A shooting nightmare: The tables have rotated

Chapters

Woosh
Mountain white
Isolated unknowns
Not again
Not the same
New armor
A mountain of shadows
Stronger than a titan

Woosh

The people in the neighborhood had become more open and understanding over the years. Gone were the days where they would whisper of Mathews behind his back. They were far too surprised at what had revealed itself to them. It took Fore quite a while to explain it, but when he said she was going to show herself to the rest of the world, surprisingly, several of the neighbors warned him not to. Why? What kind of reaction would this creature incite in the rest of the world? Sure, she would be an intrigue and very interesting, but threats like capture for study and experimentation needed to be taken into account. They were in a small enough community that they could adapt, but such an immense revelation could prove disastrous to everyone, not just Mathews. It was selflessness mixed with selfishness...Neutralishness.

After a day of work, Mathews returned to the end of the cul-de-sac and parked in his driveway. His old house was now a bit more open, with the giant fences covered with a black film removed to make way for some normal sized, iron grate fences. His house was only one floor and was repainted and refit to have a small balcony for an entrance with the door flanking the two steps leading to it on its right. The exterior brick walls had been repainted a nice vanilla color which fit the brown roof shingles placed one next to each other instead of a fish scale style. The houses of the surroundings all shared a similar design, but some were two stories tall, and most had false wooden planks glued onto the surface of walls of the first floor. Not many of the houses were surrounded by fences like Mathews', but a few had some short ones to keep animals out. They all had a cement driveway and a tiled path leading from it to the balcony, though.

The man looked around to see that the grass, few trees dotted around the area, and bushes were still the same, and he liked it like that. After those events three years ago, he had enough adventure like that around his belt. He entered his house, dropped his bags on the small table in the entrance hall, then went into his living room to see a bored woman in a dark blue dress sitting on his blue couch and watching something on Mathews' flat screen tv. She had her legs lying down on his glass table and was drinking a beverage in a soda can. His living room was much different than before. Crescent thought it would be better to renew the place, so this area was extremely bright. To the left of the couch were three transparent doors serving as windows as well. To the right of the tv stood a large window covered by no curtains. After all, Stellar liked to sleep in the living room under the moonlight. The walls were painted white and were covered by glass fiber wallpaper, giving it a rumpled appearance. The floors of the entire house were covered in a brown carpet, save for the kitchen and the bathroom.

"Crescent. Get your feet off the table," Mathews ordered as he crossed his arms and narrowed his gaze.

"I'm just messing around because I know how much you hate people with their feet on tables," Crescent laughed.

Crescent had used her magic to take on the appearance of a caucasian woman with thick black hair with blue tips. Even though she liked to take on the form of other ethnicities as well, she preferred to resemble Mathews as much as possible...even though he was bald...and looked like Kane from Command and Conquer. Those jokes never ceased being funny...

"And why are you like that? I prefer you in your cute, little pony form."

Crescents cheeks buffed up and blushed a little. "I'm not cute as a pony. I'm a fearsome creature. The scourge of the night!" she shouted with a raised fist.

"Yes. One that I saw grow up from her deficiencies with the letter 'r'." Mathews folded his lower lips under his top row of teeth to make a weird, rat smile.

"Don't do that. I hate it when you do that."

"Not my problem. You're in my house, and so you will suffer my bizarre smiles." Mathews walked towards his brown recliner directly facing the windoors, and sat down with a loud sigh of pleasure.

Crescent looked at him with a raised eyebrow and a vicious grin which quickly transformed into a devious smile. "Are you still angry at me for not going to the world with what I am?"

Mathews fidgeted in place to get more comfortable. He removed his tan colored shoes and tried to get his black trousers and white short back to a position that didn't involve tightening their grip around him and make him feel like an Egyptian mummy. "Yes. We planned that all out since the beginning. It was like a 'grand moment'...then you just...used your magic to become a human. I..." Mathews dropped his arms in defeat.

Crescent was engulfed in dark blue cloud of smoke and quickly found herself back to her normal self and set on the couch like a dog. "You heard what the others said...even though it seemed more self-centered than as concern for me," she pouted.

"Yeah, well...what have you? Say, have you heard from the crazy guy who I hired to be your teacher?"

"Psych-Opathy?"

"Yeah. Him."

Crescent shrugged.

"Hmmm. I thought a guy that crazy would stay in touch with you. Last time I saw him he was giving a show to the old hillbilly in the forest who can't even say 'fairy' correctly," Mathews chuckled to himself.

"Ummm...Speaking of..." Crescent tapped her forehooves together nervously.

Mathews looked at her with disbelief, then rolled his eyes in annoyance. "I can't believe this. I told you not to go back there!"

"Well, they knew more about magic than anyone else in this world. Everyone else I've found up to now are either idiots or charlatans."

"And why would you want to learn about magic? You have enough of it."

"Because...because...Because I want to return to Equestria and right my wrongs!"

Mathews stared at Crescent with widened eyes and an angry expression. He was sitting upright in his recliner now, but no words were exchanged for quite awhile.

"I...I have been having nightmares, and the old couple knew enough about magic that they had a spell allowing me to return to my original world."

"How long have you been having them?"

"Two years, now. It first started on my 'birthday' that you arranged on the day I arrived on Earth."

Mathews nodded. "And...you think returning there would help clear them?"

"Yes. I can't stand them anymore. Ironic, considering my name was once 'Nightmare Moon'." Crescent looked down at the floor with a saddened grin.

"You should have told me. I would have helped you."

"How? Psychiatrists never woek, and they would consider me 'crazy'. Revealing myself to them to prove myself would make THEM crazy, too."

"I...How did the old couple even know about these things?"

"I don't know how they know about this, but I told them that I would talk to you about it before I left. I don't want you to follow me. You've given me a new life and a new outlook on it as well, and for that I thank you, but I must do this alone."

The mare's horn became surrounded by a blue magic, bringing her armor pieces to her for her to wear. She walked to the windoors and slid them open to get into the yard. Mathews' only watched her and began to think. He didn't want anything to do with this, and he loved her, but he wasn't ready to go to another world yet when he hadn't even finished living in this one. Yet...didn't she say they might kill her back in her world? He couldn't let that him. Not to his tiny Nightmare Woon!

"Crescent! Wait!"

"No! Keep away! I have to do this on my own!"

"Not without me you aren't! I'm your adoptive father, and I'm coming with you whether you like it or not!"

An enormous gray and white cone formed in the yard. Its base was flat and wide, but it narrowed upwards to an open tip and was spinning in a spiral fashion, the traces of black and gray in the white surface slowly converging to the tip. Crescent tried to jump in it before Mathews could get a hold of her, but he managed to grab her hind leg right before she was fully engulfed in the portal.

"Wh..." Crescent looked behind her and silently pouted. She crossed her forelegs disapprovingly and looked away.

"I told you I wasn't going to let you go on your own. I'm still here to protect you." Mathews was floating in this tunnel of light while still hanging onto Crescent's leg.

"WHY DID YOU FOLLOW ME?!"

"Because I'm your father...and I love you."

"I love you too, and that's why I didn't want you to follow me. It's dangerous."

"Which is why I followed you. I protected you before from those fae. I'll protect you now against whatever monster exists in your world. I've done it before and I'll do it again"

The two looked around to see the rounded walls of this tunnel start to become adorned with the red symbol of NOD along with many instances of Tiberium growing between each instance.

"Oh COME ON! How is even a dimensional anomaly doing this?! How does it even know about that?!"

Mathews' complaints were interrupted by a blinding flash that engulfed him and Crescent. The two shielded their eyes, preventing them from seeing the final trip. With a thump, the two were finally back on land. It was a quick trip, but worth it.

"Ha! Now you can't get away from me, Crescent. I'll be here to help you and protect you in any way that I can, as should a true father," the man groaned as he rubbed the back of his pain and stretched a little.

Crescent simply sat up, rubbing her head, and started to look around. She seemed mildly annoyed, but mostly in pain. "Mathews? Where are you?"

"What do you mean 'where are you'? I'm right here."

"I think I overshot where I wanted to go. And I keep hearing mumbling..Oh no. How? Mathews?"

"What? What's wrong? Did I actually become Kane?"

Author's Note

Not the best start, but I haven't managed to work on this reality for quite a while.

Mountain white

"You...you're...you're adorable!" Crescent put her forelegs to her face and made a sort of 'overexhilarated' face complete with huge smile and sparkling eyes.

"Huh?"

"You're a foal!"

There was a long pause as Mathews tried to understand what she had said. Then he stared at her with a completely baffled expression and said:"What?"

"You're a tiny foal with little legs! So cute!" Crescent squeezed her face.

"What are you--AH! No! Nonononono! This can't be happening? How? How did it happen? I was expecting a little age regression, seeing what happened to you, but why a pony?!"

Crescent couldn't help herself but stare at Mathews garbling and panic with glee. He was so cute! His body was the color of a purple grape, save for a streak of red wine color starting from the middle of his neck and going along the middle length of his left foreleg and stopping right at the knee. His mane and tail were quite frisky and were a weird mesh between deep red wine and sea blue, making them look like murky water.

The mare raised Mathews in her outstretched arms while sitting on her haunches and closened him to her face. The foal seemed concerned with what she was about to do, then frowned at her comment.

"Now I've got your power."

Mathews' replied by sapping her across the muzzle, prompting her to yipe in pain and rub her snout.

"That wasn't very nice. I...Huh. You're a pegasus, too. How did I not notice that?"

The tiny pegasus looked under his arms, then strained his neck looking backwards to see wings. He was surprised, but felt somewhat giddy when looking at them. Try as he might, he just couldn't get them to move, though. In fact, he was forcing so hard he looked like he was trying to-

"Stop that. You'll hurt yourself," Crescent scolded.

Mathews looked up at her with brows furrowed and lower lip puffed up. He started to yell at her, but he couldn't say anything in this undeveloped body. The mind is the same, but the body must follow its experience, and this one clearly had none. Crescent ignored him and looked around to see where they were. She hadn't yet thought about taking in the surroundings to get a precise location. Luna had been around before. She shouldn't be too lost if she was in Equestria.

The two were standing on a series of wavy ground. It seemed like a very hilly area dotted with rounded mounds of dirt. Of course, the dirt was covered in the richest shade of green Crescent had ever seen in her life. The grass here was just sublime and perfect in length, as though this were a dream. Several bits of white flowers stuck out randomly throughout the landscape, but it changed the appearance of nothing but green as far as the eye could see. Looking upwards, the sky was completely covered in clouds of a varying shade of gray and white, but they were extremely thin, letting the sunlight pass through in an unfiltered shade of white. There was a mild breeze strong enough to blow Crescent and Mathews' manes and tail slightly, and it was rather chilly, too. Far to the left and right, the alicorn could see lines of mountains flanking where they were, so it became obvious that they were in a mountain range...but Crescent didn't know where.

She stood up in fear and began to walk around and try to discern their location. While she did that, Mathews tried to stand up on his hind legs, only to fall onto his back. He wiggled his tiny hooves a bit before twisting himself back on his belly and having a tantrum.

"I don't know where we are. It's clearly Equestria. I can feel that much kind of magic here, but I have no idea where it could be. Umm...Maybe the mountains northeast of Manehatten? Luna never went there," Crescent mumbled to herself while tapping her chin pensively. She looked down to see Mathews whining like a little foal, which he was now, after all.

"Mathews, just because you're a foal doesn't mean you have to act like one now," she scolded.

"Oh, the pot calling the kettle black," Mathews quipped.

"I think it's best that I carry you. You don't seem capable of walking on your own, and this isn't the place to learn it. I'm still confused about this whole thing. I mean, how did we end up here? I'm wondering if it's not your fault, Mathews. You did throw me off when I entered the spell."

Crescent frowned at the tiny foal disapprovingly. Mathews crossed his forelegs and frowned at her with narrowed eyes. The alicorn lift the foal with her magic and placed him on her back between her wings. Once he was firmly in place, Crescent started to move. She needed to find civilization not simply just to pinpoint their location, but also to get water and food. Plus, she didn't have the same amount of magical power as an alicorn due to her separation from Luna so long ago. Come to think of it, what was the date?

"Crap! I didn't ask the old couple if this transported me in the future or the past! I'm really hoping that wherever we are knows what the age is."

The trip across the rounded lands was amazing, to say the least. There were no trees here. In their stead stood several long and curved, white constructs that appeared to look like dragons' teeth. When Crescent got close to one, its exterior erupted into several rising scales from which white fluff erupted. The 'tooth' turned into a cotton ball, basically. Some of the fluff floated down onto Mathews' muzzle. He followed it to the point of becoming cross-eyed, then made a tiny squeak when he sneezed. He rubbed his runny snout then stopped when he saw Crescent looking at him with a face of 'awwe'. He blushed and hid behind her mane.

"I hate being a baby again. This sucks. How did Crescent deal with this?" Mathews shivered. "Am I going to have to snuggle next to her like a cat the way she did with me?"

The tiny foal's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of reverberation coming from above them. Several white creatures with long bodies and wide wings were flying through the air. Their tails, back linings, and wings were covered in fluff, making them look like a hairy hotdog. They appeared to be avian, judging by their pale yellow beaks. Several of them started to perform acrobatics, much to the amusement of the two ponies. Whilst looking at them, Crescent yelped in fear and jumped back, making Mathews smack his face against her neck.

"Ow! What's wrong with you?!" he yelled. The foal grabbed his muzzle in his hooves and rubbed it to soothe the pain.

A white shape grew out of the ground and looked like a wad of gray clay. It was quite round and the alicorn didn't know how to react to this thing. She didn't even know what it was. It rose to twice the mare's height and had a very rounded top area, similar to a surf board. Without warning, eyes opened at that top and looked down at her, making the mare flinch. The eyes were red with black pupils and seemed soul less. Crescent stanced herself to prepare for an incoming blow, but felt fear grab her as an enormous mouth with human-like teeth began to form under and started to form into a smile.

Crescent couldn't hold it back anymore and yelled.

"AHHHHHHHHHH!" she screamed.

The creature separated from the ground and grew two long arms and a curvy, shrimp-like tail and started to yell as well. It was frightened. Both were yelling after the other, making Mathews facepalm...er, hoof.

"What is this, a sitcom? Next we're going to hear Seinfeld? 'What's the deal with airplane food?'," Mathews mused to himself.

The yelling stopped when the creature used its two long arms to run away. Its form began to change as it fled, but it went too far for Crescent to recognize anything. Bits of snow began to sprinkle from the sky, although it was mint-colored and seemed more consistent with the fluff all around this place.

"What's wrong with this place and this weird white stuff?" Crescent asked aloud.

Mathews bopped Crescent on her head and pointed to the left. There appeared to be a few buildings a bit further away, and there was movement there, too.

"Oh. Thank goodness. Thanks for finding that, Mathews. I need to get away from this craziness and get you somewhere safe."

"I SHOULD protest that...but she's right. I hope someone there has a solution to this...I wonder if they're all cute and cuddly like Crescent."

They didn't notice the creature looking at them from behind a stone cliff.

Isolated unknowns

The closer to the village Crescent got, the more she realized she was nowhere near Equestria, let alone ponies. The houses were all made from wooden logs and had the aspect of cabins made in small lumberjack sites or forest towns. Something about the wood was strange, though. Seaving through Luna's memories gave no answer as to why the bark was a dark black, as though it had been burnt and turned into charcoal after a long day of incineration and compression.

"What is it?" Mathews grumbled.

He was still quite irritated at his current predicament despite Crescent compressing him onto her back with her two wings which were, suffice it to say, quite soft and comfy, but Mathews wouldn't admit it. He would not falter so easily. He was stronger than this!

"There are cabins here, and they seem inhabited, yet I've never seen or heard of this place before, maybe lu--"

"We get it. Your knowledge is related to Luna's at the time. Stop repeating it over and over and OVER again."

Crescent's ears dropped in embarrassment and she nervously said: "Oh. Sorry."

"Oh, 'n what's this then?"

"S'a tiny pony."

"Tiny? More like big pony, yeh?"

"I s'pose you're royt 'en."

Two, strangely Irish voices, to Mathews ears, appeared behind the two ponies without any warning whatsoever. Turning around, Crescent and Mathews were faced with two enormous giants easily a head or two taller than minotaurs. In comparison to Crescent, however, her head arrived to barely above their waistline. She may have been a great deal shorter than her previous incarnation, but she at least had the height of a below-average human, although it seemed like she was exrtemely puny in this world, at least for an alicorn. Like said creatures, they were bipedal, at least when looking at them from the front, but they had similarities to sheep instead of minotaurs. One of them had white wool that covered near its entire body save for two completely black eyes and what looked like a large, rounded nose with no features that were equally black; While the other was the complete opposite in color. While no limbs could be seen, long, spindly fingers stuck out from the sides of both creatures, although they didn't appear to have toes.

"What--"

"-Are weh? Ech. You should't know an'ways."

"Ah. No. They're not Irish. They just have a similar vocal tone," Mathews thought to himself.

"Say, tiny poneh. Would'st you want tae come tae our village? Ya look cold 'n yer itty bitty pone on yer back looks even colder," the black-wooled giant suggested.

Crescent looked onto her back and saw Mathews shivering despite clearly being enraged at the predicament. She nodded in response, making the white-wooled giant smash his hands together in joy.

"Groight!"

"Wh-whaaaa!" Crescent shouted.

The white-wooled giant hoisted her over its shoulders like a log and loud stomps resonated through this fluffy landscape as the two ponies were taken towards the village then dropped onto the ground rather roughly, although it didn't hurt.

Mathews rubbed his sore legs best he could then looked around the spot they were both dropped on. There were no streets, although long and uneven stretches of a fluffy white substance grew out of the ground in 'natural' pathways. As Crescent assumed, this was really just a small village...well, 'small' is a relative term. The buildings were enormous, likely to accomodate these giants, but it was still surprising. The entire place was colored like a smores cookie, with black dirt, white 'pavement', and brown-cookie buildings.

A huge plethora of giants witnessing the guests all swarmed around and hurried as fast as they could to get a good peek. Instinctively, likely due to his new, baby anatomy, Mathews hugged Crescent's side and tried to bury himself in her fur. The giants all d'aww'd at the sight, letting Mathews realize his error and immediately let go of the alicorn.

"Awww. He wuvs his mommy," she teased.

The tiny foal simply gave her a death giving glare and a puffed, lower lip.

"Oh, is that a poneh?" a giant with a female voice wondered. It pushed through the crowd violently and stared at the two who stared at her in horror. "Oye haven't seen ae poneh fer so long! It's been...long..." it trailed off and looked to the side.

"I don't know what's going on. Who are you? I've never seen or heard of your race before. I've never even seen this place on Equestrian maps," Crescent asked.

Several of the creatures dug into Crescent fur and pulled a potesting Mathews out of her fur and started to cradle him and tickle him with their creepy fingers. The alicorn wasn't exactly liking this but didn't have much room to move in. Plus, the giants seemed essentially harmless save for their rough actions, but if they threatened Mathews in any slight way, she would immediately sprint into action. She might have learned a new way of life and have been essentially reborn thinks to the elements and, perhaps, the fae, but she was still the alicorn of the darkest of nights and days.

"We're the Nebwezar, 'n as fer ya nawt knowin' 'boat us, 's normal. We're isolated frum you's other races," the female Nebwezar spoke.

"Why would you openly isolate yourself?" The alicorn asked as she kept an eye on her little colt from the corner of her eye.

"We di'nt do it on porpus. Is just this place is so hard for you all tae reach, so we've nevehr been bothered befehr."

"Then...you don't know anything...you don't know how to get to Canterlot, let alone Equestria..."

There was a long silence as Crescent's ears drooped down and the mare held her head low in despair. All this had been for nothing. She sped up everything due to her impatience and need to flee Mathews, which created an extremely hectic and speedy journey. The worst part of it all was not that she was somewhere unknown or that she could never reach Canterlot, but that she dragged Mathews into the whole thing and turned him into a foal, of all things. The mare was immediately back-slammed a few inches deeper into the ground by the smiling Nebwezar female. Naturally, the wind was knocked out of Crescent's body and enticed Mathews to struggle as hard as he could out of the grasp of the other females and some males. He fell to the ground then scurried along towards his 'daughter' and took a stance in front of her. The red lines along his left leg began to flicker and glow somewhat, but they didn't do much but create fractures of what should be a shield, letting unstable pieces of varying shapes float around in front of him.

"Oooooh! Blood Moon magic!"

"Blood Moon!"

"Blood Moon healer."

The Nebwezar all started to jitter and talk in whispers of astonishment. The female's eyes glowed in joy and awe.

"We 'ven't seen a blood moon 'ealer fer quite a long teym." She bent over slightly and pat Mathews on the head, causing all his fur to fluff up and cover his face, much to his annoyance. "Dat was just a pat on theh back. Aye di'nt know you ponies were so fragile. I apologize, hm?" she smiled widely, but Mathews didn't let up. "You're so cute. My name's Venethix, one of the maiden leaders o' this 'ere vallage. You needn't worry, tiny pones. We kno' how tae get tae Equestria."

"R-really? That's...That's great," Crescent struggled to say as she forced her wobly self up.

"But yer not gon' tae get there taday."

Mathews started stomping around and babbling something incomprehensible.

"We're not going to have to wait a century to get there, are we?" Crescent asked.

"Nah. The Yusimon'll be 'ere by tomarrah 'n clear a path towards the Equestrian borders." Crescent sighed in relief. "But we ne'er get any visitors in dis 'ere village, so oy think aye'll have the folks show you around 'n fix up yer armor."

"My armor is fine."

"If that's what ya think, but our armorsmith'll certainly disagree." Venethix shook her finger at Crescent as though gesturing 'No. You are certainly wrong'. "But, more importantly, oy need tae bring yer babeh tea the village Druiadem ta see if'n 'e really 'as theh powers of theh Blood Moon."

"What's so important about it? I'm also linked to the moon."

"But yours is more common than ya think," a black-wooled male said as he stepped forward. "The Yusimon gives us new moons 'suns tae see. Many of us are linked tae theh normal sun 'n moon, but not tae the Blood Moon 'er Sea Moon. The Druiadem'll teach ya if ya goes first. We moyt nevah get guests 'ere, but we cannot tell ya 'bout the traditions 'n secrets of our race tae others if it's not spoken boy aehr Druiadem."

"I see." Crescent pondered a moment, then she picked Mathews up like a small cat and placed him back on her back. She used her right wing to cover her face and his then started to whisper: "I might only have Luna's youngest memories and knowledge, but I know my moons. There's no such thing as a 'Blood Moon' or a 'Sea Moon'. We'll just follow them, listen to whatever this 'shaman' character is, then wait for the meteorological event and skedaddle, okay?"

Mathews goo'd and ga'd while shaking his tiny forelegs.

"So cute," the alicorn squeaked. "Ahem. I mean, yes. We'll try and find help for you when we're in Canterlot. Also, I'm curious as to this 'armorsmith'. This is an arcane suit of armor enchanted with the magic of the moon and stars. Nothing is more complex, powerful, and efficient than this armor."

Not again

The two ponies were brought to a semi-open hut with an open front. The roof was made from thatch covered in dried mud with small wooden logs used as a frame for both it and the rear wall. Several different pieces of equipment sat under the extremely tall roof, excluding the red brick chimney extending out of the roof and belching smoke created by the raging red fires burning within the forge. An anvil, pincers, tongs, several different sized forge blowers, sharpening wheels, cooling pits, various hammers, clamps, and other tools strewn about on the ground, tables, and specially designed holding shelves.

There was a singed Nebwezar, wearing metallic sleeves on its very long arms, who was pushing on a forge blower to keep the furnace alive. Each step made it glow brighter and brighter, but this giant seemed a bit clumsy or forgetful, as it forgot to close the protective grate and saw a vicious flame eat up its front. It barely made a yelp but did flinch back a bit.

"Is he okay?" Crescent asked.

"Aye. 'E's just clumbsy is all. Hey, Querthix, yae gawt sum vis'tors taday."

"Anotha' o' em young'uns dat want sum weapons' 'n such?"

"Nope. Tiny tiny ponies dat we're takin' 'round to the druiadem."

The forger lift what could be its head and turned it slightly. "Tiny ponies? From Equestria?"

"Y-yes, sir," Crescent stuttered.

The forger stomped with each step as he turned around, then showed that his face was actually very low. Mathews found it funny to see something that looked like it belonged in a comic, but his smiling face soon went pale and slack-jawed when the giant hoisted itself back up. He was even bigger than Venethix, both in width and height.

" 'N wat're yae doin' 'ere, hm?"

Crescent stuttered and turned to face Venethix in hopes of finding comfort in something smaller. By instinct, she backed away slightly, but she didn't realize it. Querthix noticed and patted her head as softly as he could, although that didn't prevent her head from bobbing up and down painfully.

"Yae dunnae need tae fear me. I don't bite."

"W-well, your friend here said that my armor was poorly made and enchanted," Crescent's composure returned to normal, but she became rather irritated and haughty. ", but I really doubt that. This armor was made specifically for me by the best smiths in Equestria and was personally enchanted by me."

Mathews rolled his eyes at her wrongly placed pride. Querthix but his metal-sheathed arm to his chin and looked around at the alicorn's armor and body and looked around, then he shook his head in disappointment.

"Oy would'a thought the tiny ponies woild'a gotten sum better techniques taday. When was this? Twenty rotations ago?"

"Rotations?"

"You's call 'em years. We base on suns and moons."

"One thousand...rotations ago?"

The eyes of both Querthix and Venethix widened. "Tiny ponies can live that long?!" Querthix exclaimed with his booming voice.

"No. Only alicorns can live for so long, and even more."

"Oy see...well, yer armor 'n enchantments're terrible. Dey're not made frum good materials an' 'er poorly folden, 'n yaer enchantments 're faded."

"What?!"

"If ya wants me tae give 'em our proper smithin' on it, oy'll get it enchanted with the energey of tae moons. Oy'll even reforge teh shep."

"I--" Crescent was about to roar in outrage, but Mathews prevented her by tapping on her neck. She turned to face him and see that he was miming walking like a monster with her 'hair' on his head shaped like the helmet. Then he repeated the action, but less like a monster and more like a pony with a normal helmet. He remembered what she had told him a long time ago. "Sure. Go ahead. Here," she strained as the armor levitated off her body and into the hands of Querthix.

"Do yae want any moon in perticular? No Blood Moon. Impossible."

"I wasn't going to say Blood Moon. I just want the regular lunar enchantment."

The giant shrugged. "If ya say so."

"When will it be finished?"

"By tanoyt."

"That quickly?"

"Aye. Lunar enchantments're stronger at night, 'n we know how's tae cool'n solidify metals quickly without 'em breakin' 're becomin' all fragile loyk."

Crescent had no time to continue discussing the matter with the smithy as she was pushed by the female further along the path. She was taken up a hill towards a giant, dead tree. It didn't seem to fit the rest of the flora and fauna in this area, but it still made the alicorn roll her eyes.

"Of course. A spiritual adviser so he lives in a tree to be closer to nature."

"Nah. 'E just loyks teh stay away from the rest of us 'n be in a place no one'll think tae look for 'im." The giant laughed at the commentary she made.

Without so much as knocking, Venethix walked through the rotted piece of bark that served as a door for the tree's entrance. Seeing it from the outside, what were once the branches was now just a big, rotting hole in the roof of said tree. Sure enough, there was nothing in the entrance but a nasty scent of decaying, humid wood, a hole letting in all the outside light, and particles floating gently in the air.

"E's down in the roots."

The giant Nebwezar pushed a knot in the bark, making a piece of the ground screech loudly to the side and revealing a room beneath from which a light flickered. Crescent was picked up, making Mathews fall off as he desperately tried to cling onto her fur with his non-existant fingers. Shaking his head of dust and shards of wood, the tiny foal looked around to see that Crescent and the giant had disappeared into the hole.

"Alright, Mathews. You can do this. Just one step forward, then another. It's not hard. You did this sort of stuff when you were little."

He made as little efforts as he could, slowly raising himself as though he were a newborn faun. Whenever he tried to lift himself on all four legs, they would shake violently then wobble and fall back onto the ground.

"Ugh. This isn't working. I might as well just dragon myself along along the ground."

Mathews sighed and used his stubby forelegs to drag himself along the ground like a whiny child who tries to desperately get what they want by acting like they're in pain because they're deprived of what they want. The foal had barely advanced a few centimeters that a tiny thing landed on his nose. Mathews became cross-eyed while he tried to see what was on his muzzle. It looked like a teeny tiny pony-like creature with extremely fluffy 'hair', very long legs, butterfly wings and a cute little mouth and nose.

"Ohhh, look who eet is. The one who wasn't supposed ta help the revived one. Isn't he cute and taynee?"

Author's Note

Breezies are existence. Breezies are eternal. I would draw Breezus (breezy jesus), but I have no drawing talent.

Not the same

"Huh?!"

"Poke poke!" the breezy teased.

Its coat was a very pale pink, and its mane and tail were a deep yellow. There wasn't much to say other than the arrival of many other breezies popping out of the walls of the dead tree. The pale one flew up and started to raise its forelegs and looking at its friends with an ecstatic face. It's at this point that they all started bobbing their heads from side to side, some humming a tune, others singing it, and more singing.

Mathews the tiny human
Saved the one who shouldn't have been reborn
He tried to clean her the day of one
But received dirt in his face
A little beauty mask

On that night she slept alright
Under your little covers
But she looked more like a cat
So you were overcome with love for that which was small

On the day three you called someone
Named Psych-Opathy
Even weirder were his actions
But he taught her well

Later on she changed a lot
And started warming up
A little fort of teddy bears
Then we caught on

The Angel of Rebirth did not permit
Her time to continue
So use our brothers and sisters she did
To perform her actions

The singing continued while the breezy flew around Mathews' head.

Now the giant human is a little foal
Away from the old man and the colorful one
But what we wanted to tell you in this venture
Is something that still doesn't rhyme

She slowly landed on his head and started to poke the area between his eyes.

We are not the fairies that you knew
But we still followed you here
We'll help you out
To this you should have no doubts

We are not the fairies you knew
And we are not our brothers and sisters
We might be pranksters
But we are not killers

Mathews was completely confused at the tiny pony-like things singing to him. in an effort to swat them away from him, he stood on his hind legs and tried to swipe the laughing breezy away. While she did leave, she slightly pushed onto Mathews' muzzle, and while such a force wouldn't hurt or affect a normal foal, Mathews had no balance. He tumbled backwards, swinging his forelegs wildly as he tried to catch himself. Unfortunately, the prankster breezies flew behind him, held a stick up, and made him trip onto a plank of rotting wood. They used tiny, rounder sticks underneath to make him slide all the way towards the pit where Crescent had gone.

Mathews struggled to look behind him seeing as he was on his back, but he saw he was perilously teetering on the edge of the pit. The little colt felt his heart beat at a perilous speed and sweat beginning to imbibe into his fur. His gaze was immediately drawn to the tiny pale breezy that just landed on his belly.

She squeezed her face with her forelegs into a sort of kissy face. "I could just blow raspberries on this belly," she teased.

The breezy looked around Mathews and narrowed her gaze until her face exploded with joy and a devious, open smile. She looked at Mathews from the corner of her eye to see him quickly shaking his head frantically. The breezy adopted an apathetic face and started to slowly nod her head. The longer Mathews shook it, the more the plank started to tilt backwards and the more the breezy's nods became faster and faster and her smile wider and wider.

In the end, it was going to happen anyways, and the breezies kicked the plank down the hole. Mathews screamed as loud as he could as he slid and bounced on massive stairs not made for anything but Nebwezar. As usual, the stairs didn't follow a straight path. So, of course, Mathews bounced off the rounded walls until we bounced one last time and flew over what felt like an enormous pit to him. The trip was suddenly halted and a cracking sound resonated through the air.

"MATHEWS!" Crescent roared.

The tiny foal had been caught by a large, boney hand of a Nebwezar. Pieces of the wooden plank slithered through the fingers and landed on the floor, and Mathews just remained in the palm and on the shards with is eyes bulged in horror and his body curled up like a dead spider.

"Is this thayt tiny poneh ya spoked ta me with theh Blood Moon in 'im? Seems more lak 'e don't 'ave muck maygic in 'em."

Venethix nodded while Crescent sat on her haunches and levitated the traumatized foal into her forelegs to cradle. They were both standing in the so called 'basement' of the tree.Brown, wooden shelves were lodge into the walls in uneven positions; round, stone tables complemented by rounded stone 'logs' serving as seats placed at the center of the room with an additional table on the side left of the stairs. Several stone pots were placed randomly throughout the area with a giant mortar and pestle sitting on the center table while a make-shift chandelier, that looked more like a floating fireplace than a chandelier, illuminated the whole area.

"What happened? I'm not letting anyone hurt you," Crescent coddled her 'father'. "I don't want to lose you. I don't want to lose anyone again."

An eyebrow was lifted. A nebwezar stepped behind Crescent and hummed in intrigue. His wool was grayed out and his stance slightly hunched, but he was still a head taller than Venethix. Aside from the coloration of his wool, it would be extremely difficult to figure out that he was old.

"Ay tak it that yer thuh tiny pone 'o takes care 'o this one?" he asked Crescent.

"Y-yes," she answered without moving her eyes away from the foal. "What happened to him after he fell off me?"

The druiadem scratched his chin and looked upwards pensively and eventually snorted. "Ech. Aye know theh probable culprat, but aye won't tell ya unless they show 'emselves."

Crescent ground her sharp teeth a bit then sighed. She knew it was best not to get on the bad side of these creatures, plus, not only has they been incredibly kind to her, but they had her armor. Boy. Being kind to someone other than Mathews sure was difficult. She might have learned a new way of life, but she was still bitter at what happened to her here.

"What's so special about the 'Blood Moon' anyways? Aside from its rarity."

The druiadem opened and closed his mouth at her quick notice of the obvious 'rarity' answer. "Hmph. Those born with theh mayrk off theh Blood Moon possess 'n extremely rayre talent 'n energey. It comproises the forbidden elemeynts."

"Forbidden? I've heard of them. Which one does this one comprise?"

"Obviously blood, but aylso spirit 'n chaos."

"CHAOS?!"

The druiadem flinched at the sudden yell and cleaned out what appeared to be ears on the side of its head. "Don't yell. Theh Ocean Moon is theh opposite, but still integroyts ferbidden elements. We 'aven't seen one o' our own born wif that 'n over twelve generations. Next tae impossible to be born wif that mark, really." He scratched his chin in response to his sudden realization.

"Is this bad?"

"Not if ya control 'n teach 'im right proper. Aye's best not tell ya what they's can do-...'E's squirmin'," the druiadem pointed out with a rather concerned face.

While being cradled, Mathews had calmed down, but not he appeared to be on the verge of crying. Crescent was confused as to why, but then she learned the hard way. Mathews saw what he was doing and instinctively cried. How embarrassing. A grown man soiling himself. Then again, maybe he could get away with it? His soul might still be that of an adult, but his body was no longer an equivalent of that.

"Looks like dis little one is't potty trained," Venethix noted.

"Ay can make diapers for that li''le pony while 'e gets ta growin'," the Druiadem offered.

"That would be great, yes." Crescent looked back down to an embarrassed and hiccuping little foal held in her forelegs and coo'd. "It's okay. It's not your fault. We'll just have to build up your body...however you do that, and I'll clean myself up. Ew."

Venethix was about to interject into the comment when a tiny breezy landed on Mathews' muzzle and faced Crescent with a grin. She said nothing, instead preferring to wave to the alicorn eagerly. It took a brief moment, but Crescent yelled and jumped away with Mathews still between her arms.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! A FAIRY! GET IT AWAY!"

The druiadem face-palmed at her reaction and peered between his spindly fingers to see Crescent being 'attacked' by a new swarm of the 'vicious' creatures.

"Ugh. Not the fararies again," he groaned.

Crescents yells stopped immediately. She was completely perplexed and looked at the druiadem with the same emotion.

"What did you say?"

New armor

"It's 'fairies', druiadem," Venethix sighed.

"Oh. Right. Fairies."

Crescent and Mathews both looked at them in utter confusion while the breezies fluttered around them.

"'Fariries'? I only know of one other person who spoke like that. I wonder if both worlds don't have counterparts..." Crescent tapped her chin.

"Counterparts? Hardly lakly. Aye think ya moyt know sumfin' ya di'nt tell me," the druiadem raised an eyebrow.

"Well, we--"

"Came from ehnother world 'n ya leyrned how tae come back 'ere but ya messed up yer trajectorey. Am ey royt?"

"How--"

"Ay'm joking. Yeh really think an accent is onley 'n one place? Yeh tany ponies 're royt daft."

The druiadem moved away from a wooden table lining the wall and came back with a large bag of gray linen in one hand and gave it to Venethix. "These're the diapers you'll be needin'."

"We have beths back in theh village. Yeh'll be ayble teh clean yourselves," Venethix added.

"Now yeh cayn go. Shoo." The druidaem brushed his fingers towards the alicorn.

"What? But there are so many unanswered questions! How is it you two seem like the exact replica of the old man and his wife in the forest where I...we come from? Just because the Blood Moon is a combination of forbidden elements doesn't mean it's completely dangerous."

The druiadem rolled his eyes in irritation. He turned away from the ranting pony and lift his arm into the air. Crescent stopped talking and looked at his arm for a moment while confusion overtook her thoughts. When she was about to continue, the Nebwezar punched the side of the tree with the side of his hand and before the visitors knew it, they were back within the village, breezies included.

"Wha..." Crescent was slack jawed.

"Heeheehee! He used old magics to teleport us all here!" the tiny pale breezy giggled.

Crescent regained herself and shook her head violently. "Get out of my mane!"

"Nope!"

Venethix brushed some dust off her wool and picked a few breezies out of them and tossed them onto Mathews.

"Ey think yeh should teach yey're little poney teh walk first behfore yeh teach 'im teh fly. Now come with meh. It's dark out. Yey're armor should be ready."

Crescent tried shooing a few breezies off her face. The moment she managed to see, she realized it was already night time and the other Nebwezar were already in their homes. She couldn't believe it. "But...we were only in there for a few minutes!"

"We know magic that yeh're koynd all forgot." Venethix gave Crescent a little grin then gestured for her to follow.

"So we're just going to go with some sort of convenient 'plot device' that skipped us forward in time so we don't need to deal with everything? I thought we were supposed to be presented to the other...things in this village." Mathews sighed while two breezies pulled on the sides of his face to force a smile.

"Since it's so dark out, yeh're gon' tay go ta the forger ta see yer armor."

"He couldn't have finished it that fast!" Crescent exclaimed.

Venethix simply grabbed Crescent and heaved her over her shoulder before charging towards the blacksmith's forge...again. Mathews realized that these giants had no sense of 'personal space' nor how to greet strangers. They might intend well, but their methods were rather crude. Venethix seemed excited to show off the smithing talents of her kind to them so much she was actually sprinting towards Querthix's forge. The breezies were clinging onto Crescent's mane as well as they could manage.

Within minutes the group had reached the forge, its fires long since quieted and the smoke no longer pouring out of the chimney. Querthix was standing in front of his workplace and waiting for the ponies with a very patient stance and emotionless face, with what little of it one could see. Venethix dropped Crescent and the bag of diapers onto the floor in front of the blacksmith. He lift an 'eyebrow' when he saw the breezies all panting and huffing in exhaustion.

"Royt. Aye got yehr ehrmor ready."

The blacksmith stepped to the side and crossed his arms while he waited. Crescent used her magic to get the breezies off her and place Mathews on the ground near Venethix. It was rather stunning. The armor she had known since she became Nightmare Moon was completely reforged. No longer did it feel like a piece of history with arcane magic and enchantments. It was completely reborn, just like she was. She hesitated a moment, but reached out to her armor and started to put it on.

The helmet no longer rounded her head. It still had the hole for her horn, but now the side plates curved backwards once they reached the bottom line of her eyes and extended onto her neck like vines. They were even reforged to look like olive vines. They joined a multi-scaled length of armor which stretched backwards and acted similar to ring armor in its flexibility. It still stretched over nose bridge and over her muzzle, although now it stretched to her upper lips, leaving her lower jaw unprotected. The armor plating on her legs now covered the whole member, and they stopped into a fleur-de-lis shape when reaching the body, but this was only towards the front. The hind legs' armor did the same thing, although they stretched over the flanks and showed a white moon covering a crescent, white sun with short lines drawn around that single slice to show the light it was emitting.

Her chest armor now fully covered her front and part of her side torso and breast and went down towards the leg pieces as though it were an extension of the vines 'growing' on her legs. They connected perfectly. Along the edges of all the pieces of armor was a bright, white line that dimmed as it went further in by just a few centimeters. The lines glowed softly indicating that they were definitely pieces of an enchantment.

"What are these?" Crescent asked.

"They ehr the enchantment. Purposely thinned out of theh metal tay have that glow. It embodies theh whole off theh armor."

Crescent's eyes widened. "You enchanted the whole armor?!" She was in utter disbelief and at a loss for words.

"No."

She calmed down.

"The enchantment was made during the melting process. It is mixed with the metal."

Querthix said this so casually that Crescent was at a complete loss for words. No one had ever managed such a feat before. The enchantments were extremely powerful, too. Just what were these things that they had such impossibly advanced techniques of metal forging and magic enchantments.

"Come, tiny pony. Weh'll get some food," Venethix suggested.

"But I--"

"Ey weyll not reveal how ey did these things to yehr armor," Querthix interrupted sternly.

Crescent turned towards him with a curious expression. "But I didn't say--"

"It wes obviousleh by yeh're previous reehctions to mehy work that this is what yeh were going teh ask."

"..."

"Aye made this armor as aye was curious to theh techniques off theh tainy, ancient ponies. Yeh're techniques weh're pathetic. Aye assume yeh got better forgers now."

"I guess..."

"Consider it eh gift. No chehrge."

"Thank...you..."

"TO THEH FOODS!" Venethix roared.

She rushed off with Crescent in tow, leaving Mathews, the fae-breezies, and the diapers behind. Querthix watched the two dash off and gave a slight huff of amusement. He was about to take his arm protections off when he heard a soft whine. Looking down, he saw a tiny foal on the ground extending a hoof towards the two in slow desperation while the breezies just looked at him with saddened and concerned expressions. Loud rumbles filled Mathews' ears, although he didn't know the origin of them. Looking around, he finally saw that it was the Nebwezar blacksmith who had knelt towards him and was watching from a 'closer' above.

"Dunnae know how teh walk, teeny tiny poney?"

A mountain of shadows

"Hu. Ey thought tiny ponies would know how tae walk boiy their birth."

"Too bad I was born a human and not a pony, then!" Mathews glared at the blacksmith while the breezies still tried pulling him onto his legs.

"And yeh gawt fairies with yeh. They nevehr show themselves tae us. We just have legends. Interestin'."

Mathews looked up at the nebwezar with wide-eyes and an expression of bewilderment. "That's your only reaction? WHAT'S WRONG WITH THESE CREATURES?!"

It took Mathews a few minutes to get on his legs, although they were trembling rather violently. It was as if he had just done some leg exercises and his limbs were telling him to stop before collapsing. He shouldn't be this weak, even as a tiny colt. Maybe he could use his wings? Nah. Best start with ACTUAL limbs before messing with those. The pale breezy, unlike her 'friends', was floating in front of Mathews and laughing her head off.

"There's eh fleyh in front of yeh?" Quertix commented.

The breezy's face puffed up red in anger, prompting her to immediately float up towards the giant and starts spouting obscenities in whatever r rolling language the breezies spoke. Querthix remained stoic and impassive during her rant. His only response after several minutes of buzzing was to simply blow on her, resulting in the weightless breezy being taken by the current and looping in the air whilst yelling for her life. The resulting travel ended painfully for the breezy as she smashed against one of the wooden poles holding the forge roof up and slowly slid down. Mathews took the opportunity to laugh at her rather loudly just so she could hear, however, his attempts to walk weren't funny at all.

He constantly walked with both legs on one side moving forward together. This seemed to irritate Querthix who just exhaled loudly and interrupted the foal's attempts at movement.

"No. Yeh ehrn't a cehmel nor are yeh eh biped. Yeh're supposed teh use yehr opposite legs when moving fehrward."

Mathews just stared at the giant with confusion. Unlike Crescent, he had trouble understanding their 'super thick' accents.

"Walk with yeh're oposing legs. One forleg followed boy theh diagonally ployced one."

It took the other breezies to explain it to Mathews with their own movement and demonstrations for him to understand.

"Not sure I can trust them considering they're fairies, but Crescent is too obsessed with absolving herself and the creatures here to pay attention to me, so I need to do what I do best: Make do with the situation and get better progressively."

Quethix watched him slowly walk forward like a normal equine creature. Granted, he hadn't seen ponies much in his life. In fact, these were the only two he ever witnessed, but he had already seen other quadrupedal creatures and camels who often traveled up mountains for sport after having traveled long distances from across the horizon.

"Good. Yeh're getting it weyl. Just eh lettle more and yeh'll be at theh dining hall."

The blacksmith watched the tiny foal struggle along the way as he stared at his legs whilst walking. It was...slow. So very, very slow.

"This is going teh be eh looooooooong noyt."

Meanwhile, at the Dining Hall, the Nebwezar were going ballistic on the food. An enormous, lengthy table of a dark-brown wood stretching from one end of the longhouse to the entrance. It could've easily sat over a hundred ponies. The floors and walls were covered with some sort of vanilla colored clay substance, but pieces had broken off to show the wood underneath. The kitchen was right in front of everyone...or rather, the cooking-ware was in front of everyone. The Nebwezar cook with stone, using stone ovens and smoothed, stone plates atop a fire. Naturally, it was enormous and nearly the width of the table itself, but it was only covered in various vegetables, some of them not even known to pony kind. The walls had no windows or doors. Instead, they were holes covered by two pieces of cloth hanging from a bronze bar embedded within the logs.

Unsurprisingly, the Nebwezar were extremely rowdy and rather barbaric when eating their food. The vegetables of immense proportions were placed on several metal trays and slid along the table while Amphoras full of water and fruit juices were placed near the edges of the tables for quick grabbing and drinking. Crescent was the only one standing tall, her head barely rising above the platform. She felt rather uncomfortable. Worse still, she was separated from Mathews again and couldn't leave. She needed to leave, but jut taking her tiny hooves off the table and turning made one of the Nebwezar next to her push her back towards the table and place more vegetables on her plate.

"Yeh dun need tae worry. Oy'm cehrtain theh tainy pony is with theh blecksmith."

"How do you know where he is?"

"Aye was there when yeh arroyved and aye heyrd what yeh we're going teh do after meeting with theh druiadem."

"Oh...But I really need to go get him. We've been separated enough as it is and--"

"No no. Eat yer vegetables. Weh'll have something for him seeing as heh's eh teeny tiny pony. Prolly be malk ehr something."

In front of such a situation of entrapment, Crescent had no choice but to wait at the table and slowly nibble away at her food while her heart thumped painfully in her chest and her mind came up with all sorts of horrid scenarios. Unfortunately, the Nebwezar never said that the feast prior to the 'great day' would last until morning. Many of the got rowdy and started to get into a fight, often throwing each other through the walls while the others watched and laughed. Crescent dropped her head onto the table, grateful of the light weight her armor now had, but still took it off to pass a hoof through her mane.

"This turned out to be more of a disaster than I thought. What am I going to do, Mathews? Maybe I should just blast through them? No. They possess magic unknown to pony kind, what with their stupid moons...

Mathews, however, was starting to get the hang of walking. He was now going at a slow trot rather than flumping around like a fish on a boat. He was even getting attached to the fae...sort of. He was still tremendously skeptical of them, but if these ones were actually different and just followed a pranking habit, then he could learn to live with them. Why they followed him, though, he would never know. Unfortunately, before he could even think, the sunlight burned his eyes and caught the breezies off guard as well.

"Ugh. That stings! What is that? The sun? How did I stay up so long in this tiny baby's body?" Mathews slowly lowered his hoof as the sun was slowly being covered by the fluffy clouds. "Is there anything in this place that isn't fluffy? Crescent's world is really weird."

Mathew's thoughts were interrupted by a violent thud that shook the ground and tossed both him and the breezies into the air. Their heads darted around in panic when another thud hit. The sky was getting darker and darker, and when one of the breezies spotted the source of the trembling, her mouth became agape and she poked the foal next to her to look upwards. Mathews slowly looked up, then he too became like the breezy, as did the others.

Querthix ran and jumped over them to get a better look at the cause. He pulled his right arm in then threw it upwards and yelled:

"THEH YUHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIS!"

Stronger than a titan

"What is that?!" Crescent shouted.

Venethix stepped forward and spoke to her like a jumpy, excited young filly. "That is theh Yuhis! Theh brainger off theh shadows and theh annoouncer off theh new lunair cycle."

"We need to get out of here!"

"What for? This wehll be fun!"

"What are you talking about? I need to find the foal. Mathews? MATHEWS?!"

Crescent started to gallop around while the Nebwezar all returned to their homes to grab their weapons and armor, as indicated by the large amount of them coming back out with ancient-styled weapons and armor. With each movement, the world shook under the immense weight of the Yuhis, and with each step it took, the world reeled in fear as darkness started to devour its light. Both of these couldn't be ignored by Crescent who fell and tumbled with every quake.

"I have to find him as quickly as possible and get out of here! These creatures are simply insane! It's not safe! I'll find a way back to Canterlot through another path."

The mare was caught in her gallop by metallic hands and forced to sit down. Angry, she looked up to see Querthix looking a her with his emotionless stare.

"We air not crazeh like yeh think. This is aye celebration announcing theh nehw cycle off theh moons."

"Then what does that gigantic abomination have to do with anything?"

"Not much. It's jest comes bey when theh new cycle stehrts."

"And where's Mathews?! He was with you!"

"Theh teiny pony? He's right thehre." The blacksmith pointed to something next to the alicorn's left.

To Crescent's joy, it was Mathews covered in breezies. He was getting the hang of walking but was still pretty slow in his pacing. The alicorn was quite surprised, and his evolution was giving her much needed relief in these times of turmoil and even made her briefly forget what she was worried about.

"Mathews, you can walk! How is this possible?!" Crescent looked around to see the itty bitty breezies staring at her with their big, beady eyes. The cuteness was overwhelming. "Huh. I guess these fae aren't despicable horrors as the others. Still, we need to leave!"

Crescent wanted to pick up Mathews with her right foreleg, stress preventing her from thinking about her magic, but another loud thud shook the land much more violently, causing Crescent to fall forward and accidentally toss the tiny foal out of her foreleg. Looking over her shoulder, Crescent had a better view of what was causing the tremors.

"What...The sheer size of it...Almost three hundred and fifty meters? It couldn't be. A hecatonchires class?!" Crescent screamed at the top of her lungs.

The Yuhis was now in full view, and it simply towered over anything in the area, even what was left of the mountain tips. Its body was simply pure black and surrounded by what appeared to be a mist of darkness swirling around it like rings of flies. It possessed two long, bony arms that reached all the way to the ground, and at their ends extended three, quadruple-segmented claws serving as fingers. The head itself was very narrow and resembled a three-sided pyramid placed on its side. The two lower edges extended slightly backwards with the upper one extending further than the neck and bending towards the left. Halfway through the edge, the head smoothed and the side of the 'pyramid' became a rounded, stretched surface. Three bright, white eyes could barely be seen on its face as they were almost completely closed. Unlike many creatures in this world, this gigantic beast was a tripod with a bizarre anatomy. The front leg was the shortest of the needle-like structures, the two in the back about the length of its body and pushing it along. Due to its strange leg structure, its upper body was forced forward into a hunching position, shortening its possible, maximum height. Because of all these physical impairments, it was extremely slow and did not seem to enjoy this aspect of its existence.

Nevertheless, the Nebwezar were all covered in armors made of thin sheets of metal while others just wore a leather cap. They were all dressed differently and equipped with too many weapons for Crescent to count, but she did notice several types of weapons she had never seen before, and instead of running towards and attacking the Yuhis, they were standing around and looking at it, as though waiting for something. A vicious sense of dread overwhelmed Crescent and even the breezies, but Mathews was still unaffected by whatever this world had. With some effort, he managed to hoist himself back onto his forelegs without the aid of the breezies and smiled. He was proud of his accomplishment. Looking up, he noticed that the swirling vortex of darkness started to break apart in tiny bits and pieces after another shockwave rammed the ground. The darkness slowly came closer and closer until it was clear they were projectiles intent on destroying the landscape like meteors falling from the sky.

Houses were crushed, trees were broken in half, and one of them was coming directly towards the ponies. Crescent didn't have time to think of a proper spell but focused her mind nonetheless, and her armor became much brighter. In an instant, a strange blanket of darkness flowed off of her body and caught the black ball before crushing it between its massive claws and receding back into the armor. The pony just stared agape at what had happened and looked down at the smoldering mess.

"I just created an astral projection with my mind without any effort. These enchantments are surreal. This is...this is amazing!"

A roar attracted every pony's attention to the left where they saw a bipedal beast with reverse-knee legs and a completely black body step out of the ruins of one of the houses. Its arms were quite long and bulky as were its three claws, but it had no facial features, strangely. It got sight of the alicorn, pointed at her, then screamed. It couldn't even make a step forward that one of the Nebwezar rammed into it and continued charging across a lengthy amount of time through the village grounds and what was left of the building. Another shadow creature, this time a tripod with similar arms, jumped off a cliff overlooking the village with an intent on slamming onto one of the infants firing at the beasts with crossbows. Unfortunately, it got impaled on a pike raised by a protective parent. Instead of growling in anger, the parent just howled in joy and victory.

Even the lunar alicorn started to feel something well up inside her. A joy she never felt before. A thirst for combat? Two more of the bipedal creatures ran towards her after throwing a gigantic nebwezar far across the landscape. They were the same height yet had no difficulty throwing such immense giants far away. What chance did Crescent have? Well, she had magic, for one, and she intended to use it.

Gathering up her energy, the lunar alicorn only intended to blast the creatures away with a ball of energy she would build above her and use as a trap. Once again, her intentions changed due to the armor. A shower of white, lunar energy crashed down upon the creatures, crushing them and burning the path several times. Even a tripod tried to mangle the alicorn when it attempted to tackle her from the side, but she jumped, twisted her body over it, and projected energy through her hooves, effectively launching the creature through a hill like a rail cannon shot.

The alicorn was having so much fun with her new powers and armor that Mathews didn't want to interrupt her. She had been the happiest he had ever seen her. It's a shame it was with violence, but she always showed that kind of preference even the day she crashed in front of him and ruined his drink. Good times.

"I'm concerned. Wasn't she trying to avoid all of this...this violence? I thought she wanted to avoid this sort of thing as much as possible. I'm worried she might regress to whatever it is she used to be."

Mathews' thoughts were cut short by a quad-winged piece with a very narrow head and sharp beak squawking at him from above. It had sneaked in behind his protector and planned on...eating him whole? These creatures were still unknown, so the two ponies knew not what they wanted. Being heroic, the breezies charged in front of Mathews and blocked the beast, but it only bellowed a screeching tone, knocking the tiny fae unconscious and onto the floor where they did naught but twitch and drool. Alerted by the sound, Crescent turned to witness her adoptive father helplessly under the gaze of a starved beast, and she couldn't reach him in time. She tried to cast a spell, but she couldn't muster up enough energy. She didn't know how to use the armor yet and it cost her all her magic. She tried to gallop towards Mathews to jump up and punch out the beast, but she was too slow and too far. She felt as if the whole world moved in slow motion as she watched, helplessly, as the bird dove towards the small foal with its beak opening while said foal protected his face with his left foreleg and lift his right towards the creature in a desperate attempt to keep it away with distance he no longer possessed.

Crescent cried out, tears of fear welling up in her eyes. "MATHEEEEEEEEWS!"