New Faces

I see them burn.

I see everyone and everything dead or dying.

I see a monster, a black thing with red eyes laughing as it rises above them, above me.

It did this.

I saw it do it. Every step of the way.

Wearing my face, it walked amongst the tribe unseen and trusted.

Rush confronted it, and it tossed him away. Teacher saw through it and it killed him. It tossed my face away and walked a monster and killed every last centaur.

It did so slowly, eating the pain and misery of them as they perished slowly, their blood staining the grass, the fires turning the sky a dark red and black.

And it grew in power until it stood like a god.

And yet; it suffered. I could see the pain of hunger that ravaged it, and it turned from my dead tribe.

I saw it strike out at the horses. Doing much the same to them, even the unicorns.

I saw six horses rise to defeat it, and one of them smiled and revealed itself to be the monster.

They all fell, and despair came, feeding the monster.

Everything died. Everything burned.

Even the sun and moon were sliced from the sky until nothing was left. The monster raised itself up in power and victory, but nothing was left.

I saw the beast realize that, and it cried out in despair of its own. I saw it waste away on a barren rock.

I saw it suffer and die.

And nothing was left.

I stand amidst a barren place with a dark wind disturbing the bones of life around me.

I have seen the same thing several times. Slightly different each time. The ends are the same, and the message is clear:

Nothing I nor anything anyone else can do can stop this from happening.

I cry out, yelling my defiance of this future. I don’t want to see this come to pass.

But there doesn’t seem a way to stop it.

There is one way.

A voice, echoing across the wastes I stand in. Several voices, speaking at the same time in the same way, with only tiny differences.

Just one way, and you Chosen, are the only one who can do this.

“Who are you?” I call out, looking around me. Nothing but dark grey dust and rocks is near me.

Listen, and know.

The barren gives way to water, I feel a breeze, I see and stand upon a land and see a fire spring up in front of me and warm me. I know what the voices are.

“The vision you give offers no solution.” I say, staring at the small fire.

In our nature, there is no solution.

“Then what,”

Listen and be silent.

I do so.

The monster is outside us. A creature of the break and no else. The break can’t stop it, and we cannot touch it.

But there is one way to end its rampage before it is too late.

We were all that was. We made our rules and determined the way. One way, one rule, and no deviations. No life can be found in rock and fire and water and air.

The break came, and in its change, life came to us. It bent and broke our rules, and made us adapt to its demands.

The break is destructive. But in that destruction, new, greater things are born.

We are broken from long ago. And yet, we still stand.

It is time to change that. It is time for our long fight to end.

You have break within you. You also have us within you. Separate. Apart.

Join us to the break. Make us one, and in that union, find something that transcends both. Find a way to make us the magic.

And then wield us, and strike the beast low. Deny its future, and climb to the future that you are destined for.

“But… how can I? I can’t use the break.”

It is simple. Take more of it, until the bonds break from the pressure.

“… That sounds dangerous…”

You may die. Your body will break and your life will be in danger from this act.

But if it is possible, we will save you. If you live, we will remake you.

It is the only way.

I nod. I am uncertain, but I must try. I will listen, and do what the elements ask of me.

Anything to prevent the vision from coming to pass.

Darkness surrounds me, and I wake again to my pain and helplessness.

I feel Trixie trying to heal me once more, and open an eye to see her focusing, struggling, her horn alight as light flows from it into me.

She sees me awake and smiles as she works. I find the strength to speak.

“Trixie…”

“Trixie is right here Chosen.” she says, stopping her work. “Everything is fine.”

“I need… you to… give me… break…”

“… Chosen?”

“More break… I need… more of it…”

Trixie is uncertain, but nods. Her horn lights, and a very different feeling comes to me.

At first, it is a numbness as it enters me. And then it hurts. It stings and burns, and I gasp, Trixie stopping instantly.

“Chosen!?” she yelps, leaning close to me. “What… that was bad. Trixie won’t do that again.”

“You… you must.” I manage to say, gasping. The pain was gone the moment she stopped, but it had hurt badly.

“No.”

“Trixie…”

“Trixie is not,”

“Look at me.” I say, staring at her. She does so, and we stare at each other.

“I... need this… Trixie… no matter… how… bad it is.”

She keeps staring at me, but I am certain. There is no other path, and no pain will make me stop. Her eyes are uncertain, unwilling to harm me and great concern for me flicking in them.

She finally looks away and hisses.

“Fine. Trixie…”

“I am going to do my very best, and you are going to do your best to do whatever it is you need to.”

She leans close to me. “Promise me that you won’t die from this.”

“I… if… I have a choice… I won’t…”

She shuts her eyes tightly again. “If you die… I am never going to forgive you.”

I smile. With everything I have, I manage to reach up and touch her head before my arm falls limp again.

“Do it…”

She shuts her eyes again, and after a moment her horn lights once more. The break comes to me once more.

I am not sure what the bonds I need broken are. But the break is like I am being torn apart from within. It is a very bad pain, and grows and spreads through me as Trixie keeps giving me more.

After a moment, I feel the bonds. Strong parts of me that resist the pain. They need to be broken, but the rest of me has no resistance. I can barely hold my voice so that Trixie won’t be scared or upset.

Much more is needed to break them.

“Don’t stop.” I say quickly, wincing and tensing from the pain. “Never stop.”

Trixie mutters to herself. If she replied, I am in no condition to hear it.

More break. More pain. More and more break, more and more pain until it is the worst I have felt.

Then a bond snaps, and the pain lessons for a moment before a new fire starts where the bond used to be. I can’t help but to gasp and hiss at it.

I see Trixie waver and see a few tears force themselves from her eyes. “More.” I manage. “More.”

Another one gives, leaving four to go. The pain worsens, the first burning hotter. I am panting in agony, my vision blurred and my senses foggy; but I need more.

The third gives way, and I groan and shake. I think the bonds in me are part of my life somehow; destroying them is destroying me.

But I must endure.

The fourth snaps, and I bite back a scream from the pain of it.

The fifth makes my heart flicker. I feel it snap at my life, and I am much weaker suddenly. I cannot hold my scream back.

Trixie stops, and screams something I cannot hear, but it is too late to stop.

The last bond is worn away by the break that is already there. In a moment, it is gone as Trixie shakes me in panic.

I cannot feel her.

I think my heart has stopped. My vision is fading swiftly, what little strength I had leaking from me. I see the fog of elsewhere coming for me.

My body is broken. I am dying and maybe dead.

Something changes. The darkness falls, but not in the way I expected it to…

I… I can feel everything. I can feel the strength of the earth under me, and the shape of the cave and the dirt under the forest. I can feel the water that flows under the rocks and over the land in rivers seen and unseen. I can feel the breeze and the air as it swirls around the trees and bushes and land. I can feel a burning fire deep under the earth, and know that that flame will never be extinguished.

In a strange way, I see all of it. My vision expands outwards.

The cave, Trixie, shaking me desperately, the little unicorn awake and trying to help her. The forest, stretching far and the creatures that live within the trees my sight slowly expanding to see all of it.

I see the tribe for an instant before the land as a whole comes to my gaze. I see it well for a moment before my sight keeps growing.

It continues, oceans I have never seen coming into view, strange things seen for an instant before they become too small, until I finally see a tiny orb of colors in a sea of black and stars.

Am I seeing the world? Is this what a world looks like?

I am not sure…

My vision swoops back, rushing down from high above. It is terrifying in its speed; as if I am ripped down from the sky. It reaches a mountain, and my sight flies around a castle, and through a human town made of stone, moving faster than an arrow.

Down the mountain’s cliffs, and racing across a field so fast that everything blurs. A moment’s hesitation, and I see a blue bird horse with a colorful mane walking next to a normal horse wearing a hat. They seem to shine, but before I can see much more, my sight rushes away.

Through a wall, and see a white unicorn, weeping and shining with light. Across a town in an instant to find a yellow bird horse, also filled with light, calling out. A twirl to spot a pink horse that seems everywhere at once; popping from alleys and seemingly appearing in new places at will. She shines colors for some reason.

Another yank draws me to see a purple winged unicorn. She shines brighter than the rest, and I stare at her. then I notice:

She is staring at me. Her gaze follows me, but when she moves, my sight is rushed away again.

I see the tree for an instant before I am in the forest, everything a green blur. My sight slows, and I see the break over everything, growing thinker as I continue moving.

Large cracks, but filled with something like spider threads. Holding things together.

The cracks keep getting bigger, and the strings thicker as I am moved until both are gone, and I am in a pit where nothing grows. A cave looms ahead, and I am drawn within to see a giant tree that shines. That is not wood it is made of.

I stop right in front of it.

I can sense… something. The tree… it is the source of the threads. It is separate from the elements all around me.

It is alive in a strange way. I think… I think it is thinking. Watching me.

Judging me.

Accepted. rings out, like a voice made of bells. Be made whole.

I gasp, my sight instantly blackening. I feel myself, helpless and unable to act.

Then a thump. A gentle thump.

My heart.

It beats once more. I feel the life flowing from it to fill the rest of me, renewing me. I feel the poison chased down and destroyed. I feel my flesh knitted back together.

I feel the elements nestle within me, the break next to them. I feel strings wrap around them and tighten before leaving.

Something new is left behind. Part break, and part elements. Two things made one by the strings.

Something old made something new.

My body remade. My life reignited.

I live again.

Perspective, pony

Two days.

Two days since Sweetie was last seen. Two days since she walked away from the clubhouse and followed after Rarity.

And Rarity was absolutely sure that she had never been there that day.

Her little sister missing. Taken by something that looked just like her.

For what end?

Nopony knew. The bearers and most of the town were trying to find her, find anything that suggested where she had been taken.

Nothing. Not even hoofprints. Not one white hair, not one clue.

Rarity was alternating between inconsolable sobbing and desperate searching. The others were growing tense in their search.

Every hour past was another hour of Sweetie possibly being in grave danger.

Twilight was exhausted, having used her every effort to try and track her. Whatever had taken her was no mere changeling:

Changelings left something behind. They could be tracked and found with the proper spells.

What took Sweetie was outright invisible to everything Twilight could do. And that was worse;

They didn’t know what it intended.

Applejack and Rainbow were going to go to the farm’s farthest reaches in one last attempt, and everypony else was searching in the town. To guarantee that the shifter wasn’t hiding where they least expected it to.

Twilight was exhausted after two days of not resting. That was why, when she sensed herself being stared at, she did nothing at first.

But she eventually looked, and paused. Nothing was there, but…

A presence floated near her. A mind. Invisible, but present. Staring at her. She stared at where she suspected it was, following it as it drifted.

She acted to see it, but then it was gone, darting away, and left her puzzled and curious.

What was that? Did it have anything to do with the shifter?

No matter. It was gone, and she had work to do. Lots of work to do.

Trixie was a storm of emotion.

When Chosen woke, he had been troubled and in pain each time. Except for the last time.

She was trying to heal him again, unable to find rest, when he woke again.

“Trixie…” he murmured, his voice weak.

“Trixie is right here Chosen.” she said, stopping her useless work. It wasn’t helping anymore. “Everything is fine.” she said, both for him and herself.

“I need… you to… give me… break.” he said.

What? Give him…

“…Chosen?” she asked, unsure if she had heard right.

“More break… I need… more of it…”

She nodded slowly. Maybe Chosen felt better with her magic? Maybe it was helping in some way she couldn’t see? She nodded, and did her best to try again, putting as much magic as she could into it.

For a moment, nothing. And then a pained look passed over Chosen’s face and he gasped. She stopped instantly.

“Chosen!?” she yelled. Had she hurt him somehow!? “What…” she shook her head, “That was bad. Trixie won’t do that again.”

“You… you must.”

“No.” Trixie stated.

“Trixie…”

“Trixie is not,”

“Look at me.” He said, and she paused before doing so, looking into his eyes.

A burning determination was in them. A deep need, a dark fear. But the will to see something done, no matter the cost.

“I... need this… Trixie… no matter… how… bad it is.”

Trixie kept staring at him, trying to resist. She didn’t want to hurt him. Didn’t want to see him hurt or in pain, or so helpless. And yet, he was hurt, and demanding that she hurt him more…

His eyes were too strong. She looked away, cursing herself for not being stronger.

“Fine. Trixie…”

No. Not Trixie. This was too important.

“I am going to do my very best, and you are going to do your best to do whatever it is you need to.” she stated, looking back into his eyes.

She leaned closer, and whispered, “Promise me that you won’t die from this.”

“I… If… I have a choice… I won’t…”

She shut her eyes. “If you die… I am never going to forgive you.”

He smiled. With great effort, his hand came up and touched her head before falling away. Her eyes opened in surprise.

“Do it…”

She shut her eyes again, unwilling to watch. She forced herself to act, moved her magic, and sent it to him.

She heard his breathing change. Knew that he was hurting.

“Don’t stop.” he said swiftly, hiding the pain in his voice. “Never stop.”

She kept going, hearing his breathing slowly quicken. Then he gasped and hissed, and she wavered in her try.

“More. More.” Chosen said, and she forced herself to keep going, beginning to cry. The pain him was in was obvious now; he was growing weaker with each moment.

He began panting soon. And then he groaned, but Trixie kept pushing, her tears flowing freely. Chosen must know what he is doing. He had to know that this would help. That it wasn’t as bad as it sounded it was.

She wasn’t killing him…

Please. Don’t let this kill him.

He suddenly screamed, and Trixie stopped instantly; the scream too filled with agony and… and death.

She saw him, pale and shivering. She screamed, “Chosen!” just in time to see his eyes widen and then he stopped breathing.

She grabbed him, and froze.

No heartbeat.

She shook him in near despair. Trying to wake him, make him respond.

He didn’t.

She stared at him in shock, Sweetie waking and becoming confused.

He… he was gone.

The only thing that was still by her side was gone.

No place to turn to.

No being, pony or otherwise, to rely upon.

Nothing to keep her going.

“Chosen?” Sweetie said, coming over, worried. She looked at Trixie. “Trixie, is…”

She trailed off at the expression on Trixie. The look of somepony who had simply… given up. The look of somepony who simply willed themselves to… stop.

But before Trixie could truly give up, Chosen gasped.

He tensed, and glowed in her hooves, and the pair gaped.

His wound burst open, but no blood came out, and the skin and flesh kitted itself together again until not a trace was left of the injury.

Holding him, Trixie could feel magic filling him. A different magic from her own, but magic. Strength, filling him.

Life, filling him.

He was alive. Renewed. Chosen’s plan, whatever it had been, had worked.

Trixie might never have been happier, her earlier sorrow and despair washed away in a tide of relief and joy though their pain lingered.

“Chosen.” she said, staring at his face.

He shifted, and his face looked at her. He smiled and whispered, “I did it Trixie…”

Then he opened his eyes.

They shined a pure white.