of me. When I was beaten, Celestia could have easily locked me up and thrown away the key."

"But she didn't," Starlight continued, "She gave you a second chance and you used it to make yourself into a better pony. A hero." Rarity and Grand nodded while Starswirl hummed. "I was also like that. I made a mistake and in doing so, caused many ponies harm. But Twilight helped me see there was another way."

Flash frowned at this. "That's true." He turned to Twilight, "I mean, how is this any different from how we saved Luna? Nightmare Moon was just as dangerous as the Pony of Shadows, but we were able to save her. And because of that, she got to start over. One mistake shouldn't mark a pony for life. If there's one thing I've learned since coming to Ponyville, it's that committing a crime doesn't make somepony a villain."

Twilight blinked at this, about to respond before Starswirl said, "It matters not what you believe. While I am happy you two and Luna were able to put your dark pasts behind you, this villain is not one that can be so easily turned from the darkness. And if you keep offering ponies the chance to change, then one day you'll find yourself in a dagger in your back. I will not allow the Pony of Shadows that chance. Twilight, Sunburst, would you accompany me? I wish to refine this spell for our use." With that, he left with the two magic users following after.

"Come." Rockhoof turned to the others. "We must prepare for the struggle ahead." They all nodded and headed out of the room, leaving only Starlight, Spike and Soul.

"Sorry Starlight," the alicorn turned to her, "Honestly, I think you might be right." A big frown appeared on the filly's face, Starlight realizing she was remembering the one she had met during her friendship mission. "Everypony deserves the chance to do the right thing."

Starlight nodded. "I know Starswirl is a great wizard, but this whole plan seems...wrong. The map's only ever sent us to solve friendship problems."

"Maybe so," Spike added, "But the Pony of Shadows doesn't really seem like the friendship type."

Starlight shrugged at this, "Honestly? We don't know anything about him."

"Well, nopony does."

Starlight blinked at this before shining a grin, "That's not entirely true!" She trotted out of the room, soon finding the others. Rainbow was polishing Magnus' shield as he prepared his armor while Applejack and Rockhoof were sharpening his shovel along with the knights making sure their Celestic Gears were ready.

Starlight, Soul and Spike stepped down the stairs as the unicorn spoke up, "You all knew the Pony of Shadows before he became what he is now. You must've been friends. So what happened?"

The Pillars all turned to her, all frowning before Rockhoof spoke up, "The tale of our rift is a sad one." And thus, the five of them began to tell the tale of a pony named Stygian. A unicorn with little skill, but who brought the Pillars together and made them realize the power they would have if they united their strengths. And together, the Pillars became an unstoppable force for good. But Stygian grew jealous of not having the amazing powers they wielded, so he stole the relics and attempted to do something at Ponhenge. Luckily, the Pillars managed to stop him and cast the unicorn out. They had hoped he would return to ask for forgiveness, but instead he returned only to wield an evil force that was hellbent on darkening all of Equestria. Thus, the reason for the Pillar's sacrifice and his banishment to limbo.

"But why did he steal the artefacts from you?" Starlight asked, Meadowbrook stepping forward and lifting her mask.

"No doubt it was an enchantment to take our powers for himself."

"Wait..." Flash slowly said, "Did he actually say that? Did he actually say he wanted to steal your powers?" The Pillars turned to one another, then back to him before shaking their heads. "Don't you think it would have been smart to ask before jumping to a conclusion?"

"I'm with Flash," Springer nodded. "I've assumed things about others before without asking for a good reason. Blaming somepony without hearing their side of the story sounds kind of..."

"Ignorant," Mira suggested.

"Self-indulgent," Ace spoke up.

"Stupid," the two jakhowl stated together. The Pillars all turned to the two youngsters, but no response came.

As this happened, Starlight headed for the library, Flash going with her. He wanted to hear what Starswirl had to say about this, only to find the floor completely covered in piles upon piles of books. How so many were meant to help make one spell, Flash could never know. "That looks like a lot of work," Starlight commented.

"It is what must be done," Starswirl replied, "And it would be best if we were not disturbed."

"I'm sorry, but we can't stop to talk." Twilight added while reading a book, "The stakes are too high, and we have to-"

"Banish Stygian to limbo," Starlight stated as Starswirl flinched. "I get it."

"Uh, who?" Sunburst asked from his spot atop a ladder, Starswirl frowning.

"Stygian was the name the Pony of Shadows gave up when he turned to darkness."

"And I'm just trying to figure out why," Starlight added before Starswirl slammed his book shut.

"Envy." He turned to Starswirl. "He wanted more power than he had, and that desire led him down a path from which there is no return!"

"Are you sure that's what happened?" Flash asked, "The others say you never actually found out why he took your relics."

"It's obvious," Starswirl responded, "Those lacking power always want what they should not have, not caring at all who is harmed to facilitate their selfish desires." Hatred filled the stallion's eyes, along with a look of sorrow.

And as Flash saw this, he let out a sigh, "So that's what this is about. This isn't just about Stygian. It's about Silverbolt and Fira." The stallion turned to him. "You lost them to a creature exactly like you were describing, and because of that, you developed a crippling fear of the same thing happening. So much so that you instantly jumped to the conclusion Stygian was doing something evil just because he didn't tell you what happened. Paranoid much?!"

Starswirl glared at him, only to hiss out, "You're right. I have lost those I care about to a monster like that. And by the look in your eye, you haven't. It's clear you've never felt the sting of failing to save somepony you care about like I have." Flash flinched at this, knowing he was right. The closest thing to that was...he reached up and scratched the scar on his chest. "Though I hope you never have to feel the pain I felt when that happened, maybe it would make you realize why something like this must be done. You may state that one bad deed doesn't make somepony a villain, but if that deed is bad enough, then it's clear that pony can not be persuaded otherwise."

Starlight shook her head at this, "I know from experience that's not always true." She turned to Twilight. "When the map called you six to my village, it was for a friendship problem. Are you sure this is different?"

Twilight slowly opened her mouth, "I-"

"Stygian wants to destroy all that is good in this world!" Starswirl interrupted, "There's no way to befriend a pony like that!" With that, he trotted out of the room and slammed the door shut. When he did, Starlight turned to Twilight.

"I guess I'm lucky your idol wasn't around when you decided to be my friend. I might've been banished to limbo, too." That statement clearly caused Twilight grimace, only for Starlight to run out of the room and slam another door shut. Sunburst, feeling the tension in the air, quickly left while Flash watched Twilight sit down in a chair with a huge frown on her face.

"I don't know what to do Flash. I want to believe Starlight is right, but how can I go against Starswirl?"

Flash sighed as he moved over to sit across from her. "I've already made my feelings for him known. But you need to decide what you think is right. And if that means going against what Swirly Mcbeard-face thinks, then so be it."

Twilight laughed at the name, only to let out another long sigh, "But what if I make the wrong decision?"

"How is that any different from what we've done before? We've made plenty of mistakes. If its wrong, we'll fix it. But I know you'll make the right one and do you know why?" The alicorn shook her head, "Because you're Twilight frigging Sparkle." Twilight smiled at that before hugging the defender.

"Thanks Flash."

"No prob."

With that, the pair headed out of the library and went downstairs. Twilight had yet to make a decision, but Flash knew she would figure it out eventually. The others were also down in the hall, the Defenders now absent, and ready to head out. "Alright," Twilight announced, "Let's go get the elements and save Equestria!"

"YEAH!" The others excalimed as Heart punched his hoof into his other one. "Let's kick some Shadow Pony butt!"

"Not you Heart," Flash added, "Too dangerous. And since your fire won't hurt him, you'll be staying here."

"What? But...but what about the Trial?! You're gonna need all the help you can get to beat that thing."

"And he'll have it!" They all turned to a new voice before seeing the entire Royal Knight squad. Alongside Grand and Iron, there was also Ruby Scarlet, Heather Bloom, First Aid, Tidal Wave, Skybreaker and Cold Steel. Springer and Lightning stood with them, the ten ready to help in this battle for Equestria's survival.

Flash smirked at them all, "You all ready to save the world?"

"Nope," Heather giggled.

"That's your job," Cold deadpanned.

"We're just gonna be keeping that annoying Trial creature out of your way, amigo." Flash nodded back before turning to the others, the group nodding before the adults headed out of the castle, leaving Heart, Soul, Mira and Ace behind.

They made their way through the forest and eventually reached the castle of the two sisters, Starswirl explaining that it was once their castle and that they had planted the seed in a cavern located below it. And sure enough, that was where they found the legendary Tree of Harmony. "So this is the Tree of Harmony," Cold commented as they all looked up at the crystal arbor. Ruby and Heather had stars in their eyes at the sight of the tree, which made sense since it was a fusion of their natural elements.

"I am glad we have the chance to see what has grown from our efforts so long ago," Somnambula smiled while Mistmane shook her head.

"It seems a shame to harm it."

"A necessary sacrifice," Starswirl added, "With the Elements' power, we will bind the Pony of Shadows in limbo. And thanks to Twilight, we will remain to watch over the realm ourselves." Twilight smiled at the compliment, only for Starswirl to fire a beam of light at the tree.

But before the magic could strike it, the Element of Courage glowed and unleashed a beam that struck Starswirl's and cancelled it out. Starswirl spun around at this, soon glaring at Flash, "Don't look at me," Flash shrugged, "I didn't make it do that."

"The Element of Courage acts as the guardian of the other Elements," Twilight chimed in, "It must be trying to protect the Elements because it knows we intend to sacrifice them."

"A rock can do that?" Lightning asked.

"The Elements are more than just magically charged crystals," Grand added, "They and the Tree of Harmony are living beings. What would you do if you discovered somepony intended to sacrifice you and your friends, especially if it's for something you're against doing?"

"So what do we do now?" Rainbow asked, "If the Elements don't want us to sacrifice them..."

"The Element of Courage is the perpetrator," Starswirl growled as he pointed at Flash, "You said you were the one that created that Element?" Flash nodded. "Then it can only be a few years old. It won't have stored as much power as the others. We'll simply destroy it and take the more powerful Elements."

"Hey!" Flash yelped, "Don't destroy my Element!"

"I don't think that'll work Starswirl," Twilight added, "Flash used the other Element's power along with his own to form it. The Element of Courage holds just as much power as the others. And even if it was weaker, it's still part of the Elements' link. Removing it would make it impossible to use the other Elements."

"Then how do you suppose we get it to cooperate?" He asked as Flash sighed.

"Give me a second." He flew up towards the tree, the Element putting up a barrier around it. "Hey bud. Sorry about the grumpy guy. He really needs to see a doctor about that stick up his rear." Starswirl frowned at that. "Look, I know you're scared about what's gonna happen, but we need your help. If we don't do this, Equestria might be doomed." He reached out and placed his hoof on the barrier, "I know you don't want to put the kingdom in danger. And I promise, Twilight's gonna find a way to fix things without sacrificing you. Just watch. At the last second, she's gonna pull a miracle out of her hat. I mean, come on. It's Twilight."

A few seconds after he said that, the Element of Courage stopped glowing and the force-field vanished. The Element then flew out of its pedestal, allowing the Element of Magic to be revealed before it and the other Elements flew off towards their owners. One by one, they reached the ponies and formed the necklaces to hold them. Flash and Twilight both gained their headgear, the Elements located on the front of the helmet and crown.

The Knights and Pillars were all amazed by the sight, Rockhoof leaning in, "Um...how do we use them?"

"Well, you..." Rarity tried to explain, only to shrug, "Oh, I'm not sure. They just simply work for us."

"The Elements are attuned to you," Starswirl added, "We must use their magic in pairs while Flash Sentry's Element gives them the final boost." He turned to the pegasus. "Though I do find it strange that you were so chummy with the Element, only to lie to it about finding another way to vanquish the Pony of Shadows without losing them."

"I wasn't lying," Flash replied, "Like I told it, I'm confident Twilight's gonna find a way to save the day without sacrificing anything."

"Well I just hope you're willing to live with breaking that promise when it is confirmed that sacrificing them is the only way." He turned to the others, "We must make haste! We will use your Rune Gate to transport ourselves to the Shady Hollows."

"No problem," Rainbow chimed in, "We're used to banishing evil before breakfast." She and Flash Magnus hoof-bumped, as Applejack chuckled.

"And it'll be an honor to save Equestria with y'all." They all nodded and began to make their way, Starlight and Spike at the back of the pack.

"I really hope Twilight knows what she's doing," the unicorn gulped as they followed them.

Once they were back at the castle, Twilight activated the Rune Gate and sent a locator rune to the area. She gave everypony one final look back before they all nodded and headed inside. In a flash of light, the army of ponies appeared in the area. They looked around and frowned when they saw the way the place looked. It was covered in large jagged rocks that stuck out of the ground and pointed up at an angle to cast a large shadow over the environment. For some reason, the sky above the area was a strange purple color and the sun's light barely managed to break through the dark clouds. And at the bottom of the valley, surrounded by large jagged rocks that hid it in shade, was a small abandoned village.

"I don't remember reading anything that said the Hollow Shades was like this," Sunburst commented as they began to make their way down to the village.

"Ohhh," Mistmane shivered as they got closer, "The Pony of Shadows must have twisted it to his purposes."

"Everypony be on guard," Flash told the knights. "Remember, he's not the only pony we have to deal with." The Pillars noticed the uneasy looks on many of the ponies faces, the six clearly still not understanding the danger they were in. But then, Springer's ears twitched.

"Over there!" He yelled as he pointed to one of the nearby rocks. The others turned, only to flinch as a figure walked out from behind the rock.

Cold charged in at this, slamming his hooves into the ground and unleashing a blast of cold. But before the ice could reach, the figure fired its own ice blast that struck Cold's, causing both to shatter. "What?!"

This got the Pillars 'attention as the figure stepped out to reveal their true form. "Good gravy!" Meadowbrook cried at the sight of the cyborg pony, Starswirl now seeing what the others had been worrying about.

"It's...it's an abomination."

"It's Trial-C," Flash sighed, "Figures he's the final one." The cyborg turned to him as its eyes narrowed, the unicorn's hooves unleashing a frost that caused the ground beneath it to freeze before it lifted its tail. A blast of cold air exploded out of the hose and pushed the cyborg forward, its hooves continuing to freeze the ground and form an ice lane under it.

"Scatter!" Grand ordered as they all leapt or teleported away, Trial-C shooting past them before sliding to a stop and spinning on its ice. A moment later, its icicle horn fired multiple blasts that struck the ground, causing spikes of ice to shoot out of the frozen dirt.

"Wow!" Rainbow yelped, almost getting speared by a spike. "Maybe we should have brought Heart."

"We won't need him." Cold growled, "I will destroy this imposter."

"He's right. This is why we're here," Ruby added, "You deal with the Pony of Shadows and leave this copycat to us."

"Flash?" Twilight asked, her boyfriend turning to her.

"It's me it wants," he took off his helmet and threw it to Iron. "Go with them and take him down." He nodded and put the helmet back on before he, the Pillars, and the rest of the Mane Seven ran off. Flash then turned back to Trial-C and held up his sword. "You want me...come and get me!" He quickly ran dashed back up the hill, the other Royal Knights following after him.

Trial-C stared at his retreating form, its ice-like horn glowing and created a cloud of freezing mist. Then, the mist solidified into several ice arrows that it sent flying. "Watch out!" Skybreaker cried as he, Tidal and Springer deflected the attacks.

Flash turned back to Trial-C. "That all you got? I thought you were serious about taking me down! Guess your creator's lost interest after I beat the last five freaks he sent!" Though the Trial's face remained stoic, the ponies couldn't help feeling like they had struck a nerve.

The cyborg's tail unleashed a blast of cold air that rocketed it towards them. The knights sped up and reached the top of the hill, Ruby slamming her hoof into the ground at the same time Grand struck it with his hammer. A large slab of rock with a crystal wall behind it shot up between them and the Trial. Cold's clone slammed into it and completely shattered both materials, barely slowing it down as Heather threw her chain weapon. It wrapped around the clone's leg, the knight pulling it down, smashing the cyborg into the ground as they circled around it.

Springer, Lightning, Flash, Grand, Heather, Ruby, First, Tidal, Skybreaker and Cold glared at it before each of them took something out. They were knives with runes etched into the metalwork. Before Trial-C could pick itself up, they stabbed them into the ground before jumping in front of them. The runes on the blades began to glow and unleashed a bright light that connected to each other before flying up and forming a large dome around the eleven. The Trial stared at the dome, realizing it was complete trapped. "Now you're stuck," Flash chuckled as he trotted up to him, "Meaning the others can deal with your new friend without issue."

The clone turned to glare at him before his horn unleashed a burst of cold air that formed into an arrow. It was pointed straight at Flash's wing, preparing to rip right through him. And as it struck it, he cried out before it went through and struck the barrier. "GYAH!" Flash cried, his friends gasping as the ice arrow shattered against the energy field. He continued to cry out in agony as he fell to his knees, clutching his damaged wing.

His friends were looking horrified as Trial-C moved up to him, relishing the sounds of Flash's screams. But as it got closer, those screams...turned to laughter. "Gotcha!" Before Trial-C could react, Flash grabbed his sword and pointed it at him. "Iron Fury!" A tornado metal filled wind shot out of it, hitting the drone as it created a half shield of ice, blocking only some of the attack.

It began to skid back as Ruby and Cold both leapt at it, forming swords from their elements. Both tried to slash it, but Trial-C leapt up using a blast of cold air from its hooves as rockets. "Now!" Springer yelled, making it down to see the jakhowl, Grand, Lightning, Heather, Tidal and Skybreaker fire their force attacks as the cyborg. The six blasts came for the clone, but Trial-C formed a sphere of ice around itself as they struck. The ice shattered, but the attacks were deflected as Trial-C then fired off several ice shards that forced all its opponents to leap back.

This allowed the drone to land and turn its attention back on Flash, its robotic brain burning as it stared at Flash. That is, till the defender held out his wing. The limb Trial-C had shot was completely undamaged despite the ice arrow definitely going through it. Flash then held up his sword and showed off a strange looking gem attached to it, one that had never been on the weapon before.

And when Flash flicked the gem off, his entire body began to shimmer and change. It became more bulky, the wings vanishing as his coat turned gunmetal gray and his mane turned black. His weapon morphed into a spear, reveal his opponent's true identity: Iron Core.

"Surprise!" Iron laughed. "I do a pretty good impression of that feather-brain, don't I? Good enough to fool you anyway."

Springer chuckled as he formed and Aura Blast in his paw, "Now Flash can go a deal with your new partner without needing to deal with you." He threw the sphere, Trial-C cutting it in half with an ice sword as its opponents all got into a battle ready stance. "If you wanna get to him, you'll have to go through us."

"YEAH!" The ponies cheered before charging.

The group had now got to the village, Iron lifting his spear and removing the gem that had secretly been placed on it. When he did this, his body shimmered and shrank while a pair of wings appeared on his side. Within seconds, Flash Sentry was standing in the Metal Guardian's place. "Glad that worked." He took out a piece of paper with some runes on it, "Good thing you were able to find a way to dim the power of my Sacred Light."

"Well, since these things seem able to track you down no matter where you are, it was obvious they were able to trace your Sacred Light over a long distance." Twilight replied before seeing some light shining over the hill, "The barrier's up. The Trial's been contained."

"Meaning we can focus on dah Pony of Shadows," Applejack added as they continued through the town and up to a well in at the center of the town.

"Prepare yourselves," Starswirl barked, "He is here!" They all got on guard as the magician called out, "Stygian! Show yourself and face us!"

Nothing happened for a moment, but then the sound of laughter filled the air. They turned to that sound and the ground around them began to shake before a large crack appeared behind Somnambula. The crack spread around the entire town, trapping them all as the opposite ground seemed to pull away.

The shaking grew stronger and stronger...only to stop. "Huh?" Flash turned to the others, "Well that wasn't so BAAAAAAAAAAAAAD!" The others cried too as the area they were standing on suddenly fell out from under them, causing them to all fall. Luckily, the drop was only a few feet, letting them crash rather quickly.

They all landed in a heap inside what appeared to be an ancient temple, Sunburst moaning as he picked himself up and adjusted his glasses, "I definitely would've remembered reading about this."

Flash pushed himself up to his hooves, then suddenly felt a wave of weakness wash over him. "Augh!" He moaned as he fell over.

"Flash!" Twilight yelped, "What's wrong?!"

"I don't know..." Flash muttered, "Suddenly I feel like...like I'm ten times heavier." He glanced around, "Something about this place is draining me."

As he said that, the maniacal laughter from before filled the air, the Pony of Shadows exclaiming, "I guess I didn't need that useless creation after all. Just being in this place has rendered your greatest weapon to nothing." As this was going on, shadows began to appear all around them and Starswirl put up a barrier. The shadows began to form the shape of the pony in question, "Welcome to the Well of Shade! When you turned your backs on me, I discovered this place. The darkness spoke to me of a power beyond any I could imagine, and I listened."

Twilight gasped at this, now seeing Flash's weakened state and the damage his light did to the Pony of Shadows. "Corrupted Shadow...you found Corrupted Shadow! This must be a temple to that magic," she turned to Flash. "Just like the temple you were born in."

The others all went wide-eyed at this as the Pony of Shadows laughed, "So that's it's name. I never did figure out that. But either way, the shadow and I became one." He started circling around them, "Soon, all of the realm will be the same. Then all ponies will feel the despair I did when you cast me out!"

"We did what we had to do!" Starswirl yelled, "You tried to steal our powers for yourself!"

"No!" He cried, moving over to Starswirl. "It was you who were selfish!" He stepped back and stood tall. "And now, you will pay!" With that, he fired a blast of dark magic from his horn and struck the sphere. The magic cracked as Starlight turned to Twilight.

"Are you still sure this isn't a friendship problem?"

"Ready? Open the portal..." The Pony of Shadows fired another blast and shattered his barrier. "...Now!"

With that, almost all of the Element Bearers grabbed the relic of their Pillar ancestors and the magic of them began to grow as they floated into the air. Flash, the only member who didn't have a pillar, simply dug deep and unleashed the power within himself. The only one who didn't activate their elements was Twilight, who watched as six of the seven elements unleashed the energy and combined into a rainbow. Starswirl and Sunburst fired their magic too, the group striking a spot behind the Pony of Shadows and a portal appeared behind him.

The monster turned to the portal and gasped as it began to unleashing a pulling force that sucked him in. He tried to fight, but then they fired another blast that slammed into his chest, pushing him into the portal. "No!" He grabbed the sides and continued to fight, "You will not trap me again!"

Starswirl turned to the alicorn. "Twilight! Push him in!" Twilight summoned the power of her element...only to let out a gasp.

"Huh?" Her eyes stared at the creature, now seeing another pony that was trying to pull their head out of the murky chest of the Pony of Shadows. "There's...a pony in there?"

And before anypony could stop her, she opened her wings and took to the air. "Twilight!" Flash yelled as she flew up and then dived into the shadow monster, "NO!" The others gasped and Flash wanted to dive in after her, but the magic of his element locked him in place. "Twilight...please be careful."

"Ruby Shot!" The Crystal Knight fired several arrows, but the cyborg shifted its body, dodging each with ease. "GYAH!" She cried as the clone unleashed a blast of cold air at her.

"Sky Cutter!" Skybreaker slashed with his axe, sending a blade of wind, but Trial-C easily back-flipped away. And as it landed, its hooves unleashed a burst of ice that shot out in all directions and created a bunch of spikes.

"Look out!" Lightning yelled as they all leapt away to avoid the spikes, which went straight up the barrier and turned the battlefield into an icy wasteland.

Springer and Cold didn't seem bothered by this, both leaping from one ice spike to another as they got closer and closer to the cyborg. "Steel Paw!" Springer yelled as his paw spikes turned to metal claws while Cold formed another pair of blades.

Trial-C formed its own blades and as it leapt up and over a slashing Springer, it crossed its swords to block Cold's blades before kicking him in the chest, knocking him back. As this happened, First was busy healing Ruby's freezer burn. "This thing is strong."

"And somehow it's able to avoid everything we throw at it," Ruby moaned as Heather threw her chain mace at it. Trial-C looked up and barely avoided it, the mace slamming into the ground as Heather pulled back and the retraction dragged her forward. In a flash, she slammed her hoof into Trial-C's chest, knocking it back.

"Not all our moves," First commented as the clone skidded along the ground right as Lightning and Iron leapt above it. Lightning fired a bolt of lightning next, but Trial-C spun on its back like a break dancer to avoid it before creating a shield to block Iron's slash. As it did this, Tidal jumped off a spike and hit the ground with his trident. A wave of water exploded out of it and hit Trial-C with ease.

The machine cried out as it was washed toward the barrier, Cold teleporting between them with a sword ready. Grand leapt beside him and prepared to do the same. But before they could strike, the Frozen Wanderer's clone suddenly unleashed a wave of cold that froze the wave with it inside. But before anypony could ask what happened, the ice exploded and shot out in all directions. They all had to duck and cover to avoid the shards as Trial-C stood up before leaping at Skybreaker and slashing at him, smacking the pegasus away. And as it did this, Tidal fired several blasts of water, the Trial feeling the liquid push him back.

'It was able to avoid so many of our attacks, yet Tidal and Heather seem to have it at a complete loss.' First thought, only to see Springer miss another attack, "That has to be it!" He turned to Ruby, "You battled one of these creatures, right?"

"Yes." Ruby nodded as Trial-C dodged Skybreaker's attack and blasted him back with an ice blast. "It was a clone of me."

"Augh!" Skybreaker slammed into the ground in front of them, First quickly beginning to heal him.

"And Springer, Lightning, Iron and Grand have all battled many of these creatures." Ruby nodded as Skybreaker pushed himself back up right as Grand tried to slam Trial-C in the head. "That has to be it." Trial-C leapt back and fired several icicles at Grand, pushing the old knight back. "These things are partly computers, which means they can record things. That must include fighting styles." Ruby and Skybreaker's eyes went wide hearing this. "It is able to fight back so well because it knows how we fight."

Heather threw her chain at Trial-C, but it leapt back to avoid it again before she pulled herself forward. But as she did this, Trial-C managed to grab her hoof before spinning Heather around. "Gyah!" She yelped before being flung away.

"And it's learning," Ruby gulped.

"But I've never fought one of these!" Skybreaker groaned as Grand leapt back to avoid another icicle blast. "How does it know my techniques if I've never faced one?!"

Grand heard this and sighed, "Flash based much of his base fighting style on you," he told his fellow elder knight. "It must have figured that out and realized it could counter you just like him." He watched as Cold created an ice dragon and sent it toward his clone, but Trial-C did the same and the two collided into destruction. "And since this thing has the same powers as Cold, it would know how to counter him."

"Great," Skybreaker pushed himself back to his hooves. "How are we supposed to fight something like this if it knows all our moves?" Tidal slashed at Trial-C, but the clone then grabbed his trident before freezing it. Tidal cried out, forced to release the weapon and allow Trial-C to throw it away.

Grand stared at the monster, a bulb going off in his head, "That's it!" He turned to the jakhowl as he leapt away from an ice tiger that tried to pounce on him before blasting it with his Aura Blast. "Springer, connect our minds!" Springer nodded and quickly linked them, "Everypony, there's only one way we can beat this thing. By working together."

"But aren't we already doing that?" Cold asked.

"Not exactly." Grand replied before explaining his plan.

When Twilight opened her eyes, all she saw was darkness. She illuminated her horn at this, only to now see the pony she had seen curled up. He was a scrawny looking gray unicorn with a blue mane and tail and a brown cloak, who looked more depressed than anypony Twilight had even met before.

"Are you...Stygian?"

He nodded back. "I was, once. Until my friends betrayed me."

"But Starswirl says you betrayed them," Twilight replied, "You wanted their magic-"

"No!" He interrupted, "I wanted their respect! I brought them together. I planned strategy, and I read all I could about the beasts we faced. But I didn't have magic or strength, so nopony ever noticed me." He looked away, almost in shame, unaware that everything he was saying could be heard by those outside. "I went to Ponhenge to make my own copies of the artifacts. With them, I thought I could be a Pillar, too, and stand by their side in battle."

The Pillar's eyes went wide at this as they turned to one another, only for Stygian to add, "I never wanted to steal their power." Starswirl's eyes went wide as dinner plates at this.

"You all really needed to work on your communication skills," Flash told them all.

Back inside, Stygian began to sound bitter, "But instead of sharing and letting me help, my friends threw me out." He turned to glare at Twilight, his body beginning to flicker with darkness. As he spoke, his voice deepened, "So I became stronger than any of them! The darkness welcomed me when no pony would, and I will do what I must to protect it!" As he declared this, his eyes turned white, his body now almost completely cloaked in the shadows.

"Wait! This is all a misunderstanding!" Twilight yelped, "If the Pillars knew how you felt, I'm sure they wouldn't have turned their backs on you. The shadow isn't who you really are." She reached out to place a hoof on his shoulder, "Let me help you be Stygian again."

"Even if my friends did still care, what makes you think you have the power to help me?!"

"Because it's what she does." They both looked up and saw Starlight, surrounded it a bubble of magic, floating down to them through the darkness. "I wasn't so different from you, and Twilight helped me change." The light bubble popped as she trotted up to them, "If there's one pony in Equestria that can save a friendship, it's her."

Twilight smiled at this, Stygian glancing between the two as his eyes turned back to normal. "I...I want to believe you..." But then, he flinched in pain as his eyes went white again. "But the darkness will not be stopped!" He let out a howl, a pair of shadow wings appearing from his back that sent out a shock wave and slammed both mares away.

But as this happened, Twilight quickly fired a rope of magic that wrapped around Stygian's leg, the alicorn flying to the exit with Starlight. As this happened, Stygian was pulled along and the mares flew out of the darkness, the Pony of Shadows crying out in pain as they did. Twilight skid along the ground, her magical rope still inside its neck. She pulled, but she couldn't get the unicorn out of his own creation. "Fight the darkness, Stygian! You don't need it anymore!" Stygian began to get pulled out of the shadows at this, "Revenge isn't what you want! Friendship is!"

But as Stygian's front half was freed, shadowy tentacles reached out and wrapped around him. It pulled the unicorn inside and Twilight was pulled toward the monster with him. "Twilight!" Starlight gasped, firing a magical rope that wrapped around Stygian's other hoof.

They soon began a tug of war, the winner getting Stygian's soul. And as they did this, Twilight turned to Starswirl. "The shadow won't let go of him! He wants to stop, but he can't do it alone." Starswirl stared up at his former friend, seeing the fear that was in his eyes.

"Then we must help him!" Starswirl launched a spell at the Pony of Shadows along with Sunburst, while the others re-channeled the magic of their elements and relics. They each unleashed a beam that stabbed into the darkness and grabbed Stygian, burning away the shadows that held him.

"One last boost to really make sure this thing doesn't come back!" Flash roared as his body was consumed with light. His Shining Guardian, minus his helmet, formed on his body and he fired a blast of Sacred Light from each of the gems on his armor. They struck the Pony of Shadows, causing it to scream as it burned away the darkness. And as this happened, Stygian was yanked out, pushing the Pony of Shadows right back into the limbo portal. And as the Sacred Light continued to blast him, he felt his body break apart piece by piece.

"No!" He cried as he began to dissolve, the light burning him away. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Those were his last words before his form completely shattered and the portal closed, the vortex unleashing a rainbow explosion of light that shot out in all directions and was funneled through the hole in the ceiling. It shot straight up into the clouds, blasting them away and allowing the light of the moon to shine down upon the abandoned village. And as it did this, Twilight and everypony else began to fly or pull themselves up out of the hole. Twilight grunted as she did so, sighing when she reached the top along with everypony.

"YEAH!" She heard Rainbow cheer as she, Flash and Magnus lifted Rockhoof out of the pit and placed him down. "Oh, it felt sooooo good to do that again!"

"Friendship power rush!" Pinkie exclaimed before leaping a good twenty feet in one direction, landing in a bush. "Whoo!"

The others smiled as Rarity looked down at her necklace. "The Elements! They didn't disappear!"

Fluttershy nodded at this, "Maybe because we used them for healing magic instead of banishing?"

The others nodded at this, only for Applejack to point back at the pit. "Look!" They turned to see Starswirl pull Stygian out of the hole.

"Long ago, you needed our help Stygian. But instead of listening, we turned our backs on you." The wizard let out a long sigh, "Pride clouded my judgement. I owe you an apology." He turned to Twilight, "Thank you for helping us see the errors of our ways, Twilight. It seems I never accounted for the Magic of Friendship."

Twilight's heart felt like it was ready to burst. "Thank you, Swirlstar! Uh, Starswirl!" She blushed for a moment, then they all heard the sound of their cutie marks shimmering.

"Bean pot!" Flash cheered as Starlight stepped over to Starswirl.

"Soooo...apparently a conversation can save Equestria?"

This caused Starswirl to chuckle, as he turned to the others. "Something tells me I will be making a lot of apologies today." They all laughed at this, only for an explosion to ring out, making the earth tremble.

"Damn it!" Flash pulled his helmet off and gave it to Starlight, "I gotta get over there and help everypony!" His Shining Guardian armor faded as he took to the air, the rest exchanging glances before running after him.

"Everypony understand?" Grand asked the others mentally, the group nodding as Cold turned to him.

"You sure this is gonna work?"

"Yeah," Grand held up his Celestic Gear, "Let's show this thing why Flash isn't the only Royal Knight you need to worry about."

"YEAH!" They all exclaimed as Trial-C made a pair of ice swords to appear. He swung them at Springer, the jakhowl leaping away as he formed an Aura Blast before throwing it at the clone. Trial-C was about to evade, but then the attack went wide and circled around it.

It probably would have laughed if it could, only for Heather to swing her chain mace and strike the Aura Blast, knocking it back into the clone's head. The cyborg staggered forward at this as Iron and Lightning jumped in front of it. Iron stabbed his spear into the ground and created a line of spikes that shattered the icy ground, only for them to circle around it and form a ring of metal spikes. Lightning then slammed his hooves into the spikes, sending a bolt of electricity surging through. The pair smirked as the electricity lit up the metal ring, zapping the clone.

"Couldn't keep up with that move, could yah?" Lightning asked as the Trial began to stumble at this.

"That's because it's a move we never used before," Iron laughed.

The other knight began to charge at this, only for the Trial to unleash a bunch of cold air. "It's gonna make another ice wave!" Cold yelled.

"Not this time!" Ruby slammed her hooves into the ground and like Iron, unleashed a line of spikes that reached the Trial and circled around it seconds before it unleashed the ice attack. But when the ice spikes struck the crystal ones, they shattered upon impact. "When it comes to durability, crystals have ice beat hooves down!"

"Now is my time to lend a hoof," First told them as he raised his crossbow. "Aid Force!" The weapon unleashed a burst of energy that struck everypony and healed their minor wounds while also increasing their energy. "Take him down!"

"GLADLY!" The others exclaimed as the Trial propelled itself upward, Tidal pointing his trident at the creature. "Tidal Shot!" As the water blasts shot out the trident, Cold leapt behind him.

"Cold Force!" His horn unleashed a tornado of cold air that struck the water, accelerating it as the liquid was also frozen over before striking the clone. And as this happened, Heather swung her mace at it and wrapped the chain around its leg. She pulled it around and yanked it toward Springer, who formed a Bone Breaker and swung it like a baseball bat. He aimed for its chest and managed to give it a serious dent as it was knocked back, hitting the ground and sliding along the ice.

"It's down!" Ruby yelled as Grand leapt next to her.

"Don't give it a second to recover!" Ruby nodded as she fired a volley of crystal arrows. "Grand Force!" Grand fired a rock laced tornado that struck the arrows, making them spin like drills. Trial-C pushed itself up as the tornado got in close, the arrows slashing into it before the rocks did the same. And as it was thrown back, Iron and Skybreaker charged in, Iron's spear now summoning some metal that turned into a buzzsaw blade. Skybreaker then fired a powerful blast of wind, causing the saw to spin around at incredible speed. The cyborg saw it coming and raised its hoof to blast it away, only for Heather's chain mace to wrap around the hoof and pull it away seconds before the saw struck its chest, cutting into it.

Springer and Cold ran up next, both nodding as they mentally made a plan. And as the cyborg managed to pull its hoof free and knock the saw away, Springer formed an Aura Blast as Cold slammed his hoof into the ground. Springer let the sphere go as an ice dragon shot out of the ground and swallowed it, the serpent ascending into the air before curving toward Trial-C. The clone stared at it and used its ice to make its own dragon, only for the first ice dragon to open its mouth and unleash a blast of cold air that made the Aura Blast explode out and strike the second dragon. It exploded, crumbling the beast to flurries as the first dragon then slammed into Trial-C.

The force of the impact knocked it flying, the clone just now trying to move. But before it could, Grand leapt up and swung his hammer into its chest. The beast would have probably screamed if it could as the damage to its metal chest was increased by the impact that slammed it into the ground.

As this happened, Iron charged in, "Armorize!" He was consumed by light and morphed into his armored form, quickly dealing several armored punches and kicks to its body. He then spun around slashed at its chest with his tail, ripping the dented metal off the monster before bucking it away. It then landed into an area surrounded by Lightning's daggers. And as this happened, the unicorn began warping around it several times while slashing at it with energy charged blades. Several cuts appeared around its body, only for the clone to propel itself away from the daggers with its tail.

"Mega Mode Power!" Trial-C looked up and saw Springer leap up as his body was consumed by light. When it faded, the jakhowl was in his mega form and holding up a paw to form a giant sphere of aura. First used his magic to boost Springer's power, allowing the Aura Blast to triple in size. Skybreaker then unleashed a burst of wind that swirled around the attack, forming something Trial-C had never seen before.

"This ends here and now!" Springer yelled as he pulled the attack back before throwing it, "Aura-Shuriken!" The attack spun into Trial-C, which tried to escape, but found its hooves stuck to the ground. It looked down and found that each of its hooves was concealed in a different element. Ice, crystals, rock and metal. These four locks kept it in place, making it try to form an ice shield, but the shuriken struck before it was fully formed, shattering the ice before it slammed into its chest. Everyone watched as the attack sliced into him before exploding, the force ripping it out of its confines. And as it smashed into the ground, its chest exploded with smoke flying out.

The knights stared down at their opponent as the beast clutched its chest, as if trying to undo the damage that had been done. The metal doors that had once been there was completely destroyed, allowing its inner body to be revealed. The energy source that had once powered its strength was gone, destroyed by the onslaught of attacks. The clone looked up at all ten of its opponents as each of them glared down at it. "I don't know who sent you," Grand said, "But if they're listening, I have a message for them." He pointed his hammer at Trial-C, "We will not allow you to do anything that endangers anypony in Equestria. If you want Flash's power, come and get it yourself so we can finally take you down." The others nodded as the Trial's body began to spark and twitch.

And so, Springer, Grand, Iron, Lightning, Ruby, Cold, Tidal, Heather, First and Skybreaker prepared to end this. "Aid Force!" First hit them all with his magic and powered them up as they charged up their attacks.

"Aura-"

"Grand-"

"Iron-"

"Lightning-"

"Ruby-"

"Cold-"

"Tidal-"

"Bloom-"

"Sky-"

"-FORCE!" The nine attacks exploded into the Trial as it tried to protect itself with an ice shield. But the ice was nothing against the onslaught, striking the cyborg as it actually made a scream of agony while being pinned between it and the attacks.

This continued for several long minutes until the force proved too much. With one last scream of pain, the Trial exploded with enough force that it filled the entire barrier with smoke. As it did this, Flash and the others arrived over the hill just in time to see the dome of light begin to vanish.

"What's going on?" Stygian asked, but got his answer when ten figures began to step out of the dust. Springer led the Royal Knights as they marched, all filled with dust and bruises along with smirks on their faces.

Fluttershy and Rarity ran over to hug their boyfriends while the others began to congratulate the knights. "Way to go bud," Flash and Springer bumped hoof/paw while Twilight smiled at Grand. "Hope he didn't give you too much trouble."

"You kidding?" Springer asked, "Nothing we couldn't handle."

"Right..." Flash chuckled, "So you decided to go Mega Mode because you felt you hadn't pulled it out in a while?"

Springer rolled his eyes before reverting back to normal, "What about you all? Manage to defeat the Pony of Shadows?"

"Nope," Flash replied before pointing his wing behind him. "We saved him." They turned to see Stygian standing with the other Pillars, all smiling as they also noticed they still had their Elements. It was just like Flash had said. They had found a way to save Equestria and kept their Elements from being lost.

As they did this, Flash walked over to where Trial-C had been and noticed part of its mechanical body laying on the ground. It was one of its robotic eyes, which still seemed to be recording. He picked it up and pointed it at him. "I don't know what you want with me and my power, but you lost. We've beaten all your Trials and we're stronger than ever." As he said that, Twilight and the others stepped over as they were now in view of the eye. "So do yourself a favor and stay where you are. Leave us alone. Because the next time you try something...we'll be ready to take you down." That was the last thing he said before the light from the eyes died, the signal to its source lost. "I hope you got that message."

Signal lost.

Void stared at the screen as it turned to static, his entire body shaking as his breathing began to accelerate, "RAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" He threw his hoof through the monitor, shattering it before grabbing and throwing it across the room. The monitor hit a table, only for Void to slam his hoof into it, splitting the monitor and table in half, "RAGH! WHY?! WHY DO I KEEP LOSING?!" He then grabbed half the table and threw it across the room. "CURSE YOU! CURSE YOU, YOU-AUGH!"

He clutched his chest, falling over as his breathing became irregular. He began to fiddle with the dials on his suit until he got it under control, Void now just laying in the floor, panting as he gasped for air.

That is, till a beeping sound rang out. He pushed himself back to his hooves and pressed the button, "What?!"

"You have been summoned."

Void let out a low hiss before staggering to the door, which led up a flight of stairs. When he reached the top, he was in the remains of a rundown old castle. The castle had several holes in the walls and cracks in the ceiling, showing its age. He marched through the dilapidated halls until he came across a set of rotting double doors, pushing them open into a dark room, where two lines of large bulky ape-like creatures in black armor could be seen.

The pony walked inside, growling as he walked up to the back of the room, where a large stone throne was waiting with something sitting in it. "So," the shadowy figure stated, "Your final creation went the way of the dodo, just like all the others."

Void let out a long groan, "True, which means we'll have to go to the more extreme route."

"I only allowed the creation of your little monstrosities because you told me my plans would fail unless the wielder of the Sacred Light was taken out of action. You said you could kill him, but all you've done is waste time."

"There were just too many factors to take into account," Void replied, "I believed Sentry was the only obstacle we had to worry about, but the rest of those Royal Knights have proven just as annoying. But there's no need to worry about them thanks to the relic you brought me." He glanced away at this, "We can take them out of the equation before dealing with the rest of the meddlers."

"Strange. I seem to recall you telling me something similar when I allowed your little project to begin. Why should I believe you now?"

Void turned to glare back at him, "Because even if you're able to find the other relic you're looking for, you'll be dead by the knight's hooves before you can use it on one of your targets. My way, you at least have a chance."

The figure stared at him for a moment, but eventually nodded. "Very well." As he spoke, two figures stepped out of the darkness. One was a purple unicorn mare with a broken horn, scar over her right eye and black armor. The other was a porcupine-like creature in similar armor. "I will allow you to continue with your work, but Tempest and Grubber will be keeping a much closer eye on you."

"Yes, my king," the three responded. As they said this, a blast of lightning exploded out of the castle. This illuminated the room, allowing them to see the creature in the throne was a tall white ape-like creature with goat legs and horns coming out of his head.

"Do not fail me." The three left the room and as they shut the door, the two new figures turned to Void.

"I hope you know what you're doing," Tempest growled, "You do not wish to suffer the king's wrath."

Void laughed as he turned to her. "Relax. I know what I'm doing. And unlike you, I can actually show results. Maybe he'd be better simply sending me to lead the assault instead of you." He cackled as he began to walk away, Tempest glaring at him as sparks began to explode out of her horn. She let out a roar as she fired a blast from the damaged horn, which shot at Void like a firework.

The creature named Grubber gasped at this, but then Void spun around and held up his hoof. The electricity struck it and instead of hurting him, it was absorbed into the suit and flew up his leg, chest and neck before arriving at his head. There, it vanished into his forehead. Tempest and Grubber's eyes both went wide at this, only for Void to pull his hoof back as the light shot back out of his head and travelled back down to his hoof. "Don't do that again." With that, he thrust his hoof forward, the electricity exploding outward and striking Tempest.

"Gyah!" She cried as she shot back, slamming into a wall. Grubber quickly ran over to her, the mare moaning as lightning continued to spark around her while Void turned to leave.

Back inside the throne room, the creature calling himself king sat in his throne, trying to look broody. But no matter what he tried, the idea of what they would soon do couldn't stop him from smirking. "I can't wait. Soon all the power of the world will be at my command."

As he said this, another figure in the room just stared at him. It was a pony-shaped being that was dressed head to hoof in bulky armor along with a pair of red eyes glowing in the darkness. He turned to king and despite his face not being visible, one would only need to look at him to realize he was frowning. "Fool."

With their battles over, the large group of ponies had travelled to Canterlot in order to inform the princess of what had transpired. "I simply cannot believe how tall you've gotten!" Starswirl told Celestia as the alicorn giggled.

"Well, it has been over a thousand years. Will you stay here and teach magic once again?" She turned to Luna, "My sister and I have such fond memories of your lessons."

The pair hugged at this as Luna added, "As long as you don't ask for those essays we owed you before you disappeared."

"I would love to say yes, but I'm not certain Canterlot is where I belong," he replied, "The realm has grown, and I believe I'll have a look around before I settle in any one place."

"And I long to see what has become of my home," Meadowbrook added.

"I believe we all do," Mistmane agreed as the other Pillars nodded.

Celestia smiled and nodded back, "Then I hope you will return to Canterlot on occasion and share the wisdom of your great experience with the next generation of ponies."

"We would be honored," Starswirl bowed, "But if it is wisdom you seek, look no further than your own pupil." He gestured to Twilight, who blushed at this. What he said next made the mare tear up. "She showed me that the power of friendship is a magical force indeed." The Pillars gathered around one another. "And that in turning away from others, you hurt yourself as well." They all hugged, some of the others doing the same.

Twilight turned to Starlight. "It's funny. I thought meeting my idol would give me all the answers I ever wanted. But instead..." She frowned, "I forgot what I already knew." Starlight placed a reassuring hoof on her shoulder, Twilight smiling at her. "Good thing I had a student of my own to remind me."

The two mares hugged at this, showing that Equestria had once again been saved and was stronger than ever. But a great storm was forming on the horizon. Whether or not the kingdom could ride it was a question with many possible answers. Only time would tell whether or not the future of Equestria was a bright one. And what must be done to make it so.

The End.

Flash Sentry, Defender of the Peace S7

by Banshee531

Carnival Chaos

Ones Soul Calling

Rock Solid Friendship

A Flurry of Emotions

A Dragon's Place

Fluttershy Leans In

The Princess's Apprentice

Hard to Say Anything

Dog Stay Afternoon

Sight as Clear as Crystal

Fame and Misfortune

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Webs

Triple Threat

The Castle Labyrinth

Reinforcements From the Future PT1

Reinforcements from the Future PT2

It Isn't the Mane Thing About You

An Eye for an Eyepatch

Birthday Battle Blitz

Once Upon A Zepplin

Bat's the Way Home

Uncommon Bond

Web of Memories

Shadow Play PT1

Shadow Play PT2