One day, six mares gathered around a circular room and were slowing eating their pancake breakfast, except the pink one by the name of Pinkie Pie, who ate hers in three bites. "We should go check to see if the map has anything new for us to explore." said the the purple alicorn, Twilight Sparkle. The six mares each sat on their own throne. "Spike! Can you come here for a second?" called Twilight. With dirty hands from washing dishes, Spike, a purple baby dragon, ran as fast as he could toward his thrown next to Twilight. Once he sat down, the crystal thrones glowed and six Cutie Marks floated in the air. Everypony and dragon waited impatiently to see where they would be headed to next. Slowly, the marks floated to the Crystal Empire.

        "The Crystal Empire? Why would they need our help there?" Twilight said confused. "Not sure, but we better find out quick." said the pony who wore a hat, had apples for a Cutie Mark, and clearly worked on a farm. "Get ready everypony for a ROAD TRIP!!!" Pinkie Pie shouted. "Can I go this time?" Spike asked. Twilight thought about it for a while. "Well you saved this empire not once, but twice! Of course you can go!" Twilight replied. "Oh thank you!" Spike cheered. He than gave Twilight a bear hug. "I'll go pack our things." Spike said in an excited tone of voice, and with that, he was gone.

        "Oh I just hope Cadence and Shining Armor are okay" Twilight worried. "Stop panicking, they'll be fine. It'll just be a minor friendship problem, that's all" Rarity, the only unicorn of the group, reassured her. "I hope you're right" Twilight replied. "We better go pack. Don't want to miss the train and all." the rainbow maned pony said trying to change the topic. "Let's meet back here in an hour" Twilight responded. The six ponies waved goodbye, and went to get their belongings. Once an hour passed by, everypony was back at Twilight's new castle. "Um Rarity? Don't you think that's a little too much? We'll only be there for three days max." Rainbow Dash complained. "We don't even normally wear clothes" she added. "What? I need to look extra good when I turn crystal." Rarity defended. Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes at Rarity's silly response. The six mares took their suitcases to the train station, except Rarity who let Twilight's #1 assistant, Spike carry hers. "I'm so nervoussited" Pinkie Pie exploded. "I'm just nervous" Fluttershy, the quietest one of the group, muttered. "Next train goes to the CRYSTAL EMPIRE!!" The conductor of the train shouted. "That's us, come on y'all" Applejack said.

        The train was silent for the first ten minutes, since everypony was nervous, except Pinkie, who was nervoussited. "So... how has everypony been?" Twilight said trying to break the silence. Even though the question was to prevent another wave of awkwardness, Twilight was curious on how her friends were doing. The group of ponies didn't get to have a normal conversation in a while. Everything they talked about had to be focused on saving Equestria, and they haven't got to hang out as much as they would like to. Rarity has to take care of Sweetie Belle and maintain a business, Applejack has to harvest apples and take care of Applebloom and Granny Smith, Rainbow Dash has been busy training with the Wonderbolts and has been away on weather duty, Fluttershy has to keep Discord out of trouble and take care of her animals, Twilight almost always has a royal duty, and Pinkie Pie, well, has to be Pinkie Pie, but they all make sure they can still keep in touch. Unexpectedly Fluttershy was the first one to speak. "Things have been good with the animals". "What about Discord? Do we need to turn him back into stone?" Rainbow Dash asked hoping to get a few laughs. "Well, he's still complaining about not getting a throne" Fluttershy responded. All six of the ponies laughed. After many hours, of laughing, story-telling, and gossiping (and Spike being bored out of his mind), the ponies and dragon finally got to Crystal Empire.

        Pinkie Pie jumped. "Yay we are finally here. I hated being cramped in that train for 8 hours" she squealed. Then she started doing cartwheels and various tricks. "Now, what?" Applejack asked. "I'm not sure" Twilight responded. "I think we should meet Cadence and Shining Armor" Twilight suggested. The six mares trotted to the giant crystal castle, walked up the stairs, and entered the throne room. "Cadence!" Twilight ran to her in awe. "Sunshine, Sunshine, ladybugs awake, clap your hooves and do a little shake!" both Twilight and Cadence recited. "Cadence, my friends and I have been called here by the new map I wrote to you about, and we were wondering if there were any problems that need solving." Twilight explained. "I'm so glad you asked that, because we do have a problem." Cadence said. (To be continued)