“My job here is done.
My destiny fulfilled.
This has been preordained.
This has been repeated time and time again.
All that I can do is TSUKURU them once more.
And I will die here, and be UMAREWAKARU.
Soon, I will get my chance.
And this time, I will remember my true enemy… Our enemy.”

“If you forget, I will remind you.”

“If we fail, we’ll try again.
Even if we have to witness the HAKAI again.
Even if we have to TSUKARU them again.
We will break the chains of UNMEI.
We will change it with our own hooves.
We will find JIYU.
Because we will never die.
We will never disappear from this existence, until we achieve our UNMEI.

“The time is now.

Ginkei, wake up.”

Ginkei suddenly woke up, and looked around.
“We will break the chains of…what?” Ginkei said to himself, trying to figure out what that last part was.

“Nevermind that… Who said it?” He thought, and looked again, scanning the room for anything that was out of place.
“If this is a joke, it’s a pretty bad one…”

Ginkei then looked at the window, and saw a silver-white bird sitting on the windowsill.
“Don’t suppose you said that in my dream?” Ginkei said. With that, the bird simply stared at him, and then flew off.

“Ginkei!! Get up already!!!” a pony yelled, banging on the door.
“Oh, no!! I forgot!!” Ginkei then ran towards the door, and reached over to open it. The door suddenly opened, and an orphanage worker grabbed him by the neck and dragged him out.

“Ginkei!! You are ten minutes past the time you are supposed to get up!!” The worker yelled.
“I-I’m…Sorry…” Ginkei stuttered.
“Stop giving me apologies and learn from your mistakes!!! As punishment, I will give you only a quarter of your breakfast today! The rest I will feed to the pigs. You will also wash everypony’s clothes! Understand?” With those words, he hit Ginkei.

“Tuesday, June 19th, 1035 After Defeat of Discord…

“This is how it always starts. I accidentally sleep in, I get less breakfast, plus I get extra chores.
If you haven’t already noticed, I live in the orphanage, about three hundred miles away from a speck of other civilizations. The town nearby was abandoned, most ponies now live in the Kingdom of Equestria, the new kingdom ruled by the great sisters Celestia and Luna.

“Nothing much happens in this orphanage, only that the other fillies and colts get beaten at least three times a day. The workers here are cruel, mean, dark-hearted beings. They don’t deserve to be called a pony.

“Me, I usually get picked on the most, usually because I take the punishments of the other ponies. Not because I like pain, because I don’t want to see anypony in pain. Just standing there, watching a filly get whipped and beaten over a spilled glass of water is just too painful. We get beaten for the slightest offense here, even by just going through the day without letting the workers see you smile, they whip you around thirty times to ‘let you feel true sadness’. But the truth is that they already know we’re living in misery. They just want to torture us.

“I’ve made a couple of friends here, though. In fact, they’re the only ponies left here. Dust Runner was the only earth pony, while Skyscraper, Rain, and Chickadee were the pegasi. Rosemary was the only unicorn, but she only knows how to levitate objects and one protection ward, so she wasn’t adopted during her time.

“Anyways, our life here was horrible. We lived in an old mansion, with concrete walls and barbed wire everywhere, plus we had to share one single room because the workers slept here, and they apparently ‘needed extra space’. We had three meals, but they mostly were hard bread and dirty water. We don’t even get that much. If we were lucky, we got a full cup of water for one day. The idea of showers would’ve been one good thing, if it weren’t for the water always being cold and it being the dishwater from the other night. We always had to do tedious chores, and they had us in an ‘accelerated education program’, or something like that. They forced us to study. Math, Science, History, all the boring stuff. To top it all off, we were always beaten. No matter how good we were. Some of us even had mental trauma, and that was what sent the few lucky ones who did end up being adopted with families. They didn’t have the trauma anymore, nor did they have the memories. Thank Celestia that they were free.

“The six of us who didn’t get adopted were to find our salvation much later… Some of us thought we would only get it in death… But we weren’t there yet.
There was always talk of escaping. We used to role-play every night, when the guards were asleep, we would chase each other around in the small room. But we were much younger back then… Or was it two months ago? Ponies who live here tend to mature much faster than any normal pony. It was dangerous, because if we were to reach a certain point, we would end up crazy, and we’d probably kill each other…

“I had prayed every day that one day I would find freedom. Me and my friends would run away to Equestria… Live near the Great Sisters… My friends thought it was funny, because like the Sisters, I was an alicorn, a pony who had traits of all races; Earth, Pegasus, and Unicorn. Maybe I’d become somepony of royal descent, too.

“And finally, one day, I got my chance to escape.”

“Ginkei!!! I told you to feed the chickens!!!” The orphanage worker yelled.
“Oh!! Uh…I-I’m sorry…I-“
“Stop dozing off and do your work!! Or you will get three times as many beatings!!”

“It was coming close to dinner time… We’d probably got the same thing. Hard, stale bread with filthy water…”

Ginkei and the others sat in the same table. The room was silent, and a worker watched over the table, as he leaned on the wall and smoked a pipe.
Dust Runner reached over to grab the cup of water when he accidentally spilled it all over the floor. The worker walked slowly over to him.

“I-I’m sorry…” Dust Runner said.
“Just drink it,” The worker replied.
Dust Runner then picked up the tin cup and started drinking whatever was left inside.

“Not that, you foal!!” The worker slapped the cup out of his grasp. He then shoved his face into the spilled water on the ground. “Lick up everything from the floor! It’s a waste of water if we just mop it up!! Besides, you’re always complaining that the water is always filthy!!”

“How dare he…” Skyscraper started to get up from his seat.
“Don’t, Skyscraper. We can’t do anything to help him…” said Ginkei.

“After dinner, it was always time for bed. As always, we were thrown into the same room, which was always locked, plus we had to sleep on the floor. No mattresses, the workers took them all, and no floor mats because we are considered to be ‘worthless insects’ and we should lie on the ground like one. We don’t even get blankets, as we have none and the workers think we should suffer the same.”

“And stay in bed this time, won’t you?!?!” The worker yelled, throwing Rain into the room. Chickadee ran over to her.

“It’s okay, Rain. Let’s get you into bed okay?” She said, trying to comfort Rain.

The worker then slammed the door shut. A faint click gave Ginkei the sign that they had locked the door.

“How long do these buckers wanna treat us like this?!?” Dust Runner said.
“Easy, Dust. You know what happened last time when we were yelling,” Ginkei said, trying to keep Dust Runner’s voice down.
“Well, they treat us like worthless slobs!!” Dust Runner whispered.
“They deserve to die!!” Skyscraper said.
“They wouldn’t deserve the comfort of death,” Ginkei said.
“You’re right…we have to torture them, like they’ve done to us!” Rosemary said.
“Like what they’ve done to my wing!!” Skyscraper sat up, revealing a bandaged wing.

“He got in trouble when he didn’t do his flight exercises correctly. They had him strapped to a table, and they beat his left wing until it fractured. As I’ve heard, they were going to break both of his wings like that. Then they were going to rip them off…”

“…You know, Ginkei,” Skyscraper started.
Ginkei looked up at Skyscraper.
“I might’ve died if it wasn’t for you.”

“I had stopped them before they broke his other wing. I begged the workers to punish me instead. They let him go, and they had given me forty lashes. My back is still wounded, and it’d probably scar, but at least it’s better knowing Skyscraper wouldn’t lose his wings.”

“I haven’t properly thanked you yet, so…Thanks.”
“It’s fine…” Ginkei said.

“It is totally NOT fine, Ginkei!” Rosemary snapped.
“Then what is?” Dust Runner asked.

There was no response for three whole minutes. Everypony took this as a sign to get some sleep, and all laid down on the floor to sleep.

After a while though, Rain broke the silence.

“I can’t sleep…” Rain said.
“Who could when the bed is actually a cold, wooden floor?” Dust Runner whispered back.
“And I have a broken wing! How am I supposed to lie down on a hard floor?” Skyscraper said.
“Not to mention it’s full of splinters and dirt,” Chickadee added.
“Seriously, you foals are complaining about how the floor is too dirty and uncomfortable when we have to go through three beatings a day?” Rosemary asked.
“The floor being uncomfortable is the reason why you didn’t get much sleep last night, and how you were too slow washing dishes, and how you got beaten for that, too!” Chickadee said back.
“Well you were sleeping in the spot I wanted to sleep on, and I also would’ve gotten more water, too!” Rosemary replied.
“What does it matter which spot you sleep in?!?” Chickadee said, almost yelling.

“ENOUGH!!” Ginkei said, startling the ponies enough to stop arguing. “We can’t fight like this!! We’re only going to suffer more!!”
The room was silent again, for a few seconds.

“…Does…anypony remember the last time you were happy?” Rosemary asked.
“…no,” Rain whispered.
“Who would?” Dust Runner mumbled. “All we could remember is the time we were sent here…”

“Then let’s talk about that,” Chickadee said.
“Why would we want to hear about other ponies’ sob stories?” Rosemary asked.
“Do you have a better topic?” Chickadee replied.

“Fine, I’ll say it… I was found in a desert two years ago… The pony who found me raised me as a rancher not too far from here. I worked all day in the farm, I tended the cows, harvested wheat, all sorts of stuff. But it wasn’t really hard work like here. I was always cared for, and ponies there always smiled.”

“Oh, hello Dust. How are you today?”
“Just fine, but I need some iron nails… My pop’s patchin’ up the ol’ barn.”

"Why do we want to listen to this?" Skyscraper asked.
“Shh!!…what happened?” Rain asked.
“O-oh…uh…right…” Dust Runner stammered a bit. “There was a bad drought one time, and it lasted around a week. It got worse and worse every day. One day, somepony left a bottle next to a little pile of hay. The bottle acted like a makeshift magnifying glass, and the next thing we knew, a there was a huge fire that spread to somepony’s house. Since it was in the middle of a drought, we didn’t have any water to put the fire out, and all attempts to put it out with other things like towels and stuff failed. In three minutes, the fire had destroyed the general store. In seven minutes, our wheat farms were burning to a crisp.
The whole town burned, and we couldn’t do anything about it.”
“What about the pony who took you in?” Rosemary asked.
“He died in the fire. An old lady got caught in some rubble and he helped her out…” Dust Runner said.

“Here, I’ll help!”
“…Thank you!”
“Come on! Everypony’s out!”
“Alright!”
CRASH!!
“No!!!”
“Argh…Dust…get out of…here…”
“No! No, I’m not leaving without you! …Here! Grab my hoof!”
“Dust Runner, go! M-My leg’s broken! The place will collapse on us if you don’t leave me!”
“I can’t just leave you here…!”
“It’s alright… I’ve…had… a good life… You have to live yours…!”
CRASH!!
“NO!!!!!!!!”

“…I’m sorry…” Chickadee started. “I shouldn’t have brought that out.”
“It’s okay… Keeping that a secret all these years was actually messing with my head,” Dust Runner said.
“…Hey, Ginkei, you’re awfully quiet… Mind telling us what’s going on?” Skyscraper asked.

Ginkei wasn’t paying much attention.
He was focused on the window, for the silver-white bird had returned, and was staring at the ponies through the window.
“…Ginkei…?” Rain started.

A soft, eerie voice echoed through the room, speaking in a language that they did not know.

“WAREWARE WA JIYU O MITSUKERU…”

“What was that?” Rain asked.
“I know for sure that wasn’t Equestrian, and it’s the only language that ponies speak,” Rosemary said.
“And it’s not Vespid, the language of changelings,” Skyscraper stated.
“How do you know that? Vespid is only supposed to be spoken using the buzzing of changeling wings and screeches,” Dust Runner said.
“I knew a changeling, in fact, they were the reason why I’m here.”
“Enough of that, what’s the lingo?!?” Rosemary asked.

“We will find freedom…” Ginkei said.
“What?” Rosemary turned and looked at Ginkei.
“That’s what it means…”
“You can understand it?” Skyscraper asked.
“Yeah, It’s as plain to me as Equestrian…” Ginkei said.
“Any idea what it’s called?” Dust Runner asked.
“Uh…no. All I do know is that I can understand it for some reason…” Ginkei said.
“Okay, so what’s this ‘find freedom’ thing you heard?” Rain asked.
“That, I do not know…” Ginkei stopped, and looked at the silver-white bird. The word “JIYU” echoed through his head again, and with that, the bird flew off.

“…But it gives me a pretty crazy idea…” Ginkei said.
“Huh? What do you mean?” Rosemary asked.

Ginkei stood up, and glanced through the window again, looking at the bird flying away, one more time.

“It has been far too long since we had been free,” Ginkei said with a firm voice.
The others remained silent, and listened eagerly to Ginkei’s words.
“We must realize that no-pony can bring us down and keep us locked up like a pet,” Ginkei continued, “and no-pony can just torture us and expect us to respect them!”
Skyscraper perked up a bit, remembering what they’d done to his wing.
“We must rebel against impossible odds, we must fight against our oppressors!”
“Yeah…” Rosemary whispered.

“We will find freedom!” Ginkei said.

“Yeah,” Rain, Dust Runner and Chickadee said, in unison.

“We’ll escape, or die trying!!” Ginkei said, almost too loud.

“Yeah!” everypony said in unison.

“Are you sure this will work? It’s scary…” Rain whimpered.
“Don’t worry. I have a feeling I’ve done this with you all before, and I know that we will escape.” Ginkei said, reassuring Rain.
“So, Ginkei, let’s go over the plan again, to make sure we’re through on this.” Rosemary said.
“Okay…”

“Step one; secure the keys.”

Ginkei scratched the iron bars surrounding the window, drawing a guard’s attention. Sure enough, a guard entered the room, and noticed Ginkei scratching the window bars.

“HEY!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING PAST BEDTIME?!?” The guard yelled. He grabbed Ginkei, but then he used his magic to stop the guard in his tracks. He then levitated him in the air, and threw him over to the wall. He grabbed the keys, and signaled the others to come out of hiding. Then, Rosemary ran up to the guard, and kicked the guard in the back of the head, knocking him out cold.

"There, at least he won't scream for help," Rosemary said.

"I got the keys," Ginkei said, holding up a set of keys. "Let's get out of here!"

“Step two; get out using the back door through the kitchen. Then crawl through a small hole beneath the wall.”

Skyscraper flipped through key after key, using each and every one on the door.

“Come on, come on!! One of these has to be the right one!!” Skyscraper muttered.
Ginkei scouted out of the kitchen. The coast was clear for now, but he knew there wouldn’t be much time.

“Hurry up, Sky!!” Ginkei said, urging Skyscraper to go through the keys faster.

“I’m trying!!” Skyscraper said back, going through the keys a bit faster.
Ginkei looked around, and saw a small box of junk. However, he saw a small, glimmering object inside.

He went over to it, and pulled it out. It was a long sword that was made out of a crystal. It had nine weird symbols carved into the length of the blade, and a makeshift leather sheath tied to the handle. Holding it up, and using his own magic to make a dim light, Ginkei saw that the crystal blade itself was almost entirely transparent, and a light blue in color.

“What’re you going to do with that?” Rosemary asked, looking back at Ginkei.
“You never know…” Ginkei said, as he untied the leather sheath, and strapped it to his back. He slipped the sword in, and went back to keeping watch in the hallway. Unfortunately, when he peeked out, a candlelight was shining down, and appeared to be coming closer and closer to them.

“Guard!!” Ginkei whispered loudly at the group.

“…I…I got it!! Argh, this key is the one, but it’s a bit jammy…” Skyscraper said as he forced the key to turn.

“Try harder!! The guard’s coming this way!!” Rosemary said, urging him to force the door open.

The lock then clicked open. “I got it!!” Skyscraper yelled.
A scream pierced through the air. “EEYYYAAAHHH!!!” Ginkei looked beside him to see that the guard had grabbed Rain, and was pulling on her mane.
Ginkei then turned around, and pulled the sword out of the sheath. He swung it, aiming for the guard’s head.
Smack!
The guard staggered back, releasing Rain from his grasp. A red mark appeared on the guard’s face. The sword had hit him, but he hit him with the blunt of the sword.

“Ponyfeathers…!!” Ginkei swung again, this time slashing through the guard’s leg.

“GWAAAAHHH!!” The guard fell over, his leg gushing out…

Green blood?

The group looked at the gushing blood, pouring out onto the floor.
“…Wha…What…are you?” Ginkei muttered softly. He looked at the guard, then at the blood. Then, he looked up at the guard, realizing that we wasn’t what he used to look like. In fact, he didn’t look like a pony anymore.

His teeth were replaced by fangs, his eyes were completely blue, he had suddenly grew a sharp-pointed horn and thin, holey wings. His coat turned black, his head was bald, and his legs were full of holes.

“Ch-Changeling!!” Skyscraper yelled. “RUN!!” The entire group turned around, and ran outside.

The group suddenly saw three guards staring directly at them, near the back gate.
They looked back to see the changeling yelling to the guards, in his own language. The group turned back around to see the three guards were also changelings.
In the far left side of the wall, there was a small hole underneath the wall. They were supposed to climb under that, but the changelings could have easily caught them, even if they’d reach it, it would take at least fifteen seconds for all of them to crawl under.

“Go,” Ginkei said, drawing his sword again. “I’ll take care of them.”

“What? But…Ginkei…” Rain said, her voice trailing off.

“Just go. Follow the plan, and you’ll be free. I promise you.” The others followed his command and rushed towards the hole.

The other changelings ran towards them, and Ginkei cut them off. He slashed at the changelings, but every time he tied to slice through their head, their hard exoskeletons would protect them. It would need a very powerful blow, plus a good hit in a weak spot to crack through.

“Fool…” one changeling said in a raspy voice. He charged at Ginkei, and focused energy into his horn.
Ginkei was doomed. He knew he was going to die, and there was no way of stopping it now. All he could do, is swing the sword one last time…

sssswwWWWAACCCKK!!

Ginkei looked at the changelings again, realizing that he was still alive. They were standing still. But suddenly, as if some blade had slashed them, all three changelings split in half, with a clean cut directly in their chest. Every barrel in front of Ginkei was also cut clean in half, and the walls were also slashed.

“H-How did..?” Ginkei muttered. He looked behind him to see that Rosemary was calling him over.

“Ginkei!! They’re dead!! Let’s go!!”
Ginkei ran over and crawled under the hole in the wall. The others were there, waiting for him.

“Are they dead?” Dust Runner asked.

“Yeah! You would never believe what happened! He slashed, and a wave of wind slashed right through the changelings, as if it was a hot knife through butter!!” Rosemary said.

Five more changelings flew out of the orphanage, scouting for the group.

“Oh no! Quick, run!!” Skyscraper yelled.

“Step three; scatter. They’ll find it difficult to catch us if we run in different directions.”

Ginkei ran through the dark forest, his heart pounding with fear. Thunder and lightning boomed down as rain started to shower down. Suddenly, a shrill scream pierced the air. “EEYYYYAAAAAAAAA!!!”
Ginkei would know that voice anywhere.
“Rain!!” He ran towards the sound, hoping to find the little filly. Sure enough, he found her being held by two changelings. Another changeling was about to cover her in some sort of sticky glue.

“Hey!!” Ginkei yelled, to distract the changelings.
“Ginkei!! Help!!” Rain pleaded. The changelings kept hold of Rain, but the other charged at Ginkei.
Ginkei pulled the sword out again, and charged head on into the changeling. Once he was close, he lunged with the sword. A loud SWOOSH sound and a big wave of wind blew the changeling off it’s legs, and right into a tree. In fact, the wind was so strong that the tree managed to fall over.
Another changeling charged a bolt of magic at Ginkei, and without him knowing, he fired. Ginkei managed to turn around in time, but he could not dodge it. Instead, he tried to block using the sword.

A small rock wall suddenly rose right out of the ground, shielding Ginkei from the magic bolt.
Ginkei was astonished, and so were the changelings, even Rain.

“…So, this is supposed to be some sort of magic sword?” Ginkei said to himself.

“Magic sword or not, you will die!!” The changeling said, leaping over the rock wall. Ginkei barely managed to roll out of the way while the changeling landed and charged another magic bolt.

“Alright, time to end this!” Ginkei held the sword up in the air, then plunged it down at the ground. The ground started to crack, and split open. However, the changeling flew up, and fired the beam at Ginkei once more.

Ginkei dodged again, but then he pulled the sword out of the cracking ground and quickly flicked it upwards. Flames rose out of the ground and blasted the changeling away. Ginkei then swung the sword again, causing the flames to die down and the cracks to fix itself. He then ran over to Rain, completely astonished.

“You alright?” Ginkei said, helping Rain up.

“Y-Yeah… Let’s get out of here!” Rain said.

The two ran away from the area, jumping over rocks and fallen logs, running through mud and dirt. But looking back, Ginkei saw that even more changelings were advancing on their tail.

“Run faster! Come on!” Ginkei yelled.

“I’m trying!” Rain said back.

Suddenly, they ran into something.
Ginkei scrambled to get back on his hooves, and picked the sword up again, ready to attack anything that was going to hurt them. When he finally got his bearings though, he saw that they had ran into Dust Runner.

“What’re ya doin’ here?!” Dust Runner yelled.

Just then, a blast from a changeling just missed Ginkei and Dust Runner, and hit the tree beside them.

“No time! Run!” Ginkei yelled, picking up Rain. They continued to run away from the changelings, who were now firing green bolts of magic at them.

They finally ran out of the forest, and they had reached a river, bridged by only a fallen log.
Ginkei and the others turned around, but saw that the changelings had finally caught up to them. They were surrounded, and the only way out was the wooden log, or to somehow fly the ponies out of there.
They had no other choice but to escape by running across the log, so they turned around, and to their amazement, Rosemary, Skyscraper and Chickadee were on the other side, about to cross the log as well. The changelings had also cornered them, and they were already attacking. Rosemary was the only one defending them with protection spells, but her magic was already starting to fail.

The changelings that cornered Ginkei and the others started to attack by firing a volley of beams at them.

“Just get on that log! I’ll protect you!” Ginkei yelled.

"That's not a very good idea!!" Dust Runner yelled back.

"Do you have a better idea?!"
Rain and Dust Runner then walked onto the log, with Ginkei getting on last, backing up as he used the sword to block attacks.

The whole group eventually stopped in the exact middle of the log bridge, with nowhere to go, no other backup, and no rescue. The other three ponies looked behind them to see that Dust Runner, Rain and Ginkei were blocking the way.

"Hey!! Why did you just block us off like this?!" Chickadee yelled.

"Hey, it was Ginkei's idea," Dust Runner said.

"GINKEI!!" Rosemary yelled.

They stopped, and focused on the changelings. It was either fight them off, or die trying. Rosemary then had no other choice but to surround the entire group with a force field. She focused all of the energy, and managed to surround the group with the force field. The changelings started to fire a continuous beam at the shield, hoping to weaken it.

“Ginkei!! I…I don’t think… I can hold it…much…longer!!” Rosemary said, beads of sweat running down her face as the ward started to fade.

“Hold on! I know we can make it out of this!!” Ginkei then started to swing the sword frantically, zapping the changelings with a small jolt of electricity through the ward.

“Ugh!...I-I…I can’t hold it any longer…!!” Rosemary then collapsed, exhausted. The ward shattered, and Ginkei stopped attacking. The beams didn’t hit anypony, but one of them managed to hit the log bridge they were standing on. The bridge snapped in half, and the group fell into the river.

Ginkei was thrown side to side, hitting rock walls and loose stones, as the raging river carried him over small waterfalls, and sometimes almost underwater.

“Help!! I can’t swim!!” Rain called out somewhere.
Ginkei tried to get over water, then looked around everywhere, trying to find out where he heard her. He then saw a waving hoof coming out of the water.

“Hold on, Rain!” Ginkei yelled, wrestling through the river, trying to reach Rain. He finally grabbed her hoof and pulled her over water.
Something hit the back of his head, and he turned around to see a floating piece of wood.

“Here, grab hold of this!!” Ginkei yelled. Rain grabbed hold of the driftwood, and suddenly another pony bumped into it---Rosemary.
Ginkei grabbed her hoof and dragged her onto the wood, and saw yet another pony waving in the distance. Skyscraper and Dust Runner were caught in a few stones, and Dust Runner was waving at Ginkei, mouthing something.

“Wa…ter…fall? Waterfall!” Ginkei said, piecing the words together. He then reached out with his arm and tried to grab onto a passing rock. He managed to grab one, and held Rain, and Rosemary with the driftwood.

Ginkei could see Chickadee floating down the river when he then tried to pull her in using magic. He did, and managed to lift her on the piece of wood too. But the load was too heavy, and the driftwood started to sink. Ginkei tried using magic to keep the wood afloat, but then the rock he was hanging onto gave way, and they were now floating on their way down the waterfall.

Luckily, Skyscraper and Dust Runner caught them, each on the other side, holding the driftwood and the others in place on the edge of the waterfall.

“Help!!” Rain cried out. The colts looked over to see that Rain was hanging off the edge of the waterfall, on the driftwood.

Chickadee managed to wake up when they had stopped at the waterfall. She looked at Rain, and then reached over to grab her hoof.

“Here!” She yelled, trying to get Rain to grab her.

“I…I can’t reach you!!” Rain’s hooves suddenly slipped a bit. “Ahh!! I-I’m slipping!!”
Chickadee reached over more and grabbed her hoof again. But Rosemary was starting to slip off the driftwood as well.

“Ginkei!!” Chickadee yelled. “Rosemary’s going under!!”

“Hold on!!” Ginkei pushed away from the rocks, reaching over towards Rosemary. He grabbed her hoof, but he was also carried under the driftwood and he almost fell off the edge.
He managed to grab hold of the driftwood again, but Rosemary was dangling off Ginkei’s hoof. His arm strained, and not only that, but an audible CRACK was heard.

“The thing won’t take much more!! Dust Runner, pull us out of here!!” Ginkei yelled.

“These rocks are too slippery!! I can’t get a good… BUCK!!!” Dust Runner yelled, ducking his head.

The changelings had found them again, and shot another bolt of magic at them. It hit the rocks Dust Runner was standing on, and he was blasted off the waterfall. The driftwood, along with the other ponies, was also carried off the edge.

The ponies screamed as they fell down the waterfall. As they hit the water, Ginkei, along with the other ponies, blacked out.

“WAREWARE WA JIYU O MITSUKERU…” The words echoed in Ginkei’s mind once more…

Ginkei woke up, and climbed out of the now shallow, calm water. He looked around to see that the river had taken them into a swamp. He stood up, and looked around for the others. He found the sword stuck in some dirt, and the leather sheath, now ripped apart. He picked up the sword and saw Rosemary trapped under a piece of driftwood.

He walked over to her and lifted the wood off of her using his magic. Rosemary coughed, and opened her eyes slowly.

“…Aw…ponyfeathers…” Rosemary mumbled as she tried to regain consciousness. “Wha… Where am I?”

“I don’t know,” Ginkei said, “But this part of swamp looks a lot like a bit of The Everfree Forest…”

“Step four, right? Hide in the Everfree Forest by following the river?” Rosemary asked.

“Yeah… So, this means we are in The Kingdom of Equestria?” Ginkei asked.

“I guess…” Rosemary started, “Come on, let’s look for the others.”

“No need,” A voice called out, “We already woke up sooner than you did.”

“Huh?” Ginkei turned around to see Skyscraper, Dust Runner, Chickadee, and Rain.

“Wow! Did we all survive that?” Rain asked.

“Sure did,” Ginkei said.

“Enough talk, we still have to get out of here,” Dust Runner said, “When I tried to find you guys, I saw a couple of changelings still looking for us.”

“Then let’s go,” Ginkei started, “If they are brave enough to follow us into the Everfree Forest, then we can out run them in the Everfree Forest!”

Ginkei held the sword up, ready to attack.

“Step five! Fight our way to freedom!!”

The group ran fast, through the mud and dirt, over rocks and through a few trees.

“Ginkei!! They are still on our tail!” Chickadee shouted.

“I guess fighting wasn’t a very good idea,” Dust Runner said.

“Then this one is!” Ginkei yelled back.

“Step six, run?!” Rosemary shouted, “You really need to think things through a bit!!”

The group had come across an old wood plank-rope bridge leading up to an old ruins.

“This is the old castle of the Great Sisters,” Ginkei said.

“Whatever, just run!!” Dust Runner shouted.

The group did exactly just that, and ran across the bridge. They ended up inside the old castle, and ran around every hallway, every corridor, and every room. They had eventually found a way out, but it seemed that it had only lead to the castle courtyard.

Swarms of changelings were already flying around the castle, scouting for the group of ponies.

“Ponyfeathers! The courtyard’s exit is our only exit!!” Dust Runner stated.

“Let’s make a run for it!! Changelings are already coming out of the castle!!” Rain yelled.

The group ran for the courtyard gate, which had rusted and broken due to old age. They were now out of the castle, but the cobblestone path still lead to somewhere inside the Everfree Forest.

“Where does this thing go?” Rosemary asked.

“I don’t know… but I’ve been here before, running along this path…” Ginkei said.

“What do you mean? You couldn’t have possibly been here before, unless you have lived this life multiple times…” Dust Runner said.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Rosemary said back, “Past lives or memories can’t exist.”

“Still, though… This all feels familiar…” Ginkei muttered.

The group eventually arrived at a clearing in the forest, with another, smaller ruins in the middle.
Broken, stone pillars lay on their side in the grass and mossy cobblestone, and a few surviving pillars were supporting a dark, mossy, octahedron-shaped object surrounded by three stone rings, one of which seemed to have seven stone symbols. Ginkei blinked, and the seven symbols suddenly became nine.

The group walked closer towards the stone ring and examined the symbols.

“Weren’t those seven symbols a few moments ago?” Dust Runner asked.

“Yeah…” Rosemary started, “Hey, what do they say anyways?”

Ginkei looked closer at the symbols, and without even thinking, he started to read the words aloud.

“Rin…Pyou…Tou…Sha…Kai…Jin…Retsu…Zai…Zen.”
He looked at the crystal sword, and saw the exact same nine symbols carved into the sword.

“What do they mean?” Chickadee asked.

“They’re the nine syllable seals,” Ginkei said, abruptly.

“Nine what?” Dust Runner asked.

“The nine syllable seals or Kuji-in,” Ginkei explained, “are the things which are key in harnessing the psychospiritual and psychophysical energies… otherwise known to alter reality using strange forces…”
He stopping, realizing that he didn’t even know the stuff he was talking about.

“I don’t understand… Why do I know all of this?” He said to himself.

Suddenly, the crystal sword he was carrying started to glow a bright blue, and the wind started to whirl all around the clearing.
The broken pillars that had fallen had slowly started to levitate, then position themselves back to their original state, as if the pillars weren’t broken at all. Magical symbols emanated from a blue ritual circle from the middle of the ruins. Then, the octahedron-shaped object, along with the three rings, rose from the support of the pillars, high into the air. The dark color from the object lightened into a somewhat dim amber color, the rings turned into a dark metal, and the stone syllables turned into orange, magical letters.

The object positioned itself in the moonlight, revealing that it was actually a crystal. However, upon closer inspection, Rain had noticed that the light did not reflect off of it.

“That crystal thing isn’t shiny,” she said.

“So?” Rosemary scoffed. “Who cares if the thing isn’t shiny?”

“Crystalline objects, no matter what they are made of, are always shiny,” Skyscraper stated. “This one isn’t, and it may just be enough to make it the legendary ‘Stone-Like’, the thing my relatives always worshipped.”

“Uhm… What’s a ‘Stone Like’?” Chickadee asked.

“It’s the nickname given to the ‘Stone Like a Lightless Gem’, a crystal that does not reflect light, but has god-like powers,” Ginkei explained. “…I still don’t know how I know that…”

Then suddenly, the changelings swarmed the entire clearing. One was a bit different than the others, for she was taller, her horn was longer, she had green eyes, and she also had a mane and tail, unlike the rest of the changelings.

“Queen Chrysalis!!” Skyscraper growled.

“That’s the changeling you met?” Rain asked.

“Yes, and I’m so glad you remember me,” Chrysalis said firmly.

“I’m not,” Skyscraper said, “you took my parents away from me!!”

“Oh, boo hoo. Changelings have to live off something,” Chrysalis said.

“Wait, if you changelings feed off of ponies’ love, why did you keep us in that orphanage?” Rosemary asked.

Queen Chrysalis glided down before she spoke, “Oh, my. Treating you foals like dirt only made your love for one another grow. You all actually cared for each other, and it was sooo cute… And it provided plenty of food for the swarm.”
Ginkei felt disgusted, he never knew that they were exploiting them all these years, all the time they had tortured them, just to feed off of them anyway.

“And now, it seems that you know too much, you must be taken care of. However, it also seems like you would kill yourselves than be captured by us again, so we can’t put you in pods either. We have no other choice but to kill you. It’s a shame, really. What a waste of food…”

“Not that, you foal!! Lick up everything from the ground, it’s a waste of water if we mop it up!! Besides, you always complain that it’s always dirty, anyway!!” The voice of the changeling orphanage worker echoed through Dust Runner’s mind as he heard Chrysalis’s words.

“I don’t think you would be able to kill us,” Ginkei said.

Queen Chrysalis hesitated, surprised by Ginkei’s words. “D-Do you dare challenge us?!?”

“Yeah,” Ginkei said. “I do.”

Chrysalis pointed a hoof at the group of ponies. “DESTROY!!!”

Just then, a loud BLAST came down from the sky. A wave of yellow colored energy swept through everything in the forest, as blue energy was absorbed by the Stone Like. Another blast went off, and the blue energy turned into a yellow color. The three metal rings surrounding the Stone Like glowed a bright yellow, then disappeared. The wind started to swirl again, and the clouds were pulled into the Stone Like as well. Lightning jumped from cloud to cloud as more blue energy glowed from the vortex, seemingly trying to suppress the energy from the Stone Like.

“What’s happening?!?” Rain screamed.
Ginkei’s sword glowed a bright blue, and a loud voice echoed through the area:

“Alas, the SOUZOU-SHA is going. A destiny undesired, unwanted. What makes him go? It is nothing more than the principle of the pony that has the reason for living.”

“What the buck does that mean?!?” Dust Runner yelled.
A loud groaning sound rang through the air. The Stone Like glowed bright yellow as it charged energy.

“Children!! We must not let them live, even in a storm!! Kill them!!” Chrysalis yelled, and the changelings obeyed.
Three changelings ran towards the ponies, however, the Stone Like released three bolts of yellow lightning and stuck the changelings, protecting the ponies from harm.

“NO!!! KILL THEM!!!” Chrysalis screamed. The changelings charged again, but the Stone Like released a blinding flash of yellow light, showering the ruins with a heavenly light. Then, the Stone Like released a blast of energy, with blinding light swallowing everything in it’s path- The ponies, the changelings, and the forest itself.
When the light finally died down, The changelings and their queen were all unconscious, and the ponies’ image was trapped in the Stone Like, as if they were encased in the crystal itself.

“We were frozen in time, our image trapped inside the Stone Like, forever. Or so we thought.
That day, my life had changed, FUTATABI. I had never known that I would be the one who would go on this journey, this quest, this mission. None of us had known. No, not Dust Runner, nor Rosemary. Not even the great Princess Celestia would truly know what will happen.

“We spent years in that crystal. Waiting endlessly for our release. Our freedom.

“And one day, we found it.”

Author's Note

As you could probably tell, and you may already know this by looking at the description, I did use Japanese in some parts of the story. I would highly appreciate any help on those bits, so if you are fluent in the language and you spot an error, please let me know how I could fix it.