Searching for Answers

Okay, my sincerest apologies to the audience, but, since I am not getting paid for this malarkey anyway, I took another few days off to better prepare myself for narrating this dangerous lunatic's misadventures. I know it must have been hard being left alone with his thoughts, but the glorious Narrator has returned, so what did I miss? He is still there... Has he eaten? Slept? Done anything other than read for the past three days? It seems he has learned the difficulty of manipulating objects with hooves at least. While in the changeling's body, he could just cheat by bending the hoof around the object like a hand, but pony bodies are much less flexible. Instead, ponies grip objects by clenching their hooves in a manner similar to a suction cup, like an octopus. You are now thinking of octo-ponies. You're welcome. Still, this leaves far too much of a gap. Surely something significant had to have happened along this time-frame!

Alright, rewind. We are going to take a look at what has been going on in his noggin during these past few days.

And play:

So much learning, yet every answer brings new questions.

It is hard to separate fact from fiction in these books. While they know much about manipulating this "magic" of theirs, their knowledge of science has been crippled, though they seemed to have learned how to use it in ways similar to our own manipulation of electricity to power their technology. While they are not nearly as ignorant as I first believed, they still seem to have this reoccurring issue. I call it "Magical Gaps". If there is a gap in their knowledge that they cannot currently explain, instead of trying to find it they say "it must be magic!" What makes this difficult is that I am not sure where the line is drawn. Where is "Magical Gaps" in play and where is this world just fundamentally different from what I know. So much is similar, yet there are so many differences.

According to these tomes, nature as I know it is not the norm, yet somehow the nature I know still persists as the "Everfree Forest". Fitting name. It would make more sense if the world was one way or another, but this just makes it confusing. Pegasi can push clouds, but not in the Everfree. Earth Ponies can influence the plant life, but the Everfree refuses to heed their green... hoof? Those horned horses of harrowing horrors seem to be the only ones that keep their unnatural abilities inside the forest. Then the question is, w̰̺̦͑̽̾͌ͪ̔̓́h̼̺̩ͦ̽̇̄̚y̧͍̻̰̍ͧ̒̈́̔̽̇? Why does the forest seem to follow a completely different set of rules? Ẅ̞̗͓͉̗͓́͆͘ḫ̮̗͎͕̗ͭỵ̙̪̐ͨ͟ are those rules so similar to my own world? W͉̟͗͊ͯ̔h͎̙͋͒̏̾̄̚y͕͔͙͙͈̺̻̿ͯ is it only u̫̹̥͔̱̥̓͊͒ͨͮ̒̾nͩ̅̅̆̓̓̈͟i̳̺̻̣̙̰̽̇͌̆ͫͦ͑͠corns* that can still use their "magic" in the f̺̻̮̥͚̃ͧ̂̄̐͆ǫͯ̃͒͑ͪ̿ͨȑ̷͍̯̲͒ͩ̎̽ͪe̠̠͍̮̟̠̣͑̑ͨ̃̐s̻̄t̾ͯ̔͗?̢͕͙͇̐ͨ͑̉*

S͍͔͕͓̩̮̘̔̊ͩ̌͒̄ͩ͠o̟͒ͯͅ ̫͎͍͈͎̥ͪ̎̓ͪͩ͞m͍͖ͦ̾̈́͆ͭͭa̸̬̗͎̥̜͖͒n̢͈̬̜̝͇y̩̪̬̰̤̬̘ͦ̉ͣ̚ ̺͉̠ͤ̊̅ͭ͘q̢̞̔̎ͮu̢̳͉̜̳̖͓͋ē̳̫̜͙̠̠̦ͨ́ͩ͢s̫̟̠͈̝̳̼̑̅͗̓ͭͮͪ̕ṯ̛̦͆ͪ̀́̄̎i͍̣o̖̫̤̭̠͕ͩ̌ͥͩn̟̺̬͍̞͎̼ͣ̆ͭ͂͒s̪͖̬̗͉̪͉ͩ͋ͤ̽̋̍ͬ͠.̫͇̦͓͉͕̟̒̂̆̽͜.̭̺̤̝͍͈.̮͚̬̪̲̪͆

S̸͇͍͇͙̯̲o̴͙̤̯͑̿͆̏̄͒ͅ ̓͊̇̋̐͊͌m̵̳̝̗̩̲͊ͨ̚a̟͚̠̞ͫ̈́ͫ̉̽͜n̯̬̺̰͔͉̘ͣ͌̚y ̼͎̮̣ͯ̔̐͐ͤ̎a̽ͮ͐͛ͭ̓n͒̿̕s͇̙͍̼͈̔ͭ̊̽̌w̪̞͚͔̮̻̙ͧ͗e͙͇͍̜̦̞͇͐͒͑r͖̈̉ͬ̓̽s͕͚̭̀̀ ̛̣͈̠ͥͭͥ̏̾̐t͐̽̈͟o̮ͤ̓ͥ̅̈́̈ͦ͡ ̯̻̦̳̔ͦ̊̂f̶̌ͩ͂ͤͫi̪̣̤ͣ̾̈̐̋́nd͗̆͑͆҉.̺̿̽͋̌̃̏̆̀.͉͚̺̜̩̍̏̾͐̂̑ͩ.̦͍͙̝͓̬ͮ̓́ͅ

W̶̱̤̼̲͉̻̲͙̟͈͍̪̩̘̙̱ͩ͒̉̓̄̌͊̆͋͐̆̂͗̿ͭ̄̀̚h̢͈͖͈̦̮̠̼̟̣̳͆̀ͣ̋ͫ͂͝͠a̷̠͕̤͍̦̪͓̺̠̗̱͒ͫ͛̈̒̅ͫ̽̆̽͐̋̓͛ͨ̿́̚͝ͅt̡̫͕̯̮̪̟̤̱̤̄ͨ̓͗̿͂̑ͣ̄̏̋ͫ͛ͧ̌͘ͅ ̵̷̧̩͈̭͉͗̋́ͩ̌̈́̇ͦ͢i̶̢̠̟̬̦ͬ̆ͥ̎ͩ̍ͥ̊͋̋ͧͧ̄͂͗͐̇͛̽͘s̛͍͖̝̱͈̹͔͚̼͌͌ͧ̌͆ͩ̓ͬ͝ ̻͇̙͍̼̓͋̔͛ͤͤͪ͋ͧ́̀̀̚t̶͉͈̰͍̙̙͔̘̻̻ͣͥ̃̀ͥ̏͗͌ͦ̚̕hͦ̄ͮͤ̋̾̌̈̅͂ͬ͋͋ͬ̂ͧͭ҉͈͉̫̥̭͖̠̙̪̥̟̤̪̕i̷̶̷̗̗͚̹͎̬͓͖͓̫̪̪͚̗̥͚̇̓̆̓ͦ̋̎͗̌ͥ̊̏͘͝ş̟̳̭̘͎̞̱̞̦̤̞̩̜̮̭̳̮ͭ̆̅͒̾̉̾̓͌̽̓ͮͫ̎͌̀͢ ̢̢̓̿̂͒̏͌̂̔ͧ̚҉̬͖͈̥̣͚̲̤͔̦̞͚̣͉̮̪̟̗͜͜ͅI̴̿̒͒̑̿̓ͫ҉̶̳͓͍͚̺̭̮͎̤͈̞̺̗͙̜ͅ ̴̈́ͨͭ̅̈́͆ͪ̓ͣ͟͡͏̳͔͈͔͔̻̘̼͖̩̳̻͈ͅf̶͎̜̻̤̖̦͔̺̖̠̬ͣ͆͗̏̎̃ͮ̒̂̂͐̕̕̕͜ͅͅo̶̡͉͓̫͈̼̗̞̪̱̪͚̳̘̯̮̝͓ͦ̌̎̋̏ͥͥͤͤͤ͑̃͑͛͒̒ͭͮ͞u̇̎̒̌̓̊͗ͣ̿̓ͫ̋͜͠͏̡̦̝̞̝̙͈̳̤̞͘n̷̵̵̝̜̯͈̩̭̍͋̐ͫ̒ͪ̚͜d̴̻̬̰̤̘̰̻̠̂̈̽́͛͊̃ͬ̾͑ͯ̒͗͟?̢͌̊͗̃̊̒ͣ͋̏̍͆ͣ͠͡҉͖͕̹̼̞̹̺͇͜

T͛̃ͭ͛ͬ̓͝҉҉͚̥̳̰̯̗̥̫̞̣̩̻h̶̿̄͗ͨ̽ͩ̕͏̖͖̪̦̞͎͎̜͕͇̝̖͚̱i̸̸̛̯̲̮̟̘̝̪̼̬̣̻̠̟̟̬̻̯͕̳ͭ͐̑ͬ̽̈́̓̇s̨̠̙̭̞͕̫̺͚̜͔̭͂͋͑ͧ̆̈͂́͌̾͜ ̴̷͆̎̽ͩ̑͛̐ͪ̚̚͞͠͏̳̤̟̠̱̼̹̟̬ş̌ͯ̈ͧ͂ͪ̍͋̆͏̴̶͎̙̫̣̳̯͖̲̕c̴̸̡͇̱̣̪͕͍̖̬ͯͯͮ̊̅̿͊̑ͨ̋ͩͤͣ̽ͤ͆̋r̴̢̠̟̰̱̜͙̘̹͖̟̺͔̣̤̤̰̊̿̓͂̃̿̾ͤ͢͞ò̧̯͙̻̺̞͖͉͎͚͕͕̻̜̦̖̩̋͊͂͐̀͘͡ľ̨̼̮̗͎̍͗ͫ͘l̸̨̝͍͔̹̰̞̼̯̙͈̭̗͉̦̬̻̈̾̆̿̋̄ͧ̀́ͯ͌̓ͭͫͬͣ͟ ̵͕̜̻̙̻̱̺̪̯̼̗͉͎͙̯̠̽ͫ̐̓̆̌̽́́͘͞c͙̱̼͇̮̩̤̥̪̝̳̀̋̎͗̂̈ͮ̈ͩͧͭ͗̓ͮ͐͛͘̕͟͞͠ȍ̳̩͈̘͇̝̤̋ͯ̓ͯͨ͋͐̐͆̒̍͂̅̑ͥ̿̕ͅn̷̡̼͎͉͓͔̙͍̼̥̙̘̱̰͎̏̒̌́̌̽͌͊̈̓̕̕͡t̲̰̰͍͗͋̇́͑̔̽͂͂̅̒ͨ̽̃͐̄͜͟͝a̶̸̓̈́̎̇̌ͣͤ̾͛̓͊͂ͣ̒̒̍͋ͥ͏̖̻̩͢iͥͯ̑̿͌ͧ̋ͬ̒̏̈ͥ͂͛̓̈́҉̢̬͇̻̮͈͍̱̖̼nͥ̑ͧ̌̂͊̄ͥ͋̆̚͏̩̫̮̦͎̳͍̟͕̹̕ͅs̜̟͕̟̙̟̫͔̦̻̲̺̰̬̾̓̀ͥͨ̔̉ͭͤ͛̀ ̷̰̘̜̼̩̯̭̩̭̭͇̱̲̠̰̺̆̈́͌͌͗͐̏͜͝t̨̟͖̫͈̯̘̣̣̤̫͕̗̹̖̥ͤ̍ͤ̂͋ͮͦ̽́͂́̚͢͠ͅḩ̞̼̰̤͕̗̝͚̬̟̃͊͌͌͢͝͞e̛̽̌ͧ̋ͭ̓ͦ́҉̧͚͙̜̰͖̘͈͇̩͇͙͔̤͡ͅͅ ̵̷̨͇̗̭͍͖̬͎͖ͮ͗̅̌͂̈͂̂̈́̀s̏̑̀́ͥ̃̒̚͞͏̨̨̟̱̭̗͓̺̠͍͔̻͉͖̦̮ͅe͈͕̘̹̝̗̅̿̄̓̐̿̈͐͌̆͘͘c̴̷̨̲̦͙̹̳͒ͪ̏̒̋̍͌ͦͤͨ̒́r̒ͯͤ̀̍̉҉̷̀҉̤̣̰̫̪͉̹̱͓͈̘̠̟͍̼̙͇ͅe̱̤͖̝̺͕̖̘͙̦͇̻̯̥̻͇̮̙̓́̅̂͗̾ͬ̓ͣ͞͡t̵̜̥̱̼̣͙͇͙̪̱̱̤̜̫͈̹̹̣͆͐̍̈́̃͘͜ ̰̞̳̖͕̙͔̮͉̲͖͔̘̼̑̓͊͋̐ͬ̌͠ô̡̧͚͇̹̣̜̼̯͐͊ͨ̓ͮ͗̾ͯ͢f̴̨͖̪̯͉̗̫̲̬̲̘̘ͮ̊ͧͦ͗ͪ̋̽̅̑͞ͅ ̸̡͕̭̼̩̩̬͓̝̬͎ͬͮ͊ͤ̔̄̏ͬ̈́͑̿̂̚͝͡t̷̗͙̱̝̼̫̦͚̦̣̜̼̜̞̬͇̓͐ͣͤ͊ͦ͗̃͗̅̓͛͛ͧ̆̓̑̇̚ͅį̸̰̼̰̻̝͇̬͍̆̐̈͊̍m̨̮͍̞͖̖̱̱͈͎̋ͣͧ͊̉̒ͅͅé̵̴̷̷̻͍̹̗̙̖̄͌͑ͫ͊̉̔̀̚ ̌͆ͫͯͧͥͩ͗͋́̇ͬ̈͏̷̷̖̱̬͈͖̺̪͇̩̜͉̲̠̲̖̳̪͘͘t̷̛̗̜͔͕̭̣̹̮̳̪͉̻̜̗̻́͂̽͛ͨ̔̍ͭͩ͂̍̆ͪ̋̍̉̍̕͜r̹̳̰͔̥̣̎͂̀̾͂́͂ͮ̂ͦ̇̈̑ͦ͆͆ͥͪ̒́͞ǎ̑̄̿҉̢̮̣͈͓͍͈̤͕̳͙̤̪̭̳̖̕͞v̔͂͐̄̎҉̶̟̘̳̩̞͜͜͞e̠̰̹̞ͬ̆͂ͤ͐̓ͪ̂ͩ̉ͯͩ̄̀͟l̨̢̻͎̩̲̙͙̦̹̗̖̗̭̻̠͓ͦͭ̍̈̉̾̿̅͆̈?̵̨̭̥̤̩̰̦͚̟̣̟͕̫̹̇̇ͨ͑̎ͬ́̀́͞ͅ

Į̸̬̟̈̆̈́͢ ̫̗ͪ͟c̅͌̆͐͢͏̳͉̱̩̣ͅoͨ̏̿͋͆͑̚҉̷͚̦̥͚u̸͚ͧ̃̇̇͛l̞͇̗ͩ̆͗ḍ̯̋̓̃̔̅ͤ͢ ̵̵̝̰͓̙̘̪̭̣ͭͨ͊̆̅ͬ̒ͨ͡j̸̧͇͗ͤ̊̈̊́̚͜u̡̺̩͔̫͔͔͔̯͚͌͐͂̌̃ͤ̀s̨̜̱̮̹̥ͣ̍̈́͑ͮ̅t͙̱͔͎̪̝͈͔ͫ͌̂̆ͨͯ̓̚͝ ̝̰͉͔̗̲͙̦̥̔̅̄̐͛ͤͨ͋p̬̭̭͍̙̜̜̯̈͛͋̈́̾̓̐ͦ͜l͙̦͓͉̟̟͇͔̔ͥͫͩa̢ͥ̅͑̅҉̞͖͔͕͙͉̪͎y̡̮͎͎̖̻̣͎͓̓ͬ͂̌ͤ̽̏ ̍̇͐̏ͦ̍̀͂ͯ͏̣̮̗̟̦̼̪ą̊͑̊̒ͫͧ̿̑͏̫̗̗̺̯̭͖̬ ͎̣̳̦̪̹̬͙͎ͣ͛͛̄ͪ͢͜t̑̽̔ͦͪ̉̚͏͚̺͙̗̙̳͎̱͡r̜̪͇̤̲̥͙̂ͮ̀͐ͬ̽ͬͪ͡͡ͅo͈͙̬͆̎̉͛ͦ̍̚͜m̤̼͊ͦ͋͂̃̋̽b̷̸͍͎̹͙̅̏ͪ͗͂͝o̵̧̮̖͚͚̩̣̹̖̣͆̈́̇n̎ͦ͌͋͐́ͨ͘҉̖̪̪̭ͅè̶͈͚̝̦̱ ̨̲ͫͣ̄́̾ͭͫ̔́ả̴̱͇̺͓̤͍ͭ͗͌ͯ̓̂̓͜͠s̴̭͔͖͇͓̫̫̮ͩ̎͆ͅ I̤̫̩̟̳̐͐͒̓̓̾̉̐̀ͬ̽͊̓͋͘͘ ̶̦̦̦̟̻̤̗̜͍̦͉̪̰̖̥̘̻̎͆ͯͦͣͧͤ̆t̵̛̰̯͚̞͈ͦ͗̓ͮ̔ͭ̐̿̋̅̊̔͒͆̅w̨̮͇̰̜̳͙̻̖͂͆ͣ̾̆̌ͭ̾ͪ̎͌ͬͭ͟͟i̛̛̻̯͇̤̞̖̝̝͎̞͖͊̑̏͌̃ͫ̒ͧ̄̉̂͗̑ͦ̎̓̀͞s̶̡̱̬̱͉̙͔̥̩̙̯̙͉̣̪͈͔͓͓̓̋̍̓ͩ͆͊͗̄̋ͩͧ́t̵̡̧̤̪̹͇̪̦̳̰̜̓̀̀͆̃͆̍͗͗̓͂̓̑̂͆́͘ͅͅ ̶̢̨̳̟̬͚̬̩̗͛͗̈́͛ͦͫ̉̊̉ͤ̏͠m̵̷ͥ͗̾̑̚҉̲̱͉͕̹̩͚̮͙͡y̴̨͕̺̤̩͓̫͇͓̗̖͑́̔ͦ̎͒̾̏̌ͯͤ̆̆͢͟ ̨͓͚̳͈̭̈̈́͌̅̕n̴̨̠̺̠̞̝͎̞͕̮̳ͯͩ̈́ͫ̒ͫ̂̏̂ͨ̆͟i̛̬̜̤̳̲̪̤̟̙̐ͥ͌ͦ̄ͭͭ̒̔̽͐̓̓͞p̶̨͕͉̼̭̗̘̪͓̟̘̯͇̱͍̞̦̻ͪ̿͛́̐ͧ͡ͅs̶̶̬̳̜͉͉̩̗̙̼̣͕͍̙̝͎̼͒̈̋͋͋̒͆͑ͫͩ̎̂͑͜͟͡ͅ ̸̧̭̱̜͓͈̠̤̬̩̺̬̖̭̯͎͕̆̎̉̌̐͒ͮͪ̑͗̿̈́͂͂ͣ͛ͬ́ͅw̨̃ͪͥ̒͒ͧ̊̄̏͜͏̠̩̲̦͓͉̮̯̞̪̘͔̰͕̹̱̞ͅi̸ͮ̿͆̌͆ͯͧ͐̾́ͤͦͯ̊̓͏̨̛͉̠̟̞̻̠͍̙͚͇̮͈̟͟ţ̡͎̖̞͖̼̤͎̞̻̻̮̯̱̺̯̼͈̼̯̀̔ͯͮͣ̔ͬ̂̑̓̍͌͜h̅ͯ̔̄̐̓̉̍̔̐͒҉̴̡̬͓͚̗̘̭̹̪̫̘̱̖͜ ͮ̇͌̒̓̐̐̏̄̃̓̓̾͐̄̅ͩ҉̩͚͕͔͕̳̮̲̲̘͕̟̯͉͢j̧̑̏ͪ̃́͒ͯ̄ͣ̈͛̎̽̈̿ͦ͒͑͊͡҉̧̙̤͍̪̙͔̹̰̱̘̝͇͎̝̀o̵̧̝̬̺̗̩̝͎͔͎̺̰͇̠̯̣̦̽ͬ̈̿̂͑͌̓͗͂͑ͮ̔͒ͬ́̒ͤͤ͜͜y̡̛̔ͯ̌͛ͩ̈͐ͨ͜҉̦̻͙̲͕̻̙!̵͈̝̬̩͖̻̫͓͖̜͈ͧ͗̀ͧ̋̈ͪ̈́ͨ́͗̆̿ͭͬͭ̿͟͡

That was... Well then, as he was reading his thoughts seemed to have spiraled further into an insane mess than I care to decipher. It seems that whatever he found in there will remain a mystery, even to me...

Time skip it is then!

Melvin was in paradise. With this many books, it would take him years to go through them all. With this, he finally felt content. Until...

"This day is going to be perfect~!"

A melodious voice rang through his ears. Even though it came from a distant source, he could still hear it with perfect clarity.

The devil is that noise?

Before he could ponder this "noise" any further, he stumbled as he felt a sudden pressure from all sides. The pressure was short-lived, fading as quickly as it appeared. After taking a moment to recover, he looked himself over for any possible cause.

What... just happened?

"The kind of day of which I've dreamed since I was small~!"

With the return of the voice, so came the pressure. He felt something compelling him to move, as if the call of a siren's song.

Is that a siren? It better not be a siren. If it is, then I am ripping out its tonsils.

"Everypony will gather 'round

Say I look lovely in my gown

What they don't know is that I have fooled them all~!"

"GAH-HAOW! Fine! I'm moving damn it!"

He followed the compulsion through the castle, none of the ponies payed him any attention, as they were all psyched for the big event.

The wedding day was upon them.

Annoyed that he still had no idea where he was going, he at least took some comfort in the fact that he wasn't going to get lost this time. He was guided to the wedding by the strange song, adding his own snark to it in his irritation.

"I could care less about the dress!"

Wedding Gowns look stupid anyway.

"I won't partake in any cake~!"

Good. That would just be a win for those Nazi bastards.

"Vows, well I'll be lying when I say~!"

Bitch.

"That through any kind of weather

I'll want us to be together!"

You better hope he isn't a storm chaser with a thing for hail.

"The truth is I don't care for him at all~

No I do not love the groom

In my~ heart there is no room

But I still want him to be *all miiiiiine~*!"

......

So... A normal wedding then?

Finally, he found the right place. Looking around the border of one of the massive doors leading into the room, he took stock of the many ponies attending, all of them painfully bright colors. He immediately noticed the large white Alicorn at the very end of the elaborate wedding hall. Her very presence seemed to radiate authority and perfection. It was as if he was looking upon a benevolent- I wanna stab it! Whitey has to pay, and the payment is *blood!***

Hold on. Pause.

Really? I am trying to set a proper mood here! This is supposed to be the all important first look at Celestia. I don't think you realize the gravity of-

"I understand what you were doing just fine. Why do you think I cut you off? She is by all rights a god, but if you expect me to do that stupid shit where I just immediately want to bask in her greatness and worship her on sight, then you obviously have me confused with a shitty self-insert character. Let me make one thing clear; I am not going to have some life changing epiphany because I saw at a winged unicorn with freaky aurora hair, and anyone who would seriously just start worshiping it out of the blue should have their head examined, for several reasons. That is coming from me of all people!"

Do you really have to be so difficult?

"Quit your whining and just remember what kind of person you are narrating for from now on."

Oh yes, how could I forget the character I am stuck with; obnoxious psychopath. Boy, you really are just pushing all the boundaries with that! Careful, if you get any deeper as a well developed character, you might just break your way into the fourth dimension!

"Hey! I am not a shallow character! I am a dangerous and mentally broken individual pretending to be all laughs and smiles to keep my enemies from taking me seriously! Just because I didn't scream a tragic back-story at the first thing I saw like a moron, that doesn't mean I don't have a reason for all of this! You don't get this crazy over night!"

Oh please~! Like anyone is going to care about those vague hints to your past The Author has been using. Unless you get some exposition, you are going to be more of a comedic relief than a main character.

"That would kill the mystery, as well as completely halt the flow of the story! It would be so boring for me to just stop everything so I can rant at the readers about my past! I am sure that they are smart enough to piece together the story themselves."

They are reading a story about you, so I doubt it.

"I heard that!"

Sigh, play.

Of all of the throng of multi-colored ponies, he was only focused on one. Melvin had found his target. There was no doubt about it, whether by seeing the Sun as her mark, the ever-flowing mane, the combination of both horn and wings, or just her sheer size compared to everyone around her. There was Celestia. All he needed to complete his mission here was to take something of hers. It didn't matter what. Whether it is a lock of hair or a drop of blood, he would have what he needed to take her power for his own.

Now, I just need a way to get it. The direct approach would likely get me killed, so I should-

"Finally the moment has arriiived~!"

...

The pink one dies first.

He was so distracted by thoughts of stabbing Celestia that until this point he hadn't noticed the white unicorn with a blue mane and red suit standing next to her, and approaching them was-

What. The. Fuck. Who is that? Up there is clearly Celestia, and Luna supposedly left, so who the fuck is that? Damn it Nightmare! You said there were only two of them!

He sat outside of the room watching as they were getting started. Melvin needed to reevaluate his plans with this sudden discovery. Due to his sessions with Nightmare and the smatterings of history he read while in the library, he had come to understand that Alicorns were beings of god-like power, and were in many cases treated like gods, but he had never once found any mention of a third Alicorn. Despite this, there she was. Walking up in a wedding gown was unmistakably a pink Alicorn with a crystallized heart for a mark.

This is worrisome. I can't take a direct approach, and then comes the question of why her song dragged me here. I am at an extreme disadvantage. I should retreat for now and prepare accordingly for later-SHIT!**

Lost in his thoughts once again, he failed to notice a certain purple unicorn until she was already barreling past him.

"Oh no... The Horned-Homo-Hemo-Hunter returns."

As if the universe itself enjoyed conspiring against him, Twilight was soon accompanied by a now somewhat familiar pink Alicorn, though with a more ragged appearance than the one getting married. It took every ounce of his will not to scream in frustration.

**And she brought "The New Pink One's" hobo-twin!* I don't think I could fight one of them as I am! There is no way in Hell that I could take on three!*

Now in a complete panic at the thought of yet another deity keeping him from his goal, he was just about to call the whole plan off and run far away from Canterlot, until he noticed something promising. Namely, one of them lighting on fire. Green fire, and when the flames cleared they revealed a large yet slender changeling, but being much taller wasn't the only difference between her the one Melvin saw before. While she did have the holes on the ends of her legs as well as her horn and insectoid wings that were present on the other changeling he saw, oddly enough these holes also appeared in her long teal hair. On top of the solid light-blue instead of white, her eyes also had (somewhat) slit pupils with green irises. If she was worried about being discovered, she hid it marvelously. There was no sign of fear to be seen in her expression, only mild amusement.

"Mnahahahaha! Right you are, Princess. And as queen of the changelings, it is up to me to find food for my subjects."

Well... It's not a siren, but why do I feel like I just missed something important?

The Changeling Queen stalked towards the newcomers at a leisurely pace, while also starting her requisite villain monologue.

"Equestria has more love than any place I've ever encountered. My fellow changelings will be able to devour so much of it that we will gain more power than we have ever dreamed of!"

I really need to pay more attention to this shit. I have no idea what is going on right now.

The "New Pink One" (Cadance, as if you all didn't already know that.) was undeterred by the changeling's actions. She pushed forward (somewhat literally, to the point that the Queen actually leaned back to keep her personal space) with a simple and somewhat obvious retort to the monarch's plan.

"They'll never get the chance! Shining Armor's protection spell will keep them from ever even reaching us!"

Okay, *He** dies first. He deserves it for trapping me in here with a pink barrier!*

To this, The Queen (Chrysalis. Go ahead, call me lazy, but you all know what is going on by now. There is no point in trying to hide their names) merely chuckled.

"Oh, I doubt that. Isn't that right, dear?"

Shining Armor responded with a nod of his currently empty head. Seeing this, Cadance tried to run to her lover, only to have Chrysalis block her path. Her horn took on a menacing green glow to accompany her threat.

"Ah, ah, ah. Don't want to go back to the caves, now do you?"

Pleased to see Cadance back down, she jumped back up to Shining to continue her speech.

"Ever since I took your place, I've been feeding off Shining Armor's love for you. Every moment he grows weaker and so does his spell. Even now, my minions are chipping away at it."

She paused in her monologue for some maniacal laughter, during this time Melvin ponders something important.

Wow, she is laying it on thick. Why isn't Sunshine over there doing anything? She is just letting her go on about how she will take over-oh! Oh that is clever. Let the enemy announce their plan, so she knows if they have any nasty surprises she needs to worry about. It seems my opponent is not just powerful, but also intelligent. I will need to be careful here, though I have to wonder how many times she has been in situations like this...

His thoughts were interrupted by his realization of Chrysalis continuing her monologue, and that she was now hovering off the ground for her announcement.

"First, we take Canterlot. And then, all of Equestria!"

"No. You won't."

Now she gets involved. Finally, I will get to see this power of her's for myself!

Lowering herself back down, Chrysalis stood ready for what was surely the final battle.

"You may have made it impossible for Shining Armor to perform his spell, but now that you have so foolishly revealed your true self!"

The two began their battle by charging each other, crossing their horns in an attempt to overcome their opposition through brute strength.

"I can protect my subjects from you!"

Pushing off of Chrysalis, Celestia fired a beam of magic toward her foe, with Chrysalis responding in kind the two clashed in a brilliant display of power. The victor of this battle would be decided by magical might alone. Chrysalis' mask of confidence broke as she closed her eyes from the strain of the blast, while Celestia remained sure of her victory. That all ended as the green beam pushed its way through Celestia's own, blasting off her crown as well as the pointed tip of her horn. All attending gasped in horror, though none were more surprised than Chrysalis herself.

"Princess Celestia!"

While Twilight and her friends ran to her fallen mentor, Chrysalis quickly regained her composure.

"Ah! Shining Armor's love for you is even stronger than I thought! Consuming it has made me even more powerful than Celestia!"

Bitch say what? "She lost..." All of the raw power of the Sun at her disposal, and she lost. Okay, new plan. Run away, then sneak my way back and eat Shining Armor to absorb his powers. I know it doesn't work that way, but it worked for her! Wait, what was that?

Straining to hear, he just barely caught an important piece of information, quietly spoken by the fallen Celestia to the six around her.

"The Elements of Harmony. You must get to them and use their power to defeat the queen."

Something about harmony? Unless you can Haduken, I don't see the Dao helping you out of this... Oh! I remember now!

As the group ran past him, he hid behind one of the massive open doors to the wedding hall. Shortly after, he heard the queen taunting them, then shattering.

"You can run, but you can't hide!"

With the shield gone, the changeling swarm descended on the town with surprising speed. They smashed into stone and dirt, leaving small craters wherever they land.

They will never get to their weapon in time. If I want to get out of this alive, I have to-ugh... Help them...

But right as he was going to make a break for it, something caught his attention. Namely, a rather crestfallen changeling approaching Chrysalis. Looking up at the Queen with a sad yet hopeful expression, he asked with that odd buzz in his voice their race seems to share.

"D-did you find her?"

Due to their ignorance of Melvin's presence, Chrysalis let her confident facade fade, replacing it was a look of worry.

"I sent a call through the Hive-Mind, but Silk never answered. Wherever she is, it isn't Canterlot."

The newcomer lowered his head in mourning, until he felt a gentle hoof on his shoulder. Looking up, he saw the Queen giving him a small smile. She spoke with a gentle reassuring tone.

"Don't worry. We will find her. This isn't the first time she has run off in search of adventure, and I doubt it will be the last. For now though, we have a city to conquer. Afterwards we will have more than enough power to easily bring her back regardless of where she has disappeared to this time, so do try to look threatening until then."

"Of course, my Queen."

After taking a moment to emotionally ready themselves, they went back to their prisoners. Seeing this as his chance Melvin left as silently as possible, in hopes of not attracting the preoccupied Queen's attention.

They had made it to the tower that held their greatest trump card, The Elements of Harmony. Running across the bridge to the tower from the coming swarm, the moment they opened the doors all their hopes were dashed. The changelings had planned for this ahead of time, and had a small army hidden inside the tower to block their path. The Elements where surrounded. They had come so close, only to have victory stolen from beneath their hooves. It didn't seem to matter how many changelings they defeated, as more always took their place. After beating a particularly large group, an even bigger swarm rushed after them. Deciding that the intelligent thing to do would be secure the Elements instead of fighting a hopeless battle, they ran as swiftly as they could to where the Elements where kept, only to have walked right into an ambush. With no where to go and hopelessly outnumbered, it seemed all was lost for the Elements of Harmony, until they heard a voice. It wasn't a particularly valorous or encouraging voice, nor was it melodious or even pleasant to hear. For the most part, it just sounded like a bitter angry person yelling like psychopath while running at them. He really could have picked a better battle-cry too.

"OH NO YOU FUCKING DON'T!"

Upon hearing this, Twilight ever so slightly went into a complete panic at seeing one of the first ponies she could have ever called friend charge into his imminent death. Applejack, seeing her obvious distress, asked the most obvious question on everyone's mind.

"Who's that Twi?"

"That's Dusty Tome! He's been the librarian here since I was a filly! He can't fight! He can barely remember his own name!"

"Then we gotta help him before he gets himself killed!"

Rainbow Dash would have flown over to save the poor fool regardless of the risk, but she and her friends were pinned in place by the swarm surrounding them. Fighting back-to-back, it was everything they could do to not be taken down themselves, Dusty was on his own for this. Twilight dearly wished they could do something to help, but what they saw next both shocked and confused them all. While it wasn't particularly intimidating to see a single grey unicorn with an open book for a cutie mark running at the swarm, three of the changelings had rushed him to neutralize the minor threat while the rest dealt with the Elements.

These are creatures of shadow and deception. They are natural spies and assassins, and it shows in how they fight...

Melvin found himself horribly underwhelmed by the changeling method of combat, namely throwing yourself at the opponent and hoping for the best. Neatly sidestepping one of the oncoming foes while raising his hoof in mid charge resulted in a particularly painful clothesline, swiftly dealing with the first of the three in an efficient manner. The other two, learning from their comrade's mistake, decided to flank him and attack from both sides. Though they learned not to blindly attack from the front, they still didn't seem to understand the idea of not just rushing an enemy in hopes of bludgeoning them into submission with their face. In a surprising feat of agility, "Dusty Tome" leapt over the charging fools. Unable to stop their rush in time, they collided face first into one another. Before they could recover, Melvin landed slamming their heads into the ground, rendering them both unconscious and likely suffering at least mild concussions. Still huddled in their back-to-back position, Rainbow found herself questioning Twilight's earlier statement.

"You sure about that Twi? It looks like Dusty is a bit of a bad-flank!"

"I don't understand! I have never seen him move like that before!"

Changelings are creatures of stealth, so it would make sense that they are unused to direct combat. Still, Melvin couldn't help but feel disappointed that they weren't more of a challenge, on the other hand he was somewhat relieved. If three of them had given him trouble, there would be no way for him to make any sort of difference against the army standing between him and his temporary allies. With there being so many of them, it still looked rather hopeless for him. The changelings, now recognizing him as a threat, turned more of their attention to him.

This could be my chance! I don't need to beat all of them, just distract them!

With a running start he once again displayed strength and agility far beyond what the old body should be capable of, by leaping over the changeling throng! He hit the ground next to (what he believed to be) the only mares that could stop this horde of shape-shifting parasites. Standing tall (as well as he could on four legs anyway) he joined their formation to ensure nothing could hit them from behind.

"How far are we from the Elements?"

"We're super close! See those big doors on the far end in the tower thingy?"

"The Elements are there?"

"Yepers!"

"Thanks Pink One, now-"

"Oooh! Is that like a code-name, cause I like it!"

"-how to get to them?"

"We should all have cool code names! You can be called Mr.Monochrome!"

"I say we fight our way through!"

"And Fluttershy can be Miss Buttersworth."

"That there just sounds like straight suicide Dash. Dusty's help or not, there's jus' too many!"

"Could we be named after the Elements instead? I would like to be Miss Kindness."

"Okay, Miss Kindness it is!"

"Yay!"

"Well we have to try something! If we don't get to the Elements, there is no telling what these vile insects will do to us! You wouldn't happen to have a plan to get us out of this mess, would you Twilight?...Erm, Twilight?"

While everyone (except Fluttershy) mostly ignored Pinkie's habit of getting easily distracted, Twilight felt conflicted about the current situation. While getting some help was definitely necessary at this point, there was something about the look in his eyes that unsettled her. Despite everything they had faced so far, never before had she seen a glare quite like that before. That wasn't the look of someone fighting to survive, it was the look of a cold-blooded killer. Rarity's question snapped her back into the situation at hoof. Though she didn't have a plan at the moment, she did have a rather important question of her own to ask.

"Why aren't they attacking?"

Looking around their formation, she noticed that, while the changelings hadn't left any openings for an escape, they also hadn't tried to capture them again. They seemed content to pin them there while they tried to form a plan. "Dusty" responded to the best of his ability.

"I don't know. I was hoping you had an idea. They have us surrounded and outnumbered, so why wouldn't they try to end this now?"

"If I had to guess, they seem... confused."

"Confused? What makes you say that?"

"Their general body language seems to be similar to our own, and it seems like a pretty sudden shift for a group that were so sure of their victory that they would literally throw themselves at their enemy, regardless of how many of their own had fallen, to hesitate."

"Then this could be our only chance. I'll keep them busy while you six get the Elements."

"What!? That's insane! You can't hold them all off on your own, and even if you could how would we get past-"

Twilight found herself cutoff by a most unexpected turn of events. She saw Dusty take a deep breath, before unleashing a gout of fire into the tower. Changelings scattered in a panic, none of them expecting a pony to suddenly breath fire. The blast itself was massive, as if it had come from the jaws of a large dragon instead of that of a pony. The fire quickly cleared the way to the doors, rendering anything in its path nothing more than a charred husk, including any changelings too slow to avoid the blast. The six standing next to him had varying expressions from amazement to horror. Twilight was the first to regain her wits.

"H-how did you-"

"No time! Go! Now!"

Spurred on by the reminder that the path to their goal was clear, and partly because they were slightly afraid of the strange fire-breathing unicorn, they ran towards the doors that concealed their greatest hope. As he watched them go, he stumbled on his own hooves, struggling to stay standing. The bout of weariness faded as quickly as it came, leaving him to question why it came in the first place.

I really hope that doesn't happen again while I'm fighting. They are going to have to deal with the survivors themselves. I just have to keep anymore from getting in.

Standing in the doorway separating the changelings from their prey, he braced himself for their inevitable charge. Charge they did, with so many coming after him at once, the whole thing seemed hopeless.

How are there still so many of them!?

Deciding it was necessary, he closed "Dusty's" eyes for a brief moment. Making some quick hand-signs with his real body, he reopened his eyes to reveal his new irises. When he locked eyes with a changeling, something unexpected happened. Instead of merely hearing one voice, he heard an uncountable mess that all droned into a constant buzzing, the likes of which was impossible for him to decipher. Though there was some good to this. While unable to read their thoughts, he didn't just see the path if the one he locked eyes with, instead he saw all of it. He was able to predict the moments of the entire hive by locking eyes with a single changeling! It was incredibly disorienting, which led to him getting tackled to the ground.

Being slammed into the ground at breakneck speed, while still trying to catch up with his own sight, and with a constant buzzing inside his head, was an experience he hoped to never relive, and having a large brain-sucking bug pinning him down wasn't all that pleasant either. The creature hissed in his face, showing off its fangs in an attempt to scare him. Melvin responded with a swift headbutt. After throwing the unconscious changeling off of himself, he noticed several things wrong with his current situation. He was surrounded, again, he was bleeding from the forehead, again, and he could swear that not all of his ribs were in their proper places. Feeling immensely grateful for his dulled sense of pain, he stood.

The changelings once again found themselves confused and slightly horrified as this beaten old unicorn stood up on his hind legs. Seeing his loose ribs move in ways that were just painful to watch under his skin and fur, as his joints popped and cracked into his new stance, with blood dripping onto the ground from the wound on his forehead, yet none of it caused him to do so much as flinch. It was as though he didn't even notice all of the damage his body had sustained. Then there where those eyes of his, a deep red with strange symbols constantly spinning around his pupils, all that resided in an intense glare. As they prepared themselves to fight this odd pony, his face twisted into a disturbing smile.

"So, who dies first?"

Chrysalis flipped through the pages of her new book with a mixture of curiosity, annoyance, and horror. Not that she would let anyone present see just how terrified she was about this new discovery.

"So... Why exactly do you have a book on demonology?"

The part that confused her most was not the ancient tome itself, but the one from which it was obtained. Of all ponies, why would the Element of Kindness have something so cruel?

"Not just any Demonomicon either, this was writen by The Dark Lard Jahuzawits himself."

The cowering Fluttershy quickly went from terrified to confused and terrified.

"Who?"

Chrysalis was shocked by her question! Turning to Celestia, now hanging in her cocoon of changeling slime, she voiced her concerns.

"Don't your schools teach them anything!? How could she not have heard of the only creature capable of matching Discord's insanity!? The very same one that terrorized all living things one thousand years ago!"

Despite her current situation, Celestia responded calmly.

"In my defense, those were very hectic times, with numerous possible world ending terrors needing to be sealed away. That and historians could never agree on what to call him. He changed his name every other week precisely ever since he first appeared. When he was first summoned, his head was on backwards and the only thing on him was a lampshade he wore as a skirt. He introduced himself as "Lord Sparkle-Bottom" before running into the raging blizzard, somehow screaming and giggling at the same time."

Chrysalis merely deadpanned before giving a defeated sigh.

"Fair enough. As for you, Mutterfly was it?"

With a frightened squeak, Fluttershy tried to hide in her hair upon the Changeling Queen turning her attention towards her.

"I'll take that as a yes. I sincerely hope you didn't try to use this, and I want to know everything about how you came to possess a copy of this tome."

Fluttershy was in a panic. She didn't know what she might do to her if she refused to talk, but was worried that anything she said about the book might make matters worse, until she heard something completely unexpected.

"Go on my little pony, tell her what she wants to know."

It was a rather odd thing to hear from Celestia of all ponies. She was just given the go ahead to cooperate with the changelings! Even Chrysalis seemed confused by this strange turn of events. All present looked to her, hoping for some kind of clarification as to why.

"She may be our enemy, but she isn't foolish enough to trust anything summoned by that book. That book is the very reason Tartarus exists, to be a prison for the monstrosities that were brought into our world. You must understand, the writer of that book was a cruel prankster. The things he did made what is going on now seem tame in comparison. Any who came to possess a copy of that tome were found slaughtered by the very creatures they summoned, or worse. If it comes to it, I would rather have the changelings win than have anything brought by that tome roam free in this world."

All was silent after that declaration. The ponies could scarcely believe their ears. There might be something loose in the world so dangerous that Celestia would be willing to side with the changelings? The silence was broken by Chrysalis' chuckling.

"You heard her, tell me ev-"

As she addressed Fluttershy again, her vision grew dark. Her legs buckled beneath her. All of her senses seemed to shut down as the encroaching darkness smothered her. It was as though she had been pulled unwittingly into a black abyss, and all she could see were two massive crimson eyes glaring at her from the depths. Then it ended, as quickly as it came the darkness lifted and she was aware of her surroundings once more.

What... just happened?

She reached out to the hive-mind, looking for anything that could explain what had occurred just now. She got her answer.

My queen, we have a problem.

Through her soldier's eyes, she saw what looked to be a broken old unicorn wreaking havoc upon her forces. Effortlessly dodging a swing from one of her troops, he hooked his forelegs around the extended limb. Twisting with a strength that his body shouldn't be capable of, he threw the poor guy over his shoulder into one that was trying to tackle him from behind. Another changeling rushed him, wings buzzing as he put is all into trying to tackle him. The unicorn merely bent backwards, at the exact moment the changeling twisted to the side with an extended leg, attempting to surprise him with a clothesline of his own. The pops and cracks from his spine were painfully audible, as he bent well below the incoming swing.

How did he do that? There was no hesitation, nor did he show the frantic signs of reflex. That motion was too smooth and calculated. He somehow knew exactly what my soldier was planning to do.

As he straightened himself, it was obvious that something was very wrong here. He neither acted nor moved like a pony. It was more like some kind of twisted marionette being pulled by an invisible string. She could hear his bones popping back into place. As the changeling she was watching this through locked eyes with him, she immediately recognized that crimson glare.

What is he?

Unexpectedly, he paused. Almost getting struck by a swipe from the side in his surprise, he was careful to keep eye contact with her as he narrowly avoided the blow.

He couldn't have heard that!

As if in response to her very thoughts, a smug smile stretched its way across his face.

Oh, he did...

Focusing on herself once again, sent a message to her hive. Displaying an image of him to them all as she does.

This creature, no matter what it seems, is not a pony. It is far more dangerous than it appears, and there is no telling what all he is capable of. I will *not** have any of you wasting your life trying to be a hero. Avoid him. Do. Not. Fight him. I will take care of this one personally.*

"Are-"

"No time for that now!"

"Eep!"

Chrysalis was quick to cut off Fluttershy's question, determined to not let anything distract her from the answers she needs.

"Tell me what I want to know."

"O-okay. It isn't really mine. It was left at my cottage by something, and we brought it here to ask Celestia about it, but we got distracted by..."

Fluttershy took a moment to look around, then just waved her hoof in the vague direction of some Changelings.

"This."

"Do you know what the creature was?"

"N-no. None of us had seen anything like it before, and before we could ask it had a heart attack and died."

Chrysalis looked visibly relived, until Fluttershy continued.

Then it got back up, pelted Twilight with eggs, stole some books, hit Rainbow with a dictionary, and ran laughing into the Everfree.

"It died."

"Uh huh."

"Then got back up, and ran into the Everfree."

Um... yes?

With a weary sigh, she continued her line of questioning, though not without noticing Celestia muttering to herself. Something along the lines of "oddly familiar."

"I'm getting to old for this nonsense. Is there anything at all you can tell me about this creature?"

"Well, he said his name was Sanguis, but I'm not sure how-" *Smack*

To the confusion of poor Fluttershy, and everyone else for that matter, Celestia went wide-eyed with terror, while Chrysalis face-hoofed hard enough for them to hear it. An awkward silence reigned, until Cadence asked the question on everyone's mind.

"What is so bad about that? It has a weird name, I don't see how that could be any worse than what you are doing now."

Chrysalis was the first to respond.

"You don't understand how bad this is because that name is in an ancient language that fell out of use long ago. This leaves little doubt that there is a demon of unknown origin roaming free somewhere in the world."

"How? What could possibly be so bad about its name it would justify helping you in any way!?"

Celestia decided to answer this one, though none present felt any safer hearing it from her.

"It means "Slaughter"."

Yet again, silence reigned as they all thought about the implications of an unknown demon named Slaughter set loose upon their world. While they did that, Chrysalis' mind was elsewhere, literally. Through one of her loyal followers stationed back at the hive, she had a rather angry discussion with a mysterious yet oddly tiny figure sitting limp in the darkness.

"Your little plan is falling apart! I've done everything exactly like you said! I took Cadence's place at the wedding, and when Twilight discovered what was going on and brought the real Cadence to "thwart my evil scheme" I did everything in my power to keep them away from Shining Armor, just like you warned me to! I defeated Celestia, which used up every ounce of power I had gathered by the way. We are just lucky that all of these ponies are too spineless to try anything! If Cadence so much as looked at me the wrong way, I could die here and now! I ordered my Changelings to target the yellow one in case they got the Elements, just like you insisted was the best course of action! You knew every little detail about what they would do and how they would respond, so why wasn't I informed of this creature from another realm currently laying waste to my children!?"

The voice that came from the figure was disturbing and unnatural, even to a Changeling's ears. An unusually deep voice came from the short creature, accompanying its pale face. The creature was bipedal, but could have been easily mistaken for the puppet of a demented ventriloquist, had she not seen it move of its own accord. It had a protruding brow and cheeks that have red spirals painted on them. His red lips form a ceaseless grin. His eyes are solid black, except for his red irises. Finally, atop his head sat black, messy hair.

"Because you needed to act exactly as I predicted, though I must admit he did make it to Canterlot much sooner than expected. No matter, my countermeasure is already on its way. If you want to survive, listen closely. Despite looking like a pony, this being is one of my kind. He will seem strange, silly, possibly harmless. Underestimating him would be the last thing you ever do. I do not expect you to defeat him. I expect you to stall. Keep him busy until my servant can catch him by surprise. He does not know of my interference with your world, and this will be the factor that leads to his demise."

"And you really thought that I, Queen of the Changelings, couldn't keep up appearances? Why did you not warn me of this creature if you knew he would be a problem!? Had I not questioned you, I would be completely unprepared. Even now, I still have no idea what to expect from him!"

"Neither do I, and that is the problem. He is an unknown factor that needs to be dealt with. As for why I didn't tell you, it is all apart of my little game. Everything will go exactly as foreseen, otherwise he will know something is off. He has the same powers of foresight as myself, and that will spell his doom in the coming conflict."

Knowing that she needed to be present, Chrysalis focused on her body once more, infuriated at being used in such a manner, yet willing to put up with it for now if it means helping her children.

I might be a fool for accepting this, but the power he promised is too tempting to refuse. If this plan works, then we will no longer have to fight over scraps in the Badlands.

Meanwhile

"*Huff* Oh wow. *Pant* Finally made it!"

Melvin collapsed in exhaustion, glad to have finally gotten to the Queen. Behind him stood the Elements, each wearing their respective gem.

I have no idea how some jewelry is supposed to be the ultimate weapon, but that is what I helped them for after all. Now I get to see it in action!

Upon seeing their return, Cadence tried to warn them of the changeling posing as Fluttershy. The real Fluttershy being held by changelings clinging to the roof with her mouth covered.

"Twilight wa-"

"You can have your little reunion after we deal with this!"

Only to be interrupted by Melvin.

"But I-"

"Zip!"

"But there's-"

"I said Zip!"

"I-"

"No!"

"Ok..."

Repetitively. Seemingly oblivious to that going on, Twilight and her group confronted the dread Queen.

"Give up! We have the Elements of Harmony with us! One way or another, we will stop you here and now!"

"..."

"Uh..."

They found themselves unsure of how to deal with her total lack of a response. She just sat there with her eyes closed, a look of concentration on her face, or seething fury. They couldn't tell which. Melvin walked past them with what could possibly be the least encouraging thing they could have ever heard.

"Don't worry, I got this."

The scene she returned to was... confusing to say the least. The first thing she noticed was that someone was poking her head.

"Hello? You awake? This is getting kinda awkward."

It was then that she felt a weight shifting on her back.

One of those ponies actually had the gall to straddle my back! He is so dead.

Turning her head so she could glare at the fool, what she saw was everyone looking on in shock as a certain grey unicorn sat on her back. Now looking her in the face, he poked her again on the nose.

"Boop."

Even Chrysalis, for all her experience, couldn't hide her surprise. She felt frozen stiff. Her eyes wide with fear. It seems that *Ahem* "little freak", as Chrysalis so kindly thinks of him, droned on for too long during his villainous monologue, and she ended up missing the dramatic appearance of the Elements plus one.

The demon is sitting on my back... I still need to recover from fighting Celestia... And my children haven't had enough time to gather the power needed to fight Luna when she returns... I need to stall him somehow.

"Oh goody! You're awake! This would have been really strange otherwise."

The smile he gave her seemed incredibly out of place for the situation. It was a genuine smile that made him look like the happiest guy in the world.

"I-"

Until his eyes started drifting apart. Slowly his face contorted into what could only be described as a constipated rage.

"Wha-"

Chrysalis found herself less horrified and more baffled as he opened his mouth, and started letting out a peculiar noise gradually getting louder as he continued.

"Nyeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-"

At this point Chrysalis was back to just being annoyed. Yelling over the ear piercing sound, which had all present cowering in pain, she voiced her complaint.

"And how could this ever not be strange!"

Instead of answering, he continued making the painful noise. Now though, he proceeded to make things even more painful for the Queen, by wrapping his front legs around her neck and rapidly headbutting her.

*Thud* "Ow!" *Thwack* "Why!" *Wham* *"STOP IT!"*

"-eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-"

With the irritating sound making it hard for her to think straight, she tried as hard as she could to get some distance from her attacker. Many of the ponies may have found it funny, were it not for the piecing note he seemed capable of holding indefinitely, to see the Queen running around the room desperately trying to escape the crazed unicorn sitting on her back.

*Crack* "Ah!" *Kersmack* "Make it stop!" *Pain Noises* "Ouch!"

"-eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-"

In a brief moment of clarity, Chrysalis realized that she could just throw him off. Her hooves skid on the floor in her sudden stop.

"-eeeeeh?"

The force propelled Dusty forward, allowing Chrysalis a chance at some fitting revenge. Flinging her head backwards, she slammed it into his muzzle. She couldn't help but grin when the irritating noise was replaced with a cracking sound. He collapsed on the ground, with his muzzle was clearly broken. Chrysalis' grin faded as he just got back up like nothing happened, completely unfazed by how much pain he should be in. Dusty quickly found himself surrounded. This time however, it was by the Mane Six forming a protective circle while glaring at the Queen. Twilight, clearing her throat and striking what she hoped was a threatening pose (as if anything as plush cuddly as a pony could ever be threatening. She could be covered in blood and riding a rhinoceros made entirely from the femurs of her enemies and the pure unending hatred only known by rabid Tasmanian devils that were crossbred with a particularly rude badger, and most would still be more likely to hug her than think of her as dangerous), tried yet again to do her dramatic victory speech.

"Dusty, please, never do that again. *Ahem* Give up! We have the Elements with us now! Your evil will be stopped here and now!"

"Wait, wait, wait-"

Melvin seems to have a bad habit of interrupting people.

"-She hasn't done anything to warrant calling her "evil"."

The Mane Six just looked at him in shock.

"What in tarnation do ya mean!? Of course she's evil!"

"An enemy sure, but I don't see how she could be considered evil."

Twilight joined in as well, unable to believe her ears.

"She brought an army to take over Equestria! It is happening right now!"

"To feed her people, or would the righteous action be letting her own people starve? Do you really think any leader would act differently if forced into that position?"

Cadence seemed offended by his insinuation.

"She could have tried negotiating! We are open minded ponies. I'm sure we could have worked something out. There are plenty of better ways she could have gone about feeding her people!"

Off to the side, Chrysalis sat watching their debate. One of her followers looked to her questioningly.

"Should we... do something?"

"No. Not yet Chitin, let's just see how this plays out."

She was amused to see things swing into her favor so quickly, all because of a differing of ideals. They will distract each other with their arguing, and she gets a free show.

"True, but how many of them were sure to work? I mean just look at her!"

Chrysalis was now less amused, as he brought the attention back towards her. Frozen like a deer in headlights, she struggled to find some way to get the attention back off of her.

I've got to think of something qui-wait, *what did he just say!?***

"And what exactly is that supposed to mean!?"

"No offence, but I don't see many wanting to cuddle with Fangy the love-bug, who has more holes than the plot of a bad fanfic."

"What!? I'm very cuddly! Chitin, you'd cuddle me right?"

With a salute, the addressed changeling responded with a smile. The Queen getting so upset over something like this just seemed silly to him.

"Of course I'd cuddle you, my Queen."

"See, he thinks I'm cuddly! Besides, more holes just means more options when pleasuring a stallion."

The room fell silent once more, none of them quite sure how to respond to such a statement. They just stood there gaping in shock and disgust.

*Hrk*

It seems Melvin found a response. Struggling to keep from vomiting, his action opened the floodgates. All of the ponies, even some of the guests that were at the wedding, currently held by slime, who had remained silent up to this point out of fear voiced their thoughts on the matter.

"Why would you say that!?"

"Gross. Gross. Gross. Gross-"

"I can never have sex again!"

"Please tell me you didn't put any of those on Shining's-"

"Um... My little ponies? Shouldn't you be saving Canterlot right-"

"You did WHAT with my BBBFF!?"

"I'd tap that."

"How unladylike!"

"Ah think Ah'm with Dusty on this one." *Hrk*

"Ew. I'm gonna need to bleach my brain after hearing that."

"I don't get it."

"Really? You ponies sure know how to make a girl feel good about herself..."

"We can suppress that memory later! Your evil ends here!"

"Hold up!"

Groaning at them being interrupted again, Rainbow voice her frustrations.

"What now?"

"Even if they are all freakish shape-shifting parasites-"

"No, really, you are just radiating love and tolerance right now. Any more and I might fall into a food coma."

"-I refuse to allow them to be labeled as "evil" for their unusual yet necessary diet!"

"Wait, is that what you all are arguing about?"

"Well, duh. You might be our enemy, but I can't really see anything evil about needing to eat."

Chrysalis just stood there for a moment, before breaking out into laughter.

"Mnahahaha! Oh that is just wonderful! Ponies still believe that old myth!? Hahahahaha!"

Melvin now felt terribly unsure of himself, but before he could say anything Twilight spoke up.

"Myth?"

"Hehehe. Yes. Myth. A rather old one too. It formed because of our unique anatomy. It has confused researchers since ancient times. While we do feed on love, we don't get any nutrients from it. It just adds to our magic. If anything, we are the only species that can boast being true omnivores. We can digest anything. How do you think we survived in the Badlands for so long with there being so many of us? We can even eat dirt if really desperate."

ONE JOB, NIGHTMARE! *YOU HAD ONE JOB!** I DIDN'T EVEN NEED TO BE HERE! I COULD HAVE STAYED IN THE FOREST NOT GETTING ATTACKED BY CHANGELINGS!*

"It's not just love either. We can feed on any emotion, love just has the least side-effects."

Where is that "countermeasure" I was promised? I don't know how much longer I can keep them distracted. I have resorted to giving them a lesson on changeling anatomy! I *need** something to happen!*

My Queen, I have an idea. Just keep their attention for a little longer.

The false Fluttershy eased her way to the back of the group, ever so slowly working her way into the perfect position. Seeing what she had planned, Chrysalis continued her lesson on changeling anatomy, hoping to use the obvious interest shown by Twilight and Dusty to keep them occupied.

"Hey Twilight, shouldn't we be-"

"Shh! Wait a minute? If you can survive on anything, why are you attacking us?"

"Would you be happy having dirt for every meal? There is nothing in the Badlands! Even the soil is practically barren of nutrients!"

"Oh... I never thought of it like th-"

"Now shut up!"

"Wow, rude."

"As I was saying, when we feed, it isn't like eating or drinking. We incorporate the emotion into ourselves. A changeling that feeds on anger would be generally more aggressive, while one that feeds on sadness would quickly fall into depression. It works this way with all emotions, love being both more powerful and easier to handle than most, yet not without its own downsides. The young and inexperienced can quickly become attached to the one they feed on, or whoever the love was originally intended for, but even those of us with experience find that after feeding on large quantities of love we can become somewhat inebriated-"

She leaned forward with a playful grin.

"-and very frisky."

As she finished her impromptu lesson, the false Fluttershy leapt forward. She tackled the nearest pony, pinning them with a leg around their neck. It just happened to be Dusty.

"Nopony move, or he gets it!"

"Bad touch! Bad touch!"

"What? I'm not-No! Why would you even think that?"

"Stranger danger!"

"I'm just restraining-"

"Pedophile!"

"You're older than me!"

*Gasp* "Fluttershy! What are you doing!?"

"Fluttershy" singled out Pinkie with a glare.

"You've "seen better" huh?"

"Mnahahaha! You fools! You didn't even notice as one of my children replaced your dear "Fluttershy"! Now there is nothing you can do to stop me!"

Though she seemed confident and completely in control of the situation, in truth the Queen was frantic about this turn of events.

What are you doing!?

What?

Not that one! You could have captured any other pony! That one is too dangerous!

He seemed important! What should I do?

For now, play it off. Don't worry Mirror, we can still work with this.

The relief Mirror felt at her Queen's reassurance could be felt through the Hive-Mind as her fears slowly started to fade away, for a total of three seconds. That is when Melvin started laughing.

"Hehehe... Mwahahahaha! Do you really think something like this will-"*Gurgle**Bleh*

No one could really explain what just happened. One moment, he was speaking as though he could break free at any time. The next, he hurled blood and started shivering. When he stopped, his eyes slowly closed and never reopened. After a few short moments the body began to shrivel, as though all of his fluids had been drained away. Everyone looked on in a stunned silence. Rarity was the first to regain enough sense to speak.

"Y-you k-k-killed him..."

Mirror (still in Fluttershy's form) raised her hooves away from the body, clearly as panicked as the ponies.

"Ididn'tdoitIswear! I was just holding him down!"

"Enough of this! Take the Elements from them, and keep the wielders far from the rest of the prisoners. Someling study this body. I want to know exactly what went wrong."

Her children hurried to do the bidding of their Queen. Without Fluttershy, the Elements were useless in the heart of the swarm. The rest of the Mane Six were swiftly captured and kept well away from the rest of their pony captives. Several changelings examined the body of the now deceased Dusty while the Queen questioned them.

"How did he die?"

"A better question would be; how was he still alive? Most of his bones are broken or fractured, almost every muscle in his body is torn in some way, and he was somehow drained of blood. We just barely started, and I fear we have only scratched the surface of his injuries. Then there is this..."

He pulled open Dusty's eyelids, only to reveal empty sockets.

"I don't even know where to start looking for how that happened."

"I have... several questions. Namely, when, how, and why? And I think I know how to get the answers."

Chrysalis approached the corpse preparing a very special spell. In truth, she had a hard time containing her glee. It wasn't very often that someone can get an opportunity like this. She hoped that because the corpse was fresh she might still be able to glean some information straight from its mind. This was a rare chance to obtain the eldritch knowledge of the Dark Ones, without any of the risk involved when dealing with one that's still alive.

This is almost too good to be true!

Stupid! Stupid! *Stupid!***

Melvin hid inside the corpse berating himself while he recovered from a grievous error. Listening to the clamor around him hoping that he would have some time to rest.

What the hell was I thinking!? Just because I don't feel the pain, that doesn't mean the wound won't be a problem! This body has completely shutdown! I won't be able to use the ponies as allies after this! Not if I do this in front of everyone! As if I wasn't being dumb enough, I used that "Blood Magic" far too often! Why did I not realize it when I heard the name? "Blood Magic!" It has always been depicted as a way of using life force to fuel one's power! That is were all that unexplained energy was coming from! Fuck! I nearly killed myself! I need to be more careful. It was only through the sheer luck of a wild guess formed from complete desperation that draining this body's blood into my own actually worked, and I can only hope that the changeling blood will keep my body from rejecting the makeshift transfusion. Otherwise, I might just die here.

Melvin felt something. It was something both familiar yet unexpected. A presence trying to find its way into his mind. She wasn't bothering to be subtle about it, and he recognized heard her voice as their minds became connected.

Now, what secrets do you have for me?

When faced with someone attempting to enter his thoughts, he did the first thing that came to mind.

He thought of something strange.

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The Bearers were trapped in slime like the rest of the changeling's prisoners. They struggled to keep their spirits up, as they hoped that some opportunity to escape would present itself.

"I can't believe we failed..."

"Now don't you fret none sugar-cube. We can still find a way out of this."

"She's right! This isn't over yet! Luna is still out there. She can handle a few overgrown beetles!"

Applejack and Rainbow Dash's attempts at cheering up Twilight were suddenly cut short by a shout from a changeling that must have over heard them.

"Hey! I resent that!"

"Oh go shove it down your cake-hole!"

"Rainbow darling, don't antagonize them. If we want to make any bit of difference, we will need some way of catching them by surprise. Oooh, if only we could get our Elements back."

"Wha'd those varmints do with them anyway?"

She was answered by a snickering Pinkie pointing towards a group of changelings that had taken on their forms. They were parading around wearing the Elements, and making a general mockery of them with painfully exaggerated accents. Throwing her hooves into the air with equally exaggerated motions, the false Twilight called for the attention of her cohorts in nonsense.

"Oooh, look at me! I'm the leader, so I get this tacky crown thing. Won't everyone bask in my greatness to feed my ego? After all, I can do everything myself without any help. Friendship!"

"Yeah! Friendship, now thirty percent cooler!"

"She said friendship! We should party!"

"I reckon that thar be da best idear I ever dun heard!"

...

"Meep."

Gasping with mock offence, the false Rarity lifted her nose directly upwards and was careful to keep it that way at all times as she punctuated every statement with a *hmph*."

"But oh so great darling Twinkle Butt, why do you get to be the darling leader?*hmph* Despite being from some random darling village in the middle of Albuckerque Nowhere,*hmph* I have a posh accent and am obsessed with acting like a darling noble from your home town, so clearly I should be the leader for the sake of fabulousity!*hmph*"

"Ah silly Not-So-Rarity, Obviously I'm superior because Friendship!"

Finally lowering her nose so that she could look the fake Twilight in the face, her eyes widened in horror before she slowly and dramatically laid on the ground, as if posing for a portrait.

"Oh woe is me! I have been bested by your infallible logic! I suppose it is true... I am simply not meant to be a darling leader of all things fabulous...

*Hmph*"

The group, unable to keep up their little joke with straight faces, fell over laughing, while another changeling watching the whole thing just shook his head in disappointment before walking away muttering to himself.

"Real mature guys..."

The real Bearers watched the group's taunting display. Pinkie sat there laughing. The rest had very different opinions about the performance. The irritation was clear in Rainbow's voice.

"Great, now they're mocking us."

"None of that matters right now, I'm more worried about whatever their Queen is doing to Dusty."

Though Twilight didn't recognize the spell she was casting on the corpse of the old librarian, she did see the telltale signs of a spell going wrong. The look of frustration was clear on Chrysalis' face, and even if that wasn't enough of a clue several of the changelings seemed to be watching her with worry, confusion, or some combination of the two. Seeing a possible opportunity, she watched and waited for any chance to turn things around.

What could giving her so much trouble?

What even is this!?

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Why can't I find anything *useful** inside this demon's mind!? There has to be something!*

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WHAT THE-

As Twilight calculated her chances of interfering with Chrysalis' spell, something very strange happened. The changelings started dropping like flies.-"Hey! Fuck you, ya racist!"-Though not all of them fell, the ones that did looked absolutely mortified. One of them even went so far as to curl into a fetal position while saying "make it didn't happen" over and over. During all of this, Chrysalis calmly ended her spell. With perfect posture and grace she walked over to the balcony, and promptly vomited over the side. Over the splatter of her lost lunch, she could hear a voice from below.

"OH, COME ON!"

Staring forlornly down at Canterlot (and the stallion she threw up on), she sighed in dismay.

"I can never eat ice-cream again."

Oh well. At least I won. Canterlot is mine... Canterlot is mine. Canterlot is mine! Yes! I have no reason to be sad! My children have conquered the rest of the city while I kept the Elements busy! With this, the next phase of the plan can finally begin! We will gather the all of the prisoners and hide them in the same caverns we kept Cadence, then we will take on their forms. I will pose as Celestia herself, and when Luna comes back we can catch her by surprise! With all of the princesses dealt with and the Elements in my possession, nothing can stop me from ruling all of Equestria! They won't even notice. I will rule in Celestia's form, and slowly my changelings will spread throughout the land, growing in both numbers and strength until it is all under my control! My children will never go hungry again!

With these thoughts, she was quick to perk back up. She happily sent her orders through the hive-mind, trusting her servants to complete the next step of her plan efficiently. Gazing out past the balcony, the thought of her victory sent chills of excitement through her... whatever pasted for a spine in her anatomy.

Try as she might to concentrate on Chrysalis, Twilight found her focus broken by a question from Rarity.

"I know this might seem to be a strange thing to ask, but can anypony explain what is wrong with them."

Following her gaze, they saw that most of the other captives were cowering. What baffled them was, they weren't cowering from the changelings. They seemed terrified of the Bearers.

"Oh, that. Don't worry about it. They're just scared of Pinkie."

"Who, me?"

"Why ever would they be afraid of her?"

"It is just some rumor that has been going through Canterlot since before I moved into the library. Some crazy pony thought that the ones responsible for the S.S.P.W.-"

"The what?"

"We don't say the name. It only encourages them."

"Oookaay..."

"Anyway, the rumors say that the ponies responsible were clones from somepony trying to build an army of unstoppable pranksters. Pinkie looks and acts just like those ponies, so they might think that you are the one they were cloned from. It's stupid, I know. Just don't pay any attention to them and... I don't think I like that look on your face."

Pinkie was just ecstatic about this news. This rumor was a proverbial goldmine for a fun loving prankster like her! The planning would have to wait until they find a way out of this mess, but afterwards Canterlot would suffer the consequences of a prank war the likes of which had never been seen before! Little did she know, something sinister could come from this. Having successfully repulsed Chrysalis, Melvin felt safe enough to focus on his surroundings again. Though unable to see, he could hear just fine.

So I found you, Pony Hitler... It all makes sense. Just as Hitler had Jewish ancestry, so too will a Pie betray her own to the evil that is cake. Just you wait, I shall prove pie to be the superior pastry yet!

*Thud*

What was that?

Everyone could hear it. The sudden sound of something heavy falling just outside the main doors, yet it didn't stop there. The sound came again and again, keeping a constant pace that signified footsteps, and it was getting closer. It sounded like some large hulking beast was making its way towards them. No one was sure of what this new creature could be, and that only worried them. For Chrysalis, this was yet another unknown that could prove detrimental. She had everything. She had finally conquered Canterlot, and there was nothing anyone could do to stop her. Now though, something large was heading their way, and they were still in the process of gathering their prisoners for feeding. As if that wasn't bad enough, she never got any warning from the hive-mind, meaning this creature was somehow able to sneak past every changeling on the way here. That is no small feat. Her servants had the entire city under lock-down. Nothing should have managed to get this far without her knowing about it. For the ponies, they were already in a bad situation. Currently stuck to the floor via changeling slime, they would be helpless against whatever monstrosity was coming their way. The only one who felt assured in their safety was Melvin, and he was still recovering from his mistake earlier. Despite his desperate act of vampirism barely saving his life, he felt secure due to him taking "play dead" to a whole new level. But soon, a new sound accompanied the foot steps. One that only Melvin recognized. It was a deep, slow, laughter that simply didn't sound natural. Listening closely, one could easily mistake it for sobbing.

Oh you have got to be kidding me. Why the fuck is that thing here! If I can take one solace from this, it would be that it will probably kill Twilight first.

When it made its way into the room, it was something that none of them could of expected. A large being standing slouched forward that somewhat resembled a bear. All eyes were on it as it slowly walked into the room. Its heavy footfalls demonstrating the weight of the mechanical abomination. Its eyes would have been pitch black were it not for two tiny pinpricks of white light coming from where its pupils would be. Then it spoke. In a deep voice like someone trying to make words from the sound of crushing gravel, it asked a single question.

"Are you ready, for Freddy?"

The hulking beast made its way towards the center of the room. Its head swaying to and fro, as though looking for something. It progressed unimpeded, for it had yet to prove hostile, and no one wanted that to change. Eventually it stopped. It looked straight at Chrysalis, before standing straight. Its eyes started changing until they reached a semblance on normalcy. Then it spoke. This time however, it sounded nothing like before. It actually had a somewhat normal voice, albeit with a thick Italian accent like a stereotypical mobster.

"Okay, I'll bite. Where is he."

"Uuuh, who?"

"Who else? The guy you was having trouble with. I was sent to, ya know, "take care of him". He shouldn't be hard to miss. Guy like him? Stands out like a sore thumb."

"You're what he sent?"

"Name's Freddy."

"Well you are a bit late. We already dealt with him, as you can see."

Chrysalis gestured towards Dusty's corpse. Revealing that his presence wasn't necessary. Freddy, as he called himself, just gave it a disinterested look before crushing her hopes and dreams.

"Hmm, yeah. I can see that he is dead. Only one problem with that; I was sent to kill someone that had taken the form of a pony. I was even given a picture of what his new form looks like. I don't know who that is, so you still have a problem on your hooves."

"You mean there is another one on the loose..."

"Yeah."

Sigh "Is there anything you can tell me about him? I have no doubt that I may have to face him soon."

"Perhaps sooner than you think, the boss says he is already on his way to try and stop you. He likes playing the hero."

"Great... So what does he look like at least."

"Well here is where shit gets strange, he has gone and somehow become an alicorn. Goes by the name "Gary"."

There was a collective gasp from both the changelings and the ponies, and one less noticeable muffled gasp from the corpse that had yet to be taken from the room.

"There is another alicorn!?"

"Gary is a demon!?"

Most of the changelings stopped what they were doing to give strange looks to their captives.

"Did...did we even need disguises? How could you not tell that something was wrong when an alicorn came along with a name like Gary?"

To which one of the ponies responded with.

"I thought it was foreign! Don't you judge me!"

Following that, there was a general murmur of embarrassed agreement from the rest of the ponies present, with a subdued "I didn't want to seem rude" coming from Celestia herself. Though unknown to them, another reacted with something other than surprise and fear. No, this was the raw hate and anger that only one name in existence could possibly conjure in a fellow man.

Gary *MOTHERFUCKIN'** OAK!*