The Legend Of The Lonely Ladybug

Hope Against Despair

"Rainbow!"

Not even registering it, Faith had already gotten up from where he had rested and rushed towards the mare lying under the tree that she had collided with. The world surrounding him became a vague blur.

Somepony dying because of him would be too much weight to carry for his already stressed shoulders, a thought that made him feel a lump in his throat. The stallion's problems weren't the other pony's fault. He would have to make sure that she was alright. A hoof touched Rainbow to powerfully nudge her.

"Wake up," Faith uttered, "This wasn't supposed to happen! Wake up!"

Trying the neck artery, he picked a weak pulse, an assessment that slightly relieved his worry. Proceeding to study the skull, Faith found a big swelling bruise at the forehead that marked where the concussion had been delivered. The stallion glanced at the tree, noticing a spot in the bark chipped off, the trunk's other layers easily visible from underneath. There had been a lot of force behind the impact.

It didn't look good. The potential internal damage to the mare's body could only be guessed by a medical novice.

Faith's mind filled with cynical self-blame. All because of him, a guilt he wouldn't be able to shake off. Even for a loner he wasn't cold blooded enough to close it outside himself.

"You could have gone back to your friends!", the pegasus cried out, several tears soaking up his lips, "Why didn't you just go and leave me be, Rainbow?! What am I going to do now?! Why me?!"

Faith collapsed aside Rainbow's motionless body to whimper silently, a pool of tears slowly building up underneath the stallion's drooping face. Trenched in his grief, his closed eyes ignored everything else for a long period.

Thus what he missed was the mare's other eye when it suddenly snapped open to stare at him angrily. It didn't take long; the other pegasus was literally scooped off his sitting position and forcefully pinned against the tree. Faith wriggled in a vain attempt, soon enough finding it useless against the stronger pony. Still relatively healthy, a momentary surge of rage had given Rainbow enough strength for a fast flying tackle.

"You threw cones at me," she barked, holding him stationary, "Not cool, Faith! Not cool at all!"

Suddenly going limp in her hooves, the feminine stallion became unresponsive, no longer looking at the mare holding him in place. Faith's eyes now pointed to nothing in particular almost as if the conscience behind them had lost all of it's focus. From Rainbow's point of view it resembled a seizure. Or something worse, a reaction none too pleasant to witness on a young stallion.

"What's gone into you?", the mare asked nervously, her momentary rage already forgotten.

Raising an eyebrow, she carefully released her grip to test how he reacts. Faith slumped against the trunk, sliding down the bark like a lifeless dummy of himself.

"Come on, Faith! Snap out of it," Rainbow told him, gently slapping his cheek with a hoof to try put a stir to the stallion's senses, "Come on now, I didn't really mean to be so rough on you. You just couldn't stop to listen to me.......Faith, please!"

She got no reaction, exhaling deeply upon the mootness of trying to make him pay attention. Seeing that he wasn't going anywhere, she tried the bruise her forehead had received, rewarded with excruciating pain which made her wince loud and seek balance when the symptoms of disorientation caught up. Physically strong and athletic, Rainbow had taken the hit better than Faith perceived yet an ugly injury demanding a long time to heal had been left as a reminder to add to what she already had sustained in the spider fight. With enough luck it would only ruin the beauty of her face for a week or two.

Lesson of the day; constantly look where you're flying when in high speed.

Already feeling pity and concern, she observed the limp stallion. "Damn it, Faith! You were already doing so well. And now look where we are, in the middle of nowhere. How in Celestia's sake am I supposed to bring you back to the acres in a state like that?"

Frowning, Rainbow tried to think up a new plan, a feat none too easy to pull off with an aching head. Nevertheless succeeding, an important memory activated a flashing lightbulb inside her grey brain matter. She jumped up to the support of her hind legs upon the recall.

In the intensity of the pursuit Rainbow had forgotten Twilight who now could be the cyan mare's only means to bring Faith back. Instantly she pressed two front hooves against the sides of her head, focused at making the thought as clear as possible.

"Twilight Sparkle. Twilight Sparkle. Twilight Sparkle. Twilight Sparkle. Twilight Sparkle. Twili--------"

To her relief Rainbow's ears suddenly heard a loud sound unmistakable to those who have caught it before, a teleportation spell going off.

Having emerged in the middle of a smoking circle, the lavender unicorn had still not entirely revived enough to take it all too well. Nevertheless gathering herself, Twilight started to approach. "I had to do this twice just to get near enough to pick up the new mental link. Way more difficult than transporting seven ponies. Thank Celestia for those leftover apples!"

"Please, you didn't have to be the one to actually chase him down. That buckering pegasus put me through a real hard one," Rainbow remarked, still disoriented and feeling the throbbing produced by her head injury.

Noticing it, Twilight cringed. "Ouch! I can tell," she murmured. As she halted an unpleased side glance was given at the stallion now resting against the trunk of the pine tree. "You have some explaining to do," the mare uttered.

Then she examined him closer, seeing the numbed expression and shrinked retinas after Faith didn't react to her. Twilight positioned herself in his view and waved a hoof right in front of the stallion's face which wielded nothing, making the mare fearful. "You weren't like this earlier..........."

"When I tried to speak to him he just kept evading me, all panicky. I think he has gone completely bonkers," Rainbow replied from the side, circling a hoof next to her own head as an indicative gesture to add weight to the opinion.

None too relieved by it, Twilight again wondered cluelessly about cause behind the stallion's absent stare.

"Faith, can you hear me?", she attempted to communicate, again glancing at Rainbow questioningly when finding it useless. "It seems we have no choice but to teleport him if we want to get him out of here," the unicorn finally concluded in defeat, not capable to deduce what had happened.

Still observing the limp pegasus uncertainly, she proceeded to rest down next to him. "Rainbow, unless you want to exercise those wings of yours over the distance that it takes to get back to the acres you should sit here beside me," she told her friend, "I'll give you this ride."

"What ever," she heard her friend grumble. The way it was intoned provoked a momentary grin to the lavender mare's lips as her eyelids closed. The cyan pegasus wouldn't take 'lazy lifts' as she herself called teleporting if any of her fan groups were within a mile's vicinity.

***

Back at the acres Applejack, her brother and Fluttershy still waited for Twilight, Rainbow and the escapee. Tapping her now dirty hat free from the dust it had scooped from the road when she collapsed, Applejack chewed up the last bits of apple that she had enjoyed to revive her strength, swallowing them loudly. A spent yet angry look on her face expresseed the earth pony's sentiments without need for a single word.

"Faith had me nearly run mahself to death! If Ah ran like that in the 'Race Of The Falling Leaves' Ah'd be the winner in record time," the earth mare ended up uttering, deeply unpleased, "When they bring him back Ah'll sure give him a mouth full."

The other mare's attitude visibly didn't seem to please Fluttershy either who had become nervous, rubbing her front hooves against each other in an enxious wait for the other's return.

"Please, Applejack, be gentle to him," the mare whimpered, "Faith is still insecure about his own place. There has to be a reason for why he did it."

To reflect a similar opinion Big Macintosh glanced at the ground before a deep breath came out of his lungs. "It sure ain't soundin' that big of a reason to hate on the poor stallion, lil sis. He's been handy aroun' here. Ah dunno."

A grunt left Applejack, her frustration persistent.

"Ah told Granny Smith we'd be back by now. She and Apple Bloom will be worried needlessly. We're slackin' excess time here just because Faith ran off."

Shaking her head, the mare succumbed to the other two pony's view. "We'll eventually hear his side of the story," the tan work horse mumbled calmly, placing her hat neatly back where it belongs.

As soon as the hat touched Applejack's mane a crackling sound was heard nearby. It grew in loudness, climaxing to a short and loud miniature explosion. Upon it's happening all three ponies galloped towards the heavily smoking circle that had appeared as well as the three silhouettes revealed behind it's disappearing wispy curtain. With sudden speed Fluttershy took lead to Applejack and Big Macintosh, being the first one to reach the spot and leapt past Rainbow who was coughing from the smoke to close her front limbs around the green stallion laying limp against the ground.

"Faith! Oh Faith, why did you run off! Darling, what's wrong? Speak to me! Honey, why are you so floppy?", the yellow mare exclaimed in stress, tears quickly emerging.

Faith didn't react, hanging lifelessly as she held him up. Seeing his state was enough to equally shock the two farm ponies who had come to a screeching stop to stare with open mouths. At the same time Twilight had recovered from the spell.

"Help me lift him up," the exhausted unicorn instructed the mare pegasus, proceeding to grab hold of the stallion from the other side.

The mares raised Faith to a sitting position and Fluttershy positioned herself behind to support him as Twilight self-initiated a more thorough study, trying the pulse, pulling up eyelids, ears and lips, scanning him with her horn, even retrieving a magnifying glass to check his coat, a literal body exam that revealed no signs of disease nor injury, nothing to indicate at the supposed paralysis.

"I don't understand what happened to him. He was completely fine earlier," she uttered, "Rainbow, are you sure you didn't handle him too harshly?"

"I swear I only held him still against the tree," Rainbow replied with a slight cough still resilient. An expecting look behind the listening unicorn's stare motivated an additional shrug and a hold up gesture of front limbs. "I swear! He went soft all by himself," the mare added with anxiety.

Applejack looked on, no different from the rest in how concerned she was. "Ah was the first one to approach him when it all started. Ah must have done something," she murmured with regret before Twilight opened her mouth.

"It wasn't you, "she told the farm mare, observing the feminine stallion seated in front of Fluttershy who had begun to massage him, the green front limbs half-dangling against the ground, "Something else must have terribly spooked him."

"I'm still betting on insanity," Rainbow's snarky comment added it's two cents.

The joke didn't sway Twilight. "He went through a change that he couldn't choose, Rainbow," the unicorn spoke quietly, "That would affect anypony no matter how sane."

Having quickly learned patience with the previous discussions she had with the pegasus, the lavender unicorn was by now made sceptical about what she saw. It seemed too elaborate, too evasive. He wouldn't fool her that easily.

Twilight repositioned herself closer and stared into the glassy eyes. "I know you can hear us," she whispered right into his ear, "You might have chosen a good timing to scramble when I was worn out but I'm not that stupid."

A lavender hoof lifted to stroke the brown mane, taking in the grace of the feminine snout. "Faith, I know you're not a bad pony. Please. Don't force us to play the silent game again."

Despite Twilight's best effort Faith's limp behavior didn't show signs of change which only helped unsettle the other ponies. Rainbow's face reddened to signal that her temper was taking a new dip below the sunshine meter. In an act of rage the cyan pegasus sought the closest tree and kicked it furiously, causing a literal rain of apples.

"I don't believe this buckerer!", the mare cried out.

"The creature............it's back!", a broken down voice whimpered desperately, "You're all in danger!", Faith finally spoke.

"Relax, darling, just relax," Fluttershy whispered to him anxiously, intensifying her massage.

The others gathered near upon hearing Faith speak, some jaws hanging slacked.

Encouraged to try again, Twilight communicated with him. "A pony can choose, Faith. There is no way that old grudge can hurt you. It can not hurt anyone. You pushed it away."

With immense respirations Faith finally began moving, the limbs shaking violently when he tried to lift them. What ever his mind had gone through had also put a toll to his physique. "Y-y-you don't understand........."

"Try to rest right there, honey. You're exerted," Fluttershy told the stallion, reinforcing her hold.

Faith complied by relaxing himself again, still breathing heavily. Applejack took note. "Big Mac, bring over some apples, this lad needs refreshment," she told the red earth stallion who instantly departed. He soon returned, proceeding to pass one over once setting the bucket down.

"There ya go, lad," Big Macintosh said, smiling kindly at the green pegasus as Fluttershy helps him eat the apple.

"T-t-t-thank you," Faith said after a few bites, sounding less reluctant as his strength started to return, "Even after what I have done...........I........I don't know what to say." A tear ran down his cheek, instantly wiped off by a yellow hoof.

"It's alright, honeybunny. I got you," Fluttershy cooed softly.

"So, Faith, why did ya do it?", Applejack eventually asked with a hint of returning crankyness, "Some past ghosts shouldn't scare ya like that."

Staggering as he lifted himself to the support of his front limbs, Faith glanced at the work horse.

"I must be looking like a complete loon to you now, don't I?", the feminine stallion mumbled silently, wobbling yet managing to stay upright.

"That ain't far from the truth," the earth mare replied.

Returning eye contact, Faith nodded with signs of humility, acknowledging the trouble he had put the other ponies through with his behavior.

"What I did is all that I've been doing for the past years and it wasn't the right thing to do. You've been generous and kind. Because of that I almost believed that my past really was left behind."

Faith swallowed loudly, struggling to gather more strength as he spoke to his companions.

"I was already thinking that the bitterness would never come back. So I was....caught off-guard when I felt it's returning presence while I was working. I panicked. The creature...........it is unlike anything you have seen. I know it sounds completely crazy and you have already heard my story. You don't have to believe me but I assure you that I'm not insane," the feminine stallion explained, pausing momentarily which increased anticipation in the five listening ponies. "The quake that you too must have felt, It caused it."

Still remembering the strange terrestrial phenomenon, everyone exchanged baffled looks.

"How? How can a ghost make quakes?", Applejack enquired the pegasus confusedly.

Faith was delayed while he thought of the best way to answer the given question, eventually speaking. "I'm not sure if I can answer you reliably," he explained, "Maybe it possesses living beings by entering them like a spirit. If it were to succeed in doing that to something powerful enough nothing would stop it."

The stallion's face flopped down to face the ground. "That entity exists purely to make itself more powerful by feeding from the darkness of other souls. It views everypony and everything else in Equestria the same vengeful way. I have created a monster," the pegasus whimpered, provoking Fluttershy to gently stroke his head, "I don't even know what it has possessed, there's a constant shroud that prevents me from seeing."

Faith sobbed, tears falling to the grass of the acre.

"It knows where I am, what I do and what my thoughts are. It won't cease till it has snuffed the life out of everything! Don't you see? Only I can stop it! Please, please let me go."

Rainbow rolled her eyes, coming near the two pegasus. "Faith," she began with effort, "you should know that is crazy talk. Somepony's old 'ghost emotion', or what ever it is that you speak of, it is as capable of doing damage to the living as the air that surrounds us."

"You'd be correct in a majority of instances," Faith answered, again standing up in Fluttershy's caring support, "An emotion needs it's owner. But a pony can reject his or her emotion. I forced myself through such a process as a last resort," the stallion continued with regret of his own, "believing that I had rid myself from an such an angsty way of thinking for good. I was wrong. It was already sentient but by pushing it away I didn't face myself. Instead I gave it a chance to become even more powerful. It only made things worse. What I had gained was a momentary time out. And now that time is up."

The pegasus' chin took a plummet. "It will destroy me. It will destroy us all," he finished in despair.

While Faith spoke Twilight who was still standing aside him and Fluttershy underwent through her natural thought process stimulated by the given explanations as she listened her companions.

"This must explain why you have no certain memories, Faith," the unicorn finally rejoined the discussion, "When you pushed the bitterness away it must have taken some of you with it. Your identity has been split in two......."

Hearing the disturbing conclusion, the others said nothing. Faith's cheeks turned pale, the jaw hanging slightly. Twilight's deduction had given him a hard root to chew.

"Is that even possible?", Rainbow asked, still in dismay from hearing things beyond sane comprehension.

Twilight returned looks at everyone, still thinking vigorously.

"It seems hardly unimaginable. Remember what Discord did to everyone?", the lavender mare replied, again glancing at the wobbling stallion who's breathing was shallow.

"Ah sure do but it doesn't mean that it can be understood with common sense," Applejack uttered.

"I don't feel very good," Faith explained with barely enough strength behind the voice for it to be audible.

"Big Mac, one apple if ya may please," Applejack told the other farm pony, reaching sideways with a front hoof like a surgeon expecting a knife. Big Macintosh didn't hesitate with his given task, fishing another fruit from the bucket.

After taking more bites Faith remained still. "Oh my," he eventually said, "Twilight, you might be onto something."

"Only you can regain your own memories but in order to succeed you need to face 'It' again," the lavender unicorn explained calmly, placing a hoof on his shoulder, "As of now I only got one advice for you. What ever it is that you do, avoid mindless fear."

Again she reached up to stroke his slightly tangled mane. "There is hope for you, Faith. Don't give up on yourself."

"Pardon me for jumping in on a sentimental moment but weren't we supposed to get back to the farm?", Rainbow asked the others which motivated Applejack to step up with a stern look in her eyes.

"Ya heard what the mare said! Get on movin'!", the work horse rambled, "If we keep up this constant talkin' Granny Smith herself will come here to kick mah flank! She hates waitin' for late dinner guests and Ah hate not meetin' the promises that Ah have made."

Almost coached to move on, the group travelled down the road again with Big Macintosh who had retaken his reigns at the apple carriage. By now tired from the running that she had gone through and the constant delay, Applejack did trots around everyone to make sure that no one slacked behind, none more closely than Faith who had given her, Rainbow and Twilight some work to remember.

***

"Granny! They're comin'!", Apple Bloom shouted from the porch of the farm house as she spotted the arriving group.

Although she was slow to follow her grandchild outside the green elder pony of the family still let her presence be apparent to everyone with loud exclamation. "AJ! Where the plucker ya all been?! The porridge went cold a while ago!", Granny Smith barked at the tan work horse who for obvious reasons didn't look pleased.

"Ah am so sorry, granny. We had.................a small delay," Applejack explained shyly without returning eye contact, cheeks blushing red.

"Ah may be old but Ah can still tell that wasn't a small delay," Granny Smith added with disappointment.

At the same moment Faith stepped forward. "It was my fault, miss Smith. I take full responsibility for the trouble that this has caused you," he calmly said to the elder pony. The notion provoked smiles in Twilight and Fluttershy who were still impressed by Faith's manners.

Granny Smith observed the stallion. "Ya must be Faith. AJ and Apple Bloom told me about ya," she said to him, half-buried in her thoughts. Then the old pony's eyelids narrowed as she pressed on without much happiness behind the words. "Listen up, young stallion! We got rules in this family. Ya pull off any needless stunts, ya eat outside."

"I understand if I'm not welcome here, miss Smith," Faith added with his best politeness, by now becoming put off about the punishment he was being given until Granny Smith's suddenly warm nature removed the belief. The elder pony came over to pat him in the shoulder.

"Now hold on there, son. Did Ah say ya weren't welcome?", she told the pegasus more assuringly as the others gathered close to overhear, "Ya been kind to mah grandchild and her friends. If ya weren't welcome here ya'd be driven out of our lands by now. We can all discuss about what ya have done durin' dinner," the elder mare concluded and turned to head back inside in the company of Big Macintosh and Apple Bloom.

"See, Faith? You do get what you give," Twilight noted to the stallion while passing by him.

Rainbow followed, sending a playful punch to his shoulder. "Come on, sneaky. You got to eat too," she added, having forgotten the preceding disagreement.

As she trotted inside Applejack was the last one to pass the green pegasus. "Go on, handsome, the porridge ain't gonna wait an year. Oh," the work horse stalled right before the porch," and after we have eaten Ah could tell ya a small story about somethin' similar that Ah myself once put mah friends through if ya want to hear it. Ya made me recall it."

"Sure, Applejack, I'd love to hear it," Faith answered.

Nodding at him, the farm mare headed inside, leaving the last two ponies by themselves. Fluttershy who had stuck beside Faith the whole time stroked his coat.

"Sneaky? Handsome? You seem to be getting all sorts of nicknames from my friends," the yellow pegasus said with an amused giggle.

"Can't say that I blame Rainbow nor Applejack," the feminine stallion replied to Fluttershy, following after the rest through the porch with her, "I have put you through a lot of needless trouble."

"Faith," his companion said as they reached indoors on their way to the dining room.

"Yes?", the stallion asked, looking to the mare's concerned eyes.

A barely perceivable vibration warped Fluttershy's lips as she tightened her hold on his hoof. "Hang on to me," a weak whisper said, rewarded by a gentle kiss to the mare's yellow snout and soft rubbing when Faith's own touched it.

***

Dusk settled upon Equestria, the shift of the alicorns following it's routine. Shadows cast by the land and the trees deepened in the decreasing light, stronger and more obscuring as time flowed by. It wouldn't take long till the last visible rays would disappear behind the horizon with the sun that casts them, leaving lesser illumination for the moon and the stars during Luna's turn of responsibility.

Nowhere near Canterlot was the darkness as shrouding and ominous as in the forest of Everfree, a place feared by many living near and far. Within the shroud of the growing dark, between the cover of the ancient trees a bunch of green eyes cast a different illumination wherever they faced, a handful of insect-like lenses that littered the heads of their peculiar looking owners. A carapace as black as the night that surrounded them covered the hide of these quadruped beings as they moved through the forest.

Traveling among them were two other creatures that resembled short primates walking on two legs, brown strands of hair growing from the top of the head, long tails ending to a fluff of hair and ugly faces displaying a huge potato-like nose. Trolls, the other one tied from it's legs and arms with sticky green residue. It wriggled and squeaked, trying to free itself as it was effortlessly carried on the other individual's shoulder.

This strange bunch eventually arrived to a clearing kept illuminated in the darkness by a bright green pulsation. A cursed stone sat in the middle of the open space, the origin of the green light. It was a camp to the beings and their superior who herself lied relaxed in a resting position near the comfort of this light casting object.

Queen Chrysalis, the leader of the changelings who only recently had been thrown far away from Canterlot by the love shield of Shining Armor and Princess Cadence yawned, rising up to observe what some of her minions were bringing over upon spotting their arrival. As she approached them the troll that was carrying it's subdued relative halted to throw the other creature off it's back. In a green flash the troll had changed shape, turning out to be an identical creature to the rest of the group. The minions had been hunting for food, the task wielding success.

Chrysalis glanced at the subdued troll lying below her shadow to grin gleefully. "Excellent job, my children. Bring it over there and prepare it. And be quick! I'm starving," she told her kin, pointing a segmented hoof towards the back of the clearing.

Instantly two of the changelings grabbed the troll and proceeded to drag it towards the line of trees spanning at the opposite side, drooling and giving their prey hungry looks. The troll trembled fearfully as it was brought out of view.

The queen moved back where she had been resting and obliviously touched the round boulder with the tip of her horn to turn up the emitted light. Her eyes rested on the eerie glow, a growing hateful expression indicating to a stressed dam of negative emotions now screaming to burst from within the black mind that housed them. Chrysalis was nearing the end of the patience that she has spent to the time hiding at Everfree Forest. Fully aware of it, the minions closest to her retreated a distance with understandably nervous faces, having before witnessed many of the queen changeling's potentially dangerous mental breakdowns.

This time was no different. Out of the blue an individual tree took the full force of a green energy blast, vaporized in an instant from the bottom to the tip. The changeling minions sank close to the ground, nearly as afraid of the power of their leader as their food item had been of them. Burning leaves and ash rained down to the clearing to cover the ground with a smoldering layer. Standing in the middle of the destruction, the snarling queen bared her teeth, the razor shaped horn glowing potent lime green.

"May hades swallow you, Shining Armor," Chrysalis bellowed, trampling the ash covered soil with her legs in a fit of anger, "While you and your little pride may have taken me away from my rightful kingdom I am not out of the game!"

She trotted in a circle, pondering with great effort. "My powers were reduced and most of my minions scattered," she spoke to herself, "If I only had more of my minions!"

She eventually settled down. A summoning gesture of her hoof was all that it took for the other changelings to gather around.

"My minions, do not fear your queen," Chrysalis explained in calmness, "The others will eventually find their way back to us and we will grow in numbers until our full strength returns."

The minions listened keenly to what they were being told.

"As long as I call myself the queen of the changelings," she deepened her voice to sound more authoritative, "I will ensure that our next strike against Canterlot is stronger and even more foolproof than it was before."

The other changelings had begun to cheer and clap with their hoof-like appendages.

"Taking it from within was a really good idea but there are other ways," the queen unraveled her thoughts, "Those ponies depend on their agriculture and relations. If those are destroyed Canterlot will be weakened thus easier picking."

She assessed the positive reaction of her minions, taking it all in with a smile of cruel satisfaction.

"The siege of Canterlot is far from over! Celestia and her royal pegasus guards are no match for your superior abilities and speed, my children! They won't know what hit them! This time we won't fail!"

A loud cheering of creatures answered the finishing line. Enjoying herself, Chrysalis began to cackle evilly with growing confidence.

Said confidence took a long back seat when the ground under her hooves suddenly trembled violently. A cloud of ash lifted from the ground when it intensified. It was like a giant concrete drill was being used nearby.

"What is this?!", Chrysalis cried out in confusion.

Synonymously her horn lit up in preparation against whatever invader was threatening them as the other changelings looked around aimlessly, as puzzled by the sudden quake as their leader. She gazed to the forest just in time to see a huge entity consisting from several intertwined vines of unknown origin approach the clearing. It uprooted trees caught in the way as it pummeled it's way through the grounds of Everfree at very fast speed like a twisted serpent swimming through water.

In one last huge arc the monster vine buried itself beneath the soil as it came upon the clearing. While it happened the dismayed changelings observed the newcomer. Chrysalis stepped past her followers, studying the monstrosity of bundles that kept driving itself deeper with such immense force that it constantly rocked the earth.

Balancing herself on the unstable ground, she gathered more magic to her horn to fire a concentrated beam similar to the one that only moments ago had easily destroyed a tree, hitting the intruder from point blank range. To the dark queen's surprise the vine monster remained physically untouched by her energy blast. Nevertheless ceasing it's digging once hit, it became motionless, almost anticipative. The barbed tentacle-like bits forming it's shape squirmed silently.

Even without success in causing damage Chrysalis was still enraged by the offense toward her privacy. "What are you?" she communicated with a loud voice, "And why are you bothering me and my children with your presence? Leave at once or there will be dire consequences!"

She got no reply nor movement from the beast. Growing tired in waiting, the queen prepared to fire again.

"So it was you who I sensed," a deep raspy voice resonated from within the ground, each word causing a small tectonic disturbance.

Even for being a dark creature herself Chrysalis had never before encountered anything that equalled what she now faced, feeling a new punch in her ego as the green light of the horn withered away.

"You seem rather powerful. Would you care to explain what you are after?", she spoke to the vine monster, not yet dispersuaded from trying a more diplomatic approach, "Maybe we can help each other to gain our own specific goals."

"My actions speak for themselves nor do my reasons need explaining to anyone," the goliath vine entity rumbled rudely before it started to move again, driving it's vast and complicated "pipeline" deeper within the soil of Everfree Forest with a ground shaking force.

Hearing commotion in the direction of her minions, Chrysalis spun around to witness something that truly upset her usually cold mind. The other changelings were in the process of being dragged under the ground by snaking vines that had emerged from beyond, forcefully pulling them to the holes that they had appeared from.

Charging to help her companions the best she could, Chrysalis nearly flew forward on the support of her transparent insect wings. Before such a scenario she'd have never imagined herself to actually care as much about the well-being of her lesser changelings. The queen's vague attempt at heroism still came too late as she suddenly found herself alone at the clearing.

"What did you do to my minions?!", she shouted with a voice that equalled a roaring manticore.

Looking within one of the holes left behind by the vines, Chrysalis heard sounds of crunching deep within the ground that swallowed her servants, to her shock realizing that what ever took them appeared to be eating their hard shells.

"Your children taste sweet," the creature was heard speaking again.

Listening, the queen changeling took an instinctive step backwards. All around her a grey mist rising from the soil took residence in the surrounding air.

"I'm warning you! I defeated Princess Celestia!", Chrysalis boasted eagerly while standing her ground, "No pony can defeat me!"

Incapable to decide what her next move should be, she noticed that the grey fog was growing thicker and prevented her from seeing past a certain distance.

"I am no pony," the creature's voice returned to taunt her, "Besides, you yourself got defeated by a unicorn couple so what you claim is hardly an achievement, is it? It is only one of your countless failures, the seventh one to be exact. You have a long track record in trying to dominate Equestria."

"How........how do you know that?!", the queen uttered with a shallow breath.

Her past secrets were only known by few and couldn't be fully blown open by outsiders. How this entity had deduced so much about Chrysalis after having just met her confused the changeling.

"I saw everything that I needed to see at the instant you fired your pathetic spell at me. Plenty of delicious emotions to feed me. Your darkness is mine," the voice answered, now sounding different in how it resonated almost as if it had come from the empty space surrounding it's victim.

More of the snaking vines emerged, wrapped in the same grey mist that surrounded Chrysalis, difficult to distinguish from their surroundings. The helpless queen's nervousness was backed by chills going through the spine, a sensation she had never felt before. A strange feeling overtook the changeling, a feeling of invisible set of eyes of almost machine-like devotion looking right into her essence which she found herself greatly bothered by. The powerful predator has become an unlikely prey.

"W-what do you want?," Chrysalis asked, her usually strong voice losing it's foundation as fear gripped her chest.

"I want you and everything in Equestria," the creature growls to her ear with a metallic hiss, "to die now."

Losing her composure, Chrysalis quickly unfolded the wings on her back in an attempt to escape. After a successful lift off from the ground her ascend was brought to a stop by a violent tug that also produced sharp pain to her rear ankle. The changeling looked down to spot one of the barb covered vines now wrapped around her hind limb, anchoring the queen to mid-air. More similar vines reached from behind the cover of the spreading fog to latch themselves around her body. Fighting and trying to stay airborn, Chrysalis' egg shaped retinas shrunk as she realized the futility of her efforts against the entity now reeling her to a waiting doom in the mist below.

With no pony around to hear it, a bloodcurdling scream pierced the murky depths of the forest, leaving deadly silence to linger in it's wake.

***