“Hey, Loyalty, where you going?”

Rainbow Dash paused and looked around, surprised by a relatively unfamiliar voice calling her that. When she saw the pegasus filly coming her way, dressed in a uniform that resembled her own, and riding around on a scooter, it took a moment for recognition to sink in. “Oh, hey, you’re that pegasus with Elements of Greatness. What was your name again?”

“It’s Scootaloo, the Element of Awesome,” the filly said, hopping up a moment to spin her scooter in a quick 360 before landing back on it and bringing it to a stop. “Hey, Sweetie Belle, Spike, what are you both doing up still?”

“Honestly, I’m not really sure,” Spike admitted. “Rainbow insisted Sweetie couldn’t go home for some reason, and then when we were almost to the library, she decided we couldn’t go there, either. At this rate there won’t be anywhere left to go but the Everfree.”

“I saw the princesses heading into the library, and they looked really serious. I don’t think we should be interrupting whatever they’re planning to do,” Rainbow said. “They’d call for us if they needed us. Until then, let them do what they need to do.”

“That makes sense,” Sweetie Belle said, “but that doesn’t explain why I couldn’t go home. Spike could spend the night with me there, if he needs to.”

Rainbow blushed, her cyan fur matching the reddest part of her mane, as she rubbed the back of her head. “That seems like it’d be the worst possible idea. Look, I’m taking you two to Fluttershy’s, where you’ll be nice and safe and won’t see anything that can’t be unseen. It’s just for tonight… I’ll make sure of that.”

The anger in her last sentence surprised the fillies, enough to keep them from being willing to question it. “Can I come along?” Scootaloo asked. “I’d love to spend a bit of time with the awesomest pony in town, learn a few tricks of the trade so to speak.”

“I thought you said you’re the Element of Awesome,” Rainbow teased.

“I am, but I’m still learning. Growing into the role,” Scootaloo countered.

“Aren’t we all…” the older mare said, before shaking her head to clear the thoughts. “But sure. I’m sure ‘Shy can find room for three.”

A short time later, the mare was knocking on her best friend’s door, as well as calling out to her.

“Yes? Who is it?” the resident asked quietly, almost too quietly to make out through the door.

“Hey, Flutters, it’s me,” Rainbow announced. “And I’ve got a couple fillies and a dragon who need a place to stay for the night.”

“Oh, my!” Fluttershy exclaimed, before opening the door. “What happened? Did their houses collapse?”

“No, nothing like that. The Princesses are at the library, so Spike needs to stay out of their way, and… well, I’ll tell you why Sweetie Belle can’t be at Carousel Boutique right now when they… while they all go brush their teeth for bed,” Rainbow said. “Upstairs, you three. Now.”

“But we didn’t bring our toothbrushes,” Sweetie Belle pointed out.

“You can use one of my unopened ones,” Fluttershy said. “Just not one of the orange ones with the carrots on it. Pick any of the others that feels like the right size for you.”

“You keep a bunch of spare tooth brushes for the animals you take care of?” Spike inquired, earning an affirmative nod.

“Not every wild animal has good tooth maintenance habits,” Fluttershy pointed out.

The present members of the Elements of Greatness made their way up the stairs, before settling in, by wordless agreement, to listen in from the top of the staircase, tucked just out of sight from below.

“So what’s wrong with Rarity’s? You didn’t prank her again, did you?”

“No, not this time, I swear… though, now that I think about it, I may have told Sweetie Belle I did,” Rainbow Dash confessed. “I was actually scouting out Prince Blueblood, getting a good feel for what kind of prank would get him best, when I caught him going into the boutique, just a little after sunset.”

“I’m sure there was a perfectly innocent-”

“I saw them bucking, through the window,” Rainbow said. “Impossible to mistake, especially from that angle. I can’t believe he would do that to Cloud. I really want to believe he would, that he’s just totally unworthy of her, but I really can’t. And Rarity?! Why?”

“Oh my,” was all Fluttershy could manage for a while, aside from blushing. “You were right to bring them here, and I see why you couldn’t tell them. Don’t worry, I’ll take great care of them. But what are you going to do, Rainbow Dash?”

“I’m going to tell her, of course,” Dash declared, before hesitating. “Of course, she’ll probably think it’s another jealousy fit, possibly a prank, and even if she believes me, she might let that color her view of it.”

“She was pretty frustrated with your jealousy when you two were still dating. Still, she does deserve to know the truth,” Fluttershy said.

“There’s only one way. I need to lead Cloud to them while they’re going at it, let her catch them red-hooved. That’s the only way she’ll believe me,” Rainbow said.

Upstairs, the children pulled away quietly, having heard enough. They slipped back into the bedroom, quietly closing the door behind them.

“Well, at least that explains why you couldn’t go home,” Scootaloo offered.

“It does? Somepony care to explain it to me?” Spike asked.

“Has Twilight not explained the ‘birds and the bees’ to you?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“I’ve had an extensive education on ornithology and entomology,” Spike said, “but I don’t see what either of those has to do with ‘bucking’. So why was the Prince kicking your sister, and what does that have to do with wildlife?”

Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle exchanged looks. “Okay, Spikey, you live in library,” Sweetie Belle said. “I’m going to need you to look up some books, and you might need to sneak them past Twilight if she’s that unwilling to teach you the basics…”

“And, you think it was my destiny to be the Element of Magic,” Twilight asked the princesses.

“Your cutie mark was the third symbol on the trunk of the Tree of Harmony, just above ‘Tia’s and my own,” Luna confirmed. “We’ve known your time would come since long before you were born.”

“Of course, we didn’t know anything about you until I saw you at the entrance exam for my academy. But of course I instantly recognized your cutie mark. And when you actually succeeded at hatching a dragon egg, something nopony was supposed to be able to do, it just confirmed my suspicions,” Celestia offered.

“I don’t think anyone really disagrees that I wasn’t really ‘supposed’ to be here,” I offered. “So when I went in your place to the old castle and recovered the Element of Magic, and it bonded to me instead of you…”

“It set off a chain of events, derailing destiny,” Twilight offered. “That sounds pretty serious but… I’m not sure I buy it. If destiny is that easy to derail, how can we really call it ‘destiny’? It’s just one possibility, and maybe not even a likely one.”

The princesses both looked at Twilight aghast, while I showed my curiosity. “What are you suggesting, Twilight?”

“Well, let’s consider this logically,” Twilight suggested. “The Tree of Harmony was marked with three symbols; the sun, moon, and a star. All have a common theme of celestial bodies, so it isn’t surprising to see them together, and could easily have some other meaning. The happen to be the same shape as our respective cutie marks, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they are linked by anything other than a common artist, in this case magic itself. We know that two of the three symbols match 2 of the eight Bearers of the Elements of Harmony, past and present, meaning that it is neither necessary nor sufficient for a pony to have their cutie mark on the tree to become a bearer, right? None of my friend’s marks were there, after all.”

“But Starswirl himself…” Luna began, then faltered.

“Starswirl the Bearded told you I was destined to bear one of the Elements?” Twilight asked.

“Well, no, not as such. But he showed us the Tree. And the symbols, matching our cutie marks…” Luna tried.

“And the result was…” Twilight prompted.

“The Elements bound to the two of us, at least at the time,” Celestia said. “He… really didn’t tell us much more about it.”

“So, you’ve come to your own conclusions,” Twilight stated. “In any case, this ‘destiny’ didn’t come to pass. And now the Tree of Harmony is gone, but we’re still alive. So what do we do now?”

“The Tree helped keep the Everfree Forest under control. Without it, we can expect more and more dangerous monsters to come out of it. As such, Ponyville is the front lines for that new danger,” Princess Celestia explained. “The Elements of Harmony will lose power, and won’t be able to deal with the big dangers like they have in the past.”

“So what you’re saying is that you need an elite fighting force to protect Ponyville in particular, and the rest of Equestria, now more than ever,” I offered. “The question is, do you think we should expand our numbers to prepare for worse to come, or just focus on training, equipping, and preparing the members we have now?”

“Cloud’s right,” Luna said. “We need to keep a strong force stationed here. I will send some of my thestrals here to guard the town during the night. You should at least meet with them, and get to know each other well, as you will be guarding each other’s sleep. But whether they should be part of the Elements I will leave for you to work out with them.”

I waved dismissively. “They should probably remain their own group, but I’ll work with their leader. I’m sure we can both benefit from training together.” I shivered, distracted a moment. “Does anypony feel a breeze?”

“Oh, sorry, looks like the front door is ajar,” Twilight apologized, closing it with her magic. “Sorry about that. Anyways, it will be rather nice to see a thestral in person! I’ve only read accounts of them from before your banishment!”

“I’m sure they will be pleased to make your acquaintance as well,” Luna said. “Be sure to treat them well. I have heard distressing word of them suffering terrible prejudices due to their uncommon appearance.”

“Why, what do they look like?” I inquired.

“They are typically darker of fur, have wings more resembling those of bats than birds, along with sharp fangs and slitted eyes,” Luna explained.

“But still basically ponies?” I checked, and Luna nodded. At that I shrugged. And then someone knocked on the door.

Twilight opened it with her magic, admitting Rarity. “Hi Rarity, come on in. What brings you by so late at night?”

“Oh my, I didn’t mean to interrupt a royal affair,” Rarity said as she stepped inside, bowing to the Princesses.

“What is it, Generosity?” I asked. “Did you need something, or just visiting?”

“I do need something, I admit. Has anypony seen my little sister, Sweetie Belle? I thought she would have been home by now, but I haven’t seen mane nor tail of the little darling,” Rarity said.

“No, I haven’t,” Twilight said, before thinking more. “Actually, I haven’t seen Spike this evening either. Do you think we should go look for them?”

“The rest of our discussion can wait for another day,” Princess Celestia said. “Indeed, I expect we are needed back at Canterlot, quite desperately by now. We will keep in touch. And Cloud… thank you for rescuing us. I’m sorry for my outburst, earlier. Regardless of anything else, we do owe you great thanks.”

I shook my head. “If I can save someone from harm, I’ll do it every time,” I promised.

“I… rather expected a comment about money,” Celestia noted.

I laughed. “I guess I really let the mercenary thing get to my head. But I finally remembered who I was, who I am. And the money isn’t what’s important. Right now finding our missing filly and dragon is.”

The Princesses took to the skies, heading back to their own responsibilities, while Rarity, Twilight and I headed off to look for Spike and Sweetie Belle.

“Let’s start with their clubhouse,” I suggested. “Unless somepony has a better idea?”

No one did, so we headed out for the woods, where the Elements of Greatness had built their hangout. The moon and stars only provided so much illumination, so we relied on unicorn magic and my Light materia to pierce the darkness.

When we reached the clubhouse, there were no signs of light from within, so we weren’t expecting much. But when we went to take a look through the window, we saw a small figure sleeping within, snoring gently.

“Sweetie Belle?!” Rarity asked loudly.

“Whuh, huh?” the filly asked drowsily, before sitting up enough for the blanket to reveal her upper half. The pink pony was most certainly not Sweetie Belle. “Whosat?”

“Diamond Tiara, have you seen Sweetie Belle? She hasn’t gotten home yet,” I inquired.

The filly yawned and got to her hooves. “Really? She said she was going home, a little after sundown. She never made it?”

“Did you say a little after sundown?” Rarity asked, before giving a nervous laugh.

“Yeah, why?”

“No reason,” Rarity deflected. “Let’s just keep looking for her.”

“I’ll come with you,” Diamond Tiara offered, climbing to her hooves before giving her blanket a puzzled look.

I nodded to her and we started heading out. “What about Spike? He hasn’t gotten home yet either.”

“Well, he was walking her home,” Diamond said as we reached the ground. “Look, here’s their tracks.”

Keeping the glowing sphere from the Light materia close to the ground, we followed along in their footsteps through the woods.

“What were you doing sleeping in the clubhouse anyways,” I asked.

Diamond looked downcast, but didn’t want to answer at first. “Who do you choose when it’s between family and friends?” she asked quietly after a time.

Before I could come up with an answer, a noise in the bushes caught our attention. With a loud “bicock,” a chicken-like head appeared from out of the foliage. I met its eyes and froze, unable to look away. I tried to reach for my sword, but my movements were getting increasingly sluggish.

“Oh, buck no!” Diamond Dust said. “Come on. Summon me! Summon John, even. Do something!”

“Oh, this is just too deliciously ironic,” John cackled. “Karmic payback is a bitch, isn’t it?”

I heard ponies crying out in alarm behind me. I saw a pair of needles fly through the air toward the fowl before dropping suddenly to the ground, accompanied by the first half of another cry of alarm. And finally, my last hope, I heard small hoofsteps running into the distance.

Diamond Tiara wasn’t sure which way she was running. Away from the chicken-headed monster, that much was for sure. But beyond that? When she finally spotted light up ahead, she turned and ran toward it. It was a house, and almost nauseatingly quaint at that. With no other homes or buildings nearby, aside from a chicken coop outside.

She got up to the door and knocked vigorously, tears welling in her eyes. “Hello? Anypony? Somepony help!”

A pair of pegasus mares opened the door. The tears slowed her down in identifying them, but once she heard the soft voice of the first she recognized them. “Hello? Oh, dear. What’s wrong?”

“Fluttershy? Oh, thank Harmony I found you. The others are in trouble. Miss Strife, Miss Sparkle, and Miss… Rarity,” Diamond Tiara said, hesitating a moment as she realized she didn’t know Rarity’s last name, or if she even had one. “They’ve been turned to stone by a chicken!”

“What? Chickens can’t turn ponies to stone,” Rainbow Dash said. “Are you pulling our hooves?”

“Chickens can’t, but a cockatrice can,” Fluttershy said. “We’ve got to rescue them! Oh, but what about Spike and the fillies upstairs? We better tell them we’re going out.”

“Then they’ll want to come with us,” Rainbow Dash groaned.

“Well, we need to check on them anyways. They’ve been brushing their teeth an awfully long time,” Fluttershy said as she made her way upstairs.

“As if. They’re probably just running the water as a distraction from whatever mischief they’re up to,” Rainbow speculated as she followed.

Rainbow was wrong, in that the water was at least not running. None of the tooth brushes had been even picked up. But a variety of sheets and blankets had been tied into a rope and used to escape out the window.

“Oh no… what do we do?” Fluttershy asked.

“We should find the Element of Awesome, and those other two, as soon as possible,” Rainbow said. “The others are turned to stone, right? So they won’t be going anywhere. They’ll still be there for us to help in the morning.

“Um, Rainbow Dash? Cockatrices eat their victims while they’re in stone form,” Fluttershy informed.

“Oh, buck me!” Rainbow said. “Filly! What was your name? And more importantly, can you lead us to where they were?”

“I’m Diamond Tiara, Element of Leadership,” Diamond introduced. “And yeah, I think so. Just bring some light.”

“Figures you’d share a name with her,” Rainbow Dash muttered. “Alright, let’s go!”

“Cloud, can you hear me in there?” Rainbow Dash asked. She had rushed ahead of the others when she caught sight of us, and was now occupying my rather stationary field of view.

“Ten bits says she ends up putting you in her garden as a decoration,” John said.

“Do you even have ten bits?” Diamond Dust inquired.

But a loud squawk drew her attention away from me, and soon she was lacking her usual bright colors, her stone form falling out of the air and clunking down before me.

“You!” Fluttershy said much louder than I had ever heard her speak. “Just who do you think you are, going around turning others to stony?!” she demanded.

A dismayed squawk echoed out as the beast turned to stare down the furious pegasus.

“Woah, look at little miss butterflies!” Diamond Dust said, clearly impressed.

“10 bits says she turns him to stone with that stare,” John bet.

“10 bits sure seems to say a lot of things. That the name of your imaginary friend?” Diamond inquired.

“You caught me,” John conceded.

“You should be ashamed of yourself,” Fluttershy berated. “I have a mind to find your mother and tell her what you've been up to, young man. Now you go over there, and turn my friends back to normal, and don't ever let me catch you doing this again. Do you understand me?” The sheer force of will behind those words made me want to obey, and I wasn’t even the one she was staring at.

And more importantly, it worked. The monster, whose chicken like head was atop a snakelike body, quickly hurried from one of us to the other, undoing his petrifying magic before rushing off into the woods to escape Fluttershy’s wrath.

“Thanks for the save, Kindness,” I said. “Now we need to get back to tracking down Sweetie Belle and Spike.”

“Yes, and don’t forget Scootaloo,” Fluttershy said. “And how did you know they ran away?”

“Ran away?” I asked.

“Yes, they were staying in my cottage, but for some reason they made a bedsheet rope and escaped out the window. Oh… I hope they’re okay!” Fluttershy said.

“Not to suggest anything untoward, darling, but why were they in your cottage to begin with,” Rarity asked.

“Rainbow Dash brought them over, because-” Fluttershy began, before covering her mouth.

“Because I caught you and Prince Blueballs banging just as your sister was about to come in!” Rainbow Dash accused.

Rarity sputtered incoherently, blushing and looking back and forth between me and Rainbow Dash. “Well, I never!”

“Rarity,” I said calmly, “did you have sex with Prince Blueblood? Yes or no.”

She struggled a bit longer before sighing, and looking at the ground. “Yes. But you don’t-”

“Let’s go find your sister,” I said, and started off toward Fluttershy’s cottage.

“You didn’t let me exp-” Rarity began but I held up a hand.

“We’re not having this conversation tonight,” I said. “You, Blueblood and I are going to have a private conversation about it soon, perhaps tomorrow, sometime when there aren’t children missing and unaccounted for.”

“You’re right darling,” Rarity conceded. “Let’s go find the dears. Oh, this is all my fault.”

“Fix first, blame later,” I said.

The trail from Fluttershy’s window was enough to take us to town, but the tracks were impossible to follow on the cobblestones in town. That left the prospect of going door to door, asking ponies all night where they might be. We had ruled out Sweet Apple Acres, as it was the wrong direction entirely, so we decided to start with Silver Spoon’s home.

“What brings you here so late?” the filly’s father asked with a yawn when he answered the door. “And why aren’t you home in bed, young lady?” he asked Diamond Tiara particularly.

“We’re looking for some of her friends. Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo and Spike,” I said. “Have they come by here tonight?”

“No, no. Not unless they snuck in. Sorry, I can’t help,” the stallion said.

“Well, maybe you can. Do you mind if Diamond stays the night?” I asked.

“Of course not, if your parents don’t mind,” he said.

“They… well, my mom… disowned me today,” Diamond Tiara confessed.

“What?! Oh… oh my. Come in, dear. We’ll certainly not turn away our daughter’s best friend in her time of need,” the stallion said.

I was shook by it myself. I hadn’t guessed the depth of the issue. I only knew it wasn’t a time for her to be sleeping in a cold, windowless clubhouse. “Thank you, sir,” I managed. “Diamond… sleep well.”

She gave the stallion a firm, grateful hug, before they disappeared inside.

We tried the other Element Bearer’s homes in town, before running low on ideas. Pinkie disappeared into a basement for a while before coming back and apologizing that she had nothing. We swung by the Carousel Boutique to see if they had come by, but there was nopony there.

When we checked the library, though, Twilight went upstairs to check Spike’s bed, and let out a startled gasp. Not liking the sound of that, I rushed to her side, arriving after two pegasi. I was relieved at first from what I saw, but Rarity seemed quite alarmed herself when she got close enough to see.

Spike was asleep in his bed, snuggled between the two missing fillies, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. The bed wasn’t really large enough for all three, but they had managed to squeeze in cozily. A book was laid across them, open toward the middle, apparently falling upon them when they got too tired to continue reading. It was so cute and innocent of a scene, I didn’t know why the ponies seemed alarmed. So I read the title of the book.

“So… what’s ‘Fifty Shades of Hay’?”