Author's Note

I have decided to make this one short, so as to break the huge chapter that approaches!

Life is throwing me curve-balls again, though... not sure if I will be able to get this one done by the end of the year, but here's to hoping!

Anyways, more will come as soon as possible! Make way, for the next chapter... "Echoes in the Dark - Memories of the Vigilante!"

That's right, folks! This shady character's history is coming up, so stay tuned for more!

Oh, and spoiler alert! There's going to be a huge twist that might leave y'all stumped until I get to that part...

MU WHO HWUH HUH HA HA HAAAAAA! (Dr. Evil Laugh in text format, in case you didn't know... yep. Austin Powers reference in the "Author's Notes"... who hasn't seen that one, anyways?)

The Homecoming - Into The Abyss...

The past three days were hectic for Twilight Sparkle. Despite expecting a quick response from Princess Celestia, everything seemed to have gotten a lot more quiet around Canterlot.

Her friends; Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Applejack, were all with her, along with her parents Twilight Velvet and Night Light, her older brother Shining Armor, her sister-in-law Princess Cadence, and her supportive assistant/half-brother, Spike. Her friends' families were also there, including Rarity's parents and younger sister, Sweetie Belle, Applejack's grandmother, older brother, and younger sister, Rainbow Dash's adopted sister, Scootaloo, Pinkie Pie's three sisters, her parents, and her cousin from Cloudsdale, Surprise.

Fluttershy's family, however, weren't there. With the loss that they must've been going through, however, there wasn't any room to judge, for it was completely understood, and justified.

They were all there to support each other as a whole, for the loss of their friend, and international hero, Fluttershy.

Though there were no bodies recovered the previous night, the investigators were able to find a few strands of pink hair near a puddle of blood... and after vigorous studies, it was confirmed that the owner of the hair was none other than Fluttershy.

"It's not your fault, Twilight." Shining Armor cooed to his sister, who only stared lifelessly at the fireplace. Her friends were also staring off into the distance, unfazed by the comforting words of their family members. None of them were as bright and positive as they've always been ever since the day that they all moved into Ponyville.

Suddenly, there came a series of rapid knocks on the door. Curious, Spike walked up to the door and opened it, only to back up when an all-too-familiar zebra trotted inside in her ragged brown cloak. Following behind her was an unusual mare that they haven't met before... a green coated mare with bright orange locks for her mane style. Her clothes resembled that of a forest nymph, and her eyes were droopy, almost like she barely had any sleep.

"Zecora?" Twilight weakly asked before trotting up to the zebra. "Who's this?"

Zecora didn't answer, but instead motioned for the stranger to speak. The stranger nodded her head and cleared her throat.

"Like, hello. I'm guessing you must be Twilight Sparkle?"

Twilight nodded her head and replied, "Indeed... um... who are you, exactly?"

The mare replied, "My name is, like, way too complex for others to say, but... I guess you could call me 'Tree Hugger'. Fluttershy's, like, a friend of mine, too... but I've heard that you've all been gathering here to, like, mourn for her loss?"

Twilight nodded her head, but began to grow uneasy with the tone of voice that this "Tree Hugger" was using. In a way, it almost sounded like she didn't even care that Fluttershy was dead... or that she knew something that they didn't.

Regardless, she replied as casually as she could muster, "That's right... I'm guessing you've come to do the same?"

To her shock, along with a few of her friends, Tree Hugger shook her head and smiled. "Actually, I'm here to ease all of your burdens, instead. I bring you all good news!"

"Excuse me?!" came the voice of Rainbow Dash. She flew mere inches away from Tree Hugger's face and glared daggers at her. "Okay, look! I know that you shamans are always going on about being 'one with the Earth' when a pony departs, but... WHY THE BUCK DO YOU THINK WE OF ALL PONIES WOULD EVEN BE INTERESTED IN HEARING THAT LOAD OF HORSE SHIT RIGHT NOW?! OUR FRIEND IS DEAD! D-E-A-D- DEAD! WHAT KIND OF GOOD NEWS COULD THERE POSSIBLY BE IN THAT, HUH?!"

"RAINBOW DASH!" Rarity shouted, catching the rainbow maned pegasus off guard. At once, the pegasus found herself pinned to the ground by a light blue aura, courtesy of the enraged white coated unicorn. "That is not the way to act towards guests! Especially to guests who have come with the intent to brighten our moods in this grim time!"

Rainbow Dash's anger only intensified. She turned her furious expression from Tree Hugger to Rarity and growled. "YOU'RE SIDING WITH HER, NOW?! A STRANGER OVER A FRIEND?!"

"Volume, Rainbow Dash! We're inside a building, and there are fillies present!" Rarity stated, now feeling her magic wavering from the emotional distress she was getting from her friend.

Rainbow Dash was about to respond, only for Twilight to clear her throat and look towards Tree Hugger, after nearly intervening between her two friends. "Well... we appreciate you trying to be nice about this, but... I don't think there's anything that could make this situation any better."

Tree Hugger tilted her head confusedly before asking, "What? But I thought that hearing about your friend, like, being alive would cheer you up!"

Suddenly all ears perked up, and all eyes were now locked onto her.

"Whoa... that's, like, really trippy, dude! You're all were, like, in-sync with the same emotion for a second there!"

Twilight was the first to speak up. "Wait... so Fluttershy is alive?! What proof do you have?!"

Tree Hugger shrugged before replying, "Like, the trees have spoken. The spirits have answered... she is alive. I can sense her vibrations."

"Liar..." Rainbow Dash muttered, catching Tree Hugger's attention once more.

With a sigh, Tree Hugger sat down on her haunches and closed her eyes, while Twilight looked at her in disbelief.

"Um... right... so again, do you have any proof that-"

Before Twilight could finish her sentence, Tree Hugger began mumbling a monotonous tone, seemingly speaking in a strange foreign language, but slowed down dramatically.

This continued on for thirty seconds, until she went silent again. Everyone stared at her confusedly, only for the silence to be broken when Tree Hugger opened her eyes again.

This time, however, her expression went from calm and relaxed to stern and focused. She looked at Rainbow Dash and said, "Rainbow Dash... I know that you and Fluttershy have been friends for thirteen years now, back when you both met in Flight Camp, during that time she was just moving in from Las Pegasus with her parents. She tripped and fell, only for a group of bullies to start teasing her. You jumped in and stopped them, but only to end up bruised in several areas. Regardless, she applauded your bravery, and helped patch you up."

Rainbow Dash's expression suddenly changed. She was now staring at Tree Hugger in shock and disbelief, now finding it difficult to speak.

Tree Hugger then turned to Rarity and continued. "Rarity, your friend Opal is currently waiting for you at the bedroom door. You haven't fed her in two days, but your younger sister, Sweetie Belle, took care of her yesterday before going back to your parents' house." She nodded her head towards Rarity's parents and younger sister, who looked between Rarity and Tree Hugger in disbelief.

Ignoring Rarity's sudden shock, she looked at Applejack next. "Applejack. You haven't been bucking as many trees as you usually do. You still have yet to buck a single one today, and was planning on just skipping it, should you need the energy to search for Fluttershy any time soon. You entrusted Apple Bloom to help you with that, and she agreed, despite her incapability of doing it all. As such, your brother Big McIntosh is planning to cover for the remaining parts of the orchard, and Granny Smith is unaware of any of it, because you don't want her to worry about your safety, and try to find a way to improvise."

"Is this true?" Granny Smith asked, looking at her grandchildren in slight shock. The three in question tried avoiding her gaze, but Applejack slowly nodded her head.

Tree Hugger turned towards Pinkie Pie next. "Pinkie Pie... during your whole life, you were dedicated to making others smile and laugh... but it wasn't always like that. Beforehoof, you were living a miserable life on a Rock Farm, endlessly harvesting rocks for your family's production line, which has been, and still is, a popular one." Then she turned towards the Cakes and added, "Oh, and she accidentally left a cake in the oven... again. She hasn't done so since her third day on the job."

Mrs. Cake gasped before rushing outside the building. Mr. Cake quickly followed her, while Pinkie Pie's eyes shot open. "Oh, no! I did forget about that cake! Wait... how did you-"

She then turned to Twilight Sparkle, who backed away uneasily. "You, Twilight Sparkle, have to calm yourself before you trot towards a dark, dark path that you will not be able to escape from... and yes, I do know about your thoughts you had leaning towards Prince Blueblood when he insulted your friends at the Gala. You had some... disturbing thoughts... inspired by 'The Crimson Basement', a horror novel you've read three times while nopony was aware. You have a strange fascination with everything there is to know about anatomy, science, life, death, and your most recent one, friendship. Yet your drive towards knowledge will eventually be your downfall, should you start searching for him. You must act quickly... all of you. Change your ways, and approach him in a friendly manner, and you will be spared. Do not, and he will only see the seven, and strike you all where you stand, as he did to them!"

Silence suddenly filled the room. Everypony was at a loss for words at this point.

Finally, Twilight spoke again. "T-the... the seven?"

Tree Hugger nodded her head. "Indeed... an insatiable Lust for knowledge, a Glutton for admiration and Envy for those with more than you... jealousy for your friends' benefits, too much Pride in your own success, yet a ton of Anger in your failures, the Sloth of loss... letting the world go without you paying a tribute to it... if it weren't for the lack of Greed still being here, he would've already been here long ago... after Spike's birthday party two months ago."

Silence filled the room once more. All ponies' eyes were now avoiding the gaze of Tree Hugger, bearing a slight sense of newfound fear of this strange visitor.

"So tell me... who is it that doesn't know a thing about what she's saying, again?" she asked, hitting the final nail in the coffin.

Everypony remained silent, too afraid to answer. Sure, they should be feeling glad that Fluttershy's alive... but why didn't they feel any relief?

Then the realization hit them all in unison. Twilight's ears perked up, and she looked at Tree Hugger once again. "Wait... so if Fluttershy's still alive... that means she must still be out there! We have to hurry up and rescue her from the Everfree Forest, before something does happen to her!"

Her friends nodded their heads and stood back up, but Tree Hugger shook her head and glared at them. "No! If you five enter the Everfree Forest now, then you'll only find your own deaths! Dark spirits are roaming inside, now... Zecora even brought her irreplaceable things from her home, planning to stay here while the threat gets dealt with!"

Twilight shook her head and retorted, "No! If she's out there, then I'm going to go save her... no matter the cost!"

Once more, the Bearers of Harmony nodded their heads in agreement and turned to leave. Before they could even take a single step, however, their family members quickly blocked their paths, and held them down.

Twilight, however, quickly teleported herself outside the house, much to her parents' and siblings' shock. Shining turned towards the window and saw Twilight rushing towards the Everfree Forest alone.

"QUICKLY! WE NEED TO STOP HER!" he shouted, winning a nod from Princess Cadence.

Before anyone else could do anything, Zecora and Tree Hugger sighed and covered their snouts in green cloths, while Zecora reached into her cloak and pulled out a small vial. Then, with a nod towards each other, she slammed the vial into the center of the room, emitting a light blue fog within the entire area.

Mere seconds after everyone inhaled the mysterious substance, their consciousness faded, and they passed out on the spot... save for the two who covered their snouts.

Zecora sighed and shook her head before looking outside the window. "Dark times are, indeed, upon us all. I pray that young Twilight does not fall."

Tree Hugger shook her head and trotted next to her. "She's strong... but I'm afraid the dark spirits that approach her will be far too much for her to handle."

Zecora rubbed her chin in thought. "What of the Vigilante, though? And of her status, does he even know?"

Tree Hugger smiled and nodded her head. "You'd be surprised how much he knows about the world... and how much the world knows about him, as well. He's seen her, and helped them since the beginning... and even before then."

Zecora tilted her head confusedly. "Before? As in, before they were even born?!"

Tree Hugger shook her head. "No... before they were born."

The zebra stood there silently. She pointed towards the window and asked, "Before... the princesses were born?!"

After a moment of silence, Tree Hugger shook her head again. "Before the king and queen were born."

Twilight panted as she continued on her way towards Everfree Forest. There was no turning back now. Her friend's life was on the line, and she wasn't going to let that stand in her way!

"Hang on, Fluttershy! I'm coming to get you out of there!" she firmly stated. "I don't care what that 'Tree Hugger' says about him... he could very well be using you! And I will not let him keep you from your friends, either!"

A solid object quickly connected with her hooves, sending her falling into the muddy road. She grunted in pain as she looked backwards, and saw a large boulder in the way. She then looked at her right foreleg and winced as she saw the nasty looking, bloody gash that formed on the lower half of it.

Wasting no time, she stood back up and continued galloping towards the forest, trying her best to ignore the burning sensation that was forming on her injured leg.

"J-just a flesh wound, Twilight..." she muttered to herself, "i-it couldn't possibly be anything like what he could be doing to her!"

"-And then you clap this hoof with that hand!" Fluttershy happily commented as she clapped her left hoof with Vigil's left hand, which was outstretched with his fingers spread open. He sat cross-legged near the bonfire in the center of the cave room, while Lily sat at Fluttershy's left; a hesitantly uneasy smile was adorned across her face.

Elizabeak chuckled at the scene before her and shook her head at Vigil, who just sat there and copied the ponies' motions, clapping his hands when they clapped their hooves, seemingly enjoying the social interactions, and swapping claps between Fluttershy and Lily.

Finally, Fluttershy looked at Elizabeak and said, "You're right, Elizabeak! He is really nice when you get to know him!" She then looked at Vigil and lightly giggled. "In fact, he's almost like a caretaker!"

Elizabeak nodded her head and replied, ("Well, technically he is a father, so I guess you could say that he works with lots of experience.")

Fluttershy stopped moving her hooves and turned towards Elizabeak again, unable to lift her jaw back up. She stared at her in disbelief before turning back and forth, towards Vigil, and then back to Elizabeak.

"Wait... he's a daddy?!" Fluttershy finally yelped, forcing Lily to stare at her in disbelief.

"But... where's his child at?!" Lily asked, now finding it harder to speak. One human was a challenge to understand, but two?!

"Ugh... my head..." came the voice of an eerily familiar female from a dark corner in the cave, where a hallway rested... or rather, the eerie voices of females speaking in unison.

Elizabeak nodded her head and motioned towards the section in the room. ("It's... complicated, really. His daughter hasn't been herself ever since 'the change'... something that you may not understand without knowing the full story behind them. The two of them go way back, though! Back before any of the world you know of ever existed, in fact!")

The ponies payed no mind to Elizabeak, as their eyes were glued to the figure shrouded in the darkness that loomed over them by twice their height... the light glow from her eyes only gleamed with every flicker coming from the bonfire. Her green wings slightly buzzed and twitched due to the slight pain in her head, as she rubbed the area below her crooked horn with her right hoof. Her forelegs had several holes in them when they came into the light.

What's more, her green crown glowed in the dark, revealing her status to many, and her identity to Fluttershy, who instantly felt another surge of panic building up in her mind.

There, standing before her, was the Queen of the Changelings, herself... Queen Chrysalis.

Chrysalis opened her snake-like eyes when she saw the ponies standing inside the cave, and recoiled when she saw Fluttershy.

"Y-you?!" the two of them stuttered as they backed away from each other. Then, without warning, Fluttershy and Chrysalis passed out on the spot they stood.

Vigil quickly rushed to Chrysalis and caught her before her head could land on the ground. Then he gently lifted her and carried her back into the cave room she came from, cradled in his arms, while Elizabeak sighed and walked towards a nearby well to draw water from it.

By the time the bucket was full, Vigil had returned, and did as Elizabeak instructed... which was to wake Fluttershy up for her.

The moment the water landed on Fluttershy, she yelped and screamed, "QUEEN CHRYSALIS!" Then she looked around nervously, before noticing Vigil standing there with the bucket in his hand.

Immediately, she calmed herself down, taking deep breaths through her nose, and out her mouth. She then looked around, and could barely see the cave room where Chrysalis stood before.

"W-was that... w-was... was..." Fluttershy was unable to speak, as she was now left without a clue on what to think anymore.

Elizabeak gently patted her forelegs with her wings and cooed, ("Don't worry, Fluttershy. All will be revealed soon.") She then looked at Vigil and asked, ("Right, Vigil?")

Vigil nodded his head and sat on the ground cross-legged again.

During this whole time, Lily was confused about what was going on as well. While the rumors of what happened in Ponyville startled her and disturbed her to no end, she wasn't in the area at the time of the invasion, having been at a friend's house, prior to her experience in Canterlot.

Seeing her best friend so disturbed, however, caused her to be on high alert once more, but Fluttershy calming down again has made her less worried... alert, but not panicked anymore.

"I-is she... his daughter?" Lily asked, looking towards Elizabeak, and no longer thinking it odd that she was talking to a chicken.

Elizabeak squawked her answer, to which Lily turned towards Fluttershy for translation purposes.

Fluttershy nodded her head and looked at Lily again. "Y-yes... Queen Chrysalis is... Vigil's daughter."

Elizabeak spoke to Fluttershy again, to which she translated, "And no, Vigil isn't a Changeling... and Chrysalis wasn't always a Changeling, either. She was once a human like him, before..."

Elizabeak spoke again, which made Fluttershy gasp and look at Vigil, who looked down, almost as if he were thinking of a bad memory.

Lily tilted her head and leaned closer to Fluttershy. "Before what?"

There was a moment of silence before Fluttershy opened her mouth to speak.

"Chrysalis was a human named Katie... b-but she... she was the last..."

"Deep breaths, Fluttershy." Lily cooed, causing Fluttershy's tears to finally break from her eyes. She sniffled a few times while Elizabeak looked up towards Vigil, who looked away from the two of them, seemingly upset about something.

Elizabeak gently rubbed his left arm, causing him to look her way and nod his head. Then he stood back up and walked towards the room he brought Chrysalis into.

Finally, when she was able to speak, Fluttershy explained.

"Chrysalis was a human named Katie... before she died."

Lily gasped before quickly rushing up to her friend and gently patting her shoulders. "Shh... it's okay... I... I know how touchy that... subject must be for you."

Fluttershy shook her head. "It's not the fact that his daughter died that upsets me, though! It's... it's what he went through that has me upset the most!"

Lily sighed and nodded her head. "I think it would upset us all, even... to have our young ones taken from us."

Fluttershy shook her head again. "No... it's not that he felt grief over the loss of his daughter... it's the accusations that he gave himself... that he still gives himself to this day!"

"What do you mean? I don't understand that one..." Lily backed away cautiously. Her friend hasn't been this troubled in a long time over a simple message from anything, be it a chicken or a pony.

"What I mean is... he believes that he was the one who did it."

Lily placed her hoof over her mouth. "Did what? Killed his own daughter?!"

Fluttershy shook her head and looked down, letting her tears stream down her cheeks once again.

"No... he believes he's the one who killed his whole race!"