(A/N): Just a filler.

~ Chapter 3 ~

The Journey Begins

Two days had passed since Silver's visit to Canterlot, and she hadn't yet left on her mission with Dewdrop and Sunny Day to the Hayseed Swamps to search for their Elements of Harmony. That was the problem; this whole quest to find the Elements was the only thing she thought about now, and she couldn't get it out of her mind. Similar questions, thoughts, and trains of logic looped in a cycle through her head, and no matter how hard she tried, it was impossible to break the circle and keep it from repeating.

She had been pacing the floor of her bedroom all the while. Zero hours of sleep in two days wasn't exactly all that great for her health and well being. She tried sleeping, but her mind kept her up, so she tried to tire herself out by trotting back and forth across the room. This, however, worked to no avail. With all these hours lost from insomnia, her eyes were red and puffy and she felt like she could give out at any moment, though she never did.

Over the course of these two days when she was around Rainbow Dash specifically, she had noticed her unhealthy condition and recommended that she go home immediately to get some shuteye. Silver always agreed absentmindedly, and once she was home, she just began pacing again.

Today, Rainbow had told the silvery pegasus once again to get some rest, but she hadn't left until after escorting Silver home. She stayed for a while to make sure her best friend didn't stay up tiring herself out pacing. "Silver Stream," she started, watching her pace about, her now dulled green eyes glued to the floor, "I know this whole going away to find your Element has your mind racing, but you need to get some sleep."

"Sleep?" Silver echoed halfheartedly. "No, no, I don't need sleep."

"Silver, unless you wanna end up dead in that swamp, I assure you that you need sleep."

"Rainbow Dash, you don't understand what I'm going through right now," Silver snapped, and for the first time in a while stopped pacing. She forced her eyes from the floor to Rainbow's and continued, "I don't get anything about this entire mess. Why me when there's so many more ponies out in Equestria that have chances to be far more worthy of an Element? Why a swamp when they could've formed on that Tree of Harmony? How in Celestia's name am I even supposed to know where these Elements are in the swamp?! Trust me, Rainbow, I want to sleep, but I can't with all these stupid questions turning over and over in my head that I can't stop because I'm too weak and breaking apart from this stress because-" Silver paused abruptly, breathing heavily.

Rainbow remained silent, murmuring something inaudible under her breath. Then, her face lit up suddenly and she said hastily to Silver, "I'll be right back. Bye, Sil!" Moments after however, her head popped into the doorway, and she added softly, "And please at least try to get a little sleep?"

Once Silver heard the front door close, she muttered bitterly to herself, "Get some sleep, my hoof," and started pacing again. As the seconds passed, her mind only kept flooding with the same frantic questions that she knew nopony could answer but herself when she set off on this quest. Still, she couldn't help turning each and every one of them over in her mind, trying to find some solution to them before the time came to leave for the Hayseed Swamps.

Silver was now trudging around the room, unable to hold herself up for much longer when she heard the front door open once more, voices flooding in from downstairs.

"I've told you, already," Silver recognized Rainbow Dash's voice almost instantly, "she won't sleep. I've tried to tell her she needs it, but she just keeps pacing and pacing like she can't hear me."

"I would've thought she'd be able to handle this quest," Silver identified this voice just as easily, it belonging to Twilight Sparkle. "I can't understand why she won't sleep over something as important as this."

What's that supposed to mean? Silver thought, her temper beginning to set off. Just then, the two appeared in the doorway, their conversation ending abruptly as they both turned their eyes on Silver Stream. She seemed like she were carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders as she was slumped over, her mane in tangles and her eyes red with sleep loss.

"Oh, wow," Twilight gasped and rushed forward immediately, "she's in worse condition than I thought she'd be."

"What'd you expect her to be like?" Rainbow asked accusingly.

Twilight turned quickly back to Rainbow Dash and said hurriedly, "I didn't think she would pace consecutively." She paused shortly, turning back to Silver Stream as she continued to examine her more. "She's practically been up since the day we traveled to Canterlot."

Rainbow moaned and fluttered her wings dreadfully as she whined, "That's what I tried to tell you."

There was a slightly tense silence as nopony spoke. Once Twilight had finished sizing up Silver's condition, she stepped back to Rainbow and gave a confident grin. "This shouldn't be too hard," she began to explain more to the light blue pegasus than to Silver. "I've just got to perform a rather uncomplicated sleep restoration spell and she'll be back to normal."

Rainbow Dash breathed out a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank Celestia," she murmured thankfully, turning her gleaming magenta eyes thoughtfully into Silver's.

"Well," Twilight said, a translucent magenta aura beginning to swirl around her alicorn horn, "here goes." She closed her eyes for what Silver assumed was concentration, and instantly she felt her stiff drowsiness ebbing away, leaving her bright and perky. She stretched her muscles and blinked, her eyes no longer heavy and stinging with pain. She knew it had really only been two days, but Silver felt as if it had been years since she had last slept, and this instant rejuvenation of vigilance was like a dream after the horrid feeling of being deprived of her sleep.

"So," Rainbow Dash pressed and inched forward, "how do you feel?"

The pegasus fluttered her wings tipped in an iridescent shine and replied, "I feel… great!" She flashed a bright smile to Twilight as a sign of thanks. As Rainbow smiled at her renewed state of health, Twilight gave a small nod in return.

"Thank Celestia you're healed," Rainbow breathed. Shooting Twilight a thankful grin, she added, "I thought I'd never see you like this again."

"Just be happy you came to me when you did," Twilight told her, the more cheery edge to her tone fading into one more of caution. "I was just about to come over and get Silver anyway, but I may not have had time to heal her and take her and the others to the train station."

Silver turned over a slightly panicked look to Twilight. "Train station?" she asked. "You mean right now? Oh, no," she moaned helplessly. "I forgot to pack! I've been so preoccupied with the stress these past few days that I've wasted my time pacing over the whole mission!" Turning back to the others, she saw Rainbow Dash and Twilight grinning at each other, trying to hold back giggles and fits of laughter. "What's so funny?"

Finally, they both hollered out in laughter, leaving Silver clueless and hurt as to why they weren't taking this predicament seriously. "Oh, Silver," Rainbow said as she wiped tears from her eyes, "I knew this would happen." Trying to hold in another laugh, she burst out once more and fell over backwards onto Silver's bedroom floor.

"What Rainbow Dash means is," Twilight began, pausing to stifle a giggle, "I explained to you on the day of our visit to Canterlot that you wouldn't need to pack since I would be handling all of the preparations." Looking down to Rainbow Dash, who was still laughing wildly, the alicorn smiled and continued with a chuckle, "Though I imagine you must've been lost in your own train of thought to be paying attention?"

"Yeah," Rainbow agreed, still trying to hold in her outbursts of laughter, "you were spacing out so hard that I wanted to wait and see if it would become a joke later," she paused to erupt in another surge of hilarity, then added, "and it has!"

"Guys, that is so not funny," Silver fussed childishly, but couldn't keep herself from cracking a smile at how undeniably amusing it was. She was one who tended to get disoriented if she kept too much to her own thoughts.

"In any case," Twilight began after everypony had calmed themselves down, "we should get going. Besides, we're going to have to round up Dewdrop, Sunny Day, and Peach Cobbler, as well. I probably should've mentioned that earlier."

"Oh, sure," Rainbow started, the humor in her tone still present, "you don't mention that when I come to get you. Nope, just gotta wait until we know for sure we're behind schedule."

Twilight and Silver Stream both laughed, and Rainbow smiled at her successful joke.

"Let's get going, then," Twilight Sparkle said cheerily, and the three left behind Silver's house to go fetch Peach Cobbler and the two pegasi to join Silver on the quest to find the new Elements of Harmony.

.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.

With Peach, Dewdrop, and Sunny Day retrieved - one of the three soon for better or worse - the six then began to make their way to Twilight's castle. She apologized for holding off their arrival to the train station, but in her defense, she needed to get the pre-packed saddlebags Silver and the others proclaimed to undergo the mission would need to make the journey.

Once the group had reached the majestic, crystallized palace, Twilight set off inside. That left a small window of time for Silver Stream to think. Though she now felt better about this quest than she did before, she still couldn't shake off a feeling that something was… off. The "lost" pieces to the Elements of Harmony? And located somewhere in the middle of a barren swamp? It didn't make much of any sense. Why hadn't they appeared on the Tree of Harmony instead of some other location unrelated to where the original Elements formed? She was also trying to wrap her head around the mysterious disembodied voice that had spoken to her only days before. Silver knew Princess Luna was able to seep into ponies' dreams and speak to them, be it a voice or face to face, but what she heard that night sounding nothing like the Princess Luna that sometimes paraded the land of Equestria alongside her elder sister. This voice seemed calmer, more motherlike, if you didn't count when she was growing impatient with Silver for being uncooperative, but even then she was acting like a parent growing impatient with their adolescent. None of it was adding up.

"Silver, are you feeling okay?" a voice echoed through her thoughts and snapped her out of her dreamlike trance. Her eyes remained staring, unmoved to see who had asked if she was alright because she knew it had been Peach Cobbler.

"Fine," she answered blankly. "Why?"

"You've been really quiet," Peach told her softly, stepping away from the other pegasi to have a somewhat private chat, "and you have this 'faraway' look in your eyes."

Blowing some of her blonde mane from her lime green eyes, Silver thought momentarily whether she should tell Peach about her thoughts or not. It wasn't like she didn't know what was happening anymore, and the voice she had heard in her dreams didn't say anything about keeping silent even after she knew what was going on. Maybe I should, she wondered silently, weighing her options, though the obvious choice was staring her right in the muzzle. Perhaps almost literally.

… It would be best to keep these thoughts from her…

A voice slipped through the back of her mind, disappearing as swiftly as it had come. It was a voice unlike any Silver had ever heard in her thoughts, yet it sounded strangely familiar to her for a reason she couldn't quite explain. With this sudden idea sinking deeper, shockingly with how quick it had just come and gone, Silver decided it was for the best and promptly produced an excuse for her, frankly, odd behavior.

"Just kind of," she started, managing to hide most of her uneasiness as she went on, "trying to plan out the journey before we rush into that swamp." As a silence drew around them, Peach gave her a half skeptical and half concerned look.

"You're not usually one to worry about something that may well be an adventure," she spoke finally, all the skepticism once traced through her eyes now replaced all with concern. "Are you sure nothing's wrong?"

Silver hesitated briefly, then gave a small and halfhearted nod. She didn't feel like talking at the moment, but Peach eyed her suspiciously and narrowed her light brown eyes. "You're not telling me something, aren't you?" Avoiding eye contact, Silver shook her head meekly in a weak attempt at denial, but Peach wasn't backing down. "Silver, don't lie to me. I deserve to know what's going on with you. I'm your girlfriend for ponies' sake!"

The silvery pegasus felt a lump grow in her throat as she shrunk before Peach. "I-I'm sorry," she stuttered timidly, tears brimming at the corners of her eyes, "but I can't tell you."

Peach Cobbler scoffed and muttered cooly, "Yeah, that's a legitimate reason."

Silver gazed up into the earth pony's harsh eyes, tears spilling onto her cheeks. "You have to believe me, Peach. There's no way I would be able to explain anything to you right now."

"Explain what to me, Silver?" the earth pony demanded sharply. There was a tense, infinite silence where it seemed like the world had been frozen in time. Peach showed no sympathy as she glared with an icy bitterness Silver Stream had never seen her emit.

"I c-can't-"

"Peach?" somepony called from nearby, and all fell into a still and complete silence. The two turned their attention to the three standing a few paces away, their eyes wide with mute discontent as they stared at the two. It was Rainbow Dash who stood just slightly apart from the other pegasi, her muscles just barely tensed. She locked eyes with the earth pony for a rigid moment in time, then said in a low and stern voice, "Leave Silver Stream alone."

From out of the corner of her peripheral vision, Silver watched Peach's eye twitch in cold malice. "What did you just say to me?"

"I said," Rainbow repeated in a manner similar to a low growl, "leave Silver Stream alone."

"Oh, I'll leave her alone," the earth pony said, then continued threateningly with a devilish gleam in her eyes, "right after I knock that ego down a peg."

"You're one to talk," the blue pegasus spat back with equally as much contempt.

Just as the two were poised and ready to lunge into a brawl, Twilight Sparkle had opened the doors to her castle levitating three generic brown saddlebags with her magic. "What's going on here?" she demanded, everypony snapping their gaze onto the alicorn.

"Twilight," Rainbow voiced before Peach got the chance to, "Silver was in trouble and there wasn't anything else I could do!"

"That's a lie," Peach Cobbler protested, glaring over at the pegasus like she had committed some sort of crime. "I was doing nothing to harm anypony."

"You were badgering Silver," Rainbow pointed.

"Badgering, huh?" Twilight mused, her eyes glancing back and forth between the two in an attempt to keep them both in check.

"Nopony is allowed to treat Silver that way," Rainbow said, her eyes turning sharply onto the earth pony. "She deserves better than that!"

Peach growled, her teeth bared in a snarl. "Why you little-"

"Rainbow Dash, Peach Cobbler," Twilight roared from the top of the staircase leading into her castle, "stop your bickering this instant!" Once again, all fell silent as the princess swept her eyes across the five below her with strict and unwavering eyes. "Now, will somepony other than these two-" she motioned a hoof to Rainbow and Peach, "-tell me what happened without an opinionated speculation?"

A silence drew over the group. Silver glanced over at Dewdrop and Sunny Day, and neither seemed willing to speak up. Tears still streamed lavishly from her wet eyes, so she took the corner of her white bandana in her hoof and wiped them cleanly away.

Just as she finished drying her tears, a small voice sounded from a distance away. "They're both kind of right," it said, and Silver turned her eyes up to the gentle calmness it spread over the group. It was Dewdrop, and as the silvery pegasus looked with absent eyes, she met them with her own of soft green. She began explaining mildly, "Peach Cobbler was prodding Silver Stream for something she didn't, or couldn't, say. Peach wasn't showing any sympathy for her, and neither of the two-" the lithe pegasus motioned a hoof to Silver and Peach, "-seemed to notice us-" then indicated herself, Sunny Day, and Rainbow Dash, "-watching them."

"That sounds more like eavesdropping to me," Peach opposed. "What Silver and I have to discuss is none of your business."

"Actually, it is their business," Twilight interrupted, her eyes solely on the single earth pony alone. Making her way down the staircase of her palace, she said pointedly, "For one, Rainbow Dash is undeniably Silver's closest friend, so she has enough right to hear what it is you have to say." As Twilight mosied over to the three pegasi opposite them, Silver saw Rainbow give the earth pony a smug and self-satisfied look. She couldn't help cracking a small grin at her standoffishness. "These two-" Twilight signified Dewdrop and Sunny Day, "-are going to be with her for possibly weeks on end, so it would also be their right to know anything about Silver Stream you want to pry out of her." Turning her rich violet eyes onto the silvery pegasus, she said, "It's your call, Silver; you can say whatever it is you've been asked to say, or…" she paused briefly, pondering for a few seconds before she finished finally, "you can have Peach Cobbler leave."

"Leave?" Peach scoffed. She looked down at Silver, who avoided eye contact as the earth pony said sourly, "There's no way Silver would choose anything over me."

Something snapped inside of Silver. She felt her temper boiling at an alarming rate as hot tears threatened to dampen her cheeks. Peach was absolutely nothing of the pony she thought she was, and she wasn't going to take anymore of what she was putting her through. "Peach," Silver muttered with an edge as sharp as a bolt of jagged lightning, "I think you should leave."

The earth pony froze, muscles tensed and eyes wide. She turned her eyes slowly onto the pegasus in utter disbelief. "Excuse me?"

"You. Should. Leave."

Time froze as the two were sealed in a tense standoff. They're eyes were locked and solid, both scowling hatefully at the other. Nopony dared step in to try and break the two apart. On the contrary, however, it seemed they had already been split apart. Metaphorically.

"You know what?" Peach hissed bitterly. "Fine, I'll leave. I'll leave and never come back. It's for the best, anyway." As the earth pony stalked off, she turned one last final glare at the silvery pegasus and spat, "We were never destined to work out. I'm happy we've finally realized that and are done."

With that, Peach Cobbler walked out of Silver Stream's life forever. Her heart shattered as she watched the pony she thought she had been so madly in love with just leave her so quickly. It was like she had been ripped from her very body.

"Silver," a voice sounded suddenly from her side. Twilight set her hoof gently down on her shoulder and murmured, "I'm so sorry, but it seems like Peach wasn't exactly right for you."

Silver nodded, wiping her eyes on her bandana. "Yeah," she sniffed, "it's okay." She looked up thankfully into Twilight's deep eyes and said peacefully, "At least it's over."

"Let's get going," the alicorn told her softly, patting her shoulder in comfort. She then felt something fall onto her back and over her sides. "Here are your saddlebags," she mentioned to the others, placing the other two bags upon Dewdrop's and Sunny Day's backs. It was time to depart to the train station.

Setting off, Silver Stream began her loop of thoughts yet another time, but this time was just slightly different. With the debacle she had just experienced with Peach, a new set of images and questions had joined the mix in her brain to sort through and figure out. All of this mess was beginning to give the pegasus a nasty headache.

Before she knew it, the train station was right before them. The station was booming with business today, and there was hardly any room to stand, let alone walk through. The group of now five made their way past the sea of ponies and through one of the gates to the opposite platform. It was much less cramped than the platform they had previously been on. Silver sighed in relief at the comfortable amount of space she had been given and smiled to herself contentedly.

"Despite being a tad bit behind schedule," Twilight said with a sheepish grin, and Rainbow Dash scoffed from a few feet away, "we arrived a few minutes early, giving me enough time to prep you before you leave." She paused to take a breath, "You may be wondering about tickets for the train?" Silver, Dewdrop, and Sunny Day each gave Twilight an identically intent look, waiting in silence for an explanation. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Twilight told them, "I've already paid for tickets and they're in your bags now. I've also packed you rations to last you quite a while on this trip, but you shouldn't be worried if you run out. The vegetation in the swamp may very well feed you even without the rations for support." With one final breath, she finished, "You've also each been packed one blanket in case you encounter a chilly night and a detailed map of the swamps for your travel. We'll be awaiting your return as soon as any one of you gets back."

With her debriefing finished, the others still had some time for chat. This, for Silver, would mean just a little bit more time to think, but her developing headache cautioned her otherwise. She determined it would probably be best to just talk to Rainbow Dash for a bit to ease her nerves about the mission and what had happened back at Twilight's castle.

She turned to Rainbow and saw she wasn't looking too confident, either. It wasn't much of a surprise as she was her best friend and would naturally look out for her and keep her out of trouble. That would be impossible now that Silver would be leaving any second now to the Hayseed Swamps with no means of communication to contact Rainbow. Pondering whether or not to bother her, she took the risk and stepped cautiously towards the sky blue pegasus.

"So, I know I'm gonna be leaving here," Silver started slowly, "but I want you to believe that I will make it back, no matter how long it takes."

Rainbow hesitated to look up into her eyes, but when she did, Silver saw they weren't filled with grief or apprehension. They were gleaming faintly of humor.

"So for once it's you going out on the adventure, huh?" she concluded softly, an easygoing smile playing across her face.

Silver was a bit shocked by the unexpected reaction, but she quickly recovered. "Yeah, it's a bit crazy leaving," she admitted, flashing a small smile in return.

"I know you'll come back, Silver," Rainbow Dash told her firmly. "I'd never see a reason why you couldn't." Silver broke eye contact to hide the hot tears brimming at the corners of her eyes as she finished, "You deserve this more than anypony else in Equestria, and you'll do us all proud."

Silver Stream couldn't help cracking an abashed and potentially idiotic smile. "Rainbow Dash," was all she could muster as rivers of tears broke free from her eyes, rolling silently down her face. Leaping forward, she embraced her best friend in a hug. The tears kept flowing as she felt Rainbow wrap her own hooves around her in return. They held each other in silence for what felt like a lifetime to Silver, but they broke apart when the deafening howl of a train whistle drew closer. Our ticket to destiny, she thought, anxious adrenaline coursing through her. The train pulled up to the platform, its brakes squeaking uncomfortably as it came to a stop.

"Dodge Junction," the conductor hollered out to the ponies on the platform. "All for Dodge Junction board here."

"Dodge Junction?" Silver echoed, a confused look about her face.

"It's the closest the train tracks lead to the Hayseed Swamps," Twilight explained quickly. Then, tipping her head to the train, she said, "Better get on before it leaves."

Silver nodded, but hesitated to follow up. Instead she turned around to face Rainbow. The two locked eyes, and after a thick silence drew around them, Silver slowly extended her hoof out to her. "Hoof bump?" she asked expectantly.

Rainbow smiled nonchalantly, then nodded and reached her hoof up to Silver's and replied, "Hoof bump." Then, she finished softly with a light of admiration glowing in her eyes, "Go get 'em, Sil."

Nodding in agreement, Silver responded just as softly, "I will." She turned away, took a deep breath to calm her escalating nerves, then marched on towards the train. For a split second, she had thought about hesitating before climbing aboard, but pushed past the thought and stepped through the open doors of one of the last compartments. Dewdrop and Sunny Day had taken their seats and were conversing in low voices. The scene looked strangely familiar to Silver, somehow. Trying to hide a creeping sense of suspicion, the pegasus shared one of the long seats with Dewdrop, but kept a considerate amount of distance between herself and the pale yellow pegasus for reasons mainly involving her attitude when around ponies she didn't know well.

"What do you think Dodge'll be like?" Dewdrop asked to Sunny Day more than Silver, her tone considerably different than it had been moments ago. Taking a quick glance over across from herself, she saw Sunny shrug and give a muffled reply to show that she really wasn't interested in the subject. Or in the idea of small talk, at the moment. It was odd her attitude hadn't changed, and Silver was beginning to question what they had been talking about before she had come over.

So there wouldn't be any extended periods of silence, Silver Stream spoke up in Sunny's absence. "Rainbow Dash and her friends have been there once," she said, trying not to sound cocky. "She told me about it a while ago. She said it was basically a small, old timey western-ish sort of town surrounded by a cherry farm."

"Sounds like we'll be able to pass right on through Dodge without a hitch," Dewdrop said cheerfully, "unless we wanna end up staying for a day, that is." She turned hopefully to Sunny Day with a wide smile on her face most likely to try and lift her mood.

Taking a short and highly irate glance at Dewdrop, Sunny rolled her bright blue eyes openly and mumbled, "Sure, whatever," bitterly. Dewdrop's buoyant look dimmed slightly at her friend's reaction. Silver Stream was a tad surprised herself. This was unusual behavior for how Sunny Day usually acted: a glowing, sometimes flashy or showy pony with her head in the clouds. Silver had never seen her this down in spirits before, but looking back at the past few hours or the day of the trip to Canterlot, Sunny had been a little too quiet for her standards. Something was off, but nothing had happened recently to put the bold pony in such a bad state that Silver could recall.

… Unless-

"Dodge Junction," she heard the conductor holler from the edge of the platform. "Dodge Junction train leaving momentarily. All aboard that's coming aboard."

Another rush of adrenaline coursed through Silver Stream like a tidal wave. This is it, she thought, trying to stay calm. I'm leaving for who knows how long to a swamp that supposedly has these new Elements of Harmony. She turned to her right, gazing out the opposite window that faced the platform. Standing up, she slowly made her way up to it, staring out at the few ponies gathered around the train to see it off. Silver lifted the window up to get a clearer view, and instantly, she found Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle, their eyes turned to the train eagerly. She waved her hoof out to them, and Twilight, seeming to have noticed a splash of movement, glanced over. Seeing her triggered a smile, and the alicorn tipped her head in Silver's direction for Rainbow to follow. She turned to the train, her eyes locking with Silver's. She smiled instantly, her eyes gleaming softly as she mouthed from the platform, "I'll miss you."

Returning her smile, Silver mouthed back, "I'll miss you, too."

Just then, the train made a sudden lurch, giving Silver a jolt of surprise. The train slowly began to pull away from the platform. Before it left for good, Silver made one last look out onto the platform and waved her hoof to the two as a parting farewell. They both waved back in hopeful parting as the train gained speed and broke away from the station platform. It chugged humbly along the tracks that would lead Silver, Dewdrop, and Sunny Day to Dodge Junction, where they would then begin their quest to obtain the lost Elements of Harmony.