For Want of a Dawn

Chapters

The Crusaders
Loyalty and Generosity
The Queen
Wanted
To Wear a Mask
Drifting through Draconia
For Whom the Belle Tolls
Dreaming on the Buffalo Plains
The Battle of Appleloosa
Waiting in the Wings
Before Creation
Towards the Goal
Jaws of the Beast
Descent unto Chaos
Hell at her Hooves
Changing Loyalties
Siege of Manehatten
At the Twilight's Gleaming
March on Canterlot
Fall of the Titan
Dawn at Last
Epilogue
The Pool of Midnight
First Step to a New Future
Fake Wings of Hope

The Crusaders

Everything was wrong. Her world was upside-down, backwards and inside out all at once. There was a feeling of emptiness in the pit of her stomach, as if a part of her had been stolen. She was on the verge of tears, yet they would not come. What had left her in such a sorry state? Was it her curiosity? Was this blackness her penance for meddling in the workings of the universe?

Alas, Twilight could not piece anything together. She was cold: so desperately cold, as if her bones had turned to stone and her blood into ice. Yet, she could not shiver, for the oppressing blackness squeezed her from all sides: both inside and out. She tried to scream, to call for aid: nothing happened. Was this how Luna felt on the moon? Did she feel this hopeless, alone and scared?

She floated in the void for an eternity, unable to move, speak, or breathe. All she could do was exist in the hellish dimension. A million questions flitted through her unconscious mind. Was she dead and sent to the Hells for her sins, or was she sealed in some sort of dimension by Luna for poking her nose in where it did not belong? The lavender mare tried to sob silently, reminded of the few torturous hours she spent petrified by the cockatrice. It only felt a little better then what she endured at the present.

However, in an instant, the crushing blackness was gone. Tears flowed freely from her eyes as audible sobs rocked her body. The cataract of emotions overcame the mare as she stood on wobbly hooves, her vision blurry. The beat of her heart and the ache of her lungs told her that she was not dead. Blinking, her vision returned, finding herself in the shallow basin the Pool of Midnight resided in.

Yet, it was empty. Pulling herself out of the depression in the floor, the lavender mare saw sunlight stream through the cracks in the ceiling. "Princess?" she called with a croak, for the alicorn was nowhere in sight. "Luna? W-where are you?" Twilight stumbled forwards, as if her hooves had not moved in a long time. She groaned as she picked herself up again, barely able to stand.

With all the willpower she possessed, the unicorn pushed herself up the stairs of the room, finding a little more strength with every step, but it was still slow going. Reaching the top of the stairs, the lavender mare did a double take. The large Runite doors guarding the pool were gone, as if they had completely vanished from existence. Did Princess Luna do the job and take the doors back to Canterlot too?

But that question presented an unsettling notion. If Luna moved the pool on her own, or with Celestia's help, why did they abandon her like that? Did they think she had died and were too callous to move her body? A million more questions buzzed in her skull, each more disturbing then the last as she trudged up the stairs, trying to remember her way out of the ruins.

Progress was slow for the librarian as she walked down the ancient halls. Only then, moving at a snail's pace, did she notice just how long each segment was. Her body screamed at her from all angles: some parts in pain, others too tired to carry on, and others still screeching a need to eat and drink. Twilight licked her lips at the very thought of a bowl of cool, refreshing water, but it would have to wait until she got back to town.

At the rate she was going, she would be lucky if she did not drop dead in the middle of the forest before reaching home. Her survivalist skills were, frankly, non-existent and she did not see any body of water along the path they had taken to reach the castle. However, all thoughts of her present situation were drowned out by the most curious sound ever: laughter. It was not evil, or menacing but... mirthful and happy. The closer she got to the surface, the louder the noises became.

Granted, she needed to diverge from her memorized path, going left down a hall where she remembered going straight. However, her natural curiosity kicked into overdrive as she climbed one last flight of stairs. She could tell the laughter was coming from the other side of the door. Timidly, she wondered if being nosy was such a good idea, considering what happened the last time.

With the soft glow of her horn, the ancient door creaked open, the sight beyond causing her to gasp in shock. Beyond was the room she knew as the former resting place of the Elements of Harmony: however, there was something different. Dozens of tents sat in the middle of the floor, camp fires all around as ponies of all types and colours wandered.

If Twilight did not know any better, she would have sworn she was sucked back in time... but it simply could not be, since the castle was still in ruins and the elements were no longer on the spindly pedestal. No pony seemed to pay her any mind as she wandered through the crowd, picking up accents from Manehatten, Trottington, Fillydelphia and other Equestrian dialects.

Little fillies and colts played among the felled columns, buff stallions lining the walls looking out: obviously on guard for the monsters that roamed the woods. But why were they all here? How had they found this place, never mind set up some mass camping trip? The camp had the same feel as a small town, as if the ponies there had been around for a while. What was going on?

Some ponies stood in a line behind some box crates, calling out to others to peddle their wares. Some sold food stuffs like cupcakes and cookies while others offered textiles and blankets. There were even those who sold weapons like swords, flails and a strange stick with metal bits at the end. Twilight's head swam as she trotted down the worn down stones, several of the gathered ponies vaguely familiar while most others were complete strangers.

"Doughnuts! Get your tasty doughnuts here!" cried a voice she recognized over the din. What could he possibly be doing here in such a place? Twilight nearly galloped through the crowd, trying her best to not draw attention to herself, just in case she was mistaken. However, as she rounded a bend in the makeshift lane of stores, she could not deny the voice she heard.

It was Pony Joe, the owner of the best doughnut shop in Canterlot! Sure, he had a few wrinkles under his eyes and a couple of gray streaks in his mane, but there could be no denying the yellow pony. She approached cautiously, not letting excitement and curiosity get the best of her again. Another pony stopped by his box and dropped off a couple of bits for a dozen plain doughnuts, thanking him before trotting off.

"Pony Joe?" she meekly inquired as she made herself visible to him.

"Yes? What can I do for you my fine fil-" he started before stopping dead. His eyes widened and mouth dropped as he beheld the pony in front of him. "T-Twilight Sp-Sparkle?" he asked, almost begging a reply. Not knowing what else to do, she nodded her head, worried that perhaps talking to him was not the best idea. "D-do a spell. J-just one so I know for sure. Too many other unicorns have tried to coax me into giving them free doughnuts before."

"Um... okay?" she asked, backing away a little nervously. "H-how about that spell you taught me while I was in school?" Her horn glowed with a soft lavender aura as a doughnut emerged from a pack, some sugar from another cart nearby joining it. The sugar shimmered and glowed, turning a vivid pink with swirls of purple before coating itself on the pastry.

Pony Joe's eyes were as wide as saucers as he felt the magic the mare produced. Using that particular spell helped, but the feel of a unicorn's magic was unique to every pony, like their hoofprint, to put it in a perspective that an earth or Pegasus pony could understand. He had no doubts who the unicorn before him was."Twilight Sparkle! It really IS you! Oh, Holy Celestia, be praised!"

The lavender mare yelped in surprise as the yellow unicorn lunged forward and gave her a strong, breath-stealing hug. Ponies all around them began to look and mutter between themselves. Yep, this definitely was a mistake, she thought as she struggled to get free of his deathly grip, making choking noises to try and accentuate her point. Thankfully, the others took notice and hurriedly pried her from his grip.

~*///*///*///*~

"So... what is this place, Joe?" the curious unicorn asked. Ever since the little scene at his box, Twilight found that every pony looked upon her with a measure of awe and surprise, almost as if she was expected, yet not expected at the same time. In fact, there were even whispers that followed her as she walked with the proprietor of her favourite shop. "It looks like you're all on some sort of strange camping trip."

"Actually," he replied. "You're not far off the mark with that description, Twilight. You see, this is a refugee camp. Any pony who has decided to flee Equestria stops by here before they continue their journeys through the forest. The army would be MAD to send ponies in here just to chase us."

"What!?" she gasped in surprise, startling a couple of other ponies. "Army? Refugee camp!? What the hay is all of this!?"

Pony Joe sighed, leading the lavender mare onward. "I can guess that you're heading back to Ponyville, right? You'll find out when you get there. I can't really say much, since I've been here since the camp opened." Twilight held a hoof to her head and moaned in pain. Now she was REALLY regretting opening that door, or touching that stupid pool in the first place.

"No! If you can, then tell me what's going on here! You owe me that much, Joe," she pleaded.

The yellow stallion bit his lower lip, not sure if telling her was the best option... until he saw the overpowering confusion in her eyes. "Well, you see, the nation is at war right now. Some ponies would rather not fight, so to avoid the penalties, they flee the country and stop here before moving on."

Hundreds of new questions flooded into her waking mind, causing the unicorn to groan as a small migraine began to overtake her. It felt as if her brain would pop if any more questions came to mind, so she restrained herself from asking how Princess Celestia and Luna could let a war happen. She dreaded hearing the answer anyway.

Thankfully, the stallion could see she was having a rough time digesting the information, so he kept every pony back as they made their way to a crude serving line that dished out wheat, hay, water, sandwiches and other food and drinks. The lavender pony's stomach purred in delight as she consumed the meal like she had not eaten a proper one in years. Looking around, however, she could tell that she was the centre of attention.

"Why is everypony staring at me?" she asked with a mild tone of annoyance. Several of them in earshot shivered visibly and others looked away quickly. In their eyes, she could see mixtures of anxiety, elation and even outright fear. Twilight put her front hooves to her head and shook it to relieve some of the pain she felt from the migraine. "I'm really confused right now and this place isn't exactly helping. In fact, I think it's making things even worse."

"Then I suppose you should move on to Ponyville. Once you've had your fill, we'll go get an escort for you and they'll take you to town," Joe answered.

"I'd like that a lot, thank you, but..." she trailed. "I feel worn-out. Can I trouble somepony for a place to rest? I don't mind where. I just need to lie down for a while." The earlier fright from the pool was still paramount in her mind, even after all that was going on. She felt like she had died for a few minutes back there and was still spooked. The mounting confusion surrounding the existence of a refugee camp, a war and the fact that some ponies seemed to be scared, yet others happy to see her: that did not help matters.

"Sure, wait right there," Pony Joe replied, disappearing into the crowd. Twilight was exasperated and about ready to drop right then and there. Having ponies gawk at her did little to ease the foul mood she found herself in. Yet, she had the nagging suspicion that if she raised her voice, she would cause a panic. The tension around her was as thick as Applejack's patented Apple Molasses.

"Hey there!" chirped the voice of a mare. "Old Joey tells me you need a place to crash." Twilight looked up from her plate to see the pony talking to her. She was a yellow Pegasus with a mane of red and yellow flames, her eyes deep amber to compliment her coat. She looked vaguely familiar to the purple unicorn, but she just could not quite place her hoof on where.

"Yeah, but only if I'm not going to be a bother to you," she smiled at her. Looking into her eyes, the lavender mare could not shake the overpowering feeling that they had met before. Possibly a long time ago, since she met a lot of ponies with clout, but was too engrossed with her books to care most of the time. After a few seconds of uncomfortable silence, she decided to voice her concerns, the curiosity insatiable. "You know, you look familiar... have we met before?"

The flaming filly chuckled at the lavender mare. "It was a quite while ago, but yeah, although we were never introduced. It also doesn't hurt that I'm a Wonderbolt. Well... used to be one, anyway. My name's Spitfire. It's nice to finally meet you, Twilight. Pony Joe told me who you were."

"Oh yeah!" Twilight realized before chuckling a little herself as she shook her hoof. "Sorry I didn't recognize you. I'm not a Pegasus and I don't really get out much, but I should have realized from the way Rainbow Dash kept raving about you. You're her idol, you know? ...wait, you mean you're not a Wonderbolt anymore? Poor Rainbow, she'll be crushed when she finds out."

The smile on the orange Pegasus vanished at the very mention of the sky-blue friend's name, only to turn into a frown the second time. "Y-yeah... I... wouldn't worry much about that. If you want, I can also escort you to town when you're rested." Twilight tilted her head at the sudden drop in her chipper mood, but she was too overwhelmed and feeling too much like pony plop to investigate further.

"If it's not too much trouble," the librarian started, pushing her finished plate away, "The last few hours have been a bit hectic for me, and I'd like nothing more than to sleep for a while. No offence, but everything I've been hearing and seeing so far is a bit... overpowering and I... just need time to set myself right."

"Well, come on then," Spitfire added in a monotone, gesturing for her to follow. Twilight frowned a little at her sudden lackluster attitude. Had she said something wrong? However, her fatigue quickly caught up with her, the siren's call of a soft, warm bed leading her on to follow in the acrobatic Pegasus' steps. Eventually, she was lead to a small, green tent near the pedestal where the elements once rested.

Ducking her head inside, she found accommodations fairly Spartan. Although, considering what she had heard (and she still thought it might have been an error on her part) than that would explain why such a famous Pegasus carried so little with her. Still, the tent had a sleeping bag (embezzled with the Wonderbolts emblem on it, no less) and any port would do in a storm. Using her magic, she unzipped the zipper and lay down inside, only managing to zip it back up before she passed out.

~*///*///*///*~

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" spoke a voice, a young colt, from the midst of the darkness. "I mean, if we piss her off... well... you know what happened to Ponyville."

"Oh please," spoke a filly. "Just because she freaks out one time doesn't mean she's a ticking time bomb set to destroy everything around her... I hope."

"Ah-ha!" the colt whispered in triumph. "So you ARE scared. I, however, am not. I mean, if even HALF the rumours about her are true, it's not like she could get away, right?"

"Then why are you shaking?" Twilight had to suppress the urge to groan and roll over away from the noises the two intruders made. Obviously, privacy was too much to ask for in this tent, but she could not deny that she felt rested and relaxed, even if she did not have any dreams. Yet, she kept her ears peeled on the two young ponies in her tent.

They had mentioned rumours and the incident in Ponyville. What sort of rumours were flying around about her? She never really left the town after she came back from Canterlot almost a year ago and her only real contact with the outside world was Trixie. Could ponies of other towns be calling her a demon? How did they even know her part in the Ponyille Fire anyway? Did somepony talk about it while visiting abroad?

The unicorn opened her eyes and stretched in the sleeping bag, the din caused by the two ponies suddenly silenced. With her magic, she unzipped the sleeping back and rolled off of her side before standing on shaky legs. Her eyes beheld the two ponies standing beside her. They were little foals, not even of the age to have their marks yet. The earth pony colt had a dirty brown coat, hay-coloured hair and soft jade eyes. Meanwhile, his friend was a blue unicorn filly with a bubblegum pink mane and hazel eyes.

Both looked upon her with greater fear then she ever thought possible. Her initial annoyance was submerged beneath a wave of concern. If the grown ponies were scared, then of course their foals would be downright terrified of her. "Are you two okay?" she asked softly. "I don't bite. I'm not mad that you snuck into the tent. Please, if there is anything wrong, tell me. I want to help."

Yet, they still stared, mouths agape as the occasional shiver of fear passed over them. They stood frozen in place, as if petrified by a cockatrice, or as if they came face-to-face with an Ursa Major. "Um..." she trailed, trying to start anew. "Can you tell me your names? I'd like to be able to address you by name." Twilight let off a frustrated sigh as they continued to stay frozen in front of her gaze. So, she did the logical thing and turned her head away.

"How about now?" she asked the opposite wall of the tent. "Can you talk to me and imagine I'm somepony else?"

"I had a feeling you two would be here. You're parents have been worried sick about you," Spitfire chuckled as she leaned her head into the tent. "Glad to see you're up, Twilight. We'll head out after breakfast, if you want."

"Sure, that sounds like a plan to me," the librarian smiled before looking at the two stunned foals. "Are they okay? They look like they've seen a ghost or something." Spitfire seemed to frown at the remark, as if trying to choose her next words very carefully. Everypony seemed to be trotting lightly around her, almost like she was infected with a disease they all knew about, but refused to tell her. To that end, the unicorn cast a quick glance at a mirror on the small dresser and surveyed herself, pondering if she touched any Poison Joke.

Aside from the usual bed mane, there was nothing unusual. She shook her head: all this worrying was doing nothing to help. "They're fine," the stunt flier finally replied. "Just a little nosey is all. Come on: let's go get something to eat."

Twilight followed her out of the tent, the two foals galloping away together to find their parents. The makeshift streets were not more than two or three pony lengths across and left little room to navigate around the tents, big cracks in the floor, and other ponies. There had to be at least a quarter of the population of Ponyville jammed into the former foyer, all there for reasons that still eluded the purple mare.

What really confused and aggravated the librarian, however, was the wake of fear that followed her around. She had her suspicions, but the chatting little ponies in her tent earlier confirmed it: they were afraid of her because of what she had done in her hometown almost a year previous. She let out a sad sigh as she entered the line for breakfast, taking only some cereal before she and Spitfire seated themselves at a box for two.

Yet, having ponies afraid of her was the least important thing on her mind. She unconsciously played with her food, spinning it in a circle, the white milk reminding her of The Pool of Midnight. What exactly happened to her? Did she really die? Was this some sort of personal hell for the sins she committed: for her curiosity and nearly murdering two goddesses? Occasionally, she lifted her spoon with her magic and partook of the breakfast with some unease. If she was dead, then how come she needed to eat and sleep?

Spitfire found Twilight's troubled expression comforting: she would hold off on conversation until she had a chance to eat. Sparkle was either a terrific actor, or she honestly had no clue what the Sorrel Hells was going on around her. In a way, it eased her concerns about the purple pony, yet piled on more to the pile. If THAT rumour proved to be untrue... then what was really going on?

Eventually, the Pegasus grew bored with the silence and decided to reach out to her: give her the benefit of a doubt. "I can understand why you might be confused, Twilight," she spoke softly. "Everypony here is just as confused as you are, but they are also scared and easy to panic. Just try not to think about it. Not until you get the answers you need."

"Hmm?" Twilight looked up from her cereal, confused for a moment before she registered what was said. "Oh. Well, I suppose you're right, Spitfire. No good has ever come of me getting worked up over something small. That's... well, it helped lead up to the fire in Ponyville. I read something, got distressed over it and went crazy for a little while. I see and hear things when I get too stressed out, you see."

"But, um..." the lavender mare trailed. "Can I ask... why aren't you a Wonderbolt anymore?"

The Pegasus did not answer, choosing to finish her breakfast instead. In a way, it was good to see her so open to talking about what happened on that day. It dispelled some of the worries the Pegasus had, but not quite all of them. There was a good reason that the ponies of the camp feared her, but hopefully her presence would dispel them once and for all.

"I'd... rather not talk about it, Twilight," she answered. "It's... a rather painful memory for me. I hope you understand."

After a few minutes of silence, the two mares picked up their empty bowls and returned them before heading to the doors of the ruins. Spitfire nodded to the two burly Pegasus guards before they let her and the purple unicorn pass with a flick of their wings. Twilight could not shake the feeling that the guards were watching her intensely until the two mares vanished into the thicket of the woods.

~*///*///*///*~

Thankfully, the walk back to Ponyville was uneventful for the two mares as they traversed the dangerous woods. During the walk (or slow flight for the Pegasus) Spitfire told the lavender pony about how they had a whole system of safe passages throughout the forest. Well, as safe as they could get, considering the various threats that the trees held secret.

Twilight let out an audible sigh of relief the minute she stepped out of the thicket and onto the groomed grass of the park. It felt so nice to have something soft underhoof once more, causing her to trot forward to enjoy the sensation. However, looking back, she saw the Pegasus give her a nod and a smile before retreating into the forest once more. The unicorn could not deny her disappointment, since she was just about to invite her for tea at the library.

Although she wanted to turn back to extend the invitation, she thought better of it. Judging from the pain when she first woke up, she had been gone from town for days, maybe even on the order of a week. Therefore, informing her faithful assistant and all of her friends that she was safe and sound was top priority. Besides, she knew where she could find her, and had a general idea about how to get back.

A smile crept upon her face as she walked into town, ignoring the overcast sky. Gloomy days always made her more thankful when the Pegasus ponies would schedule clear skies and pleasant weather later on. However, the closer she got to the town, the more a nagging worry in the back of her mind told her that something was not right: almost as if the town was missing something... important.

Still, she could tell who that nagging voice was and quickly suppressed it. She would not be made a foal of just because she listened to THAT voice and got paranoid around everypony. Approaching her library, however, a frown spread across her muzzle as she found the place dark. Spike obviously decided to take her absence as an excuse to close it down for the day. She would have strong words for him when she found the mischievous baby dragon.

With a flick of her magic, the door refused to budge, locked up tight in a bid to keep ponies out. Twilight groaned with frustration: she was really going to let Spike have it when she got inside. Concentrating hard, the mare turned the bolt, latch and key mechanism on the door, allowing it to open with a gentle, but strange creak. He didn't even oil the door? she thought as she stepped into the blackness. Now he's in BIG trouble.

"Spike!?" she called out into the darkness, to no reply. "SPIKE! I'm really disappointed in you, mister. Just because I was gone for a little longer than I expected gives you no right to lock up. This is a LIBRARY, meaning that other ponies are entitled to come here an-" Igniting the lantern, shock waves ran through her body, causing her jaw to drop and her blood to run cold.

Books lay everywhere: scattered as if Rainbow had made a tornado in the library. What disturbed her most, however, was the thick and oppressive layer of dust on most of them, and all the spider webs that went between the stacks. It was as if nopony had touched the place in YEARS. "Spike?" she called out in quiet desperation. The confusion she felt with the campers in the ancient castle had suddenly been bested by the state of her library.

Walking forward, she found a small circle free of books in the middle of the library surrounding an open one propped up using a stack of books behind it: the way she usually did when she was studying. The pages were caked with dust, but, with a gentle wipe of her hoof, the words became clear.

The Golem is, by far, the most complicated artificially created creature in all history. It can come in any shape, size, or appearance and is nigh indestructible with careful construction. At the same time, they can perfectly mimic equine emotions, language and expressions simply by exposure to them. If it weren't for their distinct appearance, a pony could easily mistake a Golem for a living, perfectly natural creature.

Twilight snapped the book shut: her eyes wild and mind awash in confusion. What was her copy of Magical Automatons doing out here like that? Why was it open to that page in particular and more importantly, why was everything caked in dust? She let out a cry of anguish, her magic sparking to life as the windows opened and a gust of wind picked up, flushing all the dust out of the air as books whizzed past, putting themselves in proper order on the shelves.

Panting, the unicorn ran into the kitchen to find all the cupboards and the icebox bare. Groaning, she ran up the stairs to find her bed unkempt and the box under it missing her Element of Magic tiara. Flashing her horn again, the books on the second floor flew off the shelves, the unicorn desperate for answers. "WHAT THE SORREL HELLS IS GOING ON AROUND HERE!" she screamed after an hour of frantic searching for a clue.

Taking several deep breaths, the unicorn calmly replaced the books on the shelves and walked downstairs to the now immaculate library. A couple of ponies poked their heads inside, curious about what all the commotion was about. Twilight smiled at them as best she could, for despite being confused and irritated she had a job to do. "Welcome to the Books and Branches Library. How can I help you today?" she greeted.

Both ponies looked to her and the cleared library before screaming and madly galloping away. The lavender mare could not help but groan and affix a hoof to her face in frustration. What the hay was everypony's problem!? After turning out the lights and shutting the door, the librarian left her home and decided that it would be most expedient to hunt down Spike. He probably stayed with Rarity or Applejack when Luna came back without her. Worst case scenario: she took him back to Canterlot.

Yet something troubled her in the back of her mind: something that told her that she had seen that particular mess in the library before, but not as dusty. Setting course for Sweet Apple Acres, she decided to push the thought out of her mind: Applejack would be sure to tell her just how long she had been gone and what exactly was happening all around her. She just had to!

~*///*///*///*~

Leaving the city limits, Twilight beheld a sight that made her groan in frustration. Her hooves clicked upon the surface of a cobblestone road, but the road to Sweet Apple Acres had always been unpaved. Since when did the city or the Apple family purchase a new road to link the farm with the community? If the sight at the library told her anything, it was that whatever happened with the Pool of Midnight made her lose more time than just a few hours or days.

In fact, as she walked the city streets just a few minutes ago, ponies she knew as fillies and colts looked almost completely grown! Of course, the townsponies of Ponyville tended to resemble one another, so she prayed she was mistaken. Perhaps, just perhaps it was all some sort of illusion brought about by unconscious stress?

Sadly, the very notion that she could be unconsciously stressed threw her for a loop. If she could experience such a thing, who was to say she did not hallucinate all the time and not even know it? Could everything around her just be the result of another attempt by her golem nature to make her out as a monster? Or was there something much more sinister lurking in the depths? She had no idea if SHE could be responsible, but the unicorn would not put it past her to try something like that for the attention.

"Okay, I'm on to you," she thought aloud as she walked down the wooded path. "Obviously you're messing around with me. Well, I'm not going to let you do it this time. I now know that I can't trust any of my senses, so your little game is at an end." However, most distressing of all, there came no reply from the little voice in the back of her head. In fact, she had not heard a peep out of her after she woke up in the basin of the pool.

"Fine, be that way," she finished, the gates to Sweet Apple Acres in sight. Twilight breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, she might find a clue to where the baby dragon was. However, as she drew closer to the hanging sign over the arch, she saw a newer, whiter sign hanging under it, reading, 'Authorized Ponies Only!' Obviously, Applejack got tired of strangers wandering onto her farm, so she added a little written warning.

Since she was a good friend of the workhorse, she promptly ignored the sign. The cobbles turned back into soft dirt, which soothed the librarian's nerves just a little bit. It looked like that voice finally got the message and stayed in the darker recesses of her brain where it rightfully belonged. Twilight inhaled the enticing scent of fresh apples hanging on the trees. If she did not know that Applejack had a sore spot for ponies helping themselves, she would have done so.

Resisting temptation, the mare happily trotted up the winding road to the Apple family homestead, looking around occasionally to see if she could catch AJ in the middle of bucking a tree. It annoyed her sometimes, but she was always ready to do her best to aid a friend. If any pony needed help right in that instant, it would be Twilight. However, she did not expect the sight that awaited her around the next bend.

Ponies were hard at work bucking the apple trees and tending to other plants the farm grew, if only to not be so specialized if the bottom ever fell out of apples. Not a single member of the Apple family was out in the fields: not even little Applebloom or Granny Smith. Thankfully, the lavender mare recognized many of the present workers as citizens of Ponyville. Obviously, they finally decided to get some help around the farm.

One of the mares working had a yellow coat and orange mane with the mark of a carrot on her flank. This surprised Twilight a little bit, since she thought she made a living off of selling her home-grown carrots in the market. The scholar quietly approached the pony, who was rigging herself up to a big plough, before greeting her. "Hi, Carrot Top," she smiled. "What are you doing here? I thought you grew your own crops?"

To say the yellow mare jumped, once she saw who spoke to her, would be about as big an understatement as saying Nightmare Moon was not nice. A look of sheer terror raced across her features, causing her to babble incoherently. "Um..." Twilight trailed, "Are you okay? I mean, do you need a glass of water, or a break or something?"

"No!" she cried suddenly, tears welling up in her eyes. "I'll do it! I'll do it! Just please, don't! PLEASE! I... I can do the work, just like I said!" The lavender mare felt her mouth open in surprise, having no clue in the slightest what the skittish mare was talking about. However, before she could close her mouth, the orange mare raced down the field with the plough in tow. Twilight did not know for sure, but she could have sworn she beat the all-time record for ploughing a field.

With that... interesting meeting out of the way, she continued on to the farmhouse on the top of the nearby hill. Strangely absent was the wafting smell of baked apple pies cooling on the window sill. Then again, it might prove a distraction for the workers, so she paid it no real attention. Also absent, she noted, was Granny Smith's rocking chair from the porch. She did a double take to make sure she was seeing things right before she opened the door with her magic.

Inside, several colts and stallions sat behind desks, writing out reports and giving orders to workers on the field through some magical horn on the wall. It took them many moments for the staff (no pony she recognized among them) to acknowledge her existence. When they did, everything ground to a halt: all eyes upon her, widened in that usual look of terror she found herself disturbingly becoming accustomed to.

"What the hay is going on down there!?" called the gruff voice of a stallion from upstairs. He was an older colt with a slate grey coat and a greying black mane. Twilight gasped the instant she recognized him as Brittle Lullaby: the former director of the Foal Protection Services. "You! What are you doing here, Missy? Are you a new hired hoof?" The mare shook her head 'no,' more surprised that he did not recognize her on the spot.

"I'm looking for Applejack. Have you seen her around?" she managed to voice.

"Applejack!? Do I look like I associate with wanted felons, Missy?" he answered impatiently. "You're on government property! If you have no business here, then kindly get the buck out before I have you arrested for trespassing!"

"W-wanted felon!? G-government property!?" she needed answers right then and there. However, before she could demand them, two burly earth pony stallions flanked her and shoved her out the door. Her mind reeled as they roughly escorted her off the farm, too wrapped up in thought to be able to form a coherent sentence. The stallions shoved her beyond the arch, forcing her to the ground before shutting the gate.

"Sorry about the roughhousing, ma'am," one of them apologized. "We're just acting under orders. Please, don't come back, or else you'll get the boss really upset." With that, they turned away, leaving the mare to pick herself up and dust off the dirt on the cobblestone street. All concepts of the situation being an illusion vanished from her mind in that instance. If SHE really wanted to upset Twilight, she would have done something less subtle to Applejack than make her a wanted criminal!

Her mind groaned desperately as she tried to figure out what the hay was going on around her. She ruled out being dead, and she ruled out a psychotic episode brought about by stress (either conscious or subconscious). So, what exactly did that leave? Eliminate all the possibilities and whatever remained, however unlikely, must be the truth! Or so Shetland Stables, her favourite fictional detective, would reason.

Ah well, it was unlikely she was going to find Spike at Sweet Apple Acres anyway. Although this new information disturbed her, she needed to find her draconic assistant so she could write to Princess Celestia and ask what was going on. If anypony had answers, it would be her, and she would be happy to oblige her star student, the pony she created with her own hooves and magic.

Down the path to town, she decided to take a detour through the meadow Fluttershy lived in before heading to Carousel Boutique. She could have used some of the gentle Pegasus' homemade lemon tea at that moment, since it always managed to calm her nerves down, even during the height of her last episode. However, the closer she got to the burrow of a home, the sooner she realized it too lay abandoned, just like her library.

Through the glass she could see traces of vines and dirt on the floor, tracked in from wild animals as they scampered about. Everything was dark and dusty where wood had not began to rot, holes in the ceiling exposing the interior to the elements. Even the bird houses and little docks looked dilapidated. Worst of all, Angel was nowhere to be seen either, which served as the crippling blow to all hopes Twilight had that she still was in the area.

Sighing, the lavender mare started back on course to her new destination. Rarity would surely never abandon her boutique, nor would she do something to be labelled as a criminal... except for that time she assaulted Prince Blueblood, but that was an isolated incident. Although the princess wrote that she personally stopped him from pressing charges, now that she thought about it.

Twilight shook her head again, causing stars to dance across her vision as she did it with a little more vigour than she intended. Pausing for a break, she noticed the spire of the boutique peak over the trees and other buildings that lined the edge of the town. She quickened her pace to a light canter in order to see Rarity all the faster. However, she stopped dead as soon as the door became visible.

The lights inside were dark and some of the windows boarded up, other smashed in. Yet, the thing that really upset Twilight the most was the blatant graffiti upon the wall of the once pristine building. All sorts of colours and violent symbols covered the alabaster walls, painting it a sickening slurry of colours that would make even the athletic Pegasus sick.

As well, slogans adorned the graffiti, phrases like 'Buck the Queen!' and 'The Crusaders 4ever!' blanketed over most of the filth that was the lower floor. The unicorn found she could not move or think. Three of her friends were nowhere to be seen, leaving no trace or clue of where they could have gone behind. It was almost as if these buildings were a metaphor for how she felt in that instant: abandoned and dilapidated.

"Twilight!" came an excited scream and a blur of greyish-purple. The unicorn was blindsided by an invisible force, upon the grass before she even knew it. A crushing force rested on her ribcage, restricting her breathing to an uncomfortable degree. She tried to call out in aid, yet she could not speak, for the air had been stolen from her lungs.

"Get off of her, or you'll kill her, you dodo!" spoke a second voice, chastising the blur. The first voice giggled sheepishly and apologized, getting off of the lavender mare as swiftly as she descended upon her. Twilight picked herself off the ground and groaned in pain, shaking her head as a vision of four mares appeared before her.

One was an orange Pegasus with a mane a little deeper in colour than the librarian's coat. In front of her stood a purplish-grey unicorn with a blond mane, flanked by two others. On her right was a second unicorn, this time with an alabaster coat and a two-tone mane of light purple and pink. On her left, there sat a grinning yellow earth pony with a rosy mane and a tattered (and slightly burned) Stetson on her head.

"G-girls!?" Twilight gasped at the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Each one stood equal to her in height, no longer little fillies, but fully-grown (if still young) mares! Tears began to well up in her eyes as she realized just how long she must have been gone for. "Oh, Sweet Celestia," she breathed as realization hit, causing her to fall to her haunches. She ran a hoof up to her head, mind swimming at all the implications this had.

"Ah told ya she'd take it a mite hard," Applebloom sighed. "Remember ah said she'd be like this when she came home?"

"... When who'd be like what?" Sweetie Belle asked. The rest of the mares groaned and applied hooves to their faces.

"Don't worry about it, Sweetie," Dinky Hooves sighed. "She said it when we first created the Crusaders, so it's not that bad if you forgot about it."

"Still, I'm not surprised. You'd forget your horn if it weren't glued to your head!" Scootaloo remarked. "Now, that only leaves YOU, Twilight Sparkle! What the Sorrel Hells gives you the right to run off like you did!? WHY DID YOU ABANDON US FOR ALL THIS TIME!?"

"Girls!" Twilight cried out, snapping herself out of the dizzy spell. "What happened here? You're the only ponies who recognize me, but don't run off screaming! I have no clue where most of my friends are, and I'm confused as all hells as to what is going on! Don't you DARE yell at me like this is all my fault!"

The mares looked between each other apprehensively, not quite expecting that reaction from their first confrontation. They communicated in silence, speaking only with their eyes before turning to the lavender pony, sympathy etched on their features. They all nodded in agreement, before Sweetie Belle spoke, "You'd better come with us, Twilight."

~*///*///*///*~

Surrounded by the four mares, Twilight found herself being led through the streets of Ponyville, able to quickly discern their destination as Sugarcube Corner. As they walked, however, the librarian found herself curious and looked at their flanks. Surely, if this was all a bad dream, or hallucination, they would not have their marks yet.

However, upon inspection, she found that they did indeed earn them. Sweetie Belles' had always been the most obvious talent of the group and her flank reflected it with a large blue songbird with a musical note in front of its beak. Scootaloo, however, had a flaming scooter on hers that matched hers to a tee, although it was quite the sight to see the Pegasus flying... and so comfortable around her. Applebloom's mark, meanwhile, was that of a hammer covered by an apple blossom, almost obscuring the hammer itself from sight. Finally, and most enigmatic of all was Dinky's mark. It looked like a spider web connected with bubbles, but absent a spider.

As much as she gave attention to their marks, they gave equal scrutiny to hers, even going as far as to touch and rub her flank. "Girls, what are you doing!?" she blushed when they started on her. "That's not a very appropriate place to touch, especially in public!"

"Sorry, Twi," Applebloom apologized, pulling her hoof away. "We just had ta make sure it wasn't a sticker or something. Sure, we know magic can't change or make a Cutie Mark appear, but that don't stop ponies from tryin' to alter them with other means!"

"It's a security thing, Twilight," Dinky explained. "Your mark is similar to another pony's is all. You'll... find out sooner or later that there are, well, rumours about you."

"I know there are. I overhead some ponies talking while at that camp in the Everfree Forest," Twilight explained. "I just don't know WHAT they are."

"It won't take long for you to hear them. Just trust us, and we'll tell you... after we explain some things. For now, just keep quiet," Sweetie Belle spoke as they walked up the steps into the bakery.

Sugarcube Corner was just how the librarian left it, although maybe not quite as lively and mirthful as it once was. Twilight felt compelled to ask, even if she had a suspicion what the answer might be. "Is Pinkie still..." They all shook their heads 'no.' "Well, do you know whe--" Again, they shook their heads. Twilight bit her lip as Mr and Mrs Cake came into sight, ignoring the five mares quite blatantly.

Sweetie Belle stepped forward to a specific place on the floor, tapping her hooves on the ground in a rhythm the librarian was unfamiliar with. At first, she had no idea why she would do such a thing, until the floor in front of her sparkled and glowed, the floorboards vanished as a stone staircase appeared in front of them. They had to nudge her forward at first, but Twilight swiftly followed the white unicorn down the proverbial rabbit hole.

The corridor was narrow and dark, winding down in a spiral deep into the bowls of the earth. Applebloom quickly took the lead and deactivated traps she had constructed along the way. Their hoofsteps echoed off of the walls as they made their way down the sloping passage. Upon reaching the bottom, the passage widened greatly, branching off down other halls, each lined with dozens of doors.

Twisting and turning down several passages, the five mares found themselves before a set of wooden double doors. No latch or knob was visible, and she could see hints of Mythril on the surface of the door, meaning magic would not open it. Where Runite would hurt a pony that used magic near it, Mythril would absorb and dispel it in a purple glow. She looked to each of the other ponies, none of them making a move. "So... now what?" Twilight asked.

"Oh, right!" Scootaloo spoke. "Dinky and Sweetie enchanted the door so that it will only open for eleven ponies. You're one of them. All you have to do is walk up to it, and place your hoof on the door for it to open!"

"Oh...kay," she trailed. Twilight approached the door with some apprehension, placing her hoof on a strange symbol: a rearing earth pony filly on an elegant background. As soon as she placed it, a buzz rang through the stone hall, a click allowing the door to move under the pressure she exerted. The lavender mare gasped as the doors opened, a single large torch illuminating the room.

A large circular table sat in the middle of the room, surrounded by eleven chairs, each piece of furniture made of highly polished black wood. On the opposite wall, there hung a map of Equestria, dotted with drawings of various colours, arrows, and symbols to represent things that eluded her. However, upon the chairs, she could not help but notice that each was topped by a symbol.

Three diamonds, three apples, three butterflies, a cloud with a bolt of lightning, three balloons, a six-point star surrounded by five smaller ones, a star-tipped wand against a crescent moon, a flaming scooter, an apple blossom in front of a hammer and a songbird with a note near its beak. However, the final chair had a two-fold symbol: a string of seven bubbles with a web of several connected bubbles underneath. Each chair represented a Cutie Mark of one of her friends, one of the Crusaders, or her sister.

In front of each spot sat a small raised semi circle, with a larger one in the middle of the table. The other mares took their seats in their respective chars, Twilight sitting at hers after brushing the dust off with her tail. "Let's start at the beginning," Dinky broke the silence. "When you left Ponyville, after you discovered that you are a golem, Equestria fell on some rather hard times. You see, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna disappeared and in their place, a new Alicorn ascended to the throne."

"And... nopony has seen me since?" Twilight asked: her eyes wide in horror. How did they even know she was a golem? Only her six closest friends ever knew about it! "Wait... how do you know I'm a..."

"Our sisters and their friends told us," Applebloom chimed in.

"Exactly, nopony has seen you since the fire," continued Sweetie Belle. "We do not speak her name for all the terrible acts she has committed against our nation. This alicorn has killed so many of our friends, hundreds of animals and other ponies.... and the princesses themselves! She controls both sun and moon and has driven our nation into the ground! It doesn't help that she angered both the dragons and the griffons either! We are the ponies who seek to destroy her evil and remove the temptation to control the heavenly bodies."

"H-how long?" the librarian breathed. "How long has it been since that day?"

"Ten years," the orange Pegasus replied. "In ten years, she has killed them all and plunged our country into WAR!" The table shook from the strike of the hoof upon it. Silence filled the room for a couple of moments before she spoke once more. "The Queen has to be stopped and you, Twilight, are the key."

"She means," Applebloom said, "That yer the only pony with enough magical power ta even pose a threat to 'er. Ah mean you did study under Princess Celestia as her prized student. She must 'ave taught ya a few tricks!"

All their words washed over her. Ten years... ten years since the Ponyville fire... but no pony had seen her again since then? The good news was that she had not pissed off Princess Luna with her curiosity... but as much as that soothed her nerves, it only stood to pose more questions than what they answered. Only then did another question come before her mind, something she needed answered before she could be at peace.

"What happened to my friends?"

The four mares looked to each other once more before casting their glances back to their long-awaited friend. "We had a... falling out," replied Dinky. "Rarity and Rainbow Dash were... taken from us and after that we just sort of fell apart. The Crusaders used to be a unified front, but now we are divided. Applejack and her big brother rallied together the Apple Clan, Fluttershy and Zecora founded the Everfree Movement, and Pinkie created... the Party Poppers."

A visible shudder filtered through the four crusaders at the very mention of the last one. "What do you mean by Rarity and Rainbow being... taken from you?" Twilight asked. She immediately dreaded the answer as soon as a look of sadness swept across their faces. All eyes faced Sweetie Belle as she ignited her horn, and chanted the somber tale for all present to hear.

Loyalty and Generosity

"Greetings, mine children," spoke a voice from the darkness. "Allow me the chance to show thee a time before; naught but four years in the past from the day Twilight Sparkle returned to Equestria. It was a time of darkness and confusion, more so than the present hour, for the battle lines had yet to be drawn and ponies were choosing where they stood. Our heroine had been absent from the world for six years when the events thou shalt see came to be.

"I know that it is disruptive to break from the moment, but in mine judgement, I think thou will appreciate seeing things happen in real-time, to better understand the plight. No, I am not the author of THIS story, nor will I play any major role. I stand as naught but a literary device, for the moment. I am Rachana, the creator of Earth and Moon, beloved wife to Genesis. I am the first storyteller, older then the stars. Allow me to weave the tale."

~*///*///*///*~

'Tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock,' clicked the simple white clock on the wall. The ebony hands neared quarter to three in the afternoon: what should have been the height of the day. However, the room remained eerily quiet as the time keeper counted second by second into an increasingly bleak and unsure future. Jewels encrusted into the customized clock sparkled as the afternoon rays of the sun impacted their highly polished faces, coating the room in a rainbow of colours.

Carousel Boutique sat in the dark confines of its own body, yet the sign on the door indicated the building was open for the business day. Dresses and suits fit for nobility still lined the massive curved windows to display the talent of the tailor, yet no ponies entered the shop. It was almost as if the building repulsed the citizens of the town.

Yet, there was a very good reason why the shop sat in darkness, despite being open for the public. It had been six years to the day since the fire: six years since the owner of the store lost something very valuable to her. Rarity sat by the window overlooking the Everfree Forest in foolish hope that on that day, of all days, she would return and all would be right in the world once more.

Without the librarian, the town had become an awful dull and depressing place. It was as if a perpetual cloud loomed overhead and sucked the happiness and energy from the citizens, despite the sunny skies. The alabaster unicorn sighed, knowing her annual vigil did nopony any good. However, looking out the window and remembering the times, good and bad, was just about all she could do those days.

Nine months previous, the dragons and griffins unified and declared war upon the nation of Equestria, making it the first armed conflict in some twelve-hundred years or so. Many young mares and stallions were conscripted and sent off to defend the land: a nation most would rather see with a different ruler at the helm. If only Princess Celestia were still around, this whole mess would never have happened, Rarity mused to herself with another sigh.

Unfortunately, with so many ponies going off to war and with the Queen's abolishment of the nobility, demand for high-end dresses like hers plummeted into non-existence. Ponies could not afford such luxuries when food and rent (among other things) became heavily taxed for the defence of the nation. So, her boutique sat on the fringes of Ponyville, like a cyst on the healthy village.

A shudder came over the unicorn at the mere thought of her financial situation. She had two mouths to feed, yet with the rising cost of living and a lack of customers, the white unicorn had quickly began to plunge into debt. In fact, she was so deep in the financial hole at that moment she could no longer afford candles or oil to light the lanterns in her shop. If it was a choice between light and food, then there was no contest (even if the lack of light skewed her attempts to keep up appearances.)

It was in times like this, in the midst of feeling sorry for herself, she began to wonder if the rumours she heard about her unicorn friend were true. If they were, it would explain a lot but it would also leave her and her four other friends completely heartbroken. How could anypony think something so ridiculous about a mare as kind, gentle and loving as Twilight Sparkle?

A knock came upon the shop's door, snapping the fashionista out of her daydreams. She walked slowly to the door, ignoring the increasingly heavy beat of hooves upon it. How dense could that pony be? Could they not see the big 'open' sign in the window? Still, a potential customer was a potential customer, no matter how stupid, dirty or impatient they were.

"Hello, and welcome to Carousel Boutique. How may I help you?" she asked the stallion beyond the threshold. He wore a dark, double breasted-suit and carried a briefcase in his mouth. The earth pony stallion walked inside in front of the mare, an air of seriousness upon his face as he dropped the case onto an empty table in the middle of the room He sported a light blue mane and a yellow coat, his eyes hidden behind a pair of rectangular glasses.

"My name is Agent Bright Trottington of the Royal Equestrian Revenue and Tax Services," he spoke in a business-stallion demeanour. "You are Miss Rarity, the proprietor of this establishment, correct?"

The white unicorn sighed and nodded her head, dreading the day a member of the R-E-R-T-S would darken her doorstep. She refused to hide from the tax stallion, even if it meant losing everything she possessed. She still had her dignity, after all. "I am very sorry to say that you are at least three months behind on your rent, and you did not file your income tax forum last month. Might I ask why you did not file them?" he went on to ask.

"One can hardly file one's income tax when one does not make any income, Mr Trottington," she replied solemnly.

"Then I suppose collecting the missing two-thousand one-hundred and fifty-five bits is out of the question?" he asked, frowning as the mare slowly nodded her head. "Then I am afraid you are left with only two choices. Please, sit down, ma'am." Using her magic, the ruined tailor brought over two chairs to the table for them to sit comfortably. Even if she did not like the financial blood-sucker, she would at least be polite and lady-like.

"Now," Bright spoke as he pulled some papers out of his briefcase, "According to the Register's Office, your special talent is finding gems, correct?" Again, the white unicorn nodded her head. "Well, for ponies in your position, the Queen, in her infinite generosity, has created a system where deadbeat ponies can wipe out their debts by going into government service until they've paid it off. Now, since you are talented at finding gems..." he trailed as he shuffled papers, handing an information sheet to her, "you can go to work for the Mining Consortium."

Rarity looked at the government-styled brochure and winced visibly. "Are you joking?" she asked in a wild tone, "I mean, do you honestly expect me to go work in a dusty, DIRTY old mine to find gems just to pay back my debt? Are you out of your MIND? I'd ruin the pedicure on my hooves with all of that... DIRT and MUCK everywhere! I simply refuse!"

"Well, there is always a choice, Miss Rarity," the stallion calmly replied to her outburst. "You can either go work for the Mining Consortium, or you can go into military service. I don't expect they need any tailors or gem finders, so I expect you would be put on the front lines." Her jaw dropped, almost hitting the table. Before her were two options: each much more dirty and repulsive then the last. The stallion pushed forward a second information sheet, but she ignored it.

"And if I refuse BOTH?" she asked.

"Then you will be PRESSED into military service, where the penalty for desertion is death by firing squad. Surely, you don't want to be executed over such a small amount of money, do you, Miss Rarity?" he spoke plainly.

The unicorn's head swam, presented with a difficult choice: become a dirty, smelly mining pony, or become a dirty, smelly soldier who could be killed at any moment? Neither option was looking good for her, which opened up a third in her mind: she could always flee the country and be on the run for the rest of her life. At the very least, she would not have to worry as much about the dirt.

"However," added the stallion, "her majesty has given me permission to extend to you a rare offer, Miss Rarity."

"Oh?" the unicorn asked, feigning interest. Perhaps, if she could get close to the Queen, she could feed vital information to The Crusaders and help bring the titanic mule down once and for all!

"As a renowned fashion designer, her majesty has asked that, should you refuse the previous offers, that I give you a third choice. If you would prefer, she would like you to join her in Canterlot and pay off your debt as the Royal Dressmaker. You will answer only to the Queen, and service her needs and the needs of any pony she asks you to. This potentially includes the Prime Minister and members of Parliament."

Rarity bit her lip. As a dressmaker, she would not be able to seize any vital information. Still, the other two choices frightened her, like when a mare walked down the street wearing a GREEN dress when their palette CLEARLY called for cyan. She needed to do what she felt was best: not only for herself, but for her sister as well. "What of my little sister? I'm... all the family she has."

"If you take the third option, then there is more than enough room in the castle to accommodate her. Otherwise, unless she can find another place to stay, I'm afraid she will have to be put in an orphanage. Sweetie Bell is her name, correct?" he asked, flipping through papers. The white unicorn confirmed it softly for him. He pulled out a third set of papers, those ones detailing the work of the Royal Dressmaker.

"How long do I have to make a decision?" she asked as the stallion put some other papers he dredged up away.

"One week. Oh, and I must warn you: if you plan to flee, you face a minimum of twenty years in the dungeons of Canterlot for tax evasion. As well, your sister will be forced to pay off the debt in your stead. If you take her with you, then she will face a minimum of five years in jail for aiding a felon. Furthermore, Carousel Boutique would be owned by the township of Ponyville and Governor Ironhead. The fate of this property would be placed in his hooves."

Rarity struggled to think her way out of this mess, but she knew nopony could help her. Applejack had it hard enough on the farm, Pinkie could not spare a single bit, Fluttershy only made income from odd pet-care jobs and Rainbow... well, being a weathermare never paid well anyway. "I am sorry," the stallion apologized as he opened the door. "It's never easy to to see a pony's livelihood destroyed over something like money. I wish you only the best, Miss Rarity." With that, he was gone.

~*///*///*///*~

One week down the river of time, the alabaster mare stood inside of her shop, her remaining earthly possessions stacked on a cart just outside the building. A quick glance around gave an air of finality: all of her ponyquins gone, dust-drawn silhouettes of paintings, the corkboard slabs where she pinned up dress designs and desks outlined on the wall where grime (although she had no idea WHERE it came from) accumulated. A sigh passed her lips as she realized it would be the last time she stood inside her beloved boutique.

Everything was calm and quiet, almost disturbingly so as she made one last sweep of the building, just in case she missed anything important. Tears rolled down her cheeks, threatening to turn her azure eyes puffy and red as memories of better times washed across her mind. Wandering upstairs, she checked in the drawers of her vanity to find a large red bow tie studded in jewels. Her frown deepened as she remembered who she made it for. "Oh Spike," she spoke aloud to the empty walls. "Where have you gone?"

Quietly placing the memento into her saddle bags, the white mare continued to search for anything else she might have missed on her first pass. Every picture, every item she found stirred so many memories, yet she only had a little bit of room left. So, she had to make another hard choice: choosing to keep the pictures of her and her sister over the large, glossy photo of her and her friends modeling their gala dresses.

Below her, through the depths of the abandoned shop, the door opened with the jingle of a bell. She could tell just who decided to break up her moment: it was time to face the music. Rarity descended the steps, down to the lower floor when the voices started to drift across her ear. They were in the midst of a heated discussion, no doubt over what she had chosen to do.

Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Trixie and her own sister all stood at the bottom of the stairs, the small unicorn crying into the orange farmer's side. The five adults narrowed their eyes at her, silently demanding answers from the tailor. "Is it true?" Applejack accused. "Please, tell us ya didn't decide to go work for the Queen, Sugarcube!"

"I'm sorry, but... I have to do this," the alabaster mare sniffed. "I don't WANT to work for that horrible mare, but I have no other choice! It's either work for her, or dig for gems... or fight in the war. I simply can't do either of those."

"Rarity!" cried Rainbow. "You always have a choice! You could run away, go underground! As a general of the Crusaders, we can easily keep you hidden from the government!" Her look soured as the white unicorn made a face of disgust at the very idea. "It's a figure of speech! Sheesh!"

"Rarity, you can't leave!" cried Pinkie. "Twilight is counting on us staying together for when she gets back! She'll probably be sad and lonely, so we have to stay here together to make sure we can cheer her up! I mean, she probably feels really, really bad about the fire but she'll get over it one day and come home, so we need to be ready to support and lift her spirits! I'm already planning the party!"

"I don't..." the unicorn trailed. How could she tell them her suspicions? How could she let them down by speaking her mind? She took a deep breath and decided to damn the consequences. "I don't think Twilight is ever coming back. It's been six years. If she hasn't gotten over what she did by now, then she is... she is either dead... or THAT rumour must be true."

Silence (except from the occasional sob of Sweetie Belle) filled the room, giving rise to new emotions as the deepest, darkest thought of the tailor was laid bare before her friends. Each looked stunned, too aghast to speak and urge the unicorn that her suspicions were wrong. "If Twilight Sparkle is dead," replied Trixie after a couple of moments, "then Trixie will eat her hat: with ketchup and hot sauce too! That irritating mare does not strike Trixie as the kind to be killed easily. If she were gone, we would know it."

"The selfish horse has a point," the farmer added snidely. The blue unicorn looked a little offended, but she bit her tongue, if only because she did not feel like arguing at that point. "We can't give up hope, Rarity. The day we believe she ain't coming home is the day the Queen wins! Ah refuse to ever let that horse win, an' by creators, I ain't goin' down without a fight! We need ta stick together. We can hide ya if we must, if only so we can be around for when Twi gets home, so we can end her reign once an' for all!"

"Rarity?" Fluttershy quietly added. "Um... I know it doesn't sound like much, but... um... if you leave, then I'll be sad. The girls are right: if you leave us now, you're also abandoning Twilight when she comes home. Please, don't go out that door. Don't leave us when we need you the most. We're the Elements of Harmony, remember?"

"You're wrong, Fluttershy. We AREN'T the elements, we just... we just represent them. Have you seen your jewels around lately? I haven't and I put mine in a safe place only I know about! If the elements are gone, then that can only mean that... that Twilight is gone. She's either dead or, Great Plains forbid, no longer our friend anymore."

The other mares looked at each other, scuffing their hooves against the ground sheepishly. Rarity knew she struck at a couple of bared nerves by saying that, but she just could not keep her doubt contained any longer. It was killing her inside, but she had to do it, for the sake of her little sister and for the business she had taken from the hooves of her parents, which she built into one of the most respected dress shops in Equestria.

"Please, Rarity!" Rainbow cried, walking over to her, rare tears welling up in her rosy eyes. "Don't do this! I don't think... I don't think I could handle it! I represent loyalty, remember? If you do this, the others won't be able to trust you anymore! No matter what I do, I'd be disloyal to at least ONE of my friends. Please, don't make me choose, Rarity! Don't... don't make me choose."

Seeing the athletic and tomcoltish Pegasus on the verge of tears startled the alabaster unicorn to no end. Only once before did she see the chromatic pony outside of her usual boastful self, but that had been more nerves and fear of failure than seeing her friends break up. Even then, she had NEVER seen her cry before: not even when she had the worst of injuries or when the unicorn consoled her about losing Gilda as a friend.

Rarity bit her lower lip in trepidation. She really did not want to hurt her friends, but there could be no recourse for her. The alabaster mare could not handle the idea of digging through mud, killing innocent creatures, or having to remain hidden her whole life like a filthy criminal. "I'm sorry, Rainbow," she apologized, fresh tears welling up in her azure eyes. "I'm so sorry, but... but this is the only option I have. I don't WANT to do this, but I have no other choice! If I hear anything of value, I'll be sure to tell you all. Pinkie Pie Swear!"

"Ah'm sorry, Sugarcube," the farmer lowered her head. "But... but you can't be in the Crusaders no more. Not... not if yer gonna live in Canterlot. We just... we just can't have the risk of the Queen findin' out what we're up to. Ah motion a vote for dis...dism... for havin' her leave. All in... all in favour?"

"Aye," whispered Fluttershy, her head as low to the ground as it could get without touching it.

"Aye," nodded Trixie with her head turned away, unable to look at the scene anymore.

"Aye," Pinkie Pie sighed, on the verge of tears as well.

"Aye," Rainbow croaked, wiping the water that built up around her eyes away.

Applejack nudged the filly sobbing into her side gently, trying to coax her out of her sorrow. "Sweetie Belle? Ah know this is hard, but you need to vote. We'll accept any decision ya make, so don't you feel like you need ta side with anypony you don't want to, okay?"

The white filly sobbed into her friend's coat for a little while longer; trying to decide what was for the best. Not only the best for their fledgling rebellion group, but as a whole for the nation and the future. Forcing back her sniffles, she raised her muzzle above the fur coat so she could be heard. "Aye," she whispered, only to start sobbing heavily once more.

"Ah'm sorry, Sugarcube," she spoke honestly to Rarity. "But... with Twilight not around... that's majority." The white unicorn sat there stunned, not only at her friends being so ready to dump her, but the fact that her little sister agreed! She would kick herself for it later, but at that moment her feelings were too fresh to be left unstated, causing the white unicorn to go on a tirade.

"...how could I even THINK to call you my friends!?" she cried. With her rant finished she stood by the door, shaking form all the negative emotion inside her.

"Rarity, Please!" Applejack cried. "We've been through too much ta let it end like this! Just because you're not a Crusader no more don't mean we can't still be friends!"

"I didn't end our friendship, Applejack. YOU DID!" Without another word, she stormed out of the building, just in time to meet with the Pegasus guards who would escort her to Canterlot. That was the last time they would see her. They sat there for many minutes, each wanting to tear themselves away and chase after her, but they were rooted to the spot by their own self-pity and loathing for what they just did.

A few minutes after the unicorn stormed out, a pair of blue-vested guards entered the building and ushered them outside. By the time they were all herded to the door, the alabaster unicorn was gone, cart and all replaced by something else. Raspy breathing came from the shape in front of them, yet no air hit their faces as it laboured for breath. It was in the shape of a pony, but the hardened clay and smart suit gave away the golem's identity in an instant.

"By order of the Queen of Equestria, I, Lord Ironhead, Governor of the Township of Ponyville, do hereby declare this structure condemned. Any who enter shall be swiftly and harshly punished." With that, the nopony turned, trotting down the street with a clunk as each of his clay hooves impacted the cobblestones. The assembled mares went about their separate ways, each one expressing their sorrow in a different way. Each of them had lost another dear and valuable friend.

~*///*///*///*~

"Yet as the hooves of time move once more, the tale is found only halfway done," Rachana spoke into the darkness. "For, although Generosity had left their midst, even if those bonds had been stretched, they had yet to rip in twain. As much as the other elements tried to be rid of it, they could not deny the fellowship they felt. Sorrowfully, one element did not see the ghosts of the relationships she once held dear. She could not see that, beyond the circumstances, they would forevermore be friends.

"With Magic missing and her relationship with Generosity seemingly ripped asunder, Loyalty felt alone in her plight. Move the hoof of time forward but one year, almost three years before the day we left to start this tale, and you will see the events that shattered the Elements of Harmony beyond all repair."

~*///*///*///*~

Cloudsdale: the mystical floating capital of all Pegasus ponies in the land of Equestria. For at least two millennia, it floated lazily over the ground as a safe haven from most of the beasts of the world. The pristine walls and white clouds gave off an air of cleanliness and purity: as if nothing dark or foreboding could happen. It was easy to misjudge that floating city.

Rainbow Dash lay upon one of the many clouds surrounding the Pegasus sanctuary and looked over the edge at the ground far below her. As one of the three Pegasus generals of the Crusaders, the chromatic flier had the responsibility to keep an eye on the city and try to pick out new recruits who were weary of the contempt the Queen had for the ancient settlement.

Still, the Pegasus found her mind wandered away from her job quite easily nowadays, since she kept dwelling on that day almost a year previous. Ever since Rarity had left to join the Queen in Canterlot, she felt as if she were the rope in a tug-of-war. One side wanted her to find her unicorn friend and make amends, while the other told her she had to do her duty to her other friends for the good of the nation. She felt like she was coming apart at the seams, and began to contemplate jumping off the cloud, wings bound, to end her misery.

A thump beside her on the cloud barely registered in her mind as a second Pegasus joined her. Out of the corner of her eyes, she could tell instantly who the new occupant was. She had a striking mane of red and orange with a yellow coat and amber eyes. Spitfire laid down beside Rainbow, discreetly mulling something over as well, judging from the look on her face.

"Hey, Rainbow," she chirped in curiosity. "Is there something on your mind?"

"Same thing as yesterday, and the day before that, and the day before that, and the day before THAT," she replied with melancholy. The two fliers sat upon the cloud for some time, the silence growing between them as they each pondered. The flaming mare wanted to lend a hoof, but she had no clue where to do so without appearing nosey.

"I'm sure once this is all over," she started, "they will be all too happy to welcome her back into the group. I mean, this war can't last forever, right? Plus, we're the good ponies, so we're sure to win out over the armies! All we need to do for now is be patient and wait for your friend to come home. Everything will be made right when she does. I'm sure of it."

Rainbow did not answer. She knew all of what her friend said was true, but she could not help a nagging feeling in the back of her mind: something that told her Twilight was never coming back. She sighed as she realized the captain of the Wonderbolts probably had something more pressing to talk about than filly feelings. "What did you need, Spitfire?" she asked.

"Oh! Right," the stunt flier replied. "Well, from my connections, I've heard that the Queen herself is coming to Cloudsdale to watch the Best Young Flier Competition the day after tomorrow. However, she's arriving later today for a royal tour of the city. You know, meet the ponies and throw off assassination attempts. That sort of thing."

"So?" Rainbow asked, honestly not in the mood to try and plan another covert operation against her.

"Well, for one, she doesn't make a lot of public appearances anymore. Secondly, we don't really know what she looks like because of that. Can't really assassinate a target unless you know what to look for, right?"

"Who cares? Just look for the great big alicorn with a crown on her head and a chip on her shoulder."

"I was thinking..." Spitfire trailed, unsure if she should bring up the touchy subject. "You know... we should see if that rumour is really true. To see if she really looks like... you know."

Rainbow pushed herself up into a sitting position with a sigh. She had to admit that she was curious, and it might just be the only time she could get a look for herself before they would face her on the field of battle, once Twilight returned, of course. She flexed her wings as a silent signal to the captain that she was getting ready for takeoff. "You pick out a good spot. I don't really care," she answered in monotone.

The amber Pegasus took to the sky before her, soaring like a majestic eagle, which was standard considering she belonged to the most exclusive fraternity of fliers in the nation. The rainbow pony could not help but smirk as she filed in right behind her, remembering her dreams of flying with her as a foal. Granted, she was still not a Wonderbolt: not yet, anyway.

Going over the majestic city, she could not help but feel a measure of pride swell in her chest, since she had not been to her home since she entered the Best Young Flier Competition herself those many years ago. The stadium where the event took place was just as pristine and immaculate as she remembered. In fact, the entire city seemed to be frozen in time, like a portrait where the ponies inside could move and live their lives against the eternal background.

Eventually, the two athletes found a spot along the marked route not crowded with ponies (curious, murderous in intent, ignorant or otherwise) clamouring to see the Queen. However, they had about an hour to kill before she would show her wicked face to the masses. Perched on a balcony overlooking the proceedings, the two ponies sat patiently for a rare glimpse of the spiteful monarch.

As the time neared, everything seemed to slow down for the speed demon Pegasus, which annoyed her more then she could ever say in pleasant company. Yet, for the sake of appearances, she kept a stoic look on her face, the only hint to her impatience being the rhythmic tapping of a hoof against the railing. Spitfire, meanwhile, gazed into the distance, as she would sometimes do while the two waited for something to happen.

After a few more minutes of incessant tapping, trumpets began to blare as Pegasus guards in gilded armour filed down the streets, blowing into their brass instruments. Ponies around the corner could be seen bowing, telling the pair of rebels that the Queen approached their position. "Remember, Rainbow," her friend whispered, "we're just watching, not dashing into battle."

Somehow, Spitfire could see her muscles tense as the very thought of charging in passed in front of her waking mind. She nodded to show her that she understood the warning. Still, it required all her willpower to remain glued to the spot as a golden chariot, pulled by four Pegasus guards rounded the corner. That's supposed to be CELESTIA'S chariot, the Pegasus thought in anger.

Rainbow's stoic facade would be put to the ultimate test as the rest of the carriage turned down the street up ahead, bringing the Queen into full view. Her eyes widened a bit in shock: now she could see how all the rumours made sense! Sitting upon the golden chariot was a large alicorn, her coat a shade of lavender that shimmered in the light of the sun. Her mane wafted in the solar breeze, much like Celestia's, except instead of a rainbow of soft green, pink, purple and blue, her mane went from the blackest of night at the roots, dotted with stars and faded through the colours of the twilight hour, ending with a soft sky blue at the tips.

Most striking of all, however, were the eyes the alicorn possessed. As she moved closer towards their balcony, Rainbow could see they were a deep, cold and unyielding purple, scanning the crowd with undisguised boredom despite the smile and slight wave of a hoof to the ponies. The Pegasus felt a shiver run down her spine and through her wings: now fully able to see how Derpy could make those connections.

The final nail in the coffin, however, came from where the Queen passed in front of the balcony, leaving her flank in full view. It took all of the willpower and discipline the Pegasus possessed to stop from crying out in pain. Her mark was an elaborate design of the sun, with a waning crescent moon closer to her rump. Around the sun, there were five small stars dotted around in almost EXACTLY the same positions.

All things considered, everything turned out well in Spitfire's opinion as the Queen passed their balcony. She did not seem to recognize them, so there was some good in that. Rainbow had her eyes trained on her from the moment she appeared around the corner, to the instant she disappeared around another bend. Obviously, she was serious about trying to see if the rumours about the Queen were true.

"So, what did you think, Rainbow?" she called to her friend once the festivities passed. "Rainbow?" Looking to her side, the Pegasus was gone, flying away from the scene. "Guess she was busy after all."

~*///*///*///*~

Flying through the sky the very next day, Spitfire read the quickly scrawled note with some trepidation as she and as many other Wonderbolts as she could find swooped across the skies to meet their appointment. She looked at the small note once more, hoping it was a trick: that Rainbow would not do something so rash. However, she confessed herself curious as to what her friend and long-time fan had planned.

Spitfire, the note read.

Gather as many Wonderbolts who are sympathetic to our goals as you can. We're going to need every one we can get. Today is the day we capture the Queen, or die trying! I have a plan, and I hope to the creators that it works. Be at the Rainbow Room of the Weather Factory by 1400 hours. Stars save the Queen; her end is nigh, the Crusaders Forever!

General Rainbow Dash

Behind the flaming stunt flier flew a well-sized squad of eleven members of the Wonderbolts and their reserves, all of whom wanted nothing better than to see an end to the terrible reign of the Queen. Granted, most of them were a little scared now that they were finally going to be doing something about it, rather than loafing around and complaining. Yet, the hatred they had for the monarch knew no bounds.

Spitfire turned the corner around the central spire of the factory, avoiding the dark thunderclouds being formed by the workers as they flew down to the Rainbow Room. The stunt flier laughed inwardly at the coincidence this posed, given that the only Pegasus with a rainbow mane would be waiting for them. At least, she hoped so, since there was still the distinct possibility that it was a trap.

However, all of those nagging worries vanished the instant the dozen professional fliers touched down, right behind the Pegasus in question. Spitfire walked up to her, placing a hoof on her shoulder. "So, what's the plan, Dash?" she asked, looking at the door the rainbow mare bored holes into.

"Just wait and see," she replied with an air of finality in her voice. Spitfire stood beside her, eyes trained on the door leading in, ignoring the worker ponies that stared at the sudden celebrity appearance. "Get those workers out of here though. This might get messy." Without another word, some members of the Wonderbolts acted on her orders, calmly ushering the neutral ponies out of the room.

Once they returned to formation, the door opened, a tour Pegasus and a dozen guards filing into the room, right in front of the Queen. The neutral Pegasus seemed taken aback by the sudden appearance of the entire aerobatic squadron. "Uh..." he trailed, trying to salvage the situation, "Might I present the Wonderbolts, your Highness... apparently?"

Both sides stood still, waiting for the other to make the first move. Surprisingly, the Queen herself acted first, stepping forward, causing her guards to stand aside in a slight panic. The flight squad shivered under her cold, murderous gaze, yet Rainbow starred back, meeting those purple pools. "I daresay," the Queen intoned, "there isn't enough room for a flying demonstration in here."

Rainbow tensed up at the voice, Spitfire noticed, as if a pony had put a clamp to her heart and twisted it cruelly. "Somehow," the Queen continued, "I do not think you have assembled here for a simple greeting, as regal as I may be. Well, GENERAL Rainbow Dash?" She chuckled as the Pegasus lost her composure, mouth opening wide. "Oh yes, I know ALL about your stupid little Crusaders. How foalish: to think you could ever hope to topple ME."

"How did you know!?" she gritted her teeth, trying not to let her anger overwhelm her.

"My Royal Dressmaker, of course," she smiled. "It's amazing what some ponies will say with a little whisky in them and a bit of magic to loosen them up, don't you think?" A wave of cold swept over everypony present, even her own royal guard as her chuckles echoed through the towering, empty room. "Now, did you come to surrender, or mount some sort of pitiful assault upon my crown? Well? Answer me, Ms. Dash."

"No, this isn't an attack, or surrender," she replied causing the Wonderbolts to gasp in surprise. "Not yet, anyway. I just want to talk. Please, you don't have to do this! Any of this! Yes, you made some mistakes: all ponies do. Just please come back. I know who you are..."

A frown spread across the queen's muzzle, but it was only for a brief instant as her eyes narrowed at the Pegasus, as if examining her under a magnifying glass. Content with the results of her search, she addressed her guard, "Destroy these traitors!" The white Pegasus ponies saluted, drawing hidden spears from the depths of their armour, pointing them at the Wonderbolts and the unarmed Pegasus.

"You don't NEED to do this! There's still hope. We're not mad about what happened in Ponyville. Really. We just... we really miss you. Please, come back to us, Twilight!"

"Who are you talking to? Surely, it cannot be me," the queen replied in a deadpan tone.

"I'm talking to you, Twi, you big idiot! Stop pretending you're this big, bad alicorn and come back to us! Yes, you made a mistake, but I forgive you! After all, you were out of your mind that day, weren't you?"

"You're raving mad, Ms. Dash," the queen calmly replied. "I've never known any sort of Twilight, except for one little pest, and I am not about to start knowing any more. Now shut up and DIE, you TRAITOR!" With a flash of her horn, a beam of light rocketed forth, slamming into the solidified cloud where the rainbow Pegasus stood. Using her natural agility, she tore herself away from the spot, tears streaming in her eyes as she shot off to the top of the Rainbow Waterfall.

"Please! Don't make me have to do this!" she begged, hovering over the fountain of rainbows. Another blast shot out of the alicorn's horn, nearly hitting the Pegasus, causing chunks of enchanted stone to fall on her head.

"The pony known as Twilight Sparkle is DEAD. I murdered her with my own hooves. She came to me later on the night I took power and tried to stop me," the queen smirked. "The screams were quite pleasant, actually. It's a shame I didn't keep her alive to torture her as a pastime. Maybe I'll do that with YOU instead, Rainbow Dash."

"NOW!" she ordered before plunging her head into the rainbow juice. All the Sorrel Hells broke loose as the dozen Wonderbolts sprang into action, quickly advancing on the dozen heavier and slower guards. The tour guide, smartly, decided to run away. Dash's head stayed under the rainbows for a few seconds before she pulled out, many colors burned into her face. "I guess I'm going to have to BEAT some sense into you, Twilight!"

"The name is EOS, you little cretin," the alicorn scolded. "Just what do you hope to achieve? An early funeral? Well, I will be happy to oblige!" Another blast rocketed from her horn, not caring if it hit guard or Wonderbolt as it squealed out to strike. However, the rainbow Pegasus began to glow and swiftly avoided the concussive blast. "What the---?" The queen was cut short, however, when something heavy impacted her side, sending her flying into the wall.

Next thing she knew, she lay against the wall, the irritating Pegasus standing where she herself once stood, aglow in a polychromatic aurora. She had no idea just what was going on, but she refused to be bested by a commoner! Her horn glowed once more as sharp tendrils of solid cloud shot up from the floor, hoping to impale the traitor. She moved too fast, shooting up and into the ceiling in the blink of an eye. Somehow, the rainbow juice had given her incredible speed and power.

Meanwhile, Pegasi buzzed around, paying no mind to the exchange between the goddess and subject. The Wonderbolts had underestimated the speed of the guards, for once they shed their armour, they were suddenly as fast as they were. I guess wearing that armour builds up strength after all, Spitfire mused as she tried to shake a rather persistent one off her tail.

Rainbow mustered all the speed she could, going as fast as light itself with the rush she experienced from the rainbow elixir. In no time at all, she was upon the queen, bucking her right in the face before blindsiding her with powerful swipes of her hooves. The ruler tried to fight back, but she was so slow that it was like she was standing still. The Pegasus circled around and rammed her in the ribcage, ploughing the monarch into another wall,

Royal blood spilled onto the walls as the force of impact jettisoned some out of her lungs. The queen struggled for breath as she picked herself off the floor, trying to ignore the pain in her sides, both her wings broken. It was then she realized that being immortal did not mean she could feel no pain. "Well, have you had enough, Twilight?" the Pegasus asked with a pleading look on her glowing face.

Her gaze was met with pure hatred, somehow paining her more than a thousand stabs straight to her heart. All around, Pegasus ponies, both Wonderbolt and guard, began to succumb to their injuries, blood staining the once alabaster floor of the room. "My name..." panted the alicorn as she stood, "is EOS!" She stood and charged, horn sparking with magic. Rainbow moved to avoid the alicorn, only to be swatted into the ground.

The queen was anticipating her tactics and teleported to where she knew the Pegasus would go. Only then did she smack her when she was unaware and smash her into the pavement. "I have bested BOTH Celestia and Luna. Do you think you stand a chance?" she gloated as she landed gracefully on her hooves. A stray Wonderbolt flew into her line of vision, causing her to electrocute him with her magic. He plopped to the ground with a thud, his uniform sizzling into his skin.

Spitfire watched with horror while keeping an eye on the guard she was being chased by. She needed to break away from the joker soon, so she could help double-team the murderous monarch. Any help to kill Queen Eos would be accepted by any sane pony.

"I've got to try!" Rainbow cried, charging forward with all the speed she could muster. Her muscles were beginning to scream in agony and her stomach turned over: the rainbow juice began to take full effect. Sure, it could give a pony a great burst of speed and power, but that was before it would turn to poison and kill the drinker (but only in large quantities, like what she had drank). But if it would knock sense back into her friend, then she would be glad to die.

Ponies dropped like flies all around them, either fleeing after they became too tired to carry on, or struck dead. Eventually, it all boiled down to four ponies: the Queen, Rainbow Dash, the guard chasing Spitfire and the flaming Pegasus herself. The orange stunt flier wanted to cry, but the tears would obscure her vision... but at least she would be with her felled wingmates again. No! Don't think like that, Spitfire, she chastised herself. Not when there is still a sliver of hope left in the world!

Seeing the other two warring mares gave her an idea. Soaring between the two combatants was very dangerous and risky, but her tail would also run the same risk. At every turn, she strove to dive between the Pegasus and alicorn, putting herself in the line of fire. Come on, come on! she thought as she dove once more. An eruption of electricity arced from the alicorn's horn, but she was too fast for it, making it hit the guard instead.

"Stupid pests!" the queen panted, sporting dozens of bleeding wounds and struggling to keep her breath. As bad as the ruler looked, it was nothing next to how Rainbow felt. They had been battling for what felt like hours. Looking around, the general knew it was just between her and the queen.

"Spitfire!" she called out to her friend.

"Yes, ma'am!" the orange mare cried as she landed beside her, in a ready stance to charge.

"Tell them... tell them we did our best. Tell them," she looked to her friend, rosy eyes watering with tears, "tell them that I'm sorry, but I just had to do this. I just had to try. Get out of here: you can't do any more good."

"But you've got her on the ropes, Dash!" she called out. "We can end this right now. We can..." spying the look upon her face, the flaming mare realized. "You drank the rainbow juice... didn't you!?" Her smile faded as her friend nodded solemnly. "No. I can't leave you!"

"Do it. Do it now! That's an order, Captain!" she cried as she pushed her out of the way of a spell. The rainbow Pegasus dashed over to a control console and slammed her hooves into it, causing the panel to short out as the amber one reluctantly fled the facility, her tears streaming into the wind. Alarm bells rang out all over the city, stirring the flying ponies from school and their jobs as a synthetic voice rang out.

"All reactor safeguards are now non-functional. The weather factory will self-destruct in three minutes. Please evacuate. This is not a drill. Repeat: All reactor safeguards are now non-functional. The weather factory will self-destruct in three minutes. Please evacuate. This is not a drill"

"What do you hope to accomplish?" Eos asked coldy. "We can always rebuild this facility, you foal!"

"Maybe so," grunted the stunt flier. "But it will take you YEARS, and you won't be able to threaten anypony with droughts or hurricanes anymore! Please, Twilight. It's not too late. Please, come back to us... c-come back to ME!"

"Shut up and die," the queen replied, charging up her horn. However, she was swiftly met by a barrage of attacks, doing her part to injure the Pegasus in turn, but not quite matching up to her speed and ferocity, even with a few good blows from her magic. Eos flew into a pillar, rainbow juice spilling on her as the vat collapsed, causing her to scream in pain as the hot substance stung at her open wounds.

She stood up, panting, eyes wild in pain and anger. No pony had even come close to hurting her as much as the Pegasus did. The alicorn stood upon shaking hooves, the waves of pain cresting over her, as if her blood were on fire. However, she could no longer hold herself, collapsing onto the floor in pain. Rainbow began to pant and cough up the substance, the colour beginning to drain from her as the poison took effect. She didn't have long, and she knew it.

"Danger. Core meltdown imminent. This facility will self-destruct in thirty seconds."

"Twilight, please!" she pleaded, the tears flowing freely from her eyes, splashing onto the stained floor. "You can still turn back! Don't leave us like this. I... I don't think I could live with myself if I didn't at least TRY to help you out of this... of this prison you built!" She dragged herself slowly over to her pained friend. The alicorn growled at her, in too much pain to move, never mind cast any magic. "Please," she pleaded once more as she stroked her wafting mane.

"Ten...Nine... Eight... Seven... Six... Five...Four..."

"I love you, Twilight," she croaked before pressing her lips to the queen's, savouring the last sensation she would ever know.

"...Two... One..."

The world erupted into bright light. Spitfire, despite being more than ten miles from the blast, had to shield her eyes in order to keep from being blinded. In an instant, Cloudsdale was obliterated, wiped from the face of the world with the force of a million Sonic Rainbooms. A mushroom cloud of all colours of the rainbow rose miles into the sky, the blast shaking the ground as far away as Trottingham. Rainbow Dash was dead.

~*///*///*///*~

"... And so Rainbow, having failed to capture the queen, killed herself in an effort to take her with her. They say, to this day, the Queen still bears scars from the encounter," Sweetie finished the short version of the story, trying to hold back her own tears as she recounted her friend's final moments.

Twilight felt sick, as if she could lose the contents of her stomach at a second's notice. She quivered and shook in her seat. Rarity had betrayed them... Rainbow was dead... what ELSE could have gone wrong!? One part of her wanted to know, but the other just wanted to break down and cry for her friend.

"I have to admit," Dinky spoke, "that Rainbow Dash never did ANYTHING halfway." Looking at the unicorn, she could see her distress. "Let's leave her for a while before we tell her what the others are up to, okay?" The other three mares nodded silently, and filed out of the room, to leave the purple unicorn to grieve in solitude.

The Queen

The next morning dawned upon a figure formed of lumps, sound asleep under a massive pile of blankets atop a large, luxurious bed. The gilded posters shimmered in the early twilight, the sun having yet to crest the horizon. Purple velvet curtains strung between the posts blocked the sleeping creature from the view of the outside world, despite the fact that the room was sacrosanct. In those troubled times, nothing was held sacred.

Soft carpets of deep crimson padded the floor under the bed. On either side sat two delicately carved end tables: a slender green banker's lamp on one, and a ticking clock and yellow bottle sitting upon the other. A large, white vanity hugged one of the walls flanking the bed, gilded in fine reliefs of plants and flowers. A dresser lay on the opposite side; a gold and onyx crown sat on a head form on the top.

Overall, the room was smaller than one might expect for a goddess, but since it was just one of many in her suite, the queen did not mind. Three doors led into the room: a set of oak double doors right in front of the bed, leading to the rest of the suite, and two others on the flanking walls. The fourth wall was gently curved and covered with tall windows that let light stream into the room.

Peace filled the space, marred only by the occasional subconscious grunt of the monarch as she slept. Dreams were her escape from the stress and pressures of trying to keep the country on-track despite war, and a few pesky rebellions who could not seem to do much more than vandalize property and disturb the peace. However, her reprieve ended when a loud ring from the alarm clock sounded, prompting a groan of pain from the waking mare.

"Shut up!" she groaned as an aura of lavender surrounded the time keeping device, flinging it across the room to shatter into a million pieces. The bottle that once sat beside it became enveloped in the same aura, disappearing behind the veil before returning with one less pill inside of it. After a couple of seconds to compose herself, the curtains flew open, revealing Eos to nopony but her own reflection in the vanity mirror.

She was never a morning pony, and getting up so early to raise the sun taxed her patience. The queen grunted as her bad hoof made contact with the floor, making her shift her weight onto the other three as she crawled out of bed. After a quick stretch of her good limbs to begin the day, the alicorn limped over to one of the doors, leading to a spiral staircase that ascended an adjacent tower. As usual, she decided to forgo the stairs and fly up to the tall balcony instead.

Casting open the doors with a wave of magic, she limped onto the balcony and concentrated on the horizon. The magic flowed through her, pulling her out of her body as one ghostly hoof lowered the moon while the second forced the sun to crest over the horizon. Satisfied with her work, the Queen descended the tower to go through the rest of her (far too early) morning ritual, passing through the opposite door and into her private bathroom.

Fifteen minutes after the sunrise, Queen Eos emerged from her chambers after bathing, grooming, and adorning herself with her royal vestments. Her crown of gold and onyx glistened in the early sun as she slowly walked past windows, the symbol of her divinity reached up to only half the height of her long horn. Her gold and onyx shoes clicked lightly against the gilded marble floors of Canterlot's many winding halls as her matching necklace shifted while she walked. Her limp had improved from earlier and continued to do so with time, making her procession a little less noisy.

Ponies bowed before her as she progressed, with utterances the likes of 'good morning, your majesty' filling her tired and easily agitated ears. At first, she would have shocked them for annoying her at such an early hour, but time on the throne cooled her morning temper, since the castle could not function if half the faculty had to rest in the hospital wing.

As well, in the beginning her advisers would have descended upon her to get her to listen to their foolish whims, but she made sure they learned to not disturb her before breakfast. "Good morning, your highness," both the unicorn guards to the royal dining room chimed in unison. She nodded her head in understanding: about the best response a pony could hope to receive from the monarch so early.

With a quick bow to her nod, they opened the doors with their magic to expose the dining room to the hall beyond. The green-stained marble floor shimmered from the combination of the light coming from the pink granite fireplace and the high polish of the floor itself. The oak panels depicted scenes from history, echoing a time when most creatures could not read or write. Overall, the entire room sat in near darkness, as it offered no windows to the outside.

A long table sat in the middle of the room beneath a golden chandelier, worker ponies installing it fled from the monarch since they did not want to be in her way, especially in the morning. Canterlot was undergoing a lot of changes at her hoof and one of them was lightening up the depressing room. A fine white cloth of silk sat upon the solid mahogany table, countless floral decorations bringing more colour into the room. At the head sat an elaborate high-backed chair with a crest of sun and moon, the bottom and two sides of the table contained one less intricate chair for royal guests.

As soon as the royal rump made contact with the soft, solidified cloud cushions, a unicorn waiter appeared by her side, clipboard at the ready. "What would you like to eat, your majesty?" the green and pink mare asked with a small quiver in her voice. She was new, evidently.

"A bran muffin to start, followed by wheat pancakes, maple syrup and a glass of milk," she ordered. The unicorn vanished in a flash, another appearing instantly on her opposite side with a platter of muffins. Eos took a random baked treat before nibbling on it. "Leave the tray," she ordered to the second unicorn, who bowed and made a hasty retreat.

She continued to snack on the muffins before her, trying to push thoughts of a certain Pegasus out of her mind as she enjoyed the common treat. No matter how hard the queen tried, she could not stifle that irritating conscience she had. However, the voice had become stronger since yesterday, and she began to worry that she was getting soft again.

Closing her eyes, she silenced the annoying voice for the moment as the unicorn appeared with the main course of her breakfast. Her thoughts turned to her plans for the day, as they usually did while she ate her meal in the deathly silence. No pony dared speak to her while she ate, especially breakfast.

"Your highness?" echoed one of the guards with trepidation as he opened the door a crack. "Advisor Stardance wishes to speak with you when you are done." She had to suppress the urge to moan in annoyance as the words drifted across her ears. The combination spelled nothing but trouble to the monarch, as Stardance rarely had good news that early in the morning. He tried to act like her nanny, the only saving grace being that he at least had the stones to tell her when an idea she had was foolish.

~*///*///*///*~

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, WE HAVE LOST SHIMMERING PASS!?" the royal mare screeched at her advisor not more than a couple of seconds after meeting him outside.

"I-I don't know your majesty," the earth pony stallion replied in terror, although he expected the reaction. "It was General Shatterbuck's plan and it got approved by the War Council. You haven't been sitting in on it for the last few months, and I tried to tell you about it, but you just kept dismissing me. A thousand pardons your highness!"

"I'm not mad at YOU Stardance: you are but the messenger. Come. I will be sitting in on the council today." The lavender pony started forward, the stallion of white mane and peppermint green coat following. He braced himself, apprehensive about her reaction to his worries.

"Have you taken your pill today, your highness?" he asked.

"Yes, what of it?" Eos replied in an annoyed tone of voice as they cantered to her office.

"Well... are you sure that you're in the state of mind to sit on the War Council? You know that the painkillers mess around with your head, your majesty," he urged.

"Do you doubt my lucidity? Obviously, the generals cannot be trusted to get the job done on their own anymore. As such, I will take matters into my own hooves. I will attend the council from now on and there are to be NO objections. Do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal, my queen," the peppermint colt gulped.

"Good, now what else is scheduled for the day?"

"Well, at oh-nine-hundred you will be sitting in court. There are seven indebted ponies who need to be placed, and former Prince Blueblood says he wants to discuss cracking down on crime and vigilante actions. There are also three criminal hearings and a pony says she has some information on the whereabouts of one of our top ten most wanted criminals."

"Excellent. A good tip always boosts my morale. I hope it's Applejack: that hayseed has had me gritting my teeth for two years now with her taunting notes. I'd like nothing better than to hang that horse personally," she smiled expectantly, only for the voice in the back of her head to scold her.

"Of course, your highness," he continued. "That should take up most of the morning, leaving lunch. Then, there is War Council from thirteen-hundred to seventeen-hundred, followed by dinner. Sunset is scheduled for eighteen-hundred and twenty-six hours today. At nineteen-hundred hours, you have that appointment with the Royal Dressmaker. After that, there are the usual forms to sign and seal and any other matters you might wish to see to."

"Good," she spoke as the pair reached the doors to her office, "I will be in my office until court. As usual, I am not to be disturbed until five minutes previous, unless there is a dire emergency that requires my immediate attention." The peppermint pony bowed as he left her side, allowing her to enter her office undisturbed, save for the salutes offered by the twin Pegasus guards.

Stepping inside the darkened room, the queen's horn glowed, causing the large purple curtains to pull away from the three massive windows they blocked, allowing sunlight to flood into the room. A large, darkly stained desk of extinct ancient elder wood sat in front of the windows, serving as the focal point. Carved into the legs and sides were depictions of all the different kinds of ponies, showing just how old the desk really was, as common Alicorns sat beside Pegasus, Earth and Unicorn Ponies.

Upon the top of the desk sat a large, brown quill sticking up from a pot of ink. Two piles of papers, complete paperwork and items she had yet to finish sat on the elegant desk, awaiting her signature and seal to be made official. Eos groaned as the pile had grown since the day before by about an inch. She really needed to fit in one of her marathon paper-pushing sessions, and soon, lest she be buried up to her hips in the waste of bureaucracy.

The queen rounded the desk and sat behind it with a sigh, head resting on the ancient wood. She would kill for a cup of warm coffee at that moment, but knew she could not drink it since it would mix badly with her painkillers. Instead of focusing on how tired she was, she decided to fiddle with the fireplace, lighting and extinguishing the fire with her magic. The masonry on the alabaster marble impressed her the first time she ever stepped hoof into the room, those many years ago.

Figures of sun, moon, and other important staples of Equestrian nationality were carved with great skill and smoothness, leaving anypony in awe that the hearth could be over nine hundred years old. Even the queen found herself impressed at the hard work those ponies of yore put into constructing the castle. If only they could see that it still stood after so long, not looking a day older. She made a mental note to commend the maintenance staff.

Formerly, portraits of the previous rulers and regents of the sun hung on all the walls. Their faces had seemed to stare at her in disapproval, so she ordered them removed, and had the entire castle swept for all traces of ANY past monarch. Yet, the nagging conscience persuaded her to simply store them away from prying eyes, instead of destroying them like she had originally planned.

The bright, cheery walls of canary yellow contrasted the deep, royal blue carpet on the floor, coaxing the regal mare into a state of relaxation. Eos found her eyelids growing increasingly heavy, prompting her to rest her head upon the desk. All she needed to do was shut her eyes for a few minutes and then she would be able to climb the pile of papers before her. She closed her eyes, letting the gentle blackness encompass her and whisk her away to the land of dreams again. Just a few minutes to nap was all she asked.

~*///*///*///*~

'Knock, knock, knock, knock, knock,' sounded the office doors some time later. "Your majesty?" called out the familiar voice through the darkness. "It's time to head down to the throne room to hold court, my queen." The lavender alicorn moaned as she raised her head from the desk, her nap far longer than planned, but not long enough to recharge her.

"I'm coming," she answered. "I'm just... finishing a couple of papers. Give me a minute." Sitting up in her chair, the alicorn gave her head a liberal shake to rouse herself from her slumber. Holding court usually proved to be boring, but it was a necessary evil if she planned to keep her approval rating up. Naturally, as a goddess the whole thing was naught but a waste of time, but she could not be a queen without having some of her subjects respect her.

True to her word, sixty seconds after speaking, she emerged from her office, the door glowing dull lavender before opening to her magic. Stardance awaited her on the other side of the door, briefcase nestled comfortably between his lips as he fell into line behind the ruler of sun and moon. Thankfully, the two had no new business to attend to as they walked, which soothed the queen's nerves, if only just a little.

The route down to the throne room was ingrained into her very being, able to walk to it from any point in the castle without so much as a thought to what hall she needed to turn down next. If she had a soul, she would say it was ingrained into that as well, but she made do with what she had: that had always been true of her. Still, she did not need to dwell on the matter, for the queen and her entourage swiftly arrived before the single door leading into the back of the throne room.

Taking a deep breath, she stepped beyond the threshold and into the scene of her crushing victory against the two tyrants just little over a decade before. Had it really been so short a time since she seized control of the kingdom and started it on its new course? It did not really feel like it to the mare, but she refrained from celebrating the milestone, since it would anger many of her subjects: not that she actually CARED anyway.

Sitting upon the gold and onyx throne at the stroke of nine o'clock, she nodded to the two ponies that guarded the double doors leading into the massive chamber. Stardance had taken his seat on a humble stool beside the elegant and impressive new throne. Although it echoed the designs of the two old ones, it was far larger and more intricate in detail: something befitting the liberator of Equestria.

Organizing court was an easy affair. The easily-dealt-with cases, like placing the ponies that could not pay their taxes into government work, or passing sentence on criminals, came first in the day. After that came the more difficult cases, like discussing food-distribution policy. Anything that needed further investigation into its claims, like information for an arrest, came last.

Of course, dealing with the former Prince Blueblood was a different affair altogether. Even since she had abolished the noble houses and all their benefits, the royal-pain-in-her-flank had a chip on his shoulder as big as the Everfree Forest. She could tell this 'crime and vigilante' discussion was just another excuse on his part to moan and complain in a desperate bid that MAYBE this would be the time she would restore at least HIS rank. Still, she would hear him out, if only to see if he had any amusing arguments.

"Presenting to the court, Mr Blueblood of Canterlot," the herald announced ahead of the white draft unicorn stallion.

He walked into the throne room, still sporting his usual attire, nose in the air even as he approached the living goddess. She had to admit that this time he was showing some stones, quite a break from the norm, where he would be quivering and grovelling for her to hear him out. Perhaps, just this time, she would actually pay attention instead of imagining the stallion dangling above a vat of boiling oil before simply replying with, 'No. Dismissed.'

"Most honourable QUEEN Eos," the stallion spoke with a shallow bow, his head still high in the air, as if only calling her that by mandate. "I come before you today to discuss the recent crime wave that has been sweeping our nation by storm! Just this week past, my mansion, which has been in the family for over ten generations, was burglarised for the seventh time this year! Taken was my own portrait, no less..."

And so he yammered on. For the better part of an hour, he went over numerous ideas to stem the tide of the recent outbreaks of criminal and vigilante activity in the major cities. She had to admit that several of his ideas impressed her, until she remembered that he was probably just taking credit for the ideas of others. After a total of forty-seven minutes, he finally got to his point: a new record for his speeches.

"... and none of this would have happened had YOU not disbanded the noble houses!" he finished smugly. Several of the guards, and even Stardance, shuddered a little. They knew discussing the abolishment of the nobility was a forbidden topic to bring up in court, yet there it was, now openly before them.

"So, we finally reach the centre of the shrubbery maze," the queen spoke with contempt. "I must admit, I have never seen a pony beat around the bush for quite as long as you, Blueblood. I am impressed." She smirked, the white unicorn still not lowering his nose, as if looking down upon her despite her lofty perch. Eos stood; causing everypony around her to jump back as she slowly descended the steps.

"However," she added, her tone becoming cold and murderous, "This is the only time you have impressed me, in your eight years of WHINING and COMPLAINING. I recall my dressmaker telling me a story about you: about your unchivalrous nature at an ill-fated Grand Galloping Gala. Yet never, in my wildest dreams, had I painted you as the kind of pony to so blatantly insult a GODDESS as you are doing right now. How dare you show your muzzle! How DARE you continue to peddle your futile crusade!? It's over: you lost before the fight could even begin."

The lavender alicorn stood right in front of the draft unicorn, her mane billowing in the solar breeze, towering over the royal pain. Light blue eyes met dark amethyst, the former rolling in contempt before closing, a deep breath filling his lungs. "Auntie Celestia and Auntie Luna were goddesses. YOU are nothing more than a common trollop trying to fill their shoes." A collective gasp was heard in the court.

A gurgled cry of surprise echoed from Blueblood's muzzle in the ensuing silence. In a flash, the wafting mane of the alicorn jumped to life and coiled itself around his body like a twilit snake. He was lifted off of the ground, dangling in front of her like the trapped vermin he was. He looked into the eyes of the enraged mare, which were glazed over in a white glow of magic. A look of absolute horror was upon his face: finally an expression other than smugness.

"I am tired," spoke the queen in controlled rage. "I am tired of your incessant whining. I am tired of your complaining. I am tired of your voice, of your smug attitude and of your face! In these last moments you have of life," she squeezed him a little harder to accentuate her point, "I recommend that you reflect upon it and see how useless, how destitute and how utterly unloved you really are! I severely doubt anypony will miss you."

His eyes bugged out of his sockets, desperate to hold onto that last breath he collected before it could be stolen from him. Everypony else in the room held their breaths as well at the sight of the queen killing a pony right before their eyes. The light of life slowly left the stupid unicorn's eyes as his face turned blue, a wave of fear rippling through the court. Stop this! cried a voice in the back of the queen's mind. Stop it! He's not worth it! Can't you see he's scared!? Don't let him get to you! Be the better pony, or else you'll cement us in the minds of all our subjects as a tyrant!

She growled: the body of the former prince fell to the floor, gasping for breath as her mane receded. "You are lucky I have calmed myself down, Blueblood," she added, turning her back on the heaving stallion as she returned to her throne. "If I ever catch you in my court, in my castle, ever again, consider yourself executed. GUARDS! Drag this sorry heap out of my sight!"

The guards sprang into action, they seized the recovering stallion and dragged him away unceremoniously. It was not until the guards returned that she decided to speak again, sitting upon her throne once more. "I apologize for the outburst, everypony. I simply could not stand his constant complaining anymore. I lost my temper and there is no excuse for it. Please, send in the next petitioner. I have calmed down."

With a nod, the pony at the front doors opened them, calling for the next petitioner before returning and telling the herald the name and town of origin. "Now presenting to the court, Miss Carrot Top of Ponyville," the herald announced. A yellow earth pony mare with an orange mane meekly entered the throne room, no doubt having witnessed Blueblood being dragged out, struggling for breath.

"My queen," she spoke before bowing deeply.

"Your appearance is familiar. Have we met before?" Eos asked, interested in knowing her origin.

Stardance leaned in close, and spoke to her, saying, "My queen, she fell behind on her taxes and was sent to work at Sweet Apple Acres. She owes the crown some five thousand three hundred bits, but has worked off about one thousand and fifty to date."

"Ah, that explains it," she replied before raising her voice to the audience. "What information do you have, Miss Carrot Top? Which of the most wanted is this about?"

"Um... well..." the mare trailed, trying to choose her words carefully. "All of the top four, I would suspect."

The queen arched an eyebrow, curious. "That is quite the claim. What is it that you wish to bring to our attention?"

The orange pony bit her lip in trepidation, scuffing the marble floor with her hoof. "Well, it's not about them SPECIFICALLY," she stressed, "But rather, I saw a pony who is friends with all of them and I know where she lives. I... haven't come to you before today because, well... everypony thought this mare was dead, your highness."

"What is this pony's name?" Eos asked, genuinely afraid of the answer she might give.

"T-Twilight Sparkle, your majesty." It was actually far worse than she had imagined, and that was saying something. The queen could not help but let her jaw drop ever so slightly, hidden behind her unwavering lips, at the news. How could that mare be around without her knowing? She dove into her subconscious, probing for any signs of magic. I'm just as surprised as you are, admitted that voice in the back of her mind.

"Come closer," she commanded, "I must validate your claim." The guards ushered her up the steps before the throne, stopping just short of it. The alicorn's horn glowed, the head of the earth pony mare shimmering in a lavender aura as the memory of the encounter floated to the surface. What she saw turned the alicorn's blood cold, one of her eyes twitching in confusion as the aura vanished. "The claim is verified as true," she spoke, murmurs sounding through the court.

"Stardance?" she asked, looking to him, speaking before he could answer, "Inform the director of the R.E.R.T.S. that Miss Carrot Top has been awarded five hundred bits pardon off of her debt for services to the crown. Furthermore, go to the director of the Royal Investigation Bureau and have him list one Twilight Sparkle as number one on the nation's most wanted list.

"The mare in question is of average height and build, a unicorn with a lavender coat, deep blue mane with a single pink streak and a cutie mark of a purple six-point star surrounded by five smaller white stars. List a five hundred-thousand bit reward for capture. Include a warning as well, citing her as armed with powerful magic and dangerous. Permission is given to hire bounty hunters if he must. I want this mare ALIVE. Make special note of that key fact."

"Yes, your highness!" he spoke, teleporting away the instant he finished compiling the note.

"You are dismissed," she added to Carrot Top, who bowed and backed her way out of the room.

~*///*///*///*~

Lunch, as usual, proved to be a boring affair for the ruler of the sun and moon, as she dined in the gentle embrace of silence once more. In an effort to save money for the war effort, she volunteered to take a slip of quality in the food she would normally eat. That day, she had soup and a hay and daisy sandwich as opposed to fine cuisine like fresh garden salad with exotic seasonings, fruits and dressings.

Normally, while her generals sat in council, she would go about doing paperwork, or use the time creatively in order to relieve stress and actually have fun. However, the earlier news told her that she simply could not leave them to their own devices anymore. Shimmering Pass was an important trade route with strategic importance, and recapturing it would be difficult, if not impossible, now that they had lost it.

Walking down the halls with her trusted advisor, she silently mused over ideas to try and retake the landmark before remembering she needed to know how the griffins captured it in the first place. A sigh passed her lips as the strain of the day was beginning to make itself known to the lavender alicorn. Later that night, she planned to have a nice, long soak in her tub and forgo all of the paperwork waiting for her in the office. It could always wait until tomorrow.

Two unicorn guards stood before a set of big, white double doors at the end of a rather long hallway. With a quick bow to the monarch, their horns glowed as the doors parted, opening up into the War Council chamber, otherwise known as the War Room. Inside sat a magical map of Equestria on the opposite wall, taking up almost the entire side. On it, little blue, green and red dots moved around, a white line showing the front.

Queen Eos sat herself on the tallest chair, directly in front of the map, facing the door as she put her front hooves on the table. It was a plain white and rectangular conference table, the smooth and polished surface only broken by raised semi circles in front of each chair for her four generals, her advisor (and his aide), the Prime Minister and the Minister of Defence. Naturally they could rarely come directly to the castle, so they almost exclusively appeared as magical representations.

At the stroke of one in the afternoon, the alicorn's horn shimmered as the orbs in front of each place began to glow, the lights of the council chamber diminished to aid the magic. Six pony-shaped silhouettes of light began to appear at their seats, each glowing electric blue. Their details were obscured by the magic, but the monarch could place their colours from her memory.

"Stardance," spoke the queen once the spell finished, "Please, begin roll call."

"Yes, your majesty," he spoke before clearing his throat. "Her Grand Royal Highness, Queen Eos of Equestria, Ruler of the Sun and Moon," he started. "The Right-Honourable Regal Scroll, Prime Minister of Equestria. The Honourable Dropkick, Minister of Defence. General Horseshoe. General Portland. General Shatterbuck. General Shetland." Each one of the ponies called nodded their head, or otherwise made their presence known.

"Grand Royal Advisor, Stardance," he nodded before ticking his name off, "Advisor's Aide and Council Clerk, Jade Buckingham... in absentia." The queen quirked an eyebrow at the rather uncharacteristic absence of the clerk: usually, Stardance and Jade were the only ponies she could count on in the castle to always be in attendance. Still, it was of little consequence, since her advisor was well prepared to take over her duties in the meantime.

"This meeting of the War Council is now in session," Eos started, as the ranking pony in attendance. "Would you be so kind as to go over the minutes of the last meeting, Stardance?"

"Of course, your highness," he started before going into the details from last week. Old business always came first in meetings, like reviewing battle plans brought up in the new business in the last meeting, and then approval or denial of the plans. As much as Eos wanted to tear General Shatterbuck a new one for losing Shimmering Pass, that would be new business, so she had to be patient. "...and that's all there is. Now, is there any discussion of the old business before moving on?" asked the advisor, only to be met by silence.

"I suppose that brings us to new business," the Queen smirked, glancing in Shatterbuck's direction, who squirmed under her piercing gaze. "Does anypony have anything to add, or am I going to have to be the one to bring up some... issues?"

"I have something, your highness," Regal Scroll announced, much to the Pegasus generals' relief. "Earlier today, you downgraded Applejack from number one on the most wanted list and replaced her with somepony named Twilight Sparkle. Now, I am not one to question your majesty's' judgment, but why have you listed that you only want her alive?"

"Mr Prime Minister, you are technically out of order, since this is not normally a military issue," the Queen replied coldly. "However, in this instance it is of vital national security. The mare in question is an incredibly talented and powerful magician. In fact, she is the only pony... only creature in this world that can pose any significant threat to me."

"Why not kill her?" questioned the unicorn known as Portland. "If she can challenge the crown, why keep her alive?"

"If we list her as wanted dead or alive, that will only pique more interest. Rumours about the mare are ridiculous and far-flung, but not in regards to her power. If our enemies learn she had been sighted, they will try to capture her themselves. Then, it is completely likely that they will try to use her as, or part of, a magical weapon of mass destruction and sweep over the nation like a plague. I don't know about any of you, but I want her in this castle so we KNOW she isn't a threat."

"Does she really possess that much power?" asked the earth pony known as Horseshoe.

"Take all the unicorns in our command, combine them all into one single pony and you MIGHT, just might manage to create ONE Twilight Sparkle. Does that answer your question, General?" asked the queen. All ponies present, through magic or otherwise, nodded their heads in understanding. "Now, General Shatterbuck. About Shimmering Pass..."

~*///*///*///*~

Like the breakfast and lunch before it, dinner was the usual unceremonious affair: the queen preferred something light before she wrestled with the task of lowering the sun from the sky. Thankfully, she was allowed just over a half hour of time to herself before her next appointment, so Eos took a quick nap after putting the sun to rest and taking her second painkiller for the day. Staring into her vanity, just before leaving to see her dressmaker, she frowned.

Under her billowing mane, the scar of rainbow from that attack on her life remained. It had been quite the task to remove the rainbow juice from her blood, causing a pain she would never wish on anypony, living or dead. Even three years later, some of the substance remained inside, putting her through constant, throbbing pain. Her limp was the only sign she ever let show of her trauma, covering the scar with her mane as much as possible. The juice would have to work its way out the slow way: she had no other choice.

Looking at her (magically repaired) alarm clock, the queen could tell she was starting to run late, and a proper lady would never keep another waiting. Taking a deep breath, she emerged from her royal sanctuary to find no entourage waiting since her advisor had gone home for the night. The lights of the castle met the night sky with stark contrast, turning the crystal-clear windows into translucent mirrors that reflected the regal alicorn as she trotted to her appointment.

Approaching the door leading in, the queen gently knocked on the door, as was proper etiquette. "Come in," spoke a voice from beyond the wood paneling. "Ah, your majesty: right on time, as usual," the alabaster unicorn replied with a bow as the monarch entered the room. Although she put on a cheery disposition, the alicorn could tell that the tailor was not at all pleased to see her. It was like this every time.

"How are the designs for next year's Gala dresses coming along, Miss Rarity?" the queen asked as she shut the door behind her with a causal wave of her magic. The room was a large, circular space, about as close to the size and shape of the Carousel Boutique as she could manage. Purple curtains hung from the ceiling to serve as partitions, a small circular stage in the centre so she could work better at the undersides of a pony.

"They are coming along, your highness. I've had a few ideas, and I've wanted to hear what you think about them," she replied, the barest hint of discontent in her voice.

"I trust your judgment, Miss Rarity. Now, let's get this over with. I have some important relaxa--- paperwork to get to." With that, the queen began to strip her vestments; crown, shoes and necklace, floating them over to forms around the room as she walked up to the stage. The white unicorn nodded and dug into her drawers with her magic, pulling out a long measuring tape to use to get her dimensions just right. She had notes, but she wanted every dress to fit perfectly, which required re-measuring for every single one.

"Um... your highness?" the unicorn asked some minutes later. "I've... been wondering. Well, you see, there are so many ponies out in the city that are cold and homeless, especially since the price of just about everything is going up. So, I was thinking, maybe it would be better to cancel the Gala and spend some of the money on fabric, so I... I mean, the crown, could hand out blankets to them, since winter is coming."

"We've been over this, Rarity," replied the queen. "The Grand Galloping Gala is the only event of the year where I can try and garner some sympathy and improve relations on the international stage. Plus, it is a tradition thousands of years old, and I will not be the one to break it. I like your idea, but I simply cannot afford both with the war. This is the last I ever want to hear about it. Understood?"

"A... a thousand pardons, your majesty," the elegant mare bowed before resuming her work. Although the last Gala was but three months ago, the queen liked to give her dressmaker plenty of time to plan, gather materials and create the next year's dress with as little stress as possible. In some ways, Eos was incredibly charitable, but in others, it drove the white pony mad with her demands and reasoning.

"You know, I heard a very interesting rumour today," the ruler of sun and moon smirked as the mare started measuring around her undercarriage. "Apparently, a Miss Twilight Sparkle was sighted in Ponyville yesterday. It's very strange because I distinctly remember killing a mare fitting that name and description, as I have told you a thousand times before. A most curious phenomenon, don't you think?"

Rarity dropped her jaw (and her measuring tape) in shock. Eos could see her mind racing as she figured out that she had truly betrayed all her friends to work for their enemy. The realization was marked by the building of teardrops around the rims of her eyes.

Holding back her sobs, the white pony quietly picked up her tape and continued to measure Queen Eos, hiding her face so she could not see her tears roll down her cheeks. Eventually, she finished her (rather hasty) intricate measurements. "I'm... I'm all done, your highness. I'll... I'll see you next w-week for a... a design meeting," she sniffed. Eos left the chamber just as soon as she put her garments back on, straining her ears to hear the muffled cries from the tailor.

That was a very, very mean thing you did to Rarity! the voice nagged, causing the monarch to roll her eyes. You know she feels bad about leaving her friends... our old friends.

"Oh, shut up," Eos spoke to herself as she walked down the hall. "She deserved it for that crack about us not giving a damn for the common pony. You know we feel bad about it, but there's nothing we can do right now." The voice in the back of her mind remained silent, as if turning her nose up at the queen in disgust, which only aggravated her just a little more.

~*///*///*///*~

Staring out across the vast fields of her country allowed a sense of calm and relaxation to wash over her body, wearied by a long and difficult day. Usually screaming her lungs out at a stupid pony that deserved it, or making the dressmaker cry, would ease her nerves and help her feel better. Yet, today they only made her feel worse in the end. She was beginning to feel as if something was wrong with her.

Those feelings only helped that irritating voice become more powerful in the recesses of her mind, until it felt like it took up the entire back half. What was going on with her? Was she going soft? Nothing had changed in the last few days and she doubted the news that somehow a SECOND her was wandering about the country would do much.

"Stars damn you, Twilight Sparkle," the alicorn cursed as she slumped on the railings of her private tower. Something far above seemed amiss as she cursed the pony, but she decided to ignore it since it was coming from over Trottingham. How she hated that city and its vigilante activities! They could all die in a fire for all she cared. In fact, she had to restrain herself on many occasions from cutting her losses and doing just that.

I hope you know that you just cursed yourself, the voice smugly spoke. Just out of the corner of her eye, reflecting on the window sat an image of the lavender unicorn, glaring at her in disapproval, as usual. Suits you right too, since you really hurt Rarity's feelings. Not to mention all of the other monstrous things you've done since that day.

"Oh, I'm sorry," growled Eos. "Remind me WHO blew up Ponyville? Remind me WHO attacked Celestia and Luna? You're as much at fault for this as I am; I just finished what you started." The phantom Twilight looked to the ground dejectedly, tears building up in her eyes as memories of the day wafted across both of their minds.

The difference is that I regret what I've done; you seem to revel in it and take PRIDE in making me miserable. I don't know how there can be two of us running about, but I hope she kills you, even if it damns me to the Hells as well. We both deserve nothing less for our crimes. We've made our bed, and now we have to lie in it, Eos. For the moment, we can only do the best we can. She looked beyond the towering mare and into the stars above.

"Shut up," dismissed the voice. "If I cared to listen to your counsel, I would have done so a long time ago."

You spared Blueblood today, despite your vehement desire to strangle him, countered the phantom.

"That is different. The foal would be a waste of my divine power to kill. Let nature weed him out like the genetic scum that he is. Natural selection, Twilight: that is why I am in control and you are naught but a powerless apparition existing on the fringes of my illustrious being." Her divine senses overwhelmed the alicorn, as if something in the stars above had gone wrong. Giving them a passing glance, she saw a small meteor hurtling towards the earth, aimed right at Trottingham. "At least one of my problems will resolve itself."

I have more control then you care to admit, Mirror Twilight spoke, her eyes becoming just as cold as the queen's. I can tell you right now that you will go and save that town from the space debris, and do you know why, Eos? The monarch shook her head. You will do it because you know that if you don't, you'll be blamed and hated even more than you are right now. There will be armed rebellion and you will be forced to fight the war on two fronts.

The ruler of Equestria winced in pain at that remark, knowing that her words were true. She did not want to say so, but the smug look on the unicorn's face told her that she already knew she was right. "I really, really hate you," Eos hissed in great loathing, looking to the sky above Trottingham to see the sizable astral body hurtling towards it. The queen took a deep breath and sighed, concentrating with all of her magical power.

In an instant, the night sky surrounded her, as cold and terrible as ice, yet hot and brutal like fire. A loose collection of rock sat under her hooves, her eyes opening to behold the chunk of space rock hurtling towards her country, her planet. The Earth loomed before her, like a giant blue and green eye, unsettling her heart. It was as if the entire population of the world looked upon her expectantly, causing her to delay.

"I should really just let this hunk of rock do as the universe wants and kill those thankless cretins," she muttered into the vacuum of space, her words unheard even by her own ears. The rock was large, big enough to wipe out the city of one million ponies in a heartbeat upon landing. It would be very easy to say that it was beyond even her power, consequences be damned.

Remember what I said? the voice nagged once more. Just because they don't like you doesn't mean you can abandon your duty to them.

"Shut up. I'm here, aren't I?" With that, her mighty horn began to glow as bright as a sun, the lavender alicorn focusing as much magic and power into her front hooves as possible. Gathering all the mana she could spare, the goddess opened her eyes, the Earth almost completely filling her sight. She reared with a soundless whiny, kicking at space as her forward limbs dangled before swiftly becoming rigid. They slammed into the loose chunk of rock, creating a mighty crack on the surface.

Magical energy encircled the chunk of rock as white light, causing further cracks in the ball of rock as it broke up into millions of tiny pieces, much like her alarm clock just that morning. She flew down towards the planet with the rocks ensuring none of the chunks would be big enough to cause harm to anypony. Only when they entered the atmosphere did she vanish in a flash of light, appearing back on her balcony in Canterlot.

"I'm going to bed," she spat before limping down the stairs. In her tired stupor, she failed to notice the smiling unicorn in the vanity mirror as she trudged past. Her mirth was two-fold: having coaxed the monarch into doing something good, and remembering a time when a friend appeared in a mirror just as she did.

The citizens of Trottingham watched the meteor shower in awe that night, little realizing how close they had come to complete destruction.

Wanted

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, or so the old saying went. Twilight walked long into the night, trying to put as much distance between herself and Ponyville as possible. Once she got to Huffington, she would find the Crusader base there and gather some supplies. For the moment, however, she had to fend for herself without any shelter or food. Thankfully, if she ever got desperate, there were plenty of edible leaves and berries around to slake her hunger.

At about two or three in the morning (it was hard to read the moon's position through the trees) the lavender mare found a patch of bushes a fair way from the road to settle down in. It felt weird to be sleeping outdoors, without a tent or a sleeping bag, but this was how her ancestors had done things, so she could cope. ...then again, thinking on it, she did not technically have ancestors, and if she did, they mostly slept in castles.

That last thought did little to aid her attempts at sleep that night, since she could imagine a now free Eos lording it up in the castle, in Celestia's chambers. The thought enraged her more than she could ever say: however, her weariness caught up with her and allowed the gentle wisps of sleep to take hold. No dreams drifted across her unconscious mind, so her awakening happened in an instant, to woods suddenly saturated by light and sound.

Twilight yawned and stretched her legs before standing in the midst of the bushes. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she trotted over to the road and started walking along it. It was probably a bad idea to do so, but all she had was a rough direction of where she needed to go. Only then did it strike her how woefully unprepared she was to face the world, but she could not turn back.

In fact, the idea of being a wanted criminal (although she committed no crime that she was aware of) still had yet to fully register in her mind. It seemed so surreal: just like everything else going on around her. Her mind strained to process new information as it came to her, since everything was happening so fast. One minute, she was quietly translating a book, and the next she was thrust into this strange and perverse version of Equestria.

"I hate my life sometimes," Twilight sighed as she continued down the road. Judging from the occasional gaps in the canopy, it was nearly ten o'clock in the morning. Birds chirped happily in the trees, oblivious to any turmoil going on beneath them. In a way, she envied the birds: the ability to fly off in whatever direction they wanted without consequence. She wished she remembered how she had grown those magical Pegasus wings so she too could fly away.

"I'd hate to sound like I'm whining," she spoke to nopony, "But why am I always the one to get this sort of thing happen to her? Why am I the only one who can face the queen? Why does everything seem to revolve around me!? I'm no hero. I'm... I'm just a librarian: a well read pony who'd rather have her nose in a good book. This is getting really old, really fast."

No ears heard her complaining; only the ambient sounds of the forest echoing in indifferent reply. Thankfully, even the little voice in the back of her mind kept her nose out of things. The lavender mare did not think she could take much more of her taunting, unless she wanted to give herself a concussion by rapidly bashing her head against a tree. Being concussed would hardly help the quest she found herself thrust into, though, so that was probably why the voice was keeping quiet.

"I must be going crazy, if I'm talking to myself," she muttered as she passed into a larger clearing of trees. Strangely absent, however, was the sound of birds and other forest creatures in the trees. Indeed, even the path looked disused as weeds and daisies cropped up right in the middle. She could see no reason to explain this around her as she pressed on... until a flood of colour filled her vision.

Trees all around became coated in rainbow, as if someone spilled the sky on the tall, proud plants. Yet, the further she trekked, the less proud and regal they became. In short order, the trees became nothing but rainbow-dyed stakes in the ground. One side would be stained, while the other charred beyond recognition. In fact, shadows of the trees even appeared on the ground, just as charcoaled as the stumps.

Eventually, even the path became obscured, the ground painted by the rainbow radiation. However, it was not until she reached ground zero that her breath was stolen from her. A massive plain of tie-dye paint had splattered upon the ground and turned the brown dirt into a sickening mishmash of every colour know to ponykind and quite possibly a few yet to be discovered. The clearing spanned at least one thousand yards in radius with a small crater right at the epicentre. Twilight mused that the clearing could easily hold the entire town of Ponyville quite comfortably within the confines with room for future expansions!

Even a couple of mountains in the distance had rainbow painted on them! The sheer awe of the sight overrode any grief she might have felt as she looked upon the grave of a dear friend. Even the unicorn had to admit: Rainbow Dash chose an EPIC way to die. Then again, she would probably say that it was nice to be immortalized in rainbow radiation, but it would have to be about twenty percent cooler to meet her satisfaction; particularly if the crater was no bigger then the hoofprint of a small building.

The lavender mare felt a smirk upon her muzzle at the thought, but not quite full-on laughter. Her heart still ached. Scanning the horizon to the west, she could see a couple of buildings jut out from the tree line on the opposite side of the crater. It could only be Huffington in the distance, maybe ten or eleven miles away from where she stood. It would take a few hours of walking to get there though.

Since she knew what direction she needed to head in, the mare could easily find her way to the town with her good sense of direction. Of course, she did not exactly like the idea of going across the irradiated field, just in case her steps stirred up any dormant contaminants in the soil. So, she did the sensible thing (for a normal traveller, at least) and picked up the road once on the opposite side of the clearing. She gave the site one last glance and thought of her friend before pressing on.

~*///*///*///*~

Tailing her was not very hard. Not when she seemed to insist on sticking to the roads. Either the mare was incredibly stupid or overly confident in her powers to really care about the consequences. She had to admit that the possibility of the former was overwhelming. Still, she could not let her out of sight, or else it might take hours, or even days to find her again.

Of course, it was not that easy to track a pony when the sharpness of one's vision had been stolen. Over time, her other senses had heightened, which made her a very good pony to track down others. She missed her old job, but there was nothing she could do about it. She needed the money desperately, and with the amount this bounty called for, she could finally retire and live out the rest of her days comfortably.

It was no secret who the pony she tracked was, or who she associated with. A long time ago, she once saw her (and the other insidious rebels) upon the stage at a disastrous fashion show in Ponyville. One of those ponies was responsible for the event that made her this way, and she would get even in one way or another, the creators help her! Happily, she was not completely blind, but everything was a blur of hues to her which made reading hard, but not impossible: sadly, quick reading was kind of important in her previous line of work.

Mind in the present, the tracking pony kept her body low and off to the side of the road, doing her best to keep from hitting any stray bushes she passed. Given her disability, doing so was easier said than done, as she would occasionally hit one in a passing blow and silently curse. However, the lavender pony she tracked seemed to chalk it up to a woodland critter and keep moving. How naive.

Every once in a while, her quarry would stop and nibble on some branches or leaves, or leave the road to find a stream to drink. So many opportunities to pounce were presented to her, yet she stayed on the side of caution while she tried to figure out if the pony was inept, or simply baiting her. Thankfully, this gave her the chance to make sure it was the wanted criminal, since she could often mistake ponies due to her blurred vision.

At first, she was a little sceptical about her identity since it was just TOO easy. What kind of criminal keeps to the main roads when they know they are wanted, and for such an extraordinary amount? However, she could make out a horn, and a mark very similar to the one listed on the poster. Years of experience taught her how to put images together and cut through the fog, but it was still difficult.

It was not until the pony spoke, however, that she became completely sure that she was tracking the dangerous magician. Yes, it was strange to see a pony talking to themselves and complaining aloud about how the universe likes to pick on them, yet she could not deny the whispers of her memories. A smile crept upon the hunter's face: with them nearing Huffington, the time to strike would be soon, so she could deliver her and claim her reward without much fuss.

Seeing her slow down to eat again, the bounty hunter decided to make her move. Unlike others, she at least was sporting and liked to give her targets a chance to fight back or run: she loved the chase more than the take-down. "Twilight Sparkle," she spoke as she emerged from the bushes, her purple-tinted sunglasses and trademark smirk reflecting the rays of the slowly descending sun.

"Do I know you?" the purple pony asked, wheeling around to face the new (to her) pony in the clearing. "Although... you look awfully familiar, but I can't place my hoof on where."

"I'm not surprised," the white unicorn replied. "It was over ten years ago, and I wasn't exactly at the centre of the party that night. Perhaps this beat will remind you?" With a glow of her horn, the trees around seemed to pulsate as the music sounds, jazzy at first, but building up to a fusion of techno, rock and organ music, strangely enough. The purple mare concentrated, wracking her memory for the source of the track.

As she did, the pony with the two-tone mane of navy and electric blue bobbed her head to the beat, her smirk still quite present. "Oh, I remember now!" Twilight chirped with a smile on her face. "You're that pony Rarity hired to play the music for the... er... fashion show." She scuffed her hoof against the ground, still embarrassed at the memory. "What did she call you again? DJ...DJ Poon-three?"

"It was DJ P0N-3, Miss Sparkle. All the letters were capitals with a 'zero' instead of an 'o'. You can call me Vinyl Scratch though, since... well, let's just say music isn't exactly my tune these days. Nothing personal, but I need you to come with me."

Twilight blinked in curiosity. "Why do you want me to go with you?" she asked.

"That's not important. Either play the song on your own, or I'll have to do it for ya, filly."

"Where are you going to take me?"

"I'm not playin' Twenty Questions with you, so either play that music peacefully, or I'll drag your sorry hide like a downbeat!" The outburst seemed to startle the lavender mare, the DJ's grin becoming a dangerous scowl in frustration. She backed up a little from the white pony, obviously spooked and not willing to come along with her. "Fine, guess it'll have to be by force then. That's the tune you want to play? I've always been a softie for takin' requests, filly."

With a flick of her horn, the music stopped, and the saddle bags at her sides opened with a soft azure glow. Twilight gasped as she pulled out a small crossbow with thin, green-tipped bolts. "Relax, they aren't for killin' ponies... they're for catchin' them," Vinyl smirked as she loaded one into the weapon.

Fight or flight instinct roared to life inside the lavender mare. If it came down to a magic fight, she could probably win... but she might hurt the pony. She never wanted to hurt another pony again. In a flash, the librarian gave in to instinct, fleeing into the woods with all the speed her pony legs could take her. She could not hear the hunter chuckle before she sprinted right after her prey. The two ponies raced through the woods, Twilight still trying to reach Hoofington while trying to shake her pursuer. Vinyl quietly pondered her motives as they galloped: what could she possibly hope to do there? Pick up more ponies who'd want to sell her to the crown? Sure, it would mean competition, but she had been in the game for years!

Catching the blurred shape of lavender ahead, the musician almost let loose a bolt from her weapon, before the unicorn vanished from existence. Vinyl skidded to a halt, surprised that she could teleport away like that. Just as she was about to silently curse herself, there was a rustle in the bushes. "Clever girl," she smirked, knowing in an instant she simply made herself invisible.

She quietly snuck up on the bush the rustle came from, and pounced! There was screaming, howling, growls and grunts of effort as the two wrestled in the bushes, the other pony desperate to get away. However as the din died down, the former DJ got a good look at the shape she beat the horseapples out of. It was brown and canine in appearance, but she could not make it out for sure. "Perhaps a little cleverer then I gave her credit for," the white pony smirked, loving a good challenge. "Sorry, wolfy."

~*///*///*///*~

Twilight panted hard, having only just managed to get away from the hunter on her tail. Thankfully, she mistook the napping wolf she vaulted over for herself, so that would buy her some time. The lavender pony quickly (yet quietly) made her way for the deeper woods. She had never taken the threat of being on a wanted poster seriously until that point. Unfortunately, she did not know any spells to disguise her beyond invisibility. Hopefully the Crusader base in Huffington would provide some.

Although invisible, the mare decided to be cautious from then on, taking the woods parallel to the road, maintaining a fair distance away from any prying eyes. Still, new questions now bubbled in her mind's cauldron. How could a DJ as famous as her lose her job? Twilight hoped the fellow unicorn would take the hint and back off, but she seemed pretty eager to capture her.

She quietly sighed, straining her ears to listen, just in case the other unicorn was hot on her trail. That had been a close call: far too close for her liking. Twilight bit her lips as hundreds of terrible situations involving ponies out for her reward crossed her mind, until something snapped into place. Why did the queen want her for so much money, never mind the fact she was wanted alive specifically?

Would killing Eos mean killing herself? If she died, would she go with her? Question after question bobbed to the surface of her brain, distracting the invisible mare as she wandered out of the bush and into the dirty outer streets of Huffington. Her mind did not register her change of scenery until she ran into the side of a building.

"Oof!" she muttered in pain, rubbing her muzzle where it suddenly impacted the stone. Standing nearby was a stallion, who looked over his shoulder to find the source of the sudden noise. Thankfully, he made no move towards her, or he would have walked right into her. That would only bring confusion and uncomfortable questions: a scene best avoided by a pony wanting to remain hidden.

After a couple of minutes of dead silence, she slowly started her way onto the busier streets, where her hoofsteps would be drowned out by the ambient noise. She needed to look for the Crusader's symbol: a filly earth pony rearing in the centre of a circle. She had noticed the symbol on the outside of the bakery, but it was in a discrete place; somewhere you would not look unless you knew something was there.

So, Twilight did just that, examining every single building she could find: looking around every entrance for the elusive symbol. Although she was busy searching, she could not help but marvel at the architecture the city provided. It was similar to that of Ponyville, due to regional influence, but different. Instead of the pastel colours, the walls of Huffington were a little more subdued: blank whites and greys opposed to cheerful lilac, dusty rose and cyan.

As well, they seemed to prefer brick and stone to plaster as an exterior appearance, which made spotting the symbols a little harder since it would not contrast as well. Of course, as she concentrated, she ran the risk of being hit by a walking pony: Twilight had been nudged a couple of times, in fact. At most, a pony would look around before deciding they tripped on a loose cobblestone and resumed their normal activates.

Eventually, the sun began to grow orange as it reached the western horizon. On the one hoof, sneaking around in the dark would be easier. On the other hoof, this town probably had patrols too, and she did not have a guide who knew them like Dinky did. She bit her lower lip in trepidation, knowing she could not even count on time to be her ally. I need to find the base, and find it fast!

However, she did not count on her stomach beginning to growl as she walked down a quiet backstreet. She had not had a decent meal since yesterday, and even then it was a light snack of tea and cookies. The librarian never counted on being, more or less, kicked out of town due to her own inexperience in the twisted and dark world. Another quiver of hunger betrayed her position, thankful that nopony else was around.

Suddenly, two sets of hooves on the cobblestones met her ears, the last rays of the sun slowly dying behind her, painting the sky above in soft hues of orange and lavender as darkness set in. Twilight stopped dead in her tracks as two ponies in blue vests walked out from the intersection ahead. One of them was a Pegasus with a green coat and blue mane, while the other was an earth pony mare with a grey coat and silver mane. They were guards in the employ for the town's governor: she could tell by the crest they bore on the lapel.

At that moment, her stomach chose the inopportune time to gurgle again, reminding her of how empty she felt. The guards paused, looking down the street: directly at her. "You hear something?" asked the Pegasus stallion. "Sounds like it came from down there."

"I'll tell you what I hear," replied the mare with a roll of her eyes. "I hear a pony goin' crazy from hunger. Come on, our shift's up: it's not our responsibility." She sighed as the stallion disobeyed her, walking right up to Twilight with an expectant look in his eyes.

The wanted mare became rigid as stone, pleading to her stomach not to go off again, or else betray them both to the guards and be shipped off to who-knows-where! Her heart picked up speed the closer he got, his muzzle hanging low as his ears stood erect, trying to detect the slightest noise possible. Thankfully, after coming to her rough area, he decided to nose around the boxes and crates, trying to see if a pony hid in one of them.

"Damn it, Jack!" the mare pounded her front hooves into the dirt. "I've got a foal to get home to! I don't want to see my house destroyed by the tyke JUST because you decided to sniff around some musty old boxes!" Thankfully, her shouting drowned out another grumble from her stomach, causing her to silently thank the impatient mare.

"Okay, okay," the stallion sighed after a less thorough search of the area than he wanted. "Don't get your mane in a knot, Smokey." With that, he trotted back to his partner and continued along their way. Only when they were out of sight did Twilight breathe a sigh of relief, uttering a silent prayer to the creators.

However, the altercation only wasted more valuable time. The mare took off, throwing caution to the wind as she lightly trotted down the back streets, looking in desperation for the mark of the Crusaders. However, just as the last rays of the day ended, Twilight found herself at the very tip of a dead-end street. Abandoned buildings sat on both sides, which could serve as a good shelter from the patrols.

Walking up to the house on her right, she found the door sealed. Trying to use her magic to unlock the door proved fruitless, however, as a spell seemed to be jamming her magic. Curious, she looked around the door, just in case. She smiled invisibly as she turned her head to look at the mailbox. There, burned on the side was a rearing earth pony filly inside a circle: the mark of the Crusaders.

Gently placing a hoof against it, a spell clicked into place on the symbol, herself and the door. A clunk to her side told her that the door had unlocked itself, causing her to jump for joy. Using her magic, she cast the door open and walked into the dark hall. As soon as the door slammed shut behind her, candles sprang to life, illuminating the hall to her amethyst eyes.

Unlike the outside, the inside looked immaculate: solid wood walls and a royal red area carpet spread across the floor before a flight of stairs leading up. The tiles of the floor were white ceramic, cool to the touch of her hoof even in the warm weather. A large silver chandelier hung overhead, bathing the two-story room in a soft yellow glow. Overall, the lavender pony felt more like she was walking into an upper-class home than a rebel base.

"Hello?" called out the voice of a pony upstairs. "If you've come back to grovel, Hammer Strike, then I'm afraid nothing you say can convince me to... Hello?" Looking down on the foyer was a light blue Pegasus mare with a mane as dark as night itself. Her eyes were a shade of turquoise that reminded the lavender unicorn of Princess Luna. "As commander of the Huffington base, I DEMAND to know who is there! SHOW YOURSELF!" She flapped into the air authoritatively.

With a flash of her horn, the lavender unicorn appeared in the midst of the hallway, causing the pony to drop her jaw. "I'm sorry about that," Twilight apologized, "But I needed to remain hidden. Can I ask your name, commander?"

"C-commander Cloudjumper at your service, G-general Sparkle!" she saluted with a hoof to her face. The Pegasus fluttered down to the ground, her eyes wide in shock. "To what do we owe this incredible pleasure and honour?"

"I need supplies and a place to stay for the night. And please, just call me Twilight," she smiled, walking over to shake the shocked mare's hoof. "I'm impressed by the base here. I was expecting a hole under a building like in Ponyville. Dilapidation illusion to keep curious ponies away, right?"

"Y-yeah, Gen... I mean, Twilight: although, it has a habit of attracting homeless ponies. What sort of supplies do you require?"

"Oh, dried food, a tent, heating plates: I'll make out a proper list in the morning. Can I bother you for a place to eat and rest for the night first? I haven't had a proper meal since yesterday afternoon."

"Well, of course, you just follow me right to the kitchen," she smiled before leading her down to the end of the hall and into the kitchen. "If you need anything, just let me know. Sadly, the group is pretty small here in Huffington, so most of us stay at home unless there is a meeting." With that, the Pegasus left the unicorn to her devices after receiving her thanks, her mind still reeling from what she had just seen and heard.

Twilight Sparkle, THE Twilight Sparkle was in her base, of all places! This had to be a gift from the creators: they had heard her prayers and delivered the one mare that could help her most. Things were finally beginning to look up for the Pegasus as she happily trotted up to her room. It could wait for later, without a doubt, so in the meantime she would stay in her room and quietly celebrate. First, however, she had to pull out her address book and make a few calls.

~*///*///*///*~

For the first time in days, the unicorn known as Twilight Sparkle had a dream as she slept. Everything was dark, voices of her friends buzzing around her skull. She felt as if she were falling through an eternal void of blackness with only angered and arguing companions for company. She tried to call out to them: to ease their worries and soothe their anger, yet she could not find her voice.

The lavender mare woke up with a groan, rubbing her forehead with her hoof. Beyond the window in front of her, the sun began to gently rise up into the morning sky. With a sated hunger and plenty of bed rest, the mare felt more energized than she did the day before. With a yawn and a stretch of her limbs, she climbed wearily out of bed and into the hall, a question poised on the edge of her waking mind.

Now that she was in Huffington, where could she go? She had no clue where her beloved Spike could be, or even what direction he went. All she could do was hope Cloudjumper, or another one of the Huffington Crusaders had seen him. However, as she walked down the stairs, the tantalizing aroma of fresh pancakes almost pushed it out of her mind. "Good morning," she chirped to the Pegasus.

"Ah, good morning, General," she replied, prompting the lavender mare to roll her eyes as she sat at the table.

"Listen... I have a curious question..." Twilight trailed. "Have you ever seen a baby dragon in these parts?"

"Once, about nine years ago, curious enough. I mean, the chances of seeing a baby dragon around here are slim and none. Why do you ask?" She busied herself with the pancake batter, wanting everything to be just perfect for her special guest.

"Do you know what direction he headed from here? Did he say anything about where he was going? It's imperative to the future of Equestria that I find him!"

"In that case, I think he said something about the Outlands: dragon territory would be my guess since the border is about... fifty or sixty miles from here? Of course, travel time is a lot longer, since the Everfree is right in the path," she replied, flipping the pancakes with great skill. Twilight never knew how earth or Pegasus ponies could flip pancakes like that without magic. She would have to remind herself to ask Applejack to teach her when it was all over.

However, she could not help but note a change in the atmosphere around her as she set the pancake down on the table in front of her. It was tense, almost as if she was expecting something or wanted to say something of importance. Twilight shook her head at the suspicion, causing the Pegasus to quirk an eye at her. "Sorry, I just had something in my ear," she lied.

Levitating the fork and knife, the librarian dug into her pancakes, the Pegasus taking a couple off of the stack as well and began to eat. No words passed between them: the breakfast far too good to ignore and start conversation. However, when she finished, she decided to speak her mind. "I made that list of items that I will need: if you can please gather them together for me, I will be on my way a little after breakfast."

"No!" half shouted the Pegasus. "I mean... not until you've had another pancake." With a smile, the Pegasus plopped a couple more onto her plate, passing the syrup and butter with a smile. "I'm sorry. I just... spend a lot of time alone here. As commander, I have to be on-base all the time unless there is a mission. You're the first pony to stay overnight with me in seven months. Naturally, I'm pretty lonely almost all the time. I'll... I'll get the supplies while you eat."

Without another word, the Pegasus got up from the table and into the hall, leaving the lavender pony to her own devices. There was... an urging in her mind, as if something were not right about the situation. I don't like this at all, spoke the voice in the back of her mind. Did she not seem a little... terrified at the idea of us leaving so soon? I would not place too much trust in her.

"Keep your forked tongue in your mouth," Twilight growled at the voice. "Shouldn't you be in Canterlot, taking care of more important business like executing more of my friends?" With a tiny 'harrumph' the voice retreated back into her mind, obviously miffed at being found out. Still, it was a suspicion that the unicorn found she could not easily disregard.

Cloudjumper looked out the front windows, tail swishing from side to side impatiently. Luckily, the unicorn seemed hungry enough to eat those extra pancakes, but she would be pushing it to offer her more. True to her word, she had the list in hoof and gathered many of the items that Twilight requested, but she did not stray too far from the front door of the base, stealing glances out the windows when she could.

Suddenly, her heart jumped in her chest as six ponies walked down the street. The Pegasus rushed to the door, eager to meet her guests. She opened the door quietly, looking over the ponies at her doorstep. "Did you have any trouble?" she asked the discernible leader of the group.

"None at all," the stallion at the head answered in a deadpan tone before he and the rest of the group stepped into the threshold. "Where is she?"

"She's down the hall, in the kitchen," the Pegasus replied, standing off to the side as the contingent marched down and into the kitchen. Twilight sat at her chair, hearing the door open, followed by many hoofsteps. She assumed the rest of the Huffington Crusaders came to greet her.

"Twilight Sparkle," spoke the head of the group, causing her to turn her head. "By order of Her Grand Royal Highness, Queen Eos of Equestria, Ruler of Sun and Moon, I hereby place you under arrest. You may come quietly, but if you resist, you will be punished." Standing there were six members of the town guard, each sporting their blue vests and a smug smile upon their faces. All of them were unicorns, each with a dark blue ring at the ready. It could only be Mythril.

"I'm sorry," spoke Cloudjumper as she entered the room. "But I'm SICK of the stupid Crusaders. If it makes you feel better, the rest of the Huffington Crusaders are already in custody. Just come quietly, please." The lavender mare herself felt sick. Not only because she had been betrayed, but because, for once, she could not deny the voice in the back of her head was right: that she could not trust the Pegasus.

"NOW!" cried the commander of the squad. They all sprang forward, trying to take the unicorn by surprise, but they underestimated her. All she could think of was escape, and given the reaction time, she could only think of one place to go that was in range. Twilight appeared at the doorstep to the former base, nearly falling down the stoop. "OUTSIDE! GO! GO! GO! GO! GO!" cried the stallion once more.

For the second time in less than twenty-four hours, her fight-or-flight instinct kicked into overdrive. As much as she wanted to be hurt over the recent betrayal, the guards would be upon her in seconds. So, she did the sensible thing and ran, but in the direction she wanted to go in anyway. However, she was no athlete and the guards quickly began to catch up with her. Before too long, they were just a pony length behind her.

She hated doing so, especially at full gallop, but she had no choice. Looking ahead of her, she concentrated with all her magic and suddenly teleported to gain three hundred yards on the guards. "STOP HER!" the commander cried out. Running through the streets of town proved a difficult task, even at such an early hour. Already, the streets of Huffington were packed with ponies and more guards. It did not help that the ponies chasing her would yell her name and order her to halt.

More than a couple of times, she nearly ran into a guard in her flight, having snaked ahead in an attempt to cut her off. She would usually teleport ahead of them, but the strain was beginning to show on her mind. Everything was becoming blurry, her ears ringing a little more with each casting. Sure, she teleported a lot before, but that was before she knew how draining the spell could be.

"SHE'S HEADING FOR THE FOREST! STOP HER!" one of the guards noticed, much to her chagrin. However, by the time they noticed, it was already in sight. Charging up her horn, she cast the teleport spell just one more time, appearing within the confines of the wicked wood. "KEEP GOING! IF YOU LET HER GET AWAY, THE QUEEN WILL MAKE YOU WISH YOU WENT IN!"

The threat seemed to work, as Twilight could hear the hoofsteps of her pursuers. Sadly, the tightness of the trees did nothing to aid her escape, nor anything to slow down the guards. There had to be about a dozen of them on her tail by then. If they managed to surround her, she would have to stand and fight, potentially hurting innocent ponies in the process.

However, short, loud yelps filled her ears, the pursuing ponies either stumbling... or coming across some sort of creature. After about a dozen yelps, there was only silence in the woods aside from her panted breaths. Slowing down to a light trot, the lavender pony tried to catch her breath while keeping herself as alert in possible, just in case there were reinforcements.

"I really need a disguise," she sighed. Before she could elaborate on that thought, however, something suddenly wrapped around her back leg, hoisting her painfully into the air. She yelped in surprise, suddenly hanging upside-down from a thick tree branch by a strong vine. "Stupid... tree!" she cried out, flailing helplessly in the air as she tried to reach the rope.

However, a rustling in the bushes pushed away the idea of using magic to snap the vine, as a furry white rabbit with an annoyed glare hopped into the clearing, holding a tube of bamboo. "Angel?" Twilight asked before the fuzzy creature put the stem to his lips, shooting a dart that stuck into her neck. "Ow! What the hay was that for!?" As she tried to get at the rabbit to make him explain, the librarian felt her limbs go slack.

A fog filled her mind, rendering her mute, pupils dilated as she hung helplessly from the branch. Angel climbed the tree and started gnawing on the vine keeping her up. Twilight fell to the ground, not even a yelp able to pass her lips: all of her non-vital organs completely paralyzed. The little rabbit came up to her and waved his paw in front of her eyes. Satisfied that she could not track it, he closed her eyelids, bringing her world into darkness. She could hear only the rustle of undergrowth as she was dragged away.

~*///*///*///*~

After a short while of being dragged across the forest by the insidious rabbit, the mare found herself hefted onto something a little harder, but a lot smoother. Despite being completely paralyzed, she could still feel: a gurgling moan of pain escaped her lips from the scrapes on her side. Something seemed to notice and flipped her onto her opposite side, applying something that stung against her tender skin. After a few seconds it began to, thankfully, ease the pain.

Time passed in a haze as she was carried on the (what she assumed was a) cart, bumps in the forest floor flaring up the dull throb she felt above her ribs. It had to be from the countless rocks and sticks she was dragged over earlier. A strange echo filled her ears a while later, familiar, but too garbled to figure out. A moan of pain washed over her as she was placed roughly onto another smooth, solid surface before something warm slipped over her.

Another prick in her leg yielded a yelp from the unicorn as a tingle spread over her body. In a matter of minutes, she could open her eyes and move, not expecting the sight before her. She lay in a wooden room, vines and other plants seeping into the cracks. Various bottles of herbs and potions hung from the ceiling and sat on the shelves. She had to suppress the disturbing possibility that it was actually Zecora's house.

"Oh, good: you're moving," spoke a gentle voice from beyond a door of long grass. Stepping outside, the yellow Pegasus made her presence known, looking exactly as the unicorn remembered her. "I'm sorry about Angel-bunny paralyzing you, Twilight. He thought you wouldn't follow him on your own to my place, so he made you come along by force."

Twilight wiggled under the thatch blanket, getting herself a little more comfortable on the make-shift bed. Beyond, she could see nothing but blackness: quite some time having passed since she galloped into the forest. "Oh, it's fine. I'm just glad you're not going to try and take me to the queen," she replied groggily. "It's nice to see you, Fluttershy."

"It's nice to see you too, Twilight," she smiled pulling up a chair to face the resting unicorn. "I was concerned to see you with the Crusaders, I will admit. Are you... with them? I mean, are you officially in their group? Not that it matters if you are... because you'll always be my friend."

"What do you mean by that? They took me into their base and gave me food, shelter and some answers to what was going on. I mean, you left me and scared me when I saw your house and Rarity's shop abandoned. Not to mention what happened to AJ's farm." Again, she shuffled to get a little more comfortable.

"Oh, no, um..." she trailed. "I mean, did they tell you what they planned to do? I'm... I'm sure they told you what I and the others want to do to save Equestria."

"No," she replied simply. "They didn't tell me anything about their plans at all, now that I think about it."

"Yeah... I kind of figured they wouldn't," she sighed. "You see, they want to keep Parliament as it is, right? But... well... it's barbaric, Twilight! They want... they want a unicorn to steal Eos' divinity... and then... and then merge her soul with the universe... so no pony can raise the sun ever again!" Tears began to stream from her eyes. "They want to sacrifice a pony just to remove temptation!"

"But...how? I mean... they don't seem like they would do such a thing!"

"Trust me, Twilight," Fluttershy started. "A lot of ponies have died for this cause, not aware of it, of course. In fact, the girls... those sweet fillies... never told the rest of us about it. We had to find out for ourselves! That's what divided us, giving rise to the arguing! The only reason you were given the position of general is because... well, they want you to kill the queen. They don't even care if you die trying! They don't care how many die just to accomplish their goals!

"I'm going to be honest with you, Twilight," she spoke, tears beginning to well up in her eyes. "We're all doing what we think is best for everypony; what will cost the least amount of lives in order to do so. Zecora and I... we both agreed that it would be best for everypony if we just... forgot about something as stupid and pointless as who controls the sun and moon."

"How can you expect me to believe all of this, Fluttershy?" the lavender unicorn asked, tears beginning to form in her own eyes. "I mean... these are AJ and Rarity's sisters and their friends! How could they ever think something like that would be okay? I'm... I don't believe you."

"War changes ponies, Twilight," she answered sadly. "You saw Pinkie at the meeting. Poor thing... she's given up and just wants to cause more pain and destruction. AJ is in open war against the army. The girls have covert operations everywhere: even in the queen's inner sanctum. Nopony... no pony cares about your leadership skills, or your advice on anything. Sure, in the beginning we all cared, but..."

Silence filled the room for several minutes, only the carious calls of nocturnal animals reaching their ears. It was then that Twilight noticed a small semi-circular stone on a table in the middle of the room: obviously the other end of that spell Dinky used. Yet, she refused to let her words sink in. None of it could possibly be true! If it was, then those sweet, innocent fillies... she did not want to think about it.

"In the beginning," she continued, "We did care about you and your opinions and we missed YOU a lot. Yet, as time passed on... we began to miss you less and... wished for your magic more. The girls... our friends... see you only as a tool to be used against the queen. It's... better you found out now; before you got hurt." With that, she stood up and strode to the door. "We have a lot to do tomorrow... and beyond. Sleep well, Twilight. Hissy and Sissy will make sure you're not alone."

Two snakes slithered into the room, resting at the base of the ledge where Twilight lay, hissing idly, although they scared the mare nonetheless. "Um... Fluttershy?" she asked, growing more fearful with each passing second. "Do you... Would you mind untying me?" She shuffled around again, struggling against her binds to emphasize her point.

"Oh, Twilight," she giggled. "If I did that, you'd just run away. Good night." With that, the room was plunged into darkness.

To Wear a Mask

Sleep did not come to the unicorn that night: too many thoughts milling about her mind conspired to drive back the wisps of sleep from her. The fact that she had two snakes within three hooves of her did not help the matter either. Fluttershy's words were still on her mind, like a poison coursing through her veins. Did her friends really see her as nothing more than a weapon to be wielded against the queen?

She could not, and did not, want to believe her vicious words. The lavender pony did not think she could live with herself if what she said was true: that her friends really did not care for her anymore. Shaking her head, she tried to roll onto her other side, only to be stopped from doing so by the thick vines keeping her legs together. Twilight had no doubts she could burn them away with magic, but that would destroy the hut as well and she did not want to leave her friend homeless.

So, she lay there for hours on end, watching shapes move about beyond the windows, listening to the whispering hisses the terrifying snakes made with each breath. Everything would be sorted out in the morning: perhaps the stress had made her hear things again and the yellow Pegasus was only trying to calm her down? It was a flimsy hope she clung to desperately.

Dawn came late that morning, or so she thought as she watched the oppressive blackness beyond the windows turn into deep indigo before swelling into the green-tinted hues of an orange sunrise. With the sun up, her body's urges for sleep died down, allowing her to no longer fear that one of the snakes might bite her in the night. She sighed deeply, growing increasingly weary of her situation.

A few minutes (or possibly an hour) after sunrise, the sound of humming filtered through the other room as the Pegasus stirred. The tune was one the librarian was unfamiliar with, but it sounded chipper and pleasant enough to not worry over. Sure enough, the yellow pony emerged from her room just a moment later, dripping a little bit of water from her mane and tail. "Good morning, Twilight," she chirped. "Did you have a good night's sleep?"

"No," the purple pony replied curtly. "You know I'm afraid of snakes, Fluttershy. I can't sleep when I know they're here!" However, the gentle Pegasus seemed to ignore her plight as she hovered over to a stove to start on breakfast. Twilight was taken aback: she never so blatantly ignored a pony before, especially when they were upset. Then again, she did shout, but the Pegasus looked unafraid.

Irritated, she got to work on the vines binding her legs, rubbing them in an effort to loosen them and allow her to get free. However, this prompted a giggle from the cheery Pegasus as she made the soup, watching her out of the corner of her eye. "I wouldn't do that if I were you, Twilight. Those vines have thorns in them that spring out when warmed. Isn't it just the most adorable thing ever?" she smiled with her back to her.

Twilight immediately stopped rubbing the vines together, not willing to take any chances, and growled in frustration. "Please, Fluttershy, let me go! I need to find Spike... if only to make sure he's still okay. Please? It's really important to me that I find him."

"No," she replied simply.

"You can't just keep me tied up like this! I'm a pony: I need to be able to get up and walk around. I need to eat, sleep and... and I need you to be my friend. I don't know what I would ever do without your kindness and love, Fluttershy. Please... please let me go?"

The Pegasus sighed, putting down what she was doing and came to sit in the chair directly in front of Twilight, a serious look in her eyes. They lacked the softness the lavender mare remembered: they were hardened by trauma and pain. She looked over the unicorn for a couple of minutes, as if pondering her words before she opened her mouth once more to speak.

"I can't be your friend anymore, Twilight Sparkle," she sighed. "I am only friends with nature and the creatures she makes. The fact is I'm not going to feed you or let you run about. Do you know why, Twilight?" The bound mare shook her head, not knowing where her train of thought was going. "It's because you're NOT a pony. You're a golem: an unnatural and ARTIFICIALLY created being!"

Suddenly, a look of pure rage came upon her face, stunning the lavender pony into silence. "By all rights, I should have destroyed you the very minute you dared to step hoof in my forest! How dare you taint this hallowed ground with your EVIL and NATURE-CHALLENGING magic! The only reason I didn't let one of my bear friends rip you to shreds is because I need you! You're nothing to me, Twilight Sparkle! Now shut up like the good little weapon you are and let the REAL ponies eat in peace!"

Stunned into silence, the lavender pony's jaw hung agape. Tears began to flow freely from her eyes as realization crept across her mind: she was not her friend anymore. If a pony as kind and loving as Fluttershy could come to see her as naught but a tool, then what happened to the rest of her friends? Could she trust nopony in the world?

Soft sobs escaped her muzzle as she buried her head into the blanket, too choked up to speak or try and sway her friend's opinion. So she just stained the blanket with hot tears for lack of ability to do anything else.

After a couple of minutes, the yellow Pegasus sighed and got up from her seat, the chair scraping against the wood as she floated up to a cupboard. "Twilight," she spoke softly, gently stroking her mane with a hoof. The lavender unicorn raised her head expectantly, eyes brimming. "Shut up!" Before she could react, the Pegasus shoved a hoof-full of foul yellow gunk into her mouth.

She tried to spit it out, but the sticky sap quickly thickened into a tough gum, spreading down her jaw to coat all of her teeth. "Mmmph!" she cried in surprise, beginning to struggle as her cries became muted by the sap. Satisfied, the yellow Pegasus turned away to finish making her breakfast, leaving the muted unicorn to sob silently.

~*///*///*///*~

It was not easy to pick up the trail again once it had gone cold like that, but she did not mind a single bit. After all, she did prefer the hunt to the actual capture. News of Twilight's narrow escape from the Huffington guard quickly spread through town that day. Naturally, Governor Coppertop was enraged by the news. Vinyl thanked her lucky stars that she was not working directly for him: a perk of being a bounty hunter instead of a member of the guard. In fact, while he was busy chewing out his troops, she was busy deducing that Twilight had left town to brave the Everfree Forest.

So, Vinyl Scratch trotted forth into the evil forest. Slowly, she was beginning to get an idea about what her quarry was up to. Directly on the opposite side of the forest was a small village called Coltsberg: too small to even have a governor of its own. Still, it would be an ideal place for her to lie low and recuperate from her time in the forest. The quaint hamlet had no love for the queen, so they were not likely to turn her in, even for the amount listed on the poster.

Of course, one never went into the Everfree Forest unprepared, unless they knew the lay of the land like the bottom of their hoof, or if they had a death wish. Thankfully, Twilight Sparkle was not the first bounty she had that decided to flee into the confines of the wicked wood. Unfortunately, most of them were dead by the time she could find them.

Yet, the lavender unicorn had to be made of tougher stuff than that: why else would she be listed as dangerous? So the former DJ took her time trekking through the wood, bobbing her head to a beat she recalled to pass the time. A predator might choose that moment to strike, but that would be a big mistake, since her ears were always alert. Thankfully, most of the monsters rose with the moon and the day began a few hours ago, so she had little to worry about.

Eventually, the hunter came across an interesting sight: it was a sprung sling trap, but the vine making it had been chewed away by some creature. As well, clumps of purple hair lay littered among the undergrowth, torn off on some spiny bushes. Although her vision could not make out the marks, a feel of her hoof told her that a small herbivore, maybe about a hoof high, nibbled through the vine. Twilight could not have chewed herself free, so something else did it for her.

Checking over the immediate area, the white unicorn soon found disturbed dirt and more hairs in bushes and on rocks. As well, there was a tiny line of dried blood leading from one of the sharper stones in the path. Whatever had freed Twilight probably knocked her unconscious or otherwise immobilised her before dragging her off. The list of suspects quickly narrowed at that revelation.

After tracking the trail for several minutes, down steep rocky hills and across a creek, the dragging suddenly ceased, at least as far as she could tell. Vinyl looked around, the forest a blur of green as she tried to figure out the next step. If the dragging stopped, that meant she had to have been moved onto a transport of some kind, possibly a cart.

She felt out the ground for something like the rut of a wheel. Shortly enough, she came across a patch of mud, with an obvious trough in the wet earth. This told the experienced tracker that the mare she sought was picked up and placed on a cart before being carried off. Now all she needed to do was track down where the cart went, and soon she would have the unicorn in her grasp!

However, that age-old saying of 'easier said than done' reared its ugly head once more as she tried to track the transport. If she had her normal vision, the task would be foal's play. However, she had to make due with a fuzzy world of indistinguishable colours all meshing into one smudged-up tapestry. Thankfully, the forest floor was generally soft, able to retain the rut the wheel made as it rolled along.

Naturally, conditions began to deteriorate as she moved onto harder ground, up and away from pools of water and mud. The bounty hunter furrowed her brow as she flared her nostrils, deciding to rely on scent to guide her. The trail was very faint, but the canopy of the forest thankfully provided some shelter from the wind, meaning she could follow it reliably.

It was not until about noon that she approached a small clearing, keeping her body pressed against the ground as she spotted all sorts of creatures ambling about. A small sod and wood shack sat in the middle of the grove, a shape of yellow discernible through the leaves of the bushes and the windows. Horseapples, she thought in anger and frustration. Of all the ponies to steal my bounty, it had to be that tree-hugging horse! Now how am I supposed to steal back Twilight!?

Vinyl detested the idea of hurting innocents just to get at one pony, even woodland critters. Yet, the mare that had her prize would not hesitate to order an attack on her. Although she lacked it ten years ago, she had developed the intent to kill others if they threatened her or her beliefs. The white mare ducked her head behind the bush, trying to form a plan and come up with escape routes.

I have to be at least halfway through the forest, she mused. Mountains flank to the west and east of here and it would probably take longer if I went back to Huffington. So... I need to head north to Coltsberg once I have her. Great: absolutely wonderful. I'd be hopping out of the oven to get into the frying pan. I don't like where this concert is going, but if I want the payoff, I've got to play that song.

An idea slowly came to her mind the more she pondered the savage beasts between her and the prize. It was noble to go in there guns blazing, kicking flank and taking names. Yet, against such numbers, it would be a suicidal move. She could make out bears, wolves, coyotes, and stranger beasts like manticores, flaming salamanders and even perytons!

However, the alabaster unicorn was more than just a one-trick pony: she still had a few spells left in her horn. With a light blue shimmer, soft and gentle music began to fill the clearing, all the creatures looking around in surprise. Vinyl nodded her head to the beat: a simple but effective way to keep the score from working on her. Some of the beasts roared, others simply looked around curiously, but after a few minutes of the calm, relaxing lullaby, they all dropped like flies, falling asleep peacefully.

Once confident all the creatures outside were passed out, she moved in, being careful not to step on any of them, or disrupt the spell with a howl of pain. Yet, she still kept herself as close to the ground as possible, in case the pony that captured her bounty could resist the spell. If so, then she could kick her flank, but the noise would probably wake up the animals and enrage them.

After careful minutes of walking past the gauntlet of sleeping creatures, she kept her sleep spell up while nodding her head to the beat. She slowly poked her horn and eyes above the window sill to see two ponies and a rabbit inside, all passed out. The hunter smirked in victory, gently opening the door just in case it would clatter. Thankfully, both her target and her captor remained sleeping, under the influence of the spell. Even a couple of snakes seemed to be grooving on the sleepy beat, hissing unconsciously.

Using her magic, she dragged the blanket off the unicorn mare to see her legs bound in thick vines, causing her smirk to widen. "I love it when they come gift-wrapped," she chuckled before she moved the snakes out of the way and pulled her off the ledge with a soft thump. The mare was heavier then she anticipated, but once they were clear, she cast a featherweight spell on her to make the trek a little easier.

Seizing hold of her by the tail, the mare with the electric blue mane slowly pulled her away from the shack. It was slow going, since the risk of stepping on a sleeping monster was incredibly high and that would bring with it nothing but trouble. The yellow mare was probably going to be pissed anyway, but by the time she and her army of critters woke up from the spell, she and her quarry would be long gone.

~*///*///*///*~

Rustling leaves met Twilight's ears hours later, the wind gently playing across her body as it moved. The occasional bump and turn would make her stir, but she did not open her eyes. She did not want to see where her friend wanted to take her. However, the hoofsteps seemed hurried: almost panicky.

Reluctantly opening her eyes, the lavender mare found her legs still tied up by the strange vines, and her mouth was still caked with the sticky sap that silenced her. She lay upon some sort of thatch blanket, being towed at a quick clip through the woods. Lying on her side, she could make out a white flank and electric blue tail in her vision. Twilight could not help but groan through the sap: somehow, Vinyl Scratch had managed to pull her from the yellow mare's base.

"Sounds like somepony's wakin' up," the unicorn breathed as she trotted through the undergrowth. "Sorry 'bout being so sneaky, but I didn't feel like havin' to fight my way through her beasties. That tune just doesn't go on my turntable, dig? Oh, I wouldn't try magic either. Mythril ring on your horn." The librarian sagged in the sling, knowing she was caught and utterly helpless to resist.

So Twilight lay, watching the scenery pass before her eyes, torn about how she should feel at that moment. Was she supposed to be thankful or mad at Vinyl for getting her out of Fluttershy's house? When it came to Fluttershy, was she supposed to be happy to be away from there, or sad that she became like that? The words she spoke earlier came back to her mind, chilling her to the bone. You're nothing to me, Twilight Sparkle! Now shut up and let the REAL ponies eat in peace!

Muffled sobs filtered through the sap, fresh tears streaming from her eyes. How could a friend say such a horrible, hurtful thing? Did she think the emotions she felt were not her own? "I'd be upset too if I were in your shoes, but it's nothing to cry over, Twilight. Sheesh!" the bounty hunter sighed in frustration, slowing down her pace.

"Mmph, mph," the lavender unicorn muttered, shaking her head in a vain bid to tell her that was not why she was upset.

Vinyl sighed, reluctant to fix the issue with the tree sap, but her constant sobbing was really starting to get to her. Besides, she liked talking to her prey after they were finally caught. Hearing a river nearby, she pulled the mare over to it, the waters roughly lapping at the bank. "Here," she spoke, unhooking herself from the sling. "Take a drink and it'll get rid of the sap."

Walking around, she grabbed the other pony by the scruff of her neck and pulled her to the water's edge, allowing her to dunk her head at her own leisure. Twilight dipped her muzzle in, a little apprehensive to do so around the hunter, but when she felt the cool, refreshing water pierce the sticky barrier, she dunked her head in, desperate to remove the obnoxious substance.

Once every bit of the goo was washed out of her mouth, she greedily drank the waters from the river, having not had any liquid since the previous day's ill-fated breakfast. Twilight pulled her head out with a deep gasp, finally able to breathe through more than her nostrils. "Gotta love Sticky Root Sap," the former musician chuckled. "Of course, I'm sure you know what that song is all about."

"Yes, and thank you," the mare replied. Sticky Root Sap came from a specific species of tree in the Everfree Forest. If a creature tried to eat the sweet sap, it would expand in their mouth and render them unable to continue; unless they figured out they had to drink from moving water. It was an interesting defence mechanism on the tree's part, no matter how annoying it was to experience.

Strapped back into the sling after dragging her catch away from the water, the white unicorn began speaking again as she pulled her prize. "It's too long to head back to Huffington, so we're going to Coltsberg. As is, I doubt we'll get out of the forest before dark though. Don't worry: I've traveled through the forest at night. Now, I noticed you were cryin' earlier. Do you mind tellin' me why? Not that it's any of my business."

"You're right. It is none of your business," she replied curtly, in no mood to talk to anypony at the moment.

"Fair enough, but we could at least make conversation. Like... um... what did you do to get such a price on your head? Did you slight the queen by tellin' her how ugly that mane is, or are you a rebel leader? Did you kill a lot of ponies, or engage in major tax evasion and refused to pay your debts?"

Twilight sighed before speaking. "If you know the rumours, she probably feels threatened by me." The white unicorn simply nodded her head in reply, knowing well the rumours that surrounded the mare like a haze. Fact and fiction easily became distorted around Ms. Sparkle and her friends. The two ponies traveled in silence from then, neither willing to break the tension between them.

Nightfall, however, brought about many new dangers in the forest. All sorts of creatures that slept in the day came out at night: most of them dangerous and hungry for flesh. Yet the hunter continued unabated, although she picked up the pace considerably. For even if one had experience with the forest, they could not survive out in the wilds for very long: especially once the sun began its slumber.

In addition to the usual suspects of wolves, bears, manticores, ursas and cockatrices, the Everfree occasionally played host to the supernatural. Creatures like ghosts or zombies would occasionaly rise from the ground and spring upon unsuspecting travelers. However, sometimes creatures from other planes would materialize in the world of the living: demons most foul.

To make matters worse, judging from the night before, that night would be the night of the new moon, meaning they had no light to guide them in the dark depths of the forest. Creatures that hunted in the dark would find that night to their advantage. Vinyl Scratch quickened her pace more, trying to keep her ears peeled for any of the tell-tale sounds of an approaching predator. Despite the long centuries since the pony races had ceased to be nomadic, nothing had changed when it came to the danger monsters in the Everfree Forest posed to their kind.

Long after the sun had dipped below the horizon, the pair of ponies entered a small clearing, the lavender mare still tied while being dragged behind the white unicorn. Just as she was about to muse on her excursion with Princess Luna, and how safe she felt then compared to the present moment, the white pony stopped dead in her tracks. "Vinyl?" she asked. "Is something wrong?"

However, all that came out of her mouth was a squeak. At first, she did not understand what had happened... until they made their presence known. Large, emerald eyes stared at them from beyond the darkness, glowing the same shade as the emerald aura that outlined their abyss-black bodies. They swiftly and silently surrounded the small clearing of trees.

Silhouettes of tendrils squirmed sickly from their faces. The creatures were roughly the size and shape of large wolves. They now slowly emerged from the darkness, closing their deathly circle around the pair of unprepared ponies. Quavering cries of fear sounded from the white mare. They moved forward with unnatural grace, making almost no sound, even as they passed through bushes. Their legs were lean with muscle, obviously able to propel their bodies forward at unmatched speed. Even if the little ponies tried to run, they were doomed.

"Well," spoke one of the creatures, his voice barely more than a whisper, "Looks. Like. We. Caught. A. Fellow. Hunter." The other creatures laughed in a staccato fashion, taking slow, methodical breaths. Although they spoke very softy, the tones carried much farther than one would expect. Every word was slow, deliberate, and just enough to make even the most brave pony weak in the knees.

Vinyl shivered in fear as the lavender mare looked around to the obvious pack leader. "Look. The talking. Horse. Wishes. To speak. How. Precious," the leader spoke once more. He appeared to attempt grinning, circular rows of jagged, razor-sharp teeth lining his maw. It was not until then that Twilight became sure about what they were: Barghests, also called 'The Children of Nightmare.' They could only emerge during the new moon and repopulated by mutilating their prey and injecting them with a black sludge-like fluid that would transform their corpse.

Yet, thinking back on the dark book she read on them, their weakness came to mind: sunlight. "Vinyl!" she cried out, desperately. "You have to untie me! I can save us! Please, you have to trust me, or we WILL die!" Unfortunately, the former DJ was paralyzed in fear, the creatures no more than a pony length away from them, ready to pounce.

"What. Could. You. Hope. To do. Little. Horse?" the pack leader snickered slowly. "Be. Still. And. You shall. Join. Our pack. Painlessly."

Twilight struggled in renewed vigour from her binds, trying to get the Mythril ring off of her horn so she could wield her magic. The sound of a rattlesnake's tail filled the air as the tendrils flared, their teeth bared as a sign they were about to feast on flesh. You can't go a single day without putting your life in danger, can you? The annoying voice in her head sighed. Give me a second.

Their advance stalled as a purple light began to overtake the clearing, covering their large, murderous eyes with their legs. The Mythril ring on her horn glowed brightly, trying in vain to suppress the overwhelming magic she possessed. A snap filled the air as the trinket disintegrated, lacerating a couple of the creatures, who oozed the black sludge onto the forest floor. Immediately, the vines binding her legs burned away, allowing the mare to stand once more, her hooves a little shaky.

However, the monsters refused to back down, seeing the development as nothing more than a nuisance. Twilight charged her horn, glowing soft lavender before rings of yellow rippled up, congregating at the tip of her horn. Crying out, the mare unleashed the spell, a point of light as bright as the sun emerging. The beasts gave a rattling hiss, retreating into the thicket in an instant, yet they had not fled. "RUN, VINYL!" the mare screeched, slapping her flank to snap her out of the daze.

It seemed to do the trick, as the alabaster mare galloped off into the forest, her former prey right beside her, helping the little ball of sunshine follow them. Through the trees ahead they could make out the glowing eyes of the monsters: a tribute to their speed and stealth. However, as they came hurtling along, they would have to move, lest they be exposed to the blinding light of the miniature sun.

Together, the two mares galloped, jumping over fallen trees, stumps and the occasional trap or two set by Fluttershy and her minions. Twilight's heart pounded in her chest, pumping pure adrenaline. She had not used that much magic since the day she attacked the princesses. Overloading a Mythril horn ring was no easy task: only an extraordinary amount of magic could do so. Then again, the same could be said for the miniature sun flying right behind them.

Slowly, the trees became thinner, the undergrowth less littered and a little more tidy. Even as they passed the threshold of the forest, they did not stop until they were upon the town's doorstep. A dozen emerald eyes flickered in the distance, glaring at them with anger and hunger before they reluctantly turned away: not willing to run the risk of being hurt. Only when they were gone did the miniature sun fade from existence, the librarian panting with expended effort.

"You... you saved me, Twilight," the bounty hunter panted, leaning against a lamp post for support. Neither of them moved for minutes, the adrenaline washing out of both of their systems as they calmed down from their flight. "Listen... I'm an honourable pony," she started, "How about we pause the jam right here and take a break from the dance? You know, mingle, and have a couple of drinks? Then we pick up the beat from the beginning, dig?"

The lavender pony blinked, not quite sure what she was talking about. The DJ smirked and chuckled. "In square terms, it means I'm giving you a break from the hunt. Say... thirty seconds head-start? I'll just stand here and groove and you do your thing. I'll start the counter the second you start running."

"You're still going to hunt me!?" The lavender mare opened her jaw in disbelief. How could she say she was still going to turn her in after saving her life?

"I have to eat, Twilight. I could slip another ring on you right now and knock you out, but that ain't my scene. So, I suggest you get going." In a flash, the purple pony teleported away to some distant point just in sight. However, before she could make it out, she vanished. True to her word, she sat there for the full thirty seconds, letting the mare escape once again. "Damn. I should have made it ten seconds," she chuckled before she moved.

~*///*///*///*~

That day proved to be one surprise after another for the lavender unicorn as she quietly fled down the streets of town, looking for the Crusader's mark in desperation. She knew she could not trust them, but for the moment they did not know it, which put her at the advantage. She hoped Fluttershy had been lying to her about their goal. Did they really plan to sacrifice a pony just to remove power's temptation permanently?

Thankfully, as she snuck around, she noticed the town of Coltsberg had very few guards, if any. She planned to keep an eye open and an ear on the alert, just in case. Her memories drifted back to the time she was in Fluttershy's house. She was laying on the ledge, sobbing over how hurtful her friend's words were. Suddenly, some sort of music started playing, making her relax before everything went black.

It only took a minute of thinking to remember she had pulled a similar stunt on a cranky Ursa Minor. Twilight had to admit the feat of putting all of those creatures to sleep was impressive. She had gazed out the window beside her earlier to see the army of critters and monsters in a ring around the central hub of the hut. Even if she could get herself out of there without hurting anyone or anything, she would have been too taxed to deal with the Barghests later on.

The lavender pony shook her head: she could not afford to drift off in musing when she had a bounty hunting pony breathing down her neck, trying her damnedest to catch her again. Looking down the streets of the town, she came across a curious cellar door, since it was neither chained up nor appeared to be locked. Venturing closer, she got a good look at the mark of the Crusaders! Opening it with a flick of her magic, the mare descended into the cellar.

Jars of various pickled items sat on dusty shelves, glimmering in the light of a single hanging candle. Of course, it all had to be an elaborate trick to deter unwanted company. She lifted every jar and prodded under every shelf for a button, or a lever of some kind to open a trapdoor, or a hidden passageway. However, the deeper she looked, the more she came to realize that it was just a dusty old cellar.

Twilight emerged from the underground about an hour later, the darkness of the night beginning to give way to her namesake. Shutting the door, she glanced at the mark burned onto the wood. Perhaps it was just a decoy to throw pursuers off of the real base? Placing her hoof on the mark, she felt the same strange tingle she did from the Huffington base, a click sounding beyond the double doors.

Curious, the mare opened them with her magic to find a different sight. Beyond was a narrow passageway leading down, lit by magical torches that sprang to life as she descended. The door slammed shut behind her, another click telling her the false entrance had reset. "I wonder who came up with that one? It was actually quite clever," she spoke, removing her invisibility spell.

Coltsberg's base reminded her of the one in Ponyville in many ways: a steep winding passage leading down followed by wider passages branching off into halls and rooms. However, the deeper she went into the chambers, the more apprehensive she became. No pony came to greet her, or at least inspect if friend or foe had come into their midst. An eerie calm met her ears as she called out for somepony, anypony to answer.

Rounding the next intersection, she turned: everything suddenly becoming clear. Splotches of red dotted the floors and walls, arrows embedded in the stone at every turn. Tattered vests painted in magenta polka-dots of dried blood lay on the floor beside dented helmets of gold. Doors were broken off their hinges and parts of the ceiling were scorched. "The base is abandoned," Twilight realized.

This conclusion presented her with two new facts: one good and one bad. On one hoof, the guards knew it existed, but by the looks of things it had been quite some time since the battle, so they would not count on her being here. On another hoof, all the food had probably spoiled. Unless she could sneak up into the cellar and steal some of the food there, she would go hungry... but she did not really like the idea of living on pickled onions.

Still, the mare wandered around the facility to try and find the storage room. If nothing else, they probably left things behind that she could use to help her trip a little bit, especially if she was going into the dragon lands. Wandering down flights of stairs and past more hints of the battle within, the lavender pony finally came across the storage rooms. They were dark and caked with dust, but a little light from her horn was all that was required to illuminate the fairly small space.

Rows of shelves contained just about everything she needed: tents, magical stoves and heaters, portable fairy lights, maps of different parts of Equestria as well as pots and utensils to cook and eat with. Sadly, she could not find any place where there might be bits or even saddlebags lying around for her to carry all the stuff in, which frustrated her to no end. "What kind of storage room doesn't have bags!?" she fumed to herself.

Keeping her items in a pile, she left the room in search of something to use as a makeshift bag. She considered making a bindle out of a stick and blankets, but she did not want to look like a hobony. Nosing into many of the different rooms, Twilight let out a soft gasp as she saw a brown pair of saddlebags sitting in the corner. Trotting over, she felt a little bad stealing the bags, but they had no special marks on them, and they were abandoned with the rest of the facility. Thinking along those lines soothed her guilt a little bit, but not so much when she found a pile of bits inside the bag.

Pulling the currency out, she placed them into stacks of ten, yielding twenty-five stacks of coins. "Two hundred and fifty?" she asked herself. "Who keeps that much on them?" Shaking her head, she replaced the bits and levitated the bag, placing it gently on her shoulders. The fabric was worn and tattered, frayed around the edges. Rarity could have made it more appealing, but right now she needed it to be functional. Trotting back to the other room, her mind began to ponder the subject of disguises.

~*///*///*///*~

Over the next couple of days, Twilight Sparkle stayed within the confines of the Crusader's base, for the most part. She only ventured outside to visit the local market and steal the odd apple or two (under her invisibility spell, of course). In the course of her combing the base, the librarian had found a whole bunch of books on magical disguises and their applications in the group. Apparently, that base used to be the chief supplier for all the stealth needs of the Crusaders.

Included in the instruction book she found, not only did she need to cement an appearance into her mind's eye, but a suitable back story as well: preferably one that could not be verified unless one of the operatives in the Register's Office looked into the faked files. So, during her excursions to get food, the mare would take note of all the ponies wandering around, trying to decide how to make herself look when the time came.

Of course, being gifted with magic would have her master the spells almost instantly, but it still needed a vivid mental picture of the pony the user wanted to be in order for it to work. Without that, nothing would happen and she would be stuck having to try and explain a floating pair of saddlebags to some guard later down the road. She already decided on a white coat: in tribute to her fallen mentor. However, a lot of other questions remained.

However, on her third day out, she could not help but become infatuated with the colour green. Thinking about it, it would contrast nicely to the white coat, although she was sure Rarity would throw a fit to end all fits. The thought nearly made her giggle out loud in the middle of a quiet street, making her blush as she remembered she was invisible. Soon after, all the other pieces began to fall into place as she noted the differences in architecture between Coltsberg, Huffington and Ponyville.

With the appearance (and subsequent Cutie Mark Sticker design) decided upon, the mare got to work crafting her new appearance in her imagination. A change of hue there, a sprinkle of colour there, a streak or two here and the pony in her mind was coming to life. With that out of the way, she focused her magic, pulling up a sheet of plastic before staining it white to match the coat colour. Sharpening her mental picture, an image of a house popped into existence.

Twilight frowned at the design: it looked far too much like a traditional house and too elaborate in design to fool anypony. Cutie marks were usually simple and featured three or four colours at maximum. An idea suddenly came to mind, much simpler then what she first foolishly planned. It was a house like the last one; however, it appeared to be made of blocks of different sizes, much like building blocks that young colts would play with. She made them all a light green to compliment the future colours of her mane and tail.

After repeating the process on a second sticker, the mare walked in front of a large mirror in the room she decided to sleep in. Much like the base in Ponyville, it was fairly Spartan with only a bed, dresser and said mirror inside. Her new bags laid on the floor at the hoof of the bed: everything inside and ready to go at a moment's notice. However, her concentration was on the mare staring her in the mirror.

Taking a deep breath, Twilight focused on her eyes with all of her attention, the striking amethyst slowly fading into pink before turning white. She panicked at first, staring back into the narrow points, but quickly resumed the spell, turning them into a striking green as she was reminded of the Barghests. "No!" she cried out. "I wanted them to be blue! Ah well, it will have to do," she sighed before focusing on her coat. Soft lavender faded into a snowy white, the mare stopping the spell halfway through.

Next, she focused on her mane: the dark blue becoming progressively lighter until it too became white. With a push from her magic, it slowly faded into a deep green, her pink streak going further to become a sharp black. Satisfied, she started on the next spell. It was slightly more complicated, but it would cement the appearance of her body, but allow her to switch back and forth quickly in an emergency. A light flash surrounded her, showing that it was a success as well.

Applying the stickers over her usual mark, the unicorn placed two powerful spells on them. One made sure the bond would be waterproof so that it would not peel off in rain, or if she had to swim. The second, meanwhile, made the plastic feel like a smooth coat to the hoof. Of course, it could not be one hundred percent perfect, which explained why the girls felt her flank when they first met. She would just have to be careful.

Looking into the mirror, she smiled at her appearance. At first glance, no pony would suspect her of being Twilight Sparkle! However, she became disheartened when she began to notice the similarities upon closer inspection. She may be under watch from hostile ponies for hours at a time! They would surly recognize her in a few minutes! Thinking quickly, the librarian pulled a brush out of her bag and began to fray the edges of her orderly mane and tail.

Staring back at herself, she could still see traces of Twilight Sparkle in the mirror. Looking at her forehead, however, it soon became clear. She sighed and lowered her head, not wanting it to come to such an extreme. But, if she wanted to be undetected, she would have to do so. Taking a deep breath, the mare focused on her horn, applying an invisibility and intangibility spell upon it that Princess Luna had taught her.

Looking at her from the mirror was a white earth pony mare with emerald green eyes, a dark green mane with a streak of black and deeper green. Her cutie mark was that of a simple light green house silhouette made up of several different blocks of all different shapes. She swished her tail happily back at her, trying to pick out the bits that were still her old self. However, they were minor and only things she would know anyway.

"So long, Twilight Sparkle. Hello, Blueprint," the mare smiled to her reflection.

Although her horn was hidden, the mare levitated her saddle bags onto her back, making careful note not to use her magic in public anymore. It was a foreign concept to her, since she used her magic to do a lot of the work that would be tedious to an earth pony. However, it might be beneficial to put her magic aside for a while, like she did for Winter Wrap-Up back home. Trotting to the base's door, she scanned the street before emerging, putting her disguise to the test.

Walking down the streets of Coltsberg, she noticed nopony looked at her in fear, joy or anger anymore. They just looked past her, like she was just another face in the crowd! Twili- Blueprint had to stop herself from giggling like a school filly at the overwhelming success of her disguise. Humming happily to herself, the white pony gladly walked up to the stores and bought some canned goods and other camping items she would need before turning towards the north, heading for the Outlands.

Drifting through Draconia

Wind howled and thunder cracked throughout the valley as rain fell heavily from the clouds above. For the past two hours, the pony trudged through the sudden storm, only then beginning to realize the full implications of the destroyed weather factory. Ducking for cover was not an option on the slopes of the mountain and setting up her tent would only attract lightning. Why had she forgotten to pack that magical lightning rod?

The white mare sighed, her voice drowned out by the ferocity of the wind against her face. Twilight Sparkle (now known as Blueprint to everypony else) thanked her lucky stars that nopony was with her so she could cast a bubble shield charm, which stopped the driving rain from soaking her to the core. It did nothing to stem the tide of the wind, however: her mane and tail being whipped about by the turbulent currents.

Walking up the narrow mountain path, the white earth pony shivered the higher she climbed. Although she knew from a previous mountain climbing adventure that the temperature decreased as altitude increased, she had not accounted for the gale-force winds. With every breath, she felt as if the warmth of her body had been stolen from her by some demon most foul.

Her saddlebags began to indent her back, the weights balanced but still quite heavy. She wished she had been more curious about the pocket dimension spell Princess Luna cast on that bottle, rather than the stupid Pool of Midnight. You just had to go for the more glorious mystical object rather than the practical spell, she scolded herself internally. She had given up talking to herself out loud, since she would not be able to hear her voice over the howling wind.

Yet, despite the wind, thunder, lighting and rain, only one thing scared the disguised unicorn as she walked along the mountain path: the path itself. It was narrow, with only enough room for a single pony, maybe two walking side-by-side at the most. As well, there was a very steep, one hundred hoof vertical drop right off the side and onto the jagged rocks below. Thankfully, as a golem, a fall like that would only inconvenience her (albeit with a great deal of pain), but she would rather avoid the trek back up.

As much as she hated the mountain path, it was the only safe way to leave the nation of Equestria while heading north. The armies fought over the traditional trade routes like Shimmering and Dranous Pass and the mountains provided a natural barrier since they were too steep for all but flying patrols to bother fighting over. However, during her reading in the Coltsberg Crusader base, she found out about a tunnel that had been dug out high in one of the mountains.

That tunnel was the only safe passage for refugees and non-military ponies wishing to enter, or flee from Equestria. Twil- Blueprint knew that bounty hunters would stalk the road to capture fleeing pray, but so long as she kept her mouth shut around a certain white unicorn, there would be no altercations. Of course, the chances were that none of them would be out in the storm unless they stayed near the tunnel's mouth.

Carefully, the white mare navigated around a narrow and sharp turn in the path up ahead, breathing a sigh of relief that was stolen by the wind at the sight. A small, dimly-lit tunnel appeared ahead, burrowed into the mountain after a short rise. A jagged wall to the left and a sheer drop to her right prompted the wanted pony to keep herself on a straight and narrow path. She shied away from the edge while giving the wall a respectful distance, or become lacerated from the sharp rocks.

Approaching the mouth of the tunnel, shapes began to stir the closer she got. The disguised unicorn deactivated her bubble shield charm, lest rouse any suspicion. Blueprint took a deep breath as she came upon the threshold. On cue, five ponies jumped out from behind rocks littering the entrance of the cavern, Vinyl Scratch thankfully absent. Still, she took a couple of steps back in trepidation, a forward hoof raised and ready to go at a moment's notice.

"Well boys?" asked the first, a brown earth pony stallion with a brown mane. "This one on anypony's list?" The four other stallions, an equal mix of Pegasi and unicorns, surveyed the mare. She was too startled (or pretending to be so) to really pay attention to them.

"You're not... highwaycolts, are you?" she asked with some measure of fear on her voice, the concern genuine despite her acting. The five stallions looked at each other and laughed, some tearing up. She put a confused look across her face.

"Nah," replied the first. "We're much worse! Well, if you pissed anypony off that is. We're bounty hunters, Missy. Care to tell us your name?"

"B-blueprint, sir," she stammered, cold and wet from the still driving rain. Each of the stallions rounded her, looking her over from head to hoof. She felt a little bit uncomfortable being stared at like that: she hoped the illusions would fool them. Eventually, they all looked to the draft brown pony and shook their heads. Suddenly, the stallion's tone became much more chipper, a smiling cracking his face.

"Well then, good day to you, madam," he trotted over, taking her raised hoof and kissed it gently. "Although, I wonder... why is your name Blueprint when you're green?" The mare's eyes went a little wide, having not accounted for that when she made up the persona. Swinging wildly, she frowned and sighed.

"My parents were colour blind, okay?" she answered, pulling her hoof away from him.

"Oh, sorry to hear that, Miss. I know where you're coming from: I was raised by my nana and she was completely blind. Made things a bit difficult, but I'm not here to tell my life story. Come on inside, you must be freezing!" With that, the white mare followed the stallions into the tunnel, shaking the water out of her coat once inside. "So, what do you do for a living, not that I can't guess...?"

"I'm an architect," she replied with a smile, her disguise still working like a charm.

"Cool. Where did you study?" he asked, throwing more questions at her than she thought to come up with beforehoof. They were testing her: she could tell.

"I went to Canterlot University and majored in architecture. I did okay; not the top of my class, but well enough."

"Huh, I was in old CU myself, back in the day. Did Dean Buckingham still have that annoying-ass cat of his?"

Thankfully for the fictional Blueprint, she had met him once before when he asked the princess to ban her from using his laboratories for her 'unorthodox' experiments. It would be the edge she needed to convince him she was legitimate and get him off of her case. "Boots? Unfortunately. I've never seen a tabby with such an evil look on her face." The stallion laughed happily, no doubt remembering any trouble he might have been in with the dean.

"That's right!" he exclaimed. "Boots. Mangy little bugger, right? Well, we'd best let you on your way. Have a safe trip, Miss Blueprint!" He smiled, waving her off as she continued down the tunnel, smiling and waving back at him. A fair distance later, she let out a silent sigh of relief over a combination of dumb luck, and quality of her magical disguise. That had been a close call: too close for her comfort.

Halfway down the tunnel, the white mare arrived at a small cove carved into the side of the tunnel to serve as a rest stop for weary travelers. Blueprint yawned and walked into it, lying down after placing a soft blanket on the carved stone floor. She started up the mountain after lunch, and judging by the pangs of her stomach, it was just after sunset.

Digging into her bags with her muzzle (just in case any pony wandered past to see an earth pony using magic), she extracted a bunch of berries she picked from a bush during her travels. It had taken her three days to reach the tunnel from the hamlet of Coltsberg by walking. Although she still had some dried food from the market in her bag, she wanted to save them for after she crossed into Draconian territory, since pony food might not be readily available there.

After consuming the berries and taking a swig of water from her canteen, the white pony stretched her limbs before lying down on the blanket. Her bags had an enchantment on them that would alert her in case somepony tried to look in them. Thankfully, it was a common enchantment found on most saddlebags, so it would not necessarily blow her cover. With a sigh, the disguised unicorn shut her eyes to get some much-needed sleep.

Twilight stood alone in the familiar expanse of the Canterlot throne room, the glass skylight above shimmering in a strange light. For beyond the stained glass was a world of utter blackness: not even the lights from the other wings of the castle visible. She walked up to the empty throne with some hesitation, though she could not say why she felt that way.

After a quick look around, the unicorn found that she was truly alone in the room, stealing a sit upon the throne of Equestria. The solidified cloud cushions felt good against her lavender rump, as if passively massaging away all the aches and pain she felt. The mare let a contented sigh pass her lips; she often wondered what it would be like to watch the world from the lofty perch as she had never been allowed up the steps before, except to speak to her mentor.

"I daresay you look rather fitting up there," spoke a voice from beyond. The librarian panicked and got off the symbol of power, her eyes looking around wildly. The doors to the room burst open, more blackness sitting beyond the threshold. However, that was not what caused her to gasp: a black figure slowly emerged from beyond, powerful and imposing despite the purple mare's elevated position. "Then again, it is not surprising," Princess Luna added with a smile.

"P-princess!" Twilight shouted, running up to the midnight alicorn. "I've been looking all over for you! I'm sorry I sat on the throne, but it looked so comfortable..." Luna chuckled as the unicorn descended from the platform, looking at her with such a gentle expression upon her face. "But... um... aren't you supposed to be dead?"

"Twilight, I should tell you," she started, "This is all a dream. Ponies that have passed can still appear in the dreams of their living loved ones. How else could my sister's vestments suddenly appear on you?" Looking down, the lavender mare screamed in surprise. Indeed, Celestia's necklace, shoes and crown had suddenly materialized on her body, shrunk down to fit her proportions. She struggled in vain to take the gilded clothes off, yet they remained affixed to her body. "Interesting reaction," the midnight princess added. "I want you to see something... Princess Twilight."

With a soft giggle, everything began to spin and turn: the throne room warping and becoming a blur of colour and sound as the giggles turned into a din. Dapper ponies surrounded the pair, going about their business as if they could not see or hear them. The room was grey and expansive, yawning out into the sky, banners of purple and yellow hanging from the ceiling. They had obviously appeared in the middle of a high-class party easily the likes of the Grand Galloping Gala. Luna wound through the well-dressed crowd, the lavender mare following behind her, still trying to force the golden jewelery off her body.

The midnight alicorn stopped dead, pointing with a hoof to the high table. Twilight let out a soft gasp as they trotted over. A large alicorn stallion, coat and mane as dark as night, both speckled in stars, sat at the centre of the table. Beside him sat a regal alicorn mare, her coat a soft yellow, her mane a brighter yellow at the roots before fading to black at the tips. Flanking them sat two alicorn fillies, one with a white coat and pink mane, the other with a midnight coat and teal mane.

Naturally, her eyes settled upon the only pony of the quartet she recognized: the pony that gave her life. The younger Celestia looked like, in succinct terms, a geek. Thick, round glasses covered her rosy eyes as they bore into an old and ratty book. Large braces kept her teeth in line, since they obviously lacked the dental technology for any sort of subtlety. It looked like she had a lampshade on her head, to say it politely. Twilight could not help but remember how SHE looked and draw parallels, since her mentor was obviously an adolescent at the time Luna was showing her.

"Are they...?" the lavender mare breathed.

"My family? Why, yes they are, Twilight. You know Sol, of course, and those are my parents: King Altros and Queen Notia. If Celestia is technically your mother, that makes them your grandparents, you know. Of course, we also have Iah at the end."

"Iah?"

"As Celestia is to Sol and Eos is to you, I am to Iah. That was my name before I officially took my station as regent of the moon. Anyway, what I have to show you is inside her head."

Suddenly, the world turned black, only the filly princess and the grown version remaining with the exception of Twilight herself. Iah looked upon the princess with fear in her turquoise eyes, babbling as she sat on the invisible chair. "Why do you fear me so?" Luna asked, approaching the filly. She shied away, hiding her face from the imposing alicorn, whimpering. "Have I done anything to warrant such fear and distrust from you, Iah?"

The young alicorn huddled on the invisible table, whimpering in fear. "Leave me alone," she croaked. "Just... just leave me alone. Please." The darkness faded, showing the filly with her mane in her mashed potatoes, her father trying to coax her into voicing her distress.

"You are not the first pony to shun their inner deity, Twilight. I know from personal experience," the regent of the moon replied, her eyes fixed upon the filly. "I was afraid of Luna because I suddenly had this voice in the back of my head, whispering to me and trying to offer advice when I did not think I needed it. In hindsight, I was unprepared for the burden, and I was about five hundred years old at the time. I can understand why you think Eos is an evil mare, considering what happened that day."

Scuffing her hoof against the grey stone, the lavender unicorn suddenly felt very small in her presence again. "Why did you show me this?" she asked, straightening her posture as indignation quickly washed over her. "How... how can you tell me that Eos isn't actually evil? Look at what she's done to Equestria... to my friends! If anything, I'm MORE convinced she's evil!"

Luna sighed, looking to the ground dejectedly. "I can tell that I cannot convince you since I've heard you share Celly's iron will. Have a good day, Twilight," she spoke with finality.

The mare fluttered her eyes open, her internal clock rousing her awake. Looking at her hoof, the mare became certain the dream... or nightmare, ended as it was a snowy white with no royal vestments upon it. The earth pony stretched her legs with a yawn. Nopony had come during the night, her bags untouched and the ground undisturbed. Rolling up the blanket, Blueprint gathered up her supplies before continuing down the tunnel.

~*///*///*///*~

Even though the sun shone brightly that morning a feeling of gloom hung over the area: much like in Ponyville, but less subtle and more hopeless. Cresting over a small hill, a town lay ahead flanked by two mountains riddled with large cave openings. The buildings looked small enough to house ponies, but what were they doing in the dragon lands? Blueprint mulled the problem over as she descended, finally finding the road halfway down the steep hill.

Still, it was a mystery that did not really matter to her. She was far more concerned with finding her dear and valuable friend, even if he would not recognize her disguised the way she was. Although she had left Equestrian soil, she had doubts that bounty hunters, Vinyl included, did not really care about them. In fact, she could have sworn that she had seen an electric blue hair or two in the couple of days since she had left the tunnel.

So far, the architect impersonator was surprised by the overall nature of Draconia: mostly forested with the odd mountain or two dotted in between. Of course, one could never extrapolate what a nation's climate was like based off off a small portion. If she was not so afraid of fully-grown dragons, the disguised unicorn figured it would be a nice place to build a cottage or a house to live in.

Walking down the wooded road, the usual ambient noises filled the air, birds softly singing to one another. Overall, the white mare loved traveling in the forest: there was no hint of war or death, just peace and tranquility. She could see the appeal to Fluttershy's eco-friendly lifestyle. At least, that of the Fluttershy she used to know.

Not even that annoying voice in the back of her mind made itself present since that night in the forest. Obviously, the queen took the hint that no matter what, Twilight would not trust her. The emerald-maned pony smiled and happily trotted down the road as she hummed a familiar tune. Hopefully things would become even brighter once she found her oldest and most dear friend.

About a mile away from the city she spotted earlier, the white mare emerged from the forest, the settlement sprawling out before her. Dozens of ponies walked in fields flanking the roads, tilling the land for the next crop while harvesting the fruits of the last season. Many of the ponies working closer to the road looked at her with quirked eyebrows, confused by her chipper trot.

Blueprint looked around in confusion; each of the ponies appeared to be hopeless and lost, wading in a sea of depression. For the first time in days, the mare felt out of place as her happy gait slowed into a walk, a frown coming upon her face once she passed the farmers. However, another smile flashed upon her face when she imagined Pinkie Pie (the non-crazy version) having a field day in the town.

Almost a dozen similar fields passed by as the wanted mare wandered past the limits of the town. She did not expect to have any success in the very first town she happened across, but it made sense Spike would continue in a straight line from the pass. At the very least, she could ask around and see if anypony had spotted a baby dragon fitting his description and possibly know where he went.

However, the town itself had the same gloomy and depressing atmosphere that the outer fields seemed to covet. The white pony slowly made her way through the town, looking for someone who would stop and talk. Every time she tried, they all brushed past her hurriedly, as if some invisible threat hung over their heads. Judging from the state of the buildings, it would not be too hard to imagine why everypony seemed miserable.

She recalled that Princess Celestia once told her that the dragons would protect the ponies from monsters like manticores and hydras for a rather steep price. In exchange for their protection, the ponies would serve the dragons, mining gems and acting as slaves, more or less. That dispelled the mystery of why there were ponies in the country quite nicely, once she thought about it. Sometimes, she forgot things all too easily.

The doom and gloom of the town became all too clear to her as she pushed on into the town square. Still, Blueprint was still there on a mission and no amount of depressed ponies would stop her from finding her dear friend and number one assistant. "Excuse me, Sir," she asked a pony loitering near a fountain. "Have you ever seen a baby dragon around here? Came from Equestria, purple scales, green spines, no wings and possibly a chip on his shoulder?"

"Missy," grunted the aging brown stallion. "I can think of at least fifty dragons fitting that description. I've never heard of one comin' from Equestria though."

"That's fair enough. Thank you for your time," she replied before returning to the hunt. It was especially unlikely that she would ever find information from the first pony. Huffington was just dumb luck. Still, she would not be deterred and started asking everypony she could about her missing friend and his whereabouts.

After nearly five hours of searching, the white mare began to feel just as depressed as the rest of the town. Although it was sunny outside, the gray and dark brown woods of the buildings felt like they were in a perpetual rainstorm. Only a couple of buildings rose over two stories, each house packed tight on the little land there was between the two mountains flanking the town. It looked like a medieval Manehatten slum.

Blueprint sighed with her ears pinned to her skull: utterly dejected after asking what felt like the entire town for his whereabouts. Not a single pony had seen a dragon of that description, or too many of them to really even care: especially the young mares who were asked to care for the hatchlings. Could she ever relate to those ponies! When Spike was a hatchling, he somehow broke into the treasury room and nibbled on half of the crown jewels. She was STILL having her stipend garnished to pay back the damages!

Just as she was about to give up and get directions to the next town, the white mare walked into the town square once more only to happen across a crowd of ponies, looking at a disturbingly familiar caravan. Intrigued, the disguised unicorn walked up, joining the crowd who murmured in confusion and curiosity. The caravan was tall and dotted with the stars of the night sky, soft wisps of gentle blue painted on the wooden sides.

"Come one, come all!" boomed a powerful voice all of a sudden. "Come witness the magical might of the one, the only, THE GREAT AND POWERFUL.... T-R-R-R-RIXIE!" As she spoke, the side of the caravan collapsed into a stage, the familiar azure mare appearing in a puff of smoke. The ponies looked confused, no one applauding her entrance or appearance. Yet, she seemed to shrug it off, going into her show nonetheless.

"Watch in AWE as The Great and Powerful Trixie performs feats of magic not yet seen by pony eyes!" Blueprint rolled her eyes. If her suspicions were correct, then that altercation with the Manticore never happened, meaning nothing good would come of the performance. "Find yourself carried off by the entrancing stories that Trixie will weave for you, much like the first storytellers: the stars themselves!"

Magical fireworks and fanfare filled the air, several of the ponies taken aback by the sudden displays of magic. Some began to walk away, having better things to do, but the white earth pony lowered her haunches and sat, genuinely interested. So far, the performance resembled the quality of her first Ponyville show. All that had to be seen was if her attitude had followed suit.

So the show began in earnest: for her first feat of magic, she turned a plush doll she had (which Twilight immediately recognized as her stuffy doppelganger, named Bella) into a real pony that assisted her with the next trick. From there, the mare sawed her in half in a box and set the entire thing on fire, only to open both halves and reveal a dozen beautiful doves. Twilight immediately began to draw more parallels to the 'thank-you' performance she did after the Manticore incident then the other show.

Ponies applauded and cheered: those who had not left as soon as the show began stuck around to see it through to the end. After turning the doves back into her assistant, the azure mare began to retell the story of 'The Ghost of Greystone Tower' to the audience. Vivid images of the tale of unrequited love danced across the white pony's eyes, almost able to see the tears in the illusionary mare's eyes.

Once the compelling story finished, she seamlessly dove back into the show. Blueprint smiled as she continued; the references to and influences of Hoofdini far more clear to her than ever before. After suspending her manufactured assistant above a pit of magical fire, the mare went for the big finish. Her body bubbled and twisted as hooves became claws and bat-like wings sprouted from her back as her tail grew a stinger. The Manticore snarled, sending several ponies running before she turned back, giggling and bowing to her audience.

"Thank you, everypony! The Great and Powerful Trixie will be in town all week! Be sure to tell your friends," she spoke before vanishing in another puff of smoke. Her stage folded up on its own accord, a last blast of magical fireworks and fanfare blared through the square, announcing that the show had ended. The white mare smirked as she decided to pay her dear younger sister a surprise visit... at least to see how the years had treated her.

~*///*///*///*~

After having a light (and late) lunch, the white mare waited patiently for the crowds to thin out around the caravan. Apparently, Trixie's show had done a wonderful job boosting the atmosphere of the town. She could already feel the intangible gloom begin to lift, as if somepony had cast the light upon a room that had been in the dark for far too long. Only when she felt the crowd had mostly dispersed did she approach the caravan.

Taking a deep breath, Blueprint knocked her hoof against the wooden door, her back aching a little from the heavy bags on her shoulders. "The Great and Powerful Trixie grants you entry," the unicorn beyond spoke with an air of dignity and pride. The white earth pony pushed the door open, walking inside to find an interesting sight, The caravan was dark and lacked windows, but a dozen books sat on a shelf beside a desk, complete with writing tools to plan performances out on.

A ratty red rug lay upon the floor, giving some homely overtones to the dark space. A bed sat in the opposite corner, with room for only one pony, unsurprisingly. Trixie sat before a large vanity, combing her mane in a mirror, giving her guest no real attention. A coat rack sat beside her, holding her hat and cape on a lofty perch. She must have found them in the library closet before she left Ponyville for the last time.

The azure mare cast a glance at her guest, a smirk appearing on her face, mistaking her surveying gaze for one of awe. "Welcome to Trixie's humble abode. Have you come to shower the Goddess of Showmareship with the praise she so rightly deserves? Well, Trixie supposes she has a few minutes to spare, so you may commence with the compliments, my enthusiastic little admirer."

The white mare cleared her throat, trying to tune her vocal cords in such a way that the younger unicorn would not immediately identify. Sure, she could have used her magic to do so, but she might as well drop the disguise if she were to do that, since unicorns could sense another's magic. "Oh great and powerful Trixie," she greeted, her tone a little lower and carried more authority. "My name is Blueprint. I am but a humble architect."

Trixie quirked an eye at the white and green mare: her voice sounded disturbingly familiar, but she could not pin down where. Of course, the obvious question pushed the thought out of her mind. "If your name is BLUEprint, Trixie wonders why you are GREEN."

The mare sighed in simulated frustration. "Look, my parents were colour blind, okay? Every single time I introduce myself, everypony asks that same stupid question and it is getting on my nerves." Much to her chagrin, Trixie began to laugh out loud, most likely at her plight. It looked like she was still the obnoxious egotistical mare she was before coming back to Ponyville... in her world, or time, or wherever the Sorrel Hells the Pool of Midnight had plopped her down.

"Well, the GREAT and POWERFUL Trixie has never had that problem, nor does she care to hear about the puny little grievances of a commoner such as yourself. Quit wasting Trixie's time and tell her what you've come to see her for!" Trixie puffed out her chest and shut her eyes, the grating aspects of her personality shining all the more clearly with every second the white mare spent in her presence.

"I'm here for two things," she spoke plainly. "First, I need to know what you want to do about the queen. I know you're a former member of the Crusaders, so don't play dumb with me. I... I want to join you and help crush her evil reign once and for all!" She knew it would be a gamble, but hopefully by taking this route, she could find out if she could trust her sister or not. If Fluttershy could be so drastically changed... she did not really want to think about what Trixie would be like.

"Sorry to shatter your hopes, you foolish mare, but I honestly don't care if that horse lives or dies anymore. If you really want to be a gung-ho moron, join the Apple Clan in Appleoosa or the Party Poppers in Fillydelphia. You came here for nothing. Now, what is this second thing you want to waste my glorious and oh-so-precious time with?"

Taking a deep breath, the white mare turned around, shutting the door after she looked around in case anypony came walking up. "I need to know where Spike is," she spoke in her usual tone of voice. At first, the azure mare looked at her in confusion until, that is, the wave of realization washed over her. Trixie's eyes went wide as she surveyed the white mare in front of her.

"T-twilight?" she asked her eyes wide. The white mare nodded and closed her eyes, a bright flash over took the room, nearly blinding the azure mare. Once it subsided, the lavender unicorn stood before her, looking far wearier than she remembered. "Holy pony plop! It... how... where did you learn to do those spells!?"

"It's a long story, Trixie. I'm glad to see you, actually. I... had a run-in with Fluttershy and she... she..." Twilight began to tear up at the sheer thought of it. "Is it true? Is it true what the girls plan to do... once the queen is gone?"

"Sadly," the azure mare replied after a few seconds silence. "Now, tell me why I'm supposed to CARE that you want to find Spike? How am I supposed to know you're not some sort of spy, or golem made by the queen to gather information on me, hmm? Why should I let you walk away from this alive?"

"Well..." Twilight started. "I'm actually from another world, or timeline or something where you came back to Ponyville and fought a Manticore by turning yourself into an Ursa Minor with your illusion magic after you lost all of it for a little while. I can tell you stuff that you told me there that you've never told anypony ever."

"Oh yeah?" the showmare smirked. "Just try it."

"Well..." the lavender pony trailed, a hoof raised to her mouth as if contemplating. "For one, you're the Heir of Hoofdini. He gave you the hat and cloak on that rack along with a letter after he died doing the Rainbow Faint. In the letter, he even said he thought of you as a daughter. In addition, you told me that you felt, or feel bad that you've let him down by having everypony hate you instead of putting them in awe of your magical abilities."

Trixie opened her mouth in awe, a gurgling sound coming out of her throat as she tried to process just what was spoken to her. There was the possibility she could have read her mind, but mind-reading spells always made the target feel a strange crawling sensation, and she had felt nothing before or during the exchange.

"How did... I... You.... What!?" she stammered, unable to form a coherent sentence. The azure mare fell to her haunches, shaking her head in disbelief. How could it be possible? Unless she was a very, VERY good spy, she would never be able to guess. The lavender unicorn frowned at her, contemplating something herself judging by the look upon her face.

"If you still don't believe me, you know your little doll? The one you used in the show? Her name is Bella and I have a doll myself that looks like you since our mom gave them to use before we had to be spl---"

"I BELIEVE YOU, OKAY!?" she shouted, a hoof massaging her head. "Just SHUT UP and let me think for a minute here." The magician rubbed her temple and moaned as she tried to digest the information. On the one hoof, it meant she could finally ask her the questions she needed answered. On the other, she probably was not going to stay for a while. A magical bell rang above her doorway, distracting her from her musings. "Somepony's coming."

Without another word, Twilight Sparkle flashed, becoming the white earth pony once more. A knock suddenly sounded on the door just two seconds after her warning. "The Great and Powerful Trixie grants you entry," the showmare spoke. The door opened, a familiar face popping in. "Vinyl! What are you doing out here, you old pirate?" Trixie walked over and gave the bounty hunter a hug before allowing her to cross over the threshold.

The white unicorn glanced at the white mare with the green mane, as if x-raying her with her eyes. "Oh, I didn't know you had company, Tricky Trixie," she smiled. "I'm sorry if I harshed your groove."

"Oh, not at all. She's just an enthusiastic fan of mine who wanted nothing more than my autograph and to gaze upon my godly visage!" The white unicorn rolled her eyes and chuckled. "What can Trixie do for you? How's your friend Octavia doing?"

"'Tavia's doing fine. Dancing along to her own beat, but that's what I dig about her," she replied happily, breaking off the hug. "I'm afraid I'm here on business and all that jazz. I doubt you can, or want to answer, but I need to know if you've see that vexing older sister of yours."

"Twilight's giving you the run-around, eh? I didn't expect any less from that insufferable mare."

"Worse than you ever did, Tricky," Vinyl laughed. "Now, what do you know about Twilight?"

"The Great and Powerful Trixie has heard rumours that she's finally decided to show her stupid face, but thankfully she has neither seen nor heard from her. Sorry, Scratch."

"No biggie," she smiled, taking the lie as truth. "Later." With that, she trotted down the stairs, the azure mare waving her off until she turned the corner and disappeared from sight.

"I was one of her targets," Trixie started to explain. "Yet, as we tried to outfox each other, she got into a spot of trouble and I felt compelled to save her life. Eventually, we both decided that we just could not spend so much time hunting each other. So, we came to an agreement. I cut off part of my tail, and Vinyl would tell the queen that I had died. All I had to do was stay out of Equestria. I miss performing for the ponies there, but I have so many more interesting stories to tell."

"Why?" Blueprint asked as she walked closer, her eyes as wide as saucers as her heart beat fast. "Why didn't you tell her about me, Trixie?"

"I lived in Ponyville for six years. I made friends with the ponies who knew you best. You just did what you had to do during the Ursa Incident and... I grew up, big sister." Trixie looked to the floor, shutting the door with her magic. "Have a seat. I'll get some tea going while I tell you about Spike."

~*///*///*///*~

Many miles away, above the town of Wyvernis, a large and imposing stone castle sat upon the top of a steep and jagged mountain. The castle shared the same name as the town, for the settlement of servile ponies was owned by it. Smooth, straight lines of dark grey stone contrasted the enemy castle of Canterlot to a tee as the towers scraped the sky, as if to steal the clouds themselves.

As the sun began to rise over the opposite horizon, the green and purple dragon sat beside his window, watching as the twilight gave way to the day. He loved this time of morning, if only because it reminded him of a creature he loved and respected more than any other. Yet, she had hurt him so many years ago, without a single explanation as to why. Sure, the ill-set bone still ached to this day, but the emotional trauma far outweighed the physical pain.

How could she have hurt him, her friends and nearly destroyed their home before vanishing without a trace? He had already solved the dilemma some time ago, but he still found himself asking the question far more than was healthy. Spike sighed as he pushed himself away, getting slightly worried about his only friend left: Owlowiscious.

Sure, he liked to go out for nightly flights, but he was usually home in time for breakfast. When he left Ponyville, the horned owl had been the only creature to come along. He could not understand why, but as time went on, he figured it was because he felt a duty to keep an eye on him for... that pony. His clawed feet ticked upon the cold stone floor as he walked over to the soft and still warm bed.

Like most rooms in the castle, his bedroom was plain and humble. Grey walls were sparsely decorated with small gems and paintings. Unlike pony paintings, dragon paintings were made of coloured sedimentary stone, since the pony versions were incredibly flammable, as the dragon learned at a young age. However, since he was used to sleeping on flammable objects, the dragons allowed him a nice mattress made of hay and blankets, although many called him crazy for sleeping that way.

Spike yawned and stretched his limbs, used to being up early ever since he left the ponies. Thankfully, his experience with them proved invaluable to the king, so when the war started, he was immediately put on the council as an advisor on pony language, culture and history. Although he was not quite an expert on the latter, he happily contributed, if only to spite the queen for killing one of the few ponies he respected.

Just as he was about to give up on waiting for the owl, a rush of air grabbed his attention, light green ears shaking as the sound registered in his brain. Turning around, the brown owl sat on the windowsill, a letter clutched in his beak. "Oh so that's what took you so long: Trixie's in the area," he spoke, taking the letter from his friend who gave a happy and energetic hoot before fluttering over to his perch.

"What's gotten into YOU?" he asked acidly. "It's just Trixie, Owlowiscious. It's nothing to get too excited about." Turning the envelope over in his hands, he saw the typical scrawling of his name in light blue ink upon the white envelope. As much as she got on his nerves at times, it was refreshing to hear from a pony for once, as opposed to other dragons. Of course, he was leery of her letters at first, especially since the brown owl would hoot and pester her until she wrote: at first, anyway.

Dear Spike,

The Great and Powerful Trixie is doing just fine, before you even ask. There have been some developments in Equestria, as far as my contacts have been able to source. For one, apparently Zecora's body washed up in Ponyville last week: no surprise there. However, I just received an interesting visit from my friend, Vinyl Scratch. You know: the bounty hunter who drove me out of the country?

Apparently, she is on a very interesting assignment, worth some five hundred thousand bits! Considering the subject, I'm not surprised by this development. You see, a few days previous, I received a call from Dinky for a conference with the other Crusader generals, both present and former. Sitting with them, I kid you not, was one Twilight Sparkle! In fact, she visited me in my caravan just moments before my former nemesis showed up.

I am sighing right now as she is bugging me to no end to write to you. For being my elder sister, I have swiftly learned just how foalish she can be at times. Yes, Twilight, I'm getting to it! Celestia damn it! I still have the dictation spell going! Look at what you made me write, you little---

The baby dragon could not help but laugh at the letter and how quickly the azure mare had lost her cool. Yet, he was a little annoyed at how dumb she must have thought he was. Until, however, he made out the very clear writing he knew only Twilight could make. It was neat and proper, but small out of habit so that she could fit as much on a single page as possible.

Spike,

There are no words to express how deeply I regret what happened that day ten years ago. I can understand if you can never forgive me, since everypony told me how you left town just a couple of months later. I am so sorry! Written words can never express how deeply I regret hurting you and your feelings. If you can, please allow me the opportunity to apologize face-to-face. I need to see you, to hear your voice: I need to know that you're safe. Please, list a time and place and I will be there in a heartbeat.

Lots of love,

Twilight Sparkle.

PS: Trixie wishes to put her salutations here too! Honestly, you're not that important, Twilight!

A tidal wave of emotions, old and new swept over the young dragon as he read and re-read the letter, especially the section claiming to be from his oldest and most dear friend. He felt conflicted at best over the new information, especially the idea of her being back in Equestria. Spike had no idea what, exactly, was going on, but it probably did not bode well for him, or for the efforts to remove the queen.

~*///*///*///*~

Three days later, the false earth pony climbed up the steep mountain path, just south of the castle of the dragons. The massive building loomed over the valley, like the creature the ponies worked diligently to serve. She smiled as the thought of embracing her old friend came upon her mind. Although it had only been little over a week for her since she last saw the young dragon, it felt more akin to the ten years the other said she had been gone for.

Disguised as Blueprint, she had little trouble getting past the young dragon sentries at the entrance of the village, hanging a left to climb up a lesser-known access road to the castle on another mountain. Trixie would come along in another few days when she would perform for the king himself! The baby dragon apparently pulled some strings and assured the elder dragon that she could be trusted.

A smile crept upon her muzzle as she looked down on the pony settlement. Out there, she felt confident that Vinyl had not followed her and that not a pony in the country cared about her. After taking a deep breath, the white mare glowed and flashed before turning back into the purple unicorn he would recognize. Taking a look up towards the sun, she knew the hour had come, picking up the pace to reach the ledge above.

At the top of the winding path, standing impatiently was the green dragon. Her eyes glistened with tears as they made contact for the first time in what felt like ages: pure joy sweeping across her features. "Spike!" she cried out in a whisper, galloping the rest of the distance between them. He stood taller then she remembered: equal to her in height and able to wrap his scaled arms around her neck in a gentle hug.

Tears openly flowed from her eyes as she sobbed on his shoulder. "I'm so sorry, Spike!" she cried. "I'm sorry! I... I wasn't in my right mind when I broke your arm... when I hurt our friends. I... I was overwhelmed by Test Stress, only it was so much worse! I know that is no excuse, but please know how sorry I really am!"

The baby dragon softly patted her back, hugging her tightly as a part of his mind cried out that she was being sincere. Yet, the dominant part refused to believe her. "Why did you leave us, Twilight?" he asked quietly. "Why did you leave me, Owlowiscious, your other friends and Ponyville? If you were really sorry, you would have come back in a heartbeat. So why... why did you leave us for TEN years!? Why did you ignore us?"

"I... I..." she trailed. He just had to ask the most difficult question. How could she tell him that she was from another world? The hurt and pain in his eyes told her that he would never buy it, not at first anyway. She had to lie quickly if she was to save any face. "I wanted to come home... but I was afraid everypony would hate me after what I did. I sort of... stumbled upon Ponyville by accident. If I had known what it would have done, of course I would have come home that very day!"

Spike looked at her in hurt and contempt, his green eyes becoming cold. "Liar," he whispered. Twilight shivered under his gaze. He had obviously developed more then she anticipated, already able to cultivate the famed Dragon Lie Sense. "You horrible, horrible LIAR! What's your game, EOS? Are you here trying to taunt me, or did you send some stupid golem to spy on us!?"

"Spike," the lavender mare breathed, tears welling up in her eyes again. "It's me! Remember the time you ate the jewel on Celestia's crown and I took the blame? R-remember when I would take you with me to Pony Joe's and you would fall asleep on the table? Remember when I would read you those foal's stories to help you sleep? It's really me, Spike! How... how could you call me by that horrible name?"

"She... she put her memories into you, didn't she!?" Spike breathed in disgust. "I never knew she... she would go so far. Oh Twilight, why have you fallen so? Why... why did you become the queen? Unless... unless she only gave you the memories up until she SNAPPED!" Twilight backed away from the baby dragon, becoming increasingly afraid that he had become like the others.

"Oh no, you don't," the young dragon raised his voice. "Seize her!" Suddenly, over two dozen griffons, each plated in blue armour descended from their unseen perches. The lavender pony looked around, unable to move from shock. They surrounded her on all sides, spears and swords in their claws, all pointed at her. Even if she wanted to use her magic against them, there were too many of them, as a dozen more griffons and three fully-grown dragons came upon her.

"It's really me, Spike!" Twilight cried desperately. "Please, listen to me! I want to STOP the queen! I came from another version of the world where... where I didn't kill Celestia or Luna. I want her dead just as much as you do! I want to see her punished and destroyed like the evil horse she is! Please, you've got to believe me! Please..." Tears streamed down her eyes as they became puffy and red from the crying.

"At last, confirmation," he spoke coldly. "I think we can learn a lot from you... 'Twilight'" he made the air quotes gesture with his fingers. "Take her away!" Suddenly, three guards jumped on her and clamped three Mythril rings to her horn. Two more were swiftly applied to her hind legs before she managed to shake free, only to run into another guard who held her roughly.

The dragon turned his back on the proceedings in contempt, secretly unable to bear the sight. A lavender hoof extended from beyond the wall of guards, her head sticking over the griffon's shoulder. "SPIKE!" she called out in a desperate mixture of pain and fear. "SPIKE! HELP ME!! PLEASE!!!" Two more bracelets were clamped tightly to her front legs, digging into her coat and flesh. Tears continued to stream from her eyes, as the scaly claw of an adult dragon scooped her up into its palm and covered her, muffling her cries.

Later on, she would think back on that moment and swear that she felt her heart break the instant the red scales obscured her vision. She could feel the dragon lift off from the ground, carrying her to parts unknown as she bawled over his betrayal. If Spike, of all the living things on the planet, did not care for her anymore, then there really was no one... no living creature that she could trust. That last thought hurt Twilight more then anything else ever could.

For Whom the Belle Tolls

[Warning: This chapter contains mild depictions of torture. Reader discretion is advised!]

'Doooong, doooong, doooong, doooong, doooong,' tolled the bell of the clock tower in Canterlot as it signalled the hour. Since time immemorial, the tower had measured the march of time's hooves. Every clock in every land around the world hoped in vain to keep pace with it, yet it endured the centuries and millennia in stride. Like time itself, it stood indifferent to the plights of others, existing only to keep track.

Queen Eos sat in her office, almost finished tackling the pile of paperwork that sat before her. Somehow, she always got a cheesy thrill out of completing her paperwork as close to the deadline as possible. Even from beyond the other side of the mountain, the clock tower's toll rang clear through the old castle. She groaned in frustration, with dinner being another hour off, she could not start any of her other favourite pastimes lest she become berated by her nanny of an advisor.

"If I knew ruling this country had so much repetitive paperwork, I would have let at least ONE of those idiot alicorns live, if only to shove it all on their plate and save the fun ones for myself!" the queen cried in frustration. Over the past week, the rebellions had grown some stones and sharply increased their activity tenfold. If their stupid little song was anything to go by, the lavender doppelganger's return signaled the end of her reign. "By the stars, I need a vacation! How DID Celestia do all this plop by herself for a thousand years!?"

She slammed her head into the desk as the stress began to overwhelm her. It was a good thing she was immortal, because otherwise she feared all the stress would have cut down her lifespan by a quarter of what it should have been. A knock on her door elicited a groan from the goddess of the sun and moon: more bad news obviously. "Enter at your own risk!" she warned, not in the mood for any visitors.

A sheepish-looking earth pony entered the office with Stardance filing in right behind her: definitely bad news. It took all of her willpower to stop herself from setting the both of them on fire in retribution. The earth pony spy walked forward, prostrating before the monarch in fear and respect. "A thousand pardons for interrupting your important work, your highness," she apologized. The mare had a pink coat and periwinkle mane, perfectly normal and beyond the sight of the creatures she spied on.

"Arise, Vivid Grain," the queen spoke. "What news do you bring from Draconia?"

"Earlier today..." she trailed, "Master Spike, the advisor on Pony Affairs... laid out a trap for a pony to fall into. They took the bait and are now in dragon custody, your highness. The... the dragons have captured Twilight Sparkle. As well, he said she confirmed... the... the unmentionable rumour..." She winced, and rightly so as a stony look swept over the purple alicorn. On the inside, she was screaming, wanting nothing more than to spray the spy's blood upon the carpet. However, her annoying conscience overrode her desire.

"You are lucky that I make it a point not to shoot the messenger, Vivid Grain," she spoke calmly. "You are dismissed, before I change my mind. Stardance? Tell the royal winery to send up as many bottles of the cheapest wine they possess to my chambers. Also, organize a strike team to extract that stupid unicorn if none of the rebels do so in the next week." The spy bowed deeply and exited the room as swiftly as she dared, the unicorn advisor becoming concerned.

"Of... of course, my queen," he bowed before vanishing in a flash of light.

Shoving her paperwork aside, the queen herself vanished from the office in a flash of bright magic. She was in no mood to suffer a walk through the castle to her intended destination. It was a large, expansive room created for the sole purpose of practicing powerful magic. The walls were as white as the rest of the castle, carved in thousands of runes to cement the spells that made it function. Eos screamed in anger and frustration as her horn glowed in lavender energy.

"STARS-DAMNED BUCKING DRAGONS!" she screeched. "Damn you to the Sorrel Hells, Spike, you villainous traitor!" An illusion of the baby dragon appeared before her, created by the room in response to her desire. She picked the illusion up and shook it roughly with her magic before she tore the limbs off of his body. Simulated blood flew everywhere as she scattered the limbs and severed head to the winds. "How could you do such a thing!? Didn't you LOVE us!?"

Hot tears seared the queen's cheeks as her mane and tail simmered in indignation, three fully-grown dragons emerged to replace the felled juvenile. She darted forward, impaling the nearest one with her horn before she ripped out his intestines and strangled the second one with them. Her eyes burned in pure magic as the tears refused to abate; the third suddenly exploded and rained blood all over the room, staining her lavender coat crimson.

Eos let out an infuriated scream as the other two dragons succumbed. "Why, Spike!? WHY!!! I was going to forgive you and let you LIVE after the war, but NOW? I'm going to execute you MYSELF, you TRAITOR!!!" The alicorn fell to her legs, the illusions washing away as she broke down and sobbed.

Why did she care? He did not betray HER; he betrayed the OTHER her running about. Yet, the thought that he would so easily condemn the pony that raised him stung. He had broken her heart... what little of it that was not shattered to pieces already. The tyrannical Queen of Equestria curled up upon the floor like a foal, wanting nothing more than to end it all: to be rid of all the pain and suffering.

Composing herself after several minutes, the mare flashed her horn again and appeared within her chambers. Twelve cases of cheap wine awaited her arrival. After casting a soundproofing spell upon her chambers, she pried open the first case and downed the first bottle in one magnificent gulp. Throwing it into the empty fireplace, the bottle shattered and speckled the carpet in glass. She continued the process with the first two cases before levitating the remaining ten.

Stumbling into her bathroom, the queen started running the water. "Ninety-nine bottles of wine on da wall, ninety-nine bottles of wine. You take one down and drink it dry," she muttered in a slur, drowning another bottle in a single gulp before casting it haphazardly into the tub. "Ninety-eight bottles of wine on da wall..."

A couple of minutes later, the water stopped running. The alicorn flopped drunkenly into her bath, crushing five bottles with her side. Even as her blood stained the water red, she did not care, for the dozens of bottles she drowned had numbed the pain from the shards of green glass. She righted herself and emerged from the water, sobbing gently in spite of herself.

Bottle after bottle became consumed by the greedy mare's lips, yet her vision did not even blur, even after consuming enough drink to kill half the royal guard. The new wound to her heart had opened up older ones, bringing back that day where she forsook her teacher and her friends out of foalish anger and pain. As much as she regretted thinking about it, she could have used the former monarch's wisdom and comfort, even if she had lied so horribly to her.

"Why did you do it!?" she cried out in anger, before smashing her newest bottle against the door. "Why did you have to sell her out like that, you cold-hearted lizard! Didn't I raise you better then that? Didn't you love me? If you don't love me, then... what point is there in trying anymore!?" she slammed her hoof on a standing bottle, frowning as some wine spilled onto the elegant marble floors, glass embedded into her hoof.

Eos turned herself around and started bashing her head against the lip of the tub, remembering the faces and the words of the friends she killed. "Although you may speak in naught but lies, I see Twilight Sparkle in your eyes!" the phantom voice of Zecora rhymed.

"I deserve thish," the queen croaked as she slumped into the red waters, her forehead bleeding into her eyes. "I'm a monster and this is the hell I get for my crimesh." In fits of depression, she could not help but let the reflection of the purple mare shine through the cracks. It was just as the zebra said: Twilight Sparkle was still alive inside of her.

"I did wha I had ta do... it was either going to be her or me! Damn you for lying ta me, Celescha! If you had been OPEN, then maybe thish whole messh would have never HAPPEN! Why did ya hafta lie to me? I... I loved you like a mother, but I was jus yer TOOL! I h-hate you sho much..." Letting out a heavy sigh, the queen's muzzle dropped below the surface of the water.

Eos spent the rest of the night (after drunkenly raising the moon) like that, soaking in a tub that slowly became saturated with her own blood. Even after drinking all of the wine, she remained alive and alert. Everything would be better in the morning, but for then, she just wanted to wallow in her own self-loathing and pity.

~*///*///*///*~

"Thank you very much, Commander," Dinky spoke before her horn terminated the communication spell. The orb in the centre of the table went out, casting the room into darkness before the hanging lantern sprung to life. "What do we do about this, Crusaders? Do we mount a rescue, or let events play out? It's obvious that they'll try to put Operation Jormungand into motion now that they have The Key."

"Don't look at me! This is YOUR fault, Dinky," Scootaloo pointed an accusing hoof. "You should have just waited out the night and brought her back to base. Then we would still have her! My contacts in the Bounty Hunter's Guild told me that FLUTTERSHY, of all ponies, captured her too. You basically let our trump card go! You're a big feather brain, just like your mother wa--" The orange Pegasus' eyes went wide as her voice seized, her throat sparkling with magic.

"We needed ta show her that she can trust us," Applebloom calmly replied. "O' course, there's the possibility that Fluttershy told her OUR plans ta shake that trust, but we didn' tie her up an' gag her with stupid ol' tree sap! Now, is this somethin' we let Sweetie Belle in on, or is it part of Operation Blackout?"

"She'll find out eventually, whether from us, or that snake of a sister of hers. Tell her so that she doesn't become suspicious. She might be a spacey moron, but she can be pretty sharp when she pays attention." With a flick of her horn, the silencing spell on Scootaloo dropped. "Third warning, Scoots. Next time, I take your voice PERMANENTLY." The orange Pegasus raised a hoof up to her throat, glaring daggers at the unicorn.

Skilled with communication magic, Dinky was the one who perfected the Conference Spell with the use of the focusing stones. As well, she created the telepathic communication spell, which had helped countless times on stealth missions. Furthermore, she could grant or deny creatures their voice and could even translate old texts, making her invaluable in finding the Divinity Drain spell that they would need to kill the queen.

"Captain Snails?" the orange mare croaked as she opened the door. "Please find General Sweetie Belle and tell her that Twilight Sparkle has been captured by the dragons. There is no news yet on any extraction plans." The dull unicorn saluted before trotting down the stone passage, prompting a sigh from the Pegasus as she slammed the door. "Even her ponies are stupid," she remarked before seating herself at the table.

"Maybe, but she's useful, fer the moment," the former farmer stretched, placing her hat on her head again. "Sorry, girls, but ah gotta use the mare's room." With that, the earth pony left her two friends alone in the room together. Sensing the meeting had officially ended, the blond unicorn pushed herself away from the table as well before the orange stunt flier followed suit.

Meanwhile, the white unicorn known as Sweetie Belle sat in her office. Like most other rooms in the Crusader's main base, decorations were considered a luxury. A simple desk with a conference orb sat near the far wall, pictures of landscapes and newspaper clippings of her sister's designs filled out the small space. Papers lined her desk as reports from different bases filtered in. As the head for Administration Services, she had to keep all the commanders in line, and it was a really hard task.

A sigh passed her lips when a familiar knock sounded on the door to her office. "Come in, Captain," she chirped before the mustard unicorn stallion made himself known. "What's up, Snails?"

"Um... General Scootaloo told me to tell you... that..." he trailed, trying to remember the message. Sure, he was not the most intelligent pony ever, but at least he was honest. "Oh! That Twilight was captured by dragons and that there are no ideas on how to rescue her." With a pleased nod of his head, he happily trotted out of the room, the door shut behind him automatically.

The white mare sighed as she realized she was once more not included in a meeting between her frie--- former friends. Ever since Rarity left to become the queen's Royal Dressmaker, the rest of the group kept her at a leg's length. They must have thought she was really stupid if they thought she did not catch on, but she maintained the appearance of staying in the dark, if only to stay with them. She would miss them too much, despite how easy it was to see her as a spy.

With this new information under her belt, the singer got up from behind her desk with a steely look of determination upon her face. Just because she was pretending to be a fool did not mean that she could not stand up for herself. At the very least, she would march up to the others and demand to be told when the next meeting would be. Of course, after the thirtieth time, she had her doubts that they would listen to her.

Glancing at the clock on the wall, the mare stormed down the halls of the base, ignoring anypony who saluted or greeted her out of the sheer anger she felt. Descending upon the mess hall, she stormed to the back to find Dinky, Scootaloo and Applebloom happily eating their lunches, none of them paying her any attention. "Ahem!" she spoke, as if clearing her throat. Yet, they continued to ignore her.

"This is the thirtieth time!" she nearly shouted. "Twenty-nine times before, I asked you to TELL ME when we had an impromptu meeting, yet for the twenty-ninth time, you three have IGNORED me! I might be forgetful at times, but I am not an idiot! I think you're hiding something from me and I am going to find out what it is! Unless, of course, you'd like to tell me NOW and save me all of that trouble."

"Can you please pass the hot sauce, Scoots?" Dinky asked politely.

"Sure, here you go," the orange mare chirped as she slapped the bottle into the unicorn's hooves. Sweetie looked between the three of them: all quite blatantly ignoring her. A tinge of red developed in her face, a shade that would have made Rarity proud. The alabaster mare gave a short cry of frustration before turning her back on the three ponies to work off her aggression on something else. "You think she's beginning to suspect?" Scootaloo asked as soon as she was out of earshot.

The other two mares looked between each other for a brief second in contemplation before they all chimed, "Nah."

~*///*///*///*~

A massive set of double doors stood before him, carved of gray and white stone to impress upon visitors whose domain they were about to tread. Draconic designs of gaping maws and carved bones of lesser creatures blanketed the slate canvas, hoping to strike fear into the hearts of the servants and other lesser beings. For beyond the portals sat the domain of the oldest and most powerful dragon in the entire world.

King Bluefire of Draconia, Keeper of the Eternal Flame, waited patiently beyond the doors for news. Spike gulped audibly as a pair of dragon guards opened the impossibly heavy carved stones with but a casual gesture. Entering the throne room always put him on edge, as it was nowhere near as bright and inviting as Canterlot. Taking a deep breath, the advisor stepped forward to brave the face of the king.

Although the castle had charms on it to reduce a dragon's size to near pony height (if only to save on building and maintenance costs) the throne room could still hold a fully-grown dragon at full height. Therefore, the room could not afford windows without having to add columns, which would obstruct the full sight of the ancient and regal dragon, which simply would not do!

A throne of pure steel sat under the towering gold dragon, buffed to an impossible shine that reflected every beam of light. A large red circle of intricate design served as the cue point for royal guests to stop, as it served as a trap door and was within convenient biting or burning distance from the aging king. Spike bravely walked into the heart of it and bent down on one knee before bowing his head in great respect.

"Arise, advisor Spike," the gruff voice of the monarch called out. The baby dragon did as the elder commanded, rising in as slow and deliberate a manner as possible to not startle a member of the royal guard. "You are just in time for Lord Backfeather's report on your catch. Please, stand off to the side for when he arrives."

"Of course, your majesty," Spike replied carefully. He walked off the symbol and over to the side, making sure to never let even a hint of his back turn to face the king. Bluefire was known for having a short temper and an easily threatened sense of pride. Taking his cue from the king, he stopped walking and turned to face him fully once more as they awaited the griffon emissary.

He shuffled silently on his clawed feet, always getting a little nervous around the imposing dragon. He never felt that way around Princess Celestia and she was arguably more powerful than him. Yet, she always carried the same warmth with her as the sun itself and genuinely cared for all creatures in her kingdom. Bluefire, meanwhile, only cared for the dragons, since ponies were less to him than the gems he ate for breakfast.

At first, he was thrilled with the opportunities and title granted to him, since he always imagined what it might have been like to live with his own kind, rather than being raised by a stupid pony. Spike quietly ushered the thought out of his mind, hating the fact that the dogma was slowly getting to him. Dragons proved to be extremely selfish jerks, now that he thought on it, but it was too late to turn back.

Lord Backfeather entered the throne room in much the same manner as the baby dragon did just a couple of minutes previous. He was a tall and proud (if aging) griffon with feathers of charcoal gray and white in his plumage. He prostrated himself before the king before speaking. "Our examination of the capture is complete, oh exalted one," he proclaimed.

"Excellent," spoke the dragon king. "What are your findings?"

"We bring tidings of mixed benefit and drawback, my lord. You see, after a thorough vivisection, we determined that the mare sent to us by Master Spike is NOT Queen Eos in disguise. Her body has no hints of such transformational or illusory magic upon her. However, we have determined that her magical abilities easily MATCH that of the late Princess Celestia. In addition, we can confirm that she is an advanced golem, so she is very durable and can produce a lot of magic in a short span of time. As such, she will be perfectly capable of aiding Project Jormungand as planned, my lord."

"Good," growled the dragon. "Break her using whatever methods you deem fit, Blackfeather. I want Jormungand operational in one week."

"It shall be done, my lord," he replied before retreating from the dragon king.

"You are dismissed, Spike." The baby dragon quickly followed the griffon lord's lead, bowing out of the room before wiping the sweat from his brow once the doors closed. Once free of the oppressing atmosphere, he let out a quiet sigh and started his way back up to his room. A strange feeling crept over him at the news that they would be breaking the golem spy into submission. He did not care, of course, since it was just a tool the queen had sent to mess with his head.

Eos had given it her memories, so of course it thought it was really Twilight Sparkle. He had to admit, it could even copy her mannerisms and writing perfectly. Not to mention that it had a disturbingly vivid range of emotions that it could produce to fit the situation. Still, it was all a trick just to weasel information out of him. The queen must have been really desperate to try such a sneaky tactic.

Opening the door to his room, the baby dragon groaned in frustration as Owlowiscious turned on his perch so that his back faced him. "Oh, don't tell me you actually bought that!" he exclaimed as he slammed the door. "That's not Twilight: it was just some stupid golem the queen sent to mess with us!" However, all that met his ears was an angry and irritated hoot from the owl. "Fine, be that way, you featherbrain!"

With another slam of the door, the baby dragon left his room, heading to the one place in the castle that would calm him down: the royal library. Granted, it was not as large as the one in Canterlot, and it mostly contained books written in Drakish, but he had been learning, and the quiet air helped him relax. "I guess Twilight rubbed off on me more than I thought," he chuckled to himself as he started browsing. Then again, when one was raised by a bookworm, one tended to become a bookworm themselves.

~*///*///*///*~

Everything was dark and cold to her as she lay on something solid, yet soft at the same time. For a couple of minutes, she almost thought she was back in the Pool of Midnight, having the life squeezed out of her. A shiver ran over her body as she inhaled, a deep, musky scent irritating her nose into sneezing. Twilight opened her eyes only to be greeted by a dark blur as a wave of pain washed over her.

For some reason, she could not remember how she came to be in such a sorry place, or why she felt sore all down her belly. The unicorn groaned as everything came into focus: the dark stone walls sharpening as black, metal bars appeared in front of them. She laid on a red-stained bundle of hay on top of stone matching the walls. A foul-smelling hole in the floor sat near her head. Her only source of illumination was a torch in front of the barred wall, the other three being pure stone.

Everything slowly started coming back to the pony the longer she remained conscious, although she wished that it had not. They... a bunch of small dragons and a griffon entered her cell some time ago and chained her to the wall. They carried knives and other strange metal tools with wicked grins upon their faces. She tried to fight back, but her magic was cut off by seven Mythril rings upon her horn and limbs. She cried out in pain as she remembered them cutting into her body, ignoring her agonized screams as they surveyed and played with her organs.

The lavender mare slowly climbed off the bed of hay and moved as far away as her chained legs would let her, putting as much distance between herself and her dried blood as possible. She whimpered and cried as she remembered passing out, only for them to place smelling salts under her muzzle to wake her up and continue the sadistic exploration. Although her golem nature kept her alive, she did not want to face a world where her beloved Spike (and everypony else) hated and feared her.

Try as she might, she could not get the images of the dragons out of her mind. They were fully grown, but they stood about as high as the princess. Either they were small by nature, or some magic on the building was at work. There were three of them, she remembered, a purple one with large wings, a green serpentine one and a blue dragon that looked like his scales were made of metal. Another shiver ran down her spine as she imagined their claws bloodied with her viscera and the toothy smiles on their maws.

Bracelets of Mythril around her legs cut down the circulation to her hooves, each attached to a short chain of steel mounted to the far wall. Taking a guess, she had about enough room to walk halfway across the cell, which she approximated to be three pony-lengths wide and seven deep. A narrow door in the bars proved the only entrance into the room, aside from a ventilation hole smaller than a hoof in diameter. There was probably only one exit from the dungeons, followed by a gauntlet of of halls and guards. Even she could not hope to escape, not with those dastardly bracelets on her legs and horn.

Twilight shook as a pang of hunger ripped across her tired and pained body, only then noticing a bowl filled with the most disgusting and foul substance she had ever smelled (besides the hole behind her). However, she slowly moved forward, her chains ringing painfully in her ears as she walked. The gruel was as gray as the surrounding stone and bubbled occasionally like Froggy Bottom Swamp. Taking a deep breath, she plunged her muzzle into the bowl.

To say the food tasted disgusting was to say being eviscerated felt unpleasant. The librarian nearly gagged the moment her tongue touched the foul substance, but sheer hunger and force of will pushed her on to eat. After managing to keep the horrible 'food' down, she dunked her face into a waiting bowl of water to cleanse her pallet.

Another shiver ran down her spine as the mare realized she could see her breath down in the depth of the dungeon. With no other recourse, she returned to the bloodied hay and buried herself under it to both keep warm and to hide in vain in case a guard or torturer came back. She curled up into a tight ball under the blanket of hay, her mind quickly wandering to how she had come to be in such a horrible situation.

Oh, Spike, she thought as soft sobs echoed all around her. How could you... how could you DO such a horrible thing? Don't you love me anymore? Even if I really was that awful mule, how could you so easily condemn me to such a fate? I gave you everything... I loved you like a little brother... I raised you, and this is how you repay me? I guess I can't be surprised... considering Fluttershy, Pinkie and the girls. At least Trixie hasn't changed.

A loud clang down the hall beyond prompted the mare to quiet herself as the sound of claws upon stone met her ears. She prayed silently that it was just a guard coming to check up on the other prisoners... if there were any others. Another shiver crept across her spine, the hay doing nothing to ease the oppressing cold she felt all over her body. The mare welded her eyes shut, too tense to even look.

Thankfully, the sound of the claws moved past her cell door, down to the other end of the hall and back before the door shut with a thud. Twilight poked her head out of the pile of hay, genuinely thankful she had somewhere to hide. She had never been in jail before... unless she could count being confined to her room for twelve days for breaking an antique vase as serving a sentence.

"Why me?" she moaned to herself as her voice echoed through the chambers. "Why is it always me?" However, no pony, or creature spoke, causing her to worry that she was alone in the dungeons. Sure, being around others did not change her position, but at least she would not be lonely for long stretches of time. "Hello? Anyone there?" she called out, hoping that something would answer as opposed to her delusional chatter. She sighed as she realized how alone she really felt.

A short while later, the door at the end of the hall burst open, startling the lavender pony into hiding in her hay bed once more. A series of clicks sounded down the hall, causing her to quiver and whimper in fear at the memories form the nightmare before. All too soon, the clicks stopped... right outside her cell. "Well, well, well," chuckled a voice she immediately recognized as the griffon's. "It looks like somepony's awake. Good. Bring her out here: we're going to have some fun!"

Four armoured dragons entered the chamber: she could see them through the hay as they passed one-by-one through the barred door. They quickly surrounded her so-called sanctuary, snickering through their razor-sharp teeth. A claw dug into the grain fortress, making the mare yelp in surprise as they pulled her roughly out and back into the deeper cold. "Let me go!" she cried out in vain as she struggled against their iron grip.

The five creatures present laughed at her struggles as they used their magic to pull the chains off her bracelets without damaging them. From there, they used special hooks on each bracelet to link them together to keep her squirming to a minimum. Twilight tried to call out for help as tears streamed down her eyes, quickly becoming tired of being utterly helpless.

One of the dragons lifted her over their shoulder, the armour combined with her own weight putting tremendous pressure on her spine. However, she would not go down without a fight. She grunted and struggled, trying to use her horn as a weapon since she was robbed of her magic. Yet, the plates were too thick to pierce or even scratch, beyond a slight scrape.

The griffon following at the end of the group smiled and chuckled at her plight. "Aw, the little pony thinks she can actually escape? How cute," he grinned. Although she could only see behind the group (and upside-down to boot) she could tell they were heading for a door down the opposite end of the hall from the exit. Tears welled up in her eyes despite herself as she realized they were taking her into a torture chamber.

Her struggles renewed themselves ten-fold as she was taken into the room. Dried blood coated the floor and some of the walls that she could see. Iron maidens, metal sawhorses, waterboarding benches, beds of nails, the typical rack and even a Brazen Bull of all things lay within the chamber, just to name a few. The griffon smiled as he saw her survey their line of devices. "Oh, don't you worry. You're lucky enough that you'll be able to try out ALL of our little toys. First, however, we've got something special," he smirked.

Twilight was thrown roughly onto a flat, hard table before being rolled over to lie on her back. After separating the bracelets, they held her down and secured her front legs to light blue clamps on the table. The mare cried out as they dislocated her hind legs to put them in the binds, probably seeing her as some sort of toy since they knew she could not die of normal means. She cried from the pain as they tightened the braces, digging into her flesh with their sharp edges.

The griffon walked forward, pulling off an amulet he wore around his neck. "Now, as a unicorn, I'm sure you're familiar with Runite," he grinned at the look of horror that dawned upon her face. "Good, then I don't need to explain why this happens!" He took the amulet and pinned it to her chest, causing the purple pony to cry out in a bloodcurdling scream.

It felt like her body was on fire as corposant scoured her very soul. Twilight screamed and bucked in vain against the stiff clamps, tears streamed down her eyes as she strained her vocal cords. Although he only kept the magic amulet against her coat for a couple of seconds, it felt like an eternity to the mare. When he finally released her from the pain, she slumped against her binds, panting as if she had done the Running of the Leaves ten times over.

"That looked like it hurt," the griffon chuckled. "I've never seen a pony react so strongly to it. You must have a lot of magic built up inside of you. That's good. We could do this non-stop and have you broken in only a couple of hours... but where's the fun in that?" He looked to a corner of the room, ignoring her pained sobs and nodded in gesture for an item. In the meantime, he placed the amulet on her again, casting the mare into a world of pain and agony once more.

As soon as the insidious beast lifted the amulet from her body, she relaxed again by reflex. However, without so much as a moment to breath, a large weight crashed into her chest which made her cry out in pain as blood spewed from her mouth. One of the dragon guards carried a large, wooden mallet, holding it for her to see as she coughed up blood, a wicked smile on his face. Before she could even make note of her broken rib, the griffon placed the amulet on her once more.

Between applications of the amulet, they would do something else to make her feel the most pain possible with the least damage so she would not pass out. Sometimes, they would hit her various other body parts with the mallet, other times they would chop off just a little bit of her hoof or her ear, Worst yet, they would make her drink a foul concoction she swore consisted of hydrochloric acid. The cycle continued for hours, until they tired of her screaming. She was growing to welcome the idea of death.

~*///*///*///*~

Trixie sighed in a mixture of anger, frustration and weariness as she climbed up the steep road to the top of Wyvernis Castle. Security checkpoints had stripped her of her caravan and most of her aids despite her protests that they were merely props for her show. Needless to say, the guards refused to listen to reason and took them away. In fact, all she had left was her hat, cape, doll and the magic in her horn as they would give her caravan back after a more through inspection.

Obviously, some creative ponies had tried to kill the dragon king before. The only reason they even let her pass without the proper identification cards was because Spike had forwarded a description of her appearance and some questions to test her with. When it came to questioning, dragons almost literally took it to the third degree. Pun aside, she hoped it would be a one-time show.

The blue unicorn nearly collapsed the very instant she arrived at the castle gates, having to pause for several minutes to catch her breath and for another security check. Not even Canterlot had security that tight for something so casual, not that she had any personal experience, of course. Once they finished frisking her for any concealed weapons (one of them getting a little fresh with her hindquarters) they waved her through the gate.

Standing on the other side was the purple and green juvenile dragon, a genuine smile on his face as he walked up to her and gave the azure mare a brief hug. He stood taller then she remembered; as tall as her from hoof to the top of her horn. "Hey there, Trixie," he greeted. "How have you been? How was the trip up? I hope the guards didn't go too rough on you."

Turning to face the front doors, the mare and his guest went into the castle, talking as they walked up to his room. "Performances have been going well. Then again, I am The Great and Powerful Trixie. The guards coming up, however, are insufferable. It's like someone jammed iron rods so far up their rear ends that they have become their spines. One of them even had the AUDACITY to cop a feel of Trixie's glorious flank!"

"Sorry to hear about the guards, but they pretty much have to be that way after a couple of disgruntled worker ponies came to assassinate the king under the pretence of being performers. They were hung from the gallows the next day," he spoke dispassionately. It took the pair only a couple of minutes to reach his room, to find Owlowiscious asleep on his perch with his head nestled inside his wing.

"So, where's Twilight?" Trixie asked quite bluntly. "Let me guess: she's in the library to take advantage of the rare opportunity to read about draconic magic?" She giggled at her own joke, the sight actually very easy to imagine, considering the mare. If there was one thing that surprised her about Twilight, it was the fact that she did not need glasses with all the reading she heard she did.

"Sorry, Trixie but..." Spike trailed, trying to find the words to gently tell her she had been deceived. "Twilight's not here. Not the real one, at least. The one who visited you was all part of an elaborate ruse by the queen, the REAL Twilight, to spy on us dragons."

"I know I was joking, Spike, but that's just not funny," the magician huffed.

"Look at this face," the young dragon replied. Indeed, his face was deadpan and devoid of any emotion at all. It startled the blue pony; that much was for sure. "I am not joking."

"I call horseapples on this! Vinyl would not be hunting a false bounty, Spike! Besides, there is no WAY that Twilight Sparkle could be Queen Eos."

"She practically confirmed it. I have over two dozen eye-witnesses to support my claim. Queen Eos made a golem of Twilight, stuffed her memories into her and then sent her off to fool everypony and spy on us all!"

Silence hung in the air for many minutes, the tension so thick that the sleeping owl had woken up to figure out the source of it. Trixie surveyed the baby dragon from spines to tail, boring holes into him once their eyes met. "What. Did you. Do with her?" she asked, speaking very deliberately through clenched teeth.

"The GOLEM is being... coaxed into cooperating with us on a matter that is of no importance to you, pony."

"Pony? PONY!? How DARE you, Spike! I thought we were friends, you scaled little cretin! Then again, I shouldn't be surprised, since you're TORTURING the very pony that raised you from a hatchling! Let me tell YOU something, you over-grown lizard! If she's a golem spy sent by the queen, then how come she knows things about me that I have never told any living soul about!? And don't you dare say she used a mind-reading spell because unicorns can feel when one is being used on them, and I didn't feel it!

"She's from another world, another timeline or...or somewhere odd like that! There is no way the Twilight Sparkle I sent over to you, the one you have been torturing in the dungeons, is Queen Eos!"

"Oh yeah?" Spike asked, his tone becoming defensive and childish. "Just prove it!"

"Gladly!" she nearly shouted. "The Great and Powerful Trixie is the heir to nopony other then The Great Hairy Hoofdini. She has told nopony this because... well, she feels ashamed that for the longest time she humiliated ponies rather than having them love her magic! That librarian knew it, even how I FEEL about it! Did you know that HE gave Trixie this hat and cape? Twilight did, and I never told anypony about that either! She didn't hear my beloved Bella's NAME yet she still told me it off the top of her head! She IS Twilight Sparkle!"

"Y-you're kidding, right? Please, tell me you're joking!" The young dragon cried out as realization began to hit like a ton of stone.

"Look into my eyes, Spike," she added sternly. "The Great and Powerful Trixie is NOT joking."

Spike stumbled back and collapsed on his bed, his jaw open in a mixture of shock and disgust, mostly towards himself. "Oh, my gods! W-what have I DONE!?"

~*///*///*///*~

Overall, it had been about five days since the capture and examination of Twilight Sparkle, just the day after Trixie arrived to do her show. Although the baby dragon was not privileged to know her status, he overheard two dragons working on Operation Jormungand. Through their coded speech, he came to the conclusion that they were ready to go: waiting only on the king's approval to test fire the weapon.

Wisps of smoke and flashes of magic filled the throne room earlier that day as the showmare put on her best for the dragon king. Much to her chagrin, he was amused by the performance, but nowhere near impressed by the illusionary prowess of the unicorn. Trixie had even adjusted her stories to be more in-tune with dragon culture by placing the dragons on a higher pedestal then the ponies.

"... stupid, arrogant and all around ill-mannered!" the magician ranted in her friends' room. "He didn't even clap derogatively! What a cranky old, over-grown lizard!" Spike, meanwhile, just sat on the edge of her bed, letting the azure pony go, since he felt much the same way. For a long time, the king had hinted that he only kept him around because he was useful. Yet, if Jormungand was complete, he would not need him anymore... and when he did not need someone anymore, they usually wound up dead.

"Trixie?" he asked through her rant. "Are you about ready to go? I mean, if we want to do it, we'd better do it now, before it's too late." The blue pony stopped, looking out the window into the inky blackness of the night sky, only interrupted by the hundreds of stars on its canvas. Owlowiscious had flown on ahead to her caravan so they would not have to contend with unnecessary questions.

"Yes, The Great and Powerful Trixie is ready to go," she responded before her horn started glowing. Her body bubbled and twisted as she took the shape of a high-ranking dragon: one who had unlimited access to Jormungand, but whose presence at that time of night would not rouse immediate suspicion. She towered over Spike, bearing orange scales, large wings and a bad attitude. "How's this?" the dragon impostor growled.

"Perfect!" Spike chirped. "You look JUST like old Sabretooth! I just hope it's enough."

"We just need to get in for two minutes, little one. It will not be of consequence for long."

A chuckle overcame the baby dragon, despite the apparently old and imposing dragon in front of him. "You even have his mannerisms down! How did you DO that?"

"Years of experience, Spike," she growled. "Trixie has a gift for reading ponies just by their appearance. It works most of the time, but for ponies like Twilight... Let's just say I never expected her to wield so much power." Without another word, the disguised unicorn and the baby dragon walked down the halls of the castle. The pony could not help but smirk as the draconian and pony servants alike bowed to her like royalty.

However, a nagging thought in the back of her mind made her silently panic at the possibility that the REAL Sabretooth might make himself known, or that the guards would know where he really was. Still, it was far too late to turn back now, especially when some horrible, unknown fate awaited her sister. Sister: the word was so foreign to her, yet she could not deny that it felt... right.

She calmly followed Spike down into the basement, doing her best to maintain the illusion that she was leading him instead. A couple of the guards quirked their eyes at the pair, but mostly towards the baby dragon than the impostor. It was only then that Trixie remembered that most dragons could detect lies, causing her to gulp silently as they approached the guarded door at the end of a long hallway.

"Lord Sabretooth," the guard nodded. "What is the little one doing with you at such a late hour? Should he not be asleep on his little PONY bed? Or are you down here to beat some sense into him?" The guard and his partner chuckled at Spike's expense, the baby dragon not amused in the slightest.

"No nothing like that," the impostor chuckled. "I simply wanted to show the pony-lover what has become of his very first catch." She made a toothy smirk, eliciting some more chuckles from the guards. If only she could get a break, she would be a star on Broadway. "Now, if you will excuse us, we will only be a couple of moments, just long enough to let it sink in."

"Of course, sir," the second guard chortled. With a casual flick of their wrists, the door opened to reveal a second set immediately behind them. Once the door shut, she looked to the baby dragon. "Double lock system? Who knew?" After speaking, the second set of doors opened to reveal the room beyond. Both the baby dragon and the imposter's jaws dropped at the sight that met their eyes.

A massive dragon head hung from the ceiling, the gaping and toothy maw grinning at them. For a brief second, they both thought it was real and fully-grown before the lights kicked on. Its eyes were dark, vacant sockets as the head glistened and shimmered in the light of the magical torches. Elaborate designs were etched into the bronze plating, every scale crafted in pain-staking detail. The mouth of the beast held runes and devices the unicorn could never hope to understand.

Shaking themselves from the awe, the duo carefully checked the room to find that no creature else remained inside. Since their work was complete, the dragons working on the weapon did not need to stick around after the lab closed down for the day. Once convinced that they were alone, Trixie dropped her illusion as maintaining the spell was beginning to tax her. The hunt for Twilight commenced.

Immediately behind the face of the dragon was a mass of strange looking machinery all centered around a glass tube. Trixie's heart jumped in her chest as she raced up the metal catwalks with Spike in tow, their hooves and claws clanging loudly on the corrugated metal. They ground to a halt at the top, looking inside the tube: what they saw made them gasp and take a step back in shock.

Inside the tube was the shape of a pony unicorn, although it was hard to see how it could have ever been the lavender mare. Every inch of her body was a dull brown, almost like hardened clay, including her orderly mane and tail. She lay on the floor dejectedly, her eyes half lidded and absent their normal amethyst hues, darker lines of clay under her eyes which showed where tears still flowed from the empty pools.

Attached to her body were large suction devices, with black tubes connecting them to the rest of the machine. Despite the arcana-obscuring glass, Trixie could sense they were sucking out all of her magic, leaving the golem just barely alive so that she could produce more, obviously the machine's literal source of power. "This is... This is barbaric! We have to do something, Trixie!" Spike cried out, tears streaming down his cheeks.

With a charge of her horn, a tiny purple unicorn doll floated out from under her levitated magician's hat. Since her beloved Bella looked so much like her anyway, it did not take a lot for her to shift the doll's appearance into a vivid doppelganger of Twilight Sparkle. After the illusion was complete, the lavender doll shimmered and glowed as a portion of the azure mare's magic was poured into it. "There," Trixie panted. "That should buy us some time, since I'd bet my left hoof an alarm will sound if it doesn't get any magic. We'll have to move quickly."

Nodding his head, the dragon used all the strength he possessed to lift the thick and heavy glass wall between them. Trixie manipulated the magically-charged doll into roughly the same position as the (now brown) unicorn. With a flick of her horn, she quickly manipulated all of the suckers off of her body and onto the fake Twilight. Yet, her horn did not die down as she quickly cast an invisibility spell and a featherweight spell before lifting her onto her back.

"I should have just enough magic to spare to put that illusion back up for a minute or so. Let's move!" Without another sound, the mare and dragon rushed to the door with the golem on the other pony's back. Just before passing through the double set of doors, the azure mare activated her disguise, laughing as the door opened. "Soon we'll win out over the ponies, just you see, Spike!" the impostor slapped him roughly on the back as the young dragon began to chuckle uneasily.

Sure enough, the spell lasted just long enough for them to round the bend and emerge from the basement, Twilight still invisible on her back. Thanking their lucky stars, the two saboteurs fled the castle as quickly as they dared without drawing attention to themselves. The dragons at the checkpoints paid no mind to either of them, as they were more concerned with keeping ponies out, rather than not allowing them to leave.

Hooking herself up into her caravan, the azure mare pulled away from the castle in a light canter, sweat running down her brow from the magical and physical effort she just put herself through. Meanwhile, Spike attended to the still invisible Twilight Sparkle, both of them hiding under the stage in a crawlspace the showmare designed to house her lights and to safely launch fireworks.

No further checkpoints could detect the trapdoor in the stage, as with every checkpoint she had to cross before. Trixie smirked as they left the town and castle behind, although she had to admit that a small part of her regretted leaving her oldest and dearest foalhood toy behind. Yet, life would not be what it was unless it required a few sacrifices.

Dreaming on the Buffalo Plains

Blinding white soon yielded to softer tones of grey before her tired eyes. She felt incredibly stiff, yet she found she could move with more fluidity and agility then she thought possible. Twilight Sparkle rubbed her eyes to be rid of the annoying blur that refused to bend to her will and tell her just what was going on. The last thing she remembered, those cursed dragons dragged her into some sort of glass tube after she failed to respond to pain anymore.

Yet, as much as she wanted to, she could not feel the pain from her injuries... or anything at all, once she put her mind to it. Did they kill her in that machine, or was she simply dreaming between the nightmares again? Every detail felt fuzzy to her, despite how cold and sharp she could remember them being. She stood in the small room, contemplating it before the door opened of its own accord.

"Hey! Get out of there!" called the voice of a pony. The lavender mare jumped at the sight, before automatically obeying after seeing she had somehow ended up in a broom closet. "She's my date!" the stallion chastised before grabbing the mop that had sat beside her. With a huff and an upturn of his snout, he trotted down the hall, whispering things to the broom that one did not repeat in front of other ponies.

"Okay, new theory," Twilight spoke to herself. "I'm either dreaming, dead, or CRAZY."

"Well, we're ALL a little crazy sometimes," a voice giggled behind her. The librarian jumped at the sound of the voice, nearly impaling her horn in the tall ceiling before landing in a heap. It carried a disturbingly familiar tone and mirth: so much so that she almost chastised the pony by the name of her pink friend. However, as she pulled herself off the floor to get a good look, there could be no way that it was Pinkie Pie. "Hi there! My name's... hmm... I can't remember. Ah well!"

She was a pure white Pegasus with a golden mane and equally golden set of eyes. In many ways, it appeared as if her Blueprint disguise and her pink friend had merged! But that was preposterous. "Are you... in some sort of disguise, Pinkie Pie? If you are, I'm rather impressed about how you managed to make wings like that."

"Pinkie? I'm not pink, you silly filly! Wait, Toasty! Come back! Sorry but I gotta go, bye!" With that, she was off, chasing an animated toaster down the long, vaulted hall. Twilight felt her eye twitch and jaw drop at the possibility of a fully sentient inanimate object, but a flush of cold washed through her body after a quick glance at her own hoof. After gathering her composure, the lavender pony started walking down the halls.

The building looked identical to Canterlot, except for the fact that it changed colour every so often (or a mix of them) before an eye or a multi-coloured hoof would suddenly jet out of the wall. In fact, the only thing constant seemed to be Twilight herself, as turning down a bend in the hall, she found everypony walking on the ceiling while carrying buckets of water up-side down... or was it right-side up? Either way, the mare could not seem to bend reality to her wishes, as she had been trying to induce a lucid dream for years and knew all the signs to look for.

"...And I'm leaning more towards crazy, now," she spoke, breaking her inner monologue. "Well, if I m dreaming, then maybe it is trying to tell me something. Right now, I can only think of is 'don't get captured by dragons who want to use you as a power source for an ultimate weapon.' But, somehow I think that might be a bit difficult to get across in a dream."

A sudden chuckle echoed through the hall right before a large trapdoor in the middle of the hall opened under her. She let out a quick cry of surprise before falling through countless visions she identified as her memories, some she could recall, but most looked foreign to her. Although she fell at speed, she could make out a couple of the unfamiliar ones: a crying filly that looked like Trixie, and the princess walking towards her in a dark, cold room made of stone with utter contempt on her face. The coldness in her eyes made her shiver involuntarily.

Twilight landed with a soft thud onto a precisely stacked pile of red velvet pillows. Dazed from the fall, she barely registered the sound of hooves against marble as a pony approached. When she could finally gather her wits, she looked to the source of the hoofsteps with a little trepidation, not quite sure what to expect due to the circumstances. A series of emotions blew over her suddenly when she registered who she was looking at, awe fading to fear before degrading to shame and anger only to settle on frustration in, as Rainbow would put it, ten seconds flat.

It was a tall and regal mare. Her coat was a soft canary yellow. Her mane started off as a bright, sunny yellow before fading into a deep, shimmering black with points of flickering white to represent the stars as it billowed softly in an unseen breeze. Upon her hooves were purple, star-studded shoes that tied in to the tips of her mane, contrasting the the glowing white crown on her head.

"Let me guess," the unicorn spoke dryly to the regal alicorn queen before her. She knew she should have probably paid more respect to her, but things were becoming tedious and annoying, so the venom in her voice seeped through. "You're here to tell me to stop thinking Eos is evil? Well, I'll tell you what I told Luna: I've seen too much to believe she is anything more than a demon. So, if you will kindly send me back to my torture; that would be nice."

"Do NOT think you can anticipate my motives, Twilight Sparkle!" the mare scolded. Twilight recoiled a little at the sudden shout. "I sense a little of my dear Celesta's ARROGANCE in you, I daresay. Once upon a time, she too felt she knew better than I, her own mother. She reaped her reward for doing so," Queen Notia sighed sadly.

"I'm sorry, your highness," the lavender pony replied quickly with a deep bow as she stood, the pillows having suddenly vanished into thin air.

"Please, just call me 'Grandmother,' Twilight. Actually, that is why I am here, not to put too fine of a point on it. You see, I have heard from a very reliable source that you are... hesitant to embrace your royal blood. I do not blame you for doing so, considering Celestia's past sins and your nature. You are a humble mare, yet you often let your humility get in the way of doing what needs to be done. It still does you credit, much as your insightful nature."

"So, um... why ARE you here, your highne- Grandmother?" She could not help but blush by calling a former queen of the country by such an informal title. Queen Notia chuckled at her plight before ascending to the throne, which had become as plush as a cloud and an acidic green in colour.

"That was not so hard, now was it?" Turning around to sit, she looked down upon the lavender mare with that same air of warmth that Celestia would give: as if all was well with the world, no matter how dire the situation. "I am here to tell you something you already know: you just need to be reminded in order to handle the task ahead. You have to have faith in your friends; they love you for who you are. I also know that Celestia loves you too, even more than life itself.

"It hurt her to lie to you for all those years about your nature, there is a lot of love that she holds in her heart, and it is out of that love that she did not want to hurt you. Granted, her initial plan was a little monstrous, but coming from her, it was actually quite benign in comparison. I am sure that you would cause her insurmountable pain and suffering if she EVER thought that you did not return her feelings for you."

"But... I do. I do love her. I just... I don't feel like I've earned the right to be called her daughter. Not after what I did that day," Twilight sighed.

"If you earnestly feel that way," the old alicorn spoke, "Then go out there and mend the wrong done upon you and the nation. By doing so, I assure you that you will earn the right to be called one of our bloodline. Despite the fact that you are a golem, Celestia's blood courses through your veins: never forget that, Twilight." Before the lavender mare could utter another word, the world turned into a white void of warmth.

~*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*~

The Great and Powerful Trixie sighed to herself as the light began to fade from the sky. Pretty soon, they would have to stop and make camp again. A cool breeze swept through the trees as the twilight hour descended upon her and her fellow fugitive friends. For the last couple of days, the ponies (and one baby dragon) journeyed through the outlands, since they had to head west to reach Appleloosa.

Certainly, going to that neck of Equestria was risky for them, since Applejack had a mean streak about as long as the plain she now inhabited. But between the mountains, contested passes and the bounty hunters that watched the tunnel, there was no other recourse. The only other way around the mountains was to go east and down the coast towards the city of Manehatten. Due to the city's size, it had the most dedicated and well-equipped police force in Equestria, so it was out of the question to go there. That left lawless Appleloosa as their only option.

"Spike?" she called back into the caravan, the yoke for it strapped around her midsection. "How's our passenger doing? Is there any change from this morning?"

After a couple of moments of silence, the tired sound of the baby dragon sounded from beyond the wood, muffled by the walls. "Yeah, there is, actually. Her coat is its usual colour, but she's still fast asleep!" he updated. The azure mare heaved a sigh of relief as she continued down the dirt road. Just two days ago, they had rescued her from the spiny clutches of the dragons. Over time, she slowly began to resemble a pony more and a lifeless construct of magic less.

But how did Trixie feel about all the events spiralling out of her control? Out on the road, she had nothing but time to think. Formerly, she used it to wallow in her own self-pity between shows and justify her obnoxious behaviour. She would be the first to admit she could be self-centered and indeed had an ego to match any dragon out there, but when it came to the lavender unicorn, she could not help but want to give her all to her.

But, now she knew that she was actually a golem the whole time; that she was not actually her sister after all! So, why did she do it? Why was she sticking her head out for this nopony when she could easily sell her out to the queen and not have to travel around in fear? It was... strange for The Great and Powerful Trixie, but she could not deny that she had grown to care about her, either from her genuine encounters, or the tales she heard about her over the years. Still, it was quite necessary to make tracks, since the dragons would be furious when they found their power source missing. She had no doubt that they would connect the dots between their disappearances.

Unfortunately, even as she walked down the path, she could not find a suitable place to camp for the night, or even a good place to get off the road from. The shadows of the trees grew longer as the queen began to set the sun and usher in the night. Traveling on a road in the dark was never a smart idea, since there was no telling what roamed the woods or the simple fact that other ponies (or something worse) could also walk into them.

Of course, the worst just had to happen as the light of the sun finally died for the day. A bellowing roar sounded all around them and shook the trees free of fleeing birds. "Horseapples," Trixie breathed before breaking into a gallop. One bad thing about being so boisterous and flamboyant had to be how recognizable she and her caravan were. With the nearest trees several hooves away from the road, the large wagon could easily be spotted from the sky.

The beating of thick, webbed wings filled the air over the sound of the azure mare's panicked hoofsteps. Another roar filled the air, shaking the fleeing mare to her very core. A sea of vivid red scales filled the star-speckled sky directly overhead, a sign that the dragon knew they were there. Sure enough, the flying lizard banked to the left, putting his spines and spiked tail on full display.

Trixie's breathing became shallow and erratic as she pushed her body to the very limit. Her muscles screamed in agony as she pushed herself and pulled the cart with all the speed she could muster. Sweat dripped from her brow and into her eyes, nearly blinding the mare. She knew she could not outrun the faster dragon, but she could see an opening into the woods up ahead that would afford swift escape.

Suddenly, her cart lurched upward, nearly taking her with it. Twisting her head back to look, she saw two sets of massive claws dug into the sides of her caravan. The dragon tried to take off with the entire cart, so she stopped him by magically compressing the air between them for a brutal blast of pressure. He roared in surprise, ripping the top off her caravan to reveal the scared baby dragon and the unicorn passed out on her bed.

Although shaken from the pursuit, the dragon returned with unparalleled fury. However, with the extra weight removed from the cart, the magician picked up speed. The dragon bellowed again impotently as she dragged the cart beyond his grasping talons. Spike cried out and hid himself under the bed at the sight of the fully-grown lizard's angry gaze.

Summoning as much magic as she could, the showmare slowed down to cast a spell just before the break in the trees. The dragon grinned and inhaled deeply as he swiftly gained on the pony and her tacky little cart. He would make them regret stealing their weapon! It would be a shame that they would not be able to torture the blue one for her crime, but not even a dragon could get everything it wanted.

A belch of fire quickly erupted from his jagged maw as he released his breath, the tongues of flame lapping at the wooden carriage the pony pulled. The conscious passenger screamed as the caravan became encased in the torrent of cleansing fire and wove wildly on the dirt road, the showmare too pained to watch where she went. Satisfied, the dragon flew past and arced around when they slammed into a tree. He extended his arm, ready to pluck the golem from the wreckage. Just as his claw made contact with the clay pony, the wooden cart evaporated into thin air.

Trixie held her breath, going as fast as she dared through the woods with the noisy cart. It would not be long until the dragon figured out their deception and she did not want to stick around to see. Unhooking herself from the destroyed (and still smouldering) caravan, she levitated the sleeping pony onto her back before the baby dragon piled what he could onto a small wagon she used to carry larger, magically resistant props.

With a quick gallop, the three ran deeper into the woods: the perfect cover from the areal hunter until they could reach the Appleloosan Plains. The tightness of the trees would also prevent griffons from joining the hunt for the lavender mare as well. Plus, the dragon would not be likely to burn the forest down, since it could take several dragon cities with it. Although her legs screamed at their exertion, she refused to listen, running at full tilt for an hour, until she was sure they were safe.

"I think... this place... will make... a good... camp," she puffed as she slowed to a crawl. Breathing heavily, she plopped onto the ground with as much dignity as she could muster. Trixie ignominiously dumped Twilight beside her, having given up on dignity for her load. "Can you take first watch, Spike? I'm beat."

"Sure, Trixie," the young dragon puffed as he pushed himself up from his laying position. He left to gather some wood for the night's fire. There was still a little bit of light left in the sky, so there was no extreme rush to get things going. Once finished with the task, he grabbed a blanket he salvaged from the cart and placed it over the two sleeping mares before huddling up to the campfire. He smirked when he saw Trixie subconsciously cuddle up to the purple pony: he would make sure she never lived it down.

~*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*~

Gentle chirping passed across her ears and the cool breeze blew around her and tangled up the hairs of her mane and coat. Her nostrils flared a little as the fresh scent of roses and morning dew rode on the gentle wisps of wind. It had to be a trick: her mind probably trying to deal with her situation by not dealing with it. The moment she opened her eyes, she would be back inside that horrible room, attached to that awful machine.

Twilight refused to let herself be disappointed by the world again, even if she was too depressed over her best friend's betrayal to really care about anything anymore. That was why she caved in to those foul demons called dragons: she just did not care anymore. All of her friends saw her as either a tool to be used, or a monster to be destroyed. No pony on the planet honestly cared.

"Well," spoke an arrogant voice from the darkness. "We'd better get moving again. Trixie is honestly surprised that we made it through the night without being attacked!" A couple of sharp bucks on a tree echoed through the lavender pony's ears. "Let's pick her up and get moving. As much as I hate the idea of going near Appleloosa, it will be far safer for us then here."

Although she would regret ending the dream of being asleep in a relaxing field, the purple pony opened her eyes only for them to go wide at the sight before her. Sure, she was not in a field, but it was close enough. The small grove in the middle of the forest served as an adequate shelter from any patrolling griffons or dragons overhead. Soft hoofsteps approached to her left, making her turn her head to see Trixie approaching.

"Oh, good," she spoke to seemingly nopony. "She's awake. Trixie must admit that it is no easy feat to lug you around on her back, even with a featherweight spell, Twilight Sparkle." The azure magician could not help but let a grin spread across her face as she walked, relieved that she regained enough magic to stay conscious. "Not to imply that you are heavy or anything, but as a librarian I doubt you get much physical exercise."

With a little help from the younger mare, the scholar managed to get to her hooves once more causing her legs to shake a little from lack of use. She took a deep breath and sighed, not in any sort of mood to argue with her over anything. Twilight felt lost: like she was stumbling about in a fog of ignorance with nothing to do but scream at the shadows as they crossed her path. She could not even fake a smile when she saw the worry evident in Trixie's eyes.

"I'm not going to ask the obvious question," the blue mare started, "since we both know that you're not okay. Nopony would be after what you just went through: Trixie doesn't even want to pretend to understand how you feel."

The librarian avoided her gaze and nodded her head solemnly. Then she saw the young dragon out of the corner of her eye. Spike kicked at the ground dejectedly, unable to meet her eyes. A surge of emotions rushed through the indignant unicorn: she wanted nothing more than to punish him for his betrayal like he deserved. Yet, she could not bring herself to let loose her righteous fury upon him. It was not worth the trouble.

A couple of minutes later, the group set out. Due to the events of the night previous, Trixie led the way, staying off the roads. Years of traveling had given her a nigh infallible internal compass, so she felt confident that they could reach the plains in a day, or two on the outside. Meanwhile, she remained ignorant of the melodrama taking place behind her.

For the entire morning, Spike kept to the back of the convoy to give Twilight the space she deserved. As much as he dreaded Twilight confronting him, the lack of punishment or even acknowledgement of his existence hurt him even more. Meanwhile, the purple unicorn kept her head low to the ground, her eyes half-lidded in contempt for her surroundings and for the void she felt in the pit of her heart. She knew nopony cared about her now, that they all saw her as the hunk of animated clay that she was. Why did the universe seem to insist upon her continued survival?

At about noon, the troupe stopped at the banks of a river to eat, drink, and rest for a while before they continued with their trek. Twilight sat and rested herself, but she did not eat or bother to drink. She felt constantly weak and weary, most of her magic still gone, but she was recuperating slowly. Trixie and Spike snacked on some of the plants lying about and drank from the stream before joining her to rest.

"Twilight, if you don't eat, you won't recover your magic before we get to Equestria," Trixie spoke in a motherly tone. It surprised the unicorn a little bit to see her acting like that.

"Why do you care?" she croaked from lack of speaking. "Or, wait... let me guess: you want to use me as well and are only acting civil to me to gain your trust? Well, you can forget it, Trixie! Everypony's made it clear to me that they don't give a buck how I feel: just as long as I have my magic. Well, you know WHAT? I DO have feelings, you rotten little... so-and-so! JUST BECAUSE I WAS NEVER BORN DOESN'T MEAN I CAN'T FEEL!"

Trixie leaned back where she sat, a hoof raised in pony instinct, ready to flee from danger in an instant. However, when her tirade ended, the azure mare eased herself and sighed. "Trixie is... I'm sorry, Twilight. I should have figured that mentioning your abilities would be a sore spot for you right now."

"Go stuff yourself!" she rudely replied. "I don't need you OR your charity, or ANYPONY at all! I CAN FIX THIS ON MY OWN! Just leave me ALONE! I just... I just..." Sobs escaped her throat painfully as she began to cry, lowering her head in shame. Sudden warmth came over her as she found herself in the tight embrace of the other unicorn. "Who am I kidding? W-what could I possibly hope to accomplish on m-my own?"

"Shh," Trixie soothed with a pat on her back. "You still have me, Twilight. I was the one who convinced Spike that you were you and not some spy, so we could save you. Plus, you still have Owlowiscious and our mother. We all feel lonely sometimes, but when life gets dark, you just have to think about what you DO have and love them all the more."

The lavender mare continued to sob for another couple of minutes until they dried into naught but sniffles. She gave Trixie a little squeeze and broke off their hug to dry her eyes with her legs. Instantly, she wheeled on Spike, who hung his head in shame as she approached. "I might have broken your arm that day, but you broke my heart, Spike," she spoke softly. "I'm sorry... but I don't think I can ever trust you again. I'll try to forgive you, but... I just can't right now."

"That... That's fair," the baby dragon whispered. His eyes went wide as the lavender mare dragged him in for a quick hug. Tears slipped down his cheeks as he hugged her back, knowing that she still loved him nonetheless.

"Oh PLEASE. Will you two OLD NAGS get a room already!? The Great and Powerful Trixie will not suffer something as girly as these feelings: lest you reap her fury in the form of her awe-inspiring magic coming down upon your head! Especially when you are wasting her time as she tries to save you from the dragon hordes."

Twilight turned around to face her, shocked by her sudden change in mood. "But Trixie, you were being even sappier just a minute ago. How can you go from gentle and loving to callous and obnoxious at the drop of a hat like that!?"

"A mere commoner such as you cannot hope to understand the mystical might that is The Great and Powerful Trixie!" The performer boasted with a flurry of fireworks and trumpet of fanfare. A giggle slipped out of the lavender mare's mouth at how over-the-top her sister could be. "See? It made you smile! If her AWESOME magic can make a sad-sack like you crack a grin, then she is obviously the most talented magician in all of Equestria!"

"Never change, Trixie," Twilight smiled as they gathered everything up to leave.

~*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*~

Just as the sun began to sink below the horizon once more, the group found itself on the precipice of the Appleloosan Plain: a vast expanse of desert terrain stretching for hundreds of miles in all directions. Thankfully, the town of Appleloosa was not more than a two day trot from the border of the nation. However, the group turned around and headed back into the woods.

The vast plains would lend them no cover, and with no guarantee that they were not still being tracked, they decided to spend the night under the cover of the canopy. After Spike created a fire and Trixie made a makeshift tent out of a tarp and blankets on the ground, the four travelers settled down to have dinner. As Owlowiscious went out to hunt, the baby dragon and unicorns stayed behind to gather some berries and leaves in the light of the campfire.

Thankfully for all involved, the librarian's mood had hit a slow but steady upswing from earlier that morning. She still felt upset about her friends and traumatized from her captivity, but she would not let it slow her down when she had a job to do. Sharing her experiences thus far proved to do her a lot of good, since Trixie served as a sympathetic (if grating) ear to chew on as they walked through the day.

Yet, as they ate their meal, a thought crept into her head. Twilight mulled it over for a while, chewing her food methodically before she finally decided she had to explain the situation to Spike and Trixie.

"So... about what I said earlier. You know, right before Spike... betrayed me?" The baby dragon winced visibly at that, the word was so heavy-hoofed, yet there was no other one for it. "Um... perhaps I owe you both an explanation. Just promise me that you won't tell anypony, or it might start a massive panic."

Trixie and Spike shared a slightly apprehensive glance between each other for a couple of moments. Looking back to her, they nodded their heads. "If it's something you feel that you need to get off your back, go right ahead," the blue mare replied.

"Well... you know that rumour about me and the queen?" They both nodded their heads slowly. "It's true."

"WHAT!?" they replied, wild eyed and panicked.

"BUT," she shouted to get their attention before they worked themselves up, "It is also true that I'm not from here. I mean, this timeline, dimension, or alternate reality, or whatever happened. Allow me to tell you the story from the beginning." Taking a deep breath, she recounted the worst day of her life. "On the day of the Ponyville fire, I read a book that contained a passage about golems. Everything about them clicked eerily well with facets of my own personality, even including stress-induced hallucinations.

"Since I was already strung out from days of obsessive research, my insight pushed me over the edge when I pieced together that it was Princess Celestia who created me. I sought out my friends to help calm myself down after I realized what was going on. When I got to AJ's place, I saw her bucking apples, but they looked rotten and worm-riddled. With Fluttershy, it appeared as if her animals turned into demons. When I went to see Rarity, I found she was making black, tattered dresses that she said were intended for weddings. I fled out of fright and ran into Rainbow, who I thought was... touching Scootaloo.

"I attacked Rainbow for her supposed crimes and went to Sugarcube Corner, where I thought Pinkie was going to bake me into cupcakes! I ran away and, well, broke your arm, Spike," Twilight sighed. "The girls caught up to me and dragged me back, where I got angry after thinking they wanted to eat me, so I destroyed the shop. Up until now, this is mostly stuff you could have guessed, but something happened after that to change the course of history.

"I rocketed into the forest and calmed myself down a little bit, but I soon realized I needed to see Celestia. I needed to know why she made me. Somehow, a magical pair of wings appeared on me, so I used them to fly to Canterlot. To make a long story short, she told me that she had made me, at first, to house Princess Luna's soul once Celestia ripped her from Nightmare Moon. I..." Tears welled up in her eyes as the horrible images came back, her voice choking up under the strain.

"I... I was so mad! She made me to die to save her sister! I wasn't in my right mind, so I attacked her. We fought violently, paying no regard to other ponies. I wanted her dead for lying to me for all those years! But she gained the upper-hoof, only to be felled by Luna being too eager to help and making another mistake. I... I stole her divinity and... and turned into Eos. I'm not sure what happened to kill her here, but I remember she banished Celestia to the sun before Luna brought her... us to my senses."

Trixie and Spike hung on her every word, jaws dropping as she recounted the tale. Tears silently spilled out from the lavender pony's eyes as the memories became fresh in her head and the feelings of betrayal and failure echoed in her waking mind.

The lavender mare continued, barely able to speak, "She snapped me out of it... so I brought Celestia back, but... she was nearly dead. Her body was burnt to nearly a crisp and the doctors whisked her away before I could give her power back. I was forced to stay in that tainted, demonic body for four WEEKS until she recovered! I nearly killed the pony that made me... I... I nearly killed my MOTHER!"

Silence (except for the sniffles of the crying mare) permeated the trees of the woods as the azure mare and baby dragon looked to each other. Without warning, they descended upon her and hugged her tightly. "We promise not to tell a soul," Spike spoke as they comforted her. "We'll even Pinkie Pie Swear, if you want us to!"

"Indeed," added Trixie. "The Great and Powerful Trixie sympathises with your experience. She still feels guilty about her master and how she could have done more to stop him. It's all in the past, sister; there is no need to cry. She did forgive you in your world, or whatever, didn't she?" The lavender mare sniffed and nodded her head. "Well, then there's no need to beat yourself over it! Yes, it's okay to feel terrible about your actions, but torturing yourself with guilt doesn't help anypony."

"I... I guess you're right... Wait! Did you... why did you just call me...?"

"You might be a golem made by Celestia, but Trixie's birth mother adopted you. Therefore, you are still Trixie's sibling, no matter how vexing and annoying you can be sometimes." Twilight smiled and squeezed her sister a little; truly grateful to know she had at least one pony in the world that still loved her.

~*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*~

Although a little on the dry side, the plains of Appleloosa were not as dangerous as one would think from the desert climate. Granted, the occasional poisonous scorpion would happen across travelers who walked as opposed to riding the Trans Equestrian Railway. Of course, traveling on the rails would not be possible, considering the lavender mare still had an exorbitant price on her head.

Yet poisonous insects and arachnids were the least of their concerns as they traveled across the flat terrain. Namely, there was no place out there to hide in case any Pegasus bounty hunters, dragons, or griffons came flying along and spotted them. Twilight doubted she could take on a fully-grown dragon, considering her magic was still below par... for her, at least.

Aside from the miles of flat land, the landscape was dotted by small cacti, shrubs, the occasional tumbleweed, and rocks. The land glowed a curious orange hue in the late morning sun, making everything seem brighter and a little hotter then it normally would have been. Beads of sweat ran down the lavender pony's brow as they stopped to rest at around noon. Even a pony as sheltered as Twilight knew it was generally a bad idea to push on during the hottest part of the day.

"So... um... Trixie?" Twilight asked a little apprehensively.

"Yeah?" the azure mare replied, mopping the sweat from her face herself.

"Why exactly did you join the Crusaders? Forgive me for saying so, but... you don't seem like the kind of pony to put her life on the line over something like removing a tyrant from power."

"Trixie DOES take offence to that, Twilight Sparkle," she huffed, genuinely offended. "She joined the Crusaders, at first, because the queen killed the princesses and cancelled the show she was supposed to perform for them! The Great and Powerful Trixie went to the gates only to be told that nopony could enter because Celestia and Luna were nowhere to be found. Of course, later she learned the truth. At any rate, after some time in Ponyville... well, your friends got to Trixie and she saw that she was not the only one suffering."

"Oh, so you did have a selfish motivation to start, but you saw how bad others had it and sympathised with them?" The azure unicorn nodded her head and passed her a bottle of water from inside her bags. With nothing else to do or say, the librarian took a drink before she passed it along to Spike.

Everything suddenly began to shake, as if an earthquake was beginning to rip the land asunder. Twilight knew they were nowhere near a fault line, so that eliminated the possibility that it was a natural disaster. The travelers looked around, panicked by the sudden vibrations. Turning her head to the left, the lavender pony could see a cloud of billowing brown dust forming over the horizon.

Shapes began to crest over the hill, large and powerful as they stampeded down and towards the group. "I think it's the buffalo tribe!" Spike exclaimed in realization as he stepped forward. Indeed, as the cloud approached, the individual silhouettes became clear through the haze. They seemed to spot the group of travelers since they changed course in their charge and slowed down.

"Look! It's Spike!" cried one of the buffalo as they came close, the call making the entire herd come to a crashing stop. Twilight looked around nervously as they were quickly encircled, not quite sure if they were friend or foe. Although they huffed from their stampede, she could see no hints of hostility in their eyes and on their features. Spike walked closer to one of the females of the group.

"Little Strongheart?" he asked, only to smile when she nodded. "It's been so long! How are you!?" He ran forward and gave her a light hug. "Oh, right. You know Trixie, of course, and Twilight, right?"

"Of course I do: it's so nice to see you all again after so long. We heard that you had come back to Equestria, Twilight, but we didn't believe it until now! We've been waiting for you for a long time to reunify the resistance movements so we can finally take down the queen! So... do you have a plan yet? What are we going to do and where are we going to go?" the young buffalo asked out of curiosity.

"No offence," Twilight started, "but why do you want to know? I mean, why do you care about what we're up to?"

"She's had a rough time. Sadly, she learned that her friends regard her as nothing more than a tool," the baby dragon explained to the look of shock on the buffalo's face. He then turned to face Twilight. "They're affiliated with the Apple Clan, but you can trust them, Twilight."

The lavender mare had to resist narrowing her eyes at that statement. The baby dragon knew she was unable to trust anyone, considering the last time she placed any of it into someone. "Sorry, Spike, but I just can't. Not after everything that has happened to me in the past few days. However, I don't mind saying I have no clue what I want to do or where I am going from here. I'm just... trying to get away from creatures who want to use me."

"Well, you're going to have a hard time doing that, Twilight. You might not know it, but a lot of creatures are looking to you to lead the charge against that monstrous witch," the young female buffalo replied. "Several of our best warriors are with the Apple Clan, as is Chief Thunderhooves. Many of them have gladly died in the pursuit of our Celestia-given rights. You can't tell me that you don't have a plan because you don't CARE, right?"

"N-no, of course not. I care a lot about what happens to EVERYBODY, not just ponies. I... just don't know what I'm going to do! Not when I've been thrust so suddenly into this whole mess!"

"If you want to, then I SUPPOSE you can run with us until you think of what you need to do. We won't tell the Apple Clan you are with us, if only because you helped us end our stupid feud with the Appleloosans, and have earned our respect."

"Well, when you put it that way, I guess we can run with you for a little bit..." the lavender mare trailed, looking to her companions. Trixie nodded her head in understanding. Without another word, the herd started off again with Spike riding on the back of a buffalo while the two mares ran alongside. It was hard work to keep up with with the strong, athletic tribe, but as soon as the initial burn in their muscles faded away, it was not all that bad.

For hours, the group proceeded in silence while doing their best not to slow down the buffalo too much. However, by the time the sun began to set, the herd decided to stop for the night to rest. Twilight yawned as she found a soft spot to lie down, the others staying up to have something to eat. The lavender mare, however, was not used to walking for so long and so far. As much as she wanted to eat, she could not guarantee that she could stay awake through supper. Besides, she doubted she could stomach the food they had prepared, since it reminded her disturbingly of the gruel she ate while imprisoned.

She shuffled around on the blanket while trying to get comfortable on the hard ground. Knowing that the nights could get cold; she draped a second over her with her magic and curled into a tight ball to conserve heat. After closing her eyes, the mare listened to the sounds of the chatting buffalo and the ambient sounds of the desert before sleep claimed her.

~*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*~

Twilight stood at the very top of the world, her one eye locked upon the horizon as she used her other to watch the land below, although it was blocked from sight by a sea of grey clouds. Snow fell all around her, played with by the piercing wind, locking them in an aerial dance around the lavender pony. Although she could not feel the bite of the wind upon her skin, ice accumulated in the loose strands in her mane and on her eyebrows.

A sigh passed her lips for an unknown reason: perhaps it was the solitude she felt in her heart, or maybe it was the fact she could feel nothing? Shrugging it off, the lavender mare turned around to face a taller peak directly behind her, poking through the sea of clouds and into the haze. She squinted her eyes to see its peak, able to make out vague shapes atop it: a pony standing in front of some strange building.

Somehow, she craved the attention of the pony on the opposite mountain, as she would crave a bale of hay when suffering from starvation. The unicorn spread her new-found wings and took flight towards the peak. The wind threw her off course, occasionally; however, she kept her eyes glued on the building beyond.

Sudden downdrafts and updrafts caught the novice flier off-guard as she strained to keep aloft. It felt as if nature itself demanded she remain on her mountain top and leave her to forever wonder what lay ahead. However, she was not the kind of pony to refuse her curiosity, for better or for worse. With one last stumble in the air, the unicorn face-planted into the snowy slope before the building.

With a slight groan, she stood up to find the pony she spotted was missing, yet the door to the building sat ajar. Wooden beams coated in peeling red paint flanked a large wooden door. The roof arched gracefully to catch all of the falling snow, but distributed the weight evenly. Although it looked small on the outside, Twilight could only imagine that it was built into the mountain itself. Or not: she had been wrong about such things before.

The lavender mare struggled to push herself up on her hooves, still winded from her hard landing. With a quick shake to dislodge some of the white powder from her coat, she waded through the chest-high snow. Reaching the door, she raised her hoof to knock before entry, only for the strange portal to open of its own accord. Taken aback, the mare crossed the threshold with some trepidation, not sure who awaited her beyond.

If the outer appearance of the building was curious, then the interior was enigmatic to Twilight. A thick, red carpet spread out from the door across the foyer and past the arch ahead, on top of a gleaming marble floor. Curious items, such as a pit of raked sand and paintings with words in a strange language adorned the room, giving the place a warm feeling despite the lack of a fireplace. Of course, she also noted that the building was far bigger then it looked, meaning they had built it into the mountain as she suspected.

"Uh... hello?" she called out into the empty building. "Is there anypony here?" However, nothing responded, which prompted her to journey further into the building. Torches came to life as she passed the arches, leading to a stairway going down into the mountain. She fearlessly followed the torches down the winding spiral steps, watching her hoofing since there was no column in the middle: a sheer drop down an unknown depth.

"Hello?" the lavender mare asked again about halfway down, causing her voice to echo. It came as no surprise to her when nothing replied to her, as they did not before. But I could swear I saw a pony come in here! Self-musings aside, she took a faster route to the bottom of the stairs and floated down them in what felt like no time at all, only to enter another hall. It was ornate, to say the least: reminiscent of the halls of Canterlot, except restructured for the underground building's needs.

Pure marble adorned the floor, walls and ceiling; it was carved with reliefs of all the different kinds of ponies, including common alicorns, rejoicing before two ponies she could tell were divine, yet not Celestia and Luna. Regal pony-high torches made of granite ignited, bathing the hall with a soft glow. A pair of large, red wooden doors stood at the end, etched with designs of sun and moon. They too opened as she drew close, revealing a black void beyond.

Predictably, they slammed shut the instant she entered, throwing the room into blackness. Twilight sighed to herself as she wondered how she could have fallen for such a trick. A large, circular room suddenly appeared before her eyes as magical runes glowed on the walls, bathing everything in a soft, blue glow. A large plinth sat in the centre, glowing with similar runes itself.

Taking a deep breath, the lavender pony walked closer to it, intrigued by the room and its purpose. She cautiously ran a hoof over the top of the small platform, trying in vain to read the ancient magical symbols. A light, airy chuckle filled the room which made her hairs stand on end. "Oh, Twilight," spoke the voice, "you have always been so curious when it comes to the mysteries of magic. Indeed, the Element of Magic could not have found a better host."

The lavender pony gasped and wheeled on the spot, taking a good look at the mare behind her. "Princess Celestia!" she cried out, running to her mentor to give her a tight hug. It was in that moment that her mind pieced together that it was all a dream, but she refused to acknowledge it. She did not want to end the fantasy; to stop feeling the beat of her mother's heart, or her soft breath on her mane as the hug was returned.

"I... I can't believe that the queen... that other Twilight... killed you," the purple pony spoke as she pulled away. "Why did you die here!? What happened? What brought about this horrible world!?"

Celestia shook her head before she smiled at her precious student, her beloved daughter. "That is not important right now. In time, you will understand why Queen Eos did what she did. All I can say is that I had it coming to me for a long time. For most of my reign, I was the very definition of a tyrant, and I can never hope to forgive myself for it. But we are not here to discuss my sins, my little filly."

"Please," the lavender pony pleaded, "don't tell me that I should accept Eos after all she's done too! I just can't! She's EVIL!"

"If that is what you think, then you are evil as well, Twilight. Like it or not, Eos is a part of you: sharing the same beautiful soul and mind. Take a look," the princess of the sun smirked as she summoned a large mirror without a frame. The lavender pony cried out in shock, backing away. Staring at her was that horrible pony, a look of shame and sorrow upon her features as Twilight placed a hoof to that of her other self.

"Alas, I am not here to talk about that, Twilight, for my time in your dreams is coming to an end," she continued before the reflecting glass disappeared. "You want to know where you need to go and what you need to do to defeat the evil queen? Head to the Swayback Mountains, specifically Mount Vicious; there, you will find the monastery we are in right now. There, you will find your answers, Twilight. All I ask, however, is that when you face the queen, tell her that I love her and always will, just like how I will always love you."

She awoke with a start, panting heavily as if she had run a dozen miles in a minute. After taking several moments to calm herself, she noticed something was pressed against her body. Turning her head, she smiled as she saw Trixie had cuddled up to her. For a minute, she considered waking her up to tell her that they now had a destination, but looking up into the sky changed that. The moon hung low over the western horizon, but it was not quite time to get up. Twilight closed her eyes to sleep a little more: she could tell her in the morning.

The Battle of Appleloosa

"War is war and the Hells are the hells, but of the two, war is the worse. For you see, in the Hells one has sinners: ponies who deserve to be there. Yet, war is rife with innocents, foals and the elderly who have done no wrong. They are punished not for their own sins, but the sins of others. Trust my words, for I had the unfortunate fate to bear witness to both. I pity anypony who experiences the horrors of armed conflict." - Stellar Stylus

A road of iron swept across the plains of the desert: linking cities and towns alike to the fertile new frontier of Equestria. Upon the twin lines of iron rails, a beast of mythic proportions powered across the land and shook the ground while it roared on. The fire in its belly burned hotter than the hells themselves, driving the titan on to reach then unheard of speeds.

A line of acrid smoke billowed from the mouth of the iron horse as it galloped down the track, panting for breath like a dog on an abysmally hot summer day. A loud, ringing whistle sounded from a brass pipe on top of the machine to warn any animals of its approach. A couple of jack rabbits sitting in the middle of the train's path quickly yielded to the marvel of pony technology, knowing it would never stop in time.

"Okay, here it goes," spoke a white mare crouched behind a rock. Judging from the whistle, the train was about to turn the bend. She took a deep breath and counted down, having done the math in her head before. "Now!" she cried, gaining the others' attention. The green-maned earth pony galloped with all her might alongside a blue unicorn and puffing young dragon.

Trixie, Twilight (disguised as Blueprint) and Spike ran alongside the train as it pushed past their rock and on to its destination, allowing the trio precious few seconds to scramble into an open boxcar door. Their owl friend easily swooped into the door, and nudged it open a little more with his beak before clearing the way. Once the door crept up behind her, the architect took a leap of faith and jumped into the open maw of the train car.

With no time to rest, she scrambled into the dark car to allow her sister and friend the chance to jump in as well. A pair of saddlebags flew into the door with a thud before the azure unicorn pulled herself inside, followed by the purple and green dragon. "All of this dirt does nothing to aid The Great and Powerful Trixie's atrociously messy mane," she complained before levitating a mirror out of her bags.

"Just be thankful we didn't need to haul that stupid cart around anymore," Spike replied flatly before shutting the door just enough to let some light in, but not give themselves away. "Chief Thunderhooves could have just wished us a nice trip and let us go on with that... awkward setup. I swear that wagon was about to lose the left wheel!"

Trixie, however, paid him no attention as she continued to study the state of her appearance in the low light. Twili- Blueprint, meanwhile, relaxed against the side of the boxcar. She was not used to such physical exertion, but she could not have teleported them into the car despite its theoretical possibility. The forward momentum of the train probably would have made them break a few bones if she had tried it.

Between Spike's venting, Trixie's brooding and Twilight's musing, the shuffles of the rousing pony did not register in their brains. Oh great, mused the waking pony, more of those stupid train inspectors. The middle-aged, beige earth pony got to her hooves and stretched, keeping her eyes shut. However, the noise and rocking motions of the car told her that it could only be fellow poor travelers.

"Well, hello there," she spoke, startling the two mares and third unidentified creature. "Are you three riding the rails on the hobony plan as well?" The mare groaned as she cracked a couple joints into place. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she could see Trixie, Spike and a second pony standing by the door, all three of them staring at her in astonishment.

"M-Mayor Mare?" Spike breathed as he surveyed the former mayor of Ponyville. The other suspicious-looking green-maned mare looked just as startled, despite the fact that she appeared to be a stranger. She simply nodded her head and walked over to the alabaster earth pony with a smile on her face. "Next time, Twilight," she whispered, "Change the style of your mane. If a pony knows you, they won't be easily fooled."

A crimson blush flashed across her cheeks. She had never tested out her disguise against a pony that knew her, and Trixie did not really count, considering how enamoured she was with herself in the mirror at that minute. The white mare did not bother to correct her in order to maintain her appearance: she knew she had a point, but she would worry about her mane later. For the moment, she just wanted to relax from her sprint. "So... what happened, Mayor Mare?"

"Please, it's May Mare now, dear," she smiled. "I was... ousted when the queen appointed Ironhoof as Governor to Ponyville. Same story for every other mayor in Equestria, except I was banished from the town when I was caught sympathising with anti-government protests." A sigh passed her lips, looking much older than the disguised unicorn remembered. "But that's all in the past now."

In the light of the door, the white earth pony could make out the elder beige pony's features. Her once orderly and steel gray mane had turned into a messier and near-white version. Several new bags and wrinkles adorned her face as well, stealing what remained of a youthful appearance from under her glasses. Catching herself staring for a little longer then appropriate, the mare surveyed the rest of the boxcar since her eyes had adjusted to the darkness.

Several other ponies, far rattier in appearance, laid around the fringes of the boxcar: obviously homeless considering their messy state. In the back of her mind, she wondered how many of them had become that way due to the war's effect on the economy. The war: as much as she kept hearing about the nation being in armed conflict, she had seen no real signs of such a state.

"So..." the former mayor spoke to ease the tense silence. "I take it you three are heading to Appleloosa?" Twilight nodded her head in a small reply. "Well, perhaps you should know that the entire town is under a state of martial law. They recently destroyed their governor and threw the entire settlement into chaos, so you'd better watch your step."

~*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*~

Not more than an hour later, the huffing of the engine began to subside, which caused the train to slow down. It did not take a lot of experience riding the rails to know that they were approaching their destination. As they traveled, she decided that while the mayor had a valid point, she was not really trying to hide from her friends. However, she did concede and said she would buy a hat once they got off the train to better blend in with the frontier community.

Trixie, of course, flatly refused to wear anything other than her usual attire. "If you want to play dress-up, that is your decision!" she huffed when Twilightt suggested she do the same. Although it frustrated her, she could not help but concede defeat since she did save her from a fate worse than death. Spike, meanwhile, thought the whole idea of hiding was stupid since, if she wanted to (according to him), she could take on a whole army by herself.

The train came to a screeching stop just a couple of minutes after it began to decelerate. Spike nervously nudged the door open, checking to make sure the coast was clear for them to disembark. Once the signal was given, the white mare picked up her faithful owl and placed the sleeping creature on her back before jumping down from the height of the boxcar. May gave them one last smile and nod before shutting the door.

After quickly vacating the scene, the three travelers set out to find some sort of store in which 'Blueprint' could purchase a cowpony hat. Still, after stepping away from the train, the disguised unicorn had to do a double take. Appleloosa looked far bigger then she remembered: the dusty streets were choked with all sorts of ponies. In fact, just from the train station, she could tell the settlement was easily twice the size of the town she knew.

It's probably just the nine-year difference in times, the mare mused to herself as they trotted down the dusty street. She could not help but notice the number of ponies looking in her direction. At first, she thought they were looking at her until, however, she saw their eyes rested on her little sister. Oh, Trixie. Why must you be so stubborn and flamboyant? I'd rather keep a low profile!

But no: the Great and Powerful Trixie happily trotted down the street, drinking in the attention like a school filly. The white earth pony wanted to sigh and apply a hoof to her face, but that might draw more attention, so she smartly decided to hang back, walking beside the baby dragon.

"Just pretend you don't know her," Spike sighed.

"Who's pretending?" the disguised unicorn replied, averting her gaze from the boisterous magician. "Mental note: Trixie and stealth do not go hoof-in-hoof." The baby dragon chuckled a little to himself as they came upon a clothing store. Trixie obliviously walked past it. "Can you corral her back here? I don't want to stay separated for long."

"Sure thing, Tw-Blueprint. Also, nice use of cowpony lingo," he complimented before running after the showmare. The white earth pony allowed a sigh to pass her lips before she stepped inside the clothing shop and out of the dusty, eye-watering street. Once inside, she began to look around for a hat she could buy to better fit in while they got their bearings and supplies. That, and she always wanted an excuse to buy one without gaining some weird looks from either the nobles in Canterlot or AJ herself.

Spurs, (fake) leather saddles, belts, and all other sorts of apparel lined the shelves inside of the small wooden shop. Only a couple of mirrors sat on the walls for ponies to check out their appearances before making their purchase. The stallion behind the counter was a brown earth pony with a black mane and brown hat on his head. His mark was that of a cow-skull tie, which put the disguised unicorn off a little bit.

Taking her eyes off of the... interesting stallion, she turned her attention to the back of the shop, where hundreds of hats sat upon hooks on the walls. Thankfully for her, the choices were limited: felt or leather for materials and brown, black and white for colours. After a couple of minutes of trying on hats (which she found pretty difficult without her magic) she settled on a black, felt Stetson that looked uncannily like Applejack's.

Happy with her selection, she trotted over to the stallion and placed the hat on the counter. "That will be thirty bits, please," the bored cashier spoke without looking at her from his magazine. Reaching into a nook in her mane, she withdrew the bits and placed them on the counter. "For ten bits extra, ah can add a strap to it: colour is yer choice."

"Okay," she replied, bringing out the extra money. "Do you have any lavender, or purple?"

"Just a second," he spoke before disappearing into the depth of the shop. Blueprint stood there for a couple of minutes and tapped one of her hooves idly while waiting for the brown stallion to return. She must have been in the store for little over five minutes, and Spike had yet to return with Trixie. Had something happened to them while she was in the store? Did the guard arrest them because they did something stupid? Before she could contemplate leaving the store to find them, the stallion returned with a light purple band in his teeth.

After applying a magical adhesive to the underside of the band, he wrapped it around the base of the hat with great dexterity of his teeth. "Thank ya kindly for yer patronage, ma'am," he spoke politely, offering the headgear to her. She accepted it with teeth and gently placed the sturdy item of clothing on her head.

"Thank you very much," she smiled and nodded before stepping out of the shop and back out onto the street. Thankfully, Spike and Trixie were outside waiting for her, no hints of any conflict on either of her companions. "So, how do I look?" she asked as she joined them in the sunlight.

Trixie did not bother to answer and Spike just gave her a quick glace before voicing his opinion. "Eh, if it makes you feel more at ease, I got nothing against it," he shrugged before the three walked away. "So, are there any plans about how to get to Mount Vicious from here, or how we're going to get all the equipment we need, never mind how we're going to carry them there?"

"I have a couple of ideas, Spike," she replied. "We'll ask around, or see if there is a map somewhere. I also know a spell I've wanted to try out that allows for infinite storage with no change of weight."

"Magic is awesome," the baby dragon chirped.

"Indeed I am," Trixie smirked. Both of the other companions rolled their eyes at the comment, although they could not hide that they were a little surprised that she could hear them in the first place, considering the noise level of the dusty prairie street and the distance between them. Although, thinking on it for a brief second, the disguised Twilight smiled, since despite being a loud-mouthed braggart, she cast a spell to hear them, just in case (or so she hoped).

Unnoticed by the three travelers, a grey earth pony stallion had been following them since a little while after hopping off the train. At first, he had no clue who the strangers were. However, the grating attitude and flamboyant appearance of the azure unicorn told him that it was none other then the former General Trixie, followed by the baby dragon known as Spike and a second, unidentified earth pony mare with a blinding white coat and emerald green mane with a black streak.

It was reasonable for him to have his doubts, but after a couple minutes of observation, he became certain the only reason the former two would step hoof in Equestria again was only if Twilight Sparkle was with them. So, he went out on a limb and cleared his throat. "Pardon me, ma'am," spoke the stallion with the yellow mane. "But ah was wonderin' if y'all could help me with this year's Applebuckin' Season. You see, ah've been up fer a week straight and ah'm beginning to hallucinate."

"Um..." the white mare paused in mid-step, turning her head to look at the stallion who approached her from behind. "So, you need me to help you with Applebucking Season? Why me?"

"Well..." he trailed, taking off his hat, "Ah'm all alone doin' it this year, and ah could sorely use the help. In fact, the more hooves helpin' me out, the better!"

Trixie walked back towards the others, scowling. "What is the hold up here?! The Great and Powerful Trixie thought we were going to get a map and supplies!" The stallion had told the disguised unicorn that he had been up all week for Applebuck Season and that he was alone that year? Either it was a strange coincidence, or it was code for Applejack wanting to see her.

Going to see the workhorse proved to be an issue that she had to face as long as she was in Appleloosa. Yet, if it meant that she could get some help, information and supplies out of her old friend, then she would happily go see her of her own accord. Besides, she had the suspicion that if she did not, she would find her on her own, despite her own wanted status. So, she put on her biggest, most friendly smile and tilted her Stetson back. "Why sure, I'd love to help you, kind sir!"

~*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*~

Trixie muttered darkly under her breath as the group walked out of town and into the hills where the apple orchard blanketed the rolling mounds of earth. The distinct possibility that it was a trap set up by the hayseed had crossed her mind at least a dozen times since one of her lieutenants approached them. Twilight, naturally, was far too naive to suspect such a thing, so she followed him blindly.

It was amazing to her just how much her older sister could trust a complete stranger. Obviously, she had to be from another world, timeline, or some other trickery if ten years in the Everfree Forest did not toughen her up. How could the fate of Equestria be dependent on such an easily-manipulated and weak-willed mare? Sure, she possessed great magical power, but that was about all she had going for her, or so Trixie mused.

Apple trees and farmers passed by as they walked down the dirt road in the middle of the orchard reserved for the buffalo stampede. Many bucked at the trees while others carried baskets and whisked them away to the red barn at the top of a nearby hill. Twilight looked around; keeping an eye on the pony they followed. She almost wanted to call him out on the ample number of ponies, but she did not if only so she looked like she had no idea what was going on.

Of course, she had no idea that Trixie knew they were going to see Applejack. She sure doesn't look happy, she mused to herself. It must be the idea of having to do some manual labour for a change that has her so riled up.Then again, she'd probably use her magic to get it over with as soon as possible. Offering a quick glance back at the azure mare, she gave her a silent look of apology to her for dragging her into the situation, as she had 'volunteered' them to assist as well.

Eventually, the group wound their way out of the grove and up towards a huge, red boulder of a mountain just on the outskirts of the farm. Near the base, they came to a large rock jetting out of the side of the sheer cliff. With a swift buck to the right rock, the boulder slid out of the way with a noisy grind, revealing the cave beyond. "As you might have guessed," the worker pony drawled, "We ain't here to buck apples."

"Gee, you think?" Twilight replied sarcastically as she followed him inside, her sister and baby dragon in tow. Lanterns hung from supporting wires on the wall, occasionally disturbed by the odd brace or two to keep the cavern from collapsing upon the inhabitants. Hoofsteps echoed off of the walls before the sound of voices began to reach their ears. There was no telling how deep the sloped path went underground, but the disguised unicorn had a feeling it had to be at least as deep as an underground Crusader's base.

The tunnel twisted and turned until they finally came to a solid slab of stone. The worker pony walked forward and tapped a code against the solid stone with his front hoof. After a couple of seconds, the grey bricks shuddered and shook dirt before sliding apart from the middle to reveal the rooms beyond. Unlike the other bases she had been to, the one for the Apple Clan was by far the most dirty and makeshift in appearance.

Wooden braces lined the halls with dangling lanterns strung in between. The floor was naught but the red rock, carved out and made as smooth as possible, but still very off-kilter. Doorways were chiseled out of rock, with doors fitted snugly in the gaps. They were led past dozens of the doors and down some carved stairs before coming to a set of double doors with a pony on either side to guard the contents of the room.

"What have we here?" asked one the guards in a gruff tone of voice. "You know the general is not taking audiences... especially with FORMER allies."

"General Applejack gave me orders to look for one Twilight Sparkle. Ah believe ah may have found 'er, so please do not delay us any further." The sentries looked to each other for a brief moment before one opened the doors and disappeared beyond the threshold.

The assembled ponies waited patiently for the stallion to emerge from the door, nodding his head to the pony leading the mares. "She is expecting you. Pass," he spoke briefly before opening the door wide for them. "However," he added with a glare, "Only Miss Twilight may enter. All others are to remain outside unless summoned."

Trixie and Spike traded nervous glances with the disguised unicorn. She did not like the idea of being separated either, but if push came to shove, she knew her old friend Applejack would be tough enough to take what she could dish out. Even if she really did not like the idea of fighting with her. With a smile and a nod, the apparent earth pony advanced towards the doors, doing her best to hide her own discomfort at walking into the lion's den.

Twilight jumped as the heavy wooden door slammed shut behind her, echoing throughout the room. It was a simple, but large space containing a large oval of a table under a bunch of hanging lamps. Several maps and plans were pinned to the walls on cork-board, some with big red lines drawn across them. Large braces held the ceiling back, turning into a network of beams at the top to help support the load.

Sitting at the head of the table, at the other side of the narrow oval, sat her dear friend Applejack. She looked as normal as she remembered, except for the addition of a few off-orange scars. On her head was a brand new brown Stetson, the edges frayed and slightly burned from the many skirmishes she was rumoured to have weathered. Her apple-green eyes bored into the white pony as she approached, as if she saw past the illusions to find her truth.

The silence was uneasy as the orange farmer walked around the edge of her table to face the alabaster mare, a frown replacing her usual smile. "Ah know you're gifted with magic, sugarcube," she spoke, "But you don' have ta keep that disguise up in front of me. If it makes any difference, ah'm sorry about yellin' at you durin' the meetin'." She looked to the ground slightly and scuffed her hoof on the solid stone.

"It's okay, AJ," the white pony soothed as she approached. She turned back into her old self with a flash, albeit still wearing the hat. "I'm sorry for thinking of such a stupid plan. Both you and Fluttershy were right to be mad at me. I still can't believe I thought it was a good idea to bring back ponies from the dead! I should have remembered that no spell can do that. You must have thought I went crazy, or something, when I suggested something so barbaric."

"Yeah... Ah thought the girls had gotten to you," the orange farmer sighed.

"So... it's true that they want a pony to steal the queen's divinity and merge their soul with the stars?"

"Ah'm afraid so, Twi," she replied solemnly. "Trixie told you, didn't she?"

"No, it was Fluttershy," the librarian said. An eerie silence crept over the room as the name of the yellow Pegasus echoed off of the hard, reddish stone. The farmer's face scrunched up in frustration and anger over the news. She wanted to yell and cuss out the formerly kind Pegasus, but she did not, if only for the librarian's sake. "She also said some rather hurtful things," the unicorn continued. "For example, she said that... well... that all of you no longer care about me as a pony, but as some sort of tool to be abused!"

Applejack blinked in surprised. Sure, she expected the strange yellow mare to be candid with her, but not so much as to risk losing her loyalty by spilling such a secret. "A-ah don't know what she's talkin' about, Twi," she replied with a twitch in one of her green eyes. "We all missed you somethin' fierce!"

She was never a good liar, despite experience removing her tells, but she was still ineffective against a pony who used to know her as well as Twilight did. They sat in silence for several uncomfortable minutes as they each tried to puzzle out what to say next. It is hard to talk to strangers.

"AJ," the purple pony broke the silence, "How could you expect me to accept such a lie? Yes, I am a golem: I admit it. But that does not mean I am an unfeeling tool. It hurts me to see you all at each other's throats, but it hurts me even more that you no longer think of me as a friend! Well, I refuse to give up on any of you. I need your help to get rid of the queen, but we all need to work together!"

"What's the point in workin' together!?" Applejack fumed. "Rainbow's dead and that damned Rarity is a buckin' traitor! Don't even get me stated on Pinkie Pie, and you -know- Fluttershy is none better! Ah ain't workin' with any of them, sugarcube, and that's all there is to it!"

"I suppose it would be too much for me to ask for some supplies and directions and then expect you to let me go. It's clear to me now that she was right. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a tyrant to topple." Twilight strode towards the door, her back to the orange farmer, and a tear creeping into her eye.

AJ growled in frustration. She galloped ahead of the unicorn and blocked the door with her body. "Ah can't let ya go, sugarcube," she spoke sternly. "Not when ya so willingly walked into mah center of operations... Don't make me hafta hurt you!"

Just as the lavender pony was about to retort verbally, the ground, no, the entire mountain began to shake, loose pebbles from above crashing onto the two mares. The farmer looked up in awe, although still confident in the stability of the braces. With every passing second, the rumbling and the vibrations intensified until the two mares struggled desperately just to keep themselves upright. "What sorta magic is this!?" the farmer shouted angrily.

"Don't look at me!" Twilight shouted over the rumbling, her voice shaking from the vibrations. Ponies screamed on the other side of the door, calling out to their leader for aid. A large crash echoed behind the lavender mare, making her wheel around with damned curiosity only to freeze up at the sight. A large, purple claw dug through the rock, paying no attention to the fact that it thrashed blindly into a room. The tunneling dragon moved to dislodge some rock in front of it before pushing it to the side, too focused on its goal to care.

Twilight's mouth hung open in fear and awe: she never knew dragons could dig like that before! Thinking on her hooves, she turned back to her friend and galloped towards the door. It was no stretch of the imagination to think that the dragon was looking for her, and that it was just a couple of seconds shy of realizing it had found her. Thankfully, Applejack decided the need to escape outweighed the desire to keep her former friend in line. She bucked open the door and shouted to one of her guards as the unicorn galloped onwards. "Get everypony outa here! We have to evacuate! Now!!"

They did not need telling twice. Even Trixie and Spike began to flee when they saw the claw in the room beyond and joined the stampede to get outside. Along the way, the massive shape of her brother, Big Mac, and her cousin Bareburn flanked a doorway, helping ponies get out safely. In a way, it comforted Twilight to see them acting the same as she always remembered.

~*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*~

Ponies of all shapes and colours stampeded out of the narrow tunnel between the relative safety of the outside world and the slowly collapsing network of tunnels behind them. One misstep would be enough to kill, as the poor pony would be trampled to death under the uncaring hooves of dozens of terrified equines. Despite her lack of athleticism, Twilight found the prospect of a dragon chasing her to be enough to motivate her to greater speeds.

When the tantalizing glint of sunlight sparkled through the end of the curving hall, the lavender pony found herself breathing a sigh of relief. It was so beautiful that she could ignore the taste of dust from the unkempt floor that drifted into her mouth. Although she would be out in the open, it had to be better than staying inside.

However, such thoughts left her mind when she finally passed beyond the threshold. The town of Appleloosa burned as three large dragons circled round the town in the skies above. Even though the town proper was a good mile from the edge of the orchard, screams and cries of anger rang through the ears of everypony present. Occasionally, the shape of a griffon would emerge from the din carrying a shape up high into the air before letting it drop. The scholar silently hoped that they were just sacks of flour or debris.

"Well, what are y'all waiting for?" Applejack shouted as she climbed to the top of a rock cropping. "Grab yer rifles and give them feathered fuckers a run for their hides! Artillery: to yer stations! Ah want those dragons distracted while the rifleponies tackle those griffons! Ah also need the scouts to make a run for the buffalo reserves: they should be just beyond the next hill! Go, GO, GO!!!"

A flurry of activity replaced the stillness from just a minute previous. Ponies scattered about to get themselves in order to defend their homes at any cost. Trixie, Spike and Twilight stood around uselessly while everypony else got busy, until a brilliant idea wandered into the mind of the stage magician. "Twilight!" the younger blue mare whispered to her sister. "We can use this to our advantage! Spike and I will... 'liberate' some supplies in the confusion for our trip. You keep out of trouble in the meantime. The hays- I mean, Applejack, isn't likely to let anything happen to you yet. We'll meet outside the other end of town."

Before she could even protest, they were off, hurtling through the winding trees and ducking under the low-hanging branches as they made for the battle at top speed. It was a risk leaving Twilight behind with the militaristic zealot, but it was a far better option than letting her sit in the open fiddling with her hooves until another dragon scooped her up! Or she had just made another epic blunder: Trixie always did prefer to think positive.

In no time at all, the duo was upon the besieged town as the battle began in earnest. Ponies galloped into the streets carrying muskets and flintlock rifles on their backs. The showmare detested the vulgar simplicity of how the weapons were used, since magic was superior in all respects. But, if it made the Earth and Pegasus ponies feel better, then more power to them.

Fires raged as the attacking griffons lobbed burning bundles of sticks into houses and businesses in a classic strategy of crippling the defending settlements' economy. Together, the mare and baby dragon dodged the attacking soldiers as they scoured the streets in search of an untouched (or as close as they could get) general store. "Woah! Watch out!" Spike cried out suddenly as a griffon tore out of a building across the street.

With only seconds to react, The Great and Powerful Trixie launched herself into the air with all the power her legs could spare. She hung in the air for what felt like an eternity as the feathered menace soared beneath her, no doubt unaware that the tempting target had moved out of reach. Gathering magic into her horn, the blue mare let loose a concussive blast of pure magic square into the enemy's chest, causing him to hurtle into a nearby building uncontrollably.

Landing smartly on her hooves, the magician hit the ground and quickly sped back into a swift gallop after buckling a little under the sudden weight. Spike, meanwhile, kept an admirable pace next to the rather fit magician, trailing behind by only a pony length or so. At first, the baby dragon was impressed by her speed and endurance, but he was hardly surprised. After all, one did not pull such a heavy caravan for so many years without building some strength and stamina.

Arriving at the main street of the small town, the two allies found it clogged by duelling ponies and griffons and bodies of the dead all around. Still, that was not the main focus, as they both spied an emptied shop not yet set ablaze by the enemy forces. Taking a deep breath, they charged ahead, literally dodging bullets and spears in their flight, only changing course when a skirmish moved in front of them.

Neither of them stopped running until safely covered by the cool shadow of the building against the heated veil of the desert sun. Their vision was plunged into an eerie darkness, but they did not have the luxury of time to adjust. "Just grab anything that looks important!" Trixie shouted to her companion over the din outside. They ripped through the wares on the shelves and stuffed what food and fuel they could into the magically altered saddlebags. With no time to give a real look, the two abandoned the shop once satisfied.

Between the time they entered and the time they exited the shop, the number of griffons in the street had been significantly reduced. The ponies were evidently managing to beat them back, accompanied the sound of cannon fire overhead. "Applejack sure loves those cannons," the blue mare mused to herself before the overgrown purple lizard kicked her in the leg. "Sorry," she apologized before getting back up to speed. A battle was never a good moment to have one of her musings.

Thankfully, the dragons above were too distracted to see the single pony and her dragon accomplice flee from the quarantine zone, and with all the griffons being engaged, the two managed to flee with relative ease. Trixie skidded to a stop once they had made it some distance from Appleloosa. Her frame heaved with every puff as she struggled to regain her breath. Now, it was up to Twilight to find her way to them: the part that worried the blue mare the most.

~*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*~

"Wait, Trixie! Don't leave me!" Twilight cried as the azure mare suddenly turned her back on her, leaving her hoof outstretched in vain to catch her friends. How could she just tell her to stay out of trouble and leave her with Applejack like that? She wanted to be mad, but she had to cast the thoughts loose as ponies began to charge past.

Startled from her silent fuming, the lavender mare found that the orange farmer was gone, leaving her to fend for herself. Given the situation, her rational mind spun into overdrive. If I stay here, I'm out in the open. That means it would be easy for one of the dragons to spot me and... A shiver ran up her spine at the simple thought. There was no way she could allow herself to be captured again. My best bet is to head into the town. Even with a skirmish going on, at least I can get lost in the confusion, and maybe help save lives!

With her mind made up, the scholar set down the road into town at a brisk pace. Granted, going into the heart of a battle was a normally stupid notion, but it was not like she had any choice in the matter. Besides, Trixie would be waiting for her, so she had to go through the town regardless. Even if it went against just about every fibre of her being, not to mention every ounce of sense she possessed.

Finally arriving at the edge of the small town, she found the sight before her eyes shocking. Buildings smoldered or were otherwise badly damaged as the skittish mare made her way through the streets. Cries of fury and pain caused the hairs on her body to stand on-end as she slowly made her way deeper into the heart of the battle. It was truly a surreal feeling.

Every time she encountered an enemy, or a member of the town guard, the purple mare quickly backtracked down an empty alley or backstreet. Naturally, considering the size of the town, she was not really going to get anywhere particularly fast using that method. She considered donning her Blueprint disguise again, but that would only eliminate the guards as potential enemies and would not be worth the effort she would have to exert.

"Okay, Twilight. You can do this," the pony spoke to herself as she stood beside a soggy old rain barrel. "What would a brave pony like Rainbow Dash do in a situation like this?" Taking a deep breath, the answer made itself clear to her. She would not run around hiding like this, she would stand up and fight! If she could borrow just a bit of that can-do attitude, then she might just be able to survive this thing.

However, just as she was about to make her move, the ground gave a sudden lurch, making her lose her balance and topple awkwardly into the barrel of water beside her. A moment later, the scholar emerged from the surprisingly cold water with a gasp, her mane clinging to her body and new hat soaked through. She leaned over the side and started coughing up the small amount of water that had snuck into her lungs.

The sound of cracking wood sounded out over the din, and the shaking of the ground becoming enough to make even the most sturdy of ponies collapse into a heap. A low roar filled the building in front of her, followed by the tell-tale orange glow of dragon fire. The roof swiftly caught fire as a large, purple claw ripped through, shattering glass, wood and stone alike. Several ponies of the guard and the Apple Clan militia descended upon the scene in mere seconds.

Faced with the choice of hiding in the barrel, or fleeing, the purple pony decided to flee, since the chances of discovery and injury were far greater if she stayed, even if the water would protect her from the inevitable torrent of flame. Even as the dragon broke free of the confines of the building, she jumped out of the rain barrel and made a beeline for the other end of the town. Trixie had to have the supplies by now, she hoped.

Although terrified by the sight of ponies fighting all around her, she could not help but marvel at the strange sticks she noticed they carried. They were identical to the ones the ponies in the refugee camp had, so that solved the earlier mystery of what they were quite nicely. She had to admit that the idea of expelling metal balls at high speeds, while insanely barbaric, was actually very effective against the griffons. With some conjecture, they had to be the 'rifles' that Applejack spoke of during her spiel of orders.

During her flight, she came across a pony of the town guard standing around, looking for something to do or an enemy to fight. Twilight froze up and skidded to a stop right in front of him. At first, he surveyed this new mare quizzically, familiar with her, but not precisely sure from where. Neither side had a chance to voice their worries, however, as out of nowhere, a griffon that had escapes a larger skirmish screamed through the air and scooped up the fully-grown stallion.

The sound of angry cursing filled that air as the guard was hoisted up high into the sky, thrashing harder with every hoof of altitude gained. The lavender pony watched helplessly from the ground since it was too risky to cast any spell she knew that could dislodge them without hurting or killing one or both of them. Her mind raced as she struggled to think of something, anything she could do to help.

A soft crunch and loud thud filled the air as the ground shook suddenly, a spout of some warm liquid splattering against her coat. Against her better judgment, Twilight opened her eyes to see what had happened. The stallion lay upon the ground, limbs bent at awkward angles as a massive rupture in his side spilled blood onto the dirt street. His head had become detached from his head and rolled into one of her forward hooves. She wanted to scream, as loud and clear as she had for Zecora, but her lungs refused to cooperate.

"Twilight!" cried a voice behind the catatonic mare. "Come on, we have to get going!" It was Trixie! She glanced down at the ghastly sight, but offered no words of comfort, as the grounded dragon's roar and belch of fire erupted out of the street behind them. Instead, she firmly placed her head against her flank and shoved the purple pony's legs into moving automatically, half dragging her away from another shattered piece of her innocence.

Through it all, only one thought floated to the top of Twilight's waking mind. I want to go home.

~*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*~

Applejack rarely found herself on the field of battle anymore, and was often holed up in her meeting room, waiting for news of failure or success to come in. Naturally, this irritated and frustrated the orange farmer since she was always a hooves-on sort of pony. So, when a battle so willingly presented itself to her on her front doorstep, she faced it like a mare!

To sweeten the deal, many of the town's guard and the hoof-selected members of the Royal Guard, chosen by Eos herself, would be fighting alongside her forces. Call her opportunistic, but the offer of killing two birds with one stone proved to be a siren's call to her. So, to that end she would gladly stick out her neck in front of the guards, if only so she could have a shot at theirs the minute they turned on her and her militia.

"About time ah got the rust off of this thing," she smiled to herself as she dug up a box near the barn. A short dig under the dirt revealed a soggy and muddy cardboard box with several strings of twine wrapped around the cover to secure it. Nipping at the ropes, she opened the box to expose her sword to the light of day once more. Back in her days with the Crusaders, a blacksmith among their number gladly crafted the sword for the workhorse.

Taking the grip into her teeth, she shook the sheath off and let the steel sparkle in the sunlight. Satisfied her old friend had not changed one bit, the orange mare wheeled around on the spot and made for the town at full gallop. Even half a mile away, she could hear the roar of cannon fire as the artillery division finished moving into position to antagonize the dragons. With any luck, things would finally start going her way.

The instant she entered the confines of the town, she was beset by at least half a dozen different griffons. Annoyingly, several of the other fighting ponies jumped on them and distracted them. It was not nearly as fun unless she was outnumbered by at least two to one. Well, since it is mah first battle in a while, ah guess one-on-one will have to do. 'Sides, can't very well lead if ah'm dead.

Running down another street, however, the farmer came upon an enticing target: a griffon with its back to her, trying to face down three town guards and a couple of her own ponies. Both sides fought valiantly, but the ponies were obviously at a disadvantage next to the razor-sharp claws of the half eagle, half lion hybrid. Granted, it was a little on the easy side for her, but she needed to warm up with something.

Seizing her chance, Applejack pounced upon the winged fiend. The beast cried out in surprise and tried to buck off the unwanted passenger, but to no avail. "Yee-haw!" the orange pony cheered through her clenched teeth. "Ah haven't ridden a buckin' bronco fer far too long! Get along, little doggy!" She crept forward, unrelenting in her hold upon the winged enemy. She twisted her neck once she got far enough, and plunged her thirsty steel into the base of its neck.

The body went limp and slumped to the ground with a heavy thud. Blood poured out of the fatal would when she withdrew her sword, but it was not quite enough to settle her down after being cooped up underground for so long. However, a shout and growl around the next bend caught her attention, especially when half a dozen ponies ran towards the source of the commotion. She could not suppress the grin that spread across her face.

Hopping off the slain enemy, she ran towards the source of the excitement to find herself both a little giddy and a tad scared at what she saw. A massive, juvenile dragon was busy clawing its way out from under one of the houses in town, belching fire at anypony who ventured too close. Pieces of wood and stone flew all over the place as the home slowly caught fire. "Circle it! If y'all can get an artillery pony, do it!" the general ordered her troops.

Much to her surprise, even some of the town guard followed her orders, either too stupid to realize she was number two on the Most Wanted list, or too scared to really care. Either way, it was all ponies willing to die to defend the town, so she was not going to complain. As well, a number of griffons decided to congregate around the slowly escaping wingless dragon. So many prime opportunities to strut her stuff!

Out of the corner of her eye, the farmer noticed a shadow moving towards a pony in front of her at blistering speed. Obviously, it was a rookie, since the angle of approach was far too low. Well, they would pay for that mistake. Applejack rushed right into the line of flight, as if she were going to sacrifice herself to save one of her subordinates. As the griffon approached, she could see that satisfied smirk on its vile beaked face, absolutely clueless.

Just as it was about to hit, the orange mare rolled out of the way and twisted her body around. Raising her sword, she tightened her grip with her teeth as she felt the steel make contact with the tough, bony base of the creature's right wing. The speed, plus the sharp edge resulted in a nearly perfect cut as the wing toppled to the ground, the griffon once attached to it careening uncontrollably into a building.

A loud roar behind her told her that the dragon had finally broken free of the building it had tunnelled into. "About time too," the orange mare said to herself with some spite. With a loud whistle from her mouth, a series of loud blasts sounded through the town as the cannons beyond the town limits all fired at once, peppering the ground inside the circle mercilessly.

The young dragon took in a deep breath and puffed out its chest, ready to unleash another unholy torrent of flame before one of the cannonballs found its mark and struck the dragon. A loud crunch filled the air as the heavy ball of solid iron impacted it square in the back of the skull, possibly shattering it into a million pieces, and killed it instantly. She held her hat over her heart as she watched its great hulk fall to the ground with a deep rumble. Truly majestic, she thought. Then she cleared her head with a shake, and put her hat back on at a jaunty angle.

"Alright everypony!" Applejack cried to her troops far and wide, "Finish off them griffons! Ah want all artillery focused on those flyin' dragons, right now! Let's show them not to mess with us ponyfolk!" For now, she was savouring the delicate taste of a great battle. However, it would not be until later that night that she realized her REAL prize had slipped away.

~*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*~

Gentle crackles from the warm campfire filled the air as Luna's... as the moon hung at a shallow angle over the eastern horizon. Despite the early hour, the group felt exhausted from the activities of the day, to say the least. Ever since escaping the battle that was waged in the streets of the frontier town, they had not spoken more than a few whispers. In fact, Twilight had not said anything at all since right before the horse apples hit the fan.

Trixie could not help but frown at her melancholy, as the lavender unicorn refused to cozy up to the fire, or eat any of the food they managed to swipe from the store in the confusion. Spike did not seem to fare much better either, since it must have reminded him of when he betrayed her and pushed her already fragile emotional state over the brink. This whole situation is going from bad to worse, the azure magician sighed to herself. "She's going to be a millstone around our necks, isn't she?"

The baby dragon perked his head up at the sound of the unicorn's voice, wincing a little as he sensed her annoyance and general anger. "Well, I wouldn't say that, Trixie," he calmly replied. "I mean, sure she's a little... frail right now, but I'm sure she'll bounce back and be the same mare I've always known. I mean, we need her and Twilight never lets anypony down, ever!"

"Says the overgrown lizard who caused the worst of this," the azure pony spat. "The Great and Powerful Trixie knows depression when she sees it, and she was teetering on the brink when she visited her in her caravan. Your betrayal wasn't so much the straw that broke the pony's back, but a sledgehammer to a crippled mule! Yet here you are, naively thinking she can bounce back after that? You're delusional."

Forcing herself onto her tired and throbbing hooves, the blue mare slowly walked over to her purple counterpart who sat brooding in the shadows. By all appearances, she was aloof: lost in her own world of thought and totally disconnected from reality, possibly as a defence mechanism Trixie knew all too well. As she approached, Twilight moved her head around a little, as if looking for Owlowiscious. Obviously, she was aware enough to know she was coming.

"Twilight," the younger pony spoke as she sat beside her older sister, "Being moody isn't going to do a damned thing to help anyone out. Yes, it was a little... disturbing, to see your first death like that, but it was bound to happen sooner or later." She paused and awaited a response. When none came, she resumed her spiel, a little more annoyed then she intended to be. "I swear to the creators, I am sick and tired of having to be your emotional nanny. I'll snuff you myself, right here and now, if you keep this up! We can't use you like this!"

At first, it looked as if her words had not managed to breech the fog of sorrow that seemed to seep from her pores until a chilled sigh escaped her lips. "That's all anypony wants with me. They all want to use me to further their own ends. They don't care about me, or how I feel about the matter. I'm supposed to be their weapon." Tears slowly began to slip from her eyes and stain her cheeks as another breakdown crested over her mind.

At the end of her rope, the azure mare decided the time was ripe for some tough love, since it would be the only kind she would find out there in the cruel world. "Wah, wah, wah," she mocked, "The super weapon golem complains about being treated like an object. News Flash: It's really hard to give a buck about a pony as whiny and naive as you when we all feel dead inside! We've seen hundreds of dead ponies and dozens of those die horribly right before our eyes. Just because you see one does not give you the right to carry on like a depressed foal! It's not going to get better either. Not..." Trixie sniffed, letting a bit of her more gentle side through for dramatic effect. "Not unless you help us, big sister."

Twilight lowered her head sadly to the ground, the tears refusing to stop flowing from her eyes as she silently contemplated her words. "Why am I always the one thrown into this sort of mess? I... just want to study and read my books. Is that so much to ask? How can I be of any help to anypony? I'm not as powerful as I seem: I'm useless without my friends around."

"Nonsense," the magician replied firmly. "You're a smart pony! If you can't muscle or magic us out of this situation, then think for a while and come up with a plan! I'm sure you'll find a way to reunite your remaining friends in time, but for now... well: we just have to keep moving. Can you do that for me, Twilight? Can you keep moving, no matter how bleak things might get?"

The lavender mare took a deep breath and let out a long, ragged sigh as she contemplated the situation. Talking, she found, always helped make her feel better. As a filly, she would often find the princess to seek her counsel. No matter how bad she felt, her teacher could always cheer her up. That was when something clicked in her mind. "Sure," she replied, "As long as we head to Mount Vicious as soon as possible."

"Okay, sure. Not a problem," the showmare smirked and nudged her head against her elder. "Come and get something to eat. You'll need your strength if we are to get through the range, never mind the harrowing climb up." Twilight nodded her head and followed her sister back to the warm embrace of the campfire. Sure, right at that moment she was depressed, but it helped that she could reaffirm that her sister, at least, would always have her back.

Waiting in the Wings

Darkness slowly fell over the heart of the Everfree Forest, causing the trees to cast long shadows during the twilight hour before the dying light faded from existence. As with every night before it, the setting of the sun caused alarms to go off in the internal clocks of the most dangerous creatures on the face of the earth. To them, the Everfree was a haven away from the over-controlling ponies, even if their biological memory missed the tasty pastel-coloured morsels.

For all of her experience and connection with the local fauna, not even the chief pony resident of the forest would stray too far from her home during the night. She had learned that lesson the hard way: through many close encounters, wounds, and battles she fought just to stay alive in such a hostile place, let alone the battles she fought for her vision of what the world should be, as opposed to the oozing quagmire of sin it had become.

A cool salve covered the base of her forward hooves as she gave one of the large salamanders at her command a quick, relaxing massage to end the day on a high note. Not only did it help them feel better, but it also acted to dull the natural heat of their skin so they would not accidentally set the entire ecosystem ablaze. Although it had to be done weekly, she never considered it a chore since she genuinely liked to help. Yet, for the past week, she could not help but feel withdrawn and ashamed with herself.

How could she have been so cruel to a pony she once held in such high regard? At first, she was furious that she managed to escape, but as time cooled her temper she realized why her captive abandoned her: she feared her. Twilight, of all creatures in the world, of all the friends she ever had, feared her! Rightly so too, since she had told her all of those horrible things: that nopony cared for her and that the girls would not hesitate to sacrifice anything for their cause.

Yes, the idea of her being a golem, an artificial construct of magical design, still grated at her nerves. Yet, she could not help but feel ashamed of hurting her. A fresh tear slipped from her eye as she finished her work and slowly walked back into her house. She did not mean to be so crass and sadistic, but she could not help but slip into that mindset when around another pony these days. It was as if something would possess her and cause her to power through her plans with no regard for anypony else. Was that the reason why Zecora would never leave her side? Was she helping her control it this whole time?

Gently shutting the door behind her, the yellow Pegasus went to work getting her tea started. She could remember how she and Twilight would swap and share their favourite teas whenever she came over for a visit. The more sophisticated flavours from Canterlot never really impressed her, but she feigned it, if only because she liked spending time with the lavender mare. Although it came too late, she had realized over the last decade that she was the glue that once held their friendships together.

She could not mope around though: there was still the plan that she and the deceased zebra put into motion years ago. They would educate the well-read unicorn on their lifestyle and how the natural order would make everything right. Then, they would march on Canterlot with an army of critters and sympathetic ponies alike and kill the queen, thus freeing the world from her tyrannical hold! Any resistance to the natural order would be crushed as well.

"We can't exchange one mismanaged tyranny for another!" shouted the crackled voice of her friend as the memory of the meeting with the Crusaders crested over her mind. "Perhaps she was right," the healer spoke softly to nopony. "Maybe... maybe none of us should kill Queen Eos. What if... what if whoever wins becomes the evil they sought to destroy? Maybe I should just quit while I'm ahead and join up with Twilight?"

NO! A voice in the back of her head shouted suddenly. Do NOT lose your resolve, Fluttershy! It's the only way to survive in this cold, cruel world. If you give up now, you will have betrayed EVERYTHING! Even your own values! You did not leave your friends for nothing! They are sinners for daring to go above the natural order of things. You have fought too hard and sacrificed too much to give up now!

"But...I miss my friends," she spoke to her own thoughts.

Who NEEDS friends anyway? All they would do is slow us down! You're far too soft when you're around those other stupid ponies! Your ideas would just be swept to the side and disregarded with little to no interest, or care for your feelings! Just like before. Real friends would not do that. A true friend would seriously consider what you had to say: not ignore you outright!

"Well... what if I'm wrong? What if... what if my vision for Equestria just doesn't work? I mean, what pony in their right mind would want to go back to being a common item of prey after having cities and families and friends? Wouldn't they miss waking up in the morning knowing they'll live to see the next?"

All a foalish fantasy created by our ancestors to blind us from the truth! The world is cruel and nature can never be held back. Why do you think everything has gone to the Hells with that stupid EOS in charge instead of Celestia? She, at least, knew the inner nature of ponykind and could work with or against it to her own ends.

"I suppose... yes. I HAVE come too far to just give up. I will continue to walk this path," she resolved as she sat down at the table with her steaming tea. In a world where nothing was certain, the only thing a pony could do was to just keep moving forward. Forget about the mistakes of the past and keep their eyes glued on the bright horizon. Night would have to lift some time, and when that morning light finally did shine, it would be all the sweeter.

Perhaps later, she would apologize to Twilight. Not for telling her the truth, but for being unnecessarily cruel to her. The poor thing had to be confused and scared since, like herself, she had been a hermit for the last decade or so. Tomorrow would be a new day: she would worry about it then. After finishing her tea, the yellow Pegasus and her white rabbit friend went into the other room and quickly drifted off to sleep on her bed of hay.

~*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*~

Everything around the orange mare lay in ruins. Applejack would be quick to note that it was a lie of exaggeration, though. At any rate, a lot of property was damaged and a fair number of ponies were now injured or dead in the aftermath of the attack on Appleloosa. Buildings still smoldered as bits of dragon fire lapped at the wooden structures. She had no way of understanding why the combined forces of dragons and griffons attacked her town and her ponies, but at the moment, she did not really care.

Granted, it was quite the feat to forcibly remove three stubborn dragons and about a dozen of those winged jerks, but it did not matter. In the midst of the battle, they had lost something infinitely more valuable than a few good ponies or bits in property damage. Twilight Sparkle had managed to escape in the chaos and confusion surrounding the confrontation. On a deeper level, she felt a sense of awe and pride that the unicorn had managed to pull it off!

She stood in the midst of her former office and surveyed the damage. Chunks of rusty red rock littered the floor with massive cracks in the walls. Ponies gathered as many personal belongings as they could since the structure was compromised by the tunnelling dragon. There was also the fact that the remaining guards and soldiers could converge on them at any moment. The converted mine had been her home for the past three years, and she had to admit that she had become attached to the place. It was just like the day she had to leave Sweet Apple Acres all over again.

Applejack sighed in relief as she overturned her long conference table to find the Communication Orb undamaged. It was a very useful tool, but she doubted Dinky would ever make her a second. She lowered her head in sorrow as tears began to crest her eyelids: reminded of the last time she saw her little sister and how cruel she had been to her. All she wanted to do was stay behind with her friends and she had to bite her head off before fleeing. "Why must Celestia test us like this? Ah know she has a plan, and we're all but pawns in it, but why does it always have to hurt?"

This is Princess Celestia, she reasoned in her mind, she wouldn't do something like this without reason. The pain is just a test and so is havin' to use Twilight. All the ponies who died are the ones who failed her and deserved to do just that! Ah have to keep strong for everypony's sake and keep movin' forward: it's the only thing TO do. Just keep at it, Applejack and everything will sort itself out. Then, she can end this cruel test and fix things in a second!

A resounding series of knocks on the door snapped her mind back to the present moment. At first, she wondered just who in their right mind would want to see her at such a time as she slowly walked to the door. After grabbing the brass handle in her teeth, she pulled, revealing a mustard yellow earth pony stallion with a brown mane and the mark of three horseshoes on his flank. In that instant, she recalled that she had summoned him.

"Oh, Caramel," she greeted. "Come on in! I have a job fer ya." The stallion obeyed his superior and quickly made his way into the remains of her conference room. Applejack always liked him, no matter what other ponies would say about his memory or his quirks. That was why she decided to entrust the task to him, knowing he would either succeed, or die trying!

"What's the job, General?" he asked with a sparkle in his eyes. Obviously the chance to prove his worth was very important to him.

"Ah need you to do somethin' of top priority, Caramel. Don't worry: you won't need to handle any seeds." The two laughed quietly at their private joke. "Ah need you to get Twilight Sparkle an' bring her back here! Yer the only pony resourceful enough to handle that mare without goin' overboard and she's less likely to use a lot of power against ya because yer an earth pony. Not to mention the fact that she wouldn't hurt ah fly if she could help it."

The yellow stallion could not help but drop his jaw at the assignment his commander had given him. Did she really trust him with such a task, or did she know he would fail and just wanted him out of the way? It was a very complicated situation, but if he turned her down, he might seem incompetent and foalish. Caramel knew there were rumors swirling around about him and if capturing Twilight could quell them: well, he had little choice anyway.

"Of course, General! You can count on me!" With a forced grin, the colt saluted before trotting out of the room with nervous energy. Of all the ponies under the farmer's command, the yellow pony was just about the most dependable one she knew. Even if he was not the smartest or most helpful stallion to ever walk across Celestia's green earth most of the time.

"This is just another one of Celestia's tests, Applejack," she told herself once he left the room. "Everythin' about this here mess is just one big test the Princess gave us: to see if we could carry on even without her !" She let another sigh pass her lips as she realized she was alone. "Now yer talkin' to yerself, ya silly pony!" Shaking her head free of the troublesome thoughts, the blonde mare continued to sift through her possessions: they were on a deadline and she was lagging far behind.

Sure enough, just a couple of minutes later, her big brother walked in and started giving her the look. He was a stallion of few words, which somehow made the mares go crazy for him. Granted, he was very fit and she could see that he was a mite handsome. Over time, she became immune to their noises when they would walk through town together: back when they had a town to call home, anyway. "Uh, AJ? We're runnin' behind," he drawled.

"Yeah, yeah, hold yer horses, big brother," she answered. "Ah'm just finishin' up now. I had to assign a pony to track down Twilight fer me while we move base."

"Who?" the draft crimson stallion asked.

"Caramel. Ah know he's a bit of a long shot, but he's the only pony ah know who won't quit, no matter what. I'm sure he'll be fine. He has to succeed." Taking a deep breath, she loaded her saddle bags onto her back, nearly buckling from the weight of all the tools and items she desperately needed to keep her clan going.

"Eyup."

~*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*~

Harsh magical lights hummed nosily in the otherwise oppressive silence of the room, casting their glow upon every surface like a choking blanket. If one thing could be said for the room, it was that it was sharply efficient and as blank as a canvas. White walls surrounded a simple desk in a perfect square, placing it and the three chairs that surrounded it in the very centre of the room. Besides those four pieces of furniture and whatever happened to rest upon them, the room was barren and cheerless.

In fact, the only things that offered any colour to the room was a bunch of candy in a glass bowl and a pink pony sitting at her chair on the far side of the desk, facing the door. Her long, pink mane sat flat against her head like a bubblegum shower curtain that obscured most of her face. Her cyan eyes rested on a small dome in the middle of the table, lost in thought over what had transpired over the last week or so.

So what if Twilight had returned to Equestria? All it meant was that there was another pony on an already crowded stage, many of which needed to be removed from the spotlight soon. It was not like a single pony could turn around the situation so effortlessly: the world had already reached the tipping point. It just needed a little push to be sent over the edge and she was just the pony to do exactly that.

Pinkamena Diane Pie smirked as an idea crossed her mind. Imagine all the destruction she could cause, she mused, if I could bring her to my way of thinking. Spike has already betrayed her and she loved him like a brother! She's probably already depressed: I just have to string her along into hopelessness. Then, only then can the Cleansing begin in earnest! The pink pony giggled in perverse delight at the thought, knowing first-hoof that her former friend could decimate an entire town effortlessly.

Yet, a small voice in the back of her mind told her that using her friend like that was not only very mean, but extremely dishonest. With a shake of her head, the pink mare silenced the phantom, prompted by the sound of a knock at her office door. She did not feel like entertaining visitors, but then what kind of a host would she be? "Come on in," she spoke in a cold tone.

It was a light blue unicorn mare with a two-tone mane of blue and white. She timidly entered the pink pony's office and sat opposite of her in front of the desk. "Ms. Pinkamena?" she spoke apprehensively. "The drill for Operation Flood-Manehattan-With-Hot-Lava is almost ready. I mean, since you asked us to keep you posted on its progress."

"Thank you for the update, Colgate," the pink mare replied in as chipper a tone as she could muster. "Come. Follow me." Within less than a second, the two mares stood in unison. The blue unicorn hung back a little since Pinkamena disliked being actually lead anywhere by anypony. Needless to say, no pony dared try to upset her unless they wanted to die a little earlier than the rest of the world.

Although bowing or saluting was not mandatory in the Party Poppers, every stallion and mare that they passed did so out of respect to their leader and to the lieutenant as they trotted down the halls. Contrary to popular belief, their base was very clean and plain in appearance so that they could spend their time and energy concentrating on the task at hoof. Of course, Pinkamena did not really care if they slacked off a little bit and even encouraged a weekly party on Fridays. She had yet to attend a single one since the group formed, however.

Eventually, the pair of ponies came to a set of double doors that lead into a large, cavernous lab. At the centre sat a shiny, silver drill bit in the process of being painted pink. Lying on its side, the device was easily three ponies high and ten long. Under normal circumstances, it might be considered a feat of pony engineering, but considering its purpose, Colgate had her doubts many would celebrate this masterpiece of death and destruction.

"Do you have any idea how we're going to get it to Manehattan under the noses of the Royal Guard, the Crusaders and the Everfree Movement, ma'am?" The blue unicorn asked with some trepidation.

"Not yet, no," the pink pony answered her honestly. "We might be able to drill it there and use that as a sort of test run, but I'm not sure if that would work out real well. I'm sure you will all figure something out though! In the meantime, we can simply bomb some more buildings. What does everypony think of that!?"

A few ponies around them took a pause from their labours and cheered at the idea, since they all liked a good bombing. Even Colgate gave a little cheer at some good, old-fashioned destruction instead of sneaking around and being lied to like she had while she was in the Crusaders. "I think that would be a spectacular way to boost morale, ma'am," she spoke with a smile to the pony beside her.

"Well then, since you've all been working so hard, let me get you all a treat! Wait right there," the pink pony chirped before trotting out of the room. Only where the door shut did all the ponies present look at each other. Pinkie never got excited like that unless something fun, or funny, was about to happen. Considering her definition of those two, it was all too likely that somepony was about to get hurt.

Just a few short minutes after leaving, the leader of their group returned with a bowl of candy clenched in her teeth. A collective sigh of relief quietly filled the room, since she would never do anything to her own candy bowl! "Well, come on!" she spoke impatiently. "Everypony take one. Please!" With a smile, each pony took a candy from Pinkie and popped them into their mouths.

Colgate, meanwhile, turned her candy over in her mouth. It was watermelon, no doubts about it, but it had a strange tang to it that she could not quite place her hoof on. Before she had time to reflect on it, the outer shell melted away, exposing a fluid that suddenly surged down her throat, setting it on fire. Her eyes went wide and she gagged on the sweet, quickly spitting it out onto the floor. Pinkie had a look of disappointment behind the Cheshire grin on her face.

"Aw," she whined. "Colgate got the poisoned candy! I really liked you too." The pink mare dropped her grin and pouted as a look of horror came upon the dying unicorn's face. "Don't worry. It will be over quick! See you on the other side!" White foam began to froth from her mouth as the blue unicorn's eyes rolled up into the back of her head. Everypony watched in abject horror as she slumped to the ground and gurgled sickly before she became silent. Just like that, Colgate was dead.

"That game wasn't nearly as fun as I thought it would be. Can somepony please get her out of here?" Pinkie asked before turning away, leaving her dumbstruck followers behind.

~*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*~

Ever since news arrived that the pony known as Twilight Sparkle had been captured by the dragons, the atmosphere became incredibly tense. Ponies nervously checked behind their backs while they talked, just in case she happened to trot past and hear them. She had always been a little irritable, especially in the morning, but now Queen Eos was a ticking time bomb, just waiting to go off. No pony felt safe anymore, unless they were completely stupid.

Sunlight poured into the throne room that day. In a rare occurrence, the queen decided to extend court beyond the usual lunch period. When asked, all she would say was that it was for a special staff assembly and that attendance was all-inclusive and mandatory. "Very well, I shall look into it," the queen spoke to the final petitioner for the day, "You are dismissed." Without another word, the stallion bowed before the ruler of sun and moon and made a beeline for the door as fast as he dared.

"Captain," she called to a Pegasus guard, "Summon the castle staff for the assembly." The gold-clad white pony nodded his head and went into a back room behind the throne. Eos remained atop the seat of power with her mane billowing in the solar breeze. Her amethyst eyes had become cold and hard permanently where before they still held some softness and warmth. Thankfully, the insufferable voice had decided to clam up for the moment. It was a great comfort to the alicorn to have less meddling in her life.

Slowly, ponies trickled in the massive double doors before her, no doubt curious why she called the entire staff to such a sudden general meeting. Little did any of them know just what was about to happen. Oh yes, this will be an educational experience, the royal mare thought to herself with a smile. The ponies before her stepped to the side and took seats flanking the carpet that bisected the room to create the traditional central aisle directly facing her.

"Attention, all members of staff," spoke the Pegasus over the loudspeakers. "Attention: please make your way to the throne room immediately for a mandatory general meeting. Any ponies that are absent will be punished. That is all."

Eos sat patiently upon the symbol of her power as the ponies started to flood in after the message. Even if she was in no mood to care, she would still allow them a leeway of... perhaps about five minutes? Then, if they were any later than that, and made her delay her announcement... Truth be told, she had not come up with a fitting penalty yet. But what would be the best way to go about it? She could not make it too harsh, or else be feared even more. But if it was too relaxed, then she would get no respect.

"Your highness?" the ever-present mouth of her adviser Stardance spoke. "Everypony is assembled as ordered. Might I ask why you have called this meeting?"

"All in good time, adviser," she replied in a chilled tone. Eos surveyed the crowd, looking for the pony she wanted to single out that afternoon. Sure enough, she sat as close to the front row as she could manage and nearly in the middle of the right-hoofed side. Equestria's liberator grinned widely, causing a few of the ponies in the front rows to shiver in fear.

"Greetings, everypony," the monarch addressed her subjects. "We are gathered today due to forces beyond our control. It is no secret that war changes ponies, yet it is the manner in which they change that we have found disgusting as of late. Sadly, we must announce that there is a certain pony in our midst leaking valuable secrets into the hooves and claws of our enemies. In more simple terms for the less learned of you; a pony in this room is a vile traitor and must be held accountable for their crime!"

A collective gasp filled the room as the sentence echoed off the vaulted hall of the chamber. As she surveyed the room, she could see a couple of ponies shift nervously in their seats: she would deal with THEM later. For now, she wanted to call out the most grievous assault on her hard-earned trust. She would make an example out of them, and hopefully scare those other shuffling ponies back into line.

"The pony in question had the very rare privilege to say that they once held our unconditional and complete confidence and trust. However, we now know such trust was misplaced. She fed national and military information to rebel groups the likes of the Crusaders and occasionally to the allied forces of dragons and griffins. Therefore, it is with a heavy heart that we call her to stand before us of her own volition and face the consequences like a mare!"

No pony dared to make a move or a sound once the queen's powerful voice subsided. Eos sighed audibly, hoping she would have some honour about her. "Jade Buckingham, come forth!" she commanded. All heads turned to the green unicorn, who was doing her best to make a stealthy exit at the time. Guards swooped upon her in an instant, receiving a struggle and a string of curses that would make a sailor blush before they dropped her on the elevated throne before the fuming monarch.

"Before we pass sentence, Jade," she asked softly. "We just want to know why you betrayed us."

The unicorn looked upon her with a cold look in her cyan eyes, no longer hiding behind her facade of shallow flattery and comments. "It is hard to betray a pony when you were never on their side, your majesty!" the minty mare spat. "So what if you caught me? I'm happy to die if only you die as a result of my efforts! You can't keep the common pony down for long. Not with our shining beacon lit for all the land to see! Stars save the queen; her end is nigh. The Crusaders forever!"

"SILENCE!" the queen shouted, shaking dust off the top of the rafters which gently floated onto the marble floor below. Not a pony dared to sneeze or cough, especially after such a brazen display of resistance from the former secretary to the War Council. "Jade Buckingham, we hereby sentence you to torture until such time as you reveal the location of every Crusader base: especially their main base, which I know is somewhere in Ponyville. Guards! Take this traitor down to the dungeons and begin immediately!"

A pair of white guards swooped down beside the queen and advanced on the green mare. They roughly clamped shackles to her hooves and slipped a ring of Mythril on her horn to stop the unicorn's magic. Either out of blind heroism, or foolish optimism, she was lead away without argument. Several members of the crowd looked open her in either false distaste or awe as she walked through the doors. It would be the last time she would ever be seen in public: alive, that is.

"You are all dismissed," the queen spoke bluntly before she turned on them and exited through the back door.

~*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*~

Soft music echoed through the room that afternoon, carrying with it a melody of sombre reflection in between raspy, hollow breaths. Soft, red velvet curtains were drawn on the windows into the room, immediately behind a modest desk befitting for the eyes, ears and mouth of the queen in the small town. It was considered a status symbol in Equestria to have a window behind a pony's desk: the bigger the window was, or the more a pony had, the more important they were.

Governor Ironhead of the Township of Ponyville did not really consider himself of any real importance in the grand scheme of things. In fact, he knew comfortably that he was the only governor to have any sense of humility. For instance, Tungsten Tail in Manehattan had an ego as big as the skyscrapers the town boasted. Furthermore, Lead Hoof in Trottingham created a holiday to celebrate his 'glorious visage,' the vain prick.

Ah well, his grievances with his peers were the least of his worries for the moment. The increased presence of the Royal Guard had stalled agricultural production fifteen percent since their arrival, despite the fifty percent gains the local bars and social clubs reported. As well, the local guards and the town police were complaining about being overstepped constantly by the national authorities. It was a logistical nightmare to keep the citizens from rioting for the Sorrel Hells of it.

Yet, he could not let his reputation of level-headed leadership slip over a few mild unforeseen consequences. Even if his letters to the queen, stating that it was highly unlikely (or logical) for fugitive number 10239, aka 'Twilight Sparkle' to remain in the area, went unheeded. Even after news that she had been captured by the allied forces of the griffins and the dragons! In fact, a lot of things seemed to be changing at an alarming rate, and not just in his little corner of the kingdom either.

Reports from his fellow governors told him that the three rebel groups were picking up significantly in activity, most likely in correspondence with their infamous anthem and the return of said criminal. Alas, all of this pondering was beginning to hamper his schedule, and he refused to be tardy for anything. Standing up, the artificial pony laboured for breath as he slowly walked across his office and out the front door.

"I'm going to meet Captain Starbolt," he rasped to his secretary in the foyer. "You may close the office for the day. No new orders for the night guard."

"Of course, sir," the blonde mare at the desk replied, no doubt elated at the extremely rare early leave she had been given. Ironhead had to give her some credit for not revealing just how happy she was to get out of there. Even though he was a golem, he could tell the ponies of Ponyville treated him with hostility, visible or not. This was especially true when he exiled their mayor for being a traitor sympathiser.

Shutting the door behind him with a little more force than intended, he trotted heavily across the cobblestone square, hooves clunking loudly as he went. Naturally, heads turned as he walked, singling the nopony out from the rest of the crowd as they moved out of his way. There was a lot of speculation flying around about him, but truth be told, he was not bothered by their avoidance. He knew he was different from other ponies, but he did not truly care. If he did, that would get in the way of his job.

Of course, he did have some emotions: if only one thing could bring them out, it would have to be dealing with the difficult members of the royal guard. Just because they served the queen directly did not give them the right to be obnoxious. He was even closer to Her Majesty, but he did not flaunt it like they did. Captain Starbolt was especially vexing, since he had an ego to match some of the governors. The former Wonderbolt was the only creature who could make him angry. Still, he scheduled an appointment, so he was forced to see him.

"Yo! Ironhead!" the voice belonging to the obnoxious captain cried. The aging yellow Pegasus with the hazel and blue mane did a quick loop before landing smartly in front of the poker-faced golem, surprisingly spry for a stallion his age. He did everything in his power to try and elicit some visible emotion from the governor, but thankfully had yet to succeed.

"I hope you appreciate that I closed the office early for your little meeting, Starbolt. I sincerely hope that I have not wasted my time."

"Grim and proper as usual," the former acrobat sighed. "Fine, I'll give you the short version, since you're such a stick-in-the-mud. Why are we still keeping an eye on that stupid library if the fugitive is not even in the area? I mean, what are a bunch of stupid books going to do? Grow legs and walk away? It's ridiculous, and I'm sure you know it! I mean, yeah, you have a thick head, but not in that way!"

"Her Majesty has her reasons for keeping an eye on the Books and Branches Library. It is not given to us to ask why, but to enforce her will. You would know this if you are as loyal to her as you claim, Starbolt. Even I do not know her intentions in that regard, but if they were critical to my job, then she would have informed me. For now, the standing order is to keep the library under surveillance. That is all, Captain."

The middle-aged Pegasus looked agitated for a split second before he took flight to rejoin his squad who hung out nearby, just in case things got dicey. In the absence of the queen herself, he was the ranking officer and he was not going to let them forget it ever again. "It is about time I put a leash on those ravenous dogs," the golem spoke aloud. "They are becoming far too difficult to handle."

Taking a deep, ragged breath of a sigh, he loudly trotted down the street and took a left off the main road into town. The mayor's residence did not distinguish itself from the other buildings in town, but it was far roomier on the inside than it appeared. Thankfully, it remained unvandalized that day, where there would usually be an obscene note or gang symbol painted on the door. He would enjoy a hopefully quiet night alone before resting and preparing for another gruelling day at the office. Trying to lead a town that hated him was just about as easy as it sounded.

~*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*~

A dull blue glow coated the world as the light of the moon bathed the desert. The stars above twinkled in a constant yet ever-changing dance that spanned across eons. At least, that is what the mare imagined as she huddled closer to the fire she made. The air was cold, but the hot fire provided a small buffer zone where the temperature was bearable. It was in that narrow circle that Vinyl Scratch sought refuge from the deadly desert night.

It was certainly no small feat that the intrepid bounty hunter had picked up the trail of her prey once more. Although, with the dragons and griffons in a panic, it was merely a job of keeping pace and using her brain a little bit. She had her doubts Twilight would go east to Manehattan since the guard and police there were more than equipped to handle her, and thought it unlikely she would go through the tunnel that her fellow bounty hunters loved to loiter around, so that only left lawless Appleloosa. From there, it was simply a matter of picking up her trail after a few rounds around the town. By her conjecture, she figured she was heading to the Swayback Mountains.

As she planned out her future, her mind began to wander back into the past as the wisps of sleep gently crested over the white mare's tired body. Her eyes gradually became heavier and heavier until she could hold them no longer and passed out. Darkness danced before her as the gentle cracks of the fire turned into white noise, which eventually became a gentle tick. Vinyl moaned and opened her eyes, finding her vision had become sharp once again, able to make out the time on a nearby clock that showed it was ten before twelve in the morning.

Dream logic took over, pushing all questions that she could see out of her mind and she grumbled and rolled out of the blinding light, noticing a half-finished bottle of Vodka on the nightstand. "I'm never drinking again... until Friday," the mare muttered as she pulled herself out of bed. "I hate waking up early." Being the top DJ in the region proved to be a great boon since she was regularly invited to the most exclusive clubs in Equestria to perform. Of course, this also meant she had to assume a nocturnal sleeping pattern.

DJ P0n-3 wandered slowly over to the bathroom for a quick shower. She was the kind of pony who simply could not fall asleep again once she woke up and she refused to really try. Besides, it made it easier to fall asleep the next night if she lacked a little sleep from the night previous. "Morning, Scratch. Up before the crack of noon, hmm?" sounded the voice of her aristocratic roommate and best friend, Octavia. She sat at the kitchen table with a cup of tea at her hooves and a newspaper sprawled out before her (the culture section, of course). Normally, that condescending tone of hers would drive the disk jockey up the wall, but at that time in the morning? She was more or less a walking corpse. So she shrugged and struggled to find that magical elixir known as "coffee".

"What is the matter, Vinyl? Has the cat got a hold of your tongue? Or was it simply the decadent quantity of alcohol you consumed last night? I had to pick up at least a dozen bottles just leading to your door! Stars know how many are in that rat's nest you call a room!"

The white unicorn winced visibly in her hung-over state at the loud noises she was making. "Pianissimo, 'Tavia! Pianissimo! If you're gonna play that tune, do it softly, please! It's like you're popping this hardcore techno beat in my head right now and it's not cool, 'kay, filly?" Sitting at the table, the DJ rubbed her blood red, bloodshot eyes before taking a sip of the black liquid in her cup.

"Fine, but it is your turn to get the groceries. I have practice this afternoon, so I cannot go," the earth pony replied in a softer, but still unyielding tone. The white unicorn simply gave a couple quick nods with her head before rubbing her aching temples with her hooves. Anything, even going out to get their groceries while she went to work, was better than sitting there and taking the brunt of her rapier wit while she herself was disarmed.

So, without any protest and a quick brush of her mane, the unicorn decided to get it over and done with so she could grab a quick nap when she got back to their Fillydelphia apartment, since the earth pony would be at her practice by the time she returned. Grabbing her trademarked sunglasses (partially to protect from the glare of the sun on her hung over eyes), the famous DJ ventured out into public where she was accosted by the usual ecstatic fan or two as she shopped: over all a routine experience.

Coming back home, however, was something quite unlike anything she had ever seen before. Dozens of ponies she identified as tenants in her building fled outside, screaming and carrying what possessions they could. "I bet I'll get blamed for this," the white DJ spoke aloud to herself as she approached. It looked like there was smoke coming out from one of the windows. Had she really forgotten to turn off the stove, or coffee pot, or some other device that could cause a fire?

The heavy tint on her sunglasses made it nearly impossible to see as a rogue cloud drifted overhead, casting the area in shadow. She lifted the purple glass from before her eyes, exposing their blood-red tint for the entire world to see. Members of the Town Guard were out in force that day, trying to keep the crowd of ponies behind the yellow tape. "Stay back, miss!" One of them shouted as Vinyl pushed herself to the front of the crowd. Of course, she had no intention of trying to cross. Octavia would have a fit if she got arrested again.

Out of the doorway into the building, a pink mare with a bubblegum mane hopped into the middle of the perimeter. "Hi!" she chirped with a smile, looking at the guards. Each of the law ponies looked to each other with wild incomprehensible looks in their eyes. They quickly snapped back into focus and pounced on the pink mare, creating a massive pile of ponies as they tried to force the one into submission. However, the pink pony squirmed her way out on top of the pile and quickly hopped away.

"Well," the musician spoke over the din of the still raging fight between the town guards, "you don't see that record bein' spun every day." Then with a blinding flash and echoing roar, the world was gone: stolen by the claws of peaceful darkness, only for waves of searing pain to register in her mind moments later. The white mare lay on the ground screaming in pain as she regained consciousness, a warm liquid spilling onto her hooves when she went to cover her aching eyes.

All around her, there were other shouts of surprise and pain in the scary dark world she had been thrust into so suddenly. She could hear the sound of hooves clicking rapidly against the cobblestones until she could swear they were right beside her. "Scratch!?" came the echoing cry of Octavia. "S-somepony! Help! M-my friend! She n-needs help! Now!" Before she passed out, Vinyl could not help but notice she had never heard her friend that worried before.

Next thing she knew, the white unicorn sat in the middle of the doctor's office. The cool wax paper on the table pressed uncomfortably against her flank as she squirmed. She knew her friend was there for her, but all she could see was a brownish blob, having just had her eyes tested after the gauze protecting them was removed. For the past month, she had to experience the world without any sight at all as her eyes healed from the surgery to get all the glass out. Her ears perked up as soon as the sound of a shutting door filled the room.

"I have some good news, and, unfortunately, some bad news, Miss Scratch," the doctor spoke to the blinded mare. "While we were able to save the eyes, despite the injuries, I am afraid you will never have twenty-twenty vision again."

"H-how bad is it going to be, doctor?" Octavia asked with a quaver of fear in her voice.

"Significant, I am afraid. Somewhere around twenty-sixty, but that can be corrected with glasses. However, severe cataracts have developed. This means that everything will be blurry and out of focus. Normally, we would be able to fix this, but with the cost and the war eating up our funds and resources, we cannot remove them. Maybe when the war is over something can be done, but it will still cost somewhere in the neighbourhood of ten thousand bits per eye for the surgery.

"I can get the money easy, doc," the white mare spoke up. "But, well... will I be able to work? I... kinda need to see playlists and album covers to spin the tunes and pull off rockin' shows. If I can't play those records I... I don't know what I would do!"

"I am sorry, Ms Scratch, but in this state, you will be lucky to be able to read a street sign."

Later that night, the disk jockey would lock herself in the spare room of Octavia's parents house and sob her heart out in between bottles of whiskey she lifted from her father's cabinet. Being a DJ was all she knew, all she wanted to be, and now it was robbed from her by that miserable, evil pink pony! Come Sorrel Hells or high water, one day she would pay her back in kind for all she had done, but until then, she just wanted to wallow in her own self-pity.

Back in the present, the white pony stirred from her slumber, as she always did when she dreamed of that day. "Stupid past," she muttered angrily. The bounty hunter rolled onto her back, casting her damaged eyes skyward, their vivid ruby red tones dulled to an off pink from the cataracts. Still, as bad as it was to have her world blurred by an eternal smudging hoof, it was a far sight better than what could have happened. Scratch shook her head and closed her tired eyes again: tomorrow was a new day, ripe for the picking and she would not be left behind!

~*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*~

Although not considered a part of the Everfree Forest proper, the southern end of the Whitetail wood was not as peaceful as it appeared to be. Tales from the villages in the area spoke of restless spirits and demons that roamed between the trees at night, since time immemorial. Arcane rituals, murders, and other unspeakable acts took place in the haunted wood, or so the rumours claimed. It served as a beacon to the supernatural, drawing in ponies sensitive to the strange reality.

Despite the hard times for the adults, their worries sailed over the innocent heads of their children. So, it was no surprise that two young fillies ran off into the woods in pursuit of adventure. The magenta and lemon coloured foals played a game of tag as the light of the sun shone through the canopy. In the midst of their merriment, the laughing ponies had not noticed they had strayed far beyond their normal playing grounds until they were impossibly lost in the forest.

"Oh great," spoke the older, yellow Earth pony. "Thanks for getting us lost, featherbrain!"

"I did not!" squeaked the young Pegasus, "You're the one who decided to go out further than Fort Rusty. 'Oh, won't it be fun!?' you said!" However, as they argued, they ventured out even further, the sunlight faded as the canopy became thicker, blocking out most of the light. The yellow pony shivered as a blanket of cold suddenly draped over her body. Her eyes darted around in the flash of twilight, noticing the trees became more gnarled and sinister as they went.

"I... I don't like this..." the elder shivered. "I think... we might be in Everfree by now." The younger filly shivered and nervously clung to the flank of the elder. All around them, a haze of darkness developed, the trees beginning to ooze sticky, black, unnatural gunk. It was if the world itself had turned dark when the ground began to succumb as well.

"Children!" cried a young, masculine voice from beside them. An adult earth pony stallion approached the duo of startled fillies, who jumped in fright and backed into a tree, staining their flanks on the muck. He was a pony of normal height, sporting a black coat, mane and vivid emerald green eyes which coldly gleamed with worry at their plight. "What are you doing so deep in the woods unescorted? You are no more than a quarter mile from the Everfree here!"

"We're so sorry!" the two chimed before embracing the stranger. He looked taken aback, but he smiled at them nonetheless, almost like a father.

"Now, now, there is no need to worry," he soothed in his distinct Trottingham accent, "I am sure your parents will be relived just to see your bright, smiling faces once more." He picked his head up and surveyed the dark and dripping surroundings. "Although, I am a little curious about something: have you children seen a pony in here? Well, it is not really a pony, but it looks like one."

They both shook their heads, the adorable confusion in their eyes more than enough to convince the stallion of how innocent they really were. It was almost enough for him to salivate over. "Come along. Let us depart from this evil place." True to his word, the enigmatic grown-up lead the two foals away from the scary black gunk and back towards the light of the setting sun.

Although, no matter how far they trekked away from the sludge, the black pony continued to track it along, long after the two stopped leaving a trace. Somehow, despite leaving the scary place, the cold continued to press against their bodies, the steam of breath escaping their muzzles as they breathed. The young ponies looked to each other before the younger, magenta Pegasus found the courage to speak up. "Mister? Um... thank you for leading us away from the creepy place, but... we can find our way from here. I recognize that tree."

"Good," the stallion replied, sending chills up the two fillies spines. While his voice still had the soothing Trottingham accent, it had become scary: not louder than a whisper in volume but carried more power and authority than even the Princess. The pony turned on them, looking them square in the eyes. Those brilliant emeralds had turned from cold and worried to simply cold in a heartbeat, and even glowed slightly in the shade. Both the young fillies could not help but have visions of horrible things pass before their eyes.

"Tell me, children, do you know the origins of Nightmare Night?" The two ponies predictably nodded their heads, eyes still transfixed on his. "No, you do not!" His voice had suddenly become deeper when he shouted, followed by a small, feral growl that caused the two to shriek and shiver in their hooves. "Nightmare Night is not for Nightmare Moon, as the lore tells. It is for a greater being who made her what she was! Over the years, the tale became perverted as the lie took hold over fact.

"You see, children, long ago there existed a spirit called simply 'Nightmare.' He is the creature that brings out the worst in ponies and thrives on the inner darkness in the heart of ponykind. And he has an appetite for foals, in particular. Nightmare Night used to be the one night of the year he could come to the world of the living and demand the sacrifice of one foal from each village, if they did not supply enough of their own food." His mane and tail stood on-end, eventually becoming naught but black flame given shape, yet the terrified foals stood still: just like always. He smiled, revealing rows upon rows of razor sharp teeth, like those of a shark, that gleamed in the sunlight and into their eyes as his muzzle jutted out to become more canine in shape.

"But, there is one thing I like about your perversion of my holiday. It is a simple rhyme, which I find awfully fitting. 'Nightmare Night, what a fright... give me something sweet TO BITE!'" A deep, ferocious roar came from his mouth as he dove upon the two stunned fillies.

A long way away, at the very edge of the Whitetail wood, a couple of bloodcurdling screams echoed through the nearby village, directing the search party in the direction of the missing foals. "Oh, sweet Celestia! No!" cried one of the parents when they arrived in the clearing. Tears stained the cheeks of everypony around as they found the pair of ravaged bodies, so close to home, yet so far.

Out of the corner of one pony's vision, they noticed a black earth pony stallion with emerald eyes watching from the sidelines. Eventually, the others took notice as well, staring at him with hatred and distrust as he was the sole stranger at the scene of the crime. He smiled at them, grinning with his bloodied teeth. Several of the more brave stallions brandished weapons and charged, only for him to reform in another spot in the clearing from the shadow of a tree.

"Tell the world!" he ordered the crowd. "Tell the world that I, Nightmare, am free once more to come and go as I please! Try to lock up your loved ones if you want. I will find them, eventually. Oh, and thank you all kindly for the delicious snack. I will remember your pitiful village, come next Nightmare Night!" With a cruel laugh, the pony evaporated into black mist, leaving them to grieve over their foals.

It was good to be back.

Before Creation

Silence, except for the sound of her breathing, filled the air of the room she sat in that evening. At least, she thought it was evening; it was really hard to tell when one had been underground for so long. No, it was just another distraction separating her from inner peace. Dinky Hooves sat alone in the dark solitude of her office, attempting to meditate away some of the stress she had been feeling.

Thankfully, by some stroke of dumb luck, Twilight had managed to escape from the fortress of Wyvernis Castle, albeit with the aid of former General Trixie and her old assistant Spike. How the two ever managed to cooperate was beyond her, but the good news was overshadowed when they found out she had been to see Applejack on her home turf. If she was reluctant to return to them before, now it was pretty much out of the question.

Of course, there was always the option of force. Maybe hold her library for ransom and threaten to burn her home to the ground to coax her into cooperation? Argh! More distractions! Dinky pressed her head to her desk and quietly groaned in frustration. She could not seem to focus on anything for more than a few minutes during the past few days, and she suspected she knew why.

Sweetie Belle had become far more vocal and vicious about being left out of the loop. It was becoming apparent to the others too that a tipping point had been reached and that they either had to dispose of their friend, or call off the operation and trust in the sister of a well-known traitor. Naturally, they could not do the latter, but she had been their friend once, so feelings would make the task hundreds of times harder than killing a run-of-the-mill spy.

Just when she thought she could not become any more distracted, a series of grunts and loud noises sounded from outside her door, prompting a sigh from the blonde unicorn. "What is it now?" Before she could get up to investigate, the door burst open, the shape of a unicorn silhouetted against the blinding light from the hall. Not a second later, the door shut again, plunging the room into blackness.

"I know," spoke the mare in the darkness. "I know all about 'Operation Blackout,' Dinky." The lights suddenly flickered on to confirm her suspicions, the overgrown marshmallow standing right in front of her with a sour expression on her face and a visible chip on her shoulder. "I'm not angry, just disappointed in the lot of you. Didn't all those years we spent together mean anything? Aren't you my friends anymore?"

Her pistol was in a drawer of her desk: it would be so easy to pull it out and end her right then and there. A clean kill in self-defence: for the pressures of war made her assailant snap. It would be the perfect explanation: it would leave her faultless and remove a real threat to their operation. Still, even a snake like her deserved the truth. "We intercepted a letter that you sent to your older sister Rarity who is now directly employed by the queen. You are a royalist traitor, and that is why we are keeping you in the dark!"

"When was this letter sent, Dinky?" Sweetie Belle asked in genuine surprise.

"About two years ago. We cracked your code and figured out how you were feeding her information about our operations!"

Her jaw hung agape, obviously distraught over being found out so easily. "Have you intercepted any letters after that one?" She asked, turning more aghast when Dinky shook her head in reply. "That was the only letter I ever sent! If you were half as good at going through my mail as you are at infiltration, you'd KNOW I never got a reply, nor did I ever send any more! Furthermore, if you actually read it, and not just between the lines, you'd see it was my first attempt to talk to her! I... I missed her, and I still do!"

Tears began to slip from her eyes as she sobbed openly before Dinky, which was surprising because they all rarely cried anymore. Either Sweetie Belle was a talented actress, or she was being genuine. The blonde unicorn did not know which possibility disturbed her more.

"Just because you didn't send any more letters doesn't mean you haven't met, or found some other, more secure method of communication. Don't take us for foals, Sweetie. The queen has always made that mistake, and we're about to bite her in the flank for it! Why not tell THAT to your darling older sister the next time you have a chat?"

"I wouldn't lie to you, Dinky, or to any of our friends!" Sweetie sobbed, "It hurts that you would think I would ever betray you." A soft gasp escaped the blonde unicorn's mouth as her white counterpart's neck began to glow red! She could not sense any magical build up coming from either of them, but the feeling was uncanny. It was as if they were in her presence again! It was almost like...

"Loyalty," Dinky whispered as a chill ran down her spine. When Rainbow Dash died, the Element of Loyalty needed a new bearer, but never in a million years did Dinky think it would go to the one pony she suspected of being a traitor the most. Suddenly, she felt very dirty about her actions and her plans. "Sweetie... I can't say that I'm sorry for Operation Blackout. We did what we had to do, and I'm sure you understand, but... as a friend... I'm sorry for treating you so badly all this time."

"It's okay, Dinky. I would have done the same," Sweetie replied, placing a hoof on her friend's side.

"I'll end Operation Blackout, but... I can't say I trust you. Not completely. So, from this moment on, you are on probation, okay?" The shadow of tears built on the edges of her eyes, and not just because of the revelation that she was the new Element of Loyalty. She had been truly ready to murder her friend based on one miscommunication! How could she ever call herself a true friend to anypony anymore?

"Thank you for being candid with me, Dinky. I really appreciate it. I'll do my best to earn back your trust and the trust of the others. Just please... don't leave me in the dark like that ever again. It hurt a lot, thinking we weren't friends anymore." The alabaster mare left her room to leave her alone with her thoughts. Who was she to force her to become the sacrifice? How could she have put one of her best friends through the hell of not knowing why they did not trust her?

~*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*~

In the span of two days, they had traveled from the centre of a boiler into the depths of an icebox as cold as any mid-winter's night. Even though they were relatively low in the mountain range, snow smacked against their faces as the wind carried it down from the endless white void above. Although the shops in Appleloosa had most of what they needed, parkas were predictably not among their inventory.

Twilight shivered as a breath of cold wind played across her coat and pierced through her skin. Although she did not show it, she was sure that Trixie was just as cold as she was. Either out of practice, or stubborn refusal, she marched on ahead with the map aloft in a soft glow of light blue magic without so much as a quiver at the sudden icy gust. The same could be said for the small dragon taking up the rear, but she doubted he could even really feel the cold with those thick scales. In a small way, she envied him in that moment.

She could not let her mind wander for long, however, as a sharp drop off the side of a cliff lay immediately to her left. Although not as narrow as the path to the tunnel, it was still nerve-wracking to climb. She had maybe a pony length on either side of her as room for error and she needed every inch with the driving wind and blinding snow. Because of that, the going was slow through the chest-high snowdrifts.

"Are we almost there?" Twilight half shouted over the whistling wind.

"Yes! I can see the path widen just a little bit ahead!" Trixie called back, using the wind to aid her voice. The valley they traveled above was not more than a large chasm, serving to funnel the wind and amplify the intensity. Once they got clear, the lavender pony had no doubt that things would warm up and become far more bearable. Of course, even though the clouds obscured it, she could tell the sun was beginning to set, meaning they would need to set up camp for the night.

The clearing was not more than a semi-circular, flat ledge in the middle of the path. Of course, without the driving wind, the snow fell gracefully to the ground, distributed evenly along the clearing. Using their magic, the two unicorns moved a sizable amount of snow off of the ledge so they could properly set up camp. While Trixie set up their tents, Twilight got to work conjuring a magical fire since they did not carry off any wood with them during the chaos and confusion of the battle. This was a better method anyway: the fire would be smokeless, not go out in the middle of the night, and keep the snow at bay.

Sighing in relief once her task was complete, she lay down in front of the fire and took a rare moment to relax. Although her magic had come back to her fully, she could not help but notice it was missing some warmth and power behind it. She had a sneaking suspicion it had to do with the state of her friends, and how she could not sense their elements within them.

Shortly after nightfall and a quick dinner, Twilight felt the exertion of the day catch up with her, robbing her of any energy she had left. Rather than sit around the fire and entertain each other, she quietly excused herself and went into her tent. Trixie and Spike had decided to give her a separate tent to respect her want for privacy as well as to double the odds an infiltrator would not find her inside. She was not sure she liked the idea of being part of a shell game, but she did not care enough to complain.

Crossing the threshold of the enchanted heat of the tent, the mare suddenly felt a hundred times drowsier then she did out in the cold of the Equestrian night. After zipping the flaps closed in a flash of purple-blue magic, she circled around a large sack of a pillow before curling up in a tight ball. Although it was uncomfortable for her, it made her feel safer than any other sleeping position as of late. Her mind still half expected cold metal to cut into her chest to stop her sleep. Thankfully, she was so exhausted that she drifted off to sleep the moment she shut her eyes.

As Trixie and Spike chatted into the night, they did not notice the yellow shape stalk around just outside of their camp. Twilight Sparkle was nowhere to be seen, so she had to be in one of the tents towards the back of the ledge. Although he was cold and hungry from the long journey, Caramel did not dare advance yet. Too many ponies (as well as his honour) were depending on his mission's success.

So, he waited quietly, pressing his body as deep into the snow as he dared while keeping his line of sight unobstructed. When one has a yellow coat, stealth in the snow is nothing short of miraculous. Thankfully, they were not on high alert, or he would have been spotted moments ago. Eventually, the mare and young dragon tired of their unknown discussion and retired for the night, leaving the fire to burn. They were either foalish to do so, or it was a magical flame, so there would be no danger.

Yet, he remained still and quiet, even as they zipped their tent shut and extinguished the light within. Inside his head, he slowly counted to thirty-six hundred to approximate an hour, before he would move in. Puffs of steaming breath came from his muzzle while he waited, going over at least a dozen different scenarios in his head, each more horrible and unlikely than the last, until he ventured into the realm of impossibility. By then, the hour was up.

Twilight tossed and turned on top of the pillow, moaning and calling out softly as her eyes streamed tears. Shadowy figures stood around her, chuckling in vile contempt for her well being. "Let's see how she reacts to her horn being cut off. Just a bit though, we wouldn't want to damage our weapon!" one of them sneered. She shivered and struggled against invisible bounds, terrified out of her mind. "No, please... no! St-stay away! Celestia, please... save me!" the mare muttered in her sleep.

Suddenly, she bolted upright, wide awake, and looked around the tent wildly as cold sweat dripped down her coat. Taking several deep breaths she focused her magic into a ball of light at the tip of her horn and quickly looked around her tent. After a quick scan, she saw nothing out of the usual. Just a yellow stallion peeking his head in the tent. "Aah!!" Twilight cried out in surprise as the canary pony jumped her.

Trixie slowly roused to the sound of grunts and moans of effort coming from nearby. For a quick moment, she imagined she was in a seedy motel, until she turned to find the small dragon in the tent with her. "Spike!" she cried out in realization, prodding him sharply. The magician did not bother to see if her efforts were successful when she stuck her head out of her tent in time to see a yellow shape fly out the flaps of her sister's tent.

For a quick second, she thought that it was Fluttershy who had come to stalk them until the stallion stood and shook the snow off of him, sporting a black eye where a well-placed hoof made contact. Despite the darkness, she could tell it was Caramel, one of Applejack's right-hoof lieutenants. "So, I see you want to take this the hard way, hmm?" the former farmer coughed. Trixie felt her legs tense and charged her horn, ready to capitalize on his lapse of concentration and take him out.

Twilight stepped out of the tent and into the cold, shivering a little as the sweat still in her coat met the chilled air. "Wait a minute..." she paused. "You're Caramel, aren't you?"

"Glad to see that you remember me, Twilight," he smirked to himself for some unknown reason.

"Do we really have to do this? I am not going back to Applejack. I am tired of being captured and exploited. If she wants me, tell her that she can come to me and explain why I should bother to agree with her foolish ideals."

"Sorry, Miss Sparkle," he said flatly. "I am no pony's messenger boy. I'm a delivery boy!" Trixie tried not to laugh at his blind devoutness, or the extremely cliché line he just spouted, but she was not afforded the time. The colt bolted forward as fast as his hooves could carry him, making her react as she charged up a spell to stop him in his tracks. However, it was a futile effort as her sister unleashed a spell of her own: a gust of wind erupting in front of her, taking the new layer of snow with it.

Caramel grunted in pain as the shockwave hit him, sending him flying into the air and back a good three meters, before the lower part of his body slipped over the edge. Twilight gasped at the narrow escape from death and ran forward with reckless abandon for her own safety, leaving Trixie astonished. Not only had she just attacked him, but now she was rushing to his aid just after he assaulted her!

The lavender pony skidded to a stop just short of the edge and grabbed onto the yellow stallion with her hooves. She groaned as she felt them both slip across the slippery slope from the weight. "Help me!" he cried out, struggling and scared, helping to accelerate their combined demise.

"H-hold on!" the mare stuttered. "Let me get a better grip!" She focused as much as she could in her panicked state and grabbed onto his tail with her magic, then let the stallion go, leaving him floating in mid-air. However, her heart leapt in her chest as a rip echoed through the valley. The colt cried out as he plummeted down the cliff and impacted upon the jagged rocks with a sick crunch.

Twilight felt numb all over her body, the strands of hair gripped by her magic released to gently float away, played with by the cold and merciless winds. Cold rippled across her body at the sight of what she had just done, chilling her to the bone. She was responsible. It had worked on Rainbow Dash; why did it not work with him? It was all her fault: none of this would have happened had she not fought back. She had killed him. Twilight Sparkle had killed a pony and used her magic in anger. It took all her strength not to throw up.

Trixie trotted up beside her and sat in the snow by the cliff's ledge, the purple mare set in shock. "Wow," she breathed. "I didn't know you knew any battle magic! Here I thought you were strictly one of those studies-only fuddy-duddies! Either way, that was a nice, clean kill right there! Anypony coming along will think he simply slipped off the cliff. Great job, sister!" With a slap of the hoof on her flank, she suddenly seemed to come to her senses, bolting for the tent while sobbing. "...was it something I said?"

~*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*~

A flash of sparks and clash of blades was all that she could discern over the flurry of colour and the wisp of air passing her ear. Twilight landed on her hooves just in time to counter the next blow of her assailant before letting loose a torrent of pressurized air at the mass of white. The other pony landed on the other side of a massive grey room, a sword of gilded gold clenched in her teeth, as her body exuded a powerful aura unlike any the purple pony had ever felt before.

A blast of cannon fire echoed through the room as the other mare's spell rocketed forward: a literal wall of yellow flames. Timing her magic carefully, the student stomped a hoof into the ground, causing a wall of grey rock to jut out in front of her. Chunks of burning rock flew past when the spell made contact with the wall of solid rock, a couple of dull shards just grazing the sides of her face.

"That is enough," spoke her opponent as the dust cleared. Princess Celestia walked forward as the magical blade vanished from existence, her alabaster coat absent even a slight smudge. Meanwhile, Twilight had become dusty and sweaty from the ordeal of keeping up with the living goddess. "I am proud to say you have improved by leaps and bounds since we started your self-defence training, Twilight."

"Thank you, Princess Celestia," the young mare chirped as she followed her teacher out of the training room. Although hesitant when they began six years previous, Twilight had to admit that she liked spending the extra time with her mentor, even if they never really talked during their spars or sessions of meditation. It was worth all the pain of pushing her muscles to the limit, but she still preferred learning about magic through her books.

The door leading into the training room slammed shut behind the two ponies before magically fading back into the smooth, cool marble of the unassuming hall of the castle. As usual, when they finished the combat magic session, they retired to the Princess's suite for a cup of warm tea and light conversation. Hopefully, a bath would be in the cards for the purple mare, as a trail of smoky debris lay in her wake.

"So, how have your classes been going, my most faithful student?" The princess asked in a bid to get the conversation rolling.

"They're going well, Princess," Twilight smiled before recounting her latest news and gossip. Celestia smiled back and gave her student her rare undivided attention. The movement of time's hoof had always been cruel for her, but seeing the golem she crafted from clay grow before her eyes was something else entirely. Where she cared for the coming and going of her servants, she found herself truly dreading the loss of Twilight. Yet when she first had arrived, all she saw of the precious filly walking beside her was a tool waiting to be used and then discarded after it had served its purpose.

How could she have ever been so heartless?

With a casual flick of her powerful magic, the door to her suite yielded before her. "Perhaps you would like to take a moment to refresh yourself, Twilight?" the powerful alicorn asked. "I need to put the tea on anyway, so it will be a few minutes."

"Oh, yes please, Princess," Twilight replied with a smile before trotting through the door leading into the monarch's personal bathroom. Celestia brought over a cushion and fluffed it before placing her royal flank on the soft velvet. Why could she not see past the crown and simply call her 'Celestia' in private? She had asked for such on a number of occasions, but the awkward mare refused her time and again. Perhaps, she figured, it would be for the best if she never learned that she was her mother.

After a couple of minutes, the efficient unicorn stepped out of the bathroom, giving her wet mane a good brushing as she sat opposite of the princess. The kettle sat above the fireplace behind the snowy princess, slowly being brought to a boil as her ever-present smile radiated in the room, bringing Twilight to peace of mind. Although she would never say it, she could spend an eternity alone with the princess and felt safer than she ever had in her life, despite the looming reality that, if she ever wished, she could crush her like a bug underhoof.

"Twilight?" The princess started once more.

"Yes, Princess Celestia?"

"I have been doing some thinking and I have noticed that you are now of age," she replied, gaining a slight nod from her student. "I also know how you are not a big fan of the more... rigorous aspects of your training. So, should you wish to, we can say that your combat magic lessons have concluded. I have taught you all I can, but should you wish to continue, then I would be happy to keep doing this. Alas, the ball is in your court, Twilight."

To her credit, the lavender pony mulled the decision over for a good length of time; long enough for the kettle to boil and the tea to be poured into her cup. Just as the Princess was about to re-start the conversation, she spoke up. "With... all due respect, your majesty, I would rather not. I mean, I am grateful for all the extra instruction and time with you, but... I would feel more comfortable with my books in regards for this vein of magic, should I retain interest."

"Of course," Celestia nodded her head with a smile. Although she was a little disappointed she wanted to spend more time with her books, she had to respect her decision as a fully grown (if not fully mature) mare. "But it would be in both our interests if I were to remind you of what I said during that first day of training, Twilight. I would be greatly disappointed if word ever came to me of you using the skills I have taught you in anger and not self-defence as intended."

"Oh, no," Twilight gasped. "I would never DREAM of using any of that magic just because I was angry! A pony could be hurt, or even worse!"

"Well then, with that bit of conversation over and done with," the princess continued. "Please, go on about that book you were reading last week." With a smile, the young pony dove back into her story, and how fascinating she found the content of the text on Starswirl the Bearded. Although, she would never know just how much she disappointed the princess; not for want of teaching her combat magic, but for want of time to spend with the pony she considered to be most precious in the world.

~*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*~

The ever-present howl of the wind and blinding snow finally subsided the moment she escaped the jaws of the narrow mountain pass. Most ponies would find the noise annoying and disorienting at worst. She, however, found it near deafening as she needed to rely more on the sounds to guide her through the whiteout conditions. Some days, this job just isn't worth it, Vinyl Scratch thought to herself as her damaged eyes adjusted to the new weather. Today, I think, is one of those days!

With a rough shake of her body, a heavy blanket of snow fell off her coat and onto the ground. She could feel the ice in her mane with every step as it would impact the side of her head. Of course, she did not really mind, since she preferred the cool embrace of winter over the sticky heat of summer, since one could always add more layers if they needed to. Even if she did care about the weather, it would not matter in the slightest to the white unicorn, for her prey was within her grasp once again.

Although it was hard to make out against the endless field of white, Vinyl could feel the level of the snow drop sharply, indicating there was once a campsite there, and not too long ago either! Yet, as she felt around, the snow moved in interesting ways. In one spot, it was as if a sudden and powerful gust of wind had ripped across the platform, but with a point of origin to it: a struggle, or scuffle. In-fighting or another hunter after her prize presented themselves as possibilities immediately.

If she had been captured yet again, then Vinyl needed to know what she was dealing with. Stars help me if it was Pinkamena, the former DJ shuddered. Using every ounce of her tracking skill, she noted hurried hoof prints in the snow that lead right to the edge of the outcropping. Looking down, even she could see the outline of a snow-covered body, although the large pool of blood helped.

Her imagination quickly filled in the blanks. It was a full-grown stallion, maybe about thirty years of age with a yellow coat and brown mane: it could only be Caramel of the Apple Clan. Form the snow levels at the edge, she could tell that one of them, Sparkle, no doubt, had rushed forward in order to save him from the fatal fall. The whole scene looked like a rather unfortunate accident.

Vinyl smirked as the challenge finally made itself known. "It looks like Tricky Trixie has struck again," she spoke to herself. "I had a feeling she was hiding something. Ah well, I kind of expected it: siblings and all. Still a little disappointed she lied to me. Then again, serial killers aren't known for being honest."

It was no secret to anypony that had met her that "The Great and Powerful" Trixie had an ego second only to the queen and a temper about as short as a field cricket. What nopony dreamed, however, is that the mare would be more than capable of murder. Then again, she was a former general of the Crusaders, so she was well-versed in killing ponies stealthily. Her version of stealth, however, amounted to making the murder look like a perfect accident.

In the beginning, Vinyl though of her as no more than a vicious rebel rogue who deserved nothing more than the hangmare's noose for her crimes. But, as she hunted the magician down, she came to realize that Trixie always gave her targets a fair opportunity to run or to fight back; they were just rarely successful at it since her talent was illusionary magic. In that sense of honour, they found some kinship and became reluctant to do harm to the other over time.

Eventually, it culminated into one last epic battle on a mountainside. They both threw their most powerful spells at each other, but Trixie earned the upper hoof and knocked her back, almost over the ledge. When she approached, Vinyl was sure she was going to push her off, but instead the blue mare offered her hoof. That was when the bounty hunter found out the connection between all of her victims: they either wronged her or wronged others and got away with it.

That was when she tabled her proposal to the mare: leave Equestria and never come back under assumption of being killed, or be taken in to face the consequences of her actions. The rest, as they say, is history. Vinyl escorted her out of the country, and took some hairs from her tail as evidence to claim her demise. In hindsight, it was probably a bad idea, but she did not care for anything but the money for the bounty.

Unfortunately, she could not claim the same bounty twice, so trying to kill Trixie would be a waste of her time, especially when the much greater prize of Twilight Sparkle sat just in front of her muzzle. With that bounty, she could finally stop and pay for that operation regardless of the state of the nation! Who would argue with that much cash?

"Another rookie bites the dust," Vinyl spoke down to the corpse as the wind ruffled her two-tone blue mane. With a quick nod of respect, she decided it would be wise not to linger any longer and returned to the trail. Looking to the path ahead (at least she hoped so), the former DJ broke into a light canter through the shallow layer of snow. With every second she delayed, the ultimate payday moved further away.

Thankfully for her, the name and explicit warning of her magical prowess kept ponies from pursuing her bounty. For the moment, Vinyl Scratch was the only mare foalish enough to actively chase her, although she had no doubts that any other pony would be happy to sell her up river if they were given the chance. In fact, from what she heard, a former member of the Crusaders had done just that. Thankfully, she was just as slick as Tricky Trixie herself.

All she needed now was a lucky break.

~*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*~

There were two major things playing on her mind as she climbed the steep hill just before the mountain. Less than a day ago, she had used her magic in an act of self-defence and accidentally killed her assailant. The second and most distressing of them all was the fact that she did not feel anything because of it. A pony was dead by her own hoof, yet she did not even feel sad. Yes, she cried like a filly at first, but... all things considered, it was incredibly brief.

Was the weight of this dark and twisted world turning her heart into ice, or did she simply not care anymore because it already had? Twilight did not know the answer to that question, nor did she think she ever would. She was far too tired and weary to really give it any sort of thought. Perhaps that is why she did not feel anything over Caramel's death: she was just too emotionally exhausted to give a buck anymore.

Trixie, meanwhile, welcomed this change in attitude from her older sister. Her naïveté and innocence were really beginning to grate at her when such attitudes were liable to get a pony killed in their world. It was as far from perfect as one could imagine, but they had to make do with what they had and the purple mare was on the brink of realizing that her ideals were no longer practical. Still, she too yearned for the peace their nation once enjoyed.

Reaching the top of the hill, the azure mare, her sister and their young draconian charge took a breather. Sitting before them was a towering mass of rock that pierced through the layer of clouds overhead, as if vanishing from the world entirely. "That's it," Twilight spoke after regaining her breath. "That's Mount Vicious! I remember it from my dream!"

"Well, that's nice, but..." Trixie trailed. "I don't see a way to get up there, do YOU?"

"Um... we could try walking around the base. There might be a way up around the back," Spike suggested.

"Sounds like a plan to me. What do you think, Trixie?"

The Great and Powerful Trixie sighed, unable to think of a better way to climb the mountain. "Sure, why not?" she shrugged before continuing down the other side of the hill. Through the whole ordeal, the baby dragon had kept to himself out of shame over his betrayal. Not that Trixie was complaining, since in the past he had a habit of being whiny when it came to just about anything that was not eating or sleeping.

Mount Vicious was a tall, jagged hunk of grey rock that called itself a mountain. Reaching for the Equestrian sky, it, along with the other mountains in the region, made the winds unpredictable and thus flying treacherous, if not deadly. The steep slope of the range made climbing it straight impossible; therefore, the monastery at the top needed some sort of path to allow access.

Thankfully, the path up the face of the mountain was not difficult to locate. In fact, a wooden arch painted in faded shades of red, green and gold sat at the beginning of the sloping walkway. From there, the walk up was extremely easy and routine, save for the sections of collapsed stone, where the path would narrow so much the ponies needed to squeeze against the wall of solid stone and slip across the yawning gaps.

"This path sure is weathered, isn't it?" Twilight spoke over the mounting winds swirling around the mountain. The clouds were not more than a few hundred hooves above their heads as the light of day began to fade. She hoped they could make it to the top before nightfall, or else it would be a harrowing night on the face of the cliff.

"No kidding," Trixie called back as she, typically, took the lead of the group, with Twilight in the middle and Spike bringing up the rear, absent their owl friend. According to the dragon, Owlowiscious had decided to head back to Ponyville, since he knew he could not stand the cold of the mountains. Still, it was of little consequence to the two mares, for they needed to live in the moment if they were to make it up to the monastery.

However, a few short minutes later, Trixie suddenly stopped dead and almost fell over the cliff when Twilight ran into her rear end while lost in a sea of thought. "Watch it, you dolt!" the magician scolded.

"Sorry, Trixie," the elder apologized with a blush. "What happened to the trail?" Unlike any of the other harrowing passages before it, the trail suddenly vanished from existence, creating a sheer and deadly drop to the path below. What stuck the purple pony as odd, however, was the fact that the drop looked as if it was carved out intentionally.

"Well, if Trixie knew, she would have told you!" the blue mare snapped back. Taking a deep breath, she calmed herself down before speaking again. "It's probably some sort of test, since Trixie can sense a spell at work. It's very old and faint, but definitely an illusion of some sort. Give her a minute to see if she can dispel it." Closing her eyes in concentration, the blue mare reached out and felt the spell with her magic. After a couple short minutes of working her magic, the illusion dispelled.

Before their eyes, a set of stairs appeared before the group. Alas, it was not a set of stairs in the conventional sense, but one made of clouds. Trixie stepped forward and slowly put her hoof to the surface, only for it to go through effortlessly. "Perfect. Unless one of us grows wings, we're stuck!" Trixie fumed.

Twilight, meanwhile, pondered the puzzle before her. "Hmm..." What did Princess Celestia say about the place in the dream? Nothing about any sort of test, nor do I recall any stairs made of clouds before entering the build- wait a second! "Trixie?" she voiced. "I think I know how to get up the mountain! Did you ever hear about the Best Young Fliers Competition from Rainbow Dash?"

"Of course," the blue mare sighed. "She would never shut up about how she saved Rarity and three members of the Wonderbolts while pulling off a Sonic Rainboom simultaneously. Why do you ask?"

"Well... I just remembered the Cloudwalker Spell I used on myself and the others to watch her!" Charging up her horn, a bright flash enveloped the two mares and baby dragon. "Try stepping on it now." Looking at the set of cloud stairs with some trepidation, Trixie gingerly stretched her hoof over the precipice and pushed down. Instead of falling through, the hoof made contact with the springy cloud as if it belonged to a Pegasus! Excited, she boldly left solid earth and put her full weight on the clouds.

"The Great and Powerful Trixie has to admit that your versatility in magic is finally paying off on her little adventure. Come, sister, let us not delay any longer!" With a smile and silent giggle at her enthusiasm, the purple mare followed her up the stairs and to the top of the imposing mountain.

~*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*~

"Finally!" Trixie breathed as they reached the top of the stairs, her legs buckling unceremoniously to the ground at her exertion. They had to have climbed over a thousand hooves in the space of an hour in their rush to beat nightfall. But, for better or for worse, they had managed it as the orange orb that was the sun sank below the exposed horizon over the oppressive sea of clouds below.

The air was noticeably thinner and the temperature cooler than at the base, meaning they had to take a moment to rest and acclimatize. Yet, when Twilight stepped off the final cloud step, she could not contain her excitement, for the building was just a quick trot away, exactly as it was in her dream. The building was painted in vivid and gaudy shades of red, green, gold, and blue, all worn in places to reveal the wood underneath.

"We're here, we're here, we're here!" Twilight cheered, finding the strength to jump for joy around the worn-out and irritated magician. She growled in contempt, but the purple mare ignored it and trotted over to the doors. "Come on, Trixie! We can rest inside. Besides, you'll get hypothermia if you stay out there!" Seeing her point, Trixie pushed herself out of the blanket of snow and walked over to the aging wooden doors to her sister and Spike, who had overtaken her.

Inside the building, however, was a little different then she remembered. Sure, there was the strange pit of sand and paintings with text in a foreign language, but there was also a large painting on the wall leading in. It depicted a large clock tower, eerily reminiscent to the lavender scholar, but in front of it was engraved an enigmatic figure, as if it were singing. It was a strange creature, comprised of many parts: the head of a pony, an eagle claw, a lion's paw, bat wings, Pegasus wings, and two different kind of horns.

"What IS that thing?" Trixie spat, pressing her face towards the painting. "It looks like it got hit with the ENTIRE ugly tree!"

"Well, you're no looker either, oh Great and Powerful Trixie!" the image smiled. The azure mare jumped back, hairs on end as the phantom cackled and disappeared in a flash of light from the painting. Twilight charged her horn with an attack, just in case the creature was hostile. "Oh, I've done that three hundred and seven times and it NEVER gets old," the voice continued as it appeared in one of the foreign landscapes.

"N-no pony mocks The Great and Powerful Trixie!" The magician fumed as she charged her horn as well.

"Well, lucky for you, I AM nopony. So, by that means, I can mock you as long as I wish with no recourse! Choose your words wisely, next time, Trixie!" The strange painted creature leaned on the mountain and inspected his lion's paw for dirt as her spoke, disinterested in the charge of magic from the two admirable unicorns. "Oh, but DO forgive my manners, your highness. Allow me to introduce myself!"

In another flash, the creature appeared before the two mares, chuckling all the while as apparel appeared on his body. On his lion's arm, he wore at least seven watches, all of which spun at different rates. In his eagle's claw, he summoned a staff with a top of spinning and clicking gears. Finally, on his head, a simple, black monocle appeared over his smaller eye to magnify the iris to a roughly proportional side. "My name is Chronus, Spirit of Time and Guardian of the Regenesis Machine! I hope we are still well-met, Princess Twilight," he spoke with a bow.

She faltered, growing flush in colour as the charge in her horn dropped. Twilight had suspected the instant he called Trixie by name, but now she was certain. "You... you're a Draconequus!" She had only read about them in her books, but they were an elder race, older than ponies: the first creatures to walk the Earth after the Creators themselves! They were godly beings more ancient then anything, and she had one bowing to HER!

"Perceptive, as always," Chronus smirked as he raised his head. With a glance at his wrist, a mild look of panic came over him. "I am sorry to rush things, but I am afraid we are running late, your majesty. If you will kindly follow me, I will show you in." With another flash, he appeared in front of the doors leading further in, which opened immediately to his presence.

Dazed, the trio of travelers followed, neither quite able to speak before the enigmatic elder god. As with the dream, they turned sharply after the doors and descended down a spiral staircase, Chronus speaking as they went. "It's quite refreshing to have company for once. They never stay long, and it's always a long time between visits. In fact, the next visitor isn't due for another three hundred years. I keep to myself, mostly, and pursue my hobbies like meditation and painting! Of course, you don't care, and I realize that I am being irrelevant like your friend Pinkie, so I will stop yammering."

After descending to the hall at the bottom of the stairs, the trio walked down its length as the Draconequus whimsically jumped from carving to carving, manipulating it to get them to, Twilight figured, lighten up. "So, you're not the one Princess Celestia sent me to see?" she asked when they came upon the Mithril Door.

"I daresay, no," he replied with a smile as he reappeared in front of them. "My Master is the one she wishes you to meet. Surely, a pony as perceptive and intelligent as you can piece it all together!" With that, he took his staff in hand and inserted the mess of clockwork into a small hole in the centre of the door. Gears groaned and clicked with age, the two halves separating with a great thud before sliding gracefully into the walls, revealing the chamber beyond.

However, as the three took a step forward, Chronus raised his hand to stop them. "My apologies, but only one of you may enter. It is Master's policy and since it is Twilight who needs to see Him, only she may pass these doors. I am sorry if this is an inconvenience, but the protection circle is only big enough for one and anything but a dragon, elevated Alicorn or Draconequus will die in his presence."

"Oh... okay," Twilight replied sheepishly. "But if something goes wrong, and I start screaming, I want Spike to come in after me."

"You can count on me, Twilight!" the young dragon replied enthusiastically, obviously eager to regain her trust. Taking a deep, bracing breath, she walked past the Spirit of Time and into the familiar chamber. Everything was blue, illuminated by magical leylines and runes on the floor, walls and ceiling of the perfectly circular room. If it were not for the light spilling in from the hall, she would barely be able to see in the dim glow.

"Stand on the dais to get the ball rolling, your majesty," Chronus called into the room. "Mind your manners and try not to be afraid. Oh, and good luck." With that, the door slammed shut, startling the mare and making her yelp in surprise as the room was plunged into semi-darkness. The clockwork of the locking door filled her ears, making her heart race. She lively stepped onto the dais, just to get the whole affair over with.

As soon as her hoof made contact, the runes and leylines of the dais turned lavender. With her full weight on the raised circle, off the centre of the room, a barrier of blue surrounded the platform and extended to the ceiling. More clockwork ticked and groaned as the platform descended. A ripple of magic flowed across the room as soon as it became flush, turning the blue and lavender into a bright gold. In the centre of the room, on the ceiling a dazzling display of arching, golden electricity filled the air before a blinding spotlight hit the centre of the room.

A ball golden ball of pure, unrefined magic gently lowered itself to the floor before all Sorrel Hells broke loose. It exploded in a blinding and fiery display that made her choke. Not from combustible gases, but from a magical force so powerful that she would have died from exposure had the barrier not been in place. It felt as if she were back in the Pool of Midnight: constricted from every possible angle. Yet, unlike the pool, she did not feel a bone-chilling cold. Rather, she felt as if her coat would combust any second from the unimaginable heat! Yet, as quickly as it came, the blinding light faded.

Twilight chanced to open her eyes and beheld something she would never forget. Standing before her was a pony wreathed in golden flames with eyes as black as the abyss. It was an alicorn stallion, tall and graceful with a crown of pure solar corona. Had she not been utterly terrified as the weight of her sins fell upon her back, she would have been in awe of the raw power and clout He produced. But she could not deny she felt the sword of judgment dangle precariously above her head.

Before her stood the Lord Creator Genesis.

With no other option before her, Twilight bowed as low as she physically could, pressing her body to the floor with all of her might with her eyes welded shut. "Oh, exalted creator of Sun and Ponykind!" she spoke with a tremble in her voice, doing her best not to show her fright.

"Do not pay me honours, for my time in this world has passed. Arise, Twilight Sparkle, and know me better," Genesis spoke, powerful, yet kind in his tone. She swiftly followed his orders, somehow managing to push her body up despite the enormous pressure. Twilight could not bear to look at him directly, so she chose for an imaginary point above his head and to the right, at a loss for words, or how to explain her situation.

"So... uh... you... the princess wanted me to see you?" The lavender pony shuffled nervously.

"Apparently so, since you stand before me. I had heard from her that you may arrive to ask something of me. Am I correct in my assumption?" She could only quickly nod her head in reply, mentally kicking herself for not having the stones to speak. "So tell me, dear Twilight, why ARE you here?" Twilight took a deep breath, determined to speak with conviction and not be a cowering filly. It did not reflect well on herself to be a snivelling mess of a mare.

"I want to kill Eos."

"If that is your goal, all you need to do is impale yourself upon your own sword," he spoke with tangible disappointment on his face and in his voice.

"Ha-ha," Twilight sarcastically replied, too annoyed with this view of the murderous horse to care she was being disrespectful to a creator.

"Your sarcasm intrigues me. Only my beloved Rachana has ever been sarcastic to me. Please, explain."

"It's just..." she stalled. "It's just that everypony is telling me to accept Eos: to love her and snuggle with that damned demon! Well, I find that notion to be utter HORSEAPPLES! She's EVIL! LOOK AT THAT DESPICABLE OTHER EOS FOR THE PROOF! SHE'S DESTROYED EQUESTRIA!!!" There was a pause as the realization that she just yelled at him passed her waking mind, making her freeze in horror.

"I, for one, will not tell you to love and ACCEPT your goddess. I would ask you to only TOLERATE her for the time being. By my count, she HAS saved your life twice now and aided you several other times, both here and beyond the magic of the Pool. What you must know is that all ponies have a deity inside of them. But while they may be sleeping, they serve a vital function as the ponies' conscience. You are a kind, tolerant and polite mare. It only stands to reason that your Eos is as well."

"Okay, okay. I get that I have a lot of power, but... do I have to become somepony else to use it? Or, will it just drive me crazy and force me to lose my personality? I mean... I don't like killing ponies. Even if it's an accident; I feel so... so dirty. Is... is it wrong to kill at all, or is it okay under certain conditions? All I know is... is that I don't trust Eos."

Genesis pondered on her question for a couple of minutes before the way to answer came to mind. "You and Eos are two sides of the same coin. You might look and speak differently, but at heart you are the same being as ever. Equestria is in... a difficult position. In order to survive, you have to be ready to defend yourself and loved ones. So long as it is for either one of those, for the moment it is of no penalty to kill. Alas, we have digressed enough."

"I agree" Twilight nodded, swiftly growing tired of that vein of conversation.

"It is not mine to judge why you want to slay Queen Eos, but in order to defeat her and restore the kingdom, you have three choices. One: Venture to Canterlot and face her now, as you are. Two: Descend unto the Sorrel Hells themselves and retrieve the Shoes of Rocinante from the jaws of the Fortress Edophious. Three: Make peace with your Eos, learn to cooperate and reunite your living friends before you face her."

"Th-thank you, Lord Genesis. I shall consider the options," she bowed deeply to the Creator as, even then, she went over the disturbing options.

"Safe travels to you, my beloved descendant," Genesis spoke softly before the spell faded, the barrier dropping as the leylines returned to glowing blue over yellow. It would be hard for her to choose, as she figured was the same with Stellar Stylus all those years ago. Still, she knew at least one option she would never go through with, for obvious reasons.

Towards the Goal

Once upon a time, in a land beyond the magic of Equestria, there lived a resourceful and proud species. They survived and thrived in the worst kind of climate imaginable to ponies: extreme oppressive heat in the day followed by bone-chilling nights. They were the buffalo, beset by dangers both great and small, from poisonous snakes up to massive dragons who searched the desert for an easy meal. It was a hard life for them, but they lived it by their own choice, for they were strong as well as proud.

Our story starts one fateful day in the life of one of the tribes' younger members: a small calf by the name of Burning Sands. He was not more than ten winters old at the time when they first stampeded within sight of the end of their desert. Bound by the natural curiosity that binds all young of every species, he became enthralled by what he saw: a forest of deep green and brown. He had only heard tales of the fantastic wood from the adults who ventured away from the group to harvest the wood for the nightly fires!

Alas, his parents forbade him from entering the forests beyond their land, citing terrible dangers of flora and fauna that dwelt within their borders. Although his young heart yearned for adventure, he knew well enough to respect the wishes of his elders. Yet, every dawn he found his waking mind drifting to the forest and the possibilities that existed within until he was finally of age.

One summer, the annual rains failed, throwing the Buffalo into a state of panic! Their usual stampeding grounds became devoid of life, so they had no choice but to move on. Yet, no matter how far in the desert they went, they could not find any stable source of food. Desperate, the chief of their tribe called together the best young hunters, scouts and gatherers they could spare and split them into teams of two. Burning Sands was excited to hear that he was in their number, and that he and a friend had been assigned to look in the very woods he fantasized about!

Together, the two young bulls entered the cool, shady woods for the first time. They ventured on for days and into weeks through harsh terrain and past beasts they only knew of in legend as they searched for enough food to sustain their tribe. Thankfully, their labours were fruitful and they managed to fill their satchels to the brim with fruit and vegetables as they went. However, that would not be the only thing they would bring with them upon their return.

One day, during the journey home, the two bulls happened across a strange sight. Sitting there, in a clearing in the middle of the wood, bathed in the light of the noon-time sun was the most beautiful buffalo cow they had ever seen! Her coat was as white and sparkled in the sun as the richest stone and her eyes were as purple as the most valuable and beautiful gemstones. They were both captivated instantly and yearned to know her.

One of the scouts felt an insatiable desire burn in his heart. He wanted to embrace the woman, to see if she was pleasing in touch and feeling, and would take her for his wife if she was! He stampeded forward, taking leave of his senses as raw instinct governed his actions. However, Burning Sands felt revelation wash over his body, for he had never known a buffalo to have such a stunning coat. He cried out to his companion to stop, for the cow was obviously a sacred being, but the possessed bull failed to heed his warning.

He watched as his friend and the cow became enveloped in a dense fog, obscuring both from view for what felt like hours. Eventually, the cloud dissipated, leaving only the white buffalo in the clearing, the other scout having vanished entirely! Frightened, the other bull tensed up and drew his axe in order to combat the strange threat; however, she beckoned him forward, saying no harm would come to him.

Since she spoke his language, the bull slowly approached the white buffalo as he decided she was actually one of the tribe, if not from his herd. When he finally arrived in the clearing, she pointed to a spot where the other scout had stood to show a pile of white bones. Sadly, exhaustion and poisonous berries he had eaten drove him to desire her, so she had to destroy him lest he destroy himself with his impure actions.

Burning Sands became even more frightened at the white one and brandished his weapon against her, hitting her square in the head. However, his mighty axe of iron disintegrated like cheap wood against her skull. She explained that she was a sacred being, and that his mortal weapons could not harm her.

The bull prostrated himself before the truly divine creature as even he could feel the power she radiated like the sun itself. She told him to rise before she went on to say that if he did exactly as she instructed, not only would she spare his life, but also promise great prosperity to come to his tribe forevermore! He agreed and was instructed to return to his herd and gather the elders. There, they would make a grand feast for her arrival, where she would bequeath her gift upon them and their lands. The young scout asked her what they were to call her, so she revealed her name: Celestia.

"Oh brother, another one of these stories?"

"Do you want to hear it, or not, Trixie?"

The scout returned to his tribe as fast as his hooves would carry and told his herd of the encounter he had in the woods. They were sceptical, naturally, but decided that any way out of their predicament would be welcome. So, they prepared a grand feast out of the fruits of his travels and anticipated her arrival. That night, as the moon hung high above their heads, the white buffalo entered their camp and spoke the name told to the scout.

After eating her fill and making merry, the white cow told the tribe of how she moved both sun and moon across the sky. For their hospitality and kindness, she forever vowed to ease the heat of her sun upon their lands and promised that if they ever needed her protection, all they had to do was pray to her. In return, she asked the buffalo to aid any travelers passing through the desert; to show the same kindness they extended to her to perfect strangers.

It was a tempting offer, to which they agreed. They would help any traveler they came across and sing praises to her name in return for prosperity and protection from the dragons and other creatures that hunted them. For finding the goddess and saving their herd, the tribe named Burning Sands as the next chief in line. Ever since, both sides have kept their agreement intact, despite the number of generations that have come and gone since that day.

"... The end," Twilight finished with a smile. Trixie, Spike, and the storyteller sat around in a circle as they sat in the big chamber at the entrance of the monastery. Chronus had been adamant they spend the night indoors rather than out in the cold embrace of the vicious winds. He sat in the circle and listened as well, although he did not interrupt.

"It was... nice," Trixie started, "But... well... Trixie knows you were going off the version the princess told when you were a filly, but she can't shake the feeling that it was oddly self-serving. Then again, that's just her. You told the story well, but you used some fairly confusing words, considering your audience. As well, the lack of visuals do not make it very engaging... An 'A' for effort, but a 'C' for execution."

"I'd have to agree, Twi," Spike nodded his head. "Don't quit your day job. Now, it's MY turn!" Clearing his throat, the baby dragon began to tell his own story for their little pastime. "This one is called, 'The Black Dragon!'" Twilight and Trixie quietly rolled their eyes as he began.

~*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*~

Twilight opened her eyes with a quiet groan the next morning and rolled over in her sleeping bag, desperate to get a few more minutes of sleep. Even if it meant enduring more nightmares, it was better than the alternative of staying awake for the rest of her life. In theory, she could do it, but that would mean giving up part of being a real pony. She had made peace with the fact she was a construct of magic, but that did not mean she had to like it, or live by it.

Yet, as much as she tossed and turned, sleep failed to find her. After about an hour of futile effort, she gave up and walked out the door back into the main chamber. Chronus had offered a palatial room to her, but that did not mean she felt comfortable taking his charity. Besides, what right did she have to sleep in a comfortable bed when other ponies lacked even basic shelter out there in the cold, dark perversion of the nation she loved?

As she approached the door, she could hear hushed words of discussion from beyond; obviously she was not the first to wake. Upon entering the room, Twilight found her sister, Spike and the Draconequus sitting at a table while enjoying some warm oatmeal to start the day. They had fallen silent as the door creaked open, but she chalked it up to the building paranoia she could feel on the edges of her brain. If it was important, they would tell her.

"Good morning, Twilight!" Trixie asked with enthusiasm. "Did you have a good night's sleep?" She said nothing as she sat at the table and grabbed a bowl with her magic. The words washed over her in a haze of sleep, like water over a rock on the beach. "So..." The blue magician trailed, unsure if she did not hear her, or was actively ignoring her. "We were wondering just what, exactly, Genesis told you."

The previous night, she emerged from the chamber, or 'Regenesis Machine', in a daze from thought and the lingering oppressive energies. It was Chronus who had to explain who she saw and that he more than likely gave her advice on how to move forward. But how could she tell them her choices when they all revolved around that wick- that hor- that creature living in the deepest part of her subconscious? She sighed outwardly as she realized that, no matter what, she could not do it completely on her own.

"He gave me three choices," she spoke as she poured herself some breakfast. "Each is more absurd and difficult than the last, but they are the only ways to kill the queen. We can either march up to her this minute and do battle with little to no preparation, venture into the depths of the Sorrel Hells themselves and grab some stupid MacGuffin item that will do stars-know-what, or try and reunite my missing friends despite them all being pony-plop insane and struggling to kill each other off."

"My, my," Chronus spoke, "That does sound rather harrowing... if you believe it to be. I trust, if he suggested the Sorrel Hells, he said you had to obtain the Shoes of Rocinante?"

"Yeah, that's the MacGuffin," the purple mare replied.

"Do you know what, exactly, they do, Princess Twilight?" She shook her head and started on her cooling breakfast. "Well, you won't find the answer in any book, so I will be the one to tell you. The Shoes of Rocinante look exactly like they sound, but there is a twist. They allow the wearer to match any creature they face in physical and magical power, and bestow control over shadows and darkness to the pony. But there is a major expense. If one wears them for too long, their body is destroyed and they are turned into a constellation for all eternity, essentially killing them."

"That sounds horrible!" Spike spoke in shock. "Well, I know which one we shouldn't do right now! Twilight, there is no way we can go to the Sorrel Hells, even if it is technically possible!"

"Trixie is inclined to agree with the pint-sized dragon. There is nothing, really, to be gained from such a dangerous power boost. I'd rather we go stones in and beat the snot out of the queen right now!"

"Actually," the spirit of time continued. "It is not so much a power boost as it is a device to ensure an even fight. For example, if a pony were to wear them and face a filly, they would have a filly's magical prowess and physical ability. However, if they were to face the queen... well, then you would be her match."

"Mmm," Twilight nodded as she ate, "What about reuniting my living friends? Where are we going to begin, never mind how we're going to make them stop being so crazy? They've all lost their elements, so we can't count on the Elements of Harmony, especially since we don't have the time to find the new bearers."

"Just because they lost them," Chronus answered, "does not mean they cannot hold them anymore. You simply have to make them remember why you were friends in the first place. Now, as for where to start, I would suggest you go to the lovely Ms. Rarity. I can assure you that she feels most horrible about giving up on you and would join you in a heartbeat. I would save Ms. Pinkamena for last, obviously, since you will need some backup to get through to her."

"That's all well and good," the purple mare replied, "but just in case it doesn't work, then... then how would we even find a way to get into the Sorrel Hells? There is no way that I am killing myself."

"I would assume that the royal archives would have a text on the matter. If not the actual location, then the clues you would need to find it."

"So, no matter what," Trixie pondered, "our next destination is... Canterlot. Well, Trixie is glad that our path has been decided: right into the jaws of the beast" There was a general murmur of agreement between the baby dragon and the librarian as they conceded that, in order to continue, they would have to head to the heart of darkness. Still, Twilight could not help but remember an old adage: 'The closer one is to danger, the farther they are from harm.'

~*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*~

South-east of Canterlot, straddling the eastern border of the Everfree Forest stood the imposing and dangerous Swayback Mountains. By contrast, the peaceful Forest of Burzee extended from its northern edge right to the gates of Canterlot City itself. With the spirit of time to point the way, the trio found that the journey down the mountains was exponentially easier then the trip up, resulting in them reaching the wood in a matter of hours instead of days.

Tall, majestic trees spread about the ground, littered with debris from the trees above. No grass could grow on the ground because of the thick canopy above, shading the travelers below from the heat of the summer sun. It was easy to see why ponies rumoured the place to be the childhood home of the mythical reindeer Jingle Bells. Twilight had nearly forgotten what it was like to be outdoors and not freezing her flank off, so the change of pace was embraced by her as the troupe walked on in silence.

Unlike previous stints of traveling, Twilight took up the rear of the group, using her magic to sense for any possible assailants. Meanwhile, Trixie and Spike walked alongside, quietly talking among themselves again. A sneaking suspicion in the back of her head told her not to trust them, but another voice was telling her such thoughts were foolish. It was to the point where she did not know which voice was supposed to be what, but she decided being paranoid was not going to help her.

"What do you think, Twilight?" Spike called back to her.

"Hmm?" the confused unicorn uttered as she jerked herself out of her musings. "Sorry, I wasn't playing attention." She giggled to herself and grinned a little to hide her embarrassment. They weren't excluding her from anything, but rather she was not paying proper attention to them.

"We were talking about those options Genesis gave you some more and what, exactly, we are going to do when we reach Canterlot. I mean, it is just a day's walk or so from here, so it would help if we knew what we were going to do first."

"Well, I have no ideas, I will say that much. I'd like to hear what you decided upon first though."

"Well, we figured you would want Rarity to join us first," Trixie started. "Of course, the odds of a team infiltrating Canterlot Castle successfully are slim to none, so it could only be one of us. The others would stay behind on the outskirts of the city and wait for the two to return, and then we would head off to get another Element of Harmony. That is... what you were planning, wasn't it?"

"In a way," Twilight replied. "I would like to be the one to go into the castle and rescue her. I mean, I lived in the castle for most of my life, so I know it better than anypony except for Princess Celestia. I even picked up a couple of new things after the fire that the queen would not easily know."

"I suppose..." Trixie trailed. "I just don't like the idea of you going in alone. I mean, getting in and out undetected like that is going to be quite the performance, and I am not sure if you would be able to handle it. As the resident expert on illusions, I would stand a much better chance against detection and the royal guards."

"I appreciate the sentiment, Trixie, but it HAS to be me. I mean, do you expect Rarity to believe you after she's been tricked into selling out the Crusaders? Besides, I need to see her for myself and I need to reassure her that I am there for her and to help our friends. Please, Trixie, this is something I have to do on my own."

"Well, I suppose if you must..." From there, the group pressed on in silence, crossing shallow streams and large rivers alike, runoff from the mountains to the south. Birds chirped happily in the trees; a reminder to Twilight that the world was still turning despite her internal struggles and the encroaching darkness. Occasionally, a strange feeling would pass over her, as if she were being watched.

Twilight shook those notions out of her head once more as they came to a stop in a forest clearing, the sun beginning to set and usher in the night. For the past few hours, they had continued on in silence, so it was refreshing to hear her two companions start talking as they set up the tents. With the magical fire lit and their camp restored, they gathered around the fire to eat and share more stories.

"You know our plan?" Twilight spoke over the burning embers, as the sun finally slipped below the horizon. "Well, I just wanted to let you know that... if Rarity should arrive alone and tells you I'm not coming, then I want you three to go on ahead. Maybe try out Fluttershy first over Applejack. There's something I need to do, to make sure all our bases are covered, so... just continue on without me. I'm sure you can do it without me. I don't want to see her like that anymore. It... it hurts me to see her so bitter."

Trixie growled and tensed up for a few minutes, but instead of yelling, she let out a long, exasperated sigh. "Trixie knows she won't be able to stop you, even if she tried to... just go do it, Twilight. If you feel you need to do something on your own, go for it. Just promise you won't do something foalish, and actually FIGHT BACK if a pony or some other creature tries to capture you. We don't want to have to save your sorry flank a second time! I... I don't have a second Bella to use in your place."

"You... you sacrificed your doll just to help me escape!?" Twilight gasped, having not realized she gave up the most precious item she possessed just to let her walk free. Trixie nodded her head solemnly and looked into the fire. "If... if we do get separated, then we'll meet up in two weeks outside of Fluttershy's old home in Ponyville. I'd normally say the Library, but they might be watching it. If I am not there... then we'll meet up some other time, as I'll be going to look for AJ after that."

"I think we'll be done with Fluttershy by then, but let's not split hairs quite yet." Spike simply nodded his head in agreement before Twilight decided to call it a night.

~*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*~

Light flooded into the room from the windows all around like a cathedral, only one made of wood and filled with books. Laughter echoed through the room like a choir as the six multicoloured ponies sat in a circle. Twilight had just finished regaling her friends with the story of her long nightmare and they had helped her feel better about it: they said that everything was just a dream and that they would always love her. It made her feel warm and happy again after spending such a long time being cold and miserable.

Yet, on the edge of her mind, she could not help but feel as if something were amiss with everything around her. Twilight shook the notion out of her head as quickly as it had come: it was just the dream putting her on edge again. The whole thing was silly, now that she thought of it. As if her friends could ever become bloodthirsty psychopaths like in the dream! The notion just made her want to laugh again, so she let loose a little giggle.

Her friends smiled back at her with a warm glow on their faces, telling her subconsciously that everything would be all right. So, together Twilight and her friends started playing all sorts of games together. It was like a slumber party, except in the day time since none of them were busy for some reason. All she knew was that she did not care. After such a horrible nightmare, she just wanted to be with her friends.

Until, however, everything suddenly stopped. Her friends stood around, suddenly becoming stony-faced and expressionless until they shifted to sad and downtrodden. Twilight blinked, confused by the sudden turn of events. "What's wrong, girls? Is there something the matter?" she asked out of her confusion.

"T'ain't nothing wrong, Twilight," Applejack replied. "It's just time fer us to go, is all. We had fun, but... all good things hafta come to an end. Sorry, sugarcube." The wind began to pick up as she smiled dully; specks of brown dust flew away from her hat and into nothingness, the hat itself disappearing from existence before her hair flew into the wind. Twilight gasped as all that was left behind was the skeleton of her friend until it crumbled and fell to the floor in a pile of white dirt.

"A-Applejack!" Twilight croaked as the dust pile too vanished.

"I'm so sorry, Twilight," Fluttershy spoke up. Her mane had turned into a deep, sickly brown and started falling out as her coat started to turn. "We tried. We really did. We waited for you, but... you were too late. I'm sorry we weren't strong enough to be there for you, but now we have to go." The yellow Pegasus began to lose weight at an astonishing rate, becoming nothing more than skin and bones before the now brown mare lost all of her hair. With a weak smiled, she slowly sank into the ground and disappeared.

"Fluttershy..." the librarian trailed, feeling a knot develop in her throat.

"Oh, darling," Rarity started, looking at her with a smile on her face and a tear in her eye. Her coat was matte and dirty, hanging off of her bones as she started to resemble Granny Smith more than her usual radiant self. "It's not your fault. Time just does funny things to some ponies. Goodbye, Twilight." With that, she lay down on the floor, exhausted before she disappeared as well, her mane as white as her coat used to be before the end.

"No... Rarity," Twilight felt tears began to well up in her eyes as she saw her friends start to die one by one in front of her. What was going on? Ponies never died this easily, did they?

"Don't be sad, Twilight! Smile!" Pinkie chirped as she hopped on the spot with that usual grin plastered on her face. "Sure, we're going away and that's a sad thing, but sometimes you just gotta learn to do things on your own! I mean, sure, having friends is nice and all, but you can't depend on them all the time and- oop! I gotta go now, bye!" Without another word, she waved Twilight off before disappearing in a loud pop with a bunch of streamers and confetti bursting from the spot.

"Pinkie Pie..." The scholar spoke quietly. Until, however, a second explosion ripped through the library, staining her lavender coat crimson as blood spewed forth, complete with the odd section of intestine and other organs. She did not move or speak at first, even as blood trickled down her face.

"Oh that Pinkie Pie," Rainbow chuckled. "You should see the look on your face, Twilight! Hilarious!" Upon inspection, the purple mare found that the blood too had disappeared, leaving her unblemished. "Heh. What can I say that hasn't been said already, huh Twilight? Well... I..." Tears of rainbow juice started to seep out of her eyes, leaving Twilight with her mouth agape at the normally stoic Pegasus. "See ya, Sparkles!"

Before her eyes, the chromatic Pegasus began to stream tears of rainbow as her ruffled mane and tail melted, slowly taking the rest of her body with it. The last discernible expression on her face was a sad smile before it sloughed off, pooling onto the floor in a sick slurry of colours. The puddle sizzled and bubbled as it got smaller before disappearing forever. "Rainbow Dash..."

Twilight broke down, her legs buckled, leaving her sobbing to herself on the floor, completely alone without a friend in the world. What had happened? Why did they all have to leave her like that!? Did they not say, once upon a time, that they would be the best of friends forever? Did they not know just how helpless and alone she felt without any one of them in her life!? She pressed her head into the floor and sobbed some more, crying in sorrow and frustration.

She stayed like that for what felt like hours, alone and cold in the sinfully bright library, sobbing uncontrollably. Eventually, she heard the sound of hooves upon the wood, but did not dare raise her head, wanting to be alone in her misery. She would not receive her wish, as she felt a thud beside her, followed swiftly by the wrapping of a large, feathery blanket over her body. For a while, memories of her and Celestia embracing crossed her mind, making her feel safer.

When she finally chanced a look, however, she found a sight that nearly made her blood boil. It was an alicorn with a soft lavender coat and mane that faded from starry night at the roots through the twilight hours and into a gentle sky blue. She had tears cresting in her eyes as well, but what reason did a monster have to cry other than to lull the hero into a false sense of security? She wanted to strike out at her and wring her neck but... she just did not have the energy to care anymore. "S-stop looking like her. You're NOT Celestia!"

"Oh, you see the relation?" Eos replied with a measure of surprise. "Well, that makes one of you. I personally don't."

"It's your shape and height and..." Twilight gave an exasperated sigh. "Forget it. I don't care anymore. I'm just so tired of this plop!" She put her head to the floor and started taking deep breaths, still crying, but no longer sobbing like a filly.

Eos pulled her wing back into her body, exposing Twilight to the cold once more. She sighed as well and lowered her head to the floor, not quite touching it. She did not wear any vestments upon her body as Twilight might have expected, but she was still the mare that she detested the most. "I am tired as well," she replied wearily.

"Why are you here?" the smaller mare snapped. "What do you want? Did you come to laugh as I slip into madness?"

"Why on earth would I laugh at you? I think it is a shame that you are losing your innocence to war and death so quickly. It just makes everything more confusing if there is no line between right and wrong and... I do not like it."

"Who cares what YOU think, foul demon! I think it is an insult that everypony seems to think we're the same bucking creature! What the Sorrel Hells ARE you anyway? You don't talk like me and you certainly don't think like me!" Eos pushed herself off of the floor and curiously started pacing around the room, as if willing for the words to appear on the ground for her to recite.

"You don't think I have anything to do with you. If you refuse me outright, then I have no power, or right to address you as 'me', 'us' or even 'we'. I am, after all, a personification of your subconscious. I know you do not want to be me, and that you think you can handle things on your own. But I must remind you, had I not intervened, you would be in the hooves of Queen Eos, or a distorted reanimated corpse if those Barghests had their way with you."

Twilight growled and got up onto her hooves, clenching her teeth shut as frustration and anger roared through her. "YES, I KNOW!" she screamed. "I'm not HAPPY about it, but for buck's sake, I GET IT ALREADY!! You're nothing more than a temptation: an easy answer to a problem that's YOUR fault in the first place! If I became you, then that would just be another monster for my former friends to fight against! I HATE YOU!!"

The alicorn looked taken aback by her explosion, and rightly so too! She had been the one to start the mess in the first place. She, Twilight, was innocent where that STUPID mule had goaded her into attacking her friends! It just had to be true. "You know how you said to Genesis that you do not want to embrace me?" Eos spoke. "Well, the feeling is MORE than mutual, Twilight Sparkle. Ever since I have been awakened, you have done NOTHING but fear and loathe me. Can you even comprehend what it is LIKE to have the only pony you can ever know fear and hate you, no matter how hard you try!?"

"It feels like the moment I found out Celestia made me as a disposable tool and I had served my purpose," Twilight replied as-a-matter-of-factually. "But that was not ME. It was YOU. You're just the betrayal I felt: nothing more than how Luna and Nightmare Moon were. In fact, I'd even call you MY Nightmare Moon."

A look of insurmountable pain came over the murderous horse's face. Fresh tears spilled from her eyes as she threw her head down to the floor again. "I knew this was a mistake," she sobbed. "W-why do I even bother!? I... I just..." She sighed, realizing that she would be doomed to be an outcast in her own mind. "Never mind. You won't listen to me: you never do. I'll leave you in peace, and NEVER return."

Twilight sighed as the alicorn dejectedly trudged towards the library door and applied a hoof to her face. She'd probably regret it later, but it would be better to know the demon she would have to slay and her weaknesses before she tried to do in the queen, right? "Just... Go ahead and talk. But I don't want any emotional rhetoric horsefeathers. I want a concise LOGICAL explanation of yourself. From the beginning. Why do you insist on helping me if all I do is turn you away?"

Eos returned to face her, tears still dripping down her muzzle. "Well," she sniffed. "I used to be your conscience. It's my... it's my job to nag at you sometimes, and I apologize for it. I will admit I was born of anger and pain, but that does not ordain me as a demon. You were simply having a very bad day, and the stress shut me out from trying to calm you down and... I apologize for being so weak, Twilight. I could not reach you until Luna cast her spell and let me pierce that fog."

"What is it that you want with me?" Twilight asked. "Do you want to take over my body one day and go on some sort of spree? I realize that you can just lie blatantly to my face, but I'm curious to see what plop you can come up with beforehoof."

"Simple respect," the alicorn replied. "Respect enough for you to humour me. Respect enough for you to listen when I have something to say. Respect enough to... to feel like I actually matter."

"That last one might be a bit of a stretch," Twilight replied with a measure of spite.

"Yeah, I know. I seek your approval, nonetheless."

~*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*~

Drifting on the edge of consciousness, the sound of birds and scurrying woodland critters invaded the peaceful dream of marshmallow clouds and expansive fields of flowers: the first pleasant dream she had since falling into the Pool of Midnight. Twilight's eyes fluttered open to find the confines of her tent illuminated by the sun through the leaves of the trees. She stretched out and yawned loudly before getting to her hooves.

After a quick brush of her mane and tail, she stepped outside into the crisp morning air. Dew still coated the blades of grass in the small meadow, so that the ground speckled with hundreds of small diamonds. She was not normally a morning mare, but she had to admit that there was something bracing and wholesome about waking at a reasonable hour, rather than spending half of the night studying.

Although normally, Spike or Trixie would be around to greet her, or they would be getting breakfast started. Twilight could not help but feel a mild panic build. Had they been captured under pretence of mistaken identity, or were they removed so the guards could come in and pounce with no interruption? She stuck her head into their identical yellow and blue tent.

Inside, she could see nothing but their empty sleeping bags and a note attached to her sister's. On it, she found out that she and Spike had slept in unintentionally, so things were late getting started. The lavender mare breathed a sigh of relief as she realized she was worrying over nothing, as usual. That did not stop her from giving the tent a quick comb-over for any sign of a struggle though, since forgery or a forced statement were not out of the question.

"Sweet Celestia, Twilight Sparkle, stop being so paranoid!" she chastised herself. With a quick shake of her head to clear her mind, she stepped back outside to get a breath of fresh air. The magical fire she cast the night before still burned, as usual. Although, she could not help the nagging feeling that she was being watched again, as silly as the notion was to her.

Meanwhile, on the edge of the wooded clearing, the hunter closed in on her prey, after many an exhaustive hour of tracking and following. It was a fine balance of remaining in cover while being able to keep track of her prize, not to mention the heavy guard she maintained. Although she had no clue what the small dragon was capable of, she knew all too well that Trixie kept herself primed in case of a sudden attack.

So, she shadowed the group through the mountains, jumping from rock outcropping to outcropping, using her coat to help blend into the surroundings. The real trick was keeping herself hidden in the woods, but somehow she had managed. All of her hard work was about to be rewarded, as she saw the magician and the small dragon venture off on their own, leaving the prize completely unguarded.

Well, perhaps not completely. Vinyl Scratch had to admit that the thought had crossed her mind that, if she really wanted to, Twilight Sparkle could kill her in less than ten seconds. Of course, the white mare knew she had no intent to kill, but the idea still scared her. Yet her need to cash in on the bounty outweighed the danger. She could not let her escape again when they were so close, or else she would have to try it again from the top.

Already, her mind began to churn and create plans left, right and centre. She had faced magically superior ponies before, but never had she been so outclassed by a single mare. She refused to shrink from the challenge, however: her livelihood was hanging in the balance. The pounding of the bass, the feel of the knobs in her telekinetic hold... how she longed to be at the DJ booth once more and reclaim her crown as the most radical musician in all of Equestria!

"Okay, Scratch," she spoke quietly. "You've done enough prep. It's time to give that filly a show that'll rock her world!" Taking a deep breath, the white unicorn emerged from her hiding place.

"Trixie?" the prize spoke and looked around. Her mouth hung agape when she saw the mare was not her meddlesome little sister. With a flash of her horn, a wall of multicoloured light surrounded the meadow, locking the two ponies inside. The magic contained the odd note of music gently floating up before hitting the lip and disappearing. "Vinyl!?"

"You like my Wall of Sound, filly?" the former DJ smirked. "Touch it and it'll blow your mind! Well, maybe your eardrums. It's so nopony interrupts us. Not even Tricky Trixie can get past that barrier, so we'll be quite undisturbed. I'd sorta like to play this tune at double time, so how's 'bout we rock this joint?"

"No!" Twilight cried out. "I refuse to fight you, but there is no way that I am going with you. You're a greedy, selfish mare and I will not indulge you!"

"Well, if that's what you want to believe." Vinyl put her saddle bags on the ground and cracked her neck. Her sunglasses reflected the light of the morning sun off her lenses. Twilight now knew why she had that feeling of being watched, so her paranoia was, at least, a little bit justified. The purple mare lowered her front into an attack position. Obviously the other pony had confidence and skill, or else she would not be so foalish as to fight her one-on-one.

The white mare smirked wider when she saw the prize take a defensive position. "I gotta say that Trixie has prepared you well. You almost look passable as a fighter, Twilight Sparkle. But, I say we've stalled long enough. I'd like to get you to Canterlot by nightfall and claim my due reward. Let's dance!" Twilight was expecting the other mare to charge, but nothing happened. She stood with her horn aglow in a light blue shimmer, but she could not see or sense any attack magic being built up around her.

Before she could even think, she fell to the ground on her side. Somehow, Scratch had used a simple levitation spell on the ground to churn it up and make her fall! But she could not dwell on it, for the white unicorn had chosen the moment to charge! Twilight struggled onto her hooves and quickly dodged the attack.

There was no time to think for her, only react. As soon as the bounty hunter noticed she overshot the target, she wheeled around and was upon her before she had half a chance to charge a spell. Twilight rolled onto the dirt as the other pony came like a train, only having the presence of mind to trip her up. Thankfully, the white mare stumbled and skidded to a stop a short distance away. Using the lapse in the action, Twilight charged her horn and lifted her attacker before flinging her back.

Vinyl hit the ground hard, but she did not show it. The fact she could lift her and toss her was a testament to her raw power, but she still lacked the will to injure. Killing was probably out of the question for a mare that soft. It was of no consequence to her since it was not her neck on the line. The white pony charged forward, but her prize was ready, probably lured into thinking she had a pattern.

Twilight charged her horn as the white mare came in close, ready to teleport to a point just behind the charging mare so she would overshoot again. However, at the last possible second, the white unicorn suddenly veered to the left and over to the fire pit. Vinyl smirked as she looked at her over the flames; horn alight with more magical energy. Yet, again, she did not sense a sudden build of magical power. Thinking quickly, the purple mare jumped to the side to avoid being humiliated once more.

Before she could take a breath and counter, a hunk of something brown smacked her in the face. She cried out in surprise and tried to remove the clod of dirt from her vision. However, she felt herself jerk and a ripple of pain radiate from her chest. When she could see again, she found herself on the ground with Vinyl looking over her, horn red and dripping blood. Looking down, she saw a large hole in the pit of her stomach, bleeding profusely.

"All's fair in love and war, and we ain't smoochin'," the former DJ smirked. "Now, are you going to continue to thrash around like a filly with a temper tantrum, or are you going to come at me like a MA-?" She could not finish her sentence as she was suddenly thrown back by a gust of wind, passing through her barrier and out of the arena before careening into a tree. Unseen by the raging purple unicorn, Vinyl was smiling despite the sharp pain in her back.

"Why are you doing this!?" Twilight screamed in anger when the bounty hunter re-entered the arena, unharmed by her own construct. "What did I ever do to you!? Or is this all about the money, you heartless horse!?"

"All about the moolah, baby," Vinyl calmly replied. "That and I lost my career thanks to that stupid friend of yours! She ruined my eyes, and now I am going to catch you and use that money to get them fixed, and maybe I'll pay off a few bills too!" With a flick of her horn, the ground shook with a shockwave of sound. The ground underneath the magical fire lifted into the air and spread out, falling in small patches of now dry grass. The tiny fires quickly surrounded the purple mare.

With the vibrations in the ground, the flames flared up and down quickly as the low rumble of a song played out under her hooves. Twilight summoned all of her strength and let loose an explosive ball of wind to douse the flames and rip up all the grass within three meters from her. Yet, as the dust cleared, she realized she lost track of the hunter. Before she could wheel around completely, she felt a sudden weight on her back.

"I'm so glad you're a golem, Twilight Sparkle!" The musical mare grunted with effort as she tried to stop from being bucked off. "'Cause now I can stop the music with this one beat, and not kill ya!" Twilight felt her body shudder as the sudden jerk from the DJ's hooves snapped her neck, making her fall unceremoniously to the ground, paralysis taking hold. She tried with every fibre of her being to cast a spell, any spell, but only sparks would shoot out of her horn.

Meanwhile, Vinyl Scratch lifted her saddle bags to her side, panting with effort as she lay atop her hard-fought prize. Clamping the Mithril braces to her legs and slipping the ring on her horn was like a symphony of victory to her tired ears. But she could not relax quite yet. The fact of the matter was that Trixie was still out there and fighting Twilight had taken a lot out of her. No doubt, if she and the blue unicorn went hoof-to-hoof, her mix records would suddenly spike in value.

She reached down and snapped the purple mare's neck back into position. Twilight would still be paralyzed for a while, but she would not be damaged enough to void the bounty. Using her magic, she lifted the prize onto her back and used a featherweight spell on her body before she dashed off into the woods, grinning from ear to ear on the inside. Soon, her hard-fought goal would be in reach!

Jaws of the Beast

In the blink of an eye, the early morn had turned into the end of evening. At least, that is what it felt like to the mare as she trudged through mud and brush with no discrimination. She hoped they would be upon the edge of the forest soon, for it had been a long day of physical exertion and no rest for food or water. She was running solely on her excitement at having almost acquired the biggest bounty of her career.

Twilight Sparkle walked obediently behind the bounty hunter as the sun began to set once more below the horizon. She wore a Mithril bracelet on each leg and one on her horn: an inescapable situation for any unicorn, including the one she was being marched to that very instant. Vinyl had taken a rope and tied it around her neck after the librarian had began to move again and grasped it tightly in her magical hold to ensure she would not escape.

Every so often, Vinyl Scratch would try to strike up a conversation with her, possibly to pass the time. Thinking about it, Twilight wondered why she would take such a risk. In woods like this, with her magic properly restrained, a more opportunistic pony could get the jump on her. Then again, she remembered the white unicorn had fought quite adequately, if not for her magical power, but rather how she executed it. Never in a hundred years would Twilight think to make the ground under a pony unstable just by moving it via mundane telekinesis.

No matter how hard she tried to get her to talk, the lavender pony stubbornly refused her. It was not because she was sore about losing the fight to her, but rather that she did not want to have it beaten into her. Besides, small talk had never been her forte. It was not until around noon that the former DJ gave up and walked ahead in silence. All things considered, Twilight figured it could have been worse: she could have been dragged away again, rather than be allowed to walk under her own power.

Maybe it's a gesture of good will? Twilight thought to herself in the present as she stepped over a fallen log. According to Trixie, she's quite honourable. Perhaps allowing me to actually walk behind her is a sign of respect for saving her life from the Barghests? Either way, I hope we reach Canterlot sooner rather than later. I don't like the idea of going to see the maniacal horse, but we'd have to meet eventually, so I might as well get it over and done with.

As soon as the thought crossed her mind, the duo had come to the threshold of the Forest of Burzee with the lights of Canterlot flickering in the distance. Even as she dreaded passing through the gates, she could not help but be in awe of the beauty of the city, even as a native to the alabaster walls and gilded trimmings that it loved to flaunt. Vinyl continued to press forward regardless, obviously eager to claim the reward.

The large fields surrounding the walled town gave the ponies on the battlements a chance to see any advancing creatures long before they tried to sneak up on the city. In the days when she grew up, they served more as a pretty monument rather than serving any practical purpose. However, given the political climate, it was not hard to guess that now they were being used much more seriously.

In no time at all, the two mares had joined the road leading into town and past the massive double doors. Magical street lights flickered to life as the light-sensing spell on the posts triggered the flames. She still found them fascinating, even after getting the full explanation on how they worked. Although the night had only just begun, few citizens were actually outside despite Canterlot's diverse nightlife.

A sharp tug on the rope shook her from her daydreams as Vinyl moved on ahead with disregard to anything around her. The lavender pony quickened her pace to keep up, heart beginning to beat in her chest with every hoof that brought them closer to the castle. She had to start taking deep breaths as they followed the road into the tunnel that connected the town to the ledge upon which the castle perched.

When the castle finally came in sight, a cold sweat began to develop and chills run down her spine. Memories of the day of her... episode bubbled to the surface of her mind. How much worse had the damage been in this world? What would an evil tyrant do to make the castle work better for their means? Thankfully, the exterior looked the same as ever with its spiralling towers of alabaster and gold reaching for the Equestrian sky.

Guards looked on with mouths agape as she was paraded through the outer gardens and towards the drawbridge. Soon, she would be in the castle proper with no real hope for escape. The thought crossed her mind to struggle and break free from her binds, but she would be doing nopony any favours, especially since she would be scooped up immediately upon pulling off the Hoofdini-esque escape.

The twin, solid oak doors leading inside the castle proper slammed shut as an entourage of guards trotted over to meet the pair. Vinyl wore that persistent grin on her face at the looks of disbelief. "Tell Her Majesty that I have captured Twilight Sparkle and wish to claim my reward!" the white mare chirped. A messenger galloped from the scene and up the steps into the throne room. Meanwhile, a tight guard encircled the pair of ponies, just in case.

So far, so good, Twilight thought as she looked around the Entrance Hall. Although identical to how she remembered it, the atmosphere was quite different. Where before it held the kind warmth associated with Celestia, an aura of fear and doubt filled the room like a miasma, creeping down from the doors leading to the throne. Perhaps she could use this to her advantage, when the time came to act?

Alas, she had no time to dwell as the messenger came down the stairs in a hurry. "Her Majesty," he panted for breath, "will see you immediately, Ms. Scratch." With a sharp tug on the rope, the white mare with the electric blue mane started up the main stairs that lead to the throne. Twilight had to struggle to keep her breathing under control as her anxiety mounted exponentially.

Before she knew it, she stood in the vaulted hall of the throne room, everything exactly as she remembered it, so that was a good sign. However, on the seat of power, instead of her mentor and creator was the demon horse in all her glory. It took all of Twilight's willpower to keep herself from angrily charging her, the rational approach encouraged by the voice in the back of her head. Keep calm. There will be a time to fight, but it is not now. Stick to your plan, Twilight.

"Your majesty," Vinyl bowed before the monarch. "I have captured the wanted criminal, Twilight Sparkle, alive as required by the bounty." Queen Eos quirked an eyebrow at the pair before her, lavender eyes locked on her doppelganger the entire time the other mare spoke. Twilight's heart raced in her chest as she looked back into those identical pools, cold and unreadable in their intent.

She's unlikely to do anything harmful to me, the lavender unicorn repeated. After all, the fact that she specified I was to be captured alive suggests that she is uncertain if killing me could potentially kill herself as well. So, as long as I do nothing to tick her off, I'm safe. Then, I can use the time given to me to plot my route and get to Rarity, then to the Royal Archives.

The overall plan was simple, as with most successful plans. Most castles were designed to be near impossible to infiltrate, so breaking in would be more trouble than it was worth. When Vinyl came along, a workaround entered her mind. By letting the white mare capture her, she could get into Canterlot with no trouble. Sure, she would be locked in the dungeons, but she knew the interior of the castle like the bottom of her hoof. Not only would she get in with ease, but she would also eliminate a thorn in her side.

Queen Eos descended the throne and walked over to the purple mare, Vinyl having filed to the side while she was musing on her plan. She could not help but notice a slight limp in the queen's stride: obviously Rainbow's handiwork. A magical aura enveloped the unicorn, scaring her at first as scenarios of being banished to the moon ran through her mind. Thankfully, the spell was merely prodding for any magical disturbances, such as disguises or transformation.

She eyed her curiously, an eyebrow quirked as the court held its breath. The queen herself seemed to mull something over before she finally cleared her throat. "Stardance?"

"Yes, your highness?" called a colt sitting in the advisor's chair.

"Please inform the Royal Treasury to make a five hundred thousand bit cheque for the successful capture of wanted fugitive Twilight Sparkle. It is to be made payable to miss Vinyl Scratch. Guards? Please escort Miss Sparkle to the dungeons where she shall be interred for the foreseeable future. I think this would be a good time to close court for the night. Dismissed."

The guards advanced on the small unicorn and grabbed the rope wrapped around her neck. With no sign of protest, the doppelganger was lead away, down into the dungeons where she could be kept under watch. Although it was a hit to the royal coffers, it was well worth the money to see that mare locked up like she belonged. With a few words of gratitude towards the bounty hunter responsible for her capture, the alicorn began the trek up to her room for her evening pill.

She let a rare smile creep upon her face as the weight of all the anxiety and worry she felt over the last few days lifted from her back. An occasion like this needed celebrating: the good wine as opposed to the cheap stuff she used when she had her little meltdown. "I'm going to have a nice bubble bath, read a good book and just relax for once. Nuts to the war for tonight. In fact, I just might do this for a couple of days! I could use it after..."

Eos winced at the memory of the other day, seared into her brain like a cruel brand. His voice still grated at her ears and the sharpness of his teeth still made her flesh quiver in pain. Nor could she forget the cold stare of those green eyes. He was a perfect monster; the epitome of all evil and malice... and he... he... She shook her head free of the bad memory. It was not the time to remorse, but to celebrate! With a flourish of her horn, the twin doors leading into her suite opened, allowing her the chance to breathe.

~*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*~

A couple of days previously, the queen of Equestria was perched upon her throne while listening to the petty ramblings of the commoners, as usual. There had been nothing really noteworthy from their complaints or criticism, so after about the fourth delegate she tuned them out until they were finished before asking her advisor for the gist of the lecture. Overall, it was fairly standard procedure for her.

However, that all came crashing to a halt right before her lunch break when a more unusual petitioner stepped into the throne room. "Announcing," boomed the herald, "The Honourable Minty Green, Mayor of the Village of Green Acres." Immediately afterward, a scared stallion trotted into the room, doffing his black top hat as a sign of respect for the immortal monarch before him. True to his name, he was a minty green stallion with hair of dirt brown and the mark of a mint leaf. He stood there awkwardly for a couple of minutes, running one of his front hooves through the back of his mane.

"Well?" The queen pressed impatiently. "What is it you have to discuss that cannot be taken up with your Governor, Mr. Green? Surly, you know better than to waste my time with petty annoyances, correct?" The stallion gulped audibly and ceased rubbing his mane.

"You, uh... you see your... er... majesty..." he trailed as he chose his words carefully. "A few days ago, our village was attacked."

"A pressing issue to be certain," the queen interrupted. "Yet, it is the Prime Minister who is the ultimate authority for such military matters." Thinking on it though, she felt a shiver run down her spine. If she remembered correctly, Green Acres was at least sixty miles from the front. Unless they were doing deep-territory bombings, the dragons and griffons could not get that far without her knowing.

"Well... we weren't attacked due to the war, your Majesty."

"What do you mean?"

The stallion took a deep breath to collect his nerves. He had no idea how she would react to the news, and despite having done no wrong, he still feared how she would react. "A couple of days ago, a pair of foals, just fillies, entered the woods to play. They were gone for hours, so we naturally rounded up a search party. We found them near a spot they were known to frequent, but... they... they were found dead. I dare not speak the details, but they were eaten, possibly alive, but it was not a normal predator.

"You see, shortly after finding them, we heard laughter and saw a pony... a black stallion with black hair and vivid, green eyes standing at the edge of the clearing. He mocked us, and two of our guard charged him, but he vanished and reappeared in a different place. He... he called himself... Nightmare, your highness!"

Several ponies in the court gasped, no doubt due to the shockwaves from the Nightmare Moon incident eleven years previous, but Eos knew they did not know even the half of what was going on. In Celestia's private library, she had found texts on the spirit which possessed Princess Luna and turned her into a demon. If he was roaming Equestria without possessing a body then it could only mean far more trouble than a few irate dragons and griffons.

"Very well then," Eos spoke after the clamour died down. "I shall travel to the Whitetail Woods and deal with this threat myself, since no mortal pony would stand a chance against such a powerful and evil spirit. Those two fillies shall be avenged."

And that is how she found herself in the present moment, wandering the forest to walk into the jaws of the beast itself. At first glance, it seemed unlikely he lingered at the scene of a crime; then again, perhaps he did, to feed off the residual pain and sadness from his escapade. The one thing that was consistent about him over all records was that Nightmare was a very unpredictable monster. Still, he was not chaotic like Discord, who could have been anywhere and everywhere, had she herself not taken certain measures.

According to the records, he liked to dwell in the coldest part of the Sorrel Hells when not in his own Nightmare Realm. As such, when in the mortal world, he would bring with him the unearthly cold, which would slowly spread over a wide area. Since the Whitetail Woods were colder than normal, it made a logical start to begin her search pattern. It was simply a matter of getting the jump on him.

Eos's hoofsteps made little sound as they crunched down on the forest floor. Her ears stood erect to detect even a trace amount of sound, yet she walked forward with dignity befitting her station, despite having left her vestments behind. It had been a few hours since she started and she had not seen or felt a single sign of his presence besides the temperature.

Perhaps he was hiding from her divine fury? Or maybe he had not sensed the challenger's presence yet? Either way, the queen was beginning to feel on edge, as if the precipice was just a hoof away in super dense fog. Maybe it was the absence of other creatures, or the slowly crushing cold as she drew closer to the beast she sought to destroy? She shook her head as it threatened to sweep her up into another uncharacteristic mood.

However, that would have not been a problem for long as the temperature quickly dipped below freezing. Her breath came out in puffs of white steam as she tried to fight her instinct to look around wildly. He had to be close, but she could neither hear nor see anything other than her own steps. Eventually, she came to a large, empty clearing with a pile of mossy stones in the centre. From afar, it looked like the remains of a statue, but the rusted iron door told her it was an entrance to some underground space.

A tingle washed down her spine as she walked across the open field. The cold had become so prominent that the blades of grass cracked underhoof, for they were frozen solid. The carcasses of felled birds and other small woodland critters littered the clearing, with the stench of death palatable in the air. He had to be close: she could feel it in her bones. The only question that remained, however, was from where he would appear to face her.

"Well, well, well," spoke an ethereal voice. It was no louder than a whisper, but echoed with as much power as the queen herself could muster. "What have we here? Her royal Highness is out for a stroll in the woods. You are quite a ways from Canterlot, I daresay."

Eos turned as fast as she could to see herself facing an earth pony stallion whose coat and mane were black as night and eyes as green as polished emeralds. He grinned at her, teeth gleaming in the evening sunlight. "You are far too easy to track, Queen Eos. I could have ambushed you at any moment for the past two hours. From what I hear, Twilight Sparkle is no better."

She did her best to keep her royal composure, but his attitude was just too smug for her to bear. "You made a big mistake by attacking my subjects, Nightmare! Now, you're going to pay the price!"

"Are they REALLY your subjects?" he smirked. "From what I've seen, they regard Celestia and Luna as their leaders. You are just a usurper they have to put up with until somepony can figure out how to poison a god! Even Celestia, at her worst as a tyrant, could keep a rebellion down, but you can't even handle that. You're like a foal groping in the dark and soon, the boogeymare in the closet will GET YOU!" A deep, cold laugh echoed from his mouth as his eyes gleamed in triumph.

"Silence! Prepare to DIE!" Eos yelled as a magical attack flashed in her horn. A hundred knives made of light surrounded her before shooting towards the demon before her. Nightmare did his best to avoid the attacks, but when razor-sharp knives of light fly at the speed of light, it's all but impossible to dodge. He cried out and writhed on the ground as knife after knife pierced his body. In between, he hissed like an extremely agitated snake and yelped like a dog.

After a couple of seconds, the queen stopped her attack and approached the pin cushion she had made. A nagging in the back of her mind, however, told her a creature as evil as that would not go down easily. In fact, as she drew no more than a couple of meters away, he began to snicker. "I apologize," he spoke with mirth. "I simply could not contain my excitement! It has been too long since I had a fight with another immortal."

Springing to his hooves, wisps of black smoke surrounded his body, shedding his pony disguise for the true nature of his beastly form. His canine features fitted the description of a predator to a tee, or so Eos thought before he vanished. She looked around, expecting an attack from behind before a sudden weight hit her back, nearly breaking it. But that was nothing to compare to the feeling of over a dozen razor sharp teeth ripping into the back of her neck, cleaving flesh from bone in one fell swoop!

Sharp claws dug into her back before he jumped in front of her, swallowing the large chunk of meat in his mouth. "It has been a long time since I had Alicorn; delicious, simply delicious!" Eos struggled back to her hooves as blood cascaded down her shoulders and dripped onto the frozen grass, rage burning in her eyes as she watched him lick his blood-soaked lips. "Well, are you going to take your turn?" he added impatiently, tapping his forward-left paw against the ground.

Eos growled in anger and charged her horn with a flash of magic to appear right behind him and match his attack in ferocity. "Aww," he spoke even as she charged her horn. "The cute little Alicorn is SO predictable," he spoke in the tone of voice a pony would only use when talking to a baby. With a gravelly chuckle, he dodged her attack and rounded on her, sharp claw growing on the ends of his paws. In a flash, she was on the dirt, crying with pain and blinded as the claws burst her eyes like grapes.

"If you ARE trying to kill me, you are doing a very poor job... Twilight Sparkle. I expected more from the mare who killed both Celestia and Luna. Do you want to know a secret, Twilight?" He drew close to her unseeing eyes and gently nipped the end of her muzzle, tearing off a small strip of flesh. He lapped at the blood happily before drawing close to her ear. "You let me out."

"I've heard some lies in my day, but that one is just ridiculous!" the queen shouted as she rubbed the blood out of her healing eyes. "I didn't do anything to let out such an evil, despicable MULE like yourself!"

"Didn't you?" he smiled. "You killed Celestia and Luna, which plunged the country into war and sparked the rebellion. I exist in the darkness of the hearts of all ponykind. Your actions have caused so much hurt, pain, death and destruction that I am free to come and go as I please. Thank you, my liege! I owe you my freedom! Allow me to thank you better."

He bent down and pressed his muzzle against her face, sending shivers down her spine as the deathly-cold touch of his tongue against her cheek raced over her body and made her hairs stand on end. Eos pulled away as fast as she could, her rational mind paralyzed from both fear and anger. He laughed at her reaction, no doubt smirking with those razor-sharp teeth. "Oh, you're no FUN to torment," he sighed. "So, I might as well go home and relax before spreading more delicious darkness. But before I do, allow me to thank you further. Your doppelganger will be in your custody soon. How long you hold onto her, however, is YOUR choice, Sparkles. Goodbye!"

The distinct sound of the demon teleporting told her that it was all over. As much as she wanted to deny him, that stupid inner voice refused. He's right, you know. It IS our fault things have come to this, she sighed mentally.

"No!" Eos spoke. "I refuse to listen to him! HEAR ME, NIGHTMARE!? I WILL KILL YOU SOMEDAY! MARK MY WORDS!!!"

It's official: you are COMPLETELY delusional.

~*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*~

How could she go through with it? She had come and gone so many times; she had been away for so long without anything more than a note left on the kitchen table. She would be mad at her, but perhaps the relief might be enough to forgo any punishment she rightfully deserved? Granted, the mare beyond the door had quite the temper when agitated, and an ego to match her own.

Vinyl Scratch looked upon the apartment door once more and raised her hoof to knock, but slowly withdrew it after a short pause. She bit her lip in apprehension and scuffed the linoleum floor with her front hoof. Why was it always the supposedly easy things in life that turned out to be the hardest? "Just knock on the door and say you're home to stay," she spoke quietly to herself. "Tavi will be glad to see you. She always is... after her initial hissy fit."

Taking a deep, invigorating breath, she threw caution to the wind and knocked loudly on the door to finally end the stupid waiting. After a couple of seconds of waiting, the door opened to the frazzled face of her oldest friend in the world. "Oh, it's you, Scratch," Octavia spoke with a sigh of relief. "I thought you might have been... never mind. Please, come inside."

The white unicorn slowly walked into their new shared apartment to find it cleaned within an inch of its life. Every surface was bare unless absolutely necessary. Some even gleamed or sparkled as the sunlight hit it! It was a blurred mess of colour too. Once she had the operation, she was sure that the style of the place would grow on her, but for the moment, it just made her sick.

"So, how long are you going to 'crash' for this time, Vinyl?" the gray mare asked with annoyance evident in her voice. Sometimes, the white pony would stay for only a day. Other times, she would linger up to a month before another 'exciting' bounty came up.

"Hmm... hard to say," she pretended to think. "I was thinking about maybe resting my tunes here for a few beats and chillin' to a different song, filly!"

Octavia sighed and applied a hoof to her face. "You do not need to talk to me that way, Vinyl. Besides, it's really, really annoying! Anypony who looks at your flank can recognize your talent is music. Do not be obnoxious." The DJ grinned as a little bit of a blush flashed across her muzzle and rubbed the back of her head. "Now, can you repeat your answer in plain Equestrian this time?"

"I was thinkin' I'd live here for, what, four, five years? As long as the rent holds up anyway!" The white pony trotted over to the sofa and abruptly plopped herself on top of it, bouncing a little as the springs absorbed the force of her body weight. With a casual flex of her magic, a red aura enveloped her purple shades and gently placed them on the side table. "Ahhh. This beats camping any day!"

"Wait a second," her friend started as the cogs in her mind ground together. "Are you saying that you, Vinyl Scratch, are coming home... to stay? As in no more bounties or dangerous missions?"

"Nope! Totally done with that biz! Went out, caught Twilight Sparkle and BAM! Five hundred g's in the bank, filly! Although..." she trailed as the thought welled up in her mind once more.

"Although what?" She could not hide the slight hints of concern in her voice.

"Well... I think she kind of WANTED me to catch her, for whatever reason. Not that I'm complaining much. If she wanted to, I'd be dead as a horseshoe nail by now! But, it makes me feel a little mad if she did, because I wanted to catch her with my own skill alone, you see?"

"Skill... right..." Without warning, the grey mare threw herself onto her friend, who could only yelp and kick in protest as she was brought into a deep, bracing hug. "Oh, I am so glad you are home! Do you have any idea how much I worry about you out there, Scratch? You might be a crazy moron, but you are MY crazy moron and my best friend! I could not imagine the world without your brand of insanity."

"Tavi, you're... smothering me!"

"Oh, it figures! I decide to be sentimental and it is suddenly wrong, but when YOU want to be that way it is okay? Talk about double standards!" However, when she stepped off of her friend, the fading blue in her face told her that she was not kidding about being slowly asphyxiated, causing the normally composed cellist to blush and suddenly become interested in a spot on the floor.

After regaining her breath, DJ-P0n3 rolled off of the couch and coughed a little from nearly being hugged to death. "So yeah, bounty's collected which means I can go in for that surgery any time! Even with this stupid war! But, I think I'll hold off for the moment. Things feel like they're getting more intense, you know? I don't want to get it just to bite the dust a few days later, you know?"

"Yes. I think I can sympathize with those feelings, Vinyl." With a quick look around, the gray mare soon realized she had forgot one of the most important parts of being a good host. "Um... would you like something to eat or drink after your long trip?"

Smiling back at her, the white mare replied, "Sure, I'd like that, 'Tavi." Although she'd occasionally drive her nuts with her nigh continuous cleaning, Vinyl had to admit that it was good to be home once more. Even in the uncertain future, she felt confident that through it all, their friendship would remain as strong as it ever was. But, she had no way of knowing just how much things had changed with her best and oldest friend in the entire world.

~*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*~

Buried deep under the alabaster halls of Canterlot Castle were the grey, damp and depressing labyrinth of tunnels and halls known as the basement. Like most other buildings of importance, visitors rarely got to see the anthesis to the regal grandeur above. Yet, even then there was more below the surface, for past an inconspicuous door there was a set of stairs leading down, lit only by torches.

The dungeons had not seen any real use, outside of captured infiltrators since about two hundred years after Princess Luna was banished to the moon. In all that time, the only thing to change about the dungeons was the torches used to light the dim, depressing blackened stone corridors and the guards who sought to keep the imprisoned within their cells.

Each room was identical, about two meters wide by four meters deep with a little hole in the stones like in the dragon's dungeons. However, it was open to the outside, albeit far too small for a pony to fit through, so it did not smell nearly as bad. Rings of iron were embedded into the walls and floor to help secure the more active and dangerous ponies from aspirations of escape. A narrow, reinforced wooden door with locking slots for the delivery of food was the only way in or out, discoloured by seeping groundwater through the stones.

Twilight Sparkle was now one such inmate, but strangely, she had not made a fuss about being locked up so far below ground. The guards did not complain, however, since they were far too busy dealing with another, more irritatingly resistant pony. She had heard the name 'Jade' thrown around a couple of times, but the purple unicorn had no idea who she was, or what she could do to help her.

Inside the cell furthest from the exit, the purple unicorn lay on a bed of hay. It had been over twenty-four hours since being locking inside the tiny, depressing cell, but she had yet to see even a hint of food. For all their torturing and dastardly deeds, the dragons kept her fed and watered, at least. Perhaps Queen Eos was trying to break her will subtly? After all, she did know that she was a golem, if not because she was some perverse alternate extension of herself, but because Rarity might have told her under the influence that one time.

Trixie and Spike had tried to turn her against the idea of releasing the white tailor from her gilded cage, but she had been adamant in her rescue. Twilight was never a pony to put all her eggs into one basket, hence why she would at least explore the option of going into the Sorrel Hells while she was rescuing her friend. Granted, she did not like the option, but it was better than making up with the dem- pony in the back of her mind, or marching to her doom against the queen.

Yet, now was not the time to think about such things. She was trying to recall her various books about the tactics and techniques used by her favourite magician, Hairy Hoofdini. He had made countless escapes from more secure places than this with nothing on him but his hooves and his horn. Heck, in most cases he even had his magic suppressed as well! So, she lay calmly on her pile of hay, chained to the wall with her limbs in Mithril braces.

A plan began to form in her brain slowly as her knowledge of the castle layout and guard routines churned with her skills in magic. Once free of the binds, it would be a cake walk to traverse the castle... at least, until the queen was informed and joined the hunt herself. She would have to be quick finding Rarity's room and even quicker to get her out before they killed her as a traitor. They probably didn't change the location of the security center, Twilight mused. So, since Rarity is more or less here against her will, they probably have her under surveillance. But how do I find out where her room is?

In the end, she figured there were some things she could not plan for and would have to make it up on the fly. It worried her, but at least she could barricade the office when she got there, if she felt the need. But even then, the hardest part would not be getting to her, or getting her out of the castle, but convincing her she was not there to mislead her and to come with her, Trixie, and Spike.

Again, it was another one of those things that she could not plan, and would have to play by ear when the time came for it. She opened her eyes to find the room in the same state as usual, except now her breath came out as steam from her muzzle, telling her that night had descended at last. The sound of hooves on the stone floor outside told her the guard had come to check on her condition, telling her two hours had passed since the last time.

The idea of feigning sick had crossed her mind before, but she had no doubt that the queen had told her guards that she could not get sick that easily, or that if she had then they were to ignore her since she could not die anyway. The upper latch in the door opened, an amber eye peering in to meet her purple ones before it closed and the hoofsteps became more distant. It was then she decided her time to move would be after the next time he checked. Then it would be late enough to catch them unawares, but not late enough for Rarity to be asleep.

So, she waited patiently once more for the stallion to come and go. As soon as those amber eyes peered in again and shut the latch, her heart began beat in her chest like a runaway locomotive. Once she was sure he was gone, she set to work. She stood to her hooves with a clatter from the chains and nosily trotted over to a specific stone in the wall. It stuck out no more than a couple of centimetres from the rest of the wall, but it would do for now.

Twilight reached up and rested her shackled right-front hoof so that the top was against the top of the brick. Using her other front hoof for leverage, she pulled the right one back while forcing the shackle to remain in place. It was clasped tightly around her appendage and refused to budge, but she would not give up. She grunted and bit her lip as she felt the cool metal begin to cut into her flesh from the pressure.

Blood flowed freely down her leg the more she pushed. Hoofdini never had this problem, so why did she? After a couple of minutes of enduring the pain, she gave up and rested her head against the cold stone. She calmed herself down and looked at the small puddle of blood forming when an idea hit her! She held the bleeding hoof up and let the blood pool around the lip of the cuff before wiggling it around to let some fall into the gap.

Placing the hoof back into position, she tried again, finding the cuff moving a lot more easily once it has a source of lubrication. In no time at all, the mithril cuff slipped off the end of her leg. One down, three more to go! As she felt the free hoof begin to heal, she reached up to her horn and gently wiggled the ring off. Now, all she had to do was remove one more, and then she could overload the other two and break free at last!

Unfortunately, by the time she removed the second ring, the blood on the floor and on her leg had dried up. So, rather than beat around the bush, she took the tip of her horn and pushed into her leg with it until she felt the warmth of blood trickle down. Repeating the same procedure that led to success, the purple mare slipped off the second cuff much more easily then the first. All that remained were the two on her back legs. Okay, here we go!

Closing her eyes in concentration, the mare felt the magic build up in her body despite the two bracelets attempting to resist. Familiar warmth spilled out from her insides and covered her body like a soft blanket made of pure mana. If she opened her eyes, she was sure another pony would see them glowing white, like brilliant little slivers of sunlight on a clear summer's day.

Just when she thought that they would never break, a quick succession of loud cracks filled the cell as bits of metal broke and clanked against the hard floor and walls. She quickly stopped pouring out the magic and looked at her flank. Confirming her suspicions, the two bracelets clamped to her legs were broken and lay askew upon the floor. Phase one of her plan had gone off without a hitch!

However, a new sound filled her ears as hoofsteps ran down the hall outside. Naturally, the guards had heard the chains snap and were coming to investigate. Twilight charged up her horn in preparation, stared daggers at the wooden door, and lay in wait for the slightest sign of movement. As if on cue, the steps died away right in front of her door, the seconds turning into minutes from the adrenaline flooding into her system.

The wooden panel slid to the side, the familiar amber eyes just starting to come into view. They had no time to comprehend what they saw before all hell broke loose. With a major, concentrated blast of wind, the door was blown off its hinges and pretty much evaporated in an instant, throwing the poor stallion against the wall as wooden shrapnel rained down all around him.

Down the hall, a second guard watched the whole thing unfold. He had to hold his ears as the sound of the breaking door rang in his ears from the confined space. Out of the dust, the purple mare stepped out, his friend against the opposite wall and bleeding heavily. Before he had a chance to react, her horn sparked and suddenly he was overcome with green light. He fell to the floor unceremoniously, unable to move or speak as she causally trotted over his body.

Although she was mentally prepared to injure ponies that got in her way or were an annoyance, she still refused to outright kill them. She did still have her morals, after all, which is why she decided to only stun the second guard. As much as she wanted to, she had no idea what cell this 'Jade' character was in, nor did she have the time to check. There was no doubt that several ponies had heard her explosive escape.

So, she made a beeline for the stairs leading out of the dungeons. No other ponies were seen along the way, or even going up the stairs. She paused at the top and listened intently for the sound of rushing hooves, pressing her ear to the door just to make sure. However, when she heard none and tried to open the door, she found it was locked from the outside. One of the guards must have activated a sealing spell before rushing off to investigate!

Like that would really stop her? With a charge of her horn, she let out another torrent of air and shattered the door where it stood, raining debris all over the outside hall. If nopony knew she had escaped before, they definitely would know now. So, not to waste any time, Twilight applied her invisibility spell, blending into the background before she trotted down the hall and towards where she knew the security office would be.

Shortly after donning her illusory disguise, ponies both guard and other workers in the castle alike came down to investigate the cause of the disturbance. It would not be long until the news spread through the guard and they would seek the queen, unless they were stupid enough to think they could take her on. Still, one should never underestimate other ponies.

Rushing through the halls of Canterlot proved to be easier said than done, naturally, as she would have to slow down to a literal crawl sometimes when a pony would round the bend so they did not become suspicious. Naturally, the security office was also in the basement, but it was on the opposite end from the dungeons and a fair ways away from any staircase that she knew of. It was like the universe was conspiring to rob her of as much time as possible.

Thankfully, she was upon her target sooner rather than later, the brass plaque glimmering beside a suit of tarnished armour that could not be displayed on the main levels. Twilight pushed her invisible ear against the door and concentrated on her magic. It was one of the spells Luna had taught her: astral projection. She could ascertain the contents of a room before entering at the risk of leaving her body unattended. Thankfully, it did not cancel out any spells currently in place, but it could only be used for a couple of seconds unless she concentrated on it fully.

The room was fairly small and white, decorated with the odd poster or small plant. However, taking up the majority of the room was a large display made up of about sixteen screens, all showing various locations in the castle. Two armed ponies sat in seats at the console, speaking into microphones in an attempt to organize the chaos. In a mixed blessing, the queen's chambers were exempt. However, before she could get a better look, she was thrust back into her visible body.

Wasting no time, the purple mare yanked the door open and shot two green stunning spells at the guards. Before they had time to react, they were both slumped over the console. She shut the door behind her, since it would still be a minute or two before anypony realized they were not responding or giving aid. A quick scan of the monitors yielded the word 'Rarity' below a set of double doors she knew was on the third floor in the east main corridor.

However, if she left things as they were, then the queen would have a record of her exploits. Looking to the left, she saw a water cooler she missed while snooping with her projection spell and lifted it before spilling the contents on the console. Sparks shot out in all directions as smoke softly billowed from under the keys, but it still was not enough for her. Using her magic, she sent enough electricity into the system to overload the monitors, making them burst in a shower of glass.

Satisfied with her work, Twilight opened the door again and put on her invisibility disguise. Now that she knew where to find her friend, a potential route quickly came to her mind. There was a hidden staircase not too far off from her room that she had used all the time as a filly to sneak down to the library from her quarters, past all the guards so that she could get in some after-hours study.

After an exhilarating romp down the hall, she had to skid to a stop as she almost missed the hidden visual cue to the stairs. It was a mild discolouration of the stone from a dark gray to a lighter shade. It was a room that had been abandoned and blockaded, but the trigger for the stairs was nearby. Lightly tapping her hoof against the left wall, she pressed her ear against it to listen for the characteristic hollow thump.

A smile came upon her face once she heard the gentle sound. It was not much of a difference, considering the mechanisms behind it, but to the attuned ear it was invaluable. With a little more force, she pushed in the brick with a low grind as it rubbed against its neighbours. The familiar sound of ticking clockwork filled the air before a crack appeared along the mortar lines. A jet of dusty air blasted out from the difference in pressure before a section of wall receded and pulled to the side to reveal the stairs.

With a quick trot and flex of her magic, the secret door slammed behind her before magical torches sprang to life to illuminate the old stairway. As she ascended the narrow stone passage, the prevalence of the cobwebs told her that it had not been used in years. If Eos still cared it existed, then she never used it. It was a shame, really, since the shortcut had served her well over the years, and not just for midnight excursions to the library.

Out of the public eye, she dropped the illusion spell keeping her hidden to conserve energy as well as maintain her astral projection for longer without worry of discovery. Once upon the third floor, she cast her spell, feeling the cool magic gently coax her out of her body and into the world on a spiritual level. Sticking her head through the solid stone, she made sure the coast was clear, more out of reflex than need, given she was invisible and intangible.

A canter down the hall lead her outside the door she spotted in the security office flanked by two small statues of rearing mares in identical dresses. Poking her head inside, she breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of her friend Rarity working over a large ensemble. The room reminded her of Carousel Boutique in more ways than one, possibly due to size, shape and general decor. However, there was no time to admire it.

With a wave of magic from her horn, she was thrust back into her waiting body, reeling a bit from the force of the hit. A stone on the right side of the marked door jutted out, the obvious switch to opening it from the inside. However, as she stepped into the hall, she heard shouting coming from around the very near corner. With no time to cast her disguise, she abandoned stealth and loudly galloped upon the marble floors and threw open the doors.

Rarity was in the middle of putting some thread through the eye of her needle when the door slammed behind her. In her state, the white mare jumped with an audible yelp, dropping both implements from her telekinetic hold. "Of all the- WHAT CAD WOULD DARE TO DISTURB MY WOR-" Her jaw dropped as she wheeled to chew out the pony that intruded on her royal commission. There, locking the door with her magic was none other than Twilight!

"T-Twilight!?" she gasped, thrown for a loop. Even if she said 'no' she could tell it was her old friend. Her blue aura with the oddly cold and mechanical feeling cemented it.

"Hey, Rarity," she struggled for breath as she slumped against the door. "I... I came to talk with you. About what happened."

"Oh, darling!" Rarity cried before running forward and embracing her fellow unicorn into a tight hug, throwing her off guard. "I missed you so much! I... I thought I would never see you again! I'm so-o-o sorry that I abandoned you and our friends but she bullied me and got me drunk! I'm so path-eh-tic!" She openly sobbed into her shoulder, a tidal wave of emotions overcoming her in that instant.

"Uh... there, there, Rarity?" She tried to soothe, gently stroking her back with a hoof. "I'm sorry I can't comfort you, but there isn't much time. I forgive you if you felt like I was never coming back, but right now I need you to be the strong, mature friend I remember you to be. Please. All of our other friends have broken my heart. I don't need you to shatter it completely."

Instead of responding, the white mare elected to simply continue her sobbing, too emotionally distraught to talk back. If it was all some glorious, stress-induced hallucination, she did not want it to end since for the first moment in the longest time, she had a true friend by her side! "Wh-what did you want to talk about, Twilight?" she forced herself to reply.

"I need your help, Rarity. I want to try and snap our friends out of their delusions, but I can't do it on my own. Spike and Trixie are already on my side and agree with me on this, but I don't think we can kill Queen Eos without the Elements of Harmony... or at least most of the ponies they represent."

"I... I don't know, Twilight," she spoke as she broke off their hug. "I mean... well... I've seen the queen angry and... and it's scary, to say the very least. Oooh... but you are my friend. I just... I don't know where I would do the most good anymore."

"Rarity, what do you think is worse? Seeing Eos angry, or... or letting her reign for as long as it takes to drive Equestria into the ground and destroy everyone and everything we care about?"

They sat in silence for some time, the white mare pacing the room to give the issue some real thought before she committed to it. Yes, the queen had been extremely emotionally abusive to her, but at the same time, she made sure she had everything she could need. Of course, she was only a few hundred bits shy of paying off her debt, but what did it mean if she had no friends and a war-torn economy that could not support her lifestyle?

"I... I agree, Twilight. Yes. I shall go with you... but how do you plan to get us BOTH out of the castle ALIVE!?"

"Well... I haven't got the details ironed out yet, but I made it here without detection, didn't I?"

Suddenly, a series of loud pounds came upon the door, startling both of the mares inside. "Open this door, in the name of the queen!" a guard on the other side shouted. The two mares exchanged looks of horror with one another before he spoke again. "We KNOW you're in there with somepony, Miss Rarity! Open up, the both of you!"

Sweat began to run down her brow as the pressure mounted. They knew Rarity had company, but they did not know who exactly. But, if she were to disappear... either way, they were likely going to blame her and label her a subversive! What could she possibly do to help save her friend!? Twilight... spoke that voice in her head. I have an idea, but it is risky and I doubt you would like it. I wouldn't normally recommend it, but it's the only way we can let Rarity off the hook completely!

"No way! I'm not listening to you!" she quietly scolded the voice, earning a strange look from Rarity.

But... please... just listen to me, she pleaded. If you take her shape, you can roam without fear. Book it to the archives, find what you need and get out of there! Plus, you could help Rarity get out! Otherwise, she WILL die!

Twilight groaned in frustration as she tried to come up with her own, better plan. Yet, the more she dwelled on it, the more she realized she would have to take the risk, or else lose the only friend she could trust. "Hmm... Rarity? Can you ever leave the castle?"

"What?"

"Does the queen ever let you out of the castle!?"

"Oh... well, sometimes so I can go into town and get fabrics," she answered while a little bit confused. "Why do you ask?"

"I have an idea. It's dangerous, but it can get us both off of the hook and you out of the castle. Trixie and Spike should meet you on the edge of the woods. Tell them I fell behind, if they ask. There is... something I need to do on my own. Just promise me that you won't scream." Rarity nodded her head, genuinely curious even as the burly stallions moved to break down the door.

An explosion of gold light filled the room and surrounded her body, quickly obscuring her body with light. It was a gamble, to be sure, but she knew she was right when she said Rarity would die if they did not come up with a good excuse. By the time the stallions had burst through the door, the flames had died down and the spell had taken effect. There, standing before them was the unicorn Rarity and... their queen naked before them! Pretend to be mad, the voice suggested.

"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS!" Twilight shouted with authority. "Can I not seek consultation from my tailor in peace!? EXPLAIN YOURSELVES!"

"W-well..." the guard trailed as he prostrated himself before the 'queen.' "T-Twilight Sparkle escaped from the dungeons, so we figured she came in here!" he half squealed.

"I see," the lavender alicorn pondered. "Set up a perimeter around the castle. She knows the layout too well for you to stop her inside and she can teleport. Do not underestimate her. Dismissed." The stallions gladly departed from their presence, leaving the doors wide open. "Well, how was that? Did I sound like her, Rarity?" she smiled in a softer tone of voice.

"Y-yes... how did-?"

"A couple of spells I learned from Trixie thrown into a mix," she answered her obvious question with a lie. "Do you have anything I can wear? I doubt she'd strut around the castle naked."

"Yes. I have some spares of her usual vestments in my drawers." Rarity, while a little shaken retained her usual decorum. With the shoes, crown and necklace upon her body, the two trotted down the stairs and over to the entrance hall. The guards were hard at work emptying the castle on her order in a double move to reduce the likelihood of the REAL Eos catching wind to the circumstance and to clear her path out of the castle.

"Miss Rarity is going into town to gather some fabrics for a gown she is working on. She has my royal permission to remain unescorted, since I trust her not to run off," Twilight addressed the gate guard. Unable to argue against her, he lowered the drawbridge and allowed her to cross. With a final, knowing look they shared, she was off to freedom. All that remained were the archives. Taking a breath, she charged her horn and teleported into the dank depths of the dungeons once more.

As soon as she arrived, the golden flames returned, stealing the royal form out of sight of anypony. "Thanks," she spoke to the phantom in her mind. You're welcome, she replied simply. Twilight could have teleported before, but magical sensors in the castle would have given her position away. Now that they were all outside, however, she could travel much faster.

All the time spent planning lead to her finding the book she needed all the faster, and not a moment too soon as the castle rocked the instant she found the book, causing dust to fall from the ceiling. Obviously, Queen Eos was now aware of her escape, if not how she stole her identity. She flipped through the ancient book as fast as she dared, since the pages threatened to crumble with every turn.

However, just as soon as she came upon the page she needed, the door into the archive burst open in an explosion of magic. Eos was in the room, and she was pissed off. "TWILIGHT SPARKLE!!!" she shouted in primordial rage. "HOW DARE YOU PRETEND TO BE ME!!! I WILL MAKE YOU SUFFER UNTO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH, YOU WRETCHED TWERP!!!" The lavender mare read as fast as she could, internalizing the information as quickly as she physically could.

Eos, meanwhile, had stormed to her aisle, mane and tail aflame in rage. Unbeknownst to the alicorn, her anger had ignited some cobwebs and, by extension, the books. "Look at what you're doing to the books!" Twilight cried out in horror when she noticed. It seemed to do the trick, as a similar horrified gasp overcame her counterpart. Using her lax in concentration, Twilight charged her horn and teleported as far away as she possibly could!

Several miles away, in a small clearing on the outskirts of Ponyville, she appeared in a flash of purple light. Twilight was disoriented from the long-distance teleport, but that was the least of her concerns. The way to the hells was located a short distance from Trottingham, and Edophious was in the deepest one. But despite everything she had been through, only one thing disturbed her. "She was more like me then I realized!"

Descent unto Chaos

[Warning: This chapter contains mild depictions of gore and themes which may not be suitable for younger readers (and one mild curse). Reader discrection is STRONGLY advised!]

Cracks and snaps sounded quietly in defiance of the thick tension that permeated the air. The familiar dance of tongues of flame flashed against stone and wood alike, the thin extensions twisting and twirling before detaching from the body of fire and evaporating from existence. She could very well have sat there and eyed the tiny expression of both destruction and creation for hours and never get bored. However, a particularly loud snap brought her to her senses.

Soft, sad music accompanied the crackle of the flames; the brass sedated, yet powerful as a pony sang a haunting melody of tragedy and loss. She sympathised with the long-dead stallion. Soon after, the strings, led by a piano, took the lead from the brass and pounding rhythm section. Modern music just did not have this kind of depth.

A dull, orange glow radiated from the marble fireplace which blanketed every surface and brought some light to the office. The large, arched windows behind her were opened, the yellow and purple curtains fluttering in the cool summer evening breeze. Taking a short breath, she finally broke eye contact from the marble fireplace and took a passing glance at her office. It was a sight she had long become accustomed to: the darkness and emptiness of the room filled with crushing silence and loneliness. An anguished sigh droned out of her throat before she let her head collapse onto the desk.

Queen Eos took a long, deep breath to savour the sweet smell of pine-scented polish, tinted with what she imagined the wood smelled like when it was new: something similar to maple. However, stacks of neglected paperwork added an unwelcome reminder of all that needed to be done. Growling in frustration, she swiped her hoof across the glossy surface, spilling the papers onto the floor with contempt.

At the top of the wretched stack was an application for worker's compensation from a guard in charge of the dungeons as well as a request for a brand new surveillance system. It was all bits she could not afford to spend, and that, plus a plethora of other plop was quickly draining the royal coffers AND her patience! Eos slammed her hoof against her desk in frustration and borderline rage. Everything was going swimmingly until that STUPID Twilight Sparkle reared her ugly face! She was sure that had it not been for HER, she would have defeated Nightmare effortlessly!

"Buck you, Twilight Sparkle!" she cried out in frustration. "And if you bring up the irony again, I'll jab you with an ear swab, you miserable cu-" Okay! Okay! No need to get VULGAR, the phantom spoke to silence the din.

The queen shut her eyes and pondered the questions that had kept her up the last couple of nights once again. How was it that a younger, more naive version of what was essentially her managed to break out of the dungeons, injure a guard, destroy a magical marvel with reckless disregard AND bust out that irritating, whiny dressmaker, all under her muzzle until the very last second? Aside from that, how could she herself have lost her temper enough to almost burn down the archives?

She groaned and pressed her face into the table once again, as if putting pressure on her snout would magically make the pain and stress go away. It was a foalish hope, but one she clung onto desperately for fear of the alternative. After all, what kind of leader would she be if she could not command respect, like Celes- Like her forebearer had before? While normally she could say, or at least think her name, she just could not bring herself to do it anymore. Something had changed.

"How can the presence of ONE mare cause so much to happen? Is she some sort of magical catalyst that makes things in deadlock suddenly spring into action? Maybe there is some bearing to the STUPID bucking song after all?" She gasped when realization crested upon her mind. "What if they're right!? What if her return really does mean my end!? She's probably come to kill me! Oh, Sweet Ce- Sun! W-what am I going to do!?"

Panic began to manifest as she imagined herself, her other self, clothed in pure white with a sword of vengeance clenched in her teeth, ready to strike and take her life. She might not know what would happen if either of them died, but it was plausible that the other DID! How could she defeat herself? Sure, she had the power of two gods wrapped into one, so it was not an issue of strength. In addition, she looked at least six years younger, so she also had experience on her side. The only thing she had that frightened her, however, was her FRIENDS and the quiet support of the ponies.

Particularly, she feared the Elements of Harmony, knowing full well what they could do to a rogue goddess. Would she be sent to the moon for a thousand years like Luna had, or would they strip her of all divinity and put her at the 'mercy' of the crowd? Granted, when Rainbow died, they lost the Element of Loyalty, but given the current social climate, it would be very easy to befriend a fiercely loyal pony and complete them.

She needed an edge, and desperately if she wanted to stand a chance of survival against the elements. Unfortunately, her grab for power had angered many of the wise ponies and other creatures in the world, so they would be more likely to help Twilight over her. Unless... there was always THAT option, but she really disliked going down there unless she could help it. But, she did not have the luxury of choice at this stage.

"I guess I'll just have to go see him," she sighed and stood in resignation. With a wave of her magic, the fire in the hearth was extinguished, plunging the office into the confines of darkness. The music from the record player was silenced as the doors opened to let light from the hall spill in. She had lost track of time during her musings, but it had to be at least midnight, if not later.

Trotting down the hall at a light canter, keeping the weight off of her bad leg the whole way, she saw neither hair nor feather of a guard. Obviously, they did not care enough about her, or else the castle would be swarming in the wake of Twilight Sparkle's escape. She would just have to remind them that she was the boss around here and that her word was law within the castle walls! With a shake of her head, the alicorn refocused on her destination, down deep into the basements of Canterlot.

~*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*~

Ugh! What an egotistical, disgusting blowhard! Lord Blackfeather thought to himself as he put on a cheap smile and a friendly disposition to the dragon before him. It was hard enough being an ambassador to Draconia for his king, but another matter entirely to be the de facto leader of the Griffon Legion! This problem became compounded exponentially by a king who quite openly had little regard for the safety of his allies over his own personal glory.

The tall, vaulted ceiling of the throne room in Wyvenis Castle echoed the draconian monarch's words like a large trumpet. Dark stone was accented by unyielding tapestries made of jewel-encrusted iron and steel, and the carpet, for lack of a better word, followed the scheme: plates of titanium embedded with countless rubies. The throne that the massive dragon sat on sparkled in a high-gloss steel and many rare, coloured diamonds. It was almost like the material definition of 'ego.'

Indeed, the two species were only working together to take the power over sun and moon. Naturally, the dragon king would not let such power fall into griffon claws. It was almost an unspoken fact that Bluefire was only interested in the power that Queen Eos wielded so that he might have it and assert that dragons were the dominant race. He had stated many times before that he wanted to 'restore the power and authority of our illustrious ancestors' no matter the cost.

It was no secret that those with the power to move the sun or the moon could live up to the ripe age of twelve thousand and be unable to die no matter what until then. Even when they reached such an age, they could only die on their own terms! What was secret, and hence kept most from trying to usurp the thrones, was the spell needed to rip the divinity out of them.

Sad to say, Bluefire knew the spell, while the griffons did not.

Hence, Blackfeather humoured the overgrown lizard as much as possible, smiling and agreeing like he continued to do. Of course, there were some issues where he refused to let the jerk have any ground. "My lord," he replied when the blue blowhard finished. "While it is unfortunate, the task force in Appleloosa was simple a search party for the power source and NOT an actual fighting squadron. Had they been, I would be just as upset as you, for the performance was a VERY poor showing. However, the fact remains that they were not trained nor equipped to fight the surprise garrison in that hick pony town."

The dragon king snorted a plume of smoke from his nostrils as he regarded the griffon in front of him. While grating and irritating, he had proven himself on several occasions, especially on the fields of battle. It only made this greivous display of weakness tolerable, which was as close to a full pardon as any creature would dream of from him. "Your point is conceded, Lord Blackfeather. However, I would STRONGLY suggest that you do not let something like this occur again. Am I in any way unclear?"

"Not at all, nor would I want such a humiliating 'defeat' to occur again, my lord," he replied in earnest.

"Good. Now then, how are the plans for our next endeavour developing?"

"Unfortunately, without Project Jormungand in operation, we had to go over the battle plans and basically work it over from the ground up. In short, it is less of a blitz and more of a siege. Still, Manehattan has a terrible permanent garrison for a city of its size, although intelligence points out the city's police force has the ferocity of a military unit. As well, since the city is surrounded by water, the Equestrian Navy can fend off most attacks with relative ease.

"Thankfully, a few of our high fliers have volunteered to carry boulders and incendiary devices to cripple or sink those ships, potentially damage critical land targets, and cut off escape by severing bridges. After that is done, the rest of the troops will flank from the north and north-east and surround the city to cut off supply lines. After that, the city should fall in a week or so. Of course, with the weapon, we'd have it in a day, but this is the best we can do."

"So tell me," Bluefire spoke after hearing the basic plan, "What makes these 'pole-lease' so difficult if they are only local law enforcement?"

"As Equestria's largest and most populous city," the aging griffon explained, "it naturally has the biggest budget in terms of civil defence, and since it is situated in a strategically important area, it has access to amples resources that make it simple to maintain order and hold of its territory. Of course, until recently, it was more of a tradition then a necessity. However, due to the war, it has increased defences significantly."

"Very well then," the large dragon spoke with a lazy wave of his claw, "I approve of your revised plan. You are dismissed, Blackfeather." The griffon bowed as shallowly as he could without being accused of insubordination or showing disrespect and backed out of the throne room with his two assistants in tow. It was not until they were safely out of earshot of the guard that he spoke again.

"Jackal. Greybeak," he addressed his own personal guard.

"Aye, sir?" They replied with their claws pressed firmly against their foreheads in salute.

"Find General Talon and tell him the siege has been green-lighted. Dragons are to go in first in order to soak up the most damage and deal the important strikes first." With a nod and second salute, the pair of griffon guards rocketed into the air like a pair of screaming missiles. It is unfortunate that the dragons will likely suffer heavy casualties in this. A shame I neglected to mention the anti-air defence Manehattan boasts, Blackfeather thought with a smile as he walked towards his suite.

Soon, the time to strike against the dragons would arise. Although they were powerful and huge, very few of them decided to unite in order to crush the ponies of Equestria. Conservatively, the griffons probably outnumbered them ten to one at the very least. They were good odds, but not the best ones that he could get. Hopefully, the siege would be very costly to the dragons to improve those odds. Blackfeather had his doubts, but this was the king's plan, and he was but a humble servant.

~*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*~

Torches upon the wall sprung to life as they detected movement from the shadows beyond, giving light to what was once dark. The rhythmic click of hooves upon stone filled the normally silent tunnel deep within the mountain face. Occasionally, a drip of ground water could be heard echoing as it impacted upon the floor, the rare drop falling upon the deity that traversed down the deserted passage.

Below the sub basement, or even the deepest dungeon she possessed, there was a passage connected to a room that no pony dared travel down. Making it off-limits was simply a formality, as the staff had avoided it for as long as she could remember. Still, she found the slight downward sloping hall eerie even when they became lit.

Strangely, there was no chill despite the darkness and the dampness of the passage, which probably added to the strange feeling that crept upon her mind. Cracks were strewn about almost every stone like spider webs, hinting at the enormous pressure on it from the castle and mountain top above. It was almost enough to make her reconsider her destination and come up with a second plan instead.

Queen Eos flicked her ear in instinct as a droplet of water landed on it, snapping her to attention as her mind wandered again. Given the cracks on the wall, only the radiant magic from the castle above was keeping the stone from caving into dust, sealing off the room she wanted to enter forever. It was something else to know thousands of tons of rock were suspended over her. Few things could kill a goddess, but Eos had a suspicion that a mountain falling on her head could be one of them.

Shaking images of being transformed into a pancake princess from her imagination, she soon found herself upon the threshold of the door she sought. It was not as intimidating as the vault door in the Stained Hall, but it served the same purpose and had the same key. Unlike the other, however, it was done in plain stone with only carvings of sun and moon in their eternal dance upon the gray slate.

There's still time to turn back and conceive another plan, Eos, the voice started. "No, it has to be this way!" Eos replied to herself, words echoing loudly in her ears as she spoke with more volume than intended. "I'm not doing that more than once," she added much more softly. The voice winced slightly at her pain, which only made her more determined to go through the door.

Lowering her head, she moved forward and slowly inserted her long horn into a hole in the door before her. Charging it with magic, she cast a very particular spell she only learned about from some of that tyrant mare's journal entries. She obviously never intended to leave power if she left such information out in the open for any pony that succeeded her to find and use.

A couple of short seconds later, she could feel the door grind and slide away from her horn, stirring up settled dust on the other side of the threshold. It sounded like a small, angered dragon as both halves of the door finally slid into place. The magical lights beyond came to life like the ones out in the hall had, illuminating the room in a faint, flickering glow.

Cages of gold sparkled in the light, rising from floor to ceiling of the deep vaulted room. Even the torches could not illuminate the ceiling fully, leaving the question of what dwelled up there, if anything, hanging in the air. Within the cages sat what a pony would dismiss as junk or something worthy of a royal yard sale. Pieces of desk here, scrolls there, and even the odd preserved creature filled out the dozens of gilded cages.

On her first trip down, she had made the foalish mistake of touching one of the artifacts. She nearly set the entire castle on fire before she could correct her mistake. Trotting along the halls, gilded cages of potentially dangerous artifacts on either side, she came upon the deepest wall of the room, where she housed what she considered to be the most dangerous thing in the world. Even she had to admit she was getting butterflies in her stomach as she approached the door to it, properly separated from the rest by a wall of solid granite.

There was no guarantee it had anything meaningful to say or wisdom to impart, but those green, glowing eyes and the cackling laugh that echoed in her skull drove her to open the door. With a push of her magic, the portal opened and the lights beyond clicked into existence. It was a circular room at the bottom of a shallow set of stairs, lit above by magical lights of the queen's own design. Stone statues sat on pedestals sealed in glass around the edge of the room, but they were all very random to an outsider; an assortment of random body parts that could not possibly match up.

In the centre sat the most macabre item Eos ever had the displeasure of seeing in her lifetime. Behind a thick layer of magically-resistant glass sat a head on a pedestal, but it was not any normal head. Two horns rose out of its skull; one a goat while the other was blue and jagged like a lightning bolt. Its eyes were yellow with red pupils, one comically smaller than the other.

The room was filled with the sound of crackling as one body part would glow black, spiderweb faultlines crisscrossing over the stoney carapace. However, they would soon be filled in by the magic of the glass so meaningful cracks could not develop. The head was a different story, though. No sooner than Eos had opened the door, those bulging yellow eyes and that stupid, toothy sneer made itself known.

"Discord," Queen Eos spoke with blatant contempt. As the spirit of chaos and disharmony, the draconequus stood for everything that she opposed. In fact, according to the history books, he had ruled Equestria for a short couple of centuries while the formerly royal sisters were abroad. His rule made the former monarch's tyranny look like a comedy by comparison.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk," he shook his head as much as he could in condescending glee. "Late again, I see. Nothing EVER happens on schedule these days, does it?" As much as the queen hated to admit it, the villainous twerp could be right on the money from time to time.

"Everything happens for a reason, Discord. The same applies for the timing in which it happens. If you knew anything about the way that the universe works, you would know at least that much." However, her reply was met with deep, mirthful chortles from the disembodied head, causing blood to rush to the royal alicorn's cheeks in embarrassment. Thankfully, her lavender coat provided some shelter from any obvious heckling on the spirit's part.

"Everything happens for a reason, hmm? Hahahahaha! Oh, you slay me! I really needed that laugh. I'm sure that you can imagine that I'm not exactly A HEAD on all the new jokes you ponies come up with!"

"If you make another pun like that, so help me Sun, I will make you suffer, you deluded, tyrannical freak," the queen replied scathingly, narrowing her eyes in contempt.

"YOU, calling ME the deluded tyrant?" Another round of boisterous laughter echoed from his mouth. "I might have been a so-called 'tyrant' during MY reign over Equestria, but I was FAR from deluded! Why, you're so blind that you can't even see the most basic of truths! Even my dear Celestia, of all ponies, could see what she was and even EMBRACED it for a little while."

Eos took a deep breath and changed her stance to calm herself down. He was beginning to get under her skin already, and she was sure he took great pride in knowing so. Every time she visited him to seek advice, it was the same story. That, plus the struggle on her part to separate the genuine advice from the poison he tried to inject into her mind, it was hardly surprising she only came down to see him when she really needed it.

"Celestia got what she deserved in the end though, as will you if you keep this up, Discord. So far, I have taken down two gods. Do not make it three," she replied with a murderous look in her eyes and ice in her words. A lesser pony would shiver at their conviction, but the draconequus just sneered at her instead. However, she refused to yield an angered expression, keeping her face stony and stoic despite the embers burning in her eyes.

Eventually, the severed head sighed to break the silence and ease the tension, if only very slightly. "Just spit it out. What did you come down here to ask me this time? Have you finally grown a SPINE and want to kill that meddlesome Pinkamena or that unnerving Applejack? Or are you just going to waste my time? I AM a very busy lord of chaos, after all!"

"I am here to seek answers to a query. What is the difference between a goddess and a force of nature? I am not in the mood for any riddles, so just give me a straight answer, or I can seal your head in stone too."

Discord sighed and rolled his eyes in contempt. "Looks like you're just here to waste my time." He paused and seemed to mull on her question for a few seconds before he spoke again. "A goddess can die; a force of nature can never be stopped. Forces of nature exist as close to the Deep Magics as they can while still retaining an identity and consciousness. YOU just move a ball of gas and a hunk of rock around. That is why Nightmare tossed you around like a rag doll. Oooh! I wish I could have seen it in person," he finished with distinct glee and longing.

"In fact," the spirit of disharmony continued, "it also explains why you cannot do much more to me then separate my body parts in order to keep them sealed. I might not be a full force of nature, but I am STILL higher than you in the divine food chain, Sparkles."

Eos winced at the moniker he had just spoken. The only pony to ever call her that was her father... well, the male pony that raised her, anyway, and not a pony since had used it in front of her. It was enough to make her grit her teeth in anger, as it only served to remind her how life had screwed her over. She wanted nothing more than to lash out at him, maybe destroy one of his body parts. In fact, she picked up his tail and removed it from the pedestal.

"This is a mighty nice body you have, Discord," she spoke softly and coldly. "It would be a shame if anything were to happen to it, like... oh, I don't know... being incinerated on the SUN? I have told you before, and I will NOT say it again: Twilight Sparkle is dead. She only exists in that goody-four-shoes doppelganger running about, stirring up mischief."

Discord let out the longest, loudest laughing spasm she had ever seen out of the wicked draconequus, bringing him to tears in ten second flat. His voice echoed menacingly off of the walls and ceiling of his prison in defiance of his position and relative helplessness. "Oh," he sighed happily as his mirth dispelled. "For being as much of a BORE as old Celestia, you sure say the FUNNIEST things! Lie to the kingdom all you want. Heck, you can even lie to YOURSELF and I wouldn't even care. But you can NOT lie to Discord, Sparky!"

A soft growl came from the queen's mouth, her teeth bared and eyebrows furrowed in suppressed rage. It was always amusing to abuse her, as she usually did to her friend turned servant. Discord was just giving her a taste of her own medicine, but it had YET to sink in! Not that he wanted it to, of course. He was content antagonizing her and driving her deeper into the deep end of the pool. Just THINK of all the chaos that would cause! He had to suppress a grin at the mere idea of it.

"Just get to the point and tell me how to drive that FREAK Nightmare back into the Sorrel Hells where he belongs!" The queen shouted in borderline rage, the ancient being testing her patience near to breaking.

"Oh, that's simple! Nightmare feeds off all the emotions you ponies call 'dark': hatred, greed, fear, lust and many others I do not have the time to list. If he is trotting around in the living world, then things have reached a tipping point where, unless the source of it all is destroyed, he will come to reign over this world as well!"

"The war!" Eos exclaimed almost immediately. "If I can end the war, he'll no longer have the power to stay here!"

"No..." he smiled wickedly. "The war is just another by-product of the source. It's actually Twilight Sparkle!" He laughed again, wickedly and gleefully.

However, the queen was not amused. So her doppelganger was the source causing all the hatred and negative emotions to flow forth and bring about Nightmare? Well, dangerous or not, this time she would want her captured and immediately put to death! Without another word, she turned her back on the draconequus and headed towards the door, already beginning to form plans in her mind to destroy her clone.

"Surely, you've wondered where she came from?" Discord asked her backside. "If I know you, I would say you have; and more than just once. Do you not want to know what you are up against? Well, I shall tell you, if only because I LOVE to see you suffer, Eos. She came from a world where she was stopped in her rampage... and made up with mommy dearest."

She stopped with a hoof hovering over the final step before the door. How did he know what Celestia said!? Was he not sealed in stone when it happened!? She could not detect a trace of a mind-reading spell either, so he could not have received the information from her! He was either taking a gamble by bluffing, or he could actually see into other worlds and timelines as he claimed. "That was nothing more than a desperate, last-ditch effort to save her sorry, tyrannical hide, Discord."

"I'm not finished yet. She also went on to help her friend Derpy. You remember Derpy, right? The wall-eyed blonde Pegasus you KILLED when she figured out the TRUTH? Anyway, she helped her legally adopt her daughter, Dinky and reconciled with her sister, Trixie. She still writes to Celestia too: a new report every single week, on the dot."

Eos could take no more of the baseless lies spewing forth from his mouth, turning on the spot to face the insipid spirit. "That is a very fascinating story. It is such a shame that it is nothing more than an impressive string of lies, down to the very last letter."

"Say what you like, YOSEY," he smiled with the one fang sticking out, as usual. "But in a world like this, sometimes the truth is infinitely more devastating than any lie I could ever HOPE to conjure! Besides, I haven't lied to you in YEARS. Why should I start now, especially given my... disadvantaged position?"

"Knowing you, I could not think of a BETTER time to start." Suddenly, a grey mist appeared before her, forming into a looking glass-like surface between herself and the incarnation of chaos. She could only see herself staring back at her form. The presence of mind came to look away, but she could not break her compulsion to look, fueled by her damnable curiosity.

"Oh no! I've been caught red-taloned!" he feigned surprise and woe as images began to form in the mirror. "It WOULD be in character for me to lie. But, it would also make sense for me to tell you the truth you continue to DENY!" Images of Twilight Sparkle appeared on the mirror, spending nights in the library with their... her friends as they laughed and traded stories around a magical fire. "Heh! I just realized I made a rhyme! Which is it, SPARKY? Am I lying, or telling the truth?"

Twilight reflected in the mirror, hugging Spike as the evening sky hung in the background. He looked unnerved until her muzzle made contact with his purple, scaly cheek, putting him at ease. Before she could drink it in, another image flashed into existence. It was an image of her... of Twilight, running up to the throne where Celestia sat. They shared a brief, but warmer hug then she remembered the two of them ever sharing before. She could feel tears begin to well up in her eyes, but she could not give in. "NO! YOU ARE LYING, DISCORD!!"

"Then explain to me; why did she trust Spike? Why did she cry when she saw her friends fighting, begging for each other's blood to be spilled over a petty argument?" Images of a darkened room filled with magical images of her friends filled the mirror's surface, each yelling and calling each other names. One disturbingly stroked a sack of flour under the lip of the table, although it was obvious to her who it was.

The image changed again, showing her chambers filled up by a mass of white encircling a smaller lump of lavender. She could tell it was the sorry flank of that tyrannical horse in an instant, but as it zoomed in, she could see tears in her eyes as she tightly cuddled with the unicorn. "I love you, Twilight," she spoke into the mare's ear with sincerity she could only dream of.

"No!" Eos cried out in anger and pain. "Celestia was NOT my mother! She only LIED to try and save herself! She NEVER cared about me! I was just a tool for her to use and DISCARD when I had run my usefulness! And that other Twilight means absolutely NOTHING to me! I'd kill her right now if I had the chance!!" More images filled the mirror, the lavender unicorn wading through a river and looking into a sack only to shriek like a banshee before turning to see her lamenting in a dark room, wishing her friends were still friends.

"Why would Celestia lie about something like that?" Discord grinned behind the mirror, knowing victory would be soon at hand. "Ponies are loving creatures by nature, unlike golems," he added with a downturn to his tone, mimicking sorrow. "It tore her up inside to lie to you for all those years, you know. But, you were not the first. She cried when she banished Luna to the moon. She cried when she turned ME into stone. She cried... when you MURDERED HER!!!" Insane laughter filled the room after speaking those last couple of words, making them echo sickly in the queen's ears.

"No... NO! She... she was putting on an ACT!" Eos shouted to the rafters to drown out his laughter, lying flat upon the cold stone. The torrents refused to be held back any longer, flowing freely from her eyes as those words wounded her deeply. It was in that moment that she lost all composure as a ruler of Equestria and let the crying filly she really was shine through once more. She curled up into a tight ball, hoping to rob Discord of the satisfaction of seeing her cry.

She could remember seeing the fear and sorrow in her eyes before she landed the fatal blow; remember a voice in her mind crying out to tell her to stop, but being too enraged to care. She could remember the desperation on Luna's face before she too became a stain of red upon the floor. "Celestia... Princess... Why did you lie to me for all those years?" she sobbed into her flank.

"...Because I knew that you would murder me like the MONSTER that you are! And now my kingdom is ruled by monsters. Maybe it would be best if you just died," the voice of the princess sounded in her head.

Eos growled in anger and sat up, facing Discord despite her puffy, red eyes. "Don't you EVER do that again, you rotten little TWERP! I am NOT a monster! I have feelings! I CRIED when I found out Spike had betrayed... that OTHER TWILIGHT," she added, the last words spoken in extreme disgust.

"You don't have to know what a golem is to know what a MONSTER is, Twitty," he smiled. "No pony else seems to think you have feelings." The mirror appeared again, showing a couple of servants in her castle, discussing the queen's recent change in attitude.

"Can you believe the queen?" spoke one of the maids. "I heard that heartless bitch just tortured a poor pony that refused to go into the military!"

"Careful what you say!" The second added quickly. "She might hear and do the same to YOU! But yeah, she's like a MONSTER, she is."

Eos covered her ears with her hooves, unable to hear any more of her servants' candid thoughts as the tears continued to stream out of her eyes. "Chaos and disharmony already rules the HEARTS of the ponies of Equestria!" Discord jeered. "Confusion fills them and compels them to do evil deeds in your name, or for the sake of destroying you. Why not let me out and let reality follow suit? No matter what you do, you cannot reverse what has been done. Why delay the inevitable?"

"I... suppose you have a point," she spoke solemnly as her rational mind began to shut down from the overwhelming pain and anxiety. With a spark of her magic, the glass tube surrounding the various body parts of the spirit of disharmony and chaos lifted. "Why bother playing nice with ponies when none of them respect me anyway? Why play by the rules when I MAKE THE RULES! Equestria is MINE!!! I should do with it as I see FIT!!"

Discord cackled and grinned as his body shattered free of the stone, eagerly rejoining his head in a flourish of magic and electricity. At long last, he was free to do as he wished, starting with that troublesome and foolish little Twilight Spar- He gasped as he saw magical binds form on his wrists and ankles, freezing him in place. "What is the meaning of this, Sparkles!? I thought you were setting me free!"

"I asked you nicely not to become my third. I even told you outright, but you still would not listen." Her horn charged with white magic as she spoke, sparkling menacingly in the light before firing at him, splitting between his two horns. Warm light quickly encased the two of them, the draconequus struggling with every last breath he possessed in a desperate bid to break the spell. "The Divinity Drain does not work exclusively on ponies, Discord!" Eos spat when the spell was complete, a pair of lavender, magical swords appearing at her sides.

"N-no!" Discord cried, fear and pleading in his mismatched eyes. "Please! D-don't kill me! I... I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings, Twilight. Eos! I mean Eos! Please, forgive me, your majesty!" He prostrated himself before the alicorn, still suspended in air.

"Disgusting," she spoke in contempt. She lunged at him, a sword impaling him in the chest. Discord heaved and spat out indigo blood as the blade twisted in his gut, groans and cries of sincere pain filling the room. "It's funny, the lessons we learn from our enemies," the queen grinned with her teeth bared. Without a second thought, she swung her second sword towards his neck, decapitating the former spirit of chaos and disharmony. Blood squirted everywhere before she teleported the body away to her sun, to be incinerated.

She refused to be pushed around anymore!

~*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*~

Five little planets sat in a perfect row, all perfectly the same size and shape. All completely unaware about what was going to happen next. Slowly, very slowly, one of the planets at the end of the line was pulled away from the others by an invisible force. The inhabitants cried out in fear and panic, thinking that the end of days had come. Well, they were partially right, anyway.

Just when it seemed the poor, innocent ball of space rock had been pulled far enough away, another force took over, sending it hurtling towards its nearest neighbour at break-neck speed! If the ponies on it did not know it was the apocalypse before, they sure did now! The two planets collided with a resounding smash! Chunks of debris floated off the cracked surfaces and into space. However, things were not over yet! The force of the first strike caused the second planet to smash into the third and so forth until the planet on the other end was devastated by the chain reaction!

Like the first one before it, the fifth planet was thrust out into the emptiness of space before the force of gravity from the system's sun brought it back, smashing into the fourth planet to start the chain reaction in the other direction! Hundreds of thousands of ponies died, just in the first cruel strike. But this? It was enough to make any handsome, battle-hardened stallion cry.

"Commander?" spoke a voice suddenly. The stallion behind the desk, staring at his Newton's Cradle screamed and jumped into the air, literally hitting the ceiling before coming back down. The female Pegasus winced as the stallion quickly regained his composure, although holding his head in throbbing agony.

"Wh-what is it, Private Cornstarch?" the formerly daydreaming pony asked woozily.

"It's about Miss Buckingham, sir. She simply refuses to cooperate with our questioning and no matter what we try, she refuses to divulge any information. What are we going to do, Shackles? You know if you don't get results, the queen will throw us in there too."

The chocolate-coloured Pegasus sighed and applied a hoof to his head. He was still suffering flak from her highness over the escape of Twilight Sparkle. Not getting anything out of Buckingham could easily make her snap and have him suffer the consequences too! Normally, she was pretty easy-going, but recently, she had become a lot more temperamental. It had to be stress from the war, he thought.

Commander Shackles served under Princess Celestia, as many of the castle staff did, where he was a complacent member of her honour guard. However, when Eos took power, she did not want anypony close to the old monarch guarding her, and for good reason. So, he was shafted into easily the most boring position in the castle: babysitting the dungeons and making sure they did not deteriorate.

"I know, I know," he replied, looking at a stack of papers on his desk. "Are you sure you've done... everything? Used every... device and tactic at our disposal?"

"Yes, sir," the private answered. "We even had to invent a few things on the fly, but she is unyielding. We'd go for more extreme measures, but they would likely kill her and we'd get in trouble for THAT too." There was simply no way they could win. Crusader spies were notoriously difficult to break, and this one was probably the best they had if she infiltrated the War Council and went unnoticed for so long.

"Well... her majesty wants to know where the Ponyville Crusader base is, does she not?"

"Yes, Commander, that is the goal," she nodded in affirmation.

"Well... I have some reports here from the Governor of Ponyville that might prove helpful to us. If Ms. Buckingham refuses to crack, then we must help ourselves. I have read these reports over myself a couple of times. It's not like I have anything better to do. Anyway, while reading them, I have come to the conclusion that, the most likely place for the entrance to their base is inside Sugarcube Corner in Ponyville."

Silence hung in the air as the private digested the information. Eventually, the obvious question came to mind. "Nice bit of extrapolation, but... what if you get the queen all up in arms and we march there with a full battalion... only to find absolutely nothing there?"

"I would assume full responsibility," the older Pegasus nodded with a sigh. "I have no living family and outside of a couple of friends, you included, I would not be missed. Besides, this job is so boring that ANYTHING else would be better than this torment. I am not saying that I want to die, but if it is to be my fate, so be it. Do you understand, Cornstarch?"

"Yes, sir. I do understand."

"Okay, then. Let's say we just get this over with. It might break up the monotony a little bit and give us something to do rather than sitting on our flanks!"

"R-right now?"

"No time like the present, just pretend she just gave the information to us and we were in a rush to tell her to hide your anxiety." Without another word, the brown stallion took to the corridors outside of his small office. The north-east wing of the castle served as the administrative nerve centre of Canterlot. Many luxurious offices for generals and department heads filled the marble corridors. Even her majesty's office called the wing home, as well as the Prime Minister's auxiliary office.

Naturally, the lower in the ranks a pony was, the lower their office would be in the floor plan. If only by chance, Commander Shackles managed to get an office on the first floor, as opposed to the basement with the security and the maintenance personnel. Meanwhile, her majesty had an office on the fifth floor, so it would be quite the hike up the marble staircase.

Of course, the trained soldiers had little difficulty making the trek up and in full armour to boot. The same could not be said, however, of the pudgier politicians who had to make the ascent. Shackles silently applauded the architects of the castle who had decided to put her majesty's office at the top to weed out the fattest and probably most corrupt all those years ago. Finally coming across her office, the two soldiers nodded to her guards and were let inside.

~*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*~

Trees and small ponds blurred under hoof as the squadron of Pegasus ponies flew out of Canterlot Castle, towards the small town of Ponyville. Shackles could not help but be slightly awed by the group he was a part of, as nearly every single member of the Royal Guard had emptied out of the caste upon the queen's order. Over one hundred Pegasi filled the skies in formation around her majesty's gilded chariot.

Queen Eos had become excited by the news of the 'extraction' of the information from the traitor and ordered a full-out assault upon the Crusaders. All around Equestria, regional governors would soon be mobilizing their own guards to evict the rebels and restore relative peace to the nation. Of course, the head of the hydra needed to be severed first, as the chaos and confusion caused by it would throw the subordinates into disarray.

At least, that was how her majesty explained it to him as they trotted down the halls at a brisk pace while the troops mobilized within the castle. They only stopped to send a message to the captain of the royal garrison so that he could prepare his reserves for their arrival. What was the old coot's name again? Starscrew? Lightning Bolt? Either way, he used to be a member of the Wonderbolts before they turned treacherous and attacked the guards during the Cloudsdale Assault.

Regardless, he had nothing but contempt for the old hotshot who only ascended the ranks because of turning in a couple of his former allies to the authorities. Had it not been for his demotion, Shackles would easily be a captain instead of a lowly commander. Sure, he was still an officer, if only barely, but it was still a significant fall from grace. Of course, they were his grievances and he would not let them show on the fields of battle. He was better than that.

Still, he could not deny the air of excitement as the group of ponies flew in perfect formation towards the town. If he was not so nervous about being wrong in his assumptions, he would have found the whole thing quite thrilling; better than being stuck behind that boring desk in that tiny closet of an office, at any rate. "So, Shackles!" cried out a member of the squad behind him. He was never good with names of ponies outside of his command. "How'd you guys finally get it out of that snake?"

"Uh..." he trailed, feigning to recall the nonexistent circumstances. "I wasn't really involved, so I wouldn't know too much about the details. Although, they really had to pull out all the stops, so it is hard to say what exactly caused her to finally break." Hopefully, the answer would satisfy him.

"Oh, okay!" the stallion called back before slowing his flight to rejoin his group. The commander breathed a quiet sigh of relief as the potential crisis was averted; at least for the moment. In the time he had to turn his head back to watch the sky in front of him, he stole a glance towards the queen. She sat in her chariot pulled by two guard ponies with a stoic look upon her face. Before, he could see the shadow of a smile upon her muzzle. Either she was getting herself ready for combat, as she stated she would be on the front lines, or she had caught a whiff of something foul about the situation.

He bit his lips as the worst-case scenario immediately entered his head, but he quickly resumed the stony look made famous by the guard. Being nervous would be a dead giveaway since Queen Eos had a talent for spotting awkward social reactions. The day after Jade was incarcerated a few ponies he noticed who shivered in the audience were interrogated and laid off on suspicion of malcontent.

Thankfully, the flight to Ponyville was very short; only somewhere on the order of five minutes. It was almost not worth flying to unless a pony wanted to make a big entrance and flaunt their clout to the citizens. In this case, it was only because a train would be expensive to charter and the logistics would be a nightmare, especially on such short notice. Before he even knew it, they were entering their approach pattern for the town square.

Down below, a technicolor sea of ponies congregated as they saw the impressive task force descend and round the outer edges of the town. Half of the group flew up into the air as the first group, along with the queen's chariot, came to the ground with a shuddering halt. Flanking the chariot, where it came to a stop, were two lines of the royal guard garrisoned in the town, at the head of which stood the regional governor: Lord Irontrot? Ironhoof? Again, Shackles was not very good with names.

"Your majesty," the golem replied with a deep bow as Queen Eos descended her chariot. "Your presence here is quite the surprise. Imagine the look on my face when I heard from Starbolt that you were underway immediately, without allowing me time to get a welcome committee in order either." Shackles thought it was ironically comical for him to say as such, considering golems could not feel emotion.

"Alas, my faithful servant," the queen replied in a slightly warmer tone, "I am here on business. Such pleasantries will have to wait for another day. Captain?"

"Yes, your highness!" the graying former Wonderbolt saluted.

"Cordon off the area around Sugarcube Corner. We have received intelligence that the Crusader's Ponyville base has its entrance on, or around the premises. As such, we are here to investigate and arrest any and all ponies found inside that do not belong!"

"Yes, ma'am!" He shouted before turning his head to his troops. After a quick bark of orders, they bowed to the monarch and took to the skies to get innocent civilians out of the area in case things got sticky.

"I take it you got around to my reports then, your majesty?" The golem asked as they thundered down the streets in a tight congregation.

"What reports would those be, Ironhead?" she asked sincerely. "We are here based on intelligence extracted from one Jade Buckingham; former secretary to the War Council, traitor and spy for the Crusaders rebellion."

"Oh," he replied flatly. "They are of no importance, my queen." He marched on in silence behind and to the side of his liege, keeping in line with the march effortlessly. Shackles kept to the middle of the group, since he wanted to stay as far below the queen's radar as possible in case he was wrong, hoping the uniform appearance of the guard would help him get lost in the crowd.

Eventually, the platoon came to the barricade set up by the advance team of guards, passing through effortlessly while citizens were not allowed to enter the normally busy section of town. "Commander Shackles?" Eos called forth as they finished filing into the square, "Commander, please step forth." He did so, but only reluctantly. "I want you to be the first inside, as it was your department who was responsible for breaking the stubborn mule. You should get the privilege of knocking the door in."

"Yes, your majesty," he spoke evenly while trying to hide his discomfort. With a nod of her head, he advanced to the door of the bakery along with a few other volunteers and entered the store. Like the outside, decorated like a gingerbread house, the inside boasted the occasional candy figure buried into the walls or ceiling of the bakery. A powdery blue mare with a swirling red mane stood behind the counter, smiling at the group of five as they entered her building.

"How can I help you, dearies?" she smiled and spoke with a chipper tone.

"By order of Her Grand Royal Highness, Queen Eos of Equestria, Ruler of Sun and Moon, we are here to search your establishment," Shackles spoke with authority. "Please cease all activity and vacate the building immediately or face charges of impeding justice, which can lead to imprisonment. Is there anypony else in the building?"

The mare was understandably shaken by the news, mouth hanging agape. "Just my husband and I. Our foals are at school right now."

"Very well then," the commander spoke as one of the guards hopped over the counter and into the back room. The two civilians were quickly led out of the store and into the waiting crowd of other guards and government officials. "Split up and use all of your senses to pick up a possible entrance." With a nod of understanding, the five soldiers broke up, two heading upstairs while Shackles, a mare and a unicorn town guard remained on the ground floor. They would all give the rooms their personal once-overs to account for varying levels in diligence and ability.

"I think I have something, sir!" the unicorn called to the commander, who was rummaging through a cabinet of baking supplies at the time. He came trotting towards him at a brisk pace; heart racing as his wild theory suddenly became plausible. The young stallion tapped his hoof against the floor in two places, one sounded hard and solid while the other sounded... exactly the same.

"How is this something?" Commander Shackles inquired.

"It's too perfect, sir. Usually, variances in distance from solid objects and differences in humidity cause the wood to warp in different ways that give different spots in the floor different sounds and pitches," the young stallion explained.

"How did you learn all of this?" the officer asked.

"My parents own a hardwood flooring store in Los Pegasus, sir." After calling back the other troops, the unicorn got to work ripping up the floorboards. Eventually, a large hole, big enough to easily fit a grown pony, was revealed underneath. The commander's heart leapt into his throat at the sight of the manufactured anomaly. Even if the base was abandoned, he would be completely off the hook! His flank was saved by sheer luck!

"We've found it!" he called out the front door, followed by the chorus of hooves against cobbles as they streamed into the store. The owners of the shop had a look of crippling shock on their faces as the guards flanking them tightened their grip, remaining where they were to keep the couple under arrest. Eos herself was the first of the outsiders in the door, examining the opening with intense scrutiny.

"I expect traps, therefore, I shall enter first," the queen spoke as she strode towards the hole. "Unfortunately, it is too narrow for any formation, so, single file, after me." With that, she descended into the hole, using her magic to light the way ahead of herself. Slowly, the rest of the guard followed suit, in case the base was still active in order to seal off any escape. Others still remained above to watch for any secret emergency exits they might employ.

The trek down the long, sloping spiral was nerve-wracking to the stallion as they pressed deep underground. At times, the convoy would halt as the queen came upon a magical obstacle that she had to dispel. Otherwise, the pace was quick as they readied themselves for a fight, drawing swords and charging horns with magical attacks. Eventually, the slope decreased, becoming horizontal as the passage widened to accommodate two ponies side-by-side.

That was when all the Sorrel Hells broke loose.

With a cry of 'charge' from the front of the pack in the queen's voice, a wall of roaring stallions filled the closed-in tunnels as they rushed forward. Obviously, the base was occupied, since the clash of swords soon rang out over the shouts. Shackles burst forward from the pack, desperate to get in some action to replace the humdrum of the office from his mind, running down a corridor not packed with fighting ponies.

That would turn out to be a mistake, as a trio of unicorns stood at the end of the hall with their horns charged, each one having a cutie mark related to fire. "Aw crap," he cursed just before their spells hit. A torrent of flame rocketed forth from their horns at breakneck speed. He slammed his body into a door along the side of the hall, but before the door could give, he was engulfed by the flames, crying out as he was incinerated where he stood. Commander Shackles was dead.

However, this was just another sound in the din to Queen Eos as she tore through the pony ranks, two magical swords of lavender ripping through unprepared ponies in a glorious blur of red and purple. Occasionally, a competent challenger would appear and stall her in her advance, but they would not last long as a guard would emerge from the WONDERFUL chaos to aid her. Not that she needed their help anyway.

A grin spread across her face as she gingerly trotted down a long hall with a set of double doors in advance of her troops. The lack of a handle, from intelligence gathered from the raid on Coltsberg, told her the base commanders would be inside. Obviously, she had caught the ponies by surprise, so there would not be much resistance. She placed her hoof on the door in preparation to knock it down.

However, to her great surprise, the door beeped and clicked, gently opening from a nudge with her hoof. With a blast of magic from her horn, she ripped the door off its hinges, exposing the room to her divine sight. Stepping beyond the threshold she fired off a spell at two rebels in the corner, paralyzing them to stop them aiding their leaders.

Standing on the other side of the room were four mares: a yellow earth pony, a grey unicorn, an orange Pegasus and a white unicorn. She smiled as she flipped the table separating them to the wall, splintering it into a thousand pieces. "At last, the meddlesome leaders of the Crusaders; caught in the act." They growled, the Pegasus flaring her wings while the two unicorns charged their horns.

"Tut, tut. Such ill-mannered foals. However, if you surrender to me now, I'll let you walk away with your lives. If not, well... I'll just have to kill you."

"That's it!?" cried the earth pony. "Surrender or die? Yew've already taken eveythin' that we care about an' smashed them into a bajillion pieces, ya no-good tyrannical HORSE!" She spoke before spitting into Eos' royal face when she came near. She wiped the fluid out of her eye while she continued to talk. "Ah'd NEVER go with ya, not so long as ah've still got mah sister and mah brother ta carry on! We might be on the outs, but we still love each other an' 'tain't nothin' ya can do ta change th-!"

Her last words were cut short by a flash of purple coming from the queen. The next thing they knew, a sword was embedded into the wall with their friend's head wedged between it and the hilt of the blade, mouth wide open as if she were swallowing it. Blood flowed freely from her mouth as her eyes rolled up into her head. "Oh dear, I did not sever her spine," the queen cooed. "I guess she'll just have to bleed out. OR..." she added and she pulled the sword out of the wall. "How about THIS!?"

With all the force she could muster, the queen wrenched the sword to the side while the poor mare's head was still attached, tearing it from her shoulders with a sick, wet ripping sound and a light shower of blood. The mares screamed at the sight as she stopped, the centripetal force making the head fly off the blade and onto the floor. It rolled until it hit the wall, coming to a stop with her face towards her friends, frozen in shock and pain.

After that tour-de-force, the remaining three ponies wordlessly followed as they were cuffed by the guards and escorted out, still in shock. "Search the base, kill any who resist arrest. Burn it all when you're done. Leave the dead," the queen ordered coldly as she helped escort the leaders out of their captured base. Flexing her magic again, she prepared a little surprise for everypony once they got topside.

By the time they exited the building, a large crowd had been allowed to amass in the square where they stood stunned at the sight as the queen and her entourage exited the bakery. Standing in the square was a set of gallows with two nooses at the ready. The surviving Crusader leaders gulped as they were led to them. "Your highness," called out the clay pony as he trotted towards her and the fillies. "What is the meaning of this?" he spoke as he pointed to the gallows.

"It is a lesson in respect, Ironhead. Please, excuse me," she spoke kindly before charging her horn again, teleporting onto the stage along with Mr and Mrs Cake, who gasped in shock and confusion before struggling in the tight nooses. "Citizens of Ponyville!" she cried out using the Royal Canterlot Voice. "For too long, we have tolerated such foalish disobedience in our subjects. We had hoped gentle guidance would be the answer, however, all too late have we realized you will only learn with the ROD! So, let it be known far and wide that if anypony goes against us, or aids those who do, you shall reap this!"

Suddenly, the floors under the two ponies gave way, filling the square with a resounding snap. Their bodies flailed as they choked on the ropes, having not been given the parting grace of having their necks break. Ponies watched on in silent horror, as they suddenly became limp after a minute of gurgled cries.

"You have been warned," Eos spoke before retreating to her chariot with her prisoners in tow.

Hell at her Hooves

The sound of flapping wings drowned out the oppressive silence as the two mares trudged through the thicket of the ethereal forest. In a way, it was therapeutic for her to hear the familiar sound so close to her; to know that she had a friend who still earnestly cared about her. But... it also reminded her of something far more sinister and recent, something that still haunted her waking thoughts if she let them dawdle from what needed to be done.

"Let's see how she likes the Brazen Bull," cackled the phantom voice of a griffon, followed by her own pained screams of wreathing agony, turned into the snorts and grunts of a bull by the complex series of pipes. It was almost enough to make her stomach turn over... almost.

As much as she wanted to deny herself, as much as it would hurt to do so, she could not ignore the fact that, in those hours of merciless torture, a piece of her had died. Was that why she did not care anymore about anything other than killing Eos and freeing Equestria? Even if, stars forbid, she had to kill in order to get there?

"Twilight?" Rainbow Dash addressed with some trepidation. Now that was strange: her being anything but cocky and headstrong. "Are... are you sure that you're okay? I mean... you're sweating a lot and... well, I would be too if I had to relive what you did and I..."

Earlier, the chromatic Pegasus had been begging to hear details about what had happened. Twilight foolishly concluded that it would be a good way to pass the time, but found herself crying not long after starting. "I just..." she started again, trying to hold back another torrent. "I shouldn't be here, Dash. I should be sobbing in a ball like an inconsolable foal. Why... why is it that I keep going, despite knowing things are only going to get worse? Sometimes... I feel like I'm just being pulled along by some intangible force, you know?"

She kept her silence, unsure if speaking would really help her traumatized friend. In fact, she had wondered the same thing to herself many times while trying to help the poor, lost souls trapped with her. Many of them did not deserve such a fate, and she had a hard time believing the creators would condemn their children to this torture. Maybe things were not as they seemed?

"Well..." she started slowly, despite her earlier conviction. "I am not a smart pony, Twilight. Never have, never will be." That line really surprised the purple pony, though she did not show it. "But you gotta trust me when I say you're not going to get over this overnight. It's not some weird force pulling your strings: it's you knowing that something has to be done, and you're just the mare to do it."

Twilight merely vocalised her acknowledgement with a slight hum. After which, the pair resumed their quiet trek towards a specific mountain in the never-ending peaks and valleys of the forest. 'Just keep moving' was becoming a common, quiet theme to her as every other fibre of her being screamed at her in protest. How long could she just keep going before she finally succumbed and got in line for the loony bin?

Suddenly, the quiet rhythmic flapping of wings stopped, distracting the purple pony from her own self pity as a look of concern and horror filled her friend's magenta eyes. "Is... something wrong, Dash?" she asked out of reflex. The cyan Pegasus quickly put her hoof to her lips and shushed her. Before she could protest, an odd, angry buzzing sound filled the air and broke the silence and grew louder with every second.

"Run," Rainbow whispered before bolting ahead. Daring not to fall behind, Twilight picked up the pace, wondering why, if they had to flee, the Pegasus simply did not fly. She panted, more out of shape than she would admit, but she managed to keep up if only for adrenaline pumping in her veins. Meanwhile, the buzzing grew louder still, closing in around them from all sides.

Only when she was sure there would be no turns ahead did she chance a glance backwards in order to see their assailant. Insects, tiny and ravenous, flew behind them not more than a couple of pony lengths removed. They were yellow, with needled barbs and purple, glowing eyes. Their wings glimmered with magic, powering them through the air at a reasonable clip. In fact, they seemed to exude a magical aura. "What are those things!?" she cried out as she turned her attention forward.

"Squamosa!" Dash panted ahead. "They feed off of magic. They'll go after Earth ponies and Pegasus ponies, but they love Unicorns because it's much easier for them to feed off of them!" Twilight knew well what they were when she spoke the name, but she had no idea that Rainbow knew so much about them. Then again, she probably had to deal with them before and was just relaying her experience. Of course, that did not help them very much... until she saw a dense patch of glowing wood just off to her right.

"Into that thicket!" the lavender mare called out. "It's giving off a magical aura, so it should disorient them while we escape!" Not hearing any better ideas, the mare ahead turned sharply towards the spindly undergrowth of twisted and broken branches and roots. Perhaps sensing their plan, the Squamosa closed ranks and increased in speed. A couple of them managed to sink their pincers into Twilight before she bucked them off on a branch.

The roots and branches were thick and rough, a couple producing barbs that would pierce into their skin as they ducked and weaved through. As per the plan, the insects quickly became overwhelmed by the ambient magic, only able to see the ethereal plain. They buzzed angrily and attacked the flora in spite, hoping to catch one of the ponies and reveal their location to the rest of the swarm.

"I missed your plans, Twi," Rainbow whispered in gratitude after pulling themselves through the tangled mess. They stopped for a breather and watched the demonic insects scatter in a lost stupor. "Let's get out here, before they get wise." Sparing one last glance to her handiwork, the purple pony quietly galloped after her friend. Even if it were the Sorrel Hells, she could not deny having a friend eased the pain caused by this nightmare of a world; even if only slightly.

~*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*~

It was quite the shock, going from the eternal silence and dread of the gray forest to a world of colour and sound. Behind her, there was a sharp boundary outlining the hell they had left; as if cut by razor-sharp scissors and stitched together. So, each individual hell is not infinite, Twilight mused as she followed her feathered friend ahead. That means all of the Sorrel Hells are contained in a single dimension... or, the Hells could be a subsidiary to another dimension. But that doesn't make any sense!

Comfortable in this line of thinking, she forged on in an effort to keep herself from mulling over and angst about the situation. Unfortunately, without any evidence, circumstantial or otherwise, she could not form a conclusion. However, a hypothesis was quickly beginning to form based on her initial findings. What if the Sorrel Hells are not a valid afterlife? I know it's absurd, but there is no way Rainbow deserves this. Genesis... loves ponies too much to allow such a fate.

In her brief time before the creator of sun and ponykind, a plethora of different emotions washed over the unicorn. Included was wonderful warmth she had felt only a few times before: love. At least, that is what she imagined since the overwhelming sense of fear had drowned most of the other possible emotions out. Memories of cuddling with Celestia soon drifted into her mind, steeling her resolve a little more. Yeah, I remember Genesis feeling like that now.

They had been walking for what felt like days, not stopping for a single break. Twilight wanted to protest, but quite frankly, she did not feel the need to stop either. Be it her golem nature, or the strange magics of the dimension itself, she did not feel the need for rest, food, drink, or anything else. She welcomed the steady pace for once, as it would resolve things sooner and allow less time for her mind to wander back to the dark place.

Lack of rest did not make the journey any easier though. Demons and other monsters would occasionally crop up in their path and encourage another daring flight, or distracting battle. Most of the time, they were inconsequential little imps or smaller demons like the Squamosa from earlier. Thankfully, she had not seen anything as frightening or strong as a Bargheist since the cult temple.

With no sun in the sky, at least none that they could see, the journey through the mountain range was hard to judge in terms of time. They could have been walking for only mere hours, or several days, as all concepts of time had melted away. Moreover, was there a discrepancy between time in the Hells and time back home in Equestria? Would she come home only to find it all in smouldering ash?

Once more, the sound of flapping wings ceased as Dash landed on a rock at the base of a tall mountain. "Well, we're here..." she trailed off with some hesitation. "I've heard this place is usually very hot, but at the bottom it gets really, really cold and they call the cold spot the road to Edophious. Nothing goes in or out, or so they say. I've never been inside that mine myself, of course."

"How could you hear anything from those introverted souls, Dash?" the unicorn asked critically.

"Oh, well, not from THEM, but sometimes a pony from the outside would wander in and we would talk since we'd be both starved for contact from others."

Twilight sighed and rolled her eyes a little bit, not sure she could trust such a flimsy source."Well, it's a better lead than nothing. Let's see if we can't sneak i-" Before she could finish her sentence, the ground beneath the two ponies began to rock and shake. The Pegasus took to the air instinctively, leaving her unicorn friend the only recourse of charging her horn in preparation for any beast that may come their way. However, no shadow formed from beyond the wood or above their heads from higher ground.

The only option left to them was downright absurd. Why would an afterlife have a need for the tectonic movement required to create an earthquake? When the ground started to cave directly below her, the lavender mare was caught off guard and lost the charge in her horn as her front hooves sank into the quagmire of disturbed earth. However, as the ground soon reached her shoulders, panic began to set it over the possibility that it was a trap set by a demonic creature.

"Rainbow, help!" she cried out in desperation, flailing her hind hooves desperately. The cyan mare was upon her in a heartbeat. However, before she could get a good hold on her, the ground suddenly caved and fell into a deep, dark pit. Ignoring the danger, she charged into the hole as fast as her newly restored wings would take her. Deeper and darker, faster and faster; lights whizzed past her sight during her desperate plummet.

However, she was blinded to everything but the darkness and deaf to everything but her friends' screams of panic. She had to get closer; to go faster! The muscles in her sides burned from the strain placed on them, like her wings were alight with righteous flame. Until that moment, she had doubts that Twilight's spell had worked and that these wings were real. But now, pushed to their limit, she understood they were HERS!

Twilight fell down the shaft at an alarming speed, the adrenaline in her veins making the fleeting seconds of her fall seem like hours. She could see her friend giving chase, rosy eyes hardened in determination, but they soon fell to the blackness all around. Wind whistled in her ears as the dirt fell all around her, mane whipping in the wind as if through a hurricane. Until that moment, she had no idea why Rarity would flail her hooves at her rescuers, but now she knew it was a panic reflex to falling: the body hoping to latch onto anything it could.

And then, in the midst of the blackness, the sensation of falling stopped. Although the dirt that fell with her cushioned the blow to an extent, the mare still found herself winded when her back finally (and painfully) connected with something solid. Even if she wanted to, she could not find the mind to turn her head and look at her surroundings. Everything was cold and black all the same, so there was no incentive anyway.

Until, that is, the face of the cyan Pegasus appeared of the darkness, just inches from her own. "T-twilight!" she cried, looking into her dulled lavender eyes... or rather eye. During the fall, the purple mare had fallen on what appeared to be a mining cart filled with rusted and bent pickaxes. Several of them were impaled into her back while one protruded though her face, poking out an eye. If she had not seen a sight like that before, she would have thrown up.

"I'm... fine," the unicorn breathed gently. "Help me up?"

Responding automatically, the chromatic mare pulled her friend out of the cart and back onto her hooves. Crimson streaks stained her sweat-slick coat from where the picks had embedded themselves. With a moan and a cast of her magic, they were slowly removed from her back to be sealed up momentarily in sparkling magic that was not her own. Rainbow had let her jaw drop, having known but never seen her regenerate with her golem magic.

"Do you... have something I can cover this up with?" Twilight asked as she turned; her one eye socket still vacant. "It's going to take a while to come back." Rainbow's stomach felt as if she had done a corkscrew, barrel roll and loop-de-loop, all while after completing a Sonic Rainboom. She looked around desperately for something, anything to cover up the nauseating injury.

"Never mind, I can do it myself," she waved a hoof dismissively. Her horn sparkled with magic, causing some of the dirt to lift off the ground and press together. In a flash of light, the mound of dirt turned into a cloth bandage before being wrapped over her head around the offending sight.

"Woah," Dash breathed as she fell to her haunches. "I didn't know you could do stuff like that!"

Twilight blushed and kicked a pebble with her front hoof, looking away from her friend. "Oh, it's no big deal. Princess Luna taught me a couple of matter conversion spells. It only works on small things, given my power level, but it does take quite a bit of magical strength so... thanks," she smiled awkwardly. Looking around, her eye slowly became adjusted to the darkness, seeing wooden braces and a tunnel that stretched seemingly forever in both directions. "At least we're inside."

According to every book on the Sorrel Hells that she had read, the Mines of Pikalin were titanic in size and infinite in length and depth. Of course, they also said so about the Forest of Atoris, so it was unlikely to be true. What really scared her, however, was the fabled complexity. Mines back in Equestria were quite easy to get lost in, if the Diamond Dogs' lair was any benchmark.

"Well, we're not going to be getting anywhere if we stand here!" Rainbow spoke to break the silence. "Let's get going!" Nodding her head, the unicorn allowed her friend the honour of picking an arbitrary direction. The fall had disoriented her, among other things, so her guess was good as any.

Using her horn to cast a simple light spell, the two mares pressed into the dark, damp cave. Twilight's ears strained against the soft clopping of their hoofsteps, the ceiling too low for Dash to even try flying. If there was a demon, or damned pony in the tunnel with them, than she wanted to make sure that she knew THEY were coming first and not the other way around.

However, the drama of their entrance soon became the only highlight to the dull, monochrome brown tunnels as they pressed forward. Occasionally, they would see a sign that would designate a tunnel, but with no information on the system used, it was pretty much gibberish to both of the ponies. In addition, no matter how hard she strained, Twilight could not pick up any noise from any direction, indicating that perhaps they had entered an abandoned portion of the mine?

The lack of lighting seemed to confirm her suspicions, which was actually a boon to their efforts the more she thought about it. Had they entered a more active part of the mine, it was quite likely that they would have been seen and captured once more, or else destroyed right on the spot. Of course, she was not sure if a pony could die here or not, given all of the texts citing eternities of torment.

Nonetheless, the recent fall into the bed of pickaxes reaffirmed her distaste for pain, even if she could not die from most kinds of physical injury. However, as the two came towards a bend in the tunnel, the darkness began to yield to a red glow of light. Stifling her magical light the two mares ventured closer, the smell of brimstone beginning to fill their nostrils as pained shouts echoed forward.

Obviously, they had chosen the correct series of paths as they saw a massive, deep pit that seemed to claw into the very heart of the earth. A single massive pillar in the centre made sure the ceiling, not more than a couple of stories above, would not collapse onto the workers below. All around the outer edges of the pit were two sets of tracks, one for enchanted carts filled with treasure going up, and another for the empty carts going down.

Twilight stepped lively across the tracks and over to the edge in order to get a proper view down. The ridge of the pit spiraled downward like the fluting on her horn, going in tighter circles until it came to the bottom, where a massive pit of lava absorbed the central pillar. In the lake, despite being miles below, the unicorn could almost make out the shapes of hundreds of ponies writhing in the molten rock.

The smell of burning hair and melting hooves gave it away completely.

"Ugh!" Rainbow moaned painfully. "That smell! I... I think I'm really going to be sick this time." The unicorn ignored the sound of her friend's pained retching as she tried to puzzle out the way down. The sides of the pit were patrolled by minotaurs and basilisks, whipping their pony slaves into shape if they were too slow. The snake demons, she could understand, but Minotaurs were not monsters, at least not as far as she could tell.

"You okay, Rainbow?" she asked in concern.

"Yeah... just... not used to it," she squeaked as she wiped some bile out of the corner of her mouth. Looking at her chromatic friend, something told the unicorn that stealth would not really work in their favour this time, no matter what they tried. The only thing was to just go for it, since they neither had the time nor path to sneak down.

"Okay, here's the plan," she started with a deep breath. "There is no plan. Get down there, kick some butt, take a few names, and look for the way to Edophious. If it's as bad as everypony says, it will either be high security, or at least obvious where we are going." There was a look of surprise on her friend's face, and rightfully so as she had never, in her experience, seen the calm and calculating mare do anything reckless. Sure, there was the story about the Hydra at Froggy Bottom Bog, but she had her doubts.

"Sounds like a plan to me!" she replied with the fires of challenge burning in her eyes. "With my GUTS and your AWESOME magic, we'll give those woolly bullies a run for their money!" In a flash, Rainbow Dash lived up to her name and bounded off of the cliff with her wings spread, leaving her signature rainbow contrail in her wake. She pointed herself down and took aim at the first non-pony she saw. The poor lug never saw it coming.

Twilight could not help but smile at her cocky attitude as she charged straight into the jaws of death and blindsided a Minotaur in the head before swiftly continuing down. She focused magic into her horn and teleported down to the next ledge, ran past the unconscious beast and then down to the level after that. There was a thrill to charging in with reckless abandon: no one was expecting the surprise attack, and they could not thwart her plan because there was none!

It was not until they were about halfway down the miles deep shaft that they started to meet some form of resistance in the taskmasters of the mine. While the previous guards had been lacking armour and only carried a mace, they were now coming across guards with whips and armour the closer they got to the active levels.

Where Rainbow had once lead the charge, the two ponies were now side by side as wave after wave of guard came after them with ferocity neither of them had seen in any pony before. "Come up with any plans yet?" the chromatic Pegasus panted as they became encircled by the bipedal bulls.

"Just one," Twilight replied as she charged up her horn. "Hold on!" Feeling her friend grip onto her tight, the lavender pony let loose a concussive spell that knocked the guards back, some falling over the cliff behind them. Rainbow took to the skies once again to help her friend's advance as guards charged up the ramp to try and stop the powerful magician.

She barreled down towards them with her horn aglow, saving her teleports for emergencies, as they still took quite a lot out of her. However, as she did, she heard a loud thudding noise sound from the central pillar. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see some sort of cannon emerging from the inside. "Rainbow, watch it!" she cautioned as she blasted past the line.

Sure enough, the cannon swiveled in its base and locked Rainbow Dash squarely in its sights. The sound of cannon fire filled the air as it let loose a volley, the Pegasus only spared because of her friend's sharp eyes. Unfortunately, she could not see a means to destroy it and several more were popping out from the pillar at the same time. "Oh, buck me," the Pegasus cursed.

Chunks of rock rained all around her as she ran down the winding slope, dodging mine carts, cannon balls and demonic guards as she sprinted to the bottom of the shaft. All the while, she had to suppress the thought that nagged at her since they set out: what if there was no door down there at all? In fact, what if Sarish had been lying to her the whole time, if only to see her suffer?

No! I can't let my thoughts wander. Not when I am so close, the mare scolded herself as she realized she had come more than three quarters of the way down the shaft. Predictably, the security had become more intense as the two mares struggled against the burly and increasingly resistant guards. With their numbers, plus their cannons firing once every few seconds, it was a miracle none of them were more seriously injured than Twilight with her missing eye.

Five Minotaurs in golden armour blocked her path, the metal gleaming in the light of the lava from below. They carried large, jewel-encrusted battle axes that were easily twice Twilight's size. Rainbow was otherwise occupied with the streaming cannonballs to be of any real assistance to her. The armour and axes were enchanted with magic and made with traces of Mithril, rendering her attacks useless. If only Applejack had been with them, she would have known what to do.

She dodged their attacks as best as she could, but their massive weapons and her lack of athleticism made for a bad combination. Twilight could only keep track of one at a time, and they were swinging in all directions. She did her best to dodge them, but it was not good enough. The crushing force and familiar feeling of cold steel cutting into her skin hit her in the side just behind her ribcage, the force of the blow knocking her over the side of the cliff.

Blood streamed from her side as she was sent screaming through the air, down deeper towards the lava. I'm going to die, she thought as fear paralyzed her vocal cords. She thought she could hear her friend scream her name, but it was so distant and faded that it was hard to tell. Lava was one of the things that could kill a golem, and there was no way Rainbow could get to her in time. I'm so sorry, everypony. I failed you.

She closed her eyes in resignation; not ready to go yet, but unable to see any way out of her free fall... until words long faded in her mind bubbled to the surface. Tears slipped from her good eye when she realized how stupid she had been for thinking something as simple as this could kill her. Eos... help me, please, she had time to think right before hitting the surface of the molten rock, splashing the burning material onto the helpless ponies inside.

"TWILIGHT!!!" Rainbow Dash screamed when she saw the blow strike and her friend fall to her death. She had tried to fly down as fast as she could only to miss her by mere seconds. She pulled up from her dive as tears began to flood her eyes. Yes, she could regenerate, but not in that: she was gone. How could this have happened!? The chromatic Pegasus landed beside the pool of magma, ignoring the grunts and clamour of guards approaching her.

She cried harder than she had in years, not for her own selfish reasons, but because for the second time in her life she had failed to save her friend. Not only just her friend, but she had failed Equestria! She was their only hope, and she had let her die! Rainbow looked into the pool of magma, her tears evaporating before they could hit the surface. Twilight Sparkle was de-

A loud, thunderous clap filled the air of the mine, shaking the entire foundation to the core. Minotaur guard and pony alike shook in confusion and fear as rocks began to fall from above. The pool of magma began to ripple as if dozens of large pebbles were being thrown into a lake. The waves quickly grew higher and faster, spilling tortured ponies out onto the floor. Rainbow had to jump back in order to avoid being hit by the burning rock.

Everyone looked to the magma with a mixture of fear and curiosity, the brightening surface beginning to bubble where her friend had fallen. Rainbow held her breath, silently hoping she was seeing what she thought she was seeing: that her magician friend still had one more ace in her tail!

She would not be disappointed.

An explosion of lava burst forth, sending a pillar of it high into the air. Before anyone had time to react, a strong, scarlet beam shot out of the stream of molten rock and split into several smaller beams that impacted each of the guards hard enough for them to hit the walls some fifty feet behind themselves, and leave impact craters. "Whoa!" Rainbow shouted out from the force of the attack, unable to see the ponies around her suddenly fall to their knees.

"Hey, what are you guys doing!?" Rainbow shouted to the ponies. "Get out of here, while you still can! The guards will be back in force any min-" However, she cut herself short when she turned around and saw a sight that made her jaw drop.

Standing upon the surface of the magma was an alicorn of a soft lavender coat. Her mane was speckled with stars at the tips before slowly descending into the colours of the sunset to end at the bright blue of day. "T-twilight!?" she gasped, thinking for a split second that Queen Eos had come to mock her. With a quick flap of her wings, the elegant pony soared across the rest of the pool and beside her friend before nodding to her.

"Rainbow Dash is right!" the alicon spoke, her voice a little deeper and more authoritative than what the Pegasus just heard. "The hells are finite, so there might just be a way to leave them completely! Run, while you still have the chance. RUN!" With that, the ponies snapped to their hooves and stampeded past the goddess and over towards the spiral ramp. "Come on!" she urged the Pegasus, heading the opposite way as the others.

"Wait," Dash urged, tugging on her wafting tail. "Are... are you really Twilight... or are you Queen Eos making me THINK you're Twilight?"

The alicorn sighed and regarded her friend, knowing it would not be easy for her to be trusted now. "I'm Twilight, but Eos is also my name in this form. I am NOT, I repeat, NOT like the queen, Rainbow. I still want her dead, and we're going to have to go through with this stupid trek into Edophious in order to get out of here. I know it's hard, but you have to trust me."

Looking into her amethyst eyes, the Pegasus could see no signs of deception. Even if her element was not Honesty, Twilight was her friend in whatever form, and she would never leave a friend hanging in their hour of need. "I trust you, Twilight," she spoke with conviction.

"Good, because I can sense our destination," she added with a smile. Nodding her head, the Pegasus took flight beside her as she effortlessly blasted through even the golden armoured Minotaurs with ease, coming to the door. Unlike the rest of the mine, which was insufferably hot, the passage with the door was as cold as a winter night; chilling straight to the bone.

The door was made of rusted iron and encased in a thin sheet of ice that seemed to almost glow blue. The walls flanking the door slowly went from tinted red of the hot magma not more than a few hundred feet away, and faded to white as they became rimed with ice as well. A glow of red magic surrounded the doors, startling the Pegasus until she notice the glow was coming from the alicorn beside her. The doors to the furthest hell slowly yielded to the goddess.

~*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*~

'Out of the frying pan and into the fire' was a common phrase that had become ingrained into the Equestrian lexicon to mean 'to make a bad situation worse' or something of the like. If she could, she would track down the pony that had made the metaphor and show them the ice box could actually be much, much worse. In fact, she was starting to miss that giant lava pond since she was at least warm there.

"Stars damn it, this place is cold!" she shouted into the blinding white winds. Rainbow Dash trotted behind her, snow up to her chest as they crossed the never-ending field of emptiness. She had to use her magic in order to maintain her friend was still with her and not either collapsed with exhaustion, or frozen in place. In fact, she had to break some ice buildup on her face a couple of times.

The cyan Pegasus had tried flying by her friend's side, but after only a few minutes into their journey, she could feel her primary feathers begin to freeze in place. Rather than risk a crash-landing, she swallowed her pride and walked, or at least tried to. The snow on top of the ice was so deep; it reminded her of when she was a little filly visiting her cousin in Fillydelphia during Hearth's Warming.

"Y-y-you c-c-can use s-s-stronger lang-g-guage than th-that, Twi!" she shivered as she struggled to keep step behind her newly grown friend. Her longer legs allowed her to move faster, and traveling in her wake, Rainbow did not have to contend with fresh powder. A stray breath of wind blew across her side, making her shiver even more. For a while, she thought dressing warmer would have fixed things, but not against this cold. It was almost as if it were chilling her soul rather than her body.

"Do you know what Celestia DID to me whenever I cursed?" she spoke back; hoping conversation would keep them warm. "She would make me look up the exact definition in the dictionary, recite it before her and the ENTIRE court and then write a ten THOUSAND word essay on the etymology of said word and how it affected modern Equestrian society! Plus, I could not do any other assignments until the essay was finished!"

"Wow. My parents just did the soap in the mouth thing. Actually, I became quite the con-a-sewer of soap when I was in adolescence. Pine Fresh was okay, but Marentol? BLECH!"

"Connoisseur, Dash," the alicorn corrected.

"Gesundheit," the Pegasus replied with a smirk. Twilight would go on to ponder the exchange a hundred times over the coming years, but no matter how far she looked, or how much she researched, she could never figure out how she had misinterpreted her correction for a sneeze. That is, unless she was joking, or had an auditory medical condition.

"Moving on..." Twilight deflected, as she ploughed through the endless white expanse. Although she was still not one hundred percent certain about Eos or her intentions, she had to admit that her body felt powerful and swift. While Dash struggled behind her, with her wings frozen at her sides, she could still open hers and maybe even fly around, if she knew how. Before this was all over, she'd have to ask for some flying tips... or did it come naturally? That flap she did in the mines felt natural enough to her.

"Twilight?" Rainbow asked from behind her. "So... I've been wondering... if you're a golem... and your parents aren't your parents... then who made you?"

"Princess Celestia made me, at first, as a sacrifice to accept Princess Luna's soul at the cost of my own so she could kill Nightmare Moon without having to fear for her sister's safety."

Rainbow followed in silence for a couple of minutes before she replied. "So... what did you do when you found out?"

"They died in this world over it. Does that give you a clue?"

"Oh," she added bluntly with an air of finality. Suddenly, the chill in the air became a little more pronounced to Twilight, making her shiver and ruffle her feathers instinctively. She still could not believe she had wings on her side and that they were hers! Oh, she had so many dreams as a filly about flying through the air and having a pair of feathery appendages to call her own. If she did not have to worry about Rainbow Dash, she would have flown to Edophious and already be inside... but she could not abandon her friend.

"Whoa! What is that!?" Rainbow cried out as she saw a strange shape come out of the haze in front of them. Curious as well, Twilight diverted from her path and walked towards the strange shape in the middle of the flat, seemingly endless field. The closer they got, the more certain the lavender alicorn became. Within a few feet from it, she could not deny that it was a pony, frozen in place. She could not see his colours through the ice, but the stallion wore a pained, sorrowful expression on his face.

Rainbow Dash seemed at a loss for words, looking at the frozen pony and then to her own wings as a new layer of ice had grown over them. Pegasus wings were notorious for their ice buildup, even if it did not damage their inner structure. Twilight gave the pony a look of calm resignation: he was alive, but even if she freed him, there was no guarantee he would get out of this hell. "Come on, Rainbow... there's nothing we can do," she spoke somberly.

Reluctantly, the two mares turned away and continued en route to the castle. The only way they could navigate in the whiteout snow drifts was if Twilight focused on the strongest magical power source in the region, which she assumed was the castle. From there, it was a simple matter of walking straight to it. At least, in theory. The actual practical experience was far more difficult.

The only saving grace of the whole ordeal was that at least this time she was not suffering on her own. She had a friend by her side and although she suffered too, at least together the pair of them could keep the other propped up. "So, uh... how about we play a game to keep us going? I'll say the name of a place and then you say another that starts with the last letter of the one I used. So, uh... Manehattan?"

~*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*~

It was amazing how sick of a colour a pony could get in such a short amount of time. White stretched as far as she could see, beyond the increasingly large black pulse coming from what she hoped was the castle. While white was supposed to represent purity, Twilight quickly came to regard it as a boring, lazy, good-for-nothing colour that only existed when none of the others were wanted or welcomed. Oh, and the snow was pretty bad too.

Constantly blowing, whipping against her face and chilling her to the bone, the wind here had to be the biggest nuisance she had ever faced. Even worse than a Pinkie Pie rant, and that was saying something! Twilight did not dare think of what would be worse than her current situation because with her track record, it was very likely to get worse the moment she opened her trap.

Apparently, the universe has a very sick sense of humour.

Just as the thought crossed her mind, the blowing snow finally stopped and the visibility began to increase until, in a couple of body lengths worth of walking, she could see for miles. It was just far enough to see a large mound just at the horizon, reaching into the sky. If that was not the fortress, or castle, (she had forgotten what it was supposed to be by then) than the easy part of their journey was at a close.

Unfortunately, the still wind did not mean the temperature would climb. In fact, call it the twisted side of her imagination, but the temperature seemed to drop the closer they got to it. "Are you doing okay, Rainbow?" She craned her neck to look backwards to check. The chromatic Pegasus' mane was practically frozen solid, and her wings useless ice cubes attached to her body.

"Peachy," she replied, voice dripping with sarcasm. Focusing some magic into her horn, the ice covering her friends' body became covered in the red-purple glow. To her relief, the ice cracked and released Dash from its frozen claws. With a flick of her wings, she cast as much of the buildup off as she could and gave her wings a couple of test flaps before that cocky grin graced her face once more. "Thanks, Twi. I don't know what I'd do without you, sometimes."

"You're quite welcome, Rainbow," she smiled in return. She wanted to come up with a witty quip about how she would fall to pieces without her around, but seeing her try to rally those depressed souls... it just took all the ammunition out of it. "Although, I would not fly around this place," she added when she saw her get ready for takeoff.

"Huh? Why not?"

"Because there is a spell at work here to heighten visibility. Whatever lives there probably wants to see any incoming threats well in advance so they have time to prepare a defence. I don't know about you, but I have had my fill of combat for a while."

"Oh. Well, how are we supposed to get close then?"

"Invisibility spell," she replied simply. Before Rainbow could say anything more, there was a bright flash around their bodies as the spell took effect.

"Are you sure this thing is working? I don't feel any different."

"It is: now, do you want to fly to the castle, or not?" Spreading her own lavender wings, she immediately got the Pegasus mare's attention. Not needing to be told twice, she immediately took to the sky, laughing.

"Let's see how good those overgrown things are, Twi-lightweight," she goaded before speeding off in her typical impatience.

I though you'd never ask, the lavender alicorn thought. With a single, mighty flap, she was airborne and with hardly a thought, she was moving forward towards Rainbow Dash. Hint: it's instinct for you, but Pegasi have to learn, spoke the voice of Eos in her mind. Thanking the mare for her advice, she willed her wings to fly her faster, towards her goal and the reckless Pegasus.

Her mane whipped in the wind as her body sped forward, her hooves tucked into her body to lower her profile. The sense of lightness and thrill coursing through her body was addictive; more so than coffee or any other stimulant she had ever had before. She wanted more of this, to just fly endlessly for the rest of her days. If she were not in Hell, she would have sworn she was in Heaven, doing an aileron roll in her overwhelming jubilation!

Of course, every good thing had to come to an end. Before she knew it, she had to stop or else run into Rainbow Dash, who paused outside of the... Well, it could be classified as a building. Many hundreds of dark crystals seemed to have risen from the snow and become tainted black, forming criss-cross patterns that sparkled like the inside of a geode. It was hard to discern an entrance, or even a window through the mess of razor sharp crystals.

"Don't worry, Rainbow," Twilight spoke as she put a hoof on her shoulder. "If you can't find a way in, you can always MAKE one." With a single flap, she propelled herself forward towards the crystalline building with her cyan friend in tow. Although, she had to wonder how easy it would be to actually break into the fortress. She could sense none of the spells Canterlot Castle had on it in times of lockdown, so either the residents did not expect company, or they had a lot of hubris.

Closing her eyes in concentration, the lavender mare focused her magic out into a continuous red streak of energy that sizzled against the blackened crystal. Although she had to go slowly, the magic moved in a wide circle to accommodate her new, rather generous dimensions. The edges of the laser's cut still burned a bright red, displaying the heat from the magical friction that took place. With a gentle tug of her magic, the plate-shaped piece of crystal slid away from the hole to allow them entry.

However, the second the section was removed, a dark glow encircled the hole, pulling the crystal closed over the wound. Reacting quickly, Twilight pushed herself in, fitting only just barely as her flank scraped against the growing crystal, cutting into her just a tiny bit. Once she was through, Rainbow bolted into the hole in her wake while the healing crystal began to pick up speed.

As soon as it shut, taking a tuft of rainbow tail with it, they were immediately plunged into deep, soul-crushing darkness. While the darkness would be adventitious to their goal, they could not see even their muzzles in front of their faces. So, Twilight charged up her horn to cast an illumination spell... only for it to fail. "Well, it would seem that this darkness isn't natural," she concluded.

"What do you mean? Are you saying it's, like, magic, or something?" the filly with the rainbow mane asked.

"Pretty much, Dash. Looks like I taught you a thing or two after all," Twilight teased with her tongue sticking out, knowing she could not see it. "I have a back up though; just don't look directly into it." With little more than a thought, her miniature sun collected on the base of her horn, lighting up the pitch-black crystal hallways. In the back of her mind, she wondered how anything at all could live in such a dark, cold place.

Walking forward down the hall, she tried to split her focus three ways: one to keep the sun on, another to lock in on the location of those stupid shoes, and keeping her ears strained for any guards. However, the deep darkness and deathly silence pervaded all through their trek, putting the alicorn on edge. For a fortress, she had expected a lot more guard and a lot less silence.

When the silence finally broke, however, she suddenly began to wish she was somewhere, anywhere else. "Do you hear something?" Rainbow whispered to her friend. "It sounds almost like... singing." Straining her ears, the melody soon became audible to the alicorn. She had only heard it once before, during her search for the gate to Hell in the first place.

"Bargheists," she whispered as her eyes narrowed. It was only natural that she would have to come across them eventually, especially in the Sorrel Hells. "Just stay in the light, and they won't bother you." They continued slowly and as quietly as they could down the twisting halls and bends. The music would fade in and out of their hearing, unlike the underground cult building, where it would steadily increase. They probably had no idea they were there.

Her mind a little more at ease, she focused a little less on the guards and more on their destination. She did not expect something like shoes to be a very powerful magical item unless activated, but it was really hard not to focus on the largest power source in the building. However, something inside her told her doing so would be a very, very bad idea.

Suddenly, Twilight came to an unexpected halt during her musings. She was very lucky that nothing more serious had happened while she blanked out, but she made sure to check that Rainbow Dash was still by her side. Although a little confused about their sudden stop, she was all right. With that out of the way, the alicorn focused her attention on the room they had entered.

They stood on the second floor of the tall room, Twilight having run into the balcony rail. Before them was a pair of massive doors made of the strongest steels she could imagine, glimmering in the glow of the black-tinted skylight overhead. Unlike many doors she had come across, this one was coated in an off-emerald green metal which would sparkle in blue as the light played across its surface. "Adamantite!" she whispered more to herself.

Where Runite would harm a creature that used magic while in contact with it, and Mithril which would suppress magic, Adamantite would increase the power of the item it was attached to. "This must be that gateway Sarish mentioned that would take us back to Equestria!" Ancient runes carved into the stone frame confirmed this in her mind's eye, as several of them placed emphasis on teleportation across different dimensional planes.

With a quick burst of magic from her horn, a stone in the middle of the room glowed emerald green for just a second. "What was that for?" Rainbow inquired.

"It's a locator spell. I've come too far not to get those stupid Macguffin shoes, so we might as well get them for a backup plan. This way, we can find the way back and maybe teleport if we were in a hurry."

"Great, but, uh... how are we going to find... what was it? Shoes of Rocinante?"

"I can't remember," she spoke dismissively. "Well, it is not like this place is exactly massive, so we'd be better off checking all of the rooms we come across systematically. It's better than nothing." With that, the alicorn pulled herself over the side of the railing and gently glided down to the floor below, shivering as the deathly cold air blew in her face.

For her part, Rainbow was doing her best to keep up the pace with her friend, but she had to admit that this was no cake walk. For one, they needed to rely on stealth, which she hated. As well, it was just so BUCKING COLD that she felt ready to drop dead. Her whole body chattered and it was becoming harder for her to think; all she wanted in the world was some warmth which, thankfully, that small sun of Twilight's provided.

Upon her insistence, the two mares delved deep into the underbelly of Edophious, going from room to room in order to find those shoes. Rocinante! That was the name of the shoes... Huh. Dash was right the first time, Twilight mused to herself. She shook her head again in order to keep herself from going into another stupor: her mind needed to be with her and ready to spring into action at any given moment.

Thankfully, as they progressed through the chambers and halls of the castle, they remained indifferent to the demons that dwelled in the darkness. The lavender alicorn welcomed the lack of intrusion as they descended another flight of stairs to the lowest level yet of the building. Bargheists sang and nickered around them in the deep, soul-freezing cold and darkness, but refused to come anywhere near. Or was it merely because they did not perceive them as either a threat, or lunch?

Eventually, it became obvious to Twilight that the shoes were either the powerful magical energy she could feel slowly compressing her mind and soul, or at least close to it. With no other leads, they slowly made their way down the dark, bone-chilling passages of the blackened building. If it were not for the sun she conjured, she would be shivering herself out of her shoes.

Rounding the next bend, the two mares found themselves before a puzzling sight: a wooden door pressed tight against the black crystal walls. It was made of a dark stained wood, perhaps mahogany or oak, and featured a spindly brass knob that sparkled in the light of her miniature sun. They exchanged a quizzical look with one another before the alicorn ventured forth and slowly, very slowly opened the out-of-place portal.

Beyond was a sudden wall of warmth and music the likes of which she was not expecting. Delicate wood paneling surrounded the plush carpet under hoof as a fireplace roared to their left side behind a red velvet lounge chair. The soft crackling of the fire was only interrupted by the rhythmic growls of a creature somewhere within that made the hairs on her back stand on-edge and the tempered brass of a jazz ensemble from a phonograph in the corner.

Stepping into the room, dozens of shelves of books presented themselves to the studious mare containing unknown volumes of potentially powerful, yet dark and heinous spells. Towards the back, there was a spacious four-poster bed with covers and drapes of deepest black, the inside speckled with the stars of the night sky. But that immediately fled her mind when she saw them, perched on a bedside table.

It was a set of shoes like the gilded and onyx ones on her hooves, except they were made of the same black crystal material that made up the fortress. Sensing no barrier up around them, she gingerly stepped into the alcove that contained the bed and gingerly picked them up in her magical hold. Seeing no other shoes or items of clothing around, the mare carefully began to tiptoe back to the door where her chromatic friend stood guard. A snorting grunt from the high velvet chair stirred her curiosity.

"Twilight! What are you doing!?" Rainbow hissed at her. However, she just had to take a look, if only because this would be her only opportunity. It was a Bargheist the likes of which she had never seen before. While the muzzle was distinctly canine in appearance, the hair on the beast seemed to waft off of it like a plume of blackened flames. It was asleep as far as she could tell with a book in its lap as drool poured from the toothy maw. A couple of light taps to the cheek yielded no interesting reactions, however, so she resumed her slow walk to the door on the tip of her hooves.

"You're a real idiot, you know that?" the Pegasus scolded as the door gently shut behind the large purple alicorn. "Did you at least get the bucking things?"

"Yeah, I did," she replied, levitating the black crystal shoes in front of her face. Without wasting any time, the two mares set off back towards the door that would lead to their freedom from the layer of Hell. However, on the way up, a feeling deep inside her told Twilight that something was amiss, as none of the demons hidden behind any of the dark corners stirred or sang like they used to. In fact, the building was completely silent and empty... as if they knew they had stolen something from it.

"Well, that went smoother than I thought it would," Twilight smirked as victory seemed assured. However, as they opened the door leading to their exit, their jaws dropped at the sight. Dozens, no, hundreds of Bargheists stood before them and the door, their glowing emerald pits of eyes staring back, as if expecting them. Black ooze dripped from their mouths as they snickered, not put off by Twilight's sun in the least bit. "Oh pony plop."

"Look. The. Little. Ponies. Thought. They. Could. Get. Away," breathed one of the creatures closest to them in that horrible, slow and deliberate voice. All the others joined in breathy laughs, punctuated by single syllables instead of anything coming close to a normal creature. Twilight tried throwing her sun into the middle of the room to make them disperse, but they looked at it with contempt.

"The. Light. Has. No. Effect. Here," one of them sneered. "When. He. Finds. Out. You. Are. Going. To. PAY!"

"WHO STOLE MY SHOES!" cried out a deep and terrible rumble somewhere below with anger so fierce that the crystal skylight above quaked with their conviction.

"Twilight!" Rainbow Dash cried. "Run for that gate and I will try to fend them off!" Seeing the look of doubt in her eyes, the chromatic Pegasus continued. "I know it's not the best thing, but we don't have time to argue. Now GO!" With a forceful shove to her flank, she was off in a blur of rainbow, smacking herself into a random demon. They all seemed taken aback by the sudden charge, allowing the purple alicorn to gallop forth towards the large doors with little resistance, at first.

Halfway to the door, a swirling figure of black appeared. It was the Bargheist she saw in the room with the shoes, eyes aflame in green indignation as he stared down the two ponies who had dared to intrude on his domain. "YOU!?" he cried out, in anger and surprise. "YOU SHALL NOT ESCAPE!" Twilight skid to a stop as her eyes became locked with his, a thousand painful memories flashing before her eyes in an instant.

Just as her brain cried out for her to look away, a blue blur slammed into the demon, sending him flying out of the way. "Run for it, Twilight!" Rainbow shouted after tumbling with the monster some way. Dazed upon the floor, the demon did not move which left the others confused without their leader.

"No! You're coming with me!" the alicorn replied as she wrenched open the doors with all the magic she could spare, nearly knocking them off of their hinges.

"I'm dead, Twilight! I... I want to, but I can't. Besides, I can do some good here, which is more than what I can say if I went back. Now go home and say 'hi' to Pinkie Pie for me!" Tears started to form in her rosy eyes, spilling onto her cyan cheeks. "Go! Before I have to buck you right in the face!" Still, the alicorn hesitated to leave her friend, the door's swirling purple void flickering into existence. "GO!" she cried in anger as the black demon started to regain his footing.

"GO!!!" Before she could contest further, her world became a sea of blue as something hard slammed into her face at great speed. She almost let go of the shoes in her telekinetic hold as she was sent flying by the sheer force of the attack. Twilight tried to call out to her, to get her to follow, but before she knew it her world became purple, thoughts immediately turning towards her home. Now, more than any time in her life, she wished her friend could have been a little less stubborn... but that would not really be her style, now would it?

Goodbye, Rainbow Dash.

Changing Loyalties

Points of yellow speckled against the utter blackness, beads of light shimmering softly beyond the veil of grime and neglect. The gentle patter of rain echoed as the clouds above glowed in luminescent orange from the multitude of lights, its clean scent wafting through the cracks in the window's frame. There was still a subtle beauty in the world, despite the shadow which lingered overhead, threatening to devour everything with malice and greed.

Pinkamena sighed to herself as she pressed her muzzle against the dirty glass, her hot breath mixing with the cool air outside, fogging it up. It was almost as if the world itself were weeping for the lives lost, that it actually cared for the busy little ponies that barely paid it any heed. The skyscrapers beyond only proved the pony ambition to better their own selfish lives at the cost of anyone or anything else. She was doing the world a favour by trying to destroy such a callous city.

But why was she looking at it wistfully, a tear developing in her eye as she imagined thousands of ponies burning to death? The world had already shunned their species: how else could such a nasty and evil mare take control? The only thing left was to burn it all and let the survivors, if any, start anew. A seed of hope spared by the cleansing flames of judgement.

It still did not explain why she felt so sad.

Pushing away from the window, the pink mare turned herself around and wandered back to another window she had been watching. The abandoned factory proved to be the perfect place to assemble the tool of their purification. It was discreet, but near enough to the heart of the city that it would burn like the black, wretched creature it was! Ponies who shared her vision busied themselves with their various tasks to reassemble the device as their pink mistress watched overhead.

All that there was left for her to do was to wait and flip the switch to begin the revival of the world. Granted, that day was still a ways off and there would be plenty of other towns to cleanse. The Ponyville fire had taught her that sometimes the best solution to a problem was to destroy the problem entirely. It was a shame that Twilight Sparkle had come home with remorse; she could have used such great destructive potential in order to save the world.

I don't want to do this, cried a voice in her head. I want to party and laugh with my friends! Remember the good times instead of the bad while playing pin the tail on the pony and eating lots and lots of cake! But not too much, or else it will be like the time I ate all the cake in the store and the Cakes got really, really mad at me because they were for the customers and-

The pink make slammed her head against an inoperative console in the room, blood running down her face as her forehead hit a corner. "No!" she growled to herself. "There's nothing left to party about, PINKIE. All that is left is pain and heartache! We have to save the world... by destroying it!"

Be quiet, meanie-mean-pants! Just because you have lost faith in pony kind does not mean I have! As long as we have friends, there will always be something to celebrate and laugh about and every pony is our friend, so we always have a reason to party!

"SHUT UP!" she cried out with her hooves pressed against her ears. "We don't have any friends! We don't NEED any friends! What kind of friends plot against each other and... and die on us!?" Memories of one of her bestest best friends and number one pranking buddy crossed her mind, letting more tears slip out as she remembered those days were now over.

"You know she didn't want to," the voice countered, using her own mouth to speak. "She did it because she thought it would help us and maybe even get rid of the queen! Dashie was reckless, but she'd never let herself die unless she went down swinging. She was... is... one of our best friends."

"I just told you, WE DON'T NEED ANY SO-CALLED FRIENDS!" the mare shouted at herself through gritted teeth. "There is ONLY Pinkamena Diane Pie! No other stupid ponies allowed!" She pushed herself up onto her hind legs, using the console as a support as her chest heaved in heavy breaths. Closing her eyes, she tried to use her mind to suppress the stupid, foolish voice from telling her what to do.

Tears continued to slip out from behind her blue eyes, regardless of the anger burning in her heart. She wanted a pony to come and see her, any pony. If they did, she could kill them and be rid of the nagging voice that rung the same phrase over in her mind a dozen times a minute: 'All I really need is a smile, smile, smile: fill my heart up with sunshine, sunshine!'

I can keep this up all day! Oooh! Let's make a game out of it! See how many times I can sing the whole song in an hour, and then try and beat the record!

"ARGH!" she cried out. "If you do that, so help me, Celestia I'll blow my bucking BRAINS out! Then we will see who's smiling!" Reaching into the desk they brought from Trottingham, she pulled out a simple revolver with her hoof and pointed it at her head. "Go ahead! Make my bucking day!"

Okay, okay, the voice relinquished. Sheesh! You don't need to be so violent, Ms. Bossy-Mean-Pants.

"Don't you forget," she seethed as she slammed the weapon back into the drawer. "YOU let me out, Pinkie!" As soon as it came, the torrent of conflicting emotions was gone, wiped out by the underlying desire to destroy everything around her. A grin spread on her face as she trotted back to the window. Her magnum opus was taking shape in a beautiful symphony of erratic noise and grinding metal, and the day it finally whirled to life would be a reason to smile, if she ever knew one.

~*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*~

The eerie silence of the forest was only broken by the occasional snapping of twigs as the group of ponies carefully and silently made their way across the bush. Even with a baby dragon at their side, the Everfree Forest was not something to ever be taken lightly. One wrong turn, and they could find themselves face-to-face with a hungry Manticore, or something far worse!

Trixie mulled over Twilight's motivations for having the three of them go after the yellow Pegasus first. Of the three other mares, Fluttershy would be both the most likely to lose her conviction and the most helpful in bringing the other former Elements of Harmony onto her side. It still did not change the fact that she was utterly insane and had an army of irate beasts at her disposal. If push came to shove, however, they were equipped to hold them off for a while.

Meanwhile, the white unicorn began to come to terms with her situation and decision. Getting away from Queen Eos meant she HAD to get dirty, no matter what she did. Although she had stopped verbally complaining with some... encouragement (her cheek still hurt), she kept fuming under the surface. Stupid, ungrateful mare! How dare she make me travel through the muck like this! Nevertheless, she would rather be dirty than put up with that tyrannical horse anymore.

Taking the lead for once, Spike pushed through the undergrowth as quietly as possible. Scouting ahead for hostile creatures may not have been his specialty, but with his draconian eyesight and sense of smell, he stood a better chance at catching something ahead of time than the two ponies he traveled with. It felt good to be needed.

Eventually, as the sunlight faded, they came across the obvious clearing and small wooden cottage in the middle of it. However, contrary to Twilight's story, there were no creatures forming a perimeter around the building. It was curious, to be sure, so he signaled to the ponies to hold short. There was the possibility Fluttershy expected somepony to come waltzing up to her, so she set up a trap to get them for it.

Summoning his courage, he stepped out into the field and ran for the shack. He lifted his head ever so slightly and looked into the window. The yellow Pegasus had her back to it, humming as she cut up some carrots into a stew. Feeling it was safe, he signaled to the others to come forward, turning back to watch as they silently galloped to join him.

"Okay," Trixie whispered. "Charge up your strongest restraining spell and on the count of three, we'll burst in there and catch them by surprise." Charging up her horn, the blue unicorn counted down to three and suddenly burst down the door before anyone could voice their objections. She quickly fired out a shot towards the yellow blur in the centre in the room as she came charging in.

"What the mmph!" the Pegasus cried out before being silenced by the spell with her wings and hooves bound together by an invisible force. Her eyes went wide as the two ponies and baby dragon entered her hut and shut the door behind them, rage and confusion suddenly turning to sorrow and relief in her teal pools.

"Sorry about that, Fluttershy," Spike apologized. "Trixie can be a bit... gung-ho. Can you let her go?"

"Why? So she can summon those little devils of hers!?" the showmare spat.

"Twilight did tell you she wanted to TALK to her, not roughhouse her, correct?" the white unicorn added as she shut the curtains inside the hut. "Besides, if I were her, I'd be less inclined to listen if I were being FORCED to."

"Sorry, Trixie, but you're outvoted. I'm sure Twilight would say the same."

"Fine! Just don't cry to Trixie when your faces are being gnawed off by a Timber Wolf!" With a tug of her will, the binds on the Pegasus came loose, allowing her freedom once more.

Fluttershy got to her hooves a little shaky, her eyes fastened on only one pony in the room. "R-Rarity!?" she breathed in awe, much like she had when she saw she had wings. "Is... Is that really you!?"

"Yes, darling, it's me," she spoke softly as she embraced the Pegasus. "But, um... no offence, but you could REALLY use a trip to the spa, Fluttershy. Is... is that a NEST in your mane!? Oh, sweet Celestia, it is! You've got split ends galore, your coat is all matted and... well... I DO like a good challenge." A smile and small line of tears graced her face, a little bit of dirt from the Pegasus mare's coat sticking to her cheek.

"Oh, Rarity! I missed you," she replied, reluctantly breaking off their friendly hug with a blush. "I... I am SO sorry I helped vote you out of the Crusaders. Had I known things would have come to this, I would have..."

"Shh," the white mare replied, putting her hoof to her lips to silence her. "I'm well past that, darling. There is nothing to apologize for."

"But-"

"Nothing."

A weak smile crept across the butter-coloured pony's face. She let out a breath she did not know she was holding. "Oh! Spike, Trixie! Do come in," she smiled to the others as if suddenly becoming aware of their existence.

The shift in the mood of the room was dramatic as it was sudden. Once foreign invaders had become welcome guests, sitting up to the table as the yellow mare poured them some of the carrot soup she had been making. "S-sorry if the chairs are small... I... I haven't entertained a pony since... since Twilight and... she was more a hostage than a guest..." she trailed off in shame at her actions.

"Actually," Trixie spoke after sipping some soup (after checking for poison, of course.) "We're here because of Twilight. You see, she is going after the one common denominator of all the movements, Party Poppers included. If at all possible, she seeks to kill Queen Eos once and for all, and then settle the whole matter of government afterwards. As long as Eos is in charge, Equestria is in danger."

"Yes," the mare nodded as she joined the others at the small table. "I've heard that from some of my little spies and... I've been thinking about this for a long while. I see her point in wanting to get rid of Eos first, but... well, I just can't. I still have my own goals and I can't just abandon them. Not when I am so close to achieving my most important one."

"Which one is that?" Spike asked carefully.

"Destroying the new weather factory that Eos is making," she replied after eating some stew herself. "I've only really delayed it, but if it is destroyed outright... well... I might be able to let the forest do what it does best."

~*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*~

I don't want to open my eyes. I just want to lay here and sleep, hopefully I'll wake up and this whole nightmare will be over, Twilight thought as she lay on the ground. After being flung into the portal back to Equestria, her world had become a void of purple before it faded into black. The next thing she knew, she could hear the gentle call of birds, squirrels and other woodland creatures. It was just too much for her to process.

Rainbow Dash... she sacrificed herself to save me, she thought as a cool breath of breeze played over her body. This is a pretty poor way to show my gratitude though, isn't it? As much as she wanted to dwell on her fate, the phrase 'just keep moving' played across her mind once more. With a heavy sigh, the lavender alicorn got off of her side and opened her eyes.

As expected, she could see birds of different colours nesting in the trees around her, the gentle rustling of the leaves ticking her ears as another gust played across her fur. Taking in a deep breath, the air smelled sweeter than she remembered. In fact, the air even looked cleaner. If she had a clear shot, she probably could have seen for miles! The stupid shoes she had fought so hard for lay in the grass near the edge of the clearing, sparkling in the light of the morning sun.

It was not until she stood up and flared her wings that she remembered that her own Eos still had her transformed into an alicorn. "Okay, Eos. Thank you very much for your help. You can turn me back," she spoke to herself. She stood there for a good couple of minutes, but she could not feel anything happening. Looking to her hooves, she was still much farther above the ground than she should have been. "Any minute now!"

I... I can't, the voice admitted meekly. I've been trying, but I just can't. It's... possible the lava destroyed your mortal body because I couldn't change you in time. I'd just... go with an illusion or transformation spell.

"WHAT!?" Twilight cried out in anger. "Argh! This is the LAST thing I need! Now, I look like HER! How am I going to help my friends? They'll KNOW it's a disguise, and think I'm the queen herself! ...Unless I use Blueprint." It would probably be safer to use that disguise anyway. She was sure after her flight from Canterlot, Queen Eos would probably want her head on a silver platter and her eyes stuffed with diamonds.

Twilight channeled her magic into her horn to prepare just that very disguise when her ears became assaulted by the sound of hollow, raspy breath from somewhere behind her. Her blood ran cold as she identified that it was a pony making the noise, meaning she had been spotted. Ponyfeathers, she swore to herself as the breathing only grew louder.

"Your majesty," spoke a calm and even voice from behind. Twilight slowly turned on the spot to face him and was surprised, to say the least, by what she saw. It was a pony, but then it was not a pony at the same time. A pang of empathy washed over her as she realized she was looking at a golem, and a familiar one at that. His body was as brown as clay and he wore a dark suit with a sapphire blue tie. On his back sat two brown and simple saddle bags with standard clasps as he did not have a mark on his flank. He possessed a brown mane that was played with by the wind, meaning he was advanced. It was his cold, calculating eyes that gave him away.

"It is a surprise, to say the least, to see you here. Especially after your actions last week," he added with even calm, although a hint of indignation in his words. He reminded her very much of Celestia. "Have you come to 'educate' the citizens of Ponyville further?"

"Educate?" she repeated with a measure of surprise.

"Executing a married and mated couple before half the town does little to assist in your public image, your highness." Twilight's blood ran cold, unable to help her jaw drop for just a second before remembering he thought she was the queen. She... Eos had publicly executed two ponies? What did they do? Why would she do something so extreme? Oh no! He was beginning to give her a look...!

"I... I was... not having a good day, I am ashamed to say," she lied. "I have... regretted my actions of that day since it happened, and you are correct. Do you mind if I slip into a disguise..." What was his name again!? What did Dinky call him? "... Ironhead?"

A tiny, almost unnoticeable smile crept across his face. "I don't mind at all, my queen. In fact, I would encourage it. If you will pardon my language, I have had a hell of a time trying to keep an all-out riot from happening since." He nodded his head and took a step back, being only a couple of pony lengths away from the false monarch.

Twilight resumed channeling her magic into her horn, focusing hard on her disguise. Magical warmth swept over her, ticking her inside and out. It felt strange to feel her stature shrink and it was another matter still to feel her horn and wings disappear. Once the spell was done, a white earth pony with an emerald green mane and eyes stood before the governor of Ponyville. Traveling like this, with the golem by her side, she might not make friends, but she would not be harassed by guards.

"Very good, your majesty," the golem pony nodded to what he thought was his liege. "Would you like to come with me to my office? We have a lot to discuss, I am afraid."

"How about the library?" the imposter suggested. "I would honestly feel more comfortable there, as it is closer to the woods than the centre of town. In case my disguise is blown and, as you say, a riot breaks out, I would want to be able to leave as quickly and quietly as possible. Too much blood has been spilled here already."

"That is a very wise choice, my queen. I believe we can accommodate you, as we have been watching the library as per your order. No pony has been in or out since the order was given. I expect you wish us to secure an item that you are about to retrieve?"

"Not necessarily," she spoke. Wandering to the edge of the clearing, she picked up the four shoes in her mouth and gave them to the golem, who placed them in his saddlebags without any prompting. If he had no idea why Eos would make him guard the library, than she was not about to make him assume anything either. "Although I would like to put these shoes into the library for safe keeping, my further reasons for guarding that building are my own. I hope you trust that," she added as they began the trot into town.

"Of course, your highness," he replied automatically as he followed one stride behind and to the right side.

~*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*~

Stars twinkled in the velvet indigo sky, the moon sitting near its apex as the crown jewel of the night. It was forever at peace: the plights and activities of the ponies below went unseen and uncared for by the eternal lights. Down in Equestria, however, things were still in motion as ponies stirred to further their own designs under the sparkling tapestry above.

Just south of the Everfree Forest, nestled between the hostile wood and a small range of mountains that broke off from Canterlot, a towering mass of iron sat dormant. Skeletal frames of steel stood exposed to the cool air of the night next to towering claws of smokestacks and cranes. During the night, despite the lights that littered the site, work could not continue on the new Equestria Weather Factory, for fear of the beasts that dwelled to the north.

Unlike the old one in Cloudsdale, the steel titan slowly rising from the ground was not designed to be aesthetically pleasing, but to be completed as soon as possible. In fact, the reactor would be going online in a few weeks according to a certain yellow Pegasus.

From the edge of the forest, two ponies and one baby dragon stood and watched the slumbering giant from behind the bushes. Damn that stubborn mule, the azure unicorn thought in spite. We're pressed for time, and she unloads this garbage on our backs! Why can't she do her own dirty work? After hours of struggling with Fluttershy, while trying to come to a compromise, it became apparent that she would not fold. So, reluctantly, the only way she would consider joining them was for them to play ball and destroy the new factory.

"What are you planning, Twilight?" she wondered to herself out loud with a sigh.

"So... what's the plan, Trixie?" Rarity asked after a couple of minutes of silence.

"Trixie doesn't have a bucking clue," the showmare confessed. "We know nothing about the interior, or if the reactor can be turned on so we can overload it. We also don't have enough charges to bring down the main building, Trixie can tell you that much. Plus, it is likely under heavy guard due to all the animal attacks and the sensitive nature of the equipment."

"It looks all so... practical. So sterile; nothing at all like what Twilight told me the Cloudsdale factory looked like," Spike mused. "If Queen Eos designed the building, than... well, it would be as efficient as possible. We might not know the layout, but if we think it through logically, than we can progress with some sense of where we are going."

"Do you have any better ideas, Rarity?" Trixie asked after hearing the purple dragon out.

"No. No, I suppose I don't," she sighed "So, we go in and see if the reactor can be turned on. If it can, we'll overload it. If not, we place charges in key locations. Does that sound about right?"

"Yes, that sounds about right to Trixie."

"Alright, so give us the signal and we'll move out!" the baby dragon chirped.

"Not so fast there, Spike. Magic and dragons don't really mix. If Trixie were to perform an invisibility spell, you would still be out in the open. We need you out here in case reinforcements arrive." the blue pony replied. With a wave of her soft blue magic, a pair of gemstones appeared, one draped around her neck, and the other in the dragon's claws. "Plus, that magic stone will let Trixie teleport outside of line-of-sight. If we need to get out in a hurry, you will be our exit point, so stay safe."

"Right," he said, nodding.

With a quick wave of magic, the two unicorns faded from sight and blended into the flora around them almost perfectly. The only hint to their whereabouts would be the occasional shimmer of the edge of their bodies when they moved too quickly. Although he knew Trixie was right about his scales being naturally resistant to magic, it still bugged him that he had to be left on the sidelines again, while the ponies risked their lives.

"Do I really have to go with you, Trixie? I could... I don't know... stay behind while you and Spike go in," the fashion designer squeaked as they started towards the compound. "Besides, I don't feel comfortable with the whole sneaking around thing. Somepony could get hurt, or even killed if we took a wrong step."

"Rarity," the other unicorn snapped. "This is a WAR. I know it has been a cakewalk for you in the bucking gilded cage, but you knew what you were getting into when you had Twilight bust you out, so either SUCK IT UP, or go back to Canterlot and get killed! Either way, you're a headache I don't need right now if you keep whining!"

"I am NOT whining," she hissed. "I am complaining. You do NOT want to hear me WHINE, Trixie. The Diamond Dogs can attest to that."

"Diamond Dogs would not break your jaw, now would they? So, SHUT UP!" Trixie was not even trying to hide her distaste for the white unicorn. The only reason she brought her along was to make sure she did not get scared and run off if a bug landed on her, or something.

The fence around the new weather factory reached at least fifteen feet high and carried hundreds of warning signs to advertise that it was, indeed, electrified. Even if Trixie were blind, the hum of electricity coursing through the metal would have tipped her off. Unfortunately, while she possessed a teleportation spell, she did not have the magical reserves to pull it off multiple times like her sister.

Detecting no other magic on the fence, a light blue beam of magic sprouted from the show mare's horn, cutting through the thin steel like a hoof through a spider's web. Her invisibility spell flickered sporadically, causing a sparking noise to sound through the quiet night air above the gentle hum of her magic. Once a big enough hole was cut into the fence, the beam of magic stopped and the spell keeping them out of sight stopped flickering.

Being hidden under the one spell, both unicorns could see the other while they moved. Trixie took the lead, being careful not to touch the metal of the fence. Rarity, meanwhile, delayed. She knew the horrors of war based off of Eos' stories during her fittings. So, it was not like she could plead she had no idea. As the azure unicorn's flank began to disappear into the darkness, a phantom kick in her side spurred her on to move forward into the compound.

The bases of large cranes, lumber, metal, and boxes filled with supplies littered the ground around the emerging factory building. Its white stone facade glimmered in the moonlight as the soft, reflected light hit the hard surface. Flashbacks of the queen talking about the structure drifted into Rarity's mind, making her recall how she urged her to go for a more grandiose exterior, even if the inside would be bland. Of course, the hurtful alicorn rebuffed her.

Well, she thought to herself as she ducked behind a crate with Trixie. I suppose I can call this payback for being forced to conform to her bleak standards! When she thought about the assault like that, suddenly the idea of destroying the factory became less of a chore and more of a joy! In fact, if she pushed herself, she could almost see it as a work of art: but with fire and explosions!

Receiving a tap on the shoulder, the two mares quickly cantered over towards a door in the side of the building. Pausing to make sure there were no alarm spells on the door, they ripped the twin steel blocks open and silently slammed them shut. After a quick check to see if there were any magical observation stones lying around, the azure mare dispelled the illusion.

The halls of the facility were a sterile white, interrupted only by the exposed steel framework of future rooms and other halls. Lights, both installed and mobile work lights illuminated the incomplete interior in a pale glow of electricity. Shadows played out across walls and floor alike, causing the two mares to stop dead as they saw what looked like the silhouette of a pony come into view, only for it to be revealed as an awkwardly stacked pile of construction material.

Eventually, the two mares found themselves in a wide, three-story hall that spanned from one end of the rectangular building to the other. A mosaic of tiles formed a picture of Pegasus ponies congregated around the old weather factory with the names of those that perished in the explosion as a memorial. Glass railings lined the balconies on the upper floors: obviously offices for the higher-ups who would be in charge of the facility.

"Have these ponies never heard of a night guard before?" Rarity asked as they quietly followed a sign pointing towards the reactor core.

"Other than Fluttershy and her critters, who else in their right mind would want to destroy the weather factory?" Trixie replied.

"Pinkie Pie," the white unicorn added flatly as they quietly made their way down the corridor.

"I said 'in their right mind,'" she rebuffed. Unable to respond to that, the white mare continued following her down the hall in silence. About halfway, they made a sudden turn to the left and into a smaller hall. However, after only a couple of minutes of walking, Trixie suddenly shoved the snowy mare in a door, perplexing her at first until the sound of hoof steps echoed across their ears.

"Hey, did you go to the game last night?" sounded the voice of a gruff, older stallion.

"Of course not," his younger sounding partner replied as they strode past the door. "That kid of mine has been driving me wild. Oh, and keep it down. Somepony could hear us coming and hide." The banter continued after the older pony laughed, telling him to stop being so serious for once in his life, to which the younger countered with his elder not being serious enough.

If there was a time to laugh at circumstance, it would be then, if they were not busy hiding in the shadows to avoid the two guards. Well, at least they are not total morons, Trixie mused. Their relative incompetence had bought them some time, but depending on the ponies ahead, it would either be easier or harder. Nodding to her partner once the sounds of the stallions faded into the darkness, the two mares were off once more into the depths of the facility.

The hall signs lead them to a ramp made of wood, reinforced with steel bars. Metal studs outlined where the future walls would be, so it was not hard to guess that a set of stairs would replace the ramp in the future. The hollow thuds of their hooves against the wood echoed through the building as they climbed, making the hairs on their back stand as they risked getting discovered.

Thankfully, no pony was there to greet them by the time they reached the top of the ramp. But, as they turned a corner, the blue unicorn came to a sudden stop, making her white counterpart softly exclaim in surprise. "Shh. Guards," the showmare whispered as quietly as she could. Looking around the corner, she could see four guards in front of a set of glass double doors wearing the green armour characteristic of the army. "Even without the signs, I would bet my last bit that the reactor core was beyond those doors."

Rarity pondered over the situation. There were too many guards to distract since at least two would remain behind while another went to check. Sleeping spells took a while to charge and she was fairly confident that Trixie did not know any that could be used en masse. Plus, with a giant red button there, it was likely they could get to the alarm in just under a second, so whatever they did had to be done extremely quickly.

However, as all hope seemed lost, the ground began to quake, followed by a large crash. Red lights flashed and alarms blared. "Security breach! Security breach," the magical stallion voice chimed. "Outer perimeter compromised due to large creature. Species verified as: Ursa Minor. All hooves proceed to sector three to repel threat! Repeat: outer perimeter..."

"You heard it, boys!" cried out one of the stallion guards. "Get your flanks in gear!" With a whip of his tail, they were off, abandoning their post to pursue the large threat of a small star bear. Surprised at their luck, the two mares pressed forward towards the doors as another loud crash shook the facility. Beyond the door lay two walls of glass, the passage a bridge between the main facility and the reactor housing. Obviously, Eos had learned to separate them, somewhat.

"Wait. Look," Rarity paused with her hoof on Trixie's shoulder. Looking to their right, through the field of beams and unfinished outer walls, a mass of blue speckled with stars could be seen. "It looks like Fluttershy sent us a little help." The blue mare gave her a look. "...sorry for the holdup." Sure, the Ursa was a distraction, but once they found out somepony was messing with the reactor, they would be coming after them.

With no time to spare, the two mares galloped across the bridge and through the door into the small building ahead. Before them was a circular elevator made of glass and white steel surrounded by three rails attached to the car like a compass, save one that would be in the way of the door. Trotting inside, the doors shut behind them with a hiss, the car moving down with an airy moan as it rapidly sped to the bottom of the shaft.

Lights flew past the car as the elevator moved, casting shadows on the two ponies before they were gone in a flash. "So, where did you get those explosives, Trixie?" Rarity asked in curiosity to help pass the time. Now that they were in the elevator, they were all but safe until they arrived at the bottom.

"Trixie made them herself using some stuff lying around the forest and things she keeps on hoof for any situation," she replied with a smirk. "Trixie likes to make sure she always has fireworks on hoof in case of an impromptu performance." As she finished speaking, the quiet whirl of the elevator slowed down as the elevator came to a stop before a slab of iron. The glass doors moved aside with a gentle hiss and the iron ones shortly after with a dull thud.

Beyond, there was a long hallway which reached towards a window made of glass at least one pony-length thick. Fluorescent lights buzzed overhead as the smell of fresh paint wafted across their muzzles. Beyond the glass, the reactor floated magically in the centre of a room filled with water, encased in more glass to protect the fragile and volatile machinery that processed raw rainbow juice.

It was obvious Eos had gone to extremes in order to protect the facility from any external threats, but the two unicorns would not be deterred. Concentrating as hard as they could, the two mares bore into the glass with their magic. It was hard at first, but as the glass heated up they found themselves making more progress while keeping their ears peeled for an alarm or approaching guards.

Working together, the hole they bore approached the size of a hoof in the thick glass, about the size needed to stuff the bombs inside. "Are you sure the glass won't blow out?" Rarity asked as they got close to the other side.

"It's blast glass, so not likely. Just don't stand in front of the hole when we break through." Sure enough, the moment they fully penetrated the glass a massive torrent of water gushed forth with a roar that equaled that of a dragon in the hall. With a hole in the teleport-resistant glass, the bombs in her bag flashed and appeared on the ball surrounding the reactor. "Once the water drains and the bombs are exposed to air, they'll go off, so let's get the buck out of here!"

"No need to be vulgar, Trixie!" she shouted over the din of the rapidly draining water. Reaching her hoof over the cutting stream of liquid she touched the unicorn on her shoulder as her horn blazed blue. In a bright flash, the two were suddenly back out in the cool night air with the sound of the baby dragon fretting over the woozy and faint showmare.

"Are you girls okay!?" Spike half yelled. "This Ursa came out of nowhere and started attacking the building and then the guard ponies started pouring out and attacked it! I was worried you two would be hurt or something!" Before he could take another breath, a loud thud echoed through the forest, causing birds to take off in fright as the ground shook.

Dust blew out the lower level windows of the factory followed by a raging ball of technicolor fire. While its location deep in the ground prevented another Cloudsdale, the effects on the building were still substantial as the colourful fire quickly began to engulf the building, blowing tanks of propane and other explosive materials. Ponies scrambled from the now raging inferno, no doubt wondering what had went wrong.

"Come on, let's go tell Fluttershy," Rarity spoke as she helped Trixie walk deeper into the woods.

~*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*~

Ponyville was, mostly, exactly as she remembered it being when she first emerged from the Everfree Forest: sorrowful with an undercurrent of fear. She could see why, what with a war and ruler that no pony wanted and an ousted mayor that every pony loved. However, there now flowed an even greater current of resentment and anger: a powder keg waiting for just the most fleeting kiss from a flame to detonate.

Not long after beginning her trek with the governor through the heart of town, Twilight suggested he walk beside her casually rather than the brisk, properly formed trot to avoid suspicion. Although ponies stared at their procession, their lingering glares rested on the golem at her side. Chancing a glance, although she told him to walk casually, he remained behind her face. Obviously, Eos had made him very proper about the laws and etiquette surrounding royalty.

Distasteful murmurs drifted to her ears upon the summer's winds, speaking of the queen and her crimes, as well as those in the army or in the guard. Even as ponies yelled obscenities and taunted him as they walked through the town square, his look of calm stoicism never faltered for even a second. There was definitely some bit of Celestia inside of this golem, whether Eos knew it or not.

Eventually, the welcomed sight of the library came into view, its leaves rustling in the light breeze. As promised, two stallion guards stood outside of the library door with all of the windows shimmering in a barrier spell. They tensed up visibly in their blue vests as Ironhead and the white pony beside him approached. "Gentlecolts," spoke the golem as he stopped in front of them. "We have new orders from her majesty. Myself and my companion, miss..."

"Blueprint," Twilight added for him. "I apologize for the lack of introduction, Mr. Governor."

"Miss Blueprint and I are hereby allowed into the Books and Branches Library unconditionally until further notice."

The two guards exchanged looks with each other for a quick second and nodded before taking a step to the side each. "Yes, sir!" they cried out obediently with a salute. Reaching out with a hoof, the clay pony opened the door and stepped inside. Twilight breathed a sigh of relief to see that the library had not been ransacked and, in fact, was undisturbed from her stress-induced cleanup spree when she came back to Ponyville.

"Now, your majesty, I am afraid we need to have a talk," the golem shut the door behind him with a soft click, wasting no time getting to the rather grim subject matter at hoof. "I have no idea what has been going on, but I think I speak for all of the regional governors when I say that matters have taken a sudden and drastic turn for the worse, not just for national security, but the economy and stipends for each governor based on population size. Half of them misspend the reserves on their own personal gains, though I will not name names."

Twilight quirked a smile at the end of his speech, "That was a good half-rhyme," she added.

"Thank you, your highness," he replied with a raspy breath. "Unfortunately, your little visit did little to improve matters both here and around the nation. As you desired at the time, news has spread far and wide of the executions, although identities vary depending on the location. As well, I have received reports that you have ignored reports from my kin for quite some time now, my own included. I just want to know what is going on so that I may plan properly, be it for war or economic preservation."

"That is very rational of you, Ironhead," Twilight replied while doing her best to imitate her doppelganger. "Unfortunately, the drastic turns of which you speak are the result of Twilight Sparkle and the mental state set by her return on the populace as well as the resistance movements. I have made catching her top priority with internal affairs, but the mare is surprisingly slippery."

"I suppose that would explain the new posters stating she is wanted dead or alive, I suppose?"

"Yes. You could say that." An awkward silence filled the library as both sides contemplated how the conversation would turn from there. All the while, the golem refused to take his eyes off of the disguised double of the queen. He seemed to buy what she was saying, but she could not shake the feeling that there was some doubt left in his mind. "I uh... also wanted to explain my actions. About the... the uh... executions."

"I'm listening, your highness."

"You see, Twilight Sparkle had escaped from the castle just the night before..." she paused, waiting to see if her assumption was wrong. However, after seeing no quirk of his eyebrows or questions about the validity of her statement, she continued. "So, I was aggravated and stressed out from my failure to retain her, so I took it out on those ponies. I should have been a little more merciful. Who were they, again?"

"The deceased in question are Mr. Carrot Cake and Mrs. Cup Cake, your highness. You ordered their establishment burned after you discovered the Crusader base hidden there based on a report," he answered automatically. If she did not know for certain that he had no emotions, she would have been taken aback by his matter-of-fact account of the situation.

Her stomach turned over for a second as the parallels began to form in her mind: Sugarcube Corner being destroyed twice and at her own hooves, no less. "Their survivors have been placed into the care of their uncle in Los Pegasus. Naturally, they are quite upset as well as the community. I do not mean to complain or criticise, but by doing so, you made my job almost a hundred-fold harder, your highness."

"Survivors?" Twilight asked in mild confusion.

"The mated pair in question had two foals; twins, to be exact. A Pegasus colt named Pound and a unicorn filly named Pumpkin, if memory serves me correctly, aged eight."

Suddenly, her turned stomach was joined by a return of ice in her veins as the idea of Eos orphaning two foals with little or no knowledge, regard, or care for the matter surfaced in her waking thoughts. If she had resorted to doing something as extreme as that, then there was not a lot of time for her to defeat the tyrant. "Please place those shoes I put in your bags in the upstairs library in a closet. Make sure they are hidden well. I need to inspect the ruins of the building."

"Are you sure that is a good idea, my queen?" he asked with a slight tilt of his head to the side.

"No, it is not. However, I have to see it for myself," she replied. Leaving him no room to object, she cantered to the door and left him in the library with the shoes. She was confident that, if he thought she was the queen, he would do as she asked. At worst, he would take them to his office at town hall and she would have to retake them.

Without the governor in tow, the town suddenly seemed a shade brighter and more cheery, even if the ponies were still saddened by the untimely deaths of two of the town's most popular citizens. Looks of suspicion met her gaze as she was a new pony in town and by then the rumour mills had probably spread the news she worked for the crown. She was not likely to meet any friendly ponies, but she did not care about that.

Sugarcube Corner was not very far from her library, only a couple of minutes trot down the road from the large tree. It also made it easy to see from nearly the very beginning that the structure was destroyed, even if the blackened outer frames remained stubbornly in place. A series of yellow tape surrounded the remains of the building, although there were no guards to be found.

Twilight quickly disregarded the tape by ducking her head under it and proceeded into the ruins of the bakery. The smell of charcoal still wafted from the beams and into her muzzle, bringing to mind memories of camping trips she would go on with the other foals at Celestia's school during the late spring. The happy memory worked its way around her brain like a healing salve, reminding her that there was still good in the world left fighting for.

The hidden ramp down to the base stood in the middle of the floor, perfectly exposed as the magic hiding it had been blasted away by a stronger magical force. She ducked her head as she came to the lip of the hole after walking onto the ramp down. The air was no longer cold and moist as she descended; the heat of the fire lingered long after the flames had died.

If it were not for her experience in the Hells, she would have thrown up at the smell of burning flesh passing across her muzzle. Obviously, they had left the bodies of the dead when Eos ordered the facility and building attached to it be burned. Channeling some magic into a miniature sun, her disguise flickered, the white coat turning a shade of off-white purple before falling in line once more.

At the bottom of the ramp, scorch marks from the fire coated both walls and ceilings. Several of the neatly laid stone bricks had actually melted from the captured heat, distorting or creating holes into other rooms. Puddles of water could be found all around the charred remains of guards and crusaders alike as the ground water seeped in unchecked, soon to flood the base completely and make it inaccessible.

Curiosity and anxiety pushed her on down the once familiar halls, past blown out or burned doors of wood and iron. She needed to know what happened to the girls: she needed closure or be left forever wondering about their fate. However, navigating became more difficult the deeper she went. While the upper level was mostly dry, the lower level had water already half way up her legs, making the sound of sloshing water echo painfully in her ears as she trotted as best she could.

Once the mess hall door frame came into view, the disguised mare quickly gained a bearing on her surroundings. Inside, the tables and chairs were scattered in the water, making little islands out of piles in the blackened depths. However, she could not linger, for she was not sure if the structure was safe anymore between the effects of the raging fire and the seeping water on the outer walls. For all she knew, it could collapse at any second.

Approaching the conference room, the water subsided to just barely coating the floor, as it sat higher than the rest of the lower level of the base. The doors into the room were gone from the heat of the flames and the metal frames had melted onto the floor. From the position of the mangled metal, she determined that the door had been opened when the fire raged, but her mind quickly left that point when she got a good look inside.

The conference table lay shattered against a cracked part of wall, the black stone spared from the wrath of the flames. Only great physical or magical force could lift it up and throw it like that; it could only be the direct work of Queen Eos. Looking around, three bodies in various states of condition littered the room. For a fleeting moment, Twilight assumed the worst as she cautiously approached them.

However, upon closer examination, she was relieved to find that they were not any of the four girls she knew. That just left the one decapitated body left. Holding her breath, she quietly approached the charred ball that she believed to be the head of one of the deceased. It was nigh unidentifiable upon closer inspection; warped and burned by the hot flames.

Something caught her attention out of the corner of her eye as she examined the head. In all the blackness, a different colour against the inky backdrop stood out like a sore hoof. Drawn by curiosity, she approached the brown shape wedged between the stone table and the wall. She gasped in realization as the object instantly became identifiable. Using what magic she could, she freed the item and held it close to be certain.

It was a brown, tattered and slightly charred Stetson hat that had seen better days. The brim dripped with water as the fake leather repelled the liquid like the hide of a cow. "Oh, Applebloom," the mare spoke softly to herself as she pulled the hat close. Nothing short of death itself could keep the young mare away from the sweet memories of her older sister. Sighing to herself, she put the hat on her head gently and nodded to their bodies in grief before deciding that she had enough.

~*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*~

With a bit of guesswork on her part, Twilight surmised she had arrived in Ponyville just a day before their appointed reunion. In that day, she took some time to relax and keep her mind off of both horrors old and fresh. There was simply too much that needed to be accomplished before she could allow herself the luxury of slipping into a stress-induced coma.

She could not deny that it felt good to spend the night in her own bed for once though, as she was afforded a long, dreamless rest. But, she had to be up with the sun and gather some things into a spare set of saddlebags she had, all before leaving for the meeting and hope she was not late. They had agreed to meet each other outside of Fluttershy's old home on the edge of town, and if they failed to see each other, they would head on back to the Appleloosan Plains in order to find and hopefully recruit Applejack.

So, she sat outside of the old cottage in her Blueprint disguise. Trixie would recognize it, even if they were hesitant to approach at first. The early morning chill in the air made her shiver a little bit, but it was nothing next to the piercing cold she had experienced recently. She tried to remain awake, even as the lingering caress of sleep tried to coax her into nodding off for a quick nap at the dilapidated doorstep.

"Hey, Twilight!" shouted a familiar male voice from somewhere in the woods a few hours after . She really wanted to shout at him for using her real name so loudly, but she decided to retain her disguise by ignoring him, just in case anypony was around. He seemed to get the hint, as the next time he addressed her by the proper name. "Blueprint! Hey! Over here!"

Finally, he gets it, she thought to herself as she got to her hooves and strode towards the edge of the forest. Waiting for her at the edge was the purple dragon who quickly embraced her in a tight hug. "Hey, Spike," she greeted with a hoof around his back. Looking over his shoulder, she could see her two fellow unicorns and the butter yellow Pegasus who hung in the back with her face hidden behind her pink mane. "Girls," she smiled to them in turn.

Trixie took a couple of steps forward and slapped her hard across the cheek, making the disguised alicorn recoil slightly. "That is for leaving Trixie and Spike without so much as a note, Twilight Sparkle!" she snapped in indignation, "You could have TOLD us you were planning to be kidnapped!"

"Did you get what you were looking for, darling?" Rarity asked in curiosity. "I tried to tell them that you were rather 'mum' on the subject, but they refused to believe me."

"It's a long story, Rarity," she replied with a nod of her head. "Let's just say that it is safely locked up at the library."

"Um... T-Twilight?" the small, timid voice of her Pegasus friend peeped. "I... I'm REALLY sorry about how I treated you. I wasn't... well, myself. Can you ever forgive me?" Breaking off her hug with her number one assistant, the disguised unicorn came upon the frightened mare and gave her a gentle hug in return.

"I forgive you. It's what good friends do, after all," she soothed. Fluttershy managed a timid smile and hugged her back a little harder. Although Twilight was curious how they managed to get Fluttershy to join them, the new member of the group held out some hope for her to grasp. If she could get her to agree that they first needed to kill Queen Eos, than the other two would be a little easier to deal with, since she already had two of their other friends on her side.

"So, how do you plan to get Applejack to see reason, for once?" Trixie asked sincerely. "You've seen how stubborn she is, and I doubt we can really find her now that she's been run out of Appleloosa. Nothing short of a miracle could get her to see that we have to set aside the petty politics and hurt feelings and just kill Eos!"

Twilight broke off her hug with Fluttershy with a sigh, knowing well that she had something that could turn her around, but she was relying on her isolation to make sure that she would not already know. "I have something in my bags that will take care of that. Unfortunately."

"What do you mean by 'unfortunately' darling?" Rarity asked with a blink of her eyes.

"It's the Crusaders. Queen Eos found out where they had their base and... Well, does 'Coltsberg' come to mind? Because that place is better off than the Ponyville base," she replied solemnly.

"Oh, sweet Celestia," Trixie whispered with a touch of horror to her voice. "Coltsberg was... was my base when I was a Crusader. We... we only got a few minutes of warning before the guards came and... What happened to the girls?"

"I don't know for sure, but Eos executed Mr and Mrs Cake publicly." Crushing, heavy silence filled the air, only broken when the muted sniffles of the white unicorn escaped from her mouth. Her eyes had become enlarged, and glistened with tear that began to stream down her cheeks.

"Is... Is my sister dead?" she whispered, a hint of desperation seeping from below.

"I don't know, Rarity. I heard that she, Dinky and Scootaloo were captured and taken to Canterlot. I would say time is of the essence now. The longer we stand here talking, the less time we have until Equestria faces complete destruction, and the more likely the rest of the girls end up dead."

"Yeah, but that still doesn't tell us where we go from here, Twi!" Spike added.

"There's another town in the Appleloosan Plain. It's smaller but has access to the railroad and is closer to the capital, so it would be logically likely for her to go there. We're heading to Dodge Junction." Considering it was the only lead that they had, and far better than nothing at all, the five friends walked deeper into the forest, as it would be the fastest route to the town.

Siege of Manehatten

"The worst part of any battle is not the actual fight, boy, but rather the wait for it to start," General Portland of the Royal Equestrian Army spoke with his front legs slung over the railing of a ship. He was an old, battle hardened unicorn stallion with a grey coat, white mane and the mark of a jewel-encrusted sword on his flank. Being a high-ranking officer, he only wore a navy blue jacket with several medals decorating the lapels and breast of it. For days, the weather had decided to stagnate over the city of Manehatten, throwing it into perpetual overcast skies.

Meanwhile, the colt at his side pondered his words, having wondered what put the stallion so on-edge for the past fortnight. A million thoughts buzzed beneath his glittering helmet, each vying for position at the surface. "So, you expect they'll try something here soon, sir?" he asked, choosing the foremost thought.

"I'd bet my pension on it. The only thing that is left is WHEN they'll find the stones to actually do it," he replied with authority. Portland liked to see himself as the kind of commander who was tough, but fair to his ponies, and for the most part, they shared that view of him. However, among the younger of his command, including the colt beside him, he had the feeling they saw him as a father figure.

He hated that idea with almost the same passion he had for the sound of swords locked in combat, the smell of firing gunpowder, or the sight of an enemy in full retreat. It was not because he disliked the idea of parenthood: far from it, since he had two colts of his own. It was because he did not want to them to feel he had let them down, should he receive the most glorious form of death: fighting to his last with a worthy foe.

Even during the reign of Celestia, he had hoped to find glory on the fields of battle, secretly wishing one of their less than friendly neighbours would start something with Equestria. Sadly for him, it was not until her peaceful time ended that he got his chance. He was not a bloodthirsty pony, as many outside his command believed. He, like most others, just wanted to make sure his name would outlive his body, no matter the cost.

"Sir?" said a mare behind him, bringing him out of his revery. "We have received an intelligence report from General Shatterbuck that suggests the allied armies are moving on our position. He suggests moving our ships out to sea until they arrive, and then move in for the attack."

Turning around, he faced the young mare and smirked. "Shatterbuck is an overly cautious twat. The day I take advice from him is the day Tartarus AND the Sorrel Hells freeze over: do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal, sir!" she saluted before returning to her post.

"Where were we again?" he asked the colt by his side. "My memory isn't what it used to be, you know." He chuckled at his own joke. However, the smile quickly faded from his face as the pony failed to reply to his question. "What's the matter, kid? Does a cat have your tongue?" Looking to his side, the young stallion had his gaze skyward. Following his eyes, he looked up into the clouds.

Several dark spots could be seen against the grey background, silhouettes large and small moving over them quickly. "Oh, buck me," he spoke as his instincts screamed at him to get moving. "ALL PONIES TO YOUR BATTLESTATIONS! FIRE UP THE AIR RAID SIREN!" he yelled to ponies behind him on an upper deck. "Come on, boy!" He shoved the stallion beside him who snapped to attention and galloped off.

Alarms rang throughout the ship, news traveling swiftly as the air raid siren started screaming. He had run drills before, and all ponies in his command could get the ships in full battle mode in under a minute. Land-based installations could be up in as little as three minutes. It was still not fast enough for him.

About thirty seconds after giving the order, a large shape fell from the clouds and screamed towards the ground. The whistle sounded in his ears before a resounding boom shook the deck beneath him. A ball of fire rose from the nearby shore, the result of some incendiary device smashing into what was once a building. At last, the battle he had longed for had arrived, and if it were anything like the others he had fought, it would be glorious!

"It looks like the war's finally here, fillies and colts! Let's show these leather-winged bastards what you get when you mess with Equestria!" Large guns on both the ground and ships pointed to the skies, taking aim at the large, dark shadows as they began to unleash their payloads. Portland could not help but smile. "Fire at will!" he cried.

The thunderous chorus of artillery burst to life in a symphony of blasts and a fireworks show of flashing muzzles. Not long after the barrage began, a great red dragon fell from the skies while streaming emerald blood behind him. Although the giant boulder it was carrying still crashed into a building, it was one dragon that they would not have to deal with down the line.

"One down!" he laughed in triumph as the dragon splashed down with all the grace of a drunken Pegasus. However, he was not the kind of stallion to stand by while others had all of the fun. Trotting over to the nearest unoccupied anti-air gun, he strapped himself in and took aim as another dragon roared and fell to the earth in pain. Dragons might be nigh immortal and extremely resistant to magic, but they were definitely NOT bulletproof.

~*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*~

To most ponies, the desert of the Appleloosan Plain was considered a desolate wasteland devoid of any life except for the occasional cactus, tumbleweed or deadly scorpion. Fluttershy, however, was not like most ponies, for she had an appreciation and understanding of life in virtually all of its forms. Fears aside, she was excited when the soft green of the Everfree faded into the dulled hues of the warm desert.

The idea that cute critters like prairie dogs, desert mice and even baby snakes lay just meters beneath them made her giddy with excitement. If it did not mean destroying their homes, she could have gladly dug her hooves in to unearth them and give them all a big hug! I guess Zecora was right to keep me company, the butter-yellow Pegasus thought. I already feel almost like my old self again with Twilight, Rarity and Spike by my side!

Even the extreme heat of the desert could not ruin her chipper disposition, even if everypony else was beginning to show the signs of exhaustion and overheating. Well, except for Twilight, that is. She moved forward with the blaze of determination in her eyes the likes of which she had never seen before. The last time she saw her, the mare was unsure of herself and scared; now she moved with conviction and a stoically calm expression. Something had obviously changed in her.

"Ugh! How much longer is this going to take?" Rarity complained to the disguised lavender unicorn in the lead. Sweat beaded down her alabaster cheeks despite the frantic flapping of a large leaf she had pulled from a tree in the forest. "Why couldn't we have taken the train? It's air conditioned, has seating, and we'd be on to get Pinkie Pie by now!" She paused for a beat as she thought. "Then again, we're not in that much of a hurry!"

"Rarity, think for a second, you dodo," Trixie scolded. "Queen Eos knows you've deserted her by now, so I would not be surprised if you have a price on your head as large as Fluttershy. Secondly, not only is Twilight wanted dead or alive now, but she has a million bit price on her head! If her spell failed, we'd have every mare and colt out for her blood and we'd be walking the remainder anyway."

"Girls, please don't argue. We should be seeing Dodge Junction any minute now, Rarity, so please endure just a little while longer," Twilight spoke for the first time since entering the sweltering heat of the desert. For hours, she had pondered over how best to get Applejack on their side with as little bloodshed as possible. But, she was a particularly stubborn mare, so she also had to account for how to fight her if things came down to it.

Spike, meanwhile, had been lost in his own little world of thoughts and fears. He could tell something about Twilight's attitude had changed, and he was sure Rarity noticed it too in the few instances she used magic. He just had no idea what it meant. While he was no unicorn, he could still sense magic and Twilight's had always felt cold and mechanical, but now it was warm and bright. Not to mention that its color used to be light blue, but was now rosy lavender.

For a while, he had suspected that Queen Eos had realized, or rather capitalized on the fact she used to be Twilight Sparkle... but how would she know the Blueprint disguise? Beside the point, according to Rarity, her magic was still cold and mechanical, almost like Twilight's, but different enough for the fashion designer not to know who she was. It still did not answer why Twilight retained the disguise, even when only around them.

However, the question was soon driven from his mind as the silhouette of the small whistle stop railroad town slowly rose from the horizon, the peaks of the buildings like the claws of an eagle. While Applejack had proven that she was still one of the more grounded and level-headed mares of the bunch, even in the midst of insanity, it was still intimidating to approach the possible abode of the former apple farmer.

Dodge Junction was, as the name implied, simply there for the railroad. Ponies heading west to Appleloosa would disembark from the Friendship Express and transfer onto the newer route before continuing on. Aside from a sizeable cherry orchard, the train was the only employer of the two hundred or so ponies who called the place home. It did not have a governor living there, nor a town guard, so it would be the perfect place for the rogue cowpony to hide from the crown.

The moment they stepped onto the town's only street, the small herd of ponies out and about turned to watch their procession. It was not every day that they received visitors who did not arrive by train, after all. "So, how do we go about looking for her? I doubt if we just run around asking 'where's Applejack' that we'll get any answers," Trixie said as she cast a look towards the back of her sister's head.

"You never know. She came to us last time, albeit in the form of a subordinate. Perhaps this time she will do the same? Otherwise, we can just ask. She knows of Blueprint and probably has told ponies to be on the lookout for me," the disguised unicorn replied. Of course, she had no way of knowing if that were the case or not, but she could always hope.

Fortune smiled upon her as a group of seven stallions approached them wearing stony grimaces that said they meant business. Four of them were unicorns, two of them Earth, and one Pegasus. Although she had no clue who most of them were, one of the earth ponies was without a doubt, Braeburn, one of Applejack's cousins. "Howdy there, Twilight," he chirruped, ignoring the others present. "Ah was wonderin' if you'd kindly follow us of yer own accord rather than bein' herded."

"Applejack, right?" she asked to confirm. He nodded his head glumly, all pleasantries set aside as they got down to the matter at heart. "Well, that's why we're here. Please, lead on." The seven ponies quickly formed a ring around Twilight and her entourage and began leading them out of town and back into the desert with Braeburn taking the lead. It was obvious that the unicorns were there to try and stop them from escaping using magic and that the others were supposed to be muscle or scouts.

Of course, it was all a formality as she had no plans on escaping from them any time soon. In fact, if all went right, than they would be allies and not have to fear them or be concerned by their actions again. Not far outside of the town, hidden inside the depths of the cherry orchard, the group came to a narrow trap door at the base of a tree. "One at a time, please," the yellow farmer asked politely before tapping a code on the door.

The twin pieces of wood opened to expose the blackness beyond. Twilight guessed that the new Apple Clan base would be less sophisticated than the one back in Appleloosa, and perhaps only a fraction of the size. However, once she passed through the darkness, she was surprised to find herself in a well-lit, cavernous room filled with tables, chairs, and ponies working on different odds and ends. "With some fancy unicorn magic, we made that old cellar link up to this big cavern we refurbished!" the male farmer explained to their somewhat bewildered looks.

"Fascinating," Twilight muttered more to herself. "I guess you took a page out of the Crusader's Coltsberg base?"

"Yup, pretty much," he responded. "We plan to make it more like Fillydelphia though, since that one you mentioned was lackin' in hindsight." They trotted down a parting aisle in the sea of desks and chairs, still surrounded by the bubble of ponies even in the cramped quarters. Large fairy lights dangled from the ceiling, bathing the grey stone floors in silvery light in a way that almost simulated sunlight.

A big door in the centre of the opposite wall loomed into view as the group drew closer, obviously her office, or a meeting chamber of some sort. A pair of burly stallions stood on either side and opened it for the smaller one and the mare behind him. "Hey, AJ! Look who came meandering into town!" he cried out into the room. Like the one outside, it was lit by a large fairy lamp overhead, but was much smaller in ceiling height and decorated with only a wooden circular table like back in Ponyville.

"Braeburn? What do ya want no-" the orange mare started, turning as she spoke before beholding the disguised unicorn. A moment of silence stretched between them before the look of shock on her face receded into cold calm. "Shut the door," she ordered. The two stallions beyond obeyed her order, leaving only the three of them in the room to their privacy.

"Ya came back, Twi. Why? Ah thought you were going out on yer own to kill Queen Eos like the fool you are," she continued when the click of the doors sounded.

"Well, I realized that I just can't do it on my own, Applejack. So, I have come here to ask for your help. I am not here for some political agenda. I just want to see Eos dead and the sooner the better. If we let her remain in power for much longer, than everything we are fighting for might be destroyed anyway!" Twilight looked into her eyes, hoping her conviction would show to the former Element of Honesty that she was not trying to deceive her.

"Ah can tell yer not just whistlin' Dixie, but consarn it, Twilight, why did ya have ta bring the likes of FLUTTERSHY AN' THAT BUCKIN' TRAITOR RARITY 'ROUND THESE PARTS!" Applejack yelled louder than necessary, probably so that those on the outside could hear what she thought of them. "Ah mean, if yer looking to make an alliance, that is the LAST thing ya should do, sugarcube!"

"Eos needs to be stopped NOW, Applejack. There's no time to argue over petty differences anymore," the disguised unicorn argued calmly. "She publicly executed Mr. and Mrs. Cake. For what I've heard, that is not her usual style. Something has changed, and for the worse! The Crusaders are on the run, being hunted down... no pony is sure who is alive or dead in that organization anymore."

The stubborn farmer snorted in distaste. "Ah don't care about those meddlesome Crusaders, Twilight. That's why ah left. So what if they're all in chaos?" The stony expression on her face told her that there was no reason for her to care. As much as Twilight hated to resort to it, she would need to pull out her ace.

"Applejack... Eos raided Ponyville base and... she... she killed Applebloom."

Silence hung in the air for an uncomfortable amount of time before it was suddenly broken. "Don't you DARE," the orange mare said in little more than a whisper. "Don't you DARE say she killed one of mah kin! There's no way Applebloom would die to a horse like that! NONE!" Twilight sighed and dipped her muzzle into her saddlebag, gingerly pulling out the old, bloodstained Stetson hat. She put it on the table gently and stepped back.

The crippling silence returned, so thick a pony could cut it with a knife. Applejack's gaze remained transfixed on the hat, unblinking and widened in shock. From her vantage point, the disguised unicorn could tell she was scrutinizing every detail, hoping and praying that it was a fake so she could return to her indignation. However, tears began to well up in her eyes when she picked it up, a soft gasp escaping her muzzle. "No," she whispered quietly.

"I'm so sorry, Applejack. I... I can't begin to imagine how you must feel," Twilight spoke and slowly approached her friend. Tears began to stream from the orange mare's eyes, mouthing the same word over and over again as the horror of her realization washed over her.

Shut up you no good, stupid filly! Applejack's voice roared in her memories. Ah don't ever wanna see you or yer EVIL little friends ever again! Now get outta mah sight before either the guards arrest you, or ah buck yer teeth out!

She had been so cruel to her ever since the day they parted, and had never spoken more than a couple of words after that until Twilight returned. And now, she would never get the chance to hold her, stroke her mane, and apologize for all the wrong she had done by her little sister! For the first time in years, Applejack collapsed to the floor and openly wept, ignoring the sensation of her friend holding her and the sound of the doors opening.

~*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*~

Specks of dust floated down gently from the ceiling as the ground shook, falling onto the impeccably clean and gleaming surface of the machine. Far-off thuds and resounding bursts of sound would echo through the building and rattle the abandoned wooden crates that once held the pieces. The dragons and the griffons had started the attack sooner than expected, but it only added more fuel to the fire, and that was always a good thing.

In the control room high above the shop floor, the team congregated to have a look at the fruit of their labours. The massive drill for Operation Flood-Manehatten-With-Hot-Lava positively twinkled in the light cast upon it by the slowly swinging lights of the rattling building. With a cheer and a high hoof, they all celebrated their efforts around their wonderful, if not scary, leader.

Pinkamena sat in a high-backed chair which started off narrow at the bottom and slowly became wider the further up it went, like the stretched wings of a bat. It had wheels on the bottom and could swivel, giving it some fun value for her when no pony was watching, since she could kick off and glide while spinning. You can't say you never did that in your life, the pink mare thought as she gently stroked the scales of her pet alligator, Gummy.

The toothless alligator yawned with a squeak as it regarded its mistress lazily, amethyst eyes blinking out of synch as it looked up. The pink pony wore a black leather eye patch over her right eye. She did not need it, she just thought it would look cool and help with the dark and mysterious angle she was going for, right before the drill would start running. She could almost hear the knock-off music from that spy movie series she loved as a filly.

She was shaken from her admiration of the drill by a timid voice beside her, speaking up once the din had died. "Miss?" a cream coloured mare voiced in trepidation. "Um... Maybe we should turn it on and see if it works before we start to celebrate. I mean, this is nice and all, but what if something broke during transport?" She shuddered and recoiled a bit in preparation for a possible outburst, but one never came.

"Oh! Right, how silly of me," the pink mare chirped with a smile. "Misty? Would you do the honours?" Turning around in her chair, she spoke to the white pony behind her, who gave her a dutiful salute.

"Yes, ma'am! It shall be done," she replied before trotting over to the console which held the big red start button. Her hoof made contact, making a soft click when it was pressed. In the other room, the sound of spinning gears and the whirl of a massive electric motor sounded in their ears. The flutes of the drill began to spin, slow at first, but rapidly gained in speed until they became naught but a blur.

"Lower it," Pinkamena ordered as she gave her large pet another gentle stroke to his back. The same pony trotted over to a lever on the other side of the room as a violent shake shuddered through the building, causing many of the ponies to stumble over themselves. "Ignore the war, fillies and colts. Soon, it will not matter, once we destroy this stupid city!" Getting back onto her hooves, the mare known as Misty approached the lever and pulled it down.

A few seconds later, a slow, steady rumble shook the building, making metal shake and ponies vibrate where they stood. In the other room, chunks of rock and concrete flew from the rapidly expanding hole and impacted hard against the walls, denting them, or punching holes in the crates. It was only a matter of time until it would hit the magma pocket and the pressure would force it through.

As the top of the drill faded from view, and the rumbling of the earth began to subside, the ponies around her let out another cheer at their success. "Okay, everypony. Get back to work," the pink mare cut their celebration short. "We need to be on full alert in case the police or the army gets wise to us and decides to try and foil our plans." Although they were disappointed, they did not dare contest her ruling, and left the room with a collective groan.

That is, everypony except for a lone Pegasus mare standing by the door.

What was her name again? Raindrops? Pinkamena had no clue, nor did she really care much. However, she acknowledged her by turning to face her in the chair, still stroking her Gummy. "Yes, what can I do for you?" she asked with an edge of malice to her voice.

"Um..." the yellow mare started. "I was... just wondering... do you know what happened to my friend Starlight? We went out drinking last night, but she never came back, and I haven't seen her all day. Would you know... where she is, ma'am?"

"Hmm..." the pink pony vocalized as she thought, tapping her chin with a hoof. "Is your friend about this tall, stocky build, grey coat and yellow mane?" The yellow and blue pony nodded her head affirmatively. "Actually, yes I did see them last night, but not in a good way. They were dead: committed suicide by the looks of things. Sorry."

The other pony was, quite predictably distraught by the information presented to her, gasping and holding her face in her hooves as tears slipped down her cheeks. Obviously, her friend had contemplated it before, or she would have contested it. Such a shame she did not try, but not everypony could be a winner. She soon galloped out of the room sobbing, causing the alligator in her lap to burp.

"I wonder, Gummy... Does it count as suicide if I beat her to a bloody pulp and shoved her into your feeding pit?" As usual, the alligator gave her a dumb stare before rolling over in her lap. "... I thought so."

~*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*~

Smoke gently rose into the sky before them, joining the overcast skies as if they were claws reaching out to rip the flat base of clouds asunder. Twilight and her five friends stood at the top of the hill overlooking the island of Manehatten, puzzling out how they were going to find their last friend in the mess that was the most populous city in all of Equestria.

There was no doubt that the bridges and tunnels would be sealed to prevent entry and the number of iron warships in the river suggested swimming or sailing across would be suicide. Of course, there was always the option of teleportation, but doing so would drain Twilight of most of her magical reserves. Maintaining the Blueprint disguise did not come cheaply, after all.

"Where did you say Pinkie is supposed to be again?" Rarity asked, looking to her sombre orange friend.

"If Ah recall correctly, Golden Delicious said she should be in a warehouse on the lower-east side of town. That's about all she could get, other than some info on that drill they're usin'," Applejack replied, trying and failing to hide the grief still in her voice.

Twilight really hated making her friend feel guilty in order to get her and her movement onto her side, but the stubborn mare had refused all other methods of negotiation that came to her at the time. She would make it up to her once it was all over, somehow. "It's possible Pinkie has already started drilling," Fluttershy spoke meekly. "So... um... maybe we should try to find a place where there is a constant rumble?"

"Good idea, Fluttershy," Twilight spoke. "Does any pony disagree?" Turning around, she saw no shakes of the head and heard no complaints from any of the mares or baby dragon. "Okay. Grab a hold of me and I will teleport us to that park on the southern tip of the island!" The sensation of hooves against her coat tickled as her horn burned in magical power. Clenching her eyes shut (and praying her disguise would remain intact), she felt her body flicker in and out of existence, opening them to find they were on the island.

"I can never get used to that," said a woozy and smouldering Spike. Thankfully, as much as dragons were magically resistant, they were also fireproof. Even if none of the other ponies were burning, the presence of smoke told her that she was beginning to push her limits while maintaining a disguise as complicated as she had. She made a note to do this in two trips next time, or else risk setting a friend on fire.

The towers of the Manehattan skyline stood tall behind them like titan sentries to the city of opportunity and wonder behind them. It would have been a breathtaking sight for the disguised alicorn, had she come during a more peaceful time. They immediately set out towards the east as the guns on the ships blazed and dragons above roared in pain as they fell out of the sky.

Trixie craned her neck up to see the spectacle, large shadows in the clouds looming over the city that gave away their positions. They stubbornly refused to fly below the clouds, even with their tactics discovered. The piercing wail of the air raid siren hurt her ears between the dull thuds of falling dragon corpses, or the explosion of their payload when it connected with something solid.

Citizens, police, town guards, and army ponies alike ran through the streets seeking shelter from the bombardment, paying no mind to the wanted mares that wove in between abandoned carriages and merchant stands. A few spotted them and ordered them to stop, but they never gave pursuit. While the ground-bound ponies beat pavement with their hooves, Fluttershy flew overhead and kept an eye open for the possible location of Pinkie and her Poppers.

"Do you see anything yet?" Twilight called up over the din of their hoofsteps and the panting of the white unicorn beside her.

Why does running have to be such a double-edged sword? Rarity thought to herself as she tried to keep pace with the others. Applejack took the lead, as always, followed by Trixie with herself and Twilight bringing up the rear. I know it's great for the figure, but all of this sweating can't be good for my pores! She did not dare voice her complaints, however: the orange farmer was probably in the state of mind to buck her head clean off if she did.

"I think I see something, but I can't be sure," the yellow Pegasus replied before darting closer to the ground to avoid a low-flying dragon. "It's um... to the left, right at the end of the street." She squealed with fear as a dragon dive-bombed into a building behind them with a smash, setting it ablaze in a last act of aggression.

The group ran down the street leading deeper into the island, past bent lamp posts and overturned carts from when the ponies scrambled for the air raid bunkers. At the end of the street squatted the factory Fluttershy had mentioned, abandoned and dilapidated. It seemed like the perfect place to set up shop since it was near the heart of the city, but surrounded by other similar buildings.

"So, what's the plan, darling?" Rarity puffed as they came to a stop outside of the fence that surrounded the building. The shaking ground beneath them was the biggest clue that it was where the Party Poppers were hiding. Finally, luck was starting to turn around for the lavender alicorn.

"You and Applejack will break down the doors and attack the grunts to distract them. Fluttershy and Spike will go after the drill they are using and shut it down. Trixie and I will find Pinkie and deal with her ourselves," Twilight ordered.

"Why do AH gotta work with RARITY!?" Applejack fumed in indignation.

"It's obvious that you two have issues that you need to work out, so it is better you do it NOW before we go up against Queen Eos, rather than having you two bicker in the middle of battle with her and wind up DEAD, got it?"

The militia commander gaped in surprise. There had been force and authority in her voice that she had not seen when she came by Appleloosa; it was almost as if she were in charge again, like when they fought off Nightmare Moon and declared she was their friend. She blinked and looked to the white unicorn with a sigh. "Let's get this over with," she spoke as she got herself into position.

A loud crack snapped in the air as the wooden gates broke off their hinges and fell to the ground with a crash. No pony was there to greet them, much to their surprise. Then again, when dealing with the Party Poppers, nothing was as it seemed, or so all but Twilight and Spike recalled as they moved forward. "Watch out for booby traps!" Trixie called out to the others.

Weaving between abandoned equipment and carts, the group found itself on the precipice of the door after a quick jaunt through the dusty and worn field. With a quick buck from her hind legs, Applejack lead the charge inside followed by a still puffing Rarity. Stepping inside, the world became black, almost impossibly so when the door slammed behind them.

The six were left blinded by the sudden darkness, groping around dumbly for any hint of the way forward. Twilight could not help but appreciate the sheer elegance of it all. Perfect, by rendering us blind with sudden darkness, they have a very wide opening in which they can ambush and kill us, she thought as her face bumped into what she imagined to be somepony's rump. A squeak from the meek Pegasus confirmed it. "Sorry, Fluttershy," she apologized.

"I found something!" Trixie's voice rang out in the inky blackness. A grunt and a gentle click followed, illuminating the room with Trixie standing beside a large toggle switch like a pony would expect in mad doctor's lab. The hall they were in was narrow, walls lined with miscellaneous junk and boxes probably filled with more junk. In front of them was a rusted, metal door hanging only by one hinge.

Somehow, the blue unicorn had made it to the head of the herd, followed by Fluttershy, Twilight, and then Rarity with AJ taking up the rear. Unable to flank the door for cover, the mare grabbed it in her blue aura and ripped the aging door off of its remaining hinge. A wall of concrete with two paths left and right presented itself to them as they slowly filed out of the cramped entrance hall. "Let's stay together until we find somepony," Twilight suggested.

"Intruders!" a voice down the right hall shouted. "We have intruders in the building!" Applejack and Rarity immediately bolted down the hall towards the sound, followed closely by the other four companions. After a short turn at the end of the hall, the group was faced with about a dozen different ponies at what appeared to be a loading dock filled with crates, hay strewn about the floor from unpacking.

On the other end of the room, separated by a rail and more boxes was a large hole with a wire running out of it towards the ceiling. There was no doubt in any pony's mind that it was the drill they were using to flood Manehattan with lava! However, before they could take a step towards it, an alarm sounded and two heavy iron doors started to close it off from the loading dock.

Taking their cues, Twilight, Fluttershy, Spike and Trixie darted towards the door as Applejack jumped on the ponies and Rarity charged up her magic to assist. The four others raced towards the rapidly closing iron doors which squealed as they ran along the rail. The disguised unicorn could not help but think that it was like something straight out of a Daring Do book as she slid across the last couple of yards when the doors were nearly shut.

More ponies poured out of side rooms in an effort to guard the drill, dozens more than the small group the farmer and fashionista had to contend with. Fluttershy whimpered and threw herself into a damaged crate at the sight of all the ponies in front of her. While it was nice to know the yellow pony was starting to act like herself again, it was really unfortunate timing.

"Applejack and Rarity should be along in a moment," Trixie spoke as she fired a shot from her horn. "Go find Pinkie and I'll hold them off! Oh, and see if you can't do anything about that coward, Fluttershy!" Spike, meanwhile, blew a flare of green dragonfire threateningly at ponies who ventured too close. Twilight nodded to her sister's request and set off at a swift gait, pausing only to deliver a smart kick to the crate she hid in to reveal her position. With a somewhat apologetic look, she continued her way over to a metal set of stairs that went up.

The rusted iron creaked and groaned, giving away a little bit to her body weight as she carefully ascended the aging stairs. It felt as if one wrong step would have her fall onto her back and leave her no way up but to shed her disguise and sow the seeds of panic into every pony's hearts. Thankfully, her luck (and the braces holding the sections up) held out as she quickly made it to the door into what had to be the control room.

She slammed the door behind her shut and locked it as quickly as she could to avoid any unnecessary confrontation with anypony. Twilight still had no idea how she was going to convince a crazy Pinkie to join them, and time was still not affording her the luxury as she heard the creak of a chair turn from somewhere in the room. Looking to her side, she came face-to-face with the straight-maned pink menace.

"So, who was the spy?" Pinkamena asked, getting straight down to business. "There's no way you could have found me so quickly unless somepony ratted me out, so tell me who."

Twilight stared at her blankly, unable and unwilling to think of a name or a face. "I wouldn't know, nor do I really care to say. Pinkie, you have to stop this! There is still hope for this world, but it depends on killing Queen Eos in order to achieve it. As much as it hurts me to think that killing is justified right now, it's just the nature of things. So stop hurting innocent ponies: please!"

Instead, the pink pony sat there giggling in her chair like a mad mare. "Nice speech, Twilight," she replied. "How long did you work on that one? Was it an hour, or a day? Ah well, it doesn't really matter. Either way, there was very little thought put into it, but hey, nice of you to try." A creepy smile manifested onto her face, the shadows of the room accenting the places her face dipped into her skull.

Something was wrong. Yes, Pinkie looked different from how she remembered her, but it was nothing about looks. It was almost as if a feeling or a sense deep down inside of her was telling her that it was not her friend she was looking at. I can't explain it either, Eos admitted to her subconscious question. She shrugged the feelings aside and refocused on Pinkie, since she could not afford to lose concentration around her.

"Listen, Pinkie, what we need to focus on now is killing the queen! Petty arguments over how and what is going to happen afterwards have torn us all apart! Applejack, Fluttershy and even Trixie and Spike are on my side: they too see that we need to end this. Please. We can't do this without you!"

The pink mare scoffed and pushed herself out of her seat. "Rainbow Dash is dead: the Elements of Harmony are useless! How can we possibly win against her? The only other option is to destroy everything else!" A look of wildfire burned in her eyes as she came to bear down upon the disguised unicorn. "Besides, how can I trust you when you only talk to me using some cheap magic trick?"

As much as she hated to admit it, Pinkie Pie did have a point. Concentrating with all her might, she shifted her disguise to make her white coat become its usual shade of lavender, her cutie mark to reappear as its usual self and for her horn to appear on her head. It took a lot of magical effort to shift the disguise, especially in front of another pony where she could not slip out of it and put another one on.

"Nice try, but I'm not buying it, Miss Disguisey Pants!" she fumed, not more than a pony length from her.

Wait a second! Twilight quickly thought to herself. Earth ponies can't sense unicorn magic! Not even Pinkie Pie and her... Pinkie... Pie...ness. So, how is she able to tell that I am still using a disguise? Not even those mythical Changelings can sense pony magic. Unless..." Who are you, and what have you done with Pinkie Pie!" Twilight shouted at the unknown creature in front of her.

"What are you talking about? I'm right here, Twilight!" the pink mare replied, thrown a bit off guard by her comment. Now that she had an opening, she could understand why she had that strange feeling. Her voice was cold and her gaze was also as ice. If she had simply gone crazy, they would still have her old warmth to them, but hidden. The word 'possession' sprang into her mind.

Dramatic personality shift: Pinkie wanted to cause harm to everypony instead of making them laugh. Darker complexion: her coat and mane were a few shades darker than she realized, even taking the relative shelter of the room out of the equation. Cold, impersonal eyes: they almost made her want to shiver in her bones again. Able to sense magic: she could tell she was still disguised. It all fit what she had read in a particularly dark book perfectly.

"You're not Pinkie Pie," Twilight whispered to the pony in front of her. "You are a demon POSSESSING HER!" She cried out in rage, seeing the false smile falter for only a second: the final nail in the coffin. "GET OUT OF MY FRIEND!" Gritting her teeth in anger, the spell keeping her appearance flickered and faded, the demonic Pinkie Pie taking a step backwards as it realized it was muzzle to muzzle with an irate alicorn.

"T-T-TWILIGHT!?" the real Pinkie shouted in surprise, eyes flooding with tears. Gritting her teeth, the lavender alicorn knew this was a temporary release, meant to throw her off the scent. Her hoof glowed with ethereal magic as she pulled it back, ready to deliver the blow. She was in no mood for any of the demon's stupid mind games, irritated and angry enough at everything ELSE going to hell in the world. Twilight was going to get her friend back NOW. The pink mare cried out and tried to block as the large hoof rocketed towards the side of her head, screaming as loud as she could.

Down below on the factory floor, the fighting had stopped as there was a loud, shrill scream followed by a blinding flash of light. Something black careened through the glass and landed on the floor in the midst of the crowd. It was an equine creature of tattered skin and blackened fur, eyes burning white like hot coals. It growled and struggled onto its cloven hooves, but it would never get back up.

A beam of light as bright and powerful as the sun shot through the window, almost blinding any of the ponies present in the vibrant display of solar power. The creature hissed and writhed in pain on the floor as its black skin melted into a growing pool of bubbling sludge. With a final, deep cry of pain, the creature was gone, back to the abyss from whence it came, the ooze it left behind evaporating soon after it had died.

"Twilight..." came a soft voice from beside the strained alicorn, making her jump a little bit. "You've... grown a little bit, you know. I guess I'll need to get you a new hat for your 'welcome home' party," Pinkie smiled faintly as her colour returned.

"Shh," Twilight hushed as her disguise came back, although it flickered slightly in the process. "For now, you need to rest for a little bit. Everything will be fine, Pinkie." She ignored the slam of the door behind her as her friend closed her eyes, falling asleep in a warm hug from her best friend, with a genuine, happy smile on her face.

~*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*~

"Can you believe that I was such a grumpy meanie pants?" Pinkie giggled to herself in the company of her closest friends. It had only been a quarter of an hour since the fight had ended, but already the pink party mare was back on her hooves, sipping a cup of warm cocoa from one of her subordinates-turned-friends. "Poor Gummy must be traumatized though," she added somberly while casting a worried glance to her pet.

The large alligator hissed gently and blinked one eye before the other in his usual thousand-yard stare at nothing in particular. "Yeah... 'traumatized'," Trixie spoke softly. "Something tells Trixie that you need not worry about that Pinkame-Pinkie." She forced a smile on her face as she decided to change to subject. "So, uh... what kind of demon did you say possessed her, Twilight?"

"Hmm?" the disguised alicorn vocalized, lost in thought as she stared into her own cocoa mug. With the drill shut down for good, there was not much pressure on them to get moving yet. "Oh, uh... the demon was a Deep-Seated Possessor. It must have been inside her for a very long time, but decided to become more forceful when... well... when Dash died. Oh! That reminds me, Rainbow wanted to tell me to tell you that she said 'Hi', Pinkie."

"Oh, my gosh! Are you some sort of medium?" Pinkie started with excitement. Everypony groaned as they knew what was coming. "Can you teach me how to talk to the dead, or is that some sort of weird, dark unicorn power, Twilight? Oh! Can you talk to my Granny Pie? I wanna ask her how she made her famous Peanut Butter Gumbo! It was SO delicious, like melt-in-your-mouth, yummy-to-the-tummy spectacular! Which reminds me of when-"

"Pinkie Pie!" The group shouted in unison. Some things NEVER changed, for better or worse. Granted, this was not a sugar-fueled rant and they were actually able to comprehend what she was saying for once.

"Darling, don't take this the wrong way. We're overjoyed to see you're back in your right... well, normal... no, that won't do either..." Rarity struggled to find the words. "Um... We're glad to see that you are... your usual Pinkie Pie... self?" An awkward smile appeared on her face, a lingering fear remaining that she would try to tear her face off and use it like a hockey mask.

"What's Hockey?" Pinkie asked no pony in particular. The group proceeded to sigh and apply hooves to their foreheads. Pinkie was back to her... normal Pinkie self, for sure. She ignored it and decided to press on to a different topic that had been at the forefront of her mind. "So! How's the other Twilight, Twilight?" she asked innocently.

Twilight spit out the cocoa as she was sipping, spraying it all over her little sister. "S-sorry, Trixie," she muttered as a blush appeared on her cheeks out of embarrassment. "Um... what... what do you mean?" she asked her rather strange, pink friend. Trixie glared back at her and produced a handkerchief out of thin air to clean herself of the hot chocolate. Pinkies' ear stood erect and wiggled a little bit, not unlike one of her prophetic twitches.

"Nevermind!" she quickly chirped with a worried smile. "We should really get going, since my tail is starting to twitch a lot, and given the context of the situation, I can only guess that it's going to be a great, big fireball and since we have explosives here, it'd be best to leave unless you all want to get chased down the hall by a big, epic firestorm!" She blinked and sighed at all of their blank stares. "EVERYPONY RUN!!!" she shouted before getting to her hooves, grabbing Gummy, and making a beeline for the door.

Without wasting a second, everypony ran after her in hot pursuit as her Pinkie Sense had yet to be wrong about anything. The fact that she added disturbing detail to the normally vague prediction scared them even more than the actual, horrible sight of her tail twitching so violently! "Twitchy tail!" they all screamed as they tried to alert as many ponies as possible about the impending doom.

"HERE IT COMES!" a pony outside shouted as they neared the doors of the abandoned factory. Sure enough, casting their glances skyward, a ball of hot flames came screaming from above like a fiery angel of death. Ponies dove for cover as it slammed into the roof and crashed to the floor with a deafening wham. Not more than seconds later, cascades of fire oozed out of the building like blood from open wounds. A large plume of flame shot into the air, forming a mushroom cloud that soon faded into a dark pillar of smoke. Twilight hoped that no pony was stuck inside when the ball dropped, pardon the pun. It was good to have a sense of humour around so much death and destruction, right?

She shook the thought from her head as realization swept upon her: she had no plan! It never occurred to her that Pinkie would regain her senses so easily and practically effortlessly. She was at a loss for what to do next. No, that was a lie: there was always something to do or strive for; she just needed to find out what. "Okay!" Twilight shouted over the cracking of the flames and smaller explosions of propane tanks still inside. "What we need to do now is get everypony in the Party Poppers out of Manehatten before something worse happens, like a direct attack. Does anypony know where the Crusaders base here is? We need to get them out too!"

"They're gone by now, Twilight!" Trixie responded over the fire and flames. "Crusaders protocol states if Ponyville is compromised a signal goes out and all bases are to be abandoned! They're probably in the Everfree Camp by now."

Applejack growled in distaste. "Can we get away from this place, consarn it! This heat's gonna drive me batty in a couple more minutes!"

"I agree," Rarity protested. "It's going to dry up my hair!" Oddly enough, Twilight was the closest to the flames, but she did not feel a thing. Still, with a nod of her head, the stunned friends retreated to a safe distance and set out to the other side of the island so they could cross over to the mainland, even if the island was only separated by a couple of deep rivers.

"How are we going to get off of this island?" Spike asked once they were clear of the slowly spreading flames. "From what I've seen, there are battleships all around us, and I doubt Twilight can teleport all of us without it being a big strain." He looked to the disguised unicorn, who nodded her head to confirm his assumption. "I mean, all the bridges are going to be heavily guarded and there is no way we can swim across!"

"Ooh! I've got just the thing!" Pinkie smiled with her hoof in the air. "We tested that big drill by cutting out a tunnel under the West River. It might be a little leaky and dangerous, but it's better than trying to swim across." Everypony except Rarity, who was no doubt imagining all the muck below the West River, nodded their heads in reluctant agreement.

Pinkie took the lead as she bounded down the street towards the tunnel entrance. Her friends and the rest of the Party Poppers followed suit, since their plans had been altered from the old standard of chaos and ruin: a welcome change for most, especially since their next raid would be on Canterlot. However, there was no preparing them for the storm that was about to fall.

High-pitched screeches filled the air as griffons swooped down from above the clouds to tackle the ponies claw-to-hoof. The dragons followed hot on their talons, barrelling towards the city skyline at break-neck speed. Several loud crashes and tremors shook the ground asunder, making panes of glass fall from the high windows and onto the streets as about two dozen of the scaly beasts landed.

The situation was deteriorating quickly as the once calm and orderly fire of the guns became rapid and panicked. Occasionally, a griffon would fly down the street and try to grab one of the ponies in their group, or those who had not fled to an air raid shelter. Thundering footsteps of dragons would shake them as the sounds of crashing and the shattering of glass filling the air. A purple claw suddenly extended from the middle of a tall building pushing out stone and glass onto the street below.

"Damned buckin' dragons!" Applejack yelled over the din as they dodged the debris. "Bunch o' no good, hate-filled varmints! No offence, Spike," she added, turning to the large baby dragon running alongside them. He did not seem to mind, especially since by now he would be killed on-sight if they found him. Roars, screeches and screams filled the city streets as it became apparent this was no longer a siege, but an invasion!

Ponies did what they did best; panic and run around in the streets as all hells broke loose around them. Soldiers and police were trying to herd them over to the bridges to evacuate as quickly as possible. However, the five mares were still wanted ponies and doing so would practically be a death sentence. Of course, Twilight was no stranger to being a target no matter what side she was on, so she ignored them all and focused only on Pinkie.

The pink party mare made a sudden turn onto Fifth Street, only to stop dead in her tracks, making ponies behind her collide into each other's backsides. Three large dragons towered over the street, clawing into the buildings to rain down debris on the ponies they did not squish as they moved their large, scaled feet. Twilight bit her lower lip in anxiety. Yes, she could punch through, and maybe even kill them if she wanted to, but the sight of fully-grown dragons made her weak in the knees as flashes of her time as their prisoner flashed in front of her eyes.

Before the unicorn had time to spiral into a full-blown panic attack, Fluttershy bravely flew ahead towards one of the dragons; an oddly familiar red one. "Ahem," she cleared her throat, landing on her snout. "WHAT do you think you are doing, mister?" The red dragon gave her a curious glance, the others pausing to see why a crazy pony had come up to them. "You should be ASHAMED of yourself! I understand you're only following orders, but you are KILLING and making INNOCENT ponies homeless!"

Memories washed across the dragon's mind, recoiling slightly when he remembered the Pegasus. "But... I...uh..." he replied in a growl. The other dragons snickered at their comrade being chewed out by a stupid little pony, until they got a taste of The Stare for themselves. Unable to look away from her piercing gaze, they too were soon at the little yellow pony's fury.

"But. NOTHING!" she scolded angrily. "I am EXTREMELY disappointed in you! I thought you were just inconsiderate before, but now? You're being downright CRUEL! Do you have anything to say for yourself, mister? Well? DO YOU!?" All three dragons broke down and cried, tears streaming from their faces like six rivers, onto the streets below.

Fluttershy's heart beat wild in her chest. Although she exuded a calm fury in her voice, inside she was a trembling little filly. Even after all that had happened, she was still scared plop-less of dragons, she just learned to hide her fear by then. Still, the snivelling dragons at her at her hooves gave her a boost of confidence, and she had helped her friends to pass undisturbed below. Twilight, of course, had to be dragged onwards.

"It's okay," she soothed his snout with her soft hoof. "You just made a mistake. You and your friends should go fly home now, before you hurt yourselves or any more innocent ponies, okay?" The three dragons nodded to her and took to the air in shame and fear, leaving the burning city behind. A smile crept onto her face as she flew to join her friends in the building that hid the tunnel's entrance.

At the Twilight's Gleaming

Coloured lights streamed in through the stained glass windows, painting the intricately carved marble floors of the room all the different colours of the rainbow. Their shapes were distorted, elongated by the low angle of the sun relative to the horizon. The strange carvings of the throne room floor only became truly visible to the unknowing eye at this time of the day, adding to the mystique and power of the room, and the pony it was built for.

If she were still alive, that is.

Queen Eos sat upon her throne, leaning onto her side with a hoof to her lavender cheek. She was thoroughly and utterly bored after her vanquishing of Discord. At least the voice of that stupid little pony had finally and utterly been blocked from her mind. Now, if only she could shut the pony before her up in the same way, she could finally have some peace!

Prime Minister Regal Scroll stood before her, blithering on about some mundane problem that she really did not want to hear. At first, she paid him rapt attention, but by the time the phrase 'tax code' echoed through the chamber, she was out to graze. She was hoping her body language would clue him in that he was wasting both of their time, but either he had become blind, or was just insanely stupid: perhaps enough to warrant him being killed on the spot?

How would she do it? Hang him from the observatory? Maybe put her forebearer's old gallows back into use? She could set him on fire, choke him, turn him into stone and then smash him with a sledge hammer: the possibilities were endless! Before she could settle on a method for his imaginary execution, a series of panicked knocks sounded on the chamber doors. Eos looked to her honour guard and nodded slightly. The guards opened the doors.

A young, brown stallion with blonde hair trotted into the room and bowed to both the Prime Minister and the Queen, his deepest one to her, of course. He panted for breath, the sweat tickling her sensitive nostrils in a most unpleasant way. "Please, rise," she addressed the colt, to which he immediately did. "What is so urgent that you must interrupt my... 'important discussion' with the Prime Minister?"

"My queen!" he half shouted, trying to sound urgent but respectful at the same time and failing. "I come with most grave news! I have just received reports that... that the garrison in Manehatten has fallen and the city captured!" Silence filled the hall, no pony daring to move a muscle. Tales of her explosion at Shatterbuck for Shimmering Pass were well-known by then, and losing this city was one hundred times worse.

"Please, tell FORMER General Portland to report to me as soon as possible for his formal stripping of rank," Eos spoke in icy fury.

"That's... not going to happen, your majesty," the colt softly replied, trying to make himself as small as possible.

"WHY IS THAT?"

"He's dead, my queen; killed in battle. Civilian casualties were minimal, given the circumstances, and the military has retreated to Fillydelphia to hold them from advancing further." The room returned to silence for several more minutes as the gears of her mind spun. Now that they had an open route through the Northern Mountains, the enemy could pour into the country almost unabated.

"Prime Minister?" Eos spoke in a cold, even tone. "Alert the Minister of Defence and the living generals to prepare for an emergency meeting of the War Council in one hour. Whoever is highest in Portland's old chain of command is now promoted to General and expected to be in attendance, providing they can be contacted. Dismissed."

Before even giving them the chance to offer parting bows, the queen of Equestria teleported out of the room in a flash. Heat built up in her face as she appeared in her empty training room, turning into an angry blush. Her teeth clenched shut and were bared to scare a non-existent lesser pony. How could he have failed her so thoroughly, and on top of it, DIE on her!? If anypony was going to kill him for his failure, it should have been HER! SHE was the one who made the rules around here!

Now, she had an unwelcome new headache in conjunction with about three dozen different things of varying importance, not the least of which being a doppelganger gaining slow support from HER ponies! It made her furious! Outraged! Sick with anger! She did not even have a pony who deserved it that she could beat to a pulp to vent!

"Wait a minute," she spoke with a smirk. "I make the rules! If I want to take out my frustration, I can do it on anything... or any pony that I WANT! And they could say nothing about it either!" Faced with the revelation, suddenly a hundred thousand different targets became open to her. But which one had annoyed her the most over the years? Which one deserved it the most? "Trottingham!" the alicorn growled.

In a flash, she appeared on the mountains above the cursed, depraved little pile of plop that had defiled her pristine nation for as long as she could remember. The lights blinked helplessly below her, so unprepared, so unaware of their fate. Yes, fate. She had intervened once, where fate would have destroyed the sinful little burg. But, that was the beauty of being a god: mistakes could always be amended.

Summoning as much magic as she could, meteors of all sizes appeared above her head, dotting the twilit sky like tiny beads... beads hurtling towards the town at her hooves at some thousands of miles per second, but mere beads nonetheless! Applying her flank to the soft high-altitude grass, she summoned a bag of popcorn from the abyss, so she could better partake of the show that would soon unfold.

Sure, ponies would know she had done it, but SHE MADE THE RULES. In fact, if she wanted to, she could abolish ALL rules and let anarchy reign! It might be fun to watch ponies struggle and battle to the death over such petty things like food and shelter. The very idea almost made her salivate into her bag! But, it would have to wait: the first volley was already entering the atmosphere!

~*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*~

It had been a fairly warm and sunny day in the town of Trottingham, pleasant enough to erase all the doom and gloom felt by the populace in what had become their normal lives. The only thing keeping the sun from baking the medium-sized city was the brisk, cool breeze coming down the mountain range to the south, carrying only the occasional fluffy white cloud for the Pegasus ponies to play Cloudball.

Lazy days like that were not lost on the white unicorn. For the better part of the day, she had strung a hammock between the posts on the top of the apartment building and shaded herself with an umbrella she 'borrowed' from one of their neighbours. Her violet sunglasses dimmed the bright sun enough for her to close her weary eyes and lie there in bliss, without a care in the world.

The only reason she forced herself up during the course of the day was to trot downstairs to her apartment, have a meal, or refresh her lemonade, and then hike back up the stairs and resume her marathon napping spree. After all she had been through, she deserved to pamper herself a little bit, especially since it was not likely a legally blind disk jockey could get any work anyway.

Vinyl Scratch lay on her hammock, enjoying a dream where she stood before the monsters of the world and in a thundering rock ballad chorus, she brought out a weaponized bass speaker to rain down the justice of music upon their sorry flanks! How she loved that Bass Cannon. A smile crept upon her face as more stood to oppose the Queen of Rock and Roll, muttering in her sleep about divine justice.

She did not hear the wedged door leading down into the building open, nor the dainty steps of delicate hooves upon the gravel. Octavia stood at the threshold of the door as it quietly swung shut, stopped from closing completely due to a large, worn-out block of wood. A look of incredulity flashed against the grey mare's face for a brief pause before she remembered just who she was staring at.

The DJ had let herself drape over the side of the hammock, half of her body hanging over the side. By either sheer luck, or an incredible sense of balance, she remained on top of it. Her mouth was open wide, a small dribble of droll rolling down her white cheeks as a most horrendous (and extremely loud) noise echoed from the mare's big mouth. Occasionally, she would kick or grumble something incomprehensive in her sleep.

Unfortunately for her, Octavia had known Vinyl since they were little fillies: perhaps as far back as their first days of school? Time has erased the precise moment they had become friends from either of their memories. As such, she was quite used to her and all of her... eccentric behaviours, if that could be a term for 'insanity.' For better or worse, they were each other's oldest and best friends, even if they drove each other up the wall with their (especially Vinyl's) antics.

The proper mare gently cleared her throat as she approached the slumbering unicorn, whose back was towards the setting sun, silhouetting her against it. When that, predictably, did not work, the earth pony tried quietly calling her. "Vinyl?" she asked softly. "Vinyl," she repeated with more force, this time pushing her gently with a hoof. "Vinyl Scratch, you lazy charlatan, it is time for dinner!"

"Food!?" the white mare replied suddenly, spooking the other mare when she bolted upright, nearly knocking their faces together. "Why didn't you say so earlier, 'Tavi?" she smiled in her usual, overbearing grin. She fell out of the hammock and trotted over to the door quickly, giving pause only when it opened. "So... you comin' or what?" Looking behind her, she could see Octavia with a hoof clutched to her chest, eyes wide and breathing heavily.

"Sorry if I scared ya," the former DJ apologized, not dropping that stupid grin even for a second.

"You merely startled me," she replied, shaking herself out of it. "Of course, I can see why you would think that, since your breath is positively frightful!"

The uncouth pony let out a loud, completely un-ladylike belch onto her hoof and sniffed it analytically. "Smells like lemonade to me!" she chirped defiantly. It took all of the cellist's willpower to stop herself from expelling her lunch at the mere sight of it, simplify grimacing instead. Naturally, that smirk only widened. "Aw come on, don't be that way, Octy," she shot back.

"Do NOT call me by that name, VANILLA," she fired back, smiling in victory when the unicorn blushed.

"You... you... Ah, buck it! Let's just go get dinner, already!" She relented quickly before retreating down the stairs.

"What have I told you about being vulgar, Vinyl Scratch? I quite literally have a bar of soap with your name on it, if you keep this up!"

"Okay, okay, I'll be good," she finished with a measure of spite as her friend followed her down the stairs and back into the part of the building they were allowed to be in. They walked down the three flights to their apartment in silence with Vinyl taking the lead as her stomach grumbled and mouth watered. However, other ponies were beginning to cook their own meals, so she could not sniff out what they would be having properly.

It did not really matter anyway, so she just walked on quietly at a light trot since her nap had left her filled to the brim with energy. Maybe tonight she would go down to her favourite bar, pick up a mare or colt and have some 'unorthodox' fun with them to rile her friend up a little bit. It really annoyed Octavia to see a strange pony on the couch the morning after one of her escapades. Even more so if Vinyl was WITH them on the couch.

Memories of the last time she did that surfaced in the unicorn's brain. Somehow the mental image of Octavia standing over her with a rolling pin glinting in the morning sunlight and her mane done up in curlers made her grin even more. If it ever happened again, she would have to take a picture, if only for the blackmail material (in good fun, of course). As much as they drove each other nuts, it was wonderful to know they would stand up for each other no matter what.

Before she could really comprehend what was going on, the gentle clink of a plate hitting the table sounded in her ears. She took a couple of sniffs before her grin turned into a full-blown smile. It was a garden salad stuffed with radishes, tomatoes, peppers, onions, celery and all sorts of other goodies. Besides that, there was a bunch of freshly cooked hay fries and a wheat burger. "Hey, Tavi? What's the occasion?" she asked, looking to the grey blob.

"Oh, nothing special, Vinyl," she smiled in reply. "It is just that it has not sunk in until now that you are home to stay. I missed you not being around, as crazy as that sounds. I suppose that it is just your corrupting influence taking hold of my better judgment."

"Heh, yeah!" the white mare replied before taking a bunch of salad into her mouth. "Enjoy the ride! It's a hell of a thing!" Food spilled out of her mouth as she tried to talk with it full, doing it specifically to annoy her sophisticated friend. It did its job, as she seemed to recoil away from the horrid sight. Only now did she realize how much she missed tormenting her like this.

"Well, I just hope I NEVER become as vulgar as yo-"

A loud explosion interrupted her, shaking the ground and blowing out the windows of the apartments in a shower of glass. Both of the ponies shouted and ducked under the table to evade the thousands of razor sharp blades of shrapnel. Vinyl's ears rang uncomfortably, blurring out her friend. "Yeah! I think I'm fine," the white pony called out over another, quieter explosion.

They pulled themselves out from under the table and looked out the windows to find the apartment across the street flattened and the adjacent ones quickly going up in flames. Above them, streaks of red flew across the sky, columns of fire rising from the city skyline. Several smaller chunks left small craters in the streets, ponies disappearing in a flash. Even with her damaged eyes, Vinyl Scratch could see this was no enemy attack. "Let's get to the air raid shelter! Come on!" Octavia cried, pulling her away from the window.

Sirens blared and fire alarms went off, adding to the terrible orchestra outside as ponies screamed and ran in panic. The two mares were joined on the stairs by dozens of other families, all pushing and shoving past so they could be the first ones out of the building. Survival instinct and panic was quickly beginning to override rational thought and selflessness in the populace.

Both mares had to be careful to go with the flow of traffic and not trip down the stairs. Doing either could get them separated, or worse, trampled to death by the herd of stampeding ponies. Being shoved aside by the more panicked neighbours in their building was not helping matters either. However, the two musicians managed to get out safely and onto the less crowded streets. "This way!" the cellist called over the crowd to the blinded DJ.

Using the sound of her voice in the crowd, the old friends managed to break free as they galloped down a vacant alley to avoid the fire, the flames, and the relatively open streets where they could easily get bashed by falling space rocks. If Vinyl did not know any better, she could have sworn this was the queen's revenge on her for Twilight Sparkle escaping from the castle.

Coming to the end of the alley, the two ponies rejoined a main road and galloped towards the safety of the shelter not more than a couple of blocks away. Although used to the finer things in life, her earth pony stamina kept the classically trained musician in a comfortable gait while the DJ struggled for breath behind her. Still, she knew the limits of her sight and would slow down whenever more ponies would crop up.

Another loud bang cracked through the sky, making ponies duck their heads and scream as a small meteor shot clean through the top floor of a building ahead and into another across the street. A mass of grey stone had broken loose of the building and fell towards the street, a mangled wreck of twisted metal and cracked stone. Only as she followed its path did the unicorn realize where it was going to fall. "OCTY!" she cried in warning.

A loud thud and sickening crunch were all that the white unicorn could hear, other screams and noises completely blocked from her hearing by her focus. In those last seconds, time seemed to slow to a crawl as the claws of debris rained down upon her friend. Even if she wanted to, she could not have summoned her magical strength to shove them away in the milliseconds she had.

But that still did not stop her from trying. Less than a second after the impact, a blue aura surrounded the debris and with great mental strain, the unicorn forced it off and to the side as adrenaline pumped through her veins. A dull moan sounded from the grey (with splotches of red) pony when the pressure was taken off. "V-vinyl?" she spoke softly, her voice barely a whisper. "I... I can't see. Everything's... black."

"W-welcome to the club, Tavi," she replied with a cracking voice. "S-save your strength! I'm going to get you to the hospital, and they're going to fix you up! I don't care if I have to spend every bit I have!" A grey, bloodstained hoof wearily reached out to touch her lips, shaking as its precious life force left her.

"Thank you, Vinyl... for... everything."

"Don't talk like that, Octavia! Y-you're going to make it! Trust me!" Tears streamed down her cheeks from behind her shades, only able to see her friend's bruised and bloodied face as it smiled wistfully at her. Her eyes were locked on hers, starring at her for a long time. "Octavia?" she tried, poking her slightly. "O-Octavia!? S-say something... PLEASE!" A thousand knots curled up into her stomach, her mind going a mile per minute as sobs escaped her muzzle.

"OCTAVIA!!!"

~*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*~

Quarters were tight and damp as the herd of ponies quickly and carefully made their way down the tunnel underneath the river. Water dripped and poured from the ceiling of the temporary burrow, hinting that the end of its life was drawing near. A small pool of water covered the floor, turning the mud and rock into a slippery quagmire that threatened to trap the ponies and leave them to their fate.

Despite the danger, it was still a better option than trying to sneak past the army when, combined, they had a price of almost five million bits on their heads. Everypony seemed to understand this, since none of them ventured to complain. The only thing to break the silence of the narrow and dark tunnel was the sloshing of many hooves in the knee-deep water.

Twilight walked with her head dipped low, almost touching the surface of the murky water. The encounter with those three dragons had, quite suddenly, reopened the wounds left by her torture at their claws. She had a chance to face her fears head-on, but froze like a little filly and let Fluttershy do the work for her. The yellow Pegasus saw her moping and whispered something into Trixie's ear when she got close.

"Why don't you ask her yourself?" the azure unicorn spoke with mild annoyance. "Just because you don't want to break the silence does NOT mean that Trixie wants to either! She is not a loudmouthed attention seeker! Well... not right now, anyway." A smirk managed to migrate its way onto the disguised pony's face. It was in times like this that she was happy her showmare sister had a sense of humour and had learned to poke fun at herself rather than just others.

Before the shy Pegasus could whisper any more, a loud bang echoed through the expanse of the tunnel, followed by a violent tremor. The word did not even need to be said, as the ponies quickly sensed that the danger had grown suddenly and exponentially. Stampeding through the tunnel and out to the other side was practically inevitable. Chunks of rock and small streams of water fell from above, threatening to knock a pony unconscious and leave them to drown.

No one dared to look back, self preservation instincts being kicked into overdrive as they were already on alert by the dark and the damp. The unicorn horns illuminating the tunnel sparkled and waved around, casting eerie shadows as they ran up the slowly increasing slope and out of the pool of water. A steady rumble shook their hooves as they went, telling them a portion of the tunnel had collapsed. Behind or ahead of the herd remained to be seen.

Light beamed ahead at the other end of the tunnel, beckoning the ponies to head towards its safety. They emerged to find themselves in an old, hollowed out hardware store, judging from the amount of saws, hammers and other building tools on the remaining walls. Pinkie seemed to shudder a little bit and drooped her head sadly as the rest of the ponies emerged from the pit.

Somehow, Twilight was not surprised by the unlikely idea that she had killed the previous owners. The store was huge, big enough to accommodate a machine needed to make a hole the size of the tunnel. Shelves and merchandise were strewn about the floor and haphazardly thrown into piles against the walls. Although the lights were off, the skylights above allowed sunshine to pour in.

Spike panted, holding onto the wall for support as he struggled to catch his breath. He had not stopped running since they fled from the Poppers' base and he was not the kind of dragon to exercise. In fact, all of their friends and members of the Poppers looked fatigued, even the durable earth ponies like Applejack needed a breather. Twilight, however, was perfectly ready to run for miles more, but she chalked it up to her freaky alicorn endurance.

"Okay, let's all rest here for a bit. We should be safe enough, but if you feel the urge to leave, do so in small groups spaced out by at least five minutes to avoid suspicion," Twilight ordered. "If you want to kill Queen Eos, head into the Everfree Forest and look for the Crusaders' camp in the castle ruins, or the Apple Clan's camp on the western fringe."

Several ponies nodded before breaking into small groups, no doubt trying to see if anypony they knew or loved survived the romp through the tunnel. Pinkie sat in the middle of the room, running through a quick count of heads. She counted ten missing from what she had when she arrived in Manehatten, nine not counting the pony that she fed to Gummy a couple of nights ago. The alligator dumbly wandered around the room, bumping into things and hissing good-naturedly when he hit a pony.

As much as it saddened her to think it, she would have to let him go sometime soon; maybe let Fluttershy house him in her nice, open fields once the war was over, and she could move back home. But where would she stay? News had reached her about the Cakes and Sugarcube Corner. Maybe she could live with Twilight or Fluttershy while she gathered the bits to build her own bakery? If they survived the upcoming fight, that is.

Something out of the corner of her eye distracted the pink mare, however. It was Applejack holding her hat in her hooves, looking at it wistfully. She walked a little closer and noticed how worn and tattered it was, with burn marks and blood stained into the fake leather. "Hey, Applejack, are you okay?" she asked curiously.

The orange farmer jumped a little where she sat, started by the sudden voice beside her. "Oh. It's you, Pinkie. Ah... Ah reckon that Ah'm just fine," she lied. The pink pony frowned, not at all convinced by her horrible acting skills.

"It's okay to talk about it. Sometimes talking about it can help dull the pain for a while. It will never go away completely, but you can remember the good times you had with her instead of the bad!" She wrapped a hoof around her neck and gave her fellow Earth pony a gentle hug and nuzzle to her cheek. "I'm your friend, and I, Twilight, Fluttershy, Rarity, and I'm sure Trixie too, if you give her a chance, will help you through this."

"Ah don't need..." she started, before looking into her sincere cerulean eyes. "... Ah guess yer right, Pinkie. Thanks." She returned her hug and sighed, looking down to the hat once more. "It's just... Ah have so many regrets. Ah treated her like dirt and... Ah never got the chance to apologize to her 'cause ah thought that she would always be around, you know? That, and mah stubborn pride refused to let me admit to mahself that ah was wrong!"

"I know what you mean," Pinkie spoke sadly, her own head dipping a little. "I got into a fight with my Granny Pie right before she died. It was so stupid, looking back, the whole argument. I'd be embarrassed to say about what, and you'd never see me the same way again. I was on my way to her house to apologize, just stepping out the door when we got the news."

"Everypony has regrets, Pinkie. The trick is learnin' how to live with them an' keep lookin' to a brighter horizon. After all, t'aint healthy fer a pony to keep her mind on them. Ah guess ah shouldn't either." She looked into her friend's face and smiled. Unknown to them, Twilight could not help but listen in to their conversation. It was funny how much their words echoed Celestia's in that letter she read on her way home. Maybe she had been dwelling on her regrets for too long?

"There you go!" Pinkie replied, her smile almost visible in the inflection of her voice. "It's okay to be sad, sometimes, and we all do stupid things, but nothing is going to get better if you get stuck in it." The orange farmer sighed and nodded her head in understanding. She replaced the hat upon her head and gave the pink pony another hug in thanks.

Slowly, other ponies began to leave the building around them, following Twilight Sparkle's suggestion of only a few every five minutes or so. The disguised alicorn, meanwhile, contemplated their next steps. The Elements of Harmony were kept in a tower of Canterlot when not in use, and it was unlikely Eos moved them. The only issue would be the lack of an Element of Loyalty, but given all she had seen, Trixie could do in a pinch, or perhaps one of the former Cutie Mark Crusaders.

Now she was thinking about those young mares again... As wrong as they were for their ambitions, they had the well-being of all at heart, the same as her other friends. They deserved a chance at salvation too, but breaking them out would not be easy. It would require a distraction: a big distraction that would throw the tight regime of the castle into chaos and confusion. If worse came to worse, there would always be the shoes.

Taking a breath, she checked to make sure her magic was back up to full strength. Aside from the cost needed to maintain her disguise, it was back up to full power. She would need it too, for what she was about to do. "Okay, girls. And Spike," she spoke to her friends. "I think it is safe for us to move on now."

"Oh good, I could use a bath. Where are we going, darling?" Rarity inquired as she and the others drew close.

"I know it's dangerous, but we're going to Ponyville. Hopefully, I can teleport us right into the Books and Branches Library, so we don't need to deal with any guards. I need to recover what I stored there for the coming battle," Twilight answered.

"Speakin' of, how exactly do you plan to kill Queen Eos? Canterlot is locked up tighter than Big Mac's lips when he's around a pretty filly! Not ta mention she has the power of TWO goddesses," the orange militia commander asked. "It sounds a mite like suicide to me, no offence."

"I'll explain when we get those shoes back, okay? You'll just have to trust me on this. If you're all ready, I would like to leave sooner rather than later." They nodded to her, if somewhat reluctantly. Ponyville was just about the last place any of them wished to go, and not just for the prices on their head. In their own way, they had all abandoned the town and left it to fend for itself against the queen's tyrannical reign.

Twilight took a deep breath, closed her eyes and started channelling her magical energies into her horn. Teleportation was never an easy feat, since she had to intertwine at least five different spells in the correct order the correct way, or else it would fail. Too little energy would burn, and too much would mean overshooting the target, or even exploding upon arrival. Maybe even twice if there was enough magical buildup!

Add a magically resistant baby dragon and five ponies into the mix, plus the distance, and you had an impossible task for any unicorn, Twilight herself included. However, stuck in the body of her inner deity with her level of power, she figured she had JUST enough magic to pull it off AND maintain her disguise. With her destination firmly planted into her mind's eye, she brought together the other elements of the spell, reaching it out to the others before she vanished into a cascade of light.

Opening her eyes, she found herself and all of her friends within the confines of the Books and Branches Library on the second floor of the building. Twilight greedily inhaled the fresh scent of the tree, putting herself at ease once more now that she was home. Without wasting a moment, she charged her magic again and felt around for the shoes. Thankfully, Ironhead was either very loyal to his queen or incredibly stupid for he had hidden the shoes behind a copy of Predictions and Prophecies on the lower shelf.

However, something was wrong. She did not hear a sound out of anyone else from the moment she had appeared in the library. Oh no! Did they not come along with me? What if they were dropped out of the spell halfway? They could be stuck in the gap between dimen- Turning on the spot, she saw all of her friends giving her blank stares of horror and fear. Twilight grimaced and applied a hoof to her face, noticing a glint of gold as she did so, just to rub the fact in.

"It's the queen!" Applejack roared. To her credit, she wasted no time in charging up to the lavender alicorn, the fires of fury blazing in her once kind, green eyes. Before she could get much farther than a couple of steps, Twilight's horn sparkled in magic, encasing them in their own individual bubbles. The orange cowpony collided into the side of hers and rolled onto her back. "It was a trap! Yew no good, deceitful BITCH! WHAT DID YOU DO WITH TWILIGHT!?"

The alicorn bit her lower lip in trepidation and scuffed the floor with her hoof. Her chest felt tight, as if a pony had taken a vice to her heart. "It... It's me, girls. Really. Trixie, Spike? Remember what I told you about me and Queen Eos? That we're... well... the same pony, but from different dimensions, or timelines, or something?" The two gasped, knowing she had spoken about such a thing. The queen was known to be manipulative, although they had never heard of her taking it to this level.

"Well, it's nice to hear some confirmation, at least," Rarity spoke, earning looks from the others. "What? I WAS her dressmaker for four years! I noticed the similarities the first time I saw her, but I did not DARE voice them. You all remember what happened to Derpy, correct?" They nodded their heads solemnly at the memories. "Now, we just have to figure out if this is TWILIGHT, or EOS. Riddle me this, alicorn: What were your EXACT words when we met in the castle?"

Twilight pursed her lips, sitting on her haunches as she tried to recall her exact first words to her unicorn friend. She needed to word herself carefully, or else lose everything she had worked for! "You... you said that I was disturbing your work, but you cut yourself off in the middle of the word 'work' when you saw me," she explained. "Then, you called out my name in disbelief, and I said 'Hey, Rarity. I came to talk to you. About what happened' after a pause."

Seeing the look of understanding and acceptance on the white unicorn's face, Applejack worked herself into another rage. "Well, I ain't buyin' yer LIES ya stupid HORSE! Ya probably read her mind so ya could get the information an' throw us off!" Fluttershy meekly nodded her head in agreement. "Ain't nothing you can say that will change mah mind, neither!"

"Perhaps, then, maybe I can convince you, Miss Applejack," spoke a smooth, calm voice from the door to the lower level of the library. Everypony gathered looked towards the figure with widened eyes, a look, he noted, that was extremely funny on the large alicorn in front of him. He trotted into the room with the clunk of clay hooves while wearing a smart obsidian coloured suit, blue tie and a well-kept mane.

Governor Ironhead casually looked upon the group with an unreadable smirk upon his face. "You see, Miss Sparkle came to town not a week ago with a curious pair of magical shoes. I knew in an instant that she was not 'her majesty' because of two important factors: her cutie mark and her eyes," he spoke, looking directly into them. "Foremost, her majesty's mark bears a sun and moon in the place of a purple star. Illusionary magic can do a lot of things, but it cannot change a cutie mark. Secondly, while they are the same colour, HER eyes have seen far more baseless brutality and scream regret. Her majesty's are cold, calculating and emotionless, much like my own."

"Wait," Twilight spoke, finally finding herself. "If you knew the whole time, then why did you follow my orders and humour me?" Her bubble spell had broken from the shock, but they all found themselves rooted to the spot anyway.

"I was made by Twilight Sparkle: a mare that had made a grave mistake, but sought to rectify it, or make the best of a bad situation. However, she slipped into 'Queen Eos' when the burdens became too much. By the time of the Cloudsdale Assault, she had lost all hope for making things right, sadly. I humoured you because I am not a stupid creature. If I had reported that you were running around impersonating her, she would have killed me: both out of anger, and for being reminded of her failures. It made logical sense for me to play along, Twilight."

"So, what happens now, Iron ASS!" Trixie fumed, stepping towards the golem with her horn charged, the others joining her. "Are you going to try and turn us in so she can kill us? Or are you just going to do it yourself?"

"I, Governor Lord Ironhead of Ponyville do swear my fealty to you, Twilight Sparkle," he spoke with a bow towards the alicorn. "Her majesty has become irresponsible with her powers and is a threat to herself and the world. I have heard rumours that she has assimilated the powers of a third god, but her recent actions are evidence enough. She destroyed the city of Trottingham in cold blood in a petty tantrum over the loss of Manehatten. The casualties were abhorrent. She MUST be stopped."

A collective silence was held by the mares standing in the room. There was no time left: the final countdown had begun. The living god had gone mad. "I appreciate the sentiment, but it doesn't change the fact that we are all wanted criminals," Twilight replied, trying to keep herself in the moment.

"I'm the Governor. My word is only superseded by the queen and everypony HATES her. At worst I am merely disliked or loathed. Please, give me a chance," he asked in calm pleading. Twilight bathed herself in a shillouette of light that nearly blinded everyone in the room and shifted her appearance to look like her normal, unicorn self before she looked to her friends.

"Huddle?"

"Huddle."

~*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*~

"So, um, we seem to agree that we can trust him, because he seems to be rational. Unless I'm utterly wrong about all this, in which case I'm really sorry," Fluttershy squeaked.

"Plus, Twilight could blast him to smithereens any time if he tries anything funny! ...Funny bad, that is. Funny haha would be peachy keen!"

"Funny haha, from a GOLEM? Darling, you MUST be joking."

"Once the queen is dead, I'll DEFINITELY get a golem to smile. It'll be my legacy! Pinkamena Diane Pie... The mare who could make rock itself SMILE!"

Satisfied, Twilight walked up to the governor. "We'll trust your judgment. So, what do you suggest we do?"

The stoic governor blinked solemnly, then removed a scroll from his saddlebags. "I have written up a plan that I think would be most expedient to the furthering of your goals."

"Wut did he say?"

Twilight sighed. "He said he has a plan that he thinks can help us." She took the paper into her magical field and looked it over.

The lavender mare sat down in the centre of the floor of the library with a quill suspended with her magic and another scroll in front of her. At Ironhead's suggestion, the disguised alicorn began to draft up an edict saying that all of the top ten most wanted were no longer being pursued along with the other resistance movements, in order to focus on the war. She had her doubts, but then again, it only needed to work for a day or two at best while they drew up battle plans.

While she was trying to put the right words into place, her friends browsed the neglected books and shelves of the library to read in order to pass the time. Ironhead, meanwhile, had left to inform others likely to assist. The curtains were drawn shut over all the windows so nopony could see inside, but it also cast the room into darkness lit only by the glow of unicorn magic and several old candles that had been in a cupboard.

However, the silence was not for everypony. "Okay! I can't BELIEVE any of you!" Rarity cried out after slamming her book shut. "Am I the ONLY one burning to know just HOW a pony like Twilight Sparkle here can survive in a world like this for any longer than a couple of days and not go COMPLETELY mad!?" The lavender unicorn looked up from her scroll and gave her an inquisitive look.

"Ah was sorta wonderin' the same thing too, now that ya mention it," Applejack seconded after a pause. "Unless she IS mad as a hatter and we ain't noticin' it." Worry crept into her voice at the end of her sentence, and she could not deny it. During their travels over the past few days, the unicorn had spoken of some details of her trip into the Sorrel Hells, or mentioned in passing her internment with the dragons.

"Yeah!" Spike chirped up. "The Twilight I know would be sobbing in a corner and curled up like a filly after... Well, some things are better left unsaid," he added with a sigh. "Let's just say that I am surprised she only locked up with fear at the sight of those dragons and did not do something a little more... severe."

"Even Trixie has to admit that she is astonished by her elder sister's resilience," the azure unicorn spoke. "Of course, a magician as mighty as Trixie would have no reason to fear, even if she went through all that Twilight Sparkle has. But not every pony is Trixie, so it is nothing short of amazing to not see her doing as Spike said." Pinkie nodded along, the only one to give Trixie her full attention.

"I... uh," Fluttershy mumbled. "I... probably didn't help matters either... wh-what with the whole... not-a-pony thing. I... I'm SO sorry, Twilight!" Tears started to well up into her eyes. "I just... I don't know what happened! It just... slipped out of me and... and I hurt your feelings! It's okay if you'll never forgive me for it. I... I'll just... leave."

Twilight signed and hung her head, quill no longer scratching the surface of the parchment. Truth be told, she had no idea how she was still sane herself. By all right, she SHOULD have been a quivering mass sobbing in the corner and suffering hallucinations of dragons with sharp talons dripping of blood. She cringed a little as the mental image came to her, promptly flushing it out of her mind as soon as it had come.

Seeing her distress, the ponies and dragon congregated around her and pressed into her in a group hug. In that hug, she felt not only the warmth of their body heat sweep over her, but warmth in her heart. A smile came on her face as she lightly broke off from the group to regard them fondly. She had her answer. "Don't you know how I did it?" she spoke with her voice cracking. Tears were building up in the corner of her eyes, but she held them back for the moment.

"I... I kept sane by doing what all of you have been doing for the better part of ten years! I trusted in my friends to do the right thing. Even if they were confused... even if they had strayed from the path and forgotten themselves for a while... I hoped they would come back." She sniffed, the tears finally coming out of her eyes, no longer able to hold them in without breaking down into a sobbing mess. "...And I was right."

"Aw, come here, you," Applejack spoke as she stepped forward and wrapped her crying friend into a hug. She was soon followed by the rest of the group once more. Twilight sighed gently and rested her head on her nearest friend with her eyes closed, having not felt this safe in an embrace since Princess Celestia. "Ah know we've been right stupid, and that a lot of ponies have died needlessly because of us... but... can you ever forgive us, sugar cube?"

"Of course, AJ," the disguised alicorn whispered just loud enough for them all to hear. "I'm your friend. Of course I would forgive ALL of you," she added with a wistful glance to the baby dragon. A loud, piercing wail filled the room, literal rivers of tears streaming out of Pinkie's eyes, soaking all present. Everypony else just rolled their eyes and let her get on with it.

"Uh... speakin' of forgiveness," she continued. "Ya said that yer from another world, right?" The purple pony nodded her head, not quite sure where exactly she was going with it. "Well... if yer from another world, then that means that Queen Eos is... is OUR Twilight, right?"

"Uh... yeah," she gulped, suddenly getting a bad feeling about where this was going to head.

"If you knew about it the whole time and yer whole idea is ta KILL the queen... well... ain't that sayin' yer gonna kill YERSELF?" And so the horseshoe dropped. Twilight had been afraid of this question ever since Genesis had laid the three choices before her; two of them, as she remembered correctly, involved killing her.

"Well... IDEALLY, no," she replied to try and save face. "I mean, I have no clue what happens if EITHER of us dies, and I doubt she is more enlightened than me in that regard. Foremost, I want to DEFEAT her, success by either incapacitating her, stripping her of her powers, or containment. Of course, I doubt she would share the same sentiments, so she'll probably be out for blood." She hoped her explanation would satisfy their curiosity, but it seemed to have the opposite effect instead.

"Pardon me, darling," Rarity asked with a bat of her eyelashes and an unreadable expression on her face. "But, could you mind explaining to me how you two are so different? I mean no offence, but Eos seems like a completely different mare than you. Granted, you are not royalty, but the contrast is quite remarkable. You owe us that, at the very least."

Twilight sighed and sat on her haunches again, having been through this dog and pony show before. "Trixie and Spike already know, so they do not need to stay," she began. However, they remained by her side, silently encouraging her. A smile came on her lips, steeled by their comfort. "Well, it all started when..." So, she repeated her story, going over every little detail she could in order to benefit them.

"...I don't know how it happened, but this world's Twilight could not, or would not be stopped in her rampage and killed them both. They... they were only trying to help and she... and I hurt them. Celestia was very forgiving, and even let me reign for a few weeks while she recovered. I had never been so ashamed in my entire life," she sniffed as she wiped her eyes for the tenth time since her tale began.

"Cheer up, Twilight!" Pinkie Pie chirped after being oddly quiet. "If you can fix a grumpy mean pants like me, then you can DEFINITELY show yourself the error of your ways, and our world can begin to heal! You don't have to kill her. You just have to show her that, while she did make a gargantuan mistake, she will always have us if she lets us help her!"

"That's a nice thought, Pinkie," the purple mare smiled. "I really hope so. I'm just... I'm just afraid that she's given up on herself."

~*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*~

The dirt road crunched softly under her hooves as she walked, not paying any attention to where, exactly, she was going. Not that she really cared anyway; to her, the world was nothing more than an inconvenience right now, reminding her bitterly that life moved on without HER, instead of pausing to notice she was gone. She just wanted to stop, crawl into a hole and die, but pony instincts drove her forward. The only thing stopping her from blocking it out completely was a fierce, unyielding anger burning next to the sorrow in her heart.

Vinyl Scratch kicked a loose stone in the road forcibly with her hoof, making it ricochet off of a tree and land with a splash in the brook that ran parallel to the road. She knew where she wanted to go, and what would wait for her at the end of the path, but she was in no mood to hurry along as a fresh set of tears threatened to slip from behind her eyes. Her mind wandered as her body followed the road, unable to stop herself from a gauntlet of pain at the memories.

Ponies all over town joked about them, or accused them of being 'filly-foolers' for years, but they had never let it get to them. How else could such opposite personalities as theirs be close? Those ponies were just ignorant, for they had not seen that they had been that close for most of their lives. The fact of the matter was that they were the best of friends, although they did start out as enemies. It was a long and painful story that she did not want to review, lest she do something drastic.

She sighed as she passed another sign she did not bother to try reading with her damaged eyes. They had always been there for each other, and promised that, no matter what, they always would be. Octavia... she had helped her in more ways then she could possibly have known. Now, she would never get the chance to tell her that, or how much she meant to the DJ, even if she behaved obnoxious or rude to her. Oh great, she thought bitterly. I'm crying again.

I guess the song was right. 'You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone,' she sighed internally as she wiped some tears from her eyes. It was funny what a pony could remember when the pony responsible for it was gone. Summer days they spent as fillies playing on park swings faded to them rebelliously getting their ears (among other things) pierced when they were teenagers. She could see her smile when she defended her, brow furrowed in rage when she embarrassed her, and the shock and horror from that one time she caught her alone with the cello.

A grin spread on her face despite herself and her misery, but quickly dropped when she remembered those days were over, and that she would never hear her voice or see her friendly smile again. Her head drooped a little more. While her friend had died and her home was destroyed, what drove her out of town was the impersonal nature of the burials: mass graves with no words about who they were or how much they meant. Octavia deserved MUCH better.

Only then did she decide to put her blurry eyes back on the road, and was started to find herself in a small crowd funneling into a town. Although the sign they passed was indistinct, the colours and smell were enough to tell her that she was close to her final destination. "Ponyville," she sighed. "I guess I'd better find somewhere to stay. I doubt I'll get there before nightfall."

Looking around, however, she noticed the town had far more ponies than it had previously. In fact, the number of tents in the park just off of the town square nearly covered every inch of it. Curiously, a couple of ponies saw her and took flight for some reason or another. It was actually quite confusing, enough to ALMOST make her forget about her grief. She shook the odd feeling aside and trotted towards the town's inn.

Like the rest of the village, it was positively packed with ponies. There some kind of carnival here that I never knew about? she thought to herself as she approached the counter. However, before she could even get a word out, the pony working behind it spoke. "I'm so sorry," she apologized with a sympathetic expression. "But I'm afraid that we're booked solid for the next few days, ma'am." She wanted to argue with her, but she just did not have the energy. So, without a single word, she left in a quiet huff.

Naturally, with so many ponies, there were also a lot of guards on duty that day... but something was off about it. Ponyville did not have nearly as many as she could see, and some of them bore the crests of Manehatten, Trottingham, and about half a dozen other municipalities. Stranger still, they did not seem to be directing ponies so much as mingling with them. What the buck is going on here!?

"Miss Scratch?" spoke a familiar, cool voice from behind. "It is a surprise to see you here in Ponyville again." It was Ironhead; that much was clear. Walking with him, however, were several other ponies she identified as the governors of the towns the guards had come from. Apparently, Topaz Eye, Trottingham's governor, had survived the bombardment. "You have my condolences."

"Stuff it," she muttered bitterly to his comment. She did not need his pity. The almost non-existent smile that crossed his lips went unnoticed by the sombre unicorn. He nodded his head and started to trot past her, but paused right beside her.

"If you want revenge on the queen," he whispered into her ear. "Go to the library and explain yourself." Before Vinyl had the time to contemplate what he had just said, the clay stallion and his brothers had turned down a road leading towards town hall. Did he just say revenge... against the queen!? Her jaw dropped as the implications washed over her mind... he was speaking of treason... against the bitch that murdered her best friend.

Although she was uncertain at first, she asked for directions to the library and was soon underway. She had no idea what to expect, but if several of the governors were attempting a coup, she wanted in on that action! It was no stretch of the imagination to believe that the queen had been responsible for the meteor shower, since it was a poorly kept secret that she hated the city and everyone in it, if only because it was the Party Poppers' base of operations.

Ponyville Library loomed over her as she approached, although she could not say why it felt like that. Sure, it was the noted home of resident librarian and former target Twilight Sparkle, but beyond that, it had no significance to her. Remembering that made the feelings of forboding disappear completely. Without a second though, she came to the wooden door with the candle painting on it, and opened it gingerly.

Stepping beyond the threshold, she found herself alone in a room stocked to the ceiling with books on shelves. "Yo, anypony here?" she called out into the abandoned library. The sound of hooves moving around upstairs told her that someone was around. Against her better judgement, she found her way to the stairs and climbed up to a door on the second floor. Voices could be heard beyond it, and while she normally would have had more caution, she threw it to the wind and pressed inside to the gasp of various voices.

"V-Vinyl Scratch!?" spoke a bewildered Trixie. "Wh-what are YOU doing here?" She sounded nervous, which struck her as strange until she saw the other masses of colour in the room with her. The orange, white, and purple ones slowly came into more focus while the others hung back. Hazarding a guess, she would say they were Twilight, Applejack and Rarity. An uneasy smile flickered on her face as soft growls of discontent echoed through the room.

"What in tarnation is this foul filly doin' around these parts!?" the orange blob she correctly identified roared. Vinyl tried to reply, but was promptly cut off. "Ah'll tell ya why! She's here ta try and drag us all in, or kill us and claim the rewards!" If there was ever a time for the musician to facehoof, now would be the time.

"Now, now, darling," the white mass known as Rarity spoke. "Give her a chance to speak for herself. THEN, we will deal with her in whatever uncouth manner you can think of." Although she could not really see it, she could FEEL Twilight Sparkle's eye boring into her. "Well, what do you have to say for yourself, Vinyl?"

"She..." the mare started uneasily. "The queen... she... she destroyed my home and... and... and she killed my best friend!" She did her best to hold back her emotions and not let how deeply upset she was through. It was mostly successful, for although she did not cry, it was obvious she was distraught. "Octavia... why did you have to die!? Why couldn't it have been ME instead, you poor innocent mare! I don't care if you don't believe me; I don't care if you kill me. I just want that horse DEAD!"

The former bounty hunted fell onto the floor, her belly on the cool wood of the floor where she lay. She wrenched her eyes shut, expecting a coup de grace from any one of the mares present. "I'm so sorry," she croaked as her voice broke. Soft hoofsteps filled her ears as one of the ponies came closer, a hoof gently placing itself on her cheek, lifting her face up to see them better.

"It's okay," spoke Twilight Sparkle. "I, for one, forgive you. If there was one thing that struck me about you, it was your sense of honour, especially after I saved you from the Bargheists. How do the rest of you feel?" Quiet fell over the room as each of them mulled over their own thoughts on the unicorn prostrated before them.

"I don't have anything against you, Vinyl," the yellow pony spoke to break the silence.

"You did hunt down my friends like animals, but I DID hear you were courteous and reasonable," the white unicorn added.

"Ah SUPPOSE ah can forgive ya, but you'll have to pull yer weight," the farmer relented, although not fully convinced. The slightly smaller purple shape reamined silent, but Vinyl could imagine a look of loathing distrust.

"Trixie is always welcome to have a friend travel with her."

"Yay!" Pinkie cheered. "I'll go get the stuff setup for the 'Cheer up, Vinyl' party!" The party mare bounced past the ponies present and skipped down the stairs, earning a look from all of them. A smile crept upon the musicians face now that it had been proven that there was still some hope left for this world: that it would move on to the reign of a better pony, and have a bright, beautiful future. She wished that she could say the same for herself.

March on Canterlot

As cool as it would have been to recount the epic tale of her escape, she found herself with no pony to tell it to. But what a riveting tale it would have been: full of flying kicks, cursing, and general bad-assery that would make mares and stallions alike weep and get on their knees, begging her to put some of that awesomeness into their life! Yet, even if there were ponies who would pay attention, she just could not tell the tale of her daring escape. It would be too big of a lie.

That demonic creature, whatever it was, LET her go. Not only that, but it had almost literally opened the door and kicked her out onto her flank. But why? If it wanted to, it could have kil- No, she could not die again. Utterly destroy her, or freeze her into a statue for all time? That sounded more like it, but she had still not suffered any sort of punishment for breaking and entering.

Okay, that was another lie.

The gray forest stretched out in front of her at all sides, as far as the eyes could see. Rainbow Dash hovered over the canopy, seeing endless expanses of wood and mountain. She had been dumped into a section of the woods she did not recognize, so she could not get back to her sermon. Like that ever helped anyway, she scolded to herself before taking off in a random direction.

Soaring through the skies had always been enough to get her focused and determined, but this time she merely glided from treetop to treetop, unwilling to spend the energy. Her body was still stiff from the intense cold, but she feared her heart had turned to stone. "I had all that time I could have talked to her," she sighed as she kicked off another high tree. "But I didn't say buck all. Sure, we talked about this, and that, but..." Rainbow shook her head off from the studious unicorn. Even if she herself was not dead, it never would have worked.

Hours seemed to pass as mountains ahead faded into the distance behind, yet she still did not recognize anything. Perhaps this was a way to start anew? Granted, it was not like she had made a lot of progress back where she was. The idea of new souls to save made a smile creep across her face. Even if she could go back home, there was a lot more good she could do in the depths of the hells.

Glancing to the ground after hitting another tree, she saw a curious sight: two stallions sitting together in the middle of the thicket on a high spot above the fog bank. A yellow earth pony stallion with a mane of flaming red was hunched over a brooding green colt with a blue mane. Puzzled by them, she descended from the trees and landed in front of the two, wondering just what in the world was going on.

"Yo, bud?" she asked the lighter pony. He looked up into her eyes, pits as black and warm as burning coals meeting her rosy gems. She was shocked by his immediate reaction since everypony else was busy moaning and complaining to themselves over anything and everything. "Uh... you okay?"

"I am, but he is not," he spoke in a smooth and classy Trottingham accent while gesturing to the colt. His front leg was wrapped around the former Pegasus's shoulders in a light embrace. The scars on his sides gave away that much, anyway. "I have tried everything conceivable to get him out of his shell, but nothing seems to work. He keeps mentioning a mare he loved, but could never confess his feelings to, until it was too late." A look of sadness came across his face as he regarded his companion. "Can you help?"

"Sure, I guess," the rainbow warrior shrugged as she came closer. "It can't hurt to try, anyway. Did he say her name?"

"Lily, I think," he answered.

Rainbow sat directly in front of the sobbing colt, the other removing his hoof so that she could speak to him directly. She scrutinized him for a little bit before reaching out and lifting his chin. "Look at me," she spoke firmly. "I know how you feel, colt. I love... loved a mare myself and never got the chance to tell her either. It hurts... it really does, and I doubt it will get any better. But guess what? Moping and wandering this place forever won't do BUCK. It's not going to get Lily back, I'll tell you that much!"

His light blue eyes seemed to widen when she finished, as if seeing the mare for the first time since she started talking. They darted over her, a look of surprise coming over his features. Seeing her chance, Rainbow went in for the proverbial kill. "Love hurts. Especially if it's not returned or you never got the chance to confess it. I know how you feel, but... I keep moving, even through the pain. Yeah, it's cliché, but it really works."

"Easy for you to say," the stallion mumbled sadly, looking to the forest floor. "Still... I... I guess being sorry and moping isn't going to change anything..." He sighed to himself and looked up, his eyes beginning to water a little bit. "I've been a foal, haven't I?" Suddenly, Rainbow found herself in his embrace and returned it, a smile as wide as Pinkie Pie's on her face.

"You have, but hey, so was I until I realized I was beating myself over something in the past."

"How can I ever repay you, miss?"

"Easy, go out there and spread the word! Tell ponies that just because they're here, it doesn't mean that they have to mope forever. Tell them to buck up! Make them listen to you! Never give up on them. And when they do snap out of it, ask them to do the same: to spread the word!" The soft clopping of hooves echoed through the small grove, making the mare pull away and look at the other pony present, a smile plastered on his face.

"A valuable piece of advice indeed. Congratulations, Rainbow Dash," he smiled.

"Thanks, but you did most of the work. Wait... How did you know my name?" she asked slowly. "Have we ever met before?"

A smirk came across his face before a sudden flash filled the clearing. The Pegasus beside him was startled and jumped back, a pair of green wings extended in surprise. He stammered in confusion before the other pony silenced him. "Your penance has been paid, Rainbow." The stallion turned to the other. "Go spread her word and yours shall be paid as well. Even if you never gathered the nerve, Lily does miss you."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, stop the train for a moment!" Dash shouted. "Who the buck are you and how do you know my name? And what do you mean by 'penance!?"

The stallion's smile only became wider. "All answers will come to you in time. Go home, Rainbow Dash."

Before she could protest, the world and everything else around her was gone in a flash of bright, white light. She floated endlessly in a nonexistent sea, unable to tell up from down, existing in only the barest meaning of the word. What had happened? Was everything she had ever known a dream? What about all of her friends? Were they all made up as well? No answers came to her. The place was soundless, but it felt like she was being called... somewhere.

Rainbow Dash...

Something pressed into her cheek, but when she went to feel it with her hoof, she noticed she had no hoof: she had no body at all! Panic began to rise in her heart as she feared this was something worse than the Sorrel Hells, if such a thing existed. However, another firmer nudge to her cheek seemed to rock her.

Her eyes opened, but the field of white remained... but it was not a flat white like how she remembered. A breeze blew across her fur, the grass tickling the bottom of her hooves. "Ah, you're awake, Rainbow Dash," a familiar voice softly spoke. Craning her neck up, the face of a beautiful, white alicorn smiled down at her, making the Pegasus jump and stutter in surprise.

"P-Princess Celestia!?" she exclaimed in confusion.

A smile spread across her face as the sunrise and her laughter echoed in her ears. "It's Celestia now, dear. JUST Celestia," she spoke once her mirth had faded. Rainbow stood on her hooves to examine her surroundings. Rolling plains of emerald grass shimmered in the bright, warm sun. Pegasus ponies played on the clouds, or with their earthbound friends. Even a few alicorns (although not as large as the princess) could be seen frolicking among them. "Welcome to the Eternal Herd, or the Great Plains. Whatever name you prefer."

"But... how?"

"The Sorrel Hells are a place of punishment, but in very few cases is that punishment eternal. The number of years there or the number of kind acts done is your penance for your sins, and it is paid in full." Rainbow gawked at her as if she had sprouted a second horn, eliciting another happy chuckle from the former monarch. "Come now, there are ponies wanting to see you." Trapped in her revery, the blue Pegasus followed, a smile spreading on her face as she walked in stride.

I'm sorry I can't be there, Twilight. But, I hope you know I'll always be with you in spirit...

~*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*~

In most kinds of darkness, you cannot see much more than the darkness itself. Deep in the basements of Canterlot Castle, however, the darkness was different. Not only did it inhibit one's vision, but it could almost be felt: as if all the hope and happiness were being leeched away.

But none of that really mattered to the purplish grey unicorn. She lay upon the cold, damp floor of her dungeon cell with her eyes half lidded in the darkness. The unyielding stones were rough against her skin, making any position she took uncomfortable. Sleep only came when she was too exhausted to remain conscious anymore, and even then she would wake with her joints stiff and muscles sore.

Chains binding her legs to the floor rattled loudly as she shifted to sit on her haunches. The clattering echoed painfully in her ears and made her head swim as if somepony had grabbed her and given her a liberal shake. Dinky winced at the noise, but would not give the guards the satisfaction of hearing her groan. If she could give one thing to the architects of the castle, it was that they knew how to make imprisoned ponies suffer.

Gentle drops of groundwater dripping down into the cool cell added to the mix, dampening the air and augmenting the chill she felt. If she could see past the darkness, she would not be surprised if she could see her own breath. But she could not, so she had to rely on her other senses. For example, she smelled only damp unicorn and she itched something fierce, but could not scratch lest she deafen herself more.

I wish the girls were with me, she mentally sighed. I could even do with Sweetie Belle for company. At least we know for sure that she isn't a traitor, even if it is a little late to apologize now. She idly scratched her leg as her thoughts drifted to her fellow unicorn and their Pegasus friend. A lot had happened so fast that the events of the day were a blur to her, all except for two moments that she was sure would never forget, even if she lived to be a million.

"Oh, Applebloom," she mourned softly. Of all the things she knew Eos was capable of, she had no idea that sadistically killing a pony like that was among them. Most of the time, she took a back seat and let her underlings do the actual horrible deeds, and had not seen the battlefield since before the ill-fated Cloudsdale Assault. Since then, she appeared to have mellowed out, since she was no longer fit for war council, according to Jade.

It was a great relief to hear her voice when they were dragged into this horrible place. The queen might be a tyrant, now possibly insane to boot, but she still had not set an execution date for them. As much as it was a relief, Dinky could almost feel the Sword of Damocles hovering just an inch over her head. Twilight would not let them die, would she? She would hear about what the queen had done and mount a rescue, right?

Not likely, her own inner voice told herself. After all they had said and done to her, it was not likely that Twilight would be the white horse and gallop to their rescue. If she were still alive, that is. Dinky sighed a little to herself and gently ran her hoof against the stone walls of her cell out of sheer boredom. She had lost track of time, but she guessed they had been locked up for over a week by then. If she did not know that Applebloom would buck her for it, the unicorn would have been happy to curl into a ball and mourn her friend the whole time.

Meanwhile, Scootaloo sighed in her own cell further down the hall, not more than a couple away from where the guards would sit between their inspections. Her wings were cramping under the tight iron clamp keeping them in place, yearning to be flapped, or at least spread to relieve the tension. Her legs were hugged with iron braces, chaining all of her legs together to impede her movement, not that she could get far. Around her neck was a thick iron necklace, chained to the wall, digging uncomfortably into her neck.

The two unicorns with her were in similar chains, but had metal rings on their horns to stop them from casting magic. It had not stuck her immediately, but Jade had lost a lot of weight. The green mare's ribs were almost visible and her eyes appeared sunken, no doubt starved as part of her interrogation. Her coat was peppered with bloodstains and bandages, sporting a black eye and a nasty cut to her left flank as well.

Sweetie, she noticed, was crying quietly to herself in the corner of their shared cell, no doubt over the death of their old friend and co-founder of their fillyhood secret society. Scootaloo closed her eyes and looked away from the distraught white unicorn for fear of her seeing the tears building in her own eyes as memories of younger, happier days bubbled into her brain.

Always the loyal and optimistic one, Jade noticed her superiors' conditions and immediately decided to break the unbearable silence between them. "So..." she started with her voice raspy and horse from her pained cries.

What was there to say that could cheer them up? They all knew that rescue was about as likely as Celestia coming back to life and saying everything had been a cruel prank. Was there really nothing left to hope or fight for? There had to be something, anything to say: if not to make them feel better, then to distract them from the doom ahead of them. Then Jade realized when there was nothing left to say, one should sing to spite the darkness.

"When darkness came, and tore the land," she began, loud and proud with a hint of hope in her tune, "our brave leaders stood to fight and hoisted fast our noble flag o'er Equestria's fair domain. Here shall it wave, our hope, our light; we're joined in love together. The hoof, the wing and horn combined, the Crusaders forever!" It was slow and steady, but as she sang on, the volume increased, and so too did the number of voices to the choir.

"...Equestria, our land of green. Equestria forever! Stars save the queen; her end is nigh. Equestria forever!" The song ended on a high note as the girls sang along with her. A bit of light and hope was put into their hearts by the knowledge that, even if they died, there would be others out there ready to take up the cause, ready to fight hoof and nail to free their once prosperous nation from the tyrant's clutches.

"She wouldn't want us to linger on her death," Sweetie spoke not long after the song she wrote ended. "Applebloom would want us to stay strong and buck back even harder! I'm sure once Twilight hears what happened, upset at us or not, she'll come here and give that nasty old mare what she deserves!"

"Yeah!" Scootaloo chimed in. "We've been worse off before, but we always bounced back because, while the queen might have infinite power, we have what she can never have: friends! Friends really make the difference, and I know our friends out there would want us to remain strong and fight! So, let's not disappoint them! Let's show them and all of Equestria that even if we die, our ideas never will, for ideas are immortal!"

"We are the voice of reason," Jade added. "We are the light of hope and the sword of justice! While we have had arguments, we will always be friends. The worst the queen can do is kill us, and when we die, we shall graze with the Eternal Herd. With Applebloom! Luna! Celestia! Zecora! Derpy! And all the innocent lives cost by that demon in a mare's body!"

"And Rainbow Dash!" the orange filly added in with a little squeal. "She was the only mare known to hurt her! Did you see that limp when we were dragged down here? She's going to need a wheelchair at LEAST, when Twilight meets her!" The three mares continued chattering at length, as loud as they could. They needed to be heard, wanted to be heard by her and everypony in the castle. They weren't afraid of her.

Even though she was in a different room, Dinky found herself singing along with them, despite the painful echo of her isolation cell. They had written the song together to boost morale of their troops over the years, but it was amazing that it had such an effect on them when used to raise their own spirits. A smile cracked upon her face as she imagined the queen lying beaten upon the rocks of the mountain with Twilight over her, ready to end her reign once and for all.

~*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*~

A gentle breath of wind played across the white pony's coat, tickling her as it gently caressed her form. A sea of green and dozens of other colours sat before her like a watercolour painting, albeit, one that had been smudged by a careless foal. Vinyl Scratch sighed quietly to herself as the raging inferno known as the sun edged ever closer to the horizon.

It was still hard for her to believe that the world was still turning past the loss of her friend, even if she knew deep down that she was only a single pony: a single grain of sand on a vast beach. Over time, it had become easier for her to indulge herself in a pity party, where other mares began to move on. Not that they would ever move on completely, but she felt... incomplete. That was the only word she could think of.

For the first time in a long while, she had decided to let her next steps be planned out by others rather than herself. Although she had her own goal in mind, she did not feel up to looking over details, or getting too in-depth on how to go about it. She figured she would go by the seat of her pants (not that she owned any) and do what she felt needed to be done when it needed to happen.

Looking out over the fields and forest, however, she felt more at peace than she had in a very long time. The gentle song of the wind, carrying with it an orchestra of birds and other woodland creatures, felt like a tune she had never heard in her entire life. It was almost like the world itself had its own rhythm and tempo and that every creature on it was just another instrument.

Her reprieve was broken only by the soft sound of hooves upon the dirt road leading up to her spot. At first, she wondered who it could possibly be who wanted to see her, until she remembered that she was actually waiting for somepony to show up. "Hey, Vinyl," the mare chirped. "Oooh. Nice spot for us to meet! Twilight would come here all the time to read and think 'bout stuff. Speaking of, why did you want to talk to me way out here?"

"Have a seat, Pinkamena," the former disk jockey spoke, patting the spot beside her idly with her hoof.

"Okey dokey lokey!" she replied with that ever present cheer.

The pink party mare plopped her flank right beside the other mare, who continued to look out over the grassy knolls and scattered ponds that surrounded Ponyville. She waited patiently for the other pony to start talking, since she sounded pretty serious when she asked her. However, as the moments passed into minutes, she found herself unable to take the silence anymore. "Vinyl, is something wrong?"

"Pinkie Pie," the musician started in a somber tone. "You hurt me once. You hurt me really badly, and I don't think I can EVER forgive you for it. I don't care if you were in your right mind or not. I just can't."

"What do you mean?" she asked uneasily.

"What do you mean by 'what do you mean' Pink!?" Vinyl cried, looking at her blurry pink face from behind her shades. "You blew up ou- my old apartment and left me blind! You RUINED my career and you have the STONES to ask what I mean!? You're a real piece of work sometimes, Pinkie!" She got to her hooves and made to leave, only to be stopped by a trademarked Pinkie Bear Hug.

"Oh, Scratchy~!" she bemoaned, tears building up in her cerulean eyes. "I... I didn't know. I didn't know it was your apartment! Even if I did, I wasn't in control! I'm sure you've heard by now... about that mean demon thing? I know it's not an excuse, because I LET it take control. I... I understand if you don't... don't want to be my friend anymore." Soft sniffs escaped the mare's muzzle as she finished.

"Let me go!" she struggled in her grasp. "I don't like you! I don't want to know you anymore, so just let go!"

"Why are you being such a grouchy grumpy Gus? I mean, usually you'd laugh something like this off and say something about how you don't need to 'see' music, but feel it in your soul or something and that being blinded is just a setback. Unless... Oh no! Something bad happened to Octavia! Did... did she get caught in the explosion? Oh Celestia! You... you deserve to hate me if she was..."

"What?" she paused, looking back to the pink pony. "N-no... she wasn't hurt at all in the explosion. It just... scared her a lot."

"It's okay," Pinkie replied, releasing her friend. "I just want you to know that I am here for you, Vinyl. Even if you want some space, you can always come and chat to me. I can't stand to see a friend suffer, and you will always be a friend of mine. There's nothing you can do about it."

The white mare grunted in reply and started her way down the hill since the last thing she wanted was for another pony to pity her. After walking onto the road, the soft clop of hooves on dirt behind her tapped in her ears, ticking her off. Did she not understand that she wanted to be left alone? She did not put it past Pinkie to be so oblivious to the notion, but she was annoyed enough to round on her and shout obscenities at the pony.

However, standing behind her was a brown earth pony mare with a white mane and the mark of a letter upon her flank. Her black eyes held an expression of bewilderment at the seething unicorn in front of her, gazing into her sunglasses in a lost sort of way. "What do YOU want?" Vinyl asked bitterly with a scowl on her face.

"Uh... T-Twilight Sparkle?" she asked nervously. Vinyl shook her head slowly, wondering what pony in Equestria had not known about her. That is, until she saw the flag wedged between her body and one of her saddlebags. It was a gilded marking of a griffin in an intricate circle and fine gold leaf on the edges against a black background. She was obviously a diplomatic messenger from the Griffin Kingdom, hence her nervousness.

"Not her, but I know her," she replied bitterly. "Follow me, if you want. Or don't. Either way, I don't give a buck." She turned around and started down the road into town, messenger pony trotting right behind her with a chipper, yet nervous, expression on her face. Vinyl had to give her credit: to be an expendable tool in a foreign and hostile land, the mare had to have a lot of stones to show up, especially while carting a Griffin diplomatic flag. Scuffs and blemishes on her coat told her that it had not gone unnoticed.

"I have to admit, Equestria is a very lovely country," she spoke to try and brighten the mood. "I used to live near the border, but never did I imagine that it was so lush and green. Granted, home has some very breathtaking scenery as well! You should see the great cliffs of Clover once the war is over!"

"Uh-huh," Vinyl replied to the chatty mare. Having been tempered by the fires known as Pinkie Pie Patter, she tuned out the mare with machine-like efficiency and speed. Yes, it was a little rude to do, but she was only here to see Twilight and, quite frankly, she did not care about being polite to some stupid messenger from a race of taloned, oversized featherbrains.

Mercifully, the Library soon appeared through the winding cobblestone streets of the small town. "Wow!" the messenger gasped. "I had no idea a tree could be a building!" Vinyl rolled her eyes as she spoke, forgetting that she could not see her subtle hint behind her heavily tinted sunglasses. Ponies in the street had stopped what they were doing to watch the procession. Many of them were glares of hatred or fear, and some others (mostly the foals) of curiosity and excitement. Of course, it all flew over the messenger's head.

The former DJ opened the door to the library and held it for the mystified mare as she casually trotted inside, the flag flying no higher than her head, so she did not have to remove it. "Wait here and I'll go get her," she spoke as she followed her in and shut the door. The other mare nodded and started nosing around the books on the shelf, that smile refusing to fade even a little bit, though she was certain she had seen the faces of the other ponies. It was a rare occurrence to find such an unflappable mare, to say the least.

Climbing the stairs, she could only hear the thunks of her own hooves against the wood, since the former Crusader generals had put up a soundproofing spell so they could discuss the battle plans in peace and security. However, she had never cared for such things in the first place, so she had no trouble knocking on the door. "Yo, Twilight?" she called into the room. "There's some envoy or messenger or something from the Griffin kingdom to see you. She's a mare and she refuses to give the message to anypony but you."

There was a long stretch of silence after she spoke, submerging the hall into an uneasy silence that made the DJ's hairs stand on-end. Eventually, the door clicked and opened a crack. "Are you sure it's a mare and not some sort of disguise?" peeped a teal eye and yellow face from the hairline gap.

"I didn't FEEL any sort of illusion spell, no," she replied genuinely. A moment later, the door opened and Twilight Sparkle emerged from the room with Fluttershy right behind her. She nodded to the white unicorn, who took that as her cue to lead her back downstairs. "Here she is," Vinyl spoke as they climbed down the library stairs. The strange mare did a double take before nervously smiling and walking over to the purple mare, a hoof extended.

"So, you're from the Griffins?" Twilight asked, refusing the gesture offered by the messenger. Although her face fell a little bit, her smile remained the same on her face and nodded.

"Yes. Yes, I am," she replied verbally. "Specifically, I am the official runner for General Gilda, who has asked me to hoof-deliver this message for you, Miss Sparkle."

"Gilda?" Fluttershy squeaked. "As in, Rainbow's old friend who was very mean to everypony, and roared in my face because I accidentally walked into her once, and made me cry?" Everypony blinked since it sounded like she was on the verge of crying just from speaking about the memory.

"No offence," Twilight spoke to the runner. "But I don't really care what she has to say about anything. Not just because she is a griffin, but for the shoddy way she has treated us personally."

"My orders are to deliver it and make sure you read it; nothing more, nothing less. No reply is expected, or wanted."

The lavender pony sighed and dug into the other mare's bags with her magic, extracting the letter from the fake leather folds of the carrier. "Fine, I guess I'll read it aloud," she spoke enthusiastically.

"Dear Dweebs- Yeah, that's Gilda, alright-

"I don't care if you read this letter or not, but I figured I might as well let you in on something. It's NOT because I feel sorry for anything I have ever done to you; in fact I would do it all over again and more if given the chance. I am only doing this for Rainbow Dash's sake, and for the friendship we used to have before you turned her into a lame-o like yourselves!

"Anyway, we Griffins are planning to betray those stupid and arrogant dragons after we breech Manehatten and attack the city of Fillydelphia. Since Equestria's army will be engaged with ours and theirs, it would be a prime opportunity to march on Canterlot and kill that loser Queen Eos when most of her army is away. The attack will happen on the 5th, right before the sun sets, so you'd better be ready if you're going to!

"I dunno what will happen after that. Likely, it will just be the two of us fighting each other for Equestria while the dragons are pushed a little closer to extinction. Frankly, I don't care either. However, I do have one small request: when you face the queen, make sure to knock out a few teeth for me. While you did turn her into a dweeb, Dash was still one of my best friends!

Commanding Officer of 501st Griffin Legion, Gilda."

The attack was going to be at sunset on the fifth? That was TOMORROW for Celestia's sake! They had not even finished deciding on their plan of attack yet, either! Twilight took the letter and, with Fluttershy in tow, went back upstairs, leaving the other two mares to their own devices. Vinyl looked at the messenger mare, who looked back with the same look of incomprehension. Confusing times were ahead for all of them.

~*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*~

Hundreds of ponies meandered through the narrow streets of the town, or clogged the skies with more air traffic than was usual. It had not dawned on any of them how massive a gathering they had on their hooves until they had woken earlier that day. Yet, as time progressed, even more continued to overrun the small village, to the point where the population had exploded to thrice its normal size!

Twilight Sparkle and her friends slowly worked their way over to town hall from the Library, navigating through the sea of ponies as well as they could. The ill-fitting shoes from hell clicked upon the cobblestones uncomfortably as the sickening off-blue gems sparkled in the sun's light. With so many on her side, she could be seen out in public again, for any pony foolish enough to start anything would instantly be mobbed by the throngs of supporters. Although she appreciated their love and support, she could not deny the idea was quite scary.

She had never wanted the reins of power, yet now, according to quick counts, she had a literal private army of around one and a half THOUSAND ponies at her disposal. Granted, they were all untrained and had never handled weapons before, but she knew they outnumbered the guards of Canterlot by a fair margin. Of course, each guard was very well trained and very dedicated, at least as far as she remembered.

Ponies would do their best to move out of the way of the procession of the unicorn and her friends, but they were usually hindered by the narrow streets and the rest of the crowd. Having lived in the fairly large city of Canterlot, Twilight was used to crowds: however, the town's infrastructure was not. Despite that, it was a very strange feeling to have her every move watched closely. I guess I have a little bit of an understanding of what Celestia goes through, she thought.

Worry pressed itself against her mind as they walked through the streets together. Today would be the day: they would either usurp Queen Eos, or they would all die in the process. Although her sun shone brightly above, a cool breeze stole some of its heat, turning a hot day into something far more pleasant. The Pegasus ponies would have little trouble flying, as the breeze blew right towards the imposing castle in the distance. In a way, the feeling of the wind against her hide braced her for the mental and physical trials to come.

"Ah know you're worried," Applejack confessed as they passed the splintered remains of Sugarcube Corner. "We're all a little worried, sugar cube. But that's okay, it just means we'll be careful when the time comes. Besides, we all believe in you. Now, you just gotta believe in yourself."

"Easy enough for you to say, AJ," she retorted. "You've had experience marching ponies to their deaths, no offence. I've only killed one, by accident, and a demon. How am I supposed to convince them all to put their lives on the line? I'm not sure I can do this. I'm no leader: I'm barely a librarian!

"Twilight, it's great that you are modest, but sometimes it can be SO overbearing," Rarity chimed in. "These ponies are here because they don't NEED convincing. They see the problem and they WANT to put their lives at risk to defend their homes, families and livelihood. All you need to do with your speech is simply exterminate any doubt they have. If you are confident, they will gladly march to the Sorrel Hells and back with you."

An unconscious shiver ran down her spine as the mere mention of the name brought back rather recent and unpleasant memories to the forefront of her mind. She shook them off with a mental toss of her head and reminded herself of the task at hoof. As they walked, they passed by several stalls where ponies busied themselves manufacturing weapons and armour and a number of different tools they would need.

The clang of hammers and murmur of work filled the air as her friends went off to get their own supplies for the conflict ahead. Twilight, meanwhile, wandered around the area to take an interest in their labours. She was not the kind of pony to need armour, especially since her target could cut through it effortlessly. Nor did she need any weaponry since her magic was an arsenal in and of itself, and if need be, she could manifest a sword made of pure magic.

Of course, that did not stop some of the blacksmiths from trying. "General Sparkle!" one of them cried out, yanking her from the street and under his yellow tent. She went along with him willingly, not wishing to see a well-meaning pony torn apart by a mob. The stallion had a coat like charcoal and a mane white with small gold streaks running through its length. If the dirty apron or burning hearth behind him was not an indication of his special talent, the hammer and anvil on his flank cemented it. "I haven't seen you since your appearance at the Everfree Camp!" He smiled, throwing her off a bit.

"Uh... Okay," she trailed off, unsure what he wanted from her.

"Well, when I saw you, I knew this day was coming, so I went ahead and crafted for you the finest set of armour I ever have!" He grabbed her and, using his unquestionable Earth pony strength, pushed her past the hearth and over to a smaller yellow tent just to the side.

"Oh, no, it's okay. I don't need any, but thank you kindly for the offer," she spoke as her hooves dug into the dirt. However, the stallion either did not hear her protests over the ambient noise of his fellow blacksmiths, or he did not care and was just too eager for her to see it before he would take her rejection to heart.

Inside the tent, there was a large, plain mirror sitting opposite of the tent flap reflecting her not-so-impressed look, the stallion's face twisting from a happy smile to one of realization. However, his enthusiasm would not be dampened. "Please," he spoke gently after finally letting go. "I worked on it for weeks. Could you please try it on first, before you say 'no'? It would mean a lot to me."

Twilight sighed. "Fine," she replied reluctantly, a look of glee coming across his face as he left her alone to fetch it. On the bright side, it wasn't like I had anything better to do, she mused as she sat in the comforting silence. I'll let him try and say it does not fit, or something. It's not like he could have taken measurements.

A few moments after leaving, the stallion returned with a heavy wooden box on his back. The purple mare faked a smile as best she could, secretly wondering how Celestia could pull off such a face for hours on end without a single crack breaking across her mask of composure. She closed her eyes, giving off the impression that she wanted to be surprised, and stood in front of the mirror to let him work.

The feeling of cold metal caressed her skin, laying on her like a metallic blanket. First, a large, heavy piece closed around her front, making her lean onto her front hooves before another piece clasped from her thigh to her back. She winced as the straps pulled themselves together, catching stray hairs and the colt gingerly feeding the hairs of her tail through the hole on her dock. Only when her legs and head were covered did the stallion take a step back. "Okay, that should do it."

A second after opening her eyes, the loose and bulky hunks of metal suddenly closed around her body and molded themselves to her form, causing a small gasp to escape her as the cool touch went from muzzle to fetlock. "It's cold," she explained to bring down his look of pure euphoria. How did he do it? It had to be a spell of some sort, but he was an Earth pony, not a unicorn.

During her musing, she got a good look at herself in the mirror. Looking back was a stunned unicorn in shimmering steel tinted into an off-lavender colour that tried to imitate her coat, but was a few shades lighter. Fine, intricate designs of emerald spiraled around the breastplate, helmet, back plate and greaves like a majestic, delicate flower. There was not a single solid angle to be found, giving it a distinctly feminine feel. Her eyes drifted to her flank to take in the back plate, her mark embezzled in sparkling amethyst and polished diamonds for the smaller stars.

Her ears stood out from their holes in the helmet, twitching in surprise as her mane was allowed to flow unobstructed from her head. Aside from her face, the helmet only had another hole to accommodate her horn, fitted precisely against the base of her appendage. "How... when..." she stammered, flabbergasted by the quality. "Is that Adamantite!?" she pointed to the green decorations with her hoof.

"Just on the helmet," the stallion explained with a wide grin on his face. "Very expensive stuff, that. I was lucky to get any, but I have connections."

"How did you get a form-fitting spell on this if you're an earth pony?"

"Oh, I have a friend that makes armour for the Royal Guard. Well, used to, anyway. That set is enchanted to fit your form and protect primarily from magical attacks, although the actual metal will do well against most blades and blunt objects," he explained.

Twilight gawked at him for a minute before returning her gaze to the mirror. She was not a fan of wearing something meant for war, but the sheer amount of work and craftsmanship that went into it was stunning. It would be a grave insult to turn him down, after he had obviously spent many hours just on the forming and assembly. Indeed, since it was enchanted to fit her shape, it would be quite useful if she had to ditch her disguise. Besides, who was to say a guard would not try to interrupt the battle while she was focused on a complicated spell?

"So, uh... how much do I owe you?" the unicorn gulped, preparing herself for the sticker shock.

"Absolutely free, general!" he chirped. "On the condition that you give that no-good horse a proper bucking, of course. I mean, the saviour of Equestria needs a set of armour to match her station. Something fillies and colts hundreds of years from now will look at and say 'Wow! I can't believe Twilight Sparkle wore that!' You know?"

She smiled and walked towards him, noting how the armour did not impede her movements in the least bit, almost like a second, cooler skin. "Thank you, kind sir," she spoke and wrapped her front legs around him in a hug. It was the least she could do, considering. With that, she left him to his work, since there were still some final preparations to be done.

Walking out from his booth, she could see the other blacksmiths cursing themselves for not coming up with the idea, or having the stones to pre-fabricate her some armour or a weapon themselves. But it was just as well, since she always had her sword spell for close-range combat. It was a surprise, to say the least, when she found that the armour actually felt light: probably enchanted with a featherweight spell, no doubt.

"Hey, Twilight!" cried out a familiar voice from above, breaking her out of her revery. Hovering above the organized chaos of the market below was a yellow mare with a flaming mane and tail. She did a quick loop in the air before landing expertly in front of the lavender unicorn. "Lookin' good, Twilight! If Dash were here, she'd say you look totally awesome, and she wouldn't be far off the mark either."

"Thanks, Spitfire," she replied, blushing a little bit at the praise from the famous ex-Wonderbolt.

"It wasn't so much a compliment as it was stating the truth, Twilight. Just like when I say: looking into your eyes, I feel confident that you can lead this rag-tag bunch and have a real chance of winning too!"

"That might be a little bit much," she sighed as she removed her head from the helmet. The unicorn did not feel any more able or ready to lead a bunch of ponies than she did when this whole fiasco started. What was supposed to be a quick errand had, as usual, blown up into some stupid save-the-world quest. A few of the less-than-kind deities were probably laughing at her from above.

"Twilight! There you are," Trixie panted as she raced up behind her sister, gaining her attention. "Every pony is waiting in the town square and it is almost noon. If we don't leave soon, it will be dark by the time we get to Canterlot and out window of opportunity will have shut." Looking over the purple mare's shoulder, she added, "Oh, hi, Spitfire."

The stunt flier Pegasus smiled and waved to the blue unicorn before taking to the air again, probably to get fitted into her own gear. "Do I really have to do this?" Twilight asked once she was gone, her lavender helmet floating beside her in her magic. "I'm not really sure what to talk about. You and AJ kind of sprung the idea on me last night and I never had time to prepare."

"Trust me, sister," the magician spoke, putting a leg around her neck as she lead her to the town square where the majority of the ponies waited on her for the order. "In times like this, it is better NOT to have something rehearsed. The Great and Powerful Trixie always improvises and she is the most talented and beautiful unicorn is all of Equestria! I mean, sure, you've got SOME marginal talent, but only Trixie has the raw power needed to... what were we talking about again?"

Twilight giggled a little bit at her antics, pushing her off playfully with a bit of a smile on her face. "Never change, Trixie," she smirked as they walked into the main plaza. Even for a town the size of Ponyville, she had never seen the plaza so packed! It was as if the Wonderbolts or a popular band were performing, except the entire crowd was in battle attire. Heads turned as she made her way to the town hall, ponies creating an aisle for her, some even bowing!

It was intimidating, to say the least, but her friends waited for her at the podium on the veranda, smiling confidently at her from afar. She had come too far to give up now, or to be scared of some silly little speech... That she had no practice on... and no idea about what she would say. Suddenly, the weight upon her shoulders had returned, but in a metaphorical sense rather than her sister's leg.

Behind them, the golem governors stood side-by-side, all identical except for their choice in tie colour and suit cut. The one she identified as Ironhead nodded to her as she climbed up the short flight of steps and took her place at the podium. The once loud and unsettled crowd of ponies suddenly fell silent at her appearance and the clink of her helmet on the wooden floor beside her.

Twilight gulped audibly as the audience focused their attention solely on her. She had never been nervous when speaking in public before, but without a practiced statement, she was beginning to see why some ponies like Fluttershy, who even now was hiding behind everypony else, could not stand it. Her ears throbbed as blood pounded into her brain, almost able to hear her own heartbeat as the pressure mounted.

Deep breaths, Twilight, the voice she knew as Eos spoke to her. Speak from the heart, and I am sure that you will do fine. Speak from the heart? What good would that do? If she were to speak from the heart, she'd be going over every single little horror she had been through since stepping into the pool, or how she felt betrayed by her friends only to get them back. Wait... her friends!

"My dear friends," she spoke, gaining everypony's attention. "I know that... that I have not been with you through this... whole journey. I know... that I have not suffered the same losses you have, or for as long. Yet, many of you see me as... the herald of a new age, or as an infallible rock. The truth is that I am flawed: maybe more so than most of you. I have made mistakes in the past, many due to my own weaknesses, and there have been terrible consequences as a result. I do not feel that I deserve the trust and loyalty of all of you here today.

"But here we all stand, united against a foe far greater than ourselves and ready to put our lives on the line for a cause we KNOW to be right. We stand for REVOLUTION! We stand for the fall of tyrants! Together, we will oust the foul alicorn from her castle and end her reign! Certainly, blood will be shed in the battle to come. Much blood has already been shed, and we cannot stem the tide now. Not until ONE pony's blood stains the ground. Once Eos falls, we may once more claim our destinies! We may once more rule our OWN country!

"So let her marshal her forces against us! Let the cowards on the sidelines say we are weak compared to the Royal Guard! We hold the secret to a FAR greater power than she has. We have numbers, and a common goal. And we have JUSTICE on our side. All who fight with us shall go down in history as heroes. And all of you ARE heroes, for without you I cannot stop Eos. It takes a NATION to destroy a dictator! Let us teach the bloody tyrant the fear of her people!!"

Thunderous applause ripping the stale, silent air asunder as her words echoed in their hearts and minds, driven by her passionate and sage advice. Twilight did not think too much of the speech, but considering that it was her first attempt at ad libbing, a satisfied smirk came over her face. She stepped down from the podium to find herself quickly in the midst of a group hug.

"Good job, Twi!" Applejack complimented. "Ya bucked that tree like it was nopony's business."

"I'm sure that there were a couple of ponies who couldn't hear you though..." Rarity said, "In Sweet Apple Acres."

Pinkie giggled at the joke and playfully shoved the well-kept unicorn, her smile as wide as ever. "Oh Rarity: you and your silly metaphors! I think you did a super-awesome splenderific job! If that doesn't get them going, then nothing will, although I'm sure the actual battle will be super-scary, but you're a smart pony and I know we'll be fine because it is YOUR plan and your plans usually work, especially when they need to!"

"Thanks Pinkie," the lavender unicorn spoke to get her tirade to stop. Between her and the crowd, she had heard only little bits of Fluttershy, who was hiding behind Trixie's leg.

"Don't ask me, I didn't hear it either," the blue unicorn added in. "Good job on the speech, sister. And you said you were worried. Now, if TRIXIE had gone onto the stage, they'd be marching on Canterlot already with no regard for something petty like orders. Still, since you are NOT Trixie, she supposes you did an acceptable job."

She looked to her friends, each nodding in approval with their armour lined against the wall of the town hall. In their eyes, she could see confidence, both in themselves and in her as a leader. Giving them her own approving nod, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I think we're ready to move out now. Ironhead? Can you spread the word? We leave for Canterlot in..." Looking to the clock tower to the south, she was it was just about quarter after noon. "... fifteen minutes."

"Can and will, Miss Sparkle," the golem spoke before flagging down a runner from the crowd. "Spread the news to the criers that we move out at twelve thirty." The plucky, young Pegasus saluted and swooped over the crowd, diving only to exchange quick words with another pony before moving on. Twilight looked back to her friends, who already began to get themselves ready for the battle ahead. It was going to be all, or nothing.

~*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*~

All was calm in the streets of Canterlot that afternoon. The occasional screams of playing foals or boisterous laughter of a well-placed joke were the only sounds to break the din of murmurs and hooves upon the smooth stone streets. Clubs and bars were just beginning to open their doors as the sun dropped ever closer to the horizon, almost ready to leave for the night.

A rhythmic thud and clamour began to fill the streets just a few minutes after five in the evening, causing most ponies to pause and look for the source. It was almost like the pants of a train pulling out of the station, but no train in the world could make the ground vibrate in time with it. City guards ran left and right, towards the city gates with a look of panic in their eyes.

The clank of chains and scraping of metal on stone echoed through the front plaza of town, the ponies there seeing the guards struggle to shut the portcullis and heavy wooden doors on either side. Half a dozen heavy wooden beams spanned across each of the doors, each about two hooves thick in order to prevent any pony from getting inside. The invisible barrier around the top of the walls shimmered to tell outsiders they were not welcome.

Ponies living in the imperial capital had been through enough drills to know what these meant: an invading army on their doorstep. Parents snatched up their foals and ran for their homes, or public shelters to be clear of the exterior walls. The town guards watched from the battlements with a smirk despite the size of the army marching upon them, for they knew the defences had held against bigger threats.

Twilight Sparkle stood on the other side of the gatehouse, completely unimpressed by the security measures thrown at her. Not that she was one to brag, but they would not stop her, or the hundreds of ponies behind her. She took a couple of steps ahead of the halted army and charged her horn with magic. Once the spell was cast, there would be no going back. They would either win, or die.

City guards congregated around the large doors of the main city, poised with their swords, bows, and magic ready to defend their queen and country from the rebellious traitors on the other side. They were confident as the doors shimmered in the ethereal glow of magic, designed to repel anything thrown at it. Never before had the doors, walls, nor ancient and magical shield in the sky fallen to a pony army.

In an instant, the world was upside down loud ringing in their ears throwing off all sound as pain washed over their bodies like a river. Cries of commanders filled the plaza and battlements, urging their comrades to hold them back as a herd of ponies stampeded through the cloud of dust and debris that choked the plaza and winded soldiers. They were right about one thing; the doors of Canterlot would never fall: they were vaporized.

Whoops, I guess I put in too much power, Twilight thought to herself as she charged in with the other ponies through the burning remains of the gatehouse and into the shattered and broken streets of the city. "To the castle!" she shouted. They could not afford to be broken off in pursuit of smaller battles, or else the castle would fortify their position. She ran at full gallop, quickly falling behind the front line as faster, more agile ponies went ahead of her.

Guards poured out of the streets ahead with their weapons brandished, jumping onto the ponies on the front. As she ran past, both guard and militia ponies were locked with their swords crossed, struggling to gain ground, for the most part. However, she had to be careful in her sprint and not look back, as the Pegasus guards would dive bomb their flightless cousins or drop large, heavy rocks from above.

A resounding crack filled the air as the barrier above cracked, sending sharp pieces of solidified magic hurtling to the ground below. Pieces of stone and crackling magic exploded in front of them, the tight quarters of the street leaving very little room for anyone to maneuver. But it was a necessary evil, as it allowed their own Pegasus troops to take the battle to the air, which would mean less stones in the long run.

Applejack had been one of the ponies to rocket out in front of her at the beginning despite her heavy armour. A guard lunged out at her suddenly from around a corner, but a quick jump and buck ended his day real quickly, causing Twilight to have to hop over his bloodied body. Meanwhile, Spike had taken a position behind her, preferring to use his flames as his weapon of choice. As a dragon, it made perfect sense, even if it creeped her out just a little bit.

Running beside her on her flanks were Trixie and Rarity, their horns aglow in their respective colours of magic as they hurled enemies out of the way and shot down Pegasus guards who tried to drop things on their friends. Pinkie Pie was being her usual enigmatic self, but her Party Cannon was, admittedly, an effective complement to the arsenal. Where it had come from, and HOW she managed to use confetti as an offensive weapon mystified the unicorn to no end.

No, Twilight. Focus! she chastised herself as she realized her mind was wandering from the task at hoof. Looking back as they crossed the threshold into the mountain tunnel linking the castle to the city, she could see her friends still right in front of her, despite being slowed by their equipment. But something felt off as they stampeded through the tunnels and hanging roads

Emerging from the other end, the feeling was instantly vaporized as a loud, familiar bell rang out through the slowly dimming sky. Already, four dozen of their Pegasus troops had arrived and were harassing the guards on the battlements. With every second, and every step further, she kept wishing, praying for the drawbridge to remain down. It would not stop them, but it would delay and complicate matters exponentially.

"Spread out and swarm the castle," the lavender unicorn ordered. "Those of you with objectives: go and get them done!" While the ponies behind her began to fan out, she thundered on towards the large double doors leading into the Entrance Hall. With a mighty blast of magic, the two portals were blasted open, raining down splinters of charred wood on the guards inside.

The sight of nearly a hundred guards waiting made the mare skid to a halt: there were spears, swords, and crossbows all at the ready, all pointed towards her. "Clear a path," a voice from behind calmly called out. Before any pony could react, seven ponies made of solid rock rushed out from behind the unicorn and charged into the crowd, denting armour and breaking bones, by the sound of the screams. "Miss Sparkle," Governor Ironhead spoke as he bucked a guard's face in, coating his hoof in blood. "You have an appointment to keep. It would be best if you were not tardy."

Giving him a quick nod of the head, the lavender pony rushed up the steps leading into the throne room. Guards poured out from halls on the second and third floor: archers who had been waiting for a pony to burst in. The arrows bounced off the rocky skin of the golems and disintegrated upon contact with her armour. She was glad she acquiesced already as she wrenched open the doors to the anteroom and slipped inside. A wall of magic coated the wooden doors before stone and marble twisted and fused to seal it behind a patchwork wall.

Twilight sighed in relief, grateful that they would not be interrupted by some lowly 'mooks', as Trixie would call them. The room she was in was uncharacteristically dark before she lit it with her horn and created a sword of lavender magic. Her body felt wound up like a spring as each step echoed off of the solid walls and back into her ears. Anything could be hiding in the darkness, waiting to pounce.

She opened the door to the throne quickly and stepped inside, her hooves muffled by the red carpet upon the marble floor. The alabaster columns sparkled in the dying light of the sun from the skylight above as the stained glass windows painted the floor in all the colours of the rainbow. Eos sat on her throne of gold and obsidian in a way that spoke of confidence and regal composure, knowing full well that she had seen her last sunset.

And yet, she was laughing.

Fall of the Titan

If Twilight Sparkle had not literally been through Hell, the sound of the alicorn’s laughter would have disturbed her deeply, for it was her own laughter echoing back, only tainted with madness and malevolence.. She could not seem to make up her mind between light titters or full-blown belly laughs. But no matter the tone or pitch, her cries of mirth carried the same tinge of darkness and malice to them, making hairs on the unicorn’s back stand on end.

She had expected insanity, yes, but she had also expected more composure from her doppelganger than that of a giggling maniac. There was a crazed look in the one eye she could see, the other blocked by her mane whipping about in the solar breeze. Her alternate self had become a horrible mockery of Twilight’s beloved teacher.

“Oh,” Eos finally spoke, as if just noticing the unicorn. “Well, look who it is... It’s ME!” she giggled, putting a hoof to her mouth to try and stop her laughter from boiling over again. Twilight blinked and backed up a little bit, not quite sure what her counterpart would do now that all her marbles had been scattered to the winds.

“And just why are YOU laughing?” the purple unicorn asked when she found her courage. “Don’t you know this is the part of the story where the terrible tyrant meets her sticky and well-deserved end?”

More giggles filled the air as Eos lounged on the arms of her throne, making a glass of chocolate milk appear in front of her before drinking it in greedy gulps. “Oh, Twilight. Twi, Twi, Twi-twi... Twi,” she spoke in sing-song. “Twitty Twi, did you forget the difference between fiction and nonfiction again, Twi?” A smirk came across her face as her visible eye rolled around in its socket.

It had to be a game; a mental showdown to freak her out and prevent her from attacking so she could catch her unawares and pounce! And she nearly fell for it too. “History and fantasy can follow the same literary devices and lead to the same conclusions, Eos. In this case, the end of the story comes with your head divorced from your body.”

“Tee-hee-hee-hee,” the alicorn sniggered. “Like this?” Placing her front hooves to her chin, she grunted in effort as she pulled against her head with all of her might. At first, Twilight had no idea just what she was doing, or hoped to accomplish until a loud ‘pop’ sounded from her neck. The alicorn’s head rested comfortably in her hoof, giggling at the look on her opposite’s face. “Alas, poor Twilight! I knew her, Sir Discord: a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy. She hath borne me on her neck a thousand times. And now how abhorred in my imagination it is! My gorge rises---”

“What the HELL!?” Twilight shouted, interrupting her warped recitation of Hamlet.

“Funny thing about our universe,” she replied with a giggle. Thrusting her hoof upward, she began to juggle and play with her head as if it were some kind of ball. All the while, she kept her eyes on the unicorn in front of her, smiling all the while. “If you represent a fundamental aspect of reality, such as Chaos, Evil, or Potatoes, you CAN’T die!”

If there was any doubt left in her mind about the state of the alicorn’s mind, it had now been completely washed away. Queen Eos was truly and utterly insane and about half way to the funny farm, if she were not a goddess. “We both know that there is a way to change that, Eos,” Twilight said coldly.

“Oh please,” she giggled as she spun her head like a top. “We both know that you don’t have the STONES to drain someone of their power! Not after last time. Besides, it’s not like you could HANDLE the raw power of CHAOS!” She cackled, adding lightning behind her for theatrical effect. “I’m bored now, so it’s time for you to DIE!”

In a flash, Eos let go of her head and kicked it towards the unicorn with her hoof, her maw filled with razor sharp teeth as it lunged. Twilight reacted quickly, taking her magical sword and pointing it at the vile demon so she would impale herself upon it. A satisfying squish filled the air as the disembodied head did just that, but instead of looking pained, she happily chomped on the blade, breaking it in two. “Mmm! Tastes like chicken!” the queen smirked as the spell failed.

Before she could get a chance to do anything more, the lavender unicorn quickly turned and bucked her between the eyes with her back hooves as hard as she could. The queen’s head soared through the air, landing before the throne as it let loose another torrent of giggles, literally rolling on the floor laughing. “That MIGHT have hurt, if I were not a living god! ...dess!”

Boy, does she love the sound of her own voice, Twilight thought acidly as she reformed her sword made of pure magic. The tyrannical mare picked her head back up with her hooves and reaffixed it to her neck, flexing it a little bit to test it was on properly before a downright EVIL smirk came upon her features, teeth still sharp as cold winds. Taking on Eos was always going to be difficult, being herself and all, but this was getting really creepy really quickly.

Her muscles tensed as the queen’s horn flared in magic; a twisted mix of indigo, blue, yellow, orange and green, all twirling and dancing with each other. A disappointed frown flashed across her royal face as she looked at the armoured mare before her. “Aww. So serious. I’m just trying to have a bit of FUN with you; before I kill you, of course. Perhaps I’ll use necromancy on your corpse and make it the captain of MY guard?”

A bright light flashed beside her, drawing her attention away on instinct as one of the pillars keeping the heavy ceiling aloft turned into a giant slinky. Words failed her as she stared at the spectacle before her. In what universe would turning a pillar into a giant coil of metal serve any tactical value whatsoever? Twilight, no! her inner Eos shouted. She’s trying to distract you so she ca- LOOK OUT!

Twilight jumped back in the nick of time as a pair of purple magic swords impaled the marble floor right where her head would have been. Without thinking, she swung, the spark of conflicting magic splashing in her eyes as she quickly snapped out of her revery. Queen Eos KNEW she could be distracted by such a move and capitalized on it. It infuriated her that she had done something so underhoofed and sinister, though she was angrier with herself for falling for it.

“I guess you’re not as stupid as I thought,” the queen sneered as she jumped back, holding her twin swords in a defensive position.

“I hope you just realized that you called YOURSELF stupid too,” Twilight smirked as they slowly began to round each other in a large circle.

The queen growled and bared her still-pointy teeth as a fire burned in her visible eye. Obviously, she had touched a nerve, which was good since, according to her experiences with Celestia, half of the battle was psychological. Of course, it was also dangerous since she knew better than anypony what she was capable of when enraged. Twilight cried out and charged towards her, firing off the strongest flaming missile spell that she knew.

But instead of doing something sensible like knocking the spell away, or back towards her, the errant alicorn opened her mouth and INHALED the fireball. Smoke hissed softly out of her ears before she let out a royal belch of flame, amplified by her magical might to equal the volume and ferocity of a fully-grown dragon! In fact, for a split second, the torrent of fire almost looked like a serpentine dragon, but it had to be a trick of the light.

Twilight sprung aside and rolled upon the floor of the room in an effort to dodge the flames, only partially successful judging from the smell of burned hair wafting from her backside. Okay, Twilight, she thought to herself, you’re against a mad version of yourself with the power of three gods at her disposal. She easily outstrips you magically. How can you win?

As the alicorn advanced on her, the purple unicorn slammed her magically charged hoof into the floor. Yes, she had the Shoes of Rocinate, but she did not want to activate them quite yet, mostly out of fear of the consequences. Eos was met by a jagged wall of marble to the face, making her cry out in surprise and hold her face from the strike as she stumbled back. That was when it struck Twilight, not unlike the stone that just nailed her counterpart. She could use the environment to her advantage, much as Vinyl Scratch had before!

But aside from the marble in the floor, there was precious little that she could actually work with in the room. And what there was would not be very helpful, since she had trouble thinking creatively on the fly like this. Sure, with an hour’s notice she could have come up with SOMETHING, but not immed- She stopped herself mid panic as a glint of light on the floor attracted her eye.

The delicate carvings on the floor glowed softly in the light of the setting sun, a large glyph surrounded by hundreds of runes to create the basis of a complex, yet equally powerful spell. When she was a filly, she had first noticed the designs. “Princess Celestia,” she recalled herself asking at the tender age of twelve, “What do those symbols mean?”

“What a keen eye you possess, Twilight Sparkle,” she praised. “In times of yore, guests to my throne could not be guaranteed to behave themselves. So, I carved this trap into the floor to hold them in place until they gained hold of their senses once more. Of course, we live in times of peace now, so it is very rarely used. I think the last time I did was, oh, about a hundred and fifty years ago.”

Twilight sprinted to the other end of the room, placing the large spell between herself and the raving, reeling queen. “Can you teach me how to use it?" she had asked.

“I’m afraid not, Twilight. But do not think that I don’t trust you. The simple fact is that no unicorn has the magical ability to utilize it.”

But she was no unicorn. “Hey, Eos!” she called out. “What happened to not being able to feel my attacks?” She smiled smugly as the alicorn shook her head out of her daze, eyes glinting with burning light. The alicorn growled and gave her a glare that would probably kill a mortal pony before she reared and charged her. Please, don’t teleport. Please, don’t teleport. Please, don’t teleport, she pleaded as she charged her horn with as much magic as she felt she could spare.

Twilight screwed her eyes shut and put her all concentration onto the runes of the floor, sensing the spell still lingering to the ancient marble, even as the sound of galloping filled her ears. Suddenly, in her mind’s eye, she could see the spell in its entirety. Wasting no time, since the queen had to be within the circle, she cast the spell, her eyelids becoming a tinge of red and violet from the light.

A loud, crackling crash echoed through the hall as the body of the alicorn impacted the magical walls surrounding the outside of the spell. The unicorn opened her eyes to see the infuriated beast hammering her hooves and horn against the violet wall of magic in desperation to impale the caster. Twilight breathed a sigh of relief and sat on her haunches with a clang, forgetting the armour that was on her flank.

Sure, containing Eos like that was a feat, but it would only last so long before the old spell either gave way to her pounding, or the queen used her trickery to get past it. At least she had afforded herself some breathing room and time to ponder her next steps. However, she had forgotten she had allowed her perverted reflection the same opportunity.

The queen raged behind the barrier of the spell, seething in an inferno of uncontrolled anger. How DARE the little cretin not curl up and die, or even better, see her point of view and join her? Two heads were obviously better than one, as she found. Ah, but why don’t we MAKE her see our point of view? a voice in her head spoke.

A wide grin crept upon the queen’s face; a dark gleam sparkling in her eyes as she watched her counterpart pace and try to plan. Everything would be better if she had a little quality time with her. Maybe they’d even save Equestria together... before she killed her, of course. There could only be one of them, after all: and it might not matter which of them it was. She charged her horn and let the magic of the spell snake out through the barrier, purple wisps of smokey magic covertly congregating around her head.

Twilight never knew what hit her. One second, she was pacing the floor of the throne room, desperately trying to pull together a plan out of thin air to help her in her struggle with the queen. The next moment, she was in a void of darkness, unable to feel anything but her own body and the same mind-numbing cold she felt in the heart of the Hells themselves. Confused, she looked around quickly, expecting an attack to come out of nowhere and blindside her. Yet nothing came.

A soft giggle echoed loudly, bouncing against the hard, unseen walls all around the lavender unicorn. The sound seemed to come from everywhere, yet nowhere at the same time. The hairs on her back stood up once more, her finely crafted armour nowhere to be seen. Yet her brain could not quite make the connection that it was all an illusion quite yet as primal fear of the unknown made itself present on the very fringes of her waking mind.

Suddenly, a curtain of light appeared and ripped the inky darkness asunder, bathing the purple alicorn she hated most in the warm, comforting light. She stood without regalia, but retained her expression of twisted mirth and hatred. Another soft giggle parted from her lips as she opened her eyes, the one still hidden by a bang of hair, just like Celestia. Twilight had to work very hard to suppress the urge to growl at the imposter.

“You look cold, Twilight Sparkle,” the demon spoke before she could voice her anger. “Why don’t you come into the light and know us better?”

‘Us’? Was she really using the ‘Royal We’ like that? That doesn’t matter, she spoke to herself, her thoughts reverberating off the walls as if she had spoke them. Her eyes went wide before narrowing to glare death towards her reflection.

“You are correct. It does not matter if you come into the light, or not. We are just as content if you prefer to stay in the dark. In fact, it suits us better. For you see, we have come to a decis-”

“I get it,” Twilight interrupted, “you’re scared that I actually have a chance at beating you, so you are coming up with some psychological hallucination to attempt to get me to join your side. Well, let’s skip the formalities and get straight to the point: I will never join you!” A smug look drifted across her face as her final words sunk into the alicorn’s head, though they did not echo through the room like her thoughts.

“We both know that we are smarter than that, Sparkles. No such offer was on the table, nor will there ever be. I am not giving you a choice. You WILL join us. Even if you die, you will join us! Necromancy is one Hell of a thing, Twilight!” A large, toothy grin came across her face, flaring her wings and front legs much like their mentor did during the Summer Sun Celebration when she spoke those last words.

A glint of light above the deranged alicorn caught her attention, taking her gaze off of the queen and onto what looked like a very fine piece of string holding up her front-right leg. In fact, there seemed to be a whole bunch of the fine strings coming off of her body, easier to see now that she had noticed the first one. She could sense a mess of magic in each string: subtle, but chaotic and uncontrollable.

Now that she was looking for it, Twilight could see the outline of a ghostly control bar for a marionette hanging from above the halo of light. It shimmered in the same magic of the strings, twisting and twitching to make the alicorn below it move and speak. Not only was Eos insane, but she was being controlled, likely by the very force she claimed to master!

Her heart began to race from the implications as the tyrant mare sank back down into a sitting position on her haunches. Of all the things this realization brought to her mind, the thought that disturbed her most had to be this: if something was controlling her, what were THEY planning? “Whatever you are, I refuse to submit to you JUST because you have control over a goddess!” she shouted, knowing she could not play dumb.

“Did you not hear us before?” the puppet frowned as her head tilted. “We said that you WILL be joining us, like it or not. But it is so much more pleasant if you let us. We can have tea on the ceiling, or bring to life a pack of cards, enlarge them, and set them loose. It’s already starting.”

Looking to the ceiling once more, Twilight could see dozens of strings descending and snaking into the darkness towards her. She gasped and tried to back away as she figured out what was happening: it was trying to infect HER as well! However, tiny pricks pinched her shoulders and haunches, not allowing her to move. She could feel the ethereal strings begin to burrow into her body, taking control of her legs.

“No!” she cried out as she felt her body lift from the ground and get pulled closer to the bar. She hung from her hooves, pointed up in a ‘v’ formation, making her struggles all the more painful. More of the strings dug into her back, lighting it on fire with pain as her spine became interwoven with the parasites of magic. The puppet queen sat and snickered as she quickly began to lose control of her mental body.

“I’m not going to let you win!”

“It is too late. From the moment the first string wove its way into your nervous system, you became ours. Just accept it like the good little puppet you are now. It’s so relaxing to not think about your actions and just DO AS YOU FEEL. Ah, but you will realize that soon enough. By all means, keep struggling. It will only make the pain even worse.”

Twilight could feel fire dance in her body as the strings wove into her nerves, leaving her no control over anything but her magic. But that too would soon yield as a final string descended: the one that would seal the deal and make her a willing puppet to the force that controlled her nemesis. That fire burned in her heart as much as her veins, tears of agony slipping from her eyes from the hopelessness she faced. She gritted her teeth and brought all of her magic to bear: if she were to go down, she would give it her all first.

“I... will... NOT... be... your... PUPPET!” she screamed. A blast of golden flames shot from her horn and radiated around her in an intense fireball the likes of which she had never conjured before. The fire burned in her body and soul, evaporating the magical strings that invaded her mind like the kindling it was. Racing up the strings, the control bar itself burned and writhed in agony, making Eos do an amusing little dance where she flailed her body around like a rag doll.

Burning out of control, the fire spread down the other set of strings and into the body of the alicorn. She screamed and kicked in agony and pain, for the fires did not discriminate who or what they burned. Soon, she too was enveloped before the unicorn fell, since the last string holding her up had burned away. The darkness enveloped her, the screams becoming distant before the feeling of something cold and hard pressed itself against her face.

Twilight awoke with a groan, the shouts and cries of the queen distant as she stood on shaky hooves. Though her body was not enveloped by flames, the unicorn could still feel the cleansing warmth removing the remnants of the chaos inside her mind and body. Cold sweat ran down her face and soaked into the armour that remained wrapped around her as a blanket, making her shiver as it had trapped the perspiration.

The queen, meanwhile, lay rolling upon the floor, shouting and groaning in agony of the invisible force that now burned through her mind, shaking out the cobwebs that clouded her judgement. Suddenly, the events since her destruction of Discord came back to her in a chilling and haunting light. She had done so many terrible things; things she had never dreamed of doing... and it was all TWILIGHT SPARKLE’S FAULT!!! If she had not have shown up, Discord would never had make her break down!

Her eyes snapped open and narrowed dangerously as she remembered that meddlesome little FREAK was in the room with her. Well, this time the boots would be coming off! Eos stood to her full height and regarded the holding spell around her with contempt. Charging magic into her hooves, she shattered the runes like she did the meteor, cracking the floor, terminating the spell for good.

Twilight could see the clear and focused anger burning in her eyes. Every step the alicorn took was measured with shockwaves of red magic radiating out a few hooves before dispersing, cracking with electric magic. She may have destroyed her chaos powers, but now she had awoken a clear and focused killer instead of an aloof and crazy mare. Her royal regalia shimmered and glowed, becoming sharper and providing more coverage. The crown had molded into a helmet like that of Nightmare Moon, though her mane retained the look of a flowing river of sunset.

“Twilight Sparkle,” she spoke coldly before stopping only a few pony lengths away. “You stand accused of High Treason. Its penalty is death by hanging, or by my sword slicing open your belly; whichever comes first. How do you plead?”

“You are a cancer that is killing our nation of Equestria, Eos,” the unicorn replied. “But now that you are sane, the only thing I PLEAD is for you to stop this! I know there is still a bit of me inside of you, as there is a bit of you inside me. Listen to her, and we can end this war; we can end the death and destruction. I don’t WANT to kill you... but if you leave me no choice... I WILL do my civic duty. Even if it kills ME as well.”

“Very well: I see you plead... GUILTY!” She charged with a cry.

~*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*~

Chaos and confusion reigned supreme as the ponies stampeded through the gates and into the castle of Canterlot itself. Flashes of magic and the sparks of clashing swords complimented the grunts, battle cries and occasional blast of cannon fire from the battlements. The mass of ponies fanned out as soon as the first ones made it through the portcullis to spread out and conquer the castle.

Trixie, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie and Spike, however, had a special job to do while the others went hoof to hoof with the royal guard. As Twilight ran forward into the castle, they took a left and followed a group of militia ponies into the inner public gardens near the grand ballroom. Guards were caught by surprise and soon overwhelmed by the torrent of angered mares and stallions, falling like flies to their blades.

The once fragrant beauty of the gardens was tarnished in a split second by the marauding horde and resulting skirmishes; delicately trimmed bushes of rose and other flowers uprooted or crushed by careless hooves, but they did not dare stop in their flight. The sooner they could break into the castle, the sooner they could do their job and help their friend, since she would need all the help she could get.

A simple door in the side of the castle wall beckoned to them from behind a clump of fighting ponies that were in a standoff against one another. Using her magic, Trixie blew the enemy fighters out of the way with a strong grip of telekinesis. She was no Twilight, but the years spent honing her magical abilities in the dragon lands had paid off. Combined with the efforts of the other ponies fighting around them, the way into the castle was soon clear.

Applejack kicked down the door with a smart buck to the knob, sending it flying into the wall with a mighty smash. Torches or fairy lights were few and far between as they galloped through the narrow hall and down a flight of stairs into the basement. But considering it was an access passage for the kitchen staff to reach the grand ballroom, they were not surprised by how dark and Spartan it was in comparison to the rest of the castle.

“Right, so where did she say we go from here?” the farmer spoke from the back of the pack, the hall only wide enough to fit two ponies side-by-side.

“Through the door, down the hall to the stairs, hang a left, then a right, straight, left, right, left, straight twice, right, straight and the door will be on the right,” Pinkie Pie chirped with her ever-present grin, bouncing in front of the orange mare despite the weight of the silver coloured armour on her back.

“If you know it so well,” Spike huffed as he tried to keep up with the mares, “how come you’re not in the lead!?”

“I dunno,” she shrugged as he ran. “I just felt like being back here! Not that there is much we can do to change it now though. Oh look, here comes that third right!” The group tore around the bend to find themselves face to face with about five guards, who looked equally surprised to see them. Before they could react, two of them fell to the floor, bathed in the light of stun spells fired from Rarity and Trixie.

Suddenly, the other three snapped out of their shock and charged the mares as quickly as they could in the slightly wider passage, drawing their weapons just in time to meet a wall of green flames bursting from the baby dragon. “No pony tries to hurt my Rarity!” he cried while defending his longtime crush. Stopped in their tracks by the fire, a blur of pink jumped from beyond, brandishing a pastel-coloured cannon and pulled the string, unleashing a tightly-wound ball of streamers that exploded in their chests and tossed them into the walls and furniture.

“I love non-lethal weaponry!” the party pony giggled as she bounced over the traces of green flame that lingered on the stone floor. She took her trusty Party Cannon and stuffed it into her fluffy tail, but that was impossible. All the others could do was to shake their heads while repeating the age-old Ponyville expression of ‘It’s Pinkie Pie,’ in their heads. If they thought about it too much during their journey deep into the basements of Canterlot, they could endanger their mission (and sanity to boot!)

Finally, they came to the door they sought: at the very end of a long and fairly wide corridor. It was a single wooden door with metal braces, meant to be nearly indistinguishable from the others to hide what it contained. With a smart kick to the middle of the door, it flew off its hinges and clattered down the stairs to the floor below. “What the Hells was that!?” cried a pony from down the stairs.

A grey unicorn guard gingerly made his way around the fallen door and up the stairs, only to pale at the sight of the mares in front of him. Obviously, he was not a very brave pony, as he promptly fell over in a faint, his armour clattering on the rough stone. The ponies and dragon quickly stepped over him and down into the dank dungeons. “Stop right there!” cried out another guard before a smartly placed stun spell from Rarity had him collapse onto the floor in a heap and down the jagged stairs.

“If we didn’t stop for the gate guards, what makes you think that we’d stop for you?” the alabaster unicorn asked.

“Why do you insist on stunning them?” Trixie asked in annoyance as they continued down. “They’re just going to get back up and kill one of our friends.”

“I stun them because a proper LADY doesn’t kill her opponents! At least not by her own hooves: a servant or other pony can do the dirty work. Do you KNOW how badly blood clashes with my mane?”

“RARITY!?” a voice cried out from around the corner.

“Sweetie Belle!?” she called back with hope surging through her, hopping down the remaining stairs to see her sister in a cell around the corner. Tears welled up in her sapphire eyes as they met with her sister’s for the first time in years. “Sweetie,” she gasped before running to the bars, reaching her hooves through to embrace her, the water coming forth to stain her cheeks as the younger unicorn’s dirtied scent wafted to her muzzle. Her mane smelled like a spring rainstorm: just as she remembered it (even if it was a little grimy).

“I was... I was so worried... all the time... but especially when we heard about the cakes and... and Applebloom,” she spoke through her tears. “I’m so sorry! I... I can never apologize enough! I don’t deserve a mare like you to call my sister!”

Surprised by her sudden warmth, the younger white unicorn returned her elder sister’s hug and gently stroked her back to calm her down, beginning to cry a little herself. “It’s okay, sis. I forgive you because... well, because I missed you too. I was afraid that I’d never see you again. Please, just promise me that you’ll never leave me alone like that ever again... and that you’ll always be there for me. Please.” They did not hear the sound of the cage door opening, too focused on one another to notice or care.

“You have my word, Sweetie Belle. I shall never leave you like that ever again and I am so sorry if I mistreated you in the past. I do not think I can apologize enough!”

Applejack looked at the ground, reminded that she had been denied such a reunion with her own sister. Just as she was about to selfishly let out the torrent of tears that were building, she felt a nuzzle to the nape of her neck and a pair of legs close around her in a hug. “I know I’m not Applebloom,” Scootaloo spoke, “but I do know that she missed you and worried about you almost every single day.”

“Thanks Scoots,” the farmer sighed and hugged the stand-in back. “Ah miss her too... and ah feel AWFUL fer all the things ah said. Ah was afraid that she never forgave me... but she was really worried all along?” A nod from the Pegasus broke her resolve, causing gentle tears to slip down her cheeks as she buried her face into the other mare’s side and silently wept.

“... Dinky is in the chamber at the end. Perhaps we should get her while they have their moments?” Jade suggested quietly. The others nodded their heads in reply and moved down the hall. Twilight was a resourceful mare; she could stand to wait just a couple of minutes, right?

~*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*~

Dust rose into the air as the clash of swords and cries of injured ponies filled her ears while she and dozens around her flooded in past the coveted gates of Canterlot Castle. As one of the last ones inside, most of the guards in the front were already dead, along with a few members of the attacking army. By now, those that were still alive would probably be on high alert, but that was how she wanted it.

Vinyl Scratch trotted through the gates at a leisurely pace. Ponies around her gave a wide berth, and for good reason too. The unmarked saddle bags dug into her back, as if a pony were riding on her. When Twilight and the other commanders gave out special assignments, there was one that nopony dared to take, due to its extreme danger.

So why did the mostly blind former disk jockey take a job that the others refused? Well, to put it quite simply, she had nothing left to lose, so she did not give a damn. Trotting through the passages and halls of the castle, the grunts and cries of battle bounced off of the stone walls, confusing and disorienting her occasionally between subtle quakes in the building from the battle in the throne room.

Trusting her instincts, the white unicorn pressed on, shaking out dust in her mane from the ancient, falling debris that was once held captive upon the tops of ledges and rafters. “They’re gonna have a hell of a time cleaning this place up,” she smirked to herself, especially if her mission were successful. As she was traveling through the building blind, both metaphorically and literally, it was very easy for her to get lost, but a quick glance out of a nearby window would give her a clue.

Getting back on track for the third time, a loud shout echoed in her ears, almost like screaming, but not from any mare she knew. It was not exactly close either, which only raised more questions. Vinyl shook her head and continued onward to her goal, her heart beginning to pound in her chest with every step she took, knowing full well that each beat could be its last.

As if on cue, a younger and more brazen Pegasus guard stumbled out of a nearby hall and almost ran into her in his eagerness, armour clanking loosely as he hurried to fit it. His face twisted into a blurry smile that spoke volumes for his confidence and skill: or rather, lack thereof. Before he could utter a single word about how he was going to be some big, bad stallion for killing a rebel mare, the DJ lowered her horn and shot a blast of music straight to his head.

The colt staggered and yelled as loud as he could, hooves up to his head as his ears began to bleed from the sudden increase in volume. While he was distracted by his blown eardrums, the mare took advantage and gored him in the belly with her horn, dripping crimson onto her muzzle. Her strike having hit the centre of his heart, the stallion quickly succumbed and lay dead upon the floor as she pulled out. “No offence, colt,” she spoke to the corpse, “but I’m sick of playing with squares.”

It was a shame she neglected to bring along a cloth or something to wipe the blood off of her face and horn, but she did not plan that far ahead this time. But then, she reminded herself, it was not really going to matter anyway at the end of the day. She hefted her saddlebags, which had become loosened in the skirmish and soon found herself outside the door of the Celestial Tower: the very wing where Eos herself crashed every night.

Inside the tower, just a couple of floors below the royal suits, was the magical heartbeat of Canterlot Castle. The Cor Magi was responsible for, among other things, keeping the stones of the castle from sagging, though they could get damaged. If it were to go offline, or be destroyed, then it would cause the structure to crumble. Destroying it was a contingency plan in case Eos refused to fall, but she did not care. Vinyl proceeded to the heavy platinum doors anyway.

The beautiful designs and gentle gleam of the highly polished metal meant nothing to her as a glow of red surrounded the two large doors. Only a specific spell could be cast on them to make them open without alerting the guards, but she did not care, breaking the gears and tumblers inside the vault-like doors before shoving them open forcefully. The room on the other side was plain and cold with only a single small window to the outside and a set of stairs leading up wrapped around the wall of the circular room.

Standing on the other side had to be half a dozen guards, so it was not like she could have been stealthy anyway. A smirk came across her face as they shuddered at the epiphany of who stood before them. “So who wants to go first?” the white mare grinned as she stepped through the threshold. “I’ve got nothing to lose and two saddlebags stuffed with TNT. Give me your best shot!”

A collective gasp filled the air right before the lights dimmed and became red. A long beeping noise played in alarm to the presence of the intruder, summoning other guards to assist. “Intruder Alert in the Cor Magi,” a magical recording cried out and repeated through the entirety of the castle. Yet, the mare’s smile did not even falter, for she knew most of them would be too busy with the army for any great number to come after her.

“Well, looks like we’re going to have company. Let’s get this party STARTED!” A wall of sound erupted from her horn, shattering the single window and throwing the guards clear across the room, one hanging off the bannister of the stairs. They groaned collectively and struggled to get back onto their hooves, but before they could, a unicorn guard yelped as he felt the pull of magic on his leg before being hurled out the window.

Shouts and the patter of hooves upon the fine stone echoed in her ears from somewhere rather close to her. Deciding she had wasted enough time, Vinyl galloped up the stairs and into the chamber for the Cor. Yellow light permeated every surface, making them glow in reflection as the moon did the sun’s light. If she were not mostly blind already, she would be unable to see in the light of the mystical object.

Wrapped in a round blanket of thick glass suspended from the ceiling, the magical heartbeat of Canterlot was simply contained raw magical energy that slowly leaked out of a stone buffer at the top and spread through the castle to keep the stones from falling apart and powered other magical items. Various devices were scattered along the edge of the room, connected to the glass phial in order to activate any of the castle’s other magical needs. If she were a scholar, or better sighted, she would have been in awe.

“You! Halt, in the name of the queen!” a guard shouted as he and a squad of others ran up the stairs towards her. Vinyl rolled her eyes behind her shades in contempt for the cannon fodder troops. She stood her ground, knowing she was trapped, but kept that smile on her face, even as they surrounded her. “Normally, we would place you under arrest,” that same loud colt snapped. “However, due to the circumstances, we’re just going to kill you outright, traitor!”

Vinyl giggled as she opened her saddle bag and drew out a candle, seeing the horrified looks on their faces from the explosives contained therein. “You know that thing where a great song ends on a power chord? They call that a ‘big rock ending’ and they ALWAYS go out with a bang.” With very little exertion she lit the candle. “It’s been a hell of a ride, but this is MY big rock ending: DJ P0n-3, signing out.” She tapped the short fuse with the flaming wick of the candle. The last thing that went through her mind was a memory of her and Octavia, together again.

The ground shook and ponies on both sides of the conflict fell to the ground as a massive magic-fueled explosion ripped apart the tallest tower of Canterlot. A ball of red, orange and black spread out and up, like the claws of a great fiery dragon. The top of the tower soared a couple of dozen feet into the air before falling at an angle towards the crowds below.

Ponies screamed and ran for their lives, but a few of the unlucky ones were crushed by the tower and other falling debris, slamming into the gardens below. The tower twisted and groaned as its remains dangled over the edge before it succumbed to gravity once more and fell to the valley below. The only thing left of it was the burning stump where it once connected to the castle, and a trail of debris and crushed bodies in its wake.

~*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*~

Twilight yelped like a filly as the large alicorn broke into a gallop not more than a few hooves away from her while brandishing her pair of magical swords. Frozen by fear, she had to rely on instinct, which screamed at her to teleport away from the enraged mare. Flashing to a point behind her, she breathed a quick sigh of relief from the narrow miss. However, her victory was short-lived as she was sent careening into a pillar from a powerful strike to her side.

She cried out in pain, able to hear vertebrae snapping clearly in her ears along with the sensation of blood draining out of her. Twilight was outmatched in almost every possible way by the battle-hardened alicorn who slowly walked towards her, cloaked in a confidence she found herself envying. Another snap in her back told her that the golem magic had fixed her back, pushing herself onto her hooves again.

It seemed like every move she made, the queen could counter just as quickly and return the damage to her. While she might have depowered her a little bit by removing her connection to chaos, that only gave her clarity of thought and made her far more dangerous. She was going to regret doing it, but remembered that had she not, she would be a servant forced to do her bidding.

The idea of using some of the spells used during her fight with Princess Celestia came to mind, but she could counter those as well and probably had the experience to know she might try that. So, with very little other options, she went back to the basics. Charging her horn, she let out a small yet powerful burst right at her face, making the prowling alicorn back off and bat it away. In that moment, the small unicorn ran up to her and swung her sword.

Eos had seen the diversion coming and quickly swung her sword back, blocking the other mare with the loud crackle of mana against mana. Another quick strike and block turned their mages’ duel into a sword fight as they parried, swung and blocked each other’s movements. Quickly growing bored of it, the queen took a swipe at the occupied unicorn’s head with her hoof, sending her tumbling upon the marble floors.

Twilight rolled back onto her hooves with a pounding headache from where the mix of gold and obsidian had connected with her helmet. She had never expected her to fight back in such a dirty manner, but this was not a spar or a civilized match, as she reminded herself. The kingdom and possibly their very lives were on the table, and Eos was going to do any and everything to keep it.

A tongue of flame erupted from the alicorn’s horn the instant the unicorn had righted herself, forcing her to hit the ground hard and roll out of the path as she did before. Yet this time, Eos had anticipated it and stomped her hoof. Twilight cried out as a sharp spear of rock sprung from the floor on an angle, past the protection of her armour, and impaled herself on her right side when she rolled onto her back.

This isn’t good, Twilight thought as she pulled out of the stone with another cry of pain. She has already got in some very good hits and I have yet to even touch her. At this rate, she will win and she KNOWS it. Just look at that swagger! I guess I’ll have to use the shoes after all. The dread queen smirked, marshalling her magic for a final blow when her opponent managed to get onto her hooves again.

“You just don’t know when to accept your fate, do you?” she spoke as if addressing an insect. “Face it, Twilight Sparkle, you have failed and Equestria remains MINE!” For some unfathomable reason, her doppelganger’s face cracked into a smile, followed by tiny titters of mirthful giggling. She was either cracking under the pressure, or worse, she could still have a plan, a trap that she just walked into.

“Eos, I know we have ten years of divergence of experience between us, but did you HONESTLY think I would go down that easily? You almost shame me with your jumping to conclusions like that,” she chuckled softly as her horn sparkled with an aura unfamiliar to the queen. Using her mind, the unicorn probed into the shoes and activated them, a field of black energy coursing through them before shooting into her hooves.

Twilight gasped as she made eye contact with the queen of Equestria, feeling the devilish footwear fill her up with power and energy, but it was not exactly a pleasant sensation. It felt almost as if some cold, metallic force had entered her body and taken root at the base of her horn, chilling the rest of her being. With the exception of the intense pressure and utter blackness, she could have sworn she had been dipped into the Pool of Midnight once more.

Before she even had time to contemplate what had happened, the queen felt the ground leave her feet as a small blur of lavender collided with her head-first, sending her flying back and into the doors of the throne room. The massive wood portals echoed with a bang and gave way slightly to the force of her weight hitting them, but did not break. She shook her head slightly to rid herself of the ringing sensation in her skull to find the purple menace standing over her.

A growl of frustration left her throat as she struggled to right herself, still winded from the shockingly powerful blow. So she had shoes that somehow increased her power. What did that really mean? She could just destroy those shoes, or cut off her legs if she wanted to rob her of that power. But she knew she could not underestimate her, since, for better or worse, she was a different version of her illustrious being. Illustrious being? You ARE mad, the sane voice in her head chided.

Testing the abilities granted to her by the shoes, Twilight channeled some magic into her shadow, forcing it off the ground and into a three dimensional shape. It was a strange feeling to have her shadow disassociate from her and made her a little light-headed, but she could not describe it beyond that. The shadow ran up to the queen, who was taken by surprise and bucked her in the face while her caster moved out of her sight to manipulate it.

“Neat trick,” the queen grunted as she delivered a heavy blow to the shadow, making it evaporate. “However, it is one I have mastered years ago, you ignorant foal!” Twilight flew out from behind the pillar she hid behind, taken surprise by the queen manifesting her own shadow behind her. The unicorn got back to her hooves as the monarch nickered. “You seem to have an affinity for lying upon the floor,” she jeered.

A yelp sounded from the queen as she felt the floor suddenly give way under her, trapping her up to her withers in marble when her shadow turned against her and swallowed her up. Grunts filled the hall over the stamping of hooves upon cold, hard stone as she struggled to free herself from the unexpected trap. “You were saying something about me and floors, Eos?” Twilight asked.

With a great burst of magic, the queen roared, causing the floor and ground beneath to explode in a violent and dangerous shower of rock and other debris. The ruby red carpet that once lined the floor was torn and aflame in a few places. A small personal bubble spell protected Twilight from the hard rocks, ripples appearing in her shield where they connected.

Before she had a chance to fire a counter spell, a jet of darkness impacted her shield, shattering it and allowing the magic to pierce right through her. The unicorn screamed in pain as black, magical flames wreathed her body, but it refused to abate no matter how hard she rolled upon the floor. Allowing her instincts reign for a short time, she dug into herself and manifested another shield as black as the flames, pushing them off of her and ending the pain.

In a quick flash, she teleported underneath the towering alicorn and rammed her horn into her belly, causing Eos to cry out in surprise and pain as she was delivered her first real injury. Twilight then vanished in a flash, standing on the edge of the throne as blood trickled onto her face. Where Celestia always managed to dodge it, she noticed Eos had not anticipated such a brazen and barbarian tactic. The socks were officially off now.

A loud blast, almost like cannon fire, echoed through the castle, the shockwave shattering the skylight overhead, raining down glass upon the injured alicorn. The massive stained glass windows rattled in their frames and the unicorn lost her balance perched on the throne as the tremors rocked the building. “What the Sorrel Hells was that!?” Eos barked as she tried to shake the glass out of her mane.

Given the volume and intensity of the blast, Twilight knew immediately what, or rather who, had done it. Damn it, Vinyl! You were supposed to wait for my signal! What is that mare up to? Just as she finished her thought, the queen fired off a blast of magic towards her, dodged in an instant by teleportation. The throne exploded from the force of the spell, raining gold, obsidian and other materials down upon that side of the room.

Another equally powerful blast came towards her, Eos having correctly guessed where she would teleport to. Going out on another limb to test the shoes, she let her body sink into her shadow as she had done to the alicorn before, except this time she sunk fully, evading just in time. While under the floor, everything had turned to translucent shadow, letting her see that beyond the doors to see that a dozen or so guards were chipping at her transmuted door stop.

However, before she could get a good look, she felt a tug of magic on the scruff of her neck, pulling her out of the shadowy world and back into the light. That was when she found herself face-to-face with the terrible tyrant, the dancing flames of anger almost visible in her dark lavender pools. Her only reaction was to spit in her eye, making her drop the unicorn as she stumbled backwards to clean the saliva out.

“You DISGUSTING little foal!” she raged, obviously having never dealt with such a thing. “I HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF YOU!” Twilight yelped in surprise as she felt her strong telekinetic magic grip her by the leg and swing her around the queen’s head like a flail. She spun for what seemed like an eternity before she was sent flying at terminal velocity.

The mare screamed through the air, smashing into the stained glass flanking the throne room and out into the inner courtyard before flying through another set of windows. Her back broke for the second time that evening when she connected with a pillar, her hard armour dented and cracked itself when it pulverized a generous portion of the column. Twilight fell to the floor with a thud, groaning and coughing up a little blood.

Queen Eos was now officially pissed off.

By the time the queen had flown to her, she was standing shakily upon her front hooves, moaning from the internal trauma that still echoed in her back. But Eos was done playing games: she grabbed the mare by her mane and threw her clean across the long passage and into a suit of armour set on display. The clattering of metal on metal rang in the unicorn’s ears, dings and dents in her protective casing turning into tears and holes.

Although dazed by the sudden, brutal offensive, she was not quite licked yet. If they were down to fighting dirty, then she could play that game as well. Suits of armour along the hall sprang to life at the unicorn’s call, pointing their varied weapons at the queen who simply looked bored. But it had done its job: allowing Twilight to use the shadows to slip behind her and exert great magical force upon the vaulted ceiling, which came crashing down upon the alicorn when she least expected it.

In a burst of raging magic, the queen broke free of her makeshift tomb, sporting a rather nasty cut that drained her own blood onto her face. Even if she was angry and had the power of two gods, it relieved Twilight to know that at least she could still do damage, even if it was temporary. They bore holes into each other with loathing stares of hatred and malice, each plotting what to do to the other next.

“Oh you two are SO entertaining,” spoke an echoing, bone-chilling voice. If she did not know any better, she would have thought Eos looked terrified at the sound. “But, alas, I cannot forget what I have come here for.” One of the suits of armour that Twilight had awakened shook and melted away in darkness, revealing the figure of a... well, it looked like a wolf, but with burning green eyes and matted black fur with shark-like teeth. It was the Bargheist she had met in Edophious. It was Nightmare.

“What’s the matter?” he spoke as he looked between one and the other. “Can’t you two fight while I reclaim MY SHOES!?" The growl in his voice sent shivers up both of their spines. “Oh, right, you must be wondering why I, Nightmare, the physical embodiment of evil, malice and all those other FUN and DARK emotions care so much for a petty set of footwear. Well, that is a tale for another time, kiddies.”

The beast evaporated in a puff of smoke, suddenly appearing beside Twilight, pressing his deathly cold body against her, making her shiver uncontrollably despite the armour. “No. Right now, I have come to take what is MINE,” he spoke as a clawed paw drew a narrow line of blood across the bottom of her jaw, his stinking breath making her weak in the knees. The Shoes of Rocinante vanished in a similar puff of smoke to the Nightmare itself before he chuckled.

“No need to worry about making up for your THEFT, Twilight Sparkle. Your death will do quite nicely. Goodbye,” he smirked before vanishing as well, taking with him the deathly cold, but leaving raw terror in his wake. Both the queen and the scholar sat in silence for the longest time, frozen in place from the unwelcomed visitor. Not even the distant sounds of the conflict raging around them could snap them out of it.

However, Eos was the first to gather her wits and capitalized on it by firing a massive and concussive shockwave of magic hurtling through the passage, picking up armour and pony alike before throwing them towards the wall. The shock of the blast was just enough to break Twilight out of her trance, but by the time she could react, it was too late. She slammed into the wall, knocking the wind out of her breath before the suits of armour bashed into her like a runaway train!

Come on, Twilight, her own Eos urged. You have to get up and fight back! You have to for your friends! For your family! For Equestria! Yet she lay unmoving under the pile of rubble, the tyrant closing in for the kill. Without the shoes it was all hopeless. At best, she could do what Rainbow had: go out and cause a little damage along the way. But she would heal and become more angry and bitter... if her end did not kill the queen too.

PLEASE, Twilight! She might have the power of two gods, but she is in just as much conflict with herself as you are with her! If we work together, if you TRUST ME, then we can gain the advantage. Celestia always said ‘two heads are better than one’ whenever you asked for help with a problem. She WILL kill you if we don’t put aside our differences, so the choice is up to you. Do we live, or do we die?

Taking a deep, shuddering breath, she knew that she was not lying and that the phantom had as much riding on this as she did herself. “Okay,” she hesitated, “I’ll... I’ll trust you, Eos.” The clattering of metal filled the passage as she found the energy to stand upon her hooves once more. It would be the last time she would be thrown around by that twisted pony if she could help it!

“So, I see you’re finally ready to die, Twilight Sparkle,” the queen spoke as she drew another sword made of lavender magic out of thin air. “That is very mature of you. I am impressed enough to make it quick and painless. Then, you shall be my most loyal and powerful soldier once I reanimate your body and change your memories, golem.”

Twilight closed her eyes, as if accepting her fate. In a way, she was, as she let Eos fully into her mind for the first time since that terrible fight. A feeling of warmth surged through her, numbing her pain and healing her minor wounds under the cover of her armour. She felt lighter than air, and more powerful than thunder; she could see the magic radiating out of every living thing for a quick second before it faded to let her see the queen. The unicorn smirked at her doppelganger. If you betray me, you are out of here so fast... her thoughts trailed, allowing her to fill in the blanks.

Queen Eos jumped back in fright as the unicorn in front of her was suddenly engulfed in golden flames, melting the heavy iron armour around her like solder on a hot plate. When the flames receded, it was almost as if she were looking into a mirror, minus her missing royal regalia, of course. Before she had time to react to the sudden development, a blast of fiery magic as intense as the sun itself hit her right on the head, blinding her in light and pain.

Light dazzled in front of Twilight’s eyes as the spell faded, but it was not left over from the spell; at least, not directly. She stood in a puddle of molten metal that burned the bottoms of her hooves slightly, but it did not register at the disaster before her. Whatever could have melted did just that, and anything not vaporized and flammable was on fire. A hole shot clean through the castle and all of its courtyards, a half of a burning pony here or there. Sorry, guess I overdid it, her inner Eos meekly apologized.

The queen lay stunned in the middle of the river that ran under the castle before coming back to her senses. Sure, the unicorn had surprised her with the attack, but the thought of a pathetic pony like that doing this to her? Intolerable! She righted herself and took off like a bullet back towards the castle, still slightly on fire from the attack that sent her reeling. Ponies scattered as they saw her draw near, but she could not be bothered with those petty little cretins. Only Twilight Sparkle burned in her mind!

“YOU SHALL PAY DEARLY FOR THAT!” she screamed as she collided with the other alicorn through the stone wall itself, too angry to even bother with flying in through the (melted) window. They tumbled down the stairs into the entrance hall, bowling over the guards who still laboured to enter the throne room like the white pins that they were. Lost in the tangle of feathers and limbs, many of them fell unconscious.

But Eos did not care, using her sword to stab at anything she could in the brawl, yielding masculine cries and grunts as she stabbed her own guards in her struggle to get to her vexing opponent. Twilight, meanwhile, was not blinded by such rage, so, when the opportunity came, she rolled onto her back and then bucked the queen (and the guard she was impaling) behind her and out the window with a shattering crash.

One way or another, Equestria was to be rid of Queen Eos this night.

Dawn at Last

Torches rattled in their sconces on the wall as the entire castle shook, the wood dancing between the rings of metal with a clang each time it struck, as if about to jump out and fall upon the floor. Ancient mortar turned to dust before gently cascading onto the ponies below, the gentle vibrations not going unnoticed by the conspiring mares and baby dragon standing in front of the thick, iron door.

“What the Hells is that?” Dinky Hooves asked. She gently rubbed the lower reaches of her leg with a hoof, for it had been tightly clasped in iron not more than a minute before.

“I think that was Vinyl Scratch blowing up the Cor Magi,” Pinkie Pie spoke with surprising clarity of mind. “But... if she blew it up, then that means...” she gasped, “Twilight’s in trouble! Come on, everypony, we have to go help her!” Dinky had her doubts, understandably, since she had not known Pinkie to be anything other than a duplicitous traitor. She was not about to charge forward blindly just because she had a ‘funny feeling.’

Her jaw dropped visibly when Spike, Trixie and even JADE, of all the ponies she knew, quickly broke into a gallop and left her standing dumbstruck in her cell. “Hey, wait up for me!” She chased after the others.

“Wait! Where are we going, Rarity!?” Sweetie Bell cried out as the Crusaders followed the older mares past the felled door and up the stairs. “How are we going to stand up to Eos if even TWILIGHT needs help?”

“If anything, we can stall Eos and then call upon the Elements of Harmony once we are sure Twilight is safe,” the older white unicorn called back.

“The Elements of Harmony? But without Rainbow Dash, they’re useless,” Dinky questioned as they turned into the labyrinthine halls of the basement.

“That’s where I come in,” Spike got out between panting breaths. “The others agreed that I would be a good substitute.”

“What about Sweetie? I happen to KNOW that she is pretty damn loyal herself; even more loyal than Spike, since she didn’t BETRAY anypony. She stuck with us despite knowing we did not trust her when she easily could have gone with either one of you, or right to the queen herself and be with Rarity, whom she stuck by too.”

“Wow... thanks Dinky, I’m touched,” Sweetie Belle gasped, surprised by her friends’ confidence in her.

Before the others could get the opportunity to argue over the prospect of who would be the new Element of Loyalty, a door down the hall opened before a stream of at least a dozen guards ran out of it. “There’s some! Get them!” one of them cried before the whole group charged forward, brandishing their weapons and their magic. Despite the oncoming wall of bodies and metal, the mares did not relent or change course, drawing their own weapons instead.

Battle cries echoed through the hall before the opposing forces clashed, the purplish unicorn losing sight of friends and foes between the tangle of bodies and armour. If it was white and had a hint of gold, she bucked or brought what magic she could to bear. She smiled as a masculine scream filled the air when she zapped the pony immediately ahead with an electricity spell. “Don’t you DARE attack my sister!” Rarity shouted over the din, followed by a sharp yell and thud upon the floor.

The wet sound of swords cleaving flesh in twain screeched just inches from her ears, filtered only by the occasional clank of metal on metal or cry of pain. In the struggle, she felt something trace along her flank, but was too caught up in the moment to give it any real attention. The last guard fell with an anguished, gurgled cry as two blades from Applejack and Trixie pierced his chest through holes in his armour. With a buck to free their blades, he crumpled into a heap and expired.

“Dinky!? Are you okay!?” Scootaloo panted, sporting a razor-thin cut above her brow where a sword had strayed. Looking to her flank, the unicorn could see a trail of blood dripping down her side, masking her hard-earned cutie mark with crimson trails.

“I didn’t really feel it, so yeah,” she replied looking over the others as they began their marathon sprint once more. Although they had taken a few scrapes and cuts, they had all fared well against the supposedly elite soldiers of the realm. I suddenly feel like a big damn hero, Dinky thought to herself with a soundless giggle. Of course, she would never actually say that out loud: it would just be silly.

Doing their best to backtrack along the route they came, the group of mares soon found themselves at the top of the stairs leading down into the lower levels. The occasional soldier would come across their path, but a burst of magic from one of the unicorns of the group would quickly end any threat they posed. Rarity had stepped up to the plate and dispatched the last guard with a violent toss of telekinesis, crumpling his armor against the wall, not that any pony was complaining. Nonetheless, they all made mental notes not to piss her off again.

At the end of the hall the wooden door that had barred them entry lay upon the floor, allowing the dim light of the stalled sunset to shine orange in their faces. It was the literal light at the end of the tunnel, for soon they would be by Twilight’s side and ready to do their part in the fight against the tyrant pony, even if they were to die in the process.

Blood stained the grass, pools of crimson contrasted against a sea of emerald and the pastel coloured bodies from where it leaked. Small columns of smoke rose into the sky where the Pegasus ponies flew, weaving between towers and under bridges. Alabaster stones littered the ground, crushing bushes, flowers, and the odd body or two as the unicorns and earth ponies fought below for control of the castle.

“Oh, please stop!” sounded a familiar, gentle voice from the din and chaos of the battlefield. Fluttershy flew over a pair of stallions locked in combat, both with swords clenched in their teeth. “I know we’re not on the best terms, but that doesn’t mean you have to hurt each other! Surely the queen has hurt your feelings too, hasn’t she, sir?” The guard ignored her and countered the rebel, knocking him onto his back.

“No!” But before she could say another word, the deed was done. The guard had been distracted by her for just a split second: a second the rebel used to swing his sword and nearly decapitate the soldier. He got up and ran off to his next battle while the yellow pony paled and fell to the ground with a small squeak when she landed next to the body of the guard.

“Fluttershy, darling,” Rarity called out, running to the head of the pack. “Are you okay?” Gentle sobs escaping from the buttery Pegasus told them all that she was not okay in the least.

“Oh, come on!” Trixie shouted and pushed herself ahead. “Suck it up, Fluttershy! If you didn’t want to see struggle or death, then you should have stayed behind!”

“Trixie, be nice,” Pinkie popped up from behind, giving the yellow mare a big hug. “You know as well as I do that yelling at her isn’t going to make anything better. Come on Flutters... let’s take our minds off of it. We need to help Twilight now, so we need you to be strong for us. Can you be strong for us?” The yellow pony nodded her head, although tears continued to spill from her eyes.

“Good, now all we need ta do is figure out where Twi and Eos ar-” Applejack started before she was cut off by a burst of light and blast of sound that shook the ground they stood on, making them quake in their own hooves. Less sturdy ponies toppled down stairs or onto the ground where they were injured or humiliated at best. “Never mind, ah think ah know where they might be.”

“Well then, what are we waiting for?” Sweetie Belle chirped. With some prodding from Trixie and Pinkie, they managed to get Fluttershy onto her hooves, which was a feat considering the situation. It only took just a little bit more to startle her into running with the rest of the group, who were already a considerable distance ahead. They wove between more personal skirmishes, gaining some attention from the guards who were free from combat at that moment.

“You girls go on ahead while I help distract them,” Jade offered before running head first into a guard of her own volition. The others slammed their hooves in the dirt to skid to a stop, not willing to leave her behind. However, the Crusaders kept going forward, rushing past them.

“Don’t worry about Jade!” Dinky cried back. “She knows what she’s doing! Right now, we have to help Twilight!” Reluctantly, they resumed their sprint, easily catching up with the weakened younger mares despite keeping an eye on the green unicorn, who had just bucked a guard’s teeth out.

More guards pounced at them from every angle, recognizing the wanted mares from their posters. Thankfully by then, the gentle Pegasus had her brain snap into motion, meaning that she ran with them as opposed to being dragged. Scootaloo, while still weak and weary, took to the skies nonetheless to provide air support while the three unicorns blasted away those few soldiers foolish enough to get in their way. Ponies in their army also saw the soldiers try to gang up on their leaders and leapt into the fray, distracting many of them so that they did not have to worry about the little pains and focus on the one big royal pain in everypony’s flank.

Applejack, being the most physically fit of the group, naturally took the lead in their flight back to the large entrance that lead into the foyer. The remains of two great wooden doors remained attached to the frame by rusting hinges and crumbling mortar. Each had a large, blackened semi-circular hole from where Twilight’s spell had blasted through. Chunks of charred wood littered the floor between hunks of hardened clay and bodies of dead guards.

A wheezing breath, like a pony blowing through a metal pipe, clattered between the sounds of heavy hoof steps upon the solid marble floors. The eight ponies and young dragon stiffened, ready to jump the heavily armoured guard coming down the hall and end him like his brethren. However, it was not a guard that joined them in the hall, but a pony... or rather, a golem that looked like a pony.

Governor Ironhead had looked better: his suit torn and dirty with blood and dust. A part of his left ear was missing and one of his back hooves had cracked, lending to a noticeable limp in his stride. “Well, you girls fared better than I,” he spoke in his typical emotionless monotone. “I must say, I am glad to see you alive, Miss Dinky, Miss Sweetie, and Miss Scootaloo.”

The three mentioned mares, however, did not look anywhere near pleased to see him. “What are you all doing? He’s with the queen! Get him!” Scootaloo cried. Yet, the others remained unmoved by her plight. “What the hay are you doing!? We have to end him NOW!”

“Your anger is justified,” he replied calmly. “Nonetheless, I apologize if I had made your lives a little harder than intended, but I was fulfilling my duty to be loyal to my creator. However, my loyalties now lie with Twilight Sparkle: the mare doing battle against herself. She is more like my creator than the queen has become and thus holds my allegiance. I understand your distrust, but from what I have gathered, she needs our assistance and we are wasting time.”

“I don’t care if you think you’re sorry, GOLEM,” Dinky spat. “I will never forgive you for what you have done. You arrested my MOTHER and she DIED because of you! I HATE YOU!!” She charged her horn with the most powerful spell she knew, ready to blow the animated pile of rock to smithereens now that she was given the chance.

“My weak point is my chest. If you are to destroy me, aim there to ensure that I cannot be repaired.”

“STOP BEING SO CALM ALL THE TIME, YOU ARTIFICIAL JACKASS!!”

“Dinky, calm down,” Scootaloo soothed, touching her gently where her back and neck met. “Save your anger for Eos. We can kill HIM later. Twilight needs us right NOW.” A loud crash and feminine cry rocked the entrance hall, the vibrations making the marble floor crack just enough to be noticeable. The young unicorn dispelled the magic gathered and grunted in acknowledgement of her friend.

Wasting no further time, the mares, dragon and golem all ran up the stairs leading into the throne room and over to the source of the noise when it became obvious that the doors would not budge. Having been to the castle before, they knew that wings on either side of the throne had windows into a small courtyard that they could smash and use to get into the room, but the point was moot after seeing a large hole blown in the passage, exposing it to the gardens a storey below.

Just shaking off an attack was the alicorn queen, covered in dusty rubble from the freshly-collapsed section of the castle. Standing across from her was another alicorn, looking at her with contempt. Eos’s crown and other vestments were destroyed in the blast that had torn the large hole into the castle, making it unclear as to which alicorn was the queen, and which their saviour. “Twilight!?” the former Cutie Mark Crusaders gasped at the second alicorn.

“Which one’s which?” Sweetie asked. “They both look the same to me.” Feeling a tug from one of the others, the curious unicorn was pulled back from the brink as the others jogged back into the entrance hall. Their way had been blocked, and they did not like the possibility of having to go past the queen to get to Twilight.

“The one that crashed into the castle was the queen,” Ironhead explained as he struggled to keep up on his cracked hind leg. “You can tell by their marks. Twilight’s remained the same while the queen has a sun and moon in place of the larger star.” The girls nodded in understanding as they exited the gardens, past the soldiers and militia ponies as they fled from the fight between the goddess and the alicorn.

Twilight and Eos rounded each other like predators fighting for dominance, their hooves not discriminating between grass or flaming shrubbery as they remained focused on their target. Both horns were alight with magic, one a warm and rosy red while the other was a cold sky-blue trimmed with shimmering gold. Taking pause, they both fired a spell simultaneously, causing an explosion where the conflicting magic met. Dirt flew into the air as the land was scorched.

“Well, well, well,” the alicorn with the mark of sun and moon spoke. “What have we here: your weak little friends and a traitorous golem for the picking? How foalish of you to expose yourselves so.” A wicked smile crept over her face, exposing her teeth as a murderous fire burned in her purple eyes.

“Leave them out of this, Eos!” Twilight growled fiercely. “This fight is between you and me! I swear to Celestia, if you drag them in...”

“NEVER speak that horse’s name in front of ME, whelp! I shall do what I please, for I am a goddess and queen of all that you see!” Before any pony could make a move, the tyrant’s horn flashed, teleporting the group to the side of the battlefield. A series of complicated runes burned into the ground, setting the grass aflame in a tight circle around them, trapping them between the hot tongues. Twilight could see from the design that it was a copy of the sealing spell she had used on the queen just a dozen or so minutes before.

“I see your plan now, Twilight. Though it was clever of you, it was foolish. I know how the Elements of Harmony work quite well, having once borne the Element of Magic.” That evil, calculating look remained affixed to her face, causing a shiver to run down Twilight’s spine. Could she look that scary when she was upset or angry? Another shudder ran down her spine at the very thought.

“No! What’s going on!? Help!” Fluttershy cried out as she was lifted from the circle and brought before the queen. Trixie collapsed to the ground, horn aglow as she muttered to herself, barely visible out of the corner of Twilight’s eye as they remained fixed on the Pegasus.

“It’s amazing how powerful, yet how fragile the elements are,” the queen cooed as she nuzzled the pony in her magical grip. Fluttershy looked as if she were about to pass out, cringing into as tight a ball as her spine would allow. “Get rid of one of the bearers, and without a ready replacement, they’re useless.” A surge of magic filled the gardens with a shrill, piercing scream that echoed through the entire castle for its volume and pitch.

“FLUTTERSHY!” Everypony but the queen and Trixie cried out as the Pegasus was wreathed in blue flames. She fell to the ground kicking and screaming, trying to roll and extinguish the magical flames as they burned her feathers and fur away. All the poor, gentle Pegasus could do was cry, roll and scream as every pony watched on with shock. Even Ironhead never expected the queen to use the slow-burning blue fire on any of her victims, making even his jaw drop just a little.

“LET HER GO!” Trixie screamed. A blast of magic erupted from her horn, shattering the barrier around her and the others. Eos turned around just in time to have the beam of white magic smack her in the face and send her flying back into the castle, screaming through the crumbling wall. The sudden flash snapped Twilight out of her stupor, causing her and the others to gallop over to Fluttershy’s aid.

With a flash of her horn, the blue fires abated, but the damage had already been done. The Pegasus lay upon the ground; weeping and still as even the presence of air made her burn in pain and shed more tears. Her once yellow coat was gone, replaced by the smouldering black and crispy skin underneath. If they had not seen it happen, they would not have recognized her as Fluttershy, for her mane had burned away as well. “Twilight... why...?” she spoke softly before her stiff legs collapsed, her teal eyes fading in warmth and becoming unfocused.

Tears welled up in Twilight’s eyes as she realized that Fluttershy was dead... that her other self had killed one of her best friends in cold blood like the monster she was! “AHHH! TWILIGHT!!” Another scream echoed in her ears, making her wrench her eyes from the burned corpse in front of her.

“How DARE you attack me, you little FOAL!?” Eos yelled back, holding Trixie aloft in her magic. Her front and back legs extended out as if she were lying flat on an invisible bed, but the panic that was held in those purple eyes told Twilight that she was not just being held in place. The occasional gasp or louder moan of pain would escape the blue unicorn’s mouth, each making the queen smile wider and wider.

“I never thought I would EVER hate a smile,” Pinkie whimpered behind her alicorn friend, still weeping for her loss. Twilight took a step forward, but Trixie screamed in pain, making her stop.

“If you want me to kill her faster, then by all MEANS come closer,” the queen jeered. “The same goes for any spell casting you might try.”

“TWILIGHT!” Trixie screamed through the pain. “She’s going to kill me anyway! Do it! Attack her! Make her bleed! KILL HER!!”

“Okay, that is ENOUGH from you, oh Great and Powerful Trixie.” With a grunt of powerful magic, another shrill scream filled the castle of Canterlot as the unicorn was quite gruesomely ripped in half just from the sheer force being exerted on her. The ground below became a large pool of spreading blood as the screams became fainter the further the two halves of her body were separated. Twilight could only watch in horror as her body parts were dropped unceremoniously onto the floor, a look of extreme pain still on the blue mare’s face.

Hot tears welled up in the alicorn’s face, anger that she had not felt in ages burning inside her as the spark of life finally faded from Trixie’s eyes. The ground shook and cracked at her hoofsteps, causing her friends to wisely back away. Never before in her life had she wanted to kill more than at that moment, not even when she thought that Celestia saw her as nothing but a tool to die for her own ends.

“You... killed... our... sister,” she fumed, voice cracking as tears spilled unabated. “YOU KILLED OUR LITTLE SISTER!!” Her mane and tail erupted into raging torrent of pure solar flare, her eyes burning with all the heat of the sun as she glared at the alicorn before her. Even the Eos inside her mind raged with her, indignant at the inexcusable actions of their counterpart. The grass around them flashed into ash from the extreme heat radiating from her body.

Without any warning, Twilight bounded forth at unprecedented speed, her hooves burning the grass where they landed. Eos had no time to react before she felt her reflection’s horn gore her in the chest again, burrowing deep into her stomach as the charging pony cried in rage. The queen grunted and went flying, streaming blood from her wound before crashing through one of the castle walls and onto a desk in an office.

“YOU MONSTER!” Twilight screamed as she slowly approached the reeling monarch. Eos pushed herself off the pile of junk and limped out of the hole in the wall, the painkillers for her leg having worn off. “I thought you had a chance at redemption! But do you know what you are, Eos? You are a MONSTER! An IRREDEEMABLE, CRUEL MONSTER! You are a DEMON in pony flesh and I’m sending you back to the Hells the HARD WAY!”

“Not if I kill you first!” Eos yelled back, charging her horn with a magical spell. However, before she could finish, she could feel the tingle of magic on her withers and was suddenly picked up, breaking her concentration. “Let me go, cretin!” The queen cried out as she was brought close, dangling over her head before being violently spun in place like a flail. Her vision blurred as the flaming mare twirled her around, making her yell in primal fear before being released.

She could only see the subtle play of colours upon the twilight sky as she flew through the air, mind still reeling from the sudden attacks and anger of her opponent . Maybe it was not such a good idea to kill her friends after all? Her thought was cut short by her back slamming through the shingled roof, splintering eaves in the attic before falling down into a bathtub with a groan.

As soon as she had let go of the tyrant, Twilight took to the skies for the first time since changing her shape. She missed her armour, since it had sloughed off when she blasted the queen out of the castle, but it was holding her back. Eos had her chance to end this all and cooperate, but she had spit in her face and now she had to deal with the consequences: namely, her head being mounted on a pike.

A trail of smoke from her burning mane and tail was left in her wake as she flew, her target smashing into the roof of the staff apartments with a royal thud. Twilight gave quick pursuit, slamming into her just seconds after she had fallen into the tub. Porcelain, wood and stone flew in their faces as the impact forced them both through the floor and down into a bedroom below.

The bed caught on fire beneath them, as did most of the wooden furniture in the room just from exposure to the heat of her raging flame. Eos growled and shoved her off with all the force she could muster, sending Twilight through the wall and into the hall. The stone floor began to melt as she picked herself up, the odd piece of furniture or picture combusting.

Fixtures in the ceiling that had not melted rattled as the ground shook, a pillar of dust rising as parts of the castle began to collapse around them. The ferocity of their battle was not helping to keep the rapidly aging structure sound as a piece of ceiling down the hall collapsed and fell onto a couch and potted plant. How long would it be before bigger structures, or even whole wings, began to collapse? The two alicorns stared at each other for only a second, but it felt more like an hour.

Twilight grabbed hold of Eos with her magic and ran down the hall, pulling her with her through stone, wood, anything that happened to be in the way, while her foe struggled to break free. “How could you do that!?” she shouted in anger as shattering ceramic and splashing water echoed across the room. “How could you have killed our sister and one of our best friends so easily!? Have you forgotten EVERYTHING about friendship!? Tell me, Eos! TELL ME!!”

With a mighty smash, she shoved the queen right through the floor and down another couple of stories into the basement. Twilight followed, mercilessly slamming her hooves into the heap of tangled limbs and wet lavender, making her cry out in muffled pain. The raging pony stepped off of her double, still burning in anger. “ANSWER ME,” she demanded of the goddess.

Eos pulled herself up on her front hooves, shards of ceramic embedded into her face that created streams of blood which dripped off of her wet muzzle. Her once regal and well groomed mane flapped in the ethereal breeze in tangles, the once orderly fading of day to night disorganized and frayed. Her wings were badly ruffled and her horn had a tiny hairline crack in it that made her head throb in pain. “They... betrayed me,” she panted when she finally got onto four hooves.

“HOW?” Twilight questioned. “How could they have POSSIBLY betrayed you?”

“They tried to rebel against me and ATTACKED ME!” she shouted in anger. Twilight had no time to recognize that her doppelganger had disappeared before she grabbed her shadow and started to attack it. She grunted and reeled from each strike, as if the queen were hitting her with her own hooves. Thinking through the pain, the rebellious alicorn called upon roots from the still living flora outside, making them wrap around and restrain the concentrating queen.

Eos opened her eyes and choked as one of the roots wrapped tightly around her neck, causing her to break concentration from her spell. “It’s because you’re a TYRANT!” Twilight shouted to the struggling monarch as more roots wrapped around her like a chrysalis. “You stole your powers, claimed the title of Queen, and made every pony suffer because you were too proud to accept any help!”

The roots caught on fire once the magic making them grow faded, but they had served their purpose. Eos looked at her with a mix of disbelief and anger, though not as much as her own. Even if she felt sorry now, Twilight did not care. So the queen made her care.

With her strong telekinesis, the older mare grabbed Twilight Sparkle and tossed her up into the air, taking wing right after her. However, as soon as she cleared the hole leading out, she was met by a wall of red magical fire that clung to her skin like a blanket. She cried out and rolled on the floor screaming into a group of ponies still fighting. “Your majesty!” cried out one of the guards as he felled a member of the militia.

Before he could be of any aid to the queen, Twilight burst through the ceiling between her and the Pegasus, landing on the floor forcefully, cracking it beneath her hooves. He cried out in fear at the sight of the second alicorn and bolted out of the window before he burst into flames, taking flight over the valley below. She paid him no mind, keeping her sights focused solely on the writhing tyrant in front of her.

But she had tired of her screams of pain, channeling magic into her horn once more. Queen Eos shivered as she felt her body become encased in a thick blanket of ice, unable to move or concentrate on magic though the bone-chilling cold that crept upon her soul. She tried to flex her muscles to break free of the thin layer of ice, but before she had the chance, her body was surrounded by the familiar glow of purplish-red magic. Ponyfeathers.

Eos landed upon the ground with a resounding smash, shattering the ice that clung to her. “Damn, that mare packs a punch,” she groaned as she struggled to get back onto her hooves. Somehow, she was being beaten, and not just because of her anger. A particularly annoying little voice in her mind nagged at her to stop fighting and accept her fate: that she was right and that they needed to die. Said voice was promptly vanquished, and not a moment too soon.

The queen cried out again as the irksome mare landed on her, shoving her face into the dirt from the force of the impact. She moaned into the ground as the question of how she got so powerful wafted back into her waking mind. However, she would not be afforded time to dwell on the thought as a pair of hooves grabbed her roughly so that she could see the raging face of Twilight.

Grunting with every strike, her eyes streamed hot tears as she remembered the looks on her friends’ faces as they died and how the mare under her hoof smiled. “WHO’S SMILING NOW!?” she screamed in rage as the queen’s face slowly became a bloody pulp. Sobs escaped Twilights’ muzzle as the force of her strikes lessened, sniffing and blinking until she felt her anger dissipate completely. Her mane and tail puffed, turning from raw plasma back into enchanted strands of hair.

Using the moment of weakness, the queen kicked her assailant off hard with her rear hooves, sending her flying into a once handsome bush. She breathed heavily, blood streaming out of her nose and mouth. One of her eyes was black and she sported several cuts and bruises all over her body. But the one thing that hurt more than anything else was her pride. Once an untouchable queen-goddess, she looked like a tattered shadow of her former glory.

She stood up as several cracks sounded from her joints, making her groan as waves of pain washed across her body. Eos shook her head to be rid of a buzzing noise in her ear, probably from when her face was being stamped into the dirt. Twilight had pushed herself up from the bush and was on her hooves too, unaware that the remaining Elements of Harmony were still watching the fight from a safe hiding place.

The two ponies began to circle around each other like Timberwolves fighting for dominance over the pack. Never once did they take their eyes off of the other, wholly focused on their opponent. Using some of her magic, Twilight recreated her blade of pure mana, expecting a close-range confrontation while their magic pools replenished. The queen followed in kind, summoning two instead to try and intimidate her opponent.

Is the reason she’s using two JUST to double her offensive capabilities? Twilight wondered as they continued to stalk one another. Then again, considering all the tactical mistakes she had made during their fight, she would not put it past the tyrannical alicorn to think that way about her fighting style. After all, until she had come around, the queen was the most powerful single creature in the world.

They charged, cutting into each other’s swords at the same time to create a rippling crack as raw magic clashed together, sending off sparks of mana from the raw force of impact. Eos growled and pushed back with all of her might, forcing her double back a step. She was not smiling anymore, her face in a tight grimace of concentration and spite as she fought tooth and hoof, now that she knew she could be hurt quite easily by Twilight.

Meanwhile, in the bushes on the side of the battlefield, the remaining Crusaders, Elements of Harmony, Spike and Ironhead watched as the two alicorns clashed. Quarters were cramped, and all of them were ready to flee at a moment’s notice. The occasional sniff or snob would echo from the once happy party pony,who continued to mourn over the death of one of her best friends. In fact, she did not even register one of her premonitory twitches occurring.

“Pinkie! Keep your tail out of my face,” Rarity bemoaned as her friends puffy tail kept smacking her muzzle. “It’s twitching all over the pla-” A look of horror suddenly flashed upon her features as she remembered what that meant. One never forgot what one of her weird twitches meant, especially if it were her tail. “We have to move. NOW!” The ground began to groan and rumble the instant she finished speaking, large gaping cracks cutting into the stone behind them.

Seeing the source of the drama, the other mares gasped and grabbed the distraught pink pony, dragging her out from behind the bushes and quickly past the line of sight of the two warring mares, who gave the crumbling structure no mind. A blast like cannon-fire echoed across the mountain as a shower of debris exploded from the base of the library tower, raining down upon the goddesses and other ponies. Shouts and cries of warning could be heard through the courtyards and gardens of the palace.

Glass shattered and stones fell from high above, the very ground at the base of the structure heaving as the foundations of the castle wing gave way. As it succumbed to gravity, a billowing cloud of ashy gray smoke erupted from the base. The basement under the wing collapsed under the intense strain, causing the tower to list to the side, toppling over towards a group of ponies struggling to get away.

The remaining elements screamed as they ran under the looming shade of death, the doomed tower casting its final shadow upon them. Ironhead limped behind the rest of the herd, his damaged leg beginning to chip and crumble away. By the time they were through, he was only half way across. There would not be enough time. He stopped his flight and twisted his head to see the instrument of his destruction. He sighed, then furrowed his brows in concentration. “...I believe the expression for this is... ‘Oh shit.’” And then he smiled defiantly until his fate ended him.

“You do realize that was the Library, don’t you?” Twilight jeered, having not seen the valiant golem fail to escape the destruction. Ponies of both sides took the large structural collapse as a cue to take their fighting somewhere else, if the now constant shaking of the ground was not hint enough.

“I don’t care! It can be rebuilt once your blood stains the ground!” the queen grunted in effort as she tried to push her back again. The other mare stood her ground, unmoving as the mountain to her opponent’s howling winds. Large, winding cracks began to spread in the ground and walls of the castle as sections collapsed into a heap. Eos snarled as she slowly began to realize that maybe things would not be quite so simple once the battle was over.

Flapping her ruffled, lavender wings, the queen took to the air with a sneer. “You may have toppled Canterlot, but you will never topple me!” she cried out. With great thrusts, she propelled herself further into the sky, gathering as much magic and power as she could from the stalled sun which waited on the horizon for her push like an obedient dog.

Twilight kicked off with all the force she could muster, cratering the ground beneath her and shot off like a bullet towards the queen. Cursing her lack of time to charge, the monarch fired her spell anyway: a torrent of pure solar corona that was like unto lightning, turning the air around it into plasma. The other alicorn rolled out of the way in mid flight to avoid the superheated beam as it cut into the ground below and down a swath of land as the queen moved her head to catch her in it.

Her opponent grunted and gave a mighty lurch with her wings, slamming head-first into the queen’s underside, eliciting a cry of pain as she struck her freshly healed wounds. A quick blast of magic sent her flying higher into the air, allowing her to dive bomb the inexperienced flier. The two of them collided with a mighty thud and remained entangled with each other during the long descent, hooves striking blows on various wounds and other weak points.

The two of them crashed right through a tower, causing it to crumble and collapsed behind them before Twilight managed to buck Eos off and stop her from plunging them into the river below. What would make this tyrant stop? No matter how hard she bucked or what spell she threw at her, the goddess would not receive anything more major than a moderate wound. It was beginning to wear her down, for under her dust-covered coat she was sweating and beginning to feel the strain of using so much magic at once.

A smirk made itself known across the queen’s battered and bloodied face as she surveyed her counterpart. Her increased breathing told her that she was being worn down slowly. She may have had an edge when her rage was controlling her, but she burned up a lot of magic and energy at the same time while she still had plenty left to spare before she even broke a sweat. “Feeling the burn already, Twilight Sparkle?” she taunted. “I have not had a workout like this in sometime, but I have just barely finished warming up. Then again, I DO have the power of TWO gods.”

Before she could come up with a witty reply, there sounded an almighty crash as the mountain itself groaned in despair. Eos’ jaw dropped at the sight, making Twilight think she was trying to fake her out, but the multitude of screams that sounded behind her caused her curiosity to get the better of her. She turned around to watch, flying more to the side of the queen in case of a sneak attack. What she saw made her jaw drop as well.

Large sections of the castle’s support structure crumbled away, sending dirt and stone flying into the air as large chunks dropped into the valley below. Streams of water shot out of large gashes in the castle’s side as towers and buildings collapsed onto each other. The very foundations of the castle crumbled and slid down the side of the mountain in a great rumbling growl akin to a snoring dragon. Birds and animals for miles around took flight as huge chunks of stone fell to the valley below, one after another.

Towers fell towards the mountain face as the base divorced itself from the side, deteriorating with every passing second as ponies screamed in terror and pain. However, it suddenly found itself wedged on an outcropping of rock and slid no further. The weight of the structures up top made it tilt forward towards the two alicorns, groaning and crumbling before it toppled over a ledge like a tower of toy blocks writ large. The air itself shuddered and shook as the remains of the castle crumbled into a heap of soiled alabaster in the valley below.

How many ponies had just died, or were now trapped in the twisted tangle of stone, wood and marble? What would it take to get Eos to stop!? Grabbing her in her telekinetic hold, Twilight cried out in anger and threw her with all the force she could muster into the side of the mountain where hundreds of ponies had congregated in their escape of the doomed castle.

The queen was winded as her chest slammed into the hard rock, vision swimming before her eyes as she hugged the boulder jammed into her gut. Before she could even register what happened, a sea of lavender filled her vision as a hoof bucked her in the face, sending her careening into the crowd below. Ponies gasped and dispersed as Eos pulled herself up once more, getting really irritated at being constantly tossed to the ground like so much trash.

But Twilight had other plans, jumping onto the still recovering alicorn and pinning her to the ground with a look of raw hatred on her features. With a wave of magic, her ethereal sword burst into existence, the blade placed right against her throat, drawing blood slightly, but no further. For the second time in her life, Twilight Sparkle stood perched upon a defeated monarch. “Do you yield, Eos?”

“Never!” she literally spat. “I am immortal, you stupid twit! So you have me pinned? I’ll just buck you off and we’ll be back to square one. The world will fall much like Canterlot itself before I meet my end, and there is nothing you can do about it, Twilight Sparkle!”

Every pony around them gasped as a string of white magic touched the alicorn’s head. A look of wild fear coming into the queen’s eyes as the familiar sensation of the spell washed over her. “No!” she cried out before realizing that it was not her counterpart casting the spell. “... But who...?” The queen rolled her eyes into her sockets, looking behind to see a purplish-grey unicorn with her horn encased in the warm glow of white magic.

“Dinky!” Twilight cried. “What are you doing!? Stop it!”

“Sorry, Twilight,” she shook her head. “It... It needs to be done.”

“You can’t!” Sweetie Belle cried, forcing her way through the crowd with the help of Scootaloo. “If you do that... if you go through with it, you’ll...”

“It has to be me,” she smiled, “since I am the only one with nothing to lose. Sweetie, you have your sister to think about, and Scootaloo has her own family. There’s nopony left for me.”

“But you have us: your friends!” the orange Pegasus pleaded. “If you don’t have a family, we can be your family! Just please, don’t leave us!”

“No other pony knows the spell except Twilight and nopony else I can teach it to can be trusted. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. What better than to give it to somepony who doesn’t want anything to do with any of that? Besides... it’s not goodbye. I’ll see you girls every day at every sunrise and sunset.” Tears started cresting upon her eyes as the light spread over her body. “I love you all.”

Eos gasped in horror as the light overtook her shortly after, crying out in faint hope that someone would deliver her from her fate. Twilight stood above her and looked her in the eye, even as her illuminated silhouette began to shrink and lose its wings. She breathed a sigh of relief that the nightmare was finally going to be over... unless the young unicorn had an ulterior motive in mind. What did she mean about seeing her friends at sunset and sunrise?

Looking up from the felled queen, the lavender alicorn gasped with the rest of the crowd at the emerging alicorn. Her figure shot up into the air, horn lengthening and wings spreading under the white energy of the spell. The beam between her and the old queen thinned before snapping from existence, the white of the spell fading to reveal the newly minted goddess.

Her grey coat sparkled in the late evening sun, mane and tail flowing in the solar breeze; streaks of black night mixed with yellow sun, creating an aurora of colours in between. Silver shoes gleamed like gentle starlight while her silver crown shined like the sun, dazzling the ponies with their beauty and raw clout. “From this evening forward,” she spoke, her voice as calm as a mother’s tones but strong as thunder, “the sun and moon shall move of their own accord.”

“Please... Dinky...” Twilight tried one last time.

“Good luck to you, Twilight.” Her horn blazed in power, her body surrounded by golden light spreading outward. The energy whirled, hinting at the power behind it as her form vanished, transforming into a ball of energy. In a breath’s time, it shot up into the sky, leaving a trail of yellow plasma. Once it got far enough into the air, it exploded like a Sonic Rainboom, radiating out and over the canopy of the skies, leaving the atmosphere sparkling in its wake as the new mistress of the heavens took the eternal throne.

Soft sobs echoed in Twilight’s ears, reminding her that there was still a necessary task at hoof, and ponies that needed to be avenged for a decade’s worth of brutal rule. The once regal Queen Eos laid low as a second Twilight Sparkle, her eyes glistening as tears rolled down her cheeks. They widened the instant she realized that her shadow was looking back and recoiled slightly at her gaze.

Ponies took a step forward, her remaining friends at the forefront as they kept their distance, most surprised, to say the least, by this turn of events. “Wait... so there are TWO Twilight Sparkles... and one of them was the queen!?” one of them shouted, setting the crowd off into a murmur. Twilight was afraid something like this would happen, but thankfully her friends stepped in for her.

“Yeah, but so what?” Applejack shouted over the din. “At least we know the pony that LOOKS like Eos is the one that’s gonna kill her once and for all!”

“Kill the queen! Kill the queen! Kill the queen!” the crowd chanted repeatedly as they eyed the alicorn standing over the defeated monarch. Eos cringed slightly as the blade of Twilight’s magical sword was brought back to her throat, ready to behead her as promised.

“What are you waiting for?” the former ruler of Equestria choked. “Kill me! R-release me from the pain of guilt, so that I may go to the Hells. I... It’s the best that I can hope for.” Was that... remorse? Did she really feel sorry for everything that she had done, or was she simply saying it to make herself feel better about dying? Nonetheless, before the final curtain, before the last verse had been sung, Twilight needed to know one thing.

“I have one thing to ask before I kill you, Queen Eos: why did you kill Celestia and Luna?”

Tears stopped flowing from her eyes, a look of burning anger, though restrained, flaring up inside. She bared her teeth, as if she had just heard the worst insult ever. “You want to know why I killed them?” she hissed. “I killed them because they planned to USE me! Celestia made me to DIE for Luna’s sake! BUT, she changed her stupid plan and then, more or less, DUMPED ME because I had outlived my USEFULNESS! So I took her HEAD!”

“Why did you take her head, instead of sending her to eternal torment on the sun like we planned!?” Twilight stamped her hoof into the ground next to her ear.

“That... that...” Tears welled up in Eos’ eyes once more though her acidic gaze. “That bitch said she LOVED ME!! SHE LIED TO MY FACE, EVEN IN HER FINAL MOMENTS!!” Twilight had to lean her head back in order to not be deafened by her crying roar of primal fury. But through the ringing in her ears, her mind went to work, putting the pieces together. Celestia said she loved her in her final moments? But when... Her mind flashed back to that horrible day.

"Twilight," the former princess spoke in barely more than a whisper. Her voice was much higher then she remembered. "No, don't do this. I.."

"My name," Twilight replied, her voice booming and commanding to all who should hear it. "Is Eos now. 'Her Royal Highness, Princess Eos of Equestria, Regent of the Sun.' Do not forget that, CELESTIA."

"Don't kill me, Twi- I mean, Eos. I know I did some horrible things, but PLEASE, don't destroy the pony that I've grown to respect so much!"

"Oh, I'm not going to kill you," Eos replied. "I'm simply going to banish you to what you have misused for so long. Enjoy an ETERNITY on the sun!" Her royal horn dazzled in light as she finished her sentence, quickly wrapping the bleeding mare under her in a blanket of light.

"No! Twilight! Don't! I love..." However, before Celestia could utter that last word, she vanished from the face of Equestria. Eos cackled in triumph as she kicked at the pooled blood under her hoof.

It was in that moment that an epiphany washed over her mind: the only thing separating her from the Twilight upon the ground was A SINGLE WORD.

She felt as if a bucket of cold water had been dumped upon her back. Oh, my stars! If... If Celestia had finished that ‘I love you’... I would have been FURIOUS. I would have turned into HER! Her eyes once again found the other Twilight crying as the sword of mana pressed into her throat. Bitter tears ran down Twilight’s cheeks as she saw nopony in those puffy, purple eyes but herself. Against her better judgement, she stepped off of the battered pony, to the shock of the crowd.

“What are you doing, Twilight!? KILL HER!” Rarity cried. “She’s EVIL! Remember how she killed Fluttershy and Trixie? She probably did just as bad, if not WORSE to Derpy, Zecora, and a whole HOST of others!” The mob shouted in agreement, angered cries of revenge sounding against the mountain.

“NO, SHE ISN’T!” The crowd gasped and took a step back. “Eos isn’t evil! Not... Not on her own, at least. I once let my anger and pain get the better of me. I... I said I had learned from my mistakes, but I obviously have not. Instead of accepting what I had done and taking it in stride, I... let somepony else take the blame because I was more comfortable dealing with it by saying that it was someone else’s mistake the whole time: that I could never do something like that unless there was something ELSE that was evil and controlling me.

“But that is NOT true. I was in control: I let myself fall prey to murderous rage, because I could not handle the pain. All Queen Eos... and I... are guilty of is not LEARNING from our mistakes. We’ve done some pretty horrible things, I will admit... and she does feel genuine remorse: enough to offer her life to me for her sins. But does she deserve to die? Death doesn’t solve anything. Sure, I could kill her, but what would that do?”

The question hung in the air for some time, letting the ponies mull on the implications of what they were asking her to do. “KILL HER!!” somepony shouted, re-igniting the chorus screaming for her death. Twilight’s heart fell out of her stomach when she saw all of her friends baying for her blood to be spilled. Slowly, the crowd began to draw closer to the pair, the de-powered Eos clutching in fright to one of her hind legs, sobbing.

“If you want to kill her, you will have to kill me too!” Twilight called out, forming her swords of magic. The ponies stopped dead in their tracks, giving her a calculating look as if boring into her soul. And then, they did something quite unexpected: they clapped! Hooves pounded the dirt as they cheered, hats and helmets alike being thrown into the air in celebration.

“What the Hells is going o-” However, before she could finish her thought, her voice caught in her throat. That sensation of cold swept across her entire body, squeezing the air out of her lungs and making her head spin. She fell to the floor, her legs becoming transparent. She wanted to scream; to cry out in aid to the cheering ponies around her, but none came to her aid. The last thing she knew was her face rushing up to meet the ground.

~*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*

“Do you have any threes?” a familiar voice spoke in the cold, crushing darkness.

“Go fish,” an unfamiliar, masculine one replied.

Twilight felt as if she were in a vacuum where the temperature did not stray much above negative one. No matter how much she shivered and quaked, heat refused to be generated by her body. The pressure was overwhelming at first, but beginning to taper off the more she focused on it. Unlike last time she had felt this way, she felt... whole... complete even. She could even smell something similar to moss and moisture. There was no real way to describe the other sensation she felt until the pressure relented, allowing her to take a deep, gasping breath.

Her eyes opened, darkness blurring together with light to create a sick mixture of the two that made her head swim even more. A moan escaped her lips as she struggled to move, managing to raise her front and drag herself up a slight slope before giving in to gravity. A dull thud filled the room as her body impacted the smooth stone, joined by the first voice. “It would seem that she has awakened. This will have to be our last round, Night Ranger.”

“It’s just as well, your majesty. You owe me fifty bits.”

“Oh, hush,” the feminine voice replied. Twilight squinted and blinked her eyes. With each time, the out of focus images came back sharper and brighter than the one previous. The blurs on the opposite side of the room twisted and changed to become Princess Luna and some unknown Pegasus stallion in a black and purple flight suit. “It is about time you woke, Twilight Sparkle. I was becoming quite bored.”

A million questions raced in her skull, each more urgent and important than the last. Her majesty’s teal eyes looked at her with a mixture of irritation and relief as she sat at a magically conjured table on a chair made of shadows and smoke. The most pressing question, she decided, could be answered with her own eyes. She took a breath and twisted her neck to look at her back: there was nothing there. Nothing that is, except for the Pool of Midnight, gently swirling in its ethereal, silvery glow.

With that mystery solved, the next one barged its way into her waking mind. “What happened!?” She pushed herself onto her hooves and swayed weakly, struggling to maintain her balance.

“I told you not to touch that pool, and what was the FIRST thing you do? Really, Twilight, I thought you had more restraint than that.”

“But! But I was in a world set ten years after I attacked you and Celestia! I... in that world, I had killed you and taken over the nation! My friends betrayed me and did horrible, HORRIBLE things to me!” She could not stop the tears coming forward from her eyes as it all came out: all the pain and suffering she had endured. It all returned to her like a runaway train had smashed into her.

“Relax. Breathe, Twilight. It’s okay. It was all just inside of your head, like a dream, or a really bad nightmare,” Luna soothed. “But it is over now and we may resume the work we set out to complete last night.”

“Wait... you’re telling me that... that it was a DREAM!?” the purple mare shouted, uncaring that her heated words were towards a living goddess. “Do you know what I went through!? I had my friends BETRAY ME! They HURT me! Made me BLEED! Hells, one of them even had me TORTURED MERCILESSLY FOR DAYS ON END!! Yet you have the NERVE to tell me that it was all a DREAM? That none of it MATTERS!? GO FUCK YOURSELF, LUNA!!”

The princess of the moon felt her jaw drop in shock at what had just occurred. Of all the things she had heard of Twilight Sparkle, the one she never expected was to hear her actually swear at a pony. However, instead of getting mad, her millennia of experience tempered her response as she stole a glance at the unicorn’s head, leading to a curt smile that graced her royal lips. “I never said it was a dream, Twilight Sparkle. I said it was all in your head. Your body was submerged in the pool and never left. Your MIND, however, was given purchase elsewhere.”

“What do you mean?” the mare replied in a more even tone.

“I am saying that it DID matter, but the best way to deal with it is to think of it as a dream. Celestia too has gone into the pool, and had an experience like yours. To her, it was quite real. I trust her judgment.”

“So... what happened exactly? Was I shown a different timeline? Maybe, perhaps, I experienced an alternate reality?” Although her pain still throbbed, her academic mind wheeled into action, subconsciously cataloguing the experience for future use.

“That, I cannot say,” Luna spoke in a whisper as the stallion, table, and chairs all vanished in a wisp of darkness. “I did not make the pool, so I have no clue how it works. I am simply its guardian and keeper. At best, I can conjecture that you MIGHT have been shown a reality dependent upon your actions, but I KNOW that what happened in that pool was real. Look upon your head for the reason.”

Now that she mentioned it, Twilight did feel a slight weight upon her head. Using her magic, she pulled the object off, which was sitting just behind her horn. “Hmm. Your magic has changed colour and feeling. That is a little unusual,” the midnight alicorn commented. The librarian did not really hear her, since she was stunned into focus. A large crown had sat atop her head, gleaming in gold and onyx despite the low levels of sunlight seeping in through the crack in the ceiling. It was her crown: Queen Eos’ crown.

“Ahhh!” Twilight screamed as she flung the offensive object against the wall, making it clatter loudly against the solid stone. Yet, it did not break despite how hard she had thrown it. Tears of confusion slipped down her face, and she curled up into a ball on the cold stone floor, her body rocking with sobs, as her mind struggled to process what she had just been through.

“Shhh,” Luna whispered, grabbing her with her hooves in a gentle hug. “It is over, Twilight. Be at peace. If you must speak your feelings, do so to Celestia when we return to Canterlot. She would understand what has happened to you far better than I. For now, I ask you be strong, since I cannot move the pool without you. Can you be strong for me?”

Twilight nodded her head despite her streaming tears, forcing them down so they could be properly released. Luna was right; they had come here to do a job. She just had to hang on a little while longer, and soon they could be free of the traumatic experience. An indigo blue glow of magic surrounded the abandoned crown, sending it off to parts unknown in what she imagined to be a gesture of good faith. The unicorn nodded her head and stood, ready to finish the job they had started.

~*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*~

Clicking hooves upon hard marble echoed through the cavernous halls and passages of Canterlot. Twilight looked around nervously, as if expecting the majestic castle to collapse at any moment and plunge her back into that world of darkness. A sniff would accompany the sound of her steps sometimes as she fought to keep her composure on her way to the royal apartments. It was a struggle to hold everything back, and she could tell some of the guards who knew her felt something was wrong, but once she could, it would feel all the better.

Finally, the grand doors of Celestia’s bedchamber became visible. Golden decorations adorned the alabaster doors, wrapping them in a delicate embrace that featured the likeliness of the sun and other celestial bodies upon them. She did not care much for formalities as she trotted up to the guards, giving them no more than a nod, for fear of sobbing if she were to open her mouth.

Her distress must have been obvious, since neither guard asked her to state her business with the solar monarch. Instead, they nodded their heads in kind and took a step to the side. Twilight gave her usual knock before twisting the handles in her new aura, not waiting on a reply before casting the doors open. She trotted inside as properly as possible before shutting the door quickly, feeling the burning of tears on the corners of her eyes.

The fresh, familiar scent of morning dew upon blades of lush grass wafted over her muzzle as she drank in her mentor’s room; not a hair of it had changed since the last time she had been inside, except for the atmosphere of fear and regret. Large royal red curtains were pulled aside, letting the afternoon sun shine in with all of its brilliance and power. The hearth of the fireplace was empty and so were the pillows in front of it.

“Just a second,” called out a melodious voice from deeper inside the apartment. “Please, make yourself comfortable.” The gentle patter of water registered in the unicorn’s ears, making her blush as she realized that she had interrupted her mentor’s afternoon shower before she would attend court. She could not bring herself to sit on those velvet cushions that exuded her scent, for she was dirty with failure and wanting of worth.

She stood there for what seemed like ages, trying to hold back the raging torrent of swirling emotions despite being alone with one of the two mares she could trust with anything. What would it say of her if Celestia came out and saw her weeping on the floor? Twilight bit her lips at the idea of bringing her disappointment, but took deep breaths to calm herself down for fear of flying off the handle once more.

“Oh, it is you, Twilight,” the princess of the sun spoke as she poked her head out of the door to her bedroom. She held a towel aloft in her golden aura, rubbing down her mane and giving her ears a good cleaning. The white cloth looked gray next to her sparkling snow-white coat. At first, it struck the unicorn that she was seeing her mentor naked, her vestments glimmering on stands in her bedroom, but she did not care.

Twilight bolted toward her, the tears having finally crested in her eyes. “Mommy!” she cried out, losing all notion of composure. She ran head-first into the alicorn’s chest, making her grunt as the wind was knocked from her lungs. The purple filly openly sobbed as she buried her muzzle into her coat.

Celestia was surprised, to say the least, but immediately bowed her head and rested it upon the unicorn’s back, gently rubbing her with her chin to soothe her heaving frame. “It’s okay, Twilight,” she crooned. Her daughter cried a little harder at the sound of her voice, making her heart ache in sympathy. The pair stayed like that for minutes, simply embracing each other and inhaling their respective scents of lavender and morning dew.

Eventually, the tears stopped flowing and the unicorn’s sobs faded into gentle sniffles against the pearly white pony. Sensing that her crying fit had come to an end, the alicorn reluctantly broke off their hug and looked into her filly’s tear-stained eyes. She led the small pony to lie with her on her bed. “Please, tell me what is wrong, my little pony,” the solar mare spoke as the unicorn shifted beside her to get comfortable.

Seeing her smiling face and genuine concern sparkling in her eyes, Twilight quickly opened up, recounting every detail of her trip with Princess Luna and her misadventure within the Pool of Midnight itself. Tears would escape every once in a while and her voice would break on occasion. But each time, she would be met by her mother’s gentle nuzzle, urging her to continue.

“And so I defended her, even after all the wrong she caused and ponies she hurt. Then, they all started clapping and... and I woke up beside Luna,” she concluded her tale with another sniff. During her recounting, she had failed to notice just how close they had become. In the beginning, they were on either side of the bed, but now she was pressed into the princess’s soft wing, leaning against it for support.

“My, my, it sounds like you had quite the harrowing adventure, Twilight! I am so proud of you; not once did you intentionally murder a pony, despite all of the darkness and voices telling you that you could. Even Genesis said so, but you retained your values. Already, you have proven yourself the better mare of the two of us. I cannot describe my joy!” Craning her neck around, the alicorn gave her another affectionate nuzzle to the cheek.

“How can you be proud of me? I... I didn’t learn from my mistakes. I did not learn the most important lesson from that day. I... I failed you, Celestia. I failed you again! Not to mention how I am wasting your valuable time with my petty problems. You should be in court. Heck, you should be setting the sun by now, not listening to me reveal how badly I disappointed you!”

“Twilight Sparkle,” she spoke firmly, making said unicorn shiver a little. “You and Luna are the two most important ponies to me and I would GLADLY stop everything to help you. Court can wait, and Luna can handle both the sun and moon. Right now, you NEED me and you will NOT leave my side until I am sure that you are feeling better. You did not fail me. In fact, you proved just how grown up you are by ADMITTING your mistake: that you had not learned from a previous mistake.”

“But...”

“No buts, young lady. Remember how I told you that I was not always the kind mare that I am now? That was because I too failed to learn from my past. It took me a trip to the pool to discover for myself how cruel and heartless I had been to my subjects. I would recount the tale for you, but it is, I daresay, more lengthy than yours. It will have to wait for another day. However, maybe you can tell me the story behind this...” Celestia trailed off, using her magic to pull the gold and onyx head decoration off of the top of her wardrobe. The purple pony gasped as it was laid in front of her

“I thought Luna teleported it away after I threw it! I guess it came here, or she sent it to you on purpose. That was Queen Eos’s crown, but I have no idea why the pool gave it to me: I’m no princess. I’m not even a pony! I don’t deserve it, or the responsibility that it represents. You can have it, Princess, maybe even as a relic to remember me by when I pass on.”

“Sometimes the pool bestows gifts to ponies who might need a reminder of the lessons they learned. Twilight, my blood runs through your veins. You ARE royalty, regardless of legal status. Golem or not, you deserve this crown. I know you are too humble to admit it, but you are a leader and not by my design either. Think about it: Element of Magic, All-team Coordinator for Ponyville’s Winter Wrap-up. Those are positions of leadership and trust. I would happily march downstairs this moment and proclaim to the nation that you are my daughter, and that I am so VERY proud to have you in my life.”

“Please, no!” Twilight pleaded, looking into the princess’ eyes as if she were to burst into tears. “I... I don’t...”

“You have not told them yet,” she correctly guessed. The lavender unicorn nodded in affirmation. “I think I understand why: you don’t want ponies to treat you differently. I will respect your wishes, Twilight, but know that, no matter what, your friends will always treat you the same. They love you for who YOU are, not WHAT you are. Luna and I can never claim to have friends like that, since we have always had the crown on our heads.”

The sun had set behind them, casting the room in darkness before the candles and fairy lights ignited on their own. Twilight and Celestia said nothing, simply lying together contently in a silence that stretched on for a long time. It only then became apparent to the unicorn just how tired she truly was: the months of mental activity spent in the other world had taken their toll. “Would you care to sleep here?” the regent of the sun offered.

“I would love to,” the unicorn replied without a second thought. They shuffled in the bed as the covers were pulled away and settled their heads on the large pillows, plenty of room for the two of them. Once Twilight was comfortable, Celestia nestled down around her, pulling the covers over their bodies to stave off the chill of the night. The lights were then blown out, plunging the room into darkness.

“Good night, sweetie,” the princess said softly, as she gently kissed the back of her head.

“Good night, Mom.” Twilight closed her eyes and felt a squirm of movement from under the covers. Something soft draped over her side from under the blankets, causing her to wonder what it was before she felt the tickle of a feather on her thigh. Princess Celestia fanned out a wing over the unicorn protectively, possibly out of instinct as she had already fallen asleep, but maybe as a deliberate act. Either way, she snuggled in a little closer to the alicorn, having not felt so safe or so warm in a very long time.

The wisps of sleep took hold of Twilight, blessing her with wonderful, happy dreams now that she was free of the nightmare. Other adventures would have to wait.

Epilogue

Chapter 25: Epilogue

Sunshine spilled onto the viridian lawn as the morning sun crested over the battlements of the old castle, causing the dew still clinging to the blades to sparkle before evaporating. Twilight trotted down the steps from the south doors to enjoy a leisurely morning stroll through the gardens, as she used to do in days gone by when she recovered from being upset.

Predictably, Princess Celestia had not been there when she had awakened, nor was she down at breakfast in the royal dining room. An invitation to eat there was a lifetime affair, and it was far better than sitting with the rest of the staff awkwardly in her usual corner table while not talking to any pony. She might have learned how to make friends, but that did not stop the castle staff from being just a little skittish around her, being the personal student to a living goddess and all.

The mare looked at her surroundings as she walked, flashing back to her fight with the queen tyrant occasionally when a bush or flower looked funny. The images of death and destruction would probably be burned into her memory forever, which she hoped would not be a hindrance to her in the future. She closed her eyes and sighed, deciding she had delayed her return home long enough.

Normally, she would have been happy to go home and see her friends and extended family in Ponyville. But after all that had happened, there remained a foalish worry that perhaps this was all just a dream: that she would wake to find her friends were still dead. You’re being silly, Twilight, she thought to herself as she left the gardens and headed towards the front gates.

A sound of wooden wheels upon the hard cobblestone ground in her ears as she approached the gates, the jingling of a harness creating a curious melody with the other noises. It was probably just a cart of supplies for the kitchens or a shipment of papers for some of the royal offices. Although, it was strange that they did not take it around to the back entrance, since delivery carts were usually pegasus-driven.

However, the sight of a familiar azure unicorn pulling the wagon answered her question, but posed several more. “Trixie!?” she spoke to herself in little more than a whisper.

“Ungrateful cretins,” the mare voiced as she unhitched herself from her cart. “How dare they search the Great and Powerful Trixie so roughly! I ought to file a formal complaint while I am here about these barbarian ta-” Before she could finish speaking, the magician was suddenly bowled over by a shape of furry lavender and found herself pinned to the ground. “Watch where you are going, you incompetent twit! You have just run into the most powerful unicorn in all Equestria: The Great and Powerful Trix-” For the second time, she was interrupted, this time by a big hug.

“Trixie!” cried a familiar voice. “I can’t tell you how happy I am to see you alive! How have you been doing, little sister?”

“Twilight Sparkle! Trixie demands that you release her this instant! You are crushing her ribcage!”

“Sorry,” she replied with a blush, moving aside so her sister could let herself up and regain her breath. The egotistical mare coughed and wheezed as she pulled the air back into her lungs, eyes burning from the lack of oxygen. Her face glowed a tinge of red out of both the embarrassment of being publicly associated with her and anger at nearly being strangled.

“What on Celestia’s green earth has gotten INTO you!? Trixie was minding her own business when WHAM! She’s assaulted by her own overzealous elder sibling without so much as a warning!” she wheezed, her voice a little hoarse. A light titter of mirthful laughter made her burn a little redder in the face.

“I guess I just... didn’t expect to run into you here and I wanted to say hello, but I got overexcited,” Twilight said. “I mean, I haven’t heard from you in a while and Mom hasn’t said anything about you either, and I worry. It’s my job as the older sister to worry about my younger siblings, but that does not excuse me for bowling you over like I did. I just... I had a dream last night... and you died in it and... I apologize.”

Trixie gave her a funny look, as if she had been smacked across the head with a plank of wood. However, as soon as it arrived, it was gone, replaced by that familiar smug smile Twilight had grown to love. “Trixie is flattered that you are dreaming of her, but quite frankly, she is appalled. As if the Great and Powerful Trixie could ever die, be it in a dream or not!”

The elder unicorn rolled her eyes sarcastically after a light peal of giggles. “Never change, Trixie.” A silence stretched out between them, growing steadily more awkward until she decided to break it. “So... what brings you out to Canterlot Castle? Applying for another performance date?”

“Among other things, yes. You see, Trixie has learned that pony magic is quite popular to see outside the borders of Equestria. So, she seeks a visa to travel and work in foreign lands for the time being, namely Draconia. She will be the only show in town: maybe even performing for kings and queens of foreign lands! Who cares about being the strongest unicorn in Equestria when I can be the strongest in the WORLD?” She stood on her hind legs with fireworks shooting off behind her dramatically.

Catching a glance at Twilight’s face, she quickly fell back onto all fours and blushed slightly. “Well, Trixie HAS to be confident, or she doesn’t eat!”

“It’s okay to be confident, and sell yourself, Trixie. The trick is learning how not to overdo it, okay? I think this might be a good experience for you, and I wish you all the best, but please... PLEASE stay safe out there, okay?” Twilight wrapped her forelegs around her sister’s neck in a gentle hug and was slightly surprised to feel her reciprocate, albeit lightly.

“Trixie promises to be safe... as long as Twilight promises never to run me down like that EVER AGAIN unless I am in danger of dying, on fire, or both.” The lavender unicorn laughed at her joke, and nodded

“I promise. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a train to catch.” With that, the two unicorns parted ways, Twilight glancing back as she heard the doors to the foyer open behind her. Hopefully in times of peace, the dragon-serving ponies in Draconia would be a little more receptive to her show. Trixie may have been a bit of a braggart, but she had to admit that she herself would probably never have the same flair for entertainment or talent for such bedazzling magic. But it was just as well: no pony could be good at everything.

~*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*~

Trees blurred past in smudges of green and brown as the train hurtled down the mountain and into the forest that separated Ponyville from Canterlot. It had always been a strange feeling to ride the train to and from her home, but the chariots were for royal business only: no exceptions. But Twilight did not mind: she did not wish to go home quite so soon. In fact, the closer she drew to her home, the more apprehensive she became over what she would find there waiting for her.

I’m being stupid again, she chastised herself as she rested her head on the windowsill. Drawing in a big breath, she pressed her muzzle against the glass and released a breathy sigh. Soon she would be home, really home, for the first time in what felt like ages. However, there were still nagging doubts in her unconscious mind, and those thoughts made her blood run cold.

She gave her head a liberal shake as the conductor, a brown earth pony stallion in a blue vest with a gold watch, stepped into the compartment. “Next stop: Ponyville! Arriving in Ponyville in two minutes!” he announced as he strode down the aisle. Twilight pulled her face away from the window as the dense forest became sparser, finally opening up into the fields of agriculture and grass that surrounded her home. She remained seated until the train came to a full stop.

Stepping onto the platform, the unicorn had to squint her eyes as the still rising sun shone in them. Her home, and the town’s library, was but a quick trot down the arterial street from the train station, past Town Hall and Sugarcube Corner. As she stepped off the platform, the idea of passing either town landmark sent a shiver down her spine. “Maybe I’ll take a more... scenic route,” she decided after a pause.

Turning to the left, she swung wide around the town, which would take her past Fluttershy’s cottage and Sweet Apple Acres. For some reason, it felt best to do this, possibly to see that everything was all right and that she was fretting over nothing. Ponies walked past as she journeyed down the streets, some waving at her in recognition, to whom she would give an unconscious wave back.

Maybe Celestia did have a point about being a natural leader: not only for her organizational prowess, but also for the way ponies looked up to her, now that she was not a self-exiled book hermit. Her thoughts turned back to the crown the Pool had given her. Was it a sign that she should have more confidence in herself as a leader, learn to accept that she was royalty and use her natural skills...? Twilight shook the errant thoughts from her head. She still had fifty-eight years, seven months and approximately twenty-one days to figure out the answer.

Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a gray Earth pony mare walking beside a familiar, grinning white unicorn in a pair of large purple shades. “See, Octavia? I told you this town wasn’t SO bad. They’re looser than your fourth string, see?” A loud belch suddenly ripped through the air, followed by a hard smack and cry of pain, making Twilight turn around to see the unicorn rubbing her cheek with a hoof. “Ow! Octy!”

“Vinyl Scratch, if you do that again in my presence, I WILL break those stupid glasses of yours!”

“I’LL BE GOOD!” the DJ panicked and winced.

Twilight giggled to herself and turned her attention back onto the road she walked. Groups of ponies wandered and trotted past her with the odd group of foals playing in the streets between the hooves of the adults. The Ponyville she walked through certainly felt like the one she had known before the Trial, or Vision-Quest, or whatever the heck she was supposed to think instead of ‘Life-Changing Trauma.’

She shook her head and continued walking, taking in the fresh air as she strode out from between the buildings and into the trails that surrounded the town. The leaves of trees and bushes rustled softly in the gentle morning wind, carrying the scents of jasmine, daisies, buttercups, and other wild flowers that thrived in the valley. The familiar, soothing (and delicious) scents put her mind at ease, lending a spring to her step as she turned down the road to her friend’s apple farm.

A wood fence lined the side of the road as she drew close to the path that would take her in, its simple design reminding her of the family’s nature. Twilight could not help but giggle in spite of herself. What had she been expecting: corrugated metal and barbed wire? As if Applejack or Granny Smith would ever be run out of their farm: they would both rather die than abandon their trees.

Now she really began to feel silly, turning her light giggles into a full stream of laughter. She was home now! The nightmare was over! Only a couple of days had passed for them and there was no tyrant, no alternate version of herself running Equestria into the ground. It would take time for her to get used to it, but there was no war, no ponies out to capture her for money. She forced a smile onto her lips and continued on her way in a light trot.

The thought of seeking professional help crossed her mind for the twelfth time since she had woken up in Celestia’s bed. And, for the twelfth time, she told herself that no pony would believe her, not to mention the fact that the pool was only supposed to be known by members of the royal family and their close confidants. I just need to find a calm place to meditate. Then, I can figure things out a little more easily. She turned back toward town, with the perfect place in mind.

~*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*~

It was amazing how a little fresh air reinvigorated a mare’s spirit and improved her attitude. Twilight quietly applauded her decision to not run home immediately and curl under her bed for a couple of days until all of her wavering doubts had passed. Seeing for herself how things were the same did more good for her than any speculation or book could accomplish.

Fluttershy’s cottage on the edge of the Everfree forest proved just as lively and well-kept as she remembered, which only strengthened her conviction that she was no longer dreaming. Animals skittered across the lawn and frolicked in the bushes and other plants. The shy pegasus was nowhere to be seen, which concerned her a bit, but she was probably out getting food, or making a house call for somepony’s pet since she was practically a veterinarian.

The unicorn resumed her walk back into town, casting an aside glance to the forest. The thicket of trees and wild bushes did not bend to the breeze, as the forest had its own uncontrollable climate, which still sent shivers down her spine if she thought about it too hard. It did not feel as dangerous as it once used to, but that was probably a residual effect of the pool. There were still monstrous creatures and mysterious secrets lying in wait beyond its borders.

A rustling of the bushes ahead made Twilight freeze in her tracks and draw upon her magic, making her horn glow in her new rosy aura. A black and white shape, cloaked in brown, emerged from the wood and looked her in the eyes, glowing yellow from beyond the veil. In an instant, she knew that the creature meant no harm, dispelling the arcane energies as she trotted over closer.

“Zecora!” Twilight cried in her approach. “Sorry, but I thought that you were some kind of monster. I apologize.”

“For your caution, Twilight Sparkle, you are right. To see a beast from Everfree would be quite a fright,” the zebra spoke, turning down her hood to see her smiling face. It faltered a little when she looked her in the eyes, by quickly picked up again before she spoke. “I hope you don’t take any offence, but something in you differs, I sense.”

“Well...” the unicorn trailed off. “I did have a bit of a life-changing experience over the last few days, but it’s a long story that can wait for another time.” The smell of various herbs and spices wafted across her muzzle as she walked aside and slightly behind the world-savvy zebra. “Do you mind if I walk with you into town? We haven’t had the chance to talk lately.”

“Of course, dear Twilight; I do not mind. Try not to stray and fall far behind.”

“So, I take it you’re here on your monthly shopping trip?”she asked, trying to strike up conversation as they approached the edge of the settlement.

“Your assumption is correct, I do declare. I am perusing the stalls around Town Square,” she replied with a smile. It always amazed Twilight how quickly she could make up rhymes on the spot. Though speeches, like for Nightmare Night, were probably rehearsed, she could not deny just how hard it was to extemporise poetry. She had tried her hoof at writing it in school and failed utterly. It was a sore spot that she did not like revisiting

Zecora and Twilight walked through the outskirts of town, down the more quiet streets and avenues on their way towards the market. They found their conversation when the zebra stated she needed some of the plants for her potion work. Twilight had not had much luck with potion making in the past, but soon found herself paying rapt attention to her words of comfort and encouragement.

But as their conversation moved on, and the buildings continued to pass, the unicorn found her attention slowly slipping, not out of boredom, but of sheer relief. If she was not a dismembered corpse rotting in a river, then she really was home after all! The doubts that remained in her head became all the weaker, almost having vanished completely by the time they arrived in the bustling heart of Ponyville.

“Although talking to you was very nice, we must part now: I need to buy some rice,” she explained, nodding her head in farewell.

“Okay. I’ll try to stop by your place for tea some time in the next couple of weeks, if you’ll have me.”

“My humble wooden door is always open for you. Come any time, and I’ll make my special poppy brew!”

A wide smile spread across her face. Zecora made the best poppy tea she had ever had the joy of tasting in her life! It was always a favourite treat of hers since very few tea shops would make it, probably since it required a lot of time to prepare and extract enough opium so that the drinkers would feel relaxed instead of passing out. “That sounds lovely. Thank you!”

As the zebra turned towards the market, Twilight decided that she had delayed enough and started walking towards the library. More ponies crowded onto the street as the morning grew late. Judging from the position of the sun, the time was about ten, maybe ten thirty. It was summer too, so the foals had school off for the season, which made sense as she could see Sweetie Belle, Applebloom, and Scootaloo sitting behind a cardboard box booth of some kind.

“Hi girls,” she chirped as she drew near. Scoot recoiled slightly, but she had grown used to her apprehension around her. “So, what are you three up to today? Still trying to earn your Cutie Marks?” Spying their flanks, she was relieved to see that they were still blank.

“O’ course we are, Twi!” Applebloom smiled. “We’re gonna be...”

“CUTIE MARK CRUSADER PONY-AID SALESPONIES!” Twilight’s ears rang as all three of the hyperactive fillies screamed in her face at the top of their lungs. In fact, they even managed to create a small breeze just from the force of it.

“Won’t you help some poor, innocent fillies earn their marks, Twilight?” Sweetie pled with wide puppy-dog eyes.

“Girls, how many times do I have to tell you that you can’t force a Cutie Mark to appear: that you have to focus on what you’re already good at?” However, they refused to listen, bombarding her with sappy looks that she was sure would make even the most hardened of ponies melt. “I mean... didn’t you try this before with your sister, Applebloom?” The looks continued unabated. Even after years of dealing with an adorable baby dragon, her resolve was crushed under their hypnotic eyes. She sighed. “Fine. I’ll buy a glass.”

The three fillies smiled in a broad grin, even Scootaloo, before they set to work, filling a disposable paper cup with red juice from a glass pitcher. “That’ll be one bit, please,” the orange Pegasus spoke with her hoof outstretched as her earth pony friend pushed the drink forward with her muzzle. Twilight gave her the gold coin and brought the drink over with her magic, taking an experimental sniff. Yep. Smells like death, she bitterly remarked to herself.

Seeing the looks of giddy expectation in their eyes, the purple unicorn took a deep breath and threw the concoction down her throat in a single gulp. It tasted like death too. But those bright, happy smiles on their faces made her fight her gag reflex and work through the pain. “Yummy!” she quivered. The fillies squealed in excitement and checked their flanks, moaning in disappointment when no mark had appeared. “I... gotta go. I just remembered I had a... a... thing... at the... the place.” Twilight Sparkle dashed to the nearest body of water she could find.

~*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*~

Only those three fillies can turn something as wholesome as Pony-Aid into something as lethal as rat poison, Twilight moaned inside her head while bent over the side of the stream. Thankfully, she had rid herself of most of the foul concoction (and her breakfast), but she decided not to risk moving for the time being, for fear that she had not quite finished being sick. The last thing she needed was to arrive home and throw up. Spike was probably worried enough as it was.

Her reflection wavered woozily in the gently flowing stream that bisected the main square of Ponyville. Ponies gave her a wide berth when the sound of her retching filled the square, much to her embarrassment. She sighed a little before realizing she had already suffered worse humiliation. So what if they talked about it for a couple of days? In a week, everypony will have forgotten about how she was sick in public.

“That’s the spirit!” a deeper, more confident version of her voice said. Twilight looked around, twisting her head sharply to find the source of the noise. “Down here, Twilight,” it spoke again; making the unicorn cast her gaze downwards. The unicorn nearly jumped out of her skin at what she saw. It was a perfect reflection of herself, but with wings, and less of a green tinge to her face.

“Eos?” Twilight spoke into the water tentatively. The mare nodded her head quietly with a smile on her face. “But... why don’t you look anything like you used to? I mean, you used to look like Queen Eos. What happened to the height, and that magical mane of yours?”

She shrugged and tilted her head slightly in gesture. “I don’t know everything. Remember, Twilight? I only know what you know: I just put the pieces into place faster. Anyway... I... well. I wanted to thank you. For giving me a chance, I mean.”

“Don’t mention it,” the unicorn replied with a dismissive wave of her hoof. “I didn’t really have a choice in the matter. It was either let you help, or die.”

“That IS a choice, Twilight. It may sound parasitic of me, but if you die, I die with you. If it really meant that much for you to be rid of me, you could have easily done so. I think Genesis called it ‘falling upon your own sword’ or something like that.”

She snorted, choosing not to answer. “You’re still on probation, you know. One false move and you are out of here so fast that you’ll lose those feathers of yours.”

The reflection said nothing in return, meekly nodding her head to show that she understood the terms of their agreement. They sat in an awkward silence, each looking at something, anything other than each other. Eventually, Twilight broke the silence. “How come, when we were in the pool, I was stuck looking like you without the aid of a magical spell?”

“Oh!” Eos spoke, as if just recognizing her. “Uh... well, you fell into a pool of magma and your original body was destroyed.”

“I’m a golem made of CLAY. Clay is a sedimentary rock once it has hardened, and thus unable to be melted since it has a higher melting point than any other kind of rock in the rock cycle.”

“Physically, it was not destroyed. However, the tie to your soul circle was destroyed by the magma, erasing the spell. Magma in the Hells is not ordinary, of course, due to inter-dimensional discrepancies. Anything could have happened, really, since the evidence suggests that the Sorrel Hells exist on a shifted dimension that the pool can tap, but not fully exploit unless relevant to the epiphany. Of course, this is just extrapolation.”

Twilight pondered on this for a while, but quickly decided that she would not figure it out on her own and stowed it into the back of her mind for later investigation. “So, does that mean my circle is intact now that I am back in... well, the usual reality?”

Eos seemed to pause and think about her answer to the question, rubbing a hoof under her chin as Twilight usually did when contemplating a perplexing conundrum. “I honestly do not know. It would be better, I think, to ask the Princess to check on the status of the circle if it becomes a primary concern. For all I know, you could have shifted into a real flesh-and-blood unicorn via transference. I wouldn’t worry about it, though.”

Twilight’s heart skipped a beat at the prospect of being turned into a real unicorn. Not that she was unhappy being a golem, but she did not fancy the idea of knowing almost exactly when she would die, as golems were only active for eighty years unless they had a regeneration clause in their circle. Considering the disposable nature of her creation, she doubted the princess had added such a clause.

“You have to admit, Twilight,” the alicorn reflection continued, “we are unique and in a unique situation. Name me another advanced golem made by a living goddess with the blood of an alicorn in her veins, or a live pony that has ventured into the Sorrel Hells and survived a dip in a pool of magma. Nothing may have changed, or EVERYTHING may have changed. The problem is that we do not have enough evidence to come to a proper conclusion.”

“I agree,” the unicorn responded. “We will have to research this further. However, it can wait. I would place a higher priority on recovering from our last adventure rather than diving head-first into a new one.” The alicorn doppelganger nodded her head in agreement. “Very well then: here is the only rule for your probation, Eos. Unless I ask for it, you are not to interfere, directly or indirectly, in my life or actions. Understood?”

“Understood.” Without another word, the alicorn vanished, leaving only Twilight reflecting in the gentle run of the stream. The little chat had done her a world of good, as her queasy stomach had settled...even if it did look a little strange for passing ponies to see her talk to herself. The unicorn pushed herself onto her hooves and started walking back to her library. She needed to shower, and to curl up with a good book.

~*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*~

Twilight had not seen hide nor hair of any of her closer friends since arriving home in Ponyville. Not even Rainbow Dash had been seen among the scattered clouds in the azure skies. Then again, she was either off practicing her stunts, or napping since she never did work during the normal work hours, which was insanely inefficient in her opinion. But who was she to criticize her friend’s work ethic?

She sighed contently as her library finally came into sight; hardly a leaf had changed from how she remembered it. A weary smile spread across her face as she approached, relieved to finally have a quiet night to herself away from fear or worry. The lights were on inside, meaning that Spike had not abandoned his post to spend time with his not-so-secret crush.

The unicorn grasped the door handle with her magic and opened it with a gentle push, expecting only to see her beloved assistant on the other end. It would have been very easy: walk in, give him a little harder hug than normal, and go read a book. However, she did not expect to see all of her friends except for Pinkie Pie waiting for her. “Twilight!” they called in unison. “...surprise?” Dash said sheepishly.

Purple and pink streamers shot across the room like thick spider webs, stretching from the tops of bookshelves towards the centre of the room where they were taped to the ceiling. Tanks of helium littered one of the corners near the kitchen as the wafting smell of baked goods swept from under the crack in the door. They had all dropped whatever they were doing, one of the balloons slipping off the nozzle of the tank before flying around like a blind pigeon.

She had obviously stumbled upon them setting up a party.

“We uh... didn’t expect ta see ya quite yet, sugar cube,” Applejack spoke with shifty eyes.

“Oh my goodness, I hope this doesn’t ruin the... um...” Fluttershy trailed, developing a sudden and intense interest in the confetti-covered floor. Despite her friends acting strange, Twilight could not restrain herself. She bounded forth with Pinkie-like enthusiasm and grabbed all of her present friends in a large group hug. Although they were still surprised by her sudden arrival, they returned it with glee.

“Twilight, darling, are you okay?” Rarity asked when she felt the purple unicorn begin to heave and sob. Sensing her distraught disposition, the four mares hugged her back tighter. “Just let it out dear... We’re here for you.” The purple unicorn continued to cry and sob for many minutes, refusing to let her friends go.

Eventually, she broke off the hug, wiping tears off of her puffy red eyes. “I’m sorry, girls,” she apologized. “I didn’t mean to break down like that. It’s just... you have no idea how good it is to see you all. Some more than others,” she added with her gaze wandering over towards Rainbow Dash. “But... there’s one thing I have to know. How did you girls know I would be home today in order to set up a surprise party for me?”

“Well-” the orange farmer started.

“I’ll handle this one, AJ,” the cocky pegasus raised a hoof to the other mare’s mouth to silence her. “You see, Twi, Princess Celestia sent Spike a letter this morning. It was super early too and it said that you would be coming back home later today. It also said ya needed us all to be there for you, for some reason. It didn’t say what happened, just that you had an awful time helping Luna. Did she hurt you, Twi!? If she did, I’ll fly off to Canterlot right now and buck that sorry mare right in the face! No pony makes my friends cry!”

“No, Rainbow. It wasn’t Princess Luna. It was all my fault, so if you’re going to buck anyone in the face, it ought to be me. ...I was far too curious for my own good, and I paid for it with a bit of my innocence.” An uncomfortable silence hung in the air. Rainbow Dash took a sudden interest in the streamers while Rarity looked about ready to faint. They had not even heard the least of it, but she knew she had to tell them... at least a censored and abridged version so they could understand.

“It’s a very, very long story, but I will try to keep it as short as possible,” the lavender librarian started. “You see, I was asked by Princess Luna to help her move a special object from the old castle in the Everfree Forest, lost for centuries since only she could touch it and was... banished for most of the time. I was shown the object, which is said to help the user realize a great truth about herself. Luna doesn’t know much about it except that it’s a relic from the world’s creation.

“I... I let my curiosity get the better of me and I touched it. The object took me to... well, I can only describe it as an alternate universe. It was a universe in which I had succeeded in killing Princess Celestia and Luna, and became a tyrannical self-appointed queen by the name of Eos. Evidently, the dragons and the griffons formed an alliance in an effort to overthrow her and steal her authority over both the sun and the moon for themselves.

“It was awful! I... Everypony said I had been gone for ten YEARS and that my arrival was some sign of her downfall. The Crusaders were all grown up and were young battle-hardened mares! Dash had killed herself trying to stop the queen and went out by making the Cloudsdale Weather Factory’s reactor self-destruct! Rarity had left to work as the queen’s tailor and the rest of you made your own different movements...all working against each other.”

“Heh. You gotta admit, Twi, making the weather factory blow is a pretty epic way to go, if you have to,” the blue pegasus smirked in self-satisfaction.

“What’s a good way to go, Dash?” Spike asked as he made his way down the stairs. “T-Twilight! You’re home ear-” Before he could finish his sentence, a flash of purple filled his vision. Spike found himself in the vice-like grip of his oldest friend and caretaker. “You’re... hugging... too... tight!” he cried as he struggled for breath.

“Twilight’s just tellin’ us what got her so upset,” the orange mare explained to the reeling dragon once he had squirmed his way out of said unicorn’s grasp. “Please, continue, sugar cube.”

“Right, thank you, AJ... and I’m sorry, Spike. Anyway, as I was saying: I ran into the girls and they told me most of this, but I was so concerned about Spike that I went looking for him. Along the way, I was betrayed by other members of their large organization, and nearly captured by the queen’s governors. You see... she made a bunch of golems that were loyal only to her to watch over the affairs of the individual city states of Equestria...

“Sorry. I’m getting off track. I found out that Spike had fled to Draconia to advise their war council on pony society, so I tracked him down and ran into Trixie. After some...” she paused. There was no way she could break Spike’s heart by saying that he had betrayed her. Alternate reality, or not, he would beat himself up over it for the rest of her life, at least. “After some difficulties with them, I went out to see how I could fix things with Spike and Trixie at my side.

“I found out what I needed to do, but it involved a trip into the... the Sorrel Hells themselves. At least I thought it did, but it ended up doing nothing more than scarring me. I ran into you there, Dash, since you were technically a suicide and you helped me through it. I then managed to get the rest of you to agree with me that the queen needed to be stopped and we all marched together on Canterlot.

“It was a long and bitter fight... Trixie and Fluttershy ended up dying... but I won in the end and... and...” she could not continue, for the tears were building up in her eyes once more. “I can’t finish! I just... it’s too fresh. I’ll tell you all the whole story some day, maybe, but for now... Now I just need you to be here for me.” A hoof gently touched her on the shoulder, making her tense muscles relax a little.

Fluttershy looked at her with those big, sparkling topaz circles she called eyes and frowned a little. “Of course we’re here for you, Twilight. We understand that things were probably more horrible there than you let on, and we know you are entitled to keep your secrets: but please open up to us about them soon. It does nopony good to let them fester. I am not saying you have to now, or tomorrow, but one day, okay? ...we all love you.” She embraced her, soft mane swept over the sobbing mare’s neck. “Remember that.”

Twilight nodded her head and smiled, wiping away the fresh tears that had fallen down her cheek with a sniff. Before she could utter her thanks, the door opened behind her, making her turn her head to see who had come inside: it was a library after all.

“Um... Jackal catnip?” the wall-eyed, blond pegasus known as Derpy Hooves spoke. One eye was trained on her while the other wandered up to the ceiling. Beside her, however, was a small, off-purple unicorn with a more pale shade of yellow mane, looking between her adopted mother and the other assembled mares with a bit of confusion.

“I don’t think you’re interrupting anything super important, Derpy,” Twilight spoke slowly, trying to analyze the context of the situation. The enigmatic pony seemed satisfied with her answer and smiled, putting a hoof around her daughter.

“Pickle doughnuts taste good with jelly sprinkles. But sometimes Burning Jewels tastes better!”

“Mommy’s been taking speech therapy classes in Canterlot every weekend. She can say proper names now and everything!” The little filly beamed, receiving an affectionate nuzzle to the back of her neck from the pegasus. “Uh, we were wondering if you had ‘Journey to the Centre of Tartarus’ by Burning Jewels. Momma said she thinks I’m old enough to handle it!”

“Of course, I do,” Twilight smiled as the book in question became wrapped in her magical aura, inciting a vocalization of interest from Rarity as she regarded its new colour and feeling. She quickly gave both of them hugs before the mare took the book in her mouth and stuffed it into her saddlebags.

“Pickle barrel kumquat, Twilight!” The mailmare thanked, before turning to leave.

“Wait! Derpy...” Twilight trailed. “Um... I was kind of wondering if you’d let me teach Dinky how to use magic when she’s old enough. I mean, you don’t have to do it, or decide right now: I just thought I would offer.”

“Really!?” The little unicorn gasped, the sparkle in her eyes quite evident.

“Mmm... Toaster burns. Quiet springs!”

“Mom said she’ll think about it,” she sighed before receiving a gentle nudge from the mare. “Oh: and to thank you for the offer. Bye!” With that, the two ponies were off, walking side-by-side down the now busy streets of Ponyville.

“Twilight Sparkle, have you noticed that your aura changed?” Rarity observed.

“Ya mean because it’s some shade of red instead of blue? Ah don’t think it’s that big a deal if ya ask me,” Applejack added.

“Not a big deal? A unicorn’s magical aura is like her hoof print! They very rarely change, and if they do, it’s usually the result of a trauma or a life-changing eve- Oh...” she trailed once realization stuck. “Well, that answers that, but you really do have to go to the Register’s Office sometime and get it updated, darling.”

“Yeah, but that can wait for later, Rarity! Right now, it’s time to PARTY!” Pinkie yelled after popping out from behind a nearby bookshelf. She nearly gave the alabaster unicorn a heart attack, judging from the volume of her shriek. The others, including Twilight, jumped a bit while Fluttershy fell over in a faint. “Whoops! Was that too much of a surprise? I mean, the actual surprise party was ruined, but I still wanted there to be a surprise since we planned it as a surprise party, but don’t worry! I heard everything you said, so you don’t need to explain it, which reminds me of the --mmph!”

Rainbow Dash had got back to her hooves and jammed a cupcake into the pink mare’s mouth. “Now’s not a good time for that, Pinkie.” Twilight walked forward and gave the pink pony a gentle hug, like she had with her other friends. She seemed to slow down and returned her hug, closing her eyes in their warm embrace.

With the party finally kicking off into full gear, Twilight felt confident that, with the help of her friends, she would walk away from her experience a better mare. Yes, there would be hurdles in the future, and yes, she would probably still have an irrational fear of grown dragons and griffins, but perhaps those wounds would heal in time too. Things would return to normal one day... Well, at least as normal as things could get in Ponyville.

~*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*~

Only the sound of gentle breathing filled the room as the early autumn sun began to rise and shine through the windows of the old tree. A lump of lavender lay beneath star-speckled sheets of velvet blue as her chest rose and fell in the rhythm of peaceful slumber. Twilight Sparkle mumbled to herself and rolled over in her sleep as the light assaulted her eyelids, nearly rousing her from a well-deserved rest.

Alas, her dream of sleeping in that day would be ended quite forcefully as the metallic din of her alarm ripped the peaceful air asunder. She groaned and enveloped her alarm in a blanket of ruby magic before hurtling it against the opposite wall, smashing it to pieces and bringing an end to its wretched task. “I hate alarm clocks,” she lamented as she pulled the blanket off her once sleeping form. Once she was up, there was no going back to sleep for her.

“Spike!” she groaned as she wearily trudged towards the bathroom. “Wake up: it’s sorting day.” With a gentle prod of her magic, the air was soon filled with the moans of a sleepy baby dragon. He grumbled and silently cursed death towards the mare that woke him. “I don’t like it either, but if we don’t get it done today, the entire library will be nothing but chaos inside of a week!”

After taking care of her normal morning chores, Twilight felt invigorated and refreshed: almost as if she had woken up of her own free will! “I’ll get breakfast going,” she added to Spike who grumpily made his way into the bathroom next. It was the least she could do for making him get up so early. Walking down the stairs, she got a good look at the mountain of work that they had to do that day.

While, by most standards, the library was considered clean, it was actually in a state of great disarray. It was mostly her fault, but partially that of her patrons who did not understand the basic concept of putting a book back where they found it when they were done! There was history with the geography and politics, ‘A’s with the ‘G’s and so forth. It was a weekly practice, but a few extraneous circumstances had left her unable to do so for about a month!

Once the mare and her young draconic assistant (who suddenly got into better spirits once full) finished breakfast, they set to the task before them with no dilly-dallying. Due to the effort required, conversation was kept to a minimum and on professional subjects only, since there would be time to chat once they finished. After all, Applejack had invited them to have lunch on the farm and they wanted to be finished before they left: hence why they had woken up at the unknown hour of seven thirty in the morning.

Twilight’s thoughts turned back to her experience in the Pool of Midnight, specifically to the changes it caused then and those she discovered later, even two months and twenty-seven days after the fact! For example, before her misadventure, she would have delayed something as trivial as a total reorganization of the library until at least after lunch with their friend. Now, however, she had woken herself up early in order to get the job done and savour the feeling of a completed task, even if it did require her to actually get up in the morning.

As well, the ponies of Ponyville began to see her as more of a leader, some even suggesting she run for mayor once their current mayor’s term was up. Twilight had never had a head for politics, so she respectfully declined and asserted that she was happy being a humble librarian and student. Other than that, and her slightly improved magical abilities, there was not much more different that she had discovered.

After a couple of hours, she let Spike take a break while she continued to sort. After all, he was still a BABY dragon, even if he acted like a bratty teenager sometimes. He was grateful to go and she was glad to let him, since he would be of no help whatsoever if he was cranky. She ignored the gentle patter of rain on the window, since it was probably just a rain cloud that had escaped the Everfree. Nor did she notice that the water it spilled was brown...

“Twilight!” Spike called out, slamming the door open. The unicorn jumped about a good meter into the air before she landed flat on her stomach, turning her neck to give him a glare. However, she noticed he appeared to be covered in chocolate. “You gotta come see this! Quick!” That was not a shout of joy, but one of panic and fear. Twilight jumped to her hooves and cantered over to the door, worried about what could set him off like that.

Majestic clouds of pink hovered over the town of Ponyville, raining down sugary milk upon the confused and scared citizens below. “Get back here!” Rainbow Dash cried somewhere above them as a cloud flew past with supernatural speed and agility. To say that Twilight was dumbfounded would have been a massive understatement. She shook her head to clear her thoughts.

“I... I don’t... even...” she stuttered.

“It looks like they are heading for Sweet Apple Acres! Come on, Twilight. Don’t you think you have a spell that can fix this?” Thinking about it, she DID know of a spell that she had practiced that could disable errant magic such as this. All they would have to do is get all of the side-effects to congregate and then the spell would fix them. A smile came across her lips and she nodded to her number one assistant.

“Yes, Spike. Yes, I do. Come on! Let’s go clean up this mess!” She strode forward, pulling a spell book off of the shelf with her magic. No matter what happened, she knew that she would come out on top, for she had conquered her own inner demon and her self doubts. With a confident stride, she marched with her assistant at her side, ready to tackle whatever the future had in store!

It was time for a new adventure!

--- The End ---

The Pool of Midnight

A single light flickered in the encompassing blackness of the night, like an oasis of sight in a desert of blindness. Its soft orange glow bathed the small room, in defiance of the late hour. Luna's moon hung in the sky, so high that it could not be seen from the windows. However, this would not deter the soul who worked through the midnight hour, her owl's quill roughly scratching on parchment.

Indeed, it was rough work translating the book in front of her, but with every word salvaged from the fog of Old Equestrian, she found a rekindled passion for the work she started earlier that day. Twilight Sparkle had happened across the tome in question while sifting through the books that still laid under the floorboards of the Books and Branches Library. Granted, she was out of practice with the language, but with some concentration, she could tell it was an autobiography of a national hero: Stellar Stylus.

Some twelve-hundred years previous, Equestria was in conflict with Punda Milia: the Zebra nation. When neither side would listen to reason, he stepped in and brought the two sides to a mutually beneficial accord. Apparently, it was quite the achievement as one of the rulers (the actual name was censored by ages-old ink splotches) seemed hells-bent on wiping the other from the face of the planet. However, that was not nearly as exciting as the passage she found herself on.

As I slept that night, mine eyes beheld a grand vision. I remember it with more lucidity than I dare say, for it was profound, yet intimidating. In the beginning, there was naught but blackness. Not even the sound of my breath, nor the feel of mine beating heart. Yet, as I began to fear that some snake poisoned me in mine sleep, a voice strong and proud as lightning's howl tore the oppressive blackness asunder in a tongue older than the mountains.

I became weighed down by an invisible force as a ball of light, more powerful than the sun, lit before mine eye. "Arise, my child and know me better," spake the voice unto me. I lay upon the floor as a young colt would cower from their angered parent. For, before mine eyes there was a terrible shape, wreathed in flames of pure gold. With great toil, I did rise before it; mine eyes sealed shut by the intense light.

As soon as I had done so, the shape exploded with gilded flames of power, for though I could not see, I felt the strong aura in mine very body. It startled even a heart as strong as mine with its raw clout. When it died down to brilliant embers, I opened mine eyes to find a fellow pony standing before me. He was an alicorn gilded in a glowing coat of gold, his eyes as dark as the abyss, standing tall and proud as the Princess herself. "Who are you?" I asked.

"I am the Alpha: the beginning of all things. With mine hoof, I did create the sun in the sky, and the ponies whom dwell beneath. I am Genesis," In that instance, I did know that a creator had presented themselves unto me.

"Oh exalted creator of sun and ponykind!" I cried, bowing before Him once more. "I am unworthy!"

"Thine praise is well-received, but mine time upon the Earth hath come and gone, as the tree grows and wilts. Thou doth not need place me on such a lofty dais. Yet, I have deigned fit to present myself, for thou must make an important choice. It is a choice that shall be of consequence to mine creation forevermore."

"Tell me thine will, and it shall be done, My Lord," I spoke with great respect.

"It is not my will that be done, my child," He replied, approaching where I stood. "For if it was, I would be commanding you, not offering thee a choice. Thine goal is to stop this conflict. In order to do so, thou must either betray thine values... or thine kingdom. For, you see, mine beloved Celestia has---

Twilight groaned as she flipped the page. It was dotted with ink splotches and stains over the centuries, obviously turning into a very controversial passage to warrant such blatant censoring. Sure, other pages had those marks of tampering too, but not on such a scale. The discovery railroaded any lingering motivation she had, closing the book with a shimmer of her horn. It had to be well past midnight anyway, so the librarian slowly trotted up the stairs as a memory of something she read filtered though the foggy depths of her sleepy brain.

"For the longest time, I was angry at her and the world. This led me to do unspeakable horrors and kill many innocent ponies," the phantom voice of Princess Celestia spoke. The distinct possibility that her teacher had been the one to censor the book gnawed at the back of her mind, causing her some distress. What did the book have to say about her that was so horrible as to warrant barring its knowledge to future generations?

Twilight shook the troublesome thought from her head as she slipped under the covers, leaving a window ajar so her owl friend could come inside at his leisure. She was looking too deep into things again and that only led to trouble, in her experience. Some things were better left unexplained or undiscovered. The lavender mare knew she would have been much happier, had she not delved too far into a certain book.

Still, what was done was done, or so she reminded herself as she tried to shut off her brain. Gentle wisps of sleep swept over her fatigued body, carrying her off to the world of dreams. It was pleasant at first, but slowly her dream of happy ponies and marshmallow clouds became blurry and disoriented. The pastel field she frolicked in became somber as dark clouds hung overhead.

A flash of lightning and a crack of thunder sounded, startling the mare into looking around the dreamscape in fear. The tall grass of the field bent over as the wind picked up, playing with her mane. "Why do you ignore me?" sounded an ethereal voice surrounding her. "Why do you hate me? Why are you CONVINCED that I am evil?"

"Get away from me!" Twilight cried before galloping out of the open field. Her heart pounded as she struggled to get away. No matter how fast she went, she could never quite seem to reach the edge of the forest, the clouds growing darker and the wind howling in protest.

"No," a shape appeared in front of the lavender mare, causing her to gasp in shock. "Not until I am heard!"

Suddenly, the ground lurched to a stop, the momentum of the unicorn hurtling her towards the figure as she screamed, the world going dark. The scholar awoke with a start, the moon hanging low in her window. She panted hard as cold sweat ran down her face to gather on her hoof as she wiped it away. Taking several deep breaths, the mare calmed herself down. "Stupid nightmares," she scolded into the darkness.

With a sigh, she collapsed back onto her bed, a grunt from the shadows telling her that she had accidentally disturbed her faithful assistant. She shut her eyes to try and return to the dream world, preparing her mind in advance, just in case SHE tried to interfere once more. Spike groaned, then a shuffling noise followed, telling her he was getting up to probably get a glass of water... until the sound of hooves on wood met her ears instead.

"Twilight Sparkle," quietly spoke a familiar voice. Twilight bolted upright in bed, looking to the corner of the room it came from. A pair of turquoise eyes glowed in the dark from an obscure corner as the tall, powerful form of the princess of the moon walked into the light of her domain. "I need your help."

"P-princess Luna!?" the mare gasped. She stood higher than she remembered, as tall as her teacher and just as regal. Her mane and tail wafted gently in the ethereal wind and was speckled with stars. The princess smiled and nodded her head, causing the lavender mare to lose her composure as a look of awe made itself present. However, she quickly gathered her wits and swiftly got out of bed to kneel.

"W-what are you doing here, Princess? Do you know what time it is?"

"I apologize, Twilight. I've been putting something off for far too long, and it's about time I did it. But, I can't do it alone and Tia--- Celestia is far too busy to assist. That leaves only you, as no commoner is allowed to set hoof where I need to go."

"What could I possibly do, Princess?" Twilight asked as she finally stood. "I mean, you can move the moon. I can't hope to measure up to that sort of power."

Luna simply sighed and rolled her eyes. "I'll explain when we get there. I just need a little bit of your strength, since what needs to be done requires two of the royal bloodline."

"Well... what about Spike? How long will we be gone? Where are we going anyway?" Twilight asked, concerned that the whole situation might turn into something unexpected and drawn-out.

"We will be gone for about a day. If you need somepony to look after Spike, I will happily provide. Shadow Star?" A white Pegasus suddenly emerged from the darkness; her amber eyes sparkling as she drew closer before bowing her head in deep respect.

"What is your will, my quee--- Princess?"

Luna sighed at the moniker the Pegasus almost spoke, before gesturing for her to rise. "See that baby dragon in the basket?" she nodded in his direction. "He will need a caretaker in Twilight's absence." The unicorn gasped as the Pegasus shifted into a cloud of purple smoke, becoming a mirror-image of the librarian, down to imitating her very mannerisms. "That will not be necessary. Her friends are used to such occurrences, though you might have to be a little cautious around Rainbow Dash, for she might remember you."

"My most humble of apologies, your highness," she bowed as she shifted back into her old form. "I shall take good care of the baby dragon until your return."

"Come along, Twilight," Luna ushered her towards the door. "You need only bring yourself where we are going."

"At this time of night?" she replied in a wild tone. "My apologies, your highness, but are you CRAZY!?"

~*///*///*///*~

Thankfully for Twilight, she was able to convince Luna that the whole thing, whatever it was, could wait until she had a full night's sleep. The princess of the moon, although a touch eager to get the business out of the way, conceded to her and allowed her a night's rest. When the lavender librarian woke the next morning, the sun already beamed on her face, telling her that the hour had grown late.

After taking care of her usual morning chores, the mare trotted down the stairs to find Princess Luna, Spike, and the pony called Shadow Star seated to a late breakfast, although the third had no food in front of her place. She quirked an eye at the strange sight before seating herself and using her magic to pour some cereal into a bowl. "Twilight," Luna voiced. "Allow me to apologize for last night. As you might expect, I get a little... quick to jump into things, if only because I want to be useful."

"It's okay, your highness," the scholar yawned behind her hoof before she took her first bite of breakfast. "Still, if it could wait, why did you visit me so late last night?"

Luna lowered her head ever so slightly. "Uh... well... I asked Celestia if I could get this done... if we had the room for it in the Castle, and she said we did. In fact, she set aside a room for it and everything. So, since I'm feeling confident in my abilities again, I figured the time is right to bring it over. You see, we need to head to the old castle in the forest, since it was left behind when Celly moved the capital to Canterlot."

Twilight blushed a little at hearing her teacher be referenced to so casually before she remembered they were siblings. "So... what exactly do we need to get from the ruins, Princess?"

"I'm afraid that I can't say here. Only members of the Royal Family are to know. Normally, I'd ask Celestia to do this, but she is far too busy to take a day off, as I told you earlier."

"So why do you need Twilight if only the Royal Family can see it?" Spike inquired. The lavender mare had forgotten that she had not told ANY of her friends the news. It was not that she was ashamed of the fact that Princess Celestia was, more or less, her mother. She just did not want them to treat her differently because of it.

Princess Luna seemed to sense the conflict and worry in her eyes, swiftly coming up with a lie to cover for her. "Oh, well, we trust Twilight, Spike. She has been my sister's student for so long and she has proven herself capable of keeping a secret. So, we agreed that she is the only other pony who can assist."

"Oh, okay," the baby dragon shrugged before continuing his breakfast, missing Twilight mouth a quick 'thank you' to the princess of the moon. She smiled slightly, but it was an uneasy smile. Luna hated lying to any pony or creature in the world, but knew that sometimes it could not be avoided. However, that was not what made her uneasy around the lavender unicorn.

After a filling breakfast, the two mares left Shadow Star and the baby dragon at the library. Walking out the door and down the street, the princess and the mare began the long trek to the ancient castle. Together, they drew a lot of interest from the other ponies in town, and even more as they all realized they were heading into the deep, dark recesses of the Everfree Forest.

Meanwhile, Twilight struggled to keep her curiosity in check over just what the princess hoped to do. Whatever it was that they were moving to Canterlot, it was obviously a very important (and quite possibly dangerous) magical object. Although, it was only one of many things buzzing around in the mare's mind as she dwelt on everything that had happened in the last twelve hours.

Even though she figured she would never say so, Twilight got the feeling that Luna was a little bit disappointed in her. Could she really be so upset just because she did not tell her friends about her relationship to the princess? Or, was there something a little bit deeper to this strange feeling? Perhaps it was something elusive, hidden just under the surface?

A nagging voice in the back of her head told her that it was only part of the issue, but that voice was one she refused to ever listen to again. Twilight shook her head discreetly, silencing the menacing phantom before she found herself at the precipice of the forest, lagging behind the regent of the moon by a considerable amount. She quickened her pace anxiously.

"Is it okay to come in here without any guards, Princess Luna?" she asked as they continued deeper into the woods.

"I am all the guard that we will require, Twilight," she answered plainly. "However, I can understand your concern. Celestia told me that, pardon the pun, you ran afoul of a Cockatrice the last time you ventured here on your own."

"Yes," she nodded her head in reply. The silence between the two continued to fester the deeper they went in to the forest, going at a slow clip through the cursed and wicked woods. It was almost as if they were going for a pleasant stroll, rather than traversing the most dangerous part of Equestria. After many minutes of oppressive silence, she found she could take no more. "Um... Princess?" she asked quietly.

"Yes, Twilight?" the blue alicorn replied with a slight hint of impatience. A small chill ran down the purple mare's spine, as that tone of voice reminded her of the snide remarks Nightmare Moon once made. She bit her lip before braving the tension between them.

"Did I... did I do something wrong, your highness? If it's about not telling Spike... or any of my friends about my relationship with Celestia, then I'm sorry. I just... I just don't want them to treat me any differently." She bit her lip as the silence continued. At first, she thought it was because she said something wrong... until the shape of Zecroa's house came and went beyond the bushes.

"That is only a small part about what displeases me, Twilight," the regal pony finally answered after many tense minutes. "I thought you knew better than to think of your friends in such a way, but I was obviously mistaken. They like you for who YOU are, Twilight. Neither me, nor Celestia can ever claim that." It took several more minutes before the lavender librarian found the nerve to speak once more.

"It's because you were born royalty, isn't it?" she asked. "I mean, growing up, you always had the crown on your head, even if you never wore it, so ponies would still treat you as if you were better than them when you only wanted equality?"

"You are a very perceptive pony, Twilight," Luna spoke after a minute more of silence. "It does you a great service... and yet you are blinded to something far closer to you than anything else. That is why I am disappointed in you. I will not speak of this to Celestia, because I know you don't want to feel like you've failed her."

"W-what did I do?" she asked in desperation. "Just tell me, and I'll fix it! Please! I don't want to fail the princess... not again."

"Forgive me, but I saw your dreams last night. You looked troubled, and I did not want to wake you, so I took a peek. I... did not like what I saw. I won't tell you what you are doing is wrong, Twilight. It is not my place to do so. However, I will warn you... no good has ever come of a pony shunning their inner deity."

"Oh," the purple pony breathed quietly. She suddenly felt very small next to the towering alicorn, as if she were an ant next to an Ursa Major. A quiet voice in the back of her head spoke, I told you so. Taking a quiet breath, as if a single sound would result in divine punishment, she told the voice to shut up and go back into the depths of her brain, where it belonged.

~*///*///*///*~

Talking with the princess of the night became nigh impossible, yet no matter how much she wanted to turn back in shame, she did not. Luna seemed to gather as much, as every so often, she would look back to see if Twilight had left, but she would not disappoint the princess again.

The unicorn sighed when the princess did it again, deciding to finally put an end to it. "Princess, I know you're upset with me, but I'm not going to abandon you after I promised to help you bring this thing back to Canterlot... whatever it is."

"Oh, no, it's not that, Twilight," she replied, almost chipper. "I'm just checking the local landmarks. You see, many years ago, when Equis was still the capital, there were many attempts by ponies to create villages within the confines of the forest. None were successful, as far as I can tell. Anyway, we're getting close to one of the earlier ones. I... had a lot of free time back in the day. Let's just leave it at that."

"Does this have to do with 'the dark times' as Celestia once put it?" the librarian asked.

"Yes," Luna answered simply.

"Was it really that bad?"

"There are some things better left unanswered, Twilight. All I know is that my dear sister would be VERY cross if anypony but she ever told you. Trust me, you NEVER want to see her angry. The last time she got angry at a pony, apparently fifty members of the staff needed extensive therapy in order to look at her again. Half of them quit after a year. Granted, that was about... one hundred years ago? I wouldn't know since I was..."

Silence returned between the two mares as they continued their trek to the ancient castle. Neither spoke a sound as their hooves silently made contact with the ground, the sun becoming dangerously low in the sky. It may had been the eternal night, but Twilight did not think it had taken her and her friends that long to reach the decaying ruins of the former capital. Then again, they were rushing to save Princess Celestia: not out for a leisurely stroll.

Eventually, the two mares came to a stop in the middle of the woods, no sign of anything around but trees and plants. "Sorry about the delay," Luna apologized. "My sister is beckoning me to start The Exchange. One moment please." The princess of the moon closed her eyes, her horn shimmering with a deep indigo glow that cascaded magical power all through her being.

Twilight felt the energies radiate through her, a tingle spreading from her horn all down her body. She had witnessed Princess Celestia do it on her own before, but never did she feel such a euphoric high. Time seemed to stand still for the purple mare as she was ripped from her body; waves of gentle warmth faded from the world to become a soothing chill that pierced her very core. One magical hoof raised the moon while another set the sun below the horizon. It was a subtle dance as the two magics entwined and played with the invisible fabrics of the universe.

"Twilight?" came a soft, wavy voice from beyond. It sounded anxious, yet in the haze, she could not discern who spoke to her. Eventually, she felt the need to blink, the frozen image of the standing princess replaced with her worried face, just inches from her muzzle. The librarian gave a yelp in surprise and moved back several paces, her face almost glowing red.

"Oh, good," Princess Luna smiled. "You worried me for a minute there. I should have warned you that might happen. We could feel your presence, you know."

"I'm so sorry!" she panicked. "I couldn't help it! I just felt a strange feeling and it carried me away, but if I knew I was disturbing you I would have---" The indigo alicorn held up her hoof to silence the blabbering mare gently. A knowing smile crept upon her face, the first time she smiled at her since earlier that morning.

"It's nothing to be ashamed about. The pull of the Heavenly Wheel is quite strong if a pony doesn't expect it. Most ponies feel a little pleasant when in close proximity to us while we manipulate it, but you are not like most, dear Twilight. As a mare that has touched the Wheel herself, it is quite easy to get pulled in if you don't expect it. We did not mind, but if you don't want to succumb again, simply think about something else to distract your waking mind."

"I will, Princess," she nodded. The experience had frightened her more than she could ever imagine. For a brief instant, she felt as if she and the universe had become one. She shuddered before realizing the princess started down the forest path once more. Twilight trotted quickly to catch up, but hung back out of respect, and slight embarrassment over what just happened.

Luna sighed before another smile crept upon her face, invisible to the unicorn. "I remember," she started, "Celestia walked in on our parents while they were in the midst of The Exchange. She had the same reaction you did, except she begged for forgiveness for three days. They didn't really care about her intrusion either, but she refused to listen. I've never let her live it down." The two mares giggled softly together, the alicorn at the memory and the unicorn at the idea of her teacher being so disconcerted.

However, the mirth of the moment soon fell silent as the two passed under a blackened wooden arch. A chill ran down Twilight's spine, her breath suddenly visible in wisps of ghostly white steam. Luna could seem to sense her distress, as a wing draped over the mare's body protectively. "Do not worry. For as long as you are with me, you are safe. Try not to be scared."

A gurgling sound echoed all around them as they pushed deeper into the thicket, the charred remains of buildings jutting out into the night sky. A clatter of unknown origin sounded in tandem with the moving of earth. A slight quiver of fear betrayed Twilight's stoic facade. Out of the blackness, shapes stirred and encircled them, drawing closer with every second. Yet, the princess seemed unafraid: she even seemed glad to see such a horrible sight! Yet, at the same time, she looked a little sad too.

"Princess Luna," spoke a deep, disturbing voice from beyond. "We are well met."

"And yet it is on such sad terms. Did the curse of the other village really extend this far?" Twilight shivered under her wing, eyes wide as the shapes approached. They were equine in appearance, yet tattered silhouettes of skinny, ratty haired ponies. What struck the most fear into her heart, however, were the eyes. They all possessed narrow slits of pure red like the hottest coals.

"Alas, it did, your highness," spoke one of the things. "For we did nothing to aid the poor filly despite being able to save her from her fate. For that, we have a share of the curse, yet we are not ignorant. Now, who is this Living you have brought into our midst?" The thing seemed to narrow its eyes at Twilight (even more so, which was saying something) in what seemed like anger.

"Oh, this is my beloved niece, Twilight Sparkle," Luna chirped. "Say hello, Twilight." The lavender mare opened her mouth to speak, but only a gurgle came from the depths of her throat as she noticed the creatures surround them. "Forgive her, Gentle Glen, for she is but a foal by our standards."

"Are you saying CELESTIA of all ponies... had a foal of her own?" breathed the creature named Gentle Glen. "I pity the stallion who courted her... or is she of illegitimate birth?"

"It's complicated," Luna replied simply with a smile and air of finality. "It is happy, but unfortunate, to see you again, my old friend. Alas, we have some business to take care of in the castle. Celestia moved the capital some nine hundred years ago, but she failed to remove an important item. Since she is still so busy, I have asked her daughter to assist."

"Very well, we wish you safe passage. Until next time, your highness," the pony shape bowed, the others following suit as Luna continued on, having to grip on to Twilight tightly with her wings in order to get her to move. The skeletal ponies cleared a path for the two of them, the blue alicorn not releasing her grip until they walked past all of the undead creatures. The lavender unicorn moved forward on her own, trying to push out the thought... but she could not deny it connected eerily to that one story Applebloom told her.

~*///*///*///*~

"So she had an encounter with them?" Luna asked some minutes later as they neared the heart of the forest. In the time that passed, Twilight had managed to find her voice once more and told the alicorn about the time she and the filly got separated on their way back from Zecora's. "That is a most unfortunate thing: to be exposed to something so evil at such a young age."

"But... well, she said they looked normal, except for having no marks, until... until she found that one pony's body in the fireplace," the lavender mare stammered. "Why didn't they change before that? Was it really because they hoped to... to have her join their herd?"

"The Curse grants immortality, yet the ponies are forced to live the same day over and over, for all eternity. The cycle is only broken when somepony... spoils the party... yes, that's a good analogy for it. When Applebloom realized what they did to the poor filly, it shorted out the curse and revealed their true nature. The village we were in shared the same fate, until they realized their wrong. Now, they only need to wait for a chance at redemption. Of course, given how deep they are in the forest, and how typical your reaction is, that day is still far off."

Twilight looked to the dark ground, a new sense of shame drifting across her waking mind. She had judged a book by its cover again: something she swore to never do after what happened with Zecora and Derpy. Could she really be so shallow and quick to judge others, even herself? No, that was a completely different issue, for she had evidence to support her claim! That part of her was corrupt and evil: she could feel so in her heart.

"I... hate to sound like a foal, Princess," Twilight spoke some time later. "But... well, we've been walking for hours and I'm getting a little tired and hungry. Are we there yet?"

"Actually," Luna replied with a hidden smirk. "We arrived about a minute ago. Well, within the confines of the city walls, at least. The castle is still a few minutes from here. Can you not see the ancient cobblestones under the layer of dirt, or the boulders that used to be segments of homes and businesses?" Looking around, the lavender pony could not see much of anything in the darkness of the night. Twilight shook her head in confusion.

"Oh yes, I forget that nopony has my level of night vision. Here," her horn lit with a soft yellow glow, a point of light flying from the tip to above their heads, bathing the area in a daytime glow. Twilight completely forgot about that spell: the princess created a miniature version of the sun. All of a sudden, she could see what the princess meant. Cracked stones stood row-on-row, soft moss clinging to them, anchored to the ground.

"I see them now," she replied. "I can only imagine what this place was like once upon a time." Twilight shivered a little as they walked past a tiny pond, this area of the forest vaguely familiar from the events almost a year previous. For a second, she almost considered asking the princess about the magical wings that sprouted on her body, only for the idea to be shaken from her as the alicorn spoke once more.

"Then allow me to show you how I remember it," the regent of the moon replied. A small, white and transparent bubble spread from the tip of her horn, quickly expanding past the alicorn and purple mare, before stopping some distance away. Although the forest was still visible beyond, Twilight found herself in awe of the sight before her eyes.

Soft music and cries of laughter echoed eerily through the bright streets, banners of pastel blues, reds, purples and yellows hung from wires in between buildings. The structures stood erect and proud once more within the confines of the spell, the streets immaculately groomed to be rid of even the most persistent weed. In many ways, it reminded the young mare of Canterlot, except more classical and aged.

Young fillies and colts would wander into the bubble, playing games with each other as they wove around the grown ponies. Cries of 'catch me' echoed as they blurred past, each with as much energy as three young fillies the unicorn knew quite well. Carts and shop owners sat on the main street, trying to sell their ghostly wares, blurred by the hoof of time on the alicorn's memories.

"This place was beautiful," Twilight whispered as they walked into the town square. A large clock tower sat at the center, still keeping perfect time, even in Luna's memories. It looked remarkably familiar to the librarian, but she pushed the thought out of her mind. "Why did Princess Celestia ever move the capital to Canterlot? I mean, it's nice too, but this place is... was... quite homely."

"Canterlot represents a fresh start: an escape from the ghosts of a wicked past," Luna explained. "Although, at the time, it was merely an attempt to flush all memory of me from the mind of my sister and our subjects. She failed spectacularly, thankfully." The lavender pony nodded her head, the spell flickering from existence.

"Wait a minute," spoke the unicorn. "Where's the rope bridge? I thought the castle was on some sort of island across a crevasse?"

"You must have entered the back way from the gardens. We are going through the front door."

The once regal castle stood as a slate grey monument to another era, or like an open wound on the face of the world. Creeping vines lined the walls as the two mares pushed past the rotted doors, barely more than rusted hinges upon the stone. Any hints of a ceiling had collapsed into a moss-covered heap on the floor, grass beginning to grow from the rotted remains of wooden supports.

Luna led the way, her hooves taking her down a path she was familiar with as if it were only yesterday that she last walked the halls. Suits of armour and tapestries remained in the depths of the basement, yet to be touched by the elements. Twilight gasped in surprised as they passed by a torch that flickered to life, the magic still commanding it even in the castle's death.

Their hoof steps echoed off the hallowed walls, revealing more doors, left to hang open, or eaten away by pests like termites. It became clear to the lavender mare just how quickly the place became abandoned: as if they had to flee from a terrible threat. Eventually, the pair dove so deep into the ruins that not even time could reach, the passages becoming more well-preserved as they went. If Twilight did not know any better, she could have sworn she was back in Canterlot, albeit in the basement, and at night.

After minutes of walking through several passages, they came before a solid wall, causing the princess to pause before it. If the young unicorn did not know any better, she would say the ancient alicorn was lost. However, the indigo glow of her horn sparkled on the wall ahead. Stone faded into steel as a door appeared before the ponies.

Actually, upon closer inspection, the door was not made of steel as the mare first thought. It carried a light blue sheen, the door itself decorated in intricate and delicate designs of flowers, leaves, ponies and the various heavenly bodies. Two large circles sat off centre, a semi circle above showing the sun and moon at forty-five degrees from vertical along the crack.

"Is... is that..." the lavender pony spoke with some trepidation. "Runite!?"

"Why yes, it is," Luna answered. "Sometimes the most elegant solutions are the simple ones, Twilight. In order to block common ponies, the creators needed a defence system to bar them entry. You see, one must get the sun and moon at their sunset position in order to open the door. To do this, a pony has to push in and twist these plates," she gestured to the two dials on the door.

"What makes the door so devilishly simple, yet effective, are three key facts. For one, the door, as you pointed out, it made of Runite, meaning a unicorn would be foolish to open the door with magic, lest they get shocked. Secondly, the plates are too high for an earth pony to reach. Finally, they require more force than a Pegasus can exert to push them in and twist them without letting go. They need to be moved in tandem, and at best, they could only move one with both hooves."

Twilight nodded in understanding, but still felt a little uneasy around the rare metal. Still, Luna smiled and reared up on her back hooves, pressing the front ones into the plates, causing a click to sound on the ancient door. Concentrating, the princes twisted her hooves in perfect unison, the figures of sun and moon moving in perfect tandem with one another as they took their positions for sunset. Clockwork inside the door ticked as the figures and the plates moved, clinking like a well-oiled machine despite the long centuries.

As soon as the two metal representatives slid into place, the door clicked again, more gears coming to life as the door cracked open. A jet of dust and wind shot in their faces, causing the unicorn to cough and hack as the air hit her lungs. When the dust cleared, the door beyond revealed a flight of stairs leading further down, the princess standing at the threshold. "Come along, Twilight, we don't have all night."

Still rubbing some of the dust from her eyes, the pony trotted forward, past the princess who only stepped forward when the unicorn did, and with good reason, for the door slammed shut right behind her. Twilight nearly hit the ceiling in surprise, her heart beating faster than when she panicked earlier. After the younger mare finally calmed down, the two ponies descended the musty, cold steps, torches springing to life as they went.

At the bottom, there sat a small room, cracks in the ceiling revealing silvery moonlight to the relatively untouched stone. Vines, mosses and plants crept into the room, coating the ceiling in a thin layer of flora. "Hmm," Luna paused. "I thought this room would be more intact then this. I guess the preservation spell expired early. Ah well. I can see our quarry is undamaged."

There, sitting in the centre of the room was a pool of silvery liquid, sloshing about lazily of its own accord. It sat in the middle of a depression, gently sloping sides coming to an abrupt end at the edges of the liquid. It gave off a soft glow, illuminating the room completely, leaving no need for torches beyond the stairs. The pool was easily the size of the tub at Clear Waters Spa.

"This is what we are here to move. It is a mystical object made by the creators themselves to aid them in their rule, and the rule of all their descendants... including you, Twilight. This is The Pool of Midnight," Luna explained to the look of awe upon her face. A silence (aside from the occasional gurgle of the pool) filtered through the room as the obvious question dawned upon the lavender pony.

"What does it do?" asked the librarian. Never in her years had she even heard of such an object: a testament to how well the Royal Family could keep a secret. The sheer magical power of the device seemed to radiate from the silvery and enigmatic liquid. It was not unlike the magic from the exchange, except more foreign in feel and less defined in purpose.

"This pool is... enigmatic. What it does is not clear, yet if you were to bathe in its waters, you would be washed over with an epiphany. It's hard to say how it would do this, since it changes tactics every time. Alas, we are here to move it, not to use it."

"Okay, fair enough, Princess," Twilight replied. "So, what do I need to do?" Luna dove into the explanation, going over Twilight's role in detail. Even without a shred of divinity, she could assist the proceedings. The princess would create a small pocket dimension in a bottle she brought while Twilight would slowly siphon the liquid from the pool into the container. It would be a long and painstaking process, but it had to be done this way, or else risk contaminating the magic.

Walking down the gentle slope to the edge of the pool, the purple pony felt overcome with curiosity. Luna had warned her not to touch the liquid while they worked, but she just had to understand it NOW, or she would never get another opportunity. While the princess distracted herself by created the holding dimension in the tiny bottle, she stole a touch of the silvery liquid. It felt cool and refreshing as the tiniest part of her hoof made contact, a thin trail of the stuff still connected to the main body as she pulled away.

However, that tiny thread quickly thickened as the fluid traveled against gravity, spreading the cool sensation across her hoof. Panic gripped the unicorn as the slick mass of magic began to pick up speed, swiftly covering her whole leg. A sigh filled the room, causing the purple mare to twist her head to the alicorn, a look of weariness on her features. "I told you not to, you silly filly."

Twilight yelped as an invisible force pulled on her leg, bringing her closer to the now turbulent waters. It bubbled and groaned, splashing her with more of the liquid. "No! No! Help! Please! I'm sorry!" she cried as more tendrils of silver rushed up to her body. It was only a matter of time before the unicorn succumbed to the pull, emerging just a second later after falling in, blinded by the magical force. She let out a gurgled cry for help before being pulled under the surface once more.

Cold swept over her body, running through her like a torrent of the coldest winter breeze. She cried out in a silent scream as the liquid seemed to rip something out of her body, finding that she could no longer breathe, move or think. The darkness slowly gathered around her vision, the hopelessness of her situation crushing her resolve to remain alive. Twilight Sparkle resigned herself to her fate.

First Step to a New Future

[WARNING: This chapter contains brief depictions of gore. Reader discretion is strongly advised!]

In a dark, stone-walled room deep under the town of Ponyville, a huddled mass lay under a red and slightly itchy blanket. The bed was little more than a hay-stuffed mattress on the floor with a pillow and blankets, but it served its purpose. After all, the room was designed with function in mind over design, since the owners could not afford any luxuries, never mind for the dozens of other rooms in the underground lair.

Twilight Sparkle lay curled under the blankets, silently weeping to herself for the past day and a half in confusion and sorrow. She barely ate, slept or even breathed through all the crying; her golem nature the only thing keeping her from death's embrace. All of her friends were dead, missing, or working for the one pony most hated in the country.

As soon as she heard the name of the queen was Eos, she became frightened of the empty feeling in the pit of her stomach. In her state, she could only draw out one conclusion: somehow, Eos had become separate from her and altered the past to create a new, dark and depressing future. Yet, as good an explanation as that was, it did not explain how she could remain asleep for so long unless she was bewitched. Even then, how could she have ever awakened?

More questions began to filter through the grief she felt for her dear friends, fresh tears and gentle sobs escaping from her lips. It was all too much for her to bear, making the lavender unicorn wish it were all a dream. Then, she could wake up, be comforted by all of her friends and be told just how silly it was by Pinkie Pie. No matter how hard she cried or hurt herself, she just could not wake up.

It's not a dream, spoke a voice in the back of her mind, causing a shiver to roll down her spine. The unicorn moaned and dragged herself from under the covers, a tiny mirror floating over to her so she could scold her directly to her evil face.

"Shut up!" she cried, looking at her own reflection. "I know you're taunting me from the castle! I know that you want nothing more than to see me cry, you horrible murderous horse! Leave me alone, or by Celestia, I will make you regret the day you darkened the doorstep of my soul!" The voice seemed to back down, leaving her alone to her misery once more. Twilight buried her face in her pillow and started crying again.

What had she done to deserve this? Unfortunately, the answer all too willingly raised its ugly head as the memories of that day bubbled to the surface. She could see the looks of horror on her friends' and the princesses' faces as she went about her villainous rampage through the streets of Ponyville and her lashing out at the very being who gave her life.

The lavender mare found it all too easy to stay curled up in the room, feeling sorry for herself until the day the magic keeping her alive would fade, turning her back into the clay from whence she came. Sadly, that day would be a long way off, since she had done more reading into golems. Apparently, they had an eighty-year life-cycle that could be extended when the creator passed it along, usually to the next generation. That way, a single golem could serve a family for hundreds of years.

"Oh Twilight," sighed a voice beside her bed. The lavender mare jumped, turning around to see the frowning face of a sky-blue Pegasus. "It's times like this that make it hard for me to be your friend. I mean, here you are, lying around like a sad-sack because a few things beyond your control go wrong! Sheesh!"

"R-rainbow?" she asked. "But... but you're dead!"

"Yeah? So? A part of me still lives on in YOU, Twilight, and all of our other friends. I'm just sick of seeing you laze around when you've got important stuff to do!"

"Oh yeah? Like WHAT?"

"For starters," the shade started, "You have to find all of our remaining friends. I might be a part of your mind, but I can tell you that they all miss you very much. You have to unite all of our friends so we can stand against that usurping horse together! Then we can destroy the queen and find a way to bring Celestia and Luna back so they can make everything right again!"

"I guess you're right: moping around won't do anypony any good, least of all myself," she conceded to the phantom. Rainbow smiled and nodded her head before retreating back into the inner depths of her mind. The lavender unicorn pulled herself out of bed, her legs slightly shaking from the lack of exercise over the last thirty hours or so.

With a wave of her magic, the heavy wooden door into her room opened, revealing the dark stone tunnel of a hall beyond. Ponies would occasionally trot past, giving her the customary look of hidden fear before continuing on with their duties. A couple even addressed her as 'General Twilight' as she passed, causing her to raise an eyebrow in confusion. The last time she checked, she was not in any army, never mind in the position of a senior officer.

After a few minutes of searching, the lavender librarian finally found herself at the set of double doors that lead into the mess hall. Like all other rooms in the base, candles atop the table and sconces on the walls lit the dank stone walls. Ground water continuously seeped into the chambers, so several ponies mopped the floors on a daily basis, lest the facility become flooded.

"Howdy, Twilight!" waved Applebloom from a seat further in. "Come an' sit over here with us!" The scholar weaved her way through the traffic and sat herself down on the bench with Dinky and Scootaloo as present company. "Ah'm glad ta see you came outta yer room. We've been worryin' about you for HOURS now, ya know." The others nodded and threw in their own feelings on the matter, each concerned for her well-being.

"I'm fine," the unicorn replied confidently to their voices of concern. "I just needed a little bit of time to myself to work things out. Yes, I was feeling sorry for myself, but then I got around to thinking: being depressed is not going to do me, or anypony else, any good. Besides, I've got to re-unite all of my friends so we can tackle the queen together!"

"That's the spirit, Twilight!" Scootaloo chirped in excitement. "If you're feeling up to it, after lunch we can go back to our conference room and fill you in on the Apple Clan, the Everfree Movement and... that other one." As much as she wanted to know why they were so afraid of the Party Poppers, the unicorn decided not to ask, since she would be sure to find out about it later.

For the moment, she occupied herself by pondering on how she could have mourned for an entire day and a half without realizing the flow of time. Then again, such an occurrence was not out of the ordinary for her, since she could lose time quite easily when stressed. She let out a sigh as the salad slid in front of her, more at her situation then the food itself. Why did everything always have to turn into some drawn-out adventure?

~*///*///*///*~

A half-hour later, the lavender mare found herself seated in her chair at the conference table with Scootaloo, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle. Dinky had to break off from the group as they went: something about setting something up for their meeting. In the meantime, the four mares sat in the dark chamber, chatting idly while they waited for some papers to be delivered to them.

If it were not for the dark and depressing atmosphere, Twilight could almost imagine the four of them outside Mr. Shake's on a warm summer's day. Of course, she and her friends would be older then the three young mares in front of her, but she did not mind so much, as the hoof of time waits for nopony. Not even the princesses could escape the inevitable.

A knock sounded ten minutes after they seated themselves, Dinky and a young stallion standing at the door once it opened. The former gently took a stack of paper's from his gawking mouth (his eyes directly on Twilight, of course) and addressed him, "Thank you, Lieutenant, that will be all." With a wave of her horn, the door shut in his face, causing him to yelp. Twilight hoped it was just surprise that caused it.

"I told them we'll be a few minutes. They're anxious, but they will wait," she spoke to the three Crusaders before sitting at her seat. With a second flash of her horn, the papers congregated in front of the lavender mare. "Here you are: all our surveillance records on the other three groups." Twilight thanked Dinky for the papers before holding them aloft in her telekinetic grasp, reading them over carefully.

The Apple Clan

Leaders: General Applejack, Commander Big Macintosh, Commander Bareburn

Base Location: Unknown

Goals: To transform Equestria into a modified republic, working under a President as opposed to a Prime Minister, who serves as Head of Government and State. Motion of the heavenly bodies will be given to a specific senator or two. It is currently unknown how they would keep said anointed officials in check.

Modus Operandi: Working with the Buffalo of the Appleloosan Plain, the Apple Clan engages in open-war guerrilla tactics against members of the Equestrian Royal Army and other crown authorities. Organization is loose and individual commanders generally operate at their own discretion, making infiltration and manipulation easy.

Relationship with the Crusaders: Tense, as our solutions to the government issue are similar, but our plans on how to deal with the gap caused by exterminating the queen are vastly different. We are officially neutral, but with hostile tendencies.

------

The Everfree Movement

Leaders: General Fluttershy, General Zecora (MIA; presumed deceased), Commander Angel.

Base Location: Unknown (Everfree Forest)

Goals: Naturalization of all Equestria via the destruction of all social structures. In essence, they are an anarchist group and are treated as such by ourselves, the other movements and the crown. The heavenly bodies would be released from any and all control and be allowed to take their natural (if any) course. If the assumption is wrong, this could plunge the world into half-scorching-day and half-freezing-night.

Modus Operandi: Former Crusader general Fluttershy recruits animals to do her bidding, although a few ponies have joined her ranks as of late. Tactics include sabotaging important facilities, homes, and landmarks. They will also abduct members of the crown who wander too close to Everfree. To this end, they work to delay, or keep the new Weather Factory (currently under construction: see Project 'New Horizons') kept offline permanently.

Relationship with the Crusaders: Hostile, yet respectful as we sympathise with Operation 'Mother Nature.'

-----

The Party Poppers

Leaders: Pinkamena Diane "Pinkie" Pie, Rainbow Dash (honorary and posthumously due to the destruction of Cloudsdale)

Base Location: Unknown, and we're not willing to find out.

Goals: Complete and utter destruction of everything tangible. They do not care what will happen when/if they kill Queen Eos.

Modus Operandi: Chaos. Sheer, unadulterated chaos. There is no rhyme or reason to what they do and how they go about doing it. However, two clear themes do emerge: a dark and sick sense of humor, and a nihilistic desire for the world to die. Their leader seems to switch opinions and dispositions at the drop of a hat to further reflect those themes. "If we're going to die, we might as well die laughing," quote Pinkie Pie during the conflict in Neighpon.

Relationship with the Crusaders: Extremely hostile. Do not approach any member unless heavily armed.

Twilight dropped the papers as her telekinetic field failed, shaking at the information dump on her already fragile mind. If just one more thing disturbed her, just one more thing, she felt like she was going to snap and repeat the Ponyville fire. She then brought a bag to her face as she began to hyperventilate as she felt her body become flooded with stress.

The Crusaders looked at her uneasily, knowing that the facts would be hard to swallow, especially for a neurotic golem with magical power projected to equal that of Princess Celestia's. They knew she was a literal powder keg of magical energy just waiting to go off. However, they figured the impact would be lessened coming from them instead of allowing her to find out from a less understanding and comforting source.

After several minutes of shallow breathing, the lavender mare slowly calmed herself down, remembering to take deep breaths just like Luna taught her. Fluttershy was an anarchist and Pinkie was some crazy mad-mare? How could all of this happen just because she was not around to keep them in check? She groaned and massaged her temples with her hooves, trying desperately to relax: she did not want to cost more innocent ponies their lives.

"If you're feeling up to it, Twilight," Sweetie Belle spoke slowly. "We can talk to them. Dinky invented a spell that lets us communicate no matter the distance. It used to be a great advantage for our cause... until the queen found out and made her own version of the system."

"They're all anxious to see you, Twilight," Scootaloo added. "Maybe just your presence will get them to reconcile? We've waited for you for ten years. A lot changes, but even more stays the same. Please, just give it a try?" Taking a final deep breath, the librarian nodded her head. "Do it, Dinky," the Pegasus urged.

Dinky Hooves took a deep breath, her horn glowing in a pale blue aura as the semi-circular parts of the table began to light up with a soft cyan glow. What little light the room afforded was dimmed, to better help the spell and the ponies that used it. At first, only the orbs of the ponies present glowed, but slowly, others tuned in too, leaving only the ones in front of Rainbow and Rarity's chairs unlit.

"That's all of them," Applebloom chirped in delight, straightening out the worn Stetson on her head. With all the others glowing, the central sphere shimmered red and green, casting the colours upon the wall as ghostly apparitions appeared sitting in the chairs. Each one of Twilight's friends faded into existence, their forms sitting at the chair with their colours a little faded, but still recognizable despite the dim light of the room.

"Holy Shoot!" spoke the crackly voice of Applejack through the spell as Dinky's horn faded. "Ah thought y'all were just pullin' my leg! Is that REALLY you, sugarcube?!" Various exclamations of the like sounded from all the different ponies gathered around, except for Trixie, who just starred at Twilight, as if x-raying her through the magical field.

"Oh, Twilight!" chirped Fluttershy. "I wish I was there so I could give you a great, big hug! We've all missed you so much." Although they could not see it, tears were beginning to well up in her eyes as Angel joined her.

"This calls for my Super-Mega-Awesome-Party Party!!!" cheered Pinkie waving her hooves around in delight. The Crusaders (and everypony else) seemed to breathe a sigh of relief once they saw Pinkie was her happy self. "Oh, we're going to need streamers and balloons and cake and a place we can all meet up and guests and music and party games! Oh, we simply HAVE to have pin-the-tail on the pony! I've really got to find my party plan book because I had the most wonderful party planned for when you came home and..."

"Well, I'm more interested in hearing what Twilight Sparkle has planned for the future," Trixie interrupted the pink party mare. "The sooner we end this war and kill that mule of a queen; the sooner things can get back to normal so Trixie can perform for the masses of Equestria again. Being on the Outlands does nothing for Trixie's image, or for her stomach."

"Well, um..." Twilight trailed. "I don't really have anything planned now... beyond getting all of us back together, that is. I mean, I know what happened to Rainbow and Rarity, but I doubt Rainbow would want us to stay divided like this. So, for the moment, I'd kind of like to get us all on speaking terms again, then try and convince Rarity to come back."

"Rarity!?" they all spoke in varying amounts of outrage or disgust. Then the arguing started. Overlapping voices soon overwhelmed the lavender pony's ears as they all complained about the very notion of having the alabaster unicorn in their midst again. However, it was not until Applejack shouted over the din that things became more coherent.

"No offence, sugarcube," she spoke, silencing the others. "But Rarity is a bona fide traitor! She sold us out to Eos by tellin' her that we existed! Now half our faces are on Equestria's most wanted list! Yet, here ya are, preachin' to us about how we gotta forgive her and welcome her back with open legs? Ah just can't do that, Twi. That's a good way to get 'bucked over', if'n yew catch mah drift."

"Yeah! Rarity is a meany-mean pants!" Pinkie slammed her hoof on her own table. Then a look of alarm spread over her face as she cried out, "Twitcha-twitch! Twitcha-twitch! Bon-Bon! Look out for the vat of a-" A sudden scream of pain came from her spot, making everypony else shudder.

"AHH! MY EYES!" shouted a voice from beyond.

"Acid," the pink mare finished with a giggle and a snort.

"Okay..." Dinky trailed. "Sweetie, can you go get us some water? This is going to be a long one," she sighed as the argument picked up again. The white unicorn nodded and did just that, leaving the room with a soft click. Twilight twitched an eye at the spectacle before her. All of her friends seemed to hate each other with more passion then she had seen in ages! Not even the spat between Rarity and AJ at her first slumber party could compare. They looked like they wanted each other dead.

"What the SORREL HELLS is going ON around here!" she screeched, slamming her hooves into the table in anger and frustration. She had finally reached her boiling point, causing everypony to fall silent. "We're all supposed to be FRIENDS! What happened to you girls? Don't you remember all we've been though? We're too close to be fighting like this: how can you possibly mean all the things you're saying!?"

Pinkie's eyes became half-lidded, a smile developing across her muzzle that freaked everypony out, causing a wave of shudders to go around the table. "The Elements of Harmony are no longer bound together by Magic. Loyalty is dead and Generosity is a traitor!" A fit of giggles overcame the pink mare as tears visibly streamed from her eyes. "All that's left... is to end it all!"

Scootaloo groaned and smacked her head on the table once. "Some ponies just want to watch the world burn," she moaned in frustration.

"But I'm here now!" the lavender unicorn pleaded. "Yes, Rainbow is gone and Rarity made a mistake, but we can still fix this if we just work together! As representatives of the Elements of Harmony, we are honour-bound to do so. Even if we have to find a new p-pony to be Loyalty in R-Rainbow's stead..." She sat down in the chair, tears beginning to crest her eyes as well.

"No offence, Twi," the farmer sighed. "But ah ain't working with THAT locoweed-eating, crazy baker! Ain't no how!" She pointed an accusing hoof at Pinkie, who only giggled quietly to herself.

"Besides that," Fluttershy finally spoke after hiding under her table, "Rarity is working for EOS! I'd never work with a pony in league of the one completely responsible for DESTROYING the natural order! That includes the rest of you!"

Trixie left her chair to take care of something else while the former Elements of Harmony squawked like chickens with their heads cut off. The rest of the Crusaders lowered their heads. Dinky sighed, thinking back to better times as she decided to speak her mind. "None here truly care for Equestria anymore. If you did, we'd be listening to Twilight: the only pony who could possibly challenge the queen! If she says we need to work together, then we need to work together! Can't anypony see that?"

"I should really use locoweed in my next cake!" chirped the pink pony. "Then it would be a real surprise party!"

"Girls!" The lavender mare desperately pleaded. "I thought you were better than this! None of you care for the greater good: you just want your own vision of what this nation should be to come true! Please! We can't exchange one mismanaged tyranny for another! We... we need to bring back Celestia and Luna... somehow."

"Fer the greater good?" questioned Applebloom. "That's HER motto, Twilight. Besides, the princesses are dead. We're the only hope Equestria has left."

"...And at the moment," continued the orange Pegasus, "It's not a very bright hope."

"So?" Twilight asked, beginning to swing wild from all the stress around her. "So what if they're dead? I'm sure that somewhere out there, we can find a spell, or, or a potion that can bring them back!"

"THAT'S NOT NATURAL!" the yellow Pegasus screamed. "How DARE you, Twilight Sparkle! How DARE you!" With that, she stormed off in a huff, the soft blue glow of the stone in front of her chair growing dim before finally disappearing.

"Unicorns!" the honest farmer gritted. "That's all y'all unicorns are good fer, huh? SOLVIN' YER PROBLEMS WITH BUCKING MAGIC!! You make me sick, Twilight!" Applejack spat into a nearby pot, the 'ting!' sounding through the spell. With an infuriated slam of her hoof, her orb went out as well, taking her from the meeting.

Meanwhile, the pink party pony continued to giggle, her face in a Cheshire grin as her eyes moved into the corner of their sockets. To say the lavender mare was freaked out by the sight would be a massive understatement. "No. Death to all. The world is ending! Stars will fall. Reversing entropy is pointless! Locoweed should be legalized!!"

"Hmm?" Trixie asked as she seated herself back in her chair. "What did the Great and Powerful Trixie miss? Probably nothing, since the hayseed and tree-hugger are gone. Do Trixie a favour? Only call her when you know something USEFUL. Until then, don't bother!" Her orb went dark as well.

Dinky's horn shimmered, the rest of the orbs going dark as light returned to the room, leaving the purple unicorn squinting a little, trying to calm herself down again. "And that is why we split up," she explained. "Otherwise, half of us would be dead because of difference of opinion. Although, Luna and Celestia would be no match for Eos: she controls both the sun AND the moon. Are you okay, Twilight?"

"Yeah, I'm just..." she trailed off, looking for words, "Disappointed: at myself, mostly, for thinking of something so stupid. I was getting stressed and I was not thinking straight when I suggested that idea. I'm so sorry I crushed your hope for reunification."

"It isn't your fault, Twilight," Scootaloo spoke. "It was... kind of a long shot from the start." The door opened, allowing Sweetie Belle to behold the aftermath. She looked around, sighing with understanding before sending the drinks over to the present mares, sitting at the table herself. "We're sorry we put you through that. Really."

"I need some fresh air," the lavender unicorn spoke before rising. "I'm going outside for a bit."

~*///*///*///*~

At Dinky's insistence on an escort, the two unicorns ascended the slowly rising passage back up into the warmth of Sugarcube Corner. The blond unicorn went ahead, deactivating traps and making sure everything was clear. Using her magic, the floorboards became transparent on their side, allowing them to see that the store was clear. With a flick of her horn, the secret entrance opened, the Cakes busy in the back.

After a quick check out the front door, the two mares ventured outside, the lavender mare having to cover her eyes in the afternoon sun. Finally free of the dark confines of the underground fortress, Twilight took a deep breath, savouring the late spring air. The faintest hints of lilac and sunflowers hit her nostrils, resulting in a pleasant smell to compliment the sunny day. "Well, good thing it's clear today," Dinky smiled as they started into the square. "Ever since Cloudsdale exploded, the weather has been... unpredictable. Thankfully, the weather teams manage to keep extreme weather under control."

Without the weather factory, the climate of Equestria became that of the Everfree Forest: wild and unpredictable. All the weather ponies could do was to stem the tide of big storms, or go off in search of clouds for scheduled showers. Nowadays, the idea of weather scheduling had all but become an extinct concept to the citizens of Equestria, since the new weather factory was delayed by about two years thanks to the Everfree Movement.

However, looking at the quaint town of Ponyville, one would hardly notice the state of the nation, or the climate. Happy ponies walked around as they always did, going about their daily lives in a haze of relative bliss. They did not need to worry so much about the war. They did not need to worry about their friends baying for each other's blood, too blind to see the futility of being so angry.

Why did everything always have to get shoved onto her plate? Was it too much to ask to just read her books and be with her friends? Why did all of the weird stuff have to happen to them? Twilight gave her head a liberal shake, trying to remember that she came outside to relax and not work herself into another tizzy. To that end, she took several deep breaths as they walked down the streets.

"So Dinky," Twilight spoke, deciding to try and take her mind off of her misery, "I haven't seen your mom around recently. What has she been up to?"

The purplish-grey unicorn sighed in a mixture of frustration and pain. "You'll have to follow me, if you want to see... to see my mom, Twilight."

"Please, lead the way," spoke the librarian. Dinky nodded her head and quickly changed direction, leaving the main streets and heading north along the back alleys. The librarian had traveled all through the streets of town in her nearly two years of residence; however, she did not recognize any of the buildings down this one in particular. "Was this street rebuilt... after the fire, I mean?"

"Yeah, actually, now that I think about it," the younger mare replied. "The fires stopped spreading about three doors down from my house... my old house. You see, I had to move out of it about... eight years ago?"

"Why did you have to move out? Your mom could always pay the rent, as far as I know," said Twilight Sparkle. Seeing her genuine confusion, Dinky Hooves just snorted in reply.

Eventually, the crowded buildings began to thin as the cobblestone streets turned into dirt underhoof. The librarian had no clue where she found herself, as she had never been to this section of Ponyville before. However, an arch and wrought-iron fence soon came into view through the sparsely placed trees and bushes. Upon the wood backing of the sign rested black, iron letters, bore the words, 'Green Fields Cemetery.'

Stark realization crept across the lavender mare's features, causing her head to lower as she continued to follow Dinky. Tombstones stood side-by-side and row-on-row up the gently sweeping slopes, the trees overhead providing cover from the elements for the monuments. After about twenty rows, the younger unicorn turned, leading the librarian past several of the stones, all bearing unfamiliar names... until the inevitable.

At the top of the stone, like with all other ponies, was the symbol of her cutie mark: a string of seven bubbles rising gently. The black onyx markings of her mark contrasted wonderfully against the smooth grey stone, giving the illusion of depth. Below her mark, there was her birth, and death date. And beneath that, there was an inscription.

Here lies Derpy Hooves. A beloved mother and dedicated mailmare. Taken before her time in the pursuit of a better future.

Twilight lowered her head in respect, fighting back more tears because she knew that the genius Pegasus would not want her to weep, for her pain was over. Yet, it was incredibly hard to keep her composure, especially when her friends wanted nothing to do with her, or each other anymore. Only then did it dawn upon her just how lonely she was, thrust into a strange and dark world. How she longed to be with her friends, with Spike, with the Princess... Derpy...

"She died because she had a theory," spoke the orphaned unicorn, fighting back her own tears. "I guess you died in vain after all, Mom. You see, Twilight, right at the beginning of Queen Eos' reign, she noticed something. She developed a theory that soon became a well-known and accepted rumour. You see, a lot of ponies are scared of you... because they think that you're Eos in disguise."

Doing her best acting, the unicorn shivered and looked at the former filly wildly, as if she were shocked to hear all of this as opposed to having figured it out. She shook and sat on her haunches, shaking her head while holding a hoof to it, groaning in pain. It seemed to do a convincing job, as the young mare turned her attention from her back to the grave of her late mother.

"Why me?" Twilight asked. "Why, is it all the time, ME!? I just want to study and have fun with my friends! Why do the creators have to place me into these situations? WHY!!!"

~*///*///*///*~

The two unicorns headed back into town, having decided to go and have some tea in a shop near the town square. Twilight would have preferred to have tea back at the library, but she remembered that she had nothing back there to make the drink. So, she reluctantly agreed to go to the tea shop and have some of their (rather expensive) beverages outside, since it was a nice day.

Unfortunately, (although expected) she gained many more stares and whispers as she emerged from the back streets and into the crowded square, which was partially bisected by a small river. Walking inside the shop only served to increase the number of eyes on the pair as Dinky ordered their drinks, the older unicorn having told her before that she felt like some lemon tea to help soothe her nerves.

Stepping outside onto the fenced-in patio, the two mares seated themselves at a table close to the edge of the river. As they minded their own business, it became increasingly difficult to remain undisturbed, as the whispers turned into murmurs. Of course, a thought soon occurred to Twilight: if Dinky was in charge of a rebellion against the queen, how come no pony had fetched any authorities?

The purple pony voiced her concerns as discreetly as possible to the purplish-grey unicorn, who laughed at her concerns. "Don't worry about it. Technically, I've done nothing wrong and the queen has no evidence to list me as a subversive. So the cops can look, but they can't touch this flank," she laughed.

"Well, I'm glad to hear that, Dinky," Twilight smiled, thankful the little excursion was not a risk on her part. "I take it your group is in charge of stealth operations?" The younger unicorn nodded her head, keeping a discrete eye on something behind the unicorn's head.

Thankfully, she did not seem to notice where her gaze drifted, although having her mother's lazy eyes would have been an advantage in this instance. Still, for the most part, she sipped on her tea and kept an eye on the commotion. Governor Ironhead was out in force, escorted by two guards as they went about town, plastering a series of new wanted posters, judging by the look of them.

The guards soon wandered over to the tea shop, placed another sign and moved on. Thankfully, old Ironhead was too busy with what he was doing to notice Dinky and try to antagonize her. Seeing them turn away, the two mares finished their tea and returned the cups before leaving the shop, while Twilight quietly recalled a book she had read about the different kinds of herbs that could be put in teas.

"Oh horseapples," the purplish-grey unicorn breathed when she stole a glance of the poster. Unfortunately, she drew Twilight's attention, the lavender mare walking up right behind her.

"What are you looking at, Din---" It was a great big colorful wanted poster with her face plastered on the front, her mark in one of the corners. At the very top of the poster, in large bold letters (aside from the obvious word) was the price on her head, 'ALIVE: 500,000 Bits'. Below the picture read, 'Twilight Sparkle. Considered armed and dangerous!'

"Fi--- Five Hun---!" The wanted mare stammered. Her eyes went wild in shock.

"Wow!" Dinky whispered in awe. "AJ is only listed as ONE hundred thousand. She must really be desperate if she wants that much for you!"

"Not. Helping!" Twilight cried out, inadvertently drawing some attention. "Let's get the hells out of here!"

The Crusader grabbed onto the lavender mare and started leading her away, a pair of blue-vested guards standing on the bridge between them and Sugarcube Corner. They skidded to a stop, the gray mare trying to think of another quick escape route, since the next closest bridge in the direction away from the guards was over three blocks away. There was nothing for it: if they wanted to get back to the bakery, before being caught, they would need to wade across the shallow river and climb onto the opposite bank.

Using silent, easy-to-understand gestures to communicate, the two ponies slowly made their way to the river, away from the prying eyes in the square and the guards loitering around the bridge. The bank of the small stream was shallow, yet very steep, an almost vertical drop down to the water's edge. However, if a pony crouched down, they could remain undetected from anypony in the square.

The plan was to follow the bank of the river under the bridge, and then cross the body of water under it to avoid detection for as long as possible. Then, they would navigate back to a shallow slope just across the moving body of water from where they started. However, Dinky had not accounted for a very critical factor: the river flowed directly under Canterlot upstream.

Twilight and Dinky covertly made their way across the bank as planned, the only hint to their existence being the occasional bent reed. However, neither of them expected to find a large burlap bag the same colour of the mud on the banks of the river. 'Squish!' sounded the bag as Twilight stepped on it, prompting her to do a double take. "What the hay was that?" she asked, natural curiosity kicking in.

Dinky, meanwhile, stopped cold, as she immediately recognized the bag, and what it possibly contained. "Twilight, don't---" she tried to warn, but it was far too late. Twilight had opened the bag to find that she instantly regretted it: chalk up another time she damned her curiosity. For in the bag, she came face-to-face with the rhyming Zebra, Zecora.

Or, it USED to be Zecora, anyway. Her coat was matte and ripped off in some places, exposing pink flesh underneath. She was bloodied and dirty, bones hanging off of her frame. Various body parts lay separated, a hoof here, a part of her tail there... her head looking Twilight directly in the eyes. Her mouth hung open, tongue removed. Maggots slowly emerged from her eye sockets, wiggling in the lack of space. In fact, the creatures covered her entire body, the unicorn having missed them through the overload of visual horrors.

And then the screaming started: a high-pitched wail of pure terror that alerted half the town to her discovery. "...open the bag," Dinky finished, placing a muddy hoof firmly against her face. "Although, I wondered when she'd show up." Looking over the bank, she saw guards approach the still screaming mare, concern on their faces before they had realized who was screaming. "... And now we have to run."

With all hopes of stealth utterly shattered, the younger unicorn grasped the elder in her telekinetic hold, casting an invisibility spell on herself before bolting up, carrying (the still screaming) Twilight. "It's Twilight Sparkle!" cried one of the guards. "Seize her!" Dinky panted under the strain, trying to lead them away from Sugarcube Corner. She needed to find a place to snap Twilight out of it though, or else all hopes of escape would be lost.

She wove between groups of ponies and tore down streets while carrying the irrational unicorn with her the entire way, struggling to maintain the invisibility spell. Celestia damn it, she has some lungs, the mare thought acidly as she carried her down a (not so) quiet backstreet with the guards in hot pursuit. Pushing her magic to the very limits, she put a silencing spell on the hysterical mare once they got out of sight, her invisibility flickering for a quick second before dispelling. However, with the other spell on, she could easily hide.

Turning down an alley, an opportunity presented itself in the form of an open door. The mare raced inside, her charge silently screaming in tow. Yet, that would not be enough: even with the door closed, they found themselves in the back room of a store. Dashing between stacks of boxes, they finally found a hidden alcove, the young mare piling boxes around to hide them in a makeshift room.

"Twilight!" she hissed. "Calm down or I'll slap you to bucking Canterlot, because that's EXACTLY where you're going if you keep this up! Yes, it was gruesome and horrible, but she's DEAD! She doesn't give a damn anymore! We all scream at seeing our first dead body, but that was just ridiculous! I'm sorry she's gone: I really am, but I have seen too many friends killed for it to phase me anymore!" Yet, she kept screaming, eyes tearing up. Dinky sighed and back-hoofed the mare hard, nearly snapping her neck from the force.

"Stop parading your innocence, your naiveté! Damn it, Twilight, grow a spine! If this is how you react to something bad, you might as well off yourself right now because you'll be of no use to ANYPONY in this world! It's ugly out there: far more ugly than a maggot-ridden corpse! Now, I am going to lift the silencing spell, and stars help me, if you scream I am going to beat you until you pass out!"

Twilight nodded her head, still a little stunned from the sudden hit. The younger unicorn's horn shimmered, the lavender mare grabbing hold of her, sobbing quietly while clinging on to her for support. Dinky rolled her eyes at the display, hardened by battles and failed missions, yet she was reminded of herself the first time she saw a dead body. So, she simply rubbed the mare's back in an attempt to soothe her nerves and bring her back to reality.

~*///*///*///*~

Together, the two ponies stayed in their makeshift hideout for hours until the raw librarian finally calmed down. "Okay," Dinky muttered as she opened a wall of their hideout by a crack, seeing the darkness in the rest of the building. "It's night now, and I'm sure your little... episode will probably increase the garrison. That is, if the fact Ponyville is your home hasn't done so already."

Twilight nodded her head. "Right, so what's the plan?" she asked, her voice cracking from all the strain she put on her cords.

"Sugarcube Corner is probably closed, so we can't get back to base without rousing suspicion. The library is definitely out as well, since I'd bet my horn that there are guards watching it. I'd say the only option is to get you out of town. I mean, you want to find Spike, right?" The lavender mare nodded her head in confirmation. "So, in order to do that, we'll have to sneak by patrols and border guards. I'd say we head for the west, and out towards Huffington. That'll take you close to Cloudsdale, and nopony goes near the place since..."

Both unicorns looked away apprehensively, unable to talk about the events that made the obliterated Pegasus capital so feared. "Well... thankfully the radiation in the air evaporated instantly. Just don't lick the dirt and you'll be fine," Dinky spoke after a few minutes' silence. "Can you do a decent invisibility spell? I can teach you, if you don't, but it's a little complicated."

"No, I know one," Twilight answered.

"Good. Cast it and let's go." With a wave of her magic, the box slid silently to the side, the two mares stepping out before donning their disguises. They silently crept through the back room of the store, keeping their ear peeled in case the guards were still searching the area, or the owner came in to grab something. Nearing the window, the two got a good look at the moon: low in the sky, yet high enough to be sure that most ponies would be asleep.

"Wait," Twilight whispered right before the younger mare opened the door. "How are we supposed to follow each other while we are invisible?" The question proved an interesting conundrum to the unicorn, before an idea came to her. She became visible once more and stood close to the door.

"Grab hold of my tail," she whispered. Rounding the exposed mare, Twilight gently gathered her hay-coloured tail in her teeth, tugging it lightly to signal that she had done so. Nodding her head, the young mare vanished once more. The door opening quickly, causing the librarian to very nearly lose her in that instant as they dashed outside. With any luck, they would not have to open any more doors.

Together, the two mares slowly made their way down the alley, keeping their ears peeled for the sound of foreign hoofsteps. The half moon above their heads provided some cover in the form of shadow, in case their spells shorted out, but it did nothing to stifle any sounds or smells coming from the hidden ponies. Although Twilight knew her way around town, she had no idea about guard patrols and schedules.

While she was calming herself down from the trauma, Dinky had told her that over the course of the decade the queen (through her golem governors) issued night patrols for all towns and major settlements. If Twilight made a wrong move, she could turn down a street and literally smack into one. Naturally, the idea of having her captured did not sit well with Dinky, since they may as well surrender if the queen ever got her hooves on her.

The lavender mare did not like the idea of having to sneak around her own home town, however, she soon conceded to the more experienced mare. After turning around the second bend, a pair of guards stood at the end of the street in vigil while complaining to themselves about how they needed to stand guard at the dead of night. Needless to say, the two mares kept deathly quiet as they crept around the pair of blue-vested earth ponies.

Once out of earshot and after they made sure no other ponies were coming, the lavender mare whispered through clenched teeth. "I thought the guard wore gold armour?" No answer came, only a quiet and irritated 'Shh!' from a vague spot ahead of her. From then on, Twilight kept her big trap shut. She had already endangered the young mare enough that day and she did not feel like running yet another risk.

By the time the two ponies slipped past the night patrol, after literally hours of slow going through the cobblestone streets, they found themselves safely in the confines of Whitetail Wood. Dinky stopped suddenly, flicking her tail from the other unicorn's mouth before quietly walking around in a circle. Twilight was confused, at first, until she realized she was checking for patrols. "Okay, we can drop them," she spoke, becoming visible to the purple mare.

Breathing a sigh of relief, the librarian dropped the invisibility spell as well, wiping some sweat from her brow since they were finally clear of town. "To answer your earlier question," Dinky spoke. "The army and royal guard wear gold armour, but the army has green tassels on the helmets. The guards in town are in service to Ironhead. He's the Governor of the township in place of the mayor. He is a golem made specifically by Eos to be completely loyal to her alone, as with all the other Governors. I think Huffington's is called... Copperhead: or something like that."

"Thank you for clarifying that, Dink," Twilight spoke. "Are... are you sure about letting me go off on my own? Especially after what happened earlier? Are you sure I can make it on my own?"

"You were right. When you said we needed to be together, that is. You can't reunite your friends in a bunker, Twilight. Go. For the sake of everypony: find Spike, Fluttershy, AJ, Pinkie and Rarity, if you can manage it. Just, just don't do anything stupid, okay? I don't want to read how you were captured in the paper. Just remember, we have bases in every town. If you need to hide, look for our symbol, you'll be able to get in... General Sparkle."

"Don't worry. I'll be careful," Twilight replied, moving deeper into the woods. She stole one last glimpse at Ponyville, bathed in the soft glow of the moon. Waving a quick goodbye to the Crusader she turned forward. She had no clue where to start looking, but when a pony is going from one disaster to the next, the goal isn't to find peace, but to simply keep moving.

Fake Wings of Hope

Everything was serene and still in the darkness of the new night. Only the fast-paced clipping of hooves on the cobbles in the street could be heard as the city of Canterlot began to wind down for the day. Several ponies still going about their evenings gave her odd looks as she rushed past, yet none of the guard paid her any attention, as they were focused on other, more important matters.

Rarity wove through the streets in an attempt to shake any ponies off of her tail, running at full clip unless she came across one of the guards. What was Twilight playing at? Surely she did not think she could get outside the town gates without getting the third degree from the guards, especially at night! Of course, there were several tunnels dug by the Crusaders to get in and out, but the white unicorn had no idea which were discovered or not in her time away, never mind the idea of dragging herself through the muck!

Then again, she realized that Twilight probably did not like lying and pretending to be such a cruel and hate-filled pony, even if it was to save her flank. This was a war and war required sacrifice. After all, it had been her obsession with staying clean that had brought her into her present situation in the first place. "It looks like you are going to have to bite the bullet, Rarity," she said to herself.

So, reluctantly, the mare trotted over to the great stone edifice that was the town wall and started walking around the side, listening for a subtle thump to signify the trapdoor leading into a tunnel she knew. Thankfully, she found it sooner rather than later under a fake layer of grass and dirt. Peering inside, it was obvious the guard had not found the tunnel, but that did not make it any less dirty and unappealing.

The very notion of dragging her body through such a cramped, dark, damp, and filthy little hole made bile rise into her throat. However, she knew that it would be the only way to get free of the tyrannical Queen Eos. So, with a deep breath, she plunged head-first into the cesspool. To put it succinctly, it was exactly as she imagined, except it was unfortunately smaller then she anticipated. In fact, she had to press her body into the mud, staining her beautiful underbelly. Even then, her head still grazed the top, but beggars could not be choosers and it was already too late to turn back.

For what felt like hours, there was only the sensation of cool earth against her underside and the occasional rock hitting her horn from above, yielding a yelp of surprise from the mare every time. With every long slide, Rarity grimaced as she felt more of her hair tangle up in a mess from stray roots and rocks. "When this is over," she grunted with another pull, "I'm registering for a medal." Minor complaints aside, the metaphorical light at the end of the tunnel came into view when she felt her head hit the end.

With a nudge of her muzzle, the trapdoor opened, beckoning wisps of fresh air that finally allowed her to breathe. She stuck her head out of the hole, much like an under-sized Diamond Dog, and surveyed her surroundings. A fair distance behind her was the tall wall of the city and in front of her the forest and safety. It was maybe a forty yard gallop into the trees, but it was forty yards where the guards could spot her. By now, the news of her escape by Twilight's hooves must have been known, but every second she delayed gave them the advantage.

Taking in another deep breath, she made her move and bound from the decrepit little hole in the ground, galloping into the forest as fast as she could. The movement of the drying mud against her coat made her feel woozy as it constantly reminded her of how dirty she had become. Thankfully, she would never again have to endure the agony of becoming that disheveled on purpose. She did not dare look back as she finally passed the shadowed threshold of the canopy, into the woods at last.

Finally, she was free! No more overbearing tyrant to trample her feelings into the dust! No more insane deadlines or verbal assaults! Nor would she be catering to the rich and social elite of Canterlot, or having her name known by anypony who was anypony. "No, Rarity!" she scolded herself. "It just wasn't worth it not to have any friends! We need to be strong. For Twilight's sake, if not our own!"

"I guess time really does change some ponies," spoke a familiar voice in the darkness. "Here I was thinking you'd never come." Trixie stepped out of the shadow of a tree with the not-so-little dragon assistant in tow. He was a little taller than she remembered, but he was still the Spike she knew with that poorly hidden love-struck look upon his face. It was adorable that he still harboured a crush on her after so long. Meanwhile, the blue unicorn did not look nearly as pleased, a scowl of distrust out in the open.

"Listen, Trixie I just wanted to sa-"

"The Great and Powerful Trixie does not want to hear it, Rarity," she snapped. "It is FAR too late for any sort of apology. If you REALLY want to make up for DITCHING us and KILLING Rainbow Dash, then do so with your actions!" The white unicorn was taken aback by her stinging reply. She had heard about Rainbow Dash, but she did not know that the others really blamed her for her death! After all, it was not her who had driven her to attack Eos.

"Trixie, that's not very fair!" Spike cried in her defence. "Even the queen admitted she was drugged when she told her about the Crusaders. So please, just lay off on her? Besides, Twilight said we need her to help talk with Fluttershy! We need all the help we can get, so please at least PRETEND to play nice with her? I don't know about you, but I missed her!"

"Oh... Spike!" Rarity gasped, surprised that he would ride to her rescue so swiftly, even after all that had happened over the years. Trixie merely snorted at the baby dragon and threw her head to the side in defeat. Without another word, she started deeper into the woods. "Twilight told me to tell you all that she fell behind, whatever it is that means," she added as she followed the azure unicorn.

"Yeah, that figures," Trixie replied as they ventured deeper into the woods. "Trixie expected as much when she let Vinyl Scratch capture her. She COULD have left a note telling Trixie her plan, but NO." The unicorn sighed and continued into the woods silently. It really upset her that Twilight would just do things like that without consulting her first so they could plan it out properly.

It made her feel as if she did not trust her; after all she had done for her! Was she scared that she would betray her, or try to use her like all the others? No matter what, she only knew one thing: it hurt to think her own sister, albeit a golem, could possibly not trust her. Still, she had to have faith that she knew what she was doing. Even if Twilight did not trust her, she had to trust in HER. The fate of Equestria depended upon it! Being sisters is harder than I thought.

~*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*~

In her moment of panic, she had overshot her target of the Canterlot town square by a wide margin; she knew it when she happened across the decaying ruins of Fluttershy's cottage. She had never tried to teleport such a distance before, so it was not surprising that it had drained her magical and physical abilities. Too tired to carry on with her journey, Twilight decided to spend the remainder of the night in the abandoned domicile.

The smell of decay and death hung in the air, putting her on-edge despite her weariness. Morbid thoughts of animals trapped in the house when Fluttershy abandoned it crested her mind. But surely, she would not allow something so cruel and unfair to happen, right? Memories of her time with the once timid Pegasus caused a knot to form in her throat as her inane worries suddenly became plausible.

However, the pull of sleep was far too strong for her to bear, so, after lying down on a clear section of floor, she drifted off almost immediately. A dreamless sleep later, she awoke to find sweet sunlight pouring in the holes in the ceiling and the uncovered sections of windows. At least Eos was big enough to raise the sun, even in her palpable indignation at her doppelganger.

Or was she? As she pushed herself off of the floor, the memory of that face she gave, the undeniable horror as the ancient tomes were set ablaze, cemented itself in her mind's eye. Up until that point, Twilight thought that the demon had enveloped her completely; it was the only way she could perpetrate such horrors. Yet, somewhere deep inside that tyrant, another Twilight Sparkle still existed, and knowing her, she was probably greatly remorseful, if not willing to die to balance the scales of justice.

Either way, things would only get worse until she was killed or otherwise incapacitated. After all, this was war, and according to her books, lines of good and evil became blurred and sometimes doing the right thing was to do something bad to another. She swiftly shook the thoughts out of her mind and pressed on, unable to afford wasting a second of time. There was something she needed to see in order to make her decision, and time was working against her.

Thus, she found herself days later in the woods just south of Trottingham, having followed rumours and myths of a place the locals feared to tread. According to legend, a cult made up of the city's social elite built an underground complex to the west in order to perform dark and evil rituals. Basically, it was what someone would expect from such a tale, including how they all suddenly vanished one day and all who dare enter never return.

Normally, she would dismiss such a story as a scary campfire tale and promptly ignore it. However, after all she had seen, she was a little more willing to take things like that at face value, especially if they led to furthering her own agenda. She disliked that word in that context, but there was no other way to justify it. Still, she pressed forward, deeper into the woods beyond the farmland on the edge of town.

Eventually, she came across her goal: a simple cinder block box with a heavy, iron door wrapped in chains with numerous warning signs in at least three different languages. Ivy and shrubbery blanketed the top, like the claw of a large dragon, holding the entrance down tight. Even in the noontime sun, darkness encroached the surrounding area, the normally healthy trees becoming twisted and spindly the closer they sat. If there was ever a place for a gateway to the hells themselves, this would be it.

With a casual flex of her magical prowess, the chains keeping the door shut snapped and rattled to the ground in a heap. The twin doors pushed away from each other, allowing a sliver of blackness to show before they swung open before her. However, before she could take a single step, cold, howling wind hit her face like a groaning monster, whipping her mane in the fierce gale. Lesser ponies would have turned away, but she marched on with decision.

As soon as the doors slammed shut behind her, the lavender pony flicked her horn, coaxing a literal ball of sunshine out of the tip. Moss grew on the walls through cracks in the blocks and onto the steep stairs, making them slick. Cautiously putting one hoof in front of the other, she was soon assaulted by one of the worse smells her nose ever had the pleasure of inhaling.

"Ugh!" Twilight gagged as she pressed on. The odour was hard to identify, since she had never smelled anything like it, but if she had to put her hoof on it, she would say it would be a culmination of brimstone, damp hair and what she assumed was the decomposition of biological matter. By the time she reached the bottom of the main stairs, a shiver ran up her spine from the noticeable difference in temperature.

Moth-eaten carpets lined the floor and tattered tapestries hung upon the wall against the green-tinted stones of the room. Tarnished candlesticks lay upon the floor next to rotten wooden tables and chairs, all bearing the insignia of a five-pointed star against an elaborate background of runes in a circle. Three doors on the remaining walls left her with a choice on how to proceed.

Thinking logically, Twilight stepped over to the door directly ahead, taking care to not trip over a felled desk. All the doors were emblazoned with the same symbol, plus vertical bands of black iron to keep them solid. Chunks of wood fell away as she slowly pushed it open, the squeak of the rusty hinges drowning out the patter of feet upon the stone floor beyond.

Her sunlight spilled into the next room, stopped only by the door as it swung. It appeared to be some sort of meeting hall as she manoeuvred the light source into the centre to expose the railing right in front of her. It was about the length of a hoofball court and comprised of three floors; each more degraded then the last as time's hoof ground the structure down to dust. However, a feeling in the back of her mind told her to keep close to the sun, so she recalled it and set out further into the room.

Unfortunately, there was no staircase that she could see, so she would need to find her way down another route. So, along the balcony she chose an arbitrary door and pushed it open with her hoof, as her magic was preoccupied with her tiny sun. The thick smell of mouldy paper met her nose, in addition to the rank stench of the rest of the building, for beyond the door there was a massive shelf of books.

A large library yawned out in all directions, swallowing the bookish pony whole as her inner bibliophile screamed in pure joy at the untold volumes of knowledge contained therein. Throwing caution to the wind, she happily trotted towards one of the books, paying the sinking stone no mind as her hoof made contact. Pulling the book off the shelf with her magic, she was disappointed to find that it crumbled into dust at the very motion. "Shoot!" she cried out in aggravation.

That very instant, a loud click sounded in her ears, making her yelp as the floor suddenly caved in a little. Looking down, a noticeable slit had developed in the floor in between her hooves, gently sloping up before coming flush with the floor. She had failed to notice the trapdoor, but thankfully something stopped it from opening all the way; be it rust, debris in the gears or a root blocking the door. All the same, she gingerly stepped off, keeping in mind to watch out for more traps.

So this must be what Daring Do feels like, she mused, recalling her favourite adventure series. Making note to watch her step from that point on, she pressed further into the library, hoping to find a map of the subterranean lair, or a hint to where the portal could be. At the very least, perhaps the library had some stairs down to a lower floor? It was not like she was extremely pressed for time.

As she traversed the rows of shelves, a weird sound tickled her ears. It sounded like a choir singing softly from all around her. It was a curious melody: calming, but eerie at the same time. Occasionally, one creature would start a higher-pitched complement to the melody that would send a shiver running down her spine. It would be short lived, however, before returning to the main melody.

Deciding the library was a dead end, Twilight returned to the main room, where the song would not let up. In fact, it only began to build in volume and intensity. Twilight could feel the hairs on her back beginning to prickle as she trotted to the door directly opposite. Quietly and cautiously opening the door, she saw a long, narrow hallway with doors on both sides and a set of double doors at the end.

Trotting down the hall, the music got a little quieter, but that did not help the atmosphere, or the smell. A section of the ceiling had collapsed and buckled the trap door underneath into a pit of spikes. At the bottom of which, she could see several skeletons of ponies, mostly earth, and a couple of unicorns. Teleporting across the gap after sending her light ahead, she saw more signs of age and destruction as scorch marks of fire and holes in the walls reminded her of the Coltsberg Crusader base.

Opening the door at the end of the hall, the singing suddenly became much louder, doors beyond slamming shut as she only had a brief glance of a speck of green light. Twilight felt her heart jump into her throat from surprise, but the idea of demons stalking her was not what was causing her to worry. She felt confident that she could take a single demon on, or maybe even a small pack, depending. The only thing that scared her was the possibility of what KIND of demonic manifestation was hunting her.

Thankfully, the room she just entered contained a staircase leading downward, so she carefully descended, taking the small ball of sunlight down with her. Sure, she could have teleported down to the bottom level in the main room, but she would have been too far from her light for comfort. Taking the unknown creatures roaming in the dark into account, it would not be worth the risk. Even golems could be destroyed if broken down into enough pieces, or assaulted via magical means.

The set of stairs leading to the lowest level was broken, pieces of railing twisted and distorted as the stone below lay in a heap. Carefully jumping down, the mare took stock of her surroundings as her light rushed to meet her. During her descent, the music had become louder and far more aggressive, as if the creatures making it were hiding in any available shadow or dark corner, waiting for the moment to pounce on her. Different doors on every wall rested against the dirty stone, some of them rotting away in their frames to give hints of what lay beyond.

Curious, Twilight picked a door at random and stepped through. On the other side, she found a long hall with bars for walls on both sides, leading to different cells. She expected to find the remains of ponies in at least one of them, but from what she could see, there were only pools of dried blood on the dirty cobbles. Did they really take care to take the bodies out after bleeding them dry? However, towards the end of the hall, outside any cell, she could see another patch with a ruined cloak lying nearby.

Like the Coltsberg base, something sudden and drastic happened here, and she had a suspicion as to why. If they really did possess a gate into the Sorrel Hells, it was no stretch of the imagination to suspect something, or some THINGS had escaped, only to be sealed in by the fearful townsfolk shortly thereafter. They were probably hungry and she was fresh meat. But what creature serenaded their prey to scare the living daylights out of them? It was times like this that she regretted not studying the occult more seriously.

It was then she realized that she had lingered too long. By now, the creatures were well aware of her presence, and now actively sought her. She should have arrived, decided, and executed whatever plan she had in mind immediately , given the circumstance. Pushing her miniature sun ahead, she exited back into the landing and went through the right-hoof door. Logically speaking, it should have yielded a hallway leading back to the main chamber, but instead it went into a large torture chamber.

Her eyes narrowed as memories from her internment resurfaced, causing the maniacal creatures in the shadows to softly cackle with the music. It contained many pieces of equipment she recognized, so the facility could not have been that old. Still, cold sweat ran in beads down her body as the stench of death overpowered her nose. She had to get out! Risking the loss of her light, Twilight charged her horn and ran towards the wall, crying out despite herself with her eyes welded shut.

When she next opened them, she was standing in the corner of the main chamber, dozens of specks of green light bobbing in the pitch darkness. Before they could register her presence, she summoned her guiding light, silencing the music as hissing screams filled the empty hall instead. With several slams of different doors, she was alone once more with herself, panting as magical exhaustion was beginning to set in. The accidental long-range teleport earlier plus everything else was draining her daily reserve. The intangibility spell to walk through the wall did not help either.

Looking down the chamber, she could see a large, stone door at the very end. Twilight hoped that behind it was what she sought, even if it was not very pleasant. More robes and bloodstains lay upon the floor as she approached, the music returning, sticking to the staccato harmony with the melody. It was less peaceful than it had been: more forceful and angry now. Green specks of light would float in the darkness and move away as the edge of her light came near. It was becoming clear what was stalking her now.

"Better luck next time!" Twilight called back to the monsters as she swung open the door. Slamming it behind her, she jumped when torches hanging on the wall suddenly burst into life, bathing the room in torchlight. With a flick of her horn, large stone pillars sprung from the ceiling and floor to bar the door shut as the light from her tiny sun faded out of existence. The monsters beyond probably realized they lost their meal as the song ceased.

A large arch made of black stone shone dully in the flickering orange glow of the torches. It sat on top of a plinth that gently rose from the surrounding floor, culminating in a set of stairs leading to the gate's maw. At last, she could do what she sought to do with this gate. Using the magical power she had left, she used her horn to feel out the magic of the room and the gate itself. She knew, of every option given to her by Genesis, the idea of going into hell was the least savoury of the bunch. Hell, she'd sooner march up to her alter ego and kiss her!

Nauseating thoughts aside, she cautiously stepped up onto the dais in order to get a better reading from the gate. It was cold and crushing, filled with pain and sorrow as her magic gently felt the blackened arch. In many ways, it reminded her of the Pool of Midnight, but distinctly sinister in intent. Twinges of fear and wrath shot through her body as the imprints of those who once entered this room became clear: they were hurled into the depths of hell as sacrifice.

That was all she needed to seal the deal. Not only would entering the hells to obtain some stupid shoes be a tactical blunder on her part, it would also be suicidal. She would just have to fall back on her Plan B: reunite her friends and march on Eos. Just because she was given three options did not mean they were the only ones, after all! He might be a creator, but Genesis did not know the true scope of the situation: he hinted as much when he said he did not know her reason for seeing him.

Satisfied with her decision, she turned to leave only to hear the sound of grinding stone behind her. Twilight quickly turned on the spot to see what sinister trap awaited her this time. Somehow, given the intact state of the chamber, she did not think this one would fail, or already be sprung. A section of ceiling slid open above her at an angle, pointed towards the gate.

Before she could react, a flaming arrow shot out from the opening and into the middle of the portal. An invisible wind seemed to make the flame flare and dance as it whirled into the centre of the arch before expanding. The gate was a torrent of swirling flame that belched noxious fumes of brimstone and death in tandem with a heat that made her feel like was about to combust. Her legs refused to move, paralyzed with fear as the evil magic overwhelmed her senses. Move, legs! MOVE!!!

However, she did not have to worry for long: black, slimy tendrils snaked out from the wall of fire, making a beeline straight for her. While her legs were paralysed, her magic was not. Without thinking, she fired upon the dimensional invaders; severing them all in short order. The creature seemed to get the message, since after a number had been slain, the rest pulled back into the portal, leaving only green blood splattered upon the floor. Realizing she was in the clear, her legs finally released, allowing her to bolt towards the door.

Unseen by the fleeing unicorn, a large, yellow clawed hand reached out from the portal, barely squeezing past the seven hoof wide gap. It seized her just as her magic had broken the barricade on the door, squeezing the terrified pony. Notions of her organs spewing from her mouth and eyes filled her mind as she shot magic at the beast frantically, drawing purple blood. "No!" she cried in futility as it dragged her closer. "Somepony, help me!!!"

~*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*~

I've read enough books to know where this is going, Twilight thought bitterly to herself what felt like moments later. She was hot, sweaty and ached all over, unable to recall anything that had happened to her since she activated that stupid portal by accident. The sound of heavy breathing nearby told her that whatever had pulled her in had fallen asleep. Slowly, the memories started to come back to her as she calmed herself down and opened her eyes.

The creature, which she had identified as an Abyssal Giant, had snatched her through the portal and carried her across a vast lake of fire and magma before settling on its nest on the hillside. After snapping her horn, it tossed her into a cage where she later passed out from the pain. It must have fallen asleep shortly afterward, but that did not matter to her. It was obviously accustomed to ponies, if it disarmed her immediately... but she was no pony. She subconsciously ran a hoof through her mane to feel that her horn had repaired itself and breathed a quiet sigh of relief.

Taking stock of her surroundings, she could see the wide mouth of the cave beyond the jaundiced rump of the giant. Bones littered the grey floor of the cave as the noxious odour of brimstone threatened to overcome her. It was unlikely that the portal bringing her in was still active, so she would need to find another way out of... Oh, sweet Celestia! I really AM in the Sorrel Hells!

Just as she was about to damn her curiosity once more, the giant groaned and rolled over his sleep, alerting her to the situation she found herself in. Golem or not, if the giant ate her, which would likely be when he woke, then it would be the end of her. She needed to put as much distance between herself and the monster as possible before the inevitable, so that ruled out breaking the cage or teleportation.

Seeing the hinges on the cage door, an idea suddenly struck her. Using mundane telekinesis, and a little force, she quietly disassembled the door and lifted it from place. Taking great care in her steps, she navigated the minefield of discarded remains and moving body parts from the occupant of the cave. Every breath the sleeping creature gave made a shiver run up her spine as she imagined it slowly waking to see that its meal had somehow given it the slip while she was near its foot. It was not a pretty picture.

A couple of heart-stopping moments later, she finally reached the mouth of the cave. There was no ledge for her to traverse, or anything but magma at the bottom of the cliff. The sky seemed to burn as it pummelled the land with dozens of small burning pieces of rock. Even if she could suddenly sprout wings, they would be struck and burned before she could get anywhere.

Wiping the sweat off of her brow, she could see a figure loom in the distance. It looked artificial which, for better or worse, meant it was inhabited. In fact, it kind of looked like a castle! Memories of a book, about a pony that had trotted through the hells themselves, came to mind. If it was the place she pictured, they probably had a portal back to Equestria! It had to be a few miles off, just visible in the haze rising from the sea of lava, but she had to chance it. Summoning the power in her horn, she cast her teleportation spell.

The next thing she knew, she was falling through the heat with shades of red, grey and black flashing before her. She reached out and grabbed at the rocks with her hooves, stopping in an instant. Because she did not properly visualize her target, she teleported short of it and almost fell into the sea of lava. As she thanked her quick reaction time, the smell of burning hair filled her nostrils. "Ack!" she cried when she looked down to see her tail aflame. A quick flick of the appendage and a beating from her back hooves later, she started to scramble up the cliff face.

Reaching a small ledge, she lay on her back to rest and survey the damage. The once orderly ends of her tail had become frayed and blacked from the close proximity to the molten rock. While she felt upset that her careful and precise trimming had been ruined, she conceded that she had bigger worries that needed immediate addressing. Turing back to the cliff, she lunged at it and resumed her climb up the steep face.

"If I live through this," Twilight grunted as she pulled herself up onto another ledge, "I will never be too curious about anything ever again!" A quiet groan escaped her lips at what she saw next. It was a perfectly smooth and vertical wall leading up to what looked like a small tower of the castle. There was no way she could climb it normally, so she pondered on a spell she could use when an idea struck her.

With a bit of imagination, she used her magic to pull out slabs of solid stone from the wall in order to make a staircase. She could only handle a few stairs at a time, or else risk her reserve of magic in case of an altercation, but it would serve her purposes. Carefully, she ascended the narrow, makeshift stairs. Although not normally afraid of heights, having been raised on a castle hanging over a cliff, the view was enough to make her a temporary acrophobe.

Hot lava burned a relatively short distance below, not more than a few hundred hooves at best. Sharp, jagged rocks marred the side of the cliff, offering a painful death to anypony unlucky enough to meet them. Walking upon narrow slabs of rock, not more than a hoof thick, above such a fall did not help either. Nor did the occasional scream or panicked ramblings of a pony somewhere above her. At least, she hoped it was a pony.

Eventually, she made it to the top of the wall and poked her head over the top of the ledge. Beyond was a flat stone platform level with an archway similar to the one she was pulled through. Directly opposite was an exposed staircase rising sharply up towards a massive castle perched upon the top of the steep island. Thankfully, there was no pony or any other creature around, so she vaulted over the wall. Her time in the Sorrel Hells was all too long for her liking and she was not willing to extend it any more.

In fact, it could have lead directly to Eos' court and she would still be happy to go through, if only to give her the slip again and piss her off even more! Of course, that was her worst-case scenario. Shaking the thoughts from her mind, the purple mare galloped forward with determination carved into her face. She refused to slow down for anything as she approached the swirling torrent of flame. However, as she made contact with the surface, she was painfully flung back, landing at the base of the stairs in a heap.

"Oooh," she moaned in pain. "That hurt!" Experience had told her that, although admirable to do so, trying it again would be foalish unless she knew a spell to activate it. The thing that now troubled her, however, was not when she was going to get back to Equestria, but rather HOW she was going to find the way back! If her suspicions were correct, then that gate was one-way only for damned souls...and thus, useless for escape.

"I hope that castle doesn't belong to whom I think," she gulped while hoping everything she read about the hells was wrong. The constant, droning whirl of the gate suddenly picked up speed as she slowly pushed herself off the ground. Inside the arch, the flames of the gate spun faster and the centre burned hotter. Suddenly, there came a shout as a pony was launched from the gate before the spinning slowed to a crawl again.

Curious, Twilight trotted up to the pony; a grey stallion with a pitch black mane who smouldered from the flaming portal. He groggily raised his head to the mare, a look of bewilderment on his face. "Who the buck are you and where am I!?" he spoke in spite with a gruff, but soothing voice.

"Uh..." she trailed, wondering how softly she could put it. "You're in the Sorrel Hells."

He looked around in mild interest despite his confusion. "Huh. About time," he spoke before trotting off. "You look hot, filly." He smiled before continuing, leaving the mare with a blush on her face. Despite her better judgment, she raced up the stairs after the strange stallion. Unlike the expected reaction of denial and horror, he seemed quite neutral and detached from the situation. Was he so bad in life that he actually embraced the idea of being trapped for an eternity of suffering?

"E-excuse me, sir?" she followed with minimal delay. "But... um... do you know where you are going?" The strange stallion did not flinch, or even react to her in the slightest. It was as if he traveled in a haze towards the menacing castle ahead.

The castle rose above the rock like a massive clawed hand, reaching to pierce the overcast sky. The lava sea cast an eerie red light upon most surfaces, throwing the rest into absolute pitch blackness similar to the void itself. Large, flying pterodactyl-like creatures wove between the sharp towers, honking and groaning as a thick, black substance slopped from their mouths as they went. Although she had seen more horrible things since arriving in the strange Equestria, it was the first time she felt nothing but terror.

Before she knew it, Twilight and the stallion were upon the massive double doors leading into the castle. Red-skinned, upright bulls wore armour of black and gold over every inch of their body and carried weapons she identified as halberds, based on her books. They looked on with blank stares, reminding the mare of the royal guard in Canterlot.

Thankfully, she had no time to look at the scenery as the strange stallion had lead her into what she assumed was the throne room. For, sitting upon the massive, high-backed chair was an alicorn, yet it was not like any she had ever seen before. Her coat was a mix of blood red fur and red scales that shimmered in the low light. Her horn was long, but twisted into a point sharp enough to cleave flesh from bone. Her mane and tail burned as flames upon her head and backside, her eyes without pupils, seas of glowing yellow.

"Welcome to my court, Blackjack," the demoness spoke to the stallion with a curt smile, razor-sharp teeth put on full display. With a flash of her horn, a scroll appeared before her in a flaming aura of magic. "You are charged with two hundred counts murder, five hundred counts of extortion, three hundred and seventy-two counts of torture and seventeen counts of rape. How do you plead?" Twilight cautiously took a step to the side, away from the stallion, when the last charge was read.

"I'm not stupid," he replied with a smirk. "I'm guilty no matter what. Why else would I be here?"

"Disappointing," she replied with a frown and a twinge of sincerity in her silky voice. "It is no fun when they do not want to fight. Very well, I hereby sentence you to an eternity in Jonihiva." With a stamp of her hoof, a swirling purple portal appeared under his hoofs and slowly sucked him in. A spell erupted from the alicorn's horn and stuck the pony, leaving him gasping for breath. There was no expression upon his face before it disappeared into the void, probably resigned to his fate. "And you," the alicorn spoke, turning her attention to the purple mare. "You are not dead... yet. What are you doing here?"

"Uh... well," Twilight stammered, knowing everyone was paying her full attention. "I, uh... It was actually a big mistake, really. But, I am more than willing to leave here and let you be because I never meant to intrude. So, if you'll just point me to the exit, I will be on my way!" She smiled, and rubbed the back of her head, hoping she would see eye-to-eye with her.

"You deluded young filly," the alicorn spoke. "Just because you are here by accident does not mean I need to assist you on your way out. Give me one good reason why I, Her Magnificent Highness, Queen Sarish of the Sorrel Hells, should allow you safe passage?" She stood to full height and descended from her throne, large bat-like wings extending from her body. If Celestia was the epitome of beauty to equines, the matron of the hells was like an eldritch horror.

"Well... I..." she hesitated. Could she really tell her? Moreover, would it make a difference? If the legend was true, then it would just make her angry. As she advanced on her, she decided to go for broke. "I'm a descendant of the royal bloodline of Equestria. My mother was Princess Celestia, whom was daughter to Queen Notia whom was daughte-"

"Enough!" Sarish shouted with all the power of a god. "I know well the lineage of my siblings. You must be Eos," she added with a toothy smirk.

"N-no. My name is Twilight Sparkle."

"Ah, the denial stage," she chortled, growing more sinister with each passing second. "While I will not grant you safe passage, I will tell you of the only portal a mortal can use to reach the Living World. Nor will I give you any hints on how to get there. As you entered my realm, willingly or otherwise, you must abide by the laws of this hole of a world!" One could nearly see the spite dripping off her muzzle with that last sentence, her hatred almost palatable.

"The exit you seek is near the fortress Edophious and is used by the creature known as Nightmare. The only way I will assist is by sending you to a hell. I think Atoris will do nicely, since you failed your friends so thoroughly!"

Edophious? As in the place she had to go to in order to get those stupid shoes anyway!? Twilight was not normally prone to outbursts of anger, but the idea that fate had blindsided her into, more or less, taking the most dangerous option of the three was enough to make her furious. "ARGH! FU-" The monster birds perched outside took flight in fear of the sudden, loud noise coming from inside the castle.

Sarish stood with her jaw ever so slightly opened behind her lips. "Congratulations, Eos. That was the single loudest expletive that I have ever heard."

Twilight looked to the floor in shame, her face beet-red for using such a word, not normally one to use real curses. "S-sorry." However, before she could say anymore, the same purple portal appeared under her hooves, bringing her eyes back to the yellow orbs of the grinning demonic alicorn. She struggled in vain, causing tendrils to arise around her and wrap across her body, pulling in faster. The last thing she saw of her was the whites of her teeth, gleaming in the low light.

~*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*~

"I hate it when that happens," Twilight spoke aloud as she slowly regained consciousness. The smell of sweat hung in the air as the sensation of being wet hit her mind. Strangely, wherever she was had no sound, or was at least extremely quiet: probably supernaturally so. That was when she remembered what had happened, causing her to spring to her hooves and open her eyes.

She looked around wildly in case she was in the den of another creature, or some demon. Instead, all she saw were ashen grey trees and matching earth. That was when confusion began to set in her mind. The world 'Sorrel' meant that something was red, so literally translated it was "The Red Hells." If that were the case, then how come everything around her was without any colour? Maybe it was just an expression, and nothing more? She shook her head again, getting off-track once more.

Little slivers of black magic slowly seeped from the ground and floated lazily into the air, almost like a slow, reverse rain. The clouds above (or was that the sky?) took on the same grey tinge. If it were not for shading from an invisible overhead light source, everything would have blended together. Looking around in a more controlled manner, she saw she was alone in the peculiar wood. So, picking an arbitrary direction, she set out in search of clues.

Although lacking in colour and sound, the forest possessed all the same traits as one she would find in Equestria, even the Everfree. The trees were large and tall, telling her it was old growth. Strewn in between the trees were the odd bush or patch of grass, but beyond that, nothing out of the ordinary. Naturally, this left Twilight with a lot of time to herself and her thoughts as she pressed forward. In fact, she became so lost in thought that she failed to notice the thick bank of fog pressing in from all around her.

Wandering the woods for some time, the ground began to slope upward at a sharp angle until she was above the fog. Looking back, she saw a sea of clouds with an occasional break, exceptionally tall patches of trees providing grey islands in the grey sea below the grey sky. Everything was so bland and depressing to her; she could easily see how 'Atoris' translated into 'sorrow'. A sigh escaped her lips as she pressed forward, hoping to run into another pony or a town, forgetting she was in the depth of the Hells.

Climbing the mountain was an effortless endeavour, but now that she could see above the fog banks, Twilight could see the forest was endless, strewn in between huge mountain ranges on the horizon. However, once she reached the top, she could see a town nestled in between a couple of mountains right below her. Perhaps there was somepony in that town who could tell her how to get to that cursed fortress? Obviously, it would be a well-known location, if only so everypony could avoid it.

Taking a deep breath, Twilight summoned the magic into her horn and locked her gaze upon the most discernible spot in the town. It was amazing to her just how easily she could teleport now. Sure, it was a drain on her magic to do it too often, but the actual casting now took little to no effort. Before she even knew it happened, she was standing inside the town square and back in the enveloping fog.

Ponies would weave in and out of sight, heads hanging low as they went, moaning and weeping the whole way. It was strange, to say the least, to see a grown stallion bawling like a little foal and cry out for a mare. In the back of her head, she wondered if it was his mate or his mother he pined for as she made her way through the infernally hot streets. Stopping to wipe the sweat off her forehead once more, she lost track of the stallion she was chasing down. "Hey! Wait a minute!" she cried out to her new target, a mare who passed her by.

When she did not stop to say hello, the purple mare gave chase, determined not to let this opportunity pass her by. It was not a hard task, since she trudged at a lacklustre pace. "Hey, miss? Or ma'am? Please, stop me when I hit a socially acceptable address for your era, whatever that might be." Yet, she kept on walking, tears silently dripping down her face. Twilight wanted to identify her further, but even the ponies down in the valley seemed to be shades of grey.

"Please? Talk to me? I kind of need help here. You see... I'm not sure how to put this..." Her ears drooped a little when the mare's expression did not change. Going for broke, she decided to press on. "I'M LOOKING FOR EDOPHIOUS!" However, her plea fell on deaf ears, stopping to let her go by in silence. Twilight gritted her teeth and pounded at the cobblestone street in frustration. "It's okay, Twilight. The first pony you asked would not have known anyway."

With a heavy sigh, Twilight pressed on through the fog to find another pony that hopefully would pay her attention, any attention, be it good or bad. So long as they talked to her, she could then ask where on Celestia's green earth Edophious was! Filled with resolve, she straightened herself out and trotted on down the stuffy streets of the strange settlement.

Although it had not struck her until that moment, it was amazing how she had never seen another unicorn or a Pegasus wandering about. They were ALL earth ponies, not that she ever had a problem with them. But it was strange seeing only the one race where, even in unicorn-dominated Canterlot, one could see the odd Pegasus outside of the royal guard. It only raised more questions in her mind as she gave up pursuit of a well-dressed stallion.

Twilight sighed, feeling an encompassing hopelessness begin to crush in all around her. If no pony here would talk to her, how could she find out what she needed to do, or where she needed to go? She doubted she could guilt, swindle, or blackmail a demon in order to aid her cause, but without a guide she was like a foal groping in the dark. Perhaps she would just have to rely on blind luck once more?

Just when she was about to abandon all hope of finding somepony in the mess of fog and buildings, a voice cried out in anguish? Pain? She could not really tell, but there was a talker amongst the muted ponies, and she was intent on finding out who, or what, was making that noise. Closing her eyes to get her bearings, the lavender mare set off in the direction of the cry and into the unknown.

~*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*~

Trudging into the vast unknown, Twilight had to keep her heart from leaping out of her chest. The majority of her mind told her she still trudged through the Sorrel Hells. Meanwhile a small, rebellious corner told her to just give in to the dank hopelessness around her and wallow in self-pity over her situation. It was easy to banish the notions, but every now and then she could feel them gaining in strength.

Still, she kept her ears erect while listening to the occasional groan or shout, using the noise to guide her through the unfamiliar wood. It was difficult to maintain a true path, despite the oppressing silence inside the rolling banks of fog. Her profuse sweating was not helping the issue either, as she could have sworn any pony looking at her would think she had just climbed out of a river. It was a worrying issue, but one she had no control over.

After all, it was only to be expected that a living creature within the Sorrel Hells would feel some sort of effect with prolonged exposure. She just silently prayed that she could find a source of water to replace any liquids she had lost, although she had a feeling that a body of water would be hard to find. I just hope that it is not a symptom of some sort of disease, Twilight thought as she pushed past a thick patch of bushes.

Drawing nearer to the source of the voice, it became apparent to the mare that she could recognize it. However, she was still too far to have a serious guess as to whom. Judging from the pitch and volume, there was a good chance it was a mare, or a particularly feminine stallion, although none came to mind, immediately. For a brief second, she thought she heard a trace of Zecora in the voice, but quickly dismissed it as the zebra was not known for speaking at volume for extended lengths of time.

Thankfully, the thickness of the fog began to lift, allowing more of the mare's voice to filter through. ".. Bunch of good for nothing.... makes me sick!" The voice cried out indignantly. Obviously, they were not crying out for help as she originally anticipated, but more like they were giving a speech of some kind? Just as she began to ponder, she stumbled on a root and rolled into a clearing.

Dozens, if not a hundred ponies were crammed into the small clearing in the woods. The fog was kept at bay somehow, allowing her to see the entire scene without moving her head. All the ponies in the clearing were just as grey and introverted as everypony else in town had been, except for one. She stood upon a makeshift platform of grey boxes, at a podium of stone. Occasionally, she would pound her hoof on the rock to emphasize a point, only for it to fall upon the deaf ears of the masses. At least she was not the only one who had problems getting ponies to listen to her.

But then it hit her. The scene had felt so natural at first that she had been lulled in by the moment, yet it could not possibly be! Twilight had to do a double take and then rub her lavender eyes. Then, as a final measure, she scanned the area to make sure her eyes were not cheated by some spell. Yet, the more she tried to deny it, the more it made sense! She had to get closer, just a little bit closer, for absolute confirmation.

She weaved like a snake between the sobbing and distraught ponies, trying not to draw attention to herself. Keeping to the edge of the clearing, she easily avoided the focused gaze of the mare upon the wooden platform. At first, she could see no wings upon her, meaning she was an Earth Pony like the others. Yet... with that coat and mane, there could only be one logical conclusion. The clincher came when Twilight snuck around the back of the podium and got a good look at her flank.

Rainbow Dash was giving a lecture to the other damned ponies!

Pride, happiness and a flurry of several different emotions swelled inside of her chest, as well as tears of joy in her tired, purple eyes. "Well, I hear you out there asking 'why should I?' and to that, I just have to say this: why not?" her lecture continued. "Sure, this is Hell and it sucks, but none of you are doing yourselves any favours by being mopey, whiny BABIES either! Well, I'll have you know I was like you guys once, but by CELESTIA, I was able to pick myself up, and so can you!"

Another chorus of moans and groans filled the air, making the chromatic Pegasus apply a hoof to her face. "Ugh! It's not that hard, you bucking featherbrains! Just grow some stones and admit what you did was STUPID!!! Sweet Celestia, you're morons!" Seeing her aggravation and frustration, the unicorn wiped the smile off of her face and lightly trotted up behind her.

"Is... is that REALLY you, Rainbow Dash?" Never in her life had she seen the normally cool and collected mare jump out of her skin in surprise. She quickly spun on the spot and faced her addresser, only for the rosy eyes to widen in shock. A small gurgling noise sounded in her throat as she gathered the presence of mind to ask the obvious question.

"T-TWILIGHT!?"

"Yeah..." she trailed. "It's... it's me, Rainbow. I... didn't think I would see YOU here. I mean... you were always so..."

"L-likewise," she stammered in reply. "W-well... n-not HERE exactly. I mean... you did do a lot of pretty bad things, but... I always thought you were nice enough that it wouldn't really matter and... I... I'm only here because I'm technically a suicide and..." The phantom of a blush developed on her cheeks, much to the lavender pony's amusement. She quickly quelled the rebellious blood vessels though.

"Wait... Do you think...? Oh, my Celestia, you do." A smile crested upon her face despite herself, since the only other reaction would have been for her to weep. Rainbow did not need to deal with another snivelling idiot. "I'm not Eos, Rainbow!" With that, she launched into her story, right from being summoned by Princess Luna. She explained the differences between the timelines and that she was completely separate from the usurper queen.

For her part, Dash sat there and drank it all in, a blush developing again on her cheeks when she realized she was just a second from kissing her again before she opened her mouth. 'W-wow," was all she uttered once her friend finished her story.

"I'm really sorry about the confusion. It... It must have hurt a lot for you to... to have to do that to her, knowing she was me all along."

"Ye-yeah. I mean... you're one of my best friends and I AM... was... the Element of Loyalty." She hung her head in shame, doing her best to keep the water works from flowing. Damn it, Dash, whatever you do, don't let her see you cry! Suddenly, she felt calming warmth spread across her front and up around her neck, opening her eyes to see a mass of lavender blocking her vision. "Aw, Twi," she spoke as she returned her hug.

Sniffles met Rainbow's ears, but they were not her own, coming from her dear friend instead. "You did what you had to do and... I forgive you," she sniffled, her voice growing a little hoarse. "You... You're the first pony to be open with me and... and just be there. All of our friends are so... so cold, cruel and distant." Full-on sobs escaped from her muzzle, tears leaking from her eyes. "Heh... now that I'm in hell, I've found somepony warm."

"Funny how that works out, huh?" Rainbow spoke as she patted her friend reassuringly on the back. "I kinda figured something like that would happen if I kicked it, so... I'm sorry for leaving Equestria hanging, Twilight. After all, I AM the mare everypony relies on!" They reluctantly parted from their embrace, a small smile creeping on the unicorn's face.

"Yes, Rainbow. Without you, Equestria falls apart," she replied with some well-deserved sarcasm. "So... I need to become as awesome as you are to save it. Can you help me?"

"Sure!" she chirped. "If you're looking to borrow some awesome, you came to the right place! Although, in order to be really, truly awesome, you'll need to grow some wings like mi-" However, a quick glance to her side made her remember that horrible day. As with the other Pegasus ponies, before her sentence to her hell when she died, that prick of an alicorn had her wings chopped off, not even stumps remaining of her once glorious wings.

"I think I can help you out, Rainbow Dash. I did not die to come here, so I think..." Screwing up her face in concentration, her horn ignited in magic. Looking down, Rainbow could see light take the shape of her old wings, a tingling sensation coming across her whole body as they gleamed and faded into existence. Blue feathers and all! "Th-there!" Twilight panted and looked upon her work with a satisfied smile.

Spreading her wings to their full length, she took to the air like a bullet, weaving around the trees and mountains of the valley like it was nopony's business! She shed tears of joy away from the prying eyes of her friend, practicing her barrel rolls and loop-de-loops as if it were only yesterday. The speed, the sound, the wind in her mane... even if she was in Hell, it felt more like Heaven! Turning around, she made a beeline for Twilight Sparkle, her hooves extended.

Like the first time they met, the poor pony had no idea what hit her as Rainbow Dash came in for a flying tackle-hug, rolling clear across the clearing with her in a tight embrace. All Twilight could hear was the crunching of the flora and the giddy laughter of her friend in between a never-ending stream of thanks. "It was the... least I could do!" She choked as the Pegasus refused to let go.

"Wait a minute..." Rainbow started. "If you're alive... then why are you here!?"

"I was investigating one of the options given to me by the creator Genesis when I was pulled through the gate by some insipid giant with a tentacle beard. I was just about to leave and try one of the other options first but... well..."

"So... how are you going to get out of here? You also look hot! I... I mean not hot as in HOT hot but as in temperature hot because you are sweating so much and it must not be helping that I am lying on you either," she spoke quickly, given her awkward position.

Twilight, for her part, did not know or understand what had gotten into her, but attributed it to the euphoria of having wings again. "The only way out is through some fortress called 'Edophious' and while I'm there, I might as well go through with the option and steal some stupid bucking shoes from there."

"Edophious?" Rainbow questioned. "Well, I don't know where it is EXACTLY, but I do have an idea on how to get there. If you want, I can be your guide."

"Really!? You'd do that for me!? Oh thank you, Rainbow!" Twilight smiled as she got back to her hooves.

"It's the least I could do, Twi." With that, after giving her 'followers' a small goodbye, the two friends set off into the Forest of Suicides en route to the wastes Edophious called home. For the first time in her entire experience, she felt safe and happy and it was all because of one energetic, brazen and unstoppable Pegasus. It was not as strong as it would have been with all her friends at her side, but she felt like she could easily handle whatever the Sorrel Hells would throw at her!