The Days of The Eclipse

Chapters

Prologue: The Beginning of The End
Judgment Day
Revelation
Return to the Origins
Nightmares Revisited
The Swarm of Las Pegasus
To Understand
Making Progress
The City in the Clouds
Walking Nightmares
Return to the Origins(Part Two)

Prologue: The Beginning of The End

The Eclipsed

Prologue

By Raine Moon

I was scared! So many emotions filled my being all at once but amongst them all, fear was the strongest one. I could feel my pupils dilating. Well, it was more like the slight blur that I felt when it happened. I didn’t know what to do. Fear paralyzed me and no matter how much I was telling my body to move, it did none of it.

In front on me stood Nightmare Moon in her glorious form. Her face adorned a devilish grin and her eyes—those dragon-like eyes that sent chills down my spine—were locked onto me. She was looking at me with a mischievous expression and she took pleasure in doing so. My vision started to return to me and as I brushed the area with my eyes, I saw the bodies of six mares. They didn’t move and all of them had their eyes closed.

No! This can’t be right. This isn’t happening! I said in my mind. It wasn’t registering what had happened and everything was thrown at me brutally.

“Why? Why are you doing this to me?!” I asked Nightmare Moon, my voice filled with despair.

“Oh? I thought my reasons were simple,” Nightmare Moon snickered, her eyes still locked in mine. “I want you to suffer. I want all of ponykind to suffer and what’s more fun than leaving a poor little pony such as yourself deal with the fact that you got six mares killed. And it was all for nothing! Nothing has changed and nothing will ever change! Just remember that whatever happens from now on, you are the one responsible for these mares’ deaths. You will be a murderer, a monster! That’s the only thing the world will see when they will look at you!

“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a kingdom to conquer.”

Right before my eyes, Nightmare Moon turned into a purple mist and just disappeared. That only left me all alone. I was surrounded by the lifeless bodies of the six mares that tried to stop Nightmare Moon. I hadn’t known them for a very long time but their names were already graved onto my memory.

Applejack, a pony whose honesty made her the trustworthy Earth pony always there to help her friends with their problems.

Fluttershy, a Pegasus whose kindness is unrivaled. Her kindness makes it so she’s a pony you could lean on during hard times.

Rarity, a unicorn that is flashy and generous. She’s always trying to please her friends before pleasing her own needs.

Rainbow Dash, a reckless Pegasus that lives for the competition in life. She’s, however, very loyal with her friends and a dependable asset.

Pinkie Pie, an Earth pony whose main goal is to make everypony happy and laugh with her. She is always there to cheer her friends up in a jam.

And finally, Twilight Sparkle. A unicorn that excels in magic but that seems to lack social skills.

My breaths began to change into sobs and I could feel the tears collecting in my eyes. I looked all around me and the only things I saw were the wall of the ancient castle I had confronted Nightmare Moon in and the bodies of those six ponies. Nightmare Moon was right; none of this would have had happened if I had not incited them to help me.

————

“The last known location of the Elements of Harmony is now in what is known as the Everfree Forest,” Twilight said.

The five other mares repeated the name of the forest and they seemed to be afraid. I didn’t know what was wrong with that. Apart from the deadly creatures that only came out at night, the Everfree Forest wasn’t all that frightening Of course, it was night so the fear of those ponies was kind of normal.

While listening to the five mares impose themselves upon the sole unicorn that seemed to know what was going on, my hind legs were beginning to feel numb so I moved them a bit to help with that but at the same time, one of my hooves fell on a rather large branch. It broke with a loud noise that completely blew my cover. Before long, a cyan Pegasus had me pinned to the ground.

“Hey, guys! I found Nightmare Moon!” exclaimed the Pegasus.

“I am not... Nightmare Moon... and you are crushing my throat!” I replied with a low-pitched voice. Needless to say, I was annoyed by that Pegasus and yet I had just met her.

“Oh yeah? What’s your proof?” inquired the same Pegasus.

“Nightmare Moon’s mane is ethereal while mine is silver. Also, my eyes are normal while hers have dragon-like pupils.”

“So, if yer not Nightmare Moon, who’re ya?” asked the orange Earth pony.

“My... name is Raine Moon... and like you, I... want to get rid of Nightmare Moon,” I told the Earth pony.

“I’ve got one question for you, though,” announced the lavender unicorn. “Why do you have a horn and wings?”

Why had I never thought of a back story for myself in case I would get interrogated like in this situation? That question had not been one I had been expecting in all honesty and now I was caught in a bind; one that I had to get out of.

“Uhh, well... my mom was a Pegasus and my dad was a unicorn and I guess I got both when I was born,” I answered, sweating like crazy. My stammering did not help either.

“Strange. I thought that the only beings with a horn and wings were royalty.”

“Well, I obviously don’t look like I’m part of the royal family,” I replied, trying to get them off my back as quickly as possible.

“Not exactly but you bear uncanny resemblance with Nightmare Moon, dear,” noted the white unicorn.

“It’s a rather long story and I don’t really have time to tell it. You know, the fate of Equestria is kind of on the balance here.”

“Fine, but I’m keeping my eyes on you. If you end up being a spy after all, I’m going to kick your flank,” the cyan Pegasus told me, locking her eyes in mine.

“Ooh, ooh! Remind me that I have to throw you a party when we come back!” exclaimed the pink pony, giggling and bouncing around everypony.

“Umm, I-I’m not so sure this is the time to be talking about this, Pinkie. This is kind of the Everfree Forest and the creatures here are dangerous, you know,” said the yellow Pegasus. She seemed very shy and she didn’t talk very loudly.

“I’m guessing you know where the Elements of Harmony are?” I asked the group of ponies.

The lavender unicorn nodded and then trailed inside the forest.

————

They would still be alive if I had just stayed out of this... I thought.

Eventually, my guilt proved to be too much and I just started to cry my eyes out. I cursed myself! For both being unable to help them and for letting them die. They had a life ahead of them... I had nothing left. At least, not anymore. And most importantly, I cursed Nightmare Moon for her cruelty and her lack of mercy!

“Mark my words, Nightmare Moon! You will fall and I will be your downfall! Letting me live was your worst mistake!” I yelled at the top of my lungs.

I was still incredibly sad but my rage was consuming me. I wanted revenge! I wanted to see her die! I needed to see her die! And I would stop at nothing to do it!

That was a good course of actions... if only I had the will to do it. I had nothing left. Nightmare Moon had killed the last hope ponykind had. Alone, I wouldn’t be able to make a difference. I didn’t know what to do so I did the only thing that I thought was the best option: do nothing.

Resigned to my fate, I weakly got back up on my legs even if I had nearly no energy left. My head pounded and everything was blurred. I slowly managed to get near the doorway but I was stopped in my tracks by guards.

I ignored their presence at first but I eventually abandoned the thought of leaving the castle ruins when I saw that they weren’t going to move. I just stopped myself there and simply waited for what would eventually come.

“Nightmare Moon! By order of Princess Celestia, you are hereby placed under arrest! Two choices offer themselves to you: you can either resist and make it harder on yourself or you comply and follow us back to Canterlot so Princess Celestia can pass judgment on you. Decide quickly because we will use the hard way if you stay unresponsive for too long!”

I wasn’t surprised to be mistaken for Nightmare Moon. I did look like her, which was an unfortunate luck. Our eye colours were the same but her pupils were dragon-like. Even the bearers of the Elements of Harmony did that mistake so I wasn’t really surprised to be compared to Nightmare Moon, let alone be mistaken for her.

“Your time is up! Guards, restrain he–” began one of the guards, one that seemed to hold more authority in the group.

“No wait! I’ll peacefully come with you.”

“Well, well. Your judgment is actually far better than what I had expected,” commented the guard. “Very well! Restrain her!”

I didn’t even resist. I wanted Nightmare Moon to pay for her actions but I couldn’t do anything. Not anymore. I just let the guards apply some sort of strong piece of cloth around my body, covering my wings at the same time. By glancing at that piece of cloth, I concluded that ripping it apart wouldn’t be an easy task, unless one used magic to do so.

After that, I let them attach some kind of metallic ring around my neck and once it was all installed, I felt like I was drained of my remaining energy. I looked around me again and saw that some guards had already begun to examine what Nightmare Moon had done.

Once those guards were out of my sight, the remaining guards prompted me to advance and I did. They escorted me through the Everfree Forest and fortunately, no dangerous creatures were encountered. Of course, they travelled through the safest path they knew.

Then came the hardest part yet: passing through Ponyville. It was hard on me, even if I was resigned to my fate. The stares, the glares, the grieving faces, I saw it all. I had never asked for any of those. It was too hard for me and I eventually closed my eyes to avoid seeing all of those things.

Soon enough, we were on board a train heading to Canterlot. I had a beautiful scenery in front of me but it had lost all its colours and beauty to my eyes. Time went by quickly and Canterlot was getting more and more in sight. Once the train stopped at the station, I knew that there was no turning back at this point.

They brought me into the castle and to a room in particular. In that room stood Princess Celestia and several other ponies.

“I’ve brought her in, Princess,” said the guard that had escorted me.

“Thank you, Captain Shining Armor. You can return to your usual duties.”

Along with Princess Celestia were a few other ponies and most of them looked like they were high ranked in social status. The princess’ personal counsellors also seemed to be by her side. Their presence alone was able to make me wince. I knew what to expect and I was still prepared for it, however strange that sounded.

I was still the one to blame the most. If I hadn’t done anything at all, no ponies would have had to die and I wouldn’t be standing in front of Princess Celestia. For the mistakes I had committed, I was ready to receive whatever punishment they would give me.

“My, my. It seems you’ve grown weak over the last millenium, Nightmare Moon. To think that my guards alone were enough to capture you.”

Princess Celestia giggled at that fact, as if she was mocking me. And it felt humiliating. I was being shamed in front of Canterlot’s aristocracy. On top of that, Princess Celestia even compared her own might to mine, two factors that could not be compared. I didn’t reply to her. I just met her gaze with mine.

“Then, I can conclude that you know why my guards brought you here?”

Again, I said nothing. I just remained silent but this time, I nodded to tell the princess that I understood the reasons.

“Good. This will make things easier for all of us,” Celestia added.

Maybe I should add now that for the whole duration of the time I was in front of Celestia, I just kept on looking at the ground so I could avoid the princess’ gaze. I wasn’t able to face the princess’s gaze. I couldn’t! And even if I did lie to all those ponies, it wouldn’t erase the fact that I was responsible for the death of six innocent ponies.

“I’ll make things quick for both of us,” Celestia began; her voice powerful enough to send shivers down my spine. “Nightmare Moon! For your crimes against Equestria, you are condemned by execution this afternoon in the public square of Canterlot. Spend your time well because your life ends soon!”

After my judgment was passed, a pair of guards came to escort me to the castle dungeons. I was thrown in a cell and told that the cell and its bars would be the last thing I would see before my execution.

“Well, well. I never thought I’d meet Nightmare Moon in the flesh. So, what brings you to this lovely part of Canterlot?” asked a prisoner in a cell right next to mine.

“I do not wish to discuss about my story,” I answered. I was going to die... and I knew that there was no escaping it.

“If ya look at me, fer example, I ended up here ‘cause I was caught stealing various precious artifacts if y’all can call them that way,” the prisoner said.

“Please! I just want to be alone...” I pleaded, my voice weak and wavering.

The prisoner called me a mood ruiner but granted my wishes anyway. I was grateful for his respect but I was still not very fit for social activities... not that I was ever good at those before. The following hours slowly passed and it was painful to wait for my time to come. Every passing minute felt like an eternity to me.

Please... just let me die already... I can’t bear up with my guilt anymore!

Finally, after several hours, two other guards stopped in front of my cell. “Nightmare Moon, your time has come!”

Judgment Day

Chapter One : Judgment Day

Once the guards took Raine Moon out of her cell, they proceeded into blindfolding her with their magic. Behind her, the prisoner that had tried to socialize with Raine bid her farewell and told her that they’d surely see each other in the next world.

The guards escorted the black alicorn out of the castle but they weren’t being gentle in any way. They sometimes shoved her around and at some other times, they insulted her and yelled at her when she stopped to orient herself while being blindfolded. After a few minutes later, well more like about half an hour, they were outside the castle and headed towards what seemed to be the public square.

What Raine couldn’t see, she heard it and it was disturbing to her ears. There was nothing but silence. Unlike when she was brought to Celestia in Canterlot’s castle, the city’s streets were completely devoid of sounds. The only thing that she was able to hear were the sound of her, and the guards’, hooves as they walked though Canterlot’s streets.

As they kept heading towards the public square, Raine began hearing voices and there were a lot of them. If she had to guess, it was the crowd that would attend her public execution. She would have thought, at first, that only some ponies would attend her execution but she would have never guessed that hundreds of them would be present.

It was then that Raine realized the extent of her mother’s cruelty. All those ponies were there to see one thing: to see Equestria finally get rid of the terror that Nightmare Moon instilled throughout the kingdom. Raine started to feel bad for not objecting before and felt guilty for not trying to defend her innocence but it was all too late for that at that point.

She had taken the blame for many reasons, one of them being the guilt she felt because of the deaths of those six ponies that stood up against Nightmare Moon. Another reason was her lack of willpower. She didn’t possess the will to stand up for herself. But it hadn’t been the first time it had happened. Since the day she was left to fetch for herself, slightly before her mother was banished to the moon she had lost belief in her own potential.

As long as it was enough for her to survive, it was all right to her. She had never asked for more and for strange reasons, she had grown accustomed to that style of life. But going out of that frame sent her in a state of uneasiness. She did what she thought was right for her in order to survive when the guards came to arrest her, thinking that she was Nightmare Moon. However, Raine started to regret doing nothing because her very own style of life had backfired on her.

The guards were now helping her climb some wooden stairs. How did Raine know that they were made of wood? The touch she felt on her hooves and the sound they made were different than what she felt when she walked through the city’s streets. Once she had climbed all the stairs, Raine was prompted to advance on what seemed to be a platform before she was told to stop and stand still at the exact spot she was.

The guards then proceeded into removing Raine’s blindfold. The sun slightly blinded her after her blindfold had been removed but once her eyes adjusted to the light, she saw all the ponies present in the public square. There were so many of them, so much more than what she had thought there would be. She thought that a few hundreds would be attending the execution. She had never thought that Canterlot’s entire populace would be there.

Even more, she saw some ponies from Ponyville; two of them being awfully similar. As she tried to remember them, Raine realized that they resembled Applejack and Rarity, only younger. It then hit her that it must have been their relatives. She felt truly awful for robbing those fillies of their sisters and she saw the pain and sadness in their eyes. But she also saw rage and anger. They desired retribution for what Nightmare Moon had done and Raine just so happened to be the one taking the blame in her mother’s stead.

Raine kept looking around for a little while. To her right were more ponies demanding for her death and to her left were some more of them but also, on a platform next to hers to the left stood Celestia. The princess was levitating some sort of document so it would be at her eye level. The black alicorn continued to look in Celestia’s direction and saw her demand silence from the angry mass of ponies.

Upon hearing that, the black alicorn knew what would happen next. This was her first execution, although she was the one to get executed, but she knew more than enough to know what was going to follow.

“My dearest subjects, may I have your attention please?” Celestia inquired before the ponies in Canterlot’s public square all turned their attention towards their beloved princess. “Thank you. Now, as you’ve all been expecting impatiently, let this execution begin.”

Right after saying that, several series of cheers emanated from the crowd. Some were requesting a beheading, others a permanent banishment to the moon while others were just asking for a regular execution.

“Nightmare Moon!” Celestia begun, her voice cold and stern as she began reading the document in front of her. “You are accused of threatening and trying to disrupt the peace in Equestria, as well as causing the death of the following ponies: Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity and my very own faithful student, Twilight Sparkle. Do you deny these charges as I have read them?”

“No, I do not…” Raine answered, her voice devoid of any feelings whatsoever except for sadness and regret.

“Then, for your crimes against the kingdom and as my title of ruler of Equestria, you are hereby sentenced to death by hanging!”

She looked at the two guards by Raine’s sides and slightly nodded. They did as they were ordered and placed the rope around the black alicorn’s neck. Raine let out a silent sigh, one of despair and hopelessness. It was just now that she had realized how much she cared about life. She had the growing desire to live… and take revenge on Nightmare Moon. But alas, it was all to late for those thoughts.

“Do you have any final words?” Celestia asked Raine in all seriousness.

The black alicorn had wanted to say that she was all too sorry to the ponies present but unfortunately, she knew all too well that her comment would be ignored.

“No, I don’t.”

“Then, even if you were evil, may you rest in peace.”

Celestia then looked at the guards by Raine’s sides and gave them their signal. The guard began to push Raine towards the edge of the platform she was on. She didn’t fight back. No, she just let things happen as they should.

The ponies down below watched with anticipation and even tried to convince the guards to just shove Raine down the platform and be done with it. The guards ignored the angry citizens and just did as the princess instructed them to do in the first place. They did the whole process rather slowly and tried their best to not rush things too much.

A few minutes had passed and Raine finally saw her front hooves fall down the platform and truly began to wonder how things had gotten to this. Raine felt her rear hooves nearing the platform’s edge and prayed it wouldn’t last very long. But nothing came. Instead, a loud, resonating voice was heard in the public square.

“Celestia! Stop this madness at once! And as for you guards, release this pony this instant!”

The guards, in their confused state, let go of Raine and then took several steps back. The black alicorn then felt the rope around her neck loosen up until she was able to remove it. She also felt magic pull her back on the platform, but it wasn’t magic she had felt before. It was ancient and mysterious. Raine turned around to see who had stopped the execution and saw another alicorn.

That one had a dark blue fur coat and a tail and mane that also had a shade of blue albeit it being a lighter shade of blue. Her mane also rippled through the air. Added to that were the sparkles present in her mane and tail. In a way, she resembled Celestia in many aspects. It wasn’t until Raine had studied the mare in front of her some more that she realized it was the princess of the night herself, Princess Luna.

“Luna?! What are you doing here? I thought you were in Manehattan for official business,” Celestia said in a rather surprised way, as if she had something to do with it.

“And I would still be if I hadn’t heard of this execution from a messenger. I was surprised to hear that Nightmare Moon had been apprehended so soon. I was so surprised that I went right ahead with the mayor of Manehattan to discuss about a future day we could meet again for said business. You may think it went smoothly but the mayor was sweating and even stammering. It was as if something was off so I decided to come back early and what do I see? My very own sister sentencing an innocent pony to death!” Luna reprimanded Celestia for her lack of judgement after she had explained why she was back so early from Manehattan.

“But Princess! She is Nightmare Moon! Why shouldn’t she be executed?” asked a resident of Canterlot.

“Yes, that would be true… if this alicorn was really Nightmare Moon but she’s not!” exclaimed Luna.

As soon as those words exited the princess’ mouth, countless gasps were heard throughout the public square. Even Celestia looked dumbstruck after Luna’s revelation. That reaction was either caused by sheer surprise, like most ponies, or because she had been compromised. Either way, she looked just as surprised as any other ponies present.

“How can she not be Nightmare Moon? From the tales, this mare looks exactly like Nightmare Moon. Are you telling us that the tales are not true, Princess Luna?” asked another pony, this time a younger colt.

“I have said no such thing but must I remind you all that it was Celestia and I that banished Nightmare Moon to the moon in the first place. If anypony here knows how she looks like, it is Celestia and me. Besides, this alicorn here has no cutie mark whereas Nightmare Moon possesses one and let’s not forget about her mane. This alicorn has a silvery mane while Nightmare Moon’s mane is made of mist she can transform into at will,” explained Luna to prove Raine’s innocence.

While there had been an uproar a few moments before, the public place was now overcome with silence. The ponies that protested before looked at each other in disbelief. Some others even asked themselves if they could have been wrong about Raine. It was not too long before the environment that was once filled with hate and anger was replaced by doubt and disbelief. In the end, all eyes were on Celestia.

“I-I had a reason, everypony!” Celestia let out, her voice strangled by all the pressure she was receiving all at once.

“I won’t have you justify yourself in front of all these ponies. Tonight, after I have raised the moon, we will have a nice, long discussion. For now, I’m taking her with me. I hope you won’t have any objections against my decision, Celestia,” Luna said as she looked at her older sister straight in the eyes.

Luna was replied by Celestia silently nodding her head to show her a sign of her cooperation. “Well, now that this is settled. I’ll be patiently waiting for our little discussion tonight and I think you have a lot to say for yourself, Celestia.”

Right after that, Raine wasn’t so sure about whether she should stay or follow Luna as she had said. She stayed on the platform for a few minutes, wondering what she should do before Luna called out to her, “Are you going to come or what?”

“R-right…” Raine softly spoke in an almost inaudible voice.

As Luna had done, Raine opened her wings and leapt in the air before she began to flap her wings. She followed the princess to a tower located in the southern part of Canterlot. She wondered why she was following Luna to a tower. Moreover, she was wondering what were Luna’s true intentions. Why was it that she had intervened in the execution? What did she want with her? What would happen next? All those questions swirled in Raine’s head while she followed Luna.

————

Soon enough, she landed in front of what seemed to be a room at the top of the tower and saw Luna head inside the room. Raine would have stayed outside if it hadn’t been for Luna inviting her inside. Shyly, she complied and entered the room only to realize that she was in Luna’s private chambers With that in mind, Raine’s doubts about Luna wanting to punish her all vanished from her mind. No pony with those intentions would bring another to her own private chambers.

“So, would you mind telling me who you are and the reasons as to why you look like Nightmare Moon so much,” Luna inquired, locking her eyes in Raine’s.

“W-will you do anything to me if I do?” asked Raine, returning the question.

“Heavens no!” Luna exclaimed, shocked to hear that Raine would even ask something like that. “I shan’t do such things. Truth be told, I am far more forgiving than my sister so you can rest assured; I will not harm you in any way. Now, about those questions…”

“Do you promise?”

“Yes, I do. You have my word.”

“Thank you and please excuse me for being so bothersome with my questions but it is quite hard to trust somepony nowadays so I asked you those questions to see if you were trustworthy. I hope you weren’t bothered all that much by my endeavours,” explained Raine, who was looking at the floor all the while.

At first, Luna was unaware of Raine’s attempts at evading her questions but she became quite aware of it after some time. Each time the princess reminded the black alicorn of her original inquiries, Raine would almost instantly come up with a way to change the subject. That strengthened her hypothesis about Raine having a past she did not want to talk about for personal reasons and to ensure her survival.

“The more you respond, the more I’m starting to think you don’t want to answer the questions I have asked you. Am I right to think that way?” asked Luna, who was getting slightly irritated by Raine’s constant subject changing.

“Yes… you are right, Princess,” Raine answered in defeat.

“Then, why do you refuse to talk about it? Am I so intimidating to you?” Luna questioned, giggling at that last remark.

“Well, you are Princess Luna. As co-ruler of Equestria and princess of the night, you could seal my fate on a whim. Returning on the original matter, my story would be better off unknown. The only thing other ponies see when they look at me is a monster,” spoke Raine, her voice slightly strangled by sadness.

“I do not know what happened to you but I do know this: nopony is perfect! Each and every one of us make mistakes. However, mistakes are what make us ponies. I am not here to judge you. All I want is to know more about you so I can understand you better,” Luna replied, trying to sound convincing.

“Fine. You win… Your Highness. But before I begin, could you please elevate a soundproof barrier around here?”

“I could do it, but can’t you do it yourself?” Luna asked, clearly confused about the alicorn’s question.

“I can but I have a feeling yours will prove to be far more effective than mine,” Raine replied.

Even if she found the alicorn’s request slightly useless, Luna complied and soon began to gather magic in her body. Once she determined the range of the of the dome she would create, she let the magic energy flow through her body and into her horn.

At the base, a unicorn’s magic is weak when it is allowed to flow through the body but once transferred into the horn, the power is increased drastically because of the horn acting like a power converter.

As the last bit of her magic energy was transferred to her horn, it began to shine with a lighter tone of blue. After that, she cast the spell and the princess’ private chambers were covered by a barrier that possessed the same colour as Luna’s magical aura.

“There, it is done. Now, answer me: who are you and why do you resemble Nightmare Moon so much?” Luna asked, her voice more strict than before.

“My name is Raine Moon. I have lived for a very long time, more than most ponies would. And as for the reason I resemble Nightmare Moon so much, it’s because she is…” Raine began before she hesitated to continue her explanation.

“And what is she, exactly?”

“She’s my… mother!” Raine said abruptly only to let out a long sigh afterwards.

“That’s… interesting,” said Luna as she tried to analyze the situation.

“What is? The fact that I’m the daughter of Equestria’s arch-enemy or that I’m not evil like she is?”

“Neither. It’s just that I was never aware that Nightmare Moon had a daughter. Tell me then, how old are you?” asked a surprised Luna.

“I’m slightly over a thousand years old. I was born a few years before my mother was banished to the moon, although I had already exiled myself before that happened…”

“Exiled… yourself?” Luna queried, terror making her voice slightly tremble.

“Yes. From the moment I was born, Nightmare Moon”—Raine started explaining and when she uttered her mother’s name, it was with a voice filled with resentment—“had planned to use me for her dark purposes. I, on the other hand, did not like to see other ponies get hurt. Perhaps it was something I inherited from my father, whoever he was, but I didn’t want to hurt other ponies.”

“In an attempt to change my mind,” Raine continued, “my mother began using her magic to force me to become what she wanted me to become. She tried getting in my head and make me submit through psychological torture… but I resisted, much to her dismay. After that, she began to use physical violence against me in order to wear off my defences so she could control me with more ease. Those treatments lasted for two years before I decided, on one night, that I couldn’t bear with it any longer.”

“The night I left, a night where my mother was busy with other matters, I started a fire inside her castle, if you could call it a castle that is, and used the commotion to make my escape. Truth be told, I started the fire in a specific area: my very own room. I feigned my own death and ran away. I ran as far as my hooves and wings could carry me. After that, I lived in seclusion in a cave located in the Everfree forest.”

While Luna was listening to the black alicorn, she noticed the tears glistening in her eyes. All those centuries and yet, her wounds, her emotional ones, never healed. Luna started to feel bad for Raine but then she remembered her role. She couldn’t take the alicorn by pity but she could not let her wallow in pain and suffering either. There was only one option she could think of and she was sure not too many would agree with her decision.

“No child should have to live through that,” Luna softly whispered. “And now, if I understand correctly, this means that you have no real home to return to, right?”

“Correct. And even more so at this very moment. I feel like every single pony wants me dead so perhaps it would be best if I had died earlier today,” Raine responded, a hint of sadness noticeable in her voice.

Luna, who was searching for some things in the back of her bedroom, turned her head towards Raine almost instantly and harshly replied, “What did you say?!”

“That maybe it would have been fine if I had been executed earlier to please those ponies…” Raine repeated, now very afraid of Luna.

“Now listen here! You have, like every other pony out there, a right to live and no pony can take it away from you! Only your actions can decide so don’t you ever say that it’s okay for you to die to make another happy!” exclaimed an angry Luna.

“Please! Don’t do anything bad to me. I’m sorry I said that!” Raine pleaded as a cascade of tears began to fall from her eyes.

It was then that Luna understood how much Nightmare Moon had traumatized her daughter. She was scared beyond recognition, If anypony were to accuse her of being as evil as Nightmare Moon after seeing the black alicorn in the emotional state she was in, all it would show is that they have no hearts at all.

Luna started regretting using the tone she used on Raine but at the same time, it seemed justified. Then again, it was before she realized how emotionally unstable Raine was.

“What are you apologizing for, Raine?” Luna inquired, using a sweeter and softer voice. “I’m the one who should be apologizing…”

“For what?” asked a sobbing Raine.

“For shouting at you the way I did. I should have known you still carried heavy scars of your past after everything your mother put you through and yet, I ignored that fact. Please do forgive me, Raine.”

“I f-forgive you, L-Luna,” Raine responded as she dried off her eyes.

“And to make amends, I have an offer. There are a few others I could be offering as well but I know for a fact that if you accept any of those other offers, the council will eventually get a hold of you and actually execute you. It is for that matter that I am giving you this single offer instead of all of them,” explained Luna.

When she heard that, Raine’s eyes seemed to shine with hope, a renewed hope, as she inquired, “What is it?”

“What I’m offering you is that you will become my own personal protégé. That way, you will have somewhere you can call home and you will be safe from the wrath of Equestria’s angry citizens. And to be honest, I’ve always been a little jealous of Celestia having her own protégés,” Luna proposed, a broad smile across her face.

The moment she heard Luna offer her the chance to stay with princess, Raine nearly leapt in the air due to the sudden happiness and surprise she felt all at once upon hearing the princess’ offer. She was being given two choices: to get a new beginning or to refuse and get something she might not want to receive. Raine decided that she had been through enough and that she would accept Luna’s offer. Besides, there wasn’t really anything left for her to hold on to so the choice wasn’t really hard to make.

“If you really don’t mind, Princess Luna, I think I’ll accept your offer,” Raine told Luna.

“Excellent! All I’ll need are some approval from both of us so that I can make you my protégé. Oh, and would you look at that; Celestia is making the sun set. Looks like it’s going to be my turn very soon!” Luna cheerfully exclaimed.

“Are you going to do the same thing as Celestia did yesterday?”

“You mean the raising of the sun for the Summer Sun Celebration? Heavens no!” Luna replied, giggling at the comparison. “The Summer Sun Celebration is celebrated on the longest day of the year. I do the same thing on the longest night of the year, except that is it called the “Night of Wonders.” But this is beyond the point. Returning to your question: no, I won’t do the same as my sister because today is not a major event.”

“When we manipulate the celestial bodies on normal days and nights, we do it from specific altars located in the castle. If you’d like, I could show you how I make the moon rise,” Luna proposed after she had noticed the interest Raine seemed to have towards everything that concerned Celestia and herself and the power they possessed over the sun and the moon.

To that, Raine did not object in any way. She was fascinated by what Luna had told her and now, she was eager to see how the princess made the moon rise after Celestia made the sun set. Although still present, Raine’s earlier emotional state was now being slowly replaced by happiness; she felt safe when she was near Luna.

While she was thinking about it all, the black alicorn failed to hear Luna calling her and was startled when the princess got her out of her deep thinking. Softly apologizing, Raine brought her attention to Luna, who prompted the alicorn into following her.

“Oh, and more thing,” Luna added, summoning her magic once more. “I don’t think we’ll need this any longer.”

And with that, Luna removed the barrier she had raised around her chambers so she could freely move out and lead the way to her altar. When they were down in the castle’s halls, Luna felt Raine’s fears. It was to be expected after everything that happened during the day. With each guard they encountered, Raine seemed to cower more and more and the glares they gave her didn’t really help either.

When she saw the state Raine was in, Luna opened her left wing and put it on Raine’s back in order to comfort her. At the same time, she looked at the black alicorn and offered her a heartwarming smile. Raine smiled back and seemed to regain her posture but it was still obvious that she was scared of the guards.

One in particular was installing much more fear in her than the other guards. He was a white stallion with a dark blue mane and a tail with a light blue streak passing through both. He wore the armor of a captain and it was the armor of Celestia’s personal guards. He gave a threatening glare to Raine and even seemed to smirk when he saw her wince.

“You got lucky this time, witch, but you haven’t heard the last of me! You’re the reason my sister, Twilight Sparkle, is dead! What did she ever do to you to deserve this. But believe me, I’ll make you pay for what you did to Twilight!”

“That’s enough out of you, Shining Armor. You can return to your duties if you are done here,” replied Luna, her voice as cold as the captain’s.

“As you wish… Your Highness!” Shining Armor retorted with a harsh and venomous voice.

After he had left, Luna tried to reassure Raine and said, “Please forgive him, Raine. He deeply loved his sister and has a hard time accepting the fact that she’s gone. Everypony does, in fact, but time does not stop for that. We must hold them somewhere they’ll never go away: our hearts.”

“No, it’s fine. I’m partly responsible for her and her friends’ deaths so I was kind of prepared for an encounter with him but I had not thought that it would be this-“ Raine began.

“Intimidating?” Luna asked, continuing the rest of Raine’s statement.

“Yes, that’s the word. I would have never thought that meeting him once more would be so scary, so intimidating,” admitted the black alicorn.

“Shining Armor is known for that. He may seem kind while on duty but that is just a front. Plus, from what I heard, he values his family above all else.”

Nevertheless, Luna told Raine to follow her once more and as she followed the princess, Raine noticed that the halls were passing from a golden colour to a somewhat darker tint. Even the decorations on the pillars had changed as they progressed further inside the castle.

On their way, Luna explained that they were in the Lunar Wing. Like the Solar Wing, it was a hallway that led to an altar built for Luna so she could raise and lower the moon. But it also served other purposes such as a sanctuary where the princess of the night could peacefully meditate without interruption.

Another change that was easily noticeable as they proceeded further in the Lunar Wing was that the guards that were dispatched in that section of the castle weren’t Celestia’s. The guards in the Lunar Wing were clad in light blue armor and Raine guessed they were part of Luna’s personal royal guards. Before she could ask Luna more questions, the princess told Raine that they were right in front of her altar.

They then entered and to her surprise, the black alicorn saw that many plants, some of one colour while others were of a different colour, had been placed around.

“I welcome you to my altar, Raine. ‘Tis in this very place that I raise and lower the moon. It also serves as my sanctuary, after my private chambers of course,” explained Luna as she watched Raine look around and examine every details about the architecture.

“This is so amazing, Luna. The architecture, the colours, the details; everything about this place is simply amazing. Beautiful, might I add!” Raine exclaimed, still in awe.

“Yes, it really is amazing, isn’t it? We hired one of the best architects in Canterlot and we have not regretted our decision since. And by “we,” I refer to Celestia and myself,” Luna clarified.

“If I may ask, what are all those plants for? Surely they serve another purpose than just decoration.”

“You are a good observer,” Luna replied, surprised by the alicorn’s deduction, “and you are right. These plants play a more important role than what you may think. They are in fact nameless plants that possess magical attributes. Why nameless? Because they are not figured in any of our records concerning botany.”

“So, since we had no names whatsoever, we tested them and found out that one of the two plant’s flowers only bloomed when exposed for a certain amount of time to the sun’s light. The other’s flowers only bloomed when exposed to the moon’s light. We decided to call the pair “Yin and Yang” because of their special attributes.”

Raine listened with careful attention, looking at the plants as Luna pointed her hoof at them. The first one, which was named Yin, was a red plant with white flowers and several hints of yellow and orange on its leaves. There were only three flowers on the plant but their size compensated for their numbers. Indeed, the flowers were larger than some of the flowers located in the Everfree Forest.

As for the second plant, it was white with hints of blue and black on its leaves. The flowers were grey and the Yang, unlike the Yin, possessed three times more flowers but they were relatively smaller from its counterpart.

“But why are they placed here? What are the reasons that made you place them in here?” Raine queried.

“As I explained a few moments ago, those flowers only bloom when exposed to the sun or the moon for a certain length of time. The other thing they can do is absorb large amounts of energy and store it in their flowers, thus making them bloom. We use them as an aid when we control the sun and the moon since the strain is usually enormous and leaves us unable to perform a single spell for a few days.”

As she continued to explain the uses of those two plants, Luna noticed that the sun had almost set. Ready to do her usual task, the princess happily let out, “Ah! It would seem the time has come for me to raise the moon. Watch closely for you are about to witness the power of the Lunar Princess!”

Right after that, the princess’ horn began glowing with a dark blue aura and soon, the whole room lit up as a white glow invaded it. It was so bright that it momentarily blinded Raine before her eyes were able to adapt to the brightness. Still, as impressed as she was, the black alicorn soon took notice of Luna’s struggles.

The princess hadn’t been jesting when she said that the magic energy required to move the moon was enormous. At some intervals, she even heard the princess grunt in pain as her ritual robbed more and more of her magic energy. Suddenly, Raine felt Luna’s magic reach out. She was enveloped by the princess’ magic and she could feel it waver.

She then felt the magic reach out elsewhere and realized the princess was going for the red plants, those that had accumulated the sun’s energy. Raine watched as Luna drained the energy from the plants’ flowers and felt the princess’ magic energy slowly replenishing. Another thing the black alicorn noticed what that the flowers were starting to close, proving that Luna’s magic was indeed draining the plants of their energy.

As time passed on, Raine felt Luna’s magic grow in power and even felt her energy stabilize. Luna then told the black alicorn to look up in the sky and when she did, she saw one of the most wondrous things she had ever seen in her life. She had observed the night sky several times in the past but never before had she seen the stars appear like that in the sky. Maybe the reason Luna was using those plants so often was because she had to raise both the moon and the stars.

But those inquiries quickly died down in Raine’s mind as she watched the Lunar Princess raise the moon and the stars.

When she saw the pale moonlight on the horizon, Luna used the last bits of the borrowed energy she had taken from the plants and concentrated it to raise the moon a little more. It took her more than she had originally thought and thus had to rely on her own magical energy since the energy she had borrowed was not enough to properly raise the moon.

Slightly strained, Luna managed to turn around to face Raine, who had a long face filled with surprise. Her eyes wide open, she stared at the starry night sky and her eyes were almost reflecting it when Luna peered into the black alicorn’s turquoise eyes.

“This is simply wonderful. I had observed the night before but this is simply beyond anything I’ve seen before. You night is so beautiful, so lovely. So much that I wish it could last a few more hours,” Raine softly spoke, still looking at the sky.

“I worked countless days and nights placing all those stars to make them into something everypony could admire but alas, most of our subjects slept through my night. I was a bit jealous at first but then, my sister announced a special event: the Night of Wonders. Hadn’t it been for her, most of our subjects would still ignore the night’s beauty and its secrets. I am ever so grateful for what she did for me but sometimes, I swear she only acts to secure her own position and reputation,” Luna told Raine, explaining the many wonders she shared with her sister and the pleasure of being the one responsible for raising and lowering the moon.

“If I may be honest, I always preferred your night to Celestia’s day,” revealed Raine.

“Oh? And what is the reason behind that?” inquired Luna.

“It is mainly the stars that I like the most. They are so… mystical and they helped me forget about my problems when they were too much to bear. The moon’s pale light is also one of the other things I like about your night, Luna.”

“Please! You flatter me too much. I only tried to make it as beautiful as I could. Everypony thinks that my night is a masterpiece but every time I look at it, I feel as if something is missing,” replied Luna.

“Don’t worry. I’m sure you’ll find what it is someday. You have a lot of time to think about it, after all,” Raine pointed out.

Luna then remembered that she was supposed to go meet with Celestia after she had raised the moon. Realizing that she would be slightly late, she said, “Speaking of time, I’m going to have a word with my sister. Did you want to come with me or would you prefer to stay here and observe my night some more? Either way is fine and I’m not going to force you to decide.”

To Luna’s surprise, Raine agreed to come with her and join the conversation the princess was going to have with her elder sister. The black alicorn justified herself by saying that she wanted to know the reasons why Celestia acted the way she did, especially when she was supposed to know how Nightmare Moon looked like.

However, there were other reasons as to why Raine wanted to accompany Luna; one of them being an apology for bringing about the death of Twilight Sparkle, Celestia’s faithful student. A second reason to that was to tell Celestia her story to make sure she wasn’t considered as a threat.

As soon as Luna prompted Raine to follow, the black alicorn nodded and trotted to Luna’s right side. Once they were out of the Lunar Wing, Raine winced once more as the guards under Celestia’s command gave her glares. Luna told her that as long as she was with her, none of the guards would dare to lay a hoof on her.

This reassured Raine a little but her anxiety and fear did not go away, not completely that is. The Lunar Princess explained that they were going to meet Celestia in her private chambers since it would be easier to freely converse in there. The black alicorn seemed relieved to hear that. That would mean nopony would be able to spy on them and come up with a false rumor, saying something about Raine in an attempt to taint her already low reputation.

————

Things stayed the same even after they had entered the Solar Wing. Unlike Luna, Celestia had requested that her private chambers be placed in the Solar Wing so it would make it easier for her to raise and set the sun rather than having to travel all the way down to use her designated altar.

Apart from that, Raine had exponentially shrunk behind Luna since she had left the Lunar Wing with the Lunar Princess. The guards’ glares had been the main reason that scared Raine so much. For strange reasons, they all seemed to hate her, or maybe it had been an order from Shining Armor. Either way, it was still unsettling and unnerving for the black alicorn.

After an hour or so of walking through the endless halls of the castle, Luna and Raine finally arrived in front of Celestia’s private chambers. While the designs of the Lunar Wing were unbelievably beautiful, the designs used for the Solar Wing were on a whole other level. They made the rest of the castle rather… dull.

Nevertheless, Luna didn’t wait for too long before she called out for her sister. The Solar Princess opened the door with her magic a few moments after Luna had called her. She first saw Luna as the door continued to open but when she saw Raine, Celestia almost slammed the door shut in front of the two alicorns. It would have been the case if Luna hadn’t stopped her sister from doing so with her own magic.

“Celestia!” Luna let out, her voice possessing much more power than anything Raine had ever heard from the short time she had spent with Luna. “It’s only me and I’ve brought Raine along with me. She has some things she wishes to discuss with you as well.”

“And who is this Raine you speak of, Luna?” Celestia demanded.

“This is Raine,” Luna responded, introducing the black alicorn standing next to her. “She’s the pony you tried to execute earlier today. Now, would you mind letting us in? I wouldn’t want the whole kingdom knowing about what we are about to talk about because we were too careless and let a pony eavesdrop on us.”

“I fully agree. Now come in before anypony becomes too suspicious of what is happening at this moment.”

Celestia let her two guests enter her private chambers and carefully closed the door behind them. Afterwards, Luna used a spell to seal the door and used another one on the walls of Celestia’s chambers. It basically made it impossible for sounds to be heard from the outside. As for the door, she just locked it with many complex magical locks so no pony could enter abruptly at the wrong moment and jump to early conclusions upon seeing the princesses conversing with Raine.

“So, you’re called Raine?” Celestia queried, looking the black alicorn in the eyes.

“Yes, Your Highness. My full name is Raine Moon and it is a pleasure to meet you under more conventional manners,” Raine replied.

“You share a great deal of resemblances to Nightmare Moon…” Celestia uttered at first before the realization came to her like a cannonball. “Tell me, are you related to her in any way?”

“She is… my mother but don’t misunderstand me, I want nothing more to do with her. She’s the reason I was framed for her and she’s the one that killed your student and her friends. She even used to employ violence against me when I was a filly so she could use me in her dark schemes. But right now, I will not explore those details too much. I’ll explain everything later on,” explained Raine, her voice trembling and sobbing because of the memories coming back to her once more.

“As she said, she will tell you her whole story later on but before she does that, she has something she wants to say to you and then, I’ll have a word with you, sister.”

“Very well then. Let’s be done with it. The sooner we are done here, the sooner we can all get a good night’s rest. So, what did you want to tell me Raine?” queried Celestia.

“I know that this isn’t enough apology for what happened but I really want to apologize for causing your student’s death. I know it wasn’t me who took their her and her friends’ lives but I was the one that led them to their doom. I just want to get this off my heart before it poisons me with guilt and grief, although I fear it’s already begun. Even now, I still have the images of their bodies as they lay on the cold stone floor. Please accept my sincerest apologies,” apologized Raine.

“It pains me to accept that Twilight Sparkle died but it is a truth I will have to face nonetheless. And although it is partly your fault that their deaths occurred, I am as much to blame as you so I shall not seek any further justice against you. However, rest assured that there will be retribution for what Nightmare Moon has done!” Celestia exclaimed, her emotions slightly getting the better of her.

“We will in time, sister, but now, I want some answers and I want nothing more than the honest truth from you,” began Luna as she locked her eyes in Celestia’s. “Why where you trying to execute Raine? I’m sure you were aware since the beginning that she wasn’t Nightmare Moon. Am I right to assume this?”

“You are right. But before you start lecturing me, let me explain why I did it…” Celestia replied with a voice so soft it sounded like a plea.

“Go on, we’re listening that whatever you have to say. Also, what did you mean when you said you were also to blame?”

“Right. Well, to be honest, I had been aware of Raine’s existence for quite a while but I never judged her presence to be a matter that would cause any problems so I let her live her life in the Everfree Forest. However, due to Nightmare Moon’s return from her imprisonment, the council put a lot of pressure on me about reassuring the citizens of Canterlot by having Nightmare Moon publicly executed in the city. But when I told them that capturing her would prove to be extremely difficult, they proposed that I use Raine as Nightmare Moon,” Celestia explained, the words having a slight difficulty to be sorted out because of everything she was getting off her chest.

“Did you tell them about Raine’s existence for them to propose using her to calm our subjects?” Luna inquired.

“No, and that’s what troubles me the most. I don’t know how they found out about her but that means they stuck their noses in businesses that weren’t their own. That’s why I said I was responsible as well. I let them use me for their own purposes and I did nothing to stop them.”

“Celestia…” Luna began after taking a long sigh. “Apart from me, you hold the highest authority in the kingdom. The council is not above you and if I were to give my opinion on its members, I’d say they’re all senile geezers.”

“I know that, Luna. But they threatened to reveal information about my political decisions to the public when they were better off left in the archives, far from the eyes of anyone to see them. How they acquired them, I have no idea but they hold more power than you may think,” replied the white alicorn.

“Then let me guess: they were the one that proposed to you the idea of sending Twilight Sparkle to Ponyville so that she could get Raine to come out of hiding when her mother broke free of her imprisonment? They chose to waste several lives just so they could ensure their own political position? How cowardly of those old fools!” Luna exclaimed.

“How did you-“ Celestia began, the expression on her face showing complete astonishment.

“I didn’t,” Luna replied, interrupting her sister at the same time. “I just thought of something that seemed obvious from their end and that was the first thing that came to my mind.”

“As sharp as always, dear Luna,” Celestia said, complimenting her sister’s intuition.

“Please, you flatter me too much Celestia. I may not partake in the same political affairs as you but I do like to keep informed about what is happening between you and the council and so on.”

“True, you did always seem on track with everything that transpired in Canterlot despite the fact that you are not always present,” admitted Celestia.

“Well, now that you answered most of my inquires, I think our friend here has something she’d like to share with you,” Luna announced as her gaze met Raine’s. “Go on, Raine. Your story is safe with my sister.”

Even if she didn’t want too share her story a second time, Raine felt that Celestia had to know if she wanted to allow her to remain with Luna. She began with her younger days as a filly and Celestia was surprised that the alicorn still clearly remembered her past even if a thousand years had passed.

She detailed the pain she was put through when her mother tried to gain control over her. Even the memories were enough to make her cry abundantly. Luna tried to convince Raine that maybe she should skip that part but she refused, saying that Celestia had a right to know no matter how painful the memories were.

Raine then explained how she started a fire in her own room back in her mother’s castle, faking her death so she could escape her mother’s cruelty. She ended her story by saying that after that, she lived in the Everfree Forest as she knew it would keep her well hidden.

“And you have no idea how happy I was when I learned news of my mother’s banishment. Of course, I only learned it several years later when I returned to her castle to see what had happened to it through the years and to my surprise, a pony just happened to be guiding other ponies through the Everfree Forest. And he explained them that it had been abandoned after Nightmare Moon’s defeat against you. I was so happy that my nightmare had finally come to an end. But now, it’s starting all over again,” spoke Raine, her voice passing from an energetic one to one overcome by sadness.

“This is so… sad. I can’t believe that a mother could do that to her own daughter. But there’s no need for those worries from now on. From today and henceforth, I allow you, Raine Moon, to stay with Luna and you will have both our protection against anything that may try to harm you!” Celestia announced.

“How did you know about Luna’s intention to take me in?” asked a confused Raine.

“My sister and I are connected through telepathy so if I want Luna to hear my thoughts, I can send them directly to her mind. We only do it when the situation demands it, though, and Luna deemed it was only right for me to know what she had in mind for you,” answered the white alicorn.

“Just as she said, we have developed a way for us to discuss important matters without anypony knowing what we are doing. Now, I can only guess you’d like some rest after everything that has transpired, correct?”

“That would be a very good idea indeed. I feel robbed of all my energy,” replied Raine.

“Good. You can stay here while I go make the proper preparations for your stay. You will live with me in my private chambers.”

With that, Luna lifted the spells she had cast with her magic to open the door, only to close it afterwards. To kill time, Celestia decided to inform Raine of the current status of the society they lived in since Raine had lived most of her life away from any kind of society. It only seemed fair to at least teach how to correctly act if she ever had to encounter a problem of any kind.

Overall, Raine seemed to assimilate most of the information Celestia was giving her. She may have lived in seclusion but that made her comprehension far more developed than some because her mind wasn’t filled with lies that those in her past tried to get in her head.

“It may seem hard to remember at first but you’ll get the hang of it as time passes. After all, practice makes perfect,” Celestia finished explaining, ending her long speech about pony society.

“It is a lot of information all at once but I think I can managed to remember it all. If anything, I think I can already apply-“ Raine said before she was interrupted by three ponies that entered the Solar Princess’ private chambers, the first one being Shining Armor.

“You Highness, your student has come back with a companion of…” Shining Armor started announcing before he noticed Raine in front of Celestia.

“You! What are you doing here?!” asked the first unknown pony, an aquamarine unicorn with a black mane and tail that had a dark blue streak passing through both.

“Yeah, you shouldn’t be here! You should have died back there for what you did!” exclaimed the second one, a pegasus that shared a lot of traits with Rainbow Dash.

————

Note: I do not own the two ponies that have appeared at the end of this chapter. They have been presented to me by another brony: Dusk Shine. One of them is his ponysona, I think, and the other is his friend's.

Revelation

Chapter Two: Revelations

"Why are you here? You should have been executed for what you did to Blitz here!" exclaimed the unicorn.

"She had a life ahead of her… and you took it away from her. She didn't deserve to die like this and it's all your fault."

"Dusk Shine… please refrain from saying something you might regret. This alicorn is not the one you are seeking revenge against," spoke Celestia.

"Oh yeah? Well explain to me why she was the only one that came back from the Everfree Forest. If she did not kill them, who did? She's Nightmare Moon to my eyes and she's nothing but a monster!" shouted Dusk Shine, aiming all of his harsh words at Raine.

To have been taunted by her mother was one thing but to be called a monster by another pony was just too much for her to handle. It started with a single tear but soon enough, countless tears began to roll down her cheeks abundantly. She wanted to leave and she attempted to do so at the first occasion she had but as she was approaching the doors, Luna opened them and unwillingly stopped Raine from running away.

"What is going on around here?! And who are they, sister?" Luna demanded, confused by the whole scene she witnessed.

"This is Dusk Shine, my second private student. He's been my student for some years and I hid him from the rest of Equestria. I did so at his request because he didn’t want to overshadow his foalhood friend, Twilight Sparkle. But as for the second one, would you care to tell me who he is?" asked Celestia, looking at Dusk.

"This happens to be one of my good fri-" Dusk began, only to be interrupted by the Pegasus next to him.

"I can introduce myself just fine, Dusk! Greetings, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. I am Blitz but my full name is Rainbow Blitz. I'm also Rainbow Dash's older brother, who was murdered by that freak!" finished Blitz, glaring daggers at Raine.

"No… I didn't do it…" Raine replied, struggling to speak back.

"Yeah, right! You can't fool me, Nightmare Moon! You've killed my sister so why don't you quit the act and just receive your sentence?"

"Enough!" Luna shouted, her voice possessing enough power to shake the very foundation of the castle. "Thou will cease thy shameless accusations and leavest Raine alone. She is not Nightmare Moon but her daughter and she is nothing like her mother and her heart is fragile. If we were thou, we would be careful about our choice of words for it could bring harsh consequences!"

"But answer me this; if you were with them when they died, and the fact that you are an alicorn, why didn't you use your magic to save them? Surely you must also possess great magic abilities like the princesses," said Dusk.

"I… I…"

"He's right. You could have used your magic to save their lives instead of letting them die. Why didn't you use your magic?" Blitz asked, still using the same harsh tone.

"BECAUSE I CAN'T USE MAGIC!" Raine yelled at the top of her lungs before she left the room and ultimately, the castle itself to go back to the one place that still acted as a safe haven for her: the Everfree Forest.

"Raine, wait!" Celestia called out for the black alicorn, but it was already too late.

"I'll go after her, Celestia. You stay here and deal with them," Luna told her sister, her voice cold and harsh.

Celestia nodded and then, Luna left the room in a hurry, determined to find Raine. However fast the princess ran, she was not able to find the black alicorn anywhere within the castle. She tried the streets of Canterlot but she was also unsuccessful. The only other place she had left to search was the Everfree Forest. She took flight and flew off to the forest that once housed the princesses' previous castle. It would surely take time to find Raine in that forest but Luna was determined to find the black alicorn. She needed moral support more than ever before.

"Raine? Raine, it's me," Luna called, trying to make contact with her even if she knew her efforts could be in vain.

No responses were heard. Luna worried about Raine, mostly because she was hurting inside. She tried to run away from who she was and it still caught up to her. If only Dusk and Blitz hadn't barged in, maybe nothing like that would have had happened. That thought was the largest in Luna's mind as she searches for her protégé. It were their accusations and hurtful words that caused the black alicorn to run away in the first place. Still, she chased those thoughts from her head and resumed her search for Raine.

Luna forgot how long she had been searching in the Everfree Forest. Had it been an hour, or more than that? Luna truly had no clue as to how long she had been in the forest. She began to think that finding Raine in an area she knew everything about was an impossible task but just as she was thinking of giving up, she heard strange sounds coming from a cave near her location. She approached the cave's entrance, thinking it could be Raine and then took a look inside.

She didn't see anything at first so she used her magic to create a light at the tip of her horn. There was still nothing in her sight so she decided to delve further in the cave as she was still hearing the sounds that brought her inside in the first place. As she ventured deeper in, the sounds became clearer and clearer until she recognized them as being Raine. From her sobs, she was crying to no end. For her to cry like that, she must have been very hurt. Well, it was true that Dusk and Blitz didn't go easy on her either.

"Is that you, Raine?" Luna asked, approaching the black alicorn even more.

"L-L-Luna? I-Is th-that really y-y-you?" Raine asked back, her voice strangled by her sobs.

"Don't worry. It's only me and no pony else," Luna answered in an attempt to reassure the frightened alicorn.

"P-please, just l-l-leave me alone."

"I'm sorry, Raine, but I cannot do as you ask of me when you are like that. It breaks my heart to see you suffer in such a way," Luna pleaded.

"I on-only wish to b-be l-left alone, Luna," Raine replied.

"That I will not do. You need help, and I think I can give you that help."

I d-don't think a-a-anyone can help me, Luna. You saw how D-Dusk and Blitz t-treated me?"

"Yes, I saw how they acted but don't forget that their emotions are influencing their way of thinking. They said those things because they're overcome with sadness and anger."

"Y-you think i-it's that simple, Luna?" inquired Raine, still crying buckets of tears.

"I don't think so, I know it is so. Now come on, my sister should have spoken with them already and you don't want to be there when she speaks to somepony," replied Luna, slightly laughing at her own remark to ease the mood.

"Would it be possible for me to just go to sleep instead of having to see those two again? I think I've been through enough for one day."

"I think you only deserve that. Very well, in that case, just head to my tower and tell the guards there that I sent you and then tell them your name. They should let you in. If they don't, well, just remind them of the consequences disobedience brings."

"Isn't that a little bit extreme, though?" queried Raine as she dried off the last or her tears.

"Maybe so, but we have to make sure we stay in authority. Besides, they know that each and every consequences we bring to them aren't that bad if you compare them to the council's. They would take no shame in putting a pony to death while we would only suspend them for a few days. We are not harsh but we need to receive our due respect, Celestia and I."

"Could we go now? I'm rather tired after everything that happened in the last few hours," stated Raine, yawning after she had finished her statement.

"Yes, we can go. I'm rather sleepy myself so I might just join you after I'm done talking to Celestia."

Raine nodded and slowly rose to the sky and headed towards Canterlot. She wasn't familiar with the city yet but she still remembered where Luna's tower was, at least she thought she did. In the end, she ended up getting lost, confused by the city's layouts. She was still too afraid of the city's populace to descend to the ground and ask for directions. She was about to give up when she noticed a Pegasus pony clad in blue armor standing in front of two large doors, the same that she had entered a few hours before with Luna.

Relieved that she wouldn't have to search any longer, she went straight for the tower the guard was on. When she landed, she was greeted by the guard in an emotionless voice, "Ah. You must be Miss Raine. Her Royal Highness, Princess Luna, has ordered me to stay guard here and only grant passage to herself and a black alicorn with a silvery mane. Everything has been prepared for your stay. I hope you enjoy your stay in Canterlot."

"Thank you, umm, Sir… "

"Ironwind. Lieutenant Ironwind," replied the guard, taking pride in his title.

"Well, I thank you, Sir Ironwind."

And with that, the guard opened the path for Raine. The alicorn thanked the guard a second time before she entered the princess' private chambers. A few looks around the main piece indicated that no changes had been made but it was when she reached the bedroom that Raine took noticed that a second bed had been added. And it looked awfully comfortable too. One glance at it made Raine even more drowsy and before long, she was already in the bed, fast asleep.

—

Raine stood in a desolate street in Canterlot. As she watched around her, she saw that the whole town had been reduced to pieces. Dead ponies were lying on the ground all around her and even some of them were still conscious. The gore and the bloodshed nearly made Raine vomit. The smell was also extremely disturbing, sending waves of fright and disgust down her spine. Thinking about Luna, Raine immediately made her way to Canterlot's castle, only to discover that it had also been turned to shambles. Panic took over her and she kicked the castle's gates open and rushed to the throne room.

There, she saw Celestia's lifeless body, or at least what remained of it, lying on the floor. In the back of the room was Luna backing away from Nightmare Moon. She had a terrified look on her face and countless tears rolled down her cheeks. Still, Nightmare Moon paid no heed to that and continued advancing towards the princess. Luna kept on backing away until she hit the wall, a sign that she couldn’t escape . Raine looked in the princess' eyes and the black alicorn saw something in them that she was surprised to see; it was guilt and self-pity.

"Dream… " Luna pleaded. "Please, don't do this. I'm sorry I did those things to you but you have to understand that it was for your own good. Can you ever forgive me for what I did to you?"

"There is no forgiveness for what you have done. I am here to return the favor. I'm putting you out of your misery. You won't have any problems with that, right?" Nightmare Moon said as her horn lit up with intense magical energy.

"Stop it!" yelled Raine.

"Aw, what's wrong, Rainie? You know as well as I do that this is the future that awaits your precious Luna. They will all perish under my strength and there is nothing you can do to stop me!" replied Nightmare Moon, her maniacal laugh following soon after.

"How did you-"

"You're even more pathetic than I thought you were, Raine. Did you already forget what it is I rule over? Did you forget all those nightmares you had when you were just a filly in my castle?"

At first, Raine was confused by what her mother was trying to imply. She had never noticed her mother make use of her special abilities neither had she seen her cutie mark. But it was only when the alicorn that was now standing towards her mentioned her nightmares as a filly that Raine began to align the pieces together.

"You don't mean that… " Raine started before she stopped herself from saying more.

"Oh yes! It's exactly what I'm implying. I manipulate dreams and I manipulated yours when you were younger so I could break you. But it never worked because of that accursed caretaker!"

"At least, she acted like she cared!" Raine harshly replied.

"I cared about you. That's why I assigned that caretaker to you. I needed you in good shape if I were to use you in my plans. That's why I had her executed when I found out about her actions. She was softening you! A few days after that, I'm informed that my daughter died in a fire but that her body was not found."

"I faked my death! Because I couldn't stand to live with you anymore. I'm not like you and I will never be. You turned my entire life into a living nightmare!" Raine exclaimed.

"What is this? Rebellion? Looks like you need to be taught a lesson," said Nightmare Moon, summoning a spear of energy with her magic.

It didn't take long for Raine to understand what her mother intended to do. Before she could interject herself furthermore, a force field was formed around her, restricting her every moves. After that, she was forced to see Nightmare Moon impale Luna several times with her spear. Blood splattered on the walls and on the mare's face as she maniacally laughed while she amused herself in torturing the once regal princess. Multiple holes could be seen in the princess' body as she lay down on the ground, powerless in front of her assailant.

"Please! Stop it! I beg of you… " Raine weakly pleaded.

"Oh? Are you ready to submit to me completely, body and mind, then?" queried Nightmare Moon, her voice sounding slightly victorious.

"Yes. But please… stop hurting Luna."

"R-Raine… t-there is a-always h-h-hope. Y-you n-need to b-b-believe," Luna spoke as she coughed large amounts of blood, no doubt the results of Nightmare Moon's torture.

"YOU SHUT UP!" yelled Nightmare Moon as her horn flared with magical energy.

The scenes that followed were simply too much to bear for Raine. As she watched her mother's horn being suddenly infused with magic energy, she was forced to see what happened next as she unleashed all of her magical energy on Luna. It was unleashed as a powerful beam of magic that hit Luna easily. Raine dared not look at the scene itself and instead opted to look at the wall, slightly above Luna so she wouldn’t have to see the entire scene.

However, no matter what she did, her eyes darted right back to where Luna and Nightmare Moon were. Right before her, on the very same wall she was looking at a moment before, was a form made out of blood. It highly resembled the form of a pony, and an alicorn at that. Her eyes instantly widened when she saw the next scene. Nightmare Moon was laughing madly and at her feet were the carnal remains of Luna. Her flesh had been torn off, leaving only the ligaments, muscles and bones in a gruesome display. Her eyes were no longer in their orbit, laying down on the floor while still attached the optic nerves. Her horn had been broken down in several pieces but what traumatized Raine the most was the sight of Luna's intestines sticking out of her guts, laying in a pool of the princess' blood as well as her beating heart visible through her torn rib cage.

And Nightmare Moon still laughed. She had killed a princess and she was laughing at that fact. She turned around and once she saw her mother's face, Raine thought she would be sick. Nightmare Moon's face was nigh completely drenched in blood and she began approaching her daughter.

Suddenly, the black alicorn remembered Luna's words before Nightmare Moon silenced her. Thinking about those words for quite some time and letting the realization of what had happened sink in, she then exclaimed, "LUUUUNAAAA!"

While nothing happened at first, and seeing that Nightmare Moon was still approaching Raine, the tyrant's daughter began to back away but soon after, her vision went white and then, silence.

—

"Luna!" shouted Raine as she woke up in sweat.

She looked around her and realized that she was back in Luna's private chambers. Or perhaps she had never left it. She wondered if that whole thing had been a nightmare of her mother really trying to break her by entering her mind space and making her lose her will to resist her. But the images of the nightmare were still imprinted in her mind and they troubled her. She had seen bloodbaths, the body of Celestia torn apart and thrown in every direction and she had been forced to witness Luna's death at the hooves of Nightmare Moon.

"Guess that's what it was. A dream… " Raine said to herself.

—

After she had parted with Raine, Luna made her way to Celestia's private chambers to see if she had dealt with their guests accordingly. While on her way, she saw Shining Armor heading towards the main barracks. The Lunar Princess figured that he was just checking if the night shift was ready to take over and then head to his own private room in the residential wing of the castle. Nevertheless, she brushed the thought aside and continued to make her way to Celestia's chambers

"…hear anything else… expose yourselves to great consequences!" Luna heard as she neared her sister's chambers.

'She must nearly be finished,' Luna said to herself as she heard her sister's sermons.

At that point, the thought of telling Dusk Shine and Rainbow Blitz about her past, along with the aftermath of the War of Magicka, touched her mind. It was still fresh in her mind even if it had been a few thousand years since she was forced to do what she had to do to protect Equestria. She debated with herself for a while, laying down the pros and the cons of such a decision. One of the cons being the two ponies not believing her revelations. However, it was an undisputed fact that if she told them about what happened during the last few millennia, they would be inclined to stop antagonizing Nightmare Moon and Raine.

Finally, she decided that it would be best if she were to tell them about her past, the ancient war as well as the truth about Nightmare Moon. With determination in her eyes, she opened the door with her magic, put on the best smile she could make and asked, "Hello, you three. Am I interrupting anything?"

"Not at all, Lulu. I was just done dealing with these two," replied Celestia.

'Good. In any case, I thought about it and if they are to understand the situation they are in as well as to who they were harassing, then I think it may be a good idea to tell them of my past, starting from before the Great War of Magicka,' Luna told Celestia through their telepathic link.

'Lulu, are you sure you want to do that? We didn't clear all of Equestria's shelves of any information about ‘her’ to see our efforts be broken by misplaced trust.’

'Yes. I am sure. Besides, they already know more than most, so it wouldn't be right if we denied them their right to know.’

'Very well, but you are treading in muddy waters right now, sister,' said Celestia, ending their telepathic conversation.

"Dusk Shine! Rainbow Blitz!" Luna said, using the Royal Canterlot Voice, to command the two ponies.

"Yes, Your Highness?" both answered at the same time.

"You are to stay here until I am done with you. There is something that I need to talk about with you. It concerns alicorns, Raine and Nightmare Moon."

"'Alicorns' as in more than just two alicorns?" Dusk questioned.

"Yes. In the past, there were several other alicorns apart from ourselves. We were known as the kingdom's most powerful faction in a land far away from Equestria when it was still divided in feudal states. However, that quickly changed when the three other factions, the unicorns, Pegasi and Earth ponies, soon desired to silence us because of the powers we wielded. The war that followed is now known as the Great War of Magicka."

"Please pardon my interruption, Princess Luna. However, those are taught to every pony that attend the Academy for Gifted Unicorns," said Dusk.

"I am well aware of that fact, as it was me who requested it to be taught to the students. Now, do you plan on constantly interrupting me?" Luna demanded, her voice cold and powerful.

"No, you may go on, Princess."

"Thank you. Now, as I was saying, the war happened because the other factions were afraid of our powers. During that time, I was in love with another alicorn, one called Star Shower. He was the alicorn in charge of the stars back then, until he gave me his powers before he died. In any case, we had been together for a few years and a few months before the war started, we decided we wanted a family of our own. I became pregnant two months before the Great War began. Unfortunately, Star Shower did not survive the war and both Celestia and I were forced to go into hiding in the Great North."

"Eventually, we stumbled upon the land of the griffons, Gryffonia. We were not welcome there and the kingdom's inhabitants made sure we were aware of that. However, the king, a fair one, allowed us to stay for a short while and at the same time, hide from the Alliance. We stayed there for three months before we moved south-east. At that point, I was quite advanced in my pregnancy and even simply trotting became difficult. In any case, as we travelled, we reached the land of the dragons. They weren't the most welcoming, but they were still more welcoming than the griffons. We stayed them for a few years, mostly because the dragons didn't mind our presence and also because they enjoyed sharing events of the past. As you must know by now, we alicorns have the gift, and curse, of immortality."

"What about your foal? Did you give birth in a proper manner?" demanded Blitz.

"I was just about to get to that part, child," answered Luna, giving Blitz a temporary reply. "If you truly want to know, I did give birth during our stay in the land of the dragons. It was a filly, a filly with a fur coat as black as the night I brought forth. We kept her safe and educated her there. I called her Dream Nights. She grew into a beautiful mare and after a thousand years passed, we agreed that we would need to leave the lands to find someplace else to live."

"It was then that you stumbled upon Equestria, correct?"

"Yes. We arrived in Equestria after leaving the lands of the dragons. But then, everything changed. It all changed because of Discord. As you should know by now, Discord used to rule Equestria in a state of total disharmony before we came to Equestria. We managed to seal him into stone using the Elements of Harmony but not before he corrupted my daughter. He used her against us and even after he was defeated, she remained corrupted. Our only option was to wield the Elements of Harmony against her but right before we were about to strike her down, I realized I couldn't bring myself to cause any harm upon her, even if it was for her own good. In the end, we triumphed against Discord but I lost my daughter."

"What happened to her, then? asked a concerned Blitz as he noticed the melancholy in Luna's facial expression.

"For another thousand years, Celestia and I kept Equestria safe but not a single day passed by without Dream appearing in the back of my mind. I couldn't stop thinking about her. We encountered her for the last time on this very night a thousand years ago. We confronted her but all hopes of attempting to bring her back were for naught. Discord's magic had taken her completely. She adorned a battle armor and kept referring herself as Nightmare Moon and ceased to respond to her normal name. We fought and fought but she proved to be far too strong for us alone. We had no other choice than to use the Elements of Harmony. If something could free her, it would be the Elements. We managed to trick her and with the advantage we possessed, we used the Elements of Harmony on her," explained Luna as her expression becoming grim.

"Wasn't that a good thing? She seemed evil from what you told us, Your Highness," Blitz replied nonchalantly.

For a split second, Dusk and Celestia both noticed something in Luna's eyes. A certain flicker of some sort, as if something had snapped inside of her. Without even letting Blitz any time to evaluate his situation, she menacingly approached him and, using the Royal Canterlot Voice, started screaming, "She didn't have a choice! Discord corrupted her mind using his twisted magic and forced her to fight us, to fight against me. Her very own mother! Do you have any idea of the pain I felt when I had to banish her? Did you even think about how much it tore me apart to watch her fall into madness? For that matter, were you thinking at all?! And now, after a thousand year, I find out that I have a granddaughter that doesn't even know her lineage. Granted, she is most probably Dream's illegitimate child, but that doesn't mean she is not a part of our family!"

"Your Highness, I'm not sure I understand all of this. Your daughter, Dream Nights. had a daughter of her own but that's all I can follow. Normal ponies don't live for a thousand years," Dusk said in an analytical manner.

"That is very true, Dusk Shine, but her daughter was anything but a normal pony… In fact, you met her not so long ago."

Dusk began thinking about all the ponies he had met during the day but he couldn't find a single one that could be affiliated with Nightmare Moon. He was convinced that he hadn't met the princess' granddaughter until the image of Raine passed through his mind. She was Nightmare Moon's daughter and Nightmare Moon was Luna's daughter. It all began to make sense in his mind although he began regretting being that harsh with the black alicorn. He had been extremely harsh to her and he was unaware that she was part of the royal family, sort of anyway.

"It's Raine, isn't it?" Dusk guessed, surprising the sisters with his deduction.

"What are you saying, Dusk? That pony can't be Princess Luna's granddaughter. Surely, she has to be something else. A changeling, maybe."

"Rainbow Blitz! Thou needest to learn to keep thy mouth closed! We shalt not let thou insult a member of the royal family, even if Raine is an illegitimate offspring and not directly part of royalty itself."

"Now, now, Luna. I think you said all of which you had to say. Is there anything else you wish to mention?"

"No, that was all. Now, if you'll excuse me, I will retire into my own private chambers. It has been a long day and I require some rest."

With that, Dusk and Blitz bowed as the princess left the room. Though the words of the princess had left a bitter taste in Blitz's mouth, he knew all too well not to provoke the princesses. Especially when one of them was dealing with issues about her own family. In any case, after the Lunar Princess left the room, Celestia turned her gaze upon Dusk and Blitz again and offered a stern facial expression.

"I have a mission for you. For both of you, actually," said Celestia.

"Your Highness?" both Dusk and Blitz asked at the same time.

"I would like you two to investigate the whereabouts of Nightmare Moon. We have recently heard that trouble has appeared in Ponyville in the form of a pony. Also, you shall be accompanied by another pony along the way to help in your investigation," Celestia explained, still offering her stern expression.

"I would gladly do it, Your Highness, but why us of all ponies?" Dusk queried, curious about the princess' decision.

"You may be wondering why I am sending you instead of the royal guards, am I right?" inquired Celestia, who was soon answered with a nod. "It is rather simple. With the recent threat Dream Nights, otherwise known as Nightmare Moon, is posing on Equestria, we need every able guards to defend the city in case she would try to seek revenge against Luna or myself. That being said, I have complete trust in your abilities, Dusk Shine, and that is why I am sending you on such a quest."

"When will we depart, then?" Blitz queried.

"Tomorrow, after noon. Your first destination shall be Ponyville and for the sake of communication between the two of us, I will be assigning Spike with you for your quest."

"But… wasn't Spike Twilight's assistant? I'm sorry, Princess Celestia but I don't think he will want to come with me, especially after everything that's happened," Dusk replied.

"That is where you are wrong. I'm sure Spike will desire justice for what happened to Twilight," revealed Celestia.

"Nevertheless, he will accompany you as he can be used as a way to communicate via letters. I'm also sending him with you because his judgment is sometimes more thought through than yours."

"W-what do you mean by that, Your Highness? Are you saying that my judgment is lacking?" Dusk asked, taken aback by the princess' reply.

"No. That wasn't what I was implying, Dusk Shine. I trust your judgment completely. However, you act rashly without thinking it through too often. Spike, on the other hand, will rarely act in such a way, except to defend those he holds dear. You have to understand that I am doing this to balance out the flaws in your personalities," explained Celestia.

"I dunno, Your Highness. I get the feeling you're not entirely trusting us," Blitz said aloud, before realizing what he had just said. "I-I'm s-sorry. I didn't mean it that way, P-Princess!"

"You have nothing to be sorry for, Rainbow Blitz. I encourage the freedom of speech. However, it is as you said. I do not entirely trust you because of your emotional responses. Your earlier outbursts at Raine Moon earlier proved me right."

"That was… " Dusk began.

"Before you knew of Raine's identity? While a good point, you should try to be less judgmental. You may end up offending somepony unwillingly otherwise," replied the princess.

"Understood, Princess."

"Now, now. Don't look so ashamed. You simply weren't informed. In any case, you two should try to get some rest because you will need it."

"That wouldn't be a bad idea after all, actually," Blitz admitted.

"Wait! Dusk, I would like to have a word with you for a brief moment," said Celestia in a cold and harsh tone.

The unicorn gulped as he obeyed the princess and stayed in her chambers. He wondered why she wanted to have him stay a tad longer but he began to worry about the matter of the discussion they would be having. Would be it bad or good? There was no telling behind Celestia's stern expression. Both remained silent for a while until the Solar Princess broke said silence.

"Dusk Shine, I am disappointed in you," uttered Celestia.

"What do you mean, Princess?"

"You know exactly what I mean, my dear. How did your friend know about the changelings?"

"I-I-I may have talked to him a little bit about them," Dusk admitted in defeat.

"Do you remember what we discussed about the information on changelings, Dusk Shine?" queried the princess.

"They are currently considered a potential threat and as such, no information about the changelings should reach the public until we know more about them," recited Dusk Shine. "I know that, Your Highness, but Blitz is trustworthy. He may seem carefree at times, and he is, but one thing he does not do is act carelessly. He may brag at times, but he always applies himself when he needs to be serious."

"That is not the point. You were ordered to refrain from informing the public of the changelings and you did not follow your orders."

"I apologize for not following my orders, Your Highness, and I am ready to accept whatever punishment you decide to give me," said Dusk, looking at the ground in shame.

For a moment, as the unicorn raised his head, Dusk thought he saw a grin on the princess' face. Shaking his head, he looked at Celestia once more and saw her grinning as if she had a mischievous idea planned for him. Without any delay of any sort, she announced, "For disobeying orders, I will place a pony under your care, or rather under your protection. As such, you will have to keep her safe while searching for Nightmare Moon's whereabouts."

"And who exactly might she be?" Dusk inquired, puzzled by the identity of the pony Celestia was talking about.

"Oh, you've met her earlier!" Celestia cheerfully exclaimed. "She's quite the fragile soul, though."

"Oh no, no, no!" Dusk let out as he figured out who that pony was. "I don't mind having her with us, but Blitz still wants her head for bringing about the death of his sister."

"I can understand his anger. I felt the same way when Discord took Dream away from us. However, your friend will have to come in terms that he does not have a say in the matter," replied Celestia, offering a stern expression once more.

"I will be sure to pass him the message, Princess."

"Good. You are dismissed now. I have said what I had to say. Don't worry about sleep, I have asked Luna to instruct the guards to prepare your old room for you and your friend's stay for the night," Celestia told Dusk.

"Thank you, Your Highness.”

—

Luna entered her private chambers and let out a long sigh. She had had a bad day, although she did learn that she had a granddaughter. Nonetheless, the day had exhausted her, so much that it showed in her eyes. However, the Lunar Princess was alarmed by something: mumblings. She was hearing somepony mumble things that she wasn't able to clearly understand. She instantly dashed to her bedroom, the place the mumbles seemed to be coming from. Once there, she saw Raine curled up in a fetal position, repeating the same things over and over again.

"'Twas just a dream. 'Twas just a dream. 'Twas just a dream."

"Raine?" Luna asked before she noticed the black alicorn's eyes; they were blank. "What's wrong, Raine?"

The black alicorn didn't respond to the Lunar Princess and simply stared at Luna, her eyes completely empty. Soon after, she curled up in a fetal position once move and her whole body began to shake. Whatever was happening, it was scaring the life out of the poor pony. Luna embraced Raine in an attempt to bring Raine back to reality, speaking soft words into the black alicorn's left ear. Unfortunately, all of her attempts to reassure Raine were met by failure as she was unresponsive to any kind of stimuli.

"Raine, everything's going to be alright. Luna's here for you," spoke Luna, a single tear rolling down her right cheek.

"L-Luna?" Raine repeated slowly.

Before the princess could do or say anything, she found herself in a tight embrace. As she looked down a bit, she saw Raine, her eyes back to normal, tightly hugging her. The black alicorn lifted her head shortly afterwards and offered Luna a warm smile. Luna couldn't help herself and just hugged her granddaughter.

"I'm so glad you're alright, Luna!" Raine exclaimed, tears beginning to collect in her eyes. "I thought something bad had happened to you."

"What would make you think things like that, my dear?

"Well, it's a rather long story… "

"I think I can afford some time, so I think we have the time to talk about it."

Raine wasn't exactly secure about telling her dream to Luna, even though it was more of a nightmare in the end. She finally began to talk about the dream in general, how she felt in it and how it felt so real. She told Luna that she was actually able to sense what was happening. Her senses were fully active during the dream.

Then, she began to talk about the dream in details. She began with when she opened her eyes to find herself in the streets of Canterlot only to see a bloodshed in front of her. What came next was, however, extremely disturbing, both for Raine and for Luna. It was the description of Nightmare Moon’s massacre in Canterlot. Raine explained that when she arrived in the throne room, she found Celestia dead, her body parts scattered all around the room. He voice began to waver as she told Luna that she had to watch her mother brutally murder the Lunar Princess right in front of her eyes.

“Shhh, it is going to be all right, Raine. Nightmare Moon cannot invade your thoughts as long as you are awake or if I am by your side,” said Luna, slowly caressing the black alicorn’s mane with her right hoof.

“It was just terrifying, Luna. It felt so real, so intimidating.”

“Let it go, Raine,” softly spoke Luna, “for you have a big day waiting for you tomorrow. I’d suggest you to get some sleep, if you want to be in top shape.”

Raine nodded and lay on her bed. Her mind was slightly more a peace now that Luna was there. Her mind had been previously tainted by grim images and disturbing visions but those were slowly but surely exiting her mind as she found sleep, guided by Luna’s humming. It was a melody that she hadn’t heard before and yet, it was very soothing. Raine was soon lulled to sleep as Luna watched her fall asleep, a peaceful smile on her face.

“You two are very much alike. That same melody used to lull her to sleep as well,” Luna said, making efforts not to wake Raine.

—

“Rise and shine, Raine! It is a glorious day!” Luna exclaimed.

Raine woke up instantly, startled by Luna’s voice. She had such a peaceful rest and it had all been ruined by Luna’s enthusiasm. Still half-awake, she got up from her bed and looked around her. Although she thought all the luxury was a tad too much, she still agreed on the fact that it looked better than the cave she had been living in back in the Everfree Forest.

“What was that for, Luna?” Raine inquired.

“I thought I had told you. You have a big day ahead of you and you need to be prepared for it.”

“Prepared for what, exactly?

“You’ll see soon enough. However, there will be the matter of which kind of illusion you would like as your disguise to discuss first,” Luna began. “So, which one do you want?”

“I’m not sure I’m following you right now, Luna,” admitted Raine, a shameful look in her eyes.

“My sister and I have decided that it would be good for you to explore Equestria. Since you only know of the Everfree Forest, we thought you might enjoy seeing the rest of the kingdom. Our only problem is that we can’t have a black alicorn near the public. It would cause an uproar and my sister and I would like to avoid that. I am asking you, in her behalf, what kind of illusion you would like as a disguise between an Earth pony, a Pegasus or a unicorn,” explained Luna, making sure to share all the details that were discussed during her last conversation with Celestia.

“But… I don’t know the first thing about Equestria’s geography,” replied Raine.

“We figured that would be the case so we are sending you along with Dusk Shine and Rainbow Blitz on their quest to locate Nightmare Moon.”

The name of her mother alone was enough to make Raine shiver in fear as she thought about meeting her again, which was something she was not looking forward to. Figuring that it was probably a royal order, Raine simple said, “You make it sound like I have no choice in the matter.”

“And that is the case. We are issuing a royal order to the three of you and we will require you to abide by it at all times. Also, I have yet to receive an answer concerning my earlier question.”

“If I have no choice whatsoever, I think I’ll go with the Pegasus one,” spoke Raine.

“Understood. For now, stand still for you may experience migraines while I work the illusion around your body,” said Luna.

“Wait, so it isn’t just a simple illusion then?” queried Raine.

“Well, no. It is a complex hex that was used in ancient times to completely disguise a pony as another kind of pony. It could be called a second skin but it can easily be shattered,” revealed Luna as she began collecting magic energy in her horn.

Time began to pass very slowly for Raine as she felt Luna’s magic around her. The princess worked a strange spell that made her feel dizzy. She didn’t know why but she felt that way the whole time Luna worked her magic. The princess told her she was done several minutes afterwards and said that she could have a look at herself in the mirror.

Looking at herself, Raine realized that she was now a Pegasus with dark blue coat. Her eyes, mane and tail remained the same but she couldn’t be confounded with Nightmare Moon with that illusion. What surprised her the most what that she was still aware of her horn but it didn’t appear at all in her reflection.

“As long as you have that disguise, you shall be known as Midnight Flight. However, I placed a second hex on you so that the illusion will become inactive once you are with ponies you trust,” explained Luna.

“Do you really think they’ll accept me that easily?” Raine asked, somewhat doubtful.

“Well, Dusk Shine already claimed that he wouldn’t mind having you along. That only leaves Rainbow Blitz. His only problem is that he seems a little dense and spiteful but I think that can be changed given some time,” answered Luna, managing to convince Raine with her answer.

“Maybe I could give them a chance if they are ready to give me one.”

“That is a very good idea. Now, if you would please follow me so I can give you your briefing.”

Raine nodded and followed the princess to another region of the castle that she had not visited before. She was guided into what seemed to be a meeting hall. Raine deduced that it was the same one the military used when they were gathering before an important mission. What the disguised alicorn did not anticipate was that Dusk and Blitz were both waiting there along with Celestia.

“Your Highnesses, may I ask who this Pegasus is?” Blitz asked in a rather annoyed manner.

“This Pegasus here is better known as Raine Moon. Luna placed an illusion on her that acts like a second skin so she could pass unnoticed while accompanying you,” Celestia answered.

“Wait, what?!” Blitz exclaimed, shocked by the sudden news.

Return to the Origins

The EclipsedChapter Three : Return to the OriginsBy Raine Moon

“I can’t believe we’re forced to protect her, of all things!” Blitz let out, his anger showing through his voice.

True, Blitz was somewhat of an insensitive jerk sometimes but that was only because he was still being affected by the events of the last few days. Granted, he had accused an alicorn of crimes she didn’t commit and even went as far a uttering what could be considered an insult towards the royal family. Still, that was just how he was normally; carefree.

He stood on a train seat, moping about his own misfortune. He deplored that he was just being a tool in the princesses chess game but Dusk argued with him on that part, saying that Princess Celestia was an honest ruler and only became severe if the situation demanded it so like that time where he had accidentally cast the “Want it, Need it” spell from one of his magical outbursts.

Truly, that was one of the things that had incited Celestia into taking him as a protégé as well. He possessed a great deal of magical potential but his only problem was that his magic was far too raw in power to be normally tamed, which was why he constantly wore an amulet around his neck. It served as a restraint, a patent of Celestia and several other teachers at the Academy for Gifted Unicorns who happened to be victims of Dusk’s outbursts.

“I’m sorry to be a burden, Blitz, but I never asked for this either,” replied Raine after she heard Blitz complain.

“Oh sure! Being the crybaby you are, I wouldn’t be surprised if you pleaded to come with us just so you could annoy us,” Blitz said, glaring daggers at the alicorn in disguise.

“H-hey! I am not a crybaby! I just had to raise myself out in a forest filled with deadly plants and monsters! I have no knowledge of anything apart from my life in the Everfree. And I’m probably the one that was traumatized the most by my mother’s return, especially when she invaded my dream last night.”

“Wait… So, you mean to tell us that Nightmare Moon can invade somepony’s dream and give them nightmares?” Dusk queried.

Raine nodded. She began explaining to the two ponies what Nightmare Moon had told her in her dream the previous night. She didn’t go into details as she wanted to forget the disturbing images as much as possible. Still, she told them that Nightmare Moon’s special talent was the control of dreams. She wasn’t sure if it extended to more than just the ability to alter a peaceful dream into a nightmare but the single thought of that possibility gave her shivers.

Dusk was overly interested by what Raine told him, mainly because he wanted to know as much about Nightmare Moon as possible since such information would prove to be invaluable if they were to cross paths with the evil alicorn. He was a scholar, or so he claimed, but he had never been seen reading many books, unlike Twilight’s undying love for books and all the lore they contained.

Blitz, however, gave out a small laugh and said that even if Nightmare Moon would be able to enter his dreams, he would still be able to kick her flank rather easily. His comment earned him a doubtful stare from Raine as if she was telling him that trying to resist Nightmare Moon was like try to break free from an iron ball dragging you down the depths of a lake.

And it was exactly what she was thinking. She found the Pegasus to be pretty overconfident of his own talents. Nightmare Moon’s powers rivaled the princesses’ and they could be stronger than the two monarchs. How could that foal even think he had a chance against her mother when he clearly knew nothing about what he was talking about?

“Now, now, Blitz. I know you’re eager to defeat Nightmare Moon but we have to play this safely. We do not know enough about our enemy to attack her head-on like you are proposing to do. I am sure we’ll find a way to do that but for now, let’s just go fetch Spike so we can be done with this,” Dusk told Blitz, carefully analyzing the situation.

“Eh… Since when did you become such a methodical pony, Dusk. Act like you care a little bit about my sister or Twilight Sparkle!” Blitz exclaimed

“I do care but right now, letting our emotions blind us is probably the worst thing to do . We need to set up a trap of our own before doing anything that might endanger us, especially with this new threat Raine has informed us about.”

Blitz scowled. He knew his best friend was right but he was ready to take on Nightmare Moon anytime for the crimes she had committed. Realistically, he knew that it was impossible to defeat the fallen princess alone but if he had enough help to back him up, it could be an achievable feat. The only one he didn’t want help from was Raine and that was because she was mostly useless as she couldn’t use magic.

“Say, Lady Raine,” Dusk spoke, breaking the pregnant silence he had created with his last reply to Blitz, “could I have a look at your flow of magic for a few moments?”

“What was that?” Raine replied, an innocent grin on her face. “I was busy thinking about a lot of things. Could you repeat your question, Dusk?”

“Of course, Lady Raine. Just don’t make it an habit. It would get rather annoying in the long run, wouldn’t you agree?” Dusk asked rhetorically. “In any case, I simply asked you if it would be possible to have a look at your flow of magic as I remember you saying that you couldn’t use magic last night.”

“What good would that do?” Raine inquired, not trusting the unicorn’s intentions.

“Well, as a matter of fact, it could explain why you can’t use magic and it would also enable a process in which you could regain your ability to use magic,” answered the unicorn, the tiniest of grins visible under all of his effort to hide it.

“If you say it like that, then I guess I could let you have a look. But only for a few moments, okay?”

“You have my word, Lady Raine.”

“Argh! Stop being so darn cheesy!” Blitz blurted out, annoyed by the two’s blabbering about promises and all. “You’re making my ears bleed!”

The two ponies simply glanced at Blitz, then back at each other and just began to laugh as if they had become mad. Moments passed before Dusk was able to regain his calm. He regained his stature and simply said, “Yep! That’s Blitz all right.”

“Haha, this is so funny my sides hurt,” Blitz replied, a bit of venom in his voice.

“Oh, lighten up. This is the first time I had fun since the last few centuries. Let me savour it a bit more, squirt.”

Blitz cringed slightly. He didn’t like to be made fun of ever since he was bullied at the flight camp for trying to perform a sonic rainboom. He tried and tried but he never succeeded. He had begun to doubt the existence of the fabled sonic rainboom until his sister performed one when she was still in the flight camp. However, such memories were beyond the point. His pride just took a big hit when Raine called him a squirt.

“In any case, shall we begin?” Dusk asked Raine to be sure she was still fine with his small observation of her natural flow of magic.

“Of course I am. Just don’t take too long, Dusk Shine.”

With her consent, Dusk’s horn lit up with a pale aura, some sort of mix between grey and white mixed together. The spell to observe the flow of magic within a unicorn was relatively simple and an alicorn wasn’t all that different from a unicorn except for the nigh bottomless magic reserves and wings. The spell was easily casted and Raine felt the magic wrap around her, penetrating her skin to flow along with her bloodstream and ultimately, her flow of magic.

What Dusk was able to experience with his spell left him completely speechless. So much that he decided to double check to see if something had altered his results but they were still the same. He thought about it all, the very thought was gnawing at his mind very quickly. He had been able to feel Raine’s flow of magic. The only problem was that it was leaking an immense portion of her magical energy, leaving only a small fraction which was not enough for even the simplest of spells.

He was dumbstruck. The first reason being that it was the first time he had seen such a thing. It was not normal for a unicorn or an alicorn’s magical reserves to be leaking by themselves. The second one was because Dusk felt something was wrong with Raine. He felt that there was something she wasn’t telling them. Her answers were too brief and sometimes felt forced.

He left that part in the back of his mind for the moment as it was not what he needed to focus on. At that point, he was trying to rationalize the strange condition that had befallen Raine. His mind had been like that since the last few years. He had always possessed a strong deduction but his only problem was that he always needed to find a rational explanation to things. From what Princess Celestia had told him, both he and Twilight possessed that personality trait.

Dusk Shine was so lost in thoughts that he failed to hear the question the alicorn asked him. He kept thinking about what he had felt when he inspected Raine’s flow of magic and it made his head spin for the hundredth time. The rationalization of the matter was enough to drive him crazy. It just didn’t make any sense to the unicorn.

“Umm, is something the matter, Dusk?” Raine inquired, quite worried about the unicorn’s unresponsiveness.

Silence. Dusk didn’t even move his head and his ears didn’t even react to her calling out his name. Raine mumbled to herself that he had to be really lost in thoughts for him to ignore the outside world in such a manner.

“Dusk?” Raine asked.

“Stand back, granny!” Blitz told Raine, repaying her for the comment she had made earlier. “This is how you get Dusk out of his bubble.”

Without any warnings at all, Blitz grabbed Dusk’s tail in his mouth and with a swift motion of his head, he made the unicorn fall from his seat and broke the entire concentration he had gained since the last half-hour.

Dusk came back to reality and rubbed his hoof on his forehead, wondering what had happened. He looked around him and saw Blitz in flight, a few feet above the train’s floor. The Pegasus wore a mischievous grin on his face and just looked at him with a defiant expression. Without asking anything at all, the unicorn’s brain processed all of the information and came up with an explanation of his own.

“Why did you disturb me when I was deep in thoughts, Blitz?” asked an annoyed Dusk.

“Our milady was attempting to ask a question to you and you were ignoring her in a rather rude manner,” Blitz replied, adding a slight accent he picked up during one of his visit in Canterlot.

“Blitz… Promise me to never ever use that voice again. It annoys me to no end.”

Dusk could only watch as Blitz silently promised as he was too busy laughing at the unicorn following his reply. Dusk let out a sigh and returned his gaze over to Raine and gave her an interrogative look. Not wasting any time, Raine cleared her throat a bit since she had found the situation to be funny as well.

“Well, I was just wondering what made you so unresponsive. Since you began inspecting my flow of magic, you became somehow unresponsive. You even ignored me on several occasions.”

“Well, it’s just that you are a peculiar case. I might know why you can’t use magic but just the explanation itself would make it sound like you should have been dead a long time ago. According to unicorn science, your body shouldn’t be able to withstand all the stress it is put under,” Dusk explained, passing from the first point to the last one.

“Wait…? What do you mean by all the stress my body is suffering from?” Raine asked, quoting the aquamarine unicorn.

“It’s hard to explain in such a manner. Normally, unicorns all have a set amount of magical energy our body can absorb depending on our metabolisms. Alicorns, seeing as they also possess horns, are pretty much the same in that manner. The only difference between the two is the amount of magical energy our bodies can absorb.”

“I understand that much quite well but I think there is something you are not telling me, right?”

“Quite right you are, Lady Raine,” Dusk said, nodding at the same time. “When I said that you were a peculiar case, I really meant it. You flow of magic seems to be normal except at one precise location, which is near your horn. There is a disturbance there and it causes nearly all of your collected magical energy to leak straight out of your body. I’m surprised the princesses never told you or us about it.”

“Please, stop with the formalities. I’m sure Luna and Celestia have talked to you about my peculiar predicament but it feels sort of wrong for ponies to be so formal with me when they know next to nothing about me,” Raine told the unicorn.

“About that, I’m feeling you’re not exactly being honest with us. I feel as if you are hiding some information that could prove vital to our cause.”

“Stop your blabbering! We’ve reached Ponyville!” Blitz let out, breaking the connection Dusk had managed to establish with Raine.

————

After disembarking from the train, the group made their way to the town square. There, they were greeted by a horde of ponies. All of them wanting to ask a question to the two residents of Ponyville. Dusk rubbed his right hoof on his forehead. He wasn’t used to getting so much attention and the stress was easily noticeable in his whole body. It pretty much began trembling.

Raine was examining the situation Dusk was in and tried to analyze what was going on. She wasn’t sure what was being discussed as the voices were mostly muffled by each other. All the citizens of Ponyville that were swarming around the unicorn wanted the same thing; get through to him but that wouldn’t be an easy task when said pony was getting a minor case of stage fright.

“Alright, y’all! Be quiet for a moment. Dusk’s getting overwhelmed by your incessant questions. Give him a break!” Blitz shouted at the top of his lungs, startling the citizens at the same time. “You are all civilized ponies, most of you at least.”

“Mister Dusk Shine, Ah was just wonderin’ if ya got ta talk ta the princesses ‘bout what happened ta my sister,” said a filly that had pulled Dusk’s mane.

“I did get an audience with Princess Celestia, Apple Bloom, but it would seem that things got a little bit more complicated than we first thought,” Dusk admitted.

“So, does that mean that Nightmare Moon is still alive and free to roam as she wants or are you telling me that she managed to gain control over our princesses?” asked another pony.

Dusk immediately proceeded to tell the pony, a rather grayish amber pony with a dark amber mane and an hourglass for a cutie mark, that the pony that was brought to Canterlot two days before was not Nightmare Moon. He told the citizens that it was her daughter that was framed by her own mother and therefore had to be judged for crimes she never committed.

“You still haven’t answered my question,” said the amber pony.

“To be short, yes. Nightmare Moon is free to roam as she sees fit but she has not yet gained control over the two princesses. Blitz, Midnight and I have been tasked with the responsibility to locate Nightmare Moon. The only reason we stopped by Ponyville was because we needed to come pick Spike up,” explained Dusk.

“I think now would be the perfect timing to tell you that Spike didn’t leave the library ever since Twilight… met with her grim fate,” said another pony, a grey mare with a bag full of letters hanging on her left side.

“Dusk. Come on, we have a lot to do so let’s not waste too much time with them. Besides, you’re already stressed enough as it is. I think more pressure would kill you,” Blitz remarked, harboring a grin as he looked at the aquamarine unicorn.

————

It took about an hour for the group to finally enter the library and convincing the baby dragon was no easy task. It was understandable as Dusk had said. Pretty much any living creatures would be shaken to hear their mother had been slaughtered by an ancient villain that was thought to be imprisoned for all eternity.

Dusk had tried to convince Spike peacefully for the first thirty minutes but it proved to be kind of unsuccessful. Spike was just too stubborn and hurt to listen to Dusk’s arguments. Just as the unicorn was about to give up the idea of recruiting Spike with them, Blitz entered the frame and told the dragon that if he wouldn’t open the door soon, he would force it open.

The baby dragon ignored the Pegasus’ threats and told the small group of ponies that he had better things to do rather than having a discussion with stubborn ponies that didn’t know when to give up. Finally, after a good fifteen minutes, Blitz decided he had waited long enough and just busted the door to the library with a suddden buck.

Spike was surprised when he realized that the Pegasus’ threats were not just for show. Still, after the three ponies entered the library, Dusk replaced the door in it’s rightful position after a certain Pegasus had forced it open without thinking about the aftermath. Another hour passed and they had yet to talk about the subject of him accompanying them.

“There is something I need to ask you. Do you mind me asking you the inquiry?” Dusk queried, locking his eyes in Spike’s.

“I think I know what it is. Princess Celestia sent me a letter explaining what had been decided and I’m sorry but I can’t

accompany you,” Spike said.

“Wait, you mean to tell us that after all the efforts we put into finding you and asking you to help us, you’re going to refuse getting revenge against the one who killed Twilight?!” Blitz exclaimed, shocked by Spike’s answer.

“What good would it do? It wouldn’t bring her back, would it?”

“Maybe not. However, you can make sure her memory is well-preserved by avenging her. If Nightmare Moon wins, she will make sure to erase her name as well as the other bearers from existence,” Raine said, expressing what she wanted to do while on her quest to find her mother.

“Wait? Who’re you?” asked Spike, giving Raine a weird look.

“Me? I’m Midnight Flight. I was asked to accompany these two because I’m a…” Raine began only to start stammering as she couldn’t come up with a good back story.

“She’s a cartographer. She is often asked to update the maps of Equestria as well as to inform the princesses of any irregularities she finds while travelling all over Equestria,” Dusk quickly continued, saving Raine from blowing her own cover.

“Yes, that’s what I was about to say. The princesses have asked me to guide them throughout Equestria as I know its geography quite well,” Raine finished, putting on a nervous smile.

Spike slowly nodded and eyed Raine even more. He knew that there was something fishy about her story and he was determined to find out what it was. The first hint that made him doubt Raine’s cover as Midnight Flight was when she began stammering as she tried to find a believable story. The second one was her nervous smile.

“I’m sorry but my answer still remains. I am not coming with you because it’s a lost cause. There’s no finding Nightmare Moon.”

“But-”

“Not buts! I’m not going and that’s final! Now, if you would please do me a favor and get out of here, I would gladly appreciate it!” Spike shouted, bothered by the three ponies trying to convince him.

Realizing there was no convincing Spike, Dusk simply said that they should let it go and just go to his place for the night. The sun was close to setting so the three ponies thought it would be for the best if they got a good night’s sleep as they would have to explain how Spike had refused to join them to Princess Celestia.

————

Upon leaving the library, Raine noticed that ponies were all gathered in the public square, admiring something. Some of them were even in awe. Intrigued, she notified her two companions about it and asked them if they wanted to check out what was attracting so many ponies.

Blitz let out an annoyed sigh at the alicorn’s curiosity. We don’t have time for this. If we dawdle too much, we’ll have no chances of ever finding Nightmare Moon, he thought. With a roll of his eyes, he still agreed to go see it. The Pegasus was intending to see what the attraction was and take his leave right after.

Raine, on the other hoof, had other plans. Her curiosity had gotten the better of her. Dusk was sort of interested so he stood on Raine’s side instead of Blitz’s. There was something that called out to him. It felt as if a long lost friend was waiting for him.

Blitz growled as his frustration rose. He still followed the two other ponies but it felt like he was doing chores. Long story short, it felt forced.

“Citizens of Ponyville! The Great and Powerful Trixie, otherwise known as the most magical unicorn in Equestria, has graced your village with her presence. To prove her point, Trixie shall tell you how she vanquished Nightmare Moon in Baltimare.”

A very doubtful Raine rolled her eyes as she heard the blue pony introduce herself. Is she for real? Mares like her probably know next to nothing about the might of Nightmare Moon. She kept those thoughts where they belonged and kept listening to the show mare. Her speech was starting to make the alicorn sick.

“It was no easy task to defeat Nightmare Moon but it did not stop Trixie and her incredible magic. She chased the wicked villain from Baltimare and saved the town from impeding doom,” Trixie exclaimed, a show of lights detailing the events that took place in Baltimare.

Several ponies let out gasps as they listened to the blue mare attentively. At that point, Raine had gotten tired of listening to the Trixie’s lies. The more the show mare talked, the more it became obvious she had accomplished none of the things she claimed to have done. She turned her back and was about to leave but something stopped her.

“What in the?!” Raine yelped as she saw that blue tendrils had grabbed her hind legs.

“Well, well, well. What is this? An early quitter or perhaps you don’t believe the Great and Powerful Trixie. She can assure you, however, that all of her feats are true,” assured Trixie.

“Sure… Well, if the Great and Powerful Trixie defeated,” Raine cringed as she spoke those words,” Nightmare Moon, could she be kind enough to tell us what kind of magic the evil mare uses?”

“That’s… that’s an irrelevant question. Everypony knows that Nightmare Moon has great knowledge over the dark arts and manipulates dark magic with ease, so Trixie assumed that you all knew what that villain was capable of. In your case, it would seem you weren’t well informed.” Trixie replied, pursing her mouth into a self-satisfied smirk.

“I’m having issues believing you, Trixie. Your testimony is filled with holes. For one, I saw the Elements of Harmony get killed by Nightmare Moon when she came back from her imprisonment. She used magic far different from what you are describing.”

Trixie looked stunned. The arguments Raine used against her made her feel like she was losing her edge, her advantage. Still, the show mare was not about to admit defeat so easily. She would sooner die than to let herself be defeated by a mere Pegasus. Flaring more magic into her horn, Trixie moved the tendrils that were still attached to Raine’s hind legs and sent her hurling against a tree.

“Hey, what did she ever do to you?” an angry citizen asked.

“She tried to stain the Great and Powerful Trixie’s reputation by talking lies into you all. Trixie could not let such an offense go unpunished and as such, she did what she needed to do.” Trixie did not want to answer in depth as it was merely a waste of her time.

“If you ever do that again, I will be sure to make you stop. If it needs to be done up, close and personal, then so be it!” Dusk let out, finishing his check-up on Raine.

“Is that a challenge, unicorn?” Trixie queried, raising an eyebrow. “Very well, Trixie shall accept your challenge. Be warned, though; whatever you can do, Trixie can do better.”

“Yeah, yeah! We’ll see about that when I’m done with you!” Blitz flapped his wings arrogantly as he glared at Trixie.

And with that, Blitz leapt into the air, wings beating at an excessively fast rate. He managed to create a large cloud of dust after he took off. He spotted a mass of clouds to his left and directly aimed for them. He spun through them, collecting as much water as he could, while continuing to rise higher and higher. The maneuver he was attempting was hard, that much was obvious, and Blitz used that to boost his own morale.

Higher! The air began to become rarer as he continued to ascend. It also became colder, causing shivers to crawl their way through his entire body. Though it was kind of painful at some point, the current pain Blitz felt at that moment wasn’t enough to make him back down. No, it instead pushed him to go even higher. Augmenting the cadence of his wings beats, he pushed through the troposphere.

As the white Pegasus continued to ascend, he could feel ice form around the edge of his wings. Not only that but his body also began to become numb because the pressure closing in on him. He could literally feel his body get slightly crushed by the current atmospheric pressure.

As strong as his resolve was, Blitz knew he couldn’t take it any longer or his body would just shut down. He snapped his wings shut and just let himself fall down. He kept descending like that for a while until he felt a thermal updraft. He snapped his wings open then and went into a dive.

Blitz passed through several clouds again, his cold body freezing the water at an alarming rate, causing the droplets to turn into snow. The Pegasus was still diving and only opened his wings when he judged the height was right for him to decelerate his fall.

Finally, he finished his maneuver by making a dramatic landing on the platform Trixie was using for her show. Snow soon followed him to the ground and he showed off one more time right in front of Trixie. He even had the nerve to wink her way while giving the unicorn a mischievous smirk.

“Impressive. Now watch as the Great and Powerful Trixie retaliates!”

Charging her horn with magic, she gathered all the pseudo snowflakes Blitz had made in an attempt to impress the show mare and began to make them float around Blitz. It was like a swarm of predators had found a snack in Blitz and began circling him. Then, she pressed all the snow against the white Pegasus and completely encased him in a sturdy snow shell.

“You should feel lucky, Pegasus. I hear snow ponies will be getting popular soon. You should also be thankful because Trixie gave you an early start!” Trixie exclaimed, a cruel laugh soon following her comment. “Are there any others who would like to try their worth against the Great and Powerful Trixie?”

To that, no ponies present dared answer. The silence was comparable to the song of the crickets, if not more disturbing. Finally, Dusk approached the stage and made it look like he wanted to challenge the mare but he did none of that. He just levitated both Raine and Blitz with his magic and brought them back to his home.

————

“I swear I’m going to make that witch pay!” Those were the first words the white Pegasus uttered after Dusk had begun to melt the snow around him.

The snow around Blitz had been solidified so much that it resembled ice. It made Dusk’s attempts at freeing his friend from his cold prison more tedious. Had it been snow, it would have taken him a few moment but when it came to magically hardened ice, the process was a lot longer than with snow.

“Sure but first, let’s get you out of that shell of yours, Blitz. And besides, we should probably rest before informing the princess of our failed attempt at recruiting Spike.”

“Dusk?” Blitz called out to his friend.

“Yeah, Blitz? What is it?”

“Do you think that maybe Trixie was the pony Princess Celestia was talking about when she mentioned that trouble had come to Ponyville in the form of a pony?” queried the Pegasus.

“Perhaps but let’s not speculate too much for now. We don’t want to blame a pony that wants the spotlights on her only because she humiliated you. However, I do slightly hate her for what she did to Raine. After all, we are here to protect her and you saw how well that went,” Dusk told Blitz, his voice analytical.

“Speaking of Raine, where is she and what happened to her. Anger kind of got the better of me earlier so I was sort of blinded to everything else around me,” Blitz admitted, a flicker of shame in his eyes.

“So I’ve noticed.” That earned him the angry glare of his friend as the unicorn suppressed a chuckle.

“Thanks for the vote of confidence, Dusk. It means a lot to me,” Blitz grumbled, still glaring at the unicorn.

“In all seriousness,” Dusk resumed, “she is currently resting on my bed. While she received a minor concussion, I think we should count ourselves lucky that she didn’t get killed from the impact or that her disguise didn’t fade away when she was knocked out.”

“So, she’s alright?”

“For now, it doesn’t seem to be all that serious but it’ll take a few days for her to fully recover. That’s why I’m insisting that we stay here until she does,” announced Dusk.

“Wouldn’t that be disobeying the orders the princesses gave us?” Blitz asked, giving his friend a worried look.

“That would be the case but I’m sure they’ll understand if we tell them that it was for the sake of Raine’s recovery. Speaking of which, she seemed to be really agitated, even if she was unconscious.”

“Wait… don’t tell me she started convulsing and you didn’t care at all?” asked a horrified Blitz.

“No, it wasn’t like convulsions. It was more like she was having a dream or, more specifically, a nightmare…” Dusk said before he remembered what Raine told them in the morning.

“Oh no!” exclaimed Dusk and Blitz in unison.

The realization made them shiver. There were many plausible reasons but the one they had in mind was the one they were trying to avoid. They would be glad if it was just a simple nightmare going through her subconscious but the stakes were just too high to take it so simply.

They hurried upstairs as soon as they remembered what the alicorn had told them. Blitz bucked the door to Dusk’s room and the two rushed by Raine’s side to see her twitch uncontrollably while mumbling incomprehensible things. Her mumbles eventually became clearer but Dusk and Blitz still had a hard time understanding them.

“Must… save…” Raine spoke.

“I wonder what’s going on in that mind of hers right now,” Blitz remarked, hints of concern in his voice.

“Yeah, no kidding.”

————

I awoke to the cries of a filly calling to her sister. How did I know it was a filly? The voice was far too high-pitched to belong to an adult pony hence why I was sure it was a filly that woke me up. I got up and once I felt like I could stand correctly on my hooves again, I began to look around to see where it came from.

I eventually spotted the filly that woke me up. She had a coat that seemed like it was a mix between gray and white, making it hard for me to distinguish the difference so I went on ahead and decided it would be simpler to say she had a white coat, and a purple mane and tail with a pink streak passing through the middle on the two.

“Don’t leave me all alone, big sister,” cried the filly, her voice sounding somewhat familiar to my ear. I was, however, unable to recognize it completely.

“Don’t worry, Sweetie Belle. I’ll be back soon. In the meantime, don’t cause unnecessary trouble while I’m gone. Will you promise that your big sister?” asked a pony, one also white with a purple mane.

That second pony was familiar to me. I was sure I had met her before but since I was unable to look at her cutie mark, I couldn’t recognize her immediately. It was she turned to face me that I was able to recognize the white pony; it was Rarity.

“Would you take care of her while I’m gone, darling. I would feel simply horrible if something happened to her. While I may not trust you well enough to task you with such a thing, you put blind trust in us while you know next to nothing about my friends and I so in turn, I will do the same. Besides, you look like you can be trusted. Just… think about it, dear.”

I didn’t know why but I felt tears leak from my eyes. What was making me so sad. Was it the fact that Rarity’s will had managed to survive through the mind of her little sister and that she had trusted me, a pony she knew absolutely nothing about, with taking care of her sister?

No, it wasn’t that. It was close to that but it was something else. I could feel it. Those tears I had weren’t tears of sadness entirely, but they weren’t exactly tears of happiness. It was more of a mix between the two. I was sad that Rarity was gone and that the only thing that remained of her was the memories of her in her sister’s mind.

But then something hit my mind. How could I be inside the dreams of Sweetie Belle? The only thing that could be plausible would be a mixed dream. The only problem with that was that the only being capable to mixing dreams like that in such a manner was… Nightmare Moon.

The name of my mother sent shivers down my spine. The last nightmare she had given me was still fresh in my mind. I could still see the dead bodies of the citizens of Canterlot, the dismembered body of Celestia thrown in every direction in the throne room and finally, the lifeless remains of Luna after Nightmare Moon had been done with the Lunar Princess.

Something I had never anticipated took place all of a sudden. My entire environment began to crumble and everything became dark. I soon found myself to fall into a bottomless abyss, one that had an ominous aura. My eyes were eventually forced open by a bright light and I awoke in another landscape.

This one was a meadow, one I did not recognize. Puzzled, I began to explore my new environment until I spotted a baby dragon, namely Spike, wearing a tux with a bouquet in his clawed hand. Needless to say, he was preparing for a date in this mindscape as I did not feel like I was awake yet.

I started to approach the dragon I thought to be Spike but right before I was about to address him, he simply vanished in thin air, only to reappear a few hundred feet away from his former position. I began to chase him but the same scenario kept on repeating itself and even when I did try to call him, he remained unfazed.

Eventually, I managed to catch up with the dragon and I saw him in front of a pony I recognized as Rarity, slightly blushing. Their lips were moving but I was unable to hear any of words they spoke. This whole thing puzzled me to no end.

However, this was all cut short when I saw a purple mist suddenly enter the mindscape. A purple mist I knew all too well. It belonged to Nightmare Moon. While you could have thought that she would target me, she was targeting Rarity. I expected my mother to pounce on the white mare and corrupt her in whichever way she could but she didn’t.

She just took form right next to Rarity and began to whisper some things in her ear. Remember how I told you that I couldn’t hear what Spike and Rarity were saying? Well, simply put, there was a barrier separating me from where Nightmare Moon and Rarity were, Spike being nowhere to be seen.

Dread finally took hold of me as I saw Rarity’s white coat turn into a darker shade of grey while a black armor appeared around her body, giving the fashionista a fierce appearance; one that scared the life out of me, to be honest.

“Go to sleep,” spoke Rarity and Nightmare Moon together, their voice in complete synchronization.

My vision went black in a few seconds and I began to panic. What to do? What’s happening? My whole body was then struck with numbness, eventually refusing to listen to my commands. Tiredness began to occupy my whole body and not long after, I had been plunged in what I thought was a deep slumber.

————

“Rarity!” Raine exclaimed in panic, sweat dripping from her coat while the heat made her feel nauseous.

Needless to say, she hadn’t been exactly quiet upon waking up in terror. She just so happened to have woken up the two ponies that took care of her. They looked at her in discontent but it was clear that while they may not have appreciated her waking them up so abruptly, they were still glad she finally gave some signs of life.

She felt something around her head and, looking at her reflection in a nearby mirror, realized that it was only a simple bandage that covered a small spot where she bled. It wasn’t exactly life-threatening to her but the fact was, it could have brought upon the death of Raine Moon in an unwilling manner if not tended to properly before an infection could occur.

“Heheh… Sorry, guys,” apologized Raine, a nervous laugh exiting her.

“And here I was, enjoying that awesome dream of mine. Still, we’re both glad you came to. I don’t want my head impaled on a pike before I get a chance to stop Nightmare Moon,” admitted Blitz.

“Ignore him, Raine,” Dusk told her, pushing the Pegasus away with his magic. “When Trixie threw you on that tree, you suffered from a minor concussion, which is why you took several hours recuperate.”

Dusk proceeded into telling her what happened during the afternoon when Trixie was doing her petty exhibition. The disguised alicorn found it very surprising when Dusk told her that he protected her from a second attack coming from Trixie. He knew that he still resented her a bit after what had happened with Twilight but she never expected something as kind as that coming from the aquamarine unicorn.

She, however, couldn’t help but let out a muffled giggle when Dusk told her about Blitz’s exhibition when he soared so high in the sky that his whole body became as cold as ice, turning the clouds’ rain water into snow as he pierced through them in his descent. That part was normal for her but what really made her burst into laughter was when she was told that the white Pegasus was turned into a snow pony by Trixie.

Blitz sighed as he looked at the two ponies have fun at his expenses and rolled his eyes. There really wasn’t anything funny with his situation. Trixie had just gotten him by surprise, or at least that’s what he told himself.

Suddenly, a loud noise was heard in the house and soon, the trio heard the screams of the citizens of Ponyville as they seemed to flee from something that obviously scared them. Dusk and Blitz got on their hooves and nodded to each other and told Raine to stay inside in case it was dangerous out there but no responses came.

Unbeknownst to the pair, Raine had rushed outside the moment she had heard the suspicious noise. Her curiosity had gotten the better of her for a second time. She headed for the city’s main square only to find the pony responsible for causing such a panic.

Rarity…

If it had been Nightmare Moon, the shock might have been moderate, if only slightly, but the scene Raine had witnessed possessed the same effect as if somepony had slapped her face repeatedly.

Several questions ran through her mind all at the same time.

How was Rarity even alive?

Why was she in Ponyville in the first place?

Why did she have a coat that was darker than when she had originally met her?

Why were her eyes resembling her mother’s?

Wait, why was Nightmare Moon even next to Rarity the next minute?

Everything happened so fast that Raine began to hyperventilate. Her breathing fastened and it gradually began to hurt her lungs each time she took a breath. She only snapped out of it when a filly’s high pitched voice resonated through her eardrums.

Searching for the origins of that voice, her eyes eventually darted on a little filly, the same one she had seen in her dream. Sweetie… Belle, was it? Well, in any case, the sound of her voice was enough to get Raine out of her trance.

“What are you doing here, Nightmare Moon?!” coldly asked Raine.

She tried her best to act like she wasn’t scared of the alicorn in front of her but her legs said otherwise. They were shaking so much they eventually gave way under the stress and Raine fell flat on her underbelly. She continued to look at Nightmare Moon but her brave gaze was replaced by an embarrassed one.

Soon enough, a nigh inaudible giggle escaped Nightmare Moon and her expression changed from stern look to an amused one. Yes, she was enjoying the show her daughter was putting on and the smirk that her mouth adorned proved it so.

“Oh, you should see yourself, Rainie! This is, by all means, a very amusing scene I am witnessing!”

To that, Raine found no replies. She tried to think of something but her brain was just so anchored on panic mode that it literally left her unable to come up with any kind of solid replies. She began stuttering, trying to find something to say and that, unfortunately, only added to her embarrassment. Finally, she shut up but not before she had made a fool of herself for yet another time in front of Nightmare Moon.

“I think I’ll let you two catch up on things together. I’m sure you have lots to talk about. Wouldn’t you agree, dear?” She spoke with a somewhat refined accent for two obvious reasons. She wanted to annoy and anger Raine as much as possible and also because Rarity was more approachable when she was addressed with a “Canterlot” accent.

“Why, but of course. Now, I suppose you have somewhere else to be, darling?” Rarity asked Nightmare Moon in a rather deep voice, deeper than what Raine remembered from her dream.

“Rarity! Why are you doing? Why are you working alongside that freak of nature?” inquired the high pitched voice of Sweetie Belle behind Raine.

“It’s complicated, Sweetie. If I were to make it short in any way, I would have to say that we’re trying to achieve the same goal, more or less,” admitted Rarity. “You see, dear, I already died once and Nightmare Moon told me that if I got rid of Raine here, she would consider keeping me alive and if that happens, we’ll finally be together again.”

That malevolent gaze! That gaze was proof that Nightmare had extended her reach to the mare that used to be one of the Elements of Harmony. She was but a shadow of who she had been, a shell that had been fashioned by a crazy alicorn.

Raine almost instantly told Sweetie Belle to get back and go take shelter somewhere Rarity wouldn’t find her but the filly didn’t listen. She placed herself in Rarity’s path and kept calling her name, as if she was trying to make her snap out of it.

That was in vain, to the filly’s disappointment.

It was only then that Sweetie Belle took heed of Raine’s warnings and quickly skedaddled to go hide behind Raine. She still eyed Rarity as she approached the pair but made no further attempts at trying to call out for her. Then, the white filly thought she saw her sister smirk so she closed her eyes to open them a few seconds later and realized the pony that resembled her sister was smiling in a malevolent way.

“Oh, no, no, no, no! This simply cannot do. Surely you didn’t intend to hide your appearance like that, darling?” She was looking straight at Raine just as if she was peering into her very soul.

A sudden wave of magic hit Raine, blasting her against the wall of a nearby building. The impact was enough to knock the wind out of her but other than that, no major injuries were inflicted on her.

Except for one thing…

She caught sight of her fore hooves for an instant and noticed that they were black. Black just like the night. No, she couldn’t have broken Luna’s illusion with such ease?! Raine gasped mentally. Then, the screams of a filly rang through her ears for a second time.

“But… you’re… No, I saw you at the execution! You’re the reason my big sister is dead, you monster!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed, tears filling her eyes.

She began to slowly back away from Raine as the alicorn tried to approach the filly. Sweetie Belle eventually turned around and ran away from Raine. The alicorn heard Rarity laughing behind and turned around to see why that was.

Needless to say, the scene was enough to scare anypony and that literally meant any pony. Rarity was levitating a sharp sapphire and bore a dark grin as her laughter deviated into a maniacal one. Where she had taken the sapphire, Raine may never know but it scared her because there were so many scenarios going through the black pony’s mind.

“Oops, did I forget to mention that I wasn’t allowed to let anypony else escape and tell them of what transpired here, darling. She may be my sister but in this case, she could prove to be a threat to me. Don’t worry, I don’t intend on killing her, dear. I just want to stop her from telling on me. And if that were to happen, it would be the worst possible thing,” explained Rarity.

Realizing what the sapphire’s purpose was, Raine turned around and began to give chase to Sweetie Belle but not before she heard Rarity say that it was already too late. Time was running out and if she didn’t act soon, an innocent pony would be seriously injured because of Raine.

The alicorn finally caught up with the white filly. She looked behind her and saw that Rarity had thrown her projectile directly at Sweetie, aiming to incapacitate her. Without even thinking, an idea burst into Raine’s mind.

An insane idea, at that.

“Sweetie Belle! Watch out!” Raine threw herself in the projectile’s path and it sank into her flesh.

A single scream was heard through Ponyville.

“Why? Why’d you do that?! I called you a monster and you still protected me? Why?!”

“Heh. Rarity asked me to keep you safe if you were to be in danger. Now, be a dear and go find a nurse or doctor for me. This hurts quite a bit.” Raine spoke through sore breaths, struggling to regain her posture.

The sapphire shard was stuck in her left hind leg and it just kept on drawing blood. There was a moderate amount already laying on the ground and Raine herself was doing her best to not scream out of pain. It was intense.

Still, unlike what she told Sweetie Belle, she turned to face Rarity, who was approaching the wounded alicorn. Raine was going through what she believed to be an adrenaline rush as the gravity of the wound was simply too much for any pony whatsoever to bear. She even felt the tip of the sapphire against her bone.

“What was that for?! She’s your sister, your little sister at that! You would be ready to harm to your sister just so you can get brought back to life? Not even Nightmare Moon can bring back the dead, Rarity.” Anger could be observed in the alicorn’s eyes and tone. She was furious even.

“You say that but yet, I don’t remember you telling us who Nightmare Moon was to you. Just who are you, Raine Moon?”

“I’m that monster’s daughter. That’s how I know her like that, and why I despise her so much. You’re luckier than me. You have a family that loves you unconditionally… I never had that luck, but I know for a thing that family comes before anything else!”

“Hmm… Touching story, dear, but unfortunately, I have too much at stake to just give everything up like that. Sorry, but you’re going to have to go, darling.”

Out of nowhere, to Raine’s complete surprise, Spike appeared on the scene and confronted Rarity as well, feeling that the former fashionista was just being used. She was being used but there were no possible ways to bring her back to her senses.

“Rarity, stop this! You’re not like this. You’re graceful, kind and pretty.” Spike blushed at the mention of those traits.

“Oh, dear Spike. We haven’t met for more than a few minutes and you already feel like this. Maybe I should reward your devotion with a quick death!”

Another gem was thrown by Rarity’s magic and it stuck itself just before Spike’s feet, making him walk away slowly because of the growing fear within him. The Rarity Raine had met before she died was in no way like that. Yes, maybe a little bit eccentric but her heart was at the right place. That Rarity was nothing like the original.

Raine was about to shield Spike from another attack, one that never came. Why? Because a certain blue mare made a dramatic entry while boasting all the while. I swear that unicorn wants to die at some points, Raine told herself.

“Fear not, citizens of Ponyville, for Trixie has arrived to rid you of this evil pony like she did Nightmare Moon in Baltimare.”

What happened next was the result of all the lies Trixie had given the ponies in Equestria increased by tenfold. Basically, Rarity sent a crystal towards Trixie, missing her head by this much. Two widened eyes explained everything the show mare felt at that moment: fear.

“Next time, I won’t miss, missy!” Rarity told Trixie, warning her for the first and last time.

“Trixie i-is not a-afraid of you, nameless pony!” Trixie retorted.

Then why are you legs shaking so much? Raine rhetorically asked herself.

Rarity summoned another one of her weapons, the gems she somehow raised from the ground, and aimed it right about where Trixie’s heart ought to be. She sharpened the emerald she was using as a projectile to make it as deadly as possible and then shot it right at Trixie.

Raine, in a second moment of insanity, shoved Trixie away and took the hit instead of the show mare. The result was an emerald going straight through her left foreleg. It had been so sharpened that it simply ate away at her flesh as if it were butter.

Raine fell flat on her side, screaming and crying in agony. All the adrenaline she had experienced before was beginning to fade away and the pain was, for only one pony, too much to bear and even then, that was an understatement. Rarity smirked at that and prepared another enchanted gem.

She threw it at Raine but before it could finish the alicorn off, the gem was simply deflected by some sort of magical barrier. Annoyed, she looked ahead of her and saw Dusk and Blitz in front of her. During the time she had been occupied, which was about less than five seconds, Dusk managed to teleport Raine behind the two and then took an offensive position.

“Oh, you two are simply far too amusing!” Rarity laughed. “You really think that you two dears can hope to hurt me? Yes, I may be a fashionista but I know how to use my magic, darlings.”

“You’re not the Rarity I used to know. I don’t know what you are but you’re not her so stop impersonating our friend!” Blitz replied with the most serious and deadly glare.

To put it simply, Blitz’s intervention didn’t really change a thing. The same scenario went on; Rarity threw a gem at the two ponies. The only advantage that the two ponies possessed was that they were more prepared to actually fight than most of the ponies present in Ponyville.

Rarity, rather annoyed by the persistence of Dusk and Blitz, began to assault them endlessly with a rain of crystals. The two got a few scrapes from that. They were finally saved by a barrier Dusk had set when it was obvious that Rarity was not lacking in gems nor would she. That alone would have made Ponyville the pair’s tomb.

Dusk, feeling his barrier started to fail him, made his barrier expand in a sudden outburst. That sent Rarity flying right into a stone wall, cracking her armor on several locations. That drained Dusk of most of his energy but it was nothing he couldn’t recover in time.

Rarity got back up on her hooves and gave Dusk a glare that could tame a hydra. It wasn’t enough to make Dusk abandon the fight as he wouldn’t leave Blitz all alone. On top of that, if he left Raine for dead, Luna would probably want his head for letting her granddaughter die.

The former fashionista summoned several crystals all at once, causing Dusk to summon another shield around Blitz and himself. Instead of just throwing them at the two resisting ponies, she broke the crystals down into tiny pieces and changed them into chains. Still using her magic to control those chains, the mare made them snake their way to Blitz.

Assured that his barrier would protect his partner, Dusk was awfully startled when he saw that the chains just went through his barrier as if it had never existed at all. They latched themselves onto Blitz before he could react properly and the Pegasus was completely tied down to the ground.

“Damn! What… are those?!” Blitz yelped as he realized he was trapped and that the chains were constricting him.

“Oh, those? Well, dear, those are magical chains enchanted to restrain somepony and then constrict them to the point of death. Really, where have you been living?”

Dusk’s eyes widened as he realized what that implied. The unicorn was left all alone to fend off a crazy unicorn bent on killing him. He began to take a few steps back but he was stopped by the cries of a filly; Sweetie Belle’s cries to be exact.

“M-miss Midnight? St-stop joking around,” Sweetie Belle began, he voice already filled with sobs. “Just move already! You can’t be dead… I never had the chance to thank you for saving me so get up so I can do it!”

No! I will not flee and abandon my friends! It’s my turn to protect them! Dusk roared inside.

The former fashionista was so sure that her victory was assured that she took her sweet time to sharpen a ruby into the perfect projectile. The sight of it nearly wounded Dusk so much it was sharp. Without further ado, Rarity threw it at Dusk while he was still pretending to be scared.

To the greyish unicorn’s surprise, her opponent’s horn flared with magical energy, a small ball of energy forming at it’s tip, and the aquamarine unicorn sent a small blast of energy that collided with Rarity’s weapon, turning it into dust when the two collided. After the smoke faded away, Rarity saw Dusk offer her a provoking smirk as if he was mocking her.

That enraged her. She summoned a dozen of gems and fired them all at once at the amused unicorn. Using a smoke screen to hide himself, Dusk charged his horn with a relatively larger amount of magical energy. He discharged that energy by performing a teleportation spell, reappearing behind Rarity.

Without her knowing, and before she could react, Dusk unleashed another wave of magical energy in the form of a fire ball. Rarity heard Dusk’s grunts and began to turn away. She didn’t do so fast enough and was hit by the full strength of the fire ball, melting her armor. The molten metal sank its way into her flesh.

The fire ball’s explosion also reached her head, singing her fur and burning her flesh, leaving only half of it intact, namely her left side. The right side had been burned to such a high degree that all that remained were the charred and disfigured features of the mare’s head and muzzle. Screams of agony exited Rarity as the molten metal sank deeper and deeper into her skin. It drew blood but there was no time for it to even touch the ground. It was almost instantly burned by the scorching hot plate of armor.

“M-my mane! What have you done to me, you ruffian?!” Rarity exclaimed when she no longer felt her mane. “This is a crime against fashion itself! I’ll make you pay, unicorn!”

Convinced that his trick would work for a second time, and especially since Rarity lost an eye, Dusk conjured another smoke screen and teleported behind Rarity but to his great surprise, walls of crystals shot forth from the ground and encased the unicorn in a prison.

“You foolish ruffian. Did you really think the same thing would work a second time?” Rarity rhetorically inquired, waving a hoof nonchalantly. “In any case, that prison will be your undoing, just as your friend will draw his last breath after having been completely constricted by my chains.”

Rarity let out a malign laughter and turned her back on the three incapacitated ponies that dared to stand in the way of her grand return. Tears rolled down her left cheek at the thought of her mane. While it may have been burned, the mare kept hope in Nightmare Moon’s promise.

Perhaps she would be clement enough to restore what was lost in this battle,” pondered Rarity, her eye darting off from the path in front of her.

————

Inside the crystal prison, Dusk was beginning to slightly panic. Not only were his spells completely useless but his magic was also reflected by the crystals. The bruises present on his whole body were proof of his multiple attempts at breaking the walls.

But, as worrying as his imprisonment was, that was the not thing he was really worried about. What worried Dusk was that the walls of the prison were closing in on him. That intended his death and the worse in all of this was that the crystals seemed to leave nothing go through, not even sound…

He curled into a small ball, as the space was getting cramped, because of all the stress he was going through. There was one thing that happened at that point that he had never wanted to happen and that was a protruding crystal severing the string that kept his amulet around his neck. It had been ages since it had been left untouched and the unicorn wasn’t sure if his magic had stabilized during that time.

He received an answer faster than he had ever anticipated.

An intense surge of magical energy shot through his body. It was his regular amount of magic and it was slightly above the normal reserves of most unicorns while still under Twilight Sparkle’s. His only issue was that his magic was too raw for his body to convert it successfully, sometimes leading into an uncontrollable outburst.

Dusk groaned in pain as his flow of magic ran freely through his body but his horn wasn’t enough to convert it all. His eyes suddenly turned white and a sudden explosion occurred around his body, tearing the walls of his crystal prison apart. The sudden outburst of magic even shattered the chains that were holding Blitz.

This isn’t good! This is really not good! At this rate, I might unleash a destructive spell and raze down Ponyville with it. I need to find a way to contain my magi—wait, what’s this feeling?

Although he could not really see anything because his own magic was altering his sight, he felt some sort of magic soothe his own. Unaware of things around him, Dusk hadn’t noticed that Raine had gotten up even with the hole present in her right foreleg and the sapphire lodged in her left hind leg and that like him, her eyes shone with a white glow.

I’m not sure what’s happening but it seems like my magic is reacting to yours in harmony. If you focus hard enough while my magic is restraining yours, you might be able to control it from unleashing certain havoc, Raine told Dusk through a strange telepathic link.

But… w-what if I fail? His mental tone was worried and anxious. There was too much at stake to even consider a failure.

Then, we’ll all die knowing we tried our best to save Ponyville. But, hear me Dusk, I believe in you and in your abilities. There was a slight sweetness in her voice.

What makes you say that, Raine?

Well, you are the only unicorn on our side and you seem pretty good at what you’re doing. Apart from that, it’s just that you send the idea that you care for those around you.

Aw, you’re a cute little thing, you! Dusk took great pleasure in teasing the alicorn.

Don’t call me that! And besides, don’t you have better things to do than to embarrass me? Raine asked the unicorn so he would concentrate on his task.

He gave a nod of his head and began to feel the magic surrounding him. The problem with his magic wasn’t that he had all that much magic potential, granted he had potential that was slightly superior to the average unicorn. The problem was that his magic wasn’t tame and it was extremely unstable. That was the real reason he wore his amulet, because it was able to absorb and alter the nature of his magic so he could use it properly.

Raine’s magic coming into the frame also had an influence whatsoever on his. Her magic was, to say the least, different from any kind of magic he had seen before. Hers was based on emotions. But magic couldn’t be driven by emotions, or it would be fake magic. Things began to unfold into the aquamarine unicorn’s mind; things he decided to ignore for the time being.

Bending his rampaging magic to his will, Dusk started to chant a complex seal. It had been taught to him by Celestia after he had experienced his first magical rampage. The rampant magic struggled to keep itself out of the unicorn’s will. It was in vain as he managed to contain it in a sphere around the two ponies.

Meanwhile, Blitz was beginning to regain consciousness. He was a pony with great dexterity and that allowed him to recuperate what a normal pony would have taken several hours to recover. Glancing at Dusk and Raine encased in a white bubble, the same color as Dusk’s magical aura, he locked his eyes in his friend’s.

Both ponies looked at each other and nodded. Blitz noticed a crystal next to him and an idea flew right through his mind. By instincts alone, he grabbed the part that was chipped with his mouth, making sure he grabbed it to avoid injuries. Deploying his wings to their full length, he took off and gained a reasonable altitude, circling around the town just like an eagle would search for a prey.

So, what now? Raine sounded unsure of the procedures to come and if they would even survive for that matter.

Now, I need to reject the rampant magic and then put my amulet around my neck again before my magic goes rampaging again.

The sphere around them slowly began to expand, allowing Dusk’s magic cling onto the walls of the barrier. Both ponies’ horns lit up with an intense light, an act that was not of their own.

The rampant magic was consumed by the magic the two used and it created a blinding light in turn. So bright that it blinded all the ponies that were near. Even Blitz had to squint his eyes so he wouldn’t be completely blinded and even then, it felt like he was staring directly at the sun.

Finally, the barrier expanded completely, encasing Ponyville inside of it and the last of the magic that originated from Dusk had been completely consumed by his magic.

That was Blitz’s cue!

He dived, aiming for Rarity and Rarity only. With the mare still being blinded it made it easier for the Pegasus to operate, closing in on his target. A few seconds passed and another high pitched shriek rang through Ponyville.

Blitz let go of the broken crystal and took a few steps back, looking at the bleeding unicorn as she began drawing her last breaths. They were hoarse and slow. It was clear that blood had already started filling her lungs and that soon, she would inevitably die.

“B-b-but I ju-just wa-wanted a life o-of p-peace for m-my s-sister and I.” With those words filled with sadness, the mare’s legs gave way and her body collapsed to the ground.

It left nothing but a body that soon disappeared into dust, as if it had never existed. As they thought everything was over, the two ponies heard another body hit the ground. Looking around them, they found it was Raine that had collapsed out of exhaustion. Strangely, the hole in her left foreleg wasn’t there anymore although the sapphire was still stuck in her right hind leg.

A peaceful smile covered her mouth, and she looked like she was finally enjoying a nice dream. Shortly after, Sweetie Belle arrived with a doctor and a few other ponies to help transport Raine, and Trixie at the demand of Dusk. He didn’t like the mare at all. He just thought that it would be cruel to let a trauma get the better of her.

As for Spike, they just brought him back to the library and used it to look after the baby dragon while he recovered from everything that happened.

————

"Doctor, she's showing signs of consciousness!" Raine heard a voice. It was clearly a mare's voice.

Ugh! My head hurts like crazy. And I can't remember what happened yesterday after Rarity died for a second time.

"Miss Raine, I wouldn't recommend you to move too much at this point. Your wound is still recovering and it could easily open again if you were to move again."

"Just as Nurse Redheart mentioned, you shouldn't move too much. Your surgery was a long one and if you were to open you wound again, you could lose the usage of your leg for the rest of your life."

That voice definitely came from a stallion, that much Raine was sure. Her eyes still had trouble adjusting to the light so she couldn't see the silhouettes in front of her. It continued like that for a good ten minutes before her eyes adjusted to the lights in the room.

"In any case, it is good to see you regain consciousness. You were out cold since that evening when Rarity, or whatever that thing was, appeared and a week has passed since then. At one point, some of my colleagues suggested that we simply stop giving you life support," said the doctor, a little tension in his voice as he told her the events that took place in the week that passed.

Raine's mouth hung agape. Not only had she been completely out for a whole week. A whole week! She had also nearly been refused her life support because she hadn't been showing any signs of life.

"Don't worry, though. You did so much already for this town when that thing that resembled Rarity attacked. You took damage that would have crippled ponies for the rest of their lives, perhaps even to the next life too." A small smirk could be noticed when the doctor finished.

"What about Trixie and Sweetie Belle? Are they all right?" Raine managed to finally ask.

"Don't worry about Miss Trixie. She suffered from a slight psychological trauma but other than that, she didn't suffer any kind of physical injuries. As for Sweetie Belle, she came to see you each day since we brought you in. See those flowers?” Nurse Redheart pointed her hoof at a mass of bouquets. “She’s the one that brought those bouquets here.”

“Speaking of which, she’s long overdue for her daily visit now,” stated the doctor.

The sound of hooves were then heard coming from a nearby corridor. By the sound they made, they belonged to a filly. Raine raised her head to see who was coming in the room and saw an ecstatic Sweetie Belle coming her way. She climbed her way onto the bed right next to Raine’s and offered the alicorn a large grin.

Heh, I kept my promise to you… Rarity.

“I’m glad you’re safe, Sweetie Belle,” Raine whispered, a warm smile replying to Sweetie’s grin.

“I’m so sorry I called you a monster back then,” Sweetie Belle had a sad look in her eyes and tears were glistening in them, “but I really, really thought you were out to get me too.”

“What happened to your sister is indeed sad and while I am partly to blame, I never wished for them to meet with such a grim fate… I’m so sorry for taking your sister from you.” Tears were already rolling down the alicorn’s cheeks.

Raine was still blaming herself for everything that had happened. She knew there were no excuses that could forgive her for what she had done but the friendly expression Sweetie Belle gave her hope, even if only a little bit.

“Well, I just wanted to thank you for saving me and freeing my big sis. I knew that was her but I felt that it wasn’t her at the same time. I gotta run now, Apple Bloom’s waiting for me back at my sister’s boutique.” And with that, Sweetie Belle was gone before Raine could say anything back.

“You’re welcome… Sweetie Belle.” Her whisper was almost inaudible for any ponies around her.

She rested her head on her pillow and quickly drifted off to sleep once more. This time, however, her dreams were clear and peaceful. No nightmares haunted her sleep, much to her relief.

————

“Spike, would you be so kind as to help me send a letter to Princess Celestia?” Dusk was asking Spike a task that he had not done since Twilight had… met with her fate.

“Sure… but why would you need to do that?” reluctantly asked Spike.

“Well, let’s just say that we need to know more about Nightmare Moon and her powers and only the princesses know of that. If possible, I’d like to inquire what they know about her powers. Also, the fact that Raine, an alicorn unable of using the art of magic, used magic to soothe my outburst is disturbingly strange.” His explanation was brief but clear. He did what he needed to and that was to inform the dragon of his intentions.

“Whoa there, big guy! I knew this Raine you’re talking about was coming to Ponyville according to the last letter I received from the Princess. You’re saying that Raine is unable to use magic at all?”

“Pretty much, yeah!” Dusk replied without so much as a trace of emotion in his voice. “Now, are you going to write that letter or will I will I have to make you do it?”

Slightly annoyed and insulted, Spike blew some smoke out of his nostrils and scowled at Dusk Shine. “Fine but don’t expect any other favors from me, though.”

Dusk recited the message he intended to relay to Celestia concerning his many inquiries and once it was done, Dusk made a double check, a habit of his he took because of the time he spent the Academy for Gifted Unicorns, and nodded when he confirmed it was done. On the parchment, the message read:

Dear Princess Celestia,

During my passage through Ponyville, Blitz, Raine and I encountered something we thought to be impossible, although Raine did mention that Nightmare Moon could do some things thought to be impossible to begin with. Ergo, we saw a corrupted Rarity, the Element of Generosity as it was her element, and she even attacked us.

My first concern with this is that it is logically impossible for a pony to come back from the dead and once we killed her, yes we had to end it in such a way else it would have been us laying at her hooves, she just disappeared into dust as if she had never existed at all. Raine told us that Nightmare Moon can manipulate dreams to her liking but this wasn’t a dream at all. It was very real so it made me ask myself if Nightmare Moon couldn’t make dreams become real and have them under her control for as long as she can hold her spells on them. If this is indeed the case, I would appreciate if you or Princess Luna could shed more light on this matter.

My second concern is about Raine. You may remember that she told us she was unable of using any kind of magic at all, correct? Well, last week when you first sent us to Ponyville, I asked her if I could inspect her flow of magic and she agreed. It seems that it is severed at a major location and it leaks from there. I think that this is what is restraining her from using any kind magic. However, this is not what concerns me the most. What does is that when my amulet’s string was cut, I started an outburst of magic but for some reasons, Raine used her magic to calm my rampaging magic. And that’s not all, her magic were based on emotions alone. I could actually feel the pain she felt since she had taken wounds that few ponies could withstand. As I recall, magic is based by converting the surrounding energy into magical energy so our horns can use it.

On a final point, I would like to know where it is we should head to next. A week’s passed since Raine entered the intensive care, although it seems her health is stable and not in direct danger, so we had to remain in Ponyville for the time being. If you could give us the highlights of our next destination, I would gladly appreciate it.

Sincerely yours,

Dusk Shine

“Everything should be in order. If you would please send it now, Spike.” Dusk’s voice was slightly agitated. A lot of things were stressing him and even more were to come down his way.

Nightmares Revisited

The EclipsedChapter Five: Nightmares RevisitedBy Raine Moon

Raine, Blitz, Dusk and Origin split up in Appleloosa to see if there were any ponies remaining and conscious. Their search weren’t exactly fruitful. They found a grand total of zero inhabitants in the first half of the town. They regrouped after their search efforts were obviously met by total failure. They were about to go explore the other half of Appleloosa but something—or rather somepony—stopped them from taking another step. They were just frozen in place.

“I hope you are enjoying yourselves right now, my little ponies. It’s sad that the town’s inhabitants aren’t here to welcome you to their town of Appleloosa, I wonder where they could be,” said the echoing voice of Nightmare Moon.

“What have you done to them? They are innocent in all of this, Nightmare Moon!” replied Dusk at the top of his lungs.

“Don’t worry. I haven’t done anything serious to them… yet. Let’s just say that I have played my first pawn in this game of chess. You see, you say that they are innocent, I say that they are rightful pawns for me to use against your princesses.”

Her voice showed no shame whatsoever and she was using a condescending tone.

“Let them go!” exclaimed Blitz. “They are not pawns that are replaced over time. Those are lives you are toying with! Do you really want that blood on your hooves, Nightmare Moon?!”

“What, you mean like the way you so easily disposed of Rarity or how you were so readily ready to cast Raine’s life away just to have your thirst for revenge satisfied? I’m sorry but I haven’t killed anypony. You, on the other hoof, can’t really say the same. Isn’t that right, Lieutenant Blitz of the 63rd Squadron?”

Dusk was the first one to react to this, knowing his friend’s time in the royal guard under a different name. “Blitz… how did she know?”

“I don’t know, Dusk. But I well intend on finding out,” Blitz replied. “Hey, Nightmare Moon, how do you know about the time I served in the royal guards?”

“Silly pony, I am Nightmare Moon. I am the Mistress of Dreams. Dreams are mine to control and mine to observe as I see fit!”

“Answer us now and stop changing the subject, mom! Where are the ponies that live in this town?” Raine inquired, not exactly pleased by the way her mother was switching the subject with such ease.

“Hmm, looks like somepony grew a spine in the short time I left you on your own. Don’t worry, we’ll fix that later on. When I’m done with you, you will be nothing more than a sniveling coward!” Nightmare Moon spoke, making a promise out of her statement due to the seriousness of it all.

There was no hiding the fear Raine was feeling but she looked at her companions, who all nodded at her with confident eyes. Yet, all of them were also afraid because they were basically walking straight into the mare’s trap.

“I asked you what you did to the ponies of Appleloosa and I expect an answer! Now answer me, Nightmare Moon!” Raine shouted at her mother, wherever she was.

“Watch the tone, foal! Or do you seem to be forgetting that I can end you with a single thought. Still, if you want answers, you should try checking what time it is.”

And with that, Nightmare Moon ceased to talk. Well, it was Dusk that announced it when he felt her presence withdraw slightly from where they were. Her ominous presence was still present, that he was still sure of, but it was not as strong as it was. If Dusk had to make any assumptions, he would say that she had extended her presence to their location simply to scare them and to taunt them into coming right onto her chess game.

They still did. They knew it was a trap but they still had to see what had happened to the ponies of Appleloosa. However, they knew that carelessly roaming in the town was dangerous because they were in enemy territory so they stayed where they were until they could find out what Nightmare Moon meant in her riddle. She told us to look at the time but what does that mean? Blitz asked himself.

Eventually, both Origin and Dusk came with the answer as they heard the town’s clock tower. It clicked inside their mind that it was what Nightmare Moon had implied with her riddle. Reminding everypony of the danger that awaited them ahead, Dusk took the lead and rushed to the center of the town to see what was there.

They, however, weren’t prepared for what they saw…

From what they could see, every pony that lived in Appleloosa were all collected in the center of the town and all of them were unconscious. There were no exceptions, all of them had already fallen victim to Nightmare Moon’s magic. In a desperate attempt to save the ponies, Blitz told the group that they should try to wake the ponies.

They tried and tried but no matter how much they called the ponies or shook them, they showed no signs of waking up. It was as if they were put to sleep by force and that they were forced to stay in that state. Of course, it didn’t take long for Dusk and Raine to realize that Nightmare Moon was holding them under her magic.

“So, how do you like the show? Gorgeous, is it not? You simple ponies live such mundane lives,” stated Nightmare Moon. “I found that boring so I thought they’d enjoy being my servants instead and what do you know? Here they are, under my total control.”

“Release them! They have nothing to do in all of this and they are not your pawns. Ponies are capable of independent thinking,” Dusk told Nightmare Moon, searching for the alicorn all the while.

“Oh, you ponies are simply hilarious! Capable of independent thinking? Then why in Equestria are you still depending on the Royal Pony Sisters to survive. In fact, you have always depended on us alicorns for everything. When you thought that your unicorns were capable of controlling the sun and the moon, it was all but an act. Alicorns were the ones doing it in a land far away from Equestria!” retorted Nightmare Moon.

“So what?! All the unicorns that attended the Academy for Talented Unicorns know that. It is part of our historical education! What’s your point for bringing that up?” queried Dusk, determined to counter-argument the alicorn with each element she would bring up.

“My point is that you ponies have always known that, deep down, you are meant to be inferior to other ponies. In other words, I am meant to be your master and you will obey me. Otherwise, you shall know death.”

“Is that all you can say, Nightmare Moon?” asked Origin, who was not exactly impressed by the mare’s threats. “With you, it’s either submit or die? Please, that’s an overused trope.”

“Uhh… What’s a ‘trope’ Origin?” Raine asked, giving the changeling a weird look.

“Dunno. First thing that came to my mind. Why?” Origin asked, returning the question.

“Nothing, it’s just the first time I hear of that word. I knew you were making a witty comment but that word was just unknown to my ears,” admitted Raine.

“YOU DARE IGNORE NIGHTMARE MOON?”

“Well, it ain’t my fault you’re not giving us a good show,” replied Origin.

The grin he had put on to provoke Nightmare Moon made the mare lose her temper against his arrogance. “Rise, my minions, and dispose of those who would rebel against me!”

Suddenly, all the ponies that were thought to be unconscious rose one by one. Then, they began to chant something about the greatness of Nightmare Moon as they slowly marched towards the four ponies.

Still, while the entire scene was kind of scary, it was the ponies’ eyes that scared the group the most. At that point, they could barely be called eyes. All there was to look at was an empty abyss of darkness. Whatever Nightmare Moon did to them, it had completely numbed their personalities and all that was left in the end was a hollow shell.

It didn’t take long for the ponies to flee the scene as the possessed ponies were getting closer and closer. But when they began to run away from them, the ponies under Nightmare Moon’s spell also gave chase to the group of ponies. They tried to outrun them but as they took a turn, more ponies appeared at the end of the path, forcing them to take another route each time.

Eventually, their pursuers cornered them, leaving them with only two choices; fight or surrender. And if Blitz’s pride had anything to say at all, it would be but giving up. He was the first one to bring up the idea of fighting back. Dusk was being hesitant but when he realized that surrendering probably meant that their lives would be forfeit, he felt compelled to fight back as well.

“All right, everypony! We have no other choices but to fight back now. I had hoped it wouldn’t come down to this but at the very least, do your best to leave those ponies unharmed. We are here to save them, not the opposite,” Dusk told the rest of the group.

“Understood!” replied the three other ponies, although Raine knew she didn’t have the abilities required to put up much of a fight.

Blitz stretched his wings and in a matter of seconds, he had disappeared in the sky. Knowing what his friend was planning to do, Dusk immediately charged his horn with magic and as soon as he had enough magical energy, he summoned an energy barrier around a large group of possessed ponies. They tried to break it but they were met by failure, mainly because the ponies of Appleloosa were mainly, if not all, Earth ponies.

Moments later, Blitz was seen coming back from the sky, his body shivering because of all the ice that covered him. Behind him was a trail of snow. Blitz locked his eyes in Dusk’s and the two nodded. Regardless, Blitz wasn’t halting his dive although he did change his trajectory so he wouldn’t break his neck by crashing on the ground head first. He instead kept his speed and when he was above the barrier the aquamarine unicorn had summoned, he spiralled upwards and thus allowed the snow to gather around the magic bubble. Dusk made his magic reach out for the snow and using a few simple spells, he made it so he was able to make an endless supply of snow at his disposal.

Just before he was ready to cast a second spell, Dusk released the magical barrier he had willed and quickly shouted, “Ice Bloom!”

He made his magic reach out for the snow after he had made the barrier disappear and he began to alter the nature of the snow collected around the hostile ponies. Every snowflake reacted violently and they soon began to implode one by one, causing the zone around to freeze. With the amount of snowflakes Dusk had created, ice began to form around a large group of ponies, encasing them in thick walls of ice. On the outside, the form the ice took looked like a pillar fully covered by ice flowers.

“Time for phase two, Blitz!” Dusk shouted so his friend would hear him correctly.

“Are you sure?” Blitz inquired, uncertain if his friend was being serious or not. “Last time I tried to do that, I killed my sparring partner.”

“Don’t worry about me, I’m a tough cookie. I just need to set up a barrier around me and use it to absorb the pure energy. Once that’s done, I’ll be able to harness it to my liking,” Dusk replied, trying to reassure his friend and put faith back in him.

“I’ll take your words for it, Dusk, but promise me you’ll stay safe. After losing my sister, I couldn’t stand losing you as my friend.”

“I promise you, Blitz. I promise to not die. You know how I am, right” asked the aquamarine pony, a large grin on his face.

Blitz nodded and once again ascended in the sky. This time, however, he did not rise as much as the last time. No, he just rose high enough to find a cloud charged with lightning. Sure, Pegasi could manipulate clouds to their liking but they were still clouds that only served a few purposes, such as lightning-charged clouds. They weren’t exactly dangerous to Pegasi, except if they bounced on it carelessly, but they could bring about the death of others if they touched those clouds like that without any protection on them. What Blitz and Dusk were about to do was much more riskier than that.

What they intended to do was to use a pure lightning bolt and direct it at Dusk so he could harness the raw energy of the electricity to cast an extremely powerful and dangerous spell. They basically played with Dusk’s life but if they pulled it off successfully, Dusk would have to channel the spell with care otherwise he would just kill the possessed ponies.

Dusk saw Blitz come back a few minutes later, pushing what seemed to be a cumulonimbus cloud. It was dangerously black and it looked like it contained an extremely high level of electricity in it. Still, Dusk flared his horn, summoning a small barrier around himself and nodded, signaling Blitz that he was ready.

Reluctant, Blitz nodded back and kicked the cloud with his hind legs. Right after his hooves connected with the cloud, it sent a large lightning bolt straight at Blitz. It wouldn’t have done that if Dusk hadn’t been using his magic to draw the bolt right at him. The lightning bolt simply cracked through the sky but when it came in contact with Dusk’s force barrier, it just hit the barrier.

The electricity, however, was everywhere on the barrier so if Dusk removed it too soon, it would kill him. After all, that was basically the electric charge contained in the lightning bolt swarming around him. Charging his horn with even more magical energy, Dusk created a small opening in his barrier in the form of a tube that linked directly to his horn.

His plan was to slowly but surely absorb all of the electricity into his horn and then convert in in a spell for him to use afterwards. However, at the speed it was going, the possessed ponies would stop him before he could even finish doing it.

“Origin! I need you to buy Dusk some time. Do whatever you can to help but don’t let those ponies come anywhere near him. And don’t kill those ponies!” Blitz ordered!

“Hmph! Who made you the boss around here?” Origin scoffed, not liking how Blitz was just barking orders at him.

“I’m not the boss but I seem to be the one that has the most experience on the battlefield. Just do it, okay?!”

“Fine, whatever,” scowled Origin.

Never the less, the changeling took an offensive stance but before he did anything, he turned his head to look at Raine and calmly asked, “Think you can spare me a few portions of that hope of yours, Raine?”

“Wh-what do you mean by that? How can I spare an emotion?” Raine queried, slightly confused because of his inquiry.

“Changeling, remember? Don’t worry, I don’t need all that much. Just a little bit to give me enough energy to cast an effective but harmless spell.” Origin really did try to explain the situation as well as he could so he wouldn’t scare Raine, which happened to be something he didn’t want to do.

“Oh, sure. If you put it that way then I guess I don’t mind if you only take a small portion of it.”

Raine didn’t even get an answer before she saw the horn of the changeling flare with a pale green aura. His eyes also started to glow. She began to feel dizzy and started to get headaches when she felt something enter her mind. Fearing it might be Nightmare Moon, she quickly yelled in her mind, telling the presence to get out of her head. However, it did not and before she could protest any more, she heard the voice of Origin telling her that it was alright and that he had to establish a link between to the pony he was feeding from before actually feeding off of any desired emotions.

He also told her that he had chosen her hope as his energy boost because out of every emotions Raine had, hope was the strongest of them all. As strange as it seemed, he explained that she had unconsciously hoped that things would get better; that she could get a life of peace. Those wishes only helped to make her hope grow stronger and stronger.

Enough idle talk now, I think you get the point!

Before she could even say anything, Raine felt Origin’s presence disappear as quickly as it had appeared. Her headaches finally stopped and she opened her eyes to find Origin grinning at her, his horn flaring with magical energy.

“Thanks for the gift, Raine. I’ll be sure to use it well,” he told her before he turned his head again, this time to look at the possessed ponies.

A single flamed appeared on the tip of his horn. It was as green, if not darker, as the green his magical aura possessed. The flame pulsed and the next moment, it was on the ground and right in the middle of a rather large mob of ponies. The flame pulsed several times, growing in size each time. However, although it was a flame, it did not even burn fur or flesh. In fact, it was nearly like immaterial fire. It was just there to be there.

Having engulfed a large number of ponies inside his flame, Origin poured even more magical energy into his horn, making it glow with a darker shade of green and when he hit the bottom of his main well of emotions, he stopped everything and simply cast the spell.

“Freezing Flame!” Origin yelled as he cast his strange spell.

When the spell was cast, the flame that engulfed the opposing ponies inside it began to harden, eventually hardening to crystal state. The ponies stuck inside it were unable to move; they were restricted of any kind of movement whatsoever inside that crystal. On his side, Origin wobbled slightly as he finished casting his spell, the energy he had used had drained him of most of his main well of emotions, which was basically a changeling’s supply of energy.

He was helped by Raine who supported him so he wouldn’t keel over from the exhaustion. Unknown to the pony, Origin was feeding on some of her emotions to at least be able to stand on his own. After that, he told her he was alright and that her help had helped him greatly. Raine asked the changeling to clarify his explanation and he answered by saying that the energy she had given him before casting his spell was more than enough to stay conscious after such a strain.

“Nice one there, Origin. Although that spell of yours is kinda strange. Well, no complaining if it’s effective, right?” Blitz wasn’t all that impressed but Origin was a decent spell caster, if not a pretty good one at that.

“Changeling magic differs greatly from the general magic that ponies use and by the way, has Dusk finished yet with his own spell?” queried Origin.

“Well, he was nearly ready when you used your own so I guess his should be ready by n-”

“Thunder Blade!” shouted the aquamarine pony.

Dusk let all of the amassed electrical energy out and gave the flow of energy a form, namely the shape of a giant blade to contain it all and then sent it straight into the ground at the center of the entire mob of ponies.

The moment the blade struck the ground, the energy in it already started to move into the ground, losing its potency all the while. Dusk, feeling the energy starting to disappear, began to calculate the amount of electrical energy he would need to stun and incapacitate all the ponies surrounding them. Minutes by minutes, he carefully took notice of any kind of fluctuation that took place inside the magical shell he had created for his spell.

Just a bit more. Dusk could practically feel that he was near the exact amount of energy necessary to accomplish his goal but he began thinking that channelling it at the right time to cause the right chain reaction could be harder than he could have originally thought. Come on, just a little bit more! His magic began to wear on him. The sweat soaking his fur was the first sign of that. His legs were shaking and he was having difficulty breathing at a regular pace.

There! Now to release it and detonate it! He shouted in his mind.

Take… this!” exclaimed the aquamarine unicorn as his horn began to glow even more, the aura becoming extremely disproportionate compared the size of his horn.

The magical blade that housed the remaining electrical energy began to glow with a red tint and it became clear that it was becoming unstable by the way it reacted to Dusk’s spell. The unicorn charged more magic into his horn and the aura around it soon grew exponentially. On the distance, the energy blade was glowing so brightly that it blinded those that looked at it.

Eventually, the blade started to pulse uncontrollably and before the knew it, it exploded. The explosion released a shock wave made of the remaining electrical energy stored inside the energy blade. As the shock wave expanded, it made the ponies tense up before sending them into unconsciousness. There seemed to be no ending the shock wave’s advance but right before it reached Dusk and the others, it dissipated just as quickly as it had appeared.

That left the four ponies as the victor of that and two of them were in a weakened state. Still, they set that aside and began to leave the area to return to the clock tower at the center of the town. Once there, they looked around, still trying to figure out where Nightmare Moon was but their efforts were still unfruitful.

However, just when she expected it the least, Raine felt something grab her by the neck and before she knew it, she was pulled back and choked at the same time. Dizzy and confused, she looked up to see a familiar pony holding the same rope that was used to drag Raine away from her companions.

“Whoa there, nelly! What do y’all think yer doin’, knockin’ all those ponies senseless? What did they ever do ta ya?” asked the pony.

“That voice…!” Blitz exclaimed as he recognized the pony’s voice.

“Applejack!” let out Raine and Dusk at the same time.

“In the flesh, but I have ta say that it’s good to see y’all back. My only regret is that I’ve been told not ta let any of y’all leave town,” said Applejack.

The orange appeared in full battle armor and she looked like she meant business. Even her presence was imposing and her stare. That stare could make giants kneel to her. It wasn’t as imposing as The Stare but it was still very imposing. The only one that wasn’t affected by her stare was Origin but that was because he was returning her the same kind of stare.

He felt anger build up inside of him and before he knew it, he had ignited his horn and readied a spell to use on the orange pony. His only issue with that was that at the same time, Applejack charged him and even with the armor that she had, she was still as fast and agile as she was before. Origin would have cast his spell had it not been for Applejack kicking him hard in the chest, sending him hurling against a nearby structure.

“Origin! No!” screamed Raine as she watched the orange pony hurt her friend.

“Hold on, sugarcube. Yer gonna join him real soon.”

While she wasn’t paying attention, Blitz took that time to fly up, close and personal and hit Applejack right on her muzzle with his right hind leg. It was enough to make her lose her balance and knock the wind out of her but she quickly regained her footing. She lost it as quickly as she regained it when she was hit by a ball of energy coming straight from Dusk, sending her flying.

“That’s… for Raine, you wretch!” Dusk told Applejack, panting all the while.

“I heard y’all meant business but I never thought you’d be this tough,” admitted Applejack when she recovered from the blast, almost unscathed save for a few parts of her armor being broken. “You’d honestly do great working on the farm in Ponyville.”

“Thanks but no thanks. I’d rather have those baby drag me wherever I might end up. It’s much more entertaining to test your limits. But that’s beside the point, you’re going do-”

Caught completely off guard, Blitz’s wings were forced close by a rope. Not two seconds later, he was thrown against the cold ground. The impact nearly knocked him out but out of sheer willpower he managed to stay conscious. That didn’t stop Applejack from delivering a strong kick that knocked him down.

“Blitz!” Dusk shouted through gritting teeth. “You…! I don’t care if you look like Applejack or if you’re her, I’ll make you pay for what you’ve just done!”

“Ya can try but I don’t think the result is goin’ ta change all that much, sugarcube.”

“Shut up!”

Dusk quickly charged his horn as fast as he could and quickly summoned a barrier around him to protect himself from Applejack’s assaults. While it did protect him from her ropes, it did not stop the Earth pony to charge him and deliver a powerful kick against the wall of the barrier, shattering it into pieces. That forced Dusk into consuming more of his magical energy to teleport away from Applejack.

Unfortunately, he only managed to teleport a few meters away from his original emplacement, giving Applejack enough time to charge him another time. His reaction time was too slow and before he could do anything with his magic, he received the Earth pony’s rear hooves on his muzzle. The impact and the shock sent him rolling until he hit the back of his head against a wall, knocking him unconscious a few moments later.

“So, are y’all done now? If so, then I’m gonna do what I’ve been told ta do in the first place.”

The only pony left that hadn’t been knocked out was Raine and she had seen everything that happened. Shivers went through her spine as she saw Applejack getting closer and closer to her. She tried to break free of the rope that made it impossible for her to move freely but it was to no avail. She was doomed to suffer at the hooves of Applejack and as well as Nightmare Moon indirectly.

Applejack’s steps were getting clearer and clearer. She could hear them as if she was right next to her, which in turn caused her to turn her head to notice that Applejack was in fact next to her. Raine gulped and then closed her eyes, waiting for her end to come.

“Do y’all have any last words, sugarcube?” queried Applejack.

“No, just get on with it! Make it quick!” Raine replied, venom in her voice.

“All right… It’s been nice meeting ya, Raine.”

At the other side of the scene, Origin had just regained consciousness and the first thing he looked at after he made sure his shell had not been cracked in any way was Applejack standing next to Raine. Scenes began to unfold themselves in his mind. Scenes where he saw Raine die at the hooves of the Earth pony.

Anger began to rise in his blood again but this time, he didn’t charge his horn with fire. He made use of his shape-shifting magic, making a circle of green flames appear around him. It quickly encased him in a dome of flames. Strangely, the dome was larger the changeling’s body and that was something that Applejack found peculiar.

Remember the fear!

Inside the dome, Origin’s body begin to change drastically and it kept on growing larger and larger. The color of his shell changed, going from a black tint to an orange one. His hooves changed shape and began to take the form of paws. His mane began to cover his entire neck, just like a manticore’s mane, and his tail took the form of a scorpion’s tail.

Remember the pain!

His wings became larger and were no longer filled with holes. His fangs were sharper and deadlier and his mouth was filled with razor sharp teeth. His muzzle had grown bigger and his entire head had taken a feline form. Finally, the changeling’s transformation ended as the claws grew at the end of his large paws.

Remember the anger!

The dome of flames disappeared suddenly, revealing a grown manticore standing in the changeling’s stead. Applejack was sort of confused as she was not aware that Origin was a changeling and tried to look for the pony that used to be there. It stayed like this until she realized that the manticore had the same eyes as the pony that used to be standing there.

“What in tarnation are ya?!” Applejack queried, shocked by the realization that she made.

“You don’t know about changelings, pony?”

“Do I look like I know what y’all are?”

“Fair point. However, it would be wasted to tell you about changelings at this point,” spoke Origin through a low-pitched voice.

“Oh, and why’s that?”

“Because there won’t be anything left of you to tell you anything once I’m done wiping the floor with you,” threatened Origin, a few guttural growls escaping his throat.

“Ya can talk big as much as ya like but I’d like to see ya try to take me down.”

“And that’s exactly what I plan to do!”

Without warning, Origin charged at Applejack, claws extended. The orange pony took a stance and just stood there while the changeling swung his clawed paw at her. He was sure he had gotten her but he was surprised to see her unscathed a few meters away from his, another rope in her mouth.

Origin roared at her and charged at her again but this time, she ducked when he attacked, passing her rope around his legs. Once she was done, she pulled the rope and it made the changeling fall over to his side. Determined to get back at her, he began to flap his wings, gaining altitude slowly but surely. Applejack was caught off guard and she was dragged in the air as Origin took to the sky. Seeing as there was no stopping him, the Earth pony let go of the rope and fell back on her hooves safely but her letting go of the rope made it possible for Origin to break free from the binding rope.

He landed a few meters away from the Earth pony and continued to glare at her in a menacing way. The moment he landed, Applejack charged at him and before he could react, he received a hard blow under his chin. He staggered a bit, taking a few steps back to recover from the hit he had just taken. He roared again, taking a different stance instead of his initial one.

His tail was ready for attack with his new stance and he and Applejack circled around the other while giving each others menacing glares that would scare even the bravest of souls. Unlike the other times, it was Applejack that attacked first for a second time. She tried to deal a heavy blow on Origin’s chest but he managed to evade it despite his large size. He then caught one of her hind legs with his tail and coiled it around the pony’s leg.

Applejack tried to break free but she quickly realized that Origin was not intending on letting her go that easily. Granted, he used his tail to grab her, a tail he could have easily used to poison her with a lethal poison, but he did none of it. He just restricted her movements as much as he could while thinking of a appropriate way to dispose of her.

He tried keeping an eye on her but being deep in thought made him lose the focus he had and eventually, he received a heavy blow under the chin which made him lose hold of Applejack, who backed away from the changeling. He rubbed his right paw under his chin and saw that there was blood there and it seemed to be his because there was no traces of blood on Applejack.

“You! I’m going to end you!” Origin yelled in anger.

“Stop talkin’ big an’ try to do it this time!” replied Applejack tauntingly.

Origin roared at her and charged but this time, he stopped himself a few feet away from the orange pony. Puzzled and anticipating, Applejack tried to see what Origin was up to but when she saw him jump above her, she tried to turn around to counter the changeling’s assault but before she did, she was hit with incredible strength, sending her flying straight into a wall.

When she hit the wall, her armor broke in pieces and some of them even sank in her flesh, drawing blood at several locations on her entire body. Though she was already dead, the pain she felt was real and it hurt like crazy to have shrapnel stuck in her flesh. She tried getting up but it didn’t do anything to help. Her left hind leg failed to obey her and she fell right back to the ground and that was when she saw a terrifying sight.

Origin was charging at her, a bloodlust in his eyes, his rage consuming his every actions. He didn’t care if she was unable to get up or if she was incapacitated! All he wanted was to make her pay for what she did to the others and mainly for what she would have done to Raine had he not interfered. Letting out a last roar, Origin kept his maw open and before Applejack could do anything to defend herself, he closed his gaping maw on her neck. There were no screams or anything. It just ended like that. Applejack’s body fell flat against the ground and a few second later, Origin spat out the Earth pony’s decapitated head only to make it roll in a puddle of the mare’s blood. The body soon began to lose its colors and it became grey before disappearing into simple dust as if it had never existed in the first place.

A few meters away from Origin’s location, Dusk and Blitz had regained consciousness and were looking at a manticore standing right in the middle of Appleloosa. However, they soon saw the manticore disappear in a dome of green flames only to see Origin standing in the creature’s stead. He looked in pain and there was blood covering his hooves.

“Origin? Where’s Applejack?”

No response. Origin just stood there and remained silent.

“Hello? Equestria to Origin!” exclaimed Blitz.

“She’s dead… And I killed her. Still, you guys have a lot to explain to me concerning your enemy, Nightmare Moon,” spoke Origin through a low-pitched voice. “Just let me rest a bi-”

And the changeling collapsed to the ground, fatigued and worn out because of his battle against Applejack. Dusk and Blitz rushed to his side to see if he didn’t have any kind of open wound but he had none. While making sure Origin’s life wasn’t in danger, the two companions became tired extremely quickly and before they knew what was happening, they fell asleep just like Origin did a few moments earlier.

“Hello?” Raine queried after her three companions fell asleep. “Is anypony going to untie me or something like that?”

“Oh… Don’t worry, they’ll untie you all right. Just right after I’m done with you,” echoed the voice of Nightmare Moon through the town.

“What did you do with them, Nightmare Moon?!”

“Nothing major, really. I just put them to sleep so I would have you all for myself. Just like in the days, isn’t it right Rainie?”

“You wretched…” began Raine before she felt drowsiness take over her body.

Eventually, her body gave in to the fatigue that was growing inside of her and her eyes began to close themselves. Before she knew it, she was asleep and a purple mist floated next to her before it took the form of a black alicorn wearing nothing more than a few pieces of armor, including a helmet.

“Yes. Just sleep, Rainie. In the meantime, I’ll take back what was mine to begin with,” Nightmare Moon said with a maniacal grin covering her mouth.

————

Raine woke up to find herself in a place she thought she would never see again: her mother’s castle. The memories that place held were just about enough to give her nightmares for the rest of her life but for some reason, there was something that seemed to be drawing her inside the castle itself. She tried to fight the force that was pulling her but it was to no avail. She was going to be dragged to whatever place it would bring her whether she liked it or not.

The doors leading inside the castle opened themselves but there were no signs of magic being used to open them. No auras had grabbed hold of the doors. They just opened like that as if it was meant to happen. Raine was dragged through several hallways before she was stopped in front of a specific room; one she recognized very quickly.

She saw shadows inside the room so she decided to look at it even though she was telling herself not to do it. When she saw what was inside the room, images flooded her mind. Images she just wanted to forget permanently. She saw a younger version of herself standing in front of an angered Nightmare Moon. She saw their mouths move but she couldn’t hear any of the things that were said inside that room. She didn’t need to anyway.

She flinched when Nightmare Moon raised her left leg high in the air. She knew what was coming and yet she was still as shocked to see it as she did back then. Nightmare Moon’s hoof connected with the filly’s muzzle and it sent her rolling against one of the wall of the room. She remembered Nightmare Moon of accusing her of being a worthless piece of trash. She remembered the pain of her receiving physical punishment via her mother’s hooves. She remembered the voice her mother had. She remembered it all and she hated it.

It was a part that she tried to forget but seeing it all again only made her realize that she would never be able to truly escape her past because history cannot be rewritten. It was something that was there to stay. Raine tried to move but her body was frozen in place. Fear had made it impossible for her body to move at all so all she could do was watch what was happening in the room.

The filly version of Raine got back up on her hooves, a small amount of blood flowing out of her mouth and a twisted leg. Raine remembered that scene as well, being one of the part of her foalhood that marked the beginning of her hell. She was struck once more by her mother, making her roll a few inches away and before she could get up again, Nightmare Moon kicked her in the stomach, knocking the wind out of the filly.

The filly remained on the ground and told her daughter that she would never accomplish anything with her life unless she aligned with her and helped her conquer Equestria. There were no answers coming from the little filly. There were only sobs coming from the wounded pony. Nightmare Moon then left the room, passing through the real Raine as if she had never existed to begin with, and the doors closed themselves just as the doors to the castle’s entrance had opened but not before she heard herself burst into tears, bawling like a baby.

“How did things get to this…?” Raine said to herself.

Not long after, the same force that had dragged her to the room took hold of her again and she was once again pulled to some places unknown inside Nightmare Moon’s castle. Well, it wasn’t exactly unknown. Raine had only seen it a few times and even then, she was never really allowed in there. It was the study of her mother but it was a place that managed to strike fear into Raine’s core.

Inside, she saw Nightmare Moon circling around a unicorn. The unicorn in question had a purple coat and a red mane. Her tail had the same color but Raine couldn’t see the other body features of the pony as she had her turned back to Raine. However, since this scene was not one Raine remembered, she was able to hear what Nightmare Moon was saying to the other mare.

“So, you have decided to betray your queen and go against her wishes?” Nightmare Moon asked the unicorn

“…”

“Answer me!” shouted Nightmare Moon before she struck the mare, only to send her flying against a wall. That served to both teach the mare to obey and answer her queen at all times and to relieve Nightmare Moon of her frustration.

“She’s an innocent filly. Leave her out of this, Nightmare Moon. What she needs is not fear but love. If you don’t give her that, she’ll never grow into what you want her to be. You’ll only make her life miserable,” answered the mare.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Since when did you become a mother?!”

Before she knew it, the mare found herself caught by the alicorn’s magic and thrown against the wall on the opposite side of the study. While she thought that she would fall to the ground right after being thrown on the wall, the unicorn was more than surprised when Nightmare Moon impaled four spears into her limbs. Now unable to move, the only the mare could do was scream and shriek in pain. She tried to free herself but it only made it more painful for her as the spears sank in her flesh.

Tears flowed down the mare’s cheek as the begged for Nightmare Moon’s forgiveness but the alicorn was laughing so much that she couldn’t, and didn’t, hear the unicorn’s screams and even when she did hear them, she just looked at the mare and resumed laughing madly. Watching that scene made Raine realize that Nightmare Moon was nothing but an enormous sadist that had a superiority complex.

Nightmare Moon removed the spears from the mare’s body and called her guards. While waiting for her guards, the alicorn toyed with the mare by strangling her then releasing her before she fell unconscious. She repeated the same process again and again and she didn’t even care when she saw all the blood that stained the floor of her study.

Her guards showed up a few minutes afterwards and they were told to take the mare to the dungeons. They were then told to clean up behind them when they would be done with their orders as she didn’t want blood to stain the entire floor of the castle. The atmosphere reigning inside the study was enough to make the guards understand that they were expected to leave as quickly as they entered the study.

The doors to the study closed themselves and once more, Raine was dragged to another part of the castle and stopped in front of another room. It was one she didn’t really remember but when the doors opened, her eyes began to tear up as she saw what was happening in there. A filly version of Raine was laughing and hugging the same mare that had been in the study with Nightmare Moon a few minutes earlier.

She felt such warmth at seeing her old caretaker once more. She had been so kind to her back then and she was so sweet towards Raine and, unlike Nightmare Moon, she cared for the small filly. The two seemed so happy together and there seemed to be nothing that could separate them. At least, that was what she thought… until Nightmare Moon got involved and saw that the caretaker was doing the exact opposite what she was supposed to do.

However, there was none of that happening in that scene Raine witnessed. There was just the filly Raine and the purple mare and they were both having so much fun together. They didn’t seem to have a care in the world and they kept on playing funny games or telling each other funny jokes and other such things.

“You’re so fun, Tender Heart! I wish you could be my mother instead of my current one,” the filly said.

“Now, now, Raine. Don’t be so harsh on your mother. She may have rough ways of doing her things but I’m sure she wants nothing but the best for you,” replied Tender Heart.

“No! She’s mean with me. She calls me names and tell me I won’t ever do anything good with my life if I don’t do as she tells me…”

“Well… how about I cheer you up by… let’s see here. Oh yes! I’m going to tickle you until you beg for mercy!” exclaimed Tender Heart, grabbing a quill with her magic at the same time.

The purple unicorn leapt at Raine and tackled her down and then used the quill she had grabbed with her magic to tickle the filly. There was so much laughter that came from this treatment but at least, both ponies were having a great time. The filly version of Raine laughed so much that she ended up shedding tears of laughter.

When Tender Heart stopped to catch her breath so much she laughed, Raine took this occasion to escape the unicorn. She thought she wouldn’t have noticed immediately but Tender Heart did and gave chase to Raine almost instantly. She cornered the black alicorn into a corner and began to tickle the filly again.

“Mercy! Mercy!” spoke Raine through pants and laughs.

“What’s that? I didn’t hear you right!”

“Mercy! I give up, I give up!”

Tender Heart was about to stop when the door the room burst open and a very angry Nightmare Moon walked into the room to find the two having fun. Her eyes were filled with hate and she just stared at the purple unicorn for a few moments. She noticed their surprised looks but she ignored them and just concentrated on thinking about a fitting punishment.

Before Tender Heart could say or do anything, Nightmare Moon’s magic caught hold of her and she was soon thrown against a wall. It didn’t end there, though. Nightmare Moon threw her against another wall and then another. She wanted nothing more than to beat the unicorn to a bloody pulp. She would have done so if it hadn’t been for Raine. She burst into tears and just begged for her mother to stop hurting her caretaker.

Nightmare Moon complied but not before she let Tender Heart out of her magic’s grasp. Then she looked at Raine with eyes filled with disgust. She grabbed her with her magic and began to strangle her. She needed her to be a cold, strong and powerful pony. Not a weak, caring and kind pony. She was supposed to help her take over Equestria and thus had not time to be playing such games.

Raine continued to beg for mercy but it fell on deaf ears. However, since Nightmare Moon knew that she could still shape Raine into what she wanted, she stopped strangling her and just threw her on a nearby wall. She walked to where the filly was and before she could even get back on her hooves, the large alicorn began to kick her repeatedly. She just ignored the cries of her daughter and only tried to get rid of her anger.

And she did. After she had gravely wounded Raine, she had managed to regain her calm but that didn’t change the fact that she had turned her daughter into a wreck. Raine was covered in bruises and blood. She looked completely miserable and on top of that, she was crying and there seemed to be no stopping her. To stop her from crying even more, Nightmare Moon threw her against the ceiling. Raine fell back to the floor, unconscious.

Satisfied, Nightmare Moon left the room and notified her guards to go fetch a pony in the medical wing of her castle. The real Raine watched the scene, her eyes glistening with tears. The heartache she had experiences when she was younger was all coming back to her. And yet, she also wondered how she managed to live through it. Of course, it had left its mark. She knew she lacked willpower and that she was pretty much a socially awkward pony but that’s how she grew up. It’s how she became accustomed to act.

‘Why did things turn out like this? Could it have been changed somehow? Could I have saved Tender Heart if I had been stronger and if I had been able to fend for myself?’ Raine asked.

As the memories were flooding back into her mind, the unknown force grabbed her again and she was once again dragged through the castle’s halls. This time, however, she was brought to an underground part of the castle. It was probably the only place that she didn’t remember because she had never been there.

Once inside, she saw the one thing she never expected to see. On what seemed to be a metal table lay a dark blue Pegasus with a silvery mane and a few feet away from that table was a black alicorn she recognized all too well. She, however, wondered who that filly was and what she was doing there. She did until she heard the filly call Nightmare Moon her mother and asking her what was going on.

“It’s nothing you need to concern yourself about, Rainie. Now, I need you to dream dear,” said Nightmare Moon before using her magic to force the filly in a deep sleep.

Raine then saw Nightmare Moon collecting magic inside her horn and it shone with a light that was unlike any other. It had a dark shade of blue for an aura and it even managed to blind Raine because of how bright it was. She afraid beyond words and what her mother spoke frightened her even more than they did before. They scared her to her very core.

“If I oversee this child’s education as well as her conditioning, she will be an unstoppable force. She will be my secret weapon. She’ll help me bring about the demise of Celestia and Luna and I shall conquer Equestria with her help!

“With this experimentation of mine, I will prove to those old fools that it is possible to create artificial alicorns. They’ll know better than to underestimate the knowledge and power of Nightmare Moon!” She exclaimed with an evil laughter.

“Still, there is one downfall with this plan. If I want her to be a successful experiment, I’ll need to transfer a portion of my own magic to her and mold it to give her a horn so she can use magic like me. It’ll weaken me for sure so I’ll have to make sure she is made into my own personal weapon. If this is successful, I will be glorified as an innovator. My work will be forever remembered in the history of Equestria!”

Nightmare Moon lowered her head and her horn connected with the Pegasus’ forehead. An even brighter light came into existence and it completely blinded Raine for several minutes. And while she couldn’t see anything, she heard everything that happened. From the filly’s high pitched screams of pain to Nightmare Moon’s mad laughter, she heard it all.

The light lasted for a few minutes in which she heard more than enough. The light finally faded away after a period of time Raine was unsure of and once she was able to see what had happened in the room, her eyes widened almost instantly!

On the metallic table was an alicorn filly, black as the night, with a silvery mane and turquoise eyes that was crying in pain. Nightmare Moon was already leaving the room, leaving the filly all alone in there. She eventually stopped crying and fell asleep out of tiredness but the whole situation left Raine in a very shocked state.

‘Does this mean I’m not…” Raine began but stopped herself from saying any further. She couldn’t believe it. She didn’t want to accept it.

“Oh, but it is, Rainie. You are an artificial alicorn. You were just a simple Pegasus before, just like your father was. At least, he was willing to help me in my plans unlike you.” Raine turned around to see Nightmare Moon standing right in front of her.

“But if I’m an artificial alicorn, shouldn’t I have died ages ago?”

“No, not exactly. I told you were an artificial alicorn but you became one because I gave you part of my magic, thus giving you my immortality at the same time,” explained the black alicorn.

“What are you planning to do with me, then?” queried Raine, quite suspicious of the mare.

“Planning to? Dear, I won’t even need to try doing it,” replied Nightmare Moon before she ignited her horn.

Raine found herself held in place by her mother magical aura and before she knew it, she was thrown against the nearby wall. She tried to break free of the magic that held her but it proved to be too strong for the alicorn. She just watched in horror as Nightmare Moon got closer and closer to her, eventually arriving right in front of the frightened alicorn. She laughed a little but soon regained her normal mood.

“So, how should I deal with you? Should I go at it the hard way, or the easy way?” Nightmare Moon asked rhetorically.

“Please! The ea-”

“Oh, wait! Don’t answer that. I’m sure you’d prefer the hard way anyway so let’s go along with that one.”

Raine wanted to scream. She didn’t do it because her mouth had been sealed shut. She figured that Nightmare Moon had something to do with it, seeing as she was enjoying all of this. Then suddenly, Raine began to feel some sort of uneasiness inside her. She felt weak but she also felt like a huge pressure had moved from her entire body and into her head. It felt like it was going to explode.

A tightness formed itself in her head and soon, she began to feel some sort of liquid running down her head. She tried to figure what it was but she didn’t find what it was until she saw what it was; blood. She was bleeding… inside a dream! The pain then became unbearable at some point but due to having her mouth sealed, Raine was unable to scream in pain or maybe call for help.

Raine felt like somepony was simply removing her horn from her head and as she saw the blood starting to flow abundantly, that was the conclusion she came to. Of course, she was able to feel it was her horn that was being completely removed but the blood simply indicated that her fears were true. Perhaps she had experiences great pain before but that one was on a whole new level.

She felt the bone being pulled out of her head and it hurt her even more than it did before. The seal prohibiting her from speaking or produce any kind of sounds with her mouth was lifted and she began screaming her lungs out. The pain was beyond unbearable. She had trouble staying conscious.

Then, with a quick pull, Nightmare Moon completely ripped off Raine’s horn from her head. A high-pitched scream was heard throughout the castle and its surroundings but there was no one to save her in the dream world. She was fighting against the master of that realm. Still, the pain was a quick one and soon enough, Raine fell down to the ground, in a puddle of her own blood. Right before she lost consciousness, she caught a glimpse of her appearance and saw that she was a Pegasus with a dark blue coat, a silvery mane and turquoise eyes. She no longer felt her horn and even worse, she saw a large hole right in the middle of her head, right where her horn used to be.

————

“Raine! Raine!” called out a voice. “Raine, wake up!”

Raine slowly began to open her eyes and looked around her. She was still in Appleloosa but it seemed like the town was safe once more. Next to her, on both her right and her left, were her three companions and they all looked at her with concerned looks. She tried to get up just after she came to her senses but she still had problems doing so because she found that her body was lacking the balance it had before.

“Are you sure you’re okay, Raine?” asked Spike. “You seem like you’re not feeling well.”

“No, I’m fine. It’s just that my body feels weird all of a sudden. It’s like I’m me but I’m not at the same time,” stated Raine, confused by the whole situation.

“That might be related to the fact that you’re not an alicorn anymore, then,” said Dusk, his horn slightly ignited. The unicorn had used a simple spell, so simple that nopony noticed it.

“Wh-what do you mean by that? How can I be anything other than an alicorn?” Raine started to panic as she heard the news.

“Well, normally, even though you were unable to perform the art of magic, I was still able to sense your flow of magic but now, I feel nothing and since Origin is with us right now, you should appear as an alicorn. You can figure out the rest by yourself,” explained the unicorn.

Dusk was right, though. If she was still an alicorn under disguise, other unicorns should be able to sense her magic but if what Dusk said was real, then she wasn’t an alicorn anymore but that left her with the question of how that happened. She knew Nightmare Moon had done something to her but she was unable to remember what it was no matter how much she tried to remember.

Completely shocked by the truth of the situation, Raine’s eyes began to tear up. If she wasn’t an alicorn anymore, then what was she? She only saw glimpses of her dream and even then, the only thing she did remember clearly was a small Pegasus filly that resembled her. That was the only thing she could find in her mind.

Eventually, a few tears began to roll on her cheeks as she continued to ask who she was or what she was. She wasn’t an alicorn and she even felt the absence of her horn. It was at that moment that everything related to her dream came back to her. It flooded her mind and the recollection of events was painful. Her few tears quickly became a cascade of tears.

“It’s all true… It’s all true… I’m just a big lie, a sham!” Raine shouted, completely taken over by her misery, pain and distress.

“What are you talking about, Raine? And why are you crying?” queried Blitz who was confused by Raine’s strange behavior.

“I’m a fake! I never was a real alicorn!” Raine replied, he voice filled with distress.

“You’re not making any sense, Raine. We’ve known you as an alicorn. How can you not be an alicorn?” Blitz asked her, trying to make sense out of the situation.

“Blitz has a point, Raine. Even when I met you, you were an alicorn and that was twenty years ago. You’ve always been an alicorn,” added Origin who was also concerned with Raine’s current condition.

“You haven’t seen the same things I did. Nightmare Moon invaded my mind and made it so I would remember my foalhood but at the same time, she made it so I would see some scenes I never saw, some scenes that were in her memories and she forced me to watch them!

“I saw it in those memories. I was born a Pegasus but I was turned into an alicorn because Nightmare Moon wanted to use me as one of her war weapon against Celestia and Luna. I’m just one huge lie!” Raine exclaimed, allowing herself to wallow even more in her own pity.

“Alright now. You listen to me very clearly, Raine! It’s not because you’re not an alicorn that we don’t like you less. We like you because your heart is at the right place. You have a valiant soul and you would do anything to make it so no ponies will be harmed. We saw that much back in Ponyville when you took wounds to protect both Sweetie Belle and Trixie, not to mention little Spike here probably owes his life to you as well.” Dusk reprimanded the depressed pony. She needed support but he just didn’t know what to do so he just thought he’d lecture her instead.

“But–”

“No buts. You being an alicorn was never a factor. We knew you couldn’t perform magic but that didn’t change anything at all. We like you for who you are, not for what you are!”

“Exactly. I may not have forgiven you for what happened to my sister just yet, but I know that you didn’t do it on purpose. You just wanted to set things straight. You have an honest soul, Raine. Don’t you even dare forget that!” Blitz told Raine as to give her more self-confidence.

“Listen to them, Raine. They are right. When I first met you, I was charged to bring you back to my hive… I didn’t do it because of who you were. Because of your personality and everything that makes you the pony you are. I didn’t do it because of you being an alicorn. I did it because your personality charmed me. I fell in love with the mare standing in front of me, alicorn or not. You could be a Pegasus, a unicorn or an Earth pony for all I care but that will never change the fact that I loved, and still love, the pony known as Raine Moon for who she was!”

“You… Do you mean all that?” Raine asked the three other ponies.

“Of course. What kind of companions and friends would we be if we weren’t honest with each other? You are an integral part of this group and we intend to make it stay like that. Just don’t forget that what you are is unimportant. It’s who you are that makes us like you. Not the other way around,” Dusk said, giving Raine a warm smile.

“T-thank you, you three,” Raine told the three ponies before shifting her attention towards Spike. “Would you mind helping me send a letter to Princess Celestia, or Luna?”

“I don’t see any problems with that but the only problem with that is that I don’t have any parchment to do so. And without a parchment, I can’t send any letter of any kind.” The baby dragon gesticulated whilst explaining the matter.

“I think I can remediate to this,” Dusk said, igniting his horn at the same time.

His horn began to shine slightly and a few moments later, he had made a piece of parchment, a quill and a pot of ink appear out of thin air. “There you go, Spike.”

“Thanks! So, what was it you wanted to write to the princesses, Raine?” Spike asked the Pegasus.

“Right! Well, here goes!”

She told him the message she wanted to convey to the princesses, making sure to make things as simple as possible considering Spike was still only a baby dragon. She wasn’t exactly taking him for granted, but she was trying to make things simple for both of them. After he finished writing her message, she asked to see it to confirm that everything was in order. The letter read the following:

Dear Princess Celestia and Luna,

I am writing to you today to announce that we arrived safely in Appleloosa. However, there is still the issue that when we arrived there, it was already lost to Nightmare Moon. To escape her, we were forced to incapacitate the villagers of the town that were under her control. It was no easy task but we managed to do it. Still, after we were done with them, we were confronted by Applejack, the Element of Honesty. Well, at least, the dream brought to life by Nightmare Moon. She has done this two times now. First, she had brought back Rarity in a similar manner. There is one strange thing that happens when she makes them come back. Somehow, they have their original personalities but are still under the influence of Nightmare Moon. I think that’s because she makes false promises to them but I can’t be sure. At the very least, it is an interesting phenomenon that we will have to watch out for. Last time, we were able to defeat Rarity without that much trouble but this time, if it hadn’t been for a fourth ally named Origin, we would have never defeated her and escaped with our lives.

On a second point, what I want to share is a bit more personal but it is something that needs to be shared. After we had managed to defeat Applejack, Nightmare Moon put us all in sleep with one of her spells and then she invaded my mind, forcing me to relive my past. I won’t lie, it was painful but not as painful as the secret behind my existence. You see, I was never an alicorn to begin with. I was born a Pegasus. My mother, in a mad attempt at using me to deal with you, made me an alicorn and tried to train me to be a mindless slave at her orders. We can all see how well that turned out but I digress. I know that this isn’t very concerning to a certain extent but there is still the probability that my mother might use her own experiments and turn other ponies into alicorns to fight by her side. At least, that’s what Dusk said

As a last point, since both Dusk and Blitz asked about it, we would like to know our next destination so we may prepare accordingly. I won’t lie to you and Princess Luna but I fear that this situation will only get even worse as of now. By all means, you should remain vigilant at all costs because Nightmare Moon has made her move and she has already planned her next moves in advance.

Sincerely signed,

Raine Moon

“There, you can send it now, Spike. If you would do me that favor, that is,” Raine told the baby dragon.

He nodded and he blew some fire on the rolled piece of parchment, making it disappear into a green dust and went directly towards Canterlot. That then left the group all alone in Appleloosa but this time, however, things were back to normal… for the time being.

The Swarm of Las Pegasus

The Eclipsed

The Swarm of Las Pegasus

By Raine Moon

It was a rather rainy day. Rain had started to fall the morning following the events that took place in Appleloosa. The small group had fortunately boarded the train heading towards their new location before the rain started falling. Of course, that meant that the princesses had replied to Raine’s letter. It was strangely brief but at the very least, they knew where they should head next.

Dear Raine,

I have received your letter and I have to say that the situation has escalated very quickly. We had not anticipated that Nightmare Moon would start taking over some parts of Equestria this fast. At this rate, we will have to defend Canterlot from a possible attack very soon. As for the issue that happened with the Element of Honesty, I have nothing to say about that. Not meeting them directly before, I can’t say how they were but it is like you said, Nightmare Moon can only make the original essence of a being come back through her dream magic. She cannot alter their personalities but she can make them false promises and make them side by her side. That is something that is very possible.

As for the second point, it is kind of you to warn us of Nightmare Moon’s plans. With that, we will perhaps be more prepared if she ever invades Canterlot in a near future. Well, that future may come far more quickly that what we may know so we will just have to have our guards up at all times from now on.

Concerning your new destination, we would like you to investigate on Las Pegasus. We are not sure what happened there but we have recently lost all contact with the town. Before you start making scenarios inside your head, Nightmare Moon was not involved in it. She didn’t leave any magical remains there so she has not yet gone to the town. However, we would like to ask you to see what cut all contact with the town.

Sincerely,

Princess Celestia.

“Well, that letter was brief, if anything,” Blitz remarked.

“Yeah, no kidding. It’s like they didn’t want to go on the part of Raine’s predicament. Maybe they think it’s impossible or they are just having a hard time believing it. After all, it’s not every day that you learn that an alicorn is in fact a Pegasus by birth,” Dusk told his friend.

“That still doesn’t erase the fact that they completely ignored it. The least they could have done was to send some words of comfort or something like that,” Origin said, complaining about the letter Celestia had sent.

“Guys… I don’t think discussing this any longer will yield any results whatsoever. We should concentrate our efforts into preparing ourselves for Las Pegasus. Nightmare Moon may not be involved in all of this but it is still a large city that was lost. Whatever it is, we need to be careful,” Raine added.

They all nodded. Even though Nightmare Moon wasn’t directly involved, they still needed to watch out for possible traps in Las Pegasus. They didn’t know who their enemies were this time and that was something they should take into consideration.

For a few hours of travel, they stayed silent and some other times, they talked, told jokes and the such. It was mostly to get rid of the unnecessary stress they could experience while heading for the exotic city. And then, there was this peculiar conversation that sparked between Raine and Spike.

“By the way, Spike, where were you when we had to fight those ponies and Applejack back in Appleloosa?” asked Raine, looking at the purple dragon.

“Um… well… you see… Oh darn it! I was scared of Nightmare Moon!” Spike let out, a slight blush on his face.

“And is that such a bad thing? I mean, we’re all scared by Nightmare Moon but it’s because we’re together that we can face her. I’m not the strongest unicorn around, in physical strength I mean, but that doesn’t mean anything when I have other ponies by my side,” admitted Dusk.

“Really?”

“Yeah. That mare is a fierce one, and she’s the kind of mare that could traumatize even me at some point and that’s saying something! Of course, with Dusk and Raine, along with Origin, I feel like I can face her with less fear.”

“And don’t forget that despite everything that she’s put me through, especially the recent ones, I’m glad I have you all with me. That way, I feel more secure at the thought of facing my mother,” said Raine, giving a glance to every single member of her group.

“Changing this rather sappy subject, what did you think Nightmare Moon has in plan for Equestria?” Spike queried a worried expression on his little face.

“I honestly don’t know, Spike. But whatever she’s doing, we need to brace ourselves because she’s going to hit us hard. I still haven’t forgotten that she sees all of this like a game of chess,” answered Raine, a worried look also covering her entire face. “What do you two think about all of this?”

“Well, based on what I was able to hear and with the fact that I read a little bit between the lines, I think that she plans to take over each city and village in Equestria before taking over Canterlot. That’s how I see it and that’s probably how she will proceed, and that will probably include her summoning the other bearers of the Elements of Harmony. At this point, I can only shudder at the idea of her bringing back Twilight...” Dusk said, his expression calm and mostly emotionless.

“Heh, whatever she plans to do, I’ll be sure to kick her flank for sure. I mean, she did kill Dashie and I plan to get her back for that. But I think that Dusk is going somewhere with his hypothesis. We should watch out where we go next because we may never know what may happen at that point.”

“And what about you, Spike?” Raine asked the dragon.

“I’m not really sure. I mean, I wasn’t even there when she made that supposedly evil speech about her seeing us as nothing more than pawns in her goal to take down Princess Celestia and Princess Luna so I can’t really say I know anything about the current situation,” admitted Spike, his gaze staring into the horizon.

“I think you’ve forgotten somepony here, Raine,” remarked Origin, a noticeable grin on his mouth.

“Oh, I’m so sorry, Origin. I’m just used to travelling with just Dusk, Blitz, and Spike. I hope I didn’t hurt your feelings.”

“Don’t worry about that. Anyway, I think that this whole ordeal is worth the worry because Nightmare Moon is bent on taking over Equestria. And if she succeeds, she’ll either enslave pony kind or raze it to the ground. In the end, I guess that we should really watch out for her. We’ll need a lot of guts to go through this journey but if we stick together, we’ll be able to get through it together!” exclaimed Origin, boosting the morale of the other ponies, and dragon, with him on the train’s wagon.

“Anyway, we still have a long road ahead of us so I suggest we get some rest before actually getting to Las Pegasus,” Blitz suggested.

To that, there were no disagreements. They needed all the rest they could get before arriving in Las Pegasus and staying up debating and arguing and whatnot was not going to help them prepare themselves to what would come next. They all lay their heads on the pillows that had been put in the different compartments and it was actually Dusk that fell to sleep last.

There was just so much on his mind. With the recent summoning of Rarity and Applejack, he wondered if Nightmare wouldn’t attempt the same with Twilight. The results coming from that would be disastrous. Twilight was a mare talented with the arts of magic themselves. Even more so, her cutie mark represented magic itself. She was a mare that held an incredible amount of magical energy and unlike his, hers was actually tame and controlled and that was what scared Dusk: the thought of Nightmare Moon using that to her advantage.

Nevertheless, he eventually managed to find sleep and fortunately, his dream was his own. It wasn’t haunted by any of Nightmare Moon’s illusions or whatever it is she uses when she enters the mind of a pony to mess around with their dreams.

As for Raine, she was dreaming of a pony that was gone since long ago. It was Tender Heart and there was a reason for that. The recent dreams Nightmare Moon had forced on her had reawakened all of her repressed emotions from back then and while she was being strong to hold them back, she wasn’t able to do so once she was all alone. It was too much to bear for a single pony but at least, she was glad that even until the end Tender Heart had fought for her with her very life.

Her death may have been meaningless at some extent but without that, Raine would have never faked her own death to escape from Nightmare Moon and her tyranny. In a way, there were so many things she had to thank the unicorn for and at the same time, there were so many mistakes she did that ended up with her being held responsible for because she didn’t obey her orders flawlessly.

However, there was one the group’s member that had a much more troubled sleep. Origin rolled from one side to the other, he was sweating heavily and he panted regularly and sometimes even mumbled some things that were mostly inaudible to the others. His dream regarded his past, when he was sent to find and capture Raine to bring her back to the hive.

————

I had just made my choice. I was leaving the Everfree Forest to go report to the hive about I was unable to capture and bring back Raine. It’s an obvious lie but I don’t have any other choices if I wish to protect her. Guess I’ll just have to bear with the consequences, although I don’t expect to return to her anytime soon. The last time something like that happened, the changeling was beheaded in a most gruesome way.

After I told Raine that I was planning on leaving to get some things done back from where I came from, I began making my way out of the forest. Let’s just say that she made me promise to come back safely to her one day. The Everfree Forest was really like a maze. One moment you could heading in the right direction and the next, you could be lost and waste a few hours making you way back to your initial location before you took that wrong turn.

In any case, as I made my way out of that darned forest, I began hearing a voice coming from somewhere. Curious, I followed the origin of the sound and found out that it was a unicorn that I had heard earlier. I wasn’t sure if he was hostile or not but I didn’t want to find out by sneaking up on him so I just remained in the shadows for a few minutes. Well, I did until I heard the roar of what seemed to be a manticore.

And I was right. It did come from a manticore. Unfortunately, its prey just so happened to be the unicorn I had been stalking for the past half an hour. I was on my guard, ready to jump in if trouble ever arose around myself or the pony. For a while, I stood watch to spot the manticore that was lurking around but I had no luck in that. There wasn’t anything to see or hear around my location.

However, just when I thought that it was a false alarm, I heard the sound of leaves being crushed under pressure and the sound of branches cracking. I soon realized that it was coming from behind me. I turned around to be met by the manticore itself. It roared at me for the longest time I could ever remember something roaring at me and before I could react in any way, my vision went completely black.

————

Origin woke up in panic. His heart raced at incredible speeds. He was sweating heavily and saw that most of the small bed was wet from his sweat. Stressed and still in shock, he got up and decided to go take a small walk to calm himself.

He wandered from wagons to wagons, eventually finding one that seemed to be to his liking. It was serene and there was an excellent view of the landscape. In there, he allowed his stress and fears to leave him be in peace. It was a scene that was simply too beautiful to ignore because of a few problems concerning a dream.

He looked as the sun neared its zenith. The mountains in the horizon along with the clouds and their snow-covered peaks were making the view an even more sublime one. It made him think that life outside of the hive was a beautiful one. He did, however, miss the warmth that the queen gave him when he was still a hatchling.

“Be safe… my Queen,” he whispered so it would not be heard in case some ponies had been following him.

The changeling remained there for a few hours before he finally decided to get some rest before they would arrive in Las Pegasus. Blitz was right; if they were to be effective, they would need to be rested so they could give their best efforts. With that in mind, he drifted off to sleep once more, his dreams slowly taking over his mind again.

————

I didn’t know what had happened exactly. My vision went black and then all I could remember was that I was bleeding all over the place. My ribcage had been torn open and I could see the manticore feasting upon my soon-to-be carcass. It wouldn’t be long until I would finally bleed to death. Then, the beast would really begin feasting upon my remains, starting with my flesh. Yes, we changelings have flesh unlike what some may think.

We do resemble insects in a way but we only have a shell to protect us and to keep our flesh in place. Without it, we would simply be fragile creatures. Another one of our traits that make us and insects alike is the fact that we have a hive mind within the hive. Unfortunately, my suffering had completely destroyed my link with the hive mind.

In any case, I would have died if it hadn’t been for the unicorn that I was stalking earlier. He just showed up out of nowhere and he cast a strong fire spell, one strong enough to seriously injure a creature such as a manticore. He managed to chase it away but knowing the wildlife a bit more than him, I knew that a manticore would never leave a prey alive, no matter what happened.

I tried to warn him of his mistake but I couldn’t even talk anymore. Perhaps I had lost the ability to speak because of all the pain I was experiencing. The point is, I wasn’t able to warn him of how manticores hunted normally but if I didn’t find a way to do that, he would sooner or later also become a snack for the beast.

And then it happened. His guard was down for just a moment and even then, that proved to be his downfall. Before he had the time to react or even notice it, the manticore leapt towards him and sunk its teeth near his neck section. That wasn’t enough to kill him but the injury did leave him unable to walk. I approached the pony by crawling with all of my remaining strength. I wasn’t going to let him die but I didn’t want to die so I ignited my horn and touched his horn just so I could create a telepathic link.

“What would you do in order to live?” I spoke in his mind.

————

“Wake up, Origin!” Raine exclaimed.

“Wh-what! What’s happened?!” Origin replied in shock as if somepony had poured cold water on his body.

“Well, we’re near Las Pegasus so I thought we’d prepare ourselves mentally before actually getting there. And since you didn’t seem to wake up, we decided to wake you up ourselves,” Raine explained, her voice containing a small amount of concern.

“What now? You seem concerned and don’t try to hide it; I can feel your emotions when you’re near me like that. All changelings can when they are near a pony.”

“You were mumbling things in your sleep and you were very agitated. Did you have a bad dream or anything like that?” Raine inquired, her concern dripping from her voice like a waterfall.

“Don’t worry about that. I was just reminiscing the past. You don’t need to worry yourself with that,” the changeling answered, offering a warm smile to the Pegasus standing in front of him.

“In any case, they did serve breakfast in the dining wagon and we weren’t sure if normal food was something you could eat as we do. Can you?”

“I most certainly can, although it is not the best way for me to gather up my energy. Positive emotions are a lot better than normal pony food but I guess that after living with ponykind for twenty years, I grew accustomed to the food they eat,” said Origin.

“That’s good to know but since we’re aware of your eating tendencies, I’ll leave it up to you to decide if you want to come eat with us and if you don’t, maybe I could help you get yourself some energy somehow.” Origin quickly understood what she meant by that and he was quite surprised that she was so willing to give him energy with her emotions.

“Why don’t I do both instead? I don’t want to sap you of all your energy by mistake and besides, I want to taste the food they serve on this train,” said Origin, returning an expression to match Raine’s.

“Oh, well by all means, you are certainly quite the charmer,” Raine teased, turning away to leave the small compartment only to stumble upon Blitz.

“Come on, lovebirds. We’re waiting for you to come join us in the dining wagon!”

“L-l-lovebirds?!” the two exclaimed in unison with surprised expression, quickly taking a few steps away from the other.

“It’s not what it looks like, Blitz! I was just waking him up,” Raine argued, an obvious blush over her cheeks.

“Yeah, sure. That’s why you two had your eyes locked and were giving each other seducing looks. Come on, we’ve nearly reached Las Pegasus,” Blitz said before he went back to the dining wagon.

“Alright, I guess we should go there as well. Let’s not keep them waiting any longer,” Origin said, opening the door and giving Raine the opportunity to leave the small room first. “Ladies first.”

“Oh, my! You’re quite the gentlecolt,” she teased.

“Shut it,” he spoke through his blush,” and let’s go join the others instead.”

Keeping a certain grin on, Raine quickly caught up to Origin and they walked to the wagon the rest of the group was in. Having no pony else in the train did help to travel through the wagons and before long, they found the dining wagon to see all the other members of the group in there. Spike was already rubbing his filled stomach while Dusk could be seen sipping what seemed to be some kind of tea.

When Raine and Origin entered the wagon, they were welcomed by Dusk who simply lifted his head and proceeded into waving a hoof at them. Spike, in his current state, wasn’t really able to engage in conversation and his moans proved that point. That sparked a small moment of laughter that lasted for a few moments before it died down.

The atmosphere soon became more serious as Blitz and Dusk began to talk about what to expect in Las Pegasus. They didn’t know what there was in the city either but the best they could do was plan on ahead just in case. They covered the part about sticking together no matter what as they were still uncertain of what they could encounter.

They said that it was safer if they remained together instead so they could flee altogether in case danger would come to them. They reviewed their strategies and roles. Dusk was the main spell caster while Blitz was the scout and a direct partner with Dusk, often helping the pony with spells by producing certain elements that the unicorn could harvest and use as elemental spells.

By definition, elemental magic wasn’t so hard but it was still a form of magic that was hard to grasp because it either required a unicorn to use an element created naturally, like Blitz and Dusk do from time to time, or for the unicorn to have an excellent understanding of the element they were trying to manipulate. It would often require years of practice to be able to manipulate elemental magic decently. Thought it was a form of magic rather rare, fire magic was often the most common one.

Returning to the original subject, Origin was supposed to be an alternative spell caster as well as a jack of all trades. As for Raine, she would be a scout, reporting the status on their position as well as the positions of any incoming foes they could encounter while in the city. And although they didn’t want to put Spike in grave danger, they gave him the role of ground scout. He would basically remain near Dusk and inform him of any foes that would try to get too close from him.

While they were still discussing about their plans, the train stopped and they all guessed it was because they had finally arrived at the station. As they weren’t really on a big rush, they took the time to finish their briefing. Once it was over, they all nodded and started to make their way outside, ready to face what they would see of the city.

The sight they got when they debarked from the train wasn’t what they had in mind at all.

While they had expected a city to be completely in ruin, it was mostly intact. It was, however, under siege from what they were able to see. Some buildings were damaged but most of them were still in normal conditions. They looked at the town’s condition and quickly deduced that Nightmare Moon wasn’t the one behind the city’s siege. Otherwise, she would have already taunted them at that point.

There was nothing. No sounds, no screams. Only the sound of the wind echoing through the empty streets of Las Pegasus. And that silence was disturbing. A question formed in their minds almost instantly and all of them wondered what could have done that to the town. Nightmare Moon left damages behind. Even in Appleloosa, several houses and structures had been razed to the ground.

That wasn’t the case in Las Pegasus. Worried, they started to search through the town’s streets to see if there were any ponies to ask questions to or any ponies that were out there for that matter. They searched for a few hours, as the town wasn’t even comparable to Canterlot in size. The sheer size of Las Pegasus put Canterlot to shame and that showed in how long they searched the city.

“This is crazy! We’ve been doing this for hours and we’ve found no ponies! What happened in here?” Spike asked, speaking his mind out loud.

“I don’t know, Spike. But there’s one thing I’m sure of, I don’t trust any of this. For all we know, this could be another one of Nightmare Moon’s traps,” replied Blitz.

“No, my mother didn’t do any of this. It would have shown throughout the city otherwise. She usually leaves destruction behind and this city looks almost intact save for a few building at some random places. That’s not the work of Nightmare Moon,” Raine explained, standing more on Spike’s side than on Blitz’s.

“The situation is arguable. But let’s not get ourselves lost in petty arguments. We need to be alert right now. We don’t need to be distracted, especially not by ourselves so keep your guard up!” Dusk let out before he resumed his exploration of the city.

They continued to look through the city and they still weren’t able to find any ponies in the many streets. The silence was becoming nerve-wracking and their stress did nothing but rise. Their patience was wearing thin as well. Surely they would have found any kind of clue about where all the inhabitants of the town had disappeared to but there was nothing. Nothing at all!

At least, it was until they stumbled upon the center of the city where a huge tower rested. Judging by its size and position, Dusk deduced that it was probably the heart of the town. But that wasn’t what caught his attention. It was the condition it was in that caught his attention. It was mostly covered in a black substance he was not able to recognize and there were some green cavities in it.

“What is that?” Raine asked out loud.

There were no answers but there was something that came out of their discovery and it was Origin. He was slightly trembling, his eyes almost seemed smaller than they had been a few moments before and he was sweating abundantly. There was something that was oddly off about the changeling and Dusk was determined to find out what it was. Moreover, he was ready to use the necessary means to get his answers.

Origin noticed the Dusk’s gaze fall on him and he immediately understood what it meant. He knew that his reactions had betrayed him but the gaze that Dusk had demanded answers. “No, I won’t disclose any information about this. I am not allowed to do this!”

“How did you know what I was going to ask you? Am I that transparent?” Dusk asked, a bit confused even though he knew he was dealing with a changeling.

“I’m a changeling. I can feel the emotions of nearly every living beings standing close to me. But that’s beside the point. I cannot say anything about this and even if I did know anything about this, I wouldn’t say it,” Origin answered harshly.

“Really? You’re gonna be like that from now on?” Blitz was obviously unamused by the way the changeling acted and that showed in his voice.

“Like I told you, even if I knew what this was, I am bound to reveal nothing about certain things and that was like this for years. It’s not recent, if you want to know.”

“But… what if this information could help us find the citizens of Las Pegasus, couldn’t you make an exception and disclose a bit more information about that structure in particular?” Raine asked him, a pleading look in her eyes.

I swear that pony knows me more than I do myself. Raine had struck at the right place. Her eyes, her voice, the way she positioned herself. She had everything set together to force information out of him but he had to stay strong. He was bound by promises he had made throughout his life and he couldn’t say anything about them.

“No!”

“Please?” She had the pony equivalent of the eyes of a pleading puppy. How was Origin supposed to resist something like that?

She was striking at his weak points and it annoyed him because if she didn’t stop soon, he would say things he would be otherwise prohibited to say. However, knowing Raine, he knew that she wouldn’t be leaving him alone anytime soon and she would keep at it as long as he would resist.

“I said that I wasn’t allowed to talk about it! Did I make myself clear?!” He shouted to make himself more intimidating.

“Fine but don’t blame me if I’m giving you the cold shoulder from now on,” she said, pursing her mouth into a smirk of amusement.

She’s bluffing. I’m sure she’s bluffing! His mind was racing at intense speeds and he wasn’t sure if the Pegasus really meant to carry on her threats. He tried to look unfazed but when he saw that she had already turned around as to ignore him, his entire defences crumbled. He knew he wasn’t allowed to talk of those things but at that rate, he would lose a good source of food.

“Fine… you win,” he sighed in defeat.

Raine instantly turned around, her mouth harbouring a wide smile and she looked as happy as can be. Obviously, she was happy that she had managed to make the changeling change his mind but also because she knew how much that information could mean apart from what it meant to Origin’s pride.

“So, do you mind telling us what that weird thing is on that tower and on all the surrounding buildings as well? As I recall, there was some of that stuff scattered everywhere in the city,” Spike said, his voice demanding detailed answers.

“It doesn’t really have a name and I’m quite certain of that. Another thing I am certain of is that what happened to the town and the landscape—and notice how the substance has already grown in size since we’ve noticed it—is the result of a changeling invasion,” he told the group.

“What?! Why would changelings attack a peaceful city such as Las Pegasus?” Dusk inquired. The unicorn was more confused than ever.

“I can’t be sure but as I said, the black substance is quickly growing in size and that is our biggest problem yet. It can’t grow any bigger or else…” The changeling shuddered at the sheer thought.

“Or else what? What’s going to happen if it doesn’t stop growing and spreading?” It was Blitz’s turn to ask a question. The whole situation was hard to grasp and what had been said about the changelings was a disturbing fact.

“Well, that black substance will eventually contain changeling eggs. It doesn’t really have a name because changelings have no use of naming something which has so many yet so little utilities. Other than containing changeling eggs, it doesn’t really do anything else.”

“I’m not sure I’m following all of this,” Dusk said, confused as ever. “What does that have to do with the current situation of the town?”

“What I’m trying to say is that the changelings that are in this city right now have the intention of turning it into their new hive. I don’t know the reasons for such rash actions but if they are doing this, it is because they are really desperate,” spoke Origin, his voice unchanging.

“What’s going to happen to the ponies of the city, then?” Raine asked with a horrified look in her eyes while she put a hoof over her to silence a gasp.

“They’ll most probably be used to feed the new hive, at the very least.”

“That’s madness! Can’t we do anything to stop that?!” The white Pegasus was obviously outraged by that and it showed a lot. “Can’t we throw the changelings out of Las Pegasus?”

“I wish it could be that simple but the truth is that at this point, we could get rid of the changelings but it wouldn’t make everything disappear magically. It would take several months to get rid of everything the changelings did to this city.”

“In that case, we should get to it at once. Those ponies need to be rescued and at the moment, we’re the only ponies that can help them. Are you okay with that, everypony?” Dusk inquired, giving glances to all the other members of the group.

“I’m with you, Dusk! Those ponies need help and the changelings need to be kicked out. What they’re doing is just too dangerous for the lives of those innocent ponies,” Raine said, joining Dusk at his side.

They were eventually joined by Blitz and Spike. Origin took a bit longer to make his decision because it basically meant going against his people. And although he was banished from his hive, it didn’t mean that he couldn’t care for his fellow changelings. The group understood his situation and gave him the opportunity to stay out of the conflict but he finally agreed to go with them.

Once all set and prepared, they began to make a run for the tower but the wall of a rather large building broke off and fell down on the street, easily blocking the group’s advance. Shocked by this, and moreover glad that nopony was injured by the rubble, they were forced to take an alternative route.

Passing through several alleys, they eventually manage to stumble upon another street but not before realizing they got farther away from the tower. Cursing their bad luck, Dusk let out a few curses as he looked around to see what the fastest way to get back their starting point, other than the alley of course since the path there was blocked.

Noticing that his eyes alone weren’t going to be enough, Dusk suggested that Raine and Blitz scout for a possible way leading to the tower. Nodding, the two flew up and started to look around for any way that could quickly lead them to the tower without too much delay. They spent a good ten minutes before Raine managed to find a way that seemed to be safe.

Landing next to the group, she and Blitz now led the group as they knew the way to take but it was Blitz that mainly led the group, knowing Raine’s hesitation was one of her weak points. They took a few turns, passed through some alleys and finally rejoined a main street but not before they heard part of a building’s structure falling down at them. Panicking, they quickly leapt out of the way but when they did so, Origin was separated from the rest of the group.

“Origin, are you alright?” Spike asked, wondering if the changeling was still conscious. It didn’t mean he trusted him more than before but being a member of the group, they needed his help as well.

“Yeah, I’m going to be… fin — Oh, that hurts!” Origin exclaimed, his voice cracking because of pain.

“What’s wrong, Origin? Are you hurt?” Raine asked, concerned about the changeling.

“I’m… fine. I think I may have a broken leg but don’t worry about me, I’ll catch up with you later on. Probably before you get to the tower,” the changeling replied.

“Are you sure you don’t need help, Origin, you seem to be in pain,” Dusk stated.

“Good deduction, Captain Obvious!” Origin let out, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “I told you, I’m going to be just fine so get going already!”

“Fine but whatever you do from this point, you’re on your own until you catch up with us,” Blitz warned the changeling, making sure he knew what he was getting himself into.

“Just go already. I’ve lived through worse than this!”

Dusk quickly turned around, his mind set back on his original objective. He glanced at Blitz and nodded. Blitz led the ponies on the route that was supposed to lead them straight to the city’s tower. They soon realized that the last time rubble fell off building hadn’t just been in an isolated area. There had been a few others and it had actually managed to block their way once again.

It forced them to find another route and it took a good amount of time to find the good path. Blitz was still in lead position and they were now heading towards their new path. However, there were a lot of things going through Blitz and Dusk’s minds and it concerned Origin and his behavior.

“By the way Blitz, have you noticed Origin’s strange behavior?” Dusk queried.

“What behavior are you talking about, Dusk?” Raine asked the unicorn.

“I wouldn’t have expected you to notice seeing as all your attention is directed at him and don’t try to lie, it’s transparent that you’re falling in love with him,” Blitz told her, being blunt as usual.

“I am not in love with Origin! I just happen to like him a bit more because I know him more than I know you guys!”

“Sure, keep telling yourself that, Raine. In the meantime, yes I did notice them, Dusk. The way he always remained at the back of the group and how he looked to his right and left constantly. He was also extremely nervous and that showed a lot,” Blitz said.

“Do you think we should suspect anything yet? I mean, his behavior was giving off every hint of him being a spy.”

“No, not yet. There are too many facts that are unfounded. We should see how this turns out.”

The group would have continued to make their advance but somehow, something stopped them in their tracks. They were all stuck in place and they were unable to move in any way. On top of that, they all began to have trouble breathing. It wasn’t quick though. It was an extremely slow process.

They were being slowly strangled through magical means, at least that’s what Dusk found by doing a quick magical analysis. He was, however, unable to find who was casting the spell and since he didn’t know where the spell originated from, he wasn’t able to come up with a counterspell. Spike, being a baby dragon after all, was the first one to lose consciousness. Blitz recklessly held his breath, thinking he could delay the effects of the spell but as he quickly realized, it didn’t help him one bit and eventually lost consciousness.

Dusk and Raine were the last two to fall, although Raine lasted a tad longer than Dusk. She had just enough time to see who had used the spell on them. It just so happened to be a familiar looking changeling that walked in front of the group. Well, Raine was the only one who saw who it was and needless to say, she was quite shocked. It didn’t last though as he soon lost consciousness.

“Sorry… This is for the good of the hive and the queen…”

————

Raine finally opened her eyes to find herself in a dark room with the other members of the group lying next to her. They were still unconscious but otherwise, they all seemed to be unharmed. She tried to wake them up but that was met by failure at first. Eventually, she grew tired of trying to wake them so she just lay down and stayed there until they would wake up.

It took the two ponies about two hours, or at least that’s how much time Raine thought had passed, to finally wake up. At first they looked around, trying to figure out where they were but that quickly ended with more confusion than anything. The room they were in was completely pitch black so they weren’t exactly able to see that much except when they were next to each other.

They asked Raine if she knew where they were but she was as ignorant as they were on the situation. Blitz, being the stubborn stallion he was, quickly took flight, only to realize that the ceiling was pretty low as well. In short, they were in what could be called a containment cell. From what Dusk was able to collect by wandering around the room, approximating the size of the room itself, they were being kept in there until the ponies in authority would need them.

“This place sucks, honestly!” Blitz let out, furiously flapping his wings all the while.

“Calm down, Blitz. Now is not the time to be acting rashly. We need to know where we are and if we want to do that, we need to wait until we’re brought to the one in authority, or until Origin comes and frees us, which I think is pretty unlikely,” Dusk replied.

“That’s not what I was talking about, Dusk! I don’t like this place because I can’t stretch my wings in here.”

“Blitz… sometimes your simplicity and bluntness surprise me,” Raine said, looking at Blitz, wherever he was in that dark abyss of darkness.

“Heh, I guess I’m just that awesome, then!” he exclaimed as he burst into laughter right after.

“And now you’ve gone from surprising to plain stupid,” Raine told the white Pegasus, sighing.

“Now, now, kids. Be kind with each other. On a completely different note, has anyone seen Spike yet? I know I felt him squirm around earlier but now I can’t seem to find him,” Dusk said, turning his head right and left, searching for the purple dragon.

“I’m here, Dusk!” The dragon exclaimed.

Dusk found the dragon by triangulating his location using his voice. Now together once more, they all waited for about an hour before the door to where they were being kept opened. They saw that it was a changeling that had opened the door and he informed them that their queen wanted to see them at once. Curious, Dusk told the others to see how the situation would unfold itself before taking any kind of reckless actions.

Following Dusk’s lead, even if it was somewhat a bit more difficult for Blitz due to his personality, they simply followed the changeling until he led them into a room that nearly resembled a throne room. They watched to their sides and saw that the room was brimming with guards, reinforcing the thought of the room being where the changeling’s ruler was. Of course, if it hadn’t been for Dusk’s instructions and the fact that he was capable of stopping the Pegasus if anything went wrong, Blitz stopped himself from lashing out at Origin since he was standing next to a changeling that was relatively larger than the others. The changeling also seemed to hold more authority than the others, considering there was a small crown on the creature’s head.

“Welcome to my humble hive, ponies. I hope you find our redesigning of your town of Las Pegasus to be fitting,” the changeling said, her mouth pursed in an amused grin.

“Do you have any idea of what your actions will bring to Equestria? It is the most popular city in all of Equestria mainly due to the exotic atmosphere. Take it down and you kill part of Equestria’s touristic sites. The city alone can make more income than Manehattan in half a year while it take about a year for the former to even make that income. You’re playing with the finances of the kingdom!” Dusk exclaimed as he conveyed various facts to the changeling in front of him.

“Oh? Am I supposed to be interested by this? I will be clear with you, pony!” the changeling hissed, her eyes narrowed until all that remained were small slits. “If my kind needs me, I will help them however I can. Right now, they are in need and I will do what I can in my power to help them!”

“And you don’t think taking over an entire city, one that is vital to the Equestrian economy on top of that, was a bit too desperate?” Dusk asked again. The unicorn was not content with the changeling’s answer.

“Well, seeing as I am here right now, I don’t think it was that much of a desperate move or a reckless one for that matter.”

“You’re full of yourself. What you’re doing is going to hurt the Equestrian society and it’ll hit it hard!” Dusk replied. Furious didn’t even begin to describe how he was feeling.

“Excuse me but I think there are more important matters than that right now. For example, it would be good to know what happened to the city’s inhabitants,” Raine said, stopping the heated argument the two were having.

“Oh, those? They’re on lower floors. Some drones are proceeding to feed on their positive emotions. Don’t worry, we plan on releasing them at some point and by that, I mean when the hive will be fully operational,” the changeling said.

“And what does this “feeding” involve exactly?” Blitz queried, clueless as to what the changeling implied.

“It is quite simple actually. We proceed to stimulate their positive emotions by triggering stimuli inside their subconscious and once we get the desired emotion, we proceed to feed on it, storing it into our well of emotions. After that, they bring those reserves to me and I share it to the whole of the hive through the hive mind,” explained the changeling.

“So, I guess that makes you the queen of this swarm?” Dusk asked, things starting to get clear in his head.

“Why, yes. I am known as Queen Chrysalis amongst my subjects. I am in charge of this hive and its well-being.”

“Excuse my intervention once more, Queen Chrysalis, but I just wanted to know the reason why Origin is present with you?” Raine asked the queen, wanting answers concerning Origin’s betrayal.

“Origin? Is that the name you know him by? I think I remember him calling himself that at some points in the recent years. Other than that, he is known as 157 in the hive,” Chrysalis told the blue Pegasus, clarifying the details about Origin. “Did you know that he is also one of the hive’s best spies? He was able to infiltrate Canterlot without being noticed by your princesses.”

Raine couldn’t believe her ears. Had the queen of the hive called Origin a spy? As a spy that was supposed to collect information to report for their clients? How could he be such a thing? Those questions floated in the Pegasus’ mind and she was still unable to come up with a decent understanding of the situation.

It couldn’t be right, it just couldn’t!

Origin had told her himself that he was banished from his hive and that he was cut from the hive mind. Had he been lying about that? Was that what his role involved; lying as easily as breathing? To be a pony that nopony could trust?

No!

Origin was honest and would never lie to Raine. They had known themselves for far too long for him to do that around her. She knew she could always trust him but at that very moment, that trust was beginning to waver. He wouldn’t willingly lead us into a trap… would he? She asked herself as confusion began to take over her.

“I was right to doubt you from the very beginning, Origin! I knew there was something shady about you but I didn’t think you’d be this shady!” Blitz let out, screaming at the top of his lungs.

“Blitz, I assure you tha-”

“You won’t say a thing! You deceived us and you think we’ll just listen to you as if nothing happened? Origin, you do realize you just turned traitor on us?” Dusk asked the changeling with an accusing tone.

“I am anything but a traitor, Dusk. You have your allegiances just as I have mine. It shouldn’t matter what we do. I’m sure you’d be ready to do some things if Celestia asked you to. If ponykind depended on your shoulders, would you take the rational option or would you try to take the necessary measures to ensure those you care about can survive?”

“That’s the thing, Origin. Ponykind is on the line. Nightmare Moon is a threat to everypony, even to changelings. If we do nothing about her, she will reduce the world to mere slavery. Is that the world you want to live in?” Dusk replied, his temper growing short.

“No but just as you want to save pony lives, I want to save the lives of my kind. We each have our methods. Changelings just so happen to depend more on emotions than anything else. Ergo, if we ever lacked those for too long, we would all die, without any exceptions.” Origin’s voice remained calm whereas Dusk’s was starting to get edgy. He could feel the tension rising in him, the anger that boiled in his blood. It took every ounce of his will power to stop himself from doing any stupid moves.

“That’s what you’re not understanding, Origin! We are fighting for every living being in the world. Nightmare Moon is not just a threat to Equestria, she’s a threat to the entire world and once she takes over Equestria, she’ll do the same with the rest of the world. You are acting out of your own selfish desires just so you and your kind can live peacefully!”

“Dusk, please understand that we are not doing this simply for our “selfish desires” as you claim. Dusk, every single changeling here is part of my family. My brothers and sisters are all gathered in the hive and even now, I learned that some of them perished before they could reach Las Pegasus. If you had to choose between saving the world from an omnipotent threat and saving your family, what would you choose?” Origin asked. He almost wore a compassionate smile.

“That’s not a relevant point! I would need to evaluate the situation and I would have to compa–” The unicorn was interrupted by Chrysalis. She slammed her hooves on the hard floor, making a deafening sound echo through the throne room.

“Silence!” Her voice was powerful. Not as powerful as Luna when she used the Royal Canterlot Voice but it was still powerful. It boomed out through the room—nay, through the entire town—and it startled the two arguing ponies as well as some of the guards posted in the room. “You will stop this bickering right this instant. It is created a negative flux of emotions and I have received news that it was starting to affect the harvesting of emotions!”

Both ponies took their distances but both Dusk and Blitz were glaring at Origin. They were not amused by the whole situation. First, they end up in Las Pegasus to find it barren of any life, and then they learn that it fell under a changeling invasion only to get nearly killed while trying to get to a tower and knocked out by one of their companions. At least, what they used to consider a companion.

Chrysalis was still looking at them, her eyes still narrowed into small slits. The guards stationed around the room were on edge. They didn’t like to see their queen act like that. Her gaze managed to scare Raine but it wasn’t doing such an effect on Blitz or Dusk. They were both extremely furious and Blitz had a lot of anger to manage so Chrysalis’ intimidating gaze wasn’t such a good weapon against him. And nor was it on Dusk for similar reasons.

The Queen did nothing against the ponies, though. She just spoke in a strange language that none of the ponies understood and after a few moments, the guards in the room all left, presumably on the orders of their queen. After that, only Chrysalis and Origin remained in the room.

“Now that they are gone, there is something I would like to ask you three,” Chrysalis said, looking at the ponies in the eyes.

“And why would we even listen you what you have to say?” Blitz queried. He was being extremely suspicious of the changeling queen.

“You don’t have to listen but if you do, then I would like to ask you to forward that message to your princesses.”

“Wait, you think that we’re going to trust you into forwarding what could be a traitorous message that could spark a war between ponies and changelings?” Dusk asked the queen, accusing her of wanting to spark a war.

“No, I am trying to prevent such a war. You may think of us changelings as a species of primitive and barbaric species but changelings have free will. They just prefer to listen to hive mind instead because they need guiding and I can give the guiding they deserve,” Chrysalis replied.

“That still doesn’t explain why you want us to convey a message to our princesses when you could do it yourself or sent him to do it in your stead,” Blitz said, his gaze shifting from Chrysalis to Origin. The changeling’s expression didn’t change a bit; he was not affected by the Pegasus’ glare.

“Origin, as you call him and as he calls himself outside the hive, is a peculiar case. I will explain that situation later on but I will tell you want I wanted you to tell your princesses.”

“Please, do continue. You have all my attention,” Dusk sarcastically told the Queen.

“Watch your tone, pony! You seem to forget that I hold more authority than you do right now. One simple command through the hive mind and I could have you all killed!”

Dusk held his mouth shut. That brought a grin on Chrysalis’ mouth.

“Good. Now that you’ve realized your position and your powerlessness, you will listen to what I have to say.”

Dusk still remained silent and so did Blitz, Raine and Spike. None of them dared to test the queen’s limit. None of them wanted to see if she was bluffing or if her threat was a genuine one. One wrong move could create tensions between changelings and ponykind and that would not please the princesses.

“As you probably know by now, we have taken Las Pegasus by force and used the inhabitants as sources of food. However, as much as this antagonizes us, we had our own reasons to do that. The main one was that we were starting to starve in our own hive. If nothing had been done, all of my children, as I like to call them, would have died in a month and for us, that is next week.

“I was left with two choices; remain in the hive and let my children die of starvation or invade a town to make it into our new hive to preserve our existence. Needless to say, I chose the latter,” Chrysalis explained.

“That being said, “she continued, “this brings us to the main part: I would want you to ask your princesses to help my hive to prosper. If they were to accept, I would guarantee that the future of ponykind and my hive would be a prosperous one. If they deny, negotiations could be possible. In most situations, both parties would make profit out of it.”

“With all due respect, I don’t think this would really pay off. Researchers from Canterlot are currently trying to look into the changeling matter even if they do not possess enough information on your species to really look into it. Even I helped them and I wasn’t really able to push the research that much. Plus, we don’t know how long you’ve all been in Equestria,” intervened Dusk.

Chrysalis rubbed a hoof under her chin and the position of her eyes told the ponies that she was in deep thought. The subject of her thoughts weighed heavily on the ponies’ minds. They wondered what she was thinking about and that scared them, especially Raine. Her legs shook uncontrollably and her fur was obviously soaked in sweat.

She shook her head momentarily and put her hoof back on the ground before clearing her throat. “Hmm, your information is intriguing. You say the ponies from your capital of Canterlot are currently studying us, unicorn?”

“Yes. They’ve been at it for the past few years but they have yet to make any progress. They are still as clueless as they used to be except for discovering you were some kind of parasites living off emotions, no offense for you and your kind,” Dusk told her.

“None taken.”

“However, this does not really answer the real question: why should we help you?”

“Origin!” the queen let out suddenly, her voice possessing power once more.

“Yes, my Queen?”

“Would you mind if I told them your story?”

“No, of course not! Please proceed,” replied Origin, bowing to his queen.

“But… he already told us his story,” Raine said, her voice weak and trembling.

“Speak up, Pegasus! I did not hear you correctly!” Chrysalis told her, her voice reprimanding.

“I-I-I said th-that Origin a-a-already t-told us h-h-his story.” Raine’s entire body was trembling like a frail leaf and all her courage seemed to have vanished in a single instant. The reason was easy: Chrysalis’ eyes.

They reminded her of a mare in particular. One that had managed to bury an imprint so deep in the Pegasus’ psyche that her voice was enough to make her lose all will to fight. Chrysalis wasn’t quite the same but those eyes. Those eyes were nearly the same as Nightmare Moon’s and as such, Raine was very afraid of them.

“Of course he did. Well, I’m afraid to say that it was all a lie. His story runs deeper than that,” Chrysalis spoke.

Origin cringed as the glares of two ponies fell upon him. On top of being betrayed, they had been lied to. Their eyes said that much and they didn’t look quite happy, especially Dusk’s. Feeling uncomfortable, Origin looked at his Queen and waited for her to start telling the ponies his story.

“You see, Origin was born in our old hive. I will not speak of its location because I don’t want your researchers or your army to desecrate what I consider to be sacred ground to my children and myself. He was always weak and was soon brought to my attention. Needless to say, his condition did not impress me nor did it make me feel sympathy for him. However, I knew that where he lacked in constitution, he compensated in another area: magic.

“That was why I ordered for him to be moved from the drones’ pit to the scouts’ pit. That way he would be able to develop his abilities further. Scouts are mostly composed of changelings that have magical potential. Origin wasn’t the best one but he was a good one. He survived his first ten years of training in the hive before his first assignment came. He was sen–”

“He was sent to find and retrieve Raine Moon and it would just so appear that the Pegasus right next to me is the same Raine Moon. With all due respect, Queen Chrysalis, get to the point already,” Blitz told her, daring to interrupt her even when she was clearly the one with the advantage around.

“Interrupt me one more time, Pegasus, and I’ll make you join the inhabitants of Las Pegasus!” Chrysalis hissed, her glare aimed at Blitz and Blitz only.

He quickly shut up and his face became neutral once more. Maybe I should let Dusk take care of the talking… He’s always been better than me at those kinds of things, Blitz told himself. Truth be told, while he did not openly show it, the queen’s threats did scare him a bit and that was because her expression and voice only served to make it more believable.

“Now, as I was saying before I was interrupted, Origin was sent to find and retrieve Raine Moon and he failed at that task. Even worse, he left the hive for several months and it was only thanks to the hive mind that I was able to find him and see what he was up to. I was about to order him to return at once but once I saw that a relationship was starting to bloom between him and Raine Moon”—Chrysalis suppressed a small smirk as she saw the obvious blush on both Origin and Raine’s faces—“I decided that I could allow it a bit longer since it would mean that he would have even more love to bring back to the hive.

“Several other months passed and I began to grow tired and restless and so did some of my children. Origin was taking too much time and it was starting to affect my plan and ultimately the hive itself. I finally decided to summon him back to the hive but after only a few hours, he was cut from the hive mind.” Chrysalis’ voice was disturbingly neutral even if it had begun to waver at the end because of some things that seemed to be affecting her.

“Would you want me to continue from here, my Queen?” Origin asked her monarch, his eyes looking at everything but her.

“You can, 157,” she answered flatly. There were no emotions in her voice and it was slightly trembling and it showed that the queen was doing one big effort to hide it.

“This is a secret only the Queen and I know. I have never told it to anypony before. What my Queen was talking about—my rupture from the hive mind—happened in the next few hours after I had left you, Raine. I died that night!”

“What do you mean when you say you died?” Dusk queried, the logical side of his brain not computing all the information he received all at once.

“I mean that I died. My underbelly had been torn to shreds and a manticore had already started on feeding on my organs, mainly my intestines. By every logical standard, I was dead but I was still conscious. There was also a pony with me. He and I had met by total coincidence when the manticore attacked. We both fell victim to the beast’s assault and we both succumbed to our wounds.” Origin could see the ponies’ paleness and strangely, Raine did not look as pale as the three others.

“Tell me, Dusk Shine. Do you know something about soul merging?”

“Soul merging, soul… merging. Soul… If this is related to soul magic, it would be information found on page three-hundred and ninety six of the Magic of Olden Times. That book is, however, locked in the libraries of Canterlot and you would need Princess Celestia’s approval to even have access to the section that houses that book. I never understood why but I think it was because that section was filled with books containing battle magic. From what I heard, those kind of magic were forbidden by the princesses a short while after Nightmare Moon was banished,” Dusk answered, ending his explanation with a matter-of-factly smirk on his face

“Nerd!” Blitz muttered under his breath but his unicorn companion heard it and shoved the Pegasus aside.

“Ahem! Returning on the original subject, why did you bring that up? Soul magic has been forbidden from use over five hundred years old now. Using it could be considered a crime in the eyes of the council and you don’t want those guys on your case.”

“Well, it’s the reason I’m here right now. I asked him what he would be willing to do to survive. And he told me that his only his wish was to protect his little sister. I lit up my horn and he did the same. He asked me if I knew what I was doing and shook my head with the rest of my remaining strength. He told me to follow his lead and everything went suddenly white as his horn touched mine.

“Next thing I knew, the manticore was gone and I was still alive although my appearance changed drastically. For one, my mane and tail had gotten longer and they were orange and my eyes had also changed. While changelings that aren’t part of royalty have large eyes with no irises. My eyes were just like the Queen’s but the main difference was that my pupils weren’t dragon-like. I also realized that I had been cut from the hive mind and strangely gained an increased sense of individuality.”

“Thank you for explaining that for them, 157. However, I think I still have a small part to explain to those four so listen well!”

The three ponies all nodded and stayed silent. Dusk was sort of appalled because he had just heard about a unicorn using forbidden magic and even going as far as merging his own soul to save his and a changeling’s life but other than that, he wasn’t really bothered by other facts.

“Twenty years ago, I tried to create a breed of changelings that could be capable of self-sustaining. The concept was rather simple as they simply had to either consume a pony’s soul, something that wasn’t really recommended, or to merge their two souls. I had chosen 157 for that task and our first target was Raine Moon,” explained Chrysalis, her voice still flat, devoid of any emotions.

“You tried to kill Raine?!” Blitz shouted, his temper getting the better of him. “You could have told us about it, Origin!”

“Yes, of course I should have! ‘Hello, my name is Origin and twenty years ago, I tried to merge Raine’s soul with mine, possibly killing her in the process.’ That’s surely the best way to make ponies trust you!”

“You could have explained your past a bit more, Origin. I’m still sure that you didn’t do it because you actually loved me, though. Am I mistaken?” Raine asked the changeling.

Origin sighed and hung his head. “No, you’re correct…”

“Now that this is settled, there is something I need to do right now and as a ruler it is something that I find wrong. My pride as a ruler will probably take a hard blow but if I want to protect my children. I will need your help…” Chrysalis started, stopping herself on that train of thoughts.

“Nay, I just don’t need your help… I am pleading for your help!”

To Understand

The EclipsedChapter Seven : To UnderstandBy Raine Moon

It was hard to take in. The simple fact that Chrysalis had acted out of love and devotion to help her hive. Of course, if Raine had been in her place, she would have done something other than invading Las Pegasus. The queen’s pleas were also very surprising because Chrysalis looked like a prideful leader and even she said that her pride would take a hard blow.

Then came Origin’s story. Both his explanation of his life and Chrysalis’ attempts at saving her hive were very hard to believe but at the same time, both were touching stories. Raine was still faced with a difficult situation. The one pony she had ever trusted apart from Tender Heart was her enemy in reality.

“This hardly seems believable!” the blue Pegasus let out, standing firm on her legs once more, an act she had previously been unable to do.

“What is hardly believable, pony?” Chrysalis asked her.

“Everything! From your reasons to invade Las Pegasus to you pleading us for help. I don’t know what to believe. Origin was one of the only ponies I was able to trust and it turns out he was just there to complete a certain objective before he would turn traitor. And you! You make yourself look like a tyrant at first and now you’re doing the emotional act!

“But even with all of that, although I don’t trust you because of what you told us earlier, I’m still willing to help you and your hive,” Raine answered, a broad smile on her face while giving the Queen of the changelings a compassionate gaze.

“What?!” Chrysalis exclaimed, surprise being the only thing her expression showed. “After all you’ve been through, after all I’ve put you through, how can you say that?”

“You’re not the only one that led a difficult life. Keeping your children alive was surely a hard task but don’t dismiss those around you because you’re telling yourself they can’t understand because they haven’t lived through that.” Raine’s voice had started to crack a bit and even a few tears had already started to roll on her cheeks.

“Raine!” Blitz shouted. “Are you going to turn traitor on us as well? Make your choice now because Dusk and I are out of here!”

“Blitz… Don’t be like th—” Raine found herself interrupted when Blitz flew right in front of her and deployed his wings in a threatening display.

“Don’t you even dare finish that line! We trusted you, Raine! And now you’re telling me that you’d rather stay with your coltfriend than with the two ponies that you were sent with on a quest to save Equestria from certain doom?!”

Raine would have continued to argue but something grabbed her and set her aside. She soon realized it was Origin that had moved her with the help of his magic. She glanced at him and was surprised by his size. He almost seemed… taller. His glare was cold and deadly and Blitz just stood there, unmoving. The white Pegasus didn’t even blink!

“You are going to listen to me very carefully, Blitz!” the changeling hissed, his words venomous. “If you even dare to say that Raine has an inch of mischief in her body again, I will—”

“You will what?! Last time I saw you, you were crying your eyes out because of a fake broken leg!” Blitz was quick to interrupt the changeling and he even dared to mock him.

“You say a single bad thing about Raine again, and I’ll make you suffer in ways that you can’t even comprehend!” Origin snapped, his voice booming and intimidating. Even Dusk had flinched.

“And what are you going to do? Transform into me until you bore yourself to death?”

The audacity the Pegasus had was beyond Raine. She did not know if he was just crazy or if he was just so frustrated that he talked without thinking about it. Either way, with the attitude Origin had, even Dusk felt like arguing wasn’t a good idea. His size was also another factor. On top of being large, he was slightly smaller than Chrysalis.

“You will regret saying those words, Rainbow Blitz!”

The atmosphere suddenly changed. The air was heavier. The group began to have trouble breathing and to top it all, everything went black in the room. Red lights began to illuminate the room and it flashed repeatedly. Most of the time, Dusk saw only glimpses of Origin’s face but when he had a clear view, he saw him harboring a dreadful grin. He was enjoying whatever was happening.

The unicorn snapped out of his trance when he saw Blitz twitching uncontrollably. He didn’t know what was happening and in complete honesty, he wasn’t even able to understand what was going on anymore. The only conclusion he had been able to come to was that Origin had simply lost it and his anger had taken him over.

The situation wasn’t exactly the same for Blitz. He was still staring into Origin’s eyes as if he was being hypnotized and he didn’t move at all. Or rather, he was unable to move. His brain couldn’t process what was happening and it felt like he would fall asleep.

Them his vision returned and he felt something… wrong within his body. He didn’t know what it was until he felt like his insides were on fire. Pain assaulted him suddenly and he cringed, catching sight of his fore legs: they were decaying. The flesh was coming off and blood soon followed. He wanted to scream but his lips were sewn shut.

The Pegasus’ irises constricted and from Origin’s position, it looked like his eyes had shrunk to the size of small orbs. He didn’t know what was happening and on top of that, everything around him was blood red. He looked up and saw Origin’s maniacal grin and he even laughed.

“157, stop this at once!” Chrysalis yelled, her voice powerful enough to make the foundation of the room tremble.

Then, everything around the group became normal again. The walls were no longer blood red. The atmosphere was normal again. They no longer felt crushed by whatever it was that crushed them. Well, mostly everything was back to normal. They had heard Blitz scream like a filly for a good five minutes for no apparent reasons and he just thrashed around but he remained in place.

He fell on his back, his body limp when whatever magic Origin had used on him was broken. He curled up in a fetal position a few seconds later and kept on muttering incomprehensible things. He was sweating from everywhere. He eyes were wide open and he was even trembling. Dusk told Raine to take care of the Pegasus while he confronted the changeling that had apparently traumatized him.

“What did you do to him, Origin?!” Dusk queried the changeling. The tone the unicorn used was accusing and harsh; he wanted to get Origin’s attention at all costs.

“I did nothing!” Origin replied. “He brought it upon himself. I gave him warnings and he disregarded them. I simply used some—” He was suddenly cut short when Chrysalis used her magic to hold his mouth shut.

“You cannot simply use that type of magic, 157! I’m not even sure this type of magic would be tolerated within pony society!” Chrysalis intervened, her eyes narrowed into slits, her glare aiming at Origin.

“I recognized the signs of what happened to Blitz. I read it in Magic of the Olden Times. You used torture magic, didn’t you?”

“Not just torture magic I’m afraid,” Chrysalis informed Dusk. “He mixed it with our signature magic. He used torture magic with illusions.”

“B-but… torture magic was banned from use three hundred years ago. You would need the book I mentioned to even know about it and how to use it and unfortunately, that book disappea—you stole it, didn’t you?” Dusk asked Origin, some pieces of the puzzle coming clear into his mind.

“‘Stealing’ as you describe it would require the pony to have no intentions of returning the item. I borrowed it for an extended period of time to prepare myself in case something would ever come to us,” explained Origin while he shrugged.

“That still doesn’t excuse the fact that you stole a book that explained war magic and various other forms of magic used in wars. Even worse, you learned some of that magic; magic that was otherwise banned from use in Equestria hundreds of years ago. You’re lucky you’re not in Canterlot right now or you’d have been tried for use of forbidden magic. And let me tell you that the council takes pleasure in executing those few ponies,” Dusk told Origin.

“And…? Do we look like we’re in Canterlot? Chances are that the council will never be able to find me… not that they were able to before.”

“Wait, what do you mean by that?”

“I mean that even when I was still named Star Blaze, a unicorn from Manehattan, I was one of Celestia’s court wizards. Granted, I was on the lowest rank out of the ten court wizards but I was still a court wizard. We had many privileges and one of them was the access to the Arconon Wing, also known as the Forbidden Wing.

“Humor me, unicorn. What do you know about the Arconon Wing?” Origin asked the aquamarine unicorn.

“W-well… I don’t really know that much about that section of the royal library. All I really know is that the access to the Forbidden Wing is not allowed,” answered Dusk.

“And what do you know about the pony the section was named after? What do you know about Arconon?”

“I… uh… w-well. I’ve never read anything about him, or her. Even that book, Magic of Olden Times, had no author specified on it. There was only the title. What did that pony do for a living?”

“My Queen, do you mind if I explain this part? I know you’ve never been fond of Arconon so…” Origin said, glancing at Chrysalis.

“Yes, you can discuss about Arconon,” she told him, “but if you praise him, I may or may not interrupt you abruptly!”

“You have my word, Queen Chrysalis.” He bowed at the queen and then turned back to face Dusk.

The aquamarine unicorn had no idea of what was going and yet Raine had told him that he used to be one of Princess Celestia’s private students.

“Do you mind explaining what is going on around here? Who is that Arcanon figure you talk of? What did that pony do to earn a wing of the library to be named after him?” Dusk asked frantically. He would not be appeased until his questions would be answered.

“Arcanon was a very powerful unicorn that lived during the era of the Great War of Magicka. One could say he was more powerful than the alicorns during that time while others claimed his power was fake. Nothing is very clear about that unicorn. The only things he left to the world as legacy were his books; books that described war magic!”

“So, you’re telling me he was just a pony that lived to wage war?” Dusk queried.

“Absolutely not! That pony created entire collections of spells meant to harm ponies and he didn’t write one of them. He wrote hundreds of them. He was known for his implication in the Great War of Magicka. He was neutral in that conflict but even historians lost count of how many horrors he committed during that war. And as a matter of fact, it’s better if it stays that way. The knowledge of those atrocities would probably leave them brain dead,” Origin explained.

“You mean to tell me… that Magic of Olden Times wasn’t the only thing he wrote?” Dusk slowly asked, hesitant to know what the answer would be.

“That big old book?” Origin asked, chuckling at the question the unicorn had asked him. “That book was only a recollection of about twenty of his other books archived by other ponies. It’s not even a tenth of everything he’s written.”

Dusk’s eyes went wide upon hearing that. Only a tenth of what he wrote? Okay, that Arconon just went from creepy to totally insane! Dusk thought, his mind racing. The book had detailed descriptions of war magic and even had detailed effects of each spell listed in that book. Some of them were gruesome. I’m already regretting reading that book.

“How do you know about all that, Origin? The Great War of Magicka happened a while ago, didn’t it?” Raine asked him from afar.

“That war occurred three thousand years ago, to be precise. The world was lucky the war started and ended inside Aneighra’s borders because it was devastating. There is nothing left of that kingdom now. It’s been razed to the ground.”

“What happened to it?” Dusk was quick to ask, as per usual.

“War happened… and Arcanon as well, I guess. Even with the alicorns gone, those ponies, the Alliance, decided to break their alliance and wage war against each other. And that was when Arconon showed his real colours. Thanks to Star Shower’s barrier around the kingdom, none of those warmongering ponies were able to get out.

“Of course, Arconon decided that he had enough of the war and decided to take the matter into his own hooves. The results: he hunted down and killed every single one of those ponies, each with a different method. He archived each one of his spells in his numerous books. He had also written a book about the basics of war magic before those. He explained how to summon magical weapons at will. They weren’t permanent nor were they unbreakable but at the very least, they were useful. And then, there was the multi-casting. If there was one pony that excelled at that technique, it was Arconon,” Origin explained, his voice as emotionless as before.

“What did that involve? I know I can cast several spells all at the same time but is that considered multi-casting?”

“Oh no, of course not. While your type of magic is a derivative from Arconon’s, it is not near his level. When I say multi-casting, I mean being able to cast the exact same spell over and over again. Have you ever seen somepony get surrounded by forty magic weapons? Let me tell you, that’s not something you’d like to see.”

“I’m sorry to interrupt this lovely discussion but what does this have to do with the situation? How is that related to this whole problem?” Raine asked, annoyed and bored of hearing the two talk endlessly about a subject she didn’t find interesting.

“Ah yes. Thank you Raine for reminding me of what I wanted to say earlier before we started discussing about Arconon and everything around him. So here I come: how much do you know about your princesses?” Origin asked Dusk and Raine.

“Is that a serious question? They’re basically gods here! But… what does that have to do with Arconon and everything else?” Dusk answered, his expression serious once more.

“It has everything to do with Arconon because Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were—” Origin was cut short by tremors that shook the entire foundation of the tower.

Everything began to shake and for a single moment, everypony thought that they were going to die in there. They were lucky enough the first time but they knew there were worse scenarios than that one. The tremors had also made Blitz snap out of his trance-like state and started to look around but he never looked at Origin in the eyes. Something told him engaging the changeling in combat wasn’t a very good idea.

Chrysalis glared at Dusk and the rest of the group and accused them that they somehow contacted the Equestrian Army to reclaim Las Pegasus. Dusk denied her accusations and told her that Celestia and Luna couldn’t afford to send any spare soldiers with the threat Nightmare Moon was posing on all of Equestria. If anything, the chances of that tremor to be of pony origin were very slim… unless Celestia had lied to them but what would she gain from doing that?

Chrysalis was about to throw in another argument but just as she opened her mouth, one of the windows of the room was broken by what seemed to be a griffon. Dusk, Blitz, Raine and Origin all jumped to their hooves while Chrysalis remained in the exact same position, unfazed by the griffon’s entrance. She didn’t even bother looking at it.

“Queen Chrysalis! We have the city under siege and if you surrender now, we can avoid bloodshed. If you resist, we will eliminate you and your hive accordingly. You have an ho—” The griffon didn’t have the time to finish. Without even looking at the griffon, she snapped her neck and threw the body out of the throne room.

“157, I hereby name you General of the Army for this battle and this battle only. I need a calm commander if we want to throw those griffons out!”

“I am honored, my Queen,” Origin replied as he bowed to his queen. “And rest assured that I will do my absolute best.”

“Good, now spread out! I already informed a strike force that they would accompany you to know their numbers!”

Origin nodded and stormed out of the throne room. The three other ponies quickly followed him and they quickly made their way to the first floor where a group of fifteen changelings was positioned. When they saw Raine’s group, they hissed and most of them took their fighting stances but Origin used the same kind of hissing they used and they all seemed to calm down. Although some of them still glared daggers at the group of ponies.

Origin apologized to the ponies before he said something in that weird language he had used a few moments. The changelings nodded and headed on ahead, leaving Origin alone with the four companions. He had returned to his original size and he looked at them with a somehow condescending grin.

“Come. If we want to get you out of here before this escalates into a large conflict, we should do it now.”

“And how do we know… that you’re not guiding us… into another trap?” Blitz queried, still panting from his previous endeavour.

“And what would I gain in that? You four clearly have no place in this conflict and then there’s the fact that if you ever got killed, we could get a little visit from the princesses and let’s just say I’d try to avoid that,” Origin replied nonchalantly.

“I don’t trust you one bit, Origin, and I want you to get that thro—” The unicorn was shoved aside by Raine, who looked at him with an accusing glare.

“What he wanted to say was that he still needs a little bit of time to understand what is going on at the moment,” Raine told him, nervously giggling at the same time.

“No I didn’t!” Dusk objected, rather annoyed too. “I just wanted to say that I—”

“Shush you!” Raine replied, glaring daggers at Dusk. “Please, lead the way.”

Dusk got back up on his hooves and looked at Raine with an annoyed expression. They both knew exactly what it meant but Raine seemed to ignore it. They all followed Origin as he led the group through a safe way out of the city. The changeling did warn them that it would take some time and when asked how long that would be, he answered by saying that it would be around thirty minutes at best.

Now, even though Raine didn’t share the same hatred Dusk and Blitz seemed to have towards Origin, she kept her distance. His last performance of power had left the group with a bad impression. They began to think that there was a whole lot more behind him. Granted he had been an enigma to begin with.

“What was that for?!” Dusk whispered to Raine, his voice raspy and slightly aggressive.

“And let you shatter the best chance we have at getting away without being involved in all of this? There’s no way I’m letting you do that, Dusk!” Raine whispered back, her voice as aggressive as his was.

“I wasn’t going to do that! I was just trying to tell him that—” Dusk was once again interrupted but he didn’t protest that time.

“I know what you meant to tell Origin. However, I wasn’t going to let you risk our chances of getting away from here without getting involved in a conflict that isn’t ours to begin with,” Raine told him, still whispering.

“You know… If you have things you want to tell me, you should say them to my—” Origin would have otherwise continued if he hadn’t stopped himself. He even stopped moving and told the others to do the same.

“What’s wrong, Origin?” Spike asked him, worried about the reasons the changeling had for stopping so abruptly.

“Don’t you hear it?”

“Hear what?” asked Dusk, actually confused as to what the changeling was talking about.

“The disturbances in the wind, the beating of wings close by… a murderous intent... Quick! Hide!” shouted the changeling.

It was already too late. A griffon appeared in their sights. While remaining unnoticed at first, they were eventually found when Spike started to hyperventilate. The griffon took noticed and quickly puffed his chest. “We’ve found more this way!”

In a matter of seconds, a dozen of griffons joined the first one and they all looked at the group. Taken by surprise, Dusk tried to escape but when his path was stopped by a spear impaling the ground right in front of him, he completely stopped moving, along with the rest of the group.

“Darn it! What do we do now?” Blitz asked his unicorn friend.

“We have no other choices! We must fight our way out!” Dusk replied in a hasty yet powerful voice. “And I’m warning you, Origin. If I see a changeling out there while I’m fighting the griffons, I’ll consider it to be an enemy as well. In other words. Send any of your soldiers my way and I will kill them.”

Origin nodded and took his usual stance. He was stopped by Dusk and when he looked at the unicorn to ask what his reasons for stopping him were, he saw that the unicorn was charging his horn with magic. Confused, and worried because of the threat that was growing around them, he waited for Dusk to finish and in the blink of an eye, he was back in the tower’s throne room with Queen Chrysalis staring at him interrogatively.

Their attention was soon turned to a griffon that entered the throne room through the broken window. He had a grin on his face and he was looking at Chrysalis as if nothing had happened. “Ah, we finally meet, Queen Chrysalis.”

“And you are? I have the habit of forgetting unimportant details,” she replied, her mouth pursed in a self-satisfied smirk.

“Do you know why I am here with my battalion today?” asked the griffon. His expression had changed into a grim one.

“Like I said, I tend to forget about tiny, unimportant details. Please do enlighten me, griffon,” said the changeling queen nonchalantly.

“We are here because our nation will not tolerate your acts of terrorism anymore! On top of seizing a part of Gryffonia, you murdered many of our scouts and messengers. Our king has finally allowed us to deal with you and your changelings accordingly.”

“Oh? Do you really believe that we seized that part by force?” Chrysalis asked the griffon.

“Why, of course I do! It was territory that belonged to Gryffonia to begin with. You being there meant that you invaded it and took that area for your own intentions!” replied the griffon.

“How foolish! You really believe yourself… and you managed to convince you king too! That’s actually kind of sad. That territory had been given to us by an ancient king of Gryffonia. If anything, we had every right to be there!” Chrysalis spat out, her expression fierce.

The griffon looked like it had been hit across the face. His eyes had widened when he realized that his entire plan had fallen apart. Nevertheless, he regained his stature and faced Chrysalis once more, this time he looked like he meant serious business.

“Fine then! You leave me no choice! We will raze this city and cleanse you of this world once and for all. You monsters won’t leave this place alive!” the griffon shouted at Chrysalis. “Your time is counted!”

“If it’s a war you want, it’s a war you’ll get!” Chrysalis replied, unleashing a wave of magic that pushed back the leader of the battalion. “157, get to your newly assigned position and kill them all.”

Dusk then noticed that Chrysalis’ horn was still glowing with a dark green aura and he also remarked that she also seemed calm. “She’s going to contact the entire hive mind. It’s an all-out war now. Anytime now, an order for a full retaliation will be issued!”

“Heed my call, my children! I have a task for you and that is to get rid of those invaders who just threatened us! We will fight and we will prevail! Now go, make your queen proud!”

————

Origin was at the head of a large force of changelings. In fact, that was the entire hive that went to battle against the griffons. Speaking in the language of the changelings, he seemed to give out orders to three different task forces. He ordered a group to go engage the enemies in the air while another would engage those on the ground. Finally, he told the third group that they would ambush those who would try to escape.

“Have I made myself clear?” Origin asked the changelings.

They all nodded and dispatched quite quickly. About three hundred changelings took flight and engaged the griffons. They took the opposing force by surprise, bringing down a few of them. They, however, quickly lost their element of surprise when more griffons were signaled. That and the fact that the griffons had weapons to help them.

On the ground, Origin watched as his fellow changelings were assaulted by the invading forces. He dodged a spear thrown at him a few seconds later and then saw a changeling drop next to him. The changeling in question had her entire underbelly open and some of her organs were sticking out of her guts.

That changeling wasn’t the only one that he saw. There were countless others that had already been killed. One had been decapitated while another had her spine sticking out of her back in a gruesome display that nearly made Origin sick.

That’s when it struck him: this was exactly what the griffons wanted. They were luring out the changelings so they could massacre them. It wasn’t a battle they were going to win. Not with their current forces. At that rate, every single changeling that was part of Chrysalis’ hive would die like all the others, himself included.

This isn’t a battle you’re going to win alone, Ori, said a voice in Origin’s mind. It was a hollow voice that mocked the changeling.

“I didn’t ask for your opinion, Star. And I don’t need your help either,” Origin replied harshly, talking to somepony that didn’t seem to exist.

Are you sure? At this rate, you are going to die and if you die, I die as well. Well, I shouldn’t really consider us as two separate beings but you’re the one that just split your mind in two so obviously you needed my help.

“Fine! I’m scared of dying!” the changeling spat out. “I already did once and I made her miserable! I don’t want to make the same mistakes as before!”

That much was obvious, Ori. I’m you and you’re me. We’re both one and the same now. We just happen to have two minds for the price of one body. Exciting, isn’t it?! The voice was being overly dramatic and sarcastic with a hint of venom in its tone.

“You’re not helping right now. I’m stuck here fighting a horde of griffons bent on killing me and the rest of my hive and this already proved to be a losing battle,” Origin said, his tone containing an equal amount of venom.

And you split your mind in two for what reasons exactly? Last time that happened was around eighteen years ago when you were still inexperienced. What is it that you want me to do?

“It’s simple, really. All I need you to do is have my back if I screw up royally,” Origin nonchalantly answered.

I swear sometimes we’re just that stupid and emotional. We really need to straighten that issue once our mind is whole again. The voice almost sounded annoyed.

“Oh, shut it! You should be happy I even let you out. This is the first time in years you’ve had a part of my mind all for yourself. Then again, it’s not like you could have gone anywhere else,” Origin remarked, chuckling a little.

Fine… I’ll help you out. Oh and one other thing Ori, began the voice in Origin’s head.

“What is it this time?” the changeling queried, this time annoyed a little bit.

That Raine lady you’ve been trying to court lately… Stay away from her. She’s a pony that brings misfortune to those around her. That pony’s luck is as large as a pea’s diameter, warned the voice. It was serious now.

“And what would you know about it? You never courted a mare before. I think the last time you did, it was for practice’s sake with your sister before we became like… this.”

Silence… Origin laughed silently as he let out a small “touché” as he pursed his mouth in an amused smirk.

Fine, you win… Let’s just get this over with!

“Alright, then… let’s do this!” Origin exclaimed at the same time the voice in his mind did.

The changeling looked the same as before but there was a different aura around him. His presence was stronger. The atmosphere around him was heavier and above all else, one of his eyes was green while the other was blue. Charging his horn with energy, he quickly discharged the energy and teleported to a rooftop at the border of Las Pegasus.

“Hmm… Well, at the very least, it will be an interesting battle. And… thanks for the energy, Raine. It’s going to be really helpful this time,” Origin said to himself as he looked over to the horizon before he teleported again.

————

“I said no!” Dusk yelled at Raine. “I’m not going to help them!”

“Please!” Raine pleaded. “Won’t you at least consider it?”

“Consider what? That we’re helping creatures that just indirectly declared war on Equestria on top of placing a member of the—” Blitz began only to be interrupted by Dusk, who used a spell to keep the Pegasus’ mouth shut.

“A member of what exactly?” Raine asked the two, squinting her eyes as if she suspected them of something.

“A… member of our group…? Yes! They’ve also placed a member of the group in immediate danger, not to mention we’re all in that matter together at this point,” Dusk answered, a few sweat drops rolling down his coat.

“Mhmm… Okay…” Raine replied, nodding her head repeatedly. “But I’m having this weird feeling that you two are hiding something from me…”

For the past thirty minutes, Raine had been trying to convince Dusk and Blitz to help the changelings defend their hive from the griffons but both ponies were extremely reluctant about that idea. Blitz was mostly against it because it went against his values and also because he didn’t really like Raine. He didn’t trust her.

She tried countless methods but none of them had worked so far and she had been on the edge of giving up until a certain thought crossed her mind, a thought that would force the two ponies to help the changelings. She pursed her mouth in a mischievous smirk as she began to think how she would proceed.

“Oh, by the way… I think we owe a debt of gratitude to Origin,” Raine began, looking at Dusk and Blitz with the same mischievous grin. “You know, he kind of save our lives…”

“And… where are you heading with that?” Blitz queried the blue Pegasus.

“Well, I think the best thing to do is to pay that debt in full. In this case, it would mean helping Origin save his hive.”

“You’re playing a dangerous game, Raine. We don’t know what the changelings will do after it’s over. For all we know, they could stab us in the back when all of this is over,” Dusk told Raine, his expression emotionless.

“No, they won’t! Origin wouldn’t allow for that to happen! I’m ready to put my faith in him!” she firmly exclaimed.

“Come now, do you really believe that Origin is the hive’s highest authority after Chrysalis?” Blitz asked Raine.

“Actually,” Chrysalis interjected, “he is. For all I know, he has enough power to overthrow me. Fortunately, his reserves, as he is only in the shape of a changeling scout, are heavily restrained so him actually overthrowing me is really improbable.”

“That still doesn’t put him as high authority. He may have the magical capacity but as you said, he’s just a scout,” Blitz replied.

“And that’s where you are wrong, pony. I consider 157 as my most trusted asset. He’s good, he can sneak in easily because of his special predicament as seen with his recent infiltration of Canterlot and if he ever gets captured, they can’t track the hive through the hive mind as he does not possess a link to the hive mind anymore,” Chrysalis explained to Blitz, refuting his previous intervention.

“But… but…”

“Admit it, Blitz. You’ve lost your ground,” Raine told him, rubbing salt on the wound even more. It felt like she was completely disregarding the Pegasus’ pride.

“Fine… I guess we could try to help him but I’m not risking my life for this. If I see that this is a losing battle, I’m gonna leave the battlefield and find a safe haven and I expect you to do the same, Blitz. Now’s not the time to get yourself killed.” Dusk already seemed more receptive but his voice was harsh and firm.

“Alright, I will relay that you are to remain unharmed and that you will be essential assets to win this battle. You can consider yourselves to be below 157, or Origin as yo—”

Chrysalis never had the time to finish her sentence. Dusk had already vanished through the use of a teleportation spell. Left with that discovery, her gaze fell upon Blitz and Raine and they both knew what was coming for them.

“Raine, you stay here. You can’t fight and therefore it would be foolish to let you get involved in a conflict where you are utterly useless,” Blitz told her before he spread his wings.

Soon after that, he took off and remained in the sky for as long as he could be seen. Raine figured he could be fighting his own battles in the sky where he was in his element. She then turned her head and her gaze met Chrysalis’. Their eyes stayed locked like that for a few minutes before Raine looked away.

“Tell me, little pony,” Chrysalis began, her voice seemed more compassionate than authoritarian, “how can you stay so hopeful when everything around you has betrayed you?”

“What are you talking about? Blitz and Dusk haven’t betrayed me yet and neither has Origin,” Raine replied, confused as to what the changeling was trying to imply.

“Trust me, they are wary of you. They don’t trust you completely. As far as I’m concerned, they wouldn’t have any problems in leaving you behind. And as for 157, or Origin as you like to call him, what’s to say he’s not waiting for the right moment to dispose of you and make you his main source of food?” Chrysalis inquired.

“I don’t trust those two very well, to be honest, but they were assigned as my guardians and I’m pretty sure the princesses would be mad if anything happened to me at all. As for Origin… it’s because I trust him. He saved me on one too many occasions where he could have easily abandoned me and my guardians. I also trust him because….” Raine choked on her words a bit, an obvious blush covering her face.

“Because you love him, right?”

“Wait! How did you kn—Oh, right. Changeling. Well, yes. I do love him to a certain extent. I mean, he’s always been there for me and he loves me too… Are changelings capable of genuine emotions, Queen Chrysalis?” Raine asked the changeling queen.

“They are capable of processing emotions but while they remain under the hive mind, their emotions slowly start to disappear. Well, they don’t exactly disappear as I take them to distribute to the whole hive. 157 is no longer part of the hive mind so he is closer to his emotions than he had ever been before,” revealed Chrysalis.

“I see…” Raine said silently, staring at the horizon.

Queen Chrysalis joined her a few seconds later. Both were praying for something. Raine was praying for the safety of her companions while Chrysalis prayed for the wellbeing of her children. Suddenly, both of them heard a deafening sound coming from the city and a blinding light following soon after. It’s begun! Raine thought as those flashes of light became more and more frequent.

————

After teleporting from the tower, Dusk landed safely in a small alley in the city. Thanking his luck, he began to recharge his magic reserves. Well, he stored the excess in small spheres that orbited around him.

His magic reserves full again, Dusk left the alley and headed for a large avenue. His didn’t have a lot of obstacles in his path so he made his way quite easily. He arrived on the avenue to find a large group of changelings fighting against a smaller group of griffons and the changelings seemed to be losing.

Without thinking that much, Dusk sent one of the spheres that held his magic reserves in the middle of the group of griffons and without much delay, he made it explode. Explosion is a bit far-fetched but he did make it explode into a flash a light, blinding the griffons at the same time.

He took the time to place himself between the changelings and the griffons and while the winged beasts were recovering, the unicorn made a board of chess appear out of nowhere with the pieces on it. Picking up one of the white pawns, he made his first move and was now awaiting the griffons to make theirs.

“Hear ye, hear ye! You are being fooled by a single unicorn,” Dusk told the griffons. “This was a warning but if you push me too much, I might not be as forgiving. Surrender and leave now or I will be forced to put you down!”

The griffons scowled at him and three of them attacked him the moment their sight had recovered. Spears and sword brandished in customs intended to kill the unicorn, they were stopped by Dusk’s barrier. The weapons broke on contact and the three griffons’ eyes went wide as they felt Dusk’s magic wrap around them.

Fearing for their lives, they had already come in term that they were going to die but instead, they were thrown against some walls where other changelings took care of immobilizing them completely. The other griffons took several steps back as they saw Dusk coming their way at a slow pace. He had a mischievous grin on his face and he looked at the griffons with a fierce look.

He wanted to make himself intimidating!

————

Blitz was scouting through the skies with expertise. Having been in the royal guards, he knew the usual drill. But this time it was a bit different. Mainly because griffons were swarming everywhere. He was attacked by some but his smaller size made it possible to evade the winged beasts with more ease.

Eventually, some got too close and they forced Blitz into a dive, intending to make him crash and be rid of him but the white Pegasus had other plans. He began to turn on himself while he kept his wings wide open. A dangerous maneuver it was. The Pegasus wasn’t exactly afraid of it. It was a basic maneuver they taught him when he was still in the royal guards.

He continued to dive while turning on himself and got as close as possible as he could from the ground until he felt a thermal updraft. Turning on himself for the last time, Blitz escaped the two griffons and watched them crash on the ground. They hadn’t expected Blitz to pull out a trick like that and before they had realized what was going on, it was already too late to stop.

Blitz landed next to the two griffons to see what had happened to them and quickly realized that their necks had snapped completely. Both griffons were lifeless. Not dwelling on that fact, something he shouldn’t do until the battle was over, Blitz quickly took off again but he was surprised when he saw about a dozen griffons in front of him. They were all armed with spears and they all seemed to want a piece of the Pegasus.

The griffons didn’t waste any time at all. They attacked Blitz as soon as they saw him take altitude. Spears aimed at the white Pegasus, half of the griffons threw them at him with the intent of bringing him down. Blitz managed to evade most of them except for one. One of the spears pierced through his left wing and left him stuck on the wall of a large building.

The white Pegasus screamed in pain as the spear ate away at his flesh, preventing him from moving too much. The other griffons were all headed towards him, their spears all aimed at Blitz. His breathing became faster, he began to sweat abundantly and his eyes went wide. For the first time in many years, Blitz was afraid.

He was scared to die…

————

Dusk heard a familiar scream in the distance and his ears immediately perked up. He could recognize that scream anywhere. Still busy with the remaining griffons that he had first encountered, the aquamarine unicorn poured the last of his magical energy into his horn and without delay, he cast barriers around the four griffons that remained, trapping them inside extremely resistant barriers.

Dusk didn’t waste any time and soon begin to head in the direction he had heard Blitz’s scream. While he was running towards Blitz’s direction, Dusk replenished his magic supply and like before, he stored the excess into small orbs orbiting around him.

On his way, he was met with a large number of griffons, all armed with sharp weapons but the sight of those didn’t scare Dusk. He just charged his horn with a spell and blasted the few griffons that dared to stay in his path. The scent of burning flesh filled the air as a few feathers soaked with blood fell back on the ground, unnoticed by most.

Discharging an entire orb, Dusk levelled the ground and made it so a good number of the griffons would be caught in his trap before he crushed them between two sections of the ground he levelled. The other griffons looked at him in fear and the unicorn even heard some griffons call him a freak before they fled the scene.

Dusk resumed his run towards the area where he had heard Blitz and for the rest of the way, he was undisturbed but that all changed when he arrived at the place Blitz was wounded and trapped. He advanced carelessly and activated a force field made from runes inscribed on the floor as well as charms placed all around the barrier

The aquamarine unicorn quickly realized the griffons had carefully set up a plan to trap the two ponies so they wouldn’t bother them any longer and it became evident to Dusk that they were probably going to get killed afterwards. He tried to break the barrier but then he realized that the force field’s charms had special inscriptions on them that made it so his magic would be nullified. To think they even have they own sort of magic and tactics to efficiently remove the threats of unicorns on the battlefield… Dusk thought. Are they that eager to go to war against us or are they that desperate to get rid of Chrysalis and her hive?

That question hung in his head for a while before he began to hear the screams of panic coming from the griffons. Curious as to what was causing that uproar, he tried to see what it was but with no avail. All he could hear were the screams of terror coming from the winged beasts. He yelped in surprise when he saw the head of a griffon hit the wall of his prison. Blood splashed all around the wall and even though he had seen his fair share of blood, Dusk thought he would get sick from that view.

“Are you guys even trying?! I’m having the time of my life here!” That voice was all too familiar to Dusk’s ears…

————

Origin was storming through waves of griffons after the other. His magic wasn’t all that different from before be he did use it in a different way. For instance, he used real fire magic instead of using his illusions and around him spiralled small blades that he often threw at the griffons that got too close to him. He was an absolute terror on the battlefield.

He had also heard Blitz’s scream from where he was so he hurried to the location he had heard it from while killing any who tried to get in his way. Killing was a little bit far but he was at war and there was no room for mercy. There were the changelings and the griffons. Anything not changeling was an enemy and could be slain to push back the invasion and Origin was taking that pretty seriously.

There’s one at 4 o’clock, Ori!

Conveying more energy into his horn, Origin summoned a bigger and sharper blade. He turned around and right in front of him was a large griffon, larger than some of the others, wielding a sword. Without hesitating, Origin threw some of the small blades that orbited around him in the griffon’s foreleg, striking a nerve at the same time.

The griffon instantly dropped his sword as his foreleg went limp. Before he had time to register what had happened, his head was already rolling on the ground. The blade disappeared shortly after and Origin resumed his run towards the clock tower.

That wasn’t exactly good for your diet, you know…

“Shut up, Star. We’re at war and I have to do the necessary to survive and make sure the hive survives. Besides, I only consumed a small amount of his hatred while I took in most of his confidence and pride. Those things taste delicious!” Origin replied, letting a small laugh at the end.

And you’re sure that the little bit of hatred you consumed won’t affect you in any way?

“I’m definitely sure it won’t. Not with all of the other positive emotions I consumed. If I had consumed a large amount of his hatred, it could have turned out differently but that’s not the case. You can think of negative emotions as glycogen while positive emotions can be seen as fat. One of them gives a short energy boost while the other allows for a longer energy boost. Well, you should already know that, you’ve lived in this body for the last twenty years,” Origin snickered.

Haha, very funny… There’s one at 7 o’clock by the way.

Turning around, Origin realized he wouldn’t have the time to use his blades in time so he closed his eyes and concentrated with a single spell. Not long after, the griffon swung his sword at Origin.

His eyes went wide quickly enough.

Origin had used a spell to reinforce the sturdiness of his chitin shell and when the griffon’s sword had hit his shell, it simply broke in half. The griffon stumbled a bit and began taking several steps back but he eventually was grabbed by the changeling’s magic. Closing his left eye, he stared into the griffon’s right eye and both began to glow green.

“Fear me, griffon. Fear me and the rest of the hive! Fear the changelings! Tell your friends that they don’t mess with the changelings without any consequences. Tell them I’m coming for them. Tell them of how terrifying I am!” Origin shouted before releasing his spell.

That was a little bit cruel, even by my standards, Ori.

The griffon blinked twice and when his eyes fell on Origin again, he screamed like a little filly and flew away. The griffon flew away as fast as he could and it was only when he was out of sight that Origin headed for the clock tower again.

“It wasn’t all that bad. Besides, I’m pretty sure the fear will win over him eventually and at that point, he’ll probably want to kill himself and he will most likely succeed in committing suicide,” Origin spoke. He was being so casual about the situation that it could depict him as a cold-blooded murderer.

Aren’t you one already? I mean, you’ve killed a lot just to get where you are now and I’m not talking about your status, I’m talking about you being reunited with Raine. We have killed so much to find her and yet you refuse to see she’s a hazard to everypony around her.

“Did I ask for your opinion on my relationship with Raine? No. Now leave that out of this conversation,” Origin snapped.

Fine, fine. Talk about being edgy today…

“If you hadn’t noticed already, we’re kinda under attack by an enemy that wants to completely exterminate us! Excuse me if I broke your mood but I’m trying to keep us alive right now, Star.”

Hmm, fair enough, Ori. Another one at 12 o’clock, though!

Origin didn’t waste any time at all and summoned about ten different blades and impaled the griffon that was right behind him. He was glad he had Star with him because it allowed him to know where his enemies were before they could reach him. Still, even that had its limits because the way he split his mind consumed his energy rather quickly. That was the main reason why he consumed the emotions of his opponents; it was to maintain his spell for as long as the battle lasted.

He turned around and walked to the griffon’s side and the changeling was quite surprised to see that the griffon was still alive. Carefully, he lowered his head and whispered something in the creature’s ear. The griffon’s eye went wide instantly and rolled inside his head a few seconds later. Using a simple spell to detect life signs, Origin confirmed the griffon had died and resumed heading towards the clock tower again.

This time his path was clear and for the rest of the time he ran towards the clock tower, he encountered no other griffons, which was quite surprising in itself because the city was under attack. He suspected something was amiss because things were too quiet. He smelled something in the air but he didn’t recognize the odor until he saw a griffon in the horizon with a torch in its talon.

Wondering what they were planning, Origin found out what it was too late. It was only when the griffon threw the torch his way that a spark ignited in his mind and he placed the pieces of the puzzle together. It was too late for him to react though and before he could cast another spell, the torch came in contact with the surrounding air and a massive explosion was triggered.

“Oh horseapples!” That was all he could muster before he was engulfed by the explosion.

————

His life raced right before his eyes! Blitz had been sure he would die but before the griffons could finish him, something inside the Pegasus broke. He entered a state of complete frenzy. His mind had begun acting on instincts alone and only one thought remained inside his mind: survive!

Without hesitation, he grabbed the spear that stabbed his wing with his mouth and pulled it out in one quick motion. He let out a muffled scream of pain but otherwise ignored the rest. He let himself fall down to avoid the griffons that were heading his way and then took off again, ignoring the pain his wing caused him.

He quickly targeted the griffon that had no weapon in its talons and assaulted his enemy with a flurry of kicks and punches before he grabbed the weakened griffon by the mid-section and dived into a pile drive, making the creature’s neck snap upon making contact with the ground. The Pegasus rose to the sky only a few seconds later.

Next, he rammed an overconfident griffon into a nearby building, grabbing his enemy’s spear in his mouth in a quick motion. Releasing the griffon momentarily to grab the spear, Blitz only took a few seconds before impaling the throat of his enemy. Blood splattered on his face but that was none of his concern. Rage could be seen in the Pegasus’ eyes. A burning rage, a desire for blood.

It was all too obvious that Blitz wasn’t there anymore. All there was were his instincts.

His eyes showed that much. He wanted more. He craved for more violence, for more blood and he would not be stopped until he got what he wanted. He pulled out the spear from the now-dead griffon and charged right into a flock of griffons, throwing the spear at them with his mouth. Unlike his original plan, the spear didn’t touch anything, mostly because using his mouth to throw something like a spear wasn’t exactly meant for precision.

Still, he dived at the flock after throwing the spear and managed to grab a griffon’s midsection in his descent. He knocked the griffon unconscious by using him to absorb the shock of the fall and then proceeded into taking the sword the griffon had in his mouth before taking off again. That time, however, he knew how to use the sword. It was heavier than the sword the guards used in Canterlot but it wasn’t something Blitz couldn’t handle. Instead, he just lashed at the flock, killing two griffons as he rose in a spin.

Not wasting any time, Blitz charged at one of the three remaining griffons that had attacked him—well, those that hadn’t run away in fear to begin with—and began to swing his sword against the griffon’s defenses. It lasted a while, since the griffon seemed to be accustomed to fighting opponents that used swords but that still didn’t mean Blitz wasn’t giving him a hard time.

The Pegasus eventually found a hole in the griffon’s guard and immediately exploited it, severing the griffon’s right wing in a quick descending motion. He would have watched his enemy plummet to the ground if it hadn’t been for a griffon that attacked him. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to fully dodge his enemy’s spear so it ended up going through his left hind leg, provoking a sudden scream of pain from the pony.

Blitz fought back as much as he could but it seemed like the griffon wasn’t going to give up either and it was at that precise moment that the only other remaining griffon attacked the Pegasus all of a sudden. In just a split second, a spear was going through his left shoulder. He was screaming in agony before he finally plummeted to the ground, wounded and bleeding heavily.

“Damn… it… all–“ Blitz began before coughing out a large amount of blood and eventually losing consciousness.

The griffons watched him carefully until he finally stopped moving and removed their weapons from his wounded body. Knowing that without any help whatsoever he would die, they left Blitz to deal with a slow and painful death.

“Going somewhere?” a voice ringed behind them.

In the blink of an eye, the head of one of the griffons was already rolling on the ground and the last thing the other griffon saw was a green eye glowing brightly. His entire world went black and he suddenly began to have trouble breathing. It wasn’t too long before he began to gather air, which resulted in an obvious failure, and after a few minutes of that charade going on, he finally dropped to the floor, unconscious.

He would have stayed unconscious, if only it hadn’t been for a magical sword going through his neck, severing the main cervical vertebrae in one strike, paralyzing him completely just before the magical blade cut open his jugular vein.

Needless to say, that painted the street red.

————

Dusk tried everything to break free of the barrier he had been imprisoned in. During that time, he had been forced to watch Blitz brutally fight against the griffons in a way that did not resemble the Pegasus and that only sparked the desire to get out as soon as he could.

The barrier was, however, a bit more hard to decipher because it wasn’t pony magic. It seemed liked it was griffon magic, or sorcery as some would call it. The reason he referred to that magic as being sorcery was because the magic griffons used was based off of charms and curses and magical traps. Those were the exact things a sorcerer has when they do battle or anything close to that.

Unfortunately, he had yet to find a way out of the barrier and that was beginning to drive him a bit nuts. Well, that was until he heard an explosion. He was even more surprised when the flames of the explosion engulfed the barrier completely.

Luckily, the barrier protected him but gave way a few seconds later, the charms used to conjure said barrier having burned to nothing more than ashes. Alarmed, he tried to find out where the explosion came from. He has a good head start, until a griffon sorcerer showed up out of nowhere in front of him.

“Oh no, you don’t!” Dusk shouted furiously as he unleashed spells after spells.

He began by forming a magical barrier of his own around the griffon and a second spell made it so the barrier would shrink to a certain limit over time. The griffon wasn’t all that scared at first but it was when space was beginning to lack that the griffon, a female according to her shrieks, began to freak out completely.

She tried to smash the barrier to pieces but it was a lost cause. Dusk continued to pour magic into his first spell to maintain the barrier in place, considering the griffon was doing a pretty good job at damaging it. The barrier continued to shrink even more and before long, there was no other places for her to move anymore, leaving her trapped inside that barrier.

Not being a very violent one anyway, Dusk decided to leave her off like that as a sign of mercy. He was aware that she would attempt to kill him if she had found a way out of his barrier but he was not a killer. He did not like the thought of killing. He had seen his share, with the invasion and all and that had made him make up his mind about that: he would kill. That wasn’t who he was.

He ignored her when she tried to make him bring down his barrier He knew it was a ruse so she could kill him and as merciful as he was, his mercy had a limit and that was where it stopped. As he trotted away, he just told her that the barrier would break down in around twenty minutes and that after that, she would be free to go wherever she wanted to go.

“There, that’s one less problem to take care of,” Dusk spoke to himself.

He tried to locate the next location of Blitz but after he had seen him fly away, fighting two full squads of griffons by himself in a blind rage, Dusk had no idea where the Pegasus could have gone to next. He was, however, stopped in his tracks when he felt a disturbance in the air around him. He saw nothing but he felt it.

He wasn’t able to identify what it was; even his magic wasn’t working for that part. He tried using magic to locate any kind of heartbeat in his vicinity but it was useless. He felt nothing. Then it happened again. Another big wave of air disturbance was felt around him and he was unsure what was causing it.

“Duck!”

Dusk didn’t hesitate, having recognized the voice that had told him to duck. Right after he complied to the orders, a volley of swords was thrown in his way but none of them were aimed at him. He just watched in surprise as most of the swords hit their mark; a griffon with various charms placed on herself.

It took a few moments for him to process what had happened. He looked at the charms and found out the griffon had cloaked herself with invisibility charms. That’s beyond trickery! Dusk thought. That’s nearly torture. She wanted to make me aware and then strike me down the moment I realized something was wrong. What’s next after this place, the rest of Equestria?

His mind was racing but he was quickly pulled out of it by a very familiar changeling. He looked to his right and saw that Origin was now standing alongside him, parts of his shell completely broken and his left eye was close for whatever purpose it was closed for.

“Darn! What happened to you?” Dusk asked the changeling, alarmed by his condition.

“Heh! Nothing much. Well almost nothing if you can count an explosion nearly killing you as something major. Besides, it didn’t kill me so I guess they kinda failed with that plan of theirs.”

“Explosion? With what did they cause the explosion without magic or chemical reaction?”

“They didn’t have either of those. They had propane gas spread all around me and I never once noticed it until I saw a griffon with a torch in his talon. I owe my life to Star right now but his magic shield didn’t last that long so I also got blasted away so here I am, mildly wounded but in good condition nonetheless, although I have to keep my eye closed for a while,” Origin told Dusk, explaining what had transpired on his side.

“Sounds like you had a rough time. Well, I can’t say I had as much trouble as you did but I was attacked by griffon sorcerers, or at least that’s what I thought they were. The magic charms they used resembled every part of sorcery as I’ve studied it. And on—” He was interrupted by Origin putting a hoof on his mouth.

“I’m not exactly in the mood for a thorough explanation on what your studies lead you to discover in your life so far. I’ve got better news: I found the leader, the one coordinating this whole raid,” Origin announced to Dusk.

“WHAT!?! When did you do that?!” Dusk asked him, shocked by the news.

“I did when I brought Blitz back to the tower with Raine and Chrysalis. He needs to recover as he’s badly wounded. His right wing has been stabbed right next to an important nerve. An inch more the left and he would have lost the complete usage of his wing. His left shoulder was also stabbed. The spear used to wound his shoulder was thrust so hard that is completely pierced through his leg. Fortunately, the spear wasn’t all that big so it didn’t cause a lot of damage except for heavy bleeding.”

“I hope he’s going to be alright, though,” Dusk muttered.

“Don’t worry, that guy’s a tough one. He’s not going down so easily. He’ll live through this.”

“I hope you’re right…”

————

“Blitz! Blitz! Are you alright? Can you hear me?!” Raine called out to the Pegasus, not caring if he was conscious or not.

“He cannot hear you, pony,” Chrysalis interjected, tired of hearing Raine’s cries. “He is obviously unconscious. Can’t you see that?”

“I don’t care. I just want him to be alright!” Raine replied. “He protected me before and he risked his life to save me as well. I can’t just sit here and do nothing for him!”

“Fine. Do as you wish but do not expect me to help you with your problems,” Chrysalis scowled before turning around as to ignore the blue Pegasus.

“By the way, what was wrong with Origin?” Raine asked the queen.

“What do you mean? 157 was normal. There was nothing wrong with him,” Chrysalis answered flatly.

“Not that, I meant his eyes. Why was one green while the other was blue?”

“Oh… that. That’s a rather boring story. But I guess we have the luxury of time,” Chrysalis said.

“Go on, you have my attention.”

“Well, as you know by now. 157, or Origin, survived this long because a unicorn named Star Blaze used a soul merging spell to save their lives. In the end, both their souls were placed in 157’s body and mind. That in turn merged their minds together but with time, and with a certain book he ‘borrowed’ from Canterlot’s Royal Libraries, he discovered a spell that could allow him to split his mind in two. That essentially separates the consciousness of Star Blaze from his own for a given time period.

“I’m actually surprised he used that spell to begin with. He even mentioned to me that it consumed magic energy extremely fast. I guess he fed on the life energy and the emotions of his enemies to keep the spell up and working. At least, I hope he does because I don’t think he would have survived this long without extra help,” Chrysalis explained.

“What do you mean? I thought Origin was strong to begin with…” Raine let out quietly.

“He is strong. Very strong, at that, actually. His only problem is that he has the body of a changeling scout and thus the same magic capacity of a scout, which is not great to be completely honest. He has this much power inside him but he can’t use it all. Well, at least it’s good for me; he won’t be able to overthrow me in a near future. Not with that body anyway.”

“He also mentioned something about ending this? What did that mean, Queen Chrysalis?” Raine asked shyly. She was still afraid of the queen’s authority.

“It most likely means that he found the enemy leader and he’s going to confront him. I hope he brought some help with him because the raid leader is cunning. I sensed that much when he confronted me earlier. He won’t be alone and if I’m right, he showed himself on purpose. He wants to lead 157 into a trap and kill him. That’s what I would do as well if I were in his stead. 157 is a threat to be scared of, especially with the illusions and mind magic he can use almost at will although not indefinitely. That is his great weakness. Unlike myself or any high level unicorns and alicorns”—Raine tensed a bit when she heard the hate used in that single word. Was there something Chrysalis had against alicorns? She couldn’t know for sure but there was a certain loathing towards them—“157 can’t hold spells for very long with his current magical capacity.”

“I see… Well, I hope he’ll be all right,” Raine whispered to herself, unaware that Chrysalis had heard her.

————

“I had hoped you’d come here, changeling. And I see you’ve brought another changeling with you. Tell me, is that form stolen from a pony you killed in this city?” asked the griffon leader.

Dusk was about to reply brashly because of the accusation but Origin was faster than him and simply looked at him and shook his head. Did the changeling have something in mind? It seemed like he would have to hold his bitter reply for some other time.

“We’ve not killed anypony here. We are changelings, not murderers. The only thing we do is feed on positive emotions and I’m sure you know that we can’t steal something from somepony who’s dead. Well, at least, common sense would have it that way,” Origin replied, a grin on his face and a mocking look in his eyes.

“Don’t mock me, insect! I am a war general and I have seen what your kind has done in Gryffonia! You and your hive are a bunch of barbaric murderers!”

“Hey, isn’t that a surprise? I’m a war general too. Does that make your argument invalid then?!” Origin exclaimed mockingly, soon bursting into laughter afterwards.

Dusk observed Origin fall onto his back and just looked at him with a look of disapproval. Is he really that immature or does he really take this a game and not seriously as he should? The unicorn was amazed by the carefree nature of the changeling and just facehoofed after a few seconds passed.

Then he noticed that Origin was kicking his right hind leg towards a nearby air conduit, and then he did the same but on the next side. Dusk was puzzled at first because he thought that the changeling was just laughing his flank off but when he did the same things again but this time with an eye open, staring at Dusk seriously, the unicorn quickly understood what it meant, or at least he thought he did.

If Dusk had the right idea, Origin had been revealing the location of other griffons ready to ambush them. How he had found them was beyond him but according to his deduction, that’s the conclusion he had come up with.

He didn’t waste any time and quickly gathered magical energy into his horn, enough for two barrier spells, and quickly took an offensive stance. It took a bit more out of him than he had expected but then again, Dusk was already tired and strained from the his last skirmish with the griffon sorcerer. He didn’t know how much more he could keep going on before he would need to rest and recover.

Nevertheless, the unicorn unleashed his two spells and two barriers materialized around the two air conduits on the top of the building they were currently on. The detection spell he had mixed with his barrier spell made it possible for him to know that the first barrier had trapped three griffons inside it while the second one only caught one. He whispered the results in Origin’s ear and he nodded, summoning his own magic.

The raid leader stared in awe at the unicorn and changeling paired together and slowly nodded for no reasons whatsoever, at least in Dusk’s point of view. Within a few more seconds, two other griffons jumped out of nowhere and charged at Dusk and Origin. They both faked expressions of astonishment and at the last moment, Origin threw two magic swords at the griffons, each of them lodging deep into their skulls.

That only left the raid leader alone to face the two spell casters. His jaw was open wide and his eyes were wide as well. He just looked at his enemies with despair. He had went on ahead and prepared the ultimate plan to get rid of Chrysalis and her hive and yet, his plan had been foiled by three individuals, well those three had been marked dangerous during the battle as they were capable of taking down griffons with ease.

“Wha—H-how… did you know about my ambush?” he asked in complete astonishment.

“Well, a bit of it is me being a changeling and being able to sense emotions in a certain radius around me and then there’s the fact that you wouldn’t openly show yourself to us without having a plan to wipe us off the map if we fell in your trap. The bottom line, though, is that you’re way too obvious to read. Even if I was recently given the title of general, I’m also a scout and therefore, I know a bit about strategy,” Origin told the griffon

“And then there’s me. He came to me to seek help and information. Well, seeking help is a bit wrong in the context here since he did drag me out here without warning but not before briefing me about you showing yourself to him and unlike Origin here, I am an accomplished tactician. So, if I were to resume your situation right now, I think it would be wise of you to order a retreat or, if you decide to listen to your pride instead of your common sense, die here at our hooves.

“It’s your call, though…” Dusk added, a serious expression covering his whole face.

“Gah! You’ll regret this, changelings. I promise you that the next time we meet, you will all die!” He shouted at them as he took off.

Dusk and Origin then watched as the raid leader ordered the retreat of their troops from the city. He gave no further reasons to his troops other than the retreat itself and the fact that their plans had been thwarted by only a few enemies. It wasn’t long before the remaining griffons left the town with haste.

The two spell casters glanced at the other and exchanged a stare before they bumped their hooves together. Dusk nodded a few seconds afterwards and began collecting magic in his horn. He did so until sweat began to drip from his forehead. Carefully, he used a teleportation spell and led the two back in the main tower of the city where Chrysalis and Raine were.

“I must say that you are very good at strategy and hiding it so subtly, Origin. The way you showed the position of the griffons behind the air conduits by bursting into laughter and kicking your legs in their direction was pretty damn good,” Dusk told Origin, complimenting his strategy.

“Uh, thanks I guess. In any case, I wouldn’t have been able to do this without you. My magic is mostly good for offensive magic and your mastery over barrier spells is far greater than mine so I kinda needed your help on this one,” Origin replied as he took in the compliment.

“Dusk! Origin! You’re okay!” Raine let out, running at their sides.

“Well, that’s a surprise considering that battle was pretty much a lost one at the beginning, “Spike said flatly. “By the way, Origin, why do you have so much blood on you?”

“The path to war is not one you take without taking lives and unfortunately, I happen to know magic designed for that very purpose and I was defending my hive in a battle where the enemy had no pity. It was kill or be killed so of course, I took many lives on the battlefield,” Origin replied coldly, his voice so casual it was scary.

“Origin…” Raine muttered weakly.

“What?!” he said, turning his head in her direction. “I had no other choice. If I let them live, I would have been killed a while ago! Like I said to Spike, the path I walk is one covered in blood and death. It is essentially who I am.”

Origin then noticed that Chrysalis had been looking his way for a while and after a silent exchange, they both nodded and Origin re-entered the conversation he had been in. It wasn’t a very fruitful one and he felt it was slightly one sided because Raine kept giving him that disappointed and accusing look, as if she didn’t like the way he fought the griffons.

“First of all, Raine, stop giving me that look. It’s not going to solve anything and you know it; I did what I did because I needed to survive. I made you suffer once by leaving you all alone. I won’t make that mistake twice,” he told her in a sweet voice, calming her mood all the while. “On a second note, I have something to tell you in behalf of Queen Chrysalis.”

“And what might that be, exactly?” Spike asked, an eyebrow raised in doubt.

“On the behalf of the hive and herself, the Queen would like to thank you for aiding us in our hour of need. Your help helped us survive this raid and although she didn’t enter the battlefield herself, she would have done so if things hadn’t worked out as expected. However, her intervention in the battle is not the reason of this little speech I am giving you. The Queen just wants to express her gratitude for your help in all of this.”

“Can I say something regarding that little speech you gave us on her behalf?” Raine asked sheepishly, shrinking a little bit when everypony gave her their attention.

“You may do so, pony,” Chrysalis said flatly. Truly, her voice was masked of any emotions. There was something in the back of her mind that asked herself why the queen was like that.

“I may not understand all this changeling business completely but there is one thing I am certain off: Origin wished to defend his hive and his family, figuratively speaking that is, and that was enough for me to get Dusk and Blitz to fight on your side. Had I been able to fight as well, I would have joined this conflict but I lack any kind of training those two have.”

“Raine, was it?” Raine nodded to Chrysalis. “Do you really mean that? Did you truly act out of blind trust and faith?”

“I did. Origin saved my life as of late and I wanted to repay my debt. Helping him save your hive was the first thing I thought I could help with, although indirectly,” Raine answered.

“So, you acted the way you did just so you could look glorious in his eyes. Man, talk about being lame and selfish!” Spike let out spontaneously.

“Spike!” Raine shouted at the dragon, insulted by his accusations. “I did no such things!”

“Sure… You certainly didn’t get Dusk and Blitz to side with the changelings just like that, expecting nothing in return. Admit that it was just a means for you to get closer to your coltfriend.”

“Hmmph!” She scowled at the baby dragon.

“Okay, settle down, you two. We’ll settle this affair somewhere else at another given time. Right now, although it is kind of late, I want to know where Blitz is or where he was taken to,” Dusk said, stopping Raine and Spike from arguing furthermore. He may have done exactly that but that didn’t stop them from glaring at the other.

“Do not worry, unicorn. Your friend was taken to lower floors and was placed in extensive care. His wounds were quite serious so we had to send him down there. At best, his recovery should last a week or two so if you don’t want to leave him at our mercy, I would recommend you stay here until he recovers,” Chrysalis informed the group.

“With that recent attack and with the fact that the raid leader vowed he would come back and crush you all in the future, I have a recommendation: go back to your hive, wherever it is, for the moment and maybe try to negotiate with Celestia and Luna about a possible sanctuary here in Equestria,” Dusk told the queen of the changelings.

“I would rather avoid contact with those two but under these circumstances, I think I have little choice in the matter, especially with the new threat the griffons pose right now.

“Oh, and Raine, I have something to tell you…”

“What is it?” Raine asked, finally breaking eye contact with Spike to give Chrysalis her attention.

“Thank you… for understanding our situation.”

“I told you, it seemed to be something Origin held dear and I had a debt of gratitude, we all owed him one,” Raine replied.

“Well, nevertheless, you deserved proper thanks, you and your companions, for helping the hive during that invasion. Now, if you wish to rest, I can instruct one of my changelings to guide you to proper rooms.”

“That would be appreciated, indeed. We’ll take that offer kindly, Queen Chrysalis.” That last part was flat. It’s not that he didn’t respect Chrysalis, not that he did a lot anyway; it was more because he wasn’t used to using titles other than ‘Princess’ to authoritarian figures.

Soon after that, a changeling arrived in the throne room and quickly approached the three travelers, using a rather broken modern language to address them. He told them he was to guide them to private chambers on the floor below. They nodded altogether and followed the changeling, although Dusk was still tense, ready if there was a trap whatsoever waiting for them on the floor below.

Once they were gone from the room, Chrysalis returned to her throne and Origin soon turned around to face her. He didn’t waste any time and asked, “My Queen, do you know the number of casualties we suffered on our side during the invasion?”

“I am unsure of the exact number but I know we have lost over a hundred drones and scouts, respectively. The harvesters were inside so there were no losses on that side. About thirty Valorians were killed, which I find surprising in itself, and over fifty of our Preatorians were wiped out completely. Those griffons came prepared. They were prepared to destroy us,” said Chrysalis, obviously surprised by the numbers the griffons had killed

“Then we were lucky that I arrived with Raine and her group at the time I did, were we not?”

“I suppose you have a point there. Your intervention and her arguments to convince those two ponies to fight helped us immensely. What kind of training do they have, if may ask since you traveled with them?”

“Well, I know that Blitz used to be in the Royal Guards so that may be where he got his fighting skills and Dusk is, or used to be, Princess Celestia’s private student so he already has a very good training in magic,” Origin answered, his voice calm and monotonous.

“Is that so? Well, they do make good soldiers after all in Equestria. They do have Celestia and Luna as rulers so they should already have decent training, considering what they are capable of,” Chrysalis remarked, a small smirk on her lips, just enough to show her fangs.

“With your permission, I will take my leave for the moment. Just send for me if you need my assistance.”

“No wait, 157!” Chrysalis ordered firmly. “I just so happen to have another task for you. Now listen closely.”

~//~End of Chapter Seven ~//~

Making Progress

The EclipsedChapter Eight: Making ProgressBy Raine Moon

“Come on! What’s taking the Princess so long? She’s never taken this long to reply before!” Dusk let out nervously.

For the past hour, Dusk had been rambling on like that in front of Raine and Spike in their chambers. The two found him very annoying and Spike even called him a drama queen for obvious reasons. That had triggered a series of laugh and Raine even fell on her back and began rolling on the floor while laughing.

“In… all… seriousness… though,” Spike began, catching his breath and stopping himself from laughing any more. “She may be occupied with something else and that’s stopping her from replying to you. Don’t you think you should give her more time?”

“More time?” he cringed. “It’s been two weeks! She should have replied by now. I’m telling you right now; something’s amiss!”

“Calm down, Dusk. Nothing good’s going to come out of stressing yourself out over something like that,” Raine told him. “Just rest a bit. You’ve been up for three days straight because of this matter. You need your rest for when Blitz will have recovered completely.”

“I hadn’t thought you two had been over your mutual disagreement,” Dusk replied.

“We didn’t. We just came to a temporary agreement concerning your current state. You’re hectic, nervous and completely stressed. You need your sleep, Dusk,” Spike told the unicorn.

“Argh! I can’t rest now! Not at a time like this when Princess Celestia’s letter could arrive any minute!”

“Shut up! Just shut up!” Raine shouted. She seemed extremely angry. “Look, you’ve been up like this for the past three days. The only reason we’re waiting here is because Blitz is recovering from his wounds so why don’t you just lie down, sleep for a few hours and then we’ll wake you up when everypony’s going to be ready?”

Dusk looked at her in awe. When had she developed such a behavior? If anything, she may have gotten that from us during the time we were traveling together. She used to be so timid and reserved before and now she’s getting nastier and nastier…” Dusk thought, wondering about the Pegasus’ new attitude. Nevertheless, Dusk couldn’t afford to catch some sleep. He didn’t have the time.

“In any case,” the unicorn began, ignoring Raine’s last comments. “I’m going to see how Blitz’s recovery is going along and then I’ll deci—”

“Blitz is back in the house, y’all!” Blitz shouted as he slammed the door open. “Huh? Where’s Dusk? I thought he would be with you.”

“Well, he still is…” Spike commented, snickering madly, “here. Bahaha!”

“Uhh, what did I miss? What’s so funny all of a sudden?” Blitz asked Spike and Raine, a look of utter confusion all over his face.

“Well, we were trying to convince Dusk to get some rest over the past few hours, and it didn’t help that he stayed up for three days straight, because he was wondering why Princess Celestia hadn’t replied to his letter yet and by entering so suddenly and abruptly, you may have knocked him out with the door…” Raine explained, containing her own laughter at the irony of the situation.

“Oh… So that’s what’s so funny…” Blitz said flatly. “Well, this is probably a good thing because he would have eventually keeled over some time later. I can’t believe he’s still acting like that after all those years.”

“So… he’s done that before too?” Spike queried.

“Yeah and more than once too. He’s so stressed that he might disappoint the princess that he becomes restless. Anyway, put him on the bed. It’s gonna take a while before he wakes up so in the meantime, I’d like to speak to you about something we could do. You see…”

Blitz began to tell Raine and Spike about his desire to go take a look at the situation in Cloudsdale. He just wanted to go there and see if anything happened to the city as it was where he was born and where his family, well those that were still alive, lived. It was a bit of a selfish desire but he just wanted to see if his folks were alright.

Raine wasn’t against the idea. Instead, she seemed to go along with it. Sure, Blitz put his personal needs before those of Equestria but it was for his family. After losing Rainbow Dash, Blitz admitted that he wouldn’t know what to do if he were to lose other family members. It wasn’t exactly selfish in itself since all he wanted to do was see if his family was well.

“I think we should do it, actually. It’s your family after all. They’re everything you have. You do well to cherish what you have, Blitz, because life is fleeting and happiness scarce in these times…” Raine spoke grimly. Her eyes reflected her own misery over her own family. Well, she only ever knew her mother and that didn’t turn out very well. “I don’t have a family anymore but you do and you should cherish it.”

If only you knew, Raine. If only you knew… Blitz thought, thinking about the revelations Princess Luna had told him along with Dusk before they embarked on this quest.

They talked a bit more of this and that, waiting for Dusk to wake up so they could talk about their intentions of heading to Cloudsdale to check on Blitz’s family. Amongst the subjects Blitz approached was one concerning Queen Chrysalis’ character. Blitz wanted to know what Raine thought about the queen and she was honest: she said that she seemed somehow ruthless but infinitely caring.

Then, they talked about Origin. They talked about the fact that nearly all the things he had told them were lies to begin with. His past, why he was searching for Raine twenty years ago. Even the story he had told them about him being spared from the death sentence because he was a weak hatchling was probably a lie. His entire life was filled with lies.

“No wonder he was able to infiltrate so much. He just has to invent a story or steal knowledge from a pony via changeling magic. I swear he’s an odd one, and a scary foe,” Blitz remarked.

“Ugh, are you guys going to keep talking so loudly. I feel like someone dropped an anvil on my head,” Dusk complained, rubbing a hoof on his forehead.

“Well, you’re not far off, Dusk. Blitz knocked you out when he came back so we put you on the bed. In a way, Blitz helped us get you to rest a bit,” Spike told him, laughing a bit at the recollection of the events.

Dusk instantly shot a glare at Blitz and the Pegasus let out a nervous laugh. His gaze shifted over to Raine but the blue Pegasus just smiled at him and shook her head. Blast! She was leaving him to deal with that all alone. Well, there went teamwork! His gaze turned over to Dusk again and he put on a poker face.

It began mainly with Dusk yelling at Blitz because he knocked him out when he could have received a reply from Princess Celestia at any time. Of course, there was an obvious conflict because Blitz often possessed more common sense than the unicorn when he was in one of his nervous breakdowns.

“You are a stubborn mule, Blitz!” Dusk yelled at his friend.

“Heh, I’m stubborn? So what, at least that’s a known fact. If anything, you’re a thousand times more stubborn than I am.”

“Blitz, don’t start this game!”

“Hey, you started it! Besides, if you just stopped being so dependant of the princess, maybe you’d stress a bit less. It’s like you’re afraid that Princess Celestia will smite you if you disappoint her,” Blitz said.

“She’s literally a goddess, Blitz, and she’s gone through a war three thousand years ago. Who knows what she can do and maybe even that kind act of hers is a front. Ooh, what am I saying? She’s a benevolent ruler and she’s always been so. That’s just Origin trying to mess with my head!” Dusk exclaimed, fighting a war against himself.

“You’re right, Dusk. She is a benevolent ruler. Both she and Princess Luna are. And you used to be Celestia’s student before you moved in with me in Ponyville. She would never wish to smite you but she still has to live up to her title of Princess. In short, just relax a bit. She’s the princess so of course, she may have a lot to take care of, especially with the Nightmare Moon crisis going on right now.”

“Blitz… why do you have so much common sense at times like this but during others, you’re just the reckless Blitz we’re all used to?” Dusk asked the Pegasus.

“Well, I dunno. Maybe it’s because I’m older than you and that I’m also a big brother. You know, I used to be the one to comfort Dashie when she had nightmares when she was still a filly,” Blitz answered, grinning slightly at his own remark.

“Are you telling me that the Rainbow Dash, Ponyville’s most prideful pony, used to have nightmares when she was little?” Dusk queried, in awe at that revelation.

“She sure did, Dusk. Besides, what kind of filly doesn’t have nightmares at a young age? I didn’t help either, though. I used to tell her ghost stories sometimes and those scared her majorly, even if she did try to hide it.”

“Well, that’s a big surprise!” Dusk let out, laughing a bit. “In any case, what do we do now?”

“Blitz talked to us about something he wanted to do for a while. He basically wanted to go to Cloudsdale to check on his family. I don’t really see any problems with that but we wanted to talk to you about it; to see if it wasn’t too much to ask. Besides, Celestia still hasn’t replied and we have Spike to receive any letters she sends us,” Raine explained.

“I guess we could afford to go to Cloudsdale but there is one simple problem…” Dusk replied.

“Yeah, you can’t fly and only Pegasi can walk on clouds,” Blitz said.

“Can’t you work on a spell to allow you and me to walk on clouds if we’re to head to Cloudsdale?” Spike asked the unicorn.

“I don’t think I could. I’d need information on that spell to know the amount of magical energy I’d need to cast it on both you and me, Spike, and I don’t have access on that kind of information,” Dusk answered, hanging his head down in defeat.

“Well,” Raine began to say,, glancing at Dusk all the while, “you could always try asking Origin if he knows a spell like that.”

“I’d rather not resort to that but if I have no other choices, I might ask him. Though that will only happen if there are really no other alternatives.”

“Well, you better get to work now if you want to get it ready. If possible, I’d like to leave before the week ends,” Blitz told Dusk.

“Yeah, yeah. I got it. Now give me some slack if I’m to concentrate on this task,” Dusk replied abruptly, as to meet with Blitz’s own tone.

————

A few days passed since Dusk began working on a spell that would allow him and Spike to walk on clouds and he was still nowhere close to making it happen. He never left the room; he rarely ate, unless Raine and Blitz forced him to, and mainly stood by the large desk in the left top corner of the room.

“Okay, so if I take my weight, then compare it to the usual weight of a cloud and then subtract the weight of the clouds to my weight, I should have the amount of pressure I should apply to my body to make me float slightly off the ground. All right, let’s test this one!” Dusk mumbled to himself, writing down his equations on pieces of paper for what seemed to be the hundredth time.

He quickly charged his horn with magic and cast his spell. A white aura began to surround him and before he knew it, he was floating in the air. His concentration was quickly broken when his magic sent him hurling against the ceiling. The shock disturbed his concentration and he fell on his back.

“Damn it!” He let out suddenly, a jolt of pain passing through his body. “Why is it never working correctly?! I have done my equations in the right order! I should have been able to come up with a spell like that in a few hours normally. Why is it so hard?!”

Dusk heard somepony arrive from behind him. The sound of hooves on the floor easily gave it away but he did not know who it was. “That’s because you’ve only applied the pressure on yourself. Your main issue, Dusk, is that you based your equations on your own weight whereas a Pegasus is usually lighter than any other kind of ponies.”

“Origin, what are you doing here?” Dusk asked, not even turning around to look at the changeling. “I thought I had told Blitz, Raine and Spike to leave me undisturbed while I’m working…”

“Well, a little bird came to visit me today and told me that you were having problems coming up with a spell to help you walk on clouds. Now, I am not an expert in that sort of magic,” Origin began, slowly making his way to the unicorn’s desk, “but I can see from your equations here that you are always forgetting about the difference in weight between a unicorn and a Pegasus.

“Call Blitz and ask him to compare his weight to yours and when that’s going to be done, it’ll help you a lot.”

“And why should I listen to you? Last time I talked to you, I wasn’t exactly in the mood to exchange and quite frankly, I’m not in that mood right now so why don’t you get lost and stay out of my business!” Dusk snapped, his magical aura extending outwards and towards Origin at blinking speeds.

It never reached its target though. When he felt he hit nothing, Dusk turned around and saw nothing. Nopony was there and the door was still locked, just like it had been for the last few days. He looked around to see if Origin hadn’t snuck in while he had turned his head around but once again, nopony was there. He was the only pony in that room.

Was that my imagination? Did I really imagine Origin? Dusk thought, more confused than ever. For a moment, his eyes even crossed and he had what would otherwise be called a “derp” moment. But why would I imagine Origin and even imagine him telling me those things? Oh, I must be getting tired. Maybe I should rest a bit… NO! I don’t have time to rest. Coming up with that spell is of the utmost priority at this moment!

He resumed his work, coming up with new equations but every time he tried to apply these new equations into a spell, nothing worked. It seemed to work at first but like before, he lost his focus due to a problem with the spell and it broke the spell entirely. He lost his temper that time, smashing is fore hooves on his desk. He let out a yell and smashed his hooves on the desk for a second time.

Eventually, he gave up when he realized he wouldn’t be able to come up with his spell without any other research data and, no matter how stuck up he was, Dusk decided that Origin’s advice, even if he was just a figment of his imagination, was a good one and that it might be good to listen to it.

“Yeah… maybe a bit of sleep might not hurt me too mu—”

He never finished that bit. He had fallen asleep on his bed before that happened.

————

Du—

“Mmm, let me sleep some more!”

Dusk!

“Just a few more hours.”

Wake up, Dusk!

“Ain’t morning yet so let me sleep some more.”

Princess Celestia replied to your letter but I guess you don’t want to read it now then.

In a matter of seconds, he jumped out of his bed and boy was he a wreck! In front of him was Blitz and he was laughing his flank off in front of the unicorn. His smile was quickly replaced by an unamused expression.

“Haha, I’m laughing out here. Are you sure you didn’t miss your vocation, Blitz? Because you’d make an incredible stand-up comedian,” Dusk said, sarcasm dripping from his voice.

“Come on, now. Someone needed to wake you up. Besides, I heard that you’d need me for your spell. Something about weight comparison for air compression or something like that. I don’t get all your scientific terms, you and Origin,” Blitz replied, his voice filled with uncertainty and confusion.

So, he wasn’t just a dream…

That realization opened up the path to countless questions. How did he open the door despite it being locked? How did he disappear just like that when I tried to grab him with my magic?More importantly, why did he come in the room in the first place? Along with those questions roaming in his head, others soon joined in and puzzled his mind just as much.

Origin was an enigmatic character, that was for sure, and everything he did often served to strengthen that fact. The only thing about him that wasn’t enigmatic was his straightforwardness and even that had its limit. That was why they didn’t trust him that much; it was because he was too enigmatic. They weren’t sure if he would stab them in the back one moment or be kind to them another and with what happened in Las Pegasus three weeks before, that didn’t help him either. They weren’t sure if they could bring themselves to trust him once more.

Origin couldn’t be read when he was wearing a casual expression and even his voice rarely showed signs of emotions. The only time he seemed to show emotions was when he was either with Raine or discussing about his hive.

Well, nonetheless, Dusk asked Blitz to stay still for a while while he compared his weight to the Pegasus’. He wasn’t sure if it would help him but he had tried nearly all the equations he knew for those kind of spells. The Pegasus complied and just stood there as Dusk took mesures and data. The unicorn recorded everything from his height to his weight. There was nothing Dusk hadn’t recorded in his data. After he was done, he thanked Blitz for his time and then started to work on an entirely different equation.

————

“So, did it work?” Raine asked Blitz.

“Well, it could have been better. I felt like I was getting checked by a doctor. “Blitz pointed at all the spots where Dusk had been a bit less gentle; those areas were red like blood. “Remind me never to agree with one of your plans in the future, Origin.”

“Hey, it worked at least. You can’t say I did a bad job,” Origin replied, acting as if he was offended by Blitz’s comment.

“But… how did you know exactly what he should have done while he ignored it? Dusk’s one of the most intelligent unicorns I know. Apart from Twilight Sparkle and the scientists working for Celestia in those isolated laboratories, I don’t know of anypony that’s more brilliant than he is,” Blitz remarked.

“I’m kind of a genius myself. You know, sharing your soul with one of Celestia’s court wizards has its perks but it’s often more trouble than it’s worth.”

“Can you be more clear there? I think I missed a point,” Raine said, confusion in her eyes.

“To begin with, my reintegration to the hive was harder than it should have been simply because I had a different appearance and I got all this knowledge bottled up in my head but with no use for it. Some of the things I got when our souls merged are useless for lack of better words. More than half of what I know has any use in normal situations,” Origin explained.

“That still doesn’t explain why you knew those things just like that. This air compression spell, or whatever it’s called, was something Dusk seemed to have never heard of before.”

“I’m sure he knew about it. Then again, teachers at the academy normally teach you about one usage of a spell. From what I read from his equations, he only applied the part that cancelled his own weight. In other words, he made himself as light as the air around him so it makes it impossible for him to stay balanced while using the spell.

“It’s not a complicated spell when you know all of its uses, like the one I told you about,” Origin explained to the two ponies. “But you do have a point; Dusk is a very intelligent unicorn but he is more of a strategist than he is a warrior. If anything, he’s a preacher of science.”

“So what’s going to happen to you now? What has the queen ordered you to do.?” Raine enquired, a little disappointed that their paths have to be cut short again.

“Well, for the moment, we’re going to go back to our original hive to avoid more conflicts with those griffons. Our losses were great but thanks to you, we were able to survive the attack. The queen is thankful to you but don’t be mistaken, you’ll have no favors from her.

“In any case, I have to get going. I hope our paths will meet again someday, my friends.”

Before he could make another move, Raine had nearly jumped on him, closing in for a hug and told him that she would miss him. Origin told her that he would miss her as well but he also said that he had faith they would meet again. He finally left, saying that the hive had already started moving back to the old hive and that he would soon need to follow the queen there.

Raine only watched as the changeling she loved got out of her life once more.

“Origin…” she spoke softly, a lone tear rolling on her cheek.

~~ End of Chapter Eight ~~

The City in the Clouds

The Eclipsed

Chapter Nine: City in the Clouds

Written by Raine Moon

Rainbow Blitz looked at Dusk Shine, an interrogative look on his face. “So, we’re all ready to go?”

The unicorn nodded and levitated a few documents in his saddle bags. He then strapped them with care because of what they were supposed to do in a few hours. They had talked over it in their room and they had come to the conclusion that they would head for Cloudsdale to check if Blitz’s family was okay. It was later explained that it had been lurking in the Pegasus’ mind for a while.

Dusk had spent half a week working on a spell that would allow for him and Spike to safely walk on clouds just like a Pegasus would. Unknown to the unicorn was the fact that Origin had helped him find a solution to his headache. But since Dusk disliked Origin and that the changeling wasn’t interesting in glory or simple thanks, he had asked that no one tell the unicorn that he was directly involved in his success but knowing his mind, Origin was sure he had figured out that his intervention in the ponies’ room was not fake. Nothing really passed through that unicorn anyway.

“Should be,” Dusk answered, double-checking his saddle bags to verify he had indeed brought everything he needed. “I brought everything I need and I checked four times already. I’m sure I’m ready to depart.

“What about you two?”

“Geez, talk about being obsessive-compulsive!” Spike let out, a big grin on his face. “You’re as worse as Twilight, Dusk!”

“Well, that’s because we were old friends. After all, we attended the academy at around the same age. Funny how everypony around me calls me a genius when I used to look up to her back then. She was the perfect student all the students wanted to best, myself included. That never happened sadly. She was always one step ahead, having a cutie mark that represented the whole of magic. According to my cutie mark, I am a strategist,” Dusk told the group as he contemplated his cutie mark, which was a chess board with some pieces on it. All the while Blitz acted as if he had been bored to death by the unicorn’s tale. “Oh and by the way, don’t think I haven’t seen you. Besides, you have nothing to complain about since you used to bore me like that when you got out of the guards.”

That led to a small wave of laughter from the group while Dusk and Blitz bumped their hooves and laughed some more. After things settled down a bit in the group, they all agreed on the fact that they would need to get a press on if they wanted to reach Cloudsdale within three days. That was the shortest time they’d reach the city according to Dusk Shine’s estimations.

After the aquamarine unicorn had finished making sure he had everything he needed, much to his three companions’ delight, they finally set out to make their way to Cloudsdale, the famous city responsible for the weather control. It wasn’t so famous for Rainbow Blitz because he had spent his entire foalhood there.

Raine was quite curious about Cloudsdale. Since she basically knew nothing about the outside world, she was thrilled to see other cities and things in Equestria. Plus, her roaming had allowed her to meet with her love interest again, although they had to part ways again. Nevertheless, visiting the city of Cloudsdale was certainly something Raine Moon was looking forward to.

Conscious that there would probably be no trains to bring them to towns or villages near Cloudsdale other than Canterlot, they decided to make most of their travels on foot. It would take a little bit longer but it was the only other way they had of reaching the city since Dusk Shine was not a Pegasus.

They were about to leave the town of Las Pegasus when they heard a suspicious sound coming from behind them. Rainbow Blitz was the first one to turn around and saw somepony he didn’t think he’d see again.

“What are you doing here? I thought you were supposed to return to your hive, Origin,” said the white Pegasus with a harsh and venomous tone.

“Calm down, Blitz. I have not come to stir up trouble and besides, is that a way to talk to Chrysalis’ ambassador?” the changeling replied, a wry smile on his face as he looked at Rainbow Blitz in the eyes.

“Ugh! Why you little…!”

“Hold on, Blitz,” Dusk Shine intervened, stepping in front of his Pegasus friend. “You said you were Chrysalis’ ambassador, correct?” Origin nodded at the question. “And what does that role imply? I suppose you didn’t come here just so you could boast about your new title.”

“You’re good, Dusk Shine, you’re good. It is true I did not come here for nothing, however I can’t say I’m here of my own free will, not completely at least. I was tasked by Queen Chrysalis to come in contact with Princesses Celestia and Luna to open discussions about a possible sanctuary for our hive in Equestria,” Origin explained.

“So, Chrysalis decided to listen to my idea?” Dusk Shine asked in surprise. “Darn, that must have hurt her pride a lot to do that!”

“It wasn’t a question of pride this time, actually. She may be a prideful leader but she is also able to listen to reason and common sense. We had to hide in the White Tail Woods after the griffons kicked us out of Gryffonia and now we’re back to our starting point. The only thing Chrysalis refuses to agree on, and that is something I actually propose, is for changelings of our hive to be annexed in Equestria; be citizens of Equestria.”

“But… wouldn’t that be an opportunity for Chrysalis to order the changelings to feed as much as they can before disappearing again to Celestia knows where?” Rainbow Blitz asked.

“That would be the case, yes. The only solution to this would be the abolition of the hive mind. In truth, is it more of a plague than anything else.”

“Are you saying Chrysalis is like a tyrant?” Raine Moon asked the changeling, puzzled by what he was trying to explain through veiled hints.

“A tyrant? Maybe but she is more of a dictator. She’s the one that orders everything. She is the law. She is the leader and she has all the power that can be held in the hive. Being cut from the hive mind has allowed me to see that free will is incredible and that with it, you answer to yourself only. The hive needs to be shown this. They need to be free to choose what they want to do with their lives.”

“But you’re all alone and a single changeling can’t change an entire population.” Dusk Shine was starting to see where the changeling was heading with that.

“Yes, that’s pretty much it. But I think I will back stab Chrysalis. If Celestia and Luna agree to let changelings become citizens of Equestria, it will be at the condition that Chrysalis relinquishes her hold over the hive mind and let changelings decide what they want to do. Equestria is a constitutional diarchy after all.”

“And are you sure there aren’t going to be any repercussions if you do that to your queen?” the unicorn asked.

“Maybe, maybe not. After all, if our changeling hive is annexed into Equestria, the death penalty will disappear along with Chrysalis’ rule over the hive. Even if she is really mad and furious about what I did, there won’t be anything she’ll be able to do against me. The laws will protect me.” Origin seemed rather confident in that, if not a bit too sure of himself, with his tone and overly confident attitude.

They left that subject at that, not wanting to talk about it anymore and even Dusk decided to stay out of it at that point. They only looked at each other, not saying anything. They just stared at each other for a few minutes without saying anything. It was finally Rainbow Blitz that broke the silence when he asked, “So, is there a specific reason why you’re here today, Origin? I’m sure you didn’t come all the way out here just to say goodbye.”

“Right you are, Blitz!” The changeling nodded, green flames engulfing him for a few seconds. They quickly dissipated, leaving behind a white unicorn with a mane and tail that had colors resembling a flame. “I am here on orders to accompany you as you will probably go back to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna at some point. You could say Queen Chrysalis is using you to get what she wants but I’m seeing this as a new way to spend more time with the mare I love.”

“Blegh, talk about being cheesy.” Spike let out, sticking his tongue out in disgust at the scene happening right in front of him.

That triggered another moment of laughter within the group but it was one that died quite quickly. It was Blitz that told the changeling about their intentions to go to Cloudsdale. Origin didn’t seem against the idea although he did ask if it was really necessary. Dusk Shine replied by saying that it may be a bit selfish but if it eased the Pegasus’ mind, it would be for the best.

After having agreed on the fact the Rainbow Blitz would be more at ease if he knew his family was safe, the now reunited group set out in the direction of Cloudsdale on hooves. Like it had been discussed before, they had opted to travel on hooves because it would be more than obvious that no other means of transport would be available at the time.

Right before departing, Origin looked behind him and admired Las Pegasus once more before saying, “Well, this is good bye again. This is going to be a long journey…” With that, he turned his back to the city and went to join the group that was already leaving with a short distance ahead of him.

The five travellers stopped on their second night of travelling, setting a campfire in their campsite. It had been another long and harsh day for them. Rainbow Blitz and Raine Moon had to land and travel on foot because the wind was so strong it simply threw them around. They had to force their wings close and brave the winds like Origin and Dusk Shine did. To a certain extent, the aquamarine unicorn had to use his magic to prevent Spike from being blown away by the wind.

They were glad that the wind died down when they stopped because then Dusk or Origin would have had to create a barrier to stop the wind. However, barrier magic was not one of Dusk Shine’s forte and Origin was more interested in war magic and anything related to the banned magical arts.

“Is Cloudsdale that far way now?” Spike asked the others, his boredom showing on his face.

“We still have a few hours to walk if the weather is on our side. If not, we may just have to add another day. Let’s hope nothing happens, though,” Dusk Shine replied, explaining the possible things that could happen.

“I dunno what’s going on but it looks like the weather is out of control.” Rainbow Blitz looked kind of concerned about that. “There is no way the weather ponies would allow such a storm to roam free throughout Equestria.”

“I don’t wanna worry you, Blitz, but I think there may be something wrong in Cloudsdale after all. Like you said, that storm was too much of an anomaly to go unnoticed by the various weather teams.” It was Origin that had just entered the conversation even though it did not help Blitz’s worry die down. If anything, it stressed him even more.

“Thanks, you’re really helping, Origin,” Rainbow Blitz said sarcastically.

“Anytime, Blitz.” His broad smile betrayed his serious tone. Eventually, Blitz just let it drop after realizing that Origin was just messing around with him, even though it showed that he did not disregard the Pegasus’ worries.

“Well, she sure hit the hay quickly,” Spike commented after he heard Raine Moon snore.

“She’s tired, Spike. We all are so why don’t we just do like her and get to sleep already,” Dusk Shine told the dragon and then looked at everypony else in the group.

They all got his message when their eyes met and soon enough, they all went to sleep. The only ones still awake after that were Origin and Dusk Shine. They looked at each other for a while, not uttering a single word. In Dusk’s mind, he kept thinking that he should still be wary of Origin. Something deep inside his mind told him that there was more to the changeling the he let on.

As for Origin, he was rather feeling uncomfortable with the way Dusk Shine kept looking at him and the only reason he looked back at the unicorn was because he thought that the aquamarine unicorn would tell him something but it never came. He just kept looking his way without any pause. Ultimately, Origin stopped looking at Dusk and then went to sleep right after. He didn’t want to spark any kind of conflict at that point. Still, even after he had closed his eyes, he continued to feel it; unrest, distrust, anger, doubt. Oh how the changeling wished he could just shut his sensors off and on just like that to avoid that.

When the unicorn saw that Origin had gone to sleep, he made a little book, a quill and a bottle of ink appear out of nowhere. He opened the book and flipped the pages to an empty one and once there, he dipped his quill into the bottle of ink. After that, he was ready to write!

Journal Entry #427

Over the two last days, Origin rejoined our group on orders from Queen Chrysalis to meet with Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. I do not trust him fully… Not after he betrayed us the way he did in Las Pegasus. Ergo, I’m still very cautious around him. I know he claimed he’s being wary of Queen Chrysalis himself and that our trip would allow him to hang out with Raine even more and I noticed that since then, her mood has been much better than before. She’s less aggressive than she was last week.

I shall keep this under close watch because I do not trust Origin. I’ll discuss of my findings in my next entry.

Lighting his horn again, he made his journal disappear in a sudden burst of magic and also went to sleep. That night… he had the same nightmare he had before. He saw that Twilight rose from the dead and decimated everything in her path, including Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. His dream even went as far as to see Twilight stand over the princesses’ dead bodies.

His eyes opened suddenly and he felt like he was about to have a heart attack. His breath was fast-paced and he was sweating from everywhere. He looked around and saw that all the others were sleeping soundly, except for one spot that was empty: Origin’s. Worried and even nearly in a state of panic, he considered waking everypony but before long, he realized he was acting on assumptions only.

“I wouldn’t start such a ruckus, friend,” Origin whispered in Dusk Shine’s ear, making the unicorn slightly jump in surprise.

He took a few steps back as he glared at the changeling in front of him. He didn’t know how he had managed to get behind him like that but it still creeped him out a lot. Well, it creeped him a bit less since he was sort of used to Origin sneaking behind him all the time but he couldn’t really say he was very comfortable with it at that point.

“Can’t sleep, eh?” the changeling asked.

Dusk Shine nodded. “Yeah, I’ve had one of those other nightmares in which I’d see Twilight, I suppose you don’t know who Twilight Sparkle is though, destroy Canterlot and even kill the princesses. I just can’t picture her doing those kinds of things willingly.”

“I do know of her by name because she was Princess Celestia’s private student before I became a changeling but I have never actually met her. In any case, I can’t sleep either, mostly because I felt your unrest, your fear and your anxiety. Don’t ask how,” Origin grinned, glancing at the camp for a brief moment, “I’m a changeling, remember?”

“I’ve known her since I was a colt. We had both been taken in by Princess Celestia, although she was older than I was when my parents sent me to pass my exam to get in Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns,” the unicorn said, smiling as nostalgia hit him with full force. “She was always better than me. She was the one I tried to surpass. It was one of my drives, along with learning all I could from Celestia.”

“Something else happened later on, right? I’m feeling guilt coming from you. Whatever happened you’re sti-”

“Five years ago…” Dusk Shine replied, interrupting the changeling.

“What happened five years ago?”

“Five years ago, I got in a large conflict within the school. Some noble pompous foals were picking on one of my friends there and I was just unable to stand by and let it happen. I stood up for my friend and those nobles attacked me because I ruined their fun. I fought back as much as I could without harming them until…” The unicorn realized he was a hard time saying the end of that sentence, as if something was stopping him from doing so. He tried to say it in another fashion but he was still unable to say it.

“Dusk, what happened? I’m feeling a lot of anger and hate coming from you and those don’t usually radiate from you unless it’s important and frustrating, like what happened in Las Pegasus, or any situations related with Nightmare Moon,” explained Origin, now concerned for Dusk Shine. The unicorn did not usually act like that.

“I… I… lost control!” He was on the verge of tears, his voice was shaking and his body trembled a lot. “While trying to defend my friend,” he spoke weakly as he snivelled, “I lost control of my magic… and… and-”

“There, there, Dusk,” Origin said softly, hugging the unicorn. “Let it out, just let it out.”

At that point, no words were spoken anymore. There was just Dusk crying silently on Origin’s shoulder while the changeling tried to comfort the unicorn. It lasted for a good part of the night and at the end, Dusk Shine finally dried off the tears in his eyes and thanked Origin for what he did for him, even if it felt somehow awkward to say that.

“Now, “Origin began, “do you think you’re able to tell me what exactly happened five years ago when you lost control or are you still too shaken to do so?”

“I… think I’ll be able to. Just let me… recollect myself a bit,” Dusk Shine answered, still sniffing a bit.

A few moments passed by in silence as Dusk Shine calmed himself. He took a deep breath, opened his eyes and said, “After I lost control of my magic, I unleashed a powerful spell that gravely harmed my friend and those pompous nobles. Ultimately, I was thrown out of the school and sent back home in Ponyville to my parents. However, Princess Celestia asked me to meet her in Canterlot to discuss a way to control my magic. It hadn’t been the first time something like that happened and the princess wanted to help me control it and that’s where this comes in.”

He lit his horn and grabbed his amulet in his magic, lifting it so Origin could look at it thoroughly. The changeling looked at it and once he was done, he told Dusk he was impressed by the amulet he had. It was by no means the work of an amateur.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Your amulet has several runes crafted onto it and various sealing spells made to hold and normalize unstable magic. Whoever the princess hired to do the job, that pony knew what to do,” Origin replied.

“Actually, it was the princess that enchanted it.”

“Oh, well that makes sense. Even I don’t know some of the spells applied to this.”

“In any case, I think we should try to get a shuteye before the sun rises. We still have a rough day ahead of us tomorrow,” Dusk Shine proposed.

“Agreed. I really need my sleep, else I’m gonna have to stay awake by borrowing Raine’s love more than I already do.” He laughed as he saw the unicorn’s expression upon hearing what he said. “Oh, don’t worry. The amount I take from her is minimal. It’s not enough to really affect her physically and mentally.”

The group woke up the next morning and a night of rest had done nothing but good on them, except for Dusk Shine and Origin. Both of them looked like the walking dead. Of course, their short night was also to blame for their state. That hadn’t stopped them from following the group, though.

The day wasn’t too rough as the winds were not strong and they weren’t blowing in their faces directly. However, Celestia’s sun had done a good job at blinding them for most of the day. Rainbow Blitz and Raine Moon were scouting ahead for anything while Dusk Shine, Spike and Origin walked on ground and tried to stay awake while doing so.

They eventually stopped around noon to rest a bit and eat. The food issue wasn’t hard to fix. They just did what they did the previous days, Dusk was the one that summoned what they would eat and it was no different than the other days; daisy sandwiches. It was one of Dusk Shine’s favorite meals and he was kind of trying to force it on them, which failed. As for Origin, he was just content with having something material to eat.

As he had said when they were on their way to Las Pegasus, he didn’t mind eating normal food and he could actually digest it too contrary to what books on changelings found in Canterlot indicated. Anyway, Origin just nibbled on the sandwich while the others just ate normally.

“So, what happened between you two last night?” Raine Moon asked both Dusk Shine and Origin, provoking a certain awkward feeling.

“Whatever are you talking about, Raine?” Dusk Shine asked, shocked by the Pegasus’ question.

“I couldn’t sleep last night and I heard you and Origin talk to each other. I heard what happened.” She was neither accusing nor patronizing. Her eyes indicated that she just wanted to understand.

“I guess… I just wanted that off my chest when I talked with Origin. I had that terrible nightmare about Twilight Sparkle and I just don’t know what I would do if Nightmare Moon brought her back like she did with Rarity and Applejack,” Dusk Shine admitted.

“Okay, this is enough. Let’s stay away from anything concerning Twilight Sparkle. It usually makes Dusk emotional or nostalgic and right now, we need him in a rather good psychological state,” Rainbow Blitz intervened, stopping any further conversation from spawning. “Besides, we’re not far away from Cloudsdale now.”

When asked by Spike how he knew, Blitz just lifted a hoof and pointed ahead of him where there was a large city made out of clouds. There was a moment of silence but it was shortly replaced by a witty reply from Spike that caused some laughter. Once they were done eating, they began to head for the city of clouds.

“Blitz, where’s all this wind coming from?” Raine Moon asked, trying to stay stable even if she was trying to gain altitude while carrying Dusk Shine. The extra weight she had to carry around made it even harder for her to move around.

“I don’t know! It’s really strange that the winds started to rise the moment we start to fly towards Cloudsdale!”

“Any ideas on what to do?” Origin asked in a shout. He was trying his best to stay balanced through the gusts but it was hard at that point especially since he had never been a very strong flier, preferring the ground over the sky.

“For now, let’s try to stay as close to each other as possible!” Blitz proposed; an idea that quickly received everypony’s agreement. “It’s going to be harder for us to get thrown around by the wind if we’re in a formation.”

“I would have never thought your experiences as a guard would come in handy in situations like this, Blitz. Usually, they only come in handy the moment they touch the laws or battles whatsoever but this? Well, that’s a first,” Dusk Shine commented on his friend’s leadership.

“Thanks! I don’t know what’s best; your twisted sense of humor or your complete lack of faith in my abilities.” Rainbow Blitz used a tone filled with sarcasm to counter Dusk’s slightly arrogant remark, even if it had been done as a joke.

“Come now; learn to take a joke, Blitz.”

“Umm… Dusk… I think Blitz is busy enough trying to stay balanced and making sure we’re all okay,” Raine Moon stated, killing Dusk’s fun at the same time.

“Seriously, you guys are way too serious.”

“And that’s coming from the unicorn that spends almost all of his time testing spells, reading books or conducting an experiment for the Princesses. I swear, one day we’re gonna need you to get you tipsy so you can learn what it means to relax.”

“No thanks, Blitz. I like myself better when I’m not drunk, not that I’ve ever gotten drunk before anyway,” Dusk replied.

“Oh come on! One mug’s not gonna do any harm. Come to think of it, I’m pretty sure my parents always kept a barrel of hard cider in the house. What do you say we open it and enjoy ourselves tonight?” the Pegasus asked, amusement overly noticeable in his speech pattern.

“I’m not sure. I mean, I’ve never drank to the point of getting intoxicated before.” She looked down and noticed that Dusk Shine was looking at her with a certain frown on his face as if he was surprised to hear Raine say that. “What?! Don’t look at me like that! You’d be surprised how far you’d go to keep yourself alive.”

“So, basically, you’ve stolen alcohol before under the excuse that you needed to keep yourself alive?” Dusk Shine inquired. He was now very interested in the dark blue Pegasus’ story.

“Ugh, can we have this conversation elsewhere? Because if you keep pestering me like that, I may or may not drop you accidentally!” Raine Moon snapped, causing silence to fall down on the unicorn. “Thank you. Now, I guess we still have to reach Cloudsdale so let’s just do this right now.”

Origin lowered himself to Dusk Shine’s ear level and whispered, “Damn, you just got schooled hard, mate. Y’know, books aren’t goin’ to tell you how to deal with mares. That’s something you learn with time and experience.”

Dusk glared at the changeling that was flying next to him. “And I suppose you are any better at this than I am?”

“Fair point.”

“Hey, the winds died down,” Raine stated, her voice was a mix of surprise and happiness.

“That’s because we’re at the same altitude as Cloudsdale, Raine,” Rainbow Blitz told her matter-of-factly.

“What does that have to do with the winds dying down?” The dark blue Pegasus asked, even more confused than before.

“Well, since Cloudsdale usually creates the weather for all of Equestria and acts as the headquarters of the various weather teams throughout the kingdom, the founders of the town judged that it would be safer if Cloudsdale was located at a certain height to avoid being caught up in the storms it creates. On top of that, there is a magical generator that protects the town against storms should something go amiss so that’s why the winds died down; we’re above the storm now,” explained the white Pegasus.

Raine Moon stared at Rainbow Blitz, deadpanned. Since when was the Pegasus such a scholar? Then she remembered that Cloudsdale was where he was born and raised so of course he had to know the history behind it. She let out a short “ooooh” and then snapped back to reality when Dusk told her that the rest of the group had started to move towards the city of clouds. “Right! Sorry,” she said sheepishly.

It didn’t take her long to catch up to the others as they had intentionally slowed down. Raine easily spotted Spike enveloped in a green glow. She knew that Origin had taken him from Blitz when the poor dragon lost consciousness from all the fear he had experienced all at once. She didn’t know what kind of spell the changeling used, though. She would have to ask him what the spell was.

“Strange! There aren’t any ponies in the streets,” Rainbow Blitz said, somehow disappointed of the statement.

“Maybe they’ve hidden inside,” Dusk Shine said, not wanting to bring up the possibility of Nightmare Moon having her way with the town.

Rainbow Blitz nodded and then prompted the group to land on the clouds. Dusk asked Raine to wait a bit longer while he cast his spell to walk on clouds. The mare felt the unicorn’s magic swarm around as Dusk collected the magic he needed. Raine did not possess magic anymore but she still knew how to recognize and feel it.

When he was done, Dusk Shine told Raine that he was ready. The dark blue Pegasus began to lower Dusk down on the clouds so he wouldn’t fall down through the clouds and plummet to the ground. She was overly relieved when she saw that he was standing on the cloud just like any other Pegasus would. She congratulated him on his excellent manipulation of magic but he just shrugged and moved on, catching up to Rainbow Blitz.

A snarl came from Raine but there was nopony around to hear it. Letting go of some of her anger at the unicorn’s indifference, she moved on ahead to try to catch up with the rest of the group. She followed them through several streets and finally saw them enter a house, which was quite really a regular house. It wasn’t fancy or anything; just a regular old house.

“Mom? Dad? Are you there,” Rainbow Blitz asked the moment he opened the door.

No response…

Panic immediately filled the Pegasus’ mind and soon enough, he began to search the house thoroughly. The other ponies heard his hooves step as he ran from room to room, trying to find his parents. Well, that was if they were in there to begin with. Finally, after fifteen minutes, Blitz came down to the first floor with an empty stare, repeating the same thing over and over again.

“No… This isn’t happening. This isn’t… happening.” He repeated that over and over again.

“Don’t worry, Blitz. I’m sure they just moved elsewhere. Heck, maybe they’re in Ponyville right now, trying to find you.”

“But… what if they aren’t there? What if Nightmare Moon got to them like she did with Dashie?” he asked, eyes filled with panic. “I don’t want to be alone!”

“Rainbow Blitz!” Raine Moon exclaimed suddenly!

“What do you want? Still want to see me in more pain? Do you enjoy it; to see me mourn my family? I’ll probably never see them again and you’re just st-” Blitz never finished that sentence. Instead, he received a hoof on his right cheek as Raine slapped him as hard as she could.

“Don’t you dare!” she hissed. “Don’t you dare say those things about me! You know nothing about me! I would never take pleasure in seeing another suffer—I’m not my mother—and I would never do that to a friend.

“Besides, you know nothing about being alone and you’ll never be alone. You still have me, Dusk, Origin—even if you two aren’t on the best possible terms—and all your friends in Ponyville. You know yourself you will never be alone as long as you have those. I know it hurts but you mustn’t let this pain cloud your vision. You’re my friend and I’m loyal to my friends, even if you’re the only friends I’ve had in a thousand years.”

Raine Moon had expected Blitz to retaliate to the hit she had given him, she found herself in a tight embrace. The white stallion was sobbing a bit and he didn’t seem to want to let go of the mare. At first, she was kind of happy to accept his hug but as time passed, she began to feel uncomfortable. As much as her social skills had begun to improve, she was still uncomfortable with other ponies, especially stallions, being in her private space and all. After a few minutes, she really wanted to break away but Rainbow Blitz was hanging onto her like a scared foal.

“Dusk?” She looked at the unicorn and her voice sounded worried, and slightly annoyed. “Can you perhaps get him off me? I think he just had a nervous breakdown.”

“Aww, I think he likes you now. So, what are you two waiting for to kiss each other,” Dusk said teasingly before Raine shot him a glare that would have made a manticore tame,” and I’m going to use my magic to get him off of you.” He let out a nervous laugh while he lit his horn.

With his magic, Dusk Shine forced the white Pegasus’ legs open to allow Raine to get away from his embrace while he took the Pegasus upstairs and placed him on a bed for him to rest on, despite him being very against it. Raine Moon, Origin and the now-awakened Spike heard Rainbow Blitz protest, with incomprehensible words.

The aquamarine unicorn came back down a few minutes later and he seemed drained. Raine asked him what had happened but he didn’t answer. He just headed to the main room of the house, the living room. Spike, Origin and Raine Moon followed him there.

“He’s sound asleep right now. I had to use a sleep spell on him and let’s just say it took a toll on me. Makes me miss all the loose energy in the battle of Las Pegasus where I could just absorb all that energy over and over again.”

“Did you really do that when you fought in Las Pegasus?” Origin asked the unicorn, a tiny bit of accusation in his voice.

“Yes... What are you getting at?”

“That’s not your greatest idea ever, Dusk Shine, and even you should know it. There is a line a unicorn has to respect when it comes down to absorbing magic otherwise your mind will start to shatter until one day, you lose your sanity. You should know better than to do this...”

“Can we not get into another fight? I think we’ve had enough for today,” Raine Moon said before things could get worse.

“I have nothing against that idea but first get Origin to stop accusing me and taking me for a fool. I knew the risks and I chose to take them because I had to fight for my life as well,” Dusk Shine said, glaring at Origin. “Oh wait, that’s right. You’re saying that because you’re not a unicorn anymore and you can just feed off emotions endlessly without risking your sanity!”

“Dusk!” Raine let out, completely appalled by what the unicorn had just said.

“Oh excuse me, mister I-know-everything-about-changelings-and-their-magical-limitations. I thought Celestia had tasked you with studying changelings and yet you know so little about us. We can’t go around consuming everything to get majorly overpowered. For example, consuming too much love at once may make a changeling love-drunk or if you consume too many negative emotions at once, a changeling may become berserk. Guess that shows how ignorant you really are!” Origin hissed back, his eyes glowing with an green so intense it made Raine think back at what he did to Blitz when they met with Queen Chrysalis.

“Origin!”

“I’m sorry I’m not perfect like you, mister I-was-too-pathetic-to-even-defeat-a-chimera. You died because of a chimera and your last trump card was to merge your soul with a changeling and turn traitor on Equestria to go dilly-dally with your hive. Real ingenious, smartass!”

“Dusk!?”

“What about you? Your magic’s so impotent that you can’t even control it through your own means. You needed your precious little princess to invent a way for you to control your magic. You wanna talk about being pathetic? Begin by controlling what magic you have because right now, if you don’t have that amulet, you can’t protect anything anything. You’re a hazard to yourself and to others around you!”

“Both of you shut up!” Raine was now standing between the two ponies and she glared daggers at the two of them in turn. “I’ve put up with your silly arguments long enough for now! If you two won’t grow up, then don’t talk to each other or to me for that matter!”

And with that, Raine Moon left the house and stormed off to one of the edges of the town and she ended up staring at the ground. Back in the house, discomfort reigned in the atmosphere. Dusk Shine was feeling a bit guilty but he was still attributing the fault to Origin because it was the changeling that started the whole argument.

The two ponies refused to look at each other and instead directed their gaze to the ground. As for Origin, he was remaining silent and preferred to look at the ground instead. He knew he was responsible but his pride just stepped in and he continued to argue needlessly. No, he was not without guilt and to top it all, he was the one that had begun the whole conflict t begin with.

“Look, I’m so-”

“You’re what? Sorry? Gee, that’s new coming from you!” Dusk barked again, a snarl on his face still.

“Okay, blame me if you want but I think Raine made it pretty clear that we should stop arguing and cease calling each other names and whatnot. I know I started the conflict but you’re no better because you fueled it.” Origin was now glaring straight into the unicorn’s eyes. “I’m going to use the same words Raine said! If you can’t grow up, then don’t bother trying to speak to me. You know, I thought you were different than this after last night but it seems I was mistaken. You’re stuck-up and nothing but a spoiled brat!”

Much like Raine Moon did a few minutes before, Origin stormed out of Blitz’s house and left Dusk Shine all alone as the only conscious pony in the house. Spike was caught between the two. He was near unconsciousness but his nausea kept him awake. The only thing he kept doing was moan with his clawed hands resting on his stomach.

Stupid! Stupid Origin! Always trying to sound smarter than me!

Just then, he looked over to his right and saw a few bottles of cider in a glass cupboard.

Heh, I guess I could try just a little bit. That way, Blitz won’t have to bug me about it anymore...

As soon as Origin left the house, he looked to his right and left, then took off and began looking around him until he finally spotted Raine Moon flying towards the edge of Cloudsdale to the east. “Raine, wait!”

She didn’t even look back and just continued to fly to wherever it was she wanted to go. Seeing this, Origin just continued to follow her. He was aware that she would probably try to shake him off so he didn’t try to chase her down, he just gave her the impression that he had given up trying to catch up to her.

In truth, he had only done that so he could pinpoint her more easily. It took a good deal of time but she finally stopped and landed in what seemed to be an isolated area in the east of Cloudsdale. He slowly began to make his way there and hoped he wouldn’t scare her away by going near Raine.

Once he was above the last place he saw Raine Moon before she landed, he noticed that she was nowhere to be found. Puzzled, he decided to land to have a closer look at the area but even then, he saw nothing still. He wasn’t panicking but he was wondering if Raine had flown away while he wasn’t looking.

The next seconds happened so fast for Origin that he hardly had time to realize what had happened. One moment, he was looking for Raine Moon and he was beginning to wonder if she hadn’t abandoned the group because she was sick of the arguing that happened continuously and the next, he was pinned to the ground with a hoof covering his mouth.

“What do you want?” Raine Moon asked bitterly, glaring daggers at the changeling.

“Peace!” He cried out in a muffled voice. The Pegasus removed her hoof from over Origin’s mouth and just continued to glare at him. “I just came here to apologize. I know I acted like an idiot earlier but I’m prideful when it comes down to what I am and who I am.”

“Mhmm... However, knowing you, I’m pretty sure this could very well be an attempt at sugarcoating me so I won’t stay mad at you.” The Pegasus’ voice was accusing, and still bitter.

“What?! No!” Origin protested. “My goal is to reconcile with you right now but I know better than anypony that I can’t force it on you. Well, actually, I could but I would need to use magic I don’t like using and besides, it just feels wrong to use that magic to begin with so yeah, I’m just here to apologize and hope you’ll forgive me in due times since I’m probably going to star—”

“Get to the point already, Origin! You’re just rambling on now!” Raine Moon snapped right after putting her hoof on Origin’s mouth.

The changeling move away and shot a short glare at the Pegasus in front of him and replied in an annoyed voice, “Could you stop doing that?! I don’t like it when you do that to me!”

“What I meant is that you gave yourself away at first when you said you were very prideful of who you are and what you are. Dusk said something else to you after I left, didn’t he?” The Pegasus inquired, her gaze demanded clear answers.

“He just shifted the blame on me entirely. I know I started the conflict but I also told him that he was no better since he just basically added fuel to the fire. But even then, he just continued to shift the blame on me so I just left the place and tried to find you and apologize for causing such drama."

The blue Pegasus looked at him with a skeptical look. Origin returned the gaze and they stared at each other in silence before Raine Moon broke the eye contact. Turning her head to look at the setting sun, she let out a sigh, something Origin failed to really identify because there were so many emotions emanating from the Pegasus.

After a few minutes of silence, Raine finally spoke and softly said, “Why do we have to do this, Origin?”

“Do what?” the changeling inquired, trying to find the hidden message behind the mare’s words.

“This! Everything... Why do we have to do this, to help in this conflict between my mother and the princesses? More importantly, what did I do to deserve being here right now? Even now, I’m sure she’s lurking somewhere near us, waiting for the perfect moment to strike and torment us even more,” Raine Moon cried out, her voice trembling.

“Dear, I’m pretty sure you never asked for this but let’s face the facts, you’re pretty much the only one outside of Princess Luna and Princess Celestia to really know what Nightmare Moon is capable of. You may have your differences with Spike but both of you are often the voice of reason in the group and you often solve or stop issues from growing out of control,” Origin explained in an attempt at cheering up the mare.

“Thanks, Origin, but I’m feeling tired of all of this. I feel like Nightmare Moon is plotting something to break our group apart so she can get rid of us afterwards with more ease.”

“Don’t worry too much. Ponies of all kind, even changelings, are bound to disagree. We all have our differences and everypony has a limit. You just reached yours today and it’s normal,” the changeling replied softly.

“Why are you so good at making sense, Origin?” She asked with a grin as she shifted her gaze towards him again. “In any case, it’s a beautiful sunset isn’t it?”

“Indeed it is,” Origin said as he moved closer to Raine. “Indeed it is.”

He nuzzled the mare and she returned the affection; however, it was done in a slightly different manner. Instead of a simple nuzzle, Raine Moon ended up kissing the changeling, closing her eyes. Origin was caught off guard at first but after a few seconds, he grew more relaxed and started to enjoy the kiss.

Unknown to the mare, Origin was cautiously feeding of the love she had for him at that moment. The reason he did so was because true love was intoxicating and the love that was emanating Raine Moon was indeed pure. If he had taken all of it without any restraint, it wouldn’t have taken a long time for the changeling to become love-drunk.

Raine Moon was the one that broke away from the kiss and just looked at the changeling in the eyes, and then whispered, “You may be an idiot, Origin, but you’re my idiot. I love you.”

Origin returned the kiss after she spoke those words and broke away shortly after before uttering, “I love you too, Raine Moon. Since the first day I met you.”

And with that, they both cuddled up to each other and enjoyed the sunset until it was replaced by the moon’s pale moonlight.

“I think we should head back now. The air’s getting cold and I don’t want to catch a cold because of carelessness, especially at the altitude we’re at,” Raine Moon stated.

“I don’t really feel it as I don’t really have skin like yours but I do think we ought to get back if we want a comfy place to stay for the night.”

“Great! Come on, I’ll race you!” Raine exclaimed as she shoved the changeling out of the way.

“Oh, it is on!” Origin mumbled to himself before taking off, quickly catching up to the Pegasus.

When Raine and Origin arrived in front of Blitz’s front door with Raine Moon as the winner of the race, they were surprised to hear some unusual sounds coming from inside the house. In a moment of fear, they both entered and saw that Dusk was wobbling from one side to another and that there were a few bottles of hard cider scattered all around the floor.

“Dusk?!” Raine Moon exclaimed, shocked to find the unicorn in such a state. “What happened in here?”

“I’m gonna tell you... what happened here,” replied the unicorn, hiccupping all the while. “Or rather... I’m just gonna tell... you about who is responsible for making me like this! And that somepony is standing next to you!”

“What’s gotten into you, Dusk?”

“He’s obviously drunk, Raine. Look at all those bottles of hard cider. If I had to guess, he drank them all,” Origin answered as he placed himself between Raine Moon and Dusk Shine. Oh dear... the hangover he’s going to have tomorrow morning.

“So what... if I’m drunk?!” Dusk Shine spat out as he tried to land a jab on the changeling. “I’m just ti-tired of you... Origin! You’re... always so... perfect, you’re always the smart... one!”

“So, now it gets down to jealousy?” inquired the changeling, dodging yet another jab while telling Raine to get upstairs until this would be sorted out. “I never thought you were that petty, Dusk Shine! Are those small details so important to you?!”

“Yes! Yes they are! I... am, or rather... was, Celestia’s student! I’m supposed to be... smarter than you, I’m supposed to be... the smart one in the group!”

“Yes, you were Celestia’s personal student alongside Twilight Sparkle but I was chosen as a court wizard because of my abilities, my knowledge and my judgement and advice. I was always reserved and that was why I usually answered objectively. Right now, you have none of them. You’re just mad because you fell from grace!”

“Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! I hate you! You’re just like... all those nobles in Canterlot; pampered and snobbish!” Dusk Shine hissed, throwing another jab at the changeling but this time he really hit his target. “Ha! How do you like that now, Origin?!”

Origin backed away and rubbed a hoof on his left cheek and checked if his fangs or jaw hadn’t been damaged in any ways. Once he was sure nothing was wrong, he glared at Dusk Shine and he was really resisting using more advanced magic but he very well knew that this wasn’t the right time to use it.

“Cease and desist, Dusk Shine! I don’t want to hurt you.” The changeling looked like he would have no problems upholding his warning.

“You? Hurt me? Y-you don’t have t-the guts to do it!” barked the unicorn.

“You’re drunk, yes, but you’re not so drunk you’re near an ethylic coma. However, your reflexes are slower so let’s see how you will respond to this!”

His eyes began to glow green and his horn lit up with his usual teal magical aura. He shot his magic towards the unicorn in front of him and immediately tried to break into Dusk Shine’s mind. Even if the unicorn was drunk, his mind barriers were still up and he defended himself well against the changeling’s attempt at invading his mind.

Eventually, Dusk Shine managed to push Origin out of his mind with his current mind barriers and extended his magic towards Origin as well in an attempt to incapacitate him so he would stop harassing him and to show him that he was below the unicorn. Origin could only grin! Come on, Dusk! Come get some!

Origin took it all in. He knew that, after having spent more than ten years serving as one of Celestia’s court wizards, Princess Celestia never used or encouraged the use of mind magic so Dusk Shine was only trying to imitate what Origin had just performed.

Ignoring the unicorn’s mental attack, Origin sent another one of his own even with Dusk still trying to invade his mind. The reason he did that was because mind magic, an art that was mastered by changeling, required a pony to drop his mental defenses to attack another pony. Of course, with enough training, one can keep his guard up and launch an attack at the same time but it’s not something rookies can do just like that. Even Origin had to lower his guard a bit so he could perform both at the same time and that left him more than vulnerable if another pony joined the fight, especially if that pony is experienced in mind magic.

In any case, Origin quickly broke into Dusk Shine’s mind and from there he just overflowed the unicorn’s mind. The result was a bit odd at first since Dusk seemed to feel nothing of it. In fact, it even gave him more magical energy. No, no, no! That was enough to incapacitate a royal guard and Celestia knows they have incredible resistance. Something then hit him like a wall. Of course! It’s the amulet. It allows him to process and harness overflowing magical energy in his body but even that has its limit... Let’s just hope I get him down quickly.

Determined, Origin began to muster all the emotions he had consumed and slowly began to turn them into magical energy. Turning emotions into magic was a long process. It didn’t take days or several hours but it was a process that required him to channel it through a special gland that would do the processing for the changeling. The time it took was the main downfall to that process so Origin would have to buy himself some time.

Slightly backing away from his attack, the changeling prodded his mind against Dusk Shine’s to trigger a reaction to get him on the defensive once more. He wanted it that way because then he would have enough magical energy to launch a full attack and take the unicorn out before he could harm himself or anypony else for that matter.

However, unlike he had planned, Dusk Shine took the opportunity he got with the excess magical energy he received from Origin’s first attack on his mind and attacked the changeling’s mind, hurling his mind against the changeling’s. Origin could feel it; he could feel the last of his barriers shattering under the unicorn’s mental assault. That did not stop the changeling from unleashing half the amount of magical energy he had planned to use on Dusk to completely shatter the unicorn’s mind barriers and overflow his body with magic.

Dusk was doing the same thing. He had just broken through the changeling’s mental barriers as well and he began to apply all of his magic inside Origin’s mind. The two of them overflowed the other’s mind at the same time, both muttering, “Gotcha!”

Then, everything went black for the two spell casters.

Worried when she stopped hearing the voices of Dusk Shine and Origin, Raine Moon went downstairs to check on those two. She saw that both of them on the ground, motionless. Raine rushed to Origin’s side to check if he still had vital signs and then she did the same with Dusk Shine.

After making sure both of them were still alive, she let out a sigh of relief and once she had made her mind, she began flapping her wings. Then, she grabbed Dusk Shine with her legs and brought the unicorn upstairs. Dusk wasn’t all that heavy for her and she easily flew him upstairs and put him on one of the guest’s beds, if that bed was one to begin with that is.

Origin, however, was another story. As the Pegasus tried to carry the changeling, she felt as if he weighed a ton. Oof, I never thought emotions could make you weigh so much! Raine thought while she tried to fly the changeling up the stairs. She almost dropped him but she strengthened her hold before she could.

Finally, she managed to lay the changeling on one of the beds without any kind of problems. Following that, she also dropped on a bed and quickly fell asleep.

I opened my eyes and I took notice of my surroundings. I noticed that I was in Cloudsdale and that, unlike what I had seen when we first arrived in the city, it was filled with various ponies. The city was brimming with life and it stroke me as strange as the city had been completely empty before.

Nevertheless, I began to explore the city, watching the various Pegasi walk and fly freely through the city. It was then that I realized why Cloudsdale was such a prosperous city. Everypony looked so kind and so helpful. The atmosphere alone made me feel a little better.

While I was walking through the city’s streets I saw a young cyan Pegasus fly through the sky at an incredible speed followed by a white Pegasus that seemed to be following her. It wasn’t long for me to realize that the white Pegasus was Rainbow Blitz so logically, the cyan Pegasus had to be Rainbow Dash but that was impossible... Rainbow Dash was older than that and I had seen her die right in front of my eyes. There was no possible way that this could have been Rainbow Dash.

I was deep in thought and I failed to notice Rainbow Dash coming straight at me and before I had any time to react, she had crashed into me. It knocked the wind out of me and we both crashed in a nearby wall. Soon after, Rainbow Blitz flew down and started to ground Rainbow Dash and then looked at me, asking me if I was alright.

I nodded and told him that it would take more than that to knock me out. Still, he began insisting that I follow him back to his home and I finally agreed even though I still felt like I was kind of imposing myself on the kindness he was showing me. In any case, I followed him and once in front of his home, I couldn’t help but feel a bit jealous of the luxury he lived in compared to the little cave I lived in for a thousand years.

Again, he asked me if I was alright, if my wings or any other limb whatsoever had been injured when Rainbow Dash crashed into me earlier. I told him that everything was fine. A few minutes, I heard voices coming from what seemed to be either the kitchen or the living room and I was met with two older ponies. Those were most probably Blitz and Dash’s parents, seeing as the mother was a white Pegasus with a rainbow colored mane and tail while the father was just a cyan Pegasus with a simple red mane and tail.

They asked who I was and Blitz was about to answer that before he realized that he had never asked for my name. I told his parents that my name was Raine Moon and that I was new in town. They asked their son why he had brought me into their home and he told them that it was when he and Rainbow Dash were chasing each other and at some point, Dash had crashed right into me.

“Goodness, are you alright dear?” Blitz’s mother asked, her face mortified.

“Yes, yes. Of course. I’m a tough mare, ma’am!”

“That’s nice and all but are you sure you’re not hurt in any way?” the father asked me.

“I’m fine, thank you sir. Your son already asked me all those questions,” I answered.

It was then that I saw the mother give Rainbow Dash a glare and she gave a sheepish in return. She grounded her for the rest of the day and to be completely honest, I kind of felt bad for her. I mean, she didn’t crash into me on purpose. Judging by the speed she was flying at, there weren’t any maneuvers she could have tried without inflicting more harm on herself. Even if it hurt, her crashing into me saved her a lot of trouble.

Afterwards, Blitz’s parents asked me if I had a place to stay for the night. I instantly told them that I had just arrived in town to visit because I had been told of Cloudsdale’s grandeur and that since then I had that growing desire to visit the town so they invited me to stay the night in their house. Of course, I wasn’t all that comfortable with this.

“I wouldn’t want to impose myself on you, Mr and Mrs Rainbow,” I told them, looking at my hooves all the while.

“Oh come now! We’re inviting you, for heaven’s sake. You shouldn’t feel that way to begin with.” Mrs Rainbow seemed quite solid.

I thought about my choices and since I probably had no places to go to for the night, and also considering Mrs Rainbow would probably never let me out of her house without spending the night there, so I accepted her offer even if I did feel quite uncomfortable with that choice.

The rest of the day went rather well. I visited the rest of Cloudsdale and eventually stumbled upon the stadium the Wonderbolts used for their shows and practices. I decided to go have a closer look around it and I realized how big it was then. I couldn’t really count the numbers that could be kept in there for shows and events but it was a lot.

“Whatcha doin’?” asked the iconic voice of Rainbow from behind me.

I swear I almost had a heart attack. My wings almost went yeep but I managed to get a hold of myself before my wings completely locked. I looked behind me and saw Rainbow Dash grinning madly and I could see she resisted the urge to burst into laughter. I gave her a quick glare but it only added to her amusement.

“You know, you’re kinda cute when you’re angry.”

“Haha, I’m so amused,” I sarcastically replied. “In any case, aren't you grounded, Rainbow Dash?”

“Yeah, but I know more than one way to escape my mom’s punishments. Besides, that’s not why I wanted to come here, Raine. I need to talk to you about something,” Rainbow Dash began but stopped midway. I looked at her and she just stared back at me.

“Go on, I’m listening, Rainbow Dash,” I told the filly.

“First, we should take this conversation elsewhere. Hey, what about that cloud over there?” She pointed at a cloud floating right above the stadium and quickly began to drag me there. I was curious as to why she wanted that conversation to remain a secret. “Okay, this should be fine right here.”

“You know, the more you drag this on, the more I get curious about what it is you want to tell me,” I teased her a bit, shoving her a bit with my right shoulder.

“It’s about my brother. Raine, I remember what you did for us back there. Even with all odds against you, you remained loyal to yourself and to those you cared about; those who truly cared for you for the first time. I know this may be a bit too much for a single mare to bear but please... look over my brother for me. He’s usually cool-headed but he can also be very reckless. Make sure he lives through this. Maybe defeating Nightmare Moon will make him stop grieving for me.”

“Rainbow... who or what are you?” I asked, scared a bit of what she had told me.

“I’m Rainbow Dash’s last strand of will. When I died at Nightmare Moon’s hooves, my soul shattered in several pieces that each went to some ponies. Those ponies were my family but Blitz... he’s still refusing to accept I’ve truly passed on. Deep down, he still wants to believe he can bring me back if he kills Nightmare Moon,” Rainbow Dash explained thoroughly.

I just stared silently at Rainbow Dash. The filly standing in front of me right now was just a representation of the real Rainbow Dash’s soul. I didn’t know how it had happened to begin with. Why was she in Blitz’s mind to begin with? Why did she ask me, of all ponies, to look over her brother? How did she enter my mind? Oh no...

I knew it! I was in another shared dream and soon, everything would just go wrong!

“So, do you think you can do it? Promise me you’ll look after my brother for me, Raine Moon!” This proud mare turned filly, Rainbow Dash, almost had a pleading voice. How could one resist to that and those eyes she had?

“I will. I’ll do my best, Rainbow Dash,” I answered, uncertain of what I was getting myself into.

“Aw yeah! That just officially made you twenty percent cooler!”

Just then, we both heard a laugh. Somepony was laughing at something and I recognized that laugh. It was imprinted in my brain. That laughter belonged to my mother and there was no mistaking it; she had found her way into my dreams or maybe this was Rainbow Blitz’s dream instead but that wasn’t important. I knew what she was after and that something was Rainbow Dash!

“Oh no! She found me!” Dash exclaimed suddenly before she looked at me with the biggest eyes I had ever seen in my life. “You’ll keep your promise, right?”

I nodded and she smiled. Then, an ominous force grabbed hold of her and she was dragged towards the ground. Even while she was being dragged away, she still stared at me and in her eyes was hope!

I knew that at that instant, there was no turning back from this promise I had just made.

Three words were heard in my dream and they resonated deep inside my own soul. I knew what it meant and it scared me because those were the same words that I heard when I had that shared dream with Sweetie Belle.

“Go to sleep!”

Finally, everything went black.

Raine Moon’s eyes shot open in an instant. Morning; she looked outside the window and noticed that it was morning. She was just about to submit to slumber but all of a sudden, she dragged herself out of it when she remembered the last part of her dream. Only one thing resonated deep in her mind: Nightmare Moon had found them yet again.

Her first idea was to wake everypony up but the thought of Dusk having a hangover and Origin still being out cold made her decision harder to make. Still, she decided to go wake Blitz and Origin up, even if she had to throw cold water at their faces. She began with Rainbow Blitz but he didn’t show any signs of waking up so she decided to take drastic measures.

She went downstairs and looked for a bucket or any sort of large recipient of water she could use to douse cold water on his head. She didn’t find a bucket unfortunately. She did find a jug in one of the shelves in the kitchen, though. She quickly filled it up with water using the kitchen sink; carefully making sure it wasn’t too heavy. The last thing she wanted was to drop it on the floor before she could use it on Blitz.

Raine Moon resisted the use of her wings so much when she made her way upstairs, partly because she knew that she would inevitably drop large amounts of water while flying upstairs. Finally, Raine went upstairs by foot and while it was a bit harder, and messier, it saved her a lot of unnecessary trouble.

The dark-blue Pegasus hurried to Rainbow Blitz’s room and once there, she raised the mug of water above the white Pegasus sleeping soundly in his bed and, without a moment’s hesitation, poured the entire content of the mug on Blitz’s head as she suppressed a grin. She, however, could not resist letting out a muffled snicker when the Pegasus stirred from his sleep in stupor.

Rainbow Blitz awoke in complete shock when something cold completely soaked his head. He looked right and left to see who the culprit was and once he saw Raine Moon standing in front of him with an empty mug that had once contained water, the pieces of the puzzle aligned themselves in his mind. What kind of mischief was she planning with Origin? That question roamed his mind but he figured he wouldn’t ask it anyway.

“Let me guess: Origin told you this would have been a funny idea?” asked the white Pegasus, a look on indifference and disapproval on his face.

“Actually, Origin’s knocked out and let’s just say I have some news that might... displease you...” Raine Moon replied. For some reasons unknown to Rainbow Blitz, Raine Moon was avoiding eye contact with his and every time he tried to initiate it, she would find a new way to counter him. That only served to pique Blitz’s curiosity and interest.

“What kind of news?” Blitz hesitantly asked, not exactly sure he wanted to know.

“Nightmare Moon’s found us.” Raine Moon’s answer had been flat and without emotions and that troubled Blitz a bit. Normally, the only notice of her mother’s name made her tremble in fear but now, she didn’t look all that afraid.

Still puzzled by how she knew that, Rainbow Blitz inquired, “But... how do you know that? How can you be sure that Nightmare Moon has indeed found us?”

“To be completely honest, ever since the incident with Rarity in Ponyville, I have certain dreams that I share with other ponies but in which I don’t exist. I’m just an intruder but I can still interact with it and last night, I was in your dreams, Blitz.

“I know that face, Rainbow Blitz,” Raine continued. “You doubt my words because it sounds unbelievable. I know I would if somepony else had told me that same thing but the fact remains that Nightmare Moon was present on the two times I had those dreams so that’s why I know she’s found us. Also, I’m so sorry, Blitz.”

“What do you mean when you say you’re sorry?” Rainbow Blitz as dread filled his whole being.

“There will be a battle today, “Raine Moon paused, collecting some courage to say the rest of what she had to say, “and it will be against your sister, Rainbow Dash.”

Raine Moon saw it clearly. She saw in Rainbow Blitz’s eyes that his resolve, his courage, his pride, everything that made the Pegasus who he was, crumble down when he heard that his sister would battle against them and that he would inevitably be forced to kill her. He wasn’t ready for that. He could not bring himself to even think of hurting Rainbow Dash. He shook his head and Raine saw tears starting to form just as they had the day before when he realized his parents weren’t there.

Before anything else happened, Raine Moon closed in for an embrace and she held him close to her, just like a mother would comfort her frightened foal. She told him that it would be okay and that if he couldn’t bring himself to fight her, she, along with Origin, would fight her and defeat her. That naturally brought up the question regarding Raine’s fighting abilities. From what Rainbow Blitz knew, she didn’t know the first thing about fighting or even killing.

While Raine would have wanted to cheer Blitz up a bit more, she had to go wake Origin as well. She knew it would be easier with the changeling because he wouldn’t be having a hangover but she was also aware that he would be harder to wake up than Rainbow Blitz.

First of all, she collected what she knew about the changeling based on his physical properties. She knew that he had a shell of chitin protecting his body from damages to a certain extent so it would it harder for the Pegasus to poke Origin until she woke him up. Okay, so I know about his shell of chitin and after that, I know that he’s… well, I know that he can… Raine Moon thought, still trying to figure out what she knew about Origin. Come to think of it, I don’t know all that much about Origin.

It was then that she had a sudden flashback that brought her back twenty years in the past when she had just met with Origin.

I sat on the cold ground while I was waiting for that strange creature that had recently stumbled in the cave I had called home for the last nine hundred years. I didn’t know what it was or if it had a set gender but upon examining it a bit, the possibility of it being male became greater and greater. In any case, the creature had stumbled in my cave a little while ago and had yet to awaken.

I’m not really good when it comes down to interacting with others, or whatever that creature was although it did resemble a pony. Another one of my personality issues was that I wasn’t really able to be mean or cruel to other ponies. I had found out later on with my life after I escaped from my mother’s clutches that I didn’t have it in me to hurt others.

I wanted to wake that creature but at the same time, each attempt I made at waking it up ended in me stopping myself because I felt bad about doing that to a creature I didn’t even know. I kept telling myself to muster some courage to wake it up but I was never able to do it. They say that we have to assume who we are in life and I was doing just that: I was assuming that I’m a big coward.

Of course, I had that little moment of clarity where I continuously put myself and told myself I was doing this for the creature and not for me, despite the fact that I wanted answers about the creature itself. In those five minutes, I built up a bit of confidence and took a deep breath and held it in.

“Wake up!” I shouted, completely emptying my lungs in the process. That had really hurt my throat, though.

“Gah!” The creature exclaimed in utter shock. It had nearly jumped to the rocky roof of the cavern we were in so much it was surprised by my sudden attempt at waking it up. On another point, the creature’s voice was clearly male. “What the hay was that for?! My ears are oversensitive, you know!”

I looked into his eyes. They had no irises or pupils. All I was looking at were blue eyes that were nearly glass-like. If they were anymore glass-like, I could see my reflection in those big, blue eyes. Apart from that, he had extremely thin wings on his back and a slightly curved horn on his forehead. Was he a creature my mother created to bring me back to her? If he was, I wouldn’t let myself be caught. I can’t go back to her!

And in turn, he stared at me as well. If he could, I’m certain he would be blushing at this moment. I didn’t mind him analyzing me the way he did because, to be completely frank, I had done the same to him just a few seconds earlier. From what I was seeing, he seemed almost captivated by my form and it showed in his eyes.

“Like what you’re seeing?” I asked tauntingly with a wry smile on my lips.

Oh, this was glorious! If he could blush through that shell of his, his face would be crimson red. The creature had staggered when I asked my question and I could only hold my laughter. Eventually, I could hold it no longer and a snicker escaped me.

The creature glared at me and snapped, “Who are you to ask me that?!”

“Give me your name and I’ll give you mine,” I replied, much to the creature’s discontent.

I noticed that the creature twitched a bit and began stammering. I didn’t know if he could sweat with that black shell of his but his eyes, even though there wasn’t much to see in them, seemed overly hesitant. It was as if he was looking for a name to give me so I would give him my name.

“Do you have a name?” I asked him in a slightly concerned tone..

“Of course! My name is Number 157.”

“But... a number’s not a name. It’s just a way to identify an individual in a mass.” I had actually no idea where that came from. It just came out of my mouth.

“But it’s my name. I was born and given the number 157 as my name for the rest of my life,” the creature argued.

“Let me ask you something else: what are you?” I inquired as I still didn’t know what he was.

“Oh, I’m a changeling. We’re a race of ponies with bug-like appearances that can change form at will. Watch!”

In an instant, green flames swallowed the changeling, as he called himself, and it worried me a bit. After all, flames don’t just appear out of nowhere around somepony. I tried asking if he was okay but I got no responses whatsoever. That worried me even more. I was about to call out for him again but before I could do it, the flames disappeared as if they had never been there to begin with and before me stood an exact replica of myself.

“Ta-dah!”

Even the voice was the same... This changeling stuff just creeped me out. It felt really disturbing to know another creature could take my form and impersonate me with such ease.

“So... you’re a shapeshifting bug-like pony that can assume any form he lays eyes upon?” I asked, hoping I was somehow wrong in my assumption.

“Yup, you got that one right!” Dang it! Now that’s really disturbing.

“Okay, so since you can take the form of anything you lay eyes upon and since I’ve found you just recently, how about I call you Origin? Since I just met you and since this could be the beginning of some sort of friendship between us.”

“Origin... Hmm, I like that name. Very well, you can call me Origin but in turn, you’ll have to tell me your name now, milady.”

“All right. My name is...

I’m probably going to regret doing this, Raine thought after she had managed to make a way to Origin’s side.

During that flashback, she had remembered how sensitive changeling ears were, despite the fact Origin got yelled at a lot during the last month or so. Even so, Raine told Rainbow Blitz to close the room’s door shut as she would probably make a lot of noise. The Pegasus collected her breath and held it in for a few seconds.

Then, she shouted, “Wake up, Origin!”

The green walls of the room felt like they were trembling after Raine Moon shouted and Origin’s eyes snapped open. The changeling jumped in the air so fast that he forgot to open his wings so he found himself falling down head first on the bed’s mattress, which was hard to a certain extent. Origin looked up and saw Raine Moon snickering while giving him a wry grinning.

“Enjoying yourself once more at my expense, milady?” Origin told Raine Moon with a humorous expression on his face.

“Who, me? Of course not! You know I’d never do such a thing, especially not the exact same thing in a nearly similar fashion.” Raine’s laughter filled the room and it was soon joined by Origin’s

“Of course you wouldn’t!” Origin said mockingly before his face became more serious once their laughter settled down. “Now, what is it that you need to tell me as I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t have done this if there were no problems? So, what is it?”

“Always straight to the point. We have one big problem right now,” Raine said, her face as concerned as when she had told Rainbow Blitz about her dire news. “Nightmare Moon has found us.”

“Oh... that might cause some issues with our quest right now but I wonder who will she use to fight against us this time,” Origin said with a lack of complete emotions whatsoever as he wondered about who Nightmare Moon would use.

“She’s going to use Rainbow Dash this time. I saw it in my dream since it seems my mother likes to follow me even in my dreams,” Raine Moon explained.

“So, now that we know who’s gonna attack us, how do we say we prepare for it?” Origin asked the Pegasus.

“Well, unless we can convince Blitz to raise a hoof against his own sister and come up with a spell to help Dusk recover from all the alcohol he’s consumed, I’d say we’re pretty much alone in this one,” Raine answered the changeling.

“Oh joy!” Origin replied as he rolled his eyes. “And how do you expect, as a Pegasus that knows nothing about war and fighting, to be of help in a battle we have no idea what our odds will be? I am versatile but I’m not invincible and I don’t think I’ll be able to take Rainbow Dash on all by myself, Raine.”

“Well... I mean... I can buy you time or distract Rainbow Dash or any other way I can help you. I can learn the ways of war, if it means I can help you!”

“You’re sweet and all but you’re too innocent to be tainted by the flames of war. You shouldn’t get yourself involved in something that’s beyond your current abilities,” Origin retorted. He had to deconstruct her arguments because Raine Moon was not meant for battle.

“We’re in a war, Origin. I’ve been involved in this war for the past month it’s lasted so far. I’ve changed, Origin. I’m bitterer than before, I have a shorter temper and I’ve looked at death on several occasions. This war is changing me, Origin, and I like this change! I can stand my ground as opposed to before and you can’t deny me those changes.” Raine’s gaze was fiercer than it had been in the last few weeks and Origin could only look at her, his mouth agape.

“That’s... the stupidest thing I’ve heard in the last few days. Just because you’ve been involved in a war doesn’t make you able to fight in that war. Civilians are involved in wars and yet they don’t fight. You’re not the type to take part in battles, Raine.”

“So, what are you going to do? Face Rainbow Dash alone? Let her kill us first before you get yourself involved; the facts are there, Origin. You can’t do this alone!” Raine told the changeling with anger in her voice.

“Let me get this clear: if you go out there unprepared as you are, you will not last long. Heck, you might even die if you do and I can’t guarantee your safety in that case. You mean the world to me, Raine and I wouldn’t want your death on my conscience,” Origin said calmly.

“You can’t stop me at this point, Origin, “Raine Moon replied, the same amount of anger still present in her voice. “I’m going to help you whether you want it or not!”

“You might die...” Origin muttered loud enough for Raine Moon to hear.

“And I don’t care. I want to help you and make you understand that you’re not alone in this.”

“My mind would be even more at peace if I knew you were in a safe place when Rainbow Dash attacks,” the changeling told the Pegasus.

“But we both know I won’t do that. I want to help you and I will help you.”

“Hey ponies! Guess who’s in town?!” a voice boomed from the outside.

“And here she is. Are you sure you still want to do this?” Origin asked Raine Moon.

The mare simply nodded as her sole answer.

“All right. Let’s do this. Just promise me you won’t do anything stupid.”

“I won’t.” Raine Moon gave him a warm smile and gently shoved him a bit. He knew she was trying to reassure him but it didn’t stop him from worrying anyway.

The duo slowly made their way out of the house, making as little noise as they could since they didn’t want to disturb the other too much even if Raine Moon knew that only Dusk Shine was still asleep, recovering from his hangover.

They slowly went down the stairs, cursing each time the wood creaked.

Finally, they crossed the door leading to the streets of Cloudsdale and almost instantly, Origin had summoned his green flames. In an instant, they had domed over him and they grew a bit in size before they vanished into the wind just as they had appeared.

Standing next to Raine Moon was not a changeling but instead a griffon. The blue mare gave him a glance and he returned it with his disturbing yellow eye. Raine Moon was a bit scared by that so she took a few steps to her left and continued to glance at him with a look that was almost accusing to the changeling’s understanding.

“What?” he asked, shocked by the fact that Raine was still looking at him like that. “Does my new form scare you that much or are you just that uneasy around griffons ever since Las Pegasus?”

“A bit of both, actually,” Raine Moon told him flatly.

“True, griffons did actually try to kill us both two weeks ago so I guess your fears are justified but in any case, we should get rea—” Raine had only seen a blur when something crashed into Origin and pinned him to the ground.

She turned around to see who or what it was and was surprised to see Rainbow Dash on top of Origin’s form. Sure enough, Raine Moon knew that Rainbow Dash was in the area but it was more the outfit that the cyan Pegasus had on her that surprised Raine.

She wore a grey armor that was in contrast with her cyan fur along with a helm that shielded most of her head and there were even blades along the edge of her wings. From Raine Moon’s perspective, those blades were extremely sharp and she was whispering something to Origin.

“Sorry to disappoint you, dear, but I’m already taken. Plus, I don’t really like you right now. You’re a bit too violent for my tastes, Rainbow Dash.” Origin managed to throw her off of him and quickly got back up.

“What?” Rainbow Dash exclaimed astonishingly. “You mean to tell me you’d want to be with that coward rather than me, the fastest Pegasus alive?”

“To be fair, yes. Besides, you and I aren’t really compatible with me being prideful and boastful too so with all due respect, I’ll have to decline your offer.”

Without a moment’s hesitation, Origin charged at Rainbow Dash and swung one of his talons at her. She moved out of the way and retreated again when the changeling swung another talon her way. Rainbow Dash grinded her teeth after she evaded Origin’s second attack since he was hindering her movements to a great extent.

She looked to her side and saw Raine Moon standing still in a secluded area and Rainbow Dash pursed her lips in a smirk. She launched herself at the dark blue Pegasus and her smirk grew even more when she saw that Raine Moon froze in place when she saw what was coming her way. Rainbow Dash was going in for the kill and there was nothing to stop her, especially since she had gone in the opposite direction Origin was to begin with.

“Raine! Get out of there!” Origin cried out in an alarmed voice.

His voice managed to get her out of her frightened state and, seeing the impending threat coming her way, she spread her wings and took flight as soon as she could, evading a hit that would have made her head roll on the floor. Her eyes were wide with fear and she looked over at Origin, then again at Rainbow Dash, before going in for a dive.

However, Raine Moon had waited for too long and when she went for that dive of hers, her belly was scraped by one of Rainbow Dash’s wing blades. She yelped in pain and lost her balance in flight, soon losing control and crashing next to Origin. The changeling looked at her with a concerned look but she dismissed her wound in an attempt to be tougher.

“See what I meant when I said you weren’t fit on the battlefield?”

“Shut up! I’m fine!” She snapped.

“Now’s not the time to argue,” Origin said coldly. His eyes never left Rainbow Dash, tracking her every movement. “Is the wound serious?”

Raine Moon quickly looked at her wound. Fortunately, it wasn’t all that serious. In fact, Rainbow Dash’s wing blade had just drawn a bit of blood but nothing serious apart from that. It should scar pretty quickly, she thought. She then got back on her legs after checking her wound and got next to Origin.

“All right. Now that Rainbow Dash knows you’re an easy prey, we’ll be using that to our advantage. I know this sounds crazy but what I plan on doing is using you as bait so you can lead her to me. I’ll take care of the rest after that. Just be careful; Rainbow Dash has a lot more endurance than you do when it comes down to flying so naturally, she’s faster than you. She’ll try to attack again, aiming for you very soon and when she does, we’ll split up. You’ll act as bait, and I’ll go around the block.

“Keep her occupied until then. If everything goes to plan,” Origin continued, “I’ll catch her by surprise and I’ll be able to crack that armor of hers.”

Raine Moon nodded. As instructed, she waited for Rainbow to attack. The armored mare took longer to attack than Origin had thought and when she did, the duo split up, forcing Rainbow Dash to concentrate on only one of them. Unlike what Origin would have wanted, she went after the changeling after he had split up.

Blast it! Did she figure out my plan or what? Origin thought. He was a bit too busy evading most of Rainbow Dash’s countless attacks to really think about that.

Seeing as Rainbow Dash was faster than he was, Origin opted that wits would be better in this fight. He rolled to his left in order to avoid one of Rainbow Dash’s wing blades and smashed his left side in a wall, breaking through it and crashing on the hard floor of a house in the middle of Cloudsdale.

Rainbow Dash landed in front of him and snickered. Well, Nightmare Moon may have been able to corrupt her essence but she still seems pretty high of herself, although that could still be something that came along the corruption, Origin thought while Rainbow Dash walked towards him with a look of victory on her face. Time to wipe that smile off her face!

Origin, having already devised a tactic of his own, stayed down and waited for the Pegasus in front of him to get even closer. He hoped Rainbow Dash would get right in front of him but even then, he knew well enough that he couldn’t get everything he wanted in life. Either way, he subtly moved his right talon so he could put his plan into motion if all the elements came into place.

“Hey Rainbow Dash! With all that armor on, I don’t think you should call yourself the fastest Pegasus in all of Equestria. I think that you should call yourself the slowest Pegasus in Equestria as of now,” Raine Moon shouted from outside with a certain determination in her voice.

Oh no... Raine, what are you doing? Origin moved his head to his left only to see Raine Moon, who was trying to provoke Rainbow Dash and unfortunately succeeded.

“Raine, get out of here! You don’t stand a chance against her!” Origin yelled aggressively, even surprising Raine.

But it was already too late. Rainbow Dash had already turned around. The armor-clad pony took flight and forced Raine Moon to flee, leaving Origin behind. Raine tried to shake Rainbow Dash off but it was to no avail. The Pegasus that was chasing her possessed more flying skills than she did.

Raine Moon started panicking upon realizing that she wouldn’t be able to escape Rainbow Dash and that her death would come soon. She thought of a maneuver but before she could even perform that maneuver, she felt a pair of hooves hit her back, locking her wings instantly. She screamed in pain as Rainbow Dash’s hooves connected with her spine and slightly moved her vertebrae in a painful manner.

With her wings completely locked, Raine Moon’s panic grew even more when she was pushed through the cloud floor of Cloudsdale by Rainbow Dash. She was sure of it; Raine Moon was sure that she was about to die. She closed her eyes and waited for the impact to come. Sure, she knew it would take more than a few seconds but she still prepared for her death nonetheless.

But... it never came.

Raine Moon opened her eyes and saw that Origin was holding her in his left talon and he was giving her a death glare that made her feel really uncomfortable. At that moment, she wished she had been a turtle so she could hide away in her shell to avoid the glare that Origin was giving her.

“See? That’s what I meant when I said you don’t know the first thing about fighting and that I couldn’t completely guarantee your safety! If I had been incapacitated, what would have had happened? You could’ve died!” Origin bellowed with pure rage.

“I’m sorry,” Raine started to sob as tears began to form in her eyes, her voice weak and trembling. “I just wanted to help you. I really wanted to, I mean it!”

“I know you wanted to but you know nothing about war or even one on one battles. You can’t fight Raine so why don’t you just stay back from now on. I don’t want your death on my conscience!” Origin said coldly while keeping his glare on the Pegasus in his left talon. “Do you think you’ll be alright to fly?”

“Yeah, I think so. My wings locked because of the shock and pain but I think I’m gonna be okay,” she said hesitantly, staring at the ground in pure fear. “Just... um... stay close in case if I’m not able to fly.”

“Ugh, we don’t have the time to do this. We’ve got a Pegasus bent on killing us,” Origin told Raine Moon.

“You think I don’t know that? I saved your life, Origin, and this is how you thank me? By being rude to me?”

“You saved my life? Ha! As if! Back in that house, I had moved my right talon so I could easily extend it and grab Rainbow Dash by the neck if she came too close,” Origin roared at the Pegasus he was holding in his large talons. “If anything, you just got in the way of my plan and you ruined it!”

“What?” She said in shock. Her voice was trembling still. “But... Rainbow Dash had you cornered...”

“Yes, she did,” Origin replied with hostility still present in his voice as he continued to stare at the clouds above, “but it wasn’t anything I hadn’t planned beforehand. I know my way around war; I’ve waged war and I know more than one way to get myself out of a sticky situation. You don’t and that’s why you should stay away from Rainbow Dash!”

“You know... if you guys wanted some alone time, you should have just told me,” Rainbow Dash said, her voice echoing through the city and below Cloudsdale. “Blegh, I can’t believe I just heard you guys argue like an old couple!”

She appeared in their sight when she dove through the clouds of Cloudsdale with her forehooves placed in front of her body. She smashed through a few other clouds with ease, sending waves of rainwater at Origin and Raine. The water soaked Raine’s fur and Origin’s feathers but other than that, it did nothing more to the changeling’s ability to fly.

“Well, you’re not far off, Rainbow Dash. We met each other twenty years ago and we’ve loved each other since then so in a way, we are an old couple,” Origin replied. If he didn’t have that beak of his, his grin would have been visible along with that witty expression in his eyes.

“You guys make me sick! I should just kill you off right now!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

“Dashie, stop!” Rainbow Blitz’s voice rang through the sky.

He dove through the cloud floor of Cloudsdale and quickly placed himself between Rainbow Dash and Origin, who was still holding Rain Moon, while giving a look that pleaded Rainbow Dash to stop attacking his two companions.

As for Rainbow Dash, she just glared at her brother. But there was something in his eyes that stopped her from going through with her task. The armor-clad Pegasus hesitated for a moment but she put on a glare once more and aimed it at the three ponies in front of her.

“Get out of the way, Blitz, or I’ll have to kill you first,” she said firmly.

“Dashie... I don’t want to fight you. Correction; I can’t fight you.”

“Well, that’s too bad. I’ll have to kill you today but first, I’m gonna deal with Raine Moon right there since she was the first target I was assigned to. Don’t worry; you’re the third one on the list, right after Dusk Shine.”

“Dashie! What’s gotten into you?! You’ve never been that way before. Sure, you like extreme sensation stuff but you’ve never been a murderer!” Rainbow Blitz cried out, nearly pleading his sister into stopping what she was planning to do.

“It’s no use, Blitz. She may look like Rainbow Dash and she may possess her memories, but that’s just a shell Nightmare Moon uses to toy with you. More specifically, she wants to toy with you and take away your will to fight before killing you. She’s done the same thing with Applejack before, remember?”

“Still, I can’t fight my own sister, Origin. I just can’t,” Blitz argued.

“So be it,” Origin said coldly. “Raine, get back to Blitz’s house.”

“But... what about Rainbow Dash? What’s going to happen to her?” Raine queried, puzzled by the reason as to why the changeling ordered her to go back.

“Go!” He roared, scaring her in the process. “I’ll deal with her. If you stay, you’ll just be a hindrance to me. Now go and stay safe.”

“Aw, isn’t that sweet? An old couple having their first argument. How utterly cheesy and disgusting! Blegh, that’s so uncool!” Rainbow Dash stuck out her tongue and gave Origin a taunting grin as she acted like she was about to puke over the scene she had witnessed.

Origin let go of Raine and she surprisingly flapped her wings successfully and gained in altitude. She made her way to the clouds that served as Cloudsdale and went through the cloud floor and completely disappeared out of sight. Rainbow Dash was about to go after her but she was stopped in her tracks rather harshly when Origin flew right in front of her, forcing her to go into a loop only to break it in half and place herself in front of Origin once more.

“Your fight’s with me, Rainbow Dash. Now, prepare yourself! En garde!” Origin exclaimed, lunging his sharp claws at Rainbow Dash.

The Pegasus evaded his first attack but was caught off guard when Origin kicked her with his rear legs. She was sent hurling on a cloud and glared at the changeling in griffon form, nearly blowing smoke out of her nostrils. She got back up on her hooves and shot right upwards towards Origin, ramming her forehooves in his belly.

The air was knocked right out of the changeling’s lungs and he gasped for air for a split moment. He swung a claw at Rainbow Dash but he missed her and ended up inflicting a wound on his belly, causing him to roar in pain as Rainbow Dash continued to push him upwards. On top of his new wound, the force that Rainbow Dash used to push him made his body weight tons. He tried to move even his forelegs but to no avail; his limbs were simply too heavy for him to even lift them.

Then it came: Rainbow Dash rammed him through the cloud floor of Cloudsdale and through a house. His screams rang through the city before gravity started to do its job; quickly pulling the changeling towards the ground. The impact he had taken after being pushed through an entire house nearly knocked him unconscious; making him extremely dizzy and disoriented all the while.

He fell through the sky at a high speed in a near unconscious state in which he couldn’t really feel anything. He could feel the winds ruffling his feathers but he didn’t hear the shrieks the wind made in his ears.

“—gin!”

Whose voice is this? It sounds... familiar to my ears, Origin wondered.

“—rigin!”

Who’s calling me? I can’t see anything...

“Origin!”

R-Raine...? What is she doing here? I told her to go back and stay out of this! Origin revolted in his mind.

His sense returned to him and he regained his sight a few second afterwards. He quickly turned his head and saw how close he was from the ground. His mind fell back on survival instinct, trying hard to extend a wing. He screamed in pain as he pushed his left wing outwards and once he did, the velocity and the pressure of the wind started to make his body, however heavy it was, turn over. Although it felt like the wind wanted to shred his wing apart, he endured the pain. His body completely turned over, allowing him to regain control of his flight. His wings were inflated with the hot air around him, now brushing against his wings and feather in a gentler manner even if his body was still sore from his recent endeavour.

“Oh, I’m so glad you’re okay, Origin!” Raine Moon exclaimed, letting out a sigh of relief as she joined up with Origin.

“I thought I had told you to stay away from the fight!” Origin bellowed, his eyes glaring into Raine Moon’s eyes and she felt as if he was staring into her soul; she instinctively felt even smaller in comparison to the changeling, whimpering as he continued to glare her way. “What were you thinking?! You know as well as I do that she is after your blood! What if she had killed you while you—GAH!” Origin clutched a claw over his open and bleeding wound, an unusual amount of blood flowing through the gash.

Raine quickly flew over to Origin’s side, a horrified expression upon her visage when she saw the size of the wound Origin bore on his underbelly. She quickly inquired in shock, “Dear Celestia! Are you alright, Origin?”

“Yes, I’ll live but I’m losing blood faster than how I would want it to be. If anything, I would need to leech some energy off of you so I can just heal the wound partly. It would be enough to close it but it would still be fragile; any impact on the area would just reopen the wound itself,” Origin explained while Raine nodded.

“Alright, if I can help you that way, I’m glad to help you...” Raine still looked worried about the changeling though her expression had changed to be replaced by a warmer expression. There were no ways of dispelling her worries for the changeling’s condition.

“Um... Raine?” Origin asked the Pegasus.

“Yes, what is it?”

“Did you leave Dusk all alone in Blitz’s house with that hangover he’s got?”

“Yes... I guess I did...” Raine said hesitantly. “I’m an idiot, aren’t I?”

“Yes. Yes you are. Now, let’s get this over with so we can go try to avert a disaster.”

“R-right...”

Origin receded into his mind and allowed his magic field to roam around his surroundings, engulfing Raine’s presence and aura completely. He could hear her heartbeat and the silent melody it produced. He heard the buzzing of the insects flying around, the small squeaks of the critters roaming on the ground, the melodious breeze of the wind.

He felt his feathers, one by one, being brushed aside by the wind. He inhaled the air, filling up his lungs exponentially, exhaling shortly afterwards. He allowed his magic to find its way to Raine Moon, forcing its way through her mind and heart, making the small Pegasus cringe and yelp in surprise, discomfort and pain.

He saw it all; he saw her dreams, her fears, her deepest secrets, her aspirations and her hopes. They were all flowing around him like shoaling fish, overwhelming his senses, infatuating his mind with emotions he could not process all at once. Even though he was in her soul through his mind, he felt as if he was going to puke from the vast amount of emotions, bad and good, he was ingesting at a rate that was far greater than what he had anticipated.

He quickly pulled out of her mind so he would not starve her of her own emotions. It would be shameful indeed if Raine Moon were to die because of a mistake. Once he was back to reality and in his own body, he already felt better than before, although his underbelly still hurt him as much as before. It had been sealed close but the fur that was there still felt fragile.

Origin then looked at Raine Moon and they both nodded, reaching in altitude at a decent pace. Compared to Rainbow Dash’s speed, they were slow but it gave them time to think of a plan. Origin initiated the conversation by talking about what they knew so far about Rainbow Dash.

They detailed how she moved, the way she flew when she attacked, the way she flew normally, her endurance even with the armor she was wearing. Of course, they also tried to detail her weaknesses but as they had seen before, she was right in her element whereas Origin was at a disadvantage because he had never flown for so much and for such a reason too.

The air became harder to breathe and Raine Moon’s chest heaved heavily. The sweat rolling on her face and through her fur further demonstrated how exhausted she had become from their ascent. As for Origin, he had also a small issue with breathing the surrounding air but it hardly was anything that was worth worrying for him. He was affected by the change in the atmospherical pressure too but his unique physiology allowed for him to modify his lungs at will.

The pair burst through the cloud floor of Cloudsdale and Origin automatically scouted his surroundings, searching for the cyan Pegasus that served as their foe. When he saw nothing, he puffed up his chest let out in a screech, “Rainbow Dash! Come out. We have unfinished business to take care of.”

“You’re still alive? Talk about being persistent, big guy,” Rainbow Dash said, rolling her eyes in annoyance as she said it.

“You better get used to it because I’m not going anywhere. Well, unless you know my main weakness, which I’m pretty sure you don’t, you are going to have a hard time killing me.”

A gust of wind carrying leaves blew in the wind and aimed at Rainbow Dash, the leaves ruffling against her fur and feathers, tickling her a bit and making her giggle softly at the treatment she was receiving. However, when she looked over where Origin and Raine had been a few seconds before, she saw neither of them.

In a split second, she began to have trouble breathing and for some strange reasons, she felt a pressure around her neck and also felt something sink in her flesh. It took moments for her to notice that Origin had grabbed her neck. The information, though, registered too late as she was soon sent hurling through a house’s wall, crashing through the floor and shattering part of the house’s structure.

She screamed in pain when she felt the debris and shrapnel prod and penetrate her skin. Her left wing ended up with a beam crushing it. The pain was intense and her eyes rolled a bit on the inside, letting several groans and screams of pain while she tried to remove the beam by herself. Her armor had been broken on several spots, revealing some shards of it plunged deep in her flesh, drawing blood and staining her cyan coat in blood.

If Rarity had been there, no doubt she would have complained about the awful mix the red blood had and the cyan fur covering Rainbow Dash’s body but the fashionista wasn’t there to begin with. Strangely, she felt the pressure the beam applied on her and she let out a small sigh of relief upon feeling the pressure disappearing.

It was when she raised her head to see who had did it that her expression changed from a relieved one to a terrified one. The griffon looming over her looked at Rainbow Dash with a wicked grin. The bloodlust she felt made her blood run cold. Her form trembled, her pupils contracted, shrinking into small orbs that were no bigger than peas.

“Stop! Don’t kill her!” Rainbow Blitz’s voice rang through the house.

Rainbow Dash saw a shadow move over her and it took her a few seconds to realize that her brother was standing between her and Origin.

“What are you doing, Blitz?! Get out of the way!” Origin ordered, eyeing the white Pegasus with a harsh glare but without leaving Rainbow Dash out of his sight.

“No! I won’t let you kill my sister, even if she’s being used by Nightmare Moon,” Blitz replied with the same glare and a renewed determination.

“It’s either that or she will kill us all, Blitz! She tried to kill Raine, she tried to kill me, and she’s going to try to kill you and Dusk Shine. She’s not your sister anymore. It’s just a parasite wearing her skin with the mission of killing us programmed into her head. She won’t change for you because she isn’t Rainbow Dash!”

Origin blinked, his brain not even registering the jab Rainbow Blitz had hit him with. He was thrown against the wall and looked up to the white Pegasus, a death glare on his face. His distorted visage was twisted by anger, lines of steam were running down his nostrils and the sound of his clenching teeth filled the room.

“Shut up!” Blitz roared, approaching the downed changeling bit by bit. “Just shut up! She’s my sister! She’s my damn sister and nopony’s going to change that. Not you, not anypony else!

“And besides, what would you know about having a family? You’re a bloody changeling for all we care. You’re just hatched from eggs your little queen lays. You have no family. You can’t possibly begin to understand how I f—”

A clawed hand grabbed hold of his neck and began to tighten the hold on the Pegasus’ body. Blitz looked down from his current position and noticed that Origin’s eyes had shifted from a light green to a deep blue.

“I don’t know what a family is? You’re telling me, a pony that’s about twice your age right now, that I don’t know anything about having a family? You’re telling me that I can’t understand how you feel? Is that what you’re saying, you rotten pile of crap?” Origin bellowed with a rage that Blitz had yet to encounter from the changeling before.

All that Rainbow Blitz could do was nod his head slowly and hesitantly, while fear filled every fiber of his being.

“Now, you better listen carefully, Rainbow Blitz”—the venom contained in Origin’s voice managed to make both Rainbow Blitz and Rainbow Dash’ blood run cold, giving them both shivers to a new degree—“because I’m not going to repeat myself. I know what it’s like to have a family. Before I became a changeling, I was a pony nearing his twenties. I have a sister! I have parents! And did you ever consider how much it pains me on a daily basis to just think that if I show my form to them, they might call me a monster and run away? Did you ever consider my pain?”

Silence befell the room.

“Hmm, I guess you didn’t. Now stand aside, I’ve got somepony to kill!” said the changeling, releasing the Pegasus from his hold.

However, Rainbow Dash was nowhere to be seen. Damn it! She must have fled while I was giving Blitz a piece of my mind! Origin roared on the inside. He still looked around just to be sure she wasn’t hiding anywhere but even her scent, her fear, could not be found by Origin’s sensors. He stomped the ground with his left claw, sending jolts of pain up his front leg, and it cracked the floor beyond repairs.

Without even looking at Rainbow Blitz, Origin stormed out of the remains of the house they had been in and tried to find Rainbow Dash. He didn’t find her and that frustrated him. He looked down on Cloudsdale with a bird’s-eye view but he still couldn’t find Rainbow Dash.

What she had told him and Raine a while before popped back in his mind, jolting his memory. He remembered what she had told him and Raine: she would murder Raine and then proceed in doing the same with Dusk Shine. Everything started to align in his mind and the pieces of the puzzle placed themselves.

He was about to go into a dive but just as he was about to do so, his form vanished into thin air. His eyesight faltered a bit, nearly giving in. He felt himself fall down from the sky as the wind acted like acid on his belly. The last thing he saw before his vision went pitch black was a stream of blood flowing out of his belly.

The rest... is up to you, Blitz, Origin told himself weakly before he lost consciousness. You’re the only one who can still fight...

His limp body collided with the clouds with a loud thump that resonated throughout a large radius in the town.

“Whaa...? What are you... doing, Raine?” Dusk Shine asked through his hiccups.

“I’m trying to save your life, idiot!” Raine replied harshly.

“Hey! That was uncalled for,” he whined.

“You’re the one that got drunk and got this hangover of yours in the first place. It’s your own fault, Dusk!”

Raine Moon was trying to escape from Rainbow Dash at all costs but with her carrying Dusk Shine around, it slowed her down a lot so she had resigned herself to the fact that she would have to stay in the cyan Pegasus’ blind spot. But it was a hard task as Rainbow Dash was a much more capable flyer than Raine Moon.

She halted her mind from thinking once more when Rainbow Dash came back for another attack and Raine Moon reacted through instincts, slightly diving in order to evade the other Pegasus. The main drawback to Raine carrying Dusk Shine was that when she went down into dives like those, the added weight made it harder for her to regain her balance.

Raine tried to regain her balance and flapped her wings intensely, so much she felt her muscles stretch to their limits, causing her an awful lot of aching. That alone nearly locked her wings but she couldn’t afford to give up! She needed to stay alive and she had to protect Dusk at all costs, especially considering her was in no condition to fight at all.

“Rainbow Dash! Can’t you fight her? Can’t you fight what it is that binds you to Nightmare Moon’s will and orders?”

“What are you talking about? If I kill you, I’ll stop you from turning Cloudsdale into ruins; she told me that you would do that if you were left alive. I will defend Cloudsdale against you two!”

The cyan Pegasus came back in a dive, aiming right for Raine Moon’s right wing with her own wing blade. She smirked as she grew in closer and closer. Raine’s eyes went wide, her pupils reduced to the size of peas, when she realized that there was not enough time for her to evade Rainbow Dash with her carrying Dusk Shine.

She closed her eyes and prepared herself for the end; feeling the movement of the air around her against her fur and feathers. She felt nothing at all but in her shock, she realized she dropped Dusk Shine.

“Dusk!” Rainbow Blitz yelled when he saw Dusk Shine fall into the sky, gravity dragging him towards the ground.

The white Pegasus went into a dive, chasing after a falling Dusk Shine. The wind’s full might lashing at his face and body made it seems as if his fur and skin were going to come off with the amount of pressure that was applied against his body from his atmospheric descent. But no matter how fast he was going down, he never seemed to be able to catch up to Dusk.

Images of him finding Dusk Shine’s body on the ground, in small parts after hitting the ground at full speed. The mere thought of finding Dusk’s bloody remains scattered on the ground made Blitz’s blood boil and his will was renewed. He closed his wings a bit so they wouldn’t get torn apart by the wind that was lashing out against him and tried to do the one thing he had never been able to do before: a sonic rainboom.

And it was all for the sake of saving his friend from plummeting to his death!

Blitz entire body began to tremble and his newfound strength faltered away bit by bit the more he chased after Dusk Shine. The air was already hard to breathe at this point and if that wasn’t enough, the surrounding pressure that was applied on his body made it hard for him to breathe correctly and his vision wavered. Between his actual sight and total void, his vision shifted from one another at any given moment.

That’s when he realized that his lack of oxygen and the atmospheric pressure around were causing this and that if nothing was done, he would lose consciousness. He fought it with all of his being. His eyes began to fill with water and specks of tears flew away from his eyes while he tried to keep a clear view of Dusk Shine.

He felt it! He felt his body touch the boundaries of the wall of sound and it hurt him. It hurt so much that he felt like his body had been stripped of his fur completely and that all that pressure was crushing his bare skin. Needless to say, it brought it a great deal of pain altogether. He was in so much pain; so much he thought he was going to pass out from the pain. However, he stayed strong and fought it, slowly entering the wall of sound.

He entered its narrow path; the pressure around him indicated him as much. At that point, his insides felt like they were all being crushed, his gut twisted in all directions while his stomach was being crushed and released over and over again. He could feel his bile land on his tongue and fill his mouth, bringing about its distasteful and horrible sensation all over his mouth. That alone was about to make him throw over but he had a pride that stopped him from doing that.

He was even closer now. He felt like he was just before the barrier of sound. He knew he was a step away from a sonic rainboom and he was just a few dozens of meters away from Dusk Shine. That fact alone invigorated him once more but reality had other plans for him. A few hundreds of meters away from where they were was the solid ground. If Rainbow Blitz hesitated for more than a second to go into a sonic rainboom, he would be rendered unable to save Dusk Shine.

There’s no going back now! I’ve got to do it! Rainbow Blitz roared in his mind.

He was feeling his forelegs stretch against the wall of sound, searching to breach it at all costs. Come on! Just a little bit more, you can do it Blitz! Rainbow Blitz fought against the resistance the wall of sound offered him as he prodded and stretched its surface. And there it was: the small opening in the wall of sound; the white Pegasus could nearly touch it. He tried to extend his hooves towards the small hole but he then felt it reject him all the while. He was being pushed back and pulled out against his will and he would not have it.

Rainbow Blitz flapped his wings faster and stronger; throwing his weight towards his forehooves and that when it happened: he had broken the wall of sound after so many efforts. At least, all of his efforts were not for naught. With them, he would be able to save Dusk Shine.

“I can’t believe it! I can’t believe I finally did it! I did a sonic rainboom!” Rainbow Blitz exclaimed in both surprise and euphoria.

But... as much as he was glad he had finally performed a sonic rainboom, he turned his attention to Dusk Shine again and with his newfound speed, Rainbow Blitz managed to catch up to the speed at which Dusk Shine was falling. Not even looking at the rainbow trail his tail somehow left behind as he dived through the sky, he attempted extending his forelegs to their limits.

He could nearly feel it; he nearly felt his hooves touch Dusk Shine’s tail but he still wasn’t able to grab him. The clock was ticking and there was not a lot of time left for the unicorn before he would go ‘splat’ on the ground. No matter, Blitz dismissed the thought and flapped his wings harder; exerting them to nigh exhaustion. He knew that they wouldn’t last song at that rate what with all the atmospheric pressure around. There was no telling how long they would last.

Just a little bit more, Rainbow Blitz repeated in his mind. Just a little bit more and...

Rainbow Blitz touched Dusk Shine’s tail with his hooves and clenched both hooves on the strands he had at his disposal. Sure enough, the pain that ensued was enough to jolt Dusk out of his unconsciousness with a loud scream filled with pain. Blitz’s ears flipped back and he winced a bit but he took it.

Got you!

Reality had others plans, he realized, when he saw how close he was from the ground. It was like being slapped by the wind a thousand times. There weren’t a lot of options for him to pick from and hesitation was now his worst enemy but he couldn’t afford to hesitate in this situation. He had to act; reality asked—nay, demanded—him to act with the utmost haste.

A few curses escaped his mind and roamed free through his subconscious, reverberating against the invisible walls of his immaterial cognitive construct. Not long after, he grunted a bit before he looked at Dusk Shine straight in the eyes, his strong gaze somehow reassuring the unicorn, who returned his gaze with a smirk and warm, trusting expression in his eyes, the fires of their bonds as friends burning ever so stronger.

“I’m sorry in advance, Dusk. This is going to hurt me more than it’s going to hurt you.”

“What are you talking ab—Gah!” Dusk Shine roared in pain, his body jerking and jolting when Rainbow Blitz clenched his teeth on his tail. The pain he received right after when his Pegasus friend pulled on his tail was so great that he thought and felt like it was just going to be torn and he would fall down to his death, with no one to save him. “Son of a—”

But Blitz didn’t have time to dwell on apologies. Time was of the essence, slowly eating away his chances of survival. Beads of sweat formed themselves on his face, soaking his fur and his mangled mane, and waited to be blown away in the wind; the cold touch they left on his face as they were grabbed by the wind made Rainbow Blitz groan in discontent. He didn’t like it one bit.

His mind was steaming with all he had to manage at the same time. He felt like a liter of water was boiling in his head and wreaking havoc in his mind. Pain disfigured him; his eyes were half-shut from the physical strain his body was enduring. His muscles ached, his bones trembled, his tendons suffered from various spasms. His body was taken over by pain and Rainbow Blitz’s conscience was flooded by panic and visions of failure.

There was one thing that stopped him from giving in to his pain: willpower. Just as cannonballs would break through solid walls, his willpower, his determination, his will to protect and save his best friend all joined together to break through his pain. Groaning and grunting in pain, he used every ounce of his remaining strength to push his body upwards.

Gusts of wind met him with great opposition, resisting his wanting to avoid plummeting to his death. Not matter, he dismissed it and continued break his fall. The cries of terror and help from Dusk Shine rang empty in Rainbow Blitz’s ears. They reached his auditory receivers but his mind was so set on surviving that nothing passed through it.

Finally, with much effort and a body completely ravaged by pain, Rainbow Blitz had managed to break his fall and stabilize his flight pattern a few meters away from the ground. Granted, that had been the craziest thing he’d done in his life. He lifted his head to look upwards and despite the great distance between them, Rainbow Blitz could see the glare that Rainbow Dash was shooting in his way. His body was a waste; the physical strain he had suffered from with his sonic rainboom had numbed and torn apart some nerves throughout his body.

I can’t give up now. Somepony has to stop her and that’s going to be me! he exclaimed in his mind, his voice echoing through a deep abyss of silence. Deep, silent and complete.

Soon after he landed, he gave Dusk Shine the time to get on his hooves and nearly have a taste of the grass on the ground. While it made Rainbow Blitz eye his friend with a mix of concern and confusion. He dismissed it and told the unicorn that Ponyville was an hour of travel from where they were. He also told him to go wait there for him to return with the others.

“Wait!” Dusk Shine interjected, grabbing the white Pegasus’ tail with his magical aura. “You’re going after her, aren’t you?

“Yeah. Someone’s got to stop her,” Rainbow Blitz answered flatly.

“You’ve got that look in your eyes again... Fine, I won’t object.”

“Thanks, Dusk. I promise I’ll be back and when I do, I’ll have saved my sister from Nightmare Moon!”

“Then go! Go before it’s too late!”

[size=10][/size]

Raine Moon hid behind the ruined remains of a building that once stood tall but met an unfortunate fate when Origin and Rainbow Dash clashed. The blue Pegasus’ chest heaved heavily and she was stressed out, her eyes darting towards any sounds that were near her. A sudden gust of wind nearly made her shriek in surprise. She had shoved her hooves so hard over her mouth that she already felt pain coming over her.

She was sweating abundantly; her eyes had shrunk down to the size of tiny marbles and her ears were splayed, listening to every little sound that surrounded her but not matter how hard she tried, she was not able to hear Rainbow Dash at all.

“Where are you, Raine Moon? Come out so I can finally kill you,” Rainbow Dash said out loud. “Besides, you won’t last very long with those wounds of yours.”

Raine Moon could only sigh a bit before looking down at her body and gazing at her injuries once more. Her coat was drenched with beads of sweat and blood. The smell the two made when mixed rose up to her muzzle and the scent was enough to make her eyes spin and for her stomach to turn upside down, making bile rise up her throat; burning her esophagus as it worked its way to her tongue, bringing on about a rather unpleasant feeling.

“Found you!” Rainbow Dash let out while she looked down at Raine Moon from the top of the shattered wall she was hiding behind. “Now do me a pleasure and just die already!”

“Stop. Right. There! I won’t allow you to continue your rampage!” Rainbow Blitz shouted, bursting from the clouds and surprising Rainbow Dash a bit.

“You’re still alive?!” She asked, taken aback by his sudden appearance. “But how? That fall should have led you to you and your friend’s deaths!”

“It would have indeed done so but I’ve done the impossible; the unpredictable. I’ve done a sonic rainboom!”

“What! That can’t be true!” Rainbow Dash protested, yelling back at her brother and shooting a glare his way. “I’m the only Pegasus that’s ever done a sonic rainboom!”

“Shut up! Don’t act like you’re my sister, you idiot!” Rainbow Blitz snapped. A burning rage was growing in his eyes.

“Come now, Blitz... Y-you wouldn’t hit you little sister. It’s me, Rainbow Dash!” The cyan Pegasus was stammering helplessly, her eyes trembling; her body hesitating. She was experimenting fear and it wasn't something she was welcoming with open arms.

“You’re not my sister, you freak! My sister would never even think of hurting Dusk! Sure, those two didn’t get along pretty well at first but they grew to become good friends between each other! Because of that, I have come to the conclusion that you are not my sister but a shadow using her skin to hurt those I care about!” Rainbow Blitz was brief and straight and wasted no more words on the matter.

A sonic boom was heard throughout the area, resonating against clouds and buildings alike, deafening those around, and Rainbow Blitz was already attacking the creature that was wearing her sister’s skin. The confused and astonished Rainbow Dash hardly had enough power over her body to defend herself against her brother’s assault.

Her limbs were tied to her body and no matter how hard she tried to break free of what was happening to her, nothing worked. She felt like her limbs were sewn on her body. The unknown force that held her down like that was slowly destroying her. Another hit to the face; her already sore face that was filled with bruises on top of having a black eye and a few broken teeth. The taste of iron that her blood filled her mouth and olfactory bulb with disgusted her but in the position she was in, she could hardly spit out all that blood.

You are weak, meek pony! Why are you hesitating so much? The voice ringing in Rainbow Dash’s mind was both unknown and familiar. She was sure she had heard it before though she couldn’t remember where or when.

This is my brother! I can’t just hurt him just like that! Rainbow Dash replied to the voice in her head.

You are too hesitant. I will relinquish your control over this body and assume control of it until that brother of yours is dead.

Rainbow Dash never had time to reply to this unknown voice. Her consciousness was suddenly pulled out of her body. She clung on the last strings that bound her to her mind; her conscious mind. However, the force pulling her was stronger than she had anticipated and despite her struggles and her screams, her voice soon disappeared in an abyss along with her consciousness.

On the outside, there were not a lot of changes that occurred to Rainbow Dash when the other presence took over. The main things that changed were her eyes and her voice. Her eyes had slit pupils, like Spike’s pupils, but as turquoise as Raine Moon’s eyes while her voice was deeper and almost seemed like it had an echo to it in Blitz’s ears.

“Ah, Lieutenant Blue Streak. We meet again,” began the voice that did not belong to Rainbow Dash in a sinister snicker that sent shivers down Rainbow Blitz’s spine. “My, how time flies by so quickly. The last time we’ve seen each other as foes was at Appleloosa. It is still a shame that you had to ruin that little party of ours there by knocking all those villagers unconscious”

“I knew it!” Rainbow Blitz exclaimed in victory. “You never were my sister. You’re just a prideful bitch that used her skin to dispose of your foes with more ease! Aren’t you, Nightmare Moon?!”

“How perceptive of you, Lieutenant Blue Streak! But you are forgetting one small detail... This body I’m using and your sister’s personality weren’t made out of nothing.”

Rainbow Blitz asked that Nightmare Moon explain what she meant by that last sentence of hers and he got a rather disturbing answer. Nightmare Moon told him that the ponies she manipulated were mainly dead ponies but before she could summon them, she needed something to allow her to summon forth the pony she wanted. What she needed were dreams; or more specifically, the essence of those ponies that were left imprinted in the mind of another.

When asked what this had to do with Rainbow Dash, Nightmare Moon told him flatly that she used the essence that had been imprinted into his mind to summon forth the last living memory of the pony she wished to summon.

“Stupid! You are so stupid!” Rainbow Blitz burst out laughing; his laugh was uncontrolled and almost maniacal.

“And how I am stupid? I took down three of your comrades? I hold the advantage here and you’re about to lose your life” Nightmare Moon replied.

“You were stupid enough to explain to me how you do your dream stuff and you were even more stupid to confess that I’m not really fighting against my sister!”

“And? Your point being? How does that make me stupid?” queried a now puzzled Nightmare Moon.

“That means I don’t have to hold back! I’m going to crush you, Nightmare Moon, and I’m going to enjoy doing so!” Rainbow Blitz shouted before launching himself at Rainbow Dash’s now darkened body.

Executing a somersault in his blind charge against Rainbow Dash, even if it was Nightmare Moon now controlling her body, he sank his forehooves deep into his foe’s belly. The impact sent her flying straight into a house and her screams of pain filled Blitz’s ears. He couldn’t resist to his urge to burst out laughing in satisfaction.

Nightmare Moon quickly got back up on her feet and took off instantly, ignoring the pain on her side. She was sure that she had caught him off guard by the look Rainbow Blitz wore on his visage: an expression of utter surprise with eyes wide and pupils contracted. It was all planned in her mind: she was going to aim for his neck and hit him right in his windpipe, crushing it and killing him shortly after.

Her vision went into a blur in a matter of seconds. Where Rainbow Blitz used to be before, he wasn’t standing there anymore and before she could turn her head to her sides to see where the Pegasus had gone to, she felt something hit her spine with great strength. The air was knocked right out of her and she spat out blood before crashing into another house face first.

I don’t understand! How can he best me? I am Nightmare Moon; I am fury unleashed and wrath incarnate! I can overcome anything but why can’t I best this miserable wretch? Nightmare Moon asked herself while panic took over her mind.

“I’m pretty sure you’re wondering how I’m beating you, considering that you’re technically a goddess? That’s pretty simple: you are predictable!”

“But how? How am I predictable?” Nightmare Moon cried out in despair and confusion.

“You’re fighting using my sister’s fighting style. You’re just using what her body knows what to do and you’re trying to kill me with that same style. Did you never wonder who taught Rainbow Dash how to fight? I did. Everything she knows about fighting, she learned it from me.”

Nightmare Moon tried to get up but she was paralyzed by pain when Rainbow Blitz’s rear hooves hit her spine right in the middle of her back. She screamed in pain and cursed his name several times. Her body was numb and the cold gusts of wind hardly reached her. Her body had stopped responding and despite her telling Rainbow Dash’s body to move she was unable to even move a muscle.

All she could do was watch in dread and fear as Rainbow Blitz flexed his legs to get to her eye level and slowly whispered in a cold and ruthless tone, “So, how does it feel to be without magic; to be at the mercy of your enemy? This is how Dashie felt when you killed her; she was helpless and defenseless against your magic but now that you’re trapped inside that little cage of yours, I’m gonna take pleasure in disposing of this twisted image of my sister!”

Rainbow Blitz flew off right after saying that, leaving the wind brush Rainbow Dash’s body. Nightmare Moon sighed in relief for just a second before realizing that the white Pegasus was coming back for more. Again, she felt a sharp pain on her back and yelled in complete agony, tears of pain sliding down her cheeks.

She was pushed through the clouds with Rainbow Blitz following soon after. The determined look in his eyes; the burning desire for revenge that shone bright made Nightmare Moon cower even more than she did before. How could she be bested by a mere Pegasus? Wasn’t she wrath incarnate?

Yes, she was wrath incarnate and fury unleashed but for reasons she couldn’t fathom, a simple Pegasus was beating her senseless. Now she couldn’t fight back and she was falling to her death. She was even more surprised and startled when Rainbow Blitz grabbed her body and went into a spin.

“You’ve caused enough trouble as it is, you monster! I’m going to put a stop to it right here, right now!” Blitz yelled out, his words hardly reaching Nightmare Moon because of all the wind around.

She looked down and saw the ground getting closer and closer. Panic seemed to overtake her; panic was overtaking Nightmare Moon, the strongest alicorn in history. In her mind, it hardly seemed possible. Her plan to take out Raine Moon and her companions had failed because she had spoken too much.

“And now... you... die!” Rainbow Blitz shouted just before the body of Rainbow Dash hit the ground, snapping her neck with disgustingly loud noise that made Blitz, who had previously been a royal guard, cringe a bit. After all, the body he had inflicted all those injuries was the body of his sister.

He looked at her body and for a second, she looked like she had a smile pursed on her lips. Rainbow Blitz was surprised at this and offered a smile in return before his sister’s body did the same as those before her: it just disappeared into ash, vanishing from the world.

I’d better go look on those two and see if how they’re doing. I remember Raine being wounded on several part of her body. But I haven’t seen Origin. Well, it’s not like I care too much about him but I’m pretty sure the princesses will skin me alive if Raine dies on me, Rainbow Blitz thought as he took flight once more, heading for Cloudsdale for one last time...

~~ End of Chapter Nine ~~

Walking Nightmares

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Return to the Origins(Part Two)

The Eclipsed

Chapter Four : Return to the Origins (Part Two)

By Raine Moon

It couldn't have been a better day! Sure, not everything had gone according to plan but at the very least, Princess Celestia had replied to Dusk the morning after he had sent the letter. It was somehow vague but if the unicorn read between the lines, he could understand most of what the princess told him in the message:

Dear Dusk Shine,

What you told me is troubling. Very troubling. However, Luna and I had anticipated that such a thing would happen at some point or another. Nightmare Moon’s return means many things and the return of living nightmares is one of them. For now, your best option would be to start practicing lucid dreaming, as hard as it may be.

You are right to be concerned by this, Dusk. As you said, it is impossible, even for alicorns, to make the dead come back to life. However, that was not what Nightmare Moon did. Just as Raine told you, Nightmare Moon is an expert at manipulating dreams. It does not stop there, though. While she can literally alter any dreams that are not lucid into whatever she wants them to be, she can also take something inside of a dream and make it real. It is, however, a very consuming spell and as such, she can’t hold it up more than a few days. That also includes anything you might experience within a dream such as pain, agony, sadness, emptiness. She can make all those into reality. Meddling with Nightmare Moon is a dangerous gamble if you do not know about her abilities.

As for your second concern, I am afraid that neither Luna nor I know anything about that strange phenomenon. Right as you are, magic is generated through the conversion of the surrounding natural energy into magical energy our horns can harness. There has been no report whatsoever in all the years we have been in Equestria that concerned a unicorn having magic powered by emotions. If anything, it would resemble changeling magic, at least what we know of them from the few books in our archives. For the moment, it is impossible for both of us to give you a clear answer about what happened to Raine.

Also, it is appreciated to know the reason of Raine’s lack of magical abilities. To your possible discontent, there is nothing that can cure a damaged flow of magic. Not even time can mend that because of how complex it is. If hers is severed at such a major location as you described, then there is nothing that can be done. She will never be able to use magic.

On a final note, I would ask you three, along with Spike, to head for Appleloosa. We have received no news from the town and the few scouts we sent there never made it back. We have assumed the worst. I know that this time, I am asking a lot of out you because this new destination could efficiently prove to be dangerous and might even spell certain doom but as I said back in Canterlot before you left for Ponyville, we cannot risk losing our defences.

Sincerely yours,

Princess Celestia.

Celestia had shed some light on what were the magical abilities of Nightmare Moon and it was helpful. The second part about Raine was a little bit more disturbing. First, Celestia and Luna didn’t know anything about what had happened when he had his outburst. Secondly, they said that Raine would never be able to perform magic. That is if she had even been able to use it.

Also, the fact that her magic resembled changeling magic according to the archives in Canterlot was also strange. Last he heard, Raine wasn’t a changeling. He wasn’t sure how he could find out but perhaps it had something to do with them consuming emotions, specifically positive emotions.

In any case, when Dusk was done reading the letter Celestia had sent him, he made his way towards the exit to go see if Raine had recovered some more. He was stopped by the voice of a baby dragon.

“Do you think that I could accompany you? I know getting revenge on Nightmare Moon won’t bring Twilight or any of her friends back but at least, I want to be sure she will not dishonor their memories.”

“And what made you change your mind, Spike? I remember you saying that you weren’t going to come with us because getting revenge was pointless,” Dusk stated, his eyes locked in Spike’s.

“I still think it is but according to this letter, it seems that Princess Celestia isn’t leaving me much of a choice... And also, this “Raine” that shielded Sweetie Belle and Trixie, she gave me hope. I can’t exactly explain it but she looks like no matter what life may give her, she’ll always get back up.”

“Don’t worry, Blitz and I know the feeling all too well. We didn’t really have a choice in being assigned as Raine’s guardians. Now, I can say that I don’t regret having her around anymore. Without her, more ponies would have died and perhaps even ourselves. Granted, she is not the bravest pony around nor is she the strongest but her heart is at the right place.”

“Yeah… but I’m still a little bit worried about her. I thought maybe I could go visit her to thank her for what she did.”

“You know, you seem like you can change your mind rather easily. One time you’re too stubborn to do anything to help yourself out of your misery and the other, you’re ready to forgive the one who indirectly brought you your misery,” remarked Dusk, his voice slightly mocking.

“Don’t get me wrong. I’m far from having forgiven her but she did save Sweetie Belle and Trixie’s lives as well as mine so the least I can do is thank her for what she’s done for Ponyville.” Spike had trouble admitting that and his voice showed it. His voice slightly wavered as he explained himself to Dusk.

“I guess you’re right. Besides, I need to go see her. There’s a small note at the end of the letter addressed to Raine so I might as well tag along. That way, I’ll be done with it.”

“Alright, let me get a few things and I’ll be ready,” Spike said before disappearing deep into the library.

“In that case, I’ll wait for you outside,” Dusk responded.

————

Raine started to open her eyes. Bright lights blinded her sight momentarily. Her pupils constricted, allowing her to see where she was. She looked around and realized that she wasn’t in the same room as she was the day before.

Instead of being white, the walls of the room she was in were blue. Well, it was a lighter tone of blue but blue nonetheless. After she finished examining her surroundings, Raine realized she had been placed in separate room. No ponies were next to her and a door was separating her from the rest of world.

She was trying to simulate what had happened during the course of the last day. The last thing she remembered before she fell asleep was Sweetie Belle coming to see her. Shaking her head and clearing her mind, she failed to hear Nurse Redheart entering the room.

“Good morning, Miss Raine. How are you feeling this morning?”

Raine nearly jumped to the roof when she heard the sudden voice of the nurse. Her heart skipped a beat. “Wha! Don’t scare me like that, Nurse Redheart. I thought my heart had failed me.”

“Oh… no! Are you okay? Maybe we should call the doctor just in case,” Nurse Redheart proposed.

“No, no. No need for that. You just… surprised me. In any case, I am fine if you ignore the fact that I almost suffered from a heart attack.”

“Good. Well, we have good news for you; over the course of the night, we performed a second surgery on you. Your leg should be fine and you should be able to walk soon. The doctor gave you until noon for your muscles to adapt to the surgery. The wound was closed and the tissues were reformed,” explained the nurse.

“So, does that mean I’m getting a medical release?” inquired Raine, wondering what Nurse Redheart was trying to imply.

“Essentially, yes. Although we are keeping you here until noon, we intend on releasing you afterwards. Don’t worry, we’ll help you adapt to walking again. After all, it has been a week since you did any kind of walking whatsoever.”

Needless to say, Raine was thrilled. Staying in a hospital bed was not going to accomplish anything and there were too many things she had to accomplish. Shortly after, a few nurses came to help Raine get used to walking again.

She usually made a few steps before her leg would wobble. Thankfully, the nurses were there to help her back up but it embarrassed her slightly to require the help of other ponies in such a way. Still, she was thankful. They could have easily refused to help her but instead, they did everything they could to make sure nothing bad happened to her.

While she was walking through the hall, she lost her footing and found herself falling on the floor face first. The nurses quickly rushed to her side to help her get back up but Raine told them that she could get back up by herself. She began taking long, deep breaths, calming her muscles all the while.

As soon as she was calm, she began to gather her strength and raised one leg after the other. She began with her left hind leg and easily managed to apply weight on it. Following that, Raine did the same with her right hind leg. That one caused her more problems that it should have, actually.

She applied weight on her right hind leg but as soon as she did, it began to wobble and she nearly fell again. The same charade repeated itself for a good ten minutes. Her leg caused her great pain and while it was very painful, doing this on her own was something Raine intended to do for herself.

“Miss, maybe we should help you before you end up wounding yourself.” The nurse’s voice sounded worried. Of course it would, she was a nurse and as such, wouldn't let a patient in need suffer needlessly.

“I’m… fine, really,” Raine grunted, her voice containing hints of the pain she tried to hide. “I need to do this by myself.”

“But if you go on like this, your newly reformed tissues could rip and cause a hemorrhage. If that happens, all our efforts to get you back on your hooves will have been in vain!” replied Nurse Redheart, outraged by the stubbornness of the alicorn pony.

“I do agree with you, Nurse Redheart. The only issue with that is that I may get injured after leaving Ponyville and I will not have assistance as I have now. I need to get used to mending my own wounds and dealing with them, especially since I can’t use magic.”

Nurse Redheart gave Raine a disheartened look. There were many things wrong with the alicorn; one of them being that she was extremely stubborn. Still, the resolve she was showing only served to make the nurses around her take a few steps back. They all had concerned looks as they saw Raine struggle to get back up.

Come on! I lived through worse than this so why won’t you listen to me, you stupid leg? The alicorn’s blood began to boil as her anger manifested.

Her frustration, so great it was, began to affect the logical part of her brain. Without even thinking it through, she regained stability on her fore legs but at the same, she stomped her hind legs for reasons that were not exactly clear to Raine.

The nurses never thought they would ever hear such a high pitched scream.

“What’d I do this for? This hurts like crazy!” Raine yelled, tears already leaking despite all of her efforts to keep them from doing so.

“Well, from a simple diagnosis, I would say that your stubbornness led you to do some irrational things, resulting in you stomping the ground with the leg that recently recovered.” That voice was one Raine recognized immediately.

She painfully turned around, the effort it took her seemed like an eternity had passed before she was face-to-face with Dusk Shine. He looked at her in a condescending way, giving her a ridiculous gaze. The grin he had, along with the entirety of his expression was just about to make Raine burst into laughter.

Must not laugh. Must not laugh! Must not laugh!

It was all too much for her. She just burst into laughter, falling on her back, kicking the air with her hooves all the while. Dusk looked at her with an expression that showed both concern and amusement. On his back was Spike, covering his mouth with his two clawed hands as he laughed at the whole situation.

A few minutes passed until Raine calmed down. She had realized too late that she would have to get back up on her hooves. As painful as it was, she knew what to do this time so without any delay; she quickly applied her weight on her forelegs so she wouldn't have to repeat the same mistake as before.

Granted, she still felt the pain her wound had caused her but it wasn't as painful as the first time. Mainly because she didn't stomp the ground with her recovering leg. Wiping the few tears that were still in her eyes, she gazed at her two visitors, giving them an interrogative look.

“I suppose you didn't come here just to let out a remark like that, now did you Dusk?”

“No, I suppose I would be lying if I said it was my only reason. I have my own reasons but before I get to them, Spike would like to have a word with you,” Dusk replied.

The small dragon, after he had gotten down Dusk’s back, blushed when the alicorn looked at him in the eyes. “Well, I kinda came along to… you know… thank you for saving my life last week. I’m not sure about what the other ponies of the town will have to say about you but to me, you are already a hero to this town despite Nightmare Moon being your mother and all.”

“Thank you, Spike. Your words mean a lot to me. Still, I am perplexed. Did Dusk tell you to do this?” Raine queried, raising her gaze to meet Dusk’s.

“Well, not exactly but he did say that it was a good idea. You could have escaped but you didn’t; you stayed and you defended us.”

“Well, in any case, Princess Celestia gave us our new directives this morning. We’re to head for Appleloosa next,” Dusk announced. “Also, Princess Luna sent a note for you. I’m not sure what it means but it says that it will only work with you.”

Raine gave Dusk an interrogative look and in her eyes were screaming the desire to see the note Luna had sent to her. Dusk charged his horn with magical energy and it slightly flared with a white glow. That allowed Raine to see the letter and see what Luna had written to her.

She began reading the letter in its entirety, not missing a single word. Some points surprised her, and the one about her incapacity to use magic shocked her as well. If what Celestia said was true then she would never regain the use of magic ever again. Still, she continued to read the letter until she reached the part that contained Luna’s message.

She first read it mentally and tried to understand its meaning until it dawned to her that it was, and after asking Dusk about the origin of the message, enchanted writing. She then read it aloud and as she finished reading it, she felt some sort of tingling spread across her body. Before she knew it, she heard the gasps of surprise coming from the nurses behind her.

Searching for the cause of their astonishment, Raine eventually darted her eyes on her own hooves and found out that they were a dark blue tint again. She would have to thank Luna later on for that gift but there was still the issue concerning how the princess had known about her illusion being destroyed by Rarity.

“So, how do I look?” She asked, giving Dusk a seductive expression.

“You look… uh… nice… Yeah, you look as good as you did before…” There was no hiding his obvious blush. His cheeks were completely red. Denying it would only embarrass him furthermore.

“No, I’m not all into you, Dusk. Sure, you’re a good friend and all but I prefer we remain just friends for now,” Raine told him, a serious look now replacing her previous one.

“R-right! Let’s do… just that,” said Dusk, nervosity flowing out of his voice.

“Anyway, I guess we just have to join with Blitz and head for Appleloosa after that. Was that what you had in mind, Dusk?”

“Actually, there’s one more thing we have to show you. We were busy preparing them when you were still in comatose. The gang is supposed to be at Carousel Boutique, Rarity’s former workshop as well as her home.” He was trying to be clear but at the same time, he had to be vague if he intended to keep the secret, well, a secret.

The alicorn looked at him and it was obvious that she had tons of questions to ask but the gaze Dusk returned indicated that now was not the time. It would spoil the surprise to just tell her what is was. Instead, he just told her to follow him.

Although he stayed close to her because of the condition her leg was in, Dusk still had to evade her questions about what they had planned for her and needless to say, she asked a lot of those questions. He was able to change the subject most of the time so he didn’t have time to worry and when he couldn’t, he just told her that she would have to be patient.

They eventually reached Carousel Boutique but not before getting harassed by the inhabitants of Ponyville. Sure, it was great to have some ponies to recognize the work you did. What they did what just a tiny bit out of place.

Once inside, Raine immediately realized that the lights were off as she was met with darkness. Fortunately, there were candles lighting up the way to a room upstairs. Dusk gestured for Raine to follow the trail of candles and so she did.

She found the whole situation to be awkward. First, Dusk didn’t answer to her questions and then, he was leading her inside the former house of Rarity. To her, it was creepy because she had no idea what their ideas were or what they had planned for her. She crossed the door’s frame and was greeted by several cheers, nearly surprising her enough to make her fall on her back.

“I didn’t see that one coming,” Raine coldly said, glaring at Dusk who offered a nervous smile afterwards.

Sweetie Belle trotted over to her with another filly, the one Dusk had called Apple Bloom. “Miss Raine, we know that you have to go on whatever quest it is you have to do but some of us thought we should give you a gift for what you did.”

“Sweetie Belle, those flowers alone when I was unconscious were enough to please me,” replied Raine, her expression shifting from a cold one to a compassionate one.

Apple Bloom stepped forward right after Raine finished her reply. “Maybe it was ta ya but y’all did save Sweetie Belle from Nightmare Moon. Y’all even saved Trixie even though she kinda deserved the trauma. We warn’t goin’ ta let ya go without a gift from our end.”

“That’s very kind of you, Apple Bloom but I don’t want to waste your time making them right now. Dusk, Blitz and I have a tight schedule to follow.”

“But we already made it!” let out an ecstatic Sweetie Belle, her eyes telling Raine to look at the floor.

She looked down and saw a wooden box sitting in front of her hooves. It had carvings that resembled flowers and the box was painted with a light shade of blue. No locks seemed to keep it closed so Raine went on ahead and gave the superior half a nudge with her muzzle, curious to see what the fillies had done for her.

She was speechless, needless to say. Not only did she not expect that kind of gift but for those fillies to have thought about it was even more touching. Inside the box were six metallic rings, each a different colour. For example, one was lavender, another was the same white as Rarity and Sweetie Belle.

Ergo, they were coloured to represent the bearers of the Elements of Harmony. Each of them. Raine didn’t know what to say nor what to do. Her eyes began to tear up and she shed a few tears while trying to hold back her sobs.

“Miss Raine? Why are you crying? Are you sad? Oh no, are our gifts out of place or do they remind you of bad memories. If you want, we can-”

Before she could even utter the end of her sentence, Sweetie Belle found herself being hugged by Raine. She continued to shed tears but she bore a joyful expression. She mumbled several incomprehensible things through her sobs.

“Uh… Miss Raine? What’s the matter? Ya were sad one moment an’ the other, yer happy as can be,” stated Apple Bloom.

“I’m just happy… that I’ll have something to remember them by now. Thank you, girls.” Two large smiles appeared on their faces as Raine thanked them.

After breaking from the hug, they explained to the alicorn that the rings were meant to be around her foreleg. Sweetie Belle even said she had to take measures of her foreleg’s size to make rings that would fit while being nor too tight or too loose. Raine let out a witty comment about what Sweetie Belle did but her warm smile betrayed the gravity of her comment.

A few minutes later, and with Dusk’s help, Raine had managed to attach all the rings around her right foreleg. She was looking at them and even noticed that there were engravements on the rings. Each of them bore the name of one of the bearers. Raine’s eyes teared up again but this time she stopped herself from crying.

“Thank you for this, girls. And thank you, Dusk, for helping them make those rings. They mean more to me than you can think,” Raine told Dusk with certain sweetness in her voice.

“It was nothin’, Miss Raine. We just thought you’d appreciate the gesture,” Apple Bloom replied.

“Uh, guys? If we want to catch a train for Appleloosa, we should head for the station soon if we don’t want to miss the train.” Despite his efforts to be as subtle as possible, Spike still broke that little moment that was going on between the four ponies.

“Fine. I guess you’re right, Spike. Oh, and girls?”

“Yes, Miss Raine?” asked the two fillies in unison.

“I promise you that we’ll find Nightmare Moon and that we’ll stop her from hurting other ponies.” Her voice, her eyes and her expression all indicated that she was telling the truth.

Ending on that note, the three left Carousel Boutique and started to head to the train station. Halfway there, Dusk said he had to stop by his house and told Raine and Spike that he would catch up with them later on. They nodded and started to make their way to the train station once again.

As they walked, the inevitable happened. A small group of ponies surrounded Raine and Spike, who was riding on her back surprisingly, and started to assault them with questions. Ranging from the identity of Raine to them asking if there was anything they could do for her, there seemed to be no escape from those ponies.

“Enough!” exclaimed Spike, his patience wearing thin. “We’re having a hard time hearing ourselves think!”

The mob stopped for a few seconds before they decided to ignore Spike, resuming bombarding Raine with endless questions. Eventually, Raine started to scream for help in her mind and to her great surprise, both Dusk and Blitz had arrived.

“All right, nothing to see here. Yes, she helped save Ponyville and she’s Nightmare Moon’s daughter. Deal with it and please stop being so darn annoying. Have you even considered how she felt when you were surrounding her like that while asking her all those questions?” Blitz asked the ponies while Dusk levitated Raine and Spike to their side.

The residents of the town seemed dumbstruck. Some of them didn’t seem bright enough to understand and the desire to ask more questions to the alicorn was still visible in their eyes but most of them had the decency to leave and leave the group alone.

“Thanks, you two. They were starting to slightly get on my nerves.”

“Slightly? You’re going at it softly,” Spike replied, sarcasm dripping from his words.

Rolling her eyes, Raine ignored the dragon and the group resumed their walk to the Ponyville train station. Informing the ticket vendor that they were going to Appleloosa on behalf of Princess Celestia’s orders, he asked proof of their claim so the aquamarine unicorn showed him the letter the princess had sent him in the morning.

Completely unaware to the three ponies were a pair of green glowing eyes hiding inside a bush near the train station. Well, Blitz thought he had seen a glimpse of something in the distance but when he looked again, nothing was there. He shrugged and just boarded the train, completely ignoring the fact that they were being watched.

————

Aboard the train, which was completely empty except for four souls, they quickly found a wagon that seemed correct for them. They were still careful enough to choose a wagon where they wouldn’t be easily disturbed by any other ponies that could enter the train before it would leave.

“I didn’t expect all those ponies to like me so much,” admitted Raine, facing her three companions. “The last time they saw me, all I could find in their eyes was hatred and sadness because of what I had done.”

“It’s not so much that they like you. It’s more about them being grateful for defending a defenseless filly and standing up for them. Without your intervention, as some said, Ponyville could have been ravaged by Rarity,” Dusk stated, quoting the words of several ponies he knew in Ponyville.

“Still, I heard some of them say that you did that just so you could earn their forgiveness. And if I remember correctly, I heard Filthy Rich tell her daughter that you only did that so you could pass as a victim while plotting against the princesses unnoticed.” And no, Blitz was not joking in any way. In fact, he wore a perfect poker face.

“What? No! I mean, how could he think of something like that?” Raine looked completely appalled by what Blitz said.

“I’d ignore his comment if I were you, actually. Filthy Rich does the exact opposite of what we were told to do. All he does is judge by appearances only. That’s the kind of pony he is and unfortunately, there is no changing him,” spoke Dusk.

“Well, that’s a good thing to know but still, that’s kind of a harsh thing to say about a—” Raine would have otherwise finished her sentence had it not been for a pony that had just walked in the wagon “—is there anything we can do for you, sir?”

The pony remained silent. He just stood there and blinked at the group but his gaze was mainly directed at Raine. He wasn’t that tall but he wasn’t small either. His height rivalled Blitz’s. His mane was orange while his coat was white with a hint of yellow in it. Basically, the combination of the two resembled the outlines of a burning flame.

His eyes were a bright blue but there was an inner part of his irises that was green instead of blue, a detail that Dusk didn’t miss. Raine and Blitz did miss that small detail and didn’t suspect anything about the pony that was standing in front of them.

“Well, you could say that. I’m searching for an old acquaintance of mine; Raine Moon was her name if I remember correctly,” replied the strange pony.

“Alright, drop the act. You and I both know that you failed to assimilate the pony you’re posing as. That green ring inside your irises betrayed you, changeling. Now, tell me why you’re here and what you want with Raine!” Dusk’s voice was so cold that it even surprised Blitz to hear his friend talk in such a manner.

“Dusk, what are you talking about and what are ‘changelings?’” inquired Raine, puzzled by Dusk’s harsh accusations.

“I’m saying that this pony is lying to us and he’s just a darn creature desiring to feast on our emotions! That’s what changelings do, Raine. They feed on our positive emotions!”

“Well, that’s kind of harsh of you to say that. What makes you think I came here to do that? Like I told you, I came here seeking Raine Moon. Surely, you must remember this, Raine?”

Just as he finished saying that, a green glow emanated from his horn and seconds later, a circle of green flames surrounded him. He was then encased in a dome created by the flames he willed into existence. Though the dome was supposedly hiding him away, Dusk, Raine, Blitz and Spike were all able to catch glimpses of what was happening to the pony—or changeling in this case.

They saw the changeling’s coat turn from white to black but that was mostly all they were able to see. When the green flames disappeared out of thin air, a black creature that highly resembled a pony stood in the pony’s stead.

The creature, or changeling as identified by Dusk, was completely black. As black as the night and it almost looked like its skin resembled chitin. And its looks resembled those of an insect. Almost as if it was protecting the changeling against some injuries, such as flesh wounds. Moreover, it looked like it was meant to give form to its flesh. Well, that was the conclusion Dusk came to after analyzing the changeling’s physical traits.

Another trait that was easily noticeable was the fact that the changeling’s hooves were filled with holes as well as its mane and tail. And another trait that troubled the group was that the changeling possessed a jagged horn and a pair of wings filled with holes. How it could fly was probably a wonder but changelings were creatures that were still a mystery to Equestria.

And yet, no matter how much the changeling had changed, its eyes remained the same. They were blue in the upper part of the creature’s irises and green in the lower part. And the eyes the changeling possessed were unlike the typical eyes the species had according to the books Dusk had read when he was assigned his task at helping Canterlot research changelings and their history.

“There, happy? This is how I really look like. Now that this is over with, could I talk with Raine? It’s been a while since we’ve seen each other,” spoke the changeling, who was clearly male, as his eyes locked in Raine’s.

“And how exactly do you know that this is Raine Moon?” asked Blitz, still doubting the changeling in front of him.

“Appearances can change an infinite number of times but eyes will always stay the same. And those eyes are the eyes I remember. Those eyes show weakness, compassion, resolve. Those eyes are what make Raine Moon herself and this is all the proof I need to know this is Raine,” explained the changeling.

Blitz glanced at Raine to see if she truly knew the changeling but when he did, he noticed that she was an alicorn again instead of a Pegasus. The illusionary disguise had completely vanished, revealing Raine in her true form. He even saw a few tears roll down her left cheek. However, it appeared as if she was not even consciously aware that she was softly crying.

Blitz decided to poke the alicorn to get her attention and after gently hitting the black pony’s shoulder bone a few times, she looked at him with a clueless expression, tears welling up in her eyes. Blitz simply pointed his hoof at a nearby mirror placed on a wall. There she saw her reflection and she was startled by the fact that she was appearing as an alicorn. So much that she let out a small yelp.

But, how is that possible? Raine asked herself in shock. Luna said that the spell would only be dispelled if I was near somepony I knew and I don’t remember meeting any of those changelings and why am I crying?

“Seriously, why the sad expression? Oh well, I should have guessed you wouldn’t remember me, Raine. After all, it has been two decades since we’ve last seen each other. In any case, my name is Origin. It is not my real name for changelings have no real names but I am a special case.”

“Yeah… That’s interesting and all but I’ve got one question to ask you, ‘Origin,’” said Dusk, locking his eyes in Origin’s.

“Go right ahead, I am open to most questions you might ask me,” replied Origin.

“I read a few books about changelings and there was a part in one book that said that all changeling of a certain category all had the same appearance, except for the eyes. Your eyes are extremely rare even for a changeling. In fact, you look like a drone changeling with the eyes of a royal changeling. Can you explain why you look like that?” Dusk inquired, expecting to corner the changeling in some kind of trap with a question like that.

“Looks like somepony did his homework on changelings.” Origin was being both nonchalant and humoristic. His grin was proof of that. “In any case, my rank would be that of a drone but like I said, I am a special case. I am not like other changelings and I intend to explain why so gather up and let me tell you a story.”

————

I was born in a hive like every other changeling. There was no exception. Every changeling in existence was hatched in a hive. I was born a drone but unlike most drones, I was born with some sort of birth defect. I had a weak constitution at birth and that was not something that was commonly accepted in the hive. My problem was that it just so happened that my peculiar predicament affected my ability to perform my tasks.

Long story short, I was taken to the queen as I wasn’t able to keep up with my tasks as a drone. Why the queen? Because she possesses the highest authority in the hive and changelings such as me are taken to her before a decision is taken. While I expected a quick and painless death, it never came.

To my surprise, the queen allowed me to live and told the changeling responsible for training the newly hatched drones that I was to be moved from his authority. I was then sent to become a scout instead of a drone. Call it a camp or whatever you may want to call it but we changelings know those different areas as “pits” and each of them has a specific keeper, a changeling that had earned its position.

Anyway, it would seem that I am drifting away from the original subject. Yes, like I said, I was moved into the scouts’ pit and I must say that it was calmer than the previous pit I had been in for the few months I had been in it. Well, it also helped that the pit master wasn’t as strict as the previous one.

Still, there was one thing that bugged me. It was the fact that the queen had decided to keep me alive even though I should have be dealt with according to changeling culture. And when I say changelings like me were dealt with, I mean that they were usually killed. Simple and clean. There was no room for weaknesses inside a hive.

That was also the other problem with changeling hives and with changelings themselves. We are territorial creatures. The only problem to this is that one hive, and there are a few dozen scattered throughout the world, could decide to wage war to another to expand its territory. Fortunately, the queen of the hive I was in held high respect amongst changelings so we were never attacked. Well, almost never.

The years passed and I had become a successful scout. By successful, I mean that I hadn’t died from the training. To be successful as a changeling, I would have to survive both my training as a scout, or any other changeling rank for that matter, and my first mission. If I was able to do that, I would become a true changeling.

And of course, there was no escape from the queen. Changelings are known to have a hive mind. That means that my every thought could be heard through the entire hive if I wasn’t careful. Also, in certain cases, the queen can use the hive mind to monitor those that are in missions. If our performance is rather mediocre, she can have us dead. And she does it quick.

In any case, I drifted off again. I had done well in surviving my training but the real task was still to come. While you may think it is the pit master that gives the missions, it was the queen that did. She deals with those kind of things. And my mission was a peculiar one. Mainly because according to the hive mind, it hadn’t been done in eons.

My task was a rather simple one, or so I thought: I was to bring a specific pony before the queen for purposes that had not been revealed to me. The only information I had received on the matter was that the pony lived in the Everfree Forest and that she had a coat as black as the night. I was quickly sent out of the hive for my mission and not only did the others not care that this was my first time going outside the hive, they were practically glad to be rid of me for a short while. How did I know that without being there? Hive mind.

Finding the Everfree Forest wasn’t all that hard, to be honest. Well, it was true I had the queen herself guiding me through the hive mind. I guess I should tell you now that the queen was, at least to my point of view, catering me in some sort of way. It could have been false but I saw it like that.

As I started to venture inside the Everfree Forest, a heavy rain started to fall and I had to find shelter. Fortunately, there was a cave nearby so I headed there almost instantly. I entered the cave and noticed that it was deep, deeper than what it appeared to be from the outside but I wasn’t prepared for what came next.

Not long after I had entered, I heard the voice of a pony inside the cave. I walked deeper into the cave to find a fire burning in there and before I knew it, I met face to face with an alicorn. She had a coat as black as the night and a silvery mane. Unconsciously, I had found my target but for some reasons, I was unable to do as I was asked by the queen.

Hours became days, days became weeks and weeks became months before I remembered my mission and at that point, I would have never been able to complete it. I had fallen in love with the mare I was supposed to capture and bring back to the hive and for the few months I had lived with her, I had grown accustomed to the life I was living.

But there was one problem that I had to deal with: the hive mind. If a changeling is not careful, channelling thoughts into the hive mind itself is not impossible. With that in mind, and the fact that I was probably being watched through the hive mind, I made up my mind and decided to tell the queen I had failed in my assignment. I would sooner die than to let them harm Raine.

When I first found her, she looked so fragile, so scared, so alone and defenseless. The time I spent with her, at least to my point of view, made her stronger. It gave her confidence. In the end, I left her all alone again, promising to come back eventually. And so, it was with a heavy heart that I returned to the hive.

There is one thing that should be known about changelings regarding their assigned tasks outside the hive. Failure is not considered an option. I had heard of a few changelings that actually failed their missions and they were never heard of again, mainly because they were killed by other changelings as direct orders coming from the queen herself.

When I came back to the hive, I was brought to the queen immediately and it was then that I told her that I had failed to capture my target and that she had managed to escape me. While I had expected a quick death, it was not the punishment the queen had for me. No, she told me that she would cut my link from the hive mind and banish me from the hive.

Before I could even have a say in the matter, I felt her in my head and she severed something and then, I heard nothing else. No more voices were heard in my mind. I had been completely cut off from the hive mind. A few seconds later, I saw the queen charge her horn with magical energy and everything became black.

I woke up later in a desert, unaware of my location. However, there was one thing that kept me going; the thought of keeping my promise to Raine. I vowed that I would not leave a single rock unchecked until I would found her.

————

“I took me twenty years to finally find you, Raine. There was not a single day where I didn’t think of you. Raine, you’re the reason I’m still—”

Origin would have had time to finish his sentence had it not been for Raine. Before he could even react in any way, she already held him in an embrace. And despite his skin being covered by a chitin armor, he still felt the alicorn’s warm tears as they fell.

Hesitantly, he returned the embrace and laced his hooves around Raine as well and they stood there for a few minutes before they were brought back to reality by Dusk and Blitz. The two were looking at them with strange looks but other than that, they didn’t show anything else. Their expressions stayed the same.

Clearing his throat, Origin pushed back Raine a bit and locked his eyes in Dusk’s. “Putting all sentimentality aside, there is another reason why I am here today. I want to join you and help you however I can,” said the changeling.

“You, joining us? Yeah… not gonna happen!” That had been Blitz immediate answer and it seemed to be there to stay.

“And have I done anything that might warrant your lack of trust in me?” queried Origin, a frown on his face.

“You’re a changeling. You probably have every excuse to lie and betray us afterwards and after you told that you once tried to take Raine to your hive, I don’t exactly trust you. After all, I have been assigned, along with Dusk, to protect Raine from danger,” answered Blitz.

“Blitz… I know Origin more than you do, even if my memories are still hazy. If he had wanted to deceive you, he would have done so long ago. He has an honest soul. Sure, he can lie but who never told a lie before?”

“Still, the risks are great; greater than they should be. Blitz has a point here. We don’t know him enough to let him roam around us freely, especially if you once tried to take Raine away. I’m sorry but due to a lack of information on you, I cannot bring myself to put trust in you regarding Raine’s safety,” said Dusk.

“I understand. You have valid reasons and I am not in the position to deny them or say anything that might make you feel better towards my presence. I shall not bother you anymore if that is what you so desire.”

“Dusk…! Let him come. He isn’t a threat. Like I said to Blitz, if Origin had wanted to make threats, he would have done so long ago. He’s kind-hearted. Even when he was still a changeling belonging in the hive mind, he cared for those around him, especially me. He risked so much to defend me,” argued Raine.

“I get what you’re saying, Raine. But how can we trust his words so easily. He could be attempting to fool us right now and we don’t know it. I’m sorry but there is just too much at stake here. Besides, if anything happened to you while we are assigned as your guardians, Princess Luna would have our heads, Blitz and I.”

“I don’t care what you say, Dusk. I know Origin more than you do! I know how he acts, I know how his mind works and when I say that he can be trusted, that means that I know with certainty that he can be trusted! You know how little I trust other ponies, you two being prime examples. After all, there is a reason that I still appear as a Pegasus around you two but not when Origin is there,” Raine retorted, coming up with a reply that left Dusk speechless.

“But… What is th– I don’t even…” Dusk looked completely out of replies to use, his astonished expression showed as much anyway. “I give up. Fine, he can come with us but if it’s all a trap, I’m blaming you for our misfortune.”

“Yeah, that means we’ll be watching you, buddy. Then again, it’s nice to have somepony else with whom I can test my wings against. I mean, that’s if you’re up to the challenge,” Blitz told Origin.

“Thank you for trusting me even though I cannot say much about myself. Truth be told, changelings that are banished from the hive instead of being killed are sealed so that they can’t speak of anything concerning the location of the hive as well as the names of every changeling they have encountered in the hives. It is… to protect the hive from threats from the outside,” explained Origin, reapplying his disguise all the while. “Still, we seem to share the same goal and that is to protect Raine, though we may have different ways to go at it.”

“Like Blitz told you, we’ll be watching you for every wrong move you could do.”

The mood stayed the same for the rest of the trip. While Raine was closer to Origin, Dusk and Blitz kept a close eye on the changeling. Especially Dusk. There was something about the changeling that he couldn’t figure out. But there was one thing he was sure of: Origin was keeping certain details hidden from them and he well intended to find out about them.

As the group approached Appleloosa, they could feel something sinister about the whole atmosphere of the area. They knew all too well what it was but they had to make sure of it beforehand to be absolutely sure that it was what they feared it was: Nightmare Moon. There was no other being that could send off such a strong wave of negative energy.

Half an hour later, they began to see the outlines of Appleloosa and while it looked like there was no apparent damages, there was something that didn’t to fit in. That has to be her! There are literally no other creatures that can send this sort of feeling and both Celestia and Luna have auras that show no sign of negativity. Well, Luna had some but it was nothing like this. This is pure evil and it’s the exact same feeling Nightmare Moon’s aura gives off, Raine told herself as they neared the train station.

The train stopped at the station, and soon enough, four ponies and a dragon were out of the train and were looking at Appleloosa, devoid of any life of any kind. And even worse, the dark atmosphere that they felt when they approached the town was now so strong that they literally felt crushed under it. It was not natural but Raine knew what it was all too well.

“Hahahaha! Welcome to Appleloosa, my little ponies, I hope you find your stay most pleasant here,” spoke the voice of Nightmare Moon in mad laughter, “because you will not leave this place ever again!”

The group looked around and tried to find Nightmare Moon but all their attempts at finding her were met by failure. Seeing that the mare was nowhere to be found, Dusk deduced that she was hiding away somewhere, waiting for them to fall in her trap. He told the group to be careful as they were walking straight into the enemy’s territory.