The Secret Chapter

Foxiekins looked over the house that the Heartbreak pony called home.

It was now a bustle of tail wagging activity. The pretty mare, Fluttershy, the cake-sweets smelling pink one, the strong apple smelling one, and the small excited crestfallen filly all were busily busking about creating wonderful aromas from the home’s kitchen.

“Is Meow-Stop-Leaves sure he wants to do this?” he asked the kitten on his back.

Meow-Stop-Leaves was quiet for a moment. “Yes. Rat... Sam Rat will be a good pet for the Heartbreak Pony thing... Will keep her safe...”

“Is something troubling Meow-Stop-Leaves?” the fox asked, sensing a hesitation in the feline’s body language.

“It is nothing... Just... When Meow-Stop-Leaves was trying to look at the H.B. Pony-thing... He swears... There was something in their eyes... He can’t explain it... Something... familiar...” he mewled before shaking his head. “We should go,” he said after another moment.

“Alright...” Foxiekins yapped. “Is Meow-Stop-leaves ready?” he asked, bounding over to the mailbox.

“As ready as I, Meow-Stop-Leaves, can be!”

The two friends moved past the mailbox pole, vanishing from sight only to reappear from a haypile that was being carted away on the dusty Miller Dr.

“That was amazing! Foxiekins! What was that shadowy realm and how did a fox like you learn of such a place?” Meow-Stop-Leaves asked, brushing hay out of his whiskers.

Foxiekins grinned a sly foxie smile. “The Shadow? It is said that cats have always known how to use the Shadow to travel. Though, I Foxiekins have never been able to get there,” he said, his paws rubbing his ears and grinning. “Until now, legends tell that The Shadow was made by Tim Toldrum... said to be The King of Cats... Though I, Foxiekins, am sure that he’s long dead.”

“If Old Tom is dead, then I’m King O’ the Cats!” Meow-Stop-Leaves proclaimed, a white paw on the patch of white fur on his chest!

Foxiekins tilted his head. “That is an odd thing for Meow-Stop-Leaves to say. Why did he say it?”

The kitten put his paw up before finding himself at a lack of words. “I, Meow-Stop-leaves, do not know.” He looked over at his vulpine companion. “It just felt right.”

The car that the pair were in rocked back and forth, the summer night air creating a barely cooled breeze.

“Well, King O’ the Cats, where will we be off to then?” Foxiekins asked, looking at the sky as the stars came out.

“Adventure!” He mewled back, those same stars sparkling in his eyes.

=========

Dr. Gregory Stable sighed at his desk, looking over the mess of paperwork. This, of course, was the worst part of the job.

‘Just signing for this, approving that... double checking charts... ugh... so... mundane,” he thought to himself as a cup of stale coffee in a white paper cup was levitated to his lips.

“Bleh...” The cold, old, bitter brew he tasted made him rue ever asking Nurse Biscotte to bring him a cup. “At least it’ll keep me awake...”

Once again, he sighed.

That’s when a particular folder with a particular name particularly caught his... attention in particular.

“Hello, Heartbreak... or I should say, H.B...” he mused, setting the coffee cup down and picking up the nilla folder with his dark blue levitation aura before hoofing through the few, apt informative pages. “Informative if I was reading the hoof notes off a scrollapedia blurb!” Dr. Stable grumbled.

The pony named ‘Heartbreak’ had really shook things up today! Oh yes, Ponyville General Hospital was host to many magical malady that had to be treated.

However, there was a truth of what happened that clung to the air like foggy mist on a frosty morning. A truth that caught Dr. Stable’s eye in all this. One that was a terrible, horrible, inescapable, cold truth. Something that was never brought up while the events of what were happening were... Well, happening. After all, he didn’t want to incite any more panic than what was happening at that moment. Though, what was this little truth that he had tried, and thankfully, managed to avoid?

That none of them should have still been alive right now.

None of the hospital staff, none of the locals in Ponyville, fet, even going as far as the edge of Canterlot would have been in extreme danger. How he held it together once they uncovered what was turning H.B.’s blood to ice, only Celestia knew.

“Every article, paper, report of an ice wood infection ever has only ever resulted in a mass... freezing. Multiple towns turned into icy wastes and frozen statues...” He looked at the bland pages up and down for something... anything out of the ordinary. “Fet... rumor has it that that’s the reason the Cold North exists!” he muttered to nopony in particular, using a word that the prospected pony popsicle had been tossing around so casually.

“What then could have been the... factor that allowed her to starve off the ice wood’s effects for so long? An immunity that Minneighsotan ponies have? A genetic mutation? A pre-existing magical medical condition that was countering the cold?!” he chuckled at a passing thought.

“Very well couldn’t have been Brick’s beside invitation to that odd little club of hers...” he laughed dismissively. “Then what-”

That’s when something small and clear nearly fell to the table, its descent stopped by the dark blue magical glow.

It was a slide. A slide with the single blood sample he had taken placed neatly in the center of a small square.

Dr. Stable looked it over and recalled that he did indeed place that there...

“Don’t tell me that you're losing your touch, Gregory!” he said to himself, now musing over whether or not he should, once more, activate the spell that would allow him to view this patient’s very genetic code... “I could compare and contrast it to my own and find out-”

“Find out what, Dr. Stable?” growled a deep, sultry, feminine voice from the dark corner of his office.

Looking up, Dr. Stable was taken aback, and nearly dropped the slide as the crimson tapetum lucidum of two eyes shone and joined the mystery voice.

Stepping from out of the shadows, was a leather winged pegasus- no doubt based on the purply-blue ornate armor she wore, one of Luna’s guards. Her blood red-almost pink wire mane was barely contained under the wing crest of her helmet, her yellow cat-slit slits narrowed to study his every move.

“General Tatterwing, stand down...” another voice said from the doorway. “There’s no need to rattle him like that...” A tan mare, also a guard, though decorated with the sigils of the Crystal Empire... one of Princess Cadence’s own private guards, if he wasn’t mistaken, stepped into view.

“Hmph... You’re no fun, Brightheart...” Tatterwing mumbled, a grumpy chittering in her voice.

“That’s Lieutenant Beatrice Brightheart to you,” she corrected, rolling her emerald green eyes before flicking her brown tail that had a single strawberry pink stripe going down the middle. “But my colleague is correct in asking what you are about to do... because if you try doing what we think you're about to do... then you’re going to have to not only answer to the Princesses... but you’re also going to have to live with that knowledge...”

“After all, there’s no unseeing what you’ve seen...” Tatterwing entoned.

Dr. Stable stared at the both of them... the slide still floating in the air. “And what exactly would I be seeing?”

“It all depends on what you intend on doing with that blob of blood...” Tatterwing said, grinning a very sharp toothy grin. “You might be seeing your patients’ medical data in order to help her or you might be seeing the inside of a cell if you ever let what you learn leak out...”

“That feels... quite threatening,” Dr. Stable said, raising his eyebrow at the small speck of red sandwiched between two thin sheets of glass.

Brightheart let out a small chuckle and walked closer to the desk. “You’ll have to excuse her. Having to work with somepony on a day shift has made her rather... more batty than usual...”

Tatterwing snorted and rolled her eyes in response.

“What we’re getting at is that, if you’re going to be looking at that again, you better be prepared to take the Doctor-Patient confidentiality clause very seriously...”

Dr. Stable looked away from the two mares and back at the slide of blood... “Just... what is exactly on this?” he asked.

=========

Well Red stood at the ready, eagerly awaiting something at the entrance of the Canterlot Maze Garden. He fought the urge to pace, or rock, or do anything really, as that was not befitting a guard, even one that was stationed as out of the way and quiet... well these days it was quiet, at the Maze Garden.

Despite that quietness and the weariness in his eyes, there was still a little excitement at this time of the day for him. Something that caused his heart was just a little bit of a flutter, After all, the changing of the guards was soon to happen.

The changing of the guard was a very formal, very uneventful thing. However, as an unfamiliar light gray face all clad in lunar guard approached, he couldn’t help but notice a breeze that caused him to turn and look behind him.

“Is all clear, Private...” Not seeing anything, he turned and looked at the bat winged mare, with a pale daffodil yellow mane and oddly green eyes. ‘These new recruits are looking stranger and stranger by the day...’ he thought.

“Clearly Time!” she said, saluting with a cheery smile that was uncharacteristically brighter than any leather wing Captain Well Red had seen before.

“Yes... It’s clearly time for the changing of the guard...”

The Private’s ears fell and she dragged her hoof across the ground. “N-no... that’s my name. I’m Private Clearly Time.”

“Oh... Uhm... Where’s Captain Light Fox?” Well Red asked, giving the private a good look over.

“Family emergency. He asked me to trade shifts with him. So, here I am!” Clearly Time said, regaining her composure.

“Well... Private Clearly Time, is everything all clear?” Well Red asked, correcting himself in posture.

“Yes, Sir, Captain Well Red, Sir!” Clearly Time shook her head. “Though, I don’t know why they have us guard this place.” she said, taking Well Red’s spot. “Isn’t... he... uhm, you-know-who back in stone?” she asked, much hesitation clinging to her voice.

Well Red rolled his eyes as he passed the mare. “Hey, ours is not to ask. I’m sure the Princesses have a good reason for us standing guard over that hunk of stone... Besides, it’s like Madam Inkwell says, ‘fortune favors the wary’.”

Clearly Time rolled her eyes. “Madam Inkwell? You’re listening to that old gray mare?”

Well Red snorted. “We live in strange times, Private Clearly. You hear what’s been going on in Ponyville?”

“Can’t you tell me later? I have to set up to meet the other guard on the other side of the maze in five minutes!” she complained, her ears pinning.

“Pfff-fine, I got a hot dish from my Hotdish waiting for me at home anyway, eesh...” Captain Well Red grumbled.

“Whineapolians...” Clearly Time muttered once Well Red was out of ear shot. “They have no short way of saying goodbye or goodnight...” she said to herself as she began the nightly walk around the hedge maze.

That’s the moment, dear readers, when awkward muffled hoof falls darted their way past the entrance, doing their best to avoid the sides lest their owner rustle leaves and draw attention.

Once the entrance was far out of sight, only then did Princess Sequestria dare peek from her ‘invisibility blanket’ spell.

“I... I... think we’re in the clear...” she hesitantly said, her ears twitching to and fro. “Stupid ears, why must they do that?”

“Ook-Oook, why did Pony Princess trust the strange nurse?” her monkey asked, still sucking on lemon wedges.

Sequestria opened her mouth and then closed it before finally answering as they walked down the twisting paths. “She... she moved the water drain away from me...”

The monkey frowned. “But how did she do that?! All monkey saw was her point her hoof at the drain and then ‘EEEK!’ to the wall the drain was! Nurse was not horn head! Nurse was an earth pony! Monkey asks again, why trust that?!”

“Because...” The indigo alicorn grew pensive, her mane turning yellow. “It was touching meeee...” she whimpered, her right forehoof bouncing in place. “It was gross, and wet, and on my bare butt, and touching me!” She started to take several deep breaths to calm herself down. “It... was really nice of her to take my feelings into consideration. Besides-” she shook her head, from which floated in a magical aura, came a long loop of a ribbon. One side of which was black and white, while the other side a full roygbiv rainbow... The colors were, however muted... with only the violet stripe glowing as if it were made of light. “Maybe whoever is in the middle of this maze can explain what exactly this is... why I even have it and just how it will help me find... him...”

The monkey clung to his pony’s neck, his eyes darting every which way, squealing as he bore his teeth again and again. “Monkey knows who is at the center of the leaf maze! He is from this place! Is Princess sure it was smart to trust that nurse pony?! What if the guards find us?!”

“Sssh! Robyn assured me as long as we have Billina's yellow chicken feather, we’ll be safe.” Sequestria said, plucking a particularly pretty poultry plume from her mane.

“Monkey fails to see how a chicken feather will protect us, and who even is this ‘Billina’? Oook-Eeek!”

“I-”

The mystery princess found her words cut short as the two travelers had reached their destination.

There, among the thick bushes, in a small clearing, in the dim half moon light, was a great and winding statue, a figure whose name the princess seemed to hold on the tip of her tongue, but couldn’t quite recall...

“The one behind it all...” faint lyrics fell from her lips. Looking down at the pedestal, she could make out an inscription.

“First in laughter, then in fear, now in sorrow as the Hearth’s bell grows near.”

“What... What does it mean? Ook...” The monkey asked.

“I... don’t...”

“What it means, is that we’re finally meeting for the first time...” A voice as old as the Green Glass Doors yet as mirthful as a freshly hatched chick rang through their minds. “So good for you to take ‘Robyn’s’ advice and stop by... Don’t worry yourself with questions... I heard everything as you arrived.”

Sequestria took a deep breath. “I-if you know why I’m here... then can you... can you tell me how to find him?” she asked, trying so hard not to let her voice break.

“Yes and no... I can help lead you down the path... it won’t be easy, but you have to wantit... do you want it?”

“More than anything...” Sequestria replied with no hesitation.

“Prince-”

“Then step closer and your journey can begin...” The lachrymose draconequus statue beckoned, glowing a faint orange...

==========

In a darkened corner of the Ponyville Orphanage, behind a heavy mahogany door, at an expensive hoof crafted ornate desk hewn from a single old growth oak tree, sat Miss Hayneighan miserly counting bits while she meticulously went over the costs of running this Celestia forsaken foal-hole.

Eagerly, she scanned the charts for anything that could be cut in order to make her profits grow, all the while fervently ignoring the pile of suggestions from that accursed box that the local Ponyville government had forced to be installed.

“I would leave those suggestions from the dirty mites to rot in that box, if it weren’t for that stupid charm on it!” she grumbled to herself taking a shot of glowing, sparkly amber liquid from the tumbler on her fancy-smancy desk.

“Aah!” she gasped, the burning golden liquid leaving a bitter, short lived conflagration down her throat.

“Have to... read and entertain every... whimpering need... and-” she covered her mouth while bleching. “Whiny discomfort, the little bit-biters have, otherwise the box will read them out loud and report you!” she scoffed.

“All for what?” She snatched up one of the slips of scratch paper, paper so small that it looked more at home in a fortune cookie rather than a suggestion box.

That was scarcely odd because that’s where she had pilfered the paper from. In fact, if one were to look closely, they could almost make out their lucky numbers.

“‘We could use new bed sheets.’ Why? The ones they have are barely threadbare! ‘Softer pillows please!’ Humph! Looks like somepony hasn’t heard of giving their pillow a good beating ! Might have to teach them just...how to do that...” She took another drink. “Teach them good...” she slurred, wiping her mouth.

She reached in and took another suggestion. This time nearly bursting into fits of barely contained giggling laughter!

“‘Lower the suggestion box, so shorter ponies can reach it’.” She rested her chin on her left forehoof and looked down at the unassuming paper. “Well, little Olivine, if you can finally reach the suggestion box all by your sweet little self, maaaybe it’s about time you considered earning your cutie mark and finding an actual place to live! Hmmmm?”

While the suggestions were meant to be anonymous, the all too clever Hayneighan had given each colt and filly under her oh-so-tender ‘care’ a stack of papers, each with a very easy to miss subtle colored dot to identify which little mewling was behind making her job... difficult.

“‘But should listen to their dreams!’” the crimson maned mare mocked. “‘Don’t you know what their dreams are worth?!’” She blew the slip of paper off her hoof and gave a villainous cackle as she nearly waltzed to the other end of her desk to caress a softly glowing spherical object covered with a cloth that looked to be a swath of a pitch black starry night sky. “Ooooh, they’re worth their weight in gold, aren’t they, my precious Orb of Phobe-”

“Miss Hayneighan?” interrupted a small voice from the edge of the office door frame.

“Yes?!” The malicious mare wary withered, frantically fronting that she wasn’t moments ago fondling a hidden orb by racing to the front of her desk! “What is it-”

A small purple maned colt with a dirty coal dusted coat and periwinkle eyes peeking around the door came into view.

“Beggin’ yer pardon, Miss Hayneighan,” he began, puffs of soot falling as he removed his gray hat. “But I thought it best to tell you that Cream Puff is still absent...”

“So?” came the irritated response.

“Uhm... well you see... it’s after curfew and she didn’t make the evening meal like she usually does...” he explained, wringing his hat in his hooves.

Miss Hayneighan narrowed her eyes. “Did you all at least get fed?”

“Oh yes. Olivine took care of supper, she did.”

“Well then, go to bed. It’s past curfew!” she chided before a cruel grin formed on her face. “Unless you want to have an extremely early start on the morning chores...”

The little colt’s body went rigid before springing to the ready in dashing away.

“Yes ma’am- I mean no, Miss Hayneighan!”

“Oh, and Urchin?”

S.T. Urchin winched and whimpered as he stopped mid trot. “Y-yes, Miss Hayneighan?”

“Feel free to stop by the storage and get a new pillow and bed sheets for yourself... for keeping me informed...”

Oh... Thank you, Miss Hayneighan! That’s... really... generous of you! I’ll-”

“Be going before I change my mind?” she scolded almost musically.

“Right! Going now! Goodnight now!” S.T. Urchin yelped, nearly sliding on the floor as he scampered away.

Once she was sure no little prying pony eyes were about, Hayneighan turned and lifted the cloth off her round magical treasure.

An iridescent, dark labradorite sphere that shimmered and shone with an unearthly glow sat stable in a small cradle made of the bones of an unidentifiable beastie, all carved with the faces of long forgotten ponies, that they themselves were frozen in twisted into nightmare induced grimaces.

“Oh, Orb of Phobetor, Seer of Nightmares and Holder of Terrors not even the Dream Trotten Mare dare face, hear me, and grant me passage to the mindscape of the filly named Cream Puff...”

When the orb flashed bright, her words became a whisper in the wind, her form like smoke and shadow, her senses glided away from the tender, sweet, succulent, ripe minds of the orphanage and out towards where she sensed Cream Puff.

“Think you can hide from me?” she thought, avoiding a sleeping squirrel. “Deny me the riches of your dreams?!” she scoffed, weaving garden and glade.

The ambient dreamscape was a wonder to behold, in it was every half-hope, daydream, the residue of two ponies fantasizing of a trip away and-

She shook her head. Dream spying was not what she was about for! She was on a mission, a mission, to remind a little filly of what her place was and potentially send her scream back to her real bed...

Hayneighan finally reached the house that this ‘Heartbreak’ had rebuilt.

Even in the dreamscape, it looked rundown, unassuming, but terribly quiet.

There were billions of tiny minds, too simple to make a real dream, though they were all connected to a large one in the attic.

There was a twitchy little mind that radiated a protective happiness... no that wasn’t it. Not unless Cream Puff had become obsessed with cheese in the past twenty-four hours...

Oh wait, there. A pure mind that shone with a near unnatural joy.

“Easy enough... like taking candy from a fil-”

Suddenly and without warning her shadowy hoof was caught in a crack in the ground!

“What?! Not pos-”

Trying to pull away, her other hooves were restrained by these ephemeral cracks- cracks that they themselves when traced back to the source, protruded out from a heart shaped window center of this house...

A window that for whatever reason had a large vine growing down the middle that also looked like a crack...

Hayneighan had no time to admire anything really as a heart-shaped face pushed itself out of the window! Cracked eyes stared down at her! A broken grin with jagged teeth opening with a voice like shattering glass and breaking bone!

“Ssso focusssssed on what ssshimmersss and ssshinesss, it forgot that that isss the best bait for a trap!”

“Phobeton, awaken me!” she begged, black cracks lurching closer! “Phobeton, awaken me!” she pleaded, as those very same cracks starting to grow up her legs! “Phobeton, awaken me!”

Reeling back to the orphanage, Hayneighan recoiled from the relic and nearly slammed into the wall, sweat poured down her face as her breath kept getting caught in her chest.

She scrambled to the window, one of the very few without bars, and threw the shutters open to take in the night air!

Once she had gathered herself, she glared in the direction of Miller Manner.

“Fine... Stay there tonight you little brat.” She grimaced. “Stay there and enjoy whatever pleasant dreams you have there, because when you get back... heh.. I’ll collect what’s due...” Her eyes narrowed at that nightmarish neighborhood house. “And as for you Little Miss Heartbreak... your secrets have piqued my interest...”

=========

Skitter, scurry, all in the colony and the nest was in a worry flurry.

Ticky-tack, the Heartbreak pony was safe and back!

Despite the sun having gone down, the day was being torn down, the night webs being thrown up by those whose jobs it was to guard the others who rested, the colony was still restless.

Lucas had defied the Queen.

The majority of the colony had gathered in the attic, all encircling one lone salticidae spider. A jumping spider-like arachnid who stood before The Eight... and The Queen.

Tiny vibrations murmured down the strands.

“Defy the Queen?! Not possible! They did what? How will Lucas be dealt with? This is the result of having names! Division! I did not think it was this bad? No, only when it is for the greater good of the colony! Why did Lucas rebel?”

“Silence.” the Queen slammed into the web.

The eight large spiders, four to the left and four to the right, began to express themselves one by one.

“How dare a barely above spiderling defy the Queen! This one’s actions could have cost all of us! There is a reason we act on Her orders!” the first with spines and a larger than normal red sad face on their abdomen shouted through the web.

“You, Lucas, are fortunate that the Heartbreak Protector thing has taken a fondness to you, otherwise-” The delicate and lithe second of the eight began, only to be interrupted by the darkest blue-near black third of the eight.

“Death! You would be slated to die! Your corpse left outside of the Colony, not eaten by any, lest your reckless behaviors infect others!” they shot through the webs, their sharp sickle-like front legs over their head.

“However, we are granting you to live... for now, that you explain yourself, your actions, what-” four of eight countered, adjusting herself over a newly created white egg sac.

“You, Lucas, gained from this? Did you think that greedily siphoning up information would help you rise in the ranks?” five of eight asked as they clutched some unfortunate bug in their fangs.

“Did this spiderling fear not for their safety? Should such behavior be permissible?! What if it spreads to impressionable hatchinglings!?” six of eight shouted, scrambling about their web.

“To be fair, this Lucas did what they hoped would work, when they spun webs around the winged death, they may not have known if it would work or not...” seven of eight, a lighter blue than most, hanging upside down on one of the support beams. “However... it did...”

Eight of eight, an orb-weaver-like individual pulled on many of the threads, some of them leading out to Ponyville... “Have you made... connections outside of the webs, little one?”

“Enough!” The largest Vaneighsian Sad-faced spider lurched through the web. She put her attention upon little Lucas. “Spiderling named Lucas. You will explain how it was that you... dismissed your Queen’s commands for information...”

Lucas trembled, their palps nervously combing over their fangs, the liquified gnats in their stomach acting if they still had wings.

“Lucas! Answer!” demanded The Queen.

“Kindness,” Lucas meekly shook through the web.

"Kindness?" she questioned.

"Kindness," Lucas repeated, drawing themselves up and looking directly at their Queen. "When I, Lucas, was separated from the Web, in a hostile place, surrounded by ponies whose hooves would rather Lucas' insides on the outside, a single rat showed Lucas kindness and saved their life."

The mass of spiders whispered into the webs,their bodies twitching with curiosity. This information had been shared once before but at the moment it was just a blurb.

"My Queen, why is it that we refer to only six of the ponies by... 'the elements of Harmony'? There are many ponies in the Ponyville, but the music point is not called the Laughter pony, the large apple pony is not the Honesty Pony, the three flower pony is not the Magic pony!"

"They are called that because they resonate as such," the Queen tapped out.

"Yes! They resonate that... that energy! That power! If we learned to resonate with the Elements, it could help us stop enemies as it stopped the Angel Bunny from attacking the H.B. Pony! It could open new sources of information for our colony! Walk among the ponies!" Lucas tilted their body in an alluding manner. "We could finally gain legs up on... the sister colonies that cast you out, My Queen..."

The colony murmured with the webs.

"I've made my decision," she said after a few moments. She crawled from the center of her webset... a long, powerful line of silk slowing her descent, pulled tight by her weight till all eight tiny clawed feet touched the attic floorboards. Walking over to little Lucas, the descriptor of 'little' could only be more disparaging if they were but a yolkling.

The rest of the colony's book lungs suddenly felt as if they were filled with dust or heavy wet air. Why did the fate of one small web mate hang so heavily when in the long design, it never had before?

"Your life shall be spared, Lucas." The colony visibly relaxed only to tense up once more with a shake of 'However...' from their Queen.

"However?" Lucas tapped back.

"However..." The Queen began again. "You are trailing a thin line. Ignore my commands... disregard my messages again..." her whole left side of legs threateningly clattered on the floor one by one. "Understood?"

"U-understood, My Queen..." Lucas trembled.

"Good, for now, I am assigning you, Lucas, with a new special task."

"My Queen?"

"You, Lucas, are hereby assigned to observe and report the major going-ons of the H.B. Pony thing..." She lifted her front most leg in a grand sweeping gesture. "You will also have, if the need is great and arises, my permission to protect the H.B. Pony thing as you see fit, granted that you report it all to me."

Lucas looked astonished at all this. "Did this mean that Lucas is... promoted? Will Lucas gain access to new information and resources?!"

"Yes," the Queen hesitantly answered, calculating exactly how much importance she should place on this role. "You and a collective of eight spiderlings are to monitor the H.B. Pony thing at all times. Your first task is to go and set up an observation nest in the resting nest of the H.B. Pony..." she commanded.

"Yes, My Queen! Right away, My Queen!" Lucas answered, quickly scurrying away followed by eight smaller spiders.

"As for all of you..." She turned her attention back to the colony. "The day has passed, my daytime spiderlings. Retreat to your dens for rest. My nocturnal spiderlings, return to your hunting and watching webs."

After all the hatchlings, spiderlings of high rank and those of low rank had retreated to their places of rest in the walls, in the cracks, in the crevasses, and any sufficiently dark hidden places. The queen Vaneighsian sad-faced spider was, save for Eighth of The Eight, alone in her web.

"My Queen?" they asked. "Forgive my intrusion into your mind's web... but is this wise? I have seen you consume entire egg sacs for one yolkling questioning less."

"The current events require different tactical approaches. Now please rest, I have something to do before I do the same."

Eighth of The Eight’s red eyes dimmed as they settled into their nest.

Meanwhile, The Queen of the Vaneighsian sad-faced spiders began drawing out designs for something rather special in her web in silk and moonlight.

=========

'Danger Mare gave Countess D'Vamp a sly grin as she snatched the Silver Oak Leaf of Horseshoes latitude!

"You'll have to forgive me if I borrow this and gallop away, but I have a world to save! Danger Mare away!" she whinnied, pressing a button on her forehoof mounted hookshot!

The dastardly dark purple vampire alicorn's mane whipped wildly in the wind as her blood red eyes flashed with crimson light!

'"Curse you, Danger Mare! I'll have you next time!" she bemoaned to the heavens a the sun came up over Transelmaneia in what was a very long time, forcing the Countess to retreat back to the shadows...

'As Daisy 'Danger Mare' Dogooder zipped away on her... zipline, bittersweet tears fell from her eyes and glistened in the rising sunlight.

"Yeah... next time, Daffodils... next time I might be able to help break the curse on you and we can go back to being roommates and fffriends…” she whispered to herself, a spry grin hiding the pain she was really feeling... she sniffed and laughed, for she knew that there was indeed going to be a next time...

“Until that next time true believers!”

Heartbreak nudged Sam who in turn closed the 'Danger Mare's Rocky Transelmaneia Terror Show'. With a title like that she raised an eyebrow. "Well... that was quite the read. Definitely no 'Heartshine Goes To The Beach'."

Cream Puff smirked. She was tucked up all snug in a light blanket, the gentle warm yellow glow of a nearby lamp lighting up her sleepy looking face. "That's fer sure!" She bit her lower lip. "It wasn't that bad though... Ah was really caught by that twist at the end!"

"That they were roommates?" Heartbreak asked, trying to hold back any laughter at the implications. "Yeah, I don't think I saw that coming either... So... what made you choose this story?" she asked quizzically.

"Ah..." The little filly partly dipped her head under the covers, small hooves on the edge of the blanket. "Ah promised a new friend that Ah'd give it a read if they'd give ma book a read..."

Heartbreak's head tilted and pushed up her glasses. "You made a new fffriend?" she asked.

"Y-yeah?" Cream Puff answered, still uneasily.

"What's wrong?" Heartbreak asked, sensing her hesitation.

"Ah... Ah dun't know... Ah thought ya might be mad at me or sumthin'..." Cream Puff replied.

"Does... Hay-Neigh-Han get mad at you for things like this?"

Cream Puff whimpered and was quiet for a while.

"...Forget I asked about it." Heartbreak said her voice tinged with regret. "What'sss..." she cleared her throat and then looked out the window.

"Sumthin' wrong, H.B.?" Cream Puff asked, peering up and over the blanket. Heartbreak was quiet... too quiet and for a touch too long. "H.B.?" she repeated, concern rising in her tone.

"Huh?" Heartbreak broke out of what almost felt like a trance of sorts. "Oh... uhm... no... just thought I heard sumthin' and spaced out... Anyway..." She rubbed her eyes and looked at the worried little filly. "Forget about what I said- asked, what's important is that Hay-neeeigh-han isn't here, and *you*-" she lightly booped a cream colored nose.

"Hehe-ha! Hay!"

"Are all tucked in and going to have a well deserved sleep!" Heartbreak said in an almost jubilant, apt hushed voice. "Though, I have to wonder... who's your new fffriend? I don't know them, do I?" she asked teasingly.

“Uhm... yeah... It’s Mars...” she reluctantly admitted.

“Huh, that makes sense... though I thought you two didn’t didn’t like each other...”

Cream Puff went back to hiding under the blanket. “We... had a talk... he’s not all that bad.”

Heartbreak nodded, expecting more, but the little filly let out an infectious yawn that the tan mare could not help but emulate. “You...” She lifted her good hoof to cover her mouth. “You’ll have to tell me more at a later date.” she said, that same hoof reaching for the lamp.

“H.B.?” came the smallest voice with the brightest pleading eyes from behind the hem of the blanket.

Heartbreak’s hoof hovered hesitantly near the switch of the light source. “Yes, Cream Puff?” she asked, trying to steel herself for whatever she was going to ask.

“Could.. Could Ah have a hug goodnight?”

“Uh...” Heartbreak fought internally, her emotions a splattering mess from everything that had happened during the week. “Ye-yeah, sure.” She realized how disingenuous? No... Emotionally cold? Kinda... insensitive! Yeah, insensitive that might have come off. “I mean, as long as it’s a smol one and ya don’t mind the cast...”

Cream Puff smiled. “Yer a silly pony sometimes there, H.B.” she said, sitting up and extending her forehooves for a ‘smol’ hug.

Heartbreak took the bait and leaned in. “I thought that was Apple-”

That’s when the filly embraced her favorite reader and activated her little trap! A small kiss planted on the mare’s cheek!

“-J-jack...” she finished, taken aback.

“Ya okay there, H.B.?” the filly asked.

“Yeah!” Heartbreak said once she regained her words. “You...” she re-tucked Cream Puff back into the bed the best she could. “You sleep well, Cream Puff.” she squeaked out.

“You too, there H.B....” The little filly replied, snuggling up against the pillow as Heartbreak’s hoof tapped the lamp, extinguishing the warm yellow light and replacing it with the cool blue white of the half moon outside the window.

Heartbreak could only nod as she watched Cream Puff’s eyes grow heavy, the filly dropping off to sleep. Only once outside of the room, the door closed as gently as she could given her situation, and nearly halfway down the hall to the room she planned to sleep in, only then did she let out a breath that she had been holding in.

“You... you don’t need to expose her to your problems... You should not expose her to your problems…everything is fine as it is... This is for only one night... We’ll figure out what to do tomorrow...” the mare muttered to herself on the way to own bed in an attempt to distract herself.

Dear readers, it did work quite well. So distracted was she that she did not notice the two, glossy, glassy, glowing indigo eyes peering down at her from a dark top bookshelf...

These eyes that followed our conflicted protagonist belonged to none other than the Bungle of a glass cat statue...

Once the pony named Heartbreak was out of sight, the door closing, an awkward body fell to a bed... Only then, my little readers, did the cat’s eyes dart forward... and if one were to listen... listen closely and listen with enchanted ears, only then they might hear what she had to say about all the happenings...

“Well... this is an interesting development...”

To Be Continued in the Adventures of the Next Book:

My Little Heartbreak: GAMING GUARDIANS!

Author's Note

This was meant to be an 'epilog', but apparently I don't know what that means and wrote out a full on extra chapter for all of you. I would like to thank Scared Ghost and ThePsychopath for putting up with me and being my Editors.
The Chapter arts are
Here
Here
Here
Here
Here
And here.

Tatterwing, Brightheart, Sequestria, Cream Puff, Clearly Time, lightfox and Well Red are all copyright to their respective creators.

I hope you enjoyed all this, and I'll be starting the next book really soon! HAPPY SPOOPY SEASON! THE DAY/NIGHT H.B. WAS BANISHED TO EQUESTRIA APPROACHES!