My Little Pony: Children of the Sixby silvermoon15000ChaptersA Story ToldThe Journey BeginsShadows of the PastOf Blessings and CursesThe Singing WavesTrusting the TruthA Story ToldMany years ago, six ponies wielding the Elements of Harmony saved Equestria six times over. Nightmare moon was cast back into the body of Princess Luna, Discord was brought to a stone prison and the saved by the element of kindness, Queen Chrysalis and her army of changelings were defeated by the love they craved, King Sombra was defeated by the fire of friendship and love, and Tirek was sent back to Tartarus by the Elements. Years after the defeat of their foes, a peace settled throughout Equestria and the Elements were granted the time they needed to relax and settle in with their own families to focus on- "Like their children and their fifth birthday," mom added to the story, messing up my mane in the process. I scrunched up my nose and batted at the hoof on my head, "That's not how the story ends, there's still more to go," I pointed at all of the pages left in the story before looking at mom once more. She put a hoof to her chin and giggled, her long mane blowing in the small breeze. Mom looked at me, her purple eyes gleamed with pleasure and pride. "You are definitely your father's son Mr Observant!" She told me as she went to mess up my mane again. I ducked and prepared to jump on her when a voice from behind me made me jump into the air in fear, "you are just as observant if not more observant than I am" dad said, messing up my mane with a laugh. "Not funny dad!" I squeaked out. "Oh really well how about this?" He poked my side with a hoof tickling me. "Hey! Not fair!" I laughed as he continued his assault making me squirm to get away. He lifted his head back and laughed as I finally got away. I pouted and turned away, "Meanie butt!" I yelled. Then the sound of hoof prints approaching made me turn around to face the orange fur of my dad. "Says the one calling ponies names," he told me as he lifted me off of my hooves and into the air with his own hooves. I felt another set of hooves grab me and take me higher as my mom flapped her own wings bringing us even higher. It wasn't long until dad flew up to us and hugged us tight, squishing me in between them. All of a sudden they disappeared and I was falling, I looked at my hooves, I was grown up, and beneath me sat three creatures, only one looking like a pony. I felt magic grip me by my throat and watched an orange aura wrap around me. I stopped falling and came face to face with a beast with horns and eyes that shined with a fire of vengeance. He laughed a deep raspy laugh and I was thrown through the air towards another creature that was pony like but covered in holes and clear wings she gripped me with a sickly green magic and tossed me over to the pony that wore a king's robe. I stared into his eyes that reflected an image of me, one that was scared and powerless. He smiled, "we...are...coming." all three laughed as they all charged towards me. I closed my eyes and screamed. ............................................... "Duskshine! Duskshine, wake up!" I opened my eyes and saw my father who was sweating profusely. "It was just a dream?" I asked as I looked around the room. I was in my bed, the dark orange comforters covering my own blue fur. I looked at my dad who looked alittle distraught, his armor was on which meant he was on duty. "You had me worried there, kid, is everything alright?" I blinked away what little sleep I had left. "I'm fine, just a nightmare." I told him as laid my head back on my pillow. He wiped the sweat off his forehead, "well that's good at least it wasn't some-" "mom was there," I interrupted. "She was?" Dad questioned and sat on his haunches. "Yeah it was my fifth birthday, and she was reading me a story about the Elements of Harmony, but then three creatures appeared and they all charged at me and that's when I woke up," I described, my heart still racing from it. My dad sighed before chuckling quietly, "what a coincidence considering you turn eighteen today," he said as he stood back up. "Huh?" I looked at him as he moved a wing and revealed a cake. "Surprise!" I jumped as five ponies appeared in my room yelling the same thing my father had said. A blur of yellow and pink and brown jumped towards me, tackling me out of bed. I felt the blanket being pulled off of me as the blur turned into a pony, her face right in front of me. "Neo! My floor is wood!" I said as my head throbbed. She giggled, "sorry! I'm just so excited!" She replied and jumped off of me. An orange stallion walked up to me and held out a hoof with a smirk. I smiled and took it with my own and used his weight to lift myself up. "Thanks Pippin," I told him with a smile. He nodded, "don't mention it." He said with a deep accent. I turned to face another pony, this one had a cocky grin and light blue fur. "Finally! Only took ya all year to age up!" He told me as he leaned against the wall. "Isn't that how long its supposed to take Blue?" A gentleman like pony questioned as he fixed his purple green tie. Blue looked at the pony, "no...really I totally didn't know Em." He replied sarcastically. I looked at the two staring each other down. "Emeraldlight and Blueblitz, cut it out not on Dusk's birthday," my dad told them as he moved in between them. Emerald flicked his green bangs back up onto his head and looked away while Blue snorted and turned away, his bright blue and red mane following his movement. "Hey Dusk." A voice said above me. I looked up to see a pegasus flying above me. "What are you doing up there?" I asked as she started to lower herself. "I was avoiding Neo's incoming attack," she replied with a smile as she landed. She folded her cream colored wings and looked at the two behind bickering stallions behind me. "Today is not the day for that," she said. "Boys! That's enough!" She yelled and the two froze and stood up straight. I rubbed my ears, "was that necessary?" She smiled sheepishly, "sorry may have gotten carried away, but I'm gonna go handle those two, be back in a sec," she moved past me and looked at the two stallions that towered over her. My father walked past her and up to me. "What her mother lacked in social skills Silvermelody makes up for them," he told me. "That would be Thunderlane's fault," I blamed the mare's father, "he's been the one raising her so that's to be expected," dad replied as she turned and waved at us before turning back to Blueblitz who was trying to argue with her. "I think we need to take this party to Sugarcube Corner with the Cake Twins, I have some work I need to do." I nodded and grabbed everyone's attention. "Hey guys, we gotta leave my dad has some work to do in the castle," my friends all looked at me. I walked towards my door and turned back, "come on, we gotta get going of we are gonna have fun," I told them as I left. I heard hoofsteps behind me soon after and we made our way to Sugarcube Corner. ................................................... "I'm not being responsible for one of you two hurting the other, so cut it out!" Silvermelody yelled at the two stallions, now arguing about something else. She pushed a silver strand of her mane back to the rest of it as she turned back around. The Blueblitz and Emeraldlight fell silent as we entered the door to Sugarcube Corner, two ponies sat behind the counter, the mare wiping it down while the stallion struggled with a tall cake. "Hey Neo!" The stallion said, finally putting the three layer cake down. "Hey uncle! Guess whose birthday it is!" Neo questioned her uncle who came out from behind the counter. "Well wouldn't it be Dusk's birthday since Silvermelody's was last month," Neo jumped in joy, "we have a winner!" She fell back down. "Well happy birthday kid!" The mare wiping the counter said with a smile. I nodded and went to a booth close by. Sugarcube corner had always looked like this to me, but apparently back when the Twins' parents were the owners it was rather small. Now it almost looked like a restaurant, tables everywhere, booths on all of the walls. I could only guess that since this was the home of the Elements of Harmony at some point that Ponyville attracted ponies from all over. I looked at the booth I was at, the rectangular table was between the cushioned seats and each could fit three ponies on them. I chose the window seat, as I was the first there and to let the mares out first when it was time to leave. Silvermelody sat next to me with Neo sitting next to her at the edge while Blueblitz sat in front of me with Pippin sitting in between him and Emeraldlight who sat at the edge. I turned to look out of the window for a sec only to be met by a pink tinted panel. "That's new," I pointed at the window before realizing it was all over every window. "We had a lot of customers complaining about the sun coming through too bright so we tinted the windows to help everypony out." Neo's uncle explained as he disappeared underneath the counter. "Yeah silly! You act like it hasn't been here for a whole week!" Neo tried to ruffle my hair with a hoof. "You forget that Dusk has been engrossed in his studies the past couple of weeks dearie," Emerald told the mare as he shifted in his seat. I turned red with embarrassment, "yeah about that, sorry, I've just had a lot on mind recently." Silvermelody turned towards me with a confused look in her eye. "Like what?" She asked. I rubbed the back of my head and sighed, "I've been having these reoccurring dreams recently, all of which end the same way but something different is always happening beforehoof," all five of them looked at me, expecting me to share. "Who said I wanted to talk about them?" "Well you kinda did when ya brought 'em up, so start talking," Blue exclaimed. I sighed, "fine, I guess I owe all of you some explanation then. The first one I had was Neo's fifth birthday, all of us were there including our moms, then these three creatures showed up, only one was a pony but he didn't look right. After doing some studying I found out about dark magic so I can only assume that's what it was," I told them as they waited for me to continue. "Well when they appeared our moms gave us to our dads and then my mom brought all of them together and then there was this bright light and then I woke up," "every dream was similar until the one from last night," I put a hoof to my chin. "This last one didn't end the same way instead I was thrown around by the three and then they all said three words...we are coming." They all looked at me with a mixture of fear and confusion. Blue was the first to speak, "sounds like something Princess Luna would do to warn you, but nothing else has happened right, so maybe they are just bad dreams," he said leaning back. "I guess, but even Luna wouldn't force him to have so many in a row, she's not a cruel princess," Emerald argued. "But, she is a busy one," Silvermelody intervened, "I mean think about all the ponies in Equestria and watching all of their dreams, she can only do so much," she finished. I nodded, "hopefully, I don't think I can take another night of this," I went to lean back in my own chair before a loud BANG came from outside the building and shook the tables inside. "What in Celestia was that!" Blue cried out, sitting back up. I tried to look through the window but the pink tinted glass was difficult to see through. "I can't see through this glass, let's go outside," I waited for the mares to get up but Silvermelody didn't move, instead she looked at me. "I don't know about this what if its those creatures you were just talking about?" I gave her a warm smile, "we have to look, it's not like we are gonna be safe in here so come on, it could just be something my dad is doing." I reassured her. She sighed and slid out of the booth letting me go after her. I followed the rest of my friends out there and we could immediately see the source of the noise. A clear bubble encircled all of Ponyville, and it flashed repeatedly from what look liked several beams of light on the edges, except for one. The last one was firing from inside the castle, my home. "Guys, we need to get back to my place, my dad should know what's going on, maybe he can tell us," I could feel my heart start to race as a surge of panic and fear washed over me. More ponies were leaving their homes to see what was happening and the open path to the castle was starting to get crowded. "Come on, We have to beat the crowd!" I yelled as I ran for the castle, the others following me. .............................................. "I don't need you trying to lecture me, he is still not ready!" My father yelled from behind the two large doors that led to the throne room. I looked at my friends, "something is definitely wrong, my dad never yells unless it is to some new guards or other guards breaking some form of rules," I told them as I enveloped the handles with my navy blue magic and pushed the doors open. "-he will have time on the journey to-" "dad!" I interrupted the other pony in the room. "Oh thank Celestia, I thought you had gone out of Ponyville!" He ran down the stairs of the throne he was just sitting on and hugged me. He was still wearing his armor from earlier, except the helmet was now different, a blue metal was where his mane should have been. "No we didn't leave Sugarcube corner until the bubble came out of nowhere," I told him as I stepped back from the hug. "Right, about that, we are kind of under seige," I looked at him, "by who?" He sighed and stepped back, the blue metal on his helmet glowed and a light protruded from the helmet and made a square. My eyes widened. It was the three creatures from my dreams. "Wait I thought our mother's destroyed those three years ago," Emeraldlight spoke up. "Yeah, didn't our moms use the Elements on them, and well sacrifice themselves to save Equestria in the process," Neo added while doing a cartwheel. My dad opened his mouth but then closed it, "dad what's-" "he's been keeping a secret from you, all of you," the pony that was still in the room told us, walking through the picture and past my father. The pony had no color on him but his eyes, which were amber colored, the rest of him was just black, from his fur to his mane, even his cutiemark, which was a black heart, was a lighter shade of black. "Who are you?" I asked the pony. "This is Blackheart, an old friend of mine," my dad said, shoving his way past Blackheart. "Is that what you call it Sentry?" "I guess I need to tell you all what is going on, the truth," he ignored the stallion. "I don't know how to put this, but your mothers aren't dead, they are in hiding." I felt my heart drop. "What, what do you mean?" Silvermelody questioned. My dad looked down in what I could only assume was shame. "Around Dusk's fifth birthday, Celestia called upon the Elements to put them into hiding until the time was right for them to return, when Equestria's greatest threats joined together. She-" "you are kidding right, all these years of believing our mothers are dead, that they sacrificed themselves to save all of Equestria!" I yelled, cutting him off, my face turning red with anger. "She believed that if the enemy thought they were dead that they would appear sooner and stronger in fear of a new group of ponies playing the role of the Elements!" He yelled back, tears streaming down his face. Blackheart stepped forward and with a loud stomp of his hoof made everypony in the room fall silent. "You think that all of you were the only ones that suffered, nopony was allowed any contact with them, and your fathers had to lie to keep them hidden, do not blame them, if anything blame Princess Celestia. Her plan was foolish as now the Elements have no means of knowing-" "she is not foolish!" My father countered, "she had a plan just in case the Elements could not be reached." He turned and lifted a cushion of the throne and pulled out a slip of paper. He made his way back to us and I took the slip from his hoof. A golden text flashed on the strip. Equality by design, true kindness in it's center, you will find me there. I read aloud. "That would be your mother's fault, she has always had a thing for riddles," Blackheart shook his head took the slip in his own amber colored magic. "And you, have always been bad at riddles, kindness is one of the Elements and only one pony could wield that one, Fluttershy." Silvermelody looked up, "my mom?" Blackheart nodded. "Sure looks like it, I also have an idea of where she will be, the first verse sounds like a place I know fondly," he told us, passing the riddle back to me. "We are going to have quite a journey ahead of us though, but first we are going to head to my cabin in the Everfree Forest, everything we need is there." "Wait we, what are you saying?" Emeraldlight asked. "We are going to find your mothers and the Elements of Harmony, is that going to be a problem?" Emerald looked at the rest of us. "Well don't you think that all this is going to be dangerous, I mean do we even know where these three are coming from?" He did raise a point, for all we knew they were already in the forest. "From what I have been told they are coming from the south with an army of changelings," my dad said. "changelings? I thought a pony saved all of them a long time ago," Silvermelody replied. "not all of them, fortunately only the Queen decided against Harmony, but unfortunately she is a Queen, she probably reproduced these over time to build an army for her revenge." Blackheart explained, in the whole few minutes I had known him, I noticed he had shown very little emotion. "I know I'm not the smartest pony here but I'm pretty sure the Everfree Forest is south of Ponyville," Blueblitz finally spoke up, his face had tears running down his face, but he spoke confidently, he knew his mom way more than any of us knew ours, he is the oldest along with Pippin. Blackheart walked past us, "you are correct it would be wise to get moving then, considering that it is only going to get more dangerous." He left all of us in the room alone. I looked at my dad, "are you coming too?" My dad looked up and shook his head. "I wish I could Dusk, but I have to protect Ponyville until you all return, hopefully with the Elements of Harmony, until then I am going to be sending for help from other creatures such as the changelings and the griffins," he told me as he turned and made his way back to the throne. "And son?" I looked back up, "don't think I didn't tell you without a reason, it killed me every day to not say anything," he said as he finished his climb and sat on the throne. I smiled and nodded before looking at my friends. "Come on we don't have much time to waste," I took off after Blackheart, a mix of emotions flowing through me. I looked to my left and right as my friends joined me, we were all feeling different things, but I knew we could do this. Don't worry mom, I'm on my way! Author's Note So this is actually a rewrite of a story that I had already written back when I was younger, so I felt like I needed to redo especially since the show is coming to an end, speaking of which, this takes place after season 6 but before 7 and onward with a few twists that changed the past. Otherwise this is Silvermoon signing off...PEACE OUT! The Journey Begins"So what is so important that we have to go towards the enemy?" Blueblitz questioned with a hoof in the air. "You'll see when we get there, trust me if we try to make the journey without them, we can call ourselves an easy meal." Blackheart told us, a brown cloak covering most of his body now. He had the thing on when we had finally caught up to him at the doors of my home, now we were mere minutes from entering the Everfree Forest. Blueblitz snorted in response to Blackheart's vague answer. I glared at him and then turned my attention back to Blackheart. "Can you be more specific of what is among these supplies?" Emeraldlight asked. Blackheart looked at Emeraldlight, "You will see when we get there, once again I'm going to ask all of you to trust me." He repeated back to the stallion behind him before turning to focus on the road ahead. "Kinda hard to trust a pony we don't know!" Silvermelody said. I sighed, she wasn't wrong, we barely knew this pony and he was being very vague, but my dad trusted him, so I had some faith. Blackheart stopped and turned around to face us, still showing no emotion. "You are correct, you should never trust a pony you do not know. In fact for all you know I could be a changeling acting like the real Blackheart," he said taking two steps toward us. "but let me tell you something that only Blackheart would know about you, Silvermelody, daughter of Fluttershy, your silver mane and tail are quite unusual because neither of your parents have silver in their manes...but when in labor, your mother started to have complications. The doctor then cast a medical spell to help with said complication, the side effect, your mane turned silver after you were born with a pink and blue mane. I watched your mane change color in the first few hours of your life, quite remarkable." He told the mare who fell onto her haunches immediately. She had only told us and her dad only knew about it because well he was there. "How did...how did you know, I thought only my dad saw it happen?" She questioned. "Let's just say the Elements of Harmony helped me, a lot." Blackheart answered. "Now come, we must hurry." he turned back to the path ahead and started to trot forward. I helped Silvermelody up and we followed in silence. I could tell that none of us still trusted him, or liked him as a matter of fact, but we had learned something. Blackheart knew my mom and the moms of my friends, and they helped him, or tried to, that was still up in the air. I looked at my friends, hopefully you all know too, so maybe we can get some information out of Blackheart. I thought as I turned back around to look at the stallion in front of me with a smile as I formed a plan in my head. ............................................................ We all stopped at the entrance to the Everfree Forest, Blackheart looking from left to right. I guessed he was looking and listening for anything dangerous, but there seemed to be nothing as he turned to face us. "Stay close, we are not going to be on the path you are used to and I do not want to waste time searching for a lost pony, so do as I say. Now once we get to cabin there should be a magical field around it that shouldn't let anything in unless it is an actual pony," he told us. "Actual pony?" Neo raised an eyebrow. Blackheart nodded in response. "Yes an actual pony, changelings have a specific type of magic that lets them change their form to match a pony, the difference is their genetic make up is still a changeling so the spell around my cabin can pick that up. I will explain more on the way, come," he finished before leading us into the forest. We stayed on the main path for a small amount of time until Blackheart moved a bush to the side to reveal a hidden path. We then continued on this path for the remainder, but something seemed off. The Everfree Forest was known for having everlasting darkness, but the trees here let in small rays of sunlight, it was kind of pretty. "Wait," Blackheart hissed, stopping me with his tail. He looked left and right and adjusted his ears. I turned my attention to a tree close by rustling and felt my body freeze. "We are being followed." Blackheart whispered to us, his horn glowing slightly. "Listen, whatever happens don't leave the path, my cabin is up ahead, get through the field and inside immediately," he directed his attention to us, his eyes moving left and right. "But-" Blueblitz started, "Just do as I say, no more no less, otherwise we may end up losing a pony, understood," Blackheart interrupted as another tree rustled. Everything went quiet soon after and soon we were having a stand off with whatever was in the trees. It was almost like time stopped, the only evidence that it hadn't was the blinking from our eyes and the restless rustling in the trees. "Five, six," Blackheart whispered to himself as none of us really knew what he was counting, but there was some guesses. All of a sudden a black and green blur flew from one of the trees and towards Blackheart's right flank. I went to call out the movement, but he was already a step ahead. He turned quickly and I watched something made of steel fly from his cloak and towards the blur, revealing why his horn was glowing. I heard a loud CLING as his sword met another sword, this one much more jagged and covered in a green magic. The owner of the sword hovered inches from the two blades, it's body riddled with holes, its wings transparent like bug's. It grit it's teeth, revealing sharp fangs. I looked at Blackheart a new expression on his face, one of anger and struggle. His teeth were also clenched and his muzzle wrinkled with anger. He pushed against his attacker and threw the creature and its blade back with a grunt. "So nice to see you again, Blackheart," a feminine voice hissed through the creature's mouth. The way she said his name sounded like pure hatred. Blackheart moved his sword in front of him as five more creatures landed next to the other one. They all looked fairly different, mainly in the color of their wings and spines, but they all had holes in them. My eyes widened as I made a quick realization, "These things look like the creature from my dream!" I told everyone loudly. The creatures moved quickly and surrounded us, hissing and snarling. "Things, did you hear that Gaster, the pony called us things," one of the said as they started to circle us. Blackheart looked at the green creature who still stood in front of him. "How kind of a pony to call us such a name," she replied with a hiss. "Leave them out of this Gaster, this is between you and me," Blackheart pointed the tip of his sword towards Gaster, giving me a better look at the sword. His sword was rather short and the blade curved inward towards the hilt but outwards toward the tip. The hilt itself was circular and wooden with a brown leather wrap around it. "Although yes usually I would be here to finish what we started, but the Queen has ordered the deaths of the six ponies behind you. You see, we know who they are and why you protect them, but how about we stray from-" "Over my dead body, you forget who I am changeling! I am a slayer of your kind and will hunt every single one of you creatures down until you all are extinct!" Blackheart yelled, an angry fire in his eyes. The changeling shook her head and smirked. "Your wish is my command, kill them," she commanded as the creatures revealed their own weapons, all jagged and covered in green aura. "Run!" Blackheart cried out as he cast a teleportation spell on us and put himself between us and the changelings. Gaster turned to face Blackheart and with a hiss swung her blade at the stallion, he ripped another sword from his cloak and caught the blade with it. "You 'eard 'im let's git outta 'ere!" Pippin yelled as he took off on the path. We followed quickly after, but I looked back to see Blackheart ducking under the blade of another changeling as the others pursued us. I followed the others and realized the battle was all around us, catching glimpes of Blackheart and the changelings attacks on each other. I could see sparks and hear metal hit metal along with my blood pumping in my ears. A changeling appeared in front of us, his sword raised over his head, he hissed. Pippin wasn't going to be able to stop in time, he was done for. SHLINK. I watched as a blade slid across the changeling's throat and a green liquid sprayed from the wound, covering Pippin. I heard Silvermelody screech in fear as she sped up, I felt my own heart drop and felt my stomach churn. I had just witnessed the death of a creature, and even though it was trying to kill us, it still wasn't the best thing to see. I heard a screech soon after and turned my head to see a changeling pounce towards me, a spear pointed at my back. My eyes widened, the fear of pain and death sinking into me. I felt my heart leap in relief when a brown cloak appeared and Blackheart's sword hit the spear to the side while his other sword pointed at the creature's chest. I turned away so I didn't have to experience another death, but felt something warm hit my back. I didn't look, already knowing what was on me, I continued forward. It wasn't long until I saw a wooden building and gasped in relief as I felt my body go through the field of magic the encircled the cabin. I noticed that Pippin had stopped and was vomiting on the grass beneath him while everyone else was inside the dark cabin. I slowed to a stop outside the door and helped a still somewhat sickened Pippin through the door and slammed the door shut behind us. I looked around and saw all of my friends gasping for air, Blue was the only one not tired, as he was used to it. Neo looked ok, but I could see the sweat trickling down her muzzle. Emerald looked pretty bad, his mane was thrown around and he was sweating and shaking profusely. Silvermelody was gripping her chest with her hoof and like the rest was sweating. Pippin was still covered in green blood, but he looked ok for the most part. I was shaking and sweating and my back had some green on it, but I could still tell I was out of shape. I went to sit down but decided against it and instead made my way to the window that was letting light come into the cabin. I looked for Blackheart, but from what I could hear there was no longer the sounds of battle outside. I felt my heart drop once more as I found myself worrying about our guide. He had protected us without a thought and took on odds that I figured most ponies couldn't win against. I looked down when I heard a grunt outside along with metal hitting metal. I looked out the window again and saw Blackheart slowly backing towards the field, he was blocking two swords at once with his own swords. I could makeout two figures in front of him, both of which didn't look like changelings. They were ponies, and one figure I recognized as my father, and the other was a pony I had never seen before, but they were ponies, not changelings. I went to the door and tried to pull it open when Emeraldlight held the door with his magic, which was blue like his eyes. "Wait, Dusk, remember changelings can change their form to match ponies, they are not real ponies." He reminded me as he walked towards me. I sighed and backed away. "You're right, but why would they take the shape of my father? Especially since Blackheart knows they aren't ponies." I asked myself out loud. "Maybe they were trying to catch him off guard, remember your dad called Blackheart an old friend." Blue answered as he finally sat down. I shrugged, "I guess that makes sense." I replied. Soon the fighting outside stopped and I quickly ran to the window, I could see a corpse on the ground and a changeling flying away. The corpse had a sword sticking out of it and I could see Blackheart walking over to it. He ripped the sword out and wiped his blades on the grass in the magic field before sheathing his swords and letting the cloak fall over his body again. He then disappeared out of view as he made his way towards the door. I walked away from the window and to my friends who were still recovering. The door opened and Blackheart limped into the cabin, closing the door behind him he limped his way to room close by. We waited for a few minutes until he reappeared, walking as if nothing had happened and several bags floating in his magic. He placed them down on the wooden floor and moved them towards us. "Each bag is filled with the basic necessities and few other items to help all of you on the journey. Canteens for water, bread for food, climbing gear, coats for cold weather, and a weapon." We all looked up at the mention of weapons. I opened my bag and looked inside, everything he had mentioned was there. "Your weapons all accommodate to your physical prowess and for what I believe is suited for you." Blackheart added as Silvermelody pulled a bow out of her bag. There was a loud bang as Pippin revealed a war hammer. I looked up at him, how did I not see that before. "There is a spell on bags that shrink most of the items in the bag to make for better carrying, luckily the second the item is out of the bag it returns to it's full size and weight." Blackheart added as I pulled out a sword in my magic. It was very basic compared to other swords I had seen in books. A wooden hilt that was in the basic shape of a T and a steel blade that was straight until it formed the tip. Then again all of our weapons were basic all except Emeraldlight's which was a sword that extended into a whip. "Your weapons are only to be used in lethal situations and for training until your real weapons appear." Blackheart told us as we placed our own weapons back in the bags. "Real weapons? What ever do you mean?" Emerald asked as he placed the bag on his flank and clipped the strap in the front of his chest. He had already figured out how the bag was meant to be held. "Yes, real weapons, or Charms as their true title. These weapons are kind of like your own personalized weapons that hide within your soul, and only appear when called to or when you are close to death. Many believe every creature has a Charm which has been proven true so far. For instance Starswirl the Bearded, had a charm that represented a star, although it couldn't be used to attack or defend it could be used to strengthen his magical capabilities." He told us as he levitated his own bag on to his body and strapped it down. Blackheart beckoned us to follow him as he left the cabin. As we grabbed our bags and prepared to leave, a bright flash of light illuminated the inside of the cabin from the windows near the door. My heart rate picked up again as the thought of being attacked entered my brain. I pulled the door open and ran outside and was astonished by the sight in front of me. Blackheart was crouched in a stance that reminded me of the body of the scorpion. Above him sat one long chain that wrapped around a sword on one end and on the end an identical sword to the other. The chains clinked together as they floated above Blackheart in a shape that looked like the tail of a scorpion. "This, is a Charm!" He told us as the everypony gathered outside. The blades then moved around Blackheart and the chain encircled around him with blades on both sides of his face. "I call them Twin Wolves, they act on my mental command and move with me." He jumped and they stayed next to him, but when he landed on his two back hooves and extended out his left forehoof the blades moved. The blade snaked it's way on his leg and hoof and flew straight towards me. I watched the tip stop right in front of my neck and then fly back towards him as he spun around and threw the other blade into a tree close to him. He then gripped the chain with his hooves and kicked the other blade into the air and used the momentum from the moving chain to fly into the air. The other blade came out of the tree and joined him in the air where everything seemed to slow down. He used his hooves to point the blades straight towards the ground and then flung them down at the same time. I watched as he wrapped the chain around one hoof and came down with them until they hit the ground. He stood in between them and unwrapped his hoof. His chest heaved as he took a deep breath and released. Afterwards, the chain blades disappeared, leaving all of us amazed. "That, is what it is like to have a Charm." Blackheart said as he walked back over to us. "A Charm is not only a weapon, but a defense mechanism that increases your strength and agility and over all durability. As you can see, I was high enough in the air that the fall could have broken my legs and more so with the speed I came back down, but with my Charm I could withstand all of it, but it is limited. Too much use of your Charm could not only exhaust you, but injure you if you exceed its capabilities. It is a part of your body, your mind and your soul, you must train it and your own body to wield it for longer times, and learn new abilities." He taught us and then sat down and smiled. I couldn't tell if I was amazed by the new expression, or weirded out by it. He looked at all of us and sighed. "I believe that all of you have the ability to release your Charm and learn how to wield it, just like your mothers, and fathers, before you. But, until that happens, we must start our quest to find your mothers and bring them back before our enemy makes it to Ponyville. From what Flash's scout has told us, we have two weeks until they are at the shields that Flash has placed over Ponyville, and depending of their power, a day to another week until they break those shields and take over Ponyville." Blackheart explained our deadline, his smile replaced with a focused frown. "So we have a minimum of two weeks to find our mothers and a maximum of three weeks if we are lucky, great!" Neo summed up happily. "That is not alotta time if ya think about it. Ah mean, we only have a small idea where one of 'em is, an' if we keep havin' to deal with these things, it will shorten our time." Pippin told Neo. He wasn't wrong, we spent all day just trying to get here thanks to the changelings and the sun was starting to set from what I could see of it. "Which is why we have a train to catch in the next couple of hours, it'll take us all the way to our first location, if that is where Fluttershy is staying of course, so let's get moving, if we miss that train we will have lost a day." Blackheart said, turning and starting back down the path we came in from. ...................................................... The path back to Ponyville was short, Blackheart had moved further ahead of us to move the corpses of the dead changelings before regrouping with us back on the main path. Once we had gotten to the train station the sun could no longer be seen and the moon had started its ascension. Now, we were all on the train, everypony was fast asleep, except for Blackheart and I. Blackheart was traversing throughout our car looking out of every window, his magic glowing enough to light up his path. I was reading a book, my brain not letting me sleep in fear of those nightmares returning. I had eventually dozed off into a dreamless sleep and found myself waking up to the sun in my eyes and a new found blanket over me. I pushed the blanket off of me and looked outside the window, it was mid day from what I could tell, and ponies were moving to and from our car. Blackheart was nowhere to be seen, but I could see the silver mane of Silvermelody in front of me so I moved to her seat and sat next to her. "You're awake," she stated as she turned and looked at me. I smiled, "Yeah what did I miss?" Silvermelody shrugged in response. "All I know is that Blackheart had moved into another car a few minutes ago." She said. She shifted her wings slightly, "from what I can see though, there is a storm heading this way. Maybe he is going to see if the staff of the train knows anything about it." I looked out her window, there was definitely some sort of storm forming out there. I sat back in the seat and looked for the others. Pippin and Blueblitz were talking to each other while Neo was helping Emeraldlight with some sort of tear in his tie that he had received during the chase in the Everfree Forest. It was calm, a big difference from what had happened yesterday, but that calmness was about to be shattered. "Get your bags!" Blackheart yelled as he ran back into our car. "We are getting off!" "Why? What's going on?" Blueblitz asked, slinging the bag over his wings and back. Blackheart finished clipping his bag to him. "We are being followed and not just by a small group this time. It seems that Gaster has brought a small army with her." Blackheart told us as he moved to the front of the car. "Now follow me!" He waited for us to line up at the door before leading us to the top of the train. "Listen! Silvermelody and Blueblitz grab Neo and Emeraldlight and fly towards the storm clouds. Duskshine and Pippin you two are going to head that way on hoof! I'm going to follow and cover our tracks! Until I catch up, head into the forest and find shelter in those trees! We will continue once we regroup!" Blackheart yelled his orders above the sounds of the train and the wind hitting our ears. We all nodded and Blueblitz grabbed Emeraldlight while Silvermelody wrapped her hooves around Neo. "On three you two are going to jump!" Blackheart told Pippin and I as the others flew away. "Wait! Are ya serious?" Pippin cried out. Pippin had a fear of heights, a really big fear of heights. Blackheart nodded. "Three!" I jumped and watched as Blackheart kicked Pippin off the train and jumped. I yelled as I landed and rolled to the ground. Pippin followed and landed next to me while Blackheart rolled and landed on his hooves on my right. I felt blood roll down my shoulder as I stood up and noticed Pippin was bleeding from his nose, he had landed on his face. Blackheart looked at us, "Go!" I ran for it with Pippin on my tail and the other four flying in front of us. The journey had just begun. Author's Note And that's chapter 2. Rewriting these chapters is proving to be a worthy adversary as I had intended for this chapter to be out the same day as the first. Unfortunately that's not how it turned out, I have also been studying the map of Equestria to help lay out the path I want the characters to take. Otherwise I hope you enjoyed chapter 2, thanks for reading. Shadows of the Past"Sweet Celestia that hurts!" I cried out as Silvermelody wiped a white substance over my bloodied shoulder. She was using her wing as the feathers would be lighter than a hoof on the wound. "Just hold still, it isn't even that deep." Silvermelody said, wiping more of the substance on my shoulder. Blue stifled a laugh and turned to Pippin who was leaning against a tree. After a desperate sprint towards the clouds and forest, we found a small clearing with leaves acting as a roof to protect us from the rain. My shoulder had taken quite a blow from the ground and left a small gash in it and from what Silvermelody could tell, Pippin's nose wasn't broken. "That doesn't mean it won't sting." I argued. She glared at me and then slapped more of the substance on the wound, hard. I hissed in pain and tried to scoot away from her. She gripped my leg with a hoof and rubbed the wound, the tip of her wing was starting to turn red from the blood that sat on my shoulder. I fell silent and watched as she worked on my shoulder for a little longer before stopping and sticking her wing out in the rain to clean it off. I looked at Emeraldlight who was watching where we had come from. He was more alert than usual and even had his weapon out in front of him. "Will you put that away, you don't know how to use that thing." Blueblitz took the words right out of my mouth as he stepped in front of him. Emerald looked up at the pegasus, "Someone has to at least try to keep us safe, Blue, it has been at least an hour since we have gotten here and Blackheart has yet to show up so you expect me to believe that the changelings haven't killed him." He said, dragging his weapon behind him as he walked past the pegasus. Blue looked at him with concern. "You shouldn't have to stress over this Em, Blackheart can obviously take care of himself and if he is not here we will continue to this town ourselves and get Sil's mother and continue on." He told the Emerald without hesitation. Everypony turned their heads toward Blue. "Who put you in charge?" Silvermelody questioned arrogantly. "Yeah!" Neo agreed. Blueblitz smirked, "Well I did, after all, I am our most physically fit pony and-" "And, you lack the mental strength to lead a group of ponies, not to mention you are a very arrogant pony." Blackheart said, scaring all of us as he appeared from the shadows. "None of you are worthy enough to be a leader, not yet at least, but hopefully in the future one of you will be able to take on that role. Emeraldlight has taken a step in the right direction and could've been the reason you all got away safely from an ambush." Blackheart mentioned our friend, who smiled in return. "But, he did fail to mention my arrival," he turned the compliment around as he shook his soaked body, throwing off as much water as possible. "Well it was you, why should I have to let-" Emeraldlight started. "Why? Because I am your teacher, and your teacher does not want to walk in on a bunch of upset ponies, who are arguing over leadership!" Blackheart cut off, his tone raising slightly. He sighed and looked at all of us. "You will all learn this someday, and I plan to teach you on our path to find the Elements, but for now we need to get moving, those Changelings are not far from us and we have at least an hour until this rain stops." He moved past us and went into the trees. We all looked at one another and followed. Either Blackheart doesn't like the rain, or this threat is actually scaring him. I thought to myself, catching up with the others. I winced as a large drop of rain hit my wound, Silvermelody didn't have time to wrap it up. I silently prayed for a quick recovery and not an infection. We continued our trek through the trees, the rain soaking our fur and making some of us shiver. Blackheart had been wrong about the rain, it definitely had been more than an hour and the forest was getting darker, night was upon us. We were all silent, knowing that we could be followed as of that moment, we did not want to reveal anything about our destination just in case. Emerald slipped and fell into a small puddle of mud, "Oh sweet Celestia my mane!" He whined as he stood back up. He then proceeded to wipe at his wet mane with a hoof. "Ugh, it will take at least three showers to get this off!" He continued to whine and protest. Blackheart did an about face and looked at the coltish stallion. "You are kidding right, please tell me you're joking! You think mud is a problem, well imagine changelings capturing you! They wouldn't have to do much to get information out of you would they? 'Oh please! Not the face I will tell you anything!'" Blackheart mocked in pure anger. Pippin stepped in front of Blackheart cutting off his view of Emeraldlight. "Now ya listen here! You ain't gonna mock one of our friends and th'nk you git away from it!" He told the angered pony who smirked in return. "And what are you going to do about it tough guy, your mother did the same thing for another pony against me. Do you want to know who won that fight?" Blackheart threatened, towering over the usually large stallion. Pippin snorted and through a hoof into the right side of Blackheart's face. Blackheart barely flinched, a small cut in his cheek started to leak blood. He laughed and sat down his hoof wiping the blood off. "No pony talks about my momma like that especially a pony who hit her!" Pippin threw another punch, but it was stopped by Blackheart's hoof. Blackheart stopped laughing and looked at Pippin. "That's just it kid, I never laid a hoof on her, she did stand up to me at one point, but we never hit each other unless it was training, the same thing I just did to you." Pippin ripped his hoof out of Blackheart's and looked at the pony. "That anger that you used on me, is a weakness," Blackheart told him as he lifted his own hoof back, "now try and stop my fist." His hoof flew straight into Pippin's chest, sending the pony back a couple of steps. My mouth was wide open, Pippin was a really big pony in terms of muscle, no pony had ever been able to knock him down or back like that. Blackheart looked at Pippin and then the rest of us. "Those changelings are masters of disguise, which means they are going to do their best to provoke you, bring out the anger inside of you, or make you hesitate long enough to stick a blade in your chest. That was your first lesson, now let's continue, we don't want them to beat us there...trust me." Blackheart turned and continued on as Blueblitz helped Pippin up. Blackheart still looked tense, it was strange, he was almost always alert. His ears would twitch and the slightest movement from a bush would have him looking at it for a moment before continuing. From what I could tell we were heading towards a small hill in the distance, but these trees were getting thicker and it was getting darker. We could still hear the rain but the canopy had long since blocked the water from hitting the ground around us. We would stop every now and then while Blackheart would run back and get rid of any tracks and then continue once he was done. It was a rhythm we followed for at least two hours until we came to a big open clearing with the hill right in front of us. Blackheart looked around and then faced us. "Our destination is less than a day's travel from here, but tonight we camp here. Before we leave here tomorrow, we will begin training, starting with your weapons. You will learn how to use them, so get some rest, or you will get hit...a lot," Blackheart told us as he sat down and pulled out some kind of fire pit. He picked up some sticks and put them in the pit before using two twigs to start the fire. Afterwards he place a type of lid over it and the smoke and flames slipped out of the sides, giving us some form of warmth. I studied the pit, it was shaped like a bowl with holes on the sides the lid sealed the fire inside and the smoke traveled up and quickly dissipated. It was a device that wouldn't let the smoke travel too high up so we wouldn't be followed. It was interesting that was for sure. I put out a small sleeping bag that was inside my travel bag and watched it extend into a full sized sleeping bag. I slithered inside of it and felt rather warm in it. I turned to ask Blackheart if the sleeping bag was enchanted to give the pony inside warmth, but he had disappeared. I watched as my friends settled into their bags and stared into the fire, sleep not taking any of us. "Did any of you see where Blackheart went?" I asked quietly. "He went into the forest, he's probably checking for anything threatening." Neo told me with a smile. She was always happy and usually loud, but it looked like this journey had gotten to her too. "I'm so nervous and excited about meeting Silvermelody's mom! I guess you could say I'm nervouscited!" Neo almost jumped out of her bag, but decided against it. "Shhh...keep it down, do you want Blackheart to know we are still awake." Blue ordered quietly. "Wow I didn't know Blackheart had scared you that much Blue," I teased the stallion who snorted in response. "I don't know if you noticed Pippin, but Blackheart said something about your mom standing up to him earlier." Pippin nodded. "Ah did, Pa always told me stories of her, how she defended Equestria and saved ponies daily, but Ah just figured they was stories ya know." He smiled as he talked about her. "Yeah and I'm guessing Blackheart was like this before with them too," Silvermelody pitched in. "I mean if your mom had to stand up to him too, then that means he has always been like this. I kind of wonder what made him like this." I nodded in agreement. "Blackheart is very secretive, did you notice how cautious he was today?" I asked. "Isn't he always cautious?" Emeraldlight questioned. "Well yes, but he seemed even more cautious, like he would check every bush that rustled, he didn't do that in the Everfree," I told them as I sat up. "Maybe he just new to this area?" Neo defended. "I doubt it, after all he knows where we are going. Do any of you think there is something other than Fluttershy that he is trying to hide?" I questioned. Everypony shrugged in response. "He is a very secretive pony, Dusk, I doubt any of us could just ask him." Silvermelody read my mind. "Yeah but there will be a pony who does know Sil, your mom." I said. "Good point, but I don't think I want to meet my mother and just start asking questions about some other pony that she knows." Silvermelody told me. I sighed and agreed, "Mothers first than Blackheart." I told her as she turned over. I looked up at the starlit sky and sighed one final time before closing my eyes and drifting off to sleep. .............................................................. I looked down at the group of ponies as they slept. After I had set up the campfire I had left to check the area for anything that could have been a threat, like a spy, a scout, or just a dangerous animal. When I had returned and jumped into this tree, I had been listening to their conversation with a sad smile. I did regret hitting Pippin earlier, but I was happy to have a way to explain why I did it. The truth was, I was already on edge and seeing a pony complaining about their mane just pissed me off. This curse of mine was starting to get out of control again, just a bit longer, and then it'll all end. I just need to find that last piece. I thought as my heart throbbed in pain. I heard my name amongst the conversation the group was having and listened in. that kid of yours is very observant Sentry, I am going to be careful from now on. I thought as I looked down at the group and then at the hill. Let's just hope he has more in store to surprise me than some observational skills. Otherwise training might hurt tomorrow. .................................................. I watched the field of magic blink as it surged through the bubble. "Sir, General Armor is requesting to speak with you." I pulled my helmet off and looked at the unicorn messenger below me. "Pull him up." The guard nodded and a screen appeared in front of me. On the screen sat a pony with a blue mane and white fur, new wrinkles were starting to show and his muzzle looked a little gray. His purple and gold armor sat proudly on his muscular body. "Captain Sentry." He said my rank with a nod. "General Armor." I replied with my own nod. "Have they left yet?" He asked with a stern look. "Yes sir, they left two days ago with Blackheart as their guide." General Armor rubbed the back of his head with a hoof. "Twilight won't be to happy about that, I know Celestia isn't." I shook my head. "She needs to be, after all only Blackheart could protect them and remain anonymous," I told my superior. The stallion on the screen sighed. "True, but you know how are, Celestia will never trust a pony with a black heart, and Twilight, well, you know how she is." I laughed. "Yep, but right now I just hope for a safe return with no casualties." I said. General Armor nodded in agreement. "Amen to that, how's Ponyville holding up?" I laughed. "Its doing fine, you forget how many times this has happened in the past, the ponies here are used to it." I said in confidence. The General laughed, "Very true, I will be sending in myself and some troops to help defend the location three days before they arrive, it's a risky maneuver, but it will buy them some time to get back." I looked at the General. "It'll be good to have you here sir." The General sighed. "Once this has all settled I'm gonna set something up for all of us to catch up, the kids are going to want to see their moms without intervention before school starts back up," he said before turning and talking to a guard off screen. He turned back to me, "I gotta go, I have some paperwork to do," he said. "Understood, Sentry out," the screen faded and the messenger left the room. I grabbed a picture off of the small table next to the throne. It was a picture of Twilight and I with a smaller version of Duskshine. Twilight had small bags underneath her eyes from staying up late with the foal. This was the night Dusk had figured out he had magic and was teleporting all over the castle. I smiled and looked at my wife with tears in my eyes. "Please come back home safely, and please let us all be back together again..." ......................................................... "Fix your form Dusk, a baby changeling can knock you over with how you are standing!" Blackheart yelled. I bent my knees and struck at the tree again with my sword. I wiped the sweat off my brow and stabbed at the tree again. We had been training for the past two hours, the sun was now over the hill. "There you go Silvermelody! Treat those arrows like they are apart of you, same with you Emeraldlight, you must move your weapon like it is you, otherwise-" "Ahhh!" Emeraldlight fell over clothing his forehoof in pain as it became blood red. I watched as Blackheart sprinted over and levitated a bottle out of his bag and over to Emeraldlight. "Drink this, quickly before you lose too much blood," he poured the green liquid down Emeraldlight's throat and told the stallion to swallow. Emerald swallowed it quickly and then winced as the blood faded and his wound slowly closed itself. Blackheart then stood back up and looked at the rest of us, "what are you looking at, get back to it," I opened my mouth to intervene. "Its a potion made to heal a pony and give them a slight boost in adrenaline, the ingredients are very rare so I only have a few, so don't up and hurt yourself." He told me as he helped Emerald back on his hooves. He looked like nothing had happened and actually looked excited. I thought back to the cabin when Blackheart came in with a limp and then reemerged as if nothing had happened. I turned and fixed my form again, this time getting the hang of my weapon and moving the blade faster across the tree. I heard hoofsteps behind me and the saw Blackheart in my peripheral vision. "Good, good, but instead of moving quickly and sloppily, try focusing on certain points of the tree." Blackheart moved to the other side of the tree and removed both swords from their sheathes. He held a very similar stance to mine and the made three quick cuts into the tree before stabbing one of the blades into it. I moved to his side to see what he had cut. It was triangle with his singular stab right in the middle of it. "The more accurate, the more lethal your strikes. The more lethal your strikes, the quicker your opponent goes down. The quicker your opponent goes down, the safer you become. An old mentor of mine told me that." I looked at the stallion as he returned his swords to their cover and then went to yelling at Neo who was struggling with her weapons, two chakrum that floated around her. From what Blackheart had said the weapons were enchanted to follow their owner's mental commands and avoid the physical body of their owner. It was an ancient pony spell and if mastered could become a very deadly spell on any weapon as it focused on the mind. Pippin's hammer operated very similar, except he had to wear a special band on his hoof to use it. The aura almost looked like a leash that held the whole weapon at bay. I stopped for a second to see how Blueblitz was accommodating to his weapons. He had two blades on his wings that he could take off and use in his mouth or hooves if he wanted to, and from what I could tell he was a natural at them. Blackheart glared at me and gestured with a hoof for me to turn around and attack the tree. .............................................................. When I had tasked the six ponies with their training routine, I wasn't expecting any of them to do decent with their weapon choice. Their mothers were especially terrible at first, but these ponies were different. Silvermelody especially caught my eye, instantly figuring out how to work the bow and even using methods that I didn't believe were possible with a bow. Blueblitz seemed like he already knew his weapons, doing spins and even throwing the blades before catching them in his hooves or teeth and swinging them that way. I could only guess this was Soarin's doing as only he and Rainbow Dash truly knew how to use those. Emeraldlight was having trouble, especially since he was a male, but he was catching on, almost treating the weapon like a ribbon in a ballet dance. Pippin was doing well, only really having an issue with spinning the weapon behind him. Neo was having the hardest time with her chakram, they had just mindlessly hovered when she had first tried to use them. I had to realize her brain worked like Pinkepie's, no control or focus of what was happening in her head. So I had to use the same method that I had used on her mother, which consisted of forcing her to focus on the blades and then slowly but surely moving them forward. Now she was swinging them quickly and rather violently, it almost had me scared. Then there was Duskshine, the pony with potential but little to no skill. He was struggling with just holding the blade, afraid of cutting himself, then as time went on he was changing his form and swinging violently without any care. The sword was the most simple weapon to use, but it was the hardest to master. He had finally grown accustomed to the sword whenever I had finally showed him how to use accurate strikes rather than quick blows. Of course this was only the beginning of their training. I took one final look at the group, they were sweating profusely and I could tell that they were getting tired. That was my cue to cut them off, four hours from when we started. "Alright, that's enough for today!" I called out to all of them, "now gather around for breakfast," they all returned their weapons to their bags and then pulled out the bread that I had given them. I grabbed my slice of bread and joined them. "So, how do you all feel about your weapons?" I asked as I took a bite. Neo was the first to speak. "Honestly my head hurts from focusing on those things, but I think maybe after I don't know, a day or two, I will have it down!" She said before tearing another piece of bread off and chewing it. Pippin swallowed his bite and then looked at me. "The hammer is heavy, but Ah feel like Ah can handle it soon enough." He said confidently. "My dad had taught me a little bit about the those blades, he said something about them being used by the Wonderbolts during some war many years ago, but they haven't been used since. They feel great, and I think its pretty awesome that I get to use them." Blueblitz said. "I have studied the bow in my free time, but this is my first time ever holding one, it almost felt like it belonged in my hooves already, so I just used what I could remember from the books I read, it felt like I was doing good, but in reality I could have done better," Silvermelody told me, biting into her bread once more. "That weapon reminds me of a ribbon almost, just heavier and well, deadlier. I tried to use it as a whip, but after my injury...I decided to use an old ballet technique from one of my classes. Afterwards it was easy." Emeraldlight mentioned. I looked at him, "Now to figure out how to adapt that technique into a lethal technique." Emerald nodded in response. I looked at Duskshine who had just finished his bread. "How about you, how did the sword feel?" "It felt interesting, the weight of it in my magic was unbalanced, forcing me to put more effort into the blade and less into the hilt. Learning that there isn't a specific set that you have to use, but that all techniques involved precise strikes in different manners intrigued me. I will have to learn my own way around the sword, so I can use it without failure." He lectured, swinging the bag onto his side and clipping it around him. "Remember there is no such thing as perfection, I even had to tell your mother that." I told him. "Speaking of which, what were they like?" He asked. Everypony froze and looked at me. I sighed and stood up, wiping my cloak of all the crumbs and putting it back on. "Your mothers were very good ponies, Fluttershy being the most innocent and the most kind, but she is the Element of Kindess, so she had that going for her. I thought your fathers would have said something." I told them as I clipped my own bag to me. "They did, but they never told us about the bad, they only spoke of them as if they were dead." Blue said, stretching his wings. "Well, they had many flaws. Fluttershy was always so timid and nervous, she almost tried to heal the enemy several times, she was too kind in a sense, but also too assertive at times. Pinkie was always so hyper, she never saw the dangers as dangerous until too late, Rainbow Dash was always too cocky for her own good and would always end up in some sort of trouble. Applejack could be too honest at times, and would get herself hurt over doing things and would even let her anger get the best of her. Rarity was too self-conscious about herself and her image and would sometimes lash out because of it, but she did her best to maintain everything, overworking herself. Then there was Twilight, their leader and overall the reason that they became the Elements of Harmony, even earning her wings and the title Princess of Friendship. Unfortunately, she was always so invested into her books and her princess work that she never cared for anypony else, and when experiencing new emotions she did things that she would end up regretting. She was the most flawed, but most leaders are. I guess that's why Celestia chose her as her pupil." I told them. They all looked at one another before looking at me. "I think I speak for all of us when I say, thank you Blackheart, we now know more about our mothers than we ever did know." I nodded at Emeraldlight. I wish I could give them a genuine smile, but alas I could not, my heart wouldn't let me. "Now let's get going, we are losing daylight, and I am pretty sure Fluttershy would like to see her daughter before the moon rises." I also hoped that I could see who I wanted to before the moon was in the sky. Author's Note And that was Shadows of the Past. The next part will surely be an interesting one as I have now mapped out the whole course of the book, I even decided to use certain notes for later chapters, which is why I'm able to get these out so quickly...also because I really want to take this story and make it, well really good compared to the other stories I have been writing. Otherwise I will talk to y'all in the next chapter... Of Blessings and CursesI stood on the hill with all of my friends, a smile on my face. This was it, we were about to find the first element and Silvermelody's mother. I could tell she was nervous, but who wouldn't be, she hadn't seen her mother in several years. She looked at me with a smile that I returned with more confidence. "You got this, Sil, I mean your mother is the Element of Kindness, how scary can she be?" I reassured as I turned my attention back to the view in front of us. Down the hill sat the small train station that we should have ended up at, but we took a detour to avoid being followed further. Past the tracks though lay a small desert with a small town on it. From what I could tell the town had at least two long buildings opposite of each other with one building out of the way. I assumed that the long buildings were divided up into homes and shops, but I couldn't exactly tell from here. "Well come on, like Blackheart said a few minutes ago...we are losing daylight!" Neo said before rolling down the hill like a log. We all laughed and walked down the hill, Neo beat us to the bottom, thanks to her head start and strange log shape. The hill wasn't large nor steep, but it would be the last time we saw green grass for at least and day or two. We looked both ways as we crossed the train track and hopped on to the rickety station platform. "I don't think this place has been visited in a long time, what do you think Dusk, you studied the trains for a project at one point, right?" Blue asked me as a board creaked beneath his hoof. I put a hoof to my chin and studied the platform. "Well I have never heard of this place before, and there isn't a station on this portion of the map I think. From what I can tell this is the train to Manehattan so maybe this is just a check point for maintenance." I told him. Pippin walked over to the small building and peered inside to see if anypony was in the ticket booth. "If this was a maintenance stop, then why is there a ticket booth?" He said as he stepped away. "I didn't think about that. Well then I don't know what this is." I admitted. "It was a train station once," I jumped as Blackheart spoke behind me. He moved past me, the floors creaking loudly. "What happened to it?" Silvermelody asked. "An evil pony that was in charge of the town up ahead, isolated it from all of Equestria, only allowing certain deliveries from the surrounding area. The Elements of Harmony were summoned here at one point and they changed the pony's heart. That pony eventually became one of Twilight's students and now here we are. She said she would have this rebuilt, she may just be too busy." He said as he stepped past the station and went behind. "Let's keep moving, we don't want to be seen coming this way." He called to us as his hoofsteps started to fade. We continued through the desert, the sun baring down on our backs. It should've been hotter, but Blackheart mentioned something about the mountains actually blowing cold weather towards the desert, lowering the temperature. The town was coming closer into view and I could see ponies moving about, they were all talking and working, acting as if Equestria wasn't being threatened. I could see a pony talking to small group of ponies, one had a cart trailing behind him. "Hey, that's mah uncle Big Mac." Pippin said excitedly behind me. I thought I had recognized that big red shape. Blackheart stopped Pippin from running forward. "Do not speed ahead, for all you know he's a changeling," Blackheart reminded the stallion. I could finally see Big Macintosh and the other ponies around him. Next to him was his wife Sugarbelle and on the other side was a mare, her belly slightly lowered. She had light purple fur and a dark purple mane with some light blue in it. Next to her was a white pony with a purple scarf and a blue pony with a balloon hat. Blackheart stopped all of us with his hoof and tail. "Why'd we stop?" Pippin questioned impatiently. "Wait here and wait for me to call you over." We all sat down and watched him head over to the group. The light purple mare held a hoof to her mouth in shock and quickly ran over to Blackheart, hugging him tightly. He hugged her back and did something to her forehead before saying hello to the others. He then pointed a hoof to us and started talking to the mare about us. She nodded and looked over his shoulder at us before continuing her talk with Blackheart. He looked at us and beckoned us over with a hoof. "Let's go," I said leading my friends to the group. "Aunt Sugarbelle! Uncle Mac!" Pippin yelled, hugging his relatives. They hugged him back and they were soon engrossed in conversation. I turned my attention away from them and looked at Blackheart, who was talking to the mare. "And you are sure they are ready and it isn't some sort of trick?" The mare questioned Blackheart before looking at me. This pony was familiar, like I had seen her before. "We will talk about this later," Blackheart told her before looking at me, "you remember Twilight's son Duskshine." "Well of course I do, I was there for his second birthday," she retorted at Blackheart and looked at me. "You probably don't remember me Duskshin, but I'm Starlight Glimmer, I was a friend of your mom's," she reminded me. I felt a memory pop into my head of some photos from a book and a name on a birthday card somewhere. "So you're the mysterious pony from my birthday card." I said. She giggled. "Yep that would be me, although I fell behind after awhile, being the mayor of a town isn't easy." I put two and two together. So she is the pony that Blackheart was talking about earlier. "And you must be Silvermelody, Blueblitz, Emeraldlight, Neo, and I can only guess that's Pippin talking to Big Macintosh." She named my friends. They all nodded and she smiled in return. A slight cough sounded behind her. "Oh I forgot, this is Double Diamond, my vice mayor" she gestured towards the pony with the scarf, "and this is Party Favor, the town's event planner." She gestured towards the blue pony with the balloon hat. "Pleasure to meet all of you, welcome to our town," Double Diamond welcomed us. "Yes welcome! I just might have to throw a party in honor of our new guests, and for the return of our mayor's joy!" Party Favor told us excitedly. mayor's joy? I thought to myself. "Not this time, they are here on secret business, now both of you run along, I have some things to discuss with our guests." The two ponies nodded and trotted off. "They seem nice, especially Party Favor!" Neo said happily. "Well when this all settles, I will be sure to have Party Favor throw a party in your honor." Starlight told her with a smile. "Now come along, we have more important things to discuss," she said. She turned and started to walk away. I looked at Blackheart, "So much for making sure a pony isn't a changeling," I told him. After a few moments he looked at me. "For your information she is in charge of protecting Fluttershy and has dealt with the changelings enough already to understand their tricks, otherwise I wouldn't have trusted her." He told me before catching up to Starlight. We followed the two down the road and awed the small shops and homes of the ponies wandering around. "This place is neat," Silvermelody said. "Yeah, its crazy ta think Aunt Sugarbelle used ta live here," Pippin said. Big Macintosh and Sugarbelle had told him goodbye earlier. "Wait, your aunt is from here? How is it you never knew about this place?" Blueblitz asked in bewilderment. "Well, they never mentioned it, and Ah never cared ta ask so, yeah." Pippin answered. That was classic Pippin, he was a big family pony as long as it revolved around the farmlands. I shook my head with a smile. "You always surprise me Pippin." He looked at me with a smile in return. I turned my attention back to the two older ponies ahead of us. They were whispering and discussing something that I felt the rest of us should know about. "Hey, wanna share or are you two just going to withhold all the information to yourselves?" I spoke up, grabbing their attention. Starlight looked back at me, "The cottage is just up ahead, be patient." She said, not answering my question. "Trust me kid, you do not want to try and argue." Blackheart told me. I closed my mouth and glared at them two. What was their deal. I looked at my friends who all stopped suddenly. "What?" I asked as I stopped. I turned to see a purple flank right in front of me. "We are here." Starlight told us, stepping away from me and towards the door of a cottage. She knocked on the door and sat down, taking a deep breathe. I heard some small shuffling on the other side of the door and then a quiet muffled voice. "Who is it?" The voice asked cautiously. "Just Starlight and Blackheart..." Starlight told the voice before hesitating, "...and your daughter." She finished. There was a long silence. Silvermelody opened her mouth to say something, but she didn't get to speak as the door slowly opened. A pony peeked her head out of the crack slightly, only showing a portion of her face. She was cream colored, and her mane was long and pink. She opened the door further revealing the rest of her and she studied us quietly. "Mom?" Silvermelody questioned the older mare, tears in her eyes. The mare looked at Silvermelody and her eyes widened, tears forming in her eyes. She ran out of the door and hugged Silvermelody, almost tackling her. Her wings wrapped around her as she nuzzled her daughter's forehead. "My Melody!" She cried out happily. Silvermelody smiled and hugged her back. "Mom!" She said as her mother wiped the tears out her face with the tip of her wing. "Look at you, all grown up!" Her soft voice said as she stepped back. I looked at the two of them, a smile on my face, tears coming to my eyes. Fluttershy then turned her attention to us. "All of you have grown up...and if I do remember correctly, one of you had a birthday a couple of days ago," she looked at me specifically. "Happy birthday!" She smiled, her eyes still foggy. "Well I think you all need to catch up with Fluttershy, so Blackheart and I are going to discuss some important matters in my office." Starlight intervened behind us. I turned and thought I saw a slight blush on Blackheart's face, but he turned away and followed the mare. I turned my attention back to Fluttershy, who invited us into her home. When we had entered her home, several pictures could be seen on the walls. Some of them of her alone, others of her with our mothers and fathers, and finally a few with us. "Sorry about the mess, I was just about to clean when you showed up." She apologized. The mess she was speaking of, was a few papers on a desk that lay about. She fixed the papers and then hopped into a chair close by. She offered her couch to us, but only Blueblitz, Neo, and Silvermelody could sit down on it. The rest of us sat down on a colorful striped rug. A clock ticked close by as a silence fell over the room. Nopony knew how to start, it had been years since we had seen our mothers, and although we had questions, we were speechless. "Why, did you leave?" Silvermelody broke the silence, her question shocking the mare on the chair. Fluttershy did her best to recover and sighed. "Well, that's complicated, I'm guessing you all know about some of our battles with our enemies." Fluttershy started, her eyes wandering over us. "Well pretty quickly after Pinkie had Neopolitan, Princess Celestia believed we were putting all of you and our friends in danger. With three of our enemies still on the loose she didn't want to chance anything, so she hid us away, faked our deaths, and...you know all the rest I assume." She smiled lightly. "I mean I can understand wanting to protect us, but surely hiding you all in separate places was a good idea." Blueblitz said, lifting his hoof. "I mean Ponyville itself is in danger and those three villains are marching that way with an army." He finished. Everypony glared at him, but Fluttershy and I. Fluttershy's expression was very different from mine though, she looked horrified. "Wait...you mean Sombra, Chrysalis, and Tirek have joined together?" Fluttershy asked as she stepped out of her chair. "That would explain your arrival, but that must mean you are in a hurry to reach all of us." She said, moving to her desk and opening a drawer. "I mean we are in a hurry, but we still have-" "No, we don't have time, we need to get moving very soon." Fluttershy interrupted us as she pulled out a slip of paper. "Usually I would love to sit and catch up and answer all of your questions, but I can't, especially now." She trotted back over to us and gave the slip of paper to Silvermelody. "The ink is purple," she told us. "And?" I asked, waiting for more information. "and has loads of glitter in it." She said, her nose scrunching up a little in disgust. "That would be my mother, especially if the writing looks like an old methodical poem." Emeraldlight said, levitating the slip out of Silvermelody's hoof. "I lay on a land that breathes fire, where scales and generosity are my attire, you will find me there." He read to us and passed it around. "Scales? That's a terrible design choice-" "That's not what she is saying Emerald," Fluttershy told him kindly. "there is one creature I know of that has scales." "Dragons?" Silvermelody said. Fluttershy nodded and looked at Emeraldlight. "Rarity is where the dragons are, so that is our next destination." She told us. I looked at Fluttershy and then at my friends. "Then that is where we go." I turned towards the door. "Wait isn't that south of here, like across another body of water." Blueblitz mentioned. "We'd be heading towards our enemy." I turned back just as Fluttershy put a hoof on her chin. "Well in some ways we wouldn't be heading towards them, they are south east of us, and like you said across a body of water. They are also dragons and Tirek shouldn't be strong enough to face them yet and he is the strongest of the three." She told Blueblitz. "Then why would Emeraldlight's mom be there, wouldn't that make the dragons just as much of a threat as Tirek, Sombra, and Chrysalis?" Fluttershy giggled. "The dragons have never been a threat to Equestria before especially now, but I will explain more on that later, let's go get Blackheart and get moving before it's too late." She nodded towards me and I opened the door. "Blackheart is probably with Starlight so they will probably be at her house at the end of town." Fluttershy told us as we walked through the town. She was constantly waving at ponies with a bright smile and acting like everything was ok. "Why doesn't the town know about everything happening?" I asked her as we got closer. "That's because Starlight doesn't want a panicking town, she has a lot of faith in us and all of you to make sure that Tirek and the others don't get past Ponyville." She said before blushing. "No pressure of course." Silvermelody rolled her eyes before smiling and talking with her mom quietly. I took the lead until we eventually got to the house at the edge of town. Fluttershy pushed past us and knocked on the door before sitting patiently until the door opened to reveal Blackheart who had a very large smile on his face. It was really creepy to see a pony smile who barely smiled look so happy. "I guess you learned of the news." Fluttershy told him teasingly. Blackheart looked at her, his expression never changing. "Yep, and I've never been more happy." He told her. My friends and I gasped at his words. His smile disappeared and he looked at us. "What? You don't know enough about me to be so shocked." He told us. Fluttershy stifled a chuckle and looked at him as Starlight appeared at the door. "What's going on?" Fluttershy looked at her with a newfound sadness. "I'm afraid we have to go, Starlight, we are limited on time to find the others." Starlight's face fell into a very upset frown. "But...but you all just got here and I was going to make dinner for all of you..." Fluttershy embraced Starlight who wrapped her hooves around Fluttershy in return. "I didn't even get to catch up with them." She gestured towards us. I questioned the news that had made Blackheart smile like that but seeing Starlight upset pushed that thought away. "You've all grown up so much since I had last seen you, I wanted so badly to talk to you about your mother's but, I got alittle stuck on something with Blackheart here." She told us with a warm smile. What did she mean by that? I looked at them two for a moment, the gears in my head turning. "Here I will walk you to-" Blackheart stopped her with a stern look. "Oh no you don't, you need rest." Starlight tried to push his hoof down but he didn't budge. "Oh don't go acting like a father now, it's I that should be telling you to be careful." Starlight told him with a glare before turning that gaze towards Fluttershy. "Don't let him do anything stupid enough to get him killed, ok, and don't let Twilight rip his heart out." Fluttershy nodded with a smile. "I'll do what I can Starlight." There was a loud ding in my head as I figured it out. They were a couple, now how could a pony with a black heart feel love? Just to further prove my confirmation Blackheart kissed Starlight right before we left, causing everypony except Fluttershy to grasp once again. Of course that's all we got from him, as he dodged our questions about everything else. Even Fluttershy refused to answer any questions, saying it wasn't her place to say anything. When we eventually decided to set up camp several hours after leaving the town, the moon was high in the sky and Blackheart was a ways behind us as he cut off more tracks. It was then that we all decided to talk to Fluttershy about some things. She willingly answered everything they asked, from questions about the others to previous adventures. Silvermelody throughout all of it sat next to her mom who kept her wing around her daughter comfortably. It wasn't long before Silvermelody had fallen asleep and the rest of us were in our sleeping bags as Blackheart had arrived. He and Fluttershy wandered off to talk as I finally fell asleep. ................................................ "How are you doing Blackheart?" Fluttershy asked me as we sat down and stared at the camp from far away. "Well I don't know, Fluttershy, I'm ecstatic about everything that's happened between Starlight and I, but am I ready for this step?" Fluttershy turned her attention to the sleeping form of her daughter. "You are never ready for it, even now I don't know if I'll ever be ready." She told me with a warm smile. "But there is always one thing to remember, make sure you are there for them when they need you, and I don't just mean Starlight, these kids need you just as much as they need us." "I don't know about that, I haven't exactly treated them right over the course of these few days." I told her. "You don't know how to, there's a difference, remember how long it took you to even express your love to-" "That's just it Fluttershy, I have never felt anything like this, not in a long time at least. In some ways it's not good either, It's kind of been difficult keeping things under control ever since Starlight and I tied the knot and the last piece fell away." I cut her off, gripping my chest in the process. "Your curse is trying to fight it's way back into, that is all happening as you express any emotion, and with this recent news it could get worse. Try to remember all the good that has happened in your life, it could weaken that power that your curse is holding onto, it might just set you free." Fluttershy did her best to help him and placed a hoof on his chest. "We may not act like it sometimes but we all care for you, even Twilight who just lets that grudge of hers fester, she cares for you probably more than any of us." "She is the Princess of Friendship." I mentioned as Fluttershy looked at me. "You will get there at some point Blackheart, but not telling these colts and fillies the truth is just going to hurt you more." She finished before yawning. "Now I'm going to get some rest, that boat ride tomorrow is going to be a long one." I reached into my bag. "I will be fine on the ground Blackheart, I have my daughter for warmth and comfort." She smiled and trotted towards the fire, leaving me alone in the dark. I could feel something inside me moving around, waiting for release, ....................................................... "It's kind of hard to train when you wake us up three hours before the sun is on the horizon!" Blueblitz yelled as he blocked Blackheart's blade with his wing. "And it's easy to get ambushed in the night, your point?" Blackheart twisted his blade and threw himself into Blueblitz's chest causing the stallion to stagger. Blackheart charged forward, the tip of his blade aimed for Blueblitz stomach. Blueblitz used his wings to jump back, the tip of the blade grazing his fur. Blackheart pointed the sword back up and positioned himself. "Good Evasive maneuver, but try not to use your wings so much, they could become a weakness!" Blackheart slowly pulled his other sword from its sheathe and smiled. "Now let's see you evade both swords." He charged forward once more as I watched the two train. Blackheart decided that it was now time to face an actual opponent, what he didn't tell us is that he would try and surprise us to keep us on alert. I watched as Blueblitz blocked Blackheart's onslaught of slashes, struggling to keep up with every attack as he backed away. "I always disliked this part." A quiet voice said behind me. I turned to see Fluttershy as she yawned and sat next to me. "Well considering that Silvermelody's dad always told us about how scared you were, it doesn't surprise me." Fluttershy looked at me with a soft smile. "Yes, I was scared, but everypony is when it comes to using weapons, unless you're as arrogant as Rainbow Dash was..." she started before giggling, "my husband on the other hoof has no room to talk, Crimson Birch was always afraid of knives and swords before he met your father." I looked at her as Blueblitz rushed Blackheart. "My father?" Fluttershy nodded. "Mhm, when he met Flash he decided he wanted to protect me as much as Flash protected Twilight, but if you want the truth there, Twilight was the one doing the protecting. Anyways, Flash taught Crimson how to use a simple sword, until he asked for something more intimidating like the axe he had from his father." "Oh, so that's where dad got his confidence from." Silvermelody said as she sat next to her mom. "For the most part, he is still afraid of me though." The expression on mine and Silvermelody's face was identical, our jaws had dropped in surprise. "I'm sorry, but you don't really seem intimidating Mrs Shy." Emeraldlight said from behind us. "I wouldn't be saying that!" Blackheart called as he pinned Blueblitz, his blade on his throat as he held the colt to the ground. Blackheart sheathed his weapons and trotted over to us as Pippin and Neo sat down next to us. Blueblitz followed Blackheart soon after as Blackheart sat down. "Fluttershy may not look or act like it, but she is pretty dangerous." Blackheart told us as Blueblitz sat down, his chest heaving from the battle. "Well if she is so dangerous, why don't you two show us how us how a real battle goes." He said before taking a drink from his canteen. "What do ya say Fluttershy, you want to show these kids how dangerous you can be?" Blackheart asked. Fluttershy shook her head with a smile. "Perhaps another time, we need to get going or else we will miss our boat." She told him as she stood up. "Boat?" Pippin said questionably. "Yep, the fastest route to the land of dragons is by boat." Blackheart told Pippin as he stood back up. "She is right though, we need to get going, we will train more before we get to Manehattan and then I want to watch Blueblitz and Silvermelody spar while we are on our boat, so let's get moving." He finished and walked past us back to the camp to pack things up. We followed soon after to grab our own bags and it wasn't long until we officially left the area, Blackheart staying behind to cover our tracks once more as we made our way east. Our walk mainly consisted of silence, but soon Fluttershy started to talk about our mothers and their adventures, mainly before Blackheart, but she would mention him every now and then. Blackheart, on the other hoof, kept his distance as he covered our tracks, only catching up once or twice to eat before we continued the trek to Manehattan. We wouldn't be able to reach it for another day, but the boat would cut some time off as it was apparently really fast, so we could've slowed down. Unfortunately we didn't, Blackheart told us that these extra days could be used for emergencies, so we were to continue forward. I didn't really care, in fact I was more so in a hurry to get to my mom and could only hope that she was next after we found Rarity. Eventually we stopped for the night, the sun was starting to set and we were low on fire wood, so we decided to spread out and find twigs and anything else that was flammable. Fluttershy and Silvermelody stayed behind just in case the changelings had spies or scouts in the area. Blackheart didn't want them knowing that we had one of the Elements and get word back to Chrysalis and the others. He then paired us up based on our differences to see how we coordinated as a team, an improv training exercise. I was paired up with Pippin, Blueblitz was with Neo and Emeraldlight was with Blackheart. "So how are you doing?" I asked him as I levitated a stick into my bag. He turned back and smiled. "Ah'd reckon I'm doin' alright, but Ah'm a little nervous about seeing my Ma. Aint you nervous about meetin' yours?" He asked me before picking up a twig and placing it in his bag. I turned as I put another stick in my bag. "I mean, yeah of course I'm nervous, Silvermelody and I barely knew our moms, unlike you and Blueblitz. You two still remember what they look and act like, I only know from pictures and stories. So yeah I guess you could say I am nervous, Pip." He picked up another stick in his hoof and was prepared to put in the bag, but he froze, his eyes widening slowly. I noticed he wasn't looking directly at me, but at something or someone behind me. I slowly gripped my sword in my magic and readied myself. Pippin was just a bit faster as he charged at me, pulling his hammer out as he did. He pushed me out of the way and there was a loud sound of metal on metal. I hit the ground and turned to see our attacker. It was hovering with its wings as it pushed its sword against Pippin's hammer. The changeling showed no signs of struggle and its expression was calm. She used Pippin's strength to push herself back and land on the ground, her jagged blade pointed straight at Pippin. "Leave my home." She said sternly, not moving an inch. Pippin readied himself as I stood, my own sword levitating in front of me. "You're outnumbered, so you have no right to be making demands." I told her as she looked at me with a snarl. "Leave...my...home," she growled. Pippin took a step forward. "You expect us to believe this is your home, spy!" He called out. The changeling looked at him confusedly. "Spy? I am no spy, this is my home, and I want you to leave." She told us. I glared at her and pointed my own blade. "Liar, you just tried to kill me!" I yelled "You are trespassing on my land and taking my wood, this is a threat to my home." I took note of how strange her accent was compared to the other changelings. "I don't think she is a spy." I blurted out. Pippin didn't take his eyes off of her. "What in Celestia makes ya think that?" He questioned. "Her accent, none of the changelings we have heard talk like this." I put my sword back into the bag and took a step forward. The changeling faced me with her own blade. "Not another step!" She told me as Pippin rushed her. She didn't get the chance to defend herself as he knocked the weapon out of her magic and pinned her to the ground. "Let me go!" She cried out, squirming beneath Pippin's hooves. "Eenope, Ah can't do that, you attacked us and we still don't know if you are a spy, so you'll be comin' back with us." Pippin told her as I levitated a rope out of his bag and gave it to him. He was quick and observant as he hog tied the changeling mare and put her on his back. "Ah'd reckon that was record timing Duskshine." He told me. "Yeah, I think we got enough wood and as a bonus, a prisoner, so let's head back to camp." Pippin nodded as the changeling snorted. She had stopped trying to squirm and although angry, never tried to fight us. I took note that like Gaster, she had a light green mane. Did all female changelings have manes? Author's Note Sorry for the long wait, this was supposed to be released before Thanksgiving, but it didn't work out that way, otherwise I hope you enjoyed the chapter this is Silvermoon signing off...PEACE OUT The Singing Waves"We should get rid of it, it's a spy, we can't let it go and we are definitely not bringing it with us." Blackheart told us as we sat around the tied up changeling. "The changeling is a she, and we don't know anything about her yet, Blackheart. I thought you knew better than to assume she is a threat." Fluttershy intervened. Blackheart turned his gaze to Fluttershy and snarled. "It's a changeling, you can never-" "Trust a changeling, have you forgotten what Starlight did?" Fluttershy cut him off with her own glare. "That's different, it hasn't changed like Thorax and the others." He pointed out to her. "Thorax?" Silvermelody questioned. "Yes, Thorax, the king of the changelings." Fluttershy stated. "Ah thought all changelings was bad?" Pippin chipped in with his own question. "At one point yes, but long before you were born, Starlight had helped to redeem most of the changelings. Of course, Chrysalis was not keen on this new idea along with some of her followers. They ran off leaving Thorax, the changeling who thought of a better way to keep the changelings fed, king. In response to this new way of life, their bodies changed from a black shell, to a colorful creature." Blackheart explained. The changeling never spoke once, only glaring at Blackheart silently. He glared back, and his horn lit up. "Don't even think about it." Pippin said stepping in between Blackheart and the changeling. I stared at my friend in amazement as he squared up to Blackheart. "She could've killed Dusk and Ah earlier, and if what she says is true, then we were in her territory when she attacked us. Ah say we bring her along until we find mah Ma, then she can tell if the changeling is lyin'." He told Blackheart who smirked. "Fine, but if she tries to attack any of us, her head will be off her body in a flash, and if she does manage to harm one of us, you are responsible." Blackheart seemed to have the same thought that I did. Pippin's mom was the Element of Honesty, which meant she could tell a lie from the truth. Pippin was being smart about it, while still being suspicious of the bug-like creature. Pippin turned towards the changeling. "As for you, don't think we're friends just because Ah saved you." The changeling smirked. "Wouldn't dream of it." She replied. Pippin snorted and turned away heading off to pick up his bag of sticks. I trotted up to him quickly, wanting to talk to him about his choice. "Why did you stop Blackheart? I mean she is a changeling, and not a good one at that." I asked him as he heaved his bag onto his back. "Y'all know Ah don't like violence, not only that, but she's defenseless. There's not much she could do if she wanted to and even if she did, Ah highly doubt she would." He told me as we walked back towards the fire pit. The changeling had rolled away from it as to not get too hot and Blackheart was about to start the fire. I sat down next to Silvermelody who was observing Blackheart as Pippin trotted past us and dropped the bag next to Blackheart. He then trotted to the opposite side of Silvermelody and I and sat down, not caring to even watch Blackheart start the fire. I turned my attention to Fluttershy who brought a canteen to the changeling. "Here, you look thirsty." She told the changeling, holding out the canteen to her. The changeling fidgeted around until she sit up and open her mouth as Fluttershy poured the clear liquid into her mouth. "Thank you." The changeling said before laying back down. Fluttershy smiled. "No problem, do you have a name?" She asked as she put the canteen down next to her. "Gena." The changeling replied before turning away, not wanting to continue the conversation. Fluttershy took the hint and walked towards us, sitting next to Silvermelody comfortably and placing a wing around her. Silvermelody shifted closer to her mother as I scooted away to give them space. "Sil sure is lucky to have Fluttershy as her mom, huh." A voice said behind me causing me to turn around. "Yeah, what of it?" I questioned him as he sat down next to me. "Something tells me that our moms will react differently to seeing us than her's." He answered. "What do you mean?" I arched a brow. "Well my mom was never a hugger to begin with, only really showing affection when I got hurt or did something impressive, although she did have her moments." He said with a proud smile. Being the oldest of all of us, he remembered his mom and how she acted. "Yeah?" Blueblitz nodded as Blackheart finally got the fire going. "I doubt she will even shed a tear to see me. She's too cool for that, but I can expect her to smile and say she is proud of me for finding her." He continued. "What about your mom, what'll you think she will do when we get to her?" He asked me. I shrugged. "Honestly I don't know. My dad always talked about how she was invested in her books and magic, but always found some way to spend time with us. Almost like she had always scheduled a time for us, even when she was busy with other things. I guess all I can hope for is a hug from her." I told him. Truth be told, I didn't even think about what she would do or what I would do. I was just ready to find her and end all of this so we could be a family again, but I had a feeling that wasn't going to be the case, as war is war and it lasts a long time. ................................................................. "That's it, keep it up!" I ducked underneath Blackheart's sword as he yelled. I brought my own blade up and felt it collide with his as I rushed forward with my own attacks. He moved quickly and blocked my attacks before partying and driving his left shoulder into my chest. I gasped for air as I staggered and struggled to block his next attack, which was his blade coming down towards me. I fell backwards and used the momentum to roll away long enough to regain my balance. Blackheart charged forward causing me to go into the defensive once more as his swings became blurs of speed. I was forced to dodge around his blade, only blocking when necessary, up until he caught my blade with his own and sent it flying out of my magic. "You are disarmed, your opponent isn't keen on surrender, so...what are you going to do?" I ducked as the blade swung where my neck would have been. "You aren't going to have time to think, kid!" I strafed as he swung his sword downward, giving me a chance to retaliate. I copied his earlier movement and shoved my right shoulder into his chest, staggering him. I gripped his sword in my magic and ripped it free from his before pointing the tip of the blade at him. "Smart move, but you should really pay attention." Blackheart glanced upward. I looked up and went to dodge away from my own blade coming down onto me but found Blackheart's hoof around neck, holding me in place. I felt cold steel on my back as the sword touched it. "You...are dead." He said as he put the sword on the ground and took his sword from my magic. "That wasn't fair, your magic has a further reach than mine." I told him as I picked up my sword. "Do you think the enemy will care, you will both be in a life or death situation, therefore you need to strike instead of showing that you stole their sword. You did surprise me though with that shoulder of yours. Now come on, we've gotta finish this trip or else Ponyville will be destroyed before we get back." Blackheart said as he disappeared into the trees. I followed him as quickly as I could, already sore from the training, but not as sore as the first day of training. I was getting better and although still gasping for air, I wasn't nearly as tired as last time. A day had passed since we had captured the changeling, and I could smell the salt water from where we had camped last night. The only change we had made was our training. Blackheart had decided that since we now had a prisoner that the training needed to be done separately and away from the eyes of Gena, who now was just tied up by her neck with rope and a ring around her horn that wouldn't let her use magic. She didn't seem to mind it much and never tried to escape, only making small talk with Fluttershy and glaring at Blackheart every now and then. We arrived back at camp, which was already packed up and ready to be moved. Blackheart chuckled at the sight of my friends and Fluttershy all eagerly ready to go. "That was quick, did you have them clean up Fluttershy?" Fluttershy nodded. "Yes, although it didn't take much convincing since they knew that we are in a hurry." She said as she held out Blackheart's saddlebags. He took them and placed them on his back as I took my bags from Silvermelody. "Thanks." I told her as I slid my sword into the bag. "No problem, I thought you would be exhausted from training so I did my best to help." She told me as she walked away to stand beside her mother. I smiled and turned to face Blackheart who was talking to Blueblitz. "I need you to fly ahead and tell me if you see a boat on the dock that's there, alright. If there isn't then we will have to make a detour, but try not to get distracted by anything, ok." Blueblitz saluted and flew off, going faster than a normal pegasus and almost leaving a blue trail behind him. Blackheart turned to face us and glanced at us individually. "This next part of the trip is going to be a rough one as we will be on water for at least a day. During that time I'm going to need all of you to listen to me so none of us drown or get hurt. The boat that is up ahead is large enough to fit twenty ponies on it and only needs five to keep it on track, I will be our navigator and take the wheel. Blueblitz, Silvermelody, and Fluttershy will direct the sails, and Duskshine will keep an eye out for anything that could damage the boat along with Neo. Finally, Pippin and Emeraldlight will be in charge of our prisoner. Is that all understood?" Blackheart told us as Blueblitz could be seen in the distance. We all agreed and started our trek to the boat, which thanks to Blueblitz, was intact and ready to sail. "One more thing, do not let the waves convince you to do anything, they were enchanted several millennia ago to get rid of pirates and ponies that were known to have ill intentions to the shores of Equestria, thus their name, The Singing Waves." He finished his explanation as we continued on our path to the Dragon Lands. ....................................................... The boat itself was pretty large, holding one giant white sail in the center with a platform for the steering wheel on the back. It looked like a small pirate ship except the quarters held beds rather than cannons. "This ship was used as a way of transportation for non flying creatures to cross the ocean into Equestria some time ago, but after the invention of a airships, it was forgotten about and left here. So I made it my own, a discreet way to get to the other side of the world to find things." Blackheart told me as I took a drink out of my canteen. "That's cool, but why would you ever need to leave Equestria?" I asked, sitting on one of the bed. "That's classified information." He told me before leaving me alone in the quarters. He really was a strange pony. I decided to go back to the deck not too long after Blackheart did and was met by Neo's excited expression. "I can't believe we get to sail on the sea like pirates!" She told me in astonishment. "Yeah it's crazy to think that we are having to go all over Equestria to find our mothers." I told her with a smile. "I know! It's so crazy to think about, I mean I never had a chance to meet my mom, but dad told me she was even more famous than he was as a party pony!" It always surprised me with how much energy she had in her, especially since she never got to meet her mom, but maybe that was why she had so much energy. After all, maybe not knowing someone never effected how you would feel if they were gone, that or she was just always so positive that it never got to her. Her dad always looked happy, even though he had bags underneath his eyes from staying up late with her. "Poor Cheese, he never got any sleep with you, did he?" Neo shook her head. "Nope! But I make it up to him by always being happy and acting like mom!" My jaw dropped, did she just say what I think she just said. "Wait, take a step back for a sec Neo, are you saying your dad was always happy because you acted like Pinkie Pie?" Neo stopped bouncing. "Yeah, he used to cry a lot, but ever since I got my cutiemark, I never saw another tear or frown!" I glanced at her cutiemark, a purple balloon with a yellow smiley face inside of it. "It made me realize that as long as there is good around me, why be sad!" She started bouncing excitedly again. It still was interesting to know that Cheese Sandwich could hide a frown with a smile, that isn't good for the brain, but some ponies have a way to cope with things, Neo was his way of coping with Pinkie Pie's hiding. "Anyways, we should start looking out for obstacles don't you think." Neo nodded and sped to one side of the ship and looked around. I went to the opposite side and looked around, nothing but waves. We had set sail not too long after we got on the boat, and I could no longer see the shore. "Is there a possibility that we...could not rock...so much?" I turned to see a green faced Emeraldlight, he was sea sick. "I doubt it Em, the water kind of does it's own thing." I told him as I peered over the edge, checking for anything that could damage the ship. "Oh...wonderful." Emeraldlight replied before looking over the edge of the boat. I looked away as he let his food and whatever was in his stomach out into the sea. "Gross." Blueblitz chipped in as he held the sail in place with his hooves. "Hey Blackheart, I have a question for you!" Blueblitz called back to the pony at the wheel. "And depending on the question I may have an answer." Blackheart called back. "How did you move this boat by yourself when it needs five ponies to maneuver the thing?" Blue asked. "Well, considering the fact that it took me more than six days to get to the Dragon Lands by myself, I had to work in shifts. One hour I would use magic to hold the sail in place while I steered, the next I was checking for damage and looking at the map, depending on the tide and if I took any damage, my trip would vary from three to six days. Now with all of your help we will be there by tomorrow." Blackheart told him as I stared into the water. "I don't think I will get any sleep, tonight." Emeraldlight mentioned. "None of you will, the singing is much stronger at night and if you sleep, you will most likely end up overboard," Blackheart told us as he held the wheel steady. "but I might let you nap, in the next couple of hours when we have passed the worst of it." I heard Blueblitz groan in annoyance. I looked at Blackheart as he glared at the pegasus. "Just keep doing what you are doing, and see what happens when we take a break." He warned him. I turned back to the water in front of me when a pony stepped beside me. "How are you doing, Duskshine?" Fluttershy asked. "I'm fine, Fluttershy, just doing what I can to help find everypony." I answered as I kept my eyes on the waves ahead. She chuckled. "You sound like Twilight, always caring for the others over herself." Fluttershy told me. "What do you mean?" I asked facing the older mare. She just smiled and moved a pink strand of hair out of her face. "She was more or less our leader, anytime we had to face some kind of villain she would take charge and have a plan ready. When we had faced Tirek for the first time she even gave up her magic to save us." Fluttershy said. "She was the Princess of Friendship after all, so that doesn't surprise me, but why would any of you decide to leave us. You faked your deaths, that doesn't sound like something the Elements of Harmony would do." I told her. She looked towards the sea for a moment before looking at me. "We aren't just the Elements of Harmony, Duskshine, we are the heroes of Equestria, yes we are the embodiment of the Elements, but being a hero is so much more than saving ponies," her smile faded. "you need to make sacrifices to make sure everypony stays safe, to keep the ones you love safe. We didn't want to leave but we needed to leave to protect you." She glanced at Blackheart. "No matter what anypony thinks." "Mom, my wings are getting tired can you take over for a bit?" I heard Silvermelody call out. "You better go tend to Silvermelody, before she falls off the ship." I told Fluttershy. She smiled and flew away to take Silvermelody's place. _____________________***_____________________ Our journey across the ocean had become rather quiet over the course of day, leaving many of us to our thoughts, Blackheart and Fluttershy talked a lot, but mainly about plans for the future. Silvermelody would come talk to me whenever her mother had taken over while Neo talked to herself most of the time. Emeraldlight would talk to Pippin every now and then but would take a lot of small breaks leaving Pippin alone with the Changeling. They did eventually break the ice with each other, just talking about their lives mainly, but I could still see the unease on Pippin's face. The water was rather calm though, even though the moon was in the sky. The wind itself had died down enough for sail to not have to he directed by hoof, letting the pegasi rest. "Alright everypony," Blackheart called to us. "let's eat!" He finished as he approached the door to the lower decks. "But who is going to watch for everything up here?" Emeraldlight asked. Blackheart pointed at the wheel where a small transparent blue bird stood. "I am." He opened the door and let Fluttershy in before entering himself, we all followed him down to the next deck where a table sat. "Where did you learn that spell?" I asked as I pulled a sandwich from my bag. "An old mentor of mine, it's an advanced spell, your mother will probably teach it to you at some point when we find her." He told me. "Why can't you teach me?" I asked him as he sat down. "Because I'm not a magic teacher, kid. Your mother will probably find enjoyment in teaching you some new spells, anyways." He finished. "He's not wrong, Twilight had mentioned being a teacher a few times, especially when you were born." Fluttershy told me before biting into her own lunch. "Yeah, I guess, but, you were taught the spell, right, Blackheart? So you could still teach me it, for combat purposes?" I added on that last part in hopes of persuading the stallion. "It's not a spell that I'm willing to teach you, I barely use it as is for...personal reasons, so it's a no." Blackheart said, taking another bite of his sandwich. "Fine..." I replied, upset with my failure. "You already know millions of advanced spells, Duskshine, why is this one so important?" Emeraldlight asked hovering his sandwich in front of him. I watched him dab his muzzle with a handkerchief before replying. "Well it's always good to learn something new, it keeps the gears in the brain turning." I explained with a smile. Emeraldlight nodded in understanding, probably not fully getting it, but he tried. "Speaking of learning, when are Sil and I gonna do our aerial combat training?" Blueblitz said, stretching his wings. "Whenever our food settles, since Blackheart doesn't have wings, and Rainbow Dash isn't here, I will be instructing you." Fluttershy said after finishing her lunch. "How can you instruct us whenever you have never used my blades?" Blueblitz challenged Fluttershy. "And you think I have?" Blackheart mentioned. "Fluttershy is an experienced pegasus who was trained by your mother how to use those blades, just in case the enemy got too close. You'd be wise to not underestimate her." He finished. Blueblitz snickered, "We'll see about that." Fluttershy remained silent. "Mom, are you ok?" Silvermelody asked putting a hoof on her mom's shoulder. Fluttershy jumped slightly. "Oh, um yes, I'm just not a violent pony, and don't fight unless I am forced to, which is why I am only instructing you." She told her daughter and Blueblitz. Blueblitz just shrugged and muttered something under his breath. "What was that, Blitz?" Silvermelody questioned. "Wanna say that a bit louder so I can hear you?" She glared at the stallion. "I like this challenging attitude you two both have, don't forget to use it later." Blackheart told the two of them. "Hey, where's Pippin by the way?" Neo asked randomly. "He's eating with the changeling, keeping an eye on her, so she doesn't try anything." Blackheart told her as he stood up. "And to make sure she doesn't go overboard if she succumbs to the waves." Fluttershy added, standing up as well. "When you are done head back to your posts, we will rest when it is time for the two of you to train." He looked at the two young pegasi. "Yes, sir!" We all said in unison before heading back to the top deck of the boat. _______________________________________________ "You don't talk much, do you?" Gina asked me as I took a bite of my sandwich. I did my best to ignore her and enjoy my food. "I'll take that as a yes." I heard her shackles budge slightly as she rubbed her chin. "So where are we heading exactly?" She broke the silence once more. "None of your business." I told her. She didn't speak much unless it was a question. I gave her the same answer everytime, hoping that she would eventually get the picture. That wasn't the case. "You know for a pony that spared me, you sure are rude. Did you spare me to torture me with silence?" Now that was a good thing to think about. Why did I spare her? "Ah dunno, I just didn't think you was worth killin'." I answered nonchalantly. "Well, thank you for that, although this boredom might just kill me. At least that Emeraldlight would talk to me." She told me. "He's just a generous pony, an' he doesn't know when to keep quiet sometimes." I explained. "So he must be Rarity's son." I stood up and glared at her. "What, just because I isolated myself doesn't mean I don't know who The Elements of Harmony are. Not only that, but with the Element of Kindness here, I just put two and two together." She explained. "Don't get mad at me because I outsmarted you, that's your own fault for revealing that information to me." I turned and pulled my hammer from bag, clasping the band around my hoof. "What are you gonna do, kill me? I'd love to see you try, but if you must, go right on ahead. I'm a spy remember?" I stopped. "Why are you trying to kill yourself?" I asked, returning the hammer to my bag on the floor. "I don't know what you're talking about, I must do what I can for the truth queen of the changelings." She continued on. I smirked and kept my back turned. "Who is?" I questioned her. This was a lie detecting trick my pa had taught me. You lead the pony on and then catch them in their bluff, if they didn't know a certain piece of information, they were lying. "Queen...queen Crystaline of course." She lied. "Ya mean Chrysalis? Yeah Ah'm not falling for it," I faced her. "why are you trying to kill yourself? An' answer honestly." Gina sighed and looked down. "I'm nopony, why else. My home was wiped out by that pony with the black fur and some other ponies several years ago when I was a hatchling. We were a peaceful hive who wanted to stay out of this hidden war between changelings and ponies, but we were considered a threat, so they killed them. After that I tried to join another hive, but they were so violent that I couldn't survive there." She said as she looked at me. "So, I isolated myself from the world, only picking up snippets of what was happening and feeding off of small amounts of love to survive. I'm dying from starvation, so it's not like I'm going to live much longer anyways." She finished. I felt guilt wash over me and then anger. Blackheart had destroyed this creature's home in hopes of ending some war. I looked at Gina for a moment and then packed up my food and grabbed my hammer. "Ah think it's time Blackheart explained his past," I clasped the band around my hoof and walked over to the changeling. "but first," I raised my hammer over my head and watched the changeling accept her fate. "Ah gotta get ya outta these shackles." I slammed the hammer down onto the chain, breaking them and letting the changeling free. She looked at me in astonishment. "You're letting me go?" I nodded and turned towards the door. "You can leave, Ah'll distract Blackheart in the mean time. Now get." I told her before leaving her alone, my hammer floating in front of me. She could've been lying to me, but I just had a feeling that I could trust her. Hopefully it wasn't some sort of changeling magic. "Blackheart!" I slammed open the door to the outside as yelled. "You've got some explainin' to do!" The black stallion walked down a set of stairs and looked at me. "Why aren't you guarding the changeling?" He asked. I watched his horn glow slightly as I took a few steps forward. "Ah let her go after hearing a mighty fine revelation about you." I pointed my hammer at him. "You did what!" Blueblitz yelled from above me. "Blackheart has been hidin' somethin' from us, he's a murderer!" I kept my hammer pointed at the stallion who just stood there calmly. I watched my friends gather around us as I spoke. "He and several other soldiers killed a peaceful hive of changelings, ones that thrived on helping ponies!" Blackheart laughed at this statement. "Is...is that what she told you, and you trusted her, a changeling!" He laughed for a few more seconds as everypony remained silent. "She's told me more about herself, than you have ever mentioned to us, killer." I hissed. Blackheart seized his laughing and glared at me. "So now I'm a killer, you remind me of Applejack even more, but then again she's the Element of Honesty, so she could see right through my lies. Even so, that was all in the past when we were at war. I was given orders just like other soldiers, the difference was we didn't take any prisoners, as it was more merciful to kill them." He told me, his horn still glowing. "You actually did kill them." Duskshine said, his eyes widening. "I was following orders, kid, nothing more, nothing less." He looked at Duskshine as he spoke. "You showed no sympathy towards them either, just killed them on the spot." Silvermelody started before putting a hoof to her muzzle. "What about the foals? What did you do to them?" She finished as her eyes started to water. Blackheart opened his mouth to speak, but instead looked down. "Murderer!" Emeraldlight said, pulling his weapon out of his bag. Blackheart's horn stopped glowing and he sighed. "You're no better than the changelings that tried to kill us..." Duskshine told him. "I was given my orders, in all honesty I couldn't ever bring myself to kill the foals, it's part of the reason why I have a black heart." Blackheart told us. "But that doesn't change anything! You still killed a peaceful hive, so if you let them live they would have just died out in the wild anyways. You're a-" "Monster?" Blackheart finished Blueblitz sentence. "You aren't the first one kid, trust me on that one, but it was my kind heart that made me one in the first place." He looked at me for a moment. "That look on your face isn't the first time I've seen it, and it won't be the last. I am a monster, but not the kind you-" he jumped towards me. "-cross!" I looked up to see Gina trying to fly away. "No!" I jumped into the air as a bright light flashed from chest. Author's Note It was extremely difficult trying to come up with something for the chapter, I had the beginning and end of it, but not the middle so I spent a lot of time trying to figure something out and decided upon this. Oh and I decided that if I'm gonna reveal the cutiemarks of the characters than it would make more sense to do that later as they have been friends and Duskshine doesn't want to look at his friends flanks all the time, otherwise I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Trusting the TruthI blinked several times as the blinding light faded away. An orange, apple shaped shield with a silver triquetra now hovered where the light had once been. "What...what just happened?" I turned to see Silvermelody shaking her head. "I...I don't know, there was just a bright flash of light and that shield appeared. Where did Blackheart and Pippin go?" I asked and looked around for a moment until I caught sight of Blackheart holding his shoulder with a hoof. Pippin was on the opposite side of him, glaring at the black stallion. I turned my attention back to the shield that still hovered in the air. "Is that a Charm?" I asked Blackheart who remained silent, his teeth bared back in a snarl. The shield then lowered itself in between Pippin and Blackheart, intent on keeping the stallion safe. "Blackheart?" The stallion brought his blades to his side and pointed a hoof at Pippin. "Pippin, I am only going to ask once, get out of the way, please?" Pippin didn't budge, he just stared at the Blackheart with a defensive fire in his eyes. "Pippin, get out of the way, I don't want to hurt you." Blackheart tried again, this time taking a step forward. I looked at Gina, who was just hovering above Pippin. Why hasn't she left yet, this would all end if she just left. I thought as Blackheart took another step forward. "I'm done asking, Pippin, move...now." Blackheart growled. Pippin put one hoof on the shield and braced his shoulders. "Gina, Ah think you should go, before this gets any further." He told the changeling mare behind him. Silvermelody went to stop the fight, but I grabbed her tail with my magic. "Don't, if things get ugly," I swallowed and prayed that things didn't. "we may need your help taking Blackheart down." I whispered as Neo appeared next to me. "But we need Pippin too, don't we?" She asked, her eyes filled with concern. "Well, let's hope Gina decides to repay Pippin by helping us." I told her as Blueblitz glided over. Blackheart shifted his eyes over when he saw the movement, but returned his focus to Pippin, who was clearly sweating. "Pippin, this is your final warning, step aside, now." Pippin held his ground. "No, Ah'm tired of you bossin' me and mah friends around, especially since Ah have no reason to trust you." Blackheart chuckled slightly. "Says the one protecting a changeling." Blackheart taunted him with a newfound smirk. "You talk about trust as if you own it, yet you released a prisoner without talking to everypony else. We could have held a vote, but instead you took matters into your own hooves." Blackheart took another step forward. "I understand not trusting me, but your friends, the ponies you grew up with were left in the dark as well." We all looked at each other with concern. "He's right." Blueblitz stated. "What he did was wrong guys. Think about it, he trusted her willingly without even trying to talk to us about it." I glared at Blueblitz. "What? You're siding with him?" Emeraldlight questioned, his eyes on Blueblitz now. "What in Celestia is a matter with you? He's our friend." "But are we his friends? He doesn't even trust us enough to side with him, when we would have come to him first if it was the other way around." Blueblitz argued back. "That's enough." Silvermelody cut in. "In some weird way, I understand why Pippin did it. It was reckless, but would we have voted with him? I know I wouldn't have considering all the stories, Dusk's father used to tell us. "You'd be right to side with your friend there, Pippin, changelings are not our friends, they feed off our love for each other and use it against us." Pippin looked back at Gina for a moment as she landed behind him. "That was Queen Chrysalis' view of it, not my mother's." She told the stallion. "Your mother? What are you talking about?" Blackheart asked. "My hive was not apart of Chrysalis' army, nor did we care to join her, and yet you still killed her in cold blood. I still remember her pleading for mercy as your general stood over her." Blackheart lowered his guard. "Now I see, you're the princess out for revenge." Pippin kept his guard up as Gina stepped in front of him. This is just getting worse. "We were peaceful, we let all of you into our hive to learn about us, and you...you betrayed our trust...and one pony always stood out to me, the one who defeated my mother. You the Pony of Shadows killed her!" Gina yelled, tears now sliding down her cheeks. "So this is why you freed her, Pippin, because she told you a story about me." "It's not a story Blackheart, you forget who mah mother was, and just like her, Ah can tell when a pony is tellin' the truth." Pippin stood proud as he spoke of his mother. I couldn't help but smirk at his confidence. "Oh no, I haven't forgotten, but I can see that this changeling didn't tell you the full truth." Blackheart remained in his relaxed state and sat down. "Ah don't need the full story, all Ah needed, was to know what you've been hidin' and thanks to her, Ah now know what, you monster." "He isn't a monster," a soft, but loud voice said above us. Fluttershy glided down until she landed in between Pippin and Blackheart. "What he is, is a weapon of a war long over." She told Pippin and the rest of us. "Thank you-" Fluttershy cut him off by holding up a wing. "Don't thank me, really." Blackheart opened his mouth to argue, but Fluttershy glared back at him. "You are just as guilty as them for losing control." "Hold on mom, you are actually defending him?" Silvermelody asked. Fluttershy looked at Blackheart and then at her daughter. "He may not look like it, but he's not a villain, even now what he is doing is his job, protecting all of you. The war he was apart of is in the past, and I have and still believed he was more of a hero than a villain." She explained her reasons calmly almost as if she had done this before. "I won't defend his recent actions, but if you let him explain I'm sure he would-" "No, those events are something I am willing to talk about, it already backfired once." Blackheart stood up and walked away. "So I am not telling them anything, especially with one of them around." He walked into the captain's quarters not too long after he spoke. Fluttershy sighed and sat down. Pippin finally relaxed and looked at Gina with a smile of relief as he sat down as well. Gina sat down next to him as we moved closer to hear Fluttershy. The shield hovered for a few more seconds before disappearing, now that there wasn't any danger around. Gina wiped the tears from her eyes as we finally sat down in front of Fluttershy. "I can't give you the full details, since I only found out about it before we...um...left, but I can at least tell you some things about it." Fluttershy told us in advance. "Has any of you heard of the Canterlot Wedding?" Blueblitz sat up straighter. "What makes you think we haven't, it's one of the best stories we were told about our moms!" He said excitedly, a sparkle in his eyes. Fluttershy smiled warmly. "That's good, well this war happened after that, but not too long after it." Fluttershy started. "It all started with a threatening letter sent to Princess Celestia and Luna by Queen Chrysalis. At the time the only information they had was from their niece, Princess Cadence, who had mentioned that it was possibly the changelings. After finding out about the changelings, it was revealed that Queen Chrysalis was the one behind everything." I looked at her. "Wait, my aunt is the cause of this?" I asked her. Fluttershy shook her head. "Oh no, in fact if it wasn't for her and your mother, Queen Chrysalis may have taken over Equestria." She reassured me. "But when we found out that Cadence had been replaced by Chrysalis, the Canterlot Wedding had already started and a huge battle broke out. We did win in the end, but Luna took this as a declaration of war between our races. With Celestia's approval, she created a secret army, as to not worry anypony, and Blackheart was apart of this army along with Flash Sentry." "That explains how your dad knows him, Dusk." Silvermelody told me. Fluttershy nodded and her smile faded. "Yes, in fact they were once really good friends, but something happened during that war that changed Blackheart from who he once was to what he is now." "Wait, Blackheart used to not be, Blackheart?" I asked, confused. "Yep, Blackheart didn't look like he does now and went by a different name. Not that we ever saw that him, I didn't meet him until after the war. This war changed him for the worse though, I do know that. He has a hatred for changelings that can cause him to...lose control." "Like PTSD?" Gina questioned. Fluttershy shook her head. "No, if it was that, he wouldn't be fighting them still, but it doesn't help that some changelings remember him from the war, and know who he is and was. I guess all in all his distrust of changelings brings back painful memories." so that's why those the changelings from the forest were those ponies, but i didn't recognize one of them, so who was that? "Speaking of which, when we were attacked by some of them, there was one pony I didn't recognize." I asked her. "Do you maybe know who they are?" Fluttershy looked at me. "That's not a question I can answer. I don't know as much about him as some of the others do, so maybe you can ask them. Actually now that I think about it, he and your mother-" "No need to go that far, Fluttershy. They don't need my whole life story." Blackheart told her as he reappeared. "Sorry, but you wouldn't tell them, so I thought I would tell them what I knew." Blackheart sighed. "That war isn't something to just be talked about, Fluttershy, it was supposed to remain a secret for a reason, and even though I have my problems with the princesses, that was a good choice for them to make." He said, walking over. Gina stood up and glared at him. "That doesn't change that it happened." Blackheart sat down. "Relax kid, I'm not here to fight, if anything, I'm here to put some more light into what had happened, even though I don't want to." He told her. Gina sat back down, but kept her eyes on Blackheart. "The war lasted for about two years, there was casualties left and right on both sides, and eventually we started to win. It would be two months before the war ended that I would become-" he gestured to his black fur and mane, "-this. Your hive was the second to last hive to be destroyed. Since it was considered an ally, and we had planned to leave it alone. But...we then discovered something that would change that." He started to stare off as if he was there and began to shake. "The Queen had plans to invite us to a victory party, only it was actually a trap. So, we took it upon ourselves to destroy what was left." He looked down and sighed before looking at all of us. "My mother would never-" "I know! I know. Once the war was over the General got a little tipsy and revealed that he had set it up, because he hated them for killing off his soldiers. He even got me to side with him at the time. Never have I felt so stupid before. "Why, why would you side with a liar, a pony who mercilessly killed my mother...my family-" "Because of what your kind did to me." Blackheart cut her off calmly. His expression hadn't changed a bit. "What did they do to you?" Fluttershy asked, reaching out a hoof. She pulled it back when Blackheart stood back up and shook his head. "That's none of your concern..." he shifted his eyes around for a second. "...I mean, it's not something I am willing to talk about, not right now anyways." He said before heading up to the steering wheel and leaving us somewhat alone. "Now what were you saying about him and my mom?" I asked Fluttershy who in return smiled "Let's just say they were close." She told me as she stood up. "But I think that's enough stories for today, so I think I'm going to go get some rest, but please, no more fighting amongst yourselves." She told us before yawning. "As if, we have some training-" Fluttershy glared at Blueblitz, cutting him off. She then smiled and walked down the stairs to the lower decks. Blueblitz looked at Silvermelody. "I always thought you got your anger from your dad, but your mom is...scary." "It's always the quiet ones." I mentioned before looking at Gina. She was quiet and was looking at Pippin. "You alright?" I asked. "Huh?" She shook her head and looked at me. "Yeah...I'm alright, just confused is all." "How so?" I questioned sitting back down in front of her. "Your friend, um...Pippin, he seems exhausted even though he barely jumped." I looked at Pippin who was walking slower than usual to one side of the boat. "Oh yeah, he summoned his Charm for the first time, so he should be pretty tired, especially since he held it out as long as he did." Gina sighed in relief. "Well, that's good, I didn't know if I had accidentally fed off of him or anything." "You can't control it?" I asked, scooting away alittle. "I can, but if my own emotions take control I lose that focus I need to control it." She explained it with a few hoof gestures. "My dad did tell me that love is not only a changeling's strength, but their weakness as well." "How do you know that when you didn't know what they were in the Everfree?" Neo asked behind me, scaring me. "Well...I had read about them, I just never knew what they actually looked like." I told her. Neo smiled. "Okeydokey." She then started to climb up the ladder to the lookout. I turned my attention back to Gina who had gotten back on to her hooves. "I think I'm gonna head back to my cell, I don't want to step on any more hooves." She told me and trotted off. The rest of the day was spent on us doing our ship duties, mainly staying on track and looking for objects in the water that could sink us. It went by rather quickly, the sun was now beginning to set and my eyes were just starting to hurt from looking around too much. Fluttershy was now standing next to Blackheart, discussing something unimportant with him. Silvermelody was chewing on a sandwich while Neo was talking to her and Blueblitz was fixing the sails. Pippin had disappeared not to long ago to the lower decks and Emeraldlight was looking at himself in the water. Gina had not come back from her cell so I assumed she was sleeping. "Hey, Duskshine, do me a favor and go check on Pippin, I don't want him any where near the changeling." Blackheart called down from the wheel. I sighed. "Will do!" I sighed and made my way to the lower decks to see if Pippin was in bed. Which he wasn't. "Uh oh, Pippin please don't be where I think you are." I walked down the next flight of stairs that led to the dungeon and froze at what I saw. Gina was standing outside of her cell, her mouth was open with a pink aura going into it. The aura was being taken from Pippin who had his eyes closed and was glowing. I felt anger surge through me and let it go to my horn. "Get...away from...him!" I growled as I felt the power grow on my horn. Pippin opened his eyes quickly and turned towards me, his eyes widening. "Dusk, wait!" I glared at the two of them. Gina had stopped feeding and had backed up into the cell, her eyes filled with fear. "Why should I, she was taking advantage of you resting!" I yelled. "Blackheart was right, these creatures are monsters!" Pippin took a step in front of me and his shield reappeared. "She wasn't takin' advantage of me, Ah let her feed on me." He told me calmly. "Your brainwashed, no pony would ever let a changeling feed off of them, now step aside, so I can blast her to bits." "You know Ah can't do that. Listen Dusk, I willingly let her feed off of me, she needs it to survive." "Then how has she survived on her own all this time?" "I...I ate chocolate and other food items made by ponies, but those only work for so long...I needed love from the source, so when he offered...I took it, I was almost done too. I didn't want to hurt him so I only took a small portion, I swear." I looked at the changeling, she was shaking and didn't show any signs of hurting Pippin, but that didn't matter. "She's tellin' the truth, Dusk, and you know how Ah am. Trust me, she only needs a little more." Pippin tried to convince me. "Come on Dusk, you know me." "Dusk, calm down, do you forget where we are." Silvermelody said behind me. "If you let a blast that big off, this ship will be under the water in seconds." "Thank you, Silvermelody, I-" "Don't mention it, you'll have some time to explain later, for now, back away from Gina and I will handle Duskshine." She told him as she approached me. Pippin shook his head. "Not 'til he backs off, Ah don't want Gina's blood on my hooves." Silvermelody sighed and came into view, blocking my sight. "Dusk, I'm going to ask you one time, please let them go." I looked into her eyes and saw something I had never seen in them, fear. Is she scared of me? I thought as I let my guard down, my anger slowly fading away. "You definitely have your mother's temper, that's for sure." Blackheart said behind me. I turned to face him, his horn was glowing bright. "As for you, Pippin," Blackheart looked away from me. "you come with me, now." He told the stallion, firmly. I turned my attention back to Silvermelody whose eyes now looked more calm than before. "Have you calmed down?" I sighed and nodded. "Good, now let's head back up top and get you some air." She smiled reassuringly at me and grabbed my foreleg. She then pulled me out of the room and back up to the main deck. "Dusk are you alright, you look sick?" Emeraldlight came over to me and put a hoof on my forehead. "You're not running a fever, are you seasick? No that wouldn't make sense." "He just saw something he didn't want to Em, now can you back up a little, he needs some air." Silvermelody answered for me. Emeraldlight nodded in confusion and left, leaving Silvermelody and I alone for a minute. "I...I don't know what came over me Sil, I just-" "Wanted to protect Pip, I know. I honestly would have done the same, but right now...right now you need to let Blackheart and my mom handle this." She told me. "And please try not to get angry again, you looked pretty scary back there." She chuckled. "Why are you laughing, I could've seriously hurt some pony." Silvermelody glanced at me. "You don't get to see it often, but I laugh when something scary happens, I don't know where I get it from, but I tend to laugh at it." "Yeah, I think you're just a little too crazy sometimes, I mean you did stand in front of an angry unicorn." I laughed and she hit me with her hoof. "Hey, don't push it, buddy, you still could've hurt me and then I would have been really mad at you." She glared at me. I smiled back in return. "Oh come on, what makes you think I would hurt you, you're basically my best friend." She rolled her eyes and smirked. "Yeah, well let's keep it that way." She told me. "I hope Pippin's alright." I brought up as Blackheart reappeared from the lower decks. "I'm sure he's fine, Dusk," Silvermelody assured me as Fluttershy walked out. "see my mom was down there, I doubt she would let Blackheart do anything harmful to Pippin." I nodded and decided to go talk to her. "Is everything good down there?" I asked her as Silvermelody followed me. "He's fine, from what we could tell, he isn't totally exhausted and both of their stories add up. But that still didn't stop Blackheart from punishing him." She told us. "What's his punishment?" Silvermelody asked before I could. "He will be put through an extensive and harsh training program that Blackheart went through...I don't necessarily agree with it, but Blackheart is in charge here, and he did aid her when he wasn't supposed to." I sighed in relief. "At least he doesn't have to sit in a cell." Fluttershy raised an eyebrow. "I wouldn't be happy about that, Blackheart was trained by Luna's and Celestia's elite guard, which means he will be in pain for several months before he gets used to it." "He would probably be in even more pain if you hadn't been down there though, right?" Fluttershy shook her head. "No, this was the harshest punishment, and I agreed with Blackheart on it. Pippin should have known better and although I commented on his kindness, I still think he shouldn't have done it without talking to all of us first." I groaned in defeat. "But mom, don't you think that might be a little too harsh?" Silvermelody questioned. Fluttershy shook her head once more. "No, I really believe this is perfect in two ways. For one, the beginning of it will be a good punishment for him. For two, this will make him stronger and able to hopefully control his Charm better." Fluttershy explained. She was right, this would be the best of both worlds. "Plus this will keep him away from Gina at all times, so it's a win-win." She was more than right now. "Hey, did he do the same thing to you or something?" Fluttershy nodded in response to my question. "Yes he did, after I was too kind towards Sombra, who had used my kindness against me...it took Thunderlane and the girls to fix the situation as I was close to marrying an evil king. Unfortunately I had broken another creature's heart that day." "Who?" Silvermelody pressed on excitedly, wanting to learn about her mother's love life I presumed. "A good friend of mine, Discord." "Wait THE Discord, as in the Lord of Chaos." I confirmed. Fluttershy smiled and looked around for a moment before sighing in defeat. "Yes, that Discord, usually he would pop up, but, unfortunately our last meeting didn't go well. He hasn't come back since. I just hope he's alright." You could hear the sadness and concern in her voice as she spoke. "Still that's crazy to think my own mother had all the villains after her." Silvermelody said as she sat down. "Well, hopefully the same doesn't happen to you, dear, otherwise I would have a heart attack." Fluttershy told her daughter. Silvermelody giggled and looked at me. "Should we go check on Pippin, I think I've heard enough about my mother's weird love life." I nodded and we left Fluttershy to her own business as we made our way to the lower decks to check on Pippin. _______________________________________________ "I don't think I have ever heard you talk about Discord before." I told Fluttershy as I kept the boat on track. "What happened between him and I is in the past, I still wonder if it was him that turned Silvermelody's hair silver just to spite me." She told me as she sat down next to me. "But that's enough about that topic, are you certain this training will work for him like it did me?" I shook my head. "Nope, especially now that I have seen what's going on." I answered her as I steadied the wheel. "Hey, Blueblitz, fix the sails a bit, we are drifting a little too far to the right!" I called to the pegasus who was gliding behind the sail. "What did you see?" Fluttershy asked. "It's weird to say this, but I think their Charms are one in the same." Fluttershy's eyes widened. "You mean...they share a Charm." Fluttershy almost said too loudly. I nodded. "Yes, and there is more to this theory, I think that country stallion has fallen for her and doesn't know it." Fluttershy stood up this time. "What makes you think that?" She questioned. "He does what I do for Starlight and did for another pony, I'm very protective of her, and back during our stand off, he flinched slightly when she stepped in front of him. During his and Gina's feeding time, there was more than enough time for her to drain enough of his love to exhaust him for days at least." I put forth more evidence. "Even if she was holding back. So that makes me think they were exchanging love rather than him just giving it to her. The funny thing is, I don't think either of them realized it." I looked at Fluttershy. "That's why I let them off easy this time, and I'll probably do it again, considering the fact that Gina hasn't done anything wrong since trying to attack Duskshine." "Even if that is all true, what makes you think Applejack will be ok with her son dating a changeling?" Fluttershy questioned me. "I don't know, did your parents stop you from dating not one but two villains?" Fluttershy rolled her eyes. "One of those is an ex-villain, ya know." "I rest my case." I smirked in victory. "Don't think you have won just yet, there is somepony in your near future that's gonna ask you and Starlight the same questions about love later." I glared at her. "Don't start with me on that, it is way too early to be talking about it." Fluttershy smiled. "Oh, but it's so fun teasing you now that it has come, although I'm sure Twilight will be glad to hear a former student of hers is having a foal with you." Any happy thoughts in my head were now gone. "We both know how she will react, Fluttershy, I am not gonna have any fur left by the time she is done with me." I pointed out. Fluttershy's own smile was gone now. "I am sure she has forgiven you by now and should considering you kept her son safe from one of the biggest problems in Equestria's history since Tirek first reappeared." I sighed. "I don't know...I don't know." "Did you really kill that poor Changeling's mother." She looked at me. "No, my General did, and I didn't kill any of the foals either. I can't say the same for them though...we had our orders, and not following them meant death." "From what it sounds like, the military was very corrupt." Blackheart shook his head. "I couldn't tell you, I was too busy dealing with my own problems by then to care." _______________________________________________ "Listen you two, Ah don't wanna hear anything else from you two, not about Gina, not about me. What happened is in the past." Pippin told us. "We are just here to make sure you are ok, Pip, calm down." Silvermelody replied. "I'm perfectly fine, other than your Ma giving me the scariest stare in my life." He told her. "Yeah, my dad always told me about mom's stare. It could make him shut up in seconds." "Yeah, well, if you ever figure out how to use it, don't use it on me." Pippin added as he sat back down. "Now, Ah need some rest. Ah have to train the minute Blackheart talks to me." Silvermelody and I looked at each other. "Good luck, from what Fluttershy told us this is extremely difficult training that was taught by both Luna's and Celestia's elite guard." I told him before we turned away and started making our way back to the main deck. That's when the boat began to shake and a loud roar filled the boat. "What's...going on?" Silvermelody asked grabbing my hoof to try and keep herself from falling over. "I don't know, but we better go find out." I levitated my sword from my bag and quickly made my way to the main deck. When I got up there, I smiled. A dragon was hugging Fluttershy up in the air, as several more dragons were flying circles around the boat. A large mist was surrounding the boat otherwise. "Uncle Spike!" I called out to the purple dragon who took notice of me immediately. He flew down and landed in a superhero pose in front of me. "How's it going kiddo, it's been awhile." He held out a claw. He was about four feet taller than me and his claw was the size of two of my hooves. I put the sword down and took his claw and shook it. "I would hug you, but you seem...occupied." he pointed at my hoof who was still holding Silvermelody's "Oops." She said and let go with a blush. I hugged my uncle before stepping away. "It has been a long time since I have seen you, you are at least a good three feet taller since the last time I saw you." He told me as looked at me. "I would give you a birthday gift, but I left it at home." He said as Blackheart approached. "I hate to break up this reunion, but we are on a deadline." Spike crossed his arms and glared at Blackheart. "What are you doing here, Blackheart." His tone was now unpleasant. "Guiding these kids to their mothers, which from what our past hint said, Rarity is here." Spike smiled suddenly. "Oh thank Celestia, Ember has been watching me like a hawk since she's been here..." "And I can understand why, Spikey Wikey." Fluttershy teased as she glided down. Spike blushed in response. "That's in the past, but Ember doesn't think so, even now those guys above me are watching my every move." Blackheart chuckled. "What's so funny, punk, at least I don't go and chase her way." Spike remarked with a gesture of his claw. "Never change Spike, never change, now can we please get to Rarity before an entire army of changelings storms Ponyville." Spike growled and flew into the air, "follow me to the dock and a few dragons will help you anchor it until you leave." He told him before taking off. I looked at Silvermelody as Blackheart trotted off. "I don't think I have ever seen Spike angry until now." I told her as I picked up my sword that I had put down earlier. "That's because Spike doesn't get along well with Blackheart. Then again none of the girls do either, but you'll get used to it." Fluttershy told us. "And why is that?" Silvermelody asked. "That's not something I can answer, sorry." She answered as she flew off. I looked at Silvermelody and shrugged. It wasn't long before the moon had began its ascent into the sky and not too long after that, did we dock the boat and get off of it on to a hard stone dock. Spike was now in front of us all and was smiling wide. "Welcome to The Land of Dragons!" Author's Note so I mentioned in a recent blog that I restarted this chapter, and well I restarted it twice to fix some errors that had screwed with continuity. So I went back and fixed it again. Otherwise I hoped you enjoyed the chapter. Next chapter will be a big one since I now know what I want to do with it. This is Silvermoon signing off...PEACE OUT! P.S. Blackheart is honestly a difficult character to write, since I wanted him to be a hero in a different light than friendship and a war seemed like the best way to fit him in.
A Story ToldMany years ago, six ponies wielding the Elements of Harmony saved Equestria six times over. Nightmare moon was cast back into the body of Princess Luna, Discord was brought to a stone prison and the saved by the element of kindness, Queen Chrysalis and her army of changelings were defeated by the love they craved, King Sombra was defeated by the fire of friendship and love, and Tirek was sent back to Tartarus by the Elements. Years after the defeat of their foes, a peace settled throughout Equestria and the Elements were granted the time they needed to relax and settle in with their own families to focus on- "Like their children and their fifth birthday," mom added to the story, messing up my mane in the process. I scrunched up my nose and batted at the hoof on my head, "That's not how the story ends, there's still more to go," I pointed at all of the pages left in the story before looking at mom once more. She put a hoof to her chin and giggled, her long mane blowing in the small breeze. Mom looked at me, her purple eyes gleamed with pleasure and pride. "You are definitely your father's son Mr Observant!" She told me as she went to mess up my mane again. I ducked and prepared to jump on her when a voice from behind me made me jump into the air in fear, "you are just as observant if not more observant than I am" dad said, messing up my mane with a laugh. "Not funny dad!" I squeaked out. "Oh really well how about this?" He poked my side with a hoof tickling me. "Hey! Not fair!" I laughed as he continued his assault making me squirm to get away. He lifted his head back and laughed as I finally got away. I pouted and turned away, "Meanie butt!" I yelled. Then the sound of hoof prints approaching made me turn around to face the orange fur of my dad. "Says the one calling ponies names," he told me as he lifted me off of my hooves and into the air with his own hooves. I felt another set of hooves grab me and take me higher as my mom flapped her own wings bringing us even higher. It wasn't long until dad flew up to us and hugged us tight, squishing me in between them. All of a sudden they disappeared and I was falling, I looked at my hooves, I was grown up, and beneath me sat three creatures, only one looking like a pony. I felt magic grip me by my throat and watched an orange aura wrap around me. I stopped falling and came face to face with a beast with horns and eyes that shined with a fire of vengeance. He laughed a deep raspy laugh and I was thrown through the air towards another creature that was pony like but covered in holes and clear wings she gripped me with a sickly green magic and tossed me over to the pony that wore a king's robe. I stared into his eyes that reflected an image of me, one that was scared and powerless. He smiled, "we...are...coming." all three laughed as they all charged towards me. I closed my eyes and screamed. ............................................... "Duskshine! Duskshine, wake up!" I opened my eyes and saw my father who was sweating profusely. "It was just a dream?" I asked as I looked around the room. I was in my bed, the dark orange comforters covering my own blue fur. I looked at my dad who looked alittle distraught, his armor was on which meant he was on duty. "You had me worried there, kid, is everything alright?" I blinked away what little sleep I had left. "I'm fine, just a nightmare." I told him as laid my head back on my pillow. He wiped the sweat off his forehead, "well that's good at least it wasn't some-" "mom was there," I interrupted. "She was?" Dad questioned and sat on his haunches. "Yeah it was my fifth birthday, and she was reading me a story about the Elements of Harmony, but then three creatures appeared and they all charged at me and that's when I woke up," I described, my heart still racing from it. My dad sighed before chuckling quietly, "what a coincidence considering you turn eighteen today," he said as he stood back up. "Huh?" I looked at him as he moved a wing and revealed a cake. "Surprise!" I jumped as five ponies appeared in my room yelling the same thing my father had said. A blur of yellow and pink and brown jumped towards me, tackling me out of bed. I felt the blanket being pulled off of me as the blur turned into a pony, her face right in front of me. "Neo! My floor is wood!" I said as my head throbbed. She giggled, "sorry! I'm just so excited!" She replied and jumped off of me. An orange stallion walked up to me and held out a hoof with a smirk. I smiled and took it with my own and used his weight to lift myself up. "Thanks Pippin," I told him with a smile. He nodded, "don't mention it." He said with a deep accent. I turned to face another pony, this one had a cocky grin and light blue fur. "Finally! Only took ya all year to age up!" He told me as he leaned against the wall. "Isn't that how long its supposed to take Blue?" A gentleman like pony questioned as he fixed his purple green tie. Blue looked at the pony, "no...really I totally didn't know Em." He replied sarcastically. I looked at the two staring each other down. "Emeraldlight and Blueblitz, cut it out not on Dusk's birthday," my dad told them as he moved in between them. Emerald flicked his green bangs back up onto his head and looked away while Blue snorted and turned away, his bright blue and red mane following his movement. "Hey Dusk." A voice said above me. I looked up to see a pegasus flying above me. "What are you doing up there?" I asked as she started to lower herself. "I was avoiding Neo's incoming attack," she replied with a smile as she landed. She folded her cream colored wings and looked at the two behind bickering stallions behind me. "Today is not the day for that," she said. "Boys! That's enough!" She yelled and the two froze and stood up straight. I rubbed my ears, "was that necessary?" She smiled sheepishly, "sorry may have gotten carried away, but I'm gonna go handle those two, be back in a sec," she moved past me and looked at the two stallions that towered over her. My father walked past her and up to me. "What her mother lacked in social skills Silvermelody makes up for them," he told me. "That would be Thunderlane's fault," I blamed the mare's father, "he's been the one raising her so that's to be expected," dad replied as she turned and waved at us before turning back to Blueblitz who was trying to argue with her. "I think we need to take this party to Sugarcube Corner with the Cake Twins, I have some work I need to do." I nodded and grabbed everyone's attention. "Hey guys, we gotta leave my dad has some work to do in the castle," my friends all looked at me. I walked towards my door and turned back, "come on, we gotta get going of we are gonna have fun," I told them as I left. I heard hoofsteps behind me soon after and we made our way to Sugarcube Corner. ................................................... "I'm not being responsible for one of you two hurting the other, so cut it out!" Silvermelody yelled at the two stallions, now arguing about something else. She pushed a silver strand of her mane back to the rest of it as she turned back around. The Blueblitz and Emeraldlight fell silent as we entered the door to Sugarcube Corner, two ponies sat behind the counter, the mare wiping it down while the stallion struggled with a tall cake. "Hey Neo!" The stallion said, finally putting the three layer cake down. "Hey uncle! Guess whose birthday it is!" Neo questioned her uncle who came out from behind the counter. "Well wouldn't it be Dusk's birthday since Silvermelody's was last month," Neo jumped in joy, "we have a winner!" She fell back down. "Well happy birthday kid!" The mare wiping the counter said with a smile. I nodded and went to a booth close by. Sugarcube corner had always looked like this to me, but apparently back when the Twins' parents were the owners it was rather small. Now it almost looked like a restaurant, tables everywhere, booths on all of the walls. I could only guess that since this was the home of the Elements of Harmony at some point that Ponyville attracted ponies from all over. I looked at the booth I was at, the rectangular table was between the cushioned seats and each could fit three ponies on them. I chose the window seat, as I was the first there and to let the mares out first when it was time to leave. Silvermelody sat next to me with Neo sitting next to her at the edge while Blueblitz sat in front of me with Pippin sitting in between him and Emeraldlight who sat at the edge. I turned to look out of the window for a sec only to be met by a pink tinted panel. "That's new," I pointed at the window before realizing it was all over every window. "We had a lot of customers complaining about the sun coming through too bright so we tinted the windows to help everypony out." Neo's uncle explained as he disappeared underneath the counter. "Yeah silly! You act like it hasn't been here for a whole week!" Neo tried to ruffle my hair with a hoof. "You forget that Dusk has been engrossed in his studies the past couple of weeks dearie," Emerald told the mare as he shifted in his seat. I turned red with embarrassment, "yeah about that, sorry, I've just had a lot on mind recently." Silvermelody turned towards me with a confused look in her eye. "Like what?" She asked. I rubbed the back of my head and sighed, "I've been having these reoccurring dreams recently, all of which end the same way but something different is always happening beforehoof," all five of them looked at me, expecting me to share. "Who said I wanted to talk about them?" "Well you kinda did when ya brought 'em up, so start talking," Blue exclaimed. I sighed, "fine, I guess I owe all of you some explanation then. The first one I had was Neo's fifth birthday, all of us were there including our moms, then these three creatures showed up, only one was a pony but he didn't look right. After doing some studying I found out about dark magic so I can only assume that's what it was," I told them as they waited for me to continue. "Well when they appeared our moms gave us to our dads and then my mom brought all of them together and then there was this bright light and then I woke up," "every dream was similar until the one from last night," I put a hoof to my chin. "This last one didn't end the same way instead I was thrown around by the three and then they all said three words...we are coming." They all looked at me with a mixture of fear and confusion. Blue was the first to speak, "sounds like something Princess Luna would do to warn you, but nothing else has happened right, so maybe they are just bad dreams," he said leaning back. "I guess, but even Luna wouldn't force him to have so many in a row, she's not a cruel princess," Emerald argued. "But, she is a busy one," Silvermelody intervened, "I mean think about all the ponies in Equestria and watching all of their dreams, she can only do so much," she finished. I nodded, "hopefully, I don't think I can take another night of this," I went to lean back in my own chair before a loud BANG came from outside the building and shook the tables inside. "What in Celestia was that!" Blue cried out, sitting back up. I tried to look through the window but the pink tinted glass was difficult to see through. "I can't see through this glass, let's go outside," I waited for the mares to get up but Silvermelody didn't move, instead she looked at me. "I don't know about this what if its those creatures you were just talking about?" I gave her a warm smile, "we have to look, it's not like we are gonna be safe in here so come on, it could just be something my dad is doing." I reassured her. She sighed and slid out of the booth letting me go after her. I followed the rest of my friends out there and we could immediately see the source of the noise. A clear bubble encircled all of Ponyville, and it flashed repeatedly from what look liked several beams of light on the edges, except for one. The last one was firing from inside the castle, my home. "Guys, we need to get back to my place, my dad should know what's going on, maybe he can tell us," I could feel my heart start to race as a surge of panic and fear washed over me. More ponies were leaving their homes to see what was happening and the open path to the castle was starting to get crowded. "Come on, We have to beat the crowd!" I yelled as I ran for the castle, the others following me. .............................................. "I don't need you trying to lecture me, he is still not ready!" My father yelled from behind the two large doors that led to the throne room. I looked at my friends, "something is definitely wrong, my dad never yells unless it is to some new guards or other guards breaking some form of rules," I told them as I enveloped the handles with my navy blue magic and pushed the doors open. "-he will have time on the journey to-" "dad!" I interrupted the other pony in the room. "Oh thank Celestia, I thought you had gone out of Ponyville!" He ran down the stairs of the throne he was just sitting on and hugged me. He was still wearing his armor from earlier, except the helmet was now different, a blue metal was where his mane should have been. "No we didn't leave Sugarcube corner until the bubble came out of nowhere," I told him as I stepped back from the hug. "Right, about that, we are kind of under seige," I looked at him, "by who?" He sighed and stepped back, the blue metal on his helmet glowed and a light protruded from the helmet and made a square. My eyes widened. It was the three creatures from my dreams. "Wait I thought our mother's destroyed those three years ago," Emeraldlight spoke up. "Yeah, didn't our moms use the Elements on them, and well sacrifice themselves to save Equestria in the process," Neo added while doing a cartwheel. My dad opened his mouth but then closed it, "dad what's-" "he's been keeping a secret from you, all of you," the pony that was still in the room told us, walking through the picture and past my father. The pony had no color on him but his eyes, which were amber colored, the rest of him was just black, from his fur to his mane, even his cutiemark, which was a black heart, was a lighter shade of black. "Who are you?" I asked the pony. "This is Blackheart, an old friend of mine," my dad said, shoving his way past Blackheart. "Is that what you call it Sentry?" "I guess I need to tell you all what is going on, the truth," he ignored the stallion. "I don't know how to put this, but your mothers aren't dead, they are in hiding." I felt my heart drop. "What, what do you mean?" Silvermelody questioned. My dad looked down in what I could only assume was shame. "Around Dusk's fifth birthday, Celestia called upon the Elements to put them into hiding until the time was right for them to return, when Equestria's greatest threats joined together. She-" "you are kidding right, all these years of believing our mothers are dead, that they sacrificed themselves to save all of Equestria!" I yelled, cutting him off, my face turning red with anger. "She believed that if the enemy thought they were dead that they would appear sooner and stronger in fear of a new group of ponies playing the role of the Elements!" He yelled back, tears streaming down his face. Blackheart stepped forward and with a loud stomp of his hoof made everypony in the room fall silent. "You think that all of you were the only ones that suffered, nopony was allowed any contact with them, and your fathers had to lie to keep them hidden, do not blame them, if anything blame Princess Celestia. Her plan was foolish as now the Elements have no means of knowing-" "she is not foolish!" My father countered, "she had a plan just in case the Elements could not be reached." He turned and lifted a cushion of the throne and pulled out a slip of paper. He made his way back to us and I took the slip from his hoof. A golden text flashed on the strip. Equality by design, true kindness in it's center, you will find me there. I read aloud. "That would be your mother's fault, she has always had a thing for riddles," Blackheart shook his head took the slip in his own amber colored magic. "And you, have always been bad at riddles, kindness is one of the Elements and only one pony could wield that one, Fluttershy." Silvermelody looked up, "my mom?" Blackheart nodded. "Sure looks like it, I also have an idea of where she will be, the first verse sounds like a place I know fondly," he told us, passing the riddle back to me. "We are going to have quite a journey ahead of us though, but first we are going to head to my cabin in the Everfree Forest, everything we need is there." "Wait we, what are you saying?" Emeraldlight asked. "We are going to find your mothers and the Elements of Harmony, is that going to be a problem?" Emerald looked at the rest of us. "Well don't you think that all this is going to be dangerous, I mean do we even know where these three are coming from?" He did raise a point, for all we knew they were already in the forest. "From what I have been told they are coming from the south with an army of changelings," my dad said. "changelings? I thought a pony saved all of them a long time ago," Silvermelody replied. "not all of them, fortunately only the Queen decided against Harmony, but unfortunately she is a Queen, she probably reproduced these over time to build an army for her revenge." Blackheart explained, in the whole few minutes I had known him, I noticed he had shown very little emotion. "I know I'm not the smartest pony here but I'm pretty sure the Everfree Forest is south of Ponyville," Blueblitz finally spoke up, his face had tears running down his face, but he spoke confidently, he knew his mom way more than any of us knew ours, he is the oldest along with Pippin. Blackheart walked past us, "you are correct it would be wise to get moving then, considering that it is only going to get more dangerous." He left all of us in the room alone. I looked at my dad, "are you coming too?" My dad looked up and shook his head. "I wish I could Dusk, but I have to protect Ponyville until you all return, hopefully with the Elements of Harmony, until then I am going to be sending for help from other creatures such as the changelings and the griffins," he told me as he turned and made his way back to the throne. "And son?" I looked back up, "don't think I didn't tell you without a reason, it killed me every day to not say anything," he said as he finished his climb and sat on the throne. I smiled and nodded before looking at my friends. "Come on we don't have much time to waste," I took off after Blackheart, a mix of emotions flowing through me. I looked to my left and right as my friends joined me, we were all feeling different things, but I knew we could do this. Don't worry mom, I'm on my way! Author's Note So this is actually a rewrite of a story that I had already written back when I was younger, so I felt like I needed to redo especially since the show is coming to an end, speaking of which, this takes place after season 6 but before 7 and onward with a few twists that changed the past. Otherwise this is Silvermoon signing off...PEACE OUT!
The Journey Begins"So what is so important that we have to go towards the enemy?" Blueblitz questioned with a hoof in the air. "You'll see when we get there, trust me if we try to make the journey without them, we can call ourselves an easy meal." Blackheart told us, a brown cloak covering most of his body now. He had the thing on when we had finally caught up to him at the doors of my home, now we were mere minutes from entering the Everfree Forest. Blueblitz snorted in response to Blackheart's vague answer. I glared at him and then turned my attention back to Blackheart. "Can you be more specific of what is among these supplies?" Emeraldlight asked. Blackheart looked at Emeraldlight, "You will see when we get there, once again I'm going to ask all of you to trust me." He repeated back to the stallion behind him before turning to focus on the road ahead. "Kinda hard to trust a pony we don't know!" Silvermelody said. I sighed, she wasn't wrong, we barely knew this pony and he was being very vague, but my dad trusted him, so I had some faith. Blackheart stopped and turned around to face us, still showing no emotion. "You are correct, you should never trust a pony you do not know. In fact for all you know I could be a changeling acting like the real Blackheart," he said taking two steps toward us. "but let me tell you something that only Blackheart would know about you, Silvermelody, daughter of Fluttershy, your silver mane and tail are quite unusual because neither of your parents have silver in their manes...but when in labor, your mother started to have complications. The doctor then cast a medical spell to help with said complication, the side effect, your mane turned silver after you were born with a pink and blue mane. I watched your mane change color in the first few hours of your life, quite remarkable." He told the mare who fell onto her haunches immediately. She had only told us and her dad only knew about it because well he was there. "How did...how did you know, I thought only my dad saw it happen?" She questioned. "Let's just say the Elements of Harmony helped me, a lot." Blackheart answered. "Now come, we must hurry." he turned back to the path ahead and started to trot forward. I helped Silvermelody up and we followed in silence. I could tell that none of us still trusted him, or liked him as a matter of fact, but we had learned something. Blackheart knew my mom and the moms of my friends, and they helped him, or tried to, that was still up in the air. I looked at my friends, hopefully you all know too, so maybe we can get some information out of Blackheart. I thought as I turned back around to look at the stallion in front of me with a smile as I formed a plan in my head. ............................................................ We all stopped at the entrance to the Everfree Forest, Blackheart looking from left to right. I guessed he was looking and listening for anything dangerous, but there seemed to be nothing as he turned to face us. "Stay close, we are not going to be on the path you are used to and I do not want to waste time searching for a lost pony, so do as I say. Now once we get to cabin there should be a magical field around it that shouldn't let anything in unless it is an actual pony," he told us. "Actual pony?" Neo raised an eyebrow. Blackheart nodded in response. "Yes an actual pony, changelings have a specific type of magic that lets them change their form to match a pony, the difference is their genetic make up is still a changeling so the spell around my cabin can pick that up. I will explain more on the way, come," he finished before leading us into the forest. We stayed on the main path for a small amount of time until Blackheart moved a bush to the side to reveal a hidden path. We then continued on this path for the remainder, but something seemed off. The Everfree Forest was known for having everlasting darkness, but the trees here let in small rays of sunlight, it was kind of pretty. "Wait," Blackheart hissed, stopping me with his tail. He looked left and right and adjusted his ears. I turned my attention to a tree close by rustling and felt my body freeze. "We are being followed." Blackheart whispered to us, his horn glowing slightly. "Listen, whatever happens don't leave the path, my cabin is up ahead, get through the field and inside immediately," he directed his attention to us, his eyes moving left and right. "But-" Blueblitz started, "Just do as I say, no more no less, otherwise we may end up losing a pony, understood," Blackheart interrupted as another tree rustled. Everything went quiet soon after and soon we were having a stand off with whatever was in the trees. It was almost like time stopped, the only evidence that it hadn't was the blinking from our eyes and the restless rustling in the trees. "Five, six," Blackheart whispered to himself as none of us really knew what he was counting, but there was some guesses. All of a sudden a black and green blur flew from one of the trees and towards Blackheart's right flank. I went to call out the movement, but he was already a step ahead. He turned quickly and I watched something made of steel fly from his cloak and towards the blur, revealing why his horn was glowing. I heard a loud CLING as his sword met another sword, this one much more jagged and covered in a green magic. The owner of the sword hovered inches from the two blades, it's body riddled with holes, its wings transparent like bug's. It grit it's teeth, revealing sharp fangs. I looked at Blackheart a new expression on his face, one of anger and struggle. His teeth were also clenched and his muzzle wrinkled with anger. He pushed against his attacker and threw the creature and its blade back with a grunt. "So nice to see you again, Blackheart," a feminine voice hissed through the creature's mouth. The way she said his name sounded like pure hatred. Blackheart moved his sword in front of him as five more creatures landed next to the other one. They all looked fairly different, mainly in the color of their wings and spines, but they all had holes in them. My eyes widened as I made a quick realization, "These things look like the creature from my dream!" I told everyone loudly. The creatures moved quickly and surrounded us, hissing and snarling. "Things, did you hear that Gaster, the pony called us things," one of the said as they started to circle us. Blackheart looked at the green creature who still stood in front of him. "How kind of a pony to call us such a name," she replied with a hiss. "Leave them out of this Gaster, this is between you and me," Blackheart pointed the tip of his sword towards Gaster, giving me a better look at the sword. His sword was rather short and the blade curved inward towards the hilt but outwards toward the tip. The hilt itself was circular and wooden with a brown leather wrap around it. "Although yes usually I would be here to finish what we started, but the Queen has ordered the deaths of the six ponies behind you. You see, we know who they are and why you protect them, but how about we stray from-" "Over my dead body, you forget who I am changeling! I am a slayer of your kind and will hunt every single one of you creatures down until you all are extinct!" Blackheart yelled, an angry fire in his eyes. The changeling shook her head and smirked. "Your wish is my command, kill them," she commanded as the creatures revealed their own weapons, all jagged and covered in green aura. "Run!" Blackheart cried out as he cast a teleportation spell on us and put himself between us and the changelings. Gaster turned to face Blackheart and with a hiss swung her blade at the stallion, he ripped another sword from his cloak and caught the blade with it. "You 'eard 'im let's git outta 'ere!" Pippin yelled as he took off on the path. We followed quickly after, but I looked back to see Blackheart ducking under the blade of another changeling as the others pursued us. I followed the others and realized the battle was all around us, catching glimpes of Blackheart and the changelings attacks on each other. I could see sparks and hear metal hit metal along with my blood pumping in my ears. A changeling appeared in front of us, his sword raised over his head, he hissed. Pippin wasn't going to be able to stop in time, he was done for. SHLINK. I watched as a blade slid across the changeling's throat and a green liquid sprayed from the wound, covering Pippin. I heard Silvermelody screech in fear as she sped up, I felt my own heart drop and felt my stomach churn. I had just witnessed the death of a creature, and even though it was trying to kill us, it still wasn't the best thing to see. I heard a screech soon after and turned my head to see a changeling pounce towards me, a spear pointed at my back. My eyes widened, the fear of pain and death sinking into me. I felt my heart leap in relief when a brown cloak appeared and Blackheart's sword hit the spear to the side while his other sword pointed at the creature's chest. I turned away so I didn't have to experience another death, but felt something warm hit my back. I didn't look, already knowing what was on me, I continued forward. It wasn't long until I saw a wooden building and gasped in relief as I felt my body go through the field of magic the encircled the cabin. I noticed that Pippin had stopped and was vomiting on the grass beneath him while everyone else was inside the dark cabin. I slowed to a stop outside the door and helped a still somewhat sickened Pippin through the door and slammed the door shut behind us. I looked around and saw all of my friends gasping for air, Blue was the only one not tired, as he was used to it. Neo looked ok, but I could see the sweat trickling down her muzzle. Emerald looked pretty bad, his mane was thrown around and he was sweating and shaking profusely. Silvermelody was gripping her chest with her hoof and like the rest was sweating. Pippin was still covered in green blood, but he looked ok for the most part. I was shaking and sweating and my back had some green on it, but I could still tell I was out of shape. I went to sit down but decided against it and instead made my way to the window that was letting light come into the cabin. I looked for Blackheart, but from what I could hear there was no longer the sounds of battle outside. I felt my heart drop once more as I found myself worrying about our guide. He had protected us without a thought and took on odds that I figured most ponies couldn't win against. I looked down when I heard a grunt outside along with metal hitting metal. I looked out the window again and saw Blackheart slowly backing towards the field, he was blocking two swords at once with his own swords. I could makeout two figures in front of him, both of which didn't look like changelings. They were ponies, and one figure I recognized as my father, and the other was a pony I had never seen before, but they were ponies, not changelings. I went to the door and tried to pull it open when Emeraldlight held the door with his magic, which was blue like his eyes. "Wait, Dusk, remember changelings can change their form to match ponies, they are not real ponies." He reminded me as he walked towards me. I sighed and backed away. "You're right, but why would they take the shape of my father? Especially since Blackheart knows they aren't ponies." I asked myself out loud. "Maybe they were trying to catch him off guard, remember your dad called Blackheart an old friend." Blue answered as he finally sat down. I shrugged, "I guess that makes sense." I replied. Soon the fighting outside stopped and I quickly ran to the window, I could see a corpse on the ground and a changeling flying away. The corpse had a sword sticking out of it and I could see Blackheart walking over to it. He ripped the sword out and wiped his blades on the grass in the magic field before sheathing his swords and letting the cloak fall over his body again. He then disappeared out of view as he made his way towards the door. I walked away from the window and to my friends who were still recovering. The door opened and Blackheart limped into the cabin, closing the door behind him he limped his way to room close by. We waited for a few minutes until he reappeared, walking as if nothing had happened and several bags floating in his magic. He placed them down on the wooden floor and moved them towards us. "Each bag is filled with the basic necessities and few other items to help all of you on the journey. Canteens for water, bread for food, climbing gear, coats for cold weather, and a weapon." We all looked up at the mention of weapons. I opened my bag and looked inside, everything he had mentioned was there. "Your weapons all accommodate to your physical prowess and for what I believe is suited for you." Blackheart added as Silvermelody pulled a bow out of her bag. There was a loud bang as Pippin revealed a war hammer. I looked up at him, how did I not see that before. "There is a spell on bags that shrink most of the items in the bag to make for better carrying, luckily the second the item is out of the bag it returns to it's full size and weight." Blackheart added as I pulled out a sword in my magic. It was very basic compared to other swords I had seen in books. A wooden hilt that was in the basic shape of a T and a steel blade that was straight until it formed the tip. Then again all of our weapons were basic all except Emeraldlight's which was a sword that extended into a whip. "Your weapons are only to be used in lethal situations and for training until your real weapons appear." Blackheart told us as we placed our own weapons back in the bags. "Real weapons? What ever do you mean?" Emerald asked as he placed the bag on his flank and clipped the strap in the front of his chest. He had already figured out how the bag was meant to be held. "Yes, real weapons, or Charms as their true title. These weapons are kind of like your own personalized weapons that hide within your soul, and only appear when called to or when you are close to death. Many believe every creature has a Charm which has been proven true so far. For instance Starswirl the Bearded, had a charm that represented a star, although it couldn't be used to attack or defend it could be used to strengthen his magical capabilities." He told us as he levitated his own bag on to his body and strapped it down. Blackheart beckoned us to follow him as he left the cabin. As we grabbed our bags and prepared to leave, a bright flash of light illuminated the inside of the cabin from the windows near the door. My heart rate picked up again as the thought of being attacked entered my brain. I pulled the door open and ran outside and was astonished by the sight in front of me. Blackheart was crouched in a stance that reminded me of the body of the scorpion. Above him sat one long chain that wrapped around a sword on one end and on the end an identical sword to the other. The chains clinked together as they floated above Blackheart in a shape that looked like the tail of a scorpion. "This, is a Charm!" He told us as the everypony gathered outside. The blades then moved around Blackheart and the chain encircled around him with blades on both sides of his face. "I call them Twin Wolves, they act on my mental command and move with me." He jumped and they stayed next to him, but when he landed on his two back hooves and extended out his left forehoof the blades moved. The blade snaked it's way on his leg and hoof and flew straight towards me. I watched the tip stop right in front of my neck and then fly back towards him as he spun around and threw the other blade into a tree close to him. He then gripped the chain with his hooves and kicked the other blade into the air and used the momentum from the moving chain to fly into the air. The other blade came out of the tree and joined him in the air where everything seemed to slow down. He used his hooves to point the blades straight towards the ground and then flung them down at the same time. I watched as he wrapped the chain around one hoof and came down with them until they hit the ground. He stood in between them and unwrapped his hoof. His chest heaved as he took a deep breath and released. Afterwards, the chain blades disappeared, leaving all of us amazed. "That, is what it is like to have a Charm." Blackheart said as he walked back over to us. "A Charm is not only a weapon, but a defense mechanism that increases your strength and agility and over all durability. As you can see, I was high enough in the air that the fall could have broken my legs and more so with the speed I came back down, but with my Charm I could withstand all of it, but it is limited. Too much use of your Charm could not only exhaust you, but injure you if you exceed its capabilities. It is a part of your body, your mind and your soul, you must train it and your own body to wield it for longer times, and learn new abilities." He taught us and then sat down and smiled. I couldn't tell if I was amazed by the new expression, or weirded out by it. He looked at all of us and sighed. "I believe that all of you have the ability to release your Charm and learn how to wield it, just like your mothers, and fathers, before you. But, until that happens, we must start our quest to find your mothers and bring them back before our enemy makes it to Ponyville. From what Flash's scout has told us, we have two weeks until they are at the shields that Flash has placed over Ponyville, and depending of their power, a day to another week until they break those shields and take over Ponyville." Blackheart explained our deadline, his smile replaced with a focused frown. "So we have a minimum of two weeks to find our mothers and a maximum of three weeks if we are lucky, great!" Neo summed up happily. "That is not alotta time if ya think about it. Ah mean, we only have a small idea where one of 'em is, an' if we keep havin' to deal with these things, it will shorten our time." Pippin told Neo. He wasn't wrong, we spent all day just trying to get here thanks to the changelings and the sun was starting to set from what I could see of it. "Which is why we have a train to catch in the next couple of hours, it'll take us all the way to our first location, if that is where Fluttershy is staying of course, so let's get moving, if we miss that train we will have lost a day." Blackheart said, turning and starting back down the path we came in from. ...................................................... The path back to Ponyville was short, Blackheart had moved further ahead of us to move the corpses of the dead changelings before regrouping with us back on the main path. Once we had gotten to the train station the sun could no longer be seen and the moon had started its ascension. Now, we were all on the train, everypony was fast asleep, except for Blackheart and I. Blackheart was traversing throughout our car looking out of every window, his magic glowing enough to light up his path. I was reading a book, my brain not letting me sleep in fear of those nightmares returning. I had eventually dozed off into a dreamless sleep and found myself waking up to the sun in my eyes and a new found blanket over me. I pushed the blanket off of me and looked outside the window, it was mid day from what I could tell, and ponies were moving to and from our car. Blackheart was nowhere to be seen, but I could see the silver mane of Silvermelody in front of me so I moved to her seat and sat next to her. "You're awake," she stated as she turned and looked at me. I smiled, "Yeah what did I miss?" Silvermelody shrugged in response. "All I know is that Blackheart had moved into another car a few minutes ago." She said. She shifted her wings slightly, "from what I can see though, there is a storm heading this way. Maybe he is going to see if the staff of the train knows anything about it." I looked out her window, there was definitely some sort of storm forming out there. I sat back in the seat and looked for the others. Pippin and Blueblitz were talking to each other while Neo was helping Emeraldlight with some sort of tear in his tie that he had received during the chase in the Everfree Forest. It was calm, a big difference from what had happened yesterday, but that calmness was about to be shattered. "Get your bags!" Blackheart yelled as he ran back into our car. "We are getting off!" "Why? What's going on?" Blueblitz asked, slinging the bag over his wings and back. Blackheart finished clipping his bag to him. "We are being followed and not just by a small group this time. It seems that Gaster has brought a small army with her." Blackheart told us as he moved to the front of the car. "Now follow me!" He waited for us to line up at the door before leading us to the top of the train. "Listen! Silvermelody and Blueblitz grab Neo and Emeraldlight and fly towards the storm clouds. Duskshine and Pippin you two are going to head that way on hoof! I'm going to follow and cover our tracks! Until I catch up, head into the forest and find shelter in those trees! We will continue once we regroup!" Blackheart yelled his orders above the sounds of the train and the wind hitting our ears. We all nodded and Blueblitz grabbed Emeraldlight while Silvermelody wrapped her hooves around Neo. "On three you two are going to jump!" Blackheart told Pippin and I as the others flew away. "Wait! Are ya serious?" Pippin cried out. Pippin had a fear of heights, a really big fear of heights. Blackheart nodded. "Three!" I jumped and watched as Blackheart kicked Pippin off the train and jumped. I yelled as I landed and rolled to the ground. Pippin followed and landed next to me while Blackheart rolled and landed on his hooves on my right. I felt blood roll down my shoulder as I stood up and noticed Pippin was bleeding from his nose, he had landed on his face. Blackheart looked at us, "Go!" I ran for it with Pippin on my tail and the other four flying in front of us. The journey had just begun. Author's Note And that's chapter 2. Rewriting these chapters is proving to be a worthy adversary as I had intended for this chapter to be out the same day as the first. Unfortunately that's not how it turned out, I have also been studying the map of Equestria to help lay out the path I want the characters to take. Otherwise I hope you enjoyed chapter 2, thanks for reading.
Shadows of the Past"Sweet Celestia that hurts!" I cried out as Silvermelody wiped a white substance over my bloodied shoulder. She was using her wing as the feathers would be lighter than a hoof on the wound. "Just hold still, it isn't even that deep." Silvermelody said, wiping more of the substance on my shoulder. Blue stifled a laugh and turned to Pippin who was leaning against a tree. After a desperate sprint towards the clouds and forest, we found a small clearing with leaves acting as a roof to protect us from the rain. My shoulder had taken quite a blow from the ground and left a small gash in it and from what Silvermelody could tell, Pippin's nose wasn't broken. "That doesn't mean it won't sting." I argued. She glared at me and then slapped more of the substance on the wound, hard. I hissed in pain and tried to scoot away from her. She gripped my leg with a hoof and rubbed the wound, the tip of her wing was starting to turn red from the blood that sat on my shoulder. I fell silent and watched as she worked on my shoulder for a little longer before stopping and sticking her wing out in the rain to clean it off. I looked at Emeraldlight who was watching where we had come from. He was more alert than usual and even had his weapon out in front of him. "Will you put that away, you don't know how to use that thing." Blueblitz took the words right out of my mouth as he stepped in front of him. Emerald looked up at the pegasus, "Someone has to at least try to keep us safe, Blue, it has been at least an hour since we have gotten here and Blackheart has yet to show up so you expect me to believe that the changelings haven't killed him." He said, dragging his weapon behind him as he walked past the pegasus. Blue looked at him with concern. "You shouldn't have to stress over this Em, Blackheart can obviously take care of himself and if he is not here we will continue to this town ourselves and get Sil's mother and continue on." He told the Emerald without hesitation. Everypony turned their heads toward Blue. "Who put you in charge?" Silvermelody questioned arrogantly. "Yeah!" Neo agreed. Blueblitz smirked, "Well I did, after all, I am our most physically fit pony and-" "And, you lack the mental strength to lead a group of ponies, not to mention you are a very arrogant pony." Blackheart said, scaring all of us as he appeared from the shadows. "None of you are worthy enough to be a leader, not yet at least, but hopefully in the future one of you will be able to take on that role. Emeraldlight has taken a step in the right direction and could've been the reason you all got away safely from an ambush." Blackheart mentioned our friend, who smiled in return. "But, he did fail to mention my arrival," he turned the compliment around as he shook his soaked body, throwing off as much water as possible. "Well it was you, why should I have to let-" Emeraldlight started. "Why? Because I am your teacher, and your teacher does not want to walk in on a bunch of upset ponies, who are arguing over leadership!" Blackheart cut off, his tone raising slightly. He sighed and looked at all of us. "You will all learn this someday, and I plan to teach you on our path to find the Elements, but for now we need to get moving, those Changelings are not far from us and we have at least an hour until this rain stops." He moved past us and went into the trees. We all looked at one another and followed. Either Blackheart doesn't like the rain, or this threat is actually scaring him. I thought to myself, catching up with the others. I winced as a large drop of rain hit my wound, Silvermelody didn't have time to wrap it up. I silently prayed for a quick recovery and not an infection. We continued our trek through the trees, the rain soaking our fur and making some of us shiver. Blackheart had been wrong about the rain, it definitely had been more than an hour and the forest was getting darker, night was upon us. We were all silent, knowing that we could be followed as of that moment, we did not want to reveal anything about our destination just in case. Emerald slipped and fell into a small puddle of mud, "Oh sweet Celestia my mane!" He whined as he stood back up. He then proceeded to wipe at his wet mane with a hoof. "Ugh, it will take at least three showers to get this off!" He continued to whine and protest. Blackheart did an about face and looked at the coltish stallion. "You are kidding right, please tell me you're joking! You think mud is a problem, well imagine changelings capturing you! They wouldn't have to do much to get information out of you would they? 'Oh please! Not the face I will tell you anything!'" Blackheart mocked in pure anger. Pippin stepped in front of Blackheart cutting off his view of Emeraldlight. "Now ya listen here! You ain't gonna mock one of our friends and th'nk you git away from it!" He told the angered pony who smirked in return. "And what are you going to do about it tough guy, your mother did the same thing for another pony against me. Do you want to know who won that fight?" Blackheart threatened, towering over the usually large stallion. Pippin snorted and through a hoof into the right side of Blackheart's face. Blackheart barely flinched, a small cut in his cheek started to leak blood. He laughed and sat down his hoof wiping the blood off. "No pony talks about my momma like that especially a pony who hit her!" Pippin threw another punch, but it was stopped by Blackheart's hoof. Blackheart stopped laughing and looked at Pippin. "That's just it kid, I never laid a hoof on her, she did stand up to me at one point, but we never hit each other unless it was training, the same thing I just did to you." Pippin ripped his hoof out of Blackheart's and looked at the pony. "That anger that you used on me, is a weakness," Blackheart told him as he lifted his own hoof back, "now try and stop my fist." His hoof flew straight into Pippin's chest, sending the pony back a couple of steps. My mouth was wide open, Pippin was a really big pony in terms of muscle, no pony had ever been able to knock him down or back like that. Blackheart looked at Pippin and then the rest of us. "Those changelings are masters of disguise, which means they are going to do their best to provoke you, bring out the anger inside of you, or make you hesitate long enough to stick a blade in your chest. That was your first lesson, now let's continue, we don't want them to beat us there...trust me." Blackheart turned and continued on as Blueblitz helped Pippin up. Blackheart still looked tense, it was strange, he was almost always alert. His ears would twitch and the slightest movement from a bush would have him looking at it for a moment before continuing. From what I could tell we were heading towards a small hill in the distance, but these trees were getting thicker and it was getting darker. We could still hear the rain but the canopy had long since blocked the water from hitting the ground around us. We would stop every now and then while Blackheart would run back and get rid of any tracks and then continue once he was done. It was a rhythm we followed for at least two hours until we came to a big open clearing with the hill right in front of us. Blackheart looked around and then faced us. "Our destination is less than a day's travel from here, but tonight we camp here. Before we leave here tomorrow, we will begin training, starting with your weapons. You will learn how to use them, so get some rest, or you will get hit...a lot," Blackheart told us as he sat down and pulled out some kind of fire pit. He picked up some sticks and put them in the pit before using two twigs to start the fire. Afterwards he place a type of lid over it and the smoke and flames slipped out of the sides, giving us some form of warmth. I studied the pit, it was shaped like a bowl with holes on the sides the lid sealed the fire inside and the smoke traveled up and quickly dissipated. It was a device that wouldn't let the smoke travel too high up so we wouldn't be followed. It was interesting that was for sure. I put out a small sleeping bag that was inside my travel bag and watched it extend into a full sized sleeping bag. I slithered inside of it and felt rather warm in it. I turned to ask Blackheart if the sleeping bag was enchanted to give the pony inside warmth, but he had disappeared. I watched as my friends settled into their bags and stared into the fire, sleep not taking any of us. "Did any of you see where Blackheart went?" I asked quietly. "He went into the forest, he's probably checking for anything threatening." Neo told me with a smile. She was always happy and usually loud, but it looked like this journey had gotten to her too. "I'm so nervous and excited about meeting Silvermelody's mom! I guess you could say I'm nervouscited!" Neo almost jumped out of her bag, but decided against it. "Shhh...keep it down, do you want Blackheart to know we are still awake." Blue ordered quietly. "Wow I didn't know Blackheart had scared you that much Blue," I teased the stallion who snorted in response. "I don't know if you noticed Pippin, but Blackheart said something about your mom standing up to him earlier." Pippin nodded. "Ah did, Pa always told me stories of her, how she defended Equestria and saved ponies daily, but Ah just figured they was stories ya know." He smiled as he talked about her. "Yeah and I'm guessing Blackheart was like this before with them too," Silvermelody pitched in. "I mean if your mom had to stand up to him too, then that means he has always been like this. I kind of wonder what made him like this." I nodded in agreement. "Blackheart is very secretive, did you notice how cautious he was today?" I asked. "Isn't he always cautious?" Emeraldlight questioned. "Well yes, but he seemed even more cautious, like he would check every bush that rustled, he didn't do that in the Everfree," I told them as I sat up. "Maybe he just new to this area?" Neo defended. "I doubt it, after all he knows where we are going. Do any of you think there is something other than Fluttershy that he is trying to hide?" I questioned. Everypony shrugged in response. "He is a very secretive pony, Dusk, I doubt any of us could just ask him." Silvermelody read my mind. "Yeah but there will be a pony who does know Sil, your mom." I said. "Good point, but I don't think I want to meet my mother and just start asking questions about some other pony that she knows." Silvermelody told me. I sighed and agreed, "Mothers first than Blackheart." I told her as she turned over. I looked up at the starlit sky and sighed one final time before closing my eyes and drifting off to sleep. .............................................................. I looked down at the group of ponies as they slept. After I had set up the campfire I had left to check the area for anything that could have been a threat, like a spy, a scout, or just a dangerous animal. When I had returned and jumped into this tree, I had been listening to their conversation with a sad smile. I did regret hitting Pippin earlier, but I was happy to have a way to explain why I did it. The truth was, I was already on edge and seeing a pony complaining about their mane just pissed me off. This curse of mine was starting to get out of control again, just a bit longer, and then it'll all end. I just need to find that last piece. I thought as my heart throbbed in pain. I heard my name amongst the conversation the group was having and listened in. that kid of yours is very observant Sentry, I am going to be careful from now on. I thought as I looked down at the group and then at the hill. Let's just hope he has more in store to surprise me than some observational skills. Otherwise training might hurt tomorrow. .................................................. I watched the field of magic blink as it surged through the bubble. "Sir, General Armor is requesting to speak with you." I pulled my helmet off and looked at the unicorn messenger below me. "Pull him up." The guard nodded and a screen appeared in front of me. On the screen sat a pony with a blue mane and white fur, new wrinkles were starting to show and his muzzle looked a little gray. His purple and gold armor sat proudly on his muscular body. "Captain Sentry." He said my rank with a nod. "General Armor." I replied with my own nod. "Have they left yet?" He asked with a stern look. "Yes sir, they left two days ago with Blackheart as their guide." General Armor rubbed the back of his head with a hoof. "Twilight won't be to happy about that, I know Celestia isn't." I shook my head. "She needs to be, after all only Blackheart could protect them and remain anonymous," I told my superior. The stallion on the screen sighed. "True, but you know how are, Celestia will never trust a pony with a black heart, and Twilight, well, you know how she is." I laughed. "Yep, but right now I just hope for a safe return with no casualties." I said. General Armor nodded in agreement. "Amen to that, how's Ponyville holding up?" I laughed. "Its doing fine, you forget how many times this has happened in the past, the ponies here are used to it." I said in confidence. The General laughed, "Very true, I will be sending in myself and some troops to help defend the location three days before they arrive, it's a risky maneuver, but it will buy them some time to get back." I looked at the General. "It'll be good to have you here sir." The General sighed. "Once this has all settled I'm gonna set something up for all of us to catch up, the kids are going to want to see their moms without intervention before school starts back up," he said before turning and talking to a guard off screen. He turned back to me, "I gotta go, I have some paperwork to do," he said. "Understood, Sentry out," the screen faded and the messenger left the room. I grabbed a picture off of the small table next to the throne. It was a picture of Twilight and I with a smaller version of Duskshine. Twilight had small bags underneath her eyes from staying up late with the foal. This was the night Dusk had figured out he had magic and was teleporting all over the castle. I smiled and looked at my wife with tears in my eyes. "Please come back home safely, and please let us all be back together again..." ......................................................... "Fix your form Dusk, a baby changeling can knock you over with how you are standing!" Blackheart yelled. I bent my knees and struck at the tree again with my sword. I wiped the sweat off my brow and stabbed at the tree again. We had been training for the past two hours, the sun was now over the hill. "There you go Silvermelody! Treat those arrows like they are apart of you, same with you Emeraldlight, you must move your weapon like it is you, otherwise-" "Ahhh!" Emeraldlight fell over clothing his forehoof in pain as it became blood red. I watched as Blackheart sprinted over and levitated a bottle out of his bag and over to Emeraldlight. "Drink this, quickly before you lose too much blood," he poured the green liquid down Emeraldlight's throat and told the stallion to swallow. Emerald swallowed it quickly and then winced as the blood faded and his wound slowly closed itself. Blackheart then stood back up and looked at the rest of us, "what are you looking at, get back to it," I opened my mouth to intervene. "Its a potion made to heal a pony and give them a slight boost in adrenaline, the ingredients are very rare so I only have a few, so don't up and hurt yourself." He told me as he helped Emerald back on his hooves. He looked like nothing had happened and actually looked excited. I thought back to the cabin when Blackheart came in with a limp and then reemerged as if nothing had happened. I turned and fixed my form again, this time getting the hang of my weapon and moving the blade faster across the tree. I heard hoofsteps behind me and the saw Blackheart in my peripheral vision. "Good, good, but instead of moving quickly and sloppily, try focusing on certain points of the tree." Blackheart moved to the other side of the tree and removed both swords from their sheathes. He held a very similar stance to mine and the made three quick cuts into the tree before stabbing one of the blades into it. I moved to his side to see what he had cut. It was triangle with his singular stab right in the middle of it. "The more accurate, the more lethal your strikes. The more lethal your strikes, the quicker your opponent goes down. The quicker your opponent goes down, the safer you become. An old mentor of mine told me that." I looked at the stallion as he returned his swords to their cover and then went to yelling at Neo who was struggling with her weapons, two chakrum that floated around her. From what Blackheart had said the weapons were enchanted to follow their owner's mental commands and avoid the physical body of their owner. It was an ancient pony spell and if mastered could become a very deadly spell on any weapon as it focused on the mind. Pippin's hammer operated very similar, except he had to wear a special band on his hoof to use it. The aura almost looked like a leash that held the whole weapon at bay. I stopped for a second to see how Blueblitz was accommodating to his weapons. He had two blades on his wings that he could take off and use in his mouth or hooves if he wanted to, and from what I could tell he was a natural at them. Blackheart glared at me and gestured with a hoof for me to turn around and attack the tree. .............................................................. When I had tasked the six ponies with their training routine, I wasn't expecting any of them to do decent with their weapon choice. Their mothers were especially terrible at first, but these ponies were different. Silvermelody especially caught my eye, instantly figuring out how to work the bow and even using methods that I didn't believe were possible with a bow. Blueblitz seemed like he already knew his weapons, doing spins and even throwing the blades before catching them in his hooves or teeth and swinging them that way. I could only guess this was Soarin's doing as only he and Rainbow Dash truly knew how to use those. Emeraldlight was having trouble, especially since he was a male, but he was catching on, almost treating the weapon like a ribbon in a ballet dance. Pippin was doing well, only really having an issue with spinning the weapon behind him. Neo was having the hardest time with her chakram, they had just mindlessly hovered when she had first tried to use them. I had to realize her brain worked like Pinkepie's, no control or focus of what was happening in her head. So I had to use the same method that I had used on her mother, which consisted of forcing her to focus on the blades and then slowly but surely moving them forward. Now she was swinging them quickly and rather violently, it almost had me scared. Then there was Duskshine, the pony with potential but little to no skill. He was struggling with just holding the blade, afraid of cutting himself, then as time went on he was changing his form and swinging violently without any care. The sword was the most simple weapon to use, but it was the hardest to master. He had finally grown accustomed to the sword whenever I had finally showed him how to use accurate strikes rather than quick blows. Of course this was only the beginning of their training. I took one final look at the group, they were sweating profusely and I could tell that they were getting tired. That was my cue to cut them off, four hours from when we started. "Alright, that's enough for today!" I called out to all of them, "now gather around for breakfast," they all returned their weapons to their bags and then pulled out the bread that I had given them. I grabbed my slice of bread and joined them. "So, how do you all feel about your weapons?" I asked as I took a bite. Neo was the first to speak. "Honestly my head hurts from focusing on those things, but I think maybe after I don't know, a day or two, I will have it down!" She said before tearing another piece of bread off and chewing it. Pippin swallowed his bite and then looked at me. "The hammer is heavy, but Ah feel like Ah can handle it soon enough." He said confidently. "My dad had taught me a little bit about the those blades, he said something about them being used by the Wonderbolts during some war many years ago, but they haven't been used since. They feel great, and I think its pretty awesome that I get to use them." Blueblitz said. "I have studied the bow in my free time, but this is my first time ever holding one, it almost felt like it belonged in my hooves already, so I just used what I could remember from the books I read, it felt like I was doing good, but in reality I could have done better," Silvermelody told me, biting into her bread once more. "That weapon reminds me of a ribbon almost, just heavier and well, deadlier. I tried to use it as a whip, but after my injury...I decided to use an old ballet technique from one of my classes. Afterwards it was easy." Emeraldlight mentioned. I looked at him, "Now to figure out how to adapt that technique into a lethal technique." Emerald nodded in response. I looked at Duskshine who had just finished his bread. "How about you, how did the sword feel?" "It felt interesting, the weight of it in my magic was unbalanced, forcing me to put more effort into the blade and less into the hilt. Learning that there isn't a specific set that you have to use, but that all techniques involved precise strikes in different manners intrigued me. I will have to learn my own way around the sword, so I can use it without failure." He lectured, swinging the bag onto his side and clipping it around him. "Remember there is no such thing as perfection, I even had to tell your mother that." I told him. "Speaking of which, what were they like?" He asked. Everypony froze and looked at me. I sighed and stood up, wiping my cloak of all the crumbs and putting it back on. "Your mothers were very good ponies, Fluttershy being the most innocent and the most kind, but she is the Element of Kindess, so she had that going for her. I thought your fathers would have said something." I told them as I clipped my own bag to me. "They did, but they never told us about the bad, they only spoke of them as if they were dead." Blue said, stretching his wings. "Well, they had many flaws. Fluttershy was always so timid and nervous, she almost tried to heal the enemy several times, she was too kind in a sense, but also too assertive at times. Pinkie was always so hyper, she never saw the dangers as dangerous until too late, Rainbow Dash was always too cocky for her own good and would always end up in some sort of trouble. Applejack could be too honest at times, and would get herself hurt over doing things and would even let her anger get the best of her. Rarity was too self-conscious about herself and her image and would sometimes lash out because of it, but she did her best to maintain everything, overworking herself. Then there was Twilight, their leader and overall the reason that they became the Elements of Harmony, even earning her wings and the title Princess of Friendship. Unfortunately, she was always so invested into her books and her princess work that she never cared for anypony else, and when experiencing new emotions she did things that she would end up regretting. She was the most flawed, but most leaders are. I guess that's why Celestia chose her as her pupil." I told them. They all looked at one another before looking at me. "I think I speak for all of us when I say, thank you Blackheart, we now know more about our mothers than we ever did know." I nodded at Emeraldlight. I wish I could give them a genuine smile, but alas I could not, my heart wouldn't let me. "Now let's get going, we are losing daylight, and I am pretty sure Fluttershy would like to see her daughter before the moon rises." I also hoped that I could see who I wanted to before the moon was in the sky. Author's Note And that was Shadows of the Past. The next part will surely be an interesting one as I have now mapped out the whole course of the book, I even decided to use certain notes for later chapters, which is why I'm able to get these out so quickly...also because I really want to take this story and make it, well really good compared to the other stories I have been writing. Otherwise I will talk to y'all in the next chapter...
Of Blessings and CursesI stood on the hill with all of my friends, a smile on my face. This was it, we were about to find the first element and Silvermelody's mother. I could tell she was nervous, but who wouldn't be, she hadn't seen her mother in several years. She looked at me with a smile that I returned with more confidence. "You got this, Sil, I mean your mother is the Element of Kindness, how scary can she be?" I reassured as I turned my attention back to the view in front of us. Down the hill sat the small train station that we should have ended up at, but we took a detour to avoid being followed further. Past the tracks though lay a small desert with a small town on it. From what I could tell the town had at least two long buildings opposite of each other with one building out of the way. I assumed that the long buildings were divided up into homes and shops, but I couldn't exactly tell from here. "Well come on, like Blackheart said a few minutes ago...we are losing daylight!" Neo said before rolling down the hill like a log. We all laughed and walked down the hill, Neo beat us to the bottom, thanks to her head start and strange log shape. The hill wasn't large nor steep, but it would be the last time we saw green grass for at least and day or two. We looked both ways as we crossed the train track and hopped on to the rickety station platform. "I don't think this place has been visited in a long time, what do you think Dusk, you studied the trains for a project at one point, right?" Blue asked me as a board creaked beneath his hoof. I put a hoof to my chin and studied the platform. "Well I have never heard of this place before, and there isn't a station on this portion of the map I think. From what I can tell this is the train to Manehattan so maybe this is just a check point for maintenance." I told him. Pippin walked over to the small building and peered inside to see if anypony was in the ticket booth. "If this was a maintenance stop, then why is there a ticket booth?" He said as he stepped away. "I didn't think about that. Well then I don't know what this is." I admitted. "It was a train station once," I jumped as Blackheart spoke behind me. He moved past me, the floors creaking loudly. "What happened to it?" Silvermelody asked. "An evil pony that was in charge of the town up ahead, isolated it from all of Equestria, only allowing certain deliveries from the surrounding area. The Elements of Harmony were summoned here at one point and they changed the pony's heart. That pony eventually became one of Twilight's students and now here we are. She said she would have this rebuilt, she may just be too busy." He said as he stepped past the station and went behind. "Let's keep moving, we don't want to be seen coming this way." He called to us as his hoofsteps started to fade. We continued through the desert, the sun baring down on our backs. It should've been hotter, but Blackheart mentioned something about the mountains actually blowing cold weather towards the desert, lowering the temperature. The town was coming closer into view and I could see ponies moving about, they were all talking and working, acting as if Equestria wasn't being threatened. I could see a pony talking to small group of ponies, one had a cart trailing behind him. "Hey, that's mah uncle Big Mac." Pippin said excitedly behind me. I thought I had recognized that big red shape. Blackheart stopped Pippin from running forward. "Do not speed ahead, for all you know he's a changeling," Blackheart reminded the stallion. I could finally see Big Macintosh and the other ponies around him. Next to him was his wife Sugarbelle and on the other side was a mare, her belly slightly lowered. She had light purple fur and a dark purple mane with some light blue in it. Next to her was a white pony with a purple scarf and a blue pony with a balloon hat. Blackheart stopped all of us with his hoof and tail. "Why'd we stop?" Pippin questioned impatiently. "Wait here and wait for me to call you over." We all sat down and watched him head over to the group. The light purple mare held a hoof to her mouth in shock and quickly ran over to Blackheart, hugging him tightly. He hugged her back and did something to her forehead before saying hello to the others. He then pointed a hoof to us and started talking to the mare about us. She nodded and looked over his shoulder at us before continuing her talk with Blackheart. He looked at us and beckoned us over with a hoof. "Let's go," I said leading my friends to the group. "Aunt Sugarbelle! Uncle Mac!" Pippin yelled, hugging his relatives. They hugged him back and they were soon engrossed in conversation. I turned my attention away from them and looked at Blackheart, who was talking to the mare. "And you are sure they are ready and it isn't some sort of trick?" The mare questioned Blackheart before looking at me. This pony was familiar, like I had seen her before. "We will talk about this later," Blackheart told her before looking at me, "you remember Twilight's son Duskshine." "Well of course I do, I was there for his second birthday," she retorted at Blackheart and looked at me. "You probably don't remember me Duskshin, but I'm Starlight Glimmer, I was a friend of your mom's," she reminded me. I felt a memory pop into my head of some photos from a book and a name on a birthday card somewhere. "So you're the mysterious pony from my birthday card." I said. She giggled. "Yep that would be me, although I fell behind after awhile, being the mayor of a town isn't easy." I put two and two together. So she is the pony that Blackheart was talking about earlier. "And you must be Silvermelody, Blueblitz, Emeraldlight, Neo, and I can only guess that's Pippin talking to Big Macintosh." She named my friends. They all nodded and she smiled in return. A slight cough sounded behind her. "Oh I forgot, this is Double Diamond, my vice mayor" she gestured towards the pony with the scarf, "and this is Party Favor, the town's event planner." She gestured towards the blue pony with the balloon hat. "Pleasure to meet all of you, welcome to our town," Double Diamond welcomed us. "Yes welcome! I just might have to throw a party in honor of our new guests, and for the return of our mayor's joy!" Party Favor told us excitedly. mayor's joy? I thought to myself. "Not this time, they are here on secret business, now both of you run along, I have some things to discuss with our guests." The two ponies nodded and trotted off. "They seem nice, especially Party Favor!" Neo said happily. "Well when this all settles, I will be sure to have Party Favor throw a party in your honor." Starlight told her with a smile. "Now come along, we have more important things to discuss," she said. She turned and started to walk away. I looked at Blackheart, "So much for making sure a pony isn't a changeling," I told him. After a few moments he looked at me. "For your information she is in charge of protecting Fluttershy and has dealt with the changelings enough already to understand their tricks, otherwise I wouldn't have trusted her." He told me before catching up to Starlight. We followed the two down the road and awed the small shops and homes of the ponies wandering around. "This place is neat," Silvermelody said. "Yeah, its crazy ta think Aunt Sugarbelle used ta live here," Pippin said. Big Macintosh and Sugarbelle had told him goodbye earlier. "Wait, your aunt is from here? How is it you never knew about this place?" Blueblitz asked in bewilderment. "Well, they never mentioned it, and Ah never cared ta ask so, yeah." Pippin answered. That was classic Pippin, he was a big family pony as long as it revolved around the farmlands. I shook my head with a smile. "You always surprise me Pippin." He looked at me with a smile in return. I turned my attention back to the two older ponies ahead of us. They were whispering and discussing something that I felt the rest of us should know about. "Hey, wanna share or are you two just going to withhold all the information to yourselves?" I spoke up, grabbing their attention. Starlight looked back at me, "The cottage is just up ahead, be patient." She said, not answering my question. "Trust me kid, you do not want to try and argue." Blackheart told me. I closed my mouth and glared at them two. What was their deal. I looked at my friends who all stopped suddenly. "What?" I asked as I stopped. I turned to see a purple flank right in front of me. "We are here." Starlight told us, stepping away from me and towards the door of a cottage. She knocked on the door and sat down, taking a deep breathe. I heard some small shuffling on the other side of the door and then a quiet muffled voice. "Who is it?" The voice asked cautiously. "Just Starlight and Blackheart..." Starlight told the voice before hesitating, "...and your daughter." She finished. There was a long silence. Silvermelody opened her mouth to say something, but she didn't get to speak as the door slowly opened. A pony peeked her head out of the crack slightly, only showing a portion of her face. She was cream colored, and her mane was long and pink. She opened the door further revealing the rest of her and she studied us quietly. "Mom?" Silvermelody questioned the older mare, tears in her eyes. The mare looked at Silvermelody and her eyes widened, tears forming in her eyes. She ran out of the door and hugged Silvermelody, almost tackling her. Her wings wrapped around her as she nuzzled her daughter's forehead. "My Melody!" She cried out happily. Silvermelody smiled and hugged her back. "Mom!" She said as her mother wiped the tears out her face with the tip of her wing. "Look at you, all grown up!" Her soft voice said as she stepped back. I looked at the two of them, a smile on my face, tears coming to my eyes. Fluttershy then turned her attention to us. "All of you have grown up...and if I do remember correctly, one of you had a birthday a couple of days ago," she looked at me specifically. "Happy birthday!" She smiled, her eyes still foggy. "Well I think you all need to catch up with Fluttershy, so Blackheart and I are going to discuss some important matters in my office." Starlight intervened behind us. I turned and thought I saw a slight blush on Blackheart's face, but he turned away and followed the mare. I turned my attention back to Fluttershy, who invited us into her home. When we had entered her home, several pictures could be seen on the walls. Some of them of her alone, others of her with our mothers and fathers, and finally a few with us. "Sorry about the mess, I was just about to clean when you showed up." She apologized. The mess she was speaking of, was a few papers on a desk that lay about. She fixed the papers and then hopped into a chair close by. She offered her couch to us, but only Blueblitz, Neo, and Silvermelody could sit down on it. The rest of us sat down on a colorful striped rug. A clock ticked close by as a silence fell over the room. Nopony knew how to start, it had been years since we had seen our mothers, and although we had questions, we were speechless. "Why, did you leave?" Silvermelody broke the silence, her question shocking the mare on the chair. Fluttershy did her best to recover and sighed. "Well, that's complicated, I'm guessing you all know about some of our battles with our enemies." Fluttershy started, her eyes wandering over us. "Well pretty quickly after Pinkie had Neopolitan, Princess Celestia believed we were putting all of you and our friends in danger. With three of our enemies still on the loose she didn't want to chance anything, so she hid us away, faked our deaths, and...you know all the rest I assume." She smiled lightly. "I mean I can understand wanting to protect us, but surely hiding you all in separate places was a good idea." Blueblitz said, lifting his hoof. "I mean Ponyville itself is in danger and those three villains are marching that way with an army." He finished. Everypony glared at him, but Fluttershy and I. Fluttershy's expression was very different from mine though, she looked horrified. "Wait...you mean Sombra, Chrysalis, and Tirek have joined together?" Fluttershy asked as she stepped out of her chair. "That would explain your arrival, but that must mean you are in a hurry to reach all of us." She said, moving to her desk and opening a drawer. "I mean we are in a hurry, but we still have-" "No, we don't have time, we need to get moving very soon." Fluttershy interrupted us as she pulled out a slip of paper. "Usually I would love to sit and catch up and answer all of your questions, but I can't, especially now." She trotted back over to us and gave the slip of paper to Silvermelody. "The ink is purple," she told us. "And?" I asked, waiting for more information. "and has loads of glitter in it." She said, her nose scrunching up a little in disgust. "That would be my mother, especially if the writing looks like an old methodical poem." Emeraldlight said, levitating the slip out of Silvermelody's hoof. "I lay on a land that breathes fire, where scales and generosity are my attire, you will find me there." He read to us and passed it around. "Scales? That's a terrible design choice-" "That's not what she is saying Emerald," Fluttershy told him kindly. "there is one creature I know of that has scales." "Dragons?" Silvermelody said. Fluttershy nodded and looked at Emeraldlight. "Rarity is where the dragons are, so that is our next destination." She told us. I looked at Fluttershy and then at my friends. "Then that is where we go." I turned towards the door. "Wait isn't that south of here, like across another body of water." Blueblitz mentioned. "We'd be heading towards our enemy." I turned back just as Fluttershy put a hoof on her chin. "Well in some ways we wouldn't be heading towards them, they are south east of us, and like you said across a body of water. They are also dragons and Tirek shouldn't be strong enough to face them yet and he is the strongest of the three." She told Blueblitz. "Then why would Emeraldlight's mom be there, wouldn't that make the dragons just as much of a threat as Tirek, Sombra, and Chrysalis?" Fluttershy giggled. "The dragons have never been a threat to Equestria before especially now, but I will explain more on that later, let's go get Blackheart and get moving before it's too late." She nodded towards me and I opened the door. "Blackheart is probably with Starlight so they will probably be at her house at the end of town." Fluttershy told us as we walked through the town. She was constantly waving at ponies with a bright smile and acting like everything was ok. "Why doesn't the town know about everything happening?" I asked her as we got closer. "That's because Starlight doesn't want a panicking town, she has a lot of faith in us and all of you to make sure that Tirek and the others don't get past Ponyville." She said before blushing. "No pressure of course." Silvermelody rolled her eyes before smiling and talking with her mom quietly. I took the lead until we eventually got to the house at the edge of town. Fluttershy pushed past us and knocked on the door before sitting patiently until the door opened to reveal Blackheart who had a very large smile on his face. It was really creepy to see a pony smile who barely smiled look so happy. "I guess you learned of the news." Fluttershy told him teasingly. Blackheart looked at her, his expression never changing. "Yep, and I've never been more happy." He told her. My friends and I gasped at his words. His smile disappeared and he looked at us. "What? You don't know enough about me to be so shocked." He told us. Fluttershy stifled a chuckle and looked at him as Starlight appeared at the door. "What's going on?" Fluttershy looked at her with a newfound sadness. "I'm afraid we have to go, Starlight, we are limited on time to find the others." Starlight's face fell into a very upset frown. "But...but you all just got here and I was going to make dinner for all of you..." Fluttershy embraced Starlight who wrapped her hooves around Fluttershy in return. "I didn't even get to catch up with them." She gestured towards us. I questioned the news that had made Blackheart smile like that but seeing Starlight upset pushed that thought away. "You've all grown up so much since I had last seen you, I wanted so badly to talk to you about your mother's but, I got alittle stuck on something with Blackheart here." She told us with a warm smile. What did she mean by that? I looked at them two for a moment, the gears in my head turning. "Here I will walk you to-" Blackheart stopped her with a stern look. "Oh no you don't, you need rest." Starlight tried to push his hoof down but he didn't budge. "Oh don't go acting like a father now, it's I that should be telling you to be careful." Starlight told him with a glare before turning that gaze towards Fluttershy. "Don't let him do anything stupid enough to get him killed, ok, and don't let Twilight rip his heart out." Fluttershy nodded with a smile. "I'll do what I can Starlight." There was a loud ding in my head as I figured it out. They were a couple, now how could a pony with a black heart feel love? Just to further prove my confirmation Blackheart kissed Starlight right before we left, causing everypony except Fluttershy to grasp once again. Of course that's all we got from him, as he dodged our questions about everything else. Even Fluttershy refused to answer any questions, saying it wasn't her place to say anything. When we eventually decided to set up camp several hours after leaving the town, the moon was high in the sky and Blackheart was a ways behind us as he cut off more tracks. It was then that we all decided to talk to Fluttershy about some things. She willingly answered everything they asked, from questions about the others to previous adventures. Silvermelody throughout all of it sat next to her mom who kept her wing around her daughter comfortably. It wasn't long before Silvermelody had fallen asleep and the rest of us were in our sleeping bags as Blackheart had arrived. He and Fluttershy wandered off to talk as I finally fell asleep. ................................................ "How are you doing Blackheart?" Fluttershy asked me as we sat down and stared at the camp from far away. "Well I don't know, Fluttershy, I'm ecstatic about everything that's happened between Starlight and I, but am I ready for this step?" Fluttershy turned her attention to the sleeping form of her daughter. "You are never ready for it, even now I don't know if I'll ever be ready." She told me with a warm smile. "But there is always one thing to remember, make sure you are there for them when they need you, and I don't just mean Starlight, these kids need you just as much as they need us." "I don't know about that, I haven't exactly treated them right over the course of these few days." I told her. "You don't know how to, there's a difference, remember how long it took you to even express your love to-" "That's just it Fluttershy, I have never felt anything like this, not in a long time at least. In some ways it's not good either, It's kind of been difficult keeping things under control ever since Starlight and I tied the knot and the last piece fell away." I cut her off, gripping my chest in the process. "Your curse is trying to fight it's way back into, that is all happening as you express any emotion, and with this recent news it could get worse. Try to remember all the good that has happened in your life, it could weaken that power that your curse is holding onto, it might just set you free." Fluttershy did her best to help him and placed a hoof on his chest. "We may not act like it sometimes but we all care for you, even Twilight who just lets that grudge of hers fester, she cares for you probably more than any of us." "She is the Princess of Friendship." I mentioned as Fluttershy looked at me. "You will get there at some point Blackheart, but not telling these colts and fillies the truth is just going to hurt you more." She finished before yawning. "Now I'm going to get some rest, that boat ride tomorrow is going to be a long one." I reached into my bag. "I will be fine on the ground Blackheart, I have my daughter for warmth and comfort." She smiled and trotted towards the fire, leaving me alone in the dark. I could feel something inside me moving around, waiting for release, ....................................................... "It's kind of hard to train when you wake us up three hours before the sun is on the horizon!" Blueblitz yelled as he blocked Blackheart's blade with his wing. "And it's easy to get ambushed in the night, your point?" Blackheart twisted his blade and threw himself into Blueblitz's chest causing the stallion to stagger. Blackheart charged forward, the tip of his blade aimed for Blueblitz stomach. Blueblitz used his wings to jump back, the tip of the blade grazing his fur. Blackheart pointed the sword back up and positioned himself. "Good Evasive maneuver, but try not to use your wings so much, they could become a weakness!" Blackheart slowly pulled his other sword from its sheathe and smiled. "Now let's see you evade both swords." He charged forward once more as I watched the two train. Blackheart decided that it was now time to face an actual opponent, what he didn't tell us is that he would try and surprise us to keep us on alert. I watched as Blueblitz blocked Blackheart's onslaught of slashes, struggling to keep up with every attack as he backed away. "I always disliked this part." A quiet voice said behind me. I turned to see Fluttershy as she yawned and sat next to me. "Well considering that Silvermelody's dad always told us about how scared you were, it doesn't surprise me." Fluttershy looked at me with a soft smile. "Yes, I was scared, but everypony is when it comes to using weapons, unless you're as arrogant as Rainbow Dash was..." she started before giggling, "my husband on the other hoof has no room to talk, Crimson Birch was always afraid of knives and swords before he met your father." I looked at her as Blueblitz rushed Blackheart. "My father?" Fluttershy nodded. "Mhm, when he met Flash he decided he wanted to protect me as much as Flash protected Twilight, but if you want the truth there, Twilight was the one doing the protecting. Anyways, Flash taught Crimson how to use a simple sword, until he asked for something more intimidating like the axe he had from his father." "Oh, so that's where dad got his confidence from." Silvermelody said as she sat next to her mom. "For the most part, he is still afraid of me though." The expression on mine and Silvermelody's face was identical, our jaws had dropped in surprise. "I'm sorry, but you don't really seem intimidating Mrs Shy." Emeraldlight said from behind us. "I wouldn't be saying that!" Blackheart called as he pinned Blueblitz, his blade on his throat as he held the colt to the ground. Blackheart sheathed his weapons and trotted over to us as Pippin and Neo sat down next to us. Blueblitz followed Blackheart soon after as Blackheart sat down. "Fluttershy may not look or act like it, but she is pretty dangerous." Blackheart told us as Blueblitz sat down, his chest heaving from the battle. "Well if she is so dangerous, why don't you two show us how us how a real battle goes." He said before taking a drink from his canteen. "What do ya say Fluttershy, you want to show these kids how dangerous you can be?" Blackheart asked. Fluttershy shook her head with a smile. "Perhaps another time, we need to get going or else we will miss our boat." She told him as she stood up. "Boat?" Pippin said questionably. "Yep, the fastest route to the land of dragons is by boat." Blackheart told Pippin as he stood back up. "She is right though, we need to get going, we will train more before we get to Manehattan and then I want to watch Blueblitz and Silvermelody spar while we are on our boat, so let's get moving." He finished and walked past us back to the camp to pack things up. We followed soon after to grab our own bags and it wasn't long until we officially left the area, Blackheart staying behind to cover our tracks once more as we made our way east. Our walk mainly consisted of silence, but soon Fluttershy started to talk about our mothers and their adventures, mainly before Blackheart, but she would mention him every now and then. Blackheart, on the other hoof, kept his distance as he covered our tracks, only catching up once or twice to eat before we continued the trek to Manehattan. We wouldn't be able to reach it for another day, but the boat would cut some time off as it was apparently really fast, so we could've slowed down. Unfortunately we didn't, Blackheart told us that these extra days could be used for emergencies, so we were to continue forward. I didn't really care, in fact I was more so in a hurry to get to my mom and could only hope that she was next after we found Rarity. Eventually we stopped for the night, the sun was starting to set and we were low on fire wood, so we decided to spread out and find twigs and anything else that was flammable. Fluttershy and Silvermelody stayed behind just in case the changelings had spies or scouts in the area. Blackheart didn't want them knowing that we had one of the Elements and get word back to Chrysalis and the others. He then paired us up based on our differences to see how we coordinated as a team, an improv training exercise. I was paired up with Pippin, Blueblitz was with Neo and Emeraldlight was with Blackheart. "So how are you doing?" I asked him as I levitated a stick into my bag. He turned back and smiled. "Ah'd reckon I'm doin' alright, but Ah'm a little nervous about seeing my Ma. Aint you nervous about meetin' yours?" He asked me before picking up a twig and placing it in his bag. I turned as I put another stick in my bag. "I mean, yeah of course I'm nervous, Silvermelody and I barely knew our moms, unlike you and Blueblitz. You two still remember what they look and act like, I only know from pictures and stories. So yeah I guess you could say I am nervous, Pip." He picked up another stick in his hoof and was prepared to put in the bag, but he froze, his eyes widening slowly. I noticed he wasn't looking directly at me, but at something or someone behind me. I slowly gripped my sword in my magic and readied myself. Pippin was just a bit faster as he charged at me, pulling his hammer out as he did. He pushed me out of the way and there was a loud sound of metal on metal. I hit the ground and turned to see our attacker. It was hovering with its wings as it pushed its sword against Pippin's hammer. The changeling showed no signs of struggle and its expression was calm. She used Pippin's strength to push herself back and land on the ground, her jagged blade pointed straight at Pippin. "Leave my home." She said sternly, not moving an inch. Pippin readied himself as I stood, my own sword levitating in front of me. "You're outnumbered, so you have no right to be making demands." I told her as she looked at me with a snarl. "Leave...my...home," she growled. Pippin took a step forward. "You expect us to believe this is your home, spy!" He called out. The changeling looked at him confusedly. "Spy? I am no spy, this is my home, and I want you to leave." She told us. I glared at her and pointed my own blade. "Liar, you just tried to kill me!" I yelled "You are trespassing on my land and taking my wood, this is a threat to my home." I took note of how strange her accent was compared to the other changelings. "I don't think she is a spy." I blurted out. Pippin didn't take his eyes off of her. "What in Celestia makes ya think that?" He questioned. "Her accent, none of the changelings we have heard talk like this." I put my sword back into the bag and took a step forward. The changeling faced me with her own blade. "Not another step!" She told me as Pippin rushed her. She didn't get the chance to defend herself as he knocked the weapon out of her magic and pinned her to the ground. "Let me go!" She cried out, squirming beneath Pippin's hooves. "Eenope, Ah can't do that, you attacked us and we still don't know if you are a spy, so you'll be comin' back with us." Pippin told her as I levitated a rope out of his bag and gave it to him. He was quick and observant as he hog tied the changeling mare and put her on his back. "Ah'd reckon that was record timing Duskshine." He told me. "Yeah, I think we got enough wood and as a bonus, a prisoner, so let's head back to camp." Pippin nodded as the changeling snorted. She had stopped trying to squirm and although angry, never tried to fight us. I took note that like Gaster, she had a light green mane. Did all female changelings have manes? Author's Note Sorry for the long wait, this was supposed to be released before Thanksgiving, but it didn't work out that way, otherwise I hope you enjoyed the chapter this is Silvermoon signing off...PEACE OUT
The Singing Waves"We should get rid of it, it's a spy, we can't let it go and we are definitely not bringing it with us." Blackheart told us as we sat around the tied up changeling. "The changeling is a she, and we don't know anything about her yet, Blackheart. I thought you knew better than to assume she is a threat." Fluttershy intervened. Blackheart turned his gaze to Fluttershy and snarled. "It's a changeling, you can never-" "Trust a changeling, have you forgotten what Starlight did?" Fluttershy cut him off with her own glare. "That's different, it hasn't changed like Thorax and the others." He pointed out to her. "Thorax?" Silvermelody questioned. "Yes, Thorax, the king of the changelings." Fluttershy stated. "Ah thought all changelings was bad?" Pippin chipped in with his own question. "At one point yes, but long before you were born, Starlight had helped to redeem most of the changelings. Of course, Chrysalis was not keen on this new idea along with some of her followers. They ran off leaving Thorax, the changeling who thought of a better way to keep the changelings fed, king. In response to this new way of life, their bodies changed from a black shell, to a colorful creature." Blackheart explained. The changeling never spoke once, only glaring at Blackheart silently. He glared back, and his horn lit up. "Don't even think about it." Pippin said stepping in between Blackheart and the changeling. I stared at my friend in amazement as he squared up to Blackheart. "She could've killed Dusk and Ah earlier, and if what she says is true, then we were in her territory when she attacked us. Ah say we bring her along until we find mah Ma, then she can tell if the changeling is lyin'." He told Blackheart who smirked. "Fine, but if she tries to attack any of us, her head will be off her body in a flash, and if she does manage to harm one of us, you are responsible." Blackheart seemed to have the same thought that I did. Pippin's mom was the Element of Honesty, which meant she could tell a lie from the truth. Pippin was being smart about it, while still being suspicious of the bug-like creature. Pippin turned towards the changeling. "As for you, don't think we're friends just because Ah saved you." The changeling smirked. "Wouldn't dream of it." She replied. Pippin snorted and turned away heading off to pick up his bag of sticks. I trotted up to him quickly, wanting to talk to him about his choice. "Why did you stop Blackheart? I mean she is a changeling, and not a good one at that." I asked him as he heaved his bag onto his back. "Y'all know Ah don't like violence, not only that, but she's defenseless. There's not much she could do if she wanted to and even if she did, Ah highly doubt she would." He told me as we walked back towards the fire pit. The changeling had rolled away from it as to not get too hot and Blackheart was about to start the fire. I sat down next to Silvermelody who was observing Blackheart as Pippin trotted past us and dropped the bag next to Blackheart. He then trotted to the opposite side of Silvermelody and I and sat down, not caring to even watch Blackheart start the fire. I turned my attention to Fluttershy who brought a canteen to the changeling. "Here, you look thirsty." She told the changeling, holding out the canteen to her. The changeling fidgeted around until she sit up and open her mouth as Fluttershy poured the clear liquid into her mouth. "Thank you." The changeling said before laying back down. Fluttershy smiled. "No problem, do you have a name?" She asked as she put the canteen down next to her. "Gena." The changeling replied before turning away, not wanting to continue the conversation. Fluttershy took the hint and walked towards us, sitting next to Silvermelody comfortably and placing a wing around her. Silvermelody shifted closer to her mother as I scooted away to give them space. "Sil sure is lucky to have Fluttershy as her mom, huh." A voice said behind me causing me to turn around. "Yeah, what of it?" I questioned him as he sat down next to me. "Something tells me that our moms will react differently to seeing us than her's." He answered. "What do you mean?" I arched a brow. "Well my mom was never a hugger to begin with, only really showing affection when I got hurt or did something impressive, although she did have her moments." He said with a proud smile. Being the oldest of all of us, he remembered his mom and how she acted. "Yeah?" Blueblitz nodded as Blackheart finally got the fire going. "I doubt she will even shed a tear to see me. She's too cool for that, but I can expect her to smile and say she is proud of me for finding her." He continued. "What about your mom, what'll you think she will do when we get to her?" He asked me. I shrugged. "Honestly I don't know. My dad always talked about how she was invested in her books and magic, but always found some way to spend time with us. Almost like she had always scheduled a time for us, even when she was busy with other things. I guess all I can hope for is a hug from her." I told him. Truth be told, I didn't even think about what she would do or what I would do. I was just ready to find her and end all of this so we could be a family again, but I had a feeling that wasn't going to be the case, as war is war and it lasts a long time. ................................................................. "That's it, keep it up!" I ducked underneath Blackheart's sword as he yelled. I brought my own blade up and felt it collide with his as I rushed forward with my own attacks. He moved quickly and blocked my attacks before partying and driving his left shoulder into my chest. I gasped for air as I staggered and struggled to block his next attack, which was his blade coming down towards me. I fell backwards and used the momentum to roll away long enough to regain my balance. Blackheart charged forward causing me to go into the defensive once more as his swings became blurs of speed. I was forced to dodge around his blade, only blocking when necessary, up until he caught my blade with his own and sent it flying out of my magic. "You are disarmed, your opponent isn't keen on surrender, so...what are you going to do?" I ducked as the blade swung where my neck would have been. "You aren't going to have time to think, kid!" I strafed as he swung his sword downward, giving me a chance to retaliate. I copied his earlier movement and shoved my right shoulder into his chest, staggering him. I gripped his sword in my magic and ripped it free from his before pointing the tip of the blade at him. "Smart move, but you should really pay attention." Blackheart glanced upward. I looked up and went to dodge away from my own blade coming down onto me but found Blackheart's hoof around neck, holding me in place. I felt cold steel on my back as the sword touched it. "You...are dead." He said as he put the sword on the ground and took his sword from my magic. "That wasn't fair, your magic has a further reach than mine." I told him as I picked up my sword. "Do you think the enemy will care, you will both be in a life or death situation, therefore you need to strike instead of showing that you stole their sword. You did surprise me though with that shoulder of yours. Now come on, we've gotta finish this trip or else Ponyville will be destroyed before we get back." Blackheart said as he disappeared into the trees. I followed him as quickly as I could, already sore from the training, but not as sore as the first day of training. I was getting better and although still gasping for air, I wasn't nearly as tired as last time. A day had passed since we had captured the changeling, and I could smell the salt water from where we had camped last night. The only change we had made was our training. Blackheart had decided that since we now had a prisoner that the training needed to be done separately and away from the eyes of Gena, who now was just tied up by her neck with rope and a ring around her horn that wouldn't let her use magic. She didn't seem to mind it much and never tried to escape, only making small talk with Fluttershy and glaring at Blackheart every now and then. We arrived back at camp, which was already packed up and ready to be moved. Blackheart chuckled at the sight of my friends and Fluttershy all eagerly ready to go. "That was quick, did you have them clean up Fluttershy?" Fluttershy nodded. "Yes, although it didn't take much convincing since they knew that we are in a hurry." She said as she held out Blackheart's saddlebags. He took them and placed them on his back as I took my bags from Silvermelody. "Thanks." I told her as I slid my sword into the bag. "No problem, I thought you would be exhausted from training so I did my best to help." She told me as she walked away to stand beside her mother. I smiled and turned to face Blackheart who was talking to Blueblitz. "I need you to fly ahead and tell me if you see a boat on the dock that's there, alright. If there isn't then we will have to make a detour, but try not to get distracted by anything, ok." Blueblitz saluted and flew off, going faster than a normal pegasus and almost leaving a blue trail behind him. Blackheart turned to face us and glanced at us individually. "This next part of the trip is going to be a rough one as we will be on water for at least a day. During that time I'm going to need all of you to listen to me so none of us drown or get hurt. The boat that is up ahead is large enough to fit twenty ponies on it and only needs five to keep it on track, I will be our navigator and take the wheel. Blueblitz, Silvermelody, and Fluttershy will direct the sails, and Duskshine will keep an eye out for anything that could damage the boat along with Neo. Finally, Pippin and Emeraldlight will be in charge of our prisoner. Is that all understood?" Blackheart told us as Blueblitz could be seen in the distance. We all agreed and started our trek to the boat, which thanks to Blueblitz, was intact and ready to sail. "One more thing, do not let the waves convince you to do anything, they were enchanted several millennia ago to get rid of pirates and ponies that were known to have ill intentions to the shores of Equestria, thus their name, The Singing Waves." He finished his explanation as we continued on our path to the Dragon Lands. ....................................................... The boat itself was pretty large, holding one giant white sail in the center with a platform for the steering wheel on the back. It looked like a small pirate ship except the quarters held beds rather than cannons. "This ship was used as a way of transportation for non flying creatures to cross the ocean into Equestria some time ago, but after the invention of a airships, it was forgotten about and left here. So I made it my own, a discreet way to get to the other side of the world to find things." Blackheart told me as I took a drink out of my canteen. "That's cool, but why would you ever need to leave Equestria?" I asked, sitting on one of the bed. "That's classified information." He told me before leaving me alone in the quarters. He really was a strange pony. I decided to go back to the deck not too long after Blackheart did and was met by Neo's excited expression. "I can't believe we get to sail on the sea like pirates!" She told me in astonishment. "Yeah it's crazy to think that we are having to go all over Equestria to find our mothers." I told her with a smile. "I know! It's so crazy to think about, I mean I never had a chance to meet my mom, but dad told me she was even more famous than he was as a party pony!" It always surprised me with how much energy she had in her, especially since she never got to meet her mom, but maybe that was why she had so much energy. After all, maybe not knowing someone never effected how you would feel if they were gone, that or she was just always so positive that it never got to her. Her dad always looked happy, even though he had bags underneath his eyes from staying up late with her. "Poor Cheese, he never got any sleep with you, did he?" Neo shook her head. "Nope! But I make it up to him by always being happy and acting like mom!" My jaw dropped, did she just say what I think she just said. "Wait, take a step back for a sec Neo, are you saying your dad was always happy because you acted like Pinkie Pie?" Neo stopped bouncing. "Yeah, he used to cry a lot, but ever since I got my cutiemark, I never saw another tear or frown!" I glanced at her cutiemark, a purple balloon with a yellow smiley face inside of it. "It made me realize that as long as there is good around me, why be sad!" She started bouncing excitedly again. It still was interesting to know that Cheese Sandwich could hide a frown with a smile, that isn't good for the brain, but some ponies have a way to cope with things, Neo was his way of coping with Pinkie Pie's hiding. "Anyways, we should start looking out for obstacles don't you think." Neo nodded and sped to one side of the ship and looked around. I went to the opposite side and looked around, nothing but waves. We had set sail not too long after we got on the boat, and I could no longer see the shore. "Is there a possibility that we...could not rock...so much?" I turned to see a green faced Emeraldlight, he was sea sick. "I doubt it Em, the water kind of does it's own thing." I told him as I peered over the edge, checking for anything that could damage the ship. "Oh...wonderful." Emeraldlight replied before looking over the edge of the boat. I looked away as he let his food and whatever was in his stomach out into the sea. "Gross." Blueblitz chipped in as he held the sail in place with his hooves. "Hey Blackheart, I have a question for you!" Blueblitz called back to the pony at the wheel. "And depending on the question I may have an answer." Blackheart called back. "How did you move this boat by yourself when it needs five ponies to maneuver the thing?" Blue asked. "Well, considering the fact that it took me more than six days to get to the Dragon Lands by myself, I had to work in shifts. One hour I would use magic to hold the sail in place while I steered, the next I was checking for damage and looking at the map, depending on the tide and if I took any damage, my trip would vary from three to six days. Now with all of your help we will be there by tomorrow." Blackheart told him as I stared into the water. "I don't think I will get any sleep, tonight." Emeraldlight mentioned. "None of you will, the singing is much stronger at night and if you sleep, you will most likely end up overboard," Blackheart told us as he held the wheel steady. "but I might let you nap, in the next couple of hours when we have passed the worst of it." I heard Blueblitz groan in annoyance. I looked at Blackheart as he glared at the pegasus. "Just keep doing what you are doing, and see what happens when we take a break." He warned him. I turned back to the water in front of me when a pony stepped beside me. "How are you doing, Duskshine?" Fluttershy asked. "I'm fine, Fluttershy, just doing what I can to help find everypony." I answered as I kept my eyes on the waves ahead. She chuckled. "You sound like Twilight, always caring for the others over herself." Fluttershy told me. "What do you mean?" I asked facing the older mare. She just smiled and moved a pink strand of hair out of her face. "She was more or less our leader, anytime we had to face some kind of villain she would take charge and have a plan ready. When we had faced Tirek for the first time she even gave up her magic to save us." Fluttershy said. "She was the Princess of Friendship after all, so that doesn't surprise me, but why would any of you decide to leave us. You faked your deaths, that doesn't sound like something the Elements of Harmony would do." I told her. She looked towards the sea for a moment before looking at me. "We aren't just the Elements of Harmony, Duskshine, we are the heroes of Equestria, yes we are the embodiment of the Elements, but being a hero is so much more than saving ponies," her smile faded. "you need to make sacrifices to make sure everypony stays safe, to keep the ones you love safe. We didn't want to leave but we needed to leave to protect you." She glanced at Blackheart. "No matter what anypony thinks." "Mom, my wings are getting tired can you take over for a bit?" I heard Silvermelody call out. "You better go tend to Silvermelody, before she falls off the ship." I told Fluttershy. She smiled and flew away to take Silvermelody's place. _____________________***_____________________ Our journey across the ocean had become rather quiet over the course of day, leaving many of us to our thoughts, Blackheart and Fluttershy talked a lot, but mainly about plans for the future. Silvermelody would come talk to me whenever her mother had taken over while Neo talked to herself most of the time. Emeraldlight would talk to Pippin every now and then but would take a lot of small breaks leaving Pippin alone with the Changeling. They did eventually break the ice with each other, just talking about their lives mainly, but I could still see the unease on Pippin's face. The water was rather calm though, even though the moon was in the sky. The wind itself had died down enough for sail to not have to he directed by hoof, letting the pegasi rest. "Alright everypony," Blackheart called to us. "let's eat!" He finished as he approached the door to the lower decks. "But who is going to watch for everything up here?" Emeraldlight asked. Blackheart pointed at the wheel where a small transparent blue bird stood. "I am." He opened the door and let Fluttershy in before entering himself, we all followed him down to the next deck where a table sat. "Where did you learn that spell?" I asked as I pulled a sandwich from my bag. "An old mentor of mine, it's an advanced spell, your mother will probably teach it to you at some point when we find her." He told me. "Why can't you teach me?" I asked him as he sat down. "Because I'm not a magic teacher, kid. Your mother will probably find enjoyment in teaching you some new spells, anyways." He finished. "He's not wrong, Twilight had mentioned being a teacher a few times, especially when you were born." Fluttershy told me before biting into her own lunch. "Yeah, I guess, but, you were taught the spell, right, Blackheart? So you could still teach me it, for combat purposes?" I added on that last part in hopes of persuading the stallion. "It's not a spell that I'm willing to teach you, I barely use it as is for...personal reasons, so it's a no." Blackheart said, taking another bite of his sandwich. "Fine..." I replied, upset with my failure. "You already know millions of advanced spells, Duskshine, why is this one so important?" Emeraldlight asked hovering his sandwich in front of him. I watched him dab his muzzle with a handkerchief before replying. "Well it's always good to learn something new, it keeps the gears in the brain turning." I explained with a smile. Emeraldlight nodded in understanding, probably not fully getting it, but he tried. "Speaking of learning, when are Sil and I gonna do our aerial combat training?" Blueblitz said, stretching his wings. "Whenever our food settles, since Blackheart doesn't have wings, and Rainbow Dash isn't here, I will be instructing you." Fluttershy said after finishing her lunch. "How can you instruct us whenever you have never used my blades?" Blueblitz challenged Fluttershy. "And you think I have?" Blackheart mentioned. "Fluttershy is an experienced pegasus who was trained by your mother how to use those blades, just in case the enemy got too close. You'd be wise to not underestimate her." He finished. Blueblitz snickered, "We'll see about that." Fluttershy remained silent. "Mom, are you ok?" Silvermelody asked putting a hoof on her mom's shoulder. Fluttershy jumped slightly. "Oh, um yes, I'm just not a violent pony, and don't fight unless I am forced to, which is why I am only instructing you." She told her daughter and Blueblitz. Blueblitz just shrugged and muttered something under his breath. "What was that, Blitz?" Silvermelody questioned. "Wanna say that a bit louder so I can hear you?" She glared at the stallion. "I like this challenging attitude you two both have, don't forget to use it later." Blackheart told the two of them. "Hey, where's Pippin by the way?" Neo asked randomly. "He's eating with the changeling, keeping an eye on her, so she doesn't try anything." Blackheart told her as he stood up. "And to make sure she doesn't go overboard if she succumbs to the waves." Fluttershy added, standing up as well. "When you are done head back to your posts, we will rest when it is time for the two of you to train." He looked at the two young pegasi. "Yes, sir!" We all said in unison before heading back to the top deck of the boat. _______________________________________________ "You don't talk much, do you?" Gina asked me as I took a bite of my sandwich. I did my best to ignore her and enjoy my food. "I'll take that as a yes." I heard her shackles budge slightly as she rubbed her chin. "So where are we heading exactly?" She broke the silence once more. "None of your business." I told her. She didn't speak much unless it was a question. I gave her the same answer everytime, hoping that she would eventually get the picture. That wasn't the case. "You know for a pony that spared me, you sure are rude. Did you spare me to torture me with silence?" Now that was a good thing to think about. Why did I spare her? "Ah dunno, I just didn't think you was worth killin'." I answered nonchalantly. "Well, thank you for that, although this boredom might just kill me. At least that Emeraldlight would talk to me." She told me. "He's just a generous pony, an' he doesn't know when to keep quiet sometimes." I explained. "So he must be Rarity's son." I stood up and glared at her. "What, just because I isolated myself doesn't mean I don't know who The Elements of Harmony are. Not only that, but with the Element of Kindness here, I just put two and two together." She explained. "Don't get mad at me because I outsmarted you, that's your own fault for revealing that information to me." I turned and pulled my hammer from bag, clasping the band around my hoof. "What are you gonna do, kill me? I'd love to see you try, but if you must, go right on ahead. I'm a spy remember?" I stopped. "Why are you trying to kill yourself?" I asked, returning the hammer to my bag on the floor. "I don't know what you're talking about, I must do what I can for the truth queen of the changelings." She continued on. I smirked and kept my back turned. "Who is?" I questioned her. This was a lie detecting trick my pa had taught me. You lead the pony on and then catch them in their bluff, if they didn't know a certain piece of information, they were lying. "Queen...queen Crystaline of course." She lied. "Ya mean Chrysalis? Yeah Ah'm not falling for it," I faced her. "why are you trying to kill yourself? An' answer honestly." Gina sighed and looked down. "I'm nopony, why else. My home was wiped out by that pony with the black fur and some other ponies several years ago when I was a hatchling. We were a peaceful hive who wanted to stay out of this hidden war between changelings and ponies, but we were considered a threat, so they killed them. After that I tried to join another hive, but they were so violent that I couldn't survive there." She said as she looked at me. "So, I isolated myself from the world, only picking up snippets of what was happening and feeding off of small amounts of love to survive. I'm dying from starvation, so it's not like I'm going to live much longer anyways." She finished. I felt guilt wash over me and then anger. Blackheart had destroyed this creature's home in hopes of ending some war. I looked at Gina for a moment and then packed up my food and grabbed my hammer. "Ah think it's time Blackheart explained his past," I clasped the band around my hoof and walked over to the changeling. "but first," I raised my hammer over my head and watched the changeling accept her fate. "Ah gotta get ya outta these shackles." I slammed the hammer down onto the chain, breaking them and letting the changeling free. She looked at me in astonishment. "You're letting me go?" I nodded and turned towards the door. "You can leave, Ah'll distract Blackheart in the mean time. Now get." I told her before leaving her alone, my hammer floating in front of me. She could've been lying to me, but I just had a feeling that I could trust her. Hopefully it wasn't some sort of changeling magic. "Blackheart!" I slammed open the door to the outside as yelled. "You've got some explainin' to do!" The black stallion walked down a set of stairs and looked at me. "Why aren't you guarding the changeling?" He asked. I watched his horn glow slightly as I took a few steps forward. "Ah let her go after hearing a mighty fine revelation about you." I pointed my hammer at him. "You did what!" Blueblitz yelled from above me. "Blackheart has been hidin' somethin' from us, he's a murderer!" I kept my hammer pointed at the stallion who just stood there calmly. I watched my friends gather around us as I spoke. "He and several other soldiers killed a peaceful hive of changelings, ones that thrived on helping ponies!" Blackheart laughed at this statement. "Is...is that what she told you, and you trusted her, a changeling!" He laughed for a few more seconds as everypony remained silent. "She's told me more about herself, than you have ever mentioned to us, killer." I hissed. Blackheart seized his laughing and glared at me. "So now I'm a killer, you remind me of Applejack even more, but then again she's the Element of Honesty, so she could see right through my lies. Even so, that was all in the past when we were at war. I was given orders just like other soldiers, the difference was we didn't take any prisoners, as it was more merciful to kill them." He told me, his horn still glowing. "You actually did kill them." Duskshine said, his eyes widening. "I was following orders, kid, nothing more, nothing less." He looked at Duskshine as he spoke. "You showed no sympathy towards them either, just killed them on the spot." Silvermelody started before putting a hoof to her muzzle. "What about the foals? What did you do to them?" She finished as her eyes started to water. Blackheart opened his mouth to speak, but instead looked down. "Murderer!" Emeraldlight said, pulling his weapon out of his bag. Blackheart's horn stopped glowing and he sighed. "You're no better than the changelings that tried to kill us..." Duskshine told him. "I was given my orders, in all honesty I couldn't ever bring myself to kill the foals, it's part of the reason why I have a black heart." Blackheart told us. "But that doesn't change anything! You still killed a peaceful hive, so if you let them live they would have just died out in the wild anyways. You're a-" "Monster?" Blackheart finished Blueblitz sentence. "You aren't the first one kid, trust me on that one, but it was my kind heart that made me one in the first place." He looked at me for a moment. "That look on your face isn't the first time I've seen it, and it won't be the last. I am a monster, but not the kind you-" he jumped towards me. "-cross!" I looked up to see Gina trying to fly away. "No!" I jumped into the air as a bright light flashed from chest. Author's Note It was extremely difficult trying to come up with something for the chapter, I had the beginning and end of it, but not the middle so I spent a lot of time trying to figure something out and decided upon this. Oh and I decided that if I'm gonna reveal the cutiemarks of the characters than it would make more sense to do that later as they have been friends and Duskshine doesn't want to look at his friends flanks all the time, otherwise I hope you enjoyed the chapter.
Trusting the TruthI blinked several times as the blinding light faded away. An orange, apple shaped shield with a silver triquetra now hovered where the light had once been. "What...what just happened?" I turned to see Silvermelody shaking her head. "I...I don't know, there was just a bright flash of light and that shield appeared. Where did Blackheart and Pippin go?" I asked and looked around for a moment until I caught sight of Blackheart holding his shoulder with a hoof. Pippin was on the opposite side of him, glaring at the black stallion. I turned my attention back to the shield that still hovered in the air. "Is that a Charm?" I asked Blackheart who remained silent, his teeth bared back in a snarl. The shield then lowered itself in between Pippin and Blackheart, intent on keeping the stallion safe. "Blackheart?" The stallion brought his blades to his side and pointed a hoof at Pippin. "Pippin, I am only going to ask once, get out of the way, please?" Pippin didn't budge, he just stared at the Blackheart with a defensive fire in his eyes. "Pippin, get out of the way, I don't want to hurt you." Blackheart tried again, this time taking a step forward. I looked at Gina, who was just hovering above Pippin. Why hasn't she left yet, this would all end if she just left. I thought as Blackheart took another step forward. "I'm done asking, Pippin, move...now." Blackheart growled. Pippin put one hoof on the shield and braced his shoulders. "Gina, Ah think you should go, before this gets any further." He told the changeling mare behind him. Silvermelody went to stop the fight, but I grabbed her tail with my magic. "Don't, if things get ugly," I swallowed and prayed that things didn't. "we may need your help taking Blackheart down." I whispered as Neo appeared next to me. "But we need Pippin too, don't we?" She asked, her eyes filled with concern. "Well, let's hope Gina decides to repay Pippin by helping us." I told her as Blueblitz glided over. Blackheart shifted his eyes over when he saw the movement, but returned his focus to Pippin, who was clearly sweating. "Pippin, this is your final warning, step aside, now." Pippin held his ground. "No, Ah'm tired of you bossin' me and mah friends around, especially since Ah have no reason to trust you." Blackheart chuckled slightly. "Says the one protecting a changeling." Blackheart taunted him with a newfound smirk. "You talk about trust as if you own it, yet you released a prisoner without talking to everypony else. We could have held a vote, but instead you took matters into your own hooves." Blackheart took another step forward. "I understand not trusting me, but your friends, the ponies you grew up with were left in the dark as well." We all looked at each other with concern. "He's right." Blueblitz stated. "What he did was wrong guys. Think about it, he trusted her willingly without even trying to talk to us about it." I glared at Blueblitz. "What? You're siding with him?" Emeraldlight questioned, his eyes on Blueblitz now. "What in Celestia is a matter with you? He's our friend." "But are we his friends? He doesn't even trust us enough to side with him, when we would have come to him first if it was the other way around." Blueblitz argued back. "That's enough." Silvermelody cut in. "In some weird way, I understand why Pippin did it. It was reckless, but would we have voted with him? I know I wouldn't have considering all the stories, Dusk's father used to tell us. "You'd be right to side with your friend there, Pippin, changelings are not our friends, they feed off our love for each other and use it against us." Pippin looked back at Gina for a moment as she landed behind him. "That was Queen Chrysalis' view of it, not my mother's." She told the stallion. "Your mother? What are you talking about?" Blackheart asked. "My hive was not apart of Chrysalis' army, nor did we care to join her, and yet you still killed her in cold blood. I still remember her pleading for mercy as your general stood over her." Blackheart lowered his guard. "Now I see, you're the princess out for revenge." Pippin kept his guard up as Gina stepped in front of him. This is just getting worse. "We were peaceful, we let all of you into our hive to learn about us, and you...you betrayed our trust...and one pony always stood out to me, the one who defeated my mother. You the Pony of Shadows killed her!" Gina yelled, tears now sliding down her cheeks. "So this is why you freed her, Pippin, because she told you a story about me." "It's not a story Blackheart, you forget who mah mother was, and just like her, Ah can tell when a pony is tellin' the truth." Pippin stood proud as he spoke of his mother. I couldn't help but smirk at his confidence. "Oh no, I haven't forgotten, but I can see that this changeling didn't tell you the full truth." Blackheart remained in his relaxed state and sat down. "Ah don't need the full story, all Ah needed, was to know what you've been hidin' and thanks to her, Ah now know what, you monster." "He isn't a monster," a soft, but loud voice said above us. Fluttershy glided down until she landed in between Pippin and Blackheart. "What he is, is a weapon of a war long over." She told Pippin and the rest of us. "Thank you-" Fluttershy cut him off by holding up a wing. "Don't thank me, really." Blackheart opened his mouth to argue, but Fluttershy glared back at him. "You are just as guilty as them for losing control." "Hold on mom, you are actually defending him?" Silvermelody asked. Fluttershy looked at Blackheart and then at her daughter. "He may not look like it, but he's not a villain, even now what he is doing is his job, protecting all of you. The war he was apart of is in the past, and I have and still believed he was more of a hero than a villain." She explained her reasons calmly almost as if she had done this before. "I won't defend his recent actions, but if you let him explain I'm sure he would-" "No, those events are something I am willing to talk about, it already backfired once." Blackheart stood up and walked away. "So I am not telling them anything, especially with one of them around." He walked into the captain's quarters not too long after he spoke. Fluttershy sighed and sat down. Pippin finally relaxed and looked at Gina with a smile of relief as he sat down as well. Gina sat down next to him as we moved closer to hear Fluttershy. The shield hovered for a few more seconds before disappearing, now that there wasn't any danger around. Gina wiped the tears from her eyes as we finally sat down in front of Fluttershy. "I can't give you the full details, since I only found out about it before we...um...left, but I can at least tell you some things about it." Fluttershy told us in advance. "Has any of you heard of the Canterlot Wedding?" Blueblitz sat up straighter. "What makes you think we haven't, it's one of the best stories we were told about our moms!" He said excitedly, a sparkle in his eyes. Fluttershy smiled warmly. "That's good, well this war happened after that, but not too long after it." Fluttershy started. "It all started with a threatening letter sent to Princess Celestia and Luna by Queen Chrysalis. At the time the only information they had was from their niece, Princess Cadence, who had mentioned that it was possibly the changelings. After finding out about the changelings, it was revealed that Queen Chrysalis was the one behind everything." I looked at her. "Wait, my aunt is the cause of this?" I asked her. Fluttershy shook her head. "Oh no, in fact if it wasn't for her and your mother, Queen Chrysalis may have taken over Equestria." She reassured me. "But when we found out that Cadence had been replaced by Chrysalis, the Canterlot Wedding had already started and a huge battle broke out. We did win in the end, but Luna took this as a declaration of war between our races. With Celestia's approval, she created a secret army, as to not worry anypony, and Blackheart was apart of this army along with Flash Sentry." "That explains how your dad knows him, Dusk." Silvermelody told me. Fluttershy nodded and her smile faded. "Yes, in fact they were once really good friends, but something happened during that war that changed Blackheart from who he once was to what he is now." "Wait, Blackheart used to not be, Blackheart?" I asked, confused. "Yep, Blackheart didn't look like he does now and went by a different name. Not that we ever saw that him, I didn't meet him until after the war. This war changed him for the worse though, I do know that. He has a hatred for changelings that can cause him to...lose control." "Like PTSD?" Gina questioned. Fluttershy shook her head. "No, if it was that, he wouldn't be fighting them still, but it doesn't help that some changelings remember him from the war, and know who he is and was. I guess all in all his distrust of changelings brings back painful memories." so that's why those the changelings from the forest were those ponies, but i didn't recognize one of them, so who was that? "Speaking of which, when we were attacked by some of them, there was one pony I didn't recognize." I asked her. "Do you maybe know who they are?" Fluttershy looked at me. "That's not a question I can answer. I don't know as much about him as some of the others do, so maybe you can ask them. Actually now that I think about it, he and your mother-" "No need to go that far, Fluttershy. They don't need my whole life story." Blackheart told her as he reappeared. "Sorry, but you wouldn't tell them, so I thought I would tell them what I knew." Blackheart sighed. "That war isn't something to just be talked about, Fluttershy, it was supposed to remain a secret for a reason, and even though I have my problems with the princesses, that was a good choice for them to make." He said, walking over. Gina stood up and glared at him. "That doesn't change that it happened." Blackheart sat down. "Relax kid, I'm not here to fight, if anything, I'm here to put some more light into what had happened, even though I don't want to." He told her. Gina sat back down, but kept her eyes on Blackheart. "The war lasted for about two years, there was casualties left and right on both sides, and eventually we started to win. It would be two months before the war ended that I would become-" he gestured to his black fur and mane, "-this. Your hive was the second to last hive to be destroyed. Since it was considered an ally, and we had planned to leave it alone. But...we then discovered something that would change that." He started to stare off as if he was there and began to shake. "The Queen had plans to invite us to a victory party, only it was actually a trap. So, we took it upon ourselves to destroy what was left." He looked down and sighed before looking at all of us. "My mother would never-" "I know! I know. Once the war was over the General got a little tipsy and revealed that he had set it up, because he hated them for killing off his soldiers. He even got me to side with him at the time. Never have I felt so stupid before. "Why, why would you side with a liar, a pony who mercilessly killed my mother...my family-" "Because of what your kind did to me." Blackheart cut her off calmly. His expression hadn't changed a bit. "What did they do to you?" Fluttershy asked, reaching out a hoof. She pulled it back when Blackheart stood back up and shook his head. "That's none of your concern..." he shifted his eyes around for a second. "...I mean, it's not something I am willing to talk about, not right now anyways." He said before heading up to the steering wheel and leaving us somewhat alone. "Now what were you saying about him and my mom?" I asked Fluttershy who in return smiled "Let's just say they were close." She told me as she stood up. "But I think that's enough stories for today, so I think I'm going to go get some rest, but please, no more fighting amongst yourselves." She told us before yawning. "As if, we have some training-" Fluttershy glared at Blueblitz, cutting him off. She then smiled and walked down the stairs to the lower decks. Blueblitz looked at Silvermelody. "I always thought you got your anger from your dad, but your mom is...scary." "It's always the quiet ones." I mentioned before looking at Gina. She was quiet and was looking at Pippin. "You alright?" I asked. "Huh?" She shook her head and looked at me. "Yeah...I'm alright, just confused is all." "How so?" I questioned sitting back down in front of her. "Your friend, um...Pippin, he seems exhausted even though he barely jumped." I looked at Pippin who was walking slower than usual to one side of the boat. "Oh yeah, he summoned his Charm for the first time, so he should be pretty tired, especially since he held it out as long as he did." Gina sighed in relief. "Well, that's good, I didn't know if I had accidentally fed off of him or anything." "You can't control it?" I asked, scooting away alittle. "I can, but if my own emotions take control I lose that focus I need to control it." She explained it with a few hoof gestures. "My dad did tell me that love is not only a changeling's strength, but their weakness as well." "How do you know that when you didn't know what they were in the Everfree?" Neo asked behind me, scaring me. "Well...I had read about them, I just never knew what they actually looked like." I told her. Neo smiled. "Okeydokey." She then started to climb up the ladder to the lookout. I turned my attention back to Gina who had gotten back on to her hooves. "I think I'm gonna head back to my cell, I don't want to step on any more hooves." She told me and trotted off. The rest of the day was spent on us doing our ship duties, mainly staying on track and looking for objects in the water that could sink us. It went by rather quickly, the sun was now beginning to set and my eyes were just starting to hurt from looking around too much. Fluttershy was now standing next to Blackheart, discussing something unimportant with him. Silvermelody was chewing on a sandwich while Neo was talking to her and Blueblitz was fixing the sails. Pippin had disappeared not to long ago to the lower decks and Emeraldlight was looking at himself in the water. Gina had not come back from her cell so I assumed she was sleeping. "Hey, Duskshine, do me a favor and go check on Pippin, I don't want him any where near the changeling." Blackheart called down from the wheel. I sighed. "Will do!" I sighed and made my way to the lower decks to see if Pippin was in bed. Which he wasn't. "Uh oh, Pippin please don't be where I think you are." I walked down the next flight of stairs that led to the dungeon and froze at what I saw. Gina was standing outside of her cell, her mouth was open with a pink aura going into it. The aura was being taken from Pippin who had his eyes closed and was glowing. I felt anger surge through me and let it go to my horn. "Get...away from...him!" I growled as I felt the power grow on my horn. Pippin opened his eyes quickly and turned towards me, his eyes widening. "Dusk, wait!" I glared at the two of them. Gina had stopped feeding and had backed up into the cell, her eyes filled with fear. "Why should I, she was taking advantage of you resting!" I yelled. "Blackheart was right, these creatures are monsters!" Pippin took a step in front of me and his shield reappeared. "She wasn't takin' advantage of me, Ah let her feed on me." He told me calmly. "Your brainwashed, no pony would ever let a changeling feed off of them, now step aside, so I can blast her to bits." "You know Ah can't do that. Listen Dusk, I willingly let her feed off of me, she needs it to survive." "Then how has she survived on her own all this time?" "I...I ate chocolate and other food items made by ponies, but those only work for so long...I needed love from the source, so when he offered...I took it, I was almost done too. I didn't want to hurt him so I only took a small portion, I swear." I looked at the changeling, she was shaking and didn't show any signs of hurting Pippin, but that didn't matter. "She's tellin' the truth, Dusk, and you know how Ah am. Trust me, she only needs a little more." Pippin tried to convince me. "Come on Dusk, you know me." "Dusk, calm down, do you forget where we are." Silvermelody said behind me. "If you let a blast that big off, this ship will be under the water in seconds." "Thank you, Silvermelody, I-" "Don't mention it, you'll have some time to explain later, for now, back away from Gina and I will handle Duskshine." She told him as she approached me. Pippin shook his head. "Not 'til he backs off, Ah don't want Gina's blood on my hooves." Silvermelody sighed and came into view, blocking my sight. "Dusk, I'm going to ask you one time, please let them go." I looked into her eyes and saw something I had never seen in them, fear. Is she scared of me? I thought as I let my guard down, my anger slowly fading away. "You definitely have your mother's temper, that's for sure." Blackheart said behind me. I turned to face him, his horn was glowing bright. "As for you, Pippin," Blackheart looked away from me. "you come with me, now." He told the stallion, firmly. I turned my attention back to Silvermelody whose eyes now looked more calm than before. "Have you calmed down?" I sighed and nodded. "Good, now let's head back up top and get you some air." She smiled reassuringly at me and grabbed my foreleg. She then pulled me out of the room and back up to the main deck. "Dusk are you alright, you look sick?" Emeraldlight came over to me and put a hoof on my forehead. "You're not running a fever, are you seasick? No that wouldn't make sense." "He just saw something he didn't want to Em, now can you back up a little, he needs some air." Silvermelody answered for me. Emeraldlight nodded in confusion and left, leaving Silvermelody and I alone for a minute. "I...I don't know what came over me Sil, I just-" "Wanted to protect Pip, I know. I honestly would have done the same, but right now...right now you need to let Blackheart and my mom handle this." She told me. "And please try not to get angry again, you looked pretty scary back there." She chuckled. "Why are you laughing, I could've seriously hurt some pony." Silvermelody glanced at me. "You don't get to see it often, but I laugh when something scary happens, I don't know where I get it from, but I tend to laugh at it." "Yeah, I think you're just a little too crazy sometimes, I mean you did stand in front of an angry unicorn." I laughed and she hit me with her hoof. "Hey, don't push it, buddy, you still could've hurt me and then I would have been really mad at you." She glared at me. I smiled back in return. "Oh come on, what makes you think I would hurt you, you're basically my best friend." She rolled her eyes and smirked. "Yeah, well let's keep it that way." She told me. "I hope Pippin's alright." I brought up as Blackheart reappeared from the lower decks. "I'm sure he's fine, Dusk," Silvermelody assured me as Fluttershy walked out. "see my mom was down there, I doubt she would let Blackheart do anything harmful to Pippin." I nodded and decided to go talk to her. "Is everything good down there?" I asked her as Silvermelody followed me. "He's fine, from what we could tell, he isn't totally exhausted and both of their stories add up. But that still didn't stop Blackheart from punishing him." She told us. "What's his punishment?" Silvermelody asked before I could. "He will be put through an extensive and harsh training program that Blackheart went through...I don't necessarily agree with it, but Blackheart is in charge here, and he did aid her when he wasn't supposed to." I sighed in relief. "At least he doesn't have to sit in a cell." Fluttershy raised an eyebrow. "I wouldn't be happy about that, Blackheart was trained by Luna's and Celestia's elite guard, which means he will be in pain for several months before he gets used to it." "He would probably be in even more pain if you hadn't been down there though, right?" Fluttershy shook her head. "No, this was the harshest punishment, and I agreed with Blackheart on it. Pippin should have known better and although I commented on his kindness, I still think he shouldn't have done it without talking to all of us first." I groaned in defeat. "But mom, don't you think that might be a little too harsh?" Silvermelody questioned. Fluttershy shook her head once more. "No, I really believe this is perfect in two ways. For one, the beginning of it will be a good punishment for him. For two, this will make him stronger and able to hopefully control his Charm better." Fluttershy explained. She was right, this would be the best of both worlds. "Plus this will keep him away from Gina at all times, so it's a win-win." She was more than right now. "Hey, did he do the same thing to you or something?" Fluttershy nodded in response to my question. "Yes he did, after I was too kind towards Sombra, who had used my kindness against me...it took Thunderlane and the girls to fix the situation as I was close to marrying an evil king. Unfortunately I had broken another creature's heart that day." "Who?" Silvermelody pressed on excitedly, wanting to learn about her mother's love life I presumed. "A good friend of mine, Discord." "Wait THE Discord, as in the Lord of Chaos." I confirmed. Fluttershy smiled and looked around for a moment before sighing in defeat. "Yes, that Discord, usually he would pop up, but, unfortunately our last meeting didn't go well. He hasn't come back since. I just hope he's alright." You could hear the sadness and concern in her voice as she spoke. "Still that's crazy to think my own mother had all the villains after her." Silvermelody said as she sat down. "Well, hopefully the same doesn't happen to you, dear, otherwise I would have a heart attack." Fluttershy told her daughter. Silvermelody giggled and looked at me. "Should we go check on Pippin, I think I've heard enough about my mother's weird love life." I nodded and we left Fluttershy to her own business as we made our way to the lower decks to check on Pippin. _______________________________________________ "I don't think I have ever heard you talk about Discord before." I told Fluttershy as I kept the boat on track. "What happened between him and I is in the past, I still wonder if it was him that turned Silvermelody's hair silver just to spite me." She told me as she sat down next to me. "But that's enough about that topic, are you certain this training will work for him like it did me?" I shook my head. "Nope, especially now that I have seen what's going on." I answered her as I steadied the wheel. "Hey, Blueblitz, fix the sails a bit, we are drifting a little too far to the right!" I called to the pegasus who was gliding behind the sail. "What did you see?" Fluttershy asked. "It's weird to say this, but I think their Charms are one in the same." Fluttershy's eyes widened. "You mean...they share a Charm." Fluttershy almost said too loudly. I nodded. "Yes, and there is more to this theory, I think that country stallion has fallen for her and doesn't know it." Fluttershy stood up this time. "What makes you think that?" She questioned. "He does what I do for Starlight and did for another pony, I'm very protective of her, and back during our stand off, he flinched slightly when she stepped in front of him. During his and Gina's feeding time, there was more than enough time for her to drain enough of his love to exhaust him for days at least." I put forth more evidence. "Even if she was holding back. So that makes me think they were exchanging love rather than him just giving it to her. The funny thing is, I don't think either of them realized it." I looked at Fluttershy. "That's why I let them off easy this time, and I'll probably do it again, considering the fact that Gina hasn't done anything wrong since trying to attack Duskshine." "Even if that is all true, what makes you think Applejack will be ok with her son dating a changeling?" Fluttershy questioned me. "I don't know, did your parents stop you from dating not one but two villains?" Fluttershy rolled her eyes. "One of those is an ex-villain, ya know." "I rest my case." I smirked in victory. "Don't think you have won just yet, there is somepony in your near future that's gonna ask you and Starlight the same questions about love later." I glared at her. "Don't start with me on that, it is way too early to be talking about it." Fluttershy smiled. "Oh, but it's so fun teasing you now that it has come, although I'm sure Twilight will be glad to hear a former student of hers is having a foal with you." Any happy thoughts in my head were now gone. "We both know how she will react, Fluttershy, I am not gonna have any fur left by the time she is done with me." I pointed out. Fluttershy's own smile was gone now. "I am sure she has forgiven you by now and should considering you kept her son safe from one of the biggest problems in Equestria's history since Tirek first reappeared." I sighed. "I don't know...I don't know." "Did you really kill that poor Changeling's mother." She looked at me. "No, my General did, and I didn't kill any of the foals either. I can't say the same for them though...we had our orders, and not following them meant death." "From what it sounds like, the military was very corrupt." Blackheart shook his head. "I couldn't tell you, I was too busy dealing with my own problems by then to care." _______________________________________________ "Listen you two, Ah don't wanna hear anything else from you two, not about Gina, not about me. What happened is in the past." Pippin told us. "We are just here to make sure you are ok, Pip, calm down." Silvermelody replied. "I'm perfectly fine, other than your Ma giving me the scariest stare in my life." He told her. "Yeah, my dad always told me about mom's stare. It could make him shut up in seconds." "Yeah, well, if you ever figure out how to use it, don't use it on me." Pippin added as he sat back down. "Now, Ah need some rest. Ah have to train the minute Blackheart talks to me." Silvermelody and I looked at each other. "Good luck, from what Fluttershy told us this is extremely difficult training that was taught by both Luna's and Celestia's elite guard." I told him before we turned away and started making our way back to the main deck. That's when the boat began to shake and a loud roar filled the boat. "What's...going on?" Silvermelody asked grabbing my hoof to try and keep herself from falling over. "I don't know, but we better go find out." I levitated my sword from my bag and quickly made my way to the main deck. When I got up there, I smiled. A dragon was hugging Fluttershy up in the air, as several more dragons were flying circles around the boat. A large mist was surrounding the boat otherwise. "Uncle Spike!" I called out to the purple dragon who took notice of me immediately. He flew down and landed in a superhero pose in front of me. "How's it going kiddo, it's been awhile." He held out a claw. He was about four feet taller than me and his claw was the size of two of my hooves. I put the sword down and took his claw and shook it. "I would hug you, but you seem...occupied." he pointed at my hoof who was still holding Silvermelody's "Oops." She said and let go with a blush. I hugged my uncle before stepping away. "It has been a long time since I have seen you, you are at least a good three feet taller since the last time I saw you." He told me as looked at me. "I would give you a birthday gift, but I left it at home." He said as Blackheart approached. "I hate to break up this reunion, but we are on a deadline." Spike crossed his arms and glared at Blackheart. "What are you doing here, Blackheart." His tone was now unpleasant. "Guiding these kids to their mothers, which from what our past hint said, Rarity is here." Spike smiled suddenly. "Oh thank Celestia, Ember has been watching me like a hawk since she's been here..." "And I can understand why, Spikey Wikey." Fluttershy teased as she glided down. Spike blushed in response. "That's in the past, but Ember doesn't think so, even now those guys above me are watching my every move." Blackheart chuckled. "What's so funny, punk, at least I don't go and chase her way." Spike remarked with a gesture of his claw. "Never change Spike, never change, now can we please get to Rarity before an entire army of changelings storms Ponyville." Spike growled and flew into the air, "follow me to the dock and a few dragons will help you anchor it until you leave." He told him before taking off. I looked at Silvermelody as Blackheart trotted off. "I don't think I have ever seen Spike angry until now." I told her as I picked up my sword that I had put down earlier. "That's because Spike doesn't get along well with Blackheart. Then again none of the girls do either, but you'll get used to it." Fluttershy told us. "And why is that?" Silvermelody asked. "That's not something I can answer, sorry." She answered as she flew off. I looked at Silvermelody and shrugged. It wasn't long before the moon had began its ascent into the sky and not too long after that, did we dock the boat and get off of it on to a hard stone dock. Spike was now in front of us all and was smiling wide. "Welcome to The Land of Dragons!" Author's Note so I mentioned in a recent blog that I restarted this chapter, and well I restarted it twice to fix some errors that had screwed with continuity. So I went back and fixed it again. Otherwise I hoped you enjoyed the chapter. Next chapter will be a big one since I now know what I want to do with it. This is Silvermoon signing off...PEACE OUT! P.S. Blackheart is honestly a difficult character to write, since I wanted him to be a hero in a different light than friendship and a war seemed like the best way to fit him in.
