Chapter 6

Outside of Ponyville, Thomas and his pony friends were at the edge of the Everfree Forest. They stopped for a moment to gather up the courage they had not lost to Nightmare Moon and the diesels. The large, overgrown forest seemed bigger and darker than usual; who knew what kind of journey awaited them inside the wilderness?

After taking a good look at what they were going to face up ahead, Rainbow Dash grew impatient. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" she exclaimed as she started into the trees. However, Thomas grabbed her by the tail. "What now?" she groaned.

"We don't know where in this forest the castle is," he replied. "We can't just fly in there blindly!"

"He's right," added Rarity. "We need to find someway to know where it is."

"I know!" Applejack pointed with her hoof. "There's a large hill not too far into the forest. We can use that to see if we can find it. Follow me!"

So the seven ponies ran as fast as they could. And minutes later, they got to the top. At the edge of a high cliff, they all looked out far and wide searching for anything.

But they were so far high, they didn't notice Nightmare Moon and Diesel 10 down at the bottom. But the two did see the seven. Diesel 10 already had an idea. He approached the cliffs and looked up at his claw. "Alright, Pinchy, my little bucket of badness. Time to feast yourself."

Back at the top, Pinkie Pie pointed to the distance. "There it is! On the side of that lone mountain!"

"That mountain?" Fluttershy asked out of fear. "In the middle of the Everfree Forest?"

"It's just a forest," Thomas told them. "What's so scary about it?"

"No pony knows," wailed Rainbow in a ghostly way. "Do you know why?"

"Rainbow Dash! That's not funny!" snapped Twilight.

But the Pegasus pony didn't listen. "Because everypony who has ever come in here has never… come… OUT!" The others were scared to the point of silence.

Suddenly, the ground shook uncontrollably. The ponies wobbled on the cliff as Diesel 10 dug the loose dirt away with his claw. When enough dirt came out, he quickly backed away to safety, and the cliff began to crumble. Every pony without wings fell with the crumbling soil. The other two flew quickly after.

Quickly thinking, Rainbow Dash swiped Pinkie Pie into the air, and Fluttershy grabbed Rarity by the tail. Applejack bit into an uprooted vine, and Thomas grabbed her hoof.

But Twilight couldn't find a way to stop in time. She continued to slide to the edge of the canyon below until it was almost too late. Now, Twilight Sparkle was half on and half off the edge of the cliff. Her back legs wobbled and wiggled in the air. Her front legs were digging and pulling to keep her from falling.

Thomas and Applejack slowly slid up to her. Each one grabbed a hoof and pulled as hard as he could. But the cliff began to crumble again. "Thomas, quick! Use your magic! Lift me up!"

But Thomas didn't. "I… can't! I never used magic before!"

"Are you kidding me?!"

The cliff began to crumble again. It couldn't hold them any longer. Thomas was scared. "Twilight! What do we do?!"

Twilight didn't know. But Applejack did. She made a decision. "Let go, Thomas."

"What?!"

"Are you NUTS?!"

"No, I ain't," she replied as she looked at Thomas. "I promise, she'll be alright."

"That's not true!" Twilight argued.

"Now listen here, sugar cube," Applejack said softly to Thomas. "What I'm saying to you is the honest truth: let do, and she'll be safe."

Thomas wasn't sure what else to do. But a voice inside his head was telling him he could trust her. So he did as Applejack said. He let go of her, and she fell… just in time for Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy to catch her.

Twilight sighed in relief as the two Pegasus ponies slowly lowered her to safety. She watched as Applejack and Thomas hopped down from the cliff. She was starting to question why she didn't want friends being there for her. But she was still pretty cross at Thomas.

Diesel 10 saw everything. He was cross. "How could that have failed?!"

Nightmare Moon crackled. "Worry not, my new ally. For there is more than one way to skin a pony." She then disappeared into a cloud of violet smoke and flew away. Not seconds away, there was the sound of a loud roar. Diesel 10 smiled at what he saw.

With where they needed to be fresh in their heads, the seven ponies were off. They began through a long canyon… The one Twilight almost fell into. They were all brave and cheerful. But Twilight was very cross.

"Sorry for almost dropping you," Fluttershy told her. "I'm not used to carrying anything more than a bunny or two."

"I'm not upset at you, Fluttershy." She stared angrily at Thomas. "How could you have never used magic? You're a unicorn, for pony's sake!"

Thomas felt nervous. He knew this was bound to happen. So he decided to come clean. "I'm sorry. There's… there's something I should tell you."

But before he could, a loud roar echoed through the valley. There ahead was a large creature. It looked like a lion with bat wings, but it also had a tail like that of a snake.

"A manticore!" Twilight exclaimed. "We've got to get past it!" And all the others agreed…

Except Fluttershy. She knew there was something wrong. So she made a decision.

First, Rarity buck it in the mouth with its back hooves. "Take that, you ruffian!" But the manticore roared loudly, even more cross. "My hair!" Rarity ran as it chased after her.

"Wait," Fluttershy said softly. But no one heard her.

Then, Applejack jumped onto its back, and she rode the creature like a raged bull. The manticore jumped and kicked until finally, the farm girl was flung off.

"Wait," Fluttershy said louder. But no one heard her again.

Next, Rainbow Dash spun around the beast in a whirlwind of color. She was trying to make him dizzy to the point of them passing quickly. But the manticore swatted her away with his tail.

"Wait!" Fluttershy uttered.

The other six ponies could see that nothing was working. They decided to charge straight at the manticore together. Twilight, Thomas, and the others ran as fast as they could toward the manticore, and it ran toward them.

"STOP!" cried Fluttershy. And that made everyone, even the manticore, screech to a half. The Pegasus pony approached the large creature slowly as it growled angrily. She softly hushed it gently brushed her muzzle against its paw.

The manticore could see she wanted to help. It held out its paw, and in its middle was a large thorn.

"Oh, you poor baby…"

"Baby?!" asked Rainbow Dash.

"Now, this'll hurt for just a second." She bit the thorn and yanked it out. She was right. It did hurt, but the manticore was relieved. It picked her up and licked her face happily. Fluttershy laughed because his tongue tickled her. "As, you're just a little old baby kitty, aren't you? Yes, you are. Yes, you are." she cooed like she was speaking to an actual baby cat.

The other ponies smiled. With the manticore distracted, they quickly and quietly passed by the manticore and out of the canyon. Twilight and Thomas stopped and waited for a messy-maned Fluttershy to follow.

"How did you know about the thorn?" one of them asked.

"I didn't," she replied as she passed them. "Sometimes, we just need to be shown a little kindness."

Twilight smiled, and they quickly followed the rest.

Once they disappeared past the trees, Diesel 10 approached the thorn from the manticore's paw. "See? I told you Thomas was troublesome."

The thorn swirled in a cloud of violet, and out from it came Nightmare Moon. "He has proven to be more of a challenge than I anticipated."

"I have another plan, but we have to work together on this one."

"I'm listening…"

Much later, the seven were slowly moving through a thick part of the forest. It was very quiet. None of the ponies spoke.

Thomas looked at the six girls. He couldn't help but think about how Twilight was cross at him for not using magic. He still wanted to tell them what he really was.

But before he could, Rarity shrugged loudly. "My eyes need a rest from all this icky muck." Suddenly, it got really dark really fast. The trees were blocking the starlight. "Well, I didn't mean it like that…"

"The ruins could be right in front of us, and we wouldn't even know it," said Twilight, worried.

They didn't notice Nightmare Moon's vapor form was slithering under their feet. She seeped into the trees and started to change their form.

Rarity stopped and lifted her hoof. "Yuck! Mud!"

But then, Fluttershy looked ahead, and she screamed loudly.

"It's just mud." A misunderstanding Thomas told her, and he looked ahead. There was a monstrous face inches in front of him. "CINDERS AND ASHES! WHAT"S THAT?!" Thomas shuffled back to the other ponies.

All around them, there were monstrous faces staring at them, and arms flapping around. They heard scary growls all around then, but they didn't know it was actually Diesel 10, who was hiding in the shadows. They all screamed and shouted in fear.

But suddenly, they heard laughter. The ponies and Diesel 10 stopped and looked. It was Pinkie Pie. She was making funny faces and laughing at one of the monsters before her.

"Pinkie! What're you doing?!" asked Thomas. "Get away from those… things!"

"Oh, Thomas, don't you see?" She had already made a decision.

"When I was a little filly,
And the sun was going down..."

Twilight Sparkle stared. "Tell me she's not..."

"The darkness and the shadows,
They would always make me frown…"

"She is," replied Rarity.

"I'd hide under my pillow
From what I thought I saw,
But Granny Pie said that wasn't the way
To deal with fears at all."

"Then what is?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"She said, "Pinkie, you got to stand up tall;
Learn to face your fears.
You'll see that they can't hurt you,
Just laugh to make them disappear.
Ha ha ha."

Poof… a puff of pink engulfed the monstrous face, and it disappeared. It wasn't a monster at all. To their relief, it was only a tree.

"SO! Giggle at the ghostly,
Guffaw at the grossly,
Crack up at the creepy,
Whoop it up with the weepy,
Chortle at the kooky,
Snortle at the spooky,
And tell that big, dumb, scary face to take a hike and leave you alone, and if he thinks he can scare you, then he's got another thing coming, and the very idea of such a thing just makes you want to-! (Giggles)

LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!"

When all the 'monsters' were changed back into trees, Thomas and the ponies fell to the ground, laughing. Twilight, who at first thought Pinkie was strange, laughed loudest of all. She was starting to like having others around her more and more.

Now, Diesel 10 and Nightmare Moon were furious. They slithered away to make more ways to stop Thomas and his friends.