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DAH Beta (Derpy Adventure Heroes)

by Cloudiest Nights

Chapters

Chapter 1: Awakening

Author's Note

If you find a typo or some other mistake, post about it in the comments. Then I'll go about and get the chapter straightened out.

Day 1

Derpy Hooves was having a bad day. While moving some furniture, she accidentally dropped a piano on Twilight Sparkle's head. But, that wasn't the worst part. Now, she is fighting for her life and an Element of Harmony against an evil, giant, angry Dark King. But she wasn't alone. Before I get too far ahead of myself, I should probably start over at the beginning...

Day 1, Derpmension 1 

It was a bright, warm spring day. The weather ponies really had done a great job on the weather. The skies were clear except for a few smaller clouds providing the perfect amount of shade. Derpy Hooves stretched and yawned. She had a lot of work ahead of her to do today. She was supposed to help Fluttershy with the frog problem she was having. The little guys were a bit to good at catching on to what the birds and the bees meant. She also was going help out with moving some furniture, a piano, and a small tuba for a party Pinkie Pie was having to celebrate something or another.

Fluttershy! Quickly she squinted and looked directly at the sun to see what time it was. She groaned as she realized that it was already a few hours past dawn. She was supposed to meet Fluttershy at the pond hours ago! She hopped out of bed and quickly ran out the door towards Fluttershy's house.

When she reached Fluttershy's house, Fluttershy wasn't there. She must have already left for the pond. Now, Derpy Hooves ran into a problem. Fluttershy had never told her where the pond was. 

Derpy Hooves looked off to the Everfree forest and then off toward town. She felt as if something, probably instinct, was telling her to go to the forest. She then galloped off toward the Everfree forest guessing that instinct would be right. 

After wandering around for a few minutes, she became lost. Just then, she came upon a slightly round, faintly glowing stone in a shaded clearing  in the forest.She went up to it, curious, and laid a hoof on it. Alll of a sudden a burst of bright whitish-gray light came forth from the rock. She quickly jumped back, blinded. 

"Hello young pony," said a friendly, warm, and British voice. "I have much planned for you. You might not be aware, but there is a seventh Element of Harmony out there, somewhere, in Equestria. It is your task, little Derpy Hooves, to find this element and bring it back 'ere. Without it, Equestria will fall into darkness and despair by tomorrow! I'm sending you back now. Good luck!" And with another flash of light, Derpy Hooves regained her vision and fainted.

Day 1 Derpmension 1 

Derpy Hooves awoke with a start. It was a bright, warm spring day. The weather ponies really had done a great job on the weather. The skies were clear except for a few smaller clouds providing the perfect amount of shade. Not sure if what she had just experienced was a dream, she got out of bed slightly bewildered. She was even more bewildered when she heard a voice say,"Oh, glad to see you're finally up. How are you feeling? Do you feel like you might fall over dead?" 

Derpy Hooves shook her head. 

The voice let out a sigh of relief. "That's good," the voice said,"I wasn't sure it would work." 

Derpy gave an inquisitive look. 

"Oh, I forgot to tell you. I sent you back in time to give you a bit of a head start. I mean, only giving you one night to save Equestria? What was I thinking? So, I thought to myself, wouldn't it be better to give her a whole day? So here you are, here I am, and here is Equestria at the beginning of day. Now get going, your damsel in distress is waiting!"

Derpy gave another Inquisitive glance.

"Ah, ok, well. Less pizzazz. Go save Equestria!"

With a poof and another bright flash of light, Derpy appeared in front of a small house just outside the Everfree forest. Just then, the door of the house opened and out stepped Fluttershy.

"Oh, hey Derpy Hooves, you made it!" said Fluttershy quietly. "I wasn't sure if you were going to come. You're not the most organized pony, you know," she said, blushing. 

Derpy Hooves gave her an apologetic look. How would she tell Fluttershy she couldn't help out today? Would she be mad -that is, if Fluttershy COULD get mad- that she wouldn't be able to help out with the frogs?

"So, now that your here, are you ready to go rescue some poor little frogs?" said Fluttershy. "The place we're going is just beyond Ponyville. It's a wonderful bog, they're going to enjoy it. It's going to take all morning to fly all the frogs over there. Oh, I hope I don't leave any of them behind," she said, sounding worried as she trotted toward the pond the frogs were currently living.

Derpy Hooves, hoping Fluttershy was too occupied with worrying about the frogs, decided to leave quietly. She needed to save Equestria!

But, wait. How was she supposed to go about saving Equestria? She didn't know what the seventh element was. She didn't even know what an element was.

Just then, Derpy Hooves was struck with one of the very, very, very, rare moments of inspiration. Well, rare at least for her. She had a plan. To the library!

Chapter 2: Night Sky

Day 1 Derpmension 1

Derpy Hooves quickly looked up at the sun to see what time it was. She was startled to see that it was almost noon; her day was half gone. She wondered worriedly if she would have enough time to get this all sorted out before tomorrow. With a flurry of hooves, Derpy galloped off to the library. 

Once she got to the library, she burst through the door and came sliding to a halt. A cloud of dust followed her in. 

"Um. May I help you?" questioned a slightly annoyed Twilight Sparkle, who didn't like having her house rudely busted in to and dirtied.

Derpy nodded her head as she dashed from shelf to shelf, from bookcase to bookcase, looking for something on the Elements of Harmony. The wind caused by her wings, as well as her reckless flying, made many of the books to fall to the floor. 

Twilight sighed, "I'm hoping your looking for a book. I don't have the time right now to do anything for you that would take to long." She continued in a quieter voice, "I have something pink and twitchy I need to study."

Derpy nodded her head.

"How about a book on furniture moving. I know your going to be helping out with Pinkie's party today."

Derpy shook her head.

Getting a bit more frantic, Twilight continued," What about a book on trees? Or writing? Or flying? Colored paper? A spell on levitating air? Does it have to do with something magic?!"

Derpy Hooves stopped in midair and nodded franticly at Twilight.

"Ok," said Twilight, slightly calmer, "Now we're getting somewhere. Are you looking for a spell? No? Possibly something about elements?"

Derpy nodded again.

"Ok. Elements. There are a lot of those," Twilight paused. "Is it basic elements like water, earth or fire?"

Derpy shook her head.

Twilight let out and exasperated sigh. "If only you could talk, this would be so much easier. Wait, I just got an idea. I'll be right back with you soon!"

And with that, Twilight started about setting up lab equipment, floating books off shelves, and trying to wake Spike so he could take some notes for her, all at the same time. 

Derpy stared at Twilight and let out a sigh, knowing she wouldn't get anymore help from her for a while. When Twilight sets about to do something, she always sees it through.

Just as she was about to leave, Derpy spotted a book lying open with it's cover facing up. On the cover she saw a fancily decorated letter E. She went over to the book and flipped it over, right on a page talking about the elements. She started reading.

"Long ago, the Elements of Harmony where created by the beloved princess Celestia to protect the lands of Equestria from a great evil. Whenever trouble arose, six friends, each with their own element representing them, were tasked with saving Equestria. Now, the first element was..."

Derpy blinked. That was it? What about the seventh element? The book only talked about six! She reread the passage to be sure she hadn't missed anything. She hadn't. Bummed, she left the library with Twilight finally settling down to get to work on whatever it was she was doing.

Once outside, Derpy checked the time again. Another hour had gone by, and she was still no closer to finding the seventh element. If anything, it seemed further away.

Then she heard the voice speak again, sounding sympathetic, "Well that didn't go over well, not well at all!"

Derpy nodded glumly in agreement.

"Oh don't be such a downer, I know you'll think of something! If you keep your head up I just know you'll do jolly well! You just need to use some of that ol' Derpy intuition!"

Derpy nodded excitedly in agreement, moved by the voice's encouraging words. She was going to save Equestria! Merrily, Derpy trotted off in a random direction, trusting her intuition, as the voice had told her to.

When Derpy arrived at the outskirts of Ponyville, she was amazed. All around her were fields of flowing grass, trees slightly swaying in the wind, and lakes shining in the fading afternoon light. This was the furthest from home she had ever been.

Excited by the joy of discovery, Derpy decided to not follow the path, and instead, cut across one of the fields toward the forest. She still had a few hours before it would get dark, but even if it did, she would still be able to search under the light of the full moon. She skipped off through the field toward the forest and arrived within a few minutes.

Once she got to the forest, traversing the terrain was another story. All the tree roots that stuck up made it easy to trip on them. Derpy fell down a few times before finally deciding that a she should probably go a slower, more cautious, pace.

At last, she broke through the trees and came out upon a cliff overlooking the forest. She was amazed with how far out she could see. The endless forest stretched out toward where the sun was just starting to dip below the horizon. She stared out at the sunset and began to feel sleepy. She awoke to a flash of light. There, an even more amazing sight met her gaze. She saw another flash of light and glanced up. There above her shown millions of stars in a multitude of colors. What had caught her eye, though, was the meteor shower happening all throughout the sky. Normally she would have been in bed hours earlier. This was the first time she had been outside at night. She knew this wouldn't be the last time, either.

 

Just then, something seemed to stir within Derpy. She felt a oneness with everything around her. She smiled faintly and fell off into a deep, fitful, sleep.

Chapter 3: The Cake, the Truth, and the Pinkie

Day 1 Derpmension 1

Derpy awoke in her bed. It was a bright, warm spring day. The weather ponies really had done a great job on the weather. The skies were clear except for a few smaller clouds providing the perfect amount of shade.

Derpy let out a groan, fell out of bed onto her back, and then sighed.

"Glad to see ya up and at it early!" said the voice.

Derpy cocked an eyebrow at the voice as she strained her neck to look out the window. It was almost noon.

"Erm, well, up and at it before noon! Don't worry yourself though, I know you'll have some sort of success today!" the voice said cheerfully.

Even though she didn't share in the voice's enthusiasm, Derpy knew that it was right; she needed to get going. Equestria was waiting for her.

She slowly made her way out of her house, all the while thinking up ways she could find the seventh element, that is, if it even existed. She wasn't entirely sure she was sane; it's normally not healthy to hear voices in your head.

She decided to go and ask around Ponyville for advice on how to find the seventh element. She really didn't think she would find out anything useful, but, it was better than nothing.

She first went to the library where she quickly took the book on elements, hoping Twilight didn't need to use it immediately. Once she left, her wanderings, or her cravings for a muffin, led her to Sugarcube Corner, and there, Derpy saw Pinkie Pie through the window, hopping around humming a wild and happy tune.

Derpy thought back on how random Pinkie was. The seventh element and the job thrust upon her by the voice seemed like just the random thing Pinkie Pie would know about.

Derpy opened the door to a slight tingling of bells. Quicker than Derpy could blink, Pinkie Pie was right in front of her with a huge smile on her face. 

Pinkie Pie took a huge breath and then said, "Hiya Derpy! What have you been up to? I hope your ready for the party! There's going to be cake and icecream and dancing and more cake and smaller cakes and rainbow cakes and spotted cakes and-" Pinkie Pie took another deep breath and continued "-and magic cakes enchanted by Twilight that float around singing and-"

Derpy let out a sigh and rolled her eyes. Pinkie stopped mid-sentence and grew serious. Cocking her head she said, "Are you all right Derpy? You look kind off tired. I hope you'll be able to bring the stuff I asked for for the party tonight. That tuba was going to come in handy and the birdcage was-"

Derpy put one of her hooves up over Pinkie's mouth, shushing her. Pinkie stared at Derpy, curious, and tried saying something.

"Mhumt mwish mwit?"

Derpy took the book about elements she "borrowed" from the library and opened it up to the page in question. Pinkie Pie glanced down at the book, eyes going back and forth quickly as she read, "Long ago, the Elements of Harmony where created by the beloved princess Celestia to protect the lands of Equestria from a great evil. Whenever trouble arose, six friends, each with their own element representing them-"

She jumped back exclaiming, "Hey! I know what those are! My friends and I used them to take down Nightmare Moon! Now that pony was scary! You see, she all big and powerful and glowy..."

Derpy nodded her head.

"So if you already knew that, why come to me? That's all I know about them. Hey! You would probably have better luck talking to Twilight. She knows more than anypony about anything."

Derpy sighed and looked around for something to write on. Spying a frosting tube sitting by a cake on a counter, she went over to it and started drawing something on the top of the cake.

"Ooo. Are we frosting cakes now? Count me in!" And with that, Pinkie started about icing a cake which she seemed to have pulled out of thin air. Derpy rolled her eyes and kept on working.

A few minutes later, Derpy finished her cake. She looked over and saw Pinkie Pie adding the finishing touches to a masterfully iced cake. She looked over at Derpy. Derpy pointed to the cake and beckoned to Pinkie to come and look.

Pinkie hopped over and then stared at the cake for a while, not moving or blinking. After a few moments, Pinkie Pie said happily, "What a pretty cake! You should have gotten a cutie mark for cake decorating!" Then she glanced at Derpy's cutie mark and said, "What is your cutie mark anyway? It kinda looks like raindrops, or tears. Are you a sad, Derpy?"

Derpy shook her head and looked at her flank for a while. She then shrugged and turned her attention back to Pinkie Pie, who was still admiring Derpy's cake, and also possibly considering eating it.

Derpy coughed and pointed to the top of the cake. Pinkie Pie looked again.

"You want me to read what it says? Ok, hmm, 7th E-L-E-M-E-N-T."

Derpy facehooved and shook her head. This wasn't going as quick as she had hoped. Still, she was making progress. Just then, Pinkie had a lightbulb moment.

"Oh. I see now: 7th element! Why would anypony want that? It disappeared centuries ago! Here's how it happened..."

Quickly, Derpy flew right in front of Pinkie Pie and plopped down, ready for a story. For some reason, Pinkie Pie had the urge to sing about what happened instead of doing what normal ponies do: talk. Her song went something like this:

"Well a long long long long time ago, Equestria was at peace. Till a mean mean mean mean dragon came, by the name of Drake the Flame. He was big big big big giant and angry as a rock, then he ate the elements of harmony because they tasted like bierock. Celestia in a great panic got a bright idea, she found a way to bring the elements right right right right back! She built a new shiny element, the exact one which you seek, and used it's power to unify the elements deceased. With their strong strong strong strong strong strong might, the poor dragon Drake lost his flame and evil bite! With the elements back and everything well, the seventh one faded away away away away far from Equestria, so they tell."

Pinkie Pie let out a long sigh and then said, " And that, is how Equestria was made!"

Pinkie Pie went back to party decorating leaving Derpy to sift through and piece together what she had just heard. Derpy stared off into the distance, impressed, derped, and a bit confused. The main idea of the song seemed to be that the seventh element somehow brought back to other six elements from destruction. 

Derpy was glad that, at last, she had made some significant progress; she now had no doubt that the element was real and that she wasn't just imagining voices in her head.

Chapter 4: Rarity's Charity

Derpy was becoming annoyed. Her realization that the seventh element was in fact real had spurred her on to keep searching. But, after a few more hours of doing so, she had still found nothing useful. Thus, Derpy was annoyed. She decided to head back her house and try again tomorrow.

Upon reaching her house, a new idea came upon her. Tomorrow, she would go and talk to Princess Celestia herself! Surely she would have some knowledge of what happened to the seventh element after it's disappearance. She quickly went to bed, eager for day to come.

Derpy awoke in her bed. It was a bright, warm spring day. The weather ponies really had done a great job on the weather. The skies were clear except for a few smaller clouds providing the perfect amount of shade.

Derpy got out of bed and stretched, all the while humming a merry tune. Today, she was going to see the Princess; today, she was going to find the seventh element; today, she was going to save Equestria!

She trotted over to her closet to pick out some sort of gown that would be appropriate for a visit to the castle. With a frown, she realized that all her clothes weren't the most dignified. Some where moth-eaten while others weren't the right style. She needed something with some flair and grandeur. Something that Rarity could and would make for her.

She quickly left her house and flew off towards Rarity's house. Once she arrived, she slid to a halt and knocked.

Derpy could hear a voice, slightly muffled, say, "Come in!"

Derpy opened the door and was surprised to not find Rarity there. In the middle of the room, there was a pile of clothes almost to the ceiling.

From inside the pile, Derpy heard a voice say, " Well, who is it and what do you want? I'm slightly busy now so if it's a dress you seek, I might not be able to make one today. I have to get all these dresses packaged up and shipped of to Seasonvale by tomorrow. They're for a big musical showing there. I was so surprised when I got the offer!"

Derpy slightly crestfallen, went over to the pile and pulled away the clothes. Underneath, she saw Rarity, feverishly working on the hem of a blue and white dress. 

Rarity looked up and said, "Oh, it's you Derpy Hooves! Its been a while since you were last in here! Just recently I finished a dress that I thought would look absolutely gorgeous on you!" She then looked around her and continued, "Hm... Now where did I put it? Over by the door- no, no, not there... Hm..." Then she exclaimed, "Oh, that's right! I put it over on the chair by the window. I was just admiring how the jewels flashed in the sunlight! I really do think it would look just amazing on you; why don't you try it on?"

Feeling much better, Derpy did as Rarity had suggested. She saw that the dress was a fairly plain light-blue dress, except for the rows of diamonds around the mane and the hooves. A few short minutes later, she had the dress on. Derpy trotted over to the mirror, head held high. When Derpy looked in the mirror, she knew the dress was made for her.

Rarity, who had just extracted herself from the bundle of clothes, agreed, "Oh wasn't I right! That dress just fits you perfectly! Here, since I'm so busy and you where such a polite customer, you can have it for free. Just make sure you stop in now and again so you can try on some more dress ideas I have. You would really do well as a model, you know."

Derpy thanked her for the dress and trotted out of Rarity's feeling at least twenty percent more lady like than she had before. Now, onto Canterlot!

Chapter 5: Help Needed

Derpy was off to see Princess Celestia. She also had a new dress and happy attitude towards everything. The only problem on the horizon for Derpy seemed to be on how to approach the Princess about the seventh element. But that would happen later; first, she had to get to Canterlot and receive an audience with the Princess. She set off, determined to save Equestria and get everything straightened out. 

About an hour later, with her wings tired, she finally reached Canterlot. She gulped as she looked up at all the tall towers and ramparts. She shook her head, telling herself she wouldn't be intimidated or nervous. Princess Celestia needed to know what was going on. She could help Derpy find the seventh element. Then, out of nowhere, Derpy heard a yawn emanating from somewhere around her. She looked around, but she couldn't find the source of the noise.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I was taking a nap and just now awoke. How's it going? Have you made much progress?", said the voice, sounding slightly sleepy.

Derpy nodded her head with a smile gleaming on her face. 

Sounding a little more awake, the voice continued, "That's good, that's good! I'm glad to see that your starting to get the hang of how to go about sleuthing out that element. Well, carry on, I won't delay you!" and with that, the voice faded away.

Derpy felt a renewed strength inside her, as anypony would from flattery, congratulations, and praise. She trotted to the gate, head held high, ready to see Celestia.

Once at the gate, she raised a hoof to use the giant gold knocker. Before she had the chance to, the gate swung inward with a low grinding sound. Out marched four ponies clad in golden armor. 

The one in front said to Derpy, "Greetings Derpy Hooves, Princess Celestia has been expecting you. Right this way."

Slightly troubled, Derpy followed them. How did Princess Celestia know she was coming? She debated this all the while as their long walk seemed to be leading them to the tallest tower. They went through winding streets and over bridges spanning Equestria many feet below. Eventually, they arrived at Princess Celestia's quarters. The guards lined up outside the door and stood at attention. Derpy hesitated for a split second before deciding to go in.

Once inside, the doors slammed shut behind her. She jumped forward, startled, and then looked around. What she saw set her jaw agape. Around her were many tall, stained-glass windows made up of every single color in a Sonic Rainboom. The floor looked to be a type of whitish-gold marble. Around the room where twelve giant pillars of gold-trimmed marble. In the center of the floor was a red carpet, which was also gold-trimmed, that led to a throne at the end of the hall. The throne dwarfed everything else with it's splendor and grandeur. Sitting on it was the Princess Celestia herself, looking down at a map on a table in front of her. She had a concerned and nervous look on her face. With a gulp, Derpy started forward.

When Derpy was about ten feet away from the throne, Princess Celetia looked up. A sudden wave of relief washed over her face and she saw who was standing in front of her.

"Welcome Derpy Hooves, I'm glad you showed up when you did. To get down to the point, I had a vision just the other night. I sensed that a great new evil would arise in Equestria sometime soon. Very soon. I don't remember much of the dream, except for one part: you where there holding something I had almost forgotten about. Something from long, long ago... The seventh element of harmony."

The Princess paused for a second to see the reaction she would receive from Derpy. Derpy seemed a little surprised but also very determined.

Celestia continued, "Will you, Derpy Hooves, take this upon yourself and save Equestria?"

Derpy pondered this, feeling a sense of deja vu, but, only for a split-second. Then she bowed before the Princess in agreement.

"It's settled then. Now, let me tell you a story only a few ponies have ever heard told. This, is the story of the seventh element, in-full and unchanged..."

Chapter 6: Celestia's Tale

Author's Note

I just recently found a prhoof reader (yes, that is a bad pun) but he hasn't been on all day and I'm anxious to get this story out there. So, besides wanting a pardon on any errors, I'm sending out a request for more prhoof readers. About 3 or 4 more would be nice. You can message me if your curious. Now, on with the story!

<><><><><>

"Many, many years ago -more than I can remember- a great dragon by the name of Drake the Flame set about to rule Equestria. He was the most powerful dragon ever hatched. He set about conquering Equestria and did so, till I had had enough. With the six elements of harmony, I flew out to meet him and there I made my stand.

Drake the Flame was five hundred feet tall and, while he was extremely powerful, he was also extremely slow. That I used to my advantage.

I circled him non-stop, trying anything to put a dent in his scales. Nothing worked. Just as I was about to try a new tactic, he swatted me with his tail sending me flying right into a mountain. Stunned, I watched as the elements I where carrying fell into the open mouth of Drake the Flame. He licked his lips and, thinking he ha defeated me, lumbered off toward another part of Equestria.

Now this was the first time in my life I was actually scared. I had done something foolish and lost the elements of harmony, probably for good. I quickly winged my way back to Canterlot and gathered together a think-tank of the most impressive minds in Equestria. There was Albert Neighstien and Plhayto, among many others. 

Together, we decided on creating a new element, one that was easily one hundred times more powerful than all the other elements combined. How to go about it was much more difficult than when I had first created the original six elements of harmony. Now, I had to fit the new element in without putting the balance of the world off-kilter. If I made the element too similar to one of the others, it would weaken that elements power. If one weakened, it would cause a chain reaction, weakening them all. 

After many days of deliberating, we had come up with nothing. There didn't seem to be any element of power that wouldn't upset one of the others in some way.

About a week later, in the middle of the night, a deafening booming sound shook the castle. I awoke quickly, fearing the worst. Outside there was a thunderstorm raging like none other in the past few decades. Mighty thunderclaps and blinding flashes of lightning sent many of the ponies into a wild frenzy, dashing about willy-nilly. I rushed to the window and threw it open, jumping out into the heart of the storm. I dodged the lightning as I tried to calm the storm down. Looking around, I spotted about twenty other pegasi  out in the storm trying to control it. They where scattered all around, and without any leader, disorganized. I shouted at the top of my lungs trying to get there attention, but to no avail. The storm was too loud.

I felt a deep anger at the storm. Though the storm didn't start it. This anger and frustration had been brewing inside me since the failure of finding suitable a seventh element.

But also inside me I could feel a small warm spot, so deep within and so faint I barely felt it. I sighed, releasing the pent up anger inside giving more strength to that little spot of hope. I felt a sudden drop in my power which almost made me unconscious. Barely able to keep flying, I let myself drift down to Canterlot.

Looking down, I saw something that made my heart stop. There, sitting in front of me, was an element I had never seen before. It was a golden sphere about six inches in diameter and a soft warm glow. I knew what it was instantly: the element of unity.

Immediately, I set about using the element's power to help the weather ponies calm the storm. The unity among the weather ponies, which the element formed, was amazing. As one, they seemed to know where to fly and when to dash through a cloud, disintegrating it. After mere minutes, the storm was gone and a crisp clear full moon replaced it.

I thanked the ponies for their work, all the while starring at the new element. This was what I could use to defeat Drake! I quickly hid the element away, eager to show my find to the think-tank.

I quickly sent a page to each of the member's houses, waking them all for an urgent meeting. In less than an hour, all of them had been rounded up, many grumbling, into my meeting hall. When I showed them my find, their sleepiness and anger changed into that of exclamation and joy. We went about deciding on how to use the element's power to defeat Drake the Flame. Slowly, a plan started to form; one that would not fail.

I sent for the best gem-finding ponies in all of Equestria. Once they were gathered, I taught them all a gem-finding spell I myself invented. While they were out looking for gems, I asked the most skilled weavers in Canterlot to meet with me. I told them what they had planned, and as I expected, seemed a bit skeptical. They listened, though, and agreed to help.

So, two weeks later, everything was in place and I decided to set off and find Drake the Flame. After only days of searching, I found him munching on the side of a mountain as if it where a muffin. After rudely getting his attention, I led him back towards Canterlot to the trap we had set, all the while dodging his massive claws and tail. 

Upon my return, a trumpet sounded, and then another. With a flash if light and a gold trail I dashed straight up. Drake almost caught me in his grasp but he was to slow. Beneath me, I saw Drake look up, maddened, and then looked down.

There, in front if him, lay the biggest mound of gems ever collected. It rose over one hundred feet, higher than many hills around. Drake smacked his lips and lumbered toward the pile, a gleam in his eyes. Once he reached the pile he started devouring the gems. To busy eating to notice, Drake was too late to see the net beneath his feet, or the hundred winged ponies that had risen from hiding to grab the net and trap Drake. With a roar, Drake was in the air, caught in the net upside down. He roared again and tried to breath fire but the net, which was woven with enchanted fire-proof string, stopped any fire from coming out. Shocked, Drake stared dumbly around, unsure if what to do.

Just then, I knew the time was right. I quickly conjured up the element from hiding and set about using it's power to retrieve the other six elements of harmony. With a yelp, the six elements flew out of the dragon's open mouth toward me. Gathered together, the elements gleamed in the sun. I then used their might, combined with the new element of unity, to reverse time around Drake the Flame. He quickly shrunk to that of a baby dragon, and even more quickly was hidden beneath the speckled green shell of an egg.

A cheer arose from all ponies gathered, and a feast was held in celebration of the event. After the feasting, I locked the elements away till they were needed again.

That need did not arise till Nightmare Moon awoke from her deep slumber. After that incident, I checked to see if all the elements where together. The only one missing was the element of unity. When I confronted Luna about it, she seemed shocked. She didn't know that there was a seventh element. I looked her in the eye and knew she was telling the truth.

Now after all these years, I finally came to a conclusion: The element if unity only shows itself in great times of need, when all other hope seems lost. Then, and only then, will the element show itself and light the way through the darkness.

Now that, little Derpy Hooves, is how the seventh element was formed. Now that you know what you must do. You must go, find the element of unity, and use it to stop this new evil I feel."

Chapter 7: Things Get Weird

Derpy stared straight at Celestia, which is a rarity with Derpy, throughout the entire tale. When Celestia finished, Derpy now had a much better understanding of what the seventh element was. Deep in thought, it took Derpy a couple of minutes to look up and realize that Celestia was staring at her, not blinking.

Derpy cocked her head at Celestia as if to ask why Celestia was looking at her so intently.

Celestia looked down, "Well, it was wishful thinking; I was hoping my story would somehow cause a realization from you. That's all I know about the subject and was wondering if there was something you knew that I didn't."

Derpy thought for a moment, and in that moment, she remembered the voice, which had been silent for a while now, probably still sleeping. For some reason, she felt the urge not to say anything about the voice to Celestia, who would probably think she was crazy. So, Derpy Hooves decided not to broach the subject of hearing voices and instead shook her head.

Celestia let out a sigh, "Well, let's hope that you feel something in the way of finding the seventh element before it's to late for you, me, and all of Equestria."

And on that unsettling note, Derpy took her leave. She teotted out of Celestia's palace, nodding to the guards politely as she passed. She then hurried toward the edge of Canterlot, eager to be gone.

Upon returning to Ponyville, Deepy decided to head to Twilight Sparkle's to see if she could get some tips or pointers. She hoped it would go better than last time.

Once inside the library, she saw Twilight hunched over a book, mouth open, snoring. Derpy crept quietly over to where Twilight slept and tapped her on the shoulder.

"AH, W-Who What Where?! Oh," Twilight let out a sigh upon seeing Derpy, "It's just you. Thanks for waking me, I guess I just dosed off studying something pink and twitchy. So, what brings you to the library?"

Derpy went over to where she had found the book on the elements previously and was glad to see it right where it should be. She pick up the book in her mouth and trotted over to Twilight, setting the book down on a table. She opened it up to the page on the elements and pointed a hoof at it, telling Twilight to read it. 

With Twilight's eyes a blur, she read it in seconds, "Your looking into something about the elements? What do you want to know about them?"

Derpy tried to explain what Celestia had told her to Twilight. It took a few tries, but eventually, Twilight figured out the main idea.

"So your looking for a seventh element? I didn't think there was one... Celestia never told me." She sounded more than a little hurt. Derpy walked over and laid a hoof over her for comfort.

"Yeah, yeah, I know; getting depressed doesn't help anypony and I'm certain that Celestia would have told me, if it involved me. But anyways: the seventh element. This will take a while totribute out a way to find it, possibly two or three days at the earliest."

Derpy facehooved and shook her head. She didn't have three days, much less two! Derpy thanked Twilight for her help, knowing the pony wouldn't remember any of this conversation tomorrow.

Tired and worn out, Derpy headed back to her house. Just then, a voice rang out, "Darn it, you almost had it that time! Maybe you could try and convince Twilight to find a way to find the element quicker. Now that's a good idea! So, tomorrow, go see her first thing. It'll have to work!"

Derpy was about to try and tell the voice that it could possibly give her a few days more so Twilight could find a solution.

"I'm sorry kiddo, but that just won't work. This evil will have spread across all of Equestria by that time and it would be to late. Now my original idea-"

The voice was cut short by a loud whooshing sound similar to a mighty gust of wind or a small tornado. Looking around, she was surprised to see a small little black dot open up in the wall beside her bed and slowly but steadily growing larger. Within seconds, the blackness had opened up wide enough for a pony to enter. From inside she heard a younger female voice, increasing in volume.

"Try to keep it open! I only need a few minutes to get Derpy and then you can shut it!"

The voice was shocked into silence, but only for a few moments, "Woah! This shouldn't be happening, not now, not now when I'm so close!"

As the voice was rambling, a light gray pony with an orange mane burst through the hole and, landing on the bed, bounced right in front of Derpy.

"Oh, hey, no time to explain! Your Derpy right?"

Derpy nodded.

"Yeah, I can see the resemblance. Ok then, follow me." The female pony turned to the hole and then motioned for Derpy to follow.

"Come along, please! We don't have much time. I'll explain everything in just a few seconds if you follow me!"

"No!" roared the voice. "You can't leave Derpy! This pony is, is, is, um... Evil! This is the evil thing that will take over Equestria! Don't go Derpy, or you will doom all your friends!"

Hesitant to follow, Derpy turned to the motioning mare and then to, well wherever the voice was.

She felt a sudden tug inside her to follow the pony; it seems to be the right thing to do. She galloped toward the pony, trusting fate to be kind to her. She could hear the voice behind her, but it was so faint compared to the whooshing of the hole that she couldn't make out what it said. Without glancing back, Derpy dove headfirst into the hole.

Chapter 8: Explanation

Author's Note

My prhoof reader gave me what I imagine to be a weird look from this chapter. It kinda throws a lot out there and I'm not sure if I should have split this up a bit better. Anyways, here is the final chapter before I take a short break!

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Where she was, Derpy had no idea. All she could see was whiteness. Whiteness above, whiteness on the horizon, and whiteness bellow her hooves. Had she gone blind? But no, there before her stood the gray coated mare beaming at Derpy.

The pony seemed just a few years out of being a foal. She looked as if, for some reason, she was bubbling with excitement. There, to her left, was a floating thing Derpy had failed to notice before. It looked to be made of some kind of metal in the shape of... Spike?

"Oh, you want to know what that is? Derpy, meet Spike-3000. Spike-3000, Derpy!"

Derpy eyed the creature wearily but shook it's hand. The thing looked at her with solid, unmoving green eyes and it was starting to creep her out just a bit.

"Don't you worry about ol' Spiky here! He's a nice guy once you warm up to him."

Derpy wasn't entirely sure there was any way that she would be able to warm up to that cold feeling metallic claw. He seemed lifeless, calculating, and stiff.

"Now I'm pretty sure your a bit curious as to where we are." It wasn't a question. "Well," the pony continued, "I'm not entirely sure where this is myself. I found mention of it in some of Twilight's notes and then figured the rest out myself. The conclusion I came to was that this place is pure nothingness. So... Your Derpy Hooves? I can see the resemblance quite well!"

This pony reminded Derpy of someone she had seen before. Someone a bit ditzy but still in control of herself. Someone like... With a look of understanding, she kept thinking, a thought slowly forming in her head. Someone like... herself!

"I see you figured it out, at least, for the most part. I'm your great, great, great, great, grandpony. My names Smarty Hooves! Its nice to meet you great, great, great, great grandma!"

Shocked, Derpy looked at the pony and fainted, falling flat on her face. After a few minutes of Smarty Hooves trying to revive Derpy, she eventually succeeded.

"I guess you weren't ready quite yet, huh? Sorry to be in such a rush, I was just so excited to tell you! Your probably wondering how all this came about. Well, be ready for a long story."

Derpy lay down slowly rubbing her face, which was still a bit sore from the fall.

"It happened a week ago. I was looking through some of Twilight's research when I came across a small piece on time travel. Fascinated, I read through the piece until I came to a part that confused and startled me. Twilight was talking about missing a small piece of information that would unlock the key to time travel. It talked about how a pony with a gray coat and orange mane came from the future and gave some advice on how to get time travel working. Twilight never wrote down the pony's name but I realized who it was. It was me. For some reason, I went back in time so Twilight could invent time travel."

"Then, just a few days ago, I made a grave discovery in Twilight's work. It was a recollection talking about how a group of five ponies fought off a dark being. Again, I heard my description among that of the other four ponies. Out of all the others I only recognized one more: you. The article wasn't complete, as if someone had deleted the last bit. So now, with most of the pieces of the puzzle laid out before me. I realized I needed to find you and, with your help, fight this evil."

Derpy thought long and hard. Everything this pony seemed to say made sense. This pony behaved similar to how Derpy herself would, and she also felt a certain connection to the pony.

For a third time, Derpy agreed to helping thwart this new evil.

"Ok then, here's what I think we should do..."

Chapter 9: All for One and One for... One?

Author's Note

Hello everpony! Finally DAH is back with new chapters and I am excited to be moving the story on. I've been trying to catch up on Bronyville as well as season two -which I just started Friday- so I have had a pretty fun break from serious writing. I also got a ways into another story I'm planning on releasing in a few weeks. it doesn't involve Derpy, though, but, if you like the Cutie Mark Crusaders, they will share a main role along with two of my own new characters.

Derpy Hooves. with her eyes derped, looked confused.

"Ok, ok," Smarty Hooves sighed, "I'll try to explain this again. Now please don't zone out again or get lost." She started pacing back and forth. A few trots here, a few trots there.

"I recently looked into Twilight's notes on time travel, again, and I found a piece of info I had missed before. There in the notes I found something talking about a theory of Twilight's on time travel. It proposed the idea that if time travel was possible, theoretically, alternate dimensions would be possible as well."

"That was all there was to the piece of paper. I further investigated this hypothesis and my findings were positive. I inferred that if there were multiple time lines continuously going on, then there must be different choices being made by different ponies at any time. Therefore, if I'm right, there are other Derpys out there. All I needed to do was slightly tweak some components in the time machine controls and- presto! A portal to a new version of reality is openned!"

"So, if we can group together a team of different versions of you, Derpy Hooves, we could find the seventh element faster. Then we could go to your time and defeat the evil!"

All the while Smarty was slowly increasing her pace until she was almost running full gallop. Then she stopped. Panting wildly, Smarty stared at Derpy with a crazy gleam in her eye.

"So, did that make any sense at all?"

Derpy was afraid to answer and sat silent for a few minutes, hoping her great, great, great, great grandpony would calm down. She didn't. She then took a deep breath and nodded her head.

Smarty let out a giant sigh, all the craziness rushing out of her, "Good. So, now, we can start finding some recruits for our Derpy Army! Where to look first..."

She walked a little ways away, lost in thought. Derpy could just barely hear Smarty Hooves mumbling to herself. Derpy sat down and waited patiently for a few minutes. Those few minutes turned into an hour.

Then two hours.


Then five hours.

"Derpy!"

Derpy awoke with a jolt, not realizing she had fallen asleep. Where was she? The last thing she could remember was an overly hyper pony. Was it a dream? She rubbed her eyes and looked around. Everything was white and blurry. After a few blinks her eyes adjusted to the blinding whiteness around her

Oh, yeah. No dream.

She saw a flaming flash of orange mane bouncing up and down excitedly.

"So, I think I found out a way to work this all out. This here will be our secret base. It's the safest place I know of. Now, I need to go to my time to collect a few items to make this place seem a little more like home. Be back in no time!"

With a flash of light, a small dark wormhole opened out of the nothingness. In jumped Smarty followed by her Spike-3000. Then the wormhole sealed shut with a snap.

Only a second later, another flash of light appeared, followed by a round table, a chemistry set, a few dozen metal parts, twelve chairs, a china cabinet, and a grand piano.

"There, that should make this place feel a little cozier! Now, to set to work."

Within the hour, Smarty built a contraption rivaling that of the Spike-3000's technology. When she was finished, a tall tower of metal rose about five ponies in height above Derpy's head. She walked circles around it with her mouth gaping open in wonder.

"So, if I did everything right, then this should open up a portal to an alternate dimension. I really have no clue of what to expect, so we're leaping before we're looking here. You ready, Derpy?"

Derpy nodded and took up a stance, ready to literally leap before looking.

Smarty walked over to a small console on the side of the machine. She pressed a few buttons and with a earsplitting roar, a crack ripped quickly through the air right in front of Derpy.

The roar continued until the crack finished cracking. Then it subsided into a dull hissing sound. When Derpy looked into the pony sized crack she could only see a swirling cloud of darkness.

"There we go. Ya know, It was only a fifty-fifty chance that it would either open a new dimension or explode. I'm glad to see that it didn't explode, and it seems to be working. Now, what to try first..." Smarty looked at the rows of buttons in front of her before putting a hoof in front of her eyes and then pressing three of them.

With a flash of light the image in the crack changed to that of giant all-consuming flames. The two ponies could barely stand the heat rushing out. Smarty quickly pressed a big red button and the heat immediately vanished.

"Well, that didn't work out very well, let's try something else!"

Again, Smarty pressed three buttons at random and a new image appeared. This one was of a black thunderstorm with winds thrashing about an endless sea.

Smarty tried to close the crack, but she was a tad late. Just before she closed it, a wave at least ten feet high crashed right into Derpy. She stood up soaking wet and annoyed, her wet mane draping over her face.

Unable to stop herself, Smarty giggled, "Sorry, didn't expect that to happen. Well, third times the charm!"

This time something different did happen, and Derpy was surprised at what she saw.

Chapter 10: The Speed Demon

Author's Note

Don't fret, I have a very zilch amount of free time what with school, work, and other stuff. New chapters are still on there way!

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Day 1 Derpmension 21

Speedy Hooves was a fast flyer; everpony knew that. But she wasn't just fast, oh no, she was the fastest pegasus in all of Equestria! She was golden winged lightning!

Speedy Hooves opened her eyes and looked to her immediate left and right. On both sides of her stood the other pegasi entered in the annual Pegasusville Circuit. She knew they all wouldn't stand a chance against herself. She almost felt sorry for them. They all thought that they stood a chance to herself. For the fifth time in a row the first place trophy would be hers!

To the left, standing on a raised platform made of clouds, a white male pegasus raised a hoof. "Racers, ready! Set!"

There was a pause. An immediately hushed silence filled the track as everypony held their breath.

"GO!"

The official threw down his hoof but Speedy Hooves didn't see it. With a sound of a thunderclap, Speedy was off. She dared a quick glance over her shoulder and laughed as she saw the other pegasi, struggling to keep up. She redoubled her speed and within seconds passed the first of five checkpoints. Within minutes of the race's start, Speedy blazed past the finish line as a tremendous roar from the crowd greeted her. She flew up in front of the stands and bowed and waved to her adoring fans. 

She then turned down toward the fluffy clouds and landed on the winner's spot on the podium. She turned to see if any other racers had finished yet. She wasn't surprised to see the next hopeful contestant only just now rounding the final bend. She gave a smug smile to nopony in particular and happily held out her hooves into which the first place trophy of the Pegasusville Circuit was given. The crowd flowed out of the stands cheering her name. Roses rained down around her. The photographers took snapshot after snapshot of the victorious pony. This was the life!

Speedy 's eyes snapped open. She was lying in her bed, which was a mess from all her tossing and turning during the night. Speedy let out a long sigh as she felt the warmth of her vision fade away. It had all just been a dream.

She sat up and looked out the oval window directly above her bed. It was a bright, warm spring day. The weather ponies really had done a great job on the weather. The upper sky was clear except for a few smaller clouds providing the perfect amount of shade. Down near the layer of clouds which made up the ground a group of colts and fillies where playing a game of catch with a condensed ball of the fluffy stuff. Of in the distance a pearly white castle was just barely visible hanging off of a huge mountain of a cloud.

Speedy thought to herself. Today was a big day. Today was the annual Pegasusville Circuit. Having reached the minimum age requirement to enter just a month ago, this would be the first time she would be able to enter the race. All the years of training to be the fastest flyer in Equestria would finally pay off today!

Speedy jumped out of bed. She needed to stretch and prepare herself for the race which was going to start an hour after noon. You can never start readying yourself too early! Leaving her house, Speedy decided to make a pit stop at Sugarcube Corner for a brief breakfast.

Walking in, Speedy spotted someone she hoped to see. "Hey, Pinkie Fly! How's it goin'?"

A pink pegasus looked up from cake she was decorating and let out a squeal of joy. "Hiya, Speedy Hooves! I heard you're entering the Pegasusville Circuit this year! Is it really true?"

"Yeah," Speedy smiled to her friend. "And this year I'm gonna win, too!"

Pinkie Fly appeared in front of Speedy and gave her an inquisitive look. "Wow, your really sure of yourself! But aren't you at all worried about that one pony, Razor?"

"Razor? Who's Razor? I've never seen him around here before..."

"I haven't either, but i have heard about him just this morning. Apparently he won the Equestrian 500 last year. And the year before that, and the year before-"

"Wait." Speedy stared at Pinkie, dumbstruck. "You mean THE Razor? The Speed Demon from Manehatten?!"

"Yep! That's the one!"

"But why would a big shot like him come to the Pegasusville Circuit? This race holds nothing to the Equestria 500..."

Pinkie Fly sat down and put a hoof to her chin "Hmm... Well, I don't know but we're sure to find out at the race!"

After Pinkie said this she realized, upon looking up at her friend, that Speedy was frozen with fear or nervousness. 

"Oh silly, don't worry yourself! You need to stay calm and prepare yourself for the race. Here-"

Speedy watched curiously as Pinkie hopped over to an oven and pulled out a small white cake.

"I made this especially for you! It's your favorite: Vanilla Fluff!"

Immediately, Speedy's eyes, ears, and wings perked up. "Wow! Thanks, Pinkie! I've been craving one of these cakes for a while now!"

"Your welcome!" Pinkie Fly replied with a huge smile spread across her face. "Now, once you're done chowing down you need to go train. You will win the race today, I know it!"

Chapter 11: Good Day to Fly

Today was a good day to fly, or, in Speedy Hooves' case, to race. But first, she needed to train. Because the race was only a few hours away, Speedy's made sure her training wasn't to strenuous. It mainly consisted of flying from one mountain top to another in ten seconds flat over the course of an hour. Back and forth. Nonstop.

As the feeling of tiredness grew in her wings so did her self-confidence. Razor was as slow as a turtle compared to her! Feeling better, Speedy Hooves decided to cut off her training at the end of the next hour. She needed to give her wings enough time to rest and recover before the Pegasusville Circuit. Speedy Hooves found a comfy cloud floating over the starting line and settled down for a short nap.

Speedy awoke to a quiet swishing sound. She listened closely trying to make out what it was. It steadily grew louder. Speedy opened an eye and peeked over the side of the cloud. She saw a crowd of pegasi flying toward the starting line. Right on time! She stretched like a cat and swiftly took of.

She rose up high in the sky and circled the race course. She reviewed every turn and straightway with the keen eye of an expert. Feeling even more sure of herself, Speedy headed toward the starting line. There were already a few other racers lined up, getting prepared. Some were stretching and some were hovering in place. Speedy looked around but couldn't find Razor anywhere. Maybe he had seen her awe-inspiring speed and agility and had decided to forfeit! Speedy laughed to herself silently. Of course he didn't forfeit, but, he would be wishing he had by the end of the race!

Speedy's attention was drawn to two other racers standing to her left. One, a brown stallion, was telling the other, a white mare, something.

Speedy leaned toward them and caught part of what the  stallion said, "... don't believe you, White Wash. Razor would never do that!"

"Well," the white mare replied, "That's what I heard from my friend who lives over in Manehatten. She said she raced Razor and that he took out three of the competition when the refs weren't looking. No one believed her, of course, when she told them. She almost got suspended for starting, 'hurtful rumors.'"

"That's exactly what they are! Razor would never do anything like that."

Then, the brown Pegasus changed the subject, "So anyways, do you know why Razor is going to be here at the Pegasusville Circuit?"

The white pony rolled her eyes. "Duh, to race!"

"I heard that's not the real reason," the stallion whispered excitedly, "The real reason Razor is coming here is to start recruitment for a new flying team that's supposed to rival the Wonder Bolts! He already has two members who are both racing here as well."

The other pony paled, "So, now there are three Equestrian class expert flyers here?!"

"I guess so. I don't know if anypony stands a chance against those ponies..."

"I do." Speedy thought. She then left the two pegasi at the starting line to be by herself. She needed to think over what she had just heard. She thought she could beat Razor if she got him by himself at the front, but now with to other ponies watching his back Speedy wasn't as confident in herself as she had been before. She could still win, of course. Of that there was no doubt. She just had to outfly three ponies. No sweat.

Over the intercom came a loud voice. "Racers! The Pegasusville Circuit will begin in thirty minutes. Be ready to head to the starting soon!"

Speedy was already warmed up and ready so she decided to try and find at least one or two of her friends. She needed to hear some encouraging words- they would help. She scanned the crowd and found Highfly Sparkle sitting near the bottom of the stands. Speedy hurried over to her friend and was met with her usual warm smile.

"Oh, there you are Speedy Hooves! I was hoping to get a chance to talk to you before the race." Highfly looked around to make sure nopony would hear her. "Supposedly, Razor isn't going to be alone at this race."

Speedy interrupted Highfly, "I already know that, I heard two of the other racers talking about it."

"Ok, but that's not what I was getting at. I did a little research on the two ponies backgrou-"

A deafening roar from the crowd cut her off. Everypony turned their heads to watch as three pegasi gracefully landed in front of the crowd. The three ponies bowed in unison before heading over to the starting line. Anypony in the crowd who wondered who these ponies were had their question answered when the announcer introduced the ponies.

"And here they are! Razor, Bane, and Flower Burst! The three fastest flyers in Equestria!"

Highfly Sparkle coughed in annoyance for being interrupted before continuing, "Anyways, as I was saying, I looked into the backgrounds of Razor's two companions. The yellow one there-" she nodded toward Bane, "-is from Canterlot. He grew up wanting to be a professional flyer but his parents didn't agree with his career choice. They wanted him to be a high-class member of society, not some entertainer of the commoners. Razor found Bane and somehow convinced his parents to let him race. He's extremely fast, but, he's weak. If you push him around a bit he wont be a problem. The other one, Flower Burst-" Highfly pointed a hoof at a pink mare doing loop-da-loops, "Is from the far southern reaches of Equestria. She was handpicked by Razor from a prestigious racing school. While she's not the fastest, her agility, acceleration, and aggression make up for anything else."

Speedy Hooves stared at her friend, gaping. "When you said you knew their backgrounds you weren't kidding. How the hay did you find all that information about them? Are you some kind of stalker?"

Highfly's face reddened as she replied. "No, I have my sources. I just had to ask around and remind some ponies of favors they owed me."

"Wow, you are officially twenty percent cooler. Thanks for the heads up."

"No problem, I'm glad to help and the research was something that kept me occupied."

Speedy dove from the stands to the starting line. Speedy felt complete confidence in herself now that she knew her main challengers inside and out.

The announcer called out again, "Competitors, make your way to the starting line! The race will begin in five minutes!"

The big day had arrived. She was here, ready to win. The battle would be fierce but she would come up on top. She was a fast pony- the fastest. She would win.

"Racers, ready!"

To the left, standing on a raised platform made of clouds, a white male pegasus raised a hoof.  Set!"

There was a pause, filled with the a hushed silence of the crowd as everypony held their breath.

"GO!"

The official threw down his hoof but Speedy Hooves didn't see it- she was already off with the sound of a thunderclap right alongside Razor and Bane. A little to the front and right of Speedy Hooves sped Flower Burst. 

"She really does have amazing acceleration, but I have more!" thought Speedy as she pumped her wings faster. Slowly but steadily, she caught up with and passed Flower Burst.

The pony had a hugely obvious expression of surprise on her face which quickly turned to a look of utter rage and anger. Speedy gave a sidelong smirk to the angered pony. Flower Burst swerved toward Speedy. Speedy attempted to avoid Flower Burst's attack, but she was too late to completely dodge it. A pain shot down Speedy's wing as she dropped back away from Flower Burst so that she was again flying alongside Razor and Bane. The two ponies seemed to have smug looks on their faces. Highfly must have meant "anger issues" when she had said "aggression.'"Speedy looked around for something, anything, she could use to her advantage. Then, she saw a small storm cloud a ways up the track. If she could just create a strong enough wind... Yes, that would work!

Speedy headed toward the edge of the track so she could edge right up to the cloud. Seconds later she was in the edge of the damp cloud, water droplets glittering on her white coat. Faster and faster she spun around the cloud till a small tornado formed in the middle of the damp gray mass. She only had seconds for her plan to work since Razor, Bane, and Flower Burst were already blazing away from herself.

Upon finally completing the whirling body of wind and water, she kicked it toward her opponents. Razor noticed it first and let out a startled shout as he dodged below the wet tornado. Flower Burst heard Razor's shout and shot straight up like a rocket only narrowly dodging it. Bane wasn't so lucky. He took the mini hurricane's full force. He let out a startled cry as he spun around inside it. After a fee seconds the not-so-natural disaster dissipated into a glittering rainbow. Blaze crashed into a cloud down on the ground. He shakily stood up and stagger around with his eyes spinning. Speedy knew Bane wouldn't be coming back into the race anytime soon. She looked around for Razor and Flower Burst and saw them blazing through about a corner 200 yards ahead of her own position. 

Speedy had a lot of ground to make up, and make it up she did. She was slightly behind the two ponies on the final stretch of the raceway where she could already here the roar issuing from the crowd at the end. This was it! The last leg of the race! She had to give it everything she got! 

Speedy pushed her sore and tires wings to their extreme limit. She kept increasing her speed until she saw the world around her turn into a blur of colors. Then she heard a deafening boom echo somewhere behind her. It didn't matter as she shot past the finish line. She looked around wildly to find Razor and Flower Burst. Where were they? Did they finish before her?

Something didn't feel right. The crowd had gone dead silent. Speedy turned about and was astonished to see two equally astonished pegasi just now flying past the finish line. She hadn't gone THAT fast, had she?

Her ponderings were quickly mobbed by the huge screaming crowd that gathered around her. Highfly Sparkle pushed and nudged her way this way and that to be at the front to congratulate her friend.

"Wow! You did amazing, and that last bit, well, I haven't ever dreamed of seeing it!"

Speedy was still confused, "But what did I do? I was going so fast the only thing I knew was that I won!"

"Speedy, you just broke the sound barrier and became the first pony to successfully attempt a Sonic Rainboom!"

"Wait," Sunny was dumbstruck, "I'm fast but I'm not THAT fast. Nopony Is that fast!"

"Well," Highfly laughed, "You must be! You are officially the best flyer in all of Equestria!" She gazed over at where the Razor team was standing around. Razor was giving a blank stare toward Speedy Hooves, Flower Burst was glaring daggers in the same direction, and Bane was just now hobbling in from his unfortunate accident. "And so much better than those cheaters."

"Well, I did buck that tornado at them-"

"That doesn't count," interrupted Highfly, "You only cheated a cheater. There's nothing wrong with that."

They both laughed at this and then Speedy heard her name called along with Razor, who placed second, and Flower Burst, who came in right behind her leader.

"Aaannnnd, in the two hundred and twenty first aaaanual Equestria 500, we haaave, in first plaaaace, Speedy Hooves!"

The crowd burst into deafening applause and whistles for Speedy as the winning ponies stood on the raised podium and received their trophies. After the ceremony, a huge celebration was held long into the night thanks to Pinkie Fly's wonderful party planning skill.

To Speedy Hooves the night was a one big jumbled mash of laughter, apple cider, and dancing. When she finally made it back to her house it was well past midnight. Speedy was so tired that when she reached her bed she only was able slump across it before falling into a deep sleep. Then, a loud whoosing sound filled the room, waking the annoyed and grumpy pony. A surprised Derpy hopped out of the wormhole to the even greater surprise of Speedy Hooves. A gray faced pony peaked out from the hole and scrutinized the two others closely.

"Yep, I can see the resemblance! How are you, different Derpy Hooves? We kinda need your help..."

Remastered- Ch01: Tasks of a Voice

DAH 2.0

Tasks of a Voice

Written by SparkCloud

Derpy Hooves is having a bad day. That afternoon, while moving some furniture, she dropped a piano on Twilight Sparkle's head. It was an accident, of course, but that didn't stop her boss from being mad about it, and it certainly didn't prevent him from giving her a two hour lecture over how to carry a piano. But, this wasn't the worst part of her day. The worst part is that she is now fighting for her life and an Element of Harmony against an evil, giant, angry, magical being bent on conquering the entirety of Equestria. But, she isn't alone in this struggle. Before I get to far ahead of myself, I should probably start over at the beginning...

<><><> 

It was a bright, warm spring day. The weather ponies really had done a great job on the weather. The skies were clear except for a few smaller clouds left to drift lazily through the sky. Derpy Hooves stretched and yawned. She thought about how busy her day was going to be. She was supposed to help Fluttershy with a frog problem she was having. The little guys were a bit to good at catching on to what the "birds and the bees" meant and now they were overpopulating their pond. Later that afternoon she was going help move some furniture, a piano, and a small tuba for a party Pinkie Pie was having to celebrate something or another, as always.

Fluttershy! Quickly Derpy squinted and looked directly at the sun to see what time it was. She groaned and let out a little "Oh no,"  as she realized that it was already a few hours past dawn. She was supposed to have met Fluttershy at the pond hours ago! She quickly hopped out of bed and galloped out the door towards Fluttershy's cottage beside the Everfree forest.

Derpy arrived at Fluttershy's house only to find she wasn't there. She must have already left for the pond. Now, Derpy Hooves was in a bit of a predicament. Fluttershy never told her where the pond was. She had been counting on Derpy to make it on time.

Derpy Hooves looked off toward the Everfree forest and then off toward the village of Ponyville. She felt as if something, most likely instinct, was telling her to go into the forest. Derpy Hooves galloped off, trusting her instinct.

It only took a few minutes of unguided wandering for Derpy Hooves to become completely and hopelessly lost. She plopped down on a mosh-covered stump feeling annoyed and mad at herself for being such a ditzy mess. Derpy Hooves slowly stood up and decided to find her way back to Ponyville. As she walked she mumbled to herself. "At least I'll be able to apologize to Fluttershy once she gets back. She would understand. She's always so kind and helpful."

Just then she came upon a slightly round, faintly glowing stone in a shaded clearing among the dark trees. The stone was covered in many layers of moss and looked extremely worn and weathered. Curious, Derpy went up to it and laid a hoof on the mysterious stone. Immediately a burst of bright whitish-gray light issued forth from the rock. She quickly jumped back, blinded. 

"Hello young pony," said a voice, warm, friendly, and distinctly British.

Derpy blinked rapidly and looked around for the source of the noise. She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out.

"I have much planned for you. You might not be aware, but there is a seventh Element of Harmony out there, somewhere, in Equestria. It is your task, little Derpy Hooves, to find this element and bring it back 'ere. Without it, Equestria will fall into darkness and despair by tomorrow! I'm sending you forth to go find it now. Good luck!" And with another flash of light, Derpy Hooves regained her vision and fainted.

<><><>

Derpy Hooves awoke with a start. It was a bright, warm spring day. The weather ponies really had done a great job on the weather. The skies were clear except for a few smaller clouds providing the perfect amount of shade. Derpy looked around, feeling a sense of deja vu. She was even more bewildered when she heard a familiar British voice say, "Oh, glad to see your finally up. How are you feeling? Do you feel like you might fall over dead?" 

Derpy Hooves shook her head and replied with a simple, "No."

The voice let out a long sigh of relief. "That's good," the voice says,"I wasn't sure it would work." 

Derpy gave an inquisitive look to nowhere in particular. "What wouldn't work, Mr. Voice?"

"Oh, I forgot to tell you. I sent you back in time to give you a bit of a head start. I mean, come on. Only giving you one night to save Equestria? What was I thinking? So, I thought to myself, 'Wouldn't it be better to give her a whole day?' So here you are, here I am, and here is Equestria at the beginning of day. Now get going, your damsel in distress is waiting!"

Derpy gave another inquisitive glance toward the general direction of the bodiless voice.

"Ah, ok, that soared over your head. Never mind, just go save Equestria!"

With another bright flash of light, Derpy appeared in front of a small house just outside the Everfree forest. She thought the house looked familiar. Where had she seen it before? The door opened slowly and out trotted Fluttershy.

"Oh, hey Derpy Hooves, you made it!" said Fluttershy in a hushed yet excited voice. "I wasn't sure if you were going to come. Your not the most organized pony, you know," she said, blushing. 

Derpy Hooves gave her an apologetic look. "Yea..."

How was she going to tell Fluttershy she can't help out today? Will she be mad -that is, if Fluttershy can get mad- that she wouldn't be able to help out with the frogs? 

Derpy didn't need to think up an answer because Fluttershy spoke first. "So, now that your here, are you ready to go rescue some poor little frogs? The pond we're moving them to is just beyond Ponyville. It's a wonderful little boggy place, they're going to enjoy it there. It's going to take all morning to fly all of them over there." Suddenly, a startled look comes across the yellow ponies face. "Oh! I hope we don't leave any of them behind. That would be terrible! Would they be able to forgive me?" She kept up her worried mumbling as she quickly trotted toward the  frog's current dwellings.

Derpy Hooves, hoping Fluttershy was to occupied with worrying about the frogs, decided to leave quickly and quietly. She needed to be saving Equestria, not saving frogs!

But wait, how was she supposed to go about saving Equestria? She didn't even know what the seventh element was. She didn't even know what an "Element of Harmony" was!

Just then, Derpy Hooves was struck with one of her very, very, very, rare moments of inspiration. Well, rare at least for her. She had a plan. To the library!

<><><><><>

Derpy Hooves quickly looked up at the sun to see what time it was. She let out a small gasp of dismay. It was already almost noon, her day was half gone. She hanover clue on how she would have be able to get this all sorted out before tomorrow. With a flurry of hooves, Derpy galloped off toward the library. 

Once she got to the library, she burst through the door and came sliding to a halt. Her wild running had stirred up a small gust, which brought in a small cloud of dust and  toppled over a number of neatly stacked books as it followed the frantic mare in.

"Um. May I help you?" questioned a slightly annoyed Twilight Sparkle, who had just finished stacking the books which were so rudely toppled.

"Um, yeah Twilight! I was looking for a book!"

"Oh," Twilight raised her head out of the sea of books that covered the floor.

Derpy looked around and realized the mess she had caused. "Oh, I'm so sorry Twilight! I'll help you pick these up."

"No!" Twilight shouted before she could stop herself. She, like everypony, had either experienced first hoof or heard legend of the clumsiness and recklessness of Derpy Hooves. "I mean, no. Spike can help me, he sometimes gets bored and shelving books always gives him something to do." But he doesn't always like it. Twilight was smart enough to keep that thought to herself.

Derpy nodded her head. "Ok then!" She looked around for a second time, momentarily forgetting her original reason for coming here. She quickly remembered. "So, Twilight, I'm looking for a book."

Twilight restrained herself from rolling her eyes and politely replied, "Well, what book are you looking for? Anything specific?"

"Yeah," the pony replied as she eyed the scattered books on the floor. "I'm looking for something over element thingys."

"Element thingys." Twilight repeated dumbly. It's Derpy being Derpy. "I'm guessing your talking about the Elements of Harmony?"

"Yeah! That sounds right." Derpy looked around engrossed in the numerous shelves that still had books on them. "Hm... I think it would be a big book..."

She quickly dashed from shelf to shelf, from bookcase to bookcase, looking for something on the Elements of Harmony. Her reckless flying, as well as the wind caused by her wings, caused all of the remaining books fall to the floor. 

"Here," Twilight sighed and pointed to an empty chair. "Just sit down over there and let me find it."

Derpy nodded in agreement. She was getting nowhere and it was better to let somepony who knew how a library worked to handle it.

"So, Derpy, do you need any other books?" Twilight didn't know very much about Derpy Hooves, except what she heard from other ponies. She had only seen her on random unimportant occasions and was curious to know more about the mysterious pony.

The gray pony's eyes kept spinning around the room as if they were searching for something and nothing at the same time. "Nope."

"How about a book on furniture moving. I know your going to be helping out with Pinkie's party today moving furniture."

"Nope."

Book talk was getting her nowhere. Twilight decided to change tactics.

"How's everything going? I heard from Fluttershy that you tried out for the weather team?"

Derpy nodded.

"How'd it go?"

"Well, I thought I was pretty good with the weather, but Rainbow Dash said I was terrible."

"What happened?"

Ditzy looked down, slightly embarrassed. "Well, I shocked Rainbow Dash on the flank with a storm cloud twice. I think."

Twilight hardly contained a laugh as she imagined RD's shock at the occurrence, both literally and figuratively.

"Well, at least it you didn't destroy Town Hall or anything."

"Yeah, thanks Twilight. I did get a job from Rainbow Dash, though. She told me that in my free time I should keep a look out for cotton candy clouds. So, that's what I do!"

Derpy turned her head and looked out one of the tree library's oddly circular windows. She saw the sun setting and was instantly reminded of the book and how important it was.

"Hey! Twilight have you found-"

A book surrounded by a purply pink aura floated before Derpy's eyes.

"Here it is, Derpy! 'The Last Thousand Years: A History.' It has everything you could ever need to know about anything."

"Thanks Twilight, your a real friend!" and with that, Derpy turned around and trotted out the door. Another look at the quickly setting sun spurred her into a gallop.

"Huh, that pony is so weird. I wonder why she needed that book..." Twilight shrugged, turned to get back to work, and was confronted with a mountain of books. She let out a long sigh. "This is going to be a long night"

Once back at her house, Derpy started reading "'The Last Thousand Years: A History." At least, she attempted to. Normally the only books she read contained a lot of colorful pictures. This book only had grainy photographs and cryptic charts. But, she pressed on and eventually found a segment concerning what she was searching for:

"Long ago, the Elements of Harmony where created by the beloved princess Celestia to protect the lands of Equestria from a great evil. Whenever trouble arose, six ponies were chosen by the element that represented them best to protect Equestria. Now, the first element was..."

Derpy blinked. "Is that it?" She turned to the next page, which didn't offer any further explanation. She then turned the book upside down, but this was even less helpful.

"What happened to the seventh element? This book only talked about six!" She reread the passage numerous times to be sure she hadn't missed anything. She hadn't. Bummed, she closed the book and chanced a glance outside. It was nearly dark, and there was only a small orange sliver of the sun barely staying above the horizon. The day was almost over. and she was still no closer to finding the seventh element. If anything, it seemed further away.

"Well! That didn't go over well, not well at all!"

Derpy jumped a couple feet into the air out of fright. She landed with a grumpy expression on her face. "Why'd you have to go and scare me like that?"

"I'm sorry, I just came to check on how your doing. So, am I right in saying you've gotten next to nowhere?"

Derpy nodded glumly in agreement. "That's right, Mr. Voice..."

"Oh don't be such a downer, I know you'll think of something! If you keep your head up I just know you'll be able to figure this out by the end of the day! You just need to use some of that ol' Derpy intuition which helped you find me!"

Derpy was captivated and moved by the voice's encouraging words. "Wow, you sound really sure of yourself, Mr. Voice."

Derpy trotted off in a random direction, trusting her intuition, as the voice had told her to. Her intuition led her to Ponyville.

When Derpy arrived at the far out outskirts of Ponyville, she was amazed. All around her were fields of flowing grass, leaves swaying slightly in the cool breeze, and lakes shining in the rising light of a full moon. This was the furthest from home she had ever been, at least on foot. She had only been out of Ponyville a few other times when she was tasked with bringing the birds back from the south. From that high up she couldn't really view anything on the ground up close and personal.

Enlivened by the joy of discovering the unknown, Derpy decided to not follow the path, and instead, cut across one of the fields toward the Everfree forest. She still had a few hours before it would be midnight and the day would be over. Luckily, she would be able to explore under the light of the full moon. She skipped through the field toward the forest and arrived within only a few minutes.

"At this speed," Derpy thought, "I'll be able to search for this element thingy. I might even find it tonight!"

Once she got to the Everfree forest, traversing the rough and overgrown terrain was another story. All the tree roots that stuck up made it easy for Deepy to trip on them at her speedy pace. She fell down a few times before finally deciding that a she should probably go at a slower, more cautious, trot.

At last, she broke through the trees and came out upon a cliff overlooking the leafy expanse of the forest. She was amazed with how far out the trees stretched into the distance. The endless forest pressed out toward the very edge of the fading blue horizon. She sat down and was mesmerized by the full moon's steady rising for what seemed like hours. 

As she stared, her eyelids drooped lower and lower over her eyes, until she awoke to a flash of light. She looked to her left and right, not sure where the flash came from. Then, she glanced up, where an even more amazing sight met her gaze. 

"Wow..." was all the astonished mare could barely utter.

There above her shown millions of stars in a multitude of colors. Her jaw dropped in awe as something else in the celestial body caught her eye. There, above her head, was the biggest and most beautiful meteor shower of the past thousand years. She was captivated by the blazing and falling stars long into the night.

It was now well past Derpy's bed time and this was the first time she had been outside so late. With all that she had witnessed in the sky this night, she knew it wouldn't be the last time, either.

 

Something seemed to stir within Derpy. She felt a oneness with everything around her. She smiled faintly and fell off into a deep, and very fitful, sleep, as the stars echoed her smile back to her.

<><><><><>

Derpy sat up, breathing heavy. It was a bright, warm spring day. The weather ponies really had done a great job on the weather. The skies were clear except for a few smaller clouds left to drift lazily through the sky.

Derpy let out a groan and fell onto the floor beside her bed. She sighed, "Whata weird dream..." When she attempted to stand she found herself entangled in her blankets.

"Glad to see ya up and at it early!" said a cheerful voice.

 If she hadn't been snared in her blankets, Derpy would have jumped at least ten feet into the air.

"Erm, well, actually up and at it before noon! Don't worry yourself, I know you'll have some sort of success today!" the voice said cheerfully.

"So it wasn't a dream?" Derpy struggled to unwrap herself from the blanket. "What day is it? Has Equestria been taken over by the evil?!"

Oh, no!" chuckled the voice. "Not yet anyways. I sent you back again to the first day I met you. So, today is the same day it was before you fell asleep last night under the stars. Now, you've missed half the day already, so you have a lot of catching up to do!"

Even though she didn't share in the voice's enthusiasm, Derpy knew that it was right; she needed to get going. Equestria was waiting for her. She finished up untangling herself after only a few minutes more and then she was out the door and on the hunt again.

She slowly made her way out of her house, all the while thinking up ways she could find the seventh element, that is, if it even existed. Her plans became more and more outlandish until she finally decided to go and ask around Ponyville for advice on the matter. She really didn't think she would find out anything useful, but it was better than nothing.

First, she went to the library, where she quickly took the book on elements hoping Twilight didn't need to use it any time soon. Next, her wanderings, or possibly her cravings for a muffin, led her to Sugarcube Corner where she saw Pinkie Pie through the window, hopping around humming a wild and happy tune. Derpy hadn't talked to Pinkie Pie very much, but on the few occasions she had, Pinkie seemed very random. The seventh element and the job thrust upon her by the voice were like just the kind of thing Pinkie Pie would know about.

Derpy opened the door to a slight tingling of bells. Quicker than Derpy could blink or even say hello, Pinkie Pie was right in front of her with a huge smile on her face. 

Pinkie Pie took a huge breath and then said, "Hiya Derpy! What have you been up to? I hope your ready for the party! There's going to be cake and icecream and dancing and more cake and smaller cakes and rainbow cakes and spotted cakes and-" Pinkie Pie took another deep breath and continued "-and magic cakes enchanted by Twilight that float around singing and-"

Derpy let out a sigh and rolled her eyes. While magical singing cakes did sound fun, she had more pressing matters to tend to. Pinkie stopped mid-sentence and grew serious. Cocking her head she said, "Are you all right Derpy? You look kind of tired. You also look serious, and your never serious when I've seen you. I hope you'll be able to bring the stuff I asked for for the party tonight. That tuba was going to come in handy and the birdcage was-"

Derpy put one of her hooves up over Pinkie's mouth, shushing her. Pinkie stared at Derpy, curious, and tried saying something.

"Mhumt mwish mwit?"

Derpy took the book about elements she "borrowed" from the library and opened it up to the page in question. "I was wondering if you knew anything about this here."

Pinkie Pie glanced down at the book, eyes going back and forth quickly as she read, "Long ago, the Elements of Harmony where created by the beloved princess Celestia to protect the lands of Equestria from a great evil. Whenever trouble arose, six ponies were chosen-"

She jumped back exclaiming, "Hey! I know what those are! My friends and I used them to take down Nightmare Moon! Now that pony was scary! You see, she all big and powerful and glowy..."

Derpy nodded her head.

"So if you already knew that, why'd you come to me? That's all I know about them. Actually, they were also pretty pretty. And shiny." Pinkies eyes lit up as a thought crosses the pink pony's mind, "Hey! You would probably have better luck talking to Twilight. She knows more than anypony about anypony and anything."

Derpy interrupted, "Actually, I was wondering if you knew anything about a seventh element."

Pinkie let out a gasp and Derpy moved her ears forward to hear what Pinkie Pie knew about the seventh element.

"I forgot I left some cakes in the oven! And I need to frost them for tonight!"

And with those very unhelpful words, Pinkie was off. Derpy followed her into the kitchen to see Pinkie madly scrambling around, taking cakes out of ovens at an astounding rate. Derpy decided that her friend needed some help preparing, so she set about frosting a small chocolate cake.

A little while later, Derpy topped off her cake with a small white spiral. She looked over and saw Pinkie Pie adding the finishing touches to a masterfully iced cake. Behind that cake stood eight others each frosted just as superbly as the next. Pinkie hopped over and then looked at Derpy's cake.

"What a pretty cake! You should have gotten a cutie mark for cake decorating!" Then she glanced at Derpy's cutie mark and said, "What is your cutie mark anyway? It kinda looks like raindrops, or tears. Are you a sad, Derpy?" And then, before Derpy could respond, she continued, "Cause if you are I could throw you a fell better party!"

Derpy shook her head and looked at her flank for a while. She then shrugged, "Im not really sure what it is. I got it a while ago and i don't remember what happened. It must have been when I was really young."  She turned her attention back to Pinkie Pie, who was still admiring Derpy's cake, and, possibly considering eating it.

"So, Pinkie, I was wondering what you know about the seventh element."

Another gasp left Derpy wondering what other something Pinkie must have left somewhere in an oven. Instead, Derpy got an actual answer to her question. " The seventh element! Now why would anypony want that? It disappeared centuries ago! Here's how it happened..."

Quickly, Derpy plopped down in front of Pinkie Pie to hear what exciting story she would tell. For some reason unknown to anypony, Pinkie Pie had the urge to sing about it instead of doing what normal ponies do: talk. Her song went something like this to the wonderous tune of "Oh Susana."

"Well a long long long long time ago, Equestria was at peace. Till a mean mean mean mean dragon came, by the name of Drake the Flame. He was big big big and giant and angry as a rock, then he ate the elements of harmony 'cause he thought they were bierocks. Celestia in a great panic got a very bright idea, she found a way to bring then back, so everyone could cheer. She found a brand new element, the exact one which you seek, and used it's power to unify the elements deceased. With their strong strong strong strong strong might, the poor dragon Drake lost his flame and evil bite! With the elements back and everything well, the seventh one faded away away away away far from Equestria, so they tell."

Pinkie Pie breathed in deep breath, " And that's the story of how I got my cutie mark!"

Pinkie Pie went back to party decorating leaving Derpy to sift through and piece together the song she had just heard. Derpy stared off into the distance, impressed, confused, and a bit more than a bit confused. The main idea of the song seemed to be that the seventh element somehow brought back to other six elements from they're uncomfortable place in a dragon's belly.

Derpy was glad that, at last, she had made some significant progress. She now positively and without a doubt sure that the element was real. She bought a muffin, thanked Pinkie, and trotted out into the streets of Ponyville.

<><><><><>

Derpy was becoming annoyed. Her realization that the seventh element was in fact real had spurred her on to keep searching. But, after a few more hours of doing so, she still hadn't found anything useful. Thus, Derpy was annoyed. She decided to head back her house and try again tomorrow. Or would it be today? Either way, Derpy was tired and just wanted to sleep.

When she was warm and snuggled deep in her covers, a new idea came to her. Tomorrow she would go and talk to Princess Celestia herself! Surely she would have some knowledge of what happened to the seventh element after it's disappearance. With a smile on her face, Derpy drifted of knowing tomorrow would be a great day.

Derpy awoke in her bed. It was a bright and warm day. The weather ponies really had done a great job on the weather. The skies were clear except for a few smaller clouds left to drift lazily through the sky.

Derpy got out of bed and stretched, all the while humming a merry tune. Today she was going to see the Princess. Today she was going to find the seventh element. Today she was going to save Equestria!

She trotted over to her closet to pick out a dress that would be appropriate for a visit to the royal castle. With a frown, she realized that all her dresses weren't fit for even one of Pinkie's parties, much less for Canterlot. Some where moth-eaten while others went out of shoe years ago. She needed something new with flair and grandeur. Something that Rarity could and would make for her.

She quickly left her house and flew off towards the Carousel Boutique. Once she arrived, she slid to a halt and knocked.

Derpy could hear a voice, slightly muffled, say, "Come in!"

Derpy opened the door and was surprised to find Rarity was nowhere in sight. In the middle of the room was a pile of clothes and fabrics reaching to the top of the ceiling.

From inside the pile, Derpy heard a voice say, " Well, who is it and what do you want? I'm slightly busy now so if it's a dress you seek, I wont be able to make one today. I have to get all these dresses sown,packaged up, and shipped off to Seasonvale by tomorrow. They're for a big musical showing there, you see."

Derpy slightly crestfallen, went over to the pile and pulled away the clothes. Underneath, she saw Rarity, feverishly working on the hem of a blue and white dress. 

Rarity looked up and said, "Oh, it's you Derpy Hooves! Its been ages since I saw you last in here! Just recently I finished a dress that I thought would look absolutely gorgeous on you!" She put a hoof to her chin and continued, "Hm... Now where did I put it? Over by the door? No, no, not there... Hm..." Then she exclaimed, "Oh, that's right! I put it over on the chair by the window. I was just admiring how the jewels flashed in the sunlight! I really do think it would look just amazing on you; why don't you try it on?"

Spurred on by Rarity's request, Derpy did as she suggested. The dress was a plain-looking light-yellow dress. The Derpy saw the rows of yellow diamonds encircling the neck and hooves. A few short minutes later, she had the dress on. Derpy trotted over to the mirror, head held high. When she looked in the mirror, she knew the dress was made for her.

Rarity, who had just somehow managed to extracted herself from the cavernous pile of clothes, agreed, "Oh wasn't I right! That dress just fits you perfectly! Here, since I'm so busy and you where such a polite customer, you can have it for free. Just make sure you stop in now and again so you can try on some more dress ideas I have. You would really do well as a model, you know." she commented in a matter-of-fact voice.

Derpy thanked her for the dress and pranced out of Rarity's feeling at least twenty percent more regal than she had before. Now, onto Canterlot and a meeting with the Princess!

Chapter 12: Seeing Gray

It only took a few minutes to convince Speedy Hooves that she was needed to save Equestria. She was always the helpful type of pony, willing to go to the extremes to make sure somepony else was cared for. This was probably the most extreme of extremes she had experienced so far.

"So, where should we go next using this portal-time-travel-thingamajiggy?" The white expanse of the place between dimensions amazed Speedy. She could fly in any direction of her choice without any sort of limit.

Smarty's eyes followed Speedy as she wove intricate patterns in the endless white sky. "Weren't you paying attention to what I said earlier? Some of these choices could be painful or even dangerous!"

Derpy nodded her head in agreement as she reflected on the fiery dimension and the wet dimension with the giant wave that attacked her.

"Oh, yeah," Speedy said as she blazed by the other two ponies. "I forgot." After touching down and folding her wings, she walked to the machine and slowly circled it. "So this is the machine thing, right?"

Before Smarty could respond, Speedy quickly spotted a giant red button. "Oh! This one looks important!"

"No! Wait! That's the self-" Smart shouted out as a loud rumbling issued forth from the portal-time-travel-thingamajiggy as smoke poured out from cracks and crevices all along the sides of the contraption. The noise and smoke increased into a frenzy until... 

Silence.

This silence was broken by the sigh of a very relieved Smarty Hooves. "Oh. Well what do you know. The self-destruct is broken! I wonder if I should fix it-"

"You what?!" Speedy gave the orange maned pony an ice-cold glare.

"I, uh, put a self-destruct into the machine...?" Smarty realized what a stupid idea it had been.

"You put a self-destruct button on this? That seems like a pretty dumb thing to do for somepony as smart as yourself."

Smarty sheepishly responded, "Well, I thought it would be a good idea a the time. I don't know, I just kinds put it on there..."

Speedy realized she was being a bit harsh with her newfound friend and let her anger dissipate. It was her own fault, after all. She was the one who had pressed a button without knowing what would happen. "Well, at least it didn't work. Let's try something else."

"You go ahead, Speedy. Just don't press any more giant red buttons!" All three ponies got a laugh out of this and were happy they weren't blown to smithereens.

And so, a few more button presses later, a portal opened up to a surprisingly depressing scene. Everything looked as if it were being viewed through a gray rain-covered window.   It seemed safe enough, though, so the three ponies timidly ventured into this grey world.

And it was indeed grey. The sky was grey. The grass was grey. The water was grey. The mountains were gray. Even a rainbow arching across the sky was oddly grey. An ominous gray storm-front was just pushing itself between the peaks of two far-off mountains. Everything was silent. No birds were singing and a babbling brook didn't babble any babbles.

"This is... weird. And kind of creepy." Her voice had a hollow echo to it as if the deadness of this place was trying to absorb the lively melody in her wild voice. 

"Hm." Smarty put a hoof to her chin, contemplating on what to do next. "We could turn back if you want to. I have a bad feeling about this place and wouldn't mind finding another version of Equestria to search in."

Speedy spun around and faced the pony's response with bitterness. "No." There was one thing Speedy wasn't, and that was a coward. "We keep going. We're here so we'll stay here till we find the alternate of me and Derpy."

"What do you think, Derpy? You've been awfully quiet."

Derpy looked at one pony,  then the other. and nodded her head toward Speedy.

"Its settled then: we press on."

News Update

First off, I want to apologize. School, work, and some personal matters have taken up time I could be writing. I also started reading Fallout: Equestria. I know, lame excuse. I will start back writing as soon as possible.

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