Sleight the Mystifying and Extraordinary

Chapters

A Stranger In A Strange Land
The Wicked Twitch
Meeting The Queen
Face To Face
Truth
Preparations
Sleight's Greatest Performance
Loose Ends
Wherever The Wind Takes You
Touring The Kingdom

A Stranger In A Strange Land

Sleight woke up suddenly, having fainted during his crazy balloon ride. The magician pony only groaned as he partially got up and rubbed his head… only to come to a joyful conclusion.

"I'm alive?" He gasped, as he checked himself. Seeing no wounds, he let out a cheer. "I'm alive! Thank you, Celestia!"

Standing up, he saw that the storm was over, and that the balloon had been dropped in a dank, unfamiliar marshland.

"Where am I?" He asked nopony in particular. "I have a feeling that I'm not in Baltimare anymore…"

With the balloon destroyed, Sleight had no choice but to get out of the basket, and try to find his way out of the marsh.

Immediately after he got out, he grimaced at the feel of the murky marsh waters under his hooves.

"Eck… of all the places to end up in, it had to be a marsh." Sleight groaned, as he begin to make his way through the waters… only to trip and land face-first into the water.

"Awww, horseapples!" Sleight cursed, his voice making bubbles in the water.

After the small 'trip', he explored the marshlands, as he kept his eyes open for anything that looked familiar to him. Unfortunately, everything seemed so foreign.

"Great, just great." He sighed. "I'm lost, out in the middle of nowhere. Not another pony to be found, and no civilization in sight. Maybe I should've let that big brute rip my head off after all..."

As he continued walking, Sleight found himself in a small forest. As he surveyed his surroundings, he suddenly stepped in some strange purple goo.

"What th-" He struggled to pull his hoof free, but to no avail. "Aw, come on! Does this day have to get worse? Haven't I suffered enough?!"

Sleight looked around. There was no sign of intelligent life anywhere, and the forest didn't exactly look warm and inviting. Sleight didn't want to think about what creatures could be out there, especially once night fell.

"Help!" He yelled. "Anypony out there?! Beloved performer in a conundrum here!"

Suddenly, there was a rustling in some nearby bushes. Sleight trembled in fear.

'What manner of foul creature is that over there?' He thought. 'Let's look on the bright side. Maybe it likes card tricks… but knowing my luck, it's probably lions, tigers, or bears… oh my indeed.'

From out of the bush came a Changeling. It stood apart from other Changelings by a notch in it's ear, and it's web-like mane. It's eyes were different too, being more of a bottle green then the usual blue. Sleight had never encountered a Changeling before, and was suitably unnerved.

"B-back off, pal!" He gulped as the changeling approached him. "I'm warning ya!"

The Changeling did not heed his desperate warning. It looked down at the goo covering his hoof.

"Okay, if you're going to eat me, then make it fast!" Sleight pleaded. "I have a low threshold for pain!"

The changeling merely glanced at the pony, when suddenly, he made a snorting sound, and with a simple 'spatootie', he spat on the trapped stallion's hooves.

"Ugh!" Sleight grunted in disgust. "What the hay is wrong with you?"

However, to his surprise, the Changeling's saliva caused the goo to dissolve, freeing Sleight. Sleight, rather shocked by what happened, gave a sheepish grin.

"Uh, thanks." He said, waving his freed hoof. "Never thought I'd be grateful that somepony spat on me..."

"You're welcome." The Changeling nodded. "That quickstick slime can be quite bothersome. You're lucky that I happened by."

"I'll say." Sleight agreed. "Though I could have gotten out by myself... Anyway, you got a name, pal?"

"Oh sure. I am Sazh Teller, good sir." The Changeling declared. "And you are?

"Me? I am the mystifying and extraordinary Sleight of Hooves, wizard extraordinaire!" Sleight said in his most dramatic voice. However, he quickly realized that he was not in a show. "Er… but I also go by 'Sleight Gambit'."

"Well, it is a pleasure to meet you, Sleight." Sazh smiled, "It's not often that we get visitors."

"I can see why…" Sleight muttered, look at their eerie surroundings. "Now, if you don't mind my asking, Sazh... where exactly am I?"

"You are in the newfound lands of the Changelings." Sazh declared. "My kind recently emigrated here, having been granted this area by Princess Celestia herself. It certainly beats a dank cave anyday."

"How nice for you." Sleight said dryly.

"However, we do not see many ponies here." Sazh noted. "May I ask how you came to be out here, so far from your homeland?"

"It wasn't by choice, pal." Sleight snorted. "I got sucked up by a twister, and dumped in that marsh back there. I barely made it out with my life."

Sazh did a double take.

"Excuse me, but did you just say that you fell out of the sky?" He asked.

"You could say that, yeah." Sleight nodded.

"Do you happen to come from a long line of great wizards by any chance?" Sazh prompted.

"Boy, do I." Sleight boasted. "In fact, my ancestor was Starswirl the Bearded himself!"

"A wizard with the blood of Starswirl the Bearded... who fell from the sky..." Sazh mused. "I can't believe it! It's the prophecy!"

"The what now?" Sleight asked, confused.

"There is a prophecy amongst my kind." Sazh declared. "I was told of it by an old friend. According to him, a wizard with the blood of Starswirl the Bearded in his veins would one day fall out of the sky and defend the land of the Changelings from a great evil."

"Oookay..." Sleight said, bemused. He had never been one to believe in 'legends' and 'prophecies', and looked down on those who did.

"Oh boy, if you are who I think you are, that must mean… we're saved!" Sazh cheered.

Sleight rolled his eyes at his kookiness. It seemed obvious that he was delusional. The pony started looking around for a path out of the forest, walking past the Changeling. "Look, thanks again for helping me out of the slime, but I think you got the wrong guy here… say, which way is it to the nearest town?"

"Wait!" Sazh gasped, stepping in front of Sleight. "You can't leave! You might be just what we need!"

"I highly doubt that." Sleight snorted as he turned the other way.

"But without you, we might be finished! The prophecy stated that the descendant of Starswirl who had fallen from the skies would defend the changelings and proceed to become king of the Changelings and mate to our beautiful queen!" Sazh continued.

Sleight immediately stopped, making tire screeching sounds. He quickly got close to Sazh, grasping him by the shoulders, "What did you say?"

"Without you, we might be finished?" Sazh gulped.

"The other part!" Sleight demanded.

"…Becoming king of the changelings and mate to our beautiful queen?" Sazh suggested.

"And when you say beautiful…what does this queen rate on the scale of 1 to 10?" Sleight followed up.

"Oh, 11, definitely." Sazh smiled. "Our queen is as beautiful as they come nowadays."

"I see…" Sleight mused, letting go of the Changeling as Sazh fell to the ground, "And you think that I could be the wizard you're looking for?"

"Yes. You have the blood of Starswirl and fell out of the sky, and the prophecy states that you are one destined to defeat the great evil and then rule the Changelings alongside our queen… that is you, right?" Sazh asked.

Sleight glanced at Sazh, as cogs turned in his head. He seems to think that he was this "wizard"… a part of him wanted to come clean and tell the truth… but he was rather curious as to what he could get out of this so-called prophecy… becoming a king and getting a beautiful mare as a wife? The thought of that just seemed too good to pass up.

Without another second to think on it, he made his decision…

Sleight gave a smile. "Well, today's your lucky day… for I am, in fact, the wizard which your prophecy speaks of."

"Really?" Sazh gasped. "The great one himself?"

"Of course." Sleight nodded. "Would I lie to you, Sash?"

"Sazh." Sazh corrected him.

"Whatever." Sleight shrugged. "Now, what say you take me to meet this 'beautiful queen' of yours?"

"At once, your magnificence!" Sazh nodded. "This way, please!"

Sazh walked down the path, Sleight right behind him.

"What a glorious day!" Sazh cheered. "The prophecy has finally come to pass. Wait until the colony hears about this! I always knew our savior would come, I always knew it!"

Watching the changeling giving a good cheer, Sleight gave a wry grin to himself.

'Well, well.' Sleight thought. 'Isn't this interesting? If I play my cards right, I may finally find that greatness I've been searching for... and a 'beautiful queen' as a bonus!'

The Wicked Twitch

Sleight and Sazh were making their way to the Changelings' village, walking through a small valley.

"So, great one, what is it like for you, back home?" Sazh asked. "Are you lauded and celebrated as the marvelous wizard you are?"

"Uh... sure!" Sleight nodded. "I can barely go anywhere without getting mobbed by my legions of adoring fans!"

"As I'm sure befits a Unicorn of such powerful magical blood such as yourself." Sazh smiled.

"Hey, quick question." Sleight declared. "What's with the voice?"

"Excuse me?" Sazh asked.

"Well, I thought you Changelings talked all buzzy, like." Sleight noted. "But you're talking just like a pony. What gives?"

"The buzzing is something of an old dialect." Sazh declared. "Like you ponies and your ancient Equestrian. A lot of us have dispensed with it, but some of the older and prouder Changelings choose to stick with it."

"Ah, I see." Sleight smiled.

"Getting back to the matter at hoof." Sazh smiled. "May I have a demonstration of your magic, great one?"

"Not just yet." Sleight said hastily. "Let's wait until I've gotten an audience with your queen. Wouldn't want her to miss the show, right?"

"Fair point. I bet when the queen sees you, she's going to be real-"

Sazh suddenly stopped dead.

"Sash?" Sleight asked. "Hello?"

Sazh suddenly leapt into a bush.

"Quickly, great one!" He called. "Follow me!"

"What? Why?!" Sleight asked.

"I can't explain now! Just trust me!" Sazh whispered desperately.

Noting the fear in his voice, Sleight made to follow, but then stopped when he saw ponies approaching. Delighted to see another equine, he went over to approach them.

"Hello, fellow ponies!" He waved.

Sazh went slack-jawed and whispered fiercely "What is he doing?!"

The leader of the trio of Earth Ponies, a light blue stallion with a blonde mane, and a stopwatch Cutie Mark, stepped forward.

"Well, well." He declared, noting Sleight's hat and waistcoat. "What's an f-f-f-f-fancy-dressed pony like you doing all the way out here?"

"Being hopelessly lost." Sleight declared. "The name is Sleight Gambit, though I also go by the stage name 'The Mystifying and Extraordinary Sleight of Hooves'. And you are?"

"Name's Twitch." The stallion smiled. He then pointed out the two stallions with him; A white stallion with a black mane, and a black stallion with a white mane. Their Cutie Marks were both spears, but they faced in opposite directions. "These are Slice and Dice."

"A pleasure, I'm sure." Sleight bowed.

The two stallions nodded their heads stiffly.

"Stage name, huh?" Twitch mused. "You some k-kind of performer?"

"A stage macician, actually." Sleight declared. "I was part of a travelling circus before I wound up here. We just stopped off in Baltimare."

"Oh, r-really?" Twitch smiled. "I have family in Baltimare. Great place."

"It's a nice place to visit, all right." Sleight nodded. "Now, if you don't mind my asking, what might you be doing here?"

"...S-scouting." Twitch said simply.

"Scouting?" Sleight asked. "Like talent scouts? Because I am quite a decent magician. Let me show you some card tricks."

Twitch held up his hoof, "Oh no, we're not that k-kind of-"

A snapping sound emerged from the bush; Sazh had most likely stood on a twig, and the bug let out a silent curse. Slice's eyes narrowed.

"There's something in that bush." He growled.

"Nothing we should be concerned about, I'm sure." Sleight said nonchalantly.

Quick as a flash, Slice jumped over to the bush, and pulled out a struggling Sazh.

"What have we here?" He sneered.

"Looks like a big ol' bug." Dice sniggered.

"Let... me... go!" Sazh struggled.

"Zip it, roach." Slice growled. "Were you spyin' on us, or something?"

"That ain't polite." Dice grinned. "Now we're gonna have ta punish ya!"

"Excellent idea, Dice." Twitch chuckled darkly.

"Hey, now!" Sleight stepped forward. "There's no need to hurt the little fellow."

"What do you c-c-c-care?" Twitch snorted. "This runt's part of an inferior species. He belongs under our hooves, squashed like the vermin he is."

"I care because he is an innocent, harmless creature!" Sleight declared.

"Innocent?!" Twitch repeated in exasperation. "W-what?! H-have you been living under a f-f-f-f-f-f-f-f-f-f-" His stuttering seem to prevent him from saying the next word, leaving him in a loop.

"Sir, you're doin' it again." Slice groaned.

Twitch stopped, and take a deep breath, continuing in a calm tone, "Have you been living under a rock? Because evidently, you do not recall the incident of the Canterlot Wedding…"

"You mean prince Shining and Princess Cadance's wedding?! That happened over twenty years ago-" Sleight countered.

"And let's not forget what happened in Baltimare and Las Pegasus two years before…" Twitch cut him off. "And what of the Crystal Empire after that?"

"Oh come on, be reasonable! I wasn't even at the Empire back then!" Sazh defended.

"Sash's right-" Sleight sputtered.

"It's Sazh." Sazh corrected.

"Sazh-" Sleight was about to continue.

"You can't even get his name right?" Slice piped up.

"You're defending this pest, but you can't remember his name. Kinda pathetic, ain't it?" Dice sneered.

"Look, the point is, Sazh isn't hurting anypony!" Sleight groaned.

"No… but why give him a chance? To quote my great uncle Smith, the changelings are a disease… and we are the cure."

"Seriously?" Slice asked.

"Okay, I might had e-embellished a little, but it doesn't matter." Twitch sighed. "All that does matter is the Changelings are nothing more than ants that need to be stomped under our hooves!"

"No!" Sleight barked, quite stupefied by their attitude towards a changeling. Sure, he heard of the bad things they had done, but surely, somepony like Sazh didn't deserve this! "I could care less what it is you have against Changelings, but I am not going to just stand by while you hurt one of them!"

Slice and Dice, as well as Twitch, all glared darkly at the magician.

"Are we gonna have a p-p-problem, Sleight?" Twitch asked, his left eye twitching. "Because I-I don't like problems. They make me mad. And w-when I am m-mad, I tend to do things that I am not p-proud of… and you do not want that. S-slice, D-dice…"

Slice and Dice let go of the changeling as they approached the magician menacingly.

'These ponies must be the evil Sazh was referring to.' Sleight thought. 'Well, let's see how they handle me!'

"Stop." Sleight hold up his hoof. Slice and Dice did as such, in confusion.

"What?" Slice and Dice asked in unison.

Sleight then pulled out a deck from one of his coat's pockets.

"Pick a card." He spread the deck out in his hoof. "Any card... in fact, why not all of them?"

Using his magic, Sleight the cards at them like a blizzard. The cards, coming in at a high speed, began nicking at them, each one hurting like a bee sting.

"Hey!" Twitch yelped. "Kn-knock it off!"

Reaching into his pockets, Sleight pulled out some exploding dice. He often used them as effects in his shows, but believed they could be of use here. He flung them at the hooves of the thugs, creating a flash-bang that sent them reeling.

"Gah! M-my eyes!" Slice cried.

"It burns!" Dice moaned.

Being blinded, and suffering a couple of scratches from the flying cards, Twitch did the only reasonable thing.

"R-r-r-r-retreat!" Twitch yelped.

The three Earth Ponies ran away at top speed.

"That's what you get for taking on Sleight the Mystifying and Extraordinary!" Sleight taunted them.

Once the assailants had fled, Sleight turned to Sazh.

"You okay?" He asked.

"Oh, thank you!" Sazh beamed. "Thank you! You are every bit the hero I knew you were!"

Sleight felt a pang of guilt. He was still lying to the poor Changeling, after all. But he managed to suppress it.

'Don't falter now, Sleight.' He told himself. 'You're so close to becoming a king and getting a beautiful mare. The little guy thinks you're a hero, so let him keep thinking that. Just keep up the act for a little while longer...'

Meanwhile, Twitch and his thugs finally stopped running.

"Who was that guy?!" Slice whimpered.

"You don't think that the Changelings got some powerful pony to fight for them, do you?!" Dice gulped.

"I dunno. But that prophecy the old vermin told might have water to it after all!" Slice shuddered. "What do we do, Twitch?!"

Twitch, being the most frazzled from this, just let out a nervous sigh.

"I don't know… but I do know this… the b-b-b-boss is so not going to be happy about this..." He gulped, his eye twitching again.

Meeting The Queen

Sleight and Sazh finally arrived at the village. It was comprised of several shoddily-made straw huts. Sleight was unimpressed.

"Eesh, I'm going to be fighting 'great evil' for this?" He asked, quite let down by his "to-be" kingdom.

"Indeed you are, great one." Sazh smiled, missing the sarcasm. "We constructed this from the ground up a few years back, using nothing but mud and twigs."

"Really?" Sleight said with mock wonder. "I would never have guessed."

"Yes, we've come a long way from the cave." Sazh smiled.

"Huh?" Sleight asked, confused.

"The Queen's dwelling is right around the corner, great one." Sazh continued.

The Queen's dwelling was less of a hut and more of a tower. As they neared the entrance, they were accosted by one of the guards. He was rather huge, and sported battle scars on his carapace and muscles.

"Where do you think you're going, mizzzter pony?" The guard snarled.

"To see the queen, of course." Sleight smirked. "Nice lisp, by the way."

"Not on my watch." The guard glared. "It'zzz bad enough knowing you poniezzz even exizzzt. I'm not going to juzzzt zzztand here and let you enter our queen'zzz abode! No pony zzzeezzz the queen, not no pony, not no how."

"Don't be a fool, Char!" Sazh declared. "This pony is a powerful wizard, who has powers you can't possibly imagine!"

"Pleazzze." Char snorted. "Like any pathetic pony izzz a match for me."

"You really should step aside." Sazh urged, "There's no need to be difficult…"

"Never." Char sneered, "I take orderzz from no pony, especially from weak filthy drones like you!"

"I don't know why you're even wearing a helmet." Sleight told Char. "You're already so hard-headed!"

"That'zzz it!" Char snarled, about to punch him.

"Enough!"

An elderly Changeling came out of the tower. He had a gray-colored shell, and his wings are crooked, yet still functional, His eyes were of a milky white color. Sleight noted that he had a beard, despite Changelings not normally growing such things.

"Who's that?" Sleight asked.

"Wizel Yggdrasil, one of our elders." Sazh whispered. "He's the one who told me of the prophecy."

"Leave them be." Wizel said to Char firmly, "I will handle this."

"But, Wizel-!" Char protested.

"Do as I say." Wizel glared, "Or I will see to it that you are transferred to larva-washing duty!"

With a grunt of displeasure, Char stepped aside, casting a death glare at Sazh and Sleight.

Wizel then turned to the two.

"Sorry about that. Char is really a good soldier… but he has a head as hard as diamonds." Wizel sighed, before smirking at Sazh. "So, Sazh, how are you doing this lovely afternoon?"

"Can't complain. I found this pony in the marshlands not so long ago." Sazh smiled, gesturing to Sleight.

"And who is this pony, exactly? And why does he want to meet with our queen?" Wizel asked.

"Allow me to introduce you to Sleight of Hooves, a powerful wizard!" Sazh declared. "And I can't explain now. All I can say is that we need to see her majesty at once!"

"A wizard, eh?" Wizel examined Sleight.

"Yes, indeed. 'The Mystifying and Extraordinary Sleight of Hooves'." Sleight boasted. "And I would gladly appreciate the chance to meet your queen…"

"Well, I suppose a quick audience wouldn't hurt." Wizel shrugged. "Please, follow me."

Wizel led Sleight and Sazh into the tower. Inside, in a well-put-together throne room, was a small court of Changelings, surrounding Queen Chrysalis herself. Sleight's eyes nearly popped out of his head.

'Whoa.' He thought. 'She's pretty cute - in a giant bug sort of way...'

As the three approached the center, Chrysalis was quick to take notice of Sleight.

"Hmm, that is odd. We rarely get pony visitors to these parts." Chrysalis mused. "Hello, Sazh. I presume you have something to do with this?"

"You presume correctly, my queen." Sazh nodded.

"Let us hope this is simply not another attempt to improve your social standing, my friend." Wizel smiled indulgently. "My beard is still singed from the last one."

"I really thought I could do it that time..." Sazh hung his head in shame.

"It was quite a light show, though." Wizel admitted.

"Who is this pony, Sazh?" Chrysalis asked.

Sleight was so smitten with Chrysalis that he was too tongue-tied to speak.

"It is he, my queen." Sazh declared. "The wizard from the prophecy."

Immediately, the room was filled with skeptical mumblings.

"Wizard?! Him?"

"The prophecy is just a fairy tale..."

"Him, the great wizard?" Char jeered, having followed them inside. "Ha! Pleazzze, Sazh, I know you are rather zzztupid, but to think that a pony is the so-called 'wizard'? That izzz a new low, even for you."

"He's right!" One Changeling agreed. "This little fop can't be the wizard!"

"Imposter!"

"Fraud!"

"Some prophecies are harder to fulfil then others, young Sazh..." Wizel sighed.

Chrysalis held up a hoof, and the room fell silent.

"Sazh, that is a rather bold statement you are making. How are you certain that this is the wizard from the prophecy that Wizel Yggdrasil had made?"

"I am sure of it, your majesty!" Sazh said proudly. "Wizel clearly said 'a wizard with the blood of Starswirl The Bearded' who 'fell out of the sky'. This stallion indeed possess said blood and fell out of said sky."

"Unfortunately, Sazh, your words alone is not enough for these naysayers." She told Sleight. "If we are to believe your and this pony's claim, he must prove his worth as a wizard, stranger."

Sleight immediately felt daunted. But before he could answer, Sazh beat him to it.

"He will!" The young Changeling cheered.

"What?!" Sleight hissed, as he pulled Sazh aside. "Sash, I've never had to perform in front of Changelings before! What am I supposed to do?!"

"Don't worry, I have faith in you, sir." Sazh smiled. "Just put your best hoof forward and they will love you."

Sleight let out a sigh and a minor gulp as he stepped forward. He pulled out a deck of cards and begin shuffling them.

"Pick a card, any card." He offered to Sazh.

"Okay." Sazh smirked.

Sazh took a card out of the deck.

"Now, put it back." Sleight urged.

When Sazh complied, Sleight shuffled the deck, then pulled out the same card Sazh had drawn.

"Is this your card?" He asked.

"Yes!" Sazh nodded in amazement.

"Ta-daaa!" Sleight bowed. He rose back up to notice the Changelings were not as impressed as Sazh.

"Really? I've seen Parazzzprite invazzzionzzz that were better than thizzz crud!" Char sneered.

A couple of Changelings murmured in agreement.

Sleight gulped.

'Okay, it's time I bring out the big guns.' He thought.

"Well, my fellow insects, that was just a warm up." Sleight put on a smile. "For my next act, I would like the queen herself to pick a card."

He began to approach the queen, when suddenly a few of the guards stepped forth, growling in defense, prompting the magician to flinch a little.

"Stand down, minions." Chrysalis declared. "I can handle this."

The guards step down, but not before giving suspicious glares. Sleight let out a relieved sigh as he held out his deck. Rolling her eyes, Chrysalis took the card, glanced at it quickly, and then put it back.

Sleight shuffled the deck again.

'Now let the real magic begin…' Sleight smirked to himself.

Using his magic, he lifted the cards into the air, and flung them around the room, as they all floated around the center of the room.

"Whoa…" Sazh gaped. He was not the only one, as Changelings all around were looking on, fully intrigued, as well as Wizel and Chrysalis. Only Char gave a disgruntled scoff.

Secretly smiling at the awed audience, he began moving his hooves, as cards began to form together. It soon took the form of a tower, and a few 'ahs' emanated from the crowd.

"You see, it is quite a wonder how much you can create with just 52 cards. While many simpletons could make a simple 'house of cards', ponies like me could do something like this!" Sleight declared.

He quickly flicked his hooves, as the tower soon morphed into a big mountain. More sounds of intrigue were made.

"And while some unicorns can hope to get this far, only a few can do this!" Sleight boldly announced.

He swung his hooves upwards, as five tendrils of cards burst out of the mountain, and took the form of five hydra heads, each with moving jaws and card like teeth. There were a lot of gasps as the hydra snapped all it's jaws at the air.

"And an even rarer few can do something of this calibre." Sleight brought his hooves inwards.

The heads soon merged into one big dragon head, and two wings sprouted from the back. It let out a powerful roar as suddenly it began to breathe a flurry of cards for fire. The audience became even more amazed and restless, and the queen and Wizel seemed to look astonished.

"But only the pony that stands before you all today is capable of this!" Sleight smirked, as the dragon soon crumpled into a pile of cards, and then, with a flick of his horn, the cards formed what seemed to be a card-based copy of him. It looked at Sleight and mirrored his movements, as the real and fake Sleight bowed to each other. The crowd gasped in amazement.

"Incredible!"

"Amazing!"

"Not bad." Wizel smiled. "Not bad at all.

Seeing the crowd getting excited for once, Sleight grew more confident as he pointed his horn upwards and lift up his hooves as the copy of him dissipated into a ball of cards and flew upwards, only to explode into a rain of falling cards.

Without a second glance, Sleight whipped out his hoof and grabbed a card out of the air, and then showed it to Chrysalis.

"Is this your card?" He asked.

"My. Indeed, it is." Chrysalis admitted.

The entire horde (except for Char, who was slightly peeved by the 'impressive' show) cheered. Even Chrysalis smiled.

"You see, your majesty? This guy is the wizard we have been waiting for!" Sazh chuckled, wrapping his hooves around Sleight.

"Indeed I do, very impressive." She nodded. "Good sir, would you and Sazh care to meet myself and Wizel in another room?"

"Of course, your majesty." Sleight bowed.

Unbeknownst to any of them, watching from outside was Twitch, who had followed Sleight and Sazh, who was horrified by what he had seen. He was currently being hoisted up by Slice and Dice.

"What's goin' on, Twitch?" Slice asked.

"Yeah, what's up?" Dice added.

"This is bad! We g-gotta get back to base!" He gulped. "G-gotta tell the boss!"

Instantly, Twitch was about to get off, but Dice lost his balance and soon the three fell to the ground hard. Shaking off the pain, the three limped out of the village undetected.

Sleight and Sazh followed Chrysalis into her personal chambers. Sleight was quite smug, believing he had impressed his future mate. As soon as the door closed, Sleight gave a wry grin.

"Taking me to your private chambers already?" He chuckled. "You work fast, my dear-"

"What is the meaning of this, Sazh?" Chrysalis asked, rounding on Sazh.

"Huh?" Sazh and Sleight chorused.

"Uh, meaning of what, your majesty?" Sazh frowned.

"I mean..." Chrysalis pointed to Sleight. "Who is this stallion?"

"Uh…your highness, this is the answer to our prayers... this is the wizard that Wizel had prophesied about!" Sazh replied, confused.

"Yeah, I am the Mystifying and Extraordinary-" Sleight started.

"Cut the act." Chrysalis interrupted. "If this is some sort of joke, considered it played!"

"Your highness, I don't understand..." Sazh said, dumbfounded.

"Isn't it obvious, #28301016?!" Chrysalis growled. Sazh winced. Even though the Changelings each had their own name, the queen often refered to them by a number, so to not get one Changeling confused with another. Nowadays, when the number is said, it meant that the queen was not happy. "This pony is-"

"Chrysalis, Chrysalis..." Wizel said calmingly. "Let me handle this." He turned to Sazh. "This pony here... he's not the wizard."

"...What?" Sazh gasped. "That can't be... I mean, he fell out of the sky... he said so himself that he was a wizard!"

"Then it seems that Sleight has lied to you." Wizel declared, he and Chrysalis glaring at Sleight.

"No... Is this... is this true, Sleight?" Sazh asked, dismayed.

"Well..." Sleight said nervously. "I wouldn't have called myself a wizard... more like a... small-time magician..."

Sazh looked at Sleight... before shaking his head.

"No, this can't be... he fitted every part of your prophecy, Wizel!" Sazh protested.

"Sazh, there are probably thousands of other ponies that could fit the prophecy... but this pony isn't the one." Wizel told him. "The moment Chrysalis and I saw him in the throne room, we knew who he really was..."

"Yes... weak, selfish, slightly egotistical, and a fibber." Chrysalis stated.

"Hey, I'm not weak!" Sleight protested, "Did you not see that show I put on out there?!"

"But you don't deny the rest though, do you?" Chrysalis noted.

"Hey, when you're right, you're right." Sleight shrugged.

"You lied to me?" Sazh asked Sleight.

"Not lied, per se." Sleight replied. "I just... went along with what you said."

"But you saved me." Sazh remembered. "You saved me from those thugs."

"Yeah, well... what was I supposed to do?" Sleight said nonchalantly. "Just let them whale on you?"

"Thugs?" Wizel asked, "What are you talking about, Sazh?"

"We ran into some bozos on the way here." Sleight explained. "They were about to give Sash-"

"Sazh." Sazh sighed.

"They were about to give Sazh a hard time had I not stepped in." Sleight explained.

"Oh my… this is not good… they're getting closer…" Wizel mused grimly.

"So you defended one of my children from an attack?" Chrysalis asked.

"I sure did." Sleight nodded.

"Then you have my thanks." Chrysalis smiled. "That was rather brave of you."

"No problem, your highness." Sleight smiled back.

"But it does not excuse the fact that you're still a charlatan, though." Chrysalis dropped the smile.

"Had a feeling you'd say that." Sleight sighed.

"The question is what do we do with you?" Chrysalis asked. "Have you entertain the little ones?"

"My queen, If I may?" Sazh asked, raising a hoof. "Maybe Sleight is not the wizard we were hoping for, but the others do not need to know that. As far as they are concerned, Sleight is the wizard they were praying for!"

"Sazh does prove a point, your majesty." Wizel nodded. "Sleight here could be a figurehead. A symbol for our kind to rally around, to gain strength from. To give them hope. Celestia knows that we could use all the help we can get right about now."

"Hmmm..." Chrysalis mused. "The idea has merit... Very well, sir Sleight, you may stay."

"As you wish." Sleight bowed… before awkwardly glancing up at Chrysalis, "So… does this mean that I won't become king or have your hoof in marriage?"

"What do you think?" Chrysalis deadpanned.

"Had a feeling you'd say that as well." Sleight declared, drooping. "Aw man…"

Face To Face

Back at the Changeling village, Sleight was talking with Wizel.

"So, uh... how long do you guys live for?" He asked. "I mean, according to Chrysalis, you are number 256..."

"Well, Sleight, a changeling is a lot different from a pony, and not just because we can take the form of any being we choose. I for one happen to be over 700 years old." Wizel explained.

"700?!" Sleight gaped, "What... how is this even possible? You should look like skin and bone right now!"

"By your ponies' standards, maybe... but by Changeling standards, I'm practically your somewhat old middle-aged stallion." Wizel mused.

"What about Sazh and Chrysalis?!" Sleight sputtered.

"Sazh is still pretty young at the age of forty. Chrysalis herself on the other hoof is about three hundred... and quite amazingly still young."

"I am not understanding this whole age system of yours." Sleight shook his head.

"Don't try to. It is something that only a Changeling can comprehend. Given the right conditions, a Changeling could live for hundreds of years, and for the queens, five times that much." Wizel explained.

"Right conditions?" Sleight repeated.

"Yes. You know that we feed on love, right?" Wizel asked.

"Right." Sleight nodded.

"Well, let me put this in a way that is simple to understand... love is like a life force to us changelings. We feed on it to sate our hunger, yes... but when we do, it rejuvenates us, filling us with a special kind of energy that continuously lengthens our lifespan. However, when one goes without love for a while... our lifespans dramatically decreases to rather meager numbers." Wizel's expression went grim…

"Like with the whole hostility between you and the ponies a few years back." Sleight recalled. "You guys were like public enemies number one!"

"Yes... not a proud moment in the history of Changelings..." Wizel shook his head glumly. "The ponies simply feared and hated something that they couldn't understand, and love for our species had practically plummeted in that period. Chrysalis had only just become queen of the hive when the love had begun to dwindle, and Changelings were dying left and right, whether it be of a shortened lifespan or of starvation... and when she heard that the Princess of Love was getting married... she thought she had found the solution... and well, you know the rest."

"I don't understand though..." Sleight muttered, "Why didn't she just come to Celestia for help?"

"And what? Admit that we were creatures incapable of surviving on our own?" Wizel countered. "We Changelings are a very prideful race... and you know how pride usually leads to downfalls..."

"Is there anything else you need to know?" Wizel asked.

"Actually, yeah." Sleight nodded. "I mean, you guys are now on better terms with the ponies. If you all are in so much trouble, why don't you just ask Princess Celestia for help now? I'm sure she could-"

"Queen Chrysalis believes Celestia has done enough for us already, by giving us this territory." Wizel reveals. "She does not wish to burden her further. That, and she didn't want to be seen as a queen incapable of running her own kingdom. You know what they say, a country and race is only as strong as the ones who run it. You understand, right?"

"I guess..." Sleight shrugged.

"I know it seems rather fool-hardy, but the queen does take after her mother and grandmother…" Wizel sighed, before giving a rather sly grin. "In more than one way, hubba-hubba…" He gave a chortle.

"You are one strange old bug." Sleight declared.

"Hey, there was a way for me to live 700 years, and I took it." Wizel defended proudly.

A Changeling mother walked by with her larva, who looked close to pupating.

"Bless you, great one!" The mother told Sleight. "All our hopes are with you!"

"Uh, thanks!" Sleight smiled.

"I just know you're gonna that mean ol' Red Eclipse who's boss!" The larva added. "You're gonna save us all, right?"

"Right..." Sleight said awkwardly. It was starting to dawn on him how much the Changelings were counting on him. From what he'd heard, Red Eclipse was one tough customer. What if he couldn't help the Changelings beat him? What would happen to all their hopes then?

"Is something wrong, Sleight?" Sazh asked, joining his side.

"Oh, nothing." Sleight smiled weakly. "It's just... what if I really can't help you guys? What if nothing I can do will stop Red Eclipse?"

"I have faith in you, Sleight." Sazh smiled. "I know you'll knock him dead."

A high-pitched buzzing suddenly rang out.

"What's that noise?" Sleight cringed, covering his ears.

"The alarm!" Sazh gasped. "Trouble's coming!"

They followed the sound to the front of the village, where a group of intimidating ponies came in, toting a hidden package, led by Twitch. As the Changelings and Sleight gathered in apprehension, Red Eclipse then made his entrance, towering over his minions.

The Earth Pony's stature intimidated most of the Changelings, and Sleight himself. His blood-red coat and short blackish gray mane stood out amongst the paler colors around him. His right eye was covered by an eyepatch, and the other was a vivid gold. A rusted shoulder guard adorned his left shoulder, and his Cutie Mark was of a lunar eclipse with a red, slitted eye within the darkness. He had a disgruntled look on his face, as if something incredibly foul-smelling was right under his nose.

A quiver of fear ran through Sleight…

'Holy crud… that's Red Eclipse?!' He despaired on the inside.

Queen Chrysalis stepped forward.

"What is your business here?" She demanded.

"No doubt you've all heard of me by now." Red Eclipse smirked. "But for the sake of courtesy, allow me to properly introduce myself: I am Red Eclipse."

A few Changelings murmured in fear.

"Yes, my children have told me all about you…" Chrysalis declared, as her glare darkened. "I do not know what it is you want… but as far as I am concerned, you are the enemy, and therefore, aren't welcome here!" A few of the bolder Changelings hissed to emphasize her point.

Red Eclipse was not deterred, "Funny, I could say the very same thing about the lot of you."

"What is it that you want?" Wizel snapped, taking his place aside the queen. "Because I highly doubt you are here to 'make nice' with us."

"Ah yes." Red Eclipse nodded, as he gave a quick glance back at Twitch. "A little 'birdie' with a nervous tic had brought to my attention that there was a pony among you that's 'prophesized' to stop me."

"So what there is? What is it to you?" Chrysalis asked with venom in her voice.

"Now, now, there's no need to be testy, Queenie…all I ask is where is this pony that's supposed to quote unquote 'stand against me…'" Red Eclipse nonchalantly shrugged.

From behind a couple of Changelings, Sazh and Sleight watched, as Sleight was horrified by the size of Red. He tried to discreetly back away.

"Okay, Sleight, now is your time to show him what you are made of." Sazh declared.

"Are you nuts?!" Sleight gulped. "He's huge! I can't fight him!"

"Oh, sure you can!" Sazh smiled. "Just use your fancy card magic and you'll send him running! Now get out there!"

Sazh bucked Sleight out into the open.

"GAH!" Sleight landed in the clearing that Red and Chrysalis were in. He was quick to regain poise.

"Who is this?" Red Eclipse asked, clearly unimpressed.

"Allow me to introduce you to Sleight... The Mystifying and Extraordinary, and the pony that will be your downfall." Chrysalis announced.

"...I wouldn't necessarily say 'downfall'..." Sleight said timidly.

"Really?" Red Eclipse smirked as he approached Sleight. "So, you are the wizard that the feeble old Changeling rambled on about in his prophecy?"

"Uh, yes... and I take it that you are... Red Eclipse." Sleight shuddered. "Sleight Gambit, nice to meet you."

Red Eclipse was silent for a moment... then suddenly, he began to laugh. The Changelings and Red's ponies were confused, Twitch moreso. Eventually, he stopped.

"Oh, Sleight. Oh, Sleight, Sleight, Sleight..." He wiped a tear from his eye.

"Did I say something funny?" Sleight asked.

"No... but I'll admit, when Twitch came to me, rambling and sputtering about some 'all-powerful wizard', it certainly had me concerned for a bit." Red Eclipse smiled. "So much, that I came all this way just to meet him... and instead..." His smile turned into a sneer. "...I am met with this weakling?" He turned to Twitch. "Remind me to maim you once we're done here."

Twitch gulped.

Sleight frowned in offense. "Now wait just a moment. Sure, I might not be Starswirl, but you can't tell the strength of a pony just by looking at him!"

"Please. I have come face to face with many ponies in my lifetime. I happen to have a knack for knowing these kind of things…" Red Eclipse sneered.

"Well then, you obviously hadn't heard of me. I am the wizard of the prophecy, and I will protect these Changelings from you!" Sleight barked, now incensed by this pony's attitude.

"Really? Tell me, Sleight, what are these pathetic creatures to you, exactly? Because you obviously aren't in it for the money…" The Changelings hissed in offense, "And I would be sick to my stomach to consider that you actually have feelings for some of these mongrels…"

"Hey, my reasons to help these Changelings are my business." Sleight growled, tipping his hat. "Why do you care either way?"

"Because, while I may be seen as a cruel war monger, I would hate to have to put down a fellow pony because he got it in his head that he's some glorified 'hero'…" Red Eclipse shrugged. "And a pathetic one at that…" His men chuckled darkly.

"Well..." Sleight tried to rebut. "I am a 'hero' and if you do not stop with this whole 'racist' angle you have going here, I will have to make you stop!"

"Heh, scary…" Red mocked, as he faced all the Changelings. "You bugs must really be desperate. Putting all your bets on a single, pathetic, and rather showy Unicorn…" He then walked up to Chrysalis. "You'd think a 'queen' would have more dignity then that. Even a filthy bug queen."

"I will only ask you one more time…" Chrysalis growled. "Leave these lands-"

Red Eclipse slapped Chrysalis before she could finish.

"Yeah, like an ugly wretch like you has a say in what I do…" Red sneered.

"Hey!" Sleight leapt forward. "Leave her alone!"

"Like bugs, do you?" Red Eclipse smirked. "Come on then, hero. Give me your best shot."

"Take this!" Sleight flung his cards at Red Eclipse, who, displaying great speed for his size, jumped aside.

Sleight threw more cards at Red, hoping to blind him, but Red simply kicked and stomped the cards (Even tearing some up with his bare teeth).

"Peh!" Red spit out a few torn cards. "Card tricks won't save your hide!"

"Oh, then maybe a couple of dice will!" Sleight roared, as he threw a pair right at him… only for Red to catch it with his hoof.

"I think not…" Red chuckled darkly, as he squeezed the dice, making a small boom in his clutched hoof.

Sleight, getting desperate, reached for another pair of trick dice. In an instant, Red was upon him, grabbing his hoof before he could throw them.

"No more tricks." Red snarled. "Let's see how well you fight like a stallion!"

Red punctuated the last word with a cross hoof. Sleight went down, then scrambled to his hooves.

"Gah…" Sleight gasped, rubbing his jaw. Trying to recover, he tried throwing his own punch at Red's face… but the moment his hoof met Red's face, it felt like it had hit a concrete wall.

"Holy mother of-" Sleight stifled a curse, as he held his hurt hoof. "What the buck do they feed you?!"

"The blood and guts of weaklings like you!" Red roared. "Now, let me show you what real battle is all about!"

Sleight let out a growl as he tried to throw another punch, but Red caught it, and held it fast, allowing him to punch Sleight over and over again. The Changelings looked on in shock, none of them brave enough to step in.

Red blasted Sleight back with his last punch, as the now bruised pony slowly rose to his feet.

"Come on, surely this isn't all you have to offer, is it?" Red taunted.

The magician pony, more desperate than ever, began firing beams of magic at the evil pony. Unfortunately, each beam seemed to bounce off Red, barely leaving scratches behind.

"How disappointing." Red shook his head.

Sleight pulled up another deck of cards, and was about to throw them, but Red quickly ran towards him and clutched his horn, and with a vicious swing of his head, gave him a massive head butt, knocking off his hat. Sleight went down once more, and Red rained down punches on him.

"Unbelievable… this is your savior?!" Red roared out to all the Changelings around him. "Surely you jest! This pony is no savior! He's a weakling!" He kicked Sleight. "A cheap trickster!" He kicked him again. "Nothing but a pathetic sideshow act!" He kicked him real hard.

Chrysalis only watched on in horror as Sleight kept getting kicked by Red Eclipse, as well as Sazh and Wizel. Sazh tried to go to Sleight, only to be stopped by Wizel.

"What are you doing?" Sazh snarled. "I have to help Sleight!"

"Help him how?" Wizel asked. "What can you do against that fiend?"

Sazh stood down, seething with impotent fury.

Finally, Red picked Sleight up, and with a heave, threw him through the nearest hut. Sleight let out a weak groan, as all of his body was now hurting…

"Well, I've had my fun..." Red shrugged. "Unless you Changelings have another 'wizard', it's about time I finished this."

Red walked towards the destroyed hut, and picked up the bruised Sleight. He was about to finish him off when…

"Stop!" Chrysalis yelled, desperation and fear ringing clear in her voice. "You're proven your point! Now leave him be!"

Red glanced back at the queen, and then at the weakened wizard, moaning in his hoof. "Whatever you say, queenie." Red snorted, as he unceremoniously dropped Sleight to the ground. "Besides, I almost forgot, I brought something to show you."

Red nodded to Twitch, who had the others, open the packing, revealing a large and rather ominous cannon.

"You like?" Red asked. "There's plenty more where that came from."

The Changelings looked on in horror.

"You Changelings have no place in this territory, let alone Equestria, or the world." Red spat. "And for being so stupid as to challenge me, I give you this choice: to leave here and never return… or die."

Red signal the stallions by the cannon. They set it off, destroying a nearby hut, prompting the changelings to screech in horror.

"Consider that an example!" Red sneered. "I will return in three days with all my ponies and arsenal to purge this land." He looked down at Sleight's battered body. "Unless of course, your little 'prophecy' comes true… if not, then I highly suggest that you run. Not that it will make any difference… for no matter how far you run… I will find you… and I will eradicate your very being… keep that in mind…"

Red spat on the ground before turning and leaving, his minions in tow.

"G-great speech, boss." Twitch shamelessly compliment him. "Really..."

"Zip it." Red growled. "I've still got half a mind to tear you apart for making me come out here, just for that loser."

"Y-yes, boss." Twitch trembled.

Chrysalis was left breathless and admittedly terrified, and Sazh and Wizel were dumbstruck.

"Oh Faust…" Chrysalis whispered, almost reduced to tears.

"This was what I feared…" Wizel muttered.

"Sleight…" Sazh murmured.

Sleight, struggled to his hooves, aching all over. He could feel the eyes of every Changeling looking at him, shocked at how their prophesized hero had been so utterly crushed. Their hopes had been shattered, thanks to him. Sleight felt lower than low.

"…I've failed…" Sleight muttered to himself, tears coming to his eyes.

Truth

The Changeling council was in an uproar. Mere minutes after Red Eclipse had beaten Sleight to within an inch of his life, they had gathered in the tower. They were the leaders of the various roles of the village (Char, as head of the guards, was amongst them), and they were frantically discussing their options. Chrysalis, flanked by Wizel, was overseeing the argument with dismay.

"What are we going to do?!" Slog, head of construction, asked. "If they could take down one of our buildings with just one blast, imagine what it could do to us!"

"We can't leave our home!" Dair, the nursery's top supervisor, despaired. "We were given this land by the princess herself! That monster has no right to kick us out of our home!"

"But we can't fight Red Eclipse!" Countered Vurp, the chief archivist. "He's too powerful!"

"Then we have to run away!" Gerrik, lead councilor, yelled.

"But where, though?!" Slog asked.

"I dunno, anywhere but here!" Gerrik declared. "We did it once before, we can do it again!"

"We can't, though!" Dair insisted. "The eggs are only just hatching, and there are still a bunch of growing larvae. We can't hope to escape with all the larvae intact in less than 72 hours!"

The others, along with Chrysalis and Wizel nodded in agreement... but Char stepped in.

"Well there'zzz a zzzolution to that: leaving the eggzzz behind." He said simply.

The other Changelings were shocked, especially Dair and Wizel.

"Leave the eggs?!" Dair gasped. "Char, you are suggesting that we leave those poor defenseless larvae behind!"

"What choice do we have, Dair?" Char asked. "Azzz of now, they are nothing more than dead weight!"

"Colonel Char, those 'dead weights' as you call them are our future!" Wizel said sternly. "To abandon them to die at the ends of those monsters is murder, and taking their lives away before they can even experience them!"

"Pleazzze!" Char snorted. "Our queen can eazzzily lay more of them! Thizzz is a dog-eat-dog world, old one, and only the strongezzzt zzzurvive!"

Chrysalis, not willing to listen to the thought of leaving her children to die, was about to intervene...

"You're wrong!"

The council turned to find Sazh standing before them, quite upset.

"Okay, who let the twerp in here?!" Char said mockingly.

"We are not leaving those larvae to their doom!" Sazh declared. "And we are most definitely not leaving this land! This is our home!"

"Sazh..." Chrysalis sighed.

"Chrysalis, allow me..." Wizel insisted. "Sazh, I know you are upset, but-"

"But nothing!" Sazh interrupted. "You guys seem to forget that we still have our wizard!"

"Wizard?!" Char snorted. "That pony wazzz no wizard! He juzzzt got hizzz flank handed to him on a zzzilver platter by the pony he wazzz zzzuppozzzed to defeat! He'zzz nothing but a fraud!"

"He was beat pretty bad..." Slog agreed.

"It was so hard to watch." Vurp grimaced.

"Sleight was just off his game!" Sazh claimed. "The next time, he'll-"

"There izzzn't going to be a next time!" Char roared. "The prophecy is worthlezzzzzz! The wizard in it, worthlezzzzzz! And do you know why? Becauzzze he'zzz a pony, and ponies are abzzzolutely worthlezzzzzz! Azzz are you, you pony-loving freak!"

"Now that's just uncalled for!" Sazh declared.

"Zzzhut up!" Char knocked him down.

"That's enough, Char." Chrysalis glared. "And I absolutely refuse to leave my children behind, Red Eclipse or not. And Sleight may still be able to save us."

"You too, my queen?" Char gasped. "Why are zzzo many ready to believe that a pony can be our zzzavior?"

"Sleight was just caught off-guard before." Wizel declared. "When Red Eclipse comes back, I assure you, he will be ready."

"Where is the wizard, anyway?" Vurp asked.

"...A very good question." Chrysalis mused.

Excusing themselves from the meeting, Chrysalis, Sazh, and Wizel searched the tower for Sleight. They eventually found him in his room (that was given to him the night before), packing his things up.

"What is this?" Chrysalis asked.

"What does it look like?" Sleight shot back. "I'm getting out of here!"

"You can't just leave!" Chrysalis declared. "We had an agreement!"

"Nopony told me that I would be facing down a stallion twice the size of me, and a freakin' cannon!" Sleight yelped. "That's some information I could've used before!"

"You can't just leave!" Sazh protested, "We need our wizard!"

"No, you need a real wizard! Better yet, a general!" Sleight rebutted.

"But you're all we've got!" Chrysalis protested, "You cannot just leave when everypony is depending on you!"

"Why not?" Sleight asked, taking a gulp from his hip flask. "I've already proven how useless I am against that psycho. My dad always said I was worthless. I betcha that bum is laughing it up right now!"

"Sleight, this isn't helping..." Wizel tried to calm him down.

"Exactly!" Sleight pointed. "I can't help anyone! I've failed at everything I've ever done. I had this marefriend once, the prettiest, most lovely girl around, and what did I do? I messed things up, just like always! I lost her to another stallion, a better stallion then I could ever hope to be."

"Running away won't solve anything." Wizel declared.

"It's worked okay for me so far." Sleight huffed.

"Is that what Trixie would want you to do?" Chrysalis asked. "To run away?"

Sleight stopped in his tracks.

"How did you-" He asked.

Chrysalis held up the picture of the two, which had fallen out of Sleight's bag during his frenzied packing.

"Such lovely gams." Wizel leered. "I see why you liked her so much."

"Trixie would no doubt be ashamed of you if you just gave up." Chrysalis remarked.

"ENOUGH!!" Sleight exploded. "I'm no hero! I'm no savior! I'm nothing more than a fraud and a coward, and will never amount to anything. My dad was a pitiful drunk, and even he knew that! Every night, he'd down his mead, and take out his own lousy life on me! It was because of him… that when Trixie told me she wanted to settle down and start a family with me, I had to deny her that, because I knew I'd become just like him! She of all ponies didn't deserve that!"

"That's not true!" Sazh protested.

"Yes, it is." Sleight took another gulp from his flask, before showing it to them. "See? I'm already down the path! I can barely go a week without emptying this cursed thing!"

Sleight stole another gulp from his flask.

"I'm just some two-bit sideshow pony." He admitted.

"Sleight..." Wizel said firmly.

"A selfish, greedy, skirt-chasing jerk..." Sleight continued.

"Sleight..." Wizel repeated, perturbed.

"A waste of space, and magic." Sleight sighed.

"That's enough." Wizel growled, irriated.

"Trust me, you, the Changelings, and everypony else, is better off without me!" Sleight despaired, taking another gulp from his flask.

"That's enough!" Wizel roared. He knocked the flask from Sleight's hoof and stomped it into pieces.

"Wizel?!" Chrysalis and Sazh gasped.

Then Wizel punched Sleight right in his already-bruised snout.

"GAH! Why the buck did you do that?!" Sleight growled, rubbing his snout.

"I am sick and tired of your confounded 'poor me' act!" Wizel growled back. "You are a wizard, Sleight, act like it!"

"No, I'm not!" Sleight spat. "You and Chrysalis said so yourself! I'm not the wizard from the prophecy-"

"For Faust's sake, I made it up!" Wizel admitted.

The room went silent, as the three glanced at him in shock.

"...What?" Sleight gasped.

"Wizel? What you mean you made it up?" Chrysalis asked.

"I mean..." Wizel sighed. "...the prophecy never existed. I made it up off the top of my head."

"Are you kidding me?" Sazh whispered.

"Wizel, why would you do that?" Chrysalis asked angrily. "Lying to the Changelings?! Lying to me?! Lying to Sleight?!"

"I didn't think that you would all take it so seriously." Wizel retorted. "I was only trying to give them a glimmer of hope... something that you hadn't been doing for a long time!"

"Excuse me?!" Chrysalis frowned.

"That's right, your majesty... I made the prophecy up, because you were so darn insistent that we didn't need Celestia's help, so blinded by your pride that you were about to lead us to certain doom... for the fourth time!" Wizel admonished her.

"W-what?" Chrysalis stuttered, caught off-guard.

"I'm sorry, Chrysalis... but you had made a lot of bad choices in your time as queen... and after the Canterlot Wedding, you had made us into the monsters that they had feared us to be!" Wizel recalled. "Changelings were dying, and I was left with the damage control... then you had the stupid idea of invading the Crystal Empire! And we were left even worse off! It was a miracle that Prince Paladin had finally talked some sense into you before you went and screwed us over for the third time!"

Chrysalis was stupefied, tears coming to her eyes.

"Whoa... that is harsh..." Sazh declared.

"W-wizel... I-I was only trying to..." Chrysalis muttered.

"I know you were, Chrysalis." Wizel said, calming down. "But you must understand, that I only made this prophecy so that the Changelings would have hope... I didn't want the legacy of Changeling matriarchs to end with you. Never in my wildest dreams did I think there would be a pony that could fulfill the prophecy..."

"So, not only was I not the wizard from the prophecy, the prophecy never existed... so I got throttled by a war-monger for nothing?!" Sleight snarled, outraged.

"I'm afraid so." Wizel nodded. "But I truly believe you can make a difference here, Sleight. So you're not the wizard we were hoping for. So you don't have the powers we figured you have. You are capable of more than you know, Sleight. Everything happens for a reason. You are here to serve a purpose. Do not flee from it."

Sleight glanced at the three Changelings… before drooping…

"I'm sorry… but all I am is a carnival magician… a con pony… I can't be the pony you all want me to be…" Sleight muttered, trying to stifle another tear.

"Look, we all had a long day. How about you just sleep on it?" Chrysalis suggested, wiping a tear from her eye. "We can figure out what to do then. Okay, Sleight?"

Sleight only gave a sad nod…

"Good." Chrysalis sighed. "Let us go…"

Wizel and Sazh acknowledged her with a nod, as the two gave Sleight sympathetic looks as they left. Chrysalis made to follow them…but just as she was about to close the door, she turned to Sleight "For all it's worth… I know there's more to you then what you think. There's a great stallion within you, just waiting to come out. I can feel it."

"That makes one of us." Sleight whispered as Chrysalis left.

Later that night, Sleight stood on the balcony of his room. He watched the moon, lost in thought.

"Sleight?" Sazh asked, as he walked to him.

"What is it, Sazh?" Sleight sighed.

"Do you... want to talk?" Sazh offered.

"No." Sleight answered. "But I think I need to."

"I can't believe the prophecy was all a lie." Sazh sighed. "I believed in it with all my heart and soul."

"Sorry about that, pal." Sleight sighed.

"So... was this Trixie pony really as wonderful as you said?" Sazh asked.

"No. She was better," Sleight smiled, "She meant the whole world to me… We first met when the travelling circus came by Baltimare. Back then, I just ran this dinky little booth, picking cards that "best expressed" the customers' characters. She came by, and asked for me to pick a card for her. She was so beautiful, I actually did it free of charge. I picked the queen of hearts, told her she had the looks of a queen. That really charmed her. I asked her if she wanted to go out some time. She said 'yes', and we went to the movies that very same night." Sleight smiled warmly. "I walked her home, and she asked if we could go out again. I said 'yes', of course, and for a few months, I was the happiest stallion in Equestria." His face fell. "Of course, then it all went sour. Trixie started wanting a 'commitment' from me, expecting me to propose. I couldn't do it, and I told her so. We decided to break up not long after, though we stayed friends. I still love her, y'know. Letting her go was the worst mistake of my life. Not a day went by that I didn't wish things were different and she and I were together. She even made me the godfather of her child…"

"That was nice of her." Sazh smiled.

"As long as I didn't become a real father." Sleight sighed. "I'd've have been as bad as my dad."

"And... what of your father?" Sazh asked.

"He wasn't so bad at first." Sleight admitted. "But then my mom died. He was devastated, turned to drinking as a way to cope, and starting taking his anger out on me. The only way I coped was being with my grandfather, Wild Card. He taught me everything he knew when it came to card tricks... for what little good it did. When he passed away, I had to get away from my dad… so I ran away to the circus and became a lowly sideshow attraction…"

"Don't sell yourself short." Sazh consoled him. "I have faith in you, Sleight?"

"How?" Sleight asked. "How can you still have faith in me, when I've already let you, Chrysalis, my grandfather, and even Trixie down more than once?"

"It's complicated." Sazh declared. "I was born a runt. Hardly anypony wanted me. It was Wizel who took me in, raised me from a larvae. He was his only friend, the only one who gave me even an ounce of care and respect. Back then, I had no faith in any ponies, for I was taught that ponies were the bad ones who always treated Changelings like savages, and for that, I was afraid of them. But even then, Wizel was my only friend... but one day, about twenty years ago, while flying over a cherry orchard, I was hit by a wayward ball. I landed in a patch of thorns, only to be found by this young Pegasus colt. I was afraid that he was going to get an older pony to finish me off... but instead, the colt helped me out. And when he was hurt, I returned the favor." Sazh smiled. "It was on that day that I learned that not all ponies were bad... and to this day, I still believe it, no matter how badly treated I am by both my peers and the ponies."

"Sazh..." Sleight said quietly.

"I still believe in you, because you were the first pony I met that actually stood up for me." Sazh declared. "When I was caught by those ponies... when Char was bullying me... you defended me."

"Well, I had to... isn't that what friends do for each other?" Sleight shrugged.

"Yes... yes it is." Sazh gave him a small smile. "Look, Sleight... things may seem bleak right now, but I know... I know you can do this, because I believe in you... and I always will. Under all that pain and suffering and regret… under all the lies and misdeeds… there is a great pony…"

"Thanks, pal." Sleight smiled.

"So... how great was your grandfather, anyway?" Sazh asked, "In terms of magic, I mean?"

"Oh, he was one of the best, Sazh. He was not famous… nor rich… but his way with cards and illusion was unmatched by any others…" Sleight sighed, as he pulled a small pocketbook from his jacket. "He was the only pony besides Trixie that ever understood me. Whenever things got too much at home, he would teach me one of his famous tricks from this pocketbook. When he passed away, this was the only thing he left me…"

"So this is like a wizard's spellbook?" Sazh asked.

"In a way, I guess…" Sleight whispered, as he nonchalantly flipped through the pages. "With only a deck of cards, he created magic…and not just any sort of magic, but true, unadulterated magic…"

"So… he was a wizard like you?" Sazh asked.

"No…" Sleight admitted, "He was a wizard that I wanted to be…"

"But you are, Sleight." Sazh stated simply, prompting Sleight to glance at him, "I can tell. Maybe you aren't a wizard like Starswirl-wait, are you really related to him?"

"I don't know really…" Sleight shook his head, "My grandfather always bragged that we were… but I was never sure if he was yanking my chain or not."

"Well, either way, even if you aren't a wizard like him… you are a good wizard, too." Sazh smiled.

Sleight couldn't help but return a smile, as he looked at the pocketbook. He was about to close it when he noticed the page he was on. Glancing closely at it, his eyes lit up.

"By gosh, that's it!" He gasped.

"What's it?" Sazh asked.

"I know how to get you guys out of this mess!" Sleight smiled. "Come on, we've got to tell the queen!"

"Tell the queen what?" Sazh questioned, as Sleight quickly ran towards the door.

Sleight paused as he opened the door, levitating his top hat (recovered by the Changelings after his fight) onto his head, and smiled at Sazh.

"That I've got a plan…"

Preparations

The next morning, Chrysalis, at Sleight's suggestion, gathered all the Changelings together in the town.

"My children, the wizard has a plan." She announced. "A plan that will rid us of Red Eclipse and his thugs once and for all!"

Chrysalis stepped aside, allowing Sleight to take the helm.

"The answer is simple, my friends." He declared. "As you know, to face Red Eclipse and his legion would be futile. So we won't even try."

The crowd murmured with confusion.

"Instead, we will use misdirection and illusions to defeat Red Eclipse!" Sleight announced. "Just as the stage magician bamboozles his audience, so too will we deceive and confuse our enemies. We will make them believe we have the power to defeat them, and send them running."

"You expect uzzz to agree to zzzuch a cowardly and ridiculouzzz plan?" Char spat. "And wazzzte all our remaining time? I don't think zzzo!"

Char's fellow guards backed him up.

"He has a point." Slog noted. "This sounds like the old us, using lies and deception to get what we want."

"What other choice do we have?" Sazh asked.

"My young friend is right." Wizel agreed. "To fight those fiends directly would be futile. And to run would be true cowardice."

"We Changelings were once well-known for our cunning." Chrysalis recalled. "If keeping our home means using that guile once more, then so be it! We were quite the tricksters back in the day, and we will be again... but this time, for a just cause."

"I promise you, it will work." Sleight assured them. "I swear, none of you will have to leave your homes or young ones behind. Now, who's with me?"

"I am!" Sazh smiled.

"As am I." Wizel raised a hoof.

"Me, too." Chrysalis grinned.

One by one, the gathered Changeling all raised their hooves in agreement. Even Char, bowing to the majority.

"I zzztill zzzay it'zzz a zzztupid idea." He pouted.

"Too bad, Char." Sazh taunted him. "You're outvoted."

"Watch your zzztep, runt." Char snarled.

"Now, now." Wizel stepped in. "Let's save the anger for our enemies."

"Don't think thizzz changezzz anything." Char growled. "Mark my wordzzz, you will regret truzzzting that foolizzzh pony..."

"Like a broken record..." Sazh rolled his eyes.

"Okay Slog, I have a special task for you and your builders." Sleight declared, holding up some blueprints. "Can you make this for me?"

"What is it?" Slog perused the papers.

"The key to our victory." Sleight smiled.

Sleight returned to his room and looked through the back section of his grandfather's book. That section contained spells Sleight had considered 'too difficult' or 'too unwieldy' for his show. Now, though, he believed those spells could be useful.

The first spell he tried was one that could copy cards, enabling him to have a near-limitless supply. For a few seconds, he struggled, and struggled more, trying to duplicate a single card. With a grunt of effort, he succeeded.

"Yes!" He smiled. "Double or nothing..."

With a little more effort, Sleight copied two cards, then three, then four. Soon, he was up to a full deck. Using all his willpower, he levitated the deck and soon, it split into two identical decks. Satisfied, he moved on to the next spell: Changing a cards' size. This proved to be a little harder.

"Come on, you..." He groaned, his horn glowing.

The card suddenly doubled in size... before shrinking back down.

"Aw, jeez!" Sleight groaned.

It took the better part of an hour for Sleight to actually manage to hold a size change. As night fell, he decided to call it a day, and work on the harder spells the next day.

As he stood out on the balcony, gazing at the emerging stars, he was joined by Chrysalis.

"Your majesty." He said respectfully.

"Please, call me Chrysalis." Chrysalis smiled. "Things are going well. You certainly inspired my Changelings back there."

"Well... you, Sazh and Wizel helped." Sleight said modestly.

"True." Chrysalis nodded. "Speaking of which, I'd like to thank you for what you did before. Coming to my aid when Red Eclipse struck me. It was very gallant of you."

"Oh, thanks." Sleight blushed. "I couldn't let that brute get away with that. Where I come from, we treat a lady right."

"I'm not surprised." Chrysalis smiled. "For that place to produce a stallion like you, it must be a society to be respected."

"You flatter me, Chrysalis." Sleight sighed. "We both know I'm not that good."

"Nonsense." Chrysalis declared. "We all make mistakes. I've made some pretty big ones in my time. Sometimes, I worry that I can never be truly good..."

"But you are." Sleight told her. "You look out for your children. You protect them. You even trust a guy like me with their future. If that's not good, I don't know what is. I really don't..."

"So you say." Chrysalis smiled. "But I've seen how good you can be with my own eyes. You just need to believe it, and accept the greatness within you."

"Greatness?" Sleight looked into Chrysalis' eyes, and she looked into his.

For a moment, they stood frozen, then...

"Anyway." Sleight snapped out of it, blushing heavily. "I've been working on some new tricks that should really help."

"That's... good to hear." Chrysalis replied, also blushing. "I look forward to seeing that. ...Good night, Sleight."

Chrysalis flew off the balcony, and up to her own room. Sleight stared after her, a longing look on his face.

"Get a grip, Sleight." He told himself. "She's too good for you... just like Trixie was…"

The next day, Sleight got to work on the next spell: Merging an object or pony with a card. He started with an apple.

"And... go!" He cried, forcing them together.

He only managed half an apple.

"Dang it…" Sleight muttered, as he lifted up the half apple… only to pick up the half that wasn't merged with the card, "Yikes…"

He got it right the second time though, and decided to move on to putting something the size of a pony in a card, enlisting Sazh to help him.

"Are you sure about this, Sleight?" Sazh asked nervously.

"Look, the only way this plan is going to work is if I can merge a pony within this card." Sleight declared, holding up a card.

"Yeah, but why does it has to be me?!" Sazh trembled.

"Because we didn't exactly have a surplus of volunteers." Sleight answered. "Now, shush. I'm concentrating."

He held the card in front of him, focusing his magic, then flung it at Sazh. There was a flash of light... and there was Sazh, with a card bearing his face for a head.

"Whoops." Sleight cringed.

"Hrrrlp!" Sazh said, muffled.

"Uh, don't worry, Sash, I'll get you out of there." Sleight stammered, as he rifled through the pocketbook.

"Szh!" Sazh muffled in a peeved tone.

"Sorry, Sazh!" Sleight rolled his eyes.

The next few tries were just as fruitful, with several of Sazh's body parts becoming cards (Fortunately, the reverse spell was not so tricky). On the fifth try, Sleight finally managed it.

"Yes, yes, yes!" He cheered, as he turned Sazh back. "How do you feel?"

"Like I've just been squeezed into a very tight box." Sazh admitted, "And it's very empty in there."

"Shake it off, pal." Sleight smiled. "The fun is just starting!"

Next up was the card portal spell. It proved to be even more difficult.

"Come on, baby." He whispered to his queen of hearts card.

Charging the card with magic, he flung it across the room. Instead of expanding into a door-shaped pillar of light, it sputtered and exploded.

"Okay… that happened…" Sleight glanced unsurely.

"Who knew cards were combustible." Sazh shrugged.

On the next try, it turned into a portal, but retained it's original size.

"Well, I suppose we could... send a mouse through." Sazh declared.

"Or a very angry gerbil." Sleight added. "Red Eclipse won't be expecting that."

On the third try, he managed it.

"Ah-ha, I got it!" Sleight cheered, as he then slide out another card under the door leading outside. "Now for the other side, and..." He concentrated again. A glow edging under the door indicated success. "Oh, yeah!"

"Good work, Sleight!" Sazh slapped Sleight on the back, accidentally knocking him though the portal, to the corridor outside. "Ooh, sorry."

"No worries." Sleight shrugged, poking his head back through. "I needed to pop out for a while, anyway."

Sleight went outside the tower, and found a small group of construction Changelings.

"Hey, guys." He whispered. "I need to work on something."

"What is it, oh great one?" The leader asked.

"A balloon." Sleight answered.

"A balloon?" A smaller Changeling asked.

"Yeah. I left one back in the marshland." Sleight nodded. "I need it ready by tomorrow. Think you can swing that?"

"I suppose so..." The lead builder declared.

On the third day, Sleight went for the trick he had faked on stage so many times: The card teleport. He enchanted several cards to become a whirlwind, enveloping himself with magical energy and transporting him elsewhere.

His first attempt sent him a foot or so away from his original position.

"Good news: it worked." Sleight noted. "Bad news: I barely moved at all."

It took a lot of practice (and most of the day) for him to increase that distance. Once he had achieved a satisfactory distance, he closed the book, confident that he was ready for what was coming.

"Prepare yourself, Red Eclipse." Sleight smirked. "You are about to pay witness to a show of a lifetime!"

As the day ended, Red Eclipse and Twitch looked upon the village from afar.

"Still there, huh?" Red snarled. "Big mistake."

"R-really big, boss." Twitch agreed.

"Let's go rally the troops." Red smirked. "Time for those bugs to get exterminated."

Sleight's Greatest Performance

Red Eclipse's army began their march towards the Changeling village. Several of them were carting along more cannons.

"This is it, troops!" Red roared. "We're gonna crush those filthy bugs under our hooves! Take no prisoners!"

The assembled ponies cheered.

As they trotted down the path to the village, they found something unusual blocking their way. A swathe of blue petals covered every for the next few yards.

"What is this stuff?" Red frowned.

"Who cares?" One of the bolder stallions in his army declared. "Let's keep moving!"

Several others followed in his wake. Red, on the other hoof, stood his ground, knowing that something was amiss.

As the ponies charged through the petals, one suddenly saw their hooves expand. Another had his tail spin like a rotor, carrying him upwards.

"What's going on?" Red snarled.

"P-p-p-poison joke, boss!" Twitch gasped. "They covered the whole path with it!"

"Then we'll take another path!" Red declared.

"What about the others?" Slice pointed out the afflicted ponies.

"Leave 'em." Red growled. "They're useless right now!"

As they followed another path, Red stuck to the rear, so as to avoid any other surprises. It was a good move, as the next path was dotted with hidden pitfalls and puddles of Changeling slime. Many more of his army wound up dropping into the holes, or getting stuck to the ground.

"They're trying to weaken us." Red growled. "But it's not gonna work! We keep moving! And all of you, watch your step!"

Up ahead, the Chrysalis, Sleight and Wizel were watching from the tower.

"I must say, Wizel, nice touch with the flowers." Chrysalis chuckled.

"Thank you, your majesty. Hard to believe there were so many of them growing in our own marshlands." Wizel let out a laugh.

"All our tricks and traps oughta even the odds a little." Sleight noted. "But we're still going to have quite a fight on our hooves."

"They're coming!" A sentry called, seeing the horde approaching through a telescope.

"Okay, this is it." Sleight declared. "Send every battle-ready Changeling to meet them."

"And what will you be doing?" Wizel asked.

"I'll be getting ready to do my part." Sleight told him. "Trust me."

"I trust you, Sleight." Chrysalis smiled. "Good luck."

"Same to you, Chrys." Sleight smiled.

Before long, Red Eclipse's troops stormed the village, and the Changelings stood ready. Chrysalis stood at the front of the gathered fighters.

"Still here, queenie?" Red smirked. "Fine. On your head be it."

"Changelings, defend our home!" Chrysalis yelled.

The battle began. The Changelings that were suited for battle were quite powerful, requiring three or four of Red's own forces to overwhelm them (Char could handle five).

"Yeah! Cry zzzome more!" Char roared, as he morphed into a minotaur and cleared a crowd of them.

Chrysalis and Wizel flew above, firing blasts of magic at their foes. For a brief moment, it seemed like the two sides were about even. But then...

"Ready the cannons!" Red ordered.

Twitch led the rear flank in unloading their cannons. Chrysalis spotted them from above.

"Oh, no..." She gasped.

"F-fire!" Twitch ordered.

The cannons erupted their ordinance at the Changelings, scattering them with each hit.

"It won't be that easy!" Chrysalis fired another beam, destroying a cannon.

"Step aside, morons!" Red growled, taking control of another cannon. He swung it in Chrysalis' direction, and fired.

Chrysalis dodged, but not quickly enough. The explosion sent her crashing to the ground.

"My queen!" Wizel gasped, diving to catch her. Once he set her down on the floor, he was rammed by Dice, knocking him down.

"Nighty-night, grampa." Dice sneered.

With that, the battle quickly reached it's end. The warriors (even Char) were beaten, and the civilian Changelings were rounded up in the town square by Red Eclipse and his minions.

Red Eclipse had Chrysalis brought before him, captured by Slice and Dice.

"You stupid little piece of filth." Red spat in her face. "That was quite a fool-hardy move that you pulled back there... trying to render my stallions useless?"

"I tend to disagree." Chrysalis smirked. "It worked, didn't it?"

Red stifled a growl.

"Yes... but only on a small portion of them." He declared. "As you can see, I still have enough stallionpower here to raze this land of all inferior species."

"I think not, Eclipse." Chrysalis shot back.

"Oh, and how do you intend to stop me?" Red snorted. "Your Changelings are powerless against my army. No good amount of shapeshifting or magic weaving can change that!"

"I intend to do nothing... Sleight on the other hoof..." Chrysalis said cryptically.

"Sleight?" Red sniggered. "As in that wizard I beat up three days ago? He's still around?"

"Yes and he is going to see to it that you never lay harm upon my children again!" Chrysalis announced.

"Is that so?" Red sneered. "Tell me, your majesty, why do you continue to resist? Why do you continue to have faith in such a fool like the wizard?"

"Because I believe in him, and so does every Changeling here." Chrysalis told him. "And they won't stop... Sleight is the wizard, and he will defeat you!"

"You filthy slimy c-" Red raised his hoof.

"Boss! Look up in the sky!" Twitch ran up to Red's side.

Chrysalis and Red looked up, and saw the balloon, with Sleight inside, apparently running away. Chrysalis was shocked.

"W-what?" Chrysalis gasped. "I don't understand..."

Sazh and the others were just as mortified…

"No… this was supposed to be his greatest trick ever…" Sazh murmured.

"Did he mention that the trick would be on uzzz?" Char glared at him.

Red was silent for a moment... then started laughing.

"Oh my gosh... this is so rich." He smiled deviously at Chrysalis. "Well, well, Queenie, it looks like your wizard was all bark but no bite after all. Such a shame too, I was so looking forward to ending his pathetic existence myself... oh well..." He turned to Twitch. "Shoot him down."

Twitch gestured to the cannon ponies, as they then fired the cannon at the balloon, destroying it.

"NO!" Chrysalis yelled.

The Changelings were horrified as the balloon went down in flames. Chrysalis was in tears.

"Hmph, not so mystifying or extraordinary after all." Red scoffed.

"Y-you s-said it, boss..." Twitch agreed.

Sazh was also in tears, as he found the dusty hat of Sleight, and picked it up. He began sobbing into it. But then...

"Hey, Sash... don't get my hat wet..."

Sazh gasped and looked up, seeing Sleight, smiling down at him.

"Sleight!" Sazh gasped. Sleight quickly shushed him. "But how...?"

Sleight pulled up a card.

"Turned myself into a card and fluttered away." Sleight grinned. "You didn't think I would actually leave you guys, didja?"

"No! Not all!" Sazh assured him. "That was one of the greatest tricks I ever saw!"

"Ah, but that was just the warm-up act." Sleight chuckled. "The true show is about to start..."

Sleight and Sazh slipped away, stopping only to bring the recovered Wizel with them.

Chrysalis drooped, defeated, as Red picked up her chin.

"Don't be so sad, Chrysalis... you and the rest of your accursed kind will be joining him shortly." He hissed, before turning to the Changelings. "Let this be the final word, you filthy urchins! Your prophecy is dead! Like the wizard who tried to fulfill it! All dead!"

Sleight and Sazh got into the machine, as Sazh and Wizel began starting things.

"It's showtime..." Sleight cracked his hooves.

"The eradication of the inferior lepidopterra metamorphica will begin with the death of your leader, Queen Chrysalis!" Red announced.

The Changelings began buzzing in anger and fear.

Red turned to Chrysalis, cracking his hooves.

"Farewell, Queenie..." He raised his hoof, ready to bring it down upon her. "Any last words?"

Chrysalis glared up at him with tearful eyes.

"You will never break us..."

Red scoffed as he was about to bring his hoof down, then suddenly, there's a big explosion in the middle, as fog began to rise up from the ground.

"What the buck?!" Red stared.

Then the form of Sleight appeared, though his mane looked ethereal and he seemed to be floating before them all. Illusions of cards were floating all around him. The Changelings and the thugs were stupefied, and Chrysalis was immediately amazed.

"Incredible!" Dair gasped.

"He really is the great wizard!" Slog yelled.

"No, he can't be... can he?" Char stared, at a loss for words.

"Fear me not, good Changelings, fear me not." Sleight said in a loud, Alicorn-like voice. "For it is I, THE MYSTIFYING AND EXTRAORDINARY SLEIGHT OF HOOVES!" He brought his hooves up as a fanfare and explosions ensued.

"Where did that m-music come from?" Twitch shuddered.

"Are you serious? Are you bucking serious?!" Red Eclipse let out a strange half-laugh/half-snarl. "Are we going to do this?! Are you really that bucking stupid?! I have no time for YOUR GAMES, WIZARD!"

"This is no game, Eclipse…" Sleight said firmly.

"How are you even alive?! I killed you!" Red roared.

"Ah, t-technically, the c-cannons did." Twitch corrected.

"Hah! You? Kill me? All you did was to allow me to shed my mortal skin, so I could take my true ethereal form as the most powerful Unicorn of all! In this form, I have powers that rivaled that of Alicorns!"

"Why you…" Red snarled in a viciously low tone. "HOW DARE YOU DEFY ME?!"

"No, how dare you defy me!" Sleight rebutted. "You come storming into my sanctuary, terrorize my ponies, and you had the gall to lay a hoof upon my queen?! Mark my words, mortal, if you do not surrender, you will face my wrath!"

"You wanna bet, ya bucking piece of crud?! Fire the cannons!" Red yelled.

A cannon was fired, sending it's flaming load towards him, creating a big explosion. When the smoke clears, nothing but fog remained. The changelings were left frightened again as well as Chrysalis.

"How you like me now?!" Red taunted.

Meanwhile, in a machine that was hidden well in the fog, Sleight, Sazh, and Wizel were operating an odd contraption that was creating a projection of Sleight, who was currently surrounded by crystals, as his cards were floating around him. Sazh and Wizel were manning the controls.

"Okay, guys, we need to get it back on, they think they're winning!" Sleight ordered the two.

"Sorry, there's a wire loose." Wizel muttered, messing with said wire, "Too bad I didn't date that electrician mare back in Manehatten long enough…"

"What happened?" Sazh asked.

"There weren't any 'sparks' between them." Wizel joked.

They both chuckled loudly.

"GUYS!" Sleight hissed.

"Right." The two nodded, as Wizel hooked up the wire. "Okay, here we go!"

The ethereal form of Sleight returned, much to every Changelings' joy and Red's shock.

"No… this can't be…" Red hissed.

"HA! You think mere weapons have any effect on me?! You cannot defeat me!" Sleight bellowed, "I'm immortal!" He brought one hoof up, as cards began to fly out, fluttering around him. "I'm invincible!" He brought his other hoof up, causing more cards to fly out. "I'm the Mystifying and Extraordinary Sleight of Hooves!" He spread his hooves wide, causing the cards to suspend in mid-air. "And I must ask, Red Eclipse, why do you hate the Changelings so? What drives you to such rancor?"

"It's simple, really." Red Eclipse spat. "Only the strong deserve to survive. These Changelings are weak and cowardly. You wouldn't understand. What I do preserves the purity of Equestria!"

"Oh, I understand all too well." Sleight sneered. "Your weak mind deludes you into thinking what you are doing is just, when the truth is, you are the one who is impure. Such arrogance. I almost pity you."

"I hate you…" Red growled with fury. "SOLDIERS! FIRE EVERYTHING!" He roared, spit flying from his maw.

The cannon were set off. Their volley flew towards Sleight. Several cards flew up and became portals. The cannonballs went through, and came out of portals that were pointed at the cannons. The ponies manning the cannons leapt aside just in time, as the cannons were totally obliterated.

"What th-" Red gasped, "NO!"

"Not so bold without your tools of destruction, are ya?! Now release my queen, NOW! " Sleight ordered.

"Never!" Red yelled. "You want her? Come an' get 'er!"

"As you wish." Sleight grinned.

A card flew toward Chrysalis. When it touched her, there was a flash, and she was within it.

"What the-SLICE, DICE, GRAB THAT CARD!" Red bellowed.

Before the two cronies could even jump for it, the card was soon pulled into a whirlwind of it's ilk.

"Feel free to try and take my queen back, Eclipse… you have a one in... five hundred and thirty-five thousand chance of finding her…" Sleight boasted, crossing his hooves in a superior manner.

"This is impossible..." Red gaped.

"H-he really is the w-w-wizard!" Twitch gasped.

"No, he's not!" Red roared. "All of you, get him!"

Red's forces charged at the fog.

"Want a little more?" Sleight asked. "Then get ready for the show-stopper!"

With a flick of his hooves, the cards that were flying around him were raining down upon them.

"You think cards will stop my army?!" Red screamed.

"No… but this will…" Sleight smirked, as his horn glowed.

As soon as a card hit the first pony charging towards the fog, the pony immediately was sucked into the card, much to the others' horror.

"No way!" Gasped one of the soldiers.

"That ain't right!" Yelped another.

"Did you see that?" Slice gasped.

"I don't wanna be turned into a card!" Dice gulped.

The soldiers turned tail and ran, but not before most of them became trapped in cards.

It wasn't looking good for Red Eclipse. The cannons were destroyed, and most of his men were imprisoned in cards. The rest were running away.

"You cowards!" Red Eclipse roared. "Get your flanks back here and kill them!"

He then noticed Twitch sneaking away.

"And where in the buck do you think you're going?!" He glared venomously at his lieutenant.

"Uh... y-ya see.... I kinda w-want to l-live... so..." He suddenly sped off. "You're on your own, motherf-f-f-f-f-f-f-f- " He tripped, then got back up, resuming his run. "You're on your own!"

"You son of a-" Red let out a scream of rage. "Fine! I'll take all these filthy bugs on myself!"

Red Eclipse charged into the Changeling crowd. Galvanized by Sleight's stunning turnaround, they faced Red head-on, easily overpowering him.

"Well done, Changelings!" Sleight smiled. "Now, release him."

"Release him?" Slog gasped. "But-"

"No!" Char roared. "I zzzay we finizzzh him now!"

A number of Changelings agreed with Char, eager to see the pony who terrorized them pay for his crimes.

"He has been beaten today." Sleight declared. "Him and his army. Let us not stoop down to his level."

"But…" Char muttered.

"Silence!" Sleight cut him off, as he faced Red Eclipse. "Hear me now, Red Eclipse. By the power vested in me, I banish you from these lands. Leave here and never return!"

"Oh, I'll return!" Red spat. "I'm not done with you vermin yet. Or you, 'great wizard'. You'll be sorry! All of you!"

Red turned and ran out of town. The Changelings cheered, their nightmare finally over, as Wizel and Sazh left the machine.

Then a card fluttered before them, and with a poof of smoke, queen Chrysalis appeared before them, completely unscathed.

"My queen, are you alright?" Sazh asked.

"Yes… I am now… thank you." Chrysalis smiled, as she glanced up at the illusion of Sleight. The illusion gave a wink at her.

"Let it be known now, for the prophecy has been fulfilled!" Wizel smiled, declaring to the crowd. "Huzzah, the wizard! Huzzah, Sleight the Mystifying and Extraordinary!"

"Huzzah!" The Changelings cheered. "Huzzah!"

"I knew you could do it, Sleight…" Sazh smiled.

"As did I." Chrysalis declared. "I was worried for a moment, but I should have known you'd come through for us. Well done, my wizard."

Sleight smiled widely, humbled by their praise, as he stood in his contraption. This was truly his greatest performance. His grandfather would be proud if he could see him now...

Loose Ends

In the aftermath of the fight, all the Changelings were celebrating their victory over their oppressors. The ponies had been imprisoned in cards had been released, and fled for their lives in fear of being imprisoned once more.

In the queen's tower, Sleight, Sazh, Wizel, and Chrysalis were especially relishing in their victory.

"It's finally over." Sazh smiled. "How wonderful!"

"Indeed…but what do I do now?" Wizel pondered. "There's not much for an old bug like me to do nowadays..."

"Thank you all." Sleight said solemnly. "I couldn't have done this without your help, your support. And to convey my thanks, I have gifts for all of you."

Sleight went up to Sazh first.

"To you, Sazh, who stood by me, when anypony else would have left, I give you two things I've never given anypony before…well, except Trixie." Sleight took off his hat and placed on Sazh's head. "My hat... and my friendship."

"That's all I ever really wanted." Sazh beamed. "Your friendship, I mean. Though it is a nice hat."

Chuckling, Sleight moved on to Wizel.

"And to you, the wise old Changeling who started this whole prophecy business... here." Sleight gave him a pack of playing cards. "My old deck. Maybe I could teach you some card tricks sometime."

"I humbly accept your gracious gift." Wizel smiled.

Sleight then turned to Chrysalis.

"And now, your majesty..." He declared. "If you don't mind, the gift I have for you would be better received... in private."

"As you wish." Chrysalis nodded, leading Sleight to her personal chambers. "Now, what is this gift you have for me?"

"My eternal loyalty." Sleight bowed. "You saw something greater within me that even I did not see. You could have cast me out the day we met, but you allowed me to stay. You helped me become a better stallion, and for that, I can never thank you enough... for everything."

"You are welcome, sir Sleight." Chrysalis smiled. "So... what will you be doing now?"

"I'm not really sure." Sleight shrugged. "Truth to be told, I wouldn't mind sticking around a while longer. This place has really grown on me."

"You know, Sleight... even though Wizel had made the whole prophecy up... it did end up coming true..." Chrysalis said tentatively.

"Yeah, so?" Sleight shrugged.

"Well, if you recall, there was a reward for the 'wizard'..." Chrysalis declared.

"Oh... wait... you mean..." Sleight gasped.

"Yes." Chrysalis smiled. "My children absolutely adores and respect you... and you saved their home... and you saved me... we would be honored to have you as our king..."

"Are you-are you serious?" Sleight blushed heavily.

"Completely." Chrysalis nodded. "I have seen the measure of you, Sleight. Your kindness, your compassion... And I must confess, I am quite smitten."

"Now, hold on a moment, Chrysalis." Sleight countered. "...I don't want you to think that because I saved you all that you are obligated to-"

Chrysalis placed her lips against Sleight's. The stallion locked up.

"This is no obligation." She whispered. "This is what I want... and I'm sure this is what you wanted, isn't it?"

"...Fair point." Sleight agreed, locking his lips with her once more.

Watching through the doors were Wizel and Sazh.

"Well, what do you know?" Wizel chuckled. "Looks like I owe you 100 bits, Sazh."

The next day, the Changelings were once again gathered in the town square. Sleight (who had informed them that he had constructed a "physical form" once more, since there was no point in telling them that he was never the wizard) stood beside Chrysalis, who made her announcement.

"My children!" She called. "I present to you our new king and my new mate: Sleight the Mystifying and Extraordinary!"

Most of the gathered Changelings cheered, as Chrysalis and Sleight shared a kiss in front of the crowd. Char stepped forth, a look of utter disgust on his face.

"What izzz thizzz?!" He hissed. "My queen, you cannot be zzzeriouzzz! You would make a pony our king?"

"Yes, I would, Char." Chrysalis answered. "What of it?"

"Poniezzz are foolzzz!" Char spat. "It'zzz bad enough to rely on one for help, but to crown him our king? He will make uzzz as weak as the rezzzt of hizzz pony bretheren!"

"That's enough, Char." Chrysalis frowned, "My mind is made up. I love him and he loves me."

"No, you can't do thizzz!" Char growled. "You have lozzzt you mind, my queen!"

"Okay, now that's really enough!" Sleight stepped forward. "You're outta line!"

"You did thizzz to her." Char glared at Sleight. "And you will pay!"

"Stop it, Char!" Sazh stepped forth in front of Sleigh., "I've had just enough of your pony-hating shtick!"

"Out of my way, runt!" Char roared. "He muzzzt be stopped, before our entire race becomez tainted by hizzz pony wayzzz!" He prepared an attack…

"You will not hurt my friend!" Sazh yelled, unleashing a powerful magic blast that knocked down Char.

The crowd gasped. None of them had ever seen Sazh use magic before. Even Sazh was shocked by what he did.

"Holy…" Sazh glanced at his horn. "I did magic…" He then began jumping for joy. "I did magic! Woo-hoo!"

"Oh, I am so making him my advisor!" Sleight chuckled.

"Take the former captain of the guard away." Chrysalis told her soldiers.

"No!" Char leapt up. "You will not imprizzzon me!"

Char effortlessly dodged the soldiers' lunges.

"You will pay for thizzz!" He snarled as he fled. "Ezzzpecially you, Zzzleight!"

The two rulers grimaced as Char disappeared from view.

"Oh, Char…" Chrysalis sighed.

"There's nothing that could be done, Chrysalis." Sleight said solemnly, "He made his choice... and not to sound rude, but good riddance to bad rubbish…"

"Amen to that, your majesty!" Sazh smiled.

"No need for formality, Sazh. As my friend and now advisor, you will address me as you always had." Sleight smirked.

"Thank you, Sleight" Sazh cheered.

"No prob... royal advisor Sazh." Sleight smiled. "Something tells me I'm going to need a lot of advice."

"And you can count on me to give it." Sazh said proudly. "As long as you can keep getting my name right, that is."

"Of course... Sash." Sleight teased.

The three all laughed with merriment… but in all the excitement, none of them realized Wizel was absent…

A ways away, Red Eclipse was making his way through the marshlands, still looking for his cowardly minions.

"Where are you wimps?!" He roared. "Get your flanks out here so I can break them!"

"Still here, I see?" A familiar voice asked. "I'd have thought you'd have the sense to get as far away from here as possible."

Red turned to see Wizel standing before him.

"Well, if it isn't the old bug." He snarled. "What do you want?!"

"I'm afraid you and I are not finished yet…" Wizel said ominously.

"You stupid pest… you won your stupid battle, what more do you want?" Red growled.

"Peace of mind, Eclipse…and the only way I will ever have it is to make certain that you never threaten our livelihoods ever again…" Wizel stated firmly.

"Ah, I see where this is going…" Red chuckled darkly. "Very well, I'm been looking for somepony to take my anger out on. Let's go, gramps!"

"Gladly." Wizel nodded.

Red charged at Wizel. The old Changeling sidestepped his attack a second before he hit, kicking him in the back as he passed by.

"You-" Red growled.

Wizel leapt over Red, and kicked him in the head, knocking him to the ground.

Quickly recovering, Red tried to charge again, only to be blasted with a beam of magic, sending him crashing into a tree. Wizel then charged at Red, unleashing a flurry of lightning-fast attacks, bringing him down in moments.

Red struggled to get up, as Wizel glanced out onto the marshlands.

"You wretched old fart." Red spat. "...where the buck did all that come from?"

"It comes from 700 years of survival, Eclipse." Wizel replied. "You pick up a lot of things over that time when trying to find your next meal... not that somepony like you would understand. Of course, I did have help from an unlikely source..."

Red struggled to his hooves.

"What is it you said you wanted? Purity of Equestria?" Wizel asked. "That is quite a bold ideal you have there... I admired the length and the means you went about to try and achieve it."

Red growled.

"However, your ideal is flawed." Wizel continued. "Purity is but a pipe dream, whose definition and concept had been deluded by racism and intolerance. This world was meant to be cherished by every creature alike, be they pony, Changeling, dragon, and even manticores... but unfortunately, every so often, somepony comes forth, implanted with hate and cruelty towards other, and like a disease, it infects those of a like mind... tell me, how is it that you came about these thoughts?"

"That lies under 'none of your business'..." Red snarled.

"I figured as much... funny that an Earth Pony would be the one who wants to conquer other species." Wizel sighed. "Normally, it is Unicorns that want all the other species to bow before them. Or maybe it's just me reading too much of that Equestria Noir series Sazh introduced me to."

"Your point being-grr..." Red fell to his knees.

"Well, I am no mentalist, but I have a feeling that your hate for the 'lower species' as you call it stems from your own upbringing." Wizel proclaimed. "But oddly enough, I can't see your father or mother being the one who put such thoughts into your head... maybe it wasn't how you were raised, but what... could it be that your hate comes from your inadequacy? Since you are an Earth Pony... I could only assume that you parents were all but... Pegasi perhaps?"

"SHUT UP!" Red smashed a hoof into the ground. "Do not dare try to think you know me... you don't..."

"You're right. I don't... but now I know a little more about you... still, no matter your reasons for taking this path, I cannot let you continue down it for the sake of our kind." Wizel declared, turning his back on Red.

"And how do you intend on doing that?" Red slowly rose up to his feet, as he began approaching Wizel. "You think you of all Changelings are gonna stop me?"

"Oh no." Wizel answered, not even looking behind him. "I have already expended enough of my magic today, no thanks to you, of course."

"Then it makes things easier for me!" Red raised his hooves upon an unsuspecting Wizel.

"That... is left to be debated..." Wizel smiled knowingly.

Suddenly, Red was blindsided by a magical blast. Before he could recover, six blurs jumped him, and pinned him down.

"Gah... what the-" He struggled.

"Zip it, punk." Said none other than Salt Napoleon.

"Or else." Slot added.

"We have a lot of disdain for you." Lars growled.

"And we're gonna let out." Sonny sneered.

"And why not?" Vinny hissed. "We've been waitin' a long time for this."

The brothers started pummelling Red. Grimoire then arrived on the scene.

"Ah, right on time, Grimiore." Wizel finally turned. "I was afraid I would have to pull a reverse ulnar radial strike on this poor soul."

"Well, you know us." Grimoire smiled. "We are quite punctual when it comes to time management... especially if it concerns... well, the code."

"Indeed!" Murray agreed. "And after forty years, we have finally captured this sneaky son of a-" He looked down at Red Eclipse. "...wait a minute..."

The other bros stopped beating down on him.

"What's up, bro?" Vinny asked.

"Does this guy look like the one we've been after for so long?" Murray pointed.

The brothers looked at Eclipse, who was glaring at them.

"He's right. This bloke isn't the guy!" Salt declared.

"I dunno. It might be... if our pony had somehow been lifting weights non-stop, changed his voice, his coat color, his Cutie Mark-" Lars listed.

"We get it, Lars, it's not him." Sonny sighed.

"Then who the buck is this guy?!" Slot asked.

"Me?!" Red growled. "Who the buck are all of you?"

"The 'unlikely source' I spoke of." Wizel clarified. "These are the Napoleon brothers, the leaders of the Bitalian Mafia. I just so happen to be one of their oldest members."

"What?!" Red gasped. "How..."

"I saved their great-grandpa's life while touring Bitaly." Wizel recounted. "In return, he made me an honorary member. Been that way up to today."

"Indeed... but seriously, Wizel... who is this pony?" Grimoire asked. "Because he is certainly not Twitch!"

"Twitch?" Red repeated.

"Yeah, light blue pony, blonde mane, kinda lanky, have a very bad stutter." Vinny nodded. "Don't know why I'm telling you-"

"Are you serious?!" Red snorted. "What beef do you have with my ex-lieutenant?!"

"That is not of your business, butthole!" Salt snapped.

"You are correct, Grim." Wizel nodded. "This pony is not Twitch... his name is actually Red Eclipse. He was the one responsible for the incidents here in the Changeling territory."

"And we care why?!" Slot asked.

"Slot!" Sonny elbowed him.

"He does have a point, though, Arson." Grimoire noted. "Wizel, the code word 'Twitch' was to be used when you had found and apprehended Twitch, hence the code word 'Twitch!' Not 'Red Eclipse'!"

"Make no mistake, Grimiore. Twitch was found... but unfortunately, he fled in the chaos that ensued earlier tonight..." Wizel told them.

"Well, doesn't that beat all!" Murray groaned.

"Yeah!" Salt agreed. "You drag us all out here, hoping to finally bring an end to all this crud, only to give us this dude?! Dang it all, man, half of us was gonna get lucky tonight! We had seven beautiful mares! Beautiful. Mares!"

"Well, I'm sorry if averting a genocide came as an inconvenience to your plans." Wizel said, peeved. "You all might be curious to know that this pony had earlier tonight attempted to commit murder upon our kind, had not our 'savior' saved us all!"

"Then it didn't matter either way." Lars noted. "But, since we're here... whattaya want us to do with him?"

"I don't care what you do with him. Imprison him. Kill him. Torture him." Wizel snorted. "As long as he is as far away from our homeland as possible, I could care less."

"Fair enough." Grimoire nodded. "Time to take a little trip, Red."

"Thank you." Wizel declared. "Rest assured, if I see Twitch again, I will let you know."

"Thanks, old timer." Murray smiled.

The brothers dragged the struggling Red Eclipse away.

"You can't do this to me!" He roared. "I'll kill you! I'll kill all of you!"

"With any luck, your evil will never blight this land again." Wizel declared.

"This is not over! You hear me?!" Red screamed. "I will be back! I cannot be contained-"

Red was immediately silenced by a butt of a crossbow.

"Faust, he sounds like that big bulky guy we ran into in Ponyville." Murray shook his head.

"Except he doesn't look like he uses steroids for a living." Vinny quipped. "You seen those little wings of his?"

"Well, either way, we got a special place for guys like him." Salt chuckled.

The six brothers began to drag the limp body of Red Eclipse off. Grimoire was about to join him when Wizel addressed him.

"I'm really sorry that we failed to detain Twitch, Grim." Wizel frowned.

"Well, what can you do, Wizel? As much as I would love to get my hooves on that monster… another monster does make up for a night that could had been spent cuddling with a certain zebra of mine…" Grimoire shrugged.

"Speaking of which… have you told Caboose yet? About why you want Twitch?" Wizel asked.

"Don't start with me, Wizel…" Grimoire growled.

"It has been forty years, Grimoire. Caboose, of all ponies, deserves to know what happened to 'him'…" Wizel declared.

"Wizel, there are some things that are best left under wraps." Grimoire rebutted, but hurt was visible in his eyes. "This is something that only we seven gotta do. Caboose does not deserve that kind of burden upon him. Celestia knows he's been through enough in his lifetime."

"But you will have to tell him eventually." Wizel pressed forward.

"And we will… in due time. For now, our hunt for Twitch Cardinal continues…" Grimoire sighed, "Now, if you'll excuse me…"

Grimoire turned and ran off to catch up with his brothers when Wizel called out to him.

"Hey, Grim!" Grimm glanced over his shoulder. "Give Caboose and Daring Do Napoleon my congratulations."

The old Napoleon stallion returned a smile and with a nod, then went to join his brothers.

As soon as the brothers were gone, Wizel let out a heavy sigh.

"Hey, Wizel!"

Wizel looked and saw Sazh running up to him.

"Where you been, man?" Sazh asked "We are having a festival back in town to celebrate our new king!"

"Oh, I was just… taking care of things." Wizel explained shiftily.

"Whatever you say, old friend." Sazh shrugged.

Close by, Twitch popped his head out of the bush he had been hiding in.

"I-I c-can't believe it!" He gasped. "The N-N-Napoleon brothers... here! As if having R-Red come so close to finding me wasn't bad enough... Th-there's no choice. I'm gonna have to lay low again... C-can't afford any of 'em f-finding me... especially not the N-Napoleons... not after what I did..."

Five Years Later...

Sazh and Wizel were awaiting Sleight and Chrysalis' return from Canterlot. They passed the time by playing cards with the deck Sleight gave Wizel so long ago.

"Has it really been five years since Sleight became our king?" Sazh mused. "Things don't seem to had changed much..."

Yes, I'm as spry as ever. 705 and still young." Wizel joked.

The royal carriage landed by the tower, and Sleight and Chrysalis disembarked.

"How was the trip, your majesties?" Wizel inquired.

"It was... interesting." Chrysalis declared. "Very nice, but interesting."

"We even ran into an old friend." Sleight pulled out the card with Char trapped within it.

"Is that..." Sazh gasped.

"Yep." Sleight nodded. "Good ol' Char here caused some trouble in Canterlot. Try to kidnap one of the royal family. I had no choice but to card him." He then gave the card to a few soldier Changelings, "See to it that he is placed in a cell and un-carded."

"As you wish, your majesty." The soldier Changelings bowed as they took the card.

"Unbelievable. Never thought we would hear from Char again…" Sazh admitted.

"Yeah… but honestly speaking, I should had known that he would pull something like this." Sleight shook his head. "The only question is, what do we do with him?"

"I must admit, I am at a loss..." Chrysalis confessed. "Char, as close-minded as he may be, really was one of our best soldiers. Our platoons simply haven't been same without him. It would be a shame and a waste to keep him locked up forever. But we cannot simply release him…"

"Allow me, you majesty." Wizel offered. "While Char may be a brute, he can be reasoned with. I shall have a... 'heart to heart' with him."

"Very well. Good luck, Wizel…" Sleight shrugged. "You're gonna need it."

Minutes later. Wizel went down to the dungeons, stopping outside Char's cell. The big Changeling only glared daggers at him, as he had a chain collar attached to his neck (as a safety precaution).

"What do you want?" Char growled. "To gloat in my face about how your zzztupid prophecy came to pazzz and ruined our way of life?"

"No. I just want to talk." Wizel said, opening the cell door.

"Hmph, I have nothing to zzzay to you." Char grunted, "It'zzz because of you that that wretched pony came here and ruined everything."

"You are confused, Char…" Wizel sighed. "I had nothing to do with Sleight coming here five years ago. Technically speaking, it was Sazh-"

"Don't mention that filthy runt in front of me! He'zzz no better!" Char roared.

"Abstain from insulting the king's advisor, Char… I happen to care for him a lot, and I will not tolerate your bull-crud." Wizel admonished him.

"What are you gonna do? I'm in a dingy prizzzon cell, zzztripped of everything. Beating me up won't make a difference." Char growled, though his eyes seem to register… hurt.

Wizel noticed it. "Oh, Char, how did it come to this? You were once a great Changeling, a true example of Changeling might and pride... yet you seem to have lost your way…"

"I am in no mood for your lecture, old timer." Char said bitterly. "Why don't you juzzzt leave me in peace?"

"Because you must hear this, Char." Wizel declared. "My fellow Changeling, you are going down a dark path with no end. You must step off this path and let go of all your hatred and anger… if not, you will be no better than Red Eclipse."

"How dare you!" Char snarled, standing up in attempt to size up the old bug, "You compare me to that monzzzter?!"

"I call them as I see them, Char." Wizel shook his head. "Your hate towards the ponies is what got you into this mess… and unless you want to end up like Red Eclipse, you have to let it go."

"How can I, Wizel?!" Char roared. "How can I, after all that they did to uzzz for the lazzzt hundreds of yearzzz?! Did you forget, Wizel? Did you forget all the hate, the cruelty, the dezzzpair, all the Changelingzzz that were killed because of them poniezzz?! Huh, Wizel?!" Char got into Wizel's face.

Wizel remained silent, before letting out a sigh. "No, Char. I haven't. Trust me, I have seen all the misdeeds and crimes they have committed against us out of hate and fear for our kind, and I can never forget what they did."

"Then we are on the zzzame page here." Char chuffed.

"Not exactly, Char." Wizel said, much to Char's confusion. "True, I have seen the worst of the ponies… but at the same time, I have also seen the good. Sure, there are ponies that would rather see us eradicated, branded as monsters to everypony… but there are also ponies that wish to make friends with us, get to know our ways, and in some cases, to love us."

Char only growled. "Dang it all, why did I expect you to underzzztand? Have all changelingzzz lost zzzight of what made uzzz great?! We used to be one of the zzztrongezzzt races in the world! We never needed anybody, let alone zzzome pony!"

"Yes, Char…we used to be." Wizel stated, "But time has changed, Char. This is not a world where only the strongest survive anymore. This is the world where species of all shapes and sizes lend a hoof to one another, to help each other through the best of times and the worst of times."

"But that izzzn't the way we were raizzzed!" Char defended. "We were forced to fight for zzzurvival and had become zzztronger becauzzze of it! Fight or die, that wazzz the law of the Changeling! Without that, we are nothing! Without that, we aren't Changelingzzz!"

"Char, we do not need the law anymore. Things have changed… for the better." Wizel continued. "You must learn to accept that. How can you call yourself a Changeling when you yourself are incapable of changing?"

Char stifled a growl as he glared at the old changeling.

"Char, change is what our kind do." Wizel smiled. "We change, and adapt to our environment. Just because we are now friends with the ponies, does not mean we should change what we are. Ponies or no ponies, we will always be Changelings, strong and proud."

As he spoke, Char's glare softened.

"All I ask of you, Char, is to be a true Changeling! Adapt to our new world, and let bygones be bygones! If you can do that, then there might just be hope for you yet..." Wizel finished, panting from his rather 'moving' speech.

Char only glanced at the old Changeling, as he let out a sigh.

"I juzzzt... don't know anymore." Char grumbled. "I doubt I even have a choice..."

"There's always a choice, Char." Wizel declared. "You just have to make the right one…"

The chained Changeling stood in silence, when suddenly, a small smile crept on his face.

"...I will conzzzider it, Wizel..." Char nodded. "I don't know if I can make any promizzzezzz… but I'll try."

"Well, Char, may I say that is the best decision you made in a long time." Wizel smiled. "I will leave you to your own devices for now, but I hope to hear from you soon. If you ever need me, I am only a call away."

"I will." Char nodded. "…And thank you."

"You are welcome." Wizel nodded. With that, he left the cell (being sure to lock up behind him), and began heading out of the dungeon, quite pleased with himself.

As he did, he felt a song coming on in his heart, and seeing no reason as to why not, he began to sing a lovely tune.

"Somewhere, over the rainbow…"

The End.

Wherever The Wind Takes You

A traveling circus had arrived in Baltimare. As the performers prepared for their acts, an Earth Pony worker was looking for somepony else.

Entering a caravan, he found his target.

He was a light silver colored unicorn, with a messy black mane, clad in a rather old and patchy black jacket with a white undershirt. On his flank was an 'ace' playing card. His name was Sleight Gambit… though to the circus, he was known as 'The Mystifying and Extraordinary Sleight Of Hooves'. He was currently in the middle of teaching (or rather, flirting) with the newest assistant for his magic show, a Pegasus mare.

"Here." Sleight gave the mare a Queen of Hearts card. "This once belonged to my great grandmother. She told me only to give it to a mare I thought was extra-special."

"Oh, thank you..." The mare blushed.

"Sir?" The Earth Pony asked. "The show's about to start."

Sleight let out a begrudged sigh.

"Oi, another day, another show." He sighed, as out of thin air, he conjured a old top hat, and placed it on his head, "Come along, my dear."

"Oh, and here's the cash takings for yesterday's show." The Earth Pony handed Sleight a bag full of bits.

"Not bad." Sleight took out two bits and gave them to the Earth Pony. "Here's your cut. Don't spend it all in one place."

The mare followed Sleight as he left the caravan, leaving the Earth Pony with his payment.

"...Cheapskate." The Earth Pony growled.

Inside a small tent, several ponies were seated, waiting for Sleight's show. Sleight stepped out on stage, his lovely assistant behind him.

"Welcome, one and all." He smiled. "Let's see what's in the cards for us all!"

He pulled a deck of cards out of his pocket.

"It is quite amazing how much you can do with just 52 cards in a deck... with a bit of magic and a lot of ingenuity, you can create anything you can set your mind to… but for ponies like yours truly… they can go far beyond what you can comprehend…" He declared, using his standard spiel.

Sleight used his magic to lift the deck into the air, and with a few swishes of his hooves, the cards soon spread out above him. Quickly, with a few swishes of his hooves, the deck soon took the shape of a griffon. He paused for a few seconds, before shuffling his hooves again, turning the griffon into a dragon. Finally, he placed the floating card-dragon on the ground, and with a few more movement of his hooves, not even breaking a sweat, the dragon soon turned into a scale model replica of Canterlot Castle. Most of the crowd cheered, but a few weren't so accommodating.

"Is this it?" One rowdy Pegasus stallion called. "Lame!"

"Yeah, any normal Unicorn can levitate a bunch of cards!" An Earth Pony female agreed.

"Ah, but I am not your normal Unicorn, madam!" Sleight smiled. "For I am Sleight, the Mystifying and Extraordinary. I happen to possess powers that could easily rival that of an Alicorn, from the princess of the sun to the princess of friendship and magic! As they should, as I am a descendant of Starswirl the Bearded himself! However, for my next trick, I'll need the help of my lovely assistant..."

The mare stepped forward. Sleight formed the cards around her, encasing her in a card-formed box. Then, with a dramatic spread of his hooves, the cards all blew away, with the mare nowhere to be seen. Pulling out another deck, he quickly used his magic to form yet another box on the other side of the stage, and with a flicker of his horn, the cards all dropped to reveal the mare.

"Oh, please!" A Unicorn in the back heckled. "There are trap doors in the stage! You can see them!"

The crowd started getting hostile.

"Uh... wait!" Sleight yelped, getting desperate. He pulled a card out of the mare's ear. "Ta-daa!"

Everypony started booing and hissing, appalled that he had resorted to such a cheap trick.

"Close the curtains..." Sleight told his assistant, trying to keep a straight face. As the curtains closed, he let out a heavy sigh.

Sleight began to return to his caravan, barely noticing that the weather was turning stormy, when the same Earth Pony from before approached him.

"Sir, a... certain lady-friend of yours is waiting for you." He declared.

'Probably the assistant.' Sleight thought, as he entered the caravan.

Instead, to Sleight's surprise, it was a familiar white-maned blue unicorn that was waiting for him.

"Hey, Trix!" He smiled. "This is a surprise!"

"I just thought I'd drop by." Trixie smiled.

"Great to see you." Sleight smiled.

"You, too." Trixie smiled. "I, uh... saw what happened at the show..."

"Oh... you saw that mess?" Sleight drooped. "I swear, ponies these days have no taste for subtle tricks anymore. It's all gotta be flashy, impressive stuff like those posers in Las Pegasus. Nopony goes for simple illusions these days..."

"Well, I thought it was rather lovely. I still don't get how you can make so many things with just 52 cards." Trixie tried to cheer him up.

"Thanks…at least somepony appreciates true magic…" Sleight sighed, as he paused for a moment. "Have a seat, I'll get ya some tea..."

Sleight opened up a cupboard and pulled out a tea kettle. As he did so, he pulled out his hip flask and took a sip, Trixie noticed with a frown.

"You still have that thing?" She asked.

Sleight looked at her, then at the flask.

"Yes." He said simply. Trixie was about to say something. "I know, I know, I shouldn't drink, but it helps take off the edge. Celestia knows that I need one after today."

Trixie saw the sad expression on his face. He made tea, poured it into a cup and gives it to Trixie. The two sat in silence.

"So... how long has it been since we last saw each other?" Sleight wondered. "I haven't seen you since..."

"The last time you rolled into town, a few months ago." Trixie gave him a sad smile. "It's not often enough, seeing you only once in a blue moon."

"Well, it is a traveling circus." Sleight shrugged. "I just go wherever the wind takes me. That's how I roll, you know."

"Sleight..." Trixie sighed.

"How's life been treating you?" Sleight asked.

"Just fine." Trixie answered.

"How's Trickster?" Sleight inquired.

"He's doing well." Trixie smiled fondly. "Finally got him to stop showboating. He's been practicing his magic tricks a lot lately. He really wants to take after his mother and his 'honorary' uncle in becoming a magician."

"Well knowing his mother, I think he will do just fine..." Sleight returned the smile. The two chuckled. But then his smile faded. "How about Smoky? He's been treating you right?"

"Sleight, you know Smoke doesn't like that name." Trixie rolled her eyes.

"Come on, Trix, you know I just kid." Sleight smirked. "How's his magic shop been doing?"

"Sleight..." Trixie groaned.

"Has he been pitching in around the house?" Sleight asked.

"Sleight." Trixie said, peeved.

"Did he ever get that weird thing on his hoof checked?" Sleight smirked.

"Sleight!" Trixie yelled.

Sleight stopped, as he let out a heavy sigh.

"Sleight... I came here for a reason... Sleight, we used to be close friends... but lately, we've been drifting apart." Trixie said solemnly. "And each time I see you, you look more and more sad... and I think I might know why..."

"Trixie, everything is fine..." Sleight insisted.

"Sleight, you can use your magic to hide yourself from the world, but you can't hide yourself from me..." Trixie declared.

Sleight looked away.

"Sleight, I am truly sorry that things between us ended the way it did." Trixie admitted. "You know I still care a lot about you..."

"Of course I do." Sleight nodded. "You have nothing to be sorry for. We broke up because we wanted different things in life. You wanted to settle down and start a family, I didn't. It's simple as that."

"I wouldn't say so..." Trixie sighed. "Sleight, what you and I had... it was amazing and beautiful... but..."

"But nothing, Trixie." Sleight stopped her. "You moved on and found a stallion who can take care of you better than I ever could. You could had honestly done a lot worse. Smoke Mirror is a good pony."

"But so are you..." Trixie told him.

"No... no, I'm not." Sleight confessed. "I am many things... but a good pony isn't one of them."

"You could be though." Trixie suggested. "I know without a doubt that you are capable of being one."

"That's just the thing..." Sleight got up and started pacing around. "I don't want to. You see, Equestria is full of good ponies. Honest hard-working ponies that get married and raised families. Ponies like Smoke Mirror. Ponies like my grandfather, who spend the remaining years of his life in regret, only to die with it in the end. I don't want that, Trixie. I don't want to be a good pony... I want to be a great one. I want to be Starswirl The Bearded and Harry Hoofdini rolled into one..." He glanced at Trixie, with a melancholic look. "A pony that you would deserve... that's all I ever wanted for you."

"Sleight... I never thought you didn't deserve me." Trixie told him. "And I still don't."

"...All I ask now, is that you stop worrying about me, Trixie." Sleight sighed. "You should go home, home to your son and your husband. It's what you deserved. Better than all this... and better than me."

"...Very well." Trixie stood up. "Just know... that no matter what, I will always be there when you need me... and you will always have a place in my life." She walked up to him and nuzzled him softly. "Farewell."

Trixie made her way out of the caravan. Sleight let out a deep breath. As soon as she was gone, Sleight turned to a picture on a wall. It was a photograph of a younger him and Trixie, in a loving embrace. On it was signed "Sleight, The Mystifying and Extraordinary + Trixie, The Great And Powerful". Sleight stifled a tear as he took another drink from his flask.

Suddenly, there was a banging on the caravan door.

"Sleight!" Yelled the circus' resident strongpony, rather peeved and angry.

"Um... who is it?" Sleight asked nervously.

"It's the stallion whose wife you flirted with yesterday!" The strongpony roared.

"Flirted?" Sleight gulped. "I just gave her a card!"

"Everypony knows you give cards to all the mares you're interested in, pal!" The strongpony growled. "Now open this door, before I break it down!"

"Now, hold on, can't we talk about this?" Sleight tried to reason.

"Oh no! No pony tries to get lucky with my wife and lives! You're dead meat!" The strongpony screamed.

"Oh, horseapples…" Sleight cursed. Knowing he had to get out of there, he quickly lit up his horn and starting packing necessities into a travel bag in a hurry.

"OPEN THIS DOOR!"

Sleight let out a curse as he looked around for more things to pack. He quickly glanced at the picture of him and Trixie, and without a second thought, he took it and placed in his bag.

The door was bashed down as the steamed strongpony stormed in.

"I'm going to rip your head off!" He roared.

"Okay, you got me." Sleight held up his hooves in defence. "But before you kill me… can I do one last trick?" Quickly, he pull out a deck, and before the strongpony could say anything, he encased himself in a card box.

"Not so fast!" The strongpony charged through the card box, sending cards flying everywhere. But no Sleight.

"Huh?" The big stallion gasped, as he then looked back, and saw a trap door. He then glanced out the window and saw Sleight running off in the distance.

"Oh no, you don't!" The Strongpony gave chase.

Running for his life, Sleight spotted a hot-air ballon, and climbed into it (dropping his hat in the process). He fired up the burner, and dropped the weights. The balloon rose up just before the strongpony could reach it

"Why you! Get your flank down here so I can crush you!" The strongpony roared.

"No can do! Sayonara, sucker!" Sleight jeered, before noticing his bare head. "My hat!"

"Here!"

The hat suddenly flew up, encased in a blue aura. Sleight looked down, seeing Trixie below.

"Thanks, Trix!" He smiled. "Farewell to you! And farewell, circus!"

"Good luck, Sleight!" Trixie called. "And.. be careful!"

"I'm always careful!" Sleight chuckled.

Several ponies on the ground started pointing frantically. Wondering what they were pointing at, Sleight turned... and saw a giant twister, heading directly towards him.

"Oh, no..." He gulped.

Trying desperately to change the balloon's direction, he and his balloon was sucked up in the funnel.

"No, no, no, no, no! No!!" Sleight cried out in fear, as he kept getting thrown around in the basket. "Whoa! Please, I don't wanna die!"

Sleight soon fell onto his flank, trying to brace himself, as he pleaded to the stormy skies "Please, I haven't accomplished anything yet! Just get me out of here and I'll do great things!"

Suddenly, a wayward flying shard of wood pierced through the basket, as he begged some more. "Please! Give me a chance! I promise! I promise I can change!"

With that, he let out one loud scream as the balloon was sent flying out from the tornado and through the stormy skies…

Touring The Kingdom

After agreeing on Sazh's plan, Chrysalis and Wizel decided to give Sleight a tour of the kingdom, showing him exactly what he was going to be standing for.

The first stop was the barracks, containing the Changeling army (for lack of a better term). The number of battle-ready Changelings was quite low at the moment, barely reaching four dozen. They all looked suitably tough, though. Char was amongst them; He bowed respectfully to Chrysalis, then threw a dirty look at Sleight when she turned away.

"Not much of an army, is it?" Sleight asked.

"If we had an army greater than this, we would not need you, would we?" Chrysalis counted.

"Their numbers may be small, but they're ready to fight." Wizel declared.

Sleight sidled over to Sazh.

"Speaking of fighting, why didn't you use some of your Changeling magic against those thugs back there?" Sleight asked. "You could've zapped 'em good, or better yet, turn into something that would throttle those guys."

"Well… the thing is… I can't…" Sazh sighed.

"Come again?" Sleight asked.

"I... cannot perform Changeling magic." Sazh admitted.

"Seriously?" Sleight frowned.

"Seriously." Sazh nodded. "I do not know why, but for the longest time, I had been unable to tap into my Changeling magic. Can't fire a beam of magic worth a darn or even change my shape. And to make it worse, every Changeling here knows it. To them, I am nothing more than an outcast who they want nothing to do with. It is why I was out in the forest when we first met: because I had no place else to be."

"That's rough, kid." Sleight admitted. "And I thought I had it bad..."

"Well, it's not all bad… at least they aren't as mean as Char…" Sazh grimaced.

"Yeah, I noticed that… what's his deal with you?" Sleight asked.

"Oh, Char is just one of those Changelings who thinks that strength rules over all. Doesn't like there being a powerless Changeling in his swarm." Sazh explained.

"Looks like the sonofvagun needs to be knocked down a few pegs." Sleight growled.

"Please, Sleight, it doesn't matter. I gotten used to him hating me." Sazh responded.

Sleight wanted to say more, but Chrysalis cut him off.

"Let's move on." Chrysalis declared. "To the village."

"Already seen it, thanks." Sleight shrugged.

"Well, now you are to know it." Wizel stated.

As they entered the main hub of the village, a number of Changelings muttered and pointed at Sleight, word of his performance having spread by then.

"It's him!"

"The wizard!"

"From the prophecy!"

"He's here to save us all!"

"Believe it, good citizens." Sleight smiled. "The legendary wizard is here to save the day!"

"Hey, just because you're pretending to be their savior doesn't mean you need to showboat." Wizel scolded. "The savior is supposed to be humble and dignified."

"Look, grandpa, back where I am from, no pony had appreciation for what I did. It's a nice change of pace to be considered famous." Sleight defended.

"Don't you call me grandpa, boy." Wizel grunted, "I may be old, but I am not feeble. I happen to know judo."

"Whoa, okay, sheesh…" Sleight held up his hooves in defense, "I'm sorry."

"Apology accepted." Wizel gave a smile.

"Let's not dawdle, boys." Chrysalis said testily. "This our village square, where our good citizens meet and talk amongst themselves."

"Good to know." Sleight smiled. "...What do Changelings talk about, anyway?"

"Oh, the same as anypony else, I suppose." Chrysalis shrugged. "The weather, current events, the best way to apply one's resin to shore up the wall of their abode..."

"How things are on the western front…" Sazh added.

"Co-population." Wizel stated nonchalantly.

"Okay, I did ask for that." Sleight shuddered.

"Shall we move on?" Wizel asked.

"If we must." Sleight sighed. "Farewell, my adoring public..."

Chrysalis and Wizel lead Sleight to a small cave.

"What's in there?" Sleight asked.

"The heart and soul of the kingdom." Chrysalis smiled. "Our birthing chamber."

"Birthing?" Sleight asked. "You mean, like... foals?"

"Larvae, actually." Wizel corrected him.

"Oh, okay." Sleight smiled. "let's see the little nippers."

Sleight's curiosity started to dip when he noticed the abundance of slime in the cave, which grew thicker as they went in deeper. At the back of the cave was a green honeycomb structure. Inside each honeycomb was a pale white Changeling larva, covered in slime.

"Holy-" Sleight gulped, suppressing the urge to vomit.

"Precious, aren't they?" Chrysalis smiled.

"That's... one way to put it." Sleight gulped, "Where exactly did they all these guys come from?"

"Well, Sleight… when a mommy changeling and a daddy changeling love each other very much…" Sazh began.

"Whoa! No, no, no, NO! I do not need to hear that!" Sleight stammered.

"He's joking, Sleight." Wizel smirked, quite amused, "These little larvaes were laid and hatched by Chrysalis herself."

"Wait… so Chrysalis is…" Sleight's eyes widened, as he turned to Chrysalis, "These are all your kids?!"

"Of course." Chrysalis nodded.

"G-gah, how is that even possible? I mean, I thought you need… you know… a guy to have foals…" Sleight explained, quite stupefied.

"Then you obviously don't know jack about changelings." Wizel declared.

"You see, Sleight, while Changelings themselves can produce the old-fashioned way, most of the Changelings usually comes from a Changeling queen, like yours truly." Chrysalis explained. "While two Changelings can have only one to two larvaes at a time, a queen can lay up to a hundred eggs and hatch all of them."

"So… when you refer to the Changelings as your children… you meant literally?" Sleight asked, stupefied.

"Indeed. In fact, Sazh here is from one of my broods a while back." Chrysalis gestured to Sazh.

"Yup. Chrysalis is my birth mother, number 28010136." Sazh stated proudly.

"And Wizel?" Sleight pointed to the old changeling.

"Oh no, I was hatched from Chrysalis's grandmother's brood." Wizel explained. "I'm number 00000256."

"And what about Char?"

"Chrysalis's mother. Number 10000002." Wizel answered swiftly.

"Huh." Sleight murmured, before coming to another realization. "Wait, doesn't that make every single Changeling here related to each other?"

"Yes." Chrysalis, Sazh, and Wizel answered at once.

"Then how does that figure in with all the Changeling couples? Because I may not be an expert on changelings' customs, but I do know that by pony standards, that's considered incest." Sleight stated.

"Well, yes and no." Wizel shrugged. "Yes, some of us Changelings are paired off with our brothers, sisters, and cousins… but given how we are also creatures with needs, and being rather unpopular with the ponies themselves, we can't really afford to be picky."

"Besides, most of the time, Changelings that do mate are very distantly-related from each other." Sazh chuckled.

"You don't say…" Sleight explained, quite unsure of how to respond to that remark. Hoping to bring it back a bit, Sleight then asked the queen "So… do you raise all these little guys when they hatch?"

"For the first few years after they hatch, yes." Chrysalis smirked. "But as they grow into little pupas, I usually pass them along to other Changelings who raises and teaches them in the ways of being a changeling. But even then, I see to it that they are still be taken care of, as a mother should for their children."

"Wow… that's very admirable." Sleight smiled.

Chrysalis was slightly taken off guard by the comment, but then smiled "Thank you."

"Hey, Sleight, would you like to hold one of the babies?" Sazh asked.

"Actually, I-" Sleight tried to come up with an excuse, but stopped in his tracks when Sazh placed a larva in his hooves, having retrieved one from one of the combs.

'Ew, ew, ew!' Sleight cringed, his eyes shut tight in disgust as he felt the slime covering his hooves.

"Aw, she likes you." Sazh smiled. "She's smiling!"

Sleight opened his eyes a crack. The larva was indeed smiling, her big blue eyes shining brightly.

"Huh. Up close, you're actually kinda cute." Sleight admitted. "Could do without the slime, though..."

The larva chirped and clicked.

"Are you trying to say 'hi' to your uncle Sleight, kiddo?" Sleight cooed. "Hi there!"

The larva giggled.

"Does she have a name?" Sleight asked Chrysalis.

"Of course. Number 32425761. Name: Glinda." Chrysalis smiled.

"Cute name." Sleight smirked.

"Yes. These larvae are our future." Wizel declared. "But what kind of future can they have, when there's a stallion like Red Eclipse threatening to destroy our way of life?"

"Red... who?" Sleight asked.

"Red Eclipse." Chrysalis declared. "The one responsible for all the trouble around here lately. No pony knows for certain who he is…but all I do know that he is evil."

"He appeared out of nowhere a couple of months back, with a group of ruthless mercenaries under his name. Ever since, he and his ponies had been terrorizing us, raid after raid, brutality after brutality. We try to scare them off, but we don't have the sufficient amount of battle-ready Changelings to match his army of merciless cronies. As of now, they had been rather quiet… but with those thugs you encountered earlier, it's only a matter of time before they come back." Wizel explained grimly.

"Oh my gosh…" Sleight murmured. "Why would he be doing this?" Sleight asked.

"I honestly don't know." Chrysalis admits, "Could be that he desires the territory that we are standing upon, or simply out of sheer malice. All I do know is that he hates all non-pony forms of life. Griffons, minotaurs, buffalos, dragons… their very existence is an affront to him, and unfortunately he has chosen us Changelings as his next targets. And if the past few months had been any indications, he will not rest until we are gone."

"I see." Sleight noted. "Well, after I've rallied the troops, he and his lackeys are going to be running for the hills! Especially if said lackeys are anything like the three I drove off earlier!"

"Sleight's right! Once we are through with them, they'll know not to mess with Changelings!" Sazh cheered.

"Now that is the kind of spirit our changelings need." Chrysalis smiled. "You may not be our wizard, Sleight, but you might just do the trick."

"Geez, thanks." Sleight blushed.

Wizel watched the three as they seem to relish in their newfound hope, as he then whispered to himself "Confidence and spirit is one thing, Sleight… but I sincerely don't know if it will be enough…"

Meanwhile, Twitch, Slice, and Dice finally made back to their destination, a run-down old boarding house, abandoned long ago by their proprietors. Currently, there was a lot of rough-looking and rather intimidating ponies residing in it, so much in fact that there were not enough room for all of them, thus leading to all the other mercenaries to pitch up tents outside.

The three gave gulps as the glares and evil eyes of the 'soldiers' followed them all the way to the back room. Standing in front of it was a rather big pony.

"State your business." The pony demanded in a fierce tone.

"W-We're here to see the boss..." Twitch declared.

"Sorry, but Mr. Eclipse doesn't wish to be disturbed." The pony grunted.

"B-but it's v-very important!" Twitch insisted. "W-we have in-intel he might want to know about…"

"Very well…" The guard sighed, as he stepped aside.

The three made their way into the room. It was rather dark on the opposite side of the room and rather empty. In fact, at first glance, one might say that the room was empty... but alas, there was indeed life, as a small glow of a lit cigar revealed itself and with it, a blood-red snout. The cigar was removed from the mouth as it let out a huff of smoke…

Then, a rather deep and gravel-like voice spoke up.

"Twitch… Slice… Dice… I take it that you three have a reason for disturbing my 'me' time?"

Slice and Dice were immediately shivering, as they ushered Twitch forward. The blue pony gave a gulp as he began.

"H-hello, er, Eclipse, sir… h-how ya d-doing this fine af-af-af-af-af-" Twitch was stuck in a loop again.

Then there was a loud stomp on the ground, shaking the floorboards in the process.

"I do not have time to humor you in your frivolous and pathetic stuttering, Twitch. Do you have anything worthwhile to report or will I have to give you a repeat of what happened when you last bothered me?"

"Oh no, not that!" Slice whimpered.

"My back's still trying to fix itself from the last time!" Dice wept.

Twitch shuddered before continuing. "N-no need for t-that, sir. Y-you see, w-w-we m-m-might have a situation…"

"Might have?" The voice repeated.

"Y-yes…you see, we r-ran into some runty Changeling out n-n-near the forest." Twitch explained. "W-we were about to give him the business, but this Unicorn 'wizard' guy s-stopped us."

"He had some powerful tricks, boss." Slice chipped.

"Yeah, his cards and exploding dice thingies-" Dice was about to say.

"Wait, you mean to tell me that some nopony scared you off with playing cards and some gimmick pair of dices?" The shadowy pony did not seem amused.

"Yep. Sent us runnin'!" Dice nodded.

"Utterly pathetic." The deep voice snorted. "There should never be any pony under my command that is scared off by a bunch of cheap magic tricks! I should be rid of you all right on the spot!"

"B-but there's more to it than that, boss." Twitch countered. "You r-remember that there prophecy that old bug went on about that our s-s-spy overheard a c-couple months back?"

"You mean that confounded drabble about some mad unicorn wizard with the blood of an even more mad wizard's blood falling out of the sky and rising up to face me and my army?" The voice snorted.

"That b-be the one, sir." Twitch nodded.

The voice scoffed "It's complete utter bull-crud. Even if there's a unicorn dumb enough to face me, who would risk their hide for a bunch of measly shape-shifting vermin?"

Twitch twiddled his hooves a little, "Actually, s-sir… you know that unicorn we m-mentioned?"

"Yes?"

"I d-don't know the whole story, but those Ch-ch-changelings are in a-an uproar about the g-guy and…" He trailed off, trying not to gaze at the pony in front of him.

"…And?" The voice asked.

"I really d-don't know h-how to p-put this…" Twitch muttered.

"Get on with it!" Dice barked desperately.

"Yes, get on with it!" Slice ushered on.

"Yeah, get on with it!" A clamor of unknown voices demanded.

The four ponies stood in silence.

"O-oh geez, w-what was t-that all about-"

"Get on with it!" The shadowy pony bellowed, the floorboards shaking again with another stomp.

"Alright, alright!" Twitch stammered, "The thing is… the changelings s-seem to b-believe that this unicorn is the w-wizard… the one t-that will r-rise up and s-stop you…" Immediately, he winced, preparing for pain.

The pony in the shadows did not say anything at first… but then, he dropped the cigar he was smoking on the ground, immediately crushing and grinding it with one heavy shaggy-fetlock hoof, which was well-sharpened.

Slice and Dice slowly backed away, while Twitch remained in his winced state, failing to notice as their boss began to step away from the shadows, revealing a powerful, tall and rather intimidating blood red stallion with a black mane and golden eyes… or rather eye, as his right eye was concealed behind an ragged eyepatch.

Twitch slowly open his eyes, only to be met with the chest of the boss. He let out a whimper as he glanced up at his face, looking down at him with a grin that only the devil himself would possess.

"...Is that a fact?" Red Eclipse questioned, his curiosity piqued. "Well then… perhaps I should meet this 'great wizard' in pony, and see if he lives up to the hype..."