Chapter 10

An unlikely group consisting of an alicorn, a Pegasus, and a changeling arrived in the Everfree Forest right above a safe house. The alicorn stallion had a jet black coat, a purple tornado as a cutie mark, and an endlessly flowing rainbow mane and tail. The Pegasus mare had a black mane, purple tail, and a blood red coat. The last creature to arrive was the unconscious changeling that the alicorn had in his magical grasp.

“Why did you bring the changeling?” the Pegasus asked.

“You know exactly why,” he retorted opening a trapdoor in the forest revealing a stone staircase.

“I meant did you have to bring him now?” she rephrased while trotting down the staircase.

“Yeah well my niece Celestia might have gone a little overboard on him,” he said following her.

“Niece huh?” she asked obviously surprised about his family tree.

“Yeah she never did like being called a Queen. On the other hoof Vectra seemed to like it too much,” he admitted though he wasn’t sure why.

“What about you huh?” she asked mainly out of boredom.

“I was never one for titles,” he stated looking back to check on the changeling.

“I know you better than that, Ken. Mr. Commander of the Wonderbolts and onc-” she stopped herself when she caught his malicious glare.

“You know better than that, Nightmare. I chose the name Kindo and I’m sticking to it,” he retorted obviously angry and annoyed.

“Fine but I still know your real name. How do I know that huh?” she asked in an annoying tone.

“You’re infiltrating her memories. Aren’t you?” he asked knowingly.

“Shut up,” she demanded quietly but her voice echoed as they entered an underground room.

“Let’s just get this over with shall we?” she asked sounding annoyed and impatient.

“For once we agree,” Kindo admitted starting to use time energy to create the seal of time.

The seal of time has a very simple design; it is just a five pointed star with a perfect circle touching every point on the star. As soon as the symbol was burned into the ground Kindo stepped back and sat down confusing Nightmare but she sat down as well. After a few minutes of waiting they heard hoofsteps coming closer as something came down the stairs.

Nightmare realized what he was doing and stood up before taking a few steps back as to not damage the ancient symbol. She shook her head before concentrating and being surrounded in a ball of electric blue light. When the light dissipated the Pegasus mare was now an alicorn and her black mane and purple tail started flowing endlessly.

“I thought you would never catch on,” Kindo commented as Nightmare took a seat again.

“You could have just asked,” she complained before looking at the stairwell to see that their guests had arrived.

“I could have but where is the fun in that?” he asked rhetorically as he also turned to look at the stairwell.

“Took you long enough,” Nightmare complained obviously wanting to be in her real body.

“You could have just asked,” Celestia said as she, Luna, and Cadence entered the secret room.

“At least somepony agrees,” Nightmare complained again.

“Let’s get this started or the time limit will expire,” Kindo said as everypony sat in between the points on the star. They closed their eyes and started funneling their magic into the symbol on the floor witch responded to their magic by lighting up. The symbol lit up starting with the circle and working its way to the center.

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I woke up and tried to move but I was obviously being held by somepony’s magic. I looked around to see that the magical grasp was coming from an alicorn who started to turn his head so I played dead. I closed my eyes and went limp again for about a minute since I’m not sure I want him to know that I’m awake.

We were going down some stairs and the alicorn was talking to somepony but I couldn’t really see who. I listened intently to their conversation for a few minutes until their voices started to echo a little. I looked around to find that we arrived in a room that was almost completely empty. The only thing in the room was an average sized bed in the corner by the stairs and that is apparently where I was headed.

It wasn’t long after I was set on the bed that the alicorn started to create a symbol on the ground. He was using his hoof to shoot what looked like purple lightning at the floor to create it. It didn’t take long for the design to be completed but almost as soon as it was they just sat down. I didn’t want to take any chances so I figured that while they were just sitting there staring at each other I’d just leave.

I got off the bed and made no noise in doing so then turned and started walking up the stairs. The walk up was silent as well and I found myself once again grateful for my new changeling abilities. At the top of the stairs was what looked like a trapdoor but it was left open. I took a look around and found myself in the middle of a dark and spooky forest, the Everfree was my guess.

Something caught my attention, I could sense emotions all around me but more importantly I could hear the Princesses talking amongst themselves. I didn’t want to get caught so I turned around and went back downstairs to the room and lay back down on the bed. It wasn’t long after I got on the bed that I could hear the ponies approaching but what caught my attention more was the Pegasus that stood up.

She stood up and trotted away from the circle before she was encased in a ball of electric blue light. When the light faded it left another alicorn that I had never seen on the show before. She trotted back over and took her seat again before they started arguing and the Princesses arrived. The five alicorns took a seat at the end of each point on the star and funneled their magic into the symbol that started to light up.

After a few seconds the symbol was almost completely lit but I could tell that was all they had in them. I approached the symbol, though I’m not sure why, and took a seat in the center of the circle. Once I sat down I proceeded to give the design my magic as well and it finished lighting up. Being at the center of the symbol I was hit with the same purple lightning that the design was made with.