Anarchy, Mayhem, and The Elements of Ferocity

Ch. 2

“Pleasant reciprocation”

At Sweet Apple Acres---

“grrrrruuu…”

Came the lame groan from a fallen lightning dragon. He tried to shift, and felt a sudden sting of agony on both sides of his ribcage. When Lethalus managed to lift his head up he coughed vigorously, further aggravating his tortured sides, and coughing up plenty of blood.

As the red liquid drooled from his half open mouth, his starry vision noticed a little rainbow speck hovering around. His eyes went cross and the giant dragon’s head crashed back down onto the ground, knocking down the last standing wall of Applejack’s home.

Rainbow Dash perspective---

The initial thunder crack and bright green lights had been enough to rouse Rainbow from her afternoon nap. When she saw flashes of Lightning and thunder coming right from Sweet Apple acres she figured something had to be wrong with the weather team. Maybe Thunder Lane or Cloud Chaser had been inattentive to some rogue clouds, it usually didn’t happen, but it could.

She was wearing a long rainbow pattern scarf, which billowed in the wind behind her neck. Rainbow wanted to finish checking out this mysterious weather quickly, flying in the cold was atleast 20% less awesome. The sight that greeted the blue Pegasus at sweet apple acres caused her heart to momentarily stop.

Trees were upturned and knocked over, giant tracks of dirt were displaced and messing up the road. Applejack’s house was flattened and a large white body, speckled with red, lay in the middle of it.

Rainbow had stopped flying forward and hovered where she was, jaw dropped. The only thing that roused her from her wide shock eyes was hearing another pony galloping and the road bellow her. She look down and saw Big Macintosh running to the farm, a wagon full of hay and wood planks still hitched up to his body. She flew down to the remains of the apple family home just behind the big red stallion.

“Big Mac, was Applejack home?”

“E, Eeyup...”

Big Macintosh kicked off his harness and ran right up to his broken home, Rainbow followed him biting her lower lip and starting to brim with tears. Both of them stopped when they saw the white-red splashed mass was rising and falling steadily.

Blue wings spread as Rainbow took to the air to get a better look at the massive mound of scaly meat. It didn’t take her long to see it was draconic in nature, when she realized that anger started to overtake the possible sadness and shock. Some big dumb dragon just fell on Applejack’s house, with Applejack possibly in it? How stupid!

“Hey buster! You gotta answer what happened pronto!”

She flew down and gave a swift kick right on the dragon’s snout. The dragon was obviously injured, badly, but she needed to know what happened to her friend. Big Macintosh was standing just as worriedly nearby, he had started moving away broken planks and beams, hoping he wouldn’t find family members there.

The dragon scrunched his snout at the blow and weakly opened his eyes. Brilliat red and crimson met dark pink. The angry glare and assertive words did little to intimidate Lethalus, but he tried to do what he could.

“Ribs broken… on both sides.”

He coughed and wheezed out. Speaking felt like breathing in daggers to his sides. In addition to the painful words, he tried to move. His first attempt to roll off of his back failed half way, and his back simply arced in agony from the sides.  Rainbow moved around was about to push on the dragon’s flank to encourage him the rest of the way.

“C’mon I need to know you didn’t fall on anypony!”

When she saw a massive gash in the dragon’s thigh, it looked fairly deep. The blood had already started to scab, and the freezing hold did part of the job solidifying it. So she simply flew to the otherside, with a much less injured looking leg, and gave a shove with her front hooves.

“Come over her Big mac, we need this guy off of your house.”

The red stallion dashed to Rainbow’s side and began to push as well. Their efforts to move the dragon were, rather unsuccessful. A very angry growl reverberated from the giant alabaster chest.

“Move back… or I’ll crush you when I get up.”

Came strained words from Lethalus. The growling intensified into a weak roar as he forced himself up. The large wings pushed up from the ground, like another pair of arms, the motion finished with the dragon sitting on his haunches. Once he was up right his breaths were short and painful.

Big Mac immediately scouted through the drebris the dragon had been laying on, and Rainbow flew infront of the giant snout pointing an accusing hoof at him.

“What the hay happened, you’re a little late for the dragon migration? And that was my friend’s house! Cough up answers buster.”

“Migration?... Look there…”

A claw on one of the dragon’s paws pointed towards the direction of another large object in the snow. Rainbow’s eyes went wide when she recognized it as a limb, with a big clawed hand attached to it. The Pegasus put a hoof to her mouth, she was feeling a little queezy from the sight, and the smell of blood all over the place was finally getting to her.

Poorly contained cries of anguish erupted from the midst of the debris, Rainbow’s attention snapped back to the broken house. Macintosh was laying down and holding onto something. She closed her eyes, the horror of it being true kept her from dashing over to weeping stallion. Biting her own lower-lip she slowly fluttered down to the wreckage, not wanting to see what she had to confirm for herself.

The sight was more than she had expected, and she gasped as tears started to flow. Three little fillies and the body of a mare were right next to Macintosh, all of them obviously crushed. She winced at the sight of the flattened bodies and froze where she was.

Suddenly getting answers wasn’t so important, Rainbow landed on the ground and curled into a ball. Her friend, friends sisters, and filly that looked up to her so much, dead… It came out of nowhere, she wasn’t prepared for this at all. Uncontrolled sobs broke out of her, and she didn’t care, the shock was so numbing.

A noticeable swoosh and shadow passed over her, and a flash of green. She looked incoherently at the new large incomer. It was little over half the size of the giant white dragon, and shared some similar body structure, another dragon?

Her mind was still felt too disoriented to really process what was happening at the moment. Her sobs went unabated for several more long moments, drenching a good portion of her scarf. An audible sigh was easily heard as the green mass approached the wounded dragon. Another moment and he was standing upright and experimentally hopped. The slight jump still shook the earth ever so slightly.

Both of the large figures turned towards the wreckage. Rainbow couldn’t tell exactly when the clarity hit her, but she suddenly felt more aware of her surroundings. A large shadow was cast over her and she looked up.

Another dragon, this one was green and had a long mane of reedy leaves, was looking directly down on her. Her dark pink eyes blinked and she remained quiet, just staring. The tears on her face and scarf had frozen over and she shivered at the chill.

“Feeling any better?”

Came a feminine voice from the green giant. It didn’t sound particularly sympathetic, more matter of fact-like. Now she just felt confusion, who was this green dragon? Why did She feel almost normal all the sudden, she was just in the middle of bawling her eyes out. Not one of her cooler moments, but one of her best friends had just died! Energy sprung up into the pegasus’s wings and she flew up to be eye level with this new dragon. As she did, the green dragon shrunk down to the size of a pony. It walked towards Bic Macintosh and her deceased friends.

Even more confused and frustrated she flew down to the green creature’s new level. She landed in between the green dragon and her friends.

“Just what do you think you’re doing!”

“Move out of the way…” The brilliant orange eyes stared into the dark pink ones.

“What did you do to me a second ago, you did something didn’t you!”

“Lethalus, I’m tired of being polite.”

The green dragon looked around and up at the large white one. Sighing tiredly, the alabaster drake softly stepped towards the broken house, and lowered his head to be level with Rainbow’s. His voice no longer carried any suppressed pain to it.

“Those are your friends?”

“The friends you fell on!”

She yelled, angry tears threatening to spill over again. She heaved up and down splaying her wings and puffing her barrel up in an intimidation display, she didn’t care if it worked or not. The hurt of the loss had started to seep into her again.

“Raflaesa can heal them, falling on them was accident.”

“Their dead numbskull… their dead. You can’t fix that!” Her aggressive display faltered and her gaze became down cast.

“Just watch, nothing can hurt at this point.”

Rainbow looked up into the red-gold eyes, trying to decipher them. From what she could tell of the dragon’s expression he seemed honest. She grit her teeth and stepped to the side, allowing the shrunken green dragon to pass her. Unfortunately Macintosh wasn’t so willing to let any dragon close.

The red stallion sprung to his hooves and aggressively stomped the ground between the approaching emerald dragon and his dead family, snorting and braying loudly.

“Get back, yur not gettin’ near ‘em.”

“Big Mac, they want to help.” Rainbow tried and failed to calm his nerves.

“Lethalus… Let me help the stupid horse.”

A large snowy paw seized the red earth pony and lifted him into the air, restraining any further movement. Macintosh kicked and brayed even more furiously, going mad in despair.

The green dragon first approached the flattened orange mare. The air distorted as if a heat wave brushed the area, but the Pegasus couldn’t feel any warmth coming from it. A few sickening cracks quickly caught rainbow’s attention. She stared in disbelief as she saw Applejack’s squashed form spring back into shape, as if she was a self-inflating balloon. The three Fillies quickly followed suit and sprung into a more natural shape.

Raflaesa sighed and sat her haunches down, she resumed her original large size. Applejack and the three fillies made loud sudden gasps, followed by violent coughing. Rainbow didn’t take a moment to jump over to her friend’s side.

“Applejack!”

“cough cough, just what they hay happened there? That you Dash?”

“Ya, it is, y-you’re ok?”

“Well, cough, I feel like I just had the wind knocked out of me, but otherwise ya, I feel alright.”

“Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, I was so scared there for a bit, you were… you were dead.”

“I was what?!”

“That big dragon over there fell on you and the fillies, you were crushed flat.”

“Whu huh wha?”

Applejack looked over at the alabaster giant, then around at the wreckage of her house. She suddenly became very weak in the legs, and her eyes started to roll into the back of her head.

Bic Mac was released from Lethalus’s paw, who didn’t waste any time galloping to his sisters. He scooped both of them into a tight hug, closed his eyes and quietly restrained his sobs. It was enough to keep Applejack from fainting and she gave a concerned pat on the back to her brother. Applebloom hugged her siblings back, and looked teary eye around at their shattered home.

“The house…” She weakly mumbled.

“It’s alright Applebloom, we have each other. Remember, Apples stick together, no matter the weather.”

They all shivered as a breeze passed by. Small whisps of snow were already blowing through the wreckage creating small snow banks. Rainbow jumped over and joined the hug, nuzzling in on top of them. Sweetie belle and Scootaloo squeezed into the hug circle, nesting between the adults. Lethalus approached the bundle of ponies, tapping on one of his bracers.

“Can I take you lot somewhere warm nearby, I’m sorry my tussle ended with your house smashed. I wasn’t expecting that trogre to steal all my energy like he did. Otherwise I would have fought him somewhere else.”

Big Macintosh gave the drake a death glare.

“It’s alright, we have another barn we can stay in.” Applejack raised her head from the group.

“Unacceptable, I will take you somewhere nice.”

“No really, we can manage.”

“There’s some crystal castle thing in the middle of town. I left Dazzle there, yes dazzle is here… I’m sure the owner will let them stay there as a favor, I did revive her little gremlin after all.”

The tired voice of Raflaesa interrupted the conversation. The green dragon was laying on her back in the wreckage, paws crossed over her chest. Her tail swished lazily back and forth, and small yellow spores drifted from the red flower on the end.

“Dazzle’s here! Damn the paragon forsaken, Garshook Nar Vey, Mushgrom!!!”

Lethalus very vocally cursed against the winter chill. His wings flared and he curled a paw into a first, slamming it into the ground. The pony pile bounced from the ripple in the earth. With another exasperated sigh the dragon calmed down.

“Then let’s not waste time. I will take you to this castle. I will also compensate you for the damages my skirmish caused.”

Before any of the other ponies could get a word in Lethalus jumped forward , and seized the entire pile of ponies in his front paws. The fillies squealed in surprise, Applejack and Rainbow whinnied, and Macintosh grunted with wide eyes.

Enormous wings spread over the property, each one easily the surpassing the length of Applejacks destroyed home. With a beat and a gust of wind the dragon and ponies were lifted into the air. They were hundreds of feet from the ground in moments, and all of the wingless ponies grew very uneasy.

Looking to Ponyville Lethalus spotted the described castle in a moment and slowly glided towards it.

At the Badlands---

Mushrooms of all shapes and sizes littered the scope of the Changeling hive. It had taken little over a day for the strange fungi to coat the flooring throughout the various halls and chambers. By the second day fresh fungus-born goblins erupted from the ground. Many more than the original two dozen Mushgrom had summoned to his side.

New goblins that weren’t immediately handed over to the changelings for feeding were busily digging deeper into the earth, expanding the hives borders deeper, creating many new tunnels and chambers. Varieties of goblins broke out from the variety of mushrooms, some were small and fast, others large and strong. Some even had wings and ‘other’ strange appendages. What they all shared in common was vast numbers.

Chrysalis lay on her throne, with a large bloated belly. It had been one week and she was about to have a new brood of changelings. She had ordered the two remaining female drones to get busy repopulating the hive as well, but results from ‘drone’ level changelings would take longer than it did for the queen.

Feeding off the constant supply of goblin victims helped everything go more efficiently, last time she had worked on building her army it hadn’t developed quite this fast. The last brood she had before the invasion had taken two weeks to develop.

A humming bubbled up from her insides, and the slight tingle of hunger teased the edge of her appetite. She turned to the male drone standing dutifully beside her throne. Drone wasn’t the right word anymore; under the affections of the queen he had grown and developed into a larger, stronger variation. He was now a changeling guardian

“Shade, go fetch me snack.”

“Yes my queen.”

Shade hopped to all fours and bounded quickly out of the throne room. He had repeated action several times a day over the last five days. His new, larger, stronger body made the journey faster. Passing through several round hallways he made entrance to the largest chamber in the hive, and it was full of goblin activity.

Standing central and making silent gestures to the masses was Mushgrom. The pink eyed goblin ceased whatever gesture he was doing and turned to the approaching guardian.

“Again? You were here an hour ago.”

“The queen’s brood has developed faster than anticipated.”

“I suppose that is a compliment to my hospitality.”

Shade didn’t comment on the Goblin’s self appreciation, but waited straight faced for an answer. The horned goblin regarded the stalwart changeling for another moment. He gestured towards several goblins with a clawed hand and they followed. The rest of the horde of the occupying the chamber emptied into various tunnels chattering and shrieking at the goblins tended to do.

“She will have her meal, but I would speak with your queen, there is more I need to know of our potential enemies.”

Shade nodded silently leading the way back to the throne room. Mushgrom followed, with only 3 peons in tow. When they entered the throne room Chrysalis already had her horn ignited. The three goblins offered were drained in mere moments. The queen looked up to the tall horned goblin standing to the side, who was observing her. She was at first confused, then smirked.

“Not coming to offer yourself are you?”

“As much as I would… love, to entertain the idea I have more pressing matters.”

“Such as?”

“Knowing the more intimate details of our enemies. If I am to overthrow an established order, I need to know what I can exploit. Even though you were foiled, I imagine you picked up something useful.”

“Indeed, if you need world wise details then Shade here can inform you, he was one of my more proficient infiltrators, before we were cut off.”

“Really? I haven’t heard him say anything informal enough to show social suave?”

In response a flare of green fire ignited besides Mushgrom. A white Pegasus adorned in golden armor hovered next to the pink eye’d goblin, giving a threatening, stern glare. Hooves were raised aggressively as if to strike.

“By Celestia’s sun I will purge your filth from her majesties kingdom, may you rot in the dark hole of your infernal birth.”

Another flash of green fire and a blue, fat, short, unicorn stood before them. A long curly mustache accentuated the gluttonous features.  A mushroom was levitated and held out like a platter.

“My kind sir would you partake in today’s finest delicacies, courtesy of our majesties kitchens, wewe. If I may share a secret, the princess’s are quite partial to the cake, Celestia love’s the Prench vanilla and keeps quite a personal stash in her quarters, while Luna loves her raspberries more than any other treat. I should know, I get their personal requests all the time. wewe”

Another flash of fire and green earth pony with yellow mane stood before them.

“Hey dude, I’m just lookin’ to hang out with some buds, you don’t happen to know any chill peeps round here do ya?” The green pony elbowed Mushgrom in the side, who stepped back and gave an indignant glare.

“K bro, if ya don’t wanna be chill I get ya.”

Another flash of green fire, and a tall elegant mare with rosy red coat, and dark brown curly mane struck a pose infront of her audience.

“Or you just tell me what you want, love, I can develop a taste for anything, even if I’ve never tried something quite as dashing as you.”

The mare purred in seductive tones, and slowly licked her lips.

One more flash of fire and Shade was standing there, same stoic expression as ever.

“I can go on if you wish…”

The changeling guardian ignited his horn ready for more examples, but he was stopped by a gesture from Mushgrom’s hand.

“No, that was quite enough.”

“How would you know about social suave anyway? You don’t exactly seem the social type, let alone possessing the ability to pretend it.”

The queen snorted, shooting a glare at the stilted goblin. The goblin returned the queen’s glare with a snide grin.

“I’ve had plenty of prisoners, I know many ways to persuade. I’ll leave subtle details as your forte, what I’m looking for are more general things I can exploit. What do these ponies rely on that I can disrupt?”

“They rely on the unity of their three tribes to prosper. The pegasi, unicorns, and earth ponies control the weather, magic, and food production respectively. Break apart that unity and they will be weak. Celestia is powerful, but I can overwhelm her if you keep up my food supply. The love bomb used by Cadence needs to be cut off before it can start, same with the elements of harmony.”

“What would I need to do to cut off this… Love bomb, and Elements of harmony?”

“Keep Cadance and Shining armor apart, same thing with the bearers of the elements.”

“Would killing any of them work?”

“Yes, perhaps. The elements can find new bearers, but that takes time.”

“Are there any other nations that would interfere should we take Equistria by force?”

“I’m not sure the griffon kingdoms would care, but the Prench and Saddle Arabians trade with Equistrians frequently. The dragon councils may also want to claw out a piece should a conflict arise.”

The horned goblin stroked his chin thoughtfully. The pleased grin remained there and he looked skyward. The changeling queen tilted her head trying to guess at what the goblin was thinking. She could easily read his emotions, her changeling senses made that easy. Excitement and confidence basically leaked out of his long bat-like ears, and poured from his eyes.

“There are some small details I’d like to go over before I leave.”

There was a quiet moment as Chrysalis waited for the goblin to go on. He didn’t, and She shifted uncomfortably as those neon pink orbs continued to stare.

“What details?!”

“Throw up whatever magical defenses you have.”

“What?”

Shifting her awkwardly swollen form into an upright position, her eyes grew wide as ethereal blades floated up from the goblins feather cloaked form. He pointed a menacing claw right at her, and the blades flew forward.

A green shield of energy was thrown between Chrysalis and the blades, though Chrysalis wasn’t the one that conjured it. The ghostly blades slid through the shield with no resistance, the shield promptly faltered and shattered. The guardian changeling buzzed angrily at his failed intervention.

Shade let out a furious hiss and jumped on the horned goblin, who lifted a clawed hand to blow the guardian backward in a burst of green light. The changeling hit the wall and fell down disoriented.

The transparent wisps of the weapons stopped just short of impaling the queen in several locations. She gulped before snarling at the goblin.

“What’s the meaning of this?!”

“I need to know what you’re capable of at a moment’s notice.”

Mushgrom’s expression remained calm, and his gaze was unwavering at the queen. Struggling slightly the queen stood up to peer into the pink iris’s, her swollen abdomen swayed quite a bit with the movement.

“I don’t specialize in direct shields and defenses.”

As she waddled forward the blades retreated from her and withdrew back to the goblin. Even as she approached the scaly creature he didn’t move, calm as ever. She lowered her glowing horn to touch the Goblins skull between his horns.

“But in aggressive domination!”

Both of their tall frames exerted physical strain, and their eyes glowed brightly. Chrysalis relentlessly assaulted the Goblin’s mind directly, attempting to subdue him to her will. For a moment, the goblin’s eyes dimmed from bright pink, to a shade of green. Then another moment later they re-ignited brighter pink than ever.

In eery union, the Queen and goblin spoke in magically enhanced voices at the same time

“Impressive control.”

The mental union broke, and both of them staggered back, panting vigorously. They both remained poorly composed for a little while, until the goblin broke the heavy breathing with a chuckle.

“I’ve broken thousands of prisoner’s minds in my day, but, you…”

“I didn’t expect y-… oh…”

Chrysalis’s eyes went wide as she gasped, and her pupils shrank to pin-pricks. Her large belly contracted tightly, and a wet plop hit the floor. The goblin raised his eye brows, amused. A new broodling was on the ground, It’s eyes were closed, but it’s mouth opened and let out a little chirp. It’s tiny wings buzzed ineffectively against it’s wet body.

The Queen shuddered and shivered, her body convulsed again, plop. A second broodling joined it’s fellow on the floor. Shade was just starting to stir out of his disoriented head, shaking his skull he looked up to observe the situation. The guardian saw the goblin no longer in an aggressive stance, spell blades withdrawn.

A distinctively high pitched chirp grabbed his attention, his blue eyes widened seeing the two broodlings on the floor, PLOP, make that three. The guardian jumped to his queen’s side, ready to assist. Mushgrom impatiently folded his arms and tapped a claw.

“How many are you going to dr-“

-gasp-

A fourth broodling hit the ground, and the queen let out a long relieved sigh. Her abdomen had already shrunken down substantially, and her pupils returned to their normal size. The queen turned about to look down at the new infantile changelings. She circled them once before setting herself down on the ground next to them. Then she pulled all four of the broodlings together in her fore-legs.

“It’s been a while, I’ve forgotten how good that feels.” She said to herself, more than anyone else in the throne room.

“So four in one week.” Mushgrom casually remarked.

“Yes, four in one week. Changelings aren’t as easy to make as your horde of mindless over-grown fungi.”

Her tone easily conveyed her offence at the Goblin’s calculated voice. The goblin raised a clawed hand in acknowledgement.

“I’m merely figuring, but if your ego must be stroked, each one of your changelings will be much more important than a dozen fungus-born. I just want to know if you’ll be able to keep up that pace all year?”

“I will, if I continue to feed freely. My female drones will also be producing, though they take much longer between broods than I, and only produce one or two at a time.”

“So we should have a few hundred changeling by the end of the year?”

The goblin smiled at that, his mind racing furiously as to how he could employ such valuable… allies. A claw scratched at his scaly chin again.

“They do take about two years to mature. So I will not be ready for any invasion for at least three. I had decades to prepare for my last army.”

“That’s fine, I won’t be quite ready within the year either. But I’m sure there’s plenty a changeling like Shade here could do with pack of goblins at his command, to disrupt Equistria’s functions while we wait.”

“You’re not afraid of being revealed?”

“Of revealing fungus-born? No, I’m not. In fact I’d rather they become aware of my goblins, and believe they are only capable of inane and stupid violence. Then I will be able to catch them off guard when I start to command the hordes. While we gain ‘real’ strength, your elite changelings can lead packs of goblins into sabotage. They will never see your changelings, and believe you are still extinct. It will be another grievous miscalculation for them.”

“I do want a kingdom of healthy ponies to rule after we take over…”

“As I said, we will rebuild the world to our liking, but we will have to sacrifice some resources to get there first.”

“Very well, but I am tired, leave me to my broodlings.”

“I should like to discuss these plans of sabotage soon, I’ll expect you to send Shade when you’re ready.”

With that Mushgrom turned and left the throne room. Shade continued to stand next to his queen, who had cuddled closely with her broodlings. The gentle chirps were interspersed with little yawns.

“Help me feed them Shade.”

Obliging without further command the changeling guardian lowered his head down with his horn glowing emerald green. Chrysalis and shade touched fore-heads to each of the infants imparting some of their stored emotion-food.

Chirping died down as the broodlings were calmed to sleep. The queen had her own eyes closed, but she lifted her head and spoke softly.

“Take them to the drones, then come back here.”

“Yes, my queen.”

The broodlings were levitated up in Shades magical grasp, and he trotted towards the chambers where the other changelings resided. The infants remained fast asleep for the short journey, and when he arrived he placed them on a bed of moss. The other drones looked up to Shade in question. He nodded to them clicking once, indicating the new broodlings. One of the drones moved next to the bed of moss to tend the new charge.

As Shade re-entered the throne room he saw a new pile of giant mushroom tops, with the queen lying across it like some giant squishy mattress. Chrysalis had her eyes closed and she was breathing at a steady and rhythmic pace.

He stepped onto one of the mushroom tops, it was especially spongy and springy. The overall texture was pretty dry too, he had expected something more… slimy.

“Come closer.”

The queen whisper smoothly, with a heavy edge of weariness. He obeyed, sitting down on his rump right next to Chrysalis’s restful form. She rolled over onto her back and pulled Shade down with a fore-leg.

“Are you sure you want to begin again so soon? My only concern is for you my queen.”

He poked at her belly, which was still quite puffy. She hummed, and when he poked again she giggled, kicking one hind leg weakly.

“Yes, go ahead, but don’t stop if I fall asleep. Nothing will stop the swarm from growing again as soon as poss…”

She put a holed hoof to her fanged mouth as she let out a long, drawn out yawn. She relaxed and said no more. Shade blinked, then proceeded to follow his instructions.

At Ponyville---

A grey unicorn mare strode to the center of Ponyville. She had a wild bright blue mane, and wore a red-white checkered sweater. The cutie-mark adorning her flanks was a golden crown, broken in two. She had her head held high, and smiled haughtily.

A white unicorn stallion , with matching white mane and tail, strode behind her, head lowered and scowling. He wore a red plad sweater. The mark on his flanks was a mess; the scattered objects on it would slowly shift from one moment to the other.

“Now the source of that spell was near here, I can sense it. But maybe it wasn’t ground level…”

As the grey mare kept trotting forward she had her horn ignited in blue aura, scanning all everywhere. After staring skyward for a while she found her hooves treading through a sticky puddle. Looking down she witnessed the yellow goo clinging to her legs like snot. She stopped and the stallion trailing behind bumped into her back side, knocking them both over into the pond and splashing the yellow goo all over. Un-perturbed by the gross and smelly substance the mare swished a hoof in it, then put it up to her muzzle, scrutinizing it with her eyes, and inspecting it with her magic.

“I don’t recongnize this substance Ham… That must mean we’re close!”

“yay…”

Ham on the other hoof was quite unenthused about being coated in the filthy yellow goo. A pink blur whizzed past both of them, blowing their manes sideways. The two unicorns looked at each other, as if to question, but both of them just shrugged. The pink blur whizzed right back infront of them, and solidified into the form of a pink earth pony.

“Are you two ok? You got all covered in that icky monster goo. You might wanna clean that off soon, otherwise you might get sick. I don’t know, but better safe than sorry right, right, right? But you two didn’t have to fight with any of those monsters did you? It was terrible, a lot of ponies got hurt, by those meani weani monsters, But then they all just started popping like party ballons and left behind all that nasty yellow stuff!”

The words were flying a mile a minute. And the two unicorns just blinked.

-GASP!!!-

“Who are you two I don’t think I’ve seen either of you around Ponyville before? This calls for a-“

“Party…”

“huwha?”

“Your reputation precedes you Pinkie Pie.”

“Oh golly wow, I mean I know everyone around Ponyville, so where are you two from?”

“Far away, but we’ve been discreet about our earlier visits to Ponyville. I’m Ana, and this is my brother Ham.”

“Happy to meet ya!”

Pinkie enthusiastically threw out a hoof and started shaking Ana’s and Ham’s. Pulling back a second later she realized this resulted in her pink hooves being soiled in yellow goo.

“O, icky. Ya you two probably want that goo off soon. If you need somewhere to clean up you can stop by sugar cude corner, I’ve got a bath tub there. It’s just down the street, but I need to go find some of my friends, I need to know there ok, Okie Dokie Lokie.”

She vigorously wiped her hooves in the snow, and bolted off.

Both of the unicorn’s watch the hyped up pink earth pony zip away. Ana stood up and shook her fur pelt like a dog, splattering more goo over Ham.

“Oops.” She snarked.

There was a minor explosion. The yellow puddle didn’t exist anymore, and the nearby area was cleared of snow. Ham stood up perfectly clean, while Anarchy was stuck to the wall of a nearby house all splayed out from the impact, and still covered in yellow goo.

“Oops…”

The white unicorn ignited his horn and flashed brilliant prismatic light. He was now a Pegasus, and started to fly high above central Ponyville. Sniffing the air he located the trace elements he was looking for. A pegusus mare was at his side shortly.

“Well, it happened right here. Those ‘monsters’ must have been part of the result. Exploding into yellow goo is certainly a chaotic after effect, unless something else triggered them to do that.”

“If only we got here when it happened, we could have harnessed so much more energy from it.”

Anarchy’s snoot drooped into a whimpering frown.

“Again, we tried too early Ana.”

“Discord already knew we were snooping about, he probably just let us continue to get a laugh. Do, do you think we’ll actually be able to take the lordship? Ever?”

“Ana, we must. I won’t stand for his hypocritical harmony association. You promised too, remember?”

“Ya, I suppose you’re right, and it’s not like we’ll run out of time.” Her frown turned into a weak smile.

A small bird fluttered around the two pegasi, it’s golden eyes peered at them, and it chirped. Mayhem noticed the little creature, then quickly disregarded it. The two flying ponies were near the epicenter of the earlier explosion. A faint green glow remained, and in the distance horizon faint streaks could still be made out. A sudden popping sound startled the two pegasi.

“Why the disguises this time? I thought you two were in open defiance.”

Anarchy and Mayhem veered around to see a draconequus stroking his short beard, floating next to them. With a snap of eagle claws the pony disguises disappeared and brother-sister draconequi caught themselves from dropping.

“I thought rolling down a mountain would give you two something to think about.”

“Uh, it did! How about a trade!”

Discord raised a very skeptical eyebrow. Nodding his head and closing his eyes, he gestured with his lion paw for the proposition to be heard. Anarchy scratched the back of her head, biting her lower lip and rapidly thinking of something to back up her words. She saw a grey Pegasus mare with blonde mane and tail flying underneath them, an idea had sprung.

“How about your very own Muffin cloud! All flavors included!”

Anarchy snapped her frog fingers and a rainbow colored appeared. She gave it a firm kick with her zebra hoof, causing showers of all kinds of muffins. A lightning bolt of rocky candy also fell out. A huge nervous smiled was glued to her face.

“Bonus! I know those cotton candy clouds can get old, eh?!”

Mayhem face palmed. Discord sprung up and gave a cheer.

“Muffin cloud! Ofcourse I’ll give you my lordship right now!”

“What? Really?”

“No.”

He grabbed the siblings by their long ears, and tugged them along. Both of them fussed and struggled to get out of the hold, but Discord was firm.

“Both of you idiots would end up frozen in stone or glued to some heavenly body the same day you receive lordship. I’m not one to play charity, so for the sake of chaos being allowed at all, go back to the isles.”

Throwing them forward a little, Discord pointed an eagle claw to some place in the distance, and glared at both of them angrily. Mayhem growled, and Anarchy slunk in dejection, but both of them slowly floated away from Ponyville, under the piercing gaze of the lord of chaos. Until a giant white dragon flew past them that is.

The sudden blast of turbulence threw the siblings spiraling down out of the air, crashing into another snow bank.

Meanwhile the muffin raining cloud drifted off. A certain grey Pegasus mare with a blonde mane sat on top of it. She dug her hoof into the cloud fishing around for a minute, then pulled out a large, moist, blueberry muffin. Squee!

At the Crystal Empire---

Cadence anxiously strode back and forth around the crystal palace. She looked back towards an ornate desk every few moments, seeing if a new letter was there. It had been several days since she sent a letter to her aunt Celestia, asking for advice on her current predicament.

The three strange dragons that were at the foot of her empire claimed to be lost, and not belong anywhere near or around Equistria, nor from any of the neighboring kingdoms. They also claimed they were looking for other lost members of their group. Cadance was quite surprised one of the dragon’s did have quite a diplomatic approach, since she had never dealt with one quite as… polite, spike being an exception.

She knew the letter would have reached Canterlot only a few minutes after she sent it. Celestia had given her that specially modified desk after all, with the ability to sent notes great distances almost instantly. But no reply had come yet, days later.

Shining had been out to the populace calming them down, and telling them the situation was being handled, but that didn’t stop Cadance from feeling the weight of her office. Most of her ponies were still terribly frightened, and there were hundreds of instances of property damage, and structural compromise. The crystalline crafts ponies were all occupied with more than they could handle.

Occasional tremors wouldn’t help still the mood either. Trickle and Heathice makes it clear they didn’t eat gems or crystal, and had no desire to. They said they were Sea, and ice dragons respectively, and they managed to convince Gravelle not to eat anymore crystal buildings. So the earth dragon dug down to look for a meal of metals and minerals. Digging the tunnel caused several small quakes, and upset more ponies.

Cadance sat down at her gift desk, and plopped her head down on it, sighing loudly. She hadn’t even asked if the other two dragons needed food, or what they ate.

-pop-

The crystal princess bolted upright excitement and anticipation. There infront of her was a neatly rolled parchment, sealed in Celestia’s stamp. Without waiting another moment she lifted the letter in a pink magical aura and tore it open.

My Dear Niece

I did not have time to send this letter earlier. I was

preoccupied with a troubling situation myself.

I do believe some more of those lost dragons appeared locally

down here. But more than just dragons came with them, some

other kind of creatures one of the dragon’s called goblins, which

are apparently quite hostile.

I contacted the dragon councils to see if these newcomers truly had

no association with them, apparently they do not.

The one explained to me they are part of some organization called storm strike.

I would tell you to send them towards canterlot, but I am hesitant

After your description of their initial aggression.

Their initial intent appears to be hunting down the aforementioned

Goblins, but I am concerned they may have ulterior motives.

Their appearance here is strange, and I have yet to know if they can

Go back to where they came from.

I’m discussing with Luna where they should stay, if their visit here is extended.

I will send another letter to you within a few days, with a decision.

Please send another letter if anything becomes unruly, I am

Slightly worried to leave you up there with limited support,

given your earlier description of their aggression.

Though I trust you to be capable of handling things yourself.

With love, your aunt

, Celestia.

Cadance grumbled at the letter. There was still no clear answer about what to do over the next few days. Giving up and resting her head back on the desk , she decided to stop worrying about it. As long as the ‘guest’ dragons did nothing bothersome, things could go on as normal, besides fixing all the expansive damages…

Loud distant shrieks broke the pink Alicorn’s restful contemplation. Her worry worn eyes narrowed and she lifted her head from the desk.

“What now…”

Growling to herself she walked over to the palace balcony. The sight made her eyes widen. What looked like most of the great dragon migration was flying towards the empire, many had already reached the edge and started descending. The pink Alicorn’s pupils nearly disappeared as they shrank, her snout scrunched and a little steam boiled over from her ears. It was a pinkish creamy confusion between fear and anger.

A massive figure descended in a howling gale, right off the side of the balcony. Instinctively Cadance charged her magic threateningly and let off a warning blast, which sailed close by the mass of dark violet. The gale ceased and a heavy thud announced the figure was no longer approaching.

“My apologies princess of the crystal empire, I did not mean to startle you, but I was in haste.”

The deep voice of Trickle calmed Cadance down. She looked up from his bright red chest to his purple face, a confusing mess of emotions etched in her features.

“These aren’t more dragons from your group are they? They look like equestrian dragons…”

“Most definitely not, I was going to ask you, but you seem to recognize them.  I take it they do not fall on your favorable side.”

“No, and I don’t know why so many are here, I’ve driven away a few before that wanted to make a meal of the empire’s crystals, but not so many.”

“Perhaps they were encouraged seeing a few dragons standing within your empire and not being driven away, I’m sorry if our presence led to any of this.”

“It’s not your fault, you said you were lost, but…”

  Cadence’s wings flared up and she put her hooves on the edge of the balcony, biting her lower lip she looked again towards the oncoming flight of dragons. Trickle twisted his long neck to look in the direction as-well. His long snout curled into a smile.

“You know princess, it has been my occupation to fight over the last millennia or so. I can call up Heathice and Gravelle, a horde of fiery drakes is something we’ve handled quite often.”

The Alicorn raised a questioning eyebrow, who get’s to fight hordes of drakes often? She shook her head, who was she to deny help at the moment.

“If you wouldn’t mind helping me…”

“But ofcourse, you rendering assistance in the search for my compatriots is fair compensation.”

Cadence decided to ignore Trickle’s strange mannerism for the moment. She leapt from the balcony towards the flight of dragons.

The crystal guard had rushed to the perimeter of the city, hurrying to prepare the emergency precautions. Crystal armored ponies lined a few defensive barricades, and Pegusi patrolled the air just outside of the city. Unicorn mages stood next to piles of sharp munitions.

Civilians rushed towards the palace, where the underground safety of the tunnels lay. An affair that was full of screaming, crying, panic, you know that whole shibang.

The oncoming horde of scaly monsters had wide eyes, and wider mouths, all salivating to take a bite out of that glittery barrage of glowing delight. A few other dragons were staying there, and hadn’t been forced out, so why not them. The came in a variety of shapes sizes and colors, ranging from the teenagers to large adults. The sheer mass of the flight blocked out the rising sun.

Several of the crystal guards quivered within their crystal armor, few of them had ever had to face a dragon, let alone hundreds of them… A sergeant tried to shout some words of encouragement.

“Come lads, pull yourselves together, we all know we decided to live on a giant pile of dragon food. Sombra may have been great at keepin’ ‘em scared off, but he didn’t treat us all the nice. We have the princess of love now! And the crystal heart!”

“What if some dragon eats that too? The heart banishes hate, not hunger!”

“Lad, you’re ruinin’ the moment”

Equistrian dragon roars and growls were now very close by, and the crystal rattling of crystal armor from crystal guard worsened. The ground shook violently, and something besides the crystal guard themselves rattled their crystal armor.

Erupting with a shower of dirt and rocks, the massive earth dragon Gravelle stood between the guard of the empire, and the approaching flight of dragons. Heathice swooped down in a mass of white and blue next to her, adding his frosty aura to their presence. The earth and ice dragons roared defiantly at the oncoming flight.

Many soldiers didn’t know whether to be frightened or encouraged, but they became still as crystal statues. Unnatural storm clouds billowed in the sky, and a crack of thunder drowned out all other noises for miles around. Un-earthly wind began to pick up and a howling gale tore through the air.

A trail of pink light signaled the arrival of Princess Cadence , who halted high in the air between her soldiers and the slowing opponents.

The horde of dragons slowed it’s approach, many of the smaller ones halted altogether, hiding behind larger adults. Several slack jaws closed, and the wide eyes narrowed, evaluating the changing scene infront of them. The Crystal empire had darkened under the growing billows of storm clouds. What looked like a giant city made of candy was quickly spoiling to them? And what was with these other dragons standing against them, were they not going to share? Well, dragons are suppose to be greedy right…

A humungous black dragon didn’t stop it’s advance, it was the largest of the whole flight by far. Long orange spines decorated it’s head and back, and it’s gaze was un-phased by the scene infront of it. She was a member of the dragon council, and she didn’t get intimidated. And the black dragon would have kept flying forward right into the empire itself, if a giant boulder didn’t crash right into one of her eyes.

The force it the impact knocked her large black head backwards, stalling her out mid flight. The temporary stall was enough to make her come crashing down, and with a mighty earth shaking rumble landed on all fours.

“Who threw that!”

She roared, letting out a gout of flames that seemed to absorb light rather than give it. After huffing for a moment she was answered, another large boulder crashed into her head again, knocking her back until she was upright on her hind legs. She covered both of her eyes with long black talons, the developing black eyes were well hidden by the black hide, but the blood shot white sclera wasn’t.

Lowering her paws aggressively the black dragon stared forward. It was that strange amber dragon, and it was holding another boulder in one paw. This time when another boulder flew, she dodged it. It kept going and nailed a lesser dragon in the chest, dropping it from the air.

“You would dare stand again Ebony Flight?”

She roared at the amber dragon. It responded by charging at her. Ebony raised up to her considerable height, towering over everything that wasn’t high in the air, and prepared to swat the charging amber dragon with a paw. She was atleast twice the size of that flightless wyrm.

The moment came and Ebony’s claws came down in a swipe that screeched through the air. When they impacted the amber dragon not much happened, smacking the earth dragon was like smacking a giant iron wall, it hurt her paw. Then the giant iron wall smacked her back.

Even though Ebony was twice the size of this other dragon, it felt like the smaller dragon weighed twice as much. The council member was sent somersaulting backwards from amber dragon’s headbutt to her chest.

Great deals of light consuming flames were pushed out of her lungs from that hit, and she lay on the ground struggling to get air back in her chest. Before Ebony could recover the earth dragon jumped on top of her, painfully stomping her gut, and pinned her down with a paw. The other paw was raised ready to strike down over her throat.

Fear momentarily flashed in Ebony’s burning orange eyes, she couldn’t remember the last time she felt it. Before the strike landed a magically enhanced voice interrupted.

“Wait, don’t kill her!”

It was Cadance. The pink Alicorn flew up close to two tussling dragons.

“Gravelle, you’ve beaten her alright. You’ll leave now Ebony, won’t you…”

The flying pony princess looked sternly at the dragon council member, and the earth dragon growled rolling her eyes at the command.

“Don’t tell me how to do my job, and I won’t tell you how to do yours, little highness.”

The angry amber dragon stomped on Ebony’s chest, driving her deeper into the ground, and causing her orange eyes to pop out a little.

“Grav, please respect our host.” A rather exasperated Heathice approached them.

“What’s she doing here anyway; she already proved she won’t do much in a fight.”

“Grav!”

“Fine, I’ll just go break something else!”

Gravelle jumped off of Ebony, turning her back to the black dragon. Both of the earth dragon’s hind legs were raised then kicked out at the fallen council member. The large dark mass was sent tumbling away, causing enormous earthy skids in the green grassy fields. Before Heathice or Cadence could issue any frustrated or reprimanding words she had dug her way deep underground.

The flight of dragons had watched the whole ordeal, many of them just stared dumbstruck, many others turned tail and flew away. Cadance took notice of the horde’s reaction. Seeing their largest member being knocked about, had knocked the courage right out of them. She turned to them with her magically amplified voice.

“The crystal empire is not on the menu, and never will be. All of you have seen what trying to take the empire will result in!”

The rest of the flight promptly turned tail and ran. Ebony Flight had rolled onto her belly, and was trying to crawl away, while she held one paw up to her gut. One wing looked bent out of shape, and several purple swellings appeared through the black hide. And orange eye glared back at the pink princess, before it was swollen shut. Bitterness was a fast growing seed there.

“The council will hear of your alliance.” She wheezed out between gasping breaths.

“Come again, and I won't hold back Gravelle next time!”

A solid snort escaped Cadance’s muzzle in the council member’s direction. The black dragon upgraded her crawl to a slow limp, going out of the green fields of the empire into the snow outside, leaving magical aura of pleasantness and perpetual summer.

All of that excitement and it wasn’t even lunch time. Cadence held her hooves up to her head, trying to slow an on oncoming headache of great magnitude. Slowly she started flying her way back to the palace, she would need to report this instance to Celestia, a member of the dragon council had made an overtly aggressive move against her empire. What was next?! Changelings? Discord wanting to make more trouble? Her bed sounded more and more inviting.

While the brooding Cadance flew back to the palace the soldiers below started to stand down, going back to regular duties. One particularly forward sergeant couldn’t help but rouse a cheer.

“Like I always said lads, you fight dragons with dragons!”

“Sarge, it’s fight fire with fire…”

“Like I always said lads.”

At Canterlot, well more like the mountain-side it’s attached to ---

Frigid snow was quite biting on the mountainside, not very conducive to the preferences of the Fire dragon carving out a cave there. It didn’t take long for Vrepen to pick up the Garlins he’d roasted earlier. What he didn’t eat was piled right at the end of a freshly dug cave.

The brown drake idly scratched on the dirt floor with a claw, marking various calculations and plans. The cave was fairly well lit; he had uprooted a tree nearby, and was methodically tearing off pieces for a fire in the center of the cave.

Princess Celestia certainly seemed to be taking her time, Vrepen had been left up on the mountain for two days with no further interaction. Was he being ignored? Boredom had driven him to figure just how much the garlins would multiply, given the amount of time they delayed reacting. Dozens had escaped, there would be hundreds more in a few weeks. These lands also looked quite peaceful, not a good sign for resisting goblin spawn.

Idle thoughts were interrupted by the sound of clopping hooves. A dark figure approached the cave entrance, definitely a pony of some kind. It wore a dark robe to obscure its frame, and Vrepen couldn’t recognize who it was, not that he would know anyway, he’d only met one pony.

The strange dark equine stopped right at the cave entrance, and seemed to be surveying the contents. Grabbing a garlin corpse, the fire dragon lazily started chewing it. That seemed to grab the robed figures attention, and their gazes met. Golden Irises stared into light blue.

After swallowing Vrepen was surprised the pony was still standing there, not even trembling. Most of the equines had been quite

unsettled by his appearance, if not terror-struck. Apparently dragons weren’t that common of a thing around here.

“Hello there, do you need help with something?”

The robed equine widened it’s eyes a little at his words, but remained quiet, and continued watching. After several more long moments of silence, Vrepen went back to making marks on the floor, no longer looking at the shady visitor.

There was an uncomfortable shift and a few more hoof steps. The dragon paused his marking and looked up without moving his head. The figure had taken a few steps closer to the fire, and sat down. More silence, except for the occasional cackle from the burning wood.

It was getting chillier than he liked, so he tore off another branch from the broken tree and placed it in the fire. He dug his paws into the midst of the charcoal, looking for the hottest spot. The dark figure shifted a little closer.

Vrepen kept his maw shut. Maybe this stranger was just looking for a warm spot to stay, he didn’t get the particular feeling they were afraid, but if all they needed was warmth the castle was just down the hill. Even though he was tempted to ask more questions he refrained. The stranger would have to talk first. To his surprise the silence ended a moment after he thought that.

“Where do you come from?”

“Ohn, though originally from Vulcania, I’ve moved around. I don’t imagine you would know either of those places though.”

“No, I wouldn’t.”

“Where do you come from?”

That drew out a long sigh from the cloaked figure. Vrepen scrunched his snout, the mirrored question apparently drew up a lot of memories.

“I’ll say from right here, though I too have traveled.”

“How long and how far?”

He smirked, making his own guess, how travel worn could a pony be?

“The names of the lands have changed since I began. But the furthest I’ve been was there.”

The cloaked figure raised a dark blue hoof, pointing to the sky. A large white moon beamed brilliantly there, surrounded by a musical whirl of stars. A suspicious brow was raised on the dragons head. Names of the lands have changed… so a wanderer across ages, and an indication towards the sky? The moon was indicated more specifically. The dragon puffed some smoke out of his nostrils.

“Quite a range.”

“There are a few who could share similar experiences.”

“Haha, ya, how many? Atleast from here, because living a few thousand years is a pretty common story where I’m from.”

“For dragons that is a common story.”

“So dragons around here live a long time too?”

“Some members of the dragon council claim to be near a thousand years of age.”

“They only live a thousand years?”

“It’s not known exactly, they don’t have the tendency to share information.”

“Well you can ask this fire dragon anything, I don’t really keep secrets. I may not be able to offer the same range of experiences as you millennial beings though.”

“What is your age, if a may ask.”

“35”

“35?”

“Is that so strange?”

“But, you’re so large… for 35, you don’t appear to be stricken by, greed…”

“Stricken by greed? Ha, what, you say that like it’s some kind of disease.”

“An acquaintance of mine nearly destroyed a village in his rampant greed growth.”

“Well, I only know one kind of dragon that can change their size rapidly, and it’s not because of greed. The dragons here sound, strange. Are all of their emotions so volatile?”

   “Just greed, as far as I know.”

The dragon pulled a paw out of the fire, and rubbed two claws together to wipe the ashes off. Then taking a singular claw started to pick his teeth of and leftover bits of Garlin. There was another moment of silence at the two just peacefully sat there, and looked out the cave to the night sky.

“So, my guess is that you didn’t just happen to stumble upon the foreign dragon’s cave.”

“I was curious.”

“Satisfied?”

“Not quite.”

“Hmm, then what else may I treat you to, I don’t think you would like garlin? Would you?”

Vrepen put on a sly grin as he grabbed one of the burnt bodies and dangled it by a leg. The cloaked figure gave a blank stare. The grin faltered as the moment dragged, was the pony thing actually considering that offer? Was it actually a pony? He was now more curious what resided under that hood.

“Maybe one side of me, at one point in time, would have taken that offer.”

A silver capped hoof was raised towards the hood of the cloaked figure. Slowly, tantalizingly, the hood was pulled back. Suddenly Vrepen didn’t know why he was expecting something other than a pony to be under that hood. It was a dark blue one, with a long unicorn horn resting on her forehead. An ethereal starry blue mane wafted about her body, with a wind that didn’t exist within the cave. A dark black crown rested between her ears.

“Sounds like it’d be fun to hear about this ‘one side’.”

A loud guttural laugh bounced off the narrow walls of the cave, and blasted out into the night. The dragon stopped his mirth and looked back down to the royally blue unicorn. She had the twinge of a smile on the corners of her mouth, but a serious edge to her eyes.

“Perhaps on another occasion. I do have other responsibilities to attend to this night.”

“Anything I could help with? Dirt walls haven’t been very entertaining company.”

“My sister asked you to remain here.”

“Your sister? Oh, that white Pegasus princess.”

“I respect her wishes and judgment.”

“You see, I’d like to too, but at the same time I’m feeling a little restless here.”

“I suppose I could inquire about your assistance in more remote areas. My night watch has been stretched thin; the incident that brought you here has apparently affected many places over Equistria.”

“Yea, about that. Your sister kind of dismissed my earlier warning about the goblins. The dozens that escaped that day will become hundreds by within a week; your ‘night watch’ will be seeing plenty of them. I don’t know what kind of enemies you already have, but these are one of the more serious problems where I come from.”

“Dozens becoming hundreds? How do they accomplish this?”

“They grow like weeds. Even if you kill all of them, spores come of off like dandruff, and grow just about anywhere. You have to destroy the underground pods, which can be hard to spot from normal mushrooms and other fungus.”

The dark blue unicorn was now standing on her hooves, concern furrowed her brow. She made motion to talk but stopped before any words could come out. Her chin rested on top of a silver sheathed hoof. The dark robe billowed back and revealed a pair of feathery blue wings, which flared out.

The unicorn… Pegasus… whatever kind of pony it was, Vrepen had forgotten if their type had been clarified, turned to walk out the cave. She looked back, right into his golden eyes.

“It was a pleasure to meet you Vrepen. I’ll return soon, your words are cause for concern.”

“What should I call you?”

“Princess Luna.”