It began simply enough. Rarity was making a fuss about our rather drab surroundings until the moonlight began to fade around us entirely. I found that strange since the overhead canopy wasn't all that dense, but I didn't have time to question it before everything began to spiral out of control.

Fluttershy was the first to scream. Just as quickly as the darkness had come, it was rapidly faded out right in time for us to see that we were surrounded by spooky, scary trees. They all began to scream around me as the trees seemed to lean in towards us, their branches looking like wooden claws, reaching down to snatch all of us up.

I felt the tingle of very illegal magic worming its way into my head, and I felt an unnatural sensation of fear where there should be none. Under normal circumstances, something this childish would never scare me, but I felt horrified. Well, I did for a moment anyways. I quickly banished what I recognized as mind magic from my consciousness, and reinforced my mental defenses against it. The moment I did that, the changes to my perception disappeared; they were nothing but ordinary trees.

Clearly this didn't extend to my companions. They began to panic the more the mind magic ate away at them...except for Pinkie. She actually walked up to one of the trees and started making silly faces at it. Clearly she was seeing what they were seeing, but it wasn't having the appropriate effect on her. I wanted to question why, but things quickly got more alarmingly confusing for me, because what Pinkie did shouldn't have been physically possible.

The others told her to run, and I stood there, staring in disbelief as she began to sing.

"She can't seriously be...?" I muttered.

"She is." I heard Rarity comment while Pinkie darted around us.

I didn't feel it right away, as the song went on. There was a welling giddiness in me as Pinkie continued to talk about her Granny Pie and how her Grandma taught her to deal with her fear, but when I found myself actually laughing a little and noticing the scary faces on the trees again, I knew what I was dealing with.

She was using mind magic. Without a horn.

The implications of this clear fact didn't hit me until much later, but at the time it was simply jarring. It had been so insidious, how it had weaseled its way past my defenses without me even noticing until it actually began to have an effect on me. I didn't block it immediately. I had to be absolutely sure that was exactly what I was feeling. It felt a little off, different from the kind of mind magic I've felt before, but it was definitely exactly what I thought it was.

The moment I pushed it away, Pinkie seemed to twinge mid-song and look right at me. I met her gaze, surprised that she noticed. We stared at each other while she continued to sing, not missing a beat. I think she knew...and despite her song, I saw a kind of fleeting fear in her gaze.

The infectious joy welled up in all of them around me, and soon they were all 'giggling at the ghosties'. I watched the scary faces on the trees disappear as they laughed their worries away, and soon, the clearing was cleansed of that ambient influence we all felt in the first place. I didn't care much about that though. I was too busy coming to terms with the fact that Pinkie's influence on everyone's minds allowed her to essentially get rid of that influence with her good feelings.

It was so basic, so simple...but so remarkably effective.

Once they'd all gotten it out of their systems we continued on, but Pinkie seemed a bit unnerved. She kept looking back at me while we walked along, and it was clear to me that she needed some answers. I needed some too.

"Hey, girls? I want to ask Pinkie something, you mind giving us a little space?" I said to them, motioning behind us. "It's just about what happened back there."

Pinkie's head snapped around to look at me full-on. "Huh?"

I gave her a small nod and a smile. "It's no big deal, I just have some questions is all!"

The others gave us funny looks, but ultimately they didn't think much of it. Or at least, I think they didn't. Rainbow seemed suspicious, and Fluttershy still looked back at me like she was afraid I might keel over at any moment, but it wasn't my concern at the time. My attention was focused on Pinkie.

She presented an image of oblivious delight as she always did, but there was something to her smile, something strained. We walked side-by-side in relative silence for a few moments, before I finally broke the silence.

"So. What was that back there?"

"What was what, Twily?" she asked, her strange habit of hopping and pronking around making it hard to maintain eye contact with her.

"First of all, don't call me Twily," I said firmly, shaking my head. "Only my brother's allowed to call me that. Secondly," I said, leaning in towards her and lowering my voice. "You know what I'm talking about."

Her face ran a gamut of emotions, and I knew them all too well. I've dealt with ponies that couldn't manage a good poker-face if their lives depended on it before, and she was no different. There was that initial moment of defensiveness, that fake response to continue to play naive, then the anger...and then the fear. I think her mane actually deflated a little.

I peeked up at the others to see if they noticed the sudden change in Pinkie's demeanor. They did not. They were chatting about something that I wasn't paying any mind to.

"How...did you do that?" I asked her, clenching my teeth a little. "You're not a unicorn."

"I-I don't know! I really don't!" she whispered, leaning away from me. "Please, just let it go!"

"An earth pony uses magic and you expect me to just leave it alone?!" I hissed at her, shaking my head. "No way."

"Well...w-well how did you block it out?!" she asked, that fear suddenly giving way to a kind of confidence I didn't expect from her. Her smile was gone. "You know bad magic! I saw you do it!"

I stared at her for a moment, then looked forward at the others. "I have my reasons."

She stepped a little further away from me, shaking her head. "Granny Pie warned me about ponies like you. She told me I should stay away from bad ponies that use bad magic!"

"Oh?" I mused, glancing over at her. "And what would your Grandma know about bad magic?"

"Because some ponies tried to hurt her really bad with their bad magic once!" she said, shivering a little. "She stopped traveling into big cities after that. She wouldn't leave the farm for a whole year."

"I see...I'm very sorry to hear that."

I noticed she was trying to put more distance between us. I had to actively keep close to her until she was at one side of the already unmarked path we'd all found through the woods. My proximity to her seemed to make her far more tense than she had any business to be, though.

"Y-you're not gonna hurt me, right? Because I won't say anything, just don't...don't do anything to me out here!"

Oh. Forget Nightmare Moon, I had a very real situation on my hooves right here.

I quickly closed the distance between us and reached up, placing a forehoof on her wither. "Hey...look at me."

She froze and became still as a statue, a quiet whimper escaping her while we stood there, falling behind more than we already were. She slowly looked over at me, and I could see her entire body trembling despite the overall darkness enshrouding us. What happened to her Grandma to make her so afraid of ponies 'like me'? That kind of fear usually only comes from first-hoof experience...

"The only ponies I hurt are bad ponies, Pinkie," I said slowly, taking a deep breath to steady myself. "The kinds of ponies that hurt your Grandma."

I didn't like admitting that to her, but she already knew something about me I'd rather nobody knew if I could help it. Lying to her would only escalate things down the line, and if ever there was a pony that needed some kind of assurance that she was safe, it was Pinkie right there and then. It was almost disturbing to actually see her quaking on her hooves like she was. That wasn't the immature and rambunctious Pinkie Pie I'd gotten to know a bit better during last night's party.

"You promise?" she squeaked out to me, gazing into my eyes as if searching for the truth. "You're not gonna do anything to me? Because I know I know bad magic but I don't know how it works, but it usually happens because I always want to make ponies smile, so-"

"Pinkie."

She simply went quiet and gave me a small nod. I patted her on her wither and smiled a little at her.

"C'mon, it's not like you to not be smiling. I promise, I have no intention of hurting you or anyone else," I said, raising a hoof in the air as if to swear upon it. Then I faltered. "Well, except for Nightmare Moon. But she's got it coming."

She visibly relaxed in almost an instant, that poofy mane of hers suddenly popping up to full floofyness once again as she took in a deep breath and grinned.

"You Pinkie Promise?!" she asked, leaning in towards me until we were almost snout-to-snout. What was with these ponies and zero sense of personal space?!

"Uh...what's a Pinkie Promise? You mean like those promises the minotaurs make by hooking their pinkie fingers with the one they're making a promise to?" I asked, confused by the sudden heel-turn of her mood.

I swear, her eyes sparkled in that instant. She began to pronk around me as she giggled at the very prospect of having to explain what seemed like a not-so-universally accepted form of making a promise.

"It's the most super-serious of promises two friends can make, duh! Everypony in Ponyville knows what a Pinkie Promise is!" she said, stopping in front of me. "Breaking a Pinkie Promise is the fastest way to lose a friend forever, so you know that a Pinkie Promise is serious. Business!"

"Oookay. Well then," I said, clearing my throat. "How does one go about making a Pinkie Promise?"

Anything to help put her mind at ease, I told myself. She didn't even hesitate to go through the motions, and I took it all in and sat down in front of her.

"I promise to never tell anyone about your unique form of mind magic as long as you don't tell anyone about what I can do. Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my-" I said, only to jab myself in the eye with the edge of my hoof. "Ow."

Pinkie just laughed at that and sat down in front of me, holding up a hoof. "And I, Pinkamena Diane Pie,-" Huh, so that's her full name? Neat. "-do promise that I will never tell anyone about your secret either!" she said, repeating the motions.

I smiled and nodded to her, and she suddenly lunged forward and gave me a full-on hug, her forelegs wrapping around my withers and squeezing some of the life out of me. I expected her to let me go pretty quickly, but she held me there for a pretty significant amount of time. You know, since we were supposed to be walking right now. I couldn't even see the others now.

I felt her begin to tremble against me, and the faint sound of her crying was easily made out among the other noises of the forest.

"Th-thanks, Twilight! Really! I was afraid I'd have to leave Ponyville..." she muttered, hugging me just a bit tighter. Was that a rib popping? "I can't let anypony know what I can do. I just wanna make everyone happy, but if they knew what I could do, they'd report me to the Royal Guard, and then they'd take me away and run experiments on me and dissect me to see how it works because I'm not a unicorn and that's weird!"

"Well, I won't deny you're weird," I squeaked out, gently pushing at her chest with a hoof until she backed off of me. "But I don't think anyone would dissect you like that."

"The bad ponies did. That was what they tried to do to my Granny-"

"Hey!" I heard from further up ahead. "What're you two doin' back there?! C'mon, we can hear a river up ahead!"

She and I both looked ahead for a moment before standing up and walking towards Applejack, who'd doubled back to see what was taking us so long. I looked over at Pinkie and gave her a small nod, and she just grinned at me.

"We'll talk about it more later, alright? Honestly...I'd like to do some tests to try to figure out how you're able to do that."

"Not mad scientist experiments, right?"

"I make no promises!"

"Pff-heeheehahah! You're silly, Twilight! Sure."

Even without her mind magic influencing me, Pinkie's unique brand of energetic cheer had me chuckling at her antics and feeling a bit more upbeat about everything. Logically I knew I didn't have much to be cheery about at the moment, but helping a pony relax around me? That's a good feeling. I don't get to enjoy those all that often.

That was far more scary than I let on though. Really, I was taking a huge gamble admitting to my own illegal magic to someone that was, in essence, just an acquaintance. She'd caught me red-hoofed just as I'd done the same to her however. I had no way to not tell her the truth, and I'm fairly certain that if I'd just tried to play it off, she would've called me out on it. No telling what her Granny Pie's told her about ponies like me.

Of course after that, what happened with Rarity was almost a non-event. We broke into a trot to catch up with the others, and soon enough I could hear the sounds of a river as well. Only, it sounded like the water was sloshing around and splashing a lot. On top of that, someone was crying. Well, whining at least, maybe not full-on weeping.

We were heading right for it, for good or ill, and when we found the source, I was shocked to find, of all things, a sea serpent. Why? Because rivers are generally fresh-water. They are called sea serpents for a reason. While I couldn't recall the name of this specific river off the top of my head at the time, I was entirely certain that water was drinkable. Therefore, what the fuck was a sea serpent doing in a fresh-water river?

Sure, sea serpents aren't exclusive to the ocean, but it's really rare to see one far from the Neighponese oceans surrounding their island...let alone finding one in the middle of the Everfree!

Even worse, whatever had him so flustered was causing him to roil the river waters into a frenzy. Ever wondered how sea serpents can move through the water so fast? They bend the water to their will reflexively. It's kinda like how our tactile kinesis works, they just sorta do it without thinking that much about it. Either way, we would be swept away by the current if we tried to cross right now, so I figured calming him down was a far more sure bet. Not to mention, he could offer us a much drier way across.

"Uh, excuse me sir!" I called out, trying to get his attention. "Mind if I ask what's got you so upset?"

"Well, I don't know!" he responded, lowering himself down enough so he didn't completely tower over us. "I was just sitting here washing off my scales and taking care of my mane, when this tacky little purple sparkly cloud whizzed past me and tore part of my mustache clean off!"

I resisted the urge to groan and roll my eyes at what was clearly a really tiny issue that would take maybe a couple of weeks for him to fix.

He rose back up to his full height and made several overly dramatic motions to properly signify just how traumatized he truly was. I would've smacked him if he were at eye-level.

"And now, I look awful!"

The waterworks began anew, for him and for our group, thanks to his renewed thrashing. His body flopped and sent a sizeable splash of water our way, and I threw up a barrier over myself on reflex. Had to admit, I was feeling back to a hundred percent after that nasty fall earlier! However, the nasty look Rarity was giving me for letting her get soaked, well...whoops? He was laying his head over the side of the river, why didn't she go give him a piece of her mind?

"Ugh, seriously?" I heard Rainbow say, the irritation clear on her face.

"That's what all the fuss is about?" Applejack added.

I didn't blame them for being thrown off by it. It really was a stupid thing to be crying over. Then again, as a purveyor of personal hygeine and taking almost obsessive care of my appearance and my clothes, I guess I could relate to an extent. I certainly wouldn't be whining like a bitch over some of my mane getting torn off though.

Rarity, however, seemed to be of the same mindset as our extremely metrosexual sea serpent acquaintance.

"Why of course it is!" she stated, giving both Rainbow and AJ a quick glare. "How can you be so insensitive?!"

She walked right up to him with a smile on her face, and I was curious to see where this was going. I'd seen things like this before...and he was certainly vain enough to totally get played like a fiddle.

"Look at him," she said with a little pouty tone, stroking a hoof over his chin. "Such lovely, luminescent scales!"

He sniffled a little and looked down at her. "I-I know...!"

"And your expertly coiffed mane!" she said, the raw flattery on her tongue almost palpable to me.

He lifted himself up and ran a hand over his hair. "Oh I know, I know!"

"Your fabulous manicure!"

I'd say she was laying it on a bit thick, but considering how thickly he was laying it on already, excess seemed to be the name of the game here. Had to hoof it to her, she knew how to play him. I got the distinct impression she was used to doing that sort of thing with her customers.

He gasped at the compliment, the pure joy from such a simple comment making him cup his cheeks in delight. "It's so true~!"

"All ruined without your beautiful moustache!" I heard Rarity say.

"Oh it's true, I'm hideous!"

Aaand down he went. Partially. More like a slump. Reminded me of the Hunchback of Notre Dame, except infinitely less ugly and not a griffon.

"I simply cannot allow this crime against fabulosity to go uncorrected!"

She actually surprised me with the resolve she seemed to have. I think I was mistaking it for flair and fronting earlier, because she just kinda went in and bit down on one of the sea serpent's scales and ripped it out. I cringed at the very idea of it. I remember one time Spike fell funny on his front and one of his scales got bent out of place. He was crying up a storm, lemme tell ya! Got even worse when I actually plucked it off of him.

"OW!! What'd you do that for?!" I heard him half-shout. I even saw a stray tear escape his eye. Guess scale-plucking is kinda like plucking pegasus feathers before they're ready to come off.

She didn't even hesitate, and she really should've. She cut off her tail...with no clothes to wear. If I really need to explain why that makes for certain issues with ponies that go naked, then your mind's not dirty enough. I mean it wasn't all gone, but it was short enough to not leave a single thing to your imagination!

Then the sea serpent mock-fainted from the act. I wasn't even going to ask. I think he was being flamboyant for the sake of being flamboyant.

The moment of awe came for me when Rarity took her cut-off tail and, in the blink of an eye, connected it to the torn-up stubble of what was left of the one-half of his moustache. You remember what I said about her being able to manipulate numerous things at one time with remarkable precision? Well, she one-upped that by tying every individual strand of her tail to the strands of his remaining moustache. Just, the focus you'd need...! I can't even fathom it.

Thoughts of Rarity secretly being some kind of Neighponese samurai or a griffon-trained monk aside, the sea serpent who we quickly learned was named Steven Magnet was very grateful...despite Rarity's tail garishly clashing with the normal color of his moustache. I couldn't help myself in the aftermath of that.

"Ah, Rarity...did you think about cutting off your tail, or was it a spur-of-the-moment thing?" I asked, motioning to the bit that was left on her rump.

I tried really hard not to look, but...okay, I'm lying. I ogled and stared before I said anything, and I couldn't help but take a peek once I got closer to her! Seriously, she had no tail to hide anything! Like a Celestia-damned eyeball buffet up in here.

I get the feeling she saw me looking, because no sooner did she look back at me than she quickly stepped away and turned to face all of us.

"O-oh! It's fine my dear," she said, trying to compose herself despite my social faux pas. "Short tails are in this season! Besides, it'll grow back just fine."

She was right. Go to Canterlot and you can see a lot of short tails on mares and stallions alike, as long as they're wearing clothes. Styles of the rich and famous, so to speak.

"Yyyeah, but you don't have any clothes, so..."

She blushed profusely at that and huffed, flicking her mane with her hoof. "Well I suppose I will simply have to depend on the rest of you being proper ladies, won't I?"

I grinned a bit and shrugged. "I can give it a shot, but I'm not making any promises!"

She looked at me aghast, then humph'ed and turned to walk away, attempting to snap her tail...which wasn't there. Immediately afterward, she realized what she'd done, and the way her face turned scarlet was priceless! I tried to hold back my laughter, but with the others giggling as well, I couldn't help but let out a few chuckles of my own.

"Hmph! You laugh at me, but I was only being generous!" she said, turning her nose up at us in disgust. "Ogling a fine lady like myself when she's so vulnerable...! You should all be ashamed of yourselves!"

"Ashamed? Me? Nah," I said, casually brushing it off and stepping up next to her. "But for what it's worth, I'm sorry that I looked and made you uncomfortable. It was very inappropriate of me."

She nodded as I approached her, smiling slightly. "Well, that is very mature of you to say, and I accept your-"

"Really nice view though~!"

You don't know cute until you've heard Rarity hold back a scream. Her cheeks bulged a little, her cheeks turned red as a tomato and she stamped her hooves in frustration before turning to bat at me with her forehooves, thwapping them against my side and my withers before turning and urging me forward.

"You be quiet you uncouth pervert, and take the lead! I clearly can't trust you to walk behind me for any reason!"

The girls were cracking up laughing and so was I, and soon after, Rarity joined in. Perhaps she knew I was joking, or maybe she thought I was anyways. It really was a nice view, no joke there.

Even Steven was chuckling a bit at our antics, but he settled us down pretty quick.

"Yes, maybe it was a tad brash of you to cut off your own tail dearie, but I appreciate it," he said, gently curling it around his finger. "So very generous of you!"

Rarity waved it off with a more genuine smile. "Oh, pff, think nothing of it! It's just hair! My beauty matters little when you were in such distress. Why shouldn't I have been generous?"

"Too true, my dear! I'll take that life lesson to heart." he said, looking between us for a moment.

I motioned towards the other side of the river, looking up at him. "If you don't mind, could you help us across?"

"Of course! After what you did for me, what kind of gentledrake would I be if I didn't help you out?" he said, raising his body in a serpentine pattern that brought his body out of the water in several places. "Go ahead, ladies!"

We hopped our way across to the other side and, with a quick wave goodbye to Steven, we continued on our way. It only occurred to me in that moment just how much of an adventure we'd found ourselves in, this deep into the Everfree. Like something out of a children's book, a story you'd read to your filly or colt before bed to fill their minds with thoughts of heroes and grand adventures where everything goes great for the heroes and the villains are so one-dimensional that they're doomed to failure from the outset. We were questing for the Elements of Harmony after all, even if the others didn't realize it...and Nightmare Moon was not going to win.

Rarity came up and nudged my side with hers. "Er, so...forgive me if this is forward, but...are you attracted to mares?"

I shrugged a little. "I prefer them, though stallions can be nice too. Why?"

"Oh, no reason! Just...just wondering," she said slowly, clearing her throat. "I just wanted to know if your taunting was flirtatious in nature or simple...well, taunting."

I smirked at that and gave her a small nudge. "A little of both, really."

"Ah."

The silence that pressed in around us was a bit awkward, especially since the others had heard all of that as well. I personally didn't care all that much. Why would I care if they knew? Homosexual tendencies weren't all that uncommon, though if you were a stallion you were viewed with a bit of contempt compared to being a gay mare. Oh, the ignorant dogma against anal...among other things.

Plus I'm sure that Rarity was a bit off-put by the fact that a noble admitted to being somewhat gay. That's not the sort of thing a noble really does, you see. We are set to a higher standard, as the ways of the old world would dictate! Back when gay activity was persecuted and ponies could be lynched for being 'faggots'. Disgusting. Then again, if I were born back then, I might think lynching the gays would be totally acceptable, reasonable even! Who knows?

In any case, we continued on, and it began to make me nervous just how close we were getting to the castle. It was hard to see the highest spires in the darkness and with the canopy getting in the way a lot, but we were definitely almost there. The moment we reached the next clearing, we could see it in all its ancient majesty.

Decrepit would be a more accurate description, actually. The place was run-down and falling apart, and even the perimeter of it was inexplicably collapsed all around the castle, barring entry save for getting over there by air or by bridge. Speaking of bridges....

"Weeeeellll, shit." I muttered, walking over to look at the busted rope bridge that had, at one point, been perfectly functional.

"Aww, now how're we gonna get across?!" Pinkie shouted as she approached.

I could've teleported all of us over, but this was one of those situations where I needed to consider the use of my magic a last resort. I was still firmly of the mindset that I'd need everything I had to deal with Nightmare Moon at that point, and I didn't want to waste it teleporting five civilians over a chasm.

Fortunately, the bridge seemed serviceable, the ropes had just come loose on one side over the years; re-securing it would be a breeze. Rainbow had that under control. She flew down and grabbed the hanging end of the rope bridge and took it back up, and began tying it onto the post on the other side while we waited.

"It's a really spooky castle...i-isn't it?" I heard Fluttershy say.

I glanced up at the mighty stone structure once more, taking the chance to take a few deep, calming breaths and settle myself down. Shame that didn't work out so well for me.

"Rainbow..."

I perked my ears up immediately. That wasn't one of us, because it wasn't something that was purely sound, or at least I thought it wasn't. The fact that Pinkie seemed to notice it too alarmed me, because no one else did. Something about that sound was partially mind magic, and I couldn't feel the source. It felt as if the magic itself had been on the wind, and had faded away just as quickly.

"Rainbow~...!"

Okay, that one I definitely heard, and judging by the look on Pinkie's face, she heard it plain as day too. I made a discreet motion to her with my hoof for her to stay quiet, then made a circular motion while looking around the area. She seemed to take the hint, but if she was actually attempting to be subtle, she was doing an absolutely horrible job at it. I don't think stealth is her forte.

"Twilight!"

I turned to look at Pinkie, and out of the corner of my eye as I turned, I saw what she must've been ready to point out to me. Across the chasm, three pegasi were conversing with Rainbow Dash. My blood ran cold at what Pinkie said next.

"They just appeared from the shadows!" she exclaimed.

I could feel them now. They were giving off an ambient aura of mental compulsion, further sharpened by their honeyed words. I didn't even hesitate when I attempted to teleport over to her. Key word being 'attempted'.

The backlash I felt threatened to make me black out for a minute, with how hard it hit me. It was only my training with the guard and my experience with magic that helped me brace myself against it. Didn't stop me from collapsing into a laying position. Pinkie was on me in an instant, and the others rushed over to help me as well, probably from the loud magical pop of me briefly winking out of existence, then suddenly snapping back in a dulled blast of mana. Rainbow didn't seem to notice, probably because they had her full attention.

I looked across the chasm, and on the other side, right under where the rope bridge was, was a pulsating warding rune. I had to really focus to see it, but it was there. Unicorns have a unique kind of vision, and it's the basis behind the arrays we construct to cast spells safely, and this one...no wonder I could barely see it. I was only seeing a part of it at once. It existed in separate pieces at several different tiers of complexity! A work of art if ever there was one. I really wished my head hadn't been throbbing like a little drummer colt was dancing around in my head so I could've fully appreciated it at the time.

Think of our ability to see magic and arrays as you would a camera, zooming in and out, but instead of bringing things in and out of focus, we see magic in different layers of intensity. As you focus on one layer, others blur or even fade out entirely. Mind you this has no effect on our normal vision, it's just sort of like...hm. Like seeing layers overlapping reality. Pegasi and earth ponies usually never see this, but that's just because they lack the training for it. It's also difficult to teach them because they can't use or feel magic the same way us unicorns do.

Of course, that ward meant that she anticipated this, because there was no way she cast that rune while we were standing there. That meant that Nightmare Moon had been watching us every step of the way, and she anticipated my ability to use magic to solve this little conundrum. Now, she had one of us isolated from the rest, like a lion waiting for that one stupid animal to break away from the rest of the herd.

That clever bitch. She knew this would happen and if it wasn't me, it would've been Fluttershy or Rainbow Dash!

I quickly forced myself to my hooves, using Pinkie as my support. I could feel magic gathering in the air, because it seemed like she had taken notice of the fact that I had taken notice, and already had measures in place; magic-borne fog was welling up from the chasm from both directions.

Magic rushed to my horn and I rapidly worked to emulate the form of mind magic she was using on Rainbow, before the fog blocked us out completely. I knew what kind of fog that was, I could see it without hardly looking at it with any level of scrutiny. She was trying to block us out! It'd make it easier for her to influence Rainbow Dash, you see.

I sparked my horn and prepared my own mind magic to combat hers, calling out over the chasm.

"Rainbow! Don't listen to them!"

It was all I had time to say before the fog obscured our view completely, and I ceased being able to feel anything from the other side. I could only hope that my own influence managed to worm its way into her well enough to ward Nightmare Moon's attempts until we could find a way across. I considered asking Fluttershy to fly over there, but what would she be able to do? Especially if Nightmare managed to turn Rainbow Dash against us. Then it would just be Fluttershy fighting against a mind-controlled pegasus that's faster and more physically fit than she is, on her own. Not good odds.

I had to calm them all down and try to think of something...or at least, I thought I did. The truth was, while they certainly weren't calm, all of our worries over Rainbow Dash's well-being were very...exaggerated. Not two minutes after I began to formulate a plan to get this fog dispersed enough for me to get over there, the fog faded back down into the chasm and Rainbow flew back over to us, the rope bridge once again secured.

The girls cheered when she landed in front of us, but I hung back, discreetly looking her over, cycling through every layer of magic available. Nothing. Not even a hint of Nightmare Moon's magic on her, just what I'd influenced her with. How...? There's no way she resisted that completely, she didn't even know what she was dealing with!

"So," I said, approaching her slowly. "What happened?"

"Eh, it was nothin' special," Rainbow said, fluttering her wings a little before tucking them in against her sides. "Some losers callin' themselves the Shadowbolts tried to get me to join their team and leave you guys stranded out here."

"Huh. Alright," I muttered. "Aaand...why didn't you go with them?"

"Pff, what?! Rainbow Dash doesn't leave her friends hangin'!"

I got the feeling that I just didn't know as much as I wished I did about mind magic, because that explained exactly nothing. Did it have something to do with her conviction? Heh, or maybe was she too hard-headed to allow herself to be brainwashed? It could go either way, if you ask me.

I was still suspicious of course, but whatever those Shadowbolts were...she created them. That meant she had to be close by, and that meant she was probably already in the castle. We needed to get in there as quickly as we possibly could, and track her down. Maybe we'd find the Elements of Harmony while we were at it? They were in there somewhere....

I'd specifically tried to avoid talking to anyone about them. The reference guide I'd found regarding them was fairly vague about their legend and what it had to do with Nightmare Moon as well. The only strange thing I'd noticed in the illustrations is that all of them had Celestia's mane and tail colored a solid pink until she banished her sister to the moon. After that it was all pastel rainbow, all the time. I tried to ask her about it once, but it was one of the only times she'd actually become evasive about giving me a straight answer.

Once we were across the bridge, Rainbow Dash stopped me while the others continued ahead. She didn't say anything until the others had put some distance between us.

"So hey, uh...I'm not so good at this whole apology thing," she said slowly, flying above me by a few inches. "But, what I said before? Back in town? My mouth just kinda runs away from me sometimes...that was totally my bad."

"What, calling me a hornhead? I'd almost forgotten about that," I muttered, shrugging my withers. "It's no big deal. I know all about that. Heat of the moment. Nothing to forgive."

"Phew! That's a load off my back then!" she said, landing in front of me. "So, we're still cool then?" she muttered, raising a hoof up and holding it out to me.

I quickly clopped one of my forehooves against hers. "Yeah, we're cool. Maybe cooler." I said, glancing over to the bridge. "...You really wouldn't have abandoned us, huh?"

"I don't leave my friends hangin'. That's not how Rainbow Dash flies." she said, her cocky smile replaced by a serious gaze.

I stared back at her for a moment, then gave her a small nod. "Alright then. Just so you know," I said, pointing at the castle. "We're going to get attacked in there. Some way, not sure how yet. We might even die. You still down for this?"

Her wings fluttered slightly, her stance wilting just a little before she stood up tall, grinning wide and taking to the air again.

"You can count on me!"

"Huh. Color me surprised," I said, grinning and heading over towards the entrance, where they were waiting for us. "C'mon then! Let's go kick an alicorn's ass, shall we?"

The sudden cheer from her was followed by the pegasus swooping through the air towards our other companions, and I followed suit with a small smile and a feeling of security that I didn't normally feel with others. I felt like I could depend on her if something bad happened...that wasn't a feeling I was familiar with at all. Everyone I'd ever worked with in the past, they were just sort of...I dunno, meat shields if something went down? That's the only way I can describe them, thinking back.

They weren't ponies I ever really concerned myself with back then. If they died, well, one less pony to worry about. These girls though, they weren't ponies I was willing to sacrifice under any circumstance I might run into out here.

I looked up at the castle looming over us, pondering on the situation. These five were different to me. Why was that?

Author's Notes:

Yeah, I had to cut it in half again! Seriously, didn't see this coming.