A World Rent Asunder

Chapters

Act III, scene ii - Fractals
Act III, scene iii - Scramblin'
Act I, scene i - Incursion
Act I, scene ii - Through The Forest
Act I, scene iii - Stormwinds
Act I, scene iv - The Wanderer, Displaced
Act I, scene vi - The Frozen Throne
Act I, scene vii - Caged In Echoes
Act I, scene viii - "Let's Blow It Up!"
Act I, scene ix - Education, Explosions, And Electrical Storms
Act I, scene x - Chasmlands
Act I, final scene: The Chalice Of Tannenwyl
Act II, scene i - Excursion
Act II, scene ii - A Meeting With The Commander
Act II, scene iii - An Old Friend
Act II, scene iv - Princess Provocation
Act II, scene v - Cave Sweet Cave
Act II, scene vi - Castle Crashers
Act II, scene vii - In Need Of Perspective
Act II, scene viii - Ashes To Ashes...
Act II, scene ix - Playwright
Act II, scene x - Puppetmaster
Act III, scene i - Inversion
Act I, scene v - A Pyre For The Innocent
Act II, final scene - Strings Cut (Or, Dust To Dust)

Act III, scene ii - Fractals

Time wears on.

My consciousness begins to win out, and the dreams largely stop coming as I resume a semi-regular sleep schedule. Oh, they aren't entirely gone, not at all; occasionally, one still cuts through my rest and I wake up sweating and screaming. On the whole, though, they've departed. It's a small comfort, though; I've started seeing the lattice with my waking eyes. I'll be looking around and boom: it's imprinted on the wall. Nopony else can see it. I'm fully convinced I'm really, finally going crazy. Clearly, that hasn't changed.

Something else that hasn't changed? Magic, legs. Both are still worthless.

And so, my days are now occupied by learning how to be even remotely functional. Trixie brought in a pair of jerry-rigged braces to keep my hind legs straight, so it's really just a matter of letting those hooves slide across the floor while propelling myself solely with my front legs. [1] I haven't actually left my room yet, but I'm sliding around in it, and I really need to get out of here soon. I'm going stir-crazy, as if I wasn't enough regular crazy already.

Dash comes in every so often, giving us updates on how the war is going. I swear, that single eye sees more than all of ours combined. She's been scanning around, alternately convincing and..."convincing"...nearby ponies to give her information.

So, yes, the Lunar troops are currently starting to pull a bit ahead int he war. They've made some incursions into no-pony's-land, and they've established a foothold a few hundred feet forward from where they were before. That's all but stopped now, though.

Because Luna's gone missing.

Nopony's seen her for weeks. Call me crazy, but I'm pretty sure it's since she prompted my first episode in front of Cullwood. The Lunar army hasn't been able to advance any further; they're like a snake with their head cut off, largely leaderless. I shake my head; because of me, one army is leaderless, and one is homeless.

Once again, the lattice...slides, I guess...? Yeah, sure. The lattice slides into being on the wall, and I pedal my way across the floor and over to it, so I can look at it with more clarity. Yes, it still hurts my head to look at it for too long. Yes, I am spending valuable time looking at a hallucination projected against a wall. But yet another thing that hasn't changed? I'm curious, and I'm obsinate. So it's with a scientist's clinical eye that I begin to look over the lattice, and with a jolt, something clicks in my head: the reason the lattice is so different from any other I've seen.

It's a fractal. An infinitely self-repeating pattern, stretching down into infinity.

I know that might not mean much to anypony else, but to me, that's critical. See, there's a reason spell lattices aren't fractals. The latticework structure is what, all at once, creates, directs, sustains, and cuts off the flow of magic. It's always structured in such a way that there's a beginning and an end, and both are clearly defined.

But a fractal? A fractal is different.

If I were to put enough energy into this to kick off the activation sequence—somehow—it would create a feedback loop. Like I said before, there's no direction. The power would feed into the fractal pattern, which would create more power, which would feed down into the next level of the fractal pattern. My eyes widen as I realize that this lattice is a constructed way to create so much power it might not be dissimilar from infinity. Using that power, though, is another matter. With the new knowledge of the massively increased fractal production of power, this enchantment wouldn't just evaporate the caster(s). It would evaporate them, anypony near them, anypony near them, and probably about a hundred miles of earth around them when the energy became too much to hold.

Then the door creaks open, and I turn away from my deep inspection of the wall. [2] What I see nearly knocks me to the ground by sheer force of surprise:

It's Rarity. She looks highly contrite, and her hoof scuffs loudly against the rough floor. Her voice, when she speaks, is throaty and rough, as though she just drank sand or something. "Hey, Sparkle."

I stare at her as though she just grew another horn. A lot of thoughts blast through my head, and most of them are none-too-kind, but one rises above the others, probably as a way of preserving my sanity through logical explanation: "How did you get out of the sleep spell?"

She shrugged, not meeting my eyes. "It just failed a few days ago. Trixie said that your magic has been acting up, so it probably broke during that, if I had to guess."

Makes sense; I nod.

Then my eyes narrow. "You," I say, jabbing my hoof out at her, "have a lot of explaining to do, Rarity."

She sighs and nods, dropping her head. "I do, don't I." It wasn't phrased as a question. "Okay. Where do you want me to start?"

I glare at her. "Try why you betrayed my trust, lied to me, and nearly got me killed multiple times just so your boss could see that I, the foremost mage in service of the entire Dominion at the time, am not incompetent. That might be a good place to start." [3]

She takes a deep breath. "...Fair enough. Okay. I've worked under Luna for a long time. She rubs off on you after a while, leading you to be far less forthcoming than a reasonable, rational pony is. That's where the whole thing starts. I may have worked for her for many years, but I haven't always worked for her."

As she speaks, I continue to glower at her. "This better be good," I mutter to myself.

"In regards to you," she shifts, "I was mostly following orders."

I make to lash out at that, but she interrupts me.

"Wait. I'm not finished. I was following orders, because Luna has my sister."

My mouth clamps shut for a bit as I stare at her uncomprehendingly for a moment. "Go on," I drone, looking at her with narrowed eyes.

"Yes, you heard me correctly. Like I said, I haven't always worked for her. Initially, I didn't want to. When Luna's recruiters vet you as a marksmage, though, you don't have a lot of choice. There are plenty of powerful unicorns around here; not so many with fine control. They had to get some sort of leverage in order to get me to work for Luna, and soon enough, they found it. My sister, Sweetie, is currently a ward of the Lunar court. Both of my parents have been dead since I was barely a teenager." Her brows drew together, and her voice grew bitter. "Apparently, years of experience wasn't enough for them to let her stay in my care, since I wasn't a 'real adult.' Which equates to her being a prisoner. She's cared for, but if I were to leave her," she shudders, "I don't wish to imagine what would become of her. Which is why," she gives me a look, "I need to get back to the Sanctum as soon as I can. She's counting on me, and I would give anything for her."

I raise my eyebrows in surprise. Okay, I'm going to be totally honest: I really didn't expect that. That's actually approaching a good, solid reason, and we can't have that, can we? In fact, I'm so focused on what she's saying that I barely notice the flickering light pulsing from her cutie mark. "News flash, Rares—" I see her eye twitch and give her a schadenfreude-ridden grin. Oh, I'm going to use that. "—Luna's been missing for weeks."

Her eyes widen until I'm pretty sure they're just about to fall out of her head and roll on the ground near me. Her mouth moves, but nothing comes out for a good few seconds. When something finally did emerge, it's a clumsy "Whuhhh...?"

I shrugged. "After she...well," I motion at my braces holding my worthless back hooves upright, "she looked at me like I was some sort of monster. Apparently she hasn't been seen since." I neglect to mention the last thing she mentioned, which began ringing through my head:

What are you? What...what future is this?

As weird as it sounds, that's the most confusing thing Luna's said to or (to my knowledge) about me. Despite the fact that she's absolutely mental, she's still pretty high-functioning, and her Oculi can apparently see the future pretty well. The fact that we're now in what seems to be an uncharted future, with an uncharted me...I honestly can't tell if it's more comforting, or more terrifying. [4]

[1]: Trust me, it's much harder than it sounds, and a lot more annoying than you think.
[2]: We are the wall inspectors! Show us all your walls!
[3]: Sparkle spittin' fire over here, watch out!
[4]: Or both. Somehow.

After some more talking and some intense counseling/consultation with Trixie—who's mostly just overjoyed to see me out of bed and holding a conversation—Rarity and I come to an agreement. We get her sister Sweetie Belle out of the Lunar Sanctum and bring her here, which, as I've learned, is indeed a safehouse of Trixie's near the southern end of the demilitarized zone, set pretty far back into a deep cave, and she'll stick around with us permanently. She doesn't have a whole lot binding her to Luna at this point. Turns out that even she didn't actually know about Luna's Effigies, so she really did think I was calling in the fire against innocent ponies.

That doesn't mean I've forgiven her. That's going to take some time, and we're nowhere near there yet.

"Hey, Trixie," I start one day, when I've finally worked up the effort to leave my room and join the rest of them—a somewhat contrite Rarity, a businesslike Trixie, and a twitching, nervous wreck of a Rainbow sitting on the ground—in the living area, "what happened to Pinkie?"

"Oh, she's still around. I've just asked her to not come here too often. She hasn't been seen with us over here except for a brief stint with Twilight before the Chasmlands and she isn't a recognizable face, so she has a little bit more freedom to work with than we do." She wiggles her eyebrows. "She's been my spy."

I can't help it; I laugh. The idea of Pinkie/Mena as a spy is too much to not laugh at. Then, of course, reality runs into me like a giant tree in the face. I remember that I can't move my legs. I remember that my magic is unreliable at best and realistically worthless. I remember that I have no idea how I can get Rarity's sister out of the Sanctum, and that we barely survived getting out of there once, let alone twice. My laughter stops abruptly, and the grin falls off my face. Everypony looks at me with some form of concern.

Okay, yes, I'll be honest, I didn't sound entirely sane just now. In fact, I kinda sounded like Pinkie/Mena. Funny, that. I take a long, dragging breath, trying to steady myself, and paste a smile back onto my face, hoping it doesn't look too unnatural. [1] "...Uh. Sorry about that, just...the recent events catching up to me."

"Well, have them catch up with you somewhere else," snaps Rainbow, glaring at me. The effect of her single-eyed boring stare is slightly lessened by a few things; her pallor, her trembling, and the fact that her voice should be about an octave lower. I'm suddenly reminded of when she, Trixie and I were stuck in the cave in the Sleipnir range, and Rainbow's remark about not liking it underground. I raise an eyebrow and look at her, an expression of boredom on my face.

"Look, Rainbow, we get it. You don't like being underground. Poor little pegasus can't handle a little bit of cave." I roll my eyes. "That doesn't mean you have to snap at us, especially when you're so clearly in no stat to be snapping at anypony."

"Look, you..." she snarls, getting to her hooves. A small grin hopped on to my face. [2]

"Both of you, be quiet!" snapped Trixie. Now, see, Trixie isn't Rainbow. When Rainbow snaps, you can usually just ignore it, because she's always bad-tempered and there's a huge gap between her yelling at you and actually taking action. The same is decidedly untrue for Trixie. She doesn't yell often, and when she does, it means something important is happening and you better damn well listen. I turn away from Rainbow, looking at her.

"Thank you," she grunts, turning back to what she'd been doing, which was, well, sitting in a chair with a magical aura playing about her horn and her eyes shut tight. I stayed quiet—as a unicorn, I know what it's like to have other ponies break spellcasting concentration. So does Rarity.

Not so much Rainbow. She looks at Trixie curiously. "What's she doing?"

Trixie opens one eye thinly. "Looking in on something. So shut up," she growls, then immediately closes that eye again. I frown. Something's got her worked up, more than I usually see her. We watch her in uncomfortable silence until she gasps and her eyes fly open, staring around at us with wide, scared eyes.

"If anypony's got a plan, now's the time," she says, voice ragged. "Look's like they're coming for us."

[1]: Don't kid yourself.
[2]: I may lose everything else, but I will always keep my gift at getting under other ponies' fur.'

Act III, scene iii - Scramblin'

So, here's the question that's on everypony's mind when Trixie drops that little bombshell:

Who?

Because it seems like there are better things for everyone to do right now than go after us in a cave near the border of the Lunar Sovereignty. I mean...Celestia, while she's definitely holding a grudge against me after blowing her city up, has her hands full with trying to supply a homeless army and...well, city full of ponies. Literally all the Stormwinds except Rainbow are well and truly dead. Luna is missing in action and her army needs to hold the pieces together after a deity vanished from their chain of command. I mean, I know I may have kidnapped a high-ranking soldier, but honestly, this is a case where the cause is not the thing to address first. Don't these ponies have anything better to do than try and murder us repeatedly?

Slam

Rainbow is up immediately, raring to go, her hooves cannoning into the wooden floor with a sound that sets my teeth rattling. Without a word, she blasts away, smashing the door open as she charges headlong into danger like an idiot. [1]

Five seconds later, I hear the sound of a fight outside, and do my best to pedal over to a window and peer out to observe what's happening. It's Rainbow, alright, and now she's being joined by the other two. The trio of ponies opposite them have no uniforms on, at least not that I recognize; the only thing I see on them to indicate belonging to some sort of organization are the badges adorning each of their right shoulders.

I sigh. "Trixie," I mutter to myself, "I know you're nervous. We all are. But I don't know if it's worth getting us riled up for three ponies."

They're subdued in short order, and escorted inside, where their eyes immediately gravitate on to me. "So, you really are here," the first of them says. Despite everything that's been thrown against me in the past, I'm intimidated by this earth pony stallion; he's huge, and rippling with muscles. His shaggy red coat looks like it hasn't seen a washing in too long, and he peers at me through narrowed green eyes. His cohorts, both mares, follow suit. One pegasus, one unicorn, gray and white respectively.

I try my best to move into a defensive-esque stance, which is helped immensely by the fact that they're looking a little worse for wear from my friends' beatdown. Along that line of thought, I realize something; they look they just got smacked around a little, but there's not a single mark on any of their adversaries. It's pretty evident that there really wasn't much resistance. My paranoia ratchets itself all the way up.

"Yes, I'm here." My voice comes out short, clipped. "The question is, why are you?"

"We are the eyes, ears, and hooves of those who would see you fulfill your destiny," the white unicorn responds in place of her larger companion. "We bring a message for you now, nothing more."

"There are those that you must gather to finish what the Celestial Sisters started," continues the gray pegasus. I look at her with some concern; her eyes don't look quite...right. Hmm. "Bring them to the Founders' Cave beneath Everfree when the time is right, and you will know what you must do."

With that, they turn in total sync. Man, the way they were finishing each others' thoughts...kinda eerie. "Who is it?" I call on a whim, "who is it that you claim wants me to 'fulfill my destiny?'"

Again, they turn as one. The red one—he seems to be the leader, if the order of speech is any indication—speaks again: "It is not the time or place to tell you. However, you may know this: all your life, all your lives, through all the futures, have led to this moment. Do not waste it."

With that, they turn and leave immediately. Rainbow calls, "hey, wait!" and darts after then, then comes back in a moment later, dumbfounded. "They're...gone."

"What do you mean, they're gone?" asks Trixie. Gee. I wonder.

"I mean they're gone. Nowhere to be found. Not available. Out the door, out of sight. Poof. Pop. Pow. Need any more?" the pegasus shoots back, glaring slightly.

Their bickering fades into the background as I consider what just happened. So it really was a little bit of a bombshell, after all. He talked like Luna: all my lives, all the futures. The Founders' Cave. Those who would help me realize my destiny. What destiny? For the first time, I start to think about exactly what I'm going to do once this is all over. [2] I don't have a Solar Citadel to go back to. Celestia and Luna won't have me. I suppose I'll just...keep on doing what I'm doing. Wandering from place to place, never stopping for too long for fear of anywhere I stay becoming like Moonscry, whether with a fake Effigy or the genuine article. It's really beginning to sink in that I have nowhere to go.

For the first time in days, images begin to flicker in front of my eyes, and I rub them vigorously, swearing. There's a quiet "are you alright?" from beside me, and I remove the hoof to find Rarity standing there, looking at me sympathetically.

I look back, eyes stinging. "I'm just...overwhelmed. This, on top of everything else...who were they? Who says they know my destiny, and why does everypony seem to see my future except me? What in the sky is the Founders' Cave, and why is it under the Cullwood?" My voice gets angrier as the line of thought progresses, until I'm eventually spitting venom. I only realize how angry I sound when Rarity shies back. Good. Maybe she needs somepony to yell at her more often.

I sigh and drop my head. "I'm just...tired of this. Of all of this," I continue, waving a forehoof at the nebulous definition of 'this.' "Of Luna and Celestia. Of the war. Of being hunted. Of losing my magic, of not being able to walk. I just...can't do this anymore.

Head low, body language radiating defeat, I begin to slide back over towards my room, no doubt to entomb myself in my bed again until I waste away from self-pity.

"Or," Rarity cuts me off, "you could act like Sparkle instead of Twilight." I look up at her crossly, and find to my surprise that she looks genuinely concerned for me. After what she pulled, that isn't at all what I would've expected. I mean, there was the whole Sweetie Belle thing that she was talking about, but still...she was yanking my chain for so long that...blehh, I don't even know what's going on anymore. "This isn't how I remember you, Twilight. This is not the pony that decided to bend me over backwards—literally—when we first met. This isn't the pony who managed to translate a proto-Equid inscription in the Cullwood and use it to destroy the Circle Of Bones. This isn't the pony that convinced me to jump out of a cloud city into a lake, and when I didn't make it, surged and casually destroyed an entire city." A hoof jabs me in the chest, and I try to jump backwards, managing only an ungainly stumble with my defective hind legs. "This. Isn't. You. So stop whining, buck up, and get some fire back in those veins, yeah?" [3

By the end of this, to my own surprise, I'm grinning. That doesn't sound like Rarity. That sounds like Marks. Maybe there's still something worth saving in this marksmage after all. If nothing else, she's gotten my blood pumping something fierce. "Well, I won't be able to get anything going myself," I motion at my hind legs, "but I can still lend a hoof at planning. Now, Marks," I enunciate that name very clearly, "let's see if we can't get Sweetie out of that Sanctum, yeah?"

"Now you're speaking my language," she fires back, "Sparkle."

We share a pair of harried grins/grimaces before I decide that it's just about time to break apart Trixie and Rainbow, who are still at each others' throats. "Simmer off, you two. We have another castle to break into."

"Yes," mutters Rainbow, still throwing a sullen glare at Trixie, "because it went so well before, right?"

"None of that," I snap. "Bigger problems. So, let's review what we know. Luna was missing last we checked, so she's an uncertain variable; we don't know whether or not she's in the Sanctum. We can pretty safely assume that the Beastmaster is there, as well as a fairly large quantity of guards. So first order of business: how do we—you," I hastily amend, "actually get in?"

"Leave that up to me, Sparks," responds Trixie immediately. "I can get us pretty easy. As far as I know, I'm still authorized to pass the teleport wards blocking off the Sanctum. I can't teleport this many ponies a long way, so we'll have to be close, but I can get us in."

I nod once, sharply. "Good. You have your in. Next order of business: where in the Sanctum is Sweetie currently residing?"

Rarity's turn to chime in: "She should be in the east tower, pretty much as far east as you can get. It's not hard to get to, as long as we're inside. I should be able to lead us."

Another nod. "Alright, now—"

"Sky's sake, Twilight, we get it! We need an out!"

I glare. "Yes, Rainbow. You do. Any suggestions?"

She nods. "Here's the problem. We need somepony to take Sweetie; she won't be useful in fighting. So that's one of our unicorns down. Assuming both have free access to the teleport wards?" She's met with two nods, and continues. "Right, one unicorn down to get Sweetie out. That leaves us with just me and either Trixie or Rarity to fight our way past the guards, plus the Beastmaster—without Flutters this time—and hopefully not die. So, here's my idea. Trixie is a scryer, not so much a battlemage. Rarity has been trained as a marksmage, so she'd be able to support me better, and Trixie would be drained from a triple teleport anyway."

My eyebrows have been slowly raising this entire time. She's thinking this out quite well. [4] "And you think just you and Rarity will be fine?"

Her face is adorned with a cocky grin. "As long as Rarity doesn't slow me down? Won't even be a challenge."

[1]: Again.
[2]: In my defense, I was a bit busy with living through it to consider that, for the most part.
[3]: Despite my still-remaining, shall we say...irritation with Rarity, this is pretty much exactly what I needed at the time.
[4]: Trust Twilight Smartle to forget that Rainbow's a military leader. Of course she has some grasp on tactics.

I think I mentioned this some time back, but...I hate waiting. [1]

I hate not doing anything, I hate letting other ponies do my work for me. So sitting here like a cripple while my...friends and acquaintances, I suppose, are off doing my job for me is more grating than you could possibly believe.

My magic is still pretty broken; it's starting to really sink in that I might spend the rest of my life without magic. Legs are no better either. I don't know if I could even make it to the Sanctum if it were peacetime. Remind me to just absolutely murder Luna next time I see her. If ever.

"Alright, Sparks, we're in," comes the slightly-distorted voice of Trixie out of the orb of blue magic that hovers in front of me. "Teleport went smoothly, and nopony has seen us. We're heading to the east tower now. Resuming magical silence."

I sigh heavily, dropping my head.

Then, from the next room, there's the unmistakable sound of the door opening.

My eyes flick around desperately, searching for something I might be able to use as a weapon, but there's no time. The trio of ponies from before walk in, and their eyes are glowing with nimbi of intense white-blue light, beautiful and terrible to behold.

"What do you want?" I snap, though I can't keep my voice from quivering.

"We have come to deliver another message," says the red one, voice echoing quite unnaturally. He steps forward, then places his hoof on the side of my head and looks dead into my eyes. For a fraction of a fraction of a second, the world ignites with white-blue.

"Sparks! Sparks! It's going..."

Then Trixie's voice trails off, and darkness swallows the light.

[1]: It was when we were stuck in the cave. Took some time to remember. No, shut up, Word Smith. You don't get to tell me "I told you so."

Author's Note

HOLY SHIT LEMONS IS ALIVE.

MIRACLES DO HAPPEN.

Act I, scene i - Incursion

Someone is calling my name.

Groaning, I manage to slough off the all-too-comfortable covers of my bed and flop to the floor in a manner roughly equating to standing. Hollering a half-hearted "I'm coming!" I set about slowly grooming myself for the day. Maybe in another time and place, I could keep up with my preferred punctuality. The Princess runs me ragged, though. Not much time for rest at all. I'm lucky to catch more than five hours in a single sleep cycle.

With my appearance taken care of, I slouch down the stairs from my tower and into the disapproving eyes of Swift Quill, the royal pain in th—ahem, the royal secretary. Sighing at my posture, he wordlessly presents me with a letter. Though I'm disinterested to begin with, my eyes widen as I bring it closer to my face. It's sealed with golden wax only used by the Princess herself. Shaking off my lethargic manner, I open it hurriedly, quickly scanning the contents before charging straight past the poor stallion and towards the castle, nearly knocking him over.
I arrive at the enormous palace, huffing for air, in a minute or so. Catching my breath, I shake myself one more time and enter, making my way to the Solar Court. The princess is waiting for me, pacing in irritation.

She stops moving and shakes her head disapprovingly as she catches sight of me. "I've been waiting on you for nearly half an hour, Twilight. I expected better from you." I stammer an apology, and she spares one of her rare smiles. "That said, you likely needed the extra sleep. I trust you read my letter?"

I nod and hold out the piece of paper. "Yes, Princess. You mentioned something about some sort of confidential mission. What do you have for me?"

She begins pacing once more, clearly agitated. "We've received reports from our spies that the Chalice of Tannenwyl has been sighted in Lunar territory. Apparently, several enemy knights, two grievously wounded, were flying over the Chasmlands only one or two days ago. One of them—thank the Creator for Lunar carelessness—somehow managed to drop it into one of the magical fissures. They may have retrieved it, but as their comrades were in mortal danger, they chose instead to save them."

I mutter a swear under my breath. I could've seen where this was going if I'd been blindfolded after having my eyes gouged out. "Let me guess," I cut in, "you want me to infiltrate the enemy's territory and brave the long journey to the Chasmlands across many miles of hazardous land with enemies every inch, and even then, you want me to delve around a huge expanse of potentially deadly seepage cracks of raw magical fallout until I find a myth?"

Celestia fixes me with a steely gaze and I flinch. I shouldn't have let my tongue get the better of me.

"Just because you are my pupil," she begins, her voice laced with venom, "does not mean you may talk to me as an equal, Ms. Sparkle. I am by far your superior, and I will be addressed as such. Do not overstep your boundaries."

My eyes drop. "My apologies, Princess."

She continues glaring at me for a few more seconds, then sighs. "But you're not entirely wrong as to what I want you to do. I have it in good confidence, however, that the Chalice is very real, and extraordinarily powerful. My troops can escort you to the border of the Solar lands, but from then on, you are on your own."

With that, she turns her back to me and begins to trot away, calling back over her shoulder, "and don't forget to pack something. You won't be able to resupply for a very long time."

A few sullen minutes later, I find myself grousing and griping in my tower room, all while packing a pair of innocuous-looking brown canvas saddlebags. "Extraordinarily powerful, she says. Like Tartarus it is. She just wants to get me out of her hair for a while. Nobody can find something that's been lost in the Chasmlands anyway."

I won't need a weapon. It's not like I can get one past the Lunar border, and I shouldn't need one anyway. My magic can defend me from anything that comes upon me. [1]

I hastily pile various assorted objects into the bags, many of them books on the biomes, landscapes, climate, and anything else useful to know, about the lands of the Lunar Sovereignty. Past that, there are enchanted metal flasks that hold many times as much water as a normal one, and some small packets of a highly nutritious plant known as stipula. These rations will have to last me for quite a while, after all. I'm going to be alone in hostile, unforgiving lands. It'll be cold as well, but I know that I can't pack a jacket of any sort. Those in the Sovereignty have adapted a strong resistance to cold temperatures, and will know me instantly.

I've barely finished tossing everything in my bags as there's a loud, insistent knock at the door.

"Ms. Sparkle!" calls the rough voice of a pegasus guard, "we're here to ferry you to the border!"

Grimacing, I quickly toss on a long black cloak, buckle the saddlebags on, and rush myself downstairs. I've found myself rushing a lot today, haven't I? Giving my mane a final brush with a hoof, I open up the door

A pair of impatient-looking pegasi stand there, a small sky chariot designed for scouting runs perhaps ten, fifteen feet away. They nod at me, and begin walking. Standing still for a moment, I shake my head. Sometimes I wonder if being the Princess' student is good for anything if I can't have authority over some lowly pegasus guards. After my brief consideration of that thought closes, I drop my head theatrically and heave a heavy sigh before following them and clambering aboard the chariot as they hitch themselves in. With a rush of intense wind nearly powerful enough to blow me off if it wasn't for the negation field that surrounded the vehicle, they take to the sky, darting towards the border.

Given the speed of the sky chariot, I'm not surprised when we arrive at the borders of the swath of no pony's land that stretches the length of the border. Stepping shakily off of the golden frame, I resist the urge to empty my queasy stomach. I need to get to work now. Infiltrating the Sovereignty definitely won't be an easy task. Getting my urges to vomit under control, I spare a moment to look around.

I've grown up for my entire life in a beautiful city, interspersed with trees. The appearance of this place, then, rightly shocks me. It's devoid of all life, just rocks, gravel and dirt. Craters pockmark the ground, scorched black, and occasional sections of the ground still gleam red-hot from the last skirmish.

Swallowing nervously, I turn to bid the pegasi goodbye, only to find that they're already gone, barely visible in the distance. Grumbling in irritation, I swallow again—my throat is becoming increasingly dry—and begin to cobble together a spell.

See, I can't use a traditional invisibility spell, because then they would be able to detect the magic easily with unicorns. I need to use magic, otherwise I would just be a sitting purple duck. I can't use the invisibility spell while nullifying my magical presence, because that particular technique makes you glow like a dying sun. It takes a great deal of magical energy out of me, but I somehow pull off an extraordinarily complex spell that'll allow me to blind their entire guard patrol for an extended period of time.

Okay, so it's not complex at all. It's just a basic light cantrip ramped up to eleven. I may or may not end up permanently blinding them. You know what? I don't care all that much.

I cast the spell, charging it with far more magic than is usually funneled into it. When I reach the point where I can hardly contain it anymore, I release it and watch the intensely bright ball blaze off into the preternatural dark that heralds the Lunar Sovereignty that stretches before me.
Once I see an incredibly bright flash off in the distance, I begin to move, galloping as fast as I can bring myself up to. It takes considerably longer than I thought, and by the time I'm there, they're beginning to recover. Hissing in frustration, I press myself flat against the outside of the enormous wall that demarcates the beginning of Lunar land.

Closing my eyes warily, I begin to cast out my magic in waves, creating an invisible map of the surroundings. There are far more guards than I expected on this wall. At least four are situated directly above me, spitting curses about the pain in their eyes. Over to the right, though, there are far fewer. Only one. Then finally, searching out even farther, I hit the jackpot.

About a hundred and fifty feet down the wall, a small, nigh-invisible locked door it set into the wall. As far as I can tell, nopony is guarding it. As long as I play my cards right, I should be able to slip through without too much trouble.

Retracting my magical field, my knees nearly buckle. It's been so long since I've been in the field that I'd forgotten how much energy it takes to maintain that for any length of time, let alone expanding it to the size that I did. I really need to be more careful in the future. [2]

After nearly half an hour of stealthy movement, I manage to reach the door. A simple telekinetic spell serves to unlock it, and it opens without a sound. Slipping through, I smile. Flipping up the cloak's hood, I quickly and quietly move beyond the small outpost before hurrying off into the endless gloom.

Eventually, I reach a point where I can no longer see the lights of the wall. All is darkness in every direction, and I can take down the cloak's hood. While a serviceable disguise, I quite dislike how it limits my field of view.

No sooner have I removed it than an ominous sound comes from beside and slightly behind me. It's the sound of unicorn magic.

Slowly turning, I'm confronted with a very, very unfortunate sight.

A grim-faced Lunar marksmage is staring at me, her horn charged with magic and hostility obvious in her dull blue eyes. Her words are positively dripping with malice as she speaks in a grating, discordant voice:

"Move and you're dead."

[1]: As I would later discover, that was a really, really bad idea.
[2]: Oh, who am I kidding?

She's dressed in a shabby brown frock, badly moth-eaten and torn in several different places. Through the tears in it, I can pick out patches of a dull white coat, and her purple mane and tail are hardly distinguishable as such, there's so much dirt caked onto them. She's thin; even with the loose garment hanging around her, I can easily see that she's undernourished.

"Those saddlebags. Give them to me."

I jolt at hearing her voice again, especially like that. I thought I would be taken in for, well, trespassing on Luna lands. Not so, apparently. She just wants to rob me.

I slowly and carefully turn, looking her in the eyes. "I don't have anything valuable. Just books and some water."

She laughs scornfully. "Maybe water isn't valuable to you, princess, but out here, it's more precious than gold. Now," her voice dropped to a deadly serious hiss, "give me that water."

I chastise myself inwardly for being an idiot. Of course water would be in high demand. Everybody needs as much of it as they can get out in this part of the world. Sadly, that includes me. I can't afford to give her the water. I pity her for her unfortunate station in life, but that's how things go.

Of course, this would be a lot easier to talk to her about if she didn't still have a powerful magical blast contained within her horn, ready to be released outward at a moment's notice. Though my social skills aren't the greatest, I know enough about conversing with people that are threatening your life to know that antagonizing them is a terrible idea. [1]

My eyes quickly search her for any weakness and latch themselves onto her horn. If I can just disrupt it...

An idea begins to form in my mind. Opening up the saddlebags, I withdraw one of the metallic flasks that contains my water. With a quick flick of my already-active magic, I send it streaking over to her and, before she has time to react, it strikes her horn. As soon as her magic feedback kicks in, I'm there, my hoof shoved into her mouth as she screams against it. Arcs of blue lightning travel across her body and her muscles spasm repeatedly, resulting in some rather hefty kicks to me chest. Nevertheless, I grimly hold on until she goes limp.

As soon as I remove my hoof, she staggers to her feet and attempts to charge another blast. Snarling, I grasp her in my magic, bending her backwards nearly to the point of physical damage. Her eyes go wide and she lets out a gasp of pain.

"Don't. You. Dare." I growl, each word accentuated by another painful contortion. By the time I drop her, she can hardly stand, let alone cast any spells. Quickly reclaiming the thrown flask with my magic, I slip it back into the saddlebags and turn to leave.

"Wait..."

The thin croak rasps out from behind me, barely audible, and I grit my teeth as I turn around. "What do you want now, you insufferable peasant?"

She fixes me with a powerful stare. Those blue eyes, so dull just moments ago, are glittering with intrigue and a sense of adventure.
"Please...wherever you're going...take me with you."

Of course, this is ludicrous. No way I'm letting her come with me. "Absurd. Why should I?"

Her eyes no longer glitter, but burn, smoldering with an absolute purpose, and her voice solidifies itself into a powerfully resounding tone. "Because if you don't, I'm going to follow you, and the instant you let your guard down, I'm going to put a bolt of magic in through your neck."

I laugh in derision. "Well, we can't have that, now can we...?" I charge my own horn, preparing to end her. I can feel the bolt beginning to slip loose...

No.

I suddenly lose all desire to kill this pony, and my eyes see her properly, not through a haze of anger. Even as my horn glows an angry violet, she stands firm, refusing to let herself show any fear or pain. I've killed before, make no mistake. But never like this. Only in the heat of battle, when if I don't kill my attacker, I will die. This, though...she's helpless. And actually, now that I think about it...

I huff out a small sigh and let the thaumic energy in my horn dissipate to the smallest fraction of what they were, which I then use to toss her the same steel flask. Catching it in her magical grip, she casts an inquisitive look at me, to which I reply, "If you slow me down, I'm leaving you behind."

It takes her a moment, but as she understands, a small smile spreads across her face. "Thank you," she murmurs. I sigh. This is probably going to come back to bite me later. [2]

Only a day passes (relatively, given that the night is eternal here. Which brings up how they measure time. I wonder how they do that kind of thing if they don't have—right, I was going somewhere with this) before trouble begins to rear its ugly head. As I dig through my saddlebags, I realize something.

All but a few tiny leaves of my stipula was gone.

I march over to Marksmage (as I knew her. She refused to tell me her name) with fury in my stare. "So, I let you come along with me and this is how you repay me? Taking my stipula? This plant is rare!"

She snorts. "Rare? Are you kidding me? It's a weed! It grows everywhere!" She points to a bush nearby with a spare hoof and my face burns with embarrassment as I realize that we've been walking through veritable forests of stipula for nearly an hour and a half now. Throwing a dirty look at the smug-faced unicorn, I walk up and begin to munch on the plants. So that's why it was always in such short supply back home. It only grows in the Lunar Sovereignty!

Turning around, I grasp my saddlebags with my magic just as she begins to nose open the flap and shoot her a withering glare. "No. Stay out of my stuff." Inside, I'm nearly panicked. Many of those books are written by scholars from the Dominion, and clearly marked as such. No matter how much she owes me for not killing her, I still have no reason to reveal to her where I come from. That would lead to a whole host of problems.

She trots up behind me, munching on the last of my packed stipula. "So, where are we going, anyway?" Her voice is sounding better; it's not so raspy and discordant. The water is helping, I suppose. I wrinkle my snout as she nears me. Next time we find a river or something, we need to see about giving her a bath.

"The Chasmlands," I reply distractedly as I continue chomping down food at an impressive rate.

I hear a choking sound come from her, and then a shriek of disbelief: "The Chasmlands? Why in Luna's name would you ever go there?"
Now that my brain is more engaged, I can easily come up with an excuse on the fly. "I'm conducting research on the magical fallout down there. With the right conduit, it could be used as an incredibly potent power source."

There's a moment of sombre silence behind me, and she speaks quietly: "You don't know much about how the Chasmlands work, do you? All of that energy will go straight to your horn and you'll die almost immediately."

My eyes widen in shock and surprise.

Well, that's going to make things difficult.

[1]: Don't ask me how I found out about this. Not a story you want to hear.
[2]: Oh, absolutely.

After eating my fill and grilling the Marksmage (who will henceforth be referred to as Marks. I think it's a good nickname, no matter what she says, and I need something proper to call her) for information about the Chasmlands, which she knows quite a considerable amount, as it turns out, we continue moving. I'll cross the imminent death bridge when we're actually at the Chasmlands. Who knows, a Lunar soldier could discover me and then I'd never have to worry about it again!

Kinda sad that I'm avoiding thinking about death by thinking about different ways to die.

Shaking my head to bring me back to the land of the living, I begin to think about our next move. While we have plenty of water due to those enchanted flasks, and the stipula should keep us full for a long time as long as it holds out, we can't just sleep out in the open. Not here. Ponies aren't as trustworthy as they were back home, purely from how close we are to the border. It's entirely possible that there are more ponies like Marks hovering around, and I would rather avoid another of those debacles. This time, they might not be so easy to dissuade from killing me. They probably won't even ask. They'd just kill both of us and then take my stuff.

So, yeah. It's safe to say that we need to find somewhere to crash, because I've been awake for (roughly) forty or so hours, and I'm starting to feel a crash coming on. [1]

"Hey, Marks," I call to her as she trots onwards a few feet beside me, "you know this place, right? Is there anywhere around here to sleep where we won't have to worry about being either mugged or brutally murdered?"

At first I don't think she hears me, which would be somewhat odd, considering how loud I was (whoops), but I can see her rolling her eyes. Good, at least she's not deaf. She points in a direction a little bit to the east of where we were currently walking.

"Down that way is a town called Moonscry. It's small, but the folk there are friendly, and there's food, water and an inn. Sound good?"
I answer her by accelerating my pace into a canter. I need that bed soon. Within maybe thirty or forty minutes, I begin to see lights on the horizon. Grinning, I speed up into a full gallop, reaching a crude wooden wall set with a gate with quite a burst of speed and leaving Marks a ways behind me.

Turning the door lever, I find it locked, and a slot opens in the door. A pony's face is visible in it, and it looks anything but friendly. "What're ya be wantin', filly?"

Refraining myself from nit-picking his atrocious grammar, I wait for Marks to catch up before answering. "My...companion and I have been traveling for quite a ways. We could use a bed for the night."

He looks at me with suspicion, but his eyes go wide as he sees Marks and the shutter in the door slams shut. An instant later, the door creaks open.

The stallion bursts out, embracing Marks. "Oh, Miz Rares! Been too long, girl, too long!" She hisses at him to be quiet, and he looks like a snake just bit him. After a moment, his face falls and he lets go in a hurry, ushering us into the town. [2]

As towns go, it isn't bad, but more than anything, I need a place to sleep. Marks mentions needing to be somewhere else in town and excuses herself. The inn is close by, and I offer up some coins to the innkeeper, thanking the Sun that Celestia had kept the Lunar currency from captured spies. There's no real issue, and as soon as I fall into the crisply-made bed, I slip into a haven of dreams, thinking the whole time that I've never felt more comfortable.

That is, until I jolt awake upon hearing an explosion. [3]

I bolt up in bed, clambering quickly out and throwing on the cloak. The saddlebags come next, quickly buckling themselves, and I hurl myself out of the door.

The entire western side of the town's wall is gone, ravaged by flames. My body stiffens as I see a pony come trotting through that hole. I know that thing.

In order to spy on the Lunar society, Celestia once created five fiery aspects of herself known as Solar Effigies. On occasion, she uses them as fiery artillery, but it takes much out of her magic to control them. So why now, and why to just attack a small Lunar village?

I don't think I'll ever find out, because before I can blink, it's darted past me, leaving a trail of flames behind it as it careens through the town. Every building it touches explodes in a violent conflagration, and before I can do much else but blink, Moonscry is reduced to an enormous pyre.

As I feel the flames of the wreckage licking my coat, my self-preservation instinct kicks in and I gallop as fast as I can towards the hole in the wall, slipping through it with barely any room to spare. After that, the entire thing flares up, leaving no escape from the ever-expanding ring of smoke and fire.

Hearing a noise behind me, I turn to see Marks walking over, a grim look on her face. "That is the wrath of the Sun Tyrant. Pray that she never overtakes this land."

As we continue on our southward journey, with something close to a full night of rest, my mind is plagued with the visions of what I just saw. Those ponies were innocent, so why would Celestia do a thing like that?

This was becoming far more complicated than I imagined it would.

The next time we stop, it's to prepare ourselves for the next leg of our trip. Thus far, we've been traveling mostly through barren grasslands and meadows with an occasional sparse tree, twisted and mangled. In front of us, though, lies—no, lurks—an ancient, shadowy forest.

"Cullwood," murmurs Marks. I glance at her, asking for an explanation. She obliges. "During the first years of the war against the Dominion, we took more prisoners than we knew what to do with. So, given that those times were far more barbaric, we," she swallows, "took many of them to this wood when it was young and sacrificed them to the Moon. This practice was called the Culling, from which the wood takes its name. It's a common belief that their souls still inhabit these woods, and nobody ever goes in there.

I force down the fires of anger at her story. It was centuries ago, after all. No use getting mad now. "And we have to go through it to get to the Chasmlands? No way around?"

She snorts. "The only way to get around these woods is to cross the mountains to the west, and trust me, you don't want to do that. The pass takes you by the ruins of Canterlot. There is nothing but death waiting up there."

"What do you mean? What's at the ruins?"

She refuses to respond, instead lying down and quickly falling asleep. Running a quick magical check to ensure that she's well and truly out, I extract a book of geography from my saddlebag and, with a quick night-vision spell, set to reading about what lay ahead.

The Cullwood, also known as Black Forest, is an enormous forest that spans most of the southern part of the Lunar Sovereignty. While
superstition runs rampant, none of my wisps have ever reported sensing any spirits upon return. There is definitely something in the air,
however. There's a feeling of rotting life. Everything, even the air, feels dark and stagnant, but not malicious. One notable exception, reported by the only returning wisp of that group, is a great circle of stones in the perfect centre of the forest. As soon as one may step into that circle, an enormous force of malice rests on them, to the point where they cannot rise. They stay there as kneeling skeletons until their bones rot away. Thus, I have named this place the Circle of Bones, carpeted by the corpses of the unfortunate past.

Well, that's disquieting.

No sense fretting about it now, however. For a brief moment before I close my eyes, I feel a strange presence in the trees, but before I can think on it any further, I'm asleep. My dreams are of bones and fire. [4]

[1]: Though I stay up often for my work for the Princess, I rarely have to exert myself physically, and in the past forty hours, I've slipped through a security barrier, nearly been killed, nearly killed the killer, and then hiked quite a few miles. I'm allowed to be tired. Shut up.
[2]: See, this is the point where I need to realize that something important is happening, and not just stand idly by fantasizing about a bed.
[3]: Because Celestia forbid I could ever go anywhere without at least some sort of explosion.
[4]: You'd think that at this point, I could tell something is about to go horribly wrong. Sometimes I disappoint myself.

Act I, scene ii - Through The Forest

As soon as morning comes—well, at least I assume it's roughly 'morning', given that Marks and I both wake up at the same time—we ready ourselves with grim stolidity. I'm really begin to feel the presence of the forest. Something about just...exudes an aura of unhealthiness. It feels wrong, in a profound sense of the word. It's like a sickness, a leafy green canker sore in the mouth of the world.

Now I'm starting the day disgusted. Great.

Regardless, we spend quite a while simply filling various containers with what little food could be scrounged up. There is, of course, stipula, but just like most every medium-to-large plant around, there's a faint haze over it. It's maddening. It lingers right at the edges of my senses, filling all of them at once and yet none of them at the same time. Even my magic can't pick anything up past a faint flicker that could simply be the environment's natural magic. However, Marks notices it too, and that's enough reason for me to subsist off of grass. [1]

Finally, we can't put it off any longer, as much as we want to. Walking to the edge of the forest, where a small, overgrown trail leads into the undergrowth, we share a quick glance before plodding off into the shadows beneath the trees.

The first thing I notice upon entering is just how damned dark it is. I expected it to be, given that it's a forest at night, but I was expecting at least a measure of moonlight. No luck. It's utterly black, so dark that I can't see my own snout in front of my face. No choice, then, but to create my own light.

A pale, ghostly violet light emerges from the air above us, flickering and writhing as though it's alive. Odd, it's never done that before. It's disconcerting and I would rather banish it, but the sad truth is that ponies are mostly based around eyesight, and without any kind of light, we're as likely to run into a tree as we are to stay on the path. At least the light provides enough illumination to see clearly.

I swear to Celestia, that tree just moved.

Shaking my head in frustration, I berate myself. You're letting the atmosphere get to you, Twilight. Buck up, girl. It's just a forest. As long as you stay away from the Circle of Bones, you'll be fine. Inhaling and exhaling once or twice, I continue moving, catching up to Marks, who's moving quite quickly. I guess she dislikes this place just as much as I do.

The second noticeable thing I realize about this forest is that, unlike any other forest, it's dead silent. Completely. Even the trees don't make a sound. Without even noticing, I've been stomping my hooves nearly as hard I can, just to hear something. Turning to the unicorn next to me, I open my mouth to speak, until she glares at me with such intensity that I think better of it. I tread more lightly from then on.

Just then, I realize that it's getting darker. Maybe the magic is leaking from my light. I reach out my ethereal sense to refill it, and then stop short as I realize something.

It's not my light that's getting dimmer.

The shadows are actually encroaching upon us.

Moving closer to Marks, I whisper into her ears as quietly as possible, "close your eyes." Her gaze flicks up to the orb above us and she nods sharply, screwing her eyes tightly closed. I follow suit. My sense reconnects to the light and I push a vast amount of magic into it, enough to light up the woods for hundreds of feet around us. Grinning triumphantly, I open my eyes. My grin fades away.

Nothing's happened. In fact, I think the darkness is getting even closer. It's moving faster, too. I can actually see it slithering towards us now. Just barely, only an inch every few minutes, but it's definitely happening. And then, I make the greatest mistake possible.

I panic. [2]

Tearing Marks off of the ground in a powerful magical grip, I sprint off, my hooves flying along the winding, steadily narrowing trail. Marks says nothing, or I don't hear her. I don't even know why I'm panicking. Some deep, primal fear has awakened within me, and it refuses to take no for an answer. The more I run, the closer the shadows come until, my breath spent, I stop. I can barely see my hooves past the gloom. Looking above me for the pale spark of my magic, I see nothing. I can still feel the poor unicorn up there, kicking in my grip.

Lowering her in front of me, I apologize. Then I frown. Something wasn't right there. Then it clicks.

My voice is gone.

I can barely see Marks to watch her chest swell mightily, and I reflexively wince as she screams at the top of her lungs. I can only hear the barest of whispers, however.

"You idiot, idiot mare! I thought you were smart! Why did you do that? I told you that there's something supernatural about this forest, but not only do you ignore my warnings, you summon a magical fire, completely ignore it when it begins to act erratically, and when you realize that the farther we go, the greater the shadows are becoming, you sprint farther! You're mad! I should never have come with you!"

I scream back, feeling the rush of air claw at my throat but hearing just a tiny sound. "Why didn't you say anything? You could have warned me!"

"I did! You didn't respond! I even punched you and you didn't do anything!" At this point, I'm just...intensely confused.

"But...you were in front of me the entire time! I even tried to speak to you, and you glared at me!"

We both realize what's happening at precisely the same time and stare at each other in horror.

Then the darkness begins to move again. We aren't moving this time. Are we? I'm not even sure this forest is real anymore. All I can see a whirling maelstrom of utter darkness. The light is gone. Marks is gone. I'm alone. I feel something pressing down on me, and my brain cries out in frustration as something constricts around my neck. Pangs of colour spark and crash in front of my mind, and my eyes flicker and finally slide shut.

My eyes crash open, and I'm surprised to see that it's no longer entirely black. A sickly green light hovers over me, and as my optic nerves come online properly, I look around.

What I see is most definitely not good. I'm on a stone tablet in the center of a ring of stones. All around me is a sea of bones in various stages of decomposition. Kneeling next to me, not yet awake, is Marks. Wait...kneeling? While unconscious?

And that's when I discover that I can't get up.

Now I realize where I am.

The Circle of Bones.

[1]: Upon doing further research, I discovered that those that ate from trees and bushes around Cullwood suffered from horrendous symptoms of magical overload and died soon after. Huh.
[2]: Take it from me: never panic. It just doesn't end well. No idea why we do, biologically, in the first place.

It's true what the book said. I can't move from my kneeling position, no matter what I do. I can't use my magic, either. For all intents and purposes, I'm a thinking, talking statue.

So, first thing's first. Let's see if there are any obvious flaws here.

Searching around, my eyes find nothing of notice until I look straight down. Underneath me is an incredibly detailed engraving in a language that I'm unfamiliar with. It takes me a moment to realize that it's a version of proto-Equid [1], but...different. Everything is jagged. All of the smooth lines and curves that I should be seeing are replaced with jagged, rough lines and hard, sharp corners. I can make out the words blood and magic, and nothing else. Still, that alone causes me to break out in cold sweat.

Blood magic was banned long before the Princesses split, though. How could the Sovereignty have been sanctioned to use it by Luna?

In any event, academic interest is the last of my worries. [2] I have no intentions of becoming one of the prostrated skeletons that surround me. But how am I going to escape without my magic? Actually, what even brought me here?

I call out to the forest in curiosity, surprised that I actually make noise. "Hey, who took me here?"

There's a threatening creak as a full-grown tree swings lower, slapping me in the face with vines as they wrap around my torso and lift me bodily into the air, tightening until I can't even breathe. Just as the world begins to darken, it releases me and I fall down hard on the stone, immediately resuming the kneel once more.

Well, that answered my question and told me not to ask any more. As far as I can imagine, the trees passed me from vine to vine until I arrived here.

Again, not something I should be thinking about right now. If the book told me right, they should just let me waste away here, so I have at least a few days before I become delirious from dehydration. Comforting.

"Alright, Twilight," I muttered, "you need to think this out. Think. Think."

I close my eyes, breathing deeply and attempting to concentrate, clearing the last of last night's panic from my mind. Flicking my eyes open again, I look around once more. It's then that I notice that Marks and I are the only ones that are on the stone platform. All of the skeletons are surrounding it in that same kneel, facing towards us. Something about it is unsettling, and potentially useful.

I attempt to move my head and find that it works. As long as I don't try to stop kneeling, I'm allowed to move some body parts. Neat. Anyway, I look back down at the proto-Equid, now that I can see more of it. It takes some time to translate, but as far as I can tell, the part in front of me roughly equates to ...blood magic fills the space and leaves the bound unbound when...

I growl in frustration. So I have a lead, but I don't have the conditions of the spell. Just bucking wonderful. I can't turn to see what the rest of it says. All I know, in this scenario, is that it needs blood for the activation matrices, and that its overall function is to set us free. At least, I assume that it'll set us free. That's a good thing, right? [3]

So first thing's first: to even get anywhere near puzzling this out I'll need...

"Ughhhh..."

Right on cue.

"Hey, Marks. You awake?"

Her head turns to me balefully, and in the process, she notices where we are and catches on instantly. Her reaction?

"Oh buck."

Trust me, I couldn't agree more.

A little while later, I've filled her in on everything that's happened. As for the blood magic, she's as shocked as I am. Regrettably, she can't translate proto-Equid, so there goes that plan. However, she knows about magic somewhat. She might be a help.

"So, Marks, any idea what the conditions of a spell like this are?" She shakes her head.

"First thing's first, though: we need some blood to get out of this mess." I think for a moment about how to get some without being able to move, and after a few seconds, an idea blossoms in my brain. I bite down hard on my lip, ignoring the pain until I can taste blood. The red liquid begins to pool in my mouth, and I spit, letting it spatter on the stone.

What I'm not expecting, however, is for it to begin glowing pale blue. After a moment, it sinks into the stones, and the ancient script lights up. A feeling of numbness that I didn't know was there flees from me, and I find myself able to move. So does Marks. I grin at her. She doesn't respond with a smile at all. Instead, her eyes go wide with terror.

"Sparkle, you left the bound unbound."

There's a clattering sound, and the skeletons that swarm around us begin to move. Their eyes are suffused with the same pale blue lights, and they begin to advance on us, drawing rusted swords and daggers from long-decayed remnants of wooden sheaths. Marks and I back up on the platform until we're back to back. I'm still unable to use magic. I should've taken that inscription more literally, but for my part, how was I to know that the remains would come to life?!

As they move on us, I cringe before noticing something rather important: all of the skeletons stop at the edges of the stone tablet. They simply stare at us, unblinking, unmoving.

Now that I can't leave, though, I might as well take a look at the rest of this spell. There may be some unfulfilled conditions. I tell Marks of my intentions and she nods tersely. I continue working nervously, occasionally correcting an error, until I have something that seems like it makes sense:

Using the ancients' blood magic fills the space and leaves the bound unbound when supplied with sanguine. All will become free, left to wander for eternity. They will seek the soul that freed them by their blood, searching for something with which to fill their eternal emptiness.

I repeat it to Marks and she looks at me meaningfully. I can see what she's thinking: if I'm the one they're seeking, she would be free to go. I give her my most angry glare. It doesn't look like it does much. Without a backwards glance, she leaps off of the stone. The skeletons part around her without even breaking my eye contact, and she marches off into the treeline without looking back.

I can't believe she betrayed me like that. What am I supposed to do now?

The skeletons begin to advance ever so slowly, coming closer to me one hoofstep at a time. It seems like the stone tablet isn't keeping them away as well as it looked like it did, and it won't be too long before they're close enough to touch me. At that point, I'm done for.

Cut to five or so minutes later and I'm dodging flailing, skeletal hooves. Not for long, though, because one of them finally manages to grip my leg, and no matter how hard I try, I can't shake it off. Still no magic, and as it pulls at me, the leg it's touching goes numb and crumples out from under me. I'm left looking at the sky, eyes barely seeing anything. I'm just...so tired...

A pulse of pure blue magic streaks out from the treeline, connecting precisely with the green light that hovers above me. There's the intensely painful screeching sound of two magics conflicting, and a marine light explodes above me. That certainly wakes me up, and I avert my eyes from the bright lights. The green is gone when I look again, and the inky blackness of the night is filled with stars and a moon. The skeletons' lights fade and they crumble to the ground, dead once more and no longer kneeling. Warily, I step carefully down, and, when nothing happens other than Marks stepping out of the now-inanimate trees, I dash over and tackle her in a massive hug.

"I swear, Marks, if you ever pull something like that again, I'm going to break your horn clean off."

She chuckles. "You're welcome, Sparkle."

Getting back up, I look up to where the light used to be. "So what was that, anyway?"

She stares at me, incredulous. "You don't understand by now? That was the heart of the forest. It's how it trapped ponies. Think about it: when they had nothing but darkness and the trees couldn't catch them, they would eventually see the green light. Any light would be welcome after than, and they would run headlong towards it with no caution. Then they would be caught in the Circle's hold, and it would drain their magic to feed itself. The worst kind of parasite. That's why I left the circle. If I could get out, then I could use my magic again, so I needed to make the forest think that I was abandoning you."

Wow. That's...really something. [4]

"Now," she looks at the sky and grimaces, "let's get out of here as fast as we can. South is this way."

As she walks off into the now-natural gloom, I grin and follow. Turns out that it was a good idea to bring her along after all.

[1]: For those of you who don't know, proto-Equid is essentially the primordial form of Modern Equus, in common use thousands of years ago, long before the Princesses.
[2]: Just saying this hurts my soul.
[3]: No.
[4]: No shit, Sparkle.

The darkness is back.

Marks was wrong.

There's still something out there. Something had to have created the heart of the forest, after all.

We were walking along a little while back, when the moon and stars went out.

We knew what was happening. So now, we're alone in the darkness. We're not even sure if we're together anymore. It might be an illusion, just like before.

It's at this point when I realize something. Fear isn't going to accomplish anything. We're simply going to get dragged back in eventually. I close my eyes, breath deeply, and then open my eyes again, really looking at the darkness.

It's not what I thought it was. It's not the true entity. It's a shadow, cast by the thing that now floats in front of me. Picture an orb, covered in pulsating eyes that gaze in every possible direction, with slimy, sickly green skin the same color as the light in the Circle. Mouths periodically open and close all over it, sometimes even opening underneath an eye. Writhing, pulsing tendrils of black flail around it.

The shadows.

I stare directly at it, and it knows it. It's mouths let out a shrill shriek all at once, and I begin to charge a bolt of magic. The abomination won't be able to move out of the way in time. I let fly, yelling triumphantly. [1]

Nothing happens.

Well, that's not entirely true. Something definitely happens. It vanishes. It simply disappears, leaving a sickly-sweet smell behind it and a distorted, nearly incomprehensible voice as the shadows vanish for the last time:

Wherever there is shadow and forest, so I am. The Watcher is looking for you now.

All around us, the trees evaporate, leaving us, disoriented, in a field perhaps a mile or so from the south fringe of the Cullwood. Shuddering, I turn away from it, still mindful of the last thing that creature said:

The Watcher is looking for you now.

[1]: Honestly, what was I expecting to happen here?

Act I, scene iii - Stormwinds

It's been a few, uh, twenty-four hour increments (I can't bring myself to say 'days' anymore) since Marks and I escaped from the forest, and I've finally stopped thinking about what I saw there. From what I can see, stretching out before us are miles and miles of rolling hills, and most importantly, no forests. Shuddering briefly, I glance at the unicorn that's standing next to me and she nods. Good, we're ready to go.

Some time later, walking through grassy hills with no landmarks or variations begins to become tiresome. Interesting, then, when I hear something from the east. I hold up a hoof, forestalling Marks, who looks at me with curiosity in her eyes.

That sound...I know it. It's the sound of...

My mind reaches for a moment before I realize exactly what it is.

That's the sound of rain coming. Very, very fast.

Just seconds later, we're drenched as a curtain of utterly freezing water cascades over us, leaving us shivering. More than anything, though, I'm confused. I would've seen any dramatic meteorological changes like this before they hit, at least! The only thing that could've brought a rainstorm on with that speed is...

Oh, no.

Oh, please, no.

From above me, over the crash of the rain and the roar of the thunder, I can faintly hear something that I very much didn't want to. Battle cries. I was hoping we could go through these lands without this happening. Far above me, shapes flit in and out of the raging storm, shaping it, crafting it, making it.

"The Stormwind Legion," I breathe. Marks, having not seen what I have, is confused for a moment, until she looks up and connects the dots. Good, she looks suitably horrified. [1]

The Stormwind Legion is one of the few true rogue factions in this war. They're guerrillas, fighting for themselves and not for any faction. They generally raid small border towns, using their easy mobility to hit hard, hit fast, and then simply vanish. Sometimes they even burst into battle between the Solar and Lunar armies, striking from all sides. It's infuriating. No matter how skilled we are at spellcasting, we just can't strike them. Too fast, too elusive. And now they're upon us.

All around us, pegasi descend from the heavyclouds, surrounding us in a ring bristling with spears. One steps forward, and I recognize her. Commander Dash, Valkyrie of the Stormwind. Suddenly, a horrifying thought strikes me and I glance sideways at Marks. Dash and I have clashed many times in the past. As a trained battlemage and representative of the Princess, it was my duty. She knows who I am. She's going to ask why I'm here. And then Marks will know. And infighting is something I can't afford when we're being attacked by the Stormwinds.

See, the pegasi are the greatest military force in the area of Greater Equus. Nobody knows where they make their homes, but when they arrive, something is going to go wrong. Two unicorns against the entire legion? Not likely.

Unfortunately, I don't have much time to think before Dash steps forwards, rainbow mane blowing in the hurricane winds that circle around us. She squints at me. "You, with the black cloak. Take it off." Her voice is rough on my ears as I slowly take off the cloak and magically slide it into the saddlebags to prevent it from blowing away. Dash's singular eye widens briefly and flicks back and forth between us, then she laughs mightily.

"Oh, what a riot! I don't think either of you actually know who you're traveling with!"

Marks and I lock eyes, and she looks at me in confusion.

She doesn't know what Twilight Sparkle looks like? Actually, she might not have ever heard of me. She's been calling me Sparkle for a while after I told her that was my name and now she can see me fully. I know she's not stupid. She must simply not know who I am.

Oh Celestia, how lucky I am right now.

The blue pegasus steps forwards, an unpleasant glint in her eye, and addresses me with an exceedingly irritating voice."So, what are you doing here, Sparkle? I thought you were—"

Desperation-fueled magic surges forth, clamping around her jaw and shutting it tight. Heedless of the numerous spears that grow tighter by the second, I walk up to her and hiss quietly, seething with rage. "Don't. You. Dare." [2]

Her rose-coloured eye narrows at me, her nostrils puff out a frustrated breath, and she nods. Exhaling, I release the magic and step back, leaving her rubbing her jaw and glaring at me. "Take them to Skahaben," she yells to her soldiers. "They're going to stay with us awhile." She smirks at me and watches the soldiers step forward and produce lengths of tough rope, binding our hooves and lifting us from the ground. There's a horrible feeling of vertigo as the ground drops away from me, and then I'm punching through stormclouds as my escorts soar off. Ahead of us, a rainbow contrail blasts through the sky.

By the time we land, I'm absolutely petrified. The sky chariots are terrifying enough, but just being carried by two pegasi by my hooves? Now that's bad. I'm dropped onto a cloud and, to my surprise, I stay afloat. My face is planted down in the cloud and it's texture is surprisingly firm. Interesting, I think half-deliriously. They must be enchanted.

By the time I collect myself and manage to sit up with relative coherency, Marks has landed next to me, and is going through about the same thing that I did. I wince in sympathy, but have little time to consider what she's going through, because from a large cloud building in front of me, Commander Dash emerges. Wow, I think, she never got that eye fixed.

Dash, as prideful as all pegasi[3], has never gotten a magical healer for the eye that I somehow managed to strike with a wild bolt of loose magic many years ago. There was nothing there but a huge scar now, a livid red blotch that looks somehow angry.

She smirks down at me with that same self-assured smile that irritates me whenever I see her, and bends down, whispering in my ear, "maybe this time, I'll take your eye."

That damn pride. This is why I can't stand pegasi.

[1]: There's a certain level of horrified that you need to look in this kind of situation. Otherwise it's not dramatic enough.
[2]: This was a terrible, terrible, terrible idea.
[3]: That's a lie. She's more prideful than any other I've met.

Cut to maybe half an hour later and I'm in the dungeon of Skahaben. It's interesting; nobody's ever found the pegasus stronghold, and it turns out that all they needed to do was to be imprisoned. At least my limbs aren't bound anymore.

For the second time in not nearly long enough, I'm cut off from my magic. The inhibitor ring affixed to my horn makes sure of that. Not that my magic would be useful anyway. Even if I tried to escape, I don't think I could fight an entire army of Stormwind Legionaries alone, even with my magic.

This dungeon is weird, I reflect. I'm used to seeing the castle dungeons; flickering torches, wet corners, hard stone. Here, though, it's less of a prison cell and more of a mental asylum, with how padded the walls are. Maybe they're trying to tell me something.

After some time of prodding at all of the walls, I've determined that it's pretty solid. Given how pegasi can manipulate clouds, they don't even need a door; they can just pull out a section of the wall and pull me out through that. Well, at least it's light. Almost blindingly so, in fact. An illumination crystal that I'm pretty sure was stolen from my laboratory at one point lights up the cell, and the pure white clouds reflect it off of each other uncountable times. I can barely see for how bright it is. Eventually, I resign myself to sitting in the corner and closing my eyes to avoid some kind of eye damage.

Of course, almost as soon as I get comfortable, there's a poof as a section of the wall vanishes and two pegasi soldiers drag me bodily out of the cell. After several uncomfortable minutes of being dragged along the cloudy ground, I'm dumped on my side in the middle of a large, round building. Other than me and the soldiers, it's completely empty.

One of the two pegasi next to me calls out, aggravation in his voice:

"Commander! We've brought the Solar unicorn!"

A conspicuous cloud that floats in the center of the room dissolves, and with a startled yelp, Dash falls to the floor. [1]

Graceful.

Springing up and brushing herself off, she clears her throat and motions with her hoof for the two soldiers to leave. They do as bid, one of them chuckling under his breath. My focus is shifted from them rather quickly, though, as Dash stands over me. For all of her annoyance and idiocy, she cuts an imposing figure.

"Stand," she commands. I have no real choice but to obey her, mostly because of that impressively sharp spear slung across her back. Once I'm on my hooves, she paces in a circle around me, speaking all the while.

"You were the last pony I ever expected to see there, Sparkle," she chuckles. "Crossed through the Cullwood, too. We saw some bright lights in the forest when we were crossing over, more than usual, and decided to wait to see who came out. Imagine my surprise when, on Lunar lands, I saw Celestia's prized pupil!" She grinned, and I could see what was going through that head of hers before she even said anything, quickly forestalling her.

"Celestia wouldn't pay a ransom for me. She sent me into Lunar territory knowing full well what would happen if I were caught. I'm on my own."

She's mildly taken aback by that. I guess she's never met Celestia in person, because the Princess definitely isn't the type to pay ransom. It doesn't faze her too much, though, and just moments later, she's back to her old self.

"What are you doing over here, anyway? And don't even try to lie; trust me, I'll know."

I don't think too much of her last statement, and the lie flows as easily as it did when I told it to Marks. "I was assigned to do some research on the magical fallout in the Chasmlands. Celestia wants to know if we can use it for power of some sort."

Dash chuckles without humour, and my heart sinks. She really does know. "Oh, Sparkle, Sparkle, Sparkle. Didn't you believe me when I told you you couldn't lie to me?" Her eye narrows and her voice reaches a much lower register. Wow, she actually sounds genuinely threatening. "Now, Sparkle, tell me the truth, unless you want me to beat it out of you." [2]

I sigh. Well, better to tell her what I'm doing than to die and never be able to do it in the first place. With resignation in my voice, I begin to speak, telling her all about the Chalice of Tannenwyl and where it's supposed to be. As I reach the end of my explanation, she begins to laugh.

"Oh, Sparkle, if you could see the look on your face. Tell you what: I'll let you go! In fact, I'll escort you all the way to the Chasmlands! In exchange..." Her teeth bare in a predatory smile, "You can give the Chalice to me instead of Celestia."

My reaction is as instant as it is firm. "No dice, Dash. I'm not working for you."

She sighs, disappointment written across her face. "Well, Sparks, I gave you the chance to be reasonable. Guess that's beyond you. Sorry, but you get to stay in your nice, comfy cell until you do what I tell you."

As the same to soldiers enter to take me back to the cell, she calls one of them over and begins whispering in his ear, glancing at me. He nods, smiling, and salutes, returning to me.

Back into the cell.

[1]: This is about what I expect of Dash. She's an excellent fighter, but a tremendous idiot.
[2]: One thing I have to give her credit for: she's definitely not afraid to get her hooves dirty.

Later, I realize what Dash had told those soldiers. My throat dry and raspy, I lean next to the cloud wall where I know my guard is and ask when I would be getting water. He replies in no uncertain terms that the Commander had specifically mentioned that I was not to be given either food or water, his voice muffled through the clouds. My eyes widen. That's barbaric. Still, I have to admire the crude efficacy of it. If there's one way to get ponies to do what you want, it's to take away their water.

As time wears on and days pass, my dehydration becomes more and more severe, to the point where I begin hallucinating. My first clue of this is when the walls around me begin to swirl, forming a face. It terrifies me in the most irrational sense, and I cower on the other side of the cell, eyes shut tight, refusing to look at it. The next time I saw that wall, it was gone.

And it only gets worse from there. It's amazing how dependent we are on water. Finally, I can't stand it any more, and limping weakly over to the wall, I ask in a soft, croaking voice, "Take me to see Dash."

By the time I'm there, I'm nearly unconscious. The colors in Dash's mane and tail are rotating wildly, and I barely have enough attention span to hear her ask, "So, have you reconsidered my offer?" I nod weakly, and her triumphant smile is all I need to tell me how badly I messed up being taken to this damned cloudscape. I should have been more careful in observing the world around me, more aware of when a large group of armed pegasi was converging on my position.

She hops down from her cloud and walks up to me, staring into my eyes. "So?" she inquires, "what's the verdict?"

There's so little water in my body that I can hardly answer, but I muster up enough to tell her that the Chalice is hers.

I can't, though.

She can probably see my loyalty warring with bodily needs in my eyes, and eventually, loyalty wins.

"No deal," I mumble. "You'll never touch the Chalice."

She clicks her tongue as though a child had been naughty. "And here I thought that we were going to be reasonable adults. Ah well, it can't be helped. If I can't get you to do it on your own, I'll just have to drag it out of you." She swirled her maroon cape as she turned, throwing the offhand command of "take her to the chambers" to her soldiers. Still half-dead from thirst, I'm dragged roughly to the bowels of the cloud city and deposited on a surprisingly hard surface. [1]

A single brown pegasus, mane and tail red, is waiting for me there. Surrounding him is a group of lethal-looking torture devices. Even though we're technically still enemies, it hurts to see Marks strung up on a rack, stretched out and apparently unconscious.

One of the pegasi that dragged me along kicks me roughly and tells the torturer that he's to "give her some water to keep her alive, and then do whatever you need to, as long as it gets her to do what Commander Dash says." Then the two grunts leave.

Great. Just what I needed.

That said, the skin of water that's poured down my throat is the best thing I've ever tasted, and what happens next is among the most unexpected things that have ever happened to me.

The torturer tears off his face.

Wait, no. That's a mask.

Hang on.

"Celestia above," I murmur. I know this pegasus! Flash Frost is his name, I think. He's one of Celestia's elite corps of scouts. But what is he doing here?

"Celly thought you might need a little bit of help if this kind of thing happened. She had a feeling that the Stormwind Legion would be heading this way, so she captured one of them and had me replace him in case you needed me." [2]

How did she even know? Never mind. The Princess works in mysterious ways.

"So, Flash. I know it looks strange, but can you take that unicorn off of the rack? I know she's Lunar, but she's saved my life and we're traveling together."

He eyes me strangely, but it appears that he trusts me, because she comes off of the rack. He continues speaking in a whisper as he uncovers a trapdoor-like hatch.

"In about twenty minutes, we're going to be passing low over a lake to refill our water reserves. That's your chance to jump out. Go under and swim to shore as fast as possible without coming up for breath unless you need it." He prods at Marks until she wakes up, and I tell her what's going on. She's understandably confused, but appears to be fine with the plan.

"Now if you'll excuse me," he chuckles, "I need to put my face back on." The masks goes back on, and he's back to the torturer. I shudder slightly. That's really, really weird.

A few minutes later, he judges that the time is right and heaves open the hatch, revealing open air for about thirty, maybe forty feet until we hit the water. "Remeber," he instructs us, "go in hind legs first, as straight up and down as you can. It'll hurt, so be ready for it." I nod uneasily, looking down. Well, this is it.

Marks and I look at each other and not, and then we're plummeting.

Eat that, Dash.

[1]: I was told later that they managed to pack the clouds with sufficient density that they could support a stone floor. I don't get it.
[2]: To my knowledge, Flash Freeze is the only pony that has gotten away with calling the Princess 'Celly.'

Act I, scene iv - The Wanderer, Displaced

The cold water is a slap in the face.

And every other body part.

I can only hope that none of the warlike pegasi above noticed me falling. Not immediately rising to the surface, I simply go as quickly as possible towards the nearest shore. A muted splash echoes through the water into my ears. That must be Marks.

I'm halfway to shore before I realize that she's not behind me.

Whipping my head around, if I peer deep enough into the lake, I can see her sinking. I think she's unconscious. Ah well, not too much of a problem, I'll just pull her out with magic...

Oh no.

The inhibitor ring.

My magic is dead.

Instantly, my brain begins to scream. That's too far down for me to swim with her sinking; no way I could make it to her. If I just leave her, though, there's no way she'd be able to live. The murky water is already beginning to cloud over her quickly sinking body. Desperation sets in and even though I know I'll never be able to make it, I try to swim down after her. I'm not even halfway there when I cough bubbles and have to resurface to avoid drowning myself.

I attempt to pull the ring off of my horn with my forehooves, but I know it's a lost cause. If you could do that, what point would there be? It's locked there with an arcane seal that I can't break without access to magic. I can't overload it; the amount of magic these things can bear is impressive indeed.

I would be long, long dead.

Without Marks to save me, I would've died there, on a stone tablet in the center of a cursed forest. Or maybe I would've chosen to end it more quickly, throwing myself to the skeletons that clambered for my magic and soul. A familiar feeling wells up within me: white-hot rage.

This is different, though. It feels wild and unconstrained. This isn't just an emotion, I realize, and at the same time, I smile viciously, no longer in right-minded control of my thoughts.

I no longer have to swim to keep myself afloat. Without even realizing it, I'm suspending myself in the water, and gradually rising above it. The inhibitor ring melts off of my horn, running harmlessly down my face as rivulets of molten metal before dripping into the water, spraying up clouds of acrid-smelling steam. [1]

Stretching out my forelegs, I can see arcs of violet energy violently crackling along them, rapidly expanding into a glowing nova around my entire body. From above, I can hear faint sounds of alarm, though they're muted by the blood pounding within my ears. As flights of pegasi descend upon me, I laugh beatifically.

From my horn blazes an uncontrollable torrent of violet energy that sweeps across the sky, reducing the pegasi to nothing but ash on the hot wind. I sweep my head to the side, bisecting the entire cloud-city that hangs above me, watching in glee as it rolls to the side and crumbles. It feels so good to just let the power flow through me. Nothing could bother me now. I'm perfect. Everything is perfect.

Something is irking me, though...Wasn't there something that I needed to do? A reason I was so angry?

I frown. I don't like things that confuse me. What was it again...?

Unbeknownst to me, my eyes begin to fade from pure, glowing white back to my regular, normal eyes as I gasp. "Marks!" I cry, immediately casting my returned power to the depths. "C'mon, where are you, where are you...?"

There!

Near the bottom in the very center of the lake. I can barely feel a heartbeat. I swallow in nervousness as I wrap my magic gently around her, bringing her quickly back to the surface. We both begin to float through the air, back towards the shore, and as the last of the power fades, We drop the last few inches to dry land.

I press against her chest with my hooves, trying to squeeze some of the water out, but I have nothing. Instead, I swallow and wrap my magic around her again, locating her lungs and ever-so-gently squeezing them. Water bubbles out of her mouth and muzzle in a steady stream, and at the same time, I pour fresh air down through her trachea. Fighting my own urge to pass out, I keep doing this, steadily making her breath in and out until she coughs, sputters and opens her eyes.

I smile and fall over, taking deep breaths. She still can't rise, but she's alive, and that's enough.

A rainbow contrail streaks out of the crumbling cloud citadel, and I frown.

When did the city fall apart like that?

With an earsplitting crash, Dash smashes to the ground next to me, breath coming in ragged gasps and furious tears streaming from her single, furious eye.

"How dare you," she growls viciously. "You killed everybody in that city, you...you monster!"

I stare at her, mouth open, a blank look on my face. In the background, the city finally crashes into the surface of the lake, kicking up an enormous explosion of water that showers down on us. In the rain, the Valkyrie looks even more livid as she stomps over to me and picks my up by my neck. Her eye bores into mine, and in it, I see no mercy, just truth.

Faint flashes of glee run through my mind and I shudder at the alien touch of it all. Dash truly has justification to be angry, then.

"All of my soldiers. All of my guards. All of my friends. Everybody that I know and love. You. Murdered. All of them."

Tears are openly streaming down her face, and they're the last things I see before I'm thrown to the ground. Consciousness fading fast, the last thing I can feel before darkness comes crashing down on my head is a spear pressing slowly and mercilessly into my back.

[1]: In case you were wondering, the amount of power needed to melt off a full-strength inhibitor ring is approximately 1,500 thaums, a basic unit of magic which is the average power of one fully-grown, untrained unicorn. Under normal circumstances, I can barely touch 100 thaums. Just sayin'.

I wake up several minutes later to the glare of a full moon. Marks is standing off to the side, nursing a rather nasty-looking slice in her left foreleg. I try to get up and find my efforts stymied. I'm simply too weak. I can barely rotate my head lethargically to the side to look out at the lake, which still has a few fragments of the once-great cloud city suspended within it. Wow, I guess I really did kill them...

I would feel regretful, but I just can't muster up the energy to care.

"Marks?"

She starts momentarily, and in that moment, I can see a few tears spill from her eyes before she hastily wipes them off, uncaring of the blood that smears onto her face. A small smile emerges.

"Please, Sparkle, call me Rarity."

A jolt flashes through my mind. Oh my God, Marks just told me her name. The battering rain from the pegasus-induced storm and the swim in the lake has beaten away the dirt that caked her, and now I can see her properly. Her formerly off-white coat is gleaming with the moonlight like liquid silver and her dirt-patina'd, matted tail and mane are a fine indigo-purple, all complimented by her glimmering blue eyes.

Damn. And here I thought she was no more than a six. [1]

"Well," I cough, "it's nice to know that you trust me enough to tell me your name, now that I saved your life. We even?"

She chuckles. Rarity's voice is quite dulcet and smooth, a far cry from the rough voice of Marks, but I can still hear my companion in that slightly guttural chuckle. "Oh, not even close, Sparkle. You still owe me another life saved."

That perks my ears up. Evidently, she notices, because she bares the still-bleeding slash in her foreleg. "Dash was about to stab you when I blasted her off of you. It wasn't quite as strong as I'd hoped, because after a brief moment, she jumped back up and sliced my leg up pretty good. After that I managed to get a shot on her strong enough to get her out of here, but I don't think we're out of the woods just yet. She could be anywhere up there." She motions to the sky, and especially to the clouds that pegasi love sitting on.

She's right. We need to be careful. "Hey, Mar—Rares? Did you see what happened to me?"

She looks at me, sorrow in her face. "I didn't. Dash did say you killed all of them, though, so that puts a damper on things. It's kind of a shame if you look at it. She never had anywhere to call a homeland. Now she doesn't have a home at all."

I paused. Come to think of it, she never did mention a homeland in our limited interactions. Even though I don't know if I was conscious at the time, I'm responsible for destroying an entire city.

A shudder runs through me, and I stare back out at the lake, watching the final fragments of a lost city slip into the liquid void

I wasn't in the right. Not this time, and maybe not quite a few times before.

[1]: I'm straight. Mind out of the gutter.

Author's Note

Sorry for how short this chapter is. They're going to start getting longer soon, with any luck.

Act I, scene vi - The Frozen Throne

I don't go back to the village. What would be the point?

I realize now that, without Marks—I refuse to think of her as Rarity—I have no idea where I'm going. I lost all of those books in the fall from Skahaben, and those are rare and expensive. Searching around, I frown. That mountain range looks...familiar...Oh, for...I swear, that damn flying city took me really far out of my way. I'm actually slightly northwest of the mountain range that Marks was talking about when we were near the entrance to Cullwood. I groan, rubbing my eyes distractedly. Just what I need right now. Pitch-perfect. What had she said about another way through?

Right, right, a mountain pass that goes through the ruins of Canterlot. She said that something about death being there, though. Is that really a good idea?

Then I consider going through Cullwood again. [1]

Suddenly it seems like a really good idea.

Swallowing nervously, I begin to trot towards the mountains. No sense forestalling it; I need to get there soon, or they're going to have Lunar guards all over the place, searching for me. News travels fast, after all. If I can get over the mountains, I might have a chance of evading them.

I quickly learn that it's a lot farther than it looks. Hours in and I've barely drawn closer. Seeing several lights bobbing on the road ahead of me, I gulp and dive away as fast as possible, landing in a thick bush and barely breathing. With any luck, they didn't...

"Hey! We know you're there, unicorn! Come out now, or we might have to start getting ugly!"

Oh Celestia he knows I'm here he knows where I am I have to stop him from killing me. Bursting out of my limited cover, I instantly jerk the leader's head to the side. A sickening crack rings across the empty road, and for a split second, everything is silent. [2]

Then bolts of magic streak towards me, exploding on the road to the left and right before a single flash of electric light connects with my chest and knocks me to the ground, stars dancing before my eyes. Grim-faced, the unicorn that struck me down stands over me, conjuring a pair of magical manacles.

Then, completely out of instinct, I take a page out of Celestia's book and ignite the entire road in roaring flames that lick against my impervious body, yelling the entire time. "Why can't you just stay away from me?! I just wanted to pass by! But you couldn't let that happen! Just stay away!" The last phrase becomes a mantra as horrified screaming mingles with my own terrified, furious shrieks, and by the end of the hellish choir, my throat is torn and raw, and the fires die down to reveal a pile of burned corpses. The stallion that held the manacles is as dead as the rest, his charred face resting only a few inches from my own. [3]

I manage to stagger to my feet, eyes wide and horrified at the destruction that I'd wrought. Half of the field around us is ignited, quickly burning away in a circle away from where I'm standing. I know I could quench it, but just as I start to, I stop. Why should I care? I don't owe these ponies anything.

I walk forward, leaving the world around me to burn.

By the time I arrive at the base of the mountains, I'm exhausted, both physically and magically. I'd encountered three more guard patrols in the last few hours, though due to being on hyperalert status, I managed to slip by them all. I'd made a couple of questionable escapes via magic, and that on top of that fire stunt has left me drained. I need to sleep (it's the best way to replenish drained magic), but I know well enough that I can't stop. If I do, they'll catch up to me in no time. I have no choice but to find that pass.

My search takes me all along the rocky slopes, searching for miles upon miles for some indication of a trail. Finally, to the point where I can nearly see the Cullwood in the distance, I find a disused, beaten wooden sign that points up, into the mountains. The script is barely legible, but I can make out the letters "Can-e--ot, thi- -ay." Taking a moment to think, I realize that it once directed ponies in the direction of Canterlot. Turning south, I begin my trek up the slopes.

I've barely made it four miles before it begins to snow. Well, at least there's no shortage of water. Using the word 'pass' to describe this is a gross overstatement, I grouse. The slope is so steep that I've nearly fallen all the way to the bottom multiple times, only a quick application of my ever-draining magical reserves rescuing me each time, and the addition of snow makes it far more difficult than before. The clouds high above me pour down their frosty payloads, and I glare at them.

Then I start. Did I just...?

It's gone. Huh. I swear I felt something following me just now.

Regardless, I continue. The snow is no longer a flurry; now it's something closer to a blizzard. I can barely see and the snow has begun to reach my hocks, building on itself faster than I can believe. At least the ground is beginning to level out. No consolation if I die of hypothermia, though.

Ahead of me, through the snow, looms a white stone tower, lying on its side. A black shape stands out on the side; a window! Sparing no time, I clamber through, shivering at the freezing stone, and, measuring my jump carefully, I hop down onto relatively level, if freezing, land.

Mustering up perhaps the last dregs of magical energy that I have left, I surge flames all around me, feeling heat blossom all around me and drive the cold from my bones. Sighing in contentment, I lay down, and shortly fall into a deep, recuperative sleep.

[1]: If I ever have to see that Sun-forsaken place again, I swear to Celestia I'll snap my own horn off.
[2]: Remember what I said about panic? Case in point.
[3]: I have nightmares about this...adventure sometimes, and this is one of the most common. I don't think I'll ever get over that horrible sight.

I'm awake.

Unwillingly so.

My eyes crash open, cold sweat instantly coating my fur as I hear a long, mournful howl from far closer than I would like. It's reciprocated by another within just a few seconds, and then another, and then another. The base of the tower begins to glow with a faint blue light, and my blood runs cold [1] as a wolf of pure, moving ice pads around the corner and stares straight into my eyes with glowing blue blanks.

Oh.

Oh no.

It's a Rime Wolf.

A relative of the forest-dwelling Timberwolves, the much, much rarer Rime Wolves only live in the highest mountains of Greater Equus. Animated into living ice by a similar strain of magic, they are nonetheless much, much deadlier, simply because they can breathe thousands of splinters of needle-sharp ice in a blistering hail that can rend fur from skin, skin from flesh, and flesh from bone. So, not something you want to run into at a time like this.

And from the sound of it, I'm facing an entire pack of them.

My horn glows without fail, so at least my magic works. Count your blessings, right? Anyway, as the eyes of the wolf narrow and it bounds at me blindingly fast. My answer? Something that I've been using more in the past day than pretty much any other spell. Fighting ice with fire. Logical, right?

Luckily, I barely have to use energy for this fire. The embers of the last one are still hot, after all. An inferno erupts from the ashes between us, and the creature stops as fast as possible, whining and backpedaling away from the roaring wall of fire. While this is quite a handy tool, I'm not stupid and I know that the fire can't burn forever. Not only that, but I can't stay in this tower forever, either. I need to get to the other side to reach the Chasmlands. Interestingly enough, the recent debacle with Marks has reaffirmed my faith in Celestia, simply because now, without the Princess, I have nopony.

In any event, I begin to quickly plan how to escape from this place. Window? No. Magically constructed ice creatures aren't fools, so...

Wait.

Ice.

That's the key.

A reckless smile pops onto my muzzle and my horn glows once more. I tear the fire away from the blaze in front of me. It comes as a wraith of flames that encircles my body, encasing me in a whirling orb of flames as the previous fire died to ashes. Grinning manically, I gallop straight at the beast. Unable to backpedal quickly enough, it opens its maw and exhales a glittering cloud. My shield of fire melts the ice into water and boils it into steam, leaving a trail behind me as the wolf tries and fails to turn and run.

It simply can't raise enough speed quickly enough, and I barely hear the anguished screech as my fire melts through it like a red-hot dagger piercing through butter, snapping the thread of the enchantment and rendering it nothing more that a puddle.

Near-instantaneously, the remaining wolves howl in concert. I can hear their rage and, surprisingly, pain. I wonder how they're connected. Not time for that now, though. I can do as much research as want when I get home. Right now I need to focus on actually being able to go home. Faint loping can be heard in the snow; barely noticeable, just the barest of crunches as the wolves converge on me, fire still whirling around me in an endless sphere of blazing light.

Wasting no more time in the tower, I leave, preparing to face the wolves.

UM.

THOSE AREN'T ORDINARY RIME WOLVES.

Facing me are three frigid behemoths nearly three times as tall as the one in the tower, who I can tell in an instant could just tear me in two without even caring about my shield of flames, which suddenly seems all-too-fragile. Of course, that's the perfect timing for said fire to fade away, magic too weak to support it anymore. Terror widening my eyes, I turn and bolt, hearing them follow me as I dive through the shattered gates into the massive, ancient castle.

[1]: Get it?

The inside of the castle is chilly, though not nearly as cold as it is outside. Perhaps the flames leaving was a blessing in disguise; that bright glow would draw the wolves like moths to a lantern. [1]

There's an eerie stasis to this place, and a strange feeling of peace. Unlike the feeling of decay in the Cullwood, everything is clean and sterile, a feeling of lost, dead grandeur. Nothing lives here but those wolves of clean, pure ice. As horrifying as they are, and as deadly, there's something beautifully terrifying about them.

Speaking of the Rime Wolves, they've gone silent. Quite a while ago, too. So that's neat, I guess. [2]

Wandering through the ruins, the terror of the wolves gives way to a morbid fascination that draws me deeper into the frigid stone halls. My breath comes in clouds that hang in the dead-still air, and everything seems to be tinted in a strange white-blue cast.

A door creaks loudly and I jump. I hadn't realized it, but other than the hammering of my heart in my ears, there's no sound except for the wind. Following the sound, I come upon a remarkably well-preserved door, but for the fact that it's hanging on a single hinge (the source of the creak). Nudging it aside cautiously, I gasp.

It's the Solar Court! Exactly! Even the throne set on a dais looks exactly the same. The only difference is the ice encrusting the entirety of the room.

"...Sister?..."

It's just the barest whisper of a voice, barely enough to be heard, but it's definitely there. [3]

I would miss it if I wasn't looking, but in the throne appears...

"Princess?" I whisper, struck dumb. Sure enough, there's a picture-perfect phantom of Celestia in the throne. Smaller and younger looking, yes, and so faint she's almost invisible, but...wow.

That's nothing, though, compared to what comes next.

"...Sister!..."

A small (for an alicorn) blue-purple phantasmal alicorn enters in through a hallway off to the side. A hallway that's currently just an archway surmounting thousands of pounds of rubble. Strange, she looks almost like...Oh Celestia, it is. It's Luna.

But then that would mean...

"They're sisters," I finish, the disbelief ringing in my voice echoing around the huge hall.

"...What is it, Luna? I'm going to be giving court momentarily, so you have to make it quick..."

"...That's what I want to speak to you about, Sister. I'll hold court today."

The image of Celestia sighs and drops her head impatiently, and the phantoms fade away, with a faint sob hanging in the air for a few more moments. I'm left standing, my mouth agape.

What in Tartarus was that.

Without warning, my mind flies back to a excerpt from a book I once read:

Some places in this world have a greater connection to reality than others, places where many timelines connect in complex webs. In these places, one can occasionally see and, if the connection is exceptionally strong, hear, what can best be described as echoes. These are visions of the past, intangible and unable to be influenced.

There was something else after that, but I can't quite recall what it was. I wonder if I can find any more of these 'echoes' if I explore more? [4]

[1]: Giant mutant death moths who can shatter lamps like pros to a fragile glass lamp with a smiley face on it.
[2]: It does sound good, huh? Trust me, it's really not that great.
[3]: Seriously, it's definitely there. I'm not going insane.
[4]: I'm pretty sure that this was a terrible, terrible decision.

There's only one way to go from here, a single archway behind the disused throne. Curiosity bubbling within me, I eagerly follow the pathway. It leads into what looks like a cold, dead blacksmith forge, complete with hammer and tongs. But why would there be a forge behind the Solar Court?

Ah, it doesn't matter. I get what I came for, as I realize as soon as I hear the same faint whisper in front of me.

This time, Luna doesn't appear, only Celestia. She's standing before me and next to the now-blazing forge, wearing a thick leather apron with a hammer clenched in her magic. As I watch, she drops it on the then-dully gleaming anvil that stands black and cold before me in the living world, and slowly steps over to a leather-bound book and quill. She begins to write with her magic, narrating as she does so:

"...Luna has become bolder as of late. Just three weeks ago, she demanded to hold Solar Court. I'm beginning to think that I cannot trust even my own sister. Yes, it's just court now. But have I ever asked her to hold the Midnight Forum? I reign over the day for a reason. She does the same for the night. I can't help but wonder if this isn't indicative of a deeper, more complete attempt to take complete control of Equestria. I don't know...If this behavior persists, I'll have to confront her on it."

Wow. Paranoid.

She drops the quill, moving over towards the anvil and levitating the object on it into the quench. I jolt, recognizing that piece of steel. It's the head of Celestia's spear: A stylized sun with a single elongated ray piercing out of the top. That journal entry, that fearsome weapon...Oh Celestia, this must be the start of the war, all of those years ago. The Princess had told me that Luna had begun the attacks. What else had she lied to me about? [1]

As the image fades, I curiously trot over to where she'd been writing. Unbelievably, the journal is still there. Beaten and crinkled, yes, but intact. I idly page through the journal. It's far thicker than I would've expected; I suppose that's what the journal of an immortal looks like, hmm?

The entries range from stories of childish exploits to the wanderings of a young mare, and then...nothing, for a very long time. When they finally begin once more, there's no reason for why the delay had happened, other than a mention of a cryptic entity known as 'The Chaos King', and the shattering of objects only referred to as the Elements. I wonder what all of this is...?

A loud crash rings out from behind me and I start, before realizing that it's simply another echo. The forge remains cold as a much darker, older Luna storms in, face dark with rage, passing straight through me. "...You have gone too far this time, Celestia. You dare attack those few ponies that I claim as supporters? You shall feel my rage!..." Her horn ignites in ghostly blue fire and the entire back wall of the forge disassembles, revealing another, hidden chamber behind it, constructed of black stone and empty but for a single object: a massive silver warscythe hanging on the wall. Even through the vision, I can feel the sheer bloodlust within it.

Or is that the bloodlust of its wielder? [2]

[1]: A lot more than I thought, even then.
[2]: Nope, definitely the scythe. You'll see eventually.

Author's Note

For those of you that don't know, a warscythe is shaped differently to an ordinary scythe; instead of the blade being 90° to the handle, it keeps running roughly parallel.

Act I, scene vii - Caged In Echoes

I watch in strange fascination as the specter of Luna pulls the warscythe violently off of the wall, walking slowly and angrily away, passing through me again before vanishing.

Alright, so if I have any intuition at all, I know how this is going to end. Following where the spectral pony went, I gallop back through the hallway into the iced-over Solar Court just as another ghostly conversation begins.

"...Celestia, you've brought this upon yourself. How dare you? I have few enough supporters as it is, and you decide to attack them? You've gone much, much too far. For too long, I've been content to live by your shadow, barely ever emerging to shine my moon. And the few that appreciate me when I do so? I treasure them above all else..." The warscythe flickers into the air above her, surrounded by her dark blue magic, and she readies it to taste blood. "...So this is unforgivable!..."

The two are standing across from each other, maybe ten feet apart, and each one is clearly in a stance of battle. Luna's warscythe is matched on the other side by the familiar solar spear that I saw being made just a few minutes ago. Celestia growls.

"...I don't know what you're talking about, Luna. I have lifted a hoof against nopony. I don't know what madness has consumed you, but if won't listen to reason, then I can only take one course of action."

"...If those are your thoughts, then this conversation is wasted, sister. Come on, then! Let me see what the Princess of the Sun is capable of!..."

The two weapons flicker and vanish, moving with tremendous speed. They lock together in the center and split apart again, striking like metallic snakes so quickly that I can't follow any of their movements. All the while, the two princesses are moving closer to each other just a little every second. In a short time, their weapons are locked together, shaking, just in front of their faces. Rage is evident in both of them, written on their faces and through the tension of their entire bodies.

I watch with undisguised fascination. This must be the first real fight between them. As strange as this is, and as grim as the events are, I'm watching history playing out in front of my eyes. I take a step towards them, eager to get closer to them. Imagine my surprise, then, when their eyes lock into mine. It's the most disturbing thing. Their necks remain as they were before, and they continue to fight. Their heads, however, are turned towards me, independent of any neck rotation, and staring at me with wide, unblinking eyes.

A swallow and back away. Suddenly, this isn't so interesting anymore. I think it's time to get back outside. I'll take my chances with the Rime Wolves. As I skirt around the two fighting princesses, their heads and eyes follow me. Watching their heads rotate that far without even moving their necks, or stopping their fight? It's terrifying, and I'm thankful as I reach the door and walk through.

Or at least try to.

As I move through the archway, a ghostly image of a door that's new and polished appears in front of me and blocks my path. Confused, I try to open it with magic, but find that I can't interact with it in any way.

Looking back at the fighting princesses, I jump. Their heads are back to normal, but that's barely noticeable compared to the second, more interesting phenomenon.

There's another pair of princesses.

They're standing a little ways away from the pair that's still warring in the center of the room, staring at me with those same eyes that refuse to blink. I shudder, and then backpedal, or at least try to. With the door in the way, I can't. Why am I backpedaling, you ask?

Because they've started to move towards me, transparent fires blazing on their horns as they raise their respective weapons. Phantom voices float through the air. You are not welcome here, interloper. You have interrupted. Face your fate. Their weapons dart forwards at immense speeds and I barely dodge them out of reflex. The air above me hisses as they embed themselves in the wall just above my head, leaving enormous holes and showering tiny pebbles down on me.

Barely thinking, I dash towards the archway that Luna had emerged from in the first vision, breathing heavily. Spear and scythe pierce the air around me, and I barely dodge them each time. The scythe is the first to impact me, grazing my side, and unlike before, where Luna simply phased through me, it's the very real burning pain of cold metal shearing through my fur and skin, drawing blood. My eyes widen as I remember the final few lines from the book about these echoes.

Be warned, however, and do not stay for long. The more time you spend around these phantasms, the less connected to your own time you will become. The shadows of the past do not take kindly to those that interrupt their endless drama, and will become tangible and extremely aggressive. If this should occur, run as far and fast as you can, because while they can kill you, you cannot touch them.

Sliding through the archway, panting, I dash onwards. The slow, paced hoofsteps of the two sisters never leave my ears as I lose myself in the endlessly spiderwebbing corridors of the ruins. Marks was right. There's nothing but death in these ruins, death at the hooves of a history that's been gone for a long, long time.

Finally, I fall onto my side, chest heaving. I can't keep going. I'm in what looks like some sort of armory, suits of plate steel and racks of swords and axes lining the walls. Are these in my time, or the past?

Most of them are long-gone, and it's becoming more difficult to tell which is which, but finally, I find a object that's left in my own time; an ancient blade, cased in a sheath of wood. Shakily drawing it, I know that I'm going to die. I can't possibly defend my self from two alicorns at once. If I'm dying, though, I'm going down fighting. Standing up, those same hoofsteps echo, supernaturally loud, through the halls, and from the passageway in front of me, the two sisters emerge, echoes of malice flickering in their empty eyes.

As I hold the sword in front of me in a magical grip, I recall the final line of the passage too late. The ancient Celestia's spear flickers through the sword without losing pace, embedding itself in my shoulder. I cry out in anguish and fall to the floor, reflexively lashing out with my magic as a last-ditch effort. It does nothing to them, at least not at first. Then I realize that they're no longer moving. [1]

Sliding backwards, I manage to slip my shoulder off of the point of the spear, looking around. I've done something more than I know, and the room no longer looks the same from second to second. I've somehow tossed myself into a state of in-between, sliding involuntarily through a gap in the threads of time. With time in flux, flickering around me wildly, there's no surprise when a hallway from the past opens up in front of me. Using what limited healing magic I know, I can knit the skin together to prevent the blood from spilling out, but that's about it. It's still just as painful and makes it difficult for me to walk, let alone run. Desperate to escape from the apparitions, I limp through the hallway.

I've barely made it five minutes when I begin to hear the hoofsteps echoing after me again. I swear; I suppose it was too much for my magic to have frozen them indefinitely, but there was a desperate hope. No, there's no way for me to escape, and now I'm hopelessly lost amidst the claustrophobic corridors.

Flickers of hellish blue-gold light begin to surge up the hallway after me, and yet I still can't do anything but limp at a snail's pace without tearing my shoulder apart. The slice in my side is painful as well, but with what little magic I have left, I can't even weave the skin up.

I end up in a bedchamber with a great window, an enormous pane of glass that flickers between the night of the present and the brilliant daytime of the past. An idea bursts into my head, but I hesitate. I have no idea where and when I am. This could set me adrift in time, lost forever in an endless black void in between realities.

Then the shadows of the sisters enter the room and I run out of time to decide.

Standing tall, I ignore the pain from my shoulder and dash at the window, jumping at it. The fragile pane shatters in front of me and I fly out into a world of open skies.

[1]: This is one of the few times in my life that panic has actually saved me from certain death. So it's not always bad. Just usually.

I'm falling for what feels like forever.

What is this? Where am I?

Before it actually reaches forever, though, I can see a light beneath me. Just the faint glow of the moon on one really, really big cloud.

Hang on. That's Skahaben!

Beneath the cloud, a purple orb of energy sparks and ignites. Pegasi fly out of the giant cloud city, diving towards it, and as I land atop the floating structure, I can see an enormous ray of power blaze through the sky, turning the pegasi into nothingness before slashing through the city in one blow.

Oh Celestia, that's me. This is when I killed Skahaben. Spontaneously falling through the top of the clouds, I find myself in one of the hallways in the city. Lightning sparks off of the walls, and the entire structure cants, groaning, to the side. I find myself in a cloudy apocalypse.

Then I see a rainbow contrail blazing towards me and duck instinctively.

Commander Dash flies over me, her eye filled with desperation. I can hear her calling the names of the pegasi that stayed in the city, and nopony answers. Then I'm falling again, down through the floor of the clouds, through the water beneath me, through the lakebed, and into blackness once more.

Now I know where I am.

I'm in the timestream. I need to be extremely careful.[1]

The next place I end up is just a town. Lots and lots of ponies, and a few larger buildings. I feel like I recognize—Oh. Hey, Moonscry.

I always wondered something, actually. Where did Marks go when I went to find a bed, what did she do? So when I touch the ground and see myself and her, I follow her instead of my own body. That's odd, she's going outside of the city. She said that she needed to be somewhere in the town. As a phantom of the future in a time of the past, there's no wound in my shoulder. That's kinda handy, I guess.

Then Luna appears.

Or more accurately, two versions of Luna.

There's the normal Luna, the one that I've seen on occasion at the battlefield. She's talking to Marks—no, she's talking to Rarity, the one hiding underneath Marks. I feel anger rising. And she dares lecture me about trust? Luna probably knew where I was going the entire time.

That's relatively inconsequential, though, because the other Luna that appears makes my blood chill.

It's the phantom of the past. She followed me through the timestream.

That warscythe launches at me, and I can barely avoid it. Dashing back to Moonscry, I see what looks like a comet descend on the town before there's an enormous explosion. The Solar Effigy.

Then I'm falling again.

Finally, I end up somewhere that feels reasonably comfortable for me. I'm in my tower, watching myself wake up on the morning that this whole thing started.

It's now that I realize something. [2] I'm just going to keep going back without stopping. I need to find a way back into my own time. I try to remember how I got myself tangled through time as I absentmindedly follow the past version of Twilight. I believe it was when I lashed out with magic. If I can just remember how use that spell again, then maybe I can fix this.

That thought is interrupted, and my blood runs cold, as I realize where I am. I'm right in front of Celestia.

Two versions of her.

Oh no.

I dodge the first spear thrust. I have no idea where I'll go after this fall, so I need to get this sorted now. Flicking my head back through the chase through the ruins, I finally happen upon the same feeling that I had in that desperate moment. In a somewhat detached manner, I find that it was intended as a basic offensive blast, but it became tangled up through my timeline's leylines and took on a new meaning. Interesting. As I run away from Celestia through the halls of the Solar Citadel, I judge that the time is right and stop short. She round the corner to find my horn glowing and launches the spear at me.

Three things happen at once.

The first thing is that the spear descends towards my neck, eager to sink into my flesh and end me.

The second is that my hooves begin to slip through the white marble, the beginning of another fall through time.

The third is that a burst of purple energy that strikes the princess.

This time, the fall is different. It's no longer a black void, but a freezing gray sky. I exhale in relief when I appear. I'm back in the Solar Court, and it's empty. No visions.

Taking one last look at this place, I bolt.

The door is no longer a ghostly wall, but a shattered piece of my own time. Thank Celestia. I may have found my own solid time again.

When I enter the first hall of the castle, though, my eyes twitch.

The angry princess specters are waiting for me, weapons floating just above me. I can barely slide through the doorway before the weapons come crashing down like a brutal portcullis of blades.

They're not just shadows anymore. They've manifested fully. Huge, huge mistake.

"What do you think you're doing here?" I ask them gleefully. "We're not in your time any more, girls. We're playing on my home field now. You're displaced, so you'd better skedaddle before I get ugly."

Picking up a stone with magic, I launch it at them at immense speeds and laugh as it impacts the Luna clone in the horn. She cries out in pain in her echoing voice and I smile as she drops her warscythe, which clatters to the floor.

Picking it up in my own magical aura, I sweep it in front of me, knocking away the spear that Celestia thrusts at my heart. [3]

A single sweep of the sweep of the warscythe later, and she's rent in half. It's odd, though; there's no blood, or an expression of pain. She simply tears in half like fabric, dispersing back into her own timeline's aether.

The Luna clone refuses to suffer the same fate. She leaps over my swipe and punches me in the face with a metal-shod forehoof, knocking me back against the wall. The shocks breaks the grip on my magic, dashing the polearm to the floor and leaving me winded. She grimly trots over to it and hefts it in her mouth, magic still suffering from the arcane feedback that the rock to her horn activated. I barely manage to avoid the blade as it flashes above me. If she was using her magic, I would be very, very dead.

Popping back up, I buck hard with my hind legs during her backswing, crushing her jaw into itself. She cries in pain and drops the blade. I quickly draw the spear to me and plunge it into her heart before she can react. She stares at me for a beat, uncomprehending, then follows her spectral sister into the void. Interestingly enough, though, her weapon doesn't go with her. Maybe it's the fact that it's being held by another magic user at the time and tangles in my leylines, or something else along those lines. Either way, I guess it's mine now.

Suddenly the timelines snap back into alignment. Pain of the worst kind blooms in my shoulder and I stagger, falling against the wall as blood begins to pour anew from the slash in my side.

Then the doorway begins to glow blue.

The Rime Wolves, no longer repelled by the ancient presences, come prowling in, growling at me as I sag, injured, just a hundred or so feet away. Gasping in pain, I still manage to speak a single, aggravated sentence:

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me."

[1]: Contrary to popular belief, the timestream isn't immutable, which is why I need to take care. If I do something stupid and mess with the past, it could put me in a very difficult situation. Namely, being lost in time. Not something nice.
[2]: And it took me far too long to do so.
[3]: I'm fairly sure that those blades had some form of enhancement magic on them. Otherwise I never could've perceived the spear coming until it was embedded in my heart.

Act I, scene viii - "Let's Blow It Up!"

So, that's my situation. Slumped against the wall, magic almost entirely drained, pain pounding through my body as three enormous Rime Wolves slowly stalk towards me. Closing my eyes, I wait for it to end.

Wait...What's that?

Opening my eyes in mild confusion, I know that the wolves hear it too; I can tell by the way their ears perk up. Two of them prowl to the door, and the other keeps his blank blue eyes on me.

The sound comes closer, and I frown at the sheer strangeness of it. A sort of boinging, it sounds horrendously out of place here. It reaches just outside the door and stops, the wolves ready to spring.

Then what little remains of the door explodes in a massive eruption of fire and stone, blowing a crater into the earth. The shattered shards of wolf are blown away, sailing off into the sky and in every direction. That probably actually killed them, and that takes some doing unless you're packing raw fire. There's a perky whistling as an earth pony bounces into the room, idly tossing a stick or two of some sort of explosive in her hoof. She giggles cheerfully, her flat, pink-gray mane covering nearly half of her face.

"Hey, wolfy! You want a present like your friends?"

Instinctively knowing that this pony is dangerous, the Rime Wolf begins to back up towards me. I, well, also believe that this pony is dangerous. And probably insane. She locks eyes with me and smiles wide. That expression sends chills running up and down my spine. I think I'd rather take my chances with the wolf.

It doesn't look like I have a choice, though, as she removes an odd device from her mane [1]. A collection of gears and what looks like a magical power source, I can't help but wonder what it is.

My question is answered just a moment later as she presses a button and a flame flickers to life. Her smile somehow growing even larger, she touches it to the fuse on the stick of explosives and runs at the wolf.

She's insane. There's no way she isn't absolutely bucking crazy.

When she's only a few feet away and the wolf inhales to breath a shower of icy death, she throws the explosive. The wolf looks puzzled for a few seconds, and as she darts behind the nearest cover, the bomb inside of the wolf's windpipe explodes in a shower of ice. Whistling again, she bounces over to me and smiles.

I'm covered in dead ice, terrified beyond reason, a little bit giddy from blood loss, and barely conscious. I try to shift away from her, but the pain in my shoulder is too much. I simply end up falling on the cold stone floor. Her smile drops and it looks like she's asking me something, but all I can hear is my heartbeat, which is steadily slowing down. My mouth moves in a soundless slur and I close my eyes, giving over my mind to oblivion.

I wake up.

That's a surprise in and of itself.

The second surprise is that my side is bandaged up, and while the white linen is stained with a good deal of red, it's not constantly bleeding and it's definitely less painful.

As my fuzzy eyes get used to being open again, a pink blur moves into my line of sight, a brown line running through it. It says something, and I can't quite understand it. Shaking my head lethargically to clear he cobwebs, my eyes and ears clear. The same insane pony is standing over me, a leather bandolier belt carpeted in various explosive devices wrapped around her torso. I quail slightly. After seeing just one of those in action, I'm hesitant to speak to this mare on the off chance that I offend her.

She speaks again, her tone a little bit more insistent now, and this time I can actually understand her. "Didn't you hear me? Come on, silly filly, get up!" It's the kind of thing that should be said in a whimsical tone, and to an extent, it is, but there's something behind her voice. The smile seems forced, and her eyes certainly aren't joyful. Instead, they're glimmering with a mad fire that I've only ever seen in psychopaths.

Shaking, I do as she bids, wincing and keeping my injured leg off of the floor. It's not as though I've never stood on three legs before, I suppose. I just have to take a moment to get used to it...

"Come on, follow me!"

Or not, I grouse as she pronks off through the castle halls, following her with a slow, wincing hobble. As she stops and stares back at me with wide, unblinking eyes, I flash back to the echoes hunting me through the past and shudder, increasing my pace as much as possible.

"Hey! Where are we going, anyway?"

Her smile drops. Cold sweat instantly breaks out on my forehead as she stares at me as though confused, one of her eyes twitching erratically. Somehow I feel like she'd have no problem blowing me up in a heartbeat.

Her smile returns, somehow more chilling than before, and she continues on her path, whistling an old nursery song. Shivering, I begin to move as fast as possible after her. I wouldn't relish having this madpony angry at me.

All of a sudden, she stops in front of a solid stone wall. Turning to me, she giggles—damn, her demeanor is creepy—and speaks. "You should stand back. I'm gonna blow this up!"

Taking out one of her exploding sticks, she flicks the firestarter out of her mane again. With a blur of motion, the bomb is lit and thrown, and I barely manage to get behind a stone wall before a chunk of stone wall crashes down where I was standing just a moment ago. I cautiously peek out and see her giggling to herself inside of a massive hole in the wall.

"Why in Tartarus did you do that?" I gasp, breathing heavily.

"Well, no reason. It was fun, silly!" she responds. [2]

Sighing quietly, I drag myself after her bouncing gait as she passes through the new 'hallway'. With any luck, she won't make me stay here for too much longer.

And if it's wish time, then I wish Celestia actually cared about me more than a tool. Yeah, that'd be nice.

[1]: ...Yeah, I'm not even going to ask.
[2]: And that attitude is the sum of about everything wrong with this evil pink harbinger of destruction.

By the time we arrive at our, or rather her, destination, I can barely walk. Even without use, my shoulder is painful, and I simply couldn't go fast enough for her with only three legs. My entire front-right limb is suffused with burning agony and it's legitimately almost impossible for me to stand now.

So once I enter the still-standing ruined tower and find the crazy mare sitting on her haunches and eating an unidentifiable object, I topple over, falling onto my left side and holding back tears.

Somehow the pink pony knows precisely what's wrong, and she's at my side in an instant, patting me down for wounds. Once her hoof impacts my injured shoulder I cry out, definitively alerting her. Peering at it, she sees through the temporary patch of sewn-up skin that I placed over it and clicks her tongue as though in disappointment. Out of her bandolier comes a gleaming silver object, a tiny, razor-sharp blade set into a long handle. With no hesitation or sympathy, she strikes down at me, the blade easily shearing through the skin. Blood comes pouring out of the revealed puncture wound with startling speed, and I cry out in pain. It feels like a burning iron rod just got shoved through my shoulder.

"Oh, you silly, silly pony," she laughs, "you should know better than this! How'd you get hurt so badly anyway, hmm?"

I don't answer and feel her grip tighten slightly, squeezing the gaping hole in my shoulder. Gasping in pain, I manage to choke out an answer: "...Got skewered on the spear of a Princess' past self..."

She whistles, clearly impressed by this in some perverse way. Out of a large pouch at the base of her bandolier, she pulls out a small vial of green liquid and a roll of gauze. Dripping some of the liquid onto my wound, she begins to wrap it in bandages, holding me down with iron hooves as I thrash. The green liquid is probably the worst pain I've ever felt, and I've been wounded a lot more times than one would think. I have the scars to prove it, too. This is different. It's like having your bone shattered, set wrong, and shattered again, over and over and over again.

It feels like forever until the pain dies down to bearable levels, but it's probably only a few minutes. Either way, I find to my surprise that once I manage to peel myself off of the floor, my shoulder feels significantly better. I still can't walk properly, but at least I can limp right.

Turning, I find that the pony in front of me has changed profoundly. Her mane and tail are far lighter in colour and have fluffed up to the point of looking like bizarre pink clouds. The smile on her face is still there, but somehow seems genuinely cheerful and not utterly crazy. She opens her mouth to say something, but before a sound can escape, there's a pop and her hair seems to deflate, turning back into the familiar pinkish-gray. Before I can stop myself, I groan.

Her eyes widen and snap to mine, the gentle smile instantly flashing off of her face. She stalks closer to me, hissing under her breath.

"Oh yes, I'll make them pay for keeping us up here, don't worry. Dumping us off, keeping us locked in this open prison, making sure we couldn't come back for them. Unicorns and their magic, stopping us from having our fun. I thought she was different. I thought she was nicer. I don't think she is anymore. We'll show her what kind of fun we have!" [1]

As she raises a hoof to strike me, a strangled look washes over her face and her outstretched limb twitches spastically, staying in place, refusing to fall.

Taking the opportunity and ignoring the bile in my throat at the display I'm about to put on, I step forwards and embrace her, careful to keep most of the weight on my good limb. "Don't worry," I murmur, "I'm not going to hurt you. I just need some help." What would the Princess think? The thought is amusing to me, but I bury the laughter, since her hoof has dropped and her hair is beginning to quiver.

What follows is, even after everything I've done on this ridiculous trip, one of the most surreal things I've ever seen. It's like times moves in reverse; her mane and tail puff up, exploding outwards with a noise like a trumpet. I have no idea where it comes from. A happy smile leaps to her face, and she grabs me in a crushing hug. [2]

Suddenly, I realize that she's crying. Even as the smile stays on her face, tears run down her cheeks in thick streams and she sobs. "Thank you! We've been alone here for so long that we thought nopony would ever come to help us!"

Even though she wears her heart on her nonexistent sleeves and I usually really dislike ponies like that, I find myself smiling myself as she releases me from the bear hug. "So, what's your name? And...why are you up here?"

Her smile slackens off slightly and I'm suddenly terrified that she's going to relapse back into her violent alter ego, but thankfully, she stays relatively sane. "I'm Pinkamena Diane Pie, but you can call me Pinkie!"

How creative, I think dryly, did you come up with that one yourself?

Anyway, she continues with her story, which is actually pretty dark. Apparently, she was once a member of a small group of travelers that wandered from town to town in the Lunar Sovereignty, pulling together a living off of street performances. She was a magician by trade at that point (an odd choice for an earth pony), which explains why she can pull stuff out of nowhere like I've seen her do with that firestarter device. Anyway, so they were traveling through the pass near the Canterlot Ruins when they were attacked by a ragtag group of looters. Instead of standing and fighting, the group, which was primarily composed of unicorns, tossed her back as a sort of offering as they fled. Her hoof broken on a rock, she couldn't do anything as they took her prisoner.

I'd prefer to not repeat the next part, about what they did to her. It's not what you're probably thinking, but it was pretty grim nonetheless.

Apparently, while all this happened, she wasn't able to handle it. As evident by the mark on her flank, her place in life was to entertain. She wasn't a combatant, and the thought of hurting another pony sickened her. She couldn't take what was happening anymore, though, and as a result, her mind was suffering just as much as her body was. Finally, no longer able to take the strain of conflicting desires, her mind split, fragmenting into two distinct pieces. One was Pinkie as she had been, bright and exuberant, full of joy and energy.

The other wasn't so innocent.

Over the next few months, she tore the small, disorganized group of raiders apart from the inside out, deceiving them into thinking that their own numbers were responsible. Finally, they were all dead.

That didn't change anything, though. She was unable to descend from the mountain; having tried only a few times, she barely avoided a fatal fall each time. So she was trapped up her, haunting the cold halls of the castle, subsisting off of the raiders' supplies and, when they dwindled, what little could be scavenged from the enormous ruined castle.

During this time, she found that the rocks nearby contained huge amounts of a particular mineral that, when heated, exploded quite readily. She'd used it many, many times in the past for fireworks in her performances, so she knew how to collect it safely. With so much time on her hooves, she had no problem finding the optimal way to weaponize it.

She was returning from a trip to harvest some of this mineral when she heard the Rime Wolves, which she'd long managed to avoid, hunting. That's when she found me. So now, she has a horrendous vendetta against unicorns. Living in the castle, full of its hallucinations and visions of the past, has left her mind just a few balloons short of a party.

Damn.

[1]: As you can probably imagine, hearing that wasn't the most...comforting thing at the time.
[2]: And when I say crushing, I really do mean that. I couldn't even breathe during this.

Act I, scene ix - Education, Explosions, And Electrical Storms

So.

Pinkie Pie. Pinkamena Diane Pie.

I'm in an exceedingly precarious place in life right now. As long as she stays happy, I should be fine. The instant she becomes dissatisfied, though, she'll snap and I don't know if I'll live through another of her psychotic episodes, given how many violent and brutal ways to murder me she has access to. I just need to stay here for long enough to fill my magical reserves again and then I can get as far away from this pony as possible. Until then, I'll be walking on a razor's edge.

In order to escape from her psychotic ramblings, I've taken to wandering the deeper halls of the castle. Never too deeply, though; I don't want a repeat of what happened last time. Just in case, I always take along a small knife that I 'borrowed' from Pinkie [1], using it to leave small, inconspicuous arrows on the walls to direct me back to the relative security of the tower.

So far, I've seen no echoes from the past. Maybe as long as I stay away from any of the large, important halls, I can avoid them altogether. In the absence of something trying to brutally murder me, though, I can actually look at the place around me. Sure, the walls may be carpeted in ice. Sure, there may be a distinct lack of anything alive. Sure, there may be the ever-present fear of one of Pinkie's experiments causing the whole building to collapse on my face. But even so, it's beautiful.

And I don't mean that in the "ooh look at my ostentatious, flashy dress made entirely of mirrors" beautiful. Perhaps beautiful isn't even the right word. It's perfectly at peace. Nothing moves, nothing shifts, nothing explodes unless Pinkie makes it. It makes for a nice change from all of the death that I've seen in the last while.

On the topic of 'in a while', I've completely given up measuring the time in days. Twenty-four hours is all well and good, but I don't have a reliable way to measure it. It's purposeless anyway; at this point, I just sleep until I'm not tired anymore.

So, back to the on-topic present. I'm meandering through the halls when something catches my eye. A glowing light. Looks something like a candle. Curious, I enter the doorway that it's sprouting from and find my jaw resting firmly on the floor.

A library. A massive, massive library.

Hastily hacking a mark onto the wall with the knife, I barely suppress a very undignified schoolfilly giggle and limp my way along the shelves.

Somehow, the entire place is lit up with candles. I can't even begin to imagine the kind of spell that would keep them burning for this long. Perhaps Celestia still feeds them with her light without even knowing. Maybe I can even find an answer to that question in here.

One what appears to be an ancient study table, something catches my eye; an enormous map. Dead center in the middle is a bright red pin, a tiny little flag with 'Canterlot' written on it. So, that's where I am, is it?

Eyes roving over the map, I spot an area slightly to the east of where I am now, a large expanse of beautifully rendered miniature trees labeled 'Everfree Forest'. I frown. That name has been tossed around in folklore for centuries. Supposedly, it was a beautiful forest, one of the few that governed itself without having ponies tend to it in the olden times. These days, though, most of nature does that on its own. I jump slightly as my synapses make the connection: it's smaller on the map, so I obviously wouldn't recognize it, but that forest is exactly where the heart of the Cullwood would be. [2]

Shuddering momentarily, I take my eyes off of that particular area, letting them scan the paper. In the far north, past the borders of 'Equestria', there's a small blue pin entitled 'The Crystal Empire', and almost in a mirror, in the direct south, there's a final pin, dead black, simply labeled 'The Chaos Throne'.

There are a few small sketches on the side of the map, and I look over them curiously. A trio of diamonds, a lightning bolt, a few balloons, a few other shapes that I don't recognize, my cutie mark...

Hang on.

What?

Sure enough, there it is, staring at me in plain sight, on the paper. Now that I think about it, some of the others look familiar...I can't precisely place two of them, namely the lightning bolt and the diamonds, but I definitely recognize those balloons.

That's Pinkie's mark.

I take a step back, mildly disturbed. To the tiny, perfect lines, it's Pinkie and my cutie marks outlined on a piece of paper a millennium old. I wonder; what with those echoes, were the princesses messing with the timestream, or is there another, less obvious reason?

Trying to distract myself from that quandary, I wrench my eyes away from the scribblings and cast them around at the rest of the library. It really is enormous, easily large enough to contain two or three of the library from the Solar Citadel. All of this knowledge, unknown, untouched. I wonder if there's anything here about that 'Chaos King' that Celestia's old diary had mentioned.

Combing the shelves, I use a small quantity of magic to remove some that look rather interesting. Though it's irritating, the fact of the matter is that at the point my magic is right now, I can only carry a few books, so that's how many I take. It's a cause of concern for me how slow my magic is in returning. It's generally significantly faster than this. Perhaps, once again, this castle is making things different for me. Given that, completely by my own actions, there are actually holes torn through the aether here, it's entirely possible that the ambient magic that I need to recharge my own with is leaking out through.

Grumbling, I begin to calculate briefly in my head, given the rate of how much magic I've gained in a usual day, and come up with approximately 17.33 (repeating, of course) days until my magical reserves are entirely refilled. If pressed, I can probably shave half a week or so off of that, but I'd really rather have enough to get me through the rest of my trip once I come down from this mountain.

Anyway, those books. In order, the ones I remove from the shelves are entitled

Faith, Folly, And Futility: A Dissertation On Time Divergence
Arcane Crystal Dynamics
A Theory On Destiny
and finally, A History Of Equestria, In Brief.

This should give me enough reading material to last a day or two.

[1]: She won't even know it's gone. Shut up.
[2]: I guess it found a different way to be a wilderness. After all, if most of nature acts like it, it loses the ability to defend itself. It simply got more...aggressive.

In the next few days, I do my research, becoming extremely well-read on Equestria. It seems as though it was a society approaching utopian, and they'd developed quite a few extraordinarily interesting uses for crystal in magic. My personal favorite is using it as a battery, a sort of portable storage unit from which a unicorn from siphon magic at any time. They'd even done some research on how cutie marks affect a pony's destiny and the profound mental changes that can occur as a result of tampering with such things.

The most interesting document by far, however, is the one on time divergences. I find myself endlessly fascinated by just how many possible timelines there are. In fact, every second, every microsecond, every tiny decision made by anypony in the entire world, even coincidences that occur by random chance, creates an entirely new universe and timeline all to itself. There are likely timelines in which I was never born, in which my brother lived through the attempt on his life, and probably where there is no war and Equestria continues to develop.

I have to wonder; are there ways of switching from timeline to timeline? Nopony has ever discovered one, but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Maybe...

I shake, bringing myself back to the world of the living. Seeing other futures would likely make mine seem worse. [1]

Anyhow, over the course of the next several days, I devour whole sections of the library. Turns out that using a little bit of my magic to carry the books is actually sort of stretching it, and I'm gaining it more rapidly, throwing off my calculations. Only ten days in, I can lift entire bookshelves' worth of books. Not only that, but whatever that green liquid Pinkie has is, when she's in a good mood, it can heal days' worth of injury to my shoulder at a time. In not too long, I can walk and run at nearly 100 percent.

When my magic has finally been restored to its fullest potential, I feel better than I have in quite some time. It's time to move on from this mountain, because I need to get back to what I was doing. I just hope Pinkie is content to let me leave.

[1]: Unless I happened to look in on a post-apocalypse version. That would just be flat-out depressing.

She's far more than content to let me go. In fact, she's so much more than content that she decides to tag along.

So now, I'm carefully picking my down the slopes, grumbling quietly, with Pinkie following slowly in my hoofsteps. Still, she deserves to come off of that mountain. I was only up there for two weeks or so, and it's still more than enough. I can't even imagine months, or even years, spent up there, wandering through a castle in which time is in a permanent state of flux. I wonder how long it would take me to go insane just like she did?

But those are thoughts for another time. Right now, I need to concentrate on not falling to my death.

So Pinkie and I are carefully making our way through the pass, trying to make sure that we're both safe, until the path all-too-suddenly come to an end. It drops off into a sheer cliff, falling hundreds of feet into a raging, thunderous river. Peeking over the edge, I blanch and quickly backpedal.

"We're going to have to find another way around, Pinkie. There's no way for us to get down that—"

She body-slams me off of the cliff.

"Pinkie!" I scream as we careen down towards the rapids beneath us, "Why in Tartarus would you do that!?"

"Because you can shield us with magic, silly!" she replies with a giggle.

"Are you insane?" I shriek back, momentarily forgetting who I'm talking to. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to make a magical shield that nullifies the impact from a fall this high?"

She shrugs in midair. "Nope!"

I close my eyes. Oh Celestia, she's not just insane. She's also an idiot.

It's a bit early after refilling my magic to put it to the test in such a strenuous fashion, but needs must, and I'd rather not die horribly upon falling from a cliff. Keeping my eyes tighter, I do my best to neglect how fast we're moving as my horn begins to glow. The glow quickly becomes a pulse, which becomes a strobe, which becomes a nova of brilliant purple light. Finally, as I gasp and snap my eyes open, hoping for twin spheres to appear.

They don't.

Out of a pure instinct of self-preservation, I only managed to throw up a shield around myself. Pinkie is still woefully unprotected and her eyes widen as she realizes what just happen. Her gravity-defying hair poofs into the psychopathic straightness that I've come to fear and she tears an explosive from her belt and yells at me to light it. After a brief moment of incomprehension, I realize what she's planning.

I swear, if she actually pulls this off, I'll be really, really amazed.

My horn sparks one final time and the fuse ignites. With an incoherent shout, she fastballs it down as quickly as she can. It vanishes into the water that's just thirty or so feet beneath us and for a moment, everything is silent but the wind.

Then the entire river erupts into a massive fountain of water that surges up against our falling forms.

Unbelievably, it works; I can feel myself decelerating as the mass of flying water pounds against my shield. I can hardly see Pinkie through the spray and, acting purely on instinct, I send out a strand of magic, effectively binding us together so she doesn't get swept away. It's a tenuous hold at best, though; keeping the shield up is taking nearly all of my energy. [1]

In what feels like both an eternity and only a few moments, the explosion is done and, amazingly, we're both alive. For now. Because now we're entering the river proper, and those rapids look mean.

[1]: Interesting fact about magic, for those who don't know: its flow is selective. Think of it like a window. It's a gateway to the entire sun in all its massive power and glory, but only a small amount can escape at any given time. There are only two ways for this limit to be bypassed. The first is with an intense magic surge. Emotion and magic are strongly interconnected, and an excess of either at one time can cause dangerous phenomena for the other. The other way is for a unicorn to simply overpush themselves. When somepony does this, their horn overloads and can crack, fracture, or in the worst of cases, completely shatter. The first two can heal, given enough time. The last one cannot.

So anyway, picture a piece of wood being held in front of the majority of that window. That's a spell like the shield that I was casting. Less light can enter, or rather, less magic can be used to create the tether. It's a simple self-preservation instinct to avoid horn damage.

Ow ow ow ow ow

My shield overloaded quite a while ago so that I could keep a hold on Pinkie, and now we're both careening down the intense rapids of this river. I keep looking for an eddy or a reprieve, but nothing appears. It's just raging white water for as far as I can see, in the brief moments where I actually have vision of what lies ahead. It's becoming difficult to reach air, and it feels like the rapids are only becoming worse.

As we blast down the chute of a particularly heavy whitewater, I see something in the distance, streaking towards us at absurd speeds. Before I can actually see what it is, though, I go under again. This time, though, I can't come up. The water is just too fast, and my breath is starting to burst inside of my chest. Too much. Just too much. Damn it, Pinkie... is the last thing I think before I can't stop myself anymore and begin to inhale a huge lungful of water.

There's a flash of scorching moonlight above my head, and it takes me a moment to register that I'm ascending at a mildly ridiculous pace, and actually breathing air. The magical leash is still holding and Pinkie is trailing behind me, eyes wide with fear as she watches the ground drop away from beneath her. Then I look up at what's holding me and see the last thing I ever expected.

"Dash?!"

Sure enough, Commander Dash is hauling me and, by extension, Pinkie, out of the river, saving us from certain death. Only one thing is really running through my befuddled mind now:

Why?

Perhaps thirty seconds later, Dash drops us unceremoniously onto a field of dry, unhealthy-looking grass. She glares at me, venom in her eye, and I quail in front of her icy stare.

"Let me be very clear with you, Sparkle," she begins, her voice soft and deadly serious, "Just because I saved you doesn't make us allies or friends. I cannot in good conscious watch a pony die by drowning. On the other hand, I would have no qualms about killing you here and now if it wasn't for your magic."

I nod without speaking. She's actually legitimately frightening. [1]

As she turns away from me, I pose a question to her. "How did you know where I was? I thought you'd be a long way away by now."

Her head turns back, a mirthless smile on it. "I've been following you. Eventually, there's going to be a chance for me to get my revenge, and you can bet that I'm going to be taking it."

There's a brief hiss behind me and Dash's eyes widen. It's Pinkie, or rather, Pinkie's manic state—I'll just call her Mena from now on, I suppose—and she looks absolutely furious. "Is she threatening our friend? Yes, she is. Don't worry. I'll take care of her!"

She lunges at the pegasus, who flinches backwards instinctively before I grab Mena with my magic, watching with surprise at how angry she is. Perhaps getting her off of that mountain cemented me as a friend in her mind? I'll ask later. As of now, I'm more concerned about the horizon.

"Uh, Dash?"

She grumbles angrily and looks at me in irritation. "What is it now?"

I point with a hoof at a black cloud that hangs over the land in the distance, occasional flashes of glaring blue lightning erupting throughout. My voice is audibly shaking as I ask, "What in Equus is that?"

She laughs grimly. "Oh, didn't you know? That's where we're going." I cock my head inquisitively and she bares her teeth in a predatory smile. "It's the Chasmlands." [2]

[1]: Occasionally, Dash manages to stop being an idiot for a few moments, and when she does, then she's really something to be feared.
[2]: So from what I can tell about maps, Pinkie and I dropped into the river at a point which is much more southern than the edge of Cullwood, and then we were carried southeast on the river, and then Dash flew us south. All in all, we were actually far closer than before.

Act I, scene x - Chasmlands

I can feel Dash's single eye boring into my back as I trot towards the ominous cloud hanging in the distance. She's daring me to drop my guard; I know it. I can feel her just waiting to sink her spear into my back as soon as I stop expecting it. Consequently, I'm extraordinarily tense as I walk. Mena is walking next to me, mumbling almost constantly under her breath. It's infuriating, but I know that she at least has my back now. Probably. With crazy ponies, you can never really tell, but it certainly took some doing to calm her down and stop her from trying to rip out Dash's throat.

In due time, we're nearly there, and I can feel what Marks was talking about. My arcane sense is picking up what looks approximately like a wall of sheer, lethal magical force only a few feet in front of me. I stop short, and Dash grumbles, trying to pull me along.

"Dash! Stop it! If I go any more in this direction, I'll be dead before you can blink!"

Well, that certainly stops her in a hurry.

I'm pretty sure that the only reason she hasn't attacked me already is because she still wants the Chalice, but doesn't want to actually work to get it. That, or she just wants to parade me in front of the Princess before murdering me in one of quite a few gruesome ways. Either way, she needs me alive, so she grudgingly ceases her movement and drops to the ground.

"Alright, Sparkle, make it quick. Why can't you go there?"

The words rush out in a flood, and I explain to her in no uncertain terms exactly what the conduction properties of a horn would do in the presence of that much raw magic, right down to the grisly details. I can see her eye widening fractionally and her lips part in a sudden intake of breath. I'm pretty sure she also goes pale. [1]

"Still," she grunts, "I'll get you in there somehow. If there are restriction rings that block magic from escaping the horn, then there are similar devices that stop magic from entering it, right?"

I snort. "Yeah, sure, if you're willing to fly to the heart of the Solar Dominion and retrieve one of the two known Aegis rings from a magically sealed vault under the protection of the Guard's best soldiers. Even so, I don't think even one of those could stand this kind of force." I'm distracted for a moment by how easily she can fly through it and frown. "You can't feel anything? Nothing at all?"

She shrugs, shaking her head. I'm now thoroughly confused. Either modern science is wrong on many accounts of how magical conductivity works with different pony tribes, or there's something very strange at work in the Chasmlands. That much sheer magical force should at best render her unable to fly, and at worst, tear her wings straight off, enter her body and poison her blood until she can't sustain herself anymore. In a way, the instant unicorn brand of death is much better.

Moot point, though, because she's just kinda...casually flapping through it. I glare at her wings enviously. Must be nice to have a completely closed system...

Wait. That's it.

With a brief pulse of magic, I prepare for the worst and step forwards. Luckily for me, it worked; I've managed to step into the place by essentially shutting my own leylines. My head is entirely unsplattered, so that's a definite plus.

That said, now I can't cast any magic at all. After all, it's a two-way street. In order to use magic, you have to let magic use you. And this magic is...angry. It's so intense that I can actually feel it. This magic is unbelievably, irredeemably angry. I don't know how. I didn't even know magic could be angry. It's an unconscious, universal force, not a living being. With all logic factored in, it shouldn't feel emotion.

I shudder at the raw intensity of the rage surrounding me, and force myself to move forwards. Dash yawns and smirks at me, lounging on her back in the air. I'm not even sure how that's possible, but I glare at her all the same, each step an arduous journey further and further into this place from which I have no guarantee of escape. Mena follows me, staring with an angry, predatory gaze at Dash, hoof resting on her belt of pyrotechnics. At least she's got my back, though I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not.

[1]: I have to hand it to her. She's not intelligent, but she's smart enough to know when she's in over her head, and generally, that's when things are beginning to get magical.

Exhaustion.

Pure and unrefined.

Just
plain
exhaustion.

It's barely been even a single mile, but the sheer pressure of the magic all around me has crushed me down to the ground. It's even starting to affect Dash and Mena, though nowhere near as bad. Dash has to flap twice as much to keep in the air and I can see sweat beading on her brow. As for the third pony, I'm not really comfortable around her; it's probably a product of the wild magic all around us, but she's been switching between Mena and Pinkie erratically and very rapidly.

Other than that, well. I can now no longer walk.

Inconvenient, no?

Regardless, I can't keep going, but at the same time, I can't let myself stop. Dash is already impatient with me. If I spend any more time doing something that isn't moving, she may decide to get violent. I'm between a rock and a hard place right now. On one hoof, I could stay here and gradually make my way back to the border of the Chasmlands. If you want the highest chance of survival, there you go. However, that's not really a possibility. If decide to do that, I have no physical way to defend myself from Dash's spear, and I doubt Mena—no, wait, she's Pinkie now—can hold her off alone.

And on the other hoof, I can struggle to my hooves and find a way to keep moving. The further into the Chasmlands I travel, the slower I'll be able to move. If I go far enough, though, I might be able to render Hurricane unable to keep her grip on her spear. At this point, I'm pretty much completely out of options. [1]

I strain in exertion, grunting as I heave myself back to my hooves. Squaring my shoulders, I keep trekking gamely on, every step taking more out of me than the last.

[1]: Well, I could always unbind my own leylines and let nature take care of the rest, but I think I'd rather be alive.

A little ways longer, and Dash can no longer keep her wings moving. She's been forced down to the ground. Pinkie has been affected the least, I think. She can still move with relative ease, but she's gone quiet and seems really subdued, to the point that I'm actually worried about her. No matter what state she's in, she's always been talkative. Seeing her like this is a little bit disturbing.

As for me, I can barely move.

My steps have slowed down to a snail's pace and shortened until I'm barely even moving, and my face has gone pale and sweat-streaked. The black cloud above me, coupled with the constant night, has me almost completely blind, except for arcs of blue lightning that crackle ominously above me. Finally, I see before me what gives the Chasmlands their name.

Stretching out into the distance, linking with many more of the same sort before vanishing into the network, is an enormous rupture in the earth that bleeds an effluent pale-green light. I plod the last few steps to come within hoof's reach of it and then stop, collapsing to the ground as I heave in breaths. It throws up what is essentially a wall in front of me, a barrier of pure arcane force, impassible, pulsing with raw, deadly energy.

Even with my leylines tied up, I can tell that I would die if I touched that. In fact, it's likely that Dash also would. Mena wouldn't last a second. Wild magic is dangerous stuff, and this is as wild and untamed as it gets.

The Chasmlands was created in the first real battle of the war, several hundred years ago. This was before Luna and the Princess commanded their armies from the rear. They dueled each other on this field, and their magic clashed together, screaming against itself in a cosmic war. When the battle finally ended, they were the only two left standing, and they retreated to nurse their wounds. The Princess fled to the Eastern Plains, while Luna hid herself away in the mountains to the west. Since then, they haven't come to the front lines. That's probably a good thing; the last thing we need is to make the whole of Equus into one enormous Chasmland.

Act I, final scene: The Chalice Of Tannenwyl

I stumble weakly along on the hard, rocky ground. It scrapes my fur, occasionally reaching to my skin and leaving small, bloody cuts. Beside me is Mena, mumbling to herself as she plods heavily along, and Dash, who's panting and wheezing, strung out several feet behind me. I get the feeling that she's not used to walking long distances, especially not when being beaten down by this kind of immense magical pressure. For that matter, neither am I; sleep sounds really good right about now. Can't happen, though. Not while Dash is still conscious, and not while my magic is still locked up tight.

The deadly fissures in the earth spiderweb around us, each tossing up the same glow. At this point, my ears are constantly filled with a crackling static from the magic around me. If I exposed my arcane circuit right now by untangling my leylines, I wouldn't even have time to feel the pain before the gruesome death that would follow. First, my horn would completely shatter. Then all of the magic in the air and earth around me would get pulled through the now-open conduit where my horn was, into the magical vacuum-space that is my body. It's like equalizing pressure. And an equine body can't handle all of that magic at one time. I would quite literally explode.

As I continue on my shambling way, I hit a stone and pitch forwards, no longer strong enough to keep myself from falling over. My face wearily casts forwards as I lay on the ground, and it's then that I see it on the flat horizon, maybe half a mile away. The crack in front of me is no mere crack; it's the epicenter of the Chasmlands. Every split, every fissure, every hole; all of them run together, linking into this one place, this gaping, glowing ravine. It has none of the calm green effluence shared by the rest of this place's magic. Instead, the spectral flames that seep out are a roiling hell of monochrome chaos, black and white lashes blazing up into the sky

Dash takes one look at it and her face goes flat. One word comes out of her strained mouth:

"Nope." [1]

She makes a quick about-face and begins to walk back slowly towards the direction we came from. As I make to follow her, I find a spear pressing up against my throat, the point quivering with strain.

"Sorry, Sparkle, but you're staying here until I have that Chalice in my hooves. If you try to get out, I'll know. Trust me on that."

With that, she turns once more, resuming her backwards slog. I swallow hard. If there's one thing that I know about Dash, it's that she doesn't make empty threats. Shakily rising to my hooves, I finally make the last piece of the arduous hike, collapsing exhausted onto my side only a foot or so from the great chasm. The ground around me flickers with eerie dappled light and the magic is the greatest it's been as of yet. I can feel me head beginning to ache where my horn attaches to it.

Then I see it.

Jammed between two crags of rock in the center of the chasm, a tiny golden star is gleaming, flickering just past my vision. I can barely see the light reflecting off of it, but I can see what it is all the same. A great golden cup, the storm of intense wild magic parting calmly around it like a river around a great boulder. The object of my search, the point of my ingress into the Sovereignty.

The Chalice of Tannenwyl.

The point stands, though. How in the Princess' name am I going to get it out of there?

In a few hours of just sitting and resting somewhat (though the pressure around me is making it difficult to actually gain any energy), I have a tenuous plan formed in my head, and a lot of it revolves around several different unknowns. Pinkie's gone at this point. Once her hooves started to bleed, she decided that following me wasn't worth death and skipped out. Literally. Still, that makes it a little easier, I guess. No burden and all that. Swallowing with nerves, I slowly put my hoof forwards, into the fires of the chasm.

A searing pain blasts through my body and I recoil, screaming hoarsely. The skin has been stripped from that part of my hoof, letting the blood flow freely, pouring into the ground. Well, that was a learning experience. I suppose it's better than it could've been. I didn't die, after all. Yet. Because as my blood seeps into the ground, it conducts the storming magic, which comes roaring up the trail and towards my exposed bloodstream. I close my eyes tightly. It's over. I'm done. [2[

Then I realize that I'm not dead.

My eyes flit open, and in front of me is somepony I was sure I would never see again: a white unicorn, body covered in a homespun brown frock, eyes narrowed as a magical wall breaks the path of the rampaging magic.

"Jeez...you really are hopeless without me, aren't you, Sparkle?"

Marks.

Exhausted, delirious and having just been saved from death, I throw myself around her in a hug, sobbing. "Why did you come back?" I wheeze out, "Thank you, but why did you come back for me?"

She grins wryly. "Luna told me to."

Those four words confuse me more than many of the things that happened on this trip. "Buh...how did she know where I was?"

She points to the sky. "The Oculi." she chuckles. "They're a bit more subtle than your Princess' Effigies." I wince at the reminder, but still stare at her with vague curiosity. Acknowledging that, she continues: "Instead of stars, Luna calls them her Oculi. Each one is like an eye that she can see through, so she knows pretty much everything about her kingdom as long as what she's watching can see the stars. And vice versa. Some say they can even look through time."

I nod slowly before speaking. "And...how are you still alive?" Seriously, this is an important question. Her horn is uncovered, leylines likely unbound. For Celestia's sake, she's actually using her magic. Why isn't she dead as a stone?

She sticks out her hoof, and in the dim light of the chasm, I can see a thin membrane of dark blue magic sitting around her like an aura. "I got Luna's blessing. It took some doing, but I finally convinced her that you were worth saving. She wouldn't tell me what happened to change her mind, but she mentioned something about time itself slipping, then told me to come get you and the Chalice both."

She saved my life, but still. I'm hesitant about putting the Chalice in Lunar hooves. Then again, since I've been over here, the Princess has been exploding many innocent civilians with her effigies. Luna seems to know something about what's going on.

Also, there's the small matter that without Marks here, I'd be dead. And she could easily just leave.

I nod slowly, and Marks grins. "That's all I needed to see." The glimmering point of gold slowly lifts itself from the rolling fire, wrapped in Marks' telekinesis, and gently plops to the ground before me. As I reach my hoof out to touch it, I can see Marks' horn glowing, and then the world is white with the flare of teleportation.

The next thing I know, I'm in a throne room. Built of solid black stone resembling obsidian, it's beautiful, but the main centerpiece isn't the room, nor the silver throne within it, but the pony that sits on said throne, flanked by two ponies in full armour.

Princess Luna.

Up close, she looks a lot less cruel than she always did on the battlefield. As she rises and slowly trots to me, she begins to speak, and I'm struck by just how gentle her voice is.

"Twilight Sparkle. That is your name, is it not?"

My voice audibly shakes as I reply. "T-That's right, Princess."

She titters briefly. "Please, just Luna is fine. I have no great need for honorifics in the same way that my sister does. Now, Ms. Sparkle, I understand that Celestia sent you over here to retrieve the Chalice of Tannenwyl, yes?" I nod dumbly and she continues. "What you may not know is that the Chalice that my faithful marksmage Rarity holds beside you isn't the real Chalice. No, I'm afraid that the real Chalice of Tannenwyl is lost to legend."

I have no words, and as she continues, things only get more complicated. "Celestia knows this. We discussed it at great length once, a very long time ago. No, she sent you over to my Sovereignty for one simple reason: she wanted you to die. Or more accurately, she wanted you to be killed." My mouth drops open, and she holds up a silver-shod hoof, forestalling me from asking anything. "Please, let me continue. You see, Celestia believes you a threat to her power, and credibly so. You are indeed extraordinarily powerful, perhaps even enough to depose her with the support of her subjects. For this reason, she fears you. If she killed you herself, though, there would be quite the uproar, no? So instead, she sent you on a suicidal mission, and occasionally actively attempted to kill you with her solar flames."

My mind flashes back to the Solar Effigies, and a great many puzzle pieces begin to fall into place as Luna continues.

"My sister is...not herself. You were in the ruins of Canterlot, if I'm not mistaken, and I felt as though somepony was treading upon my grave. So you saw the echoes, then." She pauses for a moment as if to collect herself. "Celestia was...a great deal different back in those days." Her horn glows brightly and a picture comes to life before her, displaying itself to me as a scene of a much younger pair, her and the solar Princess, running happily through a field. "We ruled the land known as Equestria together, and there was a golden age of peace and prosperity spearheaded by such wondrous ponies as Starswirl the Bearded and Clover the Clever, the latter of whom was a dear friend of mine."

The moving picture slowly grows darker and a snakelike figure superimposes itself atop it. "Then a survivor of a dead race from long, long ago, the Draconequui, returned for what it referred to as vengeance, and a great deal of war and chaos took place." Once more, the picture rearranges, finally concluding over the ashes of a crumbled castle. "Though we succeeded in stopping the creature, a set of crucially important artefacts was shattered in the process, and from there..." she bows her head, "...it was only a matter of time." The picture collapses and she turns and makes her way back to her black and silver throne. Marks, or Rarity, I suppose, cuts in:

"When she saw you crossing the border, Luna knew she could turn this to her advantage and try to reason with you, so she sent me to you. You know the rest from there. Though I must admit, I didn't quite expect Celestia to attack you in the way that she did."

Luna, at this point resting once more on her throne, nods. "Even I had no idea that she would go to such great lengths to try and kill her own student. I assure you, she was once a very different pony. Somepony as she is today could never have wielded the Elements."

Now it's my turn to speak. "I have no idea what to say." Excellent start there, Sparkle. "If what you're telling me is true, Luna, then there are a great many things that you need to clear up. For example: why did you wait so long to bring me here?" Now that I've gotten the ball rolling, I'm actually getting pretty angry. "If you'd just brought me here right away, not only could you have saved me the trauma of going through the Cullwood, but you could've saved quite a few lives from the Effigies. How does it feel, having all of those ashes on your hooves?" [3]

Luna's eyes narrow and her horn sparks. Her voice, when she speaks, is deliberate and soft, but rumbles threateningly, like a far-off storm drawing steadily closer. "Yes, I would agree that it would've been better if my subjects were alive. However, I needed to see if you could reach the Chasmlands. It may please you to know that I tried my best to save some of the citizens of Moonscry, though. Though several died, most of them will live, albeit with scarring. The same cannot be said of the burned-alive guard patrol on the road near the Canterlot pass." Ouch. I can recognize an angry, cutting response when I hear one, and that one cuts deep. My eyes drop.

"I'm...sorry about that. I was in a mildly precarious mental state at the time. My magic had surged recently and my reserves were running low, and Marks had just abandoned me after seeing me speaking with an Effigy." At this, Luna lets out a choking sound and starts upright.

"She saw you what? She never reported such a thing to me. You actually spoke with one of those images? I thought they were beings of mere fire! You say they are intelligent?"

I put my hoof to my chin. "Well, intelligent is a bit stretching it, but they can understand common Equus and can recognize a threat. It bolted because it knew I could destroy it, no matter if I died later, and it does have a basic self-preservation instinct. But enough about the magical theory of the Effigies," I continue before Luna can interrupt, "Why did you want me brought here?"

"Simple." she replies, with a trace of smugness. "I want you to fight for me."

As my mouth opens to form a protest, she raises a hoof to stop me. "Please, do not misunderstand me. If you do not agree to these conditions, I will be...not happy, precisely, but agreeable to letting you return to the Solar Dominion. Failing that, you could become one of my subjects. I will explain myself further later. But first," she chuckles, "you must be utterly exhausted. A chamber has been prepared for you. Sleep for a time, and then we will discuss more."

As I fall asleep in a criminally comfortable bed, only one thought is running through my head:

This has been a very, very strange day.

[1]: My thoughts exactly.
[2]: I've noticed that, when death looks inevitable, I have an irritating habit of doing that.
[3]: I really need to curb my tendency to lash out at all-powerful god-rulers.

After I awake from my exceedingly long sleep, I take a moment to collect myself and think before going to find something to eat. As always, everything itemizes easily in my mind, forming a simple list:

1: The magically-stripped hoof is now intact.
2: I am in the Lunar sanctum, in the far western mountains.
3: I have been offered a position in the Lunar army (presumably), by Luna herself.
4: I have no idea whether or not I wish to take her up on that offer.
5: Celestia wishes to kill me to keep her hold on the Dominion secure.
And finally, 6: I still have no idea who Marks really is, and what she's really after.

With that out of the way, I begin my quest for the first decent breakfast I've had for a long time, and as I meander into the kitchens, I find it in spectacular manner. There's an enormous spread laid out before me. Fruits I don't recognize, scents I don't know, and of course the ever present deliciousness of oats. I eagerly set about sampling everything, finally becoming full nearly an hour later. Nearly as soon as this occurs, of course, Luna enters and laughs faintly.

"I see you've found the breakfast that I've laid out for you, Ms. Sparkle. I trust you enjoyed your meal? Good. Now, let us discuss what I mentioned last time we spoke." I swallow.

"At this point, Luna, I can't give you an answer. There are still a lot of things that I need to think over before I can even remotely consider your offer. But I won't decline it outright, because I've seen Celestia at her worst, and it involved a lot of fire and a lot of dead ponies." Luna nods.

"That is all that I ask, Ms. Sparkle. You are welcome in my citadel for as long as it takes for you to make your decision, and will be treated as an honored guest."

Well, I suppose I'm going to be here for a while. I don't know whether or not this is comfortable or not, but you know what?

At least the food is good. [1]

[1]: Priorities, right there. I've got them straight, alright.

Author's Note

O HAI GUEIS.

I'M NOT DEAD.

Act II, scene i - Excursion

Back in my tower room, I'm lying on my bed, relishing the feeling of a mattress under my weight. I haven't had this for quite a long time, after all, barring that one town that the Effigy demolished. Despite myself, I shiver. I don't think I'll ever get over that moment. [1]

A knock at the door startles me and I jolt upright. It's been about a week since I was brought to the Lunar Sanctum, as the princess of the night insists is her palace's name, and over the course of this time, I've been entertaining some rather deep thoughts about the nature of my relationship with Celestia, and what I would have to lose by forfeiting her for Luna. The conclusion? Not that much. Though I faithfully served the Princess for a long time, there's no lost love between us.

See, my mother was her foremost propagandist, and I'm certain that Celestia knew for quite a long time that I was a magical prodigy for quite some time before my mother died from a highly experimental medical procedure to repair her horn, which had been shattered a few months prior by a mugger in one of the dark allies that were so common in the city beneath the Solar Citadel. She had escaped with her typewriter, her most precious possession, intact, but the same could not be said of her magic. For those few months she'd had to rely on somepony else to transcribe her words and, an admittedly highly paranoid mare, she only trusted me.

So I guess I'd been indoctrinated on Solar propaganda since I was very young. During that time, Celestia probably noticed how quickly I typed, or how accurately, or both. She must've seen something in me that she decided to foster, and once my mom died, she took me in as a student (my father, or so I'm told, died in a teleportation accident).

So I mean, what choice did I really have? She certainly didn't ask all nicely, with please and thank you. No, she marched up to me and announced, I quote, "You're going to be my student now. Now, go and begin to prepare for your first lesson. You have one day," than marched right off again. [2]

In those first few sessions of training, I saw a few things that I never, never want to see again. The worst was the basic combat training lesson, only my second time learning from her. She didn't teach me pressure points and bones on a dummy. No, she brought in a terrified little pegasus and had me snap her wings in far too many different ways, magically sealing them back together afterwards. Though Celestia dulled her pain, leaving just numbness, it was still way too far. She was such an innocent little filly, too. No anger in those teal eyes, only terror. [3] Her beautiful fur was more bloody red than yellow by the time I finished with her. I wonder if she's still alive; I never saw her again.

So yeah, suffice it to say that, now that there's a viable alternative, I don't have much loyalty to the solar regent, when all is said and done. In fact, my faith in her has gradually been winding down since I started this little journey.

So I guess it's not much of a surprise, to me or to Luna, when I approach her in the banquet hall at dinner and tell her that I'm in.

"Excellent!" she crows. "With you on our side, we just may be able to...stop my sister!" I smile uneasily at her for a few moments before breaking the newborn silence.

"So, uh, Luna," I begin clumsily, "what exactly is it that you want me to do for you?"

She grins. "Well, Twilight Sparkle, what I want you to do for me is simple: go home." I'm momentarily befuddled before she continues. "I need a spy, Twilight. The perpetual day on the Solar side of Equus makes it impossible for me to use my Oculi. I need eyes on Celestia, and you would be perfect. See, she doesn't actually know that you know about her scheme to kill you. If you return with the fake chalice, she'll be forced to let you back in with honors." Her grin widens and I realize something: she's enjoying this. A lot. [4]

[1]: Unbelievably, I eventually did. It took a great deal of thought (and perhaps some therapy), but I stopped having nightmares about that particular night a little while ago.
[2]: Originally she was a massive stickler for being on time, with pretty harsh punishments for tardiness. Once I started staying up really late, though, she let up a bit.
[3]: I will never, never forgive myself for going along with this. At the time, it was to please my teacher, and in doing so, I subjected a poor, innocent filly to more horror than she'd ever felt before by miles.
[4]: That's Luna, alright. Princess of the night and queen of subterfuge go hoof in hoof.

Cut to a couple hours later and I've been outfitted with the fake Chalice. It had initially been enchanted with some sort of magic that makes spells slip off, so I have no idea how Marks levitated it, but regardless, it's been nestled firmly in my diligently-reproduced saddlebags. As I'm escorted to the border in a sky chariot all-too-similar to the ones that Celestia uses, Luna begins to speak again.

"You're going to need to make the fake escape convincing. Act stealthy, but when you hear the alarm, start running. The guards will launch some spells at you, but they'll all miss as long as you keep running in a straight line. Once you reach your side of the border, tell the guards that you need to speak with Celestia immediately."

I nod, digesting the plan of action as she continues. "You'll have a contact in the city. I won't tell you who it is, in case the guards manage to get it out of you somehow, but trust me, you'll recognize them. They'll report to me every week with what you tell them about the goings-on in the Citadel. So, that's about it," she chuckles, stepping from the chariot as it lands. "Good luck, Twilight Sparkle."

So now I'm on the other side of that barren wall that I first sneaked through. My thoughts? The terrain is still hostile and unforgiving, but at least I have the capacity to appreciate it now.

Luna leads me to the very same wall door that I snuck in through when this all started. The irony isn't lost on me, and I chuckle. This definitely isn't how I was expecting to go through it again. I lay my hoof on the door and close my eyes, and Luna speaks one more time: "Alright, Twilight, this is it. Once this door opens, you're officially Celestia's prized pupil again, and you need to be in-character all the time. Are you ready?"

I breathe deeply for a few moments, and then my eyes snap open. "Yes," I murmur, with quiet conviction, "I'm ready."

I nudge the wall-door aside and begin to sneak back to the borders of home. About ten feet out from the wall, a great bell tolls on the Lunar side, and ponies begin to shout. I break into a fast gallop, bolting back to the Solar Dominion as spells of ice and lightning splash to the ground beside me. Solar guards, seeing me coming from about a mile off, sprint towards me, throwing up great domes of magical force that repel the offensive spells. Among what are perceived as friendly hooves, I can slow my pace somewhat, breathing heavily. As soon as we're out of spell range of the great Lunar wall, I turn to the captain of the guards.

"I need to be taken to Ce—to the Princess right away." I demand, slipping up faintly. I'd grown used to calling her Celestia when I dwelt in the Lunar Sanctum. Calling her Princess again would take some getting used to. The captain eyes me oddly, but acquiesces, hastily shoving me into yet another sky chariot. [1] It's not long before my eyes are greeted, for the first time in many days, by the sight of the solar citadel.

As the chariot comes to a quick stop just in front of the drawbridge, I nod at the two guards that pulled me here and smile at them. They don't seem to notice how glassy the smile is, though, because they returned it wholeheartedly and fly off once more. I gulp, levitating my saddlebags off of my back as I step through the gate, heart pounding in my ears.

The throne room is just as I remember it. For a moment, I picture it encrusted in ice and chuckle to myself briefly before abruptly stopping. Out from behind the throne has stepped the solar monarch: Princess Celestia.

"Well, Twilight," she begins, voiced laced, it's now clear to me, with restrained amusement (and not the good kind), "I see that you've returned. Tell me," she nearly sneers, "did you retrieve the Chalice?"

I'm proud of what comes next: I pull my part off beautifully. After so many years of doing it normally, playing the part of the devoted student is comforting, almost. I feel like I'm playing a farce of my past self. Smiling proudly (and in a mildly vacuous fashion as well, as I used to), I levitate my saddlebags over to her. "I'm sorry, Princess, but I can't levitate the Chalice by itself. It repels magic."

She opens up the saddlebags and, to her credit, does an excellent job of concealing her surprise. "I must admit, I didn't expect you to succeed, though I certainly hoped you would." What a laugh. She smiles, and from here, it almost seems genuine."Well, Twilight Sparkle, it is good to have you back. You may spend the rest of your time, until you sleep, as you see fit. [2]

Well, I take full advantage of what she said. As long as I can spend the rest of my time freely for a while, might as well do some espionage, am I right? For starters, Luna needs to know about the Solar military, so using my authority, I access the army records to see what kind of force she's—we're—up against. As far as I can tell, Celestia has under her command three corps of ground soldiers, about 15,000 ponies each, and three battalions of combat mages. [3] The First Battalion is composed entirely of battlemages. Unsurprisingly, Celestia has a certain fondness for fire, so while there are a few listed that specialize in electrical attacks, or other assorted elements, the First Battalion is composed mostly of fire mages, the greatest of which is one "Firelock," who also happens to be the commander of the battalion. If Luna can come up with a sufficient amount of water mages to counter them, they could cripple the magical offense of the Solar army.

The Second Battalion are combat medics, who have quite a great knowledge of restorative and sheild spells and use them to keep soldiers fighting long after they should've died. My brother aspired to be a member of this branch, if I'm not mistaken, before he was assassinated. They even have a couple less moral spells. The most commonly used in the past has been a spell called Nerve Numb, which renders soldiers unable to feel pain, so they can keep fighting until they cannot physically move. They are led by a healer who only refers to herself as Flit. A few notes have been made about looking for insubordination or treason in her, but as there's not been any confirmation, I can only assume that she still leads them. [4]

Finally comes the Third Battalion, and perhaps the most insidious. The are what are collectively referred to in the Dominion as Intellemancers, mages specializing in working with the enemies' minds. They specialize in three distinct branches: Illusiomancers, who can create massive illusions to fool enemies; Imperiamancers, who enter the enemies' minds and use them as pawns to fight their own allies; and finally, Inquisiomancers, who use their mental abilities to discover enemy plans, diversions and strategies. There's not really a great way to counter them, because it takes a lot of time and effort to learn how to shield one's mind against magical assault, but it takes a lot out of the Intellemancers to keep it up for any duration. If we could take out their leader, who demands to be called Doctor, we might be able to cripple their efforts.

Committing all of that to memory, I quickly excuse myself. If I stay in there too long, ponies might get suspicious, and if they dig too deeply, I don't know what they'll find. I still haven't recognized anypony as my contact, and I'm starting to become nervous.

With that done, I grab a quick bite to eat from the kitchen and walk slowly to my chambers. [5] Flopping down on my bed, I suddenly realize that I'm utterly exhausted. Casting a quick magical charm to activate the windows, I sigh in contentment as the windows darken. I haven't been able to reveal it to anypony, but after being in Lunar lands for so long, the sun sears my eyes. Pulling the covers over myself, I relax and prepare for sleep.

Creak

In a flash, I'm standing up. My window's open now. What? How? The wind is cold, and I begin to slowly backtrot towards the wall, when I catch a twitch out of the corner of my eye. Breathing deeply, I turn to the intruder, horn already charged...

What.

I sigh. "You know, if you wanted to exact revenge, you could've done it more easily elsewhere, Dash."

The Stormwind Valkyrie comes towards me, a cocksure grin on her face. "Please, nopony in this city can catch me. Anyway, that's not what I'm here for.

Well, color me surprised. "Well, what then? Spit it out!"

She chuckles. "Didn't Luna tell you? I'm your contact."

Thanks a lot, Luna.

[1]: I don't know if I've said it yet, but I hate those things.
[2]: I must say, I never thought that I'd ever hear Celestia say something like that.
[3]: I always wince when I read about this kind of thing. According to historical records, each army used to be massive. I'm talking a few million strong on either side when the war started. Then the war went on...and on...and on. Each battle chipped away a little bit more, and now there are so few left on either side that it must be a farce compared to what it used to be.
[4]: When I meet her, things get really, really crazy. I never expected anything like this to be the direction her life took. Trust me, you'll get it.
[5]: Say what you will about the Solar Dominion; they still make the best food.

Author's Note

Wow, I actually made it to Act II. I really never thought I would write this thing for that long. Thanks to all who kept it going, and especially for Lost_Marbles for his super helpful chapter reviews that kept this whole thing rolling.

Act II, scene ii - A Meeting With The Commander

Okay, so...I have many, many questions.

"How on Equus did Luna persuade you to be my contact? You hate me! I killed Skahaben!" I begin to shake. "I killed a lot...a lot of pegasi, and I still haven't forgiven myself. I can't possibly believe that you did."

She starts, a sorrowful expression on her face, and drops her head, not looking me in the eyes. "I won't lie," she starts slowly, "and it's true, I do hate you. You killed most of the ponies that I've ever loved. But Luna..." Her head snaps up and she looks me dead in the face. "Luna convinced me that any pony deserves another chance, and that if I helped you, you could change the world." She lifts up one of her shaking front hooves, clenching and unclenching it slowly. "So yes, I really do hate you. It's taking a lot of self control to not punch you until you're a bloody pulp, but I made a promise to Luna and, by extension, to you." Her rose-hued eyes glint in sunlight that filters through the open window. "What kind of pony would I be if I broke that, hmm?" [1]

I'm sure it's just a trick of the light, but I could swear that her cutie mark just flickered with light.

[1]: This is where I stopped abjectly hating Dash, and started respectfully hating her. That's progress, right?

So I guess Dash is going to be rooming with me for a while. My chambers are large and lavish, with quite a few guest rooms, so she has no trouble finding a place to hide her thin, athletic frame should anypony come knocking unexpectedly. I spend a few minutes discussing the army with her before, exhausted by the day and by the utter absurdity of allying with Dash, I collapse into bed, willing myself to sleep.

Upon waking up, I'm greeted by good old Swift Quill. Overcome by a sudden surge of affection for the acerbic old stallion, I smile and hug him tightly. Evidently unsure of what to do, he stands there bewildered and stiff as a board until I release my grip.

"Um..." he trails off, apparently quite confused. I laugh and ruffle his hair, prompting an irritated shake, before he offers me a scroll. "Well, Twilight," he starts, "that was...something. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have business to attend to." I smile fondly at him as he trots off. It's quite obvious that he has no idea what just happened, and I chuckle briefly before looking down at the letter. Well, what do you know? It's not Celestia. In fact, if I'm not mistaken, this is the personal seal of Firelock, head of the First Battalion. I frown for a moment. That was fast.

"Hey, Dash!" I call softly, "I need to go see somepony important. Don't do anything unusually stupid until I get back!"

She lifts her head from where she's trying to sleep, eyes without humor, and grumbles angrily before slumping back down, curling up like a cat. Sparing a moment to chuckle once more, I step out of the door and, reading the scroll, find it a simple invitation to a meeting, followed by a room number in the barracks.

A few minutes later, I find myself in front of door A-1-1. Barracks A, Battalion 1, Position 1. Commander. Knocking gingerly on the door, I start backwards as I hear quite a young voice from inside.

"Come in!"

Opening the door, I step through. Wow. Firelock is young. Seriously, I think she's only a little more than half my age.

Seeing my surprise, she lets loose a schoolfilly giggle. "Aah, I love it when ponies look like that. Being the youngest to ever become a Commander is certainly a fun ride when you get to tell ponies on the street that you answer directly to the Princess. Anyway," she sticks out an orange hoof, "I'm Firelock, but you probably knew that anyway. It's a pleasure, Miss Twilight."

"Likewise," I respond in a slightly strangled tone. Seriously, this is the foremost pyromancer in the Solar Dominion!? [1]

She giggles again. "You're really not used to meeting with higher-ups other than the Princess, are you? Don't worry about it—"

"You're not."

She appears rather frazzled, clearly not used to being interrupted. "I—I beg your pardon?"

I think I'm recovering from my momentary surprise, and having actual control of a situation for once, however tenuous, is more satisfying than you would believe after the insanity in the Sovereignty. "You're not my superior. I hold the official position of Imperial Battlemage under High Dominion Empress Celestia Solaria Invicta, The Unconquered Sun." It's been a very, very long time since I've had to use the Princess' full royal title, and I relish it more than I should. "Therefore, my only superiors are the High Commander of the Solar Army, and the Princess herself." [2]

Her eyes widen. "W...Um, alright. I guess we're...equals, then?" While not opposed to the idea, she's certainly rather...surprised by it. I nod.

"Yeah, we're equals. Nice to meet you, Commander Firelock." I use her title to show that I mean no offense to her authority before continuing. "So anyway, what did you call me out here for?"

She shrugs. "I heard you got back the Chalice of Tannenwyl. Doctor was kinda ruffled over that." She giggles. "She's been looking for a way to glean the location for going on a decade now, and you just invalidated all of that work. Kinda funny, huh?"

Scrutinizing her face, I find her sincere. Well, color me surprised. She seems like a decent enough pony, barely more than a filly though she may be. Such a shame that we have to be enemies; if I knew her before I'd gone to the Lunar lands, we might have been...well, not friends, but at least close acquaintances. [3]

There's a brief period of uncomfortable silence before she speaks again, coughing slightly. "So...ahem...Imperial Battlemage, hmm? Quite the illustrious position. What element of magic do you learn under the Princess' tutelage?" My mind hops back towards the poor pegasus filly's torment and I wince privately.

"She doesn't teach any particular element of magic. I'm uniquely gifted, so she can teach me to use pure arcane magic." [4]

She gapes for a moment, trying to find some way to fill the void of the conversation. Honestly, I almost feel sorry for her. I can't blame her. If I were here, I would try to ingratiate myself to Celestia's student too.

"Well, uh, Twilight," she begins awkwardly once more, "I must say, that dragon of yours has proved most useful on the front lines."

Now it's my turn to be confused. What dragon—

My breath halts.

No. She couldn't have.

Oh sweet Sky, she did.

Okay, backstory time. When I was first learning magic under Celestia, one of my most difficult tests was hatching a dragon egg. I did so, but she claimed that the magic from the surge that I was having at the time killed the baby dragon instantly and whisked it away to be "buried."

If she did what I think she did...

"What dragon, Commander?" I ask calmly, disarmingly. No hint of the fury that bubbles under the surface of my mind. She looks at me oddly.

"The Princess told us that you managed to hatch a dragon, then aged it magically and gave it to us for use in combat. She said that you were sorry, but you didn't have time or room to raise a dragon. I just wanted the best for those under my command, so I want to thank you, that's all."

I nod stiffly, face set in a frozen smile. "Well, Firelock, it's been an...enlightening meeting. I must be going now, but I hope to see you again soon." Walking out of her office, I catch one last look at her mildly-distressed face before slamming the door and, moving jerkily, like a puppet, make my way back to my chambers.

[1]: As I'll learn before too long, age is a very nebulous way to judge somepony's magical potency and talent.
[2]: Though I'm technically not allowed to pull rank in a situation like this, who's going to stop me?
[3]: Pretty much all I had before this whole mess started...
[4]: Magic dissertation time!

Alright, so there are three main schools of magic: You have commoditas magic, which are the light spells and telekinesis, utilitarian spells; the basic spells that any unicorn knows, at least on a basic level. Then, there's forma magic, which is all devoted to changing and shaping things. A really good forma mage can change anything into almost anything else. Finally, there's inimicus magic, which is all offensive. Collectively, it's referred to as battle magic, and those that wield it battlemages. Now, inside of the inimicus magical tree, there are eight different Foci. Each Focus is a calling one's destiny chooses for their magic. After that, everything is aligned to that element. The Foci are Fire, Water, Earth, Air, Light, Darkness, Ice and Energy. However, few know that there's one more Focus, very, VERY rarely seen, and the one I possess. The Arcane focus, which allows one to use all of these different elements, as well as constructs of pure magic.

There's your lesson for today. You're welcome.

I slam open my door with my hooves, too furious to even think to open it with magic. It rotates past where it should and slams into the wall, hinges bent on the wall. I'll fix them later. At the smashing sound, Dash leaps up, alarmed.

"Whoa, Sparkle! Calm down! What happened?"

I'm not going to calm down. No way. I'm too angry. "That...that witch!" I rant, "That terrible, awful excuse for a pony! That worse excuse for a monarch! How dare she?"

"Seriously, Sparkle! I've never seen you like this, not even on the battlefield! What in Tartarus happened out there?"

Jumping down from where she sits, she grabs me and shakes me like a rag, and my rage-muddled head allows her words to seep through. Grinding my teeth together and spitting out each word like a curse, I explain exactly what happened and Dash's face rapidly darkens into a glower similar to mine. "Wow," she growls, "that's a new low, even for Celestia."

Now that I've shared my little nugget of news, I'm a bit less likely to march up to Celestia and buck her in the face, which would end rather...poorly, I assure you. So really, it's a very, very good thing that Dash is here. Calming myself with a few deeeeep breaths, I sigh. "Well, at the very least, we have more intel for Luna now. Celestia has a dragon."

We're quiet for a few minutes before Dash speaks again. "Hey, uh, Sparkle? I have something to say to you." She turns away from me, trotting over to the nearest window and looking out across the Citadel, towards the west. "As I was trailing you back over the Canterlot mountains, I got to thinking about what you'd done to Skahaben, and what caused it. Don't get me wrong, I still hate you and I'm only working with you until this whole madness is over. Even so, though..." she turns back to me, "I'm sorry I pulled you and whatever-her-name-is out of what you were doing. It was a pretty uncool move, and honestly, if I hadn't done that, Skahaben would still be around. It's pretty much my fau—"

Before she can finish that sentence, my hoof smacks into her face. I didn't punch her hard enough to really hurt, but there's rage written all over my face and it cuts her off well enough for me to cut in.

"Don't. You. Dare. That was my fault, it's my burden to bear. I swear, Dash, if you decide to start feeling bad about me surging and killing your city, I'm going to hit you three times as hard next time."

She's silent for a moment before she speaks again, voice slightly choked. "It's Rainbow."

I'm startled for a moment. Seems rather off-topic, hmm? "What?"

"My name. It's not just Dash, it's Rainbow Dash. I...tend not to tell ponies, because ponies don't take a Valkyrie named Rainbow as seriously as they do one named Dash, y'know?" [1]

I'm silent, and a few seconds later, she sighs. "I'm the first to admit that I'm not the smartest pony out there, but I do think about what I've done in the past, and what I did to you was just cruel. I still despise you, but...less so. You did what anypony would've, after all..." She trails off, looking out the window again. "...So no matter what you say, I am partially at fault. You can beat yourself up, but don't take all the blame." With that, she trots off into the next room over. I'm left standing there on my own, head spinning by how much has happened in the past hour or so. Firelock, dragon, Rainbow Dash, they're all whirling around in my head. I don't know if I'm cut out for intelligence work; I can barely keep anything straight.

I hang around resting up and readjusting to the sunlight for a few more days before Swift Quill brings me another scroll, eyeing me warily and levitating the thing over, staying well out of hug range. Despite myself, I chuckle. Poor guy. Looking over the scroll brings a frown to my face. I haven't gotten any mail in years that I haven't recognized, but this seal is completely alien to me. There's only one thing written on the scroll:

Come to the Cicada pub in the Tin District [2] in exactly four hours. Bring your "roommate." We have a lot to talk about.

-- A Friend

Well damn if that isn't suspicious.

"Hey, Dash!" I call accusingly, "Have you left my chambers since you've been here?"

She calls back from another room, "Hmm? No, I haven't. Why?"

Huh.

[1]: So as far as I can tell, nobody that I met in the entirety of the Sovereignty goes by their actual name and it's infuriating. Pinkie/Mena has two of them, for crying out loud!
[2]: The Citadel is organized into five districts. Each one is slightly more wealthy and influential than the first, and the Tin District is at the bottom of the barrel. It's followed by the Silver District, the Bronze District, the Brass District, and finally, the Gold District, which is the actual citadel that Celestia lives in.

I'm not quite used to exactly how poor the Tin District is. I've only ever been there once before. Small wooden shacks line the narrow, dirty street. It's more of a shantytown than anything else, really. There are very few buildings that aren't made of rickety planks, and those that are tend to be broken-down, cracked and filthy. Ponies, missing eyes, legs, and other assorted body parts, leer at me from their misshapen doors. I'm out of place here, among these thieves, vagabonds and outlaws. Dash is following me, and to her chagrin, I wouldn't let her come out of my chambers without dying her coat and mane green and light brown, respectively. Now she looks just as typical as any other pony. She's wearing a simple cloak to disguise her cutie mark.

At last, we arrive at the Cicada pub. Predictably enough, the best source of alcohol in the Tin District is also the most put-together of all of its buildings. It has a reasonably intact stone exterior and a fairly well-kept wooden planking interior, and it's packed to the brim. Looking around, I'm sure I look like I have no idea what I'm doing. [1] Finally, I spot a single table in the back corner, poorly lit, at which sits a single figure, clad in a black cloak with a deep cowl. Unobtrusively (at least I like to think so), I beckon Dash and make my way over, holding the scroll in front of the figure.

"This yours?"

A chuckle comes from under the hood and I jump. No way...It can't be. That voice...

Then she tosses her head back, knocking the hood from her crown, and I leap back like I've been burned. Grinning at me from beneath a silvery mane is a blue unicorn, her purple eyes gazing into mine.

"So, Twilight," Trixie laughs, "have you missed me?"

[1]: Psst...That's because I don't.

Act II, scene iii - An Old Friend

For a moment, I forget to breathe.

"Trixie...?" I gasp out, halfway into shock. "Buh...what...how...what?"

The unicorn in front of me stares me dead in the eyes, her mouth set into a faint smile. "Good to see you too, Sparks. It's been a while, huh?"

My mouth works up and down for a few seconds before I can bring a response up into my mind: "It's been...ten years, Trixie. What...I..." Finally, everything consolidates in my head and I cut right to the heart of the issue: "Where in Tartarus have you been?"

She rubs the back of her head sheepishly. "Sorry...when I left, a series of rather unfortunate events occurred, culminating in an epiphany for me that kept me away for even longer. So," she grins, "how have you been?"

I answer in the form of a lunging hug that draws the attention of quite a few nearby ponies who stare at me with raised eyebrows and no shortage of snickers. My eyes clench tightly closed. "I missed you so much, sister!"

She chuckles for a moment, then gently return my overzealous embrace. "C'mon, Sparks, I told you not to call me that."

I finally draw back after a few more seconds of hug time, looking happier than I have in a long while. "Well, yeah, but you've been off the map for so long that I thought you might've changed your mind! Ohh, Trixie, you never even wrote! I thought you'd died! How could you do that to me?"

It's at this point that Dash, who's been looking nothing more than faintly bemused, cuts in, glaring at me. "Okay, okay. Good talk. Now three things: One, what in Equus is going on, two, how does this pony know about me, and three, why didn't I ever know you have a sister?"

I chuckle. "Oh, Trixie? She's not my sister by blood, but I've known her since we were both very, very small. She's a few years older than me and she lost both of her parents, so mine adopted her and she became my older sister. After a while, our brother got assassinated when he was attending the entrance ceremony into the Solar Army. She really loved him, and a year later—about ten years ago today—she up and left. She never came back. I was distraught, and I never really got over it, so I never let myself get attached to another pony in the same way. That's why I never really had a friend for the last ten years."

Trixie ruffles my hair, blatantly ignoring Dash's chain of questions, much to the pegasus' disgruntlement. "Sorry you got so upset about it, kiddo. I needed to do some soul-searching, that's all. Anyway," she continues, before I have a chance to respond, "I really need to talk to both of you in private. Come with me, I have a room here for tonight."

She rises from her seat and begins to make her way through the crowd to the narrow wooden staircase off to the side. I prance after her, happy beyond all reasoning, and Dash follows, head low, slinking in irritation. I can hear her grumbling.

"So, Trixie," I begin, once we're ensconced in her small room, "what did you get up to while you were away?"

She grins. "Well, for starters, I got that cutie mark that I was always after." She levitates her cloak over to a coathook in the corner, letting me see the wand and stars on her blue rump. [1] I ooh and aah suitably hard. She lifts her head in pride. "It's a mark for astral magic. I got it when I was doing a stint as a street performer."

My ears flick, a sign of my confusion. "Astral magic? What's that?"

"Oh, it involves the use of celestial bodies to see and communicate over long distances. I believe the common term for it is scrying. As it turns out, I can't scry with the sun, only the stars."

Hang on, stars? Those are only... "Trixie, did you...go to the Sovereignty?" I ask, bewildered.

"Absolutely. Remember that epiphany? I met Luna at one point, after the group of performers I was traveling with abandoned one of our companions on a mountain, I tried to save her and ended up getting captured myself. There was an enormous castle there, so I decided to go escape into it when our captors had their backs turned. Turns out that basic invisibility spell that you taught me was useful after all, huh?" Something about her story seems...familiar, but before I can place it, she continues. "Anyway, while I was running through it, I ran slap-bang into Luna. In alarm, she teleported us all the way to the Lunar Sanctum."

So, I guess I'm not the only pony from the Dominion that's been over there, huh? "Wow. How long did you stay there?" She smiles enigmatically.

"Luna convinced me to be one of her palace staff. I'm head of communications. My scrying has helped with a lot of the war effort. I stayed there until, oh, I don't know..." her little grin blossoms into a full smile, "maybe a few days ago?"

My mouth drops open. "You mean...you were there?"

She tosses back her head and laughs. "Oh, the look on your face! Yes, Sparks, I was there. In fact, I was standing right next to Luna when Rarity—oh, sorry, Marks—teleported you in. I guess Luna distracted you enough that you didn't notice."

Wow. I wonder if she was watching me during my trip? I briefly recollect all of my experiences. Cullwood, the Stormwinds, Canterlot and Pinkie...

WAIT.

Street performer? Captured on a mountain and abandoned with one other companion next to a castle?

"Trixie..." I slowly ask, "Did you ever meet one 'Pinkie Pie?'"

Her hooves fly up to her mouth. "Oh Luna, is she...she's still alive? I thought she was dead! How did she survive up there? How did you meet her?"

I give her a brief rundown of my trip through the Canterlot Pass and tears bead in her eyes as I told her about Pinkie's alternate personality, Mena. "Oh, wow, I really feel scummy. When Luna got me out, I never even thought about Pinkie. She was so good at making fireworks, and the foals loved her. It's a real shame what our troupe did to her. I wish she had mentioned me, though I guess her mind isn't fully intact; she must've just lumped me in with the rest of those unicorns that ran off without her. Still, thank you for getting her off of that mountain."

I smile back at her. "Yeah. She should be fine. Did you see her come out of the Chasmlands, Dash?"

Rainbow, who's been silent and confused up to this point, takes the opportunity to jump in. "Yeah, she came out and tried to basically bite my head off. When I took off, I saw her ranting for a minute or two, then she bounced off to the north. She should be fine."

Trixie exhales slowly. "That's good to hear. I should like to see her again, and maybe the others as well. It would be nice to repay them for what they did to her." Her eyes narrow during that last sentence and I shudder. Trixie's anger is a terrible thing, though slow and hard to rouse.

"But enough of all that gloom and doom," she suddenly cries, "You never did answer my question. How have you been, Sparks?"

I shrug. "Before or after the nonsense in the Sovereignty?"

She ponders for a moment before answering: "After. How are you holding up in the life of a spy?"

I sigh, dropping my head. "It's taxing, Trixie, it really is. It doesn't help that I have a freeloader living with me—"

"Hey!" Dash protests,

"—So I have to keep making excuses for taking way too much food for one pony. I've learned some appalling things, so it's all just kinda spinning around my head. You wouldn't have been there, but I had to hatch a dragon egg for one of Celestia's tests and I surged. She said I killed the dragon, but then she magically aged it into a monster and gave it to the army." Trixie's seen some terrible stuff, I have no doubt, but even she's angry about that. "Also, I can't go into forests anymore. Apparently, the Watcher from the Cullwood is basically omnipresent wherever there's shadows and trees, so I can't really risk that."

She raises an eyebrow. "Luna never mentioned the Cullwood. You must be tough to make it through that."

Oh, she has no idea. [2]

[1]: I never understood why the foals say "blank flank;" a cutie mark isn't on the flank at all.
[2]: Apparently, even though she was probably the best scryer in the Sovereignty, she let Luna do most of the work in tracking me. She was needed to coordinate troops, so she could only check on me sparingly.

Act II, scene iv - Princess Provocation

I'm trotting along the Citadel thoroughfare, a large road that runs all the way from the Tin District into the Golde district, with Trixie and Dash, animatedly chatting with the former and largely ignoring the latter. It's quite nice out, I must say, and once we'd concluded our business, I decided to take them both on a tour. After all, it's been a very long time since Trixie's been around.

"So, Trixie, remember Spectral Bloom's old place? The restaurant?" Her ears perk up. She loved that place to bits way back in the day, and as we turn the corner, I point to the venerable old place. "Yeah, still here. Somehow Spectral is still alive. She's pretty ancient, you know? Still cooks just as well. We should come here tonight."

Dash sighs and rolls her eyes as Trixie barely holds back an excited squeal. "Ugh...Twilight, why are you giving us a tour? It's so pointless...Ugh. Let's just go back to our quarters." I wave my hoof at her.

"My quarters, you killjoy. You can't even get in unless I let you, now that I know your little window trick. Just try to enjoy yourself."

She opens her mouth to speak—no doubt for a pseudo-witty retort—when there's suddenly an immense boom that resounds throughout the Citadel, followed by screams. A roaring wall of flame is searing down the street at an enormous speed, leaving barely any time to think as it shoves bystanders to the side. I'm frozen to the spot as I watch the blaze close in. A white shimmer fades away as the barrier in front it bleeds away, exposing the raw heat. Then I'm launched sideways, pain in my side as Dash grabs Trixie and headbutts me to the side, tossing me out of the path of fire. Turning to the side, I watch it pass in morbid curiosity and mild terror.

Then I freeze.

Inside of the flames, there's the shape of a pony. And not just any pony. No, it's one that I know I too well.

The Solar Effigy turns to me too, glaring at me with a rage I was unaware they could feel, and continues its course for a good three hundred feet more, covering the distance in barely a blink. The dazed civilians that were shoved to the side by the now-absent forcewall look on in some brand of disbelief.

God, I'm sick of these damn fireponies. Stepping boldly out to the center of the street, I turn to the being, calling to it with a voice that belies my inner fear and turmoil: "Hey! What do you think you're doing?"

Before I can blink, it's standing threateningly in front of me, mane billowing as a cloud of intense flashing fire. Bubbling plasma seeps out of it and drips to the cobblestone below, melting through the rocks like butter. I can't help but take an involuntary step back, throwing up a foreleg to shield my eyes from the intense heat. Steeling myself, I slowly drop the appendage, leaving my eyes unprotected from the powerful brightness before me. It's like staring into a miniature sun.

"I asked," I grind out, "what do you think you're doing?"

Of course, I don't actually expect an answer from one of the Effigies. That's why I'm so surprised when I hear it speak.

"Save..." it begins in a strained voice, "She needs your..." It's eyes begin to flicker out from the angry fire, revealing something underneath, but before I can see what it is, the flames subsume it once more and it growls, prancing in place for a moment before dropping once more to its hooves.

I don't care that Celestia can see me. This is too much. "Now, you need to listen to me. You are going to leave now. You are not going to do anything like this ever again. The Sovereignty was one thing, but at this point, I'm so sick of you that you need to just leave." [1]

It flicks up in the air and, in a gout of fire, sears its way back to the Citadel. I gulp. Standing up to a figure of authority is easy. It's what comes afterwards that's painful. The windows of Celestia's tower flicker with fire in the palace, and I turn to my two companions. "Well," I choke out, "wish me luck."

Then there's a booming voice that nearly knocks me over rushing through the streets. "Come to my chambers, Ms. Sparkle. I trust you have an explanation for this."

Heaving in a deep breath, I teleport away, leaving Trixie and Dash stunned, gaping at each other. Dash is the first to speak.

"What...just happened?"

[1]: Lashing out is one thing, but I basically just gave a goddess an order.

When I arrive in her chambers, Celestia is in a high rage. Her voice blasts into and through me, echoing unnaturally as her eyes incandesce with baleful white light.

"How dare you, Twilight? I received you kindly when you returned with a fake Chalice of Tannenwyl. I let you socialize with my commanders. I have given you far more freedom than I should've."

Her horn begins to charge for a lethal nova of flame. Well, that happened a lot faster than I assumed. If I'm going to die, I might as well speak my mind, I suppose.

"You're so foolishly paranoid."

She double-takes, completely unused to hearing something like that, and her horn halts its charge. I doggedly continue. "Is that what you said to your sister, too, on that day in Canterlot Castle? When she wanted to take a turn in ruling Equestria? Is that what you told her when you tried to kill her with that spear?" I point accusingly at the weapon in the corner, and my stance goes from assertive to truly aggressive. "You are no Empress, Celestia. You are not worthy of rule. Not if you treat your subjects as disposable in your paranoid pursuit to kill one unicorn and her two friends." With a jolt, I realize that I was telling the truth. Dash really is my friend, isn't she?

If she was angry before, she's positively livid now. "Twilight Sparkle, you have no idea what you're talking about. There was no innocence in my sister, and if she's told you anything else, then she's lying to you. More went on than you think. But regardless of that, there is only one outcome to this. You are going to die."

I grin cockily at her. "I don't think so."

As her horn releases the blast, I teleport away, reappearing where Trixie and Dash are now standing. They turn to ask what happened, but before they can even speak, I grip their forelimbs and teleport again, a huge chunk of my magical power vanishing.

I don't have the power to cross the Lunar border, and I have no doubt that its guarded with an enormous regiment at this point. We can't get back to the Sovereignty. Instead, we appear in a range of unfamiliar, sun-blasted mountains a ways north of the Solar Citadel. Before either of them can say anything, I turn to Trixie. "I need to speak with Luna."

Confusion written all over her face, she shrugs and casts her spell. A window opens in space, bleeding into an array of wild colours that pulse irregularly before they suddenly consolidate into the image of the Lunar Princess. She looks just as confused as Trixie.

"Trixie? What's..." she trails off, looking at where we are, and her voice grows more serious. "What happened?"

Nudging Trixie aside, I bite out a brief summary of what just transpired, and Luna looks at me in horror. "Twilight Sparkle, you are the most insane pony I have ever had the dubious pleasure of meeting. Where are you now?"

"The Sleipnir range," Trixie cuts in, "just north of Wildglen."

Luna hisses in a breath, her voice echoing slightly. "I can't get you out of there for about a week, at the very earliest. You need to lie low, because there are going to be patrols of guards all over the Dominion. Don't die."

I nod, and Trixie severs the communication. Instantly, Dash leaps at me, knocking me on my back.

"You idiot!" she seethes, single eye burning with anger. "Do you have any idea what you've just done? Celestia isn't going to just settle for border skirmishes now! She's going to make a massive attack on Lunar lands! She'll probably go herself! The Citadel will...be..." she trails off, and after a moment, smile. "...totally abandoned."

Trixie looks in between us in confusion for a moment before her eyes widen. "Sparks, that was the most reckless gamble I've ever seen any creature take." A smile breaks onto her face. "I love it. It's just stupid enough to work." [1]

[1]: This is pretty much the essence of all of my plans. Kinda sad, actually.

We spend the next few hours finding somewhere to hide, and eventually happen upon a cave small enough to be inconspicuous, but large enough to house us all. Once we move in, I lie down, thinking. Trixie sits down next to me, recognizing the introspective look on my face. "Hey, kiddo, what's up?"

I look back up at her, feeling a definite sense of foreboding. "That Solar Effigy spoke. They're not supposed to be able to speak."

She's silent for a little while longer before she sighs. "Alright, Sparks, here's the deal. None of us can fight the Princess. You might have a hard time fighting one of her Effigies. None of us could at all. I admire your guts, and I get that you want to know this stuff, but seriously: go too deep, and you might not come back up again."

With that, she walks deeper into the cave, leaving me alone with my thoughts and Dash. She's used some water from a nearby spring to wash the dye from her fur, revealing her trademark blue-and-rainbow coloration. She's snoring in a corner. Pegasi need a lot of energy to keep flying.

Sighing, I lie down fully, closing my eyes and willing sleep to come for me.

It takes a very long time.

Act II, scene v - Cave Sweet Cave

The next day, we're all on edge. Trixie and I in particular, having seen the victims of Celestia's rage (and understanding that she can see anywhere the sun is), are cautious to leave, and we immediately establish the most crucially important ground rule: Don't leave the cave.

So yeah, we're pretty much stuck in a cave for the next several days.

Joy.

After a little while, the novelty of having a goddess out for your incineration wears off. [1] Surprisingly quickly, actually. At least when you're, you know...stuck in a cave.

So anyway.

I figure that I might as well use this opportunity to catch up with Trixie. Trotting up to her, I sit down as she stirs from her half-dozing state. She's clearly only vaguely conscious, but that can change with enough time and prodding and I'm really, really, really bored. "So Trixie," I begin, "I have a question. You've been part of the war effort on the Lunar side for a while now, right?" There's an affirmative grunt. "So what I want to know," I continue, "is why Celestia hasn't just bombed out the entire Sovereignty with her effigies by this point? They're certainly destructive enough to just obliterate anything they touch. What gives?"

Trixie opens one eye and glares balefully at me before shutting it again. "Twilight...I know you're curious, and I know you're a pony that likes to know things, even in situations like this one...and I love you and all...but for the love of Luna, if you don't shut up I'm going to sew your lips together."

Geez. What a killjoy.

Lucky for my thirst for knowledge, then, when Dash steps in. "I think I can tell you that one, Sparkle. Two reasons. One is magical, and one is more simple. When they're in the Sovereignty, they're pretty much untouchable by the Effigies. For a long time there've been an array of wards near the border that protect Lunar lands from any flying object that tries to pass through. The Effigies aren't strong enough to pass through it, so only border towns are ever threatened by them. Like, well, Moonscry. [2] So that's what that was about. Celestia actually hasn't attacked them at all until you passed through. I assume it was to lull you into a false sense of security, into thinking that she was covering your tracks. So that's the magical reason. As for the more mundane reason—"

Apparently Trixie has decided to wake up. Good for her, but she sounds really, really grumpy. "Simple. She can't bomb out the Sovereignty because of the wards, and if she wanted to contribute to open battle, she could do so far more easily without the Effigies. Think about it: it's her power split into five separate pieces. Luna could crush them with relative ease, and they can't actually be replaced without taking more out of herself. So really, they're mostly for reconnaissance and intimidation, and so she can keep tabs on her subjects. Now shut up and let me sleep, for Luna's sake."

She closes her eyes again, her face in an angry grimace. I chuckle at the expression on Dash's face. I don't think she was expecting Trixie to interrupt her in that fashion.

"So...Rainbow, right?"

She fidgets briefly before turning to me, her eyes flicking around. "Hmm? Oh, yeah. That's me. Don't tell anyone." I roll my eyes.

"Really? You're a suspicious pegasus that's been hanging around with somepony that is now considered an enemy of the state. You appeared after said enemy if the state went wandering through Lunar lands. Even when they were dyed, you mane and tail still had the same style. Celestia's been around a while. In all likelihood, she can put four and seventeen together. So you're now an assumed Lunar spy and—" My throat cuts off before I mention Skahaben, because that's still a rather raw memory for both of us and I'd rather not bring it up—"and what you're worrying about is being called Rainbow instead of Dash? Wow," I tease, "I suppose ignorance really is bliss, though I suppose small minds still have to think of SOMETHING." [3]

She grumbles at me and sits back down on the floor, face set and eyes still flicking about rather rapidly. Mostly towards the cave mouth. Huh. Wondering what's going on, I raise a hoof. "Hey, uh, Da—Rainbow, you good?"

Her face whirls to me, set in a smile so fake I could tear it like paper. "Yeah! I'm fine! Why wouldn't I be fine, ha ha haa..." she trails off as she realizes I'm looking at her like she's insane, then sighs. "Look, I...I just really don't like being underground, okay? I like being able to see the sky, and when I can't, I get nervous. That's all, nothing serious." [4]

I shrug and, curiosity sated (for the moment), settle down to begin my own cave holiday.

I reiterate: joy.

1: It happens more often than you'd think, actually.
2: Ugh. Figures that I would pass through one of the few places where this could've happened LITERALLY ANYWHERE.
3: So this may have been a little bit harsh in retrospect. I suppose I'd been cleaning up on the whole sociopath thing at that point, though, so meh, baby steps.
4: Nothing serious, she says. That's all, just a little bit of nervousness, she says. It gets worse later. Trust me on that.

Dum. Dum. Dum-de-dum.

Have I ever mentioned how much I hate waiting?

I hate waiting.

Waiting is the bane of my existence.

I hate hate hate not doing anything. Even when I was just kinda...there, working under Celestia, I was at least doing something at all times. Working, reading, studying, something. After all of that, the idea of sitting around and doing nothing is inimical to me.

By the second day, I can feel my skin crawling and I have an intense desire to do something. Anything. I've taken to agitatedly pacing back and forth for hours on end, trotting in circles until my hooves hurt. Nothing is accomplished. At length, Trixie calls up her astral window again, murmuring to Luna for a few minutes before interrupting my pacing.

"You get to make the choice here, Sparks. We could wait until Luna can get us out of here. If she focuses on our coordinates enough, she could teleport us out with no major injury. In all likelihood, that's the best possible choice. We'd be able to assist in the war effort, and with you on the Lunar side, it might be just enough to tip the balance. All in all, that choice is reasonable, safe, and sane."

I think for a moment before speaking, an unbearably cocky grin jumping onto my face: "Alright then. Now what's the choice we're actually going to go with?" [1]

She sighs, shaking her head. "How did I know you were going to ask that...? The other choice is to keep in contact with Luna until she tells us that she's engaging in combat, and that the Solar forces are all occupied. Then we sneak into the Citadel—certifying that Celestia is actually at the battlefield first, mind you—and..." her eyes glimmer with some unnamed excitement as a teleportation flash explodes before us, releasing a bright pink harbinger of destruction [2], "...then we blow it the hell up."

1: Sometimes, the less sane you are, the better. Append that to most of the time, actually.
2: She's baaack!

That's right, Luna sent us our own personal demolition squad. How nice of her. Pay no attention to the fact that we were just as likely to be exploded as the citadel. Also, this is a pretty good example of Luna's ability to understand what makes ponies tick, which will definitely come into play a lot more a little while later: before even knowing for sure what I'd chosen, she absolutely knew what I'd chosen.

Act II, scene vi - Castle Crashers

Alright, confession time: I've been nursing a private hope that when and/or if I ever saw her again, Pinkie and/or Mena would seem more sane. [1]

Clearly, this was a mistake.

The first thing—literally the first thing that pink terror does upon recovering from the teleportation dizziness is to light a Tartarus-damned bomb. Only careful application of magic to snip off the fuse saves all of us from becoming cave paintings. She wildly glares around, seeming disoriented and completely lost.

Her eyes meet with those of Rainbow and she growls animalistically, launching herself at the pegasus.

"Where is she?" she shrieks, pursuing Rainbow as the agile flyer darts away. "What did you do with my—ngg!" Her face seizes up and she twitches for a moment, "Our friend?!"

As she leaps for Dash again, I intercede. "Hey, whoa, Pinkie! I'm right here!"

She drops mid-jump in the most blatant abuse of physics I think I've ever seen before slowly turning her head to meet my stare, eyes abnormally wide. I shudder slightly, reminded suddenly of the Princess echoes, but I don't have time to do much more than that before she throws herself at me, mane and tail ballooning as she envelops me in a crushingly tight embrace.

"Purple! We missed you!"

Though it's probably the most opportune of times, I can't help but wonder why she just called me Purple. Actually, now that I think about it, I don't know if I ever actually gave her my name. Then again, at that point in my traveling I was just grateful to meet somepony that didn't want to rip my throat out through my eyes, so eh. Justifiable paranoia.[2]

Regardless, I manage to squeeze out an "I missed you too" from between the steel-tight forelegs, prompting her to suddenly release me and let me drop to the cave floor, heaving in heavy breaths. As if me speaking somehow gave her the ability of basic observation, she takes this moment to look around her surroundings and, in doing so, she sees Trixie standing there uncomfortably.

Her face goes utterly blank and dead still. Not even a psychopathic grin. Brrr.

She walks—she doesn't trot, bounce, pronk or hop, which is disconcerting all on its own—to my sister, staring her dead in the eyes for a good few minutes. Rivulets of sweat are running down Trixie's face at this point, but she doesn't dare look away. Finally, a great deal of time later, Pinkie speaks a very simple, three word sentence: "I know you."

Now, this is important just for the content, because of the shared history between them. But only recently recovered from having the wind utterly crushed out of me, the only thing I can think of is that she's actually using grammatically correct pronouns without correcting herself, meaning that this isn't Pinkamena talking, or even Mena. No, this is all Pinkie.

Another three word sentence: "You were there."

I take a step back. If I know Pinkie, this is going to get ugly real fast, and I want to be far enough back to see what's going on clearly so I can snuff away the next inevitable bomb. At the same time, I open my mouth to shout a warning to Trixie. A warning which promptly dies on my throat as I realize that I don't actually know Pinkie at all, and that there's a grin, slow but genuine, spreading across her face until it stretches from ear to ear. Literally.

Pinkie likes three word sentences: "You didn't run."

A wobbly smile pops up on Trixie's face and she lifts a foreleg, motioning the pink pony that I think I've learned a little something about forward into a hug. Yaaaaaay. Now we might not all die in a horrifying cataclysm of explosive death. [3]

Though I place stress on the word 'might.'

No, I don't have trust issues. What are you talking about? [4]

Just as quickly as the peaceful moment occurred, it breaks up. Pinkie's smile goes wide and unhinged and she thrusts herself off of Trixie. "So!" she exclaims in a tone far, far more chipper than it has any right to be, "what are we blowing up this time, Purple?"

I sigh. "...It's Twilight. Not...not Purple. Please."

She shrugs, seemingly unconcerned. "Okay, Midnight!" My teeth screech together slightly. Either she doesn't notice or she doesn't care, and by the wink she sent my way, I'm pretty sure she notices. Ergo, she doesn't care, ergo, there's nothing I can do, et cetera.

"Anyway," I grind out, harshly emphasizing the the first syllable, "didn't Luna brief you on what was going on over here?"

She looks at me like I'm crazy. Ah, the irony. "Luna? Some unicorn just told us she could teleport us someplace where we could blow stuff up!" She pats me on the head condescendingly. "Are you feeling okay? Pfft, thinking Luna told me" another brief spasm of her face, that's really getting disturbing now, "us to do something! Ha!"

I take a deep, deep breath to shut down my violent urges before continuing. "Well, whoever sent you over here, you get to blow up something big. No, you get to blow up the BIGGEST something." She can barely contain herself with excitement; in fact, I think she's vibrating. That would explain the low buzzing sound and she fact that she's only partially visible at this point.

"Whatisitwhatisitwhatisit?"

I grin cockily. "You get to blow up the Solar Citadel."

Well. She faints instantly.

"Stop vibrating, damnit!"

[1]: In light of what happened a little afterwards, I have doubts that any of us are any better.
[2]: Yes, I am fully aware that this is impossible. No, Word Smith, you don't need to correct me. You're an editor, and my list of doctorates is probably longer than your extended family tree, I am aware of basic pony biology. Shut up.
[3]: Although, let's be honest: as ways to die go, a huge explosion isn't bad.
[4]: My therapist disagrees.

So. While it's true that they're utterly terrifying in most cases, explosions are sometimes just as good as a symphony on one's ears. [1]

This is one of those times.

The unholy cascade of noise that comes from Pinkie's ballistic setup is tortuously loud, creating a kind of noise vacuum as the ringing drowns out all other sound even through the shockwave-deadening barrier that Trixie and I conjure, even as far away as we are. After the effort that it took to breach the teleport lock around the Citadel, there's both a relief in the fact that I can teleport straight to the gate and a delicious catharsis in blowing the north wall, all resplendent marble and gold, into gravel and twisted metal. Suddenly, I can capture why Pinkie likes this as much as she does. A crazed grin spreads across my face and I dash forward into the hole in the wall while shrapnel from the detonation is still flying.

The familiar courtyard is worse for wear. The enormous power of the series of shaped charges wired up by Pinkie have cracked the immaculately kept marble roadway leading to the palace into fragments. The fountains have ceased running and water is spilling out, the pure magic that once kept them pouring igniting in pale purple flames upon contact with air. The pipelines of liquid mana beneath have ruptured, sending phantom flames up in random conflagrations of soul-mangling fire throughout the previously-clean lawn, decay spreading across it at incredible speeds.

An exultant laugh explodes out of me as I revel in the destruction around me. It ignites a dark pleasure within me, a primal lust for destruction. I lose all control, though not in a magical sense; this is no magic surge. This is simply years of deeply-repressed destructive urges towards this infernal place bubbling up in a chaotic outpour of violence.

The token guard left behind in the courtyard by Celestia for appearance's sake are stumbling about, clutching their heads as they bleed out of their ears, eardrums shredded by the intense blast of sound. Before they can even begin to react, I lift up a spar of gold, heat-blasted into an intricate curve that could, in any other situation, be considered artwork. With savage enjoyment, I club the confused ponies to the ground.

Yes, it's more efficient to deal with a situation like this by using magic to restrain them and then put them into restorative sleep. However, I wasn't in a proper frame of mind at the moment. Instead of soldiers and guards, all I see are meat-covered punching bags to beat into submission.

But hey, that's war. [2]

A curious sensation overcomes me. I feel disconnected. That is to say, I'm having some sort of out-of-body experience, watching from an aerial viewpoint as I club into the ground already-senseless ponies that were just doing their job to make ends meet. [3]

That's what the trio that steps through the blasted wall sees of me, at any rate.

By Trixie's horrified stare, Mena's flattened hair, and the fact that Dash's hoof just impacted my eye at record speed, they're not pleased with that image.

"Tartarus damn it, Twilight, what are you doing? This isn't the plan!" she hisses, her single eye sparking furiously as she rips the improvised mace away from my magic, tossing the bloody implement as far away as possible.

Suddenly I snap back into myself, and begin to shake. "I..." I'm already expecting the beating that's undoubtedly about to come.

Trixie is still just kinda...standing there in disbelief. I don't know if she's fully comprehended what I, her adoptive younger sister, just did. As for Pinkie, or, well, Mena, I'm...not entirely sure what's going on with her. Her eyes are judging, but not angry. It's like she's looking at a pet who just ripped up the furniture, and that's somehow worse than what I was expecting.

Surprise surprise when the pain doesn't actually come, for some inane reason. Instead, Rainbow draws back, sizing me up.

"Sparkle, have you ever actually been in direct combat? Without using spells?" I look down at my hooves, noticing with vague detachment just how much my hooves are trembling.

"N...no. Never...not without magic..." That's not entirely true, but fighting time-displaced ancient princesses down doesn't count.

I look up as she sighs and drags a hoof down her face. "Seriously? You've never...I...Ughh. Look, I get what happened here. Battle madness. Sky knows I did worse in my first combat, I had a spear. But Twilight..." The hoof that just peeled off of her face lashes out, laying me out on the floor gasping for breath. With a speed approaching impossible (honestly, I don't know if Rainbow's speed can be measured logically at this point; she just seems to go as fast as the moment demands), she's on top of me, eye boring into me.

"What you just did? That's what you did with your magic at Skahaben. I expected you to take more out of that experience." The eye narrows. "That's two strikes. Don't lose control again."

[1]: My editor's aunt, one Miss Philharmonica, glared at me in the most ferocious manner upon reading this.
[2]: I believe this confirms that I had no idea what the realities of war were at that point in time, having always stayed away from the front.
[3]: I later found out that out of the eight ponies I savaged, five of them died, either from blunt force trauma or from an inability to escape from the magical fire that consumed their souls.

Not my proudest moment. Was I any better than Celestia? i don't know.

For the rest of our little mission, Trixie and Mena won't speak to me. Won't even look at me. In fact, Dash is the only one that acknowledges my existence at all. [1]

Thankfully, that inner rage doesn't have to come back out; those few in the courtyard were the only ponies here. I'm pretty sure none of them are dead, so that does wonders for my conscience. That said, I'm still feeling pretty awful.

As I lead the uncomfortably silent group behind me into the guts of the Citadel, past manalights hissing and leaking with unstable magic, I suddenly stop. There's something on the periphery of my hearing. Hmm. Turning backwards and avoiding eye contact, I speak quietly: "Keep going for a little while longer. The sixth left should lead you to another hallway, and the first right should lead you to the magical archives. Enchanted artifacts, ancient magic, there's a lot of stuff in there that should help Luna. Time limit, though. Remember that they're still fighting out there." [2]

Trixie and Mena don't acknowledge that I even spoke, but they take the sixth left (mumbling to each other all the while), so I sigh and let my head drop. After a moment, I lift it again, only to find out that, to my surprise, Rainbow is sticking around. Her eye narrows.

"What's going on, Sparkle?"

I frown as I hear the sound again. "There's something I need to check out."

I try to brush past her, but she moves in front of me, meeting my piercing gaze unflinchingly. "Wherever you're going, it isn't safe for any of us to be alone right now. That explosion destabilized the entire Citadel's magical system. One wrong move and the whole load could pour out on you." I shudder despite myself. Like liquid Chasmlands. [3] Dash notices and takes it as a sign of acquiescence, moving aside. "I'm coming with you."

I shrug and, straining my twitching ears, catch the thread of sound again, following it down several flights of stairs to parts of the Citadel that I've never explored. Never even seen. The isolated murmurings slowly begin to assemble into a single sound so unexpected that I stop in surprise and Dash nearly trips over me.

It's a high, lilting song, weaving its melody through the underbelly of the Citadel. It's so weird and out of place with what else is going on in the world that I'm mostly just confused. Still, my insatiable curiosity guides me along the silent corridors, only rarely broken by a rumbling from above our heads.

"This is seriously creepy," mutters Rainbow, "we're following a song through the underbelly of an abandoned castle after a blowing a hole in the wall, and it's still coming down on top of us. What am I doing?"

I ignore her, navigating my way through the labyrinthine passages. The architecture down here is older, and the deeper we go, the older it looks. The song is loud now. Following what's now the lone pathway ahead of us, we come to a simple wooden door. This is the source of the song, no doubt. I knock on the door and Dash moves up slightly so she's standing just ahead of me.

The song stops and a soft, melodious voice echoes out from inside: "Come in!"

As Dash pushes open the door, a plaque on the door catches the light of a candle—not a magical candle, but a real one—and I can see the name Flit embossed upon it. Flit. The Commander of the Second Brigade of magical study.

I reach out my hoof to warn Dash, but just as quickly, the warning dies in my throat. The room before is festooned with plant life of all shapes and sizes, from small creeping lichen to enormous trees that somehow sprawl across the ceiling. Birds and squirrels chirp and chitter among the branches. The entire thing feels obscenely surreal. That's not really important, however.

What's important is the pony that stands among it.

She's a grown mare now, about as old as I am, but she has the same yellow coat, the same pink mane, the same teal eyes. Even the useless wings crumpled and broken by her sides from where I ripped them apart in sixty-eight different ways. [4] Her eyes widen as she looks at the door, and at first, I think she's staring at me. Not so; it's Dash that her eyes are focused upon, and as she makes eye contact, the former Valkyrie's jaw falls slightly open and a strangled word, barely audible enough to hear, slides out:

"F...Flutters?"

[1]: I'm still not sure how I feel about this today.
[2]: Words fall slightly short of how I felt assuming a dubious leadership position after the display in the courtyard.
[3]: Yeah, pure, refined magic will do that to you.
[4]: Yes, I counted.

No, I'm not proud of it.

Act II, scene vii - In Need Of Perspective

So here we are.

It's something of a strange tableau; the former Stormwind Valkyrie standing frozen it what seems to be a bizarre mixture of elation and anguish; a mare that I thought had died long ago standing there in front of us, working under the one who prompted her torment; and me, utterly lost.

And the weirdest part?

Despite the fact that her wings are completely useless and will likely remain so for the rest of her life (despite her expertise in healing, being the Commander of the Second Battalion), [1] she really doesn't seem to be angry with me at all. Somehow.

She continues about whatever she was doing when Dash and I barged in on her, namely grinding up some berries and leaves of some sort into a mortar and pestle. I've never really studied herbalism, so I haven't the faintest clue what she's doing, only that this is somehow a thing, and that she's continuing to do it with the castle blowing up above her.

After a moment, she carefully places down the stone apparatus, turning to Dash with a gentle smile on her face. "Hey, Rainbow. How have you been?"

Dash snaps out of her daze and immediately rockets forward, grabbing Flit around the midsection. I reach out my hoof for a moment to warn her against doing anything foolish, but for the second time in not long enough, I'm forced to drop my hoof prematurely as I realize that Dash isn't assaulting Flit. She's hugging her.

At this point, I'm thoroughly confused. The two of them are talking about things that I've never heard of, places I've never seen, ponies I've never met. Their rapid conversation is shot through with something I never thought I'd hear out of Dash: sniffles. Oh, make no mistake, I've seen her cry before. Just after I destroyed Skahaben, I distinctly recall her crying, even though I could barely think straight at the moment. This is different; those tears were, as my brother would've said, liquid rage. These are just tears. No, not even; the sniffles turn into tears, which rapidly evolve into heartwrenching sobs, the kind that a really young foal makes when it loses its mother. Her face is buried in Flit's shoulder and she's just breaking down. I watch with strange curiosity. Who exactly is Flit? Other than Firelock, I've never actually met any of the commanders. I certainly haven't heard their histories.

My thought process is broken by a coherent phrase coming out of Dash, even as tear-stained as she is. Her voice is choked up, but there's still definite rage anger in it. "Flutters! Your wings!"

Flit looks back at the twisted appendages with a detached sort of interest, then back to Dash. "What about them?"

Dash opens and closes her mouth for a few moments, clearly not expecting that answer. She's bounced back from her emotional outburst incredibly quickly. The only evidence at all is the red rings around her eyes. "They're—well—you can't fly anymore! Who broke them? I'll avenge you!" Entirely separate from the fact that the culprit is me, I don't know if, in all the years I've been clashing with her, I've ever seen her so legitimately vehement, apart from Skahaben. What's the relationship between these two?

Flit (or Flutters...what's up with that?), shrugs, that same smile on her face. "Oh, it's fine. I was never the best flying anyway, so I'm really not missing much. Anyway, nobody broke them...well, that's not entirely true, but I told them to."

And that's all it takes for me to go into 'PAUSE.'

What.

That's a blatant lie...unless...

Dash beats me to the punch. "What do you mean, you told them to? That's crazy!"

"Well," Flit muses, tapping her now-solemn face with a hoof, "when I went missing from Skahaben, I fell down into the Citadel. I guess nobody noticed I was gone, or something like that; maybe I just wasn't worth turning around for." Dash opened her mouth to protest, but before she could get a word in, Flit pressed her hoof gently up to the other pegasus' face. "Shh, I'm not done. So there I was, after taking a big fall. I could barely walk. It was only due to luck that I landed in a pond instead of on the marble, or I might have died."

"So," she continues, "I was close to death when I heard the sound of a pony walking up to me. I looked up and...there she was." The previous smile begins to spread again. "Princess Celestia. She was like an angel."

Dash and I exchange confused glances. The Princess? An angel? What?

"What do you mean, Flutters...?" asks Dash slowly, cautiously.

The pale yellow pony sighs happily. "She took me in and let me stay in the palace until I got better. She didn't ask anything of me, other than a some conversation now and then. She gets very lonely, you know." I have to hold back a snort. The Celestia I know would never get lonely. How much of this is just Celestial dogma?

"She did so much for me. So when I heard that she needed a live subject for an anatomy lesson, injuries possible, recommend an older pegasus with less use of their wings, I stepped right forwards. Her ever-present smile completes the smile spectrum, turning mischievous as her eyes play over me. "I like to think it was a good lesson. I mean, look where you are now."

As soon as the first full sentence comes out of her mouth, mine is practically on the floor.

It was voluntary?

The implications are staggering. Why did Celestia show so much kindness to this pegasus, who was just a nobody? How did she inspire enough devotion for a small filly to volunteer for anatomical experiments?

Looking back and forth between us, Dash puts together what's going on and snarls at me. "You? You're the pony that broke Fluttershy's wings? How dare you!" I wince; she's raring to go. She has this tic that happens whenever she's about to pounce, I've noticed. Her right ear flicks a few times and she blows on her bangs. Every time.

Flit—or Fluttershy, I'm not even sure at this point—quickly darts out a hoof and stops her. I raise an eyebrow. I didn't think there was anything that could stop Dash when she's on the warpath. "Don't worry about me, Rainbow," she murmurs into Dash's ear, "this way everyone wins. I get to heal ponies, which is what I always wanted, and Skahaben gets to be rid of dead weight." The completely matter-of-fact tone attached to that statement surprises me. For a Commander, she seems very nonchalant about being considered inferior.

"NO!" snarls Dash, predictably enough. "For all she did! Everypony she's hurt, and now even YOU!" By the end of it she's pretty much roaring, and I take a step back; the fire in her eyes is quite intense. This goes beyond anger, she's absolutely livid.

"Rainbow Dash!" barks Flit, jolting me in surprise with how sharp her tone suddenly is. From Rainbow's reaction, she wasn't expecting it either. "Stop it!"

And just like that, she does. My eyes bug out at just how easily Flit managed to stop her from bolting at me. Sure, she's walked off and is sulking in the corner and glaring at me darkly now, but meh. I can live with that. Clucking her tongue at Dash, Flit steps forward and holds out her hoof. "I'm Fluttershy, though most ponies know me as Flit." Well, there's that question answered. "I knew Rainbow a long time ago."

I stare at the hoof for a little while, unsure of what to do. Even past everything else, I never expected the filly that I mutilated to be so calm and...almost grateful about it. Giving an awkward little chuckle, I complete the hoofshake, finishing the cliche introduction with a clumsy half-joke because nothing else to do is coming to mind at the moment: "Twilight, former protege of Princess Celestia. So, Rainbow's childhood friend? Got any embarrassing stories?"

FLuttershy giggles softly. "It's funny that you should mention that..." An intense glare from Dash only serves to make her laugh (a little bit) harder. "But in all seriousness, Twilight, thank you. [3] Because of your anatomy lesson, I couldn't fly at all anymore. That, combined with my interest in medicine, caused Celestia to give me the best job I could imagine." I self-consciously nod.

"No...problem, I guess."

I shuffle nervously for a moment. Fluttershy, despite her leadership position, seems like a nice pony; I'd hate for her to be crushed under an entire castle falling on top of her. "Look, Fluttershy...we may or may not have just caused the foundations of this castle to fall in on themselves a little bit. You...might want to get out of here before the way is blocked or something."

Fluttershy's smile stays on her face, but grows slightly definitively forced. "You think I should leave the castle?"

I eye her suspiciously. "...Yes? It's probably going to cave in really soon. As in, several minutes soon, not a couple days soon."

I'm not worried about Trixie and Pinkie. Trixie's a fairly powerful mage in her own right, certainly powerful enough to cast a basic teleportation spell in case things go south for the two of them. Not so for Fluttershy. She's doesn't look fast like Dash, and she can't use magic. I'm afraid that she'll die if she stays down here for any longer.

"No...No, I'll be fine..." Something is definitely up now. She's sweating heavily and I can practically feel her heartbeat on my skin it's going so hard. At hearing this exchange, Dash trots over, eyes narrowed. I'm forgotten about for the moment, much to my relief.

"Flutters," she begins, voice exasperated and exhausted, "how long has it been since you left this room?"

For a moment I'm confused, but I quickly realize what's going on when Fluttershy seems to shrink in on herself and squeaks out an answer so quietly I can barely hear it. "eight years..."

Dash sighs disappointedly. "Damn it..." She turns to me, impatience obviously on her face. "Okay, Sparkle, look. I'll beat you to death for hurting Flutters later. Right now, though, we have to get out of here. Flutters has always been..." she searches for the right word as Fluttershy curls up in a ball of shame on the floor, "...reclusive. I can get myself out of here no problem, but you need to get Flutters out of here. Okay?" Her hooves rest lightly on my shoulders as she looks me in the eye. "Even if I can't get out of here, she's more important."

This time I'm definitely sure. Her cutie mark just flashed with light. My eyes narrow. "Alright, Dash. But you better come back alive."

She grins cockily. "Do you even know who you're talking to?

I expand my magical field, grabbing Fluttershy. I could probably bring Dash too, but once you start traveling with more than two people, it starts to get a little wonky and you might lose on in the aether. [4] I can hear Fluttershy trying to cry out, but I ignore the sound and instead ignite my horn in light.

Then we're gone.

Dash glances at the door. Beyond it, she can see the pale green effluence of pure mana leaking, and she draws a shaky breath. "I got this," she whispers. "No problem."

[1]: By the way, what's up with that? The three Battalions are magic users, at least as far as I'm aware. It's not so much that I don't think pegasi can be competent healers, but in terms of magic, it doesn't make much sense. Or, well, it didn't at the time, at least.
[2]: I must admit I started a bit when I heard her refer to Skahaben in the present tense.
[3]: Never expected to be thanked for mutilating somepony. But hey, first time for everything, I guess.
[4]: Not a pretty sight when they reappear. In pieces.

Act II, scene viii - Ashes To Ashes...

As Fluttershy and I dash for the wall-hole that Pinkie...created...earlier, I have the foresight to throw a shield up behind us, just in case. It's a good decision, because nearly as soon as we escape from the Citadel proper, there's a huge sizzling sound and the air shreds with an explosion of phantasmal fire, the shockwave blowing apart pretty much the rest of the structure. Colossal marble boulders smash themselves to gravel against the shield. Though it peters out pretty much immediately, it serves its purpose, getting us through the first barrage of stone.

The blaze of manalight quickly gives way to shrieking bolts of purple lightning that splash around us. I have to slow down slightly for Fluttershy (I'm just going to call her Flit from this point, it's less of a mouthful), and my teeth spasm together as one of the bolts sears against the ground next to us, spiking a searing flash of pain through my horn. In the distance, I can hear rumbling as the pipelines of manalight that connect the city explode in tandem, spreading the ruin far beyond the Citadel.

Flit suddenly stops, eyes going wide. "Rainbow!" she shrieks, before reversing in a turn of speed that I wish she'd displayed when running away from the castle, screaming out Rainbow's name again, and dashes headlong back to the cataclysmic scene. [1] I try to drag her back, but the magical feedback from all the wild magic exploding into the air is interfering with my telekinesis. I manage to get a weak grip on her tail, but it's not enough to actually do anything. Ignoring my warnings, she vanishes into the roiling wave of dust and ash on its way towards us. Grimacing, I conjure up a magical air filter and another shield.

Wait.

Magical feedback. No filter. No shield.

This is going to suck an infinite amount on SO MANY LEVELS.

And that right there is my last thought before the cloud strikes.

The debris smacks me backwards so hard that it's a wonder I don't fall over before rolling over me with tremendous heat, and I find myself wondering in a detached sort of way exactly how Flit managed to just run into it. The sheer impact should've knocked her unconscious if it struck her headfirst like that, and even if it didn't, pegasi are lightweight. She should've been sent flying. Then I unthinkingly open my eyes, and all thoughts of anything else flicker away. The pain of the superheated particles on my corneas probably isn't the most painful thing that's ever happened to me, but, well, it comes close. Definitely top ten, and probably top five. Heck, maybe even top three!

Howling in pain and clutching at my scorching eyes, I teeter for a moment before falling flat. As I arch my back and try desperately to rub the gritty shards of what seems to be pure pain out, I don't think of Flit. I don't think of Rainbow. I don't think of Celestia or Luna or Trixie or Pinkie. Literally the only thing going through my head is ohskygetitoutgetitoutisweartocelestiagetitOUT. [2]

I'm not entirely sure how long I lie there, choking on the air and screaming my throat raw as ashy froth bubbles out of my now-horribly dry mouth. Eventually, though, the hot ash on the wind dies away and I realize that I'm actually breathing air now instead of ash, dust and tiny flakes of marble. Or, in other words, I can breathe without feeling like somepony is using my trachea as a funnel to pour red-hot sand.

Still hissing in pain, I manage to curl in on myself, hooves still clenched over eyes that bleed rivers of tears out from under the lids. The fur on my cheeks is crusted to my skin by trails of dried ash and saliva. Collecting my thoughts into a fragile ball of coherency, I realize how utterly destroyed the aether in this place is. Remember when I was back in the old Canterlot castle and it was taking too long for my magic to recharge because there were holes torn in the aether?

There is no aether.

The cataclysmic eruption of pure magic has completely shredded the fabric of magic for a good few miles in every direction. It's going to be a long time before I can use magic, which is going to make going into the unstable wreck of a castle to locate the two pegasi even more difficult. Seeing what this did to the Gold District, I'm not sure I even want to see what the Tin District right now. [3]

[1]: Yes. Run towards the IMMINENT MAGICAL DEATH.
[2]: Not entirely sure why I still invoke Celestia's name. Long-ingrained habit, I guess.
[3]: Spoiler alert: most of it was completely destroyed. We never intended for that kinda of magical fallout.

Ever try to read fine print when you have tears in your eyes?

That's basically what it feels like just walking right now.

I barely have vision at the point. While I'm not focusing on it at the moment, that's cause for pretty great concern. I'm not sure how I'm supposed to fight a war if I'm, for all intents and purposes, completely blind. Seems like it would be inconvenient. It certainly is right now. Through the miasma of particles still hanging through the air and the green glow of manalight, it's going to be pretty difficult to find a pair of ponies that are, in all likelihood, partially or entirely covered in debris.

Stumbling around like a drunkard, I swear as I end up tripping on a small piece of metal and going facedown. Groaning, I look up, and it's then when I notice something interesting: even with my screwed-up eyes, I can still catch the dim pink glow emanating from beneath a pile of nearby rubble. A surge of alien magic pulses around me and I gasp in a breath involuntarily. There's no way to cast magic here. What's going on?

Then, just as soon as I saw it, the glow vanishes, and with it goes the magic. Scrambling clumsily over to the debris, I scratch at it with my hooves until I reveal...

Rainbow. And Flit. [1] And as far as I can tell, both are fine. Not a scratch or bruise between them, despite the fact that they're lying underneath a pile of rocks. How is this possible?

As I sit there agape, Rainbow shifts for a moment, then rises. I can only assume that her eyes open, because there's a sharp intake of breath followed by speech: "...Wow, Sparkle, you look like Tartarus." A blue blotch that I'm pretty sure is a hoof waves in front of my muzzle, startling me backwards. Then it retracts back into the obscurity of colors.

I hear Dash's voice again: "So, question time. How am I alive right now? The last thing I remember is a wall falling down on me, then a pink glow, and now I'm waking up here. What gives?"

The yellow and pink mound of fur moves and uncurls itself. Looks like Flit is conscious too. "...I think Twilight saved us. I jumped on top of you, but I can't do much. She must have put a shield around us." She dips her head to me. I think. "Thank you."

I try to speak, but mostly end up gagging and coughing for the next five minutes or so. When I finally let the words out, they're raspy and hoarse as I look up towards the sky, thinking. "Much as I love getting credit, wasn't me. There's so much magical feedback here I don't think even pegasus magic would work. There's definitely more than enough to make it impossible to cast a barrier. Whatever happened, I think it was one of you two." Out of the corner of my eye, I notice something flashing with light in Flit's direction, but by the time I've turned my head, whatever it was is gone.

It's then that Dash actually looks for the first time at what's around us. I can't see it, but I'm familiar with what magic can do, and what comes out of her mouth is absolutely right: "Wow. I guess we did our job."

I chuckle despite everything. "Rainbow, this was so overkill it was like killing an ant with a Solar Effigy."

She doesn't return the laugh. Something is actually serious. "Sparkle, what in Tartarus did we just do? Take a look around!"

I scrape my hoof at the ground. "Actually, about that...got some ash in my eye, can't see so great right now. What's wrong?"

"Everything is wrong, Twilight!" she spits. Well, she used my actual name, so that's definitely cause for concern. She's never done that before, even in the Chasmlands. "Half of the city is leveled!"

Then there's a clip-clop sound beside us, and Rainbow's mouth shuts instantly. Turning, all I can see is a white shape to know what caused Dash to shut it, but that's all I need to see. I raise my head proudly. Even if she kills me here, I did what I came to do. Luna will win the war. That's all I need.[2]

Only then do I realize that she isn't trying to kill me. Actually, her head is dropped pretty far down. Though my ears are ringing slightly from the explosion, I can still hear her whisper. Unfortunately, I can't tell exactly what she said, just that she said it. The white blob turns to me, and her voice isn't angry at all, surprisingly enough. No, it's...unfathomably sad. I've never heard it like that before. She simply repeats what she said louder. "Was it worth it, Twilight?"

Well, chalk up another of the firsts. I don't think she's ever called me Twilight before. It's always been "Ms. Sparkle," or "Ms. Twilight," but never just Twilight. The prismatic blur that is her mane wavers for a moment, and her head comes up proudly. "Well? Was it? How many died here today, Twilight?" Her eyes are glowing slightly, furious gold burning behind them. "You dared to challenge me on my Effigies. Though I was displeased with your defiance, I at least admired your conviction. You knew what you believed in."

More clip-clop, and she draws closer to me. As she moves into my field of decent vision, I jolt, taken aback: I don't think I've ever seen Celestia wounded. Her normally-pristine white coat is covered in what look like electrical burns, and a deep gash runs beneath her right eye.

"What are you fighting for now, Twilight?" Her gaze sweeps across us. I can practically hear Rainbow stiffening off to the side, and there's a whisper of air as a yellow blur—Flit, obviously—flutters her way to Celestia's side.

"Think on what you did here, Twilight. What did you hope to accomplish?"

I open my mouth to answer before being immediately hushed. "Shh. It was a rhetorical question."

Just as well; I'm not altogether sure myself. The idea was to destroy the Citadel so Celestia's base of operations would be shut down, but the explosives that Luna sent with Pinkie through the portal to us were insanely gratuitous.

There's a sound of rushing wind as the air splits and distorts around her, and then she's gone.

What have I done?

[1]: Or rather, Blue Semi-equine Shape and Yellow Semi-equine Shape. My eyes weren't working...extraordinarily well, to say the least.
[2]: To this day, I have no idea why we didn't notice her approach. She can be surprisingly stealthy when she wants.

Act II, scene ix - Playwright

So. There we are, in the ruins of what was once the crowning glory of the Solar Dominion. The Citadel is a fragment of what it used to be, crumbling stone and metal melted, cooled, and remelted into bizarre twists. The air is thick with the smell of ash and wild magic, a throbbing pain at the base of my horn a reminder of how torn apart this place is on how many levels. I remember my beating of the guards earlier and gulp. Seems like small potatoes now. Though doubtless, the city was largely evacuated after the first explosion, there's no way everypony escaped in the two-some hours we spent in the castle. Emptying a city takes longer than that. Even thinking optimistically, there's no doubt that there's a lot of blood on my hooves.

Dash seems just as shaken up, and Flit is utterly beside herself. Remember, she's a healer. Seeing this kind of destruction and death must be driving her mad. Even with my terrible vision, I can still see her quaking.

When Dash speaks, her voice shakes audibly. "L—Let's get out of here, Twilight."

Shuddering, I nod and begin to hesitantly trot north, stumbling over rocks and other assorted debris, towards where we came from. My horn still aches and I still can't use magic, but as long as we can get out of here, I should be able to start fixing my eyes up. [1]

The two pegasi follow me, easily catching up to my shambling mess of a body. I grumble for a moment about how uninjured they are before shutting up and letting them guide my mostly-blind self back towards the mountains. I can't help it; I don't have the wherewithal to complain as much as I wish I could. The world around me exists in a faint miasma of strange purple and green lights, and white noise fills my ears, a faint static that's maddening to listen to, and that I can't even begin to escape. I grimace. This whole situation is giving me some nasty flashbacks to the Chasmlands, and from there, my mind begins to wander to the whole point of this exercise:

So, Luna gave us some explosives to blow up Celestia's headquarters that were absolutely too strong to just blow a hole in a wall. Even told Mena to plant them exactly there, on the north wall. Stupid, I swear to myself. You should have noticed. The north wall is where all the nexus pipes split off, the perfect place to destabilize the magical system running under the whole city. So why?

Luna didn't strike me as the type to recklessly endanger innocent ponies; that's more Celestia's thing. So what was the point? It wasn't to destroy the troops; the whole barracks had been emptied entirely. I grind my teeth as we continue on into the mountains:

I'm sick of misjudging ponies, damnit![2]

[1]: While no real healer, I'd still been on battlefields. Of course I'd know some medical magic. What do you take me for?
[2]: Definitely not the last time.

As soon as I step out of the range of the magical feedback from the Citadel [1], I feel the magic in the world around me come racing back into my neural circuits and I let out an involuntary gasp as the headache recedes almost as quickly as it had arrived. Before I do anything else, I set to work fixing my eyes, and space once again bleeds into existence out of a blur of nigh-incomprehensible colors. The pain abates some, but no matter what I do, I can't force it to recede entirely, nor can I remove the slight blurring that still nags at the edges of my vision. I sigh. Time will fix those, if nothing else.

The sun in the sky above us no longer burns with unrestrained rage. Instead a weight seems to be pressing down upon us, a sighing misery that forces us into melancholy and pessimism. On the horizon, a great plume of smoke writhes up into the otherwise-spotless sky, casting a shadow over the already depressing sun. I close my eyes and, for a moment, the world falls away from around me. I take that moment to clear my mind, to think over things rationally like I seem to be having so damn much trouble doing recently.

Okay. What do I know about everything that's happened since this whole mess started:

Celestia sent me to the Sovereignty to retrieve a false relic in hopes of making me fail.
Luna interceded. She monitored me throughout my little stroll by using Marks as her eyes and ears. My eyes snap open and I frown.[2]

Something about that suddenly seems so...convoluted. Unnecessarily so. If she wanted to recruit me to be a spy like she did, would it not be easier after the bombing of the first town with the Solar Effigy? I've been so caught up in this whole madness that I've never really stopped to think about what Luna would gain from letting me go through with the mission and nearly die half a dozen times in the Chasmlands instead of sending an envoy there to meet me directly as soon as I arrived. Yet, there was always something, wherever I stopped...It was almost like...

"She knew exactly where I was going to go, at what time..." I mumble aloud, an idea beginning to take shape in my mind. Without moving, keeping my eyes firmly locked in my thoughts—I'm so close to finding out what's going on—I call for Rainbow. She comes slogging gloomily out of the shadow of a nearby rock where she'd been resting, inclining her head in curiosity in lieu of speech.

"Rainbow. When did Luna ask you to be my contact in the Dominion?"

She cocks her head. "What do you mean?"

I sigh. "Did Luna seek you out before or after I was already here?"

Comprehension ignites in her eye and she nods. "Oh, I gotcha. It was before. Way before. I had to fly almost half as fast as I could to get here," she preens. My watering eyes narrow, and she notices. "Why? Something up?"

I nod absentmindedly, but I'm not listening to her at all at this point. My mind is racing back along all the different stops, trying to recall what characterized each one. And somehow, they all felt...

Felt...

Planned. [3]

That's it.

Above all, there was always a feeling of prescription to what I was doing. Whenever I was about to die, there was a miraculous save. Whenever capture threatened, I managed to escape. Even when I was running from echoes in the Canterlot ruins, it all felt...acted. Like I was a character in a play.

A play written by Luna.

My lips part ever so slightly and I hiss in a horrified breath. What had Marks said?

"Instead of stars, Luna calls them her Oculi."

"She sees pretty much everything."

"Some say they can even look through time."

Everything that I did in the Sovereignty—which led to what I'm doing over here—was planned. Which begs the question: now that the Citadel is rubble and ash...what now? What happens next? Because I can't stay here. Ponies know my face, and that I was involved in the Citadel's destruction. Celestia will have seen that. If somepony sees me, there is going to be blood spilled, and I've already killed too many.

Convenient, then, when the air warps and splits around me and I'm back in the Lunar throne room, hurling my guts all over the polished black marble floor. Rainbow and Flit appear to be in roughly the same straights. Because you probably shouldn't use planar travel spells without ponies knowing they're coming first, Luna.

Speaking of Luna, she's sitting in front of me.

Smiling.

She knows.

[1]: Which, by the way, I'm nowhere close to done with. Don't worry, things are just going to go downhill from here.
[2]: I'm going to need to address Marks' hypocrisy sooner or later. Next time I see her, she's getting a Twilight Sparkle-style hoof kick right to the logic.
[3]: I don't know why it took me so long to come to this conclusion.

Act II, scene x - Puppetmaster

She smiles.

"Though I cannot see the same way in the Dominion, I can still feel your magical signature. You've figure it out, I'd imagine. I can't imagine why you wouldn't have. You've not shown yourself to be an idiot, so it's safe to assume that you're acting congruent with time." She bows mockingly. "Luna Selenia Invicta, Time Unbroken, at your service."

In between the retches, I manage to choke out, "Time Unbroken? You—urp—think off that all by yourself?" [1]

She laughs, but it's cold. If a laugh can be brittle, then Luna's is. "Adorable. Really, Twilight, I don't dislike you. There are no hard feelings between us. You're simply a convenient way to strike at my sister, and too dangerous to be allowed to wander free." She spits the word 'sister' as though it's a swear. It actually might be to her, given her...rocky relationship with Celestia. I try to rise, but I'm quickly enrobed in blue magic, forced back down to the floor. "Ah ah ah. I didn't say you could move. Quite rude of you. Stay there a bit while we talk."

My teeth screech against each other as I fight her telekinetic grip, but to no avail. She's so much stronger than I am that there's not even a competition here.

As I cast my eyes around desperately for something, anything, to break me past the lunar regent's unshakable grasp, my eyes meet another pair, blue and shimmering with tears, that lies behind her throne. Far from the brown frock that I knew her from, Marks—yeah, no, I can't call her that anymore. She's Rarity through and through, wearing that suit of shining moonstone-and-silver armor. A massive spellcasting conduit spirals gracefully around her horn. She is the very picture of a Lunar marksmage. I release a spurt of hollow laughter and her eyes widen just a bit.

"What's wrong, Marks? I figured you'd be enjoying the fruits of your hypocrisy and betrayal." [2]

Flit and Rainbow aren't faring much better. Rainbow is struggling desperately, roaring at Luna as her muscles quake and strain against the implacable magic. Flit is huddled on the floor sobbing, very clearly in no state to even begin to escape. I begin to see, despite how strangely intact she was upon leaving the Citadel, just how fragile that pegasus is.

"I...Sparkle..." starts Rarity, the lump in her throat evident in her voice before I cut her off,

"No. Whatever you're about to say, I don't care. You broke my trust. Then you broke it again through Luna, even after leaving me all alone in hostile territory after that thrice-damned Effigy destroyed the town. We are DONE."

Luna laughs again, jolting Marks. Rarity. Damnit!

She laughs a lot.

At length, she wipes away a tear. "Oh, you poor thing. I thought you'd figured it out."

My eyes narrow. "Figured...what out?"

She smiles again. I'm getting really sick of her smiles. "This."

Her horn glows with a sudden nova of brilliant blue energy and five flashes of orange flame dart into the room. It's so unexpected, among the blue and silver, to see something like that. But that isn't important. What is important is something I said when I was first sneaking back into the Dominion. You remember what I said about the queen of subterfuge? Well. If you thought you knew, you hadn't seen anything yet. The whirling flames spin around Luna's horn for a few moments, then resolve themselves into their final shapes. And no points for guessing.

The array of Solar Effigies before me is blisteringly hot. If there was any doubt whether or not they were real, the smell of scorched fur quickly puts it to rest.

Despite all that, I still try to keep a conversation going, get out whatever I can from Luna. Knowledge is power. "So. Why do all of this? If you can mimic Celestia's power that easily, why go to all this rigmarole?"

She shakes her head, chiding me like I'm some sort of child. "Oh, Twilight. All these years, and you still don't know how powerful you are. With the right teachings, you could level mountains. You could kill gods. You could even become a goddess yourself. We should be grateful that Celestia still hasn't tapped into any of your power, or perhaps she doesn't know it. You're in my throne room now, which means you know my Oculi can see through time. Then know this: I've seen your future, Twilight. The future where you live on after the war is over. And it doesn't matter who wins, because in the end, you do. You slaughter thousands in a misguided search for power that does not belong to you, and in the end, you obtain it. At great cost to everypony—everything—else." A soft half-smile comes to her face. "So why go to all this rigmarole, as you so eloquently put it? Simple. I'm saving the world. From you."

Huh.

[1]: One day I'll stop mocking ponies who can kill me with ease when I'm helpless, I promise.
[2]: I'm not sure if you've noticed, but I have a way of not keeping promises.

Yeah, to be honest, I don't even know how to respond to that.

And yes, I know, I'm the one with all the answers. I'm the one that always has a snark-remark ready to go in case something like this happens. But come on. What would you do if someone told you they had to kill you to save the world?

Yeah. I thought so.

So my mouth just kinda...hangs agape for a while. 'Cause I have no idea what to do. As Luna walks up to me, she stops for a moment, face flashing to confusion, then her smile widens. "Ah, I've been looking for this."

Then I'm treated to the unholy pain of having my leylines torn as something embedded deep within them comes to the surface. You remember all that time ago, when I told you that warscythe getting enveloped within my leylines was important? Well, here you go. She rips it straight from the space in front of me, mercilessly shredding anything in the way of possessing it, and I think I can feel my horn beginning to smoke. Then, in a barrage of pain and a single scream so loud and long it ends in a hoarse croak, Luna is holding her ancient weapon directly above me, preparing to bring it down. Her eyes gleam unpleasantly, and for some reason, I'm so detached that the strange gleam in her eyes is the only thing I notice.

Then a bellowing roar of raw anger reverberates around the throne room and I'm treated to a rather...peculiar sight. Rainbow blasts out of Luna's telekinesis, shredding it as though it isn't even there. Her cutie mark is ablaze, an intense ruby light bright enough to blind suffusing the lightning bolt. Luna barely has time for a shocked "What?!" before Rainbow is on top of her, tackling her to the ground with immense force.

"If you lay a single hoof on Twilight," she rages, "I will end you!" [1]

I'm immensely pleased by the utter surprise on Luna's face, and even more so by the fact that her intense magical lightning storm reflects harmlessly off of the coruscating rictus of crimson light surrounding Rainbow. "No," gasps the Princess, "Impossible! They were shattered!"

I don't know what she's talking about, but what I do know is that she's distracted and that I can feel her telekinesis weakening. I throw it off with little effort and immediately teleport directly behind Rarity, bucking her in the spine. She falls over with a cry, and before she can move to a counterspell, I put her into a deep sleep, leaving only Luna, me, and the two pegasi. [2]

It hurts a lot, and immediately afterwards, I can feel my horn smoking again, and my magic feels distant, retreating back into me. Right severed leylines. Whoops, and ow.

Luna looks absolutely stricken. I don't really know why, other than the obvious. "What have you done?" she grinds out at Rainbow, "how did you do this?"

"Do what?" replies Rainbow. And I slap my face with my hoof, because for once, she isn't being cocky. She seriously hasn't noticed the fact that she's GLOWING.

"You," gasped Luna, "unlocked one of the Six." [3]

And with that, she's gone. Poof. [4]

[1]: I can't say I know exactly how, but Rainbow and I have definitely become friends. And no. I do not appreciate the irony.
[2]: Or, well, the one. Flit is still kinda maybe sorta curled up in a sobbing ball on the floor.

What has my life become.
[3]: Before anypony asks, no, I don't know either.
[4]: Luna's teleportation doesn't actually make a poof sound. Seriously. That would be silly.

Act III, scene i - Inversion

Author's Note

As a courtesy, there was a simple edit made to take the previous Act III, scene i, and append it to the end of Act II. If context is off to any readers, that's why. My bad!

Act III, scene i - Inversion

After that, I'm strung out on my back for days, trying to recover. Occasionally, Trixie will come in and try to talk to me, but I'm largely unresponsive, filtering fitfully in and out of consciousness every few minutes. Rainbow might have been there once or twice, but that's a big might, and I have no idea if she really was. I have no idea if she's alive. All I've really been able to gather is that Trixie's astral magic, and her ability to act as a scryer through the stars, saved my life. How, I'm not entirely sure yet, but at least that I know.

The room is small, kinda homey, I guess. It's somewhat like a room in an inn; I'm not exposed to the stars, which is definitely a good thing. It's floored with pale wood and paneled in the same, and there's a small gray brick fireplace kept burning in the wall opposite the door. My bed is a small affair, but good enough for me to lie in, and I'm not really trying to stretch out a whole lot right now anyway. The blanket is thick and warm and that's all that particularly matters, since I'm spending all my time under it. A single candle now burns on the nightstand, refreshed every so often by the ever-attentive Trixie, who I assume is staying in a different room at the inn. I hope she has enough to pay for all this; bits aren't particularly easy to come by in large quantities these days. Then again, I'm an enemy of the state in two separate nations. She probably has it a bit easier.

Every time I fall asleep, my brain is assailed with more images like the one from Luna's spell: random pieces of events that I've never seen, that don't make sense. Pictures of maybe another place, maybe another time. I don't know; sometimes the lithe figure in the torrent of rainbows reappears, stretching out a paw to me. Sometimes I see fragments of the strange elderly unicorns, writing their equations and codes. Sometimes, a double helix flashes across my field of vision, flickering like some sort of distorted static. When I awake, it's with the tang of iron on the tongue, and I don't know why. I've been continuously trying to use magic a little bit each day, and eventually, I managed to lift a quill without feeling like Pinkie/Mena'd had free reign with my head. And, of course, I immediately decided to overtax myself, and dropped the quill against a wave of nausea and pain about five minutes later. Barely been able to use any magic since.

Still, I feel like it was important to use that quill. [1]

See, somehow, among all the random thoughts bolting through my head in the deep dark of sleep, one is always the same. A pattern on the canvas of my mind, serving as the...background? I guess? It's kinda hard to speak of things objectively in dreams. So sue me. I can't really describe the nature of how it's there. It just...is, always. I needed to draw it, because I don't know how long these dreams are going to continue, and part of me [2] can't help but feel like the pattern is important. After I woke up, I drew it as fast as I could.

I can't say I have the faintest clue what it is. I can't even begin to guess. It looks a bit like a complex spell lattice [3], but there's something...different about it, something nagging at the back of my head and burrowing into my thoughts. I can't place it, but I can tell this isn't just a spell. I've seen and read about a lot of spells, and I've learned a few from lattice. It's fairly old hat for me. That's why I don't think it's a normal spell: I don't see any way to cast it. I understand a little bit of the basic premise behind it; that is, it seems to channel power into something. Relatively straightforward; it's a similar principle to enchantment of objects. Two problems, though: one, there's no way to designate a target. It's left open-ended. That's the kind of mistake you usually see with beginners drawing lattices, but this is a complex enough lattice that there's no way a beginner could have scribed it. That would force all the magic feedback into the caster, since it would have nowhere to go. And that relates to the second problem: the caster would be pretty much vaporized, because the level of power to even begin the activation sequence, let alone finish the channeling...well, to put it simply, it's absurd. As in, me during a magic surge absurd. More, even. Significantly more. Thousands of thaums. Tens of thousands. Enough magic that it would take probably an entire Battalion of battlemages to activate it.

Oh, but that's not enough. There's also something just...strange about it. I can't explain it any better than that, and I can't quantify it, which—believe me—frustrates me immensely. I can't pin down exactly what's odd, but something about it is just...so alien. Tartarus, if I even look at the lattice for too long, I start to get a headache again. Something about it is both fundamentally wrong and incredibly right at the same time, and its weirdly contradictory nature is driving me up the wall.

I have no idea. I'm getting into stuff that I honestly can't explain, and it's kinda weirding me out. So basically, I felt compelled to draw the pattern from the picture in my brain.

And yes, I am fully aware of how Tartarus-damned insane that sounds. Don't remind me.

[1]: Enough to warrant totally losing your magic, at least for an extended period of time?
[2]: No doubt the superstitious, paranoid, stupid part.
[3]: For those unaware, a spell lattice is a spell—which, of course, can't be transcribed into common Equuish—written out as a geometric pattern. Ponies developed easier ways to record and transcribe spells for mnemonics and education centuries ago, though; spell lattices are incredibly outmoded and rare now. The fact that something like one is showing up in my dream is somewhat unsettling.

Days later, and I'm still not even ready to get out of bed. My head still hurts occasionally, and my magic is barely making a resurgence. Despite myself, I'm worried. I know I've done some stupid stuff throughout this...adventure, if you want to call it that, but I've never been without magic for more than a few days at a time; the longest was probably the Canterlot ruins. This is dragging on and on; though I don't have a particularly regular sleep schedule anymore, what with all the passing out at arbitrary times, I can still assume by the amount of food I've consumed I've been in this bed for nearly two weeks, and I still can't even lift my saddlebags from their position by the door. Well, at the very least, the dreams have settled down some. I don't have them every time I sleep now. I mean, I still have them most of the time, but progress is progress.

So out of commission, I'm left to introspection: pondering the intricacies of what's going on now, and how badly my brain is messed up. Since the Solar barracks were obliterated, Luna is undoubtedly winning the war on a simply battle-based scale; however, she seemed pretty shaken up, both by Rainbow's glowing beatdown and my seemingly-psychotic episode. At this point, thought, I couldn't care less who wins the war; as far as I know, I lose either way, so what's the point? I'm just going to stay out of it from now on. [1] It's none of my business who gods want to kill.

So, that brings to mind an important question that I've wanted to ask Trixie, but haven't been able to because talking is currently pretty difficult: where on Equus I am. I wince at a jolt of pain in my head as I think: some kind of safehouse that Trixie knows about. I rotate my head laconically, looking for the first time at the window set in the wooden wall. It's dark out. Still in the Sovereignty. Passing through the demilitarized zone would be foolish anyway, and Trixie's smart.

But that's about all I can tell from the window, and immediately after that, I feel the pulsing ache in my horn that always preempts my drops into unconsciousness. I tense up, telling myself that I can stay awake, and focus on a spot in the blanket covering me. I'm still focusing on that little spot when my eyes slam shut and I fall back, the slew of images already beginning.

Six gemstones. Nothing else. An array of six, floating through black nothing. Six-pointed star. Lightning bolt. Butterfly. Balloon. Apple. Diamond-shaped gem. They glimmer with a bizarre not-light, and I suddenly realize each one is inscribed with a piece of the lattice pattern.

Then I wake up. I'm surprised; I'm usually out for hours when that happens. It feels like I was only unconscious for a few minutes, though of course I could be mistaken. I frown suddenly. What was it Luna had said when Rainbow tackled her in the Sanctum? That she'd awakened "one of the six?" What six was she talking about? The six gemstones from my dream? It's the only working hypothesis I've got; nothing else I can think of makes any sense. So the question remains: exactly what are the gemstones?

I have a few very vague ideas, but nothing solid to go off of. I remember reading in the ruins of Canterlot that a series of powerful artifacts called the Elements were shattered in the final confrontation with the Chaos King. In the visions I had while Luna was putting me to sleep—I know, not a whole lot to go off—I distinctly recall seeing two equine forms with six gemstones orbiting around them as they fired a beam of spectral power at a strange, mismatched figure. So these gems in my mind might be those Elements, whatever they really are. And then again, it circles back to what Luna said in her throne room as Rainbow was beating her up: you awakened one of the Six.

One of the Six. One of the Elements? One of the gemstones, which might be entirely separate? Something totally different? I have no idea. [2] It doesn't help that I'm still afflicted with some sort of magical narcolepsy, since I'm passing out basically every other hour. Which, I suppose, is a definite improvement from every few minutes, but I'm not impressed; It's been a while, and I can still only keep my eyes open for an hour?

But oh, that isn't the worst part. Not even close. Not by a long shot. I realize this as I take a deep breath and attempt to get up, hoping for a painless recovery. Then my eyes shoot wide, horror filling them as I realize something isn't as it should be.

See...I can't feel—or move—my hind legs.

Things just got a lot harder.

I start hyperventilating as I feel a headache coming on. Something went wrong with my brain—I reacted badly to Luna's tranquilizing magic and had a stroke or something—and now my hind legs are paralyzed. As bad things to happen go, this is right up there with cracking my horn and/or going blind. I try to quickly run through what I know about the equine nervous system, but it's sadly lacking; my education never really covered the finer details of biology beyond how ponies tick, and how to make the ticking stop. Barely enough medical magic to knit together skin or fix a cornea, nothing that I could use to fix something wrong with my brain or spine. I'd need a professional magical doctor to avoid permanent damage to my neural circuit. [3]

Actually, now that I think about it, it's entirely possible that Luna's spell that gave me that...attack is the best word, also messed with my circuit. That might be why my magic is out of whack and I can barely lift a quill pen for five minutes. Then a horrible thought occurs to me: circuit injuries can last for months or years, and sometimes they can last a lifetime. I could spend the rest of my life without any magic at all.

It's all I can do to not sink into a morass of self-pity right then and there. I can't move. I can't do magic. I can barely stay awake. What good am I to anybody?

[1]: Pfft. As if. I would never have the patience to be a bystander.
[2]: Like I said: not a whole lot to go off of in figuring this particular puzzle out.
[3]: As you may have guessed, the neural circuit, or as it's more technically called, the unicorn neuromagical circuit, is intrinsically linked with the brain and nervous system. Any operations performed on either have to be carefully monitored in case they have unforeseen consequences.

Then, because things weren't feeling abrasive enough to me, Rainbow had to come into the room. Of course. She sees me lying there, staring sightlessly at the ceiling with tears beading around the corners of my eyes, and immediately knows that something's wrong.

"Hey, Sparkle! What's going on?" Her voice, while peremptory and gruff, is nonetheless worried; there's a caring tone behind it that shows it.

"I can't move my legs," I reply tonelessly, still staring at the tasteful pinewood above me. The fire crackles softly in the ensuing shocked silence.

"What...What do you mean, you can't move your legs?" She asks, seeming almost in shock. Despite myself, I let out a flat, mirthless laugh.

"Exactly what it sounds like. My hind legs. I can't move them. Can't do any magic either, except in fitful bursts. I am, for all intents and purposes, useless." The word is bitter in my mouth. Rainbow continues talking, but I tune her out, drifting off into a world of thought instead of one where I'm a cripple.

Cripple. What an ugly word.

That's the last thought through my mind before I pass out again.

I have no idea where I am, but it's definitely a cave. I can smell the dank air, and the water droplets make muted plipping sounds as they drop from stalactites far above me into mirror-still pools, disturbing the perfect surface. I walk along unimpeded by my faulty nervous system, not fully in control of my own body, it feels like. My horn is lit up in a bright aura of light, casting away any darkness around me in the giant cave. The air is damp on my fur. Despite the odd surroundings,
I am at peace; something feels like it's calming me, soothing my fears away. Everything about this place just feels RIGHT.

As I look down, I jolt: my hoofsteps are leaving little pulses of light and shine out wherever I step, and they're all in the shape of that mysterious spell lattice. [1] I can almost feel its presence now; something familiar, yet just out of reach and out of mind.

Before me, the cave narrows down to a small passageway, about as tall as three of me. At the end is a bright light shining blue-white, casting a soft glow down the path. My horn winks out; I don't need the light any longer. As I reach the end of the tunnel, the light becomes blinding, and I'm forced to cover my eyes. Staticky images blink before me in a seizure-inducing epileptic slideshow, showing...something else. My life, but not my life. My world, but not my world. A different me, a different place, a different time.

I groan, eyes grinding unwillingly open as I wake. That was...strange. Not the fact that I had a weird dream; that's par for the course at this point. But all the others have been fragmented images so torn apart I could barely tell what they were. Not only was this dream incredibly vivid, it was also a single cogent scene, so perfectly done it felt more like a memory than a dream, though I've never seen that cave in my life. Rainbow's gone; she probably left once I fell asleep. I certainly don't blame her. Looking at my unconscious body probably isn't a very interesting activity for anypony. [2]

My brow furrows. I swear it feels like I've been there, in that cave. I'm getting the most intense feeling of deja vu, which probably has to do with the fact that I just spent a while looking at my life without it actually being my life. I laconically turn my head to look at the candle. A few hours, maybe, I was out. Weird; it feels like so much less. I try to move my legs again, and shake my head with a sigh of disappointment and resignation as they remain firmly immobile and numb.

A hollow feeling is left in my chest as I slough off the cover, taking a long, cold look at my hind legs.

How could this happen?

[1]: It's everywhere. Everywhere.
[2]: Heh.

Act I, scene v - A Pyre For The Innocent

Fire.

Fire everywhere.

Oh Celestia, why is there so much fire?

Why would the Princess do this again? She didn't have to do it once, so why twice? How many more times has she done this? Why? Why? Why?

Rarity—still having trouble thinking of her as such instead of Marks—and I had happened upon another village. Unlike the last one, this one had actually been really friendly, and we'd spent a little while just resting up.

Then another Solar Effigy came.

In much the same fashion as Moonscry, this town has been utterly wiped off of the map. All that remains is a pile of ash and coals, a few flames still flickering on the sparse pieces of intact wood. The Effigy screams to the sky, pulsing sheets of plasmatic fire tearing hundreds of feet into the air, before flashing off to the east, back towards the Solar Dominion.

All of the ponies here are dead.

Rarity and I emerge from behind a shattered house where we were hiding from the monstrous creature of solar light. Both of us are visibly shaken, and when the white unicorn speaks, her words tremble. "W...Why? Why would she do this?"

For once in my life, I have no answer. I'm just as confused as she is. I swallow.

For pretty much the first time in my life, I begin to question whether Celestia is in the right in a situation.

I don't think she is.

The face of a cafe owner—Starbird, I think his name was—explodes in front of my eyes and I flinch. He was such a nice pony; they all were. Just ashes on the breeze now. Heat still radiates from the wreckage and smoke billows up in huge clouds. There are no survivors.

"Look at this place," Rarity murmurs, "what did they do to deserve this? They were peaceful. Just a rest stop, really. Nobody around for miles in every direction. Is she really desperate enough that she needs to kill innocents to feel that she's accomplishing something?"

I begin to feel sick. The smell of ash in the air doesn't help matters, and I turn to walk away. Rarity stands there for another few moments, then follows.

As we walk through the open plains, I begin to curse my sensitive nose. Even when we're more than a full mile away, I can still smell the distinct stench of burnt wood and flesh. My ears fold back and Rarity's face remains completely impassive. I know what distress looks like, though, and her eyes are full of it. Distress is like tears, I suppose; it builds in your eyes until you can't hold it back anymore. Her eyes haven't caved in yet, but I know: they will soon.

Finally, we make it far enough that I can't smell the fire anymore. I can still see it in my mind's eye, though. I can see the flickering fires, but mostly, the thing that I see the most clearly is the incendiary image of my Princess.

Only a few miles later, Rarity asks in a subdued voice if we can stop for the night. I acquiesce; I don't want to push either of us right now.

Just before I can sleep, I see all of the fire behind my eyes again. It terrifies me.

We wake up. Sort of.

Our bodies are awake, but our minds are still trying to sleep, to seek respite from the horrors that transpired just a few hours ago. The distress is still in Rarity's eyes, but it's starting to become more heavy. Just from looking at her lethargic movements, I know that it won't be too long before she breaks. What I don't expect? For it to never happen. As I watch, she closes her eyes and breathes deeply, and when they open again, the distress is gone.

No, I think, not quite gone.

It's still there, definitely. But it's buried deep down, where she doesn't have to think about it. I stare at her in open admiration. What happened is still burned into my eyes, and she simply filed it away in the depths of her mind.

Wow.

We pass by two more small settlements in short order, each of them scourged by searing heat in the same fashion. Each time, we go through the motions of searching for survivors, no real hope of finding one. We never do. Finally, unbelievably, we find one that's still standing, and I intend to keep it that way.

Once Rarity goes to bed, I slip out of my bed, careful to not wake her, and trot quietly down and out of the inn. Going into full stealth mode, I make my way through the silent stone houses, eventually reaching the gates of the village and quietly nudging them aside. Perhaps thirty feet from the gate, I drop to my haunches, waiting, and let three pulses of bright light shine from my horn.

Within moments, a corona of heat hazes my vision and I sway, nearly falling over from the heat, as a Solar Effigy lands in front of me. I stay firm, though, and look into its unintelligent eyes, making sure that its half-consciousness knows what it's hearing.

"My name is Twilight Sparkle, and I want you to take this message back to Celestia," I begin. "Princess, I don't know why you're doing this. I trust that you have a good reason for killing civilians, but I can't figure that reason out. You could go after the higher authorities of the Lunar Sovereignty with your Effigies, so why just innocent ponies? And you," I hiss at the Effigy itself, my eyes narrowed. "I suggest that you leave now, or I might have to get rough. And I know exactly how powerful you are, so don't test me."

While likely not understanding the actual words, the being's limited intelligence is enough to understand a threatening, confident tone when it hears one, and it knows how to stay away from it. Its empty, glowing golden eyes narrow and it darts away in a flicker of flame, slipping over the horizon like a bolt of lightning. I breathe deeply in relief. Those things are terrifying.

Then, from off to the side:

"I can't believe you."

I start in surprise as the air peels away, revealing...

"Rarity?"

Oh Celestia, she was standing next to me the entire time. Her eyes are piercing me with an icy glare, and her mouth is set in a snarl. "I saw you leaving and thought that you might need my help, so I followed you. And what do I see? You, the pony that I trusted, who's life I saved not once, but twice," she spits the final word as though it's a swear, "speaking to that...that tyrant Celestia!"

She turns, her posture stiff. "I don't suggest returning to the town, Sparkle. By the time you're back, nobody will want you anyway." [2]

[1]: Sorry, no witty remark here. Even now, it's still too raw in my memory.
[2]: Told you that letting her come with me would come back to bite me.

Author's Note

Here's the last of the short chapters, hopefully.

Act II, final scene - Strings Cut (Or, Dust To Dust)

So.

I have no idea what to do at this point.

How do you even react to something like that? We're alone, the four of us; me, Rarity, Rainbow Flit. I'm bewildered, Flit is terrified, Rainbow is still fuming, Rarity is unconscious. For a moment, I can't help but wonder what happened to Trixie and Pinkie, but I can't spare any time: any second now, guards will come in, and then..then we're so incredibly screwed I can't even really process it. I'm a wreck. Even what magic I still have left is offline; Luna ripped my leylines up. They'll take quite some time to repair.

But I mean...I'm in a sky-forsaken fortress. Even if I had magic, I'd bet anything that there are teleport wards around the throne room, and it's not like I could beat my way part the soldiers without some sort of absurd magic surge. So, that's a thing.

But that's unimportant; those are just hypotheticals. I refuse to die. Now, the question is: what do I do to avoid I said death?

I begin to run through scenarios in my mind: I could bluff my way through it, just leave, but it's unlikely it would work. Luna doesn't strike me as the type to not inform her throneguards of somepony about to die in the throne room. She's too together for that. So just leaving is out.

Second, I could try to teleport against all odds. What with the pain in my horn, though, I'd rather not try that. Seems a bad idea, and a painful, potentially crippling one.

So we come to Plan C. But you can just call it BEST PLAN, in big letters on fire. I glance at Rainbow. Yep, still covered in scarlet light. I grin devilishly. “You ready for some fun, Rainbow?” [1]

She looks up to me for a moment before realizing what I mean, and her eyes narrow, the same grin crawling across her face. She snatches up the warscythe that Luna let fall. “It’s no spear,” she comments offhoofedly, “but it’s close enough. It’ll do.” With that, she takes to the air once more, and before I can even try to formulate a plan of some sort, she shrieks like a banshee and slams the door bodily open.

She barely even has to fight at first. Because, I mean...what would you do if you were just standing there, doing your job, and suddenly the door behind you burst open and a screaming pegasus glowing bloody red and carrying a massive warscythe comes barreling towards you at utterly absurd speeds?

Yeah. I thought so.

Unfortunately, the terror doesn’t last long, and then things kick into gear as I get a firsthand look at Rainbow Dash’s Valkyrie skills. She moves terrifyingly quickly, and though I never considered it before, almost acrobatically. I begin to see just how incredibly complex and intricate her fighting style is, how far removed from the “take sharp end, stab them until they stop” impression that I’ve had for all these years.

I don’t have very much time to appreciate it, though, because I snap back into the present and realize that I'm standing there watching Rainbow fighting when I could be doing...oh, I dunno...anything else.. So I grab Rarity and sling her around my shoulders, grunting as I wish sourly that my magic was working. I swear, how many times during this damn insane time am I going to get cut off from what makes me important?

"Hey! Get up!" I snap at Flit. [2]

When she doesn't, I grit my teeth. Fine. If she wants to stay here, she can. I gallop towards the door that Rainbow still holds the line beyond, and am gratified as a few moments later, I hear light hoofsteps behind me.

"Rainbow!" I call as Flit catches up to me, "get ready to book it!"

She nods tersely, then kicks off one of the two guards left standing out of six with her hind hooves, rebounding into a backflip before landing next to us. Showoff. "Okay then," she grunts out, "let's go!"

She plows ahead, bodily knocking aside anypony unfortunate enough to get in our way. I can't believe it: we're actually making it outside. The main door is just ahead of us. Almost there...

"And where do y'all think you're goin'?"

I hiss in a breath. I know that voice. I barely know it--battlefield experience--but I know it nonetheless, and I am really not happy to hear it now. I turn slowly, meeting the cold green eyes of an orange earth pony backed by several highly-angry looking creatures. I somehow manage to conjure forth a cocky grin. Have to keep up appearances, after all. Am I right?

"Beastmaster," I say, tone modulated and even. She smirks, tossing a bone whistle up and down in a hoof.

"I see my fame precedes me," she chuckles. "So," she continues, "I'm afraid I'm gonna have to ask y'all to stop where you are, put down my colleague, and surrender immediately." Through all of this, she has the most unnerving smile on her face, and I can't help but shiver.

I don't actually know the Lunar Beastmaster's name. All I know is that she's absolutely terrifying, and has a reputation for being incredibly cruel. Seeing the animals raring behind her, I can definitely believe it. I've only ever seen her on the battlefield, and even then only for a few moments. What I have seen is her wolfpack. Her deadly, deadly wolfpack. Those fangs have claimed more Solar lives than almost anything else on the battlefield.

Maybe I could do something if I had my magic. Maybe being the operative word there. Without it? I got nothing. [3]

It's no surprise to me when Rainbow squares up against her, warscythe held out in front of her just like she used to hold her spear. Speaking of, I wonder what happened to it...Eh, not important. What is important is the bone whistle that the earth pony is lifting to her mouth. I desperately strain to snatch it with magic, but I just can't muster anything. I can only watch as the wolves creep out from behind her, first one or two, then three, four, five, six. Half a dozen enormous wolves growling and bearing down on us. I swear flagrantly.

Then Flit steps forward, her cutie mark flickering with light, and begins to speak with them. Her face is twisted into what I suddenly realize is sympathy. "You poor dears," she murmurs, stopping the advance of the predators for a moment, "she treats you awfully, doesn't she?"

Hmm. Now that I think about it, the wolves do seem to have a lot of scars that don't look like war wounds. They look almost like lashes.

The beastmaster laughs for a moment before suddenly quieting. The wolves have stopped moving totally now, staring intently at Flit. "I know you're angry," she continues, seemingly in a daze, "but this isn't the way to go about fixing that." Her eyes laser onto the earth pony's. "The one to blame is right there.

The wolves round on the beastmaster, then turn back to Flit, seemingly confused. All the while, Dash and I creep closer to the door.

Something in the beastmaster snaps, and she turns it on her beasts. Some sort of strange, animalistic howl comes out of her, and the wolves immediately snap back towards Flit. Rainbow and I freeze as the beasts prowl towards her. What can I do?

Well, I guess it's time to have some fun.

Well...depends on your definition of fun.

[1]: So in case you didn’t get it, Plan C was basically point Rainbow at them, watch her go, and see what happens. Like I said: fun.
[2]: Okay, yes, I could've been nicer about it. But put yourself in my horseshoes for a second instead of hers, huh? Think about what I'd been through in the past few weeks.
[3]: Let's recall what happened the last time I was without magic, lest you forget that I still can't see very well.

The wolves? Scary.

Flit? Scarier.

I have no idea what she did, but she did something, and those wolves were just petrified. Seriously, I wish I could do that. Would've gotten me out of so many awkward scrapes.

She just...looked at them, if you want to go with the most outside definition of 'look' possible. It was more like she bored straight down into their souls with eyes alone. After that, they didn't go after the beastmaster. They weren't in a position to go after anypony. They just...curled up on the ground, whimpering like they'd lost limbs. It was one of the most surreal things I've ever seen. [1]

So as of now, we're booking it across the open plains outside of the Lunar Sanctum, hoping desperately that we're not about to die. I don't know how long it's going to take Luna to recover, but we absolutely need to get somewhere she can't toss a bunch of cheap imitation Effigies at us, because even if they're not the real deal, they still hurt, and I'm pretty sure I can't take more than one, even with magic running hot. On the topic of good news, which seems to be few and far between these days, my leylines are knitting themselves together. While I can't do anything crazy, I can at least do anything with my magic. Just basic commoditas magic like light and telekinesis, but I'm pretty sure that if I'm recovering this quick, it won't be too long before I'll be able to use the rest of my repertoire.

Also on the topic of good news: we lived through that. Somehow. I don't even know anymore. Rainbow punched a bunch of ponies out by glowing and Flit terrified trained killing-wolves to the ground by looking at them. Sometimes, I just want to go to sleep so somepony can wake me up when things start making sense again. [2]

There's one more problem: Rarity. You remember how immediately after I put her to sleep, my magic went offline? Well. Though you wouldn't think it, the magic to do that is pretty significant.

So is the magic to wake somepony like that up. It's not like I can do it manually, either; if I could, tranquilizing magic would be pretty useless on all accounts.

So I quite literally do not have the resources to wake her up. We've had to take turns carrying her, and it's slowing us down a lot. We're all on edge, and my teeth grind against each other at every sound. I have no idea where we're going. Right now, what's important is that it's away from the imminent death that lies angrily behind us.

"Hey, Sparkle," hisses Rainbow, flapping beside me with Rarity on her back, "do you have any idea where we're going?" [3]

I grin jaggedly. "No idea. At the moment, 'away' is enough for me."

She rolls her eyes. "Wonderful. Well, I can't say I've ever had a problem with flying east before. So let's pick up the pace, huh?"

She glances balefully at Flit. I can't help but agree. She's flying, yet she's moving slower than I am. She needs to book it just like we do. I fall back a bit until I draw level with her. "Look, Flit. I get that you're probably panicking, given what just happened. I'm up there right now too. But we need to get out of here. So buck up a little, huh? We gotta go." She nods tersely and accelerates, wings flapping several times faster as she speeds up to...well, not Rainbow speeds, but acceptable speeds. Nodding once with breath heavy, I gallop on. This sucks. [4]

[1]: I know it doesn't seem like much, but I've seen a lot of ponies die by the fangs of these wolves. Just cowing them into submission like that was a little much, even for me.
[2]: But then again, when have things ever made sense around me?
[3]: Funny you should ask that.
[4]: I miss my books. Curse you, physical activity! Curse you and your entire family!

All we can do is go. So go is what we do.

I can hear the baying of wolves behind us. It's a long ways off, but it's definitely there, and every time I hear it my blood chills a little more. My lungs are burning, and my legs feel like rubberized lead. I can't keep doing this much longer. We need somewhere--anywhere--to shelter.

My eyes catch something and I grin in relief for a moment. It's a forest. Somewhere we can hide and regroup, and maybe come up with some semblance of a plan. Who knows, maybe I can even think straight for once.

Then I get a better look at the forest, and the smile winks off of my face. Because I know this forest. I know it far better than I wish I did. And I made a promise to myself I would never go back into it. But you know what? I don't know if I have a choice anymore. Screw your wolves, I grimace, and screw you, Cullwood. [1]

[1]: So, let's recap what's happened to me in the past couple days. I've blown up a citadel where I used to live, alienated an insane pyromaniac, my adopted sister, and my old teacher (though to be fair, she already hated me). Then I had a friend of mine assault another pseudodeity, because you can never have just one. And now we're on the run from two separate gods and their armies, and I'm pretty sure the Beastmaster of the Lunar army is gunning for us specifically.

Wonderful.

Okay, pause, time out for a second: what do you think would be the most effective weapon to bring to bear against a supernatural sentient forest that wants to murder you?

If you guessed absurd amounts of fire, congrats. You win.

As we finally reach the treacherous boughs of the Cullwood, I make sure nobody eats any of the plants nearby. Except this time, I don't have any stipula rations. So essentially, we're all screwed. I don't have enough connection to my leylines to make fire, let along enough to do anything considerable to the Cullwood. We're still being chased; I can hear the wolves in the distance. We're hungry. And now we have to go into a forest that actively wants to kill us. [1]

So, the hypothesis: if we get fire, then we can be at least a little more comfortable. The question: how do we get fire? The answer: none yet. If I can't come up with something before the Beastmaster catches up to us, then we might as well kiss our flanks goodbye. Me especially, lest you forget that the Watcher is still looking for me. [2]

The answer comes to me suddenly: Luna has Effigies. I mean, sure, they're fake Effigies, but they're still pretty hot. Certainly hot enough start burning down a menace like this forest.

So, that raises another question: How suicidal am I feeling at the moment? Because while coaxing an Effigy to attack us would very effective in burning a bunch of trees to the ground, it would be equally effective in burning us to the ground.

"Hey, Rainbow, Flit. I've got a plan."

Rainbow groans mockingly, and I give her a withering glare. "If you have any better ideas that you'd like to bring to light, go ahead." She quiets. "You finished?" I ask dryly, and she nods sullenly.

"Anyway," I continued, I don't know if either of you have ever been into the Cullwood, but it's alive in some weird, magical way. I can't go in there, or I can guarantee I'll die. You'll both probably die too. Ideally, I'd burn it down, but after Luna broke my leylines, I can't conjure fire. So we don't have a lot of options here."

Flit takes a half-trot back, and Rainbow narrows her eyes. "What do you have in mind, Sparkle?"

I take a deep breath before continuing. "I'm going to draw Luna out, and try to get her to send an Effigy after us."

I hear Flit squeak out, "are you sure that's a good idea? Can we find some way around the forest?" I'd rather answer her than listen to Rainbow's current rant about my idiocy, so I do just that.

"Believe me, Flit, I wish I could find some way out of this, but we can't keep going much longer, and the Beastmaster is going to have our throats unless we get somewhere she can't. I mean," I ramble, heedless of the possible ramifications, "I have no idea if she has any beasts that can fly, so you could probably just leave me on my own and strike out, but..." I trail off at the glance that passes between Rainbow and Flit. [3]

"Oh no. Ohhhh no. Don't you even think about it," I grit out between my teeth.

[1]: At the very least, we don't have to deal with the Circle of Bones anymore, thanks to Rarity.
[2]: I know what you're thinking: Sparkle, you moron, just wake Rarity up! You have the magic now, right? Well, first of all, no. I don't. Second, I really doubt her Focus is fire. She's not Firelock. She's never used it. I find it much more likely that she's an earth Focus mage, judging by the gems on her flank. Maybe ice, if those are ice crystals, though I doubt it.
[3]: That's me, Ms. Twilight-Can't-Think-Before-She-Talks. Is it any wonder basically everyone I know wants to kill me now?

Well, Rainbow is still with me, at least.

To be fair, I can't blame Flit for taking off, both literally and figuratively, when she did. It's better for her, and hey, she's alive now, which is probably more than will be said of Rainbow and I by the end of the day...night...the next twenty-four hours. Screw it, I'm calling them days from now on and you just try and stop me.

So anyway.

"How do we do this?" I mutter, sitting on the grass next to Rarity's slumped form. I glare sourly at her for a moment, at her deep, even breaths. My eyes widen fractionally, and I look suddenly up to make sure I can see the stars. Good. I beckon Rainbow over and whisper a few sentences into her ear, then suddenly start screaming at the sky,

"Hey, Luna! Come friggin' get me! You want me to take your Throneguard marksmage into Cullwood unconscious? Cause I could totally do that! I probably will do that, especially after everything she put me through! So fight me! Fight me!" [1]

You know when you do something stupid and realize only a split second after you do it that it was stupid? Well, that. At this point, I've all but given up trying to be smart, apparently. But y'know, sometimes there's only so much space for intelligence, and you just have to do a dumb. Which, as I find out when what appears is not an Effigy, but instead Luna herself, is exactly what I just did.

"Oh bu—"

Before I can even finish the profanity, her horn glows and I feel myself go dizzy, slumping over to the ground as my eyes start to slide shut. "Rain...boww...?" I manage to grunt out as my eyelids flicker. This wasn't the plan. This wasn't how anything was supposed to go. In the distance, a wolf howls. Rainbow streaks low over the grass, hurling herself at Luna with the warscythe bared, but bereft of the previous crimson fury, she's gripped by the lunar monarch's telekinetic field and hurled bodily to the ground, landing with a faint cry. She doesn't get up.

By this point, the world around me is swimming. I can barely make out what's real and what isn't. The only exception, the one concrete image, the one object that looks at all real, is Luna, slowly trotting towards me. She shakes her head. "What happened, Twilight? You were supposed to be smart. Calling me out like that was asking for trouble."

I managed to slur out "Wanted 'n Eff'gy," and she chuckles.

"Ahh, I see. You wanted to try burning the Cullwood. Well, you know what they say. Desperation forces us to be less intelligent than we really are."

She trots closer to me—slowly, agonizingly—and with every beat of her hooves, I can feel myself sliding deeper into a slow, magical sleep not dissimilar to a much more elegant version of what I did to Rarity. My horn is beginning to pulsate with pain, matching her hoofbeats, as a vast amount of magic pulses down into it. I dimly recall the Chasmland principle, and try to struggle to my hooves once more, only to fail miserably. She's right in front of me now, I think. I can barely see through my blurry, squinting eyes, and my mouth goes slack. I begin to uncontrollably mumble out a string of slurred nonsense and my eyes roll back in their sockets, incomprehensible images flashing through my mind.

Bolts of shining light raining down upon a black, sinuous figure. Gemstones glowing with inner light revolving through the air with untold power, spinning around two indistinct equines wreathed in a corona of rainbow power. The pictures from the library in Canterlot Pass; my cutie mark, a balloon, a lightning bolt...

Unbeknownst to me, in the waking world, my cutie mark begins to flicker with ethereal violet light, and Luna stops her methodical advance.

The faces of ponies. Of Marks, firing a bolt of cerulean magic at the Heart of the Cullwood. Rainbow's monologue in the Solar Citadel. Long strings of numbers and ancient runes, double helices spiraling across my mind's eye. Equations of such complexity that there's no way I could even begin to solve the first contorted fragment of them. Strange machines, old unicorns with gnarled horns and trailing beards writing long, trailing sequences of numbers and words in the air.

Me. My magic. Skahaben's fall. Spiraling lavender light, circling in on itself in an endless blackness. A flash of lavender. White.

My eyes slide open one last time, revealing Luna's face, now contorted with fear. "You..." she chokes out, voice strangled, "what are you? What...What future is this?"

Then everything fades away, and I drop into oblivion. [2]

[1]: Okay, so I'm not the greatest actor out there. Sue me.
[2]: You think you know confusion? Try passing out with all of that on the brain.

The first thing I become aware of when I wake is that I have a brutal headache. Like...really brutal. The kind of headache you get when you're unraveling at the seams. When you've just had some sort of bizarre magically-induced hallucination-seizure while under the throes of a deity's sleep magic. The kind of headache that sends chills down your spine for an entirely separate reason from the actual pain.

The kind of headache you get before you die.

But hey, I'm not dead. So that's a plus.

At least, I think I'm not dead. I can't be entirely sure, but I can open my eyes and move my only free hooves—the front ones—around with a relative degree of acuity, so I think I'm mostly in the clear. So, I reason past the headache—which is a LOT harder than I thought this kind of thing would be beforehand—Where on Equus am I? I'm certainly no longer at Cullwood; that much is obvious by the fact that I appear to be inside, on a relatively comfortable mattress. I would probably appreciate it more, but as I reflexively quest out with my magic in an attempt to find a candle or something that can light up the dark room, a spike of pain drives itself straight through my horn and into my forehead, turning my brain into a nexus of pain. I choke for a second, then double over, screaming my throat raw in agony and clutching my horn and eyes with my front hooves. Tears stream out from beneath them, staining the bedsheets.

There's a loud thump-thump-thump from elsewhere that I dimly recognize as the sound of hooves, and the door smashes open. A beam of searing light strikes me straight in the face, seeping past my hooves, and my scream grows louder. The mere act of seeing light makes the pain so much worse, and in some corner of my mind that still functions, I dimly regret trying to find a light source.

At length—great length—the pain ebbs away like receding waves of boiling water, and I slowly, wracked with trembles, remove the hooves from my face, half expecting shards of horn and skull to come away with them. I vaguely realize that I can taste blood, and wonder how long I was screaming for. Despite being better, the headache certainly isn't fixed, and I can still feeling behind my eyes, pulsing along with my heartbeat. I keep them shut.

I belatedly realize that somepony had been talking to me this entire time. Something about her voice is familiar, but I can't hear it clearly; my brain is too addled still to even begin thinking about recognition. It sounds dim, like it's coming from a great distance.

"Sparks!"
"Sparks, are you alright?"

Peachy, I think hysterically. I might be babbling it too, not altogether sure. I'm just fine. How are you, Mom? Still dead? Say 'Hi' to Shining for me! [1]

"Dear Sky...Sparks, you're freaking me out! What idiot thing did you do this time?"

The voice is becoming more distinct, and wow, it's sounding a lot more familiar now. A few more hallucinatory images bolt through my head, and I tense up. When my headache doesn't noticeably worsen, I open my eyes and spit out a gob of blood, squinting up through tight slits at the mare standing above me. My voice is unbelievably hoarse, but I manage to choke out a few quiet words:

"Takes...one to...know one...Trix." [2]

She gasps out a heavy sigh of relief. Her lips quirk into what could passably be called a smile. Ish. Depends on your definition of a smile. "Nice to see you're still well enough to snark at me. Maybe I should call you Snarks from now on."

I deliver one of my patented cold glares at her. Or try to. It's significantly less effective when my eyes are red and puffy from crying and I still feel like my skull is maybe about to implode. She grins in response, a real grin this time, and I suddenly realize from the tears beaded in her wide eyes: she was INCREDIBLY worried about me. Just like a real sister.

Makes for a nice change, huh?

[1]: So yeah, this was actually my thought process at the time. Whoops. But in my defense, I still felt a bit like I was getting hammered on the skull.
[2]: You could adequately say this isn't quite how I was expecting to meet her again after the debacle at the Citadel, but hey, I guess you never know.

Author's Note

Well. Act II has drawn to a close. Somehow. I honestly didn't think I would be able to make it this far, given my track record with multi-chapter stories. But...there's no getting off this crazy train. Not now, not ever.

Thanks go to Lost_Marbles for his constant comments and encouragements, and to everybody else who's read this absurd clusterfuck of a story. Enjoy.