A Different Alchemy

Chapters

1: Shades of Black
2: Crystal Shards
3: Not... Today
4: The Choice
5: Do You Speak It

1: Shades of Black

Shouts, screams, smoke and chaos had filled the once beautiful outskirts of Canterlot. As flying changelings lashed out for ponies on the ground, pegasi darted for them, to be again preyed on by changelings that looked like pegasi. War had always been an ugly sight, irrespective of the participating parties; yet this one had the taste of an especially ruthless pollution of Equestria's majestic center, pitting fearful minions against one another in a barbarous battle of races.

Crimson Leaf had no allegiance in this conflict. Surely, the hive was the aggressor, yet one could not help but wonder why not a single changeling was seen to defend the capital. The royal troops were calling their attacks “love,” even coloring them pink. Would they be better off losing for once, so they see the other side of the coin?

A mad thought. Crimson Leaf flipped back his hood, drew a flask, and charged the spell for extended vision. Was seeing this getting to him? He really needed to grow stronger.

A large blast from Canterlot threw dozens of changelings into the air, many of whom turned to flee. Closer by, a few wandered in disguise, nonchalantly playing their pony act in fields, forests and on roads; the uninjured ones were indeed masters of deception. Without a vision spell, they could easily be mistaken for real ponies. Sadly, hardly any of them were putting truly useful abilities to display.

He had probably wasted his time. Still, he trotted to the best available vantage point – a little mound in the fields, rewarding him with a brilliant view over the lands, marvelously flooded with sunlight all the way from Canterlot's waterfalls to Ponyville on the horizon. He watched the rest of the fighting from there. A changeling targeted him, surely mistaking him for an Equestrian soldier. After a swiftly crystallized projectile had diverted the attacker and returned to its control circuit's reach, he briefly wondered whether his own abilities would be useful to intervene, but his mind quickly returned to more important – and realistic – topics.

A duel between a young stallion and a wounded, undisguised changeling caught his eye. Other ponies might notice soon, but there was still enough time for the changeling to get the better of this.

The spear missed. Shirei had smacked it aside with her unbroken wing and, pushing her body's signals out of her mind, jumped on her unicorn opponent. She managed to pin down his spear with a steel claw, her weapon of choice for the invasion. Victorious, she pointed her second claw at the enemy, locking him in place.

With the pony unable to use his weapon – and clearly unwilling to keep fighting – she allowed herself a quick look around. Canterlot was still in sight, shining from powerful anti-changeling spells. Under the pressure of ground-cast magic, her allies' hold of the sky was thinning out.

Parts of the world turned blood-red, until she blinked. Adrenaline had been dulling the pain that now crept back up her body, back into her mind. How many cuts and bruises had she suffered? She was unable to count, unable to comprehend. Was this – shock?

Taking alicorn magic to the face had been no more healthy than the subsequent crash-landing and fight. The forehoof she was threatening the pony with was broken; had she wanted to actually stab the pony, she would need to switch hooves. Yet, with every moment, it became clearer that the pony's fate did not account for much.

“We're losing, aren't we?”

The words were barely audible, as if her voice was failing her. Or was it? She lifted a hoof to her throat, which only served to smear blood over the hoof and dirt onto a wound. Her eyes widened in surprise at the injury she had barely registered.

This wasn't the time to get distracted. There was still a pony below her, albeit one that was shaking and staring wide-eyed. There was blood on the pony too. Had she struck him? No… that's mine. Some had dripped off her chin, painting red spots on white fur.

She shook her head, secretly hoping that it was a bad dream. She had never truly been prepared for this day. As it approached, it had haunted her in nightmares. Now, it had come, and truly, no dream had even remotely prepared her for what she had lived through that day. And now? Now, that it was ending, what to do? It was all so pointless now. What was I expecting? What in the world was I thinking when I went along with all of this?

The hive's presence was fading fast. Another fight at this point would certainly be her end. Desperate for any way out, Shirei tried to change into a pony, but the green flames just sparked about randomly, throwing about dirt and smoke.

Her beaten opponent did not hesitate to take this chance. He smacked her off-balance and swiftly rolled aside, to then gallop away with astonishing speed.

Off you go, white pony knight. Who had given that kid the spear?

She envied him. There'd be no way out for her, even if she were still able to run.

In the distance, pegasi were spreading out from the palace, scouting for changelings in a relentless sunlight that had ceased approaching dusk.

Shirei could feel her head growing heavier and heavier. Deep, no, in the center of enemy territory, her mind slowly gave in to dizziness. There was a grove, it lay just a bit ahead. A place to hide. She started walking towards it, dropping the second claw without giving it much of a thought. Each step was aching and the world spinning.

Even for Canterlot's surroundings, this was a very bad place to have crashed. There were pony villages and troops, and almost everything lay out in the open. Without disguise, a changeling was easy to spot. Worst of all, her energy reserves were about to reach their limit. She kept trying to convince herself that she could work this out once she was hiding in the grove. Use the time to think of a plan, then sneak out at nightfall. The pegasi were still a good bit away, Celestia would have to lower the sun eventually, and then, she would just need a pony, a source of love…

Bright as these thoughts seemed, deep down, Shirei was aware how futile each of them would be. She had almost lost a battle against little more than a foal and she certainly wasn't getting better. How would she possibly steal love when she couldn't even shape-shift anymore?

Slowly, Shirei resigned to reality. She was trying to fool herself. At best, she was picking a dignified place to die. Yet, as crazy as it felt, this was not the heaviest thought now weighing on her.

I deserve this, don't I?

She did; it was frighteningly easy to convince herself of that. She had aided a mad queen to replace someone's wife and bring down war on a peaceful city, just for an easy way out of the Badlands. All just to witness enslaved pegasi's rain, to live in houses built with ponies' hoofwork, drive the owners out in terror or forcefully feed on them. Her role had been minor, but in retrospect, it was quite clear what she had been fighting for. There had never been another way this would have worked out, had it worked out. She had closed her eyes and turned her head to the fact, in the vain and selfish hope for a better life.

All of it was suddenly so clear and undeniable. Why had she stayed in line, when only this could be the outcome? What had she possibly been afraid of? Had been wishing for? Victory? Would winning this have been any better, to deal the pain she now received? What – was I thinking?

Was the feeling of a lump in her throat from the wound? Did it matter? She had made her choices, and now, fate would have her pay the price.

Put into this perspective, what lay ahead was not that bad a grave.

Sharp pain struck her flank. She barely turned her head. There was a pony's helmet, then black, then the sky. It seemed her last wish would not be granted.

Goodbye, Equestria, she thought, blinking at the sky as it was fading out. Your clouds are beautiful.

“Oh, and check this out! It's like glass, just not, and it's a tree! And when you look through it, it's almost invisible, but the colors behind it kinda change, but not enough, so from the right angle, you can make it as if it is invisible! You could…”

“Lyra.” Bon-Bon's tone was getting a little bit annoyed. She didn't look up though, as she was occupied untangling her mane from a little thicket.

That was typical of Bon-Bon. It took her a little to get enthusiastic; no reason to get Lyra worried. She surveyed the sparsely lit forest in the meantime, choosing a path suitable for her friend.

“You could use it for magic tricks. On stage, it would be so hard to see, I bet Trixie would love it, or you could make really cool windows from it! Oh, oh, and that's not all, by far actually, come here!” Lyra had finally found a suitable path in.

A small ring of trees surrounded a surreal area. The treetops shielded almost all the direct light, while the nearby woods reflected browns and reds in between what green entered from above. Inside the tree-ring, branches' material gradually changed toward the center, shifting into a translucent, often near-transparent material. And, arranged with no rhyme or reason, pitch-black patches covered some of the branches or formed spots on the ground.

Bon-Bon did stop for a moment and admire the scenery, but all too soon, she gave Lyra that unwilling look again.

“Really, it's nice, but can we come back tomorrow? Do you realize what's going on? There might still be changelings around.” Despite her words, Bon-Bon trailed along, following her friend into her surprising discovery.

“Look, Bon-Bon. Black snow! Have you ever seen black snow? Creepy, awesome, creepy-awesome, what do you say?” Lyra had made a pitch-black snowball and was throwing it up into the air, to then catch it again and repeat.

“Don't just put that all over your hooves. Who knows what it is, but I don't think it's snow. Lyra, can we please go back now, I don't have a lot of time, and this won't have melted by tomorrow… I think.” Bon-Bon was taking an uneasy look around.

“Oh, you don't have to be all worried. The changelings didn't even get this far, and they all went the other way after that spell.” Lyra started on a little black snow figure, wondering whether Bon-Bon would notice how it was supposed to be a biped.

“Lyra.”

“Besides, you know, these changelings aren't all that dangerous if it's just one or two, and they won't—”

“Lyra!”

“They won't really—”

“LYRA! Can you stop talking for a moment!” Bon-Bon whirled her head at the mare, who fell silent. She then slowly turned her head back to where it had been pointing before.

Lyra couldn't make out anything in particular that Bon-Bon might be looking at, or listening to. She decided she'd been quiet for long enough.

“What's the matter? Are you hearing things, because I'm not. Why are you getting all jumpy on me?” Lyra did manage not to be as loud as before.

“That's just it. Listen.”

Lyra had to admit, it was a little eerie once she stopped talking. There wasn't a single sound.

“Fluttershy personally boasted about the hundred species of birds in this forest,” Bon-Bon said in an absent-minded voice. “Well, as far as boasting works for her.”

Lyra blinked a few times. She turned around, looking at the strange scenery: a normal forest with a few weird black or transparent occurrences in it. Had it been this quiet when she had first found it? She didn't think so.

“Well, maybe we should ask Twi— ow.” Bon-Bon lifted one of her hooves: a semi-transparent branch was sticking in it. “Invisible and sharp. I better… ugh, it's stuck?” Bon-Bon did manage to pull it out, then stumbled around and landed face-first in a bush.

“You alright?” Lyra helped her up. Bon-Bon's face had a little bruise, but she looked okay otherwise. “You gotta look out. Don't panic, it's just a weird tree.”

“Oh. It's okay. I just, uhm, maybe I should rest for a moment.” One of Bon-Bon's pupils widened and shrunk back in a way that it definitely wasn't supposed to. She dizzily dropped down into a cracking tangle of more near-invisible brushwood.

“Bon-Bon? You're right, sorry. Let's go back. Can you get up? Bon-Bon, don't sit in there. Hey!” Lyra came up to her friend and pulled her out of the weird branches, which were visible only from stains of black snow.

“It doesn't feel so bad. Why are you—” She clumsily sat down on more weird plants, not finishing the sentence, swaying her head strangely.

“Bon-Bon? What are you talking about? Bon-Bon!” Lyra pulled with all her might, finally getting tumbling Bon-Bon, who suddenly looked really confused, out of the strange area.

A few steps on, Bon-Bon flopped back to the ground. “Uh. I feel dizzy.”

“Bon-Bon! What is wrong?” Lyra was already helping her up again. “This— can you walk? We need to get you to a doctor! Bon-Bon, are you listening?”

Darkness. Light. The sky? Then, darkness again. And all throughout, pain.

How long had it been until Shirei woke up? She saw no window to give her an idea. Tight rope pinned her to a wooden board, which was angled against a dimly lit room's wall. She could barely – and only – see anything on her right eye. The room seemed empty otherwise, featuring only rough stone walls and a wooden door. Not that she could turn her head enough to see all of it.

A bowl of water was on a table beside her, just in reach of her broken forehoof.

Before long, she had overcome the pain to draw it closer and start drinking. It hurt her throat to swallow, but it was bearable. In small gulps, at least. That circumstance lengthened the time she took to empty the bowl, to a time beyond something she'd want to estimate.

Not that it mattered. What was there to do? Eventually, she was finished, facing a far longer while in which absolutely nothing happened. Not that she was expecting to find any love, but the loneliness made it even worse. Had they put her here just to make her death more miserable? There weren't even remote signs of anyone. She was just hanging there in silence.

That time drifted by, again, with no means to make out how much exactly – or even roughly – it was. It was cold, and the room seemed to become even darker. Maybe it was her mind, finally yielding to the darkness?

Though, as her consciousness weakly drifted on, she couldn't help but wonder: why wasn't she dying? Had she not been bleeding? Her hoof certainly didn't look like someone tended to it. She made some painful attempts to move her head, but gave up. Still, it seemed that something had been done to her left flank, and maybe her neck too?

She gave the uninviting room a second look – and as realization struck her, she wished she was dead. There was only one explanation: she would be interrogated. And her voice was gone. Her remaining eye widened in terror at what was about to happen. She frantically thought about ways to express that she was mute. Mute, and not just faking it to keep secrets.

The minutes that followed were the longest she could imagine. But this time, they ended, and the door opened to dim torchlight.

She quickly relaxed her body, pretending to be unconscious, as two ponies entered the room. Judging from the sound, one was wearing armor.

“It's not reacting to anything. Sometimes closes or opens the eyes, but doesn't act very awake. Probably hit the head too bad.” It was a stallion's voice. He smacked Shirei's head for emphasis.

Shirei let out a mute scream as the impact stretched her neck. Unwillingly, she briefly blinked her eye open to a helmet on a head that was looking elsewhere. Nopony seemed to have noticed.

“What are you doing?” a second stallion said in a displeased tone.

“Gee, sorry. It won't be damaged that easily. Took a lot more than that earlier,” the first voice retorted, though sounding a bit apologetic.

“We have a deal. You will abide to it exactly if you want it kept.”

The first voice started to mumble something in response, but got interrupted by the other.

“This is sufficient. Move.”

Shirei relaxed as she guessed that meant no more hitting for now. Her board was removed from the wall and dragged out of the room with her on it. She could see an increase in light through her closed eyelid. Her hearing wasn't good enough at the time to get all details, but she could make out some of the things said.

“Prisoner 43 leaving. That's the changeling. He's taking it for experiments,” a new voice said.

Shirei almost failed to breathe smoothly.

“As agreed upon. Feel free to check.”

Outside, the board was dragged in an almost horizontal position. It was dark, the new angle somewhat more comfortable, and together with the trip taking quite a while, it was too much for Shirei to stay awake.

Something thumped. Shirei opened her eyes – remembering only one would work – and immediately regretted it, as a stallion turned his head toward her, putting down a hammer. He was a dark-red earth pony with a fair, pale mane, wearing a long cloak with the hood thrown back. Silvery lines spread over his head and neck, like a thin tattoo or maybe a layer of paint, wildly intersecting in patterns. Creepy.

She was in a very different building, made almost entirely of wood and featuring a few windows, in a glass that was toned slightly violet. It was a spacious room, or maybe two or three connected ones, looking at the wooden columns and partial walls dividing it into sections. It was apparent that it had been renovated, or expanded upon, since some parts' refined quality contrasted starkly with the crude wood elsewhere.

“Finally woke up?” the stallion asked, adding “Can you understand me?”

She hesitated a moment, then gave a slight nod.

“How is your condition?”

Shirei carefully shook her head.

“But you're not going to talk to me?”

That was hard to answer. She wanted to talk, but couldn't do it the normal way, so she just stared back, looking around for ideas. The injured hoof wasn't bound as tightly as the others, but making gestures with it broken and restrained was hard.

He sighed and picked up a tablet with his mouth, on which there was a bowl of water, some roundish shape that might be food, and a little cupcake. He pushed the board Shirei was on in a steeper position and held the tablet in front of her. Unsure of how long he would stay like this, Shirei chomped down the two pieces of food in an instant, despite having a hard time swallowing, then started drinking as quickly as she could. The pony raised his eyebrows, but waited patiently until she was finished.

The stallion took a piece of paper, drew something on it, and held it up to her. It featured numbered images of the three things she just had, followed by what looked like bread and… cherries?

“Water, rice, cupcake, cherry. Do you want any of those? That's all I have right now, and I'm quite confused at what your kind eats, so give me a hint.”

She looked around, searching for ideas at how she should choose. She motioned right with her head with as little painful movement as possible, because cherries were a really unexpected choice.

“You can just talk back to me. I'm not into playing games here,” the pony stated.

The changeling gave a minimal shake of her head.

“Oh.” He looked confused for a moment. “Oh, stupid. So… ah. Of course. Your voice is gone?”

She nodded, which was less painful than shaking her head.

“So. I don't have a lot of food, but you looked like you'd take the cherries?”

Shirei hesitated for a moment, staring at him, then nodded.

“Okay.” He went outside.

This wasn't good enough. She was badly injured and couldn't heal on just food. If that pony ceased to care about her well-being, or went to sleep for the night, she might not wake up in the morning. But dismissing the food might not make him ask the right questions either and, even if, love for undisguised changelings would be hard to come by. Better eat a few cherries – which were quite tasty for pony food – and buy some time.

Changelings needed affection, that was just how they were. Need could not fill in for it. That pony would not feed her by wanting her alive for whatever experiment he was planning. She needed at least genuine concern.

The stallion returned too quickly for Shirei to think of something smart.

“Don't just gobble them up. I didn't remove the stones.” He had his cloak's hood up as he entered the room, but swiped it back again. Indeed, he had brought cherries. “You probably can't eat them tied up like this. Is this leg alright?” He pointed at her right hind leg and she nodded.

He produced a thin chain, which he pulled through the changeling hoof's natural holes. “Convenient, these,” he said, allowing a little smile to take his stony face for a moment.

After locking the chain – it was at least long enough to allow moving across the room – he freed her from her other bounds, carefully sliding her down the board, onto the wooden floor. It took Shirei some time to settle down in a position that didn't hurt too much. She ignored the cherries and tried to stare at the pony, hoping for a reaction.

But he started to walk off.

Are you gonna notice already? She threw a cherry at him.

The stallion slowly turned around. Oh no, that might have come across all wrong. Sorry! I'm sorry! She blinked frantically and gesticulated with her good forehoof.

The stallion moved in accentuated slow-motion. He picked up the cherry, walked back to Shirei, and put it back to the others. He towered over Shirei's collapsed form on the ground, who tried to look as pleading as a changeling could, while she was miming to write with a pen.

“I'm getting to it. No reason to throw the food.”

Shirei slumped back on the ground. Her heart was racing, and the world had become uncomfortably foggy.

When Crimson Leaf turned to look at the changeling, it had already finished writing, staring back. Why couldn't she just rest? Making such a commotion must have been tiring.

She kept looking at him wide-eyed, really looking terrible with that crack in her left eye. When he was close enough, she held up the piece of parchment, on which she had written a heart and a question mark.

Author's Note

Please comment, especially if you find any issues.

The beginning has some similarities to “An Affliction of the Heart” by Anonymous Pegasus. I contacted him about it, and he sees no problem. Kudos to him!

If this chapter doesn't turn y'all away, the next one will be out in one week, on Thursday the 26th.

2: Crystal Shards

As if somepony had flipped a switch.

Shirei winced, not quite sure herself what was happening. She certainly felt more pain, but different pain, almost a good kind of pain. Her body was overcome by a sense of awakening; it quickly remembered every cut, every chip and bruise in her carapace. That cloaked, red pony had just given the piece of paper a quick glimpse, and when he had looked back to her, this.

She wished that he would keep up whatever he was doing. It was relieving, but very straining and somehow disgusting. Can he just love anyone on a whim? This… intensely? Probably not; the flow did not feel very natural, anyway. Shirei dimly realized she was writhing on the floor; it was difficult to keep her view fixed on anything. Every time she glanced at that face sticking out of the cloak, bright mane over those lines on red, it just stared at her expressionlessly.

The burning sensation of flowing energy made it hard to think straight. She must have had a dire need for it.

The next time she looked the stallion's way, he was strangely closer than before. Or was her eye having trouble to focus? Depth was hard to perceive on one eye; her state of mind didn't help either.

The chaos in her mind tried to get a grip on the situation. What was the pony doing, or thinking? It must have been apparent that she was in pain. But whatever he was doing, it was necessary. So, putting in all her effort to stay focused, Shirei grabbed one of his legs, looked up to him, and nodded vigorously – which was possible without too much pain as long as she kept her neck straight. She couldn't make out whether he understood, but continued until she was so dizzy that she dropped back down to fidgeting about on the floor.

This time, she felt no urge to resist as her consciousness drifted away yet again.

Lyra walked a little ahead of Bon-Bon, rarely allowing her eyes off her friend.

“So, uh, poisonous?” she asked carefully. “I mean, they don't know the sort, but they can figure that out?”

“Well, the nurse didn't call it poison, just said it can have… adverse effects. They said it could be from the thorns of a flower which shouldn't grow here… did you see an orange flower back there?” Bon-Bon's voice was still a little unsteady, but she already looked much better than she had when Lyra had dragged her back.

“Uh, no… I'm so sorry, Bon-Bon. I had no idea there are dangerous plants here, I mean, outside the Everfree Forest. This is all my fault, I—”

“No, it's not,” Bon-Bon said in a soft, but confident voice. “And don't worry. You heard it, it passes by itself. Just a night's rest and I'll be all back to normal.”

Lyra lowered her head, feeling bad about herself. She had just wanted to show Bon-Bon the cool spot, and now it had gone all wrong. She tried to think of ways in which she could make it up to Bon-Bon.

They reached their house – they had been housemates for quite a while – and as Lyra stepped inside, she noticed a pile of bags that was topped by the absurdly huge hat Bon-Bon had been wearing at the Canterlot wedding.

“You haven't had time to unpack? Let me help you with that. It's the least I can do!” Something about not being too… proactive waved from the back-seats of her mind, but was ignored.

“You, er, sure?” Bon-Bon sounded a tad skeptical. “Sometimes I wonder if you know where your own things go. Really, it's fine. You could help me with the bed, then I can get some sleep.”

“You can sleep in my room, it's all done! And I take care of everything!” Lyra wouldn't let her friend get the short end of this, not after the trouble she'd caused her. “You just rest and get better. I'll be extra careful!”

“You… I… uhm.” Bon-Bon paused, then sighed. “Alright, fine. Thank you, Lyra. The things for my room… just put them in there on the floor. I'll sort them tomorrow.”

Bon-Bon slowly made her way up the stairs, followed by Lyra's concerned looks. Before long, the sound of breaking glass rang from above. Glass? What? Lyra almost fell over as she darted to the stairs.

Banging open her own room's door, she found the windows intact. Then, what had made this sound? To her side, a confused-looking Bon-Bon sat in front of hundreds of crystal shards.

“I… Uh… Ly— I… sorry bu… I didn't mean to…” Tears were welling up in Bon-Bon's eyes.

Some things from Lyra's shelf seemed displaced. A little humanoid figure lay among the shards, too, obviously knocked down with the rest. Lyra did not know how Bon-Bon had managed to accidentally pull things from a shelf on her way to the bed, but Bon-Bon had generally been quite disoriented ever since she had stepped on that branch.

Bon-Bon could make a few more unidentifiable sounds until Lyra had finally managed to walk around the pieces and give her a hug.

“It's alright,” she said, trying her best to sound soothing. “It's not your fault. Just come over here. You really need some rest.” She gently led Bon-Bon onto her bed, eventually getting her to lie down.

Lyra picked up the blanket with her magic and placed it onto the sobbing bundle that Bon-Bon had become. She dimmed the light and sat down beside the bed, unsure what to do. Bon-Bon had curled up under the blanket, only a few strands of her pink and blue mane still showing. Her unsettled breathing was the only sound in the room.

“It's okay. Bon-Bon, don't worry,” Lyra whispered, carefully caressing her friend's head through the blanket.

Lyra was certain she did enough worrying for the two of them. Sweet Celestia, what if it's dangerous? There had been no orange flower there. And nopony seemed to know what the weird branches were. Then again, Lyra had cut herself on such a branch on her way back, but nothing had happened at all! Who really knew what was wrong with Bon-Bon, what if… No, no, don't think that way. The nurse didn't seem worried at all. Ponies sometimes get sick. It's not like we always know why, but they still get better!

Bon-Bon must not have been feeling well at all. Yes, she was a very sensitive pony when it came to apologies, but it was rare for her to lose composure like this. It was scary to see her so bewildered, almost… overwhelmed. Lyra was supposed to be the unreliable, crazy pony, who needed her mature housemate to keep her hooves on the ground. Of course, Lyra gladly returned the favor, but she wished it wouldn't happen like this.

The item Bon-Bon had shattered was a present she herself had given to Lyra. It was a decorative mobile made of various types of crystal, brought back from a trip to the far north. Lyra had loved it. When put into sunlight, it would make a beautiful sight, scattering specks of light everywhere. Still, she wouldn't let her friend feel bad for wrecking it.

It had taken Bon-Bon some time to calm down. Lyra remained at her side, trying not to show her worries until Bon-Bon had the peaceful, regular breath of a pony that is soundly asleep.

Lyra slowly got up. After a quick check around the room, she tried to carefully sweep up the crystal pieces. But no matter how slowly she moved, it still made a lot of noise.

She glanced at the quietly sleeping figure on the bed.

With a sigh, she began to pick up the pieces, one by one, with her magic. They turned out to be annoyingly hard to move this way, but she had to do this. With the confused impression Bon-Bon had made, leaving sharp pieces lying around was out of the question, as was doing anything that might wake her!

She silently continued her task, working deep into the night, determined to continue until the floor was thoroughly picked clean.

Tick tick tick – click. Click, tick, click click, tick tick tick tick click.

Shirei was sufficiently awake to not flutter her eyes open like some stupid animal this time. She'd quietly regain her senses, while appearing asleep for a little longer.

Krrrrrr rr rr tick tick tick tick tick, tick, tick, tick, tick – tick – tick – tick click.

Her position was quite comfortable. She was lying on a really soft surface, and something pleasantly warm had been placed beside her. She wasn't tied up, aside from what felt like the chain on her hoof. The color shining through her closed eyelids made her suspect it was dawn, though after all that had happened, her grasp on time was rather limited.

Click, tick, tick, tick, click.

Whatever it was that she was half leaned against, it moved a little while the strange sound was heard.

Oooh no. The word “experiments” came back from memory, and Shirei found herself more awake and far less comfortable. In fact, she felt an urgent need to figure out what was going on, how these noises came to be, and whether that uncanny earth pony was right beside her.

She carefully opened her functioning eye just a little bit, trying to get a peak at the horrid contraption she would be placed in.

There was nothing noteworthy in the direction she was facing; nothing to strap a changeling onto anyway. Peeking as far right as possible without turning her head, she could make out the blurred back of the pony – the warm something she was partially leaned against. This was just great, she might draw his attention with the slightest movement.

Still, she had to find the source of these weird noises. She closed her eyes and nonchalantly rolled her head, trying to mimic how she imagined she'd do it while asleep.

Her neck still hurt a little, but it was much better while lying down. Or was it also better in general? Her energy reserves were still low, so that wasn't it – or were they, maybe, low again? Her limbs had that sensation of enhanced healing, something she'd only expect to feel when she was well-fed before injuring herself. She had never experienced feeding while she had been injured. Changing shape with an injury was hard, and ponies wouldn't feed her when she was in her natural form. Well, not until last night. How long had that continued? There was no clear memory of how she had ended up in the bed.

Her head touched the pony. She hadn't intended that, but now, of course, she'd not move it back. To her irritation, this was answered by a notable flow of love energy that stayed for a few seconds – after which it was cut off as quickly as it came.

This sensation was absolutely, undeniably, indescribably weird. There had never been any pony, or changeling, or creature in general, that had fed Shirei in such clear-cut bursts. No kind of love or affection would work this way; the pony had to be using some trick to feed her. But even that was strange: hives had some methods to store love energy, but none had felt like this on consumption. It just wouldn't deplete so suddenly; the flow couldn't stop in an instant.

Shirei concluded that the pony wasn't just a bored guard messing around. This was good on one hoof, since he'd not accidentally kill her before the experiment, but bad on the other hoof, since chances to sway him from his job would be dim.

Click ssssshhh click, click rrrrrrr rr r r tick tick tick tick tick, tick, tick, click.

She couldn't resist peeking, just a little, at the origin of the noise right in front of her.

There was a crystal in black and violet colors, laid into and surrounded by multiple intersecting metallic rings, floating in mid-air. Shirei blinked, but it was not her eye fooling her. There was no visible aura on the structure, which was about the size of a pony's head. Not that it would weigh as much; most of the volume between the thin rings was just air. A hoof, featuring a web of bright lines on it, entered Shirei's field of view, to adjust a tiny lever on one of the rings, making a different one rotate. When the hoof let go, the lever kept turning, slowly wandering around its ring while making a ticking noise on each of the little markings. Finally, the hoof stopped it and pushed something that made a click.

“Whattinde hay?”

Shirei's mouth and eyes – she could feel the blind one now – stayed wide open after she had heard herself whisper.

The pony rolled around, and a shock-frozen changeling felt the sudden onset of an energy flow. Note to self: stop trying to be sneaky, or you might scare yourself to death.

“Oh. You can talk. Well, whisper, I guess. Good morning.” The stallion rolled over to sit upright.

He wasn't wearing the cloak, and looked scary. Those lines were covering his body from head to hoof, and they looked neither natural, nor did they seem to depict anything she'd know of. They weren't exactly subtle either. He seemed to be oblivious to the impression he was making, showing a slight smile as he turned his head to the floating object.

“Fascinating, is it not? It's a Realms' Eye, one of the finest ever made.” At a single move of his hoof, all but one of the rings started rotating, as did the crystal in the center, until all simultaneously locked in a new position.

He gave the changeling a brief look, as if expecting a response, but there wasn't really something to respond with, was there?

“Anyway. We'll have to make this quick. May I ask what your name is? Oh, and, given the circumstances, there should hardly be a benefit in giving a fake one. Not that I could stop you.”

“Waxing Moo—”

“What was that?” He leaned a little closer.

“Shirei.” He was right. Lying was pointless. Now that she had said it, she noticed how sick she had become of all the lying anyway. It was a relief to speak her true name, which she had always liked, but rarely ever been called by.

“Shirei,” the pony repeated, and she nodded. “Well then, Shirei. Are you feeling well enough to survive without me for half a day? I have an urgent matter to attend to that might take this long.”

She just opened her mouth and let her brain work for a moment.

“I can provide you with the normal, I mean pony, food, which you know from before, as well as access to most of this floor. However, getting a pony to close proximity, let alone have it submit to your peculiar feeding process, would be problematic.”

“Mot a probmem,” she mumbled, deciding to try again after getting angry at her malfunctioning mouth. “Not – ah – prob-lem.”

She wanted to let out a snarl, but couldn't. Shirei hated that injury even more than the others. At least it was healing quickly. She opted for a sigh, that worked.

“Excellent. Now, listen closely. I have one important rule for you to follow. I have to leave some of my equipment in your reach. You cannot touch it. If you see an item you'd not expect every other pony to have, and you try to interact with it in any way, you are likely to regret it.” He made a strange gesture for emphasis on any. “Please confirm that you understand.”

Shirei must have been looking a little confused, and in her opinion, for good reason. Tying her down tightly would have been a viable tactic, acting nice would have been a different one, but this combination seemed a little clumsy.

The stallion was still staring. Shirei took a breath.

“I won't touch your ekf— e – quip – ment.” That was honest; she doubted he had left something in her reach that would be of more use than harm to her.

The red pony nodded and all but jumped off, to move things about in a frenzy.

“I will see you later. Food is in there.” He waved his hoof at a cupboard, then snatched the floating object and his cloak, almost in the same movement. Shirei managed to blink about twice before he was out of the door.

The door snapped shut, and the room stood silent.

She took an even deeper breath.

“Oh, by the way, I'm Creepy vam Lumatic, but you cam callme Creepy.” – “Mithe to meet you, fo, amy immoral ekfperimemth comim?” – “Haha, dom't wanna ruim de surprise, right?” She tried a crazy face at her nonexistent audience.

Her mouth was more weird than hurting at this point. Physically, it seemed fine enough; there wasn't really a sound she couldn't make when she concentrated on it, but some felt fuzzy. Possibly a nerve. She might have to focus on healing it.

Shirei sighed again.

Anyway, it was determined. His name was “Creepy”.

The room was a part of the same wooden building from before, featuring the makeshift bed Shirei was on. One edge directly connected it to a larger room; it wasn't quite clear where one began and the other ended. In the other room, Creepy's desk was visible, holding what presumably was his holy stuff: flasks and bowls containing powders, strange tools with lots of small markings on them, and a book with an elaborately decorated cover. There was a shelf, close to the ceiling, with more books.

As Shirei was examining the room, her mind began to calm down – maybe for the first time since this ordeal had begun. The memory of it was – painful, in more than one way. She had not just lost fighting, but lost faith in what she had fought for, maybe even in herself. Now, she was still living, yet strangely unsure what that even meant.

Life in the badlands had been harsh, but fighting ponies had been worse. Not just combat itself, or the fear of losing; that wasn't very different from fighting for survival in a desert that roasts you alive should you drop to the ground at daytime. It was the way changelings fought. Changelings would blend into their foes' ranks to learn their ways, understand them, and, when a changeling had the chance, feel their love and affection. Shirei had been an infiltrator, living in Canterlot since well before the attack. She had seen ponies struggle with their lives, chatted with them, listened to their worries, learned from their advice… eventually, without her realizing, something in her had changed. On the final days, a part of her had secretly hoped that the ponies close to her would… would… somehow make do? She couldn't finish the thought herself. But she knew she had wanted the invasion's brunt to be elsewhere. If she was honest with herself, she had long feared the invasion as much as being discovered, hoping for it to happen as late as possible, maybe even to fail.

But Shirei herself had been effective in her job. Images returned from memory, images of those who had considered Shirei's persona a friend. Some had been swept up in the panic of the invasion… who knew what had become of them? She remembered the faces ponies had made when she had turned on them. The face of Gold Paper. Her sweet, welcoming face had turned into one of pure terror, like those of most ponies with known weaknesses. Hers had been—

Stop. Shirei buried her face in the pillow. Brain, please stop. I have to get out of here first.

One thing was clearer to her than it had ever been. She couldn't continue down the hive's path, no matter what. If she would manage to break free, she would return to the badlands, where she belonged, but not to Chrysalis's hive. It would be hard, but she would never, ever, rely on it again.

That aside, she had to escape first. She felt guilt, but not enough to become a guinea pig of somepony who'd smuggle her out of a prison. A particular pony that was also hard to read and quite unnerving. Was he not really gone, watching from somewhere what Shirei would do? It seemed unlikely. He hadn't exactly looked the actor so far, and when he had run out, he had seemed to be in a genuine hurry. But then, wasn't he being a little careless about constraining her?

Crawling to the edge of the bed wasn't very straining. She had been healing well; even her broken forehoof looked proper again. It had actually been bandaged a little. Still, it would be wise not to push her luck. She chose to limp for a while.

Healing? As she realized, the pony's actions made much more sense.

You don't know how fast I can heal.

Changelings needed some love to sustain themselves, and certainly, they'd not be feeling very well when they were deprived of it for too long. But they didn't depend on this fragile and troublesome process just to be complicated. Their bodies could use excess energy in various ways. Transformation was just the most prominent skill; the most useful one was extended healing, which, given enough energy, could be more effective than any other healing spell.

The pony had seemed to be concerned whether Shirei would live for half a day without him. He probably had miscalculated the amount of love he had fed her, or underestimated how useful it was. Or, more likely, he was oblivious to the fact that it could be used for healing.

The chain that bound her was simply fiddled through holes in her hoof. Sadly, altering her body was impossible while she was in such bad shape, and changes on her main body – the part that mostly stayed during typical transformations – were especially hard. Thus, getting the chain through her body was no option. She tracked the chain's two ends: one was frozen into a large crystal that was stuck into the ground, but the other was just nailed to some sort of timber column.

Shirei bit the chain and started forcefully pulling on the nail. It budged sideways easily, but didn't move out of the wood at all.

Oo-kay. Creepy trying to be tricky. We'll see about that.

She let go for now and limped toward the easily found bathroom. It was time to get back into shape.

Though, for a moment, she would pause, close her eyes to concentrate, and begin drawing on her remaining energy. Focus: regenerate chewing muscles. And while she was at it, she'd check any nerves in the vicinity.

Lyra had not gotten a lot of sleep, even though Bon-Bon was oversleeping. No, because Bon-Bon was oversleeping. If it weren't for that, she'd feel like dropping into bed, but she just couldn't now. Bon-Bon. Oversleeping. It was unheard of. It was long afternoon, and neither had Bon-Bon gotten up, nor was there any new hint what was wrong with her.

“Sorry, I know it's not much to go by. What else was there… oh, I think I saw her eye do something weird when it all started. Like, getting small for a short moment.”

Zecora was tending to her cauldron while Lyra was telling the story. She had asked a question every now and then, but remained silent this time.

“I'm really worried. She knocked crystals from the middle of my shelf yesterday. You have to believe me, such a thing never happens to Bon-Bon, but now she almost pulls over an entire—”

The zebra had stopped mixing and turned to pick up a book. Lyra stared at her as she was skimming through it.

“Do you know something? What could be wrong with Bon-Bon?”

Zecora showed no reaction, she was focused on reading. A moment later, she snapped the book shut again.

Lyra's ears dropped; she couldn't stand the tension as she met Zecora's gaze.

“What ails your friend I do not know – but there may be someone whom to meet you should go.” Zecora pulled out a piece of paper. “There exists a rare cause for earth ponies' pain – the handling of which is in alchemy's domain.”

She sketched a little map, beginning with Ponyville's bridges and a few other landmarks.

“I should say that, most likely, there's nothing awry. Still, make certain you must, at a place that's nearby.”

That was what Lyra had needed – and feared. The place really was close by. She galloped back through the Everfree Forest without giving her surroundings the slightest thought. Please be home.

Author's Note

There have been quite a few edits to Chapter 1 since the first publishing. Sorry if I confused anyone. If you find mistakes or any other issues, please tell me, I will do my best to fix them!

3: Not... Today

Shirei sunk her fangs into the wood, trying the part above the nail for a change.

Creepy's plan had a hole in it. A hole at least the size of a changeling fang. Apparently, he had some trick to keep the nail from coming out. Pfft. Yes, the nail, the chain, and the crystal on the other end were all borderline indestructible. But hey, there was really no reason to care. She only needed to make whatever was attached to the chain small enough to fit through her hoof-holes.

Despite their magical feeding ability, Changelings weren't bad at chewing. Shirei's mouth was recovering nicely, plus, there was up to half a day of time. Judging from the now severely damaged column – which she had checked to not be structurally important – she'd be done in a fraction of the time.

With Creepy underestimating her healing, this moment was her chance. And it might be the only chance she would get. So this was the time to concentrate on grinding down some timber.

She bit on something that felt harder than the usual wood.

A close look revealed the tip of a little crystal inside, surely the reason she couldn't pull the nail out.

Her eyes widened. She went back to the lower side and tore out pieces in a frenzy, targeting the same position, but on the opposite side of the nail. She found the other tip, but only on the very top of the ripped-out area.

Heh. That was too small. If she managed to pull the crystal from the wood, it would easily fit through the holes in her leg.

The forest's peace – a false peace, as Crimson knew – was broken by erratic sparks and flashes.

Mana surged down his body, leaving a burning sensation on his magic-incompatible skin, engulfing him in white fire until it reached the ignition circuit. After activation, he had three and a half seconds to raise the barrier. Not that such a thing would suffice to shield him toward the epicenter; He had erected a protective crystal for that purpose, carefully shaped for this type of impact.

The first shock wave struck like lightning. He leaned his head on the ground behind the crystal that would hopefully save his eyes and ears.

Blinding light streamed through his closed eyelids. When the main blast rolled through his body, it pushed him over the ground, shaking him off balance as the air resounded in an endless echo of thunder and shattering wood and crystal.

He straightened up, keeping his eyes closed and the barrier active, waiting. Scattered sounds returned from a nearby mountain. Counting the blasts, he reaffirmed: everything had triggered correctly.

Eyelids carefully drifted open to a thick sea of black amidst flames. The barrier was fading, but as planned, the upper part remained active for a bit longer, blocking any splintered wood raining down on him. When it stopped, he dug up the remaining flask, which he had buried in the protected patch of ground below him, threw it into the center, and ran.

He had left his other equipment behind a rock, just outside the affected area. When he reached it, he broke his gallop and turned to observe the devastated patch of forest. Fiery, bluish steam was flowing outwards behind him, covering the ground like a thin layer of fog; any remaining plant in it withered to a dead, brownish color. A burning tree toppled over, crashing into what was now a clearing.

He stood and watched as the dust settled. A pillar of smoke rose to the sky.

The Realm's Eye was collapsed to a disk, safely placed between his bags; it was quickly picked up and unfolded.

Crimson Leaf roared.

“Impossible! Insane! Who or what in the burning—” He smacked the device into a different position. The innermost crystal kept glowing, in a glow that was perforated with black spots.

As soon as the fog had subsided, he walked back into the new clearing, taking the Realm's Eye along. He reached the central crater, stomping the ground in frustration. The readings were certainly off – they had been unsteady often lately – but there was no doubt. Tainted.

Even the World Eaters themselves could not withstand that gas without shielding. It was madness. It was also a mistake. He had planned to just walk off now. The citizens of Ponyville would be able to contain the fire; they might have wondered what happened, but that would have been the end of it. Now, it was a serious problem. The explosion would draw in ponies – ponies that an Eater could possess. And there had to be more to it than that. A simple taint on the landscape couldn't withstand an attack like this. It was being fed, strengthened.

“Uh, are you alright, Mister?”

His movements were reflexive. In a single moment, he had turned around, broken a tiny crystal in his cloak and activated the circuit to read the reflection. Earth pony. Foal. Three-halves range. Maximally susceptive.

“Stay away,” he shouted. “Back off!” He galloped toward her, his mind frantically going through his remaining equipment. At this distance, there was nothing he could knock her out with.

Luckily, this foal was smart enough to not ignore him. She stopped and actually walked backwards a little.

“Ah heard somethin' explode an' saw the smoke. Ah couldn't help bu' worry somethin' bad happened.”

Crimson was panting when he came to a stop in front of a yellow filly. She must have been on the fields; how else did she reach me this quickly?

“Nopony was hurt. But you can't go in there. It's… poisonous,” he puffed.

“What happened?”

Crimson ignored her. She seemed to have gotten the cue at “poisonous” and was keeping her distance. More ponies would arrive any moment, and they'd pester him with too many questions to allow for calm thinking. He was certainly missing something. His readings didn't work like they used to. There was something large, no, something huge he had overlooked, or else this situation would be impossible. With no better idea, he set the Eye's focus to infinity and started scanning the horizon.

“Uh, mister?” She walked in a little closer to crimson, which was no problem, as he was already well outside the tainted area.

“The Crystal Empire?,” Crimson exclaimed in a disbelieving voice.

It just couldn't be. He double-checked the direction. Indeed, the reading appeared to originate precisely from the Lost City's former location. And from there, Eater magic radiated toward him, toward everything.

“You know somethin' about it? Ma sis' just wrote she's goin' there, but Ah never heard of it.”

Now she had Crimson's attention.

“You wouldn't have heard of it. It was shifted out of this realm long ago. Your sister is going there?” He wondered how to make sense of that. “Is she traveling with the Elements of Harmony?”

“Ah don't know if they're takin' the Elements along. Nopony tells us such things. Ah'm sorry, but ain't we got somethin' else to worry 'bout here?” She glanced at the smoldering forest beside her, then back at Crimson Leaf.

“I mean the ponies, not the circuit. Is your sister traveling with the bearers of the Elements of Harmony?”

The filly brightened up at the question. “Sure is! Mah sister Applejack is the Element of Honesty! She an' the other Elements are the bestest of friends!” Calling it brightening up didn't do her expression justice. She was beaming.

Crimson let out the breath he'd been holding. These news might not have been all bad.

From what he knew, the Elements of Harmony were some sort of strike team serving Celestia. They claimed a remarkably high rate of success; any conflict with their involvement had ended in Celestia's favor. And it wasn't just minor feats like removing a local parasprite infestation. They had purged Nightmare Moon from Luna, which was quite a feat. They had also frozen Discord alive – without a trial, but it wasn't the time to worry about that. The important part was that Celestia was pulling out all the stops to take the Lost City.

Not that Crimson considered himself a subject of Celestia's. Anypony would prefer her to the alternative. As the story went, the city had vanished when a particularly ill-minded pony had willfully merged with a World Eater, to crown himself king of the northern highlands. If he was the source of the resistant taint…

“Can you stand still for a moment?” Crimson directed the Realm's Eye at the confused-looking filly. He rotated the ring for depth focus, but the image remained a distorted mess.

Now he knew why he was having such trouble with the Eye lately. The calibration was off. The Lost City was affecting it, and likely many other things, even at this distance.

The filly was gawking at the instrument, neatly standing still. If there was a luck reserve for dealing with foals, Crimson must have used up a season's worth of it.

There was the sound of hooves coming closer, but Crimson was really too occupied to look.

“Apple Bloom! You can't just run off!” It was a stallion's voice. As it turned out, he was also an earth pony, and he was large.

“Perfect timing,” Crimson blurted out. “You're just the pony I need. Could you stand still for a moment? Oh, and don't enter the crater until I checked this, it could be dangerous.”

The filly – Apple Bloom, apparently – exchanged a bewildered look with the big red stallion. But they didn't complain or move until the Eye had neatly selected the large pony as a glowing shape on the crystal. Crimson turned it back to the crater and refocused. It still read as tainted, but it was uninfectious for at least a day, probably receding if it weren't for the Crystal Empire's support.

Damn. Crimson, you fool.

All the outer patches had never been expansive. He had just fired an enormous amount of explosives and Reforger spells on mostly harmless forest. And the Eater wasn't even there.

The alchemist's house was easy to spot. Now that she saw it, Lyra remembered that old building. Lonely placed against a large rock, it flanked the route south into the Everfree Forest. It would be only questionably safe to reach at night, and Lyra had believed it was unoccupied, but it sure didn't look that way now, with marked boxes and barrels lined up aside it. Some barrels were open; they stood under a porch roof, filled with beige powder. Lyra had no idea what an alchemist would work with, but this did look like the right place.

As Lyra raised her hoof to knock, she heard thumping and clanking sounds. Seems like somepony is at work. She knocked, and the sounds promptly ceased.

Nervously shifting between hooves, she waited in front of the door.

But nopony opened.

Maybe it was a coincidence that the sounds stopped – and he hadn't actually heard her. She started knocking frantically – this was, after all, no matter to be taken lightly.

Eventually, she was all but hammering at the door, but nothing happened. When she stopped, there was nothing to be heard again. I can't wait! Bon-Bon can't wait! Unnerved, Lyra started trotting around the house.

“I'm sorry, please, this is urgent! Anypony here? I—”

One of the windows was visibly broken. Some wooden splinters lay around and the glass – if it was glass, Lyra wasn't quite sure – had cracks. Had somepony broken into the house? She inspected the window more closely: it was quite damaged, but still didn't open properly.

She pressed herself against the window, looking at the room inside. It seemed to be a bedroom, connected to what looked like a living room. It didn't seem as if somepony had searched the house, but there was some broken wooden thing inside and…

… a changeling, bandaged over one eye, with a piece of broken wood in its mouth, staring right back at Lyra.

An ear-splitting scream escaped the mint-colored pony. “Changeling! Burglars! Anypony,” she shouted. Much to Shirei's shock, she started hammering against the window, clearly intending to break through and chase Shirei down.

She tried to run over to the other end of the house, but she could only limp at sluggish speed. When she finally reached another window, she only confirmed what she already knew: it was locked and sturdy, like all the others. It would take time to break open, too much time!

Cracking sounds and the glow of magic followed her from the other window, and all too soon, hoofsteps. Before she knew it, Shirei stumbled, magic grabbing her legs, and then got jumped on by an agitated mare.

“What did you do? Where is the alchemist? Did you hurt anypony? SAY SOMETHING!” She grabbed Shirei, fixating her in an intense gaze.

Shirei tried to cover her head while mouthing words, still unable to make a sound. She shook her head, her only way to respond.

“Where is he? The pony who lives here, WHERE IS HE? If you don't tell me, I— I—”

Shirei was lying under the pony, almost unable to move. She had somehow managed to protect her broken hoof and wing so far. Somehow managing to free one of her hooves she, to the best of her ability, gestured in the direction of the front door. Next thing she knew, she was on the back of the pony, which was gallopping through the house, holding Shirei in place with magic.

When the mare noticed that Shirei was just pointing at the entrance, she stopped.

“You mean he's not home?”

Shirei nodded, but the mare wasn't looking at her.

“Are you mute or something?” The magical grip slid Shirei far enough to the side for the two to look each other in the eye. Shirei was nodding resolutely.

“Almost,” Shirei whispered as loudly as possible.

“Oh. Uh.” The mare lowered her voice. She suddenly seemed a lot calmer, slowly placing Shirei back on the ground. “So you… just stole bandages and stuff? You didn't hurt anypony?”

Didn't hurt anypony.

With these words, Shirei lost sight of the instant, and as her mind fired a barrage of memories, from time as well.

From these words, Shirei was told that every answer was a choice, and that none but herself chose every time.

By these words, something was triggered inside of Shirei. It was something that had been bottling up inside her, since long before the invasion. Was it – resignation? Realization? Suddenly, to her, this was no longer about the confused mare who thought she had broken in. It was one of these questions.

Just like the simple question from before: what Shirei's name was.

The answers to them, were they really decisions?

She could have answered… something soothing. Alchemist? Oh, that guy? No, of course I didn't hurt him. But she hesitated. Something was wrong with that – and deep down, Shirei knew exactly what was wrong with it. It wasn't the real answer. I've hurt ponies. I don't even know how many. When I set a fire, without thought of whom—

But she couldn't say that. She could barely think about it. Yet, every time she had taken the easy answer, the convenient answer, it had gotten worse. Again and again, she had given in, given in to running away, running ever faster from her own shadow. Now, her life meant constantly running with her eyes shut. Don't ask, just don't talk to me! You really don't want to know! It was not going to end until she would hit an obstacle. She would find her reaper in one of these encounters, and her regrets would fall with her, unspoken to the end.

A chilling silence filled the room. The mare surely knew what it meant, hesitating to answer whether or not you had hurt anypony. As her habits failed her, Shirei could not tell who she really was, and what would be the right thing to answer. Faceing the mare's worried gaze, she had become truly mute.

The moment seemed endless, unescapable. I can't not answer that! She was breathing heavier and heavier as she tried to form a word.

She thinks I did something to Creepy! I – I must say something! Have I? Have I hurt anypony?

Shirei must have opened her mouth a number of times, without producing a word. When she finally got herself to speak again, she was feeling about to throw up.

“Not… today.”

What really drove her to give such an answer? It was much too truthful! For all she knew, for these words, the pony might kill her on the spot. She lowered her head, seeing how much her own body was shaking – a distant reality to her now.

“Good gracious,” the mare murmured, half to herself. “Mh. I can't let you hurt anypony. And I need to find the alchemist who lives here.”

Shirei nodded until she was sure the mare had seen it. Yes, you can't let me do that ever again. She would surely turn mad, or evil, or both the next time she did that. Wait… I already am evil, am I not?

The mare was looking at her. Right, she's looking for Creepy.

“He'll be back.” Her whisper over unsteady breath was barely audible, but the pony understood.

“Uh. Then… then I'll go get Bon-Bon in the meantime! Mmmh, guess I'll need to tie you up.”

Shirei just nodded. “But,” she whispered, “please, carefully? Please don't hurt me. Broken hoof, broken wing, I— the alchemist won't like it if you, uh, damage me.”

Widening eyes showed the pony's bewilderment. “Of course! I'll be extra careful.” She stared at Shirei for a moment longer. “Do you think I'm some sort of monster, that you gotta argue about this?”

Shirei slowly dropped her head to the ground, relieved. “Sorry,” she whispered, “guess I'm projecting myself on others.” She held a blank stare on the floor, her breathing slowly returning to normal.

It took strangely long until the pony started work on tying her down. And for some reason, Shirei's energy flows felt strangely different from before.

Time.

“Bon-Bon! Bon-Bon, are you awake?”

Distraction.

“Bon-Bon! I'm sorry to wake you. And sorry to bother you with this. But can you…”

Focus. Arrangement. Distraction.

“please come along to get checked at another place? I'm really worried about you and there's somepony else who might be able to help.” Lyra sounded unnerved as well as worried.

Time. Time… what is it with time?

“Ugh.” Bon-Bon rolled over, still feeling weak and sleepy. “Can't it wait a little longer?”

“No, Bon-Bon. And I know, I'm all hyper and get on your nerves all day, but this time you must come. Hey! Stop falling asleep again! I'll drag you there if I have to!”

Bon-Bon really felt tired. But for some reason, Lyra looked about to have a panic attack, which was unusual even for her. Maybe Bon-Bon wasn't looking so good and should go see another doctor.

“Ugh. Okay, okay, right.” She slowly found her way out of bed. “Fine.”

Calm. Somepony calm doesn't trip.

Following Lyra out, she opted for the bathroom first. “Just a moment. I'll… oh, seriously?” Lyra had promptly followed her.

“I'm not letting you out of my sight. Just making sure.”

When she was finished and walking down the stairs, she did feel rather okay. Still slightly dizzy, but certainly not getting worse. Her eyes fell on a garbage bin.

This broken crystal!

That got her. She tripped and was immediately caught by an aura, as well as Lyra's hooves.

“Nice magic,” Bon-Bon heard herself say.

“Now you admire my levitation? You should focus on where you're going.”

Yes. Yes, focusing really helps. She shut the crystal mobile out of her mind, avoiding its remains. Once outside, she slowly returned to walking normally. Breathing some fresh air wasn't so bad after lying around for so long.

“I kinda caught a changeling earlier. A really hurt one though.”

“Huh?” Distraction. Focus on walking first.

“Yea, she had broken into the house we're visiting now. But don't worry, I properly tied her up. We'll take care of that after you got looked at.”

“Wow. Okay. Who is that doctor we're going to anyway?” She was being led over one of Ponyville's bridges, following Lyra to the very edge of town, an unusual path to take to a doctor. “Is it Zecora?”

“He's an alchemist, actually. It was Zecora who sent me there after I told her what happened. And the changeling said he'd be back any moment.”

“Wait, what?”

“Uh, yea, guess she checked when he leaves before—” Lyra sounded strangely thoughtful for saying something this crazy.

There's something wrong.

“The CHANGELING said— How do you know it's not a bunch of other changelings coming?”

“It's kind of hard to explain, but trust me, it should be okay.” Lyra's voice had an irrelevant sound to it.

Don't let that idiot get us into even more trouble.

“Should be okay? Are you crazy? Did you get anypony else after meeting the changeling?”

There's something seriously wrong.

“There are no other changelings there, Bon-Bon. Heck, I shouldn't have told you. You're not thinking straight, just let me handle this for once.”

She's crazy. She'll walk into anything without a second thought. Like yesterday, just that that wasn't so bad. Or was it?

“Just where do you think you're going?” Lyra grabbed Bon-Bon the moment she started to turn around.

BEHIND!

“I'm not feeling well. You can't drag me there, I mean to changelings, I— LYRA LET GO!”

RUN FIGHT RUN FIGHT RUN FIGHT RUN FIGHT RUN FIGHT—

Lyra was struggling to push Bon-Bon forward, whose confusion was really getting to her. She protested and kept trying to turn around. But their destination was already in sight, just a little further down the dirt path that crossed the last bit of grassland before the Everfree Forest.

A glowing ring appeared on the ground, filled with similarly glowing lines. Bon-Bon was engulfed in a faint pillar of light and forcefully slammed to the ground.

Lyra gasped. She quickly tried to pull her friend back out of what she had pushed her into. To no avail; even a single leg of Bon-Bon seemed too hard to lift, and Lyra's magic suddenly failed her. Her friend was trapped on the grass, close to but not quite at the alchemist's house.

“Bon-Bon! What the—”

Her friend wasn't responding anymore. Lyra almost jumped into the strange light when she checked: to her relief, Bon-Bon was still breathing normally.

Oh no. Okay. This is not my day. What the hay is going on? Was this some kind of joke? Why did so many weird things happen? She considered running to the village to get help. But that would take time. What was that thing holding Bon-Bon down? Some sort of trap? Who would do such a thing, and this close to Ponyville?

“Lyra?” Bon-Bon sounded weak once more. She had turned her head a little, looking her way now.

“Oh! Thank Celestia you're back! I can't get you out of there! Are you alright? You were out cold there for a moment.”

“Where am I? Still on our way? I'm really confused.”

“I noticed! Hang on in there, I'll find a way to get you out.” She started levitating rocks to hammer them onto the glowing lines. Doing magic was awfully hard when it came to the spell on the ground. After a bit, Lyra opted to use her hooves instead.

“Lyra, why am I in some sort of magic trap?” Bon-Bon's voice was quiet, slow, and calm. It sounded much less – erratic – compared to before.

“Heck if I know. We're just across the river. It's a miracle nopony else triggered it. I was even here earlier—”

“That makes no sense. Lyra, I've been here hundreds of times. What did you do before this thing went off?”

“Nothing! I was just pushing you, 'cause you were making a ruckus.”

“I was making— huh? I was just feeling bad, what do you mean, ruckus?”

Lyra finally managed to chip one of the lines. The outer ones were not so hard, it seemed. “You got all dizzy but kept trying to walk the wrong way, wouldn't listen to what I—”

“BACK OFF!”

The voice was crazily powerful, resonating through the air. Lyra turned to see a cloaked shape, far off at the forest's rim, flickering in a glow similar to the one on the ground.

“If you value your life, back off right now!”

Author's Note

Dedicated to Gregonator, who motivated me to continue! (Hope you like it... I'm not sure I know what people like to read.)

I constrained Season 3 to happen immediately after Season 2. Oops, I guess.

There might be a short next bit upcoming. I might post it in a week, on April 1st. Heh, that date gives me an excuse if I don't post it after all. Har har~!

4: The Choice

Lyra defiantly held her ground aside the strange glowing structure, buried beneath dirt and grass. The eerie stallion's gallop toward her made her want to run away, but nopony had the right to trap Bon-Bon and then tell her to get lost. “I'm not hitting your stupid spell, line, whatever. Will you calm down and—” Lyra rose her hooves to show she wasn't doing anything.

The cloaked pony almost ran her over, stopping so close that she took a few steps back after all.

“What… part… of backing off do you not understand? Back away from the circuit,” he panted.

Reluctantly, she did as she was told. But if it was dangerous, that was all the more a reason to stay and get Bon-Bon out! “Why? Don't you see my friend—”

“Not your friend. World Eater. Don't you dare free it.” An intent, chilling stare accentuated his words.

“Huh?” She had nothing deeper to say. This was beginning to feel like a silly dream. Every strangeness Lyra ran into gave way to an even weirder so-called explanation.

“This is an Eater trap I set up on the path to me. That was a well-placed precaution, as it turns out. Why did you come here? You” – he motioned at Lyra – “must give the answer, not the trapped one.”

Okay. This time, it had surely been plain bad thinking.

Of all things, the pony had tied Shirei to the bed's frame, made of the same weak timber from before. It wasn't even a part of the outer frame holding it together. For a moment, she had even been a little reluctant to chew herself free – after all, it had only been this easy because the pony had been too nice to her. Once she had been free to move around, having an already broken window, complete with shards to cut her bonds with, she had made it outside in no time.

Only able to walk slowly, she had hidden in a nearby grove when she had heard voices. It had been the only cover in the open meadow outside, aside from the rock and few trees aside the house. So, she was still somewhat trapped until the daylight would fade, trapped behind the ponies' inconspicuous dirt path – a wiggling line from Ponyville's southern bridge to Creepy's house. Behind her, the river and Ponyville were insurmountable obstacles. But she was content; who would expect her in this little hideout? From there, she had watched the entire scene, peeking out of the greenery: from the ponies' childish-looking dispute to Creepy's trap and overly dramatic appearance. She had been surprised that the sun was being lowered already. Either the celestial princesses were doing weird things, or the time she had woken up beside that alchemist hadn't been dawn at all. Either way, this was good: soon enough, she would be able to leave unseen. It was the same plan that had failed on the evening of the battle, this time appearing quite possible. Until then, though, she had no choice but to hope the ponies would keep entertaining themselves, forgetting about her.

“Let me get this straight.” Lyra – she and Bon-Bon had been quickly introduced by calling each other's name all the time – sounded resolute. “You are saying Bon-Bon is possessed by some sort of invisible monster? I was talking to her. She's sick, but that's Bon-Bon for sure! Let me show you! Bon-Bon, do you remember that—”

“She will,” Creepy said. “That is beside the point.”

“How is that beside—”

“Hey! I'm right here, you know,” Bon-Bon complained.

“Eaters are not intelligent creatures by themselves. But they can merge with other beings, hooking onto their intentions and memories. The result is what alchemists refer to as Eater Hybrids, but this is really what anypony who says World Eater is afraid of. Sombra, Nightmare Moon, those are combinations of World Eaters and intelligent, living beings.”

“Hold on. Say I believe your crazy story and Bon-Bon is possessed. How can I cure her?”

“Hey, can I ta—”

“Silence, Eater.” The alchemist stomped the ground, causing a white flame to run into the trap. Bon-Bon's head dropped down and she fell silent.

“HEY,” Lyra squeaked. “What do you think you're doing?”

“She will distract us. We can't distinguish if the Eater's will is speaking.”

Shirei didn't know how to feel, watching this. The ponies were getting more and more caught up in their heated discussion; Creepy had cut Bon-Bon off even more often than he cut off Lyra – meaning pretty much always – and now it seemed Bon-Bon couldn't speak anymore.

But, as much as the scene caught Shirei's attention, it was really time to get ready – get ready to leave. There was no immediate hurry though, so she took a moment to check her options. The first thing she noticed was how much energy she had. She hadn't been this well-fed since before the invasion! Where did it all come from? Some pity from Lyra couldn't possibly feed her this much. Thinking back, she had felt something then, but it had been just weird.

No matter where it had come from, the energy was very useful. Shirei ramped up the healing spell – though the hoof and wing would have to wait until she could lie down longer.

She moved a little further inside the bushes, allowing their leaves to fully hide the ponies from sight. A few cracking branches below her reminded her to be cautious, but the ponies were too far away, and too occupied, to notice a tiny sound. After settling down, Shirei could cast her spell in silence. She was able to focus on healing for some time until Lyra's shouting drew her attention again.

“We came here for HELP! Are you— You want to murder her?”

Shirei was ripped from her thoughts. Good distraction or not, this was escalating way too much.

“I—” The alchemist bit his lip. “I know this is of no help to you, but I am sorry. If I cannot gather the power to deal with the Eater, it must be destroyed. This… is my mistake. I always kept mana reserves for this case. But, the last day… I wasted too much, miscalculating explosives and figuring out how to… how to save a changeling.”

Save?

“The first is a rare error. And the changeling… she was dying. How could I foresee that this happens?”

You used it – for me? I… I didn't ask for your “mana”.

“So you need that stuff to save her? Then let's go get some instead of planning – hay, I can hardly say it – to murder Bon-Bon!”

“I will try. But chances are dim. My inability to keep mana in quantity is the reason we got to this point in the first place. The Eater – how long ago did she contact it?”

“Yesterday… afternoon, we went to the forest—”

“It's the second night then. So… the Eater must have been dealt with by dawn.”

“By Celestia! I— I'll go to Ponyville and ask for—”

“Don't. They will interfere more than they help. The— forget it, no time to explain. They won't be able to provide what we need, and then everypony will question my decisions, which is pointless.”

“Pointless? You're mad! You won't get to decide that! I'm—”

“I will do it immediately if you bring in ponies to stop me.” The alchemist sounded very matter-of-fact about it. “You haven't seen an Eater Hybrid like this one and I will make sure you never do. This one must not come free, it is one of the purest, purer than the one the Elements are engaging as we speak. Come to think of it…”

He produced his floating tool from earlier – out of a pocket in his cloak, not even his saddlebags – unfolding it from a smaller shape. This time, it didn't float though; he held it on an outer ring.

“You don't get it! I won't let you harm Bon-Bon, you hear?”

He ignored her, adjusting his instrument.

Lyra kept speaking, shouting, complaining – but just like the alchemist, Shirei stopped listening. It was getting dark. The ponies wouldn't notice a stampede passing them. This was her time to leave this mess behind.

There was no reason to wait.

She could just take a step, then the next – before she'd know, all this would be out of sight.

And maybe they'd save the pony.

Or… not.

And afterwards, they would find her gone.

The changeling ran away.

Hardly a surprise.

Shirei took a very deep breath.

Why was it so hard to just walk, as she had intended for a while now? She knew she didn't want to live at the expense of ponies, so there was no more place for her here. It had been a sick plan from the start. If anything, meeting them and seeing the results of her actions had made one thing abundantly clear to her: she couldn't live the way the hive had planned, no matter what. But running head-first into trouble just because she felt bad – that wouldn't revert anything that had happened. She would rather go back to the badlands, find some time to think, leaving everypony alone as she should.

What could she do in this mess anyway? She knew nothing of all this magic, only how to lie and deceive and hurt and conspire. How would any of that be useful in what little time was left until dawn?

Still, she didn't know. Not for sure, anyway. If anypony knew, then that alchemist, that creepy one, that unpredictable poker-face who might not feel anything at all, the most fearsome type for a changeling to face. Did he even care what happened here? Was he a mad scientist, a soldier, an outlaw? What would he really do when it came down to it? Might as well ask him and see whether he beheads me for breaking out.

Yep. That's what I'll do.

Of course she wouldn't. That thought was a bad joke. Which changeling would go meet ponies, close to Canterlot, undisguised, now? Just because she was loosely involved in something that randomly got a pony she'd never heard of in trouble? To try fix a problem she didn't understand in the slightest, one she could probably do nothing about?

She started walking toward the ponies.

Right. I'll just walk in on them. Throw my freedom away, to ask if I can help.

It was easy. Of course it was. Steps take you any direction with the same effort, don't they? One, another, there, the ponies came closer, one trapped, one panicking, one creepy as always.

And while I'm at it, I won't lie anymore.

When asked, she would tell them. Tell them all the reasons she can't be trusted.

I'm nuts.

As she made her way over moist grass at nightfall, each step was lighter than the last. No scale could gauge the weight lifted from her that moment.

Author's Note

As always, I'm happy about comments~

Another chapter should be out next week.

5: Do You Speak It

The grass made no sound to announce Shirei as she drew closer and closer to the illuminated pattern – and the ponies on it. She would never have imagined herself going this way. Not of her own, free will.

The dark-red stallion had thrown his cloak off, revealing the strange lines covering his body. They were sporadically glowing in one place or another, making him appear as a walking, shimmering web against the spreading darkness. Was there even a Cutie Mark below all that? Shirei couldn't tell. She might as well have been approaching a ponylike machine. One that, even against the trees behind her, would notice her – long before she would expect it.

“Oh, Shirei.” His nonchalant voice contrasted his looks. “How did you— nevermind. We have a serious problem. Do you know how to get high-pressure mana? Liquid or sealed or— right, you can't speak. Come closer, so we can hear you.” He motioned beside himself absent-mindedly, returning to adjusting the Realm's Eye, his weird crystal surrounded by metal rings. Though he paused for another moment. “Oh. Lyra, Shirei. No time to explain, but she's not too dangerous, hurt her hoof and stuff.”

Really? She had broken out, and he barely cared! That was strange, even in this situation.

But Lyra gasped. “What? You know that changeling? How— I— Like— Like I'd fall for that! Like I'm taking any more of your nonsense! Bon-Bon was right from the start! You're one of them!”

When Lyra darted her way, Shirei barely had time to duck. She was flung around, the bandage over her head thrown off. When she opened her eyes, she found herself held upright, a sharp piece of rock levitating beside her neck. Oh no. No, no, no, no! She tried to whisper, but it was inaudible under the mare's grip and struggling between the two.

Shirei couldn't believe what was happening. Hadn't Lyra been the understanding one? Suddenly, she realized she hadn't thought this through at all! Lyra's friend was going mad, got her life threatened, and there was only Creepy's version of helping to turn to. Of course it would be too much. Shirei should have known this.

The glowing pattern on the stallion's head dimmed, turning their way. “Will you calm do—” Shirei had not seen Creepy freeze like that before.

“You hurt my friend, I hurt yours,” Lyra squeaked hysterically. Shirei could feel her trembling.

The Realm's Eye made a rattling sound as it hit the ground. The stallion looked at his house, then the trap, then his bags. “Drop that,” he said in a flat voice. “She has nothing to do with this.”

“Neither has Bon-Bon! Let her go! Or else—” She squeezed Shirei, letting the sharp-edged stone touch her throat.

Creepy looked disturbed. His face hardened even more, eyes locked on Lyra. Why would he even care, let alone show it? Now, it did look like Shirei was a friend or ally of his.

“I knew it,” Lyra said, “I just knew it! Stop your scheme! Let Bon-Bon go, or else!”

Shirei desperately turned her head left and right, trying to get Lyra's attention. But she was only held more tightly in response.

Not that Lyra was harsh, really. She avoided pulling on Shirei's bad hoof, and at one point, she even stroked her back a little, silently communicating her bluff.

No! You idiot! I know you won't hurt me! BUT HE DOESN'T!

If the time spent manipulating ponies had taught Shirei one thing, it was when to stop. She just knew that this was about to go terribly wrong. She had to do something. But there was only one option she could think of. But would she make it in time? Her energy started surging, little flames filling her lungs.

The stallion began to move again. He picked something from his bags, then walked toward Lyra in a slow, steady pace. “You are about to make a very unfortunate choice for you and your friend,” he said. “You will yield now or die. I have vowed against extortion, and this” – he nudged his head at Lyra – “is the lowest kind.”

Shirei started struggling with all her might. In the corner of her eye, she saw Bon-Bon doing the same.

Stop this! You idiots! The stress is getting to you!

“You can't get me faster than I get her!” The unicorn's voice was breaking, but she remained still, looking poised to strike Shirei, who had stopped struggling and closed her eyes. She was breathing smoke as the flames burnt her throat.

“Correct,” the stallion answered. “You will kill her, then I will fight you. If you win, I will trigger a batch of explosives and erase us all. If I win, I kill you, wasting my remaining mana, so your friend will follow. If, by some stroke of genius, you thwart everything I do, your friend will merge with the Eater and tear you to shreds in my place. Now YIELD OR DIE!” He was roaring at the mare, glowing waves highlighting the lines on his body, brightening up more and more.

Almost—

“You c—”

—

A bone-chilling scream escaped the changeling, cutting Lyra short. It was mixed with a slightly lower tone, slowly pulsating in frequency like a drawn-out vibrato.

Shirei had turned her head so Lyra would get a good listen. The mare, startled, tumbled backwards, losing her grip on Shirei, who promptly freed herself and slapped her.

“You moron!” Shirei's voice cracked up a little, but it was loud enough, finally back to the humming-yet-girly sound she was quite proud of. She was still breathing some green flames and smoke. “How do you save your friend, getting yourself killed?”

A ray of white fire hit Lyra's weapon, blasting it out of her reach. Of course, it had originated from whatever item the alchemist had picked up earlier; that didn't stop Shirei from walking up to him and slapping him as well.

“And you,” she shouted. “Creepy! Diplomacy, do you speak it?”

Both ponies had stopped moving, dumbstruck.

“What is it with you guys? Creepy, ya using these eyes of yours? She's scared out of her wits! There's no freaking way she'd stab me. And Lyra!” She turned around again. “Creepy isn't a changeling! Who'd fake these annoying glowing lines? And 'ya think I eat his living room 'cause it's so tasty? I'm a prisoner, duh!”

She looked back and forth between the two, panting. They only stared back.

Lyra, disarmed, shuffled her hooves about. “How,” she asked. “A prisoner, coming back from the forest?”

“I'm crazy, okay? I don't even know what I'm doing. It's not like anything you guys do makes sense, so gimme a break!” She had flopped down to gesticulate with her forehooves.

Lyra could only shake her head. Creepy had somehow gone out of order, standing still with a blank face.

“Whatcha admiring me for? You've got a World Eater to deal with, or whatever. Bon-Bon is back there, waiting to be saved!” She waved at the trap for emphasis. “And by the burning Palomino, let her say something! How much worse can it get? You can still ignore her, I reckon' you're an expert at that.” Her gaze clarified without doubt whom she was talking to.

The stallion… smiled?

Shirei wanted to have his sense of humor. Not that she had a clue what this meant. He might have been about to strike her down for her insolence; she never knew with Creepy. Not that she cared anymore. Though, maybe… maybe he looked embarrassed.

“Thank you,” he said. “That… was the most useful tantrum I've ever seen.” He stood still for a moment, looking thoughtful. “I guess we were losing sight of things. I… haven't even introduced myself. I'm Crimson Leaf – as you may have noticed, alchemist of the Northern School.”

“Shut up, Creepy, 'n get to work.” Shirei didn't even look at their reactions, she just walked to the trap holding Bon-Bon.

Stupid ponies.

Deep night had fallen. A cold light from the glowing lines on the ground, together with the pillar of golden light holding Bon-Bon, illuminated an island in the darkness, on which the four of them had gathered. Though Lyra was a little off, curled up in the beginning blackness, looking miserable.

Aurorae were running the skies, announcing that the Crystal Empire's massive circuit had been fired, the most powerful weapon against Eaters in all of Equestria. So, the Elements of Harmony had lived up to their name. The enemy's support was no more, and Crimson could now assume that his alchemy would work as intended, without the risk of some enormous spell from the north ruining it. But the damage had already been done.

After all the chaos, Crimson had decided to re-assess the situation. He didn't know how that would help, but what other option was there? Admitting that they were doomed? He had no illusions about the gravity of this.

“I'll try to explain what I'm thinking,” he said, “as maybe one of you has an idea I missed.” A brief glance ascertained he had everyone's attention.

“Beside Bon-Bon, in a direction orthogonal to our space, a World Eater of high purity is connected to her. That name's no metaphor. We need a good idea, or else you'll see for yourselves – if you live to see anything.”

He had picked up the Realm's Eye again and stepped up close to the trap. “Before I give more information, since both of you insist so much, I'll allow it to speak. Keep it short.” He touched one of the trap's outermost lines, loosening the binding spell on motion and sound a bit.

“Oh,” Bon-Bon gasped. “Thank you! Lyra, I'm sorry. Your mobile. I broke it on purpose. D—” She slammed her head to the ground twice. “DON'T FREE ME! He's right. It's hard to say this, b-but… don't let me out.” Apart from the brief shouting, she sounded rather calm.

“See,” Shirei said smugly, “that wasn't so hard.”

“Why… would you break that,” Lyra asked. “And, that's not that… much o-of an evil… thing…” Her voice trailed off. Ever since she had taken Shirei hostage, Lyra had become very quiet.

“I disliked the crystals' grid,” Bon-Bon said. “It's connected to… I haven't learned the word yet, uh…”

“Forger Magic,” Crimson finished. “The basis of alchemy and a hindrance to your kind. I haven't seen the crystal though, I'm just guessing.”

Lyra looked at Bon-Bon and Crimson in turns. “You're somehow still Bon-Bon, right,” she said. “Can you maybe, uh, fight it, like just now?”

“She can't, and this is enough chatting for now.” Crimson was focusing the Realm's Eye back on the deeper layers of the hybrid creature. “I won't silence you until you're distracting too much. Now, if there is nothing urgent left to say, I'll continue explaining.”

Shirei shrugged, sitting down. Lyra didn't react, and Bon-Bon was already out of his mind again.

“There are three options to deal with a bound Eater: purging, sealing, and destruction. The first, purging, is the preferred method; It leaves the host alive but harmless. I won't give you false hopes, we are unable to do this tonight. The second, sealing, is a spell that will blockade the Eater, allowing the host to remain sane for a while. By my estimate, we are too short on mana to create a seal. The third, destruction, fires an undifferentiated attack at the World Eater, also striking the host, who shares location with it.

“With this Realm's Eye, I can scan the additional direction and thus see the Eater. I can also see that Bon-Bon is, physically, just a normal earth pony with no magic training or additions, while the Eater requires heavy firepower to destroy. Frankly, attacks that scratch the Eater would have us search for the pony's remains.

“This leaves us with only two options: sacrificing Bon-Bon, or gathering the ingredients for a seal. I should still have enough explosives to do the former, or at least incapacitate the Eater for now. That—”

“Y— Just s—” Lyra returned to silence when Shirei gently placed a hoof on her mouth.

“That gives us a little time to assess ways to do the seal. As recommended by the Northern School, I possess the necessary equipment to seal captured, incomplete Eater Hybrids such as Bon-Bon. Except that, due to an unfortunate chain of events, I used up my high-pressure mana source. If we cannot find a replacement for it very quickly, we will lack the time to prepare the seal.

“Which brings us to the main problem, mana sources. Mana is contained in all magic creatures in one form or another, but what we need is free mana, the kind that can be used up in mere seconds. Cracks in the Eater's defenses have a half-life of about a second. So, the slower our attack, the more power it needs. Even the sustained power an Alicorn gathers from its supporters could not break this Eater's defense, not without a circuit to charge it into a burst.

“We need a single, sharp spell to break the Eater's arrangement before we begin sealing it. Of course, I know a circuit for this, but even that one can't hold the mana for long, so it needs to be charged quickly. I don't think I can do that by myself right now. I'm low on mana and this Eater isn't your normal—”

“Hold on a sec.” Shirei had come closer to him. “Is this ma—”

A spray of sparks and smoke spread out from Crimson's side, causing Shirei to topple over, covering her face, squeaking “Uah!”

“Don't just charge a random circuit on me,” Crimson exclaimed. “Do you know how dangerous some of these are?”

“So, this is mana,” Shirei asked, as if she had already forgotten what had happened.

“Yes, that was mana. And, a nice charge, I usually block that.”

“Okay.” Shirei sat down beside him. “Since I got no clue what I'm doing, how about I give mine to you before we go on? I'm feeling decently fed for some reason. Though nowhere near, uh, full.” She looked uncomfortable on that last word, saying it quietly, ducking her head.

“You can't just give mana that easily,” Crimson said. “When you use it for magic, you bind it to—”

“Sure can,” Shirei retorted. “Where can I touch you 'n try, so nothing weird goes off?”

“My flanks and the circles around my shoulders, as they serve— Wha?”

Shirei had placed a hoof on his flank, creating faint flames that flickered in blues and greens. A perfectly stable inflow of mana was directed at Crimson's body. Not just that, the flow bridged Crimson's skin by itself.

“That workin'?” She gave an absurdly innocent look.

“Where did you learn that?” Crimson did not try to hide his surprise. This was an obscure, high-level spell, executed flawlessly.

“Learn?” Shirei turned her head, chuckling. “From playmates when I was a filly, I suppose? Playing pony and changeling or so?”

Crimson fixated her until he was sure she wasn't joking. “But you are being a little – humble about your feeding status, aren't you? Charging with pressure like this from your little body.” It was unlikely that she could do this while being low on mana herself.

“I knew you had something to do with all this energy! But no, even your lil' trick couldn't fill us up that quickly. We're quite the gluttons.” She scratched her hoof embarrassedly, lowering her head and peeking upwards at him.

“Can't believe it,” Crimson mumbled. “I've been on the right track, only too late.”

This was unbelievable. She could send mana to anyone at will, and store it better than any kind of pony? If they were to survive this, he had to have another chat with her. “I suppose you don't know a fully… charged changeling in the vicinity?”

“You kidding? You think a changeling that's not starving would stick around? Now?” She was bewildered, having to spell this out.

“Okay. Stupid question. Anyway, your skills with mana are brilliant, but that's still not enough.”

“W-what about my mana? D-don't I have mana too,” Lyra said. She was still curled up on the grass beside them.

“Won't help,” Crimson said bluntly. “Changelings aside, I know unicorns. If you have to ask, you can't do it. At best, you'd accidentally bind a spell and damage the circuit.”

“Lyra,” Bon-Bon said softly. “It's alright. It's not your fault. Come over here—”

“Now that's pushing it,” Crimson said, but the hybrid wouldn't leave it alone.

“I'll only talk to her a little. Who are you to deny us—”

“You know exactly.” Crimson had stopped looking at her and picked up the Eye. Now I have to deal with that, too.

“Then, will you rather send mana into the trap to—” Crimson's look, surprisingly, silenced Bon-Bon.

Damn it, it's distracting me already.

“Actually,” Shirei said, “we could use Lyra's mana.”

Three ponies looked at the changeling.

“Or at least some of it. Well, not enough I guess, but still.” She looked back at them as if there was nothing more to say, until she realized no one understood. “I can just feed on her 'n then give it to you, no?” Shirei shrugged. “I doubt she loves me though, and force-feeding on unicorns isn't very…” she twitched, quickly gave each pony a look and fell silent.

Why hadn't he thought of that? “So, if I understand this correctly, your feeding gives you mana, and you can do it on anypony? Well, it is worth trying, if that is possible and Lyra is okay with it,” he said.

“Anything! Any time,” Lyra shouted without missing a beat.

Shirei gave an innocent smile. “Uhm, even a little bite? Believe it or not, that's the method of choice for force-feeding.” She took an embarrassed look around, into shocked faces. “Nothing brutal, just a teensy bit – I even have magic that fixes up the spots afterwards.” She licked her fangs, causing small green flames to run over them.

Is she… sharpening them?

“Whatever could help,” Lyra answered.

“You serious? I was just brainstorming. I've been stabbed and cut, I could be sick with something. It might work about as well if you try to—”

“Just do it,” Lyra said. “I won't complain if I get the changeling pox or something.” She walked up to Shirei and sat down right next to her. “Where's a good spot?”

Shirei's face became a strange mixture of a dumbfounded, smiling, and irritated expression. “You— Uh— Really?”

Crimson held up a hoof toward Lyra. “You should know that, even with your mana, we won't have enough. At best, we get a little more. We could wait—”

“Will you bite me already,” Lyra anxiously said to Shirei, “and get back to saving Bon-Bon?”

If she was this eager, Cimson wouldn't stop her. But, since that was going to happen, he couldn't resist aiming the Realm's Eye at the two of them. This was intriguing. And relevant enough to justify spending a few moments of the precious time left until dawn.

Shirei slowly moved a hoof up Lyra's back and neck. When she reached her head, she gave her a little pat. “Okay,” she whispered. “You better relax then. It'll sting a tiny bit, but it's not so bad. You gotta stay still though.”

She carefully tilted Lyra's head to the side, taking her time, searching around her neck and shoulders. She placed one foreleg over Lyra, giving her knowing victim a little hug. Lyra turned her head to Shirei twice, each time charily nudged back by a bandaged hoof. Shirei stroked the mare's back as she settled for a spot just below her neck.

When she finally sunk her fangs into the pony – just barely going deeper than the tips – Lyra didn't flinch. Another onlooker might have thought they were cuddling.

The Realm's Eye did show a spell decomposition, but it was nothing Crimson could sensibly analyze that moment. Eye-catching as the scene was, he had no time to waste and returned to scanning the hybrid.

A pegasus' signature showed up in the Eye's path, to land on their side of the river and trot along it, looking for something. Looking their way. Had their shouting been audible in Ponyville? At this distance, it should have been barely possible to make out four shapes. The onlooker didn't approach – and then turned away again. Peaceful as the group seemed now, their nightly visitor was probably on the way back to bed.

Crimson could have called out, but he thought better of it. Still, it was a point worth mentioning. “We could, in principle, try to get lots of ponies for Shirei to force-feed on. They'd be a huge hassle to deal with, but it's not impossible.”

“Honestly,” Lyra said quietly, “we should keep that as a last option. Most of the ponies I'd ask are out of town and… well. Look what I did earlier – and I'm not even afraid of changelings. If ponies start panicking, they might…” She gave the changeling, who hadn't moved since she had begun her bite, a slight glimpse. “They might do the wrong things.”

Silence filled the night, only disturbed by the Realm's Eye's ticking on adjustments. Lyra patiently sat still, giving the changeling all the time she needed. Clouds were gathering across the sky, obscuring the rising moon, yet leaving patches of starlight to shine from above.

Shirei pulled out her fangs, igniting some green flickers where they had been. “I… I don't think I could take doing this with many ponies quickly anyway,” she said. “Well, u-unless they are all as, uh, understanding as Lyra. It's a little straining,” she said, a meek expression on her face, maybe even a little blush? Crimson wasn't sure whether changelings could blush.

“Bon-Bon, what's on your mind,” Lyra asked. “I know that face, the one when you want to say something but don't.”

Crimson's thoughts spread out. Eater, what are you thinking? The answer was obvious, really.

“She has loads of mana,” Crimson stated, surprising himself. “Nicely noticed, Lyra. How did we miss that? This Eater is so much trouble because it can hold its own, enormous reserves of mana. Let me clear the trap for others to enter. Can you do one more, Shirei?”

Shirei went beside the trap. “I guess. Won't it… infect me?”

“I doubt it can. Eaters can't split as easily as their taint. It would have to leave Bon-Bon, and we'd gain at least a day while it adjusts to you. Enough time to send a pegasus courier for a mana source.”

“Heh.” Shirei smiled. “So… thanks for the meal, then. Here, have Lyra's mana first.” She sent it swiftly, showing no sign of effort, then waited to be allowed into the trap.

She was incredible. Literally. Crimson caught himself admiring the changeling instead of editing the trap. He thought it funny, how she had jokingly complained about that earlier; how she had stunned Lyra and him and reminded them to focus. And now, he of all ponies had lost his concentration, gawking at a changeling. He shook his head, re-read the circuit, and applied the alterations properly: all effects not targeting the Eater were disabled. “Done. Don't waste time inside the trap.”

Shirei stared at Bon-Bon, fixating on a spot. She walked into the trap, bit Bon-Bon much more quickly than she had bitten Lyra – and immediately stumbled backwards, leaving two bleeding wounds on the mare.

Crimson jumped in between them, preparing a barrier to shield Shirei, who fell over, coughing and fighting for breath.

“I'm so sorry,” Bon-Bon said, eyes wide with concern. “I didn't— Something happened on its own!”

Shirei lay on her side, getting her coughing under control. “Guh,” she gasped. “Tha— That… is… d-disgusting. Y-You… Know… we feed… on love… not just… your stupid… mana. But ye-yeah… she's got a lot. Lemme… give it to you before round two.” She got back up on wobbly legs.

“Round two? Hold on,” Crimson exclaimed, “What the hay happened? It's not supposed to do that! What was that, three seconds? Two? You'll kill your… yourself…” The air cracked from Shirei's spell, streaming mana into Crimson at a rate he could barely sustain on his best spells, the ones honed by years of training.

“That… fast enough,” Shirei asked.

“Yes,” Crimson replied.

When the flow stopped, Shirei had already turned to walk back into the trap. Crimson grabbed her, holding her back against attempts to keep walking.

“Wait. Are you certain this is a good idea? Why… heavens, what are you doing? You're still injured from fighting against – them, pretty much. Why in the world would you go this far?”

“I got a lot to make up for.”

She fixated on his face until he let go, then walked back in and bit the same spot.

Fog.

Greys on blacks, yellows in her sight. The place was about to fade to black, Shirei's stomach turning every time she merely touched that feculent creature. She had felt something wrong with the pony when she had smelled it up close, but now, she had to force herself to remember a pony could really be left in there, drowned in an ocean of apathy and ineffable non-emotions.

She felt it. It was alien, indigestible, and strong. But it held something, something Creepy called mana, something the ponies desperately needed. Shirei wouldn't give up on the pony it had taken, not while there was a breath left in her. She wouldn't live with it. She'd manage, or she literally wouldn't.

“Shirei!”

The blackness had reached her mind, the world was fading out, but she could still feel her legs and the flow she was extracting. A powerful flow. Some more and…

She was grabbed, tugged away from her source. She hit the ground somewhere. What was wrong with her breath?

“Shirei!”

Right, that was Creepy's voice.

“Hold her. Don't move off. We…”

Her attention drifted. Was she falling asleep? Something heavenly was mixing into something sickening.

Bon-Bon. The World Eater.

Feint glows returned to the sound of coughing. Her own coughing. Shirei rung with herself until deep breaths pulled her back into the land of the awake. “The Eater,” she gasped. “Did… I get i— did… I get… it from her? What happened? What—”

“No, and this is enough!” Creepy sounded angry. “Can't you take your own advice? Whom will you save if you kill yourself! You need to be not just okay, but ready to send me the mana when I do the seal!”

Shirei found herself squeezed between Lyra and Crimson, sensing how much she was feeding off them. Why were these ponies suddenly so concerned, concerned about a mere changeling? It was a gift beyond words, slowly diluting the sickness inside her.

She looked over to Lyra, to find her sobbing. “I'm sorry,” Lyra said under her breath, “I'm so sorry for what I did earlier.” Her eyes were jumping between Shirei and – she had to turn her head – Bon-Bon, who had closed her eyes, tears running down her face.

“Whoa,” Shirei said, “you… that… worried about me – hey.” She had tried to get up, but Crimson had firmly pushed her back down.

“No. You stay put until our time runs out.”

“What? But—”

“I don't know what's gotten into you, but stay down. You'll recover until we begin, and then it's enough mana or it isn't.”

“But I… can still… How much time is left?”

“Not much. How are you feeling?” Creepy and his stone face; how could he be feeding her right now? Need would not fill in to feed a changeling, such was the rule – except for him, it seemed.

“Sick. But I should be ready in a bit.” She gave in, staying down in the grass.

She had to admit it, she wasn't feeling well. From the looks on Lyra's and Bon-Bon's faces, maybe they were concerned she wouldn't be able to finish her job. Or maybe Creepy was worried she'd not live for his experiments?

He let go of her, allowing her to roll over and sit upright. She looked at the alchemist. What was going on in his head, she couldn't help but wonder. Lyra was weird enough to think about, who sometimes tried to be genuinely nice to her, in her changeling form. Shirei had met incredibly trusting, naïve, and kind ponies during her time in Canterlot, but she wouldn't have believed any one of them would extend that to someone like her. But Creepy? He had a screw loose. Or maybe a few. His plan on keeping her for experiments was bonkers. She could have walked away twice, were it not for the strangest events. The only reason his plan might work out was that Shirei was, as she had admitted earlier, turning crazy herself, wrestling with her own conscience and making wild decisions on a whim.

As time went by, she began to feel… strange. Physically, feeding on Bon-Bon had weakened her, and that sickness remained. Coming here had placed her right in between her enemies, those who would be right to despise her. And still, she was so calm. The only fear she had was running out of time, so that something would happen to Bon-Bon, whoever she was. Her cutie mark featured bon-bons too. Maybe she made candy?

“Be right back,” Creepy suddenly mumbled. He got up and ran to his house.

It did not take long until he returned, and when he did, a quick look sufficed to continue feeding Shirei. He put down a few bags and pouches in a line and froze for a moment, staring at nothing. Then, his hoof lit up, was sunk into a pouch, and he started painting silvery lines on the ground.

He moved as in trance, changing stance and switching hooves in a continuous flow of motion. White fire ran up his leg, the stunning light carving his circular, yet irregular path into Shirei's vision. In one phase, he whirled around, rhythmically stomping the ground with one forehoof at a time, crystals rising from each hit; in the next, he splashed dark powder over parts of the ground, seemingly wildly, like a mad painter bringing down his furious version of abstract art.

When he stopped, two intersecting circles marked the ground amidst the chaos he had created. He dismissively threw the Realm's Eye into the smaller one, causing it to change course just before it hit the ground and fly to a point above the circle, where it remained.

“Prepared,” he said, fixating Bon-Bon in a hostile stare. Shirei only then noticed that, while Lyra and herself were confused, Bon-Bon looked terrified.

“Shirei, are you ready,” Crimson asked.

“Uah—” Shirei almost jumped up. She was still rather dizzy. “I— I don't know.”

“How much mana do you have compared to earlier, and can you send it as fast as before?”

She focused inwards. “More,” she said. “I don't know if I can send it as fast, but I should come close, I mean, I hope so…”

“From the side you're standing, charge me with mana as quickly as possible. Begin at your discretion.” His gaze had not left Bon-Bon even once.

Shirei looked at the ponies. “But… it's still totally dark. R-Right now? Just like that? Creepy, couldn't you at least warn me?”

“Seems best option.” He was frozen in a low stance, his words flat.

“Wait,” Bon-Bon squeaked. “I— I think I tainted her, this—”

“Silence, Eater.” Creepy had said these words before, but then, they were said in anger. Now, they sounded like a recitation, words from a long-known answer.

“No! Wait, there's still time! Lyra,” Bon-Bon squeaked, “help me, they're making a mis— NO!” She started struggling as Shirei began the energy-sharing spell.

“Don't stop,” Crimson said. He had barely finished the words when blinding lines of light emerged on the ground, gathering into a ray that struck into the trap. An otherworldly sound shook Shirei, like a deep saw ripping its way through a giant rock.

As the ray vanished, the white flames reappeared, engulfing Bon-Bon completely, along with parts of Crimson and the shapes he had painted on the ground. Shirei knew she couldn't hold the spell for long. Once it stopped, she wouldn't have the energy to start it again! But this was her limit.

She sunk to the ground, panting. No! Was that not enough? She anxiously stared at the alchemist, who was furiously shattering the crystals around him one by one. As he struck one of them, his floating instrument came crashing to the ground.

After smashing the last crystal, he dropped down as well.

“Done,” he panted.

The ghostly white flames were running through the air, over the lines on the ground, over Bon-Bon and the alchemist, ignited by random sparks and flashes. Many crystal shards caught fire, burning out like broken fireworks. Some smoke rose upwards, concealing more flashes of magic fire within.

When the crackling of the last flames subsided, everyone's heavy breathing became the only audible sound. It was too dark to see anything. The spells had stunned Shirei's eyes – not that the left one had been seeing very well – and the trap wasn't shining the way it was before.

“I— I can't see anything,” Lyra said. “I-Is Bon-Bon alright?”

“Gahh,” the candy mare panted weakly. “I think so. I think I passed out… What happened? Is it gone?”

The ticking noise of Creepy's instrument was heard. In Shirei's opinion, he was earning the name anew all the time.

“For now,” he said. “You'll have to see alchemists again, to get it purged for good. But, after I get some sleep, please.” Now, Shirei could make him out, lying on his back, holding the slightly glowing tool on his hoof.

A thump announced that Lyra had jumped at Bon-Bon. Uncontrolled sobbing was dampened as she pressed her face against her friend.

Shirei was lying somewhere between the two and Creepy. She took her time to catch a deep breath, then rolled over to face his way. “Wow. That was – intense? Why'd you suddenly go rampage, after sayin' we got until dawn?”

He put down his tool and looked her way. “I… just wanted it done as soon as possible. Honestly, I'm tired. You didn't seem to be handling these bites very well. And hybrids, they get stronger over time, dawn is just a rough rule on when it's time to… you know, do what you saved me from doing.”

That seemed a weird way to put it. “Saved you? 'Ya crazy? If anything, you saved Bon-Bon and if not, you'd still have saved everyp—” Shirei almost choked on her own words.

“Mh,” was his only response.

Shirei could feel how he was still leaking energy to her. Love energy. Love. All of a sudden, Shirei could well imagine why. Goodness, he would have had to blow her up! Place a bomb, hear her scream, hit the trigger! Shirei briefly tried to put herself in his position, then wished with all her might that she'd forget the idea, before it would give her nightmares.

“Sorry,” she whispered. “That was mighty unfeeling of me.”

“No offense taken,” Crimson said. “I take pride in my job, even though it can turn sour.” He sounded thoughtful, staring at the night sky. “And don't apologize, that feels wrong right now.”

“But… I kinda wrecked your living room.” She wondered if he could see her grin.

“Heh. Right, I should fix the window. It's getting a little chilly, isn't it? A beautiful night though.” He was still lying on his back, stargazing.

Shirei… started to giggle. She couldn't help herself. “You ponies are aware that we were all going at each others' throats just a moment ago? What a surprising change of plans, is everypony preferring a nightly picnic after all?” She said the second sentence in neatly accentuated, noble speech.

“Nay. I'm going to bed,” Crimson said bluntly. “Though I like the idea. Lyra, Bon-Bon, are you okay with calling it a night? We'd better continue tomorrow. Actually,” he said musingly, “we could combine the two. A purge-planning-picnic.” He mouthed that again, savoring his alliteration.

Rolling over, Shirei giggled even louder than before. “Maybe it got us all, and everypony lost it now. Well then, am I invited too?”

“Of course,” Bon-Bon and Crimson said indignantly, in stereo.

Shirei didn't find a flippant answer to that. It was nonsense, of course. She was unable to shape-shift, and who would seriously want to have a picnic with a changeling? It still made her feel warm inside, the way she was talking with them, without disguise or fake personality.

Bon-Bon got up. “Well, we should take your advice. But let me first give my heartfelt thanks to each of you.” She came over and shook hooves with both Crimson and Shirei. “I… I can't find the words. You saved me… oh dear, now I found words after all. What am I saying? I'm in your debt. Both of yours.”

Shirei took her hoof, but just stared back open-mouthed. She could see the bloody patches from her bites! Wasn't she afraid at all? And Creepy… gave a slight bow with his head. He was following some sort of etiquette? Which culture was that? She decided to give up on making guesses about these ponies. She might as well throw a dice.

Lyra had gotten up too, now sitting upright, only on her hind-legs. “If all changelings are like you,” she said, wiping away a tear, “I wish you had conquered us.”

Shirei shrunk down a bit. “No… no, I don't think you should wish that. But thank you, really, hearing this… means a lot to me.” Lyra's words had been much too nice a thing to say. Hopefully, Lyra would never meet the changelings who had planned the invasion.

It had gotten very late, or early, depending on how one would see it. Tired and shaken, Bon-Bon and Lyra did not seem eager to stay much longer. Crimson gave their way home – and Bon-Bon specifically – a last look with the Realm's Eye, before he folded it and stowed it away. “Your path is clear of creatures,” he said. “You should go now, before that changes. I wish you pleasant sleep. Please don't speak of this, or of Shirei, until everything is resolved.” Crimson gave each of them a look, then put on his cloak and gathered his bags.

“Please excuse us then.” Bon-Bon gave a slight bow – maybe imitating Crimson from earlier – and started back to Ponyville, followed by Lyra.

A few lines on the ground lit up once more as Crimson stepped on them, their light helping him with finding the last few pouches.

“So… uh,” Shirei said as she shakily got up. “What about me now?”

Crimson searched the ground, picking and cording up the smaller pouches to gather them into the larger ones. He didn't respond to Shirei's question though. She watched him until he was all but finished, but he didn't say anything.

“This… is kind of awkward,” she said. “Am I still your prisoner? I mean, I could've run off before.”

He stopped packing for a moment, looking at her silently.

“I… I only came back when I heard how bad things were. I was about to go, well, south. Away.”

He turned his head a little and took a deep breath. “If you were planning to walk through the Everfree Forest, at night, in your condition, then yes, you are my prisoner. Please promise that you won't run off, or else I'll tie you up with something you can't break.”

“Oh,” she said, looking at the forest behind her. “That's the Everfree…”

She chuckled. “I promise.”