Black

"I don't know what possessed me to let you in my car." Rarity tightened her grip on the steering wheel as the weather got worse. The snow was blowing so fiercely that the wipers could hardly keep her view clear.

Trixie, sitting in the second row of seats right behind her, waved a hand dismissively. "I'll keep trying to raise Fuyu," she said, eyes locked on the dressmaker's phone in her hands. "Nothing. If she's got her phone, she isn't answering."

"Keep trying." She glanced around through the windshield at the flying snow and growled. "Only a dusting of snow. I swear, Sweetie Belle is better at predicting weather than the lunatic on the news."

A happy noise drew everyone's attention. "Your parents have Apple Bloom," Trixie advised, reading the text message.

"Good." Rarity nodded and sighed. She then motioned for Pinkie, riding in the front passenger seat, to raise her phone closer. "Fluttershy, are you still with us, darling?"

"Yeah, you still there?" The baker was, by now, just trying to keep the shy woman company. "We're coming! Get under a tree!"

"The snow's knocked off all their leaves! I'm s-so cold..." A faint noise came through over the connection. "Wh-what was that? Did something just fall over?"

"For all we know, Fuyu could be chopping down the forest." Rarity squinted into the writhing white ahead and prayed that she wouldn't blindside anything. "Are you sure you heard her scream?"

"Y-yes. I've never heard her sound so angry!"

"Fufu doesn't even have to be mad to sound mad, I can't imagine what she sounds like when she is mad," Pinkie said, tense with worry. Her eyes drifted back to Trixie. "Anything?"

The magician glared at the phone, settled back against her seat and sighed. "No. I give up."

Rarity's knuckles turned white as they left town and got on the curvy road that went into the woods. "Forget it. Darling, I have to concentrate on driving. Go to the pool entrance and we'll meet you there."

"Okay...please hurry." Fluttershy tucked her phone away and crouch-walked from tree to tree, ears pricked for any more frightening noises. A few moments of moving brought her to within sight of the boulder that covered the cave – except she found it laying in twain, split right down the middle as if cut by a knife. Terrified, she took up a position under a nearby pine tree and huddled against the wind.

Inside the cave, Fuyu paced around the edge of the mirror pool, panting with emotion. The tears she'd cried on her way from Canterlot had frozen solid and were only now beginning to melt and run down her cheeks.

"I'm worse than a monster. I'm a machine," she lamented, loosely clutching the sides of her head. "Only built to destroy. I have no other reason to be." Every time she caught her reflection in the glowing water, it made her growl. "I can't even remember the first time I acted human. I..." It suddenly occurred to her to move to the edge of the pool and stare down. The various bloodstains from her meals dotted the floor around her like a crimson constellation. "Twilight said the clones have a distilled copy of the original's personality, didn't she?" Her arms dropped weakly to her sides. "Maybe I could get a glimpse of something from before." She darted through her thoughts to recall the incantation. "Into her own reflection she stared..."

This is a bad idea.

"Yearning for one who's reflection she shared..."

This is the worst idea.

"And solemnly swore not to be scared..."

There's still time to stop.

"At the prospect of being doubly there."

I am not ready to know.

She backed up as the pool flashed and rippled, sight glued to the vague form that coalesced at its bottom. It floated to the top and grabbed on to the edge, pulling itself up, over, and walking a step away. The two Fuyus gazed at each other for ages before the original addressed her clone. "What is your name?"

Her double sounded like a robot. "I do not know."

Grimacing at the reminder of how she used to speak, Fuyu pressed on. "What do you like?"

Her reply was a carbon copy of the first. "I do not know."

"What do you know?!" Fuyu demanded, hands clenching. The clone didn't shrink back or flinch or move, only stare. "Do something! Say something!" Her clone did neither, looking on with empty blue eyes as the original stormed around and became increasingly agitated. Too much silence finally set her off. She grabbed the clone by the back of her head and dragged her toward the nearest wall. "I will make you speak," she hissed, slamming her head into the stone.

It failed. The clone's skull audibly cracked, but she let out no wail of pain. Red liquid soaked Fuyu's hand on its way down her neck, but the clone didn't cry for mercy. The right side of her face was a mangled, bloody mess, with a destroyed jaw and cheek and teeth sticking through her upper lip, but she didn't offer any complaints. All she did was stare at her assaulter with the eye she had left, as if waiting for a command. Stung viciously by the blankness of that look, Fuyu shrieked with rage and drove her clone's head into the gray granite again. Such force was applied that the clone's skull pancaked until Fuyu smashed her brain flat with the palm of her hand. After letting go, the clone fell in a crumpled heap, bent backwards and partially decapitated.

She felt sick to her stomach. The broken corpse before her was as fragile as any regular human. Its blood was purely red, unmarred by flecks of black. She saw herself without her power, without the gifts of the Princesses, and what met her sight was a worse than anything she could picture. "I'm not a machine. I'm a..." She looked down at her bloody hand and over at the clone. "I'm just an unused tool."

Simply a means...to an end.

"No," she wailed, stumbling around aimlessly. "No, no, no, no..." Just like her clone, she crumpled in a heap to the floor and screamed into the rock. "No! No!" Overcome with frustration, she began to slam her head against it. It only bounced off each time, leaving a few quickly-healing cuts behind.

The pale woman's explosion was so loud and furious that it reached Fluttershy's ears outside and caused her to whimper with fear. Through the snow and tears she could see amorphous blobs approaching from the swamp, shapes which soon turned into Rarity, Pinkie, and Trixie. She waved rapidly to get their attention.

"What in the world?" the dressmaker asked, able to hear the noises and screaming as they all drew closer.

"Holy moley, she sounds mad. And sad." Pinkie began to fidget. If her hair weren't already matted down by the snow, it would have became even flatter.

Trixie crouched down next to the shy woman, offering her stage hat. Fluttershy, bitterly cold, accepted it and put it on without much urging. "Did you talk to her at all?"

"No, she was already down there when I showed up." They listened, awestruck and horrified, as Fuyu continued to shriek. "I-I'm scared."

The magician grinned to herself and broke away from them, trudging through the snow toward the shattered boulder. "All right, then. I'd better go see what she's throwing a fit about."

Rarity was the one to object, throwing her hands up and yelling, "Are you insane?! She sounds fit to be tied! Fit to murder! She might end up killing you!"

All she got was a nonchalant shrug – Trixie didn't even bother to turn around. "So what? Nobody cares if I die. I'll wave you three in if I still have arms."

They all watched the magician trudge through the snow for a few seconds before Pinkie let out an unhappy noise and dashed over. "No! Fuyu needs us! We all have to go!" She bared teeth at the non-committal looks Fluttershy and Rarity wore. "Are you serious?! What are you so afraid of?"

"What do you think?" Rarity shot back, lips pursed. "We've always been fearful of Fuyu." The image of her throwing the scissors in the boutique that day came rushing back. It forced her to stare at the ground. "Some of us more outwardly than others."

Fuyu's screeching penetrated the subsequent silence. They all turned their heads to look at the cave. "I get it. She can be super scary. But I know she would never hurt us. Think about it! She's got all that power and she only uses it to fly around and make coffee!" Grinning at her quip, she turned back to her friends. Neither of them were smiling. "Pleeeeeeeeeease. We finally get to help her for once. Don't be afraid!"

Fluttershy looked between Rarity, who had her arms folded and continued to stare at her boots, and Pinkie, who was begging with her eyes despite not being seen. She moved over to the baker and stood alongside. "Pinkie is right. We said we'd be her friends. This is what friends do, no matter how scary it might be."

"Rarity, come on!" Pinkie called. They collectively winced at a shrill shriek from the cave. "Before she figures out some way to hurt herself!"

At last she relented and strode forward. Her face was marred with something close to shame. "You're right. It's time we fulfilled our end of the bargain."

Trixie lead the way, but her steps got a little less sure as they approached the cave mouth. "Can't say I'm not a bit nervous, though."

The shy woman cut in front of them all and entered the cave. "It's okay to be scared." They winced again at another scream; it bounced off the stone and repeatedly assaulted their ears. "Oh my..." Their focus shifted from worry to finding some way down the ramp in the dim light. All the noises stopped – the screaming, the crying, the rhythmic thud noise that they couldn't identify all ceased. "Fuyu? We're here!" Just as soon as she had enough light, Pinkie dashed ahead.

"Fufu!" She found her on hands and knees, her head hovering over a spider web of cracks in the stone. Something dark traced paths down her forehead as she looked up. "You're bleeding!"

"Finally." Fuyu let the baker help her up as the rest of them came over. Her demeanor was beyond weary. Seeing her in such a state quickly became more unsettling than hearing her banshee cries.

Rarity approached next and bent over. "Darling, what happened?"

Now that she was silent, Fuyu discovered how hard it was to make herself speak again. "I can't explain." Pinkie clamped on so tightly she could no longer slump over. "I'm...nothing."

Fluttershy and Trixie exchanged a worried glance. "You're not nothing," the shy woman assured. "What happened? What did Luna say?"

By now, her mental burden had become so heavy that she was allowing Pinkie to hold her up. "I can't."

"Fufu, you're scaring me even worse than when you were yelling just now!" Very gently, she started guiding her over toward the ramp. "Come on, let's get-" She fell silent as her eyes finally passed by the dead clone against the wall.

"What?" Rarity looked and slapped a hand over her mouth. "Oh no." Fluttershy could only squeak and turn away.

Trixie, despite being blanched and queasy, was the only one brave enough to approach it. "What in the hell? Why does this body look so much like you?"

Pinkie took up explaining as she tore her eyes away from the corpse and got moving again. "Um, this is a magical cloning pool. I used it one time to be everywhere at once! Except it didn't work out so great..."

She scratched her head and blinked. "You know what? I'll leave my amazement about that for later. Let's just get out of here."

Fuyu moved like an old woman, shuffling weakly across the stone. Pinkie and Rarity, being the tallest, got under her shoulders to keep her upright as they scaled the ramp. Progress slowed even further once they were out in the snow. Nobody knew what to say for the longest time, so they cloaked themselves in awkward silence and tried to stay warm.

"What did the Princess tell you?" Fluttershy asked, just as they started negotiating the half-frozen swamp.

The conversation only got heavier each time it was brought up. Fuyu emitted a wobbly sigh and stared straight ahead as they moved; her demeanor was so negative that no one attempted to ask again. They finally got her to the silver SUV and all piled in, the pale woman between Pinkie and Fluttershy in the back.

"Trixie, my phone, please." Rarity set it to speaker and dialed a number just as soon as she got it back. "Twilight? We've found Fuyu but she's...not exactly feeling talkative."

"That isn't even my name," she interjected, squeezing her eyes shut.

"What do you mean it's not your name?" Twilight asked. "Please, what in the world did Luna tell you? Why was she arguing with Celestia?"

"It's...too much." Even that answer was a struggle. To see such blatant suffering on anyone's face would have been uncomfortable, but to see Fuyu crippled by it was much worse. Her eyes were hollow and icy, her demeanor withered. She fell against Pinkie's side and remained there, staring through everything.

Rarity, frowning deeply, decided to give the pale woman a way out of the interrogation. "I don't think she has enough in her right now to talk."

"But..." A couple of seconds went by before Twilight relented. "Okay. I'm going to try and make one of the Princesses tell me. Fuyu, listen, you don't have to fly back if you don't want, we'll-"

Fuyu curled into a loose ball and looked even more unhappy. "I don't want to."

"Wow, you really sound awful. Um...go home, okay? Try and rest. I'm sure someone will stay with you if you want. And don't worry, we'll handle things up here."

She hung up, allowing the cabin to fill with awkward silence again. Pinkie was dousing Fuyu with a shower of one-armed hugs that had no effect. Fluttershy fidgeted, but never took her eyes off her friend. Trixie did the opposite, staring out the window at the forest and feeling deeply out of place.

"So, off to the library?" Rarity started the car, having already assumed the answer.

"No."

Everyone looked over at Fuyu. "No?" Pinkie blinked. "We'll go wherever! Just say the word!"

"You're in charge, darling," Rarity affirmed, looking back over her shoulder.

Those turquoise orbs lit up with something that wasn't quite liveliness as she straightened up. "I want to go to the farmhouse."

"B-but there's nobody there," Fluttershy pointed out. Her face dropped when Fuyu nodded.

"I want to go back to where it all began."

"I certainly do not like the sound of that." Rarity's worry was met by an unrelenting stare. She cracked fast. "All right, but we aren't leaving you by yourself. Not like this."

Their presence was beyond her concern now. "I know."

What should have been a thirty minute drive took over forty five due to the slippery nature of the roads. The snow stopped driving down, reducing itself over time to a gentle cloud of fat, wafting flakes. As they went, conversation bounced around between the four women still able to speak, but Fuyu heard none of it. She was lost in her planning. Only when she saw the smeared-white scar the tornado had left through the orchard did she perk up and seem to be interested again.

Pinkie was the first to sense this and seized on it immediately. "I guess this was where it all started, huh?"

Fuyu seemed to be growing happier. A smile even appeared on her face, but the way it sat there was off. Everyone else was too relieved to notice. "Yes. There's something here I need."

Rarity steered the vehicle to a stop by the farmhouse and blinked. "Hmm? What?"

She didn't get an answer. Pinkie got out to allow Fuyu passage. As she exited, so did the rest. They trailed behind, watching her shamble through the snow and up the steps. An audible grumble slipped out when she discovered the front door was locked. "Hmm." She placed her palm upon the face of the knob and used the black goo to defeat the mechanism. The moment she entered the living room, her eyes drifted to the mantlepiece – and then the shotgun mounted above it.

"What are we looking for?" Trixie asked. They all looked for an item to register as out of place, a thing or things left behind by the pale woman for use in the future. None of them had any idea what it, or them, might look like.

Fluttershy was confused enough to vocalize it. "Did you leave something here?" Only when Fuyu moved toward the fireplace did pieces fall into place. "Um..."

She used her magic to gently lift the shotgun from its mounting and into her waiting hands. "This should work," she murmured, cradling it like a child.

"For what?!" Pinkie exploded, rushing over. "Fufu! No!" Her arms flew around in circles as Fuyu held her back with magic. "Put that down this instant!"

Rarity was no less concerned, although she kept something of a distance. She also moved between the pale woman and Fluttershy. "Fuyu, no, darling, this is not necessary. Put down the gun. Please."

"Talk to us!" Fluttershy begged, hands on her head and knees trembling. "Don't do this!"

Fuyu lacked any outward emotion. She looked just as she always had, half-bored and contemplative. Her eyes met Trixie's. "Well? Aren't you going to say anything?"

The magician folded her arms. "What did the Princesses do to you?" she asked, hoping to prod a conversation.

"They..." Once again, it was too much to think about. She dashed out the front door, Pinkie in hot pursuit as soon as the magic holding her had worn off.

"Great job," Rarity hissed, moving quickly after them. "We don't need your speculation making things worse."

Trixie fell in behind Fluttershy. "It's not speculation. There are a few things I know that you don't."

The dressmaker stumbled with surprise. "Wh-what?" The sight of Pinkie and Fuyu escaping spurred her back up to speed. "We do not have time for this right now!"

Fuyu lead them all deep into the orchard. Pinkie, yelling barely-coherent sentences at the top of her lungs, was not far behind. The rest lost sight of them until Fuyu came to a stop in the middle of the bare scar left by the tornado, on top of a hill. She was looking out toward the highway.

"Applejack told me to get this if I needed it. It better be loaded." Pinkie lunged at her, grabbing both her wrists. "Let me go."

Tears flowed from her blue eyes. Her hair couldn't have been any flatter if she'd just gotten out of the shower. "No! This isn't the answer! I know! Trust me!" Fuyu dislodged her grip and knocked her back, causing her to fall on her rear. "Fufu! No!"

Everyone else arrived just as she put the muzzle to her throat. Rarity and Trixie both used their power to try and take the gun, but the pale woman's black magic was too strong. She knocked them down as well, glaring Fluttershy still as she tried to walk closer. She slipped a finger onto the trigger and squeezed. In an instant her head was vaporized, becoming a hailstorm of black and red and pinkish-gray bits that flew up and fell around her body as it dropped to the snow. A circle of the white fluff became mottled pink.

Pinkie was the only one of the four that didn't look away in time. She stared at where Fuyu had been standing a moment before, blank-faced. The others scrambled to their feet, but she remained sitting and staring.

"Oh my..." Rarity groaned, trying to shake the noise out of her brain. Looking at the headless body made her wretch. "Fuyu..." Suddenly, Pinkie howled with grief and fell over, curling up on her side. Not knowing what else to do, they all moved over. "Darling, don't...don't cry..."

While they tried to stop the baker from weeping, behind them the bits of skull and brain and muscle were being gathered by tendrils of the black goo, which had sprouted from Fuyu's neck. Like hundreds of leaves of a living plant they felt around in the snow for her pieces and brought them back, holding them in place for reassembly. Fluttershy was the first to notice this process and shrieked. Horrified, they watched as Fuyu's head reformed over several minutes. Her eyes were the last thing to be restored; once she had them again, she glanced around and rubbed her cheek. "That hurt." She glared at the shotgun near her feet and kicked it angrily away. "I can't even die!"

"What the fuck," Trixie breathed. Fluttershy and Rarity both fainted, but Pinkie scrambled over on hands and knees and hugged her friend.

"You're alive!" she sniffled.

At her wit's end, Fuyu hugged back and broke down again. "I just want to die. I just want to-" She grunted as the baker punched her, full force, in the stomach.

"How dare you!" was all she could add before hugging again. "You wanna take the easy way out instead of talking to us? I'm so mad at you right now I could..."

Since her way failed, she finally tried Pinkie's instead. "Celestia and Luna created me. They made me to kill Twilight. That's why I'm so powerful...why I knew her name. I'm just a weapon," she explained, muffled by Pinkie's hair.

The baker gasped and pulled back to look at Fuyu's face. "Created you, but..." There was too much to process; she shook her head and squeaked. "How did they do that? Why would they wanna kill Twilight?! She'd never hurt anybody!"

"Because she's even stronger than I am. They're afraid of her...Celestia, mostly." She looked down at the baker's jacket. "I got you bloody again."

"Oh, that'll wash out." Pinkie smiled and peeked back over her shoulder at Trixie, whose shocked expression said that she'd also heard the truth. "This is the craziest thing ever."

The magician nodded rapidly. "No kidding." All three cast their eyes skyward as the snow began to fall harder. "We'd better wake up the sleepyheads and get somewhere warmer."

Twilight, Applejack and Rainbow Dash were seated on one of the fine mulberry couches that dotted the corridor near Princess Celestia's office, each trying to pass the time. Rainbow was visibly bored, but the other two were waiting on an update from Rarity.

"I'm sure she's fine," the athlete blurted out. "You know how she is."

"She sounded pretty bad," Applejack countered. "Tired. Kinda...broken." She drooped a little. "Still can't figure out what coulda been so bad ta make her act like that."

Twilight glared at the door. "I'm getting tired of waiting to find out." They all looked as her stomach began to growl. "Great idea to skip breakfast. I'm such an idiot sometimes."

"Y'all were probably too nervous ta keep anything down anyway." She gave the librarian a pat on the shoulder. "Bit peckish myself, though."

Rainbow folded her arms and became adorably grumpy. "Yeah, me too. There has to be somewhere around here we can eat."

Twilight rubbed her chin lightly. "There's a galley for the employees on this floor..." Rainbow suddenly got up and started to run off. "Wait! You don't even know where it is!"

"I'll find it," she said, winking. "Be right back!"

Applejack chuckled lowly as she watched her girlfriend go. "Pff. Girl just can't sit still for more than a minute or two." When Twilight remained silent, she glanced over. "What's up?"

"The Princess said I can transmute matter." She rubbed at her eyes and groaned. "I don't remember doing anything like that, but she said it happened during my initial magic test. I was nine years old!"

"Dang, y'all started early, huh?" The blonde shrunk under Twilight's unhappy look. "All right, all right, serious time. She's kept that from ya for this long?"

"Yes. Now I'm wondering what else she's hiding from me."

Applejack laughed again, although this time nervously. "Uh...well..." Twilight's phone rang and spared her from an awkward silence.

The picture on the screen was not the one the librarian was expecting. "Pinkie? Let me put you on speaker. What happened to Rarity?"

"Nothing! Um, sooooo, I have good news and bad news! Or actually kind of just bad news and worse news."

Twilight stood up and tried to calm her nerves. "What happened?"

"Er, uh...Fufu got so stressed out and sad and stuff that she tried to kill herself. She's okay though! I think. Pretty sure."

"What?!" they both yelled.

"Yeah! Not good. We're back at the library now. It gets worse!"

Twilight, growling with anger, cut her off. "Oh, I have had it with this! Is Rarity with you?"

"Yeah! So is Fluttershy and Trixie, but there's something else I need to-"

"Good. Stay with Fuyu. I'm putting an end to the whole thing right now." She was already storming toward the door with Applejack in tow.

"But but but but wait!"

Twilight hung up and shoved her phone into her bag. "I'm so mad I could punch somebody!"

"I can tell. Y'all sure ya don't wanna take a deep breath or something before ya go bargin' in?" The blonde watched her do just that and sighed. "Never mind, I guess..." Luna and Celestia looked up from the seats in front of the desk.

"Twilight, what are you-" The elder Princess blinked as her student raised a hand for silence, then pointed a finger at her sister.

"What did you tell Fuyu?" she demanded, voice dripping with venom.

"I suppose it's time," Luna sighed, preparing herself to spill the beans all over again. Celestia shook her head. "No?"

"You did everything else. I'll do this." She cleared her throat and looked Twilight dead in the eye. "Luna told Fuyu about her origins. I skirted the truth when I spoke to you earlier; we created her from scratch for a specific purpose. We gave her the black goo. The amulet was ours."

"Creat—created her?" Text from the book of banned magic she read so many weeks ago flooded her mind. "H-how? What method? Why?"

Celestia affored Applejack a brief glance – she looked bitterly uncomfortable, but was unwilling to leave Twilight's side. "One answer at a time. We used the clay golem method, which I'm sure you've read about."

"A lifeless hunk of muddy silt that we forged into a living machine," Luna added, placing her elbows on her knees as she hunched over. "Transmuted into flesh from earth."

Celestia nodded slowly. "With all the durability and strength of rock." Her face was marked with concern as Twilight, wobbly, braced herself against the desk. "You know the how, now here's the why. She was meant to be a vessel for Luna's soul in case her illness finally won, but..."

Luna, still looking at her sneakers, scowled. "Don't you dare leave out the real reason, sister."

A hand upraised assured her. "I won't. Her original purpose was as a weapon..." she paused to breathe before her heart could tear itself from her chest, "A weapon meant to kill you, my faithful student, in case your power drove you mad."

Twilight had checked out past the words 'kill you', her face dropping into a blank mask. Expecting some sort of emotional cataclysm, an unsteady Applejack moved over next to her, although she had no words to offer.

"Twilight?" Celestia prodded gently, doing her best to look composed.

"You said you loved me like a daughter," she finally murmured, her left eye twitching.

"And I do! I was only ensuring the safety of—Twilight, wait!" They watched her dash out of the room blindly, slamming into the door frame before getting past it and out into the hall. "Come back!"

Applejack gave chase, but Luna prevented her sister from going after them. "No. Let a face she doesn't despise talk her down."

Celestia struggled against her deceptively powerful grip. "Let me by! I have to make her understand!"

Luna could only shake her head. "I don't think she'll be made to do anything at the moment, sister."

Twilight stumbled around one more corner before Applejack finally caught up. She collapsed to her knees and slumped against the wall, shedding silent tears.

The blonde dropped down and loosely embraced her. "Twilight! Sugarcube, I dunno what ta..." Her voice failed as she registered that muted weeping. "I dunno what ta say..."

"Fourteen years," Twilight muttered unblinkingly. "Fourteen years of treating me like the most special girl in the whole world. Telling me how wonderful I was...how much she cared for me. My brother. My parents. Was any of it true?"

"Now, hold on. I'm sure she loves ya all the same, but...well, ah..." She scratched under her hat as if hoping to find a good explanation buried in her hair. "J-just try to calm down, okay? Breathe."

Twilight loosed a guttural noise and tried to push Applejack away. "Oh, sure. She fucking adores me so much, she broke the most sacred law in magic regulation to build someone for the express purpose of murdering me! I can't even begin to fathom how she looked me in the eye all that time while she was holding a knife behind her back to stab me with!"

Applejack held fast as she began to sob. "It probably ain't that simple, Twi!"

"I was so terrified of disappointing her! I just wanted to make her proud of me, to get stronger, to get better..." She crumpled into the blonde's hug and shattered. "The Princess was going to put me down if I...what? Had a bad day? Got too frustrated? If I was tardy?!" An idea ran across her mind that made her teeth gnash. "No, if I got too strong...that's why she did it, isn't it? She was jealous!"

The blonde did not like where this train of thought was headed. "Whoa! Ya ain't thinkin' clearly, Twilight. Celestia ain't never been jealous of nobody, far as I can tell!"

"Uh huh. Fuyu's existence says otherwise." Twilight tugged at her hair and whined. "No...wait...she said about the safety of someone, didn't she?"

"I think so, yeah." Applejack tried to urge her to her feet, succeeding after a few seconds. "Come on. Let's go back ta the hotel and...I dunno. I'm kinda at a loss for words here."

"Safety,' Twilight repeated lowly. "Safety of who? Was she afraid of me?" That concept drew out a new burst of anger. "Why would she be afraid of me?! I would never hurt anyone! Except Trixie, but Trixie's a bitch!"

Applejack laughed weakly, desperate to not seem nervous. "Right. Uh, let's just get outta here and relax and calm down."

Rainbow was hovering down the hall, approaching them with a hamburger in hand. She quickly swallowed the remainder and flew over. "Geez, what did I miss now?" she complained. "Twilight? What happened?"

She hardly even noticed the athlete was there. "She was so afraid of me she made Fuyu...Fuyu killed all those people be-because of me! I..."

"Crap." Applejack picked Twilight up and began to carry her. "I don't know what ta tell ya, RD. 'Sides that this is the insanest thing we ever got wrapped up in." They looked at the librarian as she went to muttering incoherently. "Maybe we oughta have her sedated or something..."

The hair on the back of Rainbow's neck was standing up. "Can I get the short version?"

"Well, uh, the Princesses made Fu from clay ta kill Twilight in case she snapped, I guess. I can't really get my head around it." She looked down at Twilight, babbling in her arms. "Maybe we oughta take her home."

Rainbow waved her hand in front of the librarian's face to no avail. "Yeah. I think we should."

"You don't understand," Twilight moaned to no one in particular. "Th-there were times I didn't see my parents for months...she became my mom...it's my fault all those people died!" Her thoughts fought for precedence, only to end up flying from her mouth simultaneously. "Why would she be afraid? Why did she make Fuyu do all those things?"

"Twi, shhh. Just calm down." Applejack moved down a set of stairs and found double doors that lead into another part of the garden. "Phew, all right. Hang on, we're gonna get ya outta here."

Rainbow shed her hoodie and laid it over Twilight to protect her from the falling snow. Five minutes of walking and listening to her half-constructed sentences only served to get them lost. "Hold on, I'll fly up and see where we are."

Applejack nodded as she launched herself into the air. "Man. I can't believe Celestia would do something like this." Twilight began to struggle and grunt. "Whoa! Twi! Easy!"

"Let me down!" she demanded, almost falling out of the blonde's arms. "My entire childhood is a lie! She never loved me! She just wanted to control me! And if I didn't listen, she was going to have me killed!"

Almost as stressed now, Applejack took off her hat and held it tightly. "I'm sure it ain't like that! The Princess just...she just..."

"No. Stop trying to make excuses for her. She...I...how many people's deaths am I responsible for?" Her legs gave out again. "And Fuyu...she suffered so much worse than I did..."

"Them people dyin' ain't your fault!" The words were lost on Twilight, but Applejack felt obligated to say them.

Rainbow swooped back down to help the librarian stand. "Hey, you all right?" She wouldn't take her hand. "...hello?"

Twilight was shaking violently, emitting a sound comprised of sobbing and mumbling. Abruptly, she fell still and looked up with her eyes closed. "Nothing is...I...can't..." They shot open, glowing white.

"What the..." Applejack pulled Rainbow back to her side. "Twilight! What's going on?"

Her words were twisted into an ear-rattling stereo, as if there were more than one mouth speaking. "If Celestia fears me..." Trailing off, she levitated above the ground and hovered. A pair of lavender wings unfurled from her back. "Then I will give her something to be afraid of."

"I cannot believe what I am reading."

Rarity, Trixie and Spike all had some of the documents provided by Luna, poring over them in the library's public space. Pinkie was clamped onto Fuyu as the latter occupied a chair nearby. Fluttershy was right beside those two in another chair, still trying to deal with the day's events.

"I can't see anyone," Fuyu complained, poking the baker lightly.

It only made her hold tighter "Don't care! Hugging until you feel better!"

She glared through a forest of pink hair. "That isn't going to happen."

"Oh, really. We'll see about that. Nobody can resist a Pinkie hug forever."

"Damn her!" Spike growled, tossing the papers in his hand away. "How could she do this? Twilight might not be a saint, but she's no danger to anyone!"

"We all have our...regrettable moments," Rarity agreed, "but this is a gross overreaction! And the things Fuyu went through in the process!"

"That isn't my name," she reminded the dressmaker.

"I'd want to change my name too if I were associated with something like this." Trixie pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. "Thousands of lives just used up as if they meant nothing. I don't even know what to say."

"What should we call you?" Fluttershy asked, more willing to tackle smaller things at the moment. "If you have any preferences, I mean."

"I don't know." She caught her own lie and frowned. "No. I think...Winter is the closest thing I have to my own name. Let's call me that for now."

"Of course, darling." Rarity picked up her phone off the side table and swallowed hard. "I've no idea how I'm going to break this news to Twilight. The whole thing is, as Rainbow would say – and pardon my language – fucked all the way up."

"Maybe I should tell her." Winter stood up with Pinkie attached, but this time there was no giggling. "Please get off of me."

"No! Never!"

Rarity rolled her eyes. "Don't be obstinate, Pinkamena. Let go."

The baker was full-on whining now. "She needs my hug powers!"

Spike's attention drifted from his companions to the TV during this exchange, where he saw that the programming had been broken into by a special news report. He turned up the volume and watched as the flying cameraman trained his lens on Canterlot Castle, a small portion of which had collaped and was smoking.. "Crap! Look!" Everyone turned to see what the fuss was about. Just as they did, Twilight appeared, darting through the air with wings they'd never seen before. "What happened?"

Pinkie finally let go to watch the TV. "Dashie! Applejack!" she gasped. "W-w-why is everything on fire?!"

Trixie folded her arms. "It's not on fire. Well, most of it isn't. Calm down."

Winter was the only one silent as they all gathered around the screen to listen. The anchorwoman said something about the scene being caused by an accidental explosion. As the report drew on, another familiar face appeared – Rainbow Dash, flying around like a madman in and out of the ruined castle.

"Rainbow!" Fluttershy pointed. "But where's Applejack?"

Their answer came when Rarity's phone rang. "Hello?" she answered. "...Applejack! Darling, you're on the news! What is going on up there? Where are you?" she asked while putting the blonde on speaker.

"I'm in the gardens, and besides the castle goin' ta hell in a handbasket, there ain't much happenin' ta speak of! Listen, Celestia told Twilight about Fu. And I mean the whole story. She ain't handlin' it too kindly. Fu! Ya there?"

Winter stepped forward. "Yes, I'm here, but that's not my n—never mind. We can deal with it another time."

"That'd be fuckin' terrific! Listen, I know y'all are upset and all, but we need ya! Please! Twilight's done blown a serious fuckin' gasket!" A loud noise interrupted her. "Rainbow Dash, get your ass down here!"

"I'm on my way." Winter summoned her black wings and floated toward the door.

"No!" Spike yelled, tears in his eyes. "No! She's the only mom I've ever known!"

"Fu—Winter, please, don't do this," Rarity added, just as emotional. "Twilight is just stressed!"

The pale woman pointed at the TV as a retort. "I know. And that's what stressed means for her." Before she could open the door, Pinkie got in her way with arms spread wide.

"No! No fighting between friends!" she yelled angrily. Winter easily moved her aside. "No no no no! Stop!"

"Perhaps Twilight can do what the shotgun couldn't."

Her musing silenced everyone but Spike, who walked over and grabbed her by the hand. "You can't kill her. You hear me? You can't."

She gently made him release it and opened the door. A plaintive tone weighed down her next words. "Of course I can. It's what I was made for."