Cry of the Falling Star

Chapters

1.Prologue
2.The Day It Began
3.Revelations
4.Tremor
5.Colorful Spite
6.On the Run
7.The Second Visitor
8.The Other Worlds
9.The Final Boss
11.Epilogue
10.Homecoming

1.Prologue

Interlude – Otherworldly wishes
„No, this place is like heaven and hell mashed together. Is this the kind of rest my unsettling heart desires? I might find a reason to be here, but until then, we ARE going to search for a way to break through all of this. Just wait for us, brother.”

The room was gloomy, cold, and the quiet echoing sound of dropping water nearby wasn’t making things any more hospitable. Every minute, a distant slam could be heard, resonating and lingering about for a few seconds. The unstable, fading fire of candles lit the room up just enough to recognize the circle of six chairs and the figures sitting on them. Each seemed to have a shadow hanging over their heads, and because of that, the chamber looked darker than it actually was. The tension, fear and lots of other negative emotions suffocated the air and permeated the close space between the participated, like little demons possessing the heads of their victims. None could offer full resistance to this unbearable situation.

Except Twilight Sparkle. She felt it around her, of course, but it didn't mean anything to her. Over the events of the past week, her heart went cold. She didn’t know whether it’s good or bad anymore. ‘How is it that my soul has survived? I should be down there, the same place Applejack went. How could I keep my calm like this, when my whole world shattered around me? Was I always like this? Were those mares nothing more to me than mere subjects for Princess’ friendship research? And the Elements, were they also a lie all along?’ She kept asking herself these questions as she stared across the room at the cowpony, whose mane and skin alike lost most of its colors and now wore a pale white instead. Twilight was unsure she could even see her cutie mark anymore, once shining trio of apples that was well known for saving Ponyville many times before.

It had been three days already and she hasn’t spoke a word ever since. She could only sit there, head tilted forward, her eyes covered and hiding behind her mane, while the shadow consumed her. Twilight thought that such a sight should probably be sad and depressive, so she continued to fight herself to bring at least a sign of some emotion. Instead, it only made her annoyed. Although not as bad, the same thing that has caught Applejack passed over to the ponies sitting close to her. Both Fluttershy and Rarity haven’t recovered from the insane ride and were apparently waiting to be woken up from this nightmare of nightmares. As long as they didn’t know what was happening, they could remain in this room, shocked, but no harm done.

Twilight really wanted to be like them, however she was fully conscious of everything and she’s been given a responsibility. At least she achieved to be a little sorry for the three mares. But not for those sitting a little farther than the rest. The weaves of straitjacket, metal chains and leather belts strapped to the chair prevented any kind of movement for Pinkie Pie, yet her muscles struggled as she did not lose her will to fight. Twilight, disgusted with the foul creature she used to call friend, took only a short glimpse and was about to turn away when she noticed a little curl forming at the back of Pinkie’s perfectly straight mane.

Walking slowly towards the imprisoned monster, a thought came rushing through unicorn’s head. ‘How many eyes have stolen their last look into these streams of magenta hair? How long could anypony drown in this pinkish hell before ceasing to exist?’ She threw the unwanted ideas away and steadily unbinded the leather restraint mask from Diane’s face, whilst trying not to give attention to the cyan pegasus sitting silently tied nearby.

“You have something to say, Pinkamena?” Twilight asked in a slightly indifferent tone. Little did she know that the wretched pony was giggling under her mask the whole time. Pinkamena took the chance and hurled herself forward in effort to tear off some of the noble unicorn meat, for she was very hungry. Nevertheless, Twilight evaded the attack and kicked the chair legs hard enough to overthrow it down. With a snap, the pink pony fell down right onto her face. Luckily no chain broke and leather belts held tight, too. A small flow of blood ran from Diane’s snout, following the crooked floor to darkness. A subdued groan blew Twilight’s worries out of her mind and the unicorn gave away a relieved sigh.

“Hey,” came an amused voice, “I believe Fluttershy is the expert in stupid animals here. You should leave this one to her.”

“YOU! YOU BITCH! IF ONLY YOU CAME THAT DAY, YOU’D GET WHAT YOU DESERVED!” Diane's eyes were burning with anger, the insane smile of her winged friend reflected in them. She calmed herself down a bit: “I’m ashamed to admit it, but I am sure you would make some delicious cupcakes.”

“Same goes for your smooth cotton candy and my rainbows,” Rainbow Dash was thrilled, “and don't favor yourself so much, you'd be dead before we’d enter your sad little basement.”

“Wanna test it out? I’m sure if I ask nice-“

“SHUT UP! Both of you!” Twilight interrupted the quarrel with the leather mask again. Rainbow let out a cough, turned her head away and her arrogant expression confirmed her silence. One set of chains was enough for Dash, gag being unnecessary with her superiority complex. Twilight walked back to her chair, but just as she was about to sit down, the old timber door at the end of the room bursted, letting three former royal guards in. The one in the middle, shelled beneath a massive golden armor, gave Twilight an important look. The newly-acquired scar under his right eye frightened her, but she knew his magnificently decorated longsword would remain sheathed.

“Commander,” spoke Twilight in a mildly confused manner, “what's the situation?”

“We've won.”

Author's Note

As you can read, this story contains Pinkamena from Cupcakes by Sergeant Sprinkles, as well as Rainbow Dash from Rainbow Factory by Aurora Dawn. Cupcakes obviously never happened (since Dash is still kicking) but Pinkamena is still the psycho bitch you know.

Each chapter starts with an Interlude - it's just something to connect the dots.
I'll be posting more chapters day by day, just need to read and edit them first. Hope that's okay.

2.The Day It Began

Interlude - Flashback
“I located the next one. At least I think I did.”
“After all this time! Is it what we predicted it to be? Is it Celestia?”
“Seems like it, though still pure speculation. I already packed my things and I’m also taking HER with me.”
“You’re departing for Canterlot? Very well. But you will inform me once it’s confirmed. I don’t want you to leave without me, like you did last time.”
“Hey, are we still talking about that?”
“Just go you crazy ol’ horse.” The baron laughed as the other colt angrily shut the door behind him.

Another usual day in Ponyville just ended in a beautiful sunset, with Twilight Sparkle watching from her balcony. She lived for moments like this so long as Spike stayed down in the library. He quite wasn’t into such romantic stuff as he proclaimed himself and so she tended to send him do some useless work, while she enjoyed a cup of tea through the dusk.

The songs of birds and the chirping of locusts may give the illusion, however even at night Ponyville was far from being a peaceful town. She didn’t know why exactly, but Twilight decided to go out tonight, maybe to buy some ink in the store or to help somepony in trouble. Or she could bump into one of her friends. Then they would have a wild night adventure, preferably including a manticore, a hydra, or a dragon, or perhaps all three of them, and they would solve the problem as always, with a friendship lesson in the form of a letter to the Princess in the end. Twilight laughed at her fabricated story and went down to sum up some money for the night.

“What? But why can’t I go with you? It’s so boring here. Please, let me come with you, let me come with you.” Spike’s complaints unpleasantly surprised Twilight.

“For Celestia’s sake, quit bugging me Spike! I’m just going out for a walk, no worries! And I thought you got some sweeping to do.”

“Aww, claws! That su-“ Twilight shut the door behind her and left the baby dragon alone. She wasn’t in the mood for a fight, and Spike seemed especially rude today.

While trotting up the street, Twilight couldn’t stop but wonder if something had happen to her assistant. ‘Hmm, surely, it’s nothing.’ She threw the worries away and focused on the road ahead. And that’s when she realized that one of the abandoned houses was all lit up. That for sure was weird and worthy of investigating. After she spotted the SOLD sign however, she simmered down. She was little disappointed, but thinking about it made her excited in another way. ‘New neighbors, huh? Well that could be nice. I’ll be sure to pay them a visit tomorrow.’ She saw a dark figure in a black cape leaving the building a moment later. It was strange, yet again, she made herself to stop think about it.

Inevitably, Twilight had to pass around Sugarcube Corner. Loud music echoed far across the town and cheerful shouts could be heard. As expected, a great party was being held at Pinkie’s apartment. She forced herself to gallop, because the crazy pink pony wasn’t quite the amusement she searched for tonight. With the lowest of luck, Pinkie Pie was just greeting the newcomers at the door and not even Twilight could escape the attention of Pinkie’s blue eagle eye.

“Hey Twilight, that is some coincidence that I met you here. So I take it you’re here for my party? I don’t see any other reason you could be running around.” Again, Twilight couldn’t manage to keep up with the lively pony.

“At least one of my best friends should be present, and Applejack has farm work to do, Fluttershy’s got problems with animals, Rarity needs to finish the new fashion order and-“

“Well, what about Rainbow Dash?” Twilight brought up the name of the energic pegasus. She really loved Pinkie’s parties, still, enough was enough, and unlike hyperactive Pinkie Pie, Twilight also needed some time to rest. A frown passed over Pinkie’s face.

“Twilight, you know I’m not talking to her. She wouldn’t come anyways. And I don’t want to waste her precious time.” The despiteful accent stroke Twilight’s ears with potent force. She remembered that they had an argument four days ago, when Rainbow didn’t show up for cupcakes baking. Pinkie Pie was very angry and refused to speak with Rainbow Dash to this day.

‘Talk about overreacting, especially after Rainbow Dash got out of hospital only a week ago.’ It was just few cuts and bruises, but Dash appeared to be somewhat faint since. Somepony said that it was the tough work in Cloudsdale, Twilight on the other side thought it had been because of Scootaloo moving away.

“Hello?! You still there? Are you coming to the party or not?” The rushed question onslaught pulled the unicorn back to present. “I won’t mind if you don’t want to go, just answer already, I got guests to attend to and stuff.”

“Well, you see, I am sorr-“

“Okay, see you later!” In a blink of an eye, the pink pony was back at the door, not caring for her purple friend anymore. Eased by Pinkie Pie’s surrender, Twilight slowed her pace down. Each closed store she passed reduced her hope to get the ink tonight, and she was about to turn around at the next one, if it wasn’t for a pony she sighted at the end of the street. ‘It’s him again!’ This time, examining the caped stranger a little further, she captured the full measure of his stature. It was a fine-grown stallion with monumental body, rivaling even Big Macintosh. Trussed upon his back, Twilight recognized a mountain backpack, and small pouches stuck out from behind his cloak, altogether with something that looked like some kind of sheath.

The road he was going led straight out of town into the pleasantly warm night. Newfound sensation fell on Twilight and the full moon enhanced her excitement more. ‘Ha! Spike will probably have to wait longer than he thought. He’s surely going to throw a party of his own anyways; I just hope his friends don’t break anything important.’

She stopped overthinking and forced herself back to reality, submerging fully into the moment. After she reached the forest, however, the sound of distant cheering went down; music could no longer be heard, too. It became clear she still had a long, winding path laid before her. She was amazed with herself, for the pony she was following didn’t seem to be aware of her presence. Either she was good at sneaking, or the colt didn’t mind being followed. She found the latter option especially creepy, because she could be walking into a trap. These things rarely happened in Equestria, let alone from another pony. On the other hoof, she heard about bandits robbing ponies beyond its borders.
Twilight put her hoof on her forehead, as if trying to gain more optimistic scenario from her mind. This universal worry about everything controlled her head too much lately. Discarding those thoughts, she focused on the road ahead again. Seeing the castle draw closer, she determined they were heading for Canterlot. That was ridiculous. A travel by train always took at least a day to get there. She wasn’t ready for such trip. ‘Well, the railway actually goes around the Sky Mirror Lake and along the mountains after that.’ Realizing the full length of the route, hope sparkled in the unicorn’s mind. ‘If I take the speed of the train, my average speed on the way… Oh, yes yes! This looks promising!’ A glance upon the royal palace met her expectations. The details seen matched the distance she imagined. ‘Hey! It really isn’t that far!’ Holding onto the prospect of soon arrival, she continued.

It could have been two, three hours at most of trotting and hiding, when they reached the stone gate to the city. The gate itself was usually closed, today not being any different, so the only way to get inside the city was through several side doors by the walls, which ordinary ponies used to enter. Twilight chose the one to the left, the opposite side of where the caped colt walked in. After a short pause, the door she knocked on opened. The guard nodded, recognizing Celestia’s one and only student, and allowed her to pass the narrow corridor. Beyond the walls, she used the cherry-tree across the street for a break. ‘It´ll be a while before they let the stranger go. Hell, he might even need to pay for the entrance.’

Relaxed, Twilight put her legs to rest, and listened to the fancy talk of the unicorns going by. Ponyville had lively nights, yes, but Canterlot was a whole other thing. This city never slept. Bustling with activity, many clubs and bars remained available twenty four hours a day. Although classy, they all served different kinds of suspicious cider and drunken singing was heard through the streets. She got up and peeked behind the trimmed door to check what progress the stranger had made. His disappearance unnerved her.

“Lady Sparkle, are you looking for the gentlecolt that has just passed?” The guard addressed her.

“Well, yes, yes I am.” She responded, startled by the fact the guard discovered her that easily.

“I believe he’s headed for the castle. Showed me a letter with royal seal.”

She thanked the janitor, closed the door and built up her speed to catch up with the stranger. Rushing up the street like that reminded her of Rainbow Dash and she really wished for her wings right now as the road went straight up to the castle. Several minutes later, she finally stood at the portal door to the castle, gasping for air. One of the royal guards unlocked it for her and she let herself into the main hall.
The vestibule never failed to amaze her, despite staying the same for hundreds of years. The silken banners hang down on each wall of the great hall in fabulous colors and the tiled floor was polished and shining as always. The soft red carpet, running to every room and up the stairway, made a delicate touch with her hooves, the one that tempted her to dance. Walking up to auditioning chamber, she could not miss the mosaics depicting both the sun and the moon. She knew Princess was in the room just around the corner; however, the golden framed paintings on both sides were hypnotically interesting and kept slowing her down. The doors she aimed for opened, breaking the silence.

“-err, no, thank you very much. It’s been a long time, but I think I can escort myself to my room. I’ll come down later to discuss my arrival.” The voice was youthful and sharp, yet harmonic.

“Alright.” The answer came from no other than Princess herself. Nopony else had a tone so calm, so melodic.
The large mirror at the door caught Twilight’s attention, with the swirling black cloak reflected inside. The cape stayed the same; it was the character she was curious about. Only a second-long glimpse answered her with more questions. The figure exceeded anypony, being tall over six feet, and it did not reach that much on four legs. Instead… Twilight rubbed her eyes in fear she was seeing things and proceeded to the chamber.

“What a pleasant surprise! How come you are paying me a visit tonight, Twilight Sparkle?” The intonation and the smile of amusement gave Twilight a hint that Celestia already learned the reason.

“Am I really that easy to look through? Yes, I am here because of him. Who is he?”

“An old friend of mine. I am sure you’ll have an opportunity to talk to him soon. By the way, did you really trot here all the way from Ponyville? You must be very tired.”

She was. Concluding the morning was wiser than the evening, she wished Princess good night and headed for her own room. She stopped at the mirror and cast a spell, which revealed the glass was enchanted. Few words were inscripted on the lower frame. It read: Reveals the true appearance of things.

After making her way to the room, she spread wide the canopy and fell right into the bed. Her last thought before falling asleep belonged to the mysterious acquaintance of the Princess. ‘Have I… really just seen a human?’

Author's Note

I don't actually know how far it is to Canterlot from Ponyville, so that trip is probably bullsh*t. But I just had to give an explanation, right?

3.Revelations

Interlude – Meeting his Princess
“How long I’ve been here? Dunno, that could’ve been like forever. Now you’ve come. If I ain’t gonna make it back, I’ll make sure you will. Together, we can do this, I assure you.”

“For the fourth time, breakfast is ready!” Spike’s annoyed yell woke Twilight Sparkle up this time. She got out of the bed, made it with care and went down the stairs. Spike didn’t bother to wait for her, as she found him crunching on a ruby in the library.

“Rose-petal salad again? You’re not very creative of late, Spike.”

“Hey, you know, at least you got some life certainty to hold on in the morning? Huh?” Seeing Twilight’s suspicious frown, he slowly backed off: “Alright, alright, I’ll bring you a daisy sandwich, but could you please tell me what you were doing in Canterlot already?”

She giggled and replied with a wink: “That’s confidential.” Frustrated, Spike left for the kitchen.

Twilight recalled every single detail of it. Three days ago, she was on a hot trail of a foreign friend of Princess, leaving Spike alone for the night. She and the colt made a long trip all the way to the capitol and when they got there, she was so exhausted that she dropped off immediately. The next day, the stranger was gone and Princess refused to speak to her due to lack of time, claiming to be carrying out her royal duties. Twilight knew her teacher was avoiding the topic, pretending to be swamped by letters. Disappointed, but ready to investigate more, Twilight headed back to Ponyville.

Still, she did not encounter the colt and everything appeared to go as usual. Not even hanging around the sold house gave her any clues, as the building would remain empty. At least it looked empty. She wasn’t sure when or how, but the house was definitely visited more than once. ‘Or by several ponies,’ she thought while she compared the muddy hoofprints at the doorstep.

Today, she hoped to pursue the matter further. Rarity has asked her to go shopping together and the market wasn’t that far away from the place she seeked to observe. After finishing the sandwich Spike made her, she gathered the prepared necessities and headed for Carousel Boutique. Morning was warm and the birds were singing, yet she found something was off. The sun looked different, and she had a very uncomfortable feeling sending chills down her spine. She examined her surroundings and searched for anything strange. Street was filled with trotting ponies talking with each other, the regular routine. Nothing seemed to be happening.

“By Equestria, everypony look!” Same as the crowd, Twilight reacted almost instantly to the cry of a passing colt. She ran forward to get the best view on the event. A cloud of dust slowly approached towards the town from Sweet Apple Acres and Twilight caught a glimpse of the cowpony within it. She’s never seen a more horrified expression than the one on Applejack’s face before. Eyes filled with sheer terror, gasping for every breath, Applejack was racing to the crowd as fast as she could. She was bleeding from the left flank, blood running freely from a stabbing wound near her three-apple cutie mark down to her legs. As she got closer to the crowd, a great shape emerged behind her. The vision became clearer and Twilight recognized Big Macintosh rushing after her friend, holding an old rusty knife in his mouth, licking the blood off it and speeding up after his sister. In the moment he caught up with her, he swinged the blade again.

Twilight’s scream was silenced by the sound of police sirens. Everypony dodged the sight, only she was still looking. In the fatal second, what saved her friend was a mere root protruding from the ground. The massive colt tripped, fell forward and on the ground he went. Knife within his mouth wildly spun, readying itself towards the colts head. It pierced through the jaw directly into brain, its opaque tip resurfaced at the back of his head, drowning among the straw-dyed mane. Miracle? Hardly. With silver shivering in the air around it, the root retracted back to the soil it came from.

Panic spread fast throughout the crowd, extending its reach down to each mind, and chaos broke loose. Instead of standing around in shock like some of the others, Twilight acted. ‘Magic! But where’s the source?’ She fiercely turned her head in search of the unicorn that saved Applejack’s life. Black cape up on the hill next to the ravaged road gave her the answer. She wanted more. Still failing to grasp the weight of the entire situation, she focused just on one thing now. Twilight charged to the alley, ready to chase the cloak through the whole forest if she had to.

Then, at its edge, she stopped. Did she really just left one of her best friends behind, stabbed and in dire need of medical help? Once her ears heard the ambulance wailing, however, she shook her head and continued: ‘Not a good time to change my mind now’. It was the first time she felt so… empty.

A peaceful glade opened before her eyes, flowers bending to the cool summer breeze and butterflies floating about. He was waiting by the spring and he wasn’t alone. She couldn’t do anything but stand in amazement after she realized that by the stranger’s left side there laid… an alicorn. The mare’s beauty was comparable to, possibly even greater than Celestia’s, and she also radiated some kind of energy, which not only calmed Twilight’s mind, but all the plants nearby turned their blossoms towards her. She seemed somewhat saddened, her flower-shaped pupils staring blindly off to space. Her coat in color of rose looked soft and perfect combined with her curly light blue mane soaring in the wind with the lightness of a cloud. The cutie mark was elegant, a rose, a sunflower and a daisy gently woven together beyond her folded wings.

“Well I’ll be damned, the Element of Magic herself!” A green, explosive beam cast out the cloak high into the air and the stout stallion finally revealed himself.

Author's Note

Is nobody safe? 'Sweet Apple Massacre' by bigmacintosh20111 happened (hope I don't need to change the tags because of that). What could possibly be going on in Equestria. (hint hint)
Also two new characters. Yes, first crossover, they're from an animu. Maybe you can guess who the Princess is already and therefore who the colt is too.

4.Tremor

Interlude – Point of View
He opened his eyes.
Trees. Trees everywhere. It was the same feeling like the first time he entered this world. Equestria was more colorful, the air somehow sweeter and the forests stayed identical, repeating patterns of cute animals and birds, but mostly trees.
He touched the magic emerald underneath his cloak to acknowledge it was secure. ‘Introductions,’ he grinned, ‘Gotta stay awesome as always’. He threw a glance to his side, to check if she was alright. That really wasn´t supposed to kill him, but the bad guy has been dealt with and that was enough for him.
On the other side of the glade, his stalker arrived. ‘Very well, Twilight Sparkle!’ He gripped the crystal.

For first few seconds, Twilight was blinded. Then, when she decided to look again, she stayed bound to the ground in silent astonishment for more than a minute. That colt truly was something else. His peachy skin contrasted against the blue tattoo that covered his masculine body and his mane was spiky, in a color of bright marine. Most confusing was the cutie mark. She recognized a flaming skull with black shape covering its eyes. This frightened her, so she more or less tried not to pay attention to it. The cloak came descending from the sky, now red and scrappy and with the same symbol on its back. After it settled down, the colt dramatically scolded Twilight with his look.

“What are you waiting for? Come closer.” He shouted. Though it sounded encouragingly, to Twilight it was also kind of rude. As she slowly walked closer to the two, she started sorting the questions she’d prepared. Suddenly, recreating the recent event in her head, she accelerated and angrily trotted into the front of the colt.

“Who are you?!” she yelled at the top of her lungs.

“Who am I? WHO AM I? And they call you educated, lady?!” His red eyes drawed hers into their flame. What she saw was not anger, no, something else entirely. “Who the hell do you THINK I am?! Before you stands the greatest pony ever to walk Equestria, the protector of little foals and the hero of the oppressed, the ultimate dragon-slayer, the crusader of righteousness unseen. He fights and defeats evil on a daily basis. He breaks through lies and deception and he always wins! He simply walks into Canterlot!” The deafening talk was reminiscent of Luna’s royal voice. “Mares faint once the words of his presence reach their ears, gentlecolts line to back him up when called. Nopony’s heart is left untouched after they meet him. He’s great, he’s tenacious, he’s demonic! Behold, for Kamina of Team Dai-Gurren has come to save the day.”

She stared at him in shock, his deepened accent still echoing in her ears. ‘Is he serious?’ He reminded her of Trixie. That thought led her to notice just now that he was an earth pony, not a unicorn. ‘How is he able to cast magic?’

“This!” Kamina stuck a green crystal into her face. “I know, isn’t it amazing?”

‘Clearly, he´s perceptive, he saw me checking his forehead looking for a horn, so that means that three days ago, he knew I was following him. Oh Celestia!’ She got interrupted.

“Before you ask, it was me who called the police and the ambulance, you’re welcome. You probably don’t wanna know what happened at Sweet Apple Acres. The important thing is we need to head back quickly and gather the elements as soon as possible. You are all in danger now. And then there’s this other thing tha-“

“Stop!” she broke into his racing talk. ‘From Trixie to Pinkie Pie in 10 seconds flat.’ She thought.

“You´re too fast! And why would I want to go anywhere with you? You are a complete stranger to me, why should I trust you? Applejack’s probably in hospital right now and I am much more likely to visit her than follow some crazy showoff around! Please tell me, why?”

Kamina’s eyes narrowed in a suspicious frown in a way that almost made Twilight laugh. He leaned towards the alicorn: “Nia, I think it’s time for you to move back to base, okay?”

“Of course.” She nodded and pull out a cloak similar to Kamina’s, that instantly made her face darken. She looked like an ordinary pony now and Twilight deducted that the cloaks had to be enchanted. But enchanting items required a very deep knowledge of magic and the spell wouldn't last that long. At least that’s how her attempts usually went. ‘There's no way this moron casts better magic than me!’ Meanwhile, Nia left the meadow and all the flowers shifted towards the sun again.

“Come on, miss, I'm a friend of Celestia, why wouldn’t you trust me?” From his annoyed tone, Twilight recognized he didn't anticipate this.

“What are you going to do? You’ve got to return to the town, right? We can go together, imagine!” The way he tried forced her to smile.

“Fine. So what were you telling me? The Elements of Harmony are in danger? What kind of villain are we facing? Oh, and you should call me Twilight.”

“You wouldn´t believe me if I told you and moreover, you´d probably stop believing anything I’d say. But if what I think is right, I will be able to show you what ‘kind of villain’ we are dealing with here.” The last words made her feel nervous and uneasy.

“Where are we headed then?” she asked.

“Sugarcube corner. As I said, we don’t have much time, so try to keep up, alright?” Before she could react, Kamina set out in a gallop out of the forest. She promptly decided to follow. The scene blurred around her and she felt her body burn for second time in three days. She hastened even more, leaving the forest behind, then down the hill and in a moment, her hooves came rushing along the churned road. She evaded now enclosed crime scene and proceeded to the alleyway on the left. ‘Hope you´re alright, Applejack.’ The word spread quickly and caused the streets to empty. Many houses had their windows shutters and curtains closed, like the days Zecora came to buy supplies.
When she reached Sugarcube Corner, Kamina’d been already waiting for her. The police was there too, and they were just taking the Cake family off to the carriage. Mrs. Cake looked most confused.

“But I don’t understand what’s going on, are we being arrested?”

“No, ma´am, however we believe it’s extremely dangerous for you to be here. Please get in the vehicle.”

She has never seen so many policeponies on one place. She knew that the office existed and that it had a long tradition, being tied to the city and royal guards, but never really had any opportunity to see them in action. ‘What on Equestria are you doing, Kamina?’ Pony who seemed to lead the operation approached the crazy stallion.

“Captain, how’s the security sweep?”

“Third floor clear, second floor clear, first floor clear. The basement was left out as you requested.” Kamina dismissed him and appealed to her.

“Twilight, have you seen the Element of Laughter today?”

“Pinkie Pie? No. In fact, I haven’t seen her from the day I followed you to Canterlot.” She didn’t realize that before. It was definitely strange. ‘Why does he ask me that?’

“Then I fear for the worst. Come, you wanted to see your villain, this may be it.” They entered the confectionery. Twilight became aware she is not going to like the immediate future. They turned left in the hall and came to small, yellow door. It was a little dusty, probably not used too often. She reached out for the handle.

“Wait. If we’re going down there, I want you to be prepared for anything. This might shatter your world to pieces. Are you ready for that? You don’t have to go with me.” His concerned look hinted that she was definitely not going to like this.
She nodded and pulled it. The handle turned as expected, but the door wouldn’t open. “Locked?”

“Yeah, from the other side. There’s a key.” Kamina peeked through the keyhole, his crystal in hoof. It gleamed faintly and the mechanism became covered in the familiar green shivering, the one that goes with telekinetic magic. Falling key rang on the other side and he was now fully concentrated, his tongue sticking out of his mouth. After a while, Twilight heard a click and Kamina put on a victorious smile.

“How does that crystal even work? And where did you learn to pick locks?”

“Maybe I’ll tell you someday” He answered with his tongue out again, mocking her.

The unlocked door allowed them to continue. The stairway was somber and narrow, so they had to descend to black consecutively. “Tell me, how do you make a police captain listen to a foalish lunatic such as you?”

“Let’s just say that I know ponies. Important ponies. Celestia and the police president are among them.” Kamina maybe thought that line was cool, but Twilight didn’t know if it could get any cheesier. She rolled her eyes and carried on. Her sight finally adjusted to the darkness when they reached another door, this one plain wood, unpainted. Poor light was coming out from the keyhole and from underneath the doorstep, as well as from the gaps on the sides and the door itself.

“-this one actually took some time, don’t you think, Madame le Flour?” Pinkie’s voice echoed unnaturally in the dark corridor.

“Indeed, but it was entertaining, n’est pas?” Even with altered French accent, Twilight was sure this was still Pinkie speaking.

“What is she doing there?” She whispered to Kamina, who was looking through the keyhole once more.

“Honestly? She’s… well, she’s sewing.”

“What? That’s it? Do you want me to kick you?” She hissed at him.

“The problem here is the material you see. She’s sewing cutie marks.”

“Cutie ma-… Huh? What do you mean?” The surprise made her lay the question a little louder than she intended.

“Hmm, you didn’t tell me about the guests we were having, Mr. Turnip. But that’s alright, I’ll guess I’ll have to take care of them too.”

Kamina rebound from the door, frowning on Twilight. Steps from the door were drawing closer. Slow, terrifying creak tore her ears as the door opened inch by inch.

“This colt is ready!” Kamina grabbed Pinkie’s knife-wielding leg and with a single uppercut punch sent her flying across the room. She crashed to the wall and limply slided down to the ground.

Twilight couldn’t move. The sight froze the flow of her thoughts and she didn’t know whether to scream or run away. Her attention leaped from one corner to another, the world started to spin around and her head got dizzy.

“Hey. We gotta take her upstairs. You hear me, Twilight? We’re gonna get out of here as fast as we can, okay?” Kamina made his way through the room, carefully evading the intestines hanging from the ceiling. He stopped briefly at the table where several parts of dismembered pony lied, stained in blood and their original creamy color barely recognizable.

“Oh fuck! Who would’ve thought someone named Bon-Bon could smell so badly.” He grabbed the unconscious Pinkie Pie and threw her over his back.

Twilight recovered from the initial shock just as Kamina returned back to the door. She did study alternate medicine, which prioritized surgery over magic, so she had an idea how the inside of a pony looked like, but leaving that cellar unburdened her enormously, and allowed her breathing to slow down again.

That was it. One of her best friends was a monster. She has been reading some detective stories in her free time; still, witnessing such an event in reality was utterly different. These things didn’t occur under Celestia’s reign. Regardless, it happened. ‘Pinkie Pie is a murderer.’ She felt bitterly disturbed over how easily she’d accepted that fact.

Outside, Kamina ordered the officers off to the basement. “Wow, Twilight Sparkle, I underestimated you. You held pretty well. I don’t want to pressure you now, but I’m gonna need you to gather the rest. Wait for me in the library. I’ll arrive in the evening” He gave her one quick look before turning from her.

“What about Pinkie?” she halted him.

“Don’t worry, I’ll bring her. Gotta tie her up first.” In a blink, he disappeared in adjacent side street, racing towards his rented base in Ponyville.

Twilight adopted his request and despondently headed in direction of Carousel Boutique. The path went blurry and the town noises felt oddly remote. She couldn’t tell if she was crying or not. As the afternoon wind swept through her mane, it was friendlier to slip down to her thoughts, not able to get the scene out of her mind. ‘What should I do? Defeating Nightmare Moon, defeating Discord or even Chrysalis, that was simple with best friends by my side. But now, Pinkie Pie is the one standing in the way. Just what should I do?’ She asked the sun, which responded only by a burning pain in her eyes.

The time dragged on and after awhile, Twilight found herself before the tall building of Rarity’s shop. She strengthened her posture and straightened her mane. She didn’t bother to knock. “Rarity, are you home?”

The door upstairs swung open. “Twilight? Twilight! By Celestia, I am so sorry. I completely forgot about today. I got a wonderful idea this morning and I haven’t stopped working on it ever since. The dress takes too much time and I just couldn’t force myself to-“

“It’s all right! It doesn’t matter now. It’s already afternoon anyway.” Disappointed, Rarity dropped her bags down. “However, I still need you to come. So take whatever you need with yourself.”

“An-and where are we going?” Rarity stammered, taken aback by Twilight’s insistence.

“We’ve got a problem. A big problem. Wait for me in the library while I’ll make a run for Fluttershy.” She did not wait for an answer and walked out without another word. The encounter with Rarity somewhat brought her mood up. The trip to Fluttershy’s cottage therefore wasn’t that awful, instead, the nature around brought some peace to her mind. She decided to keep herself occupied by the animals rather than today’s events. When she reached her destination, Fluttershy’d been feeding the critters outside.

“Um, hello Twilight” Her kind smile was contagious and Twilight caught it instantly.

“Hello, Fluttershy.” Twilight watched as she continued to scatter the food around.

“Well, um, I’d hate to disturb you, but what it is that you need to do here?”

“Ah, yes, of course. I was wondering if you could join me back at my place. It is time to unite the Elements again and-“

“Okay. When Equestria needs saving, we’ll be there. That’s who we are, right?” Fluttershy brimmed with determination, the one Twilight hadn’t seen with her before.

“I… guess you could put it that way.”

As much as she was enthusiastic early on, Fluttershy deemed it necessary to say goodbye to each animal individually and the simple pick up stretched to more than half an hour. They approached the library with the sun setting red. Twilight entered the library in haste, fearing that Kamina arrived before them. Instead, they found Rarity and blushing Spike sitting at the table, chatting over cups of tea.

“I’ll have some too, please.” Fluttershy occupied the position left from Rarity. Though the conversation was a resumption of more or less what Rarity and Spike were talking about at first, the topic slowly turned against Twilight and the reason of their presence. More and more time passed and she ascertained the growing difficulty of deflecting the questions aimed at her. Finally, the clock struck the full hour. With the bell sounding through the room, the entrance door slammed against the wall and Kamina jumped inside, Applejack draped over his back.

“I am terribly disgraced, there was supposed to be a thunderstorm to make this more dramatic, but this’ll have to do.”

“You moron! How long have you been standing behind those doors?”

Kamina smiled excusatory and scratched the back of his head. “About ten minutes.” Twilight put on a facehoof.

“What’s happening? Is anything wrong with Applejack? And who is this gentlecolt?” Rarity was visibly puzzled, while Fluttershy covered her face in fright.

“Line up in awe and listen carefully! The reputation of te-“

“His name is Kamina.” Twilight cut his speech short.

He gently laid Applejack down on the couch. “Never do that again!” He barked, looking around the room. ”Where the hell is Loyalty?”

“Spike sent her an exclusive letter. She still hasn’t shown up.” Neither Rarity nor Spike have had a chance to join in the shout out.

Twilight caught a bit of disappointment in his voice: “She probably isn’t going to. I had a very lively exchange of views with Laughter about her and we might be having a kind of ‘similar’ situation, if you know what I mean.” Four jumps were enough for him to get upstairs.

“You don’t think… You can’t just assume… Are you kidding me?” She followed him with great effort.

“Turns out Scootaloo didn’t move away. I have my contact up there. She failed her flying test.”

“What are you two talking about!?” Came a cry from behind. Rarity’s nerves were known to be delicate.

Kamina busted through the glass door onto the balcony. Luckily, he didn’t break anything. His crystal shone with its typical green flame. Twilight noted his hooves started to radiate the same light, although very faintly at first.

“Laughter is tied by the house. Don’t call her Pinkie, it makes her mad. Use Diane or Pinkamena instead.” Twilight could barely hear him over the sudden racket the crystal generated. “I’m sorry, but I’m handing the responsibility to explain this to the Elements to you! Just try to survive the night, will ya?!”

“Wait! What are you doing? You can’t go to Cloudsdale! You crazy foal! Do you even know what gravity is?!”

“Screw gravity!” His crazy smile widened. “I do what I want!” And with those words, he took off into the air and dashed, leaving a bright green trail behind.

Author's Note

If you haven't watched Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann yet, I strongly recommend that you do.

5.Colorful Spite

Interlude - Reminiscence
The day he solved the murder of zebrican Prince was the day he realized this world wasn’t the friendly paradise he thought it to be. And that first impression can deceive.

He almost forgot what a funny little feeling it was, soaring through the air at insane speed, enjoying the absolute freedom all around him. The night was young and the air still warm, yet even at high velocity, his mane and tail continued to rain drops of water as he kept piercing through the on-going clouds.

Now, Kamina had no doubt that IT was here, driving the ponies around Ponyville against each other, just like it did at Maretlantis. The memory of past four hours came rushing back. He went carefully over Diane’s statement again.

“Something’s not right about the Rainbow Factory. My instinct tells me that.”

“Your murderous instinct?” She was pretty talkative when angered. He made sure she spilled everything she knew, constantly mocking her through ambiguous comments about her secret hobby.

“What can you tell me about the Element of Loyalty?”

“Don’t even get me started over that whore! My little chicken sister left me, so I’ll stop visiting all my friends, boo-hoo. Do you know how long it took me to arrange everything for that cupcake baking?!”

He heard about Cutie Mark Crusaders. ’Applebloom. Scootaloo. Sweetie Belle.’ He was right to first learn about the current daily life in the area before leaving the castle. He had some old befriended families here, but now wasn’t the time to run around to find out which ones have remembered him. It was almost a century following his last visit after all.

“Does Loyalty work in the Rainbow Factory?”

“Of course she does, earns a lot of bits, too. Keeps bragging about her fancy villa up there. Won’t help her in a line for apple cider though.”
Kamina praised his aristocratic friend for updating his contacts all around Equestria. The one in Cloudsdale was more than helpful right now. ‘You're fascinating man, that takes a lot of effort,’ he thought.

After an hour-long conversation with the pegasus informator, he turned his crystal off. He knew what he had to do and that it wasn't going to be nice. Sweetie Belle was alone now.

Setting his focus back to present, he arrived before the monumental cloud city. Its ever-changing shape filling the night sky looked more frightening than at day, when the pegasi had work to do and chased the bubbly clouds through the streets. Those streets were now hollow and shady, illuminated only by a few torches and a light of his own. ‘Stay swift. If somepony sees you, they won’t be able to tell whether you’re a pegasus or not.’ He looped between the buildings with that one simple thought laid on his mind. He had his target.

And then, it emerged right in front of him. The huge structure was built in antique style similar to others, the massive pillars bearing several floors. Unlike the buildings surrounding it, however, the base of the Rainbow Factory was well lit and with ponies on guard. They walked around the large vats filled with spectra, occasionally stopping and talking to each other. No mixing was done at these late hours, as the pipes sticking from the ceiling poured no colors throughout the night shift.

Kamina hesitated, hovering silently in the darkness. He analyzed the structure floor by floor, until his eyes reached a black barrier of clouds. It was denser than the common white wall and electrical sparks blazed on its surface, thundering maliciously. ‘That’s a pretty innovation you have there! Be a shame if something happened to it.’ Checking back on the pegasi patrolling the ground floor, he made his decision. Raising his altitude to the level of the dark wall, he put the crystal to his forehead. ‘Give me sight beyond sights.’

The green vision allowed him to see through and the magical storm clouds seemingly vanished, revealing a flat metal surface. From where he was levitating, only a single ventilation shaft could be seen, covered by a rusty grate. Its rectangular shape provided just enough room for a bigger pony. Like a bullet, he booted himself off in its direction.

As he broke through the bars, a pungent tingling claimed his whole body and his tattoo brightened its blue after absorbing the magic. ‘Oops. Forgot to remove the barrier. Stupid vision.’ Realizing the lightning was otherwise lethal on touch, he felt thankful for the enchanted ink in his skin. He stayed at his own-made entrance for about a minute. ‘What? No alarm, nothing? Someone is overly confident with their security measures.’

After less than 100 feet, the shaft ended in a half-transparent grid. Without greater trouble, he kicked it inside and entered a wide, iron-plated corridor. ‘What the hell?’ The walls were a mess of mechanics and wires; conduit went out and in, sometimes uncompleted or illogically sticking into the path. Kamina took advice from a white arrow sign, which stated:
To the Spectra Separator
and turned left. Although he trotted with rush, he began to notice some of the pipes being forcefully bent, some even letting off steam. The wirings on his way were also damaged, cables hanging freely from the ceiling. No one either had time or they were too lazy to fix them and abandoned these disservices behind a yellow warning tape.

Kamina stopped at one particularly sharp fragment. He wiped the brown stain with his hoof and gave it a probationary lick. ‘Blood. Tastes like Skittles.’ He didn’t know if she actually ate any of the new-developed Canterlot candy, but this blood was definitely Rainbow Dash's. It had a special flavor of hatred added, with a slight trace of disappointment. He quickly figured out what happened. ‘Glad Scootaloo put up a fight after all.’

When he passed another 300 feet, he came to an opening. The great hall was fully lit up and Kamina, tired of waiting for his eyes to adjust, put his sharp sunglasses on.

“…and as the pathetic incompetent little trash you are, you will be striped of you colors by our mechanic darling over there.” A numerous group of broken souls watched upwards on the scaffolding, helplessly listening to the speech of the rainbow pegasus. They were surrounded by several suited ponies, whose tasers prevented any kind of opposition.

Rainbow Dash asked with disgust in her voice: “So, any volunteers?” The machine was on full active state. It roared with a deep, hungry drone, greedy for the dyes of the innocent. Terrified of the clanging chains over their heads, no pony spoke a word.

‘Speed.’

“No? Okay, I guess I’ll start with…” Her eyes roamed from pony to pony. She had enough time and she was going to enjoy it.

‘Today, I am speed. Right here, right now.’

“You!” She pointed.

Before any of the masked pegasi could react, an emerald missile swooped through the crowd and crashed into the foundation of the scaffolding. It immediately collapsed, tearing off some of the concrete wall and raining metal bars and scraps on the suited thugs. Ponies flew and ran around in panic, many using the situation to their advantage as they disappeared in the dark corridors leading out of the room.
Rainbow Dash arose while regaining her breath. Agent Punisher was nowhere to be seen and agent Cougar cried in pain somewhere, buried beneath the rubble. The damaged device ceased to function, gears no longer spinning after a few explosions of steam “What the fuck?!” She yelled angrily. The dust settled slowly and Dash watched a massive silhouette approach her.

“I tip my hats off to you, milady. Would you be so kind and just come with me? Resistance is futile.”

She blinked in disbelief. “Guards! Whoever fucking kills this clown will get a week off! Anyone!”

The masked servants gathered on command, letting the rest of the poor victims escape. ‘You are fucking dead now!’ She grew a triumphant smile. They charged and her smile faded. No matter how many, with what style or how fiercely they attacked, the single colt repelled them with aggravating easiness. He dodged, punched, parried and kicked, and the ponies flew around like saplings in the wind.

“BEWARE OF MY NINJA SKILLS!” He laughed maniacally, until they all lied beaten on one moaning pile of bodies. His crimson eyes pierced through hers. “Seriously, you can’t even get them trained properly? That’s not only disappointing, but also sad.”

Dash pulled her jaw back up and stormed out. She couldn’t tell where she was flying. Was it fear she was experiencing? She knew only one thing: Get out of there. This time, she evaded the obstacles jutting from the walls and turned at every intersection she could.

‘And the hunter becomes the hunted.’ This idea forced her to halt. Her heart almost exploded with grudge. ‘No, no, no, no, NO!’ She changed her direction back and waited. Staring into the darkness before her, she heard jail doors opening one by one. ‘Too many prisoners, there’s just too many!’ The thundering resonance coming from hooves and wings of the captive herd confirmed the end of her career. Not even tasers would be enough now. Kamina walked into her view.

“Why did you free them? I could’ve got away. Why do you care about lives of those pieces of garbage? You know we are both at the top, that we are better than anybody. In the end, monsters or heroes, where’s the difference?! We are the same. So what’s the point? Why did you let them go?” She screamed with weary, yet still angry voice.

“You wanna know the difference between heroes and monsters?” He replied.

A magical moment of silence erupted amidst the two.

“Heroes win.”

A flash informed her of teleportation magic. The last thing she remembered before blacking out was his hoof coming at her face.

Author's Note

Yes, through Kamina's shameless "meme ride" we discovered that Sweetie Bell is still alive. It is kinda sad though, since she's the only one of the CMC now.

6.On the Run

Interlude – History Insight I
He walked out of his tent, smiling. The nicker of warriors and clashes of swords slowly faded away, as the battle was about to end. They marched right into his trap. He stood at the top of the cliff, cold breeze playing with his light brown mane, and observed the Hayern soldiers fleeing away into another beautiful sunrise. Everything went just as planned.

“I am sorry, general, but this is probably your last victory.” He turned back to see himself surrounded by an army of enemy’s elite assassins, led by one of his own lieutenants. “Probably? You are not very confident with your betrayal.” He cursed himself for leaving his battle axe in the tent. His horn was his only weapon now, against four-dozen of highly trained killing machines. He prepared a spell, ready to take down as many as he could with him.

A sudden slash tore three of the soldiers in half, just as they attacked the weaponless general. Out of nowhere, an odd-looking, tattooed earth pony appeared, charging into the enemy lines at the speed of light. General studied the colt in surprise. He was equipped by a nodachi, which was clearly forged with precision of Neighponese finest smiths, and wore no armor whatsoever. His way of combat, however, was far beyond the masterful martial arts of the east nation, and the assassins had no time to react to his strikes. They looked like children in comparison. He kicked one of the intruders and recoiled with a backflip, letting the other attacker stab his colleague in an unsuccessful attempt for his life. He landed next to the original target.

“So I heard of a general whose skills exceeded anypony, and his ‘father’ before him, who fought too in this endless war. But there was never any father or grandfather, was there? It wasn’t hard to figure out. You have lived for centuries, right? You are a human, aren’t you?” Kamina blazed with expectation, waiting for an answer.

“How do you- Who are you-” His true identity exposed, general silently nodded. An arrow flew past.

“They don’t even give us time for introduction, huh?” The two knocked their backs together and readied themselves for the next wave of opponents.

Twilight watched Kamina grow away to an emerald twinkle among the stars in the night sky. His explosive lift off flipped the chairs and severely damaged the railing. ‘At least nothing ignited.’ She turned back to the door where Rarity was already waiting.

“Did-… did he just fly off?” Twilight left the question unanswered and passed by, evading Rarity’s looks.

She made her way down the stairs and headed outside. Spike tried nothing to stop her, being busy comforting Fluttershy who was curled up under the table. Rarity still followed her. “Twilight, what is happening? What is with Cloudsdale and Scootaloo?!”

“Spike, get Fluttershy into bed. Now!” She ordered, ignoring her friend’s pleas. The hearty fresh air released her when she inhaled. Pinkie was linked to one strong root of the tree by a thick chain of steel, her body was set immobile by a white straitjacket and she had a leather mask binded on her snout for some reason.

“What has he done to her?” Rarity gasped and galloped to her friend.

“Stop!” Twilight snapped out. As she did before to Rarity, now the unicorn ignored Twilight.

“What is wrong with you, Twilight? This is unacceptable!” She started to untie the restraints.

“Don’t do it.” She ordered coldly and trotted next to her. It only encouraged Rarity to quicken. “I said DON’T!” Her hoof struck her friend on the cheek and Rarity rolled to the side, a bruise visible in an instant. She began to cry loudly.

“Why would you do that?” She stammered out, tears flowing down to her mouth, smudging her eye shadows and burdening her speech. “What are you?” She ran back to the library, shutting the door behind her.

“Ugh, see if I care.” Twilight mumbled to herself and released the chain from the root. She forcefully pulled Pinkie inside and lashed her to a small stump near the door. She sealed it with magic to be safe and trotted to the stairs. She found the space under the table was now occupied by Rarity, who apparently fainted there. She reached her room.

“What the hell did you do?” Spike caught her before she entered.

“Shut up!” Twilight slammed the door so fast he almost got hit by it. ‘He doesn’t understand.’ She crawled into her bed. Kamina was a tiring pony to be around. ‘This is so messed up.’ She closed her eyes.

A strident sound of shattered glass woke her up some hours later. She jumped out of the bed and rushed to the main room, her mane disheveled from the restless sleep. The light was on, yet everypony stayed asleep, even sensitive Fluttershy haven’t come out of her room. She descended downstairs with a sign of annoyance readable in her face.

“You idiot, you could’ve killed me!” She heard Kamina whisper.

“I wanted to kill you, punk!” Twilight recognized the voice of Rainbow Dash. The tone of those words meant that things turned out for the worst. She looked across the room. Kamina was facing the window they broke, wrapping Rainbow up in another set of chains. The bite on his neck bled slightly. He turned around and grinned.

“Heeeeey, so what’s up with the new hairstyle? Looks good on you, missy.”

“You have the Elements gathered. What do you want now?” She growled on him.

“Whoa! Easy, girl, easy. There you go.” He handed her six tickets. Twilight nabbed them and read. They were to take a train to Trottingham, wait a day and then board another train to Flankstad.

“Wait. I don’t get it. What is Flankstad?”

“A town located in the free state of Hayern, of course.” He yawned out of boredom. “I thought you were an ardent student.”

“You want us to go to Germaneigh? Out of the country?! Have you absolutely lost your mind? No way!” She assaulted him.

“I'm going to tell you something important now, so you better dig the wax out of those adorable ears of yours and listen! This place is on a brink of revolution, a civil war. You haven’t seen what I found up there. An organized group of pegasi fascists who don’t know how to make a rainbow out of sunlight and water.” His voice rose. “A big project like the Rainbow Factory wasn’t built in secret. That means Celestia knew. SHE KNEW! She has to be nuts too! And you know who could possess enough power to threaten her, who is she going to hunt down first?” He paused for a moment. “I’d place my bet on the Elements of Harmony. So move it, lady!”

She searched her mind for a smart answer. She bought some time with a question: “You said there’s a revolution coming. How is that?”

“There were prisoners in the Factory. Now they’ve scattered across Equestria on my behalf. Everyone knows what was going on in Cloudsdale by now. And ponies won’t let it go. They will heed my call to arms.” He proudly hit his chest with a hoof.

‘A civil war in Equestria. What the hay have you done, you moron!’ She kept thinking of innocent ponies’ blood that will be shed and least of all if her mentor really was insane. That could not be true.

“You said we have the power to bring her down. Isn’t that exactly the reason we should stay here and do it?” She hoped to stop this madness. This would allow her to stay here and get to Celestia. The Princess could do something about this lunatic. Still, he was right about Pinkie…

“Well, first – I said you COULD be powerful enough. Look around you. Do you think that Honesty is going to help anytime soon? Or you could ask Pinkamena, I’m sure she’ll be alright with that. See my point?” He was right. “Second! You don’t believe me, do you? I think that proof could bang on your door any minute.” As he said that, three loud knocks sounded from the entrance.

“Royal guard, open up! We know you’re inside! Open or we’ll break down the door!”

“What is your purpose here?” She asked out of suspicion.

“We are to escort Twilight Sparkle and her friends to Canterlot. Princess Celestia has summoned you. Open up!” The soldier repeated himself.

“Go. See for yourself.” Kamina hissed.

She unlocked the door. It was still bleak and gray outside, just before sunrise. Five gold-armored ponies pointed their swords towards her.

“Okay, okay, I believe you.” She admitted.

Kamina stormed out, knocking them all unconscious. ‘It’s the truth then. First Pinkie, then Rainbow, now Celestia.’ She steeled herself. A lone psychopath was no problem. A psychopath with a trained army could be. She was accepting these things with relative ease lately. ‘Is something wrong with me?’ She recalled last night, Rarity weeping on the ground because of her.

“No! These are royal guards! Wasn’t yesterday enough? Oh, and look at this. A broken window. A BROKEN WINDOW!” Spike pointed at the shards lying around.

“Ha! You’re awake! Go and stir everyone up! We have a train to catch.” Spike frowned on Kamina’s order and gazed at Twilight. She checked the tickets. ‘The date the train departs IS today.’ She nodded to Spike, which caused him to deepen his frown as he walked upstairs to wake Fluttershy.

About half an hour and one motivating speech later, their morning masquerade began its journey to the train station. Kamina bore Applejack on his back and also pulled a cart with two silent, offended murderers. He marched through the main street, whistling like nothing interesting was happening. Behind him, two sad ponies barely walked. Their knees were failing them and their heads bent to the ground, looking up only to see the colors of her apple friend fade away. Twilight in the back held her opinions unspoken. ‘Yes, because this draws no attention at all.’ He put her, by his own words, at the last position to ensure no shenanigans happen along the way.

At the station, more than hundred golden armors awaited them. Twilight panicked for a while, until she spotted Kamina talking to one of them, a robust stallion with a gigantic sword.

“You were right, lord Kamina.” He claimed in defeat. “Once Celestia found out about the destruction of the Factory, she snapped. These colts are all I have now. Nopony else escaped.”

“Alright, take a dozen and protect the Elements. The rest comes with me!”

She crossed his path at the boarding platform: “How did you do this again?”

“Ponies, Twilight, important ponies, remember?!” He winked. “That was commander Irongate. He represents the Royal Guard when your brother’s gone.”

“How do you even know-…? Nevermind!” Twilight entered the train, searching for her friends. She ran into the commander in the corridor. He showed her to one of the coupes, but it was strangely quiet. Once she was in, she realized it was empty. The sound of the doors being locked behind has reached her ears. The train hooted and moved off. She opened the window and yelled at Kamina: “What the hell? Why am I locked in?” She watched in horror as the royals that came to her house earlier joined him by his side. Even worse, Spike was there, struggling against the force that pulled him back with no effect.

“Problem?” He smiled. The train accelerated and the crazy colt disappeared in clouds of steam.

‘Well played, you son of a bi-‘*HOOOOO* echoed the train.

7.The Second Visitor

Interlude – History Insight II

The sleigh glided gracefully over the fresh snow. Reindeer pulling it tirelessly continued uphill, leaving their hoof prints behind. The two colts sitting inside the sledge were immersed in their conversation, too eager to notice the slight inclination.

“Man, that gives me shivers! Put on your goddamn coat, or you’ll freeze!” Said the one robed in a thick fur. He shook his head to get the snowflakes out of his mane.

“Whatever. Better die bare than wear this monstrosity.” Kamina pushed the coat as far as possible to the left. “How the hell do you know it’s Christmas anyway?” He slid in his seat and put his forehooves behind his head.

“I don’t, alright? But it’s snowing and it seemed convenient. I can’t believe you people don’t have this tradition back where you came from.” The colt sneered.

Kamina shrugged and turned the topic against him: “About generosity, you’re the one who got himself a frickin’ castle this year, so...”

“And a neat baron title too! Ain’t I awesome, huh?! Besides, I am the one who had ended the bloody war, so I think I deserve it after all!”

“Say that again!” Kamina bellowed. “You fought in that war for more than two centuries. I found you, saved your ass like five times and only then was the war miraculously over! Ain’t that a coincidence?!”

The colts gazed with a scowl and snarled at each other for a minute, their snouts dangerously close. Then, at the same time, they burst out in laughter.

“Oh man, you almost got me this time.” Baron wiped off the tear from his eye.

Their schoolgirl-like giggle still echoed through the forest when they reached the castle.

Twilight glared absent-mindedly at the scenery darting by. She propped her head up with a hoof and counted houses engraved in the countryside out of boredom. It has been two days already and Twilight couldn’t bring herself to sleep. Not due to train’s continual rattle, but because what Kamina did. ‘Isn’t he the actual villain? He could persuade the captain to say those things about Celestia in front of me.’ For all that she knew, the colt schemed ahead and the whole train station affair could be a stage play.

In one single moment, she remembered all those looks they exchanged. The fire in his eyes spoke of no inner hatred or vengeance. Instead, it shone with determination and had a certain enigma of nobleness wrapped around it, something she haven’t encountered yet and could not identify. Pinkie Pie was a murderer. He had his chance to kill her and she still lived. Rainbow Dash too. Twilight sat quietly and wondered about Kamina’s actions, seeking answers from the orange-dyed sky.

It wasn’t long before she discovered what was wrong. Her mind was aware of every second, minute and hour. ’How could I not notice this before?’ For the last two sleepless nights, the moon has disappeared. The sun changed its color. Her doubts of Kamina washed away as she prayed for Luna’s safety. ‘Assuming she’s not Nightmare Moon by now.’ She could only imagine the terrible consequences if Celestia decided that the sun would never set again.

The fact that today was not the case brought relief. Third night without moon felt unnatural. The mare cocked her head to side when she saw the empty glass on the table. Her stomach growled and she felt thirsty, too. She turned to the door and knocked.

“Hello? Is anyone there?” She asked curiously.

“Yes, it’s opened.” The door slid inside the wall. There was a royal guard standing at the entry. She immediately frowned.

“Hasn’t it crossed your mind to at least bring me something to eat?” Twilight scolded him. His mouth opened and eyes narrowed in excuse:
“I...” He gasped. ”I’m sorry. The commander ordered us to guard the Elements and change shifts. He said that aside from Loyalty, Laughter and Honesty, everypony else will secure their daily meals.”

She trotted out of her coupe. The royal backed off.

“T-the dining room is this way.” He clumsily pointed down the corridor. Twilight ran and angrily kicked the door to the other wagon. She found the Commander and two royals laughing at a dinner table over some hay salad. Fluttershy and Rarity sorrowfully munched on their daisy sandwiches at the other table nearby.

“What the hell!? You just sit here and stuff your stomach with hay while I’m starving to death? Go buck yourself!” She yelled.

“B-b-but what’s the problem? I unlocked your compartment once the station was out of sight. We thought you was-… weren’t hungry.” He replied in panic.

Twilight put her hooves over her face. She just wanted to cry. The reasons he wasn’t in charge of the royal guard became apparent. Alas, how could he even be a deputy to Shining Armor was a great mystery to her. She just grabbed a stack of sandwiches and walked over to her friends. When she saw Rarity’s frightened expression however, she continued to the far side of the wagon and nestled in the corner.

By the time she was full, everypony else had already left. She wavered a moment. The table was covered in sauce and crumbs covered the seats next to her. Hunger got the best of her. ‘Rarity would not approve.’ She carefully pulled herself from the table and ran back for the coupe, leaving the big mess behind. On the way, she stumbled across Irongate.

“L-lady Sparkle, I… I want to apologize. I made sure you’ll be informed of everything. We’re arriving to Trottingham tomorrow. So… good night.”

“Alright, thank you. Good night.” She dismissed him. The folding bed was already prepared for her when she returned. She accepted its warm embrace and slept, undisturbed by the train as she adapted to its clamor over the three days.

Sunrays woke Twilight up in the morning, their touch felt extraordinary hot upon her coat. She shook the blanket off her and drew the curtains. She stayed wallowing in the bed, staring at the ceiling with a blank look. Her peaceful rest got interrupted hours later, around noon, when the train began to brake and a loud knock stroke against the door.

“Time to get up. We’re in Trottingham.” Commander’s rasping voice sounded from the other side.

‘Oh really? Who would’ve thought…’ She stood up tiredly. “Yes, I’m coming.”

Outside, she joined Fluttershy and Rarity, who were standing by their baggage, although they still refused to talk to her. The commander approached them again with a map and a note.

Twilight skipped through it quickly and summed for her friends: “We’ve been reserved rooms in one of the hotels here, apparently. I suggest to head there first, so we can check in and accommodate.”

“Uhm, o-okay, we’re right behind you.” Fluttershy nodded and turned to Rarity. Then, she gently nuzzled the mare’s snout with hers, whispering to her. Rarity forced herself to smile faintly. Twilight raised an eyebrow. Confused, she shrugged in her mind.

The tree ponies entered the Marebourne hotel after half an hour of walking through the busy streets. They were advised to avoid the main ones by the commander, as the news spread fast and every intersection was blocked due to heavy traffic. This city, albeit it did not appear like it on the first sight, was too overwhelmed by chaos.

The colt at reception handed them keys without questioning, since their reservations were of Very Important Pony status. Each of them had been arranged their own room and Twilight welcomed this setting; staying around Rarity wouldn’t be much of a win right now. She only unpacked things necessary for the night and left for the lobby. There, she waited for the royal guard deputy.
According to her expectation, he arrived alone to inform her of the situation.

“So, where have you been, commander?” She asked with a slightly provoking tone.

“I...- making myself useful of course!” He stepped up for her challenge with stupid pride. “We now have full cooperation of both the local city guard and police. They can line up on my orders immediately if you ask.”

She widened her eyes in surprise a little, but it went unnoticed by the robust colt: “Well, I am impressed."

‘So, Kamina can inspire anypony after all.’ She smiled.

“Th-thank you, miss Sparkle. Also, lord Kamina has contacted us.”

“Kamina? What did he say?!” She exclaimed, taken by the mere mention of his name.

“N-nothing. I mean we haven’t had the chance to answer to him. The stone he gave us started to flicker an-and… I thought you’d like to be present.”

“Alright, lead the way!” She spurted with enthusiasm.

“Well, actually…” He let out a dumb laugh as the two royal unicorns trotted through the front door.

‘You’re overdoing this, commander. Kamina at least has style.’ She had to admit to herself.

Back in her room, one of the guards pulled out a crystal similar to Kamina’s. Instead of a burning emerald however, this was a fine genuine diamond. The unicorn put the sparking jewel on the table, and he and his colleague focused their magic against it. ‘These crystals. How does he get them? Where?’ Twilight couldn’t pass over the fact that some lunatic had access to permanently enchanted items while the greatest minds in Canterlot failed to figure out the right technique to create them. The diamond activated and a projection of a well-known grin appeared on the wall.

“You know how to take some time to respond, huh?” Kamina groaned on the commander. He swept his eyes carelessly around the room, but suddenly, he gasped. Twilight knew she heard it, yet it went unnoticed by others. She examined the setting around him. White bubbly walls gave up the location on first sight. ‘Cloudsdale.’

“What’s the situation there, lord Kamina?” The royal asked.

“Guys, you wouldn’t believe the shit that’s gone down in the past three days. First, you guys,” He pointed at the guards, “are all fired. Apparently, Her Majesty declared you traitors to the crown. Any guard who joined the rebellion is dismissed of his duties and is to be hunted down. Not like the others have had a choice though. They’ve been hexed by a mind-controlling spell and I can only free the captured.”

“Wait, what the hay are you talking about? Her Majesty? Crown?! What’s going on?” Twilight spoke up with a startled voice.

“Yup. You heard me. Empress Celestia crowned herself and proclaimed a shining new future for Equestria.” His indifferent tone made it sound like a forecast.

“But we are not going to let that happen of course.” Another voice, melodic and strongly familiar, sounded from the crystal. Princess Luna trotted into sight. She grandiosely tossed her mane to the side and revealed a banner she carried, a full moon with three capital letters NLR written unto it.

“Oh man, that must've looked totally rad from their point of view! Brohoof, Luna!” The illustrious clink of hooves colliding sealed the two’s little spectacle.

“Tell me, what do you think of making this place a republic? You’ll get a parliament, a voting right and so on! Believe in me, democracy is awesome!”

“I don’t understand a single word you just said.” Twilight retorted, trying not to look surprised. ‘He got Luna too? Why does everypony like him so much? Well, at least now I know she’s safe.’ She glanced at Kamina and reconsidered. ‘On second thought, maybe not so safe after all.’

“What are you doing in Cloudsdale again anyways?!” She snapped out of her reflection.

“Hah! After you left, we tried to evacuate Ponyville, you know, mares n’ foals. But, we’ve been attacked by Canterlot army while doing that. However, since I am such great strategist and one hell of a tactician, we succeeded to both win the battle and get those fillies out of town.” He gave Twilight a firm, meaningful look: “With ZERO casualties.”

Luna’s expression grew serious and she continued: “I managed to escape out of Canterlot the next day. Sister was so angry she got distracted enough for me to slip from the dungeon. We’ve been pressing on them hard and we are closing onto the city each day.”

“As for Cloudsdale, we reached a stalemate. Three of the four royal families here are fighting for Celestia, because they were the one running the Rainbow Factory. Even with the pegasi from the Night Guard, it’s taking more time than expected. They are entrenched pretty deep, so we have to liberate the city house by house.”

“You still haven’t said what happened. Who is our true enemy in this?”

“Now now, be patient. You’ll get all your answers in Wingesburg, the castle on the outskirts of Flankstad. That’s where you’re headed after all.” He let out a slight giggle, as if he couldn’t hold it and was about to burst laughing out loud. Twilight, angered by this answer, scolded him with an unpleasant frown. She was ready to protest more, but a loud crack coming from the transmission cut her off.

“We gotta end it up here, guys.” Kamina whispered, pointing his hooves in different directions, silently giving orders to soldiers not visible on the broadcast. “One last thing, the actual reason I called: A division of Celestia's royal guards left the castle right after your departure. I have no doubt they are on your trail. Use Trottingham defenses well,” he addressed the commander, “and best of luck to you.”

“There he is! Atta-“ The audio turned off and the projection slowly faded. The hotel room went quiet for a moment, Irongate and Twilight staring at each other. He took the opportunity to leave in a hurry: “It seems we have to prepare for a battle. We need to find a place for the Elements to hide.” He nodded to the two unicorns before storming out into the hallway.

One of them promptly followed while the other packed the crystal and approached Twilight: “Miss Sparkle, have you ever been in Trottingham before? It is for sure a modern city, but before it grows, every Equestrian city has to start as a small settlement. Trottingham is no exception. The skyscrapers you see today have been built on old foundations. Please, come with me.”

She trotted cautiously behind the unicorn, because she felt something about him was strange. His calm, enigmatic voice made her magically attracted to him and the manner he spoke resembled the one of the higher society. She studied him on the way to the elevator. His golden armor covered most of his body and blended good with his cream coat. The straight, light brown mane was curiously similar to her own, but shorter. It matched his eyes in color and seemed well maintained. ‘He is kind of handsome.’ She pointed out to herself, but quickly discarded the girly thought.

“Hmm? Is there anything you wanted to ask?” He smiled with suspicion when he caught her inquisitive look.

“It-it's nothing. I don't suppose I've seen you before?” She reflected, startled, and entered the lift cabin.

“That is possible. After all, your brother is the captain of the royal guard.” He pressed the button for the lowest floor.

“Where are we going?”

“As I was saying, some of the buildings in this city are quite aged. There are lodgings which haven’t been attended to or visited in decades.” The lift stopped and they walked out into the dark basement. Without a word, he led her through several rooms and to a stairway. He used magic to emit light from his horn, so they could descend safely to yet another corridor, with feeble timber door at its end. Unclosed, it poured a wave of moist, murky air onto them and Twilight coughed. The guard lit up some candles on the nearby table, which in turn revealed several chairs scattered around the chamber.

“This will be your hiding place. Please wait here while I return for the other Elements.” He left her alone in the gloomy room. She levitated a chair to her and allowed herself some rest. His return took longer than expected and instead of lingering, she cast telekinesis again. Carefully, she set the chairs one by one with unnecessary focus and detail, creating a perfect circle.

Finally, the door opened again and the unicorn trotted in with some of the other guards. He moved two of the chairs further to the darkness. ‘Damn it!’ Twilight groaned inwardly over the lost work she'd done. The duo of prisoners was brought in first and strapped tightly to the chairs. The next pony who walked in was Honesty. “Applejack!” Twilight shouted in surprise, but the cowpony carried on without a response, and sat down quietly. After her, Fluttershy with Rarity came inside and toppled to the chairs they were ordered to.

“They’re here.” The royal colt stated. “Celestia's army, I mean. Listen, if they find you down here, you must protect the elements. You're the only one who can. So feel free to prepare some offensive spells.” He winked and the room enshrouded in darkness again.

Twilight sighed and ensconced on the last available free seat. The waiting was terrible. There was no way to kill time in that dark room, and in return, time was quite literally killing her from the inside. A mind of a bright scholar has its cons, and the inability to shut it down as you like is one of them. The stillness of the cellar allowed her to think freely, which, given the available topics, was outright painful. She reacted to this subconsciously, filling her heart with disturbing emptiness again.

Twilight’s thoughts were chaotic, random, and the strands of time flew by, unacknowledged by the confused mare. The commander stormed in some hours later, right after a little quarrel the pink demon started. A quick escort later, Twilight found herself back in the lobby, strangely, without her friends.

“They retreated for now, but I am sure the full force is yet to come down upon us.” He explained to her. “I must find more colts, because the city guard won’t be enough.”

She remained silent and let him off to his concerns. ‘You go make yourself a city militia. I just need some rest.’ She could feel the warmth of her bed already on the way to her premises. Before entering her room, she stopped. An envelope lied at its doorstep, unopened. Picking it up, she tore the white paper and read:

‘You want your answers? I have them all. Meet me at the train station in fifteen minutes. Bring generosity and kindness.’

Twilight gasped and revised the note once more. It was clearly written in hurry, yet still with care and elegance. The craving was here since the night she went out to buy ink, but today, it helped her to overcome her rational side. She NEEDED the answers. ‘Let’s do it the Kamina way, right? It always works for him.’ She let out an unstable giggle and her pupils narrowed into tiny dots, somewhat reminiscent of one specific, unrelated accident with a pony doll.
Fluttershy had no time to respond as Twilight dragged her off the couch. Rarity woke to the loud crash the purple unicorn made when she broke the door, and now sat wearily in Fluttershy’s bed. “So you two were having a sleepover?” Twilight laughed. “Saves me time I guess!”

“W-what is it now, Twilight?” Rarity bawled at her resentfully. She was about to complain more, but got interrupted by a flash coming out of Twilight’s horn. Rarity realized both she and Fluttershy were being lifted to the air, and before they could react, the magic tossed them through the window into the warm night.

Rarity was falling out of the 9th floor of a hotel and her chances looked pretty grim. She could see Twilight jumping after them with a grin from ear to ear and Fluttershy by her side, struggling to use her wings against the red magic shivering. She shut her eyes out of fear and awaited her death as the fall was about to reach its end. However, the impact never came.

Opening her eyes, she found herself levitating inches above the ground. Her pegasi friend was in the same situation. Twilight stepped upon the paved road, mumbling to herself: “So that’s how he does it! Interesting. Simplifies everything a lot.” She seemed to have returned to her regular state of mind, as their friends dropped down unharmed.

“What the buck were you thinking? Are you trying to get us all killed?” Rarity shouted, drawing the mare’s attention.

“I’m sorry. For everything. Rarity…” Twilight paused for a moment. “Can you ever forgive me for hitting you?” She stared directly into Rarity’s eyes, pulling off the cutest puppy face of her life.

Rarity stood in surprise for a couple of seconds, then, she offered the mare a hoof and the two embraced in a hug. “Alright, alright, I forgive you. But you have some explaining to do! First, what was this all about? I’ve never been so scared in my life.”

Twilight’s adorable apologetic look quickly disappeared and was replaced with fresh enthusiasm, the one usually coming from Pinkie Pie:

“Ha! We just needed to sneak past the royal guards at the lobby. This was the best solution at the time.” She grinned again.

“The best solu-?!”

“Anyway,” Twilight nipped in, “we must get to the train station, and fast. Since I don’t know the local streets, we’ll take the easy route.”

“What does that mean?” Rarity asked curiously.

“Fluttershy, Rarity… please, grab my tail.” Her friends exchanged confused looks, unaware of the burgundy glow on her hoofs. They reluctantly seized her tail, not knowing what to expect.

“ADVENTURE!”

In no time, the trio was back high in the air, aiming towards the train station.

“Agh! Can’t you be a little careful next time?” Rarity groaned out of pain, since they all crashed head first into the wall of the station.

“Who cares for a few bruises? I am a unicorn and I can motherbuckin’ fly! That wasn’t bad at all for my first attempt!” Twilight vaunted herself.

“No, it wasn’t. Glad you made it in time.” The same pony who led them to the cellar, the one, whose voice was so calm and mysterious, walked into the dim light of the nearby lamp. “I’m sorry to have lured you here like this, but the commander is a goddamn idiot. And Kamina too, for choosing him.”

Twilight jumped into an offensive position and slowly backed off, the horn pointed towards the unicorn. He no longer wore the armor of a royal guard; instead, a familiar black cape concealed his back. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t just fry you with a fireball right now.” She said with noticeable hostility.

“I’ve got three, actually.” The wagon behind him lit up and she gasped. Three coupes on the side, the rest of the elements enclosed in each.

“Don’t take this as a threat, though. You’re leaving a day early. Get in.

Twilight, having mixed feelings, muttered: “But… Why?”

“As I said, the commander is an idiot. That is proved by the fact I was able to sneak in his squad and order them around. Celestia’s army is already inside the city. You need to go now.”

A series of screams came from the back alleyway, signifying he was speaking the truth. The royal guards were already after them, and the commander wasn’t able to predict this night-time assault. Twilight hurriedly boarded the train after her two friends, as it started to move off. He didn’t follow them on the train.

She tried to call out to the colt, but he already turned back, no longer listening, a battle axe in his hooves. The last thing she saw before losing him from sight was his face, the mane covering his eyes, and a smirk, the same she knew only from one colt before. ‘Kamina?’ She asked herself, startled only by his brown mane and posture.

The train went swiftly, and Twilight looked from the window, just before the last turning to wilderness. It gave her a sight of a burning city and another moonless night, a day ended in bloodshed.

Author's Note

Another black cape character, not from Gurren Lagann. Second of the three anime crossovers.
Also couldn't help but sneak a Fallout Equestria reference in. I'm sorry.

8.The Other Worlds

Interlude – History Insight III

The baron was in middle of repairing the teleportation circle, when Kamina stormed into the main hall in his characteristic, jump-scary way.

“Brace yourself for the most epic moment of this millennium! I am fucking back!”

The piece of chalk fell from his hooves, and the baron kept glaring in disbelief. After a minute of silence, he spoke with astonishing coldness:
“I had your name written on my list since the day you entered the anomaly. Now tell me, what had really happened? Because leaving me in this ridiculous pastel-colored world was to be your fatal mistake.”

“I DID leave by choice. For five minutes. When I reentered again, the first thing I know, its thousand years later than it should be.”

“Thirteen-hundred seventy-four years, to be precise.”

“I’m sorry. Really. But as I came back, it reopened. We can both go back now. And we should do that quick, because it’s the most unstable one I’ve seen.”

“Well, in other news, while you were gone, an alicorn was born. I’ve been watching her to this day. She’s tied to a prophecy, concerning the Elements of Harmony. And the west is still full of Draconequos.”

“I see. You’ve been planning to free the eastern ponies. Out of boredom, as you always do, right?” Kamina was caught in a moment of thinking.

“I dunno. We can go or at least do something nice for this world before that, even if it means to be stuck here for centuries again. I’ll leave this one to you.” The baron said, waiting for an answer.

“Look. I don’t like being a pony, you don’t like being a pony. But what you said makes sense. Is it still Discord on the throne?

“Yes.”

“Let’s kick his ass!”

Two more nights spent in the ever-rattling train made Twilight feel uneasy about the current situation, although now she had two of her friends by her side. Still, sitting alone in her coupe and watching the landscape was her favorite activity, as both Rarity and Fluttershy didn’t have much to add when she talked. When they finally arrived, it was cloudy and threatening with rain. No pegasi kept the skies clean here, and Twilight understood not why the locals would be comfortable with such chaotic weather.

The train station was non-existent in Flankstad, and they had to step out of the train next to a road, at a prearranged location. Trains here had no timetables, leaving Twilight wondering about functionality of this rail transport.

Four dull-looking ponies dragged the carriage that was sent for them. ‘Horses.’ Twilight recalled. Sadly, many studies have been done on the foals who were born like that, being intelligent roughly as an animal, but not a single one could explain the mysterious disease. The carriage itself was classy and decorated, in a way which made Rarity almost faint, but the inside was a bit cramped for six ponies and Twilight had to put the dangerous murderers to sleep first. Pinkamena took more magic to put down than an Ursa Major, and Twilight was exhausted as a result.

The path winded out of the town and Twilight was about to continue in her new-found habit; she drew the curtains and stared blankly out of the window. A bleak pine forest moved around them as they went uphill, fog veiling it tight and preventing any distant view. She found this sight incredibly creepy, and quickly pulled the curtains back. She could swear she saw a shadow in the brief moment, hiding behind trees and watching her. The rest of the way she felt the murmuring of the forest on her skin, an unpleasant whispering that even her brain couldn’t explain.

It was some minutes later they reached the gate, embedded to a cobble-stone wall that stretched out to infinity at both sides. A silhouette of a tower perked over the entrance, higher than visible, and Twilight knew there were more hidden beyond the white mist. The driver showed them out in front of the massive door, knocked three times and disappeared on his wheels down the path again. The gate creaked loudly, opening slow before allowing them to enter. They trotted through the frigid corridor, passing several paintings and bookshelves, and stopped in the entrance hall in shock.

“I have been waiting. Welcome to Wingesburg, ladies.” The baron greeted them sensually and Twilight yielded to his voice once again. Somehow, he was able to arrive before they did, and now fully enjoyed the fact as he basked in the blue sunlight at the window. He smiled at her: “Teleportation, if you want to ask.”

“That’s impossible!” Was the first stupid thing she could squeeze out. Of course, she knew there was no other way, but the spell was quite unstable. For her and every unicorn she met, it was possible to teleport several feet, a mile at max, away. ‘So the crystals come from him too.’ She concluded.

“Impossible. That word doesn’t bear a meaning for me anymore.” He rang a bell by his side and a group of ponies came running from doors around, leading her friends to different directions and out of the room. Two pony guards dragged Loyalty and Laughter to a dark hallway after she dropped them to the ground. A light blue mare in an outfit Twilight encountered only in books nudged her side, trying to take her away as her colleagues did to others. “Go on. Accommodate, and then visit me in the evening. You’ll get all your answers.”

Twilight nodded, but held back at the sill, fighting the mare pulling her inside. She called out to him, half-whispering: “Is she a good slave?”
“WHAT?” He exclaimed and glared in disbelief. “It’s a maid dress, yes, but Twilight Sparkle, what are you implying? She’s no slave, she is paid very generously!” She let out a giggle and left the room before he realized how much he fell for her joke. “FUCK!”

The journey through the castle was longer than she’d expected. Without the navigation from the young servant, she would most certainly lose herself in the maze of corridors, rooms and halls. In the room arranged for her, she jumped right into the cozy bed and listened carefully as the mare explained the castle rules. “… and if you ever need anything, just ring this bell and I’ll rush to your service.”

“Actually, could you please tell me how the others are?” Twilight asked. The pony cocked her head to the side, confused. “My friends, I mean.”

“Oh, well, Lady Rarity should be enjoying the pleasure of our wonderful spa and Lady Fluttershy was led straight into the gardens. I was not informed of the rest, sorry.”

After a quiet while, the servant left as if dismissed, and Twilight gradually faded to sleep, tired from spells she conjured in the morning.
A shattering sound pulled her away from her dreams back into the gloomy room. The first thing she noticed when she opened her eyes was the door. It was halfway open and grated horribly in the nightly silence. She fumbled to her left, trying to reach the bell, but found the shelf to be distressingly empty.

From the moment she left her room, the whispers returned, disturbingly loud, as if coming from all directions. It sent shivers down her spine, yet she continued to follow the embering torches down to the source. They illuminated the paintings along the way, the eyes of past ponies watching her every step. Before long, she stood at another wooden door, its planks darkened by the ages. A sign at the top made it clear: ‘Küchen’. Twilight as a fan of French hadn’t studied German much, but the word itself was easy to determine.

She entered the kitchen, hoping to meet the mare assigned to her. Not much could she see inside and almost crashed into a large table, if only she hadn’t noticed the white shape on the floor, which turned out to be a broken plate upon closer examination. It fell most probably from the table, what was unnerving however, were the scratches around it. ‘Perhaps a stray cat?’ She backed off slowly, oblivious to the change outside.

That was when she turned around and gasped in a horrendous surprise from the sight. Faces of barons and their families twisted and moved inside the paintings in an otherworldly manner, their empty eye sockets dripping with red paint. The torches shone like fires in the underworld, a demonic green blazing downwards unlike the usual flame. She started to hyperventilate and her head got dizzy, like the day at the Sugarcube corner. ‘Am I dreaming?’ She stared blankly at her hooves, and looking to end the nightmare, punched herself to the chin. It would not work.

A protracted, cadaverous groan echoed through the cursed hallway and a shadow arose on its end. Twilight, with not much courage left, caught just a quick glimpse before heading the other way. It observed them in the forest and now it came for her. Fear gave her the strength and she galloped away, turning and closing the doors behind her with telekinesis. Her brain had memorized the route to the baron’s office and subconsciously projected it to her as she ran for her life.

Suddenly, a wooden barrel rolled into her way, and Twilight, instinctively putting forward her front legs, tripped over it, hitting her head to the ground and collapsing completely. The large chamber was pitch-black in the night; the only light came from the castle entrance. She couldn’t see properly, instead, blurry images flashed in her mind. It took more time than it should to recover, but slowly, the ringing in her ears gave up to the loud wheeze from behind, as the monster kept breaking the doors in its wake.

She panicked and jumped up, and tirelessly ran towards the office. A warm liquid flowed from the top of her head down her back, tickling Twilight’s coat. She stumbled up the stairs and pulled the handle, unluckily, unable to get the door open. With tears, she turned back to face her inevitable fate.

IT had four legs, bent to painful angles and broken at several points. No mane, eyes bulged out and a missing jaw made it seem like a corpse, but it was too bulky to be one. It glared at her with hunger and Twilight thought sure it would jump at her. The disfigured pony tossed one of its hooves forward, and a rounded object rolled from its claws her way. A pink-colored skin, a head stained by blood where it was ripped from the neck, revealed its enthusiastic smile when all the torches lit up on their own. Twilight screamed.

“There goes the price.” Pinkie talked. “You always drag your friends to wild adventures and battles against evil, ignoring the danger that comes with it. You thought you could keep your carefree attitude forever?” The thing laughed, and Twilight closed her eyes in horror.

“Of course not. You need to learn the weight of consequence.”

“No, she doesn’t!”

A loud blast deafened Twilight and a blue flash reached her eyes through her lids. She opened them and checked the room. Both the creature and the head disappeared, the fellow stallion standing in their place. He trotted over to where she was crouching and hoofed her two different phials. “To the bottom, now.” She grabbed the strange potion of green description and tried to make sense of the text: “Lauda-nauda-dauna-“

“Just drink it, alright!?”

Without hesitation, she complied. The pulsating feeling coming from the crack on her head faded and the stinging pain vanished. She took the second shot, emptying the blue vial and shaking in deep relief. Each consumed drop washed the stress she accumulated over the last few days, healing what the green substance could not. The sudden concession of her worries and fears forced a tenderly moan out of her, and once she attained full control of her mind again, she blushed, slightly embarrassed.

“What the hell was that?” She referred the situation, calmer and more settled.

“I have owned this castle for a long time, millenniums in fact, but it still carries a history pre-dating my own presence in this world. Ancient ghosts roam these halls, and they don’t take kindly to changes, or new visitors.” He passed around her, aiming for the locked door.

“I have a bad feeling that with every answer you give me, more and more questions will arise. Apparently, you’re saying you are thousands of years old. How exactly have you achieved that please?”

He smiled warmly, giggling with his eyes closed like she was a naive silly filly: “Oh, Twilight Sparkle, you greedy mare, I am terribly sorry, but my secret won’t work for you.” The baron concentrated energy in his horn, and unsealed the magic protection to his office.

“You regard me with my full name and I think that is unfair. Can I have your name for a change, oh mighty baron?” She asked, singing the last words.

“I see you love my voice then, that you’re trying to mimic it. However, don’t talk fancy, be who you are, be honest. As for my name, you can call me Light.” The room was different, shocking perhaps, containing a single metal ingress. The elevator and the round white walls inside were completely unfitting to the castle interior.

“How can you even talk to me like that? You lecture about honesty and lie a sentence later. I mean Light – TwiLIGHT? How much of stupid do I look to you?” An idea sprawled in her head, induced by his voice and charm, and she checked his flank for a cutie mark, one that would indicate a master of falsehood. She expected a spider, instead a black pen glistened on his side. As before, he caught her look, causing her face go red again.

“Hehe, I know you’re very smart. But I’m talking truth here, my name is indeed Light. Light Yagami, to be precise. I am a human and I’ve lived here for more than three thousand years. It is simple like that.”

The sole whirring of the elevator filled its cramped space as it moved down, for considerable amount of time. His eyes spoke of no lies and the truth overwhelmed her to the point she stopped breathing.

Her mind was chaos again. Too many questions whirling inside, and not much answers to appease them. Regardless, she kept her calm on the outside.

“So, is Kamina a human too, then?” Twilight sorted out her priorities, hoping to confirm her suspicions she had since he appeared in that mirror.

“Yes. And he had been here even before I arrived. He found me first; I recall it was way back to the Hayern Uprising. I don’t expect you to know what it is, since ponies are not really fond of history. Goddamn it, I’ve seen this world grow into unbelievable innocence since then and I really envy you. Back where I used to live, it would seem like hell to you.” He paused for a moment, gritting his teeth.

The elevator descended still, and Light continued: “I’m sorry, I should just carry on to more important matter; our enemy. Listen close, it’s complicated.” With a nod, she settled to hear him out.

“There is an anomaly that brought us two to Equestria. It is presumably a portal from yet another world and it spurts out a lot of data. I myself can’t explain it, but we believe it’s semi-sentient, because it brought us in here. You see, we both died in our worlds and then we got transported here. Anyway, the data from the anomaly is harmful. Harmful in a way that makes ponies go murdering their friends and do other insane things; in other words, it emits packets of negative emotions to its surroundings.” He stopped, waiting for her to take it all in.

“That means Celestia…” Twilight gasped, suddenly understanding the reason for the whole madness.

“… was hiding it all along. The data and the magic of this world are compatible. The anomaly reappears randomly near strong sources and Princess of the Sun is one of them. That’s also the reason you were targeted. Elements of Harmony are even more powerful, so it corrupted the ones that are not necessarily good, which are Laughter, Loyalty and… Magic.”

“What?” She shouted, demanding explanation.

“Well, the bruise on Rarity’s cheek didn’t grow from falling down the stairs, did it? I have an eye spell to detect the data and I can see several strands still going about you. Take a look for yourself.”

He leaned forward, touching her horn with his, and with a red glow, both the vision and the knowledge to cast it flowed into her head. Several crimson shapes and numbers appeared orbiting different parts of her body and from a halo over her head, a dark red triangle departed, flying straightly into her brain. It was confusing, and she blinked a few times in an effort to orientate.

“I presume you want to have this explained.”

She looked at him and gasped, seeing the same particles running down over his body, but in a bright blue color.

“A thing me and Kamina got. It doesn’t come directly from the anomaly and we’ve been covered like this since our first day here.” He interpreted. “I’ve marked the ‘bad’ data red and ours blue, because it obviously isn’t the same. The blue essentially protects us from the effects of red and, unfortunately, confines us in pony form. Also, it seems less affected by magic. While I can easily clear you of red, I can’t do the same to myself, as the blue stays permanently.”

She knew there was something behind the emptiness she felt, something that caused her to lose sympathy for her friends, and now, it lay before her. A bunch of stupid data from another dimension. ‘That’s all what it takes?’

“You know, I ought to do it right now. It would eventually deplete or shift off, but we’re in an elevator and there’s really nothing else to do, because the damn music speakers broke again, so why not give it a go.”

When the lift’s door opened at last, with much instruction from Light’s side, they had caught and dispelled all the evil chips of data. The room they’d arrived in first introduced itself with a few seconds of darkness, then the systems powered up, giving a prolonged flash of red glow, before blinding the unsuspecting mare with pure white light.

A barely audible click dimmed the light down and set it to an optimal level.

“I am sure you demand more information, and there indeed is much to be told, but we’re in a rush, I’m afraid. Come on in, please.”

The presented chamber was huge, and more substantially, shaped into perfect cube. Its walls wasn’t like anything Twilight’s ever seen before, being constructed from hundreds of white tile-like panels. Their touch felt unnatural on her hooves, and what struck her most was the material, which seemed polished and weak, but at the first impact, she could tell it boasted more strength and hardness than any metal.

“These anomalies grow more unstable as the time goes, and I believe this one was around for more than forty years. I don’t know what effect it’s going to have, now that Celestia fell to it. Could you believe she sustained such a thing for almost half a century? Why didn’t she tell us? I guess it got her the day it emerged.” Light maundered on, ingrained in his lecture.

She gave a look to both sides as they dragged forward. There were several openings similar to the elevator door, round and, as she assumed, fully automatic as well. After inspecting the advanced technology sufficiently, she straightened her head forward and inhaled in wonder, for a black glossy surface covered the width of the wall up front.

They arrived in front of the screen, and Twilight noticed a small console underneath it. There was a mix-up of buttons placed all over the glassy table, particularly, a one set of them that spelled the alphabet in different rows caught her attention.

“What is this?” She squeaked. The machines she’s been working with had nothing against this single room and boring to work with too, given the low-importance of technology in Equestria. Twilight once had a dream to change that, her studies of magic however pushed that dream far away.

“Ehehe,” he laughed stupidly, “that’s a keyboard. We don’t use that very often. You see, it’s not designed for hooves.”

“Then why exactly do you keep it here?” She raised an eyebrow, as not a single sensible reason came to her mind.

“If you want to know so bad, I’ve been practicing my magic typing. It’s faster than with fingers I must say, and if I retain my horn once I’m human again, it would be a good thing to know.” He registered her slightly concerned look and shrugged: “What? Boredom makes people do stranger things!”

After several more childlike curious questions from Twilight, and many bids for not to touch anything from Light, the intelligent stallion got to work, pushing the buttons, starting up the screen systems and operating the keyboard for effect, to show how good he’d become. Twilight, an amazed little filly, held no attention to it and watched the display in silence.

Finally, a spherical shape appeared on the screen, with a large title over it. ‘EQUESTRIA?’ Twilight exclaimed inside her mind, but kept quiet on the outside. Light looked well-occupied with the systems, and she already disrupted him enough. The apparently three-dimensional orb rotated and soon she realized it was actually a map, when it closed up upon her homeland. It felt so small compared to the far-stretched continents and seas she didn’t recognize, or even came across in the geographical books. Others on the second hoof were a matter of myths, lands she only heard in legends of old. Altogether, countless cities sprawled their names across the surface, Canterlot blinking a single dot amongst many.

A monotone, electronic voice emerged speaking from all directions and filling the room:
-.-
“Equestrian Computer Operating System welcomes you back, sir.
Preparing projection crystals as requested.
Magic-Technology synchronization completed.
Requested crystal uplink: Kamina
Initiating crystal localization.
Localization status: Failed
Link not established.”

The voice fell into silence again, waiting for a response, an input. Twilight turned to Light, visibly expecting an explanation. He, at the same time, gave away a long, frustrated sigh and facehoofed. Seeing as he stayed in that position, leaning against the control panel, Twilight did not hesitate to ask: “What’s going on? Is there a problem with the… -how do you call it again?-... the computer?”

He reciprocated more aggressively than she anticipated, outflanking her: “There’s nothing wrong with my goddamn system, it’s that idiot again! He probably got himself killed, or I don’t know, broke the crystal, he’s capable of that. Just let me think for a minute, okay?
“Oh, I’m sorry, of course.” She responded, frightened.

“No, I’m the one that should be apologizing. Sorry.” He broke off and held his chin up for a moment, but then he shook his head. “Let’s recapitulate: the data flow must be accelerating. We don’t know how much time we have before Celestia goes completely insane and decides to throw the sun down on the planet. Up to this point, both the revolution and hexed army have been a local problem, so the country can still be saved. It’s obvious that if Kamina can’t, we have to intervene. That’s all I got. You?”

“E-yes, yes, I fully agree, we should do that.” She replied a little taken aback. “So, how are we going to do it?”

“That is the exact problem here. Borders have been sealed off; those poor bastards on the front line don’t even know they are serving an insane, dangerous psychopath. Guess we shouldn’t have taken you here at all, but that was before the original plan went to hell.” He sighed again.

“How did you arrive before we did again?” She pushed the question, hinting the solution with her tone.

“I see where you’re headed, but I don’t think that’s going to work. However, it’s still as good start as any.” He pressed a few buttons, turning the system off. His eyes expanded out of sudden spark of realization inside his mind. “You know what? That is actually a very good idea! Let’s head back up, now!”

The ride up was short, and Twilight was sure the elevator accelerated in comparison to their way down before, but was so stunned by the recent events she did not gather up the energy to point it out. Once the door opened, Light blasted off into the hall, rocketing towards the spiral staircase on the left. She followed him as they ascended to yet another door marked with a bronze sign, ‘Magische Forschung’ this time.

When they busted through that door, it overwhelmed her all in one second. Light continued, because as the owner he knew what to expect, conversely, she stayed pinned down, not knowing where to look first. It was the tower they’ve seen from the outside, the one that seemed endless in the mist and now proved to be the same on the inside. That couldn’t be breathtaking on its own though. The one thing that made eyes of Twilight’s sparkle, was that the tower, larger in diameter than she remembered, from down to up abounded with books.

There were torches, candles, all lit up with magic that changed their colors over time. Some of them even floated in place, providing light for every inch of the grand library and its shelves. The stairs were covered with a dark red carpet and the railing hoof-carved with a masterful precision and patience. Altogether with the furniture and decorations, Twilight might have thought the environment was leastwise pleasing, if not downright romantic.

Baron closed his eyes in a moment of meditation. His horn wrapped itself in a crimson gleam, which linked to the candle at hoof. Slowly, atmosphere darkened as the pen of his cutie mark suddenly covered in blood and the first candle linked to another one. Twilight sensed rivers of magic hindering her breath, pulsating throughout the room, and they all came flowing from one point: him. His mane tinted to a shade of red as well, the walls quaked a malevolent vibration, whilst red mist poured down protractedly from the bookshelves.

“Step aside.” He whispered, as if to the wind. That she did, trying to hold back the on-growing migraine from the strengthening magic. Steady beams connected the magical sources of light, charging upwards to the infinity. It was sluggish at the beginning, but now it jumped at speeds her eyes ceased to perceive. The tremors had intensified too, building steadily up to a point of culmination she imagined. What she expected happened. Light opened his eyes, which exploded with colored radiation, driving the mist back to the walls.

Multiple shuffling sounds came from above as the books started to displace from the shelves. Many of them fell down, only to be stopped in midair by a red field of telekinesis. Soon all of it, the mist and the red over Light’s body, faded away, lights returning back to their tranquil magical flickering and books dropping harmlessly on the ground, lined up in demarcated rows and columns.

“All that just to bring down some books? It wasn’t for the effect, to impress me, wasn’t it?” Twilight recuperated swiftly.

“Not at all, why would I do that?... No. Of course not. Actually yes.” He laughed warmly, still somehow falsely. “Was kind of expecting you to see that.”

She tilted her forehead and scolded him, the deep wrinkles signifying her annoyance, but quickly shook it off and carried on. “So what is all this, exactly?” She asked.

“Books. Lots of books.” She was ready to punch him, but he continued to speak before she could.

“They are going to help us figure out the way to teleport from HERE to Canterlot.”

“Teleportation? How? I can hardly put together enough magic to go a mile far. How are we ever gonna make it to Canterlot?”

“I said before it’s not impossible. You see the symbols on the ground?” He stepped off and pointed on the white-chalk circle on the floor, supplemented by different geometrical shapes, drawings and crystals set on crucial places. “That is my personal solution for long-distance traveling. It locates and focuses the energy into one place. Our problem is, of course, we haven’t got one of these in Canterlot. And the books came up as a solution. So, you ready to do some magic research with me?”

She gazed at him a little surprised, going over his words again as she did not quite catch it all the first time. Then, without any more irresolution, she answered: “Hell yes!”

Author's Note

For those who do not know, Light Yagami is from the series Death Note.

9.The Final Boss

Interlude – At the gates of Canterlot

Luna paced back and forth inside her tent, keeping her increasing nervousness at bay. She was always a calm one, but nopony would stay cool in the existing situation. The occurrences were terrifying and stressful, even worse, she had happened to be slowly losing the ongoing competition between the Moon and the Sun, which not only showed to bring down her hope, it also made everyone tired. They’d lost two hours of sleep already and the day was still extending.

A sudden thought ran through her head, a thought that made her happy for a second. She was no longer the only bad princess in history. The selfishness of the dark insinuation granted her nothing but anger over herself and she quickly galloped out to get away from it.
From her higher position, she oversaw their camp, her eyes slowly gliding upon the great city not a dozen stades farther. The terrain was difficult and rocky, the gates of Canterlot closed, heavily fortified, and as follows, they wouldn’t win by waiting. However… They had gotten this far. She learned a lot from Kamina, the colt that appeared mysteriously and led them with glory back to her hometown. She learned to never give up, to keep up hope and most importantly, to take initiative.

He went in an hour ago. She hadn’t heard of him since. Now was the time for action. ‘I don’t know much about the chances of our survival, but let’s do this!’ Just as she was to turn around to give orders, she was blinded momentary and a loud thunder reached her ears. The explosion came from the city’s foundations and tore the east palace wing off the cliff, causing another set of rumbling as the building fell down the mountain. The buildings beneath the now non-existent sanctuary raged with a reddish and violet fire. ‘Time to attack.’ She whispered to herself.

Rarity awoke to an unusually warm morning, yet it was still a little too early. The castle may’d given out a stark, frigid impression on the outside, but the guest rooms were cozy, well-heated, and she had slept more soundly in the silken incrustation than she ever did at home. She kept thinking about her friends, especially Fluttershy, who she assumed to be harmed the most. What was happening was beyond her, but she wasn’t stupid. She listened closely and unnoticed whenever important talk went on, and emotions she read percipient as well. Still, there were a lot of questions mixing in her head, and confused, she had never gotten any answers.

About an hour spent in bed later, when the dimness outside got cleared out, endowing her with a view on the magnificently treated gardens, a servant entered her room, carrying a golden plate and a rich breakfast. The quiet gentleman treated her as a lady even the day before, and there was no time to worry about others. Rarity finished her meal, looking forward to quicken the preparations of lunch, thus getting potential explanations. Out of boredom, she also decided to try out the castle spa on the servant’s tip, to relieve the stress.

When she finished, it was already noon and strangely, the sunlight pierced shallowly through the rising fog, giving somehow misleading feelings of both cold and warm. On her way in she saw Fluttershy inside the now-empty gardens, who must had been disappointed over the lack of animals and left. With eagerness she boldly plunged in the dining hall for guests, running late for the talk she anticipated. However, the marinated hay with cloverleaves and the honey dough cake were served without the presence of their host, or her lily unicorn friend. Somewhat angry over such select of manners, she slipped away at the second course, bitter too late to leave Fluttershy alone.

She headed directly for the main hall, where she saw the entrance to baron’s office. To others the castle would probably pose an intricate maze, only Rarity had a memory and perhaps a sense for architecture as she adored beautiful housings, and the decorated chambers in Wingesburg were most impressive for a pegasi custom-built fortress. ‘The ponies of the old times certainly knew what they were doing.’ She consolidated her opinion, rushing through the rooms.

‘Most unfortunate.’ she muttered, standing at the wooden door. The Baron held his working place locked tight, and the feeling of magic, possibly a trap, discouraged her further from intruding into his privacy. She walked down and stood in the middle of the hallway, musing about her options.

“YES! Yes! Yes! By the Sun upon the sky, I found it! We did it, Light!” Sounded squeals of success merrily, coming from above. She trotted instantly to the circular staircase on her left, interested in finding whatever shenanigans the two carried out. At the top, she found herself before another doorway. Unconcerned about the German nonsense engraved on the sign overhead, the unicorn peeked inside the partly opened door.

The room filled her with emotions of dread, as it was a horrible mess everywhere, books and different gadgets lying around on the floor. Different working places had been used and subsequently left, the bookshelves covering the walls made her head spin and the chaotically colored lighting flickered a ghastly weird appearance.
So it happened Rarity focused on the table in the middle, laden with many books spread open and a crystal, similar to the one she saw when she was spying in the hotel. It projected a tiny version of Canterlot in all its glory, but it was strange; as if to be touched, it filled space, and Rarity struggled to name it correctly, like Twilight used to refer to objects: ‘Three-dimensional’

“See? If we use the circle drawn on the floor in the East Wing, we should be able to teleport the crystal with the spell over there, just like we planned.” Twilight pointed around madly fast, from projection to books to projection again.

“The energy reaction is going to be enormous when we teleport, but it’ll work. It’s our best shot.” He smiled triumphantly. Rarity observed in silence.

“We really did it! I still can’t believe it.” Suddenly, she went silent, looking directly at Light. “I have something to tell you.” Twilight lowered her voice. "Light I… couldn’t do it without you.”

“Of course not!” He raised his eyebrow and laughed, even a little dismissively.

“No, I mean I…” She leaned forward, closing her eyes, and with a time stop everyone could feel, her lips pressed against his. The kiss lasted a second, maybe two, before Light broke away indecisively. The stars inside his bistre eyes faded away for her as he looked directly into hers:

“That doesn’t feel right.”

“I understand.” She realized what held him back. “I’m… I am sorry.” She blushed and shyly looked away.

“Well… I think we should go then.” He turned away as well, leading for the door out. They betook it carefully over the scattered tomes, and, possibly startled from the experience, heard not of the hoof steps escaping downstairs.

The crystals gleamed around them, set firmly in place, yet unstable. The later reminded her of two murderers chained behind her, just on reach. They decided not to waste any more time, but that was no excuse for recklessness. Twilight paid no focus to the circle, believing their preparation had been perfect. Instead, she once again checked on her friends. Rarity embraced Fluttershy tightly in a hug, comforting words flowing quietly out of her mouth.

When she reached Applejack, their looks entangled and she could see new determination warming inside the cowboy pony. Light said he had visited her the night before, but what did he say to her to bring her up this fast, she couldn’t tell. All she remembered, Light disposed of three vials afterwards, the extra one being rose pink rather than blue or green. ‘Five seconds.’ She alarmed herself, backing out of her distraction. A magical red shield formed over their heads, growing and extending to form a bubble around their bodies.

It was supposed to be quick. She gave the impulse on Light’s nod, the crystals flashed and the world collapsed, leaving utter blackness in her sight. And then, quick all the same, it reconstructed in front of her eyes. At first with blurry images, she couldn’t determine whether the spell worked or not. Her ears rang and her head ached from the magical powers about her. It was all expected, and the dissolving shielding spell washed those minor inconveniences away in a few seconds. She examined her surroundings. Apparently the spell had not worked as perfect as she’d wanted, and she established her location to be the palace sewer.

Out of sudden, Twilight gasped, looking right side at the surface of the murky water. A sloshing pony drew nearer at insane speeds, leaving a trail of white foam, just to be divided by a much bigger object following. Just as the second individual was about to catch up, Light jumped out onto the bank, spinning and splashing the water against the vigorous sunbeams from above. Rainbow appeared, giving Twilight the view of intense moments as it blinded the alligator that snatched after the noble pony. Evading masterfully and perhaps with an epic portion of luck, he landed on his back and now lay sprawling his four legs in all directions.

“Fuck yes! YOU CALL THAT SWIMMING? You ain’t got nothing on me! YOU SLOW PIECE OF SHIT!” He yelled at the top of his lungs as he pointed his hoof right in the stunned animal’s ugly mug, simultaneously hyperventilating and laughing at his success. Once he saw Twilight cocking her head to the side and throwing concerned looks however, he got up and put on a more serious face.

“We have to act swiftly. Do you sense the marking crystals anywhere?” He asked, referring to their way of finding each other they appointed.

“Twilight! Are you down there? We have a problem here!” Elegant as always, Rarity’s voice broke their new-started conversation.

“Nevermind,” he noded. They both flew upside through the bath of sunlight coming from the huge crack in the ceiling. Twilight instantly recognized the courtyard of the East Palace, unfortunately beyond that point, the palace itself was gone. Where the doors were was now a straight cutting and after it a certain fall to death on top of Sun wing that crashed down the mountain. And on it, as if on a cliff, now stood three, no, four Twilights forcing their friends down the missing section.

“I have waited for this, you damned fillies. You gave me and my pals a solid beating some weeks ago, and now we’re in for some revenge.” The leading Twilight said in an aggressive tone.

“It’s always the changelings, isn’t it,” Light mumbled to himself and continued to listen to the main one, though somewhat aggravated as well.

“So we oughta hash out some terms then.” The changeling raised its voice even further. Rarity and Applejack sent Twilight some signals of disapproval, while Fluttershy stayed curled up at Pinkamena’s hooves, too confused to apprehend danger. Oddly enough, Rainbow Dash was nowhere to be found.

“Listen, violet. You can either surrender and walk with us to the main palace, or you can watch your friends fall to their deaths one by one.”

It tried to scold her with a tough regard, but she looked elsewhere. By her side, Light started building up insane amount of magic energy again and she was curious as to what might happen.

“Hey! I’m talking to you!” The changeling leader snapped out, not taking being ignored too kindly.

“Yes, you are, and we would all be glad if you’d just stop.” Light smiled warmly.

“What the hell did you just say to me, you punk?”

“Just shut up.” He said, releasing a wave of invisible power from his horn, putting down the magical fires on the trees nearby, but more importantly, knocking all the changelings over the edge. The other elements left their roles of hostage unaffected and came running towards the lightly duo.

Twilight gazed upon him, visibly startled: “You… you knocked them…”

“Hey, you’re not seriously worrying about those creatures, are you? And if you are, don’t be. The last time I checked, those things had wings.”

“Ya ‘now he’s right, Twilight. They ain’t our problem, and from what Ah ‘now, we’ve gotta push on now.” Applejack intervened, hitting Twilight with another surprise. ‘What does she know?!’

“Urgh, have it your way then. But that doesn’t mean I’m okay with this.” She responded after a while of thinking, not able to think of conclusive argument. She returned back to drag Pinkamena with her, catching up with Rarity and Fluttershy.

“Listen Twilight, we still have a problem. Rainbow Dash escaped and I saw her headed for the palace too. We’ve got to be careful.” Rarity brought up a talk.

“Yeah, I’ve noticed.” Answered Twilight half-aloof, tending to her thoughts and focusing on the couple in front. Applejack seemed to carry gratitude in her voice when she talked with Light, and giggled whenever he replied. Also, she tended to lean suspiciously close toward him and Twilight did not know whether he feels completely comfortable with it. ‘Bah, what does she have to offer anyway? Apples? Ha!’ She mused to satisfy her jealousy with latent contempt.

Their way to the main palace was short and quiet, in terms of not being harassed by any more changelings. From the walls, battle cries echoed across the city, slowly closing in to the throne itself. Since her last time there, Twilight recognized the gate to the palace to be withered, worn out, and so were the guards. Their golden armor lost its color, the state of their minds assessed easily with the circling madness in their tiny irises. Much of the former glory and training went away too, making it ridiculously effortless to knock their heads together and senseless.

They would stand before the throne room in a few moments, as Light lead the group and tossed any guards in their way face-first to the walls. The castle bathed in a dark atmosphere, falling apart worse than if left without care for thousand years. Holes in the ceiling let in the sunlight, whose heat intensified exponentially the last few days and was soon to come to a breaking point. Even as it was, the stained walls, fallen pillars and the mood thickened the air, kept the sun at bay. Last corridor, she noticed the art on both sides had disappeared and the magical mirror was also nowhere to be found. They turned around the corner.

“Empress Celestia and Queen Chrysalis are not to be disturbed in their intimate hours!” A cyan hoof showed a tenth of a second aiming between her eyes before she closed them reflexively. Twilight Sparkle was then deeply puzzled that the painful punch never once came to break her muzzle. To solve the mystery, she opened her eyes again and cleared her view. The pegasus stretched her foreleg out for a deathly blow, but it was already stopped by another, muscular limb of a swimmer.

“You know what? Fuck your rules.” A speed of a flying falcon and its elegance the blow carried, and blood flew out of Rainbow Dash’s nose, altogether with her consciousness leaving the body as well. Light magically brushed off the color from his hoof, making it shine clean again.

“That was the cool’st move Ah evah seen, actual offense there, Rainbow.”

“I don’t think she can hear you, Applejack.” Twilight shook the shock off her to begin with frustration in her voice.

“Well, I’m no Kamina and you haven’t seen a Giga Drill Breaker yet, so hold it until then.” He added calmly. “Thanks anyways.”

“Whatever. Are we ready to go in?” Twilight changed the topic, holding onto the door knobs. Everyone went silent, so Light took it over and confirmed with a nod.

The room was, no surprise, absolute disaster. While the rest of the palace was just left to rot, this chamber had a little extra; all furniture had been moved out and replaced with various cages, chains by the walls and even long-forgotten torture devices from the cellar, of whose existence Twilight had no clue.

Some of them had held prisoners inside. Six ponies she counted, six disgraced souls that seemed ashamed of their existence and shyly stared at the ground. The horrors they survived siphoned their very spirit. One cage also hanged down from the cracking ceiling, and the pony within arose once they entered, like a sleeping dog whose owner returned home.

“Hey, long time no see, guys. How was the castle?” Kamina waved, grinning again.

A loud bang the door screamed against the wall sideways of the throne, two royal ladies returned from bed to play with the broken innocent this time. They were not too fond of their new guests.

“What the fuck are you doin’ here?” Celestia’s once magnificent tone degenerated, now bearing a heaviness akin to a drug addict.

“Don’t be like that, my love! It’s never too late for them to join the party!” Chrysalis laughed, expressing effectively the current levels of her sanity.

Applejack still casted her eyes in different ways, glaring in horror: “But what were they… Why are the-… Were they… abusing these ponies?” Twilight couldn’t believe it either.

“Yeah, and there were about thirty when they started an hour ago. Quite nasty if you ask me!” Kamina shouted his opinion down, his smile never fading. That did Twilight in.

“YOU FUCKING JERK!” She yelled, releasing a fireball out of a sudden burst of anger. It blasted the sound barrier and deafened the other ponies, while Twilight levitated back down, her mane still burning. From the debris of the cage, Kamina stood up and dusted off his precious cloak, like nothing had happened.

“Not bad.” He stated, wearing an impressed sturgeon face.

“Enough. It’s time to get started!” Molestia broke from her observing state, as her horn began to glow.

“We believe it is!” A dark sphere absorbed the sun beam, saving Twilight’s life and coercing her to sense danger again. Never losing the talent for royal voice, Luna walked through the group as they made way for her. She stood beside Light and, ignoring her sister scrunching her teeth, whispered towards Twilight: “Thou shall better get out of here.”

She handed out no reaction whatsoever, because somepony dragged her out before she could. The doors shot close fast behind them, with Kamina pressing firmly against it as the castle began to tremble. Rescued and thrown back by telekinesis, the captive ponies now melancholically lay opposite the entrance, unmoving.

“We need to brace this door with something!” Kamina ordered, losing against the magical storm bombarding it from the other side.

“No! We need to help! Neither Luna nor Light can win against them!” Twilight argued.

“They can’t. The Elements of Harmony can. Seal the door!” He shouted, asking for trust by his look.

She concentrated and cast the first shield she could think of. Luckily, it was one of the stronger ones. The tremors grew into an earthquake and she could hear the ceiling collapse inside. Kamina sighed of relief. She gazed at him confusedly.

“Listen, we’ve got a plan. It’s time to consecrate you all in. “

“What is it?” She asked in vain.

He sighed again: “Okay, here it goes: There are six Elements of Harmony, but also two Elements of Order. What we need is to get the Element of Sun off Celestia’s hooves. That way, she’ll lose for sure.”

“Elements of Order? What kind of lame parody is that?” Applejack replied, still breathing heavily.

“Have you been told to work fast before? Now we’ll need to be extra fast! No stupid questions, I need you all to trust me.” He sputtered soundly, plaster falling on his head from the shaking walls. He pulled Twilight closer to himself.

“I can rely on you. To successfully defeat that bitch, we have to utilize devastating offensive. And to defeat Chrysalis… Royal dungeons, cell number four and five. Run faster than the wind, Twilight Sparkle. I’ll take care of Rainbow Dash.” He unfolded to her.

“Bitch? That’s my mentor you’re talking about! And what does it mean to take care of-“

“RUN YOU GODDAMN SCHOOLGIRL!”

And that she did. In Wingesburg, she barely escaped from the ghost chasing her, but this was her territory; she knew Canterlot inside out and all the running for the past week did her some good too. It was not in two minutes she reached the dungeons, and leaping forward, opened the cell door number four. She stopped to catch breath and to adjust her view.

“Twilight? For the love of Harmony, Twilight!” A most familiar voice reached her before she could see its originator.

“And I thought all this would avoid you two. I’m sorry, Cadence.” She responded, her voice strangely dimmed.

“Twilight. What’s- what’s going on? Do you know why they brought us here?”

“You don’t know?” She halted. “That’s probably for the best. The truth bites most painfully I suppose. Let’s say we need your help against Chrysalis again.” She continued in her dramatical demenaor.

“So… Celestia needs help?” Cadence’s face looked visibly puzzled, not understanding her own presence in the dungeons.

Before she could defend against it, a little giggle escaped Twilight’s mouth along with a thought. “Yes, professional help.” She punched herself in the cheek quicker than Cadence could hear it and she cursed herself in her mind for carrying out such a stupid, insensitive joke. The days behind really changed her.

She watched Cadence taking the keys from her and opening the second door, ignoring Cadence’s seemingly distant words and reminiscing. They didn’t even know. Molestia dragged them in here without showing a hint of what was to happen. She wanted to destroy their love in full innocence. It started to turn over into some kind of evil competition amongst the wicked, where the most terrible act would win. ‘I don’t get it at all.’

“Twily! I am so relieved to see you’re okay!” Whereas Shining was cheerful as usual, Twilight felt detached, seeing a pony more than a brother she loved so dearly. She managed to force a smile out. “We have to go.”

Walking back in utter silence, Twilight dodged the sunrays instinctively, and the newlyweds did the same, not really sure what it meant. Their pace was slower, returning to the throne in five minutes.

What she found there was yet another surprise. Kamina stood over Rainbow Dash, whose body took upon a grey color and now lay lifelessly by the wall. Pinkie was right beside him, her mane again curled and bubbly as the careless days before. Not only that, her face now bore a grin similar to Kamina’s. Behind them, the gentle sight of the elegant alicorn whispered its own song. Nia’s mane flowed as warmly as before.

“What is going-?”

“Tough to explain. We need to act fast. Do you trust me, Twilight Sparkle?” Kamina interrupted her.

“Ugh-“ She fell silent for a while. “I do. What’s the plan?”

“We’re storming the place. We’ve got the Elements of Harmony gathered, as I took the role of Loyalty upon myself for the time being. Pinkie is on our side again, we battled some of her demons together.” Twilight felt relieved for at least some explanation. Kamina glanced over to the confused pair of newly married. “You two. Chrysalis is inside too. Just… do your thing. So, are we ready?”

Twilight took a few seconds to throw on a determined expression, and then nodded. Shining Armor and Cadence trotted beside her, radiating an old known kind of pinkish color.

“I don’t know exactly what’s happening, but we can do this together right?” Shining smiled. Twilight sensed the presence of love growing around her and when it enveloped her entire body, she released the spell shield on the door. They exploded instantly.
The same moment a surge of magenta power expanded through the hall and to the room itself, clearing the view of dust. Chrysalis and the other changeling within flew off to the air in no time.

“Looks like we’re blasting off again!” They echoed, until they disappeared as a tiny sparkle on the blue noon sky.

Where originally stood the throne room was now just a devastated platform, with some wrecked ruin-like walls and no ceiling to cover it. Sun seemed bigger than ever, its searing rays immediately forcing the drops of sweat off everyone in the group. Molestia sat in front of the throne, taken aback by the sudden trip her love had undergone. Before her floated a giant symbol comprised of many others, gleaming with gold and the force of the sun. Unable to break through the magical barrier, Light and Luna, relying on the promise of help to come, had had hard time dodging or blocking the Empress’ attacks, and it showed on them.

“Right on, Twilight Sparkle. This is your show.” Kamina encouraged her from somewhere far away behind her. They’d done this before, yet it did not feel like the times before. However, deep in her heart, she knew this had to be done, no matter the fact this wasn’t Nightmare Moon or Discord, but her trusted teacher. She amounted the familiar spell, and her eyes began to glow.

“I’m sorry.” She whispered. The necklaces manifested their elements, which in turn combined to form a single beam. The rainbow blasted through the barrier with ease and covered the insane Empress, her screams resounding far and wide. Her own tiara fell to the ground and a symbol of the sun shot in the direction of the group. Twilight stole only a glimpse of the rosy pinions as Nia jumped ahead of the blazing bullet. A flash blinded her and the world submerged into whiteness, leaving a loud ringing in her ears.

The sound lingered a bit longer when she came to her senses. The dust already started to settle and she shivered from the sudden cold the air caught. She looked up to see the sun shining warmly again, with no spite in its wake.

“LET ME SEE YOU GRIT THOSE TEETH!” She turned her gaze back down quickly to witness Kamina in mid-air over Celestia, his hoof stretched forward towards her muzzle. The impact tossed her upside down and she cried, her face growing steadily a red bruise.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry!” She whimpered as the realization struck in.

“Goddammit Tia! You come to your senses yet?” He surmounted over her, concern audible in his voice. “Where the hell is it?” He pushed on her, Light joining him by his side.

Sniveling, she pointed behind the garnished throne. Kamina grabbed his crystal and his magic ripped it from the ground. He threw it away like it was nothing, and Light came closer to its site. His horn illuminated the space behind with red, revealing something that made Twilight gasp.

It was a vortex warping the air around it, swirling slowly and chaotically. On direct sight it led seemingly nowhere and the same red data that used to stuck to her own body now bursted out of the warp in complex strands, filling the already full space in the room.

“Holy shit.” Light stated dryly. “This is the third time I see this thing, but you can never get quite used to it. Twilight trotted over, while others remained behind by Celestia.

“What are we gonna do?” She asked, her mouth still opened in wonder.

“I think I’ll be able to open it to its… other end.” He said, his look never leaving the abyss. “Kamina, use the crystal to stabilize the edges, like last time. We’re going to end this once and for all.”

The green magic forcibly spread the portal wider, then stayed glistening on its ends to stop the faineant whirling. Light focused another mass of energy at the tip of his horn and shot it straight to the middle of the abomination. It made a bubbly sound, shivered a little and then stood still, the harmful data no longer flowing. A startled scream came out of it.

“What the hell are you screaming for?” An annoyed girl’s voice said.

“Bu-t look at this… thing.” A more innocent, highly pitched girl answered.

“What the hell is this?! Are you okay?” Resounded a voice, most probably of a young lad in his best years.

Twilight exchanged quizzical looks with Kamina and Light, and they stayed silent, listening to the conversation from the other side.

“I’m fine.” The girl replied, but trembling nonetheless.

“Wooooooooow. It’s like a black hole. What if I-?” The first girl closed in, until a batch of blue data spurted out, and a hoof popped out the gateway.

“You idiot! Don’t go shoving your hands into random… whatever that thing is! What do you think?” The originator turned to someone else.

“Relax it’s totally fine!” She chuckled, until Kamina grabbed her hoof and pulled.

“What the hell?!! Something is pulling me in!” She yelled, astonished. “Come help me goddammit!”

Twilight, grasping the context of the situation, rushed to help Kamina, as the shuffling sounds from the other side indicated the same on their part. Even with Light’s help, the trio couldn’t force the perpetrator in, and the ponies reached a stalemate full of growling and tugging. Once Applejack grasped Light to a final pull though, the other side went loose and with their bodies came a lot more blue data storming.

“Dammit!” Kamina lifted himself off the ground. “Who the hell are you people?!”

A party of four ponies and, to Twilight’s amazement, one human lay in front of them, coughing and dusting off. The two colts seemed rather busy cleaning their shoulders, while the two mares sat in a mix of bewilderment and astonishment from the sight. The alicorn, clearly the leader type, rose up and looked around.

“Oh my god, Kyon, this is totally aweso-!!” Before she could finish her girly squeal, the unicorn colt hit her with a piece of rubble and knocked her down.

11.Epilogue

HARUHI ENDING

Haruhi’s head hurt, pounding from the inside. She found herself at her home on the couch, with a fuzzy memory of dream with ponies, even characters from other shows she’s been watching. ‘Maybe Kyon is right about this. Maybe I should just lay off anime for some time.’ The answering machine on the table kept blinking. She pushed the button.

“You have one message.” The machine said in response.

“Hey Haruhi, it’s Kyon. We found you totally wasted in the club room, so we took you back to your place. I also confiscated all of the Code Geass you bought, just to be safe. If you want it back, you’ll have to talk to Koizumi. See you in school.”
She frowned and lay back down.

LIGHT ENDING

Light felt several edges of a metal staircase pressing against his back and sunlight falling directly onto his face. The cold autumn breeze made him shiver a little, or perhaps the unsettling sound of a very familiar laugh, close, but silent.

“To think I even attended your funeral!” The creepy grinning continued.

He opened his eyes to an empty warehouse, Ryuk standing in front of him and a Death Note lying on his chest.

“How you pulled this off, I don’t know, but you must be the first one ever to fool death itself.” Ryuk laughed along. “I came here for more fun, if you know what I mean.”

“More fun? You killed me.” Light responded coldly.

“What of it? You’re fine as I see it. I am sure N has Nothing to do anyway.”

‘Nate River? Nate River.’ Light began laughing as well.

TWILIGHT ENDING

The sound of chirping birds reached Twilights eyes, and she woke up when Spike threw the curtains to the side, the sunlight blinding her for a while.

“Hey sleepyhead. All night studying again, huh? Want breakfast right to bed?” He asked.

“That would be nice, thanks.” She yawned. Spike nodded and made his way down the stairs.

She bundled herself up in her blanket, to feel more cozy. She looked to her night table out of instinct, and saw a package, titled simply ‘To Twilight Sparkle’.

She quickly tore up the cardboard to find a green crystal and a seemingly ordinary cloak. Beneath she found stacks of paper, with different symbols and a whole lot of text scrabbled on it. She jumped out of bed and smiled, in spite of a new promising research.

KAMINA ENDING

The bustling activity all around him rallied him instantly. He looked around to see Nia sleeping by his side in a corner of some back alley. He stood up and walked out into the street, where the vendors already started shouting prices all over.

“Dear god… Where am I?”

The wind carried that question away, as the sunrise bathed the golden roofs of Stormwind in its glorious rays of light.

10.Homecoming

Interlude – Otaku
Haruhi’d been talking about it the whole week, hell, even he was prompted to watch several episodes and before they knew it, he and Haruhi ended up doing a Gurren Lagann marathon in the clubroom.

The day after, she quickly resorted to watch more anime and the club meetings stuck at reviewing the latest Death Note episodes. Then came the My Little Pony and he and Koizumi declined to come to the clubroom whatsoever for like four days, while Nagato stayed in total indifference and Mikuru because she was forced to.

Nagato then contacted them that Haruhi finished season two and that they could come back. They did not have a single suspicion of what was going to happen next.

“What the hell are you doing Koizumi!? And why the hell are we ponies?” The earth pony angrily shouted at him for bashing the alicorn in the head.

“I don’t think Haruhi needs to see all this, don’t you agree?” He replied and put the rock down.

“Yeah, but still… So where the hell are we?” He looked at Twilight first, then to Kamina and Light. It became clear on his face that realized what had happened and he immediately facehoofed. “Are you serious…?”

“Aah, yes, it looks like our little goddess manifested herself again. It is possible that she created a world where her latest hobbies take place. That would also explain why no closed spaces appeared for the past few days, even though the theme of the things she’d been watching would set them to ravage.” Koizumi speculated, holding his chin. “And I guess I’m right.” He stated as he played around with a red triangle he caught in his other hoof. “And her thinking is also what keeps us ponified it seems.”

“Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa! Wait just a minute. What the hell are you guys talking about!?!” Kamina intervened, finally snapping out of his surprise.

The two colts looked back at him, unable to respond. A small figure behind them got up on her feet and answered monotonically, while she gently straightened her light violet hair.

“Our conversation spans upon the presented situation, as you might’ve concluded as well. We are currently located in a world that Suzumiya Haruhi may or may not have created as a result of her otaku tendencies. I haven’t been able to establish a connection to the Integrated Data Entity, meaning we have surely exited our own galaxy. This current dimension may have been created or found by Suzumiya Haruhi subconsciously to dispose of her negative feelings as an alternative to closed spaces on Earth.”

“Sorry to interrupt you, but a lot of peo-… ponies died here, and you’re telling me it’s because some school girl went rampant?” Light looked her directly in the eyes.

“Really?! Well if Haruhi started this, she can fix it right?” Kyon spouted out, still aggravated.

“I don’t believe waking Haruhi to a world full of ponies and telling her of her powers is a viable solution.” Koizumi gave him a smile of rejection.

“Maybe not Haruhi, but…” he looked back. “Nagato. Could you do that? You know, the thing you did when you stole Haruhi’s powers and changed the world. Can you use that to fix all this?”

“I am capable of reforming this world the way you presented it, yes.” She said, barely moving her lips. “Please stand aside.”

She waved her hand and a link of green data began flowing from Haruhi to her. This ended after a few seconds, and she waved her second hand in green flash. All the red data in the room and the blue data on the bodies of others disappeared in an instant. Twilight saw eight humans fair and square standing right in front of her.

“Releasing failsafe data acquired from Friendship is Magic video files.” At that moment, Nagato started speaking so fast it became incoherent. Twilight Sparkle blinked and everypony around her dispersed to nothing. The palace room was shining as it always had been, and she once more felt the soft touch of the carpet on her hooves.

“Well, I guess that’s it. We’ve got to do something with her I suppose.” Koizumi pointed at Haruhi, and he and Kyon lifted her up and went through the portal. Terrified Mikuru followed them quickly.

“The portal should deliver everyone of you to your respective worlds.” Nagato phrased out.

“Wait. Just like that?” Twilight yelled in confusion.

“I guess yeah, just like that.” Kamina kneeled before her and offered her his fist. “Bros forever?” She pounded it with her hoof, still asking by her look.

“So this is the end? After all of this?” She shouted after him as he walked away.

“It seems like it. All the connections from Wingesburg’s been cut off.” Light replied. Kamina and Nia entered the warp.

“We haven’t had any business here anyways, so we’re out of here while we got the chance. Your world has been taken care of. We are all that remains. Well, see you around Twilight Sparkle.” He waved as he set off for the portal. Twilight threw a glance after him, not knowing what to feel. As she followed him to the end, Light suddenly stopped in his tracks. “Oh, what the hell, why not!” He muffled and, turning around, surprised Twilight Sparkle with an unexpected kiss on her lips. She was firstly caught off guard, but then prolonged the kiss as much as she could. Kissing a human wasn’t bad at all, and that simple thought made her giggle.

Light rose up again, his cheeks only a little red. “I’m off!” He called, visibly upset, and walked inside the portal.

Nagato nodded and entered as well. Twilight couldn’t help but feel this abrupt ending was somehow manipulated by the calm human. The warp closed and cleared itself into a slow resolving fog. Twilight’s head became dizzied and she fell to the ground, closing her eyes, seeing nothing more than darkness.