Kingdom in Shadows

Chapters

Chapter 1: Prelude
Chapter 2: Welcome to our town
Chapter 3: A place to call home
Chapter 4: Melodies of life
Chapter 5: Lurking in the Darkness
Chapter 6: Garnet's Theme
Chapter 7: The Evil Mist Returns
Chapter 8: One Danger Put Behind Us...
Chapter 9: You're not alone!
Chapter 10: Secret Maneuverings
Chapter 11: Living by the sword
Chapter 12: South Gate at the Border
Chapter 13: Those Whom We Must Protect
Chapter 14: Concurrent battles
Chapter 15: Within The Giant
Chapter 16: Sword of Confusion
Chapter 17: Two unstealable hearts
Chapter 18: The place I'll return to someday

Chapter 1: Prelude

To this day, railroads still make me nervous. When I can grow wings on demand and take flight, the necessity to ride a train just doesn't come up that often. In a way it was convenient, though. I was nervous anyways, and this gave me time to work through it.

"I thought the meeting with Princesses Twilight Sparkle and David Silver Lining Stars went very well, father, do you think otherwise?", my son asked. At least he had had the humility to shapeshift his horn away on the train, so that we simply looked like a family of pegasi. That was odd enough to see on a train, but not the glaring attention grab that his favorite form, a male alicorn, was. 'Prince Alexander Gabriella Stormbringer the First', was half human, half changeling, and bore a nanospider subnet since conception. This had.. created some rather unusual issues, such as our child being intelligent and 'talkative' enough in utero to get too impatient with our indecision and name himself. Yes, 'Prince' was part of his name, not just his title. Alex, as I preferred to call him, was a natural shapeshifter, and never wore his natural form in public. Or anytime he could get away with it. If compelled he would sooner wear the form of an ordinary changeling as a disguise. I don't think he ever learned to walk in his natural form. He learned to shapeshift before he learned to crawl, and never looked back.

"It went smoothly enough," I answered, "but they have the least clout of any of the Princesses. They were the warm up. This is the real thing. The first, anyways. Besides.. this one is personal."

Alex nodded knowingly. Our family had a history with the rulers of the Crystal Empire, even if they were blissfully unaware. And there was something personal we wanted to ask them, once all the business was taken care of. As long as said business didn't blow up and leave us fleeing the country. Or, you know, blown away in a massive love-fueled shockwave of doom. That was a possibility we were far too familiar with. Just one reason to be worried about Princess Love-bomb, and Prince Shining Trigger.

The other was her alleged ability to 'see' love connections. It could well play in our favor, but if she were ever to become our enemy... I loved every one of my subjects, and they loved me. Not every one of them was a romantic or physical sort of love, but she was known for being able to sense all forms of love. And, the Kingdom had learned to wield love as a sort of weapon. I could draw the love from all of my subjects and push it into any one or group of them, empowering their magic, be it a unicorn's horn, a pegasus' wings, or an earth pony's might. My subjects lived throughout Equestria and beyond, hidden among normal ponies in much the way the changelings had before their invasion. While we were much more benevolent in intention, we had made a habit of taking matters into our own hooves in matters where we didn't trust the local authorities. Speaking generously, you could call us 'vigilantes'. There was a very real risk that if Cadance became a serious enemy, she would use our connections to hunt down my subjects. And while I had faith in our abilities in combat, 'winning' fights against the Princesses' forces was unlikely to make any form of improvement for us.

My thoughts continued to trouble me, until the train pulled into the station. The Crystal Empire was the end of the line, which afforded us a little more time to prepare. We gathered our belongings up quickly. I nodded to my companions, and we made our final preparations.

I was to take the lead, as any king should. I even had an over-the-top, regal looking red cloak with white trimming for exactly this occasion.

Wind Chaser would take my left flank, and nervously she assumed her natural form, that of a changeling drone. She was well fed, without a single hole in her body nor exposed ribs, and I thought she had actually grown a fair bit since I met her. The thought that she might be filling into a full and proper queen was tempting to believe, but probably overstated. After all, queens were queens from conception, right? As far as either of us knew, that was the case. But we had been wrong about her inability to conceive, at least under rather unusual circumstances. Maybe those circumstances had opened other possibilities as well?

Bardrick took my right flank. The elder griffon looked to be about a year my junior, having used his spiders to reverse his physical aging perhaps a little more than strictly necessary. His ceremonial armor had the insignia of his former nation removed, and a simple, scratched in "IK" on each side to show his new allegiance. We agreed that he would speak up on any military matters that might enter the conversation, with the advantage of our mental link hopefully avoiding any contradictions.

And Alex took up the rear, reverting to his favored male alicorn form. The fact that there was no such thing as male alicorns made the choice audacious, but he insisted that being audacious was a big part of being a bard. And for this, he needed to be the spooniest bard Equestria had ever seen.

A couple of earth ponies quietly picked up the rest of our belongings, planning to find a safe place to stow them while we made our grand debut. All the pieces were in place, and it was time to begin our number.

I... honestly can't recall any of the lyrics, which is very disturbing for someone with technologically enhanced eidetic memory. But it was always this way where Song Magic was concerned. As Alex began singing, we stepped out into the main hall of the train, and then out into the station, and out into the main road. Ponies joined in his song, compelling by musical cues, and otherwise stepped out of our way or looked on in perfectly choreographed harmony. Alex was the conductor, and the other ponies were mere notes. Nopony stopped us, or questioned us, indeed they acted like they knew who we were, or at least respected our obvious importance.

Even the guards in the palace were dragged into the song, and forced to sing along. And so, the guard at the door to Cadance's court stepped inside, sung out our introduction, and waved us in. A pegasus claiming royalty, a ceremonially armed griffon, an openly declared changeling, and a biological impossibility. All within striking distance of the reigning Princess and her husband, with only the barest of warning.

You couldn't ask for a more dramatic entrance.

Chapter 2: Welcome to our town

Cadance and Shining Armor sat at their thrones, the queue of petitioners finally empty, when one of the guards burst in, bursting into song.

“If it please your highness, I must do this thing!
I must announce, I must pronounce, the coming of the King!
The wonderful, magnanimous, glorious, mysterious, Itinerant Kiiiiiinnggg!”

While it was sudden to them, it felt like a conclusion, and indeed the Song Magic was finally winding down we strolled out into the center of the room, taking a place before Cadance and bowing politely.

While the others had bowed more deeply, I settled for merely a polite head nod. It wasn't due for a king to be too humble. Princess Cadance was my peer, in my mind, and deserved only the respect due an equal. To my left, trailing a pony-length behind was Wind Chaser, brazenly strolling about in her natural form. Her wings twitched a bit nervously as she came into view of the Princess and her husband, but she bowed low and then sat quietly, making no aggressive moves. To my right, even with the changeling was Bardrick, a strapping young griffon warrior, lightly clad with ceremonial armor, but no weapons beyond his beak and claws. His pauldrons bore the sign of some kingdom or other scratched and buffed out, with a pronounced “IK” scratched in over it. His feathers seemed prematurely grey, the only sign of his true age he had chosen not to undo. And directly behind me, about a pony-length behind the changeling and griffon, strolled my son Alexander, a walking impossibility, a male alicorn, a colt just starting into puberty by the looks of him. He sang a final thank you to the guard as he passed, just as the stallion was blinking off the confusion of coming out of the song, and bowed almost as low as the changeling before giving them a disturbingly bright smile. For the time being, he was as white as shining armor, except for his wings which bore Cadance’s own pink hue, and his flanks were completely blank.

Cadance looked over her visitors with perked ears and a curious expression warring with properness. "I was not aware that there was any pony that wore the crown of a king. What brings you to my court today?" She gestured to the left. "If you have come far, we have food and drink to refresh." She gave off a warm friendliness as she spoke, a sincere welcoming presence that has served her well with her people so far.

“Thank you very much, Princess Cadance Mi Amore Cadenza!” Alex said, prancing over to the refreshments to help himself.

While he did, I stepped forward. “My Kingdom is small and newly formed, having existed only slightly longer than your own marriage. We are also quite mobile, by necessity, and have up until recently been wary of dealing openly with other governments. Many of my subjects have, in the past, been victims of brutal crimes or other dire circumstances with their abusers protected by corrupt local government officials. However, as our numbers have grown, it has become obvious we will need to deal openly with someone. We have a number of proposals we wish to discuss with you today, as well as a personal favor I would ask of you before we leave. But first, I believe introductions are in order.”

I drew himself upright for a moment, gesturing to myself with one wing. “I am South Wind, formerly known as the human Daniel Holden, and known by my subjects as the Itinerant King. Forgive me for not showing off my original form, but I prefer not to be the kind of king who towers over his subject.” I also preferred not to be the kind of king who used changeling shapeshifting magic in front of foreign dignitaries who had been in a very unfortunate run-in with changelings on their own wedding night.

I dropped back to all fours, and gestured to the changeling to my left. I had had her arrive in her natural form as a matter of transparency. If we had hidden her nature from them, it would have been a breach of trust when they found out. “This is Wind Chaser, my first and most loyal subject, truest of all loves, and mother of my foal.” I swept my wing toward the ‘alicorn’ who was trying to make small talk with one of the guards while sipping from a glass of juice. “And this is our child, Prince Alexander Gabriella Stormbringer the First." I managed to withhold my wince at our child's name. From now on I was going to chose names for my children before conceiving them, I swore once again. I gestured next to the griffon, who bowed in turn. " And lastly, Bardrick, my good friend and chief military advisor.” I settled back down, and waited a moment for her to take it in.

Cadance nodded to each of us as we were introduced, her eyes going off into the distance faintly as she let her view of love take hold to reveal the lines that bonded the strange newcomers to her court. "I see. I'm afraid you have me at quite a disadvantage. Is yours a 'kingdom' per se or more of an extended family? If you are seeking refugee status, we have room for those seeking honest work. There's no shortage of things to be done." She looked upwards a moment before settling her gaze back on the newcomers.

I don't know what they looked like to her, but I could guess. Wind Chaser, Alexander and I were a tight knit family, and she would surely see that. I wondered if she would mention the bonds between us and some of our more intimate subjects, especially Midnight Oil, but she said nothing. My other subjects held a more platonic form of love, Bardrick included, but the link to each and every one of them had been used for powerful surges of transferred love, in training if nothing else, and I suspected she would note that. She seemed particularly interested in Alex for a time, and I really wonder what she saw there.

“An extended family?” I said. “The analogy is not too far off, though we are hundreds in numbers and not all of us have relations that would typically qualify. We do wish to offer to come and help with the work. We are quite well acquainted with temporary employment, as your empire seems to need help for you to build up to a stable state. We are also quite well trained for combat, with abilities that most lack in that regard. We wish to offer a unilateral military alliance as part of our negotiations. Any of our number who stay to work here will come to your defense if you are attacked again. And if you are able to meet our requests, we will also have reinforcements available. Before we make our requests though, is there anything else you need beyond workers? We have contacts in many nations around the world, and may be able to acquire and transport supplies for you."

Cadance raised a fine brow. "I confess, this is most curious. You appear before me, king of an unheard of realm. You mentioned you were once human?" She canted her head faintly. "Have you heard of the former diplomat of your kind? Have you met him? Your kind has had interesting effects on the world, from small to large." She gestured lightly to the south. "I'm told several have appeared in Manehattan. A fascinating phenomenon. You seem to be doing well for yourself."

I steadied myself patiently, rolling along with the brief derailment. “I have met Silver Stars twice now, and Twilight briefly as well. I take it as part of my personal duties to do what I can to protect the humans who have arrived since I did, though I have yet to invite any of them into my kingdom. I have made a point of recruiting only those whose lives would be clearly improved by tearing away all that has come before, and thus far none of the humans in Equestria have had such dire paths. As for our effects.. it is part of why I chose the name South Wind. Like the wind, we bring change in our path, inexorably, both big and small, good and ill.”

Cadance looked me over with a soft noise of consideration. "Have you? She is a precious creature, but so frail under it all. Do you share her delicate soul?" Before I could answer, she made a dismissive wave of a hoof. "Enough of that. Let's return to the matter at hoof. If your people wish to immigrate, as I mentioned, there is no shortage of good work for them. We have need of miners, farmers, artisans, teachers, librarians, administrators. Almost any profession at all, really. This may sound a bit queer, but I'd rather a positive soul. The city is defended by good cheer, after all."

A few years ago I might have been skeptical about that last part. But I had experienced both our own and her own versions of 'weaponized love', so I had no doubt she could kill me with a sufficiently pointed smile. “Many of them will, no doubt. The decisions are still being made, but I estimate about a hundred to start. Which brings us to our needs. We will need a space to ourselves, not for all of us, perhaps about the size of a block. Specifically, we need a place to work in private on research projects and manufacturing. And we will need access to certain materials that are hard to acquire, often restricted by other governments. The most pressing is a material called ‘displasia amethysts’. I believe the Crystal Empire was formerly the primary supplier, before the former King was dethroned. The difficulty acquiring them is one of the biggest obstacles we currently face.”

Cadance glanced off to the side, where Shining Armor entered the conversation. "Displasia is very valuable, and difficult to mine. We've only just got the mine up to the point where we can hope to extract some, let alone the cutting and refinement that goes into making it ready for its intended uses. Do your people know how to mine, cut, or refine it, and do they intend to work for it, or pay for it?"

He nodded, “we would actually prefer to do all of the work ourselves. My people are very hard workers. But if you prefer we focus on other forms of work and pay for the crystals, that is also acceptable. With how widespread we are, we need the crystals to empower faster travel. Especially with the old mines closed for so long, other governments are often unwilling to even allow their sale.” Alex was about to cut in with a spirited discussion of his invention, the Gatecrasher bracers, but I cut him off with a thought, and he went back to hitting on the poor guard pony.

Shining Armor shook his head. "We were hoping to barter and trade the gems for vital supplies from other cities and nations to the south. Once we have refinement up to speed, it will become a significant portion of our income." He tapped his chin thoughtfully.

Cadance nodded softly. "If you purchased them, we could use the money in their stead, which would still meet the needs of our people. Giving them away would be quite irresponsible of us." She heaved a slow sigh. "As you may have noticed, my Empire is lacking… in infrastructure. We have so much more rebuilding to do."

With a thought, I gave my griffon companion a role to dispel his boredom. Bardrick stepped forward to speak. “If I may, we could provide an intermediary to accept lists of necessary supplies from you, and provide them in exchange for the gems. We can cut out some of the profits that merchants would charge you, giving you a better exchange rate. And use the crystals to get our own trade routes opened to get the materials you need to you, as well as help our own trade efforts internationally. We can get anything but contraband for you quite quickly and easily, in exchange for what we need.” We could get pretty much any form of contraband, for that matter, but Cadance seemed like the kind that would rather believe we couldn't than ask us to get something improper.

I nodded. “We will need other forms of crystals as well, going forward. The displasia amethysts are just the most pressing need. But once lines of trade are open, it will be easier to discuss such details as we go.” Giving a full list of the types of crystals we wanted for our experiments would just strain our negotiations at this point. And really, if we didn't get any of the others, just being able to supply Gatecrashers to a larger portion of our numbers would be a massive win. Alex was already working on a larger version intended for freight transport, that would need far more crystals.

Cadance quickly shook her head. "I can't imagine a use for contraband. If it's illegal in Equestria, we're not likely to be using much of it here." A smile overtook her features. "If you can negotiate better trading rates, that will be most valuable. But now I must ask, what about you? You've spoken of your people, but not yourself? You seem a pony of… connections?"

I traded glances with the others, closed my eyes and drew in a breath for a moment. What did she mean by 'connections'? Given her unique talents, I suspected she meant the links of love to my subjects. I wondered if she could see any residual signs of the bursts of love I moved between us when needed. But she could just as easily have been referring to trade connections. Dang ambiguous language. Oh well, chance to talk about something I wanted to get out into the open. “I have an.. artifact of sorts. We’ve come to call it the ‘Kingsblood’, as it lives within my blood, and also within that of those who have pledged their loyalty to me. It allows us to speak to one another, mind to mind, and has done much to keep my kingdom unified, even over a great distance. It is how we remain tight knit like a family despite the physical distance that separates us. It has more uses as well, such as faster healing, forgoing the need for sleep, and sharing memories with one another. By sharing her experiences with me, Wind Chaser helped me learn how to share love more effectively. Among other things.”

Shining Armor tilted his head a little. "That is… very interesting, and somewhat concerning, but doesn't really answer the question. Do you plan to move on and leave your people behind, or are you also planning to immigrate?" He pointed at me. "I should ask, since it's brought up, is that artifact of yours safe? It sounds worrisome."

I cringed a bit at the question of safety. Ponies didn't even have the concepts necessary to get to imagining a 'grey goo' scenario. And even within the constraints I held to, the fact was everyone who took on the Kingsblood was permanently at my mercy. There was a huge amount of trust they needed to place in me, and to a lesser degree trust I needed to have in them to leave them with its power. “Whatever the distance, my people and I are united. Having an enclave we can call home makes it the natural place for me to spend the most time, but I still have need to travel. If nothing else, I want to meet with Princesses Luna and Celestia in due time. Besides, not all of my people will chose to come here, and I intend to visit those who remain abroad as often as I can make the time.” I looked away, unable to meet their eyes. “As for safety.. it’s hard to describe. It has a mind of it’s own, and a loyalty that is unbreakable." I didn't mention that the loyalty was to my villainous, fictional alter ego. That was hard enough to explain to people with a direct thought-link. "But it also has a potential that, frankly, terrifies me. I pray that nothing less safe ever reaches this world.” For one, if anything scarier than Deus ever did show up, I'd probably be using Deus unbounded to fight back, and even if we won there would be repercussions. So I prayed that threshold would never be passed.

Cadance recoiled slightly. "You'll pardon my saying so, but you haven't filled me with confidence. I don't want to know what it does that would make a human so frightened, from what I've heard of your home world. You do all come from the same place, do you not?" She shook her head with a frown. "In any event, please refrain from using it within the Empire. I would also request that you not… share… it with any of my ponies. They have suffered enough at the hooves of those that thought they knew what was best. I wish for them a healthy, natural, life."

I shook my head. “I can no more promise not to use the kingsblood than you could promise not to use your own heart. It is as much a part of me as my heart or brain. But I can promise to restrain its potential, and I will easily promise not to share it with your ponies, as long as you promise to hear me out when I have something I need to tell you. Your empire is small and young, and hopefully free of corruption. I trust that if there are those who need your attention, you will hear me out and take action. If we are lucky, it will never even come up.” I didn't need to recruit more ponies, least of all from as peaceful a country as this. But if I encountered anypony in a situation I would normally recruit from, I needed some way to get the situation resolved. Maybe that would end up with me dropping a broken pony in their lap, and letting them deal with the rehabilitation for once.

Shining looked a bit confused, an expression copied by his wife. "I would hope we're 'free of corruption'. We want what's best for our ponies, which now perhaps includes you? You're welcome to petition us like any other pony in the Empire." I don't think they understood what I was trying to suggest, but I let it go for now. Their empire was small and had short chains of command: there weren't as many opportunities here for corrupt local governments to abuse their power unnoticed as there were in larger nations. If a problem arrived in the future I would bring it before them, possibly even before taking action myself.

Cadance gave a slow nod. "Of course. Well, if that is all? We should see to the others who have done just that. A princess' work is never done." A gentle smile was offered. "It has been a true delight."

I straightened as Wind Chaser strode up to my side. “Actually, I mentioned at the beginning that I had a personal favor to ask of you. I understand in Equestria it is traditional that Princesses officiate weddings? I know we are doing things a bit.. out of order, but we would be honored if you were to make things between us.. official.” With that I wrapped a wing around the changeling. It was still weird having her exposed like this in public view.

Cadance tilted her head. "Well, it need not be a princess, but it would be a pleasure to do that." She looked between us. "The love between you two appears pure and strong. Please, hold hooves and speak of your love to one another, and the promise you will offer to the other."

Alexander trotted over to our side, humming a traditional wedding tune with perfect pitch, even managing a few chords that are normally a bit outside the realms of a typical voice. The grin on his face was positively beaming. Our little Prince would be a bastard no longer.

I took Wind Chaser’s hoof between both of mine, looking deep into her eyes. “Wind Chaser, when I first came to this world, you appeared before me as a guardian angel, saving me from a terrible, tragic course. You supported me through everything, encouraged me to become the king you knew I could be, and fought by my side in every dark and dangerous time. Now, I ask that you hold your head high and stand by my side, as my beloved queen. I promise to love you, protect you, and cherish you with all my heart and all of my power for all of my life. Do you accept?”

Wind Chaser fluttered her wings nervously for a moment, glancing at Cadance before nodding. “My king, I promised you from the beginning a loyalty that goes beyond following orders, that I would lay down my life for you if ever you needed it. You.. you know what I feared from you and why, but you rose above everything, every fear and every expectation, and became much more than I ever thought possible. You have shared with me your pure, incomparable love from the very beginning, and I still struggle to see myself as worthy of you, but I will accept your offer and rise to be worthy of it. I promise to be your loyal and loving companion, the mother of as many children as you can bless me with, and your subjects’ second strongest advocate.”

Cadance's expression lightened with each fond word exchanged between us. When all the words seemed complete, she nodded. "I, as princess of the Crystal Empire, and steward of love, do hereby witness this testimony of devotion and recognize one where once there was two. May you know love and fulfilment for all your life together." She spread her wings wide and sent a pulse of magic through the line she could see, strengthening the bond between us. Others might be less aware of her magic, but as we had a lot of experience intentionally manipulating the flow of love, it was quite obvious. But also, it wasn't anything we wanted to fight.

As newlyweds, we slipped into each other’s embrace, kissing passionately while our son quietly played the spell he had read in Twilight’s cell over his horn, washing his magic quietly over his mother. Wind Chaser felt something deep within her.. unclench, for lack of a better word. Having felt it twice now, she knew where it was now, and finally gained control of it. The gates to motherhood, so to speak, were finally ours to open as we pleased. Meanwhile the bonds of love from all of our distant subjects spiked temporarily, the love flowing into me, and then into our bond, filling the channel between us to capacity. Without doing anything physically improper, we pushed the love where it needed to be, conceiving right there before the two ponies that had unknowingly triggered our first conception.

Cadance took note of the odd flow of love, but didn't mention it, instead clopping her hooves in polite approval. "Now go, you have love to express." A very polite way of stating what is likely to come. "Be well, and welcome to the Crystal Empire."

“Thank you and fare well yourself, Cadance. Shining Armor. We will send a representative to arrange trade details shortly.” As we walked away, I felt like a massive weight had been lifted from my shoulders, despite the physical weight in my hooves as I picked Wind Chaser up and strode off on my hind hooves. My guardian angel was finally my queen. My people finally had a safe haven suitable for our nation as a whole, and we even had a trade partner willing to sell us the crystals to enable our continued research and development. In so many ways, we were finally out of the shadows. Or at least.. half out.

As we left, Bardrick noticed a glance between our royal hosts. They still had their suspicions. We weren't going to be trusted fully, not yet.

Good.

I didn't need total fools for allies.

Author's Note

Thanks to David Silver for collaborating on this chapter.

Chapter 3: A place to call home

[Well, that went well,] Wind Chaser thoughtspoke as we descended the stairs from the palace. Alex started up another musical number, getting the ponies to dance and sing about how great our true love was, instead of noticing the changeling in their midst and possibly panicking. Damn, that kid was scary.

[So far so good, but we'll need to earn their trust from here, and we should assume they'll never take our side against Equestria. And if it did come to war, Cadance is still a uniquely dangerous threat to us in more ways than one. I don't know if it would be possible to neutralize her without outright attacking her, so I pray it never comes to that.] With a few powerful flaps of my wings I had us airborn, floating gracefully down to the inn's entrance. Our other subjects had made preparations for us, including renting us a room. We didn't take the time to pick up the key, as locks had a way of not getting in our way. And sure enough, we were soon alone in our makeshift 'honeymoon' suite.

[You know,] she said, as I lay her down on the bed, snuggling against her side. [You've already gotten me pregnant, with your little love-surge back there. You should start on the others.. you do have a promise to keep.]

I groaned a bit. Years ago, we had promised several changeling drones one egg each when we figured out enough about how Alexander had been conceived to reproduce the effect. [While I understand your desire to stud me out, really I do. Not on our wedding night!] I pinned her beneath me, kissing her deeply as I began.. expressing my love in other ways.

[Alright. It's a shame you didn't ask about making us a herd, though. Even ignoring the other changelings, Midnight Oil deserves to be right here with us.]

With a flip of my wings, I flipped the cloak off my back and onto her face, breaking her line of thought. [Just enjoy yourself, damnit.]

[Yes, my king!] she giggled as we got started enjoying the traditional wedding night festivities.

Bardrick returned to the palace after a quick flyover of the city. He waited patiently at the end of the line of petitioners, listening in on every request and making note of those we could easily step in to help fulfil. We only had two Gatecrashers working so far, and the larger version I had dubbed the 'Freightcrasher' was still just theory and schematics at this point, so we were a bit limited in the volume of goods we could move. Still, that wasn't the reason for Bardrick's visit, and he waited patiently for his turn to speak.

"Back so soon?" Shining Armor asked the griffon as he approached.

"We would like to get started on things right away, and that means coming to agreement on a base of operations. I've located what I believe will be a suitable location. It's a block of buildings near the outskirts that was burned out by friendly fire during the last attack on your empire. It's a hard to defend location, far from the bulk of your population, which means we'll be well out of your way and avoid taking prime real estate away from your people. We can and will defend ourselves effectively if there is another attack; if the enemy mistakes it for a point of weakness then all the better. And the fires that washed it out have done half of the demolition work, making it that much easier to clear out and start building fresh. We'll do all the heavy lifting ourselves, we just need your permission to claim the land. If we could have the ring of blocks around it as well, we'll build out housing there for our incoming workers, otherwise we'll find accommodations with your people."

"That was well thought out," Cadance commented, "and generous to chose land as out of our way as you could. Are you sure you will be safe there? It is beyond the edge of our defenses, as you noted. I would feel very bad if any harm came to you while you were guests in our country."

"If we are attacked, our two nations will work together and repel any enemy, Princess, of that I am quite certain." Bardrick replied confidently.

"Alright, it is granted. Though we shall expect a small tribute from you annually, like any other landholder in our realm. Is there any other matter you came here for?" the Princess asked.

"Yes. Our population includes a small number of changelings, even beyond our newlywed queen. I know that you have a personal history with their kind which is most regrettable, so I must ask. What laws do you have in place, or will you, regarding the conduct of changelings in particular, and the use of their unique powers? If you prefer, we can abide a simple ban. There is plenty of other work for them to do on our behalf worldwide, if they are not permitted in this sanctuary. But we do not feel it wise to bring them here before the matter is settled," the griffon asserted.

The Princess gave a subdued shudder. "You are right that I am not fond of their kind. Feeding on my people is completely unacceptable, as is impersonating us. Or anypony, really. Is there a way they can, you know.. not change?"

The griffon seemed prepared for this. "We can have each assume a single public form, and register them with you if you prefer. Whenever in public within the Crystal Empire they will be in that consistent form: same shape, tribe, coloration and cutie mark. Unique from one another and everypony else, but consistent for the same changeling."

The Princess nodded, looking a bit relieved. "Yes, that would work well. But why do you say 'public'? Do we need to worry about them taking liberties within our homes?"

The griffon blushed, clawing the ground a moment to avoid the topic for a few seconds. "While we will keep them from any manner of deception, those who enjoy the company of changeling lovers.. behind closed doors mind you.."

"Enough!" Shining Armor said, blushing himself. "We understand your point."

Princess Cadance giggled and fluffed her wings a bit. "The Princess of Love does not have laws against what two willing adults do in their own bedroom. Provided, as you said, that nopony is being deceived."

Bardrick nodded, glad to be past that point. "Very well, Princess. Prince. We will begin the immigration and construction immediately."

With a pulse of green magic, Alexander had his back covered by a long white cloak, allowing him to keep his wings materialized while out of view, letting ponies take him for just another unicorn. He greyed his fur a bit, to avoid looking too much like Shining Armor, and manifested a lute shaped cutie mark to reference his bardic talents. He retrieved the matching instrument from his bags at the inn before heading for the nearest tavern to ply his trade. As my son, the Itinerant Prince, he had no need to earn bits for himself, but he enjoyed the attention he got, and the occasional free drinks.

He started simply enough, taking up a seat at the side of the tavern and simply beginning to play, quietly at first, background music that easily wound itself into the rhythm of the place. He didn't sing a word, but as the words of the ponies started to slip into the beat of the song, he started to hum, his unnaturally talented voice weaving into the magic of Equestria.

This was not a song with purpose, like our entrance and exit had been. This was song for its own sake, simply harmonizing with Equestria. And just like playing the exact right vibration into an object will create a standing wave, growing stronger and stronger as the material holds the note perfectly, so too did his harmony grow in power. A massive sense of rightness began to pervade all of those present, even those just passing by on the streets. He didn't guide the power, but simply let it guide him. Refreshing him.

He had to ease off a bit, as he was getting a bit thirsty. Luckily a beverage had been placed on the table beside him. Two, really, but the other was clearly meant for the unicorn filly slowly nursing it on the other side of the table, looking at him with a smile. He returned her smile, as his horn levitated the glass of peach juice to him, fading out his humming to drink the refreshment while his hooves still worked the strings of his instrument in a deliciously intense lute solo.

He hummed a few more verses before he finally rounded out the song and turned to face his new companion. "I am Stormbringer," he told her, "though as you can see I can also bring the calm beforehand," he winked. "And what is the name of my most alluring benefactor?" he asked, raising his glass before emptying it.

The filly raised a hoof to her mouth thoughtfully. She was as pink as Cadance but shinier, being a crystal pony. She looked to be a bit older than Alexander, on the cusp of adulthood. By pony standards she may well have been considered an adult. The quartet of gemstones depicted on her flank, each carved with a runic symbol, showed she had discovered her talent, and if she had begun to employ it already she would be free to take on life as an adult. Alex preferred that system to arbitrary numbers, especially since he had matured so much faster than anypony else. "I thought your name was 'Prince Alexander Gabriella Stormbringer the First'," she said. "The half-changeling. That was you, wasn't it?"

Alex laughed and smiled at her. "You will forgive a Prince the attempt at discretion. But I did not see you in the palace. I would have noticed someone of your beauty, I assure you." He sniffed audibly, a hint of recognition reaching his face.

"My sister told me about you, I do hope you aren't that hung up on older mares. She was quite flattered by your attention, but she has a stallion in her life already," she said.

"She should have said as much, I would have hit on the other guards instead," he said.

"I think she was trying to spare them that," the filly laughed. "Oh, I still haven't given my name. I am Garnet Glitter," she offered a hoof and a smile. "So would you prefer I call you Alexander or Stormbringer?"

"Either is fine, as is simply Prince. Calling me 'First' sounds weird even to my ears, and you should only call me Gabriella if you want me to be your marefriend," he winked.

"I'll remember that if I have any juicy gossip," she giggled.

"Oh, I love juicy gossip!" he said, clopping his hooves together. "Give my apologies to your sister when you see her."

"So what brings you here then? You aren't somehow, you know.. feeding on our love are you?" she asked, a bit suspiciously.

"I only nibble a bit here and there upon that which is freely given," he said, starting to play gently again. "I am well fed, I assure you, by my own Kingdom's people. And by more conventional forms of food. Would you care to split an order of hay fries? I am, as you said, only half changeling."

"Is it lonely?" she asked after nodding to his offer. "I mean.. being such an unusual creature."

He shook his head. "I am perhaps the least lonely being in this world. I was cheered into this world by the whole of my nation, and have gotten to know and befriend every single one of them, even as our numbers swelled. And hundreds more have enjoyed my songs and shared their joy with me, if only in passing. How about you? Is it lonely being yet another unicorn?"

She paused, blushed a bit and looked toward the bartender to avoid meeting his eyes. "Sometimes.." she said at length.

"Is that why you are here at my side?" he asked.

"I-I was just curious, honest!" she insisted, blushing red through the pink fur of her cheeks.

"I am always happy to have a curious new friend," he said, smiling warmly. "Though if you'll excuse me. I believe it is time for another song to give you time to recover from your embarrassment." His smile became a grin as he winked before adding his voice once more to the music.

She slipped away as he did.

And returned a minute later with a piping hot batch of hay fries.

Chapter 4: Melodies of life

"Are you sure your parents won't be upset?" Garnet asked as she got to her front door.

"Upset about what? They are quite preoccupied celebrating their wedding, and they know how to find me when they need to," Alex answered.

"Speaking of which," she said, opening the door and inviting him in. "Don't get any ideas. At least not... tonight, okay?"

"Very well, I shall be the gentlecoltliest of gentlecolts for my gracious host. There is no need to rush things, for once." He hopped a bit excitedly, clopping on the floor noisily. "There really is no need to rush things! Oh! What a novel development!"

"What is that thing doing here?!" a familiar voice said. Diamond Glitter, Garnet's older and much whiter sister clopped in from the kitchen, giving Alex an unfriendly look.

"Oh! Lady Guard Lieutenant Diamond Glitter! I am glad to see once again, if only so that I might apologize. I did not realize you already had a special somepony in your life. Oh it was so improper of me to be so forward with you. Please, accept my sincerest apology," he said, bowing low.

Diamond was taken aback for a bit, not expecting an apology, much less without demanding one. "It's, um..." but forgiveness was not yet forthcoming. "Just... stay away from me and my sister."

"Diamond!" Garnet objected. "He is here as my guest, and you will treat him decently! What would the Princess say, to hear of one of her guards mistreating a foreign dignitary so? Come along, Alexander, we'll talk in my room."

As soon as Alexander was through the indicated door, Diamond's magic slammed it shut, and held it fast. The royal guard had a stronger horn than her younger sister, and could easily keep this up as long as needed. They began to argue, Diamond apparently of the mistaken belief that Alexander would be unable to hear, or at least unable to make out the words.

"Are you crazy bringing him here? He's half changeling! You know that! Did he use magic on your mind? Is he controlling you right now?!" she began.

"What? No! He hasn't done anything like that! He just played some beautiful music, and talked nicely with me, and shared some hay fries and juice. He has the loveliest singing voice, and he's quite good with his instrument," Garnet defended.

"Oh, I'll bet he has another instrument in mind to show you!" Diamond insinuated.

"Hay, he promised to be a perfect gentlecolt," Garnet lowered her voice. "Today, anyways... I'm going to want to see it eventually if things go well..."

"Garnet Pinkfacet Glitter!" the older mare screamed. "What would our mother say if she was still with us?!"

"She'd say not to let a handsome royal stallion out of my hooves, is what she'd say! But who cares, anyways? She died a thousand years ago! Your not my mom! I already have a cutie mark! I'll be out of here before you know it, and then you can't boss me around anymore!" the younger mare screamed back.

"Fine! You don't like living by my rules! Go live under your own roof! Maybe your 'royal' stallion can take you in! You can go live in a tent with the homeless prince!" The magic holding the doorknob faded.

"Maybe I will!" Garnet responded, opening the door and going in. She slammed the door behind her with a buck before jumping onto the bed, laying side by side with Alexander. She folded her forelegs and began to cry into them quietly.

"You don't wish to remain at odds with your sister, do you?" Alex asked her quietly after a moment.

"No! No, of course not. But... she can be such a tyrant! I don't know what to do about it." Garnet complained.

"I can help if you want me to. You just need to go apologize to her," he said.

"What, no. I didn't do anything wrong! She should apologize to me! And to you!" she countered.

"Will you apologize to her? Please? For me? Perhaps in time you will come and live with the 'homeless Prince', but as of now I really do not in fact have a physical home, as such, so it should probably wait for some construction to be completed."

"You heard all that, huh?" Garnet looked embarrassed.

"Every word since the door was closed. Even your comment about days beyond today," he confirmed. "I have to have very keen ears to do what I do."

"Okay, so... help me then. What do I say, what do I do?" Garnet looked into his eyes, pleading.

And... he started singing. He lectured her a bit through song, on the need for forgiveness, of taking the first step rather than waiting in bitterness. And soon she left the room, singing her apology to Diamond, who sung back to her, a little opera of conflicting emotions until they finally apologized to each other and met in a hug. Garnet finally returned and joined Alex on the bed again, closing the door behind her, as she thanked him with the final verse.

"Wait. Did that just happen?!" Garnet asked. "I was so sure she would just blow up again, or insist I kick you out, but no. We really clicked, like sisters should, and everything was forgiven. It was so..."

"Harmonious?" Alex offered. "That is what Song Magic is all about. It is about tapping into the harmony that really wants to be there in the hearts of ponies, and making it come into being."

"You, um. You really did just magic us right then? Maybe Diamond was right afterall..." Garnet got a little worried.

"No, no, no. Well. Yes, but not the way she was thinking. I think the best way to describe it is I unlocked the magic within the two of you, and within your bond. You both really wanted to be harmonious, and so I sang the prelude to your song, and let you two sing the rest. And it was glorious! You two both have such beautiful voices," Alex smiled.

She squirmed nervously for a bit but then thought better of it, and finally pressed up against his side. "You did ask permission first, even if you didn't really explain what you were going to do. And then... you're right, we did want to be harmonious. It was very kind of you. But still... it is a little scary to think of it, isn't it?"

Alex spread his wing over her back, snuggling close. "Even my father is afraid of me, truly! He says the only things he fears more than me is Princesses!" Alexander giggled. "But he is facing his fears now, and much for the better."

Garnet giggled. "Okay, well I think I can handle 'scary like a Princess'," she said before leaning in to kiss him. He accepted it on his cheek with a smile.

"Indeed, but please do not be too forward with me tonight, as I have given my word to be a gentlecolt, and a gentlecolt I shall be!" He kissed her cheek as well before whispering with a wink. "At least today."

The Itinerant Kingdom's new compound was located quite a distance from the nearest occupied building, which allowed them a fair bit of privacy. Nopony's sleep was disturbed as dozens of pegasi, griffons, disguised changelings, and a sphinx landed at the site, dropping off a rider each, and began immediately getting to work. Nor did the lights or magically disruptive ripples of energy from the two 'Gatecrasher' bracers teleporting a couple of earth ponies in and out with loads of material and tools reach any crystal pony's eyes. The moon shone down on them wordlessly, however, and the frozen mountains to the north loomed without a word.

The presence of the small, stone fortress, the size of a city block and looking for all the world to be more defensible than the larger royal palace, fully formed and completed on the outside at least by the breaking of the dawn was a frightening testament to the crystal ponies' new allies, though. For quite a few of the ponies, waking to see the new structure towering over the adjacent blocks, with a half dozen pegasi keeping watch from its parapets was the first sign they had of the Itinerants' existence. And already their wild mix of races was swarming over the surrounding blocks of abandoned buildings, tearing them down and beginning to frame new housing.

Sensing the rising sense of panic at the intrusion, Alexander quietly slipped away from Garnet's sleeping form and took his leave from the Glitter residence. A song was on his lips instantly, the notes reaching out into the tattered shreds of harmony and beginning to wind it back together. The song was actually about the startling new development, letting the ponies work out their fear in a musical number before he guided them back around to realizing that maybe it wasn't so scary after all. The newcomers were drawn out to meet with the ponies as part of the song, as much a slave to his music as the ponies themselves, but somehow a makeshift party managed to be thrown together in the middle of the streets, with newcomers and old residents mingling amongst balloons, streamers, and tasty treats. Pinkie Pie would be proud.

Shining Armor and his guards arrived just after the song ended, expecting to find a riot brewing from the early warnings they had received, only to be greeted by a much more festive scene. Their confusion melted into a tranquil contentment as they surveyed the scene, blissfully unaware of the powers that had been brought to bear as they approached. Alexander approached them, levitating a string of beverages to offer them.

"Greetings, my most stalwart of royal hosts! I trust this morning finds you all well rested? I apologize for the disruption of this impromptu celebration, but I hope the boost to morale will offset the delay in starting the day's work. What do you think, Prince of Love Shining Armor?"

The guards took the offered beverages, while Shining smiled, looking around. "While I'm surprised to see so many of your people here already, I'm glad they seem to be getting along with our ponies so well already. When did they arrive? I don't think the first train has even arrived yet this morning."

"Ah, yes, well the Itinerant Kingdom is named for our mobility, yes? They arrived last night, and began preparing a place for ourselves. I hope nopony's sleep was disturbed! We tried to work quietly. Well, they did. I admit I was enjoying the company of a certain special somepony," he grinned. "I am sure you can understand that better than anypony."

Shining blushed a bit and nodded. "Well, yes, but your people seem to have dug in rather quickly. Is that a fortress?! How did you build it so quickly?!"

Alex waved a hoof dismissively. "I am given to understand they simply pulled up the stone from under the construction site to form the walls. When you don't have to move materials from a distant quarry it is much easier, yes? Though I confess, construction is not my talent."

Shining poked a hoof toward the bard's flank. "Speaking of which, did you just earn your cutie mark last night? I don't recall you having one when last we met."

It was Alex's turn to get a bit embarrassed. "A yes, well, I am the half changeling, as you know. It is not so much a cutie mark, per se, as a.. 'boast'. Nevertheless, I believe my talent at the playing of the music is well and truly true, even if the mark itself is a simple decoration." He cringed a bit as some of the ponies in earshot began the rumormill immediately. Being widely identified as a half changeling was not something he was eager to experience, though he was glad at least his special somepony already knew. On the other hand, if everypony knew he was a shapeshifter he could more openly wear his wings and horn, the secret behind them no longer a mystery.

"Oh, right," Shining nodded, not realizing the impact of the exchange. "Well I'm just glad you all are getting along so well. Carry on." He turned and headed back to the palace, his guards a bit disappointed as they looked longingly at the party they were missing. But duty called.

Chapter 5: Lurking in the Darkness

In the afternoon, Wind Chaser and I finally took our leave of the inn, and headed for the new Itinerant District, as we dubbed it. A square of nine city blocks, it represented the largest contiguous area claimed in any sense by the Itinerant Kingdom. In its center was a hollow husk of a fortress. With sound dampeners to restrict the impact on our neighbors, highly concentrated earth pony might magic to break the stone, and an impressively coordinated team effort of unicorns, pegasi, griffons, minotaurs and others, we had managed to haul an impressive amount of bedrock up from the inside to form two story tall walls in the shape of a fortress. Within, at the moment... it was basically a hole in the ground, another two stories deep. With wings outstretched, we descended into the depths, growing unicorn horns to light our way once we were out of public view.

At the bottom was what I had come to examine in person. Black crystals. They had been embedded throughout the rock as we pulled it up, and all that we exposed we had gathered into a pile at the bottom. More were visible in the rock face around us.

No one traded in these black crystals. No one. Research on them was forbidden in every nation, and using them for basically anything was out of the question. Even asking about them had gotten us into a fair bit of trouble. And now we had a generous supply. They didn't even have a proper name. 'Sombra's black crystals' being the closest.

Apprehension filled me as I approached them. null was standing guard near the stash, as he was the only one entirely immune to their effects. My subjects did not scare easy. After being uplifted from very painful situations, and given the protection of both each other and the spiders' restorative powers, it was hard to take threats as seriously as they once had. But these things... just gave everyone the willies.

Honestly, in a lot of ways I was the easiest of them to scare. My life had, honestly never been that bad. The troubles I had had consisted almost entirely of bringing others' troubles upon myself. And now I had an awful lot to lose. To say nothing of my ability to see the terrifying potential in things, like how the Princesses could wreck my Kingdom or how scary my son's bardic mass mind control abilities were to me. But I had a good idea what I was going to face here.

According to legend these crystals made you face your worst fear. I had faced the crystals before. And I knew what my worst fear was. It had a shape, it had a face and it had a name. His name was Istaran, and he was a fictionalized version of me... one that had taken control of my body in another timeline, and wielded my power with... let us say, remorseless pragmatism. He was in a sense my fear of the power I wielded, personified.

Null took on my form as I approached. Not the form of the pony that stood before him, but that of my human form. He was wrapped in a crimson robe, and sat on the pile of crystals with a smirk. "I was wondering when you would find some excuse to confront me," he said. "I'm impressed... I felt for sure it would be some melodramatic inner struggle within a dreamscape or something, not... this. Giving me an opportunity to take physical form. Well done!"

Wind Chaser took a trembling breath, looking back and forth between the two of us. Her loyalty to me was absolute. So was her loyalty to him I could see. And if it came to it, Turbine's loyalty would tip the balance.

"I needed to face you before I face Luna. We must be united. Bound by the same loyalties, the same treaties, the same bonds of blood." I said.

"I am the wind, and yet you hope to bind me?" he smirked.

"I am the South Wind, you are the North. Together we move all things," I declared, meeting his eyes steadfast.

"You've come a long way... from that scared weakling that needed me to face a lone changeling on the road to nowhere. But you're still afraid. Of yourself, and your power most of all. Afraid not only to lose what you love, but also to protect it. You are afraid to own your faults, especially the darkness in your heart. So what will you do when the darkness owns you instead? The frozen north is no place for one such as you."

"That's why I'm here... to make sure that never happens. Oak Breaker and the others, they wielded the darkness safely..." I began.

"No! They were wielded by the darkness. Don't mistake the likes of them for the likes of me. They were slaves to their own corruption." He breathed deeply, thinking things through before continuing. "The love you wield holds no place in your heart. It flows over you and through you without becoming a part of you. Do you understand what I am talking about?"

I nodded. The love I felt for Wind Chaser and the others was real, a deep part of me, but much of what I channeled, redistributing between my subjects as needed, was never really 'love' in my heart. It was energy and I was a conduit.

"The darkness must be the same for you. A weapon to wield. Energy flowing over you, but not in you. You must wrap your spirit in a shell of darkness, protecting the heart of light within from all evil, all fear, and all guilt," he said.

"And how do I do that. I can wield love because I learned to feel its flow. So how do I learn to feel the flow of darkness without corrupting myself in the process?" I asked.

"Do I really need to spell everything out for you?" he sighed. "Here... have a hint." With a wave of green magic, he was holding a sword in his hands. It was sheathed in a black aura, and had a large obvious switch in the handle. I knew what it was, or rather what it was an illusion of. The 'sword of heaven and hell', one of the fictional Istaran's fictional inventions. It used the dark magic of its user to fuel the magical aura in its blade. What made it unusual, though, was that the switch in its handle could bring a 'mana inverter' into play, using the dark magic to fuel an aura of piercing light instead. Without the inverter, it was dangerous to most normal or good beings, but with the inverter engaged it became dangerous to beings of darkness instead. It was meant as a dark magic user's weapon against darkness. "This blade is suitable for a villain like me. You need to make a weapon suitable for a king," he told me, pointing the blade at me. "One that eats shadows and spits out rainbows, or something. And don't be afraid to iterate. You can't afford to wait for your final masterpiece to be ready."

"Thanks, you've given me a lot to think about," I said, reaching for him with a hoof. He grasped it in his hand and replied "Anything I can do to help. After all, your empire is my empire." And with that a wave of green magic washed over null's form and the zombie cyborg changeling was back to his impassive self.

"Are you really going to trust scary-you's suggestions?" Wind Chaser asked me.

"Yes, for now. I fear him, but I also understand him. If he was just some abstract representation of my fear of my own power, maybe it wouldn't be worth the risk. But he has motivation of his own, ones I can at least comprehend. While he rejects most moral limits, he does have his own code that he will stick to. For example, he would destroy the world if he had to to save his own family," I replied, as I spread my wings and started to fly back to the surface level.

Wind Chaser took flight behind me. "Yeah, but what family? They don't exist, right? Even less so than him."

"Wind Chaser... what do you think we are?"

Wind Chaser thought a moment. "Honestly? I always thought of you more as his jailer."

"I don't see why I can't be both," I said, hiding my unease with a laugh.

Chapter 6: Garnet's Theme

"Ugh, I'm so stupid!" Garnet Glitter said angrily as Deep Digger, a crystal earth pony mare with brown fur and stone grey mane, approached her workstation with a cartload of freshly mined gemstones. The earth pony started unloading, and the unicorn started picking through them to find suitable ones to carve runes into.

"What makes you think that, pink?" her friend asked.

"I was stupid enough to invite a stallion over and expect him to actually be there in the morning when I woke up. Is it too much to ask, really?" she vented. The crystal she was working on cracked under the pressure of her magic, resulting in some colorful language.

"Oh? Who? I want details! Did he take your, you know? Did he break your heart? Do I need to break something of his?" Deep asked excitedly.

"Do you know those newcomers that just moved in to town? He was their prince. He has such an exotic name. Alexander. I made him promise to be a gentlecolt, and he was, even when I didn't want him to be anymore. We stayed up all night talking, until I couldn't stay up any later... and then he left while I slept," she explained.

"Alexander? Yeah, that is a weird name. But... it sounds like he didn't really do anything. Right or wrong. So... you need some tips for turning up the heat?" Deep asked.

"What? No. Well, maybe? I think he was interested, but he held fast to his word... which is kind of noble I guess. But when morning came he was nowhere to be found. If he wanted to leave he should have said goodbye at least." Garnet fumed.

"Morning... oh! That's right, I didn't see you at the party this morning. Things started getting tense between the newcomers and the rest of us, but somepony got the idea of throwing a huge street party and everyone got a chance to meet each other. They're all so nice! Though they can be a bit gruff for sure. Anyways, I saw their prince mingling... he's quite a looker, huh?" Deep explained.

"So he skipped out on me to go to a party without me?! Argh! We've only just met and he's already moved on... Maybe Diamond was right about him." Garnet lamented.

"He's a Prince, right? On top of being a cutie? I wouldn't give up that easily. He liked you enough to spend all night talking. I'll bet he likes you enough for a second date," Deep suggested. "Go ask him out again, and this time turn up the heat!"

"Alright, I'll see if I can find him after work. But first... ugh, we've been so busy talking I haven't even gotten a single gem enchanted!" Garnet cried.

"Aww... maybe I better leave you alone for a bit then. But I'll be back with another load later. And I want to hear what your plan is to bag that Prince!" Deep said with a laugh before taking her leave.

Garnet breathed slowly and deeply, calming her nerves and focusing her resolve. After work, she had spent every bit she had preparing for tonight, leaving only enough in reserve to pay for dinner. It was time to 'wow' that prince so thoroughly that he would never even consider skipping out on her again. Or, for that matter, hitting on any other mares.

Garnet was wearing a beautiful new evening gown, a sky blue that complimented her pink fur well, and also went well with her jewelry. The garnets in her earrings and necklace glittered pinkly, as did her shoes. Her hooves were freshly painted, a shade of blue similar to her dress, while the rest of her makeup was much more subtle; just enough to really accentuate her feminine features. The ladies at the spa had really outdone themselves when they heard she was going on a date with a prince. She still had to convince the prince of that, but she really doubted he would turn her down looking like this.

The sound of his music made it easy to locate him, right back in the same spot she had first met him. She paused just out of sight, listening to his song, and trying to get a feel for it, trying to decide the exact moment to reveal herself. Before long though, the moment chose her. He started singing about how he had found something beautiful here. The first verse was clearly about the town as a whole and it's people, but she found herself compelled to join him in singing the chorus line, in a singing voice more beautiful than she had realized herself capable of. His face lit up as she approached him, but the song continued. In the next verse he was clearly singing about her, though interestingly not a single lyric mentioned anything about the way she was dressed now in particular; the compliments of her beauty were every bit as true when they first met as now.

While they sang the chorus together again, his changeling magic openly played across his form, leaving him dressed and made up in a more explicitly 'princely' way, with a formal suit and a little crown. While he didn't seem to have makeup, per se, his facial features seemed just a bit more refined than before as well; details that had been crafted to make him look more down to earth and ordinary were replaced with details that subtly made him seem more regal and extraordinary. And while his dull white cloak was transformed to a fur lined red, it was pulled toward the center as his wings flexed and were openly revealed.

Then it was Garnet's turn for a solo, something she really didn't expect. And yet the lyrics flowed forth from her, complimenting the prince before her as she came to sit on her haunches before him. Again, none of her compliments were specific to his transformation, instead largely focusing on the beauty she saw in his heart. Finally, coming out of the musical flow, she took one of his hooves in hers and asked, "Prince Alexander, will you join me for dinner?"

"Of course! I was hoping to ask you out when I saw you again, but I did not know where you spend your day. It was the best I could do to wait where I knew you could find me." He hopped off his seat and nuzzled her affectionately. "You did not have to go to such trouble for me, but I am very pleased to see your beauty so well drawn out!" He drew in a deep breath through his nose, reveling her perfumed scent.

Garnet blushed as she turned to start to lead him toward the restaurant she had chosen. "Really? I was afraid you had... moved on, after you left without saying goodbye. I heard you went to the street party without me."

"Perish the thought!" he declared loudly before dropping his voice. "In truth, I was called away for business. More particularly, seeing to it that the riot that was brewing become a party instead. I would have invited you along, but I saw that you needed your sleep and there was no time to wake you gently. The Harmony of this place is much too fragile as it stands, so I may be needed again with little warning. I trust you will forgive me!"

"I feel so foalish for thinking so ill of you. I shouldn't have jumped to such conclusions," she hung her head blushing a bit before she snapped back to attention. "Oh! The party. It's like what you did to 'help' me and my sister come to peace, wasn't it? I still don't think I understand how that worked. Something about songs... wait, you didn't somehow make me come ask you out, did you?!"

"No, no, no, no. I was as much dragged along by that wild Song Magic as you were, though I suppose I could have stopped it if I tried. But then, why would I want to avoid being asked out by such a beautiful mare?" he wrapped a wing around her and nuzzled her cheek. "Though I suppose if another mare asked me out, that might need avoiding. You do not strike me as the sharing type."

Garnet blushed even harder and whispered back. "I hadn't even thought about anything like that. Why, is that something you really want?"

Alex blushed a bit before whispering to Garnet. "I think perhaps someday we find a stallion we could share between us? But there is no need to rush into such a thing."

Garnet stopped just outside the '13 Bits' restaurant, too embarrassed by their topic of conversation to go in yet. "I really hadn't thought about anything like that!"

"Then think about it. There is no need to rush such a decision. Just remember I am as much mare as stallion. Though I am happy to let you satisfy all of my needs if you like." He stopped whispering to add, "was this where you had in mind for dinner? It looks quite luxurious! I wonder if they have a dance floor, so that I can show off my date to everypony." With that he opened the door for her, showing her inside.

Chapter 7: The Evil Mist Returns

The ponies of the Crystal Empire were a bright and cheerful folk. Or at least, they tried really, really hard to be. They loved their Princess and they loved their Prince and they tried to believe that the noble pair could ward away all of the shadows. But deep in their hearts, the hurt and fear of their past could not be erased completely, and so bit by bit the shadows of the north grew stronger and the power of the Crystal Heart to keep them at bay slowly ebbed. The annual Crystal Fair renewed their protection, only for it to begin ebbing away anew.

The impermanence of their protection made it hard for the ponies to fully release their fears. And when the recent invasion of shadow creatures freshly reminded them of their past torments at the monsters' hands, they couldn't help but have troubled dreams and troubled thoughts.

But that was nothing compared with the burdens their new neighbors hid. Many of the Itinerant Kingdom had suffered such torments at the hooves of their fellow ponies in the past few years, and many of them had blood on their hooves from fighting back. Even those that didn't have blood on their hooves personally held a darker, more cynical view than they once had, and eagerly sided with the killers amongst them. After all they had been through, witnessed, and shared, every one of them believed that sometimes a bad pony just needed killing. They hid their thoughts under a veneer of sunshine and rainbows, with a mastery of duplicity taught to them by the changelings in their midst. For the most part they weren't suspicious of the crystal ponies: they had a soft spot for former mining slaves, as many of them had come from such circumstances, and assumed their innocence. Instead they pitied them for their presumed weakness, assuming they would crumple into submission again if the whip was raised against them again.

The Itinerants hid the darkness from their faces, from their voices, and their daily interactions. But they couldn't hide it from the shadows that lurked nearby. And so secretly, quietly, the balance of power shifted.

Garnet could barely stand when they left the restaurant. She was exhausted and a bit dizzy from hours of dancing, despite the food and rest breaks throughout the night. Her Prince had made good on his promise to show her off, and indeed by the end of the night there were clearly quite a few jealous looks at each of them. But despite the joy of it all, the crystal mare's body could only manage so much, and the Prince's tireless enthusiasm could only goad her on for so many 'one more' dances.

And so, the Prince happily left the restaurant on his hind hooves, carrying his marefriend in his forehooves surprisingly easily as he strolled down the street with a massive grin. "You're a Prince," Garnet pointed out, feeling almost drunk from the exhaustion, "you don't have to keep trying to impress me!"

"I know!" he said excitedly. "It is so freeing to be with one who knows that about me for once. Truly it is. And yet, my former guardian, Mr Muffin, would be aghast if I were to leave a lady in such a state without carrying her home. And if there is one thing Mr Muffin knew how to do well, it was treating the ladies right. Besides, it is no trouble for me. I am glad to have my hooves about you, whatever the reason."

Garnet snuggled against him with a pleased sigh. "It's too bad I'm so thoroughly exhausted. I'd love to show you a good time when we get home," she said suggestively.

"Such a beautiful sentiment from a beautiful mare, but you have already shown my a great time tonight. And we are both so young, there will be many, many opportunities to enjoy each other like that. Do not be in such a rush, beloved. I promise you it will be well worth the wait, and better still for having waited."

He skidded to a stop on his hind hooves as he rounded the last corner toward their house, remarkably managing to keep his balance despite the sudden maneuver. She started to question his action until her eyes focused on their surroundings. A black, oily looking mist blanketed the ground ahead of them, where the street dipped downward. It had almost risen to the level of their own feet, and seemed to be flowing into the windows of nearby houses. Garnet's home was on this street, far from the Itinerant District.

"No!" Garnet cried in alarm, clearly recognizing the mist. "Diamond!" she screamed out a moment later, calling her sister's name. That sister grumpily opened a top floor window, blearily looking in their direction before the sight of the mist called her to alarm as well. Soon everypony on the street was at their windows, clamoring in alarm.

Alex flew to Diamond's window, offering her a spot on his back, while the crystal pegasi nearby began carrying others to safety. Pegasi and griffons made their way south from the Itinerant District to lend their wings, calling out to everypony that could on the way to take flight and lend a hoof. "What is this mist?" Alex asked the Glitter sisters when he had a chance. "You seemed to recognize it."

"It's Nightmare Mist," Diamond informed him, "if it gets to you while you're sleeping, you may disappear, never to be seen again. And if you're awake when you touch it, you'll be plagued by nightmares for weeks. It shouldn't be able to get in here, not so soon after the Crystal Fair. Even without the Crystal Heart protecting us, the walls should be enough to keep it out. For it to have climbed this high without anyone noticing... "

The fliers worked tirelessly to evacuate everyone that could be evacuated, but the mist had already claimed several victims and guards that should have been watching the southern portions of the wall were missing, only blood stains and claw shaped gashes in the masonry were left behind to speak of their fate.

Despite the dire threat, a work force from the Itinerant Kingdom braved the mists to search the wall for holes, and worked quickly to patch the ones they found. After all, what were nightmares to the people who no longer slept? Before the dawn, they had assembled a series of pumps along the wall and used them to drain the remaining mist back over the walls, where it besieged them until the sun's light could burn it away.

Prince Shining Armor and Princess Cadance arrived as soon as they could. With their magic they reinforced the patched portions of the walls, and thanked the work crews for their efforts. I arrived belatedly, trying to give our hosts a stronger spot in the spotlight before I started giving orders out loud, adding guards to the walls and offering a place to stay in our district to anyone who didn't dare return to their own homes.

With the crisis handled, the Prince and Princess came to meet with me. "Are your people going to be alright?" he asked, concern obvious in his voice. "Some of them were in the mist an awfully long time doing heavy labor. I'm grateful for their help, but I worry what it may do to them."

"We've been warned to expect nightmares in the weeks ahead. We'll take what precautions we can, though perhaps it would be best to meet with Luna and enlist her aid in the matter. I have been putting it off, but in time I should meet with each of the Princesses. Personally, though, I'm more worried about what this portends. The mist didn't make those holes, nor dispatch your guards. This was just the opening salvo of something larger."

"If they are this bold so soon after the Crystal Fair we are in for a very difficult and dangerous year," Cadance agreed. "You promised to lend us your aid if battle should come. I trust you will be true to your word?"

"The Itinerant Kingdom will stand by your side. We all have something worth protecting here," I nodded. "You two are tired yet. Get some rest. We will watch the night, and meet with you in the morning."

"It's good to have dependable allies," Shining Armor said, though I could sense an undercurrent of doubt in his words. "We will see you in the morning."

Chapter 8: One Danger Put Behind Us...

"You have the prototype ready already?" I asked Forge Soot as the black furred minotaur approached. He nodded to me as he passed over a sword wrapped in white cloths. "Come on then, there should be some remnants of the mists farther down."

The pumps we had assembled had done a fair job of removing the mists from the lower reaches of the Empire, and the patching of the walls was keeping it out for now. Whoever had attacked didn't press their advantage, this time. But I suspected I knew why. We were tense. But we were expecting yet another fight in our all too violent way of life. We weren't afraid. Maybe we should have been, but we weren't. Our allies, on the other hand... they were terrified. The changelings in our numbers were actually getting queasy from all the fear radiating off the ponies around them. This was the shadows' food, not the changelings'. And I was fairly certain they were out there feasting on it while they took their time to prepare their next offensive.

But we had uses for that time as well. Uses such as experimenting with how to use dark crystals against them. Forge Soot the minotaur and Erwin the griffon had become an adept pair at forging new tools and weapons for our cause, integrating what crystals we could acquire with ancient runic techniques from the griffons to make magical tools for us. The 'Gatecrasher' bracers were the current pinnacle of that technology. It created a small anti-magic field both around the user and their destination, disrupting spells on both ends, including those intended to prevent teleportation. It then wove the magical pattern for a teleportation effect into the disruptive field so that our own teleportation could be accomplished even if others could not. It was a great tool for getting into and out of places we weren't wanted.

The latest prototype, however, was something different. It was a sword. Istaran had suggested I needed to make a sword 'fit for a king'. This was not that sword, but I hoped it would prove enlightening, and be a first step toward the process. The blade was laced with dark crystals filling runic indentations along the blade. When I reached the mist, after checking quickly to make sure the locals were not around to watch, I removed the cloths covering it, and very lightly and briefly touched the blade to the mist.

As predicted, the mist was quickly sucked into the blade, leaving a bit more clear air. The dark power of its magic, meanwhile, flowed through the blade, into the handle, and through it, into me. I focused on it, trying to control it, trying to make it flow around my heart, as Istaran had suggested. It was frustratingly hard, which was pissing me off. After a moment I realized the anger was a side effect of letting it into my heart, which pissed me off even more.

Carefully keeping the blade away from the mist, I breathed slowly, drawing in some of the love reserves from my changeling subjects and forcefully pulling it into my heart to cancel out the darkness. They didn't actually, cancel, per se but interacted weirdly, making a sort of... violent protective feeling. I wanted so badly to go hurt whoever threatened my people and our allies.

[Are you ok, boss?] the minotaur asked silently. [Don't rush this.]

[The sun will rise soon, and with it our opportunity will fade. But... you're right, there will be other opportunities, as long as I don't let this corrupt me. It looks like the 'Sin Eater' project is an initial success, though. At least we can channel the power out of the mist. Now if we can just find someplace safe to channel it to.]

We stayed by the mist another hour, practicing channeling it out in small doses, eventually getting the hang of holding a small amount of it flowing around the edges of my heart, without letting it alter my personality or mood. I even managed to flow a bit of it to Forge Soot, who clenched a fist in response until he could rebalance his own emotions. That was about as much as we felt comfortable messing with for the moment, so I returned the Sin Eater to Forge and prepared to meet with Shining Armor at dawn to pass on the guard duties.

"My guards tell me the rest of the night passed uneventfully," Shining Armor began. "We are missing five of our own guards from the south wall, and a dozen civilians from their homes nearby."

"Indeed. You'll need to get us caught up on everything you know the enemy can do. We could have intervened sooner if we had known we need to reinforce the guards immediately. As it is, I've posted guard rotations on every watch tower. I'll have eyes on every tower nonstop. The Kingsblood lets us keep in constant contact: even if one of mine were to vanish instantly, we would all notice and be able to react. We can't let the enemy get this far unnoticed ever again," I responded.

"We appreciate your people's vigilance," Shining Armor replied. "Though you'll forgive us if we don't sleep easy just yet. We are in for a very dangerous year. Normally, the shadows wouldn't be able to launch any kind of attack this shortly after the festival. Something's gotten them riled up, and given them power." He looked at me, a few shades shy of accusingly.

I stood up on my haunches and folded my forehooves. "We will risk our lives, and do whatever else it takes to keep you, your wife, and your people safe."

"Not that I doubt you, but can I ask why? You call yourself the Itinerants, a word which speaks of how readily you move. So why are you so eager to entrench yourselves here and take a stand?" he asked.

"We've all lost things to those with darkness in their hearts, especially those who have sided with Sombra. Did you know he had a cult working in his name within Equestria during the years leading up to his return? I think they thought by paving the way for his return to be triumphant they would be able to earn positions in his government, to wield the whip instead of being on the receiving end. We've been fighting this war longer than you have, and it's always meant going to where the enemy is," I explained.

Shining started to nod but then his eyes went wide with realization. "You aren't just fighting defensively. You came here looking for a fight! I just hope you haven't bitten off more than you can chew. Those guards, and those civilians that were captured last night... would the shadows have even been here if you weren't?"

I shook my head. "I don't know. I expected the crystal heart to ward them off longer, the same as you. I came just after the festival to have as long as possible to prepare. But things have escalated quickly. By the way, you said they were captured. Do you know that they were taken and not killed? If so, we should mount a rescue mission as soon as possible."

It was Shining's turn to shake his head. "We don't know for certain. But the shadows prefer to enslave ponies and harvest their fear and pain. And while there were blood splatters near where the guards disappeared, it didn't look like enough to indicate death. Not for certain, at any rate. Do you really think we can afford the pony-power to attempt a rescue? We don't even know where they were taken."

"I'll begin making preparations. In the meantime if you could arrange delivery of a personal item from each of the victims, it will be very helpful. The more personal the item the better; ask their friends or family. If it's something they interact with every day, especially if it is quite distinctively theirs, it will make it much easier to divine their location. If you can't get items for all of them, we'll make do with what we get and hope they are being held close together," I said.

"We thank you again for your courage. Though.. I still don't think I understand it. Why do you go to such great lengths to bring the fight to the shadows? If you hadn't arrived, we probably could have gone another year with minimal incursions. We can defend ourselves well enough when things aren't being, as you put it, escalated. So why?"

"'All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good ponies to do nothing,'" I quoted, slightly ponified for my audience. "While Celestia and Luna were oblivious to the danger, ponies were being snatched up from under their hooves by the shadows' allies in Equestria, their spirits broken and their bodies worked to death as slaves. Now that we've freed ourselves, it is their turn to fear us."

Shining nodded somberly, but I could tell he was put off by the hardness in my voice. "Were you one of the slaves yourself?"

"Only briefly. But I made death my most reliable ally. And with it, I've made this world a little safer for those who wish it to be more safe, and a lot more dangerous for those who wish it to be more dangerous." I breathed in a deep steadying breath. "Go back to your wife, Shining. I'm sorry to have troubled you with such dark thoughts. Your heart is best kept pure of such things. Let us take on the shadows, while you and Cadance remain a pair shining beacons to return home to."

He paused a moment, trying to think of a response but just left to do as I suggested, his heart heavy from the conversation.

[Everyone,] I broadcast to my subjects. [Prepare for a massive attack tonight. Assume the crystal heart's protection will be minimal. War comes for us. Be ready.]

Chapter 9: You're not alone!

I stopped by the fortress façade we had built, slipping past a couple of ponies standing guard to keep curious gem ponies at bay. It wouldn't be that long before the place was presentable, its secrets well hidden out of sight, but we weren't there yet. We were still busy making new secrets.

The main portion of the interior was still a big empty pit for now, but the means to change that was just settling into place at the bottom. We had cleared out all of the dark crystals revealed so far, stored them away for later use making more Sin Eaters or other experiments. Now the bottom floor was completely clear except for a single earth pony, a colt named Bark Tender. He was one of the seasonal workers who had joined us in the early days, a green pony with brown mane and a trio of trees for a cutie mark. He had been captured along with Cherry Blossom, forced to watch her thrown to her death in the pit beneath Citrus Hills for daring to insist they would be rescued, and ultimately watched her rise again as my 'undead' abomination. Now, he squirmed a bit as he settled into place at the bottom of his own pit, looking up at me with a nervous smile.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" I asked him. "You could very easily die in the process..."

"I'm not going to die, I'm just going to transform. Even if I did become 'dead', I won't fail. I'll just become even more like her. And that's the point... Cherry Blossom has been alone for far too long," Bark Tender answered. He had resolve in his voice, but it was far from total. He was afraid, though, much less than I was afraid for him. He closed his eyes and grit his teeth as a protrusion emerged from his forehead, his kingsblood forcing a newly formed horn into place where there had been none. "I don't suppose I could convince you to give me some privacy?"

I shook my head. "Whatever happens, I'm with you to the end. Though, just in case I'll watch from up here, hopefully outside your blast radius if something goes horribly wrong."

He rolled his eyes at me. "Really not the time for jokes," he said before concentrating. I noted his subnet id changed to 'gardener - hosting Viagra' as Stud Muffin remotely took control of his newly formed horn and began casting. I began drawing 'love' from my changelings and channeling it into the colt, empowering the spell.

Bark Tender's form began to twist and mutate, fur and skin becoming bark, while the flesh underneath changed to match. Roots and limbs shot forth, plunging into the walls and ceiling. In minutes he occupied the entire bottom of the shaft, and still he was growing rapidly. The ground trembled and shook lightly as roots dug into the earth around us, absorbing and devouring its rich nutrients. I could feel his fear starting to spike and focused my thoughts toward easing him through it, even as I felt Cherry Blossom doing the same. The earth here still held more caches of the dark crystals, unchanged over the thousand years since Sombra created them. They were much stronger than the ones harvested in Equestria, and Bark's roots had to find them physically and destroy them as he went, giving him a full terrifying dose of their power as he did. Unlike Cherry Blossom, he lacked the dead's immunity to their effects, though at times he felt ready to give up on life and die from the sheer supernatural terror they inspired.

The nanospiders that made up his 'kingsblood' multiplied rapidly. The magic could not replicate them, but merely gave them a larger region in which to exist, letting them replicate themselves and fill the growing wood, permeating the sap that ran through it. It was tying up a lot of their thought for now, but as portions became finished I could feel its consciousness expanding, becoming more like Cherry Blossom's. A massive, almost unfathomable intellect: more thought than will. What remained of the pony, the real pony's heart and mind, seemed tiny in comparison, but like a small rudder could turn a ship, I knew what an impact it could still have.

I directed others throughout the kingdom to make their respective preparations for the night ahead while I watched. Over the hours I saw limbs of wood climb up the sides for the shaft, before filling in the space between to make a solid coat of wood from the bottom of the basement to the top of the tower, leaving holes only for the windows and doors. Interior floors and walls grew out across the space, even perfectly spaced stairs connecting most of the floors, while a column in the center served as an elevator shaft. The wood was all covered in bark as it grew, fitting given the martyr's name, but as sections were completed the bark dissolved to leave perfectly smooth wood, even secreting a bit of varnish to look perfectly manufactured. Only on the lowest floor the stairs reached was the living nature of the wood on display, with wooden limbs that moved freely, as weird semi-organic sort of robotic factory floor.

The bottom floor was kept accessible only by the elevator, a lift controlled by Bark Tender himself, and was meant to house our ongoing research projects, far from the prying eyes of outsiders. Disruption fields were put into place, making it difficult to impossible to teleport in or remotely view the contents without specialized techniques like those used by our 'gatecrasher' teleportation bracers. It was as fine a secret laboratory as one could hope for, though for now it lacked interested secrets except for the horned colt's head protruding from one wall.

Down below, the roots continued to dig deeper and deeper. For now, between magic and the earth he was consuming, Bark was able to meet his ongoing needs as a living being, but in the long run he would need an energy source. Growing leaves over the top of the building was an amusing option, and we used it, but it didn't provide enough energy to keep everything going. At this latitude, the sunlight was too indirect, and the root system was too broadly spread as well. However, we had high hopes for being able to tap into the geothermal energy deep in the earth and sustain the massive plant-pony that way.

As the day approached its end, I approached Bark Tender's face, and gave him a light nuzzle. "I'm glad you're still alive. And.. at least a little bit pony."

"This is... really incredible. Even with our link, I can't describe how it feels. Your mind just doesn't have room for it all," he replied, awestruck with his own transformation.

"Thank you so much for doing this. I'm... still sad that you lost what chance you had left of a normal life, but I just hope you can be happy like this," I answered.

The head in the wall nodded. "I've got a very strong connection to Cherry Blossom now. Not just in terms of bandwidth but... well, we are closer than ever in other ways as well. I know she tried to not be lonely by being connected to everyone through 'Elysium'," he said, referring to the virtual 'dream' world she maintained for the other ponies in our kingdom, "but she was still so... different than everyone else. She finally has someone who can relate to her."

I nodded, turning in a futile effort to hide my tears as I walked back toward the elevator. "I need to get back upstairs, prepare for the siege," I managed to get back out. I wasn't even quite sure what I was crying for.

[It will all be okay,] Cherry Blossom assured me. [Better than okay.]

When he could afford to take a break from singing, Alexander went looking for Garnet. It took some time and some asking around, but he finally found her at the castle, hanging out with her sister while the older mare stood guard at one of the side entrances.

"Greetings, my fine glittering mares! The sunlight really draws out your beauty," he complimented as he glided to a halt before them.

Diamond Glitter looked at him in annoyance before letting her expression soften. "I- I owe you an apology," she began.

Alex waved it off with a hoof. "Say no more. Life is too precious to waste it on guilt and regrets. I am only glad that we found you before it was too late. And the others as well! As many as we were able to rescue.. so far."

"So far? Do you think the others can still be saved?" Garnet asked hopefully. By her expression it appeared Diamond lacked her hope.

Alex nodded. "We will do what we can, and we cannot promise success in this endeavor, but my father and our people will do everything we can."

"Thanks so much. For everything," Garnet replied before moving in for a kiss. It started as a light peck, but then she closed in for a second kiss, pulling Alex in tightly for a deep, passionate kiss that lasted until Diamond 'coughed' to remind them they weren't alone. Garnet was blushing heavily as she backed off.

Alex nodded, blushing brightly as he sat back on his haunches, dazed a moment just enjoying the sensation. As a half-changeling, he could easily sense her emotions toward him, even if they weren't a required part of his diet. And simply basking in it, along with the sunlight on his back, was a nice break from the tensions of the day. Eventually though those tensions returned to his thoughts. "Do you two have a safer place to be tonight? I fear there will be another attack tonight, and I would feel better knowing you are far from the front."

"We will be pulling all of the civilians into the fortress proper tonight. The main advantage of our low population is that we can do so if we must, though it makes life harder for everypony. Better than being hurt in a fight though. What about your people?" Diamond responded.

"We will be the front," Alex said, standing up and getting a determined look. "If it is okay, I believe it would be best for me to be on the roof of this fine fortification. My own contribution will be acoustic in nature, and that would be the best place to let my songs ring out across the whole battlefield. If your liege is agreeable to the idea, that is."

"Can your songs even be heard from that far away?" Garnet questioned.

"Would it really surprise you to know I know some spells for amplifying sounds?" he countered.

Garnet looked a bit embarrassed to have not assumed as much. "Of course, why wouldn't you. I mean.. it's practically your cutie mark."

Alex waved dismissively. "As I said, the marking is false, or at most a 'boast'. Neither of my parents' races get real cutie marks. Nevertheless, song is most assuredly my passion and my talent. The spells I had to learn from the libraries in Canterlot, however."

"I'll check with the Prince and Princess about that, but I doubt they'll have a problem with it. We're happy to have any contribution to the defense of our ponies, even one as unconventional as singing," she answered. Diamond was still a bit skeptical, and it showed in her tone, but she had seen some evidence of the bard's powers already, and couldn't dismiss it as completely as some did. She didn't remember singing along with the duet with her sister the night Alex had first come to their home, but she did remember their fight and that they had reconciled much more easily than she would have expected. That, and the street riots that had been instantly flipped into a street party... the Itinerant Prince had done something, surely, even if nopony recalled a lyric or a note.

"But one thing: no making out while I'm away. She's watching!" Diamond pointed to her partner, the other guardpony on duty at this entrance, before heading inside. So instead Alex and Garnet stood side by side, watching the sunshine and the glittering ponies below as they simply enjoyed each other's company.

As the elevator rose to deposit me on the ground floor, I found myself rising farther than I had requested, and let out on the top floor instead. There was housing here for some of our key personnel, including the 'royal suite' that would soon be my home. The door to that suite was the only one open in the hallway before me, and I sighed a bit to myself, noticing my wife's subnet signature coming from within. Her ability to override my orders got on my nerves at time, but I knew she always had my best interests at heart. Or at the least, her own interpretations of them.

I trotted up to the door, looking within only to see Bark Tender had already managed to furnish the room, including an elegant four poster bed dominating the center of the second room in. I could see the silhouette of somepony within, Queen Wind Chaser if her id was not a lie. It wouldn't be the first time she had tried to trick me into sex with somepony else, and I knew she wanted me to impregnate the other changelings at least once each.

But as I approached and pushed aside the curtains, hearing the doors close themselves behind me, I could feel the powerful, genuine love radiating from her. It wasn't like when we redistributed the magical power source that was 'love', using the changelings as living magical batteries to story the power ponies naturally generated. It was her heart reaching out for mine, laying bear her true emotions. The other changelings might have been able to fake her subnet id with her help, and they could easily fake her appearance, but they couldn't match her love. Most of them had some degree of love for me in their own right, for varying definitions of 'love', but nothing that could compare to that of my queen.

I was surprised when I laid eyes on her, as rather than her natural bug-pony form (which I had slowly gained an appreciation for over the years) or her more common pegasus disguise or some other pony form she had chosen her 'guardian angel' form. It was the form she was in when I first set eyes on her, drawn from the memories of my alternate-timeline self before I had met her. A beautiful human woman, with long flowing golden hair and fair but not pale skin. She was tall, lean, and graceful. She wore a shimmering white dress, revealing just enough skin to tantalize, framed by a massive pair of white feathery wings. The wings glittered slightly, a new trick she must have picked up from the crystal pegasi. And her face was obscured by a thin, silky white veil.

"To what do I owe this... delightful presentation?" I asked, climbing onto the end of the bed and drinking in the sights. "And should I be changing to match?"

"Use whatever form you like, my beloved," Wind Chaser replied. "I just wanted to remind you how much you are loved, before you go into battle tonight. This is a battle of hearts as much as it is a battle of bodies, minds, and blades. Perhaps more so." She beckoned me with a finger gesture and a lustful grin. "So, come and fill your heart with the awareness of our love, while you have the time to do so. Then I will take my place at your side as we show our enemies the strength of our hearts."

We didn't have a lot of time together, but we made the best of it.

Chapter 10: Secret Maneuverings

The guards standing in front of the restricted section of the Canterlot Royal Archives were good ponies. They could be a little rough around the edges at times as guards sometimes had to be, and they were not above the occasional lustful thought as they eyed a mare passing by. But nothing that really qualified as darkness in their hearts. As such, they were completely under the effects of the shadow cloak worn by the unicorn mare that strolled toward them, completely unable to consciously perceive her presence. Their subconscious perceived her, just enough for them to find it unsurprising when the door they were supposed to be guarding opened for her, and she strolled right in past them.

Once inside, Midnight Oil hurriedly got to work. She lit a small candle, floating it in the air above her with her horn's magic while she started lifting books from the shelves on both sides of her, flipping one open before each eye and instantly memorizing page after page. She had done this trick many times before in less guarded libraries throughout Canterlot, but this time was different. She was on a time crunch, not only because of the risk of being caught, but also because of the urgency of the materials being made available to the other ponies of her kingdom. She didn't have time to look through every book, only those with promising titles. If the spine of the book didn't contain a synonym for 'dark' or one of its derivatives, she passed it by unopened. As promising as a 'Comparative Study on Various Magical Fireballs' looked in general, she had a very specific goal in mind.

Midnight had taken as many precautions as she could to make sure this raid went smoothly. One of which was dying her fur to match that of Princess Twilight Sparkle, right down to the cutie mark. The cloak covering where her wings would be would temporarily avoid that discrepancy from being visible, and it helped that her aura color coincidently matched that of the Princess of Friendship. The Princess herself should be unable to perceive her through the shadow cloak, if nopony pointed her out. One of her friends and fellow subject, Moonbeam, was surreptitiously scheduled as one of the guards for the archives tonight when the night guards took over, though if she didn't find what she needed by then it would be a problem of its own. A few devices in her saddlebags would tilt things further in her favor, one of which she took a moment to activate now. Lastly, the pair of bracers on her forehooves provided her a few tactical options in the event that things did get heated.

She had some initial success, finding a few works that managed to touch on the subject of interest, before a voice called out to her from the main pathway. "Excuse me, miss, you can't be here..." it began.

"Hmm?" she answered, turning sideways to let him get a look at her falsified flank mark. She quietly tensed. For the unicorn stallion that confronted her to have noticed her, he must have enough darkness in his heart to pierce the veil, or some other powerful magics active to break the deception. While they knew Princess Celestia herself had been able to create dark crystals as a demonstration, and thus clearly had the darkness needed without being consumed by evil, few other non-evil ponies had been able to see through it. Most were those like herself, ponies who had lived through horrific, traumatic experienced and left with a piece of them desperate to lash out at the cruel world that would let them suffer so.

"Oh, Princess Sparkle! I didn't expect to see you here today. Forgive me, I..." he started to turn away, and then suddenly snapped back to attention. "Imposter!" She had no idea what had given her away, but was already on her way around the corner. "Guards! There's a thief in the archives!"

A bubble of blue telekinetic force gripped Midnight for a moment, lifting her from the ground and immobilizing her for a moment, before a small dagger floated out of her pouch and popped it like a soap bubble, the runic markings on the blade flashing with light momentarily. The librarian was surprised for a moment, but began casting a spell, only to have the dagger fly out and tap him lightly on the horn, cancelling his spell. There was no aura of magic around it as it flew, but from her gestures it was clear Midnight was somehow directing it with a hoof.

Things got intense. The unicorn kept trying to cast, while aggressively approaching the somewhat smaller and weaker mare, and calling out for guards. It was a wonder they couldn't hear him, being as they were right outside the door. Meanwhile, the mare not only kept tapping his horn with that accursed blade that magically, if awkwardly, flew through the air despite being seemingly immune to magic otherwise, but she also kept drawing books off the shelves as she retreated, and flipping through them page by page as if desperately searching for something. He would think her choices of books random if not for the fact that he was a fast enough reader to catch the trend in the titles.

"You've really doomed yourself now, filly! There's no way we can let you go after reading so much on dark magics. They're forbidden for a reason, you know? When the guards catch you, you'll never see the light of day again!" he said, trying to intimidate her into making a mistake.

Midnight Oil grit her teeth a bit, deciding not to say anything. The mission was key, but after that they still had to live with these ponies, and that meant whatever she said now could come back to bite them someday.

With her harassment, the librarian had only the barest openings to cast, not enough for any true spells, and barely enough for any telekinesis. But he had learned that if he blocked with one hoof, he could slow the blade down a little longer, forcing it to go around his hoof to hit his horn and extending his time by a moment. So he decided to try and use that for a quick distraction. Right after one of the horn-taps, he lit up his horn and opened her saddlebags, dumping the contents before she could tap his horn again. A small rubber ball with holes in it dropped on one side of her, bouncing lightly, while a glass orb dropped from the other, shattering on the stone floor and cancelling an enchantment he hadn't realized he was being affected by until it vanished.

"Guards!" he called out loudly again, and this time they opened the door, coming to his aid.

There was just one problem, one he hadn't realized yet. "Hey, Forbidden Lore, what are you doing? You're going to have to clean up that mess, you know."

"Intruder!" he replied, pointing at Midnight Oil.

"What? Where!?" and soon they were off past Midnight, and looking around the corners beyond her.

Midnight smirked in amusement, but she didn't have time to waste. The librarian was smart enough to rip her cloak off next, she was sure. She knew she had reached the limits of what success she could achieve here, and quickly dumped a pile of books on the librarian as a distraction of her own before racing around a corner, pulling her blade back to her in the process.

The librarian was around the corner after her just in time to be hit by a translucent wave that disrupted his magic momentarily. But then, the intruder was gone. He spent another half hour searching for her to be sure, including a few magic tricks of his own, but she was gone. He thought she must have teleported away, but the disruptive wave had wiped out any lingering trace of the teleportation magic that might have allowed him to track her destination.

But she hadn't gotten away smoothly. The glass orb whose enchantment prevent sound from exiting its area of effect was destroyed. But perhaps more importantly, the little rubber ball would surely prove a vital clue to their intruder's identity.

[That's all I was able to get, my King. Will it be enough?] Midnight asked me.

[It will have to be. Most of this is going to be useless to us, at least here. I'm going to assume that using dark magic directly on the shadow creatures is counterproductive, so stuff like these mind control spells is right out, and the direct attack spells. I'm amused that someone worked out how to use shadow magic for TK, since you ponies normally do it with your ordinary 'love' magic. Shadow TK might be effective against the shadows, I'll have to try it at least once. Self-empowerment should work. These defenses are going to be questionable, but worth a try. Thank you Midnight,] I answered.

[Experimenting will be good, remember the idea is to burn off the dark power as quickly as you get it. Be aggressive, and try not to hold onto any,] she needlessly reminded me.

[Yeah, speaking of my ideas. Did you find a way to plant the bug?] I asked.

[The librarian found it for me, so mission accomplished I guess? I still don't get why you wanted me to leave that behind,] she wondered.

[It's politics. You wouldn't understand. And won't. Just trust me, especially when the time comes. Now I just hope they manage to put two and two together,] I replied.

Chapter 11: Living by the sword

By the time night fell, our airborne scouts could already see the shadowy monsters closing in on us from all sides. At first they looked set to arrive about an hour before night fall, but they slowed as they approached, obviously intending to make contact when the sun dropped. The south side was covered in dark mist, already starting to surge forward toward the walls again, though more solid forms could barely be made out amongst the vapors. The east was approached by massive, hulking behemoths that looked like living siege engines. The west was populated by their more pony-sized brethren, including quite a few with visible horns. The mountains to the north were dotted with massive fliers, with smaller shadow beasts riding in their backs or gripped in their talons.

With our opponents that openly divided, it meant each side would present a very different defensive challenge. By approaching openly, they instilled fear in the locals, which was much to our detriment, while giving themselves the maximum amount of night time for their assault. But that gave us forewarning and the ability to deploy our own forces.

The locals were all moved to the citadel. Their guards would be a last line of defense for the civilians, along with Prince Alexander on the roof, and null in the throne room, bearing my own disguise and one of the Sin Eaters. I split off some of my attention to use him as an avatar, hiding the truth from my own allies. He would serve as a key communication link up with Prince Shining Armor and Princess Cadance, as well as a final guardian to help them fight off anyone who reached them. Their own powerful magics could be wielded quite effectively from within the relative safety of that room, and the shadows would have little hope of a decisive victory without incapacitating them.

In truth, I was on the front lines with a Sin Eater of my own. The sword's black crystal etching shined ominously in the final rays of sunlight, and even more ominously in the moonlight that replaced it, as Luna's light source replaced Celestia's in the sky. With a fluid manipulation of magnetics, I drew the sword from where it had been held to my back and pulled it into my hoof's grip, and spread my wings. With a powerful lunge, I was in the air, struggling slightly to compensate for the unbalanced heft of the blade.

I flew up to meet the enemy fliers alone, as the first riffs of my son's song rang out through the air. My pegasi, lead by the griffin Bardrick, flew east to assault the behemoth's from a distance. The unicorns in my employ arrayed themselves beneath me to strike at the fliers from below, beginning by combining their might to create a whirling disk of air, like a tornado that was magically prevented from funneling downward too low, with the eye shifting to keep centered around me. Our earth ponies opened the western gates and galloped out to engage the enemy unicorns, lead from behind by the minotaur Forge Soot, who stopped to hold the gate as he beheld the combat. Meanwhile the changelings, flying undisguised, moved to deal with the mists under Wind Chaser's command. With horns and wings combined, they were able to bring their magic to bear while staying well out of the reach of the mists, and started by conjuring a powerful wind to blow back the mists. With four fronts to worry about, things quickly became complicated.

The powerful winds swirling around me buffeted the enemy, knocking shadowy earth pony-like creatures off the flyers' backs to fall to their deaths, or at least severe injuries. Some splattered into mist, like that creeping in from the south, and scattered in what little wind blew that low. Some let loose the sound of crunching bone and lay there, unmoving like more ordinary casualties, while about a fifth of them struggled to their feet and began to charge.

Stud Muffin stood at the front of the unicorn formation opposing them. By all appearances he was an earth pony, and the scrawniest anypony had ever seen. His build was much more akin to a unicorn, and for good reason. A white glow of magic shined from his forehead, where his impacted horn was hidden under the bone, and he charged forward, laying into the survivors with bucks and kicks far more powerful than his build would suggest, flitting from one foe to the next with terrifying speed. He wasn't enough to take out every survivor on his own, but what he missed were distracted by him, leaving them vulnerable to magical strikes from the other unicorns.

The fliers themselves were dragonlike in size and shape, and cut through the swirling winds delayed but unharmed. Most charged toward me, screeching menacingly as they approached. I was still a bit off balance flying with my blade, even more so as I began to attack with it, but the blade's performance more than made up for it. Whenever it struck even a glancing blow, huge chunks of shadow were ripped off my foes and channeled through the blade, into the pommel, and up my hoof into me. Black energy wreathed me like flames, as I focused on what Istaran had suggested, keeping the energy swirling around my heart, but not in it. I wasn't perfect at it, but it was working well enough.

A wave of green magic manifested a horn on my forehead before I pointed a hoof at one of the flyers that had tried to flit past me, heading for the main citadel. A massive burst of black energy rent the air, slamming into the flyer and dropping it roughly to the ground. As it struggled to stand, a second burst smashed it flat, dissipating it into mist. The mangled remains of what appeared to be a crystal pegasus was left behind when the mist cleared, alarming me. The implications were startling, but I didn't have time to deal with them. On the bright side, the dark magic version of telekinesis seemed to affect the shadow monsters just fine. From what the unicorns were experiencing, it actually appeared to affect them more easily than ordinary telekinesis. That was good, because I really needed a way to expend all the dark energy my sword was feeding into me.

Others wielding Sin Eaters on other fronts provided me with even more of the dark energy across our link, and I stopped bothering to wield my own sword for the moment, just going all out with the bursts of telekinesis. Despite the obvious similarities, dark telekinesis acted very differently than the ordinary kind unicorns used. It couldn't be sustained easily, or do much in the way of finesse, but it did sharp bursts of force very well, which made it more effective in combat. You couldn't knit with dark TK, but you could shatter bones with far less effort. Knocking everything into the ground or buildings was causing way too much collateral damage, however, so I quickly learned to manifest two bursts at a time, crushing my foes between them instead of sending them flying from a single direction. The fact that it burned up twice as much energy was a boon in this case.

Despite my efforts, though, I could feel the darkness creeping into my heart. For the moment, it wasn't as bad as it could be. It was easy enough to steer it for now. It pushed out the concerns for what might be redeemable within my enemies, and focused me on eliminating all opposition. It resonated well with the invigorating music my son was pumping out throughout the city, putting me into an trance-like state as I tore apart the invading air force mercilessly.

When the sky was cleared, I looked down at the unicorns below me. My loyal subjects who fought by my side. What I assume where cruel thoughts toward them started to form, only to evaporate before the thoughts could even be completed, ripped from my mind by the kingsblood. ['Clan is clan'] Deus thought into my mind. It was Istaran's motto, the creed he instilled in all those he created or employed. It was a simple way to say that he considered all his subordinates to be family, and insisted they do whatever was necessary to support and protect one another, above all else. And more than anything that meant not betraying each other, turning against one another. It was strange to think of my 'dark side' as protecting me from doing something stupidly, pointlessly evil to those I most wanted to protect. I guess that was the advantage I had; he had a name, a character, and with it a code. There was little he wouldn't do, few lows he wouldn't stoop to. But he would never betray a valid trust, or turn against his own 'clan'. And apparently that extended to Deus warping my own mind to impose those constraints as well. If I was less busy being thankful for the protection, I might be freaking out about the terrifying implications.

In the meantime, I had a battle to get back to. With one front broken, the unicorns and I were free to reinforce the others.

Chapter 12: South Gate at the Border

Wind Chaser led the flight of changelings south through the streets. Downhill, toward the south gate, and the mists that were even now starting to spill over them. She felt the oppressive weight of the sword bearing down on her back, along with the even more oppressive weight of responsibility. Not only for herself, her fellow changelings, and the innocent ponies behind her; no those were all relatively easy to safeguard. She had new eggs growing within her, that she hadn't had a chance to lay yet. Those... those were dangerously vulnerable, even with all the nanotechnology in the world.

Fear began to gnaw at her, only to suddenly vanish, as the blade of the sin eater touched her back and became wreathed in a faint black layer of writhing energy. She grinned, her resolve renewed, as she picked up the pace, drawing the rest of the changelings along with her. The distance melted away, bringing them as close as they dared to the oncoming mists.

She brought the patterns to mind for a simple wind spell. While it took some work, and sometimes a bit of trial and error, to translate spells meant for a unicorn's horn to a changeling's native equivalent, they had already taken the time with Midnight Oil to do so for a small variety of the spells she had researched, starting with some of the basics of weather control. If they'd known back then that they'd end up fighting vicious clouds, perhaps the unicorn filly wouldn't have been so disappointed with her alma mater.

Driven by the changelings' horns, powerful winds swept through the approaching mists, shredding them layer by layer, but more were still pouring over the wall, climbing it in defiance of gravity. For a moment, a sense of futility began to seep into their hearts, creating a new fear. From here, the mists cascading down the walls looked like a waterfall rendered in stark monochrome, black rippling down over the gray stone bulwarks. Again, the sin eater pulled Wind Chaser's fear away. Taking the handle in hand, she let the black energy flow into her, and then redirected it, sending it on to her king. That restored her resolve, but already she could see her siblings beginning to falter. [Don't be overwhelmed. It's just a misbehaving cloud,] she chided them across their link, before tapping the sword's blade against each in turn, ripping their fear away and sending it on.

It was easy to say, but their love was being depleted with every gust of wind, every beat of their wings, and the mists showed no signs of letting up. Focused on the fight before them, the ponies that normally fed them were far too concentrated on other things to generate more for them. But even if they weren't being fed that moment, they had fed deeply before the battle, and their reserves were far from depleted.

Wind Chaser broke off from the others, pushing herself upward to clear the top of the wall, getting up above the mists. Digging deep into those reserves, she charged her horn and swept the top clear with a powerful gust, revealing the tops of the stone. Another and another, powerful winds ripped through, keeping the top clear, and before she was forced to land atop one of the guard towers, her fellow changelings had eliminated the mist from within the city limits and now rose to join her with a shout of triumph.

"We've driven it back to the walls!" Mirage stated the obvious as she alighted beside Wind Chaser.

"A good start, but we haven't even seen the real enemy," Wind Chaser countered grimly. "That ends now!" Calling up all the love she could muster, she sent a torrent of air flowing down into the inky depths before her, stirring the mists into a roiling chaos. Here, where the air was nothing but mists, the wind could do little to eliminate it, but the churning left momentary gaps as it ebbed and flowed, and she was quick to spot large solid shapes moving within the mist.

"Keep the mists from climbing," she ordered, as she moved to the edge, one hoof already on the guardrail before Mirage stopped her with a hoof on her swordhoof.

"You're spent, and you're needed here to command," Mirage pointed out, before putting out a hoof expectantly. "Allow me."

Wind Chaser let out a sigh with the relief she hadn't expected to feel as she passed the black-runed blade to the other changeling. Mirage was very well fed, perhaps the best in the kingdom now that Wind Chaser had expended so much of her own energy. Mirage's mate had managed to earn a cutie mark in feeding changelings love, or so she described it, and all of that love came into the kingdom through her. Not only was her carapace nicely hole-free, but with the gorging before the battle she actually was looking a bit pudgy. That wouldn't last long.

Now that she had the blade, though, Mirage had to take a moment to steel her own heart, hoof resting on the guard rail as she looked down at the enemy. "For Stud Muffin!" she shouted, before leaping off. Buzzing, incandescent wings guided her descent, increasing her speed until it was time to pull up, skimming just above the mist. The sin eater lashed out, its blade hungrily devouring the mist's energies, as Mirage funneled it up to the Itinerant King as fast as she could. Let it be his problem. She had enough of her own.

A massive claw lashed out at her from the mist. It would have landed a blow unseen, had it not been for Wind Chaser sending her the view from her own eyes. As it was, Mirage was barely able to turn, blocking the blow with her blade and being forced back, downward into the mist. The changeling shivered with fright as the mist wracked her will before the enchanted blade could finish absorbing it from around her, leaving a small clearing of snow revealed. But her attacker was still hidden from her.

A powerful gust of wind, directed downward at her location, solved that problem momentarily. It drove the mist back, causing it to pile up around her like a wave cresting, preparing to fall back down upon her, but it revealed her nearest adversary. It was a crab nearly eight feet tall, towering over the insect-pony with its massive black carapace, deadly onyx claws and alien looking crustacean face, oozing out a thicker, almost liquid version of the black mist, which dissipated into the air as it descended. But one detail of its features gave Mirage hope. Its front right leg was shorter than the others, cut off at the lowest joint, a victim already of the sin eater's power.

Tapping the blade with a hoof to let it eat her own fear, Mirage lunged forward, pressing the attack with desperate aggression. The closest thing to a defense she could afford was to block lashing limbs with her blade, as the mists began to flow back down to fill the gap. Fortunately, sturdy as the crustaceans shell appeared, it evaporated at a mere touch of the blade, and soon Mirage alighted upon the things back, driving her blade home and vanquishing the creature entirely. Nothing was left in its wake but the sword-wielding changeling.

Mirage laughed loudly, almost manically, as her foe fell before her. She saw another one, a bit distant, hidden in the mists, but she could just make it out, so she charged, buzzing swiftly through the air as she brought her blade to bear against the next. She slid under it, slashing through its underbelly in a deadly flyby attack, leaving it to dissolve into mist behind her.

They were getting easier to spot now, so she flew for the next, but this time she didn't want to make it quite so easy. She aimed for the legs this time, cutting them off one by one with quick, darting approaches, until the enemy collapsed to the ground, unable to hold itself up. Only then did she finish it off with a vicious chuckle.

She was running low on things to cut. Just one last crab, and she took her time with it, slash after slash, nicking it bit by bit when it was no longer an immanent threat, seeing just how many blows she could drag the fight out with before it finally expired. She was disappointed for a moment when the mists finally dissipated, until she saw a figure remain within, cowering in fear and pain. A pony! This must be an evil pony warlock of some kind, surely!

Blood marred the blade from one wound, then another, then another, until a blast of raw, green magic slammed into her. A changeling, wreathed in black mists, approached her angrily, wings buzzing with agitation, horn glowing with power. More followed behind her, ready to back her up. A trick of the shadows, no doubt. Who knew they could make fake changelings with their power? No matter. The blade would solve this problem as well.

The changeling proved frustratingly agile, dodging blows and even deflecting them with bare hooves, as the swordfight quickly became an outright grapple. But finally Mirage managed to get the upper hoof, knocking the other changeling to the ground, and pulling her sword up to bring down a death blow.

"Stop!" the changeling ordered, and to Mirage's chagrin, her body obeyed. "Give me the sword!" Again, her muscles acted unbidden and released their grip on the handle. Forced to stillness, Mirage suddenly realized the other changeling's lips weren't moving, and then remembered they had been moving earlier, when she hadn't heard a thing.

When the blade was brought to her own carapace, the black mists rolled away from Mirage's vision, no longer surrounding the changelings she saw before her. She recognized Wind Chaser standing before her. She looked down in horror as she saw the blood-stained crystal pony who had passed out from his wounds, realizing how close she had come to taking an innocent life. Her kingsblood helpfully matched his features to her memories, identifying one of the guardsponies who had been present when they arrived in town, but missing since the mists first approached. She collapsed to her knees, tears slowly breaking past her resistance and flowing down her cheeks.

Wind Chaser spared a moment to hug her, before standing back up. "Take him to the fortress, downstairs. The rest of you, come with me. This front is handled, but we're still under siege."

They moved with haste, but conserved their love, hoofing it rather than taking flight. At a silent order, the gate was opened, admitting the victorious forces.

Chapter 13: Those Whom We Must Protect

I stood within the throne room, standing vigilant, though silent. No, it wasn't me. It was null, serving as my avatar. The realization gave a momentary sense of disconnect before it passed, as I focused on other things, living within the dead changeling's skin. I looked around a moment before turning to approach the Crystal Empire's rulers.

"Do you have something to report?" Shining Armor inquired. He was every bit as vigilant as I had been, his horn glowing dimly with the energy of a shield spell, idle for now but ready to erect in an instant at the slightest sign of trouble. "How goes the battle?"

"We are winning on two fronts, the North and South, but the East and West remain contested," I explained. "The behemoths to the East are tough, but they seem unable to strike back at our fliers. Bardrick and the others will defeat them, there is no doubt, but it is a race to see how much damage can be prevented. The West though... They have unicorns there, I can't be sure what tricks they'll pull off. Our own reinforcements are inbound, things are already complex there."

"Thank you for all of your help, South Wind, you and your people. Are you sure you don't want our guards to reinforce you as well?" Princess Cadance asked. "Your people are fighting so hard for us, the least we could do is..."

I held up a hoof to silence her, shaking my head. "Your guards are more valuable here, both protecting your citizens from any that manage to slip through, and keeping them calm, minimizing their fears. And I'm here to protect the two of you and the Crystal Heart. Not to imply that you're defenseless."

"If anypony does break through, they won't get past me," Shining Armor declared, standing extra tall for his wife's benefit.

Cadance giggled a moment, before looking back at me. She seemed thoughtful a moment before gasping, her eyes going wide. She blinked it off, even as Shining and I looked quickly for some sudden attack or other surprise, but there was none we could see. I had my suspicions though. Raising an eyebrow at Cadance, I got a suspicious look back in return.

"Shining, better safe than sorry, right? Do you think you could put up that shield now and keep it up for the rest of the fight?" Cadance said, not taking her eyes off me. The stallion glanced between us before nodding, raising a magical barrier around the royal couple and their priceless artifact. I was left outside of it, which suited me fine.

"What's wrong, Caddy?" Shining whispered to his mare, quietly enough he probably thought I couldn't hear.

"He has no love strings..." she whispered back. "The real South Wind has hundreds, but this imposter has none."

I could have replied, but that would be admitting to listening in to their private exchange, and they chose not to actually address me directly. So we settled into an awkward standoff, while I continued my vigilance. It was just as well, my focus was needed back at my real body, so I slipped free from this one, letting null watch on in stoic silence.

"And the shadows, they are still a-comin',
and all that they bring is a blight,
but we surely are still overcomin',
and we'll be the winners this night!

Don't doubt a moment!
Don't fear a movement!
Don't doubt a moment,
we'll win!

Don't doubt a moment!
Don't fear a movement!
Don't doubt a moment,
my friend!"

Alexander took a break from singing, shifting instead to a guitar solo for the time being, as his notes continued to ring out loudly over the city, audible even through the din of battle. An ordinary pony would have been bleeding by now from the ceaseless strumming, but the Kingsblood kept his hooves regenerating fast enough to keep up with it as he continued to rock out. His song infused the world around him, around us. It told a story, and in so doing, helped to ensure the world kept on script. It was powerful beyond description, but subtle beyond compare. It could never do anything that mightn't have happened without it, leaving the question of whether it ever truly did anything at all.

But one thing it undeniably did was to fuel the morale of those of us fighting on the front. The sense of inevitability it brought to our victory helped keep our fear at bay, and our enemies hard pressed before our assault.

The other thing it undeniably did was stir the admiration of a certain young mare. Alexander could feel it, taste it, an all too familiar flavor of love. It wasn't his favorite, though he enjoyed it well enough. That wasn't the only flavor he tasted from her, however. They all fueled him, gave him strength and helped him to carry on. But they also served to remind him of just what they were fighting for.

He smiled at her, and she smiled back, lost in each other's eyes for a moment before he nodded with renewed conviction, drew in a deep breath and began the next verse.

The break in verses seemed like a good enough time for Flash Sentry to take a break from watching the battle from the top of the castle. There were enough other guard here for that, and he needed to stretch his legs anyways. Checking in with the others, he took his leave and descended.

He poked his head into the throne room briefly, causing the foreign pegasus there to tense a moment to charge, before recognizing the armor and returning to his former pose. Flash noted the magical barrier, and quickly confirmed the royal couple were alright before continuing on. He didn't envy any shadows that managed to make it here.

Getting out to one of the larger rooms, he found what he was looking for. Dozens of crystal ponies, packed in fairly tightly all fretting quietly as they struggled to pass the time. A thin ring of guards surrounded them, ready to keep the peace, or defend the civilians, whichever proved necessary. But Flash could see they were getting a bit antsy as well. Tense boredom wore on a pony like little else, and in time could lead to something worse. It was time for something to change, something to happen.

Flash was nervous for a moment himself, until an idea struck him. It was, perhaps, overstepping his bounds a bit, but he was sure he would be forgiven. One by one he picked out ponies and called them to him, getting a dozen of them together, a baker's dozen including himself. It seemed fitting. He led them away without explanation, perhaps a mistake as it left the remaining ponies to wonder amongst themselves what was going on. It could make things worse if tensions broke violently, but he hoped the mystery would distract them and buy a bit more time.

Those he chose had the answer to their mystery much sooner than the rest of course. Soon they were put to work, slaving away in the heat. Wooden shafts were wielded. Hooves coated in red. And goods taken without permission. They rested for a time, before returning to their endeavors, but soon it was done. Only to begin again.

Their eventual return was heralded at first with relief from their neighbors and loved ones, only to grow to cheers as the fruits of their labors were revealed.

"Who wants crystal-berry pie?" Flash asked with a grin.

As the bakers returned to the crowd, distributing the delicious distraction, Diamond Glitter trotted up to Flash. "This is great and all, but what about the civilians in all the other halls?"

Chapter 14: Concurrent battles

Stone Breaker charged headlong toward the enemy unicorns. It felt odd for the earth pony to be surrounded by others of his tribe, and so far from Sky Ranger, the pegasus mare he had grown so close to. It was extra odd, as she had lent him her knives, weapons she was a lot more adept with than he was, but given their useful properties it was the right thing to do.

They didn't have any Sin Eaters to work with on this front, they hadn't gotten enough manufactured in time, and it was an educated guess that these enemies would be vulnerable enough to more conventional attacks. But they did have several of the Mage Masher blades. Runic inscriptions along their surface were enchanted to disrupt magic, tearing apart any spell they came in contact with, even simpler magic like telekinesis. They were magnetized to make them easier to manipulate with electromagnetic fields, but the larger ones were designed like giant pairs of scissors with no handle, making them awkward to wield any other way. Sky Ranger's, however, were simpler in design, triangular blades, a half hoof in length, and a third of that in width at their largest point. They were throwing blades, meant to attack from a distance, and then be reclaimed with an electromagnetic tug, allowing the flying mare to avoid direct conflict. She may have gotten a lot braver since joining the Kingdom, but she still wasn't a scrapper.

Stone Breaker, however, was. He slammed headlong into a shadowy wolf creature, trying to bar his path to the enemy unicorns. The pair dropped into a rolling tumble for a few cycles before the stallion bucked the creature off of him and rolled back into a gallop, barely slowing his pace. There was more than just the one, but they had their own ponies to deal with. His foe, however, was not so easily deterred. It barked angrily at him as it rolled to its own feet and pursued.

It should have known better. On an open field like this, a pony should have been faster than a wolf, making pursuit pointless. It should have known something was wrong when it was able to close the distance. Its howls were meant to instill fear into ponikind, giving it something to feed off of. It should have known something was wrong when there was no fear to be found. It's teeth were meant to tear into pony flesh, using pain to enforce and amplify its victim's fear, and make it easier to scare in the future with the memory. It finally caught on when a sharp buck sent those teeth flying back into its own throat. It collapsed, taken down by wounds that would have surely slain an ordinary beast, if not instantly, suffering from the fact that its shadowy nature would allow it to eventually, painfully, recover. It knew no fear. Only rage. Sad, frustrated, impotent rage.

Sky Ranger missed her blades. It was painfully ironic, after all those months of training, learning to control the flow of energy through her Kingsblood in order to create magnetic fields, and even control them with enough finesse to direct six separate blades through the air at once. In a lot of ways, the blades were a much safer way to engage the enemy than what she was doing now.

She and her fellow pegasi had gathered as much moisture as they could the day before and condensed it into clouds, keeping it stuffed under the edge of the walls in preparation for this time. As the battle was joined, they had drawn it up, and now they were rolling it out like a massive carpet over the enemy behemoths. But they weren't just to make the field wet... though that could well help, if the muddy terrain was able to get the massive creatures stuck. They were also ionizing it as they went, disrupting the electrical balance. Making thunder clouds.

It was the ranged attack that was the pegasi birthright, but for members of the Itinerant Kingdom, it was stupidly dangerous. A lightning strike didn't have to hit one of them to incapacitate them; the magnetic pulse from the lightning could create a devastating current in the Kingsblood, overloading and frying the tiny machines that it consisted of.

Golden armor, borrowed from the local guards, offered some protection. It acted as a Faraday cage, cancelling out the magnetic pulse, but since it wasn't a complete coverage, it didn't offer complete protection. But it was enough to block out the signals that allowed them to keep their minds in contact with each other, and their fellow subjects.

Which was a problem, because Sky Ranger could really use the comforting touch of Stone Breaker's mind right now.

Flashes of light caught her attention. She had gotten too distracted by her feelings, almost let the chain of lightning strikes get too close to her. She drew up her wings, preparing for a powerful downbeat to gain some altitude, but stopped, stunned. She really had messed up. The cloud directly under her flashed with power, a deadly bolt of electricity arcing down into the behemoth below her, stunning the beast before she began to descend limply toward it.

Time seemed to slow down as her life flashed before her eyes. She hardly recognized the filly in the visions. Downtrodden. Hopeless. Desperate. It wasn't her. Not anymore. That was Apple Core. Apple Core was dead already. She was Sky Ranger now, and Sky Ranger was a pony who could keep pace with even the likes of Stone Breaker. She opened her eyes, seeing the fast approaching behemoth below her. It was recovering quickly, and she realized with some embarrassment it had managed to feed a bit of her mere memories of fear. Well, no more.

She had to think quickly though. What should she do? What would Sky Ranger do? What would Stone Breaker do? That last thought gave an idea, with barely enough time to implement it. The spiders got to quick work, even sacrificing some of their own number for raw materials to reinforce key bones, even fusing the bones across a few of her joints. They would unfuse them later, once this was done. A single hoof led the way, pointed straight at the behemoth's head as her wings angled just enough to perfect her aim.

Moments later she hit the ground, crumpling a bit before she could recover. With her forehoof stuck in the ground from impact, she couldn't dodge, merely brace for impact as the slain behemoth collapsed atop her. It was a dangerous position. If one of the others was observant, they would finish her off before she broke free. And even once she was, the enemy's remains would cling to her wings, making flight questionable at best.

These were all reasonable, legitimate concerns, and she considered them. But she wasn't afraid.

She was Sky Ranger.

Peach Seed braced herself, emotionally, with a deep breath, even as she braced her body against the wall, away from the fighting. As an earth pony, this was her front to fight, and she would be in the mix very soon. But she had a surprise to deploy, and that meant she wasn't in the initial wave.

[Okay girl, you can do this,] she assured herself. [Just like buckin' trees, only a little bit dodgier. But not if they don't see it coming.] She had been one of the earliest recruits to the Itinerant Kingdom, but she had been an itinerant in another sense from birth. Her muscles were powerful from years of farm labor, her body swift and lean from years of travelling from harvest to harvest, planting to planting. But now it was time to be something else. Now it was time to be a swordpony.

The fact that they were terrifying monsters and not your typical ponies gone bad made the matter much easier. Sadly, these ones looked far too much like typical unicorns themselves, aside from the smooth sharpness of their horns, the billowing blackness of their bodies, and the glowing green eyes. Even still, it was hard not to wonder if they really deserved what was coming for them.

[No time to hesitate. Stone Breaker is almost upon them,] she thought, just before the stallion in question started sending her updated coordinates. An image formed in her mind, the layout of the battlefield, locations of all the enemies, and an alert on which seemed to be trying to cast spells more complex than a simple energy blast. [Go time!]

Swiftly, she pulled the glittercloak about her. It lived up to its name, a full body cloak in white that glittered in the sunlight, much like a crystal pony. It was designed as a counterpoint to the shadowcloaks we had stolen from our enemies, which rendered a pony imperceptible to anypony without darkness in their heart. The glittercloak, instead, rendered one imperceptible to anypony with darkness in their heart. It was time to test it on the shadows themselves. But not without some other tools to go with it.

Namely, the Gate Crashers, a pair of bracers on her forehooves. The right bracer began to glow blue in an intricate pattern, reminiscent of a circuit board, as it started to project a pair of quickly expanding fields of magical disruption, one where she stood, the other right behind an enemy unicorn. The fields were generally ineffectual against existing enchantments tied into objects, but could easily cancel a spell in progress or a local magical field, even something as basic as telekinesis, in this case breaking Stone Breaker out of such a grasp. Two kinds of magic were intentionally exempt from the effect, one general and one quite specific. In general, transformation magic was unaffected, such as the changelings' disguises. And more specifically, the left bracer now charging up was able to wind a teleportation effect into the disruption fields themselves, not only travelling where magic was disrupted, but often able to punch a hole in an antiteleportation field to get in or out of places thought to be well defended.

As the wave of disruption washed over the unicorn, Peach was suddenly there, just behind him, already drawing and swinging her Sin Eater in a smooth, practiced downward slice. The blade made contact and moments later, the unicorn was no more, just a black mist rapidly drawing into the rune etched blade.

Now Peach was scared. The black energy flowing into her through the sword reminded her far too much of that place. The mines. The pit. This was fear and anger and ruthlessness all wrapped up into a nightmarish bundle of blackness and she wanted it gone, as far from her as possible. She pushed it out of her, and her king quickly grabbed it and pulled, drawing all the dark energy into himself before striking out with it against his own foes. At peace again for the moment, she turned, looking for her next target.

That one... the unicorn hanging back, working on an intricate looking spell. Peach braced her heart and readied her sword, beginning the next warp. Even before she shifted locations she could see her failure looming. A moment before the disruption could reach her, the unicorn vanished in a puff of blackness. Peach was already committed, her location shifting and her body bearing into a pointless swing through where the unicorn had just been, stumbling a bit to regain her balance when she failed to connect. Still, she was able to spin about, redirecting the momentum to slash into another enemy caster, one that had been merely firing black bolts of energy at her friends. It was something.

But something gnawed at her. The one that got away. She hadn't reappeared in sight of any of the Itinerants. But she almost certainly was not running away.

Chapter 15: Within The Giant

Sky Ranger began to drag herself out from under the skull of the behemoth she had slain, inch by inch. She took her time, not wanting to draw attention to herself before she was ready to rejoin the fray, but it was all for naught. Before her eyes had even cleared the obstruction, a powerful jaw clamped around her left forehoof, and ripped her free, only to slam her back into the ground a moment later.

The world was pain for a few brief moments before she thought to suppress it, letting the Kingsblood cut off her physical sensations for the moment. The behemoth was still slamming her back and forth when she managed to punch it with her right hoof. It wasn't hard enough to do real damage, but it did, surprisingly, get the monster to drop her for the moment.

"You're not afraid," the beast said. It could speak? It toward over her prone form, glowering at her with clear menace in its eyes, backed by about 2 tons of rippling black furred muscle, sharp blood soaked teeth, and claws like swords. "You should be."

"Of what? You? You've already lost. Your only hope now is to beg forgiveness and swear your loyalty to my king," Sky spat back. She had to act fast to dodge another oncoming behemoth, this one more elephantine in appearance, and less interested in a mere pegasus on the battlefield.

The behemoth laughed, a jackal-like hysteria that slowly faded into more normal laughter, if unreasonably deep and loud. "Such bravado, there may be a place for you among us. If you can survive the journey!"

The beast snapped at her, but injured though she was, Sky was still nimble enough to lurch out of the way. Bite after bite failed to connect, but the mare was barely keeping pace, losing fur as teeth grazed through her pelt time and time again. She should have been scared. It was pissing him off, making him careless, but there wasn't much he had to be careful about at the moment. Her friends didn't even bother trying to save her!

[You're sure?] Bardrick asked again, mentally, eyeing the beast even as he brought his spear to bear against another, one that had smashed into the crystal walls, sending cracks through its structure with the impact. It wasn't the first to reach the walls... the first head died from massive head trauma from slamming into the walls at full speed, leaving the tiniest trace of a crack behind, while the black mists that were its remains had seeped out, only to be absorbed by the next in line, making it bigger and even more of a problem.

Top Flight was doing his best with one of the Sin Eaters, ripping into the biggest, scariest behemoths with the blade that shredded their very essence, leaving less and less behind with each blow, but he had to switch from target to target to leave any one of the growing points of vulnerability from becoming an all out breach, and it was becoming woefully inadequate.

[I've got this,] Sky Ranger confirmed. [You can't spare the time.] Refocusing on the behemoth, she gave a vicious grin. "I can take anything you can throw at me, but you? I could kill you just by bleeding on you," she said, waving her mangled stump at him to emphasize her point. "Now why don't you just sit here and think about what you've done?" A few more dodges and she had managed to get clear enough to take flight.

Or at least attempt it. The behemoth caught her hind hooves and brought her back down in a brutal belly-flop. Before she could try again he had her pinned under his clawed paw.

Looking up at him, she mocked. "Well if you want me that bad, it's twenty bits an hour. And yes you pay for the whole hour even if you finish in a minute," she said, wiggling her rump as much as she could under the circumstances.

The behemoth paused, mind reeling a bit at the sudden shift of conversation. Even if he weren't quite obviously her mortal enemy, wouldn't the size difference alone make anything impossible? However, it didn't hold him for long, and soon he was taking the time to snap the bones in each wing with his powerful jaws, ensuring there would be no repeat of her last escape.

He turned her onto her back then, pinning her again, and leaning in like he was going to kiss her. Black mist began pouring from his mouth, making Sky more than a little concerned, before he passed out on top of her, leaving her to hold her breath tightly as the mist washed over her face. "Just like a stallion..." she said derisively when the air was clear enough to speak.

Zero Waste looked around the dark shadowy roiling void with concern. The crystal earth pony was rather disoriented, his memories, all but gone. That void... that roiling shadow. It had eaten them, he thought. All but the most recent... those were its memories in the first place, not his own. He struggled to remember any of them, but only got a vague impression of power, strength, and confidence. He had been so confident just a second ago, it felt.

Then came the writing. Green glowing sigils in an unfamiliar script, flowing down through the air in ever shifting non-patterns. They worried him, but they were so much closer and less daunting than the roiling darkness, he dared to reach out a hoof to try to touch one.

Doing so flooded him with knowledge. He now knew an awful lot about agriculture he hadn't imagined. Oddly, nothing about crystal berries, or other produce native to his homeland. More about the softer, rounder fair found in Equestria to the south. Pulling his hoof away, he lost the feeling of it being pushed into the forefront of his mind, but he didn't forget what he had just learned.

It hadn't hurt, so he tried it a few more times, learning not only various facts of dubious relevance, but also witnessing a few scenes from somepony's life. Each scene was viewed at once from several perspectives, so that it took a few tries to figure out which was the central figure in it. It was the whore, he realized. Former whore by the later scenes. He learned of her painful past, and her new beginnings. As he saw her induction into the Itinerant Kingdom, he became aware of the Kingsblood, and it's nature, a web of information that was overwhelming to think about, as each thought brought more knowledge with it.

He backed off, resting his mind a moment in the strange environment he found himself in. The fever dream. He was being inducted himself? How? Why?

A massive pillar of green sigils floated down from the darkness. His answer, no doubt. He needed some time to steel himself before he could dare to touch it. But in the end, he had to know.

This scene had only one view. It was looking down from on high, toward a pair of hooves struggling to pull their owner out from under a massive beast's crushed skull. As he watched himself wreak unspeakable violence on the mare before him, the one he had come to know, at least a little, from the offered memories, he collapsed, wretching. He deserved to die, after what he had done. He would do it himself, if he could figure out how.

"We've all been touched by darkness. Most done things we wish weren't part of our stories," the mare said from behind him. When Zero turned to her, he gasped, shocked to see her whole, much less approaching with a welcoming smile. "Join us. You haven't been devoured by the shadow entirely yet. You can still speak. You can still think. And you can still become one of the Itinerant Kingdom."

"You could forgive me, that easily, Apple Core?" he said with shock. "I don't... I don't deserve it."

"That's what grace is for. And it's 'Sky Ranger' now. I'm not a weak defenseless whore anymore. And you don't have to be a ruthless, savage monster anymore. Join us!"

"NO!" the darkness yelled, rocking the false reality around them, and shattering the little green sigils.

Zero cringed, then made up his mind. "I'll do it," he declared, glaring up at the darkness in defiance rather than looking at Sky. "What do I have to do?"

"Well, it'd be great if you could..." Sky began, before realizing the enormity of the problem and shaking her head. "No, you can't overcome the shadow within you that easily. But we can help. Just... just sleep for now. I've got to get back into the fight. It's enough that you're out of it."

"I... alright, but I..." Zero uttered, looking at the malevolent darkness, and the green sigils that were beginning to reappear. "Must I be alone though?"

"I'll keep you company," said a third voice, as a filly faded into view. Despite her apparent youth, she carried herself with more confidence than a Princess, and bore a cutie mark depicting a pair of overlapping crescent moons. "I can spare the thought to walk you through this, even with the battle going on. My new name is Nightmare Core, but don't worry, it's mostly ironic. I'll keep you thoughts safe and nightmare free. But first let's figure out what your new name should be."

Chapter 16: Sword of Confusion

Flash Sentry strode by a fellow guard on his way back to the pantries. An earth pony by the name of Bulwark, he recalled. They exchanged simple nods as they passed.

It was almost serenely calm in the castle, especially away from the gatherings of civilians. Flash couldn't help but hum a bit, following along with the song that barely penetrated the castle from its highest spire. It was a bit fast paced and intense for the calm he otherwise felt at the moment, but it was too hard to ignore completely.

The pegasus set his spear aside, against a wall for the moment as he reached up to a shelf to pull down a bag of flour. The moment it dropped to the ground under his care, he suddenly saw that he was not alone. In the shadowed corners of the panty, a unicorn looked up at him. It was too dark to make out much detail, but the horn was obvious. Something heart shaped glinted from her neck, even in the darkness.

She opened her eyes, looking into his, and the words he had been about to say slipped from his mind. A lot else slipped his mind as well, and he quietly grabbed his spear from the wall and headed back out.

"Weren't you going for some more supplies?" Bulwark asked as Flash approached him again. The pegasus took flight toward the larger stallion, charging in spear first. But Bulwark was just as well trained, and shifted his position to deflect the spear with his armor, while bringing up his own to face a similar fate. A few more blows were exchanged, Flash using his superior agility to keep Bulwark from landing any of his heavier blows, until they paused a moment, breathing heavily.

"What's gotten into you?" Bulwark demanded between breaths. Flash simply gestured over his shoulder with a flick of his head. That was enough to get Bulwark to look past him, and see the unicorn approaching sedately behind. His eyes met hers and he no longer questioned it. It all made sense now. Together, Bulwark and Flash Sentry continued toward the kitchens.

The cries of innocent ponies began to drift up to the throne room. The first were angry, annoyed. Then fearful. Then pained.

The other ponies in the room were getting restless. They knew what they had to do, but it was very hard for them to simply do it.

"Stay," I said, "protect the heart. Protect each other."

"But, the sounds... my ponies!" Cadance objected.

"A distraction, a way to draw you out to where you have less power and protection and they have more," I pointed out.

"We have to protect them," Shining Armor insisted.

"You have to protect her and it," I countered, pointing to his wife and the priceless crystal artifact between them.

"It isn't even stopping them... even though I can feel it's power growing more intense," Cadance said, sounding worried.

"Can you use its power for something concrete? Use it to reinforce your shield?" I asked.

It took a moment before Shining nodded, the barrier around them becoming nearly opaque.

"What about our ponies? You should go help them if we must stay here," Shining said.

"I have reinforcements on the way, but my place is here. You are the shield, I am the sword," I pointed out. I shifted my stance, a bit of subtle reshaping giving me a more human-like position, taking the handle of my Sin Eater in two hooves. I let one go for a moment to gesture for silence, before pressing back against the wall.

Slow, soft clopping made its way up the spiral staircase connecting the throne room to the rooms below where the civilians had been. Somepony was coming. Although it was soft, it sounded quite loud in the otherwise still air, eventually bringing attention to another fact. The music had stopped.

A rush of hooves in an intermittent gallop, broken up by short intervals of gliding, brought Alexander past the open doorway to the throneroom in a blur of pink and white, before he suddenly came to a rather swift stop.

The shadowy unicorn locked eyes with what appeared to be an alicorn, white horn clearly displayed while pink wings were clearly free from the cloak that typically obscured them. A moment of tension came and passed before a cruel smile crossed the prince's face and he began to trot past her, and she passed him.

Once they had passed, the Prince's expression quickly shifted to one of determination. [Sleep, dear brother. I will take care of things for once.] The trot continued unbroken even as a wave of green washed over the pony's form, with no obvious, outward changes, at least none obvious with her tail hanging low. However, she quickly picked up the pace, breaking into another gliding gallop down the curved stairway as the sounds of metal clanging against metal began to ring from below.

Sword rang against spear, then armor then spear once more. Ponies pressed back against one another in a crowd as tight as they could make it, despite the crush injuring some of those toward the middle. It evened things out a bit, as those toward the edge had injuries of another sort.

Six guards held the crowd in place, while a single earth pony fought back, holding all six at bay. She was stronger than them, faster than them, with better reflexes, and smarter than them all, in terms of sheer mental processing power if nothing else. Yet the difference in skill between trained, experienced guards and an itinerant farm worker rang through as every swing that wasn't meant to deflect their own weapons met with a skillful block. That despite the surprise factor inherit in teleporting all around the battlefield. That advantage merely managed to make up for the distributed pattern of her foes.

Peach Seed was getting worried. Her blade, one of the Sin Eaters, was devastating against the shadow monsters, but here it was having no real effect. She hoped that even a glancing blow would tear away the shadow magic controlling the guards' minds, but she couldn't manage to make such a blow, and armor strikes were doing nothing but make noise. The glittercloak was useless here: despite the magic controlling them, the guards were too innocent and untouched by darkness to be affected by it, and she didn't have time to try trading it for one of the shadowcloaks packed away in the fortress' basement, near the outskirts of town.

It wasn't just that this fight was a standoff, or that she was slowly burning through limited resources. The gatecrasher bracers were burning through magic reserves the earth pony wasn't used to being aware of, but her king was able to feed more power into her with his love, at least as long as there was enough for him to draw from his changelings. It wasn't even the fact that her fetlocks were burning up, the bracers' tendency to overheat improved but never fully fixed.

It was also that she was stuck fighting this ineffectual fight when outside a fight was raging that she could contribute a lot to. She had done so, before the call for reinforcements reached her, but she was one of the few who could reach the civilians in time.

Things changed though when a voice rang out, more effeminate than she was used to hearing.

"We are not afraid,
We're stronger than you're thinking.
We are not afraid,
Even if we're bleeding."

The ponies spread out a bit, injured ponies standing firm despite their wounds.

"We are not afraid,
We'll stand against the dark and,
We are not afraid,
We'll best this story arc and,"

Resolutely, they began to step forward, determination swelling in their expressions, while a few voices began to join in, even not knowing the words.

"We are not afraid,
Of spears and gleaming armor,
We are not afraid,
No shopkeeper nor farmer."

Sheer numbers overwhelmed the guards, pinning them down.

"We are not afraid,
You'll harm us now no farther,
We are not afraid,
Now all our will we gather."

They held the guards down as a slight slit on each left cheek from the Sin Eater drew the dark magic out of them, returning them to themselves. The guards alone sang the next verse.

"We are not afraid,
United again in purpose.
We are not afraid,
Our wills again resurface."

Stepping out into the room, Prince Alexander Gabriella Stormbringer I finished with a solo verse, her voice perfectly distributed by the acoustics of the room, as they lowered in volume.

"We are not afraid,
Our hearts are full of love and,
We're peaceful as a dove and,
We are not afraid."

With both the violence and the song ended, the ponies looked up at the two Itinerants, now sitting side by side as they caught their breath.

After a few seconds of stillness, Flash Sentry looked at Alexander with a quirked head and finally broke the silence. "Hay, weren't you a stallion?"

Blushing, she quickly responded with "...and... smash-cut."

Mirage stood her ground, dead center in the abandoned street, beckoning with one hoof toward the oncoming behemoth. The monster tore through the street, leaving the changeling to note in irritation how much labor was going to go into undoing all this damage. The creature bellowed, nearly reaching her before the Sin Eater made it to her hoof, thrown by a changeling one street over and given both an electromagnetic and telekinetic nudge from each of them.

The poor beast never knew what hit it, blade slashing through the creature and turning it instantly into a cloud of black mist, to be absorbed into the blade, and through it, channeled into the changeling. She shuddered a moment, remembering what this stuff had done to her earlier before she passed it on to her king. She didn't have time for recriminations.

Reeling back, she lept into the air with the aid of her wings and hurled the blade forward, a mix of magic and magnetics carrying it hurtling two blocks to the next one who needed it.

Another behemoth appeared nearby, this one bursting out of an abandoned bakery, causing the building to collapse in its wake. Without the blade, the changeling was much less equipped to deal with it, but did what she could, wrapping her magic around its horn and keeping it somewhat pinned in place while she hovered out of range, until Bardrick was able to dispatch the beast with a more conventional spear.

A new sound of destruction rang out from above, the sudden and violent shattering of crystal from an upper story of the castle, as the throne room gained a new view. There was going to be so much work cleaning this all up.

Chapter 17: Two unstealable hearts

"Do you hear that?" The shadowy unicorn asked as she stepped into the throne room, meeting eyes with Princess Cadance and Shining Armor. Their love, amplified by the crystal heart and made manifest in Shining Armor's shield spell, was enough to keep her dark magic at bay. But every step she made closer made the crystal's power grow in intensity around them, and it was starting to make them nervous.

"Your poor subjects, betrayed by the very guards who are supposed to protect them," she pointed out. It was meant to be intimidating, but she didn't anticipate the actual effect.

null was mine to command, and indeed he was serving as my avatar, the very embodiment of my will. But he answered still to a higher authority, even if that authority was technically imaginary and certainly not present. Istaran didn't have a lot he held sacred. He had few depths he wouldn't stoop to. But he hated betrayal with a cold and brutal passion.

The mare barely had time to bring a bladed bracer to bear, turning to block the Sin Eater before it could rip into her flesh. Her taunting speech was set aside as she was driven back, slash after slash deflected by her blades. We were mid fight before I fully caught up with what I was doing.

The mare glared at me, then raised her eyebrows in alarms as our eye contact had no effect. Whatever it was meant to do, it obviously didn't work on the undead. Or robotic fake-undead. Or transfer through our digital linkup. I pressed the attack once again, forcing her to turn to mist to dodge out of the corner she had been driven into. But being mist offered no protection from the Sin Eater, and she had already seen the danger for herself before leaving the battlefield.

The black crystal heart held to her chest by a steel neckless bounced erratically as she dodged and blocked, finally managing to strike back with telekinetically wielded knives of her own, only to find them magnetically repelled. A simple direct blast of TK knocked me back but couldn't keep me at bay for long. And attempt to lift me up with her magic shattered quickly, and her attempts at a shield were quickly shattered by a mage masher dagger hurled at her horn. She managed to dodge a direct hit from the blade, and block the followup swing from the Sin Eater, but it was still keeping her on the defensive.

The screams from below had been replaced by violent clangs, but now they were replaced with song. This had the unicorn a bit worried, but she remained determined in her fight. She managed to snatch the dagger from the air despite my attempts to move it out of her reach, and hurled it at the royal couple. Shining tried to stop it with his telekinesis when it shattered his shield instantly, but that too was useless, while my own electromagnetism was able to pull it off course, bouncing it off the wall behind them before pulling it back toward me.

A roar rose up from the mare's throat as she charged, eyes locked on the prize: the crystal heart. But she didn't have time. She was mentally tensed, ready to counter whatever I threw at her. But she wasn't expecting a massive burst of dark telekinesis ripping through the wall on her opposite side, shattering crystal and peppering her with rubble. She shifted to mist quickly, letting the rubble pass through her, but what came in after it, hidden behind the spray did not pass through her so harmlessly.

I cut through her with my own Sin Eater. The real me, that is, in my pegasus guise of course. She reformed quickly, hurt but not down, shocked but not stunned as a pair of identical pegasi assaulted her from both sides with the deadly blades.

There was blood on my blade. I knew what that meant. The beasts that were naught but shadow didn't bleed. There was a pony underneath it all, or someone who had once been a pony. And she was good. In the sense of being skilled with blade and spell. Even pressed by two assailants she fought impressively well, receiving only glancing blows, devastating as those were to her power.

Each nick though fed me power, and I didn't hold onto it for long, smashing her with more telekinetic bursts. I stopped that quickly when she smirked and ringed herself in some dark shell, presumably a counter to the magic I was using. I never gave her a chance to trigger it.

She did manage to lock eyes with me for a moment. Thoughts began to slip into my mind, thoughts of violence toward the innocent, toward Cadance and Shining Armor, toward the Heart Crystal. The thoughts barely had time to form before they were replaced by 'Clan is clan,' again and again.

She managed to knock my personal sword free with a bladed bracer, bouncing the blade off Shining Armor's reestablished shield, but it gave me and opening. Lunging in, I caught her in a hug, pulling her up onto her hindlegs. I could do something she couldn't do. Something Cadance couldn't do, despite her aspect. I could rewrite my own emotions.

At my command, Deus filled me with love for this mare. It was intense. Passionate. Our lips met in a sudden kiss, stunning her more than my sudden entrance had. And all of my love for her, all the love I could drag in from my changelings, all the love my hundreds of followers had managed to gather and concentrate, all of it poured into the mare in that one instant.

She was gray now, or perhaps off-white, far from the black fur she had been sporting, and her horn was somehow spiralled now rather than the bladed shape it had held just a moment ago. She wobbled on her hind legs a bit, looking at me almost drunk and certainly defeated. "I surrender..." she said, after a moments thought, a sly smile crossing her lips.

"Good... then maybe you can call off all your-" Shining began before gasping in shock.

null lunged forward, blade first, driving his Sin Eater through her chest and my own. She gasped, struggling for breath in shock looking at me in disbelief.

"I don't accept," I replied, before pulling back off the blade. Shifting his grip, null slashed upward. When the blade contacted the black crystal heart, it shattered and even before he finished splitting her skull, a shockwave of pink light burst forth from the Crystal Heart, sweeping through the city.

null stood his ground, unaffected, while the other changelings took flight quickly, clearing the skyline before the blast sent them sailing. Alexander had the good sense to acquire Peach Seed's gatecrasher bracers before it swept through, and removed himself from the city entirely until it passed. The shadow creatures, however, didn't know what hit them. Most dissipated on contact, while dozens of ponies slumped to the ground, purged of the darkness within.

"Thank you, null," I said allowed, catching my breath even as my wound swiftly healed.

The dead changling nodded silently, as he allowed his disguise to drop. Blood was still dripping from his sword, hers and mine both.

"How... how could you?!" Cadance exclaimed, thrusting a hoof at me accusingly. "You... you monster! Demon! Out! Get out of my kingdom! NOW!"

I was a bit taken aback, not quite certain which line I had crossed had been the one to set her off, or if they were cumulative. "I saved you," I pointed out. "And all your ponies."

"You used love as a weapon!" she accused, poking me in the chest, where I was recently injured.

I was dumbstruck. I trembled a moment with rage, glaring her in the eyes before I snorted, and left the room.

null stayed behind, wordlessly gathering the discarded weapons before standing guard over the fallen unicorn.

"You had something to say," Shining Armor said to my back, speaking loud to be heard over the wind. Looking down from the parapets, we both saw my subjects regrouping, and gathering the few former shadows who had been freed by the heart at the battle's end.

"Do you know where we learned to do that from? Where I learned to do that?" I asked.

"Do what? Use love as a weapon? I don't think I want to know..." Shining Armor said.

"Did you see the cleanup of Canterlot, after the invasion?" I asked him.

He was confused a moment, shaking his head. "We were a little busy getting married. It was pretty much cleaned up by the time we left the castle. Why?"

"There were a lot of casualties when you set off your little love nuke," I told him. "Many of the changelings were blown free, but some weren't so lucky. It wasn't pretty. I was there... I saw it. My wife was nearly one of your victims, less than an hour after fighting some of the invaders ourselves."

We sat in silence for a few minutes, watching the dots move around below.

A gasp from below caught Shining's attention. "Caddie!"

"She's safe, but alarmed," I pointed out. "Go to her."

"How are you still alive?!" Cadance demanded of the unicorn slowly climbing to her hooves, pulling the two halves of her head together.

"I'm not, obviously," she replied pressing her skull in from both sides for several seconds before they stuck that way, and she could settle onto all four hooves.

"Then how are you moving! And talking!?" the alicorn demanded.

"The same way he does," the unicorn replied, nodding to the dead changeling. "My name was Midnight Terror, but I have been renamed 'Warlock' by my new king."

"On top of all that, he's a necromancer?!" Princess Cadance exclaimed as her husband rushed into the room.

"What?!" Shining added intelligently, as he came to a stop beside his wife, the proof of her claim calmly looking at her with two pairs of lifeless eyes.

"His blood has many uses, including animating the dead," Warlock explained. "It got into my wounds from his own, when null finished me off, setting my revival into motion. My king felt it critical to learn all I knew, and that was quite wise. This battle is ended, but the war is not."

"That crystal," Shining said. "Are there more of them? Can the other shadows make more?"

"An astute question," Warlock replied, with a bit more feeling than null managed. "There are no more now, but it has been proven effective, and the shadow makers will surely make more. They are not quick or easy to make, however. Your kingdom is safe for the time being."

"Aside from all the monsters still here..." Cadance groused, angrily.

"Caddie..." Shining Armor said quietly, unsure what to say to her.

"It's alright, Shining," Warlock said. "We ask that the Prince be allowed to remain as our diplomat, and our fortress remain as our embassy, with minimal staff. The rest of us have somewhere else to be, anyways."

Cadance breathed slowly. "Alright. We can agree to that. Where will you go?"

Warlock started for the exit, null in tow. "As I said, the war isn't over."

Chapter 18: The place I'll return to someday

Pink wings cut through the snow-filled air, guiding their owner unsteadily toward her destination. A dim glow from a horn radiated a bubble of heat, protecting its owner from the worst ravages of the weather, but here beyond the crystal heart's sphere of influence, a horn's magic was not enough to keep everything at bay. Not even an alicorn's horn.

I didn't even look up to acknowledge Cadance as she landed. null and I clashed swords, blades pressing against one another for a moment, before I touched my own blade with one hoof, a wave of blackness passing up the blade, through the handle and surrounding myself for a moment. The flame-like blackness wreathing me winked out as a hoof-shaped shadow slammed into null from the side, sending him skidding across the snow. With a flick of my wings I was on him, blade thrusting down, only to be barely diverted into the snow with his own. The dead changeling spun and kicked, driving me back a bit on his way into a standing position.

Warlock, the only other being present with us, approached Cadance. "We did not expect to see you here. Are you displeased with the progress of our departure? If there is anything you need to speak to us about, you could always talk to Alexander about it, as we agreed."

"It is not that far to fly yet. I would talk to your King himself," she said. She wasn't furious anymore, but she was uncomfortable.

null and I traded a few more blows before clipping our swords to our backs. null took up a position watching for anything approaching from deeper into the mountains, while I approached Princess Cadance. "There is a lot of damage to your city. My subjects are helping, as well as making a few preparations for our journey. Five days to help. Five days to prepare. I ask that much of you. Myself and the dead ones will not set foot in your city in the meanwhile."

Cadance seemed a bit surprised. I guessed it wasn't the subject she meant to broach, but she rolled with it easily enough. "Ten days then?"

I shook my head. "Five. We will do both at once. Some ponies are better suited to one or the other, and some will split their time. Those you see here will be gone before then, though. Despite Warlock's intelligence, there are things we need to see for ourselves, and soon."

"You..." Cadance began before faltering for a moment. "You don't have to go. I overreacted. I just..."

"Nopony likes to see how brutal war can be. And I... I admit, I have become more ruthless at times than I would have thought possible." I placed a hoof on her shoulder gently. "Your city is protected by good cheer, not guilt and self doubt. If I may, I would still like to count you as a friend and ally, even in my exile. If you agree, perhaps I can return when we've dealt with the remaining threats."

She pulled free, but met my hoof with a gentle clop before I set it down. She smiled, weakly. "Your kingdom should be protected by good cheer and love, not darkness, South Wind. Your people love you... the living ones at least. Don't forget that. I fear you have spent too much time in the darkness, fighting shadows, and becoming a bit too much like them. Not every enemy needs to be slain. Some can be redeemed."

"We're a bit far north for sunshine and rainbows," I commented ruefully. "But I will keep that in mind. Stay safe, Princess."

"And you as well," she said, unwilling to use my title. She took flight then, and returned from whence she came.

Wordlessly, I turned with my companions and started out into the snow. She had come, as I suspected, and we had talked. Now it was time to begin our trek in earnest.

"So is this some of your 'song magic'?" Diamond Glitter asked Alexander.

The half changeling wasn't singing, but his horn was manipulating a wrench and a small hammer to bang rhythmically on some overturned metal buckets, while he strummed intermittently on his lute, a bit of magic amplifying and altering the sound. It filled the streets with an unusual beat that seemed to go very well with the construction work going on as Itinerants and crystal ponies worked side by side to repair the damaged buildings.

"Not so much. The amplification is magical, but this is merely a bit of music to help focus the mind on the task at hoof. Truthfully, I am a bit drained from the conflict, and I don't sense any wild song magic I can stir up at the moment. Of course... some snuggles would probably help with the former problem,~" the half changeling hinted.

"I am not going to snuggle you," the guardmare said emphatically.

"I would never expect you to," the prince pointed out. They sat in awkward silence a moment as Alexander continued to play.

"I heard snuggles were needed?" Deep Digger asked, the crystal earth pony coming out from around the corner, introducing herself with an impish grin.

"Indeed, though I dare say Garnet may get jealous if strangers start providing them," Alexander said with a raised eyebrow and an amused smirk.

"Not a problem," Deep said, before disappearing around the corner from whence she had come. Alexander and Diamond exchanged confused looks, taking their eyes off the approach for a moment when they looked back, the earth pony was running back around the corner on her hind legs, her forelegs holding a crystal unicorn aloft despite the other mare's objections. With a manic grin, she deposited her load roughly against, the prince, Garnet crashing her way into a hug.

The music crashed its way into an ending that oddly seemed fitting to the song, but left the scene in the rhythmless noise of the ongoing construction. Alexander giggled as he struggled to untangle himself and his marefriend from his cloak, and sit up into a proper snuggle. "My, such prompt and unexpected delivery! Do you know this eager mailmare?"

"What? Umm. Yes. Alexander, this is my best friend, Deep Digger. Deep, this is Prince Alexander Gabriella Stormbringer the First," Garnet formerly introduced. The two shared a friendly clop, while Garnet settled against her coltfriend's side comfortably and naturally before pulling away a bit with a sudden look of shock.

"Is something troubling you?" Alex asked immediately.

"Oh! It's nothing, I just," Garnet said as she snuggled back into place. "I was just surprised at how natural it felt snuggling against you like this... we've only been on one date. I mean, I barely know you. That, and it feels like everypony is watching me..." Her sister and best friend most certainly were looking on, with contrasting emotions. Diamond looked like she was fighting back an objection while Deep was beaming with pride, neither of which made Garnet feel at ease. The feel of the fluffy pink wing wrapped around her withers, however, did make her feel at ease, the tension of the situation melting off of her slowly.

"Three by my count, but that's hardly a thing to argue over," Alexander claimed. "Still, it is but a beginning. I hope to get to know you far better in the days ahead."

"Are you going to feed off of her?" Diamond cut in as neutrally toned as she could manage, though it still bore the unmistakable hint of accusation.

"Does it hurt?" Garnet asked, looking up into Alexander's eyes.

"Only if and when she offers," Alex replied to Diamond before turning to Garnet. "As to your question, no. It does not hurt, and can even be quite pleasant. It will, however, make you hungrier, possibly tired, and if we're to make a habit of it you should expect to eat more. It is much as if you were using your horn more vigorously than you are used to, and with much the same potential consequences."

Horn overuse was of course something both unicorns were personally familiar with, and Deep nodded sagely at the familiar concept. "Do it,~" the earth mare urged, watching wide eyed, eager to see it for herself.

"There isn't really much to see, you know..." Alexander objected to his audience.

"Do it," Garnet said as she snuggled in closer against her stallion, nuzzling his chest. Both closed her eyes, and the mare let out a slight gasp before sighing contentedly. Deep gave a happy sigh of her own watching the scene, her imagination wildly filling in the blanks. Diamond gave a sigh of her own, as she let the aggression flow out of her, accepting her sister's choice of date for the moment.

Silence reigned over the group for the moment, a rather noisy 'silence' given their environment, but a sort of silence nonetheless. Finally, Diamond broke it. "Alexander..." she began.

"Yes, Lady Guard Lieutenant Diamond Glitter?" Alex answered contentedly, not opening his eyes.

"I'm sorry. For earlier. For judging you so harshly without knowing you. I know what you did, in the battle. You were..." Diamond couldn't quite get it out.

"You wished to protect your sister, yes? You still do?" Alexander inquired.

"That's right, but I-" Diamond began.

"I do too. She is such a precious gem, let us both keep her safe from any who would harm her," Alexander offered.

Diamond nodded slowly, wordlessly, and Alexander peeked open an eye to confirm what his sensitive ears had noticed. Then the noisy silence reigned once again.

Deep beneath the surface, below the shell of a fortress the Itinerants had erected, among the roots of the living wood pony now known as Frozen Core, a unicorn made the rounds in a lab coat, surveying the progress of several projects.

Bunsen Burner first walked up to her old friend and partner, Bubbling Beaker. "How is Project Zero progressing?" she asked, speaking aloud more for the feel of it than necessity. Just as she was using her own eyes to observe rather than simply exchanging sensory data through their networks.

"It's going great!" Bubbling said, pointing a hoof toward the crystal pony suspended in a glass tube filled with green gel. The pony, a crystal earth stallion, was covered in runic etching filled with black crystals, in some ways resembling the Sin Eater swords. "The suppression system is working great, and his mental rehabilitation in Elysium seems to be progressing nicely. Sky Ranger is taking point on that, and has a lot of positive results to report. We hope to test switching him from suppress mode to enhance mode in time for the counteroffensive."

Bunsen nodded, failing to keep a straight face, and instead smiling at her friend. "Thank you, Bubbling. Keep up the good work. Those vitals seems quite strong, make sure you cycle in some fresh goo often enough. Let me know if you have any trouble getting volunteers to produce it."

"Roger!" Bubbling declared with a sharp solute and a giggle before the other unicorn trotted away.

Bunsen made a checkmark on her list before trotting to the next person. Forge Soot, the minotaur, towered over her. The fact was made that much more obvious when he raised his hammer far over his own head, bringing it down heavily on the blade before him. It had been one of the Sin Eaters, but now it was something else. The blade was largely unchanged, but the pommel quite a bit altered. At the moment he was hammering the connection between the two, forcing them into tighter contact between the old and new components.

An elder griffon, one who wore his age more thoroughly than Bardrick did these days, but still had obvious might to his form, guided Forge's actions, stopping him from time to time to inspect the results, and make sure the runes were undamaged.

"Wayland, Forge Soot. How is Project Kingblade progressing?" Bunsen inquired.

"The first prototype is nearly ready for trials. We have been able to confirm that the inversion heart works in basic experiments," Forge Soot said, taking a moment to wipe his brow. "Getting a hold of that dark heart crystal from Warlock made this project much easier. We should have the first Kingblade mk1 ready for testing by sundown, perhaps ready for use by sunrise. Then we'll start retrofitting the other Sin Eaters in the same fashion."

"I'll have to re-etch some of these runes before it's combat-worthy, of course," Wayland complained. "It'd almost be easier to start from scratch, but some of the materials aren't as easy for us to acquire as others."

Bunsen nodded and checked off the next item in her list, and trotted away. She trotted up some stairs to the floor above, approaching a massive circular dais surrounded by three wooden pillars, each curving outward. The inner side of each pillar was coated in bright, yellow, glowing crystals, while more of the same were etched into the sides in runic patterns.

"Bark Tender, how is Project Freight Crasher progressing?" the mare called up to the ceiling.

A wooden form extended down, looking like a carved pony head and torso. Vines were wrapped around it, extending up out of sight and helping to guide its movements, shaky as those seemed.

"I prefer to go by Frozen Core now, miss Burner," the wooden head spoke with a colt's voice, though its lips were unmoving. "The Freight Crasher is online and available for immediate testing. Do you have a sample ready for transport?" he inquired.

"Already? Hmm, give me a moment," Bunsen said before checking off the last item, and adding a few hoofwritten notes beside each entry. Finally, her magic lifted the paper free from her clipboard and placed it in the center of the dais. "There. We can start small. Please send this to our king immediately.

"Of course," Frozen said as the glow from the yellow crystal grew blinding. Yellow light filled the space between them for a time, then disappeared, leaving nothing upon the platform. "Receipt confirmed by recipient," the wooden construct acknowledged. "Targeting was off by seven point three hooves from intended location. Attempting to recalibrate."

"You need more notes?" Bunsen inquired.