Chapter 1: The Orange Creature

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The calm, cooling winds coming down from the mountains flowed through the open forest. A peaceful tranquility spread throughout, only interrupted by a lone reptile walking along the road. The creature had one clear goal in mind as he relentlessly ventured on. As the young reptile continued to stroll through the foggy gaze he illuminated the air from a distance in an orange obvious glow. The creature’s tiny tattered feet left obvious paw prints from his four claws as he ventured onward with no clear destination in mind, but his goal kept his determination to survive strong. The silence, mixed with his feet scratching the earth and his heavy breathing and ever increasing hunger, kept the tiny creature on edge. His one and only goal—to continue living—was looking bleak.

He knew what would happen, just like it always had. He would wander from town to town, only to be run out as he was misjudged as a strange threat or, worse yet, an enemy. The creature was quickly running out of ideas, and locations to visit. His determination to keep on living was the one thing he had that never dwindled, even though all sorts of things had gone wrong in his short life. He had one place left on his half-ruined map that he had not tried yet. He brought up the map again, making sure that he was heading in the right direction to the pony village in the center that was dubbed Ponyville.

An anguished scream tore from his throat, frightening the tiny creatures of the forest. “The next town I visit, I’m not leaving without something in my stomach. And if I have to fight someone in this Ponyville, then fine!” the creature yelled as he tore up the map, his frustration giving him a new-found determination. Now fueled by his anger, he started running down the path towards Ponyville.

With desire burning in his heart, he felt that he needed something that could finally distract him from the hunger. After fifteen minutes of straight running, he stopped to take a break. He dimly noticed that the fog was clearing as he brushed himself off and sat down for a breather. His eyes closed while he sat under a tree breathing in and out over and over as light tingles of frost cleared from his nose.

After about another fifteen minutes, he slowly opened his eyes to see a large, clear lake, near what looked like an orchard of apple trees. He rubbed his eyes to make sure it was real, and in his excitement, started breathing far more heavily than before. He wanted to cry tears of joy, but hunger determined that that could wait.

“So many apples... I can’t believe this,” the creature said, his mouth wide open and dripping a small trail of drool down his front. “Huh?” He finally snapped out of his reverie, and looked down to notice the mess he made of himself. Sheepishly, he brushed off all the unusual sparkling spit so he could focus on his future meal.

The dragon stared up at the nearby apple tree with pure lust painted across his eyes. As he stepped one paw forward, he paused, as he noticed something different about these trees: there were plenty of them, and the way they were growing made it clear that they were not wild.

“Ok...” he said softly to himself, “I need to be careful. Usually when I try this, some mean ponies chase me out of town.” The creature carefully looked around, scouting to make sure that he was really alone. With nopony in sight, he gave himself the all clear to move forward.

He extended his claws and slowly began to climb up one of the trees, claw over claw, taking his time. He plucked some apples from the tree, gently tossing them down to the ground so he wouldn't overbalance himself. When he had taken as many as he wanted, he jumped down, and for a moment, he just stared, admiring his new treasure. Picking one up, he rotated it in his claw, turning it over and over until finally he slowly opened his mouth to take a bite, his first bite of food in what felt like ages. But before he could even complete that bite, a strange orange-like blur sped past him, snatching that apple out of his hand. He ended up biting down on his tongue, which did hurt, but not too much.

“Now, hold on Spike, what have Ah told you about-” The pony stopped short, and looked the creature up and down. The creature returned the gesture, his wary eyes running up and down her frame. She wore a cowboy hat and was orange in color, a bit like the dragon, but she was a grown pony and he was obviously not. Three apples graced her flank. “Okay... you’re not Spike,” she said simply as she studied him up and down, “but ya sure do look like him.”

The creature’s legs started to shake as he determined his best course of action. The pony was quite large, but he was a dragon after all. She was waiting for a response, and the dragon was out of ideas, but he suddenly remembered what he had said earlier about fighting for his food. He looked at his right claw as it started to shake more, and he tried to steady his nerves. He took a big gulp of air and attempted to punch the pony, with multiple variations on the theme “this is a bad idea” running through his head. The dragon swung his claw, which caused him to unbalance his body and fall flat on his face.
The pony blinked slowly, feeling more curious and confused than threatened.

“I… I...” The dragon felt utterly defeated, and he rolled over on his back looking up at the orange pony. He knew that it was hopeless, so he started to cry. “Oh please, just give me the apples!” the dragon yelled, which struck the pony with shock. “I have not eaten anything in days! I’m just so hungry!” he finally spat out and started crying his eyes out at the hooves of the female pony.

The pony certainly considered pitying the small creature. Her wide eyes looked over the creature and back to the apples. He was definitely a child dragon from the looks of it, and he certainly resembled her good friend Spike. And she could also tell with a quick glance that he was dirty, hungry, tired, and certainly alone. The pony decided that something was up here, but the dragon did not seem to be in any state for chatting, so she picked up all the apples and dropped them in his lap. She waited for a response while he wiped his tears and looked at his lap in disbelief. Never before had anypony showed him compassion, let alone just give him some food.

“From the looks of you, Ah can see that you’re telling the truth. Ya look famished, so eat up. Then we c'n discuss who you are and where you came from,” she said. There was no malice in her voice, but it was clear that what had sounded like a suggestion was more of a command.

He smiled for the first time in ages, cried some more, and picked up all the apples, shoving them into his mouth and eating them as quickly as his little mouth would let him. To say he made a mess would have been an understatement. He licked his claws, burped loudly, then fell back on his back again as he smiled in content having forgotten about the new pony.

She gave a little cough, making the little dragon jump. “Now then, you gonna tell me who you are, where you came from and where in tarnation’s are your...” she paused, trying to think of the correct term, but ended up using a simple “dragon parents?” Her voice wasn't harsh, but it was clear she wanted an answer—and fast.

“I… um...” The dragon tried to reply, but he only knew the answer to one of those questions. After all, it’s not like he had been asked those questions before, so he was caught entirely off guard. So he just laid there, staring at the pony, studying her in an awkward silence, hoping that a miracle would happen and for some reason the pony would let it go and leave him alone.

“Oh, how rude of me. My name's Applejack, and you are?” She reached out her hoof easily, as quick as any everyday motion would be. The dragon, not used to such actions and even more unsure of their meaning, flinched back in fear, grabbing his head for emotional support. His natural reaction to a fast moving object being flung towards his face was to accept it as danger. Applejack paused awkwardly. “Uh… ok,” she finally said. She gave him another once-over, this time looking closer to make sure that he was not hurt. Applejack was Honesty, not Patience, and she was really wanting some answers. “Look, are ya gonna talk or what?” she asked, leaning in to glare at the dragon as her hair flowed a bit towards his face.

“Tha…nk you.” His voice trembled as he calmed down and said the one phrase he had hardly said to anypony in his entire life.

“You’re wel…come,” Applejack said, trying to talk on his level and getting very annoyed with the lack of answers surrounding this strange child dragon. “Hmm...” Applejack tapped her hooves a couple of times, trying to think of what to do with him. He nervously looked at the ground, flicking his eyes up every once in a while as she decided his fate. She certainly looked kindof harmless, and he felt his breathing slow a little.

The jury quickly returned with a unanimous verdict. “Alrighty then, dragon, you're comin' with me!” Applejack finally decided. He flinched again as she stepped forward, but she had no intention of attacking him. Instead, she swiftly threw the dragon on her back and sped off into town. The action happened so quickly that the dragon was confused for a few seconds. He eventually realized that, to his complete astonishment, he was riding on the back of a pony.

What little calm the dragon had felt before had disappeared; he now assumed that he was in big trouble. He nervously swallowed a big lump of near-frozen spit. Never before had anypony brought him to anywhere; usually they just ran him out of town or ignored his pleas for food. The dragon remembered that it was no different with his race or the griffons—no one wanted him in their town, yet this strange orange pony had given him food and now was bringing him into her town. Barely hanging on to Applejack’s back, he noticed more and more ponies appearing in the distance, staring at the strange sight of a baby dragon riding on the back of one of the most dedicated members of Ponyville. The unwanted attention did not help the dragon’s nerves. Luckily for him, Applejack quickly arrived at her destination: the town library.

The dragon did not know who Applejack was looking for, but it soon became readily apparent that Ponyville was also home to a living pink whirlwind that decided it would like nothing more than to play with the little dragon.

“Hey, Applejack! Who’s this? Wow! He looks just like Spike! Hey, look at his orange scales, and blue spikes. Hey dragon, want to have a party? C’mon, Applejack, I just got some new stuff and your new friend looks like he could use some fun! So can we? Can we? Can we?” The pink pony jumped up and down as she looked all over the dragon, poking and prodding him without so much as introducing herself. The energetic pony (for, contrary to what he had previously thought, the whirlwind was actually a pony) at first scared the dragon, but her appearance and attitude (especially when compared to Applejack's) told the dragon that she clearly meant no harm. That is, with the exception of his ears, which she seemed intent on talking off.

“Pinkie Pie! Ah don’t have time for your horse play! Ah got me a situation here, so would ya please calm yerself down and let me deal with it?” Applejack asked as sincerely as she could, being careful to not upset her friend while trying to indicate the urgency of her mission. Pinkie Pie noticed the frown on the creature that told her something big was going on.

“Oh, okay then... We can... party later!” Pinkie Pie walked off, only looking back once with a slightly worried face.

Applejack reached for the door handle of the library when she heard the telltale sign of her other friend Rarity sneaking up behind her.

“Applejack, have you seen...” She cut her sentence short as she noticed the dragon on her back. Her eye was drawn to his tattered claws and dirty tail and face, and she winced at the slight smell that came off his scales. “Oh my word, your... new dragon looks awful!” The rude statement caused the dragon to look even more downcast, as his eyes began to well up with tears; she had mentioned him like he was a thing. “Well, don’t you worry. Rarity will fix this!” She ignored the dragon’s pleas while she magically cast up a wall divider and quickly did what she does best. The dragon protested loudly and tried to make her stop whatever she was doing, but to no avail. Applejack was more than slightly amused at this, but knew that Rarity could not help it (and knew that if she interfered, she would probably be receiving the same treatment).

Soon, the dragon's torture was done. “There!” Rarity proclaimed. “Much more presentable!” The dragon looked far cleaner with his nails all done up and his scales and spikes all polished. On the other hoof, the dragon himself was barely standing.

The world swam in front of his eyes, and with dizzy steps, he tried to steady himself having been forcefully taken off of Applejack’s back.

Applejack swallowed her mirth at his plight and annoyance at this setback. “Rarity, please stop! He's no friend of mine; I caught him trying to steal apples from my trees. But that don’t matter, somethin's clearly wrong here, and I aim to get to the bottom of it.” Applejack hoped she had passed on her intended message—go away so I can get on with my business. Applejack was definitely growing annoyed with her all of her friends' antics.

“Oh, I’m sorry; he just looked so much like my Spikey Wikey I couldn’t help it,” Rarity blushed as she strolled away, admiring her handy work but ignoring the dragon’s nervousness.

At another attempt to complete the simple task of opening the door, she was yet again interrupted by another pony. The blue blur came in at such intense speeds that it flew headlong into the dragon, knocking him off his legs and sending him flying into a nearby tree. The blue pegasus pony tumbled to the ground, but got up quickly, an annoyed look crossing her face.

“Spike!” she complained. “I was just about to complete my new…” She too suddenly stopped. “Oh. You’re not Spike,” the cyan pegasus commented while she quickly ran over to the dragon. While Rainbow Dash was used to such landings, the little dragon was not, and he was once again starting to look pretty roughed up.

The dragon’s eyes were practically spinning as he struggled to get back up, but his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he collapsed, unconscious. Applejack ran over as she sighed in frustration over her friend's abilities to make an entrance. The cyan colored pony attempted to wake up the dragon while Applejack went to go fetch some water.

Applejack returned with the water, only to see her friend making funny faces at the unconscious dragon. Her eyes rolled in frustration. “Rainbow Dash, this ain't no game! You just knocked him cold out, and Ah don’t even know his name!” She splashed her bucket of cold water on him in an attempt to wake him, but the water did nothing except succeed in soaking his body.

Rainbow Dash grew more worried at her actions and attempted to defend herself. “Well, I’m sorry! I didn’t see him coming! And if you don’t know him, then what in the hay was he doing riding you?”

“Ah just explained this to Rarity. I found him stealing my apples, but when I confronted him he tried to fight me...”

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at this. Applejack was one on a list of very few ponies that she would not want to meet in a dark alley.

“...which frankly did nothin' but show me that this here dragon has some issues. But then he started crying, begging for some food, explaining that he had not had any food for damn near days now.”

“He looks barely older than Spike, how can he be starving? Where are his... you know... dragon parents?” Rainbow paused.

“Wait. Do dragons even have parents?” she asked, somewhat downcast. Dash's eyes filled with pity as she looked on his lifeless body.

“That’s why I’ve been tryin' t' get to Twilight in the library. I aim to get the bottom of this mystery, and he ain't somethin' I’m just gonna ignore,” Applejack said as she slowly lifted the dragon onto her back again and walked back to the library.
“But Twilight is away on official royal business or whatever, and she won’t be back until tomorrow.”

Applejack exhaled in exasperation. “Oh, that's great. Now what do we do with him? Wait, is Spike at least home, Dash?”

“Oh yeah, that could work. He should be inside,” Dash said as she flew away. She felt bad for him, but she didn't really want to be part of this serious looking problem.

Applejack finally was able to open the library door uninterrupted. She came in and immediately saw a childlike purple dragon organizing books. The purple dragon almost mirrored the one coldly sleeping on her back.

“Spike!” Applejack practically screamed, which caused Spike to throw all the books into the air in fright. They fell down, and the books perfectly buried him. The ones that didn't land on his head, that is.

“Oh, what do you want Applejack? I’m kind of really busy here-” Spike just suddenly stopped talking when he got a look at her back.. The unconscious dragon just lay there. He was an almost perfect impression of Spike himself. He rubbed his eyes, he now thought he was dreaming.

“Who the hay is that? Another dragon and… and he looks just like me!” Spike said, unsure if he should be excited or scared. “Uhh, also, why is he sleeping on your back?”

Applejack sighed as she explained her story for what felt like the hundredth time that day. “Okay, look, Ah caught this here dragon attempting to steal from my apple trees. He tried to put up a fight, but he fell flat on his butt begging me for any amount of food. He's clearly younger then you, was starvin', and also alone. Ah don’t know where he’s from, where his dragon parents are, or even his name. Clearly somethin's wrong, and Ah was hoping Twilight would be here to help, but since it's just you, Ah was hoping maybe you could watch him until she gets back?” Applejack felt that that had been her best version yet, but the explanation still had Spike looking at Applejack like she was crazy. “Oh, and Dash accidentally ran into him, which is why he is unconscious. I think us ponies are frightening him, so maybe another dragon would help, so what do ya say?” Applejack smiled at the still quizzical look on Spike’s face, hoping he would just say yes so she could move on with her day.

“Umm... ok, he can sleep in my bed for now, I suppose,” Spike said, still very confused by the whole situation.

“Oh thank heaven... Here, help me get him into your bed.” Applejack walked up to the raised bed as Spike picked him up and took off his things he wore so he could tuck the strange dragon into his carriage-like bed.

“What are these, Applejack?” Spike asked, holding up the things the dragon had been wearing.

“I dunno. Personal effects or sommat.”

Spike took a closer look. The dragon had been wearing a homemade water canteen, and a small brown satchel. Spike looked inside and found bag of odd artifacts tucked deep inside. Curious, he opened the bag to find some weird items he didn't recognize, and a medium-sized gem that looked to be part of a necklace. His eyes widened. “Oh. a gem. Oh, that looks so tasty!” The blue gem radiated in Spike’s eyes as he ignored any manners at all and attempted to eat it, much to Applejack's horror.

“STOP! Spike, Ah forbid you from eating any of his possessions, you got me?” Applejack said in a stern voice as she spun the dragon around to look him eye to eye. “He may be a thief, but those are still his.”

“Ok, sheesh. I’ll leave them alone and watch after him.”

“Great, just please watch him until Twilight can get back so we can figure this all out.” Applejack nodded in finality as she left the library. Spike was still pretty confused as he scratched his head.

As the door closed, Spike was left alone again. He made sure the other dragon was asleep and went back to organizing the library. As he did his tasks of cleaning and sorting, he couldn’t help but look back at the other dragon. It was almost creepy how much the strange dragon looked like a mirror image of himself, but he shook his head, trying his best to ignore his thoughts. But what was really getting to Spike was the tasty gem in the other dragon’s pouch. Spike had not eaten one in a long while and it looked so inviting to him. He kept trying to distract himself, but the thought of the blue rock in his mouth was overpowering.

“I can’t stand it!” He reached inside the other dragon’s pouch and pulled out the blue gem and just stared at it, attempting to study it. The oval-shaped gem was certainly different from the ones that he usually feasted on; it almost radiated a light, but after looking at it in his claws under no light, it was clearly just a normal gem. It felt quite warm to the touch. Spike’s instincts got the better of him and he decided to finally take a lick.

This, however, was a bad idea. “YUCK! What kind of gem is this? Tastes awful, glad I didn’t try to eat it.” Spike wiped his tongue off and put the gem back in the dragon’s pouch, disappointed but glad he did not actually eat it.

Spike looked back at the orange dragon again. It was clear that Applejack was right and something really was wrong with him. He looked tired, and almost wild looking, as if he had never even slept indoors. Spike took a risk and ran a cautious claw down the other dragon. His scales were nearly identical to his on the surface, but they certainly felt different. Spike’s scales were rough yet smooth enough so you could rub them and not get hurt, but the other dragons were shinier and rougher than Spike’s. The orange dragon’s teeth were nearly identical, but that investigation also revealed that his breath was smellier than Spike’s. Again, the orange dragon’s tail was nearly the same as Spike's. Even under the tail he could feel the skin where the orange scales did not grow, just like on Spike. The skin was noticeably colder than Spike’s, though, almost to a chill. But what really threw Spike off was the lack of the end of his tail. Instead of a nice, pointy tail as there should have been, there was a piece of plated metal that mirrored Spike’s. The false tail was attached by some kind of leather strap; Spike tried moving it but stopped almost immediately when he noticed some scarring underneath.

These discoveries aside, almost everything on the surface was normal with this dragon; but after spending twenty minutes alone with him, Spike started to have really bad feelings about this other creature sleeping in his bed. Spike sighed and decided to just leave him alone and finish his work. He could write some more letters that needed to be written and wait for Twilight to come home the next day. Spike just hoped the dragon slept that long, he wasn’t thrilled about an early awakening.

“Finally done with my work! Well, that was boring.” Spike sighed after hours of work, it was starting to get late and most of the residents of Ponyville were getting ready to end their day. “Now what do I do? And a better question, where do I sleep?”

The orange dragon still had not woken up, and this meant that Spike had no bed to sleep in. He tried to sleep in Twilight's bed, but it was a bit large for him and didn’t feel right, he simply could not get comfortable. Spike groaned softly, and froze in shock as a new voice suddenly broke the silence.

“What happened?” The orange dragon had finally come to. He was rubbing his eyes, trying to focus on his surroundings. He noticed he was in an odd basket, which was inside a library of some sort. He looked around until he found a frozen state purple dragon standing below him on the bottom floor. “What the…You’re a dragon!” the dragon gasped, stating the obvious. The shock of discovery had completely woken the dragon up from his sleepy state.

“I was the last time I checked. Well, my name is Spike,” Spike said, climbing up to the basket. Spike nervously brought his claw out to introduce himself to the strange dragon.

The orange dragon looked at Spike’s paw. In his short life he had never even seen another dragon, let alone one that would attempt a greeting. The orange dragon started to shake a bit, and beads of sweat went down his scales and over his forehead. Spike noticed that the orange dragon’s sweat was colored light blue, and much to Spike's astonishment, it seemed to sparkle somewhat.

Through sheer force of will he took out his orange claw and shook Spike’s hand slowly. “Um... hello there, Spike,” was all the dragon could muster as he got out of the basket and stood up, brushing himself off.

A slightly awkward silence followed. “Right, so what’s your name?” Spike said rubbing the back of his head scratching his scales in awkwardness and attempting to give a steady smile to the orange dragon.

The dragon’s eyes grew wide in a swift motion as the dragon grew more nervous. That Applejack pony had already asked him his name, but he had refused to say anything to her. Wasn’t that enough?

“Look, I don’t know why that pony dragged me in here, but I’m not here to talk. Now if you don’t mind, I’m going to grab my stuff and leave.”

“Well, actually, I do mind. I was asked to look after you until my friend Twilight Sparkle gets back tomorrow, so you are not going anywhere.” Spike waved his claw attempting to seal the deal and get his simple point across.

The orange dragon was unimpressed. “Uh huh. I don’t know how they caught you too, but if you want we can both leave-”

The orange dragon attempted a compromise, but found himself being interrupted by some loud laughter and the sound of a little dragon rolling on the floor.

“Catch me?” Spike gasped, trying—and failing—to restrain his laughter. “What? Little guy, I live here. And it’s not like we captured you, either; we just want to know what's going on,” Spike said, laughing on the floor (much to the orange dragon’s confusion).

“You live here Spike? With the ponies, they just let you live in here with no problems?” the orange dragon asked, dumbstruck, wondering what exactly was going on.

“Yeah, of course. Twilight and I moved here from Canterlot. Before Ponyville, I mostly just lived with her, but now I have plenty of friends.” As Spike was saying this, the orange dragon's face became even more surprised. The dragon began to look down and move his eyes about, trying to make sense of this impossible situation. Eventually, Spike spoke again.

“Where exactly are you from little dragon?” Spike asked him, still not knowing his name.

The smaller dragon was growing annoyed by this slightly bigger one. In the short time that he had been talking to Spike, he had been called 'little guy' and 'little dragon', and that really rubbed his scales the wrong way. Part of him wanted to spit back at Spike how much this annoyed him, and he probably would have; but the sheer impossibility of what Spike was telling him was too much for him to comprehend.

The orange dragon sighed and walked over the one of the windows in the library. Wordlessly, he pointed out towards the dark forest and waited for Spike to understand. Spike walked over and looked at the place that the dragon was pointing to, and did a double-take.

“Are you trying to tell me that you're from the Everfree Forest?” Spike asked, in the most serious tone that he could muster up. The other dragon nodded and shrugged, not finding anything wrong with that fact. “But where is your home in it? You have a home, right?” Spike asked, now just humoring the odd dragon.

“I suppose I don’t have a home, I just live outdoors.” Again, the orange dragon replied with something that caused Spike to feel worried. He had just said something that was just plain wrong, and yet he had said it with such a straight face and with no worry in his eyes at all.

“Okay, look. You still haven't given me your name, and where in the heck are your parents?” Spike was running out of patience and took an almost fatherly tone with the strange dragon. Though, on second thought, that last question was a bit odd, especially considering Spike's own answer to that question would be Twilight who was in fact a unicorn and not a dragon.

“I could ask you the same thing. If you're living with ponies, then where are your parents?”

“Well, my egg was found when Twilight was younger, and she raised me.” Spike grimaced. He felt weird giving up such personal information so soon, and covered it with another question. “Now I've told you my story, you tell me yours,” Spike stated simply, folding his arms as he waited for a solid answer.

“I haven’t got a name. No parents means no one gave one to me,” the orange dragon said with a slight smirk on his face.

This was, by far, the strangest thing that Spike had heard come out of the other dragon's mouth. “You don’t have a name?!” Spike asked in complete disbelief, but the orange dragon simply nodded. Spike had seen plenty of ponies who lied before, and he did it all the time, but he knew when somepony tried, they usually showed obvious signs. The other dragon showed none of these signs, which just confused Spike even more. “Then who raised you? You couldn't possibly have been on your own since you were born!” But that statement seemed to have hit the nail on the head. The orange dragon looked down, his silence and expression revealing that Spike had, unfortunately, hit the jackpot.

“I... uh… ok, you see the problem with that is...” Spike started to mumble to himself as his brain tried to piece together the sheer improbability of the whole situation. “I mean, look, it's it's… LOOK, THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE!” Spike finally shouted as he turned and faced the orange dragon. Spike’s composure looked like a child throwing a tantrum. The dragon remained still, not moving his face, but he was certainly growing unsteady.

As the orange dragon refused to move, Spike regained his composure by taking some deep breathes to relax. The two dragons just stared at each other for a few minutes until Spike finally ended the awkward silence.

“Okay, fine. You have no name, you live in the wild and you have no parents and that’s all fine and makes sense.” Spike said it this time calmly, as if to reassure himself that he was not crazy.

“Yes, now you've gotten what you needed, now can I go?” The nameless dragon finally spoke with a positive tone.

“No, you will not be leaving,” Spike said firmly. “Tomorrow, Twilight will be back, and then we can figure out what to do with you.” Spike made it sound like an upcoming punishment to the orange dragon, causing the smaller of the two to gulp.

“What to do with me? What do you mean?” the orange dragon asked in an increasingly nervous tone.

“Well, we can’t exactly have a baby dragon wandering around with no caretaker. Twilight is very nice, and she will help you find a home here in Ponyville,” Spike said. Noticing the other dragon’s nervous tone, brought his claw over to the shoulder of the dragon to offer some support.

“You all want me... to live here? But I’m not a pony, I’m a dragon!” The orange dragon knocked Spike's claw away and backed up against the wall. His tone was almost angry as the absurd thought went through his head.

“No one here cares what species you are,” Spike protested. “Look at me—I’m a dragon, and I love it here! Look, I promise you that if you just listen to Twilight and me, everything will be okay.”

The dragon could not ignore Spike’s sincere tone, but no matter how he thought about it, living in Ponyville just seemed like it was too good to be true. But he also knew that he could not outfight any of those ponies; they were four times his size and even Spike was bigger than he. So he simply took a few deep breaths and nodded his head, giving an awkward smile back to Spike.

“All right, now we just need to figure out where we both will be sleeping for the night. Like I said, I don’t think Twilight will make it back until tomorrow.” Spike looked at the basket and it was not big enough to hold both of them. He would have tried Twilight’s bed, but it hadn't been comfortable and had practically sucked him in, and he doubted that the orange dragon would fare any better.

“I could just sleep on the floor,” The orange dragon mentioned as he looked at the basket that looked incredibly uncomfortable for him.

“No, I won’t make you do that. I’m sure we have something around here you that you can use for the night,” Spike responded as he started searching through the library's utility room. Suddenly, he let out a small whistle of celebration. “Wow that’s convenient. I had no idea that we had a spare basket back here.” He put it next to his basket and added a pillow and a blanket.

The orange dragon stared at the second basket in disgust. It looked very uncomfortable to him. “I think I'll be ok on the floor.”

“No, you will be sleeping in this basket. Now get some rest, ok?” The orange dragon was growing annoyed with the parenting style attitude that Spike was using; while Spike, on the other claw, was growing pleased with himself for being in charge of somepony else for a change.

The orange dragon sighed and awkwardly climbed into the basket and hesitantly draped the blanket over himself. Spike smiled, then turned off the lights, climbed into his own basket, and wished the dragon a good night's sleep. For a few moments they were both simply listening to the other’s breathing, making it difficult to sleep; but soon Spike was out like a light. However, the orange dragon was having a far more difficult time getting some rest. The dragon twisted and turned himself all over to try and get a comfortable position, until finally sighed in defeat and climbed out of the basket. He looked down at Spike and made sure he was sleeping before turning to look around the library curiously.

Reading came easy to the dragon, but he was really not in any mood to pick up any of the books. As he walked, he noticed the door to the library was unguarded. He looked back at Spike, ensuring that he as still asleep, and opened the door slowly. He peeked out, noticing that nopony was out in the town. He knew this was his chance to make an escape; but for some reason, he could not work up the courage to do it. He decided to stay, but he still needed somewhere to sleep, and he knew the basket was out of the question. He tried sleeping on the floor, but something else bothered him. He looked up at the library's ceiling and noticed something was missing—stars. He was used to seeing the huge expanse of stars every night, and they had always put him to sleep out in the wild. He looked all over the house, and noticed on the roof there was a balcony with a telescope to look out at the stars. He smiled as he thought to himself that this would work for the night. He crept back through the library and climbed to the top floor, doing his best not to wake up Spike, as he opened the door to the roof. It was one of the most beautiful sights that the dragon had ever seen. Down below him, the town was half lit up, but it was the stars that made this Ponyville really shine.

He got comfortable on the wooden planks and just stared up at the stars as he relaxed. He wondered what it was like to live in Ponyville, and who this Twilight was. He wondered about the pony who took pity on him and gave him those apples, and about the blue one that knocked him out, and the white one that had cleaned him up. He also wondered about the pink colored one that seemed excited about everything, and he wondered about Spike; but most importantly, he wondered why these ponies seemed different from the other towns that he had tried to visit in the past. Thoughts drifted into dreams as he yawned loudly, then settled into a deep sleep along with the rest of the residents of Ponyville.

Chapter 2: Where is he?

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“Spike! Where is he?” Twilight's shout resonated from the top of the library as a commotion of ponies were frantically looking for a certain somepony (so to speak).

“Like I told you, Twilight, I fell asleep with him right next to me, and when I woke up, he was gone!” Spike's eyes widened.
“Maybe he ran off into the forest! He did say he lived there, after all.”

Twilight wasn't so sure. “Are you sure he said he was from the Everfree Forest? I mean, only Zecora lives there, and I think she would have noticed a baby dragon running around.” A worried look crossed her face, and she hoped that he was mistaken about the dragon’s previous home.

“I told you already, he told me a bunch of weird stuff and showed me where he was from. I had trouble believing it too, but the look he gave me was like when Applejack says... well... anything. She kind of tends not to lie, and I could tell this dragon wasn’t lying either.”

The orange dragon yawned and scratched his back as he slowly woke up and climbed to his feet. Looking down at the village below, he noticed that a couple of the ponies nearest to the library were in a state of panic, as if they were looking for something. Slightly confused, he stood up and opened the door that led back inside; but just as he was walking in, he saw all the ponies along with Spike run out of the library, heading off somewhere in a hurry. He quickly climbed down the stairs and looked around. The mess in the library was truly a sight to behold. Last night, all the books had been stacked quite evenly; but in one morning, everything was tossed aside in an obvious effort to find something.

He shrugged and left the library, leaving the door open. He saw Spike riding on the back of a purple unicorn, along with some other ponies running off towards the Everfree forest. The dragon just looked around and shrugged, slightly confused at their hurry. It had not even occurred to him that the ponies might be in danger in his previous home; what ponies did on their own time (when they weren't chasing him out of town, that is) was their own business, and he was glad to stay out of it.

Suddenly, he stopped short and hit his forehead. “My stuff! I almost forgot it.” The orange dragon quickly ran back inside and grabbed his pouch and water canteen. He reached inside the pouch and took out the amulet. He felt the warmth from the amulet, just like always. It was comforting somehow. The dragon stared at his possession for several minutes; no matter how hard he tried he could never bring himself to give it up or even sell it for food. The amulet had always brought him luck, or so he believed. He then slid the amulet over his head like a necklace, and slid on his empty pouch and canteen.

Now fully equipped, the dragon decided to explore the pony town. Seeing as how this was the first settlement that was not interested in chasing him away right away, he figured it was worth a shot. He got a few strange looks, but most of them just went on with their business ignoring him. There were two baking shops, a restaurant, a school yard, some houses, and a farm, in addition to the library and a few buildings he did not recognize. Eventually, the dragon ended up at a tiny bridge over a small stream that lead to a rather large cottage. There was numerous tiny animals all over the place, which caused the dragon to just stare. He had seen plenty of animals in the forest, of course, but not small like these, and they certainly were a lot calmer than the larger ones that he was used to. Bird houses lined the cottage all over, but there was no pony in sight.

“You’re the other dragon that everypony is looking for!” The orange dragon heard a light voice come from behind him. At least, he thought he did. The voice was so quiet that he had barely heard it, but he turned around anyway.

Behind him stood a yellow pony with wings and a pink mane and tail. She looked slightly worried; but for some reason, this pony did not strike him with fear like the others had. To be honest, she seemed just as nervous as he did, and as she waited for a response, she seemed to grow even more nervous. As she shuffled her hooves nervously, the dragon caught sight of three butterflies on her flank. The dragon had seen all sorts of emblems on the other ponies throughout town, but he had yet to figure out what they meant.

Still, it seemed like she was expecting a reply, and so he spoke. “Oh, hi. Yeah, I guess I am. I was just sleeping on the roof of the library when I heard a bunch of ponies looking for something. Last I saw, they ran off into the forest.” He smiled, trying to cut the awkward silence.

“The forest? Oh, dear, they must be looking for you there! They might need help,” the pony said nervously, casting an anxious eye towards the forest, then looking right back to the baby dragon, hoping for a useful response.

“Well, I’m from there, I could help you look!” The dragon perked up as he would get a chance to return to where he came from. The pegasus was making him feel far calmer than that Applejack.

“You’re from the forest, little one?” She looked him in the eyes as she spoke. Her stare was almost hypnotic to the dragon.

“Lived there all my life,” he said with a smirk. “I’m used to it there.”

“Well, if you say so, we can go look for my friends, but stick with me, ok?” She knew something was up, but he seemed friendly enough. And besides, she did not dare go into that place alone.

“Ok, let’s go!” He walked alongside her, smiling happily as he headed home.

“Oh, my name's Fluttershy, by the way. And you are?” She smiled gently as she waited for his response.

“Well, hey! Look, hoof prints. I’m sure they went this way! C’mon!” The dragon scampered into the forest. He had tried to ignore the question, hoping that his comment and departure had distracted Fluttershy enough that she would just drop the subject. He had seen how Spike reacted to the truth, and he did not want a repeat of that situation.

Fluttershy, however, wasn’t stupid. She had noticed the baby dragon’s attempt to skirt that question, but ignored it for now and focused on the much more important task of finding her friends.

To her surprise, the baby dragon seemed very confident running head-on into a place that left most adult ponies shivering with fright. She concluded that the dragon was probably telling the truth, but was still having trouble believing that truth. But then again, Twilight had said that Spike's egg was found in the wilderness, and dragons weren't exactly known for traditional homes.

Consumed with these thoughts and trying to run as fast as she could at the same time, Fluttershy didn't watch where she was going, and did not notice the upcoming thick spider webs blocking their path.

“Wait! Look out, Fluttershy!” The dragon grabbed her tail and dragged her to a stop before she could get caught in the heavy webbing. Upon realizing that she had nearly become ensnared, she nearly fainted. The dragon, on the other hoof, knew exactly how to handle this.

The dragon picked up a few sticks and held them together, then reached into his pouch and pulled out a small, black rock. He glanced around on the ground until he found another suitable rock. Kneeling down over the little bundle of sticks, he took one rock in each claw, and, with a sharp motion, struck the two together. Sparks flew, and he repeated this process until the tips of sticks were burning. With practiced motions, he used the flaming sticks to burn away the unused spider webs, opening the path. Fluttershy noted how quickly he had known what to do, and realized that evidence of his “growing up in the forest” story was looking stronger and stronger. When the path was clear, he ground the fire out into the dirt, and they continued to follow the tracks deeper into the forest.

After a few moments of silence, Fluttershy steeled herself and spoke. “Thank you back there, little one, but I still did not um…get your name. Could you tell me, if that’s ok?” Fluttershy pushed the subject (gently, of course). The dragon didn't respond right away. He was busy looking at his surroundings.

They had reached a dead end, completely surrounded by trees. This part of the forest was particularly dark, much to Fluttershy's discomfort.

When Fluttershy went to speak again, the dragon held up a claw. “Shh, be quiet for a second,” he hissed. The dragon ignored Fluttershy’s stare as he looked around for the cause of the faint noise he had just heard. He scanned around defensively when a massive thud resonated through the air and ground, causing the dragon to fall on his back and Fluttershy to jump in surprise.

Before them was a massive, dark colored tarantula-like monster that would make a hydra scream out of fear. It was big enough to stand taller than the trees. Fluttershy quivered in fear, but it seemed more interested in the ponies it was carrying then hurting the ones on the ground. Clutched in each of its claws were five very frightened ponies and one baby dragon. With his movements the massive spider had caused several of the trees around them to fall crashing to the ground, sending leaves, splinters, sticks, and birds flying everywhere. Fluttershy was unable to move.

“Fluttershy help! DO SOMETHING!” The ponies' cries fell on deaf ears, for Fluttershy was struck dead in her tracks by fear. She knew her Stare was not going to work on a creature that large, and especially not through those compound eyes.

The orange dragon looked up at the purple unicorn trying to use some of her magic to break free of the spider's grasp, but the monster was either too large or magic-resistant, because it didn't seem to even notice. The little dragon continued to stare at the massive spider and knew that some fire on some sticks was not going to help in this situation. He looked back at his claw and took in some deep breathes, before exhaling some frost from his mouth. Barely any ice came out. Realizing that his breathing was not as strong while standing bipedal, he dropped down on all fours, took the biggest breath that he could muster, and concentrated his efforts on one of the spider’s legs. This was far more effective. A large amount of ice jetted out, impacting and spreading over one of the spider’s legs. This time, the monster noticed the attack, as one of his legs now refused to move. The dragon smiled, amazed at his own skill and accuracy, and he ran around to another foot and did the same thing. This time, even more ice formed. The spider was growing angry, and let go some of the ponies as he tried to free himself.

“Twilight! Hurry, dear, do something!” Rarity screamed back at Twilight as they noticed the spider’s struggles.

Twilight had no time to worry about what the baby dragon had just done, or the sheer improbability of it. Now free of the spider's grasp and much more able to concentrate on casting (and aiming) spells, she focused her magic and cast a thick purple blast that struck the spider's underbelly and caused the spider to wobble and drop the rest of her friends. Closing her eyes, she cast one final spell in the hopes of scaring the spider off and to leave them all alone. The spider freed itself, only to turn and see a massive, purple fireball coming right at it. It ran off, practically screaming, as the remaining ponies all regained their composure. It did not take them long to focus their attention and eyes on the nameless baby dragon. All he could do was blush in the face of so much attention. As every pony present continued to stare, the orange dragon began to feel incredibly nervous, Fluttershy understood the look on the orange dragon’s face and decided to break the silence.

“Everypony, please, we really need to get out of this forest, right”

“Right,” Twilight said, shaking off her stupor and assuming the leader position. “We've got the dragon. Let's get out of here before 'it' comes back!” She began to walk, and the rest of the group soon followed. All kept a wary eye as they traveled, but this time managed to leave without any further incident.

All six of the ponies and the two dragons emerged from the forest to see several ponies with worried looks on their faces quickly changing to smiles, extremely glad to see some of the most dedicated members of their town returned safely from the evil forest. The orange dragon stood back and tried to make himself as invisible as possible as Twilight explained the situation and why exactly they had had to go in that dreadful forest. Unfortunately, that explanation was all about him, so when Twilight had finished speaking, most of the other ponies in town turned to look at the orange dragon, which caused his stomach to drop and his face to blush a thousand shades of red. Fluttershy saw his discomfort, and Kindness caused her to momentarily forget about her public speaking phobia.

“Um…Everypony? Please try and understand, the little dragon did not mean any harm, so could we all please just move along? Please, everypony?” The remaining ponies just shook their heads and slowly the crowd dispersed.

“Well, that was awkward…” Rainbow Dash said simply.

“Now as for you, I think it is time that we had a little chat,” Twilight said, turning back to the orange dragon.

“Twilight, please don’t go too hard on him… We were in the forest looking for you both, and he was amaz-” Fluttershy spoke up again to try and defend her new friend, but was easily interrupted and ignored over her quiet voice.

“Not now, Fluttershy. Come on, Spike, and please bring our new friend.” Twilight said this in a flat monotone, which left her friend's statement sounding very unnecessary. She headed back to the library, leaving behind the rest of the ponies and a very upset Fluttershy.

Spike reached out his claw and waited for the orange dragon to grasp it so they could follow Twilight back to the library. The dragon looked at his claw and back at Spike’s face, giving him an honest, but confused, smile. Spike sighed and grabbed his claw with his own, and they slowly followed along with Twilight in more awkward silence. They reached the library and Twilight opened the door for the two of them. She pointed inside and waited for them to walk in, and she closed the door behind her with a loud SLAM.

“Alright, young dragon, please explain your name, what happened to your parents, and what you did back there to the spider?” They were simple questions, and should have simple answers, Twilight thought. She knew that the last question wasn’t as important in this situation, but the same inherent curiosity that made her a great student tended to pop up at strange times.

The dragon was struck silent by the stern look on this new pony's face, Twilight stared him down like he had just done something very bad. The orange dragon refused to say anything; instead, he started to sweat and tremble, looking back at Spike for support. Spike saw the dragon’s silent pleas as his eyes grew wider, but as Spike looked back at Twilight, past experience had taught him to not give her any attitude when she was like this. The dragon looked down, trying desperately to figure out what to do. He twitched his fingers together, and decided that he was not going to say a thing.

“Look, I’m sorry, can you please answer my questions… NOW?” She tried to remain calm, but there was an obvious hint of desperation in her voice.

Again, the dragon refused to answer. He just stood there with a slight scowl, not liking this new pony very much. He was starting to think that most ponies were just not very polite.

Twilight quickly determined that this was hopeless and looked back at the door, hoping that maybe one of the other ponies could help her out. She knew some things about this dragon from Spike, but that wasn’t enough to put an end to the ever-growing mysteries of the nameless dragon. She sighed in defeat.

Sensing that it was again safe to speak, Spike walked up to Twilight, using this window of opportunity to explain a plan to her. He had an idea that might calm the new dragon down while they tried to figure this all out.

“It’s worth a shot, Spike. Wait here with him while I go fetch her.” Twilight left the library, leaving the two dragons alone again.

“W- where is she going, Spike?” The orange dragon finally spoke up.

“To get somepony that might be able to help you.” Spike lay a reassuring claw on his shoulder and gave a small smile. “I know Twilight seems mean, but she is really just trying to help, ok?” Spike spoke with far more confidence in his voice than the other dragon, who simply nodded and waited nervously.

They both waited for several minutes before the door slowly opened. The dragon jumped, but calmed when he saw Fluttershy enter. The one pony that would not make the orange dragon’s stomach jump was ironically the one pony that gets nervous from everypony else in the world. She smiled nervously as she gestured to Spike to give them some alone time. The orange dragon reached out to Spike, hoping he would come back, but Spike closed the door, leaving one adult pony and one baby dragon in the room. Fluttershy slowly extended her wings while the dragon stared at her. Strangely enough, as she did, the dragon felt a sense of calmness wash over him.

“Well, little dragon, that certainly was amazing back there in the forest, and I just want you to know you’re not in trouble.” Fluttershy’s rare confidence was showing. “However, I think it would be best if you just please, gave me your name?” Fluttershy smiled back at the dragon awkwardly.

The dragon wanted to tell Fluttershy the truth, truly he did; but the truth just seemed so bizarre to anypony in Ponyville that he was afraid to. But on the other claw, Fluttershy was just so nice, so he felt conflicted. He knew that while Spike had believed him, the ponies might not. Maybe they would yell at him like that Twilight pony, or maybe they were going to cast him out like every other place he'd visited. He thought of a million different reactions from Fluttershy for telling her the truth, but none of them sounded very promising. The dragon finally sighed and prepared himself for the worst.

“Fluttershy, look. I don’t have a name. I was born in the wild and I raised myself, and because I didn't have any parents, I was never given a name. I mean, who names themselves? I know that sounds silly to you ponies, but I don’t have any reason to lie.”

Fluttershy was taken aback. “But…but surely you have a name little dragon? I couldn’t imagine going through life without one!” She said this in her most stressing tone yet, which , given her smaller voice, wasn't all that loud.

This comment just made the dragon feel more crestfallen again. He looked down and sighed. Fluttershy noticed how rude she had been, but couldn’t think of anything else to say. She looked down too, but she did not want to give up on this dragon. She, too, was thinking of a plan, but just as it popped into her head, she too thought of a million ways that would not end well. Finally, she put those bad thoughts aside and decided to take a chance with this dragon she did not fully know.

“What if, little one, I take you into my cottage, and we find a name for you?” Fluttershy was not sure how she sounded to the dragon, but he certainly did not look as sad at her words.

“You want me to live in your house?” The dragon looked up to Fluttershy in shock. He could not believe what she had just suggested. Was this a dream? It must have been.

“Well, sure!” Fluttershy said. “I’m very good with smaller animals...” The dragon gave her a weird look, and Fluttershy quickly backpedaled. “Oh, I mean... not that you’re an animal, little dragon! It would take some getting used to, but we can’t have somepony as special as you wandering by themselves without friends or family!”

“I’m not a pony,” the dragon protested, crossing his arms in annoyance. “Why did you say somepony?”

Fluttershy blushed. “Oh, I know you’re not, but it’s just how we talk, little one.” This caused the dragon to give her a weird face, but sighed as he dropped the subject.

“Uhh…okay sure I could live with you,” the dragon said emotionlessly, trying to imagine what it would be like living in this crazy place. He simply stood in front of Fluttershy, waiting for her to say anything else. His tail wagged around a bit back and forth, which gouged a small scratch into Twilight’s floor. Fluttershy jumped a little bit at the noise, and noticed the end leading to a false metal tail.

“Okay then, it’s settled, but I will need to call in the other girls to talk to them alone. Would you mind waiting outside with Spike?” Fluttershy asked, and the dragon could not be happier with that suggestion.

“Yes!” he said, awkwardly speaking in a louder voice then he had meant to. He grinned crookedly at her before he ran outside, leaving her alone.

She walked outside and slowly started to gather up her five best friends. Twilight was, of course, still waiting just outside with Spike, and Pinkie Pie hadn't left either. Applejack, although obviously not thrilled to support this dragon, decided to support her friend and come. She found Rainbow Dash flying around practicing tricks, and finally Rarity joined the group, despite her protests of needing to clean herself off from the forest. All six of them gathered back at the library and shut the door, leaving Spike and the orange dragon waiting outside.

“Ok, you find anythin' out about our dragon friend?” Applejack said, slightly annoyed. She had work to do, after all, and this was the third interruption this week for that one dragon.

“Well, you see, me and that young dragon had a talk, and-” Fluttershy tried to finish her statement, but was interrupted.

“Yes, I don’t see how this pertains to me regarding that dirty strange dragon,” Rarity mentioned to everyone. She was also annoyed, but hers came from being interrupted while cleaning.

“Well, it’s just... he is a very young dragon like Spike, and he did save our lives-” Again Fluttershy tried to explain, but was interrupted.

“Rarity, who cares how dirty he is? We nearly got killed for that lizard brain!”

Fluttershy gave her a stern look. “Girls, please. We need to discuss-” Fluttershy was growing frustrated from the constant interruptions but her tiny voice was easy to overpower, and Pinkie Pie did just that.

“Ahh, c’mon. We wouldn’t have gotten killed, what would be the point in that?” Pinkie Pie was as random as ever.

They all looked back at Pinkie. That sounded like such an odd thing to say, but then again, she was Pinkie Pie.

“I still can’t explain how that dragon was able to do what he did!” Twilight finally spoke up. She was in her own little world, the scientist in her was trying to comprehend the dragon’s previous actions in the forest and ignoring the pressing matters of the dragon’s home.

The five ponies slowly started to bicker with one another, arguing over the reason that they were gathered as Fluttershy watched them in disbelief. She tried to stop them, but they were trapped in their own conversations. Finally, Fluttershy had enough and decided to speak up as loudly as she could.

“GIRLS, ENOUGH!” Fluttershy's voice carried throughout the whole library and to some ponies outside, including the two dragons. This certainly got her friends' attention as they lowered their voices and looked back at her.

“Look. I know you are all upset about the dragon’s actions, especially on your apples, Applejack; but I... I have decided something, and it is a big decision. And, yes, I found out a few things, but I really need your help on this.” Fluttershy asked, little confidence left in her voice after feeling half exhausted from yelling.

They all looked at each other, then smiled. “Ok, Fluttershy, we'll help. But what choice did you make?” Twilight asked, eager to help her friend.

“Oh. Well, the dragon told me the truth about himself and I decided to let him live in my cottage with me.” Fluttershy said casually. This announcement, though, only made the other girls grow more worried.

“What did he tell you, dear?” Rarity asked, curious about the odd tone Fluttershy was taking, but not feeling too surprised, given Fluttershy’s past in talking loudly.

“Well, and this might sound a bit weird, but from what I can gather he has no name because he raised himself in the wild with no dragon parents.”

Rainbow Dash snorted. “That’s the same horseapples that Spike told us! You really believe that somepony has no name? Heck, even changelings have names!” Rainbow Dash said, flying above Fluttershy to exert herself.

“Well, why would he lie to us?” Fluttershy asked in her honest yet proud tone.

“To avoid getting in trouble about stealing those Apples, duh. He probably lives a town over,” Dash said, with no clear evidence. She was obviously making up the excuse on the spot, something Twilight quickly called her out on.

“How many dragons do you know that live in pony towns, Dash?” Twilight asked. “Sure, Spike lives with me, but I don’t remember ever seeing a dragon his size walking around until now.”

“Besides,” Fluttershy continued firmly, “if he was really afraid of getting in trouble, he could have just run. I mean, he had plenty of chances to, but when he heard that you were in trouble, he took me into the forest. You should have seen him. It was like he had been there a million times before, and he knew exactly what to do. There’s no way he’s lying to us.”

“Well, if he is going to live in Ponyville, why doesn’t he just live with Twilight? She is pretty good with our Spikey!” Rarity mentioned, gesturing to her purple friend.

Twilight jumped a bit at this thought. “Rarity, it would be kind of cramped with two dragons and a pony living in the library. Spike is great and all, but three's a crowd.”

“I really don’t mind taking him in but… I need some help, plus there is the issue of his name. What do we call him?” Fluttershy asked, bringing up one of the biggest problems about this plan yet. The funny thing being that it seemed like such a simple problem, yet so deep. Names, especially in pony culture, carried deeper meanings, and they weren't just chosen on the spot.

All six of the girls looked at each other nervously. Sure, they all had experience in naming animals such as Angel or their other pets. Even Twilight had given Spike his name, but she didn't give him that name five years after he was born. The idea of just coming up with a name and slapping it on the new creature left them all feeling uneasy, like it was not their place to.

“I... I really don’t know what to say to that, Fluttershy,” Twilight said, extreme uncertainty in her voice.

“Well, I… wait. No,” Rainbow Dash tried to mention something, but she did not have any real idea to toss in.

“I know! We can call him Metaltail! Cause of that funny tail of his! Ooh! Or Nervousdragon, like how Fluttershy gets all nervous!” Pinkie Pie chimed in, but judging from the annoyed look that all of them gave her, she figured they did not like her good ideas.

“I know this isn’t the best solution, but how about we slowly ease him into his new life in Ponyville, then figure out the name later?” Twilight suggested. The other five finally agreed, but Applejack scoffed to herself over the nameless dragon thief. She clearly did not trust him.

Twilight poked her head out the library door and asked for Spike to bring him back in. The dragon stood in the middle of all of the ponies nervously as she spoke up. “Ok, little dragon, welcome to Ponyville!”

Pinkie Pie gave one of her largest welcoming smiles, but her welcome speech was interrupted by Twilight.

“Wait...How come we couldn’t find you this morning, anyway?” Twilight asked as she had just remembered the reason they went into the forest in the first place.

“Oh… I was sleeping up there, so I could see the stars,” the orange dragon said as he pointed to the ceiling of the library.

“You slept up there all night?! Weren’t you freezing?” Twilight was perplexed that such a small creature would climb up there alone, just to sleep.

The dragon gave her a smug little grin, much to Twilight's annoyance. “I sleep outside all the time, remember? I lived in the forest.”

“Oh… right.” Twilight could only muster up a nervous laugh at the obvious answer.

“I didn’t know we were throwing a welcome party! Okay everyone I’ll be back with some supplies.” Pinkie Pie spoke up, not waiting for anyone to stop her or say anything back. She bounced out of the room, leaving everypony in the room dumbstruck.

Finally, Fluttershy shook her head and turned back to the orange dragon. “Right, little one. Let’s get you settled into my cottage, okay?” The dragon gave a weak nod back at her.

Chapter 3: Find Your Purpose

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All five of Fluttershy’s friends agreed to help the dragon move into her cottage. Rarity went back to her beauty shop and made a bed for the dragon. Its design was based on Spike’s bed, but was a bit more fashionable, of course. Not being content with just that, she had put together some outfits for the small orange dragon. Applejack, despite her still-burning distrust, gathered up some apple treats for the dragon so Fluttershy would have some extra food for her new guest for at least a couple of days while she figured out a budget. Pinkie Pie, on the other hoof, was nowhere to be found.

Though of all the ponies, it was Twilight that seemed the most excited. She helped Fluttershy set up one of her rooms in the cottage for the dragon, and started researching all she could. This was proving to be difficult, as there were no books on dragon's found in her library, but she certainly didn't let that stop her. It was safe to say that this new dragon was becoming an obsession of hers.

Rainbow Dash had, in her opinion, the most important job of all—official Ponyville Guide. “Ok, so here's the library, of course, and over there is Sugarcube Corner. That's where Pinkie Pie lives. It's a bakery, in case that wasn't obvious,” Rainbow Dash gestured wildly as the little reptile clutched fearfully to her back. Oblivious to his suffering, she continued her tour. “Over there it the place you found first, Applejack’s farm, and up there is my cloud house.” She pointed up as the dragon stared in awe, his terror momentarily forgotten as he wondered how it was even possible to make home made out of clouds floating in the sky. “Down there is the Carousel Boutique where Rarity lives and works, and there is the school, and finally, here we are back at Fluttershy’s cottage.” Rainbow Dash landed and the dragon fell off. He nuzzled the ground affectionately, and promised to never leave it again.

“Hey, what’s with you? You barely said a word the whole time,” Rainbow Dash asked in her usual up-beat manner, but meaning to be sincere to the dragon.

“I’m sorry, it’s just... I’m not really used to ponies or... um... towns.” The orange dragon looked away towards the town, not wanting to tell the truth and upset the bigger pony.

“Well, we really are nice here. You just have to get to know us!” Rainbow Dash said to the dragon, holding some emotions back. She certainly had never been in a situation like this before. The whole thing made her feel awkward; she knew from Twilight that pony-filled towns were not the friendliest place for Spike at first.

They both walked up the Fluttershy’s cottage as Rainbow Dash half expected Pinkie Pie to jump out with one of her parties, but as they opened the door they only found Twilight and Fluttershy preparing the dragon’s room.

“Oh, hey, guys. We're just about finished here. Do you like it, little one?” Twilight asked still unsure what to call the dragon.

“Y- yes… I like it.” The dragon did not really know what a likeable room was, and decided it was best to just play along. He did, however, notice a bed like Spike’s that he was not looking forward to sleeping in. He noticed lots of little things that he was sure that the ponies had previously owned that they just gave to him without asking for anything in return, and it made him feel weird.

“Well, good! Ok, I’m done here Fluttershy. I’m sorry I have to leave so soon, but I have some... uhh... research to do.” Twilight really did need to do some research, but it was about their new friend. Her obsessions were difficult to hide. Fluttershy was thankful for the help, but a bit nervous to be left alone again. Twilight looked back one last time at the dragon, and a worried look crossed his face as she turned finally left.

“Well, little one, I hope you enjoy your new room and house.”

The dragon smiled again. Every time Fluttershy spoke, it just sent an amazing feeling through the dragon’s heart. It wasn’t love, but he decided that it was not far off. Her cottage was full of various critters from birds to mice that she all communicated with on some level, and as she showed the dragon around, he started to relax. That is, until a white bunny came right up to Fluttershy, brandishing a pocket watch. The orange dragon noticed that this bunny was clearly her friend, and assisted her with certain tasks.

“Oh, little dragon, this is my friend Angel and Angel, this is our new friend.” Fluttershy mentioned to the dragon.
The bunny turned around and waved with an impatient looking face, and practically ignored the baby dragon. The orange dragon stared at the bunny in disbelief. For reasons known only to the dragon, he was starting to feel extremely guilty and torn apart inside. He simply waved back at the bunny awkwardly, lost in his own thoughts. That white bunny drudged up memories in the dragon, long since past, and he was lost in his mind for a while until Fluttershy spoke again, disrupting his thoughts.

“Oh dear! I’m late again! Little dragon, I need to go take care of a few things at the lake. Please wait here and get settled in, ok?” Fluttershy asked him as she ran off, not waiting for a response as the bunny followed her out.

The dragon had heard the term 'settled in' twice now, and still did not know what it meant, but that bunny was really driving him insane. As he got lost in his thoughts again, he started to feel worse and worse, so finally he decided to put it out of his mind and look at his new room, as the ponies put it. On his new bed were some apple-related treats that Applejack had brought over. In a slightly-used wooden chest of drawers, there were several outfits from Rarity that the dragon wasn’t too sure about. Twilight had brought over some books to read from the library on the history of Equestria and Ponyville, along with several stories. Fluttershy had decorated his room all over with lots of knickknacks that the dragon had never even seen before, including some snow globes that simply made him stare, almost hypnotized, when he shook one for the first time. He still was not sure about that bed, but he did not want to disappoint Fluttershy. For some reason, the thought of doing that filled him with disgust. But no matter what else he did, his thoughts kept landing on that white bunny.

He was told to stay in the cottage, so he did. He pulled out his amulet that was waiting in his pouch and stared at it, running a claw along the jewel. He remembered finding it in the Everfree Forest one day. He never found out where it came from, but he had been extremely young when it appeared. All he knew was when he wore it, or when it was close to him, he could feel a bold feeling inside of him, almost like the amulet was making him stronger. The guilt from the bunny was a little easier to suppress as he read through some of the books that Twilight left. After two hours of reading, the door to the cottage was flung open, and in walked an exhausted Fluttershy.

“Sorry, little one, there was a lot to do today. I'm glad to see you're using your room.” She closed the door and walked closer to the orange dragon. To his relief, the bunny Angel was not there.

“Uh, yeah. It's a very neat room.” The dragon was starting to feel more comfortable with Fluttershy, but not enough to just talk regularly.

“Right. So now that you are living here, we need to find your purpose,” Fluttershy explained, trying to explain their ways.
The dragon simply blinked a few times, unsure of what she meant. “Huh?” he simply asked.

“Oh, well, everypony here in Ponyville has something that makes them special, and all serve a useful purpose. I’m sure we can find one for you.” She smiled at him, hoping that he would take to their ways as she had.

The dragon didn't respond right away, and an awkward silence filled the air.

Fluttershy coughed awkwardly. “Well, how about we go out into the town and try a few things, to see what you are really good at?”

“I’m good at surviving,” he said, gesturing to end of his tail that clearly showed others that he would not go down easy.

“Oh...” Fluttershy paused, trying to think of a good way to word her next sentence. “Well, that is a nice skill to have, but I’m not quite sure how that can help others.” She gave a nervous smile. “It's pretty safe in this town, little one.” Even though Fluttershy was giving bad news, her voice simply succeeded in relaxing the dragon even more. “I’m very sorry, but we can go out and I can help you find your way.”

“Ok, Fluttershy, we can do that.”

The two began to walk out of the door, when Fluttershy looked at the necklace he wore. “You could leave that here, you know. It's quite safe.”

The dragon drifted a claw protectively over his things, clearly indicating that he wanted to do no such thing. Seeing that he would be most comfortable with the amulet on, Fluttershy decided to let it slide.

After looking around town, Fluttershy noticed that Spike was very good at being Twilight’s assistant. Maybe this dragon would be good at assisting the school teacher? Fluttershy asked Cheerilee if the dragon could be her new school assistant, and after some begging and some worried looks from the teacher, she agreed to give him a chance. However, after half a day of the dragon working, Cheerilee noticed that the dragon was not as well educated as Spike would have been in this situation. The orange dragon was forced to quit; this caused Fluttershy to ponder if the dragon should be enrolled in the school since he was so young and unlearned, but she was not even sure if that was allowed.

“I’m sorry things did not work out, but we are just going to keep trying until we find your place, little one.” She smiled, this time in confidence, to the dragon. The orange creature gave a weak nod, feeling slightly guilty over letting her down.
Their next stop was Rarity’s beauty shop. Rarity was not all too pleased at the thought of anypony else touching her materials, let alone a dragon; but for her friend, she decided to give the dragon a chance. However, after mere hours, it was clear that the dragon had, as Rarity so deftly put it, 'no sense of fashion' and 'could not be gentle enough' with her materials. So the dragon was let go and led back to Fluttershy again.

“Don’t fret!” Fluttershy tried to comfort him. “We've only tried a few things, and there are plenty of issues in this town in need of extra attention so we just need to stay positive little one.” The dragon still was unsure how the pony could not only stay so positive but cheer him up so easily, and as he clutched the amulet again he felt determined to not let Fluttershy down.
Their next stop was to Sugarcube Corner, with Pinkie Pie promptly and happily giving him the title of “my new bakery assistant and also junior chef and also assistant in babysitting when my workload becomes too much to handle.” The dragon wasn't entirely sure how she had managed to say all that in one breath, and even less sure of what it meant, but he was ready to try anyway.

Pinkie Pie remained positive throughout the whole experience, but after a few hours it was clear that the dragon did not know any recipes and was not used to any of the tools in the kitchen. He was also not very good with babies, either. Well, he might have been, but he never found out, because Pound and Pumpkin took one look at him and cried, and they repeated this performance each time he got close. Pinkie Pie almost never frowned, but it was a smaller smile than usual when she decided that it was best if the young dragon tried something else in town. So, the young dragon soon found himself jobless. Again.

“Perhaps Rainbow Dash has something you can help her with!” Fluttershy seemed awfully stressed as she tried to find something that this young dragon could help out with in the town.

Soon, they arrived at their destination—an empty spot of land. The dragon was confused, until he saw the large house apparently made of clouds, floating in the air.

He looked back to Fluttershy, wondering how that even worked. Fluttershy gave a reassuring smile. “Stay here,” she said, as she flew up to Rainbow Dash’s cloud home. She knocked gently on the door, and it took a few tries before Rainbow Dash heard.

Finally, though, Rainbow did answer her door. “Hey, Fluttershy,” she greeted her friend.

“Um, Rainbow Dash?” Fluttershy started, “I have been trying to help the orange dragon find a purpose in the town and I was wondering if you needed some assistance.”

Rainbow Dash scratched the back of her mane with a hoof, then quickly put it down as she realized she still held a book in that hoof. “Well, I want to help him out, but most of the things I do require the ability to fly Fluttershy.” With that one sentence, Rainbow Dash had eliminated herself and dashed Fluttershy’s hopes of helping out this dragon, but she was not going to give up.

“Well, that didn't go so well,” Fluttershy said, looking extremely downcast as she continued to think in front of the young dragon.

The dragon noticed that there was one pony they hadn't asked yet. “What about you, Fluttershy?”

“Oh, well, I suppose since you lived in the forest you could be good with small animals... Ok, we can try it out.” Fluttershy smiled weakly, trying to hide her hesitation. She was hoping it would not have to come to this; she really wanted to help this dragon, but was unsure if he could be gentle enough to her animals.

As they walked towards the small pond where Fluttershy spent most of her time, she tried to explain to the dragon what his duties would be. The orange dragon seemed a bit more confident doing this stuff while Fluttershy was near, and by the time they arrived at the pond, the dragon felt extremely confident and ready. At first, to the surprise of both parties, the dragon seemed to be doing well. Every time Fluttershy gave him an order, he did it easily; but as soon as the bunny Angel showed up, the dragon’s extreme guilt and confusion came back fivefold. Suddenly he was making mistakes, and again it seemed like he was not going to be a very good assistant, Fluttershy noticed the problem, but she didn't seem to notice that it was caused by Angel. When he gave the wrong food to her friends for the fifth time, though, she had to say something.

“Are you ok, little one? I... uh... don’t want to upset you, but you’re making a lot of mistakes, and you also don’t look so good.”

The dragon lied and said he was fine. He kept trying to do what he was told, but the more that bunny hung around, the worse he felt. After about thirty minutes, they were done with the day’s tasks, a little bit later than usual, mostly due to Fluttershy needing to help fix his constant mistakes.

“Well, um, ok... How about you go get some rest? We're done for today, and you really don’t look so hot.” Fluttershy distinctly “forgot” to mention how he had done for the day, and the dragon noticed. He sighed, then ran off to his room so he could be away from Angel. Fluttershy shrugged, hoping that this was just a fluke for today. “I wonder what his talent really is?” she wondered aloud.

The dragon waited patiently for Fluttershy to leave the cottage, and made sure the coast was clear before setting out back towards town. He had to tell someone what had happened, but he only trusted two living beings in this crazy town. His first stop was the library; but, not seeing Spike, he wandered the town looking for him, while trying to avoid the stares of the ponies. Somehow, he ended up back at the library, and noticed Spike inside, helping Twilight doing some research. This irked the dragon slightly—hadn't he checked here earlier?—but he needed to talk now, and so he entered the library. Twilight was so lost in her books that she did not even notice the orange dragon coming in, but Spike did.

“Oh, hey, little dragon. Listen, I can’t talk much, we're extremely busy…hey!” The orange dragon took this opportunity to grab Spike and drag him outside the library with his odd strength. Twilight continued reading, oblivious to the kidnapping of her assistant.

“What’s the big idea?” Spike asked, annoyed at being dragged away.

“Look, I just need to talk, alright?” The orange dragon’s tone sent shivers up Spike’s spine. Spike could tell something was really wrong.

“Are you ok? You look like a wreck! Why don’t you go lay down at Fluttershy’s…”

“NO!” the other dragon shouted, earning him some strange looks from the surrounding ponies. Looking around in embarrassment, he dropped his voice. “Can you please just meet me near the entrance to the forest where no one is around? I have something important to say.” The orange dragon’s tone left no doubt that this was serious, and Spike agreed to meet him.

He quickly ran over to the edge of the forest, making sure no one was following him and especially avoiding Fluttershy. He hid in a small group of trees that formed a bit of a cylinder-like shape that shielded his orange scales and waited impatiently for Spike to show up. Finally, after ten minutes, Spike did arrive.

“Finally! You’re here.”

“Yeah, sheesh! I’m here, what's this all about?” Spike asked as the orange dragon grabbed his claw and shielded him too from the other ponies off in the distance.

“It’s about Angel the bunny that Fluttershy hangs out with.”

“What about him?” Spike asked. “He’s just a bunny; I know he can be a bit annoying and all, but that's it, really.” Spike raised one of his eyebrows, curious as to what the dragon was getting at.

“There is nothing wrong with the bunny, it’s… well... Spike, have you ever done something really bad before?”

That was something that caused Spike to worry a bit more. “Well, once I accidentally burnt one of Twilight's favorite books by sneezing, and I lied about it,” he said, hoping that the dragon’s story was similar in severity.

The dragon tapped his feet nervously, anxious at what he was about to reveal about himself. “What I did happened when I was younger. I was still learning my way in the forest, and I would often go days without food, but most of the time I would eventually find enough to keep going, and that was how I lived.”

“Look, you don’t have to worry about that stuff anymore; no one in Ponyville will let you starve,” Spike said comfortingly, placing a claw on his shoulder for more support.

“I wasn’t finished with my story, Spike,” the dragon said, shrugging off Spike's claw. Spike could detect a more sinister voice as he continued, “I… well... one day I was extremely hungry. I had gone days without eating before, but this felt different. It was at least two in a half weeks since I had eaten anything, and I was having trouble staying awake, I kept blacking out. I needed food! Anything would do! Eventually... eventually I found a bunny, lying in the forest that was very much not… um... alive.”

Spike knew where this was going, but he wasn’t angry. Instead, he felt extreme pity on what this younger dragon had to go through in order to survive.

“So… I took what little strength I had left and started a fire; I cooked the bunny and ate it. At the time, it felt weird. It wasn’t until I saw Fluttershy’s companion that I started to think about it again. I did not know that bunnies could be friends too,” the dragon said as he turned his face to notice Spike’s blinking reaction.

“I’m so sorry you had to do that, that’s awful.” Spike said, truly unsure what else he could say or do. “Have you been feeling guilty about this?”

“Yes. Every time I see Angel, I’m brought back to that time, and it just makes me feel worse.” The dragon simply looked down at his feet, not wishing to look his friend in the eyes.

“I know this might be hard, but the only way to get rid of the guilt is to come clean with Fluttershy … I can hardly imagine her being mad…”

“NO!” the dragon interrupted again. “Please! You must not tell Fluttershy a thing!” Spike recognized the expression on the dragon's face. It was similar to Spike's own, when he was shyly admitting his love for Rarity. Spike now knew the orange dragon was feeling something for the yellow pony, he didin't know if it was love like romance or love like a sons love but did not push anything.

“Ok, I won’t; but that’s the only way to remove your guilt for good,” Spike said simply, and then turned and walked back to the library, leaving the orange dragon staring back at his previous home.

The dragon stared at the Everfree Forest and knew that the simpler option to his guilt would be to just leave all the ponies and go back; but every time he thought of Fluttershy it hurt him inside, even more than the guilt he felt over that one bunny. The orange dragon sighed and slowly walked back into Ponyville, resolving to never tell the truth to anyone else.

Back in the library, Spike slowly reentered and saw Twilight in a state of panic. She was reading through book after book to try and find something about that dragon; or any dragon, really. She was in such a rush she had not even noticed Spike's disappearance. To make matters worse, it was obvious that she was quickly starting to run out of books in her massive library.

“Spike, did you find anything at all? I can’t believe we don’t have one book even mentioning any dragon, let alone one that can blow out ice breath!” Twilight looked down at Spike from the upper floor of the library.

Spike put on what he hoped passed for an honest smile. “Umm, no. I’m sorry Twilight, I…couldn’t find anything. Nope, nothing at all. It’s certainly a mystery.” Technically, this was not a lie—Spike really had found nothing in the books. Twilight raised her eyebrow at Spike’s odd tone, but her desire for answers overwhelmed her suspicions.

“Well, that’s it... Maybe somepony in Canterlot will know. Perhaps even the princess,” she mused.

“We can write a letter to her and I can send it like usual right away!” Spike suggested, happy to have gotten off the subject of the other dragon for a second.

“NO!” Twilight shouted.

Spike blinked. He sure had been yelled at a lot today.

“I mean... I only want to bother the princess if we really need to, Spike.” Twilight brightened. “They have a massive library in the castle! Remember?”

“How could I forget? That was, like, your life,” Spike laughed as he rolled his eyes, remembering their previous life living in the castle as the princess tutored Twilight.

“Just get packing, please. If we hurry, we can be back later tonight, I hope.” Twilight knew this was a long shot, since the library in question was massive in comparison to hers.

They packed a few things and quickly set off for the castle, not even alerting any of her friends as they locked the library. Twilight hoped that no one in the castle would be too worried by her showing up unannounced, but this was very important to her.

The orange dragon noticed that Spike was nowhere to be found, leaving Fluttershy as his only confidant in the town. She also happened to be the pony whose mere sight now filled him with guilt; and the longer he stared, the larger it grew, even though he was quite far away. The dragon knew he could not avoid her forever, and he wasn’t about to try. As he headed into town, he still looked around nervously, still not quite used to being surrounded by so many ponies.

“Oh little one, there you are.” She smiled, hoping that the mistakes he made while helping the animals was just a fluke.
The orange dragon smiled as he noticed the bunny was missing. “Hey, Fluttershy.”

“How about we both get some sleep, ok?” To be honest, she did feel tired, and assumed he was too, based on how often Spike had to sleep at his age.

“Alright, if you want to,” he said, blushing a bit. He, on the other claw, was not feeling the least bit tired, but he wanted to do anything that Fluttershy suggested.

Fluttershy noticed the odd comment, which led her to believe he probably wasn’t even tired, but the dragon was listening to her. Spike was a great friend, but he had never followed her like this. Like the kind mother she was, she could notice something was really bothering this dragon. She made note to study him from a distance as she had often done with her woodland friends, but for now she led him back to her (or, more accurately, their) cottage. The dragon felt calm as he followed her closely until she opened the door, but at that squeak of the door, his heart nearly stopped. Inside was Angel, finishing up some small chores and clearly hoping to quit and go to bed soon The dragon tried to hide his emotions, but it was clear that he felt horrible inside; the look on his face made that quite obvious.

Fluttershy, of course, noticed this right away. “Are you alright, little one? You’re shaking, and you look awfully sad.”

“I’m fine, Fluttershy, just... uhh... really tired, can I go to bed now?” The dragon felt silly asking permission to do something that comes so natural, but did not wish to face her questions.

“Umm... s- sure, you can. Just climb into your basket over there and I will head off to bed soon,” she said, pointing to inside his room.

The dragon looked with disgust at the bed, which was just a clone of Spike's. He slowly climbed into his bed, feeling extremely uncomfortable at being forced to sleep in a basket again, but since he did not want Fluttershy questioning him, he merely forced a smile and closed his eyes.

Fluttershy smiled back. “Good night, little one,” she said quietly as she walked upstairs with Angel.

The dragon pretended to sleep, but he did cock his head at that. He had never heard the term “Good night” before. He sighed quietly as he tried to force himself to get comfortable. He tossed and turned, knowing that he couldn’t climb out until Fluttershy went to bed, but that light remained stubbornly on and he could not fall asleep. Finally, after twenty of the longest minutes of his life, her light shut off and he could hear her breathing slow down as she slept. He got out of the basket and grabbed the pillow (the only good thing to come of the whole basket thing) and blanket. He put the pillow down on the floor near one of her windows so he could gaze up at Luna’s night, and finally he felt comfortable enough to fall asleep. “Good night, Fluttershy,” he whispered, still unsure of what it meant, but knowing that she had said it with care.

The following morning, Fluttershy woke up bright and early, only to find a dragon on the floor where there had not previously been one. After some deliberation, she gave him a gentle nudge with her hoof, bouncing back in surprise as he awoke.

“Um... little one, are you ok?” Fluttershy asked hesitantly.

“Uhhh…Yes, I was just... well…” The dragon trailed off as he realized he had been caught sleeping outside the bed they had made for him.

Fluttershy, not understanding the source of his trauma, looked quizzically at the dragon, waiting for him to say something.
It didn't take long for the dragon to confess. “I’m sorry Fluttershy but I don’t like that thing.” The dragon pointed to the basket. “I had to sleep in Spike’s on that first night and I’m just used to sleeping under the stars, so I moved to the floor like I’m used to and slept near the window.” He felt terrible, thinking he was going to upset Fluttershy, but she did not seem the least bit mad.

Instead, she was smiling gently. “Well, why didn’t you just say so before? I would have understood. You just need to be honest. I bet we can set up a bed for you somewhere where you can watch the stars at night.” Fluttershy was internally pleased that she was finally getting somewhere with this dragon and his honesty.

“How about I could sleep on the roof outside?” The dragon was pleased that she was not upset, and it made him feel good coming clean about his feelings, so he decided to test the waters.

“On the outside?” Fluttershy was taken aback. “But you would be freezing out there at night!”

The dragon shrugged. “I never get cold, Fluttershy; I've slept outside my whole life. I think my skin has something to do with it.” He rubbed his scales, and Fluttershy noticed they did indeed seem different from Spike's.

“But you slept with a blanket all night,” Fluttershy pointed out, unable to wrap her mind around never being cold. Personally, she loved snuggling deep under layers and layers of blankets, kind of like a cocoon. But that wasn't important now.

“Well, they are very comfy, I can’t believe I went this long without a blanket.” He grabbed the blanket and rubbed it against his scales and smiled. “But yeah. I never get cold. I bet I could stay warm in a snowstorm.”

Fluttershy raised an eyebrow. “Oh yeah? Well, we will just see about that.” She typically did not get cocky, but was curious if this dragon was just being playful as young ones often are. She grabbed a bucket and filled it with ice. Then, without warning, she picked up the baby dragon and placed him into the bucket and told him to stay. She smirked as she waited for him to beg for mercy, but the dragon just looked at her like she had lost it. After twenty minutes of this, the ice started to melt a bit and the dragon had shown no indication that he was getting the least bit cold, Fluttershy watched his skin closely to look for shaking, but nothing happened. She was, to put it mildly, shocked.

“I can’t believe this! You're not cold at all!”

The dragon shrugged, as this was not news to him. “Yeah. Maybe it has to do with my cold breath.”

“What are you talking about?” Fluttershy was dumbstruck.

“You saw the giant spider, right? And the ice that stopped him? That was me!” he said, smiling broadly. He conveniently forgot to mention that it was difficult to use without heavy concentration.

“I thought that ice came from Twilight Sparkle... You did that?” Fluttershy remembered back as she was frozen in fear at the massive creature.

“Sure! I can show you. I, um, I think it should work this time, it helps when I’m excited.” He took a few deep breaths and concentrated, and blew out a gentle stream of frost that landed on her floor and melted to water.

“Wow! You're amazing, little dragon!” She gave him a hug; Fluttershy now knew why Twilight was so obsessed with him.
This made the dragon feel great inside, but also brought him back to his guilty feelings towards her bunny. “Can’t Spike do that? I thought some dragon's could,” he asked, hoping that the more he talked the less guilt he would feel.

“Oh, no. Most of the dragon's I have seen... well, all of them, really... breathe out fire. Spike does it all the time,” Fluttershy said hoping she made him feel special.

Unfortunately, this statement only made him feel like more of an outcast, like he was a one-of-a-kind freak. “Fluttershy... If I told you I did something bad, would you be mad?” The extreme guilt was really getting to the orange dragon, and he decided then and there that he would try and make her understand.

“You did something bad? Well, nopony's perfect, but what is it that you did?” Fluttershy asked, her awesome moment cut short by this confession.

The dragon slowly started to explain the story. The more he said, the better he felt; but the worse Fluttershy felt. As he was finishing his story, both Angel (who had approached unseen from behind) and Fluttershy looked disgusted, and a little bit angry. The silence in the room just made the dragon feel worse inside, but he was glad the guilt could not get him anymore. Fluttershy was lost in thought at the desperate act the dragon admitted to doing, and took a long while to compose her thoughts.

“Dragon… I want you to leave my cottage... Please.” Fluttershy was not sure how to feel, but she did not want this dragon near her bunny friend at the moment.

The dragon started shaking, but quickly ran outside of the cottage as he saw Fluttershy’s eyes. No longer full of life, they were blank, as she stared off into the distance, looking into nothing. He shut the door and ran into the town looking for his dragon friend. He felt awful that he had upset one of his few friends, and especially that it was Fluttershy. He started running into the middle of the town, blinded by panic, when suddenly a white pony came into his view. Too late to stop, he crashed into her. Rarity was too big to be knocked down by the small dragon, but he went sprawling into the dust. She looked down in surprise.

“Oh, dear! Are you alright... um... Dragon, is it?”

“Have you seen Spike? Please, I need to find him!” the orange dragon said, feeling frustrated.

“Of course. He and Twilight went up to the castle over in Canterlot.”

“Canterlot?” The dragon had never heard of such a place. “How do I get there?”

“Well, it is way up there on the mountain, most ponies get there by chariot, or wings if they have them. But without, it takes half a day to get there; and it’s not like you can climb the mountain by yourself, little dragon,” Rarity said, suddenly interested in what was plaguing the dragon.

“I can climb a mountain,” the dragon said dismissively. “I need to go find Spike.” He turned and started to run off, but quickly found himself suspended in a light blue magic aura.

“Not so fast, now. I can’t let you go to the castle uninvited, and you’re so young you most certainly can’t climb a mountain!”

“Oh yeah?” the captured dragon challenged, “Watch me!” He breathed in and concentrated as hard as he could, aiming for Rarity's glowing horn. His ice breath encased her horn perfectly, breaking her concentration and dropping him. Not waiting for her to recover, he sprinted off in the direction of the castle.

“How did he do that? Oh my, this hurts! Which way did he go?” Rarity asked herself as she looked around, worried that she had lost the young dragon and harmed her horn in the process.

The dragon quickly ran out of town, earning himself some more strange looks, but he did not care. His only goal was to reach Canterlot. Looking up, he could see a small castle off in the distance seemingly growing out of the mountain and knew that was his destination. He also knew that it might take all day and all night to reach it and he would probably have to climb a mountain, but he didn’t care. He ran as quickly as he could, glad that he brought his brown pouch which held the amulet that he still believed brought him strength. His clear goal kept him going all day as he started to slowly get closer to the castle, it grew bigger in the distance. Finally, he ended up at the edge of a very large tall mountain with a large castle on the top with huge protective walls... and no clear way to get in except to climb up or fly.

Chapter 4: You Did What?!

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The orange dragon tried climbing the mountain a few times using only his claws, but this proved to be nearly impossible. He just couldn't get a firm grip, and ended up sliding down to the bottom repeatedly. Next, he tried climbing by using the rocks wedged in the side. This was a slower process, but he got twice as far—until he ran out of rocks. Flail as he might, he still slipped down again, landing hard on his tail. He growled in frustration. Several cuts were scattered across his body, testaments to the failures from the constant climbing attempts. He pouted as he sat down in anger and spat at the ground in disgust; but what came out wasn't what he expected. Sitting on the ground was more ice that came out from his lips, but it was shaped like a cone. This astonished the young dragon, and all he could do was stare at it. ‘I didn't know I can make shapes with my ice,’ he thought.He picked up the cone and studied it. He looked back at the mountain and noticed some of the rocks that he had previously used to climb, and then curiously looked back at his icicle. Licking his lips to steady himself, he jammed the cone into the side of the mountain, forming a perfect handhold. That was good, but his good mood dampened slightly as he realized that he would need a lot more to reach the top, and he had no idea how to make more. It didn't help that he had never had to climb so high before, even back when he lived in the forest.

“I need to get to Spike, but that’s so damn high,” he muttered. “It was an accident and…”

Memories flowed through his mind, taking him back to him showing off his ice abilities to Fluttershy, and when he was attacking the spider; in them, he saw himself concentrating really hard and blowing really slowly. This slow breathing created a lot of ice, but it was so randomly shaped it would be of no use on this mountain.

“I was always spitting out the ice slowly, but if I do it quicker, maybe I can make shapes!” he said confidently, still not sure if this made any sense.

The dragon tried several spit tests out by spitting out ice as quickly as he could. Some attempts did form shapes, but not the conic one that he wanted. After a little experimentation, he noticed that if he curled his tongue just right, he could change the shapes as he was forming the ice in midair. Finally, he started to figure out a pattern: if he twirled his tongue and stuck it out of his mouth just before he began to spit, he could form more cone shapes. He cheered in celebration, even though nopony was around to see him. He made more cones and stuck them into the mountain, making efficient handholds and lifting himself higher. Finally, the orange dragon had passed his previous attempts, and he knew this would work out better, but he also was smart enough to hang onto his ice creations for dear life.

The mountain was indeed pretty tall. Two hours into his climb, he ended up looking down, which was not the best idea. Instantly, it put the dragon into a state of panic. He noticed the ice picks below him had all melted, so he only had two options: keep climbing up, or fall straight down to his doom. He started to second guess his actions, but he really needed to see Spike, so he slowly reached into his pouch and took out the amulet inside, draping it around his neck, all the while holding on for dear life with his feet and other claw on the slowly melting picks. He still wasn't sure if this amulet even did anything at all, but he knew it couldn't hurt, so he quickly started making more ice picks and climbing up faster and faster. To the orange dragon's delight, the castle was quickly growing into his field of view, and he noticed the waterfall falling down behind him.

As the sun was setting, the dragon had just about made it to the top. Only a couple more picks and he would be on solid ground. But when he went to make more, to his horror, his breath was all dried out. No matter how hard he tried, he could not get more ice to come out. Desperate, he looked all around for water, but the waterfall was not close enough to drink and he couldn't get closer. He was afraid, until he found more of those small rocks that he could climb. The dragon relaxed and used these remaining rocks to slowly bring himself to the top of the mountain. Pulling himself over the ledge, he stood and stared at the sight that greeted his eyes: another strange town and a rather large castle. He sighed, wiping the sweat off his brow and breathing heavily. He collapsed on the grass, trying to catch his breath. The sheer physical toll that the mountain climbing had on his tiny body finally overwhelmed him, and he rolled over on his stomach and threw up on the grass in front of a few citizens that wanted nothing to do with him.

“That...” -gasp- “...wasn’t...” -cough- “...so...” -gasp- “...bad,” the dragon managed to say. He even succeeded in smiling at his accomplishment at braving the mountain and making it up to Canterlot. He lay on his back, recovering, and ignoring the confused, and often disgusted, passersby.

After several minutes, the orange dragon stood up, and wiped off the dirt off from the mountain. As he looked around, he noticed the ponies in this town looked pretty fancy. As a matter of fact, the way the dragon looked would be pretty out of place, and he was already starting to get more strange looks. The dragon sighed and looked down at his amulet for strength, then slowly walked into town. As he looked around, trying to ignore the rude looks he received in return, he noticed the town seemed to be an offshoot of the massive imposing castle, almost as if it had been built first instead of building the castle after the town. But no matter where he looked, he could not find Twilight or Spike. Finally, he concluded that they must be in the castle, inside that heavily guarded sanctuary.

'Oh, boy.'

The dragon had been feeling more confident in his abilities, but he doubted that he could freeze the guards and just stroll inside. He sighed again, looking around for any possibilities. He found nothing, but he did notice that despite most of the town’s disgust, they did not kick him out like so many others had before Ponyville. After a while, the dragon noticed that, throughout the day, lots of things went in and out of the castle, most being carried by ponies dragging the cargo on wheels. It occurred to him that he could sneak into a box and thus get into the castle unnoticed. After some careful planning, he climbed into a crate that was heading into the castle. He managed to do it so quietly that the two ponies dragging it didn't notice anything.

The two ponies stopped at the command of the guards. As per routine, they did a quick check of the boxes for security reasons, then let them inside. The orange dragon was finally in the castle but he suddenly realized a rather sizable hole in his plan: getting out of the box without being seen. This problem was compounded when he realized that these ponies dropped off packages all over the castle, and the dragon was not sure where he was going to end up. Then again, he had never been to the castle, so he wouldn't have known where they were taking him anyway. As the boxes dwindled down to his, the dragon grew slightly more nervous. Eventually, his box was lifted. He noticed that one of the ponies remained behind as the box was carried upstairs by the other, and they seemed to be ascending a spiraling stair case.

“Here you are, Princess Luna, and have a nice night,” the pony said, waiting for her response. After all, it's not every day you deliver to a princess, and he was obviously hoping to win some points.

“Ahh... Thank you, kind sir, I was waiting for this; and good night to you, too.” The smile was obvious in her voice, and the pony smiled back and left her chambers, leaving behind the box holding a baby dragon.

Wait. ‘Did he just say Princess?’ The dragon started to panic as he realized he was going to be in big trouble when she opened the box.

He started to hyperventilate. He knew he was caught and he was fresh out of ideas. He did not know who this Princess Luna was, but hoped that she was nice. He waited in nervous anticipation. He could hear some noises coming from the box while Luna tried to open it from the outside, while the dragon was trying to keep it closed from the inside. But the dragon was no match for alicorn magic, and the box lid was finally peeled open. As the princess saw the dragon, her expression quickly turned astonished. All the dragon could think of to do was smile nervously, hoping she would not scream, or worse.

But instead of a scream or a shriek or a call for help, she simply picked up the dragon using her mouth, just like a mother would often pick up her young foal, and set him gently on the ground. “And who are you, young dragon?” Her voice was gentle enough, but the dragon still detected some harshness and annoyance on her surprise. “You look a lot like Twilight’s young assistant.”

“Uhhh... I'm a friend of Twilight Sparkle,” the dragon said, hoping this would appease her. He could not think of anything else to say, but he knew that Twilight was welcome here, and hoped this would satisfy the massive dark-colored pony, especially since he had no name to give her.

“Well, Twilight is in the library as we speak. But that still does not explain what you were doing in my box!”

Even though Luna was not being mean, the new tone in her voice caused the dragon to whimper a bit, even as he kept his mouth shut.

Luna moved back slightly and took a steadying breath. “Hmm... Let me start over. I have been trying to be less serious around others. My name is Luna, young orange dragon. Who are you?”

This caused the dragon to calm down, just as he had when Fluttershy had spoken to him earlier. Realizing he wasn't getting out of this one either, he sighed and prepared the truth.

“I do not have a name, Luna,” the dragon said. He was tired of explaining why, so he settled for giving the simple truth.

Luna raised an eyebrow. “Is that so? Everypony has a name, dragon. Now, please give me your name, and tell me why you are here?” Luna was looking a tad more serious, but she kept using that calming tone, and the dragon remained at ease.

“I’m here to see Spike, Twilight's friend. Please, I really need to talk to him about something very important... and... uhh... until I see him, I won’t be giving you my name.” The dragon gave himself a mental congratulations at that brilliant idea, and he hoped his impromptu plan would work.

A tiny smile played at the princess's lips. Luckily for him, Luna was in a good mood, and decided to humor him. “Very well, dragon. I will play along and take you to the library, but I do expect that name when I do.” Luna picked him up and draped the young dragon across her back.

As they went through the castle, all of the guards kept dropping into an attack position until realizing at the last minute that Princess Luna was escorting the dragon, and not the other way around. The castle was massive, even larger than the dragon had thought, but after several minutes they finally arrived at the library. To the orange dragon’s delight, he saw Spike and Twilight sitting at a table, lost in some books doing research.

“SPIKE!” the dragon yelled out his friend's name and jumped off the black alicorn and ran over to Spike, nearly tackling him in a hug.

“Whoa, what are you doing here?” Spike asked, too shocked by the sudden appearance of the dragon to even return the hug.

“I was hoping he could tell me that as well, young dragon, and there is also the matter of your name,” Luna said, as both Twilight and Spike noticed her presence as well.

Twilight looked around nervously, and then realized that it had fallen to her to speak. “Yeah, I’m pretty confused now, too. How did you even get here, orange dragon?” Twilight asked. Each comment made the dragon blush defensively, but it also made Luna grow even more confused.

“Twilight Sparkle, do you know this dragon? And why did you not address him by name?” Luna asked, now even more curious about the young orange dragon sitting before her.

Twilight swallowed before answering, knowing that the answer would sound strange to Luna. “Uhh... Yes, Princess Luna; we both know him, and the reason we have not addressed him is because he has no name to speak of unfortunately.”

“So you were telling the truth, orange dragon. I apologize, but I still don’t see how you are missing something as important as a name,” Luna said as she bowed to the orange dragon, much to the astonishment of all present.

“It’s a long story, Princess Luna, but do you mind if we talk to him in private and we can tell you later?” Twilight asked, shooting an annoyed glance at the dragon.

Luna pursed her lips, but answered, “Very well, Twilight. I will honor your request. I need to get ready to raise the moon anyway, so I will see you all later.” Smiling (and very pleased with herself for using the new phrase), she turned to leave.
As soon as she did, Spike began shooting questions faster than a hailstorm. “How the heck did you get up here and what are you doing here and where’s Fluttershy and why are you so dirty and...”

“Spike!” Twilight interrupted. “Breathe, Spike. Let him answer.”

“Oh, right. Sorry, Twilight. But seriously, dragon, what gives?” Spike asked. For some reason, his mind went back to the bunny incident from earlier, but he pushed it out of his mind.

Twilight didn't say anything, but her expression clearly indicated that she wanted an answer, and quickly.

The orange dragon started to sweat a bit as he thought back to the first pony to hear his bunny story, and how she had reacted by kicking him out of her cottage in disgust. He knew that Spike could handle it, but really did not want to tell Twilight—or any other pony, really—for fear of what they would do to him. The dragon sighed, and decided it was easier to come clean. Spike smiled at him sincerely, and gave him a silent nod, letting him know that he could trust Twilight and that it was going to be all right.

He licked his lips to steady himself and began. “Twilight, when you two left, I started to get more comfortable with Fluttershy, and was forced to tell her a terrible truth.” The dragon smiled nervously, hoping to soften the blow.

“What are you talking about, young dragon?” Twilight grew more curious, but she also grew more serious in her tone.

“Well, before I told her, I first told Spike, because I didn't trust any of the ponies and I was feeling so guilty,” he admitted.
Twilight glanced over at Spike, giving him a look for keeping such a secret from her. He winced, but both returned their attention when he spoke again.

“When Fluttershy was helping me find my place, her friend Angel kept following us, and it brought back some faint memories of something that I had to do when I lived in the Everfree Forest and it made me feel guilty. You have to understand, it was do it or die.”

Twilight now had a very concerned look on her face, but she did not show any anger; just concern. She listened intently to the dragon's words.

After setting up the severity of the story, the dragon began to unfold what he had kept from everypony but Spike. He spoke quickly, which only sped up as he noticed a similarity between Fluttershy's expression and the one appearing on Twilight's face. After he was done, the dragon simply sighed and looked down in shame, waiting for anger or a scream. Twilight’s mouth was still open in surprise at the intense actions that the orange dragon had to commit, while Spike looked over at Twilight, concerned about how she was going to react.

The dragon flinched in surprise as Twilight put her hooves on his shoulders in support and smiled. “You don’t need to feel ashamed. little dragon. Like you said, it was life or death, and you certainly don’t need to feel guilty for trying to survive.” Twilight was still smiling down at the dragon, while he looked up in utter shock that the mean pony from before was making him feel just like Fluttershy.

Spike was relieved that Twilight had understood the orange dragon's issue, but there were still unanswered questions. “That still doesn't explain how you got up here. Is Fluttershy here?” Spike asked.

The orange dragon shook his head. “No, I ran here after I told Fluttershy. She... um... told me to leave.” He bit his lower lip as he remembered the look she had given him. “She looked just like Applejack after I tried to steal her apples.”

“That doesn't sound like Fluttershy... We are going to have a little chat with her when we get back to Ponyville,” Twilight said out loud to no one in particular. She paused, thinking on how Fluttershy must feel.

“But that still doesn't...” Spike started again, trying to get a simple answer. His voice trailed off as he was interrupted by the orange dragon’s actions.

The dragon twirled his tongue and spat out an ice spike on the ground, then he did several more to show it wasn't just a fluke. “I climbed the mountain to the castle using these things that I just found out I can make!”

“YOU CLIMBED THE MOUNTAIN TO GET INTO CANTERLOT?” Both Spike and Twilight said in amazement as they put two and two together at the dragon’s ice spikes, his fear of Fluttershy and the dirt all over him.

The dragon shrugged, a bit taken aback at their loud response. “Well, I can’t fly, and I had to see Spike… I thought
Fluttershy would understand but she kicked me out and... well... you guys were gone.” He paused. “Why did you two leave Ponyville and come here, anyway?” The orange dragon asked as he walked over to their study table, which was littered with books. Glancing at a few, it quickly became apparent that the subject of choice was dragons.

Twilight stammered. “Oh, um... we needed to do some research, that's all. Nothing suspicious here. Nope. Nothing strange at all.”

The dragon read the closest book, which was about rare and obscure dragons and included diagrams, and easily put two and two together. “Research on me?”

“Well, it’s just... you're a bit different, and we had to make sure that you would be healthy in Ponyville,” Twilight confessed, knowing that they had been found out.

“Why don’t you simply try studying him with the young one's permission, Twilight Sparkle?” a new voice broke in. All spun to see a massive white pony enter the room that looked a lot like Luna.

“PRINCESS CELESTIA!” Both Spike and Twilight bowed down in surprise while the orange dragon looked at both of them like they were crazy.

“Hey, you look just like Luna,” the orange dragon said, pointing a claw at the royal pony, ignoring the shocked expression that his two other friends wore over his pointing at royalty.

The white pony, on the other hoof, took this all in stride. “Why, yes; Luna is my sister. I take it you two met not too long ago.” A smile played at her lips. “She said something about finding a dragon in her delivered package?”

The dragon blushed, but since he detected no anger or frustration, he felt safe answering. “Oh, sorry. I had to get into the castle and I wasn't sure what to do.”

“Well, I suppose you could have tried asking at the front door. Once you mentioned that you were friends with Twilight, I’m sure they would have let you right in.” Her smile didn't change, but her eyes sparkled in amusement at the over the top actions that the dragon took to get here.

The dragon applied the palm of one claw hard against his forehead at being so silly.

Twilight tried to recover. “Princess, I’m sorry, but we needed to find any information we could on this young dragon. He doesn't even have a name, and he can blow out frozen breath, and he lived by himself in a forest, it was just too much,” she explained desperately.

“It is all right, Twilight Sparkle. But perhaps it would be best if you take him back to Ponyville to study him; with the young one's permission, of course. And I suggest teaching him about the magic of friendship as your friends once did. Having no name is rather unfortunate, but perhaps he can find that as well,” the princess said, smiling back at the dragon and giving him a playful wink.

Twilight sighed in relief. “I think that would be best princess. I don’t know why we didn't just try that in the first place.” There was no problem that couldn't be solved with a little study. Especially hooves-on study.

The only problem with this problem-solving was, it left two dragons and two ponies on opposite ends of the room, all staring awkwardly at each other and with no idea where to go from there.

“Hey, want an ice pick, Princess?” The orange dragon tried to be friendly to this new pony and randomly spit out one more into his hand and offered it to her, much to the astonishment of Spike and Twilight at his childish actions.

“Oh, no thank you, little one. But I must say, that is quite a trick. You're very unique.” The princess laughed a bit nervously as she studied his ice pick before turning to Twilight. “Twilight, I must head off to bed, but please take care of this young dragon for me. He is quite special.” The princess winked at Twilight, and then left them alone.

The orange dragon smiled a bit as the princess walked away. She had reminded him of Fluttershy greatly, but his smile melted as he noticed the shocked expressions on the faces of both Twilight and Spike. Spike tried to say something, but the sheer surprise that the Princess had both showed up and praised the young dragon left him speechless.

Twilight tried to take charge of the situation, but she knew other matters were at hoof: the dragon needed to be not only returned to Ponyville, but Twilight had to take care of him now more than ever as it was now a unofficial royal decree. She decided to summarize the situation. “Alright then, dragon, ignoring the fact that you ran away under Fluttershy’s watch, climbed a mountain, and stowed away in Princess Luna’s mail, I think it’s just time that we get us all home.” She was too exhausted to even discuss the illogical actions of her new young friend, and her poor logic circuits could only take so much stress.

“Oh, I guess I did do all of that... I’m sorry, Twilight; it’s just... You should have seen Fluttershy when I told her… I just had to leave. I had never seen her like that,” the orange dragon explained in a panicked tone, trying to warn both Twilight and Spike about her mood.

Spike tried to comfort his friend. “Well, it’s not like Fluttershy to stay mad, or even get mad.” He paused. “Not that she hasn't, I guess,” he said, remembering previous times that she lost it. They were quite rare occasions, but rather violent.

“No, it’s not like her at all to lose it like that. We'd better get back to Ponyville now and straighten things out.” She put away her research and lifted Spike onto her back, ignoring the other dragon.

“All right! ...how do we get back to Ponyville?” The dragon asked, not walking alongside them as Twilight did not motion for him to follow.

“Oh, we can fly back," Twilight answered easily. "Two of the castle’s guards can take us there pretty quickly.”

The dragon nodded and followed them back to the castle gates. All three of them walked out to the castle as two pegasus ponies and a massive golden carriage waited to take them back to Ponyville. They slowly climbed in and the carriage took off, which was a huge surprise to the little dragon, who had never been in one. The wind carried up fast, which merely made him squint. It was simply a small annoyance, since he did not get cold easily. At first, he found it annoying as both Twilight and Spike smiled up at the front until he looked out and saw Ponyville, lit up enough to look like a real town. To the dragon, it was a beautiful sight he was privileged to see, but just as soon as it came, they had landed near the library and disembarked, hopping off the carriage like flying from a castle to a town was nothing.

“I guess we better go back to Fluttershy,” the smallest one mentioned, cutting his happy moment short.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure she will be fine after I talk with her,” Twilight reassured the dragon as all three slowly set off for Fluttershy’s cottage.

The cottage slowly came into view. Their steps grew quieter when they noticed no Fluttershy outside helping the animals, and a eerie silence had fallen over the area. Each step felt awkward, like breaking glass. They all looked around, searching for any sign of Fluttershy, but found nothing but a few small animals off in the distance. Suddenly, Angel popped up and ran at them, jumping up and landing on Twilight's back, mutely trying explain what was going on. Then, he turned around and saw the orange dragon. Angel’s face instantly turned serious, and he pointed at him, and then pointed back to the door of the cottage, and waited.

“I think he wants just you to go inside,” Twilight translated.

“Yeah, just go inside. I’m sure Fluttershy just wants to talk,” Spike said, smiling at the orange dragon.

The dragon looked down at Angel as he tapped his feet impatiently. Oddly enough, even though the bunny knew what the dragon had done in his story, he did not seem mad; just impatient. All three of the others stared at the dragon, waiting for him to go indoors. He took a steadying breath and again reached for his pouch, picking up the amulet necklace. Twilight, Spike and Angel looked at him curiously, wondering what it was and what he was doing with it. The dragon sighed and draped it over his neck, then looked down to make sure it was on straight. This earned him more curious looks, but he didn't notice. He just set his face and walked up to the cottage, opened the door, then slammed it shut, leaving them dumbstruck.

“What was that about?” Twilight asked. “That amulet looked black and pretty big. I'm surprised he kept it this long, actually. I thought dragons ate jewels?”

Spike nodded. “Yeah, I was hoping you could answer that. I mean, I tried to eat it earlier when no one was around, but it tasted awful!”

“You what?! Spike, that was his, and it clearly means something to him!” Twilight stopped being annoyed for a brief moment, wondering just how many secrets Spike was keeping from her about this dragon.

He held up his claws in a gesture of surrender. “I'm sorry! It just looked so amazing, but when I tried to lick it, the gem tasted hot. Like really hot, but also not like any gem I had ever eaten.”
“How can a gem feel hot?” Twilight asked. She shook her head. “You must be imagining things, but regardless we will talk about this later. Right now, we need to focus on helping both of them.”

The little dragon walked into the cottage. Some of the smaller animals looked down at him and they pointed him upstairs to where Fluttershy was waiting. The dragon slowly climbed her stairs as the animals continued to look at him as if he had done something terrible, but the dragon pressed onward, feeling the warmth from his amulet pressing on his heart as he ascended the staircase, step by slow, dread-filled step. Finally, he reached the top, and there he saw Fluttershy, waiting for him with the most serious face she could muster. When she saw him, she slowly turned on a light and pointed to the space in front of her, indicating that he should stand there.

The tiny one stood before one of his few friends in this world and looked down, not wanting to see the look in her eyes.

Fluttershy took a breath and began. “Little dragon… can you look me in the eyes and promise to me that what you did in the forest was really life or death, and that you will never do it again?” Fluttershy asked. Her face refused to crack a smile, but her tone was stern and not angry.

The dragon cocked his head. “Fluttershy, what’s a promise?” he asked. Having lived on his own for the majority of his life, he had never heard of the concept. His most common companions—rocks, trees, and hunger—didn't make for good friends.

Fluttershy’s tone changed. “You don’t know what a promise is?” When the dragon shook his head, she explained. “Well, it’s like committing to someone that you will or will not do something out of trust and respect for them. If you really trust me and want to stay in my cottage, you have to do this and promise not to... well… eat bunnies,” she finished awkwardly. It had sounded much better in her head.

“I don’t want to eat them! Yuck!” The orange dragon spat, finally breaking the silence and growing annoyed that he had to go through this in order for her to trust him. His face even turned slightly angry, which surprised Fluttershy.

“It’s just before when you said it, I was so shocked and...”

“I told you I did it to stay alive, you think that was easy?”

Fluttershy raised her hooves. “Enough. If you say you won’t do it, then you won’t, and I trust you and we can move on. But that still does not explain where you went. I was worried.” She still smiled, but her eyes were drawn to his amulet that he was not wearing before.

“I went to see Spike in Canterlot, when you got upset well he was the only other friend I had.”

“To Canterlot? How did you get there?” Another piece of the puzzle clicked in Fluttershy's mind. “Is that why Rarity ran up to me with a frozen horn? You ran away?” Fluttershy was not entirely sure that what he had done was right, but she was nonetheless impressed with his determination.

“Oh, yeah.” The dragon began to explain. As he did, he circled around and around, gesturing wildly the whole time. “I ran when I was scared looking for Spike, but then Rarity caught me and told me where they went. When she said Canterlot, I tried to run for it, but she used her magic to bring me back, so then I froze her horn and ran for it. After that, I had to climb the mountain to get up there using these.” He spat out one ice pick at her feet, which surprised her. “I got up there, then snuck into the castle and ran into Princess Luna and she brought me to Twilight and I got to meet the other Princess and we went back here.”

“Oh, my... Well, that was certainly dangerous of you to do all that just to see Spike. I was never mad at you, little one; you just scared us, and I needed some time to think.” She smiled. “You did not need to go so far, but I’m glad you're back.” Suddenly, something he had said at the end finally clicked. “Wait... did you say both princesses? Is Twilight here, too?”

The dragon nodded. “And Spike. They're waiting outside. Angel told just me to come in.”

“Well, let’s go get them then, little one, and tell them that everything is resolved.” Fluttershy looked at him. Then, to his surprise, she picked him up and placed him on her back, just as Twilight did so often for Spike. Smiling, both went downstairs to open the door.

Chapter 5: Family

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Twilight and Spike were waiting outside patiently in the hopes that Fluttershy would come out smiling, or at least with something good to say. Spike was sitting on Twilight’s back, with his claws gently kneading her back. At this point, Twilight was very used to her assistant’s strong claws, but right now Spike seemed to only be interested in scratching at his friend with nervous twitches. They both seemed a little on edge over this whole situation. Fluttershy had always been quick to forgive; but if she actually asked the dragon to leave after welcoming him into her cottage, then she clearly was not in a good mood.

“Spike, can you please stop scratching me so fast?”

“Sorry, Twi. I’m just really tense. I mean, for that little dragon to go to such insane lengths to reach me… Fluttershy must have scared him or something.” Spike stopped scratching, but his twitching claws switched to twitching legs, much to Twilight’s annoyance.

“Well, he isn’t exactly a normal dragon now, is he? I mean he took down a spider, climbed a mountain, stowed away into the castle, and impressed Celestia all in two days’ time!”

Spike had nothing to say to that, and so both lapsed into silence. They had been waiting for so long that before they knew it, Luna had raised the moon, and both looked up at the stars for a while. To Twilight it felt nice to have a peaceful moment outdoors as Spike rested on her back, not putting much weight on her with his young physique. Her friend let out a big yawn as he continued to stare at Luna’s sky. Just like Twilight, he had some questions in his head surrounding his new orange-colored friend, but knew pressing matters would have to wait as he kept glancing back at Fluttershy’s cottage.

“Hey Twi, do you think there are other dragons like him out there?”

Twilight was caught off guard by his question and took a second to think about her answer. “Well, Spike, if there are two of you I’m sure there are more.” She knew something was bugging him.

“Sorry, it’s just... we’ve never had another dragon show up before, and… I was just wondering.”

“Well…” Twilight answered carefully. “Look, Spike, I know ponies tend to think other dragons are mean or unsettling. But you both are extremely nice, so that must prove something to the other ponies right?.”

“I know, I know. But what does that say about my race if most of us are just jerks to others?”

This comment was not going to be as easy to reply to. Twilight knew now that something must have been bugging him for a while and what she was hearing now was just the tip of the iceberg. She had also detected a hint of sadness in his voice and knew she needed to be honest but comforting. She took a deep breath and replied, “Spike, I know things were not exactly easy for you in Canterlot. I’m sure you felt like an outcast. But it’s up to you--and now this new dragon--to show other ponies that your race is not something to hate. I know that that is a lot to ask and I’m sorry. Still, we did meet that adult dragon that Fluttershy was able to talk to and get him to stop polluting Ponyville with his breath, so they can’t be all jerks.” She smirked a bit looking back at her assistant, and Spike cracked a slight smile.

“I guess you're right, Twi. Sorry, I didn’t mean to make you sad.”

“It’s fine, Spike; you know you can come to me with any thoughts or problems, right?”

“Yeah, I know. It’s just that... after that dragon showed up it got me thinking of where they found my egg. I mean, what if my egg was found in the forest?” Spike had calmed down a bit, but Twilight could tell that he had been keeping that question to himself for a while.

“Are you suggesting that the ponies that brought in your egg for my examination just stole it from the forest, Spike?”

“Well, the little orange dragon lived in the forest his whole life if you believe him, plus they never told you where I was found.”

This comment annoyed Twilight, as she knew what her assistant was getting at. She replied a bit more sternly than she had intended. “He’s not your brother, Spike. I don’t know where you came from or where he came from.”

“Well, if you don’t know where we came from, then how can you be so sure that he’s not my brother?” Spike asked, a smirk playing on the edge of his mouth.

Twilight was about to yell at him but realized that he had caught her. He was being pretty logical in his argument. She took a breath and answered, “Spike, I know it bothers you that you don’t know your real parents and… You’re hoping that this dragon might be a part of your blood family.” Spike slowly nodded, hoping to not upset her. “I suppose I can’t prove that he is not your brother and if you feel that strongly about him, then I’m proud of you for making such a close friend,” she smiled.

“Well, he climbed a mountain just to see me, Twi. Maybe he cares more about friendship than we thought.”

“Hmm, I guess that is a good point, but you know I will always be your family, Spike, and I love you.” She knew things were bothering him and reassuring him of his status in her life would be the best thing to do at this point.

Spike decided to give her a hug and just smiled with one tear in his eye. Twilight knew it was best to not interrupt these moments and knew of Spike’s sensitivity in these situations so she just smiled back. The moment they shared was more important to them than anything that had happened in the last couple of days surrounding this dragon. It felt peaceful, but they were still on edge about the silence surrounding Fluttershy’s cottage. They both looked at each other as they finally heard some noise from behind her door.

The door swung open quickly, revealing a yellow pegasus pony with an orange dragon draped on her back, slowly walking outside. Twilight and Spike were astonished at the sight, looking between them and each other.

“Twilight, we have resolved our issues, and the little one here will be staying with me indefinitely,” Fluttershy said with a smile.

Both Spike and Twilight looked up at the orange dragon as he shyly smiled back. At first, they were going to ask what happened, but the look on both of their faces told them all they needed to know. Fluttershy clearly had forgiven the dragon and from the looks of her treatment with him sitting on her back, it was clear that this little dragon meant as much to her as Spike did to Twilight. So the two ponies just stared at each other for a bit, enjoying the peace as the other two dragon’s looked down at their adoptive mothers, wondering when to break the silence.

“Well, that’s great, Fluttershy, I’m glad we can put all of this mess behind us.” Twilight broke the silence the best way she knew how, by stating the obvious.

Again, the four of them fell silent as they all smiled awkwardly, unsure what to do next. The little orange dragon was just glad that Fluttershy did not hate him, so he smiled and looked up at Luna’s sky gently clutching her mane. Spike was still feeling weird after confessing his locked away feelings about his own kind to Twilight, who was busy pondering the similarities on their new friend and her son, and Fluttershy just kept quiet from the silence that was making her too nervous to break it.

“Oh, right. Fluttershy would it be ok if I talk to your… little one privately for a few minutes?” Twilight knew this would make them all curious, but it wasn’t like she had secrets to hide.

“Oh, well, sure, if that’s ok with you, little one?”

The dragon looked over at Twilight curiously and back to his new mother and nodded his approval. He climbed down from Fluttershy’s back (a bit awkwardly, given his height) and walked over to Twilight. Spike climbed down and followed Fluttershy back into her cottage to give them both some privacy. The door shut softly, leaving more silence with the tall unicorn and tiny dragon staring at each other for a minute or two. The orange dragon was growing increasingly nervous, while Twilight was feeling awkward and unsure of how to phrase her statements.

“So… I guess you are wondering why me and Spike left to go read up on dragons.”

“Yeah. If you already know a dragon, why do you need to read about them?”

“Well, that’s a good question I suppose.” Twilight had started slowly kicking around some dirt with her front hooves, trying to think of the best answer. “Well, to be honest, little one, we do not get that many dragons in our pony towns and cities, and other than Spike, I have never gotten a chance to study one.”

The orange dragon crossed his arms. “I don’t think most ponies enjoy the sight of dragons, Twilight.”

“Well, what makes you say that?” Twilight already knew this was not going to end well.

“Most towns run me out before I can say hello, plus all the ponies typically stare at me, just like they stare at Spike.” He paused. “Well, a bit less at Spike, but still.”

“Well, that’s not very nice of them, but it’s because others fear that which they don’t understand. Ponies have very few books on dragons, and that’s because other than you two, they never get near pony towns.” At this point, Twilight knew the truth was the easiest path.

The orange dragon raised an eyebrow. “So you want to study me?” he asked.

“Well, yes, I do. Princess Celestia thought it was a good idea as long as you’re ok with it?” She half expected him to say no but was trying to be nice about it.

“Okay, sure. You can study me.” The dragon shrugged as he smiled and was glad that he was not in trouble this time.

Twilight nearly reared up on her hooves in excitement. “Oh, this is wonderful…wait really just like that?”

The dragon simply nodded, wondering why it would be such a big deal to her, but decided to play it safe and shrug it off. Twilight just smiled back at him as she started to look him over for the first time since he came to Ponyville, but her expression changed to one of pity. She looked down as her eyes started to dart around slowly as thoughts and realizations dawned on her.

“Dragon, what happened to you out there?” Twilight did not mean for her comment to be so blunt, but as she stared at his scars, his false tail, and his unkempt body when compared to her son’s, it was clear that this little dragon did not have a comfortable life.

The dragon had to think about this one, but knew explaining every bad situation out there in the forest would take too long, so he settled for a, “I guess a lot happened in that forest.”.

The smirk that the dragon gave Twilight surprised her, but she figured it would be best to drop it. She would have plenty of time to study him and ask him about his past. For now, it was time to get everypony to bed after a long day.

She turned to the cottage and raised her voice. “Alright, you two, we’re finished talking. C’mon, Spike, say goodnight, and then it’s time for young dragons to sleep.”

The orange dragon couldn’t help but giggle a little at Twilight’s treatment of Spike, who only a day or so ago was treating him like a baby, forcing him to sleep. Spike said goodnight to Fluttershy and him but hugged the dragon for far too long, leaving the orange creature confused. Twilight took note of this and knew why Spike was doing that but decided a talk with him could wait for another night as they both went back to the library, leaving Fluttershy with her dragon to tend to.

“Alright, little one, it’s time for young dragons to sleep.” Fluttershy giggled a little at her comment that made the dragon annoyed.

The dragon shrugged and followed Fluttershy back into the cottage, and to his delight, he saw a small mattress in his room next to a window. “Is that my new bed?” he asked.

“Yes, it is. Now you can see the stars all night long. I hope this is ok.”

“This is amazing, now I can finally get some sleep.” He tested out the bed and smiled delightedly at the comfort in comparison to Spike’s bed design, but then he noticed Fluttershy was staring off into space a bit. “Are you alright, Fluttershy?”

“Oh, yes, little one, just fine, I was just thinking about your purpose here in Ponyville, and I was considering enrolling you in school... that is, if they allow it.” Fluttershy was still lost in thought but knew there were too many “ifs” in this situation.

“I wasn’t very good when I tried to help at school.” The dragon was starting to grow annoyed with all of the ponies' constant terms and phrases that just put him on edge. He didn’t like being pushed into things, and he certainly felt very pushed right about now.

“I know you would like it, I’m afraid there are no dragons but lots of smaller ones your age who would love to be your friend.”

“They didn’t seem too happy to see me when I was trying to help.” He crossed his arms and closed his eyes as he tilted his head upwards.

“Well, that’s because they didn’t give you a chance, but this time will be different. I promise.”

“So Spike won’t be going, too?”

“Oh, well, I guess not, sorry. He was homeschooled by Twilight and is too educated to be put in school.”

He sighed dejectedly but perked up as a new thought occurred to him. “Then can you homeschool me?”

Fluttershy dashed his dreams. “Well, I’m afraid not. Ms. Cheerilee knows quite a bit more when it comes to teaching young minds, and she really is very nice little one. Besides, we are lucky that you can read and write, otherwise, we would have a big problem. I guess you taught yourself how?”

“Uh, yeah, I did. Ponies always drop things when traveling through the forest or near towns I would always find books and other things. That made me teach myself in order to survive.”

“I see, well, we have plenty of books in town if you like to read, but maybe I will talk to Ms. Cheerilee tomorrow and see what she thinks.”

The dragon just sighed and gave her a weak nod as she draped a blanket over him, smiled, and wished him a good night. When Fluttershy was out of eyesight he started gazing up at the stars through the window, pondering. It was bothering him that all these things that came naturally to ponies seemed to freak him out. He could stand up to manticores and giant spiders out in the forest, but he couldn’t stay calm when thinking about going to school or talking to other ponies. He again clutched his amulet to his heart as he continued to gaze at the sky and he gulped, willing to give in to Fluttershy’s wishes for him to attend school. He would probably give in to anything at this point as long as she smiled.

Fluttershy was doing some pondering of her own as she stared at the same sky in her bed, thinking about her new guest. She knew it was far too soon to see him as a son, but according to Twilight it only took her a week to love Spike unconditionally when she was a little filly. She knew school was best for him if he was going to survive this town with his sanity intact, but she also knew that despite his survival skills he lacked much in the way of social ones. Having no name would also prove something difficult to get around and she doubted very much that any of the children would take him seriously if he just went as “Little One”. She hoped that Cheerilee had some suggestions and would not put up too much of a fight against enrolling the first dragon she had ever taught.

The dragon had more trouble getting to sleep, though not from any physical discomfort, but from his brain. He kept thinking about this town and all the ponies that had not kicked him out, with Fluttershy being the nicest and closest friend with Spike being a close second. Twilight, although mean at first, clearly had his best interests in mind. Pinkie Pie was just weird, but he was glad that she kept her distance. Rainbow Dash also seemed to stay away from him, probably more out of guilt from knocking him out. Rarity was nice enough and made him some weird clothes, but also cleaned him up without his permission which annoyed him. Finally, that left Applejack, who was probably never going to forget his attempts at stealing her apples.

What made him feel relieved was the fact that neither Ponyville nor Canterlot had kicked him out of town, most just stared at him but it was still better than unwanted attention. He still preferred the calm of the forest, even when something mean went to attack him he could deal with it. But when he had to talk to these ponies about himself it made him feel less confident in his abilities. The one thing that he had always wanted, to just walk into a town without being attacked was finally in his grasp and he still felt nothing.

One restless night later...

Fluttershy woke the sleeping dragon and quickly noticed that he was extra cranky. He had bags under his eyes and even his scales looked a bit dull. She shrugged it off and she assumed he was still getting used to this new lifestyle and decided to make them some breakfast. While she cooked, the dragon noticed several smaller animals coming in and out of her house, and, not really wanting to start anything, he decided to read some of his books while he waited. Fluttershy made herself some fresh eggs and, thanks to a little tip from Spike, had prepared a few things for the dragon, including some gems in a bowl.

“Alright little one, we have eggs and orange juice, oh, and some nice gems for you to eat.” Fluttershy hoped this would cheer up her little friend, as Spike definitely seemed happier after a nice bowl of gems.

The dragon’s brain was having trouble comprehending what she just said as he stared at the bowl of gems curiously. “Why would I eat gems, Fluttershy?”

This caught her by surprise, but she responded politely. “Oh, well, Spike always eats them, and come to think of it all dragons enjoy gemstones. Have you never tried them before?”

“No. I wear one, remember? And you don’t see me eating it,” he pointed out.

Fluttershy had to admit he had a point. “Well, maybe if you try one you might like it. I would never ask you to eat the one you like, though.”

The dragon sighed and looked back at the bowl as he studied the gems. They looked too pretty to try and eat, and he was starting to think that Fluttershy had lost it. But he didn’t want to disappoint her, so he picked up a red-colored one in his claw and twirled it around slowly, comparing it to his own warm gem. He popped the gem in his mouth and instantly regretted it as he tried to hold back his stomach contents. Claws firmly over his aching stomach, he spat the gem back out on the floor and let out a few hacking coughs, trying to get the bad taste off his tongue.

“Oh, little one, are you alright? You really did not like the gem?” Fluttershy was surprised at his reaction.

The dragon just looked back up at Fluttershy with his usual worried expression and shook his head ‘no’ as fast as he could.

“Well, if you don’t like gems then that’s not a big deal; it just means more for Spike.” She winked at him and offered a smile which he returned, but now not even Fluttershy could deny that this dragon was certainly different. She continued, “Until we find you something that’s just as tasty, why don’t we enjoy our eggs, and then I have a few things to do in town after I tend to the animals.”

“Can I come with you?” he asked hopefully.

“No. That is to say... it’s a few private things I have to take care of, but I will be asking one of my friends to look after you.”

The dragon sighed, not looking forward to being forced to stay with more strange ponies instead of helping Fluttershy. He shrugged it off again and after breakfast decided to do more reading while he waiting for his surrogate mom to leave him with somepony new. His reading was mostly of novels and fiction, he wasn’t too interested in the history of Equestria. That bunny was still helping Fluttershy with her animals, but at least now he could tolerate him without freaking out. After a few hours into the early morning Fluttershy had finally finished and placed the dragon on her back as they left for the day.

“Alright, little one, I will be leaving you with Rainbow Dash today. I shouldn't be gone for too long. Hopefully this time she won’t knock you out.” This caused the dragon to flinch slightly, then giggle a bit when he saw her playful smile.

The small dragon was perched safely on Fluttershy’s back as she set their course for a clearing that was near Rainbow Dash’s cloud home. Sure enough, Rainbow Dash was waiting impatiently. The dragon noted that she also looked slightly nervous.

“Finally! What took you two so long?” Dash asked, with just a hint of annoyance in her voice.

“Oh, well, sorry Rainbow Dash, I will be gone for a few hours, just please look after him. Maybe you can try and take him around Ponyville and introduce him to some other ponies.”

“That’s what I was planning on doing. No weather duties today, and I’m bored to tears, so I might as well do something.”

“Well, good. I will be back soon. Goodbye, you two, and be good little one!” She flew off in the direction of the town, waving one of her hooves in farewell as the dragon stared back longingly.

Rainbow Dash just stared at him while the orange dragon did not take his eyes off the town. There was a long awkward moment, as neither of them wanted to break the silence. Dash took the opportunity to study the dragon, paying special attention to his scars, his amulet, and his false tail.

“So I think we got off to a bad start, uhh... little one,” she said, rubbing the back of her head nervously.

“Well, you did knock me out.” He had no anger in his voice, but he was still a bit annoyed.

“I’m sorry okay, sometimes I can get caught up in the moment when I’m practicing.”

“It’s fine.”

“No, it’s not fine. I want to make it up to you.” This time she smiled warmly at him.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I was going to show you around town by introducing you to other ponies so you can make more friends.” She wasn’t sure if this would be making it up to him, but she was determined to try.

He knew she was trying to be sincere, but the thought of being paraded around town to meet everypony in a few hours made him quite nervous. His claws twitched a bit and he wasn’t sure how to proceed. Finally, he went with the truth.

“Rainbow Dash, I don’t want to do that.” It was a simple fact he was stating, so it did not make him feel bad, but he was still somewhat apprehensive of her reaction.

Rainbow, though, understood. “You get nervous when around other ponies, don’t you?” She sat down next to him and locked eyes with the dragon. Dash had a small smile on her face, but she knew this was going to be one of those awkward conversations.

“Yes, I do, I always wanted to just walk into a pony town and not be kicked out. But now that it’s finally happened, well... I really just want to head back to the forest.” He sat down as well, just looking morosely at the grass.

“Well, there have to be some ponies that don’t make you nervous, right?”

“Yeah. I really like Fluttershy, and Twilight and the princesses are really nice! Oh, and Spike! He’s cool.” He smiled warmly as thoughts of Spike crossed his mind again.

“Do I make you nervous?”

He looked up and noticed that she wasn’t angry. He just saw curiosity, and so he figured he would be safe answering honestly. “I guess, a little; are you mad?” He flinched a bit waiting for an angry yell.

“No, I’m not mad at all. Why don’t we just sit here for a while and get to know each other?” She knew that being calm was out of character and she felt weird hearing that come out of her mouth, but right now she knew she could do this since the dragon’s nerves were on edge. One doesn’t merit the Element of Loyalty without making a few sacrifices for a friend.

“Well, sure. Okay, what do you want to know about me?”

Rainbow Dash had to think about this and figured talking about his physical characteristics might strike a nerve. “Well, okay, I’ll start with that amulet you keep wearing. I mean, I thought dragons loved to eat gems or something.”

The orange dragon snorted. “Yeah, apparently all dragons but me like to eat gemstones. I tried one this morning and it was nasty. And the amulet is something I found one day in the forest. I don’t remember where; I just remember being really young. Before I had it, the forest was a pretty scary place. I mean, I was barely surviving out there; but the amulet always seems to give me confidence. I know it’s strange, but the heat it radiates just gives me courage or something. Whenever I feel scared or alone I would take it out and just feel better inside.” He was blushing at this point, having shared this personal detail, and Rainbow Dash was eyeing his amulet now with more than curiosity.

“So it’s like the hat that Daring Do wears on all of her adventures! That’s cool, little guy!”

“Who is Daring Do?”

“Oh, she’s a fictional character from some books I love to read... it’s a long story. But the way I see it, that amulet of yours is something special to hang onto.”

“Yeah.” The dragon figured it was her turn to share. “So how do you live in the clouds? It seems impossible or something.”

“Impossible?” Rainbow chuckled. “Pegasus ponies weigh next to nothing, so it’s not that hard. Plus, we’re born with a sort of passive magic that allows us to manipulate the clouds, the weather, and of course, being able to stand on clouds without falling through.” She was just smiling at this point, hoping to bring him out of his shell.

“Can dragons walk on clouds? I mean, I know Spike and I don’t fly, but I know most of our kind can.”

Rainbow raised a hoof to answer… and then dropped it. “Well, that’s actually a pretty good question. We’ve never tried to put Spike on a cloud before, now that I think about it.” She was scratching her mane at this point, struggling for an answer.

“You know what, Rainbow Dash? I don’t think I want to find out, I would rather not fall through a cloud.” He giggled a bit at the thought, which caused the tension between the two to thin out a bit.

“That’s probably a good idea, little one, oh and you can call me Dash.”

“Okay Dash, hmm… Do you know what school is like?” Now that they were ‘friends’, he was trying to get some information from her.

Rainbow suddenly realized that she wasn’t sure how to answer this one, either. “Well, us pegasus ponies go to a flight school when we are really young. We learn how to… uh… fly and stuff. That’s actually where I met Fluttershy.”

“That’s cool, so you made a good friend while in school?”

“Well, sure! I mean, school can be annoying sometimes, you have to go every day except on the weekends. You have to keep up with work and learn quite a bit and also have to deal with bullies. But as long as you make a few good friends, it should seem a lot easier.” Rainbow Dash emphasized every point with a somewhat dramatic wave of her hooves, but the motions just made him confused.

“What do you mean by bullies?”

Yet another question Rainbow wasn’t expecting. “Well, there will always be other ponies in school that are just mean to you. Your best bet in those situations is to ignore them and focus on what you’re doing.”

“Uhh, okay then. But you said I can make more friends?” He raised an eyebrow and hoped for a positive answer.

“Oh, absolutely,” Rainbow said, sounding much more confident than she felt. “I mean, at first they might find it a bit odd for a dragon to be in the classroom, but all you have to do is just be as friendly as you can be, and eventually they will open up.” She knew how mean other foals could be, and knew that while he would likely meet a few of those, there were plenty of other nicer ponies for him to meet, too. “So, are you ready to head into town? I’m sure you can make some friends if you just try.” She was smiling sincerely at this point even as she stood up and gestured for him to get on her back.

The dragon considered this and then came to the conclusion of, “Well, what have I got to lose?” He climbed onto her back, wrapped his claws gently around her neck, and as soon as he did she flew up and sped off towards the town.

Chapter 6: My Name Is...

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Fluttershy was standing just outside the Ponyville schoolhouse. It was Saturday so no school children were in sight. This left Miss Cheerilee, the town’s school teacher, with work to catch up on and parents meetings on the weekends. Unfortunately for Fluttershy, she had not planned a meeting with her and just decided to wing it. Still she felt nervous, more so than usual. She knew this could mean a better future for her dragon and would let him have friends his age to play with.

Okay Fluttershy you can do this! Just be confident, and remember your (very mean) hypocrite story if she tries to say no. She sighed and opened the door to the school house and let herself in.

The school was very basic indoors, sixteen desks lined up four by four all pointing to one direction. There was one very large desk which sat Miss Cheerilee, who seemed to be too busy in some paperwork to even notice Fluttershy.

“Excuse me, Miss Cheerilee.” Despite her quiet voice, Miss Cheerilee almost jumped when she noticed Fluttershy standing at her desk.

“Oh, Fluttershy, you nearly scared me there! Sorry I didn't notice you, I was busy grading some papers.” She smiled to Fluttershy but then a frown appeared when she realized something. “Was there something you needed dear?”

“Oh, well, yes there is. I’m here to see about enrolling a student into your class.” Fluttershy spoke with confidence but knew Miss Cheerilee would be confused.

The teacher was silent for a moment. “Did… Did you adopt a foal Fluttershy?” She was taken aback; Cheerilee knew Fluttershy had no kids to speak of.

“No, not exactly, this is about the dragon who tried to help you in assisting your class.”

“Ahh the, er, nameless dragon. I’m sorry again for sending him back, but he was not much of a... helper.” Cheerilee had an apologetic look on her face but brought up a small smile for a few moments. Fluttershy fell silent. Miss Cheerilee wasn't sure where this was going but then it hit her like a ton of bricks. “You want to enroll that dragon into my school?” It was such a blunt statement that Fluttershy felt a bit tense.

“Yes I do, I think it would be good for him. He is quite uneducated in some regards, plus it would help him get some friends his age. Are non-ponies allowed to go to school?”

“Well, there's no law or rule against it, and schooling is quite cheap, to be honest. But this could present a few problems, Fluttershy.” The whole time Miss Cheerliee was talking she was hesitant to keep going but was trying to sound sincere.

“Well, you are the town’s only school teacher, what problems exactly?” Fluttershy knew of a few issues but needed to be sure.

“First off, he needs a name in order to go through the school systems paperwork. Not to mention the awkward situations we would be in if he went by 'Nameless'.”

“Yes, I have been thinking of a few names but it just seems so weird. I mean you name a new born, sure, or even a pet later on. But actually naming a person when they are past the infant stages just feels weird.”

“I understand, Fluttershy. It's quite the odd situation. But, if you are serious about raising him then it is your responsibility. If you feel lost in this regard might I suggest talking with a few friends to come up with a name?”

Fluttershy considered that and then nodded. “Well that’s not a bad idea; I can’t keep calling him Little One. The other ponies in class would probably make fun of him.”

“Yes, that brings me to my next point. All though we have some sweet ponies in this class, we also have some not so nice ones. It's a small class but your young dragon will have to deal with stares and awkward moments.” Again being as sincere as she could be, but Miss Cheerilee was being quite direct.

“I know he will have to, but plenty of ponies enjoy Spike’s company. So I’m sure, in time, they will warm up to him.” She smiled nervously hoping to get some good news back.

“If he can hold his temper and remain calm to teasing then, I’m sure, eventually, some ponies will. Of course.” Miss Cheerilee finally smiled back.

“Okay, where those the only problems you can think of?”

“No, in addition to the paperwork you will be filling out I will need to prepare some extra work for him, since he will be enrolling late in the semester. You will be expected to keep him up to date on his work.” Very direct this time.

Fluttershy smiled sadly at her. “Oh, well, yes. Thank you for being so understanding, Miss Cheerilee. And I’m sorry that this might cause more work for you.”

“It's no problem at all, the least I can do for a pony who saved our town! Well, more than once." She chuckled when she thought about it. "As for a set date for your dragon to show up in class,... next Monday at the latest. Assuming you get this paperwork done by tonight. Fluttershy, make sure that he is prepared.” She finished gathering up the rest of the required paperwork and hoofed it back to Fluttershy.

She beamed at the teacher. “Oh I will! I better get going and thanks again Miss Cheerilee!” She waved back and ran out the door.

I better get to the library. If anypony knows how to give this dragon a name and fill out this paperwork in enough time, it’s Twilight. Fluttershy flew as fast as she could with the paperwork in her saddlebag in the direction of Twilight’s library. It did not take her long to reach the place, she was about to burst into the front door but thought better of it. She pried opened the library door and ran in.

“Twilight, are you up there?” Fluttershy yelled to the second floor of the library.

“Be down in a minute, Fluttershy.” She heard her friend reply.

She was tapping her hooves impatiently waiting for Twilight to come down like she said. Fluttershy started to feel anxious and started pacing back and forth. She knew waiting for the dragon to attend school could wait a bit, but it was still quite important. She also considered that Miss Cheerilee was now working very hard to make sure that her dragon could start learning as soon as possible. So it was only good manners to not make her wait for the right paperwork.

Finally, after a couple minutes Twilight was heading downstairs. “So what did you need, Fluttershy?” Twilight was asking as calmly as she could.

“ThedragonneedsanamebytonightandIneedtofilloutthispaperworksohecangotoschool…” Fluttershy was talking so fast it all sounded like gibberish to Twilight. So she jammed her hoof into her mouth and gave Fluttershy a flat look to calm down.

The mare spit out the hoof and blushed. “Oh sorry, Twilight,. I just talked to Miss Cheerilee you see. She said that my dragon can attend school but he first needs a name and to fill out this paperwork." She gestured to her saddlebag. "She mentioned it would be best if we got it back to her by tonight. You’re the only pony I know that is organized and smart enough to do this all in one day. Oh please will you help?” Fluttershy was pleading with Twilight but Twilight just found it rather amusing.

“Fluttershy, of course I’ll help you! First let me take a look at that paperwork.” Twilight levitated all the papers into a neat pile on a desk using her magic. She started looking over most of them seeming deep in thought. “Okay, I can fill out most of this without the name. For now it should be fine and not take too long. Meanwhile, we can both sit here and think of one-- oh, but we also need his age for some of this.”

“Oh thank you Twilight, and by my best estimates I would wager that he is no older than five. A bit young for school, true, but the school system takes all ages.”

“Five sounds about right, he is certainly younger than Spike at any rate. Let me just start filling out some of this while we toss around a few name ideas. I trust you thought of some already?” Twilight was busy levitating a quill and was already filling out some of the work.

The cream colored mare sighed at this. “Oh, well, to be honest... no. I lied to Miss Cheerilee, I can’t think of one name for him other than something to do with maybe ice or frost.”

“Since we are not naming an infant here, we can go on his current traits and characteristics. So something to do with frost does sound very appropriate.” Twilight had stopped writing for a moment to tilt her head upwards and say that. Once her comment was out she went right back to working.

“Well let’s see, he has courage in the face of danger. However, he is quite shy around others. I- I guess like me. He looks kind of rough around the edges, but inside he is nothing like that; unless you count what he did to survive out in the forest. Still, he has a new life no. So, his survivor instincts, I don’t think =, should be taken into account. What do you think, Twi?”

Twilight blinked. “What? Oh yes, I don’t think calling him something rugged would be a good idea. You say he was shy around other ponies?” This time she stopped working and gave Fluttershy her full attention.

“Yes, I mean the way he acted around most of us, he looked pretty scared. Maybe we are not going about this the right way though. We are looking at it logically and this is a name. Perhaps we should just toss out ideas?” She suggested.

Twilight bit her lip. “You do have a good point; I guess we can take turns, you first.”

“Oh okay, how about Shydrake?”

“Nah, sounds a bit awkward. Maybe, Frost Swipe since he tried to swipe those apples?” Twilight was giggling a bit but Fluttershy did not find it very funny. “Oh sorry... probably not a good idea.”

“No, probably not. Maybe his name could be Shyfrost?”

Twilight smirked. “That actually sounds kind of neat; maybe going about it logically was a good idea after all. Do you like that name, Fluttershy?”

“You know what? I think I do, Twilight. From now on my little dragon will be named, Shyfrost!” Fluttershy exclaimed in a tone mimicking a certain pink mare.

“Okay good, this paperwork will be much easier to do now. Oh, but you better let the little guy know that he has a name now.”

“Oh dear, Rainbow Dash said she was going to take him into town. So she could introduce him to other ponies and make some friends. I better go find them fast; it’s kind of hard to introduce yourself when you have no name.” Fluttershy was blushing in embarrassment for her little drake.

“Well, you go out and find them and let him know. I’ll just stay here and I should have most of the paperwork done by the time you both get back.”

“Right, I will just be back soon and thanks again, Twilight!” Fluttershy flew out the door leaving it open, Twilight shook her head in annoyance and slammed it shut using her magic.

“Kid, I just realized something; this is gonna be kind of tough introducing you to other ponies when you haven’t got a name.” Rainbow Dash had landed with the dragon in the middle of town, but they stopped when they realized that sad truth.

“Yeah, that’s kind of why I was nervous. I can’t just say, hi I’m Little...One.” The orange dragon looked down annoyed.

“Well I just thought by now that Fluttershy would have picked one out for ya. You know what? We’re gonna go find her and demand that she thinks of one!” Rainbow Dash had this crazy look in her eyes but with a hint of anger.

“Dash are you okay? You’re scaring me a bit.” The dragon was acting a bit sarcastically but it was still the truth.

“Oh I’m great, now get on and let’s go find Fluttershy.” It was far more of a command than a statement, so the dragon gulped back some cold spit and waited for the whip lash ride that was Rainbow Dash.

“Rainbow Dash don’t take off!” Dash went frozen to the spot and recognized that voice as Fluttershy, they both turned around to notice that she had landed right behind them.

“Sorry for scaring you guys, but I have something important to say to… Shyfrost here.” Fluttershy was smirking while she pointed her hoof at the newly dubbed Shyfrost.

“Who’s Shyfrost?” Rainbow Dash was looking pretty confused; meanwhile Shyfrost was simply staring at Fluttershy, frozen to the spot. Dash looked back at the dragon and then back to the other pegasus back and forth until it dawned on her.

“That’s his name?!” Rainbow Dash had yelled so loudly that it broke the dragon out of his trance and startled some other ponies nearby.

“Yes, from now on your name is Shyfrost. My little dragon.” Fluttershy smiled quite brightly at this point.

“So my name is Shyfrost now?” He did not know what to think of the name, at first he tried to think about it logically. Sure he was shy around other ponies, but he could warm up to them. He was a ‘Frost Dragon’ at least that’s what Twilight dubbed his species. However, logical thinking just made him feel bad about the name so he tried another tactic.

I have a name! He thought to himself, and giggled a bit which caused both Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy to stare back.

“My name is Shyfrost.” It felt good stating a simple fact and this caused both of them to giggle as well.

“You like the name, right?” Fluttershy spoke up breaking his trance.

“Yeah I like it, Fluttershy.” He smiled back to her then closed his eyes. He was attempting to imagine himself walking around town, introducing himself with his new name. It felt awkward even inside his head. Still, he knew he would have to deal with more and more awkward situations in this town, so he opened his eyes and just kept on smiling.

“Excellent, now I need to get back to Twilight. Oh and Shyfrost, you will be going to school within a week or so. We can talk about that later, though.” Fluttershy turned her attention back to Rainbow Dash who had finally snapped out her daze.

“Oh right, well now that you have a name we can finally start introducing you around Ponyville. You still want to right?”

“Sure Dash, but please can we take it slow?” He pleaded.

“I hate being slow, but for you, sure.” Dash giggled and watched Fluttershy fly back to the library in a hurry.

“Right then...who do we start with first…” Rainbow Dash trailed off while she looked around the crowd of other ponies.

As it turned out, for now at least, not too many ponies were interested in meeting another dragon. Most ponies on a Saturday were too busy to be bothered. It also didn't help that Rainbow Dash only knew a few other ponies outside her own best friends. After a couple hours of awkward conversations they decided to call it a day. Dash was not happy with her town.

“I’m sorry Shyfrost I guess I just don’t personally know that many ponies. You know normally Pinkie Pie would have thrown a party for you by now.”

He scratched his head. “You mean that super crazy pink pony?”

“Yep, every time a new pony, or in this case, dragon comes to Ponyville, she introduces herself and then throws them a party so they can make friends. But I haven’t seen her lately.” Dash was scratching her head looking around in hopes of spotting her pink friend.

“Maybe she doesn't like me, I tried to be her assistant chef and it went terribly.”

“Pinkie would never hate somepony for something like that; I don’t even think she is capable of hate to be honest.” She giggled a bit.

“Well okay, let’s just get back to the library. But thank you for trying Rainbow Dash,” he said letting out a long sigh.

“You can just call me Dash.”

“Okay.”

They slowly walked back to the library in defeat. In truth Rainbow Dash felt terrible for not being able to help, she hated feeling useless. Shyfrost just felt more awkward being around town, if this was how adult ponies acted then he doubted that school would be any more fun. He didn't feel terrible or depressed, but it certainly wasn't a great feeling. He earned a name, he should have been really excited, but the lack of friends made him feel somewhat empty in a place full of ponies.

“Fluttershy, Twilight, we're back!” They walked into the library just as the school paperwork was being completed.

“Oh good, how did the friend hunt go?” Fluttershy asked.

“Not so good, most ponies didn’t seem too interested, it was my fault,” Dash said while scratching the back of her head again.

“This town just needs to warm up to the idea of more dragons. It took Spike a while to make friends outside us six after all. So don’t go blaming yourself, Dash.” Twilight gave her a reassuring smile.

“So I’m all done with the paperwork, would you like to come with me to greet Miss Cheerilee again, Shyfrost?”

“I guess so.” He was at least glad to be back with Fluttershy, not that he hated Dash. He climbed on top of her while she got the paperwork into her saddlebags.

“Thanks again Twilight, I owe you one!” Shyfrost could be seen on top of Fluttershy while she ran out towards the classroom.

The walk to the school was very uneventful. Sure Shyfrost had met the school teacher but she was very short with him, though, not in anger. He could tell his presence was disrupting the classroom and some of the students felt uneasy. She tried to be patient with him but it was clear that he was causing her more work in the end. He felt great that she was willing to teach him, but realized something. This is going to be the same class that did not like me. Why would that change now that I’m attending class? His train of thought was interrupted when he realized they were now standing in front of the teacher.

“Okay Miss Cheerilee, we finished all of the paperwork, and may I present to you your new student, Shyfrost!”

“Shyfrost is an interesting name.” She eyed him curiously, as if seeing him for the first time.

“Well, Twilight named my species a frost dragon since I don’t breathe fire.”

“Well that’s a plus; we won’t have any accidents while at school.” Miss Cheerilee giggled and seemed to be more relaxed by that fact.

“Oh no, not at all! He can control ice with his breathe it seems. I find it quite lovely but no fire sneezes like our Spikey.” Fluttershy giggled back.

“I’ll just turn in this paperwork tonight. I look forward to being your teacher, Shyfrost. Oh and here is the required work to catch him up to speed with the class.” She grabbed Fluttershy’s paperwork and replaced it with a stack of more papers handing it back to the pegasus pony.

“Oh my, well this shouldn’t be a problem, I’ll work with him.” She looked to her back winking at the dragon.

Work with me?

“Oh and the payment Fluttershy, do you have that?”

“Oh yes, I have it right here.” Fluttershy started rummaging through her saddle bag until she brought out a rather small sack of bits.

“Right then, like I said make sure he is ready by next Monday. He will need to bring in his own lunch every day and his own school supplies. Class starts at eight and... I think that’s it. Any questions dear?”

“Oh no, that all sounds fine. Do you have any questions for Miss Cheerilee, Shyfrost?”

“...No.”

“Right then, good bye Miss Cheerilee. I will have him ready by next Monday.” They both waved with Shyfrost just eyeing the teacher curiously.

The walk back to the cottage was again very quiet. Fluttershy was humming a bit to herself but Shyfrost was simply lost in thought on school. He remembered being the helper for that day, each time she wanted something he was expected to do it. But it wasn’t the tasks that were too demanding it was the attention he was getting. Each time he was required to do anything that made noise some of the students would look up; their gaze lasted for quite a while. None of the students seemed too happy to see him there. Or was that all in his head?

“Shyfrost are you okay? You look worried again.”

“Yeah I’m fine just thinking about school is all.”

“Are you nervous? I mean it’s understandable I was absolutely petrified of school when I first went.” She shuddered at the thought.

“Really?” The thought that Fluttershy would be scared of something was a new concept to Shyfrost; in the short time he had known her she had always seemed courageous.

“Oh yes, my first couple weeks of flight school were the most frightening weeks of my life. But then I met Rainbow Dash, she was always there to cheer me up and get me to try new things. Friends can do that Shyfrost, a good friend will always stick by your side.”

“I guess I really need to make friends…” Shyfrost trailed off thinking about his encounter with Rainbow Dash. She was a good friend but not one his age.

“I’m sure you will, once we get back to the cottage we can start on your new school work. We need to get you up to the level of the other students.”

“Uhh okay, whatever that means.”

They got back to the cottage to an exhausting looking Angel bunny who was taking up Fluttershy’s chores. She apologized to him and set to work on dinner, this time with no gemstones. It didn't take long for the dragon to find out what school meant, in this case a ton of schoolwork. However, oddly enough, he was enjoying himself. Fluttershy seemed a bit shocked, but figured children enjoyed learning things at some point in their lives. He was enjoying himself learning about everything that the teacher required of him. Unbeknownst to her, it was the other ponies in the class that made him nervous, which had made him fail at his duties from before.

“Wow, Shyfrost, we got through quite a bit of work, you should be ready for school next week with no problems.” She smiled at her little dragon and put away his work.

“There could be some problems…” He trailed off in a manner befitting Fluttershy when she conversed with strangers.

“You mean making friends in class?” She nuzzled his cheek trying to calm Shyfrost down.

“Yeah that, the other ponies in that class just made me nervous the day I helped. And if a bunch of bigger ponies in town don’t want anything to do with me then why would some smaller ones?”

“Yes, I heard introducing yourself around town did not go so well. A pinkie party would have helped but she’s been busy. Anyway Shyfrost, if you just be yourself, then I promise you will eventually make a friend in class.” Her smile made him feel so warm; he didn't’t even care that his amulet was back on his bed. Fluttershy’s warmth was all he needed. So he just nodded and smiled back.

It was getting late with the moon already up. They both decided to get some rest early with Fluttershy wishing him a good night’s rest and to not worry about school. He nodded giving her one last smile while she got ready for bed. Shyfrost would literally do anything for her, even brave going to school. Still, he wasn’t about to go without his amulet, no way in Tartarus. He was clutching it in his claw hoping that it would be enough to get over his nerves.

The heat that flowed through him would always calm him down. Shyfrost always assumed it just gave him courage and the stone had some type of magic, but it sounded a bit silly. He knew magic existed and even dragons had a little magic but why would a rock have some? Still, all he had to do was touch it to his heart and it seemed to unlock the courage inside him.

You better work at school. He told the rock.

Sighing to himself Shyfrost snuggled into his blanket and gazed up at the stars. He really wanted to sleep, but Ponyville still did not feel like home. So far the other ponies had not welcomed him with open hooves. He was hoping that school children were far more open, but a nagging feeling in the back of his mind was telling him a simple…no. His amulet was directly sitting over his heart, the warmth radiating from it as usual. Lately it was getting warmer, not a bad thing he decided but he kept wondering why.

Out in the forest it would get warm randomly but ever since I came to Ponyville its always warm.

He had given up trying to figure out the rock a long time ago, it worked and that was enough. Still, it wouldn't hurt to know why it helped him so. He wondered if any of Fluttershy’s friends could help. He still did not consider most of them his friend, Rainbow Dash was now at least. Maybe Twilight could help; she sure knew a lot about… everything. He thought, though, he wasn't sure if it was her personality or the fact that she was constantly surrounded by books. He then shrugged. She is a librarian I guess.

I have a week until school; I guess I could ask her. I guess she's not so bad.

He finally decided to call it a night; he was too tired to think. With one loud yawn he yelled up to his new pony mom.

“Goodnight, Fluttershy.”

“Oh, Goodnight Shyfrost!”

Chapter 7: A Cupcake Fills the Soul

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It was less than a week before school would start for Shyfrost, he spent the next couple of days preparing. The extra school work was easy enough to get through, but Fluttershy insisted they repeat each assignment, so it seemed normal to him.

“Okay , that seems to be everything, but you don’t start school for a couple of days. What could you do until then?” Fluttershy wondered out loud.

“Actually, I was wondering if I could go see Twilight?” The drake looked up hopefully.

“Well, I guess so; she did say that you were going to be her new research project after all. Were there any other reason that you wanted to see her?”

“I wanted her to take a look at my amulet, it's been acting…funny.”

She squinted her eyes to examine it, then shrugged. “What do you mean?”

“Just feel it.” He brought it up to her hoof; to her it felt hot to the touch.

“Goodness, why is it so hot?”

He shrugged then set it aside. “Sometimes it gets warm, but never this warm.”

“Well if anypony knows what this means it would be Twilight. You know where to go, right?”

“Sure, I’ll be back later, I guess. Bye Fluttershy!” He waved to her and set off into Ponyville.

Okay, I wasn't paying attention whenever we walked to the library. So this would put me… He looked around, then slumped down to sigh. completely lost.

Shyfrost was standing in the middle of the market district, there were ponies all over the place trying to sell and buy goods. He looked around trying to recognize one but everything seemed so foreign to him.

There isn't anyone I know... I guess I could just ask someone.

Every time he tried to strike up a simple conversation, he was pushed aside by another busy pony. Being in the middle of a herd of them wasn't a great idea, so he walked off to the side to simply gaze. Shyfrost let out a great big sigh and sat down next to a few food stands.

“This is boring. I guess I could just explore the town until I find the library.” He was seated with his legs crossed and was using his right claw to rest his head. Nopony had noticed him.

He got up and started walking in a random direction; he noticed plenty of houses but no library. Again ponies seemed to be purposely ignoring him.

“Alright, this is getting me nowhere fast; if I could just see the town better I could spot the library.” He looked around again for something to climb onto, but nothing was tall enough except the houses.

“Would ponies get mad if I climbed on top of a house?” It didn’t seem too crazy in comparison to a mountain and he was literally out of ideas. Nopony was going to talk to him, so he decided to go for it.

He shrugged and began his short journey to the top of a random house in Ponyville. He figured using ice to climb would just tick off the other ponies, so he used his claws. The houses had plenty of wood railings to cling to; it wasn’t too difficult a task. What Shyfrost failed to realize, however, was the time of day. The sun was shining brightly outside giving passers a full view of a baby dragon climbing the side of a house.

Okay, easy, don’t want to fall,... just a few more feet and I’m at the top!

Once he reached the top of the straw covered roofs, he began to latch onto some strands and pull himself up. At this point some of the other ponies in town had spotted him and were gathering around the house.

“I can see Sweet Apple Acres, and there is Fluttershy’s cottage…AH HA I found the library! Finally!” He practically screamed this and for no particular reason, he looked down. He saw several adult ponies staring at him curiously and a few looked rather angry.

Whoops, okay just climb down slowly and…run.

It was a quick descent to the bottom. The whole time all eyes were on him. He slowly turned around to find, at least, twenty other ponies staring him down.

“You saw that, huh?”

The only reply were some angry grunts, but nopony felt like talking.

“Right…well bye!” Immediately he started running in the direction of the library, however, to his amazement, on one followed.

Finally, the library. I hope Twilight is there.

The door swung open with a loud slam. Shyfrost was quick to close the door and rested against it letting out a loud sigh. He failed to realize some ponies in the library staring at him.

“Shyfrost, you seem like you were in a hurry, ” Twilight spoke up eyeing him.

“Oh, um, yeah I was.”

“Any particular reason why?” Shyfrost looked up to the voice of Princess Celestia, who was calmly sipping on some tea.

“Princess! Oh no reason... I just felt like running?” He hoped that was enough to convince them.

“Well it certainly looked like fun,” She playfully responded while sipping more tea.

“I didn’t know you were here," Shyfrost directed at Celestia, then turned to face Twilight, "I can come back later Twilight?”

“Oh no, we were just talking about you. I’m glad you have a name now, Shyfrost.” Again, the princess responded for Twilight.

“Yeah, uh, what were you talking about?” He walked over to both of them while catching his breath.

“Well, I mentioned to her you will be attending school soon,” Twilight finally spoke up.

“Oh , uh, right.”

“Yes, this will be the first case of a dragon student attending a pony school, Shyfrost.” Celestia was smiling down at him.

“What about Spike?”

“I home schooled Spike back at the castle, ” Twilight replied.

“But why didn’t he go to school instead?”

Twilight shrugged. “Well, while there were laws that allowed it…Spike was not that interested.”

“Why not?” Shyfrost was eyeing Twilight and completely forgot about Celestia at this point.

“Because I was afraid.” All three of them turned around to Spike descending the stairs.

The frost drake blinked in confusion. “Afraid of what?”

“Of being the only dragon in class, I mean those classes in Canterlot were huge! Each class had way more than just sixteen ponies.”

“So I’m really the only dragon to attend a pony school?”

“Yes, soon. I know this sounds scary, Shyfrost, but I can assure you school is not that bad.” Celestia has perked up and was still playfully sipping some tea.

“It kind of sounds bad for dragons.” He was getting annoyed while all three of them were giving him awkward smiles.

“Look, were not going to promise you that it will be easy, Shyfrost. Not all ponies are nice but-“ She was cut off by him.

“You’re telling me, aside from you and your friends,uh, Spike... " He trailed off, then quickly looked around and spotted the princess. "And you and Princess Luna... nopony in town seems to want to talk to me.” He sighed in frustration.

“Yes, ponies, sometimes, need to warm up to non-ponies. You just have to give them time, and that goes for school as well.” This time Celestia was talking quite seriously, but with a hint of being as sincere as possible.

“But how come the other ponies like Spike so much? We don’t look that different!” His voice was raised much higher than he realized.

“Hmm, well, Spike has always been helpful around Ponyville and over the last couple of years they have grown quite used to him.” Celestia went back to her tea.

“You just have to be patient dude.” Spike’s claw was now resting on his shoulder with a very reassuring smile on his face.

He smiled back. “Okay Spike, I can be patient.”

The odd tension in the room was now gone.

“Oh Twilight I wanted to ask you about my amulet.” Shyfrost reached into his pouch and brought it out placing it on the table next to their tea pot.

She eyed the thing with only a hint of curiosity. “What about it?”

“Feel for yourself.”

Twilight gently lifted it up using her magic and placed her right hoof on it. Realization dawned on her so she offered it to Princess Celestia who did the same.

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a crystal doing this, have you Princess?”

Princess Celestia was deep in thought, her expression never changing to a smile or a frown. In a neutral tone, she responded with a simple no and shrugged.

“But is it magical? I mean I used to think it was a good luck charm. But it's like it talks to me and makes me brave. Does that sound stupid?”

“No it’s not stupid, and I do detect some light magical properties from it, but nothing too shocking.” Twilight was still eyeing the stone keeping it levitated with her magic.

“What’s that mean?”

“It doesn’t mean anything; it has slightly more magic than the average gemstone. That’s all.” Twilight levitated it back in his claws and he put it back in his pouch.

“Now, you said you would let me study you Shyfrost, correct?” Twilight had already levitated a long parchment and a quill to the table.

“Yeah…” He said it longingly looking back at Celestia who gave him a wink and then back to Twilight who looked more excited than a young filly.

“Well do you mind staying for the first steps on this assignment Princess?”

“I don’t see why not, come take a seat next to me, Shyfrost.”

He shrugged and hopped onto the cushion next to the Princess and got comfortable. Twilight was busy writing down some questions to ask him while Celestia was looking down at Shyfrost with curiosity. The silence in the room was making him feel uneasy but it wasn't like he knew the Princess to be an angry pony. At least, in the short time that he knew her. Spike was sent back upstairs.

“Okay, I’m going to ask you a series of questions and you just answer them the best that you can. Alright Shyfrost?”

“Okay.”

“Question one, was Spike the first dragon you came into contact with?”

“Uhh, y-yes?”

She shook her head and scribbled a few things down. “So that means no dragons raised you?”

“Right, I raised myself.” He claimed, though, it was more of a belief to him than a known fact.

“If both of your statements are correct, then how did you know what a dragon was? If no one else was around to tell you?”

He blinked a few times and began to absentmindedly play with his tail. “I guess I didn’t know until I started reading.”

She nodded/ “Did you read that other dragons breathed fire?”

“Well, yeah, why?”

“Well, I was just wondering if it ever bother you that no other dragons could control ice? Surely books would have mentioned if they could.”

“No, I guess I just thought that some dragons breathed fire and others did ice.”

“While it is true that dragons have amazing control over the element of fire, I’m afraid that you are the first dragon I have ever heard of that does quite the opposite, Shyfrost. And I have been around for over one thousand years.” Celestia spoke up with no hint of any emotion in her voice but when she finished speaking she went back to her tea and had to stifle a giggle at Shyfrost’s reaction to her statement.

“Oh.” He was pretty dumbstruck, he knew that his ice power seemed amazing to these ponies, but he didn’t know that he was that special.

“Don’t worry it’s a good thing it means that you’re…special.” Twilight shot him a smile and went back to writing up a few more questions.

Why can’t other dragons breathe ice? If I can then there has to be another dragon that can…right? He was scratching his head and didn’t hear Twilight ask him another question. He looked up, blushing. “What did you say?”

“I said, how is it that you took care of yourself even as a new born?”

“I’m lucky?” He replied sheepishly.

She gave him a flat look and shook her head. “Lucky is right, normally a newborn of any species wouldn't survive if left unattended like you were.”

“I don’t really know, Twilight, I just remember being very young and finding that amulet in the forest. After that it just seemed easier to do whatever I needed to do so I could…live.”

“I see, while I find it very unlikely that you had no caretaker, even for a little while, I still have to point out a few facts.” Twilight was acting quite coldly again but trying her best to remain calm.

“What facts?”

“Well for one I can believe that you raised yourself from birth, dragons have many instincts and are quite intelligent even at young ages. I’m sure you were good at hiding in the forest?”

“Yeah, I was actually pretty good at that, but how did you--?”

She swiftly interrupted him. “Well we do have some information on dragons, obviously some books do exist. Though, their information they carry is questionable. For now." She chuckled, thinking of a book she hoped to write some day. "Anyway, I’m just saying as unlikely as it sounds I do believe what you say, but there are still some things troubling me. Like how did you end up with your prosthetic tail?” She was talking fast enough so he couldn’t interrupt again and pointed to his metal tail end.

He didn't know what prosthetic meant, but he assumed it had to do with the metal thing. “That’s... kind of a long story, Twilight.” Mentioning his tail seemed to damper his mood but he showed no anger.

“Please tell us.” Twilight’s tone was gentle and he gave him a reassuring smile.

“Do I have to?”

“No” Celestia gave him another smile, this time wrapping one of her wings around his body.

“Okay I will.” It was a simple statement that made Celestia smile wider and Twilight give out a perplexed look.

How does she always do that? Twilight was scratching her head but still eager to hear his story. I bet if I I had wings I could get Spike to take out the trash when I needed it... Twilight thought bitterly.

“It happened on a really bad day. I think I was three.”

“This... this happened recently?” Twilight said this with a knowing look from her teacher to keep quiet.

“Yeah, so anyway I was at the edge of the forest, I guess it was near where the griffons live. I didn’t know that griffons don’t like dragons, usually. In fact there downright mean to dragons for some reason.”

“The Griffon Empire have always been hostile towards dragon, Shyfrost. Still you might find some that are friendly.” Celestia spoke up in a rather serious tone.

“I guess, but I didn’t know that and I was just looking around for some food or shelter and I came across a rather large group of griffons. They spotted me and just stared and I stared back. I guess it was extremely rare for any dragon to wander there, let alone a baby one. I finally broke the silence and tried to make friends which just made them laugh for a while. I remember one griffin in particular who wasn’t moving and was just staring at me with those... weird eyes. I thought he was going to kill me but I guess he wanted to "make an example of me", as he put it.”

“SO HE CHOPPED OFF YOUR TAIL?!” Twilight practically screamed her statement at Shyfrost.

“…Yeah, that was the end of it and then they let me go. And just left me there to... " He trailed off again and was silent for a moment. "I don’t know how long I cried.”

“How did you end up with that replacement, Shyfrost?” Celestia pointed to his metal tail end.

“Another griffon came and found me on the ground. I guess I had fallen asleep crying. When I woke up I was in a rather large house, a griffons house. He never gave me his name but had, treated my tail and felt sorry for me. He made me a new tail… I think he was a black smith.”

Celestia nodded. “If he felt sorry for you then why didn’t he take care of you after that?”

“He let me spend the night, but after that he was very clear that I needed to leave. I think I know why now.”

“A wise griffon indeed, whoever he was, if they caught him helping another dragon he would most likely have been killed along with you. If those other griffons were still there, at any rate.” Celestia spoke in a stoic tone. She knew the king would never condone such treatment, but he did not fully speak for all of their kind. No leader truly did.

“Oh Shyfrost, I’m so sorry you had to go through that.” Twilight got up and was now hugging him, to his surprise.

“It's okay now.” After that Shyfrost did not feel like talking.

“Well, I think I better take my leave, Canterlot needs me. It was nice seeing you again Twilight and to you as well, Shyfrost. Good luck in school and try not to worry so much. You are quite safe here in Ponyville.” She nuzzled her student and to her surprise gave Shyfrost a hug of her own and then swiftly left the library.

“I’m sorry you had to tell me all of that and remember it. You don’t have to answer anymore questions today Shyfrost, alright?”

“Okay." Trying get over his melancholy mood, he looked around. "Where’s Spike by the way?”

“I sent him upstairs to clean his room, would you like to see him?”

“Yes please.”

“Just upstairs, it' the first door on the left, but knock first.”

Twilight put away her notes and watched as Shyfrost walked up the stairs slowly. He found the door and knocked on it a few times.

"Come in!"

He did so and found Spike resting on a chair, reading. “Oh, hey dude, what’s up?”

“Can we uhh...” He couldn’t think of the word so Spike finished his sentence.

“Hang out?”

“Yeah, that!”

Spike smiled, while stretching. “Of course, you want to head into town with me?”

“Sure, as long as we avoid some of the houses.” Shyfrost was scratching the back of his head.

“Why?” Spike gave him a curious look.

“I might have climbed a house to spot the library.” Shyfrost exclaimed while blushing.

“Dude, what’s with you and climbing?” He was laughing pretty hard at this point which finally made Shyfrost smile.

“I guess I’m good at it.” He grinned back to Spike.

“Alright we can head to the park I’ll grab us some gemstones and we can be off.”

“Yeah you do that.”

More gems? They're so nasty! Shyfrost stuck out his tongue in disgust thinking about the time that Fluttershy asked him to try one.

“You okay dude?” Spike had gathered a small pouch of gems and noticed his look.

“Oh, yeah, I’m fine. Let’s go!”

They left the library and set off in the direction of the park. Some ponies waved to Spike which made the town seem a bit more friendly, but Shyfrost knew they were not waving to him. They arrived in the park with nothing else to do so they decided to sit under a tree and talk.

“Okay we got plenty of gems so let’s just sit here and chill, well easy for you to do anyway.”

He giggled at his own joke. He offered the drake his gems, but Shyfrost pushed them away with a shake of his head.

“Spike you can have all the gems.”

“Are you sure, dude? I mean who doesn’t love gems!”

“Me.”

“You don’t like to eat gems?” Spike gave him an odd glare.

“Yeah, Fluttershy made me try one and it was nasty tasting, I guess Frost Dragon’s don't like gems.”

“Hmm, we’ll all dragons love gems but all dragons except you are Fire Dragon’s. Maybe you like to eat something else?” Spike guessed, while munching on a few of them.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean maybe there is some type of non-pony food that you love to eat but don’t know it yet.”

He scratched his head, not getting it. “Like what?”

“I dunno dude you’re the Frost Dragon.” He giggled and started eating a fire ruby.

He dropped the idea and sat on his rump, sighing. “Spike, how did you get the other ponies to like you so much?”

“Like we said before, I was just nice to them and they warmed up to me.”

“How can I be nice if they won’t even talk to me?”

“Hmm, that’s a good point. Are you sure you tried everypony in Ponyville?”

“I’m pretty sure, every time I saw another adult pony they just wanted nothing to do with me.”

“Well maybe that’s your problem.”

“What?”

“You said you tried to talk to adult ponies, try some younger ones. If you can wait, you will get to meet some in your class.”

“We’re you really that afraid of going to school Spike?”

“Yeah I was, I mean when I was really young I had no problems being around other ponies. But when I got old enough to go to school I started to…question things like that.”

“Like what?”

“Well for one, why was I the only dragon in Canterlot? The world started to seem a bit scary to me, and I noticed how children treat those that are different. Right before school was going to start they showed me the classroom and I noticed some of the other young ponies on the same tour and they did not like me one bit. It all just became too scary and I guess I became paranoid on how the other's would react to me. Twilight and the Princess noticed my behavior and decided it was best to pull me out and home school me.”

“So the other kids in my class will be the same?”

“Well some will but your class is much smaller, plus I have a sneaking suspicious that three fillies, who will remain nameless, are gonna befriend you soon enough.”

“Three fillies that are in the same class?”

“Yeah, there in this club, but they should warm up to you just like they did me.”

“Okay I guess I’ll just wait for school.”

“Right.” Spike scratched his chin and layed down under the tree while he tried to relax.

It was several minutes before Shyfrost spoke up. “Hey Spike you ever seen another dragon?”

“Well yeah a few times, they were all kind of jerks.”

“Why?”

“Beats me, I guess dragon’s are just naturally angry.”

“But we aren’t,” he pointed out.

“No. I guess not, but who cares?”

“Don’t you want to know what its like to live like a dragon?”

“Well sure I guess, but it's not like we can just run into dragon territory and say hi.”

“Why not?”

Spike had to think about this, the idea seemed crazy but its not something he had ever tried or even thought about before. Sure he had asked Twilight about his kind before, but it wasn’t until recently that he became more interested in the idea. Still, he had no clue where to start and he doubted that Twilight would just up and let him go to the dragon lands.

“Well for one it's dangerous, and two Twilight and Fluttershy would never let us go.”

“It can’t be that dangerous, I mean why would other dragons try and hurt us?”

“I was once in a dragon cave when I tried to run away from home… he tried to burn me with his fire.”

Shyfrost blinked, then nodded. Maybe a few would try and hurt them. “Why did you run away?”

“Twilight got this owl assistant and I thought she had replaced me, I wasn’t thinking. Point is dragons are mean and I doubt two baby dragons just walking into their territory is gonna end well.”

“You just called your self a baby.” Shyfrost was giggling a bit which caused Spike to blush. He didn't need to know that he had referred to himself as one just earlier today.

“Grr you know what I mean, dragons live for over a thousand years so by definition our ages are in infancy. I think.”

“We’re gonna live for that long?!”

“Well yeah, though, other creatures can live just as long. I don't know about ponies, but I guess it's possible. I mean ponies that aren't alicorns.”

“Oh.” Shyfrost was now lying down next to him with both of their claws resting on the back of their heads.

I still think it would be cool to go live with some dragons. Shyfrost thought to himself.

Living with dragons, sounds cool enough and maybe we could find our real parents Spike let out a yawn while he was thinking about what Shyfrost suggested.

“Now what do you we do Spike?”

“Hmm? Well I have some bits, I guess we could head over to Sugarcube Corner and get some snacks.”

“Sure.”

They both stood up and walked to Sugarcube Corner in silence. Spike was smiling but he kept gazing down like he was deep in thought. Any passing ponies that said hello to Spike fell on deaf ears. Shyfrost didn’t feel comfortable enough to ask him what’s wrong. They ended up in front of the desert shop with Spike walking in first who seemed lost in his own world.

Mr. Cake was at the front counter and seemed to notice the two dragons enter. “Well hey Spike and who is this you brought in?”

“What? Oh this is Shyfrost Mr. Cake.”

“We’ll let me guess then, two gemstone cupcakes?”

“Actually.” Spike looked back to Shyfrost who gave him a shrug. “One regular and one with gemstones please.”

Mr. Cake looked over Shyfrost and then smiled and handed them both a cupcake and took Spike’s bits. They both sat down in a booth in the corner.

“What are these?” Shyfrost was poking his cupcake and sniffing it with interest.

“There just deserts, they taste really good. Trust me.” Spike downed his cupcake in one bite and let out a rather large burp.

Shyfrost, on the other 'claw', was still sniffing it and refused to take a bite. He was just about to remove the wrapper when he noticed Spike was looking back at the restaurant’s kitchen.

“Hey can you wait here a minute? I want to talk to Pinkie.” He nodded and watched Spike disappear into the kitchen.

“Psst, Hey Pinkie Pie are you there?” Spike had snuck into the back and was looking around the back.

“Psst, why are we whispering?” Pinkie Pie had shown up out of nowhere when Spike could have sworn the kitchen was empty just a second ago.

“Pinkie how did… Never mind, I wanted to ask you a question.”

“You did?!” She gasped.

“Well how come you haven’t thrown a welcome to Ponyville party for Shyfrost yet? He could really use some new friends.”

“Silly Spike I can’t do that yet otherwise it won’t flow correctly.”

“What won’t flow correctly?” Spike gave her the oddest looking glare.

“What do you mean? Oh dang I need to get back to watching the twins, I’ll see ya later Spike!” Pinkie Pie dashed out of the kitchen at a near impossible speed leaving a bewildered Spike.

When Spike got back to the booth he watched Shyfrost who was still eyeing his cupcake.

“Dude just eat it already, I promise it tastes good.”

He glared back and Spike who did the same. After a while Shyfrost decided to just take a lick and see what the fuss was about. He slowly lifted the cupcake to his face and opened his mouth to take his first lick of a cupcake. When his tongue made contact with the blue frosting it was like time was slowing down for him while his brain tried to comprehend the taste. Shyfrost swallowed the small amount of frosting that his tongue had managed to gather, and slowly lowered the cupcake to the table. His eyes had grown wide, but he showed no hint of emotion.

“Did you like it?” Spike raised the muscle of one of his eyes looking back at him curiously.

He moved his head and tilted it slightly looking back to Spike with that same emotionless stare. Shyfrost then looked back down at the cupcake, just waiting to be devoured, but something was stopping him. It was like he wanted the moment to last forever so he could look forward to eating the cupcake, but once he did he would have to find more. Finally, after a few moments, he picked it up and downed it in one bite.

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

“How did I go this long without one of those?” Shyfrost uttered, feeling giddy from the taste and the sugar rush..

“Well I’m glad you liked it, I’m guessing you didn’t eat too many deserts out in the forest?” Spike asked while giggling, having already known the answer.

All Shyfrost could do was shake his head and smile.

Okay the cupcake just made up for my day, I think I’m gonna like it here. Now, how do I get more?

Chapter 8: Pearls and Friendship

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After Spike and Shyfrost finished in Sugarcube Corner, they decided to call it a day. Spike gave Shyfrost a hug before he left his side, leaving him a bit confused. He wasn’t angry at receiving a hug, but it lasted for longer than a normal one. When Shyfrost finally started heading back to Fluttershy’s cottage he got a glimpse of Spike staring back at him. For now he shrugged it off and entered the cottage; he had bigger problems to worry about, namely school.

“Oh you’re back, good,” Fluttershy said and approached him, “How did it go with Twilight? I noticed you were gone most of the day.”

“It went well, I guess. The princess was over there and I told them about how my tail ended up the way it is,” he paused looking down at it, it made him a bit sad, but Fluttershy let him finish talking. “After that me and Spike went to hang out all day, and he bought me a... cupcake, it was amazing!”

“You’ve never had a cupcake before? Oh my I bet it was amazing,” Fluttershy said while giggling. Then she frowned and shook her head. "We should take it slowly with those, though, too much and your stomach might not agree with the excess sugar." He nodded.

“Okay, oh! I had a good day me and Spike just talked a lot.”

“That’s good, but was Twilight able to find out about your amulet?”

“No, she said it has more magic in it than the average gemstone, though, whatever that means.”

“Hmm, well Rarity knows a lot about gemstones maybe you could ask her next time you get the chance.”

“That’s a good idea.”

“Yes, so what is it that you told Twilight? About your tail?” Fluttershy walked up to him and pointed to the metal end.

Shyfrost let out a long sigh and repeated his story about losing his tail and the blacksmith griffon. While talking the dragon's mood started to damper more, Fluttershy had to resist the urge to squeeze him in a bone crushing hug so he could finish uninterrupted. At the end of the story Fluttershy looked a bit confused when he told her about the griffon that helped him, but she shrugged it off.

Shyfrost had finished telling his little tale and was looking down at his feet, he looked almost ashamed. Fluttershy was shocked at everything but was debating what to do next. She could have sworn that Shyfrost was beginning to cry, but she saw no tears. After a while she slowly walked over to him and picked him up. It was hug time.

He stared at her, wondering what she was doing. After around thirty seconds she brought him in for the most affectionate hug he had ever known.

“Shyfrost, what those griffons did was unforgivable,” she replied while still hugging, “but what that other griffon did probably saved your life.”

“What do you mean?” He asked while still in the loving embrace of his adopted mom. It almost hurt from how much she was force she was using, but it was a good hurt.

“Well, if he hadn’t come along you might not have moved from your spot out of… fear, am I right?”

He simply nodded. It was true that after the griffons left him, he did not feel like moving one bit.

“Right, you probably would have bled to death without proper treatment! So, this griffon blacksmith saved your life and showed you kindness. I only wish I could meet him.”

The hug was finally over after three minutes, Shyfrost felt so good inside, he wished for it to never end. For that moment he felt happier than any moment in the entirety of his life. He didn’t care that most of the town wanted nothing to do with him. He had a mother that cared for him and another dragon he could call friend, and that’s all that mattered.

“Right, so we only have one more day to prepare you for school.”

“Oh, right, Twilight said that I’ll be the first dragon to attend school, is that true?”

Fluttershy was taken aback by his question, surely Spike had at least attended school but she never asked Twilight. Spike certainly seemed educated enough, perhaps he was only home schooled.

“I’m not sure Shyfrost; if Twilight said so then it must be true. Does that make you nervous?”

“Yes… everything about school makes me nervous. Spike even said he was too afraid to go.”

“I promise you that if you just give school some time, that it can be a wonderful place,” she paused and looked him over, and then remembered some of the fillies she knew in his upcoming class, “and true, being the only dragon in class is going to be difficult at first, but you just need to give some of the students time and you will make some friends.”

All he could do was nod at her statement and give her another hug; he was starting to like them. That night he was able to actually get some sleep. It wasn’t difficult, for once, and after saying goodnight to Fluttershy he plopped down on his bed and was out like a light. The next day was spent getting him ready and making sure he had everything he would need, the day went by quickly, and oddly enough, Shyfrost was able to sleep that night as well.

Shyfrost woke up early in the morning; this was it the day he would be going to school. The sun had barely just come up. He was pacing back and forth near his bed, waiting for Fluttershy to wake up. He kept silently hoping that Fluttershy would just tell him that school wasn’t for him and they had made a mistake. The anxiety he was filling up with was enough to faze Celestia. Maybe.

Breakfast was quiet with Fluttershy and Angel eating on one side of the table and Shyfrost on the other. He looked up at the bowl of gems, that she had placed on the cupboard from the other day, and sighed. Fluttershy wanted to comfort him, she knew he was feeling like an outcast, or so she figured. I wonder why he's not speaking? Must be nervous. She thought, then shook her head.

“Okay, go get your school supplies and meet me by the door, Shyfrost.”

He nodded and went over to his bed; he grabbed everything he would need. A special saddlebag was waiting for him."I had Rarity stitch you up your own bag, it should be easier for you to use." The saddlebag wrapped around his body and on the front had embroidery of a snowflake on it. Fluttershy explained that the snowflake was meant to represent his special ability with ice. Inside he had several books, quills and a lunch that Fluttershy packed. He also packed his amulet by safely placing it inside.

“Okay, I’m ready,” Shyfrost said while nervously walking up to Fluttershy.

“Right, let’s get going, class will start soon.”

The walk to school was mostly uneventful. Shyfrost had chosen to stay on Fluttershy’s back the entire time, he would occasionally see a young filly or colt run towards the school yard, but nopony noticed him. As instructed, Fluttershy was to leave Shyfrost in the back of the school ten minutes after class had started. Miss Cheerliee was to meet them and then introduce him to the students as calmly as possible.

The bell for class had already rang, it was past eight.

“Fluttershy?”

“Yes, Shyfrost?”

“I don’t want to do this,” Shyfrost replied with an obvious nervous crackling in his voice.

Fluttershy placed her hoof on his shoulder and began to speak, “Listen to me, Shyfrost. Everyp- err everydragon has to do things they don’t want to do. But I promise you that it's not that bad, school is just school. You will eventually make friends and get used to it, just like you got used to Ponyville.”

“But I’m not used to Ponyville!”

She shushed him, hoping none of the other students noticed. “Well, you will be eventually, just listen to Miss Cheerliee and you will be fine.”

Miss Cheerliee had just walked out of the side entrance to join them.

“Are you ready, Shyfrost?”

He hesitated, but then quickly nodded.

“Right, you can pick him up at two thirty, like we talked about.”

“Good, I will see you after class, Shyfrost, and have a good day!” Fluttershy waved to him and he waved back, after a single moment, she was gone. Shyfrost had no other choice but to slowly follow Miss Cheerliee into the classroom. She instructed him to wait in the doorway with most of the student’s eyes following Miss Cheerliee only.

“Alright class, sorry for the late start and good morning everypony!”

“GOOD MORNING MISS CHEERLIEE,” The entire class said in a monotone singsong manner, which was loud enough to make Shyfrost flinch.

“We have a new student joining us today, his name is Shyfrost,” She said and motioned for Shyfrost to stand in front of the class next to her, “So please show him the same kindness you would to anypony.”

There was a moment of silence from both Miss Cheerliee and the students. Shyfrost was now standing in front of sixteen other young fillies and colts, they seemed to remember him. There were a few whispers in the class which, of course, did nothing to help the young dragon’s nerves. He felt paralyzed to the spot and with no further instruction from Miss Cheerlie; he was at a loss for what to do next.

“Why don’t you take a seat anywhere, Shyfrost,” Miss Cheerliee said while pointing to a few empty seats.

He hesitated, but started walking to one of the seats in the back. He got half way to his desk when all of a sudden he stopped moving, his senses seemed to kick into overdrive. He was standing next to a certain pink colored filly with a light purple mane mixed in with the color white, she wore rather large tiara that was lined with various pearls and diamonds. His eyes had started to dilate, he began to sweat profoundly which caused some glimmering to appear on his skin and other students to stare. It didn't help matters when he began to sniff the air lightly.

What smells so good?

“Shyfrost? Are you feeling alright?” Miss Cheerliee had walked up to him which caused him to snap out of his frozen state. He immediately looked around and noticed, to his embarrassment, he had stopped walking and every student was now staring at him. The pink colored pony was now looking at him with disgust.

“Y...Yes, I’m fine.”

“Good, then please take a seat,” she commanded firmly, though, with a gently smile.

He immediately walked up to a desk that was in-between two students and sat down. He then picked up his saddlebag and gently placed it on his desk. To his left was an orange colored pegasus pony, with a purple colored man, who was now staring at him with a raised brow. To his right was a white colored unicorn pony, with a pink and purple colored mane, that was doing the same, but she looked down at his bag which caused her eyes to glimmer.

“Is that-“

“Sweetie Belle, if you would please wait until after class?” Miss Cheerliee asked while writing down some lessons on the board.

“Oh, sorry Miss Cheerliee,” she replied while giving her a sheepish smile.

The orange colored pegasus leaned over to look at her friend Sweetie Belle and gave her a questioning look. Sweetie Belle simply shrugged and gave her a wave indicating that she would be told later. Shyfrost, on the other claw, was now lost in his own world, he couldn’t stop sniffing the air. Even if he wanted to.

That smell, it's like a million cupcakes at once. But where is it coming from?! Shyfrost started to look around the room, eventually glancing at some of the other students. Most of them had stopped looking at him, which helped his nerves, but he was desperately searching for anything that could cause that glorious smell.

It started next to that pink pony… could it be from her?

The lessons were mostly uneventful, Miss Cheerliee had a simple history lesson that Shyfrost pretended to pay attention to. A single glance to his left revealed to him that a certain young filly was doing the same thing. He was starting to grow bored and anxious all at once; the smell would not let up and the class was not all that engaging. He almost felt like screaming or leaving the class, when out of nowhere, a bell rang.

“Alright class it's recess time, you all have twenty minutes of play time,” Miss Cheerliee smiled at all her students with most of them leaving. Shyfrost stood up but looked confused.

“Shyfrost, are you sure that you’re okay? You were sweating earlier, dear.”

“Yeah, it's just I keep smelling something, something good.”

“Well…Twilight mentioned that dragons have an extra sense of smell so maybe you are smelling someponies lunch. But for now why don’t you go outside and play? Maybe try and make some friends?” Miss Cheerliee had motioned for the door, doing her best to encourage him.

“Okay sure,” he said, then hesitated again, but slowly walked outside.

On the playground he felt more calm, all be it, weird. Some ponies were playing on swing sets, a few sat at some wooden tables and others were off in their own smaller groups. He kept remembering all of the other adult ponies telling him to make friends. But he had no clue where to start making any friends or even who to talk to. He noticed two of the groups were talking and looking back at him. The smell was still lingering outside but not as strong as in the classroom which gave Shyfrsot time to calm down.

“Excuse me,” Sweetie Belle said after walking up to him.

“Uh, y-yeah?”

“Where did you get your bag?”

He blinked a few times and had to think on what she just asked. He wasn’t sure what she meant.

“My bag?”

“Yeah the one with the snowflake on it, I noticed it looks like something my sister might make.”

He glanced down to it and shrugged. “Oh, Fluttershy said her friend Rarity made it for me.”

“That’s my sister!” She replied proudly.

“Oh,” he paused, “that’s good.”

“Yeah, so listen did you want to-“

“Hey blank flank, I guess it makes sense to be friends with a creature with a permanent blank flank,” The pink pony yelled out in her nasally sounding voice. Shyfrost froze up instantly. His dilation returned, his senses going into overdrive.

“Diamond Tiara, shut up! Go back to your stupid friend!” Sweetie Belle spat out at her. It was usually Scootaloo or even Apple Bloom who said suhc things, but Sweetie didn't care. She's always bothering everypony! Why?! she thought bitterly.

Shyfrost refused to move but he knew now that the smell was unmistakably coming from Diamond Tiara. His breathing was heavy and his nerves calm, he felt like any movements were coming purely from instinct. Without thinking, he reached out to grab the tiara on her head and picked it up in his claws. His mind was blank but he was staring at it hungrily. Everypony was now staring at him.

“Hey! Give me that back you stupid dragon!” Diamond Tiara was fast to place it back on her head. “Don’t you ever touch this again!” She fumed and felt she had enough of the weird blank flanks and went back to her group.

The unicorn filly shook her head. “What was that about? You looked like you wanted to eat it,” Sweetie Belle mentioned while giggling to herself. She then noticed that he was looking at the ground and blushed in response. “You weren’t going to eat it, right? I mean I know Spike eats a lot of weird--“

The bell suddenly rang out, interrupting Sweetie Belle’s questioning. Every student had started trotting back inside, Shyfrost was last since he had to shake his confusion off.

What just happened?

They all took their seats without incident. Diamond Tiara was now glaring daggers at Shyfrost. Sweetie Belle was now looking back at her friends and back to Shyfrost like he was crazy. Things didn't seem to be going well, he figured. Though, part of him didn't care.

That smell is coming from her tiara, and it was so…amazing. But why would I want to eat a tiara? And why couldn't I control myself?

He sighed in frustration and continued on with his lessons. He found it to be just as dull as before. Some math and science lessons followed but nothing he couldn’t handle without distractions. Mostly. Unfortunately the smell was now stronger than ever, it was simply driving him mad. All he could do was stare at her tiara as he attempted to study it. In a way it was rather plain, along the rims of its shape were small diamonds and on top were five rather large pearls. But what was bothering him was why the smell was coming; he had sniffed Spike’s gemstones before and clear colored diamonds didn’t smell like anything to him. Was it the pearls? The diamonds contained no smell and he knew that the gold would not smell like much since he had seen Spike’s bits before and they gave off no stench. It had to be the pearls, but why pearls?

His thoughts were interrupted by the lunch bell, the students all left the class in the same manner as recess, with Shyfrost trailing behind. He failed to notice all the whispers in the class surrounding his tiara incident. Outside most of the students sat at one wooden bench with Sweetie belle and two others sitting alone. With no other options or room he sat down at the edge of the empty bench with the three fillies sitting on the other side. Shyfrost gently placed his bag down and began to take out his lunch, Fluttershy packed him one cupcake, some chips and two apples with some plain bread. He figured the bread was meant to be a daisy sandwich but Fluttershy knew dragons did not eat those. He looked inside and found a couple slices of cheese. Oh, cool.

“Hey, how come you don’t have any gemstones to eat?”

He looked up and noticed all three fillies staring at his lunch; it was the orange colored pegasus that asked him.

“Oh Frost Dragons don’t eat gemstones,” he swiftly replied remembering what Twilight now called his species. So he figured he would get used to the term.

“What’s a Frost Dragon?” The yellow colored filly with a red bow in her hair asked this one.

Shyfrost pondered to himself unsure how to answer, so he took in a deep breath and let out some of his frost into the air next away from their faces. They stared back in shock, but he simply smirked. “I’m a frost dragon.”

“THAT…WAS AWESOME!” The orange pegasus screamed loud enough to catch the attention of the other lunch group, but they ignored her.

“It was... nothing.”

“No, it was awesome! I’ve never seen a dragon that could do that before. I mean we only know Spike, but still,” the pegasus replied. She then blushed when she realized something. “Oh right, I’m Scootaloo,” She reached out her hoof to him and he hesitantly touched it.

“I’m Apple Bloom,” one of the other fillies replied, copying Scootaloo's gesture.

“And I’m Sweetie Belle!” She had a smirk on her face but did the same with her hoof.

“I’m Shyfrost.”

“We know,” All three of them giggled which caused a nervous smile to form from him.

There was some silence while all four of them ate for a while.

“How come you grabbed her tiara, Shyfrost?” Scootaloo bluntly asked, which made Sweetie Belle to punch her in the chest to shut her up.

“I, well... I think it's because of those pearls on it.” He sniffed once, absentmindedly.

“What’s so special about pearls?” All three asked.

“They just smell, really, really good for some reason.”

They all pondered this for a while. Eventually, one of them broke the silence.

“Maybe you’re supposed to eat 'em,” Apple Bloom suggested, but she wasn’t smiling or giggling this time.

“Eat... Pearls?” Could it really be that simple?

“Well, yeah, you said that frost dragons don’t eat gemstones so maybe you eat other shiny things.”

This statement caused him to stop and think. He remembered Spike telling him that maybe frost dragons eat something else that other ponies don’t. It started to make perfect sense, but other than her tiara he wasn’t sure where to find any to test out the theory.

“I guess that makes sense, but where do I get more pearls? I don’t think she's gonna let me try one,” he said this, giggling slightly, but still with a hint of nervousness in his voice.

“Maybe you can just take one,” Scootaloo said smiling to herself, “I mean she has so much money and her tiara has five of 'em! I bet her "daddy" would buy her a million more!”

The unicorn filly huffed, and swatted Scootaloo in the back side of her head. “Scootaloo that’s stealing! He can’t do that!” Sweetie Belle was insisted that he not steal any pearls. She grumbled in response, but nodded to agree.

He wasn’t sure what to do, so, they all sat in silence eating their meals. Some of the other students had finished early and were playing. He noticed Diamond Tiara get up and gently place her tiara next to her lunch bag on the bench and leave with her friend. But he was not supposed to steal, Sweetie Belle made that very clear! Ss did his previous encounter with Applejack.

All four of them had stood up after lunch and started to play some, though, Shyfrost didn't do much. They tried to insist, but he kept looking back at that tiara and he still felt more comfortable to just watch. They shrugged and went to the swing set, leaving the dragon alone. He walked over to the tiara and eyed it from a distance, nopony had noticed him yet, so he stayed. He inched closer to it while looking around. He was now a few inches away from the tiara and it was at that moment that his senses kicked into overdrive yet again. In less than ten seconds flat his mind blanked, his pupils dilated, again, and he began to sweat. Out of instinct his claw reached out to the top most pearl, in the middle and he gently picked it off. It was loose and his weak strength was easily able to remove it. Time appeared to slow for all the ponies on the playground, some had noticed the dragon near the tiara and when he picked off the pearl all eyes had suddenly appeared on him. He placed the pearl near his lips, and without thinking, placed it in his mouth. With a single satisfying crunch, it was gone. It tasted better than any cupcake ever could. Wow...

“WHAT DID YOU DO?!” Diamond Tiara's voice shriekd, breaking him out of his thoughts. “You… YOU ATE MY PEARL! HOW DARE YOU!” She was marching towards him with a huge scowl on her face, which caused him to trip back in fear; Miss Cheerliee had heard all the noise and ran outside.

“What is going on here?”

“Hey ate one of my pearls!” She pointed to her tiara and glared back at Shyfrost who still was too scared to stand up.

Miss Cheerliee looked down at her tiara and did notice one pearl was missing. “Shyfrost, is this true?”

Eating that pearl tasted better than a million cupcakes, it broke him out of his trance but this time he knew that he had chosen to do it. He couldn’t’ help it, but at the same time he felt like he could if he wanted to. Everypony on the playground had seen him and lying would be stupid.

“Yes I-“

“Then please come with me inside and bring your things,” she replied sternly and told Diamond Tiara to wait outside. He followed quickly, not wishing to anger Miss Cheerliee anymore.

The two sat in silence for a good few minutes. All anxiety had left him, he felt satisfied, if not fearful of what was to come next.

“Shyfrost, why did you eat a pearl?”

“I’m sorry, it's just it smelled so good and I couldn’t help it, it tasted amazing,” he replied with some heavy guilt in his voice.

“While I cannot say that I fully understand dragons, or even "Frost Dragons", in your case,” she paused and sighed, “I still cannot leave this unpunished, if you eat pearls then fine, but you need to bring your own and not go stealing them.” She sighed again and continued when he failed to respond. “And now I need to go talk to Diamond Tiara and get her father involved, I will be leaving a note for you to bring to Fluttershy when she picks you up; do make sure she gets it.”

Great now Fluttershy is going to hate me.’

School was rather uneventful after that, he felt his senses return to him and the smell was no longer lingering in the class. He was able to concentrate again but most of the students kept looking back at him. The three that were quick to befriend him looked back, with worried expressions, but occasionally he would catch a giggle from them. When the bell to go home rang, Miss Cheerliee asked for Shyfrost to remain behind, so she could write out a note for his caretaker.

Fluttershy picked him up and was not pleased when Miss Cheerliee talked to her about the note and what had transpired. But he noticed that she wasn’t yelling or lecturing him, she simply choose not to speak on the way home until they got back inside. She sighed to herself, silently hoping that Diamond Tiara’s father would not charge her.

“Shyfrost, why did you do it?” Fluttershy asked, looking down at him. She seemed sad, but not angry.

“I don’t know, it's just the pearl and the smell it- it was all too much. I… I had to.” He stuttered a bit but while trying to stay honest.

“Had to? So, are you saying that you feel inclined to eat pearls?”

“I guess so.”

“Well, at least something good came out of this, Shyfrost,” she said, shrugging.

“It did?”

“Sure, now we know what Frost Dragons love to eat, Pearls! Fire dragons love gemstones and Frost Dragons love pearls. I’m sure Twilight will be excited to hear this.”

All he could do was smile, Spike was right and his new friends were right too. At least, they seemed like friends now.

Meanwhile, halfway across town.

“C’mon girls that was hilarious, he ate her pearl!” Scootaloo giggled on her back, rolling around.

“Ah know, but it was still like stealin', “Apple Bloom pointed out.

Sweetie nodded, sighing. “So, should we be friends with him?” Sweetie Belle suddenly asked.

“I guess so, but he would need to join the Cutie Mark Crusaders, uh, do dragons get cutie marks?” Scootaloo asked, wondering what a dragon mark would even look like.

“I don’t think so, but that doesn’t matter. We look for our special talents and he can find his too. He doesn’t need a cutie mark for that,” Sweetie Belle replied. "Just look at Spike, he's good at helping others when they need it!"

“Yeah, ah reckon you’re right, ah just hope he’s not in too much trouble. Heh, it was pretty funny,” Apple Bloom said and all three of them joined in one large giggle fit. “We can ask him to join the Cutie Mark Crusaders tomorrow, in class.”

“Sure, I mean he seems alright, plus that frost power of his could be useful in helping us get our cutie marks!” Scootaloo rubbed her hooves together, just thinking of the possibilities.

“How in the hay are "dragon ice powers" gonna get us our cutie marks?!”

“I dunno, we can think of some ideas back at the club house, though.” They all agreed with Scootaloo, on that note, and left for the clubhouse.

Back at Fluttershy’s cottage, the two were going over some bills. At least Fluttershy was, making sure she had enough expenses for the month.

Diamond Tiara and her father did show up to chew her out. Fluttershy was forced to pay for repairs, but it only seemed to cost a few bits. She apologized a million times and they finally left.

“I’m sorry Fluttershy.”

“I know you are but you can’t just go around eating other ponies pearls,” she said sternly.

“Now then the pearl seemed to only cost around a few bits, if we’re lucky, I can get you a bunch more soon enough. Smaller pearls should be much cheaper. Then you can have some in your lunches each day,”she paused and noticed that he was looking at her with a raised scaly brow, “Would you like that?”

“Well, of course, but I thought I was going to be punished?”

“You are, for the next week after homework you will report to Twilight to help her with the research project. Ordinarily you would only need to visit her three times a week, but with your punishment, this week you will see her every day to help with her with research. Every day,” she repeated in a stern tone.

It didn’t seem like a punishment to him so he agreed, it almost seemed like Fluttershy really didn't want to punish him at all, and he knew he was getting off lightly. But it didn’t worry him, so he shrugged and nodded.

“Now other than that pearl incident, how was your day?”

“Awkward, the other ponies kept staring at me, but I did meet... three ponies.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah the first one was called Sweetie Belle; she said Rarity is her sister.”

“Yes, I’m sure you will be great friends.”

“Yeah, the other one was named Apple Bloom.”

“That’s Applejacks sister.”

“Oh, I hope Applejack didn’t tell her how we meet,” Shyfrost said while blushing.

She shook her head and giggled a bit. “I’ m sure she didn’t, but I'm also sure Apple Bloom wouldn't think any differently of you.”

“Oh and the last one was named Scootaloo, heh, let me guess, Rainbow Dash’s sister?"

“Actually no, I'm not quite sure who her family is, but I'm sure those three will be amazing friends,” Fluttershy said while smiling, she was glad that he was finally making friends.

The rest of the day was uneventful, Fluttershy helped him with his homework and she decided it was best to start his punishment the next day. Tomorrow, after class and homework he would report to Twilight to help her in any way possible. He was about to get some sleep when he paused, he realized that all day he never brought out his amulet to help him once. It wasn’t unsettling but it did make him feel odd. Perhaps he was getting used to Ponyville faster than he had originally hoped; perhaps he wouldn’t need the amulet anymore. He looked back at it, just sitting on his nightstand, and shook his head. Yeah right. He thought while giggling. As he drifted off to sleep, he failed to notice a single shimmering glow, coming from his amulet.

Chapter 9: Cutie Mark Crusaders

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Shyfrost woke up in the usual manner that he was accustomed to, with a light headache. The young dragon was still not fully used to everything in the town and sleep came randomly. Some nights he would sleep well and others it was a nightmare, sometimes literally. After waiting another hour for Fluttershy to wake up, she was downstairs making them both breakfast.

"Okay, I talked to Twilight and she has decided on your dietary needs. So, for breakfast we have eggs, some fruit and a bowl of pearls," she said before carefully placing them on the table.

Shyfrost looked at the bowl and, sure enough, it was filled to the brim with small white colored pearls. Fluttershy eyed him, waiting for the first bite. She actually looked kind of nervous to Shyfrost but he just shrugged and sat down, immediately the smell of the pearls wafted up to his nostrils. That stench, that heavenly stench... . With one loud crunch, he ate a spoon full of pearls and immediately smiled in delight. He finished the whole bowl in under a minute, Fluttershy couldn't be happier. In reality the pearls were not cheap, but Twilight agreed to help her out with a budget, a quick contact to the princess gave them both access to an almost infinite supply of the things.

I normally wouldn't ask my friends to go through such trouble, but it's not like I can afford these any other way. She thought sadly. They did say not to worry, though. Oh, dear, should I worry? She then shook her head and shrugged. "I'm glad you're enjoying those pearls, cause I've got plenty more where those came from. Twilight should also have plenty in stock whenever you go to visit her and Spike."

"They are really good, thanks Fluttershy." After he finished speaking he smiled, it was a genuine grin and it filled Fluttershy with love and hope, hope that he would finally be happy in Ponyville.

After they ate, Fluttershy had to hurry to get Shyfrost to school on time. On the way he seemed a lot more relaxed about attending and had completely forgotten about the incident with Diamond Tiara. He wasn't thrilled about going to school, but he at least had new friends, at least he hoped they were friends. Fluttershy dropped him off in the front of the classroom and was off in a hurry. He had forgotten about the pearl incident, but it seems the other students did not, when he entered the classroom all eyes again were still on him. He didn't mind as much.

Half of the class was on Diamond Tiara's side and were glaring. The other half seemed more cheerful to him, but didn't talk much. Which left the Cutie Mark Crusaders as the only sociable ones.

"Shyfrost, what you did yesterday with her Tiara, it was awesome," Scootaloo was the first to speak to him and was giving him a very warm smile.

"It was stealin'!" Apple Bloom chastised, to his disappointment. Then she smirked. "But it was cool," she quickly added giving him another warm smile.

"Rarity was just glad to have a new customer, DIamond Tiara's dad came storming in and requested she fix her Tiara at any price!" Sweetie Belle was giving him the widest grin of all, she seemed ecstatic to be near Shyfrost.

"Well, thanks, but I didin't mean to it just sort of happened, it's hard to explain."

"Well we were wondering if you wanted to-"

Before Scootaloo could finish her sentence she was cut off by the school bell and in walked Miss Cheerliee.

"Good Morning Class!'

"Good Morning Miss Cheerliee," all students replied in the same tone.

She immediately started the lessons which seemed just as boring to Shyfrost as yesterday's lesson. Again he was able to keep up with her, but not without complications and distractions. This time it did not come from Diamond Tiara, it came from his new friends constantly looking back at him and trying to sneak words behind Cheerliee's back. His lunch wasn't helping matters. He could still smell the pearls that Fluttershy had packed, but this time he felt he could control his instincts better, mostly.

"PSST, Shyfrost." Scootaloo had taken it to make a sort of game of talking to him, she would say a single short sentence when Miss Cheerliee was not looking or paying attention and then Shyfrost would have to wait a while before his opportunity to reply, if he missed it then she would just sigh and decide to ask her question later.

"Yeah?"

After three minutes of Scootaloo intently watching the teacher for any signs of weakness, when she found one and it was her move to reply.

"What do pearls taste like?"

Shyfrost had to wait a whole six mintues before his chance.

"I dunno, better than cupcakes."

Scootaloo only had to wait thirty seconds this time.

"How come you and Spike don't got wings?"

It was such a blunt statement he had to think about it for a while and missed two 'talking opportunities' just so he could think of a replyl.

"I dunno why," he replied plainly and shrugged which caused Scootaloo to face hoof and grunt.

The first bell for recess rang shortly after and all of them ran out of the classroom before their teacher could say anything, Shyfrost, again, trailed behind.

"Shyfrost!" Cheerilee said it so sternly that it made his whole body freeze.

Hesitantly turning around to face her he spoke. "Yes?"

"Behave your self today, now go play please."

He walked outside and was immediately picked up against his will and quickly brought to the side of the school in a confusing daze. He looked up to see Scootaloo, Sweetiee Belle and Apple Bloom all staring at him. All smiling at him, Before he could even say anything they all spoke up.

"Okay Shyfrost, we wanted to ask you something."

"Okay, um, what?"

"Well we are all part of this club..." Before any other words were said they all breathed in as much air as their little bodies would allow. Shyfrost thought they were trying to imitate a dragon.

"THE CUTIE MARK CRUSDAERS!" It was said so loudly that not only did every kid on the playground hear them. Shyfrost dug a claw into his ear to make the ringing stop.

"OW." Was all Shyfrost could say in return.

"Yeah we try to earn our cutie marks and find our purpose."

It was the mention of the word 'purpose' that peaked his interest.

"You said purpose? You just try to all find your purpose in the town?" He asked remembering Fluttershy's previous conversation with him.

"Well, yeah, I guess," Sweetie Belle slowly replied.

"So, do you want to join us?" Scootaloo walked forward and stretched out her wings hoping this would make it see more exciting.

"Well," he paused and pondered his options. He had no clue what a club was, but if it helped him find his purpose then he was in."Yes I will join."

"YAY!" They all screamed and without warning brought him in for a tender hug.

"Okay, after school you'll need to come with us to the clubhouse for-"

"I can't do anything after school this week, Fluttershy is making me go to Twilight's after school as a punishment."

All three of them blinked and then gave a nod of understanding.

"Having to hang out with Twilight each day, sounds like a punishment to me," Scootaloo said while snickering to herself.

Sweetie Belle sighed. "But we need to initiate him and stuff."

The winged one nodded. "Well, how long do you have to be at Twilight's?" Scootaloo seemed to be the leader or at least the more assertive one of the bunch, she always spoke up first.

"Um, I'm not sure really, I guess you can come with me?" Shyfrost scratched the back of his head sheepishly, he was hoping that Twilight wouldn't be upset if he brought 'company'.

"Well okay, we can come and do our initiation after, but Spike better have something for us to do!" Scootaloo exclaimed determined to avoid boredom and the others nodded in understanding.

"Hey Scootaloo, why did you ask about our wings?" In truth the question was actually quite bothersome, he knew how other dragons were, at least from some books he had read. They all had wings, however, oddly enough, both Spike and Shyfrost were missing them. It never bothered him that much before, for a while he actually assumed he would grow them later o, but his guess on that was as good as Twilight's. Judging from her quest for knowledge on their race, Shyfrost concluded that she had no clue either.

"Aren't you both suppose to have wings? I mean you're both dragons." She pointed out, indicating to her back where her wings fluttered a bit.

"I honestly don't know why, I've read about other dragon's and I know they have wings, but Spike was the first one I've actually seen other than me," Shyfrost replied hesitantly and was nervously twitching his claws again. Saying that actually sounds kind a crazy. I'm a dragon! he thought, pondering, again, why he wasn't with his own kind.

"How can that be? What about parents?" Apple Bloom was the first to respond. Her statement seemed quite logical.

"I, uh, never had any."

"Then who raised ya?" Apple Bloom asked, while she walked around him and examined every aspect of the drake.

"Me?" he guessed.

The farm silly shook her head, almost giggling. "That don't make sense, how can ah newborn just up and raise themselves?"

"Well, Twilight said that dragon's have instincts in them and even though it's hard to believe, I really did raise myself. Plus my amulet-" He was cut off by Apple Bloom's protests.

"But, that means you don't have a family! That's not right," she replied with sympathy in her voice, she seemed pretty sad. In fact they all did.

"Well, I have Fluttershy."

They thought about this for a moment in silence, they also started to see the similarities between Shyfrost and Spike. They both only had one pony that they could call family and no true blood related parents. Eventually, Scootaloo was, again, the one to speak up.

"Oh yeah that's tru-" She was cut off by the school bell yet again.

"I hate that bell!" Scootaloo mumbled to herself while everypony ran back inside.

After school was out they all decided to head straight for the library. Shyfrost was growing a bit worried by the way the three were acting behind him, like children. They were excited to say the least and all though he was glad to finally have some real friends, he still was hoping that they would calm down soon. I hate it when Twilight gets angry... well, I've only seen her that way once, but it was scary!

When they arrived the three seemed to calm down significantly, but it was mostly due to the nature of their destination, in short, they were already bored. Shyfrost entered the building with the three of them in tow and they all waited.

"Twilight? I'm here for our study session!" Shyfrost yelled upstairs not seeing Spike or Twilight anywhere.

"I'll be down in a minute!" They all heard the librarian yell from a distance.

"Study session?" Scootaloo asked.

"Yeah, since Twilight and ponies know so little about dragon's, I agreed to let Twilight study me since I'm a... different sort of dragon."

"OH! I bet we could do that, right girls?"

""CUTIE MARK CRUSADER DRAGON RESEARCHER'S!"

Shyfrost was caught off guard, but noticed that Twilight was now running down in a hurry in response to their yelling. She looked less than pleased.

"Oh, um, girls! What a pleasant surprise," Twilight said as her eyes twitched while having trouble remaining calm.

"We're just here to wait for Shyfrost to be done," Scootaloo said grumbling.

"Yeah! We need to initiate him in the--"

"Please, no yelling in the library girls," Twilight reminded them, having anticipated those three horrible words.

"Well, we're gonna wait until he's done! So is Spike around? We need something to do." When Sweetie Belle finished speaking, she smiled up at her.

Twilight looked at the three girls who were smiling like angels and back to Shyfrost who was now giving her a big sheepish grin. She was glad he was making friends, but with the Cutie Mark Crusaders, it could easily be disaster after disaster. Just imagining the possibilities sent shivers up her spine.

"Yes, Spike should be upstairs and I'm sure he would be willing to play just make s-"

"YAY! THANKS TWILIGHT!" All three of them squealed in delight and darted upstairs in a hurry before she could finish her sentence.

"-Sure to... oh they're gone."

"Sorry Twilight, but I could really use some friends and-"

"I know it's fine, I'm just glad you're making some. But for now let's continue where we left off with more research." Shyfrost nodded up at her and they went down to the basement to study in peace.

Two Minutes Later Upstairs in Spike's Room

The Cutie Mark Crusaders had immediately barged into his room and began to tear the place apart, it didin't take them long, but Spike was not even batting an eye. He was mostly in shock over them but lately he was having trouble paying attention, day dreaming for him was becoming the norm.

"Spike? Are you okay?" Sweetie Belle asked out of concern.

"What? Oh, yes I'm fine."

"Well, it's just we basically destroyed your room and you barely said anything." Spike looked around and, sure enough, what was once a clean and tidy room looked like it was ripped apart by Discord himself.

"Girls," he grumbled to himself and looked up at the pleading eyes of the Cutie Mark Crusaders and sighed,"ahh forget it." Spike slumped down and relaxed.

"Spike, seriously, what's wrong?" Sweetie Belle walked up and put a comforting hoof over his shoulder.

"Well, ever since Shyfrost showed up I've been thinking and the more him and I talk, the more I think. I keep day dreaming about meeting other dragons. I mean, Ponyville is great and all, but me and him are the only dragons. Sometimes it... just feels weird."

"Well ah least you got Shyfrost."

"Yes, but it would be nice to be with my own kind for once. I mean, not to be rude, but how would one of you feel if you grew up surrounded only by dragons?"

"I think it would be cool!" Scootaloo answered having completely missed the point. Though, a part of her knew where he was coming from.

"It would be weird, but I would be pretty sad if I never knew my sister Rarity."

"Ah have no idea," Apple Bloom said while slumping down.

"C'mon Spike you still have Twilight, she's like your mom, right?" Scootaloo walked up to Spike's other side and copied Sweetie Belle's comforting motion.

"I guess so, I never really called her mom before..." He trailed off and shook the thoughts from his head. "Why are you three here anyway?"

"Well we wanted to initiate Shyfrost into out club, but I guess he needs to come here every day after school. So he suggested we come with to wait for him."

"They shouldn't take too long down there."

"Hey Spike, how come you both are missing wings?" Scootaloo said while Spike deadpanned and gave her a glare.

"I have no idea, but you raise a very good point," Spike said and sighed sitting down, he began to stare off into space yet again. The three of them shrugged it off and decided to 'clean up' the mess they made while waiting to leave with their new friend.

Each study began with Twilight performing a set of simple tests. They were more like doctor check up's since Twilight was the only pony in Ponyville that could treat dragons. She wanted to make sure that Shyfrost was healthy and was worried that his unique biology would be harmful to himself. Her fears were put to rest after a couple days of study and she moved onto the actual experimentation. This still would not stop her from asking a million questions before an experiment was to begin.

"Ok, Shyfrost are you listening?"

Shyforst was broken out of a day dream and he smiled up at her sheepishly.

"Right, we are going to try and fine tune your unique frost ability in the same manner that I help train Spike's fire. You both are still quite young so we won't get too far, but it's still useful to try. Have you been doing the exercises I made for you?"

"Yeah, I massage my throat three times a day and try to concentrate my ice into at least one unique shape a day," Shyfrost replied casually.

"Good, and have you made any unique shapes yet?" Twilight questioned with hope in her voice.

"NOPE!" He smiled up at her knowing it was at least a little funny.

"C'mon Shyfrost, you made those ice spikes. There has got to be a way for you to make other shapes," Twilight said while flipping through her endless series of notes.

"I tried! I can make ice spikes, sure. I can make regular ice and freeze stuff. But I can't make ice balls or any of that other stuff you suggested."

"It's fine Shyfrost. Let's just move onto another experiment, I want to try something a bit more...dangerous." Twilight was speaking with a hint of sorrow in her voice, she knew could end very badly but she had to be sure.

"Dangerous how?"

"Well, like we have seen before your scales seem to give you a natural resistance to all things relating to cold or ice. As it were you are cold proof and even though you can feel the cold, it can't seem to freeze you or kill you. In a way it's like the polar opposite of a Fire Dragon's resistance to all things heat, Spike is fire proof but now it raises the question if you are or not?"

Shyfrost blinked and did a double take to makes sure he was hearing properly.

"Yes, we are going to test if you are, in fact, fire proof. Now at any time during the experiment if you-"

"Twilight, are you crazy?!" Shyfrost yelled and got onto his feet while standing on the couch.

"There is a bag of pearls in it for you if you cooperate," Twilight said in a tempting tone.

Twilight had levitated a large bag of pearls just out of his reach. He looked at them and back at her, it was certainly tempting. He knew that Twilight would never do anything to put him in harm's way, but this certainly sounded like it. Thinking that he had the upper claw since it was his choice or not, he decided to take action.

"Oayk, I will do it. But if you have to cut your experiment early because it's not going well, then I still get the pearls!"

"DEAL!"

Without hesitation she brought out a bowl that was lined with some rocks, they looked black in color and flammable. She did a simple spell and a small fire formed inside the bowl.

"Okay, simply place your right claw into the bowl, if it burns then immediately pull up. Got it?"

Before he could reply, his greed got the better of him just thinking about those pearls. Without hesitation he placed his right claw into the bowl and waited. At first nothing happened and Shyfrost and Twilight thought they had done it, they thought he was both fire and ice proof. After a good nine seconds he felt it, Shyfrost shot up in the air wailing in pain which caused Twilight to panic and rush him upstairs.

Twilight was apologizing over and over again while she levitated up some medical supplies and rinsed his claw in the sink. A million apologizes later, it was discovered that he not only had a slight burn on one of his claws, but he was perfectly fine.

"Look, I'm sorry again Shyfrost-"

He shook his head. "Pearls, now!"

She levitated the bag over to him and dropped it in his claw. With that Shyfrost walked up to her and tackled the unicorn in a hug.

"You're forgiven," Shyfrost said while giggling.

"Just like that?"

"Sure," he paused and took a bite of some of the pearls that he picked up,"anything for pearls!"

"Okay, I think that is enough studying for one day. Why don't you go get your friends?"

She watched him run up to Spike's room and then she let out a heavy groan.

'The crazy things I try for science.'

Shyfrost truly did forgive her, after all he had agreed to be studied and she had gifted him with one big bag of heaven. He knocked on the door to Spike's room with no answer, but he did hear plenty of noise behind it.

"Uhh, just a second!" Yelled Scootaloo.

"Yeah, don't come in yet, Twilight!" Screamed Sweetie Belle

"Ah...never mind, just don't come in!" Apple Bloom said in the highest pitched voice.

"It's me, Shyfrost!"

"Oh," the door flung open to reveal Sweetie Belle giving him the biggest grin and without warning she flung him into the room and shut the door, "please come in."

"What happened in here?" Shyfrost looked around to what used to be Spike's room, it was a disaster.

"Uh, we made a mess and then we tried to clean it up," Scootaloo exclaimed sheepishly.

Apple Bloom nodded, kicking a few books out of her way. "Are you done with Twilight?"

"Yeah," he paused to eat some pearls," all done."

"What ya do down there?" Apple Bloom questioned.

"We um, discovered I'm not fire proof," he replied while blushing a bit.

"Dude, it's like your the exact opposite of me, so fire really can harm you?" Spike said jumping out of his daze.

He pondered this for a bit, after examining both of them he agreed that physically they were the same with different shades and hues. They were both resistant to one element but not the same element, one fire and one ice. They both craved precious stones but not the same stones. But, for the most part, they acted the same.

"I guess so."

"Are you ready to join the club now?" Pleaded Scootaloo.

"Yeah, I guess so-" Without warning all three of the Cutie Mark Crusaders grabbed Shyfrost and ran out of the room with him, leaving Spike to clean up the mess. But Spike was not phased, he was simply standing there, again, lost in thought.

The three fillies were running along the path carrying Shyfrost towards Sweet Apple Acres. Scootaloo mumbled something about forgetting her scooter. Sweetie Belle was trying to come up with ideas on his initiation, apparently they had not planned that that far in advanced. Apple Bloom had a few ideas but she was busy balancing Shyfrost on her back. When they reached the orchard they heard the tell tale sign of Apple Bloom's bigger sister bucking apples. Running past the element of honestly was quite easy to do unnoticed, not that they were hiding. Mostly.

Shyforst noticed the orange colored mare working quite hard and felt a twinge of guilt about attempting to steal from her, but shrugged it off.

They had to run for a few minutes into the orchard to reach their 'secret base' as Scootaloo put it. Just before they reached it, Apple Bloom slumped down to let the dragon off her back, much to their relief.

"Okay, Shyfrost, please stay outside while we, um, prepare," Sweetie Belle exclaimed with all three of the crusaders ascending the ladder. He agreed and slumped down to wait.

"You made his cape, Apple Bloom?" Scootaloo beamed to her best friend who brought out an exact copy of their capes in response.

"YEP!"

"Good! Did you make the banner, Sweetie Belle?"

With that the filly brought out a large hoof made banner that was decorated in glitter that spelled out WELCOME TO THE CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS SHYFROST!.

"Did you write the speech out, Scootaloo?" Both asked, Scootaloo was busy sifting through a rather long, drawn out parchment that stretched from the base of the club house to the end.

"Why did you write so much?"

"You two said I should! You said, Scootaloo, this is the first time we have initiated a new member and it's a dragon, so it needs to be a super awesome amazing speech!" Scootaloo wailed at both of them.

"Ah, right, well just, don't read all of it or it'll take all day!" Apple Bloom responded sheepishly.

"Fine!"

"GREAT! Okay, one of you go get him," Sweetie Belle said while lazing back on a chair.

"Fine! You use your magic to hang the banner, I'll go get him," Scootaloo said and left the club house.

Scootaloo spent the next five minutes stalling Shyfrost outside meanwhile Sweetie Belle was busy using her magic, rather unsuccessfully, to lift the banner up and hang it.

Scootaloo grabbed the drake and, in a flash, he was standing in front of three very serious looking fillies. Shyfrost almost gulped but then he realized they all seemed excited and their attempts at acting serious was almost comical.

"Shyfrost," Scootaloo started with addressing him,"do you solemnly swear to uphold the values and ideas-"

"It's ideals Scootaloo," Sweetie Belle said.

"Whatever, do you solemnly swear to uphold the values and ideals of the cutie mark crusaders and crusade with us until the day that we all earn our cutie marks and/ or special talents?" Scootaloo made sure to add that last part for Shyfrost's sake, they all knew he could not really get a cutie mark.

"Um, yes?"

"YAY!" Their scream was loud enough to make the young dragon's ears ring but he was happy.

"Alright, let me just get you're cape tied on and we're ready to go!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed, unable to hold back her giddiness. She walked over to his back and gently tied the cape around his neck using some of her magic, he looked back and noticed the same emblem as theirs and smiled.

"Okay, now that we have that all out of the way, we now need to plan our next crusade!" Scootaloo was now pacing back and forth while the others pondered.

"Scootaloo, I thought you said when you got home you were gonna think of ways we can use his frost powers to help us!"

"Huh?" Shyfrost was taken aback by this comment.

"I tried! But like you both said, "how are dragon frost powers gonna get us our cutie marks"? The answer? I have no idea!"

"Well, what do you all usually do to find your purpose?" Shyfrost asked, ignoring the comment about his abilities.

"Oh, we have tried literally everything to earn our cutie marks," Apple Bloom said while pondering the idea,"were just out of ideas."

The four were then startled upon hearing several knocks at their front door.

"Apple Bloom? I brought some snacks for your little crusadin' meetin." The three fillies looked happy to hear that voice but the one dragon did not.

Applejack walked into the club house with three bottles of apple juice balanced on her back. She wore a relaxed smile and was pleased to give up some juice to the three fillies. When she noticed Shyfrost just staring at her with a nervous smile, she responded instantly, not being a fan of awkward silence.

"YOU! What in tarnation are you doin here?" Applejack said ignoring the three fillies, his smile faltered. She was looking angry and the three other fillies in the room were looking confused.

"AJ! Why ya being so rude to our new friend? Shyfrost is the newest Cutie Mark-" Applejack lifted up a hoof to stop her.

"So you do have a name! I knew a liar when I see one!"

The three fillies and dragon gave each other perplexed looks.

"Yeah, I have a name, now. Fluttershy named me, I didn't when, um, we met," he said while twirling his thumbs.

The mare nodded, but didn't let up in her aggression. "Ah still caught you tryin' to steal from us," she reminded him, glaring daggers.

"Why'd you try to steal from us Shyfrost?" Apple Bloom asked.

"I was just doing what I needed to do in order to survive! It was just a couple of apples!"

"Just a couple of apples? Let me explain something to you, dragon-"

"I have a name, it's Shyfrost!"

"Well-" Apple Bloom got in between Shyfrost and Applejack, in order to speak up.

"AJ, why are ya bein so hostile to him? I'm sure it was just a misunderstanding. Now Shyfrost are you sorry for trying to steal from us?"

"Well...yes, I'm sorry but I only did it because I was literally starving to death," he said defensively.

"See, he's apologized. Now you apologize to our friend, big sis!"

Applejack said nothing and simply stared down the dragon with eyes filled with agression. She looked over to her sister and then back at her friends, their eyes appeared to be filled with pity. The mare only just realizing her mistake but Apple Bloom spoke up again.

"Remember when Zecora came to town? How everypony treated her like somethin to be avoided? I thought you'd of learned your lesson, sis!"

"Well..." Applejack froze to think about the situation at hoof, here she was getting angry in front of her little sister and friends and it wasn't even justified,"okay, you are not a liar, Shyfrost." The mare sighed and took a deep breath. "Also, I'm sorry for snapping at ya."

"Good, so can we be friends now? I'm getting kind of sick of all the town hating me..." he pointed out, twiddling his claws.

Her eyes widened in shock. "We don't hate ya, we-"

"Then how come most of the town seems to either ignore me or scowl at me?" The Cutie Mark Crusaders stared down at Shyfrost and then turned their gaze up to Applejack who seemed to wear a nervous smile.

"Alright, I guess around these parts folks are not as friendly as we used to be. Least the way I remember it when I was a filly. Ponyville were always friendly to strangers. Over time I guess folks just started becoming distrustful, and you would think after that thing with Zecora that they would be willing to accept another dragon. Anyway, I'm sorry if I've been so cold, Shyfrost. I would like it if we became friends," she finished with a smile.

"Okay, fine. I'm glad we can be friends too," he said while extended his right claw which she accepted with a touch. She left in a hurry, promising that she would bring him some juice.

"What in the hay was all that about?" Scootaloo asked.

"It's a long story, I'll explain later. But I think I may have found out what we can do on our crusade today," he said while digging out his pouch.

"YOU DID?!" All three screamed at the same time.

"Yeah, have you ever tried to get a cutie mark in research?"

"Yeah a dozen times, we've tried research into potions with Zecora, into history, into magic, into pegasus. We have tried to get a cutie mark in research plenty of times, why?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Well, earlier I asked Twilight about my amulet,"he said while showing it off to them,"and she claims it is nothing special, but I think it is... no I know it is. But I don't know where it came from exactly or why it does what it does."

"What does it do?" Scootaloo asked while poking it, she noticed the heat radiating from the gem.

"Ever since I came here it has been getting warmer and warmer for some reason. And I always felt it gave me strength to, um, do things."

He placed it in the center of the clubhouse for all of them to poke and prod. Sweetie Belle attempted to grasp it in her magic but for some reason the gem refused to cooperate despite it's small size.

"So you want us to research you're amulet?"

"Yep!" He exclaimed proudly.

For a second they all paused, outside Shyfrost heard Applejack comming back with the promised juice until she dropped it out of surprise.

"CUTIE MARK CRUSADER AMULET RESEARCHERS!

Chapter 10: The Amulet of...

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"Right, so should we start at the library?" Scootaloo asked while still prodding the amulet.

"Well, we could, but Twilight's not gonna be any help. She already thinks that it's just an amulet," Shyfrost exclaimed while picking it up and placing it back around his neck.

"Hmm, ah don't rightly know why she wouldn't think it's special. How can a amulet just feel warm all the time?" Apple Bloom questioned while pacing back and forth.

"I don't think stones are usually warm, right?" Sweetie Belle chimed in.

"I always just thought it was special and the, um, magic in it helped push me to do things like climbing that mountain to Canterlot."

"YOU CLIMBED THAT MOUNTAIN?!" All three screamed at him.

"Yeah, it's a long story, but if it can help me do stuff like that then it must be special, right?" All three simply stared at him and after a few seconds they nodded in agreement.

"Maybe Miss Cheerliee can help,! She owns plenty of books on history and rocks and crystals and stuff. Want to try her, Shyfrost?" Scootaloo asked and all three gave him a pleading look so he nodded, it did make more sense if the town's librarian was going to ignore them.

"Good idea, if we can't find anything then the library can be our last stop."

They set off for the school house, hoping to find their teacher. The sun was setting down for the day, but she was still there, grading papers. She did not expect to find four members of the Cutie Mark Crusaders come in after school.

"Girls! And Shyfrost, what can I do for you?" She questioned nervously, looking ready to jump out of her seat and run.

"We were wondering if you knew anything about amulet's and special crystals?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Yeah, Shyfrost's amulet is acting funny and we figured we could try and earn our cutie marks in research. So, do you know anything on the subject?" Scootaloo poked at his amulet again, making him swipe it away. Miss Cheerliee was caught off guard but seemed to calm down at the mention of the word research.

"So you are all just trying to learn? Well I would be happy to help and as luck would have it, I know quite a bit about special rocks, but first, can I see it?"

Shyfrost shrugged and placed his amulet on her desk and she began to examine it. After several moments she shrugged.

"I don't see anything funny about it, what has it been doing?"

"Try touching it," Shyfrost said while touching it himself. She complied and her face lit up in shock.

"Right, there is definitely something weird going on...let me try something," the normally perky teacher said while gently picking it up by its chain. She walked over to the class sink and started to rinse some water onto it, after several seconds she stopped. Touching it she found it was still quite warm.

"Scootaloo there should be several books just over there relating to crystals and special rocks. This calls for a real study session." She grabbed the books and all five of them immediately began to read, looking for any clues or hints that might help.

For the next couple of hours they began to study every known rock and crystal type and compared it to the amulet. With no luck they all but gave up, Scootaloo had half fallen asleep and Apple Bloom was busy trying not to fall asleep. Miss Cheerliee was helping a bit, but she mentioned that she had work to do and papers to grade, but they were welcome to stay until night. Shyfrost was still busy looking in one last book and failed to notice Sweetie Belle was busy looking into some over looked books. Before she could grab one she began to sneeze, in one loud burst her sneeze caused some magic to accidentally disburse from her horn, which knocked the entire pile of books to the ground. She gave a sheepishly smile and promised to pick them up but then she noticed one rather old looking book right in front of her, it was titled 'Legends and Myths'.

"Hey Shyfrost, what about this book? It looks promising," she exclaimed while flipping through to some random pages. He tossed his book and walked over.

"Well, maybe it can help but aren't legends usually fake?"

"The Elements of Harmony were supposed to be a legends and they exist, so maybe it mentions your amulet!"

They both shrugged and began to read, it mentioned all manner of various artifacts pertaining to things of legend and myth. Each and every one sounded more ridiculous in nature than the last. Some promising wishes and others pertaining to world domination. Eventually the book began to talk of legends without the aid of pictures, the book mentioned that this particular section had no references to draw from and details would be scarce with even names possible being false. Out of all of them, one in particular caught both of their eyes, 'The Amulet of UNKNOWN ( Real name lost to the ages )'.

The original origin of this strange amulet dates back to before the reign of the sun and moon Princess's. It is believed it, along with several other artifacts, were constructed by a now extinct race of unknown origin (or ponies). The function of these artifacts is still only seen as pure speculation. Most believe they were meant to bring about warfare in an effort to combat Discord, the lord of chaos, in order to maintain everlasting peace. However, most believe that claim to be false since the Elements of Harmony have resurfaced thus making the original function of the amulet and it's related artifacts to be entirely unknown or moot.

The amulet can be recognized only upon activation, it will become warm (more research is needed to confirm this). The warmth is pure speculation and does not dictate its nature or what it does. The last known location was near the site of 'The Great Dragon Migration', it's believed the mountains surrounding where the dragon's meet, quite possibly hold another artifact. Though if true, nopony has ventured far enough to find out...

"Well, there you go Shyfrost, I told you that amulet was special!" Sweetie Belle said while slamming the book down to wake up their friends.

"But that barely explains anything at all! It says the amulet of whatever get's warm like mine so I guess that must be it. But we still don't know what it does!"

"Hmm, ah don't know, Shyfrost. It says here it's linked to that dragon migration that's coming up," Apple Bloom said while catching up on their reading.

"Um, I don't think our parents are gonna let us just go off on an adventure to find those artifacts," Sweetie Belle said while looking extra tired.

Scootaloo immediately woke up at the mention of the word adventure. She grinned. "But that sound so cool! They gotta let us go!"

"I kind of want to go, but Sweetie is right. Any of our parent's wont just let us leave for something like that," Shyfrost exclaimed while sighing to himself. All three of them came to the same conclusion and did the same.

Miss Cheerliee wished them all good night and made them promise to return to their homes. They all agreed that they had at least found something about his amulet and they would continue to do more research on it based on their vague findings. They all left for their respective homes but Shyfrost decided to walk slower, he was lost in thought. He had read about the Dragon Migration before and he could of sworn he heard Spike mention it once. Going off to find the other dragons seemed inciting, sure, and in truth both Spike and Shyfrost wanted nothing more than to find their own kind. Even if the amulet hadn't been involved.

"There you are! I was getting worried when you didin't come home, where have you been?" The cream colored pegasus asked in a stern tone.

"Sorry, me and my new friends were out doing some research on my amulet. Oh, I'm also now a Cutie Mark Crusader, apparently."

She relaxed and sighed in relief on his declaration. "That was nice of them to let you join, I told you that in time you would make friends. But what is this about research?"

Shyfrost told her all about the amulet and what they found. It wasn't a long story but she listened all the same.

"Do you know anything about the Dragon Migration, Fluttershy?"

"I know a little, I believe we are all supposed to watch them fly over us soon. I know it only happens once in a blue moon. You are curious about your own kind, right?" A simple nod was all she got.

"I think Spike is too, but Shyfrost it's not like we can just let you both run off to meet some dragons."

"Why not? It's not like we wont come back or anything. We want to see dragons like us, it's not fair..."

Fluttershy knew the answer, of course: because it was extremely dangerous. She did not want to lose her dragon after everything had just been settled, but he did have a point. If Fluttershy was raised by dragons her whole life and had a chance to meet her own kind, she would probably want to go also. But saying yes just sounded too insane.

"I understand you and Spike want to see dragons and meet them, and find out about your amulet," she said and paused while he nodded with a smile," but it is just far too dangerous, I don't want to lose you, Shyfrost."

His smile faded, but he never expected her to say yes. Even though his amulet was driving him crazy, it was not enough to risk his life. Dragons were not at all that friendly, even to their own kind. But he wasn't about to give up on the idea, he had time.

The following weeks were spent going to school, studying with Twilight and getting into plenty of trouble with the Cutie Mark Crusaders. He had to give them credit for never giving up and they never needed an amulet to feel motivated. He tried his best to bond with Spike and, for a while, it was working, but soon it was clear that the purple dragon was starting to get lost in thought far more than he should be. He tried to confront him but Shyfrost already had a good idea on what was bothering him, the same thing that was bugging himself. One wanted to see dragons badly while the other one wanted to find out more about the amulet, both were similar goals.

After a couple of days of avoiding Spike he had finally had it. He already had a good idea on what to say to him and he knew that the Great Dragon Migration was coming up. He hated the thought of leaving Fluttershy but he wasn't going to be gone forever. Spike would come along even if Twilight said no, he figures. The only thing that had stopped him from asking recently was risking her rage. Twilight's rage was simply scary, if she did not want you to do something then the threat of her anger was enough to listen; except for mayte Rainbow Dash. And now he was about to take away her baby dragon on some wild adventure. I'm probably doomed... he thought with a gulp.

Feeling brave he decided to simply enter the library and ask Spike to talk in secret. Twilight was easy enough to foo, for a while, but if Spike was gone for too long and had no reason to, then she would suspect something was the matter. Fortunately he did not plan to keep his purple dragon friend that long, just enough to explain. He spotted him busy reading along with Twilight, but he knew that look. If one were to leave the other would not even notice, so without warning he grabbed Spike while placing his right claw over his mouth to stifle any noise and dragged him outside.

"Did you eat another bunny?" Spike asked in a sarcastic manner.

"That not funny, and no I wanted to have a quick chat with you, if that's okay?" Spike simple nodded.

"Look, don't think I haven't noticed how you keep spacing out. You keep thinking about the dragon migration, am I right?"

Spike looked at him dumbfounded but then let out a long sigh. "Yes, I know Twi would never let either of us go, but I wan't to see some dragons and I know that you do too!" Spike exclaimed in frustration.

"I do, but it's because of this," Shyfrost said while showing off his amulet," I know that Twilight thinks it is nothing important but me and the crusaders did some research a while back and found out something."

"What?"

And so Shyfrost exclaimed everything about the amulet, including the possible link to the migration.

"Well, so what, Fluttershy would never let you go and Twilight won't either."

"I never said anything about asking them," he paused to gauge his reaction which was strangely not as shocked as he would have originally guessed," after dark when we all finish watching the dragons fly over we can leave together."

"Shyforst, I dunno... Twilight would be so mad... and what about Fluttershy?!"

"Let them be mad and it's not like we will be gone forever. We can be gone long enough to meet some dragons and find out about my amulet. I'm sure, at the most it will take, two weeks. Hasn't this idea crossed your mind before?"

"Sure it has! But what if we get hurt? Or die! We may be dragons but were not full grown, we can't even fly!" Spike was clearly trying to talk his friend out of it, but Shyfrost was prepared for this.

"Fine! But next week I'm leaving, up to you if you want to come or not. If you do, meet me in the back of the cottage at midnight." He did not give him a chance to reply and simply stormed off back to Fluttershy's.

Spike sighed and was about to get lost in more thoughts to make his choice, but he knew that he made it the day that little dragon showed up. He would go with him to the ends of the planet and back.

One Week Later

"So are you ready to watch the dragon migration, Shyfrost?" The cream colored pegasus asked while packing up some supplies for a picnic.

"Yep! We're just going to the field so not much to pack."

"It's funny, if it wasn't for you, little one, and Rainbow Dash bugging me enough, I probably would not bother with watching them."

"Why?" Shyfrost was doing his best to remain calm and act natural. This was the last day he would have with her for a while after all. If all went as planned.

"To be honest, I have a fear of adult dragons, but I think after spending so much time with you that has changed. You may still be a little dragon but some day you will be huge and I will need to see through that," she said while smiling down at him.

The smile only succeeded in filling him with guilt. Still , it would pass in time, especially when he came back. Sighing to himself they set off for the outskirts of Ponyville. Twilight had set up a hidden trench for them to hide in, to watch the dragons over head. Everyone was there when they arrived including a half nervous looking and half annoyed baby purple dragon. They all waited for the dragons to fly over, but Shyfrost could tell that Spike was glaring daggers at him and only him.

Slowly hundreds upon hundreds of dragons of various sizes, colors and designs showed up all hovering above them. Everyone let out 'gasps' and 'awws' while they simply watched them overhead. The dragons tended to fight with one another but Shyfrost and Spike were not paying attention to that. Both the tiny dragons were mentally tracing their paths based on where the dragons were flying to. The path was both away from the Everfree Forest and away from Canterlot in an entirely different direction.

That's out path.

They waited there a whole couple of hours until the last of the dragons had vanished. With nothing else planned they all finished off their picnic and left for the town. Both dragons remained behind.

"Well?" Shyfrost asked in an almost menacing tone.

"Yes," was all Spike said while he stormed off. Shyfrost wanted to follow him but there was not much to say. They knew that packing light was necessary for their tiny forms and they already knew where to travel. So with that Shyfrost shrugged and decided to spend the rest of the evening with Fluttershy as he assumed that Spike was doing the same with his caretaker.

The remaining evening was spent helping Fluttershy with everything imaginable. She took note of his eager attitude and assumed something was up but she did not bother to ask. She did however notice that his amulet was still draped around his neck, lately he had been not 'using' it but now all of a sudden he was. Too many suspicions but she did not want to think ill of her little dragon. Night soon approached and they had decided to stay up until near midnight.

"Well, goodnight Shyfrost."

"Um, goodnight. Fluttershy?"

"Yes?" She asked giving him a warm smile.

Those eyes.

In those eyes he saw innocence but most important he noticed that it was love. It tripled his guilt on the spot and it hurt even more knowing that he couldn't say anything. Even the slightest hint and she would figure it out, with heavy mental sigh he choose to keep quiet on his plans.

"Um, never mind, good night Fluttershy!" His sincere smile and warm hug was enough to make her drop the subject. He waited to hear the sound of her quite snoring before he went to pack up his things.

Emptying his school saddlebag of any schooling supplies he began to fill it with some things he anticipated that they might need. A bag of any remaining pearls and some regular pony food. He borrowed some medical supplies from Fluttershy in case of an emergency. He shoved in his amulet and filled the rest of the bag with some sleeping supplies. He left a single note to Fluttershy, he felt that it was enough to comfort her but not enough to give it away.

Dear, Fluttershy

I'm sorry for leaving, but I swear i will be back soon.

Love, Shyfrost.

He draped the bag over his body and left the cottage as quietly as possible. To his surprise he sound Spike already waiting, he looked extremely nervous.

"Are you ready to go?"

"Yes, but first I want you to promise me something," Spike replied giving him a very serious glare.

"Um, okay what?"

"I'm doing this mostly because I don't want to lose you, Shyfrost. Yes, I'm curious and that is the only reason why I haven't told on you, but I need you to promise me that we will be coming back."

"Yes, I proi-"

"Look into my eyes and promise me," Spike grabbed his body and stared into his eyes.

"I-" he paused to gauge his emotions, Spike seemed very distraught. "I promise you Spike, we will be back."

Spike finally gave him a smile and released his death grip on him. Slowly they set off for the trench they all used before, it was from there that they would start their journey. They walked for a while in silence, Luna's moon shined the way.

"So did you leave a note for Twilight?"

"Of course I did! I just didn't say much...."

"Me either, just enough...."

Both dragons were now walking at a steady pace with their claws placed gently behind their heads. They turned to each other and smiled but then turned back to the unfamiliar road in front of them and frowned. The unnerving silence was not helping things, to Spike the creepy looking road was only slightly better than taking a stroll through the Everfree Forest. To Shyfrost it just felt weird, he had never been to this part of Equestria there were very little settlements.

"So, what do you expect to find with your amulet?"

"Honestly, I have no clue. The book mentioned that there were other artifacts too. Mine's still pretty warm..."

"I'm just in this to see dragons so, okay. Ohh and to make sure you don't get hurt," Spike replied nervously.

Shyfrost suddenly stopped walking. "Did I....Did I make you feel guilty for leaving?"

"Um, a bit yes. But mostly it's because I don't want to lose the only other dragon in Ponyville, you're a good friend. Even if the dragons we find turn out to be nothing like you, at least I'd still have, well .... you. If that makes any sense?"

"Yes, I didn't know I meant that much to you?"

"Ahh c'mon, of course you do! You are awesome, but you really need to loosen up around Ponyville," Spike said while giggling.

"I thought I had?"

"Getting into trouble with the crusaders doesn't count! I guess I just mean make more friends aside from those three, I mean you did listen to my advice about them and that's good. But now it's time to make the next step, well when we get back."

"Yeah, about that. How mad is Twilight and Fluttershy gonna be?" Shyfrost was surprised to find he sounded nervous.

"Fluttershy wont be mad, she will be frantic! Twilight on the other claw will be... pissed as Tartarus. In fact I'm sort of glad I'm not gonna be there to see her lose it... it won't be pretty, trust me!"

"Um, Spike, maybe it's a good idea to get as far away as possible as quickly as possible," Shyfrost replied while nervously looking back at the town that seemed to get much smaller.

"That is a really, really good idea," he replied and, to his surprise, he let out a laugh which he shared in. And with that they increased their pace. They both agreed they would travel for several hours and find a random clearing to camp at.

"Oh, crud! I forgot that Princess Celestia has a magical link with me, she can send me letters!"

"So? Can she use that to track us or something?"

Spike paused, stopped walking and then let out a nervous sigh. "Actually, no she can't. But I'm sure we will get a letter soon enough."

"That's not too bad, you can at least keep in contact with them. As long as you don't give away our position."

"Nah I won't, Twi is smart, but we can just reply with vague messages."

They traveled for several more hours until the path lead into a winding forest. They decided it was best to find a spot to camp for the rest of the night and travel as early as possible. Spike lit a fire for them after Shyfrost gathered up some sticks and rocks to make a fire pit. They both sat down to gather around the warmth to one realization, they were not the least bit tired.

"There's no way I'm gonna get any sleep tonight," Spike said while trying to massage his skull with his claws.

"I know what you mean, but it feels good to be outside again," Shyfrost exclaimed while looking up at the stars, he let out a long smile, Spike noticed this and grunted a bit.

"You okay?"

"Fine," he said while grunting but then his orange counterpart gave him a curious look so he continued, "I have never even been camping before Shyfrost. How am I supposed to survive out here? It might take us like two weeks to reach the migration spot!"

"I could teach you how to survive, it really isn't that bad or difficult." Spike looked at him and noticed the excited smile so he returned it and simply nodded.

"Sooo.... What was it like growing up with ponies?"

"Well I guess it was like any other foal pony growing up, well at first it was. Then I started to notice no other dragon's around and it became unnerving. I remember that day pretty good, one day I'm happy as can be and the next I'm questioning Twilight why I'm even...you know, living among ponies. It wasn't a fun week, but eventually she calmed me down. Still, it made me feel, for the first time in my life, lonely. But I act way more like a pony than a dragon, and even on your first day you mostly seemed to, if not a bit freaked out," he added while chuckling.

"I got attacked by Dash, and Rarity, and thrown onto AJ's back without warning on my first day, off course I was freaked out!"

"You should of seen the look on your face when I told you I lived with ponies," Spike said while he continued to giggle.

"You should of seen yours when I told you I lived in the forest!" he countered.

Spike huffed and crossed his arms. "Well, I never heard of such a thing before, what was it like anyway?"

"Definitively not as nice as Ponyville." He looked over at Spike and noticed he was giving him that 'go on' look so he gathered his thoughts to continue.

"Most of the time you need to be on the move, you can't stay in one place for too long. The Everfree likes to switch things around, almost like it's alive. Some days everything is fine and other's I would get a pack of timber wolves chasing after me," he paused to gauge his reaction which was shocked but he continued anyway," timber wolves are easy to lose, they can't climb trees." They both let out a tiny giggle.

"Some days I would find paths that I used to take had simply vanished, and I would be trapped outside of it, near other pony towns. Those were.... weird times to remember. With the exception of your town and I guess Canterlot, none of them treated me with respect and would often run me out, but I found ways to hide," he added in a menacing tone.

"Hide, how? It does suck that most towns don't treat us with respect, I love Ponyville but I just don't get why ponies fear dragon's so much!"

"Whoa calm down, but yes it's annoying. Anyway, I would often sneak into city buildings when they were closed. You know, public libraries, kind of where I learned to read and all. And I may have stolen a few things, like food," he said while smiling sheepishly.

"Fine by me! Well, if you need food then you need it!"

"Um, yeah, you sound kind of... bitter?"

Spike looked down at his claws and noticed he had them clenched in anger, he was also releasing fumes through his nose. So he took in few deep breathes to relax. "Sorry, it just reminds me of what Twilight warned me about back at the castle..."

"Warned you?"

"She said that even though ponykind are mostly trusting and tolerant, that doesn't mean that most won't be... well, stupid. Especially in crowds. Ponies have it good, they are peaceful and don't know war. That also means that they don't know strangers, sure, every once in a while a griffon or a minotaur shows up in towns, but that doesn't mean they are automatically treated like any other pony. So, Twilight warned me that trust must be earned and not .... well assumed. Sorry if that sounds rehearsed, but Twilight made me remember it like a million times, it did help in the end."

"But why does it have to be that way? Why do most pones have to be so... stupid?" Shyfrost had gathered up a few sticks and placed them back into the fire, it was starting to dim.

"I dunno, Princess Celestia has tried to make her subjects understand. But judging a book by its cover is a lot faster than striking up a conversation."

"Ponies are weird."

"Yes, but Ponyville is our home and at least they mostly understand."

"Fluttershy sure did," he replied while smiling warmly.

"Yeah she kind of surprised everyone by taking you in, I mean she is-"

"I know, afraid of dragons? She told me later but I wonder why?"

"Maybe she met a dragon before me and you? If so then he must of been mean or worse..."

"Well, I just hope the dragons we meet are a lot nicer than the one that tried to kill you," he chuckled to himself and then realized that Spike was giving him a serious glare.

"I'm not expecting them to be nice, Shyfrost."

"Then why even go? I want to find out about this amulet but you said you wanted to meet dragon's. Why go if you know they will just be... well mean?"

Spike paused and was searching for the right words, he couldn't think of any so he decided to be blunt. "Well I already told you, because of you. But it's also something I have been meaning to do for a while, but I knew that Twi would never and I mean ever let me go in a million years. I always wanted to go out there and find my parents, clearly some dragon laid my egg and your egg... but you leaving gave me an excuse to just go for it."

"I guess finding either of our parents would be nice..." he trailed off not wanting to admit to certain feelings that he knew Spike was feeling as well.

"Yes, it would be nice. Do you ever think about that kind of stuff?"

"I used to, but I mostly just shrug it off. Plus Fluttershy is a good, um, mother."

"You don't need to be embarrassed, although I stopped calling Twilight my mom months ago, I think it bugged her when I stopped."

"Then, keep doing it?"

"When I see her again...I'll think about it. But we should at least try and get some sleep." Spike gathered up his sleeping bag and Shyfrost did the same. They both climbed in and stared up at the stars while listening to the crackling fire die down.

"Goodnight Shyfrost."

"Goodnight Spike."

Goodnight Twi

Chapter 11: Worlds Apart

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Twilight awoke that morning feeling more tired than she could ever remember being in her life. An unintended consequence of this was that she noticed nothing out of place. Her slow descent on the stairs and her even slower determination to make her own breakfast was the same as always, same routine. Same owl was waiting to greet his master. Same books waiting in the spot she left them. Same study materials spread out across her desk. Same baby dragon assistant still sleeping upstairs, awaiting his surrogate mother to kick the laziness out of him. And, last but not least, the same note waiting in her usual breakfast spot to be read before eati-

Wait? Note?

She tore it open and began to read.

Dear Twilight,
I'm sorry for leaving, I really am. But I had to, I will be back soon enough.
Love, Spike.

The note was so simple that it left far too many questions. Gears slowly turned in her mind as she tried desperately to place the pieces together through her sleep-induced haze. Spike had left, but where and why? Her first thought was to Rarity's boutique, it made perfect sense. But the way the letter was worded was far too vague, far too dark. Soon enough? Her second conclusion was running away for a day, just to go off by himself, but logic quickly shut down that option. Running away, permanently, was her final conclusion, but it didn't make any sense.

Loud knocks had interrupted her thoughts. They seemed quick and frantic, yet almost gentle. When Twilight opened the door, a cream colored pegasus burst in. It was very unlike her friend's usual mannerisms, but it happened none the less.

"TWILIGHT! Have you seen Shyfrost?!"

Twilight's eyes twitched almost out of her own sockets. He didn't. He couldn't have. But it now all made perfect sense, everything clicked into place in one soul shattering moment. They were both gone, they both left notes, and they both were dragons. Her world came crashing down as the only possible conclusion showed through. The dragon migration. Spike's odd behavior lately. Everything made sense now. She felt only one thing: anger. The worst thing, though, was she wasn't sure who to be angry with. Her first instinct was her number one assistant, Spike. But no, not her innocent Spike. He was obviously the victim in all of this. Shyfrost was her next target. He had gone with Spike, but because she didn't know the reason why, she had assumed it was wanting to meet other dragons, which obviously Spike wanted as well. Finally, there was Fluttershy. She had been entrusted to take care of Shyfrost and now she had lost him. Twilight was about to lash out at her friend when she suddenly realized that she had done the exact same thing.

She took a deep breath to clear her mind. “No,” she said slowly, "but I think I have a very good idea where they are." She levitated her note over to Fluttershy, who read it in horror.

"THE MIGRATION! Twilight, we have to go after them!"

Twilight was now in even more shock. Fluttershy, the last pony she would have expected to want to get close to dragons, was now spearheading the decision to go. Was Fluttershy's logic of going after their children strong enough to overcome her fear? Something still seemed like it was missing. Still, Twilight took a deep breath and agreed.

"We need to gather the girls and send a letter to Celestia, she has direct contact with Spike. She can't track them, but it might help." They both nodded and left to group up with their friends, both silently praying that their two dragons had not gone far.

"So, when do you think they'll put it all together?" Shyfrost asked as both dragons trudged along a winding path that, much to their displeasure, seemed to be leading them uphill.

"I don't know, but when they do know, we'll know," Spike said in a nervous voice.

"Celestia?"

"Celestia."

They had been traveling for several hours, neither saying much. The silence unnerved both of them, and they knew that one of them would need to break it. Spike was just waiting for the letter he knew was coming. His fear was overwhelming his logic. Logically, he knew that no letter could track them or hurt them, but he didn't care. Somewhere in the deep recess of his mind, he knew that somehow Twilight's rage could reach him no matter how far away she was. Shyfrost looked over at his companion and noticed his shuddering while he seemed to be deep in thought. Taking a guess, he spoke up.

"Are you really that afraid of Twilight and her anger?"

Spike stopped walking for a moment and considered the question. Then, without warning, he let out a laugh. "I've known Twilight my whole life. If there's one thing she's bad at, it's keeping calm under stress. Still, I wish she wouldn't lose it so much.” He paused briefly. “Especially at me."

"At you? I did notice her anger when we returned from the Everfree. That was pretty scary."

Spike sighed. "I'm her number one assistant, but when I screw up, she lets me have it. What you saw after the Everfree trip was her remaining calm. So trust me when I say that when she finds us, and she will, it's not going to be pretty,” he finished grimly, something that the orange dragon easily noticed.

"There something you wanna talk about?" Shyfrost tiled his head to the side, betraying his curiosity.

"No, why do you say that?"

"Well, when you were talking about Twilight you were speaking in this sort of dark and creepy sounding voice. So I just figured, maybe you're having problems?"

Spike glared at him for a moment, but then his ears drooped and he sighed in defeat. "Lately Twi has been acting harsh when it comes to giving me chores. This was just before you showed up, so it's been going on for a while. At the castle, we acted like brother and sister, or for the most part, mother and son. But ever since she got to Ponyville and started with those 'friendship lessons',”--here he made derogatory air quotes--“she has been acting less friendly to me, and started treating me more like a servant."

Both of them cringed at the last word. It sounded wrong .

"Have you tried talking to her about it? That sounds kind of bad, dude." Shyfrost gave him a smile at the end, but he still looked at him in concern.

"No, I was just kind of hoping that she would grow out of it. I thought it was just a phase; she was just getting busy making new friends. After all, this is the first time that she has had real friends outside of her family. So I figured it was best to just leave it be and suck it up."

Shyfrost stopped walking and stared at him for a moment. He cocked his head in confusion. "Spike," he said, bringing the other dragon to a stop,"That's just stupid."

"What?!"

"Not talking about your problems doesn't solve them.” Shyfrost laid a gentle claw on Spike's shoulder. “I understand that you don't want to get in the way of her and making new friends, but if she is neglecting her old ones, then you really ought to say something. Even if that old friend is you. It doesn't make you selfish."

Spike nodded, a slow smile spreading across his face. "You're right. When I get that letter, I think I'm going to write one of my own!"

The two started walking again, until Shyfrost spoke again. "You think telling her how you feel will calm her down when she finally catches up?" he asked hopefully.

"Not in the slightest."

"Spike!" Twilight called up to the library, only to facehoof at her own mistake. Her gathered friends all threw questionable looks her way.

"Um, he left, remember? Do you always call Spike like that?" Fluttershy tilted her head to the side, making her look innocent. She was still frowning, but trying very hard to control herself.

"Not always, no. I'm just stressed, okay?" Twilight spat.

Fluttershy simply nodded and thought it best to drop that subject.

"Okay, so what exactly is going on? You said they both just ran for it? What for?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"We don't have much time, so I'll give the short version. Spike has been acting quite odd lately, he keeps losing himself with daydreams. The Dragon Migration was the final straw, and I think he has been longing to be with his own kind. That goes for Shyfrost, too. But right now, we need to focus. Dash, you're the fastest, and I need you to fly a letter to Princess Celestia right away!"

"Why her? Shouldn't we be looking for them?" Rainbow asked, even as she flared her wings and prepared for flight.

"The princess has a direct connection to Spike. We can't track them with it, but she can send letters to him and he can reply. I've already written one out, so please hurry," Twilight said, handing her a letter.

"Can do! Be back soon!" With that, she kicked a window open and flew out so fast that several books fell from their places in the shelves.

Twilight's right eye twitched, but she let it slide. She turned back to the rest of the group. "The rest of you, I can't ask you to come with and risk your lives or anything, but Fluttershy and I will be leaving in twenty minutes to go find them. They will likely be at the dragon migration spot."

Rarity waved a graceful hoof. "Say no more, dear. If my Spikey is out there, scared, I would be happy to help return him home. I can't say the same for Shy-"

"Rarity!" Twilight shouted, gesturing to the shocked expression on Fluttershy's face.

"Oh, I'm sorry, it's just he did freeze over my horn!"

"HE WHAT?!” Twilight yelled in surprise.

Rarity dropped into a slight pout. "Well, I was not going to say much. It wasn't a pleasant day..."

"Shoot, Rarity how'd you unfreeze it?" Applejack wanted to know.

"I waited," she replied, grumbling darkly to herself.

Everypony blinked. Had Rainbow Dash been there, she would probably have snickered; but since she was not, there was merely an awkward silence.

"Let's put that aside for now, but Fluttershy, when this is all over, we are going to have a little talk with Shyfrost."

Fluttershy nodded, doing her best to look stern, but just coming off as neutral.

Applejack raised a hoof. "Ah reckon Ah can come along. Spike's my friend, too, and so is Shyfrost."

Pinkie's eyes lit up brightly. "Oooooo! This will be like an adventure! We're gonna see dragons and other ponies and-"

It fell upon Applejack to rain on her parade. "I don't think any other dragons will be all that excited to see ya, sugarcube."

"Why not?" Pinkie Pie tilted her head to the side, a perfectly innocent expression on her face. As one, her friends shook their heads.

"Pinkie, you've seen other dragons and how they act, what makes you think the ones on the migration will be any better?"

"Oh, those were meanie pants. They can't all be that way, right?" She looked at each of her friends, who were all giving her uneasy looks and nervous smiles. Pinkie's smile wavered briefly. "Right?"

Twilight took control. "We need to hurry. I'll leave a note for Dash, and she can catch up with us later. Are you all in this?"

They all nodded and gathered up their saddlebags. When all were ready, Twilight led the charge. "Okay, let's go get our dragons back!"

"YEAH!"

"Spike, we've been walking for hours. How long until we get to the Drakenridge Mountains?"

Spike gave Shyfrost an annoyed glare and rolled his eyes dramatically. "I don't know, and I didn't know the last time we checked the map, and I probably won't know the next time you ask, either.” Spike paused to take a quick glance at his surroundings. “It should be soon, though. It's getting colder out."

Shyfrost glared up at the sun, it was still midday. He had to admit for a sunny spot in the forest it was getting colder. Not that he minded, of course. "Well, sorry, I guess I'm bored."

"Yeah? Well...” Spike's little rant was interrupted by a terrific *BELCH*, and a large parchment came out of Spikes mouth engulfed in green flames. It landed on the ground between both of them, as if challenging them. Both just stared at it, neither willing to move. Finally, Spike picked it up and nervously began to read.

Dear Spike and Shyfrost,
Although I fully understand Twilight's and Fluttershy's reasoning for trying to find you, I cannot in good conscience aid them in their efforts. I can fully understand wanting to be with your own kind, even if it is only for a while. I knew that, living among ponies your entire life, the day would come when you, Spike, questioned why that was. Wanting to see another dragon is entirely understandable, and the same goes for you, Shyfrost. Keep in mind that dragons can be temperamental, so please exercise caution when attempting to approach any and all, regardless of size.
Although this might seem like good news, I will also not aid you in hiding. As you already know, Twilight and Fluttershy are on their way to find you, and I do not doubt that their friends are with them. If I were you two, I would make haste to the migration, for it will be over soon and Rainbow Dash is one fast pony.
Good luck, you two.
[signed]
Princess Celestia

They looked at each other and let out a huge sigh of relief, which broke into giggling when they realized that Celestia would not be coming after them. After a moment of resting, they thought back to one line they had read about Rainbow Dash.

"Um, how fast is she exactly?" Shyfrost questioned, casting a nervous glance up at the sky.

"She can perform a Sonic Rainboom," Spike answered. He paused when he noticed the confused expression on his friend's face, and translated,"It's close to 700 miles per hour. Twilight calculated."

Shyfrost shook his head. "We can't outrun her. We still have time for the migration, but we need a better way of hiding."

"I got nothing; but once we reach that mountain, it should be far more difficult for her to fly. Snow tends to do that to pegasus ponies."

"Let's just hope that Twilight and her friends are far behind," Shyfrost said. They both nodded and continued onto the path to the mountains.

"Twilight, are you sure I can't just fly up and try and spot em?" Rainbow Dash flew up in front of her friend, giving her a confused and incredibly impatient look.

"I'm sorry, Dash. As much as that would solve the problem, it's getting dark and cold. We can't risk your wings icing up."

Rainbow threw her hooves up in frustration. "Oh, c'mon! That rarely happens to us pegasus ponies, right, Fluttershy?"

"Oh, um, actually, Rainbow, it's quite common for wings to freeze up in these situations. And even if you could generate enough heat, there's still the problem with blizzards and maneuvering through them."

"I knew that! But wait, there's no blizzard! What are you talking about?!"

"Well, not right now, obviously,” Twilight said, “but we're nearing the Drakenridge Mountains, and they're notorious for snowstorms. They're probably already there. Besides, above all, we need to stick together, Dash," Twilight exclaimed.

"Fine,” Rainbow grumbled, dropping back to the ground. “I still think you're making a mistake, though."

Pinkie appeared and gave Rainbow a hug, which the pegasus did not appreciate. "Ahh, c'mon, listen to Twilight. She's super duper smart, and I think she knows what she's talking about."

"I have to agree with Pinkie, and sticking together out in these woods is our best course of action. Celestia knows what is out there!" Rarity shuddered at the thought.

Applejack rolled her eyes. "Ah'm sure whatever's out there is not that much trouble."

The group of mares had been traveling for several hours. The woods they found themselves in were not as unnerving or unnatural looking as the Everfree. However, it was far from any settlement. They were traveling at a brisk pace, Twilight insisting that they do not over exert themselves as to conserve energy.

"Do you think Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle will be okay at your place, Applejack?"

"I'm sure they'll be fine.”

Rarity paused. “My Sweetie Belle is in good hooves with your brother, right?"

Applejack nodded proudly. "Big Mac may be thickheaded every once in a while, but he knows how to foalsit."

"Right, once again I must apologize for dropping her off. Mother insisted that they were going on vacation this week. Did you explain to your sister why you had to leave?"

Applejack started to sweat, which was quite the accomplishment in such cold weather. "Uhh... Ah may have stretched the truth a bit. If'n mah sister knew that her friend had run off, they might try and go after 'em."

"Makes sense to me. Those fillies have guts, but they sure know how to get into trouble," Rainbow Dash giggled.

Twilight broke in. "Speaking of sense, has your Pinkie Sense gone off at all?"

"Mhhhhh," Pinkie Pie paused and checked her body all over. “Nope! Maybe they're too far away?"

"They couldn't've gone that far. I'm sure will find them." Twilight smiled with hope, making them all beam while they continued their journey.

"Big Mac, you said that AJ was off on a business trip, but she never does that! And Sweetie Belle said that her sister had the same excuse! What's going on?" Apple Bloom glared at her brother, who was stammering rapidly, trying to come up with a useful excuse. He looked over at Sweetie Belle who was smiling away but quickly changed to a scowl when she noticed Apple Bloom's expression and attempted to mimic her.

"Well, Ah..."

"And Twilight and Pinkie went missing, did they all go?" Sweetie Belle mentioned, which just added more fuel to Apple Bloom's fire.

"Um..." C'mon, think of something! Wait... "Hey, girls, we've been needin' help on the farm. Since AJ is missin', you two could maybe earn your cutie marks."

"REALLY?!" They both squealed in delight.

Works every time.

"Hey, wait a minute, stop tryin' t' distract us. Now where did they go to?"

Big Mac sighed and decided the truth was his best option. "Look, yesterday those two dragons up and skipped town. They're headed after that dragon migration, so-"

"Twilight and Fluttershy and her friends decided to chase after them?"

"Yeah, but-"

"We have to go after them!" Apple Bloom proclaimed.

Big Mac gave his little sister a menacing look. "NO! It's too dangerous to-"

"But Shyfrost's our friend! Spike too!"

"No, an' that's final." With that, Big Mac left the room, with every intention of returning to ensure his word was, in fact, final.

Sweetie Belle turned to Apple Bloom and spoke in a low whisper. "We're going after them right?"

"'Course we are,” Apple Bloom whispered back. “We just need to go get Scoots and gather some supplies."

"What about your brother?"

"Ah, he's easy to sneak by. Plus, with Scootaloo and her scooter, we should be able to outrun him." Satisfied with their plan, they both nodded and hurried off to find their friend.

"And that's how I tricked that group and took the place of 'their little precious filly'," a snickering voice said to his allies as they trudged along a path in an open forest. A group of five ponies, all earth ponies walking along. Most were laughing along with his friend while one remained silent through out.

"Oh wow, that was a good way to do it. I swear, there are ponies out there that are too submissive, but sometimes you run into a group-

"Family," a voice interrupted which caused them all to stop walking and glare at the stallion in the back.

"What was that?"

"You keep referring to ponies when they are living together as groups, but the correct term is family," the voice said in a matter-of-fact voice.

"Whatever." The first speaker rolled his eyes, but continued, "sometimes you run into families of ponies that are so easy to trick. I swear, sometimes I even wonder why we do it like this."

"What do you mean?" another voice questioned.

"You know exactly what I mean!” the first voice said. “We work in these small groups for the kingdom, biding our time until we strike. We then collect all the magic we need to save up in order to 'play our part' for the royal pain in my flank. We don't need to serve her or our kingdom. If we do this on our own, then we can have more than enough for the five of us. What's she gonna do if we go rogue? NOTHING!"

The group stopped walking again as they pondered his words. Slowly, they all came to the same conclusion, but it was the voice that spoke up that shocked them all.

"I think I agree with you. I-"

"You?! You out of everyone here actually agrees with me?!"

"Well, yes. I-"

"You never agree with me,” the first voice accused. “Like when you stopped us from breaking into that one house."

"Well, I still say that was uncalled for-"

"And you stopped us with our first assignment!"

"It was going over the line!"

"Whatever. I think I'll just take this as a win. Do we all agree to go rogue?"

They all somberly nodded.

"Wonderful, now that..." He trailed off when he heard some voices off in the distance, they all looked at each other to make sure they all still looked presentable.

"So what do gems taste like, anyway?" The duo had been walking for hours, trying to pass the time with whatever they could think of. After all, there's only so many times you can play I Spy in a forest.

"Which gem? Blue ones are my favorite! I guess they kind of taste like a mix of blueberries and cupcakes."

"Green gems?"

"More like grapes, but sort of tingly, like sour candy."

"Red?"

"Spicy cherries."

"My amulet?"

"Oh, that one was nasty!" Spike shuddered.

"I knew it!” Shyfrost said. “I knew somedragon tried to eat this!"

Spike smiled sheepishly at his friend. "I'm sorry, all I did was try and lick it. Sorry."

Shyfrost sighed. "It's fine, just don't do it again!" He replied so sternly that he failed to notice that Spike had stopped in his tracks. He was staring at a group of five earth ponies. Shyfrost finally caught sight of them and froze as well. The group suddenly huddled into one group, causing the dragons to share glances of confusion.

The other five ponies, however, were sharing more than confusion.

"What are two dragons doing this far out?! They're dangerous!"

"They are but baby dragons, how can they be that dangerous?"

"Haven't you heard the legends?! They say that any dragon can suck all the emotion out of you in a heartbeat! We need to leave now!"

"Guys, seriously, I expected this kind of stupidity but this? I mean-" The pony looked around and saw no sign of his traveling companions. He looked behind him and saw them fleeing in terror, he wanted to follow them, but, if he had to be honest, it was for the best. He sighed and turned his attention to the two waiting dragons.

"Um, hi?" he started awkwardly.

The two dragons approached the stallion, hoping to start a conversation. Instead Shyfrost stopped walking as he felt more heat flare from his amulet. He looked down at his chest to examine it. At the same time, the stallion looked back at his flank curiously, as if examining something else.

"Huh?" came two voices, one from Shyfrost and the other from the mysterious stallion.

"Something wrong, dude?" Spike asked, gently nudging his friend in the side.

"Wha-? Oh, I don't think so, but my amulet is acting funny again," he replied, and then turned his attention back to the stallion. "Hi, I'm Shyfrost, and this is my friend Spike." He gestured to his friend and gave a warm smile to the stallion.

"Hello," was his simple reply as he carefully examined the two dragons.

"That's pretty strange. You don't have a cutie mark, and you're all grown up! What the hay?" Spike walked up to the stallion to inspect his flank and, sure enough, it was blank.

"Well, um, young dragons, what do you know about Changelings?"

"Change-lings? Doesn't ring a bell," Shyfrost said, scratching his head.

"I've heard of them. One night Twilight did a study paper on them. But they're supposed to be evil? I think?"

The stallion raised an eyebrow. "Evil is such a strange word. From the changelings' point of view, they see the ponies as evil. From the ponies' point of view, they see us as evil. Both definitions can't be right."

"Wait," Spike paused and looked into the stallion's eyes. "So, you're saying that you are a changeling?"

"Well, yes. Is that a problem?"

"Um, do you plan on stealing our love and hurting ponies?" Spike asked sarcastically.

"No, I don't do anything of the sort." Well, not lately. And I wanted to turn over a new leaf, so there's no need for these boys to know that.

"Then, no, I guess there is no problem. But aren't you supposed to look...well... black colored and all?" Spike waved his claws in the air to gesture all over his body. The changeling took a moment to realize what he meant, having momentarily been confused by the dragon's calm demeanor when dealing with his species. 'Maybe it's a pony thing?' he wondered. 'Always screaming in terror.'

"Oh, right. That." The changeling concentrated and slowly some green flames enveloped his entire body. Spike noticed that while being near him, he felt no burn or even any heat. His body changed from a generic red color to a black one with full insect wings and a horn. They both gawked in awe.

"That was so cool!" Shyfrost ran up to him and started talking excitedly. Spike noticed that he certainly wasn't living up to his name right now. "I mean, wow, can you actually change into anypony? Or just that red one? And you have both magic and you can fly?" Shyfrost's claw found its way onto one of his wings and he gently tried to open it up, completely ignoring the changeling's personal space. The very second his claw came into contact with the wing, his amulet began to glow. Spike looked at his amulet but then his eyes found its way onto the changeling's side. To his astonishment, his right wing was glowing. All Spike could do was wordlessly point, trying to get his attention.

"What?" The changeling looked down at his wing and was amazed to see what was happening. His horn glowed green, and he took out a volcanic chipped glass that was roughly the shape of a heart.

All three looked from the glowing amulet to the volcanic glass, back and forth before the changeling spoke up.

"Ok, I'm confused. Why is that amulet of yours glowing, and why is my lucky charm doing the same?"

"I dunno, maybe your rock thing is another artifact!" Spike gave Shyfrost a quizzical glare, as did the changeling. Shyfrost saw their looks of confusion and explained, "Oh, well, I wanted to find out more about this amulet while we travel to the migration. The book me and the crusaders found said that when my amulet comes into close contact with other 'artifacts', we will know some how that they are connected in a way. It said something about them being warm, but this thing is always warm, but now it's super warm!"

The changeling decided to check his. It, too, was incredibly warm to the touch. "But what do they do?" he wondered.

"I have no idea,” Shyfrost confessed. “It said there were rumors that they were used to fight Discord, but that's probably not true."

"Odd... Well, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Shadow Mirror. It's nice to meet you both."

"Same. Um, do you mind if I see your glass thing?" Shyfrost asked. The changeling nodded and used some of his magic to gently place it down on his claw. Shyfrost slowly moved the piece of glass towards his amulet, pushing them together. Just before they touched, he noticed that both were now pulsating, almost violently. He looked back at his two allies and they shrugged. He continued pushing. They were forcing themselves apart like magnets, but by sheer force, Shyfrost managed to get them to touch. The second they touched, both Shyfrost and Shadow Mirror felt something pulsating inside of them. Shyfrost felt warmer but oddly more determined to carry out his mission of both finding dragons and discovering the secret of amulet. Shadow Mirror however, felt tingly but also well fed, like he had been gorging on the emotion that kept him alive for days.

Just as quickly as the feeling came, it stopped. They both looked at each other and then blinked.

"Wow," was all Shyfrost could say.

The changeling, however, had a million questions. "Okay, time out. Maybe we need to start from the beginning and have a long chat." The two dragons shared a look and slowly nodded. They walked out away from the road to find a clearing. Slowly, they began to share their stories with one another.

Chapter 12: Strange Bedfellows

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Shadow Mirror, Shyfrost and Spike sat around a campfire, trying to get each other up to speed on their stories. The changeling listened intently to both of theirs before deciding to give his out. If he had to be honest with himself, he found both stories quite fascinating, especially for one that has lived in the changeling kingdom his entire life. As an infiltrator species, they are often taught at quite the young age that ponies—and any race that associates with them—are, in fact, evil; something that never quite sat right with him. How can an entire race just be considered evil? To him, it sounded like something out of a bad story; and, judging by the adventures he was hearing, it was. He hung on their every word until they were both out of things to say.

"So you have always had your amulet with you, Shyfrost?" the changeling questioned, levitating his own possession in the air.

"Pretty much. How about you?"

"Oh, I found it in the Badlands one day."

"What are the Badlands?"

"That is where the Changeling Empire is located. Kind of a desolate place, if you ask me, but it's home.” He paused briefly. “Well not anymore..."

Shyfrost leaned forward. "You okay?" he asked. Both dragons had noticed the changeling mumbling and trailing off at the end of his sentence.

"Huh? Oh yeah fine, I guess I kind of just realized that I don't have a home now. That kind of blows."

"Ah, I'm sure you can find a home in Ponyville, you seem like a nice changeling, right Spike?"

"Um, I don't know dude. Not that I don't like you, Shadow Mirror, but... I've never seen a changeling in any pony settlement, ever."

Shadow Mirror smiled slyly. "Oh, I don't doubt that you have never seen one of us in our real forms, but for each pony city or town, there are at least a few infiltrators."

"What are those?"

"They, um, their job is to replace a pony in order to store up love." Noticing their shocked faces, he quickly explained, "but we don't keep the ponies, and I have never gone that far! I mean, our species needs emotions like love to survive, and ponies aren't exactly on speaking terms with changelings, so we have to improvise."

"Have you ever hurt a pony?" Spike stood up and glared at him, betraying his anger.

"No! I personally choose to try and earn my love. I still need to copy ponies and trick their friends and families, but I don't hurt ponies to do it. The way I do it is a lot riskier, and I have been caught on a few occasions, but I usually just get some love and move on before they know what happened."

Spike sat down, still distrustful but calmer now. "Well, okay, as long as you don't foalnap any ponies or anything."

"No, I don't need to. I mean, hell, the friendship I can feel from you two is more than enough to keep me going for now."

Both dragons looked at each other and then shrugged.

The changeling didn't seem to notice. "So, what do you think about these artifacts? I mean, when you touched them, it was like I had gotten all the love in the world. It felt amazing!"

"I felt like getting up and running straight to the migration without taking a break. I knew there had to be something to my amulet.” Shyfrost turned to Spike and smirked. “See, Spike? This proves that Twilight doesn't know everything.”

Spike rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Artifacts or no, we still need to get to the dragon migration.” He paused as a new thought occurred to him. “Do adult dragons like changelings?"

"Not particularly, no. But I can't just leave you two, I mean what happened back there was incredible! No, I'm going with you! That is, if you will have me?"

Both dragons felt confused. A fully grown changeling was asking their permission to tag along, when they had never had the intention of dumping him. They both shrugged and Spike spoke up.

"Sure, I guess. Oh, but I feel we should warn you..." Spike looked over at his friend, who finished speaking for him.

"Yeah, we may have some ponies looking for us. We're runaways. They are pretty speedy. Plus, Twilight can get very, very angry."

"Hey, no sweat,” Mirror scoffed. “We changelings are pros at hiding in plain sight. How many ponies are we talking here?"

"Well, we know that Twilight and Fluttershy will be going. Oh, and Princess Celestia said something about Rainbow Dash, so at least three that we know of."

The changeling did a double take. "You said princess? Is she after you two?!"

"Oh, no. Here, read the letter,” Spike said, giving it to him.

They waited for him to finish reading it, and when he did, he sighed in relief.

Shyfrost continued, “She won't be after us, but they will. I would say at least six will be after us, though.”

"You really think they will all come? Even Rarity?!" Spike asked, with a bit more excitement in his voice than he intended.

"I think so, yeah. Why do you care about Rarity that much?"

Spike blushed for a moment and then shook his head. "N-nothing, it's nothing. Look, how can we hide, anyway? We all kind of stick out, dude."

The changeling laughed. "Hiding isn't all about looks; it's about monitoring your surrounding environment, about always watching the skies, and listening for the smallest sounds. If you both want to hide from these ponies, then you need to do what I do and listen to what I say." Both dragons somberly nodded at this. It was not like they had any other plans. Plus Twilight's rage scared them into submission, just thinking about it put both of them on edge, especially Spike.

"Good. Now, who are we dealing with here? What can these ponies do, exactly?"

"Do?"

"What are they good at, their skills, abilities, magic? You know?"

"Oh," Spike said while trying to come up with a mental list,"let's see, Twilight is the student of the princess and knows an insane amount of magic."

"Does she know any violent magic?"

Spike looked disgusted, like he had just insulted her. "Of course not,” he said, crossing his arms and sticking his tongue out in disgust. “Only the most despicable pony imaginable would ever learn that stuff."

"Um, yeah,” the changeling agreed. “I mean, I don't know any of those spells either, obviously. That'd be pretty ridiculous."

Spike gave him a questionable look, but then shrugged.

Trying not to show his relief, Shadow Mirror nodded. "Right, so Twilight is their caster, we need to watch out for her. What else we got?"

"Fluttershy. She takes care of me. She is a pegasus but can't fly as fast as Rainbow Dash from what I've heard," Shyfrost said. Spike nodded to confirm his statement.

"Two pegasus ponies, okay. Anyone else?"

"There's Pinkie, she has that party cannon of-"

"A cannon?!"

"Yeah, somehow she carries it around. Don't ask, but I'm sure it can do some damage. And finally there's AJ, she can kick pretty hard and lasso anything."

The changeling nodded as he digested this new information. "All right, then. Who is their leader?"

Both dragons looked at each other and answered in union.

"Twilight." "Fluttershy."

They both looked at each other. Shyfrost was the first to speak.

"Fluttershy is way more brave than the rest!" Shyfrost demanded.

"No, Twilight always goes headfirst with their gang. She's the leader!"

"Fluttershy!"

"Twilight!"

“Fluttershy!”

“Twilight!”

"HEY!" Both were outshouted by the changeling. "What I mean is, who is the more dominant one?"

They both gave each other another glance and Shyfrost sighed and answered. "Twilight," he said dryly.

"Thank you,” he said. “She is the one we need to watch out for, and maybe I can use her to our advantage..."

"Shadow Mirror?" Spike said hesitantly. Their new friend's menacing voice had sent a chill up his back.

"Listen in, guys, here's what we're gonna do!"

"Sweetie Belle, are you sure your sister is okay with this?" Scootaloo asked, looking around the definitely closed Carousel Boutique. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo stood by the side as Sweetie Belle attempted to search for something.

"Yes, I'm sure,” Sweetie Belle reassured her friend. “We're just going to borrow some bits for our trip. We need to eat, don't we?"

"Well, duh, but isn't this, I dunno... stealing?"

"Nah, we're just borrowing them. I'll pay her back, somehow." She quickly turned back to rummaging around in a previously locked chest.

"Ah dunno, Sweetie Belle. Stealin' is wrong, and AJ told me never to steal!"

"Borrow!” Sweetie corrected from inside the chest. “We're borrowing. And besides, didn't she tell you that lying was wrong?"

"Course she did! She's the Element of Honesty, after all!"

"And what did she do just before she left on her trip?"

They both looked at each other and then back to Sweetie Belle and said the same thing in union. "She lied!"

"Exactly. I'm not saying that stealing is right, but we need it to go on the trip; and besides, my sister makes plenty of bits. She can make it all back. I think."

"Well, I guess since they did lie to us, it's okay to borrow the bits," Scootaloo exclaimed while helping her look.

"Exactly," she paused and then her face lit up when she found a jar being covered by some clothes. “Here we go! This should be enough, right?"

"That's plenty. Okay, we all ready for the trip?" The three of them nodded but then Scootaloo noticed a label on the jar.

"Hey, Sweetie Belle, what does 'a rainy day' mean?"

All three tilted their heads to the side to read the message: For a rainy day. Keep out, Sweetie Belle.

Sweetie Belle had a sudden image of her sister trying to use the coins as an umbrella. She shrugged. "I dunno. So, are we ready, girls?!"

"YEAH!"

They all took a deep breath.

"CUTIE MARK CRUSADER ADVENTURERS! YAY!"

"AH!"

All six mares gasped when they heard the cries of their friend. Everypony turned to Rarity, who was grasping her throat.

"Rarity, what's wrong?" Twilight asked, walking up to check on her friend.

"I don't know,” Rarity replied shakily. “I just felt a disturbance deep down. Almost as if a part of me went missing..."

"Rarity, stop being so dramatic. You're fine!" Rainbow Dash said, a hint of annoyance in her voice.

She grunted but said nothing in return.

"We need to keep going, girls. It will be night fall soon," Twilight said dryly, then turned around to lead the group again.

Dash stopped flying and landed right next to Fluttershy, she then began to whisper in her ear. "Hey, have you noticed that Twi is kind of... distant?"

"Well, um, maybe a little. She is missing Spike, and I'm sure that's put her on edge."

"Yeah, but instead of acting angry or frantic or something, she just seems... I dunno, distant. Like she has no emotions at all."

"Oh, I could ask her, I guess."

"Sure, just be careful," Dash said sternly.

"Oh, alright then." She walked up to her friend and noticed she didn't even look over. "Um, Twilight, are you feeling okay?"

"Yes," she replied with no hint of emotion.

"It's just, you seem, um, distant."

"I'm just worried about him, aren't you?"

“If you mean Shyfrost, then yes; but I'm also worried about Spike. We're just trying to make sure that you are okay. You are, right?" Twilight stopped walking and then turned around to face her friends. They all had on sheepish smiles and looks of pure concern.

Twilight sighed. "I'm sorry girls, I just can't help but feel really worried. Spike has never been this far out, who knows what trouble he can get into?"

"C'mon, he has Shyfrost with him. He lived in the Everfree, what kind of trouble can they get into?" Dash offered with a grin.

"Plenty,” Twilight retorted. “I promise to try and keep a level head, but I still think we need to hurry." She turned around and continued her lead.

"That's fine, sugarcube, but frettin' 'bout it the entire time won't solve anything."

"I know. I'm sure we will find them."

"There ya go!” Dash said happily. She looked up at the setting sun and then back to her friends, some of whom were shivering. “We better make camp soon, though."

"This is your plan?!"

"Well, yeah. We need to throw them off the trail."

"And this was the best plan you came up with?! This is insane!"

"C'mon, Shyfrost,” Spike pleaded, “it's just a little food-"

"A little?! A LITTLE?! These are my pearls!"

"And they are also the perfect breadcrumb trail. We can't just use some of Spike's gems because gems are too natural, but pearls do not naturally occur out here in the forest. They will follow that path, we'll go this way, and presto, we got six ponies off our backs!" Shadow Mirror was grinning as he described his plan. Spike was giving Shyfrost a sheepish smile and rubbing the back of his head, while the young frost dragon was looking quite un-amused as he clenched his bag of pearls tightly in a death grip.

"NO!"

"Dude, it has to be done. Twi is smart, but she'll follow this easily. It makes perfect sense."

"Yeah, and then you two are free to go to your migration and I'm free to find out about our artifacts."

He turned around to give them both pleading looks, as if his watering eyes would will a brand new plan into existence. They simply shook their heads and stared down at his bag. With a heavy sigh he opened his fist and allowed their changeling ally to levitate the bag up.

"Great, I will just fly up and start dropping them one by one on the wrong path, Just wait here." With that, he unfolded his insect like wings and flew off in a random path and slowly dropped pearl after pearl. Each one that dropped was like a kick to Shyfrost's gut. He stared at the first pearl on the ground with his eyes watering.

Spike simply rolled his eyes, thinking that his friend was being too dramatic. "Dude, you'll get more, and you want to see dragons and find out about your amulet right?"

"Right," he replied with a heavy sigh.

"Then buck up! Besides, we still got plenty of pony food. We even have a few cupcakes." Shyfrost perked up at the mention of the sugary treats and he let out a small smile.

The changeling returned and landed swiftly next to them, giving each a new sense of success and fulfillment in their cleverness. They checked the map one last time, and picked the right most path, which lead them closer to the Drakenridge Mountains.

"What if Twi figures it all out?" Spike asked as they slowly crept along the new path.

"Oh, I'm sure she will, but by then we will be long gone," the changeling replied with a smirk.

They all cracked a smile except Shyfrost's only lasted a moment as he took one long look at the pearl encrusted path. He let out a small whimper and sighed in defeat.

The caped crusaders had gathered Scootaloo's scooter and wagon in tow. It was simple to get past Big Mac, but they had to 'borrow' a map from city hall. They admitted that they weren't exactly sure where to go, but they had decided that Drakenridge Mountain sounded 'dragon like enough' and had decided to head that way. The young pegasus filly's wings were buzzing like a mad mare as they sped through the forest, while her two companions hung on for dear life.

"Hey, Sweetie Belle, how long do you think it will take to get to the migration?"

"I don't know, but at the rate that Scoots is going, not that long. But the map says it's supposed to take a day or two on foot."

"But we are on scooter, does the map mention that?"

"No. And it's getting dark soon. Do you know how to make a campsite, Apple Bloom?"

"Ah don't think so. What about you, Scoots?" Apple Bloom yelled up, hoping that her voice would be heard past the wind. When she never answered she tried yelling again.

"Scootaloo?!"

Still no reply.

"Try tugging on the rope," Sweetie Belle said, pointing to the knot that held the scooter and the wagon together. She shrugged and gave one sharp tug. Scootaloo stopped immediately, skidding to a halt.

"What?!" she screamed in frustration.

"Hold your horses, Scoots. It's getting late and we just realized that none of us know how to make a camp site."

"Seriously? Neither of you know how to build a campfire?"

They both shook their heads.

"Or gather wood?"

Another shake.

"Did either of you even pack a sleeping bag?!" She turned to both of their friends who looked downcast while Sweetie Belle blushed.

"Oops," they both said in unison, and Scootaloo sighed in exaggerated frustration.

"We can just share mine, and I can teach ya how to set up a campsite. But we still got time, so let's go!"

They both nodded and allowed their lead 'Scooter Pony' to keep moving.

When night fell, they had arrived the same clearing that, unbeknownst to them, both dragons and the changeling had rested at earlier.

"Right. Apple Bloom, you go gather some sticks. Make sure they are thick enough, but nothing like fallen branches or anything," Scootaloo ordered. Apple Bloom saluted and ran off.

"Sweetie Belle, you help me find where we are on the map, 'cause I can't make heads or tails of this thing."

She saluted as well and began to study it.

"I'll get the sleeping bag ready, and then we can eat. What kind of food did you two pack anyway?"

"Oh, um, we brought two dozen apples, half a dozen cupcakes, half a cake, a bunch of cookies and some juice," Sweetie Belle said, smiling broadly.

Scootaloo slammed a hoof into her forehead. "Sweetie Belle!"

"What?!"

There were no words Scootaloo could find to adequately express her frustration at her companion's choice of foods. "Why didn't you two pack brownies?!"

"Oh,” Sweetie giggled. “Oops."

"It's fine, but next town we're buying some! By the way, are there any towns on this map?"

"I think I found one, but it sounds kinda weird..."

"I'm back!" Apple Bloom arrived, now carrying a bundle of sticks on her back. She dropped them in front of Scootaloo, who quickly began to build them into a little teepee shape for her fire.

"Hey,” Apple Bloom said, “Maybe we can get our Cutie Marks in-"

"Don't bother,” Scootaloo interrupted, her words slightly muffled from the stick she held in her mouth. “I tried getting that mark a long time ago.”

"Oh, so are there any towns or anythin'?"

Sweetie Belle pointed at the map. "Just one, it says its name is Stratosburg."

"That's a weird name, but it'll have to do."

"You think Shyfrost and Spike are okay?" Scootaloo asked as she poked the fire with a stick.

"I'm sure they're fine. Hey, what happens if we run into our sisters out here?" Sweetie Belle asked while turning to Apple Bloom, who then in turn craned her neck to Scootaloo.

"Um, I don't have a sister, but if you mean your sisters then I dunno. I guess we need to be really careful, huh?"

"Yeah, we better be careful. Y'all wanna get some sleep?" They all nodded and Scootaloo went to climb into her sleeping bag, while her two friends stood watching, waiting on the side. She snuggled in contentedly, but then noticed her friends giving her an odd look.

"What?"

"We didn't bring sleeping bags, remember?"

She looked down at herself and noticed she was now taking up most of the opening. Sighing, she rolled over, shifting her body to allow her two friends to climb in, which they happily did. Scootaloo slept on the right side, with Sweetie Belle snuggling into her and Apple Bloom on the left.

"Goodnight, girls," Sweetie Belle said with a loud yawn.

"Night," they both replied in unison.

"We'll make it to that town tomorrow..." Scootaloo trailed off as she drifted off to sleep.

"I found another one!" Dash yelled down, pointing at a pearl gently wedged in the ground. The six mares had been traveling for a while on a winding path that lead away from the mountains. Twilight had been the first to spot one of Shyfrost's pearls in the ground, and they had been rapidly following the trail ever since.

"It just doesn't make any sense. This means they went this way, but this doesn't lead to the migration at all!"

"Maybe they got lost?" Dash offered.

"Maybe..."

"We better make camp soon," Applejack said through a huff, the girls were growing tired. Twilight turned back, she was not the least bit tired but she agreed. They all made camp in a random clearing and started a fire.

"Finally! Those pearls that dragon ate were so spread out, we've been traveling for hours!" Rarity said, magically running a brush through her mane.

"It would have only taken about twenty minutes for me to follow with my wings, if it wasn't so dang cold!" Rainbow Dash remarked bitterly.

"I'm sorry, Dash, but we can't risk an injury out here. There isn't a town for miles!"

Rainbow crossed her forelegs and huffed. "Fine, but we better find those dragons soon!"

"We will. I'm sure of it," Fluttershy said with a hint of confidence.

"Me t- Wait a minute..." Twilight trailed off lost in thought. For a moment, nopony dared disturb her, she just sat there unblinking and not moving. Suddenly, she blinked and snapped back to attention. "Paw prints!"

"What?!" they all said in confusion.

"Remember we kept spotting Spike and Shyfrost's paw prints?" When her friends nodded, Twilight continued, "We haven't seen so much as one on this trail, and that can only mean one thing."

"What?"

"It means they carefully planted these pearls to trick us! They didn't go on this path!"

"Um, but Twilight, if they didn't, then how did we find those pearls?" Fluttershy hesitantly offered an explanation when she noticed Twilight's frantic behavior, whereupon she promptly retreated back inside her mane. Twilight turned to her and stared for a while with her eyes unfocused, until she finally snapped back to reality.

"They must have help! It means our dragons have teamed up with somepony, most likely a pegasus who can fly up and plant these pearls! Don't you get it, girls? We. Are on. The wrong. Path!"

"Well, that's just great!” Dash complained, throwing her hooves up in defeat. “Now we're hours behind them!"

"We need to turn back, now!" Twilight stood up and began magically levitating all of their equipment, until Applejack put a hoof on her shoulder.

"Twi, it's late, we're exhausted, and I think it's clear those dragons of yours are set on meeting more dragons."

"No, it is not too late, we are going to pack our things and-"

"Um, Twilight,” Fluttershy hesitantly offered her opinion, “we really should be getting some rest."

"Yeah! I mean, I usually can't sleep cause we're on an adventure and all. But we've been walking all day, so what do ya say?" Pinkie said, trying to stifle a yawn.

"I really must agree with Pinkie, I want my Spikey back just as much as you but I need my beauty sleep."

"Beauty sleep. BEAUTY SLEEP?! This is Spike we're talking about here! And all you can think of is your blasted beauty sleep?!" Twilight screamed, which caused everypony to instantly take notice. "And you!" She pointed an accusing hoof at Fluttershy, who froze. "How can you say we need to just be 'getting some rest'?! We need to go out there and FIND OUR DRAGONS!"

Everypony froze, unable and unwilling to deal with the raging unicorn. Out of all the ponies, Pinkie was the first to speak up.

"Twi, I think you might want to calm down. Remember what happened when you tried to find out my Pinkie Sense?" Pinkie said, doing her best to keep a smile on her face even as she stumbled over her words.

That was it, that was the one phrase that seemed to send Twilight over the edge. Pinkie Sense. With those two words, the five mares had sealed their fate. Slowly, Twilight closed her eyes and began to concentrate on something. All five ponies looked at each other hesitantly, unsure on what to do. Slowly but surely, Twilight's body began to shake as if she was concentrating as hard as she could.

"Um, girls? Maybe we better, leave?" Dash croaked out when she was what was about to happen.

"Yeah, maybe we should just..."

"RUN FOR OUR LIVES!" Pinkie blurted out and all of a sudden all fives ponies sprang into action. Each pony ran randomly in a separate direction, seeking shelter from the inevitable.

Twilight's rage built up and up until finally her eyes sprang open. Time slowed down for everypony and in a blinding rage, Twilight focused up a spell to vent out her frustrations. She pointed her horn at a rather large tree and began to cast.

"Are you guys sure this is the right way to the mountains? It's starting to feel, I dunno... warmer," Spike said while looking around. The forest had long since broken up, and they were now on an open path, but no mountains were visible off in the distance.

"Not as sure as I was an hour ago, but at least we gave Twi the slip, right?" Shyfrost said while looking over the map again.

"She should figure it all out when the dragon paw prints start disappearing. I mean, I flew up and took care of the bulk of your pearls, but it had to look like that you lost them," the changeling said while sighing.

"What's wrong? I thought we gave her the slip?"

"You can only fool ponies for so long,” the changeling lamented. “Sooner or later, they all figure out what us changelings are up to."

"Oh, have changelings always been the enemy to ponies?" Shyfrost asked.

"I believe so. I have tried to make friends with ponies in the past though."

"How'd that work out?"

The changeling bit his lower lip. "Not well, actually-"

"BOOM!"

"WHAT IN THE HAY WAS THAT?!"

All three of them shot to their feet or hooves and looked around, but saw nothing that would have caused the loud noise. They all stood on edge, hoping that the ponies wouldn't come bursting out of the woods. After a minute, they all sighed in relief.

"We should probably find a place to sleep for the night. Tomorrow we can make it for that town."

"I checked the map, there is no town over here!" Spike said.

"It's right here dude," the changeling said, levitating up the map to him. There was a tiny dot near several trails and roads. A tiny label read 'Stratosburg'.

"Oh, well, at least we can restock our food..." Spike trailed off and then smacked his head. "Shyfrost, did you bring any bits?"

"I was supposed to?"

"I have some in my pouch here, they were gathered by...” A smile that could have meant anything flickered across the changeling's face as he finished, “Well, let's just say they won't go missed.”

Spike asked the question. "How did you get the bits?"

"From fleeing ponies."

They both stopped walking and glared at him.

"What?!” the changeling asked. “I tried to return them, but they just kept running away!"

"Oh, were you in pony form?"

The changeling paused. "Oops."

Both dragons smacked their heads, but kept their comments to themselves.

"Hey, I'm new at this being a pony thing. I've only ever tried talking to ponies a few times when I'm not on the job. I guess I'll have to be in pony form in this town, though, huh?"

"No kidding, just make sure to have a cutie mark this time," Spike said while pointing to his flank.

"Sounds good. Let's make camp."

Twilight stood rooted to the spot. She didn't want to move, she didn't want to face the horrible reality of what she had just done. She was trembling slightly, chest heaving, recovering from the heavy fatigue of the massive spell that she had just unleashed on the unsuspecting tree. Wood debris littered the clearing that was once clean and open. Slowly, one of the ponies in hiding made her way over to Twilight.

Fluttershy placed a comforting hoof on Twilight's shoulder. Twilight flinched at first, but didn't shake the hoof off. Instinctively, Fluttershy grabbed Twilight and hugged her, trying to whisper soothing words in to her ear.

"I-I'm s-s-orry..." Twilight managed to say.

Her friends slowly walked up and surrounded her, pulling her into a hug.

"We'll find them, Twi. We know you're stressed. But we need to keep a level head, ya know?" Applejack paused and look at the destroyed remains of the massive tree, cleared her throat and continued. "You feelin' better?"

"Actually, yeah, I really am!" Twilight sprang back and cracked a smile, but then turned her attention back to the tree.

"Oops." Then she did something unexpected: she started laughing. Her friends looked at each other, unsure what this meant. Pinkie Pie was the first to join in, and pretty soon all six were laughing, melting away some of the stress. Finally, after a few moments, they calmed down and Twilight spoke up.

"I'm sorry girls, I know I have been acting stressed-"

"You can say that again!" Rainbow Dash said, earning her a sharp nudge to the chest from Applejack.

"Yeah, so, for that, I'm sorry, I can't really apologize to a tree, but if I could, I would. Let's just all get some sleep, okay?"

They all somberly nodded and gathered up their sleeping bags. As they were laying them out, Fluttershy sidled up to Twilight. "Are you sure you're okay, Twi?" she whispered, taking care that nopony else could hear..

"To be honest, no. But I think it's safe to say that I won't lose it like that again. I'm just so worried about him."

"I'm worried about Shyfrost, too; but if he can survive his whole life in the Everfree Forest, then he can survive a trip like this, don't you think?"

"You're right. Let's just get some sleep."

For a while no one said anything, unwilling to break the silence while they all tried to rest. Applejack finally spoke up, willing to speak her mind in hopes of breaking the tension.

"Twi?"

"Hmm?"

“Just so ya know, you're banned from th' farm during Applebuck season this year. No offense.”

Chapter 13: Plans Astray

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"Stratosburg... I've never heard of this town. That bothers me," Spike said, trailing on the left of the changeling while Shyfrost walked on the right.

"Never been there myself, but if I had to guess, I would imagine it's a trading town," the changeling said.

"Aren't all towns trading towns?" Shyfrost asked while studying the map intently.

"Oh, no sir. I've been to plenty of pony towns and only came across a few trading ones. You can tell the difference from how many homes are up and how many out-of-town folks come and go. Trader towns tend to be less laid back, more rugged, but a good place to pick up supplies."

"Think they sell pearls there?" the young orange dragon asked hopefully, subconsciously licking his lips.

"Never seen a store sell pearls before, at least, not in these types of towns. Sorry."

"But-"

Spike shoved a confectionery treat in his mouth without warning. "Just eat a cupcake and shut up, please."

It worked.

While the young dragon was busy enjoying his cupcake, Spike whispered into Shadow Mirror's ear. "How long do you think the dragon migration will last before they break up without us?"

He whispered back. "Not sure. Probably not long, but we can try and hurry." They both nodded and picked up their pacing, leaving the frost dragon behind as he slowed down and licked his lips and smiled. He then slowly opened his eyes and saw his two companions running ahead.

"HEY, WAIT UP!" He caught up with them, panting heavily. Spike took one of his claws and draped it over his shoulder as they both smiled and headed towards town.

They walked for fifteen minutes straight, no longer needing to stop to check the map after they noticed signs pointing to the town itself. Eventually, the edge of the town came into view. It reminded Spike of Appleloosa, only with far less desert surrounding it. Spike gave it a quick glance and noticed a few things that he found odd, and decided to bring the first one up.

"Where are all the food stands?"

The changeling looked down at him and raised an eyebrow, Spike noticed that he had changed into a red colored unicorn stallion with a sunflower on his flank. When he answered, both dragons did a double-take as his voice was now different. To be perfectly honest, it weirded them both out.

"Stands? This is a trading town, little dude; you need to deal in shops or trading with, um, citizens..." He trailed off when he noticed that he was the only thing in the town that looked like a pony. Minotaurs, zebras, griffons, and donkeys all populated the vast town. The only thing missing in high quantity were ponies, well, that and dragons.

Shyfrost tapped the changeling on the shoulder to snap him out of it. "Um, is this going to be bad for us or good for us?"

"It's not great for us, but so long as we act natural and don't bump into anybody then we should be good. Just don't antagonize any Minotaurs or griffons, griffons tend not to like dragons..."

Shyfrost sighed and brought up his tail in a hug and turned back to Shadow Mirror. "I noticed. Let's just get some supplies, right, Spike?"

Spike blinked a few times and shook off the awe of the town. "Yeah, how many bits do we got?"

The changeling brought out the bag and started counting. "Around forty."

Spike's eyes flew open. "You stole forty bits?!"

"They were rich travelers... Anyway, let's get going!" He used a bit of changeling magic to gently levitate both dragons on his back. “Just stay close, and everything should be alright." Not even waiting for an answer, he galloped into town in the direction of the first shop. "Not exactly sure what they sell here, but sometimes you need to mingle in shops before you find what you're looking for. Get used to angry glares, by the way; unless they have what we need, that is!" He laughed, but the joke was lost on both dragons.

"You both ready?" Scootaloo was now standing at attention on her scooter, waiting for her two best friends to climb into the wagon. It was early in the morning but none felt tired. They both climbed in and gave Scootaloo an affirmative nod. Her wings began to buzz and she was just about to place her right hoof down on the ground to begin their journey but one of them spoke up.

"WAIT!" Sweetie Belle squeaked out, causing the pegasus to stop and turn around.

"WHAT?!"

"Could you ease up on the turns, please?" Sweetie Belle was giving her friend the best smile imaginable and blushing ten shades of red, but Scootaloo simply glared at her.

"Uh, sure, I'll watch out for turns." She placed her hoof gently back on the ground as her wings began to buzz again-

"WAIT!" This time it was Apple Bloom who spoke up.

"WHAAAAT?!"

"Do ya even know which way to go?"

Scootaloo glared back at her before realizing that she might have had a point. She then turned to Sweetie Belle, who shook her head and then shrugged after giving up on the map completely. The pegasus blinked, but then an idea came to mind.

"Ok, here's what we'll do. We follow the path and watch out for paw prints, they have to have left some, and even if they don't, that tail of his should leave markings in the ground."

"You mean his metal tail?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Yeah that, it's always dragging on the ground. I'm sure we'll find something. Now let's go!" Wings buzzing again, she put them into full force and-

"WAIT!" Both cried in union causing her to finally stop, groan and then slam her hoof down on the ground.

"FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! WHAT?!"

"Sorry Scoots. We we're just wondering how come his tail is like that anyway?"

"No idea, let's ask him when we find him!" She did not wait for a response and without warning she flared her wings, slammed her other hoof down on the ground, and they took off flying.

"Twi, are you sure you don't have some kind of heating spell or something? It's freezing!" Dash screamed over the encasing blizzard after she had turned back around to try and locate her friend beneath her fog covered goggles. The group had been traveling for hours on Drakenridge Mountain, its unforgiving terrain and freezing cold temperatures taking its toll on the six mares.

"For the last time, Dash, no spell works that way. I can start us a fire, but I can't keep up a force field spell that long without risking magical fatigue. I'm sorry, but we're just going to have to tough it out."

Dash groaned, but kept further comments to herself.

Applejack, however, hadn't even started. "What'sa matter, Dashie? Can't stand the cold?" she taunted with a hint of self satisfaction.

"Shut it, AJ. Like you're one to talk. You're shivering!"

Applejack shrugged. "Least I'm not complaining."

"Girls, could we please focus and move? Please?" Fluttershy butted in, which caused both mares to roll their eyes, but they agreed.

According to the lavender-colored mare (who had triple-checked her calculations), it wouldn't take them more than a few hours. After that, it would be only two hours to the migration spot. However, they did not plan for running into full grown dragons.

Twilight suddenly stopped walking. She narrowed her eyes, staring at nothing in particular, and began to think. The other girls quickly caught wind of this, and walked back. Pinkie placed a hoof on her shoulder to ask what was wrong, but Twilight did not so much as flinch. She then shook her head and turned to her friends.

"Girls, something's not right here..."

"What is it this time?" Dash grumbled.

"The migration, how long has it been since it started girls?"

Most of them shook their heads or shrugged, but Pinkie piped up at this question.

"It's been four days, thirteen hours and twenty minutes!" she responded without skipping a beat.

"Pinkie, are you absolutely sure?" Twilight pressed.

"Yepper- oh...” Pinkie paused. “The migration is over, huh?"

Twilight nodded, her ears falling flat.

"So then... wait. Darling, if the migration is over, then where would our dragons be?"

All of them stopped and turned to Twilight, who shook her head, having no answer whatsoever. The search party stood in awkward silence until Twilight's head snapped up.

"They don't know! They might still be there! C'mon, girls, let's pull through and get off this Celestia-forsaken mountain!"

"YEAH!" All of them screamed in union. With new-found determination and speed, they all galloped as quickly as the blizzard would let them.

Sweet Apple Acres. On an average day, a pony that happened to walk by would hear the telltale sign of apple trees being bucked, apples being poured into crates, and said crates being hauled off into storage. Today, however, was not an average day. Big Mac stood tall in front of the barn, trying to comprehend the previous days events, and most of all, trying to keep his sanity.

"Ah can't believe Ah lost em! We looked all night! They're gone, and AJ is gonna to kill me, eeyep, no doubt about that." He began to pace, and ran different alternatives through his mind.

Let's see... Ah could skip town and change my name so AJ never finds me and start a new life... He smirked. Nah, she'd track me down some way or another.

Ah could call in the royal guard to look for them... Nope, would never work. No royal guard could ever tango with the likes of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. He shuddered at the thought, knowing full well that it was mostly true.

That leaves me with one last option. Ah need to go after them!

It didn't take him long to pack. He may have lived at the farm his whole life, but that hadn't stopped him from roughing it in the woods every now and again. He only hoped that he wasn't too late to find the three fillies that had an affinity for trouble.

Scootaloo's wings had picked up speed the minute they spotted familiar tracks in the dirt, tracks pertaining to two dragons and an oddly shaped hoof print. They had been traveling for over an hour with no sign of the pegasus filly tiring out. Sweetie Belle was busy enjoying the sights of the forest with Apple Bloom bringing up the rear, making sure that the orange colored filly did not get side tracked. Eventually, the tracks had started to fade, leaving behind a mix of all sorts of creatures that the three were pretty sure had nothing to do with ponies at all. They decided to stop.

"How do we even know they went this way? We lost the tracks!" the winged one of the group complained, throwing up her hoofs in exasperation.

"Well, I'm sure they did, it's the only road after all," Sweetie Belle said while examining some of the tracks.

"Hey, do you both hear somethin'?"

"No, I don't hear anything. We-" She stopped upon hearing the sound of hoof steps approaching, but something was off about them.

"Plop Plop. Plop Plop." Instead four sets of hoofs, it was only two at a time. The three knew what this meant—whatever was coming, it was not a pony.

"Hey look!" The unicorn squeaked out and off in the distance they spotted a lone diamond dog walking along. Oddly enough, he was fully clothed and had a saddlebag on his back. The three darted into a nearby bush, but in their haste they failed to hide the wagon or the scooter. Scootaloo almost went out to retrieve it, but quickly hid as the creature approached.

"What the hay is a diamond dog doing all the way out here?" Scootaloo whispered, hoping she wasn't heard. The pegasus did not think about the sensitive ears of the diamond dog race, however. The dog stopped at the wagon and examined it, he then turned his head to the bush and immediately saw some shuffling. Shrugging, he knelt down to inspect it.

"Hello? Rover has found your wagon, little fillies?"

"GO AWAY!" Sweetie's voice rang out, carrying boldness and invoking a little fear.

"Rover is sorry for any-"

"She said leave!" Scootaloo demanded.

The dog felt hurt, but nodded glumly. "Rover understands. Farewell." He bowed respectfully, causing all three of them to do a double take, before he slowly began to make his journey away from the wagon. Sweetie Belle looked hurt herself, she immediately stood up and followed the dog.

"Wait!" Sweetie Belle yelled out, her normal speaking voice forgotten. The diamond dog slowly turned around and stared down at the unicorn filly. Sweetie Belle ignored the hissing protests of her friends and slowly examined Rover all over, she circled him with quiet curiosity while he waited patiently. "I'm sorry we yelled at you, my name is Sweetie Belle!"

Both Apple Bloom and Scootaloo simply turned to each other, dumbfounded.

The diamond dog did a slight bow, shifting his weight and causing his backpack to nearly topple over. "Greetings, young pony. My name is Rover of the... Well, just Rover will do." He then grabbed her hoof gently and gave a firm shake and a smile.

"Cool. Hey, you two come out here, he's friendly!" she said in her usual squeaky voice. Scootaloo, not wanting to be out braved by her usually shy friend, did just that, and Apple Bloom followed close behind.

"I'm Scootaloo," she offered her hoof hesitantly and the dog repeated his previous actions.

"Apple Bloom." With the introductions completed, the three fillies ended up standing in front of one lonely diamond dog. They awkwardly stared at each other, unwilling to speak, until finally the dog finally broke the silence.

"Sooo... Are you ponies from Stratosburg?"

Scootaloo's ears perked up at this. "No, but we need directions to it, have you been there?"

"Rover has. He supposes he could take you there..."

The filly tilted her head to the side. "Why do you talk like that?"

"Like what?"

"You mentioned your name instead of saying 'I have', you said 'Rover has'. So why?" The diamond dog groaned at this but not loud enough for them to take it as a threat.

"Ro- I used to be part of a clan, and now I'm not. When you are the leader of one, you refer to yourself as your title at all times."

"What happened? How come you're not leader no more?" Sweetie asked.

"I made a mistake and... that's that." He finished with a grin, but then slumped down. Sweetie turned to her friends and they both shrugged.

"CRUSADERS HUDDLE!" the unicorn demanded, which caused them both to deadpan and then finally comply.

"Sweetie, have you lost your mind? He's a diamond dog!" Scootaloo flared her wings, but neither party was impressed.

"So what! He can help us get to that town, and besides," she turned and looked back at him, giving the dog a comforting look, "he looks lonely. So we should add him to our group!"

"Ah don't know, wasn't that one of them critters that kidnapped your sister?"

"Yep!"

"And that don't bother you?"

"Nope!"

"That makes no sense!" Another flare of the pegasus wings.

Sweetie Belle just giggled. "Rarity took care of it, to her it was just more of an minor annoyance. So what do you say, girls?"

"Ah guess so."

"No!"

"Why do you even care?"

"'Cause! Uhh, he's weird looking?" A set of face hoofs is what she got in return.

"Scoots, we have no idea where we are and he can help."

"But-"

"Do you know how to get us to the town?" Sweetie's sounding voice dangerously close to a certain mare she knew very well.

"No... But-"

"Great! Then it's decided. Hey Rover!"

"Yes?"

"Do you want to join us and take us to that town? Please?" Sweetie's eyes bulged out of their sockets, causing what she would call a cuteness ray, but it did not matter.

"Of course! Ro- I mean, I, would be honored to join you ponies!"

"YAY!" Two fillies screamed in union, but Scootaloo just stood on the side with her forelegs crossed.

"Fine, but he better keep up on foot!"

The dog simply smirked at this. The two fillies climbed back into the wagon with Scootaloo's wings flaring up. The wagon slowly started to move and in an instant the dog had climbed down onto all fours and jetted off leaving all three fillies in his dust.

"Wow..." Scootaloo shook off her awe and took off, steadily trying to keep up with the insanely moving diamond dog. Eventually the dog took the hint and decided to slow down, running side by side with the pegasus filly, he then craned his neck and yelled a question over.

"So why are you going to the town anyway?"

"We're looking for our dragon friends, about our heights. They ran off!" The dog nodded in understanding and kept up.

In the back of the wagon, Apple Bloom felt she had to ask her friend a question.

"What do you think Rarity would do if she saw us hanging out with Rover?" The unicorn thought on it and then shrugged.

"Ahh!" The unicorn white mare of the group gasped and grabbed her heart. "I'm sorry girls but I felt a dist-"

"Rarity, knock it off! Stop being so dramatic and keep moving!" the rainbow-maned mare of the group groaned.

The group had long since left the cold of the mountain and was now traveling through an open forest steadily on a single path. Pinkie Pie, having near infinite energy, was simply bouncing along with a literal skip in her step. Rarity was busy glaring at her friend Rainbow Dash, who was flying in the air above them with her patience wearing thin. Twilight Sparkle wore the same expression, a cold stare looking off into the distance, and finally Fluttershy was bringing up the rear with over a dozen worries of her own, one of which involved their leader.

Eventually, the pegasus in the back had worked up the courage to walk nearer to her friend, but not close enough to actually say anything. Both unicorn pony and pegasus walking side by side, each worried for their own dragon and yet each feeling entirely different things. Eventually after a long one hour walk, side by side, determined yet feeling hopeless, the pegasus sighed. Something stirred in Twilight and for the first time in a long while, she was more aware of her surroundings. She quickly glanced over and spotted Fluttershy walking near with her head drooping low.

"Fluttershy?"

The pegasus perked up slightly and looked over. "H-hey. Welcome back."

"Heh. Sorry, I guess I was on autopilot there for a bit... How are you doing?"

Fluttershy took in a deep breath and began to speak, without once stopping. "We lost our dragons, whom you entrusted me with. Shyfrost and Spike are out there lost, and probably scared, and even if they did trick us that still does not mean that their fears would be put to rest. I feel like a terrible caretaker for sleeping in and not realizing the signs when they were right in front of me. And to make matters worse- Ooph."

Twilight and her friends immediately tackled her in a bone crunching hug. "Fluttershy, we both made mistakes and we will get them back! Besides, we're getting close to the migration spot." Fluttershy smiled and returned the hug. They all smiled, glad to have each other and glad to be together. Eventually they trudged up to a lone, teenager dragon who was sitting alone, resting. Most of his kind having left a long time ago; each pony shared uneasy looks until Twilight and Fluttershy decided to address him.

"Excuse me? Mr. Dragon?" The red colored dragon craned his neck to look at them all and then scowled.

"Mr? Honey, I'm a girl!"

Fluttershy blushed and bowed her head to apologize. Knowing that such a situation was nearly impossible to recover from, Twilight decided to speak up.

"We apologize, miss. But we were wondering if you could please help us?" Twilight grinned, hoping to please the dragon mare.

"With what? I'm trying to sleep here, you know..."

"Hey! All we want is your help, you-"

Twilight jammed a hoof in Rainbow's mouth and gave her a quiet scowl. Giving the dragon a sheepish smile, she continued. "Please, have you seen two lone dragons walk through here? They would be extremely young, baby dragons?" The lady drake stared at her and then turned to their friends, scratching her chin in thought.

"I was at that migration the whole time, no dragons that young ever showed up. I would have remembered them." They all fell on their backs, groaning in defeat, except Fluttershy.

"Are you absolutely certain?" Fluttershy pressed.

The dragoness scowled. "Do I look like a fool? No baby dragons show up to the migration. That'd be ludicrous! Sorry." They all ignored her and huddled up, the dragon simply snorted and turned over for her nap.

"So this was all for nuffin? What in the hay do we do now?"

Twilight tapped her chin in thought. It took a while, but she rummaged up an idea. "We head back and check the nearest settlement. If we are lucky, they should still be there."

Rainbow Dash did not share her confidence. "What makes you think they wouldn't just head back to Ponyville or something else?"

"Because if I know Spike, he will be wanting some food. And I'm sure they didn't pack that much, with the pearls gone and all..." It seemed to make sense to them and they all turned back, having to once again face the mountain and it's weather. "I think I will send the Princess a little letter. I just need to think of the right spell..."

"So..." Shyfrost was now standing in front of a lone minotaur, the shop owner. Shaodow Mirror was glancing around, as was Spike. The minotaur in question was glaring down at him, not the least bit pleased with them in his presence. "Uhh, I was wondering if-"

"BURP!" In an instant, several things happened. The scroll that was thrust out of Spike, landed on a shelf, which caused Spike to clumsily reach for it and causes the entire shelf's contents to fall down. They all looked to the owner of the shop and he growled.

"OUT!"

They could not comply fast enough.

Once outside, Shyfrost started to complain. "Spike! I was so close! He could have had some pearls or something!"

Spike rolled his eyes and opened the letter, Shadow Mirror stood off to the side and began to inspect a few other shops.

Dear Spike and Shyfrost,
I'm sorry to say this, but it appears that both of you have missed the dragon migration. I would suggest that you both return to Ponyville immediately.
Signed,
Princess Celestia

Spike immediately crunched up the letter and in a fit of rage, released a torrent of orange colored flames, burning it up. "HOW COULD WE HAVE MISSED THE BLASTED MIGRATION!" He wanted to huff, he wanted to harm others and destroy things. Before he could partake in such acts, he was tackled, but not to the ground. Spike slowly looked down and saw familiar orange arms wrapped around him in a warm embrace.

"Better?" he asked with a grin.

Spike simply rolled his eyes and nodded. "Still, the whole reason we were out here! And-"

"I also wanted to find out more about this amulet. Even if the dragons are gone, we can still travel there. Plus, with Shadow Mirror and his... thing, it has become kind of, interesting?"

Spike glared at him for a good long while. It was true that what happened between his friends amulet and whatever the changeling had was intriguing. Spike also could not deny his own feelings when it came to exploring and getting away from the ponies in Ponyville, even if he did miss them. He smiled.

"Alright, we can still go, but-" Both dragons whipped around when they heard a sound that made their hearts stop. Their new friend was now standing in the middle of town, stripped of his disguise. Something had happened, and now most of the town was glaring at him in anger. Both dragons shared a look, the type where they both had one, simple synchronized thought.

Buck.

They ran up to his side. Upon seeing the two dragons, the crowd increased their rumblings and dark mutterings, much to the dragons' dismay.

"Dude, what in the hay happened?" Spike asked, nervously eying the growing crowd nervously. The two baby dragons stepped out in front, attempting to guard the changeling from the glaring eyes.

"Heh, uh, I was focusing so much on something that my disguise kind of slipped slightly... Once that happened, some others noticed and at that point it didn't matter..."

"Shadow, do something! There are angry looking griffons out there and..." Shyfrost trailed off when he realized just how many griffons there actually were. He wasn't much for math, but it definitely added up to a lot.

"Alright you two, climb on, now!" They quickly obliged, knowing his plan. But Spike had to mention one little flaw.

"Dude, griffons can fly, we don't stand a chance!"

"Never tell me that! Now hang on!" Before any griffon or other creature could respond, he had fired a blast of green bright energy into the crowd, thus distracting them enough to get into the air. Unfortunately the weight of two baby dragons on his changeling form was taxing; try as he might, he could not fly high or fast enough to get away to safety. The two looked back and, to their horror, there were already four griffons hot on their tail.

"Guys, I can't keep this up, we need to land." They landed near a minotaur off on the edge of town. The creature stared at them in confusion and then glanced over to the landing griffons. The changeling was panting on the ground. The two dragons turned to the griffons and smiled, the biggest grins they could muster up. Shyfrost was in a near state of shock.

"Well, well, well..." One of the griffons, a male, began to speak, but trailed off when he noticed the minotaur walking in between them. Both sides stared at the large creature in confusion.

"What do you want?" Another griffon spat the question out.

"I could ask you the same thing," the minotaur replied.

"Just get out of the way!" A third griffon spoke out in pure anger, glaring daggers from a distance to the frost dragon.

"...No." The creature crossed his arms and sighed, he assessed each griffon before him and concluded that a battle could only end badly, for them. The lead griffon, or what the non bird creatures thought was the lead stepped forward.

"Just keep them out of town. Lets get going!" The other griffons gave a long sideways glance back at the changeling and dragons and obliged, flying away. The minotaur then turned around and walked closer to the three, but stopped when he noticed something in his saddlebag was stirring. Confused the three of them moved their heads forward to see what was up. Apparently, a lot was up, for the very second the creature took out the item in question, the artifacts held by two of the three members began to stir as well. Suddenly a flash blinded all three of them, for a moment there was an odd sense of acceptance among the group, like the blinding a pulsating light was meant to be there. Then, as quickly as the light came, it left; leaving behind two confused dragons, a changeling who was grinning from ear to ear, and a minotaur who seemed to accept whatever happened far too quickly.

Spike finally spoke, giving voice to the same thought running through everyone's mind.

"Whoa..."

Princess Celestia sighed as she stood in front of and stared at the one case she had only hoped to call upon in an emergency. It had not been opened too often in the past, but today she knew it was necessary. Her horn glowed, and slowly a magical lock released, revealing the black case for what it was, instead of the illusion spell that once covered it. She opened it and inside revealed the sight of the jewels containing the Elements of Harmony. She sighed as she inspected them. Nothing seemed out of place on the surface, but, being a near-immortal being, she knew better.

"What is wrong you?" she asked, her voice trailing off. "I believe it is time I called in my student and her friends. I just hope they have found their dragons." She then resealed the box and left the chamber, with every intention of writing the letter she so desperately wished she did not have to.

Chapter 14: Unity

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A changeling, a minotaur and two dragons sat alone at a campfire, just on the outskirts of town. Their differences were put aside so all could focus on the strange artifacts laid before them. They had agreed to a unified friendship in an effort to discover the secret behind such trinkets. The largest of the group had agreed and accepted them far too quickly for their own liking, but no one was complaining.

Yet, anyway.

Spike stared at the silver coin that lay next to Shyfrost's amulet, on one side the picture of the sun and other the moon.

"So, your name is Steel Valor?"

"Yeah, and your name is Spike?'

"Yeah."

Shyfrost stared at both of them and sighed. "Can we please focus on these... things?" he asked, gesturing to the artifacts in question. The amulet, the crystal and now a coin had been brought together, but oddly enough they did nothing when they lost contact with their owners.

"Why are griffons so hostile towards us, anyway?" Spike spoke with just a slight hint of anger. He knew some history on griffons, but very few books mentioned relations with dragons, or dragons at all.

Shadow Mirror shrugged. "A lot of different races don't like each other. I suppose it's understandable to hate my race the most, but you would think two different races that specialize in flight would get along, right?"

Steel threw his comment in at that. "Griffons are often competitive, I believe that they see dragons as a threat."

"...That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard," Shyfrost replied.

"Well I'm not a griffon, was just saying..." His voice trailed off.

For a while, no one said anything, Spike felt oddly calm among the group of non-ponies, but he would probably have felt that way about any living creature when next to Shyfrost. It was at that moment that he noticed his friends anxious behavior, so a small idea popped into his head.

"How about we all talk about where we got our, um artifacts?" Spike suggested. "It could make it easier to figure out what they do." They all nodded, figuring it was the only way they could put any clue together.

Skyfrost decided to start. "Okay, I used to live in the Everfree forest, pretty sure it's where I was born, too, and one day I found my amulet. It always kind of brought me luck, but I always felt something more when it was close to me, like it was guiding me? Uh, I guess that sounds pretty dumb..."

Spike put his left claw on his shoulder and shook his head. "That's not dumb, dude," he smiled.

The minotaur spoke next. "My coin was a family heirloom. Well, actually my dad gave it to me one day. I don't actually know if it was passed down that much, but it's always brought me luck." He shrugged. “Not much else to it.”

"I don't think this is going to work," Shadow Mirror spoke up. "I think what matters is what they do, how we felt when they 'activated'. their origins are probably long dead anyway."

Shyfrost groaned. "But they only activate randomly, we just tried everything!" It was true, they had spent at least a few hours trying to replicate what had transpired but nothing else would occur. They all still felt the warmth from their artifacts, so they knew nothing was wrong, but they also knew that nothing would work anymore.

"Yeah, well-" Spike never got to finish his sentence, as he heard something new. "You guys hear that?"

Sure enough, there was the sound of travelers talking. As it got closer, it became clear that their pleasant discussion was actually more like angry bickering.

"And Ah told you that if you had just kept that scooter of yours outside-"

"How was I supposed to know that he didn't allow them in his store? And besides, he was giving Rover funny looks. That's not right!"

"Rover didn't mind! It wasn't about the principle, Scoots; it was about finding our dragons!"

"Whatever! It was still wrong of that... whatever he was."

"I think he was a minotaur..." Sweetie Belle's voice broke off when the three fillies and diamond dog came up the hill and spotted the group containing their friends.

"Shyfrost! Spike!" The fillies screamed in union and ran up, each one tackling the two in a bone-crunching hug.

"Uh, girls? Can you please get off me..." Spike asked, but knew it was pointless.

"Not a chance," Apple Bloom replied.

"Nope!" The unicorn squeaked out.

"Uh, hugs are for wusses..." Scootaloo protested faintly, but continued the embrace anyway. The other members of their party looking on in confusion, but then the diamond dog walked up. Shadow Mirror looked at him and then down to the artifacts, which were now glowing again.

"Here we go again!"

His voice was drowned out by the loud pulsating noise. Before anyone could respond, a bright light shined, blinding everyone. It only lasted for a moment, just like the other flashes before, and then died off. When it was over, each living creature felt calm and collective. Unbeknownst to each of them, they all pertained one small bit of information or understanding, but it was not enough to put pieces together on their own. Scootaloo, never being one to hold things in, couldn't help herself.

"Okay, what the hay was that about?!"

"Yeah, Ah feel kind of funny..."

"Hmm, my horn feels warm."

Spike, who had felt that flash before and was a bit more used to it, had recovered quicker. He then noticed something. "Wait! if you three are here, then where are your sisters and stuff?" The three fillies gave sheepish smiles in return but remained silent. "Well?" He asked more harshly.

It was Scootaloo who spoke up. "We had to find you two! So when our sisters and friends left to find you, we kind of ran off."

"By you- Never mind. It's not like we did much better..." Spike grumbled and trailed off.

"Did ya find any dragons?"

"Nope, and we missed the migration entirely."

"Oh, sorry about that, but now you can come home!" Sweetie Belle said brightly, but Shyfrost just shook his head.

"No, we need to figure out what these artifacts do, and apparently each of our new friends has one, including you're new friend..." Spike finally noticed him and he felt like screaming.

"Hey! You're a diamond dog, what are you three doing with him?"

Rover simply shrugged and bowed his head but said nothing.

"Spike! He's nice, okay?" Spike looked down upon Sweetie Belle, the miniature embodiment of the love of his life. Well, embodiment might be some what of an exaggeration; but if the young unicorn vouched for him, then obviously the dog couldn't be all bad.

"Alright, fine. I'm Spike!" He offered a claw.

"Rover, and yes I know of you two dragons from my, uh friends here."

"Cool, and what artifact did you have?" he asked, but Rover seemed confused.

"Artifact?" Shyfrost pepped up at this.

"Yeah, that well whatever just happened was a response from some object you own that came close to us, do you own anything special?"

He reached into his saddlebag and began to move around several things, did he own anything special? To him most of his possessions were junk, but there had always been something that he kept around all the years back with his pack. His paw came back from the bag gently clutching a silver colored dagger that was sheathed. "This feels warm...It's never felt like that before!" He offered it to Shyfrost and sure enough, it was warm to the touch.

The dragon nodded and placed it with the remaining artifacts. "Okay, we now have one amulet, one crystal, a coin and now a silver dagger. But we still don't know what they do! Anyone care to guess?" The frost dragon felt more flustered than ever, and the new fillies of the group furrowed their brows in concentration. The rest seemed to be at a loss, yet it was the unicorn who spoke up.

"Not sure why you're hanging out with these guys, no offense..." She muttered, after examining the dragon's companions. "But did anyone else feel like a voice in the back of their heads after that flash? Or is it just me?" They all gave guilty looks, shifting their eyes nervously.

Shadow Mirror figured he would throw in his two bits. "Well, I heard Queen Chrysalis. Like she was talking to me, but I couldn't hear what."

The unicorn tilted her head to the side. "Queen who? Was she all scratchy sounding and would she says things like all demanding and such?"

Shadow Mirror groaned. "That's her alright. Why, did you hear her too?" The crusaders, with the exception of the dragon, looked at each other.

"Well, ah think we all heard her say something but it was only one word. Right, girls?" They nodded and spoke in union.

"Peace!" "Come!" "Unity!" Then they all looked at each other in confusion.

"So we all heard different things, and how come we never heard of a queen and what this guy is?" Scootaloo bluntly stated while pointing at Shadow Mirror.

"Kid, I'm a changeling and we aren't exactly well known. So you three heard 'peace', and 'come' and 'unity'? That's weird..."

"Actually I heard unity too but it was from this deep sounding voice, way deep." Shyfrost admitted, it was at that point that Spike pipped up.

"I heard that too, same deep voice it was weird..."

"What about you two?" Shyfrost asked pointing to the two remaining.

"I heard my pack, couldn't understand them."

"Uh, I heard my family, but it seems that the fillies were the only one to understand anything." Valor admitted.

"Hmm, wait. One of you heard this queen, right Shadow Mirror?" He nodded. "Spike and I heard this loud deep voice, it sounded like a very loud dragon..." He looked over at Spike. "Right, that had to have been a dragon?"

"I guess so, he sounded..."

"Old?" Scootaloo suggested.

"Big?" Sweetie Belle squeaked out.

"No, 'important'; and I would guess that this queen is too." Shyfrost finished. "And this pack of yours, was it big?"

"Yes, we were part of the biggest and most-"

"Important clans?" Shyfrost finished. Rover nodded. "And what about you, Valor?"

The minotaur looked flustered. "What about me?"

"Is your family important?" Shyfrost demanded.

He shifted around nervously, which on his large physique it made it seem pretty obvious. "...Not really, what's it matter?"

"Because there might be a pattern, duh!" Spike spat out at him. The minotaur sighed and grumbled something out.

"What was that?"

"I'm...” Valor refused to make eye contact as he grumbled, “technically a prince of the Minotaur Alliance..."

Sweetie Belle jumped up. "Ohh, I met a prince? Rarity's gonna freak!" She began to bounce around, much to the annoyance of her friends and also the minotaur, who rolled his eyes.

"Sure, I'm a prince. I left, though. It was getting...unnerving."

"Well, you may have to go back!" Shyfrost declared.

Valor stood up quickly. "Forget it! I'm not running back to my dad just like that! And also, why?"

"Because, we all heard voices from important figures. I know you couldn't understand them, but maybe they know something!"

The minotaur smiled. "Great! Then let's start with what they heard, and not me!"

"But what if yours are the closest?"

"My pack is not far..." Rover admitted. Valor smiled and pointed to him with a wide, hammy smile on his face. Shyfrost rolled his eyes.

"Will they let us talk to them?" Spike asked. meanwhile the two remaining fillies were trying to calm down their unicorn friend but failing miserably.

"... Probably not." he admitted. Shyfrost then turned to Shadow Mirror.

"What about the queen? Will-"

"Not a filly's chance in Tartarus."

Spike smirked after seeing his friend's distress. "Well Prince, that just leaves you. And I know you want to find out about that coin..." he taunted.

"First off, I'm not that interested. Second off, what about meeting important dragons like you heard?"

This time it was Spike's turn to scoff. "We don't know any other dragons, we were raised by ponies!"

"Speak for yourself," Shyfrost muttered.

Valor shook his head and crossed his arms defiantly. "No deal. I came out here to adventure and get away from my family not to them!"

"Cutie Mark Crusaders, huddle!" Scootaloo declared. They quickly obliged; but Shyfrost, although a member, was too distraught to join.

"Do they do this all the time?" Shadow Mirror questioned Spike.

"Yep." They waited and after a couple minutes they broke it off but remained oddly silent. Sweetie Belle walked up to the newly dubbed prince and smiled with wide eyes.

"Please... will you help our friend?"

Valor scoffed, but the filly kept on smiling. Soon her two other friends joined in, trying to triple the smile. Tears welled up in their eyes as they kept it up. Sweetie's lower lip quivered slightly.

"You can't- what?" Here he made the fatal mistake of looking back down. Looking into their eyes he sighed, they seemed impossible to resist. Even though he really wanted to.

"Save the dragons, oh real nice idea... idiot." He sighed another time and finally gave in. "Fine, we can go." The fillies collapsed in a heap.

"You have no idea how much it hurts to do that!" Apple Bloom declared, rubbing her temples painfully.

"Okay, everp- uh, everybody. Are you all good with traveling to his... kingdom?" Shyfrost looked up at the minotaur to see if it was the right word for where he lived, and received a nod in return.

Each was about to respond in the affirmative, but any thoughts of speaking were drowned out as the crusaders responded in their own signature way.

"CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS MINOTAUR KINGDOM FINDERS! YAY!"

Shadow Mirror groaned as he rubbed his ear painfully. "I guess it's decided, then," he grinned. Looking around, he noticed that he had not been the only one affected by their ear-shattering cry. He had fared better than Rover, who was currently curled in the fetal position on the ground.

"...I need some pearls,” Shyfrost muttered, a claw on his forehead to try to pacify the headache he knew was coming.

Spike, who had been the only one quick enough to plug his ears, laughed and placed a claw on his shoulder while smiling comfortingly. "Me too. Rarity is going to kill me when she finds out we took her sister like this... Applejack, too." And with that, Shyfrost had a good laugh, even though he knew that Spike was being completely honest.

Everyone stood up and they followed the prince away from the town off into the minotaur unknown.

"Twilight, are you alright?" Fluttershy gently asked. The pair along with her other friends sat in a cramped air cabin that was being pulled by royal pegasus guards. Twilight scoffed but not in her direction.

"Oh I'm just peachy! We went on this long trip to find our dragons, my Spike! And we never found them! Once more the princess sends a letter requesting our presence due to some sort of emergency regarding the Elements of Harmony. Spike is out there probably scared in Celestia knows where with Celestia knows who, and I can't do a dang thing about it!" By the time she was finished speaking, everypony in the cabin was staring at her. "Uh, I'm sorry..."

"It's alright, sugarcube. Why, if my sister was out there I'd be scared too. Then I'd tan her hide for running off!"

Dash laughed. "Twi, you said they were with some kind of pegasus. We're fighters! He'll be fine!"

"...He'd better be," Twilight muttered, but the rest of the trip was fairly uneventful.

They arrived in the castle courtyard with Princess Luna waiting. Twilight spoke up.

"Princess Luna? What's-"

"In time, Twilight. My sister is waiting for you and your friends. Oh, and your brother is here as well," Luna replied while gesturing to Applejack.

"He brought the fillies?!"

Luna paused after turning around. "Fillies?” she asked, cocking her head. “I'm afraid I don't know why he arrived, but I saw no fillies."

Applejack gave a hesitant nod and figured it was best to follow the princess.

They all showed up in the throne room to a stoic looking Princess and a flustered looking stallion. Before the Princess could speak up, Applejack did.

"Where are the fillies?! Did you leave them with somepony?!"

"Well, you see, um, help?" He looked up at Princess Celestia and she sighed.

"I'm afraid that we do not know, they tricked your brother and set off to find your dragons. Which, given the sight of you, I'm assuming you never found them?"

"No, they never even made it to the migration!" Twilight exclaimed, interrupting her friend before she could have an outburst at her brother.

"Quite unfortunate. I will send them a letter soon, let us hope that your fillies are with them as well... At any rate, we have important matters to discuss."

"Yeah, you said something is wrong with the elements?"

"Yes. What it is, I'm not quite sure yet; but let me show you." She levitated a box up and presented the items in question. "As you can plainly see, something is making them react."

"But what could do that princess? It's not Discord, is it?!"

"No, I double checked for his influence, and there are no traces. There is some sort of magical force out there that is making them react in this manner..." They all looked on as the elements jewels began to shine and distort into different colors. "The magic in the elements is being drained."

"Wait, nothing should be powerful enough to be able to do that, princess!"

Celestia tilted her head to the side. "Apparently, there is. Now, can you think of a reason for the Elements of Harmony to be drained in this manner?"

Twilight hesitated. "No, unless... something out there was magically powerful enough to unbalance them."

"Unbalance the elements? But they cause balance, they're the Elements of Harmony for Luna's sake!" Dash spat out.

But Celestia shook her head. "No, Rainbow Dash. The Elements of Harmony are powerful, this is true. But they do not control balance of anything; they simply purge things to create harmony in its place. Balance would mean an equal amount of harmony and... dare I say?... chaos as well. Twilight is right, though, something must be out there causing them to be drained which leaves Equestria open for attack!"

"So how the devil do you find the source of the problem, your majesty?" Rarity asked, poking and prodding the box.

"The best I plan I can offer is handing over the elements to each of you. You will then travel Equestria in hopes of forcing a strong magical reaction to occur. Once that happens, you will know the source of the problem."

Pinkie jumped up. "Oooo, an adventure!" She then stood in place frozen to the spot, not falling down from the reins of gravity. "But we just went on an adventure! And I don't think I can swing it with the Cakes to be gone for this long..."

"Same with me and my weather job..." Dash muttered, feeling slightly hurt that she might miss out on said adventure.

"But this is for the service of the country!" Luna butted in.

"Now, now Luna. We cannot ask them all to go after being gone this long to find their dragons. Still, we do need some of you to go, so who shall it be, Twilight?"

"Me?"

"Yes, I trust your judgment and-"

"Beggin' your pardon, Princess, but ah'm going! I need to find my sister!"

"I do as well, your highness," Rarity added.

"Me too, if that's alright..."

"Very well, each of you shall take your respective Elements. Even you two. I take it you will stay in Ponyville?"

"Yeah, I can't lose my job, and I don't think Pinkie can swing that either."

"Fair enough, please keep your elements with you at all times in case something causes them to react." They nodded and picked them up. Twilight looked on curiously before turning back to her teacher.

"Princess, where are we supposed to start looking?"

"That, I will leave up to you. We do not know where to start, but I'm sure a mind as sharp as yours can figure that out."

"Alright, I can start looking in the library?" Twilight said hesitantly, unsure of her actions.

"A good start. I will send a letter to Spike to see what they are up to."

"Thank you, Princess, that makes me feel a bit better."

"No problem, my student,” Princess Celestia said comfortingly.

Unnoticed by either of them, in a corner of the room, Applejack was dragging her brother through a door to have a few words with him. His trembling frame and her posture clearly indicated that whatever words she had for him would not be pleasant.

Spike rolled up the letter with trembling claws. “Okay, then. How do we respond to the princess?”

The group had taken a break in their travels. The peaceful respite quickly turned sour as Spike had received a letter. Said letter questioned what they were doing and why they had not returned. Out of a sense of self-preservation, Spike really had no inclination to answer. His eyes wandered across the group. A changeling, who he assumed would not sound all that nice if the Princess were to discover his presence. A prince minotaur, Twilight and the Princess had always warned him when dealing with royalty there was often complications. A diamond dog, Spike had to admit that he had no clue where their kind standed with ponies. And finally the fillies, just mentioning them would set off a red alert to Twilight if not the Princess herself. So, to put it nicely, he was panicking slightly.

"The truth?" Shyfrost offered.

Spike shook his head. That was completely out of the question. "No. Anypony else care to guess?"

After fifteen minutes of talking they had decided on a letter:

Dear Princess,
First off, Shyfrost and I are perfectly fine. We are traveling with our companion friend who is a pegasus. His name is Day Bright. The reason we cannot return yet is because we are looking for the three fillies known as the Cutie Mark Crusaders, who we have spotted several times. They are running for some reason... So we will be out until we get them back. Please tell Twilight and Fluttershy that we love them and should be back soon.
Signed, Spike and Shyfrost
PS: If they do decide to come after us, please bring pearls!

"Okay, should I send this?"

Shyfrost pondered Spike's statement and then had a brighter idea. "Why don't we just not send anything?"

"...What?"

"Well, think about it for a second. This letter sounds too vague, and they will know something is up for sure."

"Maybe, but if we don't send anything, then they will panic and think something happened to us!"

"They probably already think that, dude!"

"Oh yeah? Listen to me, you..." Spike's voice trailed off and he stood dumbfounded at the new sight before him. All of them turned around to see one of the largest griffons they had ever seen.

"It's you!" Shyfrost gasped. All turned to him, giving the dragon quizzical looks, but Shyfrost would not take his eyes off the griffon, hoping he was actually there. The griffon looked passive while he scanned the crowd.

"Yes, I remember you dragon. It's been a few-" He was interrupted by a bone crushing hug from the young frost dragon, at least it would have been bone crushing had he been older. The griffon awkwardly chuckled but had not expected the others to join the circle.

The changeling deadpanned and coughed once. "And here we go again!" But nothing happened. The changeling sighed. "Okay, never mind, I guess not everyone we meet is going to have an artifact."

"You mean like this?" The griffon had pulled out an oddly designed hammer. It seemed to be made out of pure silver. "I do own something that pertains to most of you, these fillies excluded."

"Awwwww," the Crusaders said in union but were ignored.

"But perhaps we should introduce ourselves... My name is Garret."

"So that's your name!" Shyfrost said after breaking up his hug.

"Aye. I never caught your name, dragon."

"Uh, it's Shyfrost. And this is Spike." Spike waved. "The fellow who spoke is Shadow Mirror, he's a nice changeling."

He raised an eye brow but shrugged. "I'll take your word for it."

"Right. This is Prince Steel Valor."

"That much I know."

"Oh. Anyway, this is Rover." Rover waved while the griffon nodded. "And these are my friends from Ponyville."

"I'm Sweetie Belle!"

"Scootaloo!"

"Apple Bloom, and we're-"

"Yeah, I don't think he wants anyone to scream, girls." He received a death glare from the fillies for interrupting them, but Shyfrost just shrugged.

"Well, now that introductions are over with, I believe we need to discuss these artifacts. I may know a few things that you all don't, although it's probably not too much."

"Wait, why do you know so much about these things?" Spike demanded.

"I don't, but I do know some. I know for a fact that most of you have been hearing voices when these episodes happen, right?"

They all nodded.

"That is because these artifacts are connected to leaders of other nations, or at least they were."

"Were?" Shyfrost questioned.

"Yes. I don't know the exact history, but from some old books I've gathered that in the distant past each of these artifacts were tethered, to an extent, to leaders of various races."

"What races?" Spike asked.

"Dragons, griffons, diamond dogs, I believe changelings and finally minotaurs."

"So what do they do?"

"Um, I'm not quite sure." He admitted, ignoring the loudest groans that echoed off one another, he continued. "Yo-"

"Wait a minute. How did you know to find us?"

He smiled at this. "The hammer." He looked around at the confused looks. "Oh, it kindof led me to you all. But to be honest, I sensed you." He said while pointing to the only frost dragon there.

"Me? Why?"

"Not sure, might have something to do with that tail of yours. I did make it after all with the hammer. I just know that for once in my life the hammer started to feel warm and when I got closer to this town it began to flash..."

"Flash?"

He nodded. "Brightly, but the closer I got to the town the more it dimmed until I got close to you, Shyfrost. I can only assume it was a way of tracking you accidentally."

"Ahh. But why leave your home in the first place?"

"I like to travel, or adventure I suppose. I tend not to stick close to pony towns or cities but sometimes I find myself in those places. So here I am."

"Huh. So what do we do know?"

"Well," the griffon paused and made sure most of them were paying attention, "what were you all doing before I arrived?"

The dragon smirked. "Adventuring."

A slow smile spread across the griffon's face.

Chapter 15: The Minotaur Realm

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"You know we've been traveling for a while now..." Spike piped up, addressing the group. Some ignored him, but the prince rolled his eyes.

"You think I'm not leading you to my home or something?" he asked.

"No, I know for a fact this is the Minotaur Realm. I do read, you know."

The prince grunted in response.

Spike continued, "I just felt like pointing it out. By the way, what's got you so flustered? You're a prince, so..."

"Do you think that's good?” the minotaur spat. “I don't exactly know how it works in Canterlot. I mean, I have studied on it, but... it's very..."

"Demanding?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"I was just going to say 'boring and annoying'. I've accepted my role as prince to my people, but it just gets so boring!"

"Can you explain?" the frost dragon asked.

The minotaur sighed. "Imagine having every need, every want, everything taken care of, every single day."

"Awesome..." Scootaloo muttered, but the three filly crusaders kept their distance.

"Every waking minute, you have to make some stupid decision for your citizens."

"Not awesome..." Scootaloo said, slightly louder this time.

"No, not awesome indeed,” the minotaur agreed. “I never got to travel much of anywhere except Canterlot a few times, so I left."

The two dragons and even the fillies could tell that leaving could not have been that simple. "Um, your dad is the king right?" Spike asked.

The prince answered slowly, as if explaining to a foal. "Yeah, Spike, he's the king."

"And did you tell him you were leaving?" Apple Bloom asked in place of Spike.

"...Not really." He admitted this with just a slight sense of pride.

"Good, good, I would hate for this to be difficult." Sarcasm dripped from Spike's comment so thickly that even the fillies could pick it up.

"It should be fine... well, for all of you it should be."

Spike raised an eyebrow at this last line, as it had come out much faster and quieter than the others. "You're a prince, and are coming in with two baby dragons, a changeling, a griffon, a diamond dog and three fillies, with two of them related to the Elements of Harmony. And you think it should be fine?"

The prince considered his words for no longer than a few seconds before shrugging. "I'm sure Shadow Mirror can just disguise himself. As for the others," he paused and looked over their group before shrugging once more, "they should be welcome in the kingdom as long as they behave. The fillies here, kind of sounds like it's more of a 'you problem' than anything else."

Spike narrowed his eyes while he did his best to keep up the brisk pace they were setting. "No, they will be a 'your problem' once they set hoof in that kingdom of yours."

"They are just three fillies, how bad can they..."

Anything the prince wanted to say was interrupted by his momentary shock. Standing off to the side was Shyfrost, who seemed to be too busy hammering the griffon with questions to even notice the fillies' explosion of mayhem. Apple Bloom was bothering Rover by attempting to earn her cutie mark in gem finding of all things, she was, however, riding on his back and causing considerable damage to his eardrums. Sweetie Belle, having forgotten about dreaming over the prince, was bugging Shadow Mirror by asking him to change into as many ponies as possible that were famous enough for the changeling to know. And last but not least, Scootaloo was busy doing as many tricks as she could on her scooter while keeping up. She had already earned several small cuts on her body.

The minotaur swallowed. "Point taken, dragon... point taken."

"Yeah... I'm just saying to be prepared for that to be unleashed on your kingdom." Spike finished while taking on a slightly less serious tone. Spike kept glancing back at his dragon friend and sighing. The griffon seemed to have taken his every interest.

"I'm more worried about what dad is going to say when he sees me. It has been about a month since I 'disappeared'."

"Are you big in your kingdom? Twilight never mentioned you that much."

The prince shrugged. "I guess, but I'm not wearing any of the royal garments so we should be fine, although our odd group will probably get one or two stares."

"I'm guessing more than a few..." Spike took one last glance at the other dragon and sighed. He had decided to stay close to the prince and take on the role of the unofficial leader, in his lead at least he was their leader. He kept having to watch over the fillies, so it only seemed natural despite his young age. He knew he wasn't fooling anyone, but having some title in his head kept him sane on their journey.

Rover had tried over and over again to explain to the filly how his pack had worked, but she seemed far more interested in only learning a specific task. Apple Bloom's need to earn her cutie mark was the only real drive to speak with the diamond dog, other than being slightly curious about his kind. Rover understood completely, but that did not stop him from getting annoyed.

Shadow Mirror was having trouble keeping up with his own filly, who would not stop asking him questions on his race and his kind. For the most part, he had decided to keep to himself and simply make up stuff, and she seemed to be buying it. His emotional energy, however, was running dry the more she had asked him to change. Still, he did love a good audience, and Sweetie Belle was at least being polite.

Scootaloo decided on attempting one last trick with her scooter. She flew through the air and landed right on her face, knocking herself out cold. Shadow Mirror examined her and agreed that she would be fine. The two other filly crusaders agreed to carry her body in a wagon, and suddenly the trip seemed a lot shorter.

"So why Stratosburg, Twilight?" Fluttershy asked, trudging slowly aside the unicorn mare.

"It seemed like a logical town for Spike and Shyfrost to visit, not to mention the kind of town where... less than legal actions take place."

"Hmm?"

"Well, I've been thinking about the elements. If somepony or someone is trying to sabotage the Elements of Harmony, then places like Stratosburg would be the logical places to search. Not to badmouth the town, but-"

"No, I get it, Twilight. I just hope Shyfrost and Spike are alright..."

"And mah sister," Applejack added in. Her brother also trudged alongside her, but he was wisely keeping ever silent after their private chat.

"Mine too..." Rarity added.

"Right, sorry! I didn't mean to-"

"It's alright, Fluttershy, dear, we know you didn't mean anything by it. I still can't believe that Sweetie Belle would just run off! When I get my hooves on her..."

Applejack chose to keep her anger focused on her brother; who had, oddly enough, gone ignored by Rarity.

"Twilight?"

"Yes, Fluttershy?"

"...Why would Shyfrost and Spike still be out there if the migration is over? It doesn't really make any sense..."

"I don't- I... What are you saying?"

"I don't know at all, but it doesn't make much sense unless they found some other dragons?" Fluttershy's voice raised at the end, making it sound like a question.

"Maybe. We'll find them, alright?"

"I suppose you're right. I just wish we could have taken a chariot..." Fluttershy's voice continued to sigh over and over the more they walked on their second journey.

"I know, me too; but we wouldn't get any sign of a magical disturbance from the air and we might just run into our dragons and fillies by using well traveled paths. That makes sense, right?" Twilight said, her voice indicating that she felt slightly unsure of herself.

"Yes," Fluttershy nodded and smiled a bit, "it does, Twilight. You feeling... scatterbrained?" she added with a giggle of her own.

"Maybe a bit, just a lot on my mind."

The cream colored mare nodded, feeling at that moment that she could sympathize. Just then, Rarity joined their conversation.

"So, Twilight?"

"Yes?"

"Just what sort of town is this? My parents travel a lot but I don't think they have been anywhere near... well, around this area."

"It's a trading town, but also not a pony-run town."

"Oh? Is it a griffon town?"

"Actually, the mayor is a minotaur; but the town is home to pretty much any race. It's just not exclusively run by ponies."

"I see. Would you call it... dangerous?" Rarity asked, her voice going lower on the last word. Twilight rolled her eyes.

"Somewhat, but it's nothing like the griffon cities if that's what you mean."

"G-good, good."

"Are you worried about Sweetie Belle?"

"Of course I am!" She stomped down a hoof on the ground in anger causing them all to flinch and stop, whereupon the mare gave a bashful smile. "I'm sorry, it's just that Sweetie Belle and I, we are more than sisters and not quite in the way you might think. Mother and Father are always traveling and have almost always left her in my care..."

Twilight pondered her words for a while before she actually understood their meaning. "I understand, Rarity. Spike is more than a brother to me... and I think Applejack might feel that way too."

"Hmm?" Applejack took a moment to break the glare at her brother before summing up their conversation in her head. "Oh yes, Apple Bloom is like that to me and I'm sure-"

"Yes, Shyfrost is like a son to me, even though it's only been a few weeks."

The mares all sat there in a quiet gathering, the weight of their mission just now bearing down on their backs. It wasn't just about fixing the Elements of Harmony; it was getting their children back.

"Not to interrupt, but we really should get going..." Big Mac spoke up after finally finding the courage. The mares broke from their gazes to nod and decided on no more interruptions until they reached the town.

"Wow..."

The group had not even made it into the Minotaur Kingdom and Shyfrost could not help but gawk at the massive bridge that lay before them. Or, it would have been laid down, had it not been split in two with each side raise high up to stop the flow of traffic. The construction of the bridge was massive, with the tops of each bridge side looming far over the forest behind them. A guard stood on each side waiting inside a small building connected to the bridge. Why the bridge was raised was beyond even the prince, so he instructed them to wait while he talked to the guard.

"What seems to be the problem here?" Valor asked.

The guard looked over the prince and then looked back at his group. "Entrance into the city is closed off until the threat on the kingdom has been neutralized."

"What threat?!" The prince's words echoed back to the group.

"We don't, uh, really know exactly, but a threat was anonymously sent to the King so-"

"Alright, look. I'm his son, the prince, so can you just let us in?"

"Ha! The prince has been missing for... Prince?!"

The prince had anticipated this response and was ready. Digging into his bag, he uncovered his silver crown and set it on his head. His appearance was far different without the crown and thus the guard was stunned. Valor sighed.

"Why is it that everyone can't tell it's me without the stupid crown?" he asked.

The guard muttered something very quietly, obviously too scared to say a thing.

"Right... Can you just-" A loud ear scattering sound was heard as the bridge drummed to life. With a loud thud the bridge completed and clicked into place. The group slowly made their way across the bridge and they found themselves on the other side of the valley. Another noise was heard and the bridge we opened to close off non flying visitors.

"Must be some threat," Garret observed while turning around to re start their journey.

"Hmm...." The prince had nothing to say to this, and instead choose to remain silent with his thoughts.

A large pathway led around an upturned large amount of land that they could not easily climb. The path eventually cut through the land, which in turn led to another pathway with signs pointing to the capitol of the kingdom. Twenty minutes in, their journey ended at a city, not unlike Canterlot in atmosphere but far different in design. Tall, dark-colored walls lined the castle, surrounding it with a formidable barrier. The castle itself was almost inverted in design when it came to Canterlot's Castle, with the colors being a much darker shade. It did not look inviting, but luckily the city and its people did.

Minotaurs of all ages lined the streets, but aside from the fillies there was not a pony, dragon, griffon or diamond dog in site. Which means that changelings would obviously not be there either. Shops, similar in structure and variety to the ones found in Ponyville, surrounded them when they entered the city. They were all enjoying some of the sights until the gasps and stares began. Shyfrost turned to Shadow Mirror but he was not the cause; it was the prince.

"Uh...." One of the fillies tried to address the prince on what to do when an entire district practically bowed down to him. Obviously, they were more used to ponies flinching when they appeared, not bowing.

"Let's just get inside the palace, quickly!" Steel knew all too well what happened after the bowing and it was not a return to business as usual. There would be chants, then praise and then nothing but demands for their prince. He could not have that.

Thankfully, the guards in front of the castle gates simply saluted the prince and allowed his guests in without hassle. As they ran in, Spike briefly wondered if all castles had the front hallway always lead directly to the throne room. They reached the throne room too quickly for him to think too hard about it. Guards and castle attendants were going crazy with news of the prince's return. Apparently none of them thought to bring the king or the queen of the kingdom, because they found the thrones empty.

"Isn't there supposed to be a king or something?" Scootaloo asked while circling the throne unhindered as the dozens of workers in the castle just ignored a pegasus filly walking up to the thrones.

"Yes, there is." All heads turned to the new voice in the room. Standing in the edge of another hallway that lead to the chamber was another minotaur, only this one was slightly taller than the prince. He wore a golden crown on his head, but otherwise was not dressed anymore than the prince was.

"Hey, Father..." All eyes turned to the prince and then back to the apparent king.

"...Son, are these guests of yours?" the king asked, his voice dripping with venom.

"Yeah..." His pulse quickened and he began to sweat. Shyfrost took note of this and decided that speaking up in a polite manner might be in everyone's best interest.

"Hello, King," he flinched when immediately the king began to glare down at him and only him but he continued, "My name is Shyfrost, and we need your help."

"We? I-" He looked up and the prince gave a polite smile and then the fillies joined him with wide pleading eyes and soon everyone was wordlessly begging for help. It was only a matter of time before he succumbed. "Fine, but we will talk later." His tone only addressed to the prince while he nodded.

"We were wondering what you knew about these artifacts." Spike began to collect each one to show off to the king. He examined them for a moment and then addressed Spike.

"And who are you?"

"Oh, I'm Spike, the assistant to Twilight Sparkle, the Element of Magic, and Princess Celestia's student."

This got his attention. "And where is she?"

"...Not here?" Spike offered hesitantly.

"Alright, and why do you need help with these artifacts? I believe this is the coin I gave to my son."

"Well, you see-"

"It's like this your majesty," Shadow Mirror interrupted and continued to speak, "every time someone with one of these artifacts comes into contact they randomly go off and give us messages in our heads. It's crazy sounding, I know, but even the fillies here heard something."

"Is that so?" the king asked the fillies in a dismissive voice. They nodded and smiled but he simply scoffed. "I believe I can't d-"

"Oh ,just tell them what they want to hear, dear!" A new, more feminine voice said from another hallway. All heads quickly turned to her. She also wore a crown, but smaller, and silver like the prince's. "I know that you know something and you've been keeping secrets ever since the threat!" Her voice wailed over the others' and, to their shock, the king gave a bashful innocent smile.

"What do you mean, dear?" he asked innocently.

"You know exactly what I mean, dear. And it's that secretive attitude that led to our son running off like that!"

"Actually, Mother, I don't-" But Valor froze when she turned around and gave him a death glare. "Yep, that's what it was, alright! Nothing else but that."

If the queen ain't happy, ain't no one happy.

"Now spill it!" the queen demanded.

"Honey, I can't in front of non nobi-"

"Oh, they're obviously his friends and have something to do with all of this... I think, so spill it!"

The king attempted to regain as much of his dignity as possible. "...Very well. Yes, I know some things on these artifacts." The fillies and two dragons perked up with the older members of the group grinning slightly. "But not that much," he amended.

"Well, what do you know, Father?"

The king smiled after calming down some and took a good long look at his son. "These artifacts were once connected to the leaders of-"

"We already knew that part," Scootaloo interrupted rudely.

"As I was saying," the king said, completely ignoring the filly, "the artifacts were connected to other leaders, for reasons I can only speculate. I believe it is because of a leader's emotional connection to their subjects."

Spike widened in eyes in surprise. "You don't mean-"

"Yes, the divine connection that royalty shares with their subjects is not limited to just the royal sisters," the king exclaimed almost proudly. From his experiences in Canterlot, Spike understood; but the fillies and Shyfrost did not.

"I don't get it..." Sweetie said.

"Ah don't either..." Apple Bloom muttered.

Scootaloo said nothing, but got the feeling that everyone knew that she literally had no clue as well. The queen stepped forward and addressed the three fillies, but she got the feeling she was also addressing everyone else.

"You see, dearies, it is widely believed, though sometimes dismissed as mere legend, that every leader of every nation has a..." she paused and tried to come up with the right phrase, "connection with their and our subjects. Sometimes we've felt our subjects connect with us on several levels during stressful situations. We don't exactly know how it works, though..."

The three fillies looked at each other and then sighed all in union. "We don't get it."

Shyfrost did, or at least he felt he did. "You're saying that... say... ponies would follow what Luna and Celestia do just because they are in charge and not because they have to? Isn't that kind of like..."

"Mind control?" Spike offered.

"Ridiculous," the king scoffed. "All she means is that our subjects have a strong emotional connection with us and they tend to follow our lead; whether or not they are good or bad is up to them and them alone. We do not force our subjects to think one way and neither does any other leader, well, as far as my knowledge goes."

"Then what's the deal with the artifacts?" Shyfrost asked in a demanding tone, turning more to the Queen.

"We do not know why they are giving you messages or magically reacting to one another. That is beyond our knowledge, and I'm afraid we do have bigger things to worry about..."

"Like our talk!" the king finished for his wife while glaring at the prince.

"But Father, we-"

"This is not negotiable! Your guests can wait here, now come along to my quarters." The prince sighed and got a friendly nod from the dragons and others. In a moment the two had left the confines of the throne room.

There were very few things in Equestria that could scare Prince Valor. Even fewer things could put him into a nervous state of shock that would wear off but still linger in the back of his mind.

"You-" The king paused and did his best to collect his anger to deposit it for a later time, "-what possessed you to just leave? Anything could have happened to you! And now the kingdom is in danger-"

"Funny, I don't sense that our kingdom is in danger,” the prince replied in nothing short of sarcasm.

The king stepped froward and gave his son an angry look, but managed to repress his rage. "...Come with me," he said calmly, before turning around without even waiting for a response. Eventually, the king heard his son close behind as they crossed over from room to room. They found themselves inside the castle's vault. Or, more accurately, what used to be the vault.

"What happened here?" The prince gawked at the destroyed pieces from the vault. Traditional armor pieces used in olden times that were collected over the centuries now lay destroyed. Pieces of artwork that were considered the most valuable were ripped to shreds. The vault that once housed priceless pieces and artifacts now only housed trash and debris.

The king sighed. "An attack, a silent one. When we woke in the morning after visiting the vault just the previous day, we found it like this. And a note..." The prince looked on and indeed found a note pinned to the wall, he assumed they kept it there for evidence purposes.

Your kingdom will fall.
Love, D

"Uh..." The prince was at a loss for words.

"The note was pinned just over there, but we moved it. No one wanted to get close to... whatever it left." The king pointed to the far end of the room. Cautiously the prince stepped forward and among the wreckage was something glowing and, to his astonishment, perpetually changing.

Inside a wooden box with various decorations plastered on the side from love symbols to minotaur skulls was an item. This item continued to morph and change from a beach ball to a miniature cannon, which then tilted up and fired right at the prince. Before it could land the hit it morphed again into a minotaur skull and stayed that way.

"What is this?"

"...We don't know, but it's why the threat is being taken so seriously!" the king replied in anger, and the prince nodded.

"Father, I don't know what this is, but shutting out kingdom away from others is not going to help!"

The king scoffed. "And running away from your kingdom won't help either!"

"Yeah, well... maybe you're right," the prince replied, ending the conversation then and there.

The king tried to respond several times but he was too shocked to say anything. Had he heard right? Had his son actually agreed with him?

"What did you just say?" the king questioned in an impossibly quiet voice.

The prince rolled his eyes. "I said you're right. Running away solves nothing, but neither does running from other kingdoms."

"Yes, well... I'm glad you agree with me," the king said, smirking at his son.

"And I'm glad too..." The prince gave a mischievous smile.

"Yes, well- Wait. What?"

"Our plan. I'll take my group and travel to these other kingdoms to ask for help from this threat... it was your idea!"

The king failed to come up with a response to this.

And maybe find out more about these blasted artifacts while I'm at it... The prince's thoughts were interrupted by a loud scoff from the king.

"And you honestly believe that by begging for-"

"'Asking', Father."

"Yes...” the king said in a tone that clearly indicated that he was only agreeing to move the conversation forward, “by asking for help from these kingdoms we can actually ward off whatever that is?!" The king pointed to the magically shifting item in the box that had just changed into some mechanical singing bird.

The prince nodded. "I do. You want me to be a prince and someday a king to our people, right?"

"Of course I do!"

"Then don't you think its time we start listening to some of my ideas for once?" The prince crossed his arms in a calm manner and waited.

"Yes, perhaps you're right." The king smiled but it was short lived when the singing bird morphed again into an umbrella, once again accompanied by a noise which sounded with each shifting.

"Good, let me just go get my... group." The king nodded and left his son be.

Several minutes later, Valor found himself in front of the group, who were being uncharacteristically quiet.

"How'd it go?" Scootaloo asked, breaking the silence.

"...Fine. It went fine," the prince muttered.

"That's it?" Scootaloo brought her hoof to her face. Clearly her patience had run out a while ago.

"Yep!" The prince then frowned and turned to the two dragons, who were waiting in silence. "But we have a bigger problem then just these... artifacts."

"What now?" Shyfrost practically demanded.

"Well..." He sighed and explained to all of them exactly what happened.

"'Kay, now what?" Rover questioned. He understood the prince's words, but was at a loss on how to help his new 'pack'.

"I don't think whatever this threat is would only target the minotaur realm..." Shadow Mirror piped up.

Spike frowned. "What do you mean?" he asked fearfully.

"Sorry, it's just that this kingdom isn't exactly known for its growing prosperity... I think we should visit some other lands and see if anything is wrong there. Waiting here isn't going to fix anything, and we still don't know anything about these artifacts."

"So we need to see if the other castles and places are safe?" Sweetie Belle questioned, her voice not squeaking for once.

Spike and Shyfrost looked at each other and then nodded, and the prince nodded as well. "Seems like the right choice," the prince murmured.

For a while nothing was said, as each creature was contented to allow an awkward silence to wash over them. Well, almost each creature. The fillies were not.

"So, where to next?" Apple Bloom asked excitedly. Most of the others groaned, as they felt too tired to move on for that day. "What'd ah say?"

Chapter 16: The Mysterious Filly

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Shyfrost and his group had decided to spend one night at the castle before leaving in the early morning. Shyfrost and Spike led the group in the front with the three fillies to their right. Rover held a respectable distance from the rest, while Shadow Mirror was constantly flying above them. The prince was walking alongside, with Garret in the back.

"I still say we could have earned Minotaur Kingdom sight seeing cutie marks..." Scootaloo muttered, earning a curious start from her two fellow crusaders. "What?!" she asked.

Apple Bloom spoke first. "Scootaloo, sometimes Ah worry about you."

"About what?"

"For your safety," she replied in her southern drawl.

"Yeah, I could see that," Scootaloo replied smugly.

Spike rolled his eyes, but was determined to keep his conversation between Shyfrost and him.

"So, who do you think this D is? Kind of sounds like Discord, but I'm pretty sure Celestia would have known if he was out again."

"I have no idea. I wasn't exactly prepared to find out that our group is going to be protecting kingdoms. I have no idea where to start," Shyfrost admitted.

"I guess I could send a letter to the princess. She might know something, but I'm pretty sure the response is just gonna be come home immediately."

"Maybe,” Shyfrost agreed. He cast a glance back. “Should we say anything about... all of them?" he asked.

Spike looked back at the group and considered this. "I think it would be alright, but maybe just say that Shadow Mirror is a pegasus instead of lying about his name, oh! And no mentioning those three." He pointed to the fillies.

"Good call."

"Let's see..." Spike muttered as he brought out another quill and scroll.

Dear Princess Celestia,
Shyfrost and I are traveling with a rather large group towards the Griffon Kingdom. Now don't worry, we are traveling with the same griffon who made Shyfrost's tail end! Isn't that amazing? His name is Garret, and he's very protective of us and friendly. Along our way to reach the dragon migration we also ran into some other fellows. The first we met is named Shadow Mirror, who is a pegasus pony. The second is named Rover who was once the leader of an important Diamond Dog pack, again he is also very friendly. We are also traveling with Prince Steel Valor, I'm sure you remember him.
You may be wondering why we are traveling. Well, for a few reasons. First, it's about these artifacts that each of our group members have. From Shyfrost's amulet to Rover's dagger, each one has made a strong magical connection when we come into contact with each other (that is to say when we all first met and the artifacts became closer to one another). That was our first reason to travel, to try and find out the reason for these magical disturbances.
The second reason is a threat, a possible threat to other kingdoms. A confirmed threat was placed on The Minotaur Realm. The reason you may not have heard of this is because the king had shut out all trade for a while before his son talked him out of it. A note was sent from someone named simply 'D' and it stated their kingdom would fall. All signs point to Discord, so please check on his statue. It came with a box with a mysterious item that randomly changes shape. This 'D' also destroyed some of their priceless possessions.
If it's not Discord, than all signs maybe point to another one like him. Is that even possible? No clue here, but I really hope not. Please tell Twilight and Fluttershy that we miss them very much and that we're sorry for not coming back, but we have to see this through.
Love, Spike
PS. Have you ever heard of Changelings before?

"Think this will do?" Spike asked, but before his dragon friend could respond, a green glow enveloped the letter and it was whisked away from his hands.

"Let me see that... let 's see here..." The changeling muttered to himself as Spike just now noticed it was him of the group to take the letter. "Have you heard of Changelings before? I'm pretty sure she could crack that code there."

"Don't care,” Spike said. “I hate lying to her, so at least this way we can see how much she knows about your race. I trust you, but I'm just curious if she really-"

"Hates our guts? Spike, I'm pretty sure she does..."

"Why?"

Shadow Mirror paused before responding. "Many of our race aren't as... well... they don't all show restraint when it comes to other ponies. For example," Shadow Mirror paused and flew up into the air to hover above the three fillies,"had I been any other changeling, I would have tricked the slow one down there into giving me love." He then flew down to the ground without any further indication of who 'the slow one' was.

The three fillies shared a few looks before speaking up. "But why do they have to do that? Sounds kind of mean..." Apple Bloom muttered, ignoring the slow comment.

"It's just how we are, we need love to survive. I, however, have found that earned love instead of the stolen form is much easier to come by, and a lot less mean for the process..."

"What's the process?" Scootaloo asked.

"Simple, when one of you are asleep I simply open my mouth and some of your emotions flow in. It only works two ways, however. If I'm forcefully taking it through the spell like others do, or if you three trust me for it to work. Clearly, you trust me on some level, so I don't have to force anything."

"Now hold on a minute," Sweetie Belle interjected. "I don't want my emotions stolen! Give them back!"

"Uh, it doesn't work that way. But I can assure you that it does not harm your health or affect you in anyway."

Spike decided to speak up at this point. "Then why hasn't your race revealed themselves to ponykind? Sounds like your harmless in the long run."

Shadow Mirror rolled his eyes. "Would you trust someone that looks like me at first glance? The answer to that riddle is a resounding 'no'. I don't find our species ugly, but you ponies do. I've seen how they react, run first and talk later."

"Well, I know the princess and I know Twilight, and they would never judge you that quickly unless you did something wrong! Now give me my letter."

"Fine, fine. But don't blame me if your princess comes after our little group and does something stupid..."

Their conversation ended there. Spike blew flames over the letter to send it off to the princess. After a while the group stopped walking in such a large pair while the trail got narrower. The two dragons were leading up ahead once more.

"So, what do you think this griffon place is like?" Shyfrost questioned Spike with a slight amount of nervousness in his voice.

"Lots of mountain terrain where most of the griffon 'homes' reside. I kind of forgot what they called their homes, but Twilight taught me a lot about that place. Griffons, of course, can be hostile to our kind; but I don't think it will be a problem, uh..." Spike looked over and saw Shyfrost with his head tilted down and one of his claws twitching. "Are you okay?"

Shyfrost looked over and did his best to fake a smile. "Yeah... as long as Garret sticks with us I think I'll be good..."

"Yeah he's pretty neat, I guess. You know I never asked before, and sorry if this is rude, but why did he have to make you a new tail?"

The orange dragon looked into his eyes. He didn't see any hint of deceit or humor or anger, just concern and curiosity. Shyfrost then sighed. "The end of my tail got, um, cut off by griffons a long time ago... Twilight knows and you and Fluttershy and that's about it, oh and the princess..." Shyfrost whispered this as quietly as possible.

Spike nodded once and kept the steady pace that the dragon duo were going at. The purple dragon could never imagine losing a piece of his body. "I'm sorry man, that- that's not right..."

"...It's okay..."

"How could that possible be okay? Shyfrost you're a good friend, but that couldn't possibly be ever okay."

"Uh... I mean I'm happy, now, with you."

"Oh, I see." Spike smiled and hesitantly brought his left hand over to drape on his shoulder. Shyfrost felt awkward for a moment but kept it there, the dragon's walking side by side. The orange dragon had never felt happier.

Rainbow Dash was bored. She had came home from their little adventure with the expectations of having to catch up on her lost work and maybe start a storm or two. But as it turned out, she had very little work for the coming months. There was some, but taking extra time off would not have killed her job or much of her pay. As fast as she was, however, she was not quick enough to keep up with her friends who were probably a million miles away by now.

She was still technically on the job, but with no work to be done she was resting on a bed of clouds out in the open over Ponyville, practically falling asleep. She would rather be doing a million other things right now, like practicing her tricks, but most of all following her friends to figure out the mystery plaguing the Elements. And find those dragons, but mostly the Elements.

"Hey Dashie!" A pink mare screamed from out of nowhere, causing Rainbow Dash to flinch and fall off of her cloud. It took her two seconds to get into a flying position and land again.

"Pinkie? What was that for?" Rainbow demanded, thoroughly annoyed.

Pinkie tilted her head to the side, she was sitting on some grass just underneath the clouds. "What was what for?"

"You just... I mean, never mind." Rainbow sighed and flew down to greet her friend. "So, what's up? Don't you need to be at work or something?"

"Nah, I guess it's kind of an off season. The bakery is still doing fine, but the Cakes said I could have the week off!"

"Uh, that's great. You sure they're doing fine though? Kind of sounds suspicious..."

"Oh sure, it happens every once in a while. They have plenty of bits rolling in still, and they figured I could use a break." Pinkie then smiled and laid down on the grass with an audible sigh.

"Oh cool... something on your mind?" Dash asked, throwing herself down and laying next to her. She noticed her friend had an almost serious expression on her face, which was quite unusual for Pinkie Pie.

"Well, how come you didn't stay with Twi?"

"What do you mean? I have work, you know that..."

"Sure doesn't look like it, Dashie..." Pinkie replied in a playful tone.

"I know, but they're probably a million miles away at this point... if I had known-"

"But that's another thing that's bugging me. Isn't your sister out there? I mean, if it was my sister, I would be super, duper scared for her and I would be worried about monsters and-"

"Pinkie! What are you talking about? I don't have a sister."

Pinkie opened her mouth to say something but nothing came out. She tried a few more times before finally choosing to gasp audibly. "But, but, why- I don't- isn't Scootaloo your sister?!"

"Uh, no... do you mean that little orange filly? Always trying to bug me?"

"Yeah, that's the one! But she told me once that you were her big sister!"

"I don't know why she would say something like that..." Rainbow scratched her head a few times. "When did she say this?"

"Hmm, about a month ago, I think. I noticed that she kept coming into the bakery alone, a lot and one night just before closing she had purchased a loaf of bread. And this was like REALLY late for a filly so I offered to walk her home, she said 'no thanks, my sister Rainbow Dash will' and then she dashed out of the store and forgot her bread and yeah."

Rainbow blinked. "And that didn't seem suspicious to you at all?"

"Well, now it does...” Pinkie narrowed her eyes. “Are you sure you don't have a sister?"

"Eeyup! I actually don't really have a huge family. My dad split when I was young and my mom just kind of did the same after she enrolled me in flight camp. Not really sure why... but it's never really bothered me- oof, Pinkie!" Her story had been interrupted by a flying tackle from Pinkie Pie.

"I'm sorry Dashie but that's just so sad!" Pinkie began to cry and was hugging her friend for all she was worth; meanwhile, Dash had a less than amused look on her face.

"I'm fine, Pinkie, really. I'm happy and I have all of you guys, like Fluttershy was always there."

Pinkie sniffled. “Are you sure?" she asked tearfully.

"Eeyup!" Dash grinned and carefully pushed the pink mare off.

"Okie, doki, lokie!"

They sat in silence for a long while after that before a small realization dawned on Pinkie. "Hey Dashie?"

"Yeah?"

"So if Scootaloo is not your sister..."

"Yeah..."

"And she is still out there with the other Cutie Mark Crusaders..."

"Yeah?"

"Shouldn't there be like a family or something freaking out and looking for her, if she lives in Ponyville? Just seems kind of odd..."

"Heh, heh, yeah you would, uh- oh man..." Before Pinkie could respond to the odd comment, she was then thrown into the air and thrown onto the Rainbow maned one's back, as Dash set a course for the Ponyville police station.

Silence reigned supreme among Twilight and her friends until Applejack broke it with a question. "So Twi, you sure they would be headin' to the Minotaur Realm?"

Big Mac was doing his best to remain as invisible as possible, but was failing dramatically. Twilight rolled her eyes at him before answering her friend. "Absolutely. For one, I did notice a slight tingling sensation from my Element when we changed directions from that last town. Now if my theory is correct about what is disrupting The Elements, then that would mean it has something to do with Spike and Shyfrost... I don't really have any evidence, but for now let's assume they do..."

"You- you're saying that Spike and my Shyfrost are-"

"I'm not saying anything against them, Fluttershy, I've just had this nagging feeling that they are up to something ever since you pointed out that bit about them still traveling for no reason, which would explain why they haven't returned home." Twilight assured the pegasus who then nodded once. "Now there are many paths that led away from that town, but logic dictates if they do wish to keep traveling, they would find the nearest town or city which happens to be the Minotaur Kingdom."

"Twilight, what could our dragons possibly be up to-"

"I don't really know, Fluttershy, but I'm not ruling out the possibility. Our main priority needs to be fixing the Elements or our country is open to attack, but as a secondary priority we really should be looking for the fillies and our dragons. Once we have them, we can rule out their hoof in this, but it's still possible." Twilight finished this sentence in another cold and calculated voice, and it sent a slight shiver up Fluttershy's spine.

Fluttershy nodded and hated to admit it, but she made sense. "And do you really think the missing fillies are with them?"

"I hope so, at least then we'll know that they aren't alone. But if they are and they've kept this from us, then-"

"My Spikey-Wikey better hope there is a hospital nearby when I'm done with him!" Rarity finished while contemplating the notion of her favorite dragon lying.

Fluttershy looked at Rarity in horror. "But-"

"And if they are lying, Ah'm never letting that Shyfrost near my sister again! No offense, Fluttershy."

"Applejack... First off, he is enrolled in school-"

"Then Ah'll home school!"

"Second off, they're friends; it's kind of the reason they left in the first place."

"Well-"

"Thirdly, that sounds just a bit cruel to be separated from her friend for life." Fluttershy finished in a confident tone.

"Yeah, well... Fine, it might be just a bit cruel." Applejack admitted with a approval from Fluttershy. "So maybe Ah'll just go with Rarity's plan on both of em."

"...Touch my dragon, and I'll use my Stare on you to make you think you're a blasted dog, or worse." Fluttershy shot back in what she hoped was a quiet tone but they all stopped and stared. She saw the shocked stares and, with a legitimate smile, trotted off ahead.

There was a long silence while four mares and a stallion continued on the path with their heads looking in every which direction but ahead towards Fluttershy. Rarity spoke up in a nervous tone.

"You can't really use your stare to do things like that, can you?"

But Rarity's question went ignored as a new development took priority

Twilight bounced in place. "Look! The kingdom's up ahead!" she announced.

Rainbow Dash had spend, along with Pinkie, the remainder of her afternoon down at the police station waiting for any answers regarding the strange filly. She had sent quick word to her job that she was taking emergency leave for the day, not that they cared. Dash was close to falling asleep as she waited along with Pinkie (who actually had fallen asleep) in their waiting room.

"Miss Dash?" A stallion called out. He was a simple, nondescript earth pony.

"Yes?"

"Come with me. And sorry to keep you waiting." He then walked off and waited for her to follow. Dash glanced back at Pinkie and sighed, figuring it was pointless to wake her now.

Inside the stallion's office, or what she presumed was his office, she took a seat and the stallion wasted no time in talking.

"I'm officer Locks, and you wanted us to file a missing ponies report on this Scootaloo?"

"Yeah, did you-"

"Well, here is where it gets a bit complicated. The odd thing is even though she is enrolled in the school system, she is not part of the Equestrian government, as far as I can gather."

Of the many things Rainbow had expected, this was not one of them. "...What?"

"Yeah, it took me a while to narrow it down. She had somepony sign her up for school with that part blacked out for public viewing, meaning somepony from Canterlot must have helped her. I think. The funny thing is, she is not and has never been part of any government system. No Scootaloo has ever existed in any city, including Cloudsdale and Ponyville. It's quite a unique name, so normally this might make sense, but no birth certificate is just puzzling. She must know somepony really high up on the chain to gain permission to enroll in school."

"But shouldn't there be somepony looking for her?! A family freaking out or something?" Dash insisted, her voice raising in pitch as she spoke.

"That would make sense, yes. But other than you, nopony has filed a missing report on any filly fitting your description. The best I can do is file a missing ponies report for Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom, which do exist, and then the other cities might be able to spot them and by extension, her."

"Ok, do that, I guess. But man this is weird. Where the hay did she come from?! Who does she live with?!"

"It's admirable how much you care about this filly-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, I wouldn't go that far..." Dash replied with followed by a nervous laughter.

The officer then deadpanned, "Sure. But this is as much as I can do. If you have any spare free time, then you can go out and look for this Scootaloo on your own."

"I have free time, sure, but Twilight and my friends are already looking for those fillies. I'm sure they're a million miles away by now. It would be a waste of time!"

The officer considered this and tilted his head to the side. "I take it this group is traveling together, as one?"

"Uh, yeah, why?"

"Then going out is not a waste of time if you really want to find these fillies and this Scootaloo. You could cover more ground by traveling to odd places, maybe settlements that this Twilight hasn't gotten to yet? Just a suggestion."

"But I don't know where they were going to."

He shrugged one last time. "Sorry again, I can't help ya there, but maybe you can guess? It couldn't hurt to look if you do have the free time." He then turned around and left.

Rainbow walked back, slowly, to the waiting room. Thoughts continued to swirl around in her head, thoughts regarding the young filly. She wasn't exactly sure why she cared so much. She tried to argue with herself that what she was about to do was for Shyfrost mostly, she had more of a connection with the odd dragon than Scootaloo, after all. She figured heading out might be a neat idea to find Shyfrost instead of boring weather duty, but in reality she was curious about Scootaloo.

Returning to the lobby, she prodded the sleeping earth pony. "Pinkie, wake up!"

"What? How long was I out?" Pinkie asked in a groggy tone that was quickly washed away with her bouncing out while following Dash.

"Most of the day... so listen, I'm going to take some time off weather duty. As it turns out, I'm not really needed lately, and I figured I would-"

"Say no more!" Pinkie dashed away and left Rainbow Dash to stare at where she once was. After a couple minutes she sighed and prepared to fly away when Pinkie stopped her.

"Back! My Pinkie Sense told me we were about go on another adventure for some reason so I figured I'd let the Cakes know. Are you ready?"

Rainbow blinked once. "Your Pinkie sense can do that?"

"Sure, silly! So, where we heading to?"

"Don't you want to know why we are going out?"

"Sure!"

"Well, I... oh just wait here Pinkie. I'll be back in thirty minutes. I need to sign off work for a while and get some things."

Pinkie then saluted. "Okie dokie lokie! I'll wait right here!"

"Yeah..."

As Rainbow Dash signed off and began to gather her things, which had not been unpacked from before, she couldn't help but try and remember everything she knew about Scootaloo. Which, as she quickly realized, was next to nothing. She did know that she had a weird fascination with Rainbow Dash herself; which, when she really got down to it, was not that odd. Scootaloo clearly idolized her and wanted to be like her, even if a fan club might be a bit much.

Ponyville was a pretty small town, especially when compared to Cloudsdale, so Rainbow Dash found it odd that she could not recall Scootaloo's family. She even knew the families' names of colts such as Snips or Snails, but why not Scootaloo? She sighed and flew back, hoping that Pinkie was still waiting and hoping more that what she was doing made sense.

When she came back, she saw no Pinkie and no bags like before. She looked around.

"Pinkie?" she called out.

"Up here!" Pinkie's voice called out. Dash looked up and spotted the pink mare waving with a silly smile, inside a hot air balloon.

"Wow..." Dash muttered and flew up to the join her. "There's enough room for all of our stuff! How'd you get this?"

"I borrowed it from Twilight!" Pinkie replied cheerfully, and set course for no where in particular. "So, where we headin'?"

"Are you sure that Twilight is okay with this?"

"Hmmm, probably? So, where to? Oh, this is so exciting! This is our second adventure and just the two of us!"

Dash noticed that the balloon was traveling at a relaxed pace so she had plenty of time to think. Let's see... I could pick at random? Maybe Pinkie's Pinkie Sense could help? Well, those are the only two options, I guess.

"Pinkie? Can you use your Pinkie Sense to locate somepony instead of just waiting for it to go off?" Rainbow questioned slowly.

Pinkie opened her mouth to respond but then quickly closed it once more. Then she grinned. "Oh my gosh! That's a great idea! I've never tried it! But how do we do it?"

Rainbow didn't even understand Pinkie Sense normally. "Uh, its your sense, not mine."

"Hmmm...." Pinkie concentrated but nothing happened, they both sighed. The balloon continued to travel as Ponyville slowly shrank in the distance.

"Wow!" Pinkie's entire body shook, causing the balloon to become unsteady. Her ears flopped a few times and her eyelids fluttered. After two minutes of this, she stopped and turned to Rainbow. "We were looking for those fillies, right?"

"...Yes?"

Pinkie grinned sheepishly. "Heh, heh... you're not going to like where they're heading."

"Home is where the heart is, eh?" Garret questioned after a long drawn out silence.

The group had stopped and stared at the unique nature of the Griffon Territory. The sun bathed the entirety of the mountains and homes. It was peaceful yet the tiny dragons and part of the group still felt unnerved. Garret looked up and spotted several dome-like structures perched on flat elevated terrain. There was were very few plants or trees, but there were still a few. Spike took note that the entire place was not unlike Appleloosa; to a degree, anyway.

"Let's see, up there are some local civilian homes... nothing out of the ordinary here. I take it you all wish to see the griffon king?"

"Yeah, can you take us to him, Garret?" Shyfrost asked from his position around his neck. Spike wondered how his friend was so quick, and why he was even up there in the first place.

Garret grunted. "Well, I've never met the king before. I'm just a blacksmith. From time to time I've been asked to make armor and pieces for weapons for our army. I know where he is, though, so yes I can."

Spike wondered how the griffon could even tolerate the weight of the frost dragon around his neck, but shrugged it off.

"Hey, Garret? Why did you stick with us and even go in the first place? You could've just ignored your artifact..." Shyfrost questioned while trailing off in the end.

"Hmm, you're right. I could have. But for one I've been kind of... out of it. Maybe a little... bored, if I have to be truthful with myself and this just sort of seemed like an-"

"Adventure?" Shyfrost finished.

"Yeah, yeah, that. When I knew it was you that caused my hammer to act up, well I'd be lying if I said I wasn't curious to know what had happened to you."

"But you know now, and you don't have to do this just out of boredom so why stay?"

"Maybe I appreciate your spirit..." he replied cryptically.

Shyfrost nodded and figured it was a compliment. "Hey, um... are they going to get mad at us and our group? I don't know anything about the griffon king, and-"

"Probably not, though they might be annoyed." Garret admitted while he continued to walk ahead.

Shyfrost shifted on his neck uncomfortably. "A-annoyed?" He stammered.

"Eh don't worry, that group of griffons that did that to you is long gone. I investigated a little after you left and they were part of some delinquent group... very few of those are left. Griffons might not have the best relationship with dragon's but nobody is gonna hurt you here."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure."

Chapter 17: Scootaloo's Origin

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"Does having a prince in our group give us free admittance to see the king?" Spike questioned Garret as they continued on their slow walk.

"Uh... yes? I'm sorry, but I've never met him; and I'm not exactly sure on the procedures on doing just that. I do know that any citizen is allowed to see him, but I've just never bothered to do it," Garret admitted.

Shyfrost shifted again around the griffon’s neck to get more comfortable. "But you know where he is, right?"

"Yes. Our infrastructure is not overly complicated. The king resides in the center of our 'kingdom'. Normally we would just fly up and find it, but I don't think we can all be carried, well..."

Shadow Mirror held up a hoof defensively. "Don't get any bright ideas. I can carry a few, but not these fillies as well." Especially not these fillies, he added silently.

"...Right,” Garret nodded. “It shouldn't take too long on foot. We'll just have to stick together."

"In my clan," Rover started, "the leader would always be on the move so he can watch over and ensure its survival. I find it odd that so many leaders stay in one place."

"Princess Celestia does that sometimes," Sweetie Belle said after walking up to Rover. "Well, I've seen her down in Ponyville a few times which is kinda far from her castle."

"Your pony princess does not sound too crazy, then."

"Why would you think she's crazy, Mr. Rover?" Apple Bloom asked.

"I think all leaders are crazy, but being able to control the sun and the moon makes her quite powerful."

Apple Bloom frowned. "So? She's not mean or nuffin."

Rover shrugged but remained silent. Apple Bloom dropped it and turned to Sweetie Belle, who was looking worried.

"What's wrong?"

"I was just thinking of my parents, I'm sure they're gonna ground me or something when they eventually find out about me running off."

Apple Bloom nodded, it did make sense. She shuddered at the thought of of what Applejack was gonna do. She then turned to Scootaloo, who was looking relaxed and even happy as she trotted along.

"Hey, Scoots?"

"Hmm? What's up, Apple Bloom?"

"What do you think your parents are gonna do when they find out you ran off?"

Scootaloo's eyes widened in horror but only for a moment. "Uh, probably get pretty mad. Why?"

"We were just thinking of our guardians is all. Ah guess we're feeling nervous."

Scootaloo nodded. "Okay. When do you think we'll get to this griffon king?"

Apple Bloom was about to point out that it seemed like she was dodging the issue of their guardians, but thought better of it. "Ah don't know. Soon? Ah hope?"

"Better be soon, I can't do any tricks on this gravel.” She kicked at the ground angrily. “I can barely ride at all. It’s so boring!”

Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes. "Would it kill ya to try something else for fun?"

"Like what?"

"Uh... you could try talking to the others, or us I suppose."

Scootaloo pondered this before shrugging. "I guess I'll try talking to one of them."

Sweetie smiled and said nothing.

Scootaloo walked up to Shadow and started walking alongside him. "’Sup?" she said.

"Nothing, what's up with you?"

"Not much. Is it hard being a changeling?" Scootaloo asked.

"Hmm, it depends on who you ask." Scootaloo tilted her head to the side at this strange answer, and Shadow Mirror continued, "To me, nah. I prefer being alone, though it’s quite refreshing to travel in such a large group."

"What do you mean, being alone?"

"Well, ponies aren't exactly the trusting type. No offense. But they tend to shy away from things that are different, and that includes changelings."

Scootaloo frowned. She didn't understand why ponies had to be this way.

"To be fair, a lot of us changelings do deceive ponies in a not-so-nice way. I never did, though. I was in disguise a lot, sure; but I'd like to think I earned my love instead of taking it," Shadow Mirror finished with a wink at the filly.

She smiled. "That's pretty cool. But you're saying you prefer being on your own because you have to? Because ponies won't trust ya?"

"I guess. Its not so bad when you’re on your own."

"Yeah, I know the feeling," Scootaloo muttered.

Shadow looked at the filly in a new light. No one had heard what she said, except for him. She sounded bitter, like something big was buried there.

"Something you need to talk about?"

Scootaloo looked at the changeling and sighed. "No, I think I'm good. Thanks, though."

"Sure."

The filly pegasus remained silent for a while and hung off towards the back of the group. Her fellow crusaders failed to notice this. She had never thought of things from the changeling's perspective before. Scootaloo had reasons to keep secrets, big reasons. To her, these secrets were just a given; there wasn't anything she could do about them and that was that.

The group had found themselves inside of a rather large canyon. It was mostly vacant with very few griffons flying through. The shade was a welcome change to the sweltering heat.

Scootaloo had been lost in her thoughts for a while, which is why she failed to notice a long rainbow trail up in the sky.

"Is that..." Spike began to ask, but the trail started to grow closer and he knew there was no doubt.

"Rainbow Dash?" Shyfrost finished, shielding his eyes.

The group shared uneasy looks, which was further justified when their artifacts began to glow once more. The sheer speed Rainbow Dash was going at almost made it look like she was attempting a sonic rainboom again, but she was aimed down at them. They could only watch as she neared them. Scootaloo noticed the group had paused and looked up.

“Rainbow Dash?!” she yelled out loud in bewilderment.

Just as she was as close as she could get without landing, a flash happened. From Scootaloo’s perspective, though, there were two. The filly was far enough away from the bearers of the artifacts to see one surrounding Rainbow Dash and one surrounding her group. Rainbow Dash had stopped in mid air, but by squinting her eyes she could tell that there was a resistance of some kind. As if the rainbow maned mare was trying to pull of a Sonic Rainboom but couldn’t quite muster up the strength.

Rainbow Dash gritted her teeth, she had to keep trying, but she also had to figure out why this was so hard. Through the blinding flash she noticed her necklace of the Element of Loyalty was reacting violently. The lightning bolt shaped gem was flashing different shades of black. In sheer desperation, she backed off and flew high up into the air. The two flashes stopped and her gem stopped flashing. It still looked odd, and she could tell just by looking at it that it was no longer the red color that it was supposed to be. She sighed and flew back towards Pinkie.

Scootaloo stood there rooted to the spot. “What just happened?” she asked as Dash flew away.

Shyfrost rubbed his amulet. “No idea. Spike?”

“Nope, I got nothing. Well.... wait she’s coming back!” he yelled out to the now disoriented group to warn them. Only she landed in less than ten seconds flat, with no necklace on her neck.

“Okay,” Dash started and looked around the group in bewilderment, “somepony better start explaining what’s going on, now!”

They all looked at each other, wondering who would be the unlucky speaker. The fillies knew that Rainbow’s best friends couldn't be far behind, and thus they were in trouble. Shyfrost had an explanation, but wasn’t exactly sure how to word it quick enough for the impatient mare. Prince Valor was still trying to figure out how a pony could have a naturally occurring rainbow colored mane. Rover regarded her with caution but remained quiet. Shadow Mirror and Garret shared a look, but both of them assumed Shyfrsot would speak up. He didn’t.

“Well? Cause that definitely looked like a strong magical reaction to me!” Dash practically yelled back, her eyes wild and frantic.

“Uh, what do you mean?” Shyfrost asked.

“Princess Celestia told us that the Elements of Harmony have been reacting to some weird magic somewhere in Equestria. She told us to keep them on us at all times and to look out for something like that. Do you guys have something magical or something on you?” Dash asked, looking from left to right to the strange group and meeting every one of their eyes.

“Um, yeah...” Shyfrost admitted.

“Then you have to see the princess, like now! She needs to fix the Elements! Oh, and you three fillies are in a lot of trouble!”

“Rainbow Dash, we’re kind of on a mission here... wait, were you just looking for us?” Spike asked.

“Um, kind of. It’s a bit more complicated than that, but yeah. What mission?”

Prince Valor cleared his throat. “There was a threat issued on my kingdom. I’m Prince Valor, and-”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Can it! The Elements come first, and if they’re broken and one of you are the cause then you need to see the Princesses.”

“Actually, Dash, I think this is more important. We need to see if the other more detached kingdoms are in danger first. If they are, then Canterlot might be in danger too,” Spike replied.

Rainbow huffed. “Spike! If they’re in danger, then how are we supposed to kick butt and stop them without the Elements working right?”

Spike had to admit, she had a good point. “Well, I-”

Shyfrost stepped forward and placed his hand up for him to stop talking. “If our artifacts, which we’re still trying to figure out what they do, are causing this, then we should keep going on our, um, mission. The leaders of the other nations seem to know some things about them and maybe they can help us fix those Elements.”

“Well, I- hmm.” Rainbow Dash took a seat and started to think. As the seconds ticked by, Spike couldn't help but notice that she was alone.

“Hey, Dash? Where are the others?” he asked.

“Pinkie’s up in her hot air balloon with our Elements.”

“Uh huh, but what about Twilight and the others?” Spike crossed his arms, waiting for her reply.

“...They’re looking for something to cause a ‘strong magical response’, but it looks like I found it first! And their dragons, of course...”

Spike and Shyfrost gave each other an embarrassed smile.

“But I also need to speak with Scootaloo,” Rainbow finished. Scootaloo looked at her in curiosity. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle exchanged glances.

“Um, not us?” Sweetie questioned, breaking the silence.

“Yeah! Why aren’t we in trouble?” Apple Bloom wondered out loud. Then she cursed under her breath for even thinking that.

“Oh, you two are in deep trouble as well, but this concerns me and the squirt!” she confirmed. Scootaloo stared her down. The filly didn’t feel fear or anxiety, just curiosity. What had she discovered? She hadn’t been gone for that long... then it clicked. It wasn’t anything that the filly had left behind as evidence for her secrets to be spilled; no, it was what wasn’t even there in the first place.

“Um, what is it?” Scootaloo finally spoke.

“Oh nothing too big, but we really should be talking in private.” Rainbow Dash put emphasis on the word private, almost with a grin. The entire group had started to dart their eyes back and forth.

Scootaloo was trapped. Even if she tried to avoid Rainbow Dash by thinking up something clever for her new group of friends to distract the mare with, she would still eventually find a way to talk to her in private. Just standing there in silence was already making her two filly crusader friends look on in almost shock. This was Rainbow Dash, the mare that she basically worshipped (or at the very least Rainbow Dash, was in first place above the other Elements of Harmony on her list). Scootaloo gave a fake grin.

“Well, sure! Um, but there’s nowhere private around here...” Scootaloo said, looking around and seeing no trees or big rocks or anything else to hide behind.

“No problem! Just hop on!” Rainbow leaned down and waited with a smirk on her face.

Scootaloo blinked twice upon hearing this. Never before in her entire life had Rainbow Dash offered something even close to this. In fact, no pony had ever offered something like this before. She grinned and was about to hop on without hesitation; after all, how often does a rainbow maned mare offer a free ride on their backs?

“Hold it, Scoots!” Apple Bloom called out, Scootaloo groaned and turned around. “Cutie Mark Crusaders, huddle!” Scootaloo blinked, the one command that could override one from Rainbow Dash or any adult for that matter. In a few seconds the three were huddled together, Shyfrost decided to stay out of it.

“What’s up?” Scootaloo asked.

“Don’t you think this sounds a little fishy, Scoots? How do we know this isn't just a way to get us all to head home?” Sweetie reasoned.

“Oh yeah... but, Rainbow Dash wouldn’t do that!” Scootaloo could not see her idol ever being that uncool.

“Ah don’t know Scoots. Why would she ever want to talk to you? No offense, but this ain’t ever happened before...”

“Apple Bloom...” Scootaloo pleaded with a silent whine. “It’s Rainbow Dash...”

“Ah got an idea... just follow my lead,” Apple Bloom replied with a wink. She then turned around.

“Okay, Rainbow Dash. How do we know you won’t try and take us home or take Scootaloo home when you fly away?”

“Um, well-”

“We don’t know.” Apple Bloom replied for her. “So how about Shadow Mirror over there flies up with you, he’ll be away from a distance but if you don’t return her, then he will.” Apple Bloom finished with a smug look on her face.

Shadow Mirror raised a hoof indignantly. “Um, since when do fillies tell me what to do?” he asked, but was ignored.

“Deal, now hop on already!”

Scootaloo did so, jumping on and wrapping her hooves around her neck. Dash flew up into the air and was soon followed by a hesitant changeling who was still in disguise.

“Where are we going?” Scootaloo yelled over the wind.

“The hot air balloon, just hang on!” Dash then swerved to the left and sped up. Scootaloo gritted her teeth as the wind flew through her mane. This was much faster than she had ever gone on her scooter.

Soon the duo landed in the balloon with a bored looking Pinkie. The pink mare perked up instantly. “Hi, Scootaloo! What’s up?” she asked.

“Um, us?” Scootaloo chuckled slightly and turned to Dash. “What gives? You said you wanted to talk to me in private...”

“What gives? This involves Pinkie too!” Dash declared. She wasn’t angry, but she did want to get straight to business

Pinkie gasped. “It does?!” she asked excitedly. “I like being involved! This is gonna be great!”

Dash stared at the mare with a blank expression for a bit, before Pinkie got it and giggled and settled down ever so slightly. Dash sighed. “Yes, she is. Now then, why did you tell Pinkie that I was your big sister?”

“When did I... um, no, I didn’t!” Scootaloo switched emotions very quickly, from confusion to understanding and then horror at being caught. After that, she was hit with the realization that she was up in the air with no means of escape, staring at the two mares that could ruin everything for her. She quickly decided that a flat-out denial was her best shot, but she overlooked one big thing.

“Twitchy, twitch!” Pinkie gasped loudly. “Somepony is lying to me! Somepony that I know...” Pinkie tilted her head upwards and started tapping her chin in an almost comical manner. Rainbow Dash was nearly speechless. Sometimes Pinkie could be a bit much. Realization struck, and Pinkie wilted sadly. “Hey, wait a minute... It’s you!” she said, pointing an accusing hoof at Scootaloo. “You're lying again, Scootaloo! Why?!” Pinkie looked down at the filly with tears brimming in her eyes.

Scootaloo looked down. She had certainly never meant to cause her to cry. She looked from Dash to Pinkie. Pinkie looked genuinely hurt, almost like a filly who had just dropped her ice cream cone. Dash held a stoic expression on her face, Scootaloo knew that she was about to get what she wanted. She snapped. “I lied, okay! Happy?!”

Pinkie looked down and sighed. She was not happy. She was not.

Neither was Rainbow Dash. “But why? We came looking for you and normally I wouldn’t go this far for something like this... I mean, I care; but not that much...” Dash stammered.

Pinkie wiped her tears away and spoke. “But Dash, you could have just sent a letter to the princess and she could send one to Twilight. I think it was obvious that the Cutie Mark Crusaders were traveling with the dragons; at least, I kind of assumed so. You didn’t have to go on this adventure,” Pinkie reasoned with a smile.

Dash had been trying to hide her emotions and prove that she didn’t care about some filly, but Pinkie had just ruined that. Well, leaving on the trip ruined that and she just now came to that conclusion. She did care about Scootaloo, but for her own reasons. “Pinkie! But you... oh never mind. Listen, Scootaloo, where have you been living? Where are your parents or guardians... or whatever? The police records-”

“Police records?! Did you go behind my back?” Scootaloo was hurt and felt tears of her own brimming in her eyes. It started to make a bit more sense on why Rainbow Dash was here.

Dash sighed. “I’m not trying to go behind your back. We noticed that nopony had been looking for you, which made no sense to me. I mean, Applejack is looking for Apple Bloom and Rarity for Sweetie Belle. And Pinkie mentioned that one time with your lie. Just, please, tell us what’s going on?”

“That’s none of your business! I don’t care if you are Rainbow Dash! You don’t have any right to know.” Scootaloo huffed and turned around in the tiny balloon, not wanting to face her idol.

“But we need to know, if your parents aren’t looking for you... look, we need to know. And you're not leaving this balloon until you tell us.” Dash spoke forcefully, but Scootaloo was not going to back down. The filly huffed and took in a deep breath, she knew if she just waited them out then Shadow Mirror would take her back, and she’d be on her adventure again before she knew it!

Pinkie looked at Dash, who rolled her eyes and tapped a hoof impatiently. Meanwhile, Scootaloo looked almost hurt that this was going on. Realizing that she had to be the bigger mare and take the first step, Rainbow Dash thought about what to say before carefully selecting her words. “You know... we wouldn’t have come all this way if we didn’t care about you, Scootaloo. Twilight and our friends are working on this magical case thing and we only left because of you.”

The fillies ears perked up at this. “Do you, Dash?” Scootaloo asked after turning around. Rainbow almost felt annoyed. ‘Dash’ was a nickname her friends used, not some little filly! But maybe she was being too harsh, in her head at least.

“I do... I guess,” Dash muttered. That last part earned her a sharp jab in the stomach from Pinkie. “I do,” she reaffirmed. “I really do.”

“Look, its a really long story and kind of insane. You would think I’m insane...”

“No we wouldn’t! Right, Dashie?” Pinkie put her hoof on Scootaloo’s shoulder and smiled.

“I’ve heard my fair share of nuts before, you can trust us. We won’t laugh or think you're crazy.” Dash grinned and waited.

“Um, okay.” Scootaloo fiddled with her hooves. “You remember when Twilight did that time travel spell? I think she was sent back like three days?”

“Oh yeah! That was fun!” Pinkie beamed.

Dash laughed. “I still have a hard time believing that she did that, but whatever.”

“Uh huh, uh huh...” Scootaloo uttered, feeling more nervous than she had ever remembered being. “I’m...” She bit her lip and saw four eyes on her, her breathing started to quicken to the point of it becoming profoundly noticeable. Dash sighed.

“Just relax kid, I’m sure its not that bad.”

Oh, but it was; and that sentence alone uttered out by her idol almost made it worse. “I’m... from... the future.”

The high altitude wind and noise from the balloon almost seemed to stop making any form of sound. Pinkie stared at her, trying to find any form of a joke and the same with Dash. Finally Dash chuckled.

“Right... so where are you actually from?”

Scootaloo frowned. “I told you, I’m from fifty years in the future! Well... almost fifty.”

“Kid, the time travel spell from Twilight is temporary. She explained it to us. So where are you really from?”

Scootaloo gaped in horror. Why wouldn’t they believe her? It was the honest truth! Dash was hopeless, she wasn’t going to believe her. So she turned to Pinkie, who was deep in thought. Her body was hunched over, and every once in a while she would tap her chin as if pondering deep cosmic mysteries.

“Scootaloo, say that again.” Pinkie said.

“What?”

“Where you’re from.”

“I’m from the future.”

Pinkie looked back at her tail and... nothing. No twitches or any odd noises. “Dashie, my Pinkie Sense didn’t go off...”

“Uh...” Dash thought long and hard, she had to find a loophole in her sense. The alternative, believing Scootaloo, just sounded too crazy! Until it came to her. “So what? She could believe she’s from the future, and then it wouldn’t be a lie because she really believed it.”

Pinkie pondered this. At this point, her deep musings and constantly losing herself in thought were almost starting to get annoying. Then, she had an idea.

“Dashie, do you believe that you’ll get to be a Wonderbolt some day?”

“Huh?”

“Answer the question, do you believe that?”

“Of course I do!” She grinned and imagined herself at that very moment, when she would join the Wonderbolts! Then she frowned and turned back to reality. “Why?”

“Well, my tail didn’t twitch then.”

Rainbow groaned. “Duh! Because I believe that!”

Pinkie sighed. “But that doesn’t mean it will happen. You can believe you will--and for what it’s worth, I believe in you--but it could end up being a lie eventually.”

“Um...” Did that make sense? Dash had to admit, this was the most amount of sense her friend had ever tried to make. “But, then... her thing could still be a lie...”

“No, because she was talking about something that already happened. Sure, she could be nuts--” Scootaloo scowled angrily at Pinkie here, “--but I don’t think she is, and I think she’s telling the truth.”

“Well, I... even if I did believe her- no, I mean- okay, fine! She’s from the future, fine!”

Scootaloo grinned and laughed. “‘Kay, cool... can I return to my adventure now?”

“No! That still doesn't explain why you're here! How did you go back to the past and why?”

“I told you, it’s a long story.”

“It can’t be that long. Just spit it out and we’ll set you back down on the ground.” Dash replied back.

“Fine. I used to live at Ponyville Orphanage, they built it years from now. And- Ooph, Pinkie!”

Pinkie started hugging the filly. Well, perhaps ‘squeezing and placing in mortal danger’ might have been a bit more accurate. “You’re an orphan?!” she wailed. “That’s so sad...”

Scootaloo was fuming and struggling to free herself from Pinkie’s iron grasp. “Of course I am! Why would I go back in time if I had a family?! Now, would you let me finish?” she snapped.

Pinkie stopped crying immediately and dropped her on her bottom and fumed herself. “Fine, but you're not getting a cupcake, Miss Rudey-pants!”

“‘Kay. Anyway, as it turns out, the Cutie Mark Crusaders club becomes big in the future. There’s clubs in every town to help fillies and colts find their special talents. Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle would visit me a lot... they were nice. Even though they were really old. They kind of made me feel like I had a family....” Scootaloo looked on longingly into space before shaking her head. “Anyway, one day Scootaloo stopped visiting-”

“Okay, hold up here! You’re Scootaloo!” Dash accused.

“And you're interrupting me!” Scootaloo retorted. “Let me finish!” The two had their faces practically pressed up against each other angrily. Dash sighed once more and waited. “Anyway, Scootaloo stopped showing up, which was weird... but it was soon after that that Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle declared their retirement from the club... and from me. Oh, my name is Blaze Wings, by the way. My real name, at least. I got really depressed until my unicorn friend, who’s this kind of sleazy stallion that I sometimes hung out with, offered me a chance to go back in time. I guess they had invented permanent spells at some point that got banned pretty quickly. They work because.... because... what was that explanation- oh yeah! When you go back in time you make a new dimension or something. You can’t change the past, so it makes a new one!” she declared with a happy grin and then frowned. “Or it sends you to a new one... I’m really not sure how it works, but eh... that’s more unicorn stuff anyway.”

Dash scratched her head a few times. “Huh?”

“Yeah, it took me awhile to figure out what that meant. Basically, it sends you back in time but creates a new timeline. I can’t change the past--that would be impossible--but I made a new one which is here. At least, I think that’s how it worked. I just wanted to see my friends again... when they were my age. But, I soon found no Scootaloo here. Eventually, I figured out that I’m supposed to be Scootaloo... I guess. I’ve been living in the Cutie Mark Crusader clubhouse ever sense.”

“But then how did you enroll in school?” Dash asked, feeling amazing for shrugging off the shocking explanation so quickly.

“Well... remember when I said that Scootaloo disappeared? The old one I mean?”

“Yeah...”

“I guess she came back with me, but I don’t know where she is. She could've died from old age at this point... but she left me a letter. It said that the spell works by... man, this is hard to remember... oh! By making the new timeline, it removes any trace of you from it, or finds one without you in it.” She recited this line from memory. “So I’m supposed to be Scootaloo, I think, even though my name is Blaze Wings. If, say, Twilight had gone back, then she would not find a younger Twilight; it would only be her and a new timeline.”

Pinkie nodded. “So you’re a ‘Scootaloo’ from a timeline or “dimension” that’s fifty years in the future? But this Scootaloo grew up in that Ponyville.. hmm...” She thought for a while before rendering her verdict. “Makes perfect sense to me!” she grinned.

“It does?” Dash and Scootaloo asked in unison.

“Sure!”

“Can you tell me? Cause I still don’t get it and I’m the one that traveled back in time. Just because I look like Scootaloo doesn’t mean I am her. I’m Blaze Wings, I always have been. How can I be Scootaloo if that was Scootaloo who helped me? Her note left me instructions on how to enroll in school and she told me that she helped me go to this timeline because of how down I looked. She didn’t say much else though...”

“Well, the general theory about other universes is that for every single action a new timeline can open up, one for each of the possibilities. That means every second a new timeline diverges and is created. Like, in another dimension, there’s a Pinkie Pie right now who decided to brush her teeth with vanilla frosting instead of chocolate frosting this morning.”

Scootaloo wasn’t sure if this was helping after all.

Pinkie continued, “So it doesn’t sound that creepy that by going back in time you made a new timeline. As for you being Scootaloo, maybe you just look like her. It’s not impossible to have an orange coat and a magenta colored tail. If this “old Scootaloo” traveled back too, then she would make a new timeline with only her as the Scootaloo, so no filly. You said the time travel spell that you looked like her, so this “old Scootaloo” gave you the chance to live as she did!”

Dash and Scootaloo were dumbfounded and stared at Pinkie. The pink mare saw them and grinned sheepishly. “What? I read a lot of comic books and they’re always dealing with different dimensions and time travel theories and junk like that.”

“Oh Pinkie... hmm. Okay squirt, you’re from the future from some weird spell that makes timelines. Fine. And your real name is Blaze Wings?”

“Yeah...” Blaze kept fiddling with her hooves.

“Do you want to be called Blaze or Scootaloo?”

Scootaloo looked up in horror. “It can’t be Blaze... my friends can’t know about this! They’d think I’m some kind of freak!” Scootaloo pleaded with eyes wide and lower lip trembling.

“Oh c’mon! I bet they’d think you're awesome!” Dash cheered.

“No, they’d hate me for ruining their lives. I made a timeline and things are happening differently. I doubt the CMC will be famous at this point. Hay, I know that Shyfrost didn’t exist where I’m from, but Spike does. I’ve never even heard about an orange frost dragon, and I knew Fluttershy in, um, my future.”

Pinkie raised a hoof. “Oh, so this timeline has new events happening? Lke in issue number thirty seven of-”

Dash interrupted her. “They won’t be mad, Scoot- er Blaze. Just explain your situation, and you’ll do fine.” Dash reached over and placed her hoof under the young fillies chin and gave her a reassuring smile. The filly smiled back, but then frowned again.

“But, then everypony’s gonna know. And Ponyville doesn’t have an orphanage! They’ll send me away...”

“Oh...” Dash’s mood dampered upon hearing this. “Uh...” She looked to Pinkie who was deep in thought again, she thanked Celestia for that.

Pinkie perked up for a split second. “Scoots, how have you been eating exactly?”

“I have a paper route, I don’t steal if that’s what you mean, well I used to borrow some apples but I paid Applejack back in secret...”

Pinkie nodded and went back to thinking, the lack of a tail twitch was enough for evidence on the stealing part. She tapped her chin a few times. This time, she was really deep in thought, trying to come up with the perfect solution for a seemingly impossible problem. Then, Pinkie chuckled.

“Scoots, I don’t know how things work in your time,” Pinkie started, and the filly’s eyes widened slightly, “but in this time, there’s not that many orphanages in Equestria. There’s a couple, but I doubt they would take in a filly at your age...”

This was news to Scootaloo. In her future, runaways were dealt with swiftly, booted back to a ‘home’. She hadn’t stopped to consider the earlier development of this Equestria, things were progressive where she was from, but not here.

“So, I can just stay in Ponyville? And nopony cares?”

“Sure we care! We can’t have a little filly like you on your own... right, Dashie?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah... uh, I don’t suppose you thought that far ahead, Pinkie?” Dash turned to the mare with a pleading look. Scootaloo looked between the two, feeling left out of the conversation suddenly. So she tried to assert herself, proving her own independence.

“I take pretty good care of myself, thank you. I don’t steal, I bathe, I brush my teeth, I go to school, I have a job and-”

Dash waved her hoof to stop. “That’s all fine, except the job part. It would be one thing if you were using the job to save up for something, but a filly shouldn't work for her food. That’s just wrong, Blaze.”

The filly rolled her eyes. “So what do you want me to do? Starve? A fillies gotta eat, and bits don’t grow on trees!”

Dash smirked and remained silent for a while. It didn’t take a genius to notice the similarities to the time traveling (or was it dimension?) filly and herself. Still, Dash really had no clue what to do with her and the clock was ticking. This Shadow Mirror kept giving the balloon nervous glances. Dash then looked over at Pinkie who was reading a comic book of all things.

“Pinkie! What are you doing?” Dash demanded.

Pinkie blinked and threw the comic away over the balloon. “Oh sorry, I was just reading about Warp Stone, the amazing-”

“Yeah, yeah, that’s great, Pinkie. But who is Blaze gonna stay with?”

Pinkie giggled to the confusion of both pegasus ponies. “Isn’t that obvious?”

“No....” She drawled out slowly.

“Really? Huh, well duh, she can just live with you!” Pinkie exclaimed with a grin.

“What?!” Dash’s scream could be heard from miles away. To her horror, she looked over to Blaze, who had an open mouthed gape that quickly warped into a childish grin, the kind that was very difficult to say no to. Her brain tried to rationalize it, tried to think of a logical approach to saying no. But she couldn’t, so her mind picked the alternative. The last thing she saw before blacking out was an orange filly attempting to wrap her hooves around Dash in a hug.

Chapter 18: A Change in Management

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“You sure that she’s fine?” the orange, dual-named filly asked Pinkie for the hundredth time. It had taken a lot of explaining (and perhaps a teensy bit of distortion of the truth), but the dragon’s group had bought that Rainbow Dash had hit her head during the conversation and knocked herself out, and whatever they talked about was, in fact, personal between her and Scootaloo and was not to be discussed. Yet, anyway. Pinkie made Blaze Pinkie Promise™ to eventually tell her friends, so it was not technically lying. It was also discovered that the Elements of Harmony could come into contact with the mysterious artifacts if the necklaces of harmony were not being worn by their respective bearers, though nopony was entirely sure how this information helped.

“Oh yeah, I’ve seen her knock herself out a dozen times, silly,” Pinkie declared as she took a nervous glance over to the wagon that the mare was sleeping in. “She’ll be fine.”

“Okay then...” Blaze still sounded skeptical, but figured that since the rainbow-maned mare was breathing, she was probably fine.

“We are nearing the king’s section,” Garret announced. A narrow passageway greeted them, guarded by two heavily armored griffons who stood tall and imposing, even if they weren’t in a position of attack. Each of them had their wings tucked to their sides, but on closer inspection, it was apparent that on each feather was a sharp metal slit of some sort. Garret noticed the stares and explained, “Blades for their wings. They’re the king’s guard.”

“Ah,” most of them replied in unison.

The group approached the guards, and the two snapped to attention. “State the purpose of your company’s visit,” one of the guards ordered Garret.

“We are here to see the king to warn him of a threat.”

The two griffons stiffened at the news and then scowled at the group. One of them eyed the dragons. “What is this threat?” the guard on the right asked.

“It is for the king’s ears only. All griffons are allowed to see the king, right?” Shadow Mirror asked, the last part drawn out in a know-it-all attitude.

The guard on the left scowled at him. “Yes, all griffons, but only one of you is a griffon, right?” he asked back with an equal level of snark.

Garret sighed. “Are you barring them from seeing the king? They all hold valuable information for him, you know.”

The one on the right spoke again. “We are not, but-”

“Then just let us in, you silly!” Pinkie chimed in with a grin.

“We do not take orders from ponies, so back off,” the left guard growled, ruffling a wing (and making the blades rustle threateningly) for emphasis.

Shadow Mirror had lost what little patience he had. “Do you want us to warn your king or not?!” he screamed.

“Well, we-”

“Please, sirs. Just let us pass, you can come with us if that helps,” Garret offered, trying to restore at least some semblance of order. The two guards shared a look and nod, and they let the group move along.

“So this place sure is... different,” Applejack commented, looking wide-eyed around the Minotaur Realm.

“Ah’ll say...” Big Mac said after working up the courage to even speak in front of his sister.

“Well, to me it simply looks like Canterlot, only filled with minotaurs instead of ponies,” Rarity said, much less impressed.

“So what’s the plan, Twilight?” Fluttershy nudged her friend, who seemed to be lost in thought as she studied everything.

“Oh...” Twilight shook her head a few times. “I think our best bet is to see the king and queen, and perhaps the prince if he is here. It should be this way.” She pointed up ahead, away from the shops that Rarity had been eyeing eagerly. The group started walking, but were missing one member. Twilight turned around and cleared her throat. “Rarity, this way!”

“What?” Rarity turned around from the dress shop she had been eyeing hungrily, and gave a nervous smile. “Oh, certainly. Let’s go.”

Twilight rolled her eyes, but they continued on their path to the palace. They found two guards up front who let them in after a very long (and in Twilight’s opinion, completely unnecessary) pause. The group was just glad that seeking an audience with the minotaur king and queen was very common and more open a process than in Equestria.

They stopped in front of a third guard, who looked at them judgmentally before speaking. “The king will see you shortly, just wait right here.” The guard then turned and left through a door at the end of the hall to the left of them, and when the door had shut behind him, they all let out tiny sighs of relief.

“Twi, what’s this king like exactly?” Applejack asked, bringing up a hoof and adjusting her hat..

“Stern, but he certainly isn’t mean or anything. I actually met him once... when I was a filly.” She blushed as all ponies turned to her.

“How’d that go?” Big Mac asked.

Twilight scuffed a hoof against the ground. “Well, I was a filly and shy and possibly rude...” Her voice trailed off, and her friends noticed.

“Oh dear, how were you rude?” Fluttershy asked to her right. Twilight looked over and sighed.

“Well, up to that point I had never seen a minotaur, and I may have said he looked... funny.”

Applejack caught that tiniest bit of emphasis. “Did ya use the word funny?”

“No, Applejack, I used something more colorful...” Twilight was blushing a hundred shades of red at this point.

“Do you think this king would remember?” Rarity asked hesitantly.

Twilight turned to Rarity and frowned. “Kind of hard to forget somepony when they are the sun princess’s personal student.”

“Ah reckon so... but Ah’m sure it’ll be fine. You don’t get to be leader of something without showing some civility to others. Ah’m sure this king will be nice.”

Twilight gave a smile, but it was starting to crack. “Yeah, nice...”

Before any further speech could be said, a door to their left slammed open, revealing the king, who was looking a little less than ‘nice’. They all looked to him, but he was only looking at one pony, Twilight.

“Ah,” the king’s voice echoed through the chamber, “the princess’s personal student. To what do I owe this pleasure?” He spoke polite words, but his voice was bitter.

Fluttershy nudged Twilight to start talking, and she quickly bowed and cleared her throat. “King, we are here to ask for your aid, in aiding your kingdom and ours...”

The king stepped forward a few steps with a menacing glare. “That so? Well-”

A door, which was to the right of the previous slammed door, also slammed open, this time revealing the queen. “Honey, are you intimidating our guests?” she demanded.

“Why do you always assume I’m... intimidating... our...” The queen had began to walk forward to him, and with each step the king’s voice squeaked higher and higher in nervousness. Fluttershy watched the two and decided to interject.

“Have either of you seen some dragons? Small ones?”

The queen broke eye contact with her husband and looked at Fluttershy. “Yes, they arrived the other day with a rather large and odd group, including our son the prince.”

“You saw them? Spike and Shyfrost?! Are they still here?!” Twilight ran up to her, asking with pleading eyes.

The queen sadly shook her head. “I’m sorry, no. They arrived to ask about some odd magical artifacts, and we gave them the information we could and then informed our son on this threat to our kingdom. He and their group decided it was best to move onto other nations and warn them. I highly doubt someone is targeting just little old us after all...”

Twilight deflated but was not discouraged. “What threat? ‘Cause we have a threat, too. I mean, we’re not the threat, but... Well, maybe you should start from the beginning.”

The queen smiled and told the group of ponies everything she knew, which wasn’t much. By the end of her story they all sighed in relief to know that the fillies were at least with a trusted group.

“Well, at least we know the fillies are mostly safe...” Applejack muttered. Big Mac grinned in relief, but knew his sister well enough to know that he wasn’t completely off the hook yet.

Twilight sat in the middle of the group, deep in thought. Fluttershy looked at her in concern.

“So you are certain that they are heading to-” Rarity paused and let out an audible gulp. “-the Griffon Kingdom?”

“Positive. It’s not too long of a trip from here.” The queen then turned to Twilight. “What do you think of this threat, Twilight Sparkle?”

“I need to see this artifact room and the item you mentioned.”

“That would be wise. Honey, do you mind taking them there?”

The king, who had been remaining silent up to that point, huffed but nodded in acceptance. Snapping his fingers in an order to follow, he turned and led the way. Once inside the room, Twilight immediately conjured up her magic to scan the room. Her scan returned one anomaly. The artifact that continued to shift and mold into new and fascinating, almost nonsensical objects simply made no sense to her, and that could only mean one thing. Her eyebrows raised in horror.

“Discord...” she whispered.

Princess Celestia was walking down a lonely corridor, deep in thought. She had a lot on her mind, mainly the Elements of Harmony and their magical decline, but also thoughts of her student plagued her. She knew that reviewing these same thoughts over and over was probably not the best idea, but sometimes it did help in finding answers. Still, in the past few hours she had yet to think of a single thing that would explain these phenomena, despite her greatest efforts. Then, she quite literally saw something out of place, and paused.

A painting, facing the wrong way, was leaning against a wall (as opposed to hanging on said wall) directly in front of her. She looked around to see if she saw a passing guard or worker pony whose job it was to clean them who might have moved it, but chuckled at herself when she realized that this part of the castle was part of her private study.

So why had it been moved? She knew no other ponies were allowed in here without her permission. She sighed and conjured up a bit of magic to slowly turn the painting around. Her magic instantly dissipated, and the painting fell. She expected laughing from the hallway or something to happen, but no, nothing. Her mind processed this and came up with only one possible solution.

“Discord... why else would this be here?” Instinctively she ran to a window and looked out to the garden, Discord was still there, safe and sound and stony. She went back to the painting and spent the next five minutes inspecting the painting, expecting it to leap at her or start talking or turn into chocolate milk or something like that.

Nothing happened, not even when she conjured up some magic and literally burnt it to a crisp. “That was anticlimactic...” she muttered with a chuckle. Then she heard it.

“Oh what’s the matter? Expecting an explosion of some kind? Honestly, what kind of lord of chaos do you think I am?”

She didn’t want to believe it, but denial would get her nowhere. “Impossible...” she breathed, and Discord made himself visible with a flick of his claw.

“Oh Tia, Tia,” he said, shaking his head as if he were deeply disappointed in her. “Why bother with such stupid notions as impossible? Boooring!”

She was not paying attention to his taunting, though. She darted back to the window and frowned. The statue was still there. Of course it’s still there, she thought bitterly. She turned around to face him.

“I don’t know how you got out, but-”

“Got out?” He laughed a laugh which Celestia could only describe as simply insane. “Oh, that’s a good one! I mean, you can see my statue, no?”

“Yes...”

“Oh, can’t figure it out? Simple minded Celestia.” He then walked up to him which to her was odd considering his nature and placed a claw over her shoulder, which felt like nothing. She blinked.

“You- you’re not here?”

Discord brought up a paw and removed his monocle for cleaning. He answered as if this were a friendly conversation two old friends were having around a fire on a winter’s night, simply discussing new ideas. “Now, that is an interesting question, hmm. How shall I put it? If you mean in reality, of course I am! I mean, what is reality, really? Sight? What you can see? Do thine eyes deceive you? No, I am, in fact, here.”

She waved a hoof right through him and gasped. An illusion spell, of course... “I don’t know how you are doing this. You should be confined to the prison completely.”

“Oh, that I can explain. Have you heard something about a certain set of necklaces being drained of their power? That ring a bell? The power that imprisoned me is weakening, no?”

Celestia’s jaw dropped. “No...” she whispered. In her stress over the dragons, the necklaces and worry over Twilight’s safety, she had failed to notice one important detail. The very thing that imprisoned him, the magic itself, was weakening for some reason; and that meant that he would be out soon. And she was in the castle, without the Elements of Harmony to stop him.

“Yes... but don’t think I’m alone this time, little sun pegacorn.”

It took her several moments to form a response to this. Granted, it was not the most articulate response, but it was something. “Wha-?”

Then he chuckled yet again, a wicked grin forming on his lips. She had to act. Standing, she lit her horn... which fizzled out almost instantly. She felt horrified and utterly confused. If Discord was not free of his stone prison yet, what had stopped her horn?

“Oh oh,” Discord said, shaking his finger at her as if she were a naughty filly. “Did a certain sun lord have too much cake lately? Really, you're such a pig...”

Drugged... no.

She did the only thing that came to mind: she ran. She punched open the doors with her front hooves and galloped out, hoping to reach the only other princess in the castle that did not have an affinity for cake. All the while Discord had been following along, merely floating on his back, his illusion spell still holding strong.

“So tell me Tia, what’s the plan? Reach Princess Luna? Find Shining Armor? Oh how cliche!” His laughing and taunting buried deep into her, like an arrow into her soul. She knew it was hopeless, almost pointless, but she had to try.

Discord shook his head and gave himself a slap across his face, as if punishing himself. “Oh, that was stereotypical of me, wasn’t it?” He laughed even harder than before, an amazing feat in its own right. "Oh, may as well go for the whole kit and kaboodle!" He then snapped his fingers and two pink fluffy looking clouds appeared around him, following him like pets.

Celestia simply glared at him, but didn’t slow down.

“Oh, lighten up, a little sugar helps the mind going.” He tore off a piece of the clouds and shoved them in his mouth. “Just ask that pink friend of yours, what was her name? Dinky?”

“Pinkie!” Celestia corrected irritably.

Discord shrugged. “Something like that.”

After that she picked up the pace, her adrenaline was coursing through her system and gave her tunnel vision. Had she not been focusing so hard on her goal, she might have noticed some interesting details, such as the lack of guards posted or absence of maids cleaning.

She found her sister’s quarters and absolutely nothing was out of place, except her sister. She was not there. Celestia turned to face Discord, who was playing a game of go fish with himself.

“Did you check the throne room? Honestly... you’d think after over a thousand years...”

“You will not get away with this you know!” she yelled as she galloped out and turned to go to the center of the castle.

Discord looked up and widened his eyes innocently. “Get away with what, exactly?”

“Whatever you did to the Elements and-”

“Me?” Discord gave an exaggerated gasp and placed a paw on his chest, as if struck in the heart by that accusation. “Why, Tia! I’m hurt! How could you ever think I was the one to do such a thing? I promise you, it wasn’t me.”

“You-” She skidded to a stop as she reached the throne room, because as she arrived, she found a creature that looked like Discord, except much, much larger; without a doubt the largest she had ever seen. Despite its large size, Celestia determined that it was actually a she, mainly due to her eyelashes and slightly more slender frame. She floated just above her sister, who was cowering in fear below her.

Discord grinned. “Now she, on the other hand, might have had something to do with it!”

“Sister! Are you alright?!”

“My horn! It-”

“What’s the matter, LuLu? Too much tea in your diet?” Discord laughed again as he tapped Luna demeaningly on the head with a large cardboard cut-out of a lowercase t.

Celestia tried and tried to will some magic into her horn, but nothing would happen, not even a spark. She looked up to the other Discord, and she smiled.

When she spoke, it sent shivers up Celestia’s spine. Not because her voice was loud and scary; rather because she sounded just like an average mare would. “Celestia, it is a... hmm, what would this be? A confrontation? Yes, I suppose that would be it. I can’t say it is a ‘pleasure’, though. That would be a lie.” She nodded solemnly, as if lying were a terrible sin.

“Who are you?!”

“Oh you can just call me Dee.”

“And what do you want?”

For a moment the creature seemed calm and collected. She stared at Celestia with eyes bulging out, and that’s when Discord broke the silence by laughing once more. Dee did the same, only her voice seemed to thunder all around.

“Isn't it obvious? Oh, for a leader of a nation you sure are slow.”

“You cannot have Equestria! I will not allow it!”

“Equestria? You think I’m only after Equestria?” Chuckling, Dee flew over to Celestia and literally picked her up with a claw. Celestia did her best to not flail about. “My little pony, you think too small.” She frowned briefly and pointed at Discord. “And so does he, come to think of it.”

“What can I say?” Discord shrugged, very much unoffended. “It’s the simple things in life that matter.”

Dee rolled her eyes and then smirked as she turned back to Celestia. “I’m not after your country, little pony.”

“Then what?” Celestia asked in bewilderment. What could be worse than taking over a country?

“I’m after your world.”

Well, there’s that, she decided.

“Well, more specifically, your dimension.”

“Dimension? I beg your pardon?” Luna asked from behind her.

Discord laughed again. “Oh isn't it marvelous? Of course I only wanted Equestria all to my self, but an entire dimension? Now that’s something. Oh, and she has me to thank for the plan!”

Dee laughed herself, but hers was more mocking than mirthful. “You? I can hardly thank you for anything. It was not you that alerted me to this world’s, nah, excuse me, dimension’s presence. No, not at all!”

Discord looked mildly offended for the first time today, and raised a claw in protest.“But, you contacted me, said you needed help, and for-”

“And in exchange I would release you, which I still plan on doing. Make no mistake there. But it was not you at all, it was a filly.”

“You don’t say?” Discord asked already growing bored with the conversation as he sipped on some tea with a top hat on his head. Then he finished off the cup and threw it on the floor. “Whatever. That’s ancient history now, no?”

“Yes,” Dee paused and then turned down to Celestia with a smirk, “it most certainly is. Now then, I need you to summon those Elements of Harmony, specifically through your student.”

“Never!” Celestia spat. “And even if I wanted to, I couldn’t! My horn no longer works, thanks to you!”

“Hmm, you raise a good point. But no matter.” She snapped a claw and suddenly a massive parchment was floating in front of them. “Oh dear, could I trouble you for a quill?” Without waiting for an answer she tilted Celestia to the side and with ease jammed her horn onto the parchment, writing with the whole alicorn as though she were as light as a quill..

“My most faithful student, Twilight Sparkle. An emergency has come up that outweighs fixing the Elements or finding your dragons. I request that you and all of the Elements of Harmony come down to Canterlot, I will discuss the issues in per-” Dee paused and looked down to Celestia, who was scowling at her. “Is it ‘in person’ or ‘in pony’? I’m still new to this dimension.”

She waited for an answer,but all she got was spit lodged into her eye. “I’ll just say ‘in pony’. Signed, Princess Celestia. Now, Discord, will you do the honors of giving this the royal seal?”

Luna chuckled darkly. “That is complex enough that you’ll never figure it ou-”

“Got it.” Discord then cleared his throat and literally projected the royal seal for Dee to see. She smiled and rolled up the parchment after installing said seal. He smiled at Luna’s stunned expression. “You’d be surprised what you learn when you’ve been trapped in a statue for so long.”

“Hmm, I don’t know the spell that sends the letters to this Twilight.” Dee looked at Discord, but he merely shrugged.

“Well, don’t look at me! Chaos lord, remember? If I tried to send it, it would probably end up somewhere in the Saddle Arabian desert.”

She sighed and turned back to Celestia, then she snapped a claw. Drawing on her magic, she literally dug said claw into the back of Celestia's skull. It was a simple illusion spell to grab memories, but Luna didn’t need to know that, so she let her gasp and laughed. “Let’s see, raising sun, nah, friendship spells, no... oh, there’s that reformation spell you were telling me about... ah ha!”

A few moments later and the scroll was whisked away. Then they all sat in silence. “Hmm, I suppose I should get you out of that statue, but what to do with them...”

“Oh, oh! Let me do something, please! I never get to mess with them!” Discord whined. With a quick snap of his fingers, he materialized as a child version of himself and started crying actual waves of tears.

“Very well. But for now...” She paused and flicked her claw, and just like that, Princess Luna and Princess Celestia were literally tied down with ropes.

“Ah, a classic,” Discord replied and laughed once more.

“Now stay here you two like good ex-princesses!” Dee said and vanished into thin air. She reappeared a few seconds later in front of Discord’s statue and tapped on it curiously. “How do I open this again?”

“You have to do something very chaotic.”

“Hmm...” Dee looked all around and spotted plants, trees, grass and one very large castle. She smirked. She conjured up a bit of magic and with that, the top of Princess Celestia’s study was wedged into the back of the castle. “Did that-”

Discord’s statue began to crumble and crack. He leaped out of the statue and lighting storms seemed to come out of nowhere. Each laugh from him was one strike of thunder onto the grass. Then just as quickly as they came, the storms vanished.

“Are you quite finished?” Dee asked. Her folded arms and dour expression indicated that she was not amused in the slightest.

Discord pouted as the lightning faded away. “Oh, I suppose so. You're no fun, you know.”

“Fun will not rule this world. Now let’s have some fun with those two.”

“Hmm, you know you are much bigger in person. But I digress!” He snapped his claws and transported the two back to the throne room. Instantly, their ears began to ring.

“You will untie us at once!” Luna screamed, making the Royal Canterlot Voice sound like a child having a tantrum.

Dee took a moment in silence and started to tap her claws on her chin over and over. “Hmm, sure!” She snapped her claws again and soon the two were standing side by side looking utterly confused. Luna recovered quickly and tried to leap at Dee, only to fall flat on her chest, moaning in pain. Dee cooed mockingly, “Aww, did widdle Woona hurt herself?” Her voice shifted back to its normal pitch, albeit a bit angrier. “We sapped your magic dry, stupid. Geez, you would think the leader of a nation would have figured that out by now.”

“What is the plan, sister?” Luna asked, not caring that the two could hear.

“At this time I have none, but I know Twilight has a few tricks...” Celestia replied weakly.

“Oh, your precious student! I know all about her! And tons of other things that won’t be... spoiled. Do tell, what backups plans could she possibly have?”

“Well, you know everything about her, no? Why don’t you... guess?” Celestia shot back.

“Oo, sounds like fun! Hmm... Okay, here it goes!” She snapped a claw and a large black box floated down from seemingly out of nowhere and landed just on the floor. “Ahh, television, what won’t others invent?” She flicked her claw again and a tiny black rectangle appeared in it. “Now let’s see... I think the future is channel twenty eight?”

Just like she said, the ‘television’ flashed for a moment and the numbers twenty eight appeared for a split second. Then something odd happened that neither princess was expecting.

“Princess Celestia, Princess Luna!” An image of Twilight sparkle and her fellow Elements of Harmony appeared on the television and began running up to the two princess’s on the screen.

“Stop,” an image of Dee said on the same screen and snapped her claw,” there, that’s better!”

All six of the bearers of Elements of Harmony now stood in front of the still magicless princesses, only they now appeared much, much younger.

Dee on the screen began to cackle and laugh manically.

Then the television disappeared and both Discord and Dee began to copy the false Dee, but something was off for Dee. “Hmm, no... that’s boring.”

“Boring?!” Discord asked in bewilderment. “What could be so boring as making Twilight and those little snots into babies? Its genius!”

“That’s not chaotic!” Dee scolded, slapping Discord across the face. He winced back in pain. “That’s just easy! That is not how our kind operates and you- you should know better!”

“Hmm,” Discord hummed and looked at Dee with a newfound respect, “perhaps you are right. I have not encountered one of your kind, you really do keep the Chaotic Code, don’t ya?” With another flick of his claw, he revealed a small white notecard with words written in crayon on it, along with a crude drawing of himself.

“Sure. Now, while we are waiting for our guests to arrive, let’s say we have some fun! There is a whole pony city to... change.”

“Right!” Discord cheered much to the horror of both princesses. “We can just-” He paused and broke into thought. Dee and the other two looked at him curiously. “Dee, I just thought of something.”

“Yes?”

“Twilight can’t send letters back. Not without that annoying little purple drake.”

“So what?! Then she’ll just show up. We’ll be ready for her, letter or no.”

“But so will she! We won’t have the element of surprise on our side. Even without the Elements of Harmony, she could still find a way to stop us or at least rescue them!” He gestured to the princesses, who were unmoving, but still furious.

“I... see your point. Perhaps we should bring them here against their will. It will take a considerable amount of magic to do so, but certainly not as much as traversing a plane.”

“What happens when you cross dimensions? To you, I mean?”

“I lose quite a bit of magic for quite a bit of time. Its annoying.”

Discord nodded. “Hmm, well, how about I grab half of Twilight’s group.” He paused again and took both of his claw into the air, then he positioned them around an imaginary circle. And literally made a ripping noise which seemed to rip the very fabric of reality itself. Princess Celestia’s eyes bulged out of her sockets, not literally (though Discord pondered if he should lend a claw in that department). Inside the new hole was Twilight Sparkle and her friends, all standing in a room with one Minotaur King next to them. “Hmm, they’re missing two.”

“Are you certain? Let’s see, Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, whoever that stallion is, Fluttershy... try looking for the other two.”

“Hmm.” He grunted and tried his trick again, then again and even a third time. By the fourth time he began to grow very frustrated and wanted to hit the fabric of reality, but then he realized that that would probably just hurt him along with it. “Those two must not be wearing their elements, my spells works with those to track them down.”

“Do you think they figured out our plan with that little dragon’s... thing?”

“Maybe, but no matter. We will get those two eventually. Why don’t I grab Twilight and Rarity, and you get Fluttershy and Applejack? Sound fair?”

“Deal.”

“What do you...” Luna’s question fell on deaf ears and she had not really expected an answer anyway. Discord had reached into the hole and literally grabbed the two ponies that he mentioned, while Dee was doing the same. The ponies grunted and struggled as the hole closed shut. The two dropped the four ponies onto the floor with a loud thump.

“Twilight...” Celestia uttered and ran up to her side. Each and every Element of Harmony felt dazed. All of their train of thoughts were interrupted from Discord.

“Whew!” He literally wiped sweat off of his head by sweeping it off and having it land on top of Rarity like a miniature wave in the ocean, and her mane and coat were now drenched. “That took a lot out of me!”

“My beautiful coat! This is disgusting!”

“Oh, sorry. I guess I don’t know my own size!” Discord then laughed once more. Princess Luna was starting to grow tired of it.

“Discord... what did you do...” Twilight tried to say, but she trailed off when she noticed Dee who was smiling down at them. Her eyes widened in horror and her jaw dropped again. Now there were two of them?

“What’s the matter, my little pony?” she asked mockingly. “Draconequus got your tongue?”

Twilight managed to stammer a reply. “Who are-”

“LIttle ol’ me? You may call me, Dee!”

All four of the new ponies smirked. “Dee? Don’t sound very threatin’.”

“Now Applejack, I’m hurt! Why would I want to sound like an old meanie pants?” she asked rhetorically, mimicking what she had heard so far from Pinkie Pie’s speech. “Just Dee will do, and I don’t see any reason why my name needs to announce my... nature. But that is hardly here nor there.”

“What do you want?” Twilight asked, she stood in front of her mentor as if to protect her. Celestia found it a tad amusing, but only for a moment before the shock came back.

“Want? I just got done explaining to the ruler- ahem, ‘former ruler’ of this nation what it is I want, and I do hate to repeat myself,” Dee replied.

“Whatever you're up to, we can stop ya, we-”

Applejack was interrupted with Discord claw literally being placed gently on her lips. “And how do you propose that you do that? Hmm?”

“With the Elements of... Harmony...” Applejack stammered.

“Oh you mean,” he stopped talking and conjured up a rather large looking magnet out of thin air, which instantly attracted three necklaces and three crowns, “these?” He examined them as if he were a jeweler, complete with little magnifier glasses. “I must say, Luna, your crown is much nicer than your sister’s...”

“Oh, give me those!” Dee huffed and soon she was holding 4 very sick looking Element of Harmony stones. “Hmm, these aren’t much good now!” she declared, and quickly tossed them into a metal trash can that she also conjured out of thin air. Then she snapped her claws and the stones had vanished.

“No...” Twilight said. She was terrified. Instead of these masters of chaos ruining her friends as she had feared, they had ruined the gems. It did not matter if her friends were acting in harmony or not, they were powerless without the Elements.

“Twi! Don’t just stand there, stop him!” Applejack exclaimed in a panic.

“Me? But we don’t have the-”

“Forget those! You destroyed that tree in a fit of rage, I’m sure you could stop these two no problem!”

“Oh ho ho, now this is gonna be fun.” Discord snapped a claw again and conjured up some film seats for the two of them. “Go on pony, give us your best shot!”

“Applejack... are you saying I should be violent to them? Its not like they’ve hurt us or anything...” Twilight really wanted to do something, deep down she did. But the two weren’t even toying with them on a physical level. Twilight was a pony and was taught Harmony from the princess herself, something about violence just seemed wrong.

“Twilight, they drugged us. Our magic no longer works. I believe that if you do have a plan, now would be an excellent time to use it!” Celestia butted in.

This new information made lashing out seem much less wrong. “You two did what?!” It didn’t take long at all for her eyes to begin glowing, they were almost red looking from Discord’s perspective. She conjured up as much magic as possible for her body, not all of her magic reserves. No. Doing that would be reckless (and possibly fatal), but enough magic to take those two down for good.

At least, she hoped.

Lavender-colored lightning began to spark off of her horn in rapid recession. A ball started to form on top of her horn, it shined almost as bright as the sun. It was a spell that the princess had taught her around a year before her departure for Ponyville. She aimed it at the two and fired. Time seemed to slow down for the two creatures. Both of them shared a knowing look, then smirked, and raised their claws and snapped in unison. Another rift opened up through space-time that sucked up the spell and then closed. Twilight slumped down on the ground, panting for air. Failure did not feel good.

“Ohh, too bad. I wonder where that spell will end up? Another universe? Ponyville? Perhaps your parents’ home... Twilight.”

“You wouldn’t!” Twilight stood up and glared at him.

“Nah, that’s not the chaos way. I’m sure it will just end up in a room filled with some pesky shippers!”

“Shippers? What do you-”

“Oh, never mind that. Now, just because we aren’t being cruel does not mean that it won’t happen... right about now!” A snap of the claw later and a podium sprang up from the floor, raising Princess Luna high into the air. “Hmm, ruler of the night are we? What do we say to that, Dee?”

“How about a magicless mare-” She paused and touched her claw on top of her horn while the princess of the night cowered. Something popped up on top of it. “Magical silencer. Same with you, Tia.” Discord did the same to princess of the sun. “How about you rule a desert! Yes, a bright, sunny desert! It’s not the most original thing I’ve done, but it will do.” She picked up Luna who tried to bite her, but if Dee felt any pain she did not notice. “I’ll just be right back!”

Again the rules of space and time were broken before their eyes. A hole opened, revealing a bright blinding light to a desert. Dee flew in along with Luna and out of nowhere metal chains and bars started to form around the princess. She was bolted down into the desert floor. Dee gave a few experimental shakes of the chains and satisfied with her work, came back in and shut the hole.

Celestia gave a sharp intake of breath. “Sister...” she whispered, holding a hoof out at where Luna had vanished.

“Your turn, princess!” Dee smirked and flew up to Discord’s ear and whispered something. “Uh huh, oooo, uh huh... perfect! Not orginal, you're starting to lose your touch.... but perfect for this scenario.” Dee rolled her eyes and opened up a portal, again, only this time it was closed swiftly with Celestia coming in. A few second slater, Dee came back only drenched in water.

“Oh wow, the bottom of the ocean sure is... hmm.”

“Wet?” Discord offered.

“I was going to say ‘dark’, but that works. Now, what to do with these little ponies.”

“Won’t she drown? We're not murderers... that’s so very, very boring. There’s only so much fun you can have with a corpse, after all.”

Dee gave him an askance look. “I’m going to pretend you didn’t just say that. Nah, she’s immortal. I bet you didn't know this about your little princess, but she doesn’t even need food to survive! Fun fact of the day.”

The devilish smirk, the laugher of Discord. The two princess’s that ruled the kingdom being stripped of their magic titles and now freedom. Not to mention corrupting the Elements of Harmony. It was too much for Twilight. Rarity, Applejack and Fluttershy were trying to pull her out of her shock, but nothing was working. Twilight continued to mutter things under her breath, her hooves firmly wrapped around her skull as if she had a massive headache. She could have at least tried to stop Discord, but Dee being in the equation changed things, it changed everything. She was low on magic and the more time that passed, the worse off their situation got.

Dee and Discord were winning, they knew it, the ponies knew it and even the princesses knew it. They were about to do something in regards to the four ponies cowering before them, but they both failed to take one thing into account, despite one of them knowing full well that he should have.

Twilight Sparkle was not a one trick pony.

The entire time she was muttering she was not, in fact, snapping or losing her mind; but reciting a spell. A wind current started to pick up in the throne room, which was automatically a red flag for both beings of chaos. They looked down and saw Twilight’s eyes were glowing again, and a type of force field had materialized around her and her friends. Discord saw this as another red flag, for the force field surrounding them was not pink, but orange. He immediately tried to reach out, but this type of force field was literally blocking him like he was a magnet and the shield was plastic.

With a bright flash, they were gone.

The flash for the four ponies ended rather quickly. They all looked confused for a moment before realizing that they were inside the very building where their friendship really started, the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters. The three of them spotted Twilight panting on the ground, looking like she was in pain.

“Twi!” Applejack galloped over and quickly checked her for injuries.

“I’m fin- no, that’s a lie. I’m not fine.”

“Where does it hurt?” Fluttershy asked.

“Wherever my pride is...”

Applejack rolled her eyes. “C’mon Twi, get up. We need to figure out a plan and-”

“Not to interrupt, Applejack. But how the devil are we going to stop that thing? I don’t know if you didn’t notice, but she was at least twice as big as Discord and had these ugly dragon claws and fire for hair! I don’t know if that means anything in terms of magical prowess, but I’m sure it does when it comes to her.”

“Uh...”

“Twilight? We can stop them, right?” Fluttershy asked hesitantly.

Twilight laughed bitterly. “I can’t even protect or watch my own son... how can I fix the Elements, stop them and save the princesses? I’m not a goddess, girls...”

“Twilight!” Applejack tried to scold the mare but she wasn’t having it. Twilight waved a hoof weakly in the air to stop her, but ended up losing her balance and falling on her face.

“Listen, I’m about to pass out. I barely have any magic left to cast. My horn is hurting, probably magical fatigue... you girls need to get to Zecora. She can probably help.”

“Alright, we’ll get to Zecora’s hut and, Twi? Twi?” Applejack tried to poke her a few times but nothing was happening, she wouldn’t move.

“She’s still breathing, she just exhausted herself,” Fluttershy determined. “Can you carry her, AJ?”

“Ah think so. A unicorn shouldn't be too heavy.” The three worked together and soon the exhausted mare was resting firmly on her back. “Geez, ever think of putting on some weight Twi?” she joked.

“C’mon, girls, Twilight’s always looking out for us. Now she needs us to do the same.”

They all nodded and headed out into the dark, foreboding Everfree Forest, missing the Elements and the one that had brought them all together in the first place.

Chapter 19: Griffons and Plans

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Rainbow Dash awoke with a gasp and she raised her hooves as if about to fight off an attacker.. “What's it? Who?” She suddenly became aware that she had awoken in a cold sweat, and the entire group was staring at her. Two seconds later, everything that had just happened yesterday came flooding back, and she stared wide-eyed at Scootaloo for a moment until she realized that she was being carried in a wagon. Deeming this ‘unawesome’, she quickly hopped out and stood awkwardly next to Scootaloo, or whatever her name was now.

“I-” Dash tried to speak, but was cut off by Pinkie.

“Yay! You’re awake! Oh, and good timing, too, because we're about to meet the griffon king!”

“Griff- Oh, but,” she looked down to Blaze Wings, “I wanted to-”

“Shh, not now! We're almost there!” Pinkie interrupted again. Dash knew it was just her way, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that Pinkie did the things that she did not just for the sake of being random. Dash groaned but kept quiet. Scootaloo avoided eye contact and instead decided to stick with her friends.

Shyfrost kept stealing nervous glances at his griffon savior. It was odd to watch him do anything, as he always seemed so stoic and aloof while doing anything. He wasn’t sure, but he thought he saw nervousness in his gait. Maybe the griffon king was mean? Shyfrost had every right and reason to think so. After all, a group of them had changed his life forever, and no matter how well-built it was his artificial tail never felt natural to him, dragging behind him on the ground like dead weight instead of high up in the air like Spike’s.

While they had time to walk in silence, Shyfrost had time to compare Spike to himself. He really was not sure why he had never noticed it, but they looked oddly the same. Like, too much the same. Spike was bigger and probably older, by how much he was uncertain. But to be fair, he did not even know his own age. It was their colors that probably threw others off guard. Each dragon was a mix of the opposite color for the most part. Still, Shyfrost could not help but wonder why they both looked the same. He also could not help but wonder why he was the only frost dragon. According to Twilight, he was the only one that had used Ice as his weapon of choice, which had been confirmed by the princess. But should it matter? He wasn’t sure, but he certainly liked feeling special deep down, but it did not stop him from sighing quietly about the whole thing.

The griffons up ahead started to walk faster, and they all suspected the king was near. Silence washed over the group once more. Shyfrost had stopped thinking about his problems and was instead focusing on what the king would be like. He assumed that he would simply be mean, and braced himself for whatever might come.

They entered past the canyon, where they saw seven griffons. Three guards stood on each side of the middle one, who was much larger than the others, but wore no crown or anything distinguishing him from the others. Each held a spear, the metal heads gleaming wickedly in the light. The six guards immediately spotted them and took a simple offensive stance. The two guards that were escorting the group waved them down while one walked up to the king to whisper something. The king looked them all over until his eyes were firmly directed at Garret. The blacksmith walked forward at this and bowed. He then turned around and made sure everyone else bowed as well.

“Hello,” the king spoke.

Rainbow Dash blinked in surprise and had to suppress a smirk. His voice sounded very odd for a king. She had expected a deep, majestic voice; instead, she got a high pitched, giggly voice. Were she a griffon, she might not have respected this guy much at all.

“Um, hi. My name is Garret, and my group and myself have information for you regarding this threat.”

The king sat back down in his chair. “Finally, someone has something. Well, out with it.”

Garret relaxed ever so slightly. “Oh, okay. We were at the Minotaur realm and their kingdom received the same threat. Their treasure room had been ransacked and destroyed, and all that was left was a message saying that their kingdom was going to fall to someone named D.”

“I see. And why are you traveling with this... group?”

“Ah, er.. that’s a long story and-”

“We were trying to find out information about these!” Spike declared while raising up Shyfrost’s amulet with his claw. The king turned to the duo of dragons and they both gulped. “Um, my name is Spike. I- no, we represent Princess Celestia along with Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie who are Elements of Harmony.”

The king, who had just been overcome with a barrage of information, looked from Spike, to Rainbow, and down to Shyfrost. For some reason, he stuck with Shyfrost. “That so, little dragon?” He asked a sentence that should sound menacing but just came off as almost silly as the king’s voice struck a high note.

“Yeah... er. We wanted to find out what our artifacts do.”

The king tilted his head to the side and motioned for him to explain further.

“Well, originally me and Spike wanted to find more dragons because we live in Ponyville and there aren’t many there.”

“I’d imagine so, what with a name like that.”

“Yeah. Anyway that didn't really work out but then we found the prince back there.” Shyfrost pointed to Steel Valor. “Something of his reacted to my amulet so we stuck together for a while. Then we found my other friends and it turns out each one of them had something that we're all connected. We were wondering if you would know anything, since you're a king and all..”

The king seemed to smile and flew high up into the air for all of a second before landing at the dragons’ feet. To the king’s surprise, Shyfrost was now shaking like a leaf. He looked towards Spike who, although looking concerned, did not seemed scared at all. Shyfrost would not stop shaking, he couldn’t help it. So the king turned back to Garret, who gave a sad smile. “Shyfrost,” he called out, “this is the king, he won’t hurt you. He’s not like those others...”

“Others?” the king asked Garret. Spike whispered a few things in the king's ears. After several seconds, realization dawned on him. He looked to Shyfrost, who had stopped shivering but was instinctively hugging his tail. It was the tail that made him gasp. The king bowed before the dragon. “My apologies, young one, for what my kind has done to you. I...” His voice dropped. “There is something about that Blacksmith...” Returning to a normal voice, he continued, “ It is fortunate that you know him.”

“Uh, don’t griffons hate us?” Shyfrost asked while tapping his claws together nervously.

“Hate? Certainly not, at least not all of us. As king it is my duty to tolerate all races. Now then, do you mind if I see that amulet?” he asked, rising once more.

Shyfrost hesitated, but removed the amulet from around his neck. He studied it for a few seconds and raised it high to show him.

“Ah, I’ve read about it I believe. But I don’t know much I’m afraid. The only living creatures that would have been alive to know about these are rather... hard to reach.”

Rainbow Dash stepped forward. “Who?”

“I believe he knows.” The king raised his feather and pointed to Shadow Mirror, who took a defensive step back.

“M- me?”

“Of course... changeling.” The king’s eyes sparkled after saying this.

“You know? How?” He asked and slowly switched forms back to his changeling look. Rainbow and Pinkie gasped. Pinkie looked to her tail and poked it a few times, then shrugged.

“What? You think as king that I’m powerless? Or perhaps the same as the others? Perhaps I’m a tad boastful, but I do have an amazingly gifted ability with sight. I wouldn’t dare try to sneak up on me.”

“Um, okay. What about me, then?”

“Your queen, of course. Sh-”

“She’s not my queen,” Shadow cut him off. “That-” He swallowed once and shook his head. “Trust me, she isn't.”

The king brought a claw up and tapped his beak thoughtfully. “Quite rare, your situation. But regardless, she is just as old as the pony princesses, if not older. She would undoubtedly be the one to speak to about those... things. Though I fail to see how they would help this threat that is going around.”

Steel stepped forward. “It’s more of a secondary task of ours. Not all of the kingdoms have heard of the threat you see, clearly you have.”

“Oh, we have; and we are prepared for whatever its is... I hope. At any rate, I’d like to thank you all for the information. Do you have any place to stay for you and your group?” When Garret shook his head, he continued, “Then allow me to offer your group a stay at our palace. It is getting late, and the desserts here are freezing at night.”

“You have a palace? Then what are you out here for?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“Of course we have a palace! Oh, little ones... anyway, it is up there in...” The king pointed up to a palace perched up in a high mountain, but then his voice trailed off as something occurred to him. “Oh dear, not all of you can fly can they?”

“Um, no...” Scootaloo said, with a doleful look at her wings.

“I see, it is fortunate that we have guards down here then. To be honest, we are only down here to avoid the threat. I figured whoever is after these kingdoms would assume we would be in our... palaces. Hmm...” The king trailed off again and then yelled out very loudly. “Guards, pick up any flightless ones in their group--that includes the fillies--and take them to the palace!”

“Wait! We can- oomph-” Pinkie Pie was interrupted by a rather large claw placed comforting around her and the rest of her yet to be friends. (She hadn’t even thrown them a party yet, and wasn’t sure how she felt about her schedule being thrown off like this)

The rest were swiftly flown up to land right in front of the griffon palace. Then the guards flew back to their posts, but the king remained with the group.

“Your palace looks weird,” Scootaloo commented. “It doesn’t look like anything out of the history books.”

“Scootaloo, you read?!” Apple Bloom asked, feeling more shocked than ever.

“Uh...” Scootaloo’s mind blanked when she realized her mistake. Not that she had revealed that she enjoyed reading, that was easily fixed; but that the palace was practically brand new and would not have been in any history book from this time.

The king looked at her and chuckled slightly. “I don’t know what books you are reading, young filly, but this was only completed around two years ago. But of course it’s going to look different from your pony palace; we griffons are quite tall, for one.”

Sweetie Belle reared up on her hind hooves to try and reach the king’s height, but she lost her balance and fell. “I’ll say...”

The king stared at her for a moment, and then shrugged. “Uh, right. We should have plenty of rooms for your group to stay. Just follow me.”

“These rooms should be adequate for all of you. If you will excuse me I have some business to take care of. Oh, and I’ll see you all at dinner.” He paused. “Ponies don’t eat fish, right?”

“We don’t,” Rainbow confirmed with a shake of her head. “Fishing’s all catch-and-release in Equestria.”

The king let out a noncommittal grunt. “Pity, but there should still be plenty to eat for all of you.”

There were five rooms standing in front of the eleven creatures. Relative to the visitors (excepting Garret), the doors were simply huge. Garret opened a few doors to show the group what they had to deal with, and all quickly decided that space was not going to be an issue.

“So, who gets which room?” Spike asked after yet another awkward silence.

“Isn't it obvious, you silly dragon?” Pinkie asked.

“No.”

“Simple, Garret and Shadow ends up in that room.” She pointed to a single room at the end of the hallway. “The Cutie Mark Crusaders,” she declared as she gathered them up, “go in the room next to them, um,” she paused again and placed Blaze down on the floor and shoved the other two inside and shut the door. “Except her who will be paired with you, Rainbow!”

“Pinkie, look-” Before she could even get three words in, the door slammed shut with them inside.

“You two go in there!” She pointed to Rover and Steel, who actually shrugged and listened.

“And tonight, it’s a dragon slumber party for us three!”

“Um, Pinkie, you're not a dragon; and-”

“Shh, Spike! Tonight, I'm Pinkie the dragon!” she declared proudly, much to the confusion of the two.

“Um-” Shyfrost tried to say but was interrupted again.

“Pinkie! Why do you keep interrupting everyone?!” Spike shot back in a fury.

“Um, I dunno,” Pinkie shrugged. “Is it annoying?”

“Shh! Don’t break my concentration, I haven’t played pretend in weeks. I need this!”

“Yes!” The dragons replied in unison.

“Oh you sillies, why you didn’t you just say so?!”

Two dragons then slumped to the floor and sighed. No matter which species Pinkie was, she was definitely too much to handle.

In many of the rooms, the occupants were relaxing or sleeping. Not in this room. In this room, the tension was so thick it was almost suffocating. Blaze was simply waiting for Rainbow to say something, anything; but Rainbow remained silent, scuffing at the ground, unable to form a single sentence. Blaze resisted the urge to sigh and decided then was the time to stand up, walk over to the ridiculously massive single bed and jumped up to slump down.

Rainbow watched her and as soon as her body slumped onto the bed, she spoke. “Look, kid,” she paused when Blaze’s eyes stared into hers, but continued, “I... I don’t know why Pinkie is saying a lot of these things, but I’m not parents material! I’m not even guardian material! And I’m sorry...”

Blaze continued to stare at her and then huffed. “I don’t care what you are. I just need a place to stay.”

“Well, it’s not gonna be my place.”

“Why not?”

Rainbow was about to lay down on a nearby couch (or what she assumed was a couch, but it looked more like a bean bag) but stopped when Blaze spoke again. She huffed in frustration. “Just because, okay?”

“Why?”

Rainbow glared down up at her, the bed making the filly tower above the mare. “I don’t need to give you any reasons kid. And-”

Blaze stood up and glared back. “And I didn't have to tell you where I came from! I could have just lied or something!”

“I- that’s not the point! I’m not a parent and I never will be, got it?”

Blaze did not react like she had anticipated, though. In truth, Rainbow Dash did not mean to come off so nasty to the kid, and her last statement had been pushing it as she practically yelled at her. But Blaze was rubbing the back of her head and looking away. That... made no sense to her.

“Uh, what is this?” Rainbow demanded. “Why are you doing that?”

“Its just...” Blaze clenched her teeth and then sighed. “Yes, you were. In my timeline or however it works, you were a parent. Actually, you had a lot of kids, like five I think.”

Rainbow stared at her with her muzzle hanging open in shock. Finally, she managed to reply. “E-even if that was true, I’m not her. And you said yourself you made a new time-thingy or whatever. Kid, I need to spend my free time-”

“Practicing for the Wonderbolts, got it. I’m not a bother and I can take care of myself, I just need a place to crash. That’s all!”

“Then go ask Fluttershy or something when we see her! I’m sure she’d love to take you in! She took in Shyfrost pretty quickly...”

Blaze studied her face for a while and then realization dawned in her eyes. “You're jealous, aren’t you?”

“What? Jealous of what? I’m confused.” Rainbow replied just a bit too quickly.

“Of Fluttershy getting to take care of Shyfrost!’ Blaze replied smugly. “She gets to be a guardian and that bugs you, doesn’t it?”

“W-why would I care about that?”

“Oh, I’m sure you do. But its too bad that Fluttershy already has somepony to take care of, she’s probably twice the mother that you are.”

Rainbow advanced on her and pointed an accusing hoof in her face. “Oh yeah?! I’ll show you! When this is all over your staying at my house, and I won’t take no for answer!”

“Sweet!”

Rainbow wouldn’t say that she was stupid. While she would admit on occasion at being slightly more dense than her friends, she often prided herself on her intelligence, something she doubted her friends would believe. But after uttering out her last sentence and actually meaning it, she was stumped. Her mind had literally blanked. Blaze walked up and patted her on the back with her muzzle still frozen in utter shock.

“I’m gonna go hang out with my friends. You just, um...” Blaze paused and closed Rainbow’s muzzle for her, but the mares body was still frozen. “Yeah, see ya later!”

“You sure this is the way-” Applejack paused and grunted as she ran into yet another branch. “the way, Fluttershy?”

“Positive, it shouldn’t be much longer.”

“If you say so...”

Thick plants, trees and underbrush continued to block their path in the never ending forest. Fluttershy started to wonder how her little dragon had ever survived in this place, let alone moved around. Then a thought struck her.

“Say, girls...”

“Yes, what is it Fluttershy?” Rarity asked while trying for the tenth time to get the dirt out of her mane.

“Don’t you remember this place being more... spooky? And perhaps more wide?”

“Its the-” Applejack huffed again. “Everfree, Fluttershy. Almost nothing here is natural. It probably grew over time, all these plants.”

Fluttershy glanced over at Big Mac who shrugged. “Maybe, but it wasn’t like this when Shyfrost saved us all.”

“Um, that’s a good point...” Applejack replied back now feeling just a tad more confused than ever.

“Wait a minute...” Rarity had stopped walking and soon the others followed. “I remember reading something about Discord before. He- I think he’s tied to the magic in the forest. So the stronger he gets-”

“The crazier this here forest gets!”

The mares and stallion huddled together, waiting for the inevitable strike to happen. After several minutes of standing still they all sighed.

“Maybe Discord is too busy taking over Canterlot to play with us?” Big Mac offered with a shrug.

Applejack faced him and huffed. “Let’s get going, we need to find Zecora now!”

They ran for several minutes, Applejack feeling more tired than she had ever remembered in her life.

“C’mon, it shouldn’t be much longer now!” Fluttershy called out from the front. A very large bush blocked their path that they leapt over, only to crash face first into a certain zebra. Twilight’s body lay still on top of Applejack as she gasped for breath.

Zecora looked down in mild surprise. “The Elements of Harmony? But you are missing two I see.”

“Zecora! You need to help Twilight, she has magical fatigue, and Discord is back and the forest is-”

“Changing and becoming thicker, I’ve seen,” Zecora finished. “The cause being Discord is quite alarming, but please come inside- we must treat Twilight, Magical Fatigue can be quite disarming.”

“And alarming?” Fluttershy offered who only got a stiff nod in response.

Several minutes later, they were all cramped inside her odd looking cottage while she poured various potions together in a very large cauldron. She wasted no time in mixing, but to their surprise she took out a funnel and stuck it in Twilight’s mouth.

“Stepping back is advised, in just a moment she will be quite alive.” Zecora took a glance over at the bathtub she kept and then immediately poured the concoction down her throat. They watched it go all the way down, wondering why it was colored red. They would soon find out.

Nopony had any time to react before the mare shot up screaming at the top of her lungs. She looked all around in a panic and then forced her head into the tube and started drinking. A few seconds later she shot up gasping for air, water dripping off her muzzle. She glared at Zecora and then pressed a hoof to her forehead moaning in pain.

“The potion is very effective, but for that to be, there must be a trade off for taste and-”

“Burning my taste buds off?!”

Zecora huffed and remained silent.

“Sorry, I’m sorry. I feel better, heh...” She blushed and then remained silent.

“Twi!” The mares and stallion joined her for a hug. “We need to stop Discord now if we just think of a plan... right, girls?”

Twilight wiped her muzzle off and sighed. “Applejack...” She trailed off and started to shake her head.

“No, Twi, Ah’m not gonna hear it from ya! Why, us together can do amazing things! We stopped Nightmare Moon and Discord before. Fluttershy can practically communicate with any animal!”

“Well, I’m not that-” Fluttershy stuttered but was interrupted.

“Rainbow Dash can break the sound barrier by herself! And just think of all the magic you got at your disposal!”

“Look-” Somepony else, who still had a rather large headache was interrupted.

“And just the things we’ve seen Pinkie do? And me and Rarity! C’mon Twi...”

Twilight’s eyes began to unfocus and dart around for a few seconds. And it was only a moment later that they seemed to flash for a fraction of a second. “That’s it... Fluttershy can you communicate with all animals? Right?”

“Um, usually yes.”

“And Rainbow can really break the sound barrier... oh geeze girls I’m sorry for almost giving up. Of course we can’t!”

“Yeah!” They replied in unison.

“But Twi, how do we stop... um... whatever they are?” Big Mac asked.

“They’re not immortal, nothing is. And they’re certainly not omnipotent!”

“Um, dear, then how did they just find us through a hole in... space time?” Rarity asked. “At least I think it was space time...”

“I...” Twilight stammered for a moment unsure of herself and then she came back full force. “The Elements of Harmony. Discord must have been tracking them. But he can’t now since we don’t have them now! And that amount of magic he used must have taken a lot out of him, I know I’m still feeling the aftereffects.”

The mares and stallion looked at each other before facing Twilight. “So what do we do?”

Twilight grinned. “Simple, we get organized. Fluttershy I need you to gather up as many animals friends as you can, mainly birds or anything else with a large range. We need them to search the deserts for Princess Luna.”

“Um, alright, I think I can do that. But what about Princess Celestia?”

“Ever speak to a fish?” Twilight asked with a grin. After receiving her assignment, Fluttershy flew off. And Twilight turned to her other friends.

“Applejack, Big Mac, I need one of you to gather up Rainbow and Pinkie from Ponyville and get them back here as soon as possible.”

“W-what do you need the other to do?”

“Most of the Apple Clan lives in Appleloosa correct?”

“Eeyup!”

“I need the other one to take the train there and explain things to them. If anything they might be able to help us... assuming Luna is in that desert and not someplace else...”

“Well, alright then!”

“Rarity, do you remember when those Diamond Dogs kidnapped you?”

“Oh how could I forget, that was dreadful. Um, why do you ask?”

All she received was a menacing grin in response.

“Are you sure this was wise, separating like that? Traveling alone leaves you open for attack. Unless there is something that I missed, I fear your plan is a serious risk.”

Zecora and Twilight had decided to leave the forest as quickly as possible. Zecora had warned her of Discord’s influence over such a place and it would only grow worse for them the longer they stayed. Just as they left the forest, seeing Fluttershy’s cottage, Twilight took a seat to rest.

“I trust my friends. And with my magic weakened, it was best to send them and separate them.” Twilight looked up towards Canterlot Castle which looked foggy, something that never happened naturallyl. “Whatever Discord and Dee are planning, it will eventually involve us. Hiding is a bad plan without the Elements of Harmony. Splitting up is our best bet. No matter what sort of magic they have, they cannot find us by even random chance this way. We’ll meet back with them soon enough and- Applejack?”

They both looked over and saw the mare running up. “Twi! They’re gone!”

“What?!”

“I asked around and I think they went after the girls and the dragons!”

Twilight smirked. “Perfect. The fact that Discord and Dee did not pull them in when they did us means they aren’t wearing the Elements of Harmony. It also means they’re probably fine. Still, we need to find them soon.”

“But Twi, the whole reason we left in the first place was to find em! How do you propose we go about this now?”

That was certainly true. Twilight actually did know how to find them, but it was risky. She had pondered doing it several times before, but it was quite dangerous and not quite worth the risk. Now, though...

“I might be able to send a letter to Spike. The reason I hadn’t tried it before is because severing the princess’s link with him can be dangerous. It’s not like sending a letter to a pony with my magic. It could hurt him pretty badly.”

“Um, what do you mean, sugarcube?”

“The link that he shares with Princess Celestia was created his first week in Canterlot, when he was just barely a baby. Over time it grew stronger and stronger. It can be severed and recreated, but doing it from such a long distance could harm him. My magic could mess it up...”

“You’re Twilight Sparkle, Ah’m sure you can do it!”

“Alright,” Twilight said, lighting her horn. “Hang on Spike, you're gonna feel this...”

“Why’s the bed so... tall?”

“It’s for griffons dude, that makes sense.”

“What’s a dude by the way?” Shyfrost asked.

“I... actually have no idea. Its just something cool I like to say, anyway-” Spike simply stopped talking, he even stopped blinking or breathing for a single moment. His breathing came back very quickly but he felt... odd, somewhat queasy. “I- I...”

“Are you okay?”

“The-” And it happened again, this time Shyfrost got worried. He saw Spike stopped breathing, he ran. He ran out into the hall, banging on several of the doors for help.

Rainbow and Pinkie found Spike coughing on the floor, with a letter. “I’m fine, I’m fine...” He said as they helped him up. Shyfrost enrolled the letter and started reading.

Dear Spike,
As you no doubt have guessed by now, I’ve severed your connection with the princess and re-established it as my own. I know I said we should never try this without her present, but that’s just it. She’s not. Discord and another one of his kind that goes by Dee has taken over Canterlot and forced the Princesses out of power into odd locations (Luna in a Desert, and Celestia at the bottom of the ocean) (And no this is no joke.)
If my assumptions are correct, you are with Shyfrost and Rainbow and Pinkie and hopefully the Cutie Mark Crusaders. If you are not with them, then the situation is worse than I had imagined. But if you are, make sure that Rainbow and Pinkie DO NOT wear their necklaces. Discord can use them to track them. I have a plan, but I need Rainbow and Pinkie to help. Please respond as soon as possible.
Love, Twilight.

Everyone in the room’s eyes bulged out of their sockets. ‘D’ suddenly made sense. But the Princesses being thrown out of power? That was grounds for panic. They looked over at Spike who was hastily writing a message; apparently, he was much more used to witnessing apocalyptic events.

With a quick burst of green flame, off it went.

Twilight,
We are currently housed at the new Griffon Palace as guests of the King. Apparently, all nations are under a threat, but I had no idea it was this bad. Please respond with what we should do as soon as possible. The Cutie Mark Crusaders are here along with the Minotaur Prince and several others. Shyfrost is with me too.
Love, Spike

Spike,
I need you to get back to Ponyville as soon as possible, please. I don’t know what I have done to drive you away so easily. I know finding who you are is important. But I know who you are, you are my son. Get back here please.
Love, Twilight

“Woah... dude.” Shyfrost said.

“I didn't expect her to feel like that. I...” Spike looked up and found their entire group staring at the two dragons. “Oh, right. We need to get back to Ponyville. Rainbow can fly and Pinkie can transport some of us...”

“I can get the girls and you two.” She pointed to two dragons. “But, I think the prince and Rover are just a tensy bit too big.”

“No problem. We can simply plead for help from the king,” the prince replied. “I’m sure he will understand.”

“But what about the other kingdoms? Don’t they need to be warned?” Rover asked.

“I’m sure Twilight can help with that too, now c’mon!” Spike called, and the rest followed with a sense of foreboding and cautious optimism.

Chapter 20: Reunion

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The griffons had agreed to take the larger of the groups’ occupants towards Ponyville. The fillies were in Pinkie’s balloon along with the dragons. Shadow Mirror and Rainbow had flown up ahead. Shyfrost had noticed that Spike had been scratching his head, as if deep in thought, and decided to ask him about it.

“What’s wrong?”

He finished scratching and smacked his head. “I think I just remembered a book that might talk about the artifacts.” He laughed bitterly, but he didn't sound mean to Shyfrost. “Yeah, it’s in Twilight’s library. I can’t believe I forgot, I used to spend day after day working through books, organizing stuff…”

Shyfrost looked at his amulet. “Do you remember what it said about them?”

“I think they were meant for a greater purpose, like the Elements of Harmony, only different. They can be used to contact leaders, I think... if that makes sense and something else… and- Rainbow?” They both looked up to see Rainbow hovering.

“Yeah, we got some bad news. Canterlot looks like it’s been enveloped in some weird black cloud. We need to get to Twilight and fast!”

Pinkie pondered this before smiling. “I got it!” She turned around and rummaged into her saddlebag before revealing the item of their salvation. “I always keep a harness on me at all times, in case of harness emergencies… maybe!”

Rainbow deadpanned, “...Maybe?”

“Shh, and strap it on!” Pinkie threw it over, and Rainbow obeyed. Then the pink mare tied the ends of the ropes to the balloon, double checking that the knots would hold tight.

Rainbow then looked back at the griffons now carrying the rest of the group and called out, “You both need to keep up with me, can you do that?”

Stoic expressions and stiff nods were all she got in return. Rainbow shrugged, furrowed her brow and then soared forward. The sheer speed at which she did it had caught the griffons off guard, including Garret, but they soon caught up. The group kept giving nervous glances directed towards Canterlot Castle, but knew there was nothing they could do yet. Twilight was in Ponyville and that’s where they were heading.

The fillies and practically everypony else were not sure how long the trip took. Perhaps this was because of the speed at which they traveled. Perhaps it was the difficult landing that left everyone without wings dazed and dizzy. They had landed right outside of Ponyville. Dash wasted no time in calling out to Spike.

“Get Twilight here, write her a letter!”

“Uh, but- oh right… I can write letters to her now…” He tried off and quickly scrawled out a simple letter, telling Twilight where they were in town. They watched him blow fire over it and soon the letter was off, only to turn around to their confusion and land nearby. “Huh?” They all turned around and found the ponies they were looking for. Spike had no chance as Twilight Sparkle sprinted towards him, and gathered him in her magic to reach for a hug.

Fluttershy did the same only much slower and gentler. “Don’t leave us again, please…” she whimpered.

“Um…” Shyfrost felt the warmth from her body and sighed in relief. “Okay.”

“Spike… I…”

Spike returned the hug awkwardly and sighed. “We need to talk about this stuff later, okay? We kind of have an emergency here.”

“Uh… yeah, yeah.” Twilight nodded quickly. “But we will talk!” She added sternly. Spike gulped nervously and nodded back. “Good.” She then smiled which quickly formed her muzzle back to confusion. “Who are they?”

“Oh, that’s Prince-”

“I know who he is!” Twilight interrupted, looking stressed. Spike looked up at her worried. “Um, sorry Spike. Keep talking, I’m sorry…”

“That’s Garret, remember the griffon who saved Shyfrost? That’s him.” Spike said matter of factly.

Twilight looked at him from a distance. “Wow…”

“Yeah, we met a few people along the way. One’s even a changeling!”

“Spike that’s, that’s… impossible?” She saw the changeling morph and then he heard him call out to her.

“Hey!”

“But, he’s not, he’s not…”

“Evil? Not really, no. Look, this is a long story, Twilight. It would take a while to explain everything.”

She nodded and looked back at the group again. She saw Pinkie helping the crusaders out. “I see you brought them…” Twilight’s eyes glazed over and then she looked back at Spike. “Spike,” she paused and shook her head a few times, “why did you leave?”

He could tell she sounded hurt, almost disappointed, but most of all stressed. “I needed a break,” he said simply.

“From the library?”

He placed his claws together in a nervous manner, something she noticed that he had never grown out of. “No, from you and from everything here.”

“Oh.” Twilight wouldn’t call herself the smartest pony in the world, even if others had given her that title. She watched her son twiddle his claws and tried to desperately think of some reason as to why he would run, other than the obvious of finding the dragons. She gave up, but not on him. Twilight hugged him one more time. “Why don’t we all head inside? We have a lot of talking to do and not a lot of time.”

“Yeah…” They started to slowly walk and then Spike stopped her. “Its good to see you, Twilight.”

She smiled, brighter than Celestia’s sun.

It had taken a bit of time, but soon everypony had been introduced for the most part. It was a rather unfortunate situation that they all found themselves in. Everypony wanted to do something else, but they were all stuck in the library for the time being. Garret was fine with the situation; he knew Equestria was in trouble and exploring a new town would not save it. Shadow Mirror felt uncomfortable with the annoying stares he was getting from most of the ponies in the room; Pinkie and Rainbow being the only exception. Applejack wanted to punish both her little sister and Big Mac, but couldn’t yet. Rarity wanted to do the same to Sweetie Belle for a multitude of reasons, but again was stuck. Rover felt like the elephant in the room, though he had to admit the number of non ponies vs ponies was almost even. The Prince felt annoyed that a certain alabaster colored mare kept staring at him with an unnerving smile. Rainbow felt completely conflicted as to what to do with Blaze, when normally she was fully focused on a task when lives were at stake. The Cutie Mark Crusaders really wanted to sleep, but the excitement kept them awake. And finally, everypony was on edge, but not as much as Twilight.

Twilight would not stop pacing and thinking in silence, a silence that everyone in the entire room really wanted to break, but were not sure how (and had no intention of invoking her wrath). Well, all except for Spike, who decided that he was fed up with sitting on a beat up sofa, and broke it. The silence, not the couch.

“Twilight,” he said simply.

“What?” She broke out of her thoughts and looked at all of the visitors in her library, and all of them with worried faces. She ended up at Spike’s, who was looking up at her expecting a plan. There was hardly a plan, just a search and rescue. “I don’t know, Spike. There is no procedure for if the princesses are missing. There isn't…except to find them.”

They all looked at each other, but Shadow coughed once. “You know you could get extra help if you contacted the other leaders, like we were attempting to do.”

Twilight spent a moment, judging him but shook it off. To her, the changeling was an anomaly, yes; but not the primary focus for the current situation. “But I don’t know how, if only there was a spell or some way to do it quickly. And we need to act now!”

“Twi, why exactly are we lettin’ him in the same room?”

Shadow rolled his eyes. “Let me guess, read a book or two that were evil?”

“Well, Ah remember books sayin’ you're not exactly a friendly race!” she shot back.

He laughed a bit. “Oh and who wrote them? Ponies?”

“What kinda question is that? Of course ponies!” Applejack snapped.

“Maybe if you read some actual books written by changelings, you will know that most of our race are not unfriendly to others. Our books don’t have the biased that yours appear to hold,” he said in a matter-of-fact tone.

“Wait, there is an entire library written by changelings?!” Twilight asked hopefully, a new smile forming on her lips.

Shadow backed up as her muzzle almost touched his. “Um, yeah…”

They all watched Twilight smile with glee, just thinking of the possibilities!

“Twilight!” Fluttershy scolded.

“What? Oh right, sorry, sorry. Books later, the plan now.”

Fluttershy nodded sternly.

Twilight stepped forward confidently… and then wilted. “But there is no plan. It would help if we could contact other nations, but I don’t know how.”

Shyfrost, who had remained silent throughout, piped up. “Um, Spike knows how!”

Spike, who had drifted off realizing just how nice it was to be back in his own home, snapped to attention, and anxiety spiked through him for a moment until he realized that it was Shyfrost who called him. “What? I know what?”

“You said you knew something about our artifacts, about a book.”

Twilight raised one eyebrow and looked at the two dragons. Spike nodded and stood up and ran over to a nearby shelf, he tripped once however but quickly got back up. Spike… why are you so nervous around me? Twilight thought.

Spike blew on the cover, sending dust raining down from above. “There’s nothing on the cover, this is it,” he said, giving it to Twilight.

“I don’t remember this book being in our library, Spike. Where did you get it?”

“Its always been there, but it moves around a lot. You know, when you tell me to organize the place,” he replied.

She blinked and shook her head. “Okay, let’s see… it says these artifacts- wait!” She looked up and spotted Shyfrost, and without warning she levitated the dragon over to her side. “Let me see your amulet,” she ordered.

“Um, you could say please,” he protested, but he held it up. She studied it for a moment and then went back to the book and studied a single page. She paused for several moments and then sighed. “Oops.” Shyfrost looked confused. “Shyfrost, I was wrong when I said your amulet wasn’t special. It’s written right here.”

They all immediately gathered around the book, causing the poor dragon to become squashed into it. “Hey back off!” he barked. “Amulet of Determination? What does that mean?” he asked Twilight.

“It doesn’t say. Um, I’m sorry when I said it wasn’t special though. But if I could, everypony, I have a bit of reading to do.” They let go of the book. “Thank you.” She continued reading the page, her eyes flicking back and forth faster than Shyfrost had thought possible. “It says the Amulet along with a few other ‘artifacts’ can be utilized to not only communicate with the world’s leaders, but connect them in some way. Hmm, but it also says they will only work right if each leader has come into contact with all of the artifacts before they can become useful…”

She trailed off and looked up, shocked to see several of the rooms occupants holding out an artifact of some kind. Slowly realization dawned on her and she nodded, almost smiling.

The prince stepped forward. “We were visiting as many as we could before all of this mess. We visited my kingdom,” he confirmed.

“And mine.” Garret said.

“Technically I used to be our leader…” Rover muttered.

“Uh, but we never visited any dragons...” Shyfrost mentioned.

“Or my ex-Queen.”

Spike watched Twilight go silent and ponder something. He almost chuckled when she snapped out of it. He could count how long it would take for her to do that in his head, and she was always right on the dot. “Rarity, how did your talk with the Diamond Dogs go?”

“Well, admittedly they haven’t changed much…” She muttered. “However, I did get them to agree to search for Princess Luna using their desert tunnels. They want, and I quote, ‘a butt load of gems in exchange’.”

“Thank you for that. Fluttershy, are they searching for Princess Celestia?”

“Oh, um, yes. It took a lot of convincing but quite a bit of sea creatures and fish are looking right now.”

“Good. We will have to make this a short journey…” She closed her eyes as a sign of frustration. “Although I would want nothing more than to leave the fillies and our dragons home...” She spoke motherly, at least her tone suggested so. “We don’t have time. Everyone will need to come as one group. Unless our books are wrong…” She said bitterly towards the changeling in the room. “If I’m not mistaken, the dragon realm and the changeling kingdom are near enough to each other that we should be able to make a short enough trip to activate these artifacts.”

Applejack raised a hoof in protest. “Uh, Twi? You want us to just go out on another journey? Just like that?” she asked.

“I know it does not sound ideal, but we need to prepare for the princesses’ return. Our only plan right now is to free them, but I think its obvious that without the Elements that we will need all the help we can get. Two Princesses aren’t enough to fight off two Discords. Our only hope is to contact Equestria’s leaders and plead for their assistance.”

Spike smiled up at her and she smiled back, the little dragon had missed moments like this.

“Sounds like a solid plan.” Shadow Mirror exclaimed cheerfully, before his voice dropped low. “If you want a death wish.”

“Excuse me?” Twilight asked, taken aback.

“Why do think I’m the only changeling around for miles? The Queen isn't exactly on the top ten list of friendliest Equestrians right now. Some say something changed her. The rumors are lack of love and she kept barking about ponies keeping it all for themselves. It got real bad so a lot of us fled. Some choose to steal love while others like myself earn it. Yes, the dragons are nearest to us, but a bunch of ponies and other creatures walking into the Changeling Empire is not the best idea in the world.”

“Interesting…” Twilight muttered. “It almost sounds like what happened with Princess Luna a thousand years ago. But its the only shot we have, it mentioned a changeling leader in the book.”

“Books can be wrong!” he argued.

“They can also be right!” Twilight retorted, matching his glare.

They continued staring angrily at each other until Rarity broke the silent showdown. “Shadow, is it?” Rarity asked, carefully inching her way over to the fuming duo. “While you did point out that it sounds dangerous, it would be a lot more dangerous if we didn't do anything at all. Discord wrecked havoc last time, I shudder to think what would happen with two of them.”

“We seem to be doing fine so far,” he pointed out.

The door to the library slammed open. A mare, who they recognized to be the actual mayor of Ponyville, came in. Her mane looked a mess, and she looked exhausted. “Twilight?!”

“Mayor?”

“Please, you all have to come see this, now!”

Twilight immediately stood up and ran after her. A silent moment passed before everypony in the room quickly decided that following her was better than waiting in boredom. Upon leaving the library, they all gasped on what they saw. Ponies, hundreds of them all walking towards Ponyville. A single glance told them they were from Canterlot, with the majority of the visitors being unicorns dressed in fancy clothes and all.

The mayor turned back to Twilight. “What is happening? I know you know something!” she snapped.

Twilight ignored her and turned back to Shadow. “How long before that happens to your old home, hmm? We are going to the Changeling territory, with you or not. Right?” She turned to her friends, who all nodded.

“I’m with ya…” Spike replied weakly, something Twilight really wanted to address at the moment but couldn’t.

“It would seem to be our best option…” the prince agreed, wondering just how many ponies were coming this way.

“Rover is with you.”

The three pony crusaders whipped to her side, synchronizing in the same motion to give a salute. “The Cutie Mark Crusaders are ready for orders!”

Rarity and Applejack looked down to their sides in shock to find both crusaders had somehow wiggled out of their grasp. Rainbow looked almost glad to be rid of Scootaloo.

Garret whistled at the multitude of ponies coming towards them and addressed the mayor. “I’d prepare a speech, kind of seems like they are being evacuated and you are this town’s mayor if I’m not mistaken… also yes, of course, I’m with anywhere that little dragon goes.” He pointed to Shyfrost, who was perched on top of Fluttershy’s back.

Shadow considered what was going on. He never, ever, wanted to go back to the queen for something. Twilight, however, seemed so sure of herself whenever she spoke. Still… “This is a really bad idea,” he pointed out again.

“Maybe, but its the only plan we have. Unless you have an extra pair of Harmony Stones on you, this is the plan we have to go with. Now, are you coming?” she asked, looking at the Mayor who seemed more lost than ever.

“If I die and you all don’t, I am going to haunt you until the day you die. Got it?” Shadow sarcastically said. “Let’s just go before we're neck deep in prissy unicorns…”

His bad attitude went ignored by Twiight. She addressed the mayor. “I’d prepare a speech, mayor. We kind of need to go…” she finished sheepishly.

“I don’t even know what’s going on!” the mayor protested, but by then Twilight and the gang had already started galloping away.

Twilight called back, “Good! Just stall them and tell the ponies the Elements of Harmony are working on it and panic is the worst thing you can do!”

The Mayor turned back just as the first set of Canterlot ponies had started to show up. She gulped.

“You know Twi, that wasn’t exactly the way you usually handle things…” Spike pointed out, walking along side her.

“I know, I know. I’m just stressed and we need to do this immediately.” She ignored Spike for a moment and addressed Shadow. “How long does it take to get to-”

“The Queen’s lair? It’s not far out from Ponyville, oddly enough. You would think that more changelings would end up in that town but she didn't want any there for some reason,” he said somberly.

Rarity shook the dirt off from a (formerly) white hoof. “I hope we get there soon, I hadn’t realized the Whitetail Woods could get this dirty-”

“-and spooky..” Sweetie commented from her sister’s back.

Rainbow had noticed Blaze was shaking a bit and reluctantly allowed her to ride on her back. She smiled slightly when she stopped.

Twilight sighed and watched the others, carefully analyzing the situation. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo seemed quiet enough, which usually meant bad things would not be heading their way. Shyfrost and Fluttershy were smiling at each other, with the former looking exhausted. The rest were chatting with themselves, this was her only chance. She started to walk slower away from her friends, with Spike taking her lead. She started to talk to him.

“Spike? Can we talk?”

“Hmm? Sure,” he replied slowly.

“Okay, you said you needed a break from everyone. Were there any other reasons you left?”

“Him. I know you said he’s not my brother, but he’s still a close friend. He was going to leave and he really wanted to see some dragons and, well, so did I.”

“Okay, I guess that makes sense. If I was raised by dragons my whole life, I would want to see another pony someday, too,” she said, carefully choosing her words. “But, um, was I working you too hard?”

He winced and finally decided to say what he had wanted to for a long time. “I think so… every time I worked in the library, I felt proud to help you. But your studies started to take up so much time, you kind of stopped noticing me so much. I started to feel nervous, just waiting for you to say ‘Spike’ all day… I don’t know…” His voice cracked a view times and by the end Twilight could tell he wasn’t exactly sure what he wanted to say.

She wasted no time in levitating him up and onto her back. “I’m sorry. From now on, I promise not to ignore you anymore. You're a wonderful son, and I’ve been working far too hard. I’m sorry.”

He hugged her tightly. “It’s okay, anyone can make mistakes. Even Twilight Sparkle.”

She smiled back at him and the purple dragon felt a weight lifted from his mind and soul.

“Hey, Fluttershy.” Shyfrost called out from her back.

“Yes, little dragon?”

“Got any pearls?” he asked hopefully.

She rolled her eyes. “Check my saddlebag, sweetie.” She continued to walk but a quick second later she jumped right out of her skin.

“Yes! Thanks Fluttershy, you're the best!” he cheered as she was quickly hugged. Fluttershy blushed and kept a steady pace forward from then on.

“I am the best…” she muttered, feeling a rare feeling of smugness.

Twilight and Spike ran up to reach the group, she then turned to Shadow. “Um, how much farther you think? I can’t seem to make heads or tails of this map,” she admitted shamefully.

“Ponies aren’t supposed to, at least not this far out. It’s meant to drive you away, to look like its nothing but wildlife territory, kind of like the Everfree. Of course, this isn't the only place where Changelings reside…” He trailed off and seemed to notice something up ahead. Twilight looked in his direction but saw nothing.

“Are you saying you're hiding all over the place? Your entire race?!” she asked incredulously.

“Kind of tough not to do that when everyone else sees you as an enemy,” he said dryly.

She wanted to feel sympathy at that moment, but something else distracted her. “What are you looking at?” she asked.

“Those signs up there, can’t you s-” He paused talking and smacked his forehead. “Oops, I forgot. Only Changelings can see them. It’s kind of an illusion spell. It means we’re here, or at least were at the edge of our territory.”

A sense of unnerving washed over the group. They kept walking at the exact same pace, but Twilight felt odd. “Um, Shadow? Why is it that most see your race as an enemy?”

“I don’t know why it was that way centuries ago, but I can tell why it is that way now. We feed on emotions. The stupid thing is, though, we can do this without forcing it; but that’s not what you ponies see. Right now I’m feeding on Spike and Shyfrost’s energy ‘cause they’re friends.”

“You what?!” Twilight almost shrieked, before remembering they were in a not-so-friendly territory.

“Relax! It doesn’t harm them at all, that’s what’s so stupid. We can force it and drain a victim of pure love, sure. But all it does is give a changeling more energy, more raw power, and you would only need that power if you wanted to fight something off or something. But the only reason to fight something off is if you had enemies in the first place, and the only reason ponies and other species see us as enemies-”

“Is because some of you choose to drain love?” Twilight finished for him, a realization dawning.

“Exactly! It’s a vicious cycle, but one I find incredibly stupid. it could easily be broken if more of my race just acted friendlier to ponies and others. Like I am.” He said proudly.

“Or ya could be leading us into a trap…” Applejack muttered.

“Sis! Stop acting so mean to him!” Apple Bloom whined.

“But Ah-”

“No! You always said to treat others with kindness when they deserved it. Well, he hasn’t done nuffin to not deserve it!” Apple Bloom scolded, her voice sounding almost humorous by talking down to her big sister.

“Ah… hmm.” She remained quiet after that. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle looked at Apple Bloom and her smug expression in total awe. How exactly did she do that?

“What exactly are your kind going to do to us when they discover our presence, Shadow?” Rarity asked while trying to get dirt off of her hoof by rubbing her hoof on some dirt.

“Most likely take us to the Queen, and once she discovers that you all are the Elements of Harmony she will laugh maniacally in triumph or something. Seriously, when I was here, she laughed like a crazy mare at least once a day. It was maddening… and kindof unnerving.”

Twilight paused for a moment and then continued to walk. “She won’t know its us, unless you say something. That could be to our advantage.” Shadow nodded, figuring it would be. “Is it common for changelings to always be close to your queen?”

“Well…. no, not really. Most of us work in different places for the Queen, but not normally with her.”

“But you did, right?” Twilight asked, causing him to stop walking.

“Yeah, I did. It wasn’t the best job I ever had, but I would be lying if I said it didn’t used to feel promising and rewarding. Things started to turn bad and then of course you have her snapping and all that, a lot of us fled. Including me of course.”

“Of course…” Twilight muttered. “She isn't going to be very happy to see you, is she?”

“I would be surprised if she does not knock my teeth in. By the way, do you have a protecting charm for that? ‘Cause it would be really helpful,” he said hopefully.

“I do not. No,” she said, and he sighed in defeat. “Where is everypony though? It feels like we’re getting closer.”

“Hmm, actually I was wondering that myself,” Shadow said, subconsciously slowing down a bit.

“Rover senses something…” The Diamond Dog’s ears twisted around. “We’re being surrounded,” he confirmed.

“Sounds like the Queen,” Shadow confirmed. “So, this is your plan. What now?”

Before she could respond, all of them heard a constant buzzing noise coming at them. They all looked up and spotted several of the changelings flying down. Each and every single one looked far taller than Shadow, and a whole lot meaner to boot. None wore disguises. Twilight counted and confirmed there was just enough to where fighting them head on might be an issue. At least, that’s what she thought at first, but then they simply kept coming and coming. A few moments later, the entire group was surrounded completely.

They hissed threateningly, but otherwise did not say a word. Twilight noted their horns had been glowing the entire time. Perhaps a way to communicate with each other? she wondered. After a single minute, the largest of the group spoke.

“You will come with us to see the queen.-”

Shadow waved a hoof for Twilight. “Told ya.”

“Silence, traitor!” he spat. “You will come with us as well.”

Twilight cleared her throat. “We will, on the grounds that none of us are to be harmed until we see your queen.”

“Very well…” The changeling said, much to Twilight’s relief; which quickly melted into frightened apprehension at his next words. “Come with us, Elements of Harmony.”

Chapter 21: A Queen and an Ancient Dragon

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“Well, this is a surprise… oh wait. No, it’s not!” The queen of the changelings laughed.

Pinkie frowned. She didn't find it all that funny, and she knew all about funny. Then again, if their circumstances had been switched, it might have been funny.

“Hello, er, Queen Chrysalis, is it?” Twilight asked nervously, looking around for confirmation.

“Twilight Sparkle! The princess’s personal student! Oh, this is a wonderful day indeed. You may bow to me if you wish.” The queen then jumped up into the air and landed right in front of the unicorn, muzzle to muzzle. “It may help me spare you all.”

Twilight backed up, making sure to hold her breath. “I’d rather not,” she admitted. “But I’m here to offer you a deal. If you’ll listen, that is.”

They all saw Shadow smack his own face with his hoof.

Chrysalis smiled, revealing her sharp fangs. “A deal with a pony? I don’t think so. Your kind is to be used for our most precious resource, and that’s all!”

“Told you this was a dumb idea…” Shadow muttered.

“And you!” The queen pointed her hoof at Shadow, who flinched back. “Shadow… you betrayed your own kind, and-”

Shadow sighed and literally grabbed the queen’s muzzle with his hooves. He spoke in an whining voice. “How many times do I have to tell you! You are a crazy, crazy queen!” Each time he said a word he opened her mouth to mimic the words. Everyone watched on in shock. “I quit BECAUSE you snapped. Royal guard...” He rolled his eyes. “I think I’d rather be a royal guard for diamond dogs at this point.”

Rover huffed at this thinly-veiled insult, but remained quiet.

Chrysalis smiled at him seductively, Twilight couldn’t tell if she was going to kiss him or bite his head off. Perhaps both.

“You know, it was kind of stupid to bring us into a room filled with only four guards if you really are planning on getting rid of us,” Garret stepped forward and pointed out.

“What? These guards?” She laughed again.

Pinkie was starting to get very frustrated. What was so funny?

Chrysalis straightened up and looked over at her guards. “You are all dismissed,” she ordered. Without hesitation, all four simply spread their wings and flew off. Garret felt a lot less confident all of a sudden. Just how powerful was she?’

“Hmm, I’m not exactly sure what I’m waiting for by the way. With you six Elements of Harmony out of commision, my plan to take over Equestria should be a cinch…” She lunged forward, her horn charging with green energy as she shot a beam of magic at Twilight. Twilight was quick to do the same, and their magic battled for supremacy. It quickly became apparent that Twilight was not as strong as the changeling queen. She began to struggle as Chrysalis’s magic was attempting to force its way through Twilight’s. Sweat dripped from Twilight’s forehead and it quickly became apparent that Twilight needed help.

Shyfrost wasn’t sure if a blast from his mouth would work the same on a changeling. It had worked perfectly on Rarity, who he was shocked to find that she had not brought up. Perhaps they had been too busy reuniting with her sister? For all he knew, his frozen breath could be melted within seconds by that green colored magic, but knew he had to try something. He jumped forward and blew, something unexpected happened though. The ice quickly soared over the queen’s magic and froze her horn, but it also did the same for Twilight. The two stood there, horns now frozen, trying to break their ice, but were unable to.

Twilight spoke first. “Well, I didn't have much magic left anyway,” she said, almost feeling relieved.

Chrysalis, on the other hoof, was much less calm. “You tiny, insolent lizard! Unfreeze my horn at once!” she screamed at Shyfrost.

“I’m not a fire dragon, that’s his bit,” he said, jabbing a claw at Spike.

“Yeah,” Spike paused to casually inspect his claws, “that’s me; but I don’t really feel like it.”

Chrysalis tried to blast through the ice surrounding her horn several times, only to pant for air and look to be in pain a moment later. “H- how did you even do that? I’ve lived for ages and I’ve never seen a dragon do that before!”

The orange dragon shrugged. “I was born that way? I dunno, you should ask her.” Shyfrost pointed to Twilight.

Chrysalis looked at Twilight for explanation, but Twilight just shrugged and shook her head. Chrysalis frowned but didn’t say anything.

The entire group of ponies and nonponies remained in silence, wondering just why the Queen had not ordered her guards back. To Pinkie, this was funny; the horns freezing over, at least.

Shyfrost then found himself hurled back by Shadow’s hoof, he began to whisper in his ear. “We came here to allow our artifacts to come into contact with her, so let’s do just that.”

He looked at the Queen who was busy rubbing her horn as quickly as possible in an attempt to melt the ice and free herself; apparently, she wanted to take down the Elements herself. “Uh, how?”

Shadow brought out his odd looking shard and studied it. “I’m not sure, maybe we should touch her horn with all of them?”

“We didn't have to do that with the other leaders,” Shyfrost protested.

Shadow shrugged. “The other leaders did not have horns or magic, but she does. It’s just a theory of mine, I say we go for it.”

“I say that’s kind of dumb-sounding, but I guess she can’t attack us much if it doesn’t work.” He then stopped whispering. “Everyone, take out your artifacts! Now!”

It only took them a second to do this, and when they did, they all looked at Shyfrost expectantly. “Uh, charge at her horn!” He declared.

“What?!” The queen screamed in horror, with no chance to escape. At least not in the time that the five beings that held an artifact were charging at her. In hindsight, she should have just flown away to find some guards. Nothing happened, the five artifacts clanged onto her frozen horn, only to bounce back. Shyfrost looked up, feeling worried. Shadow would not give up, though. He grabbed all five of the artifacts in his magic and repeated their plan, only this time he forced his artifact first. The rest clang off, but not his. He had a sort of instinct to use his ahead of the rest.

They did not clang back, but they also appeared on the surface to do nothing. The queen blinked, then she slowly blinked a second time, and then she looked around. Fluttershy walked forward, very slowly.

“Um, Miss Chrysalis Queen, are you alright?” she asked, not feeling silly in the slightest that she was attempting to help the enemy.

Chrysalis started to laugh. She laughed and laughed in such a deep voice that everyone in the room was convinced that she had either lost her mind, or was truly evil. After all, why laugh like that unless you were insane? Pinkie certainly thought she was crazy at least. The laugh died down and her smile looked sane. “My dear, I’m feeling wonderful.” Something Shadow had failed to notice was his charm had been channeling magic towards her horn, a dark colored magic that was literally shadowed by the trees that surrounded them, but it was visible. It soon died down, leaving him more confused than he had ever been in his life. “I feel… I feel clear!”

Twilight looked at her worriedly. “Um, do you want to destroy us still?”

“Destroy you?!” She reared back in shock and started to rub her head. “My memories are a bit fuzzy, but of course not. Why do you ask?” Her tone went from somber back to almost silly.

Twilight furrowed her brow and turned back to Shadow. “Shadow? What did you do to her?”

“Nothing, I just forced my charm near her horn, see.” He held it up in his magic, the heart shaped piece floating around.

The queen smiled at it. “I know what that is… Yes, I’ve seen that before…”

All of them gasped simultaneously and spoke. “You have?!”

“I was there during their creation, it was eons ago though…”

Fluttershy felt a bit more confident that she would not destroy them, so she carefully tapped the queen’s leg. Chrysalis looked down. “Hmm?”

“How old are you?” she asked with a squeak.

“Why, I’ve forgotten.” Then she shook her head. “Anyway, they were created at a time of great peril. The world’s leaders had not become well connected with the ponies yet. The ponies were not faring well with Nightmare Moon. The leaders, the ones that were not ponies needed a way to communicate while we lead our nations. They were specifically designed to ‘keep us connected and to stay right’.”

Shadow looked at her, the same look you give to someone who had lost her mind and then gained it back (was that even possible?). “What does that last bit mean?”

“No idea!” Chrysalis proclaimed.

Everyone in the room groaned.

“The Great Dragonlord was the one who designed them. You would have to ask him. If he’s still around, that is…” They all looked at her, her features turning far too somber. “Have I really lost that much touch from reality?”

Shadow shook his head, not understanding at all. “You just were about to do, whatever you wanted to do with us. What about your plan, to take over Equestria?”

“Plans can change. I’m not sure why, but I suddenly got the idea that this would be a very bad idea indeed. I’m not even sure what made me think up it in the first place!”

Shadow waved his hoof in the air, as if it was a classroom. “To be fair, we were running out of love for all of the changelings with the way you were running things.”

She pondered this and sighed. “You are correct. I suppose, given enough time on this planet, anyone can reach insanity…” She shook her head again. “I believe, Twilight, that you were willing to make a deal?”

“Um, give me a minute!” She walked over to Spike and whispered something into his ear. He nodded and soon he was blowing fire all over her horn. “That’s better, thank you Spike. The deal is very simple: you and your changelings help us rescue Canterlot and stop Discord along with his accomplices.” She said while wondering if the latter was the other way around or not. “And in exchange, the ponies of Equestria will focus resources on finding a substitute for ‘love’ for you, so you all don’t starve.” She paused. “Um, if you are starving? I’m not exactly sure on your circumstances, exactly.” Perhaps a little more research would not have been amiss.

Chrysalis nodded. “We are; we have been driven to starvation. Perhaps that is the source of my insanity, but that matters not.” She lunged forward and hugged Twilight in a bone-crushing hug. “It’s a deal!”

Pinkie finally concluded decided that she herself was the sane one here, not Chrysalis.

Twilight was gasping for air. “Too… tight!”

The queen dropped her by flying up, literally falling onto her rump. “Sorry about that. I am feeling very affectionate at the moment…” She licked her lips and smiled.

“Uh huh, so its a deal, good.” Twilight confirmed.

Blaze, or Scootaloo, depending on who was watching her, had enough. “Okay, wait a minute!” She broke out of Rainbow’s grip. “How come you're not evil anymore?”

Rainbow tried to grab her back, uncertain if this queen was evil or not, but the filly ran off. The young purple maned filly was face to face with the queen.

“Me? Starvation can lead to many things. I cannot draw on love from my changelings after all, and I had secluded myself for so long. When a body starts to wither away, so does the mind. Does that explain it?”

“No!”

“Hmm, perhaps that heart shaped charm had love infused within it? Thus fixing my mind and allowing me to see clearly for once. How about that?”

“Well! Uh…” Blaze scratched her head a few times. “Yes!” Then she comically jumped back to Rainbow and waited. Rainbow rolled her eyes.

“Now what is this about Discord? He is loose?” she asked, eyeing Shadow. Shadow wasn’t certain, but he could swear her eyes showed infatuation above all, or perhaps longing. He gulped nervously.

Twilight spoke up. “Yes, he and another one of his race has taken over Canterlot. Worse yet, Princess Luna and Princess Celestia can’t help, and our harmony stones no longer work…” she admitted the last part sheepishly.

“A grim situation, but not an impossible one.” She looked over the artifacts, her eyes landed squarely on the frost dragon.

“You there, how many leaders have you visited? These artifacts have been out of commision for so long, they will need to be… jump-started.”

“You could say please…” He pointed out, bit she simply rolled her eyes. “We only need to visit the dragons, and their leader, or is it leaders?”

“I’m not sure at this point. But there is usually a single leader. Odds are it is still the same one, when an elder dragon passes on practically all of Equestria hears about it. I would have remembered something like that.”

“We don’t know that much about dragons, sadly. Very few books exist in the pony archives.” Twilight explained.

Chrysalis nodded. “Hmm… well, I believe those artifacts will be quite useful, but only if we can get them to the dragon leader.”

“It uh…” Shadow paused at the queens uncomfortable stare but sped right up. “They are pretty close by, I guess we should go now?”

They all stood there in silence, a few slumped down while waiting for something to happen. Shyfrost stood up from his seated positioned and stretched his legs. All of them watched him start to leave the chamber. He turned back. “Well? I don’t think we have that much time to waste!”

One changeling queen, two changeling guards, one ex-royal guard, two baby dragons, three fillies, six mares, one minotaur prince, a griffon blacksmith, a diamond dog and one stallion walked along through a simple path. The dirt pathway was being absolutely torn asunder by so many creatures walking at once. Trees all around them had started thin out from the forest, leading to a less foreboding nature overall. There were still a few travel issues, however.

“Why are you walking on your fours, is that easier for you?” Sweetie Belle asked while walking effortlessly next to Rover. The diamond dog had been panting.

He nodded. “I am not very used to hills…”

“You are apparently not very used to common fashion either, dearie…” Rarity spoke from his right.

Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes and whispered into her sister's ear. “I think you insulted him by offering a new cloak or something like that.”

She huffed back. “I was just trying to be generous.”

“Then try doing it without insulting his cloak!”

Rarity sighed. “...I suppose I can try…”

Meanwhile, on the other side of the group, Twilight was doing her best not to freak out. There was so much information she could learn from the changeling queen alone! However, there were also others around her that she could question.

“So it would seem that emotional energy for your kind would be everything from protein to other basic needs for us and other living creatures.”

“Yes… that is an accurate description, Twilight,” the queen said, doing her best to keep her sanity and patience.

“Oh! This is so great, with all of this information I could fill a book!”

“Good for you! Now if you'll excuse me!” The queen said swiftly and flew up into the air, leaving behind a bewildered mare. Twilight's frown started to switch back to a smile when she realized that she had two guards and one ex guard to interrogate (at least, that’s how they saw it).

“Hey Scoots…” Apple Bloom muttered under her breath, while attempting not to alert her sister. Applejack had not let her out of her sight for a minute, yet she noticed something curious about her friend and her ‘caretaker’.

“Yeah?” Scootaloo spoke in a hushed voice, not really certain why in fact they were speaking so quietly.

“How come… Rainbow there keeps actin’ weird around ya?”

“Wh- well, what do you mean?” Scootaloo stammered.

The farm filly rolled her eyes. “Ah can’t get rid of my sis now, but she is actin’ like she wants to get rid of you… even though she’s still lookin’ after ya? Ah don’t get it.”

“Well… she’s just busy! She doesn’t want me to get in the way, I mean, yeah, she has to look after me, but…” She bit her lip. “Well, a lot of crazy stuff is happening, and she is an Element of Harmony, you know.”

Apple Bloom tilted her head to the side. “Ah what? Are you feelin’ okay?”

Blaze then suddenly remembered that Rainbow had mentioned that they weren't known as the Elements in their day, for their own protection.

Horseapples… I forgot that it’s supposed to be a secret. They don’t even know! That wasn’t revealed until way after they retired… I hate being from the future sometimes.

“Uh, I mean, she’s just real busy,” Scootaloo corrected herself.

“Uh huh, you said that. Are you sure you’re okay?”

Blaze looked into her friend’s eyes, seeing nothing but concern and kindness. She nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine, thanks. Just tired I guess.” She actually did yawn, feeling some what exhausted.
“Ah know what you mean. A certain somepony that’s related to me can get awful tiring.”

“What was that, sugarcube?” Her sister asked, causing her to flinch.

“Nothing…”

The entire group flinched and stopped when they heard a rather loud and almost deafening noise.

“W- what was that?” Fluttershy squeaked out, cowering behind Rarity.

A shadow creeped up over them, only it was clear that it came from far up in the sky. Up above a very large red colored dragon was flying over. They had made it to the dragon lands.

“Alright, I think we made it.” Rainbow pointed out. “So what now?”

“We could turn around and pretend we walked into dragon territory…” Fluttershy suggested while shaking.

“They’re just dragon’s, Fluttershy. There’s two right in front of you. We’ll be fine!” Rainbow insisted with a smirk.

“I suppose there are…” She was referring to the two dragons with them, though they were cute little baby dragons while the one up above was a huge, gigantic, terrifying, enormous, sharp scale having, smoke snoring, could eat a pony in one bite, totally all grown up dragon!

“I’ve read before that dragons would often meet near hot spring areas. They contain lava pools, too. Our best bet would be to trudge forward as best as we can and try to avoid any confrontations. It shouldn’t be long before we encounter somepony who can help us locate these dragon leaders or leader,” Twilight said swiftly.

“Easier said than done,” Shadow said to her right. “We kind of stick out like a sore hoof. Two dragon’s aren’t enough to make us seem normal to all of the other dragons.”

“That is true…hmm, Rarity!” Twilight called out.

“Yes?” Her friend asked back calmly.

“Do you think you could use your spell to locate larger piles of gems? We might be able to speed up a search of dragon leaders that way.”

She smiled. “Certainly. It’s not a perfect science, but it should help.” Her horn glowed and she started walking ahead of them. The rest of the group followed.

They trudged on for at least an hour. Small talk was given, but nothing of significance was spoken. Eventually, the group neared towering mountainsides.

“Hey, my horn is reacting over there!” Rarity pointed towards the mountains. “It’s as good a place as any to check.”

They started walking again, but Twilight noticed something that was off. “This isn't right, the path here ends at the mountain and into it. But there’s no opening.”

Shyfrost hopped off of Fluttershy’s back and ran up ahead. He slowly followed the dirt path and turned, only to almost run smack dab into the mountain before he stopped himself. “This is really weird…”

Spike ran up to him and hesitantly touched the side of the mountain, his claw reached through. He did it several more times while Shyfrost watched. “It’s magic!”

Twilight frowned and looked back to the path, just now noticing that the path had not been purposely lead towards the illusion wall. The pathway had been worn in that particular area, possibly from constant use, as the dirt had been pushed forward in that direction. “But, who cast it?” Twilight wondered out loud. “I wasn’t aware that dragons could use magic.”

“Isn't Discord kind of a dragon?” Rainbow asked after swooping down. “I know he’s not fully a dragon, but he’s part dragon and part… weird.”

Spike nodded. “Yeah, plus I have magic. I can send letters back and forth!”

Twilight nodded. “You can, but I had always theorized that this was due to our connection.”

Spike’s head tilted to the side. “You mean the letter link?”

She shook her head. “No. Well, sort of. You see, Princess Celestia knew that all dragons have an innate magical connection with Equestria. That, of course, means that all dragons have some magic within them, just like most creatures. You wouldn’t be able to hold the spell and cast it without your magic present. As I suspect, Shyfrost wouldn’t be able to breathe out frost without magic either. But you two are the only dragons that we have had much contact with, so there’s not too much to study. It’s interesting to think that other dragons could cast spells similar to unicorns…” She trailed off and laced her forehoof into the illusion. “Why hide this?” She hesitated but walked right through, the group gasped before she called out. “It’s okay, come in!”

Shyfrost came first, he noticed they now stood in some type of cave that was definitely not long, since light was pouring through on the other side. They scrambled through, coming off on the other side they found an odd sight.

“Is th- th- that an adult dragon? It’s one big dragon…” Fluttershy squeaked out, while hugging Shyfrost for dear life.

“Can’t….breathe…” The young drake managed to get out, at which point Fluttershy dropped him while blushing. He shook his head and examined the dragon. He was indeed very large and in a very odd place. Surrounding them were the mountains only they very small mountains. THey expected to find more rock terrain on the other side, but instead there was grass and wild plant life all over. The dragon was faced away from them and seemed to be busy reading from a tome of some kind. Shyfrost had finally found an adult dragon, and he felt like he had absolutely no idea what to do next. He turned around to face the group and shrugged, giving Twilight and Fluttershy a pleading look.

Fluttershy was busy trying to now hide her face beneath her front hooves, and failed to see Shyfrost’s shrug. Twilight was busy pondering the situation with her eyes closed. so the frost dragon stuck by her, just waiting. Eventually she turned back to Spike who was waiting by her side, feeling anxious yet excited to see another dragon.

“Okay, I’m not exactly sure if this is the best idea.” She looked back to Queen Chrysalis who simply shook her head, wondering what she was getting at. “It is probably best if one or both of you initiate contact first.” She motioned to Spike and Shyfrost. “If anything, seeing another dragon might help this new dragon see us as friendly.” Spike didn’t look so sure but he nodded regardless. Twilight walked over to Chrysalis. “Do you recognize him, by the way?”

She shook her head again. “I do not. The dragon elder had red scales and giant blue spikes on his back. This one couldn’t look more different.” She motioned to the massive yellow beast.

“Alright…” Twilight sighed and turned to her assistant, with a warm smile on her face. “Whenever you’re ready, Spike. If you want to do this?”

Spike looked back at the dragon and turned his head back to Twilight, he did this several times and finally sighed. “A- alright, I’ll do it!” They all smiled and he took a few steps forward. Shyrost felt some what relieved to be able to stay behind and smiled, but that smile quickly faded as purple claws wrapped around his arm and before he knew it, he was being dragged along with his friend.

Shyfrost stood before the massive creature. He looked over to Spike, and to his horror he saw him about to call out. He tried to stop him while jumping forward, but tripped over his own feet and fell forward.

“Hello!” He heard Spike call out. The response was immediate.

The dragon yelled out to the heavens, forgetting his tome. Spike and Shyfrost ducked for cover and held tightly to each other for comfort. Fluttershy was doing her best to try and run away, but though she scrambled frantically, she was getting nowhere as Rainbow Dash was currently sitting on her tail. That didn’t stop her from trying, though.

The dragon crawled out on all fours, he awkwardly turned around to face the source of his disturbance. His eyes squinted, they were squarely focused on the two quivering drakes.

There was a short snarl. “Yes?” He asked the two who were not even looking up. A moment later the dragon raised its eyebrow and gently prodded the two younger dragons. Twilight Sparkle was amazed at how focused the dragon could be on its own kind, she was surprised that he hadn’t even noticed the rest of the group yet.

Spike poked one of his eyes out of their huddle. “Uh….. hello?” Spike squeaked.

The dragon sighed. “I take it you are from the council? What is it?”

Spike gave the dragon a dumbfounded look. This time, Shyfrost worked the courage to speak up. “Uh, no.”

The dragon exhaled a large breath from his nostrils, wind poured over the two. “Then, what are you doing here?!”

“We need some help…” Spike said truthfully.

“...I am to be contacted with matters relating to the council only. This place was protected by illusion magic, how did you two even find the entrance?” He pointed an accusing claw at both of them.

“Excuse me!” Twilight finally called out. She had been debating if she should, but it was clear that Spike wasn’t planning on revealing why they were there anytime soon.

The dragon looked up. He scanned each and every creature and snorted again. He jerked back down to the two dragons who were bashfully smiling up. “Explain!” he ordered.

Spike felt flustered and tried to come up with a response, but Twilight beat him to it. “Look, we just need your help. This is Spike by the way.”

“The affairs of non dragon’s are not my concern.”

“They concern dragons, too…” Spike got out, feeling a tad more confident now that Twilight was with him.

The dragon considered the two drakes and the pony for but a second before waving them off. “Be gone. I am quite busy.”

The giant dragon had already turned back to his parchments and scrolls. Twilight looked down to the two dragons, looking bewildered.

Shyfrost had a moment to think. He doesn’t seem like an angry dragon. Maybe he just needs some help himself? The frost drake ran around the dragon to meet him again face to face. “Hello, my name is Shyfrost and uh… do you need some help?” He questioned, feeling a bit silly.

“Not unless you can provide it,” he said cryptically.

“Uh… I might be able to?” He rubbed the back of his head instinctively.

“Unless you have access to the council's library, then I doubt it young one. Now please, be gone.”

Shyfrost was literally shoved back gently by the dragon’s large claw. The drake looked back to his group with his claws in the air, shaking his head in uncertainty. Rainbow Dash flew up into the air and landed in front of the dragon.

“I could fly to this council and get what you need, I am the fastest flyer in Equestria after all!”

The dragon snorted, releasing a small puff of dark smoke. “I shall not trust ancient scrolls and texts with someone who is too quick.”

Dash smacked a hoof to her forehead, realizing that this was one stubborn dragon. She then flew back and pushed Fluttershy by literally getting behind her and shoving her forward with her head. The dragon’s eye with its massive red colored pupil looked to the cream colored mare who squeaked in response. But she held firm and did not try to dash off like before.

“Um, p-please mister dragon, we just want to help you… so maybe you can help us?”

Finally, the drake sighed. “Very well, since you are all so determined to pester me.” He stood up and looked down to the dragons. “I need a scroll pertaining to protection spells, particularly one that involves shields. You two can be granted access to the library.” Twilight tried to speak up but his massive claw raising up had silenced her. “Only dragons are allowed inside. I do not know why they are traveling with you… all, but you may accompany them to the council's headquarters. Here--” He took out a smaller scroll from his pile and inspected it. Then he placed it into Spike’s clutches. “Use that to gain entry. Return here with what I require, and then we will talk.”

Twilight looked up to him. “You will help us if we get these scrolls?”

“I will.”

“Why do you need them?” She asked. And I can’t believe dragons have protection spells! Think of the knowledge…

He inspected her better while narrowing his eyes. “Return here with the spells. News of your pony princesses’ demise have reached us. Do hurry, please.”

Twilight wanted to protest, but Applejack walked up to her. “Sugarcube, Ah think we better listen to him. Maybe those spells can help us better in the end, don’t ya think?”

“We don’t even know who he is…” she whispered harshly.

“Hey, what’s your name?” Applejack called up.

“It is on the slip that I have handed to Spike.”

Spike handed them the paper, and together they all read the last line.

Signed by, King Pyro

Chapter 22: The King's Orders

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“I… don’t recognize him.” Chrysalis said, cocking her head.

“How could you not?” Shadow wondered aloud, then paused. “Come to think of it, he doesn’t look that ancient...”

The changeling queen hummed for a few moments, trying to come up with a response. “Maybe their policies for changing leaders has changed. I could have sworn it was after death they get a new one.”

Twilight’s ears perked up. “You mean they elect a new one?”

Chrysalis laughed. “Elect? More along the lines of, ‘whoever caused the king to fall, gets to be king’.” She drew a hoof across her throat to emphasize her point.

“That is completely barbaric!” Rarity exclaimed.

Chrysalis shrugged. “Those were the rules last time I checked.”

“When was the last time you checked? Centuries ago?” Spike asked sarcastically.

“...Maybe.”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Spike, how’s it going with that map?”

The dragon had not let the letter and map out of his sight since they had left the cave. “Still says to keep going on this path, but we should take a right when we see a-”

“Fork in the road, we know,” a few of the ponies finished in unison.

Spike had insisted on being the dragon in charge of the map. Shyfrost, to his right nudged him. “Mind if I look at it? You did say dragons only, you know.”

Spike took his eyes off the map several times to look back at him and then sighed. “Fine, but only you.”

He gently took it and began inspecting sections of it. After a while, the sections began to run together and he realized that almost nothing made sense to him.

“You okay, dude?” Spike asked.

“Huh?” He gave the map back. “Yeah, just a weird map to me.”

“You mean the language it’s written in?”

Shyfrost nodded.

“It’s an older form of Equestrian,” Spike explained. “Twilight taught it to me, I could teach you sometime when we're not on this crazy adventure sometime.”

He smiled. “Sure.” He then noticed that his friend’s grin had not wavered once since they left. “You seem really happy about something.”

Spike whispered into his ear. “Dude, we were sent on a mission from the dragon king! That couldn’t be any cooler!”

He frowned and whispered back, also wondering why they were whispering. “We didn’t even know who he was until an hour ago.”

“Well, no; but now we do! We finally got to see some dragons and talk to them! It’s what we wanted!”

He smiled back. “True.” That had been their original intention, and they had finally achieved it. That being said, the threat of Canterlot’s destruction and the princesses falling from power was more important than thinking of their accomplishment.

They reached the fork and took the right path. The path leading ahead looked almost exactly the same, but on each side of the path were metal constructed cylinder shaped lanterns hanging on wooden posts. They all stopped, wondering just why they would be there in the first place. Sometimes paths were lit by lanterns when near a city or town at night, but often they would follow a consistent pattern. In contrast, the two lanterns here seemed almost randomly placed. Spike frowned and looked at the map and note he was given, but at first glance he saw nothing mentioning markers on the path like the lanterns.

“Uh, Twi?” Spike started poking Twilight in the shoulder over and over.

She batted his claws away. “I see them, Spike.”

Scootaloo walked around the one on the right. “Maybe we’re supposed to light them?”

Twilight frowned down at her. “We don’t know anything about this territory. These lanterns could be meant for a signal… perhaps the dragons use them as beacons for warnings? They could do fly by’s like the pegasi and -- Spike! What are you doing?!”

Spike blinked a few times after leaning away from the lantern on the right, which was now burning with a bright brilliant orange flame. “What? Relax, Twi! Look, there’s even a message!”

He was pointing to the glass now surrounding the flame. There indeed was a message, revealed by the flickering light.

Rover looked at it suspiciously. “I am not the only one who can’t read that, correct?” he asked for reassurance.

Twilight shrugged. “It’s certainly not Equestrian. Uh, Spike, can you read it?”

Spike looked at her as if she was crazy. “I can only read one language, Twi,” he pointed out, “and you were the one who taught me.”

She nodded. “Yes, but I kind of figured that perhaps the dragons enchanted it so only dragons could read it…” She blushed when she realized her little theory sounded too much like something out of a simplified adventure novel.

“It says: ‘Council Meet...’ or something like that; it’s been a while since I’ve seen this language,” Chrysalis said nonchalantly.

“I don’t see any council, or dragons, or anypony!” Dash exclaimed. She flew up high in the air for just a moment, as if to confirm her suspicion, and then landed a moment later. “This place is dragonless!”

Rarity stepped forward, poking the other lantern a few times. “Twilight… do you have any spells that light fire?”

Twilight looked over to the lantern that wasn’t lit, and then back to the one raging with fire. She nodded and cast a simple spell while Rarity opened the tiny door for her. Both lanterns reacted immediately, snuffing out instantly.

“It’s only meant for dragon fire?” Sweetie Belle guessed.

Twilight nodded. “Looks like it.” She looked to Spike, who seemed almost ready to light both without permission from her, but still he waited. She smiled. “Alright, so-”

Taking that as his signal, Spike jumped into the air and blew out fire to both lanterns. Everyone jumped when a single tune started to play. It was a quick melody and when it finished, the room was silent. Anyone who was not currently flying in the air, however, started to lose their balance as the earth below them began to tremble. They looked over and saw the side of a cliff literally split in two at an impossibly fast speed. When the split was finished, revealing the entrance to a dark cave, the same chime from before played out.

Fluttershy sighed. “What is it with dragons and dark caves?” she meekly asked.

Twilight decided to go first, she started walking… and stopped short. It felt as though she were hitting a wall of solid air, as illogical as that seemed. She experimentally placed her hoof at the entrance of the cave and felt an invisible forcefield pushing her away no matter how hard she pushed. The others tried, but were no more successful. Spike walked up and stuck his foot into the cave. He was not hindered.

He turned around, a cheeky grin on his face. “I guess it’s dragons only again.”

Twilight scrunched her nose. Somehow, Twilight could sense he was having great fun with this.

Shyfrost followed him inside and turned back. “Uh, should we just go inside?”

“What does your map say?” Twilight pointed to it in his hands.

He flipped it over and frowned. “It kind of stops here.”

“Then, I suppose you should,” Twilight nodded.

Fluttershy instantly flew over, only to hit a barrier and fall back onto her butt. She called into the cave anyway. “Shyfrost! If at anytime you're in danger, please, please run back here!”

Shyfrost flinched at the desperation in her voice. “Um, I think we would do that, yeah. Sounds…”

“Sensible?” Spike offered. Shyfrost nodded in agreement.

Twilight smiled at them and waved them off. Fluttershy was busy hyperventilating, but only a little bit.

As they started walking, they came across a torch hanging on the wall. Spike grabbed it and lit it, and they continued to explore the cave.

“Hey, Spike? How come the Dragon King wouldn’t know a protection spell, anyway? You’d think he would be really smart or something…”

Spike was silent for a while, mulling it over. “Maybe they’ve never needed one before. The king didn't seem all that freaked out though. I dunno…”

They got quiet again, their steps and the burning of the torch was the only noise for a few minutes. The mystery of what they would find was eating away at them. Would it be a council of dragons? Or was this the wrong place to explore? Maybe at the end of this cave there was a eldritch abomination that fed on dragons? Spike himself did not hold much confidence in a map, even if a king gave it to him. He doubted very much that Shyfrost felt any different.

Eventually, the cave ended, but it didn’t end. Though the cavern texture ended, the tunnel continued. Furnished floors and walls lined the room, along with several doors and already lit torches.

The first thing they noticed were the doors. Each one had a number on it, just a number. Spike checked the map all over, but found no hints or legend that would describe the numbers. He was beginning to doubt even more that this was the right place.

“Let’s check a door!” Shyfrost exclaimed without warning, and he reached for the nearest door handle.

Spike panicked and tackled him to the ground. “Stop! We don’t know where they lead. We don’t even know where this is!”

“The sign outside said council…” Shyfrost pointed out.

Spike stretched out a claw and helped him up. “Yeah, but need I remind you that a weird insect queen, who is half insane, translated that sign?”

He frowned. “I don’t think she was insane…”

“Whatever. Maybe we should just…” He trailed off as he was greeted by the sight behind them; there was no longer a cave hole, but solid rock. There was no longer a way out at all!

“Huh,” he said. He wanted to go into shock over that of all things, but what really sent him over the edge was a door creaking open. His heart pounded in his chest quicker and quicker.

“It’s just a staircase,” Shyfrost said.

Spike was not comforted. “Shyfrost, this place is creeping me out. We should go.”

“Go where? We’re sealed in,” he pointed out, and Spike could only nod in response. Just to make sure, Spike tried to walk through the wall, but found that it really was rock..

“Strong magic…” Spike muttered, rubbing his snout.

“Only way is up, or through another door.”

“If we die, I’m haunting you and also Discord,” Spike said bitterly.

“Dee, do you think some anti-ghost magic is in order?” Discord asked, swirling a glass of chocolate milk around.

Dee glared. “Don’t be stupid, ghosts aren’t real. Except in summer.”

“Hmm,” Discord concurred.

Spike nervously led the way up, clutching his torch with his claws tightly. It didn’t help that the wooden pole was getting shorter and shorter as the flame burned. After a while, they both grew exhausted from the everlasting staircase, and Spike simply tossed the torch aside as it burned out. A while later, the duo found themselves climbing the stairs on their claws and knees.

“L…” Shyfrost trailed off and took a few deep breaths. “Look, a door!”

Spike snapped out of his daze, he felt ecstatic to see something other than stairs. They stood up, Spike helping Shyfrost to a standing position. The door had a single thing embedded on it reading simply ‘Council’. Spike shrugged and knocked a few times.

Silence reigned for about three whole minutes. And then…

“Come in…” a very bold but very scratchy sounded voice called back.

Spike opened the door and the two led themselves in. The new room that was revealed simply made no sense to either of them. It was big; colossal, even. Now that they thought about it, the staircase made no sense either; surely there would be some kind of tower that could be seen from the outside. Spike knew this kind of room would be pretty difficult to hide.

Speaking of difficult to hide, there was a large number of dragons, seated around a very large wooden table. Each seemed bigger than the King.

A rather chubby red colored dragon was staring at them, his red irises never moving.

“Uh, we--”

Before Spike could say anything else, Shyfrost interrupted.

“Why is it so hot in here?!” The young dragon was panting hard still.

The large dragon studied the two, his neck reaching over them as he narrowed an eye. “Ah, flightless drakes. You walked down here, didn’t you?”

“D-down?” Spike scratched his head and looked back at the door. To his utter confusion, the staircase now led upwards. “What?!”

The dragons chuckled. “Since we have not seen you two before, we are going to assume you were not told of this structures many illusions, no?”

They simply shook their heads, Shyfrost was still panting. Meanwhile Spike felt quite comfortable.

“I thought not. The staircase you found yourselves on actually lead you down, it is a lot warmer here underneath the planets crust. We are very far down, actually.”

“But…. but, walking downstairs shouldn’t exhaust us! That makes no sense!”

“It is enchanted to trick the senses. I’m sure you are not that exhausted?”

“But I am…” Shyfrost insisted.

Spike pondered it and realized something. He would usually take trips with Twilight. Whenever he went somewhere strange or new, it was with her. He would always ride on her back for long trips on foot. While it was true he and Shyfrost had been traveling this whole time, in the last day he had failed to take even one break. He figured Shyfrost was probably worse off. “Heh, maybe it was our fault…” he admitted.

The dragons looked on curiously.

“We didn’t rest that much,” he explained.

“An unwise choice in this land, especially as of lately.” The red dragon then took his seat.

“Right, so my name is Spike and this over here is--”

Immediately, a blast of ice came out of Shyfrost’s mouth. Spike noted that it seemed more like he was throwing up. A large clump of ice was soon sitting on the ground, the drake wasted no time in laying on top of it. The ice started melting a bit, but not much. “This feels nice…” he whimpered.

“--Shyfrost.” Spike finished, his claws smacking his head in annoyance.

“How did he do that?” A golden scaled dragon asked from the back.

“I’m a Frost Dragon!”

“Where you cursed by Discord?!” The red one suddenly asked, his eyes growing fearful.

Shyfrost shrunk in place, the ice suddenly melting faster as if the dragon’s fear had made the room hotter. “Uh, no? I’ve sort of always been this way…”

The drake visible relaxed at this. “I… see. Is there any reason you two are here?”

Spike blinked and then grinned. “Oh yeah! King Pyro sent us here!” He showed the big red one the scroll and waited for him to read it.

“Ah, a simple spell request form.” The dragon gave the scroll back. “I have it right here, next time you two should probably use our dragon mail system. It would have been much easier?”

“The what?”

“Simple blow dragon fire over the scroll, just outside near the Council sign. It would have sent the scroll to us and I could have sent the spell back to you. King Pyro gave you directions, see!”

The dragon pointed to a place on the scroll. Spike grabbed it and noticed a piece of the scroll had folder over the extra message from the king, explaining just what the red dragon had said. Spike could not smack his own head hard enough.

The red one chuckled. “I’d imagine walking down here, while under the illusion spell would be quite the chore. Most of us simple fly down the middle of the stairway.”

“Uh, but we can’t use magic. How are we supposed to know the stairway was like that?” Shyfrost asked.

A blue studded dragon stood up. “Can’t use magic? You’re dragons! Of course you can use magic!”

“Uh…” Spike scratched the back of his head. “I can send letters with my fire to other ponies, that’s the only magic I know of.”

“To ponies?” The blue one asked. “Fascinating, you can direct letters to whomever you want? Or to just ponies? I’m a tad confused…”

“Where do you two live, by the way?” the red one asked.

“That’s kind of a long story…” Spike said, but figured, since they were down there anyway…

“Fascinating indeed, living with ponies your whole life. You didn’t even know of any dragon spells! Very sad, now that I think of it.”

“Yeah well… Twilight said she didn’t know too much about dragons. You guys don’t exactly visit pony towns that much,” Spike pointed out.

The red one chuckled. In the course of the conversation they had learned his name was simply Red, but Spike assumed it was a nickname. “This Twilight sounds quite interesting, too. Anyway, those starting materials and books should help you learn about your inner magic. I… admittedly don’t know what will happen when your younger friend tries them out, but it can’t be helped. First case I’ve ever heard of a ‘Frost Dragon’, after all.”

Shyfrost shrugged amicably.

“Luckily for you, our lands are close enough so it shouldn’t be too much of a hassle to visit. That is, if you want to know more of your magic in the future.” He shifted. “But we have taken up enough time. You should really get that scroll back to the King.”

Spike chuckled. “Right, sorry. It’s just that I don’t get to talk to too many adult dragons.”

“Fair enough.” Blue spoke, though come to think of it they never got his real name either.

“So, uh, how do we get out of here?” Spike had given up on understanding their little hideout. They had tried to explain its many enhancements, but he got more lost than the time Twilight tried to explain multivariable calculus. All he got from them is that they were designed to keep others who visit moving forward, and never back. The reason behind this, he had no clue. Some weird defense mechanism.

“Dragon mail should do the trick. Its easier than teleportation, after all; at least, on things your size.”

“Uh, what?” Spike did not like the sound of that, but before he could protest, the dragon had started to puff out his stomach. Green colored fire enveloped the two, blinding them. The temperature changed dramatically, going from very warm to mostly cold. The brightness dimmed and they found themselves outside. Spike’s many scrolls and books remained tucked safely in his claws.

“Spike!” he heard Twilight call out. He saw Fluttershy there too, and the rest of the group off to the side simply waiting. “What happened?! How are you back so quickly?!”

Spike, feeling quite shocked that dragon fire could teleport living things as well as letters, said nothing for a moment. Then he looked at his scrolls and equipment. “I have got to learn how to do that!”

Twilight blinked. “Do what…” She trailed off, a pensive look on her face. “Did you two just teleport?” she asked incredulously.

“Yeah, it was dragon magic!” He quickly ruffled through the scrolls he had, ignoring the others’ staring. “Dragons can use magic and stuff! Look!”

She furrowed her brow, then read over his scroll. “Spike, I can’t understand a word of this.”

“I know, isn't it great!” His cheeky grin did nothing but made her glare. “Heh, its the Dragon Tongue. The Council gave me a dictionary to help translate,” he explained smugly.

“Council…” She looked back to the scroll. “So by reading these-”

“We can use magic!” Shyfrost cheered. “Uh, I think…” His voice trailed off, mumbling something about Frost Dragons and being unsure.

Fluttershy looked like she wanted to comfort him, but Rainbow flew down between them. “So, did you get the spell… thing?”

Spike shrugged, and then nodded. “Yeah.”

“Finally! Lets get out of here, so boring!” Rainbow whined, throwing her hooves up exasperation.

Scootaloo ran up and repeated the same motions. “Yeah! It’s boring!”

Rainbow looked down to the filly. Even she had to admit that Scootaloo sometimes acted like a tiny version of herself at times. It felt weird.

Fluttershy coughed. “I think that’s a good idea, The king probably needs that.”

Twilight's eyes widened in horror, looking at all the knowledge that Spike possessed. “But-”

“I’ll tell you what happened on the way, Twi. Let’s start walking!”

“So all of this time, dragons could use magic like unicorns?” Twilight had never questioned Spike’s ability to send letters with his dragon fire. He knew that he could only do it to one pony at a time, but never even imagined that his fire possessed magic beyond that. She did remember the princess telling her that it was her doing that bound the two. Well, it had been; she had removed that and bound herself to Spike’s link.

“Yep! The Council even said we can come back anytime! Isn't this great, Twi?!”

Twilight chuckled, she had certainly never seen the drake quite so happy before. She was also happy that Spike and Shyfrost had finally found dragons to speak to. Even if that was partially why they ran away in the first place. If it wasn't for the fact that Canterlot was in danger and the princesses were lost, she would be just as ecstatic.

They came back to the cave entrance from before, Rainbow looked to Fluttershy. “Do you need me to push-”

“No, no,” she sighed, “I’m getting used to this, I think.” She was, of course, referring to the fact that they kept coming to places that were quite out of her comfort zone.

They walked up to King Pyro, who was still busy with his scrolls. Spike walked up to him and then coughed.

The king turned around and smiled. “Ah, Spike. You have the scroll, I trust?”

“Uh, y-yes sir!” He saluted, figuring it was the right thing to do, and then plucked it out of his tiny collection.

“Good… give me a moment.” Before any of them could question why, he quickly grabbed the scroll and unfurled it. He then turned around and slammed it onto the floor. Spike and Twilight circled him, watching his face. His eyes started to glow, not unlike Twilight when she overexerted her magic. The red color was a bit frightful, but they continued to watch.

“Uh...Twi, are his claws supposed to… do that?” She looked up, confused and gasped. Fire. That was what she saw, but unlike regular fire this kind didn’t seem to scream danger. He was using magic, she could sense it even if she barely understood how. It was then that she noticed something, something that hadn't been there earlier. It was a massive chalice of some kind, brimming with fire. Not the red colored like the King was managing, but simple orange. Spike noticed this as well.

“Hey! We saw one of those at-”

He never finished his sentence, and after what happened he couldn’t have finished it anyway.

A booming noise was sent from the dragon’s claws, his red tinted fire shot forth to mix with the one found in the chalice. The noise was deafening, Twilight didn’t understand why any spell would need to make so much noise, but there was nothing she could do about it. Thankfully the spell wasn’t blinding, they saw fire shoot straight up from the chalice high into the air. They saw other streams shooting towards the flame, each a distinct color. Twilight could recognize it anywhere, it was the formation of a shield. While she herself could form some shields, she knew it was her brother that excelled at them.

The different colored fires formed to make a massive sphere over the land, mixing the colors which eventually settled on an alabaster colored fire etched shield. The noise died down and the king sighed heavily. A moment later he turned around and grinned. “Thank you, Spike and Shyfrost, your determination to reach The Council has helped protect my realm.”

Shyfrost was too busy staring up at the shield, transfixed by it. Spike simply nodded and spoke. “You’re welcome, King Pyro. That…. that was amazing!”

He nodded. “It was necessary if the ‘Lord of Chaos’ has returned.”

Twilight coughed, getting his attention. “Actually, there is another… spirit of disharmony, too.”

The king closed his eyes, sighing once more. “I see. One is bad enough. Our defenses are up, though; do you ponies or others have a plan?”

Twilight nodded. “Shyfrost, I need your amulet,” she said softly. Reluctantly, he gave it up. She looked around, and wordlessly made the same request. All complied.

The king eyed her and waited for her to lay them down on the ground. “These… artifacts were supposedly made by a Dragonlord. I- we were wondering if they could help us fight Discord and the other one, Dee.”

His eyes narrowed on them, that lasted for about three seconds. He instantly sprang to action and ran behind them, jumping into a pile of scrolls. It reminded Spike of a certain filly he once knew that loved scrolls and books more than anypony ever should.

“I’ve read of those before!” he called from the scrolls, his voice nearly shaking the ground. “At least, I think they are them.” He emerged again, clutching a withered looking parchment. He unrolled it. “The Unity Trinkets, designed by hmm… seems to be worn off. It does say they were meant to be used by a chosen of each race to help unify the various races, specifically during times of great peril or war.”

Fluttershy, against her better judgment and fears stepped forward. “Um, chosen how?”

“It simply says chosen; but that does not surprise me, though. This was written so long ago, at least, given the style it seems to have been written during a simpler time. Not much was documented well during those times. If I had to guess though, the magic in the trinkets probably choses its ‘wielder’ based on certain requirements.”

“Does it say what each one does?” The only prince of the group inquired.

“No.”

The group groaned, but the king paused.

“However, it does say how to activate them in order to contact the leaders of Equestria. That is, if they still work.”

Twilight scratched under her chin, looking at him. “Okay, how?”

He handed her the scroll and she read it quickly under her breath. Twilight took the scroll away for a second, then quickly went back to reading. “That’s all? Just speak to the artifacts, like a microphone? That’s uh… okay.”

Shyfrost looked down to his amulet, shrugged and then spoke to it. “Hello?”

The King smiled down at him. “It would seem I heard that, although not from your voice.”

Pinkie Pie was hanging off to the side with Rainbow Dash, and actually yawned despite her usual upbeat attitude. “Fascinating,” the pink mare said, “but how does that help though?”

Everyone in the area looked up to watch a hawk fly down, aiming for Fluttershy. It did a quick dive and gracefully pulled up before landing at her hooves.

Fluttershy knelt down. “Did you find her?”

The hawk squaked loudly in response, making the mare back up a few steps. Fluttershy nodded and turned to face the rest of the group, including the king. “Um, would you all mind if you stepped back? And perhaps turned away?” She asked timidly, then she turned to the king. “Um, you too…” She barely got out.

They all did so, even the king and waited. A few scratching noises could be heard, followed by another squawk and the flap of some wings. Fluttershy examined the floor and found two distinct symbols, that of the moon crescent and another of a buffalo all though crudely drawn. Twilight walked back to examine it and smirked, then she turned back to the king.

“You asked about a plan?” He quirked a brow at her, or what she thought was a eyebrow.

She also hesitated, wondering if it would be rude to ask; but with Equestria at stake a little rudeness could be risked. “Do those wings of yours work?” she asked, smiling up at him nervously. He flapped his a few times and nodded.

Aside from the Sonic Rainboom, Dash had never flown so quickly before. The air going through her mane and tail felt exhilarating. Her laughing and giggling were lost on the wind, and nopony else could hear it. The three fillies were bundled together for warmth, looking just like a massive hairball of different colors. Fluttershy had her head buried in her hooves for fear of falling, a fear that was unfounded since they were all tightly strapped together.

The rest were simply waiting, doing their best to not let the cold get to them. Each flap of the king’s wings sent gushes of winds through their hair or manes. It took about a half hour, but the air started to feel warmer and the sun started to seem brighter. They had reached the desert, if the bits of sand in Rainbow’s eyes were anything to go by. Cheap goggles, she thought bitterly.

It didn’t take long for the pegasus mare to figure out what the dragon was doing. He was sweeping over the desert, looking for anything out of the ordinary. Rainbow had to shut her eyes a while ago; her “Official Wonderbolt Goggles” weren’t really doing their job correctly. This is why she felt surprised when they started losing altitude quickly. .A loud thump and an end to nice cooling wind meant they had landed.

“Get back, you spawn of Discord!” The distinctive voice of Princess Luna screamed out. “Discord, if you are listening this will not be… Twilight?!”

The vast majority of them were getting off the dragon and staring at the princess. She was truly a sight, her mane and tail were a mess and there was hardly a spot on her that did not have sand.

Twilight wasted no time. “Princess Luna! Hold still!” The mares horn flared and the bindings holding her down were shattered in mere seconds. Her horn sparkled again, aiming at the horn nullifier, but then it fizzled out a moment later. “Huh?” Painted crudely on the horn were the words: Lick Me To Open.

Spike narrowed his eyes on the nullifier, ignoring Luna’s gaze. Then he perked up. “Don’t worry, I got this!” He saluted, much to their confusion… and then he promptly spit onto the horn. Even though it worked and the magic nullifier dissolved into nothing, Spike knew that Twilight would never, ever let him hear the end of that for the rest of his days.

Princess Luna took a deep breath and sighed. “Thank you, Sir Spike. We must…” She trailed off when she noticed a certain other dragon offering her an ice pick.

“You just looked thirsty…” Shyfrost said.

She nodded and smiled, conjuring up some magic to melt said ice and feed it to herself. “Thank you as well. We must find my sister. But first… who is that?” She pointed directly to not the dragon, but the Queen of the changelings.

Chrysalis nodded. “Huh, so that’s what the better princess looks like.”

Chapter 23: The Solid Tornado

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“Locating my sister should not be too difficult at this point,” Luna muttered to herself, not looking at anything in particular. The group had gathered around a campfire for the night. The king had stayed, offering his heat when needed. The desert was freezing at night; the burning sand had quickly cooled in the absence of the sun.

“Um, wouldn’t she need air if she’s in the ocean?” Shyfrost asked her.

She smirked. “Even without access to her magic, I’m sure my sister has figured something out. Not to mention the fact that killing is not Discord’s way. She will be found alive and well, I am sure of it.” She paused. “Well, alive at any rate,” she added quietly.

“What about Dee?” Twilight asked. “We don’t know anything about her.”

She sighed. “True, but I did not perish. I have faith Celestia will be fine.”

Shyfrost had his doubts--after all, ponies did not have gills--but he nodded in agreement as well. “So how do we find her?”

“I should be able to trace her magical signature, it is quite easy to do. I am quite exhausted so physically searching is, for now, out of the question. However, I still may be able to do something…” Her voice trailed off.

Twilight looked away from them, up towards what she knew was Canterlot Castle in the distance. The place was shrouded in storm clouds that occasionally lit up the place. Of course, being the desert, the castle was quite a ways away. “What do you think is happening in Canterlot?” she wondered out loud.

Luna snorted. “Chaos, no doubt. Buildings being torn from the ground and twisted upside down. Ponies being mentally transformed and good friends becoming bitter enemies…” She trailed off when she realized that the youngest members of their group looked more horrified than interested. “But, I have no doubt it is all reversible,” she finished hopefully.

“It was before,” Twilight concurred.

The rest of Twilight’s friends could sense her bitterness and felt it was best to remain silent for a while. With no new plans or nothing else to do for now, some of the other members started talking with each other.

Scootaloo took a seat next to Rainbow. She looked back and saw Sweetie and Apple Bloom talking with Spike, so she figured she was in the clear. Rainbow didn’t look at her immediately, so she scooted closer. “Hey,” she said.

“Hey, kid.”

“Hmm, you know I don’t have to stay at your place.” Rainbow tensed up, but said nothing. “It’s not that big of a deal, I already live on my own anyway, and...”

“Kid…” Rainbow interrupted, but then her voice trailed off as she thought of how best to phrase this. “Blaze, I’m not going to leave you on your own. But it’s not going to be how you think.” Blaze tilted her head. “I mean, I barely know you. Also, it’s not like I’d choose for you to stay at my place by choice…” As expected, the filly’s ears folded down in shame; however, she yelped when Dash took her hoof and brought her closer to her side. “That doesn’t mean we can't get to know each other, though, and that doesn’t mean I’m upset or mad at ya.” Blaze looked up curiously, and Rainbow grinned. “I just have to figure a few things out. It’s gonna be rough, but it doesn’t meant I don’t like you. I mean c’mon, a time traveling filly is pretty rad!”

“Dimensional… time… whatever it is, you’re right!”

Rainbow giggled. “Yeah, it is.”

Blaze hesitated but quickly nuzzled her face into Rainbow’s chest. Rainbow rolled her eyes and then ruffled the filly’s mane. This isn’t that bad… Rainbow thought.

“So, how does your magic work, Spike?”

Spike looked up from one of the scrolls he had been reading to face Sweetie. “It’s harder than I thought it would be, you have to memorize runes and sometimes prepare a ritual I think…or something.”

“What about you, Shyfrost? Can ya do magic?” Apple Bloom poked him on the back, his only response was to shake his head and shrug.

Boredom quickly set in. The two fillies sighed and tried to occupy themselves with some casual chat.

“Princess Luna? What are you doing?” Rarity had noticed the mare was casting some kind of spell.

“I am tracing magical particles in the air, trying to find my sister’s magical disturbance among them throughout Equestria’s current.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow at her choice of words. “Disturbance?”

“Yes. I am surprised my sister never taught you how we… work. Our connection to the moon and sun keeps our lifespan infinitely longer than most mortals.We are not immortal, but close enough. The magic in Equestria’s air does not affect us like it does most living animals; rather, we affect it. We disturb it, in a way. You could argue we add a touch of disharmony to it. We still call upon magic as any other unicorn, but even without utilizing magic we are constantly disturbing the magical current that is Equestria.”

Twilight soaked in all that information. That didn’t sound too unbelievable. “So you're simply looking for disturbances?”

“Correct, w- I am scanning for them as we speak, using my own moon as an instrument.”

“Because it orbits us… that’s brilliant!” Twilight gushed. “Think of the possibilities…”

Luna chuckled. Her sister’s explanation on her student seemed quite accurate; she loved new concepts and ideas. She could almost see the ideas and plans going through Twilight's mind regarding her moon.

Suddenly the alicorn’s horn pulsed, releasing a blinding force of magic and then died out. Luna’s eyes widened. “I found her… in Ponyville.”

The group stood on Ponyville lake. The water was too cloudy to see anything, though Luna insisted she could sense her sister down below. Applejack frowned at the dark blurry surface.

“Ah gotta say, that lake there is pretty deep. Does anypony have any magic spells that can help us get to her?”

“Now that you mention it, I had been meaning to research spells that let you breathe underwater; but I just never got around to it,” Twilight admitted sadly.

“While that is regrettable, there are other ways,” Luna said, then turned around to face Rainbow Dash.

“Uh, you could swim down there for her?” Rainbow guessed.

Luna immediately blushed and looked away. “That will not work. I do need to breathe, after all.”

Twilight looked to her and frowned. “How did you survive the moon for so long? Uh, not to bring up bad memories or anything.”

Luna smiled. “Believe it or not, our moon does have a atmosphere. My sister is different, though.”

Rainbow and Twilight looked at her, having their doubts on that. Then Twilight paused. Now that she thought about it, she had never seen Celestia pant before… She shuddered at the implications and set them aside. She cleared her throat. “Well, what can pegasi do that lets them collect a large amount of water?”

Rainbow’s eyes glazed over for just a moment. Luna almost lost her patience and was about to simply blurt it out, but Rainbow beat her to it. “We can make a tornado!”

“Ye- wait. What?” Spike scratched his head. How would that help?

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “We can use some pegasus ponies to build a tornado and siphon out the water in the lake.”

“With just you?” Twilight asked.

“Hay, no! It would take at least a dozen pegasus ponies, maybe more to do this lake…” Rainbow trailed off and sighed. “I don’t even think it would work. Even if we could, we wouldn’t be able to maintain it long enough to rescue her.”

The griffon of the group stepped up. “It has been a while since school, but I take it you pegasus ponies manipulate the water into a tornado that is meant to siphon it into the clouds?”

“Yeah…”

“And there would be a center, an opening in the middle like any tornado?” When Rainbow nodded, he continued. “Perhaps it could be frozen then.”

All eyes shot to Shyfrost, who was busy munching on some pearls. His eyes were closed and when he realized that they were talking about him, they snapped open and he nearly choked. “What?”

“Rainbow, where do we find more pegasus ponies? Ponyville isn’t exactly chock-full of them, and neither is Canterlot,” Twilight said, remembering the evacuation from before.

“Cloudsdale, of course! But it could take a few hours to get there.”

“Guys! Look!”

They all followed Spike’s claw and each creature had trouble understanding what they were looking at. Giant pink clouds, or pink fog to be more specific, had begun to loom over the town. Upon closer inspection, they started to not look like normal clouds, they had specific shapes. It was Cloudsdale.

“Uh, never mind on the hours there…” Rainbow murmured. She squinted her eyes and focused on a few sets of clouds. “Something’s off here.”

“You mean other than the fact that the clouds are pink?” Spike deadpanned.

“Yeah… They’re drifting like nopony is controlling the city.” She then jumped straight into the air and began to flap her wings.

“Rainbow! Where are you going?!” Twilight’s eyes bulged out in panic.

“Relax. I just want to check things out. I’ll be back before you know it!” She saluted and didn’t wait for any response; however, as she was ascending they heard her shout out. “Watch the kid!”

Twilight furrowed her brow and looked over towards Scootaloo. The filly gave her a nervous smile and started to back away towards her friends.

The unicorn shook her head and turned to Princess Luna. “What do you make of this?”

Princess Luna seemed to have the uncanny ability to remain stoic no matter what transpired. “We shall wait for her return. I am sure she is simply scouting ahead.”

They all nodded and soon ten minutes had passed. After twenty, it had started to get to the Crusaders, and finally after twenty five, one of them snapped. “She’s not coming back!” Scootaloo shouted and looked to be on the verge of tears, though she quickly shut her eyes tight. Her friends quickly joined her to try and calm her down some.

Garret had been watching the clouds for the past three minutes without blinking, Twilight watched and studied him. She had read before that they often hunted for fish and smaller animals, so it would make sense that he could spot things quite literally from a mile away.

“Do you see something?” Garret turned his gaze to meet Twilight and then firmly nodded.

“A… pony is stuck in the clouds, I think.”

“Stuck? Stuck how?”

“I haven’t a clue, but that’s what I see.” He shrugged.

Twilight squinted her eyes and then quickly nodded. “I think I see them. It’s a tiny speck sticking out of the clouds. Maybe I can grab it with my magic…” Figuring there was no point in not trying, she closed her eyes and concentrated. While it was generally speaking a bad idea to mix magic and clouds if you didn’t know what you were doing, Twilight felt confident that she did. At least she thought she did, until pretty soon she had to forcefully pull herself away from the spell. She cancelled out her magic with a huff and sighed. “That was weird… it was almost like the spell was getting stuck on the cloud, but that shouldn’t be possible.”

“I have no doubt this has to do with Discord. Many things become possible when he is involved. Negating logic, you could say, is his special talent.”

Twilight nodded at Luna. He often made no sense. That being said, she had noticed that his actions from earlier seemed quite more calculating. He didn’t want to lose this time around.

“Well, now what do we do? Are a bunch of ponies stuck up there?” Sweetie Belle asked, then she squinted her eyes too and began to sniff a bit. “Is that cotton candy?”

“Did somepony say candy?! Where?!” Pinkie had been busy helping Spike look through his new scrolls. The dragon had become quite obsessed with learning as much as possible about his kind. So of course she would help out! But upon hearing about sugary treats, her mind quickly shifted gears.

“Since Discord is probably involved, I’d wager it is. But I can’t seem to move it with my magic.”

“What?!” Pinkie seemed to be in a state of panic. “Then how am I gonna eat it?!”

Twilight’s brain had to shut down for a few moments while she considered what her friend had asked. While it was true you often did eat cotton candy, you normally did not think of food in an emergency like this. Especially one that involved one of their friends missing. “Pinkie… I…wait, maybe that can work.”

“What?”

“Garret, do you think you could carry Pinkie up there?”

The griffon shrugged and nodded then immediately regretted his choice when the pink pony hopped onto his back. “Hi-Yo, Garret! Away!”

“Um, okay…” Garret said out loud, yet everyone else was clearly thinking the same thing. He sped up after jumping high into the air. He couldn’t quite see Pinkie, but he did feel himself slow down while hearing some chewing noises. Garret looked over and spotted a pegasus they had never seen before. It was clearly a mare, though. “Uh, hello?”

“Nice day we’re having,” the mare quipped sarcastically.

“It’s nice and sunny…”

The mare grunted and waited. Pinkie suddenly burped and before she knew what was happening, the mare fell and then quickly flapped her wings. “Thanks.” The mare did a quick flip in the air and then darted away from them to land with the group.

Pinkie was panting over and over and rubbed her belly. “Oh… I don’t think I can eat all of Cloudsdale! How are we gonna get them all un stuck?”

Garret squinted his eyes downward, he noticed the floating city just happened to be directly above the lake. He looked back and found that the candy she had eaten had morphed back to its original form. “Pinkie? Do you think you could eat some more? So you could free more of them?”

Pinkie saluted and nodded. “I think so, let’s do this!”

The creatures on the ground watched in awe and even horror. Pinkie was relentless in her quest to end the pegasi’s suffering. By the end, she had freed well over one hundred of them, a fraction of the city at best estimate. They landed, with the pink pony feeling the worst tummy ache in Equestrian history.

“Where’s Rainbow?” Blaze looked around frantically but found no sight of the Rainbow maned daredevil.

“She must still be stuck up there. Oh… what do we do?!” Fluttershy looked to be on the brink of panic.

Garret walked up to her. “It’s simple isn't it? You and the other pegasus ponies can make a tornado to wash away the cotton candy up there.”

“Me? Oh no, no, no, no, no...no,” Fluttershy said, trailing off at the end.

Luna cleared her throat. “Young Fluttershy, we will need as many flying creatures as we can get. I will gather the others and instruct them. Be ready soon.”

Fluttershy shivered and watched the princess of the night fly over to the other pegasi. She noted only one of the Wonderbolts (Soarin, a well-known pegasus stallion) was a part of the group, meaning they would most likely need all of them to help out.

Fluttershy sighed. “I can’t do that, I could never do that in school.” She felt something tug on her tail and looked back. “What is it, sweetie?”

“You okay?”

“Oh, yes. I’d love to help free Luna’s sister and help Cloudsdale, but I’m afraid I’m too weak of a flyer to help with a tornado. I’m no Rainbow Dash.”

He thought about that and then smiled. “Sure you are! Rainbow was so nice to me, and you’re nice to me!”

She wanted to argue that wasn’t what she meant, but he did have a point. “Well, I suppose so. I do try to be nice and loyal to my friends. I kind of learned that from Rainbow.”

“See! You can do this!” Shyfrost cheered, imagining the mare making a tornado somehow. How did that even work?

“Oh… but I may get in the way…” Fluttershy looked uncertain again.

Shyfrost was quick to spring into action. “Uh, Spike!” The dragon looked up from his reading. “Don’t you think Fluttershy can make a tornado?”

“Uh, sure!” he called back.

“See?”

Despite not having evidence, it did make her feel better. “Oh, well, I suppose I could give it a try.”

“Yes!”

Fluttershy looked up at the other pegasus ponies practicing while Princess Luna barked out instructions. “Oh… maybe not.”

Shyfrost smacked his face with his claw. “Fluttershy, you can do this!”

She bit her lip and looked down at him, then smiled widely. “Okay, I can do this!”

“No, I can't do this, I can’t do this!” The mare dug her hooves into the ground, getting pushed by her four friends and two dragons.

After about a minute, she stopped just in front of Princess Luna. The mare looked her over for a moment and then nodded. “Fluttershy, stand over with the starting team, over there.” She pointed to the right. She looked over and found around thirty ponies standing in a circle, waiting just on the shore.

“Th- the starting team? Oh, no, no… Princess Luna if it’s all the same to you, I think I’ll just sit this one out, okay bye!” She tried to take off, her wings were already flapping when her body froze in mid air. She looked all around in panic and found that Princess Luna had her firmly held in her magical grasp.

“Fluttershy, we need as many ponies as possible if this is to work. What is wrong?”

Fluttershy bit her lip and sighed. “I’m a weak flyer…”

Princess Luna raised a brow to that. “I’m afraid I don’t understand.”

“I was last in my class for physical education and everypony there always laughed at me and I hate flying too fast and I’m not as strong as Rainbow Dash and--”

Princess Luna raised a hoof, silencing the mare instantly, not wishing to anger the princess. “Have you always thought of yourself as weak?”

“For- for flying, yes.”

Princess Luna chuckled and gently lowered the mare to the ground. “Then don’t.”

“Wha?”

“Don’t think of yourself as a weak flyer,” Luna said simply, and then started to walk away. “Just stay in your group and I’ll instruct you soon.”

Fluttershy could only nod and walk away, feeling a great weight lifted from her. I’m not a weak flyer? I… I kept putting myself down because of those mean ponies in class… She looked up, looking more resolute. Okay, no more!

Luna quickly found the only orange dragon in the group. “Shyfrost? I need you to be in the middle of the ponies.”

Shyfrost turned around and twiddled his fingers nervously. “Um, I don’t think I have enough in me to freeze all of that water. The giant spider I did before wasn’t that big, and I only did part of it!”

“Fear not, I plan to use some magic of my own to amplify your breath. It should be enough to freeze the tornado in place, so long as we are able to create it.”

“Um, okay…” He nodded and joined the pegasus ponies, standing directly in the middle but still near Fluttershy.

Twilight ran up to Princess Luna, having heard the conversation, and then cleared her throat. “Princess Luna, are you sure that’s wise?”

“Not really, combining magic and dragon fire can lead to disastrous results in unskilled horns. Combining the same and… his magic, well, it is a gamble.”

“Just be careful, I’m sure it will be fine and it sounds like a solid plan.” Twilight kicked her hoof in the ground. “I just wish I had more time to study his magic to find out what he can do before we try this.”

Luna could simply shrug. She didn’t feel overly confident of her plan, but with so few pegasi at their disposal, it would have to do.

Fluttershy had never felt more anxious in all of her life. The tornado had already started and she would soon be next. Over and over she watched more ponies jump in the circles and effortlessly (for the most part) synchronize with the rest; the lake had begun to spin. At least the part with the pegasus ponies above it had started spinning impossibly fast, yet only a little bit of water was rising. It wasn't enough.

“Fluttershy!” The mare in question snapped to attention and turned around to face Luna. “Now is your time. Jump in!”

She gritted her teeth but nodded. As much as she didn’t want to, as much as she really wanted to leave or suggest they try something else, she jumped. It took her a full second to begin flapping her wings, mainly because she felt shock that she actually did jump without hesitation. The goggles she now donned helped slightly, but it was very difficult to see. She wasn’t even sure if she was flying correctly.

I’m not hitting anypony, but I feel water! While water was certainly a good sign, feeling it was not. It meant she was flying too closely to it. It took a few cycles, but eventually she flew away from it, flying faster and faster. She felt dizzy, but she kept flying. How do other ponies get used to this?! It was almost irritating. She kept flying though. She wasn't weak. The other ponies may have started it, but she was certainly the last one in and the one to spark the tornado in full. Rainbow would speed up… She gritted her teeth and did her best to keep the wind out of her face. So let’s speed up!

“Go Fluttershy!” Shyfrost cheered, not really sure if she could hear him or not. He felt something on his shoulder and looked up. It was Princess Luna.

“When I say so, please breathe on the ground as if to freeze it. I will handle the rest.”

“Okay…”

He didn’t expect her to say so ten seconds later, which is why he stumbled on the ground when she spoke. “NOW!”

He wanted desperately to say “could say please”, but instead he quickly complied. He started breathing ice out as quickly as he could. It was a lot more than any of the ponies or other had seen him attempt. The ground was freezing over as if winter had came early.

Luna’s horn flared brightly, engulfing the ice and the dragon in a purple glow. She had to strain to not only amplify his breath, but enlarge the ice and shroud the tornado with it, all while doing her best to avoid hitting any ponies. Her eyes quickly glazed over the same color of purple. She knew the risks when she started, though. Her spell could not be stopped until finished.

Fluttershy started to feel colder. Had she hit water again? It was a quick feeling that overcame her while she slowed down to a full stop. She hung in the air at an odd angle, one of her wings encased in something, but what? She then realized (much to her embarrassment) that her eyes had been closed the whole time. She cracked them open and relaxed her facial features. “Huh?” The sight that greeted her was very odd. The tornado that had once been moving and made of liquid was now solid and sparkling. Ponies in front of her were stuck in the ice at different heights, their wings (in some cases) fully encased or others at odd angles like her with only bits of their bodies or wings inside. “Oh dear…”

Back on the ground the others watched on in bewilderment. “Are they okay?!” Twilight’s voice echoed through the silence. Luna ignored her and flew up high above the frozen structure.

“Ponies! Stand still and do not attempt to break apart! I will be but a moment!”

“Hurry up!”

“This stings!”

“I’m quite comfortable…”

“Shut up!”

Luna rolled her eyes and flew straight into the middle, landing gracefully below. The other ponies waited awkwardly, wondering just what was happening.

“Oh for crying out loud!” Luna screamed out. “Hold still!”

“But, I need it!” Another voice screamed.

Twenty minutes later, Princess Luna and, to their relief, Celestia came soaring over the sky. Celestia’s mane looked as if it was drying from the lake and she simply seemed exhausted to them.

“We have returned, my sister is fine.”

“What was all that yelling for?” Twilight inquired, resisting the urge to run up to her mentor and tackle-hug her.

“I do not wish to talk about it…” Celestia muttered.

Luna smirked. “When I got down there a spell of Discord’s set off. It said to free her I had to eat a whole cake.”

“She made me watch…” Celestia shuddered.

“It said to make you watch or we would not be able to free you from your bonds!”

“I was starving! That bastard…”

“Princess…” Twilight got ready to scold, wanting to mention there were children around.

Celestia sighed. “Forgive me, Twilight. I am just on edge.” She blinked and looked over the group, surveying them in confusion. “Perhaps you should get me up to speed here…”

“Oh! Well--”

“Hey, get us down already!”

They all looked up to the frozen tower, then looked over to Spike. He blinked and blushed. “Uh, I probably could, but some of the ponies may get hurt if I do it too quickly.”

Celestia, still feeling exhausted, managed to smile. “That won't be necessary, Spike.”

It had taken a while, nearly all night, for Princess Celestia and Luna to free everypony and clean out Cloudsdale. Of course they weren’t working alone, they had to make several tornadoes throughout the night which only got easier as more pegasi were freed. Twilight watched the last tornado over the pink clouds, seeing the color drain from them and drench the lake below.

“Um, what about the fish in the lake, Twilight?” Rarity questioned, giving a nervous glance back to Fluttershy who only smiled.

“Rarity, this lake has no life in it. Nopony ever bothered to tend to it or add any. It should be fine.”

“Oh… I feel like that is something I should know about… hmm.”

As it turned out, the last pegasus to be free was none other than Rainbow Dash, stuck smack dab in the middle of the city where she had originally landed. When freed, it took her a few moments to realize (since she had been sleeping at the time), but a lifetime of similar situations had her quickly flapping her wings when she woke.

They all watched her fly back when Pinkie thought something out loud. “I’m surprised nopony got hurt. All the pegasus ponies flew down so easily. If I had been stuck in cotton candy for so long I’d have been caught off guard when I was just so easily freed… Hey! Candy!”

Fluttershy chuckled. “Most pegasus ponies can easily come back from something like that. Flight is our life… even if I don’t show it that much…”

Rainbow quickly landed near them. “Oh, man, that was crazy! I--” She was tackled to the ground by a mysterious orange colored blur that quickly turned out to be Scootaloo.

“You’re okay!” Scootaloo’s voice echoed through the valley. “You’re okay, you’re okay, you’re--” She stopped herself and blushed when she noticed everypony was essentially staring at her and Rainbow Dash seemed to be in pain from the tackle to her chest. “Uh… sorry.”

“It’s okay…” Rainbow wheezed.

Around them, Princess Luna began to instruct Pegasus ponies to go and check their city for damages and report back. Princess Celestia landed after Rainbow. “Now then, can somepony get me up to speed? Perhaps Rainbow?”

“And that’s pretty much what’s happening, Princess.”

She nodded, looking away from Twilight and onto Canterlot. “I see. Where is Shyfrost?”

“Shyfrost? Uh, over there.” She pointed off in the distance where the dragon was chatting with Spike.

“Excuse me.” She stood up and walked over to the drake. His talking died down and he turned around.

“Oh, hey.”

“Hello. It would seem I owe you an apology regarding your amulet. Apparently it is very special, like you.”

He blushed a bit and nodded. “Uh, it's okay. Though it’s not like they work like the Elements of Harmony. I guess they’re not that special.”

“How about special enough?” She giggled and he laughed a bit. “That can be quite useful. In fact, we may need them now more than ever. Keep it close.” He nodded and she walked back to Twilight.

“Alright, now what, Princess?’

“After getting some food, I am unsure. While I am unlikely to fall for the same trick twice, this Dee is obviously quite powerful. My sister and I had enough trouble handling Discord before the Elements showed themselves to us. We are most likely very outmatched.”

“Princess… how come it was just you two fighting him in those old stories? How come other ponies couldn’t help you?”

“They were too busy fighting amongst themselves. Ponies in those times were not the most civil to each other.”

“They are now,” she pointed out.

“True; but in this day and age not too many are versed in combat or magic.”

“No, but Discord doesn’t seem like the kind to fight. Am I wrong?”

Celestia’s muzzle formed a face that Twilight couldn’t exactly figure out and she was silent for a while. “You are correct. Discord almost never fought us physically, and when he did it was often due to us provoking him out of necessity. He would almost always fight us with mental games, things I would rather not remember. It was very… chaotic.”

“Well, we have all of Cloudsdale and Ponyville on our side. Along with all of us and you and Princess Luna. That’s something.”

“Yes, it is something. We will need more though. With so few unicorns on our side we will need an advantage, something that not just ponies can provide.”

“You mean other races?”

“Correct. Let us hope Shyfrost’s amulet and his friends artifacts do what you describe they do. We will need these Unity artifacts now more than ever.”

“Yeah, alright. Should I go talk to him about it?”

“Yes, please do.”

Chapter 24: Unity

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“You want us to what?”

“Talk to your amulet, see if it helps us summon Equestria’s leaders. We need all of your help, not just Shyfrost.”

The diamond dog of the group huffed. “Need I remind you his amulet does something, but our artifacts do not?”

Twilight smiled. “I-- no, we, that is, Princess Celestia and I, believe you’re wrong. We think each artifact serves a purpose. I don’t think Shyfrost’s amulet works without the rest, otherwise the world’s leaders would have heard him long before this.”

The dog, the frost dragon, griffon, prince and changeling shared and look and shrugged. “Sure, we’ll help,” they all exclaimed in unison. Rover pulled out his dagger and raised it high in the air. Garret swung his hammer around. Shyfrost smiled and raised his amulet from around his neck, while Shadow did something similar with his shard. Prince Valor flipped his coin a few times and smirked to the rest.

Shyfrost looked down to his amulet and frowned. “Uh, what do I say to it?” he asked.

“Well--” Twilight frowned and stopped talking, a loud thundering noise had interrupted her and everyone else. “What was that?!”

“Twilight! Look!” Rainbow pointed off into the distance, Twilight squinted to see what she was pointing at, and then her eyes widened and her jaw dropped. The sight was purely breathtaking.

Several dragons were flying towards them, with the king leading the way. Their powerful wings beat the air as they approached in a multitude of colors ranging from blue to lavender. Surrounding them were around four dozen griffons, along with one that if they squinted their eyes seemed oddly familiar. They all started to back up when the ground around them began to form holes, holes that were made by various diamond dogs. Changelings were bringing up the rear, while the Queen looked on in confusion. Minotaurs were well behind them, though most seemed to be riding on the very large dragon’s backs. It was all so bizarre, yet very welcome.

“Our odds of succeeding just increased dramatically…” Luna murmured, transfixed on the sight before her.

Twilight mumbled something as her ears dropped down.

“What was that, Twilight?” Luna asked.

“We don’t have very many unicorns here; they’re all stuck in Canterlot. Our odds won’t be that great without unicorn magic… not to put down the other races, of course. Of course they help, but with only a few skilled unicorns I doubt we can push through Discord’s magic so easily.”

Luna frowned, but not even a second later it turned up into a smirk. “Twilight, you would make an excellent military official. I believe what we have shall suffice, though.”

Twilight sighed. “Let’s hope so…”

Luna smiled warmly at her. “Have faith in your fellow Equestrians,” she urged. “Have faith in your friends.”

“But we don’t have The Elements!” Twilight protested.

Luna titled her head quizzically. “Did you need them before? Have you needed them at all times to accomplish the tasks in your lives?” she challenged.

“N- no,” Twilight had to answer.

“Then have faith, if anything, in yourself. Now come, we must prepare.”

Twilight watched her walk away, just as the shadows of other creatures started to descend on them. She smiled.

The gathering was not to end anytime soon, Celestia decided. Yet it was clear that the gathered creatures were growing a bit restless. They needed a focal point. They needed something to rally behind. And that’s what she would give them. She stepped forward with head held high, not even bothering to glance behind her. Instead, she looked through the gathering crowd that endlessly poured in.

“Citizens of your nations, I implore you to listen.” Celestia’s voice echoed throughout the town by using an amplifying spell that Spike had found in one of his books. She could use her ‘Canterlot’ voice for sure, just like her sister; but not to an entire town without magical aid. The dragons looked on from their spots on top of the trees. The land-based ponies and Minotaurs and dogs looked up from their spot near the lake. The changelings flew about and calmed down after a moment, oddly enough landing near the dragons. “A dangerous foe threatens your freedom, and my little ponies. I have lost control of my city all by the hands of two lone draconequus, one that goes by Dee and the other Discord.” The crowds had began to murmur, some looking away as if unable to believe her, though even among those faces they seemed scared. “They want to control more than Canterlot, they want to control us all. To turn us into their playthings for their joy and amusement while we all suffer. Not all of our races have always gotten along, I am aware. We have a truce among most, but others are hostile towards us, simply not willing to give up on old rivalries and feuds.” She didn’t direct this statement at any race in particular, but there were some from each that seemed to look somewhat ashamed. She continued, “I implore you to cast aside these differences and work together, or it may be your last day where free will exists. I am Princess Celestia, I know I have no authority over those who are not ponies, but I plead with you: stand with us, and together we will defeat our common enemy!”

It took everyone a few minutes to respond. The griffons seemed to be the most stubborn-looking, yet soon they were nodding along with everyone else. Celestia steeled herself and continued. “Then prepare yourselves and your armies, this will be one long fight. I don’t expect bloodshed or physical injuries will be among the things dished out today. Prepare your minds, they will fight dirty. Keep your wits about you. It will not be easy, but obtaining freedom, obtaining what is right never is. We stand together, we will be victorious!”

With that Celestia turned around to face her group, they were slightly awestruck with how quickly she had came up with a speech.

“That was awesome!” Rainbow yelled.

“I must say, you seemed to rally them on our side quite quickly.”

Shyfrost frowned. “Uh, so does that mean our artifacts don’t do anything? They just help us talk to the leaders? That’s it?”

The queen of the changelings chuckled. “Let’s not forget: you got me to see reason. I’d say they’re useful.”

“Shyfrost, I don’t know what Discord and Dee will use against us. It would be best if, in case we need to split up, we have a way to contact the leaders. I dont know any spell that can do that instantly, so I’d say those artifacts are very useful. They can help us stick to a plan and not get lost,” Twilight explained. Then frowned and turned to The Queen. “Uh, only King Pyro heard Shyfrost when he spoke, did you hear anything?”

“Not really, no. That’s bad, huh?”

Twilight squinted her eyes on the frost dragon’s amulet then instantly smiled. “Shadow!”

Shadow was busy scratching at his ear with his wing and turned up. “What ya need?”

“Have you tried talking into your shard before?”

“No…” He frowned and brought it out of his bag. He turned it over, and then held it up to his lips. “Hello!” he called.

Chrysalis yelped in surprise and tripped over her own hooves, crashing into the ground. “Lovely,” she grumbled as she pushed herself up.

Twilight clapped her hooves. “Excellent, that means they all function the same. Or at least, they should.”

Celestia cleared her throat to get everyone’s attention. “I am not sure what we will be facing when we go. Discord was never one to play the same tricks twice, and Dee could simply complicate things.”

“Princess… do you have a plan? I don’t know much about…” Twilight tried searching for a word and then simply shrugged. “Battles. I also don’t think it’s such a good idea to send so many in at once.”

“You’re right, it is a bad idea, a terrible idea even.” They watched Celestia get a far away look in her eyes before smiling. “However, it may buy us enough time to recover what was lost.”

“The Elements? We don’t even know what caused them to be… well, sick. How are we even supposed to find them?”

Celestia looked down for a moment, her smile fading. “Twilight, my plan, the one to find out what was wrong, wasn’t terribly clever. I felt lost and figured eventually you might find something, but there was no guarantee. I do believe I know what caused them to become sick, though, and now I believe that it is solved.”

Twilight leaned in. “What?”

“It is only a hunch, but when I was talking with Spike, he mentioned some of the creatures he saw on their journeys were acting a bit off, particularly the griffons. Now, while it is true that griffons in general tend to not get along with dragons or changelings or most other races, (something I hope to fix when this is all over), I do believe their behavior has something to do with Dee and possibly Discord’s plans. When the creatures of Equestria begin to act in discord and harmony is tossed aside, the Elements begin to react.”

Twilight nodded absorbing her words and then shook her head. “Why do you think they’re fixed?”

“Can you not see? Just look around you, Twilight. Creatures of various races are getting along. I see some griffons camping with dragons and even a few changelings trying to mingle with others undisguised. I have not checked Pinkie’s or Rainbow’s Elements yet, but I will, and I am certain they will be fine.” Celestia finished speaking wearing the same calm smile as before, the one Twilight was used to seeing on her mentor. This was strangely comforting.

“Okay… how do we… Rarity!”

“Ah, you got the other part of my plan. Good.”

Twilight then shook her head again, frowning up at the princess. “You’re using the other races as distractions, or bait… that’s wrong.”

“I never said I was going to lie to them about my plan, their leaders will know beforehand.” She tapped her chin a few times. “Plus I highly doubt that any civilians came; the leaders of their nations most likely picked the strongest of their warriors to aid them. At least, I certainly hope so…”

Twilight nodded. “Alright then, let’s get ready!”

“Indeed.”

Twilight turned around and backed up in surprise, she realized that most of the ponies she knew had been listening. “Uh-”

“So what do ya need us to do?” Rainbow practically demanded, flapping her wings and hovering above her with crossed hooves.

Then Scootaloo jumped in front of Twilight. “Yeah!” she added. “We’re ready!”

Twilight and Rainbow were about to speak up when Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom walked beside her. “Cutie Mark Crusaders reporting for duty!” The three saluted and then quickly joined Scootaloo by her side.

Twilight looked on in bewilderment then quickly turned to Rainbow. “I need you to gather the girls and meet here. I--” She paused when Rainbow literally flew away and came back just as quickly with four very confused looking mares. “Um, thank you. Girls, I need you to prepare. We don’t have a clue what Discord and Dee have in plan, but it won’t be easy to overcome. Princess Celestia says she has a way to track down the Elements!” The five smiled at this. “Pinkie, I need you to go show yours to Celestia to make sure it’s… well, better.”

Pinkie Pie saluted and started to bounce away on her hooves. “I’m on it! Pinkie, away!”

“Rarity, do you think you could tweak your gem finding spell to find the Element stones?”

Rarity considered briefly. “Well, I… I suppose that might work; but darling, we don’t even know where to look.”

Twilight hesitated before speaking. “Uh, actually I may have an idea where they could be. It didn’t really occur to me until now, but it would fit Discord’s style of humor. As magical as they are, they cannot simply hide something in nowhere. They have to be somewhere.”

Rarity nodded. “Very well, where do you think they are?”

“Well--and I could be wrong--but they may be in…” Twilight leaned in and whispered in Rarity’s ear.

That evening there wasn’t a creature in the vicinity of the town that did not hear Rarity scream in horror. “You want me to go where?!”

Princess Luna trotted up to her sister, who was busy surveying whatever creatures had come and were willing to fight. “Are they prepared, sister?” she asked.

Celestia shook her head. “No. There is no preparing with creatures like Discord, but they are ready to move out. We all are. We may need to split up, though; any creature that can fly could take to the skies easily. I do not think it is a good idea for all of us to stick together, and I already relayed that to Shyfrost and his group.”

Twilight nodded and followed her out in a march. “Won’t you be flying with, well, them?”

“No. Luna and I have a special plan. We were outwitted before, and I do not intend to let that happen a second time. You will just need to trust us…”

Twilight didn’t like that Celestia’s voice had trailed off and she had looked away, but she nodded all the same. Soon, the minotaurs and other land based creatures had joined the two by her side, including Shyfrost’s group who did not wish to leave his side for a minute. Surrounding them were more minotaurs, a few dragons apparently did not wish to fly and whoever wished to volunteer from the town of Ponyville. The leaders of the other nations were absent however.

“Twilight, I--ooph!” Rarity started to speak but tripped on something that had literally started to burrow up from the ground. Twilight and her friends looked back to spot several DIamond Dogs popping up from the ground all around them. One of them seemed to look Rarity straight in the eye causing her to back up a bit.

“Where gems?”

The fashion designer snorted and sighed. “Since you did not find our Princess then you do not get--” Twilight stopped her with a hoof, stepped forward and then smiled down to the dogs.

“What Rarity meant was, we have your gems.”

The dogs’ smiles widened and they held out their paws, clearly expecting to receive them now.

“But they’re all in Canterlot Castle, and it’s been taken over. Now, if you help us, you’ll get your gems and maybe a little extra. If you don’t, well… you might never get them.”

The dog who seemed to be in charge pondered this and then turned to Rover, who had also stopped to witness them. “You trust them?”

“Me?” Rover pointed to himself, wondering just why they cared about what he thought. He then grunted and walked up to the dog that was taller and buffer than himself. “Why do you care now? You kicked me out!”

The dog scratched the back of his head and looked away. “Uh , just kidding?”

Rover narrowed his eyes and then noticed that most of them were looking away from him. “What is going on?”

The large one sighed, but it was a smaller petitte one that spoke up, in a girl’s voice. “We made a mistake. Fighto’s a terrible leader!”

“Hey!” the one dubbed Fighto looked shocked, but as he looked around, no one was coming to his defense.

The girl one walked up to him and placed a paw on his shoulder. “He tried, but you know best, Rover. Will you come back?”

Rover looked at the small group that the had once called a clan. They were not the toughest, fastest or biggest clan he had ever seen. But they were his friends and family, so he simply nodded. “I will, but you need to help us out first.”

Rarity watched on in confusion and turned to Twilight. “Why did you say that back there?” She whispered, making sure the clan could not hear her. “Do you even know if there are gems up there?”

“Actually, there are, and the crown can use them for any means necessary at a time of war, and technically we’re in one. Im sure Celestia wouldn’t mind…” She turned to her mentor and frowned, the princess wore a shocked look on her face. “Was that bad?” Twilight asked fearfully.

Celestia chuckled. “No!” she said quickly. “No, it’s just… that was the first time you’ve ever called me by my first name without my title. It was cute.”

Twilight immediately blushed and darted her eyes around to make sure nopony had heard that. “Cute? Okay…”

Celestia merely chuckled some more and walked off, leaving behind her bewildered student and a few giggling friends.

The entire group--that is, everyone who had decided to come along--had stopped. The ground-based allies had found the pegasi, griffons, changelings and some dragons laying in front of the most massive force field that Twilight had ever seen. The field did not give up a flash of light or radiate; it was simply a massive square shape around Canterlot and its castle, and it had rainbow colored stripes.

Princess Luna walked away from their group and walked up to a nearby dragon. She examined him for a moment and found his red scales and spikes to be a bit intimidating, though his size was mostly to blame. “Have any of you tried going in?”

The dragon snorted, releasing an abundance of smoke all around her and causing her to trip over her own regalia before she regained her footing. He quickly apologized. “Oh, goodness me, I am terribly sorry for that.”

Luna smiled up at him and nodded.

“Right, no, none of us have tried. We figured we would wait for everyone else. If Discord is behind this, then it is obviously a trap.”

Luna tilted her head up with a quizzical look. “You know of Discord? You act as if you’ve dealt with him before.”

“No, but my ancestors did; and their stories were passed on to me. Even today, most dragons know what he is capable of.”

Luna tapped her chin. “I… see. He certainly isn’t trying to hide a trap.” The dragon nodded. “Thank you for your time.”

Luna quickly rejoined her sister, who seemed to be busy attempting to break through. She watched her sister pour in raw magic to the forcefield, only to have it come out the other end. “This is not a forcefield.” Celestia sighed and shook her head. “I don’t know what it is, I just know it’s not designed to keep things out.”

Rainbow flapped her wings just an inch shy of the field. “Smells like a trap to me.”

“Indeed. Hmm…magic that seems to do nothing…” she muttered under her breath. Then she turned to the closest creature next to her. “Spike, would you mind throwing a rock through? Just at the road over there?”

Spike scratched his head and then turned to look at the road in question. It was a single dirt-paved road that lead up the mountain into Canterlot. It began where the rainbow colored magical disturbance did. He turned back to Celestia and nodded. He quickly found one on the ground and kicked it inside. It disappeared the second it touched the colors.

The drake tilted his head and took a single step towards the disturbance. A bright shock caused him to stumble back and land on his tail. The portal had wanted him to go inside, he had felt it draw him in. “Stupid portal thing…”

Princess Celestia stepped forward and hesitantly raised her hoof to reach the portal, the effect was instant. She felt it draw her in, like a powerful magnet, however she could back away easily making the force stop.

“Luna, gather,” Celestia commanded, and the two huddled together to speak.

There stood five in the huddle. They looked over in confusion to find three fillies had gathered with them. The Crusaders gave their best wide, pleading eyes; but the princesses returned fire with glares hardened from thousands of years of dealing with nobles, and they were forced to stand down. Defeated but unbroken, they retreated a pace or two, though Scootaloo did stick her tongue out.

“What do you make of it?”

“Obviously a trap; though I would figure all of Canterlot is booby-trapped anyway, or worse. We cannot risk the lives of all the creatures we have here on a plan of ‘run in all at once’.”

Luna felt a gentle tap on her shoulder and she spun around quickly, causing the mare behind her to flinch. “Um, we have an idea, Princess Luna.”

“Very well. What is it?”

Rainbow Dash flew up and landed right next to them, not waiting for Fluttershy to respond. “We could go in! Make sure it’s safe, kick anyone’s butt if it’s not, and then come back to get you guys.”

Luna was amused, but only for a moment. “I very much doubt there will be any fighting in there. At least, not a physical fight, anyway.” The six mares gathered around in a circle to listen. “You all must understand that Discord can get more chaotic, more powerful with greater amount of freedom he has. I can’t think of anything more powerful than occupying a city. You must stay together if you’re to do this.”

It wasn’t a question if they were to do it; they would be going, no matter what. They knew that when they all shared a look and a smile. It was question of whether or not they could succeed. They had no elements, but each one of them were strong on their own though. Even Fluttershy didn’t lack confidence in their ability to solve things as a team, a friendship team. A unity. Twilight smiled. She knew they could do this.

“What about us?” A familiar voice called out.

What? Twilight or indeed any of her friends hadn't expected that. Ordinarily on their missions they would find out what needed to be done and then hop to it. There was never anyone standing in their way! Well, except for the villain of course… always gotta have a villain. Twilight’s thoughts were pushed aside though when she noticed who had spoken, it was Shyfrost.

“What do you mean?” She thought out loud, not realizing she had said it until it was too late. Ordinarily she would think things through before saying something, she wanted to defuse the situation properly. It had become a situation at least to her.

“Well, we wanted to help. So, how do we help?” The diamond dog asked, and judging by how almost every other creature was standing and listening closely, he wasn’t the only one.

She caught sight of one of the changelings hovering over her. “Yeah, what are we supposed to do? Just sit here and wait?”

Twilight didn’t have a full answer for that, but she could easily point them in the right direction. “Well, I suppose you and your group could council with the princesses, after that--”

“What about us? Weren't we supposed to help?” At least that was what a few of the pegasus ponies yelled out. They had all gathered in a tight group, simply sitting around or amusing themselves with banter or chit-chatting.

Twilight glanced over at them and figured since they had butted in, that others would soon follow. Her eyes scanned over to the other groups and she found that they were getting ready to. She quickly turned back to Celestia and gave her a pleading look, as if to tell her to inform the others that they were the Elements of Harmony, so they should go and the others should wait outside. It was only fair. All though that logic didn’t make too much sense, she had mentioned they would need more help, which is why she didn’t actually say anything out loud. Instead she simply stared with pleading eyes.

“Twilight, you and your friends have done great things in the past. You’ve stopped foes, learned about friendship, and you yourself know more magic than most creatures that are currently living today. However, I believe that in this situation, you’re going to need more than just yourselves. I believe you will need the help of your fellow Equestrians.”

“You’re talking about the… well, using them as bait?”

Celestia frowned but nodded. “I am; though not in the way you’re thinking. They will be a distraction. The spell covering the entrance is a indeed a trap, but not for long. I sense that no living creature wouldn’t be affected by touching it. If we draw Discord and Dee outside…”

“Then they’ll have to turn it off!” Twilight beamed, it was perfect! Then she caught sight of a house exploding in confetti in the distance, on top of the mountain. “But how do we draw them out? Why would they even need to leave?”

“They’ve taken over Canterlot, but not this world. Dee seemed interested our dimension, as she put it. She has barely taken over a tenth of this planet; to accomplish her goal she will need to move on past Canterlot. I suspect they are waiting for us to fall into the trap in order to continue unhindered; but I do have a plan and it involves that trap.” Celestia smiled and walked away from Twilight. Apprehensive, the other mare watched her mentor fly high above, speaking to other leaders.

“Celestia,” Twilight began with her eyes closed, “this is the craziest plan you have ever… planned.” Now that she thought about it, Celestia had never actually schemed with her before. In fact, she made it a point to never do scheming herself.

Celestia’s smile was creepy. It wasn’t the calm collective one she was used to; it was wild and maniac. “Good. Hopefully it will work, then; I don’t exactly have a back up plan!” Then she chuckled like mad. “This feels good. I hate planning ahead so much, stresses you out.”

Twilight soon found she and her friends, along with anyone else there, dressed in random attire. She herself wore a party frock that would feel at home to any toddler at a birthday party. Rainbow Dash was fully decked out in a cowboy outfit, borrowed from Applejack. The farm pony wore a hat on her tail. Fluttershy wore a stallions tuxedo, complete with a cane that she kept in her mouth. Sweetie Belle currently looked like a clone of the butter mare, including her brand new color scheme in her mane and coat. Blaze Wings, much to her embarrassment and annoyance, wore a frilly ballerina outfit that was nothing but pink. Apple Bloom had dragon spikes sticking out of her back, in the form of cardboard and paint. Pinkie Pie was seated on a red arm chair, her mane tied into a neat and orderly fashion using a needle in the back to hold it all in place. Princess Celestia was dressed as a cow, though sadly and to her disappointment her flowing mane could not be painted black and white. Princess Luna donned an illusion that made her seem significantly smaller. Finally, Spike wore his trusty pink apron.

Rainbow shifted her body a bit, trying to get used to the multitude of clothing. “Whelp, I feel silly.”

Blaze snorted. “Speak for yourself…”

Princess Luna, or Woona, as her sister liked to call her, flapped her wings. “Is eewypony weady?” She spoke in the false voice that melted her sisters heart, yet made everyone else cringe.

A synchronization of nods were given from every one of the different creatures that were stationed around the entrance to the rainbow opening in different poses.

Celestia closed her eyes, sighed and then shot them open with determination. Her horn shined brightly, matching the luminosity of her own sun. They watched it shift then slowly fall down from the sky, then it shot right back up reversing its direction until it landed squarely back where it had been. She did this in a loop, over and over it continued to go up and down, like a yoyo. “Places everyone!”

She watched her ponies and the other races gather around in various random groups; meanwhile she used a bit of magic to summon a tea set along with rather fancy chairs and a table for herself. She took a seat, sipped some imaginary tea (since her magic could only summon so much) and then smiled calmly while the sun continued its loop.

Discord and Dee sat in what had previously been the commander room for the captain of the guard, busily trying to come up with a plan.

“No, no, no! You can’t just march right into dragon territory and take over; they have magic too, you know,” DIscord exclaimed as he crossed his arms. He blew a few bubbles out of a pipe then quickly lapped them up using his tongue, then burped.

Dee rolled her eyes. “We have plenty of magic. We can just syphon some from all the captured unicorns.”

Discord’s face darkened for a moment before breaking out into fits of giggles. “Oh, good one.” He nudged her in the side, causing her to frown deeply. “Very funny. Heh, even if we did do that there wouldn’t be enough magic to face one of their so called elder dragons. Not even a thousand unicorns could stand up to one of them.”

She sighed. “Combined, we should have enough to take them down easily!”

“Please.” He summoned up another tea cup, making sure that this one wouldn’t run away like the last twenty seven. “Perhaps with a bit of planning, of course. Chaos can be such a powerful ally after all, but chaos and brute force do not mix well.” He frowned himself and turned around. “Stop messing with the sun. Although, I must say, I do appreciate the theming you are trying to pull. Very chaotic.”

“I’m not doing that…” Dee began slowly, somewhat mesmerized by the sun’s movement. “I thought you were.”

It took the two a single moment to process what was going on. Then suddenly, Discord began to cackle out of nowhere, pounding his fists on the table over and over.

“Oh, Celestia, never one to give up, hmm?” He snapped a claw and the two vanished, appearing a second later in the main hall. “I believe our plans will have to wait, we have a pest to take care of.” He summoned up a top hat and a cane, along with a snazzy suit (if he did say so himself) and donned it all with a smile.

Dee snarled at the sun. “So it would seem.”

Chapter 25: A Chaotic Plan

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Discord was not having a great day. To start off with, he would have to do actual work and corrupt some ponies (among other creatures), instead of having fun. Not that causing chaos wasn’t fun, of course; it’s just that he would have truly preferred to let chaos run its course. To do things randomly and perhaps with a bit of class; but when being forced to confront someone with an actual plan, it just made things feel off. Planning wasn’t chaotic at all!

To be fair, though, neither he nor Dee exactly had a real plan. The situation could still be chaotic, it could still be fun! If those wretched creatures don’t ruin things for me first! Discord saw Dee soaring past him, they saw countless ponies and other creatures scattered through the city of Canterlot. The place was in shambles, buildings were barely standing (if not permanently altered thanks to a bit of added fun). However, the ponies were not acting civil, or civilized or normal. He almost felt like singing.

Feeling distracted from Dee’s plans, he witnessed ponies acting like dogs, cats and all manner of animals. Of course, animalistic changes were not the only occurrence. Stallions acting like mares and vice versa, children directing adults (and what comes with that), unicorns attempting to fly and earth ponies trying their hardest to use magic. That last one is quite the sight! he noted while watching a few bang their skulls into items they wished would levitate, but of course never would.

Perhaps this is a bit too obvious. Maybe if I-- He made a noise is similar sounding to ‘oof’ as he collided with Dee’s back.

“Watch where you’re going, you buffoon!”

He crossed his arms and hovered away from her a bit. “Well! I’ve never been so insulted in all my life!”

She paused and gave him a flat look that said ‘really?’. He sheepishly smiled and then cleared his throat. “Anyway, let’s keep moving.”

The mare (if she could be called one) in front of her took a deep breath as it became clear that Discord was not paying attention. “Discord, this is very important.”

“Mhm… that’s whatever you were talking about for ya…” He trailed off and continued to marvel at the fruits of their ‘labor’. Like a creature focusing on the perverse nature of their ‘vice’, Discord could not look away from the chaos. Any pleasure he was feeling was torn away as he felt his neck being grabbed and his whole body was yanked backwards to face her.

“Focus, we need to defeat them. I have risked far too much to simply watch it all fly away and be forced to leave this realm! If that happens, I’m dragging you down with me, you get it?!”

Discord wanted to point out that leaving Equestria and its realm wasn’t technically being defeated, and thus her saying of getting dragged down didn’t work here; but he held his tongue. For the first time since their partnership the (practically) Element of Chaos was having doubts about it. I’ll have to be careful around her… He nearly hacked and coughed at the thought of being careful, but continued to float onwards.

The actual way through to Canterlot was sectioned off by a rather large hill, almost a mountain in size. A large staircase had been built out of stone that went through the middle, in that it both went up the hill and in some cases through it with the aid of some tunneling done in the past. When they neared the end, they found themselves floating over a large dirt path and were now watching the most bizarre sight they had witnessed yet. For Dee and indeed Discord, that was saying something. Dee used a bit of magic and lowered the shield, the on they had put up originally and the two flew through.

Watching what could only be described as his opposites, his enemies act like total buffoons nearly broke something in Discord. It was as if he had just witnessed something so hilarious that for a single solitary moment, he could not laugh. He could only witness Twilight, the Element of Magic, prancing about like a bratty, too spoiled to even know of responsibility. Rainbow, the so called Loyalty, appeared to be having a standoff with nopony at all, decked out in full jeans and cowpony looking gear. Fluttershy, the kind one, appeared to be tap dancing for all to see. One of the tiny brat unicorns, a sister of one of them, was currently imitating Fluttershy. The list went on and on, when he got to Princess Luna he nearly lost it, but managed to keep his composure. Creatures all around acted like fools, all trapped in Discords chaotic… trap.

Organized chaos…

Thunder and lightning erupted from Discord's power as he cackled loud enough for the very gods to hear. Dee thought he had lost whatever sanity he had left, as he pounded his claw over and over again on the ground. Finally, after what seemed like eons, he shed a single tear and sighed. “Oh, Tia, how marvelous. A show, now where’s dinner?” He snapped a paw and a plate of only he knew what materialized. “Always good to have some entertainment before you stomp your enemies.”

Most of them had stopped acting at this point and he quickly started to disrobe their alternative appearances. Discord quickly grabbed Fluttershy’s top hat and cane, causing her to stop and fall on her flank. “You can stop that now, it’s clear none of you entered the gate.”

Princess Celestia sighed. Gotta stall him, shouldn’t be too difficult. “How did you guess?’

Discord snorted. “Please, nothing is this perfect, this… orchestrated, and especially not chaos.”

The sun goddess sighed and then promptly backed up in shock when she found herself face to face with a rather large Draconequus floating in front of her.

“Now, what to do with you…” Dee pondered out loud, ignoring everyone else in the area.

Celestia backed up a few steps and looked around frantically. She spotted Pinkie Pie, wearing an odd get up that appeared to make her seem like a fortune teller. Rested atop her head was a purple wrapped turnum and in the middle rested a familiar gem. Somewhere in the recesses of her mind, Princess Celestia felt a very vague memory stir. One she had not thought of since her younger days, when both she and her sister wielded the elements together. She smiled which caused Dee to pause momentarily out of sheer confusion.

“Sister, perhaps you shouldn’t…”

Celestia could only watch as a large blast was shot out of an elemental stone, one that had just been licked by her younger sister.

Luna looked up at her older sister and smiled. In her telekinetic grip was the element of laugher, dripping with drool. It shined brightly, apparently enjoying the presence of some ‘fun’ and reacting as such. Though why it put a hole in a tree, Celestia and Luna would never know. It was simply chaotic.

Fight fire with fire… Princess Celestia looked up and squinted at her sun. They will need to be signaled, I trust that little dragon, but something extra couldn’t hurt. “Pinkie Pie! Quickly! Lick your element! Uh, you’ll know what to do after!” Celestia called out and for a moment the princess wasn’t even sure if she heard as the pink pony continued to stare off into space, unmoving. Then she heard it, quite possibly the most audible gasp ever uttered by ponykind. Pinkie quickly removed her ‘hat’ and did just that, only instead of licking she went the extra mile and popped the gem in her mouth.

She began to suckle on the element as if it was a lemon drop. Her smile slowly vanished, yet her suckling remained. “Uh, how long do I have to suck on this?” She yelled out, her question directed at Princess Celestia.

Celestia smacked her front hoof to her face, and Dee quickly turned back to face her with a menacing smile. “Now then--”

“Woah!” Pinkie Pie literally shot high into the air and then promptly fell down onto her flank. Then something peculiar happened. To both pony princesses the event was not unforeseen, though. A female draconequus had flew up in the air in pain, everyone was staring in shock and Pinkie Pie’s eyes were glued to the smoldering spot where a pink beam of harmonic energy had just struck. From her mouth.
“How dare y--” Before Dee could even finish, Pinkie rounded on her. Ever the quick to adapt, Pinkie Pie’s mouth formed an ‘o’ shape and she breathed out. Dee was forced to dodge in the air over and over, her large body made her defensive antics seem quite skillful as her frame twisted and turned in all manner of directions. Pink beam after pink beam fired continuously, never stopping.

Twilight Sparkle stared in awe. “That’s… not possible…” she breathed. She had recognized the magical energies immediately. All of a sudden Celestia’s chaotic plan, her friends, and even the fact that everyone was pretty much out in the open and in mortal danger no longer mattered. In that single moment, Twilight’s world had been flipped on her head. A concept she thought she understood held untold powers; like her friend bouncing in the air, firing magical beams of harmony without the assistance of the other elements, for example.

Discord was in a similar state, though his reasonings for it were different. He was mesmerized in pleasant way. Before, the nasty elements that had imprisoned him had always rubbed him the wrong way. They seemed too easy; but this, this looked fun. He could make things a party, far more than the pink pony could ever dream. He snapped his talons and chuckled. “Game on, pink one.”

“Enough!” In Dee’s fury she released a magical spell so powerful, it interrupted Discord’s. Whether it had been on purpose or not, Discord did not care. He simply gazed as Dee used quite a bit of magic to open a familiar portal in space and time (or whatever it was, Discord never bothered to ask). Pinkie was sucked inside and was soon in the clutches of Dee. Literally.

“What is she doing?!” Rainbow shrieked in fear. She flew fast toward Dee, but somewhere in the back of her mind she felt that she wouldn’t be fast enough.

Pinkie’s face turned blue as tiny pink sparks fired from her mouth, only to fall and hit nothing. She was being choked.

“You will not get in my way you freakish thing! Die!”

A final spark came off her gem, this one much larger than the rest. It was aimed directly at Dee’s eye. The result exactly what Pinkie needed, though, in her dwindling state of consciousness she could barely think. Pinkie fell like a stone as Dee shrieked in horror, clutching her eye and flying away from her.

Rainbow caught Pinkie just as she was about to smack into the ground. The pink mare took a few moments to breathe. “She- she’s a meanie.. Dashie.”

“Killing? Well, I never!” Discord exclaimed then snapped his talons causing both Rainbow Dash and the still panting Pinkie to appear floating in midair before him, trapped inside a bubble. “I think our partnership is now over.”

Dee’s eyes widened a bit, though, she didn’t seem overly surprised.

Discord continued, “These creatures deserve a master of chaos!” His voice boomed over all, rippling what appeared to be reality, but only for a moment. When it was over with everything remained the same, except for Rainbow’s tail, which had started to change color randomly. “Hmm, I’ve gotta work out more.”

Dee chuckled, feeling confident that the pink menace was momentarily contained. “Oh, I knew you would betray me eventually. Did you think I didn’t read up on my history about this place? Ha! You’ve betrayed everyone you’ve ever known!”

Discord snorted. “Hardly, what about Sir Daniel… what’s his name? He was fine!” He waved his claw and then took a good moment to think about it. “Well… okay, bad example.” Chuckling quickly faded to nothing as the ‘lord of chaos’ felt something familiar begin to pull him and the bubble of ponies along with it. A portal had opened up. “Oh my…this should be interesting.” He casually exclaimed, not bothering to resist it for he knew it wasn’t going to stop. He turned to Rainbow and Pinkie, still pounding on the forcefield. “Down the rabbit hole, shall we?” he asked jovially as they all were sucked in.

“Why isn’t pony helping digging?”

The group froze and almost immediately all ‘digging’ activities ceased.

One of the other dogs leaned over and whispered furtively. “You don’t say that to the nice white pony!”

Rarity exhaled as she saw the shimmering forcefield.

The same dog who was whispering stared in astonishment at what they unearthed. “Ooh, pretty!”

Rarity swatted his paw away. “Do you want to be caught?” she hissed. “Stay down and keep digging.” The others growled, but they swiftly dug around the forcefield, which was difficult since others popped up. They all quickly grew tired and perhaps, just as serious, dirty! However, they strived to keep going except Rarity who was barking out orders and watching the dogs dig. A wall caved through, forcing light upon everyone. They shielded their eyes while the hole quickly caved away, revealing a large hole for everyone to climb through.

“Finally, out of that dreadful place and back in… Canterlot…” The mare trailed off upon seeing the state that the city was in.

“This grand pony city?!”

Rarity’s eyes did not know where to begin. For starters, the city appeared to be in several states at once. Daylight, nighttime, dusk and even early morning, all separated by obvious seams which split the place depending on where you looked. As if that wasn’t chaotic enough, there were buildings and other ponies floating in midair, giant bees floating around attacking everypony, the occasional random cotton candy cloud would cease raining chocolate milk and instead began to randomly zap ponies who were unfortunate enough to get in its path and finally things that should be made out of wood, stone or other building materials had been replaced with editable items.

Raritys eyes and ears twitched. This was supposed to be the city of class and sophistication. A beacon that stood for all pony kind. A place she not only adored, but looked up to. Somewhere to set the standard of living. Not this…

“We must track down our destination immediately.” A chocolate milk puddle had been forming around her hoof, she sighed and raised it. A few drops came off, but through her milky white coat she feared it would stain. “Er, watch your step.”

Using the castle as a point to stay away from, they began to aimlessly search around. Things were not to be so easy, not a few steps away from the tunnel and the entire group had all tripped simultaneously onto a soap road. Standing up seemed impossible while the group hurried toward a large building in the middle of the street. Their journey came to a sudden end upon entering as their speed slowly subsided.

“Pony okay?”

“Get off me!”

“That voice!” One of the dogs screamed and left the group in a hurry.

Looking around, they appeared to be in the abandoned kitchen of a restaurant, though the tables and chairs were covered up and looked as if no one had eaten in decades. Rarity did not like the sight, smell or feel of the place. “We should go, let’s just walk slowly out-- eep!”

She spun around, realizing all of the diamond dogs were behind her. She had bumped into somepony. Looking up (and gulping) she eyed a stiff looking stallion, who appeared to be a waiter or perhaps the maitre d. “Heads or tails?” His bold voice asked. She nodded, then screamed bloody murder and dashed out before anything else could happen.

The dogs and pony made their distance from the creepy ‘restaurant’ (most of them wondering if it was even there) only to slow down and stop. Rarity looked left then right and sighed. “We will find a way-- Hey! Stop that! I am not ruining my mane by going through this… monstrosity!”

The dogs quickly got away from her and she growled in frustration. “Oh, they will pay dearly for my ruined mane…” She sighed and then jumped through what could only be described as a self contained floating pool of chocolate milk. I was tall and wide enough that the thing had been blocking their only way through to the other side of the city, it was their only hope.

Moments later, Rarity was panting on the ground for all the air she could muster. She felt cold, dirty and (if not more serious) her coat looked and seemed ruined. “It’s going to take weeks to clean this out…” She whined, and did her best to get any and all traces of the chocolate stuff off her fur. “Please let the… nooooooo!” She screamed upon the sight that greeted them.

“Uh, Dashie. I don’t think that’s helping us… maybe you could lay off just a tinsy bit?” Pinkie pleaded, watching her friend pound her hoof over and over into Discord’s face.

The chaos god shrugged them all off, not feeling a single bit of it. “You know--” He paused to accept a few more punches. “We could be findin’ a way out of here--” A few more was swiftly delivered. “Or you could just keep on punching I suppose.”

“You work for that slimy… evil… she tried to kill… Pinkie…” Pinkie Pie floated over to Rainbow and gently lowered her hoof, which had stopped pounding.

“Rainbow, it’s not like Discord choked me…”

Dash looked to Pinkie and sighed, she glanced back at Discord and found he was frowning and looking away into the endless void of wherever they now resided. “Yeah… I guess.”

“And Discord, you overthrew Princess Celestia and Luna and took our elements away. That wasn’t very nice!” Pinkie waved her hoof at him, as if scolding a naughty child.

Discord scoffed. “If it’s any consolation, I knew it was never going to work. You goody two shoes... or is it four shoes? Whatever!” He waved his claw and sighed. “To quote a book I’m sure was written by some very dead stallion: ‘Good guys always win’.”

“Then explain to me why we’re floating in the middle of nowhere!” Rainbow tried to float away from them, but only came out the other end of the sphere, bumping into Discord’s back.

“Hmm…” Pinkie took the element in her mouth and spit forward, it shot at the sphere and for a split second she saw light creasing through the endless void. “I’ve got it!” She began to spit faster and fast, almost causing a hole to appear, but it was in vain. Pinkie’s power wasn’t fast enough to counteract wherever they were. “Dashie, give me a hand!” Without waiting for a reply, Pinkie jumped onto Rainbow’s back and held on. “Discord! Uh, don’t get in the way!”

“Pinkie what are you…” She trailed off and listened to Pinkie whisper in her ear.

“I can try.”

“Pinkie, why aren’t you being… Pinkie?”

Pinkie raised an eyebrow at her. “I’m always Pinkie, Sillyhead! Now, ride! Ride like the nonexistent wind!”

At first Rainbow Dash found it particularly difficult to even gain any momentum, but soon the magic around her wings kicked in. The duo found themselves passing Discord dozens and then hundreds of times over and over. Each ‘pass’ Pinkie would spit out even more pink energy from her harmony gem. Eventually a hole in the void opened up.

“There! Fly there!” It took over thirty passes for those three words to get out, they were floating so quickly that Rainbow was worried what would happen on the other side, would they crash? Stop? They were about to find out. The two entered the hole and light swallowed them whole.

“Oh sure, just leave the ol’ Lord of Chaos behind.” He quipped. Discord looked to his talons and then smacked his head. “Why do I keep forgetting that I can teleport at will? Hmm, I really should see a doctor about that.”

“W-what do we do now?” Shyfrost’s question was never answered.

Dee rose high above them, striking a powerful pose. In an instant any creature that would stand against her was encaged. Literally cages of twisted steel and bar appeared out of thin air and surrounded Twilight and her friends, the princesses, the dragons, minotaurs, gryphons, pegasi and other ponies.

“Princess, there was never a chance you could win. I have won. Your world, your dimension is now mine. No, that isn’t quite true. It always was, from the moment I came here. From the very moment I saw my first inhabitant of it.” Her eyes came down to meet Spike gaping stare. “Oh, those Elements are strong, but not strong enough. So I hatched a little plan, funny considering it came from a dragon of all places.” Her smile wavered when her eyes lingered over to Shyfrost. “Of course it didn’t work, first plans never do. A dud, as it were.”

“Dud?” Shyfrost asked, feeling completely confused.

“Oh, you came to be in those ponies’ care… eventually. Took you months.” She shook her head and sighed. “I suppose it was my fault, mostly.” All eyes were on her at this point, Twilight and anyone else with magic had given up trying to break the cage. “It wasn’t until I grew bored that I finally decided to free that buffoon, Discord. His extra chaos power gave me just the edge I needed.” She began to laugh and almost cackled in glee. “To think, this all started with that stupid filly, Blaze Wings.”

Scootaloo stiffened upon hearing her real name.

Dee floated over to the tiny cage that held the three Cutie Mark Crusaders. “Oh Blaze, if you hadn’t come here- well, if that spell hadn’t gone off- I’d still be stuck in my own dimension, plotting worthless schemes.” She saw the confusion on the other two fillies and giggled. “You didn’t know? You didn’t tell them? Well, looks like you three have a lot to talk about!”

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle slowly turned around to the now blushing Scootaloo, who was doing her best to sink into the cage. Everyone was quite confused at this point. A few moments later, Dee joined the pact when a hole in the fabric of reality opened and she wasn’t the cause! She braced herself for any manner of creatures to come through.

“Weeeeeeeeeee!” Pinkie’s voice echoed through the cages. “Slowwwwwww dowwwwwwn, Dassssshiiiieeee!”

Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie shot through the hole in a swirl of mixed colors of Pink and Cyan. The hole had been faced several of the cages, cages which within moments contained smoking holes where a swirling rainbow ‘boom’ and shot through.

Dee looked over and was about to refill the holes, when she felt something tap her shoulder. She turned around and was smacked in the face with what could only be described as a giant yellow rubber chicken. Her body went down like a stone in the sky, only to smack face first into a massive metal disk. A disk, she felt, that had some kind of sticky substance on it. She tore herself off and took a step forward to face her attacker, but whatever she was going to say died in her throat. As she’d stepped, her foot clicked on something. She looked down, then back up at (who she suspected the whole time) Discord. “A confetti mine?” she breathed angrily. “Now, of all times?” It was something Discord had been experimenting with back at the castle, he had annoyed her enough with them to know exactly what it was.

“You’re awfully confident that that's confetti in that popper,” Discord said airily.

Dee looked down to the mine. She knew teleporting away would do nothing; he had designed them with a homing mechanism.

Discord took the opportunity to snap his talons and destroy a few of the cages at random. One of them dissolved into a large pile of bubbles, only to reveal a gray colored pegasus mare who was looking around confused. “All this killing business—that's not very chaotic. That's not fun at all. It's… boring.” He said the word with distaste. “When you're dead, you just sit there, all… lifeless and such. Ugh. No fun at all,” he repeated. He then took a few more cages out. “I may like ruling things, but total rule? Of this plane of existence? Of everyone’s lives? Bleh, may as well just sit there and declare yourself ‘ruler of everything’. No challenge? Boring, boring, boring!” Discord looked behind him and saw Princess Celestia of all ponies giving him a shy smile, a knowing smile. He growled, knowing full well that he was willingly helping them out. Whether it was guilt for the pink pony’s pain, or mere boredom, he wasn’t sure. For the moment, though, he simply did not care.

Dee growled. “Fine. You cast your fate with them? Then you can die with them!” Her claws glowed with arcane power, power so vast that even the sun seemed subdued in comparison. She shifted her weight to cast the spell…

And in doing so, took her foot off the mine.

It exploded, and everypony (and all the other creatures) had to shield their faces from the light and force of the explosion, and then shield themselves from the chunky, red liquid that came raining down quickly afterwards.

Dee’s magic fizzled. She was too surprised to do anything but just stand there as the thick, red liquid dripped off her body.

“See? It wasn’t confetti; it was jelly!” Discord proclaimed proudly, throwing his arms wide as if expecting applause. “Surprise!”

Dee’s eyes narrowed, and the jelly on her body began to steam as she grew hot with rage.

Discord’s eyes widened. “Oopsie,” he muttered, before he vanished.

“All right,” Rarity said, shaking off a hoof and the vivid images that would give her nightmares for months. “This is the Canterlot Dump. A distasteful place full of refuse and junk, but know this: treasures are hidden here, treasures that could save Equestria as we know it, and it is up to you to retrieve them and restore harmony, order, and our lifestyle!” She struck a heroic pose with her head and chin tilted high.

One of the Diamond Dogs scrubbed out his ear with a filthy paw. “Huh?”

Rarity exhaled. “There are nasty things here, but the Elements might be here, so split up and find them.”

The Diamond Dog grinned. That he could understand.

The dogs wandered around, diving in and out of the piles. Rarity wandered around and supervised. Feeling a tad guilty about not actually helping, but not much. “Remember, they’re golden necklaces, with jewels inset in them. One is shaped like a diamond, one like an apple, one like a butterfly…”

One of the dogs came back, a sheepish look on his face. “Uh, miss Rarity?” he said, raising his paw like a young pup in class.

“Yes?” Rarity said with exaggerated patience.

“There’s a pony over there.”

“Ah. Excellent,” Rarity said. She trotted forward. “Maybe she’ll have seen something.”

“Uh…” The Diamond Dog raised his paws to stop her, but he hesitated. He didn’t want to offend this pony. Not with all those rumors flying around about what she could do.

Rarity stepped forward and looked around, but saw nopony. “Is anypony there?” she asked.

“Who are you, that you dare come before the princess unannounced?”

Rarity turned around, and her jaw dropped.

The pony who had spoken sat on top of a large mountain of trash. Old mattresses, ice boxes, furniture, and boxes had been piled high underneath a discarded, overstuffed chair, to simulate a throne of some kind. She held a plunger in one hoof, which was supposed to be her scepter. Her tiara had been lost; she had replaced it with an open tin can. But there was no mistaking the three toned mane and pink coat (though now both were ratty and unkempt) and the presence of both wings and horn.

Princess Mi Amore Cadenza glared down and pointed her plunger at Rarity. “I asked you a question!”

“Oh my,” Rarity murmured. “It’s worse than I thought.”

“I grow impatient!” Cadence intoned.

Rarity cleared her throat. She could play along. “Well, your highness, we’re here on an important quest. We seek the Elements of Harmony…”

“The L mints? Who is Harmony, and why does the shape of her mints matter?” Candence’s eyes had loooked wild and dilated the whole time; Rarity suspected a certain lord of chaos being behind the change.

“El-e-ments,” Rarity emphasized. “You know, large, shiny necklaces, inset with jewels?”

Cadence’s eyes widened. “They’re after the royal treasure!” She slammed her plunger against the side of her chair. “Guards! Destroy them!”

Rarity dropped into a defensive stance, but relaxed as she realized that the ‘guards’ Cadence referred to were actually a discarded ponnikin with stuffing leaking from the seams, wearing a sash that looked like it was made of burlap; and a threadbare suit of clothes that had been knotted at the ends and stuffed with crumpled newspaper so it could stand, though askance; and had for a head a half-stuffed pillowcase with a face drawn wonkily on in lipstick.

“Uh…”

One of the Diamond Dogs poked at the ponnikin curiously, and it wobbled briefly before it unbalanced and fell over. He quickly placed his paws behind his back and whistled nonchalantly as he scooted away.

“Defeat!” Cadence wailed. “My guards have been defeated! The Crystal Empire will fall! But not completely!” She began to laugh maniacally. “I’ll flee! I’ll escape! And I’ll repopulate the empire by myself, if needs be!”

Rarity opened her mouth, and then closed it again. “But… your figure,” she managed to squeak.

Cadence threw her plunger, missing the closest Diamond Dog by a good fifteen feet. Then she turned and ran.

Of course, as she was seated on an old sofa on a pile of junk, her hooves hit nothing but air, and she tumbled flank over teakettle down the hill. She quickly popped up and resumed running.

Rarity exhaled. “Seize her, please,” she said pleasantly.

Diamond Dogs appeared to be good at finding their way around piles of junk, thankfully. Within seconds, Cadence was trapped under a large dogpile.

Rarity took a moment to watch her squirm then scoffed. “They must be around here somewhere…” She muttered to herself.

“You’ll never get the royal treasure! Never!” Cadence was quickly silenced as one of the dogs clamped her mouth shut. “N-Nffffevr!”

If I were… Rarity tried to think of a polite term of Cadance’s condition, then shrugged. That, where would I put them? The mare noticed that there was plenty of trash surrounding her “throne”. It looked to be practically a mountain of the stuff. She narrowed down key aspects of it, the throne, a discarded bed, and a rather large toilet which sat on top. Rarity grimaced at the thought. Great…

Feeling guilty for using the dogs so much, Rarity took an experimenting grasp with her magic. For a few seconds she thought the toilet wouldn’t budge. However, her magic felt something else, inside. She smiled in glee (hoped it wasn’t what she thought it was) and willed her magic to firmly hold what was inside. Now or never ol’ mare. Rarity started to pull, only to sigh when she felt the objects failed to move much at all.

“What wrong?” One of the dogs inquired.

Rarity glanced over and then pointed up to the toilet. “I believe the elements are in there, but they feel stuck.”

The dog nodded and examined the strange object, then a flashback of epic proportions came back to him. It involved a pony room, a handle and lots and lots of water. He smirked. “Try jiggling handle,” he said in his broken version of the Equestrian language.

“Why didn’t I think of that?” She questioned sarcastically. She humored the pup and used a bit of magic to do just that. What happened was not what she expected at all; the toilet began to vibrate wildly. “Oh… no…” Her eyes shrunk as small as pinpricks, then she snapped to attention and ran as fast as she could away from the trash pile. “Please no! Please no! Please no!”

Like a geyser, water shot upwards high into the air, carrying with it four familiar items. An apple, diamond, butterfly and a massive star all connected to golden regalia shot high into the air. Rarity looked back worryingly, then noticed what was about to hit her wasn’t what she thought. That’s not nasty toilet water! The Elements!

Suddenly Cadance broke free from the pups, as most of them were distracted by the sight of the Elements. “They are mine!” She shoved Rarity out of the way and the very second they touched her skin everything went white. A wild glow shot out from all four elements; for the once princess everything became quite clear again.

Frighteningly clear.

She pushed herself to her hooves, feeling anger and rage like she had never known in her life.

“Discord!”

For a moment Dee felt as if she had already won. Her inner rage built up and up as she thought about every stupid creature surrounding her. The second she visualized Discord’s smirk, she felt she had enough inner strength to destroy all opposing forces, anyone who would defy her. Then she tried to move her claw, things didn’t feel right. “What?!” Her eyes nearly popped out of her sockets upon noticing the sickening change in feeling and color of the red goo. It had turned black, and slowly but surely it was no longer a gel substance. They were vines, black vines covered in black thorns. Quicker than she would have ever imagined the vines twisted around her body almost like a rope being tied in various knots.

She struggled for minutes, but despite her inner rage feeling more powerful than it ever had, her struggles were in vain. Hopelessly she watched a horrific scene play out before her. She watched Twilight Sparkle re group with her friends, all dawning the very items she thought were mostly powerless to begin with. Impossible…

Back on the ground Rarity and the pups and Princess Cadance came climbing out of the tunnel they had dug through and successfully covered up. Twilight looked back and then beamed. “Cadance!”

Twilight ran up to the growing group, ignoring Rarity and quickly helped Princess Cadance onto her hooves.

“Twilight!” Cadance exclaimed, happy to see a long lost friend amongst the crowd. The two bent down playfully and then broke out into a chant.

”Sunshine Sunshine, Ladybugs...”

Dee’s eyes literally snapped open as if a muscle was being stretched. No… Using all the strength she could muster up, which was a lot in her opinion, she burst through her sharp prison. She quickly wrapped the black plants together and fashioned them into a quick whip. So… stupid! She was not going to stand for such childish behavior, in her presence no less! She was Dee, all should fear her, all should worship her (as long as she hadn’t killed them). Prancing about like some school children! Despicable!

She whipped the whip back and then forward, aiming directly for the pink princess. “Die!”

Midway through their chant Twilight noticed the black whip on a direct course for them. Thinking quickly, Twilight summoned up just enough magic to teleport both of them out of the way. The whip missed the princess narrowly. Dee searched for them in the crowd, but couldn’t spot them from such a high distance. Too many… Rage fueling her, she swooped down and wildly banged the whip in every which direction, not caring who it hit. So long as someone was hit.

Twilight had teleported Princess Cadance away from the action, promising to go back for her when things had calmed down.

She remembers I can fly, right? Cadance looked at her wings, fluttered them a bit, then shrugged. At least the view is nice. She surveyed the mountain she was on, overseeing Canterlot in its entirety. Though, she couldn’t shake the feeling that she was being watched.

Twilight re-grouped with Rarity quickly, her eyes never left Dee’s sight. Making sure various creatures and friends alike were avoiding the rampage of her black whip. “Rarity! Did you get them?”

Rarity winked and smiled, then quickly summoned three elements floating in mid air. She put on her own, making four. “Do you have a plan?” Rarity’s eyes frantically scanned all over the place, looking for a certain marshmallow colored filly.

“Yes! We use the elements on her. If anything we have to at least try.”

Rarity looked up fearfully and saw an entirely different creature than before. Instea of a female mixture of Discord, she looked to be a monster. Thorn injuries littered her body. She had an insane chaotic smile on her face. Lighting practically coursed through her veins (Rarity wasn’t exactly sure how that one worked) which were threatening to burst at any moment. This was no, whatever she was before, she was a bloodthirsty monster. Worse yet, she was positively dirty!

Suddenly Rarity wasn’t so sure of Twilight’s plan.

Chapter 26: The Truth

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Princess Cadance focused on Twilight and her friends, her eyes never leaving their sight. You can do this, Twilight she thought with all of her hope.

“It won't work, you know…”

She tensed up in that moment, but was quick to turn around and scowl. “Discord…” Her head lowered as she took an offensive stance, her horn at the ready.

Discord floated above her, chuckling. “You know, I did quite grow bored of you ponies always freezing up or running away… not one for being hunters, are you?” he teased. She didn’t move, but didn’t appear to be ‘freezing up’. “Right. I suppose not you princesses, but oh… that’s why you’re so much fun!” He appeared to be gushing, then promptly snapped his talons causing the two to teleport over to two beach chairs. He was now sporting a one piece bathing suit with red and white stripes all over, and she was now donning sporting sunglasses. “Best get comfortable while we watch the end of the world,” he exclaimed with a sigh, before deflating slightly. “Pity I’m not the cause…” he said, mumbling.

“You…” Cadence attempted to get out a single sentence, but her anger toward the beast of chaos wouldn’t allow it. Just do as Twilight would, count to ten… even though I really don’t want to. After counting she turned to him, then used a tad bit of magic to snap his sunglasses in two. “How could you do that to me?!”

“Oh, it was all in good fun,” he replied casually and waved his claw in a rather lazy manner. “All I did was take a little something about you and tweaked it ever so slightly… and I may have amplified that a couple hundred times… which probably made you temporarily insane.”

In a single gesture that seemed impossibly fast, even for his standards, Discord witnessed the so called princess fly up into the air then transform into a literal ball of fire. “How dare you even think of doing such a thing!”

“I didn’t think! I don’t think! I just act! I’m sorry!” he yelled out in fear, then cowered on the ground while momentarily forgetting about his chaotic powers. “Don’t kill me!”

“I’m over here, doll,” Cadance exclaimed, just to his right.

Discord did a double take and quickly looked back and forth between what appeared to be a fiery devil from Tartarus (in the shape of her) and Princess Cadance laying on the chair he had summoned.

“Girls, if there was ever a time we need to hurry and do this. It’s now or never! Everypony ready?” Twilight asked hurriedly to all of her friends.

Pinkie Pie raised her hoof. “Uh, you know I have this teensy little feeling that this isn’t gonna work…”

Twilight watched the crazed creature known as Dee destroy practically everything in her path. Thankfully, no creatures got in her way… yet. The librarian knew that when it came to hunches, Pinkie was pretty much correct one hundred percent. “Pinkie! We have to try something!”

Pinkie turned somber and she began to think, a split second later she gasped. She quickly took her element off, then stuck her tongue out. “Huh? Huh?”

Twilight groaned when Dee’s whip crashed into a pillar which had been part of some old ruins. “I don’t even know why that worked! How’d is that gonna help?!” she questioned in a panic. She then suddenly felt somepony tap her on the shoulder, so she glanced behind her.

“Twi, maybe Pinkie’s onto somethin’.” Applejack spoke earnestly, but Twilight didn’t seem so convinced and only glanced back at Dee again. She tried again. “Ah mean she did that crazy thing by doing something silly, somethin’ funny. Maybe there’s more to these elements then how we’ve been using ‘em.”

Rainbow Dash flew up above them with her necklace at her side. “You mean I could just do something awesome and then--”

“Uh, wouldn’t it be loyal?” Fluttershy questioned.

Rainbow blinked, then nodded. “Loyal, right. I can just do something… like that and then something cool might happen?!” Her question was essentially rhetorical as Rainbow looked ready to burst and wanting to try at any moment.

Twilight shook her head frantically. “Girls! We don’t even know if what Pinkie did was a fluke or not. What if it’s only--” Twilight was forced to pause as another pillar came crashing down. “--if it was only isolated for Pinkie’s element? Or what if it’s too much power and one of us gets hurt?! I’ve barely had time to study the elements after all; nopony has!” Twilight felt as flustered as she could get. She wasn’t just paying attention to Dee because she was difficult to ignore; it was to ensure no one got hurt. She could, after all, theoretically teleport to almost anyone and get them out of danger. She had to be ready for anything.

Rainbow calmed down some, but her pulse quickened upon hearing another smash. “Desperate times, egghead!” Rainbow attempted to jump straight ahead, but before she could get far her wings were forcefully pulled back by a lavender-colored glow.

“Rainbow, we are doing this as a team. Got it?!” Twilight glared at Rainbow, who was now floating in mid air. Twilight wasn’t going to let her free until she nodded.

Rainbow Dash glared back and for a while none of them said anything. Eventually the mare sighed and hung her head. “Twilight, you five have been awesome friends. We’ve all stuck with each other even if one of us acts like a bone head. Or even when one of us losses our way.” Her friends looked at each other and smiled. Slowly Twilight released Rainbow from her grasp and nodded. “But I have to do this, for you five!” Just as she finished speaking a dull red glow appeared from her gem. Without noticing the glow she struck a standing up pose in mid air and pointed toward the rampaging Dee. “You are-- woah!” For the second time that day, Dee cried out in agony. A multi colored streak of lightning shot out from Rainbow’s body, almost leaching off her own colored mane and tail. Rainbow felt so dazed from the pure shock of what she did she nearly forgot to keep flapping her wings.

“A fluke, huh?” Rainbow didn’t have long to smirk or stare at Twilight’s worried expression.

“You sad excuse for a fly. I will bucking kill you!”

Twilight and her friends watched Rainbow Dash and Dee ‘dance’ around, as Rainbow shot out bolt after bolt. Dee wasn’t taking any chances and would easily teleport her entire form out of the way of each and every attempted assault.

“Hey, stop-” Pinkie paused with her talking and slipped her gem into her mouth. “-attacking my friend!” Twilight watched Pinkie run off, firing bean after bean of pink energy which practically swirled around the rainbow colored bolts of electricity.

“Uh, Twi, how--” Applejack ducked her head, narrowly missing a stray bolt. “Erm, how are they doing that? All Rainbow did was talk about us,” she pointed out and then started examining her element all over.

She shook her head and sighed. “Applejack, right now I’m trying to calculate Rainbow’s and Pinkie’s exact position while they’re in motion. Teleportation is kinda tricky like that!” she yelled frantically while her eyes zipped all around.

“Uh, but why…” Applejack trailed off when she noticed that Twilight had started on a spell.

Twilight had focused an insane amount of mana into her horn, so much that her eyes had begun to glaze over. Her gem came next with the star slowly glazing over with raw power. Applejack quickly stepped back in fear when her friend’s body had slowly begun to float high off the ground.

“Applejack,” she spoke, her voice echoed down with fear.

“Wha- what’s going on, Twilight?!”

“P- power!” Her voice cracked right before she unleashed her spell, a spell that had been quickly changed mid cast from a harmonic one to a destructive one.

Applejack watched the familiar fire-related spell hurtle toward Dee with hope that it would reach its target. Putting two and two together she started to consider things. Just how could honesty (if indeed it was elements of their own elements that activated their extended capabilities) be applied? That spell better hit, not sure that telling the truth about whatever I feel like is gonna do much of anything, she thought bitterly.

Dee had been concentrating so much that she barely had enough time to dodge the incoming projectile. Ordinarily, she would have teleported away; but with each subsequence of that she had been sapping her power. She watched the massive sun like fireball past around her with glee, but with a twinge of nervousness. “Is that all you- gah!” she screamed out in agony.

Twilight had not only just been watching their friends fly around, she had been tracking Dee’s position as well. As soon as her spell flew by, she watched Dee dodge around it. Quickly and almost painfully, she forced as much magic as she could into another spell which shifted the trajectory of her fireball backwards toward Dee. It hit her dead on.

All creatures in the vicinity watched in awe as the draconian monster was shot out of the sky with her crashing into a pillar at high speeds. When the debris and dust cleared, they could all see that she had not come out unscathed. Cuts, bruises, scrapes and mini fires littered her body. She breathed in and out, inwardly panicking. Her eyes darted all around, she noticed that each and every creature had seen that she, indeed, has a weakness. Only a matter of time before I’m taken down by those hideous ponies. I don’t have a choice. She knew she had been beaten, or would be very soon. Not enough magic to exit… but perhaps there’s another way. she thought darkly.

“Keep at it, Pinkie!” Dash yelled over the pink mare’s constant stream of harmonic energy. Rainbow flew in a circle around the pink mare, occasionally firing a bolt of her own. A sudden tidal wave of mystic energy washed over the battlefield. All though from surveying the place Rainbow seriously doubted it could be called a battle as most of them weren’t fighting. The flying mare took her eyes off of her friends for a single moment, then gasped. Dee had taken on a sudden change in appearance. In fact the air around her did as well. Dash watched another spell from Twilight launch at her, only to be knocked away effortlessly.

The girls were having difficulty assessing what they were witnessing. A strong stream of blue and purple energy was swirling around Dee. What was more curious was that it didn’t seem to be coming from her, but rather being pulled in from the sky itself.

The council of dragons not only sensed something amiss, they saw the very magic from their land being torn in from an unknown source. As did other creatures in other lands.

Princess Celestia gazed at the creature, trying her best to decipher what exactly Dee was attempting. It’s too dangerous to risk stopping her right now. Interrupting spells often lead to nasty results, particularly to the interrupter. Add to the fact that Dee was starting to look like her own sun, it just seemed too risky. So instead she considered one of two plans to get everyone out of harms way. Whatever it is, her spell must be of malicious intent. She surveyed the area and to her dismay found more creatures than she could safely handle. Still, I must try. Without bothering to double check things (including what a certain six ponies were doing) she began to cast a spell of her own. Energy started to charge into her horn. This feels more difficult than it should… what is she doing?!

“Sister!” Princess Luna cried out, as she ran up to her.

Celestia fumbled on her spell and quickly it died out, but not before feeling a twinge of pain. “W- what is it, Luna? This must be done now!”

Instead of speaking, Luna motioned to a small pebble on the ground, she gathered up a bit of magic and effortlessly lifted it off the ground. At least she didn’t appear to be straining until a few moments later. A bead of sweat fell down her head, and she let the pebble drop.

She’s pulling it all in… Celestia wracked her brain for a spell, any spell that could stop Dee. Eventually her thoughts and her eyes focused on Twilight. The elements, they… no…

On the other side of the battle, Twilight had begun to rally her friends. “Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, I don’t know how you would… activate any extra ‘power’ in your elements…” she trailed off when she noticed the whining noise that had been emanating from Dee had started to quiet down. “But right now that doesn’t matter! We have to use our Elements on her!”

Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie ceased their firing to listen to their friend. It didn’t appear to be helping anymore anyway as each shot failed to actually damage Dee.

The three girls nodded, watching the miniature sun form was spooky enough. Everyone had started to back away, some creatures had run off for safety. It was moments like this that would ordinarily frighten Fluttershy out of her wits. Rare moments like this made her realize that there might not be anymore moments like it again, if she didn’t do something.

They all looked at each other and nodded. Rainbow landed near them, and shot out one last beam at Dee. “Man, girls, I feel kinda tired all of a sudden. What gives?”

Twilight considered Rainbow’s question while gazing at the false sun that was Dee. She could feel heat radiating off of it. “It must be the heat!” she guessed. “C’mon, girls. We can do this! Your Elements!”

Rainbow swiped some sweat from off of her forehead the nodded. She considered her friends, ponies who would quite literally see things through to the end with her. Her necklace had begun to glow.

Applejack glared at the menace that was Dee. As far as she was concerned, while she was still up and flying she threatened the very well being of her friends and family. Of Equestria in general too. “Girls, we can do this.” Applejack paused and waited for her friends to join ranks, to listen. “That menace there doesn’t belong here, not one bit! Why, Ah’ve seen animals in the Everfree who acted more civil. She’s practically the embodiment of evil, of everything we don’t stand for. Nopony, not our friends or families, will be safe until we take her down.” Applejack finished and stretched out her hat and made sure it was still on her head. It was time to take care of some business.

Fluttershy shuddered, while the others nodded in agreement. “Um, we’re not gonna try and… d- destroy her, right? I’m not a destroyer of things… or a k-killer.”

Applejack smiled and patted her back. “No, we’re the Elements of Harmony. She’s more chaotic than Discord. We have to stop her, we will.” In that moment Applejack’s gem glowed just as brightly as Rainbow’s. Fluttershy’s followed as well.

“R-right, you’re right.” Fluttershy smiled hesitantly and looked back up at Dee, as if challenging her.

Rarity couldn’t help but smirk. “Oh, Applejack, that was quite inspiring. I’ve always admired your speeches, so elegant. Even in the thick of battle, you keep a level head.” With that last statement, Rarity’s began to glow as well.

Each bearer of their element were able to show what they represented to Equestria. Laughter, kindness, honesty, loyalty, generosity, and finally magic. Their friendship wasn’t just required to make the elements work, it was their individual abilities, kinks and personalities that truly made them shine. They all represented harmony, something Dee would never know.

Standing together as one, their elements glowed. Twilight focused on her element, which linked the five other as one. Bright colors shot out through their trinkets, bright magic enveloped them. Their bodies floated high into the air. All six ponies focused in their minds what they wanted, they wanted Dee gone. They wanted their world safe and harmony and balance restored. They wanted, of all things, Discord to be the guy of chaos again. It was infinitely better than a crazy murderer obsessed with power and control. They focused their elements and aimed directly for Dee. THe magic of the elements shot out at an impossible fast speed, only to miss entirely. The rainbow striped beam had struck Dee dead on, but nothing happened. It appeared as if it shot right through her, and continued on to parts unknown.

The Elements of Harmony had failed.
The swirling mass of power around Dee eventually gave out, but what was left didn’t make sense to anyone. Dee was there, and yet she was not. Her body appeared to be transparent in nature, and once more she appeared completely unharmed. She unfurled her body and stretched out, then laughed. She laughed more than anypony had ever seen Pinkie at a party. Eventually, she wiped a tear and sighed. “My, you ponies certainly gave me a work out… too bad it was all for naught. Confused? Aww, don’t worry. I’ll explain as soon as you’re all safe and sound, in cages!”

Before Twilight, the princess or anyone else could respond, Dee flew over everyone. Over each group of creatures she would fly over, appear opaque again as if by some spell, then cast another that would imprison them into a cage. A familiar cage. Once finished she would vanish to become transparent again, looking entirely see through, then repeat to everyone else. She had won, by the time Twilight had figured out what was going on, her magic held no use. She could not cast a single spell, neither could the princesses.

Dee floated over to the ponies cage, ignoring the rest and smiled. “Comfy? Cozy?” she questioned calmly. Each of them backed up, feeling the cold steel bars push into their skin. “Well… I SHOULD KILL EVERY LAST ONE OF YOU! You ruined everything! My plans, my escape routes! All of them are gone…” she said, distantly.

Twilight narrowed her eyes on Dee and shook her head in confusion. Escape route? What is she talking about?!

Dee eventually calmed down and looked up and sighed. “I won’t. I feel like a barren world is far too boring, to quote that moron I once worked with. None of you are any use to me dead… or confused. So, I’ll explain, while you’re all just sitting around.” She chuckled and cleared her throat. “You had almost beaten me, Twilight. I suppose that’s your stupid name, for a stupid pony.“

Twilight glared at her, but remained silent.

Dee continued, “When I said I wanted your dimension, I wasn’t joking. I travel dimensions, realities, realms; whatever you wish to call them. It takes quite a bit of magic to do so. I must also put up safety precautions, or there is no leaving them. Magical precautions, or safeguards. Doorways to enter and leave as I please, again this takes quite a bit of my magic.” Dee narrowed her eyes at Twilight and only Twilight; she didn’t even pay attention to her friends. “I was nearly defeated and nearly out of magic, so, in a last desperate attempt to stop you, I drained what was left of those guards. I have no way out of this place, no way back. I’m stuck here, for now.” Her body vanished for a moment, she then snapped a talon and it came back. “As you can see your little spell didn’t work, that is because I’m shifting between planes. Existing only in the ones I wish.”

Twilight focused on all the things she had learned about magic. She closed her eyes and tried to remember everything she knew on magical travel. Then she had it. “You’re Plane Shifting, Dee.”

Her draconian eyes widened in surprise, but then she smiled. “Yes, it means I can choose to exist here or not, but that doesn’t mean I get to leave. It simply governs what I can and can’t interact with. Very clever… for a stupid foal.”

Her friends looked at her in confusion. Twilight sighed. “It’s why the spell must have failed, if she choose not to exist on the same plane that we are on, then nothing would be able to touch her.”

“Correct again. Each ‘realm’ has more than one plane of existence. I’m simply phasing through them at will, if I choose to interact on yours-”

“Then you can interact with us,” Rainbow finished, banging her hoof on their cell bars.

“Correct. Oh, what would he say? This is so much fun! And to think, I wouldn’t have found this place if it hadn’t been for a single filly.” She raised a claw and in manner of moments a sign sprang up out of nowhere that lit up, pointing to Blaze Wings. The sign read ‘It was me!’ in bold letters. Some of the other unsympathetic ponies. and creatures glared at the filly who in turn sunk back into the safety of her two friends.

“Twi, what are we supposed to do?”

“I don’t know, Plane Shifting is supposed to be theoretical. I’m not sure what to do.” Twilight took a seat on the cold floor, looking defeated.

“That’s it, give up,” Dee taunted. “Heh, I almost did when I first came here. I figured I’d just move on after that failed experiment of mine. What was your pet’s name? Spike?”

“Hey!” Spike stood up and waved his his fist up at her in anger. “I’m not a pet!”

She snorted. “Then why do you sleep in a basket?” she asked, chuckling.

Spike’s eyes went wide. “H- how did you…”

“Oh, I wasn’t sure what to do when I got here. I had read about some heroes who could stop any foe. I needed someone on the inside,” she replied to him, making him shut his mouth. “I took just a bit of your blood while you slept. Wasn’t hard; you sleep like a baby. From that I made… him.” She pointed to the only other dragon in a cage, Shyfrost. Both dragons could only stare at one another in shock and horror. “Of course, I botched the spell by mistake, just my luck. What kind of dragon doesn’t breathe fire? Silly. I figured I couldn’t just have you walking around; you may run into them. So, I angered a few griffons, told them (in disguise of course) that a dragon had been spotted, terrorizing their young. I dropped him there and that was that.”

When she finished speaking Spike had began to hug Shyfrost, not believing the horrors he was hearing.

“After that I left this place for a few years, I never really wanted to come back, but there was just something about that filly. Coming from an alternate future? Another dimension? It made this place just seem so… enticing, so exciting even. I had to come back, so I did, and here we are. I discovered Discord and, well, you know the rest.”

Shyfrost could only shiver and think back to his earliest moments. He remembered nothing of a monster creating him, all he could think about was the griffon that saved him. Said griffon was staring at him, but he gave a subtle nod and a smile, as if to say ‘everything was going to be okay’. The young drake nodded while shaking, pondering his very being. He felt odd.

Spike, surrounded by various creatures who both friends and unknowns, walked up to Shyfrost. “Dude, did you just… flicker?”

Shyfrost blinked and raised a scaly eyebrow. “Huh?” He looked down at himself and sure enough, his body had begun to flicker, not unlike how Dee’s was. He flexed his claws and noticed that some had appeared to vanish, even if he could still feel them. “I don’t get it…”

Spike did, he smiled. “We may not be able to touch her, but I bet you can. You’re made from her, I bet whatever she’s doing, you’re doing now. I don’t know how that works, but it kind of seems like it.” Spike smiled at him, but Shyfrost shook his head and sighed.

“Yeah, made from her… real great.”

The fire drake walked right up to him and patted his shoulder, never letting his smile waver. “Yeah, she made you from me. Who cares why she did it… or how creepy it sounds. That makes us, like, brothers!”

For whatever reason, Twilight and her friends had been placed in the same cage. Meaning Twilight had heard Spike say that. She looked over and was about to rebuttal, when Spike beat her to it. “I told you he was my brother!”

“Uh, I guess that would make you his brother… not really, but you don’t have to know that,” Twilight muttered the last part, doing her best to keep her thoughts inside. Spike doesn’t need to know the ramifications of cloning and what not. Yeah…

Shyfrost smiled up at him. “Y-yeah, I guess it does.” Just as he finished his statement, his body flickered to appear entirely transparent. Then, he promptly fell through the bars and began to scream.

Thinking quickly, Shadow Mirror reached through and grabbed him with both his hooves. Both Shyfrost’s amulet and his artifact began to flicker as well. Instantly, Shadow Mirror’s body was washed over by a thin transparent looking material, giving him the same look as Shyfrost’s skin. Both creatures were now on another plane of existence, on Dee’s plane. They looked at each other and smirked.

“Well, uh, that just took an odd turn…” Discord uttered.

Cadence should only shiver and nod. “She’s a monster. We have to stop her.”

Discord snorted. “Well, if you look at it from the standpoint of the ‘turning griffons into violent beasts,’ then sure. She’s a monster, but she also gave life! That must count for something, right?”

Cadance glared at him. “She tried to exterminate that life,” she pointed out.

Discord nodded, looking down solemnly. “Yes, I suppose she tried… not the chaos way, indeed.”

For a split second Princess Cadance felt pity for the being of chaos. While she was still angry, she couldn’t help but notice his sour mood. It was very unlike Discord, if the stories her aunt had told her was anything to be believed. She hesitated, then spoke. “There aren’t very many of… whatever you are, are there?”

“Not really. Mom and dad are- wait, why should I tell you anything? I swear you ponies and your ways.” He folded his mismatched arms, turned around and ignored her, looking up like a snobbish noble.

“Discord…” She began, as if about to scold a child for not listening. “You’re just lonely, aren’t you?”

He started to chuckle. “No, just a very bored lord of chaos. She was my way out of it…” he replied, looking off in the distance, at a reality that only existed in his mind. He shook his head and grunted. “She just had to be… well--”

“A monster? Yes, she certainly is.” She chuckled herself and stood up from her chair. “You know, I was thinking you were; but if you can see evil in a living being, then truly you must see good as well, in others I mean.”

He snorted again. “Whatever.”

Cadance glanced back to Dee, and watched what was going on in fascination. “Those two, that’s not gonna be enough to stop her. What do we do?”

He shrugged. “Well, now that she’s distracted, I suppose I could use my magic to get all of those other creatures to safety. Not very chaotic, though.”

Cadance sighed. “Are you on our side or not?”

He looked at her in a boring manner and summoned a flag that had a pony insignia on it and lazily waved it. “Vote for the winning side, and just hope you don’t end up in stone!” He then vanished and went to work.

“He is, without a doubt, the strangest being I have ever met. And I’m in love with Shining…”

Shadow Mirror circled around Dee, with Shyfrost on his back. “I guess we can just phase through anything... uh, except her,” he quipped while Dee had swatted them away.

Shyfrost clutched onto Mirror for dear life, while worryingly glancing back up at Dee. “Are we even gonna question why I’m not falling?” he asked, gesturing to Shadow Mirror’s transparent form.

Discord, having heard the conversation, called up to them. “Questioning things is for bookworms, let them figure it out!” He indicated to Twilight and summoned a scientist outfit onto her. “Who cares why it’s working, now whoop her kiester!”

Unfortunately, Discord had called attention to himself. He had, in his claws, a massive pair of bolt cutters that he had summoned. Dee noticed them and sneered.

Discord sighed. “I really need to learn to keep my big mouth shut. One shot from her and I’m done for.” He snapped his talons and suddenly appeared in mid air, clutching some daisies to his heart while feigning death. He then glanced up at Shyfrost and called out again. “You gotta distract her, I’ll get the others!... Except Twilight, she scares me.”

“Shyfrost, hold on!” Mirror called out and started flying directly at Dee, interrupting her swoop by to the ground below. “We have to keep her away from the big goon, he’s saving them!”

“She’s, like, twenty times bigger than us! How are we supposed to do anything?”

Shadow Mirror couldn’t disagree, size did matter right now. Even if Shyfrost’s ice breath could touch her, he doubted it would stop her for long. “Just hang on, I’ve got an idea.” All the while he had been talking, Dee had been following them through the air. Shadow Mirror swooped down to the ground below, just barely hovering above it. “When I say now, I need you to turn around on my back and blow at her. Can you do that?”

Hesitantly he did just that, slowly turning around on his back, while they soared through the air at breakneck speeds. “O-okay…”

“Now!”

While others in the area couldn’t touch Dee, even the princesses who were being freed, Shyfrost and his ice breath could. Transparent forms of it shot out from his mouth in waves. Each one smacking into Dee’s head as quickly as Rainbow Dash could fly on a good day. Each one only angered her more and more. However, they also appeared to be slowing her down, weakening her.

What is that brat doing? It’s just ice! Hesitantly she looked back at her body and noticed with each passing explosion of ice, some had begun to stick. She tried brushing it off, but it only succeeded in getting some on her claw and talon. “No… NO!” she roared, not believing what she felt.

Shadow Mirror glanced back and slowly smiled. “It’s weakening her. Keep it up, Shyfrost!” he encouraged him.

Dee wasn’t the only one slowing down, though; with more ice came more exhaustion from the poor drake. He tried to keep up, but eventually his breath gave out. Dee saw this and smirked; all creatures had their weaknesses.

“I c-can’t… I’m out…” Shyfrost muttered, feeling more tired than he could ever remember feeling.

Shadow nodded and decided a new tactic was needed, or they would soon be in Dee’s clutches. He swooped around her and fell back to the cages. “I’ve got another idea, just hang in there, okay?”

Shyfrost turned back around and nuzzled his head into Shadow Mirror’s neck while grabbing on. “Alright.”

Right on the outside of one of the cages, Shyfrost’s group stood. Shadow looked down and smirked. “Shyfrost, did you notice our artifacts do something when we touched?”

“I think so; but why…? Oh.”

They both smirked. His ice may be out, but they still had friends who could fight back. Shadow flew down and promptly tossed Shyfrost onto the prince’s back. Instantly, the minotaur appeared transparent. Before he could fall down, he noticed Dee coming right at them. He jumped high into the air, and the two landed on her back.

“Get off me!” Dee tried to summon up a spell to do just that, but her claw felt frozen in place. What?! She looked over and inspected what was supposed to be a fully working claw. Instead, it had frozen over completely.

The prince smirked. “Can’t use any of your magic? Welcome to the club!” he jested. Although most creatures in Equestria did contain some magic, for Minotaurs it was raw strength they could channel. She didn’t need to know it, but she could certainly experience it. He brought his fist high into the air and immediately slammed it down onto one of her spines. She screamed out in agony a second later. Before he could pummel her into submission, though, she shot out downward.

“I’ll end you two, into the ground!” she announced, cackling like a mad creature.

Steel Valor looked down to the ground and connected the dots with what she wanted to accomplish, thankfully a bit early. She’s going to drag us into the ground and leave us to fall… or worse. He knew if she left them there, after falling off, she could come back and force her body to reappear again. Even if she didn’t, all it took was a simple slip to lose his physical touch with Shyfrost. As he watched the ground approach, he knew either way would be bad. Either he would fall through the earth and be trapped forever, or fall off too soon away from his drake friend and fall to his doom.

“I hope you enjoy being trapped in stone! Just like that fool!”

Shyfrost began to scream, witnessing the dirt and rocks below grow larger in his view. “What do we do?!”

Steel grabbed Shyfrost from behind his back and sighed. “Forgive me my friend.”

“What?!”

“This is going to hurt,” he announced, then promptly grabbed the end of his tail. He then positioned the dragon just above Dee’s head. Before she could retaliate, he pulled his tail with all of his strength. What came out could not only be described as pure ice, it was practically glowing like a gem. It encased Dee’s head in the stuff before they could blink. Steel smiled and just before they hit the ground, he pushed off of her while tossing Shyfrost into the air. “Shadow, catch him!”

The changeling in question did so, barely. As he caught the unmoving drake, they barely made it out without hitting the ground due to the increased weight and speed he had been falling. “Got ya!”

Steel smiled, and felt the ground coming quickly for him. So, he braced himself for either the end or a very painful crash. It never came. Instead he felt a gust of wind whirl around him, followed by himself being held upside down by his tail. I feel pain, but I see no dirt…

“Oh, I’ve got a minotaur. Collect them all!” Discord announced, while bobbing the prince up and down by the tip of his tail.

The changeling landed, momentarily forgetting that they were both still unable to touch the ground. It didn’t last long, Dee shifted back causing the ice around her to phase off. All of it. She felt dazed, hurt and exhausted. While she hadn’t crashed into the earth, as she was unable to touch it, that amount of magical ice surrounded her hadn’t done her any favors. “I’ll get that drake…” she muttered, almost feeling intoxicated. “Kill… him…” She wasn’t aware why the frost dragon’s breath could harm her so easily; she just knew it had extremely painful. She looked up and found she had been surrounded by the six mares she despised more than life itself.

“I’ll just let you all get better acquainted,” Discord announced, after dropping them off.

Dee snickered. “B- back for round two? It won't work you know…”

Discord floated above the six mares, still smiling. “Of course not. Jelly?” He offered innocently, holding out a massive jar of blue colored stuff.

She smiled, in her near drunken state of confusion, she nodded. “S- sure- wait, no!”

“If you insist!” Before she could vanish away, or even come up with the mental faculties necessary in order to do so, she was covered in the blue stuff. Her magic fizzled out, making it impossible to shift back. She looked at them and scowled. It was over. She had broken free before, but even if she had access to any of her magic, she didn’t show it.

Twilight walked up to the menace that had caused the entire mess. Before she could ask her friends to join together, Discord stopped her. He placed his talon in front of the mare and looked at her while shaking his head. Twilight hesitated, but slowly nodded.

“Dee, you could end this right now. I’d forgive you if you apologize,” Discord said, completely in earnest. Behind them all six mares shook their heads frantically; there was no forgiving what she had tried and they knew it.

Dee smiled up at him. “You know what I think?” she asked quietly, making Discord enlarge one of his ears and lean down. “I think you’re a brain-dead fool! Help me! We can stop them right now and--”

Discord nodded solemnly and placed his talon firmly to her lips. “Well, I’m afraid you must go,” he announced, making everyone turn their heads to him.

Twilight took that as as signal to get ready. “Girls, now! Your elements!”

Discord chuckled and turned around slightly, still keeping his talon firmly locked onto Dee. “Oh, you mistake me, Twilight. I’ll handle this,” he announced firmly. He reached out to summon forth an absurd level of magic. Surrounding Dee was a circular shaped hole that appeared before reality. “You may not be able to leave this dimension on your own, but that doesn’t mean I can’t do it for you!”

“What?!” Twilight shrieked in horror. “Girls, hurry, now!”

Discord gave her a pitying smile. “Sorry, Twilight. I owe her one, for breaking me free. A lord of chaos always repays his debts… usually.”

Dee smiled wickedly up at him. Such an idiot, a wondrous idiot. I’ll just return when I’m stronger.

Discord chuckled down at Dee. “Oh don’t go mistaking this for an easy way out. What sort of fun would that be? I’ll protect this realm from you. Meanwhile, I think you may find escape just a little difficult. You’ll be quite distracted. With him after you!”

Dee tilted her head in confusion, but didn’t have time to ponder this as the blackened hole swallowed her entirely. Before the rainbow beam of harmony could strike it, they all heard a voice call out just as the hole in reality began to close.

“Foul beasts! I will send you back to the depths of h-- what trickery is this?!”

When the hole closed, the beam had fired off, making DIscord dodge it by lifting his body and folding it like a rug. “Woah, watch your aim, girls. Wouldn’t want to hit me, right?”

Twilight scowled up at him, then turned around and saw all five of her friends had scowls of their own. “Girls…” she said, smiling wickedly up at Discord.

“Heh, woah!” Another beam shot off as the girls gathered together again. Making Discord dodge out of the way, from there they gathered another one and then another one. “Watch it! That one almost got me!”

“Good!” they all yelled, minus Fluttershy.

Shyfrost’s friends gathered around his limp form. The drake had yet to get up, with his only sign of life being shallow breaths. Steel looked up, then looked back to the changeling. “I swear, he should have been fine!”

Shadow nodded. “I’m not sure what to do, I don’t know anything about dragon health.”

Fluttershy, seeing that they were never going to actually hit Discord, stopped trying. She figured there were more important things to adhere to. Where did he go?! She looked around and quickly spotted the strange friends that he had traveled with. Seeing that he looked unconscious, she rushed over to him. “What happened?”

“I.. I don’t…” the prince stuttered, unable to reply. What have I done? he thought in horror.

“Pearls…” Shyfrost muttered, stirring awake.

All of his friends stared back in shock. Fluttershy’s face sagged to one of disbelief. He’s only resting… She sighed in relief and made a mental note to punish him later. Maybe she thought and then quickly brought out a sack full of some pearls. “Here you go, sweetie.”

Shyfrost cracked his eyes opened and smiled. “Hey there, Fluttershy.”

She giggled. “Hello, little one. I’m glad you’re alright.”

The two, reunited again, giggled while the drake scarfed down as many pearls as he could eat. He then began to explain as much as he possibly could about his adventures, barely even stopping to breathe. Fluttershy knew some of his stories, but they hadn’t had a moment to just sit down and talk until now.

On the other side of where the cages had been opened, Blaze Wings and her friends quickly ran away from the other angered ponies. She didn’t think any of them would actually hurt her; but she didn’t want to stick around and find out if they would.

“Uh, Scoots, when we’re done running, can you explain what she was talkin’ about?” Apple Bloom called out as they ran.

“I guess. It’s a long story.”

Sweetie Belle beamed. “Oh my gosh, I love awesome long stories! This one time I found this book and it had this weird thing on the cover and…” Sweetie Belle trailed off to catch her breath. She was about to speak up again, when she noticed Scootaloo had been looking away from them. Sweetie slowed down, which caused her friends to copy her. She smiled at Scootaloo then placed her hoof on her shoulder. “Scootaloo, we know you didn’t want to tell us what’s going on. But we’re your friends! We promise we wont get mad, right?” She turned to Apple Bloom, who quickly nodded.

Scootaloo turned back to them, blushing, then nodded herself. “Okay, just… I’ll tell you both later, alright?” She went to get up, but Sweetie stopped her.

“You Pinkie Promise?”

Blaze rolled her eyes and nodded, copying the gestures she had once seen the pink menace do. “Yeah, yeah, cross my heart, stick a cupcake… whatever.”

“It still counts!” Pinkie yelled out, startling her friends.

Apple Bloom smirked as they began to ran toward their sisters and friends. “We’ll hold ya to that, Scoots.”

Epilogue

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As the day dragged on, Rarity noticed that other creatures and ponies had begun to go home. “They’re leaving?!” She turned to Princess Celestia, who was smiling proudly at all of them, nodding to the occasional pony or griffon. “Shouldn’t you give a speech or something?”

Celestia looked at her in confusion, then shook her head. “I already did.” She then winked at Rarity and went back to beckoning others to leave and thanking them.

Shyfrost, meanwhile, looked over to his griffon savior with a solemn expression. The large bird had spread his wings and was looking off over a cliff. “Why do you have to go?”

“I have things to settle at home.” He looked back at the sulking drake and wrapped one of his wings around his back. “Don’t worry, I have a feeling we’ll cross paths again.” He then placed his favorite tool into one of his pouches and spread his wings. “Farewell, Shyfrost.”

Shyfrost smiled and waved to Garret, and watched him fly away until he was only a speck on the horizon.

“I’m going to miss what’s his name, he was the greatest of them all,” Discord announced to his side, startling him. He held a mock salute, with his expression reading anything but serious. Shyfrost glared up at him. “Oh don’t look so pouty. If any of you creatures get any…” he trailed off and made a smacking noise with his tongue in disgust. “Cuter, then we’ll all get an illness of some kind.”

Shyfrost stood back up and walked straight up to him. Despite DIscord’s size, he didn’t feel intimidated, he felt angry. “Why’d you let her leave?!” he demanded, puffing his chest out, ready to freeze him at any moment.

“Let’s see,” he paused and pointed off to the distance at six mares, “those mares have the power to turn me to stone. There wasn’t anything to stop that, no guarantee,” he emphasized. “With her gone,” he paused again and leaned in to speak, “and they not knowing where I sent her, wouldn’t it be reckless to simply do away with the only being that knows where she is? How would they stop her then?”

Shyfrost huffed, knowing what he was getting at, mostly. He wasn’t sure about the ‘turning to stone’ part, but he surmised that it was something that was possible. “She was evil…”

He chuckled at that, and quickly patted his head. “Maybe, sure! But if it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t have had the time of my life! Oh, and I guess you wouldn’t exist, there’s that,” he pointed out, as if it were the most normal thing in the world.

“Yeah, but--”

“Oh, don’t be so down on where you came from!” Discord exclaimed loudly, knowing he was about to protest. “I was born because two chickens laid an egg while not crossing the road! Who cares?”

Instantly the drake shifted from anger to confusion. “What?”

“Well, I’ll be seeing you! I’ve got a sun butt to bother!” He then vanished into himself, flickering out of existence, leaving the dragon stunned. Not really sure on what else to do, he lazily walked back toward Princess Celestia

“I appreciate your offer and it shall be considered. Although I will have to meet with these Elder Dragons,” Celestia announced quietly to King Pyro.

He chuckled. “I may not have met you before, but your legends seem true. Always interested in new forms of magic?”

She smirked. “If this experience has taught me, and I hope you, anything, it’s that sharing knowledge--and indeed, friendship--can go a long way to forming strength and power between our races. If you will have me and anypony else, I would gladly wish to share knowledge of our species and our magic on a grand council, so long as the favor is returned in kind.”

Pyro glanced back at Shyfrost and nodded. “Anything to keep my kingdom safe. We’ll have to be ready if that Dee ever returns.” He then turned around and gave a quick nod to the frost dragon. “Ah, Shyfrost. I appreciate you and your, er, comrades weakening Dee. If it hadn’t been for your unique connection to her, or your bravery, we’d all still be locked up.”

Shyfrost gave a shy nod and shrugged. The king nodded back, then spread his wings to join his allies in the sky.

“Are you alright?” Celestia asked.

He played with his claws a bit, not bothering to glance back up at her. “It’s just, what she said… where I come from. That’s really weird.”

She draped a wing over his back and smiled. “Perhaps so, but we do not get to choose our origins. Believe me when I say you are one special little dragon. Why, if it wasn’t for all of this happening, I might never have realized there was a completely isolated species that needed help surviving on love alone.”

He nodded, but didn’t feel convinced. “But--”

“And I wouldn’t have found out about the council of dragons, where they live and what they do.”

“Okay, but that still doesn’t--”

Her voice raised again, almost on purpose, to speak over his. “And now that I know that the other rulers are happy with my kingdom, we can work together on a global council, making sure that each kingdom gets their say and is treated fairly, thereby ensuring the safety of my little ponies. Don’t try and argue that you didn’t have something to do with all of that, young Shyfrost.”

Feeling flustered, he tried to come up with a rebuttal. “But- but, it was my friends, too! I couldn’t have done any of that, or gone that far without them!”

“Yes, friendship is very important. It’s not an amulet that connects you all, but the actions you have all taken together.”

Feeling a lot better, all he could do was nod dumbly. From behind him Princess Luna came walking up and chuckled. “My sister is quite skilled at talking others down from their guilty consciences. She’s had a lot of practice.” She then winked at Celestia and walked off to join Twilight and her friends.

“I believe somepony-- err, somedragon wishes to speak with you.”

Spike was waving at him, hanging over by Twilight who seemed busy conversing with her friends. When the drakes sat with each other, neither of them had much to say.

“Hey dude,” Spike finally broke the silence.

“Hey, Spike.”

“So she made me… from you, I guess,” Shyfrost explained, feeling more uncomfortable by the second.

Spike placed his claw behind his back and scratched his head in a nervous gesture. “Heh, yeah, I guess so. That’s okay.”

“How is that okay?”

Spike seemed taken aback by the statement. He quickly grabbed his friend for a hug. “Because I made a new friend. Twilight thinks that doesn’t “technically” make us brothers, but I still think she’s wrong. You’re as much a brother to me as she’s a sister to myself.”

He looked up curiously. “She’s your sister?”

“Sort of, I guess. She did hatch me, so you could argue she’s my mom, too… there’s a lot of techni- uh, technic- our family's complicated.”

Shyfrost chuckled. “Alright, uh, brother?”

Spike slapped his back and sighed. “Just call me big bro.”

“Okay, big bro.” The two shared a quiet moment together, looking up as Luna began to raise the moon and plant out each star. Life felt peaceful and finally the frost dragon knew his place and his family.

On the other side of the valley, Scootaloo sat with her friends who looked up with focused curiosity. “Alright, so you both want to know who I am?”

Apple Bloom quirked a brow up at her. “Aren’t ya Scootaloo? You look like her.”

Sweetie clambered to her hooves and quickly began to inspect the pegasus all over. “Are you one of those changeling things?”

Scootaloo slapped her hoof down her face and sighed. “No and no. It’s a long story, but my name is Blaze Wings. But, uh, you can call me Scootaloo if you want to.”

Apple Bloom scowled and looked her up and down. “Why the secrecy?”

She sighed. “Look, let me just start at the beginning, okay? If you both don’t want to be my friend after, then I’ll understand.”

The farm filly scowled even further. “Who said anything ‘bout not bein’ friends?!”

Sweetie Belle then hugged Scootaloo, mostly because she loved hugs, but also because she could tell the filly needed it. “Yeah, we’re your friends. No matter what.”

Blaze, feeling better about telling them, took a deep breath and began. “Okay, it started when I met this really old mare one day.” She looked over at Sweetie then continued. “She looked like you. I was living in an orphanage at the time, though, they call it a group home...” WIth that the filly began to explain the full story, not leaving out a single detail. Soon a crowd had gathered, from Twilight’s friends to Shyfrost’s and others, but Blaze kept speaking.

Twilight, tapped her mentor on the shoulder and made a hissing noise. “Psst, Princess Celestia, is it really possible to create a singular universe from a… well, a spell?”

“I suppose it must be. After all, we are here, aren’t we?”

“Yeah, but…” WIth that Twilight trailed off, pondering the mere existence of their lives. All of them brought together from a mere spell that was simply meant to send someone back in time, but to make sure they couldn’t mess with time. A spell that is self healing, that fixes paradoxes. Why would the answer to that be so complicated? Create a whole other universe? Would we not have existed if Blaze hadn’t done what she did?!

Celestia walked over to her student and patted her on the head, comforting what she saw was a young filly. Even if she was her very well respected student. “Twilight, I wouldn’t ponder on it too long. You’ll turn into Discord, thinking about chickens all the time.”

“Chickens, what? But… the knowledge…” she said, weakly.

“It’s all there. Everything we need to know about it was just said by a remarkable little filly. Do you really think she knows how it happened? Or why? She didn’t cast the spell, nor is she a unicorn. We can’t go to her timeline, or universe. Without these, all we need to know about this is there. We exist, nothing more. I’m not saying you can’t pursue knowledge, of course, but wouldn’t you be happier going after things that are less troublesome?”

“I- I guess so, sorry Princess. It just seems very… weird. It makes you reconsider our existence.”

“Maybe so. But so do a lot of things. The birth of a child, making a new friend, losing an old one.”

Twilight smiled, suddenly it didn’t seem so crazy. It’s nuts! she thought, but at the very least she could move on without pondering it so much. While she could dedicate her entire life figuring out how to get to Blaze’s universe and how to reconstruct the spell that had brought her here, what would it accomplish? She had everything she needed in her own plane of existence. She watched the three fillies giggling with each other and smirked. I guess she is pretty amazing

“Our best friend’s a time traveling filly from another dimension!” Sweetie Belle announced, her voice squeaking just a bit too much. “Oh my gosh, it’s just like in issue number thirty seven of the Power Ponies!”

“She also is living out of a clubhouse,” Rainbow pointed out. “Dimensional traveling filly or not, I don’t think I can just take her in… Pinkie.” She looked at the pink mare and glared. Pinkie looked down shamefully, but her head was tilted up by Princess Celestia, who gave her a kind smile.

“What happened, Pinkie?” she asked in a calm and collective tone.

“Oh… I kind a volunteered Rainbow to take care of Scootaloo, maybe not the best idea?”

“Hmpf. Perhaps a tad rude, but your heart was in the right place.” She shook her head and turned to Rainbow. “Rainbow Dash, do you care for this filly?”

She rolled her eyes, then glanced back at her and slowly nodded. “Yeah… yeah I do. You’d have to be crazy to hate her… or to make up something that crazy sounding.”

The princess giggled. “It’s why I believed her; well, that and she seemed to speak as if she believed what she claimed. While it is entirely possible she is stretching the truth, I highly doubt it.” Blaze remained silent while she listened. “Could you take her in?”

“It’s not that I wouldn’t… although I’m not great with children. Uh, it’s that I don’t make a ton of money. I mean, I do; but aren’t fillies expensive?”

“Any family member can be, yes. However, perhaps a deal can be worked out. I’d feel terrible allowing the catalyst for the creation of our existence to simply live without a family.” She turned up to Scootaloo then winked at her.

“Uh, what deal?”

“A monthly allowance from the crown to help out, only until you can afford to pay for anything she may need yourself.”

Rainbow grumbled, but nodded. She didn’t enjoy accepting so much help, but she figured it made sense. Blaze walked up to her and nuzzled her chest. Rainbow sighed and looked around, making sure nopony else was paying attention, then repeated the gesture.

“Splendid; now--” Celestia tried to get out, by was swiftly interrupted.

Pinkie then felt a tingling in her body. “Tingling ankle, twitchy tail, blinking eye… I forgot to throw Shyfrost a ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ party! Hmm… Or Blaze Wings a ‘Welcome to our Dimension and new Timeline’ party!”

“Uh, but how would you have known to--”

Pinkie stuck her hoof onto Blaze’s mouth. “Hold that thought, we have to hurry! C’mon!”

Pinkie Pie began to bounce away from the crowd, but not before calling out to the princesses. “I hope it’s okay if I borrow the castle!”

Celestia giggled, while Luna looked less than pleased. “What is going on?”

“I believe we will find out, dearest sister. Let’s go, we have friends to catch up with.”

Shyfrost pondered on what his friends were up to, would they come to Pinkie's party? Or would it be time for them to head back home, to take care of their own friends and family? He looked around, happy to be surrounded by just that. For now, it didn't matter. His friends would be fine, they had their own lives to take care of. For now, he had his. He had family, friends, a brother, but mostly importantly he had his purpose.

THE END

Spike's Nameless Brother

by Cold Spike

Chapter 1: The Orange Creature

Chapter 2: Where is he?

Chapter 3: Find Your Purpose

Chapter 4: You Did What?!

Chapter 5: Family

Chapter 6: My Name Is...

Chapter 7: A Cupcake Fills the Soul

Chapter 8: Pearls and Friendship

Chapter 9: Cutie Mark Crusaders

Chapter 10: The Amulet of...

Chapter 11: Worlds Apart

Chapter 12: Strange Bedfellows

Chapter 13: Plans Astray

Chapter 14: Unity

Chapter 15: The Minotaur Realm

Chapter 16: The Mysterious Filly

Chapter 17: Scootaloo's Origin

Chapter 18: A Change in Management

Chapter 19: Griffons and Plans

Chapter 20: Reunion

Chapter 21: A Queen and an Ancient Dragon

Chapter 22: The King's Orders

Chapter 23: The Solid Tornado

Chapter 24: Unity

Chapter 25: A Chaotic Plan

Chapter 26: The Truth

Epilogue