Buzzing sounded loudly, echoing through the seemingly endless tunnels. Many green eyes sparkled on the darkness as the cave revealed to have multiple life forms; Many of those beings doing their usual chores for the greater good of the hive. Mushrooms which shone with a strange green light hung from the wall and ceiling, giving the tunnels a strange, creepy yet amazing green color.

Suddenly, the buzzing stopped while the endless pairs of green eyes roamed the cave in search of that single sound that dared to break their silent routine: steps.

As they finally managed to locate the source of the noise, they also saw who it was: a dark robed figure, walking strangely calmed through the caves. Under any other circumstances, they would have simply hid in some corner to try and remain as a secret, as their mistress had ordered them to. Yet, as they observed the figure, they suddenly noticed that it wasn’t just any stranger, lost within the seemingly endless labyrinth of caves, searching desperately for an exit. This being, whoever it was, knew exactly where he was going. And it was dangerous for the hive if he reached the place they guessed he was looking for.

A brave one suddenly landed in the ground in front of the figure, growling lowly while its wings vibrated menacingly. However, on the bony face of the figure formed a smirk while it kept walking, completely ignoring the bug-like creature that dared to stand in front of him. The creature hissed louder while its wings sprang to life, ready to kill the intruder. With one powerful jump, the creature jumped towards its target, and in a question of moments, the creature finally reached its target. Moments later, the creature fell to the ground, the green eyes on its eyes was gone while the rest of his body fell limply to the ground.

The buzzing of wings in cheer for their brave comrade was interrupted once they saw it falling to the ground, while the clothed creature simply kept walking as if nothing had happened. The creatures invading the tunnel became simply terrorized at the prospect of their visitor, who could kill simply by a touch. Their hostility towards the one was transformed into a nervous curiosity as all the eyes in the cave looked intently to the intruder.

Finally, after some moments, the invader stopped abruptly in front of a rock formation in a tunnel. Smirking, the invader took out a scythe seemingly from nowhere. However, he wasn’t using it like a weapon, but as a mere cane. Getting closer, the invader knocked lightly on the stone, searching for something. Moments later, the stone opened, revealing a hidden chamber, and within it, its occupant.

A figure lay quietly in a bed worthy of a princess. The sheets, though in a somewhat bad state, yet the best that could be found within the caves, covered most of the figure. Yet, the voluptuous form it possessed gave away easily the gender of the figure. A smirk grew on the invader’s face while it stretched one hand towards the upper part of the bed. With a single movement, the sheet was moved enough to reveal the dark, badly kept mane of a swampy green color.

Queen Chrysalis suddenly opened her eyes as she turned to see the one who dared to even touch her. Her emerald eyes suddenly widened as she noticed who she was about to shout at. Her breathing picked up as she used the sheets to cover herself, not in an attempt to cover herself in shame, but in an attempt of protection against the one that plagued her nightmares.
Death, upon seeing this, quietly lifted a hand. “You do not need to be afraid. It’s not your time… yet.” He said as he started to look around, curious as for the décor in the room.

Chrysalis didn’t know what to say. He had warned her that he would come back. But at that moment, seeing as he had returned, it meant he was about to do something to do her life even more miserable.
“What do you want?” Chrysalis asked in a harsh tone, catching Death’s attention once more.
“… It’s about time…” Chrysalis’ whole being began to tremble as she heard those words.
“… Time for what?”
“... For the war…” Chrysalis didn’t quite catch what he meant at all by that. But by his tone, it seemed like something really bad. “… But you don’t have to worry… I think I might have a solution for all of this… I’ve found myself a… let’s say… pawn. However, I’m not quite sure about it.”
“And what does that has to do with me?” Chrysalis asked with annoyance.
“Well… to put it simply… I’ve already tested him with another one, one as powerful as you. But… That proved to be ineffective. His fighting techniques are lacking. I’m already preparing another one. One who is far more powerful than you or any of the princesses?” At first, Chrysalis didn’t understand what he meant. Suddenly, it clicked on her mind.
“So? You want me to fight him?”
“No… at least, not you alone.”

Suffice to say, Chrysalis’ eyes widened at what he meant.

The royal sisters of Equestria sat uncomfortably at the edge of the prince’s bed. Celestia in a mix of confusion, awe, slight fear and fun, while Luna stared at her alter-ego with a mix of fear, hate, curiosity and anger as they both observed the formerly evil queen of the night, now as a filly with something resembling a huge crush on the prince.

As for Mark, the headache that caused both sleeps with no rest on them during the day now formed one huge pain in the neck. The fact that Nightmare had her arms wrapped around his own arm in some kind of lock made things worse. And for the cherry on the top, she had a huge smile on her face, seemingly just content on standing close to the one who, according to her, had saved her from doing something immensely stupid. Enough to say, Mark’s pride was at a normal place, for he had helped her without even having to fight her a second time. Yet, his pride took a harsh down upon seeing Nightmare tightly secured at his side like if she were something very special to him, which crept the tartarus out of him. Yes, she was gorgeous. It was just that he wasn’t into foals.

Finally, after a few minutes, Nightmare got bored as she suddenly leaned on the prince’s arm with a guilty yet delight expression.
“FREAKIN’ STOP DOING THAT!!!”

All the ponies in the room stared at him with confusion and a little shocked at his outburst. Upon realizing this, Mark sighed loudly, obviously trying to relax a little, and looked at them.

Celestia could still see the slight annoyance and tiredness crawling through his body. Her eyes started to reflect the pain she felt at seeing him like that.

While Celestia had sad eyes, Luna’s eyes were narrowed at her almost clone. Even when she was almost exactly like her, Luna couldn’t help but stay on edge around her, even when she had proved to them that she no longer wanted to be evil.

Mark was starting to get nervous as he watched each and every mare in the room having many emotions and feelings on their eyes. That was when a light bulb lit inside of his head.
“So…” He said as he clapped his hands, catching the attention of everypony. “… Any ideas?”

Luna and Celestia looked at each other in confusion, wondering what he was talking about. Mark rolled his eyes as he noticed their confusion.
“I mean about her.” He said as he motioned towards Nightmare. Upon noticing the gazes of the two princesses, she stopped her silent approach to the prince and sat straight on the chair, trying to pretend that nothing was out of order. Luna scoffed upon seeing this, but her eyes roamed towards the prince, who sighed and put his head between his hands.

Mark already knew that Nightmare was infatuated with him. But she had tried to beat the hell out of him just hours before. Not to mention that he was freakin’ tired. However, what happened next put him nervous. He lifted his head, feeling slightly better, but once he did it, he saw a blue aura covering his body. In a matter of seconds, he was suddenly transported from his former location to Luna’s side. As he turned his head towards her, he noticed a sharp glare on her eyes, directed at nightmare. Nightmare, by her part, was glaring at her with the same intensity. It was logical, seeing as they were almost clones.

While he was wondering what the hell was happening with Luna, he suddenly fell a chill running through his back as he felt as if someone was watching him. Celestia noticed the concern on his face. However, what caught her attention was that he was watching intently at something in the wall. Turning her head in the same direction as him, she suddenly noticed a couple of yellow eyes watching them.

In a quick action, she lit her horn and sent away an orb of light, illuminating the room. It was then that they noticed a fifth being in the room.
“I was waiting for you to do that.” Discord said as he sat elegantly on a chair, with a full suit running through his twisted form and a cat laying on his, which sat with an annoyed look as Discord’s lion paw constantly petted it. On his face, a mischievous look met them.
“Wow!” Mark said as he sat up. Celestia looked at him in surprise as he not only stood ahead of them, but as he suddenly was found in a fighting stance. ”What the hell is that thing?”

Luna stood up with a look of annoyance on her look as she walked calmly towards him.
“Dear Blue, Discord. Discord, Prince Blueblood.”
“Yes, I know who he is. But I’m rather displeased at his lack of remembers towards me.” He said in an overly dramatic way as the cat jumped off of his legs. Mark’s usual look of annoyance came back as he pointed at his forehead, where his scar could be seen clearly.
“Oh, I know about that. I just simply thought you would remember your very best friend.” Discord said once again dramatically, dropping to the chair as his claw found its way to his eyes.

Mark simply lifted a brow in a sarcastic way while his arms crossed. After a few moments of waiting, Discord opened an eye, looking at him. Seeing his serious expression, he scoffed while he got up.
“You are no fun.” He said as he snapped his fingers, popping out of sight. “However, you are quite fun when you fight, I must say.”

Mark turned his head around when he heard a small voice next to his ear, almost yelping in surprise as he found a miniature Discord laying on his shoulder. Annoyed, Mark took him in his hand and put it in front of him. Suddenly, something clicked inside of him.
“So, you were watching us the whole time, didn’t you?” Mark asked, gaining a surprised look from all the mares in there.
“But of course I was!” Discord said as he snapped his fingers, once again popping inside the room on his normal size. “What? Do you think I’d miss such a chaotic event when it’s a once in an eternal life event?”

Mark was glaring at him with a mix of anger and confusion as he then turned towards Nightmare, who seemed to be thinking the same thing as him. Turning once again to him, Mark walked towards him seriously.
“So you are responsible for her physical existence, aren’t you?”
“In part…” Discord said as he started to eat a cotton candy that floated around him. Upon seeing their look of confusion, he snapped his fingers. In a flash, he stood in front of them with a full dark blue suit and a projector at his side. Celestia, Luna, Mark and even Nightmare suddenly found themselves sitting in a few benches that resembled a lot to that of schools.
“Now, if the class would kindly pay attention to the next presentation, please.” Discord said in a professional voice as the projector sparkled to life, jumped a few times and then, turned on, showing up a chart with the two princesses and Mark in the middle of them, all of them connected by a series of lines.
“These here are the princesses, who were so kind as to donate two very important things: Luna provided with the being of the creation, while Celestia donated a bit of energy for the materializing. As for the final element, our dear friend Bluey here, provided the sensation of living, because, you can’t live if you don’t want to, you know?”

Even when it didn’t make any sense, Mark understood mostly everything. However, when he was about to talk, a smack on the back of his head caught him by surprise.
“Sorry, no talking until the end of the class, please.” Discord said as a ruler floated from Mark’s side towards him. Once it got to his claw, he hit harshly the projector, which in turn, changed the chart.
“As you can see here, it was all set. However, there was something else missing… ” He said as he then pointed to small a DNA-like section. At its side, a figure of Discord stood there. “… Chaos.”

Upon saying that, the section floated towards other three sections, each one besides their owners. Then, the chart changed once again, showing the DNA chain completed, and at its side, the actual form of Nightmare.

Mark once again seemed to understand, but from all his memories of biology and all that stuff, it didn’t make any sense.
“Any comments or questions?” Discord asked as then turned his head towards the “class”.
“That doesn’t make any sense.” Mark said in a serious tone, causing Discord to scoff at him.
“What fun is there on making sense?”

Mark’s eye twitched as he tried to find something else to fit. Finally, he sighed.
“Ugh, you know what? I’m too freakin’ tired to get all of this.” He said as he got up from his seat and walked towards the exit. “You can sleep in here if you want, I’ll take one of the guests rooms. Good night.”

Nightmare stood up from her seat and started to follow after him, while Discord simply chuckled as he started to float after him, too. The princesses stood up, too. As they walked out of the room, they saw mark getting inside a room, being followed closely by the pair. Moments later, they heard shouts.
“WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING?”

Seconds later, Nightmare was shoved out of the room gently, while Discord was being carried by the prince as if he were a cat.
“Oh, come on, prince. The night’s still young! We can have more fun!”
“You have fun by yourselves. I’m very tired.”
“Oh, you’re no fun.”

Mark was already on edge, and Discord’s comments weren’t helping, either. With a mighty push, he throw Discord out of the room, causing him to hit a wall, transforming into a stain, like if a mosquito had been squashed against the wall. Moments later, as if he were ink or something else, the stain slid down the wall while the voice of Discord groaned, seemingly in pain. Once it reached the floor, his claw emerged from the liquid form, giving the prince wave. Moments later, the blob stared to take a more round form and started to bounce away.

All the ponies started at the blob in confusion and shock as it vanished behind a corner.
“I don’t even have the energies to think anymore.” Mark said with a groan as he turned towards Nightmare. “You can take another of the guests’ rooms. Good night.” He said as he finally closed the doors quietly.

Author's Note

FREAKIN FINALLY!!! DAMNED PERIOD IS OVER AND I'M FREE!
For a week, at least.
But, huh well... Can't really complain. After all...