"Oh i was never good with drawing.....singing and dancing are more my thing, mainly singing." Passion Sprinkles said to her as she giggled once more, watching as another pony headed up to where the Princesses were, she couldn't wait for her name to be called. She seemed to be shaking with anticipation but she was just bursting at the seam with song, she couldn't hold it in for much longer as she began to sing some. "I am glad we have you, cause now we will not get lost!" she said to her in a very sing songy way.

"Yea....whatever you say. The Princesses can see it how ever they want, it would be better if they just send me home." he grumbled as he grind his teeth once more, his tail flicking as his wings flared out, they soon settled neatly onto his back. "Yea but you don't know what it is like the be the only pony in Las Pegasus that is bad at everything and has no cutey mark." he said to her, sighing, some how this short pony seemed to have calmed him down, he smiled then as he looked down at her, a soft look in his eyes. "Look, thanks.....but the only reason i am here is because everypony in Las Pegasus wanted the only blank flank adult to be gone and to stop screwing things up.....i wouldn't be surprise if they blamed me for what is going on." he said to her as he stretched one of his wings, using it to get the dust off her as he seen his parents do many times with cloud bits.

Princess Celestia Leaned down to whisper to Painted Hawk as she stepped aside. "Thank you for going with. Your talent with birds is sure to be helpful."

Princess Luna gave the earthpony a gentle smile, then turned her attention back to her list. "From Hoofston, Azimuth Cloud the Pegasus!"

---

Az smiled, wings fanning with a touch of pride. No, they wouldn't get lost at all with her. "I plan on mapping the areas we explore, and adding to the maps I have at home," she said, then jumped a little. Her name had just been called! "Oh, gotta go! See you in a bit!" she turned neatly and trotted out of the room, holding her wings and head proudly as she walked up the aisle. "Thank you," she said as she bowed, then moved to stand by Painted Hawk.

Sunset giggled slightly while he brushed away the dust, then shook her head. "Someponies find any reason they can to be mean to those who are different." She looked up at him and smiled kindly, "But that's no reason to refrain from embracing our differences! I may sound naiive, but my talent isn't always smiled upon. A few ponies find it frightening and strange..I don't know what you're going through, exactly, but I can sympathize. Many of my neighbors wanted me out of the area."

"HAVE FUN!!!!" Passion Sprinkles called after her new friend as she waved at her, not minding that she was being loud and interrupting what was going on up on the stage before she started to move in her spot, humming and singing to her self as she danced a little bit. She had been about to say something to the Pegasus but not minding that she had been called to the front.

"Then it seems as if we have found a kinship." Moon Dust said to her as he smiled back, for some reason it was hard for him to stay mad or angry around this mare, sure she was small and odd, and wore weird jewelry but she was still kind and seemed to actually care about others unlike somepony that shall remain nameless, Sword Grace.

She watched as more and more ponies stepped forward with that same arrogant look on her face. It was bad of her, Sword Grace knew, but until they set off on their journey the facade of overwhelming self confidence was going to stay. She didn't like strangers, not at all! They made her so nervous, so on edge ... And there were so many of them here.

Princesses Celestia and Luna nodded to the cartographer pegasus, giving each other a glance no one could quite fathom. Princess Luna looked back at the list, calling out another pony.
"From Las Pegasus, Moondust the Pegasus!"

---

Paint listened as the Princess called names, surprised that it was not too loud on her sensitive ears over here to the side. Like the brunt of the volume went only forward, to the crowd gathered and the waiting room beyond...

---

Az stood with a smile on her face, brown eyes darting over the crowd and occasionally at the ponies next to her. Was the painted pony blind? What was she doing here?!

Sunset was about to speak when Moon Dust's name was called, "Oh, is that you?" Glancing around, she noticed there were few ponies left...and he looked like a 'Moon Dust.' "Please! Show all the ponies why you're here." She smiled, hoping she was encouraging.

"Yea, that is me." he grumbled, giving her a weak smile as he tried to hide himself as he made his way up to the princesses, once up there he glared at Sword Grace before bowing to their rulers. "It would be better if you got some other pony from Las Pegasus." he mumbled to them as he heard the whispers, and the outrage about the blank flank being one of the chosen when he had no talent, had no cutie mark, he was basically worthless in every other ponies eyes.

Princess Celestia slimes gently down at the pegasus, compassion in her eyes. "Perhaps you will find out what your talent is on this journey," she said, gesturing him over to stand with the other ponies. "You never know, it may be something you have never experienced before this."

Princess Luna gave the sad pagasus a smile as well, and spoke at a normal volume to him. "And you might find that you are much more valuable than you are aware of. You are not tied to any one thing at the moment, all there is before you is possibility."

"I suppose you are both right....but what help could i be if one already wants to fight me." Moon dust mumbled to them before he smiled at them, clearly feeling lots better about what they said to him as he bowed once more, moving over to his spot that they motioned towards, not giving Sword Grace any of his attention, trying to keep this wonderful feeling that he got from what he was personally told by the princesses them selves.

Princess Celestia nodded, glad that they had made him feel better. "Thank you for staying with this group, and may you find your talent among the adventures waiting for you."

Princess Luna glanced at Sword Grace, slight curiosity showing before turning back to the crowd. "From Ponyville, Bubble Bop the Kirin!"

There was a moment of utter silence after the call, and then a confused murmur broke over the crowd. What was a Kirin? Was it even a kind of pony? What did Ponyville think it was getting away with, sending some strange creature instead of an honest pony?

Bubs had watched his new companion leave out onto the stage, and even whispered her a little good luck. He watched as the blank-flank from before went out, and he only assumed he might be next. He thought of something nice to say, and when he had it down, he proudly held his head up high and trotted out to stand amongst the princesses.

His oddly shaped horn began to glow, and from it a large bubble. IT took the form of an easter dragon, and when it blew "fire" it just blew more bubbles before popped and raining down ever so gently on the crowd. "We will all work hard on this journey. Thank you, Canterlot, for accepting me here." he bowed to them before trotting to stand beside MoonDust. Leaning his head in, he whispered softly to him. "You know, I think you and I represent that all ponies are just that--Ponies."

The Princesses and crowd watched the bubble dragon, one pony almost fainting at first. Princess Celestia herself even gave a small giggle. The show did quiet the crowd, as did the obvious fact that he was, indeed, a pony. Just one that no one here had really heard of before.

"Thank you for that. A Kirin is just another kind of pony, one that we have very few of around here. In fact, I would say that bubble Bop here is the only one at the moment," Celestia said, quieting any lingering murmurs in the crowd. "They live far to the east of here, and don't often leave their land."

Princess Luna waited until the crowd was quiet before continuing. "From Salt Lick City, Passion Sprinkles the Earthpony and Sunset Shimmer the Unicorn!"

---

Well, that answers the question I had, Paint thought, listening to the gasps and explanation. There had been faint pops, so she could only presume that he had produced some of his namesake. She shifted nervously, Russet trying his best to help her keep calm.

---

A Kirin? Az wondered if that's why his mane and horn were so odd, and his tail so long. It would make sense, he didn't quite look like other unicorns. Wait, why would the Princesses lie about anything? So he was a foreigner, she'd have to talk to him about where he came from!

Moon Dust shifted where he stood at, watching as the ponies started to talk about this Kirin, he didn't see any strange ponies while they were in the waiting room, so you could say that he was just as confuse as the other ponies. "Yea....i suppose my you and Painted Hawk down there will have to stick together." Moon Dust said to him in a normal voice as he let his wings flutter a bit before he settled down, watching the next ponies coming out together.

Passion sprinkles shifted as she waited patiently to be called, it was her and only one other pony, you could imagine her surprise when she found out that it was a unicorn from Salt-Lick City also, she giggled as she waited for Sunset to go out first, once she was sure the other pony had time to get up there and say what she had to say. She burst into the room, smiling very largely as she waved at everypony, making her way to the princesses, unable to stop from dancing. "Thank you everypony, i am sure that my talent will be needed." she sung to them all as she bowed down, twirling once more before she made her to stand in her spot, waving to her new friend on the way.

Sunset started walking ahead of Passion Sprinkles then fell behind her as she pranced out onto stage. Her horn started sparking a mild warning as she walked further, watching her dance and shout out to the crowd-and her eyes went blank. She tried to form words to the princesses and instead fell on her face, her horn sparking the warning that she was about to trip. She grumbled in embarrassment, "stupid self-fulfilling visions.."

Sword Grace watched everyone with stoic silence, though when Bubs showed up a smile flitted across her face. She wanted to get to know him, and wondered what kind of swords the ponies where he used to live used. She flicked her tail back and forth while wondering what might happen next. Getting along with everypony chosen, well she'd already gone off on the wrong track for that with Moon Dust.

When Sunset tripped on her own hooves, Grace immediately thought that she could benefit from some fencing lessons. Maybe that would help her gain more coordination. Maybe she should try and teach them all!

Princess Celestia covered her muzzle with one foreleg as Passion Sprinkles sang out to the crowd. It was so much like another earthpony from a few decades ago... In fact, this group was shaping up a little bit like that one, something that was sure to be a good omen. "Thank you, Passion Sprinkles, for that," she said, gesturing her to stand with the rest of this new group. She quickly turned her attention to the accident-prone unicorn, a look of concern on her face. Her ears pricked forward, catching the bit about visions. Both Princesses looked at each other quickly, surprise barely disguised. Princess Celestia looked back at Sunset Shimmer, leaning down to speak to her without the crowd hearing. "I believe we may have something that could help with those," she whispered before straightening.

Princess Luna waited for her sister to straighten again, and turned to address the crowd taking their attention from the accident. "These are the ponies you have chosen to find the missing Elements of Nature. We give them our blessings, and expect any pony encountering them to help them in any way possible." It was common sense to help these special ponies, to do so would be to help all of Equestria. "We shall be giving them Our help, as well, in the form of everything we know about this."

Sunset's ears perked and she scrambled to her feet, bowing to the princesses. "I would be most grateful for any advice you would have, I am so honored to be here." She smiled slightly and quickly joined the other ponies, trying to blend in. She looked over all of them, smiling shyly at each of them and waving a little bit at Moon Dust. She looked at Sword Grace, relaxing a bit now that she seemed more calm--excited, even!

There was a fanfare of trumpets, and the Princesses started walking down the aisle, Celestia first, and Luna motioning the new group to follow her. They led the ponies out of the Great Hall, the crowd cheering them as the went. The doors closed behind the last pony in line, and a set of guards stepped up to flank the procession through the castle.

"We have to admit, there's not much more we can tell you," Princess Celestia said, opening the door to her study. On either side were alicorn statues. "Please, come in. This should be in private."

Princess Luna trotted into the room, starting to pull scrolls and books off of the shelves lining the room. "There is very little about the time before we came into power, but we found some information that should be of use to you," she said, dropping the royal pronoun and trumpet volume. She set the assorted books and scrolls on the table, rolling open one of the scrolls. It was a very old and faded map, showing much more than just Equestria, but missing some of the landmarks that existed now. There was an entire mountain range missing from the map, in a place that was clearly marked as grassland.

"Thank you your majesties." Passion sprinkles had said to them as she bowed once more, a very large smile on her face before she skipped to her spot, stopping when she saw that Sunset had tripped, she stopped and helped her up, whispering in her ear. "The best thing to do when you embarrass yourself is to laugh it off like it was no big deal."
she whispered into her ear, as she patted her back for a minute before she trotted over to her spot, she didn't have to wait long as they soon moved towards a different area to speak in private with the princesses.

Moon Dust, flew after the princesses instead of walking, after all it was rare to be able to fly around lately unless you were inside, the winds were most un-agreeable all over Equestria. He watched as the others filed in below him, noting that Passion Sprinkles was examining the statues and reading anything and everything on them, he couldn't help but snort as he stayed flapping in one spot. "As long as we have a general idea of what we are suppose to be doing, and which direction we are heading in then we should be fine." he said to them as he flashed them a smile, clearly trying to cheer them up like they had done for him as he hovered over the table, looking at the map, he didn't know much about maps but he knew enough to know when one looked wrong.

Az hovered barely off the ground as the Princesses led the procession out, happy that she could stretch her wings again. There weren't all that many places big enough to fly around in back in Hoofston, and those that were had been over-run by other pesasi. When they invited the ponies into the study, and the map was taken out, she zoomed over, one glance telling her two things. It was a very old map, and the landscape had changed drastically since it was drawn. "It's amazing how much has changed," she murmured, eyes taking in the relic. "So, what do we need to know that other ponies don't?"

---

Paint followed the hoofsteps in front of her, ears flicking every which way as they walked. Russet was crooning descriptions of the way the other ponies moved and behaved, whistling to let her know when everyone stopped. "Oh, but isn't everything happening because the Elements are missing?" she asked, voice still soft, but clear. "We should just have to find them..." she trailed off, the monumental task finally sinking in. "Oh, no. Where do we look?"

Smiling and thanking her quietly, Sunset followed Passion Sprinkles at the end of the herd. She tried to lean up tall and sighed in frustration before climbing a stool to see the map. "Are there really things we must know that no one else should know...?" She frowned, afraid of deceiving the ponies they were to save. "For the sake of the mission and journey...I can understand some details...but will the ponies of Equestria eventually learn what we learn?" She then shied away into herself, realizing she was speaking so informally to the princesses as well as the other ponies.

Princess Celestia smiled at Sunset, walking to a glass case near the desk Luna was behind. "Yes, all the details will be made clear once this is over. What we don't want other ponies knowing at first is exactly where you have to go, and the dangers along the way," she said, lifting a faintly glowing stone out of the case and stringing it onto a chain. The stone was an amethyst, but there were symbols carved into the facets of it. "Here, this should help with your visions, it's enchanted to screen out the unimportant ones."

Princess Luna pointed to the four unmarked areas of the map. "This one we now know as the Everfree Forest, this area we know to have mountains, this one we think is a desert, and this one is the shore of the ocean," she explained. She then looked at Azimuth. "Seeing as we have a cartographer, maps of these areas would be a wonderful addition to what we have here." She turned to address the rest of the ponies again. "Now, we can only presume the four Elements are in these areas, and Earth lives in the forest, Air in the mountains, Fire in the desert, and Water at the ocean." She paused, pulling out another scroll. "This claims that each has a guardian, some monster whose only purpose is defending the Elemental Alicorns from intruders. However, it doesn't explain what these guardians are."

---

Painted Hawk sighed relief, at least they knew where they should be. "So, we just have to find where they live, and maybe talk to them?" she asked, hoping it really would be as simple as that. The mention of guardian monsters, however, made her ears drop. "But if we don't know what they are, how do we get past them?"

---

Azimuth nodded to the Princess about making maps of where they were going, she was already planning on doing that. She looked at the blind pony standing nearby. "Well, we'll have to figure out what is is, then find a way to get past," she said before looking at the group. "I think we can do it, with the range of talents we have here."

Bubs blinked and frowned a little as the other pony just dismissed him. It made him a little sad for a moment, but he didn't let it keep him down and instead he just hummed and shifted from hoof to hoof as he watched the other ladies come on out and give splendid performances, both of them. Following the other ponies, he almost reached his tail out to Painted Hawk to help lead her, but she was getting direction from her bird and he didn't want to bother her.

Coming inside, he looked around and moved with everyone to the map. "Dangerrrrs." he repeated in a spooky tone, ducking low and looking side to side before standing straight and giggling before giving a small sorry for his silliness. "What if it's more tricky than that? Like they are with their opposing elements?" He knew it sounded stupid, but he was still in a weird 'comic relief' mood and was going to take awhile to calm down.

Sword Grace followed everyone silently, and hung upon each word of the princesses like her life might depend on it. Well, that could easily be the case. Surprisingly, Grace let out a whoop of laughter at Bubs antics, and shifted to stand a little closer to the funny pony. "I don't think that's a bad thing to mention. I've heard that people on quests should always expect the unexpected .. And that's unexpected." The pony flicked her blue tail, eying the others without apology for her earlier actions. Sure they needed to all get along, but she just so testy, and nervous about this quest business. And all these ponies were strangers! Grace hated meeting new ponies, though maybe Bubble Bop wasn't so bad. He was funny!