Domain of the last Human.

                     I recognized that stance, even if I had never seen it before. I could sense power welling up in her hind legs.There was no mistaking it. That was Impact Control. I should have gotten out of the way. I didn't though, because I was distracted by the spell surrounding  Apple Bloom. It was a really difficult spell, in my defense. All I could do was bring up my hoof to block the blow.

                    Stupid.

                    Hairline fracture. Got off easy. But she was already preparing the next kick. Okay, do I value my ribs more, or my arm-...hoof more? I needed my hoof to fight,so......... sorry , right ribcage.

<><><><><><><>

     15 minutes ago, Outside the Golden Oak Library

<><><><><><><>

                   It was all going wrong. Two  weeks ago something had made itself known in the Crystal Empire. It was not king Sombra, even if it was using dark magic.  It was on the brink of death.

                   And then it defeated every Royal  and Imperial guard.  And hurt Cadence . Nopony hurts her sister-in-law. Thankfully, Shining was able to drive it away.

                   Until the letter came. A letter with no seal or signature, delivered to every princess. At first, Twillight thought it was a prank. Then she found out that each Princess had received the exact same letter.

                    It simply said,"Something terrible has arrived. Be on Guard, O Great Monarchs. The House of Secrets will help as we can."

                   And then she had felt it.

                   When she had ascended, Twillight found that she could feel certain things. Little, little flicks of magic, coming from the very soul of ponies. They were parts of ponies souls and minds, a representation of them. She had found that more powerful the pony, the larger those flecks were. The thing was, even after pushing the ability to it's limits, they were still flecks, even from Celestia.

                    The aura of power that she saw now was not a fleck. It was blatantly, blindingly obvious. And it was coming from the Edge of the town.

                    Perfect.

                    Just as she was about to tell Spike that she was leaving , an orange streak ploughed through the door. While that in itself was not very unusual, courtesy Rainbow Dash, Twilight couldn't help but wonder why it was an orange streak. Then it hit her.

                   Twilight was sure that if her body had not been that of an Alicorn, Applejack would have sent her to the hospital.

<><><><><><><>

Clearing outside the Everfree,5 minutes ago

<><><><><><><>

                   There was an Alicorn sitting on the grass. His head was bowed down, his face slightly strained in concentration with beads of sweat rolling down his face. His right hoof looked like it had been burnt off, and something had snapped his horn off. There was a strange darkness surrounding his aura, something Twilight couldn't see before. It was not threatening like Sombra's shadows, but it was..... hopeless. Just looking at the aura made Twilight feel depressed and worthless . It made her feel insignificant.

                    Unusual as it was, it wasn't the Alicorn or his strange aura that bothered Twilight.

                    Apple Bloom was floating in mid air behind the black Alicorn.

                    A shout and short scuffle drew her attention to her side to see Rarity struggling to keep Applejack pinned to the ground.

                    "Rares!! Lemme go!" Applejack screamed in confusion.

                    "Applejack! He is holding her hostage." Rarity explained, not loosening her grip."Don't act so rashly."

                    "What? Who the hell is that!"

                     Twilight visibly jumped at the black Alicorn's voice. He had a strange accent which was... unique. He had bright red eyes that would not be out of place on a demon. He was taller than Twilight by a head.

                     "Yes? I'm waiting.Who are you?" The black Alicorn repeated. "No, scratch that, I don't care.....just leave me alone for now. I'm having enough problems with this little girl anyway."

                       Twilight suddenly snapped to her senses. " Are you the one who attacked the Crystal Empire?"

                       "The Crystal what now?" The Black Alicorn asked, making a confused face. Though he understood exactly what she was talking about, but such confessions are better suited for times when someone's life isn't hanging in the balance.

                       For a few seconds it actually worked. The purple Alicorn seemed to believe him. This might actually go well after all. He could explain that the little filly's life was in danger and then he could heal Applebloom and.....

                       "He's actin'." Applejack said.

                       "What? No!"

                        "I know you are. I can tell when somepony's a-lyin'."

                        The dark Alicorn seemed perplexed for a moment, but then he just sighed.

                        "Okay, you got me. I did attack someplace with a lot of crystal. And I did cause a ruckus there. But please, if you'll allow me a chance to explain, I'll......" What he would explain , the Elements never found out, as a piercing scream suddenly split the air apart.

                        Applebloom's body was now glowing. Tendrils of darkness were burrowing through her skin and into her flesh. Her tiny body was wracked with mind numbing agony for a full second before the dark alicorn knocked out her consciousness once more.

                         When he turned around again, his mind occupied only on Applebloom, he noticed the orange horse was too close for comfort.

<><><><><><><><>

              30 minutes later

<><><><><><><><>

                          There is something fundamentally wrong with the fact that cute multi-coloured ponies are trying to kill you.

                                                      The  purple one was as skilled and powerful as your average minor god. That white one tired to kill me with grass. Grass. In hindsight, it may have been quite funny if a hundred grass blades hadn't started stabbing me. The blue and the orange ones were out cold. The pink one had keeled over for some reason. I had taken quite a lot of damage myself. I'm not very tanky, believe it or not. I use my speed and strength to win fights, and I rely heavily on magic and Impact control to prevent damage to my physical body. Both of which I couldn't use without killing Applebloom.

                                                               That white one almost poked out my eyes, and one of my new found wings was burnt off. Also, I'm not used to fighting as a horse, and with most of my attention focused on healing Applebloom, I couldn't dare do anything too distracting.  I hadn't been this exposed since the time Vibranium was bounded onto my mind.

                                   Then I grabbed hold of the yellow pegasus. My hoof was, for some ungodly reason, able to grasp her neck. She squeaked a little, and struggled, but there was no way she could break my grip. From this distance, I could easily make out her features. She was a cute little creature, with fluffy wings and a natural coat of yellow fur which I hadn't noticed before due to the distance.

                                    So now we were in a standoff. I wouldn't actually be able to kill her, because, in all honesty, she was  still just a child, scarcely 15 or 16. Maybe Rocky was right about me being soft, but I didn't need to tell them that.

                                    "Stop! One move and she  dies." I said, making them stop in their tracks and stare in horror. They seemed to believe my bluff.At that time I honestly believed that I had caught the weakest one. No one had told me that she was an element of Peace.

                                    "Who are you? What do you want?" The purple Alicorn asked me after a few seconds.

                                      I weighed my options, as well as I could with the spell still active. I had no way to convince them that I was not some evil overlord or something. If this really was a cartoon world, then Good and Evil must be cast in iron, black and white with no  gray area in between. I sneaked a look  back at Applebloom. The spell had ripped away her skin, and was, bit by bit burning away her body. Chunks of muscle were falling off.  Her amputated leg was growing back, the white bone appearing first.  The spell was destroying and recreating her body from scratch, while I forcefully kept her mind tethered to her soul.

                                     It looked suspiciously similar to torturing her to death. There was no way in hell they were going to believe I was saving her life. So the only way out was to hold the yellow pegasus hostage until the spell was complete. Just 30 more minutes.

                                      At that very moment, there was an intense and powerful attack on my mind. The yellow peguasus lashed out with uncanny strength and determination, using her mind and will to attack my consciousness. Her skill was pathetic, but it threw me off balance. I almost lost hold of the spell on Apple Bloom. Thankfully, I was able to regain control, but for that one brief instant, I really thought that she was going to die.

                                     "Now, just wait a minute, buster! You think you can hurt my friends and get away with it? Well you have got another thing...." The stupid yellow pegasus was still saying something, but after she tried to kill one of my friends, it just made me angrier.

                                    " YOU BASTARD!!!  " I screamed, cutting her off. Anger overtook my senses for a brief instant, and I tossed her into the sky. She flew quite a distance and disappeared beyond the horizon.

                                       Great. Now I threw the hostage away.

                                       I suck.

<><><><><><><>

15 minutes before spell ends,

Outside Golden Oak library

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                                     The trip to the Griffin kingdom was utter bullshit. They didn't even have an actual government. The Personal Aide of the Twin Thrones knew that talks with  fucking changelings would be more meaningful. Chrysalis would at least show up.

                                     They should have contacted the griffin tribes beyond that pathetic excuse of a kingdom. At least they had money to spend. A deal with any one of them would single-hoofedlly brought back the Crystal Empires main trade, crystal sculpting. It would have added a 20% growth rate to the GNP. A Fucking 20%!!!!. It was a deal worth committing mass genocide for.

                                      Speaking of mass genocide,  they should do that sometime, with the Nobles.

                                      FUCK THE NOBLES. Bloody mightier-than-thou bastards with their horns shoved up their arse. Those fuckers murdered the whole deal by throwing their shitty airs and graces around Chief Iron Talon of the Talon clan. He had to use up  half of the favors and blackmail he had so painstakingly collected in the Griffin clans, and almost bankrupt his companies in Griffon lands with the bribes he paid, just to prevent outright war. Any chance of trade was now dashed to the ground, and the threat of war still looming over Equestria. The Personal Aide sighed. A week of his time wasted.

                                       Alright, this could still be fixed. There were two other Griffin clans still left, and they were not on friendly terms with the  Talon clan. But first, he would have to take out Iron Talon.

                                               Iron Talon held a considerable amount of respect, but he didn't like the petty bickering that took place in the Talon family. His entire family hated him, save for a few relatives. There were also 6 Dukes who would like nothing more than to be Chief, but were either too chicken or not powerful enough to act. The  politician reviewed the situation. They had atleast an year before Iron Talon marched on Equestria. Iron Talon was not going to back down, and he was too powerful to depose. The answer was clear. Iron Talon would have to be assassinated, just like the others. But before that,  much more  information was needed, as much as he could get. Ties, allegiances, favors, blackmail, things like that . This would be difficult.

                                       Ah well, that was for later. For now, he was just Spike the  dragon, No. 1 assistant of Twilight Sparkle. Speaking of whom, had she eaten her breakfast? He had left it prepared in the kitchen, along with a week's worth of magically preserved food. Celestia had said that a growing Alicorn needs plenty of nutritious food, so he had been feeding  her all kinds of high protein stuff. He had begun to make her drink two glasses of milk  a day.

                                       Sadly, knowing her, she probably hadn't eaten anything at all, or even slept this entire week. Now it was up to him to drag her away for her books, feed her something and tuck her into bed, and then get the Library cleaned up, do the laundry, fetch the groceries......... the list was endless. Sometimes, Spike wondered what would happen if he had to go away for longer than a week. He would probably come back the find her dead body in the study, with a book firmly clutched in her hooves. Spike shivered at the thought.

                                              Yeah, the quirks of looking after an overgrown Alicorn filly. Just another day in the life of Spike the dragon.

<><><><><><><>

30 seconds  before spell ends,

Clearing outside the Everfree

<><><><><><><>

                                           Just a few more seconds. Then I'll show these fools why they shouldn't mess with the Fire in the Dark.

                                           20 second The Alicorn was attacking me again and again, and it hurt. A lot. But I didn't move.

                                           10 seconds. Pain was nothing but an feeling. An alarm. If I didn't respond to it, there was nothing it could do. The last parts of the spell were crucial, and I couldn't waste my time thinking about useless distractions.

                                           ...5,4,3,2,1 aaannnd..... "DONE!" I shouted, finally. Apple Bloom's body fell down, only to be caught by my shadows. I checked her really quickly. Body parts were good, organs were normal, brain was functioning, her hoof was back, nerve functions good, blood vessels were pumping blood.......... Wait.

                                            "What?" Her heart was not beating. Instead of it, her blood vessels were pumping blood by themselves. I had forgotten to change that part of the spell.

                                            Oh, whatever, she was alive and well. I brought her closer to myself so that I could do a last minute check.

"STOP!" The Alicorn screamed, her voice booming like thunder. I don't have any problem with thunder, though, so I calmly turned to face her.

                                             "Let Apple Bloom go, NOW!!!" the Alicorn screamed again. "Hand her over."

                                             "Why, so you can blast her as well?", I said, sarcastically, venting out my frustration. "I don't think she'll survive that."

                                              The Alicorn blinked in surprise, and then began " No, I...."

                                              "Yeah...." I said, cutting her off."...you can take her. Here, handle her carefully." I said, and pushed a little magic into the others in the area, speeding up their healing. The yellow one had also flown back at full speed, (which was still low) apparently unharmed after being thrown a few kilometers away. Good, less explaining to do. So, now, first things first.

                                               "Why the bloody hell did you fools attack me?" I asked, angrily. The answer was not obvious. I had made no attempt at all at hiding my aura,and as scary and enormous as my aura is, it clearly showed that I held no malicious intents. I mean, come on, this is basic stuff right here, something any minor god should know...... wait.

                                                Any minor god. The purple one had the power of a minor god, not the skill.

                                                "You  were holding her, and you were doing something to her." The purple one replied, suddenly finding words again . " You tried to kill her!!!" she almost shouted.

                                                "No I didn't," I countered, equaling her volume," I saved her life. She was bitten by a...a... monster thing, and got pumped up on magical poison. If I had wanted to kill her, I would have squeezed her neck."

                                                The last part was probably unnecessary, but I was still a little ticked off.

                                                 "Enough!" the purple one finally said, "As princess of Equestria and Element of magic, I demand that you surrender."

                                                 I was going to retort, but then I realised something. She said 'princess'.

'Who the hell have I been fighting?' I thought.

                                                  Of course, no one answered. They were still knocked out from my sight experiment. Great.

                                                  The orange pony suddenly jerked awake. "Apple Bloom!", she screamed, before she noticed her sister's body floating in the air. She quickly jumped towards Apple Bloom's form, and snatched her out of the air, tenderly cradling her in her hooves. I didn't even need to see her aura to come to an conclusion.

                                                  The orange one....no, Applejack, looked up at me . No longer angry, or desperate. Now she felt, she looked, the way her body loosened, felt...........

                                                   ....shattered. Horribly shattered like glass. Even if it was blurred, it was enough to give me pause. I have seen many who have looked at me like that. I sometimes see that when I look myself in the mirror.

                                                   "Her... her he.. heart. It ...it ain't beatin'." She said. There was no force behind her voice in the beginning the volume gradually increasing to a roar of anger anger and grief.  "Sh..she's... dead. You....YOU....killed her!!!!"

                                                    Well, on the bright side, she's wrong.

<><><><><><><>

     Galaxy 43984R/M/Un, Planet 43984R/M/Un-F.fl/F/B(New standard method, 2nd Malfunction's Markings)

26,900 years ago

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                                                    It was official. There really was a God (Again, biblical, not the race). There was an vengeful god with a sick sense of humor who had devoted himself to the game of 'kick the little human'.

                                                    The human had no other way to describe his bad luck. In front of him lay a creature of legend. A creature who had lived so long that the entire life of the Universe would be naught but a day to him. His aura grew bright as a star, his body larger than a mountain, and his strength so great that galaxies would fall in the millions before he would be bested. He had taken the form of an Earthling, looking exactly a Chinese dragon would look if it were real.

                                                    And then the human looked closer, and he felt a chill run through his spine.

                                                    The Wrym faced his, despair evident on his features.

'He knows.'. The voices didn't reply this time.

                                                      The human understood that expression. It was one he had seen in the mirror.

                                                     "Greetings." The Wrym said, speaking in english. " T'is a great pleasure  h..h.h..ave you here. I am One among the First Three and I  ...."

                                                     "Cut the crap." the human snapped at the Wrym, who blinked in surprise at the puny little creature's audacity.

                                                     "You are old. You can't not have noticed all those minds who cracked. Those few creatures who lived on after they learnt it." the human continued, frustration clear in his voice. "Stupid. You are a stupid bloody idiot with your nose in the clouds."

                                                     The human knew what he was saying. He was adding salt into the wounds of an poor old creature, but he didn't care. The insults would no longer hurt the Wrym.

                                                      "Why? For god's sake, why the hell would you want to find the secret. The other Disillusioned told you, didn't they? What happens when you found out." He looked up at the Wrym.

                                                      "I thought..... I believed that I could..I.... handle it." The Wrym said, strain visible on his face.

                                                      " Oh, you were proud to admit you would fall to a little realization, huh? You were not stupid enough to have thought it wouldn't effect you in some way or the other. But you pushed ahead anyway. You bloody idiot, your pride had blinded you!" The human said, twisting the knife for good measure. It wasn't required, though.

                                                       The Wrym was either at a loss for words,or he was too busy wrestling with  the secret.  For a few seconds, he could not answer or retort. And then he spoke.

                                                       "How... d..do I st..o...stop it? I... how ..d..do you..."

                                                       "You don't stop it." The human cut him off, his tone softening a little. " It's the truth, whether you like it or not. The only thing you can do is try to accept it, and see if you can live with that hollow feeling."

                                                       "WHAT!!" The Wrym thundered, panic stilling his speech for a few moments, "No, I can't live with this! There has to be some...som....some oth...other wa..wa..wa...way......." The great beast suddenly started shuddering, the entire planet shaking into in rhythm to his body. A quake unlike any that the little planet had experienced, creating new valleys and opening up great abysses. It reminded the human of just who he was talking with. He felt fear rise within him, but fear has no hold on a Disillusioned. So he stayed put where he was.

                                                       After the great creature stopped shuddering, the human sat down, shivering a little at the cold frozen nitrogen.

                                                      "Well, what's done is done. There are only two ways forward now for you." The human said. "Either you go insane,...... or you become Disillusioned." The human smiled. It was a genuine smile, untarnished by selfish desires. And a hint of pity.

                                                     "I'll stay with you. If you become disillusioned, then we're good. If you go insane, I'll kill you. It's the least I can do. We're in the same boat now."

                                                       A few minutes passed, before the Wrym spoke again, his speech clearer than before."I understand why  you say that now."

                                                      "Hmmmm?"

                                                       "May the Truth be False." The Wrym said again.

                                                       "Well, even Disillusioned are allowed  a few false hopes, aren't we?"   The human replied, a smile once again tugging at his face as he settled down to wait,rubbing his hands against the cold.

<><><><><><><>

Clearing outside Everfree forest

<><><><><><><>

                                                       "Screw you, you stupid Wrym!" the Alicorn said.

                                                       "You bastard! I'm gonna fucking murder you!" Spike took a deep breath, amassing fire in his lungs, and released. The flames were opaque Neon green, meant to burn and kill, not send letters.

                                                         The black Alicorn didn't move as the flames hit him. Instead, he channeled the burst of raw magic into a spell. Streaks of black and white raced through the flames,  towards the little dragon's mouth and down his throat. Then the flames disappeared.

                                                         Spike blinked in confusion at the black Alicorn. The alicorn just smiled.

                                                          The little dragon's torso burst. The grass was painted bright red. A long red tube flew out and landed in a small pile of  mashed organs by Spike's feet. His torso was now clean of any organs with the exception of his heart, which was suspended in the air by a badly damaged pulmonary artery , wobbling like a pendulum before the artery tore and  deposited the organ right on top of the pile, like the cherry on a cake.  His diaphragm still kept up with its work, contracting and expanding as if it didn't realize that their were no lungs to inflate anymore.

                                                         "Well, my spell worked to some extent, atleast." The black alicorn remarked, still smirking." I thought I had killed you already. Then again, I didn't really feel your mind dissolve."

                                                          The black alicorn sniffed the air, not unlike a dog. "Ah, the smell of iron. Never could forget this smell."

                                                          He then turned back to the little dragon."So, any particular reason why you are trying to kill me? No, wait, that's a stupid question." He said, looking towards the bound Elements on the ground." They must be your friends."

                                                          Spike would have snarled at the alicorn, but he didn't have any lungs. Another thing that Spike noticed was that he was still alive. His organs were already growing back, and bones were setting back into place. Spike knew that he healed fast, but he had never pushed it this far. Ignoring the pain, he looked at his foe again, his mind already racing for a plan of action. Fall down and pretend that he was dead? Not while his torso was plainly growing back.  Push forward and freak out the alicorn with the fact he was still alive without most of his body mass? The black alicorn didn't seem all that freaked out.

                                                         "Alright." The alicorn spoke again,"Actual question this time. Do you remember me?"

                                                          Spike did snarl at the alicorn this time, but since his lungs were still healing, all he could manage was a spray of blood.

                                                          "I'll take that as a no. But do you remember this sentence." The alicorn said, his tone becoming cautious again.

                                                           Spike finally finished healing, and he got ready to charge at the alicorn.

                                                         "May the Truth be False."

                                                           Spike stopped dead in his tracks. Those words rang in his head. "May the Truth be False."

BROTHER!!!.....

Almost done..... just ..hold on.

NO! GET AWAY FROM HIM!! FILTHY HUMAN!BROTHER!

Almost......

.

.

.

.

.

Remember, my friend. Always remember......

May the Truth be False.