Elements Lost and Found

Chapter 7: The Good, the Bad and the Honest

Brace yourselves, folks! Things get a little bit intense here!

So where did we leave off last time? Oh, yeah. Swift getting attacked by Opal... again.

"Ow. Ow. Sweetie Belle can you please keep Opal under control, please? This is twice this has happened. Though the first time was me waking up with Opal on the attack stance."

"Sorry, Swift. I think she's just as nervous as us about my sister."

Swift's expression softens with this. "Yeah, cats can get like this. Though this is the most psychotic case of it I've ever experienced." 'Come to think of it, I've seen how angry that cat can get on the show. But the question is though. Why me? Do my wing feathers confuse her or something? Once we have Fluttershy back with us we need to get to the bottom of this.' "Anyway, I'll be back I'm just gonna go wake RD up."

-2 minutes later-

KNOCK KNOCK

"Rainbow Dash? You up?"

…

"Rainbow Dash? You okay?"

…

"Yeah! I'm fine. Just aching a bit."

"Everybody's up and having breakfast."

"Okay then I'll join you guys in a few minutes. I've just woken up."

"Okay then. I'll see ya then."

-5 minutes later-

Rainbow Dash is on her way towards the dining room when she glances into a room and sees Swift playing Sonic 4 Episode 2 on his phone. With hooves?

"Hey, Swift? I thought you woulda been in the dining room. Whatcha doing in here?"

"Meh. I'm just thinkin'."

"While doing...well, whatever it is you're doing?"

"Hey, I can do two things at once!"

"You had to simply focus so you could pull off your own Sonic Rainboom."

"To be quite fair, Rainbow Dash, that was the first time I'd pulled it off!"

"Really? Then what was it I heard the other day while I was on my curfew watch?"

"That was possibly Bass's bowling buck. Heh. That's what he should call it. The "Bowling Buck!" Eh, I don't know if that's a crap name or a good name but meh, opinions are opinions. And I think it's absolutely terrible."

(Epic Sax Guy plays from Swift's phone)

"Oh! Picture message! I need to change that alert tone by the way."

He pauses his game and checks what the picture message is. There's a message attached to it saying "Saw this around the same place you were racing to. That is some crazy stuff. Lol"

"What the...that's your Sonic Rainboom. But next to it. What the smeg is that?"

He shows the screen to Rainbow Dash who grins at this. "You did that. Right before you blacked out on me."

Swift's eyes widen as he sees this. "I did this? But there's blue and yellow everywhere! With little sparks of electric! How could I have done this sort of thing?!"

"The same way I do my Sonic Rainbooms, duh! Going super awesomely fast enough to break the sound barrier!"

"I...broke...the...sound...barrier?...AWESOME! (squee)"

…

…

"Dude, you can stop making that weirdly cute face now."

"Oh, right. Sorry. Damn ADD."

"Anyway, I think I have a little name for my move. The Azure Bolt."

"Not bad, kid. Not bad at all! I suppose it makes sense with your cutie mark."

"What do you mean? My cutie mark just looks like wind to me."

"Why don't you take another look at it?"

He does so and what he sees makes him nearly drop his phone on the floor. His cutie mark has changed slightly. The wind trails that make up his cutie mark now come with a few bolts of lightening, some cyan and some yellow! (A/N Order now for a discount!)

"Well...that was slightly unexpected. I didn't think cutie marks could actually change!"

"Neither did I! But hey! We learned something new today!"

"I know and it's only like half past 11. And what have I achieved? Waking up from unconsciousness, nearly getting my face mauled off by a cat and getting the knowledge that cutie marks can get their own little decorations!" (Yo dawg I heard you like decorations)

"I can't stay cooped up in here all day. I get all twitchy. But if I'm gonna be stayin' here I'm gonna need to fetch a few things from my cloud house. Wanna come with?"

Swift thinks for a few seconds before nodding. "Yeah I could do with an excuse to get out of here for a few wing stretches. I mean last night I just said I was going for a wing stretch and we both know what happened there. I didn't know about any curfew!"

Rainbow Dash nods in understanding. "Yeah, I mean I know in the end it turned out okay what with the awesomeness that is Rainbow Dash returning to her awesome origins but you could have gotten hurt."

"I think the scene that played out later on that same night proved that I got hurt anyway. I can still feel a couple of itches from those bees despite Cadance getting rid of visible evidence of bee stings. Stupid tranquilliser bees ruining our race. Which brings me to my next question, Dashie. I wasn't that heavy was I?"

"Nah, you weren't that heavy. But then again I was kinda tired that night. I mean I was gonna go back to bed right after finishing in Manehatten but...Wait a second. Did you just call me "Dashie"?"

"Oh, yeah sorry. Was that a bad thing to do?"

Rainbow Dash's face turns to one of sadness. "No it's just that Pinkie Pie was the only one who called me Dashie." At this point tears start to form in her eyes from a reminder of her best friend.

Swift's expression turns to one of pity. He gets up and walks over to Dash, putting one hoof on her shoulder. "Dash."

(BGM: Transformers Cybertron – If You Were Here)

She looks up at him, tears still present.

"Listen, trust me on this. We will get every single one of your friends back to normal. But please don't cry. Whenever a friend starts crying it's like it's infectious to me and I end up getting all blubbery as well. Let me tell ya, I was more or less actually crying when Big Mac told me that you were a black belt while I was hiding from you!

'High and a winner, pay the front line, take the don'ts.
He's Coming out again for a new point,
Get your bets now ladies and gentlemen.'

"Oh, sorry that's my phone. Know what Imma put it on loudspeaker. Hello?"

"Swift. There's something very peculiar outside on the street."

"Bass, define the word "Peculiar" in this situation."

"I was out stretching my legs when I looked out of the alley and there I saw a a stand."

"What kind of stand?"

"It's right in the middle of the street and it's got pies on it"

This causes Swift's and Dash's eyes to widen. Dash whispers"I don't like this. Something's definitely going on. And I want to find out what."

Swift whispers back "Well once we know what it is we can do something about it. But stay calm unless something bad happens."

"Oh great some thick pegasus has decided it would be a smart idea to fly out and try and grab one."

"Gotcha, ya little punk!"

"HEEEELP!"

"No, Soarin!"

Swift's eyes widen. "We'd better get up there."

-1 minute later-

Swift, Dash, Heart and Bass peek their heads around the corner and see Applejack. Or rather the brainwashed Applejack with the dark colour scheme. And without her trademark stetson.

Bass is the first to speak. Very quietly. "I have got to admit that is slightly creepy. The apples on her cutie mark are still red."

"What are we gonna do to get her attention?" Heart asks.

Swift is deep in thought. Then he has an idea. "I'm gonna need a stetson and one of them things that farmers where around their torso."

"A farmer's jacket?"

"Yes, Pete, a farmer's jacket."

-1 minute later-

"Right, ya little varmint. Once Ah've dragged ya all the way back to Nightmare Moon's castle, I'll be back here to wrangle another gullible pony."

"Stop raht there, dark horse!"

Applejack indeed stops in her tracks and turns around at the voice.

(BGM: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly theme)

It's Swift with (surprise surprise) a stetson upon his head, the farmer's jacket on to keep his wings hidden, some straw in his mouth for effect and for some reason some shades that look similar to Rainbow Dash's own. He was trotting into the scene through some magically created steam. Again done for effect.

"Now ah don't like what I see raht now. You must be oone messed up pony."

"Shut up! This don't concern you!"

"Ah'm afraid you're wrong, Honesty. The name's Colt Eastwood. Why don't you run at me and tackle me to tha ground if you're that bothered about me."

"Honesty? What tha hay's that supposed ta mean?"

"Actually, blue boy, Ah think you should run at me as well. I'd like to test your strength, see if ya can stand up ya lil' ol' Applejack."

"Colt Eastwood" stands there thinking. He then whispers something nopony else including Applejack can hear. He then turns back to Applejack with the same competitive look on his face.

"Ah accept yer challenge, Applejack."

So they stare each other down for a couple of seconds, both beckoning each other to start running first. Then...Swift starts running first. Applejack then follows suit.

They get really close to each other, then right at the last second, he tears off the jacket revealing his blue wings.

"Psyche, Jacko!"

He then pulls up into the sky, revealing Rainbow Dash tailgating him.

"R-Rainbow Dash?"

She promptly tackles Applejack to the ground knocking her unconscious...accidentally. "Heh. Oops." Swift then lands on the ground next to Rainbow Dash and the two share a hoof bump celebrating a job well done.

"So Dash, you got the Element of Honesty?"

"Right here!"

She pulls Honesty from her left front leg then places it around the unconscious Applejack's neck.

At first nothing happens but then she starts to glow. She then starts to float up into the air with her mane flowing. Her eyes glowing a bright white. She then returns to her orange coat and blonde mane. This lasts for 10 seconds and then she descends back onto the ground on her hooves.

She takes a moment to regain her normal consciousness. And then dons a look of guilt and regret on her face.

"Ah...Ah'm sorry everypony. Ah wasn't mahself. Ah'm not expecting you ta forgive me. Just understand."

At that point Swift comes floating casually upside down beside her holding the stetson he was using for his little stunt..

"Applejack. Have a stetson." He plops it upon her head. "I'll let Rainbow Dash say the rest."

Rainbow Dash walks up to her. "Well as much as I enjoyed that little western-esque scene- which I admit was kinda funny, especially hearing Swift's cowboy accent – it's good to have ya back on the right state of mind. Swift was right. We did look kinda insane while weren't ourselves!"

Applejack dons a smirk at this. "You were more hotheaded than ever! Of course ah didn't expect nothin' less from "The best flyer in Equestria!""

RD and Applejack glare playfully at each other then share a friendly hug. Swift's smirk turns into a genuine, heartfelt smile then finds himself floating down next to Heart and Bass. Tears start forming in Swift's eyes as he looks upon the hug. "I've just reunited two friends and now I feel fucking proud of myself. You done good today, Swift. You done good."

Bass breaks the moment "So what now?"

Swift runs to Bass and Heart.

"Well I was gonna say a certain word beginning with P but then I didn't want a certain physics defying psycho pony ballsing up the moment."

Applejack walks over to Swift. "Yer mighty crazy, sugercube. Anypony told ya that?"

"Yeah Princess Cadance told me earlier after I woke up from a tranquilliser bee ralated incident."

This makes Applejack chuckle. "Well however nutty that idea o' yours mighta' been, it worked." She hugs Swift out of gratitude. After 5 seconds the hug broke off. Swift then remembers something.

"Applejack, don't you think you ought to go see Big Macintosh and Apple Bloom? They were most likely scared out of their wits when they heard you'd rolled up into Manehatten with the intent to capture." Applejack nods in agreement then dashes over to Big Mac and Apple Bloom. But before she forgets...

Applejack unties Soarin from her lasso "Ya can keep the pie by the way."

"You're already forgiven, Applejack but thank you."

Swift has his usual casual goofy happy grin on at this moment. But then an idea comes to him.

"Anypony fancy a camp out?"

Then he hears some faint wubs. Shooting a look towards Bass's direction, he sees him hanging out with Vinyl Scratch and showing her some of his stuff that he's been working on. 'Well those two are getting on well. Why doesn't THAT surprise me? Heh.'

Within 5 minutes everypony was socialising. Bass and Vinyl were enjoying Skrillex, Heart was getting along with Lyra, Bon Bon, Cheerilee, Cadance and Sweetie Belle, Applejack was with Big Mac, Granny Smith, Apple Bloom and Spike, and Swift, Rainbow Dash and Derpy were ganging out with the wonderbolts.

These people (er, ponies) know that from here on out, they need to stay strong and stick together. Now that Rainbow Dash and Applejack are back to normal, and with these three strange ponies that came into their lives only a few days ago, they feel stronger. But for some reason Rainbow Dash, Vinyl Scratch, Lyra and Applejack can't help but feel that something's a little off. And surprisingly enough, neither can Derpy!

AAAAND CHAPTER COMPLETE!

I always wanted to pull off a western scene. And I feel I did that rather well! Tell me in the reviews what you thought of this. Oh, and that last bit?

Well, all will be explained soon.

Until next time, brahs!