Twilight sighed, as she continuously tried waking Justin up, who was asleep on the bed she lent him, which was on the opposite side of the room, and facing the opposite direction of where her bed was. So far, she already tried waking him up by yelling in his ears, shaking him around furiously, and even popping his head with her hooves, which only made her groan even more. Finally, she decided she had no other choice.

Quickly, she trotted out of the room, while the sound of a sink filling a wooden bucket could be heard. Seeing this opportunity, Justin's eyes quickly darted open, while he reached behind his back, and pulled a few extra pillows from the ground level, while quietly sliding out of the blankets, placing the pillows where he was in the process. Then, he snuck behind the door within the room, which was cracked slightly open, and waited for his moment to "strike", while pretending to be reading a book on the desk.

Whenever Twilight trotted in, she had the bucket levitating behind her, while Justin barely managed to keep himself from laughing. Then in a normal, yet louder-sounding tone, Justin said, "Good morning, Twilight!"

The moment he said that, a large grin formed on his face, as Twilight jumped straight into the bucket, while the bucket itself was no longer in her magic barrier, due to her spell being dispelled via "loss of concentration". The next thing they knew, Twilight was standing there, soaked to the core in water, while Justin immediately burst out laughing, followed by Spike, who just entered the door before the events took place.

Twilight, of course, wasn't amused at all. In fact, her glare that she was giving the two of them made it quite clear enough to Spike. Justin, however, was still smirking, before asking, "What? I was just reading a book, and said 'Good Morning' when you walked in!" The next thing he knew, he had a pillow thrown into his face, before Twilight angrily trotted out of the room, giving him a glare. Justin, of course, noticed that she was giving him a playful glare, since he's already seen what a real glare looks like from her. "I regret nothing!" He said, shortly after she closed the door behind her.

Justin looked at Spike, and shrugged, before they both continued their laughing. "Holy guacamole, Justin! That was so hilarious! Whoever taught you how to prank must've been a genius, or something!"

The compliment caused Justin to scratch the back of his neck, and reply, "Thanks, Spike! But I'm kinda worried I might've overdone it... perhaps I should be the one to mop up the mess." He pointed at the puddle on the floor where Twilight stood, to which Spike turned to face. Then, he looked back at Justin, and smiled.

"Nah, I got it, Justin! You go see what Twilight wants you to-" Before Spike could finish his sentence, the loud sound of the wooden bucket hitting the ground caused the two of them to turn around, and face the entrance to the door. Then Twilight called their names in an angry-sounding yell, which caused the two of them to run out of the room, with Spike yelling, "On our way!" as a response.

The second they reached the bottom step, however, they were both greeted by a sack of flour which burst right in their faces, covering them both entirely in the powdery bread-makers. Then it was Twilight who burst into laughter, while Justin and Spike looked at each other, and joined in the laughter.

"Dang, Twilight! I didn't take you for a prankster!" Justin said, to which Twilight's laughter lowered down a bit. Spike nodded his head in agreement, but was still laughing hysterically.

"Hey, you'd be surprised what kinds of books you can find in this library!" She replied, while her horn glowed it's usual bright lavender color. The next thing they knew, the flour was gone, and the floor below them was clean again. This, of course, confused Justin greatly.

"Wait, how did you do that?! I'm Undead, so I'm immune to magic!"

"Well, duh! Just because you are immune, doesn't necessarily mean that the things on you are, as well!" She smiled, while writing that statement in a scroll that Justin somehow missed, which was floating in the air beside Twilight, along with a quill and an ink pot.

At once, Justin nodded his head, having figured out what was going on. "So I take it that 'Prank' was also something you wanted to use, in order to research something that's been bugging you?"

Twilight's eyes widened when he said that, while Spike stared at the two of them confusedly. "Wow! That's... very observant of you, Justin! How did you know that?"

With a shrug, Justin replied, "Eh, it just seemed rather obvious to me. I mean, why else would you just conjure up a piece of parchment, a quill, and a little ink, directly after covering me in flour, and managing to get rid of the flour almost as quickly?" Then, Spike placed his forehead in the palm of his right claw, and walked into the kitchen, mumbling something about science-talk and eggheads.

Twilight, however, had a smile forming on her face. "Y'know what, Justin? You could probably be a great scientist here in Ponyville, with that quality of observation! That is... if you want to! I happen to have a ton of books on Science, Geometry, Chemistry, and of course-"

Spike groaned from the kitchen, "Twilight! We need more flour, if we're gonna have pancakes for breakfast!"

Both Justin's and Twilight's ears perked up at, in the given order; Justin with the mention of pancakes, and Twilight with her name being called. In an instant, she immediately ended the conversation there, looked back towards the busted flour bags, and grinned sheepishly, before replying, "Oh... whoops!"

Then, her stomach started to grumble lightly. "I... shoot! I almost forgot that Applejack needed me for something in Sweet Apple Acres!" With a sigh, she looked at the front door, and weakly smiled. "Well, I guess I'd better go see what Applejack needed me for. Hey, Justin! I know this is sudden, but would you mind going to see Pinkie Pie, and ask her if I can buy a couple more sacks of flour?" As she was saying that, Twilight was trotting towards a small bag, which she opened, and levitated towards herself, while pulling out twenty bits, and placing them in a separate bag. Then, the separate bag was telepathically placed in Justin's right hand, while the former bag was levitated back to the bigger bag. Justin looked at the bag, and suddenly found himself lost in thought.

"Hold on... I can't believe I haven't thought of this yet! I've been here, like, three days now, and I still have to find a job for me to pay Twilight! Heck, I haven't even stepped out the front door the past couple days, except for when she needed me to do something... and she's been lending me her home, and putting up with my playful nature, yet I haven't done anything in return!"

With a smile to hide his concern, Justin nodded his head, and replied, "Sure thing, Twi! Oh, and while you're at Applejack's, do you think you can ask her if she needs an extra hand?" Twilight stared at him confusedly at the word "hand", but Justin already caught onto the reason, and placed his face in his palm. Then, he pointed at his hands, while wiggling the fingers of the hand being pointed at. "These things."

With a resounding "oh" coming from Twilight, she nodded her head, and replied, "Of course!" Then, she opened the door, and the two of them stepped out of the door, only to be greeted by the feeling of the earth shaking.

Justin lowered his knees, and maintained balance, while looking around. Then, he felt a tingling in the back of his ears, while time itself seemed to slow down around him. For a split second, his eyes seemed to glow pure blue, while the world around him supposedly went the speed of a snail. Finally, he caught a glimpse of a pitch black arrow flying towards Twilight at the same speed as the world, but when he managed to see it, time started to slowly speed back up again.

Deciding to take action, Justin immediately pushed Twilight out of the impact zone of the arrow, while she flew off the front porch, and into her garden. As he did that, she looked at him with a hint of shock, anger, confusion, and fear in her eyes, until the arrow landed right in Justin's right leg, pinning him to the ground. Then, the fear was all that showed.

"Oh my gosh! Justin!" Twilight screamed, which made Justin chuckle slightly. "W-what's so funny?! You just-"

"Don't forget, Twilight... I'm Undead!" Justin replied, while pulling the long, black arrow out of his leg. "I can't feel anything! Remember?" Once it was completely out, Justin looked at his leg, and found that his clothing was torn, but his skin seemed to not even have a hole in it. The arrow, however, have a long smear of blood on it. "Well, that's interesting, to say the least!"

A couple seconds after he pulled the arrow from his leg, a dark-coated pegasus stallion wearing black armor quickly flew up to them, and practically yelled, "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to shoot that arrow here! I was just practicing my archery for Princess Luna, when suddenly the earth started shaking, and I tripped with the bow!" Then, he looked around, and saw Twilight in the mud, while Justin was holding the arrow he accidentally shot. Seeing the situation, he realized that he nearly ended the life of, not only a mare, but an Element of Harmony, as well. "Oh, no... please don't tell me I nearly shot Twilight Sparkle, as in THE Element of Magic, and Princess Celestia's Faithful Student, herself?!"

Twilight stood from the dirt, and brushed herself off, before smiling at the guard. "It's alright, Storm Shadow. I won't tell the Princess!" Then, she looked around, and asked, "But still... why is the earth even-"

"STAMPEDE!" Rainbow Dash yelled, which broke the three from their conversation, and made them look in the direction Rainbow Dash was screaming. Sure enough, from the distance they could see a large number of cows running in a collision course for Ponyville. At once, Justin's eyes shined blue again, but this time, instead of time being slowed down, a small clip from an episode of the show he watched played through his mind... the one that proved to him that the cows in Equestria are sentient.

"Oh, no! If they reach Ponyville with that speed, they might accidentally destroy the buildings!" Storm said in a worried tone. "I need to quickly rally up a large number of pegasi and earth ponies to... to... Twilight? Where'd that strange biped go?" Twilight's gaze turned from the stampede to Storm Shadow, before seeing that Justin was no longer standing on the porch, but rather, was on the other side of the stacks of houses.

Justin was rushing towards the stampede, but wasn't facing it. Instead, his eyes were locked onto a large pole that had four giant megaphones on it, and a microphone on the lower level of it. Then, once he reached it, Justin yelled in the mic, "STOP!"

After closing his eyes, and praying for a miracle, he realized that the quaking has calmed down. Opening his eyes, he saw that the cows were standing there at the front of Ponyville, but none of them were moving anymore. Then, Justin's gaze shot towards the Everfree Forest, where he blinked his eyes a few times, and noticed, what appeared to be, a tall, white gargoyle disappearing for a split-second. As it disappeared, however, his eyes glowed again, and at once, more of his memories of the episode returned; where it was Applejack and Winona that saved Ponyville from the stampede, and not himself.

Suddenly, his mind became clear again, and he could hear the sound of cheering coming from around him. The cheering, however, didn't make him smile, as he couldn't shake a strange feeling he was getting. It felt like something was off. Looking into the crowd, he saw that Applejack was nowhere to be seen. Twilight noticed his concerned expression, and galloped up to him, asking, "Justin? What's wrong?"

Justin opened his mouth to respond, only to grip his head in pain, and groan. After seeing his sudden pain, the mayor backed away from the crowd, originally smiling to give him a reward, but now looking worriedly at the pained human. Before Twilight could ask him anything, however, Justin looked at her, and said in a serious tone, "Something's wrong with Applejack!"

Applejack was sweating, glaring, and panting heavily, while a tall, thin, pale-skinned, long white-haired, elf-like man towered over her, smiling, with his pointy teeth showing. He was wearing a long, black cloak with a hood that dangled on his back, while below it was a black plated set of sleeveless armor, with a white trim that coated the dents of the armor where the plating ended, while three large plates coated his entire stomach; two on the chest, and a large, tilted hexagonal-shaped one below the chest piece. His waist was covered in a white and black-trimmed belt that rose just inches above the stomach piece, and his legs were covered in black chained leggings, with white plated boots that had black trimmings on each foot that spiked in the tips, and rose up an inch above his ankles. His hands were covered in similar-colored gauntlets that rose where his elbow joints were, and his fingertips were spiked like his boots, only instead of curving an inch up, they curved downward, similar in shape to a cat's claws.

Applejack appeared to also have a couple scratch marks spread across her entire body and face, while the mysterious figure appeared unscathed. Holding her glare, Applejack angrily said through clenched teeth, "Ah don't know who in Equestria ya think ya are, but I can guarantee ya won't be taken as a friend, after what ya gone and done ta Big McIntosh and I!"

The figure's smile only widened, as he said in a medium-pitched, vampire-accented tone, "Ah, but your brother had it coming, anyways! He was destined to hurt his back at some point... though I'm not sure if it were supposed to be today originally... ah, well! I'm sure the Threads of Fate are willing to accept that change!"

Applejack glared at this figure even more, before lifting her lasso from the ground in front of her fore hooves with her mouth, but when she was facing up again, the figure was already just inches away from her. Before she could react, the figure already kicked her in the gut, which sent her flying near a tree behind her a few meters away. Then, the figure ran up to her, and held her by the throat with his clawed left hand, while his right one was held in a threatening stance; stretched backwards, with the claws' tips rubbing against each other, giving a rustic metal sharpening sound.

"I suppose I'll just have to be straightforward, to save us both some time." The figure said, before releasing Applejack's neck from his sharp grip, and picking up her lasso. Then, with his right claw, he cut the lasso in two, while asking her in a casual tone, "Where is the Element? Y'know, the one that stands out from the rest?"

While spitting a small hint of blood on the ground in front of her, Applejack replied, "Ah ain't gotta tell you nothin'!"

"Ah, the typical stubbornness of the Element of Honesty... I should've guessed!" Then, he stretched his right hand outwards, and towards the side, while facing Applejack. "If I can't get the answers I seek..." Suddenly a long, black, curved scimitar appeared in his right hand, with a dark red aura flowing around it. "... I'll just have to cut the answers out of you, and your so-called 'friends', who weren't even there to save you."

Slowly walking up to Applejack, who suddenly found herself caught in a spell that held her in place, he smiled dementedly again, while she closed her now tear-filled eyes, and her head turned towards the bottom-right corner of her neck, bracing for the impact from the sword... but it never came.

The next thing she knew, a loud, metallic 'bang' could be heard, followed by the figure flying a couple meters backwards. When she opened her eyes, the first thing she realized was that she was no longer caught in the spell, so she looked around, and spotted Twilight Sparkle standing there behind a tree. As fast as her legs could take her, Applejack galloped towards her friend, then turned to face the figure, who just finished standing back up when she reached Twilight.

The figure started to chuckle, before saying, "Ooh, what have we here? Another 'Element of Harmony' before me! This just keeps getting more and more interesting!"

Twilight, now showing even more anger than Applejack after seeing the condition she was in, replied, "Who are you, and what is your purpose?!"

After his grin lowered a small bit, the figure replied, "Sorry, Twilight... I don't take orders from you." As soon as he said that, he warped in front of the two mares in a flash of shadowy mist, which caught them both off guard. Then, at the snap of his right fingers, he launched Applejack into a tree, knocking her unconscious in the process, while Twilight was covered in a shielding spell.

"Applejack!" Twilight yelled, while turning to face her fallen friend, only to be gripped in the neck by the figure again.

While ignoring Twilight's choking noises, the figure smiled, and said, "A Unicorn... perfect! You shall be the perfect host." Soon, his eyes started to glow green, while Twilight's eyes, after being closed, slowly opened up again, and the irises of her eyes started turning green, while the white colors of her eyes started blackening. "You are a very resilient one, Twilight! It's a shame you won't be able to resist forever, though! Maybe when I have you broken, you can tell me where-" Before he could finish his sentence, he was greeted, yet again, with a metal object, only this time, it was a shovel bashing him in the head, sending him flying left, and into another nearby tree.

Opening his eyes, he slowly glared at the mysterious intruder, before standing up. Then, his eyes widened when he saw just who it was. "The Element! I'm so glad you could come!"

Justin glared at the mysterious figure, while holding the shovel in a defensive stance. "Element? What the hell are you talking about?!"

The figure replied, "Why, an Element of Death, of course!" in a 'you-should-know-this' type of tone.

Justin's glare intensified, while he asked, "Wait, so you did this," he pointed at both, Applejack and Twilight, who was still standing there, although her eyes stopped blackening, even though the black coloring around her eyes was still there halfway, "to find out where I am?! Why?! What is your purpose here, exactly? While I'm at it, who in the name of Celestia are you?!!"

The figure smiled in a more casual way, before replying, "I have come to collect you. You have to rendezvous with your fellow Elements, so that we may bring them all back as a whole, and take over this world while it's still weak!" Justin's right eyebrow raised, confused at why this figure was being so descriptive towards him. "Oh, and my name... I have none. I am what's known as a 'Shadow Figment'... a creature born of the imagination of the darkest of hearts. I can either be controlled by an Element of Death, or killed by the Threads of Fate!" In an instant, he teleported closer to Justin, who took a step back from the unexpected close-up. "So come along, then! We don't have all day!" The Figment asked, stretching his right hand out, to which Justin looked at, before glaring at the Figment.

"And if I say 'no', then how would you react?" Justin asked, raising the shovel again.

The Figment's smile dropped at that statement, and was replaced with a glare. "Then I'll just have to take you there by force, of course!" At once, the figment tackled Justin to the ground, and began placing his right hand on Justin's forehead, chanting an incomprehensible spell in the process.

Once the spell finished, however, nothing happened, much to the Figment's surprise. "W-what?!" He asked, before Justin reached his right hand up, and began pushing his thumb into the figment's left eye. As he did, he also gripped the figment's right arm. Then, the two points where he gripped started ejecting a thick black smoke, while the Figment yelled in pain, jumping off of Justin, and gripping his left eye with his right hand, and his right arm with his left.

"Y-you! What have you done?!" The Figment asked, removing his right hand from his eye. The entire left side of his face was turning into a red, volcanic color, while his left eye resembled lava at that point. "H-how did you..."

Justin stood back up, confused as well about what just happened. "I don't know... but if you get that close again, I won't hesitate to take your other eye!"

Then, the Figment backed away, before groaning. "Very well, then... this isn't over, though! One of these days, I will return, and when I do, I shall be the one to collect you!"

Justin glared again, and replied, "No, you won't!" As soon as he said that, a pair of golden threads appeared on the Figment's wrists, tied in a knot, and dangling loosely, while coming straight out of his arms. He groaned in pain, as the threads appeared to shift around.

"Fine... I won't return..." the Figment said, resulting in the threads disappearing from his wrists. "But who knows? Perhaps we'll... meet again!" After saying that, the Figment snapped his left fingers. Then, the shadow below him grew in size, before lifting itself up, and engulfing him completely. Then, it lowered to the ground, and vanished in the blink of an eye.

Justin looked around, and asked no one in particular, "What... the Hell... was that all about?!" Before he could get an answer from himself, or a possible onlooker, he heard the sound of a body falling onto the ground. Looking towards the source, he noticed just who it was. "Twilight!" Justin yelled, before rushing up to her. Then, he looked at Applejack, who was still lying there in front of the tree.

Quickly, he lifted Twilight up, and placed her over his left shoulder, while running to Applejack, and lifting her on his right. "Thank goodness, y'all are lighter than you both look... don't worry, y'all are gonna be safe!" As he was saying that, he was running towards the nearby health clinic.

Author's Notes:

:Sneak-Peek:

"Whenever life gets you down, sometimes it takes a true friend to bring you back up." Justin's voice echoed.

"What's going on? What in Celestia's name is he doing?!" Doctor Haywick's voice yelled.

"Maybe there's more to my arrival than meets the eye." Justin said, staring at his hand, which had a blue fire hovering over it.

"Halt! You're under arrest for intruding in Official Business, and the use of Forbidden Magic! Anything you say can, and will, be used against you in the Royal Court of Her Highness, Princess Celestia!" A Sun Guard fiercely told Justin.

"I swear, in the name of Princess Celestia herself... if you so much as mistreat him, then I'll make sure you end up behind bars!" Rainbow Dash said, glaring at the guard.

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To Be Continued...

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