"I don't understand it. This just has to be the key!" said Twilight Sparkle.

"It's not changing," said Rainbow Dash.

Twilight nervously paced back and forth beside the Tree of Harmony. Upon a large flower sat a chest with six locks. Five held keys in the shapes of her friends' cutie marks. Twilight tried again to produce her key by telekinetically holding Scorpan's medallion next to the unoccupied lock in various orientations.

Still nothing.

"Um, Discord?" Fluttershy asked her somewhat-repentant Judas of a friend. "Do you have any ideas?" The little pegasus smiled gently up to the draconequus, but her eyes were still puffy and red from recent crying. Rarity and Applejack scowled at Discord. Discord shook his head.

Pinkie Pie pouted. "Awww! But you knew about all of the other keys," she pointed out.

Discord cleared his throat. "Well, yes, I did. But that was back when I had my powers. I don't remember anything about the sixth key. Were I able, I'd certainly help you."

"Maybe. But if you hadn't gone an' done this fool thing, we wouldn't be in this mess in the first place," Applejack spat.

Discord hung his head in shame, idly toying his tailtip with a paw. "I'm sorry," he said, closing his eyes.

Rarity walked over to Twilight and stopped her pacing with a hoof. "Well somepony must have an idea," she declared. "Twilight, why did you think giving up your magic powers would give you your key?"

"Well, each one of your keys appeared when you made a great sacrifice to reconnect with your Element," she said. "You sacrificed your fashion show to show Generosity to our friends, Rarity. Rainbow Dash reduced her chances of qualifying in the Games to show Loyalty to us. Pinkie Pie acquiesced her 'goof-off' challenge to restore Laughter to Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy gave up the comfort of treating the breezies nicely to show them true Kindness. And Applejack risked her reputation to restore her Honesty to Ponyville."

"Okay," said Applejack, "but why should givin' up your powers restore your Element?"

Twilight grimaced. "I thought if I made a sacrifice for my friends, it would work out the same way."

"Twi, you had that meanie on the ropes!" complained Rainbow Dash. "You were kicking his ass! You almost killed him, and then you just... gave up," she added, exasperated.

"I had a good hunch!" Twilight Sparkle defended.

"You risked everything on 'a good hunch'?!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

"I don't mean to pile on, but giving up was perhaps a scosh uncharacteristic of you," added Rarity.

Twilight bit at her lower lip. "Okay, I made a big mistake. But I don't see why this isn't my key."

"Well, let's see. Your element's Magic, right?" asked Applejack. "For each of us, we gave up somethin' different to get our element back for our friends. But you kinda did the opposite by givin' up your element itself. Could you give something up to get back your magic, maybe?"

Pinkie Pie gasped, then grabbed Twilight's hoof. "Here, nopony else can see," she said. They walked behind a tree and whispered. After a minute, both ponies returned.

"This is never going to work, Pinkie," bemoaned Twilight.

"I'm sure it's worth a shot," said Fluttershy. "Pinkie's been right before when it didn't make any sense. Um, no offense, Pinkie Pie."

Twilight Sparkle stood in front of the other ponies and reared up on two hooves. She held a small rock in her left hoof. She passed it to her right hoof, bent toward her barrel to hide it. She set her left hoof on the ground, then revealed her empty right hoof.

"Whoa! Okay, that was pretty cool," Rainbow Dash admitted.

"It was in my other hoof the whole time," she said monotonously, lifting her hoof from the ground to reveal the stone.

At that moment, the stone transformed into a golden key.

"Oh come on!" complained Twilight.

"Well, at least I don't have to write a friendship report," she thought.