• Sky ran through the Everfree Forest unsure of which direction she was supposed to be running. Though she had never known anywhere beyond Canterlot, and until recently, the Ponyville Museum, she could sense that her surroundings were becoming strange as she ran deeper into the forest. During her time in Ponyille, she picked up on the rumors surrounding the forest: plants grow by themselves, freaky magic lives in the trees, and many other outlandish tales. She never took them seriously, but now she couldn't help but start to believe them because the trees seemed to be forming frightening faces.
    ‘No!’ Sky declared to herself. Those were just old pony tales. The ideas implanted in her mind were skewing her perception, and she wasn’t about to let some paranoid ponies stop her from reaching the Elemental Palace.
    After trekking through thick shrubbery and swimming across a tumultuous river, she found herself at the edge of a gorge separating her from the Elemental Palace. Sky was surprised to discover that the palace wasn’t much of a palace at all, but rather old ruins shrouded in fog, giving it the appearance of a haunted castle floating in a sea of clouds. There seemed to be no way to cross the gorge, but Sky spotted two stone pillars on the ledge. She looked to the other side, and sure enough, an old bridge was dangling from the cliff. She cast a levitation spell and focused on the bridge.
    It slowly emerged from the fog, but she wasn’t strong enough to repair it on her own. She dug her hooves into the dirt, but its weight dragged her closer and closer to the edge. Just when she was about fall into the gorge, she concentrated on keeping it suspended for as long as possible and jumped for the bridge, barely managing to grab a wooden plank before her magic finally gave out. Her body swung through the air and slammed against the rocky wall.
    She clenched her teeth and stifled a cry of pain as she clung to the ancient bridge. Though every part of her body was in pain, she grabbed the moldy rope with her mouth and climbed. She took it one plank at a time, deliberately banishing her fears with every careful step. At any moment the rope could snap, her hoof could slip, a plank could break; any of these things would send her plummeting to her death. But she pressed on and poured all of her strength into climbing the bridge. When she finally reached the top, she took a moment to lie on the ground, taking deep, reassuring breaths to calm her pounding heart.
    Once she recovered, she stood and faced the ruins. Though her muscles were still quivering and sweat was fresh on her brow, she pushed open the door and entered the Elemental Palace, hoping she could find the five ponies without making her presence known.
    She found herself in the antechamber of the palace, and though she expected it to be ruined from what she saw outside, she wasn’t expecting to find it in such a dismal condition. The ceiling had collapsed, exposing the night sky, and its remains littered the room with moss covered bricks and gravel. Ornate carvings, statues, and palace structures were completely ravaged by time; however, she could tell that the palace could have rivaled the majesty of the Canterlot Castle back in its time.
    The room led to a large stone door depicting five spheres, which had geometrical shapes carved into them. But the sixth one, which was centered on the door, was blank. Sky opened the door and stood before a great stairway covered in vines. At first she thought nature had its way with this particular room, but it closely resembled the vines that overwhelmed Ponyville. Sensing what awaited her in the next room, she ran up the stairs, ready to face her foe.
    Sky skidded to a stop when she found, not Princess Gardenia, but instead a type of altar composed of a large pillar surrounded by five smaller pillars. Atop each of the smaller pillars were Angel Eye, Strawberry Shortcake, Wind Sprint, Woodwind, and Pair A. Dice. Like Lily, the pony she observed earlier, they slept as the color drained from their coats.
    She ran to them, but a net of vines sprang up from the cracks in the floor and wrapped around her legs. They dragged her into midst of the other ponies, and as they lifted her to the top of the pillar she managed to sever the vines with her magic, leaving shallow cuts on her own legs. Before the vines could snare her again, she climbed up on Angel Eye’s pillar and started tearing her out as fast as she could.
    Suddenly, Sky felt her body freeze. Although her body would not respond to any of her commands, she was still able to move her eyes. She looked around the room, searching for the source of the magic that seized her.
    “Please stop, Celestial Sky,” a voice said.
    Sky’s body, under the control of magic, turned around and she saw her: Princess Gardenia.
    Her height towered over that of an average pony, much like Princess Twilight. But unlike her benevolent demeanor, Princess Gardenia’s dark green coat, cold yellow eyes, and frightening apparel exuded subjugation. A thick royal horse collar made entirely of thorns was strapped to her neck, and poison ivy extended from her spiked slippers and wrapped around her legs. Sky always thought Princess Twilight’s majestic mane was incomparable to any other, yet Princess Gardenia’s mane put the great Equestrian ruler’s mane to shame. Her green, mystical hair, adorned with a sparkling mist, seemed to fill the entire room as it cascaded from her head and flowed down into the vines at her hooves.
    “Our magic has nearly completed its work, and your interruption would be most upsetting,” she said as she lowered her head. Her horn glowed green, and another onslaught of vines sprang up and yanked Sky away from Angel Eye.
    “Now please, rest among your peers and dismiss any thoughts of resistance.”
    Although Princess Gardenia spoke in a flat, almost monotone, voice, there was something compelling and engaging about it (perhaps it was the way she spoke in the traditional Canterlot dialect). Whatever it was, were it not for her aggressive actions, Sky would have thought that she was a ruler without emotion.
    “Let me go!” Sky screamed as she struggled. “What are you doing to my friends?!”
    “Do not judge us so harshly, for all that has befallen you and your friends is necessary if we are to expand our kingdom and establish order. If it eases your mind, you can rest knowing that we have sealed away the consciousness of your friends within their happiest memory. The last thing we want is for our subjects to be miserable, and soon, you will join them.”
    “What kingdom? A bunch of trees?!”
    Princess Gardenia did not falter upon hearing Sky’s remark; she simply stared at Sky as she struggled. Without saying a word, she turned away, walked to a window, and gazed upon the vastness of the Everfree Forest.
    “Is that all you see: ‘a bunch of trees?’” she said.
    She paused for an answer, but when Sky did not reply she continued,
    “Even after thousands of years, the Everfree Forest still thrives. Now that the seal that confined us is broken, we can finally free Equestria from your kind. Nature was never meant to be shackled and tamed by the reigns of ponies. While Equestria rests upon an unwavering cornerstone of magic, our forest -our kingdom- endures. Is that not a power that deserves recognition and respect?” She faced Sky and held out her hoof toward the window. “Is this not true order?”
    She brought her hoof down gracefully and sneered, “Like dogs pampered by the scraps of their masters, Equestian ponies shackle the earth with their spell books and incantations. When our work is complete, magic will lose its standing and nature will reign supreme.”
    With another flash of Gardenia’s horn, Sky felt the vines slide up her legs and wrap around her rib cage. The thicker vines, which pulsated with magic, pierced her spine from her flank all the way up to her neck.
    Princess Gardenia smiled plainly upon hearing Sky's cries. “Don’t look so distressed, young one. Soon every pony in Ponyville will succumb to our power. We will extend our reach from this little town that borders our domain, and we will consume everything until Equestria is ours.” She stepped closer to Sky and stared at her with a vacant yet somehow menacing expression. “Even if you managed to escape us, soon every pony you ever knew: your childhood friends, your classmates, and even your most distant kin will be gone from this world, leaving you to roam these lands with no pony for comfort. In time, you would have begged us to relieve you from your desolation. Now, Celestial Sky...sleep.”
    A pulse of magic surged through Sky’s body and an overwhelming drowsiness followed soon after. Her eyes became heavy, and just before her eyes closed, she looked down at herself and saw the color draining from her body. Part of Sky wanted to panic and fight back, but another more powerful force resigned her to the idea that Princess Gardenia was right. Besides, how terrible could eternal bliss be?
    ​
    ​
    ​Sky opened her eyes and found herself suspended in the midst of an ethereal void with hundreds of gelatinous forms floating throughout a green, glittering mist that resembled Gardenia’s mane. For a moment, Sky took in the beauty of the surreal world, but then she remembered Princess Gardenia's words. She had never seen this place before, and though it was indeed beautiful, she couldn’t see how this was her happiest memory…unless Gardenia’s magic failed to affect her.
    ​Realizing that something must have gone wrong, she reached for a ground she wasn't sure was there, and her hoof met an invisible floor. The instant she put weight on her leg, a network of light that resembled roots revealed itself with a soft green glow. She walked forward, and as she drew nearer to the amoebic forms she thought she could hear voices. At first she convinced herself that they were her own thoughts, amplified by the silence of the mysterious realm; but eventually she started picking up words that she knew were not her own. When Sky gave the gelatinous forms a second look, she saw ponies suspended within each of them. Each pony slept with a peaceful smile upon his face while ghostly voices echoed around them.
    ​‘So her spell didn’t work on me.’ Sky thought as she watched a sleeping pony swirling around as if he was sluggishly falling through space.
    Once she realized what she had to do, she ran through the mist searching frantically for her friends. The search seemed futile, for there were hundreds of ponies to search through. But rather than wasting time running around aimlessly in the seemingly endless void, she stopped and observed the ponies floating around her. Nothing in particular separated one pony from the other except for a dim aura that shined from their bodies. With this in mind, she peered through the mist and noticed five lights that shined brighter than all the others. The pink light seemed to be the closest to her so she ran toward it as fast as she could.
    ​When she reached the light, she found that it was coming from Angel Eye, confirming her outlandish hunch. She tried using the spell she learned from Princess Twilight, but when she approached the plasmic membrane, a startling force seemed to draw her in like a vacuum. The spell would only work by touching Angel Eye’s forehead so Sky jumped into the membrane. She instantly felt as if her body was catapulting through the air, and Gardenia’s world disappeared in a blur.
    As Sky started slowing down, a new world came into focus around her, and she found herself standing beside a crude race track. It was as if somepony came along and pounded on the ground and decided to call it a race track. She peered across the track and saw two fillies racing each other – one was orange and one was lavender. They came around the bend, and Sky saw that it was Wind Sprint and Angel Eye!
    She wanted to jump in front of them and attempt to communicate with Angel Eye, but they dashed across the finish line and skidded to stop, leaving a trail of dust behind them. Both ponies were much younger than the ones she met earlier that day. Angel Eye had her shield Cutie Mark, but Wind Sprint’s flank was still blank.
    “Good…race…” Angel Eye panted.
    “Back…’atcha…” Wind Sprint smiled. “You sure can run…for a pegasus.”
    They continued to complement each other and talk about racing, and then a group of pegasi in racing gear descended from above with disapproving looks on their faces.
    “Angel Eye,” one female pegusi said. “Why are you racing with Wingless over there?”
    “Oh…I’m sorry, Featherfrost…I was just-”
    “Yeah!” A male pegasi joined in. “You’ll never become a fast flier that way.”
    ​Sky saw that Angel Eye’s timid nature was no different now than when she was a filly. The group of pegasi belittled and insulted her for racing with an earth pony, and just when she started backing away, Wind Sprint stepped in front of her.
    “HEY!!!”
    The bullies were instantly silenced.
    “This is my friend! And I’d bet my lucky horseshoe that she’s faster than all of you on hoof!”
    “Psht, yeah, on hoof,” Featherfrost retorted.
    “You wanna race right now? Huh? Do ya!” Wind Sprint started bouncing around in a racing pose. “I’ll take on all of you! One by one if I have to! Come on!”
    Featherfrost narrowed her eyes and proceeded to lift herself off the ground, spreading her wings gaudily with every flap. With a smirk on her face, she said, “That’s cute, Wingless. Call me up for a race when you get some wings.”
    She spun around and flew back to the clouds, and the rest of the pegasi followed her and gave their final insults to Wind Sprint and Angel as they left, directly and indirectly. But Wind Sprint stood her ground, glaring up at the ponies until they were out of earshot. She stood upright and turned to Angel Eye.
    “You ok?” she said.
    Angel Eye nodded slightly.
    “Don’t listen to those fillies. In my book, you’re the awesomest pegasus in all of Equestria. The name’s Wind Sprint. Yours?” She held her hoof out to her.
    Fear vanished from Angel Eye’s face and a smile took its place. “Angel Eye,” she replied, and they bumped hooves.
    When her hoof touched Wind Sprint, she shut her eyes and her happiest memory disintegrated into clouds of green mist. The only thing that did not disappear was Angel Eye, who was sitting peacefully amongst the chaos. Out of the green mist, a ghostly apparition of a yellow pegasus with flowing pink hair appeared around Angel Eye’s body. For a second, Sky though that her eyes were playing tricks on her, yet the unfamiliar Pegasus remained. She didn’t know who it was or what it meant, but she couldn’t pull her eyes away from it. When the mist solidified and reshaped the world around her, the yellow Pegasus disappeared and Angel Eye took its place.
    Once again, Angel Eye and Wind Sprint stood together exactly the way they were before. Sky looked up and saw the group of pegasi coming down from the clouds, just like before.
    “Good…race…” Angel Eye panted.
    “Back…’atcha…” Wind Sprint smiled. “You sure can run…for a pegasus.”
    Before they could continue, Sky ran to them. “Angel Eye!”
    Angel Eye and Wind Sprint were startled as if Sky suddenly appeared from nowhere. “Um…yes? Is something wrong?”
    “Princess Gardenia has trapped you in a memory, and I need to get you out of here so that we can save the others!” She charged up Princess Twilight’s spell and stooped down to Angel Eye’s forehead.
    While Angel Eye was overwhelmed with confusion, there was a flash of green in Wind Sprint’s eyes. She stepped between them and glared at Sky. “Get outta here now!” She headbutted Sky in her chest with a surprising amount of force. It was then that the world around them started to undulate and distort, fighting to retain its form.
    “Stop it, Wind Sprint!” she cried. “I need to get her out of here!”
    “She’s not going anywhere!” a familiar voice said from above.
    Suddenly, Featherfrost and her fellow racers landed in front of Sky with a loud thud. Like Wind Sprint, they crouched low to the ground with narrowed eyes. ​Their venomous glares frightened her almost as much as her first encounter with the timberwolves. Six ponies, including Wind Sprint, unified in her elimination versus one unicorn who wasn’t acquainted with fighting or magical combat. The odds didn’t seem favorable, but Sky knew she had to get to Angel Eye. She charged at the ponies, and they charged in response. Knowing that she couldn’t take them on by herself, she readied a ball of light and let it explode when they were within a few feet from her. The ponies were dazed and tumbled to the ground. Sky maneuvered around them as they fell and sprinted to Angel Eye, who was lying on the ground holding her head as if she was having an intense migraine.
    ​“Angel Eye!” Sky said, keeping a worried eye on the ponies behind her.
    ​“No…no…” she whimpered. “My friend…Wind…Wind S-…”
    Sky looked behind her again and saw that the ponies had regained their senses, and they were making their way towards her. She lowered her horn, activated the spell, and Angel Eye's eyes widened as if a great epiphany had come upon her. The projections of her memory cried out in agony as they disappeared along with very ground on which they stood. When Sky finished her spell, she opened her eyes and saw Angel Eye the way she remembered.
    All traces of Angel Eye’s memory lifted, and Sky found herself back in Gardenia’s ethereal void, but Angel Eye was nowhere to be found. She looked around frantically for a moment, but the remaining four lights, shining like beacons in the mist, beckoned her. At this point, she couldn’t waste time worrying about Angel Eye’s well being. Right now, she had to rescue the others. As she ran toward the orange light, she realized that it was coming from Strawberry Shortcake and leapt into her memory, full of determination.
    A world unlike any other she had ever seen came into view. There wasn’t a patch of earth to be found and everything from the buildings to the ground seemed to me made of clouds. When she saw a small crowd of strictly pegasi, she realized that she was standing in a cloud city - Cloudsdale perhaps.
    Suddenly, the door to the weather factory swung open and a little Strawberry Shortcake came running out carrying several sacks on her back. Sky intended to charge at her and activate the spell, but curiosity got the better of her as she watched Strawberry Shortcake run through the cloud city and enter her home.
    She followed Strawberry Shortcake into her house and found her setting her sacks on the kitchen counter. First, she scooped up some cloud and mixed it with a cup of liquid lighting and a dash of rainbow, creating a type of batter. She poured her concoction into a circular pan, and while it was baking she mixed cloud and snowflakes to make a fluffy icing. Once it had baked and cooled, she frosted it and dotted it with hail for a decorative touch.
    Strawberry Shortcake’s face lit up with delight as she beheld her personal masterpiece. At that moment an elderly pegasus walked into the kitchen.
    “Granny!” Strawberry Shortcake zipped over to her. “Isn’t it pretty?”
    “You’ve made yourself one fine cake.e How about you go ahead and cut me a piece?”
    Strawberry Shortcake’s excitement left her face. She lowered her head and looked at the cake timidly.
    “What’s wrong, sugar cube?” she asked.
    “I… don’t eat my cakes,” she mumbled.
    “Really?! Oh, come now, Berry. Then what’s the point of makin’ a cake?”
    She slid her hoof on the ground nervously. When she couldn’t think of an adequate response, she confessed, “What if it tastes bad?”
    “Then you’ll make sure it tastes better the next time,” she replied. “Now come on, gimme a piece. I’m sure it’s delicious!”
    Strawberry Shortcake stalled as long as she could by scuffling around the kitchen and cutting the cake with absurd precision. With trembling hooves, she served a slice to her grandma and held her breath as she took a bite.
    Though a filly wouldn’t notice her grandma’s reaction, Sky saw a brief flash of disgust in her face.
    “So…how is it?”
    Granny Cake swallowed and then said, “Well, why don’t you try some for yourself?”
    She frantically cut a sliver of cake and wolfed it down. With one chew, she ran to the sink and spit it out. “I knew it! It’s terrible!”She wiped her mouth with the kitchen towel, and said, “I’m never baking again!”
    “Berry!” She stood up. “You made a wonderful cake out of what you could get your hooves on. Yes, this one doesn’t taste all that great, but I bet if you had the right ingredients you’d have the finest cake in Cloudsdale!”
    “What do you mean?”
    “Come with me. I’ll show you.”
    Sky followed them to the edge of Cloudsdale. Granny Cake spread her wings and flew down to the ground. Strawberry Shortcake followed after her, but Sky remained on the edge of the city looking down at the ground far below. She felt her pulse quicken at the thought of falling from such a great height, and vivid flashbacks of her bridge fiasco was not helping her nerves at all. But she remembered that she was in a memory, and memories couldn’t be all that different from dreams. After all, being a unicorn, she shouldn’t be able to stand on clouds in the first place. She closed her eyes and reached out her hoof, ready to zip back onto the safety of the cloud if she started to fall. Her first step didn’t betray her so she took another step, and another, and another. She opened her eyes and found herself standing in the air.
    ‘So this is what it’s like to have wings,’ she thought gleefully as she willed herself into a freefall and pursued Strawberry Shortcake down to a patch of berry bushes.
    “Now, you stay here and pick some of these berries for your cake.” Granny Cake said as she started walking away. “I’ll go into town and get you some other supplies. I’ll meet you here in twenty minutes, alright?”
    Granny Cake was going to wait for a sign of confirmation, but after seeing her granddaughter’s reaction to this new world, she smiled and headed on her way. Strawberry Shortcake rolled in the grass, smelled the flora surrounding her, and rummaged through the berry bushes with more happiness than Sky had ever seen on a pony’s face. Sky wanted to watch more of her memory, because the sheer joy and excitement on Berry’s face made Sky feel a happiness that she couldn’t express. But Strawberry was alone now, making this Sky’s best chance.
    “Strawberry Shortcake?” Sky said.
    She looked up from a berry bush, startled by Sky’s sudden appearance. “Oh, hi there. How do you know my name?”
    “Your, uh…granny told me about you. She said you’re picking some berries for a cake. May I help?”
    Her face lit up again. “Yeah! Granny says I’m gonna make my first real cake! I think I’m gonna add some creamy strawberry stuff in the middle, and I think I’ll use some of these blue and red berries on my snowflake frosting! Oh! And I’ll use these squishy ones to make some jam!”
    She adored hearing the way the little pony rambled on and on about the masterpiece of a cake that she would be making – the very cake that would soon define her as a pony. It almost felt criminal for Sky to pull her out of this memory, for it too was filling her own heart with joy. She set aside her feelings and turned away from the berry bushes, reminding herself that everything down to the twinkle in Berry’s eyes was just a shadow of what had been. She charged at Berry with magic sparks already trickling from her horn.
    Berry reacted to Sky and dodged her just in time. She dropped her berries and ran away crying out for her grandma. The instant she turned away from the bushes and dropped her berries, the world started to distort and fade the way it did in Angel Eye’s memory. Sky chased after Berry, wishing the pony would stop shouting for help.
    She levitated Berry off the ground with her magic, pulling her towards her, and all the while Berry helplessly hooved at the air in a futile attempt to flee.
    “Berry, it’s ok! It’s me, Sky!”
    “Granny! Granny! Help me!” she wept.
    Without waiting another second, she lowered her horn to Berry’s head and activated her spell. Like Angel Eye before her, her eyes widened and her body returned to its present day proportions. Though Berry’s memories gave Sky a moment of happiness, it did not compare to what she felt when she saw the smile of release and gratitude on the face of Berry’s true self.
    Moments before she disappeared with her memories, however, another ghostly apparition appeared. Instead of the yellow pegasus, an orange earth pony with blonde hair lingered on her body like a spirit until Sky found herself back in Gardenia’s void.
    Setting aside her confusion regarding these spirit-like entities, Sky ran to the purple light wondering which pony would be next. Pair A. Dice? Woodwind? Or Wind Sprint? Despite the peril of the situation she was in, she couldn’t help feeling a slight thrill of sorts while wondering who she would be meeting. She reached the next pony, and this time she jumped in without even bothering to see whose memory it was.
    Sky appeared in front Ponyville Elementary School. Several fillies were playing on the playground and some were leaving the building, leading Sky to presume that they had just been released. Out of all the ponies that she could see, none of them resembled any of her friends.
    ‘Of all times to be spontaneous…’ Sky scolded herself.
    After observing every pony, she was certain that one of her friends wasn’t among the fillies lingering on the playground. So she turned her gaze toward a grassy area beside the school and saw a lone filly sitting underneath a tree on top of the hill. The second Sky saw her, she knew exactly whose memory she was in: Woodwind, a black and white pony who stood out amongst all ponies.
    Sky approached Woodwind and saw that she was ruffling through sheets of music. Finding a piece she wanted to play, she picked up a blue sweet potato shaped flute and started playing a mellow melody. However, Sky didn’t need Woodwind’s music to tell her that she was sad, for there were tears forming in the corners of her eyes.
    “Hey! ” somepony said just when Sky had considered consoling her.
    Sky turned around and saw a young Pair A. Dice.
    “Whoa!” Pair A. Dice exclaimed and sat down right in front of Woodwind. “What a neat instrument!”
    She gawked at the flute with her nose just inches away from it, resulting in her face being inches away from Woodwind’s face. Woodwind backed up against the tree, obviously discomforted by the intrusion of her personal space, and awkwardly held out the instrument for the pony to take.
    Pair took the instrument and inspected every inch of it. As she held it up and looked into the mouthpiece, she said, “You know, I should use this in a game sometime. Ooh! Maybe I’ll make it control time or something!”
    Woodwind discreetly wiped away the tears from her eyes. She cleared her throat and took back her instrument with her dignity restored. “It’s just an ocarina.”
    “What? Too much? Hmm, I guess that is a bit silly.” She pouted. “But it looks and sounds really cool! It’s so beautiful that it’s even making you cry!” She laughed.
    Her head shot upright, and she cleared her throat again and frantically gathered her music together. “I wasn’t crying,” she snapped. “You’re right. My music is just that amazing.”
    Pair’s ears drooped, and she realized Woodwind’s sadness was greater than she thought. She sat down next to her and said sincerely, “I’m sorry. Why were you crying?”
    “What does it matter to you?” She shut her music binder and stood up to walk away.
    “Because of rule number two,” she proclaimed.
    “Rule number two?” She stopped and looked back at her.
    “Uh huh! Of gaming,” she replied. “’Never leave your buddy hanging.’”
    Curiosity got the better of Woodwind, so she hesitantly sat down next to her. When she got comfortable, she asked, “And what’s the first rule?”
    She smiled. “Utterly destroy your opponent,” she stated plainly. “But I don’t think that would be the best advice for you right now, especially if some other pony made you cry.”
    Woodwind laughed. “I guess you’re right.”
    “Yeah.” She nodded. Suddenly, as if an extreme emotion exploded from within her, she said in a squeal of delight, “Hey! I have an idea! Play this game with me!” Pair reached into her saddle bag and pulled out a game. “It’s called Wings and Wagons!”
    “I dunno…” she said with shifting eyes. “I should go.”
    “Please!” she begged. “It’ll make you feel better. I promise! And I have most of it set up here too! Come on, don’t leave me hanging.”
    Pair chose to disregard Woodwind’s reluctance to play, so she continued to set up the game as if she had already agreed. Woodwind set down her bag and laid on the grass, unable to find it in her heart to disappoint the unusually cheery pony.
    As soon as they started playing, Sky understood why Pair had chosen this game for the disheartened Woodwind. They were pretending to be ponies they weren’t – roleplaying, she believed it was called. Pair was the solemn and wise unicorn sage while Woodwind was the quirky dragon tamer, and as the game went on Woodwind’s gloomy aura gradually dissipated. They came up with some fun scenarios, some silly and serious, and they laughed together all the while.
    “So why were you crying?” Pair asked again when they finished their game.
    Woodwind frowned again. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
    She stuffed her game back into her bag and gave a sympathetic yet urging smile.
    Woodwind sighed and paused a moment to gain her confidence. She took a deep breath, shut her eyes as if she was preparing to take a punch. After a long moment of silence, she held out her white hooves and ran them through her black hair. She quickly turned her head to the side and hid her face, which was starting to turn bright pink.
    “They…laughed when acted like a mime?”
    “I…I...” She gulped. “I don’t have color!” She turned away again.
    “You don’t have color? Sure you do! You’re black and white!”
    Woodwind looked confused by Pair’s reaction. “Well…y-yeah, but it's not like you or any other pony - every pony knows it!
    Pair snickered, "Then those ponies need to retake first grade Art."
    Her face started turning pink again, but it wasn't out of embarrassment this time. Frustrated that Pair wasn't grasping what she was feeling or the weight of the insults she had endured, she said, "How would you like it if somepony said that your hair looks like a fuzzy peach!”
    Pair stared at Woodwind with a wide-eyed expression. Sky thought that Pair was going to cry, run away, get angry, or all the above; instead, she burst out laughing.
    “My hair?” She laughed. “Looks like a fuzzy peach?!” She laughed so hard that she fell back and rolled on the grass clutching her belly.
    “You’re…you’re laughing?” Woodwind’s mouth hung open.
    “I never would have thought of that! A peach? Haha! On my head? Haha! That’s so funny!”
    Woodwind ran her hoof through her mane again and looked to the side, recalling all the times she was teased by colorful ponies. “So…if you had my color, how would you laugh about it?” she asked out of a curiosity that she didn’t want to admit, even to herself.
    “Me?” She stopped rolling and rested her chin on her hooves. She pursed her lips and thought about it. “Well, you were playing that ocarina, and it sounded really, really nice. So I would say I can use myself as a sheet of music.” She giggled.
    She grinned, trying to contain a laugh. “I…I never would have thought of that.”
    A sudden realization came over Woodwind. There was a gleam in her eyes that affected her appearance almost instantly. Her eyes were shifting less, she held her head slightly higher, and she looked happier. Though these changes in her mannerisms were small at this point in her life, Sky could see how they would grow and shape her into the pony she would become.
    “I have to go.” She adjusted the straps on her saddle bag, attempting to conceal her discomfort to this strange feeling of self-confidence. “Thanks for the game, Pair A. Dice.”
    “Call me Pair!” she called out. “Hey! We should play again sometime!”
    As she finished speaking, the world of Woodwind’s memory started falling apart and resetting itself. Before the memory reset itself completely, Sky focused on Woodwind, and sure enough, another pony apparition appeared. She was a white unicorn with curled violet hair. Sky desperately wanted to know why these unknown ponies were appearing around her friends, but she could only watch her disappear with the rest of Woodwind’s memory.
    Sky stood beside the tree where Woodwind was playing her ocarina once again. She looked toward the school and saw Pair walking toward them. In order to avoid an unnecessary conflict, she jumped on woodwind and pinned her hooves to the ground. Like the others, she struggled with all her might, but the instant Sky’s horn touched her head, reality rushed back into her eyes and she disappeared in peace.
    ‘Two more to go,’ she thought as she raced to the sky blue light.
    This time, Sky found herself in a room filled with boxes and unassembled shelving units. Pair A. Dice pushed more boxes from a moving carriage outside the building and into the room. This projection of her was older than all the other ponies, but she was still slightly younger than the Pair that Sky knew.
    Woodwind followed her into the room and gasped. “Oh my!” she exclaimed. “This place is far bigger than I imagined! So Pair, how does it feel to have your very own game shop?”
    “I’m so excited!” she said while unboxing new board games. “I’ve never been so excited!”
    “You have been talking about this for so long. It’s so great to see it finally become a reality.” She started choking up, but she cleared her throat and took a deep breath. “So when is the big day?” she asked.
    Pair looked up from her box. “What day?”
    “The opening, of course!”
    “Oh?” Her face went blank as if it was a thought that never occurred to her. “Today.”
    Woodwind’s eyes widened. “Come again?”
    “It’s today!” she squealed and resumed digging through her boxes, completely oblivious to Woodwind’s shock.
    “B-b-but Pair! You haven’t even built your shelves yet!”
    “Oh don’t worry, there’s plenty of time!” She waved her off.
    Woodwind zipped to the entrance and pointed at the clock tower. “It is past three o’clock, Pair!”
    “Is it?” She pursed her lips. “I knew I shouldn't have trusted that mail pony. But it’s no big deal; we’ll have fun either way! And hey, we can make a game out of setting up the shop! I’m sure that will attract the truest gamers!”
    Woodwind looked as if somepony had just told her that pranksters had filled her house to the brim with fertilizer. When she realized that Pair was incapable of seeing the impractically of her plans, she put on a look of determination and stomped her hoof.
    “Stand back!” she declared, and her horn illuminated with a silver glow.
    Sky watched Woodwind set up shelves, tables, posters, and other gaming items around the store. Pair watched in amazement for a few seconds, but Woodwind ordered her to set up the cash counter. With a wave of her horn, Woodwind opened a large box containing new board games and started shelving them in alphabetical order. Sky was so impressed by her organization and her eye for interior design she wished that she had her help in the museum.
    Every game was organized. Every table, chair, and decoration was aesthetically placed. Woodwind cut off her magic and collapsed onto a circular rug that she placed in the doorway. Although she only used a simple levitation spell, Sky was amazed that this pony was able to work her magic for as long as she did, and with such precision and speed too.
    “We’ll…have to…deal with inventory…later.” She panted.
    “Thanks, Woodwind!” Pair said as she beheld her shop. “This is great!”
    “Just remember to write down everything that you sell! Everything!” she emphasized in hopes of getting it through Pair’s bubbly head.
    After some last minute preparations, Pair A. Dice walked to the entrance and looked back at Woodwind for a final sign of encouragement. Woodwind responded with an excited nod from behind the store counter; and with that, Pair opened the door to her new game shop.
    Ponies started pouring in within minutes. Some bought games, and some just watched Pair as she taught them how to play different games with their friends and family. Everypony beamed with happiness, but none more so than Pair.
    Sky was happy to see that Pair was happy, but this time she found herself fixating on Woodwind, who sitting in the back of the store, watching Pair with an exhausted yet satisfied smile. She didn’t know what it was, but something about Woodwind’s actions made Sky feel as if there was an aspect of the memories she had been overlooking. But she didn’t have time to dwell on it, for she was so close to escaping Gardenia’s magic.
    Because the room was full of ponies, Sky waited until Pair’s memory reset. As she expected, another ghostly pink pony appeared around Pair. Once the mist settled, Pair started pushing boxes into her store again. Tackling Pair to the floor, she tried touching her horn to her forehead. It was harder for Sky to reach Pair’s forehead because she was bigger and stronger than the other memory ponies. Unfortunately, this gave Woodwind time to come and attack Sky from behind.
    “GET AWAY FROM HER!” a green-eyed Woodwind bellowed. She jumped on Sky’s back and attempted to wrestle her off of Pair.
    “Let me go!” Sky wriggled and bucked her hind legs as hard as she could. She felt her hooves hit something, and Woodwind’s body dropped to the floor.
    Pair stopped struggling, and she started weeping on the floor when she saw Woodwind.
    “No…no…” she cried.
    Gathering all the willpower Sky possessed, she kept her eyes away from Woodwind and the damaged she inflicted. Before the guilt could overcome her, she lowered her horn to Pair’s head, and this time, she couldn’t have been happier that her friend’s memory was disappearing. As she was enveloped in the green mist, she closed her eyes and tried forgetting that she had just hurt somepony, for even though it was a mere projection of Woodwind, it still looked like her.
    Sky returned to the ethereal void, and after what happened with Pair and Woodwind, she hoped it would be her last. She raced to the final red light, which she knew contained Wind Sprint. Though all of her friends would be freed soon, Sky didn’t know how she would escape Gardenia’s world. Nevertheless, she ignored the daunting thought and leapt into Wind Sprint’s memory.
    Sky appeared on a race track up in the clouds. The course was surrounded by a ring of cloud bleachers, and a small crowd cheered for a line of fillies who were approaching the starting line. Wind Sprint was an earth pony, so there was no way she could be here unless she had assistance. For the first time since Sky started traveling through these memories, she couldn’t make sense of what was happening. This was supposed to be Wind Sprint’s memory, and yet there was Angel Eye crouching at the starting line. At the crack of the referee’s gun, Angel Eye and the other racers bolted past Sky.
    Until Sky could make sense of things, she decided to sit back and enjoy the race. On the third lap, Angel Eye dived beneath the track and headed towards the ground. The other racers looked down at her in confusion while they continued racing; even the cheering and applause from the crowd faded as they watched her descend to the earth below. Sky, however, responded immediately and jumped off her cloud to pursue Angel Eye.
    As Sky fell, she saw an orange pony running on a dirt track mirroring the Cloudsdale track above it. It was Wind Sprint! She was looking upward at the racing pegasi while she ran. Beads of sweat rolled down her face as she struggled to compete with the unmatchable speed of racing pegasi. When Angel Eye came into Wind Sprint’s view, she avoided looking at her and continued running.
    As Angel Eye hovered above her, she attempted to lift Wind Sprint off the ground.
    Shaking her off violently, she protested, “NO! This is my race!” pushing herself harder in an attempt to outrun Angel Eye.
    “Come on, come race with us.” Angel Eye said, somehow able to have a gentle sounding voice even though she was yelling over the rushing wind.
    “NO!”
    Angel Eye was torn over the lone pony and the race she was supposed to be participating in. She furrowed her eyebrows, and then she lowered herself to the ground like a graceful chariot. She tucked her wings as she landed, broke into a run, and raced alongside Wind Sprint.
    “Then I’ll race with you!” she declared and inched ahead of her.
    Wind Sprint was baffled by Angel Eye’s actions. Although she appeared to be a little insulted initially, she smiled and pushed herself to regain the few inches that were taken from her. They both raced hard, and Angel Eye kept herself grounded the entire time.
    It was then that Sky recognized this memory. She looked up to clouds as if it was a reflex, realizing that the bullies in Angel Eye’s memory were the ponies that she was racing with only moments ago. When the race concluded up in the sky, Angel Eye and Wind Sprint finished their final lap with everything they had.
    “Good…race…” Angel Eye panted as the dust settled around her.
    “Back…’atcha…” Wind Sprint smiled. “You sure can run…for a pegasus.”
    Like before, they complemented each other and talked about racing. But this time Sky noticed something about Wind Sprint’s memory: the expressions on the two pony’s faces were notably different than the ones in Angel Eye’s memory. Rather than the confident, spunky demeanor that Angel Eye remembered about her, Wind Sprint’s face was beaming with appreciation. And Angel Eye, rather than having a timid persona, exuded the presence of that of an angelic, kindhearted pony.
    Memories are unchangeable events from the past – Sky was certain of that much. But after dwelling on all the memories she had seen, she realized that she overlooked something: perspective. In a way, each memory was not created by the actual pony, but rather the pony that they were with at the time. Each pony, whether they realized it or not, gave the other pony her happiest memory.
    From that point on, the rest of the memory played out exactly the way it did in Angel Eye’s memory. Once the two ponies hoof-bumped, confirming their new friendship with one another, the memory would start resetting itself. But before that could happen, Sky ran to Wind Sprint, who was shrouded in the image of a sky blue pegasus with a rainbow colored mane. With her horn already shining with magic, she touched her on the forehead and Wind Sprint’s memory vanished into thin air, bringing Sky back into Gardenia’s void.
    The moment she had been dreading arrived, and she had no idea what to do about it. All five ponies were free from their memories, but how she would get herself out eluded her. Was she supposed to free every single pony in Ponyville? The very idea made her feel like curling up into a ball and crying.
    Just when she was about to lose hope, the five lights from each pony blazed in front of her, causing her to shield her eyes. Once her eyes adjusted, she saw each light form into the image of a pony. She had seen these ponies in each memory, but this time their forms were more defined. They each wore a necklace with a symbol that matched their Cutie Marks: a red apple, a purple diamond, a red lightning bolt, a blue balloon, and a pink butterfly. Although she didn’t recognize any of them, their presence felt familiar, and seeing them warmed her heart.
    Like masters filled with pride for their apprentice, they smiled and gave a low bow. Sky stepped back, but before she could say anything, they parted and let another pony pass by them. The sixth pony, whom she had not seen until now, was a purple unicorn who wore a crown with a six pointed star. Standing in front of Sky, she looked upon her with a proud smile like the other five ponies. She closed her eyes, lifted the crown from her head with magic, and placed it upon Sky’s head.
    When the crown touched Sky’s brow, a ray of green magic shot out of the mist, blasted through the purple unicorn, and struck Sky on the chest. Sky fell to the ground and the purple unicorn disappeared. Princess Gardenia entered her realm with five stone spheres circling her.
    “The time has finally come,” she said.
    A powerful magnetic force erupted from horn and the ghostly apparitions of the five spirit ponies started to dissolve into a magical vapor. As they disappeared, Angel Eye, Strawberry Shortcake, Woodwind, Pair A. Dice, and Wind Sprint emerged from within them and stood in their place. Despite Princess Gardenia’s presence and the threat of her magic, she was happy to see them, and within her a spark of joy ignited, a joy that surpassed the comfort and happiness she felt around the spirit ponies.
    Princess Gardenia drew the gaseous remains of the pony spirits toward her and guided them into their respective spheres. The stones flashed and spirits’ Cutie Marks appeared on them. All the while, Princess Gardenia stared down at Sky stoically.
    “The Elements of Harmony is ours to control! You will never know its power!” Princess Gardenia proclaimed. “In the world you know, you are now simple ponies like the rest of our subjects – the way you were meant to be.”
    “Stop this, Gardenia!” Sky bellowed.
    The other five ponies shouted up at Princess Gardenia in an agreement.
    She sighed. “It is only natural for commoners to resist the powers that be; however, we are not at fault for the consequences you will endure. Did we not give your friends the opportunity to live in eternal bliss? It was you, and only you, Celestial Sky, who deliberately robbed them that. Now enjoy your eternity living with that guilt.”
    “The world you’re creating is a pony tale, Gardenia! A fantasy!” Sky refuted.
    “Nevertheless, the Elements of Harmony belong to us, and its magic will never bind these lands again! And as for you, our disobedient foals, you will be scattered across this realm, doomed wander for the rest of your days in absolute solitude.”
    Sky looked down hopelessly, but she listened to the other ponies protesting Princess Gardenia. They stood by her, challenging the princess without reserve.
    “But I won’t be alone,” Sky said as tears formed in her eyes. “And you have no power over us, Gardenia. You think you can suppress the Elements of Harmony and lock them away in few pieces of stone? Well, you’re wrong! Because the Elements of Harmony exist within all of us!”
    A sudden surge of magic pulsated from within Sky, causing all six of them to rise a few inches off the ground. Sky wasn’t sure what was going on, and for the first time in her life, she was okay with that. The magic felt so natural; it was as if she had known this magic her entire life. So she relinquished herself to its power and allowed it to flow through her.
    She declared:
    “Wind Sprint, who stood by Angel Eye’s side in the face of adversity, represents the spirit of Loyalty!
    “Strawberry Shortcake, who grew in her talent upon the guiding wisdom of her family, represents the element of Honesty!
    “Pair A. Dice, who befriended Woodwind in a time of sorrow and comforted her through a simple game, represents the spirit of Laughter!
    “Woodwind, who gave of herself to see Pair’s dream become a reality, represents the spirit of Generosity!
    “And Angel Eye, who descended from on high to race with Wind Sprint, represents the element of Kindness!”
    As Sky declared the Elements of Harmony, they rose higher and higher until they were level with Princess Gardenia, who was on the verge of trembling. Her stoic expression faltered as the stone spheres circling around her started crumbling into dust.
    “No!” Princess Gardenia shrieked. “The Elements!
    “Was never something you could contain, Gardenia!” she said as necklaces started forming out of the light that radiated from within each pony. “It is a spark, a spark that exists in everypony!” She turned around and faced her friends. “I didn’t realize it when I first met all of you, but you shared the spark that you felt in your memories with me, even though I didn’t want it. And by seeing your memories, I have realized that all of you, from the moment I met you, you treated me like I was your friend.”
    She turned back towards Princess Gardenia. “So thank you, princess. Thank you for showing me that when these elements combine they create Magic!”
    Princess Gardenia looked at Sky and then down at the piles of dust that were her Elements of Harmony. She clenched her teeth in an attempt to stifle her rage. But she couldn’t contain her fury any longer. She reared and screamed at the top of her lungs, and the dark shadows surrounding her body explo