My Little Human: The Beginning

Chapters

Chapter 1 or Is This Really a Good Idea?
Chapter 2 or Jacquelyn "Applejack" Apple
Chapter 3 or Rachelle "Rainbow Dash" Dryden
Chapter 5 or Pinkamena Diane Pie
Chapter 6 or Let the Nightmare Begin
Chapter 7 or A Leader in Times of Trouble
Chapter 9 or An Understanding Heart and a Cheerful Demeanor
Chapter 10 or Focus
Chapter 11 or True Fear
Chapter 12 or The Beginning of the End
Chapter 13 or Climax
Epilogue
Prologue or Just a Taste of What's to Come
Chapter 4 or Miss Rarity and Fleuretta "Shy" Engstelig
Chapter 8 or A Merciful Hand to End All Suffering

Chapter 1 or Is This Really a Good Idea?

The notes of Twilight Sparkle on the life cycle of dragonkin. Original notes taken at 5 years old, translated at age 15, and again at age 20.

-> Day 1

Dragonkin do not age as we do, not in the least. Maybe it's because of how they live. From what little is available here at the Camelot Archives on dragonkin I can speculate on this. Dragonkin mothers do not care for their young for very long, often leaving the newborns within the first year of their life to fend on their own. This seems counterproductive to keeping the species alive, but who am I to question their traditions? But that is besides the point. What's really exciting is that there is a real live dragonkin baby right here in the palace. the Princess says that she found him abandoned on a road but I don't think she's telling the truth because she looked really sad and it's obvious from the books that this happens all the time and most dragonkin live through the experience, but, again, not the point.

He's really small, smaller even than other babies I've seen before, and light, the one time the Princess let me hold him. I almost dropped him and she took him back really fast, but I wouldn't have dropped him, he was just wiggling so much.

He has little claws and fangs and spines in his hair and on his spine. they're soft now but the Princess tells me that when he grows up they will be able to cut stones.

-> Day 21

Did you know that dragonkin live to thousands of years? Weird, huh? He wasn't a baby for very long, and he got really big really fast, I can't even pick him up any more. The Princess said that I could give him a name if I wanted, in addition to what she would call him. I like Spike, because he's so spiky with his claws and pointy teeth. I can't pronounce what the Princess calls him and had to ask her to write it down because I can't spell it.

His name is Eshkhan Vishap.

I asked the Princess what it means and she just said that it was a name that suits him. I guess, but I wouldn't know.

-> Day 65

I think he talked to me today. I think he said "Twi" but I'm not sure. Cadance and the Princess can't keep a hold of him ever since he started walking and grabbing things. I thought babies stayed babies longer. I guess he's just impatient to grow up, so am I sometimes, but at least I can come to the library whenever I want, there are so many books here, though I can't understand that much, but the Princess and mom and dad are really proud that I can a write so much, but they're just being silly, reading is fun.

-> Day 115

Spike bit me today so I'm gonna stop talking to him. His teeth are sharp and it really hurt. He's a big meanie and can stay away from me from now on, I don't like him.

-> Day 268

I wonder if he'll ever stop growing, he's almost as big a me now and won't stop asking questions. I tell him to read the books about his questions but he just cries and says he can't read yet and that I should read for him but I'm busy with my own books and he just cries and cries until I read to him.

I asked the Princess if he'll stop growing so fast because he'll be bigger than me soon and she laughed and said that dragonkin grow logarithmically and when I asked she said that he'll slow down growing really fast and then he'll look the same for a really long time and that he shouldn't get any bigger for a while.

-> Day 567

I love my little brother. He's always helpful at getting books that I can't find and he always remembers where things are. The Princess says that he can play with me and study with me so long as we don't get into trouble. I never get into trouble but the guard outside has had to stop Spike from sneaking out a whole bunch and once, when my older brother came over, Spike bit him. I don't think Spike likes my older brother, but I know they can get along.

-Twilight's notes on the development of Eshkhan "Spike" Vishap from her ages 5 - 7 and Spike age 0 - 2

(Now onto the real story eh?)

The clicking of her shoes against the stone cobbles was my first clue as to her arrival. 'She's running again, I hate it when she runs.'

"SPIKE!" I started to do a little checklist in my head. 'Yelling my name: check.'

'Blatantly ignoring other people and the rules of courtesy and etiquette:'

"Hey, Twi-ah!" A younger student said as she was nearly trampled by my older sister.

'Check. And, last but not least, almost brains herself on the loose cobble outside the library:'

"SPI-ohholycelestia" Her weight crashed into my arms as I reached out to stop her from knocking herself out on the stone steps of the library. 'Check.'

"Twilight."

"Spikethisisreallyimportyouneedtocomewithmerightnow!"

"Twilight." The soft thud of dragonhide boots accompanied the sharp click click clicking of Twilight's hurried pace. "You're not even listening to me, are you?"

"C'mon Spike, we need to get to the library so I can research this further!" Had she not trusted me to follow her, I'm sure that I would have been dragged up the stairs and into the library proper. "Oh, where is it, I know I read something about The Elements of Power here somewhere. Spike! Help me!"

I sighed wearily as she began pulling books from all over the library with her magic, muttering to herself and dropping each unhelpful book straight onto the floor. She was going to be the death of me, I just know it.

While my sister muttered to herself and flailed about the library searching for the correct book I calmly walked over to the card catalouge, found the artifact reference, cross referenced it with magic, and looked under E. The Elements of Power were referenced in several tomes, though the most helpful would probably be A Recent History of the World. Then I calmly got up, walked over to the shelf, grabbed the book, walked back to my sister, took her shoulder, lead her to a reading table, pushed her into the seat, and placed the book in front of her.

She barely noticed. She immediately dived into the book as I went to pick up the mess she had made. I could hear her speaking behind me and I quietly listened as she rattled off information. "The Elements of Power are incredibly powerful magical objects that were once used to bind Nightmare Moon's consciousness to the moon for eternity. It is, however, speculated and whispered of that she will return on the eve of the longest day to take back the throne her sister banished her from, 1000 years after the date of her banishment in 1482 QC. Spike! Do you know what this means?"

"People really shouldn't use the statement 'banished for eternity' right before they say that they don't think it's going to last forever?"

"Take a note, please." She ignored me. I sighed and, with a flourish that most stage magicians would be proud of, summoned my long feather quill and some parchment from the castle store room. Of course, this was unremarked upon by the violet haired woman in front of me, it's not like I just performed a complex and powerful spell with nothing more than a shake and a wave.

"Dear Princess Celestia,

My continuing studies of arcane lore have lead me to believe that we stand upon the precipice of disaster. For you see, it is my belief that Nightmare Moon will not stay on the moon, but will descend upon this world to bring about a night eternal. Something must be done to stop this terrible disaster from coming to pass.

Your faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle"

"Now send it."

Now?" I asked, "But you do know that she'll be busy with the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration, right?"

"I'm certain that the Princess can take time out of her busy schedule to, I don't know, stop the world from being swallowed in eternal night?"

I just looked at her. This was the third possible annihilation of the world in the past year. Don't get me wrong, she was never completely wrong about the danger, it was more of a scale thing. For example, there was a prophesy that a thousand hydra would descend upon Manehattan back in winter, and they did. However, it was in the form of one thousand hydra eggs from an underwater volcano erupting below the hydra nesting grounds out in the ocean. The cleanup was terrible, but no one was badly injured. I'm certain that this would be no different.

"Just send the letter, Spike." I shrugged, no point in arguing. A quick word and my hand was filled with dragon fire as green as my hair and the letter crumbled to ash and flew out the window, off to reconstruct itself wherever the princess may be. This, of course, had lead to some troubles with Twilight's strange sleeping habits and, well, after a few bath incidents and that one time that a letter had dropped onto the wyrmling ambassador's head, Twilight was no longer allowed to send letters after midnight, before dawn, or during the hours that the Princess had set aside for negotiations, court functions, and personal time.

I suddenly felt sick. A hot feeling was building in my stomach and I tried to hold back my gag reflex. Sending letters was easy but receiving them felt an awful lot like puking up a red hot spoon. I burped loudly, expelling a tongue of dragon fire, out of which coalesced the return letter.

"That was fast." Twilight remarked.

"Yeah, sure, gimme a minute, will ya?" I leaned against the wall as Twilight floated the parchment up to my hand. I sighed and opened it.

"My Faithful Student Twilight,

You know that I value your diligence and have complete faith in you. However, you should really get out of the library every once in a while, it's not healthy. To this end, I feel that it would be prudent of me to send you to this year's location for the Summer Sun Celebration to supervise the whole affair. Twilight, you know that I care for you and wish the best for you, but studying is not the only, or even the most important, thing in a young woman's life, which is why I have a more important task for you while you are overseeing the Summer Sun Celebration preparations. Make some friends.

Your Princess and Mentor,

Celestia"

We stood in silence for a moment before Twilight let out a frustrated groan, "Why does she always do this? I tell her that there's a threat to the whole world and she tells me to go to a small town and make some FRIENDS? I shall not stand for this, if she won't listen to a letter I'll tell her myself!"

I simple watched with a small smile as she stormed out of the Library. 'There she goes, my sister/keeper/ward/best friend.' Her dark violet hair streaming out behind her, the two lighter streaks in it cutting it in half along the left side. Light purple arcanist robes flapping at her heels, left shoulder bared to show off her cutie mark, a violet starburst surrounded by five small stars.

I chuckled lightly, "Is this really a good idea?"

Chapter 2 or Jacquelyn "Applejack" Apple

"I can't believe she just blew me off like that!" Twilight griped, "This is serious business and she just tells me to stop worrying and just live a little. Well, we won't be living for very long if Nightmare Moon has anything to say about it."

"C'mon Twilight, I'm sure that she's just looking out for your best interests."

"I assure you, Spike, the fate of the world does not rest on me making friends."

I just shrugged, smiled indulgently at her, and looked about as the carriage settled to the ground with whisper of magic on dirt. Twilight thanked the aviators that had driven the carriage and they preened under the Princesses student's praise before firing up the main magic drive and taking the carriage back to where it came from. "Come now, I'm sure that there will be people just lining up to make your acquaintance."

Here came someone now. A young woman, perhaps 1 or 2 years my senior, was skipping down the road, humming under her breath. I gestured toward her and Twilight let out a sigh. "Um... Hello?" The young woman stopped in her tracks... approximately 2 feet from the ground, and gasped. The stared, wide eyed at the both of us for a second before zipping off at a speed I didn't know land animals could accomplish. Twilight looked at me, incredulous.

"What?" I asked.

"Let's just get this over with."

(I'm going to use italicized banter as an indication of a scene change or time passing, so don't freak out if it has nothing to do with the story at hand. (P.S. I'll never tell you who's talking, see if you can guess.(P.P.S. This one's easy.)))

"I think the checklist is broken"

"Why?"

"There's a distinct lack of swag."

"Just because you're stronger than me doesn't mean I won't punch you for comments like that."

"And that is why I got the swag and you remain swagless."

"Yeehaw!" The shout echoed over the orchards as one miss Jacquelyn Apple charged down one of the rows of trees before leaping up and spin kicking a tree so hard it shook. The apple laden branches dropped their load into sever well placed baskets as well as onto the ground, though miss Apple was quick to pick these up and get all the baskets to a cart left at the top of the row for this purpose.

Twilight approached the young woman and started talking, but I wasn't really listening. The very first thing I though was, Dat a-no Spike, not cool. Your adoptive mother is the leader of a nation and you've been taught etiquette by some of the greatest people in the country, this is not the time for your hormones to get the best of you. Though you really couldn't blame him. The young woman currently practically ripping Twilight's arm off was gorgeous.

Dressed in a leather jacket and skin tight jeans she cut a picture of the working girl. Sun bleached blond hair that was held together by a band near the end fell to her lower back and accentuated her sturdy frame. Standing slightly taller than Twilight and about a half a head above me, she looked like the essence of self contained power. That's not to say she looked boyish or unfeminine, quite the opposite. The curve of her leg and hip suggested that she was more than woman enough for anyone not afraid of a challenge. And that's when I saw the boots. Not leather knee highs as I was expecting, but steel greaves that looked thick as my finger. The ankle and foot were also covered in metal, though through the gaps I could see some sort of device, perhaps a shock absorber?

I quickly looked up to see if she had witnessed my not so quick once over. She had, but at least she didn't look mad about it. Emerald green eyes blinked laughingly out at me above a friendly smile. "And it's a mighty nice meeting you too sugarcube." She extends her hand to me to give it the same treatment that she gave Twilight's. I think I heard my joints creak. "You wanna sample o' what's gonna be at the banquet?"

"Sure," Twilight said, "Just so long as-"

"Soup's on everybody!" The young woman shouted as she rang a bell.

Dear sweet Celestia, it was a stampede. I heard so many names and saw so many faces that my head started spinning. At one point I even think someone started just listing off the seven dwarfs with the last name Apple. I was eventually seated between a young girl by the name of Blume and a large, heavily built man called Macarius, "Though it's jus' Big Mac to mah friends." He cordially told me.

I looked out at all the apple themed treats set out at the large table. I was going to eat way to much.

Chapter 3 or Rachelle "Rainbow Dash" Dryden

"I ate way to much," Whined Twilight.

"I didn't even know you could do some of those things with apples."

"If an apple a day keeps the doctor away, my hospital bills for the next decade are going to drop."

"That or you'll never get you Phd."

"Shut up Spike. Who do we need to see next?"

"A pegasis named Rachelle, though is says she prefers to be called Dash. She's the weather supervisor for the region, supposed to make sure there aren't any clouds for the afternoon."

Twilight looked up at the quite obviously not clear sky, "Wonderful job she's doing, and how do we even find her?"

"I dunno, just ask, I guess." I cast about for someone that looked like they knew what they were doing, but I soon gave up on that and settled for someone I recognized. For instance, the pink ball of ADD bouncing her way down a side street. "Excuse me!" I called.

"Who, me?" She asked, spinning about a few times before she faced us. "Hello!"

"Yes, hi, nice to meet you, yadda yadda yadda, you get the picture." I wasn't going to ask why she was pushing what looked to be a cannon down the side street. "Do you know where we can find one Rachelle Dryden?"

"Rachelle, Rachelle, Rachelle, OH! You mean Dashie! She's up on that hill over there!" Indicating a small rise just outside town, "But she doesn't like being woken uuuuuuuup" She sing-songed at us.

"Yeah, sure, fine, got it, bye!" I was getting out of here ASAP, that girl gave me the creeps and Twilight looked dead on her feet, and it wasn't even noon yet.

The walk up the hill was blessedly uneventful, what came after, not so much. We found her sitting against a garishly painted flightcycle* and snoring loudly. She looked to be a few years older than Twilight and sported a tomboy cut to her rainbow striped hair. She was a bit shorter than Twilight - though still a little taller than me - and had the compact body of a runner. She was wearing the skin tight flight suit that all weather teams wore, hers being a light blue. She didn't have much in the way of assets, but you can't go wrong with skin tight body suits.

Twilight nudged her a few times with her foot and the snores abruptly cut off, "Wha?"

"Miss Dryden, I presume?" Twilight asked.

"Yea, waddaya wan?" Rachelle, or Dash, if you prefer, yawned and stretched slowly before getting up.

"I'm supervising the Summer Sun Celebration this year and I would like to know why there are no less than 18 clouds in the sky?" Her tone made seem less a question and more an accusation. Miss Dryden looked sheepish for a second before smiling winningly at Twilight. That's when I noticed her eye colour, magenta, weird.

"Well, don't you worry about it, I'll have it cleared up right after I'm done my nap." The pegasus lay back against her machine, "Don't worry about it."

"Yeah, not happening." Twilight moved to nudge Dryden with her foot again, "How did you even make supervisor with that kind of attitude?"

"What can I say, I'm good at what I do."

"Bullsh-" I slapped my hand over Twilight's mouth.

"What my sister is trying to say is that we find it hard to believe that you are as good as you claim based upon your current performance."

She almost looked offended, "Are you saying that you think I'm a liar?"

"N-" This time it was Twilight that shut me up.

"Yeah, I bet you can barely fly, let alone take care of clouds. Lazy people like you couldn't get anything done even if they tried."

"Oh yeah, you think that, do ya?"

"You bet your rainbow hide I do."

"I can clear this sky in 10 seconds flat."

"Is that before or after you finish crying about how bad a flier you are?"

"Grr, you watch!" The woman jumped into her flightcycle and activated the mechanisms. The screens lit and she pulled some goggles off her head and over her eyes, "Ten seconds!"

"I doubt it!" Twilight yelled back.

As the flightcycle powered up, I'm not ashamed to admit, I was impressed. The thing was sleek, more than just a brand new model, this one looked custom made. But it was my sister who took my attention while the thing slowly floated up into the air. "Wow, my sister, the emotional cripple, not only antagonizing a woman you just met, but using her anger and pride to manipulate her into doing what you wanted, colour me impressed."

She blushed a little and rubbed the back of her head, "Yeah, guess the stress of the day just got to me is all."

"Nah, it's cool, but hey, sky's clear."

"Yeah, it is, isn't it."

"What did I tell you, ten seconds flat." Was the voice from behind us. We looked back to see one miss Dryden climbing out of her vehicle and looking pleased with herself. "How do you like them apples?"

"Please don't mention apples." Twilight's sounded like she wanted to vomit, "I don't think I want to see another apple for the rest of my life."

Dryden chuckled at that, "Well, I guess that means you've met Applejack then? She's a friend of mine. Hey, maybe we can be friends too?" Dryden grinned at Twilight.

"I'm sorry miss Dryden,"

"Dash, please, I insist."

"Dash then, you see I really need to be going, I have a lot of things to do and I can't waste time with idle conversation."

"Oh." Dash looked a little crestfallen, "See you then."

"Spike, come along." Twilight turned toward town.

"Hey, Twi'?" I had seen something on my list that looked familiar, "You mind if I sit the next one out?"

She looked at me distractedly, "Sure, just don't make trouble." She walked down the hill and towards town hall. I was lost in my own thoughts for a moment before a heard a polite cough beside me. I looked over at... Dash. She looked like a lost puppy. 'Oh for Celestia's sake, don't look at me like that, you'll make me feel bad.' I stared for a moment before silently proffering my fist for bumping. She smiled like the sun and tapped her knuckles lightly against my own.

"Have a nice day miss Dash." I said as I walked away.

Rainbow Dash looked about after her new friend(s?) and wondered what to do. Shrugging, she had lain down against her machine before she thought, "Wait, what was that guy's name?"

Chapter 5 or Pinkamena Diane Pie

We had been told that we were to be staying in a library. Twilight had loved that fact though I immediately pointed out that most libraries weren't equipped with a kitchen or bedroom. Then they told me it was in a tree, a living tree, with green leaves and everything. I nearly did a spittake. If I can recall, my exact words were, "How by Celestia's name did a small town founded by regular humans do that?" Awkwardness had then ensued, apparently using Celestia as a curse word right in front of her makes some people antsy. Long explanation short apparently it was carved by a very talented human who was able to channel the natural human magic of being able to grow nearly anything into a kind of semiconscious magic that kept the tree alive. Of course that just made it worse. I've seen when a spell becomes self aware, it's not pretty, but here we were, approaching a library carved into the biggest tree I had ever seen.

"Insert list of expletives here."

"Mind freeze up?" Twilight asked.

"Hearing about it is one thing, but look at it! It has leaves for Celestia's sake! How does it have leaves? 90% of it is air! Don't trees need their trunks? Isn't that, y'know, important?"

"Spike, there's magic everywhere, is it really that hard to believe that a tree could still be living even if it's hollow?"

"No, not really, but if I saw one I would chalk it up to one of the ancients or maybe Celestia herself just wanting to confuse anyone who came by, but they said a regular guy did this, with a chisel, just a chisel, he didn't even have a hammer."

"Humans do have their own type of magic you know."

"Yeah, but it's never this showy, that's more of a unicorn or pegasus thing."

"Ah, leave off Spike, I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation, but it can wait until after I can find more information on Nightmare Moon." Twilight opened the door and entered the tree. It was pretty dark inside and I was having trouble finding the light switch when I got a tickle in the back of my throat.

"SURPRISE!" The lights flicked on and between 15 and 20 assailants were revealed. Quicker than though my left hand grasped the empty spot at my hip. Damn! But my right hand was already coming up, ready to form a shield or fireball. Fortunately, before I scorched the faces of the locals, I noticed two things. 1: No one was armed and, 2: There were fresh cookies.

Twilight seemed occupied with the young woman with pink hair who we had seen when we first arrived. I think I heard her say her name was Pinkie Pie, but seriously, what kind of name was that? I made a beeline for the cookies but I kept my eye on Twilight, she wasn't used to this kind of attention, though I relaxed a little as she headed over to the drinks table. That was until I saw her fill a fair sized goblet three quarters full of scotch and down it like she was taking a jello shot.

Now, my sister isn't unaccustomed to alcohol, what with the formal and semi-formal occasions she was required to attend as Celestia's personal student and, on more than one occasion I'd spiked her tea after 2 or 3 days of study without sleep, but she downed half a pint of scotch like a pro before announcing to the small group behind her, "I'm going to bed, so keep it down. This IS a library." And, glaring at the pink haired woman, stormed up the short flight of stairs and into what I'm assuming was a bedroom.

I looked over at the small group and counted Jacquelyn, Rachelle, Fleuretta, the pink haired girl, and an incredibly pale woman whom I had yet to meet. 'One, two, three, four, five. Five hotties for Spike. Well, I could give Twilight one or two but I don't think she'd appreciate- wait. No Spike' I could practically hear the Princesses voice in my head, 'You are a scholar and a gentleman and you will not objectify a female's body, down that path leads sadness and ruin.' Yeah, I remember that lecture, I hadn't even dared to check out a chick for a whole week afterword. I'm just glad she never mentioned the mags under my bed, that would have been awkward.

The pink one was bouncing over to me. In fact, I had yet to see her not bounce. "Hi, I'm Pinkie Pie, what's your name?"

"Eshkhan," I replied, "But I prefer Spike, nice to meet you."

"That's great Spike, you look weird, and that's cool, super cool wierd. Ooh spiky." She ran her hands through my hair, though it was more of a series of backward pointing spines like a porcupine's. "And sharp." I think I saw her dart her tongue out to taste the tip of my claw. "And pretty." She was now making an uncomfortable ammount of eye contact as she examine by green, snakelike eyes. "We're going to be the best of friends!" The young woman, or perhaps I should call her a girl, exclaimed as she gave me one of the tightest hugs I'd ever received. When she pulled back she gave me a smile that I would have called adorable if I didn't think she looked insane. 'Did her eye's just... sparkle?'

The rest of the 'crew' made there way over and the pink one scampered off to bother someone else. I knew Dash, Applejack, 'Are nicknames a small town thing?' and "Shy," 'Seriously, if you're going to give someone a nickname, at least don't use an adjective. It should have something to do with there personality, here's one "Silent but deadly" or maybe "Terror of 12 year olds everywhere"' but I was unfamiliar with the very pale woman with violet hair in the light blue dress.

"Did I hear you correctly?" She asked, he tone that of upper class, "You're name is Spike? I'm Rarity, a pleasure." She proffers a hand like a court lady.

'Aw great, how do you even get a high society woman in a rural town?' I put on my gentleman's voice, the one Celestia insists I use when speaking to the court, "The pleasure is all mine, I assure you." I bowed over her hand, nearly letting my lips touch it. 'Lemme guess, you call everyone darling and have dreams of making it in the big city, and you'll lie and cheat and steal and sleep around to get there.' Wow, that was cynical even for me, but you have to understand, I was well acquainted with high society ladies, practically being the Princesses son, and quite frankly, I have become quite disillusioned about them. I'm sure that, ten years ago, this one would have dazzled my balls off, but the effect has a best by date, and mine had passed.

I then smiled out at Dash, Applejack, and Shy, "So, Where's the DJ hiding?" Or I would have said that if I didn't have a bass cannon blow out my eardrums at that very moment. Oh, yes, this was gonna be good.

Chapter 6 or Let the Nightmare Begin

"Ah think Ah'm drunk." I stated, "An tha's hard to do, draco - dragonkin have a big tolerance for alcohol normally." I swayed slightly and almost fell over before Dash caught me and lead me over to a big arm chair.

"I figured that one out as soon as you started talking like Applejack." Dash stated, I think she was a bit tipsy, but I couldn't be sure with her fuzzing in and out of view. The party had wound down around 2AM and now everyone was moving off to steady themselves and take hangover cures before the dawn. You'd think people would show restraint with the Princess coming here, but I'm guessing that in a small town like this they didn't have that many parties.

The only people left in the library were myself, Dash, and one guy who passed out against the door frame of the kitchen. I could have used a cleansing spell but I didn't want to slur the words. Last time that happened I lit everything on fire that was touching me, not pretty. Dash was still here because she hated drunk flyers and had even insisted that I get an inhibitor bracelet from her saddlebags. Think had a pretty complex lock and my guess is that she wouldn't fly until she could get it off.

I stretched luxuriously in the comfy chair and felt my eyes start to close, "Nope." Dash said, crushing me to one side, "You're not going to sleep any time soon."

Y'know, usually I'm glad that I don't get overly nauseous even when I'm fall down drunk, but I kinda wanted to puke on her, just for spite. "Fine, ok, sure, what?"

She just looked at me for a few seconds... And then she freaking passed out on me! Not cool. Well, cool that I had a reasonable hot chick passed out on top of me, but not cool all the same. I should probably call for Twilight. My left arm was cramping. I cant feel the toes on my left foot, and I can't lean forward to see if they're still there. I should... Really... Call... For... Twilight... ZZzz

"So you're saying that you can, from this chamber, place small, unobtrusive thoughts into anyone's head?"

"In theory, yes."

"But of course you don't, do you?"

"Oh, I would never be so callous as to use such a thing to change who people are."

"But you might use it for little things, like, you know, horse puns?"

"Horse puns?"

"Don't play innocent with me, I know you still sometimes find it amusing that you created humanity, unicorns, and pegasi from small equine creatures, you've said it enough times."

"I won't even dignify that with a response."

"SPIKE! WAKE UP!" I really regret not using that cleansing spell, but I can feel my toes now, and my hair. My hair hurt. Ow.

"I'm up, I'm up." I stood and stretched, "What do you want?"

"It's almost sunrise, c'mon, we have to get to town hall." A sight, a stretch, and what do I not feel, why, my armour of course. I looked down at my clothing. Nope, no armour, no sword or dagger belt, no cloak, nada, just by black undershirt and pants, Tartarus, even my socks were missing.

"One second, I'll be right there, don't start without me!" Running about with a hangover is no fun. I should still be drunk, I was pissed not 2 hours ago. Damn dragonkin body, won't even let me enjoy inebriation for long.

"Sure, just hurry up, I want you to be there so I can tell you I told you so when it all goes to Tartarus." She seemed almost happy at the prospect of eternal night and her teacher being dethroned.

I then started the arduous task of finding my armour. It was all a dark violet, made from the hide of what was once a very nasty dragon that had set up territory around Camelot. The Princess herself had to dispatch the beast and, as a present for my 10th birthday, had 4 suits of armour made from the hide, donating the rest of the material to the dark guard. Violet was more their colour than the day guard. I generally used my everyday armour, double thick vambraces with internal plating, soft boots, and a breastplate that covered from neck to thigh. Usually strapped to my left hip was a dark blue scabbard with a fairly plane blade and a dagger at the small of my back. Occasionally, when out on a mission, I'd take a bandolier of poisons and throwing knives, but generally I just had the one pouch of powdered blue nightshade. My large forest green cloak completed the ensemble and I was ready to go. I hope they haven't started without me.

As I ran towards town hall I reflected on how people must view me in this quiet rural town, running about in full battle armour. About the palace it seemed like the correct thing to do, I was the Princesses adopted son and I had trained with the royal guard every night after my other lessons and making sure that Twilight got some sleep. Celestia had even had some dress armour made for me so that I didn't have to wear the stiff tuxedos that the Camelot elite enjoyed.

Is that lightning over the town hall, and screaming people running from it? Did I hear evil cackling? Is that? Yes, that was the body of a royal guard shattering the window and falling lifelessly to the ground. And now town hall was engulfed in a tide of starlit blackness. And now there was more lightning and some sort of humanoid made of shadow exiting the building at high speeds. Well then, I appears as if there is a dark enchantress on the loose, let me just pull up my cowl and stand really still. 'No one look at me, I am but a shrub.'

Unfortunately my great disguise didn't fool Twilight and 'the crew.' She was walking toward me with an 'I told you so' look on her face, I hated that look. She didn't even have the good grace to just be smug, she had to rub my face in it too. "See? I told you, I TOLD you that Nightmare Moon would reappear tonight but no, you were all like," She badly mimics my voice, "'Twilight, nothing ever happens when you read a new prediction, just relax and make some friends.'"

"I never-"

"Well, ha! I was right and now we need to find the Elements of Power before Nightmare Moon brings about an eternal night!"

"What? What do you know about what's happening here?" Dash screamed at Twilight, "Are you a spy?" We both looked at her like she was an idiot, "What?"

"Ok, listen, we need to go to the library, I'll explain on the way."

"So, Applejack kicks the apples out of the trees, what do you do?"

"I use this here hammer."

"You use- I don't even- How is that even... Wow."

"Eeyup"

... and that's why I need to find a book on the Elements of Power." Twilight finished, "But I don't know where one is!"

"Here it is!" The pink one exclaimed.

"How did you find it?

"It was under E."

"Oh, I guess that makes sense." No, it didn't, I knew for a fact that this library wasn't organized alphabetically by title, or alphabetically at all. And there was that tickle in my throat again. Did she use some sort of magic? "It says here that there are 5 known Elements of Power, 2 secondary elements, and one unknown element. The 5 main elements are Leadership, Mercy, Courage, Focus, and Understanding. The secondary elements, which were to be given to the most trusted of commanders are Duty and Control. Together, the five main elements could create and destroy wondrous things; but, when a spark ignites the five, an unknown sixth element is revealed and their power grows exponentially. The last known location of the elements was in the ruined castle at the centre of the Everfree forest."

"The Everfree forest?" The other exclaimed.

"Well, we're doomed." Applejack stated, "It's been nice knowin' y'all, but this'll be mah last goodbye."

"Now now, that seems completely melodramatic, I've heard that the Everfree is dangerous, but it certainly can't be all that bad." Twilight tried to reason.

"But it is!" Rarity exclaimed, "It's filled with ghouls and goblins and nasty little critters."

"The most dangerous beasts live there." Fleuretta (I could never call her "Shy") mumbled, just audibly.

"And not to mention the dragon that lives there, y'know, no big deal or anything." Dash muttered.

"I still don't see what the problem is." Twilight's exasperated sigh made me wince, she would not be making friends with that tone.

"Twilight, you remember, the Everfree is poisoned with the residual magic of the battle of the Princesses a thousand years ago and because of that all the creatures are bigger, meaner, and more magically resistant than your normal creature. Hell, some people think the forest as a whole is a sentient creature, though it's yet to demand civil rights, so we're not sure."

"All excellent reasons to give up hope, however, the real question is this. You wanna die sitting around or trying to survive?"

Applejack sighed, "Don' got much of a choice, do we?"

"Collect your gear and meet back here within the hour." The others nodded and filed out, "Spike, we're gonna need some firepower out there."

"You got it." I strode over to the wall and found the magic box. Most libraries were equipped with the basics for magical spells, free to be used for a small fee if you didn't want to buy your own personal kit. It was pretty basic but I only needed chalk and a few gems. The summoning circle took about a forty minutes to set up properly and by then Applejack and Dash had returned, needing the least amount of time to prepare and it was pretty obvious why.

Applejack had simple added some thick steel vambraces and a heavy leather jacket to her ensemble while Dash just needed to grab her bike and a short sword that was now strapped to one of the saddlebags.

I stepped into the circle and raised my hand over the amethyst in the centre and began to chant. Summoning is pretty hard unless you have a permanent spell set up where you left the object like what I had in the parchment and quill section of the storeroom, had the silver circle commissioned and helped to inlay it into the stone myself. Without something like that giving a clear target it's like putting 3 darts in the triple 20 zone on a dartboard which not only presented a 2D plane to hit, but rather a 3D array through which your dart must fly without hitting any of the nodes before getting to the target.

Needless to say, it took a lot of power and even more concentration, which is why I nearly lashed out with my claws when one "Pinkie Pie" bounced into the room and nearly broke my concentration. A few moments later Fleuretta also entered, followed by Rarity. Their talking almost made me lose the spell several times, but I worked through it and eventually the circle lit up and I poured my fire into it. Once I had the blade in my hands I saw sorely tempted to go on a rampage with it, didn't they know that magic takes a lot of work?

Strapping the blade to my belt, I stepped out of the circle and surveyed what these rural townsfolk thought 'attired for battle' looked like. A quick scan showed what I pretty much expected. No one had brought anything that could be called a conventional weapon beyond Dash's sword. Applejack appeared to be planning to punch and kick her way to victory. Fleuretta had what looked like a kitchen knife, though it was probably covered in some pretty terrible toxin, and had no armour to speak of. The pink one was in some of the most ridiculous clothing I had ever seen, though from how it hung on her shoulders I was sure it was stuffed to be brim with knives and daggers, probably enough to be called light armour. Rarity had seen the biggest change, though. Gauntlets and some strange looking goggles adorned her hands and head. Most likely magic enablers for quick spell casting, and she was actually wearing something reasonable for a fight to the death with an evil goddess of the night, i.e. some thick jeans and a leather jacket, though I noted the bright embroidery on the hems of both garments, but you can't win all of them, and I was having trouble winning just one.

"Ok everyone," Twilight called as she descended the stairs, staff in hand, "Let's get there before the world ends." Not the most motivational speech, but I'll take what I can get.

Chapter 7 or A Leader in Times of Trouble

"Twilight," I whispered, "Why did you ask them to come with us, they could get killed."

She looked over at me, "Firstly, there are 5 Elements of Power that are easily usable, I doubt I can use them all and I really doubt that you can use even one, having been created for our use. in addition, they provide a buffer zone between myself and anything that attacks."

"Cold, sis, that's cold." She shrugged, and we kept moving.

The forest was darker than the canopy would lead you to believe, only thin streams of moonlight filtering through, even on the path we followed. There were several cliffs on the left and right, going up and down. This area's topography didn't make any sense as I could tell. It's like the land had been cut into hundreds of pieces and then had the heights of all the pieces randomized. We eventually came to a steep slope which dropped off into a ravine below. The path disappeared over the edge of a small overhang and we could see that the path continued down the slope.

I mentioned the topography and Applejack nodded as if she had seen the same, "This place is unnatural, it doesn't work like the rest of the world."

"What does that mean?" Twilight asked, practically pulling out a notebook.

"No one knows, because no one," Dash whispered over to use, "No one has ever come out of this forest."

Pinkie shrieked, jumping far higher into the air than she should have and said, "I want to leave, now!"

A tickle, and a crumbling sound, were the only warnings for the overhang cracking and beginning to fall down the slope.

Dash used her flightcycle to keep air born and Fleuretta extender her wings. I had never seen a regular pegasus extend their wings before, only Celestia, and then only a few times. I wish I had time to admire them but I was a bit busy trying to recover my balance in time to stop myself from falling to my death. I got the impression of huge energy sails of translucent yellow mist, but then I caught a root and halted my fall quite painfully.

Twilight's scream caught my attention as Applejack dived for her, catching her just as she fell over the cliff. "Dash!" she screamed, "Pinkie's fine, get down here! Shy, get Rarity before she hurts herself!" A quick glance told me that Rarity was trying her best not to die and not get dirty at the same time. I think my eye and the corner of my mouth twitched at the same time. A quick slide found me helping Applejack back to her feet and looking across the ravine. Looked like the path continued on the other side.

A teleportation spell could do it, but Twilight was the only one that could pull that off. So I flagged down Dash and asked for a lift. She pointed to some footholds in the back of the bike. Applejack, Rarity and I would be able to cross at the same time. Twilight was already asking what was taking so long and Fleuretta flapped noiselessly above us.

"Quick thinking back there." I commented to Applejack, "Where'd you learn to take control like that?"

She smiled at me, "On Th' farm we gots to make sure everybody gets their work done on time, so I keep everybody in line 'n' make sure none o' them gets any funny ideas 'bout nappin' on the job."

"You seem quite good at it."

"Aww, it's a gift, somthin' Big Mac can't do, him being shy an' all."

"I can understand that. If I don't make Twilight socialise on a regular basis she'd never leave the library."

"Really, that bad?"

"That woman knows more about stuff than any person alive or dead, save Celestia... and no Nightmare Moon, I guess."

"Hmm, make you think."

Chapter 9 or An Understanding Heart and a Cheerful Demeanor

The forest was growing darker as we approached the center, creepier too. A silence reined on our small group, that is, it did for about 10 seconds before Pinkie started whistling, quite shrilly. I was starting to get on my nerves when we arrived in a small glade. I stopped them with a raised hand, "This looks suspicious, it's probably a trap."

"Ooh, a trap, I love traps, they're like a surprise party, let's goo~" And with that, Pinkie sprang into the glade. I think they moved before they though, following after her. Left no choice, Twilight and I followed. It wasn't long before I was proven right. As we entered the approximate center of the area a red spore like substance began drifting up out of the grass. A quick smell and I had to lock down by body and mind.

A kind of despairing rage began to fill me and the world began to take on a more hopeless tone. I wanted to lash out, to make those around me feel my pain. The only thing stopping me from pulling my blade was the Princesses training. I began to reign in my emotions and thoughts, trapping them within myself so that my body could go to work scanning the area for threats.

I didn't even register what I was doing until my hand met with Fleuretta's wrist as she tried to plunge a dagger into Dash's side. I could see that they were both crying, Fleuretta in anger and Dash in pain. Dash must have been thrown by her flightcycle, and it looked like a few ribs were broken, and possibly her collar bone, from the way she whined and tried to stay still.

From the corner of my eye I spotted Twilight, hugging and muttering to herself, rocking gently against the ground. I couldn't see Rarity or Pinkie, but I felt a tickle in my throat and a sing song murmuring from behind me. That tickle was really irritating me, either I had to find the source or the Princess should just send her damn message already. Fleuretta was trying to get her wrist out of my hand, but was to enraged to do anything but pull at it. Then the singing grew louder.

It was clearly Pinkie's voice, but it had strange harmonics in it. The song was in a different language, one I had not heard before, but with all magical incantations, the meaning was transmitted in the feeling it spread. It spoke of peace and understanding. A knowledge of our pain and anger, and an understanding and forgiveness that soothed our hearts. Fleuretta went limp and I was able to look around. The first and last thing I noticed was Applejack's foot connecting with my head.

I think i blacked out for a moment because when my head stopped spinning I was cradled against Applejack's chest. It would have been a nice feeling if not for the whole head injury thing. "C'mon now, Ah didn't hit ya that hard. Wake up ya here?" I didn't really want to get up, I knew my head would just hurt worse, so I manipulated her a little. I groaned and pressed myself further into her embrace, trying to buy for some time. She blushed prettily, but my time ran out when Twilight strolled over and picked me up. For someone only slightly taller than myself she was pretty strong, setting me on my feet with only the lightest of grunts.

I wobbled a bit. Hey, even I can't be invincible and that woman has some legs on her, she kindly let me lean on her shoulder as we moved further into the woods. I should wear a helmet around her from now on.

Chapter 10 or Focus

Moments were hours as my head ached with every step. I wish I knew healing magic beyond a hangover and poison cure, some sort of headache reliever would be appreciated right around now.

There appeared to be some trouble finding the correct path. Some confusion on the part of Dash about where the path was. We stopped and Applejack sets me down for a moment while they confer about which way to go. I heard a suggestion to split up, but it was quickly shot down, that would get us all killed. Rarity said something about being able to tell the correct path if you concentrated on where you wanted to go. Perhaps some sort of magic was protecting the castle, but I couldn't smell it. It must be subtle, Twilight didn't even notice.

The others were baffled and I was still in too much pain to try anything so taxing to my head. Eventually, Rarity was leading the way, twisting between trees on a winding route. Dash tried to scout ahead, losing sight of us for a moment. That was a mistake. We heard her yell for use, unsure of where we were.

"We're here!" Applejack shouted, "Just follow mah voice!"

"I can't," Came the shout from our left, "Your voice is everywhere!"

"Damn this spell." Twilight's teeth were gritted, "I can't even get a hold of it, it's like trying to hold onto an oiled fish." I don't think Twilight has ever handled a fish that was uncooked, but hey, sayings are just sayings,

"Dash," Rarity called, never taking her eyes from the path, "I need you to focus, focus only on my voice, hear only me, listen to my voice dash, and follow it."

"I, I can't, it's coming from everywhere, I can't find you." Dash's voice was starting to take on panic.

Rarity held up a hand for us to stop and stay quiet, "Dash?"

"Yes?" Dash's voice was small.

"I need you to sing for me."

"How's that gonna help." Now her voice was incredulous.

"Just trust me will you, sing for me so I can find you."

"O, OK." Dash began to hum a few bars, though I couldn't hear it that well. Then she started the words, something about moving faster than the speed of sound. Rarity moved off toward the voice. Eye's downcast and straining to hear. As Dash entered the second chorus it stopped and we heard a delighted yell and a thump. Dash probably tackled Rarity. Then we heard rarity yell something about dirt and I was sure that's exactly what happened.

"Ok girls," Rarity yelled back to us, "I need you to do the same thing."

Before anyone could more than start a reply Pinkie shouted "Ooh, me, me, me, I want to do it, pick meeee!" Applejack looked over at her.

"Sure thing, give us a good one." And with that, Pinkie began belting out a bawdy tavern tune about a wench and a gentleman and their various adventure. It was one I knew, having sung it at Joe's more than once. My head was still a bit sore, but I raised my voice with hers and Applejack soon followed. I think Fleuretta hummed along but Twilight didn't know the song and stayed silent. After a moment they emerged from the trees, both walking.

"Dash, did you crash your bike again?" Applejack asked.

"Nah, It's up there," Pointing upwards to where the bike appeared to be floating above the treeline.

"We should get moving, I don't want to lose my concentration." Rarity was showing the strain of focusing on the path for so long, it looked painful. We walked for minutes, then a half hour, then a full hour passed with no sign of the palace.

We kept quiet, hoping against hope that Rarity could lead us out of this forest.

"Woah." Dash's voice was filled with awe and we followed her eyes. Thousands of tiny lights floated out of the trees and onto our path. The tiny fairy lights floated about us and heralded the approach of something even more wondrous. Tall creatures with legs a thin a poles and taller than our heads stepped gracefully from the tree's. The body of the beasts seemed to be made of bark and moss, with fairy lights sticking to it's antlered head. Their eyes glowed a light green and they stepped daintily between us.

The creatures evoked a childlike wonder in the group, ooh's and aah's were whispered and Fleuretta went so far as to touch one of the beast's legs, squeaking and pulling back. "It's warm." She said in wonder. It appeared as if they were walking across the path as a great herd. We walked down the path for several minutes and they were still moving between and around us, but now the path's edges were beginning to be covered in gemstones. My mouth began to water at the though of eating them. I think I even saw a fire ruby. We were smart enough to stay away from them though, and the path lead us out of the trees and onto a small grassy area where a rift had bisected the path again. Fortunately this one had a bridge, though it had long since fallen into ruin. This day was not getting any better.

Chapter 11 or True Fear

The problem seemed easy at first, the hardest ones always did. Our first problem was Twilight couldn't teleport to the other side, the second was Fleuretta wasn't a stong enough flyer to carry any passengers across. The third was Dash was staring across the chasm as if the grim reaper himself stood on the other side.

"Dash? Are you OK?" Applejack asked. There was no response, she was completely out fo it.

"And she just happened to possess the qualities that you needed?

"Believe it or not, yes, I didn't tamper with her, mentally of physically, I swear."

"What about the others?"

"I didn't make them the way they are, it wouldn't have worked it I did, I just... helped a few of them realise their potential earlier than would have otherwise have happened."

"So you made-"

"Yes, and I'm not proud of it. Now go back to your studies, this line of questioning wearies me."

(Dash POV)

'How did they get across the ravine without me?' Was my first though as I stared at the others, 'Oh well, less work for me then.' I slipped into the flightcycle, the cool leather with it's magic channeling holes fit comfortably against my back. I extended my wings into the machine but felt no hum of magic as the machine started up.'That's strange.' I extended my wings again, seeing if I could feel out the problem, but nothing was stopping me from starting this thing up.

"Oh, is little Dashie unable to fly?" That was Shy's voice, but why would she say something like that?

"Well if ya can't fly then yer no help at all are ya?" Applejack wouldn't say something like that, would she?

"Just go home Dash, we don't need you here anymore, in fact, don't bother even trying." That was Rarity, and something she would definitely say, that bitch.

"Go home Rachelle, if you can't fly then we don't need you anymore." The new one, Twilight, said that, and it cut to the core.

They didn't need me anymore, my job here was done. They didn't want me in the first place, they were just using me for my flightcycle. It hurt, the knowledge that my friends didn't need me anymore, but I could live with this. They were still my friends, right?

"Go home Dashie, we don't want you around any longer." No, Shy wouldn't say that, we'd been friends forever. "I never even liked you, with your pranks and your laziness and your always needing to be the center of attention. Don't even speak to me anymore." No, stop Shy, I... I don't want to hear anymore. "Go home an rot you selfish bitch."

I wouldn't cry. My hands were shaking but they couldn't see from over there. I wouldn't cry, that would be... uncool, yeah. I slumped to my knees, not caring where my flightcycle was anymore. I wouldn't let them see me cry, wouldn't let them hurt me like this. I didn't need them, or anyone, I was the best flier ever born. I think one tear escaped, but that was ok, they couldn't see from there.

"No one needs you anymore Dash," Shy's voice in my ear, "So why don't you just die already?" And that was the most terrifying thing I could think of, what my life would become, ostracised from society. It would be a living death, trapped by walls of hate. I couldn't go on in a world like that...

...

......

.........

No. I wouldn't die here, nor die from loneliness. I would survive this, and I would push on. They didn't need me anymore, and that hurt me, but I was still alive. I could still live. I could push on. when I realised that I might eventually be ok again, that's when I cried.

"I think you broke my shoulder."

"Nonsense, 'tis but a flesh wound."

"Still not funny."

Dash crumpled to the ground, sobbing lightly and holding herself. The other four crowded around her, speaking softly to her and asking what had happened. She didn't speak, she simply hugged her friends. We gave her a few moment's to collect herself and tell us what had happened. When she finished her story her friends were quick to tell her that they would always need her and even if they didn't they could always still be friends. I don't think she believed them, not entirely, but she ferried us across the chasm and onto the old palace grounds. We were in the home stretch now.

Chapter 12 or The Beginning of the End

The old palace was a ruin. Rubble and broken glass covered what used to be the front grounds of the palace. There was no brick or stone higher than the second floor and most of that was gone as well. The loose rocks and dirt crunched under our boots as we moved towards the still standing doors. They had been partially blown outward in some ancient blast and we were able to enter easily. The Elements were pretty easy to find, what with them just sitting out in the open, encased in stone and resting atop a sculpture that was obviously made to hold them.

I left the girls to lift them off their pedestals while I prowled about, trying to sense or spot any danger which could come from the numerous doors leading from the chamber. Twilight declared that she needed privacy to perform an activation spell and the girls began to file out. I knew that spell, she didn't need privacy to do it, so she sent them away for another reason.

I saw that reason when the orbs began to rise in a whirlwind. Dashing forward I managed to get myself caught in the teleport along with Twilight. We ended up in another room of the castle. Twilight looked ok, but what I saw on the other side of the room made me reassess the situation.

A woman stood at the other end of the room, radiating power and malice. She stood at nearly 7 feet tall and was clad in ancient armour. Chest place, vambraces and grieves all done in dark blue with a black tunic and leggings underneath. Blue black skin was set off with hair like the night sky, twinkling with stars. She carried a rapier in Her right hand and a dagger in Her left.

Did I mention that She radiated power? A lot of power. You could tell She wasn't holding back and I almost dropped to my knees before Her. This was a regality, nobility, and dominance that I was unused to. This was more than the simple Princess of the night. This was a queen of darkness and pain. Truly, She was worthy of the name Nightmare.

Twilight was standing, pressing her shoulder to mine. Magic gathered around her hands and she began walking towards the Goddess. I drew my blade and followed.

The Goddess frowned at us, "Thou must be kidding." We pressed forward, faster now. She sighed disgustedly and began moving toward us. Faster and faster we moved until we were sprinting at each other. 3 seconds to contact. My breathing even out and my grip loosened. 2 seconds. Her blade was angled to run Twilight right through. 1 second. I brought my blade up and back, ready to block and counter. Contact.

Twilight disappeared in a flash of light, Nightmare moving through the area Twilight had previously occupied and straight into my blade. I brought it up in a backslash that would have made Celstia proud, knocking the rapier out of the way before reversing the momentum of my swing down at Her dagger hand. I missed but that set he up to ram my shoulder into Her stomach and throw Her back.

She landed heavily but still on Her feet. I couldn't let Her recover. I launched a barrage of quick but powerful strikes, keeping Her off balance and retreating, right into the ring of Elements as Twilight activated them. I smiled grimly as the stone orbs began glowing and rising. "No!" She bellowed, looking about at the orbs.

'That was easier than I though it was going to be.' The thought had just finished forming when the glow disappeared and the orbs fell to the ground. I stepped back, my eyes wide. We're doomed. She started laughing at us, a horrible laugh that vibrated through the body and instilled fear into the mind. A laugh you'd hear from a murderer doing his business. The Goddess stomped the ground and shattered the Elements, crushing our only hope of winning. Twilight gasped and started to sidle toward me, around the insane Goddess. I readied my blade, I would not die running away.

"Foolish creatures, didst thou truly believe that you could defeat Us by thineselves?" The Goddess screamed, "Thou shalt never see thine Princess, or thine Sun. The Night shall last forever!"

I slowly pushed Twilight behind me and readied my blade. I could probably buy enough time for her to get back to the crew and make their escape. Hopefully I could convince this creature that I'd make a better slave than a corpse, but I couldn't do that if my sister was in the way. Then we heard the sound of the crew approaching.

I didn't even think, "Get them and run!" I shouted and charged the Goddess. Blue black magic formed on Her blade as She swung lazily toward me, She seemed surprised when I blocked and slashed at Her neck. She dodged easily but was off balance.

"Impressive little dragonkin. Tell Us, how didst thou come to own a star metal sword?" She seemed intrigued, and She was talking, that was good, I needed Her to keep talking.

"Your sister made it for me." I smiled at Her anger at those words, "She said that Her son deserved the best."

This shocked Her, "Our sister has had another son? So soon after His death?" She was growing more angry, "That harlot, She shall pay for this. But first, what is your name, little dragonkin?"

"I was named Eshkhan Vishap." This amused Her, and I understood a moment later when She spoke in the Old Tongue. It burned my ears and was made of pure magic.

"Well then, Prince of Dragons, come fourth and meet Thy doom." We readied out blades. I didn't know if Celestia's teachings would help me here, against one who was no doubt 100 times more powerful and knowledgeable than I. I hoped that my sister had made it out alive, but those hopes were dashed when I heard Her voice.

"Did you really think that the Elements of Power could be destroyed so easily?" She asked quietly. "The Elements can never be destroyed, because the spirits of the Elements are right here!" She shouted as the other five stepped up around her.

The shards around the Goddesses feet began to stir and glow slightly. "Applejack who, even in the face of chaos and disorder, was able to the the larger picture and get people to follow her orders represents the Element of... Leadership."

Orange shards surrounded Applejack, slowly orbiting her body.

"Shy, who soothed and killed the corrupted beast, only to weep at its the death, represents the Element of... Mercy."

A group of pinkish glowing stones orbited her body.

"Pinkie Pie, who was able to sooth our rage and despair with a quiet song that touched our soul. She represents the Element of... Understanding." These stones were blue.

"Rarity, who was able to keep her mind on the task at hand even while being presented with distractions and riches, represents the Element of... Focus." White sparkles floated from these.

"And Rainbow Dash, able to press on in the face of fear and despair, represents the Element of... Courage." Red was this stone's colour.

I was shocked that Nightmare had remained silent throughout Twilight's explanation, I certainly hadn't, and my green dragon's fire was condensed and supercharged for the moment when everything fell to pieces.

Nightmare smiled, "You still do not have the sixth element, your spark did not work."

"Wrong," Twilight smiled, "It simply required another kind of spark, the spark of trust, and friendship." She turned to look at her friends and I prepared, but Nightmare didn't move. "I realised it when I heard your voiced. When I knew that I could trust you to come here, when I realised that I wanted you to. Thank you." With that their elements formed.

Chapter 13 or Climax

The elements formed on their bodies, encasing them in a bright multicoloured glow. I expected that they might all be the same, a bracelet or amulet, but I should have expected more personalisation with elements that attached to the most prominent attribute of the person wielding them.

Applejack's was a mage pistol like the unicorn police in Camelot used. A hand held weapon with a short barrel that could condense and shoot magical energy. Fleuretta's was a vambrace with a strange mechanism on the inner arm. When she flicked Her arm though, I understood. A blade extended past her fingertips from her wrist, the ultimate silencer of all pain. Pinkie had a small device attached to her left ear with glass that slid around in front of her left eye. From where I was I could tell that data was streaming across it. Rarity had a pair of thick goggles with tons of tiny mechanisms attached. Lastly, Dash had relieved a pair of archer gloves. The left looked normal but the right had the index and middle finger missing. The back of the left hand was adorned with a golden triangle.

Twilight's eyes glowed white and she held her hands out. In them appeared a staff of gnarled oak, a rough amethyst adorning it's top. "And now we're going to stop you." Twilight raised her staff and gathered power. And then kept on gathering power.

"Fools, the Elements draw on the power within the wielder. However, it takes a great amount of power for them to work correctly, more than is contained in your bodies. That means that the Elements must gather ambient energy from the area, and that could take minutes. Minutes you don't have."

"Spike, hold Her off until we're ready!"

"What?" I screamed at her, "You expect me to hold of a bloody Goddess long enough for you to charge your stupid super powered weapon?"

"Essentially."

"Hadn't the creators ever heard of an internal power source?"

"I wouldn't know." The Nightmare moon was upon me. 'Great, the only thing worse than a Deus ex Machina is one that doesn't work right.' I brought my blade up in time to keep my head but She began to follow up with Her dagger. Fortunately I hadn't been to distracted by Twilight's little speech and I detonated my dragon fire right in Her face. She was blown across the room and landed heavily on the dais that would have probably held thrones or a band.

"Worm!" The Goddess shouted at me. I didn't pay attention as I conjured up another green fireball and launched it at Her. She dodged it easily, but it gave me time to close the gap. I used the dais and a burst of fire to launch myself in the air and come down hard on Her but, rather than meet my attack, She dodged. I was overbalanced when She brought the pommel of Her blade down on the back of my head.

I hit the ground, dazed, and She stood over he, "Our sister's trust in you was misplaced, it seems." She knelt down to me and whispered in my ear, "Is the little dragon prince scared?" A surge of dragon fire under my body propelled my into the air and onto my feet, my blade swinging through the space She used to occupy.

We faced off, my blade held straight in my two hands, Hers making tiny figure eights in the air. I attacked, feinting left and sweeping low but Her rapier still catches my blade and deflects it away. She follows up with a lunge which I deflect the merest inch from my chest.

"Let's stop with the kid stuff, shall we?"

She looks back at me, amused, "Then thou art prepared for something a bit more advanced then?"

"Bring it." I threw a flurry of blows that would have fazed Celestia but did little for this smaller Princess. She dodged and ducked almost as fast as I could think before She launched Her counter attack. It was like nothing I had ever encountered. Celestia or the royal guard would have battered my defenced, physical and mental as they threw barbs and blows, trying to weaken and confuse me, but She was utterly silent. Where Celestia would have rained blows on my defences Nightmare swirled and twisted around them, snaking and bobbing.

She could have killed me more than once in that fist exchange of blows, and we both knew it, but She liked playing with me. No doubt She had been starved for amusement, trapped as part of the moon. That gave me an idea, She had most likely been starved for conversation as well.

When we broke again I put my plan into action, "Why do you want eternal night in the first place?"

"That is none of thine concern, worm." She launched another attack, this one more serious, eventually landing a shallow cut in the hollow of my throat.

"Well, I'd like to know what I'm fighting for, or against, as may be the case."

"Thou speakist to much, art thou not a fighter, little princeling?"

"I'll show you a fighter, Nightmare." I launched a dragon fire fuelled barrage, smashing against Her defences several times before be locked blades. "But even a fighter needs something to fight for and an enemy with which to match blades. We have one, but not the other, so enlighten me."

She bore down on me. She wasn't as strong as Celestia but She still had nearly two feet on me and was a Goddess. I had a few tricks in my bag though and engulfed us both in dragon fire. She just smiled as the heat engulfed us, burning away both our clothing, leaving nothing but our armour behind. Damn, even Celestia leaped back at that. Nightmare just smiled grimly down at me and brought Her dagger hand into play. I was able to get a shield around the hand and dagger but my split concentration was going to get me killed.

"We're almost done Spike, get ready." that probably saved me.

Nightmare's attention diverted for the split second I needed. Celestia said draconic instincts were to be used in the most dire situations, and I thought this counted, so I used it.

"Draconic Instinct: Bloodlust." I growled. I could see Her face turn to shock and, was that fear? Then adrenalin and molten stone filled my blood. I roared in Her face and noticed out position perhaps for the first time. She was bent over me and I was crouched down. My grin split my face ear to ear and my leg lashed out, tripping Her. She hit the ground hard and my blade followed.

She rolled out of the way and the blade got lodged in the stone so I just left it. She was already on Her feet but I roared at Her again, this time releasing my breath. This time She screamed as it burnt Her skin and heated the metal of Her armour. But the Goddess didn't give up. I charged Her, ignoring the blade that cut through metal and dragonhide like it was butter and brought my claws to bear on Her armour, denting it and throwing Her again. Then I released my wings, great violet sails that filled the space behind and above me so that I could loom over the Moon.

I knew what was happening. I could feel my fangs pressing against my bottom lip and my claws extending further from my body. I would cut Her down, but I wouldn't kill Her. Then I would take Her, in every was that could be imagined. A manic grin plastered itself on my face and it grew as She raised Her blade to me. She swung but I caught Her hand. She wasn't as afraid as I wanted Her to be, but that would change soon. At least, that's what I though, then She hit me with a blast of lunar magic and I flew off the dais.

I flipped mid air and landed on my feet in time to take a blade across the face and then another in the shoulder. She was still playing with me, but I wasn't playing anymore. I balled my fist and slammed it across Her face, cutting my palm with my claws in the process but it was satisfying to hear the crack and screech as Her helmet crumpled and Her cheekbone broke. I roared in triumph as I followed up with a barrage of blows, crumpling Her helmet around Her head and slamming Her into the ground. I slammed Her over and over. Her blood began to stain my hands and face as I began to break Her ribs and nose. Her armour took the worst of the blows but She was still in pain.

Then She blasted me with Her true power. My whole body buckled and I screamed in pain as I was thrown across the room. i landed face down on the stone. I could barely move but the fire in my blood wouldn't let this stand. I got to my knees, expecting to see my opponent in tatters. I was disappointed.

She stood facing me, and past me the crew. Her helmet had been removed and Her hair flowed more freely now, covering Her eyes and face as it blew in an ethereal wind. Her eyes blazed a crystal blue and the red of Her blood flowing from Her nose and the corner of Her lip was neon against Her blue black skin. She had only Her rapier now, Her dagger having fallen from Her useless left hand.

"Spike!" My sister called. Hehehe, MY sister. I liked that. Maybe the rest of them could be MY crew when I was done with this one. But only after he blood had slaked my thirst. "Spike! We're ready, just get Her to stand still." Ready, ready for what? What was I doing?

It didn't matter, the dark one was coming. I would killer Her and gorge myself on Her energy and flesh. Goddess must taste delicious. "SPIKE!" Twilight screamed at me, "SPIKE, you need to keep Her still."

The dark one was coming now, and I would destroy Her. "SPIKE!" She sounded desperate now, "Spike, please." It was the please that did it. Twilight never said please, by now it was a given. I wanted to kill this woman so badly, my blood burned for it, but my sister needed me. So I didn't smash the blade out of Nightmare's hand. I didn't rip into Her with claw and tooth, no. I took Her blade low in my belly, punching through my armour and out my back as She hilted it in me. I grabbed onto Her upper arms and squeezed for all my life as I fell back and to the side, facing Her back toward the crew. I saw them, and they were beautiful.

The hovered above the ground, each glowing brightly as they finally reached full power. Applejack's pistol filled with bright orange light. Dash, holding a bow or deep red energy, an arrow aimed at Nightmare's heart. Pinkie, her left hand on Twilight's right shoulder, Rarity the opposite. Fleuretta stood behind them all, slightly cloaked in shadow, her hidden blade rasping as it flew in and out of its sheath, her aura encompassing the others in a glow of deadly compassion.

As their glow grew to a blinding whiteness I looked into the Princesses eyes. Truly looked for the first time, and I witnessed eternity. Her anger, Her despair as Her subjects turned away from Her beautiful night. Her bone weariness after the wars and the horror and torment of a millennium trapped in an astral body. Then I watched as a Goddess died in my arms.

The white of the magic faded to the black of unconsciousness, and I rested my head, not able to find satisfaction even in having won.

Epilogue

I awoke to voices. Slowly I opened my eyes to a bright light. Faces swam slowly into view. There was no pain, so at least that was good, or was it bad? I think it was bad, at least from the staying alive point of view.

'Twilight looks sad.' Was my first coherent thought, 'Why is Twilight sad, did something happen to Cadance? Or maybe it was her older brother? Did her parents forget her birthday again?' I was having trouble thinking, I just wanted to go to sleep.

"Don't..." 'Don't what Twilight? Don't worry? But I do worry, so don't cry, it's ok, you can retake it. I'll help you study, just don't cry.' Other faces swam into view, green and blue and magenta eyes looked worriedly down on me. 'Oh look, it's Fleuretta, she seems sad too. Did I fail a test again, maybe that's why Twilight was crying, maybe I was poisoned again, but don't worry, Fleuretta always carries an antidote.' My thoughts became heavier.

"...save... Princess?" Twilight asked. I heard another voice, 'Mom? What was she doing here?' I couldn't think any more, and I fell deeply into sleep.

"My powers have dwindled over the last 1000 years, but hers have grown stronger."

"I don't care, she can't touch him."

"Then you would let him die?"

[b"]No, but maybe I can..."

"That blade was fashioned of star metal and suffused with dark magic. There is nothing you can do."

"I just don't want him to die."

When I next awoke it was much more abrupt. My eyes snapped open and for a moment I was confused as to where I was. Then my training kicked in and I quickly assessed the room. Bookshelves lined most of the walls with room only for a bed and a desk besides. The bed was large and covered in a thick comforter even in the summer heat. No windows. One violet haired unicorn snoring lightly, head on the desk which had been turned to face the bed, a snub of a candle softly glowing next to her.

I licked my fingers and slowly reached over and put out the flame. The moment it was gone Twilight woke with a start and I heard the brass of the candle holder hit the ground. "Spike!" Though she couldn't see I heard her scramble around the desk and I braced myself as she threw herself upon me, crushing me to her. "I thought I had lost you." Truth be told, I though I had lost me too. "Everyone stayed here last night, even the Princesses." Wait, Princesses, plural? Nightmare Moon wasn't dead? My eyes widened and my blood started pumping as I stood quickly with Twilight in my arms.

This turned out to be a bad idea as I strained my abs and cramped my legs. Twilight essentially had to hold me up and staggered about in the pitch blackness until I heard her breath rush out at she hit a wall, then the click of a handle turning and light spilling in from the main library. The two of us staggered out onto the main floor and were blinded by the sunlight spilling into it from all the windows.

I heard them before I saw them. The crew was here to greet my arrival, alive, into the new day. They were all talking at once and very loudly. I gained my feet and let go of Twilight, though she kept hold of my hand. Perhaps to reassure herself that I was, indeed, alive.

Looking out at the crew, at my new friends, I had to smile. Pinkie was bouncing about and somehow she had gotten confetti. Rarity and Fleuretta were both beaming at me. Applejack gave me a tip of her hat, and Dash was shadow fencing and I think I heard awesome come out of her mouth at least 5 times. They all eventually fell silent and were staring at me like i was about to make a ground breaking speech. I didn't feel like I could talk quite yet so I settled for a thumbs up. This seemed to satisfy them as they all began cheering.

I was getting a bit embarrassed. The, "Good job Spike," And, "Way to go Spike!" Comments were quite flattering but I wasn't really in the right mindset to bask properly in it. My eyes raked the room until they came upon the Princesses. They were seated in two plush chairs set against one wall, facing each other and speaking quietly. I tried to call dragon fire, just in case, but I was running on empty.

When the pair noticed that I was staring they looked back at me. I felt little of their presence and no malice in it, but I would not be deceived. My claws extended and I widened my stance as they approached me. "Good morning Spike, it's nice to see that you are awake." Celestia spoke softly, "We did not know if my sister's treatment would work."

"Your sister's treatment, Princess?" I looked at the one I used to call Nightmare. She had changed since I last saw her, but it was clearly the same person. Her skin was now simply dark blue, like the dark guard's. Her eyes were not clouded with hate. Then I noticed her clothing. A simple royal blue number that covered from neck to ankle. This prompted me to look at my own attire. Green shorts and a violet t-shirt. I should probably be embarrassed about someone having changed me out of my armour but I just couldn't dredge up the energy.

Luna, for that must be who she is now, nodded to me. "Our sister has weakened in Our absence and was unable to clean thine blood of the dark poison. As such, the task fell to Us. We hope you are not displeased." She nodded to me again, deeper this time, almost a bow.

I looked back at the girls as Celstia motioned for them to step forward. They lined up behind me, Twilight coming to my side and preening in the Princesses gaze. "Twilight Sparkle," The Princess spoke to my sister, "I have taught you much about magic, but little of friendship or the world outside your library. In this way I have crated the greatest archanist since Starswirl the Bearded, but it is time that you learn the things which I cannot teach you. Things like living, loving, and learning from those around you. For this reason, I wish for you to stay here, and learn these things which I cannot teach, do you understand."

Twilight looked overjoyed, "Yes Princess." She enthused.

"Now, Spike." I snapped to attention, standing straight and looking her directly in the eye, "You showed great skill last night, with a blade and with your mind. You stood your ground in front of Nightmare Moon and not only did you survive, you emerged victorious." She paused for the refusal that she knew was coming.

"But I lost. Lost the battle and lost control of the beast. I forgot all of your training and advice and simply ran rampant."

"Did you? Did you abandon your sister in her time of need? Did you forsake your duty to protect her? Did you fight beyond all reason in a battle you could not win? No Eshkhan, you stood your ground and you fought like a prince. You emerged victorious because you did control the beast. Because you were strong enough, because you were good enough to know who you truly are underneath those spines and claws." She knelt down, coming face to face with me, "You are a true hero, not one who fights monsters and saves cities, but one who can control the monster within himself, even in the worst of times, even when all seems lost and the darkness closes in, you stood as yourself, not as some beast to be slain." She leaned forward and placed a small kiss upon my brow, "You stood as my son and Twilight's brother. You stood as Eshkhan Vishap, the prince of dragons." She stood and stepped back.

"Which is why we have decided to grant you the greatest of honours." She looked back at the girls. This is when I felt fingers lightly touch my shoulders, neck, and arms. The girls were lightly pressing their fingers into any exposed skin they could find. Twilight stepped in front of me, holding her staff and looking a bit nervous. "You know of the six primary elements. Leadership." My left hand was squeezed, "Mercy," A slight pressing into the back of my neck, "Understanding," A light tickle at my left elbow, "Focus," The tiniest of twitches at my right elbow, "Courage," My right hand was nearly crushed, "And Magic." Twilight smiled at me.

"There are, however, two more Elements. One, Duty, is an element which can be broken up among the guards and allow the wielders of the Elements to draw on the powers of those who feel it is their duty to protect them. Unfortunately these young ladies don't seem to have many personal guards." Celestia smiled at the group, "But there is one other Element. One meant for someone very special to the wielder's hearts, someone very much like you, Eshkhan. This Element was created for a dragonkin who's nature did not make him a beast but rather a hero. The Element of Control. I have suggested that this Element be given to you, Eshkhan, and the girls have agreed." I was dumbstruck at her words, I couldn't even move.

"Twilight, if you will do the honours." Twilight nodded enthusiastically as her teacher and stepped toward me.

"Don't worry Spike, it won't hurt... Too much." Then she gave me an uncharacteristic wink and touched her staff to my forehead. I felt power radiating up and down my arms. Pins and needles spread from where each girl was touching me until my entire body felt like it was vibrating on the atomic level. A blissful light filled my body before fading, leaving behind the feeling of a small band of metal encircling my head.

Celestia smiled and reached out to ruffle my spines, "A nice little circlet for my little dragon prince."

"Go to sleep."

"No."

"C'mon, go to sleep."

"No."

"I'm tired, let's go to sleep"

"I don't want to"

"Oh, c'mon, act your age"

"Says the 10 year old."

"Fine then, see if I wake you up the next time you fall asleep during a test."

"No, wait, I'm coming."

"That's what I thought."

I watched as the royal chariot sped off towards Camelot, the Princesses last words bringing a smile to my face. "Hey, Spike, we're gonna go celebrate not being dead and stuff, come on and join us." Pinkie bounced up to me.

"Certainly, but just one thing." She looked over at me, "I never actually got to hear your real name, it couldn't possibly be Pinkie Pie."

"It isn't," She looked kinda glum, "My full name is Pinkamena Diane Pie." I looked at her sharply and she looked back at me. Then I smiled. She scowled a bit. As my smile grew wider her scowl deepened, the I burst out laughing. She got a bit upset at that, "It wasn't funny the first time and it's not funny now!" She exclaimed, but that just made me laugh harder. This was going to be a fun place to live.

Prologue or Just a Taste of What's to Come

It is unknown exactly what was here before the beginning. Perhaps void? Perhaps some other universe? It is lost in the unknowable reaches of time. What we do know, however, is that when the Princesses were born, much of the world had already been created.

It can be deduced from the small hints that the Princesses have dropped over the years that many of the animals and all of the terrain we know today were here when they were born. It has been remarked by Princess Celestia herself that the mountains remind her of her father. However, when asked about this, the Princess grew sullen and refused to speak more on the matter.

Further deductions and careful questions have led us to believe that, when the Princesses were born, there were none of the sentient races that are present today. No humans, pegasi, unicorns, harpies, dragonkin, or wyrmlings roamed the land, sea, or sky and many animals that now have rudimentary sentience were unaware at the time. Though this leads many to believe that the Princesses themselves are the sole creators or sentient species, they have only taken credit for the creation of humans, pegasi, and unicorns, and refuse to answer questions about other species except a rather cryptic remark from Princess Luna along the lines of, "Sometimes We wondered what they were thinking, teaching us to make such things." This after hearing news that a creature had been found in the Everfree forest that showed signs of intelligence, but would attack any researchers that approached it.

From this evidence it can be believed that... (Further pages are damaged beyond legibility by smoke and water)

...has been proven several times that the Princess does, indeed raise the sun and moon, regardless of the newest "sciences" claiming that the world is round and spins to face either side toward the sun and would do so regardless of the Princesses involvement. This author finds this attitude to be insulting and ignorant towards the feelings of the Princess.

Do they even understand what she does for us? Not only does she raise the sun and the moon, but she negotiates trade and peace with the dragonkin and harpy nations and has had a personal hand in several peacekeeping missions into the desert tribes' lands to stop conflict from erupting along our borders. Truly, she is more deserving of the title Queen than Princess. But I digress. This book is not the forum for such a discussion, and paper is limited, thus we must begin the next topic.

The History of our Great Land

The history of our country is the history or the world itself. Long before the Princesses ruled over us, it was the job of the unicorns to raise the sun and moon...

... have stated that, after the creation of humans, unicorns, and pegasi, their magic was severely depleted and they stayed in an unknown location for many centuries to restore their power. This leads me to believe that the Princesses are slowly losing their power...

...which brings us to the current and previous millennium.

Much has happened in the past thousand years or so, and if I were to write it all down here there wouldn't be room for anything else, which is why I recommend the further reading in Appendix C. The most important thing, at least to this author, is the battle and imprisonment of Nightmare Moon. This, like all things, requires a bit of background knowledge. After the recent (to them at least) challenges with Chaos, Dark Magic, and several wars among the dragonkin and harpy nations, the Princesses were obviously tired, as seen by a decade of long twilight hours as one sister would waken the other to raise the sun or moon. It is this weariness, I believe, which allowed the poisoning of the younger Princess, Luna.

As remarked in a letter from the dragonkin ambassador to the Dragon Lord, "The Sun rises each day as if afraid to see what the light will reveal and The Moon wakens wearied and disparaging for the deeds that would be carried out in the night."

This author believes that the younger Princess gazed upon the waking world with envy, seeing not her sister's toil but only the cheer and play of the creatures basking in Her light. This envy grew and twisted, becoming anger, hatred, and despair. The dawn started to recede and the night began to come earlier each day as The Moon's envy grew. Her sister, tired of the burden she carried, allowed he sister to grow in power for far longer than she should have. Before the fateful day arrived. The Sun did not rise with the wakening of the people. It did not glow upon their skin or warm their faces. The moon stayed in the sky.

This became known as the Month of Darkness. Four weeks of purest night passed. The dark guard refused to stand down and the day guard, bereft of their Princess and her power, were helpless to force them. None entered the palace during that month, and the people began to despair.

Then, The Sun arose. Rested and rejuvenated from her long slumber, The Sun confronted her sister and saw, with clear eyes, the creature she had become. Horrified, The Sun sought to reason with her errant kin, but to no avail. The Moon attacked, he scream of anger and sadness echoing across the lands.

Thousands died that day. The old castle was destroyed in the fighting. The dark and day guards were decimated as they tried to help or calm the combatants. Forests burned and the capital crumbled. The Sun was rested, but The Moon was driven to madness.

Perhaps it was unavoidable. Perhaps one had to be sacrificed that the other could rest. Perhaps, had things gone differently, They would not have been needed... But They were.

The Elements of Power. The most powerful magical artifacts in the entirety of the world, locked beneath the castle since time immemorial. The Sun used them on her sister, broke her defences and crippled her magic. The Sun won that day, but at a cost.

Unable to eradicate her sister, The Sun chose another path, banishment. Nightmare Moon (as she was called at this time) would spend an eternity as a consciousness trapped within the moon's body, to rage until the end of time.

But this author predicts another outcome, another path. Her magic was crippled, not destroyed. Nightmare moon lives, and her power grows by the day. It is this authors prediction that when one thousand years have elapsed from her banishment, Nightmare Moon shall once again descend upon the world, to take the endless night that she so long ago lost.

-From the remains of the text, "Your World and You" by S. S. B.

Chapter 4 or Miss Rarity and Fleuretta "Shy" Engstelig

(Twilight's POV)

At least the decorations were nice, at least those were my thoughts at first. They were OK, I guess, if you liked that sort of thing, but it just seems a little too showy to me. But that was fine, it all looked fine. I'll just check in with the head designer and be on my way. There she must be now.

"Hello, miss Rarity?" I asked uncertainly.

"Yes darling, how may I be of service?" She wasn't really looking at me, she seemed more focused on the different coloured ribbons that floated about her head.

"I'm Twilight Sparkle," I need a name tag, "And I'm here to supervise the Summer Sun Celebration. Your decorations appear to be almost complete."

"Why yes, they are, and everything is going to be fabulous," Let it be known that the word fabulous should only be uttered by gay fashion designers and comedians. No word, so ridiculous, should exist in a dictionary.

"Yeah, great, well, if that's all I guess I should be going then."

"Oh no, no, no, no, no, you simply must stay and tell me exactly what the Princess would want for her Celebration!" Miss Rarity exclaimed.

Ugh, I don't have time for this, I need to get back to my studies and this woman would complicate matters. I guess I could just freeze her for a few seconds and make my escape, but Celestia would say something like, 'Now Twilight, you know you're not supposed to use that sort of magic on innocent civilians.' And she would look disappointed in me and I really cant stand it when she does that.

"Oh darling!" What could she possibly be shouting about now? "You look simply hideous, and that robe is simply awful." I take offence to that, Spike made this for me on my 16th birthday, he put a lot of work into it. "Now you must come with me, I insist." This was going to take far longer than I had anticipated.

"Spike?"

"Yes?"

"Do you know who took a bite out of this here?"

"Umm, Twilight?"

"Twilight? Took a bite out of my crown ruby?"

"Yes?"

(Back to Spike)

Twilight exited the Carousel Boutique several hours later wearing a little slip of a strapless violet dress that went down to her ankles. A slit on the right from ankle to hip allowed for easy movement and showed off an impressive amount of leg. Her hair was lightly curled and cascaded about her bare shoulders. Fortunately, after several falls, Twilight had convinced miss Rarity that she did not, in fact, know how to walk in heels.

"Ok, last is music, organized by one miss... How do you even pronounce that? Nevermind." A short walk would take her to the gazebo where they would be practising.

"How are you able to sleep like that?"

"The weather team works 24/7 and since I'm the only supervisor for the region that means I have to be rested and ready for anything day or night, you get used to taking naps whenever possible."

"Seems kinda like a pain."

"You get used to it."

"Didn't I teach you better than to sneak up on you betters?" Her face was inches from mine, but I had her dagger hand held in my left hand and her throat in my right. Smiling manically I rubbed at her throat with my thumb.

"On the contrary, you said never sneak up on them unless you have a backup plan." Her breathing grew more ragged and her eyes began to dilate as she rolled off me. I released her dagger and reached down to my left hip, grasping at air. 'Damn, no weapons.' Fleuretta touched her throat, smearing the blue paste that I had put there. My grin grew wider, showing off my fangs as my claws extended slightly.

The forest whispered as I charged forward and leaped into a flying spin kick that she easily ducked, even in her drugged state. I knew not to turn around when I hit the ground and instead tucked into a somersault that took me out of range of the flashing dagger.

Standing and spinning I saw my mistake. Fleuretta took the now empty vial from her lips and shattered it against the ground. She had anticipated my anticipation, damn. That was a recursive thought process which could drive even the smartest people insane. "Nice trick." Her soft, sweet voice floated to me on the light breeze, seemingly slower than sound should travel. I had barely heard it before she was right in front of me, restraining my hands above my head and pressing me back into a tree. She darts her head forward but I turn in time. The kiss still burns the skin on my cheek, and I mean that literally. Poison lip gloss, totally unfair in my opinion.

My right leg raised high and I use the tree as a brace as I push her back. I want to wipe the gloss away but that would just spread the burning. She had her dagger out again and I held my claws out in front of me, I'd win this time for sure. I'd learned something since the last time we'd met.

Left hand forward, ring finger at 90 degrees, middle knuckle of middle finger at 45 degrees, grumbling roar. The bright green flame coalesced in my palm as I pointed it at my former poisons instructor, "Give up?" She simply smiled and reversed her grip on the dagger, holding it by the blade, ready to throw.

"Miss Eng-stel-ig?" My sister's voice came from just outside the woods, "Are you in there? I'd like to have a word with you." Fleuretta and I looked at each other for a second before my fire and her dagger disappeared. We began walking, side by side, out of the woods. She didn't even comment on my presence, either dismissing what i was doing here or it made some kind of weird sense to her that I would be with the music organizer in the woods at least a 5 minute walk from the gazebo where the orchestra was practising.

"It's pronounced en-stel-ly, if, if that's ok." Fleuretta whispered. I just raised my eyebrows at my sister's new dress and hair style.

She gave me a dirty look but spoke sweetly to Fleuretta, "Yes, well, will you show me the music for tomorrow please?"

We walked toward the gazebo and on the way I thought to myself that my instructor had changed since I had last seen her nearly 6 years ago. She was taller now, perhaps a hair taller than Twilight, and she had filled out a bit more, though Celestia knows she didn't need it. What was she sporting now, double d's? How does someone with those things on their chest manage to pirouette around a sword thrust? I chuckled under my breath, 'Maybe she uses them as counterweights?' But that voice, the kind of quiet, whispering voice that you wanted to sing you to sleep. Getting sidetracked. I had a little crush on her when I was younger. Of course, that was before I had to spend 3 weeks in the hospital because I thought she had used powdered lily-of-the-valley when in fact she had used concentrated ficus to poison our afternoon tea and I had taken the wrong antidote. Yeah, she was never my favourite teacher.

She still wore her voluminous yellow sweater over soft brown pants. She wore her hair loose now, some swept forward over he left eye, which I though was a big improvement to the severe bun she had kept it in while teaching me. Hiking boots and fingerless brown gloves completed her ensemble.

She cleared her throat and tapped the small black wand she had picked from the music stand, bringing the band to full attention. "Now then everyone, from the top if you please?"

The music was quite good, classical with a slight bit of jazz mixed in for the saxophones. Over all, I think Celestia would appreciate the style, though Twilight clearly didn't. She was always more of a smooth jazz and slow waltz fan. Though I think it has more to do with how you dance to the music than the music itself. Let's just say that Twilight could sway and follow concrete steps... and that was it. I can still remember he 20th birthday, even Celestia's composure cracked when one of Twilight's favourites came on.

Twilight was ready to leave after only a few minutes but I convinced her to stay in the hope that it would help her get her mind off her studies... It didn't work, but at least the band was good. When we had heard the intro, closing, and 2 or 3 of the dance numbers Twilight insisted that it was starting to get dark and that we needed to get to our accommodations. Fleuretta saw us off with a timid smile and a small wave. I couldn't help but smile and wave back before I sighed and looked away. She could have been Celestia's number one assassin and poisoner but, I hesitate to say unfortunately, Fleuretta was one of those genuinely nice people that you meet once in a lifetime, she almost vomited in horror when she found out that she was to teach an eleven year old poisons and it was only because Celestia promised to let her retire from the Royal Camelot Herblore division that she eventually agreed.

I smiled at the old memories, it had been nice to see an old friend, even if just for a day.

Chapter 8 or A Merciful Hand to End All Suffering

"... and then, after Pinkie was safe and Applejack was all like, 'go save Twilight' and then I swooped in and-"

A cat's roar ended Dash's rambling retelling of what happened not five minutes ago. A creature burst from the darkness of the trees to the right and pounced on Rarity. One of her gauntlets stopped the creature from tearing out her throat, but she was still crushed under its weight. Dash charged it and it rose up to swipe at her, allowing Rarity to escape.

The creature appeared as a lion in body, but with a grotesque human head. Large bat like wings rose from its back and a scorpions tail peeked up between its shoulder blades. A manticore, resistant to magic and very deadly. I drew my blade and sidled up to Twilight, "Don't suppose you have a good spell for manticores?"

"I'll think of something, just give me a minute."

"I don't think we have a minute." Applejack dodged a lunge from its tail and brought her leg up and into its ribs. The thing roared in pain but batted her away before swiping at Dash as she dove by, lightning generators whining as they powered up. Twilight and Rarity appeared to be powered up and I drew some fire into my hand. A mad dash at the manticore and a hope that without the distance separating us the magic would overcome the manticore's magical resistance. It swung its tail back, ready to kill us all.

"WAIT!" Was Fleuretta's scream, placing herself down on soft yellow wings between us and the beast. We halted, lest we harm her, and she approached the beast alone. She was going to get herself killed. My fire grew hotter and more transparent, if it did anything I'd hit it with a blast that would go right through it.

She appeared to be whispering to the beast, soothing it. She approached it carefully, slowly, before moving in against its chest and thrusting what could only be a dagger in between its ribs. I died quietly, sinking to the ground. Dash, Rarity, and Pinkie seemed surprised at this action.

"What did you do Shy? Why did you have to kill it?" Pinkie asked, her voice small.

"It's magic was corrupt. It would have lived a long life filled with suffering and madness. There was nothing I could do to ease that pain." She put on a strong face for a second, but then she began to cry. The other four ran over to her, but Twilight kept herself distant, and I stood by her side, watching the trees. Soft, comforting words were spoken, and after a moment we were on the move again, slowly, down the growing ever more obscure path.