Chapter 11

Infernalo went back inside and looked around the seemingly-empty library. An owl suddenly swooped in and perched on his halo.

"An owl," he asked, looking up at the owl.

"Hoo Hoo," it said, flying over to a perch by the window. Infernalo dismissed it, and went over to his books, one of which was opened to the page about the Cursed Trossels. He smirked, guessing that Twilight must've read over it out of curiosity. He read over the page again, detailing how the world would've been enveloped in Their corruption had the Sixth Elements not stopped Them. Infernalo remembered the first time he'd had the words read to him when he was a young colt.

"Did anypony ever know what the Sixth Elements, Mommy," he asked. His mother nodded. "What is it?"

"It's something special that everypony has within them," she said. "Without courage, hope, and unity, Seldreinia would've been destroyed long ago; it's will."

"Well, why is will such a special power to have," Infernalo asked.

"It's one thing to hope, it's another to enact upon it. Without the will to act, Trossels would be all but powerless."

"Will," he said absently. "that's the final element! A lot of good that does now. The Sixth Elements weren't immortal, so there's no chance that they could possibly stop the Cursed Trossels. There are ways, but I don't know any Life or Death Trossels. An Aether or Creation Trossel might work, but I don't know any of them either." he paced around, looking down at the book, re-reading the last line over. "Legend has it that the Sixth Elements will be reincarnated, should the threat ever resurface," he recited from the page. "It's possible, but who?" the owl's hooting became more apparent while he read the passage. "What is it?" the owl dropped a scroll in front of him with a very strange, and familiar, symbol. "I-it's not...possible."

"What's not possible?" Infernalo turned to see Twilight. She looked down at the scroll with the strange symbol on it. "What's that?"

"I-it's from Lord Xanatos," Infernalo said, opening it.

"What's it say?" Infernalo looked down at it and scanned the letter.

"It says that he's searching for the reincarnated Sixth Elements," Infernalo said. "No such luck as of yet."

"I'm sorry about your hometown," she said. Infernalo sighed, tossing the scroll.

"Though your concern is greatly appreciated, it's ungrounded," Infernalo said justly. "You weren't responsible for what's happening. You have no reason to apologize for something that you had no fault with in the first place. You wouldn't know what losing Seldreinia is like, not just to me, but to my species; you've never been, so you can't know. Now that we aren't within proximity of the Elemental Forces, we could lose our powers and chances are that our species may not carry on from non-Trossel partners, leading to our slow and gradual extinction if the Cursed Trossels' corruption doesn't destroy us all first."

"That's pretty grim," Twilight said.

"Being a Darkness Trossel, I must adhere to logic and probability above all else. Even if the outcome isn't very optimistic. So, how did you figure that I'd be here?"

"Stonebolt said that you'd usually go to your room back in Seldreinia to think or when something was troubling you. I figured that this was the next best thing. Now, c'mon, we're going to miss Pinkie's party and I was hoping we could..." she trailed off, trying to find the right words.

"Go together," he finished, taking her hoof. "I'd like that." She smiled and led him outside, his sisters waiting, Leafwind bouncing alongside Frostburn.

"It's about time," Stonebolt said. Twilight noticed the small Nature Trossel who instantly turned to Twilight in awe.

"Who's this," Twilight asked. "She's so cute."

"I'm Leafwind," the filly said in awe. "you must be Twilight; Frostburn says a lot about you, how you're smarter than even her big brother. I can't believe you're a really real unicorn." Twilight smiled.

"We should get going," Twilight said and led them along. As they followed Twilight, Stonebolt walked next to her brother. "Remember what I said before. Just try to be nice and mingle with a few ponies."

"I'll only escalate as far as they're willing to provoke me," he sneered. "What about Steelmind?"

"He said he was going with somepony named Rarity, and Zephyroak said she was planning on being fashionably late. I think it might have something to do with l-e-a-f-w-i-n-d." he gestured toward the bouncing little filly. They finally walked into a building shaped like a large cupcake as Infernalo muttered something cynical under his breath and Stonebolt hit him in the shoulder. When they entered, they were immediately greeted by Pinkie.

"Surprise," she said. "Well, I guess it really isn't a surprise since you already knew, unless you forgot and this just reminded you." She looked over at Frostburn. "Frostburn!"

"Pinkie," Frostburn said with an equal amount of enthusiasm.

"Now I really wish I knew a Death Trossel right about now," Infernalo muttered. Pinkie looked over at him and smiled.

"You must be Frostburn's big brother Infernalo, and you must be Leafwind." the little Nature filly beamed, delighted by the earth pony's chaotic nature. Without another word, Pinkie rushed off before Infernalo looked down at Twilight.

"Pinkie's a bit an acquired taste," she said sheepishly. "I think you might like my other friends." Rarity walked into the room, Zephyroak in tow. Steelmind followed, Sweetie Belle not far behind before she noticed Leafwind and approached her.

"Leafwind, where were you all day," she asked.

"I could ask the same thing," Leafwind said.

"I was with Steelmind," Sweetie sighed. "He's the smartest pony I've ever met, plus he's so cool." Infernalo, almost wanting to see how something like this would end, was dragged off by Twilight to meet her friends.

"Infernalo, these are my friends Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and you already met Pinkie." he nodded to each of them in acknowledgement. "Everypony, this is Infernalo, he's a Trossel."

"Isn't he the guy you have a crush on," Dash asked. Twilight blushed and looked away.

"I think I heard of Trossels before," Pinkie said.

"You have," he said with genuine shock. Pinkie nodded.

"Frostburn told me," she explained.

"Infernalo," Rarity asked. "Whatever is that halo above your head for?" Infernalo glanced up and took notice of the small black ring floating above his head. Ever since he'd gotten his cutie mark, Infernalo had never really paid much attention to it and rarely even remembered he had it unless somepony pointed it out.

"I'm a Heaven Trossel," he explained. "I have no idea what it does exactly, but it appeared about the same time as my cutie mark, and I just never questioned it." Fluttershy didn't say anything, almost paralyzed by being in the same presence as him. He turned to face her, but she hid her face in her mane until he wasn't looking and finally left.

"He's so charming," the white unicorn remarked.

"I reckon he's just about the best lookin' stallion I ever did see," Applejack added.

"I don't know what you guys are getting all worked up about," Pinkie said. "he seems just so serious. There's something off about him."

"Pinkie," Twilight reminded her. "You said the same thing about Zecora."

"And Gilda," Pinkie retorted. "I was right about her." they nodded in agreement, Fluttershy still paralyzed and staring at him wide-eyed and curious.

"Fluttershy," Dash snapped. "You okay?" Fluttershy shook her head clear.

"Oh, yes," she said. "I'm fine."

Stonebolt stared at a large red pony that had been talking with Applejack when she arrived when Zephyroak nudged her.

"Stone," she urged. "just go talk to him. He can't be that bad."

"I know," Stonebolt said uneasily. "What if he doesn't like me?" Zephyroak scoffed.

"That'd be a first. Just go mingle." she pushed Stonebolt into him, as he helped her back to her hooves.

"S-sorry about that," she said.

"None taken," he replied in a lazy drawling tone. "The name's Big Macintosh. I think you might've met my little sisters Applejack and Apple Bloom." Stonebolt nodded a bit, seeing just how big Big Macintosh was up close. Not finding any words coming to mind, Stonebolt watched Big Mac walk away.

"That was about as smooth as a mountain," Zephyroak remarked.

"You're the one who pushed me," Stonebolt shot back, deciding to sit next to Frostburn and Steelmind.

"I'm telling you, Snowflake," Steelmind said. "If it wasn't for Leafwind and Rarity, I didn't think Sweetie Belle would ever leave me alone. I wish she was more like my little brother where our relationship is strained at best."

"Sweetie Belle seems really nice," Frostburn said. "Besides, you remember how excited Leafwind got the first time she met a Pegasus pony? This is the first time Sweetie Belle's ever seen a Trossel." a pair of mares walked up to Steelmind, smiling awkwardly.

"Umm, we were just wondering," one of them asked. "Would like to get some cake or something?"

"He's spoken for," Frostburn said crossly, her mane starting to spark up as the two hurried away. "You'd better run!" Her rage cooled rather quickly, though.

"I think that it may go a bit deeper than just that," Steelmind said. "She hasn't stopped following me all day until now, and she's always staring at me." Leafwind overheard the conversation and looked over the white unicorn filly, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo following her gaze.

"Do you have a crush on my cousin's best friend," Leafwind asked. Sweetie looked away, muttering something incoherent.

"I do not," she said finally, a bit angry. "I just think he's smart and interesting."

"and cute," Scootaloo finished. Sweetie blushed angrily. "You like him."

"I do not."

"Do too," Apple Bloom added.

"Do not."

"Do too."

"Do not."

"Stop it, all of you," she said. "I need to get some air." she left, the three starting to argue all over again.