"Are you crazy!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie. Twilight could not believe Pinkie just said that, of all ponies. "That'll never work you silly-fillies!"

"We didn't even tell you the plan yet." said Twilight. "How can you know it's going to be that bad?"

"I read the last chapter." said Pinkie, "We are going to make friends with Queen Chrysalis!"

"Don't be ridiculous, darling." said Rarity. "That can't be their plan."

"Yeah." said Rainbow Dash while everypony nodded their agreement. "So, what's the plan?"

"We are going to go make friends with Queen Chrysalis." said Starswirl grimly.

"WHAT?!" screamed everypony except for Starswirl, Twilight, and Pinkie Pie.

"See? Told ya" said Pinkie Pie.

"Relax, everypony." said Starswirl. "Look, if I could think of another solution we would do it in a heartbeat."

"B-but she's evil!" said Rainbow, confused as to how they we even discussing this. "She attacked Canterlot and the princesses for no real reason!"

"If there is one thing I'm sure of," said Starswirl calmly, "it's that Chrysie had a reason."

"Chrysie?" asked Applejack, "Do y'all have history together?"

"You could say that." said Starswirl. "All that matters is that she owes me a favor. She will help us. So, who's coming?"

One by one, every hoof in the room was raised, even Fluttershy. Starswirl looked around, trying to decide who to leave behind. It was pointless. They would all volunteer, even if they didn't want to go. So Starswirl, knowing Shining Armor would be reluctant, said "Well, somepony needs to stay here and guard the Elements. How about Shining Armor?" Shining Armor looked around sheepishly for a while, finally saying, "Fine. Somepony has to do it." As the adventurers exited the library, Shining Armor mouthed a silent "Thank you." to Starswirl.

Luna, Starswirl, and the spirit Elements of Harmony stood outside, preparing themselves for the journey. Luna calms her mind, preparing for the inevitable fight. Rainbow did a few quick laps around town, Applejack stretched out her hooves, Rarity ran to grab a hat, Fluttershy went to say farewell to Angel, Twilight read through a book of spells, and Pinkie Pie jumped around like a maniac. Starswirl, however, was thinking about his past with Chrysalis. The good times they had. Well, thought Starswirl, Time to call in a favor I never thought I would need to. This is going to hurt my pride.

"Alright everypony!" said Starswirl as everypony grouped around him. "This is going to be a long, dangerous trek. We will have to deal with all types of monsters. Hydras, parasprites, timberwolves, manticores, possibly even Ursas. Now to deal with a hydra, you have to-"

"Actually," said Twilight, "We already fought a hydra."

"Oh." said Starswirl. "Well, you defeat a parasprite wi-"

"Music!" exclaimed Pinkie. "I figured that out ages ago, but nopony listened to me for some reason."

"You've dealt with parasprites." said Starswirl, "Ok. The thing about timberwolves is-"

"Ah reckon we already know how to deal with them varmints." said Applejack, "Me and Big Macintosh gotta ward them off every year at zap apple harvest time."

"And I can tame animals." said Fluttershy timidly, "I'm sure I could convince a manticore to help us if we encounter one."

"Not to mention that I've already gotten rid of an Ursa Minor with no real trouble." said Twilight. "So if we encounter a Major, we should be able to deal with it."

"Alright, alright." said Starswirl "You have experience dealing with monsters." Wow!, thought Starswirl, They are a lot stronger than I give them credit for. "Well let's get going. Allons-y!" And with that, the group headed south to the changeling Hive. "Wouldn't it be cool if I met a stallion named Alonso? That way, I could go Allons-y Alonso!" said Starswirl with a grin.

"What are you, a doctor?" said Pinkie Pie inexplicably.

"Nah." said Starswirl, "I never got into medicine. I could be though." It was silent for an hour, just the 8 walking up into the Everfree Forest. They break through the woods, keeping their wits about them. There were dangerous creatures in this forest and they all knew that. An hour or two later, they encountered their first monster. It was Fluttershy who saw it first.

"Dragon!" she screamed, as she ran behind a tree.

"What are you talking about?" asked Twilight, with equal terror. "It's Ms. Calculus, my magic kindergarten teacher!"

"I have no idea what you are talking about!" exclaimed Rarity, "What I see is Hoity Toity, burning my dresses!"

"No! It's Flim & Flam!" cried Applejack. "They have the deed to Sweet Apple Acres!"

"It's a boggart." said Starswirl, averting his eyes. "They feed on fear. They will turn into what we are most afraid of. The only way to stop them is with l-" he said, opening his eyes. Then, he froze. His eyes fell on the boggart. He began to tremble and shake. He fell to the ground, his hooves over his eyes. "No!" he screamed, "No! Stay away from me!"

"Hahahahaha!" laughed Pinkie, her eyes locked onto the boggart, whatever it might be for her. The boggart backed up confused, then focused its attention on Twilight.

"I think Pinkie is on to something!" said Twilight. "The opposite of fear is laughter, so imagine something not so scary!" How can I make Ms. Calculus less scary?, Twilight thought to herself, I know! She could never do anything without her ruler! And with that, she imagined Ms. Calculus' ruler exploding into a smoke bomb. It blew up in her face, covering her face in soot. Twilight lost it, laughing her flank off. The boggart, confused as to what was happening, turned to Applejack, who imagined Flim & Flam tripped and slapped each other with their horns. Then it was Rainbow's turn. She looked at the boggart for a while, then started to laugh as well. Soon enough, everypony broke out into laughter, all except Starswirl.

"It's ok Starswirl!" said Pinkie Pie through tears of laughter. "Don't you see? When I was a little filly and the sun was going dooooooown!" she sang.

"Really Pinkie?" said Rainbow, though with a smile on her face.

"The darkness and the shadows, they would always make me frooooooown! I'd hide under my pillow, from what I thought I saw, but Granny Pie said that wasn't the way to deal with fears at all! She said 'Pinkie, you gotta stand up tall, learn to face your fears. You'll see that they can't hurt you, just laugh and make them disappear.' Ha Ha Ha! Sooooooooo giggle at the ghostly,Guffaw at the grossly, Crack up at the creepy, Whoop it up with the weepy, Chortle at the kooky, Snortle at the spooky, And tell that big dumb scary face to take a hike and leave you alone and if he thinks he can scare you then he's got another thing coming and the very idea of such a thing just makes you wanna… hahahaha…heh-Laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaauuugh! " sang Pinkie. This was her favorite song because it showed off her love of laughter. Even Starswirl, who was shaking in his horse-shoes was laughing. "Hahahahahahahahahaha!" laughed Starswirl, uncontrollably. "Hehehe."

"Wow, Starswirl." said Twilight, "I had no idea you were afraid of anything."

"Only two types of ponies live without fear, idiots and psychopaths. I am neither."

"Well, what did the boggart turn into for you Starswirl?", inquired Twilight, "And for that matter, what did it do for you Pinkie and Rainbow?"

"Oh, oh." said Pinkie, "For me, it turned into you guys saying that you didn't like me anymore. I laughed because it was so ridiculous. I learned that from that fiasco on my birthday."

"Oh yeah." said Twilight, reminiscing on the time Pinkie got depressed because they were 'avoiding' her. "Well, we should probably get moving." They walked through the woods, 30 minutes passing before Twilight realized that 2 ponies dodged her question. "You never answered me guys." said Twilight, deciding to pursue the topic further, "What did the boggart turn into for you Rainbow?"

"Promise not to laugh." said Rainbow Dash, "It turned into Spitfire and she told me I would never be a Wonderbolt."

"We would never laugh at you for that Rainbow Dash." said Twilight, "How about you Starswirl?"

"Spiders." said Starswirl solemnly, "Ever since I was a colt, I've hated spiders."

"Why is that?" asked Luna.

"You know why Luna." said Starswirl irritably, "When we were learning transformation spells, Luna decided to pull a little prank. When I went to bite my apple, I was suddenly holding a tarantula. I look around and see none other than Luna, horn pointed right at my spider-apple. Luna thought it was funny. I did not."

"You had it coming Starswirl." said Luna smugly.

"I suppose I did, didn't I?" said Starswirl. "Well, we are nearing the edge of the forest. The Hive is right over the Macintosh Hills, in the badlands. We are going to have to go around Appleloosa."

"Why didn't we just take the train?" asked Twilight, "We could have been there already."

"If you were Solaris, and you were just attacked by the only ponies who had the power to defeat you, would you leave something like public transportation to get from where they are to where they need to be open?" asked Starswirl rhetorically.

"Oh right." said Twilight, feeling foolish.

"We should hurry up before it gets too late" said Luna, for it was about time for the moon to rise. "I will have to raise the moon soon."

"Can't you just leave it alone?" asked Twilight.

"Only if you want all of Equestria to be plunged into chaos and destruction." said Luna, "If the moon is not raised when it is time, it will upset the balance of the universe. There is no telling what will happen."

"Well, we are almost at Appleloosa." said Starswirl, trying to figure out what to do next, "We should walk a little more, and then set up camp for the night. I know a spell to create a little campsite."

5 minutes later, Starswirl decided it was time to set up camp. Everypony stopped to set up the woodsy area. Luna began to prepare the spell to raise the moon, while the other ponies went to gather food and firewood. Once the moon was up, their campsite settled, they had a quick supper of fruit, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, and apples, golden delicious and fuji. After their meal, they unwinded a little, relaxing by the fire.

"Fluttershy. You said you could talk to animals" said Starswirl. "Do you think you could ask them to keep guard around the camp for the night?"

"Oh, I'm sure I could handle that." said Fluttershy, getting to her hooves. She walked up into the brush and began to whisper. A moment later, she returned smile on her face. "They said they would love to."

"Excellent." said Starswirl summoning some sleeping bags via magic. "Now that we don't have to worry about getting ambushed, let's get some shut eye."