The Necromantic Adventures of Lyra Heartstrings

Chapters

And Bonbon is a Paladin
They Fight Vines
Righteous Beats
Machinations of the Other Side
Into the Woods
Pieces to the Puzzle
We Must Insist
Sights and Sounds
So Lyra is a Necromancer
Slice of Unlife

And Bonbon is a Paladin

The term 'Necromancer' evokes a few constant images: A dark tower, a desolate wasteland, a cursed swamp and legions of half-decayed creatures that barely resembled what they once were. It was a term that spoke of fear and death and shadows. It was almost as though they had a rulebook on how to be the most cliched villain possible.

Lyra had never been good at following rules. Though, she could definitely see the appeal of a dark tower. The sunlight streaming in through the window was doing nothing to help her hangover, and it was too much of an effort to get out of bed and shut the curtains. Instead, she shifted her pillow so it lay atop her head. “Dammit, Celestia, go away. Come back in a few more hours.”

However, since Lyra didn't possess some phenomenal power to make the deities bow to her whims, the sun stayed put.

She groaned, trying to get a handle on her migraine and the nauseousness that accompanied it. While she was no stranger to cider, or the hangovers that tended to follow, it had been a long time since she'd gotten that drunk. A stab of pain that had nothing to do with her headache shot through her as she remembered a promise she'd made to Bonbon several weeks ago.“Dammit,” she muttered, managing to raise her head from the bed without losing what little still remained in her stomach. “Bonbon? You there?” Only silence met her words and she frowned. “Bonbon, I'm sorry. I know I wasn't supposed to get drunk like that again.” Still nothing. “Come on, Bonny. The silent treatment isn't helping either of us.”

When even that didn't illicit a response from her marefriend, Lyra groaned aloud. She was in trouble, and she knew it.

She slowly extracted herself from the bed sheets, every movement deliberate and exact so as not to upset her already angry stomach. There was no relief even as she found her hooves, and the transition from bed to floor almost ended with her laying on the latter in a pool of her own vomit. She actually felt it welling up inside her. It was only a moment of extreme willpower that kept her from ruining the floor Bonbon had worked so hard to clean earlier that week.

She finally managed to take a few steps out into the hall, her head spinning as her body protested every movement. “Ugh, Bonbon? I'm sorry. I was stupid, I got drunk when I promised I wouldn't and I broke your trust. I get that you're mad at me, and I prob –” She shook her head slightly. “I do deserve it. I'll make it up to you, I promise, just name it.” Lyra finally made it into the living room, where she was expecting Bonbon had been listening to her pour her heart out.

Only, she wasn't.

The room was entirely empty, though the couch had a blanket draped over it from somepony sleeping there the previous night. “Bonbon?” Lyra's hooves slowly shuffled toward the kitchen, seeing if Bonbon was sitting at the table or something, but that was empty too.

Lyra closed her eyes, feeling her headache just getting worse. “Okay, what gives?” As she turned to leave, her eyes popped open just in time to spot a piece of paper taped to a nearby wall. With her curiosity piqued, she shuffled over to the note. It was still something of an effort to read it, given her current state, but she had a penchant for stubbornness when she wanted something.

'Something came up, had to leave early. Talk about last night later. –Bonbon'

Lyra blinked a few times, staring at the note in disbelief. “What the hay came up? I haven't heard about any dangers the last few weeks.”

The town of Whinnistrad had always been unassuming.

It was the sort of quaint town that was only listed on some maps, held next to no political or military advantage and was generally self-contained save for a few semi-regular visits from traveling salesponies.

Which was why the sudden construction of a massive tower in the center of the town was so odd.

That was where Bonbon came in. She’d been contacted by another mare, a very high ranking one outside of Shining’s branch of the order, to investigate the tower. Whom it had been built for and why. Why the town seemed to be working nearly around the clock to complete it. Why a town that used to be nearly self-sufficient was suddenly buying up more and more materials. It was such massive shift in attitude that there were questions as to whether it was natural or not, and first impressions weren’t exactly encouraging in that regard.

Ponies most would have called too old to be working pulled carts that – while less loaded than some of the others – were still heavily burdened with materials. Foals with hardhats clamored around rickety structures to get to places that adults couldn't, moving with far more coordination than most children were capable of. Then, there was the fact everypony just seemed to ignore her entire existence.

Bonbon had tried to get the attention of five separate ponies, all of whom had not even so much as glanced her. It finally just got to the point where she stopped a passing colt with a hoof just to see what would happen. He just continued to walk in place, his hooves sliding loosely over the ground and his expression unchanged.

Yep, something was definitely wrong here.

She let the colt go, blinking a bit as she looked around at all the ponies still moving about with blank expressions on their face. She wasn't stupid; she could see the signs of mind control, but there was a catch to the whole mess. While she was legally able to act on her instincts, she couldn't just go around kicking ponies in an effort to find the one pulling the strings. So, for the moment at least, her hooves were tied. She knew how these things worked, though, so she simply walked around, knowing she'd know her opening when she spotted it.

Like the young stallion that made a covert glance toward her just as she turned in that particular direction.

Bonbon smiled to herself. Celestia often worked in mysterious ways, but those in her service were smiled upon most often. She followed the stallion from a distance, waiting until they were relatively alone (after he had taken to an alley between two streets) to confront him.

“Can we just skip to the part where you tell me what's going on? I'd really like to get back home to my marefriend.”

The stallion stopped short, looking back at the paladin with a rather confused expression. “They let fillyfoolers be paladins? I thought Celestia was big on the whole 'no gays' thing.”

Bonbon rolled her eyes. “No, that's just a bunch of horseapples some of the zealots like to say to get backing. And it's also not the point. Are you going to tell me what's happening or aren't you?”

The stallion only scoffed at her. “You can't tell?”

Bonbon narrowed her eyes and him. “That's not what I mean and you know it. Who's behind this, and how do I stop them?”

“You can't,” the stallion said. “Nopony can; she's too powerful for that. Now let me get back to work before she catches on.” He turned to walk away, only for Bonbon to pin his tail to the ground with a hoof.

“I'll take my chances.” The two of them stared at each other for a minute, each waiting for the other to back down. The stallion had a stubborn air about him, as though he was used to standing up and getting his way, but Bonbon had a lot of experience dealing with stubborn ponies, she just had to wait a little while longer.

Finally, he said out in mental defeat. “Her name is Shoeshine, or Linky on occasion...”

The entire story hadn't taken all that long.

Shoeshine was a generally shy mare, mostly kept to herself and was pretty well liked by most ponies. The usual stuff, really; ponies never really expect the nice ones to have the worst secrets, after all. He was likely leaving out some of the details that would paint things in a less black and white manner, but that was to be expected. What he had mentioned was that she was good with magic, and had been known to hold conversations with ponies in the privacy of their own minds.

Telepathy wasn't really a dark art, though ponies had a healthy amount of apprehension regarding it. It was in a very gray area of magic that often involved domination and the implanting of thoughts. Both things that, again, weren't inherently evil but still dangerous. Planting a suggestion to help an alcoholic not slide back wasn't much different than planting the suggestion to kill somepony after all. And mental domination was only legal in extreme circumstances.

The worst part was, that only gave Bonbon a partial picture of what the mare could be capable of. If she had reached the point of mass enslavement, she had probably added several more traditionally destructive spells to her repertoire as well.

Things were likely going to go badly, but there was no helping it.

Since everypony continued to ignore her, she simply walked up to the tower door and walked right on in. The stallion's words, coupled with the general state of the town, was more than enough for probable cause after all. However, as much as she would have liked to believe ot would be a simple case of going in and apprehending somepony quietly, the job had gone far too smoothly so far. She just knew something would go wrong, and very soon too. She had just gotten to the tower's second floor when her cynicism was proved right.

“Hey! You're not supposed to be here.”

Bonbon sighed, shaking her head as she turned to face the speaker. He was a unicorn, a large one at that, with a plain brown coat, a gray mane and tail and a Cutie Mark of a hammer. His brown eyes were slightly more focused than most of the other ponies' around him, so he was probably something of their 'boss' under some sort of hypnotism by Shoeshine. He was aware of what he was doing, but not why, meaning that he was as much a victim as any of the others.

Not that it stopped him from swinging a hoof at Bonbon's face.

However, someone under a mesmer – even a minor one – could hardly fight with any sort of strategy. Bonbon barely had to shift her head to dodge the blow; she grabbed the stallion's leg between her forelegs, let his momentum continue as she leaned forward, and let go just in time to right herself as he was slammed into a nearby wall. He groaned, dazed from the impact, but wasn't really hurt.

“Might want to stay down. It would put the job behind schedule if you got injured.” It was a gamble, but if Shoeshine had set his mind to treat his orders like a job, maybe she could appeal to that.

The unicorn blinked a few times, then nodded. “Yeah, you're right. Gotta keep the job going.” He righted himself and started walking off, presumably to delegate something.

Bonbon gave a sigh of relief and started up the stairs again. That was quick and easy, and likely the only bit of good luck she was going to have.

The third floor had a lot more ponies in it, and they were just standing around. All it took was one glance at their eyes for Bonbon to know they weren't like the forepony. They weren't under some minor mesmer to do something vague like run a build site, they were made to do one specific thing and that was all. And, given how these usually worked, Bonbon had a safe guess as to what.

“I don't suppose attempting to use some feminine charm would let me pass?” Her voice dripped with sarcasm as she was already popping a few joints.

The ponies all rushed at her at once, and Bonbon moved into a more solid stance. The first pony, a red pegasus mare that had started moving just before her fellows, swung a hoof at Bonbon. She simply ducked under the swing, then headbutted her in the exposed stomach. The mare was winded and staggered back, Bonbon quickly spun around and kicked her away. She winced as the pegasus hit the wall a lot harder than she thought, but the mare would live, and Bonbon had other things to worry about.

She turned to strike a green unicorn in the face, breaking his nose in the process, then physically picked him up and hurled him at another pegasus. The two ponies crashed to the floor and left Bonbon with only one pony still a major threat. Another unicorn stallion, and one seemed to have the mental prowess to start casing some sort of spell. So Bonbon reached down to a thread hanging out of her hammer's sheath. A small pouch was pulled out, then flung at the unicorn; the pouch burst over his head and water spilled out to fizzle his magic before anything could be cast. She quickly closed the distance between him and her, then turned around to slam her rear hooves into his barrel.

She heard ribs crack from the force of her kick just as he went flying. “Sorry,” she called, “it's nothing personal.”

He didn't respond, just lay on the ground groaning as the other two ponies had finally managed to get to their hooves. The one with the broken nose was bleeding rather badly, but both of them seemed perfectly capable of fighting. Bonbon doubted they could give her much trouble, even together, but she was rapidly growing sick of all these delays and decided not to chance it.

“Constrixi,” she simply said, stomping one of her hooves. Suddenly, the two stallions found themselves assaulted by conjured ropes, each losing their balance as their forehooves slammed together and their rear ones were bound to the floor itself. Bonbon only smirked at the two of them. “Hope you enjoy that, boys, it's one of my marefriend's favorite spells.”

Since they lacked the mental faculties to respond, her remark was only met with incoherent grunts from either of them. She hadn't really expected much banter from the two, most thralls weren't all that good for interesting conversation.

The third floor seemed to be the last completed, and the one that the warlock called Shoeshine currently called home. There were tables of bottles and reagents, some bubbling and frothing over open flames, and piles of books that spoke of various forbidden and cursed arts. All very interesting and clichéd, but not what she was looking for.

Something glimmered out of the corner of her eye, and that was all the warning she had.

Bonbon took a diving slide, just barely avoiding a massive fireball as it crashed into the nearby wall of the tower and blasted out a hole in the stone.

“Stay still, damn you!” The earth pony warlock that had launched the fireball stamped her hooves in frustration, her eye twitching as she tracked the paladin over to one of her alchemy tables. “You only have yourself to blame for this, you stupid paladin!”

Bonbon uttered a short prayer to Celestia as she pulled out a necklace. It was in the shape of the solar goddess's Cutie Mark and was given to all who joined the order. It identified them to each other and their allies when secrecy was need, and it had a certain other benefit.

She finished the prayer, then waited until she heard the warlock start casting her spell again. Shouting out a single word of power, she surged upward and held her necklace up. White light, blinding bright, burst from the talisman. It was as if the sun itself had come down and was blazing in the mare's hoof. Only for a moment, but it was enough; though Bonbon was protected from light-based blindness by her goddess, the warlock mare had no such luck. She screamed in pain and the spell failed to cast, giving Bonbon room to breathe. And to finally get a good look at the mare.

She was an earth pony and, like all who favored the mystic arts, she wore a cloak that was likely heavily enchanted. It made the casting of spells easier, and – from what she'd been told – it held the necessary enchantments better than armor. Her coat was a very light blue, with a mane that fell somewhere between gray and white. She was blinking her dark pink eyes to deal with the sudden influx of light and was momentarily disoriented.

Perfect.

Bonbon dropped the necklace back behind her armor, and jumped over the table. Several beakers holding things she'd rather not think about were knocked off in the process, but she managed to cross the room and slam into the warlock hard enough to throw her into the wall. As an earth pony, the mare wouldn't be seriously hurt by the impact, but it would keep her off balance for the moment. Long enough for Bonbon to rear up and pin the mare to the wall with the handle of her war hammer.

“Shoeshine.” She glared at the mare. “You are charged with overriding the free will of multiple ponies, and the assault of one in service of Celestia. Turn yourself in without further incident and I will –”

“Oh shut up!” Shoeshine spat out another word, and Bonbon was blasted away from her by an invisible force, tumbling tail over tea kettle until she hit a wall. Imaginary pieces of candy spun around her head as she tried to focus once she heard shoeshine talking again. “You think I give a flying feather about your laws? About anypony's laws?

“That was the old Shoeshine, the one who was so afraid of what she could do she acted like the perfect little 'daddy's filly' her dad wanted! Who never talked to a colt until she was in her 30s! The stupid little mare who always took 'No' for an answer! I am so sick of hearing 'No'!”

Though dazed, Bonbon wasn't all that hurt. Her armor had taken the brunt of the blow and had been deformed slightly, though it still shifted awkwardly as she rose. It hadn't been made to take blows like that, but it would last a while longer. “That doesn't give you the right to force other ponies to do what you want!”

“Why not?” Shoeshine stomped her hooves angrily and started to pace around, apparently forgetting they were in the middle of a battle. “I have all this power, and I'm supposed to just not use it? What's the point of having it then?”

The mare started to grumble to herself, her mind wandering elsewhere, and Bonbon – not one to question an advantage – started to sneak forward. If she could get Shoeshine restrained, she might be able to end the fight relatively peacefully.

“– not his type,” Shoeshine muttered, pacing a bit as she talked. “Only pony I ever like and he says that to me. Of all the things to –” Bonbon was nearly on top of her when she turned to face the paladin and shouted the same word of power.

The spell caught Bonbon almost full in the face. There was no tumbling after that attack, she was lifted entirely off the floor and slammed into the far wall. She felt several pieces of her armor deform to the point it started to hurt and she was left struggling to think for several moments. She was aware Shoeshine was talking, but it took her a few sentences to figure out what she was saying.

“So I used it! I finally managed to get them to take me seriously.” Shoeshine giggled madly, rubbing her hooves together. “Now they don't tell me 'no' anymore, now I get what I want whenever I want it. They don't refuse the new Shoeshine anything anymore!”

It took a bit longer for Bonbon to find her hooves following the second attack. Armor or not, those were strong blows. “Shoeshine,” she said, then used the nickname one of the few ponies still free of her control had mentioned. “Linky... stop this madness. It's not too late for you, you can still – ”

“Still do what?” she shouted, “go back to being the useless little mare nopony gave a second glance to? Give up all this power for my old, pathetic life? You can shove that offer right up your rump, Paladin! I'm not going back to that life, ever!”

Shoeshine reared up on her hind legs, then stomped her hooves down with an enraged cry. “Forzare!”

Bonbon barely had time to move, much less dodge the attack. A nearly solid wall of force slammed down on her, almost crushing her armor like a tin can and popping her like a bug. The only thing that saved her from certain death was the wooden panels of the floor splintering before her bones. Apparently, some of the bottles she'd knocked over had contained a weak acid, which had eaten through the floorboards just enough to make it survivable.

The paladin found herself silently praising her goddess for the intervention, but still struggled to free herself as Shoeshine began pacing around the hole.

“I have to admit, Paladin, you're a bigger pain in my rear than I would have thought possible.” She paused to glance down at the – still mostly trapped – Bonbon. “You lot really need to learn to take a hint, especially from something with a lot more power than you.” She stomped her hoof again, not even bothering with the incantation, and Bonbon was slammed downward by another wall of force. “You might have lived if you'd listened, or weren't stubborn enough to refuse the inevitability of this outcome. I was always going to win, you were always going to lose, and now you will –”

The floor suddenly shook beneath Shoeshine's hooves and she staggered in shock. Her eyes glanced back into the hole, only to find the rubble pile missing one paladin.

She nearly lost her balance as the floor rocked again and part of it collapsed, revealing the cause of the localized earthquake. Bonbon had worked herself free while Shoeshine had monologued and was kicking at the support beam on the lower floor. The warlock's eyes widened as she watched the beam crack under the other pony's kicks and she readied another one of her force blasts.

“Forz–” She never got the chance to finish, the beam splintered from one final kick by Bonbon and Shoeshine screamed as the floor gave out. She would live, being an earth pony and tough enough to take several hits before she goes down, but it still left her dazed. Long enough to the paladin to get close enough to strike out with her hooves. Every spell was interrupted by a blow from Bonbon, and Shoeshine was too used to fighting with her magic to adequately keep up.

Finally, Bonbon managed to slam her against the wall, pinning her with her forehooves. “Surrender, Shoeshine, and face your judgment!”

“How about you surrender?” she countered, narrowing her eyes at Bonbon. “And see things my way.”

Their eyes locked, and Bonbon's vision swam almost immediately. Paladins were granted some protection from mental domination, most of them citing it as a divine gift, but it was not without limits. Powerful casters could still exert their will over them, and Shoeshine had power enough to enslave nearly an entire village and still throw around high level spells. And her control was getting a good hold on Bonbon already.

She shook her head, trying to focus, but only managing the clear her vision for the moment. “Shoeshine, stop this!”

“Never!” the mare shouted. “Not after everything else! I'm the master of my life, not you! ME!”

Bonbon felt her vision waver once more, the mare's will pressing down hard on her own. She couldn't keep resisting, not for very long at the least, and Shoeshine simply wouldn't listen to her. “Please, stop this!”

“Shut up! Shut up!” Shoeshine still pushed her will down on Bonbon, the paladin's word not even registering.

Bonbon gritted her teeth, struggling to keep a hold on her own mind and body. Shoeshine wasn't listening, and she couldn't take her by force, not with how much willpower she was battling against. She needed to end the fight, quickly.

Bonbon's hooves found their way to the mare's head, struggling every moment. “Shoeshine, don't do this, please! I'm begging you, don't force my hoof!”

“SHUT UP!”

Bonbon's vision was almost gone as her mind started to slip away. She could feel the darkness of unthinking servitude closing in on her, she was only still aware of anything happening due to her Goddess's favor, but she could feel Shoeshine's will hammering down on her own with yet more force. There was no reasoning with the mare; she didn't want redemption, she didn't want to let go of the power she wielded, she didn't want to be saved.

There was nothing more Bonbon could do for her.

She forced her eyes shut, weakening the connection to Shoeshine's will just long enough for her hooves the find the other mare's head. “May Celestia have mercy on your soul.” She twisted her hooves violently, wincing at the sharp crack that followed. The pressure of will on her mind was gone, but she didn't open her eyes, not even as Shoeshine's deathly still form slumped against her. Instead, she sat down and started to to shiver and shake. A few choked sounds escaped her, though it would have been hard to say what they actually were given the circumstances. However, eventually, she lowered Shoeshine's corpse to the floor and started to pray.

Bonbon hadn't stuck around long, not after her... not after Shoeshine had died. She had contacted others, letting them know of the town's state of confusion and several in various states of pain thanks to the warlock's actions, but she couldn't face them herself.

It was part of her captain's personal philosophy, one he always preached, that everypony could be saved if you tried hard enough. Bonbon had tried, she had tried as hard as she felt she could, but it hadn't been enough. Shoeshine was dead, because she hadn't been able to save her. All that was left was the long road home.

The sun was starting to get low as she traveled, only occasionally reacting as a bug buzzed by one of her ears. On most of her journeys, she usually had Lyra, or somepony else if her marefriend was busy, around to talk to. The Whinnistrad job had been such short notice, however, that she only had the silence of a dying fall day for company.

Bonbon's instincts, honed from having served her Goddess for years, suddenly bristled as another mare started walking next to her. She glanced toward the stranger, and immediately knew that things had taken a turn for the worse when she saw a pure white coat and blond mane.

“You're late.” The other mare's voice was quiet, so as not to draw undue attention to them, but had an edge sharper than any blade to it. “You were supposed to have reported in last week.”

Bonbon kept her gaze forward, as she knew the other mare was, and tried to focus on making sure her face remained blank. “This is not the place to be having this conversation.”

“If you had actually reported in on time, we wouldn't be having this conversation at all,” the mare next to her shot back, more anger slipping into her voice. “And it's the only way to be sure your mind is still your own, Sweetie Drops.”

“My name,” she growled, “is Bonbon.”

“You still insist on that name?” The other mare gave a quiet scoff, her tone becoming one of unmasked contempt. “Fine then, Bonbon, my point remains unaddressed. You only have yourself to blame for this, or, perhaps, your charge has –”

It took everything in her to not round on the other mare and strike her in the face. She tried to put some distance between her and the other mare, not in the mood to deal with her, but she found her pace matched without much difficulty. The other mare was saying something, but Bonbon's mind was too angry to decipher what. Finally, she rounded on the mare as her patience reached its limit.

To her credit, though, she managed to restrain herself to only jabbing a hoof into the mare's chest, but it didn't do much to quell the rage in her voice. “I told you to stay out of my life, Righteous!”

Righteous Fury, an earth pony herself, narrowed her pale blue eyes at Bonbon and matched her glare for glare. “You call the little facade you've built up a life? You're a warrior in the service of Celestia, Bonbon, not some useless little homemaker. You're living in that backwater town because you have a job to do, never forget that!”

“You think I have?” Bonbon turned away to slam a hoof into the ground, better that than the other pony's face. “I would love to forget my damned responsibilities, for one day, one hour, one moment! Just so I could know what it feels like to actually be in a normal relationship for once!”

Righteous narrowed her eyes, looking down her nose at the other mare with nothing less than the utmost disdain. “You never should have been assigned this task. You're too close to it. Your emotions are starting to affect your judgment.”

“My judgment is sound,” Bonbon spat.

Righteous's glare turned into a piercing glower. “Is it? How many times have you looked the other way because your ward –”

Bonbon suddenly found herself nose to nose with the other pony, her eyes burning in anger. “Her name is Lyra!”

Righteous remained maddeningly composed, even if she managed to squeeze more disdain into her voice. “Your ward,” she said, “is not supposed to have a name. You are not supposed to be so emotionally invested into them, you're just supposed to observe them and make sure they don't start sliding back into their evil ways.”

“And how do you expect ponies to do that without giving a buck about their wards?” Bonbon tore herself away from the mare, scowling and grumbling to herself. “You can't help them change if you're indifferent to them.”

“It's not your job to change them!” Righteous finally showed an emotion other than disdain as she gritted her teeth in anger. “Ponies don't change, ever! It's your job to make sure they don't harm others ever again. No matter the cost!”

Bonbon whirled back. “If you're implying what I think you're implying, then you need to leave, now!”

“Or what?” she challenged Bonbon, her composure back to it's original level. “I am a paladin, the same as yourself, the slaying of evil and chaos is my job. By preventing me from doing so, you are going against the oath you took!”

“By threatening to end an innocent pony's life, you are breaking your own oaths!”

“THEY!” Righteous bellowed, “ARE NOT! INNOCENT!” Her mask of calm was finally shattered, and her face had taken on a red tinge as she shouted. “They are monsters and criminals that flaunt the law and abuse the bleeding-heart kindness of that idiot of a captain you follow, and you are becoming as bad as him!”

“And you are a prejudiced sociopath that abuses your power to hurt everypony that doesn't fit your view of how the world works!” Bonbon was angry, no question, but she wasn't lost to it like Righteous seemed close to being. “You would sooner kill somepony than you would help them!”

The other mare's only response was an inarticulate cry of rage as she reared back and raised a hoof to strike at Bonbon.

Suddenly, out of the sky, cream pies started raining down.

Bonbon, already jumping back to avoid the attack, managed to avoid the falling pies. Righteous Fury, on the other hoof, was right in the midst of the strange downpour and ended up covered with whipped cream and a few pie tins. Bonbon stared at Righteous for a long moment, the other mare stock-still in shock, before she put on a smirk. “That's a good look for you, Righteous. You should keep it.”

She wiped a hoof across her face to remove some of the cream, her expression colder than the frozen north. “Your obsession with that necromancer will be the death of you, and I will be there to do the job you should have done.” With that, Righteous Fury stomped away, ignoring her current state as best she could.

Bonbon took several moments, and several deep breaths, to calm herself. Righteous was a bitch, everypony who knew her tended to agree on that, but there was a certain amount of truth in what she said. Bonbon was emotionally invested in what happened to Lyra, and she was lenient when it came to her slip-ups. Dark magic wasn't inherently evil like most ponies thought it was, but it was a power that was very easy to abuse and could lead to a rather dangerous slippery slope. Shoeshine was proof enough of that.

She lost her train of thought as somepony started calling out from above.

“My bad! My bad! Everypony okay?” A gray pegasus with a blond mane was fluttering down, a cart floating along behind her with a few cream pies still inside. “Nopony got hurt, right?” Nopony was around to answer her, but that proved rather pointless as one of her wings clipped a tree beside the road. She flailed about in the air, trying to reorient herself, but it was a lost cause. She crashed into the ground, the cart following a moment later.

Bonbon only sighed and started toward the crash site.

“I'm okay!” The pegasus shifted the pile on her about, slowly pulling herself free. “Sorry, sorry, I'll clean it up!” She was finally free, and chuckling nervously as she stood up. “My bad.” She didn't seem to mind that there was a large splinter of wood impaling her just below the neck. She looked down, blinking at the wooden stake sticking out of her. “Oh, oops. Uh... hold on.” She grabbed the offending splinter between her hooves and jerked it out. The tip was stained with dark brown blood, but the mare's wound didn't bleed a drop. She just tossed the piece of wood into the pile, then started to push and pull lightly at her flesh.

The skin and fur molded like clay, the hole slowly worked closed by her hooves. Finally, she finished and gave a sheepish smile. “Um... sorry about that, thought that tree was further away from me than it was.”

Bonbon just chuckled at the mare as she walked up. “Hi, Ditzy. Great timing there.”

Ditzy, working on getting the pile of wood that had been her wagon cleaned up, turned the Bonbon with a slight smile. “Yeah.” She glanced around, then leaned closer to Bonbon. “Did I get her?” she whispered.

Bonbon smirked slightly, giving a light chuckle. “Yeah, right on the money.” She reached a hoof up, placing it on Ditzy's shoulder just above the wing joint. “Thanks for that. It was going to turn into a fight at the rate it was going.”

“Don't mention it,” she said brightly, then looked down. “I've had some trouble with paladins myself... no offense.”

Bonbon brushed off her friend's concern. “None taken; I know how some of them can be. I can't imagine them pausing long enough for you to explain you're a good lich.”

“Yeah...” Ditzy made a strange sound as she made the motions of a sigh, then gave an embarrassed chuckle. “Sorry, forgot to breathe again.”

Bonbon just smiled and chuckled to herself. Ditzy was a good friend to have around, lack of a pulse or not. She was as prone to fits of depression over her own situation as the next pony, but she still helped others whenever she could. It was just who she was, and being a super zombie couldn't change that.

“Won't they dock your pay for this?” She jabbed a hoof at the utterly demolished cart and ruined pies.

Ditzy actually did remember to breathe in before sighing the second time. “Yeah, probably. But I don't need to eat, so I'll just skip a few meals this week and only worry about keeping the girls fed.”

Bonbon nodded, then hesitated a moment. “Sparkler could probably help you make the other payments, if you –”

“I'm not asking my own daughter for money, Bonbon. It's just not right.”

Though she wanted to argue the point, the paladin just quietly sighed. Ditzy's daughters, both adopted due to her state, meant the world to the lich. She had based her second life around providing and caring for them, so she wouldn't take anything from them, even if Sparkler would likely not mind. Asking Ditzy to do so would just upset her unduly.

“Okay, Ditzy. But I'll help you clean this thing up at least.” Not taking 'No' for an answer again, Bonbon set to work. Even if there was nothing they could do to repair the cart, they could at least get it out of the way.

The wild places of the world were generally avoided by most sane ponies. They were the places where their magic to affect things was at its weakest and even unicorn magic could be driven screwy. Pegasi often found the clouds that formed in these places to be wild and unruly, and earth ponies swore up and down that there was just something wrong with the land in them.

Druids, however, were not most ponies, and generally weren’t all that sane either.

Roseluck, or just Rose to her friends, enjoyed eating far too many mushrooms to be considered sober most of the time. She wasn't completely out of it, like some druids could be, but she was still only mostly lucid the majority of the time. Which was why she was currently slouching against a tree, watching imaginary colors dance about in the light during her latest trip.

Suddenly, a ferret scurried out of a nearby shrub and chittered wildly at her.

Roseluck blinked, watching the – to her – rainbow colored ferret scurry up onto her stomach and jump around wildly. “Whoa, little dude,” she finally slurred out, “I can't listen that fast. Slow down a bit.”

The ferret turned to her, then started chittering again, slightly slower.

Roseluck tilted her head, trying to use her connection to the natural world to decipher what the ferret was saying. “Timmy's in the well?”

The ferret stood stock still, staring at the druid for several moments, then slammed one of it's paws into its face. It jumped off her belly, then started chittering again as it scurried off again.

Roseluck blinked a few times, then sighed and rolled to her hooves. Her first steps weren't her steadiest, but she found her footing through the constant shifting of shapes and colors, then found the ferret's trail. Which was easy enough for a druid, even one as high as she was, but following it got a bit more difficult as she went.

The druid frowned, nearly tripping over a root for the third time. That shouldn't have been happening. To other ponies, sure, but not to her. She knew the forest like the back of her hoof, even while she was stoned; and the empathic bond she had with the general area should have meant most of her hoof placement should have been reflexive anyway. The only way it could be screwed up was if there was something wrong with her, which she was reasonably sure she'd know, or something wrong...

She stopped short, her eyes wide and actually focused again.

...something wrong with the land!

The trees around her suddenly lost their vibrant feel, turning blackened and dead. The bark of one was so brittle it crumbled under her touch. The ground was hard and dry as stone beneath her hooves, and just touching it sent both her druid and earth pony senses screaming. The mushroom induced high suddenly faded into the background as she looked for the ferret; neither of them should have been there, and she didn't want to leave it behind.

The critter popped up suddenly, still chittering before scurrying further into the area.

“Come on, little dude,” Roseluck muttered, hesitantly following after it. “This place has bad vibes everywhere.” That was putting it mildly, really; the further she got into the strange area of rot and decay, the more uncomfortable she felt. It had only been general weirdness at the start, then it was foreboding as she lost sight of the healthy trees behind her. Here, there was active hate coming from the ground beneath her hooves.

Not dislike, not anger, frigid and biting hatred, for her!

Roseluck stopped dead, the colors finally fading from her vision as the drugs finally fell to her adrenaline. That wasn't natural, it wasn't even close to natural. Nature should never hate a druid. They were the ones that spoke for it when nopony else would, who cared for the wild places because nopony else could. Nature was the druids' ally and always had been.

“Whoa, this is getting too heavy.” Roseluck started to turn away, wanting to put as much distance between here and herself as possible. But that ferret popped up again, jumping and chittering wildly on a rock not far from her.

The druid bit her lip for a moment, then hurried over to the ferret. “This had better be good, little dude. We need to get out of here.”

The ferret just pointed a claw toward a gap in the dead trees, no longer chittering.

Roseluck turned toward the gap, not seeing much of anything at first. She glanced at the ferret, but it just pointed again. Finally, she gulped and started forward. The whole thing was screaming 'bad idea' in her head, but she couldn't deny a certain amount of morbid curiosity as to what the ferret wanted her to see.

Her hoof touched the gap, and all Tartarus broke loose.

Roots broke out of the ground and wrapped around her legs, tight and painful, but she was barely feeling any of it. There was a different sort of pain coursing through her body. As a druid, she had a sort of sixth sense about nature and all things in it, and touch just made it more pronounced. Touching these roots... it was so completely and utterly wrong that she almost felt like something was being torn out of her. These things weren't alive, not naturally... but they weren't dead either, to move like they did. They were... but that wasn't possible!

The ground beneath her hooves cracked, then turned sandy as the roots started to draw her down. “Whoa there!” She struggled and flailed about in the roots' grasp. “I only do this with a safe word, dudes!” Of course, her words did little to slow the roots pulling her into an early grave, but she hadn't expected them to. She had just wanted to test and see how loosely she was being held.

With a shouted word in the druidic language, and an audible click of her forehooves, a small ball of flame was suddenly conjured in her grasp.

The roots withdrew with a whiplash as the flames burned them, and Roseluck hurled the flame into one of the trees. It smoldered for a bit, but the wood refused to burn even as dry as it was. That wasn't the point, though. She was free to gallop away, and she wasted no time in doing so, snagging the ferret as she ran just before more roots burst from the ground.

“We're outta here, little dude!” She didn't stop, even as she finally reached the normal forest, she just kept on running. She couldn't help the forest, but she was pretty sure she knew at least one who could.

Hopefully, she could get the ‘friends and family’ discount.

Author's Note

Special thanks to: R5h, Nyerguds, violerwolf and Litizzaner for proofreading this whole mess.

They Fight Vines

Cleaning up the cart hadn't taken all that long, not with two ponies working at it. Ditzy, however, had needed to stay with the cart until her supervisor could travel down, assess the damage and determine what disciplinary actions needed to be taken. So, Bonbon found herself traveling the rest of the way alone.

Still, talking with the lich had greatly improved her mood; Ditzy always seemed to know how to make her friends just that little bit happier when they needed it most. The rest of her trip passed much quicker than she had expected, and she even managed a smile when she finally caught a glimpse of her town.

Ponyville wasn't big – the average pony could cover it in a brisk trot without too much effort – but the residents made it feel far larger than it actually was.

She paused as a colt galloped past her, followed by an identical colt a moment later... then a small herd of colts, each one identical to the first and giggling wildly. Finally, a mare galloped past her in hot pursuit, shouting at the crowd of clones.

“Don't think I can't tell you apart from your friends, Morning Star!” she bellowed as she passed one; green flames burst from the disregarded duplicate, and a tiny changeling buzzed away. Seeing this, several more split from the colt group, reverting to their natural forms, but most stayed disguised as they each picked a direction and bolted, the mare following one in particular. “When I catch you, you are grounded for a month!”

Bonbon shook her head, watching the mother gallop down the street. She knew the tricks to see through a changeling's glamour, even when she only saw the disguise for a moment. So, she was well aware that the mare was chasing the wrong image of her son. But, as family matters fell to ponies themselves, there wasn't much she could do about it.

She stopped, then turned around as everything's colors inverted. It only lasted a moment, before a skilepony* darted out of the shadows with a giggle and the colors went right. She considered chasing after the half-kitsune, but the troublemaker looked less than ten years old, and color shifting was hardly a punishable offense. Besides, she'd just lost sight of his fox tail, so he was in the wind.

Just another day in Ponyville.

Bonbon paused suddenly, something feeling even more off than usual. Living in Ponyville was an exercise in preparedness, instinct, and luck, and it had an effect on ponies. She took several wary steps back and away from nearby structures, crouched down slightly to brace herself, and tensed her body up for whatever was coming. She wouldn't have to wait long.

A building not far from her exploded, blasting a gaping hole in its upper level. Several ponies screamed in shock, but most were already running from the falling debris or knocking the few too stunned to react out of harm's way. Bonbon herself took several bounds around to dodge masonry flying toward her, but her eyes never left the smoldering hole.

Three tiny blurs shot out of the new exit: white, yellow and orange. Bonbon quickly moved to the side, letting them zoom by her with a sigh. She counted down from six, reaching zero as an earth pony mare with a light brown coat, a gray mane and tail galloped up, shouting out several curse words in Abyssal.

She turned from shouting at the retreating forms, then directed her attention to Bonbon as she continued to speak the dark tongue, gesturing wildly between the paladin, the damaged house, and the three figures that had almost vanished from sight.

Bonbon, for her part, blinked.

“Madame Mayor,” she said, “I can't speak the devil language.” Her response was met with a blank stare from Ponyville's mayor, as though Bonbon's words were as foreign to her as hers were to the paladin.

Before she could pursue the matter further, another earth pony mare galloped up. Her white coat was matted with sweat and she had to pause to brush her black mane out of her glasses.

“Sorry, sorry about that. Got – got separated from her after the explosion. I can handle the translation.” She turned to the mayor, then started speaking Abyssal as well, though with a very clear accent, even to Bonbon's untrained ears. Still, the mayor responded easily enough, speaking the tongue fluently as she gestured around. “She wants to know if you saw the ones that did this,” her assistant translated, “and could identify them.”

Bonbon raised an eyebrow, but let it be for the moment. She'd had a feeling it would be something like that anyway. “Who do you think it was? Probably trying to get cutie marks in something or other again.”

The other mare groaned, her hoof slapping against her face, but she translated for the mayor anyway. A fresh stream of curses was spewed and ignored, and the mayor, still muttering to herself, wandered off. The other mare held back for a moment to speak with Bonbon. “Sorry about this, I’m guessing you’ve never met her while she was stressed.” And she took off after the mayor.

Bonbon quirked an eyebrow once again but took that as her cue to leave. She was, technically, a civil servant as part of her job, but the mayor was in no state to do anything more than shout incoherently until she calmed down. Plus, given the age of the perpetrators involved, all that would entail was informing their guardians and having them help fix the hole. Hardly something they needed a paladin for.

Besides, she wanted to see Lyra again.

“Speak of a devil, and she will appear.”

Bonbon grunted as she felt the weight of another pony drape itself across her back. She smirked as she glanced back, her blue eyes meeting her marefriend's golden ones. “I never said your name, hon.”

“No, but you had that wistful look you get whenever you think of me.”

Bonbon chuckled, rolling her eyes as she resumed walking. The added load was a challenge, but it wasn't anything she couldn't handle. Earth pony strength had its benefits. “You seem to be feeling better.”

Lyra sighed, watching the ground go by as she lay draped over Bonbon's back. “Yeah, took most of the day to recover from the hangover, and a bit longer to get over the guilt... I'm sorry, by the way, for getting drunk like that.”

“Don't worry about it; holding a grudge over that isn't going to help either of us. One back-slide isn't going to be the end of you.” Righteous's voice echoed in her mind, berating her for giving a known dark magic user an inch, saying she'd take a mile. Bonbon pushed the words back down, never in the mood for the other paladin's zealotry. The Lyra she knew wasn't Shoeshine... she wasn't.

“Equestria to Bonbon. Anyone in there?” The necromancer in question tapped the top of Bonbon's head.

“Sorry about that," Bonbon apologized, pausing to wave Lyra's hoof away from her head. "last job was worse than usual.”

“Want to talk about it?”

Bonbon bit her lip, thinking for a moment. There was something to be said for voicing her problems, especially when they could relate to the other pony... but something in her just wouldn't let it come out. “Not yet, hon. I.. I need some time to make peace with something I did first.”

The moment that followed was tense for her, but Lyra just made a grunt of acceptance.

“Okay, I know how you paladins can be about these things. Take your time, I'll even take care of dinner tonight so you can think.”

Bonbon smiled, doing her best to hide the guilt stabbing in her heart as she continued on. “Thanks, sweetie. I knew I fell in love with you for a reason.”

“Oh stop being sappy, babe. You're supposed to be a big, tough paladin; mushy stuff doesn't suit you.”

She chuckled at the old joke, shaking her head as she managed to slip into the familiar routine. “Oh? Should I start ordering you around like a more traditional warden?”

Lyra's tail twitched about wildly. “Oooh, will you use the collar again?”

She burst out laughing. “Lyra, you are a pervert.”

“A shameless pervert, hon, get it right.”

Lyra joined in on her laugh as she finally reached their house. It was nice to act like a normal couple now and again. Away from all the necromancy and holy quests.

She was still chuckling as Lyra's magic touched their warded lock and opened the door for her. A chuckle that quickly died, along with the good mood that had been building, as she spotted a certain mare in a brown cloak standing in their living room.

“You two need a better locking spell,” Roseluck said.

To say that neither of them were happy to see the druid was an understatement.

They were friends, true, but there was a time and a place for friends. Between Bonbon's concerns about Lyra and Lyra's wanting to make up for what had happened, this was neither.

“I could arrest you for breaking and entering!” Bonbon growled. She hadn't even gotten out of her armor, and – for a mare of average size – she could manage a fairly intimidating presence. “So, think very carefully about the next words out of your mouth.”

“Technically, nothing was broken, and that locking spell was as basic as they come, so you can't have any expectation of privacy with it.”

“Wrong!” Bonbon made to cast her usual binding spell, but only got out “Constr-” before the golden aura of her marefriend's magic clamped her mouth shut.

Lyra, who had remained silent since she'd climbed off Bonbon's back, was staring intently at Roseluck. Her gaze was narrowed and calculating as she scrutinized the other mare. “Rose,” she started, “are you... sober?”

The druid gave them a humorless smirk. “I was wondering when you'd figure that part out.” She turned away from the pair, sighing to herself as Lyra and Bonbon exchanged looks. They had known the druid for several years, ever since an embarrassing incident involving too much wine, a semi-sentient plant and a night both of them were uncertain they wanted to remember, and the few times either recalled her sober were far from good.

Lyra was the first to ask what she felt was the obvious question. “Did somepony die?”

Roseluck snapped her head toward Lyra, glowering fiercely for a moment. “No...” she finally said, “somepony didn't.”

Bonbon could already feel the awkward silence forming, so she cut it off. “Did something happen to the forest?” At Roseluck's nod, she continued. “And it's not a natural thing, not if you're looking for us.”

The druid scoffed. “What you call natural and what I call natural are two wildly different things, Bon... but, yeah, got it in one.”

Lyra and Bonbon both exchanged a glance, each silently trying to apologize to the other for the way things had gone. But, deep down, both of them knew what was going to happen next.

Lyra pulled over a chair with her magic and plopped down in a strange slouch nopony else had ever been able to imitate. “Okay, Rose.” She watched as Bonbon started to get as comfortable as her armor would allow. “Let's hear it.”

“Where do I begin...”

Lyra held a cup of tea in her magic, while Bonbon balanced a cup of coffee between her hooves. Both tried their best to stay silent while Roseluck had explained her experience in the forest.

Lyra finally gave in, unable to hold her tongue any longer. “So... you're saying you were attacked by zombie... trees?”

Roseluck frowned at the necromancer. “A little less skepticism would be appreciated, Lyra.”

“Excuse me, but which of us has been doing this since she was a pre-teen? I've never heard of undead trees, either in myth or any sort of lesson. So I've got a bit of a right to be skeptical.”

“Can we please not argue now? There are more important matters at hoof.” Bonbon set her coffee down, trying to head off a confrontation as soon as possible. Her drink had calmed her down considerably, and she had sported a serious expression throughout Rose's story. She turned to Roseluck. “Given your history, your claims are a bit hard to believe.”

She turned to Lyra before the unicorn could even get her gloating face on, though. “However, Roseluck has never bothered us with trivial matters. So, giving her the benefit of the doubt – as outrageous as her claims may be – might be prudent.”

Lyra frowned. As much as she loved Bonbon, there were just times she hated how the paladin could defuse things like that. Half envy, half annoyance at being made into the wrong party. “Okay, fine. But you owe me for this, big time.”

“Of course, hun, of course.” Bonbon calmly sipped her coffee and turned back to Roseluck. “Could you find the area again if you had to?”

“I could find it blindfolded, the land is still screaming in agony.”

“... I'll take your word for it.” Bonbon turned to Lyra. “Even if you don't believe her, we need to at least check out a potential threat to the town. And, if necromancy is involved, then we both know you're the best pony for the job.”

Lyra's frown remained, but mostly out of spite at the situation. She wasn't truly mad at Bonbon, or even at Roseluck, she was just frustrated. And she knew her marefriend was right, Roseluck may have been stoned out of her mind most of the time, but she had never lied to them or steered them wrong.

Finally, she sighed and dropped the frown, shifting out of her strange slouch. “I'll get Orpheus.”

She left the two earth ponies alone for the moment, heading upstairs and into the main bedroom. Her horn flared, and the chest at the end of the bed unlocked with an audible click as she approached it. Lifting the lid was like taking a forceful trip into her memories. The trunk was full of everything she had collected over her life. Some were good memories, like the scarf she'd been wearing when she'd first started dating Bonbon, or the pictures of the two of them with Ditzy and her daughters. But most of them were memories of fear, hatred and especially regret.

The item she finally removed, however, had the dubious distinction of being associated with both.

It was a lyre, very similar to her cutie mark in design, and almost as old as she was. It was well taken care of, but its age was showing through regardless. Orpheus, the lyre that Lyra had earned her cutie mark with, the one given to her father as a birthday present while she was still a foal. And the one good thing the stallion had ever given her.

Harpsichord, her father, had practiced necromancy most of his life, and started training her once he saw the signs of her sharing his talent. He had also shown her, albeit unintentionally, the effects losing yourself to the magic could have on a pony.

Lyra shuddered at those memories, but closed the lid and kept a telekinetic hold on the instrument. Orpheus was what she needed, and her father wouldn't take that away from her.

Still fighting the mental images of her past, she opened the door of her wardrobe and selected her preferred cloak. Black, of course, since the color of a cloak had a significant effect on the flow of mana around you. It was why practitioners of magics like hers were always seen wearing black cloaks; she really wished magic wasn't so picky about these things. At least the enchantment to add extra billow had gone on without a hitch – that was one cliché she had no trouble indulging in – and the other simple spells to regulate her temperature and offer basic protection in battle seemed in working order when she checked them.

She slipped the cloak on with a sigh, fastening the clasp with a practiced hoof and snagging her saddlebags from the wardrobe bottom. They would still have to stop to pick up supplies for the whole wild goose chase, but she was as ready as she could be.

Lyra started back downstairs with her items, her ears twitching as she heard the two earth ponies discussing something as she neared them again.

“ – too busy for something like that,” Bonbon said. “It's nearly harvest time for her. And you know her brother is retired.”

“Well... you said Ditzy had other responsibilities, and getting into contact with other druids would take some time... what about that other 'Doo' pony?.”

Bonbon scoffed. “Daring? You actually trust that glorified thief?”

“I thought she was a scholar of some sort.”

The paladin gave a rather undignified snort. “Oh please, if she ever actually cared about her studies, I'll eat my hammer. She's a grave-robber, nothing more. Not to mention all the rumors of her consorting with demons.”

A sigh followed. “Well, that was my last suggestion, unless you have any other ideas, it's just the three of us.”

Lyra entered the room in silence, watching as Bonbon and Roseluck debated about who they should ask for help with the matter. Lyra had to give her credit, she didn't do things in half-measure.

“Well...” Bonbon hesitated. “There's always Octavia.”

“WHAT?!” Lyra didn't react to the stares she was getting for her outburst, only gaping at her marefriend. “I did not just hear you say that!”

Bonbon fidgeted in her seat, avoiding her gaze. “Sweetie, she's one of the best at what she does, and – even if I don't approve on principle – having a pony around skilled at killing other ponies is usually useful for these sorts of things.”

“Provided she doesn't try to finish one of her other jobs.”

“Lyra, you know she hasn't killed anyone that hasn't had a list of crimes longer than your leg. Not since she willingly surrendered to us.”

“She didn't surrender, Righteous stopped her! And we both know the only reason Righteous didn't kill the bitch is because I was Octavia's target!” Lyra was turning red with anger, furiously glaring at Bonbon. “She would have killed me, and Righteous probably wouldn't have done a damned thing to stop her!”

“You know that's not how Righteous works, Honey.” Bonbon had to work to keep her temper, since she didn't want to start yelling at Lyra, but it was getting difficult. And Righteous's words filtering into her mind weren't making things any easier. “And besides that, she's the only option either of us can think of, and more to the point, I am your warden.”

A dead silence followed those words, with even Roseluck gaping at Bonbon. Lyra's eyes were wide with shock, her mouth opening and closing wordlessly.

Bonbon kept her face set through the oppressive silence. She wasn't truly glaring at Lyra, but her expression was stern. Roseluck glanced rapidly between the two of them, fidgeting in her seat. And Lyra only gaped.

The unicorn in question finally found her tongue, and she leveled a seething glare at her lover. “Yes, you are.” With that, she turned from the room.

“Lyra,” Bonbon called out, “where do you think you're going?”

“I'm going to prove to you that we don't need somepony like Octavia around, Warden!” Lyra spat the word out like it was poison. “I'm going to show you that this whole thing is just a stupid hallucination of Rose's, and nothing more!” She yanked the door open with her magic, stomping out.

“Lyra, just-” Bonbon never got to finish, the door slammed shut just as she was getting to her hooves and she was left with her hoof outstretched to nothing. Silence fell on the house again, broken only by the soft 'clop' of Bonbon's hoof falling to the floor. “I just... I didn't mean to...”

Roseluck stood, leaving a patch of dirt where she'd been sitting. “And they call where I live uncivilized.”

Bonbon leveled a glare at the druid, not in the mood for her normal disdain for civilization.

Roseluck, for her part, didn't react to the paladin's displeased glare. She merely trotted toward the door. “Well, assuming you haven't completely written her off, we should go get her before she does anything stupid.”

Bonbon feared her teeth would crack if she clenched them any harder. Dark magic just wasn't something you could afford to take chances with. As much as the Gray Guard claimed otherwise, even they admitted that it took great strength of character to not be lost to the darkness.

With a grunt, the she stood and popped a few joints before starting after the two of them.

Lyra would understand; it was for her own good.

She sometimes didn't understand her lover.

Bonbon was a good pony, Lyra knew that for a fact, but she was so confusing at times!

Bonbon knew her history with Octavia, knew Octavia's history with the assassins' guild. Octavia herself made no secret of the ponies she'd killed before Righteous had arrested her. It utterly baffled Lyra that the former assassin was not only able to walk free, but was actually a warden herself! What was Shining on when he made that decision?

Plus, the whole thing was just plain stupid; they were on the hunt for zombie trees, for Luna's sake!

She could, without being egotistical, say she was a very powerful necromancer. She had never heard of any necromancer that worked with trees of all things. As far as she was concerned, she was just going to debunk Roseluck's stoner dreams, then go back home and have a long talk with Bonbon about crossing the line.

At some point, the other two managed to catch up with her and they switched positions so Roseluck was leading them. However, they hadn't spoken a word to each other the entire time. Rose was too busy listening to her sixth sense, but Lyra just couldn't find it in herself to talk to Bonbon, she was just too angry with her.

“We're nearly there.”

Lyra glanced to Roseluck to acknowledge her, but remained silent. She turned her head to Bonbon, opening her mouth to try and at least speak a word or two to her, only to find her suddenly absent.

She blinked a few times, then glanced behind them.

Bonbon stood several pony lengths behind then, her eyes bulging and her skin looking rather pale. As Lyra trotted back, she noticed the earth pony breathing heavily and sweating noticeably.

“Uh... Bonbon? Is something wrong?”

“Th-this place,” Bonbon gasped, “N-need, need to stop.” She stumbled over to the closest tree and lay on the ground, panting and coughing.

Lyra sat down with a clear line of sight to the paladin and called to Roseluck to pause for a moment. Then, she turned back to Bonbon with concern in her voice. “Bonbon, what's actually wrong?”

Bonbon took several deep breaths, pushing herself up to a sitting position and leaning against the tree. Even resting, she still looked pale and about to be sick. “There's something wrong with this place. It’s… it’s just… evil.”

Lyra blinked a few times, tilting her head just a bit. “Uh… is this an earth pony thing? Or a paladin thing?”

“Little of both, I’d guess.” Roseluck had finally returned to the group, herself looking just a bit green. “We’re almost to the edge of the rot I mentioned, and I can already feel something wrong with this soil.” She almost smirked. “Guess you haven’t completely lost who you are under all that metal.”

Bonbon glared at Roseluck, still panting. “Not remotely the time, Rose.”

The druid barely even reacted to the glare, turning her gaze to the trees around them. “These trees are dying, a few of them are already dead and just aren't showing it yet. Whatever... whoever did this... they're not leaving my forest alive.”

“No, you're going to let me take them in and let the Order decide what will be done with them.”

Roseluck's glared right back at Bonbon. “Your laws have no place in the wild, paladin. This is my forest, I will handle it my way.”

“You asked for help dealing with the problem, not with your desire to hurt someone.”

The druid started to respond, but Lyra interposed herself between the two. “Look, we can worry about what we're going to do with whoever this is after we've caught them.”

“I thought you didn't believe me.”

Lyra locked eyes with Roseluck. “Still not sure I do.” She turned to look at Bonbon as the paladin stood once more. “But something's doing that to her, and I want to know what. Now, find this place.”

Roseluck's eyes narrowed at the necromancer, but slowly turned away. “We're nearly there, try to keep up.”

Lyra's gaze followed her, then glanced back to Bonbon. The paladin was returning to her hooves, but still looking worse for wear. “Might want to head back. If it's hitting you this bad, and we're not even there yet, it'll probably just get worse as we go.”

“Your concern is appreciated,” Bonbon said with a grunt, “but I'll manage.” She took several steps forward, staggering just once, and continued on.

Lyra frowned, shaking her head at her lover's actions. “Whatever you say... warden.” She watched for a flinch, but none came, and she quietly sighed.

Silence reigned again as they continued on. Bonbon's sickly appearance didn't change, but she walked on without complaint, and Roseluck was too focused on what could be ahead to do much in the way of talking. Which left Lyra with plenty of time to think.

Bonbon could sense evil, that was just part of being a paladin. All paladins felt a slight buzz in the back of their mind when around something their beliefs labeled as 'evil', with touch making the sensation stronger. However, she had been told that paladins that fought great and corrupting evils wore some manner of protective talisman or armor, so as not to be overwhelmed by the sheer amount of evil they fought.

Thanks to her running off like she had, and Bonbon and Rose immediately following her, preparations for their little quest had amounted to: Snag whatever you could afford in the marketplace and hope it was enough. A few healing potions and some liquid mana suddenly seemed severely lacking.

Of course, it was a little late for those type of thoughts.

“We're here.” Roseluck's words jarred Lyra out of her contemplating and she recoiled at what she saw.

The trees around them weren't just dead, they were rotting. Several appeared to be close to falling, and many sported large fractures along their trunks. Even more were discolored to a charcoal gray and creaked ominously in even the slightest breeze.

The ground beneath their hooves might as well have been ash and dust. Every movement sent up a minor cloud in their wake, filling the air and giving every breath the taste of decay.

And, although Bonbon seemed to be handling it the worst, even Lyra couldn't deny that something just felt... wrong with the place.

“So,” Rose said. “Is this still all in my head, or… ?”

The necromancer and the paladin both managed to spare the time to glare at the druid, but neither said a word. Then, Bonbon turned her gaze to Lyra.

“Well, you're the expert in death. Any ideas?”

Lyra frowned slightly, but stepped away from the group and touched one of the dead trees around them. Something was definitely not right here, even discounting the fact they were surrounded by dead and decaying plants.

There was magic, in the trees and in the ground below them. But it wasn't the usual magic that pervaded the world; the magic was just so... black. There was more than just the usual anger and rage that fed dark magic behind it, there was hatred. Raw, biting, ice-cold hatred for living things.

And, in its own way, it was absolutely fascinating.

Having practiced necromancy for so long, she had seen a lot of different variations on her craft, but this one was entirely new to her. It made sense in a way, since trees were technically living beings and all, but she had never heard of anypony actually working with them.

“Lyra...”

“In a second, Bonbon.” She reached out her own magic, getting a better feel for how this kind of necromancy worked.

The strongest part was in the core of the tree, coming up from the roots like a poison. It seeped up, slowly killing the tree, and then started slowly raising it one part at a time. In theory, they could probably follow the spell into the ground, and then start working their way back to the source and just eliminate it.

“Lyra.”

“I said 'In a second'.”

She was starting to wonder just what could be capable of something like this. From what little she understood of their magic, it almost seemed like the work of a dr–

“Lyra!”

She rounded on her marefriend. “What?”

And immediately found several black roots wrapped around Bonbon's legs and midsection.

“...oh.”

The paladin glared at her, grunting as she struggled to pull free of the dead and rotting limbs. “Thank you for finally noticing. Now, mind getting me out of this mess?”

Lyra trotted over, inspecting the vine-like bindings closely. “Not to used to working with plants, that's more a druid thing, but I'll see what I can do.”

Roseluck glared at Lyra. “I work with living plants, not undead ones.”

“Yeah, yeah...” Lyra walked around Bonbon a few times, examining the vines from more angles.

“A little more haste would be appreciated, Lyra!” Bonbon grunted, biting at one of the bindings on her hooves, then spitting to get the taste out of her mouth. “I'm not exactly comfortable right now.”

“Relax, Bonbon, they don't seem to be all the strong right now. Your armor's going to hold.” She paused, then chuckled a bit. “You know, this is pretty much what I wanted you to do to me the other night.”

Roseluck groaned as Bonbon blushed furiously.

“Now is not remotely the time for those comments!”

“TMI, you two; just... TMI.”

Lyra chuckled a bit more at their responses, still examining the roots. It wasn't exactly easy to separate something from a spell that wasn't your own, but it could be done. Besides, she was right; Bonbon wasn't in any immediate danger. The roots were just holding her in place, wrapping around her hooves, her mid-section, her barrel, her neck-

Lyra started as she watched the roots suddenly snake themselves around the paladin's neck, strangling her.

“Horseapples! Rose, I need-” She turned to the druid, only to watch her be pinned to the ground by more roots, her hooves splayed far away from each other and bound in place. She still struggled, shouting words that only held meaning to other druids, but her magic wouldn't react without the proper hoof movements.

Bonbon let out a strangled cry, the roots tightening around her neck like a noose. Her struggles, already weaker thanks to her previous state, started to slow and her eyes began to roll back in her head. Her struggles grew weaker and weaker, until finally stopping altogether. The decayed limbs, not satisfied with the cessation of movement, squeezed harder, creaking and cracking in their quest to utterly end the paladin's life.

“NO!”

With a tightly focused burst of magic, Lyra tore open two gashes just above her hooves. Blood gushed out from the cut arteries, but that was exactly what she wanted. Her magic flared as one word echoed in her mind.

Lacerate!

The blood flowed around her hooves and the inky darkness of black magic came at her call, mixing and twisting with the blood she provided it. The miasma enveloped her forehooves, growing and solidifying as it went. Images danced in her mind, of dragons and the deadly claws at the ends of their forelimbs, and the magic responded. The blood and the miasma became a set of dark red claws at the end of her legs, each 'finger' as sharp and hard as the finest sword and responding to her will as if it had always been there. And all more than ready to rip and tear whatever she so desired.

She twisted in the roots' grip, swiping at the ones that held her and slicing them apart. Once severed from the magic source, they became loose and brittle, easily breaking. Then she jumped, crossing the distance between her and Bonbon in an instant. Her claws didn't even slow, slicing into the roots around Bonbon's neck with vicious precision. They were severed from the spell source and loosened immediately.

Bonbon inhaled sharply, gasping for air as soon as she could breathe again. Her body was weakened from the evil infecting the area, but she would survive. Earth ponies were hardy like that.

Earth pony...

Lyra's mind was a rage-addled mess, not helped by the inherent corruption of the magic she was using, but something of her old self lingered beneath all that rage. Just enough that thinking about earth ponies kindled a memory in her.

Earth pony...

ROSE!

Lyra turned toward the druid, finding her slowly being pulled into the ground by the roots.

Her claws flashed again sundering the roots at her hooves and allowing Rose to pull them free.

A moment later, Roseluck shouted a spellword in her kind's secret language, slamming her hooves back into the ground. The sandy earth burst open, razor sharp rocks shooting up in a circle around her. One seemed to have severed the roots binding her mid-section, as its grip was lost a moment later and she stood again.

“I already nearly died here once, not in the mood to give it a second chance. Time to go.”

“No!” Lyra snarled. The dark magic was coursing through her, fueling the fire of her rage, and her desire for revenge against anything that hurt Bonbon.

Even if that included trees.

Her claws slashed into the root of another tree as it tried to bind her again, then turned her ire on the nearest tree itself. They found purchase, the dead wood splinting at her slice, and violently tore a chunk out of the trunk.

More roots came out, attempting to bind her, but she just hacked away at the tree, heedless of them all. At one point, her claws curled in on themselves, balling up like some sort of deformed hoof, and she lashed out. The claw-hoof hit the mangled tree with all the force of an enraged unicorn behind it; the limb itself felt no pain, but the tree finally toppled over, withering before it even hit the ground. For added satisfaction, she impaled her claws into the stump and forced her own magic into it. Even in her addled state, necromancy was necromancy, and she could manipulate it.

With a final burst of energy, the tree – as well as several more nearby – was severed from the source keeping it animate and each rotted where they stood.

Not that it stopped all the other trees from sending roots their way, of course.

Lyra hacked away with her claws, slicing every limb that neared her, but they just kept coming. A quick glance at Rose showed her faring about as well, having pulled a sickle from under her cloak and holding it using that 'sticky hoof' trick of the earth ponies. It wasn't as effective as her claws, but Lyra was glad for one less pony she had to worry about.

She suddenly jumped away from Roseluck, her bloody claws tearing into more roots as they got close to Bonbon once more. The paladin was moving again, which gave Lyra some comfort that her marefriend was going to be okay.

“Lyra...” Bonbon groaned, her eyes just barely staying open. “Lyra... dark magic... you have... you have to stop... you can't use it.”

“I don't–” she sliced into a particularly thick root and tore a good chunk of it out, finishing it a moment later. “I don't have a lot of options right now, Bonbon! I need all the power I can get!”

“I'm with her on this one!” Roseluck had managed to clear some of the roots away with her sickle and charged up to one of the undead trees. She stopped short, pivoting her body around, and slammed her back hooves into the dead wood. The tree splintered under her earth pony strength and toppled over, decaying as it fell. “I want to live to see another day.”

“Co-corruption!” Bonbon gasped out. “Can't let the corruption get a hold of-”

“If I can't use this power to keep you safe,” Lyra shouted, “then what's the point of having it?”

Bonbon's eyes widened at the words.

'I have all this power, and I'm supposed to just not use it? What's the point of having it then?'

Bonbon watched as Lyra hacked and slashed at the roots around them, her lover's eyes wild and full of anger and rage. Her teeth were gritted in a manic grin, and her movements imprecise and unfocused as she stumbled about on her hind legs.

No, she thought. No. NO! I will not lose her!

With a strained grunt, Bonbon forced herself to stand, and then reached into her saddlebags, still holding items from her last mission.

She retrieved a glass bottle bearing the mark of Celestia, and, not having much time for finesse, pulled the stopper out with her teeth. She threw the contents about randomly, sprinkling the ashy ground with water flecked with gold. Some got on Roseluck and Lyra, but that wouldn't affect what she was about to do.

“Mare Celestia,” she spoke, raising a hoof to her sun amulet. “Unconquered Sol, heed my cry from out of the darkness, and make this once holy land yours again!”

Bonbon reared, then slammed both of her hooves down. The amulet flashed with white light, which traveled down her legs and into the cursed ground. A wave of force washed over her, then spread outwards. Some of the dust and ash was blown away, and Lyra staggered as the wave passed her, but the immediate area remained mostly untouched; the trees, however, were blasted into rotting splinters, most of which didn't even make it to the ground before turning to dust.

When the wave finally settled, the three were standing in the middle of a sizable clearing. There were clearly more trees visible at the edges; but, for the moment, they were safe.

Roseluck was the first to recover, slowly lowering her sickle and returning it to under her cloak. “Nice trick. Don't suppose you could do it with the rest of my forest?”

“Not without at least six more paladins. And a lot more holy water.”

Lyra, currently balanced on her hind legs, panted slightly from all the leaping about she'd done. The fact she was using her own blood to form her claws – even if the spell kept it circulating back into her body – was starting to catch up to her, even more so since that the heat of battle had passed. She did not drop the spell, however.

“Okay,” she panted. “Now might be a good time to call for help.”

“Agreed.” The evil had been purged from the land, if only in this small area, so Bonbon was feeling significantly better. “And, after we do, you can I are going to have a very long talk, Lyra.”

Lyra flinched, gritting her teeth, but held her tongue and nodded. She could argue later.

“Right, follow me.” Roseluck turned and started to gallop away. She staggered a bit as she reached the edge of Bonbon's consecrated area, but she kept her footing and barely slowed.

Bonbon had her own difficulties, but would manage for the run and Lyra brought up the rear, her speed hampered by the dragon's claws she still sported.

However, the trees were no longer able to trap them thanks to their movements. Undead and animate they may have been, but they did not seem to possess the higher thoughts of most ponies. The three of them honestly dared to believe they would get away.

Then, Roseluck fell.

She landed hard on the ashy ground, rolling to a stop a moment later, and lay without moving.

“Rose!” Bonbon made to gallop over to her, only to gasp and fall to the ground herself. She panted heavily, black spots flashing and swimming before here eyes. She heard the sound of another pony hitting the ground and had to assume Lyra was in the same boat as her. Something was wrong, some sort of spell.

Bonbon panted, inhaling and exhaling as evenly as possible. Magically induced or not, lightheadedness could be managed if you didn't panic.

Slowly, her vision returned to her. Though she could still feel something in her chest, specifically over her heart, she managed to stand and keep her focus. Rose seemed to be stirring as well, so she moved as quickly as she dared back over to Lyra.

The unicorn's spell was gone, lost as her concentration had left her, so her blood from her cuts was flowing freely. The blood that had formed her claws had been spilled, so she was barely conscious.

Bonbon, still fighting the spots that occasionally popped in and out of her vision, trudged back to her lover. The paladin touched a hoof to her amulet again, and prayed. “Mare Celestia, let your ethereal fire bless our allies and ease their suffering, so that we may uphold the light of justice once more.” She touched her hoof to Lyra.

A golden glow flowed from within the paladin, down her leg, and into Lyra. The glow concentrated on the cuts, sealing them, then spread throughout her body. It wouldn't stop the dizziness, but it would at least keep the blood loss from doing her in immediately.

“You should have let her pass,” said a new voice. Bonbon whirled to face the voice, but staggered from the sudden movement; her dizziness was getting worse and worse. “It would have been the kind thing to do.”

Blinking away the spots, Bonbon finally got a decent look at the speaker.

It was a mare, a white earth mare. She had a pink, disheveled mane that hung about her shoulders and a pink tail that was similarly messy. Her hooves bore the dirt of endless travel and what looked like dried blood discolored her fur. Her blue eyes seemed distant, even as she looked at Bonbon, and her expression was blank. The white mare slowly walked passed Bonbon, giving her a chance to spot the stranger's cutie mark: A red cross with hearts at each corner.

The stranger casually walked around Lyra's frighteningly still form, her distant gaze focused on the necromancer.

“This one... the scent of Death is on her.” The mare touched a hoof to her, shivering slightly. “Yes... the scent is very strong. Would she not prefer to journey into the realm she dabbles in?” She then turned back to Bonbon. “And you... a warrior in the Sun's name. What would mean more to you than to meet your goddess? To walk the streets of her kingdom of light?”

Bonbon felt her dizziness return, sending her to her knees once more. Her vision was nearly gone, the spots of blackness crowding out the light. She had to... had to focus...

“You shouldn't resist, paladin, your goddess is waiting.”

“And she can wait a bit longer, blighter bitch!”

An almighty crash and a plume of dust broke the mare's gaze, and some of Bonbon's vision returned. She blinked away some of the spots and coughed as the dust began to settle. She could hear some more coughing, meaning Lyra was still alive as well. Whatever had been strangling her heart to a stop was still there, but its hold was much looser, so she could stand once more. And she could finally see what had happened.

One of the rotted trees lay on its side, decaying before her. It was right where the strange mare had been standing, and the hoof prints still visible in its dead bark told the rest of the story.

Sure enough, Roseluck jumped over the fallen tree a moment later, her sickle swinging wildly. “You are not welcome in my forest! None of your kind will ever be welcome here!”

The strange mare gritted her teeth slightly. “You should know, best of all, Druid, how everything eventually d–”

Roseluck shouted a druidic word, pulling a small snake's skin from under her cloak. She threw the skin, and it burst into fire as soon as it left her hoof. The flames snaked about like a mad serpent, and the stranger let out a shrieking whinny as she reared away. “I don't care what you have to say.”

The stranger growled, then shouted a druidic word back. She stomped her hooves, and black vines slithered out from beneath them. Rose made to dodge them, but they moved too quickly and ensnared one of her hooves. Her sickle proved ineffective, no matter how much she hacked, and her other hoof was snared a moment later.

“Now then, where were we?”

“Right here!” Bonbon's hammer smashed into the mare's side, sending her flying. However, Bonbon herself nearly dropped her weapon afterward. Her heart was still struggling to beat at its normal pace, let alone the rapid heartbeat of battle.

Even without the strange mare to guide them, the vines still held Roseluck, but she was slowly working herself free, so that meant at least one ally back in the fight soon. A glance toward Lyra showed her to still be recovering, but she was moving, just not fighting ready yet.

“Why?” The stranger was speaking again. “Why do they always resist?”

“Because we don't want to die!” Roseluck finally tore her hooves out of the vines, glaring at the other mare. “Not before you do at least.”

“So afraid, so misguided, so uninformed.” The mare stood once more, barely slowed from what had to be several broken ribs. “Your suffering will end soon.”

Bonbon gritted her teeth as her heart slowed just a bit more. She was expecting it, and it still left her head swimming. They had to end the fight quickly, or they were as good as dead.

Sharp notes that Bonbon had heard many a late night suddenly pierced the air, and all eyes turned to Lyra.

The necromancer's lyre was out, held in her hooves as she stood on two legs. Her forehooves flashed across the strings, plucking out a song in rapid tempo. She panted, still pale from the blood loss, but giving the stranger a manic glare.

“What are y–” The white mare suddenly gasped. Her eyes widened and her breath quickened as she took several steps back.

“Not so cocky now, are you?” Lyra smirked, getting more of her wind back as the stranger's concentration went. Her magic enveloped Orpheus, holding it and letting her go back to a more normal stance. “Amazing how far a little fear goes, isn't it?”

Roseluck made to charge forward, a druidic word already spilling out of her mouth, but Bonbon snagged her by the tail. “Think for a moment, Rose! You can't pretend you don't feel what she does to us, and that fear won't last forever. We need to get away.”

Roseluck growled at her, but didn't raise an actual objection. “Follow me, I have an idea.” She turned and ran, Bonbon following her a moment later.

Lyra was, again, last, though she took the moment to pluck another short tune on her lyre. The strange mare screamed as her eyes lost focus and blindness took her. Lyra chuckled a bit, but did remember to gallop after the other two.

The weight atop their hearts faded as the left the white mare behind, but a shrieking cry followed no more than a minute later and they pushed their speed just a bit more.

“I,” Rose gasped as they ran, “think. We're. Almost. There!” Rose stopped so sharply her hooves slid across the damp ground. She had led them to a gorge, one that looked to be several hundred feet deep.

Lyra blinked a few times. “...well, I can't say this is an overly-complex plan. Any idea how we're going to get little miss creepy into the hole?”

“What do you want? I made this 'plan' up on the spot!”

Before Bonbon could intervene, however, the three of them suddenly felt their hearts constrict once again.

“You three are very annoying ponies.” The mare walked slowly into view, the plants withering and the ground drying beneath her step. “I have ended the suffering of many before you, and only a hoof-full have been as troublesome about it as you.” She glared at Roseluck as the druid tried to stand, sending her back to the ground. “Though, I really should have expected as much from a druid. None of your kind will ever understand my mission.”

“Why do they always talk so much?”

The stranger's eyes snapped to Lyra, causing the unicorn to gasp for air. “You'd think a necromancer, of all ponies, would understand.”

Lyra groaned, but managed to look the other mare right in her eyes. “You know, I get kinda sick of hearing that all the time. Is there a newsletter or something I can write into? Let the bad guys know that I don't understand their psychosis?”

The stranger blinked, then scowled. “Damn snarky adventurers, never go quietly.”

“Well, you guys never shut up either, so I thought I'd try it out.” The mare opened her mouth to retort, but Lyra interrupted her again. “So, mind telling me when you took the Hypocritical Oath, Nurse?”

The stranger narrowed her eyes and Lyra fell back to the ground, gasping and holding her chest. “You have no idea... no idea what it's like. You've never seen a pony begging, pleading with you to end it! You've never seen a pony just linger on the edge of death because the family won't let them go! Clinging to the false hope that they can recover! Doctors, Healers, Surgeons, they keep fighting a battle they can never win. Death is the only end to their suffering, Death is the only kindness that they can ever find!” She walked closer to Lyra. “You've spoken with the dead, you have to know what comes after, what awaits them. How can you say life has more worth, knowing what you know?”

Lyra's breaths came in sharp gasps as her head swam and her heart struggled for every beat. But she managed a weak chuckle. “I'll say anything I want, as long as it distracts you.”

The stranger froze, just for a moment, before Bonbon's hammer smashed into her from the side once more.

Lyra felt the hold fade yet again, and she magically snatched up Orpheus once more. She rolled onto her back, not having the energy to stand, and quickly strummed a, rather flat, tune on her lyre. Black energy surrounded her instrument, and with one final pluck of the strings, shot at the white mare.

The stranger cried out in pain, first from hitting the ground, then from the blackness hitting her.

Lyra smirked as she panted. “Taste of your own medicine, Nurse?”

The 'nurse' growled, panting heavily herself. “Your banter is weak, necromancer.” She inhaled deeply, then breathed out sharply, spewing forth a cloud of green smoke that flooded through the area.

Lyra and even Roseluck started coughing almost immediately, but all the cloud did to Bonbon was make her eyes sting a bit. Blinking away some of the water in them, the paladin charged toward where she'd last seen the stranger.

Her hammer swung down and... nothing. She had moved, her movements hidden by the vision obscuring cloud and and sounds covered by Lyra and Rose's coughing fits.

“So, what they say is true then.” The mare's voice spoke, but Bonbon was driven to the ground once more, that damnable hold back. “I had heard paladins enjoyed protection from the sicknesses, but I figured it was just a rumor. Soon, it won't matter.”

Bonbon found herself starting to fight for each breath, the disease-ridden air seemingly growing more virulent by the moment. She struggled to stay on her hooves, the nurse's black magic not helping, tightening on her heart with every passing moment.

“Don't worry, Paladin, you'll be meeting with your goddess soon.” The mare slowly stepped out of the smoke, a sadistic grin upon her face. “And I'll be all the more powerful.”

Bonbon couldn't even form a retort, collapsing in a heap. Every beat of her heart felt strained and she could barely even see anything anymore. Her hoof slowly moved to her amulet, mentally praying to Celestia for help, any sort of help...

Suddenly, a druidic word cut through the fog and heat washed over Bonbon. She felt the stranglehold on her heart weaken and her vision returned just in time catch the fading flickers of a column of flame. The noxious fog had been partially burned away by the flames, allowing her to see the 'nurse' had been forced away from her and was favoring one of her legs, seemingly badly burned from the attack.

Roseluck walked out of the fog, sneering at the white mare, her nostrils stuffed with herbs. “It doesn't matter how thick you make the fog, or what you do to hide yourself," she declared, pointing a hoof. "You don't belong in this forest, I can hear the land screaming in pain wherever you step.”

Lyra followed her a moment later, Orpheus held in her telekinetic grip and her black cloak wrapped around her mouth. She glared at the 'nurse', her eye twitching every now and then. “I will end you.”

The stranger gritted her teeth. “Not happening, I have to end the suffering.” She inhaled again, and breathed out more of the green smoke.

“Let the Sun burn away all evil!” Bonbon held her amulet up and golden light burst from it. The fog around her vanished, then more and of the noxious plume burned away in the light. It was slow at first, with the 'nurse' pouring her own will into the other spell, but Lyra plucked out another tune on her lyre, then wiped her forehead and pointed her hoof at the white mare. Black energy shot out and hit the stranger, breaking her concentration and causing what little fog she could still muster to dissipate in the light of Bonbon's amulet.

“Damn you, damn all three of you!” The 'nurse' took several steps back, but stopped once she realized where she was. During all the confusion with the fog, she had ended up near the cliff's edge, exactly where they had wanted her. She glared at the trio. “Don't think you've won. I still have one trick left.”

The three of them felt the ever-present hold on their hearts constrict, more than it had the entire fight. None of them could remain standing and they each fought to stay conscious. To black out meant nothing but their death.

“I could have made this painless for you! Could have sent you all to a paradise like none that exist on this gods forsake lump of dirt and rock! But no, you all had to be stubborn and stupid about it! You all had to cling to your worthless lives, as though they held some greater meaning!” She stomped over to Bonbon and kicked away her amulet. “No! No more dispelling, Paladin!” She stomped a hoof and black vines bound Roseluck once more. “And no more fire from you, Druid!”

She finally turned to Lyra. “And you! You disgust me, Necromancer! You could do so much more with your gifts! Yet you help the very ponies who would kill you as soon as look at you! You are such a… a waste of talent!”

Lyra, still on the ground, muttered something.

“Oh, of course, now comes the rebuttal, where you talk about friendship and love and all that other stuff. Come on then, maybe you can think of something I haven't heard before.”

“I said, Shut! Up!” Lyra suddenly surged up, her hoof slamming into the white mare's jaw with a sickening crack.

The hold was loosened as the 'nurse' staggered back in pain and Lyra snatched up Orpheus. She strummed out a short, sharp tune and the other mare screamed out, her hoof going to her eyes as blood leaked out of them. She took another step, and nearly fell of the cliff, out of room.

Lyra panted, her manic grin back. “Nopony hurts the ones I care about.” She plucked out another another tune, then inhaled sharply. The necromancer let loose an unearthly wail, focused directly at the 'nurse'.

The white mare gasped, feeling her strength and her very life ebbing away. Her legs grew weak and her balance faltered, until – finally – one of her hooves moved a bit too close to the edge. She slipped and made to grab the edge, but her enfeebled state left her without the strength to grip at the ground, sandy thanks to her very presence.

Lyra stopped screaming, just in time to hear the stranger's own wail fade away as she fell. “Good riddance.”

Her face met the ground as she passed out from exhaustion.

The first thing she noticed was the lingering smell of rotted flesh and something warm and wet touching her face. Not all that unusual for her, given her profession, but still not something she wanted to wake up to.

Lyra groaned, making to push whatever it was away. When she touched something very furry, she slowly forced her eyes open and found herself face to face with a wolf.

“Ahh!” She awkwardly scuttled several feet away from the beast, pulling at her cloak and practically sitting on Orpheus.

“Oh relax, he's not going to hurt you.” Roseluck trotted out from behind the wolf, idly petting it as she did. “Orion is an old friend.”

Lyra blinked a few times, then gave Rose a look. “Really? 'Orion'?”

“Oh shut up, the constellation was in the sky when I met him.”

Lyra just shook her head, inspecting her lyre for damage, noticing a familiar hammer nearby. “Where's Bonbon?”

“She went looking to see if that psycho murder-nurse had any friends. I don't sense anything, but she wanted to make sure.”

“One can never be too careful, Rose.” Bonbon's return was heralded by the crashing of the undergrowth. “But you're right, the area's clear.”

“Never doubt a druid in her own environment.” Roseluck continued to pet Orion, the wolf laying down beside her. “Anyway, now that the blighter is gone, the rot should finally stop and I should be able to start taking my forest back.”

“There's that word again,” Lyra said. “What is a 'blighter'?”

“A worthless rotter, disgusting and vile in all–”

“Rose!”

“Alright! They're druids that turned against nature and Epona, they exist to kill nature and cause strife.” Roseluck scowled at nothing. “They deserve to die.”

Bonbon gave her a look. “You're starting to sound like Righteous.”

“Did you miss all of that monologuing she was doing during the fight? Don't you dare start claiming she was just 'misunderstood'.”

“I saw how she was, and yes, she was clearly a violent psychopath. But I don't take one pony as the blanket example of every member of their group.”

"Obviously. Why am I surprised to hear this from you?"

“Can we worry about other things?” Lyra suddenly got between the two of them. “Like, say, what in all the hells she was actually doing here? I don't think somepony like her could just show up without being noticed a lot sooner than this.”

Silence followed Lyra's statement, neither of the other two able to refute it.

Finally, Bonbon spoke up. “Roseluck, you're coming back with us. We need someone who understands how someone like her works and can track where she's been.”

“Great,” Rose deadpanned, “more 'civilization'. Whoopee.”

“Complain all you want, you're still the only druid we know. And I'd rather let Shining know about this as soon as possible.” Bonbon hefted her hammer once more. “Let's go, it's a long walk back to Ponyville.”

Lyra was quick to follow, ready to get home and shower after everything, and slipped Orpheus back under her cloak.

Roseluck grumbled, but spoke to Orion in the Druidic tongue and sent him off into the woods. She watched him go, then fell into step behind the other two.

At least the bitch is dead.

Down in the canyon, the white mare's body lay on the craggy ground. Several of her bones were sticking through her skin and dried blood was staining her coat. Her lifeless eyes were unfocused and wide, staring out at nothing.

And then, she blinked.

The light slowly returned to her gaze as she shifted around, several of her bones popping back into place from the movement alone. “Been a while since I've fallen off a cliff.” She shoved the bones poking out of her skin back inside, only an occasional grunt to show any pain from the act.

Once she'd mostly pieced her legs back together, she stood and took several shambling steps, each moderately better than the last. That'll sort out by the time I run into anypony, she thought. But I need to get going.

Still shambling a bit, the mare started walking along the canyon. They're going to start the meeting without me if I'm late.

Author's Note

*Skilepony - Half-Kitsune/Half-Pony hybrid. They have a fox's tail from birth and gain another if they become more powerful. They specialize in illusion magic and are mostly playful tricksters. They live for an average of 200 years.

Look at this, a new chapter! I had Lyra work her necromantic magics on the fic, so now we're up and moving again. Thank you for all of you who stuck with me.

And some extra special thanks for some editors: Nintendonick (And, if you haven't already, check out his story Flash's Demon, it's set in the same universe as this.), R5h, Oroboro, Ephraim Blue, Orlunu, Pixel Pony, ThEvErYdErPyBrOnY, and one more author who wishes to remain anonymous. Thank you guys for making my stuff passable.

Righteous Beats

This... is going to suck.

Bonbon sighed through her nose as she looked upward to the shining emblem of the sun set in the face of the large building. She was no stranger to the sight. The Ponyville Cathedral of the Sun was where she had been baptized, where she had started her training to join the Solar Guard, where Shining Armor had officially inducted her into their ranks, even where she came just to unwind after a hectic day.

There were a lot of good memories associated with the church, and a part of her even hoped to marry Lyra in this very cathedral.

If only her father would allow it...

Maybe it was some sort of test of her dedication to Lyra, maybe it was a reminder that she would have to deal with neighsayers no matter her choices. But, for whatever reason, her father had been named as her immediate superior and unofficial liaison to the Order as a whole. And, although less vocal about it than his wife, Bon Mot had made no secret of his disapproval of her relationship with a necromancer.

Lyra sneezed, pulling Bonbon out of her thoughts.

"So," Rose said, "are we going in? Or are we going to just stare at the the doors for another ten minutes?"

Bonbon turned back to glare at her yet again. She had been praying silently for the strength to put up with Rose ever since they had left the forest, but she was starting to really grate on Bonbon's nerves. "There is a sermon going on right now; I would rather not interrupt him in the middle of his preaching."

"Your dad is going to be in a bad mood no matter what, Bonny." Lyra took a step toward the doors. "I think Sunbutt can deal with having ponies not talking about her for a few moments."

The sun seemed to jump a few inches up in the sky, altering the angle just enough that light shone right into Lyra's eyes.

"Gah!" Lyra put a hoof up to shield her vision. "Take a friggin' joke, lady!"

"Bad-mouthing deities never works out, Lyra. I thought you'd have realized that by now." Bonbon chuckled, walking past her marefriend and up the steps. She paused at the solid oak doors for a moment, steeling herself for what was about to happen, then slowly pushed them open. The well-oiled hinges made barely a sound as they opened, giving them access and letting them hear the sermon from the foyer with ease.

"–whose light shines eternal, piercing the blackness of lies and fear, whose radiance leaves even the faithful struck with awe and wonder. Celestia bless all who choose to walk in her light, and may we give her praise, so that we may be worthy of her light."

"Praise the sun!" came the reply of numerous voices.

Though the church was by no means packed, there were several dozen ponies seated on the pews. The devout, or the ones roped in by devout family members to a weekday service, never seemed to miss a day in their praising of their goddess. Bonbon had been one of them, once upon a time, until Celestia had called her into a more active expression of her faith.

The preacher, a blue-maned Earth Pony stallion with a yellow coat, glanced at the three of them with his pale blue eyes. Though he didn't break his flow, Bonbon could sense his unease even now, and she sighed. This was not going to be a smooth meeting.

"Just sit in the back, we'll get him after service; it's almost over."

As Lyra slouched into one of the seats and Rose grumbled about the waste of good wood, Bonbon kept her eyes on the preacher.

He continued on, all but singing praises to Celestia and the deeds attributed to her. From her great sacrifice at the end of the Nightmare War (though Lyra scoffed at this), to creating the very sun in the sky eons before ponykind set hoof on the world. Bonbon accepted it all, as she had been raised, though she knew Lyra and, to a lesser extent, Rose had a different view of history.

After about ten more minutes of his sermon, the priest led the gathered ponies in a final prayer to Celestia.

"May the glorious light of her blessed sun warm your hearts and souls. May you ever walk the brilliant path she has laid out before you. And may you spread her light to others, so that they too may know salvation. Praise Celestia."

"Praise the sun!"

The congregation stood, some of them popping some stiff joints, and slowly exited with several making plans for what would come next in their day.

Eventually, however, only four ponies were left in the church.

Time to get this over with... Bonbon gulped and stood herself, making her way toward the front of the church, and the priest who still stood there. "...hi, Dad."

Bon Mot cast his gaze over his daughter, noting several new dents in her armor and a few fresh wounds showing through her coat.. "You've seen battle recently, Sweetie Drops."

Bonbon flinched at her birth name. "I know, that's why I came here, actually..."

"I see." Bon Mot turned his gaze to the other two mares, scowling slightly as he looked at Lyra, and getting a scowl right back in return. "I'm guessing they were involved somehow as well?"

"You could say that, Mot." Lyra continued to slouch in the pew, still not giving the priest a friendly look. "Though not in the way you'd like."

"I'll thank you to mind your tongue, Necromancer. You are only allowed here by my daughter's grace, and even that has its limits."

"Right, well, this is certainly worth the time we could be using to track down where she came from." Roseluck hopped off the pew. "I'm going back to my forest now, the animals are less pretentious."

"Nopony is going anywhere, okay?" Bonbon stepped in front of Rose, looking her right in the eyes for a moment. "Please, just give me a few more minutes." She held her breath for a moment, then released it as Rose moved back to the pew.

"Just a few more minutes, Bonbon; that's all I'm giving you. After that, I'll go back to looking for her my own way."

"And just who is it that you're looking for?" Bon Mot had let the moment with the druid pass uninterrupted, but now it seemed that he desired some answers as well. "And what does she have to do with your battle?"

"It's a long story, Father... and you're going to have a hard time believing it."

"I will be the judge of that, Sweetie Drops." He took a seat himself now, though well away from Lyra and Roseluck. "So, let's hear your story."

"Well... Rose found a grove of trees in her forest that had turned to ash, more or less..."

Bonbon, with some help from Rose and Lyra, spent the better part of a half hour explaining their misadventure to her father, though she left out her fears regarding Lyra and her momentary similarity to Shoeshine. Her father was almost entirely stoic and silent through it all, only giving an occasional grunt of acknowledgment, or raise of an eyebrow at certain points. He did seem to pay more attention during the part about the encounter with the mare Roseluck called a blighter, but he still didn't say anything about it until the very end.

"So... you were attacked by... zombie... trees?"

Bonbon sighed, having almost expected such a reaction to the story. If it hadn't happened to her, even she would have doubted it. "I am well aware of how it sounds, Father. However, with Celestia as my witness, it is nothing less than the truth."

"You have to understand my skepticism, given your friend's..." he glanced toward Roseluck, "...reputation."

"Last I checked, even the strongest of my hallucinogenic mushrooms can't actually attack somepony."

"Rose..." Bonbon facehooved, praying for some more strength from Celestia. "Please, you're not helping."

"Hey, I gave you a chance to convince him. It didn't work, so now I'm going back to try things my way." She stood up once more, starting toward the door.

Lyra, having only spoken up to explain the magic in the trees, glanced to Bon Mot from her slouch. Finally, she twisted herself around to get up as well.

"Oh come on, not you too!"

"Bonny, look." Lyra put a hoof on her marefriend's shoulder. "I never really expected your dad would listen to us; hell, I expected he would throw us out as soon as we got in. So, really, I'm with Rose. Let's just go."

Bonbon opened her mouth to protest when, suddenly, the double doors of the church burst open.

All eyes flew to them, and all of them widened in shock.

Righteous Fury, looking like she'd gone three rounds with a dragon, staggered in; her white coat was stained with dried blood, one of her eyes was swollen shut with an ugly purple bruise, and she favored one of her legs. Her breathing came in ragged pants, like each inhale caused her even more pain, but she still managed to take several limping steps forward before she started to lose her balance.

Bonbon shook herself out of her stupor and rushed forward to steady the mare. Regardless of her personal feelings about Righteous, a paladin couldn't just ignore the suffering of others. It just wasn't right.

"Righteous," Bon Mot spoke again, moving to help his daughter get the wounded pony to a pew. "What happened to you?"

Righteous took several more breaths, flinching as she did so, before she managed to start talking. "I was in Trottingham. I was meeting somepony there…"

Righteous was grateful to have found a stream to wash herself. The whipped cream and various fillings from the pies she'd been struck with had started to smell and attract all manner of buzzing insects.

She had emerged from the stream slightly chilled but with her mood notably improved since her confrontation with Sweetie Drops – she refused to justify that stupid nickname – and made it to Trottingham only a little bit behind schedule. The trip had taken her slightly longer than normal due to that stop, and she was thankful her contact hadn't left yet.

The gray earth pony mare was seated at a table, calmly sipping a cup of tea. Her mane was similarly drab, so dark a gray that it almost looked black. It was only her eyes and her cutie mark that brought any color to her body, both of them a soft shade of violet. Around her neck she wore a simple white collar with a pink bow attached. Her movements were delicate and smooth, as though she moved more on instinct than any conscious thought, and her smile – though small – was pleasant.

It was hard for even Righteous to believe that she could easily kill each and every pony around them. Almost.

Octavia Melody had made a name for herself not long ago as one of the world's deadliest mares; the only assassin more lethal than her was one that seemed as much myth as they did fact. The paladins had been after her for several years, and some had even lost their lives in the process; it had only been by a chance encounter between the necromancer and Righteous herself that Octavia had been captured. Even Righteous admitted that had been more luck than anything else.

After that, with no other paladins readily available, Righteous had been forced into the role of the assassin's warden. It was an odd arrangement, all who knew of it said so openly, but it was the only one that Shining had been able to make.

However, it seemed to have worked out in the end. Righteous's own zero-tolerance policy with all things evil seemed to have rubbed off on Octavia and, while she would never have the proper mindset to be a paladin herself, she had found a way to repurpose her skills to serve Celestia, to the point that Shining had made her a warden herself. Though her ward gave Righteous all the more reason to doubt Shining's mental state.

However matters such as those could wait a bit longer. Their relationship was certainly a strange one, but Octavia was the closest pony Righteous had to a friend, and she was glad to see her again.

"Hello, Miss Melody." Righteous took a seat across from her, sporting a small smile as she did. "I trust you will excuse my tardiness; I had a minor altercation in my travels."

"Quite alright, Miss Fury." Octavia's Trottingham accent was surprisingly thick for most ponies. However, Righteous had long since grown used to it. The other mare returned her smile as she waved a hoof and a unicorn waitress floated a second cup over to them a moment later. "Nothing you couldn't handle, I hope."

Righteous took the cup in her hooves and sipped it, though she was a bit more noisy about it than Octavia. "No, just an argument with a mare who can't see what's right in front of her."

"Ah, Sweetie Drops." Octavia gave Righteous a knowing smirk. The relationship between the paladin and the necromancer she had once tried to kill had been the topic of many a rage-induced rant. "Have Captain Armor's orders regarding her changed at all?"

"Not as far as I know; she's still free to walk about." Another sip of her drink followed. "And what of your ward, anything to report regarding her?"

Octavia set her cup down on its saucer, the light 'tink' of the ceramic barely audible above the general din of the ponies around them. "She is... aggravating. More so than usual."

"Have you slain her?" Righteous was used to judging the morality of others based on how they reacted to certain questions, but Octavia had always been tough to read. She saw something twinge in Octavia's eyes in response to the question, but she couldn't tell what.

"She has not broken the terms of her sentence, so she lives." It was another moment before she picked her tea up once more. "She has just been acting fairly unusual lately." Catching a look Righteous gave her, she quickly added. "For her, I mean."

"Have you considered the possibility that she may be altering your memories?"

Octavia scoffed. "She is not nearly subtle enough to perform such a task; I would notice anything she tried to change. The wards I placed in my bedroom prevent such magic from working while I sleep, and I check them every night before I go to bed. She has no opportunity to play around with my mind."

"Then maybe she's working a different angle, lulling you into a false sense of security so she can strike when your guard is down."

"My guard is never down, Righteous. You know me well enough to know that; more to the point, she still lacks the subtlety to pull off such an act."

Righteous frowned. Octavia was right, of course, her ward had never been the most subtle of beings. Even when captured, she hadn't resorted to the usual mind games of her kind and just opted to rush headlong into things. It had not been a very long battle, even with her level of power.

"Then I suppose I will have to examine her for myself; see if I can make sense of her actions."

The smallest of frowns darkened Octavia's features, but was quickly wiped away. "I suppose that would be best, maybe an outside perspective is just what I need. But first, let us finish our tea."

The rest of their meal was spent in relative silence, broken only by the occasional question about their own lives or an old joke that only held meaning to the two of them. Octavia seemed to be prolonging the meal, asking for a second helping of some of the biscuits and a third cup of tea at one point, prompting Righteous to bring up her previous concerns.

"I am not 'stalling', Righteous. I am merely enjoying a moment of normalcy in an otherwise very stressful life."

"Ponies like you or I can't have 'normal' lives, Octavia, hard as we may try." Righteous shifted slightly, rubbing at a portion of her upper foreleg. "And I still need to make a report with the Order, one I'd prefer not be late with."

Sighing, Octavia placed her mostly empty teacup back on the table. "Yes, I suppose that is true, isn't it?" Finally, she stood up and turned from Righteous. "This way then, I already told the owner to add the bill to my tab."

Righteous blinked a few times. "You have a tab here?"

Octavia gave a small smirk as she looked back. "He owed me a favor, and they make the only decent tea this side of Canterlot."

Righteous rolled her eyes as she stood to follow her. "You really need to start drinking something besides tea."

"I refuse to even touch that disgusting excuse for a beverage you call 'coffee', Righteous; that will never change."

The two of them chuckled; their taste in drinks had always been a point of contention between them. Octavia had simply proven too stubborn for even Righteous, but it was still fun to bug her about it.

As they walked, other ponies gave them quite the berth, taking great pains to avoid getting too close to the two mares. Being in the Solar Guard, it was something Righteous had long grown used to; everypony had something in their history or their habits that they would be quite happy to forget. Be it a minor theft, a violent outburst, or even just a mean streak that they never really quite curtailed while growing up. Paladins, as symbols of justice and enforcers of Celestia, had a way of making other ponies self-conscious about all their past failings; there wasn't anything mystical about it, it was just simple, old fashioned guilt. It wasn't good for the social life, but it certainly helped with travel times.

Despite the streets crowded with ponies out wandering on various shopping trips, they made the journey to Octavia's house in a matter of minutes.

It was a simple building, with a thatched roof and white wooden walls like most of the buildings in town, and there didn't seem to be much in the way of decoration either, which made sense. Even though those under Celestia's name weren't required to live within a certain monetary level, their salary was not a large one, and they were required to give a portion of their adventuring spoils over to the church for funding. It was very rare to find a paladin with a large pocketbook.

As they walked to the door, Octavia held up a hoof for Righteous to stop, then placed the same hoof on a spot next to the doorknob. Leaning in close, she whispered something under her breath and Righteous felt her mane briefly stand up at the sudden release of magic. Her lips parted in small smile. "That's the same locking spell I taught you when I was your warden. I would have thought you'd found a better one since then."

Octavia looked back, smiling as well. "You know what they say about old habits." Chuckling, she pushed the door open. And came face to face with a screaming unicorn hanging upside down from the ceiling.

Righteous, instinct taking over, reacted first and called upon her magic. "Lancea!" The word pierced the air as a spear of pure light energy was formed in her hoof. With an aim born of years of training, she rose up on her back hooves and hurled the weapon at the unicorn. The entire process had taken no more than a few seconds.

The scream was cut off as abruptly as a record being stopped. Righteous swore she could almost hear the scratch of a needle being lifted off one, and the unicorn flattened herself against the ceiling as the spear flew past her, just barely singeing part of her electric blue mane. Taking advantage of the momentary lapse in her concentration, Righteous started to charge in; before she even entered the doorway, however, she suddenly found a silver blade within inches of her throat.

"Calm yourself, Righteous." Octavia's voice was shockingly level, given the circumstance. "There is no need for a battle now. As I said, Vinyl is being difficult lately. This isn't the first time she has tried to scare me like that." She actually paused to give a look at the mare still standing on the ceiling. "Though, I must admit, I was expecting a bit more creativity. She tried this same approach yesterday."

The unicorn frowned, sticking her tongue out, then dropped off the ceiling. She righted herself in midair, landing on the floor with a clatter that didn't sound very much like hooves. Now that she was on the ground, Righteous could see the ends of her legs seemed to sport a set of claws more like a diamond dog's than anything a pony should have. However, even as she looked, they were coated in blood-red flames, shifting into a normal set of hooves.

Righteous backed away from Octavia's blade, then rounded on her. "You let a demon wander about your house when you're not around!" She snorted, blowing steam from her nostrils. "I taught you better than that, Octavia!"

"The locking spell keeps her contained," Octavia responded simply. "And, as I have stated, I check all my wards nightly before I turn in."

With a slight flick of her wrist, the blade she'd used to restrain her former warden was pulled up by some sort of spring-loaded mechanism attached to her foreleg. Even though she was watching it, Righteous suddenly found it very difficult to focus on the device once it was in place again.

"Perception spell," Octavia supplied, noting her stare. "One can not always wear overly flashy outfits to conceal their weapons, especially if she wishes to eat, so one must... adapt. And I could never quite get outright invisibility spells to work."

Righteous still glared at her for a moment, then turned to the demon, who had plodded over to a couch while the two of them had argued. "I still question the captain's judgment in allowing this... demon to continue to stay in Equestria."

"It is not my place to question Captain Armor, only to follow his orders." Octavia finally entered her house, heading down a hall toward the back. "I'll get my full report for you; afterward, we can discuss what you feel can be done regarding Vinyl's attitude."

I already know what can be done, Righteous thought bitterly. However, she entered herself without a word and shut the door behind her. But she didn't relax, not when she was alone with a demon; that would make any tricks or subterfuges it had in mind all the easier. "Don't think I'm not on to you, bitch."

The demon blinked her magenta eyes.

"I know exactly what you're doing; you're making her think this stupid idea of the captain's is working, that there actually is something good buried under all that evil."

Vinyl rolled her eyes and shifted about on the couch, taking up about half of it as she laid down.

"It won't work, she's too smart for that." Righteous stomped a hoof, more light energy flaring up around it like fire. "When you finally do make your move, she'll be ready for it. And then this little farce of a rehabilitation will finally be over."

Vinyl opened her mouth in a yawn, covering it with a hoof, them smacked her lips and stretched her limbs until her joints popped.

"Nothing to say for yourself, Demon?"

She stuck her tongue out at Righteous.

"Don't you dare mock me, Demon! Speak!"

Vinyl scoffed, turning away from Righteous and pulling one of the couch pillows over with telekinesis.

"In the name of Celestia, I command you to speak!"

The demon mare flinched at Celestia's name, but only turned around to stick her tongue out at Righteous again, then turned right back to rest some more.

"Speak your mind, Demon; reveal your true nature!"

"She can't." Octavia was back, walking on three legs as she held a folder close to her barrel with her fourth. "Speak, I mean. She hasn't said a word since her capture. The captain thinks something might have gone wrong with her initial summoning. I'm not even sure she ever could talk."

Righteous blinked a few times. "But... that scream..."

"She can still make sounds, with her magic, but only simple ones. A scream isn't all that complex; beyond that, it's mostly just music. She's helped me with my practice a few times."

"Practice?"

The room was suddenly filled with the sound of a string instrument being played. Both mares looked to the demon, who was sitting upright and moving her hooves as though playing an instrument only she could see. Her horn was glowing the same shade as her eyes, and the intensity changed in time with the pitch of each note.

"I know what she means, Demon!" Righteous turned back to Octavia. "I just can't believe you let her in the same room as your cello."

"I need to keep an eye on her," she said. "You know how I can be when I play; it's safer to have her in the same room so I don't forget she's here entirely."

Righteous slowly nodded, conceding the point. The few times she'd seen Octavia play her cello, the mare had seemed only vaguely aware of the outside world. Additionally, the one time Righteous had interrupted her playing had seemed almost painful for the other mare. "Doesn't she... distract you? You said she was being more aggravating than usual lately."

As Vinyl glared, at both of them this time, Octavia shook her head and placed the folder on a table. "Not as much as you would think. A few times she's proved useful when I got stuck in my composition." Vinyl sat up a bit straighter, actually smirking now. "Oh, don't get cocky; your ego is massive enough as it is." She slouched back down, crossing her forelegs in a pout.

Octavia chuckled.

Righteous blinked.

"Octavia? A word, in private." She narrowed her eyes at the demon, who merely rolled hers and went back to sprawling on the couch. Righteous, meanwhile, followed Octavia down the hall to a room with several warding seals painted upon the door. While Octavia gave them a once-over and merely nodded, Righteous spent several moments examining them and testing them with simple spells. It was only when she was sure they met her standards that she finally joined Octavia in the room and shut the door.

"I assume this is the part where you berate me?"

Righteous, who hadn't even drawn her full breath yet, was left wrong-hoofed by the sudden question. "You know damn well it is!" she hissed out. She jabbed a hoof in the general direction of the living room. "What was that?"

"It's called a laugh, Righteous. I think even you know what one is."

"What was there to laugh about? She's a demon, Octavia; she's not somepony you meet for drinks and to share a laugh with, she's an unholy abomination from the pits of Tartarus. She has no soul, no empathy, no remorse for all the lives she's ended! The only reason she's even still here is the captain's misguided belief that something like her can just stop being Evil."

"I was ordered to help facilitate her rehabilitation," Octavia countered impassively. "Regardless of the captain's reasoning or my own thoughts on the matter. Orders are orders."

"It is not our job to just blindly follow orders, Octavia! Shining Armor is far from infallible, and he has always had too much of a soft spot in him, just like his father." Righteous paused, then shook her head. She could reminisce about that later, there were other concerns now. "I taught you better than this!"

"As you have already stated." Octavia's voice still held the same detachment about it; she was clearly listening, but Righteous's words were just rolling off her back. "But you are no longer my warden, Righteous, and part of becoming one myself was learning my own way of handling these sorts of things."

"Learning what? To be so casual as to let your guard down around a demon?" Righteous was starting to pace now, a nervous habit whenever she couldn't simply confront something. "You’re treating her like she's a normal pony, like she's done nothing wrong." She suddenly stopped as something clicked in her mind, then rounded on Octavia. "You're treating her just like Sweetie Drops treats her necromancer!"

Octavia's features darkened and, for just a moment, Righteous Fury saw the face of the assassin she had fought several years ago. "I am not being nearly so unprofessional with my ward as she is, I assure you." The moment was gone, and Octavia's face was as unreadable as stone once more. "Though, yes, I have treated her like a pony on rare occasions. If only because, every now and then, she actually does seem to be a normal pony; admittedly one who needs to learn proper etiquette, but a pony nonetheless."

Righteous narrowed her eyes. "Don't forget, Octavia. A demon's greatest strength is in their ability to lie. Just because she doesn't speak a word doesn't mean she's not deceiving you." Her statement was met with nothing but silence from Octavia, as she knew it would be. Octavia knew the nature of demons and devils as well as she did; there was no denying their nature, as much as the captain thought otherwise.

Octavia opened her mouth at last, preparing to say something, before being interrupted by a frantic pounding on the door.

Both of them blinked in shock, turning to it. Righteous's stern glare actually hardened when several random, very loud sounds blared out from the other side. "What does the damned thing want now?"

Octavia was sporting a similarly dark expression, only hers was more indicative of troubled thoughts. "I'm not sure; I've only seen her act like this once before. And nothing good followed it." She opened the door, and was nearly tackled by Vinyl. Her earth pony strength kept her on her hooves, and she raised an eyebrow at the demon. "What is it?"

In response, Vinyl grabbed one of her hooves and began pulling. Chaotic sounds and snippets of a few musical scores still filled the air thanks to the demon's magic, and her face was panicked. Something was agitating her, and she wanted Octavia to see what.

"Careful, this could be a trap." Righteous stood her ground as her remark earned a seething glare from the demon, but Octavia shook her head.

"No, not something like this; like I said, I've seen this before. Something's happening, something bad." She pulled her hoof out of Vinyl's grip, then rushed over to another room in the house. A moment later, she returned, holding something Righteous recognized in her mouth. Though why she held it boggled the paladin's mind.

"Why are you bringing your cello bow? Are you planning on playing something?"

Octavia just smirked around the bow, then took off after an increasingly impatient Vinyl, leaving Righteous to hurry to catch up.

The demon mare led them outside, becoming agitated again when Octavia paused to restore the locking spell, before galloping off again. Smoke billowed in the distance, indicating a fire somewhere in town, and ponies were running around wildly, meaning this wasn't just some random blaze; something was attacking the town.

"What in the name of Celestia…?" The demon staggered at the goddess's name, shooting a glare at Righteous again, before ducking into an alleyway between two buildings and leading them to the next street over.

"Vinyl, wha ish go'ng on?" Octavia's voice was distorted by her mouth-hold on the bow, but the demon didn't seem to mind. Instead, she pointed a hoof upward and toward the smoking part of town. When Octavia and Righteous followed it, they were met with the sight of a deep blue pegasus stallion with a light gray mane and tail hovering a short ways away. They couldn't get a good look at his Cutie Mark from where they stood, but both of them could easily see the staff held in his hooves.

The pegasus raised the staff to the heavens, seemed to speak some sort of incantation, then pointed it down at one of the other buildings. Hellfire erupted from the head of the staff, spilling over the building like it was water, yet sticking wherever it fell. Even the wettest of materials would kindle Hellfire. Righteous had even heard rumors that it could set water itself ablaze if enough of it was summoned, but now was not the time to test something like that.

"I've got him, you handle the fire; put your demon to good use."

Ignoring yet another glare from the unicorn, Righteous Fury charged forward as light gathered about her hooves. She'd always been good at summoning such things; her own Cutie Mark, a golden flame, attested to that. It was yet another of her abilities that made her all the more suited to fight an evil sorcerer such as this one. As the pegasus raised his staff to call forth more Hellfire, Righteous pushed up into a jump and gathered all the excess light energy into one spot. "Lancea!" She hurled the light spear at the apex of her jump; her earth pony strength sent it sailing into the sky, and her aim was true.

Were it not for the natural speed and agility of all pegasi, the battle would have ended right there.

The stallion faltered in the air, his wingbeats becoming erratic and ungainly. She had clipped him in the shoulder with her spear, meaning each flap had to be all the more painful for him. Still, she could almost give him credit; even with what had to be severe pain, he was still flying.

"You... bitch!"

Okay, maybe not as much credit as she thought.

"That's no way to talk to a lady. Lancea!" Another spear was hurled; if she could ground him, then he would lose the only real advantage he had here. A flying mage was a difficult opponent to fight, especially for a pony like her who specialized in more melee types of combat. The spear was her only real distance attack, and it wasn't even a terribly powerful one. She needed to get him down.

"Let your grace shield us!" Just before her construct could hit him, a translucent sphere of dark red energy surrounded the stallion. Her spear hit it and shattered into useless shards that faded away into nothing.

Down on the ground, Righteous's eyes were wide as saucers. She knew that spell, she'd seen it cast multiple times; in fact, she'd actually cast it herself when she simply couldn't outright overpower an opponent in combat. That was one of the Solar Order's many prayers, granted to them from their devotion to Celestia herself; the very same prayers that would become nothing more than mere words if they ever strayed from her holy path. A path which, last she checked, did not include the random burning of buildings.

He should not have been able to use that prayer!

"Let your fires cleanse the land of your adversaries!"

Righteous was brought out of her shocked stupor by the stallion's shouted prayer, and only just managed to dive out of the way of another gout of Hellfire. She managed to roll as she finished the leap and came up on her hooves, galloping to avoid the rolling flames. She had no doubt one hit would be survivable, but Hellfire could burn the very soul, leaving you with a pain that could never truly heal.

"Run, little mare, run all you like." The stallion's voice held an edge of pain to it, but he was still taunting her. "There is no escaping my goddess' wrath."

"She's not your goddess!" An arrow streaked through the air, hitting the stallion through the wing. As he cried out and had to make an extremely quick and awkward landing, Octavia stood on two legs with her bow in one hoof and the other raised. "Flèche!" An arrow of light energy, similar to Righteous's spears, was conjured in her free hoof and placed into the bow like it was an actual weapon. The bowstring extended far more than it should have been able to as Octavia pulled back, and it was only another of the stallion's bastardized prayers that prevented him from being shot again. Still, the first shot had done its job; he was grounded for now.

The stallion turned to Octavia, his eyes filled with fire. "Let your enemies fear your rage!" The shield fell as he pointed his staff at her, blasting a ball of Hellfire in her direction.

There was a minor explosion of sound, and a chaotic ball of multicolored light intercepted the fireball. The two met in an eruption of Hellfire and – to Righteous's shock – electricity. Neither was truly canceled out, but both attacks had expended all their energy on meeting the other, effectively ending them both. The demon mare stepped silently out from behind Octavia, her horn glowing fiercely.

"Three mares at once," Octavia said, then a smirk ghosted about on her face. "You know, most stallions dream of this sort of thing."

"Too bad for you, I'm not most stallions." The pegasus raised his staff once more. "Let your fires cleanse the land of your adversaries!" Only, this time, he slammed his staff down on the ground. Whereas the same prayer had resulted in a fireball before, this time it sent a wave of fire rolling out in a circle from the point of impact.

"Ègide!" Octavia shouted, landing back on three hooves.

"Clipeus!" Righteous held up one of her hooves.

A glowing wall appeared in front of Octavia, meeting the flames head on, while a buckler of light energy attached itself to Righteous's leg and forced the Hellfire to arc around her. Vinyl, in complete contrast to the two earth ponies, simple charged right through the flames. As a demon, Hellfire couldn't really do much to her beyond singe her a bit; a fact that left the strange stallion momentarily stunned when she emerged from his wall with barely a mark to show for it.

Her horn glowed with magenta light as the two earth ponies charged forward. Another blast of light and sound was shot at the stallion, knocking him back since he couldn't dodge fast enough to avoid it. Still, even though he was clearly in pain from the attack, he managed to force himself to his hooves once more.

"May your enemies feel the heat of your light!" He raised his staff and blood-red light erupted forth from the head. The demon staggered, the light from her horn vanishing, and Octavia hit the ground a moment later. Righteous found herself suddenly gasping; it was as if she had been placed in a desert at midday. The air was so dry her every breath seemed to suck out more and more of her body's vitality, and she could feel sweat already pouring down her legs and back. The grass around them was turning brown and brittle, the ground beneath it turning into sand; the heat was just unbearable!

"Lan-" Righteous choked on her own words as the heat shot up another ten degrees. She could almost feel her skin starting to blister from the intensity.

"Getting real sick of hearing you say that word." The stallion stood on three legs, staff raised over his head and still shining out it's blood-red light. "But don't worry; the pain won't last much longer. Solar Flare isn't as sadistic as ponies like to say."

Somewhere in the back of her mind, the name he'd mentioned brushed a chord with Righteous. She recognized it, but only just barely, and it wasn't helping that mind felt like it was boiling right now. Then, just as suddenly as it had risen, the heat dropped. It was still oppressively and painfully hot, but it seemed she was no longer getting his full attention. Wha-?

"Well, you're just full of surprises, aren't you?"

Righteous looked toward the stallion, squinting through the waves of heat filling the air. The demon mare, Vinyl, was on her hooves and slowly trudging her way toward him. Some of the light from his staff was more focused on her, actually causing the ground to smoke and kindle a bit, but she still managed to stay on her hooves.

And the stallion just couldn't seem to understand how.

"First you run through Hellfire itself, now you have the wrath of Solar Flare focused on you and still you don't burn?" He narrowed his eyes, directing more of the light toward her until the grass around her actually was burning. "You should be dead! Or near death at least, how can you–"

"Flèche!" One of Octavia's arrows sailed through the air before he could really start his monologue. Her aim was understably horrible, given the circumstances, but it was close enough to panic the stallion and cause him to dive out of the way. The heat dropped again, becoming more akin a sweltering summer day than the inside of the oven, but it was enough. Octavia stood on two legs yet again and raised her hooves upward. "Arrêtez!" A ball of light appeared between her hooves, shrank in on itself for a moment, then blasted out with a shock-wave that washed over Righteous.

The temperature dropped about thirty degrees in an instant, and Righteous found herself glad she could shiver for once. The fires that had been lit on the grass near Vinyl were wiped away by the force, while Vinyl's form flickered momentarily into something very clearly inequine; she managed to reassert her pony form, though, and gave a tired smile to Octavia.

"You're welcome, Vinyl." Octavia dropped back down, panting and wiping sweat from her brow. "Now, grab him before he–"

"Whoa-whoa-whoa~!" The sound a mare singing a few notes interrupted Octavia's words; then, what Righteous could only describe as a literal wall of sound slammed into her and sent her tumbling back painfully. Octavia didn't fare much better, actually being flipped over twice by the force of whatever this was and landing on her back with a cry of pain. Vinyl got the worst of it, careening into a flower cart and smashing it to bits; however, as a demon, she was a lot tougher than most mortals and managed to get back up first.

She rushed over to help Octavia to her hooves, who was hacking and wheezing from having the wind knocked out of her by the impact. "Wh–," her body was wracked with a coughing fit, "what was that!"

"That would be me, baby~." Their eyes snapped toward an alleyway, where a mare sauntered, no, sashayed into view. She was an earth pony, with a cobalt-blue mane and tail, and a coat that seemed a mix of gold and gray. Her half-lidded eyes were a rich amber in color and, perhaps the oddest thing about her, she seemed to lack a cutie mark entirely. "Go right ahead and take it all in, ladies~." Her voice seemed to possess a strange sort of melody to it, like she was always teetering on the edge of a full-on song. "I know the effect I can have on ponies~." She actually struck a pose, one that accented her lack of a cutie mark in the process.

Righteous felt the immediate urge to buck her face in.

"Took you long enough to show up!" The stallion grunted in pain, leaning heavily on his staff as he stood back up. "I told you I was going to need help here over two hours ago, and there's no way you only just got here!"

"What can I say, babe~?" The new mare fluttered her eyelashes. "Sapphire Shores loves to make an entrance~."

A blush flashed on his face for a moment, but was quickly wiped away. "Ugh, whatever; just deal with them for a bit, I–"

"Lancea!" Righteous hurled a light spear a the two of them, only for Sapphire to whistle a sharp note in response. The sound seemed to solidify in midair, turning into an energy spear of her own and meeting Righteous's with a minor explosion of light and sound.

"I would really like to finish a damn sentence!"

"Don't worry, babe~." Sapphire sauntered forward, putting herself between him and the other three mares. "Won't be the first time I've had a little mare on mare action~."

"Tell me," Octavia deadpanned. "Are you trying to sound that suggestive, or are you really just that clueless?"

Sapphire smirked. "How do you know I'm not being serious~?" She actually shook her hips. "Interested~?" Before Octavia could refuse, a blast of Vinyl's magic that left Righteous's ears ringing shot through the air. Sapphire jumped away in a motion reminiscent of a dance move, and the magical attack gouged out a chunk of ground where she'd been standing. Sapphire just giggled. "How rude~. You're more than welcome to join in, you know~."

"Oh, shut up already!" Octavia tossed her bow up and caught it in her mouth as she broke into a gallop. She managed to close the distance between her and Sapphire in the time it took Vinyl to fire off another blast of her magic. When Sapphire danced around the attack, Octavia released her bow and went back to two hooves, holding the bow with one of her forehooves.

The cello bow shot forward as Octavia lunged, with Sapphire dancing away again. However, Octavia's own rhythm seemed to match the other mare's; she corrected her thrust at the last moment, and the bow slid along Sapphire's cheek for the briefest of moments, leaving a thin red line in its wake.

"Whoa-whoa-whoa~!" Octavia was blasted away by Sapphire's spell, again, but managed to roll with the force and came up on two hooves this time. Sapphire raised a hoof to her cheek, her eyes wide as she drew it away and saw the blood.

Octavia just smirked. "Ironwood," she said. "It cost me a bloody fortune to get a proper bow made out of it, but it hasn't let me down yet."

Now it was Righteous's turn to stare in shock. Ironwood was an exceedingly rare tree that only grew in the deepest and most dangerous of wild areas, and it required specialized enchantments to even cut the trees down, much less shape them into something like a bow! A 'bloody fortune' was probably a severe understatement for the value of such a thing.

Sapphire's chuckle broke through Righteous's thoughts. "Well then, aren't you full of surprises~?" An evil smirk slowly spread out over her features. "Then again, so am I~." She danced out of the way of another blast of Vinyl's magic, then spun away as Octavia thrust her bow again.

"Lancea!" Righteous shouted out her spell the moment she had a clear shot, only to have Sapphire meet it with another of her whistles yet again.

"You need a new trick, babe~."

Righteous scowled, then charged into the fray and jumped up. "Gladio!" A glowing broadsword appeared between her hooves as she shouted out her spell word, and was brought down at Sapphire's head. However, the other mare just danced out of the way, and Righteous had to jerk her head to the side to avoid being impaled by Octavia's bow. "Careful!"

"Sorry, you threw off my rhythm." Octavia spun as Sapphire whistled out, her ironwood bow slicing the sound spear in twain as it got near them. "And hers is rather difficult to pin down."

"So throw it off! Then she's wrong-hoofed and we can end this!"

"I've been trying!" Both of them were forced to move now, as Sapphire sang out again, and wall of force tore up the ground they had been standing on. "But she’s proving annoyingly adaptive."

Another wild blast of sound interrupted them again, this one courtesy of Vinyl. As Sapphire had to dance away again, the demon mare cast a disapproving gaze at the two of them and stomped a hoof on the ground.

"Yes, yes," Octavia sighed. "You're right, I suppose."

"How can you understand her at all?" Righteous questioned, then raised her hoof. "Clipeus!" The buckler from earlier returned, deflecting the blow of another whistle spear. "She's not in your head, is she?"

"For the last time, no! It's just something I picked up about her from being her warden for so long." She spun around another whistle spear, taking more of her own dance-like steps toward Sapphire to try for another thrust. She was rewarded with another nick on the other mare's shoulder, but it was a far cry from what she needed to actually stop her.

"Been a while since I've had a dance partner as good as you, sugar~." Sapphire ducked under another thrust of the blade and surged forward into a body check, but only managed to clip Octavia as she spun away. "I've been looking for a back-up dancer for some time now, I can even offer a few 'benefits', if you–"

The ground rumbled as a wave of sound so deep it was felt more than heard passed through it. Righteous was knocked off her hooves, her bones and teeth rattling from the force, and Sapphire hadn't fared much better. Only Octavia had remained upright, having moved with the deep vibration as it passed over her; and, in doing so, was left with a perfect opening. She thrust her bow forward, going for the center of mass to end the battle now.

"Let sinners be blinded by your might!"

Octavia cried out in pain, her eyes clamping shut and her aim going wide. Her bow still cut Sapphire, opening a nasty gash along her side, but the wound wasn't a fatal one. And it was paid back several times more when Sapphire whistled out another spear. Octavia tried to move out of the way, and was almost successful, but the spear still struck her in the left side of her barrel, and the force of the attack actually hurled her several feet away. Her bow was knocked out of her hooves and her body hit the ground with a painful thump, unmoving.

"OCTAVIA!" Righteous galloped toward her, eyes darting around madly. That prayer meant that impossible cleric was back in the fight; she had let him slip her mind while they were trying to deal with Sapphire and now they were all paying the price for it.

"Whoa-whoa-whoa~!" Speaking of her!

Righteous skidded to a stop and gritted her teeth; there wasn't time to cast a protection spell, so she'd just have to try and tank the hit and hope her earth pony nature would lessen the blow. However, a flash of white and blue out of the corner of her eye broke her concentration; Vinyl, her hooves coated in Hellfire, dashed in front of her and reared up on her hind legs. Her horned flashed with magenta light, and she stomped back down with a look of wild rage burning in her eyes.

A blast of sound so deep Righteous felt it in her chest and a blue-white light erupted from the demon's horn, meeting the wall of force with a thunderclap, before overpowering it entirely. The beam continued on until it met Sapphire, who had crossed her hooves in front of her and sang out "Heeeeeeeey~!" A barrier appeared in front of her, meeting the attack but not truly able to stop it; Sapphire was forced back, leaving drag marks in the ground as the remaining force crashed into her.

When it was finally over, Vinyl was silently panting from exertion while Sapphire was sporting several more cuts, and there was a shallow trench from the sheer force of the sonic blast now splitting the street.

There was a lull in combat, as it usually happened following such displays of power, but it wouldn't last long. Sapphire was already blinking away her stupor, and Righteous quickly raced over to Octavia, uttering a prayer of her own as she ran. "Mare Celestia, let your ethereal fire bless our allies and ease their suffering, so that we may uphold the light of justice once more." The glow from her hooves flowed into Octavia and congregated on her open wound.

It wouldn't be a perfect fix – healing magic had never been Righteous's forte – but it was enough to remove any immediate danger of death. "Thank you, Righteous." Octavia grabbed her friend's proffered hoof and pulled herself up with only a minor wince of pain. "And, Vinyl, you know you shouldn't use that attack as anything other than a last resort.

The still panting demon turned to Octavia, and favored her with a wild grin.

"I didn't think you would," Octavia gave a small chuckle. "Thank you all the same, though."

"Hellfire!" The cleric dropped out of the sky, landing between the group and Sapphire with his eyes wide. "That was Hellfire, I saw it when you ran!" He stared at Vinyl. "You're a demon!"

The expression on Vinyl's face that followed this almost seemed to radiate sarcasm.

The cleric suddenly raised his hoof. "In the name of Solar Flare, I declare your chains broken! May you be free to spread corruption and suffering once more!" A blood-red light appeared around his hoof, then a matching one appeared around Vinyl. She looked momentarily panicked, then blinked several times as the light vanished.

Octavia and her shared a few looks, which only elicited a shrug from the demon. "Was... was something suppose to happen there?"

The cleric gaped at the pair of them. "That should have released her from whatever binds you put on her. She should have been set free and turned on you immediately."

Vinyl narrowed her eyes in an icy glare.

"There are no binds on her," Octavia said. "She either conducts herself in a manner becoming a good pony, or I slay her; that was the only 'deal' that I ever struck with her. So far, that hasn't been necessary."

The cleric angrily stomped a hoof. "Servants of Solar Flare are not–"

"Again with that name," Octavia cut in, not interested in a monologue. "Who is this Solar Flare you keep talking about."

"Blasphemy is what it is." Righteous finally recalled where she'd heard the name before. "A few years back, a bunch of whiny teenagers who never grew up started claiming that the history books were wrong. They said it was actually Celestia who caused the Nightmare War, and took to calling her Solar Flare just like Luna called herself Nightmare Moon at the time.

"We still hear about it from the occasional anarchist we arrest; either trying to defile a temple in defiance of her, or claiming to do her work by hurting ponies." She scowled at the cleric. "Personally, I think they all need a few whacks upside the head."

"Silence, sinner!" the cleric spat. "I am not going to be deceived by one who worships a false goddess."

"Then let’s settle this entirely." Righteous looked at Vinyl. "You ever heard of a deity called Solar Flare?"

The demon mare blinked, then shook her head.

"There you go, right from a demon herself. Still think I'm lying?"

The cleric only smirked. "My goddess is real, this much I know; and if you require proof..." He suddenly raised his staff again. "May your light lay bare all who stand against you!" The blood-red light returned, only this time it wasn't heat that accompanied it. Righteous suddenly felt her throat go bone dry, as though it had been days since she'd last drank anything; even swallowing was a wasted effort, her mouth felt so dry she could barely even attempt to get some spit going.

"Arr–" Octavia could only croak out part of her spell before she started coughing.

"Not so easy to cast now, is it?" The cleric was grinning wildly, then shifted his focus to Vinyl, who was struggling to stay standing now. "Yes, even you're having trouble now too; that mortal body you have is weak." He took a few steps toward her. "Please, I can help you. I can find you a new body, a better body; I can even remake whatever ritual summoned you and fix what made you weak to begin with." The pleasant smile on his face was a sickening contrast to the words coming out of his mouth. "If you want, I can even sacrifice these two in your name; think about it; you'll be free to wreak havoc again, and you can torture their souls to your black heart's content." He held out a hoof to her. "Deal?"

Vinyl swayed about under the light, looking right at the cleric for a long moment. Righteous was already getting ready to try and banish the demon when she inevitably accepted, when Vinyl suddenly reared up again and slammed her forehooves together. The resulting 'clap' was more akin to the roar of thunder and left Righteous momentarily disoriented, and was apparently loud enough to be painful for the cleric. He had dropped his staff and fallen to the ground, holding his ears in agony, while Vinyl had fallen on her side, panting and looking slightly more pale than usual.

Righteous, the thirst in her throat gone with the interruption of the spell, charged at the incapacitated pegasus. "Gladio!" Her broadsword returned as she advanced on him, and she raised it up to finish this battle, only to receive a painful sucker punch right to the eye that sent her sprawling. Twice in one battle! Even through the pain, Righteous was already berating herself for being so sloppy.

"Time to go, babe~." Even panicked, Sapphire's voice still held its melodic timber. She bent down and pulled the pegasus up onto her back, then grabbed his staff with a hoof

"You're not getting away that easily!" Octavia galloped forward; she hadn't had time to search for her bow, but she didn't seem to care. Besides, she knew more than one way to kill a pony.

"Wasn't planning on it, sugar~." Sapphire forced her to dodge a whistled spear, then tapped her hoof against the ground with a rhythmic pattern just as Righteous was getting back on her hooves. The air went unnaturally still around them for a moment, then, seemingly from nowhere, there was music! It was a fast-paced, drum-heavy beat that sounded like a conga song, leaving Octavia and Righteous very confused. "Oooh, I love this one~." She placed the staff in her mouth, then started dancing and jumping around to the music as she carried the stallion away.

However, when Righteous tried to follow after her, she suddenly cried out in pain. A wound had suddenly opened up on one of her legs with no apparent source, causing her to stagger.

"Righteous!" Octavia, her naturally fluid movements now matching the beat of the strange song, literally danced over to the paladin. "What?"

"I don't know, I–" She cried out in pain when she tried to move again, opening a gash along her back. "Why is it only me and not you?!"

A hoof tapping against the ground in time with the rhythm drew both their attentions; Vinyl, still on the ground from overexerting herself, was moving again, pointedly looking at Octavia as she continued to tap out the beat.

For a time, Octavia looked just as confused as Righteous as to what Vinyl meant. However, when the unicorn deliberately broke rhythm and was wounded much the same as Righteous, her eyes widened. "The song! You have to move in time with the song!"

Righteous felt her heart sink. "...I can't dance."

Octavia scowled, glancing back up and down the destroyed street; Sapphire and the cleric had vanished, and the song was slowly fading in volume, which could only mean they were getting further away. "And I don't think I could take both of them on right now... she's almost as good as I am; and if he got back into the fight..." She stomped her hoof in frustration as the last notes of the song were swept away on the wind. "Celestia damn them both!"

Righteous groaned, wincing as she tried to put some weight on her wounded leg. She could already feel her eye swelling shut, and the pain in her back was just as bad. She was every bit as angry with the way things had turned out as Octavia. "This needs to be reported, immediately."

Octavia nodded in agreement, helping Vinyl back up and examining the demon's wound. "Let's get to the healers, then we can–"

"I don't have time to wait for healers to say I'm ready to travel, Octavia. If I leave now, I can get to Ponyville in less than a day and get word to Bon Mot. I don't want anyone of the Order facing those two without knowing what they're up against."

Octavia scowled, but said nothing against the matter. "Very well, Righteous. I'll see about tracking them once things are sorted here." She winced slightly. "I could use a proper healing myself, no offense."

Righteous nodded. "I will see you again soon; and we still need to discuss the matter of your ward."

Vinyl, swaying on her hooves, gave a tired glare at Righteous, and stuck her tongue out once more.

"...so I ran here from Trottingham as fast as I could." Bon Mot hadn't spoken a word through Righteous's story, though he had glanced to his daughter several times. Bonbon, in turn, had kept shooting glances toward Lyra and Roseluck, none of them saying a word but all four of them thinking the same thing; there was no way this was a coincidence. "I know it sounds–"

"I believe you." Bon Mot turned and headed back to the alter. "Both of you." While Righteous blinked a few times, he pulled out a book emblazoned with Celestia's cutie mark as well as pencil. "I will be contacting the Order and see they are kept informed. In the meantime, I want you to go to the healers and get patched up, Righteous, then go back to Trottingham; you'll be helping Octavia track down those two." He turned to Bonbon. "And you and your ward are going to work with the druids, to see if they can give us any information about this 'blighter' and where she might have come from. Something is going on, and we need to know what."

Bonbon and Righteous both saluted. "Yes, sir!"

While Righteous hobbled out the door to go see the local healer, Bonbon turned to Lyra and Rose. "Come on; if we're doing this, we're going into it prepared this time."

Rose raised an eyebrow. "Meaning?"

"Meaning: Shopping trip," Lyra clarified. "And we're still going to talk about earlier when we have time, Bonbon."

"Yes, dear," Bonbon said pointedly. "We have quite a lot to talk about when we have time."

Lyra gave her a look, but finally just gave up. "Okay, whatever." However, as the three of them were walking out, Bon Mot called to Bonbon once more.

"Oh, and before I forget, Sweetie Drops." Bonbon turned to her father once more. "Post Haste was the one making the rounds today, saying the lich was otherwise occupied. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"

She frowned. "Ditzy is not a ward of the Order, Father, nor has she done anything to merit being one. And, for what it's worth, she will probably be back to delivering the mail in a few days or so."

Back in Whinnistrad, Ditzy Doo sat at a table in the town's only pub.

The city still had a few paladins wandering around, directing the dismantling of Shoeshine's tower, so she preferred to be as out of the way as possible. While she had no specific issues with the Order itself, and even called a few of its members her friends, she was filled to the brim with more dark magic and necromantic energy than most ponies would ever see in their lifetime. And, while she would be difficult to re-kill, she was well aware that it was by no means impossible. Plus, fighting the paladins would set a bad example for–

"Mommy!" A grayish-purple streak suddenly zipped through the pub, startling some of the patrons, before colliding with Ditzy as she blinked. A unicorn filly with a mane very similar to Ditzy's own, and a pair of off-gold eyes was hugging her tight around the barrel. "I missed you!"

"Dinky?" She blinked several more times as another pony trotted over to her. This one was a unicorn mare with a magenta coat, a two-tone mane of violet and light purple, brilliant amethyst eyes and a cutie mark of three diamonds upon her flank. "Sparkler?"

The older unicorn smirked at her, then joined the filly in hugging. "Good to see you again too, Mom."

Ditzy shook herself out of her stupor long enough to return the hug to both her adopted daughters, a smile upon her face as their warm bodies were a nice change from the cold of her own dead flesh. "It's so great to see you both." She pulled away from the hug after a moment. "Not to sound upset, but what are you doing here?"

A male's voice with a pronounced accent answered her question. "I figured you could do with a visit from them, given your letter and all."

Ditzy's smile only widened as she turned to the speaker. He was an earth pony stallion, with a light brown coat, a spiky dark brown mane and tail, blue eyes, and an hourglass for his cutie mark; around his neck he wore a white collar with a green bow-tie, which he fiddled with before returning her smile. "Time Turner!" She flew over to give him a hug as well, making him grunt a bit when she let her enthusiasm get the best of her. "Oops, sorry about that."

He merely chuckled. "No need to apologize, my dear. I am quite happy to see you as well." He took one of her hooves in his own and raise it up, kissing it on the fetlock. "And may I say, you are looking positively radiant today, Miss Doo."

Dinky giggled from near the table while Sparkler merely glared at the stallion. Ditzy, for her part, sported a goofy smile and found herself grateful her lack of a pulse meant she couldn't blush. Time Turner smiled pleasantly as they all took a seat at the table and the topic of dinner was brought up.

And not a one of them noticed the pony in the far corner, with their eyes practically glued to Ditzy.

Author's Note

Hoo boy, this one took a while, didn't it? Really need to get better at typing these things.

Special thanks to the following people, for helping make this semi-legible: Star_Catcher, Icefox, Nicktendonick, Sutetsu, FutureJohny, nightwalker, ChasingResonance, Rest, Noble Cause, R5h, Nyerguds, and TheAccidentalBrony.

If you were editor. and I forgot to mention you for whatever reason, please let me know so I can link to your account.

Other than that, I really hope you enjoyed this chapter and I promise the next chapter isn't going to be focused on another fight scene.

Machinations of the Other Side

“Um... we... do?”

Ditzy's left eye swiveled in its socket, her right one finally getting its focus back as she looked at the cloaked mare across from her. The room she had been summoned to was dark, and the cowl over the other pony's head didn't even let Ditzy see her muzzle. She thought she could see the tent of a horn near the top, be the folds of the hood made even that unclear. The voice was the only thing she could be sure about.

“Yes.”

Ditzy blinked at the blunt response. “Uh... okay... but my daughter will probably be summoning me back pretty soon.”

“And that's where I come in.”

Ditzy jumped as a voice came from behind her; she whirled around, squinting into the darkness. This time, the figure that resolved into sight was a blue stallion, an earth pony one, with a bright orange mane and tail. He was wearing a collar with an orange bow tie, and as he stepped around her, she spotted the hourglass cutie mark of a chronomancer on his flank. The light of a spell played about his hooves as he walked and what little color Ditzy could see suddenly darkened, becoming noticeably redder.

“Um...”

“No need to worry, Ms. Doo,” the cloaked mare assured her. “My associate has merely accelerated our personal time stream; the color-shift is just from the light taking longer to get to us.”

Ditzy blinked. “...I'll take your word for it.”

“Can we move this conversation along?” The chronomancer stallion pulled a pocket watch out of his collar and flipped it open. “We have a schedule to keep and even I can only stretch my seconds so far.”

“Calm yourself, Perfect Pace,” the mare said. “We have plenty of time.”

“Er... time to what?” Ditzy's eye swiveled in its socket as she glanced back and forth between the two. “What is going on here?”

“It's nothing to be concerned about; I'm sure you know how chronomancers can be about their own time.”

Ditzy simply blinked. “O...kay. Is there... any particular reason you're going for the 'hooded figure' look and your friend there isn’t? Take it from me, that gets more attention than it does anonymity.”

“Some secrecy is necessary for me,” the mare admitted. “I find it more important that nopony know the face under this hood, nor the mark on my flank, than I do attempting to dissuade their assumptions and prejudices.” She turned her covered head to look at Perfect Pace. “A belief my… associate doesn’t share.” She turned back to Ditzy “And surely you, of all ponies, can understand my point of view.”

Ditzy tilted her head at this.

“The kindhearted lich, the undead mother to two daughters, and – much more recently – the lover of the chronomancer called 'Time Turner'.” The other mare paused for a moment. “I'm sure you've wished, more than once, that your condition was... not so widely known, shall we say?”

Ditzy's eyes drifted apart slightly as cast her gaze around. “Well... there's a few tax benefits to being listed as deceased...”

“That wasn't the question, Ms. Doo.”

Sighing to herself, Ditzy slowly nodded. “Yeah, okay, I'll give you the hood. But... um... I'm pretty sure you didn't call me here to talk about fashion.”

“No,” the mare admitted, “though it is good for breaking the ice.”

Perfect Pace scoffed at this, but held his tongue when the hooded mare's head turned to him.

“Anyway, what I truly wish to talk about, Ms. Doo, is you.”

Ditzy cocked an eyebrow. “Um... I know there's a few stereotypes about how liches work, and they're deserved half the time, but didn't you just get done talking about how I wasn't exactly like most of them?”

“You misunderstand me, Ms. Doo. This isn't about recruiting you to some nefarious organization or convincing you to act more like the stereotypical lich. Rather, it is about you... and your family.”

The air within their time shifted bubble became very still as Ditzy's eyes both focused on the cloaked mare. “What about my family?”

The mare simply pressed on. “Sparkler is growing up very fast, isn't she? Most would say she's already a mare of her own by now.”

“She always was independent.” Ditzy answered curtly.

“Yet she still calls herself your daughter.” The mare started walking around Ditzy. “And Dinky, you've been watching her grow as the days go by... and you don't change.”

Ditzy's eyes narrowed. “Excuse me?”

“How many years has it been since your passing, Ms. Doo? Five years? Ten?”

Ditzy hesitated for a moment before answering. “Twenty-one years next month.”

“And your body... has it changed since then?”

Ditzy fidgeted on the spot, no longer looking at the other mare. “Well, I rot...”

“You're avoiding the question again, Ms. Doo. And you know exactly what I am talking about. You have the body of a mare in her late twenties, when you're nearly fifty. Even if you rot, do you really think you won't live to see a century? Or two? Even if you stopped taking care of yourself, you'd make it at least a few more decades before you became unrecognizable. And I really don't think you'd allow such a thing to happen, not while Time Turner still lives.”

Ditzy's eyes wandered in different directions, desperate to not actually look at the mare circling her. She'd asked herself similar questions in the past, usually late at night when the living ponies in her life had fallen asleep. The lines of thought they’d led her down were rarely comforting, and only stopped with the rising of the sun or the occasional late-night delivery notice.

She scrunched her eyes shut, forcing her mind to focus. “Can you get to the point?” she snapped, with a bit more force than she'd intended.

“My point, Ms. Doo, is... what if you didn't have to worry about any of that?”

Ditzy's eyes slowly opened to look at the cloaked mare. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“What if you never had to worry about Dinky and Sparkler withering and dying as you watch? What if you didn't have to worry about Time Turner overtaxing his abilities and dying as well? What if nopony, ever, had to die.”

Ditzy slowly blinked, then hardened her gaze into a minor glare. “And this is where you ask me to join you in your totally not evil club to control who lives and dies.” She scoffed, turning away from her. “Yeah, not interested.”

“It's not controlling who lives and dies, Ms. Doo, it's stopping death altogether.”

“You can't just stop death,” Ditzy snapped back. “Everything has its time and everything dies.”

“You don't.”

“I already am dead; this isn't life, it's a poor mare's imitation of it!”

“And who said you had to stay that way?”

Ditzy's vision lost focus as her eyes moved in two different directions. “It doesn't work that way! Death doesn't get undone, even for necromancers!”

“We happen to disagree.”

“Of course you do!” Ditzy found herself facehoofing. “So transparently evil, and crazy as well. I'm not interested; just because I'm a lich doesn't mean I care to chase after pointless-”

“Have you ever asked Ms. Heartstrings about her father?”

Ditzy blinked as she was cut off. “Huh?”

“Her father,” the mare repeated. “Have you ever asked about him?”

“Well, no; she doesn't like to talk about him. What does-”

“You really should ask her about him. You might be surprised what she has to say about him.”

Ditzy blinked, her head tilting as she looked at the cloaked mare. “...huh?”

“We're almost out of time,” Perfect Pace made Ditzy jump as he snapped closed his watch. “It's been nearly two minutes outside of our little time pocket; her family will be completing the ritual to summon her back any moment now.”

“Very well,” the mare nodded to him behind the hood, then turned back to Ditzy. “I realize you doubt us, and you have every right to, but I still believe it would be good for you to ask Lyra about her father. After all, he was the one who made the spell in the first place.”

Ditzy blinked again. “What sp-” She vanished with a 'pop', yet again.

Blue light played around Perfect Pace's hooves as the colors within the room shifted back to normal. “Think she'll actually help us?”

“I can't say for certain,” the cloaked mare said. “But, her... uniqueness would make her a very valuable ally. And a very difficult enemy, should we anger her.”

The chronomancer scoffed, checking his watch yet again. “Well, this has been a phenomenal waste of time. Can we move on to more important matters then?”

“Always with your complaining,” she muttered. “We did what we came here to do, and well within your obsessive schedule as well. Now, let me put together the proper spell circle.”

Perfect Pace rolled his eyes, blue light playing around his hooves again as a bubble surrounded his companion and made the work of a few minutes that of a few seconds.

She turned back to him sharply. “I hate it when you do that without my permission,” she snapped.

“I fail to see why your opinion on the matter is important. I have a schedule to keep, and I will not be delayed with trivialities.”

A growl emerged from the hidden mare's throat, but she turned and stomped on the sigil. Light flared up from the design and the area within them warped and waved as if a massive heat source had appeared. “Go then, the path is ready.”

Perfect Pace calmly walked passed her, stepping into the haze and vanishing from the room without a sound or sight. The cloaked mare counted to five in her head, then stepped in herself, pushing a bit of magic out through her hooves as she went. The sigil flared up as she vanished, then exploded into glittering dust, floating down to lightly coat the floor of the room, leaving only that as evidence of what transpired.

“Thanks for the save back there.” The pegasus stallion set his staff down as he rubbed at one of his ears. “Probably would have died if you hadn't done your little trick with the music.”

“No prob, sugar~.” Sapphire's voice still held her song-like timber, and even the tiny movements of trotting about seemed akin to a dance. Pretty much everything about her related back to rhythm in some way, or so it seemed to him. “Happy to help, Hexy.”

Winter Hex frowned at the nickname, a warmth rising in his face. “You know I don't like it when you call me that.”

“Yeah,” Sapphire chuckled. “But it's the easiest way to get you to blush.”

Winter Hex blinked, the warmth growing into a heat intense enough to make him sweat. He had to shake his head a few times to clear it before speaking again. “Th-that's not important!”

“Whatever you say, Hexy~.”

He snorted as he took to the air to put some distance between the two. “Look, we're going to be late if we don't hurry. So let's just–”

“Oh, Hexy~,” Sapphire called from ground level. “You forgot your staff again~.”

Winter Hex growled to himself as he flew back to the ground to snatch up the staff, then hurried back into the air. “Why?” he grumbled. “Why did I get stuck with the pony who flirts with anyone and everything under the burning sun?”

He could feel her watching him as he flew along, could even occasionally hear a half-coherent song as she trotted along near the ground. The plains they now traveled weren't the best for stealth, but they'd left the paladin and the slayer long behind, and he hadn't felt the presence of that strange demon since they'd left town, meaning he was left with nothing to occupy his thoughts save his companion.

He still didn't understand how a pony could be as skilled with song, especially bardsong, and not have that as her cutie mark skill. And he was hesitant to ask about it, lest she turn it into a conversation about his interest in her flank.

Especially since, given his own predilections, she wouldn't have been entirely wrong to make it about that.

A flash from ground level a short distance ahead finally snapped Winter Hex out of such thoughts. He called down to Sapphire as he angled his wings into a glide, descending just in time to catch Perfect Pace as he trotted out the rippling air.

The Chronomancer gave a hard look at Winter, and a matching one to Sapphire when she joined them, pulling out his watch as the cloaked mare joined them. “We're running twenty-six seconds behind schedule, and that blasted blighter isn't here yet either.”

“Nopony gives a flying feather, Pace,” Winter snapped as he alighted on the ground. “And nopony gives a damn about your impossible-to-keep schedules, either.”

Smack!

Winter staggered to the side in pain, his ears ringing from the backhoof. Perfect Pace glared at him, his hoof still raised even as Sapphire interposed herself between the two. “I will not be insulted by an impudent whelp such as yourself, boy! You will show me respect, or I will beat it into you; understood?”

Winter growled, rubbing the spot he'd been struck. That was going to leave a mark, no question. “I understand...”

“'I understand...'” Perfect Pace prompted harshly.

“I understand, Sir.”

“Good.” Perfect Pace finally lowered his hoof, if not his glare. “Maybe there is some hope for you.”

“Well, this is a pleasant time to walk in, isn't it?”

All four of the gathered ponies staggered as their hearts slowed in their chests. The cloaked mare was the first to react, turning her hooded face to the speaker. “Release your hold, murderer!”

The blighter, her disheveled form still looking quite battered and bruised, barely raised an eyebrow, but the metaphysical grip on their hearts lessened to a dull ache all the same. “Sorry,” she said, sounding anything but. “Doesn't really come with an off-switch.”

Winter Hex panted as he leaned heavily on his staff, doing his best to help Sapphire to her hooves again. “Starting to think that's a bushel of horse-apples, Redheart.”

“Irrelevant!” Perfect Pace finally managed to reassert his own strength. “We are nearly a full minute behind schedule thanks to all this nonsense, and we still have a quarter-hour's walk ahead of us! No more lollygagging!” He set off, cantering off with enough speed that the group had little choice but to follow him.

Winter eventually took to the air once more, just as trees started to come into view and a forest rapidly engulfed them. Their pace slowed considerably once they passed the treeline, the woods lacking in any discernible trails, but Pace kept them going as quickly as they could move, trying to 'make up for lost time'.

The air was deathly still, most likely thanks to the presence of the blighter making any creatures who called this place home avoid their little group, but it wasn't until they came within sight of a cave leading into the earth that they truly felt unease.

There was a presence here, the kind that only came from a truly powerful magic user, and stepping into the cave only magnified it. It was like a sense of dread that grew more and more oppressive as they descended into the darkness. Winter alighted on the ground, finding flight a bit more taxing all of a sudden, and moved a bit closer to a much more still and silent Sapphire. His staff flared with the red-tinged radiance of his goddess to provide them light, but even it seemed to be insufficient to fully clear the darkness.

Finally, after walking around several twists and turns, always moving downward, the five of them entered a large cavern, a stone table sitting in the center. And seated at that table, the one who had gathered all of them together.

The decrepit old goat looked ready to fall apart in a stiff breeze. His matted fur had turned wizened and white with age, what had once been a pair of strong ram's horns on his head were chipped and broken, his skin hung loosely over a set of bones that looked ready to snap if he moved too quickly, and one of his eyes was gray and unfocused in blindness.

However, as his good eye turned to regard them, even Redheart staggered at the force of his magical potential. Winter's light was snuffed out, the blighter's hold on them vanished completely, and the cloaked mare gasped as she felt the protective wards in her outfit weaken into near non-existence.

“Your incompetence continues to astound me.” The goat's voice evoked images of rusted doors on unoiled hinges being forced open. “Did any of you complete the tasks I gave you?”

Perfect Pace, with a grunt of effort, managed to speak first. “We made contact with the lich Ditzy Doo, Sir.” When the goat didn't respond immediately, he continued. “She hasn't been convinced to help us, but you were right about her family being where she was weakest.”

“Of course I was.” The goat shuffled about, heedless of the darkness. “And what of the necromancer?”

Redheart grunted. “She still clings to the Paladin and her lies. I saw no weakness.” A tense silence followed her words. “And... the druids are aware of my presence here.”

There was a flash of magic and Redheart suddenly cried out in agony. “You couldn't resist, could you?” The goat’s voice cut through the blighter's screams. “Couldn't hold off on trying to kill a druid, even for a short time.”

“You– AH! You said to draw her out!” Redheart's screaming redoubled.

“I said to draw her out carefully!” he countered. “Not make a huge show and alert others.” He let her scream for a moment longer, then finally let the spell go.

“And what of you?” Winter staggered under the weight of his attention. “What of the lead I sent you to investigate?”

He struggled to speak for a moment. “There– there were–”

“We ran into a demon.”

It was so rare to hear Sapphire's voice without it's usual melodic timber that Winter almost didn't recognize it. Still, it got the goat's attention off him for a moment and let him breathe again.

“A new ally?” the goat questioned.

“No.” Winter finally found his voice. “She was working with a slayer and aided one of the paladins. Even my attempts to dispel the binds on her didn't break whatever they did to enslave her. If it hadn't been for Sapphire, I wouldn't have survived.”

He could hear the goat mumbling various things under his breath, barely catching half-heard snippets of words. “Well then,” their benefactor finally said, “this is an interesting development. But, first–” There was another flash and Winter was blasted onto his back by a ball of magic. “That's for failing the task I set to you. And, thanks to both of these failures, the Solar Order is going to know something is happening, even if they can't begin to guess what. I'm going to need to rework the timetable. Redheart!”

The blighter groaned as she slowly picked herself up off the floor. “Sir?”

“Be ready to leave within the hour, Winter will be going with you; if subtlety is beyond you, we might as well use you for something flashy. The rest of you can wait for now, until I can confirm something. Now, leave me be. I need to prepare.”

Winter's staff suddenly sparked to life once more, as did the cloaked mare's protective spells and even Redheart's heart-slowing aura. The stone table sat empty, with no sign of the goat that had once sat at it.

Winter Hex gingerly pulled himself to his hooves, wincing at bit and rubbing his back. “I hate it when he does that.”

Sapphire rolled her eyes. “I know, right? He's one to talk about subtlety~.”

“Irrelevant.” Now that the oppressive feel of the goat's magic was gone, Perfect Pace slid right back into his usual leadership role. “You heard his orders; you two,” he pointed his hoof at Redheart and Winter, “get ready to leave. We have a schedule to keep.”

Winter glanced at Redheart and felt a chill in his stomach as he saw her smile at him. He turned away with a gulp, muttering a prayer to Solar Flare under his breath. Times like this were when he truly regretted his life choices.

Author's Note

And here we go, after this obscene delay, here's a short chapter to prove I'm not dead. Not the most interesting, I'm sad to say, but I'm glad to finally have something out for you guys to read.

Thanks to: R5h, Nicktendonick, FanOfMostEverything, TheTownCrier, ChasingResonance, and AppleTank. They were my editors this time around... I really need to find a dedicated one eventually.

Into the Woods

“So... are we going to talk about it?”

Bonbon looked up from the potion bin she'd been digging through. The hustle and bustle of the open air market wasn't the best place for conversation, but the expression on Lyra's face made it clear she wasn't going to put this off until later.

“Talk about what?” she finally asked in return.

“You know what, Bonbon.”

To her credit, it only took Bonbon a second or two to work out what Lyra meant, but the realization brought her no comfort. “Oh... right... the whole... 'warden' comment...”

Lyra nodded. “Yeah... not exactly a good thing to hear when the pony you're sleeping with tells you they can legally kill you at any time.”

“That's not how it works and you know it, Lyra.” She turned away from the bin at last, giving her full attention to Lyra. “That's meant to be a last resort and nothing else.”

“That still doesn't change the fact it's an option at all,” Lyra countered. “I mean... seriously, do you have any idea what it's like to live with the constant threat of the axe coming down if somepony else decides it should?”

“It's how it has to be,” Bonbon returned. “You should know just how corrupting dark magic is, and what can happen if you lose perspective.”

“And you think I'm just going to let that happen? Wow, thanks for the vote of confidence.”

“Nopony lets it happen, Lyra!” Bonbon stomped one of her hooves in frustration. “It's something that happens at the drop of a hat. Or did you forget what happened with your father?”

Lyra visibly flinched. “Don’t! Don’t you dare compare me to him! That’s a low blow, Bonbon, and you know it.”

Bonbon sighed. “Yes, I do, but that doesn't make it any less true. You had to live through his fall into madness, so you – of all ponies – should understand how quickly it can happen.”

“Isn't that why you're around at all?” Lyra snapped, stomping her hoof herself now. “You're supposed to help me stay one of the good guys! That's what Shining Armor said to me when you were made my warden; you threatening me with death is more like Righteous Fury!”

“And sometimes, that's what happens! Righteous Fury is still a paladin for a reason; sometimes, ponies simply can't be saved, sometimes they don't even want to be saved! A paladin has to be willing to kill ponies when there isn't a way to bring them back to the light.”

“And you think that's going to happen to me?”

Bonbon went silent for a moment as her eyes shifted to the ground, keenly aware that their little shouting match was starting to attract a lot of attention. “I don't want it to, Lyra... I really don't want it to...”

“...but you think it's going to.”

A half-forgotten voice flitted through Bonbon’s mind at Lyra’s words. ‘We’ve seen what happens to ponies who walk in the darkness… they all fall. Every. Last. One.’

Bonbon's eyes snapped up, her vision slightly blurred. “I don't know, Lyra. I don't know!” She clenched her teeth in frustration and her eyes followed suit a moment later. “Doubt and Faith go hoof in hoof; so yes, I have faith that you'll rise above it, and I have doubt that you will too. You can't have blind faith in anything, Lyra, even other ponies.”

Lyra didn't respond right away, making Bonbon open her eyes once more. The unicorn hadn't moved from her spot, and her expression was unreadable, Bonbon's still blurry vision certainly not helping matters.

“I'm going to buy some more items for my focus pouch,” Lyra finally said. “See you after I finish stocking up.” She didn't wait for a reply, simply turning and walking off into the market. The ponies that had been watching their argument pointedly weren’t looking at her or Bonbon anymore.

“...may Celestia damn me,” Bonbon swore under her breath, finally wiping at her eyes. “I'm failing as a paladin, and as a special somepony.” She almost chased after Lyra to try and fix things, but didn't know what to actually say or do to make up for it. Dishonesty didn't become a paladin, and that was all any sort of meaningless platitudes would have been, and they wouldn't have addressed the issue itself.

With a dejected sigh, Bonbon turned back to the potion bin, barely even seeing them at this point. “Light my path for me,” she muttered quietly. “Show me the right way to go... I can't lose her, not like this.”

Lyra paid no attention to her magic as she picked up various odds and ends and exchanged them for small amounts of bits and jangles. She didn't really need to restock her focus pouch, she barely even used the damn thing since she was a unicorn, but it gave her an excuse to not be around Bonbon right now.

Their relationship had always been a bit odd. They'd been on-again/off-again for a while before Lyra's father had started training her in necromancy, and the fact they were dating at all had been the deciding factor in Bonbon being made her warden, Shining Armor had outright admitted it. And, Lyra had to admit, the two of them had grown very close since then. But there had always been that lingering specter in the background: her standing Order of Execution.

Bonbon was right, this whole thing didn't work out every time; sometimes ponies backslid, sometimes they had a bad day and snapped, sometimes they were just messed up in the head and there was nothing to be done for it. But it still meant wardens had to be ready to kill their charges, and Lyra was still Bonbon's charge. So yes, her comments were entirely right.

But that still didn't mean Lyra had to like it.

That was what annoyed her the most right now. Intellectually, she was aware Bonbon was just doing the job she had to do for the good of all ponies; but being reminded that the pony you loved still had to put you down like a rabid animal if you got out of control was a sobering reminder of just how things were for them. Not to mention, bringing up her father like that...

Lyra sighed, tossing a few jangles onto a stall for a sprig of holly. “Why can't my life ever be normal?”

“Normal is relative,” the earth pony running the stall said, reaching up to tear off a piece of her holly-like mane. “Have a nice day.”

“Thanks, you too.” Lyra levitated the plant into her pouch as she walked away; just another day in Ponyville.

“Are you two finished yet?” Roseluck's voice made Lyra jump a bit; she hadn't even noticed the druid until she'd spoken. “It's going to be hard enough to get my kind to allow you entrance without us being late as well.”

“Bonbon told you not to send the bird until we were done, Rose.”

“News of a blighter can't wait. They need to be made aware of her as soon as possible and I'm not going to send two messages when one will suffice. Now, are you ready or not?”

Lyra glared at Roseluck as she cinched her focus pouch closed. “Bonbon's back by the potions still, I don't know if she's done or not.”

Rose raised an eyebrow, but trotted around Lyra without further comment, slipping into the crowd and leaving her alone with her thoughts.

Lyra watched Rose for a moment longer, then turned away. “I'm not my father,” she muttered under her breath. “I'm not...”

Whitetail Woods wasn't very far from Ponyville, only about a day's journey even if you weren't in a hurry. In theory, this also meant the pony whom all druids acknowledge above all save Epona herself was also not far from there as well.

In practice, though...

The wild areas of Equestria had a strange magic about them. It rarely ever manifested in the same way between them, but one thing was almost always consistent. While it was perfectly possible to walk around them with little trouble, traveling directly into them meant it was all but impossible to reach the other side. Whatever eldritch forces had spawned the wild forests had left them far larger on the inside than on the outside.

Druids had realized this long ago, and were quick to take advantage of this; their empathy with the wild let them travel the seemingly endless trails and paths within these forests without difficulty, meaning they could build their domiciles and grow their sacred groves without fear of being found.

Of course, this also meant that finding them was just as impossible without the help of another druid.

“You're sure you know where you're going, Rose?” Lyra grunted as she hauled herself over the edge of a steep incline, flopping on the dirt as soon as she managed to reach level ground.

Roseluck rolled her eyes as Bonbon joined the pair of them, visibly sweating thanks to her heavy armor. “For the last time, yes!”

Lyra slowly pulled herself to her hooves, brushing off her cloak. “Then why does this hill seem familiar?”

“Because it's the same one we've passed three times now,” Rose answered simply.

Even Bonbon had to stop and stare at the druid then. “...you mean... we're going in circles?”

Roseluck groaned, bringing a hoof up to her head and muttering under her breath about mushrooms. “No, we've been traveling in one direction the whole time, it's just the forest occasionally loops back on itself. We haven't had to cross that ravine more than once, remember?”

“Ugh!” Lyra stomped her hooves. “Could you have picked a worse spot to build a town in?”

“It's not a town, towns are for ponies like you two; druids have groves.”

“Whatever!” Lyra shouted. “Are we almost there, or not? I'm getting sick of all this walking, and the sun probably isn't going to be up much longer either.”

“I'm with her,” Bonbon said with a nod. “This place is starting to give me a headache.”

“It's not like one of your perfectly orderly towns,” Rose snapped. She ignored the two of them snorting over the idea of Ponyville being considered 'orderly' and continued. “How long it takes to get to anywhere in a place like this isn't consistent, even when I do take you the shortest way possible. And, furthermore, I–”

She cut off suddenly and jumped back just before three ponies in cloaks sprang out of the undergrowth. Bonbon and Lyra, taken by surprise but used to adventures, tried to react, but Rose stamped both her hooves and the ground shook in response, sending them both off balance. Bonbon was knocked aside as a large pony, a stallion near as she could tell, slammed into her with his shoulder, and two more pounced on Lyra.

Lyra's horn briefly flared up, but a hoof came out and one of their attackers shouted words in the Druidic tongue. She screamed as a thorny vine with dark purple flowers encircled her horn, then again when the second pony repeated the words and conjured similar vines around her neck and barrel. Her horn lost its glow, and she kept her movements ginger and small out of fear of pain.

“Lyra!” Bonbon's hammer was already working its way loose when the stallion spat out another Druidic word and the ground beneath her turned to mud in an instant, trapping her hooves and making her trip. She coughed and spat, struggling to pull herself free from the sudden mire. “Roseluck!” she bellowed. “What is the meaning of this?”

Rose had the decency to look a bit ashamed as she turned her eyes away from Bonbon. “Sorry; I had a feeling something like this would have to happen, but I knew neither of you would have liked it.”

“A little– ow! –warning would have been– ouch! –nice!” Lyra's every move just seemed to cause the vines to poke and prick her, leaving red marks in their wake. She tried to move them with her horn, but the magic just fizzled and sparked. “What in the nine hells are– OUCH! –these damned things?”

“Midnight Wisterias,” Roseluck responded. “They're a very special flower the Archdruid managed to breed. They absorb magic, even if it comes from a pony; you'd need to be a demigod to even try and cast with those things on.”

“Were– ow! –the thorns really necessary?”

Rose shrugged. “They're supposed to bind ponies, Lyra. They're not meant to be comfortable.”

“That still doesn't explain what is going on!” Bonbon finally managed to pull herself free of the mud, hammer at the ready. “And I'd like an explanation as soon as possible.”

“We will not allow a necromancer to cross our borders unbound.” The stallion that had attacked her spoke up. “Her magic is unnatural and spits in the face of Epona.”

“As her warden, I can assure–”

“Your laws mean nothing here, paladin!” He snapped. “Your goddess has no place here; there is only the wild and its laws.” He turned to Roseluck, beginning a conversation in their kind's secret language, and the tone of it did not sound happy.

Bonbon, for her part, gritted her teeth and resisted the urge to punch the stallion in his hidden face. It took more than a few prayers to Celestia to get her back to a more stable mindset, and even then, she still glared at the two of them as they talked.

Lyra simply continued to fidget and flinch thanks to the thorny flowers suppressing her magic. “Well, this is going swimmingly so far.”

“Hold your tongue, necromancer,” one of the remaining druids snapped. “Your fate has yet to be decided.”

The head of Bonbon's hammer started to glow as she turned to the druid. “You do not have authority to order execution,” she said quietly. “And if you try to, I will stop you.”

“Your goddess has–”

“And yours has no sway over me!” Bonbon interrupted. “I was given a task, and I will honor that task, regardless of which other deity it displeases.”

Roseluck paused in her conversation to glance toward her. “Starting to sound like Righteous Fury, Bon.”

“And you're not? This entire ambush was to trap a pony who has done nothing wrong and has even helped you when you asked.”

Rose flinched at that, then turned back to the stallion, speaking a few more Druidic words. The stallion's expression turned into that of a pony who had tasted sour milk, but he slowly nodded.

“Very well, but the binds remain on the necromancer.”

Rose sighed, but nodded. “That's the best we're going to get,” she said as Bonbon opened her mouth to protest. “It's either that or start heading back, and that's going to take a lot longer.”

Bonbon audibly growled at this, but grudgingly nodded. “Fine, but my position remains the same.”

Lyra wasn't nearly so enthusiastic about the idea, but wasn't in a position to argue either. She yelped when one of the druids shoved her with their hooves to get moving, and walked noticeably slower as they moved deeper into the forest, only her occasional curses and yelps of pain breaking the group's silence.

“Okay, I know we passed that tree before.”

Roseluck groaned, turning back to Lyra. “Did you not listen when I explained this to you the first time?”

“That was back when I still trusted you, and when I didn't have thorns poking me every time I moved.”

“Quit your bellyaching, necromancer, or I'm tossing you off the nearest cliff.”

Bonbon's hoof went to her hammer's handle, as it had many times already, not truly warning, but reminding the mouthy druid of her promise.

“Either way–” Rose slipped back a bit to put herself between Bonbon and the stallion “–we're almost there.”

“No, we are there.”

The transition from the wild forest to the druids' grove was almost palpable; if not for the ground beneath their hooves suddenly becoming more grass than dirt, then for the fact the air itself seemed... alive. Breathing it actually made Bonbon feel the aches and fatigue of the last few days slip away, and Lyra swore she could actually see the occasional shimmer of magic in the air.

And the trees, they were a sight themselves. The forest itself had trees of varying sizes, as was to be expected, but these... these trees towered taller than most castles, soaring high overhead. Their massive branches grew together in a complex web, leaves meshing together so close and dense they left little doubt that they would keep out even the most torrential of rains. Holes had been carved into the massive arbors, some of them quite high up, and ponies of all types could be seen flitting about within them.

Light came from various paper lanterns, hanging from smaller trees within the shadows of the giants, bathing the area in an almost twilight-like glow, and the glow of several fireflies just added to the feeling.

“Be it ever so humble,” Rose said quietly. Her eyes drifted around with a nostalgic sadness in them. “By Epona, I missed this place so much.”

The stallion didn't give her much longer to reminisce, however, as he resumed his pace after only a moment or two. “Come, the Archdruid mustn't be kept waiting.”

“Charming fellow,” Lyra muttered under her breath, flinching as one of her escorts shoved her along and jostled her bindings. Not that any of the other druids were any more welcoming; what few they could see were half hidden in their holes and among the massive roots of the trees. Most wore an expression of open disdain for their little group, and Lyra couldn't shake the feeling the majority of it was for her. “Why do I get the feeling there's an arrow aimed at me and I just can't see it?”

“I will not remind you again, necromancer.”

Lyra rolled her eyes, casting a sidelong glance at Bonbon, only to be rewarded with her looking as displeased by the whole thing as Lyra herself, not to mention receiving her own fair share of glares.

“This pony had better have information for us, Rose,” she growled. “Or this whole thing has been a waste of time.”

“She will,” Roseluck assured. “The Archdruid is the wisest of us all.”

Lyra muttered something inaudible, but trudged on anyway, still flinching now and again.

Eventually, under the close scrutiny of every druid they could see, the group approached what looked to be a modest castle made out of living trees and thick bushes. Flowers of every shape, size, and color imaginable covered the thing, birds and insects flapped and buzzed about the whole structure and the plants themselves could be seen moving and changing as they watched.

They were led to what looked like one of the walls, but the vines and branches shifted about as they approached, reforming into an archway to allow them passage, then closing back up behind them.

“This pony really likes to show off, don't they?”

All eyes snapped to Lyra, the druid stallion looking about ready to break her jaw, when a new voice spoke up. “Well, that generally is the point of places like this, isn't it?”

A purple earth pony trotted into view, an ornately carved wooden watering can held in her mouth. Her mane and tail were striped with two more shades of purple, one light and one dark, and her cutie mark bore a striking resemblance to the vines wrapped around Lyra. Her hooves were muddied with dirt and several spots of her coat sported grass stains. Still, the druids all quickly dropped into a low bow, and Bonbon followed suit with a small bow of her own; Lyra, still bound, couldn't really do more than incline her head slightly as the mare turned a set of bright blue eyes to her.

Silence followed her entrance as she calmly walked around, tilting her head to water some of the various flowers. The druids remained bowed until she finally set the watering can down and turned to them. “Please rise, my children, and tell me what brings you here.”

As one they rose, and greeted the mare with the same words. “Hail Wysteria, Archdruid, speaker for Epona, heir to the Wildflower.”

The mare, Wysteria, just chuckled. “Always so dramatic about it.”

“Archdruid,” the stallion spoke up. “These three have–”

“I don't have time for this.” Roseluck pushed past him, much to his annoyance, and stood before the mare. “You received my letter, didn't you, Archdruid?”

Wysteria's smile faded into a much more somber expression. “Yes, I did. The news of a blighter is troubling, especially one so brazen as to attack openly, but why do you come to me with news I already know?”

“We need information,” Bonbon spoke up. “That blighter couldn't have just come from nowhere, and we were hoping you could give us some idea of where she came from or what she was doing here.”

Wysteria turned to Bonbon, her eyes boring into the paladin for a long moment, then she did the same to Lyra, and the necromancer felt her knees go weak. Silence reigned for a moment, before she turned her back on the group and trotted deeper into the strange castle. “Follow me.”

She led them into a series of corridors not unlike a hedge maze, in both design and complexity, taking seemingly random turns until Lyra was just about ready to complain about being lost, when they reached what appeared to be a dead end. As with the previous wall, this one pulled itself apart to allow them to pass. It looked to be the interior of one of the tower-like trees, with staircases and shelves hewn from the living wood itself.

Wysteria trotted over to one of the shelves and pulled out a scroll, unrolling it on a table that still had flowers growing on it. “From what Roseluck has told me of your encounter, I can tell you that the blighter bares the name Redheart; she used to be a healer many years ago.”

“Yeah, the cutie mark kinda gives that sorta thing away.” Lyra weathered the fresh wave of glares with an entirely deadpan expression. “It's true and you all know it.”

“Anyway,” Wysteria said, drawing attention back to herself. “The last known records of her say she vanished almost a decade ago. I can't say for certain what happened to her then, but I doubt her turn from Epona came very long after. To do the things Rose described, she's been studying the black arts for quite some time.”

“That still doesn't answer how she managed to appear in Equestria again,” Bonbon said. “Nor does it explain what she would want.”

“Ordinarily, I would just say death, rot, and more death... but you're right. She couldn't have gone unnoticed for this long without someone or something helping her.”

Rose, Lyra, and Bonbon all looked between each other, remembering Righteous Fury's story. “I'm starting to agree with your dad, Bonnie,” Lyra said. “Something weird is going on here.”

“What would she hope to gain out of this, though?” Bonbon pressed on. “She didn't strike me as the type to work for free.”

“They seldom are,” Wysteria admitted. “Still, it is always difficult to fathom a mind twisted by such black arts. One thing I can say, though, ponies like her, with power such as this, always want more power.”

There was a tense silence that followed this, with the three outsiders deep in thought about what could have enticed a blighter, when a loud 'boom' suddenly shattered it.

Wysteria and the druids were the first to react, rushing back through the 'door' they had entered from, Bonbon came next with her heavy armor, and Lyra's pained steps brought up the rear. The paths they had walked twisted and turned as they ran, pushing them in new directions seemingly at random, until they reached another wall that spread apart to allow them out of the castle.

Once outside, screams could be heard and ponies could either be seen running from, or conjuring spells against torrents of blood red flames roaring over the ground, spreading out from a circular flame wall at the edge of the grove. Not that the latter were having much in the way of success, even water and ice spells seemed to barely make the flames fizzle.

“Hellfire!” Bonbon shouted as she pulled out her amulet. “Don't let it anywhere near you!” She charged forward, the sun amulet bouncing wildly as she called out to her goddess. “Let all dark forces be laid bare and shrivel in your light!” Light burst from the amulet, forcing the flames to arc around her as she galloped through them. She burst from the other side, still protected by the light, and managed to catch a brief glimpse of a pegasus stallion holding a staff aloft before her hooves were suddenly entangled in vines. She reached down to bite at them, only to gasp out as she felt an all too familiar constricting on her heart.

Redheart stepped into view, looking distinctly more bloodied then the last time Bonbon had seen her. “So nice to see you again, paladin.”

“Y- you're d–” Bonbon gasped in pain as the hold on her heart tightened to the point she was barely conscious.

“As they say, I got better. Now, as much as I'd love to have a nice chat about the futility of your life, I'm not really in the mood for more clichés; so do me a favor, and just die, okay?” Redheart's smile nearly split her face, a sadistic glint in her eyes as she watched Bonbon's movements grow slower and slower.

Three voices crying out in the Druidic tongue cut through the air, and the very grass around Bonbon shot up like tiny spears, forcing Redheart back with a cry of pain. Roseluck and two of the druids that had ambushed them leaped out of a hole in the singed ground, more words already springing from their lips.

Dirt and rock exploded upward, the makeshift barrier actually tossing Redheart into the air. Bonbon gasped deeply as the hold on her heart lessened to tolerable levels, finally letting her pull her legs free of the tangle of vines. “I thought we killed her!”

“Guess she didn't want to stay dead,” Rose returned with a shrug. “Let's make sure it sticks this time.”

Bonbon nodded as she got to her hooves, ready to jump over the impromptu wall.

“Let all who oppose you fear your wrath!”

The wall suddenly exploded as a ball of Hellfire smashed into it, tossing the four of them back. Bonbon managed to roll with it as she landed, her armor taking the brunt of the impact, but the druids found themselves landing painfully.

Redheart galloped at full speed through the new opening, jumping on the nearest of the druids as they cried out in pain.

Bonbon rushed at her, hammer coming loose in its harness, only to have the pegasus she'd spotted earlier swoop down and slam into her with his rear legs. She was knocked to the ground once more, and had the perfect view to see the druid's movements cease as a cloud of ichor flowed from the mare and into Redheart. She could hear Rose call out the pony's name, but she remained entirely still.

The blighter's eyes went wide, their whites turning black as pitch and her irises a pale gold. Her grin turned utterly manic and she laughed. Her skin took on a green tinge as she turned to the rest of the group, and they all felt their hearts forcibly slowed. “That's more like it!” she shouted. “I was starting to forget what killing felt like, but now I remember.” The manic grin remained as she stalked forward, all three of them struggling to even move as their vision swam before their eyes. “Now then, who comes next...”

“None!” Wysteria called out, riding atop what could only be described as a tree in the shape of a massive pony as it charged through the wall of fire. At her command, it swatted aside the pegasus stallion, then charged at Redheart, who just barely escaped its crushing root-hooves. “You are not welcome in my forest, Blighter!” Her voice distorted, almost echoing as it raised to a bellow. “BE GONE!” The tree-pony reared up with a whinny that Bonbon felt rattle her bones, then came down with an earth shattering crash. Roots and vines lashed out at Redheart, opening several wounds on the mare that rapidly closed.

Redheart still held her ground, if only just; the roots and vines didn't leave any wounds that lasted behind, but the time they took to close kept increasing, and Bonbon could already feel the hold on her heart slip away as Redheart was driven further back.

Out of the corner of her eye, Bonbon saw the pegasus pulling himself up from the dirt, pointing his staff at Wysteria. With a grunt of effort, she grabbed her hammer, and actually hurled the weapon at him. It was a pathetic blow by her usual standards, barely clipping his side, but it was enough; he staggered, only staying on his hooves thanks to his staff.

Rose shouted out another Druidic word and a fireball flew at him. He dove to the ground again, and barely managed to retaliate with a ball of Hellfire to block another attack from the remaining druid.

“Redheart!” he called out to the blighter. “It's time to go!”

Redheart turned to glare at him, and was rewarded with one of the tree-pony's hooves striking her across her body, knocking her several feet away. “Ugh,” she groaned. “You're right. Give us some cover, Winter.”

The pegasus, Winter, raised his staff, then slammed it down, summoning a pillar of Hellfire around them. Bonbon reached to her amulet for another prayer of protection, but the flames suddenly vanished, leaving nothing but a scorch mark in their wake. The wall of fire that had contained their little skirmish vanished as well, letting the sounds of screaming and even crying ponies reach their ears as the temperature dropped in absence of the Hellfire.

Wysteria, her eyes almost glowing, turned back to her damaged grove. She jumped off the animated tree, which slowly moved off to the side and became still, and walked over to the still form of one of her druids. She lightly laid her hoof on the mare, quietly giving a prayer to Epona in her memory.

While she could certainly understand the sentiment, Bonbon had other ponies on her mind. As she retrieved her hammer from where it landed, she turned to Rose. “Where's Lyra?”

Rose, still rubbing at her chest, grunted a bit. “I left her with Rock Steady, the guy you kept arguing with,” she clarified. “They should still be back at the palace.”

Bonbon thanked her and headed off as fast as she could at the moment. She didn't like to leave Lyra alone at times like these, especially when they were around ponies that seemed openly hostile to them, it was probably a good idea for them to stay out of the way for now.

“Lyra,” she called out as she neared the palace. “Lyra, are you here?” She got no response, which did nothing to help her already frayed nerves. “Rock Steady?” she tried the druid instead, but still heard nothing in reply. “Seriously, guys, now isn't the time for jokes!” She started walking a bit faster as she continued to call out for both of them to no avail. Until, finally, she reached the base of one of the tree-towers and stopped dead in her tracks.

Rock Steady, his throat slit, lay in a pool of blood, and Lyra herself was nowhere to be found.

Author's Note

A bit later than I wanted, and not quite as long as some of my earlier chapters,but here we go. Chapter 7... I honestly never thought I'd get this far, so go me!

Special thanks to: HiddenMaster, ShadowLDrago, FanOfMostEverything, TuxOKC, AppleTank, Nicktendonick, Icefox and R5h for acting as my editors this round.

If you were an editor and don't see your name here, let me know and I'll add it to the list so you can get credit.

Pieces to the Puzzle

It was chaos.

Smoke still billowed up from the grove, twisting into impossible shapes as it filtered through the treetops. Pockets of Hellfire still refused to be extinguished, even as more and more water was conjured to quench them. And the screams, the air was full of the sounds of screaming ponies; screams of pain, screams of mourning, screams of panic; they all blended together and made it impossible to tell where one began and the other ended.

Bonbon was no stranger to screams. They were usually what she ran toward when the time came to serve Celestia, but that didn't make them any easier to hear when there was nothing she could do about them.

It was all she could do to keep running past the screams, past the ponies that needed help. There were healers working already; they would have to do until she could take care of the major concern.

“Rose!” she called out, sliding to a stop as she reached the loose and charred dirt of their battlefield. “We have a problem!”

“We have a lot of them,” Rose snapped back, magically forcing some of the displaced rocks back into the ground. “We still don't even know how much damage was done and how many–”

“That Rock Steady guy is dead,” Bonbon interrupted. “And I don't even know what happened to Lyra! I can't find her anywhere!”

“What?” Roseluck rounded on Bonbon, grabbing the paladin's face between her hooves. “Tell me this is some sick joke!”

Bonbon pulled herself out of Rose's grip, pushing the druid back a bit. “I don't have time for jokes, especially not ones like that. Now, come on if we hurry, we might be able to–”

“Archdruid!” Another pony galloped up, his cloak flapping around wildly and still smoldering from the effects of the battle. “Rock Steady! He's... he's dead!”

“–avoid that...” Bonbon couldn't help but grit her teeth in frustration as she watched things start to fall apart in short order.

“-that bastard necromancer-”

“-should have never left him alone with her-”

“She planned this-”

“-find her and kill-”

“You will do no such thing!” Bonbon's voice carried over the budding mob the druids were forming. “I am warden to Lyra Heartstrings, and her fate is for me to–”

Druidic words were shouted out and sharpened rocks whizzed by her face and struck her armor painfully.

“Your goddess is meaningless, Paladin,” sneered the druid that had attacked her. “We of Epona know the natural order, and that useless alicorn will not–”

Bonbon didn't let him finish before one of her armor-clad hooves connected with his face. “Attacking one of the Order is grounds enough to let us fight back,” she coldly explained as the druid staggered back in pain. “As I was saying–”

More words were shouted, from multiple ponies this time, as ice shards and whips of water assailed Bonbon. Her hooves reached both for her hammer and her pendant, but she suddenly felt the ground beneath her give way and a pair of hooves grasp her about the midsection as she fell into the earth.

Bonbon gasped as she finally saw light again, several moments having passed. She was ejected from the ground with enough force that she actually bounced as she landed, knocking the breath from her. As she wheezed and gasped, her hammer hit the dirt a few feet away, and she heard a set of hooves behind her.

“Sorry,” came Rose's voice. “I had to get you out of there before–”

Rose didn’t get to finish; Bonbon managed to surge to her hooves at last and drove her head into Rose's chest, knocking her back several paces with a pained gasp. “This is your fault!” Bonbon's shout sent birds flying from the nearby trees in a minor panic. Her vision blurred as her frustration boiled over at long last. “You let her get taken! You and your damned flowers!” She reared back to strike at Rose, but a quick word from her and the ground shifted, knocking Bonbon off balance.

“And what were my options?” the druid snapped back. “Lie to my people? Let a blighter roam free when the only ones who had the resources to deal with her were left in the dark? I had to call in every favor I was owed not to have them kill Lyra outright!”

“You should have told them–”

“What? That she wasn't a threat? That she's one of the good guys?” Now it was Rose who looked ready to attack. “Do you have any idea what blighter magic is, Bonbon? It's Necromancy, mixed with the Druidic Arts; it's a perversion of everything we do and everything Epona has taught us! It doesn't matter that I know Lyra's a good pony, they're not going to believe me!

“More to the point!” Rose continued as Bonbon finally got to her hooves and reached for her hammer. “Every moment we spend here arguing and blaming each other is another moment that Lyra spends ponynapped!”

Bonbon stopped, her face contorting between so many emotions as a few tears leaked out of her eyes. “...you're right,” she finally admitted. “Finding Lyra is the priority right now. If we hurry, we might be able to–”

“I can't come with you.”

Bonbon froze, her anger rising once more. “Why not?” she snapped.

“Because I have to go back and make sure that the grove isn't going to start a war or something now!” Rose groaned, rubbing her head. “Rock Steady might have been an ass to you and me, but he was pretty popular back in the grove. Now that he's dead, and because of that fight, everypony is going to be clamoring for retribution.”

“And you call where I'm from 'uncivilized'.”

Rose opened her mouth to retort... and closed it just as quickly. “...yeah, I do.” She turned away from Bonbon, looking at the loose dirt from her tunnel. “Now I remember why I left in the first place...” She stomped one of her hooves and the tunnel opened once more. “The edge of the woods isn't far, just head east... that way–” she pointed “–and you should reach it in a few minutes.”

Bonbon nodded and turned to walk away.

“And, Bonbon?” Rose looked back over her shoulder as the Paladin did the same. “Good luck.” With that, the druid dove into the earth once more, the tunnel sealing up behind her.

“You should have let them finish patching you up, Righteous. You'll tear your wounds open in a heartbeat if we get into a fight.”

Righteous Fury winced as she continued to trot along, her newly mended flesh still tender and her eye still partially swollen from being punched in the face earlier. Still, she was managing a respectable speed without complaint, and waved off Octavia's concerns about her health. “We've already wasted enough time waiting for me; if we don't hurry, any potential leads on those two will have dried up. Or, Celestia forbid, they could have done even more damage. I'll not have that happen when I could have prevented it.”

Octavia scowled deeply, but kept whatever bitter words she'd thought up within her mouth. She knew better than most just how useless trying to argue a point with Righteous could be. “Can you at least try to take it easy on yourself? You'll be no help to anypony dead.”

“I make no promises, Octavia. My duty to Celestia comes before my personal health.”

Octavia scowled once again as Righteous continued to wince at every fourth step.

She sighed, feeling an all too familiar set of eyes upon her. “Don't give me that look, Vinyl.” The cellist turned her scowl to the demon, who was indeed giving her 'that look,’ a mixture of confusion, annoyance, and incredulity usually reserved for their arguments over musical style. “Righteous doesn't like you, and you don't like her, but she's still too powerful an ally to simply leave behind. Even if she is too stubborn for her own good.”

“I can still hear you, Octavia,” Righteous grumbled up ahead.

“And your point is? I've been saying nothing less to you since you left the hospital against the doctor's orders.”

Righteous only muttered a few unsavory words under her breath in response to that, making Octavia's scowl deepen.

“And I told you, I am not being nearly that unprofessional with my ward.”

Vinyl just rolled her eyes, now joining the other two in outright scowling as she trotted along. Even she was starting to think it would be an honest to... the sun mare... miracle if the three of them managed to get anything done, much less find a bard and that impossible cleric. Octavia was right about one thing: she definitely didn't like Righteous Fury, so the thought of Righteous injuring herself in her own stupidity did little to stir the tiny amount of empathy within the demon. Still, Vinyl could agree with Octavia’s point that having an uninjured paladin with them would be better than an injured one the next time they faced their adversaries. Her horn lit up as Righteous and Octavia began to bicker about what defined 'adequate rest', and sound faded away to nothing for her.

The noise canceling spell was a bit of a drain on her own magic, even as a magical creature herself, but it was better than putting up with the two of them going back and forth over nothing. With that distraction finally removed, Vinyl focused on the task at hoof and shut her eyes. As a demon, her senses were significantly more acute than a normal pony's, at the trade off of occasionally being so distracting they made it difficult to focus on any one in particular. With sound a non-issue, and her eyes shut, she bent down to the road and quietly sniffed.

Thousands of scents filled her nose in an instant, from crushed petals trampled underhoof to the stale vomit of a drunkard that had soaked into the soil. It was only through centuries of experience and acclimation to far worse smells within the pits of Tartarus that she was able to keep all the information straight. With another sniff, Vinyl began to sort through them, seeking out any of the scents that could lead them to their targets.

The brimstone of Hellfire was distinctive enough on its own, but as her own scent was saturated in it, she couldn't rely on it, and there was enough blood on the road from so many sources that trying to follow them by any wounds they still had was a wasted effort. Vinyl's brow furrowed as she took another sniff, still looking for anything unique as she silently cursed herself for not knowing other methods of tracking.

She was just about to give up, when a fairly unique scent filtered through her nose: burnt feathers.

Vinyl's eyes snapped open, flashing red for a brief second as she reached up to touch a part of mane that was still blackened from Righteous's magical spear grazing it. While it was a long shot, possibly just some pegasus who'd had a bad encounter with a fire mage, it was strong and fresh, and probably the best bet she had right now. She closed her eyes once more, taking several deep sniffs to familiarize herself with the scent trail, and dropped her spell.

“–worse wounds while I was outnumbered. I don't need–” Righteous's indignant shouting was cut off as Vinyl's magic produced a screech like metal being dragged across a blackboard. “What do you want, demon?”

Octavia’s eyes narrowed slightly a Vinyl tapped her hoof on the road. “I think she's found something.” She stepped forward as Vinyl nodded and turned around, leading them off down the road. “And don't think this conversation is done, Righteous.”

“You have us following a demon, Octavia. You're not in any position to be trying to call me out on perceived faults.”

“Believe me, they're not perceived.”

Neither of them said anything after that, simply choosing to follow Vinyl as she occasionally bent down to sniff at the ground to keep them on track. Even with her senses, the trail was still tough to follow, and several times she was left having to guess as to where it was actually heading. Eventually, she came to a dead stop in the middle of the road, scowling down at the dirt.

With a mute sigh, Vinyl turned to face Octavia and mimed slashing a hoof across her own throat, making the other mare scowl.

“The trail just ends here; somepony probably teleported them off to goddess knows where.”

“Well, this was a waste of time,” Righteous grumbled. “Some help your demon turned out to be.”

Octavia frowned at Righteous, Vinyl making a rude gesture behind her back. “She got us this far, didn't she?”

“And what good is being this far?” Righteous countered. “We have no way of knowing where they went, no way of tracking them without something of theirs to act as a focus, and no leads to follow up on.”

Vinyl glared at Righteous, who glared right back, forcing Octavia to step between the two of them before anything could happen. “Look, I can see a town a bit further on, let’s ask around there and see if they've seen anything unusual. If nothing else, we can stop and rest.”

Righteous continued to glare, but eventually nodded in acquiescence. “Fine, but I'm not paying for any food the demon wants.”

“I'm not asking you to,” Octavia said, starting to head toward the distant visage of the town she'd mentioned. Vinyl and Righteous both held each other's gaze for several moments, as if waiting to see who would turn first. Finally, Vinyl stuck her tongue out at Righteous and turned to follow after Octavia, leaving the paladin to follow last, still occasionally wincing as she walked.

By the time the three of them had reached the town, the sun was starting to get low in the sky, and hunger was starting to grow within their bellies, leading Octavia toward the nearest inn. Upon reaching the door, however, she paused and turned to Vinyl. “Twenty minutes, not a second longer.”

Vinyl nodded, and turned away, silently walking down the street.

“Where do you think you're going?” Righteous snapped, moving to intercept her. “You can't just wander off like that.”

“Yes, she can; at least, for the next twenty minutes.” Octavia cut Righteous off, letting Vinyl slowly slip into the crowd and seemingly vanish from sight. Under Righteous's disbelieving stare, Octavia calmly led the other mare into the inn and took a seat at one of the tables. “Vinyl's body is... unusual,” she explained. “She'll still eat plants and the like for a snack, but she needs meat for real sustenance. It's easier to let her go hunt for rats and other pests than to try and find a place that's comfortable serving meat to a pony.”

Righteous frowned at Octavia, shaking her head. “You're still letting her wander around, unsupervised! What if she kills somepony, or makes a deal?”

“I have reasonable confidence that she won't, and as she hasn't violated any of the stipulations of her confinement. She has earned a few freedoms as per regulations.”

“Do you have the damned book memorized?” Righteous snarked without humor. “She's a demon, Octavia, a demon. Lying and deceit are their native tongue; even if she isn't speaking, you shouldn't trust her even a single inch.”

“And yet, I do, and I have yet to be disappointed. Disapprove if you wish, but I will not revoke her freedoms without reason.”

Righteous held her glare, but said nothing as the owner of the inn came to offer them food. This was not the type of conversation to have when other ponies were paying attention. She simply ordered a sunflower salad and a bit of ale; if nothing else, the alcohol would take the edge off for now.

“So,” Righteous began again, once the owner had left to get their food. “If we assume your misguided faith in the demon doesn't result in several deaths, how shall we be handling this? The mark of Celestia will only get us so far, and we both know how well strangers asking about others goes in a small town.”

“Which is why we don't ask,” Octavia responded, closing her eyes. “We listen.”

Righteous frowned deeply, but kept silent. Because of her musical cutie mark, Octavia had a strange gift when it came to sounds. Righteous had often tried to imitate it, even resorting to trying to cast a spell to augment her senses on more than one occasion, but could never achieve the same effects as her friend managed. It was best for her to wait and find out what Octavia could hear.

“...crops aren't doing so good this year, might need....”

“...only ever wanted what was best for her, but she wouldn't...”

“...needs some space, has a lot going...”

“...says I'm immature, the nerve of that mare; I ought to...”

Octavia's ears were twitching, the right one occasionally flicking up and down as she 'Listened', as she called it. It was one of the best ways to get information; ponies rarely bothered to hide things when they didn't think they could be overheard.

“...still doesn't know the baby isn't his, not sure when I'll...”

“...wife has no idea, don't worry about...”

“...never stopped singing, or trying to anyway...”

Octavia frowned, focusing on a stream of conversation, to the exclusion of all other.

“...end came into the store and started looking through every magic book I owned and even some I had in the backroom since they were discontinued. The mare would have been bad enough on her own, especially with all that damned singing, but she had to bring her damned coltfriend along. Stallion stank too; I swear, he literally smelled like a bad egg.”

Octavia's eyes snapped open, her ears swiveling as she followed the sounds of the conversation, slowly coming to a stop as she turned her head toward a table against the far wall. Without a word, Octavia stood up, with Righteous following a moment later, the pair of them silently weaving between the tables.

“..what they were look... ing... for...” A gray stallion trailed off as Octavia calmly walked up to the table and looked down her nose at him and the other stallion he was dining with.

“The two of them,” she said, not waiting for introductions. “What were they looking for?”

The stallion blinked a few times, blue eyes sliding over to Righteous, who just stared back silently, and then to the sun pendant around her neck. “Er... books. I mean... I run a store, and I'm something of a collector.”

“What sort of books?”

The stallion hesitated, beads of sweat starting to form on his brow. “W-well, I'm... not sure if I should–”

“What. Sort. Of. Books?” Octavia repeated, narrowing her eyes ever so slightly.

The stallion audibly gulped as his eyes darted around. “Just.. just books... about... certain types of magic.”

“Dark magic,” Righteous interrupted, taking a step forward, her expression darkening. “Why else would you be acting like this?” When the stallion didn’t respond, light began to gather at Righteous’s hooves. She opened her mouth to speak a word of power, only to get cut of by Octavia placing herself between the stallion and the paladin.

“Do you have a permit for that?” she questioned, glancing back at Righteous briefly with a shake of the head.

“N-no,” he admitted, but quickly held up a hoof. “B-but, I-I don't actually practice it, I'm just a collector; I can't even cast a cantrip!”

Righteous scowled at him, but said nothing in response, leaving Octavia to continue pressing. “What were they looking for, specifically.”

“Ah...” The stallion looked down at the table in thought, his brow furrowing. “I... I don't think they ever mentioned a specific title, but... they did mention an author. Wasn't one I ever heard of, though...” He frowned. “It started with an 'H'... Ha... Harp... something?”

“...Harpsichord.” Octavia's eyes darted to Righteous, who was scowling heavily. “That was the author, correct?”

“Uh... yeah, now that you mention it, that was the name!”

Righteous didn't respond to the stallion, simply turning away from the conversation while Octavia blinked in confusion. Celestia damn it all, Righteous thought, clenching her teeth. As if one Heartstrings wasn’t bad enough, now I have to deal with two!

Author's Note

Good God, did this take a long time to get here. I can make excuses all day, but, really, it comes down to me not trying hard enough and being overly ambitious with the story itself. I do plan on finishing it this year, so (HOPEFULLY), we can look forward to that at least. But, I suppose we'll see.

Special thanks to: Icefox, Nicktendonick, Star_Catcher(as well as their girlfriend), FanOfMostEverything, KingMoriarty, nightwalker, ShadowLDrago, and Doggyshakespeare. All for helping me edit this chapter.

We Must Insist

All and all, Whinnistrad was a fairly nice town. The ponies didn’t seem to ask too many questions, and they seemed all too willing to leave other ponies to their own business. Still, Ditzy was glad to be leaving it at long last. Her boss had finally shown up to assess what could be done about the cart she had smashed in the process of interrupting Righteous Fury.

He had been furious, but her work record meant that she was too valuable an employee to simply let go. In the end, he decided that she’d at least be getting her pay docked for quite some time, as well as working a few extra hours

Nopony was happy about the outcome, but the money to replace the cart had to come from somewhere.

And there was one more thing that needed addressing, something her family had been asking about since it had happened.

“And they mentioned her father for some reason.”

Ditzy's good eye swiveled back and forth between her daughters and Time Turner, her ‘lazy’ one a few seconds behind, as she finished telling the story of her second summoning. Walking back to Ponyville was going to take some time, but Ditzy wasn’t a pegasus to begrudge ground travel. Besides, it made it easier to talk with ponies who couldn’t fly.

“Weird,” Sparkler said, rubbing at her chin as she walked. “What do you think they'd want with him?”

“Something to do with necromancy, no doubt,” Time Turned scoffed. “Lyra's skill with the craft is as much inherited as it is a natural gift. Before she was making a name for herself, old Harpsichord was quite the boogeypony.”

“Last I checked,” Sparkler spoke up, “magic wasn't something that got passed along bloodlines.”

“No,” Time Turner admitted. “But magical power is, and Harpsichord wasn't short on that, I can tell you. Plus, by the time Lyra would have been born, he would have been deep into the necromantic arts. And probably crazy enough to try and make it a family thing; at least, as far as Lyra was concerned.”

“How do you know so much about this anyway?” Sparkler turned her head to face Time Turner, an eyebrow raised. “I don't recall Lyra being all that open about her past.”

“One of the benefits of nearly a thousand years of experience,” he responded with a roguish grin. “I know how to get a good read on most ponies. Besides, Harpsichord was hardly a secret when he was at the height of his power, and I know Lyra's age; the rest is simple deduction. Takes a little while to get the technique down, but Chronomancers have a lot of time on our hooves.”

Sparkler still gave him a skeptical look. “Right...” she deadpanned, then turned back to the road ahead. “Okay, assuming all that's true, then what would they want with Mom?”

Time Turner's smugness went away as he scowled at the ground. “That... I have no idea about,” he finally admitted. “I mean, I'm definitely going to have a word with the town watch. If somepony is willing to go to the trouble of summoning her, I wouldn't put a bit of stalking past them.” He paused and then looked at Ditzy, placing a hoof upon her back as trotted beside her. “You are feeling alright? Mentally, I mean, right?”

Ditzy, having been lost in thought, blinked a few times to get out of her stupor as he addressed her. “O-oh, I'm fine.” She put on her best cheerful grin... as her eyes swiveled away from looking at any of them directly.

Even Dinky wasn’t convinced.

“Ditzy...” Time Turner stopped, as did Sparkler and her sister, all three of them looking at Ditzy as she refused to meet their gazes.

Eventually, the undead mare let her smile drop and cast her gaze down at the dirt. “I just.. I've been wondering... what if they're onto something?”

Sparkler's jaw nearly fell off. “Mom! You can't be serious about that!”

“I don't want to lose either of you... I know it's selfish, but... you're my babies!”

“I'm not a baby!” Dinky shouted, stomping one of her hooves in frustration. “And didn't you tell us to not do dark magic stuff?”

“Yes, but...”

“Butts are for crapping, Mom,” Sparkler cut her off, earning a half-hearted glare from Ditzy at her crass remark. “Don't start turning into a hypocrite on us.”

“More to the point,” Time Turner interrupted. “Given how much they seem to know about you, it's blatantly obvious they're trying to manipulate you. I may not know to what ends, but I know that those that resort to such chicanery are rarely up to much in the way of good things. Trusting somepony you know nothing about when they know everything about you is a fool's move. We all know you're smarter than that, Ditzy.”

As if to punctuate his statement, the chronomancer leaned over a gave Ditzy a quick kiss upon her cheek, making her giggle a bit and hide her face behind her wing. “Okay, I suppose you're right.”

“Of course I am,” Time Turner said, holding his head high as he trotted along, only to trip on a rock before Ditzy could call out to him. “...I really need to stop doing that when I don't have a recall point set,” he muttered from the ground.

Sparkler rolled her eyes, letting him pick himself up. “Anyway, so we're right back where we started: what do they want from Mom? I mean, they made it clear they know she's not a normal lich, and she's not interested in power, so...”

“I think I might be able to answer that, if you'll be willing to come with me.”

Everypony stopped in the middle of the road, looking around for the source of the voice, before Ditzy gasped in shock. “Wait a minute, I know that voice!”

“Hello, Miss Doo,” the cloaked mare that had summoned her seemed to appear out of nowhere, standing in the path before them. “Sorry to come calling again so soon, but our time table has been changed severely. We would like you to come with us. If you don't mind.”

Ditzy didn't move, simply standing far stiller than a living pony would have been capable of.

The cloaked mare sighed. “Please, Miss Doo, I am trying to help you. If you'll just come with me, we can offer you help in preventing all that you're afraid of.”

Sparkler stepped in front of her mother, glaring at the mare in the cloak. “I think she's made it very clear that she's not interested in joining your little club to defy death and play like you're gods. So beat it!”

The cloaked mare didn't respond immediately, simply shifting her head a bit to gaze at Sparkler more clearly. The unicorn's scowl wavered a bit as the seconds ticked on, her hooves twitching in place a bit before the cloaked mare finally spoke up. “You are... Amethyst, correct? Amethyst Star?”

Sparkler physically recoiled at the mare's words, then shook her head. “I– I don't use that name anymore, I haven't in years.”

“But that was the name you were given,” the mare pressed. “After your birth mother, wasn't it? You saw her die and you were barely older than ten.” She took a step forward. “Would you want another child to experience something like that? Wouldn't you stop it if you could?”

Sparkler opened her mouth to respond, but the words didn't come even as she worked her mouth several times.

“You know I'm right. Why deny what is true?”

“How about the fact you're making a lot of promises, but not telling how you're going to follow through on them.” Time Turner stepped around to face the cloaked mare, who turned her gaze to him now. “I mean, I'm sure your response is some variation of 'magic', but would you be able to go into more detail than that? 'Magic' is a very vague term, after all, and what you want to do is a pretty major endeavor. So, mysterious miss, care to tell us how you're going to retool how life itself works?”

The cloaked mare was silent as she looked at Time Turner, like she had been with Sparkler, but after several seconds, the hood of her cloak tilted a bit. “Strange... I can't read you.”

Time Turner smirked. “Another one of the benefits of being around several hundred years; you're not going to get into my noggin without a lot more effort than you're used to.”

Sparkler started, her glare snapping back into place as one of her eyes twitched. “You were in my head?”

The mare went back to being silent for a long moment, then sighed. “I had really been hoping to avoid this,” she said as she reached beneath her cloak. “But... well, it appears that things are going to be difficult.” She removed her hoof, carrying a small gem with it, before throwing the crystal down and letting it shatter upon the ground.

Nopony knew exactly how to respond to that, but Sparkler finally spoke up. “What was–”

A whistle interrupted her, just before Time Turner bellowed out “Down!”

Having had far more experience with such things than she liked to admit, especially prior to being adopted by Ditzy, Sparkler didn't even hesitate to drop to the ground despite her distaste for Time Turner. Just as well, too, as a translucent spear whistled over her head not even a moment later.

“Sparkler!” Ditzy's wings flared open as she got ready to take to the air, but a second whistle and spear put a stop to that, skewering her straight through both wings in one shot.

“I've still got it~” The melodious tone of a mare's voice preceded the rustle of leaves as an earth pony without a cutie mark stepped out from within a bush. “Hey there~,” she trilled. “Sapphire Shores, pleasure to meet you~”

The cloaked mare’s coverings shifted as she flinched, turning to the grounded pegasus. “Sorry about this, I would have preferred another way, but our hoof was forced by–” This time, she jumped back as a bolt of arcane energy shot at her.

“Damn, thought I could get her during a monologue.” Sparkler's horn was still smoking as she readied another bolt. “And why aren't you doing anything?” she yelled at Time Turner.

“I can't!” he shouted back. “That was a Still Time spell she set off! My chronomancy won't work on any events that happen here!”

“Pace has his uses~” Sapphire sang, followed by a “Hey~” A wall of sound sprang up and Sparkler's blast splattered against it. “You're outclassed, kid~” The earth mare flashed a flirtatious smirk at the unicorn. “Give it a few more years, and– Hey~” Another wall of sound sprang up, just barely matching Ditzy's hoof force for force as the limb slammed into it.

Cracks splintered around Ditzy's hoof, but – much like her wings – the wound wasn't even acknowledged as she reared back and slammed her other hoof into the barrier, shattering it as that hoof split with a sickening 'crunch'. “Stay away from my family!” The lich swung wildly at Sapphire, who just barely danced away from the blows.

“Whoa; careful there, you might–” Sapphire stumbled in mid-step, her body twisting as her eyes widened in shock, before she cried out in pain as Ditzy's broken hoof slammed into her barrel and sent her flying. “Wh-wha?”

“How's that for 'outclassed', bitch!” Sparkler's horn was still glowing as she gritted her teeth, Sapphire’s hoof still held in the unicorn’s magical aura. “Don't think I can't follow those steps of yours!”

“Please, stop resisting,” the cloaked mare pleaded. “We only want to help you!”

“You've got a pretty strange way of showing it,” Time Turner countered, standing in front of Dinky with his body lowered and preparing to spring at a moment's notice. “Considering you just attacked us and all.”

“A necessary evil. Surely, after living so long, a chronomancer–”

“Let me stop you there; in nine hundred and sixty-seven years, I've heard just about every permutation of the 'I'm only doing the bad stuff for the greater good' speech there is. So please, don't try and give it to me and think it'll be any different than them. If you actually believed that, you would have joined up with the Lunar Order by now.”

“They wouldn't listen!” the cloaked mare suddenly screamed. “They're too focused on the potential consequences to see the potential rewards!”

“And I could say the same thing about you in reverse,” he countered with a smirk. “That's the thing about your types of goals, once you start justifying the means by the end, your morality doesn't take long to start slipping.”

“Do not quote such fallacies at me,” she replied with a stomp of a hoof. “My ends do justify their means! Do you know what I could–”

“Yes, yes, what you could do, not what you will do. All you're doing is speaking in hypotheticals and potentials. You have nothing to stand on save for what might happen.”

“Can we have a debate some other time?” Sparkler shouted, blasting another arcane bolt at Sapphire just as she whistled again. “Having a fight right now!”

Sapphire managed to avoid the bolt as her spear slammed into Ditzy, knocking her backward as it impaled her. “Whoa, whoa, whoa~” A blast of sonic energy barreled into Sparkler, who dropped to the ground and conjured a shallow shield around her prone form. The sound waves hit her barrier, and washed over them like a wave, missing the unicorn entirely.

The second they passed, Sparkler was back on her hooves and charging up for another blast.

“Hey~” The bolt was intercepted by another wall of sound. “Neat trick, kid, but don't get–” Sparkler interrupted Sapphire by rushing forward, shooting off five bolts seemingly at random. “Hey~” The wall sprang up again, and the shots all impacted it in rapid succession as Sapphire recoiled a bit. “Wha?” That was all she managed to get off before Sparkler slammed her shoulder into the wall, causing it to shatter with a painfully out-of-tune cacophony.

It took a moment for Sparkler's ears to stop ringing following that, but Sapphire's head was outright spinning from having her spell smashed to bits by the unicorn. “Everything has weak points,” Sparkler said with a smirk, her horn flaring up once more. “Even spells.” This time, her bolt slammed into Sapphire's face, and she toppled to the ground in an undignified heap.

The cloaked mare looked back between Time Turner, Sparkler, and Ditzy as she got back to her hooves. Though her face remained hidden, the rapid movements of her head left little doubt of the expression beneath that hood.

“I'm guessing you didn't think this through,” Time Turner finally broke the silence between them.

“We underestimated one of her daughters,” the mare said in return. “But don't think we can't improvise either.” The mare suddenly let loose with a shrieking cry, words and phrases in countless languages all blended together and formed into such a garbled mush of sound that caused everypony to stagger back. Not wasting a moment, the mare rushed forward and barreled into Time Turner, knocking him aside before he could recover.

Still pressing her advantage, she grabbed Dinky with one of her hooves, and held her close even as she started struggling. “Hey! Lemme go!”

“Get your filthy hooves off my daughter!” Ditzy, now so enraged that thinking wasn't necessary for action, managed to charge forward on her broken hooves... only to pass straight through the mare and Dinky.

“You'll find that my bag of tricks runs deep,” the mare said as she turned around, standing firm under Ditzy's furious glare. More blows from the undead mare continued to pass through her body, and Dinky remained firmly held despite her struggles. “And that I can keep this up for quite some time.”

Time Turner groaned, finally pulling himself up off the ground as he tried to clear his head. “Time...” he muttered. “Time enough... for a distraction!” He suddenly turned back to where Sapphire had collapsed, only to find her up and scratching a symbol into the dirt with her hoof. She stomped on it, and a shimmering portal appeared in the air, just before Sapphire dove into it.

Time Turner shook his head once more, red light flickering around his hooves as he tried to get his magic to work, but nothing came. “Sparkler! The symbol, smash it!”

“Huh?” Sparkler had gotten the worst of the effects from whatever that mare had done and could barely stay on her hooves. Blinking her unfocused eyes, she tried to light her horn, but the glow fizzled before she simply fell the the ground, holding her head in pain.

“Ditzy, we have to–” Another of the mare's cacophonous shrieks had Time Turner joining Sparkler on the ground, and Ditzy barely able to stand.

Dinky's struggles continued for a moment longer before her body went limp in the mare's hold. “She's still alive,” the mare assured Ditzy. “She's just passed out. Come with me, and I can promise that's the worst that will happen to her.”

“Get, get your...” Ditzy's words became unintelligible as her breath ran out and she still kept trying to talk, but as another swing phased through the mare, Ditzy found herself sagging in defeat. “...okay.”

“I'm sorry about this,” the mare said as she trotted over to the portal, still carrying Dinky with her. “It's not how I would have preferred our next meeting to go. But, as I said, our hoof was forced.”

Time Turner groaned, light still flickering uselessly at his hooves as he tried to break through the Still Time spell. “Ditzy,” he gasped out. “Ditzy, please...” He fell back to the ground as his vision swam, watching as Ditzy paused just beside the portal to look back at him.

She slowly lowered her gaze to the ground, no longer meeting Time Turner's eyes. “Take care of Sparkler for me,” she said at last, before turned back and stepping through the portal and vanishing.

The cloaked mare, still holding the unconscious filly in her grasp, hesitated as she stood beside the portal herself. “For what it's worth,” she finally said, “I really am sorry about all this. You'll thank me for it one day.”

Time Turner mustered as much of a glare as he could at the moment, still defiantly trying to call up some form of a spell. “I wouldn't count on that, if I were you.” His voice was level, barely even harsh enough to consider what he said a threat, but the mare still shivered as she looked into his eyes.

Shaking her head, the mare said no more and simply trotted into the portal, the symbol on the ground blasted away as the tear in space snapped shut behind her.

Several moments passed before the Still Time spell wore off, and it was another moment longer before Time Turner and Sparkler managed to get their hooves back under them.

“What are you waiting for?” Sparkler snapped at him, still a bit pale from what the mare had done. “Do your thing, pop back and–”

“I've been trying!” Time Turner's bellow rang out loud enough that several birds took flight in fear. “Don't you try and tell me you can't sense my echoes! Or feel the chronomancy I've cast at least five times now! The Still Time spell has set my time line in stone; those events are fixed and I can't alter them!”

“Then what's the bucking point of you?” Sparker shouted right back. “You useless, sick, freak! You failed! You let my mom and sister get taken away! Now they're going to die, or whatever they plan to do with Mom, and it's all your Luna damned fault! You fu–”

SMACK!

Sparkler's entire head was left spinning as Time Turner backhoofed her right across the face, even managed to draw a bit of blood from a cut lip.

“Enough!” he shouted, looking angry for the first time Sparkler could remember. “You don't like me, that's perfectly clear, but yelling at me will do neither of us any good, nor will it bring back you mother and sister. Do you understand me?”

Her ears still ringing, and her face still sore, Sparkler could only nod mutely as she stared, wide-eyed, at the stallion before her.

“Good. Now get ready to run.”

Blinking a few times as Time Turner turned away from her, Sparkler finally found her voice. “Run?”

“We're going to going to Canterlot,” he responded curtly. “Now, move.” He broke off into a gallop at high speed, leaving Sparkler in his wake for several moments before she finally managed to catch back up to him.

“Why are we going to Canterlot instead of trying to track down my mom?”

“If they went to all the trouble of getting a kidnapping set up, they're not going to leave a scrying spell overlooked. And even if you tried to summon Ditzy back to us, there's no telling what they'd do to Dinky if she's not there.”

Sparkler winced as she ran; she hated to admit it, but she had been thinking about doing just that, and Time Turner was all too right about the risks it posed to Dinky. “So, why Canterlot?”

“Remember what Ditzy said they asked her about? If we want information about Harpsichord, we might as well go right to source.”

Sparkler found herself losing any of the spare breath she had as she galloped after Time Turner. “You think they're just going to let you talk to someone like Harpsichord? After everything you've told me about him, only the paladins are going to have access to him!”

“I'm calling in an old favor the crown owes me; you can get a lot of ponies in your debt in nearly a millennium of living.” With that, the conversation finally ceased and Sparkler ran out of breath to talk, the only sounds coming from the pounding their hooves. Canterlot wasn't terribly far, and both of them had quite the reason to hurry on despite their bodies' eventual protests.

In the back of her mind, Sparkler found herself quietly praying to Luna to keep her mother and sister safe from harm, and that Time Turner's favor was still in good enough standing for this. She'd already lost one family in her life; she didn't want to lose this one, too.

Author's Note

That was a lot faster than my last update, eh? Shout-out to a friend of mine outside FimFic that got me onto a writing schedule, they're mostly to thank for getting this done so quickly.

Anyway, not much happening in this chapter, mostly just getting the plot moved along at a rapid pace now that I'm truncating the story to try and get it done. Not entirely happy about that, but I finally realized that I'm not Tolkien, so I shouldn't try to have multiple individual stories in the same book. Hopefully, the people who read this still enjoy it.

Special thanks to: FanOfMostEverything, nightwalker, Joural, TheTownCrier, Travolore, Doggyshakespeare, Nicktendonick, Star_Catcher, and Icefox for acting as editors and streamlining this chapter a lot.

If you acted as an editor, but I didn't list you here, let me know and I'll correct it.

Sights and Sounds

Canterlot was considered by many to be the crown jewel of Equestria, and not just because it was the seat of political power in the country, or that the Solar Order’s headquarters was located there.

The mountain city was actually the result of the first efforts of the three pony tribes following the Unification and the defeat of the Windigos. Pegasi had carried the materials to the side of the mountain, earth ponies had constructed the first structures on it, and unicorns had magically fastened the base to the side of the cliff, so that it would only fall if the mountain itself were to topple over. On top of that, everypony, from the richest of nobles to the poorest of serfs, had worked in shaping the city as it grew, placing their own designs and flourishes into the city as it sprawled out.

Of course, over a thousand years can cause a lot of things to change.

The city was still one of the most well-off cities in all of Equestria, even with the general unrest and crime that would plague any kingdom until the end of time. And there were still a decent number of earth ponies and pegasi who called the city home. But, as was their wont, most of the earth ponies had left for the plains and most of the pegasi had taken to the clouds. The Canterlot of today was very predominantly a unicorn city, making an earth pony a rare sight.

Not that Bonbon particularly cared as she hurried through the streets. Her armor clanked and jangled as she jogged through the crowded streets, ponies parting before her as they saw one of Celestia's chosen in a hurry. Her father had been furious to learn that Lyra was missing, and only Bonbon's own rage had prevented him from getting the Order to declare her a 'kill on sight' target. However, he had still been required to report her missing, and to get things in motion for the next course of action.

A scarf, only a shade off from her own coat in color, wildly flapped around her mouth as she hurried along. She'd given it to Lyra as a Hearth's Warming present a few years back, and she'd worn it every winter since. It probably wasn't the best choice, but she'd been in a hurry, and had never been one to save bits of hair or hoof clippings out of paranoia.

Maybe I should start being paranoid, she bitterly thought. I probably wouldn't have left her alone if I was.

She slid around a corner, finally reaching the street that led to the grand cathedral.

Built in the years following the end of the Nightmare War, the building had been intended as a sort of mausoleum to the princess of the sun, honoring the sacrifice she made to finally end the war and bring light back to Equestria. Massive archways, flanked by stone statues of the princess's long dead commanders, were carved from solid granite, stretching high enough that those with wings could simply fly in and out. The statues themselves were so large that their hooves alone were each larger than the ponies trotting in and out beside them.

Beyond that, the building opened into a courtyard that housed some of the most diverse gardens in Equestria, boasting plants so rare that many were said to be the only specimens left in the world, and home to a wide menagerie of animals just as uncommon. Several of those rare animals scattered and scurried about as Bonbon dashed through the gardens, heedless of several ponies shouting less than pleasant words after her. All she cared about was getting to the other side, where the main offices of the paladins were housed, and slid to a stop right in front of an unassuming chunk of wall.

After an attack on the city several years ago had left a large portion of the cathedral and the offices heavily damaged (the garden only salvaged thanks to the help of a dryad), the Order had decided to up security as much as possible. While they couldn't really do much beyond repair and reinforce the cathedral without barring ponies from a place of worship, their own offices were a different matter entirely.

Bonbon reached up to her neck and pulled her sun amulet out from inside her armor, before pressing it against the wall.

“Paladin Sweetie Drops,” she managed to get out around the scarf. “In the name of Celestia, open this door.” Her amulet glowed for several moments, before finally returning to normal. An audible click sounded a moment later, and the wall reshaped itself into the door she was demanding. Pushing it open, she rushed inside and dashed through the halls, forcing everypony else to get out of her way once again.

Finally, after what felt like enough running to last more than a lifetime, Bonbon approached a room with a stylized eye painted on the door. Said door was already opening as she approached it, and she didn't think to question it as she burst in. “I need–”

“I know, Paladin Drops.”

A pink pegasus with hair that was a chaotic mix of white, orange, pink, and purple closed the door behind Bonbon, before turning to face her. It took a bit more effort than Bonbon liked to admit to not recoil slightly to see the pink garnets that sat in place of the other mare's eyes. They had been carved to resemble the organs, of course, but their glassy sheen and unchanging gaze left Bonbon feeling more than a little disquieted.

“You have an item for me, Paladin Drops?” The mare’s question snapped Bonbon out of her musings about the gemstones, and brought the situation at hoof back to the forefront of her mind once more.

“Yes,” she wrapped part of the scarf around her leg and held it out to the pegasus. “I trust you know who you're supposed to look for, Locket.”

“I usually do,” Locket responded, taking the scarf in hoof and fluttering over to a table with a waiting map. “Now then... let’s see what I can See.” Bonbon joined Locket as the pegasus closed her eyes and started running her hoof along the scarf, her gem eyes starting to flash faintly as they opened once more.

The Order always employed the odd seer or two, specifically for when they needed to have a heads up to protect a certain area, or to know in advance if there were any events that could potentially spell the end of Equestria looming. They were also useful for tracking ponies that went missing under mysterious circumstances, provided you had something for the seer to track them with.

“Okay…” Locket said, eyes still glowing. “She's still alive, I can tell you that much right away.”

“I had faith that she would be,” Bonbon said. “What else?”

“Don't be impatient, I'm working on it.” Locket fell silent once more, her eyes closing as she concentrated. “Okay... I see a dungeon, so she's a prisoner; don't interrupt, I'm getting there. She's... talking to some... pony? I think? I can't quite make out a face, or what they're saying. Nothing good though; Lyra's definitely not liking what she's hearing.”

“Still not telling me anything more than I could have guessed,” Bonbon replied, growing impatient. “I thought you were supposed to be a seer.”

“Give me some credit, Paladin Drops,” Locket snapped. “You're asking me to look at a place and event across time and space that I have no knowledge of save for one of the ponies involved.” Her brow furrowed as she frowned, seemingly at nothing in particular. “Not to mention, something's getting in the way.”

“What do you mean 'in the way'?”

Locket shook her head. “It's... hard to explain. I...” She paused, tilting her head. “Wait, what is... huh? What!” Her eyelids snapped open. “You can–” Her words were cut off as an unseen wave of force slammed into the Seer, blasting her away from the table. Locket flew wildly through the air, only to slam into the wall with enough force that one of the gems popped out of her eye socket before she fell to the floor and lay still.

Bonbon was on her hooves in an instant, rushing toward Locket just as the other pony started to stir. However, as she reached Locket, the Seer cried out and tossed away the scarf still held in her hooves. Bonbon watched with wide eyes as the garment combusted before her eyes, blood red flames of hellfire turning it to ash in less than a second. Still shocked, she turned back to Locket.

“Nothing a bit of hard cider won't fix later,” she answered before the question could be asked. “Bastard,” she swore. “I still don't know who has Lyra, but they're damned powerful; not everyday you meet someone who can look back at you through a Scry. Or hit you through it, for that matter.” Locket raised a hoof to her jaw, rubbing it back and forth a few times. “I'm going to be feeling that one for a while,” she muttered, wiping away a bit of blood from her lips. “Make sure you get that bastard good for me when you meet him.”

“'When'?” Bonbon repeated.

“Yeah, 'when'.” Locket pulled herself up with a groan, her hoof reached over to grab the loose gem and pop it back into her eye socket. “Bastard didn't want me to see where he was keeping Lyra, but I could still get a general idea of the area before he shut me out.” Trotting back over to the table, Locket let her hoof roam across the map's surface, muttering under her breath as she closed her eyes. “You're gonna want to go... here.” Her hoof stomped down on the map, marking a spot on it with some of her blood.

Bonbon eyed the bloody mark with a scowling face. “The Breaking Back mountain range,” she deadpanned. “They can never make it easy, can they?”

“Making it easy kinda defeats the purpose of having a secret, evil lair, Paladin Drops.” Locket rubbed at her jaw again, still wincing. “Seriously, go for the head if you get the chance. Mine should stop ringing by the time you do.”

Bonbon frowned, but picked up the two halves of the now ruined scarf from the floor. Tucking them both away for safe keeping, she turned back to Locket. “I don't suppose you can give me any specific advice about the future before I go, could you?”

Locket paused, then scowled. “The hard part is, anything more than a minute or so from now isn't specific when you look at it.” She closed her eyes, concentrating for a moment longer. “Best I can say is to expect some wisdom from an unlikely source. Sorry, I'm not getting anything more than that.”

Bonbon sighed, shaking her head as she trotted out the door. “Thanks anyway, Locket, at least I know where I'm going now.”

“Yeah,” Locket muttered as she looked elsewhere. “You and everypony else.”

“Out of my way!”

Righteous Fury galloped through the streets of Canterlot, barely even giving the ponies she ordered to clear the road time to move aside. There was still a noticeable limp to her movements keeping her from going at a full sprint, but that was just as well. Vinyl and Octavia had enough problems without trying to run through the streets after her.

While the assassin was in better shape than the paladin at the moment, she kept lagging behind to let Vinyl catch up. Being in the seat of Celestia's power was doing the demon no favors; and, while she was able to keep the two of them in sight, Vinyl was starting to lag behind.

“Righteous,” Octavia called. “We need to slow–”

“If your ward can't keep up, that is none of my concern!” Righteous snapped back, nearly tripping at a particularly painful step as she ran. “I'm in worse shape and doing just fine!”

“Damn it all!” Octavia swore, pausing to help Vinyl as she staggered a bit herself. “This is helping no one!”

Vinyl gave her a pained look, but nodded all the same, taking off after Righteous as soon as she was steady. She hated coming to Canterlot, only doing it when Octavia was required to file reports on her progress as a ward. But, unfortunately, this was where all the high-risk prisoners were kept; remote dungeons were simply too much of a drain on resources to be considered practical, and trying to execute them was generally a bad idea. Some of them wouldn't die, and a good number of the ones that would were the same ones likely to make infernal pacts with other demons to return. She'd made a few herself before being taken in by the Order; it was just what demons did after all, but all those had been canceled as a part of her sentencing.

At least, all the ones she could remember.

“If they're asking about Harpsichord, we need to know what they could be looking for,” Righteous had finally stopped shouting as they reached the palace proper. “I'm not going to spend weeks digging through the royal archives trying to figure out what they'd be most interested in from his work. Assuming we could find it at all. No, as much as I hate the idea, we have to skip the middlemare here.”

Octavia scowled a bit as Righteous walked away to present her pendent to the guardsponies, but couldn't find it in her to disagree with the point. As much as she hated to admit it, it probably would be quicker to just ask Harpsichord what he had been researching and go from there. It was still a shot in the dark, and a long one at that, but it was better than digging through mountains of paperwork.

Sighing through her nose, she too produced something for the guards as she approached them, her warden's badge. Really, just a small shield modeled after Captain Armor's, but it was just as official as the pendant.

The guard glared at her, then shifted his gaze to Vinyl as she caught up once more.

“She's with me,” Octavia said, drawing his attention back to her. “Invoking my right as Warden to bring her in here.”

The guard continued to glare for a moment longer, but he still moved aside.

Righteous was already pushing past him before he had finished moving, with Octavia feeling the twinge of headache building up within her. Things didn't improve as Righteous hobbled down the corridor as fast as she could, still calling for anypony in her way to move. Vinyl was lagging more than ever, several runes carved into the wall glowing ominously as she passed them. Several guards looked at each other, as well as the runes, unsure how to react.

Finally, Octavia just grabbed the demon mare and draped her over her back. Yes, that just drew even more confused looks as she galloped along, but it was the only way to keep up with Righteous at the moment. However, after trips down several stairwells and along another corridor, Righteous Fury finally slowed, her ears twitching. Octavia caught up a moment later, momentarily confused, until sounds that normally had no place this deep in the dungeons reached her ears.

“–owes me more than–”

“–ther was taken by–”

“–my orders–”

“What is going on here?” Righteous shouted as she rounded the last corner to solitary confinement. The guard on duty was in the middle of arguing with two other ponies that Righteous barely paid any attention to as she stomped toward them.

The guard on duty snapped to attention. “Paladin Fury, I–”

“Oh, I am so not in the mood to deal with this bitch!”

Righteous's eyes snapped to the pink unicorn that had just spoken up. “You... I know you, lich-child!”

“Find somepony who cares!” Sparkler shouted right back. “I have more important things to worry about than you!” Her horn started to grow as light played around Righteous's hooves.”Now back off!”

Octavia started to move as well, a blade seeming to just appear in her hoof as she did, before she was cut off by a stallion's voice. “Enough!”

A brown stallion suddenly shot between the two, one of his hooves hooking around Sparkler's forehooves to off-balance her just before either of them could react. Righteous moved, but the stallion was still in motion and swept one of his other hooves out, Octavia's trained eye managing to spot a pocket watch on a long chain just before it tangled in Righteous's own hooves and caused her to trip.

He rounded on Octavia next, a black eye and a bloody lip that she wasn't sure she remembered seeing before marring his face. “Stay put!” he snapped, his bloodied teeth bared. “None of us have any time for this!”

Octavia shifted a bit, angling her body to let Vinyl slide off as gently as possible. “...what do you mean by that?”

“I mean that every moment we're out here trying to kill each other is another moment we're not talking to Harpsichord. And you're going to let us see him!” He rounded on the dumbstruck guard, who hadn't moved from his post. “I don't care if you're too young to remember it, I'm still calling in the favor the crown owes to me for what happened in Yakyakistan two hundred years ago! Take it up with the king if you've got a problem with it!”

“I... I...” The guard was visibly starting to sweat under the stallion's glare, his eyes darting around as he found no sympathy in anypony's gaze.

“Do not let that stallion in,” Righteous snarled as she struggled to free her hooves from the tangled watch chain. “Favors are not how the Solar Order works!”

“Spare us the horse apples, dammit,” Sparkler shouted right back. “I could have–”

The stallion angrily stamped his hooves, drawing attention back to him. “No, you couldn't have, now both of you shut up!”

“If I may.” Octavia calmly walked forward and produced her warden's badge to the guard. “By my right as Warden, I vouch for all these ponies.”

The guard visibly relaxed at having an out for his actions, and stepped aside with a salute. “Thank you,” he said.

“Octavia,” Righteous called as she managed to free herself at last. The paladin stood up and glared at the slayer, a fire in her eyes. “What are you doing?”

“The stallion–”

“Time Turner,” he interrupted.

“–is right,” she continued without missing a beat. “The longer we stand out here arguing, the longer we're going to be delayed in our mission. So, to use a rather crass turn of phrase, suck it up!”

Righteous actually took a half-step back as Octavia shouted at her, blinking a bit at the sudden venom in the other mare's voice. Her own mouth worked up and down, but she couldn't actually find words to come out of it.

“Huh,” Sparkler said with a raised eyebrow and even a bit of a smirk. “I didn't think anypony could actually shut her up.”

“Do you want to gloat or do you want to find out what we came here for?” Time Turner asked with a glare, deflating the young mare rather quickly. “That's what I thought.”

“If you're all done with this nonsense,” Octavia spoke up once more, her badge glowing a bit as the cell door unlocked. “I believe we have somepony we need to discuss things with.”

The inside of the cell was... surprisingly roomy, all things considered; a large room, devoid of any furniture, or amenities of any kind, with various runes etched and marked into the walls. A spell circle was inlaid into the floor with gold, complex sigils surrounding it; and, in the center of that circle, a statue of a unicorn, his face contorted in rage and chains wrapped around it tightly; a cutie mark of a harp could just barely be seen through the links.

“The circle has a spell worked into it,” Sparkler said out of the blue, her eyes narrowed at the markings on the ground. “Some type of temporary animation.”

“How else do you expect to talk to a statue, lich-child?” Righteous growled as she pushed her way into the room, matching Sparkler glare for glare. “Harpsichord was too dangerous to let live, and even more dangerous to let die, so we had to make sure he couldn't do either.”

Sparkler held her glaring contest with the paladin for several moments longer, but eventually turned away without a word.

“Enough delays,” Time Turner snapped, stomping one of his hooves. “Activate it and let’s talk to the bastard.”

Righteous narrowed her eyes at him, then turned to Octavia. “The door.”

“Already on it,” she answered, letting Vinyl into the room before shutting the cell door. She touched her badge to it once more, and an audible 'click' sounded. “He shouldn't be able to get out now.”

Sparkler's eyes widened, and she glanced around rapidly. “Wait, you're locking us in the same room as a pony you decided was dangerous enough to turn into a statue?”

“No one made you enter this room, lich-child,” Righteous scoffed. “You wanted to speak with Harpsichord, this is what needs to be done so he doesn't escape his confinement.” Before Sparkler could voice any more complaint, Righteous reared up, then stomped down on the spell circle, channeling holy magic into the inlaid gold.

Like water flowing through a stream, light raced along the lines of the runes. It wasn't long before every one of them felt a change in the very air of the room, and the statue in the center started to move. It was slow, at first, with only the occasional rattling of the chains giving away what was happening, but as more and more of the runes lit up, the statue's movements got more and more pronounced. It wasn't long before it was thrashing about in the bindings, falling to the floor with an incredible crash.

Then, the final rune lit itself up, and all hell broke loose.

“Kreischen!”

At the animated statue's word, a high-pitched keening exploded within the room, causing everypony within it to recoil in pain.

“Schneiden!”

The chains screamed in agony as an invisible force cut gouges in their links; they still held, but the statue struggled all the same.

“Schn–”

“Tace!” Righteous's shout cut off the statue's spell as her hoof slammed into one of the runes on the wall, and all the sound around her simply died. The chains around the statue still shook violently, and its mouth moved trying to form words, but not a single noise could be heard. “That's better.”

Righteous took a step forward, her hooves echoing unnaturally off the stone in the magically-induced silence around her. She paused in front of the thrashing statue. “I can maintain this spell for quite some time, Harpsichord, and even as a statue you will tire.”

Harpsichord's mouth opened in a silent roar as he strained at the bindings, but he still couldn't break free. Finally, after several more moments of flailing about, he grew still, silently scowling at Righteous.

“Good; now, you're going to be answering some questions for us.” When this failed to produce a reaction, Righteous narrowed her eyes. “And, in return, we won't mention your little episode just now and revoke your right to dream.”

Harpsichord visibly flinched at the threat, and slowly nodded his compliance.

“Thank you,” Righteous said simply, turning and walking back to the same rune she had touched earlier. “Finis!”

Sound flooded back into the room, with both Sparkler and Time Turner shaking their heads in a bit of a daze; Octavia staggered, while Vinyl looked like she was fighting back physical illness.

“You know how much I hate that spell, Righteous,” the cellist said at last, panting and visibly sweating with Vinyl nodding vigorously in agreement.

“I do,” Righteous admitted. “It's also the only way I know to shut down his spell casting in here.” She paused for a moment, then looked at Octavia out of the corner of her eye. “...I'm sorry.”

“...wait, so you don't burst into flame from – OW!” Sparkler's insult was cut off as Time Turner jabbed a hoof into her midsection.

“Stop trying to start a fight,” he told her, before narrowing his eyes at Harpsichord. “And you... your name has come up a lot recently, and not in a history lesson.” He took a step closer, glaring down even with his black eye. “What do you know?”

“I know quite a lot, Chronomancer.” Even without his screaming and shouting, Harpsichord's voice was still as hard as he was at the moment. “You're going to have to be a lot more specific about that.”

“Books,” Righteous interrupted, making both Time Turner and Sparkler look at her in confusion. “Why would somepony be asking about books written by you?”

Harpsichord's stone face twisted into a smirk. “Intellectual curiosity.” He started laughing as Righteous ground her teeth. “Really, Paladin, I think you already know the answer to your own question.”

“Your journals were seized with your capture, Harpsichord. All of them; we were very thorough in making sure anything written by your hoof was located.”

“I'm sure you were,” he admitted, still smirking. “I'm quite sure you managed to get everything written by my hoof.”

“There was nopony else who helped you,” Righteous snapped, stomping her hoof. “You even admitted it when captured.”

“I lied!” Harpsichord shouted right back, before bursting into laughter. “You paladins overestimate how intimidating you are, and you believe your own hype! You think you can intimidate ponies by invoking Celestia; your goddess has been dead for a thousand years! The only one who fears her anymore is you!”

Righteous's lips curled into a snarl as Vinyl flinched behind her. “You will tell us who else worked with you–”

“Or what, Paladin?” Harpsichord interrupted. “You'll issue another threat? See if I care!” He threw his head back and laughed. “Now that I know what I do, I don't care if I lose a few dreams as a statue! It won't matter, because I'll be free before long!”

“The Order–”

“The Order will fall! Broken and dead, only useful for fresh corpses for the likes of me!” He laughed again, thrashing about in his chains from the force of it.

“I think you're the one overestimating now,” Time Turner cut in softly, somehow making himself heard over the rattling of the chains. “One group, even armed with some of your research, isn't going to be able to take on the entire Solar Order at their very doorstep.”

Harpsichord's laughs fell silent as he glared at Time Turner, before his face broke out into a maniacal grin. “You stupid chronomancer,” he giggled, head rocking side to side as he started to laughed once again. “You have no idea, none at all.” His laughter reached a fever pitch and he resumed thrashing around once more. “The Lord of Tambelon will not be stopped by the agents of a dead goddess!”

Vinyl's eyes were open wide, the irises and pupils within them had shrunk to pinpricks, an expression that Time Turner mirrored almost exactly.

“We have to move,” the chronomancer said, already heading to the door. “Now!”

“What are you– huh?” Octavia looked down at her hoof as Vinyl hooked her own around it and pulled as much as her weakened state would allow, trying to drag her toward the door as well. “Vinyl?”

“What is going on?” Righteous called over Harpsichord's maddened laughter. “All I'm hearing from him is ravings.”

“Never thought I'd be agreeing with this bitch,” Sparkler said. “But she's got a point. What's he said that's so frightening?”

Time Turner rounded on her, visibly sweating. “Picture a city where death itself fears to tread. A city where, when anyone within its borders dies, their corpse rises under the command of a self-proclaimed king. A city where the dead wander through the streets endlessly, and stand rank and file. A city so saturated with dark magic that no magic in Celestia’s name can work and dark magic comes as naturally as breathing. Now, imagine all of this under the iron hoof of a king who has been alive for centuries and was said to be equal in power to Starswirl the Bearded. That is Tambelon, Sparkler.”

Righteous audibly scoffed. “If what you’re saying is true, then why have I never heard of it? The Solar Order would not have allowed such a city to exist within Equestria’s borders. It would be the highest priority to remove it from the map. Even without hallowed magic, the Order’s training is second to none; a highly skilled army without magic is still a highly skilled army.”

“I thought they had,” Time Turner said, starting to pace as Harpsichord chuckled lazily behind the group. “I thought they had managed to finally stop him nearly four hundred years ago when I watched the entire city vanish into darkness. I… everypony thought it was one last shot at the Order from that bastard who ruled it.”

“Been alive for centuries and you still can’t recognize a tactical retreat when you see it,” Harpsichord laughed out. “You’re a damned fool, Chronomancer.”

“Will you turn him back to stone already?” Sparkler snapped at Righteous. “I’m getting sick of hearing his voice.”

“Ooh, you’re a feisty one,” Harpsichord grinned hungrily, actually managing to lick his lips, stone sliding against stone with an audible scrape. “I’ll enjoy feeling the heat fade from your body when I bend it o–”

“Shut up!” Righteous stomped her hoof on the runes once more, canceling the spell animating Harpsichord.

The unicorn chuckled, the hunger never leaving his eyes as his movements slowly growing still and he grew silent once more.

Author's Note

Well, look at that, I finally posted it!

I wasn't terribly happy with what I originally had, and one of my editors made several good arguments about how I wasn't doing the best I could do with my descriptors and the images I was painting with my words. Sorry I was delayed, for what it's worth.

Special thanks to: FanOfMostEverything, Doggyshakespeare, Nicktendonick, and one more person who wishes to remain anonymous for helping me make this thing readable.

So Lyra is a Necromancer

The night was cold, but that was to be expected on the eve of the winter season.

The princesses had been shortening the days and lengthening the nights; there were already warnings being sent out by the pegasi couriers to prepare for the coming snows. Clouds were covering more and more of the sky each day. Fires were a common sight for travelers, the various camps set up off to the side of the road when more substantial shelter couldn't be found. The desire to keep warm often overruled the need to stay hidden at times like these.

However, for two individuals, the cold didn't seem to matter.

Admittedly, one was wearing a cloak as they trotted along; it was dark as the night around them and seemed reasonably thick, but one would still need a good tolerance for the cold. The other one wore nothing beyond a hat and a simple vest, yet seemed to be entirely indifferent to the cold around him.

The sparsely clothed pony, an earth pony stallion, paused to adjust his hat, then continued on; the road was long, and pauses couldn't be afforded. Instead, they passed the time talking.

“I still don't get it!” The stallion said, “Where did the whole 'coins in the ear' thing start? What's even the point?”

The cloaked pony did the best approximation of a shrug possible without wings. “I can't speak for when your culture started doing it” – the pony's voice marked her as a mare – “but the reason for it relates to your belief in the river Styx and the ferrypony, Charon. Supposedly, he grants passage across the river to the souls that can pay him one coin of any value. Otherwise, they remain in Limbo and are unable to move on to the next life, eventually ceasing to exist altogether if the passage isn't made.

“As for putting them in the ear, that's more a matter of them wanting to keep them with the deceased when they leave this world. Not every pony has a favorite article of clothing they wish to be buried in, but pretty much all of them have ears.”

“If you say so.” They walked in silence for a short time, before the stallion spoke up again. “So... you don't believe that, I'm guessing?”

“Not particularly, I'm afraid. There are a lot of beliefs about what happens to us when we die; I've heard them all at one time or another. They're actually rather fascinating to study.”

“Well, which one do you believe?”

The cloaked pony chuckled. “Honestly, I'm pretty much ambivalent about the lot of them. I don't really care enough to pick one over the others, and my work doesn't exactly give me a straight answer. As you likely know, by now.”

“Yeah...” The stallion's pace slowed slightly as he looked to the ground. “It's not exactly clear to me either, even though I –”

“Don't go down that road, friend.” The cloaked pony rested a hoof on her companion's shoulder. “Like I said, I don't have a clear answer, and I'm guessing anything you've got in your head isn't clear to you right now either. Just answer me this: is what little you can recall good, or bad?”

Silence followed the mare's words. The two of them just stood in the middle of the road while the stallion racked his brain, trying to dig out the memories he wanted. Finally, after several minutes, he gave a small smile. “Good, it's very good.”

Even though the hood of the cloak still obscured her face, the mare's tone implied she was smiling as well. “That's what I thought. Now, come on; we're almost there. And your family's waiting.” The stallion nodded, his smile becoming decidedly more melancholy, and the two of them continued on without another word.

Thankfully, the mare's word proved accurate. Though the lack of conversation seemed to lengthen the road, they spotted the lights of a village not more than a few minutes later. Of course, that was not their final destination. They veered off the path before they could make out all that much, circling around the high walls that kept out bandits and other unwanted guests. A short walk later, they spotted a dimmer light flickering behind a stonewall fence. The light was just barely able to illuminate the small pasture within, but it was bright enough to guide them the rest of the way.

The stallion glanced to his traveling companion. “You seem to know a lot about these things – want to explain why the cemetery is out here? Doesn't seem all that safe.”

“It's not –” the mare gave another approximation of a shrug “– but that's not likely to change. Ponies, and most species, are pretty much afraid of the dead. They don't really feel comfortable being reminded of their own mortality. And then there's the entire issue of lost loved ones... sorry.”

“No, no –” the stallion waved her off “– I know how it is. I lost my parents about the same age as my youngest, so I can understand what you're saying. Still, I think it's a bit easier, now that... you know.”

The mare chuckled. “Yeah, I hear that a lot.” The levity in her voice quickly left as they finally reached the cemetery's entrance. “So... you ready for this?”

With a sigh, the stallion steeled himself and nodded. “Let's get this over with.”

The mare nodded, and trotted inside. With what they were planning, it was best to not give him time to rethink his decision.

The cemetery was quiet, which was to be expected, so the crackling of a small fire seemed unnaturally loud as they approached the light. A pegasus mare and two colts – both earth ponies – stood around it, all seeming tense as they approached. Their eyes ignored the cloaked mare, only focused on the stallion as he slowly made his way forward, stopping just short of the light.

“Daddy?” One of the colts took a hesitant step forward, sounding equal parts nervous and excited. “Daddy, is that you?”

The stallion moved like he was going to take a half-step backward, but the cloaked mare cleared her throat before he could. He gritted his teeth, mentally reaffirmed his decision, then took another step forward. “Yeah, or at least most of me anyway.”

The colts both gasped in fright and the one that hadn't left the fireside buried his face into his mother's legs. The pegasus mare put a hoof to her mouth to stifle her own sounds as tears welled up in her eyes, her head shaking slightly in denial of what she saw.

Covering most of his chest was a large – and very open – wound. The exposed ribcage was cracked in places, and several of the bones seemed to have been gnawed on recently. However, despite the obviously fatal wound, he showed no signs of discomfort or pain, and he was still up and moving without even the slightest issue. In fact, he actually gave a humorless smile at his family's reactions. “Yeah, I know I'm not much to look at right now.”

The remark was followed by a tense silence; none of the ponies seemed willing to speak or acknowledge what they saw. Then, the colt that had originally approached his father took a hesitant step forward. Another soon followed, and it wasn't long before he broke into a short gallop to close the rest of the distance. He threw himself at his father, then wrapped his neck around the stallion's leg. Though his eyes were full of tears, and he sniffled several times trying to speak, there was a small smile on the colt's muzzle. “W-welcome home, Daddy.”

The stallion, still heedless of the massive wound, gave an equally small grin and lowered his head for a nuzzle. “Good to be home, even if it's just for this.” Slowly, the other two members of his family made their way over to the undead earth pony and added themselves to the hug. “I'm sorry,” he finally said, “I'm so sorry this happened.”

“Oh, Stalwart...” the pegasus mare hugged the animated corpse of her husband tightly, no longer caring about the state of it. “What did happen?”

Stalwart Shield, the stallion in question, looked down as his eyes darkened. “Bandits, just like they were worried about. They jumped the caravan as soon as we were out of sight of Hoofington. They had dogs with them, wolves, really... I managed to hold off most of them while the rest of my detachment got the caravan out of there... Did it make it here on time?”

The pegasus mare nodded, tears flowing freely even as she struggled to remained mostly composed. “Y-yes, the supplies made it in one piece. Th-the town owes- owes-” She bit back a sob and then continued. “We all owe you so much for what you did, Stalwart.”

“That's good then.” For the first time since his death, a genuine smile graced Stalwart Shield's lips. The supply caravan had been his only concern upon reanimation, so it was good to have some closure.

Speaking of closure... The cloaked mare cleared her throat, turning the family's attention toward her. “I hate to cut this moment short... but there is something of a time limit on all of this. I can only keep the spell keeping him animate going for so long, and it's been going for a long time now as is.”

Stalwart nodded, hugging his wife tight and giving her a nuzzle. “I'm sorry, I really am. I should have been more careful, I should have said how much I love you more than I did. I should have done so many things I was too stubborn or too stupid to do before all this. I wish I still could, I wish there was more time...”

The mare kissed her husband, no longer caring what he was. “I wish there was too, Stalwart... I wish I could tell you so many things I never said enough. I'm so sorry.”

“I don't want you to go!” The youngest colt, having kept quiet the entire time, suddenly spoke up and rushed forward, wrapping himself around one of his father's legs. “Please don't go, Daddy!”

The silence that followed the child's plea almost seemed to be strangling them all, even if Stalwart didn't breathe anymore. There was simply no way to explain it in terms the colt would understand; he was too young to know what death was, too innocent to know that sometimes ponies didn't wake up when they went to sleep. None of them wanted to be the one to tell him that.

In the end, his father was the one who decided to bite the metaphorical bullet.

“Daddy has to go.” Stalwart's voice was strained, but it never wavered as he put on a small smile for his son's benefit. “It's something everypony has to do sooner or later.”

“But why?”

The cloaked mare flinched slightly, a barely perceptible movement of fabric the only hint of her emotions.

“Because that's just how it is sometimes, and nothing can change it. Ponies have tried, but there isn't anything that can be done for it.” Stalwart lay down, taking care not to touch any of his exposed innards to his child. “Daddy has to go soon – and Daddy's sorry he does – but it's just how it is, Sterling.” The undead pony reached a hoof up and gently wiped some tears from his son's face with his fetlocks. “I need you to be strong, for Mommy. Think you can do that, Sterling?”

The tiny colt sniffled a bit, but nodded anyway. Stalwart then turned to his other son. “That goes for you too, Iron. You're the stallion of the house now, so I need you to help your mother out whenever you can. Understand?” The older colt nodded, trying his hardest to stop crying.

Finally, Stalwart turned back to his wife, who didn't waste any more words and just threw her legs around his neck for one last tight hug and a final kiss. “Wait for me,” she pleaded, “whenever you finally get to the other side. Please?” Though he had never been much of a believer – prior to his death, anyway – in the same things his wife believed unquestioningly, he nodded. “Thank you, Stalwart. Have a good journey.”

The tearful reunion now over, for the most part, the stallion turned toward the one thing that he'd yet to really look at or acknowledge since arriving: an open grave.

It was something that mare had set up before coming to find him. Stalwart's family had the hole dug while she was out searching for him and – if she failed to find him within a month's time – she would reimburse them for the cost to have it refilled as well as the initial cost of digging it, the latter paid before she left. If she found him, she would only cover the initial grave digging, and the family would pay her a certain sum of money upon his return.

All that came later, though.

Right now, all that mattered was Stalwart was standing at the edge of his own grave, looking down at an empty coffin waiting to receive him. With a sigh, he turned to give one last smile to his family, then climbed down into the hole. The coffin was an awkward fit – they always were – but he managed to settle himself inside as best he could and gave a final nod to the cloaked mare.

The mare returned the nod, then reached a hoof up to remove her hood. A mint green unicorn with a mane of bright seafoam revealed herself, her golden eyes almost seeming to glow in the dim light of the fire. She gave Stalwart a look of intense concentration as the golden light of her magic flashed about her horn for the briefest of moments. Down in the grave, Stalwart's eyes slowly closed, as though he were drifting into sleep, and the faintest of smiles tugged at the corners of his mouth. The unicorn's magic flared once more and shut the coffin's lid before his movements ceased entirely; his children didn't need to see that just yet.

There was a awkward silence while the foals just sat there, both confused by what was happening and – though only one of them had an idea why – rather sad, while the two mares did everything they could to not meet each other's gaze. Finally, when it got to the point that the fire was little more than embers, the unicorn addressed the matter at hoof.

“About my payment...” The implied question hung in the air as Stalwart's widow remained silent for a few moments longer. Finally, she moved her wing and a sack fell out from beneath it, jingling as it hit the ground.

“You charge a steep fee.” The pegasus made no effort to move, or pass the bag to the other mare. She simply stared at the strange pony that had given her the chance for one final moment with her husband.

The unicorn gave a tired sigh. There were always issues when it came to her fee. “If what I did was easy,” she said, “more ponies would do it. And I still have to pay all my bills.”

Silence reigned again, broken only the unicorn muttering something under her breath that was lost on the widowed pegasus. Finally, though, she bent a wing down and slid the pouch toward the unicorn. It didn't go far, but it was close enough that the unicorn could pick it up with her magic. “Thank you.” The pegasus sounded a bit nervous as she said the words. “I mean it. When I first heard about you, I was...”

“Scared, freaked out, convinced I was a psychopath looking to raise a zombie army?”

“All of the above.”

The unicorn started to crack a smile, only for it to die as soon as she spotted the expression on the pegasus's face. She wasn't making a joke. She really had thought all those things about her. The unicorn suddenly spotted a very interesting blade of grass and decided to focus on it instead of the other pony. “I see... I'd best be going then.”

The pegasus said no words against it, nor did she give any kind words of parting. One of her children raised his hoof to wave good-bye, but she gently forced it down and shook her head. Even for a graveyard, the place now seemed even more tense; quite the feat, all things considered.

As for the unicorn, she had only one thought in her mind.

I need a Luna-damned drink!

“Sho she saysh 'All off above'! What givesh about thoshe horsheapplesess!”

The unicorn necromancer was barely able to sit up straight anymore. Several glasses that had once held cider now lay empty on the table beside her in a loose pile. Some unfortunate pony she had snagged on the way past was having his ear bent over her life story. She had finally finished relating what had happened on her last job – complete with the usual drunken tangents – and had just started ranting.

“Why would Ah wan an army? Huh!? What would Ah do with it? Why 'm Ah southern now?” She blinked, pausing to pursue this line of the thought as best she could. Taking that as his chance, the sober pony quickly tried to make his exit, only for her to pull him right back with her free hoof.

“'snt 'nough that Ah do thish jobs? Ah mean, Ah give poniesh a chansh to shay good-bye. Sho what if they're already dead when they do, they shtill get to shay it!” Her magic flickered and flashed as she lifted the glass upward with her telekinesis. “Doesn' dat coun' for anyshing?” The drink made it, just barely, only for her to lose concentration and let it clatter to the table once more. The little liquid still in the cup dribbled out and over the floor, but she barely seemed to notice.

“Maybe der right.” Her tone had become decidedly melancholy, her hoof now lazily stirring the spilled cider on the table and her eyes barely focused. “Maby Ah am a bad pony and shouldn' try actin' like 'm not... Ah don' wanna be a bad pony....”

The unicorn opened her mouth to continue her depressed rambling, only to be cut off by a sudden shout from the tavern door.

“Lyra Heartstrings!”

Every eye in the room turned to face the speaker, an earth pony mare with a cream colored coat sporting a two-tone mane of blue and pink. She was clad in armor that shone even in the dim light of the bar and sported the image of a sun where a cutie mark would be. A war hammer that probably weighed more than an entire pony was held in a special sheath on her back to allow for an easy draw.

Of course, all that ignored the fact her lapis-blue eyes were hardened into an icy glare right at the inebriated unicorn.

“There you are!” she continued, all but stomping forward as her armor rattled around. Most either made a pointed effort to look anywhere else but at either of the two mares, or else hastily tried to hide various things from the earth pony's sight. The symbol that adorned her armor was that of the Solar Guard, a rather famous order of paladins that acted – according to them, at least – in the name of Princess Celestia herself; not exactly somepony you wanted to get on the bad side of. Plus, paladins as a group weren't exactly known for being the most understanding of ponies when it came to the bending of certain laws.

The unicorn, showing none of the concern of her fellow patrons, blinked blearily at the approaching mare. “Heeeeeeeeey, Bonbon.” Her voice was still slurred, though she seemed to at least be making a token effort to speak more clearly now. “I's been thinkin'... maybe you'should find shomepony better.”

Bonbon stopped short, and her expression – while still angry – took on a bemused look. “Excuse me?”

“Shee... itshlikethis –” Lyra finally released her grip on the unfortunate stallion, and he quickly galloped away “– yer a pally-din and Ah'm a neshro- an nexa- I raishe the dead. Maybe we should shtart sheein' other ponish?”

Bonbon was silent for a moment, her glare speaking of nothing but disapproval and more anger. Then, as if someone had pulled the stopper out of a tub, the mare let loose a sigh and all of the anger just seemed to disperse. Her expression softened into something much more kind and less indicative of equicidal rage. She slid her war hammer out of its sheath with her mouth, then set it gently down on the floor so she could sit next to Lyra without it being in the way.

That same soft expression in her body language seemed to have seeped into her tone of voice as well. When she next spoke, it wasn't the growling of an angry pony, or even the bellowing of an enraged one, it was the sympathetic tone of somepony who understood. “Lyra, you and I both know you don't really think that.”

Lyra no longer found it in her to look directly at Bonbon, even in her drunken half-stupor. Instead, she busied herself playing with the spilled cider once more. “Ish fer da besht, Bonny... you can' be ashosho- you can' be weh evil shings like me.”

With a small shake of her head and a humorless smile, Bonbon put a hoof on Lyra's shoulder. “We've been over this a thousand times, Lyra, you're not evil.”

“But Ah-”

“Don't interrupt me.” Bonbon's tone remained gentle, but there was now some force behind it as well. “As a paladin of the Solar Guard, it is my duty and my ability to find and stop all evil I may see. I have known you for years Lyra, even before you started using the necromantic arts. You were not a bad pony then, you are not a bad pony now and I don't believe you ever will be a bad pony. No matter what anypony may think of what you are and what you do, I know the real you. What's in here –” she lightly touched a hoof to Lyra's chest “– won't ever let you be bad. It's too nice for that.”

Lyra gave a drunken smile, followed by a small hiccup, and more or less draped herself over Bonbon. “I lush youuuuuuuuuu, Bonny.”

The earth pony chuckled, using one of her forelegs to return the overly enthusiastic hug. “I love you too, Lyra.”

They stayed like that for only a few moments, though, before Lyra spoke up again. “Shink yous cud take meh outshied... Ah shink Ah need ta puke for a bit.”

With a tired sigh, and a mildly disapproving frown - one that didn't quite take, considering the corners occasionally twitched upward – Bonbon heaved the loosely conscious mare up onto her back, picked up the war hammer in her mouth, and made her way back out the pub doors.

“You're still going to pay for all the cider you drank, Lyra. I'm not helping you skip out on a bill, no matter how much I love you.”

Lyra, still in her inebriated state, only cracked a lopsided grin. “Danged, shought ah had yous der too.”

Slice of Unlife

“Needless to say, I haven't been able to so much as touch a pear since then.”

Dinky burst into a fit of giggles on her mother's back while Ditzy hid her own laughter behind a hoof. Sparkler, even as she rolled her eyes, couldn't hide the smirk on her lips. “I'm starting to believe you make all these things up to impress my mom.”

Time Turner staggered as if he'd been struck, dramatically holding a hoof up to his barrel. “You wound me, Sparkler! In so many centuries of life, do you really think I would need to lie about my exploits?”

“Yes.”

Time Turner's melodrama turned into outright sulking as he hung his head. “You could at least act impressed.”

Sparkler continued on nonchalantly. “Well, somepony has to keep a level head when you're around, and it isn't going to be her.”

Ditzy's right eye turned to her elder daughter as her left swiveled in the socket before catching up. “Sparkler...”

“Don't even try to deny it, Mom. You haven't exactly been subtle about what you two do.”

Time Turner and Ditzy both stopped in their tracks, sharing a slightly panicked look.

“Um...” Ditzy's eyes started to drift apart as she looked back to Sparkler. “'What we ‘do’?”

Sparkler rolled her eyes, scoffing. “We both know, Mom.”

“Yeah!” Dinky bounced on her mother's back. “You guys have sleepovers all the time.”

Sparkler gave her adoptive sister a glance. “...yeah... 'sleepovers'.” She turned back to her mother. “Anyway, we've both seen him sneaking away from the house. Either when Dinky walks home from school, or I'm coming back from work. You two are together nearly every day.”

While Ditzy was physically incapable of blushing —lack of a pulse meant lack of flowing blood— she could still feel embarrassment like a living pony. “Sparkler, I am a grown mare. I am quite capable of keeping a level head.”

“So am I, Mom,” she countered. “And I've seen you giggling like a teenager around him more than once. It's pretty obvious neither of you are thinking all that clearly.”

“Bah!” Time Turner did a rather poor impression of a sheep, calling attention back to him. “Thinking clearly is overrated anyway. I've lasted for centuries just flying by the hairs of my tail!”

“That sounds painful.” Dinky —still balanced on her mother’s back— glanced back at her own, rather stubby tail, flicking it around a few times. “It never felt good whenever Sparkler picked me up by mine.”

“Well, Squirt, if you’d stop running off all the time, I wouldn't have to grab it.”

“I don't run off all the time!” Dinky stomped her hoof, then winced. “Sorry, Mommy.”

“Hmm?” Ditzy glanced back, then blinked. “Oh, right, don't worry about it, Muffin. Mommy doesn't feel pain, remember?”

“Oh yeah...” Dinky's ears drooped. “Sorry, Mommy, I forgot.”

Ditzy giggled, pulling Dinky off her back and messing with her mane. “You don't have to keep apologizing for everything, Muffin; Mommy doesn't mind.”

Dinky squirmed and flailed in her mother's grasp, giggling the whole time. “S-stop!” She could barely get out her words. “Mommy! Stop!”

Ditzy started giggling herself, just tickling Dinky without mercy. “What's the magic word?”

“Ple-ehehehehehe-se!” Dinky finally stopped flailing as her mother relented, panting and still giggling occasionally. “What was that for?”

“Because I wanted to.” Ditzy's eyes swiveled in opposite directions as she smiled. “I reserve the right to tickle my little muffin as much as I want, same as every mother.”

“Ugh, gag me.” Sparkler tried her best to scowl at the scene, but couldn't quite make it stick. “Could you two be any more sickeningly sweet?”

“We could pull you into it too,” Ditzy offered with a grin.

“No thanks.” Sparkler took a couple of steps back. “Like I said, one of us has to be the adult here.”

“Aww...” Ditzy layered on the 'baby voice' “Is Mommy's special little star growing up?”

“Moooooooom!” She whined, sounding exactly like the child she was pretending not to be. “I’m twenty-six years old! You can't keep calling me that!”

“Why not?”

“Because I'm not a child anymore!” She stomped her hooves in frustration, continuing to undermine her own point. “Why can't you treat me like an adult?”

“Okay.”

Sparkler, already preparing for more whining, found herself tripping over her own tongue. “That— you— what?”

“I said, 'okay'.” Ditzy fluttered over to her older daughter with a smile on her face. “You've grown into a fine mare, and I'm proud of you for it.” She wrapped her forelegs around her in a hug. “But you'll still always be my special little star.”

Sparkler, though she blushed a bit at the nickname, eventually brought one of her own legs up to hug back. “Okay, Mom. Just don't call me that in public anymore,” she muttered

“Sure thing, sweetie.” Ditzy let go of Sparkler, and started to trot away, then suddenly vanished with a 'woosh' of displaced air.

Sparkler and Dinky both jumped in shock, and even Time Turner recoiled slightly.

“Damn it!” Sparkler's horn flashed as she touched a small gem earring; a silver hoop and a couple of small sacks popped into existence, each snatched up in her magic. “Of course this happens in the middle of the day, and out in the open.” She tossed the circle on the ground, then removed several gems from the bags. “May Luna damn summoners...”

“Technically speaking, you're a summoner yourself.” Time Turner weathered Sparkler's glare with practiced ease. “I'm just saying, you're basically damning yourself with that phrase.”

Dinky simply stood at the edge of the circle, pushing a few of Sparkler's gems into place. “So... who do you think summoned Mommy this time?”

Sparkler sighed, rubbing at the base of her horn. “I dunno; I just hope it isn't that one mare from last month; by the gods, she was creepy.”

“Is that the one that kept talking about eating me?”

“No, it was the one who had her hooves all over Mom and made all those comments you didn't get.”

Dinky blinked, then scowled. “Oh, yeah, she was weird.”

“Anyway, I need to focus; magic around here is kinda weird and I don't want to accidentally summon something I shouldn't.”

Dinky nodded and stepped away. “I sure hope Mommy's okay.”

“Oh, don't you worry, my dear.” Time Turner joined the young unicorn as her sister worked. “I'm sure you're mother is fine, no matter what manner of vile sorcerer summoned her.”

“I can't believe you two would be so colossally stupid!”

It wasn't every day, Ditzy reflected, that she got to listen to another parent lecture their kids. Even rarer that she knew the kids getting lectured.

Although, calling 16-Bit and Skeleton Key 'kids' was a bit generous; they were at least as old as Sparkler, though they seemed to lack most of the good sense that came with age. This wasn't even the first time they'd managed to summon her, albeit accidentally. Considering what most summoned creatures would do to them, her appearing instead was actually probably a good thing.

“But, Mom,” Skeleton Key whined, “he said he knew what he was doing!” The off-white unicorn's gray mane was wild from the magic surge of the summoning ritual and his blue eyes were slightly unfocused. Whatever the two had done to get her here, it had taken a lot out of him.

“I don't give a flying feather what he said!” His mother, a green pegasus with a blond mane and tail, flapped her wings with a snap. “You overtaxed your magic and tried to summon a demon! What the hay were you thinking?”

Skeleton Key looked down at his hooves, muttering things quietly.

“I didn't raise you to mumble, Skeleton.”

The unicorn muttered again, not looking up still.

“Skeleton Key!”

He jumped in shock. “I was trying to get laid!” His hooves went to his mouth in an instant, eyes wide in horror and darting around wildly.

His mother's expression mimicked his own; her mouth opening and closing several times, with no sound coming out. “You... you...” Her expression finally turned into pure rage. “Do I need to spell out how many ways that could go wrong? Do you realize what you could have lost?”

“Well, technically my vir—”

Her face just got redder. “How about your soul?”

“Mom, I—”

“I don't want to hear it anymore!” She grabbed his ear in her teeth, making him wince in pain. “Home,” she said around it, “now!”

With a bunch of halfhearted protests and the occasional exclamation of pain, Skeleton Key was dragged out of the room, leaving 16-Bit and his father, 8-Bit, alone with Ditzy.

The older Bit, a brown Pegasus stallion with a blue mane and tail, simply looked at his son, a pale blue earth pony with an off-white mane and tail. He didn't shout, didn't even raise his voice as he spoke. “I taught you better than this, 16-Bit.”

The young stallion hung his head low. “I know, Dad...”

8-Bit sighed, shaking his head. “Go to your room; we'll talk about this after I decide what your punishment is going to be.”

16-Bit didn't say anything, just sullenly trudged out of the room, his eyes not leaving the floor.

Once they were alone, 8-Bit shook his head once more and turned to his unintentional guest. “I'm sorry about this, Ditzy. I really thought I got through to him after last time.” He brought a hoof up to rub at his temple. “By the gods, what am I going to do with that boy?”

“It's not really my place to say,” Ditzy admitted with a wingshrug. “I just hope he realizes the danger before he hurts himself, or worse.”

“Yeah, you and me both.” 8-Bit sighed once more, still rubbing his temple. “Do you need me to send you on your way?”

“No thanks,” Ditzy smiled. “I was with my daughters before this; they should—”

Ditzy vanished with another 'whoosh', leaving 8-Bit to his own problems.

And reappeared back in Whinnistrad, inside of Sparkler's portable summoning circle.

“Welcome back, Mommy!” Dinky jumped at her mother and hugged her around the barrel, breaking the metaphysical circle in the processes. “I missed you.”

Ditzy was still more than a little disoriented, but managed to smile and wrap one of her legs around Dinky. “Thanks, Muffin, I missed you too.” As her eyes stopped spinning, she was able to focus on Sparkler as well. “And thanks for pulling me back.”

Sparkler nodded as she started picking up her summoning components. “So, who was it this time? And should I start reworking the wards on the house after we get back?”

“No, they'll be fine as is; it was just 16-Bit.”

Sparkler groaned. “Ugh, that loser again? Can't we report him to the paladins or something? I know he's not a licensed summoner.”

“He's a young stallion who's still getting used to his power,” Ditzy said, “not some dangerous sorcerer. No need to run the risk of him getting some of the less tolerant beings sent to his house.”

“Fine,” Sparkler grumbled, kicking at the dirt. “But I still don't like it.”

“It's not good to dwell on these sorts of things, sweetie. Don't worry about it.” Ditzy fluttered over to her eldest daughter and gave her another hug, smiling at her.

Sparkler, for her part, returned the hug with a blush. As much as she felt awkward in the undead mare's embrace, there was just something comforting about the act itself.

Ditzy finally pulled away from the hug, still smiling pleasantly. “Now, lets see about lunch.” And she was off and trotting. Some of her steps were a bit ungainly, but she had dealt with the complications of her body for long enough that she could avoid looking like a shambling horror.

Sparkler found herself chuckling; for whatever reason, her mother's hugs always made her feel a bit better. Her bad mood hadn't totally disappeared, but it was lessened enough that she could enjoy her day.

“We should probably catch up to them.” Time Turner earned a glare as he interrupted her thoughts. “We're going to lose each other if we don't hurry.”

“Whatever.” Sparkler pushed passed him with her glare still in place, not even turning to look at him when she heard his hoofsteps following her a moment later. Freak.

“So, when we all woke up the next morning: I had dyed my coat neon pink, the mayor had an apple painted on his face, and his daughter was sharing a bed with a dullahan!”

Ditzy laughed while Sparkler rolled her eyes; Time Turner's stories always seemed to end with situations like that, and a strangely large number of them seemed to involve fruit in some way. Both of them had long since given up understanding how such things continued to happened to him; it was just easier that way.

Time Turner chuckled. “Needless to say, that gave a whole new meaning to giving heeeee—” his eyes strayed to Dinky, then back to Ditzy, who shook her head very slightly. “—eeeey, what's it matter? They were a cute couple. They were even getting married last I heard, though I think the mayor there still has a standing arrest warrant for me, so I couldn't attend. Shame too, I knew the dullahan a hundred or so years ago; she was a good friend of mine.”

“What's a dullahan?” The tiny unicorn was barely big enough to see over the table, but she was looking back and forth between the older ponies with child-like interest.

“A headless horse, Muffin,” Ditzy said. “Just one that found their head and carries it around with them.”

Dinky tilted her head, thinking. “Oh! Like the pony who lives down the road from us? Miss Minty?”

“That's right, Muffin!” Ditzy smiled at her youngest daughter, lightly clapping her hooves together.

“Mom,” Sparkler deadpanned, “she's not a foal anymore.”

“Aww, you'll both always be my little foals.” She pulled Sparkler into a one-legged hug.

Sparkler groaned. “Laying it on a bit thick today, aren't you?” She shot her sister a glare when she giggled.

Ditzy chuckled herself, but released her hold. “Yeah, I am,” she admitted. “I've been having a bit of a rough day is all.”

Time Turner pulled a pocket watch out from his collar, apparently to check the time. “We all have days like that, Ditzy.” His eyes shining deviously as he replaced the timekeeper. “You know, I think I might be able to help.” Without another word, he stood and headed into the diner the four of them were seated outside of.

“Always trying to show off,” Sparkler grumbled, making Ditzy frown.

“Why do you put him down so much? He's been nothing but nice to you and Dinky.”

“Because you'd kick him to the curb if he wasn't,” Sparkler snapped back. “Seriously, Mom, the guy's a total freak.”

“Just because he's willing to look past my... condition... doesn't mean he's a freak, Sparkler.”

“Or he's using you to fulfill some sick fetish.”

“Sparkler Doo!” Ditzy slammed a hoof on the table at her daughter's comment, then winced as she heard something crack. She gingerly looked down, groaning when she saw the crack in their table; she was lucky the table hadn't broken outright, given her usual luck. And, on top of that, when she lifted her hoof back up, the forelimb flopped about at unnatural angles.

Ditzy chuckled nervously as she hid her broken leg from the ponies around her, her loose eye falling out of sync with her normal one as her gaze darted around. A few ponies were confused, a few had missed the whole thing entirely, and a few more were pointedly looking at anything that wasn't her at the moment. That was part of the problem with an undead body, the rot sometimes made parts of it more brittle and prone to break than others. Especially when she had to deal with a level of strength most non-earth ponies didn't have.

Sparkler just sighed, shaking her head. “Let me see it, Mom.”

Sighing to herself, Ditzy extended the broken limb toward her elder daughter. “That shouldn't have happened...”

Sparkler just eyed the leg, moving the loose portion around as her horn glowed faintly. She was vaguely aware of Dinky peering over from across the table but most of her mundane senses had been pushed to the side as she felt out the spells around her mother's body. “The preservation spells seem to be wearing a little thin...” She glanced up, raising an eyebrow. “When was the last time you visited Lyra to have them redone?”

Ditzy fidgeted in her seat, eyes drifting further out of alignment. “Well... you know how much I've been working lately. And Lyra isn't always in Ponyville because of what she does...”

“Mom, we both know you've been working more than twelve hours pretty much every day. And it's got nothing to do with how busy you are.”

Ditzy's eyes both managed to turn away from Sparkler. “Well, it's not like I need to sleep or eat...”

“Sidetracking doesn't work with me anymore, Mom. How long has it been?”

Ditzy was silent for a moment. “Um... almost two months now.”

“Ugh!” Sparkler's hoof caught her face as she groaned. “Mom, you know you need to make this a priority. Otherwise...” she held up Ditzy's broken leg.

“I know, sweetie, I know. I just... look, can we discuss this some other time? Is there anything you can do about my leg?”

Shaking her head with a sigh, Sparkler examined her mother's leg once more. “It won't be a perfect fix, but I can at least put it back together. You'll have to see Lyra about it when we get back to Ponyville.” The glow around her horn intensified as an aura of matching color surrounded the break in Ditzy's leg. “Just hold still...” she shifted the limb about to make the alignment match up as best she could, then let the spell do the rest of the work.

It wasn't the most complex or even the cleanest of spells, especially since it was meant to repair gems and not bone, but the same principle applied to both. They both possessed a lattice structure that gave them their hardness and the spell would replicate the structure to repair scratches, and even fuse broken pieces back into the whole. It was no substitute for a proper healing spell (or the undead equivalent), but it could stitch a bone back together well enough.

The glow finally faded, and Sparkler wiped some sweat off her forehead. “That should at least keep it in one piece for now. Just try not to hit anything too hard with that leg.”

Ditzy moved the limb about a few times, grateful it was no longer flopping about uselessly. “Thank you. But don't think this means you're off the hook for what you said about Time Turner.”

Sparkler glared at her mother, but said nothing. They both had a few things they needed to discuss later.

“Did somepony mention me?”

The three mares all turned away from Ditzy's newly repaired leg as the object of the disagreement came trotting into view. There was a tray with a few drinks balanced on his head, all of which swayed alarmingly as he weaved among the various tables and ponies with a manic grin upon his face.

“Careful!” Ditzy called out. “You'll spill them all over yourself!”

“Not to worry, Ditzy, my dear.” Time Turner spun around one of the cafe's wait staff as they took the order of somepony else. The drinks went flying upwards, only for Turner to remove the tray from his head and continued to spin about, almost dancing as he walked. One-by-one the cups were smoothly caught as they came down, barely spilling a drop as they landed on the moving platform. Finally, after several overly flourished turns, the stallion came to a stop in front of their table, sliding the tray and drinks up and off his hoof.

“As promised, drinks for all!” He took a low bow with a smirk, and was just about to sit down... when a drink came tumbling out of the sky, bouncing off his head and spilling its contents all over his face.

Sparkler snorted with laughter, almost choking on her own drink as she did. “Seven tries, and you still can't get it right!”

Time Turner raised an eyebrow at her words, then took a lick at some of the liquid still dripping from his face. When he tasted apple juice, he turned his gaze to the younger unicorn present.

Sure enough, Dinky was looking at the three tabletop cups with her head tilted. “Didn't I get one?”

Time Turner quickly shook the spilled juice from his coat and flashed her one of his best smiles. “Hold that thought.” Without further ado, he pulled out the very same pocket watch from earlier and flipped open the faceguard.

Just in time for light blue energy to explode out of the contraption and envelop him.

“We all have days like that, Ditzy.” Time Turner spoke up once more, his eyes shining deviously. “You know, I think I might be able to help.” He returned the pocket watch to his collar, then stood back up, heading into the diner once again...

Or for the first time...

Or, more than likely, both.

That was always the trouble when it came to Chronomancy: Equish was simply not a language built to handle the complexity and nuances of time travel. Even a single trip, regardless of direction, tended to play havoc with the tenses.

He was just lucky this was only a reset of the last few minutes, not nearly as many things to remember in that small a timeframe. Nothing like the time he'd had to relive an entire year of his own life, in a linear fashion, but that was neither here nor there.

First, avoid the hole beside the next table over. He smoothly stepped over a shallow depression that had tripped him on more than one reset.

Pause to let the guy unhappy with his salad miss you. Turner stopped dead in his tracks as a bowl of half-eaten salad sailed in front of him, the stallion a few tables away screaming about the quality of the cafe's wares.

Arch your back up. A tiny filly giggled as she ran underneath him. And down. He dropped to the ground to let the filly's father jump over his prone form as he continued to chase after her. And okay.

He stood back up, brushed the dirt from his coat, and continued on, finally reaching the cafe door.

Move to the side. A mare slammed open the door, storming out with a growl. Another followed a moment later, calling out about something being 'just a one-time thing'.

Thankfully, it was much easier to navigate once he'd gotten inside. It was a nice day, and most of the indoor tables were empty. Even the requisite shady corner table for secret discussions remained vacant, which Time Turner could only assume meant something good. As such, he was beaming as he addressed the stallion behind the counter.

“Greetings! One oat-a-pop, two wheat smoothies, and a child's apple juice, if you would, my good sir!”

The stallion, a fairly unremarkable earth pony with a gray coat and a black mane, glanced up from the counter he was wiping down, then grunted something, then said. “Kay, give me a few minutes.” He left the wipe rag and trotted over to the other end of the counter, pulling out a blender when he got there. Wheat grains and some milk came a moment after and were unceremoniously dumped in the blender. “You want the oat-a-pop in a bottle or glass?”

“Glass, same for the juice if you can.” Turner knew the glass wouldn’t be an issue, but that had been what he'd said the first (well, technically fifth) time through; it was best to keep as many things consistent as possible when replaying things like this.

The other stallion grunted something in acknowledgment, pouring out the blended smoothies into their own glasses already. He then pulled a case of large bottles out of a cabinet with a visible 'cold' spell rune etched into the wood and poured out the final two drinks, setting them all on a tray. “That'll be...”

“This should cover it.” Time Turner seemed to pull a small bag of bits out of nowhere and dropped it on the counter. “Keep the change, my good fellow!”

While the stallion counted out just how much Turner had paid him, he pushed the tray onto his head and calmly walked away.

Once outside, however, he set about remembering the next set of pitfalls that awaited him.

Move to the right. He took an oblong way around one of the table, just as a wildly gesturing colt lost his balance and started to topple over, only for Time Turner to push him back upright without breaking stride. Turner didn't even stick around to hear him say 'Thanks', because he could already hear the voice of the most beautiful mare he knew.

“—hook for what you said about Time Turner.”

“Did somepony mention me?” He couldn't help but grin as the three ponies around the table all looked toward him, no doubt incredulous about his method of liquid transportation.

“Careful!” Ditzy called out. “You'll spill them all over yourself!”

And that's the cue to avoid the waitress. “Not to worry, Ditzy, my dear!” He spun and let the drinks fly upward, calculating the time it would take for each one to land as he watched them ascend, remembering how badly he'd misjudged Dinky's last time. He continued his movements, making sure to catch each drink as gently as possible. And maybe twisting time a bit to give himself an edge.

“As promised,” he said as he placed the tray and three of the drinks on the table, taking his little bow a moment sooner this time. “Drinks.” He stood up just in time to catch Dinky's apple juice as it finally came down. “For everypony.”

The youngest unicorn gave a 'Yay!', holding the drink between her hooves as she sucked on the straw, but her sister only grumbled as she held the oat-a-pop in her magic.

“And it only took you eight times to get it right...”

Time Turner narrowed his eyes slightly.

She'd gotten the number of resets right last time too, but he'd passed it off as a fluke. After all, they all knew how his magic worked, but to have her get it right again was just too much of a stretch to call 'coincidence'.

“And how did you know that?”

Sparkler looked up as she sucked down some of her pop, only answering after a good number of seconds had passed. “I've been around Minuette enough to know how chronomancy feels, even when it's just the echos of it. And you've got seven 'echos' around you right now; it's simple math, really.” She went back to her drink as Time Turner's expression darkened further.

“I see...” He would have to have a talk with Minuette. Again.

“Thanks for this, TT.” Ditzy spoke up as she took a long gulp of her shake, licking the foam off her upper lip. She was smiling brightly and one of her eyes was a bit out of alignment, and Time Turner couldn't help but smile right back at her.

The most important thing for a Chronomancer was to never forget the 'now'. He was with Ditzy, there were no pressing needs for either of them, and confronting Minuette could happen after he wasn't needed anymore. That was his 'now' for the moment, and he would live it. He took a sip of his own shake, savoring the taste with a smack of his lips. “As I've said, Miss Doo; always a pleasure.”

Sparkler stopped her sipping so she could snort, ignoring the glare she got from her mother. “So, are we actually going to get something to eat while we're sitting here? Drinks are nice and all, but I actually am kind of hungry.”

“Yeah, me too.” Dinky stopped drinking her apple juice and looked down at her stomach. “Breakfast wasn't very big today.”

“How you stay so small with as much as you eat amazes me, squirt.”

“Hey!” Dinky reared up and clopped her hooves on the table. “That's not funny, Sparkler!”

“Wasn't meant to be, Dinky.”

“Girls...” Ditzy's firm tone cut into the conversation. “Be nice to your sister.”

Both of the unicorns stopped their arguments, neither willing to fight their mother over this.

Ditzy nodded. “Good; now, lets see about that food.” She raised her hoof to flag down the waitress Time Turner had 'expertly' avoided a few minutes ago. “What does everypony want?”

Dinky perked back up. “Pumpkin Soup and grilled cheese!”

“And you wonder why I say those things...” Sparkler sighed, shaking her head. “Okay... just a salad for me, Vinaigrette dressing.”

Time Turner set down his shake. “I'll just have a sunflower sandwich, I'm not that hungry.”

“And I'll just have some dessert; this cheesecake looks really good.” Ditzy licked her lips.

Sparkler chuckled a bit as the waitress walked away. “No muffins this time, Mom?”

Ditzy frowned, or tried to at least; the expression didn't quite take when her mouth kept trying to twitch back up. “Muffins aren't the only thing I eat, Sparkler.”

“No,” Sparkler admitted with a smirk. “Just the only thing you bake every other day.”

Dinky and Time Turner couldn't hold back a chuckle, while Ditzy just groaned, her face flopping onto the table. “Times like this, I wish I could blush...”

Sparkler chuckled herself, patting her mother just about the wing. “Relax, I just had to pay you back for earlier.”

Ditzy groaned again, but slowly pushed herself back up with a sigh. “Okay, okay; fair's fair, and I'm sorry for teasing you earlier.”

Sparkler nodded, her chuckles trailing off as she looked around. Though the half-completed tower still loomed ominously over the center of town, she could pick out ponies dismantling it from here. “Hard to believe somepony got this far along before anypony noticed.”

“Mind magic's good for keeping secrets,” Time Turner spoke up, following her gaze. “Also has a tendency to drive ponies who don't know what they're doing insane.”

Sparkler turned to him, cocking her eyebrow. “Like you?”

Time Turner smirked. “Oh no, nothing like me.” He chuckled, pulling out his watch and dangling it on its chain. “Most ponies go insane from stress, or some sort of repressed issues, or just because the wrong thing happens at just the wrong time. But chronomancers...” Red energy glowed within the closed watch. “Chronomancers are born insane.”

Sparkler's eyebrow rose even higher, and glanced to her mother. All she got was a stiff shake of her head in response. It still didn’t stop her flippant snort.“Right... I'll keep that in mind.”

“Hey, is that ours?” Dinky, still using the table to stand on her hind legs, pointed a hoof toward the cafe. The other turned and, sure enough, they saw the waitress, with a large platter balanced on her back.

“I'd say it is, Muffin.” Ditzy clapped her hooves together. “I can't wait to—”

“Heads up!”

Everypony in the general area stopped what they were doing, and a sound akin to breaking glass was heard, followed by the angry crackle of electricity. Ponies screamed and several dove to the ground, a bolt of magically generated lightning arcing through the air.

Sparkler grabbed Dinky and coated both of them in a thin layer of magic, diving to the ground. Time Turner, a blue glow fading from his watch, pushed himself back from the table and landed on his back with a wince. Ditzy, however, had never had the best reflexes.

The lightning bolt struck her square in the face with a thunderclap, but just as quickly rebounded off as her head snapped back. The bolt struck the middle of the street, blowing out a chunk of ground as Ditzy swayed in her seat, eyes spinning wildly in opposite directions. “Oooooh... I think I felt my heart beat a few times there.”

“Sorry!” A lime green earth pony mare with a darker green mane and tail came running into view, her hair was frizzled and frazzled, static electricity sparking around it. “Accidentally summoned an elemental and couldn't banish it in time! Is everypony alright?”

There was a general response of 'yes' from most of the other ponies, though several looked at Ditzy as she swayed in her seat.

Sparkler dispelled the field around her and Dinky and stood back up. She turned to Ditzy. “Mom, you okay?”

“I'm fine, I'm fine.” She wobbled a bit, then shook her head. “Just waiting for everything to stop spinning.”

Sparkler sighed in relief. “You're lucky that bolt didn't just fry you.”

Ditzy actually giggled. “Not really, remember?”

Sparkler blinked a few times, then mouthed out 'Oh'. “Right, you're too full of magic yourself for most offensive spells to get through.”

Ditzy smiled. “That's r—” And she abruptly popped out existence again.

Sparkler started, then stamped her hooves. “Oh come on! Twice in the same day?”

Ditzy, still a bit woozy from taking a lightning bolt to the face, was thus even more disoriented than usual when she appeared in someone's summoning circle for the third time that day.

“Sorry,” she said, trying to make the world stay still for a moment. “I know I'm probably not what you were looking for, but don't worry; this happens a lot.”

“No, there wasn't any mistake. You are exactly the pony I was hoping to see, Ms. Doo.”

Her vision finally stopped twisting and spinning, settling on a pony (a mare, going by her voice) completely covered in a black robe. “Wha...”

“Hello, Ditzy; you and I have much to discuss.”

Author's Note

Hoo-Boy; this one was delayed a long time wasn't it?

I'm sorry, I really am; but the first draft of this chapter was... not something I was proud of, not at all. It spent way too long on an unfunny joke, and added little to nothing to the overall story. This one, while it took me a while to work out, honestly was a lot less painful to write; Slice of Life is still my weakest genre, but I'm happy with how this one turned out.

Anyway, special thanks to: R5h, Nicktendonick, Icefox (Both of whom have written stories in this verse, if you haven't checked them out yet), AppleTank, nightwalker, Themaskedferret, fervantwilight, ShadowLDrago, RagnuPony, Star_Catcher (And their girlfriend, who doesn't have an account here), and MalWinters. They're the ones who helped make this legible, and broke down more than a few blocks I had to deal with in the writing process.

If you were an editor, and I forgot to add you here for some reason, then my sincerest apologies. Let me know in either a comment or a PM, and I'll add you to the list here so you get the credit you deserve.