Applejack opened her eyes. To her astonishment, she was lying on the ground of a green pasture, with blue sky above her. She looked around and saw that she was alone. Her friends were nowhere in sight.

"What the hay?" she said to herself, getting to her hooves and adjusting her hat. "Where is everypony?" Her only answer was the wind blowing through the tall grass around her. She frowned. "Well, I'm not gonna find out just standing around here." Squinting around in the sunlight, she saw what looked like a town in the distance. Deciding to start there, she headed in that direction.

As Applejack walked, she saw a large apple tree ahead of her, standing alone in the clearing, laden with apples that glistened bright red in the sunlight. They looked delicious, but Applejack wasn't hungry. However, as she rounded the tree, she saw a small colt sitting at the base of the tree, looking up at the apples with a miserable expression of hunger.

"Hey there, little guy," Applejack said in a friendly tone. The colt looked up at her in surprise, but did not back away. "You hungry?" The colt nodded. With a smile, Applejack turned her back to the tree and expertly bucked it in the right place, with the right effort. A single apple fell off the tree and into her waiting hoof. She gave it to the waiting colt. "There ya go!" The colt snatched the apple away, looking around as he did so, as if making sure that no one was watching.

Applejack was momentarily confused, but brushed it off. "Say, you haven't seen any of my friends around here, have you?" she asked. The young colt shook his head. "Well, are there any ponies in that town over there who might be able to help?" The colt nodded, sitting down with his apple. "Okay. Have a nice day!" Applejack tipped her stetson to the colt, who was turning the apple over in his hooves, and turned and walked away.

Some time later, Applejack reached the town, which was a small collection of houses. She entered the town square, which was populated by a small collection of ponies of varying sizes and shapes. Every single one of them stopped what they were doing and stared at Applejack as they approached.

"Howdy, y'all!" Applejack said, smiling around at everypony. "My name's Applejack. I'm looking for my friends. If any of y'all—"

"SEIZE HER!" somepony yelled. The next moment, every pony in the square had pounced on Applejack and grabbed her.

"Wha—what? What is this?!" Applejack protested, struggling uselessly as she was dragged to a platform on the side of the square.

"You picked an apple from the forbidden tree!" shouted one pony, a large unicorn with red fur and dark green eyes with the cutie mark of a skewed set of scales. Some of the crowd parted, revealing the colt she had met earlier, eyes shining with guilt...still holding the apple in his hooves. "The penalty for this crime is death!" the unicorn continued.

Applejack watched in horror as a noose was thrown over a wooden structure. It swung in the air, seemingly beckoning her. "You're gonna hang me for picking an apple for a hungry colt?" she shouted, both in anger and growing panic as she was dragged towards her doom. "That ain't fair!"

The unicorn with the skewed scales looked at her coldly. "You now have a choice," he said softly, his voice carrying grave authority. "You can either deny that you picked the apple, and we'll let you go. But if you do not, we will kill you. It is the law of our land." He glared down at Applejack. "Make your choice."

Sweat trickling down her brow, Applejack looked over at the noose, just waiting for her. Her heart pounded in her chest as she contemplated her death.

Just lie, a voice inside her said. Just deny it. It's not worth dying over.

But deep down, Applejack knew that she couldn't. That lying couldn't be justified, even here. So she closed her eyes, took a breath, and faced the unicorn.

"I did it," she said. "I picked an apple from the tree. I only did it because that colt over there was hungry. I didn't know it wasn't allowed; I'm sorry." Having made her spiel, she closed her eyes and prepared for the end.

"Trial passed," the unicorn said softly.

"What?" Applejack said, opening her eyes to find that everything around her—the ponies, the town, the colt, the apple, the gallows—was all glowing, brighter and brighter until she had to close her eyes, and she felt herself being suddenly pulled upwards...

Fluttershy looked around her in fear. She was sitting in the middle of a wide road. There were a few houses on either side of her, but the lights were all out and nopony was out. The night sky stretched above her, the distant stars offering her no sympathy and little light.

She swallowed. "Okay. Don't panic, Fluttershy," she said softly to herself. "Your friends are around here somewhere. You just have to find them." Deciding that she didn't want to wake anypony up—what if they were unfriendly?—she headed down the road, looking around for any sign of anypony. She wandered down the dark, silent street, but nopony was around. Eventually, she reached what appeared to be some sort of town square, a circular opening with a fountain in the center and a few benches.

A faint sound reached Fluttershy's ears. The sound of crying. Following the sound over to one of the benches, Fluttershy looked beneath it and gasped at what she saw.

Cowering beneath the bench was a small filly, barely flesh and bones. She had no hair or tail, and her pale off-white fur barely clung to her frame, revealing her pockmarked body. No cutie mark was on her flank. She shivered beneath the bench, her bony forelegs over it's tiny bald head.

"Hello," Fluttershy said softly. The little pony looked up, her pale blue eyes wide with fear. Fluttershy smiled kindly. "It's all right. I'm a friend." She extended a hoof towards the little pony, who flinched away slightly. Fluttershy held still, just like the injured pony was a scared animal.

"Why help me?" the young pony said in a quivering, sick voice. "I'm a freak."

"No, you're not," Fluttershy said.

"Look at me," the pony said, gesturing at her body. "I'm hideous. I've got some kind of disease: nopony wants to go near me because of it. They all call me a freak and throw things at me."

"That's awful!" Fluttershy said. "Don't they know it's not your fault that you look like this? Why didn't anypony help you?"

"Cause they're all scared that if they try to help me, they'll get sick too," the pony sobbed. "You should go away. If you stay near me, you'll get sick, too."

"But I want to help you," Fluttershy said. "It's not your fault that you're sick or that you look like that. You shouldn't have to live like this." She extended her hoof again. "Come on. Let me help you."

The pony looked at her extended hoof with apprehension, then at her. "You don't think I'm a freak?" she whispered softly.

Fluttershy shook her head. "No. I think you're a pony who deserves to be loved and cared for."

Slowly, the pony took her hoof and allowed Fluttershy to pull them out from underneath the bench and into her embrace. The two simply sat for a moment, Fluttershy stroking her new friend's back soothingly and humming quietly as she rocked back and forth. Eventually, a smile crossed the leper's face.

"Trial passed," the sick pony declared.

"What?" Fluttershy asked, watching in astonishment as the pony in her hooves began to glow, brighter and brighter until she could no longer look...

Rainbow opened her eyes to find that she was in the middle of a hallway with blank, white-washed walls. "Hey, what is this? What's going on?" she shouted, spinning around in place. Her own voice echoed off the walls, rebounding back at her.

"Rainbow Dash," another voice replied. Turning towards the voice, Rainbow saw a door at the end of the hallway opening. She proceeded through it, every muscle tense and alert for a sudden attack. When she proceeded through the door, she found herself in a small room. Before her was another pony, a light blue mare with a long, silvery gray mane and tail and the cutie mark of a crystal ball. On either side of her were two doors, one gold, the other white.

"Who are you?" Rainbow asked, eyeing the other mare suspiciously.

"I am an oracle," the mare said. "And I can help you."

Rainbow lowered her guard slightly, but remained tense. "How?"

"You, Rainbow Dash, wish to be a Wonderbolt, yes?" the oracle asked, leaning forward slightly, her voice becoming slightly sultry. "You wish for fame and glory, to show Equestria what we both know: that you are the best flyer in Equestria."

Rainbow perked up slightly, the flattery triggering a small smile to spread across her face. "Well, yeah, that's true."

"It's what you deserve," the oracle continued. "After all you've done, the number of times you've saved Equestria. Think of it, Rainbow Dash: your name in lights, ponies cheering for you wherever you go."

Rainbow grinned. "That sounds awesome!"

"And all you need to do is go through this door," the oracle said, gesturing to the golden door, which opened to reveal a shimmering image of Rainbow Dash, wearing the uniform of a Wonderbolt captain. At the sight, Rainbow let out a delighted squee, her wings opening wide to display her excitement. A Wonderbolt captain position for her! It was a dream come true!

But then her gaze turned to the white door. "What about that door?"

The oracle glanced at the door as if she was just reminded that it was there. "Oh, that door," she said flatly. "That door will lead you back to your friends, and to your original goal." The white door opened, revealing Rainbow's friends, who were looking at her with expressions of concern, as if waiting for her to come to them. The oracle turned back to Rainbow and gave her a steely look: not quite a glare, but close. "But if you go into that door, you lose your chance to achieve your dream."

Rainbow's wings folded back down. She looked between the two doors, considering her decision. Her friends...or her dream of fame.

But in the end, she knew that it was an easy choice. With a sigh, Rainbow turned and started towards the door containing her friends.

All at once, with a clap of thunder, the oracle mare jumped in front of her. Her fur turned a darker color, her mane and tail went from silvery gray to dark gray, like storm clouds. She glared down at Rainbow with lightning and thunder in her eyes.

"You fool!" the oracle shouted, sneering down at her. "You'd give up your dream, fame and fortune, for your pathetic friends?!"

"My friends are not pathetic," Rainbow said. "Now get out of my way, they need me."

"They need you?!" the oracle shouted. "Listen to me well, child. If you choose that door, if you choose to go back to your friends, you give up your dream of being a Wonderbolt...forever!"

Rainbow felt like the floor had just dropped out from beneath her. Never be a Wonderbolt? That was her lifelong dream, everything that she had hoped for all her life! She looked back at the open golden door: the image inside shimmered and seemed to fade, like the dream.

But over the oracle's shoulder, she saw the door with her friends standing in it. Her friends, who were always there for her. Without whom she wouldn't have so much of what she had, wouldn't be the pony she was today. She owed them everything.

"I don't care," she said coolly to the oracle, who was still standing in her way. "My friends are more important. Now get out of my way."

The oracle snarled, but stepped out of the way. "Last chance, Rainbow Dash!" she said.

Ignoring her, Rainbow walked up to the door with her friends. She didn't look back as she stepped through the door. She felt like she had just stepped inside a cloud: all around her was dull, muted light and she felt light as a feather.

"Trial passed," the oracle said behind her, and all at once, Rainbow felt herself being blown upwards, up towards the light...

Pinkie Pie looked around. She was sitting in the middle of a field, sun shining down on her in a sky scattered with clouds. She bounced up and saw nopony around. She also realized that she didn't recognize this field. She could have been almost anywhere in Equestria...if she was even still in Equestria. "I don't think I'm in Ponyville anymore," Pinkie said to herself.

But then, she was in a new place, and that meant more places to explore, and new ponies to meet! "Let's get going!" she declared, bouncing down away, allowing her Pinkie sense to guide her away. A gentle breeze blew, rustling the grass and blowing through her mane. This new field that she had found was pretty nice, but it was just so...quiet. And there wasn't anything around. Pinkie began to hum a little song to herself to try to keep her spirits up, but the more she traveled, the less she saw, and the lower her spirits sank.

But then she saw something in the distance. Excited to see what it was, she hurried forward. But when she got close, she skidded to a halt.

Graves. The field was dotted with gravestones. Why would she want to go to a cemetery? There was absolutely nothing fun about cemeteries; they were almost as far from fun as you could get.

But then she read the names on the gravestones. Twilight Sparkle. Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy. Rarity. Applejack.

Pinkie gasped in horror. Her mane deflated and her bubble-gum pink coat turned dark. Her friends were all...gone.

"I...I'm alone," she whimpered, lowering her head as tears began to run from her eyes. She collapsed down onto the ground, her tears overcoming her as the sky above her turned dark and gray.

But then another noise came to her ears. The sound of sobbing: somepony else crying. Pinkie raised her head and looked up to see a small filly sitting alone a few feet away, crying. Wiping her eyes, Pinkie got up and walked over to the filly, sitting down next to her. "Why are you crying?" she asked.

The filly looked up at her, her eyes red and puffy with tears. "I'm all alone," she whimpered.

Seeing the filly upset made Pinkie temporarily forget her own sorrow. She gently hugged the filly, allowing her to cry into her chest fur. Then she got an idea: something that was sure to cheer her up.

It took more effort than normal, but Pinkie managed to retrieve a green balloon from behind her. Blowing it up with a big puff of air, Pinkie bent and twisted it until it became a small dog. With a smile, she handed it to the filly, who stared at it in amazement. Slowly, she reached out and took it, the soft beginnings of a smile appearing on her face. Pinkie's hair regained some of it's bounce and color at this encouragement.

"My name is Pinkie Pie," she sang. "And I am here to say,
I'm gonna make you smile and I
will brighten up your day..."

Pinkie began to sing the entire song, starting to dance and jump around as she did so, making funny faces at the filly throughout. As she did so, her mane regained its bouncy consistency and regained its color. The sky above her cleared and the sun began shine brighter and warmer than before. On the final line, Pinkie stood on her forehooves while juggling a set of balls on her hind legs and tail. She tossed all of the balls into the air, jumped back onto her hind legs and caught the balls. "Ta-da!" she said with a big grin.

The filly was laughing and clapping her hooves, a delighted smile across her face. She bounded over to Pinkie and hugged her across the waist. Pinkie hugged the filly back, both of them smiling from ear to ear.

"Trial passed," the filly said. To Pinkie's astonishment, the filly began to glow with a bright light...

"Well, this is just wonderful," Rarity huffed. She was standing in an wooden cabin, a small fire crackling in a rusty iron stove. Outside, she could see a thick layer of snow of the ground, with more snow coming down hard.

Looking around, Rarity saw a table with some items on it. A deep purple coat, a striped purple and white scarf, a set of yellow boots, and a white saddlebag with some daisy sandwiches and a lantern in it. There was also a compass and a small hoofdrawn map. It showed the cabin in the lower left corner, with a trail leading to what looked like a cave at the top of a mountain containing some kind of lantern. The mountain was labeled "Your Friends."

Rarity looked outside. A cold wind rattled against the cabin's windows and door, and the snow was coming down hard. Plus, she could see that it was starting to get dark.

"But if I have to get to the mountain to help my friends, then so be it," she said. "At least the clothes are good-looking." She put on the coat, boots and scarves, put the sandwiches, lantern and map into the saddlebag, which she swung onto her back, and headed out the door. The cold wind attacked her face instantly, but the clothing helped her overcome the chill. Checking the map and compass, she headed off in the direction the trail indicated.

As she progressed, the wind became harder and colder, and the sky began to darken. The snow crunched beneath her hooves, but the boots protected her hooves from the wet chill. Tugging the scarf higher up around her face, Rarity checked her progress on the map and kept going, guided by the light of her lantern. Her stomach rumbled in hunger and she used her magic to reach into the saddlebag and pulled out one of the daisy sandwiches.

Suddenly, from out of the darkness, a shape came at her. In the lantern's light, she saw a pony, shivering violently and coat thoroughly soaked, struggling towards her. He gasped when he saw her.

"Are you all right?" Rarity asked.

"I-I-I'm f-f-fine," the other pony stammered, squinting at her through his sopping wet mane. His stomach growled loudly. "I-I was just g-getting ho-ho-home when this snowstorm came."

"Is your home far?" Rarity asked.

"Yes," the pony said, already starting to move past her. As he lifted his hooves, Rarity saw that they were already starting to turn white from frostbite. "I-I'll be fine. Y-you should continue on your j-journey."

"Wait," Rarity called. She unbuttoned her coat and floated it over to the other pony as she stepped out of her boots. Instantly, the coldness of the snowy air intensified a hundredfold, stinging every inch of Rarity's body like a thousand nettles, but she floated the clothes over to the other pony. "At least take these. I can't let you go out in those snow without some clothes."

The other pony looked at the coat and boots, then gratefully put them on with some difficulty due to his violent shivering. "T-thank you," he said, already beginning to shiver less. His stomach growled again.

"And here, take these as well," Rarity said, giving him her lantern and one of her sandwiches.

"But your journey—" the stallion protested.

"Oh, posh, dear, I'll be fine," Rarity waved him off, briefly wondering how he knew of her quest. "It's not that far. You need them more than I do."

The stallion took the sandwich out of the air and munched it down in three bites, then took the lantern in his mouth. "Thank you again! You are truly generous!" he said, turning to go. Rarity watched the light of his lantern fade away, already shivering in the cold. For a moment, she regretted giving up her coat and boots: it would do her friends no good if she froze to death out here in this barren land.

But she firmly believed, from the bottom of her heart, the other pony needed them even more than she. Turning, she lit up her horn to read the map.

She suddenly froze, starting in surprise. She was now standing in the middle of a cave at the top of a mountain, a glowing purple light before her.

"Trial passed," the stallion's voice came out of the light, which began to glow brighter and brighter, enveloping Rarity's entire body...

This was not an entirely unfamiliar situation for Daring. She opened her eyes to find that she was standing in what appeared to be a desert, sand stretching off into the horizon. The night sky stretched above her, distant stars staring bleakly down. Right in front of her was a cave entrance, the dark mouth of the cave as inviting as the mouth of a hydra.

Which meant that that was the direction she was meant to go. With a breath, Daring entered the cave, descending down into the cold, dark depths. The cave walls closed in quickly, too narrow for her to fly, forcing her to walk.

Descending down, Daring saw a light ahead of her. Proceeding forward, she found herself at the end of a very long tunnel. At one end was a blue light, which seemed to be emanating from a key that was hovering above a stone pedestal, slowly spinning in place. Daring was about to step forward, when in the dim light she saw what the floor was covered with: a writhing carpet of creatures, covering almost every inch of the stone floor, slowly slithering along, sticking their tongues out to taste the stale air. The closest creature raised its head and hissed at Daring.

"Snakes," Daring whispered, her voice shaking as much as her knees. "Why did it have to be snakes?"

She considered her options. The stone ceiling was too low for her to fly. If she wanted that key, she was going to have to walk over the floor covered in slimy, scaly, slithering, disgusting and probably poisonous snakes.

Taking a slow breath, Daring slowly, carefully placed a trembling hoof forward and set it down on the ground. The snakes began to slither around it: she shuddered as she felt their cold scales against her fur. Her shaky breathing echoing in the cave, Daring slowly stepped forward and set her other hooves down. The snakes around her shifted restlessly, hissing loudly.

"Easy," Daring whispered. "Easy..." Step by step, she proceeded forward with agonizing slowness. The snakes around her became more and more restless, the hissing louder and louder.

But as she got about halfway across the cave, Daring felt something cold crawling up her leg. Instantaneously she froze, her entire body feeling like it had been turned to ice, her lungs forgetting how to breathe and her heart pounding in her chest like it was trying to escape her ribcage. A snake was going up her leg, slithering slowly across her body and underneath her shirt. Daring shivered violently as the snake's scales tickled her. GETOFFMEGETOFFMEGETOFFMEGETOFFME! she thought as loudly as she could. The snake curled around her chest and emerged from her collar. Daring had to stifle a whimper as the snake gently touched her cheek, its tongue flickering out to taste her sweat and fear. Finally, after about ten years of terror, the snake slithered out of her collar and down her foreleg, back onto the ground.

That's it. She was done. Daring Do was getting out of here.

But even as she tried to get herself to turn to leave, her hooves refused to move. Something in her defied her fear, defied the cave of snakes, defied herself. How could she, Daring Do, allow herself to be beaten by a bunch of reptiles, just because she was scared?

"No," she said softly, her voice still shaking. "I won't run away! I am brave! I am adventure! I am Daring Do!"

Her courage reignited, Daring determinedly moved forward, slowly and carefully. She kept her eyes on the key, doing her best to ignore the writhing beasts below her and her crawling skin. One step at a time, she got closer and closer to her goal. Finally, she reached the pedestal. With a relieved sigh, she wiped sweat off her brow and took the glowing key in her hoof.

"Trial passed," a voice said, and the key in her hoof suddenly began to glow brighter and brighter...

When Phillip opened his eyes, he found that he was lying on the floor of a small dark room, with blank stone walls around. In front of him was a plain wooden door. Phillip shut his eyes and gently rubbed his eyelids for a few seconds to activate his night vision, then opened his eyes again. The room was entirely bare: the only feature was the wooden door on one wall. Carved onto the door was a set of colored circles: blue, red, yellow, green. He memorized the pattern in a couple of seconds.

Guess this must be part of the trial, he thought. He considered the door before him: part of him didn't want to open the door, afraid of what was on the other side.

But it was the only way forward. He opened the door with a slow creaking and proceeded through into the next room. The door automatically closed behind him.

All of a sudden, a light went on above him, illuminating the room. What he saw before him made him freeze in shock. Lying on the floor in the center of the room was a body of a stallion with light brown fur and a long red mane, tail and beard. His sea green eyes wee wide open in shock, glazed over in death. A cutie mark of a trumpet with a treble and bass clef on either side. The stallion's neck was cut and he lay in a pool of his own blood.

Phillip stared at his father's corpse in shock, his breathing ragged. Staggering forward, he collapsed to his knees before him, tears suddenly blinding him.

To his shock, the corpse's mouth moved and a ragged voice spoke from the slit throat: "You failed me."

"No..." Phillip whimpered, his strength leaving him. This couldn't be. This wasn't possible...

Wait. This wasn't possible. His father had died and been buried years ago.

This had to be an illusion of some kind. Looking up and wiping his eyes, Phillip saw a blur of colors on the wall around him. He concentrated and saw that the colors were doors, each painted a different color, but he still couldn't tell them apart: the shapes and colors blended together.

Taking a long slow breath, Phillip closed his eyes and released all his emotions, imagining his guilt, anger and grief as smoke blowing away on the wind. Now able to focus, he opened his eyes. The doors were now clear and distinct. Turning, he found the blue door. Without turning back, he stepped forward and through the door into the next room.

The light snapped on, revealing another pony in the room, facing him. This pony had dark fur and a matted red mane, with long bangs that covered his scowling green eyes and a goatee. His cutie mark was of a set of four yellow hoofprints. In his hoof, the pony held a long, bloody, serrated knife.

"You didn't stop me," the murderer of his father growled.

A storm of hatred and guilt unleashed itself inside Phillip's chest, his forelegs stiffening, burning with the desire to attack. Stopping himself, he took a breath, remembering that his father's murderer died in prison years ago. Releasing his emotions once more, he focused on the doors. Finding the red one, he proceeded through.

Instantly, he had to duck as something flew at his face. Screeching out a cry, a raven circled above him, then landed on the shoulder of the pegasus in the room. This pony's coat was a sickly yellow color, clinging to his bony frame. His mane and tail were the color and consistency of dead grass. His cutie mark was the silhouette of a raven. The pegasus looked up slowly, revealing shrunken red eyes that seemed to glow like goals and yellowed teeth pulled back in a sneer.

"You fear me," Doctor Nevermore whispered in a voice like rattling bones, his eyes burning into him.

Ignoring the chills that ran down his spine, Phillip looked around the room, struggling to focus on the doors as they blurred before him. Taking slow breaths to calm himself, he concentrated on the yellow door and proceeded towards it. He felt Nevermore's eyes on him the whole time, heard his raven Lenore fluttering and screeching, but forced himself to focus. Grasping the doorknob, he turned it and entered the next chamber.

Even before the lights turned on, Phillip's nose was assaulted by the acrid smell of expensive Saddle Arabian tobacco. The light snapped on and Phillip felt his blood run cold. A unicorn stood before him. He had a walnut brown coat and dark chestnut brown mane and tail, and he was dressed in an expensive suit and tie. His cutie mark was a chess piece, a black king. Smoke wafted from the cigarette in the pony's mouth, which was drawn in a smirk. Zugzwang's black eyes sparkled maliciously as he gazed coolly at him, like a cat gazes at a trapped mouse.

For a moment, Phillip couldn't think: his accelerating heart carried a single objective to his racing mind: Attack. He stepped forward, already raising a hoof to strike. Zugzwang did not react, his smirk growing wider as he puffed smoke from his cigarette.

But just as he sent his hoof forward, Phillip stopped, remembering his objective. Zugzwang wasn't real, wasn't here. He had to focus. Stepping back, he shut his eyes and started taking slow breaths, remembering his objective.

But as he tried to concentrate, the smell of the tobacco seemed to become more intense. Also, Zugzwang chuckled: a low, humorless sound that sent chills up his spine and sparked the fire inside him.

That's not good enough, he told himself. Concentrate. What was the door color?

Another laugh from Zugzwang chased the thought from his head. With an irritated grunt, Phillip dug deep inside himself. He shut everything out—all smell, all sound, all emotion—let it all become like smoke blowing away on the wind. Letting out a final, slow breath, he pulled up the memory of the colors and remembered: green. Opening his eyes, he focused on the colored doors before him. Finding the green one, he stepped forward.

Suddenly, in the blink of an eye, Zugzwang was there, standing between him and the door. His enemy locked eyes with him, and with hypnotic intensity, Phillip felt himself falling into his gaze like a deep abyss...

He shook himself out of it, his objective blazing in his mind like the North Star: Open the door. Get out of here. He stepped forward and passed right through the illusory Zugzwang, moving to the door and opening it.

"Trial Passed," a voice said, and a light blinded him, carrying him forward...

Cold wind roused Flash from his slumber. Looking all around, he found himself surrounded by darkness. He was lying on hard, cold ground in a plain somewhere in the midst of a storm. The clouds above him blotted out the sky: he couldn't tell if it was night or day. Icy wind and rain assaulted his body, making him shiver.

"Twilight!" he shouted, spinning on the spot. His only reply was the wind. Just as he was starting to panic, something moved in the corner of his vision. Turning, he saw a floating, glowing blue sphere in front of him, moving quickly towards him.

"Follow me!" a voice came from the sphere as it floated past him and away. Without thinking, Flash took the air, flying after the sphere. The sphere flew ahead of him, going slightly faster than him, staying far enough ahead so that he could still see its light, but only barely. The wind and rain attacked Flash's body like thousands of small arrows, but he flew determinedly on, squinting through the pitch black.

He heard splashing beneath him and realized that he was now flying over a body of water. He felt the chop of the icy water beneath him and flew up a little higher to avoid them, still following the blue light as it accelerated away from him.

Flash was very fit, but the cold sapped his strength and before long, he felt fatigue setting in: his breathing became fast and heavy and his heart beat a rapid rhythm against his chest.

Suddenly, his wings cramped up. Almost before he knew what had happened, he dropped out of the sky and into the water. The icy water embraced him instantly, cutting off all sight, hearing and air. Flash twisted and struggled upwards, breaking the choppy, stormy surface with a gasp that turned into coughing. Ahead, he saw the blue sphere, still speeding ahead.

His wings still aching, Flash was forced to swim, struggling against the heavy, churning water that pushed back against him. The cold bit into his bones and he knew that it wouldn't be long before hypothermia set in. Panting with exhaustion, he struggled onwards, determined to reach his goal.

Finally, he felt ground beneath him and realized that he was close to dry land. Shivering violently and breathing raggedly, he heaved himself up onto land and looked up. To his disbelief, he saw a tall rocky cliff before him. And the blue light was traveling straight up and over it.

"No way," he said to himself, dropping to his knees. Flash was at his limit: the flight and swim had sapped him of all his strength. He couldn't move another inch. He lay on the sandy beach, letting the rain fall over his body, chilling him even more.

But then he thought of Twilight. What if she was in danger? What if she needed his help? Was he, her bodyguard, the stallion that she had entrusted with her life, going to sit here like a wimp?

No way. "On your hooves, soldier," Flash growled to himself, rising to his hooves. The cliff seemed insurmountable, towering over him like some beast of legend.

But he was Corporal Flash Sentry of the Royal Guard. Nothing was going to keep him from his duty. He tested his wings, but quickly realized that they were all but frozen to his sides.

Climbing it is then. Racing forward, he leapt at the cliff wall, digging his hooves into the grooves and ledges and began to climb. His limbs shook with the effort of carrying his weight, but he forced himself upwards. Bit by bit, he climbed closer to the top.

Suddenly, when he was close to the top, he lost his grip! Rocks crumbled away, tumbling beneath him as he hung on by one hoof. Looking down, Flash saw the ground a dizzying distance below. With a grunt, he reached up and secured another grip, heaving himself upwards with his forelegs alone.

Slowly, Flash pulled himself up over the edge of the cliff, flopping onto the solid ground, panting. Looking up, he saw the blue sphere floating above him.

"Trial passed," the voice from the sphere said, and it began to glow brighter than before, filling Flash's vision...

Twilight opened her eyes to find herself lying on the warm grass of a field. Birds above her chirped cheerfully, flapping through the sunkissed sky. Sitting up, Twilight looked around and saw a table nearby. On it was a china teapot and two teacups. The scent of jasmine reached Twilight's nostrils, enticing her forward.

Then she saw the other pony. Sitting next to the table with his back to her was a unicorn with tan fur and a long, scraggly white mane and beard. He wore a simple dark brown traveling cloak and his cutie mark was of a crossed pencil and paintbrush. He was painting a picture on an easel of a mare lying beneath a tree surrounded by small angels. As Twilight approached, he turned and looked at her, revealing a face with well-proportioned features and kindly blue eyes.

"Leonardo da Whinny," Twilight whispered in awe. The unicorn smiled in reply. "B-but...you can't be here. You died over a hundred years ago." The artist continued to smile enigmatically in reply.

"Then...this is just an image," Twilight said, thinking out loud. "This is just in my head. This is one of the trials, isn't it?"

da Whinny nodded. "So..." Twilight said slowly, uncertainly. "What do I do?"

"Show me the most powerful magic of all," Leonardo replied softly.

Twilight blinked in reply. "Um...all right." She started racking her brains, going over every spellbook she had ever written, turning over every advanced theory that she had studied. What spell could she use to impress him? She looked at the sun above them. Maybe she could set the sun? No, that didn't seem right. Assist with his painting? Too simple.

The most powerful magic of all...

Then something clicked. Of course! The answer was obvious!

With a smile, Twilight stepped forward, extending her hoof. "Hello," she said. "My name is Twilight Sparkle."

"An honor to meet you, Ms. Sparkle," Leonardo replied, taking her hoof and raising it to his lips. "Join me for a cup of tea?"

"Of course," Twilight said, sitting down at the table with Leonardo. "I'm a huge fan of your art. I've always wondered, how did you start?"

"Well, I began drawing as a foal," Leonardo replied, pouring a cup of tea for his guest.

The two began to talk, sharing tales and anecdotes, smiling and laughing. The sun slowly descended, then began to be set, casting long shadows across the ground and beautiful red streaks across the sky.

"That's a beautiful sky," Twilight said.

"It is," Leonardo agreed. "But it's even better to be enjoyed with a friend." He turned to her, his eyes sparkling in the low light. "Thank you, Twilight Sparkle. You have shown me the most powerful magic of all: friendship. Trial passed."

His eyes seemed to glow, brighter and brighter, and Twilight felt herself falling into them, drawn into the light...

Author's Notes:

Got this done within a week, ahead of schedule!

Now to open that door...