For the first time in a while, the weather was actually pretty calm. The last of the acid rain dropped to the earth as a chilly breeze took over. What was once left of the grass blew lightly in the gray light. The princesses had stopped pulling the sun and moon through the skies; they had been tied to other duties, leaving the skies gray and misty. If the world hadn't ended, it might have been a nice morning filled with peace and harmony.

Harmony...

The girls all pondered at how they'd be able to find the Elements of Harmony. As Discord had said, the power of the meteors interfered with the power of the elements...and since it was thought that the meteors fell all over the world, the Elements could be anywhere! Anywhere in the world, and the girls were still sitting at Ponyville station, wondering where in the whole world to start.

It was Pinkie Pie who thought of the first idea. "What if you use your magic to locate them, Twilight?" The pink pony said.

"I wish I could, Pinkie..." Twilight said. "But you heard what Princess Celestia said: our magic is greatly weakened. I probably have enough magic to find one...with the time it would take to find it, wherever it is in the world, doing it one at a time would take forever!" Was all the purple princess could say.

"Darling, I believe we should still try..." Rarity said. "Besides, we have this train, right?"

"Wrong..." Rainbow Dash said in response. "We don't have much coal left...we probably have enough to get to Las Pegasus."

"Twilight," Applejack added. "I think you should at least locate one of the elements. Maybe if we find one, we can use it to locate the others!"

"Okay." Twilight said. "Fluttershy...what do you think?" She asked the yellow pegasus.

Fluttershy remained silent. Twilight couldn't help but frown at the sight, then shrugged.

"I guess I can try...watch out, girls!"

The purple alicorn closed her eyes and mustered up her magic energy. Her horn began to glow as she began to locate the Elements of Harmony. Twilight could feel that the magic she was using was different, as if it took a lot more power than she's ever felt before. Fluttershy could see how much it was straining Twilight's body as she shook under the weight of her magic.

Twilight's mind searched all of Equestria and beyond. She managed to locate one far beyond the borders of the pony lands, but she didn't want to use her magic to find one so far away. Instead, she focused on the closest piece: It was in a desolate area to the far west of Ponyville. With that, her energy drained completely and Twilight collapsed to the ground.

"Are you okay, sugarcube?" Applejack asked her friend. Twilight nodded and slowly rose to her hooves.

"West of here." Was all Twilight said. The others nodded and began to get on the train.

"Wait!" Peeped Scootaloo.

The others turned to look. "You don't suppose we can...eat first, can we?" She asked in a small voice. The little filly looked famished, as if she hadn't eaten in days. Fluttershy's own belly grumbled. It's been a while since she ate as well. The princesses had offered food, but Twilight and the others agreed it was better to be given to the other ponies resting beneath the castle ruins.

Pinkie smiled. "I'll go bake us some cupcakes!" She said as she bounced off towards Sugarcube Corner.

"Oh, I want to help!" Apple Bloom yelled as she followed. The other fillies joined her as well. Twilight and the other mares had no choice but to follow suit.

Sugarcube Corner, surprisingly, was in fairly good condition. Yes, a meteor hit the building, but the appliances on the first floor were generally intact. Pinkie and Apple Bloom got right to work on the cupcakes, with Pinkie humming her cupcakes song to herself. It was no surprise that the electricity was out. When it came time to bake, she called for the purple dragon, who used his breath to light the oven.

After about 17-20 minutes, the cupcakes had finished, filling Sugarcube Corner with a delightful smell to counter the gloomy mists. Pinkie pulled them out and looked around for whatever she could use to decorate them. She found some icing and some whipped cream. On each cupcake, the pink pony wrote "End of the World Cupcakes!" and handed them out to everypony.

"I have to say, Pinkie," Twilight said in assurance. "You sure know how to be resourceful." Pinkie Pie gave a huge smile as she took a bite of her creation.

Rarity made her way over to Fluttershy after finishing her cupcake. "My dear, what ever is wrong?" She asked.

Fluttershy did not respond.

"Listen, darling, I am really sorry for your loss. Angel was a good pet...My opalessence didn't survive the initial blast...I miss her!" Rarity cooed as she began to sob, but then realized that it didn't help make Fluttershy feel any better.

"How are your cuts? Are you feeling okay, dear?" Rarity asked.

Fluttershy simply shook her head.

"Well, if you need anything, please don't hesitate to ask any of us. We're in this together!" The white unicorn said.

After the ponies consumed the very delicious cupcakes, they made their way back to the train.

"Are you sure you want to come with us, Sweetie Belle?" Rarity asked her sister one more time.

The filly nodded. "Who knows, maybe we'll find our cutie marks!" She added. Rarity looked on in disagreement, but had no other choice

Before they knew it, they were back on the train and off to the west. Pinkie Pie was playing with the fillies, Applejack and Rarity fell asleep, Rainbow and Spike were getting the train to move, and Twilight was reading a book she had brought with her. Fluttershy remained silent and stared out the window. The end of the world outfits were all removed and placed on a coat rack near the back of the train compartment. The roar of the train engine filled the silence inside the train.

"Fluttershy..." Twilight said to the quiet pegasus. "Are you sure you're okay? Anything you want to talk about?"

Fluttershy finally spoke. "...It's just....I really am weak and helpless, aren't I?" She said quietly. "I was okay with it before, and I preferred that to being mean and rude...but now..." She began to tear up. "I almost died, and Angel sacrificed himself to save me, somepony who couldn't do the same for him."

"Fluttershy, you know that's not true." Twilight said in reassurance. "You are just as strong as any of us."

"But I'm not, Twilight..." Fluttershy responded. "You have your magic, Rarity can make her dresses, Rainbow Dash and Applejack are strong, and Pinkie can make the best of any situation...I couldn't even calm the Manticore down..."

Apple Bloom made her way to the depressed pegasus. "Don't worry, Fluttershy! Your cutie mark means you have a way with animals...you just need to keep trying!" Fluttershy smiled a little.

"Yeah!" Twilight added. "We all have something to contribute, so as long as we stick together we can make the best of this...I really am sorry we left you behind back in the forest." She said solemnly.

Fluttershy's smile grew a little. "Don't worry about it. It's okay..." It's not okay. Nothing is okay.

A few hours passed before the train ran out of coal. When this happened, the ponies all exited to see where they were. In the distance, large letters could be seen that spell out "Applewood", although they were eroded and knocked over. They had finally made it to Las Pegasus.

"Oh my!" Rarity exclaimed. "I can't believe I'm in...Las Pegasus! Canterlot was filled with fabulous ponies, but Las Pegasus!" She soon quieted down after realizing that it was most likely as destroyed as Ponyville. The city looked to be a ghost of its former self. Fluttershy had never seen the city when it was whole, but she knew it was more beautiful before. All she could see were stacks of smoke emerging from the tall buildings. Remains from the fires.

"So, where is the Element?" Pinkie asked. She was bouncing around in anticipation of seeing the city, even though it was destroyed.

"I'm...I'm not sure." Twilight said. "I only know it's in this area...I could use my magic again to look for it."

"Darling, don't strain yourself." Rarity said. "We'll just split up and look for them. If we run into any trouble, just meet right back here." The white unicorn said to her friends.

And so, the group split up. Twilight and Spike searched the eastern side of town, Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo took the southern, AJ and Apple Bloom went west, and Rarity and Sweetie Belle searched downtown, leaving Fluttershy and Pinkie to check the northern side.

"Oh, isn't this exciting!" The pink pony said to her quiet friend. "Las Pegasus! I mean, even though it's a bunch'a rubble, we're still here! Do you think we'll find anypony famous??"

The pegasus shrugged lightly.

"Aww come on!" Pinkie Pie said eagerly. "I know things are hard, but you can't forget how to smile!" She said while giving Fluttershy a very big grin, who couldn't help but laugh.

"There you go!" Pinkie Pie squeaked. "Pinkie has done it again!"

"I suppose you're right..." Fluttershy said calmly. Even a little laughter can go a long way.

"Now then...how do we look for these elements?" Pinkie Pie responded. "Do we just look for something shiny and pretty and looks like the elements? Ooooh! What if it's behind the Applewood sign!" The pink pony then darted off towards the ruined sign. Fluttershy followed closely behind.

When Fluttershy reached the sign, she was shocked. She knew it was giant, but she had never been this close to the sign before. Standing in front of the huge, eroded "A" of the Applewood sign was very humbling. She actually became frightened at the vast size, and ducked behind a rock. Pinkie bounced around the sign and onto one of the collapsed letters.

"Hmm..." Pinkie said while sitting down. "I don't think the element is here..."

Just then, the sign Pinkie was on collapsed, bringing the unknowing pony down right into the sign. Being made of metal, the broken parts of the sign made contact with the pink hide, and Pinkie Pie got her back hoof caught in between two metal beams. Pinkie Pie screamed as she tried to move her hoof, but doing so just made the metal dig deeper into her.

"OW!!!! Help!!!!"

Fluttershy immediately called out and made her way to help her friend. She did her best to pull her friend out, but the poor pony's hoof just wouldn't budge. If it did, the metal cut even deeper into the leg. Fluttershy couldn't stare too long at the injury without having to look away.

"Ouch!! I can't move!" Was all the pony could say as she was panting and screaming, causing the metal to hurt her more, which made her scream more.

"You have to stop moving, Pinkie!" Fluttershy yelled in a panic. "Oh, what do I do??" Fluttershy remembered when her hoof was caught in a pile of rocks in the Everfree Forest, and when Angel helped her escape...

Pinkie Pie writhed in pain and shut her eyes tight as the cold metal pierced her hide. Fluttershy jumped into the air and began to fly. "I'll go get help! Please don't move!" The pegasus said as she made her way back to the station.

"Hello!? Girls!?" Fluttershy called. Nopony was around. Fluttershy assumed that the others hadn't returned from searching yet, so she turned around and flew right into the center of the city.

The city itself was in a horrible condition...and even worse, Fluttershy was able to find various bodies of poor ponies that couldn't escape the terrible meteor shower. She cried at all of the death, but remembered that her friend was in trouble.

"Rarity! Twilight! Anypony??" She yelled as she flew as fast as she could through the streets of the city. There was nopony around.

"Oh, where is everypony? Girls!?"

Fluttershy passed a boutique store when she heard Rarity's voice: "Look at all of this fabric! I know we're supposed to be looking for the Elements, but I simply cannot let this fabric go to waste!"

"Rarity!!"

The white unicorn turned. "Fluttershy? Why do you look so worried?"

"It's Pinkie...She's....She's!" Was all the pegasus could say as she was out of breath.

Rarity did not need any more. She grabbed the fabric and placed it into a saddlebag she found, instructed Sweetie Belle to get some scissors, and followed Fluttershy out of the store. Because Rarity couldn't fly, Fluttershy decided to run along with her. The journey up to the sign was even worse on hoof, as the three jumped over burnt corpses and debris. The unicorn managed to trip over the hoof of an unfortunate mare, but she picked herself right back up and continued on.

The three made it back to the Applewood sign to find Pinkie Pie passed out. Her cut was very bad; blood was gushing out everywhere as the rusty metal locked the poor pony in place. Fluttershy couldn't stand to look, and Sweetie Belle closed her eyes and turned away. However, Rarity approached her endangered friend.

"Oh my..." Rarity said quickly. "Pinkie Pie, dear, are you okay!? Can you hear me?"

The pink pony nodded slightly. Her mane was deflated as it draped on top of the sign that held her in its grip.

"I'm going to try to get you out, darling!" The white unicorn said as she jumped onto the collapsed letter "Oh my, this thing is filthy!" She said as she did so.

Rarity tried to pull Pinkie Pie out, but Pinkie wouldn't budge. "That's hurting!!" She screamed with tears running down her cheeks. Soon after, the pink pony began laughing. Weakly at first, Pinkie Pie's laughter began to echo through the misty skies.

"My dear," Rarity asked. "Why are you laughing at a time like this?"

"Because..." Pinkie calmy said. "You can't forget how to...smile..."

"Should I go and get Twilight?" Fluttershy asked her friend.

"No, that would take too long..." Rarity responded. She began looking at the collapsed sign. "Darling, how did you get stuck in here?" She asked the hurt pony.

"It fell apart..." Pinkie Pie replied, still hurting very much from the contorted metal.

That gave Rarity an idea. "If we can't remove you from the sign...we'll remove the sign! If it could fall apart so easily, I'm sure we can break it apart!"

Immediately after, Sweetie Belle and Rarity began to buck a part of the sign. Surely enough, it broke apart! It didn't budge much, but it was a sign that if the three free ponies tried hard enough, they could break the sign into smaller pieces.

"Oh, I'm definitely going to need to visit a spa after this is all done..." Rarity said to herself as she lightly bucked another part of the sign.

A few minutes passed and the ponies managed to break away the part of the sign that Pinkie was stuck to from the rest. Sweetie Belle jumped right onto the sign and began stomping on a part of it. After a few stomps, the sign caved in, taking the filly in with it. Before this happened, Rarity used her magic to levitate her sister before she ended up the same way as Pinkie Pie. The unicorn moved her sister to a safe location before dropping her suddenly. The magic had taken it's toll quickly on Rarity, who shook her head and removed another part of the sign.

"Sweetie Belle, we don't want you getting stuck too!" Rarity said to her sister. Sweetie Belle nodded slightly.

"If we pull on this one part, we can crack it open like a walnut...I mean, if that's okay with you..." Fluttershy peeped, pointing to the side of the sign that was not imbedded in her friend's leg. Pinkie Pie helped out as well, finally gaining enough strength after falling in. She used her forehooves to stomp on the part of the sign right in front of her. It collapsed soon after, exposing a rusted frame underneath it. Rarity gave one light buck, breaking the part of the frame that ran through the sign. She commanded her friends to grab different parts of the frame and to pull in opposite directions.

The sign was very large, but the erosion of standing for many years, as well as the acid rain that weakened the metal, made it very easy to pull apart. With enough force, the sign gave way and Pinkie collapsed to the ground, exposing the metal cutting into her hind hoof. Because Pinkie Pie was here for a while, she had lost a lot of blood. The metal was rusted and red, attached to a pale pony.

"Fluttershy, could you please hold Pinkie's head up?" Rarity asked. Fluttershy agreed and used her hooves to help Pinkie get up.

"Now, Pinkie Pie, I'm going to pull your hoof out. It might hurt."

The pink pony nodded, barely conscious. With that, Rarity grabbed the leg and began to pull. It budged a few inches before Pinkie Pie began screaming. The metal had cut deep into her leg, so it would take a lot of effort to remove it.

Apparently moving slowly induced a lot of pain, and the metal was positioned in a spot where she couldn't break it off, so Rarity had an idea. She grabbed the fabric she had found out of her saddle bag. "Place this in Pinkie Pie's mouth, please." She instructed Sweetie Belle. The filly carried the fabric over and told Pinkie Pie to open her mouth.

The poor pony was too weak to do even that, so Fluttershy moved a hoof to open Pinkie's mouth for her. "I'm sorry," Fluttershy said as she did so.

"Make sure you are supporting her, and make sure she doesn't drop that!" Rarity called. The ponies nodded and braced themselves. "Rarity, what are you gonna do?" Sweetie Belle asked. "You might not want to look..." Rarity replied quickly before moving herself to cover the scene.

"I'm sorry, Pinkie Pie, but this has to be done!"

Rarity forcefully pulled Pinkie Pie's leg out of the metal as fast as she could. Pinkie Pie gave out an even louder scream, but the fabric muffled it as well as prevented her from biting down and breaking her jaw. The pony's leg was free, although some blood gushed out in the process. Rarity's forehooves were covered in her friend's blood as they all fell backwards and out of the sign.

"Okay, we need to wrap this wound up...oh my, it looks really bad..." Rarity said immediately after. She again took the fabric that was placed in the pony's mouth. Pinkie Pie was now unconscious as the other two looked on with worried faces. I hope she is okay... Fluttershy thought, watching Rarity work her own kind of magic.

"I was planning on making a fabulous dress from this... But my friend needs it more!" Rarity said as she wrapped the fabric tightly around Pinkie Pie's leg. She finally used the last of her magical strength to tighten the makeshift bandage. After she finished, Rarity collapsed to the ground much like Pinkie Pie did.

"Oh my, I understand why we shan't use magic...but it was for a good cause!" She said, rubbing her forehead.

"Rarity, that was so generous of you!" Sweetie Belle said to her sister. Before Rarity had a chance to agree, a bright purple light emerged from one of the other collapsed signs. A loud crack was heard, and an object appeared from the light.

Rarity took a few steps to see what the object was. "...It's....the Element of Generosity!" She said as it dropped to the floor. She picked it up and put it on. The element glistened and bathed Rarity in a purple light. After a few seconds, the light show faded, revealing the element Fluttershy knew well.

"Oh my..." Fluttershy started. "We found it! I guess if we exhibit the trait of the element, it will reveal itself."

"Oh this will be great news!" Rarity responded. "Now, let us get dear Pinkie Pie back to the train!"

Before long, the wound was dressed up nicely. Rarity and Fluttershy each helped pick Pinkie Pie up and carried her back to the train station. The journey felt longer than anything Fluttershy had experienced before, but it was all worth it to save Pinkie Pie. If Pinkie Pie...no, I can't think of it! We can get through this, Twilight said so!

Back at the station, Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo were already there. Rainbow saw the group of ponies arrive.

"Hey guys! What was that beam of..." She stopped short as she saw an unconscious Pinkie Pie among them. She quickly flew over and helped support the party pony into the train. They laid her down onto a bench. Rainbow Dash noticed the element Rarity had around her neck, but Pinkie Pie's health was much more important at the time.

The rest of the group arrived within a few minutes. Applejack and Apple Bloom had found lots of apples and brought them back. Twilight and Spike each had a couple of books that they could all read if needed. They each saw Pinkie Pie and went to her side.

"Is she gonna be alright?" AJ asked. Rarity nodded. The element glistened in the dim light.

"You found the element?" Twilight asked, noticing the beautiful gem. Rarity again nodded.

"It appeared in a bright light after I helped Pinkie Pie. I hate to say it, but Pinkie Pie's injury actually helped us find it!"

After a few moments, the pink pony woke up. She was fed an apple and given some water to drink that Spike had also brought along.

"Are you okay, sugarcube?" Applejack asked her friend.

"Yeah...thanks to..." The pony stuttered.

Fluttershy spoke up. "It was lucky that Rarity was able to pull you out."

Pinkie Pie shaked her head. "No...I thank Rarity for helping me out, but she wouldn't have been there if you didn't go find her. You saved me, Fluttershy..." The pink pony gave a small smile.

Rarity agreed. "Yes, darling. If it weren't for you I wouldn't have been there to help out...And we probably wouldn't have found the element. You saved her, Fluttershy!" The other ponies nodded in agreement and all began praising the yellow pegasus. Fluttershy simply smiled and blushed, feeling great.

"Now that we know how to find the Elements of Harmony," Twilight said. "We actually have a better chance of finding them!"

"Still one problem." Rainbow Dash said. "The train's out of coal...we'll have to set out on hoof if we want to find the others."

"Right...how about we spend the night here, and figure out what we're doing in the morning?" Twilight responded. The others agreed.

Pinkie Pie was back to her normal, cheerful self after a few hours. She could barely walk due to her injury, but that didn't stop her from being Pinkie Pie. She was laughing and cheering with the others just like she used to. It gave the others such morale that everypony felt more confident in their mission now.

"It's a good thing you didn't have to cut off my leg because that would have been horrible since I wouldn't be able to walk or jump or play games like Pin the Tail on the Pony *GASP* Do you think we can play now!!?!?!?"

The others simply laughed. If the world hadn't ended, one would think that there was absolutely nothing wrong.

As the ponies all drifted off to sleep, Pinkie approached Fluttershy one last time for the night. "Thanks again!" She said quietly as she gave her friend a big hug.

For the first time since the end, Fluttershy actually felt happy again.