I hadn't taken into account of the wind pushing everything around with significant force. I almost hit my intended target, but it fell short and landed near her hooves. I thought about turning into a small bomb, but decided not to for the safety of the ponies below.

"Seize her! Only she knows where the Princess is!" Called the mayor. Three stallions that wore golden armor took flight and charged right at her. What the hell are they thinking! Thinking quickly I detonated the Shielding Disk and it cackled with electricity before releasing a burst of energy. Said energy was just out of reach to do anything other than to catch her attention.

"Stand back, foals!" She shouted as her eyes glowed a bright white. Once they were close enough they were struck out of the air with lightning and crashed to the ground. I fired an additional two Disks and they would have hit her if she didn't slap them out of the air before they got close. She looked at me with a evil smirk and condensed herself back into that dark smoke.

She whizzed by and snatched me out off the ground by my sweater and threw me through a window, taking off to who knows where. It happened so fast I wasn't even able register it until I broke through the glass and began my fall. I yelped as my wings flared out and ripped through the fabric, slowing my fall with a few flaps. Gravity and momentum still was in play and I fell over and rolled in the dirt uncontrollably. I grunted when I came to a full stop, A stinging pain in my back legs from rolling backwards.

I lay there for a bit and tried to catch my breath, letting the pain sort itself out and go away. After a few more seconds, I pulled myself into a siting position and looked around. I saw Rainbow gliding down to me, and Twilight running in the direction of the library. I made sure my wings were folded and under my sweater, only to see that my right wing was sticking out of the large tear I made from the sides.

"Franz! Are you okay!? Are you hurt!?" She asked, checking me physically from her position above.

"Ack! No! Don't look!" I yelled, shying away and covering my right side. Shit, why did I have to act so paranoid!

"What? Franz, what's wrong?" She asked

I was gonna say something when my sweater suddenly was caught in a dark blue fire-like thing at the end. Exclaiming in surprise I tore off the sweater and threw it at the ground. Without anything covering my wings, they extended slightly as I backed away from the burning article of clothing.

"Jesus Christ man! How did that catch fire!" I shouted, momentarily forgetting about Rainbow. I heard her gasp, and I was immediately aware of my predicament. Slowly turning my head to her I saw that she had her jaw hanging, eyes widened, and not moving anything besides her wings. When she snapped out of it she immediately backed away, seemingly scared of me.

"No, no, no Rainbow! Wait!" I called, but she had already sped away, too fast for me to catch her.

"Dammit. Dammit, dammit, DAMMIT!" I groaned loudly. I have to get to Twilight's library. She'll know what to do next.

I made another identical sweater, and took off to the Library. Hopefully, I can get there before Rainbow and explain to her what she saw. I'm on their side damn it!

I flew behind a building and watched Franz, if that's even his real name. I saw him make another sweater out of thin air and take off. I sneaked after him while he ran. Just who was this guy? Where did he come from? And how can he make stuff from nothing?

Trailing behind him he looked confused and somewhat paranoid, like he was looking around for somepony.

'I bet he's working with Nightmare Moon! That spy!' I thought. Ooh, when I get my hooves on him, I'll expose him for the traitor he is!

I saw the library up ahead and flew in through an open window. I didn't notice that AJ, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy trailing behind me in a quick mannered pace.

Franz opened the door to the library and walked in, looking for anypony. Flying above I hid in a bookshelf.

"Twilight! You here! Look, I have to tell you something. And I'm sure you aren't gonna enjoy it. I know Rainbow didn't." He said, hanging his head a little. I may not know what he's gonna do, but I think I can stop him. Even if he has all of that weird techno magic on him.

I heard Twilight come downstairs and see Franz at the doorway. He saw her and I shot out of the bookshelf and at Franz while he was distracted.

I saw Twilight and was gonna walk to her and speak when everything slowed again. Knowing what it meant this time, I looked around and saw Rainbow slowly bursting through a bookshelf and straight towards me. I sighed and sidestepped to avoid being hit by her a second time, but materialized a giant pillow for her to crash into. Everything returned to normal speed and I saw Rainbow miss me entirely and shoot right into the pillow, resulting in a loud poomf noise. After she had crashed I got rid of the pillow and turned to Twilight.

"Rainbow? Hey! Franz! Where were you when Nightmare Moon arrived! I thought you would contain her!" She accused, ignoring Rainbow's failed surprise attack. I got defensive, and retaliated with my side of the story.

"I was there! Did you not see me firing containment disks at her! I tried to do my part, but instead she threw me out a window!" I said.

"Hey! You don't get a say in this, you spy!" Shouted Rainbow, getting in my face.

I reeled my head back. What did she say?

"What makes you think I'm a traitor? I was the only one who tried to contain Nightmare Moon while the guards got zapped! All they did was fly straight at her!" I said, getting annoyed that even though we made up, she still wants to fight. Though, I am one of those Alicorn things like Nightmare Moon, so rationally, it would make sense.

Applejack, Rarity, the pink pony, and the yellow one, came in and Applejack pulled back Rainbow with by her tail, which looked a bit painful.

"Simmer down, sally. He ain't no spy. But they both sure know what's going on. Don't ya, Twilight?" Asked Applejack.

Twilight took a second to compose herself before speaking. I knew she was gonna tell them the same thing she told me, so I thought about looking for a book about those Elements of Harmony. Maybe I should check under 'E' or 'H'.

"I've read all about the prediction of Nightmare Moon. Some mysterious objects called the Elements of Harmony are the only things that can stop her. But I don't know what they are, where to find them. I don't even know what they do."

I was under the 'E' section, which was the closest, and was looking for anything relating to the Elements. It would be humorous if I was a part of them, but then realized that it could happen. I kept a neutral face going and didn't notice the pink pony to my left until she was right there. I turned to her and she gave me a very large smile. I gave her a smaller one back and hers widened before she looked over to a random book.

"The Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide." She called. How did she find that? I turned back at Twilight, who wasn't there. Instead, she was running straight towards us. I was going to jump out of the way, but Twilight slowed down and pushed her way into the bookcase, knocking over the pink one and shoving me. I gave her a disapproving look and went off into another direction.

"How did you find it!" Asked Twilight, looking over the book cover from her position.

The pink pony, who I'll call Pinks, started jumping up and down excitedly in my direction. She spoke in a sing-song voice, happily announcing where it was.

"It was under 'E'!"

Twilight, who clearly hadn't thought of that, gave a simple "Oh" and pulled the book from the shelf with her magic. Once she had it, she skimmed through it until she found the page she was looking for, and began reading.

"There are six Elements of Harmony, but only five are known-- Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, Honesty, and Loyalty. The sixth, is a complete mystery."

'I wonder what these "Elements" can do. It sounds like they can be used on anything! Bad break up? Harmony blast. Depression? Harmony blast. Corrupted God-like entities that can keep a planet in eternal darkness? Need I say more?' I thought, as thought it were a sales pitch.

"It is said that the last known location of the five elements, was in the Ancient Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters.-"

I suddenly felt a cold feeling rush through me as shrunk into my sweater to counter it. What the heck was that?

"-It is located in what is now, The Everfree Forest!" She said in disbelief. I saw that almost everyone else cringed and I thought I should be worried. Should I?

"Oh, why of a-all places would they b-be in there?" Quietly whispered the yellow pony, who had huddled near me for some form of comfort. Unfortunately, I'm not very fond of close contact unless I want it (but usually don't get it anyway). I leaned away subtly for more of my desired personal space.

"Well, from what I've heard, they sound like artifacts. Powerful ones for that matter. If we find them, we have to be careful to not damage them. Right?" I asked. I got murmurs of agreement from most of them. Except Rainbow, of course who scowled at me. Applejack took notice, but thankfully left it alone.

But that wasn't the case for Rarity.

"Rainbow, do you have something to say? Why are you giving Franz that scowl?" She asked, walking over to me to give me a tap on the side. I gave a nervous look at her hoof. While she may not know it, I think I should show them. Unzipping my sweater I extended my left wing and stopped her from touching me. All eyes were on me when I did this and they all reacted differently.

A collective gasp was one of them, and a loud "WHAT!?" from Twilight, but the ones who I had met beforehand were less scared unlike the yellow one, who instead hid behind Applejack.

"I know I should have told someone, but I couldn't come up with a decent way to actually break the news. That is, until Rainbow saw me without my sweater." I said, hopefully with enough details.

"How did she see you without it?" Asked Pinkle. I'll start calling her that. Though, I wouldn't be surprised if that's her actual name.

"Well, Pinks, after she threw me out a window she must have used her magic to set my original sweater on fire. And Rainbow coincidentally came for me when it caught flame." I answered. She gave a happy little grin from me calling her 'Pinks'.

"That actually makes sense. Ignition spells tend to have a slow cast time. Roughly a few seconds." Said Twilight. She seemed happy that she knew that. Or it was common knowledge for Unicorns.

"Also, WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME YOU WERE AN ALICORN!?" Twilight shouted, almost hysterically.

"So when were ya gonna to tell us that you were a uh, Alicorn?" Asked Applejack.

"Well, I was gonna just drop hints, then decided against it until I had gotten to know someone better until I told them. I didn't see anyone with both and it kinda kept me from telling anyone." I offered. That was the most logical thing I had come up with on the spot. And I didn't want to mention the other two big factors as well. And deal with Twilight's line of questions.

"Wait, if Nightmare Moon set your original sweater on fire, Where did you get the new one?" Asked Pinks.

'She's asking the real questions here' I thought. I was gonna come up with a half-assed cover story, but Rainbow cut me off.

"He made it out of thin air! Isn't there at least something wrong with that!"

My body suddenly got very heated around my torso and areas where my sweater made contact with my fur. I suddenly felt very stressed out and hot. Damn me and my body not agreeing!

They all gave me questioning glances, with the smug exception of Rainbow. Making a silent promise to get back at her at a later date, I swallowed nervously and began my response.

Only for Twilight to cut me off and cover for me.

"Actually, it makes sense since he is an Alicorn to be able to summon different objects from spatial compartments around or even on his person. I've seen Princess Celestia do it a few times when she had to do various tasks. Though it is a high level spell and requires an adequate amount of magic to create and store said object. Although it's easier to-" Applejack cut her off.

"Twilight. Is it normal or not?" She asked simply.

She gave a surprised look before confirming.

"Yes, it's completely normal for him to do that."

'Thank you Twilight!' I mentally praised.

"So are we gonna go to find the Elements? Or are we gonna stand around all day." Said Rainbow, throwing her hooves out for expressiveness. She sounded a bit sour after losing the argument.

I didn't want to go at night. Not alone that is. But if the world depends on it, and if I have company at least, then it's what I'll do. So yeah, fuck it.

"Sure. You can show us where the entrance is." Said Twilight.

"Um, are you sure we should go there? I don't think that's very safe in the Everfree. Especially at night." Said the buttercream pony shyly.

"We'll discuss specifics on the way. But we need to focus on finding the Elements." I said. Everyone agreed and we began heading out the door. I, of course, lagged behind them a bit to do some reflecting. What did Nightmare Moon mean when she said 'link'? And over a thousand years ago? How had I not died since then? The only logical explanation was that I was in stasis, immortal, time traveled, or was set in a cryogenic state.

The last one seemed a bit funny, and might actually kinda explain but not really why I'm so cold now. In my memories I wasn't known to be cold, if anything I was hot.

I made a little frown from that last tidbit of thought. I didn't like to brag about things I couldn't do. Hell, I'm pretty sure I'm not attractive to at least any of these mares. Let alone make a link with one a thousand years ago. But then again, I don't know what's considered attractive to mares in general. So I'm back to square one. I had been blindly following them for a bit now, and hadn't noticed the pink mare next to me.

I stepped away when I saw her staring intently at me with a happy smile.

"Hiya! You seemed to be lost in thought. Don't worry, it happens to me too. So, what color to you like? Oh no, no, no, what's your favorite type of music? Oh, no, wait! What's you favorite animal!" She said, practically shouting at me.

"Pinkie. While I am interested in what he likes, we simply have somewhat more urgent matters at hoof." Said Rarity. This seemed to catch the now (Ironically) named Pinkie to swivel her head over to her.

"Oh, Rarity, I'm just getting to know him better. Besides, who gets to have an audience with a Prince without all of the meanie guards blocking him off?" She said excitedly.

"I wouldn't consider myself a 'Prince' by normal standards. I don't even know how I'm supposed to act. Or, at least remember how." I corrected with a little frown.

Pinkie then threw her arm over my shoulder, which made me uncomfortable by her sudden touch.

"Oh Franz you silly little stallion you. Even though you're a not a prince you can still pass off as one." She said.

I mumbled out a small sound of agreement, before turning back to her confused.

'Did I hear that right?' I questioned.

It seemed to go unnoticed by them. Either they are used to her not making sense or they're ignoring her. I saw Rainbow conversing with Applejack about something. I made sure to check myself for my wandering eyes before looking back at the ground. Thankfully I didn't have to think about anything and let my mind go blank for a minute. I heard them talking for a while but thankfully I didn't have to be a part of the conversation.

I noticed that we had gotten outside of the town and were on a steady path to The Everfree Forest. I still tuned out the girls since they were still talking. I'm thankful that I was abnormally quiet and could easily sneak away if I wanted to. But I'm sure that the shy one is better at it than me.

Speaking of the shy one, she had drifted closer to me as we closed in to the forest. She was actually pretty close and had shrunk down, making me feel bad for her and her small amount of confidence. So far, since I was paying no attention to vocal cues, I had watched her ease her way over to me. I once caught her eyeing me, but it was when I was testing how to slow time down to a crawl. It was actually kinda like closing your eyes and doing a little shaking thing with your head so that it vibrates. Except you don't actually shake your head, you just get that sensation. Or when you yawn.

We had finally reached the border of The Everfree Forest. We stopped and observed it silently, waiting to see who would be the one to make the first step to signal the others to follow. I had a feeling that it wouldn't be the shy one.

"Whee! Let's go!" Cheered Pinkie enthusiastically. I was gonna follow, since she is the one who started, but Twilight spoke up.

"Not so fast."

She stopped in her tracks and looked over to her. As did everyone else.

"Look, I appreciate the offer, but I'd really rather do this on my own." She said.

"What about me?" I said, a bit annoyed that she had forgotten about me that quickly. She turned to me with a bit of surprise, but quickly recovered with a light blush.

"Oh, right."

"No can do, sugarcube. We sure ain't letting any friend of ours go into that creepy place alone. We're sticking to ya like caramel on a candy apple." Said Applejack. Everyone mumbled in agreement and began trotting into the forest. Pinkie, however, decided on a final comment before bouncing in as well.

"Especially if there's candy apples in there."

I gave her a raised eyebrow. She noticed and trotted away saying.

"What? Those things are good!"

I looked over to Twilight, who was looked annoyed, but sighed and began following. As did I.

We walked in silence. Each of us showing various degrees of of fright and uneasiness. I didn't know what kind of dangers there were here, but I thought I should also feel scared since I don't know what's in here. And the fact that there is a immortal powerful being on the loose ready to plunge the planet in eternal darkness for the rest of time. But somehow that wasn't as important. It kind of is, but these ponies are surprisingly dismissive.

I noticed that Twilight was just in front of me and I had unknowingly stared at the back of her head the whole time and finally broke out of my trance to notice. At least it wasn't her rear.

I pulled up my visor to see if there any predators stalking us. It quickly covered my face and latched on comfortably with small mechanical noises that were barely audible. However, I now know that even small noises could be picked up by sensitive pony ears as Twilight turned to me. She saw my mostly covered face and slowed down to what I though was ask me questions. She had a curious look on her muzzle.

"Don't ask." Was my simple response. She took a small bit of offense, but instead stuck beside me.

She seemed to shiver, but I thought that it was just her being weird so I ignored it for now.

"So, none of you have been in here before?" Asked Twilight. She seemed to be somewhat scared from being in the forest.

"Oh, h-heavens no. Just look at it. It's dreadful!" Said Rarity, seemingly frightened.

We made it to something of a ledge that was very hazardous if we didn't check where we were going. I saw a several red blips on my motion tracker along with something not feeling right. I activated my disk launcher, which silently formed over my hoof in under a second.

"And It ain't natural. Folk's say it don't work the same way as Equestria." Said Applejack. Everyone seemed tense, so I'll just assume they are all scared.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Asked Twilight.

I heard flapping from above and saw Rainbow closing in on us.

"Nopony knows." She said. She then crouched on the ground and walked with her legs locked.

"You know why?"

"Rainbow, quit it." Scolded Applejack.

Pinkie, Shyster, and Rarity had various looks of fright. Shyster being the worst. Yeah, I'm calling the buttercream pony Shysyer for now. Or until I hear her name.

"Cause everypony who's ever come in, has never come...OUT!" She yelled, trying to scare them by jumping and flaring her wings out for more fright factor.

I was gonna tell her to stop when the ledge beneath us suddenly crumbled and began sliding. Everyone screamed out of surprise and I did too as I fell along with them. Without realizing it I felt my wings push at the sides of my sweater, trying to flap for my safety.

Pushing my safety aside I slowed time down, but I was still falling. With a final push, my wings managed to get under my sweater and begin flapping. I thankfully stopped right at the base where there was a small grip to hold onto. I had made a pole and sunk it into the ground to gain more grip in case this thing decided to break off a bit more. Looking above me I saw that Twilight was still sliding, her rear in clear view for me to see. I yelped and I made the split-second choice of letting go as to protect both of our honor and began flapping my wings as hard as I could.

In my head, it seemed like a good idea. Except that my sweater had folded back over one of my wings and caught it. I fell for a few seconds and my sweater began to disappear. After it had completely left I flapped my wings as hard and as fast as I could. My falling stopped and I began floating there. I saw Twilight above me and unintentionally saw her area, which made me heavily consider to stop flying and let gravity do it's thing.

Then I remembered that there were others to help, and flapped harder to rise. I saw Rainbow and Fluttershy, who's name I heard Rainbow shout, helping Twilight down to lower ground where they were mostly all currently standing at the bottom. I saw Applejack at the top and decided to give her a ride.

"Hey Applejack, need a lift?" I asked, secretly hoping that she would reject my offer. I noticed that the pole I made had erased itself.

She smiled and nodded.

"Sure thing partner, I wouldn't mind a ride down. Can ya handle it?" She asked.

If my previous experience of knocking down trees with my fist in a single punch was anything to go by, I'm sure I could do it with my mind.

"Yeah. No problem." I said, lighting up my horn with magic. I wasn't too comfortable with touching females or anyone for the matter. I wasn't a clean freak, I was just uncomfortable.

"Whoa now, I'm not too comfortable somepony using magic right at me. Why don't ya carry me the old fashion way." She said.

I got a bit nervous. Carry her? How hard can it be? Besides the fact that I'll be grabbing the opposite gender until we get to the ground.

"Sure." I said without thinking too hard, mostly to not come off as rude.

Flying behind her I wrapped my hooves around her waist and began to lift off. She seemed comfortable for the most part, even if she dangled somewhat awkwardly. But she didn't seem to mind all too much.

Once everyone was stationed on the ground we began to continue our march to our somewhat important adventure. I saw that blip for a few seconds again before it disappeared entirely. I knew something wasn't right but I didn't want to scare the girls any further.

But it seemed that Rainbow wasn't that scared because she was excitedly flying around telling the story of how she and Fluttershy caught Twilight, and I quote, 'In the nick of time'.

"Yes Rainbow, I was there, and I'm very grateful. but we got to-" Twilight didn't get to finish as a large beast had shown itself for us to handle. Everyone gasped from surprise and I activated my dagger in case I would have to use it on myself because I hate confrontation.

"A Manticore!" Cried Twilight. Said Manticore roared as it was identified,

I saw Twilight puff out her chest a bit. It was kinda cute but I looked away, still embarrassed from my accidental peering.

"We've got to get past him." She said boldly.

The Manticore jumped and swiped at Rarity and she ducked and gave him a kick to the face with her rear legs.

"Take that you ruffian!" She shouted in it's face. It looked annoyed that she had kicked him and roared in her face, puffing up her hair with the amount of breath coming from it's mouth.

"My hair!" She said before yelping from the Manticore being so close to her and dashed off, The beast giving chase.

Amidst the chaos, I thought I heard someone say wait but didn't listen as I fired a disk at the beast to slow it down. It caught the leg and, to my surprise, couldn't wrap itself around the whole body. It did, however, trip it and make it fall flat.

Then Applejack thought it was a good idea to jump on top. The Manticore got annoyed and began jumping around, trying to shake her off while removing the disk on it's leg. I fired another at it's head, but instead hit Applejack and she was flung off. But thankfully was protected and hit the ground without injury.

Apparently, she said something to Rainbow because she did a salute followed by a "I'm on it." and sped towards it. I didn't know what she was doing but focused on getting Applejack out of her restraints. Running over to her I stuck out my hoof and after a quick second, the disk popped off and I caught it, letting it re-attach to my wrist.

"You good?" I asked, worried. She looked fine and she seemed a little shaky. Must either be from shock or shields. Wouldn't be surprised if it was from both.

Nodding she looked back to the Manticore and saw Rainbow falling towards us. I didn't have time to react and catch her as she hit the hard dirt floor. I ran over and pulled her up, checking for injuries. Now it may have been my past experience with animals like goats that kicked in, but I thankfully found no broken bones.

The Manticore had managed to break off the Disk and was now free from restraint. I didn't want to fight, but if it means to, I'll have to.

Everyone began getting ready to charge when Fluttershy interjected.

"WAIT!" She cried. We all stopped and she turned and walked right up to it, which made me hold my breath when it readied itself for another swipe.

"Shh, It's okay." She said, as she began rubbing her nose on it's paw. She then looked straight at it with no fear.

The Manticore then got a frown, which kinda surprised me, and turned it's paw and showed a large thorn.

"Oh, you poor, poor little baby."

"Little?"

"Rainbow shut up! It's working." I scolded quietly.

"Now, this might hurt for just a second." She said, reaching over with her head to remove it.

*poink*

The Manticore picked her up and roared in her face, And everyone screamed her name. I was just about to slow time and get her away when it began licking her and purring. She was laughing happily.

"Oh, you're just a little baby kitty, aren't you?" She said, before giving it more catering. Everyone else took this as an opportunity to pass, and I did as well. Once we passed Twilight stopped and questioned her about something. And all I got from it was the thorn and something about kindness, which to me was kinda ironic considering The Elements of Harmony have a Element labeled Kindness.

Although, something did seem a bit off about this. First off, the thorn, for some reason, registered as an enemy blip. And I have a feeling that was somehow her.

But we can't make duplicates of ourselves, unless we have powers or a cloning machine. Right? Oh well. Collecting the disk that popped off, I caught back up with the group.

Edit: Another one for the week. Also, happy Hallows Eve!